Elay (our future son, if he's really a boy) seems to be quite comfortable and hasn't come out yet, although it's a matter of days now.
I cannot help but feel that right now I'm in a waiting state. Any minute now labour could start, so I have the feeling I'm doing small things to distract my attention to this fact.
One of the things I've been able to do is to play some computer games, on my PC or in Xbox. These are all old games, and I want to comment on them, because they're clearly classics.
First, on my PC I got some really nice games that I already owned, but that I have now in my GOG account. Among these games, lately I've tried to play again "The Last Express", "Commandos" and "Carmageddon".
The Last Express is a graphic adventure set in the Orient Express, right before the first world war. It has a rich and complex story, with interesting characters and different conspiracies. It tries to show the feelings people had in Europe at that time, and I believe it succeeds very well. The mechanics are very simple: You navigate the train, find clues and things, talk with passengers, and sneak into private compartments. There's also some action sequences in which you need to evade attacks.
The graphics of this game are weirdly awesome. They used real actors and rotoscopy, so the faces are quite alive. The train is rather nice, with lots of luxury touches. This game costed a lot of money to make, and was considered a great game, but did poorly in sales, which helped to end the development of graphic adventures.
I love trains, specially night trains, with their private compartments and bunk beds and all that....and this game gives an awesome impression of being in one. It also puts you in that time period, with loads and loads of extra information, like newspapers, that are not necessary for the plot, but add to the atmosphere. The clues and actions to take are not evident and require you to eavesdrop, sneak around, and use your brain. The game also uses a very unique system of representing real time, with actions happening at certain moments independently from the fact that you are there to see them, and you don't save the game, you can just go back in time to fix something, specially if you fail at some point or do something stupid (and the game gives you freedom to prematurely end it in lots of ways) .
The Last Express is a great game, and it's a real shame that because of its failure to gain money no more similar games were made (a sequel was cancelled, and the game ends leaving some questions unresolved...although it could be considered an ending nevertheless).
Commandos is a strategy game, developed by a Spanish game studio and set in the second world war. You control a small number of very specialised soldiers, and you need to perform missions in which you need to infiltrate German areas to perform key tasks that will help win the war.
In this game you need to sneak around, distract patrols, deploy bombs and other tasks while being undetected, to avoid reinforcements. The graphics area really beautifully done, representing several areas in Europe and Africa. The game is incredibly advanced for the time and for being Spanish, and it's really addictive. You always need to keep all your soldiers alive, and you need to combine them in smart ways, analysing patterns of patrols and using your resources very carefully. It's a very difficult game, but it's totally worth it. There's a second and third part, which are even more detailed, with more options, more things to consider when sneaking around (which makes them even more difficult), and with real 3D scenarios (in the first game you only had a 2.5 perspective that was impossible to change).
The highly addictive and hard missions are combined with explanations of the war's progression and footage of that time. Everything adds up to one of the best strategy games ever, really intense and addictive.
Carmageddon is an (in)famous game. You drive a car, and you kill people and other cars while "racing". You get points and time by doing these things, and you get even more points and time the more brutal the killing has been done. There's no plot whatsoever, and you just go through several stages, gaining ranks and obtaining improvements while stealing other cars.
This game is very, very violent....but so over-the-top violent, that you cannot take it seriously. Even the slightest touch at the lowest speed makes people to explode in a rain of blood and guts, accompanied with the corresponding sound effects, while you get extra points for "artistic impression" and other such things. Even the game itself makes it clear how stupidly over the top is, by showing you a severed hand when using the mouse, and by asking if you're sure you want to go back to the real world when quitting.
Each stage can be completed by killing all civilians, by wasting all other competitors or by finishing all the laps and checkpoints in the stage. Usually, the best way to finish is by wasting competitors (completing the race is boring, and killing all civilians is an insane task when there's usually around 600 per stage and they don't show up on the map). Therefore the main gameplay is to trash other cars, which is not as violent...however, the main selling point, and the thing that was used to try and ban the game in some places was the "killing civilians" part, of course.
The graphics in this game are not that great, the cars are 3d models and the civilians are flat textures moving around. The moment you let an opponent go far away, they become really hard to differentiate from the rest of the environment, and in general everything is a like a big, bright mess.
Even with all this and with no plot, this game is absolutely awesome. It does so many things well, it's impressive. The soundtrack is based on heavy metal riffs and sounds, reminding me of Fear Factory style. The driving is just plain fun, with physic laws be dammed. Trashing other cars is also lots of fun, and the extra pedestrian killing while this happens is just brutal with heavy black comedy style. I always picked the girl driver (because the guy looks retarded), and to hear "sorry!" while splashing the insides of some pedestrian on the road was always so stupid that it keeps being funny.
This game did so many things right, it will always be mind-numbingly fun. Just to take your highly-modified car, accelerate and frontally crash against an opponent, sending both of you flying for thousands of meters and falling on top of some unlucky bystander.
I've been playing these games in my laptop. However, I've also been playing a little bit on my Xbox, where I have finally finished Metal Gear Solid 2, and I've started the 3rd one.
Metal Gear Solid was a game for PlayStation. It follows the plot of two older games, in which the main character, Solid Snake, infiltrates some installation to kill terrorists. This newer version for PlayStation had the same initial plot. The principle is very basic, but things get complicated quite fast, and the plot gets very complex, with interesting characters, while mixing philosophical ideas and in general trying to pass a very anti-war message and hating that you have to defeat some people (while doing pretty awesome war-related things...and somehow it all works and makes sense).
I still remember the first time I played Metal Gear Solid, for no more than 15 minutes I believe. After that, I bought a PlayStation and this game right away, to be able to play it at home (and at that time, that meant spending 90% of my savings...just after those 15 minutes of play). The second and third part were already made for PlayStation 2, a console I never bought, so I had the trauma of not continuing with the story.
The Metal Gear games are very movie-like. They have great voice-acting, intense action scenes, camera effects and other tricks like that, while sometimes breaking the 4th wall and talking directly about things that the player is doing (and not the character). Their plots are incredible, very complex and plenty of times totally ridiculous, but in an awesome way.
Recently, they made a special version of metal gear solid 2 and 3, plus another one called Peace walker, for the Xbox. I bought this HD version quite fast, but I didn't get around to play them until recently.
Metal Gear Solid 2 is, in a way, a retelling of the first game. The plot is very different, but there's lots of things that are very similar, and that's an actual plot point. The whole game can be easily understood by the following fact: The game's creator didn't want to make this game, he was forced to do so by fan's request, and the game is the way the creator punished the fans.
I'm not saying the game is not good...but, for example, during 90% of the game, the player controls this other character, not Solid Snake, who is clearly not as good. Meanwhile solid Snake is doing stuff around you too, showing how awesome he is (and you cannot control him). That's a clear response to the fact that fans wanted more solid snake. Another poke is the fact that you don't seem to control the actions in the game, you just do as you're told, mindlessly, and the game insults you for that.
There's other things and plot points that help to give this message. The game is still really good, with a difficult story, very confusing and ridiculous sometimes, but interesting. The gameplay is the same as the previous game, with some extra actions you can do now (like aiming in 1st person with any weapon). You still need to sneak around, distract and avoid guards, and such things. However, it's true that it's important to know these facts about the creator before playing, otherwise you could get annoyed about it.
After finishing the 2nd game, I finally started the 3rd. I haven't played much yet, just a little more than one hour, but I can already see that the 3rd one is incredible. It's much better than the 2nd one (I guess this time the creator did not mind), with important changes in gameplay. The most important overall change seems to be that this one explains a story that happened in the past, and instead of controlling Solid Snake, you control his "father" (well, Solid snake is a clone). In just one hour I got quite an awesome feeling, kind of like a Bond movie (after all, the game has an introduction, a break with bond-style credits, images and music-including a female singer, dream-like images and lyrics that vaguely reference the game's name-, and then the real game starts).
One thing it's true about these games....the cinematics are a little too long. It is nice to see a story develop in its own pace, but sometimes you play for 10 minutes and then watch a 60-minute cinematic. It also does not help that you cannot pause them, which makes it annoying since you cannot take breaks to, for example, just go to the toilet. Playing the 2nd game I skipped one or two by mistake, just trying to pause the game.
However, it's also good to see a game that centres itself in the plot, and makes sure that the acting, the graphics and everything else makes you forget you're the player and submerges you into a different world. Even the first game achieved that, and made you forget that the graphics were very simple and the faces were not even moving while talking, they had a fixed expression. When a game makes you forget these things and the memory you have of it is of action-packed scenes, dialogue between people, and a complex, interesting story, you can tell the game is really really great. All metal gear solid games I've played so far achieved this without problems.
And that's all for the moment. We'll see how much more waiting will we do....
The graphics of this game are weirdly awesome. They used real actors and rotoscopy, so the faces are quite alive. The train is rather nice, with lots of luxury touches. This game costed a lot of money to make, and was considered a great game, but did poorly in sales, which helped to end the development of graphic adventures.
I love trains, specially night trains, with their private compartments and bunk beds and all that....and this game gives an awesome impression of being in one. It also puts you in that time period, with loads and loads of extra information, like newspapers, that are not necessary for the plot, but add to the atmosphere. The clues and actions to take are not evident and require you to eavesdrop, sneak around, and use your brain. The game also uses a very unique system of representing real time, with actions happening at certain moments independently from the fact that you are there to see them, and you don't save the game, you can just go back in time to fix something, specially if you fail at some point or do something stupid (and the game gives you freedom to prematurely end it in lots of ways) .
The Last Express is a great game, and it's a real shame that because of its failure to gain money no more similar games were made (a sequel was cancelled, and the game ends leaving some questions unresolved...although it could be considered an ending nevertheless).
Commandos is a strategy game, developed by a Spanish game studio and set in the second world war. You control a small number of very specialised soldiers, and you need to perform missions in which you need to infiltrate German areas to perform key tasks that will help win the war.
In this game you need to sneak around, distract patrols, deploy bombs and other tasks while being undetected, to avoid reinforcements. The graphics area really beautifully done, representing several areas in Europe and Africa. The game is incredibly advanced for the time and for being Spanish, and it's really addictive. You always need to keep all your soldiers alive, and you need to combine them in smart ways, analysing patterns of patrols and using your resources very carefully. It's a very difficult game, but it's totally worth it. There's a second and third part, which are even more detailed, with more options, more things to consider when sneaking around (which makes them even more difficult), and with real 3D scenarios (in the first game you only had a 2.5 perspective that was impossible to change).
The highly addictive and hard missions are combined with explanations of the war's progression and footage of that time. Everything adds up to one of the best strategy games ever, really intense and addictive.
Carmageddon is an (in)famous game. You drive a car, and you kill people and other cars while "racing". You get points and time by doing these things, and you get even more points and time the more brutal the killing has been done. There's no plot whatsoever, and you just go through several stages, gaining ranks and obtaining improvements while stealing other cars.
This game is very, very violent....but so over-the-top violent, that you cannot take it seriously. Even the slightest touch at the lowest speed makes people to explode in a rain of blood and guts, accompanied with the corresponding sound effects, while you get extra points for "artistic impression" and other such things. Even the game itself makes it clear how stupidly over the top is, by showing you a severed hand when using the mouse, and by asking if you're sure you want to go back to the real world when quitting.
Each stage can be completed by killing all civilians, by wasting all other competitors or by finishing all the laps and checkpoints in the stage. Usually, the best way to finish is by wasting competitors (completing the race is boring, and killing all civilians is an insane task when there's usually around 600 per stage and they don't show up on the map). Therefore the main gameplay is to trash other cars, which is not as violent...however, the main selling point, and the thing that was used to try and ban the game in some places was the "killing civilians" part, of course.
The graphics in this game are not that great, the cars are 3d models and the civilians are flat textures moving around. The moment you let an opponent go far away, they become really hard to differentiate from the rest of the environment, and in general everything is a like a big, bright mess.
Even with all this and with no plot, this game is absolutely awesome. It does so many things well, it's impressive. The soundtrack is based on heavy metal riffs and sounds, reminding me of Fear Factory style. The driving is just plain fun, with physic laws be dammed. Trashing other cars is also lots of fun, and the extra pedestrian killing while this happens is just brutal with heavy black comedy style. I always picked the girl driver (because the guy looks retarded), and to hear "sorry!" while splashing the insides of some pedestrian on the road was always so stupid that it keeps being funny.
This game did so many things right, it will always be mind-numbingly fun. Just to take your highly-modified car, accelerate and frontally crash against an opponent, sending both of you flying for thousands of meters and falling on top of some unlucky bystander.
I've been playing these games in my laptop. However, I've also been playing a little bit on my Xbox, where I have finally finished Metal Gear Solid 2, and I've started the 3rd one.
Metal Gear Solid was a game for PlayStation. It follows the plot of two older games, in which the main character, Solid Snake, infiltrates some installation to kill terrorists. This newer version for PlayStation had the same initial plot. The principle is very basic, but things get complicated quite fast, and the plot gets very complex, with interesting characters, while mixing philosophical ideas and in general trying to pass a very anti-war message and hating that you have to defeat some people (while doing pretty awesome war-related things...and somehow it all works and makes sense).
I still remember the first time I played Metal Gear Solid, for no more than 15 minutes I believe. After that, I bought a PlayStation and this game right away, to be able to play it at home (and at that time, that meant spending 90% of my savings...just after those 15 minutes of play). The second and third part were already made for PlayStation 2, a console I never bought, so I had the trauma of not continuing with the story.
The Metal Gear games are very movie-like. They have great voice-acting, intense action scenes, camera effects and other tricks like that, while sometimes breaking the 4th wall and talking directly about things that the player is doing (and not the character). Their plots are incredible, very complex and plenty of times totally ridiculous, but in an awesome way.
Recently, they made a special version of metal gear solid 2 and 3, plus another one called Peace walker, for the Xbox. I bought this HD version quite fast, but I didn't get around to play them until recently.
Metal Gear Solid 2 is, in a way, a retelling of the first game. The plot is very different, but there's lots of things that are very similar, and that's an actual plot point. The whole game can be easily understood by the following fact: The game's creator didn't want to make this game, he was forced to do so by fan's request, and the game is the way the creator punished the fans.
I'm not saying the game is not good...but, for example, during 90% of the game, the player controls this other character, not Solid Snake, who is clearly not as good. Meanwhile solid Snake is doing stuff around you too, showing how awesome he is (and you cannot control him). That's a clear response to the fact that fans wanted more solid snake. Another poke is the fact that you don't seem to control the actions in the game, you just do as you're told, mindlessly, and the game insults you for that.
There's other things and plot points that help to give this message. The game is still really good, with a difficult story, very confusing and ridiculous sometimes, but interesting. The gameplay is the same as the previous game, with some extra actions you can do now (like aiming in 1st person with any weapon). You still need to sneak around, distract and avoid guards, and such things. However, it's true that it's important to know these facts about the creator before playing, otherwise you could get annoyed about it.
After finishing the 2nd game, I finally started the 3rd. I haven't played much yet, just a little more than one hour, but I can already see that the 3rd one is incredible. It's much better than the 2nd one (I guess this time the creator did not mind), with important changes in gameplay. The most important overall change seems to be that this one explains a story that happened in the past, and instead of controlling Solid Snake, you control his "father" (well, Solid snake is a clone). In just one hour I got quite an awesome feeling, kind of like a Bond movie (after all, the game has an introduction, a break with bond-style credits, images and music-including a female singer, dream-like images and lyrics that vaguely reference the game's name-, and then the real game starts).
One thing it's true about these games....the cinematics are a little too long. It is nice to see a story develop in its own pace, but sometimes you play for 10 minutes and then watch a 60-minute cinematic. It also does not help that you cannot pause them, which makes it annoying since you cannot take breaks to, for example, just go to the toilet. Playing the 2nd game I skipped one or two by mistake, just trying to pause the game.
However, it's also good to see a game that centres itself in the plot, and makes sure that the acting, the graphics and everything else makes you forget you're the player and submerges you into a different world. Even the first game achieved that, and made you forget that the graphics were very simple and the faces were not even moving while talking, they had a fixed expression. When a game makes you forget these things and the memory you have of it is of action-packed scenes, dialogue between people, and a complex, interesting story, you can tell the game is really really great. All metal gear solid games I've played so far achieved this without problems.
And that's all for the moment. We'll see how much more waiting will we do....
