Shooting

So, Far Cry 3. I can't say that I've been a fan of this series, but all the pre-release chatter had piqued my curiosity, and it seemed as though the game was going to attempt to tell a more serious, darker sort of story.

We're still playing catch-up on the latest videos from our friends at Extra Credits, but thanks to their fondness for two-parters we'll be caught up in no time. This two-part presentation is about the often maligned and often underappreciated Spec Ops: The Line. It's an interesting listen given how much the Extra Credits crew seems to have really bought in to what Yager was selling.

[Contains spoilers for the game]

Duckwalk Supreme

HIGH A handful of missions have the genuine "Hitman" feel.

LOW The ill-conceived "Shaving Lenny" level.

WTF What numerically-impaired person numbered these chapters?

Bad Girls

HIGH "Time to find allies... The story of my life."

LOW Coming back to Mass Effect 3 for pre-ending DLC felt more than strange.

WTF Where the hell was Aria's couch?

How to Lose with a Straight Flush

HIGH The gameplay is solid for a portable FPS.

LOW Finishing the single-player modes in less than an hour.

WTF This could have been good, had everything not gone horribly wrong

GameFly sent me Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale the other day, and while I haven't had a whole lotta time to get into it, I did play a few multiplayer sessions with my youngest son. The time we spent on it basically amounts to me standing still while he beats on me with a variety of different characters, but he enjoys it and that's good enough for us.

Survival horror games aren't what they used to be. Once upon a time, they were about survival and horror. It makes sense. It's what the genre is called, after all. These titles would encompass qualities of mystery and exploration as the player fought to stay alive with every step. Over the years, they've increasingly become about action, gunfights, and an overload of cheap jump scares. I prefer the former, despite a plethora of the latter.

Falling Short of Inspiration

HIGH The impact of a perfectly-aimed tank round on a punk riding a trike.

LOW Getting stuck in the level geometry three times per game.

WTF No team deathmatch? In an FPS?!

Numbers Game

HIGH Mopping up a roomful of baddies with a buddy in short order makes you giddy.

LOW My low level runthrough gave me +5 Gray Hairs.

WTF Me: "Did we just murder the Ninja Turtles?"

Psycho in the Car with Pistols

HIGH Figuring out, after multiple deaths, how to take down a whole level in seconds.

LOW The queasy, terrible stealth level.

WTF Almost every moment of this game is a WTF.