Payne is back

Just saw the second trailer for the new Max Payne. I know, it’s been out for two weeks, lost its freshness. I guess I was scared of it, sure that Rockstar will ruin the series that used to be developed by Remedy. This is no GTA.

The first trailer was inconclusive. Not much in the way of the story, just milking the shock value of Max being bold and fat. Didn’t appreciate that.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is my favourite game of all time. The original was great, but the sequel just blew me away. It’s neo-noir at its best. The atmosphere, the story, the location design and voice acting –  perfect. Max is deep in the twilight zone, where everything is the opposite of what it should be. Old friends become enemies, old enemies become friends, and old wounds are opened up with rusty gardening utensils. Action sequences are fast and visual, and I think the game remains very playable to this day. If you have never experienced Max Payne 2, I strongly recommend it.

Back to the trailer. I guess what I want to say is, I was wrong. I am very happy to be wrong. Max Payne 3 looks like it’s a worthy successor, and people from Remedy should be congratulated on keeping the spirit of Max alive.

Thank you, people from Remedy.

The trailer in question:

Citizens, hear me out: this could happen to you!

It’s funny how suddenly your life can change.

One moment, you have an interesting job, nice house, a loving girlfriend… OK, maybe the girl was still missing, but the other two, I thought I had taken care of.

And here I am, two months later – broke, jobless, about to be homeless. How did this happen?

In hindsight, I shouldn’t have criticized my employer. That’s lesson number one: NEVER tell ANYONE what you REALLY think about your job.

No one is perfect, and there’s no job that entails just raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Anyone who has ever participated in a full day of honest labour will have a couple of unpleasant things to say about it. That doesn’t mean you hate it, right?

How many times have you seen a story about someone being laid off because of something they said on Facebook or Twitter? I’d like to think that these people are idiots. But then I remember I did a very similar thing. Facepalm.

Max and the Arab women

I never say “no” when people ask me to talk in front of the camera. Maybe it’s vanity, maybe the desire to spread my views and opinions. I just can’t resist it. Some time ago, I was walking around Harrow when this camera crew consisting of two girls (women?) asked me to talk about the Arab spring uprisings and the rights of the fairer sex.

Now, I’m no expert on the topic.

But I gave it a shot.

Serious Sam 3: BFE preview (PC)

Do you remember Sam “Serious” Stone? The one-man army, the scourge of the alien invaders and a fan of really big guns? Last seen about a decade ago on all major platforms? He’s back from retirement. And he’s all man, no cover.

Read the rest of the story here: Serious Preview (PC)
 

Run 'n' gun. Now with more explosions!

1000 ways to die: LIMBO Review

lim·bo:

“The abode of unbaptized but innocent or righteous souls, as those of infants or virtuous individuals who lived before the coming of Christ.”

You wake up in a black and white forest , inhabited by various nasty, hungry creatures. Giant spiders, brain-eating bugs and the like. Who are you? Where are you? These and other questions need answering, and the only way is forward. And then you meet some people. Who all try their best to kill you too. Welcome to Limbo, a beautiful, twisted arcade by Playdead.  It was one of last year’s best XBox 360 indie titles. This month it was released for PC and PS3, and now there’s absolutely no excuse not to play it.
 

Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings Review

It seems that I have managed to get employed. Not many details yet, but I’ll be writing for the gaming side of  KitGuru.net. So from now on you can read my articles there. I won’t bother linking news to this blog, only serious stuff – reviews etc.

And now, my very first story on KitGuru:

White Wolf returns - Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings Review (PC)

Enjoy
 

Living room gaming in five years?

 

  In recent years videogames went mainstream and the demographics of the average gamer changed significantly. These days games bring families together, and many game companies cater to “casual” players, who are not as serious or dedicated as the gamers of old. Bigger audiences mean more money to be made, and as the market grows, the industry grows.

  For many years the only thing to drive evolution of games forward was increased computing power and more realistic, higher resolution graphics. Sure, these things become better over time, but the desire for more impressive visuals which used to drive the industry 10 years ago has lost its importance. We have arrived at a point where Wii, while lagging behind with its picture quality, has managed to bite off a huge piece of the market. These days, games are all about concept.

  Nintendo Wii wasn’t the first system to allow  motion-controlled gameplay. But it certainly was the most successful. Thanks to some clever gyro sensors (which detect speed and direction of motion) built into the game controllers, Wii took gaming to the next level. Now you could swing your gamepad, and the character would repeat the motion on-screen, slicing enemies in half or sending a golf ball flying. The success of motion control drove the competition crazy, and last year Sony added a camera to the established formula and released “Move”. It does the same things Wii remote does, but Sony claims it is more precise. Which could be true, after all they spent four years developing the thing. But it was Microsoft who took a step in a completely new direction.