Scops Blog

“Rebound” is a term I just decided on for games that jump back on top of my playlist after months or years of shelf-time. The associated posts may be reviews, nostalgia, or springboards for topics relating to the current gaming scene. Each one will start with a blurb about the game. When it came out, what systems, etc.

Def Jam Fight for New York came out in 2004 for the Xbox, PS2, and GameCube. It is a fighting game with a heavy leaning toward the wrestling genre, and features the likenesses of dozens of rappers associated with the Def Jam label. (Don’t ask, I know nothing about rap)

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While I was ordering a King Mocha from the local coffee shop a few minutes ago, I started thinking about tastes, and how they change.  Five years ago, I would have grimaced while nursing this brew that will kick-start a long night of coding (which starts just as soon as I finish this post).

How, then, does taste factor into gaming?  I remember envying my friend Matt in middle school when he showed me the Pocket Station, a Playstation memory card that could play games on the go, very much like the Virtual Memory Unit that came out of the Sega Dreamcast years later.  The device itself was nothing to write home about.  What excited me was the game that was all but alone in supporting the gimmicky device:  Final Fantasy VIII.

From my first taste with Breath of Fire 3, Japanese RPGs were the order of the day.  My siblings were older sisters, who lost interest in video games after Sonic 2, and most of my friends lived out of walking distance, so gaming was mainly a single-player affair, and I thought nothing of putting forty hours into a game. Read more »

I have long been of the opinion that anyone who dislikes reading has not found the right book.  While the subject rarely comes up among gamers, I think the books that come out along proper intellectual properties (IPs) are great ways to introduce gamers into literature.  While rarely challenging, these books are great ways to get us away from the computer, while still keeping us engrossed in our favorite characters and franchises.

The first book based on a video game franchise I can recall reading was Mortal Kombat by Jeff Rovin.  This book took many liberties with the MK storyline, and sampled heavily from various mythologies, but I remember loving this book and reading it through two or three times.  Later, I picked up the first two Doom books written by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver and devoured them.  For years, I was constantly looking for the final two books in the series, which had gone out of print, and was ecstatic to find that Pocket Star had released them in time for the upcoming movie.  That these latter two books were about as exciting as that horrible mess is beside the point.

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I wrote this as a sample writing for an application to the site <a title=”Suite101.com” href=”http://www.suite101.com”>www.suite101.com</a>.  As such, it is not indicative of my typical writing style.  They had a strict 600 word limit, and absolutely denied the use of first person.  Oddly, they clearly state that they do not want opinion pieces, yet their Video and Online Games section is filled with reviews.

This review is, however, handy, and it should be a nice introduction for author and audience alike to how I intend reviews to work here.  Each post will have a Good and Bad bullet list, along with an recommendation on who should buy and who should rent the game.  Hopefully, this will satisfy in lieu of a numerical score, which I am loathe to hand out.  So here we go:

Pros:
Fantastic set pieces in the campaign
Great overall package* and worthy (for most) of $60
Horde mode

Cons:
Story is not quite as self-contained and satisfying as the original
The short game is still a nightmare when any sort of lag is involved.
The gameplay has evolved a bit, but anyone who did not like Gears 1 is going to dislike Gears 2 as well.

Recommendation:

Buy:  Fans of the first one, stop-and-pop shooters, and most fans of shooters in general.
Rent:  Honestly, any 360 gamer who is not drastically opposed to violent games, shooters, or overly-macho-but-slightly-angsty sci-fi soldiers should give this one a spin in the drive.

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As far as freelance game writers go, I’ve got a bit of a head start.  I’ve done IT work at Epic Games, I am friends with people at two different game companies, and have met one Editor-in-Chief at a major publication.  In Raleigh, North Carolina, I am at the hub of two major development studios (Epic and Red Storm), a major media outlet (The Escapist), and a number of smaller companies, like Icarus Games (plug, plug).

Yet, I still have an uphill battle ahead of me if I want to make it in this industry.  In this age of information, I can think of no better way to gauge my progress than to report it here.  Over the coming months, I will report on my ability to join the ranks of freelance game journalists.  Perhaps others will be able to use this log as inspiration and as a guide, and perhaps it will just be a chance for me to vent over my failures, and celebrate my successes.

Time will tell.

I’d say welcome to my blog, but if you’re reading this, chances are it’s been running for months and I finally put some worthwile content here.

Well, this here is the end.  Or the beginning, if you’re me typing my very first post.  I could wax philosophical about this moment, but really, I’d rather just get to work.

-Scops

It really says something about an action game (used here as an umbrella term for pretty much any game where you kill enemies) when you finish the primary story mode and it says you are only about 30% done.

Pros:

• Solid gameplay, similar to RE4
• Great value in the forms of extra weapons, modes, and online play
• Accessible

Cons:

• Very little ambiance-driven scares
• Story is incoherent without the wall ‘o’ texts
• …Accessible

Recommendation:

• Buy:  Rabid fans of the series and anyone who enjoyed RE4, as well as action game fans with the patience to learn a quirky control scheme
• Rent:  Gamers who were iffy about the demo, or want to spend a good weekend with the game before waiting on a price drop

Get comfortable, this review is going to be a long one.

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