The 'In' Crowd

It seems that an increasing amount of games released recently are either based on or tied into a license of some sort. Whether it is a movie, TV show, or even just characters from other games, the amount of individually developed intellectual property in games seems to be shrinking. Sure, there is some - F.E.A.R. for the PC is a good example - but by and large the tendency seems to be to go with a known quantity.

There are a few ways in which this happens - tie-ins, sequels, and use of licensed material in original stories. All are represented in full-force this gaming season, so what is there on offer?

Movie Tie-Ins: Usually these are pretty bad, such as Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. But games for some recent movies - such as Chicken Little and Wallace & Gromit have received average review scores of ~70%, and the upcoming Harry Potter movie game might prove again to be an entertaining if unremarkable game.

Sequel Mania: these vary, but too many deteriorate in quality. Currently I'm playing Quake IV. This game is the sequel to Quake II (Quake III was a multiplayer game), but is very playable for those new to the series. Perhaps this is partly because id software games have pretty thin plots, or because Raven has made a point of including the original story interspersed with the action of the new game.

Licensed Property: This is really what I want to focus on. Again, these vary in terms of quality - Star Wars games are a great example, as some are terribly great and others are just terrible. These are very interesting in a way, as they allow familiar characters to get new settings and stories. There are a couple I'm playing right now - Ultimate Spiderman for the DS and XMen Legends II for the PSP.

Ultimate Spiderman is an interesting game in that it presents some new and some old material in a very stylish format that allows you to take on the role of hero or villian at certain points in the game. Spiderman is a license I know something about - he was my second favorite superhero as a kid (behind Batman), but there is much new stuff, and I don't keep up with all of it, as my kids no longer have the time for Saturday morning cartoons very often. But lacking specific knowlesdge doesn't hamper enjoyment of the game - so long as you know the basic characters and background. The storytelling is direct and interesting, and the gameplay fast-paced and fun. I'm about half-way through and it is a very good game - not one of the greats we've seen recently, but very good. XMen Legends II is an ambitious direct port of the console game, in which the XMen and the Brotherhood join forces against a new evil named Apocalypse. I know the basics of the XMen and have seen a few of the cartoons, but many of the characters and references escape me. That really doesn't matter, however, as the story of the game seems well done so far.

And that is the important thing, right? That the story work, that the characters make sense, and that the gameplay is solid? So it shouldn't matter where the ideas come from, so long as they are good. Right?

To an extent.

Take a game like Star Trek Elite Force II - this a pretty solid shooter in its' own right, averaging ~75-80% in review scores. To me, it really illustrated what I call an 80% game - very good without major flaws, but not truly excellent, but with a particular hook that keeps it from being a 70% game. But what really makes it shine above other 70-80% games is the level of Star Trek love. Taking time on the Holodeck to try a new weapon, being particularly successful and getting the praise "almost as good as a Klingon!" was great ... for me. Perhaps for you. But for someone with no knowledge or love of Star Trek?

That is what has struck me during XMen - I'm not a huge fan, and probably wouldn't know as much as I do without my son - to an extent that is true with Spiderman ... well, at least in terms of Venom. So these games are marketed to the 'in crowd' - those who know the territory, and can get maximum enjoyment based on using that knowledge.

And shouldn't we also expect innovation in terms of creative story development? Stepping outside the endless franchise-spawns and retreads and yearly sports updates and so on? I think we should - but not for its' own sake. The risk in making a new property is that it will sell like No One Lives Forever rather than F.E.A.R.; that it will turn out like Dungeon Lords rather than Dungeon Siege.

So keep producing good games based on known entities, and carefully select new properties to bring to market successfully - spend the marketing dollars to help a game like Gothic 3 succeed where the first two games have only achieved 'cult classic' status. Take the time to develop properties we'll care about, instead of always just tapping the familiar for new games.

Painkiller vs. Sacred ... gaming like it's 1997!?!

Something I posted on a forum about a year and a half ago:

I've been playing Sacred for many hours, and just got Painkiller last week. While playing the two games (Sacred one night, Painkiller next day) I was struck by something ...

Picture the scene - you are strafing into hordes of undead, killing all of them is your only goal, your only option, since the doors don't unlock until they're all dead, heavy metal thrashes as you frag one after the next ... later, in a different game, you are in a dungeon, click-attacking skeletons, liches, and so on ... picking up gold and items hoping for the next level to click-kill some more ... or just get bored and stop playing ?!?

Is it 1997 and the games are Quake and Diablo? Or 2004, and the games are Painkiller and Sacred? Who knows ...

I think I finally quit on Sacred ... I just don't remember when I stopped caring and just kept on playing because I'm a dedicated gamer. Unlike in 1997 when I had too many other things (baby and pregnant wife ) to stick to a game I didn't love.

Painkiller is like one of those Quake games - loads of fun and frustration relief, just don't look for any more than that.

Sorry for the non-sequitor .... it just struck me ...

Playing Nice With The Sam

At first there was disappointment. Then resignation. Bargaining. Acceptance. Installation. Realization. And Despair. Now I'm trying to ...

Wait.

Installation?

Yep. Installation of Serious Sam II. The game I railed about not getting in this space just a week or so ago is now on my hard drive, and has seen a couple of hours of gameplay. And all I can do is sit back and chide myself that I was supposed to be doing better about not getting things unless they were on my 'must have' list.

So how did it happen?

I went into my local EBGames to pick up XMen Legends II for the PSP, and had two realizations - one that I only had $35 and not $60 in my pocket because we had taken a scientist who was leaving the company out to lunch, and that the rest of my 'October gaming cash' was at home. The other realization was that despite EBGames.com indicating 'in stock', they didn't have any copies, so the fleeting thought of paying with my debit card was squashed. So no XMen for me that day.

Then I saw it sitting on the shelf - Serious Sam II. I had liked the demo, and knew that I would be done with F.E.A.R. well before Quake IV was available, so I grabbed a copy and bought it. Just like that.

But it isn't that bad ... is it?

No - it isn't a bad game at all. It is pretty average, nothing outstanding in any area I've seen so far, but certainly better than many games released recently. My problem was that I put a stake out there for myself - said I wouldn't do it based on an appraisal of the demo and my current wish list of games and the amount of money I have to spend on them.

And everything about this game tells me that not buying it would have been the right decision for me. Not for everyone, but for me. Some people have a blast with this type of game, and I did enjoy the 'Second Encounter', and I have had some fun with this one.

But I should not have bought it, but I did. Do I regret buying it? Yes. Will I play it and enjoy it? Certainly.

I just hope I learn something from all of this.

The Game is Dead ... Long Live the Game

If you spend any time on the 'official forums' of any game with a multiplayer component, it is inevitible that within months or perhaps weeks of release you will see posts along the lines of "the game is dying!" I was thinking about this as I looked at the playlist numbers below:

Looking at the stats on GameSpy as of October 24th ...
1. Half Life 30437 servers, 76271 players
2. Half Life 2 18512 servers, 59279 players
3. Battlefield 2 6359 servers, 40604 players
4. Call of Duty 6294 servers, 15528 players
5. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory 3280 servers, 11617 players
6. Americas Army: Special Forces 1835 servers, 8663 players
7. Unreal Tournament 2004 2543 servers, 7310 players
8. Neverwinter Nights 1317 servers, 5833 players
9. Medal of Honor Allied Assault 2115 servers, 4622 players
10. Quake 3: Arena 1999 servers, 3821 players
11. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Spearhead 1294 servers, 3766 players
12. Soldier of Fortune 2 1245 servers, 3485 players
13. Unreal Tournament 2157 servers, 3437 players
14. Battlefield 1942 811 servers, 2812 players
15. Halo: Combat Evolved 758 servers, 2579 players
16. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 700 servers, 1767 players
17. Battlefield 2 Demo 83 servers, 1342 players
18. SWAT 4 230 servers, 1101 players
19. Battlefield: Vietnam 252 servers, 922 players
20. Vietcong 284 servers, 817 players
21. Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle-Earth 218 servers, 754 players
22. Halo Demo 175 servers, 706 players
23. Return to Castle Wolfenstein 255 servers, 657 players
24. FEAR: First Encounter Assault Recon 222 servers, 615 players
25. FEAR: First Encounter Assault Recon Demo108 servers, 547 players

One game in particular I recall that sentiment being expressed strongly about was Jedi Academy. The supposed release (delayed to 14 months later) of HL2 eclipsed the release and drove down review scores, but the game sold fairly well, and has maintained an active community of modders and players for over 2 years.

Other 'old' games on there include Soldier of Fortune II, Medal of Honor Allied Assault and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The bottom line is that so long as you can find a game you like and that has some players online (if you happen to like that thing), the game is alive and well.

The problem is that games that include both 'single player' (SP) and 'multiplayer' (MP)content run the gamut from SP-focused games with 'tacked on' MP to MP focused games with a 'bot match' mode masquerading as SP. So the expectations you have for a game might not match the reality of the market. Take Jedi Academy, for instance - it is a story-driven, SP focused game with some decent MP modes, but nobody seriously thought it would challenge 'Counter-Strike' - or even the WWII shooters like Medal of Honor Allied Assault.

I have been thinking about this since the release of F.E.A.R. - a game dominated by a tense and excellent SP mode, with some available MP modes. I have spent a bit playing the MP mode, and it does a pretty good job of translating the tight gameplay into some fun action. Deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, elimination - all are enjoyable, and there are games around that are lively and challenging. Yet on the official forums, two of the most active topics are declaring "FEAR MP is Dead!" Here is a game that has been out less than one week, has several hundred players, requires a hefty computer to run, yet it is dead?!?!

If this is what a 'dead game' looks like ... kill more games!

What's that in the Sky? It's the GamerDad Signal

Andrew Bub launched a new column at GamerDad called the GamerDad Signal, in which he says "GamerDad is recognized by mainstream newspapers as a source for accurate information about videogames and children. And GamerDad is respected industry wide by the people – especially the parents – who make these games."

He makes the case for GamerDad, which is a site that immediately meant something to me 2.5 years ago ... so much so that I pretty quickly registered, started participating in the frank and intelligent discussions, and have now become a part of through reviews, articles, news and now a weekly column.

As my own kids age and we deal more with video games at ratings above 'E' and movies other than G or PG, the mission of GamerDad rings true more than ever in my home. Maybe it should be in your home as well - check out the article and the site.

The iPod Frenzy

PSP Forum switchboards all over the world are lighting up today following the announcement of Apple's new iPod with video capability. Apple has done something with the iPod for video that they have already done for music - make it legal, accessible and easy. And that is putting the PSP fanboy network on high alert!

You see - they need to know that they have the "#1 Sexy Gadget in the World". But they don't nor have they ever - that mantle has belonged to the iPod since 2001.

So great is the draw of the iPod that people defy logic in how the respond to them. Recently in a frontpage blurb on GamerDad Andrew Bub stated how much he wanted a new iPod Nano despite already having another iPod - even though he is a member of the media and should be immune to such things. Personally, I got my first iPod right after they came out, and now have a '3rd gen' 40GB - the one with the different button arrangement. It works great, and there is absolutely no need for me to have another - yet I want a Nano ... or a video iPod ... they are both so alluring. Indeed, I was getting my wife an iPod for her 40th birthday recently and was all settled on the Mini (which I could get in pink with matching leather case), when the Nano came out - and for some reason I was thinking about getting her one of those. I have no idea why ... it would have cost more, messed up the accessories we have, and been less convenient ... but if they had a 4GB while model, I'm not sure I could have resisted.

So what does this have to do with the PSP? Well, Sony is selling it as 'ATTAP' - all things to all people. Touting the multimedia features at least as prominently as the gaming capabilities. There is no doubt that it is the most technically advanced handheld game system yet, with some very nice multimedia and other capabilities. But is it really 'ATTAP'? That is what Sony is selling, and that the fanboys are pushing.

But what about reality? Reality tells a different tale:

• A tale of a game system littered with mostly mediocre games, except for a few decent console-ports and stripped down console releases ... and Lumines. Basically nothing 'system selling'.
  
• A tale in which David is played by the DS, when it should have been the other way around. Sony so effectively pushed the technological superiority angle that the DS became the underdog, despite Nintendo having ~100% market share before the PSP release.
  
• A tale in which things look great for David - in terms of awesome, system selling games like Nintendogs, Advance Wars and Castlevania. Games that make no apologies for being on a handheld, that feel like nobody's 'little brother' - these are just plain great games.
  
• A tale in which the touted music capabilities are really rather rudimentary. They compare pretty well to those of the Pocket PC PDA from 2000 - manual transfers, rudimentary playlist controls, and so on. So far behind where the iPod was even at launch that it is not even worth comparing.
  
• A tale in which another touted multimedia capability - displaying photos - is again a manual cumbersome process, while the iPod has a strange (through iTunes) but easy to use automated process.
  
• A tale in which another secondary use - as a PDA - is accomplished on the PSP through another strange and manual method, whereas the iPod will synchronize directly to the Mac address book and calendar or Windows Outlook.
  
• And finally, a tale of proprietary video disks that cost more than DVD's in many cases, which are playable only through the PSP, whereas the Video iPod has a huge hard disk for video, which loads from iTunes, and features licensed TV shows for $1.99 the day after.
  

Can the video display quality of the iPod match the PSP? No, but that isn't the point. Apple has once again changed the discussion from technoology of delivery to content - much as Nintendo has done with the DS. Sony and the PSP are left with impressive technology that has yet to demonstrate much value, and the fanboys are left defending their platform of choice.

Me? I love my PSP - and I'm hoping that some of the upcoming releases will finally break the trend of mediocre to crappy console Jr. games. Buy I will never mistake the PSP for something it is not. If I want to play music I'll use my iPod; need a PDA I'll pull out my HP Jornada; and if I need games ... well, right now that means the Nintendo DS for me.

No, I will NOT 'Get Serious'!

'Get Serious!' It is one of those expressions many of us have heard while growing up and into young adulthood, and perhaps some of us have used as our own kids begin to grow up.

'Serious' Sam is a video game franchise based around a simple premise - shooting lots of stuff. Frenetic action is the order of the day. Wave after wave of enemy came rolling at the player - there was no AI, it was kill of be plowed through. When it arrived in 2002, it was laughed at - a 'old school' shooter at a budget price! Then something happened - people started buying it and playing it like crazy! The follow-up 'Second Encounter' did even better commercially, and both games got reasonable reviews. It was only a matter of time before a true sequel was made.

The developers at Croteam focused on producing an engine that would be graphically advanced while allowing for a virtually unlimited amount of on-screen enemies. The goal was to take the Serious Sam experience to a whole new level of intensity. The demo for Serious Sam II shows how they have succeeded - it is an end to end, over the top killing spree that is a load of fun, and looks pretty good too. The visuals aren't up to 'next gen' snuff, but they are nice in the same stylized sci-fi fashion as the original games.

So what's the problem? Seems like the perfect sort of game - hours of mindless action and fun! Possibly - and I have no doubt that a year or two ago I'd have been at EBGames on the day of release buying Serious Sam II and plauing the heck out of it. I blame the Nintendo DS, and to a much lesser extent the Sony PSP. Basically, I would rather be playing interesting and innovative games for the handhelds - even relatively mediocre games like 'Lost In Blue' - than 'yet another shooter' on the PC. Truth is, if I want that experience, why not just play the original games again - I really thrilled at playing 'Second Encounter', and then bought the first encounter ... but never actually finished. Nor have I gone back and played again.

Have I lost my love for first person shooters? Far from it - I have replayed several shooters recently, and played the demos for Call of Duty 2 and F.E.A.R. as well as Serious Sam 2. I plan to get F.E.A.R., and have pre-ordered it to get the bonus items. I may also get Quake 4, but the early reviews don't look very good. What has changed is that I am also looking forward to several upcoming handheld games - Star Wars Battlefront II, XMen Legends II, Lord of the Rings Tactics, all for the PSP, as well as some DS games such as Mario Kart.

What has also changed is that I am trying to be better with my 'gaming resolutions' - particularly regarding "keeping a tight 'must have' list" and "finishing what I already have" and "replaying is never bad". So I figure that if Serious Sam II didn't make me reload and replay either Serious Sam 1st or 2nd Encounter, it must not really be a 'must have'.

So no, I won't get Serious ...

If it's such a great game ...

... then why has it taken you long to replay it?

That's a question that was asked of me in the wake of the recent release of the 'media upgrade' for Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords (aka KotOR2). Isn't that a strange question? With longer games, don't people often only play once, or at least wait a while in between playing? Perhaps 'people' do that, but not me. For me, a great game is one that I launch into replaying immediately after finishing it. Usually I play all the way through, but occasionally I only get part way ... but if I love a game, I always get some significant portion of the game replayed.

I gave KotOR2 a 90% review, based on what I described as "The first 20 or so hours of KotOR 2 are some of the best gaming experiences I've ever seen. We have PlaneScape Torment levels of dialogue, plot weaving and intrigue, Baldur's Gate 2 levels of party interaction and banter, and action right out of KotOR."

And I played the heck out of the game the first time - I was fully immersed in the story and characters and continued right through the end. But then I started a new game, and never got even as far as Atton on Peragus. As I embark on another attempt to replay the game I am left wondering why ...

And the only thing I can come up with is that the 'end ruined the means' to paraphrase a cliche. By that I mean that the obviously unfinished and rushed-out feel to the end of the game was such a let down after the glory described above that it killed the incentive to work through the game again.

Also, the tutorial does not replay very well. That is acceptable, as it is short, can be skipped, and has no impact on the items or experience gained. However, It is somewhat surprising that the opening area of the game is not as enjoyable to replay. Whether or not this is also related to the end-game is not clear. Normally, the beginning of a game is when we get familiar with everything and everyone, so it is typically slow and usually linear. I don't think that KotOR2 is any worse in this regard, yet for me it seemed to drag worse than any of my many replays through Taris in the original KotOR. It is not until you leave Peragus that things get good.

So what does this mean? Is the game worse than I originally reviewed? I honestly don't think so - once on Telos I found the game became immersive and quite engaging once again, and the excellent work of Obsidian began to shine through. I think that there were more pacing problems than I could pick up in a single playthrough. Whereas games like Baldur's Gate and the original KotOR also started slowly, they reached such tremendous heights by their conclusion that you were swept through the openings each time you played by the promise of the glory to come. Which brings us back to 'the end ruins the means' ... since the promise of ultimate glory at the end of the game is gone, there is much less to carry you through the slow opening.

So why did it take me so long to replay KotOR 2? Because I had no desire to be disappointed again at the failed promise of such an excellent beginning.

So they didn't die before they got old ...

I was listening to some 60's rock on my iPod (specifically some Yardbirds), which then triggered me for some reason to listen to The Who's Tommy. So far so good. But then that night, we were watching some TV, and heard a couple of Who songs - one as part of a commercial, the other as part of one of the various CSI shows. And recently the Rolling Stones tour has been all the rage, and summer festival shows were full of old groups whose stints in the spotlight ended many years ago.

So what is it that these 60-ish rockers have to offer? Nostalgia, mainly - a reminder of a time past that many of us preferred because we think of it as a simpler, happier time. But that is a fallacy, as always - it was just that we were younger and things were simpler, and these songs remind us of a happier time.

So what is the harm? The harm is that with the ever-increasing productization of music, there is little space for innovation or risk-taking. When you add revival shows like the Rolling Stones, you further diminish the airplay, shelf space and mind-space for new artists. That is not to say there is no value in these artists - 'oldies' and nostalgia have always been forces in music. It is just that the value of these (largely) stagnant self-caricatures to bring audiences and sell CD's comes at the direct expense of new artists.

An interesting statistic is that only 10 or the 100 best selling recordings of all time were released in the last 10 years. How much of this is due to the comparitive quality of music on those recordings? I don't know, but I am sure there is also a contribution of the saturation of 'product' artists, the tendency towards nostalgia in older generations, which has surprisingly intersected with the desire to do non-mainstream things in our youth. The longevity of popularity of rock music has allowed this, but it seems that in some way the music is continuing to eat itself. It has become increasingly hard for new voices to be heard because radio is increasingly controlled by a smaller group of corporate interests which push very specific playlists. These stations are dominated, not surprisingly, by 'product' music and 'oldies' or 'classics' (depending on your viewpoint) - leading many to claim that piracy may actually have a positive impact in allowing new artists to catch the ears of listeners. But this is a limited opportunity - how will people hear about these bands to know that they should be listening to them?

The problem remains exposure, and so long as we have 'dino rock' sharing space with 'productized pop', there is little mind, shelf or radio space to introduce new music ... unless the music industry tells us that it is what we should be listening to.

All Tragedy is Local

That adaptation of Tip O'Neil's famous line "All politics is local" is what I thought of this weekend. While the Gulf Coast is still reeling and recovering from the recent hurricane disasters, Central America is still counting its' dead from the recent hurricane in that region, and even as we learned of the horrific earthquake in northern Pakistan killing tens of thousands, all eyes in upstate New York remained fixed on Lake George.

The tragic boating accident, for those who don't know, involved a relatively small tour boat which had 48 mostly elderly passengers. The boat hit a wake and rocked, and the passengers were sent to one side, which resulted in the boat capsizing and sinking. There were a host of failures - the boat was short a crew member (meaning one, rather than two), nobody was wearing life jackets, the boat was modified considerably from original design which made it quite top-heavy, and so on. Of course, many of these things are basic problems with lake tours - people want a nice view with shade, and don't want to wear lifejackets. Nonetheless, the tragic image of 20 eldery people, many in wheelchairs, drowning helplessly is tragic and heartbreaking.

My wife is from Glens Falls, which is a small city about 15 minutes south of Lake George. Her retired parents still live there, and we go to visit to help them out whenever we can. While her parents don't know any of the victims, they know many in the area and are naturally drawn by age and similar fragility to those who suffered losses. So for the weekend we went through many discussions about the tragedy, turning to the earthquake only as we left New York.

As we returned home, we learned that much of our own region had undergone many inches of rain, and that a large area in southwestern New Hampshire had massive flooding. We were lucky that we hadn't had such problems in our area, but due to the proximity felt great empathy for those who had lost homes and been injured.

So when the week began, we gave most of our charitable support ... to the people in New Hampshire. Sure, we did what we could for those suffering from the massive earthquake, but as the old saying goes, all tragedy is local.

Yardbirds - Shapes of Things

Interesting story ... we had bought my son the Green Day 'American Idiot' CD for his birthday, but a friend gave him that at his party so we needed to change plans. So I had returned the CD, and was going to get him The Killers 'Hot Fuss'. I was in the mall, and wandered into the music store (the type where you almost never buy stuff because it is usually $17+), and on my way out saw the name 'Yardbirds' in the bargain bin. So I looked, and found three CD's - 'BBC Sessions', 'Roger the Engineer' and '25 Greatest Hits 1964-1966'. There was definite overlap, but at $5 each, I just grabbed all three.

The Yardbirds were a group I loved, largely for Jeff Beck. I always found him preferable and more innovative than Clapton, and never had much use for Page (not saying he isn't a fine guitarist, just that he never rose above the 'hey, he's a really talented guitarist' level for me). But my exposure to them was happening while I was also beginning to explore fusion, so I only ever got a single recording - a double-album collection called 'Shapes of Things', which had stuff featuring all three guitarists. I recorded it to tape (which broke) and digitized then downsampled to 64kbps WMA format (early days of MP2, on a Pocket PC when Compact Flash was expensive) ... and so by today the only decent song I still had from that group was 'Shapes of Things'.

So I dumped all three into iTunes, and combined them to get rid of duplicates, then did some listening. I found the BBC sessions to be interesting, but more of a curiosity. I decided that it would be one of those CD's I'd have on the shelf for occasional use, and so deleted it from iTunes, as my Powerbook laptop is filling up (something about using it for digital photos, music AND video!). Then I made a single playlist and got rid of everything I didn't care to keep, which left me with 16 songs. That would have been $16 if I could have done it by-song in iTunes, so I came out about even.

Some of my faves:
- Heartful of Soul
- Evil Hearted You
- I Ain't Got You
- Train Kept a'Rollin'
- Over, Under, Sideways, Down
- I'm a Man
- Mister You're a Better Man than I
- and my fave is still Shapes of Things

Paranoia Reminder

Don't stick your neck out, they'll cut your head off.

Comfort Gaming

When times are difficult or stressful, many of us look to things that give us comfort against those stresses. Comfort foods are the classic example, but some people do gardening, or yoga, or other activities. I run 5 miles in the dark every morning at 4AM to loosen up my brain and muscles, and I also fall back on some of my favorite video games as a form of stress relief.

In fact, I would say that certain games are like comfort food to me. I call them ‘comfort games’. So what makes a game suitable as a ‘comfort game’? A couple of things are critical – why you play the game and how playing it makes you feel. There is never a bad time to play a comfort game, but there are particular times when you will learn which games are your true ‘friends in times of need’. These are times you don’t really want to talk or need a hug, you just want to be transported somewhere. While there are various games that you can turn to in a certain mood – anger games, humor games, or whatever – a comfort game is something that you actually find relaxing.

Here are the three games that I would most characterize as my primary ‘comfort games’.

Jedi Knight II: This game was a revelation to me. I was certainly not new to gaming – or Star Wars – in 2001, but for some reason things all fell into place. In 2000 I had configured my Toshiba Portege laptop to run the Jedi Knight and Mysteries of the Sith games which was great since I was traveling one week a month. The family had gotten me the VHS of ‘Episode I’ the day it came out, and I had been keeping an eye out for information on the upcoming ‘Obi-Wan’ PC game. By the time the Obi-Wan game got cancelled and Jedi Knight II was announced, I was fully engaged. It looked exactly like something I wanted to play, and for the next year I gobbled up whatever information I could get. When it was released, I had to stay away for a few days – because my birthday was 7 days after release and I decided to let my family get it for me.

That night, I installed it and just wanted to try it out ... and four hours later I needed to rip myself away to get some sleep. I played the heck out of that game until I finished. And, by the time I finished I realized it was my favorite game ever. Not the 'new infatuation' type, but the real thing. Something had happened when I was playing ... the early areas recaptured my Dark Forces love like an homage, and the Yavin Training section was just a catharsis unlike any other in all of gaming for me. By the time I reached Yavin again, I was totally immersed in the experience and anticipating my next run through the game. And that happened immediately after I finished. Then again after that, and again, and so on.

And each time I play, I am immersed in the characters, the world, the fantasy of the Star Wars universe as a Jedi. Each time I get to Yavin I get goosebumps going through the training. Each time I reach the Doombringer I am totally relaxed facing waves of Stormtroopers and Reborn and Shadowtroopers. And each time I reach the final battle level I rejoice in the glorious music from Return of the Jedi. Indeed the game has brought special love to many themes I had previously glossed over, such as 'Lando's Palace'. I am not blind to the many flaws in the game, nor have I ever been. It is just that - for me - the game is totally transcendent. It captures the right experience in the right way and just totally connects with me in a way that a game never has before or since. And in doing so has become my ultimate comfort game - guaranteed to take me to another place in which I am relaxed and comfortable and thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Gothic 2: It is interesting that a game that ‘gave me the smack down’ at first has become a comfort game. After ‘getting into’ RPG’s through Neverwinter Nights on the Mac, and then playing Knights of the Old Republic on the PC and picking up Baldur’s Gate 2 and the expansion for the Mac, my next RPG was Gothic 2. This is a game that doesn’t wait around for you to get your act together – if you stray from the path early on you will die a quick and painful death.

Yet as I played it, I became very engrained in how the game 'does things'. Perhaps it was the music that drew me in, perhaps the easy style of the protagonist. Maybe it was the lively towns and interesting characters. Whatever it was, I was hooked. The game can get really hard at times, and is unsympathetic to you getting yourself in trouble. Yet I find it a pure pleasure to play, and have completed it several times despite the 60+ hour length. Why? It is a compelling world in which to role-play. You are not given a choice as to who you are, but you are given almost total freedom on how to accomplish things and live life in the world. Combined with everything else, Gothic II remains one of my favorite games and one that I can just slip into and lavish in.

As I was writing this, I learned that 'Gothic 2 Gold' is coming, which will include the 'Night of the Raven' expansion. Can't wait!

Soldier of Fortune II: This certainly didn't start as a comfort game. There is tense action that will tear you apart throughout the game, the story is droll, the characters hackneyed, and it plays almost exactly the same each time. Yet it has become one of my favorite and most replayed games. Why is that? Quite simple - because of how it feels. It is a nice, solid but simple shooter, but the weapons and locational damage system remain unmatched to this day. While newer games may have more realistic looking and sounding weapons, they all tend to use the 'meatbag' approach to hit damage - you are a generic mass that absorbs damage uniformly, except for your head. SoFII did a wonderful job of making your shots feel like they mattered, and given the weapons you got (particularly the overpowered shotgun!) and the satisfying blood-gurgle as you popped someone's skull with a head-shot, it is a glorious game to replay. And because it is easy to become very familiar with the game, you can work out strategies to taking out areas of enemies in different ways. Very satisfying game, and since I have become very good at it, just a relaxing way to while away an hour here or there.

So how do you predict whether a game will be a comfort game? Who knows?!? I have a hard enough time determining whether or not I'll like a game, and if I do like it I have a hard time figuring out whether it will become a 'replay favorite', or just a fun diversion I only play once or twice. Finding a comfort game takes time and patience. But in the end they can be the most rewarding gaming experiences of your life.

What are your comfort games?

Bard's Tale Second Opinion Review

I got my copy of the Bard's Tale for very cheap off eBay right before GamerDad posted Marc Salzman's review. I had previously decided not to get the game, so the timing was interesting - it allowed me to get a view from a perspective I always appreciate on a game I bought on a whim, and therefore had pretty low expectations from. So what did I think about it?

First, the very fact that I'm putting this on my blog rather than submitting a 'protest review' to GamerDad indicates that I don't radically disagree. Perhaps I'd score it a bit higher - I was thinking 70% rather than 60%, but scores are meaningless, it is the context that matters.

And it is in that context that I feel the review misses the mark. It talks about well-done dialogue and average gameplay. Let me address each of these.

The problem with doing a combined parody / homage in a game is that you must still make the player go through that which you are parodying. That, to me, is the Bard's Tale's greatest weakness. In order to keep the focus on the lighter side of the game, the developers removed much of the role-playing. You have some control over the level-up process, but not much. Items picked up are either equipped or converted to gold depending on whether they are more powerful than what you already have. In some ways I actually like this system (compared to selling 100 'rusty swords' for 6 gold each in Gothic 2). And the Bard's summoning system is a mixed-bag. On the one hand you get the coolest little dog to battle with you and many helpers to get you through battle. On the other hand, you get all of these cool summons but do nothing with them - for instance you get a beautiful ranged warrior 'Heroine', but never make a comment to her. What a waste. But the real weakness is battle - the combat system is really not fun. Compared to Dungeon Siege 2, or any solid action-RPG for that matter - the combat feels weak and gets boring and frustrating quickly. I would tend to rate that aspect even lower than the GamerDad review.

As for the humor and presentation, the game really plays like a Mel Brooks comedic parody of RPG's. There seems to be an endless stream of dead or soon-to-be dead 'Chosen Ones', cliched quests and over the top scenes. Many of these hit, while some fall flat. But in the end it is this aspect that drives the player through the game - every conversation is interesting and you are offered choices whether to be nice or 'snarky'. And you need to read the situation to know which will get you what you want (which is basically coin, cleavage and rest from adventure). The production values are very high, as is the interplay between the Bard and the narrator. The graphics show the lower resolution artifacts of their console roots, but are satisfactory otherwise.

My summary would be - if you are looking for a serious role playing experience, look elsewhere; if you are looking for some light fun, Bard's Tale might be for you; and if you have $30 to spend on a game ... find a better game. I'd give the combat and RPG aspects 2.5 stars, the humor and pacing 4 stars, and the overall game 3.5 stars.

Letter to PC Gamer on the F.E.A.R. Review

When I saw in the back of last month’s PC Gamer that the ‘world first’ review of the game F.E.A.R. I did a bit of math to satisfy my curiosity. November issue means early September delivery, which means late August press date which means mid-August deadlines. That means an early to mid-August play-through required.

As I check now, as I read the article on September 13th, the game *still* hasn’t ‘gone Gold’ – which means that you have produced a review based on an unfinished game that may or may not represent what us consumers see at retail.

If the demo is any indication the game will be great, but that isn’t the point.

First, I do not accept it as a 'review', as the game is not out yet, and couldn't have truly been 'gold' for press time. Therefore calling it a ‘review’ is a fraudulent claim – perhaps ‘final test drive with score’ would have been more appropriate. Then you could have followed up with a ‘full review’ next month. Less glamorous, perhaps, but more honest – and do your readers deserve less? Don’t you want us to regard you as the serious journalist magazine of PC gaming, not yet another flashy and pretty hype zone?

Second, I have no doubt that you played the game, but where and under what conditions? Nothing is mentioned in the review, but I assume you went to the developer’s studio, where the game was already installed on their test system, and were allowed some amount of hours of supervised play. What does this do to your credibility?

There have been several reviews in recent issues that discussed installation difficulties across machines, difficulty getting settings correct, and so on. None of that could have entered into your review because it was conducted in a sterile environment. And I love your reviews in general – they are pointed and direct, and cut no corners. But even the feel of this review is softer - more like a preview – when compared to the reviews for Dungeon Siege II or Fable in the same issue.

As I say - I am hopeful that FEAR will be the 90+% game you describe, but am bothered on principal by the 'scoop at all costs' mentality here - I didn't like it when you did it for HL2, and I don't like it now.

Boxed Sets Can Be Gems
The first boxed set of music I ever got was a set of Wagner's Orchestral works on three albums that I bought in 1981. It has remained with me in one form or other ever since, and remains on my iPod to this day. The next one I got was 'Miles Davis - The Columbia Years 1955 - 1985'. This wasn't bad - I had the majority of the music, but there were some new tracks, and the presentation format - one CD for 'Blues', 'Standards', 'Moods' and 'Electric' - made it great car listening in those pre-iPod days.

Then my wife got me 'The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions, 1965-68', which has always been one of my favorite periods of Miles' stuff; some of my favorite music of any type. The problem was I already had all of the music from that period, and for the few extra 'alternate takes' it just wasn't worth having, so I returned it and got some newly released Miles live stuff from the 70's (Black Beauty, At Philharmonic and Dark Magus).

Since then my box set purchases have been a decidedly mixed bag - 'Complete Bitches Brew Sessions' is a tremendous 4-CD set of music that shows the creative genius flowing through Miles at the time of the Bitches Brew sessions, and comes across as a tremendous augmentation of the original 2-CD set, making it a must have for any fan of the music. 'Complete In A Silent Way Sessions', on the other hand, represents much of what is wrong with boxed sets. First off, it isn't all from the 'In A Silent Way' sessions - much of it is from earlier. Also, lots of the music is previously released, and much of the unreleased material consists of lesser alternate takes and rehearsals. Only a couple of songs - such as Ghetto walk" - are remarkable and worth having. This is not a very good value.

The latest addition to my boxed set collection is a newly issued set called 'The Cellar Door Sessions'. This is a 6-CD set recorded live over a four day stint that Miles and his sextet of that time played at the Cellar Door Club in Washington DC. In these appearances, Miles was playing with a band consisting of Gary Bartz on saxophones, Keith Jarrett on keyboards, Michael Henderson on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Airto Moreira on percussion. Heavily edited sections of the final concert of the stint on December 19th, with John McLaughlin on guitar as a guest musician, were previously released as part of the Live-Evil album. But until now, the Bartz-Jarrett-Henderson-DeJohnette-Moreira band on its own had never been heard on official releases.

Now this is what a box set should be – ‘beyond the music’, as it were. The ‘Live Evil’ CD has always been a favorite of mine, as it captures so much of where Miles was going at that time. To take that vision, and expand it from 2 (album length) CD’s to 6 full-hour CD’s allows us a look into everything the group was doing at that time. Despite there being largely 5 songs repeated in each session, there is a huge variation in the music presented. The amount and level of improvisation – and not just solos, but actual twisting of the rhythms and themes and structures of the tunes from performance – is simply staggering. As Michael Henderson put it, "we were vicious. This band was on the edge and off the rails." And Keith Jarrett adds in the liner notes “His (Miles) playing is so strong here that I need not comment on it. If it doesn't knock your socks off, you aren't wearing any."

The songs features across the sets were: Directions, Honky Tonk, What I Say, Sanctuary, Inamorata and a few short interludes titled Improvisations. Yesternow – one of the songs from the Tribute to Jack Johnson – is featured on the first day only. While I have know of these songs from their various appearances on live recordings of the period – such as at the Fillmore East and West recording and the ‘Black Beauty’ concerts – it is amazing how much variety is put into them here. The band really is thrilling, and every minute of every CD is worth listening to.

This set has taken a high-listening spot on my iPod, and has reaffirmed my faith that the box set can represent the possibility to fill in the musical space in a way that single CD’s can never approach.

My Last Ditch Effort for Listeners
I like strange music that almost no one else likes. That is fine, and I have dealt with that for about 25 years now. Since I followed Jeff Beck from the Yardbirds through his fusion work, which led me to John Scofield and Miles Davis, my tastes have veered way off the mainstream. It didn't take me very long to branch through the entirety of Miles' catalog, picking up a taste for people like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman along the way. By exploring some of these artists I discovered Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, the Art Ensemle of Chicago and more. By the time I switched fully to CD's in 1986 I already had a formidable collection of avant-garde music, as well as many mainstream and modern jazz artists such as Wynton Marsalis and Pat Metheny.

But along the way I found that I had fewer and fewer people I could share my music with. While I had no problems getting a few people to go see Pat Metheny Group, only my best friend went with me to Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society, and only because he was my friend. No one really wanted to listen to most of my music - especially the really 'out there' stuff. One more artistic type in our house drew a cartoon of a saxophone being tortured that was hilarious, but also represented the general opinion of the sounds emanating from my room.

I knew my wife was not a big jazz fan from back when were were just casual friends in college. But when we started dating, we both had a love of music, so we would share and try each others' stuff. She actually liked some of mine - bits of Miles, Metheny, Coltrane, David Sanborn, Marsalis, and that sort of thing. The wild stuff she couldn't take. And that was fine - we had a basis. And she has always been willing to give my new stuff a listen - even if she knows she probably won't like it. My kids have never liked much, but will occasionally give it a listen - calling it 'Daddy's Crazy Music'.

So why do I bring this up now? Last weekend she suggested I put on some music and I mentioned to her - "it is interesting how much less tolerant all of you have become of my music: it is to the point where there are perhaps half a dozen choices of what all of you will listen to, and it just isn't worth me bothering." This touched a nerve, so at breakfast on Sunday she declared to the boys: Daddy is going to put in some music and we're all going to give it a listen.

So what to put in? That is a tough choice ... do I choose something neutral that I am only choosing for them hopefully to tolerate it, or what I want to listen to ... which would make them want to rip their own ears off? What I wanted to listen to was Miles Davis, but really something like 'Zimbabwe' from his 'scorched earth' period, which would have been too harsh, so I picked "The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions". I had played it before for them without any permanent harm, so I thought it would be safe.

So how did it go? Pretty awful, actually. My wife was the first to leave, going in to do some laundry and never really returning. The kids sat for a few minutes, then took care of their dishes and went into the family room ... and I put on David Sanborn and later Allan Holdsworth to have something that might interest them. At some point they went upstairs, and I was left alone. So I put on the Pangaea 'CD' (from my iPod) and listened to Zimbabwe while putting the new DVD player in the home theater center and putting the door back on (had to be taken off because the old system was too deep), and while I was still reorganizing things the kids came down and starting playing around, no interest at all in the music, and when my younger son actually started practicing piano on his portable keyboard, I thought 'enough' and switched it off.

How do I feel? A bit disheartened, although frankly not surprised. We all develop our own tastes, and my kids are into pop and rock, as is my wife. Perhaps someday they will have interest in my music, but they don't now, and it makes no sense to push it.

For the mean time, I'll put in Miles' 'Kind of Blue' or some Metheny or Wynton Marsalis or something similar when asked to share. Oh, there is one silver lining - I can get them to listen to the best and most important music of the year, Pat Metheny's 'The Way Up', without them knowing what they are absorbing.

Small victories.

System Seller vs. System Buyer
A lot of press time is being spent talking about how the new Nintendo DS game 'Nintendogs' is for teenage girls. If the game brings more girls (and women) to gaming in general, that is all the better. But my experience has shown me that this game is appealing to gamers of all ages, genders and genres. It is not just a gimmick, it is a fun and engaging experience that gets right to the heart of gaming. I saw my first 'live' Nintendog from my handheld gaming 'partner in crime' from work, who is over 30 and quite proud of his Nintendog. And my boys would wet themselves with delight with delight if I would buy the game - and let them use it, of course. But so what is the big deal about the 'young girl' slant on marketing?

Perhaps it is the distinction between the 'system buyer' and the 'system seller'. When my parents got me a GameBoy back in '89 (yes, I was 23 at the time!), it came with Tetris. Now, when you buy a PSP, most everyone gets Lumines. These are 'system buyers' - you wouldn't buy a PSP simply to play Lumines any more than you would have bought a GameBoy simply to play Tetris. But they are great games that are a blast and therefore a 'must have' for owners of the systems.

So what is a 'system seller'? It is a game that - in and of itself - makes you want the hardware. Many people saw Halo as the XBox's system seller. But I think that it was more of a 'fence pusher' - many people were ready to buy and just needed something to make them say 'yep, gotta have it'. Even so, there haven't been too many games that could make a 'system seller' claim in recent memory.

But there are people who had no desire for a Nintendo DS suddenly running around with one and rejoicing at each new trick their Nintendog can do. Are they Game Geeks like me? No - they are relative non-gamers, which amounts largely to women and girls. And if, as was the case with the Sims and some other games, this brings more talented and intelligent people into gaming, we will all benefit from it.

I also have to say that there is some mixture of irony and satisfaction seeing once mega-arrogant Nintendo seeing this huge success so soon after once underdog Sony proclaimed Nintendo as pretty much for kids and not worth consideration. I want to see vibrant competition in the handheld space over good games that capture the imagination like Nintendogs and Advance Wars: Dual Strike, not very graphically intensive console rehash garbage like Dead to Rights Reckoning and Death Jr.

(Not so) Greatest Hits
A couple of weeks ago USA Today ran an article called "'Best Of' albums not so great these days", which talked about how the scope of what a greatest hits collection means has changed. As the article mentions, it used to be a milestone, and not only did it it provide a retrospective of work, but often allowed new listeners to experience the artist at their very best. I think of many of the great albums of the 70's that I grew up with - the Eagles Greatest hits was mentioned in the article, but also Rolling Stones' Hot Rocks, the Beatles 62-66 and 67-70, even the Who's Kids Are Alright soundtrack - which did more than just bridge the years, they allowed a whole new generation to experience great music. Too many of the greatest hits now seem to be compensating for the fact that many current CD's only have one or two good songs. Put out a CD a year for a few years, and you are ready to have a 'greatest hits' CD ... which is really just a collection of the non-crap from your CD's.

So why does this matter? Well, after seeing 'The Kids Are Alright' when it came out in 1979, I was hooked - I was 13, had taken up the bass pretty seriously for a while, and was ready to rock. For several years, even as I evolved from rock through fusion to jazz and whatever the avant-garde stuff I listen to now is called, I always had a soft spot for the Who. They are one of the few rock groups represented amongst my 300+ CD collection. But I haven't bought anything of theirs in nearly 20 years. However, family and friends seem to forget that you grow up and change, so I have gotten various Who related items as gifts through the years. What I recently got was "Moonlighting: The Anthology - Roger Daltrey", a two-CD compilation of the singer's solo work.

Given that I brought up the USAToday article, can you see where this is going?

Roger Daltrey is one of the truly great rock frontmen, encompassing a vocal power and physical presence that have become a fundamental part of the rock music landscape. Singers from Robert Plant to David Lee Roth and beyond have emulated that style over the years. One thing Daltrey wasn't - was a songwriter. So when he ventured out into solo territory, he used other people's songs, with mixed results.

There is some good stuff in this collection - but not many surprises. Some of the stuff I already had - I had 'McVicar' and 'Under a Raging Moon' on album and had already digitized 'Free Me', 'Bitter and Twisted', 'My Time is Gonna Come', and 'Without Your Love' from McVicar, and 'After the Fire', and the title song from 'Under a Raging Moon'. I had also gotten 'Say it Ain't So, Joe' and 'Giving It All Away' from iTunes courtesy of my enthusiastic Diet Pepsi drinking, and knew of his version of 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me' from the Lost Boys, although I never had a copy.

So what does that leave? Not very much - most of his 70's stuff is throw-away, tending to be slow and melancholy songs I found boring and uninspired. I found McVicar to be his best album, even if the movie never even made it to the US. But everything of quality was well played when the album was new - which was also true for 'Under a Raging Moon'. I had checked out but ultimitely not gotten anything newer, and the selections featured here merely confirm this - mediocrity abounds. There are a number of live songs here, some of which are decent enough, but none that are worth buying - and none that I even bothered ripping to my iPod. There was a previously unreleased song that left little impression on me. The one truly new addition to my iPod was 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me', which was even more powerful than I remembered.

So, I had 8 of the 37 songs already, and I digitized and replaced those that had come from vinyl. Add to that the one new song, and it is still less than 25% of the collection that I found even worth recording from CD.

... and I thought that it was the low quality percentage that resulted in collections in the first place?

First Day of School 2005
Well, the kids are back in school again - and the busy schedules have started. We've already had a soccer practice and piano lesson, and I went to a Cub Scout district meeting last night - but that was good as the speaker was really focused on making things fun and adventurous for the kids. That is something that is really needed when you're trying to fit 10 pounds of you-know-what in a 5 pound bag ...

GamerDad Woes
Anyone attempting to visit GamerDad has likely noticed that the site is down, and the forums are largely down as well. It is an unfortunate thing, and Bub is looking for alternate hosting because the reliability has been faltering as of late, and we just can't afford the downtime just as the site is taking off.

Update Sept 1st:as of today, the main site for GamerDad has transitioned to the new host. Unfortunately the forum is still on the old site ... and because of issues all might be lost ...

Dinner Party with other people
My wife and I got the rare opportunity to go out to dinner together without worrying about the babysitter. Last week was our 13th Anniversary, and on our anniversary day we went with the kids out to Deerfield to a place called 'George's Rocks' which had a nice litte Dinosaur exhibit and a man-made 'mine' for kids to get a bunch of polished rocks. It was fun for an hour or so. We also went to the Yankee Candle Factory store, which is always fun - they make it such a pleasure just to explore that the shopping part is secondary. Then we went to a nice little Italian place (Monty's Garden in Leominster) for dinner - one of those places that was good as a family, but not so much of a 'me & the wife' things.

Last week we also had Theresa (Lisa's good friend from college and Christopher's godmother) up from Wed - Sun. She offered to stay with the kids while we went out Saturday. Whew! Normally we have to deal with the babysitter (she is very good, but only 13 so we are careful about time) or my parents (...).

We went to a very highly regarded place called the Herb Lyceum, which was a herb garden that has evolved into a fine dining place. No liquor license, bring your own wine. They have a single fixed menu for the month. All that was fine, but seating was 'communal' - meaning that there were two tables for 10 and one for 15, making their 35 person capacity. We tend to like more intimate dinners, but thought we'd try. Our thoughts were 'not bad, never again' - see, we had no real together time. Intimate side-talk during a dinner party is rude. Also, you don't know anyone, and there were two very nice couples we sat with and had some nice discussion. Then there was a 'younger' couple, early 30's. They never relaxed and weren't much fun to talk to because of it. Finally there was a very pretentious couple, who would throw out names and places, but when anyone would want to discuss them, would seem bored and detached. Not much fun. But at least we got to dress up, have *awesome* food and wine, and a little time away.

So what did we learn? While we both enjoy the company of others, what we relish most is intimate time alone to celebrate our life together. In an age of 50% divorce rates - some of which have hit awfully close to home recently - I revel in the love and friendship I share with my wonderful wife. So even though we didn't have the greatest time at this 'dinner party' style night out, we did it together, and shared in that experience and learned something about ourselves as individuals and as a couple.

On the gaming side, a few things:
- I picked up Dungeon Siege II. I didn't like D1 all that much, but got it for the Mac for $5, so it was sort of a throw-away. But after playing the demo and really enjoying it, I took the plunge. I wasn't disappointed - it is a solid 80% game that reminds me of my recent experience with Project: Snowblind. That is, not a stellar game, but just plain solid.
- More purchases - Death Jr. (PSP), Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS), and Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (PC). Death Jr. started great, but faded fast to 'meh'. I'm really starting to wonder about the versatility of camera and controls on the PSP after the last three games! The Doom 3 expansion is actually very good - I just finished it over lunch. Even prettier, with some cool weapons (double-barrel shotgun! and grabber). Advance Wars is the coolest of the three, and a surprise for me since it is a strategy game. But after the first several missions I love it.

... and one other thing ... if you check the image below, you see that Dungeon Lords has been removed from my gaming laptop, marking the end of that game - the disks are in my storage box, and I don't think I'll see them again soon.

More from Cub Scout Camp ...

This is my Webelo den ... I'm in the lower left. They were pretty good kids, and we had a good week. I think that it worked out pretty well that my den assignment got messed up, as my older son seemed to have a great time without me leading his den.

Well, I have just completed my latest 'vacation' week - I served as a Den Leader for a group of Webelos at Cub Scout camp. I have been largely out of touch for the week, and it will be nice coming back to reality - though I will miss the kids.

More on this later.

Saying Goodbye to ‘My Next Favorite Game’

I remember the excitement from April of 2004 as if it were yesterday. A friend of mine from a Star Wars gaming forum had mentioned an upcoming RPG called ‘Dungeon Lords’. The details were pretty sketchy at the time, but the game looked very promising. It reminded me at once of Gothic II and Baldur’s Gate and Jedi Knight II – a few of my all-time favorite games. I also knew that D. W. Bradley – who I didn’t know, but knew of from the famed Wizardry games (that I’d never played!) – was heading it up … so it really seemed like a sure thing.

An aside on what it means to be 'my next favorite game'. One of my key personal attributes is loyalty. Not blind, dumb loyalty, but the sort that is hard earned and long-kept. The same is true with gaming. The games I fall in love with and remain loyal to are ones that I continue to play and speak about often. Games like the original Castle Wolfenstein, the entire Dark Forces / Jedi Knight series, anything by Bioware or Black Isle, and more recently Gothic I / II. These are games that I have played not two or three times, as I have with 'games I like' such as Half-Life I/II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and so on. These are games that I replay again and again - I have fully played Jedi Knight II more than thirty times at this point, and have recently embarked on at least my tenth full trip through Knights of the Old Republic. When I looked at Dungeon Lords, I thought I saw my next gaming love, my next gaming obsession, the next game I'd be saying 'on my fifth time through I did ...' about.

I quickly joined the game forums at Typhoon Games in April, then DreamCatcher as soon as they opened up in July. There was a great bunch of people there – especially at Typhoon, where there was already a small community going. Joining in there was a very positive experience, as there were many other 30-something game fans looking forward to DL. We shared gaming pasts and current experiences, as well as our thoughts on what we had heard about Dungeon Lords. Every time a new preview of screenshot was released, we would pick it apart and share our thoughts. The backstory we heard about seemed pretty standard stuff, but also a solid basis for establishing conflict and possibilities – and it gave us plenty to talk about.

The first sign of trouble came last fall. At that time the release date was supposed to be in November, a demo was to be released on September 30th, and a call for beta testers went out. Very quickly the demo was pushed back and then cancelled. Then the beta date came and went with seemingly no one chosen. And then finally the release date was pushed back to Q1 2005. There was a lot of activity on the forums about all of this – we gained many new members, some positive, some simply looking to cause trouble. But that is the nature of any user forum, isn’t it? What seemed clear was that communications were not being handled very well.

We honestly did not know what state the game was in, but everything in previews still looked promising, so we hung on through the winter. Many of us were distracted with games like Half-Life 2, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and later Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, so we really didn’t mind the delays too much. But as Q1 2005 wore on, and we entered the middle of February, we began to wonder what was happening. Then a whole series of new press build previews came along, touting the combat and challenges. They all talked almost exclusively about the combat, and a few puzzles, but not too much else. The community was again abuzz over the possibilities, and we were imagining what the game might be like.

That is the funny thing about looking forwards to a game. You are only given a certain amount of information, and left to shape the rest in your imagination. The longer you are waiting, and the larger the community, the more the game seems to take on a life of its’ own. Some communities are well guided by developers and publishers – I specifically recall all of the helpful input the Jedi Knight II fanbase got from Raven Software in the year leading to the release of that game. However, neither Heuristic Park nor DreamCatcher were very good communicators – except for this guy named ‘CHUK’ who would show up periodically on the Typhoon forums and throw us a few tidbits. He was a great guy, and the way that he reminded me of ChangKhan from Raven just got me more excited for the game. But there were more signs that the game would require a miracle to be ready for release. In one preview – on LANAddict, if I recall – the reviewer mentioned that there was so much missing and not right in the game that they hoped that it could make the timeline. I took the initiative to jump on this and write to the developers and publishers, and tell them that they should really heed those words. I posed the following question: Would you rather be remembered as the guys who released a really good game some months late, or the ones who pushed the unfinished and buggy mess out the door on time.

I could not have imagined how relevant that question was at the time.

The game got delayed for a couple of months, and then for a few more weeks, during which time the DreamCatcher forums became much more lively, and the main place CHUK would provide information … and therefore the place where I hung out. Also in that time period the demo was released … which I can see now was the beginning of the end.

The Dungeon Lords demo was a disaster – it took forever to install, had loads of glitches, a single screen to tell you what to do, and mammoth respawning right from the start. None of the options worked … it could be fun, but was generally just a mess. The fact that there was a general agreement that it was pretty much a repack of the press build from November seemed to calm us a bit , leaving us only feeling disappointed that we didn’t get a representative look at the game.

The problem was, of course, that we really did get a good look. When the game was released the first week in May, many of us ran right out and grabbed it. I know I did, even though I had a review copy coming the following week – I had basically invested myself in the game, and made my decision to support it with a purchase. I started playing right away, and over the next couple of weeks put more than 100 hours into the game, playing through twice, once as a Mage and once as a Paladin.

I had fun, but I have barely touched the game since, and don’t think I really ever will. Why? Because it is very substantially unfinished. Enough so where I didn’t feel that the two runs I had were much different – only the combat changed things, and there is only so far that can take you. As a role-playing game, it was lacking too much. But what of the patches – can’t they help? Possibly, but let’s look at the track record. The demo was released in March, and was much like the build from January, which it turns out was much like the November build. The release build in early May had some changes, but much of it was the same. Therefore we can assume that making changes is very slow. That is confirmed by looking at the patches – each one has fixed a few things, but pretty small stuff given we are now about three months since release.

Heuristic Park would need to revamp the journal, add character customization, add many, many NPC’s and environmental items, deal with the spawning issues, give us quests and rewards … which is entirely too much to ask or expect. Dungeon Lords is what it is, which is a mediocre, unfinished RPG that reeks of ‘what could have been’. I warn people off of it all the time and now look back on it with bittersweet feelings of the fun I had despite the way the game ended up. I made some new friends, and watched one of them – Chuk, who was the only one to stick his neck out and talk to the fans – get his heart broken watching so much of his work getting trashed because of the final quality of the game. It was a sad thing hearing how he had been missing out on time with his wife and their new baby in order to build assets that will likely never be used in the game.

Dungeon Lords will not be remembered as a game – if it is remembered at all, it will be as a beacon of what an unfinished game or a messy release looks like. I doubt D. W. Bradley will ever get another release funded. I imagine that Heuristic Park will fold sooner than later, and I hope Chuk lands on his feet as he is surely a very talented person. As for myself, I hope I maintain contact with a few of the friends I made, but I have moved on to other games.

That is the way of the gamer.

Yet a few more of my reviews are up.

Boiling Point: The Road To Hell for the PC. This is a very interesting and engaging game that is also highly flawed. Too bad, really ...

Goldeneye: Rogue Agent for the Nintendo DS... the best handheld FPS controls EVER ... too bad they're attached to such a mediocre game.

Pariah for the PC. Another mediocre game, not terrible, just mediocre - oh, and really short.

Interesting how I noticed - I was scanning GameTab, and went to Voodoo Extreme, and saw the Pariah review - seems everyone picked it up quickly.

I'm playing Dead to Rights Reckoning, which isn't bad, but not good either.

I wanted to share a wonderful picture I got on Independance Day at Disney World of the fireworks from in front of Cinderella's Castle. While nothing can capture the impact of the spectacular 360 degree show (or of the half million other fools crowded in with us!), this is a nice shot.

Game rentals - I did my first one yesterday. As someone who is normally on the cutting edge, I'm way behind on this ... I rented a Scobby Doo GameCube game for the kids a year or so ago when my wife was going away for the weekend, but this is different.

Normally I buy everything I'm looking forward to 'new', meaning I generally pay full price. In late 2003, as I got into RPG's, in order to 'catch up', I began spending more time on eBay, picking up some good deals along the way. I got some pretty good deals along the way.

But this year, with the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP coming along, and a number of small-shop RPG's, I've found myself paying full price for games. And given the quality of many of these games ... it was just too much. I wanted to try renting ever since Blockbuster announced PSP rentals, but the closest shop to me didn't carry them (or participate in the 'no late fees' program!). But I just found that there is another store a few miles away, and they had Dead to Rights Reckoning. Perfect - I've heard that it is pretty mediocre, and I already regret paying $40 for Coded Arms.

GamerDad has posted a few more of my reviews:

Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend for the PC. This is my most scathing and lowest score review yet - 1 star out of 5. I was initiatially wavering between 1 and 2 stars, but after some discussions, it was clear that my words back only one outcome.

Restricted Area for the PC ... another disappointment in this year that seems full of them.

Coded Arms for the PSP, was an unfortunately pretty but lousy FPS. The controls were terrible, the levels cramped and bland, and the story played out in the first few seconds. I gave it 2.5 stars.

I still have a bunch of reviews in the queue ... including Star Wars Episode III for the DS, Fire Emblem Sacred Stones for the GBA, Project: Snowblind for the PC and GoldenEye Rogue Agent for the DS. I'm writing up stuff for Riviera on the GBA, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory on the DS, and Boiling Point for the PC. Whew ... lot of stuff. I know I also have the action-RPG Metalheart: Replicant Rampage coming to me, but I'm starting to want more time to play games I really love or have been looking to play - so I started Beyond Divinity today, and am also replaying Baldur's Gate II.

OK, so I'm back from Disney ... and then had some vacation at my wife's parent's house (some vacation, some helping out) ... and need to add some more stuff here ... next couple of days I'll add stuff - before having another week off (this time for Cub Scout Camp).

Getting ready to leave on vacation - 4th of July at Disney World! We must be crazy! It will be hot and crowded ... but we're all so very much looking forward to it. See you next week!

Yet another generic shooter ... this time it is called Pariah. It is a beautiful game, tightly put together, and everything works very well. Yet is reminds me of Rune in that you seem to be on a journey the entire game, then *bam* end boss. The story is pretty weak even though the game feely story-driven. The characters never give you much reason to feel empathy/sympathy/antipathy, and the enemy AI is inconsistent. I have noted price drops on this one already ...

Given my disappointment at Postal 2: Apolcalypse Weekend, and since I needed to have Postal 2 installed to install the expansion, I played through Postal 2 again. I hadn't touched it in quite a while - well, two years to be more precise.

Postal 2 is still as I remember it - a pretty generic shooter, with some cool things wrapped around it. It is free and open, there is humor and interesting characters and good interactions, and totally rediculous situations. It is just plain stupid fun.

Playing it only cemented how bad I thought the expansion was.

I spent another 'gaming lunch' ... and finished two games. (ok, it ended up ~1.5 hours, but I'm good for it ;) )

Restricted Area: I predict that this game will win an award - worst voice acting for whoever did Victoria ... she should just shut up and kill stuff. A cool looking and sounding game that turned quickly into a real yawner.

Postal 2 Apocalypse Weekend: The first game wasn't highly reviewed, but many found it a fun 'guilty pleasure'. I fall into that pack - worth playing once, try out the 'napalm urination', never played again. The expansion took ~4-6 hours, was completely inane and not fun.

Mike

GamerDad has put my Fate review on the main page today. It is really a fun game, but I have personally run into the 'unlock limit' issue already - I installed on my main gaming laptop (1), and then tried but failed on my work machine due to firewall (2), then installed the low-res version on my little Dell Latitude D400 just to check (3). I went to install on the Dell Inspiron 8500 at home for the kids to keep playing, but got the 'invalid key' error. Oh well ... email to tech support.

I'm playing Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend right now. Two words - lame and tame. The first one at least put some choices in your hands in the midst of being an idiotic and uninspired shooter that tried to distinguish itself by being completely offensive to everyone. The expansion shows no sense of style or focus, and the graphics still look the same. It reminds me of being a kid and seeing things that were controversial back in the early 60's and having a chuckle ...

My review for Dungeon Lords is up at GamerDad. (Thanks Dhruin!) I scored it as a 3/5 (60%) and it was a very difficult review to write because:
- I had very high hopes for the game as my next Gothic II
- I got to know some of the people involved and they are all wonderful
- I actually had a blast playing it for >100 hours!

But in the end, there were so many glaring problems and deficiencies that the amount of fun I had actually went to 'tilt' the score from 50% to 60%.

I'm playing Restricted Area, and have gotten my 'Victoria' pretty powerful. It is a decent game, but while I'm going around accomplishing goals, I really can't say I'm having any fun.

As opposed to Fire Emblem Sacred Stones, which is just a joy. I am anguishing over turns early in battles, then relishing in my strategy as I see the tide of battle turn in my favor.

I've also been on an eBay buying spree ... picked up DarkStone, Revenant, Wizardry 8, Postal 2 (I traded Unreal II with a friend to play it originally, then we traded back) - so I can grab the expansion, and Boiling Point. Boiling Point is supposed to be a bit of a mess, but I got it for cheap ...

Another day, and some more new games.

Restricted Area is a post-apocolyptic isometric action-RPG, which looks pretty nice, but has been giving me fits on the very first mission! I have started four games - two as Mr. Johnson and two as Victoria - and had to dump all of them. My Victoria missions failed because I died trying to conserve medkits. One Johnson ended the same way, the other I got stuck in a wall (i.e. BUG!) The CD is taking a rest right now ...

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is a RTS/RPG for the GBA. It is very well done, I'm playing on 'easy' so I get the full tutorial, and it is going pretty well. I have lost one of my people, whose name I can't forget, it was a minor fighter, and it is interesting how death is *final* in this game.

Dungeon Lords continues to get pummelled in reviews ... to the point where people can get away with barely playing any of the game, having a tough time and blaming the game ...

Last week I played a nice little RPG called 'Nox', from 2000. It was a decent game, with reasonable graphics and questing. It was a fun play, about 30 hours in total, with good increase in difficulty as the game goes on. The music and spell effects were well done - it is a game that keeps you playing.

I am still torn over the review I submitted for Dungeon Lords. I had some conflicting ideas on scoring the game, as I have very conflicted feelings about the game itself. Ultimately I tried to be as objective as possible in describing the good and bad without it turning into a large volume.

I have been unable to get to see Episode III again ... just too busy. I'd love to get to see it again in the theaters ... may have to take time off of work to do it ;)

So I finished some games ...

Star Wars Episode III for the DS - I finished this weekend, with both Anakin's and Obi-Wan's 'paths', and did some 'skirmishes' - which are basically multiplayer flight matches against bots. A very fun game, best Star Wars handheld game I've played.

Dungeon Lords - how do I even begin ... it is really good, yet very problematic. For instance, there is once trigger I had to reload about 10 times to have work. Also, when starting the 'end-game', there were four quests in my log, one of which was from the very beginning of the game, and all of which I had finished long before. But the end areas were fun and challenging, as were pretty much all of the dungeon areas. My thoughts are basically - cool game, good combat, decent story, missing loads of stuff ... just not done. Oh, and I have never really gotten multiplayer to work ...

... now I have to write up my reviews for both ...

We pulled the kids out of school yesterday to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I see it as clearly the best of the prequels ... but more than that, I see it on par with 'Star Wars' and 'Empire' .... with two of the great gems of my youth.

My older son says it is his favorite, while my younger son says it was his least favorite ... because Anakin turned to the dark side.

For me, while nothing will ever replace the feeling of that opening crawl or space battle, or of Vader's reveal, this is right up there ...

My wife Lisa went on the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer this weekend ... she and a friend walked about 40 miles over two days. About 1800 people total participated and they raised millions of dollars! The boys and I didn't get there until Sunday morning (Friday night was 'walker only', and Saturday we were loaded up with Soccer, Baseball, etc...) but it was something - really emotional experience. Everyone was touched in some way by cancer, and there was total camaraderie between walkers - these people who didn't know each other were hugging and laughing and crying together. We were clapping and cheering for everyone while we waited for Lisa to arrive. Fortunately the weather stayed pretty decent for the weekend.

I played a ton of Dungeon Lords this weekend as well. I really like so much of it, that it is a shame about what isn't done or is incomplete. I can barely stand visiting the Dreamcatcher forums because of some of the harsh rhetoric, much of which is purely reactionary, but a lot is justified.

In particular, my hate of the Journal has only intensified over the weekend. I have dealt without the map, and am getting familiar with the land. But when I forget about who I need to talk to and where ... that is when any decent RPG should have a journal with notes to help me out. But instead I get the line 'Go to Skuldoon and help the Mage' - I know that .... he told me to do something, now what was it ?!?

I'm basically done with the Episode III game for the DS, and it was pretty good. Hard at times, repetitive at others, and I have no idea why the touch screen for 'special moves' was disabled during 'boss battles' ... but in general a lot of fun.

I am having a Love / Hate relationship with Dungeon Lords. I am many hours into it, and it *is* quite engrossing ...

First off, I like that this game has attempted to have the large open world as found in games like Gothic, rather than the closed maze feel of something like KotOR. It is a beautiful world, very dangerous. No random NPC's who don't belong on the road like in Morrowind, but that is a mixed blessing - while the hostile travel makes sense, there is little 'color' in the towns so far.

My two main gripes - map and quest log - seem trivial, but when playing in a large world with various quests and locations, they need to be robust. I was looking for Moonstones, and up in the middle of the Lost Lake, I came upon the grotto where they were located, but it was a matter of swimming around and hunting for familiar things between the compass and the paper map. Just not good enough.

The Journal is another problem - you get these quests, some of which end up as page after page of expository dialogue ... but in the Journal you get the equivalent of 'bring the sword to Bob'.

I have hit level 10, tons of experience, but the Mage portion of my character still feels weak - my 'BattleMage' (even though I chose sorcerer) is mainly a fighter with magic weapons.

Very busy weekend - had Theresa up, acting as Danny's Godparent(s), Danny's First Communion on Saturday, and Mother's Day. Really good weekend (except for lousy weather!), but little gaming ...

Got my 'belated' birthday gift of Republic Commando, barely started ... still not a priority.

Picked up Dungeon Lords, but had very little time to play ... unfortunately it shows considerable evidence of being rushed out unpolished, and also unfortunately they didn't take what looks like the 'common route to rush-outs', which is to make the beginning look good and patch the later parts (e.g. KotOR 2 & VtM: Bloodlines)

The Episode III game for the DS is a gem, very tough for me, but worth going through ... at least so far.

Just an update ... Dungeon Lords arrives at EBGames ... I'll grab my copy later this afternoon (something called work gets in the way ...)

As for Wizards & Warriors ... I managed to get four good characters so far - 3 warriors and a mage, took them out of town to save, will work on the priest and rogue later ... what a hassle ...

Yesterday I finally got Wizards & Warriors ... it seems an interesting game, but after I found out that there are random attribute generation stats, I quit and started again. I have to get the 'best' character. I really don't like this type of thing - I know it adds variety to the role playing end, but I want the strongest possible character for a certain trait, not someone hobbled forever due to a 'bad first roll'.

I also picked up the new Episode III soundtrack. This is yet another John Williams masterpiece ... the epic 'Battle of Heroes', and 'Anakin vs. ObiWan' tracks are wonderfully done, and there is a mystery and tragedy to much of the music. Haven't had a chance to watch the DVD yet ... hopefully this weekend.

Finally, I picked up Star Wars Episode III game for the Nintendo DS. This game looks very good so far, but is a bit on the hard side. We will see as I go along. The screens don't do it justice, but check out

Still waiting for Dungeon Lords to arrive somewhere near me ... I guess I just learned a lesson about pre-orders ... especially for smaller titles.

Last Friday I planned to spend most of my time after putting the kids to bed on Guild Wars. But I didn't - I barely played for 30 minutes, and that was it for the weekend. Have I lost interest already? Not really, but it isn't a terribly deep experience. I played it some more, ended up dumped into these co-op missions, and then had to go.

That definitely hit me - we got dumped into a group vs. group battle, and it wasn't much different than a Team FFA match in a typical FPS ... and I don't like those much. Doing the solo are is pretty decent, and the quests are generally OK, but it definitely seems to matter what order you take them - there are some I've just pounded myself against again and again before finally winning, and others I barely get a scratch.

I am very much looking forward to the Dungeon Lords release this week. Also, the Episode III game could be my first 'real' Nintendo DS game purchase ... my wife got me Super Mario DS at Christmas but I really don't like it much - just not my type of game.

Guild Wars ... I was iffy on it, but here I am on 'Day of Release', and I'm a level 2 Elementalist. It is fun so far, but I wonder how long I can play solo before I get into serious trouble ...

I finished LEGO Star Wars on the GBA the other day and have been noodling around in Free Play mode since then. It is telling that I didn't immediately repeat areas I loved in Free Play, because there was only 'like', not 'love' ... unlike in the PC version.

I'm writing the review now ...

Medal of Honor Pacific Assault?!?!? I had already forgotten this ... now my review is up at GamerDad

Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition

Well, my review is up at GamerDad (4/5 stars) for this nice little game. It was just released in the US, but I got it late last year when Merscom went direct ship for online ordering. It was well worth it.

At the same time, Jay Powell from Merscom is at IGN's RPGVault in the Soapbox feature. He talks about smaller games and the emergence of budget titles that are a real value ... like Heretic Kingdoms. I see those types of games becoming more and more important ... especially to PC RPG fans ...

GamerDad has posted my LEGO Star Wars review. That was quite quick, since I only finished it on Friday.

I'm almost done with the GBA version, but that won't be getting such glowing reviews ...

So, Dungeon Lords is going to be delayed until mid-May. That is kind of a mixed bag ... on the one hand, I *had* been hoping for the game, and would have loved to get my hands on it next week. But on the other hand, it is only a few weeks, and I know that the team really needs the time to finish up and get it fully releaseable.

Good luck to DWB & Chuk & all the HP guys finishing this up ...

Wow ... I finished LEGO Star Wars, and what can I say but that is one fun game.

There were a couple of frustrating areas, and I'm still not sure how I feel about the amout of spoilers I played through, but overall it is a very satisfying game experience. Now I have to go and review it ... and finish the GBA game. I just finished Episode I on that.

I really didn't want to be spoiled for Episode III.

Sure, I watched the trailers, checked out TFN and the official site, but was very careful to avoid some of the more spoiler oriented sites and forums. You see, for Episode I, I was too busy with two babies under two years old, but for Episode II, they were old enough where they had seen Episode I and IV, but we were iffy on letting them see Episode V or VI, so I wanted to know as much about AotC to be sure they were ready.

So I wanted to be fresh for Episode III. Sure, there are things we all know will happen, but it is the entire framework that will make the experience.

Then along comes LEGO Star Wars. I finish Episode I, which was really cool. Then I work through Episode II, which was even cooler, albeit seeming too short (was it, or was it just me enjoying it so much?). Then I come to a door marked 'III' ... what to do ... could I hold off until after seeing the movie?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING?!?! That decision took three seconds, and I was through ...

So now I'm spoiled, but not anticipating it any less ...

OK, as if it isn't bad enough that for my 39th birthday my wife and kids got me Lego Star Wars for the PC ... my wife decided to 'surprise' me with Untold Legends for my newest toy, the PSP. Unfortunately I already had it, being it was the only game I *really* wanted for the PSP.

So we went back to Target where she bought it and returned the game. Then we headed to the game section where - no surprise to me - there were no PSP or DS games I wanted. BUT, there was Lego Star Wars for the GBA. I had made a resolution about this:

The Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon Principle - Remember that the very best Star Wars GBA games are mediocre, and most are pretty lousy, so do *not* 'day of release' purchase anything Star Wars for a handheld system ... wait for reviews.

Oh well, I broke it ... so what do I think?

The PC game is loads and loads of fun, and just completely encourages exploration.
The GBA game has cool action, nice graphics, but respawning enemies that make you think fast and discourages exploration.

We'll see as things progress ...

Well, I've been published again! Twice!

GamerDad is running my KotOR 2 review on the front page - http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=2200

And from there you can get a sneak peek at what is coming next - my VtM: Bloodlines review - http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=2201

Cool ... now I just have to finish some more ...

Lego Star Wars for the PC has arrived!

It was the top of my birthday list, and I was very pleased to get it! It is a very fun game, simple to pick up and play, but with collectable galore that make it very challenging to conquer!

Dungeon Lords ... this is still the game that has my attention ... I am spending loads of time playing around with it and discussing in the forums. There have been many new things listed by the developers as fixes and tweaks, and it just looks more and more promising.

Question is - am I getting ready for another Jedi Knight II or setting my self up for a Deus Ex Invisible War?