Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 4 - Highway 17]

Vroom Vroom (it’s a car this time)

The main menu continues to keep you drawn in.

                Ah, Highway 17, my (personal) favourite chapter of the game because of its atmosphere and general ‘feel’, and that’s not taking into account the more enjoyable, open gameplay and numerous moments. In a sense it’s the game’s first chapter in which you are truly isolated, save for brief interactions with other Resistance members at the start and a little way in, otherwise it’s just you, your (well, Alyx’s) scout car, the antlions and a whole lot of combine. The coastline is long, barren and littered with antlion-repelling devices, which are essentially tall devices that constantly strike the earth, releasing tremors that repel the antlions. The coastline is also littered with Resistance bases be they abandoned or taken over, abandoned (or now infested) houses of citizens who lived along the coast and various temporary Combine bases

Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 3 - We don't go to Ravenholm]

To go where people don’t go anymore.

                We don’t go to Ravenholm

Atmosphere is one of the most important and one of the most underestimated parts of a game. A great atmosphere can do a LOT for a game – improve its gameplay, make it more memorable, give it a greater sense of identity and so on. I’ve spoken about the game’s excellent atmosphere and Ravenholm shows us one of the game’s other elements, the variety in atmosphere which is consistent yet changes things up rather often.

Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 2 - Water Hazard and Black Mesa East]

Vroom Vroom

                Water Hazard

                                Water Hazard starts with an example of a staple feature of the Half-Life series - little 'moments' in the game that the player can interact with, moments that are somewhat picturesque and set themselves up from a bit of a distance. In this case the 'moment' is the brief encounter with the abandoned (err... infested) Resistance station in the little house just a little out of the way.

Let's Breakdown: Half-Life 2 [part 1 - Point Insertion, A Red Letter Day and Route Kanal]

Wake up and smell the ashes.

                What is this?

                You see, naming things is not one of my talents, which is why I’ve decided to give this a nice and simple name ‘Let’s Breakdown’, which isn’t an invitation to dance but an attempt by me to breakdown and analyse various videogames. Why? Think of it as me doing a bit of my bits as an aspiring game designer… that and I rather enjoy playing games analytically, it can be fun to examine the gears and cogs that make everything work, as well the various obstructions and chinks that hold things back.

I just played... Transistor

 A sword that is not a sword, with an awesome voice.

                I seem to be following my trend of existential sci-fi even when I don’t go around looking to do so. I am an existential person but I do like to go about occasionally experiencing something rather life-affirming, though a whole lot of the life affirming works plaguing me these days makes me want to do a root canal on myself using a buzz saw, but I suppose I can’t help the world. As the world buckles and heaves out yet another vampire-teenager-supernatural oestrogen centric work, I do turn around and enjoy showing these sci-fi works a fair bit more love, though I’d probably withhold on showing them such love considering that it is not love they are looking for.

I just played... Bioshock Infinite

In this reality, much wasted potential.

                I find pineapples rather interesting. How externally they are coarse and sharp, capable of leaving you with cuts to rival that of your average depressed teenager’s wrists; but the inside is something else, soft, sweet and delicious, with only a tinge of prickly fibre to remind you of its exterior. What does this have to do with Bioshock Infinite? Nothing, I just wanted to talk about pineapples for a moment.

I just played... Path of Exile

Of sprawling forests, sprawling caves, sprawling dungeons and sprawling ability trees.

Always online can be annoying, but it's a fair trade off for the fact that the game is free.

                Path of Exile is a strange game that seems to defy all conventions of existing. Yes, it’s a free to play game, in the truest sense, akin to Valve’s Dota 2. The only difference here is that ‘Valve’ is a company automatically synonymous with several beloved titles, great love for quality and lots and lots of money. On the other hands ‘Grinding Gear Games’ is a company that is a bit of a blank slate and one that’ll make you think of the numerous RPGs in which you, well… grinded for gear. Which is a bit of a nice move since Path of Exile is modelled after Diablo and Diablo 2, both games in which grinding for great gear and hunting for epic loot formed an important part of the experience.

I just played... Devil May Cry 4

GotY 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 – Amnesiac Gamers Association 

I have a technique to help you enjoy Devil May Cry 4 to its maximum potential, with the following steps:  

I just played... Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition

Hell hath no fury like a d20 scorned.

Unfortunately, this Jon doesn't have a cat. 

                To be fair, the above statement is a bit of a lie since the game differs from its predecessor in the luck dependence department. In the first game a lucky roll was often what separated your Halfling thief from nimbly sidestepping an enemy swing and getting blown up into pretty little red chunks; this isn’t necessarily the case this time around because the higher levels translate into relatively consistent chances to hit and get hit.