Play Log 2014 - We're Streaming Now!

After working out a few kinks, I think I've got the hang of this streaming thing. I've only had a couple of people watching, but that's okay. The point is if I'm streaming, someone could watch and I'm archiving the streams at the same time. From these archives, I'm making some fairly amusing highlights - little segments of interesting action from an hour or more of gaming.

 How To Survive - I picked this up for a couple bucks on Steam the other day. I guess you would describe it as Diablo meets Zombieland. You fight zombies (and other creatures at night) while finding amusing "handbooks" on survival. It's a unique way to build in a tutorial, but in some ways I just wish it would leave me alone and let me explore the world. The combat is wonderfully brutal (who doesn't enjoy chopping up zombies!) and the environments are nicely detailed. I didn't really play much of it, but I think I will come back to it someday soon and finish it up. In the meantime, here is a clip of my favorite battle from what I did play. I like that I was able to tackle so many zombies at once and still win!

 Alien Isolation - I have always been an Alien fan. I remember seeing the first film back when the words "In space, no one can hear you scream" and the cracking alien egg poster were just becoming icons for a new generation of horror and science fiction films. I've seen every Alien movie since, including an unforgettable birthday celebration viewing of Aliens in a theater filled with real Marines. (They loved their future counter-parts and were having a ball showing it!) When I heard that Alien Isolation was made as a sequel to the original movie, I was intrigued. When I heard it was going to be a flee-not-fight kind of game, I was worried that it would be too long for that level of tension, publishers being unwilling to try to sell a short game for $60. That turned out to be only one of its problems, but not one that I had to worry about.

After hearing and reading some reviews, I figured a Gamestop 7-day rental would be the best course of action. I'm glad I did. The first hour or so of the game is very slow and you get the feeling that you are walking around the baggage area of an airport. When you meet other inhabitants of the station, they generally want to kill you, which leads to some interesting fights.

I did finally end up seeing the Alien, but fortunately, from a distance. Still, it can be unsettling.

I actually had more trouble with the androids than the alien. They are hard to kill and seem to be patrolling everywhere you need to go. If they catch you, they do a lot of damage. They do have a trick or two of their own, I'll admit. Note: the following clip is best viewed in full screen.

But what finally killed the game for me was the complete lack of checkpoints. By the time I got to the point of the following clip, I had been dodging those murderous dummies for over an hour. I had also transitioned through two zones (ie, loading screens) and never saw any save stations on my map.

I mean, what game in this day and age doesn't do an autosave when you transition from one game zone to another? Apparently, the developers of this game wanted it to be "hardcore". Well, screw them! The game has been returned from whence it came and I will not be buying it, even when it drops to the inevitable $20 range. The one thing I can say is that this is the first game that I broadcast and archived all of my playtime in. I only wish it had been a better experience.

At this point, I think I'll be doing some much needed palette cleansing with some mindless Need For Speed racing.