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bye to the ghost town.

I've been giving the Xbox a rest recently. It's been in the cupboard for around a week and shows no sign of returning to its spot beneath the TV. This is because I felt I was playing a bit too much and I'm thinking of giving it a rest until GTA4 comes out, though that's a while off and my will may cave in before then.

In the absense of the Xbox I found myself going elsewhere for a gaming fix thus proving my addiction! To begin with I got back into the fantasy Blood Bowl league at fumbbl.com again. Played a few more games with my Norse team, made a team of mad Orcs with names inspired by Chris Morris's "Brass Eye" series and other general goofiness, That lasted about three days but I kinda overdid it so I started looking elsewhere for a gaming outlet.

So I got onto downloading various console emulators and last week I managed to beat Shadowrun on the SNES for the first time in around 12 years. It was great nostalgia to play through this game again, one of the most memorable games of all time for me along with Fallout, but I also came to the conclusion that this game actually stands the test of time. OK so the graphics arn't that appealing anymore and the gameworld is a bit rough around the edges, the combat system maybe a little lacking, but hey as an RPG from the early 90's Shadowrun still manages to pull off the Cyberpunk/ Neuromancer/ dystopian future thing rather well. This particular setting is my prefered choice for an RPG, I'd love to see a modern version of this game (damn FASA for making Shadowrun a bloody FPS) or a similar Bladerunner style RPG would be awesome. While I'm talking about RPG's in general I'd like to say that I'd really like to see an RPG within the aforementioned setting where creating a non-combat orientated character is handled and rewarded just as well as the more violent course of action. I realise this would take a huge amount of planning and development but I don't believe I am asking too much to actually feel as though I can "role play" convincingly within the confines of a video game. Mass Effect comes pretty damn close but I have some issues with that game. I thought Deus Ex handled the choice of violent/non-violent approach well also, that game is exceptional.

Since this blog is a general discussion of stuff i might as well talk about my issues with Mass Effect.

I casually enjoyed playing ME and beat it at a leisurely pace over the new year. I could forgive the "ripped out of star wars" universe and clunky inventories because I was entertained by the dialouge which is incredably well acted by video game standards. However I couldn't help but feel hugely let down by the anticlimax of being able to explore multiple solar systems only to find one landable planet per system which always looked the same as all the other non-plot-involved-side-mission worlds housing 3 or 4 dudes to shoot and maybe a few minerals or pointless objects to salvage. My argument is thus: why make these planets accesible at all and create a dissapointing illusion of choice where opting to explore the galaxy at large ends up becoming a grind of uninspired fetch quests and identical landscapes when the other areas in the game are so well conceived and interesting to explore? In my opinion the time spent on these dead worlds should have been spent on making the main 4-5 locations even more detailed and immersive. Would it not be possible to actually make it feel like you have landed on a different planet that not only has its own flora and fauna, customs and whatnot but also has other areas upon the same planet where these things alter. Why do I have to fly to the other end of the galaxy to see snow for instance? Furthermore, why, when I finally reach the barren planet that looks xactly like the other one, am I expectd to drive around in the most retarded jeep contraption known to man: the Mako?

Well enough of that, I played through the game once and the thought of going through it again (and then again) to get all th achievements feels more like some kind of perverse punishment than fun. My time with that game is over. I give thumbs up to the plot, dialouge and voice acting, and music thumbs sideways to setting, atmosphere, gameplay and thumbs down to uncharted planet exploration, the Mako, the achievement points and the length of the main story missions.

Going back to the SNES emulator it has to be said that the vast majority of SNES titles are best left as fond memories. It certainly doesnt feel the same playing most SNES games on a PC. However if you have a rainy weekend and fancy a bit of retro gaming then give it a go, there are a few titles that are still great to play and it's certainly interesting to be reminded of how much/little games have progressed over the last 15 years or so. I found the ZSNES emulator (zsnes.com) to be easy to install and run. Coolrom.com is a good source for ROMS, though the big Nintendo franchise games such as Mario, Zelda and Metroid are unavailable from there. Out of the other SNES games I've tried so far the ones I thought worth playing, other than Shadowrun, were: Arkanoid: Doh it Again, Cannon Fodder , Final Fantasy 6, King Arthur's World, Lemmings 2, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy.