Saturday, August 05, 2006
G-Pinions: Gaming Radio - Season 2, Episode 1
Tom, myself, and regularly special guest Greg recorded a show last Monday, and I figure why not let it kick off the second season of GPRadio since we're planning on doing it regularly again. There's no fancy intro or breaks, just us blabbing about everything under the sun for just over an hour. Things will probably be a lot more structured next time, we just had to start again somewhere. Thanks for listening.
Linkage.
Linkage.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Is Middle Earth worth fighting for?
Against Nick's insistence, the first game I rented for my X360 using my brand new Gamefly account was Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II. Apparently, this was going to be the game that showed how awesome Real Time Strategy games can be on consoles. You may remember that, until this point, there were only two console RTS worth talking about - Herzog Zwei on the Genesis and Miyamato's last great original IP, Pikmin. And those were successful because they did not try to emulate what was found on PCs. HZ was all about action and capturing bases. Pikmin is about cute creatures. Everything else, every other conventional RTS ported to consoles, was plagued with terrible controls and pixel-sized troops. Is EA with BFMEII the godsend we have been waiting for? Or are you better served playing Dune II for the one millionth time on your PC? Obviously, it's the latter.
In defense of this game, it is the best RTS effort I have ever played on a console. It uses a very complex control system that forces you to become intimate with every button (except R3) for multiple tasks. BFME does offer a reasonable emulation of the control found on the much preferred keyboard and mouse combination. However, after playing a game that finally found a way to emulate the real deal, this just reinforces the idea that it really is impossible to make a worthwhile RTS using a standard controller. We aren't talking about the PC vs. Console war that erupts when discussing First Person Shooters. Both control methods have their own strengths and weakness in that example. You have more precise aiming with a mouse, but far better movement controls with a controller. When dealing with RTS, though, there is not one advantage to be found on consoles.
There are two aspects to this game that made it very frustrating as I got deeper into my quest. First of all, there is no way to quick move around the map. The whole point of Real Time Strategy is trying to command an entire battlefield at one time. You have multiple fronts of attack and buildings spread around the whole map. On the PC, you are able to click on the map and move where you need to go instantaneously. In BFME on the X360, you have to scroll around using the left stick like a fool. It may not seem like much, but this becomes extremely annoying later in the game. Timing is everything. Battles are much longer and more difficult because of this missing feature.
Also, because this game plays in a sinfully low resolution, it's hard to distinguish between troops. It's difficult to tell my Archers from my Calvary, and this makes fighting more difficult than it needs to be. You able to bookmark troops if you like, making it easy to quick select them. But, for some reason, this is all done manually. There is no way to quickly select all your Catapults. So, if you create a bookmark for your 3 already built Catapults, and then build one more later, you have to recreate that bookmark to include the extra weapon. Once again, not a game killer, but severely hampers intense fights.
One last critique that is actually more annoying than every other flaw combined. Remember Perfect Dark for the N64? After bots and sexy aliens, what is the first thing that everyone remembers about it? The framerate. It made sense that an N64 game with 8 bots and 4 humans running around in stages lit with real-time lighting would stutter from time to time. It stayed at about 15-20 Frames Per Second throughout. The framerate for BFME is actually worse. It tries to stay at 30FPS, but whenever you move quickly (which is necessary since you can't quick move around the map) the game dips under 10FPS. Wow, you have no idea how annoying this is. Clicking on specific troops is already a pain in the butt, and with a stuttering cursor it's nearly impossible. The game doesn't push the X360 at all either. Why is it slowing down? Just a sloppy port used to cash in on the dry summer period. For shame EA. Just when I started to ease up on you I get this.
Despite all the problems, it's still a fun enough game to play around with for a few days. I may not have actually read the books, but I do enjoy the Lord of the Rings universe. There's just something so satisfying about pitting races against each other. So rewarding to see who truly is superior. The music is great and the production values are what you would expect from EA. It's a cool RTS, but I can't imagine shelling out $60 for it. Just too many flaws inherit in console RTS. Eventually, you'll see the genre appear on the Wii and then, if we're lucky, the days of porting PC RTS to consoles will end. HZ and Pikmin are great because they play off the strengths of TV resolution and game pad controls. This round peg crap is wasting everyone's time.
In defense of this game, it is the best RTS effort I have ever played on a console. It uses a very complex control system that forces you to become intimate with every button (except R3) for multiple tasks. BFME does offer a reasonable emulation of the control found on the much preferred keyboard and mouse combination. However, after playing a game that finally found a way to emulate the real deal, this just reinforces the idea that it really is impossible to make a worthwhile RTS using a standard controller. We aren't talking about the PC vs. Console war that erupts when discussing First Person Shooters. Both control methods have their own strengths and weakness in that example. You have more precise aiming with a mouse, but far better movement controls with a controller. When dealing with RTS, though, there is not one advantage to be found on consoles.
There are two aspects to this game that made it very frustrating as I got deeper into my quest. First of all, there is no way to quick move around the map. The whole point of Real Time Strategy is trying to command an entire battlefield at one time. You have multiple fronts of attack and buildings spread around the whole map. On the PC, you are able to click on the map and move where you need to go instantaneously. In BFME on the X360, you have to scroll around using the left stick like a fool. It may not seem like much, but this becomes extremely annoying later in the game. Timing is everything. Battles are much longer and more difficult because of this missing feature.
Also, because this game plays in a sinfully low resolution, it's hard to distinguish between troops. It's difficult to tell my Archers from my Calvary, and this makes fighting more difficult than it needs to be. You able to bookmark troops if you like, making it easy to quick select them. But, for some reason, this is all done manually. There is no way to quickly select all your Catapults. So, if you create a bookmark for your 3 already built Catapults, and then build one more later, you have to recreate that bookmark to include the extra weapon. Once again, not a game killer, but severely hampers intense fights.
One last critique that is actually more annoying than every other flaw combined. Remember Perfect Dark for the N64? After bots and sexy aliens, what is the first thing that everyone remembers about it? The framerate. It made sense that an N64 game with 8 bots and 4 humans running around in stages lit with real-time lighting would stutter from time to time. It stayed at about 15-20 Frames Per Second throughout. The framerate for BFME is actually worse. It tries to stay at 30FPS, but whenever you move quickly (which is necessary since you can't quick move around the map) the game dips under 10FPS. Wow, you have no idea how annoying this is. Clicking on specific troops is already a pain in the butt, and with a stuttering cursor it's nearly impossible. The game doesn't push the X360 at all either. Why is it slowing down? Just a sloppy port used to cash in on the dry summer period. For shame EA. Just when I started to ease up on you I get this.
Despite all the problems, it's still a fun enough game to play around with for a few days. I may not have actually read the books, but I do enjoy the Lord of the Rings universe. There's just something so satisfying about pitting races against each other. So rewarding to see who truly is superior. The music is great and the production values are what you would expect from EA. It's a cool RTS, but I can't imagine shelling out $60 for it. Just too many flaws inherit in console RTS. Eventually, you'll see the genre appear on the Wii and then, if we're lucky, the days of porting PC RTS to consoles will end. HZ and Pikmin are great because they play off the strengths of TV resolution and game pad controls. This round peg crap is wasting everyone's time.
This is just a tribute...
The first episode of the second season of G-Pinions: Gaming Radio will be going up tonight! This is just a placeholder.
So, Emergence Day is November 12th eh? As much as I wanted a PS3 at launch, I can definitely hold off a while now...which was the idea, I suppose. I'm excited.
So, Emergence Day is November 12th eh? As much as I wanted a PS3 at launch, I can definitely hold off a while now...which was the idea, I suppose. I'm excited.
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