Skyrim

Goodbye real life?


No, well, not for me.

For a few weeks leading up to the release of Skyrim all I saw on my Facebook feed was 2 types of status based around Skyrim. Either those males apologising in advance to their significant others for making them a Skyrim widow, or the single ones who were cracking potential jokes about booking time of work to get stuck into the game.


Skyrim was always going to be extremely popular, thanks to its fans who have followed and hyped it up since their copy of Oblivion probably disappeared into dust in their CD tray. The Elder Scrolls series are notorious for being almost open ended in terms of game time. Similar to other sandbox type games, Skyrim has put considerable effort into making sure each person playing the game has an individual experience. The randomly spawning Dragons, Trolls, Horses, Rabbits and Bears are the easiest example of that. Sometimes a Dragon will appear, with no chance of you beating it. Which, although frustrating, allows the story to have some consistency to it.



When the game first starts, a bear is the most terrifying thing you can imagine. Later in the game, a few levels and skills up, a simple bear poses as much threat to you as Fernando Torres to opposing teams goalies. (for now)





I shall however share with you an important secret. I never liked Oblivion, and never gave it much of a chance either. About 2 hours into the game I kept getting shouted at for not knowing how to make a simple potion? Why didn't I know? I really didn't care. I, in the most, enjoy games that have their equipment and items right there for you to go and grab. If you want a new ability, you buy it, or select it from the menu. Oblivion got under my skin instantly for not letting me progress until I'd take then year 11 science lesson from a fat woman who scarily resembled a male lecturer from my University. I just wanted to get stuck in. Even go out, start fights with the guards and then run away - that would have done me! In hindsight I was probably wrong. I imagine there were ways around it - not choosing a character who relied on magic has crossed my mind..

So, a few weeks after most others I ended up picking Skyrim, trying to trade my way out of the completed RAGE (I can review if wanted). I got home, my girlfriend left and with a few hours to burn, I stuck in the disk and promised to give this game a real good go..


Ah.


First issue.


What class should I be? Hmm. Well there must only be a couple to choose from ill just..


Balls. Theres loads. I know, i'll ask on facebook. 20 minutes later, advised (yet to be seen how well) by Rob Welling, I chose a fugly Elf character who would make Katie Price look half presentable. Hmm. Right, another 10 minutes sorting his looks out and im ready to go. No? O, cutscene. (whistles..) Anyway.. about another 15 minutes of dark and blurry running around and killing later.. I'm out in the open. Wow.






The graphics are superb.


The more of the game you play, the more little touches you see inside the game that make it so unique. I've played for a fair few hours (when my girlfriends out, unlike a heap of you other thoughtless bastards) and made very little progress. Mainly as I am trying to get everywhere I can on foot. It takes longer, but there's a whole lot more to experience of the game when you do take it slowly. I really am enjoying this game, some of the story-lines I am struggling to really get into, but regardless of that, with a little patience, the game has very few flaws. With the amount I play this game, i see this game keeping me going for a fair few months at the very least.

If a long, submissive, impressive, visually stunning game is your cup of tea.. then this is a bucketful of it.

Rating – 8.5/10
Fair Price - £28

Portal 2

Good science?

Very rarely, a game comes along which truly rejuvenates love for console gaming. For me, Portal 2 has done just that.

As much as they dress them up, adapt, alter, promote, shorten, lengthen.. The games market has reached a bit of a plateau. Long running sports franchises which make slight adjustments each year, War games which make a half assed attempt at a single player game (we all are expecting a Call Of Duty : Take Down Osama type game now), but make their majority of interest with people killing each other for hours online.
Which, to be honest, bores me. I neither have the time, or interest in getting good enough to play online for long enough so that I am at a reasonable enough level that I am alive for more than 20 seconds at a time.


Portal 2 features one of the most intelligent and interesting physics engines around.


Now, I know Portal 2 isn't a 'new' idea. The 2 should really be a give away.. But I doubt I was alone in being excited and apprehensive about the immensely enjoyable side-game from The Orange Box having a sequel. The basic idea behind the game is your ability to fire 2 portals that are linked – walk through one, and you come out the other. Pretty simple? Sounds it. But as the game progresses, this relatively fundamental idea is exploited to the point where you will feel like crying due to the complexity of it. Turrets, cubes, buttons, lasers.. all are controllable by you.. and your portals.

The main reason I love this game, is the real feeling of accomplishment you get after the levels. I refused to use the walkthroughs, and there were some puzzles I was stuck on for almost an hour.. Sometimes it was something simple I had missed, others were something completely new in the brilliant physics engine I hadn't thought of. I found myself giggling at times. Literally, laughing at how clever the game was. The voice as Steven Merchant as your initial clumsy, simple robot companion is a brilliant touch – Not sure how but I would love to see Karl Pilkington voice a game..


Co-op character Atlas and P-Body.

Finally, another thing that Portal 2 does so, so well, is the Co-op mode. I played it with a friend, from start to finish. We giggled like school girls as we shot portals infront of where each other were running. We fired cubes at each other through our portals. We fired each other a mile into the air, we childishly squabbled over who would do what. It was superb, and took us a day to do – not bad for a side game.

Portal 2 is fun, unique, challenging.. It is superb, and like I did after each level, I look forward to what is hopefully next in the series.

Rating – 9.5/10
Fair Price - £35