Archive for November, 2007

Ever since I completed Half-Life 2: Episode Two, I’ve been thinking about how stories are used in video games. Plenty of games need no story to be fun (Pac-Man, Tetris, Bejeweled, etc.). Similarly, there are games that revolve around a strong storyline. Looking through my computer game collection, I find that only a handful fall into this latter category:

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To continue the theme from my last posting, allow me to say that I am really having fun with Team Fortress 2. I never played the original Team Fortress, so I didn’t know quite what to expect going into this game. Thankfully, I have been pleasantly surprised. The cartoon visuals are incredibly unique, so much so that I hope other games use this look and feel at some point. Likewise, gameplay is so well balanced, that the game is fun even when you are consistently on the losing team (as was the case for me tonight). In other multiplayer games (such as Unreal Tournament 2004), it was often that case that I would get frustrated when my team continually failed to gain the upper hand. With Team Fortress 2, I never have that feeling; I’m having so much fun that the thought of becoming frustrated never even crosses my mind.

One small feature that helps in this regard, and one that I have really come to enjoy, is the sophisticated stats tracking. Every time you die, you get a snapshot of who killed you. Occasionally, during this freeze frame, you’ll get a little box that says “On the Brighter Side…” and then presents you with a record that you’ve just broken. For example, after dying once tonight, I got an encouraging statistic that said “On the Brighter Side … You did more damage than your previous best!” It also told me the new record value (2186, if I remember correctly), so as to give me something to work towards beating. This kind of encouragement is really great, and helps you see that you’re actually getting a little bit better each time. I hope other multiplayer games take note of this feature and implement something similar.

It’s a little disappointing that there are only 6 maps, but again, the gameplay is so fun that this minor point becomes a non-issue. Valve has mentioned that they will be releasing more maps in the future, so I’ll patiently await the arrival of some new content. If you’d like to look for me online, I play under the jgbCodeMonkey nickname. My current favorite classes are the Soldier, Medic, and Pyro (these are the 3 classes I’ve had the most success with). Be sure to check out Team Fortress 2 if you get the chance. So far, I’m having a blast!

I’m not sure if any of you have seen Pushing Daisies (Wednesdays at 8:00 PM EST on ABC), but I am thoroughly enjoying the show. It’s a comedy-drama (described in some places as an ‘forensic fairy-tale’) and is, in my opinion, the most creative thing to come to television in a long time. The story revolves around Ned, a pie-maker, who has the uncanny ability to bring dead things back to life. There are, however, several rules he must adhere to:

1. If Ned touches something that he has previously brought back to life, it dies permanently.
2. If the thing that Ned brings back to life is alive for more than one minute, something else nearby dies to take its place.

Emerson Cod, a detective friend who discovers Ned’s secret ability, gets Ned to partner up with him to solve unsolved murders. The general plot is that Ned brings back the murder victim, asks them how they died, and they collect the reward money (if any). But there are further complications to the story.

In his childhood, Ned was good friends with a girl who lived across the street, one Charlotte “Chuck” Charles. Ned’s mother dies unexpectedly, so he brings her back to life, at the time not knowing about his power’s two constraints. As a result, Charlotte’s father dies unexpectedly (from rule 2 above). After touching his mother a second time, she too dies (from rule 1 above). Ned is sent to a boarding school, and never sees Chuck again. Later in life, however, he sees that Chuck has been mysteriously murdered. He brings her back to life and, unable to bring himself to killing her again, keeps her alive (a nearby undertaker dies to take her place). Chuck and Ned are instantly smitten with one another, but their relationship becomes somewhat difficult as a result of Ned being unable to touch Chuck.

The show ultimately revolves around the unsolved murders (a new one each week), and around Ned and Chuck’s relationship and the complications therein: namely that they cannot touch one another (though they find a few workarounds), and that Olive Snook, a waitress at the Pie shop where Ned works, falls in love with Ned. It has been a long, long time since something this unique and engaging has been on television, so I heartily recommend it. The direction of this show is very similar to the works of Tim Burton, so if you like his movies, you’ll like this show.

Update: You can catch full episodes of the show at ABC.com if you want to get caught up on the storyline. You have to install a custom player (yuck), but Dustin tried it out and it says it works OK.