So I’ve been pretty mum on video games of late, and there’s a reason for that: I haven’t been playing them much. I seem to have moved on for a while. For instance, those 50 books didn’t read themselves. The last game I was really into was Mass Effect 3, but this dip in interest was already in full swing when I started that one (which did nothing to reverse the trend, sad to say). But maybe this sort of thing is cyclical, as I’ve started to get the itch for some video gamery again. What have I been fiddling with lately, and what am I looking forward to?
- BioShock – Note, I’m not talking about BioShock Infinite. That would be timely, and we don’t do things like that here at Kaedrin. I actually picked up the BioShock 1 and 2 collection a little while ago and have slowly been making my way through it. Great atmosphere, some harrowing choices, and a combat system that’s not all that fun. It’s a first person shooter, but something about it just strikes the wrong chord with me. Part of it is the way enemies move, and another part is that ammo is scarce (there seems to be some sort of scaling system that allows you to find more stuff when you’re running low, which is nice I guess, but also just annoying). I suppose expectations play a role here too, as this is a game that gets praised to high heaven by everyone, and it’s been around for so long that at this point I’m bound to be disappointed. That’s the drawback of the Kaedrin system, I guess. Still, I’m interested enough that I will most likely finish.
- Soul Calibur V – I’ve never been that into fighting games, so I figured I’d give one a shot a while ago. Let’s just say that I’m not very good at this game and that I’m not really willing to put in the practice time to figure it all out. I’d rather just create dumb custom characters, and even that gets dull pretty quickly. So this is perhaps not the game’s fault, but I’m not doing so well with this one.
- FTL: Faster Than Light – Now this is a little more my speed. It’s a pretty straightforward looking strategy game that nevertheless has a deceptively deep gameplay. The game basically amounts to micromanaging a spaceship as you try to guide it across several sectors, all whilst being pursued by an enemy fleet. Simple setup, and basic gameplay, but it’s fun, and it’s something that’s pretty easy to pickup and play, no huge investment of time needed. A single game can last an hour or so, but it has a high replay value. I’m no expert or anything, but I’m enjoying it and will continue to play.
- Hitman: Absolution – The only game in this post that I haven’t started yet. Hitman: Blood Money was a game that really grew on me. I still think it’s absurd to win the games exactly how you’re supposed to without consulting outside guides or anything like that, but the value is that it’s fun to come up with alternate strategies or just go completely rogue and kill everyone. Anyway, this is the first entry in the series since Blood Money, so I figure I should try it out.
And that’s that. Not an entirely successful reentry into the world of gaming, but it’s something.