Run-Jump-DieALot
Sep. 15th, 2003 02:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikI don't buy many computer games. I tend to watch others play and then find the one or two that I'll actually get a lot of enjoyment out of. This leads me into buying things like Tribes2 or Planetside and sticking with them for a long period of time instead of having a whole mess of games I never play (like most of my friends do).
Today I decided to buy Tron2.0. I didn't even know it was out until I saw a webcomic making fun of its shiny-glowy graphics; supposedly it's been on shelves since late last month. The game is pretty darn fun and the graphics are exceptional. Easy to learn without needing to ever crack open the manual and satisfying to play... up to a point. They got the original movie folks involved: designers, musicians and even voice talent. All the pieces are executed solidly, making it a pretty cool blend of movie sequel and game.
Most of my Sunday afternoon was spent working through the levels. I love the light-cycle races but moreso love the close-in combat as you sneak through areas of the system in search of your next objective. The story so far is pretty good. Many proper tributes to the geeks of the programming world are strewn throughout the game. Heck, you have to perform memory allocation on your own character! That rocks. The few 'platformer' elements in the early parts of the game were challenging but not annoying.
I didn't stop playing until I was well into the old mainframe section, just about to locate the Tron.Legacy code. We'd overclocked the system to allow Ma3a (one of the main AIs of the game) into the old hardware but had overloaded the power systems in the process. To keep things from melting down one has to reach a set of power-relay/surge-control systems in a tall shaft. At this point the game transitioned from "a few platform elements" to a type of game I hate: the "Run, Jump, Die a Lot" school of platformer madness.
Bleah.
After about 25 pointless deaths at the hands of a missed near-impossible 10-things-moving-in-different-directions jumping pattern I was just plain done. Personally I think the R-J-DaL sections are where game designers simply ran out of clues and needed to fill up time so they could have more impressive stats. "Our new game features (insert big number here) hours of wonderful gameplay! Riiiight. I detest this about as much as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tuftears hates treadmilling in MMORPGs.
I'll come back and try it again next weekend when I'm on duty and have nowhere else to go. Maybe I'll find some way past that section and the good gameplay and story will resume. Hopefully they didn't cram all the fun parts up front and leave me grindstoning for the rest of the game. If anybody else on my LJ list plays it, though, I'm dying to try out the multiplayer disc arena. Give me a shout if you want to hook up for a good fling-fest. :)
Don't worry; gaming won't be a common journal topic; just now and then.
Today I decided to buy Tron2.0. I didn't even know it was out until I saw a webcomic making fun of its shiny-glowy graphics; supposedly it's been on shelves since late last month. The game is pretty darn fun and the graphics are exceptional. Easy to learn without needing to ever crack open the manual and satisfying to play... up to a point. They got the original movie folks involved: designers, musicians and even voice talent. All the pieces are executed solidly, making it a pretty cool blend of movie sequel and game.
Most of my Sunday afternoon was spent working through the levels. I love the light-cycle races but moreso love the close-in combat as you sneak through areas of the system in search of your next objective. The story so far is pretty good. Many proper tributes to the geeks of the programming world are strewn throughout the game. Heck, you have to perform memory allocation on your own character! That rocks. The few 'platformer' elements in the early parts of the game were challenging but not annoying.
I didn't stop playing until I was well into the old mainframe section, just about to locate the Tron.Legacy code. We'd overclocked the system to allow Ma3a (one of the main AIs of the game) into the old hardware but had overloaded the power systems in the process. To keep things from melting down one has to reach a set of power-relay/surge-control systems in a tall shaft. At this point the game transitioned from "a few platform elements" to a type of game I hate: the "Run, Jump, Die a Lot" school of platformer madness.
Bleah.
After about 25 pointless deaths at the hands of a missed near-impossible 10-things-moving-in-different-directions jumping pattern I was just plain done. Personally I think the R-J-DaL sections are where game designers simply ran out of clues and needed to fill up time so they could have more impressive stats. "Our new game features (insert big number here) hours of wonderful gameplay! Riiiight. I detest this about as much as
tuftears hates treadmilling in MMORPGs.I'll come back and try it again next weekend when I'm on duty and have nowhere else to go. Maybe I'll find some way past that section and the good gameplay and story will resume. Hopefully they didn't cram all the fun parts up front and leave me grindstoning for the rest of the game. If anybody else on my LJ list plays it, though, I'm dying to try out the multiplayer disc arena. Give me a shout if you want to hook up for a good fling-fest. :)
Don't worry; gaming won't be a common journal topic; just now and then.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 10:49 am (UTC)You know, what we really need is a team of game-crackers; get people who are good at sidescrollers, shooters, fighters, and run-jump-die stuff, and then attack a game as a team.
-Traveller.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 11:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 06:21 pm (UTC)As a side thing, I really need to get some advice from you on some asian cooking utensils... 'sabout a gift for a friend.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-16 12:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-16 02:45 am (UTC)They saw it, probably though "oh, gads, some stupid gamer idiot" and promptly unfriended me, before seeing anything else I'd written.
It's made me skittish about posting gaming stuff -- or at least gets me avoiding any 'leet-speak' play, even though my friends chat it up.
Y'win some, y'lose some, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-16 04:28 am (UTC)