G-pinions

I'm not going to argue anymore about licensed games with Tom "I speak objectively" McShea. "So, when all is said and done, licensed games are just not as good as original games." How can I even begin to argue with such a statement?

Anyhow, as far as Rare losing their touch...well, I haven't played a Rare game in a while, but I think that that fact alone says something about their last couple of games. And I don't think much is going to change this year with the Conker rehash (although Kameo might have a shot if it's actually ever released). I agree with the theory that Perfect Dark 2 (or 0, or whatever) will end up as an X-Box2 launch title, but it's gonna be hella weak if they don't release a great game between now and then. It might seem silly, but I fear the same thing is happening with them as happened with Oddworld Inhabitants. They're bought out by Micro$oft, and shit goes downhill. In general I applaud Microsoft as a game company for green-lighting more creative, original games than I thought they would when they got into the console business, but I just don't think they're willing to take too many risks with their first and second party software, so I don't imagine they encourage companies like Rare as much as Nintendo did. At this point it almost seems like it's more about having the name for them, and taking a big piece of cheese from Nintendo and Sony, respectively. I'm glad that Bungie didn't end up with quite the same fate, but considering how awesome the Marathon games were as early as 1991, I expected Halo to be even better than it is. I just hate to see a good developer go down the tubes, is all.

I've been playing Metal Arms multiplayer over the last couple of days, and I have to say, it's pretty great. It's just pure fun. The multiplayer options are myriad (they remind me of Halo in terms of depth), and the gameplay is fast, creative, and visceral. Being able to jack into other bots to control, as well as drive tanks and ride mechs, is not only sweet, but really makes the game. The developers only decided on adding the 'jacking' feature late into the development cycle, but it drastically changes gameplay, and helps it stand out in a relatively stagnant genre. I actually caught a really interesting program on G4 a while ago about the game, which led me to purchase it. The developer, Swingin' Ape Studios, just seem like a bunch of passionate, knowledgeable guys, and are all about cramming as much fun as possible into their work. They kept cramming more and more features and weapons and environments into Metal Arms up until the last minute, and enjoy playing it as much as anyone else. I myself can't wait to break into the single player game (tomorrow, perhaps?), and will mos def be reporting back on it. Check out their website in the meantime, you'll see what I mean when I say they're a company that's all about the fun.

I usually don't take much of an interest in PC games (although I do wish I had one right now to play Farcry on), but two have stood out to me recently based on what I've read and seen, and so I deem them discussion worthy. The first is The Matrix Online. Now, I liked Enter the Matrix more than most people, but considering Shiny had been working on it for like seventeen years, it was still a big fucking disappointment (they should have just put in Earthworm Jim). So I figure maybe the license would be better off in someone else's hands, but it would seem not. TMO is a new MMORPG developed my Monolith, and it looks like crap. I mean, I don't see what the game consists of (or can consist of) besides wandering around and fighting, as nothing else has even been hinted at. For that matter, I have absolutely no faith that the fighting engine will do the Matrix universe justice. I mean, two players moving faster than physics allows should kinda cancel each other out, right? So much for cool bullet time battles. And based on the video that I've seen of it, every character that you can be (or design, whatever) just looks like a lame ripoff of one of the movie characters. The worst part about it all, and what really convinces me that the game will blow goats, is that Ubisoft pulled out of the project as the publisher during the development (Warner Bros. is now the publisher - ha!). And these days I have a hell of a lot of faith in Ubisoft thanks to their new "commitment to quality" (which is grossly evident in their last couple of games). So, when they drop off, so does my interest level. Here's to hoping.

The other game I wanted to speak briefly about is World of Warcraft, a MMORPG of a different sort (the good sort). I played a fair amount of Warcraft 1 and 2 back in the day, and a spot or two of Starcraft and Warcraft 3 before I stopped playing computer games, and I have a fairly huge amount of respect for Blizzard. I would fully expect that a MMO Warcraft game be top quality, but a video which I saw of a player riding a gryphon around the various environments made my jaw drop. Soaring over gorgeous landscapes like that is the stuff of gamers dreams, and I commend Blizzard for so far surpassing my expectations, even if it is just graphically at this point. Speaking of which, the rendering for the cutscenes also looks to be coming along swimmingly, with textures and muscle movement on par with FF: The Spirits Within, the Animatrix, and anything else you can imagine. But then again, the "craft" series has always had some badass cutscenes, so I should expect no less. Still check out the video though, it's mighty impressive.

Well, that's all for now, loyal dans.... I mean fans. I'm off to fight the lumbering dinosaur that is sleep.