Ihr habt mit Wonne Dungeon Siege 1 & 2 gespielt und vermisst sogar vielleicht die Zeit, möchtet aber eure schönen Erinnerung nicht mit dieser Grafik ruinieren? A Farewell to Dragons ist das Dungeon Siege von heute. Mit guter Grafik schnetzelt ihr euch in typischer DS manier durch die Gegend. Einen Ausführlichen Beitrag wird noch folgen, da ich dieses Spiel zwar habe, aber wegen fehlender Grafikkarte nicht spielen kann.

-Fenrol

Dungeon Siege est un “Diablo-like” sorti en 2002, développé par Gas Powered Games et édité par Microsoft. Dungeon Siege répond parfaitement aux attentes que l’on peut avoir pour ce type de jeu : un univers captivant et du combat à gogo.

Dungeon Siege est principalement un jeu d’action. A ce titre, la phase de création de personnage est rapide et on ne passe pas plusieurs minutes à attribuer des points de compétences.  Le personnage créé est un combattant de base qui évolue en fonction de sa manière de combattre. Cela permet de créer des personnages hybrides et, comme tout jeu de ce type, le rend intéressant à recommencer avec différents types de personnages.

Le scénario est relativement solide, même si l’on déplore le manque de quêtes secondaires et le manque de liberté du joueur. Tout est fait pour que l’on suive un chemin pour aller de ville en ville. Pas de choix non plus pour le joueur de choisir un alignement (bon ou mauvais). Malgré cela, on est vite pris au jeu. Il faut également rappeler le rôle important de la bande son qui accroit l’immersion dans l’univers de Dungeon Siege.

Malgré quelques défauts (interface, répartition des XP), Dungeon Siege est un excellent jeu qui permet de passer un bon moment.

I might be don’t have much time to write long blog post but I still want to try write some about the good aspect of action-rpg. In other words, what kind of criteria they have in Diablo that we love so much. And for me good action-rpg is not just Diablo, there are excellent ARPG other than Diablo such as Titan Quest (strong graphic, audio, story and gameplay), Dungeon Siege I and II (although DSII is definitely better) and some others. Older linear one like Nox is quite good. Unfortunately, I’d never try Sacred 1 and 2. Never had the chance.

So, I hope to discuss this some aspects and then later we will talk about each ARPG I mention before. Keep hang out here.

This rant/musing draws inspiration from a good friend’s blog/article on MMORPG’s.

MMORPG’s (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games) is a topic that has intrigued me for many years. I really love the concept, many people, from all over the world, gathering online to play a RPG.

Being the geek that I am, I thrived on RPG’s through middle school and high school. Now, back in my day (mid nineties), it was all pen and paper RPG’s, with actual dice rolling. I loved it. My friends and I could stay up all night, armed with the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, DMG, Dice (d4,d6,d8,d10,d12,d20), a case of Mountain Dew, chips ,other assorted snacks and our imaginations. Ah, the memories. Of course, as time moved on, it was harder for my friends and I to gather in one place for our gaming sessions. I played a little in college, but nothing stable. I can say, I haven’t done any good gaming in at least 11 years. Sad, but true.

Enter the world of online gaming. I am an avid computer user. I spend all day on a computer at work, and still I will be on a computer for at least another 2 hours every night. I have an addiction to the Internet. That said, MMORPG’s seem like the way to go for me, right? I can honestly say, I have not found one that could hook me. I’ve tried a few. The only one I played with any kind of consistancy, was Guild Wars. To be fair, I have a poor track record with computer games. I tend to burn out very quickly with most of them. Here are the games I was hooked on: Diablo, Diablo II, Dungeon Siege, and Empire Earth. Each of those games, I played for months at a time. I have not been able to find a game since, that keeps my interest. I suppose I tend to hold an even higher standard for the MMORPG’s. With the single player computer games, I expect a fairly linear story line. MMORPG’s, I feel should be somewhat dynamic. The sparse experience I’ve had though, they still feel as though something is lacking.

Here is what I think the problem is: computer games lack the flexibility of a real live game master.

That is what made things so interesting with the pen and paper games. The rules were there, but they served as mere guidelines. They could be changed or ignored at the discretion of the game master. You can’t do that with a computer game. I don’t fault the programmers.  I don’t see any way to have this done via the computer. Check out the scenario below:
Old School – Players have been at it for hours, sludging through a dungeon, in search of the dragon’s lair. They finally reach the destination. They make sure they have all the healing potions needed, that all the spells are ready, and they move in for the attack.  Well, through cruel fate (bad die rolls) the dragon would certainly slaughter our band of heroes, but,  the benevolent game master intervenes.  Our heros survive, but the mage has now lost sight in his eye, and our fighter has a broken leg, which will affect him for the next couple gaming sessions.

MMORPG - Players have been at it for hours, sludging through a dungeon, in search of the dragon’s lair. They finally reach the destination. They make sure they have all the healing potions needed, that all the spells are ready, and they move in for the attack. Well, this time, the computer is handling all of the calculations. Our party is slaughtered without mercy. So, the party re-spawns, gathers more healing potions, buys some better armor, and trys it again. And again, and again. Finally, the dragon is defeated, and the heros frolic into town with the newly aquired treasure.

Sure, both sequences have the same outcome (heros defeat dragon), but the Old School way seems like it will be more memorable to the players.

So, here is what I see needing to happen, before I can begin to enjoy the MMORPG’s. Create an open ended world. Allow “game masters” to controls different aspects of the game (create quests, import maps and game objects). Let the rules be broken, bent or ignored as the need arrises.

Computers should enhance our gaming experience, not run it.

Ja, man darf sie nicht vergessen, die großen Macher von studiVZ. Sie haben jetzt vor Gericht gesiegt. Gegen den großen und bösen Konkurrenten Facebook. Das Landgericht Köln hat zugunsten studiVZs entschieden und alle Klagepunkte von Facebook abgewiesen. Die Ähnlichkeiten der beiden Seiten stellen keine unlautere Nachahmung dar. Dabei hatte der gute Ehssan doch selbst gesagt, dass er die Idee von Facebook hat und die Ähnlichkeit war ja nun wirklich nicht zu übersehen. Dass der Gute so schlau war und wirklich auf unlauterem Weg an den Code von Facebook gelangt ist, mag ich allerdings bezweifeln. Nun ja, Facebook hat sich in den letzten Jahren ja auch weiterentwickelt, das was man von studiVZ im Prinzip nicht sagen kann.
Sehr schön aber auch der  Kommentar von studiVZ Geschäftsführer Markus Berger de Leon (der ist bestimmt auch ‘n Profi): “Jetzt findet der Wettbewerb wieder da statt, wo er sollte, nämlich auf dem Markt und nicht vor Gericht.” Ich kann ja kaum abstreiten, dass studiVZ mehr Nutzer hat, aber scheiße sind sie trotzdem. Irgendjemand bei denen sollte mal lernen, wie man gut kopiert und nicht so räudig, wie die das immer machen… Furchtbar. Einfach furchtbar.
Das Verfahren in Kalifornien ist allerdings noch anhängig. Mal sehen, was da rauskommt.

Uwo Boll, unser allseits geliebter deutscher Star-Regisseur, hat die Goldene Himbeere erhalten! Allerdings muss dazugesagt werden, für zwei Filme, nämlich “Schwerter des Königs” und “Postal”. Fraglich ist natürlich jetzt, ob einer alleine jeweils zu gut war um ihm das Ding zu geben, oder ob beide so schlecht waren, dass er sie für beide bekommen musste. Und dazu erhielt er noch die Extra-Himbeere für sein bisher schlechtestes Lebenswerk. Ich kann an dieser Stelle nur sagen: Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Herr Boll.
Der lacht wahrscheinlich den ganzen Tag, weil er immerzu liest, was über ihn geschrieben wird…

After reading this AMC Sci-Fi blog, it looks like Jason was justified in deciding not to help promote Uwe Boll’s ‘In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale’ when it was released at the theatres.  Uwe was pissed and he said so in several interviews.  But there are others out there that think Uwe sucks and are amazed how many good Hollywood actors have taken parts in his films.  They created a list of those actors and Jason was one of them.

2. Jason Statham, In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2008)
Over the last few years, Jason Statham has become a sort of new, ironic Bruce Willis. He’s at his best when either ignoring the action flicks altogether (Snatch, Revolver) or subverting the genre’s cliches in over-the-top fare like Crank. When he’s plopped straight into the middle of a fantasy period video game adaptation, Statham’s ruggedly badass charm stagnates. Boll’s “epic” is too silly to be taken seriously, yet too serious to be taken as mindless, self-aware fun. As the movie’s main character (creatively dubbed “Farmer”), Statham earns our respect for giving it his all, but still ends up looking rather confused and irritated.

Título: Dungeon Siege 2
Gênero: [RPG] [Ação]
Lançado em: 16/08/2005
Desenvolvedores: Gas Powered Games

“When the sword met the shield…” – Narrador

Dungeon Siege, eh um RPG da Gas Powered Games e publicada pela Microsoft. Uma boa apresentação e um grande enredo.

O segundo capitulo da série dungeon siege, é um game bem trabalhado e melhorado, comparado com o primeiro. Apesar de usar a mesma engine de dungeon siege 1, ela foi mais trabalhada e, sinceramente, achei bem melhor.

O seu antecessor tinha um problema sério de IA, onde a IA era implementada TAMBEM no seu personagem. Ou seja, se vc deixasse ele jogava sozinho.

Joguei dungeon siege 2 a ponto de zerar 2 vezes e parar no inicio da terceira, gostei de inicio, mas comecou a demorar… demorar…demorar… o jogo é muto longo e sem falar as histórias, quests, quests secundárias, itens… aff.

O game fica SUPER longo. Se vc for tentar zerar 100%(meu caso) vc vai tomar o resto de sua vida. =/

Tem inumeras quests secundárias. Horas e horas de jogo...

As quests secundárias são longas dimais. Mas as quests primarias são realmente fáceis, vc apenas precisa seguir reto. Nada de ficar viajando e procurando itens. =]

O enredo do game é bem trabalhado. Vc tira pelo fato que cada personagem tem uma historia, dialogo ou participação de um enredo. O interessante são as historias secundárias(quests) pois algumas são ótimas, a que mais me chamou a atenção é uma quest que vc deve provar á um fantasma que os irmãos dele foram mortos. Muito do carai.

Gostei muito do game, mas só achei cansativo. A primeira vez fui tentar ler tudo, e quase desisti do jogo. É MUITO DIALOGO, muito mesmo, sem falar que tem o ‘Lore’ que é onde ficam os itens de quest e livros, LIVROS, mais leitura. x(

Musica e SFX do game foram de boa qualidade. As vozes ficaram muito boas nos personagens,  sem falar que a voz do narrador ficou muito bom.

Os graficos são de ótima qualidade, tem muitos detalhes, principalmente com as armaduras e armas. Que quase tudo brilha ou tem detalhes minimos. Tem algumas cut scene mas tem uma em especial, que repete muuuuuuuito, que é uma que conta a historia de quando a espada encontrou o escudo e o fim de uma era chegou…

Jah na jogabilidade, para quem já jogou Diablo, Dungeon Siege 1 , etc. Não vai encontrar dificuldade de jogar. Mas eu achei alguns problemas com relação a mobilidade. O game diferente de diablo, foca em jogar em equipe, ou seja, vc joga com 2-7 personagens de uma vez… bem… isso é garantia de confuzão. Sem falar que quando vc quer se mover por ruas estreitas, acaba bugando e ninguem se move. O pior seria quando vc clica, se move, mas fica alguem láááá traz. kkk

Se acostume a jogar com 2-7 personagens.

Gameplay: 6,0
Gráficos: 8,0
Sons: 7,0
Jogabilidade: 6,0
Enredo: 8,0

Total: 7,0

As I mentioned earlier when I started this blogsite, I was a fairly new Jason fan.  It’s been over four years since I first saw ‘Transporter’ and followed his rising career.  (Just saw it again on t.v. last night!)   I believe veteran fans as well as newbies have visited my humble blog.  It’s so gratifying to see Jason’s popularity grow and that he’s getting the recognition he deserves.  Judging by the growing visitor count, I can tell that Jason’s creating new fans everyday.  I wonder what new blog friends we will make since the release of ‘Death Race’ and ‘T3′?  Last year was surely a Statham year to remember, and it ain’t over yet!  We have the release of the ‘Transporter 3′ DVD to look forward to on March 10th and ‘Crank 2: High Voltage’ in theaters April 17th.  Hopefully Jay will be very busy in 2009, as well, filming tons of movies.   That will keep me busy too, which is great!   Hope you keep visiting and take this incredible journey with me!

[Note to new Jason fans:  I started my blog in March of 2007.  There are many posts with articles, links and videos that have already been shared.  Sometimes the search feature on my blog at the upper right-hand of the page can help you see if I've already done a post or not about your find.  If you can't find it, then I'll be happy to share it with everyone.  Just email me your find, but please search first to see.  Thanks!]

Ok so I stole that byline from Gamespot but it’s too damn funny. So as most might not know, as I am also one to recently discover, The Golden Raspberry Awards, better known as The Razzies, is the counterpart to the prestigious Oscars. These awards honor the worst the movie business had to offer for the year. When I hear the words “worst” and “movie” in one sentence I always think Uwe Boll. For those not in the know the German director, Boll, is responsible for making some of the worst video-game movies ever. Now that’s saying something considering Mortal Kombat is regarded as one of the best in this genre! Some have said that Mr. Boll is our generation’s Ed Wood but that would be giving the Ed Wood, ‘Worst Film Director Ever’, major discourtesy. Anyway I’m happy to report that Uwe Boll is being given the Worst Career Achievement Award at this year’s Razzies, to be held on Feb 21. And now the nominees…

2008 Nominees for Worst Picture

• Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans
• The Happening
• The Hottie & The Nottie
• In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege
• The Love Guru

MY PICK: The Happening (shockingly bad even by M. Night Shyamalan standards – he should’ve quite after The Sixth Sense.)

2008 Nominees for Worst Actor

• Larry The Cable Guy (Witless Protection)
• Eddie Murphy (Meet Dave)
• Mike Myers (The Love Guru)
• Al Pacino (88 Minutes & Righteous Kill)
• Mark Wahlberg (The Happening)

MY PICK: Mark Wahlberg (I didn’t get to see Meet Dave so I can’t vouch for Eddie. Mark though was atrocious in The Happening and I am kind of a fan so he must’ve been some kind of terrible for me to say that.)

2008 Nominees for Worst Actress

• Jessica Alba (The Eye & The Love Guru)
• Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Meg Ryan (The Women)
• Cameron Diaz (What Happens In Vegas)
• Paris Hilton (The Hottie & The Nottie)
• Kate Hudson (Fool’s Gold & My Best Friend’s Girl)

MY PICK: None (The only movie here that I’ve seen is The Love Guru & What Happens In Vegas. But between those two I would have to go with Jessica Alba. She’s never impressed me in anything she’s been in except for a bikini.)

2008 Nominees for Worst Director

• Uwe Boll (1968: Tunnel Rats, In The Name Of The King, Postal)
• Jason Friedberg & Jason Seltzer (Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans)
• Tom Putnam (The Hottie & The Nottie)
• Marco Schnabel (The Love Guru)
• M. Night Shyamalan (The Happening)

MY PICK: Duh!

I actually disagree with a lot of these nominees especially in the Worst Actor/Actress categories. These unfortunate souls had to work with bad material, bad directing and worst (and in my humble opinion, most important) of all, bad editing. No matter what kind of talent you have or the gravity of your performance, ultimately it is the director and editor who decides which of your takes makes it into the final film. I also believe these nominations are decided by mere “Oh I find him/her like soooo annoying!” factor rather than the performance itself. Unfair methinks.

The rest of the nominees and categories can be found at the official website.

There’s a horrid website, that I refuse to link here (I’m biased in that way), that mocked Jason with a fake award for bad acting in his movies last year.  My biggest gripe, aside from the obvious, is that the bozo who wrote the thing didn’t even acknowledge ‘The Bank Job’ as one of Jason’s accomplishments last year.  He only named ‘Dungeon’, ‘Death Race’ and ‘T3′.  If he had that film on the list he wouldn’t be able to slam Jason’s acting.  Instead of linking his site…I don’t want to reward him with hits…I’ll paste the Jason part here and hide it so you know what I’m wailing about.  Click on More to see it.  The site is called BBspot…and the BB probably stands for Big Boob.

Jason Statham Award for Bad Acting

Jason Statham in In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - You can hardly blame Statham for his ghastly acting, since it was under the direction of Uwe Boll, but I will anyway. His “inspirational” speech at the end of the trailer couldn’t inspire a coked-up MMA fighter to battle. He managed to keep his shirt on for the entire trailer at least.

Jason Statham in Death Race - Statham earned this nomination for his unconvincing performance of a NASCAR driver. To his credit, he once again managed to keep his shirt on for the entire trailer.

Jason Statham in Transporter 3 - Reprising his role as Frank the Transporter, Statham drives his performance to a lower level than ever before. He delivers his retorts with the comic skills of Carrot Top. I knew he couldn’t keep his shirt on for all of them.

And the Spottie goes to…

Jason Statham in In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

You know I don’t like negative stuff about Jason.   So in that spirit, ”In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” has been nominated for some Razzie Awards, and the good news is that Jason wasn’t in any of the categories.  The writer did mention Jason briefly, but it almost sounded like he was a fan and just questioned Jason’s choice in doing the Uwe Boll movie.  We all know that Jason was the best part of the film and, probably the only reason why most of us went to see it.

Koljaiczek (5/05/2007) -  Jugando a Dungeon Siege, de PSP. Muy buena impresión, aunque sea más simple que un calcetín (mata-mata donde te tienes que conformar con elegir entre tres personajes pregenerado).

Buenos gráficos, buena banda sonora y con ese estilo Diablo que o bien te gusta o bien lo odias a muerte, con decenas de enemigos que van soltando decenas de objetos cuando los matas.

Una cosa muy de agradecer es que los diseñadores han tenido el acierto de dejar la cámara quietecita en un cómodo ángulo cenital. Nada me saca más de quicio en los juegos de acción consolero que la cámara gire y cambie de ángulo con cada mínimo movimiento (léase los últimos Prince of Persia, por ejemplo).

If you asked yourself for only a second, “Uwe Boll, wait, who is this guy?”, you must have been living on mars for the last 5 years. Yes, he is that guy, doing all those game to movie remakes. Infamous filmmaker of titles such as BloodRayne, House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Dungeon Siege and just recently Far Cry, Tunnel Rats and Postal, Boll is the man featuring already six movies in the alltime bottom 100 movies at IMDB.com.

Ed Wood
Recently he has gained somewhat of a cult status, with critics calling him the Ed Wood of the 21st century. Critics and haters started petitions on the holy internet, trying to convince Boll to just give up. In fairness I have to point out, that his very bad reputation has led to some loss of objectivity, concerning honest ratings of his movies. In my eyes some of his movies are by far not as bad as they are rated on IMDB. Uwe is making no fricking art here, but who is these days?

No matter how you think about his movies – rumours are that there are even a handful of loyal fans somewhere – the website avant*garde features a 50 minutes interview with Boll. Use your chance to meet Boll, already a legend while still alive (which is remarkable, if you think about all those death threats he gets every day).

Arthouse, Popculture and Mutiny on the Bounty
The interview features topics like Uwe Bolls idols, for instance he is talking about Orson Welles, Tarantino or Scorsese. He is a big fan of Scorsese’s early movies, like Taxi Driver, missing the drive of those films in Scorsese’s latest works. He is talking about the topic of arthouse movie making, especially concerning european filmmakers. Boll points out that all those more or less famous arthouse directors like Godard made one or two great movies, the rest being boring crap that really nobody wants to see (popculture vs highculture), even if those movies may be interesting from an artsy point of view. As a positive example for an interesting great arthouse filmmaker he mentions Buñuel – whom I personally love too. He concludes that arthouse filmmaking is just to expensive, considering the fact that only very few persons enjoy those often hard to understand and challenging to watch kind of movies.

Only few movies today tend to produce interest for Boll. He loved the original part of Matrix for instance but hates all that big blockbuster stuff like Batman etc. His favourite film is Apocalypse Now, that shows the pure absurdity of war like no other movie. According to Boll he tried to achieve something similar (!= the same) with his new film Tunnel Rats whichsoever he claims to be anticommercial, portraying war as something containing absolutely no hope.

Boll started dreaming about movie making when he was only 9 or 10 years old, after watching Mutiny on the Bounty. What drove him at this point was his illusion that for making Bounty, the filmmakers really sailed on a ship as real pirates.

Boll versus Bay
The interview also sheds some light about Boll versus Michael Bay. Boll explained why he openly criticised Michael Bay, even leading to threats for legal action from Bay. Boll feels frustrated about the fact that he has to raise all the money for his movies by himself. After the film is in the can he feels like it is just too hard getting big distribution for his independent flicks, not to speak from nearly nonexisting promotional work from the distributors. Meanwhile Bay makes movies for 100-200 mio.$ even getting another 100 mio. $ for advertisement. In Bolls eyes Bay makes horrible sucky movies for that kind of money. Hence Boll lacks the understanding why Bay is still getting big money from studios after so many crappy movies like Pearl Harbour for instance. In Bolls opinion Bay fulfills the typical hollywood cliché as a choleric director, who thinks only in greatest terms of himself, meanwhile not even being able to speak with others persons while looking them into the eyes.

Boll also hates the fact that the european and american audience seems dumber and more undemanding than 20 years ago, only caring about those big and heavy advertised blockbuster films, “falling” for the tricks of the movie industry. Interesting enough, because Boll seems to target exactly the same moviegoers with most of his flicks. Money > all. Alas!

Actors and Stoic
He also talks about working with actors like Michael Madsen or Ray Liotta. He characterizes them as great actors, at the same time very difficult persons to work with. Personal, psychological problems of named actors according to Boll always brought tension to the set while actors like Udo Kier were always good for some jokes and a joy to work with.

Boll also presents a teaser for his most recent work Stoic, inspired by real events in the prison in Siegburg. The movie seems to be really hard and heavy, most lines of the movies were improvised by the actors which according to Boll even slept in the prison cell set. Besides all that Boll shows the viewer around his house and garden, presenting some old filmmaking gems from his own filmography stored in his cellar.

Boll Bashers
Finally he talks about all those critics and haters. From the beginning Boll saw filmmaking as a fight for him, nobody wanted him to make movies in germany. I can only second that, the industry in germany is somewhere between an exclusive club of boring pseudo-arthouse idiots and nonexistent. On his way to Hollywood he had to overcome many obstacles. Raising his own money making those movies was never a walk in the park for Boll. He came a long way, he takes the many bad reviews and haters only as another one of those obstacles.

Conclusion
It is good to see that Boll never lost his humour along that way. As controversial as his films may be, it is interesting to see who this guy Uwe Boll really is. It’s great to see that he gives the viewer none of the typical Tinseltown PR chitchat. He talks out of the box and funny thing is: he seems like a straightforward and nice guy. I am not a great fan of his movies at this point, even if i watched alot of them but I am starting to become a fan of this person. What most critics seem to forget: he did this all by himself. His career never went the easy short way but he had to work hard to become what he is today: a filmmaker in hollywood. So no matter what people say: keep up that work Uwe, just do what you have to do.

Overall very interesting. Highly Recommendable. Watch this!

http://www.ws-avantgarde.de/visitinguwe/
(HD and SD)

Thanks to Kami for finding this YouTube video of a Super HD1 channel promo for a December 27th showing of four Jason movies running back to back to back to back….a  Jason Statham Marathon!

Gestern Abend habe ich mir den neuen “Action Blockbuster” Max Payne zur Gemüte geführt. Der Film ist eine Verfilmung des gleichnamigen PC-Spieles “Max Payne”, von dem es mehrere Teile gibt und welches von Genrefans geliebt wird. Auch ich habe mal ein Max Payne Teil gezockt und das war Grund genug für mich mir diesen Film zu geben.

Grundsätzlich stehe ich Spielverfilmungen dank Uwe Boll eher skeptisch gegenüber. “Far Cry”, “Dungeon Siege” und wie sie alle heißen waren absolute Reinfälle. Lediglich die “Resident Evil” sowie “Hitman” wussten teilweise zu überzeugen. Max Payne bietet allerdings ein schönes Setting und eine interessante Story sowie mehrere Charakter, sodass ich mir einiges von dem Film erwartet habe.

Natürlich ist es schwer den Inhalt eines ganzen Videospieles auf einen Film zu adaptieren. Allein die interaktive und aktive Ausrichtung der Spiele bleibt beim passiven gucken natürlich außen vor und so ist man zum Zugucken verdammt während man die Story aus aktiv interaktiver Sicht ganz anders wahrnimmt.

Max Payne handelt um einen Cop im Morddezernat, der seine Frau und sein kleines Baby bei einem “Raubüberfall” verliert, weil er selbst 10 Minuten zu spät zu Hause ankommt. Dieser tragische Verlust nimmt ihn natürlich mit und er lässt sich vom Morddezernat in die Abteilung für unbekannte Fälle versetzen, wo er einen langweiligen Verwaltungsjob ausübt. Nachts hingegen streift er durch die Stadt in abgelegene Viertel, U-Bahnen und zwielichtigen Millieus um den Mörder seiner Frau zu finden, da die Polizei ihre Bemühungen eingestellt hat. Nach dem sein Freund und ehemaliger Kollege einen Zusammenhang zwischen einem aktuellen Mord und den Mord an Max Ehefrau herausfindet, ist Max Neugier geweckt. Er gerät in einen Strudel voller Intrigen, in die Welt des Bösen, wo die Grenzen zwischen Gut und Böse sich vermischen und wodurch er selbst zweier Morde beschuldigt wird, weshalb auch die Dienstaufsicht hinter ihm her ist.

Der Film bietet einige gute Aspekte. So ist das Setting einfach atemberaubend und die Atmosphäre vom Videospiel sehr gut transportiert worden. Das Setting ist dunkel gehalten, es ist kalt und es schneit. Der Schnee liefert einen schönen Schwarz-Weiß Kontrast, nahe dem “Noir” Stil und liefert eine emotionale Bildgewalt. Der Film liefert einige hervorragende Bilder.

Zudem kommt die schauspielerische Leistung von Mark Wahlberg. Ich hatte anfangs meine Zweifel aber die hat er absolut weggeblasen. Er spielt den zurückgezogenen, in sich gekehrten, verbitterten und rachsüchtigen Cop ideal. Es gibt nicht viele Dialoge, aber die Mimik passt genau zur Situation in der sich Max Payne befindet. Außerdem sind die weiblichen Rollen mit “Bond Girl” Olga Kurylenko als verführerische Natasha und Mila Kunis als ihre Schwester und Komplizin von Max Payne natürlich sehr attraktiv besetzt.

Das Setting und die Schauspieler lassen also schon auf einen großartigen Film schließen, doch dem ist leider nicht so. Der Film bietet soviel Potenzial und erfüllt es leider nicht annähernd. Man hätte mit dem Setting, was einige schon mit “Sin City” vergleichen und der schauspielerischen Leistung ohne Probleme auf dne Olymp der Videospeiladaptionen kommen können. Doch man ist mit der dünnen Story leider gescheitert. Storytechnisch hat man die Geschichte vom Original leicht abgewandelt. So sind es nun Firmenbosse statt normale Drogendealer, welche die neue Droge auf dem Markt gebracht haben um Profit rauszuschlagen. Das ändert aber nichts daran, dass die Story sehr dünn und vorhersehbar ist. Man weiß im Film eigentlich ständig was als nächstes passiert, sodass kaum Spannung aufkommt.

Dem sehr guten Setting und der annehmbaren schauspielerischen Leistung gesellt sich also eine sehr dünne, vorausschaubare Story die den Film in den Durchschnitt zieht. Bei diesem Filme wurde soviel Potenzial verschenkt, dass es schon fast weh tut. Die Randbedingungen waren optimal, aber das Wichtigste stimmt einfach nicht und so kommt der Film eher unstimmig rüber. Auf einer Skala bis 10 würde ich ihn mit einer 6,5 bewerten.

Filme baseado no jogo para pc Dungeon siege, um jogo focado em mágica, armas etc., Apesar de bons atores e de uma estréia com expectativa, acredito que o filme deixou a desejar, só nos primeiros 20 minutos de filme ele se prende muito ao fazendeiro, a musica muitas vezes e muito alta e atrapalha o dialogo do filme, longe de uma trilha sonora medieval. Em pontos positivos posso dizer que ele tem efeitos de cenário ótimos.

Apesar disso teve uma estréia considerada ”desastrosa” nos EUA. O que pode tornar a ultima da careira de Uwe Boll.

Título no Brasil: Em Nome do Rei
Titulo original:   In The Name Of The King: a Dungeon Siege Tale
País de Origem: Alemanha / Canadá / EUA
Gênero: Ação / fantasia medieval
Classificação etária: 14 anos
Tempo de Duração: 127 minutos
Ano de Lançamento: 2007/ em dvd-julho de 2008
Estúdio/Distrib.: Flashstar Home Video

Nadiége

Now I’ve never really been all in favour of video game to movie adaptions, unless they are written by the oringinal creator, who pick the director and such and make sure they stick as closely as possible to the game in question. I’m a gamer, I love games, and movie creators generally tend to not give a shit and make horrible horrible movies. Of the people who take up these movies, Uwe Boll is by far the worst.

Uwe Boll has murdered the following games:

• BloodRayne
• Dungeon Siege
• Alone in the Dark
• House of the Dead
• Postal

He may possibly be taking up FarCry as well. Thankfully Blizzard told him where to go for WoW (which I don’t play personally) and Hideo Kojima also told him where to go with Metal Gear.

Now these movies are complete and utter bollocks. I believe his first video game-movie adaption comes from House of the Dead, which is featured in many worst 100 films of all time lists. Excellent start to his creation.

House of the Fail

Never was a big fan of this game, played it a few times in the arcade, but it doesn’t really seem to have a massive storyline. Loads of zombies, you shoot them, then there are bigger zombies and you have to kill them. Excellent, could totally make a super original movie out of this game. Even though I don’t really love the game, he still managed to kill it. Any story there actually was in the game was totally changed and filtered out with a new one put in it’s place. Some peopel go to a rave, find everyone is zombies (why?) and then try and survive in a house. Brilliant plot. lots of surprises and character building. Loads of people die, there is lots of gore and it’s just a typical B-movie. A bad B-movie. Probably sub B-movie quite frankly.

Alone in the Dark

I love this game. I remember playing it when I was just a nipper and it scaring the shit out of me back then. It’s no Fatal Frame, but it’s still managed to make me crap myself at the time, probably not now mind. Still it had quite an interesting storyline and served as one of the key games in it’s genre, and inspired games like Fatal Frame and Silent Hill. Overall it’s a bloody good game. Getting my drift here. Now there was a script created by a Mr. Erickson which was supposedly quite good but rejected by Boll for not having enough car chases and other ridiculous things of this nature. I’m pretty sure that Mr. Boll has never actually played Alone in the Dark, because if he had, he may have noticed it’s not actually a super action game with explosions, car chases and big fucking gun fights. It was also inspired by H.P. Lovercraft who also probably didn’t use these particular plot elements. The plots from the first game and the first movie differ on pretty much every level, as you get quite a weird occultic explanation when playing the game as to what has happened, throgh certain plot devices, where as Mr. Boll’s lovely movie has dimensional doorways, Tara Reid, slow motion gun battles from Max Payne, and mad scientists. Now maybe you could look past this glaring inability to keep even vaguely in tune with the game if it was watchable. It isn’t. If Tara Reid is in something, you should generally try your best to avoid it. Terrible acting, incredibly bad plot and horrible special effects. Thank you Mr. Boll, you have killed any chance of there being a succesful movie for Alone in the Dark!

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

Again I am no massive fan of this game so I can’t really pretend to know the full ins and outs of it. However I’ll take a stab from the wiki. A typical RPG, you’ve got to save the kingdom from an evil force (goblins called Krug this time) and you encounter a host of different people and races along the way. Pretty standard stuff, wouldn’t be hard to put into a movie. Firs thing I noticed here was that instead of Goblins in the movie, we got fuck off Orcs. Big Orcs. Who looks strangely like they have just come over the the LoTR set. In fact, a lot of this movie apparently has been ‘inspired’ by LoTR. I’m not gonna beat around the bush here, what they have done is just made a very poor knockoff of LoTR series. They even went as far as to steal Gimli (in a totally strange role) for the film. It might has well have been called ‘LoTR: A cheapy and shitty knock off for those without a brain.’ Horrible acting, a plot that kind of resembles something of the game, if you squint and turn your head a bit and low production values create another epic for the bargain bin! The movie just doesn’t make sense.

Bloodrayne

I quite liked Bloodrayne. It had vampires in it. Vampires kill people to eat. That’s quite awesome. They even have special vampires that don’t give a shit about crosses. How did Boll manage to kill this movie? You guessed it, with a storyline that was nothing like the game (which tbh wasn’t that good anyway but still). Funny thing with this movie is that he didn’t get a bunch of people who didn’t know what they were doing and told them to get on it. He brought in a pretty good cast and backstage team, including an oscar winner! And yet somehow, someway, he managed to make them all completely suck together in some giant bowl of turd juice and nipple droppings, sprinkled with the pubes of an deceased rape victim.

I can’t even be bothered with Portal. You can see where it is headed. I don’t know what is worse: he making this awful movies or the game companies actually selling him the rights to them (well done Blizzard). It is beyond belief that he thinks the critism is unfounded and wrong and that he is some kind of genius when he quite plainly isn’t. He is a complete fraud. Give me £30million and I could make a movie twice as good as him, based on a game. One of the best reason he uses as to why his movies may not be that amazing is because the game companies don’t give him enough support. Well excuse them for having other things to do, like possibly making games. It’s your fucking job to make a good movie Mr. Boll and to do your own back reading into the subject your going to be filming about. Hell, this maybe a step to far, but maybe, just maybe, you could PLAY THE FUCKING GAME before shooting it. Your a little turd. An incredibly untalented turd. Suck. My. Balls. Suck them dry. I hope you never touch a game again, although you will, and when you do, I’ll be there to tell you just how much of a piece of shit you are.

This is going to be a somewhat self-indulgent (and lengthy) gush on one of my favourite topics to do with video games in general, and with their music in particular. But I promise that I won’t mention One Winged Angel at all in this post after this paragraph as I’m sure most people who are familiar with that of which I speak below will be overly familiar with this track already.

Oh, and if you’re reading this on Facebook come and read this on my proper page. It has streaming audio and everything.

Everyone ready? Let’s begin.

So, the final boss confrontation. To me, this can make or break a game. I remember learning very early on at school both when writing essays and preparing for performances that “people remember the beginnings and the ends of things more than anything else”. And it’s true. For me, by far the most memorable parts of many games are the very beginning and the very end. Sure, if the middle is interesting, compelling and/or fun I’ll be more inclined to make it from the beginning to the end, but I’ll be even more inclined to remember a game fondly if its finale is aurally spectacular. Conversely, if a final battle is somewhat underwhelming in terms of presentation, I’ll be less inclined to think of it favourably.

Take Diablo II, for example – I think most people agree that Diablo is a fantastic game, but for me that final battle with Diablo was utterly underwhelming, and it was the music that killed it completely. Or rather, it was the lack of the music that killed it completely. Diablo has an eerie, ethereal sort of soundtrack that doesn’t have much in the way of memorable tunes. Sure, it’s atmospheric and sure, its production values are higher than for many games (it is a Blizzard title after all) but dammit if I didn’t want something a bit more dramatic for battling the most evil thing in the history of ever!

So it is with this in mind that I want to share with you some of my favourite final boss confrontation soundtracks. The overdramatic climactic music may be something of a cliché to many people but I can’t get enough of it. If it involves “scary choirs”, a phrase a similarly-inclined friend and I coined a while back to describe the chorus in One Wi… I mean that song at the end of Final Fantasy VII… so much the better.

These are presented in no particular order, I should probably say. And if you have any similar examples, please feel free to share them in the comments.

Final Fantasy I (Origins Version): Last Battle (Nobuo Uematsu)

Start as you mean to go on, with a bit of Uematsu. While he is probably one of the first composers that people get interested in when they start looking into video game music, his “mainstream” (for want of a better word) doesn’t mean that his music isn’t worth looking at. On the contrary, in fact – the Final Fantasy series has typically had spectacular finales and a huge amount of this can be attributed to the music.

This piece is from the remake of Final Fantasy I for the PS1. If you’re unfamiliar with the first FF, the battle system consists of your party members standing on one side of the screen wafting their weapons around at a monster or monsters on the other side of the screen. There’s very little apparent physical interaction between them, and said monsters don’t animate at all.

That didn’t stop this piece of music making the final battle with Chaos (incidentally, just how many unimaginative RPG designers have used something as generic as “Chaos” for their final bosses since FFI?) super-dramatic and exciting.

This piece takes in all the JRPG finale clichés. Pipe organ? Check. Tinkly piano breaks? Check. Loosely based on the game’s main battle theme? Check. But I still love it.

Final Fantasy II (Origins Version): Battle Scene 2 (Nobuo Uematsu)

I’ll say now that I’m getting all the FF music out of the way first so those who think it’s been done to death (which, to be fair, it probably has) can happily skip to the later tracks.

Who’s still here? Oh good. This theme is from battling the Emperor at the close of Final Fantasy II, one of the less well-known FF games because many people hate, loathe and despise it with a passion. Me? I enjoyed it, and this music, while simple, was pleasant to experience at finale time.

The interesting thing (well, to me anyway) about this one is that the main motif of the theme also made a reappearance in the final confrontation of Final Fantasy IV when battling Zeromus. This also happened a couple of other times, with the chord sequence for Exdeath’s (still a dumb name) theme in Final Fantasy V bearing more than a passing resemblance to Sephiroth’s theme in Final Fantasy VII.

Talking of which…

Final Fantasy VII (Nobuo Uematsu)

I have two tracks to share for this one for the reason that it does one of the things I love best in a good final confrontation soundtrack – it takes one of the earlier themes in the game and expands on it. The next few tracks in this post revolve around this kind of idea.

So this track (Those Chosen by the Planet)…

…becomes this track (The Birth of a God).

Eventually, anyway. Give it time. At about 1:25 in, we get that Sephiroth theme coming back to kick some ass. I remember the first time I heard this it was one of those moments where you get an involuntary shiver down your spine. I know for a fact this doesn’t happen to anyone, but this one particular musical technique at work here – using a simple motif from an earlier piece of music in a completely different one, particularly if they are of markedly different styles – always has that effect on me, particularly if it’s used at a dramatic moment.

Then, of course, after this track, you get that other one that I’m not mentioning.

Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (Jeremy Soule)

Mr Soule is very fond of the technique I mention above, as is clearly demonstrated by both his work on Neverwinter Nights and Dungeon Siege (up next). The moody, creepy opening track from Hordes of the Underdark (which, so far as I’m aware at least, has no title other than “x2_title”) sets the scene for a descent into darkness with faint undertones of potential heroism ahead:

Slog your way through to the end of the game through its many traps, challenges and monsters and, musically, you end up almost right back where you started, but in a slightly different key at a slightly faster tempo with more screechy strings and clangy percussion:

There’s even some pipe organ in there. Well done that man.

Dungeon Siege (Jeremy Soule)

Dungeon Siege as a game was, to many people, a relatively forgettable action-RPG. It wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination bad, but most people seemed to think it was a fairly unremarkable game still riding the remnants of the Diablo II wave. Still, I remember it fondly for its music – in this case, both the very first and last tracks of the game providing strong “bookends” to the action.

Here’s the track you get for setting out on your journey:

This being Jeremy Soule, there’s more than a passing resemblance to the “sound” of Neverwinter Nights – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, eh? – but to me, the main theme of Dungeon Siege is much more memorable. I know of people who have restarted the game many times simply to hear this music again. I was also delighted to discover that Dungeon Siege II also started with an alternative version of this theme.

Get to the end of the game (assuming it holds your attention, of course – and I maintain that it’s actually an entertaining experience worth playing through) and your battle with the final boss is accompanied by this stirring soundtrack:

Scary choirs, clangy percussion, a hurdy-gurdy break and… there it is, lurking around the 1:08 mark, that opening theme. Once I heard that, any trace of gaming fatigue I had was immediately gone and I had to finish this game to do justice to the excellent soundtrack. It’s strange. The adrenaline rush of the simple re-use of a musical motif – I often wonder if I’m the only one that this particular technique has an effect on. But then I think about how many composers out there do it and I know it can’t just be me.

Space Channel 5 (Hataya, Tokoi, Nanba, Ohtani featuring Ken Woodman and His Orchestra)

My love for Space Channel 5 has, of course, been well documented in the past but I feel it’s worth mentioning here simply because it’s a completely different soundtrack to what we’ve heard above – and yet it still uses that same technique, and it has that same effect on me.

Space Channel 5’s main theme, Mexican Flyer, is the basis for much of the rest of the game’s soundtrack – if not in terms of reusing motifs then at least stylistically, with the blaring horns and Sixties stylings providing a backdrop to many scenes in the two games in the series. It’s certainly a memorable, toe-tapping theme that sums up the “Gays In Space!” aesthetic nicely. So when I got to the end of Space Channel 5 Part 2 after, oh, the mighty 45 minutes of game that preceded it, I was immensely gratified to be dealing with the extremely bizarre and surreal finale accompanied by this piece:

This piece has everything I want from a finale – a bit of drama (0:33), a bit of cheesy false-hope “Yay! You did it!” (1:03) and cap it all with an ending that takes the main theme and builds on it from a simple vocal (1:20) up to everyone in the galaxy singing along with you (2:15). This is the kind of piece that makes you feel rotten if you fuck it up halfway through.

Persona 3 (Shoji Meguro)

There’s just one more example of what you have probably surmised is one of my favourite musical clichés to fall back on, and that is the great and brilliant Persona 3. I’m not sure much more needs to be said about this at this time other than the fact that The Poem for Everyone’s Souls…

…becomes, after 90+ hours, The Battle for Everyone’s Souls.

It, of course, is them followed by the final battle mix of Burn My Dread featuring, in Beige’s own words, some Japanese guy “rapping the fuck out”.

Beyond Good and Evil (Christophe Heral)

Just two more, you’ll be pleased to know. First up is the spectacular soundtrack of Beyond Good and Evil which I want to draw attention to simply for its high production values and the great “bookending” of the game that these two tracks achieve.

Shortly after starting the game, you are thrust right into combat with a mysterious enemy you don’t know much about. During said battle, you are accompanied by this incredible piece of music that everyone who has played Beyond Good and Evil seems to comment on when describing the game’s amazingly strong opening sequence. Dancing with Domz certainly sets the scene for an epic battle.

The return to this style at the end of the game with the piece Sins of the Father is made all the more effective by the fact that much of the music in the middle of the game has been either of a somewhat “gentler” style, or when things did get hectic, a more “electronic”, “technological” sound. A return to the orchestral/choral stylings of the opening for the final confrontation helped, for me at least, to diminish the “Umm… what the fuck happened at the end of this game?” nonsense.

Trauma Center: New Blood (Atsushi Kitajoh)

I draw particular attention to Trauma Center here because I still find it utterly bizarre. I mean, we’re talking about a surgical action/puzzle/shooter game here. And let’s not forget the fact that the first Trauma Center game ended with you battling an illness that was “a form of Death itself” that had wrapped itself around the human heart.

I don’t know about you, but when I think about doctors, nurses and surgeons, pipe organs and scary choirs (there they are again) don’t spring immediately to mind. Neither do electric guitars. But what the hey. If you’ve played Trauma Center, you’ll know that it’s a sweaty-palmed and utterly terrifying experience, which these two pieces, heard during the final “battle” with the Cardia disease, reflect perfectly.

And on that note, it’s good night from me. Congratulations if you made it through all that, and I hope you’ve enjoyed some of my picks. If you have any other final boss musics that you’d like to share, please post ‘em in the comments.

My next post on game music (which will happen when it happens and not before, dammit!) will likely revolve around the art of the end credits music.

Daemonica RIP + Addon ( 236 MB )

http://rapidshare.com/files/109590680/de_mn_ca_p1-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/109590339/de_mn_ca_p2-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/109590305/de_mn_ca_p3-rar

Music Addon:

http://rapidshare.com/files/109590308/de_mn_ca_ma-rar

Password: s7or4x

Death to Spies ( 412 MB )

http://rapidshare.com/files/94473909/D.T.S.p1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/94472516/D.T.S.p2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/94472667/D.T.S.p3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/94473078/D.T.S.p4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/94473017/D.T.S.p5.rar

DEADLY DOZEN : PACIFIC THEATER RIP ( 175 MB )

http://rapidshare.com/files/87981493/DD2.p1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/87981483/DD2.p2.rar

Delta Force Land Warrior RIP ( 168 MB )

http://rapidshare.com/files/116683008/df_lw_p1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/116682992/df_lw_p2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/116682986/df_lw_p3.rar

Password: mygamez

Deus Ex ( 402 MB )

http://rapidshare.com/files/109574696/ren_dx.bat

Links intercambiables

http://rapidshare.com/files/106274830/De_Ex_p1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/105941210/De_Ex_p2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106541044/De_Ex_p3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106274077/De_Ex_p4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/106542975/De_Ex_p5.rar

Mirror:

http://uploaded.to/?id=i46l8b
http://uploaded.to/?id=vkfapg
http://uploaded.to/?id=1qky2s
http://uploaded.to/?id=xvpjgo
http://uploaded.to/?id=9s9cwi

Password: www.projectpiracy.com

Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition ( 550 MB )

http://rapidshare.com/files/73574644/DevilMayCry3SEByTHEJoE.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/73574667/DevilMayCry3SEByTHEJoE.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/73576636/DevilMayCry3SEByTHEJoE.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/73577338/DevilMayCry3SEByTHEJoE.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/73578919/DevilMayCry3SEByTHEJoE.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/73579742/DevilMayCry3SEByTHEJoE.part6.rar

Dungeon Siege 2 ( 509 MB ) + Addons

http://rapidshare.com/files/104966425/dug_see2_p1-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/104966455/dug_see2_p2-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/104966419/dug_see2_p3-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/104966433/dug_see2_p4-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/104966457/dug_see2_p5-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/104966398/dug_see2_p6-rar

Speech Addon:

http://rapidshare.com/files/104966444/dug_see2_sa_p1-rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/104966416/dug_see2_sa_p2-rar

Music Addon:

http://rapidshare.com/files/104966449/dug_see2_ma-rar

Password: s7or4x

The Blu-ray version of ‘In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale’ is coming out on December 16th.  It’s a special Unrated Director’s Cut with 35 minutes of additional footage.  I won’t say what else Cinema Blend says…you can read it for yourself, but I just reported what you needed to know because as usual, the writer is slamming the film.

Nesta quarta a noite estava de bobeira em casa enquanto minha esposa ralava para garantir um pouquinho mais de caviar de beluga para nós (cousa pouca, mixa !) e me vi sem opçoes na TV aberta e como não possuo TV por assinatura  só o Lentox, fui até a locadora pegar algum filme, tinham vários, mas gosto de aventura, épico, terror, fixação científica. Peguei um de aventura  o “Em nome do Rei” baseado no jogo Dungeon Siege, e que filmezinho ruim rapaz !!! O ator principal é o Jason Stathan que pode ser ótimo para filmes de pancadaria (lê-se policial, luta, mentira etc..), mas como ator dramático ele é tétrico, durante o filme o filho dele morre e ele age como se tivesse lendo uma lista supermercado cara, o pai morre e idem. Triste, muito triste…. Para terminar a produção é uma merda, os tais Krogs saem vestidos de monstro do Jaspion ou Jiraya com macacões de borracha, as únicas boas presenças são do Ray Lyota e do lendário Burt Reynolds, no geral nota 6.

I came across an online journal of an innocent blogger like me who had a good mention about Jason.  This one is from a guy named Richard Cobbett who reviewed ‘In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale’.  About the only person he seemed to like in the movie was Jason. 

The real star of today’s movie is Jason Statham, who made such an impact on me with his performance, I realise I forgot to mention him back in the cast-list.

Initiating hating count:

10. Контролите. Няма възможност да си настройвате контролите! Това е несериозно просто! Играл съм толкова много игри, че пръстите ми автоматично се разполагат на WASD конфигурацията, и искат да управляват героя си с нея. Но не и тук. Gas Powered Games са решили, че освен доджването (с “E”) единственият начин да контролирате героят си е с мишката. Може да ви звучи като не особено голям проблем, но след като започнете да играете, ще забележите, че управлението е много неудобно и факта, че не мога да си настройте копчетата не прави нещата да изглеждат по-добре;

09. Играта е отвратително лесна. Както знаете (а може и да не знаете) можете да си инсталирате разни киборгски ъпдейти, който ще ви превърнат по-скоро в робот, отколкото в човек но пък ще ви направят играта много по-лесна. Е аз играх като 100% човек, и играта ми беше обидно лесна. Представям си ако бях играл като киборг. И за да е още по елементарно, като умрете се риспаунвате в най-близката “saving стайчка” в стил BioShock. Но докато в биошока, това имаше своето логично обяснение, тук такова липсва. Не не се лоудвате, риспаунвате се, т.е всичко което сте убили преди това продължава да си е мъртво, а такива стайчки има буквално на всеки 5 крачки;

08. Играта е ужасяващо къса. Колко време ви отнема де превъртите едно истинско RPG – 20 часа? 40? 100? Най-пресният ми спомен е The Witcher, прекрасна игра с която затрих над 60 часа от живота си. Колко мислите ще ви отнеме Space Siege? Пряко сили – 10 часа. Остро несериозно!

07. Еднообразност – враговете са скучни и еднообразни. Тъй като действието се развива на един космически кораб през цялата игра, ще се нагледате на един и същ интериор. Въобще всичко в тази игра е еднакво.

06. Праволинейност - Dungeon Siege поредицата, никога не се е славела с голям и отворен свят, но в Space Siege, Gas Powered са успели да издигнат думата праволинейност на едно мноооого високо ниво. Правилният път винаги е САМО ЕДИН! Всичко ви е отбелязано на картата и ако успеете да се загубите, значи имате нужда от специализирана помощ. Заклевам се, че най-разнообразният маршрут беше ЕДИН паралелен коридор. ВЕДНЪЖ за цялата игра.

05. Ageia - играта използва ageia физикс за да кара нещата да се местят. Причината това да е негативна точка, е че въпросната е там просто за да могат да я сложат в рекламата на играта. Единственото за което се използва Ageia, е да сте сигурни че когато гръмнете някой варел той ще излети в неопределена посока и има 85% шанс вместо да взриви враговете ви, да взриви вас.
BTW направих си едно малко експериментче… На много места в играта има нахвърляни мини. В някой части на кораба има нахвърляни и баскетболни топки (който заради някой безумец са бели) който отскачат “реалистично” при удар. Та реших да пробвам да “търкулна” една такава топка в един коридор с мини и така да ги взривя. С лека мъка вкарах топката в коридора, само дето мините въобще не реагираха.

Да обяснявам ли още защо смятам, че физиката я има просто, за да кажат, че е там?

04. Графика – играта е грозна! И то не толкова заради технологията, колкото заради отвратителният арт дирекшън и нискодетайлните модели. Персонажите изглеждат отвратително! Space Siege е поредното доказателство, че дори да дадеш на един некадърник най-напредналата технология, той пак ще сътвори некадърни неща. Мили Gas Powered Games – УВОЛНЕТЕ СИ АРТ ДИРЕКТОРА!

3. Уменията - какво е едно RPG без дигане на левъли и готини и разнообрази умения? Еми Space Siege.

И да, ако изберете да играете като киборг ще имате по-голям избор от безсмислени умения. Ако сте човек – по-малко но пак безсмислени умения. Най-доброто което ще получите като скилл, ако играете като човек е просто… смешно!
Точки за инвестиране във въпросните, ще получавате само когато играта прецени, че ги заслужавате (тоест когато изпълните някой обджектив), но приливът им е неравномерен и непредвидим, тъй като липсва обикновена “левъл ъп” система. Също така когато избивате гадинки ще събирате “части” който можете да инвестирате в героят си/роботчето което се мота с вас/производството на аптечки и гранати…
Не знам за вас, но аз винаги съм смятал игри в която можеш да постигнеш това:


за много несериозни.

02. Loot – какво е най-специфичното за RPG-тата (освен, че съсипват социалният ни живот)? Купищата предмети разбира се. Оръжия, брони, амулети, пръстени… Какво е едно RPG без всичко това? Space Siege разбира се В играта има точно 10 (!) оръжия за главният ви персонаж, и 3 за помощник роботчето ви (две от който биват ъпдейтнати по-веднъж). С частите за който споменах по-горе, можете да ъпдейтвате различни неща по-тях, но.. голям праз. Аз искам тонове оръжия от които да избирам. Да се чудя кое да ползвам, да се чудя къде да ги слагам… А не ДЕСЕТ оръжия Че тая игра даже няма инвентар!

01. Историята – е глупава, предсказуема и… евтина. Моралният избор и последствията от това дали ще станете киборг или ще останете човек са почти никакви. Да играта има различни завършеци (филмчето по-долу), но реално независимо какво изберете да направите ще минете по един и същ път, и ще се биете с едни и същи противници. Просто контекста е различен. Което е много глупаво. А въпросното различно отношение на хората към вас, за което толкова много се говореше е просто едно две различни изречения. А великия бонук който получавате на края? Бухахаха

Следва едно кратко видео което направих, и което съдържа 3 от възможните четири края на играта. Просто нямах сили и нерви за четвъртия, но след като видите първите три ще ви стане ясно какво може да се очаква
Все пак, ако твърдо сте решили да изиграете играта до край, имайте предвид… че видеото показва как свършва играта

00. Hating over!
Incinerating Space Siege!

Ако имате желание, гласувайте за тази статия тук. 10х

No, the topic isn’t about what’s going on in my head (although that description is close), it’s about space. The final frontier. The uncharted territory. The rest of the universe for the human race, a mere speck of life in the milky way.

There are quite a lot of games that play off in space or has something to do with space and alien worlds. I guess a reason for that would be because of the unknowiness (that’s a word for the 2009 dictionary right there) of space. It allows developers free reign on the story they want to weave. And for the most part, it works well. But some games should have been kept from escaping out of the earthly atmosphere, for the story just doesn’t gel well enough.

Surprised I was then (and a bit apprehensive), when I heard the next hack-n-slash game from Gas-Powered Games that will run under the “_____-Siege” banner, was going to space. I was (and am) a huge fan of the Dungeon Siege series. I spent hours upon hours playing the game attempting to finish it man-alone with no party and no pack-mule. It was a fun and engaging game. So what could space offer this series ?

I followed the development of the game closely and salvaged any information on it that I could. And the news was pleasant, to say the least. Space Siege promised to be a new innovation on the old hack-n-slash mechanics. So I promptly downloaded the demo when it was released a few days ago and I set out to see first-hand if the game would match the news.

And the short answer would be, yes it does. The first thing I noticed while playing, was how “clean” the game looks. It could have been the settings I was running it on, but I didn’t have so much as a hint of any jaggy edges, texture artifacts or graphical glitches. The game looks and feels solid. Which makes it a joy to play. Also, the control system is not overly complicated and access to everything is laid out in a neat manner which is easy to learn.

Combat is handled in a straight-forward manner (hold down fire button while pointing at enemy) and the player’s special abilities are useful in tight quarters. Some of the abilities result in an interaction between player and enemy models a la cinema flair style, which is rarely seen in hack-n-slash games. It’s a neat little touch that gives the game it’s own personality. It remains to be seen how the special abilities scale up when the character advances levels. So too will the core of the game play. Where the player needs to decide if he / she wishes to upgrade their character with cybernetic enhancements at the cost of humanity.

Playing through the demo, it’s not clear if there are any consequences in which path the player decides to take. So it will be interesting to see how this mechanic is brought into play.

The story I cannot comment on much for the demo is quite short, but so far it seems to be a promising plot. Enough to make me want the game now =)

The game is set for release on the 22nd of August. A date you should mark on your calendar if this type of game is up your alley. It looks to bring some new ideas to the table and offer a fresh breath of life to the Siege series of games. It’s a game I’m definitely looking forward to playing.