Posts tagged PC
Review: Fallout 3: Point Lookout (XBL)
Aug 18th
It’s comforting to trek through the swampy bogs of Fallout 3′s fourth downloadable content pack — it’s just like the Capital Wasteland, only with (slightly) more inbreeding.
That feeling of being at home within the game is Point Lookout’s strongest asset. Unlike the uneven experiences in both Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt, this DLC effort takes a page out of the core Fallout 3 experience. Players are given a familiar set of rules and goals: explore, scavenge, kill and quest. Even Broken Steel, which was a remarkably solid piece of extra content, timidly reproduced the basics of Fallout 3. But with Point Lookout, Bethesda Softworks has created a real sidestory to remind us why its rendition of the Fallout franchise is so supremely addictive.
Review: John Woo Presents Stranglehold (Xbox 360)
Jun 22nd
Although the details are fuzzy, I know for a fact I saw my first Hong Kong heroic bloodshed movie a couple of years ago.
My buddy Dan had invited me over for a few drinks and some general indolence, and we sat down to watch a movie he revered: John Woo’s Hard Boiled. I can’t remember a damn thing about it, but I know there were guns, and doves, and shooting, and jumping while shooting . . . it was grand.
Today, I asked Dan to remind me of the specifics of Hard Boiled to help me construct this review. But even after having seen the movie dozens of time, there are only four solitary details that he can recall:
- A teahouse: dude gets killed from a banister
- A warehouse: dude gets nailed by a motorcycle
- A boathouse: dude gets shotgunned
- A hospital: baby pees on Chow Yun-Fat
It might sound crass or irresponsible to paint the movie in such simplistic terms, but that’s really the beauty of the movie. John Woo wasn’t setting out to break new ground in character development in the already-crowded cop-action genre; he was only trying to stage the best combination of over-the-top shootouts and exhilarating stunts that could possibly be crammed into a mere two hours. He succeeded.
Retrospective: Assassin’s Creed
May 26th
Just as Assassin's Creed protagonist Altaïr overlooks the city below, we take a landscape look at the game
Editor’s note: We here at Silicon Sasquatch don’t think new games deserve all the attention. To illustrate that point we’re introducing our new Retrospective features: articles that focus an analytical eye on older releases in a non-review format. Our inaugural Retrospective takes a fresh look at Ubisoft Entertainment’s 2007 action-adventure game, Assassin’s Creed. This particular title made games press headlines at release — for reasons both good and bad. Scant details about Assassin’s Creed II have trickled out over the last month, and considering the goodly amount of time since the original was released, it seems like a perfect opportunity to look over Altaïr’s adventures with 20/20 hindsight. Enjoy.
Read the rest of this entry »
Daily Recap: May 14, 2009
May 14th
Today Nick posted his review of Fable II’s second downloadable expansion, See the Future. He wasn’t exactly impressed.
The criticisms largely echo mine in reviewing the first add-on, Knothole Island, and it’s an overall shame to again see Lionhead botch its DLC. Costumes and potions will only get your game so far, you know.
You got all excited for nothing, pup
It’s also unfortunate that my predictions of See the Future being more worthwhile turned out wrong–that’s what I get for speculation, I suppose.
News for Thursday: Sony loses cash, a lack of funding shutters another development studio and Telltale Games sells a lot of Strong Bad. It’s all very money-oriented today. Read the rest of this entry »
Daily Recap: May 13, 2009
May 14th
I’d like to apologize to our readers for a late Daily Recap. Our goal is to post these summations of the day’s news in a timely manner, but sometimes that doesn’t always happen. Yesterday a plethora of Windows Update-related problems and a strangely spotty Internet connection got in the way of my non-paying job.
Also, the two-hour season finale of Lost didn’t help much.
Hurley certainly isn't happy with the lateness of this post
Thankfully, it seems, Wednesday was relatively calm as far as news goes: DICE learned from its console prejudices, Blizzard reaffirmed its next MMO is not World of Warcraft: Part Deux and Microsoft bolstered its Platinum Hits collection.
Daily Recap: May 12, 2009
May 12th
In a bit of site-related news, today was our most active day ever in terms of unique page views. We can attribute such a solid boost in numbers to Nick’s wonderful review of Peggle for the iPhone (apparently one of the first online, even before the big-name blogs and sites), as it was our top story for the day.
"Awesome!" indeed
So, we want to extend a ginormous gracias to those of you who read Silicon Sasquatch daily and continue to direct your comrades to our corner of the web. We promise to keep bringing you things of a decidedly awesome and videogame-related nature.
Now, it’s time for the real news: Atari gets cold feet, the telenovela that is Midway’s financial woes gets juicier, we get to know Modern Warfare 2 a bit better and Valve’s Team Fortress 2 team takes a “bow.” (You’ll get the pun in a bit.)
Review: Fallout 3: Broken Steel (XBL)
May 11th
Apparently the third time is the charm as Broken Steel is unequivocally the best of Fallout 3′s downloadable content packs.
Broken Steel succeeds because it caters directly to Fallout 3′s central plot without weakening it. There are no diversions or trips to less-important locales in this add-on—players are brought back to the Capital Wasteland, continuing the quest that led them out of Vault 101 in the first place.
Truly, Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt were fleeting crescendos meant to build up to Broken Steel. It’s just a shame it took two tries on Bethesda Softworks’ part to get everything right.
Review: Fallout 3: The Pitt (XBL)
May 10th
Fallout 3′s second add-on, The Pitt invites players back to an oddly comforting but desolate world, one where mutations, slavery and murder are expected factors of life. And as bad as all of those things sound, they’re what make Fallout an interesting series of videogames.
This time around, Bethesda Softworks ditches the virtual reality pods and simulation gimmicks seen in Operation: Anchorage; instead, the developers have crafted their interpretation of a post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in the process manage to create a locale as equally nightmarish as any seen in the Capital Wasteland.
It’s a satisfying return to the best parts of the Fallout 3 world, and despite The Pitt’s technical flaws, it’s a significantly more impressive experience than Anchorage.
Review: Fallout 3: Operation: Anchorage (XBL)
May 9th
Operation: Anchorage isn’t exactly a waste of time, but it’s close.
Bethesda Softworks’ first Fallout 3 DLC is by no means lacking polish or the studio’s high production standards, but it’s truly not much more than a three-hour treasure hunt with a few unwelcome gameplay additions and a shiny, non-wasteland setting to cover its overall shortcomings.
This lackluster nature makes Anchorage a frustrating piece of content to plod through as Bethesda certainly isn’t new to the idea of extending their core titles. The numerous releases for their last game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, first began with pointlessness but later ended with something epic; it certainly appeared that the company learned from its initial mistakes and mastered the delivery of DLC packages.
Unfortunately for Fallout 3, the development team manages to repeat its history of initially poor downloadable content with the uneven and unsatisfying Operation: Anchorage, which ends up looking like a failed attempt at streamlining Fallout into a first-person shooter experience. Read the rest of this entry »
Sasquatch PSA: A Weekend (and Partial Week) of Fallout 3 DLC
May 7th
Somehow, even after three DLC releases, Vault 77 still isn't in the game
This weekend we’ll be running a three-part Fallout 3 DLC review feature in honor of the newly released Broken Steel, the third and supposedly final exclusive pack for the Xbox 360 and PC.
All three reviews will be self-contained and cover a specific add-on, but we’ll also determine whether or not Broken Steel’s increased level cap of 30 impacts the relevance of the other two expansions’ content.
Look for our first two reviews to hit this Saturday and Sunday, with the final one dropping on Monday.
And yes, what Ron Perlman says about war never changing applies to our dates as well.
- Saturday, May 9th: Operation: Anchorage — Are the FPS-leanings and winterized weaponry worth the rather short playtime? Take a break from your hangover woes this Saturday to read our answer.
- Sunday, May 10th: The Pitt — A vicious ax that’s part chainsaw, all murder? Check. One pointless collect-a-thon for an achievement? Check. Some bang for your Microsoft space buck? Visit the site on Sunday to find out.
- Monday, May 11th: Broken Steel — Liberty Prime, everyone’s favorite Commie-hating robot, is back for an appearance, and Dogmeat can’t really die anymore. This is supposed to be the biggest and best Fallout 3 add-on yet, but that’s our job to decide come Monday.