NEW Tomb Raider sequel In Development

In light of a sequel, here are some of my thoughts on Tomb Raider

I can't explain to you how much I have come to enjoy the simplistic game design of the Tomb Raider franchise. I originally started playing Tomb Raider on the PSOne, but only in the form of a demo for the second game in the series, and I did not enjoy the tank controls nor did I-- at a young age-- care for the evolution in gaming that was the start of the series. Yes, Tomb Raider 1 was an evolution in gaming, its full 3D environments left nothing to the imagination. The game was a full on pseudo-puzzle exploration game.

Fast forward some years to the release of the Tomb Raider Trilogy, featuring remastered versions of Tomb Raider: Legend; Tomb Raider: Anniversary and a copy of Tomb Raider: Underworld (which was the first fore-ray into HD for the series). I picked up a copy of this Trilogy after doing some digging on the ventures of the series and its merits. Lets just say, I was not disappointed. Tomb Raider-- which had already, by this point, been taken over by developer Crystal Dynamics--welcomed me to a reconfigured control scheme and basic mechanics that felt just right. The mechanics for jumping and grabbing ledges are manually controlled and are fantastically engrossing. Traversing the games semi-open environments and experiencing the global exploits of series protagonist Lara Croft, is nothing short of a breath of fresh air, in the wake of shoot-all-games with little in the way of room to explore. 

The Vaunted Gamer

Welcome to the Vaunted Gamer. 


Here I will layout just what I want the direction of the blog/site to be going forward. This is just a quick meandering attempt at coming up with some foundations for the site, so bear with me. These "guideline"to what or how I post are and will reaming in-flux, at least for now--I mean it is a blog, after all.


Reviews:

• I would like for the reviews that I post to be in-depth. In-depth reviews to me does not mean that I must provide every single piece of minutia there is. That would possibly amount to a designers manual that neither you nor I would benefit from. Lets just say I like to go into detail on what I believe, from the experience I had with the game, Is important to either the enjoyment or displeasure of the game. If for any reason I leave out any detail that someone might feel is necessary--let me know right away. I will either replay the title; agree on the spot, and chalk it up to a mistake/oversight on my part; or explain to you or whomever why I felt the detail was not important--at least in my honest opinion and judgement. I want to provide readers with reviews that give them a short and differing opinion/take on a game that they will potentially purchase, look into, or just wanted to here more about.

My Blog in Review: Part One

Hi all,


This is my first of what hopefully will be many reviews of my experiences and progression in blogging. I have been, as some returning readers may know,  only blogging for a short while now. About five days to be exact. So it is not my intention to exalt or disparage the art of the blog. No. Instead I intend to unwind my current progress with some thoughts on my experiences thus far.

Without further ado; I have attempted to maintain a stream posts that I had hoped would interest my intended audience. This is what I have been focused on, for the most part. I have tried to approach each and every post, besides the odd news update or club Nintendo automated share, with a mind for heartfelt writing. I have wanted to only post what I believe could both interest me, the writer, and you the reader. Who, you may ask, am I targeting? Well, first and most importantly gamers--of all shades, of all sizes, of all genders. Those interested in analyzing ( to a reasonable, leisure time degree) the merits of Ubisoft's approach in handling their monumental gaming franchises--such as Assassin's Creed.

Are Buzzwords and Lies Effective at Getting Gamers to Buy In?

I would say It has to do with the pedigree of the studio/developer. After all, games are not, for the most part, all tangible. Thus, the consumer can't feel or touch the experience at a concept and basic level. Therefore, it should behoove game developers/publishers to create and distribute a quality product every time it can, in order to establish a vaunted pedigree. Where I believe marketing fails is in the proof of concept. No one buys into the very first attempt or the second or third lousy attempt. Instead it takes a savvy and thoughtful approach to sell some of us on a quality product. Be as honest and earnest as possible. Why must we sit through the buzz words and talking points. Just tell me exactly what I can and/or can't do in-game. Then you can cover it in as much superficial icing as you want. 

The experience will be like no other experience before it. The world will be "so" vast. The player will be able to do what ever they want. Then, with grandiose expectations, the final product, based on what amounted to market speak concepts, is flat, bland, derivative and restrictive. Where is my do anything I want? why can't I do the unreasonable or the relatively reasonable tasks of which I was promised?  And I get it, proof of concept is not typically a term associated with the conceptualization that the marketers are pushing; it is what developers typically sell to the publishers and the publishers sell to the board, yes? Well, I'm attempting to approach this subject from a different angle, so please bear with me. What I'm getting at, is that the relationship fostered between player/consumer and developer/publisher is, in fact, important.  

Borderlands 2 Review

The Cats out of the Bag and the Color is out of this World!

Time to find out whether or not Gearbox studios latest entry in the Borderlands series is a yea or nay.

The rich bounty of colors and assignments

The original Borderlands was quite the co-operative first-person shooter. Though I will say that the color palette was most unappealing. The dull browns of varying shades, ran rampant and unselfconsciously about the wastes of the games setting Pandora. Even before there was any widespread retrospective analysis, one could not argue that Borderlands was the most ambitiously colorful game out there. But, with a couple of years and some fan/critic feedback Gearbox has delivered a visual feast, in Borderlands 2. The graphics--on the PS3--may not be the most technically impressive, but they make up for this with a much wider use of warm and cool colors, creating a fun, refreshing, atmospheric hue that renounces the--not totally unwanted--trend of grit and realism. There is, to go hand in hand with a larger swath of color, a larger selection of environments for players to loot and pillage in. There is a wildlife reserve, comprised of rolling green plains and pasture; there is now frozen tundra, comprising of, well, frozen soil and in some sections alpine areas, or in others frozen plains covered in snow and tree-less, ice capped hills;  then there are the caustic caverns, secret industrial sewer hideouts/fortresses, among other places. All-in-all, I would say that the variety of places the player will get to experience is a marked improvement over the games predecessor.   

 *Yes, there are still desert dunes and dusty plains as well*

Mission structure within Borderlands 2 is present, I guess. The management of the many, many, many missions of which one will acquire over the course of the game is much better than in the first game. The mission management menu can get very cluttered, but it still offers the options to tailor your focus to the task at hand. Though I would say that Gearbox should streamline the mission selection/menus more efficiently in the future. There are a lot of missions; from pizza delivery, to assassination, to mail delivery, to the re- naming of informal creatures. There is a lot to do in the game. The missions are divided between side-missions and main quests. Side missions are completely optional, though if you do intend to play solo then they are mostly recommended, as the game can get challenging without active leveling. The multilayer experience is, in my opinion, one of the very essential pillars of the borderlands experience.  Meaning that the amount of co-op play that you will take-part in, will determine the level of enjoyment you will experience. I love single-player experiences--Skyrim, anyone?--; the problem is that the level of interaction within the open stages of Borderlands 2 is wholesomely lacking and basic. This is not to say that one does not enjoy frolicking through the many wastes of the game, and shooting the commendable number of creature species and re-skinned bandits in the face, but it can get very repetitive, and it happens a lot quicker than in a game designed to be a second world, of sorts, to explore.