Space Marine

The Christmas Steam Sale has begun in earnest and in response a few threads have arisen asking whether games such as Space Marine are worth buying. For the price of £14.99, you'd get about 4-5 hours of enjoyable single-player experience (with a campaign that is 8 hours.) My currency of leisure time is one pint of beer an hour. This rather conservative method of drinking equates, in Hull prices, to £2.50 an hour. So, in terms of the single player experience, it's rather steep. However, the game manages to sell on its cultural capital of the 40k universe. True to its 1980s indie gaming roots, the 40k universe is brutal. There is no righteous battle for good, or even for bad; only imperialism. There is no war-weariness; billions die on a whim...

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The Witcher Movie

On the recommendation of a Polish lad I teach/once taught, I have found a Polish TV movie adaptation of The Witcher. Enjoy!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi4x8EOM...

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Do we ever grow-up?

Here is a response to a post on the PC-Gamer board. Read the thread here. I've been thinking much about this recently. I've considered seeing being 'grown-up' as dedicating less time to my imaginative life. That is, less time and judos to imaginative experiences than experiences of 'reality.' Reality, by my definition, being that which still exists even when you ignore it: taxes, rain and hunger for one. Play is a serious thing. Just because we think that we stop playing, doesn't mean we have. I think most of our lives - not least our 'professional' lives - are games with set rules and achievements (and power-ups!) Just because we don't commit all the rules to paper doesn't mean they don't exist in a very real fashion: no-one has told me not...

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Shogun 2 2500 against 6000

Tonight, after a difficult day of work, I resolved myself to return to Shogun 2. Often I find myself after a day that exhausts me that I fancy anything other than an RTS game. RTS is, in itself exhausting. Or, occasionally, exhilarating. Both of which are the same thing, depending on when you come. So, in Shogun 2, for those who have some familiarity, has an event called Realm Divide. It occurs after you become the most powerful faction in the game. Its consequence is that every faction goes to war with you. As a result, you find yourself in battles like I did tonight; Oda and 6000 troops against my 2500. Once I read on a forum that you should recruit cavalry - that mainstay of crushing battlefield victories - because you risk the multitude of sieges battles in which they are useless. The...

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Should we have a gaming BTEC?

This weekend I purchased a fair few games in the Steam Sale alongside other commitments. Settling down to play, I found my first game - Deus Ex HR - crashed on the first level. Repeatedly. At different points. It tooks 30 minutes of tweaking the settings and files and googling irate forums to get it to work. In a fit of pique, I posted a message on the PC-Gamers forum. The response was particularly interesting. I suggest, by the end, that if we pioneered a gaming BTEC, what would count as a C-grade? You had to be determined to get DOS games to load, or C64 tapes to run. These days, some games are demanding that same dedication. However, what really makes an A* gaming student?Here is the link to the thread. Bear in mind that, as a public forum,...

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Skyrim - First Impressions

I rarely purchase new games, least of all expansive efforts like The Elder Scrolls series. Partly this is snobbery: I feel above the tumble of experiencing that to which I feel the crowd might flock because of its newness. Part of it is because of cost: Total War games slash their prices in weeks. And, like with all great gaming communities, the modding community creates a better, more refined game over time. But it was with great excitement that Skyrim arrived on Friday. As an old friend of sixteen years was visiting my sleepy seaside town, I hadn't planned on getting some gaming time in. Therefore, I had only preordered via amazon.co.uk with a free supersaver delivery. It is with great kudos to that behemoth that it arrived on the release...

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Sins of a Solar Empire Review

Recently Sins of a Solar Empire (known as 'Sins' where I have read it before) was on sale in Steam. It contained all sequels for a reduced price, and was in the top three sales when MW3 and Skyrim were still selling. Like all excellent strategy games, it rewards concerted time and effort. Despite the immense number of bodies present in the game, there is a sense of control and long-term strategy. However, like all excellent strategy games, it required a hefty amount of time dedicated to get anything out of it. I looked recently at my Steam Stats; that is, the amount of time I had spent on my games. These ranged from 7 hours a week to 17-18 hours. That is a few hours on most evenings, and a good 6-7 hours over a weekend. Seeing as all the games...

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War Gaming

Since the start of the year I have been playing through the total war games. They're the kind of games that while a man might think he can give them thirty minutes or so, they really demand a few hours at a stretch. I have always been a fan of the epic stretch of wargames. The strategy of manoeuvring, of bluffing and second-guessing your opponent, of whom you know their strategies and their preferences and their bluffs: I think it's brilliant. The ludic aspect of gaming is, for me, at its strongest in the bluff and double-bluff of wargaming. Tabletop wargaming is less so. While a worthwhile (if expensive) hobby, such an experience is more the mutual discover of a narrative than a gaming experience. By that I mean that tabletop wargaming is...

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To plan game playing time

Having moved into a new apartment, I have managed to secure four rooms. The first two are essential - a small bedroom overlooking a churchyard, and a bathroom with a newly-fitted, landlord-harassed shower. The third room is my study (aka Den!) In here I have two desks, one with dual monitors to do my work (albeit with one with a permanently open calendar and to-do list.) The fourth room has a studio kitchen, two sofas, a coffee table and a dining table (with a view of the sea-front traffic) but, most importantly, my gaming computer has pride of place above above a pseudo-desk/cupboard. I purchased, at great extravagance, a new gaming monitor. Two years ago I was on a 19 inch monitor; now I am on a 24 inch job. Why tell you this? It...

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Does getting older change what you play?

This is a response to a great thread on the PCG forum board. Link is at the bottom. Well worth a read. I've considered this question before. Not only are we older but, as the OP says, we have less time to dedicate to games. I think that games used to 'get away' with a lot more in terms of poor gameplay. That is, pixel-perfect jumps, or no saves or simply the same levels rehashed. Gamers these days are now more discerning. I don't think that we, or at least those who visit this forum, will take games that don't have an excellent tutorial, or simply take too long to get us into the action element. For example, Sins of a Solar Empire has a terrible tutorial. It doesn't seem to realise that you only understand how to use the various mechanics of...

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Project Zomboid - An Impression

Ever since I picked up a PC (and some time) about two years ago, I have almost become used to the graphics post-HL2. Yes, I love how Left 4 Dead and the like look superb. Sometimes I still load Oblivion simply to walk the grounds. However, there is something in the old-school isometric graphics of a game like Project Zomboid that appeals. PZ, for those who have not yet heard, is Sims with Zombies. The focus is on maintaining the moods, whims and sanity of your characters as much as the food in their bellies. At least, that is the idea. It is being developed by, as far as I can gather, 4 folk who live in an apartment in Cleveland (and whose address is actually available when you purchase the game!) Furthermore, the game itself is in a pre-Alpha...

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PES 2011 Review

At university I used to work in the retail store Game ( as I may have mentioned before.) As a result of this I was deeply suspicious about the value of purchasing any PC games from high-street retail. Although I might be supportive of local stores over internet shopping, PC games are universally cheaper, sometimes by 25% of the actual price, than retail. I think that's what made my purchase of PES 2011 for a tenner somewhat surprising.Having previously reviewed PES 2009 as one of the best examples of the balance between realism and 'arcadeness' (I never did find a suitable noun...) I was happy to take PES 2011 as I found it.This was just as well. My first game was a bore draw between Spain and Serbia. There were some goals in the next few...

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Shogun 2 Review

The original Shogun, which I fondly reviewed, was my first game on my first personal PC back when I was at university. Yes, I had an Amiga and Championship Manager and the like, but Shogun was my first experience of a game that pushed up the bar of my expectations beyond the bunny-hopping graphics of the Amiga. Having played, on and off, the entire Total War series, I was seriously looking forward to this incarnation. And yet I was dismayed. You may, like me, have installed the demo expecting great things. A lack of graphic options was naff. Four frames per second was unplayable. The damn game simply did not work. And the smoothness of MTW2 made it a better game. Resolved to give Shogun 2 a miss, I ignored it for several months. Then browsing...

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Why do I play some games more than others?

Why have I played the lowbrow games more often over the past month than the highbrow ones? This article offers some food for thought: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/10/27/procrastination/#more-...

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Why do I play some games more than others?

Why have I played the lowbrow games more often over the past month than the highbrow ones? This article offers some food for thought: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/10/27/procrastination/#more-...

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Mount and Blade Warband - An Update

When I last wrote about Mount and Blade, I spoke about how I hadn’t made any progress with the diplomacy. In fact, I had managed to alienate all the factions (due to not realising that attacking them would make them dislike me...) This time round, though, I was on my best behaviour and ingratiated myself as much as possible. As I have read before, each promotion changed the game. After pumping an extraordinary amount of time into the game (I won’t reveal how much... ok, around 70 hours in total...) I gained several in-game promotions. Firstly I was granted the position of Marshall. This meant that I began to try to decimate the other factions. My stupid king, though, didn’t sue for peace with the other factions, meaning that I was fighting...

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Medieval Total War 2 - An experience of the Grand Campaign

Playing an aptly named Grand Campaign on Medieval Total War 2 for the past two years has given me a new found appreciation for the RTS genre. If you read my review of the original shogun experience, you would have thought I’d be more of a fan of that era. In fact, the darkness of the medieval atmosphere appeals to me much more. In the Grand Campaign I am playing as the English. After striking north and conquering Scotland and, rather easily, Ireland, I turned my attention south. After several months of slowing rolling over the French, I found myself in a situation where I was defending myself on several fronts against the Germans, the French, the Milanese, and (rather uninspiringly) the Danes. Like with all campaigns in the Total War series,...

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Gaming as a social habit?

Well worth a read about gaming habits amongst professionals: http://www.pcgamer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9...

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Ways to play a game

Today is the crunch week of the year. Terminal exams are arriving and, for me, the Edinburgh marathon looms next week. This weekend I need to finalise my coursework folders (a somewhat arduous, yet consequential, administration task that involves cross-referencing several documents) as well as the usual domestic chores. It is in that I have enjoyed playing an extraordinary amount of Total War, Mount and Blade, and Supreme Commander 2. Not to mention PES 2009. While I play these games, I wonder of the different ways of playing them. I rarely play a Total War game on a weekday. And I am yet to play Men of War for any length of time, not surprisingly seeing as I have encountered an especially complex mission and the game lacks anything like a...

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Memories of Champ Man '93

Memories of my A-level exams bring back memories of Championship Manager. How can what is essentially an interactive spreadsheet create such theatre? Have such memories? Be so brilliant?Right now I (as most teachers are across our fair and pleasant land) am focussed on the defining point of the young people I manage - their exams. It is a time that requires skills similar to that of a swotting student: perseverance, planning and plenty of pizza.However, my GCSEs were not taken at the time of the most recent (and well-designed) Football Manager franchise, but rather of the original quality spreadsheet gaming that was the glorious Championship Manager 1993. Like many things of the time, it was not polished; it must have taken between two and...

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Oblivion: a reflection more than a review

For a sandbox game to have such a profound influence on my life is something to laud. In writing this review, while sitting in a seafront cafe on the evening prior to a race, I wonder to exactly whom am I writing? I do not intend my reviews to be thorough things when PC Gamer (for one) provides that for us. I do not even intend for them to be raucously funny - James Rolfe at www.cinemassacre.com and Yatzhee at Zero Punctuation do that brilliantly. Instead I intend to write my reviews from the perspective of a professional who has a limited amount of time to dedicate to hobbies (which are hugely necessary to live a life of moderation.) A Teacher Gamer, I think, should be anyone who: a) Reflects on things in how they impact on daily life (not...

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Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review

Amnesia is not a game you play to win; it is a game to win to stay alive. The tutorial screen says this is the attitude with which you should approach this game. It’s not wrong. The horror genre of gaming is rather narrow. Penumbra seem to have the market niche with several titles. Horror gaming has been something of a delight for me ever since Waxworks back in the early 1990s. It was a terrifying puzzle game, although moreso for the implication then the fiddly level design and problem-solving. The gameplay of Amnesia, however, is a little more sophisticated. Essential you are working your way towards the inner chambers of a gothic castle to discover the answers to a murder in which you are involved. The puzzles between the levels are generically...

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Left 4 Dead Review

Left 4 Dead offers the greatest multiplayer experience with strangers so far. Even if you do not like FPS games, or western zombie culture with its pretentious assertion that it all represents something else a little bit deeper, I warrant you’d like this. Both its gameplay and soundtrack are procedurally perfect; it might even be mentioned in the same breath after/as Mario cart. The four distinct characters fill the spectrum of your preferred styles of playing at surviving an apocolypse. You have Bill, the irate Vietnam Veteran who acts as a sullen father figure to the survivors. On the other end you haven the other end you have Zoe, the eager student. In between you have Francis, the permanently angry biker who seems a bit too skilful with...

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What is a TeacherGamer?

I am a teacher. One of my favoured hobbies is gaming: hence the considered creation of the monika of TeacherGamer. What might this mean? Who is the audience of a TeacherGamer? It is a particular demographic that I imagine comprises of a fair number of gamers. It comprises of those between their 20s and 40s who work a professional job. They cannot dedicate more than 1-3 hours a night to gaming, and no more than 3-8 hours a weekend day to their hobby. Oh, and they don't believe that playing ends when you hit 18, or only when you're drunk. What kind of vocation will they have? If they aren't a teacher, they will have a career job. And/or will be a parent. That is, they are unable (and unwilling) to drop out of society to dedicate themselves to...

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PES 2009 Review

The challenge of designing a football game is to achieve the balance between the theatre of realism and arcade controls. Actual football can be very cagey. Not to mention that it ebbs and flows over 90 minutes - not the 10 minutes expected of a gamer. Therefore, every football incarnation since 1996 has found its place along this spectrum of realism vs arcade controllability. An example of a game that offered arcade controls to near-perfection is Sensible World of Soccer. The fluid passing game essentially consisted of a series of attacker vs defender situations. While shots could be somewhat controlled, whether they went in relied upon a seemingly random factor. From this, the game varied the skill levels of the players to simulate the variance...

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Darksiders Review

PC gamers often complain about the issues of porting console (action) games. To be truth, I find many of the arguments elitist and a little empty (take the issue of Portal 2 showing a ‘don’t turn off your console screen’ leading to a plethora of low star ratings on amazon.co.uk). Darksiders, though, is a terrible port. Terrible enough to warrant it as some of the worst games I have played. The graphics comprise a huge aspect of the game. Based upon a comic strip, the game (like Braid) should be a glorious visual experience. The graphics, though, offer no options other than resolution. No anti-aliasing. No level of detail. Just resolution. Repetitive is one word to describe the gameplay. Repetitive without the sense of skill required by, say,...

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is experiencing a great film. And great films - like great some games - never appear linear; their finite stories belie the seemingly expansive possibilities of their genre. The reality is, of course, that the action of an FPS offers only a limited number of scenarios. However, done well, these scenarios offer both the serious and the casual gamer well-crafted slices of unreal action. Not least because the army down-plays the getting-shot-aspect of real life. As I stopped gaming between 2003 and 2008, I didn’t play the original Call of Duty games, so this was my entry into the series. To be honest, as an RTS fan, I didn’t fancy playing FPS. However, I had read so many wonderful reviews for this game, that...

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Blood Bowl Review

For those who enjoyed the smashing board game, this bloody realisation is a faithful recreation. Those who don’t understand, or haven’t played, the classic game, this game in unlikely to feel like theatre, and more like extra time. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if you haven’t already played the board game, then you’ll find playing this akin to watching two nondescript German division 3 teams scrapping out a midtable draw. The game is an ultraviolent take on American Football. With Orcs. It works on the basis of two halves of eight turnovers. Any failed action causes an immediate turnover. A 1 (on a D6) is an automatic fail, while a 6 is an automatic success. Immediate tactics involve trying to maximise the actions your side can do before...

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