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Review
by Steve Metzler
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Review
by Steve Metzler
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Review
by Steve Metzler
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Review
by Steve Ramsey
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Review
by Steve Metzler
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Review
by Steve Metzler
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Review
by Steve Ramsey
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Feature
by Steve Metzler
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Feature
by Steve Metzler
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Archived commentary
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Well, it finally happened. But only thanks to a last minute intervention by The Doctor. Check it out, if you will:
The Project, a.k.a. semisolidradio.com
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The Project was due to go live this weekend. But I was down in the maintenance pit with a colleague running some
critical last-minute checks, and to our horror we discovered that the levels were all wrong!
This is a rather serious setback, and it's likely something only The Doctor can fix. I'll keep you posted...
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So I grew up in New Jersey, and played American football, baseball, and basketball all through those formative years.
But yesterday was one of those life-defining days for me, and it happened to be associated with a sport that I've only
come to love in the past two years or so: rugby.
Ireland, my adopted country for the past 23 years, is not a big place. Between the north and the south, it
amounts to all of 5 million people inhabiting an island that's just slightly larger than the state of New Jersey. But
these people have heart. A lot of heart. And so it was that yesterday I had the good fortune to be sitting in a pub
with a few of my good Irish friends watching Leinster (pronounced 'lenster'), one of the four Irish provinces, facing
off against Leicester (it's pronounced 'lester', and that's an important observation as we'll see in a moment), a
medium sized English city, in the Heineken Cup final.
Unless you live in Europe and follow rugby, which is a minority sport here, you've probably got no idea what the
Heineken Cup even is. Let's just say that it is to European rugby what the World Series is to American baseball. It's
the club championship. In any case, they usually use three letters to represent each team up there in the info blurb
on the television screen when a football (that's soccer to some of you) or rugby match is being broadcast. But because
the two teams on this occasion are identical in the first three letters, the face off had to be represented as LEIC vs.
LEIN. And so it was that LEIN was eventually victorious on the day, for the first time in history, by a score of 19 - 16
after 80 minutes of nail-biting agony. I have a silent chuckle to myself every time I hear the English sportscasters
refer to Leinster as 'the Irish province'. But the explanation of why that is will have to wait for another day.
You will have no doubt observed that metzomagic.com has been dormant of late, this being the first blog entry in six
weeks. But there's a good reason for this, and it's called: The Project. For those of you unfortunate enough to have a
geek as your 'significant other', you will know that The Project eclipses all other things in life, as it must do in
order to be successful. By definition, The Project never comes to fruition. But in this case, against all odds,
it has. In about two weeks I shall reveal all. And then I will be able to get back to the games...
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I'm sure you've all noticed the decreasing shelf space that's been allocated to PC games of general lately, and to adventure
games in particular (but hey, I'm not shouting conspiracy here. It's just that there are fewer adventure games being made
nowadays than there were in the heydays). In any case, yesterday's experience proved to me that making a trip to a shop that
only sells games, as opposed to DVDs, CDs, et. al. really does pay off. I was able to pick up two recent adventure titles of
note, namely: A Vampyre Story and Ceville.
So I'll be loading them up and having a go. You've no doubt also noticed that we've been somewhat remiss here lately
in providing reviews for topical adventure games. Well, hopefully that situation is about to change shortly...
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Back from the hols and somewhat refreshed. I've begun adding World Map images to the guide as an aid to getting you to
areas which may be difficult to find by just wandering:
Fallout 3 guide
Still a ways to go for both the mapping and the guide, but at least it's a start...
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Taking a break in the sun for a few weeks, so this will be the last update for a while. Added some new content to the
Fallout
3 guide, so you might want to check it out.
One thing I've come to realise that needs to be added to the guide when I return: a map. It's one thing when you're following
the main quest and NPCs are putting map markers all over the place for you, but it's quite another thing if I tell you about a
place that's "in the NE part of your World Map". Yes, it's a big, bad world out there in Fallout 3.
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Wouldn't be so presumptuous (there's that word again) as to keep a Fallout 3 diary, but there are those moments that
you occasionally want to capture for posterity, clichés notwithstanding. Picked off this sniper by the name of Arkansas in
Minefield from near the maximum range of a Hunting Rifle with a 30% chance to hit the head in V.A.T.S., Sneak skill about
35%. Then went up to collect all his gear.
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| Arkansas head shot |
Who needs a Sniper Rifle? ;-)
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It's tough on the little guy, and I know life isn't fair. But what I found up there on the web last night has me very
disheartened. On what was heretofore (in my opinion anyway) a very respectable site, I found an extremely detailed
Fallout 3 guide. The amount and level of detail was such that in my estimation you'd have to be playing the game for at
least 6 months straight to amass that amount of info (in fact, that's what I'm in the middle of trying to do myself). And
Fallout 3 was only released at the end of October. But then... on one of the pages there was a reference - inadvertent,
I'm sure, because there were no credits given on any of the other pages - to... the Prima Guide!
So then the penny dropped. All that info must have been regurgitated from the official Fallout 3 Prima Strategy Guide.
But wait... you have to pay for that, and it's copyrighted. I'm darn sure that Prima, who has some kind of
inside track with the developers to get access to a ton of inside info on the game, don't give permission in their licensing
agreement for end users to reproduce information contained in their strategy guides for free.
Anyway, this may sound like sour grapes, but when an indy writer like me who has been writing comprehensive RPG guides
for the past 10 years is looking at spending the next 6 months of my evenings to even approach what's already up there, but
up there as plagiarism... well, that's a bit soul destroying. But I'm not going to name any names here. Whistle-blowing
isn't in my job description.
As a result of this discovery, I've decided nonetheless to persevere with my own guide, but to change tack. My usual
approach is to try and document the whole game in one go, but Fallout 3 is so much bigger than anything I've tackled before that
it doesn't lend itself to that approach. So instead of having a static copy of my guide in the database, I've put it in a file
outside of the database so that I can modify it more easily (and more often). I'm including the date I last updated it at the
top of the guide so you can tell if you're looking at the latest version or not. If you did bookmark the version of the guide
that's currently in the database (article index = 861), here is the bookmark for the new, 'fluid' version:
metzomagic.com
Fallout 3 guide: a work in progress
Well, that's the state of play for the time being. I'm not so presumptuous (or naïve) as to believe that my Fallout 3
guide is the only one people are going to look at. But I hope that if you do consult it, you will realise how much effort went
into it, and that it is the genuine and earnest effort of a single person.
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Finished my second pass through the game, and have posted the guide. I'll need to play it through at least one more time
with a high Charisma/Speech character to tease out more of the side quests, but as a first effort that gets you through the
main quest, I think it will serve its purpose well. You can check it out here:
metzomagic.com Fallout 3 guide
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The Fallout 3 guide is coming along quite well. Reckon it's about halfway done, so looking at another 2 weeks or so
of effort to completion. Since this game was so much bigger than its predecessors, I've decided not to bite off the
whole thing in one chunk like I did with the other Fallout guides. Instead, I'm just documenting the main quest and
whatever side quests I happened to come across in my travels. I'll need to make another pass at it with a high charisma
character to tie off some of the optional quests that require a very diplomatic approach.
Someone asked me if I would link to their site, and I said yes... not realising I had neglected to include a links
page on metzomagic.com. Done.
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Just a quick thank you to our readers, who gave great support to our bourgeoning site over the past few months. Much appreciated.
We've gone a bit quiet over the past few weeks, and I'm going to lay all the blame for that squarely on the doorstep of Fallout 3.
It's been a long time since an RPG consumed so much of my time and energy, and the last game to do that was probably
Divine Divinity, way back in 2003. Hopefully, we'll have one of our comprehensive game
guides up for Fallout 3 early in the new year. I did say comprehensive, right? So probably around mid-February. But we'll
be in touch with some new content way before then, I promise.
In the meantime, here's wishing you all the best for the holiday season and the rapidly approaching New Year.
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That was a joke, BTW. 'my proofreader' is, like, me.
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In the rush to get that review up my proofreader let me down and failed to spot a spelling error in the third sentence.
Kind of detracts from the impact of the opening paragraph, you know, so just had to fix it. And while I was in there, also
realised I had neglected any mention of you being able to recruit NPCs into your party. Oh, and there was also the matter of
forgetting about Dogmeat...
Just wanted to add another observation outside of the context of the review. I've seen at least 5 or 6 other Fallout
3 reviews bemoaning the fact that the weapon accuracy outside of V.A.T.S. isn't good. Well, duh! That's because it's
*designed* to be that way, people. It's an RPG, not a first person shooter. Behind every shot is a computer 'dice roll' that
statistically determines your chance of hitting the target, based on your skill level and other factors. Not only that, but
your target's armour may also 'save' them so that even if you did manage to hit, your shot may do little or no damage.
I suppose there is consolation in the fact that with Fallout 3 being such a high profile game (and admittedly an FPS
crossover), it might entice some of the action crowd into the realm of RPGs. But only time will tell.
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Well, it's a bit of a hard slog for us indy reviewers. On the day Fallout 3 was released in North America (28th
October), there were at least 20 reviews already sitting up there on metacritic.
And it's very difficult to compete with that level of in-your-face immediacy. Yeah, we have to buy our own review copies,
which is actually not a big deal since I've been doing that even when I could get review copies for free. But all that
takes time and has to be done after the game is released. What does matter to me is the long wait for all the gamers out
there that are trying to decide whether or not to buy the thing, and want some opinions that aren't influenced by the
rather nasty symbiotic relationship that has developed between the publishers and the mainstream sites that depend on
them for advertising revenue.
I could go on... but we'll leave it there. And for what it's worth, here is our review of Fallout 3:
metzomagic.com Fallout 3 review
I hope you find it useful, and take it in the spirit in which it was written.
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Making good progress, and might be in a position to review the game next weekend or thereabouts. I just
attained level 8 in quite spectacular fashion. Got a super mutant with a head shot, and as he started to topple
backwards the level-up screen popped up. Then after levelling up and closing the screen, the dead mutant continued
his backwards slump onto the floor. Did break me out of my suspension of disbelief, but was very entertaining
nonetheless.
I remember that when I completed the original Fallout, my character
was only at level 9 (I had built a diplomat type character that could talk his way past even the final battle).
I wonder if I'll be able to pull off a similar stunt with Fallout 3. Though... this possibility is doubtful
as I haven't been able to talk my way out of combat yet.
Looks like Three Cards to Midnight, originally scheduled for a November release, has been put back
about 2 months. No problem with that at all if the game will be better for it. Here's the latest
news update from Aaron Conners and Chris Jones:
TCM Updated Release Schedule
In other TCM news, Adventure Gamers have posted a hands-on preview:
Three Cards to Midnight hands-on preview at Adventure Gamers
Well, I dare say that sounds like a casual game to me, as much as the author tries to dance around the
elephant in the room. But I will probably play it anyway. Hopefully the story and puzzles will make it
worthwhile.
This first person take on parkour looks refreshingly different.
It was just released on the PS3 and XBOX, and the PC version is slated for January. It's getting pretty good reviews too:
Mirror's Edge at metacritic.com
Might just pick this one up for a change of pace.
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Picked this one up on Saturday, and have logged about 8 hours of play at the time of writing. This fantastic game can
largely be summed up in two words: old friend. Based on what I've seen so far, Bethesda have done a very good job of bringing
the venerable legacy of RPG gaming that is Fallout into the new millennium, while
still managing to preserve nearly everything that made the original games so much fun to play. So all the Fallout
mainstays are still there: the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. primary stats system, the perks (a lot of the old ones, and of course some
new ones), and roughly the same skill system. So that's what I mean by 'old friend'. Those of you familiar with the series
will feel right at home.
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| Springvale playground |
One thing that has changed though, I suppose born of necessity caused by the move from 2-D isometric to 3-D first person,
is the shift from turn-based to real-time combat. However, even the effects of this sea change are largely mitigated by the
preservation of the 'targeted shot' albeit in a slightly different form. You see, it's not quite possible to play this thing
like a shooter (though some will inevitably try), because even though you could be aiming directly at your enemy's head, you
are likely to miss the next shot entirely because behind the scenes it's actually an RPG 'dice roll'. So Bethesda have introduced
V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) to compensate. It allows you to pause the game completely, queue up a series of
targeted shots (limited by how many action points you have remaining), and then let the action resume. Your character is then
shown in third-person 'bullet time' executing the actions you queued up. The whole thing is excellently done, and makes the
fighting quite strategic.
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| Megaton at night |
Well, so far I've explored a bit of the wasteland, cleared an abandoned school of some pesky raiders, and disabled a nuclear
bomb. And that was all before lunch. I must say I'm having an absolute whale of a time with it! The sheer scale of the thing
just amazes me, though I suppose we have come to expect these expansive worlds from Bethesda. Hopefully, I won't become as
sidetracked as I did with Morrowind, where I completely lost sight of the main quest.
If all goes well, you can expect a review in a few weeks time. And now, please excuse me while I go kick some mutant butt...
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You'd think that on what is primarily an adventure and role-playing game review site the most popular articles would be
reviews. But you'd be wrong. One of the first things I did when I set up this site was to get
Google Analytics up and running. It gives me a daily account of, among
other things, what pages are being hit the most. And the tale that these statistics tells is quite an amazing one. By a
factor of 4, the most popular article on the whole site is a walkthrough for an adventure game: The Lost Crown.
And the rest of the list is quite telling too. In order of hits, here are the top 10 articles on metzomagic.com:
The Lost Crown Walkthrough
Arcanum Walkthrough
Outcast Review
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Walkthrough
Fallout Walkthrough
Secret Files: Tunguska Walkthrough
Atlantis 2 / Beyond Atlantis Review
Willowbrook Stables Walkthrough
Wanted: A Wild Western Adventure Walkthrough
Fallout 2 Walkthrough
I'm gobsmacked by those results! My Google PageRank is a measly 1 out of 10, yet people are somehow finding those
walkthroughs (and Steve's XP Games Corner, natch ;-) All I can say is, thanks for the visits folks, and keep em' coming.
Meanwhile, we'll try to keep the pipeline filled with walkthroughs, not to mention reviews (you can be sure the very prolific
Steve Ramsey is working on his latest effort as we speak). Fallout 3 is being released in Europe on the 31st of
October, and that's next on my agenda.
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This was another game from the late 90's that some thought was pretty good, but I found it to be little more than a blurry
nightmare of an implementation gone all wrong:
Dark Side of the Moon (Second Opinion)
As it turns out, this was to be Southpeak's last outing. It's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea project went belly up
in 2000, and the studio closed it doors.
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Apologies for the rather long delay since new content was posted, but I've had my head buried in an old LucasArts classic
for the past week or so, and have a comprehensive walkthrough to show for my efforts:
metzomagic.com Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge walkthrough
After not having replayed an adventure title for 15 years or so, you don't remember any of the puzzle solutions. This is
definitely a Good Thing™, because it makes it just as fresh to play as it was all those years ago... and now I'm not
sure whether it's this game or Day of the Tentacle that is my favourite LucasArts
classic :-\
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Like most die-hard fans of the Fallout series (I've done reviews and comprehensive guides for both games. Just have
a look at the indexes ;-), it is with no small amount of trepidation that I look forward to Fallout 3, finally
arriving on a screen close to you after a nearly decade-long hiatus. I suppose what we're all worried about is that since
Bethesda bought the IP to Fallout from the now defunct Interplay... well, that Fallout 3 would turn out to
be something like Oblivion with guns. So I was poking around on the site today:
Official Bethesda Fallout 3 site
...and while my fears haven't been totally allayed, they have been somewhat assuaged by the material I found up there.
Specifically, there are 5 demo videos on the Downloads page that give you an excellent idea of what the gameplay will be
like, as one of the developers walks you through early segments of the game. A word of caution is in order though, if
you're real anal like myself and don't like to have your game ruined: these demo films are *complete spoilers*. I would
recommend viewing just the third one, Gameplay Demo Video 3 - The Wasteland. Make sure you download it in all its 120MB
high def glory. It gives you a very good idea of what the combat is like without spoiling too much of the game. Whereas
the first two games featured very strategic turn based combat, Fallout 3's is real time, but with a subtle wrinkle
thrown in: you can pause the combat at any time to queue up one or more targeted shots (a mainstay of the original games.
They don't have as high a success rate as a normal shot, but they do more damage if you do score a hit). It all looked
good enough to keep this skeptic happy. So if the story is up to scratch too, we might just be in for a real treat that
will do justice to the series.
Fallout 3 is due out on the PC, XBox 360, and Playstation 3 in North America on the 28th of October, and in Europe
on the 31st.
The enhanced version of The Witcher was released on the 19th September. So I finally took the plunge, registered my
original copy, and downloaded the enhanced version last night. The gameplay is improved in two main aspects:
- The load times between areas are much shorter
- The inventory is organised better, in that your alchemical items are separated from the other items
I'm not entirely convinced yet that it was worth a 1.5GB download, but we'll see. I was just at the beginning of Chapter 2
before I gave up play to wait for the enhanced version, and I'm going to start over from scratch as I wasn't happy with the
way my character was developing anyway.
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