Game Review: Amnesia (1986, Electronic Arts)

Posted on March 19, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

You wake up in a hotel room in New York City. You have no idea how you got there. You have no idea who you are. And you have no clothes.

So starts Amnesia, the semi-legendary text adventure game from 1986. Amnesia was Electronic Arts’s attempt to challenge Infocom’s domination of the text adventure genre. To write the game, they brought in author Thomas M. Disch. Disch came up with a twisty and complex story where each choice often led to unexpected tangents. The game featured a detail recreation of Manhattan, one that you could experience only if you could figure out how to find some clothes and get out of the hotel without getting arrested. Of course, even after finding something to wear, it’s probable the many players decided to go ahead and marry the mysterious woman who claimed to be the main character’s fiancée. Those players found themselves suddenly whisked off to an Australian sheep farm, where they lived out their days happy but unsure of who they actually were. For them, the game ended quickly but without many answers. Others, however, braved the streets of a virtual Manhattan is search of their identity.

Who are you? Throughout the game, there are clues but they’re not always easy to find. There’s a large collection of eccentric and bizarre characters who can help you or hinder you. You have to avoid the police who want to arrest you and the people who are trying to kill you. Of course, even if you defeat those assassins, the game also features random encounters with people who will ask you for directions and who will shoot you if you give them the wrong answer. This feature was actually something that EA added to the game to punish anyone who had borrowed the game disk from a friend. The game originally came with code wheel that you could use to determine which streets intersected with each other. If you bought the game, you would be able to give people the proper directions. If you didn’t buy the game or, if you’re playing the game in 2023 at the Internet archive, you would end up making a random guess and hoping that it didn’t lead to you getting shot by a tourist.

(Fortunately, there’s an online version of the code wheel.)

Even if you die, the game doesn’t necessarily end. You might find yourself waiting in Purgatory. After a certain number of turns, Charon might approach and ask if you’ve figured out your name. If you give him the right name, you can move on. If you don’t know your name, Charon leaves with a promise that he’ll return in another thousand years.

Amnesia is a challenging game. It’s also a frequently frustrating game. Thomas M. Disch was an author and the game reads like a long and dense novel. There are times when Disch seemed to forget that the point of Interactive Fiction is that the player is supposed to have complete control over their actions. At the same time, Amnesia’s descriptions are so detailed and many of the events are so unexpected that this is a game that benefits from frequent replaying. And the game itself is so difficult that when you actually manage to accomplish anything, whether it’s getting out of the hotel or finding a place to sleep or even giving someone the right directions, you feel as if you’re the greatest player alive.

Or at least you do until the next puzzle comes along.

Play Amnesia.

Game Review: The Godfather II (2009, EA)

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

Since I had already gotten my old Xbox 360 out of storage so I could play The Godfather game this weekend, I decided to also try my hand at the replaying game version of The Godfather II.

The Godfather II takes place in the 60s. You play Dom, a Corleone soldier who becomes Michael’s right-hand man after you help him escape from Cuba during the revolution. Back in New York, Michael assigns you to take control of the city from the Rosato brothers. Eventually, you will also gain the ability to fly out to Miami and Cuba, where you’ll meet Hyman Roth and continue to extort businesses and battle rival families. It’s another Grand Theft Auto-style game, where you can focus on the story or you can just focus on exploring the open world and seeing what type of trouble you can get into.

The good thing about The Godfather II is that you get to select the members of your crew and you can send them on all of the missions that you don’t feel like dealing with. They also stick with you and act as bodyguards whenever you get into a gun fight. Choosing the members of your crew is one of the best parts of the game because every potential recruit comes with their own skills and their own personality. Like you, the members of your crew can be taken out of commission if they get heavily wounded but they’ll always return after a brief trip to the hospital. However, if you get tired of a member of your crew, you can remove his invulnerability and toss him off a roof or send him on a suicide mission to attack the Rosato Compound all by himself. That’s the power of being the underboss.

Other than the stuff with the crew, Godfather II is not as much fun as the first Godfather game. The combat feels clunky and the game’s overall design feel rushed. Sending Dom to three different cities instead of concentrating on recreating 60s New York was a mistake. There’s not that much difference between the game’s version of New York, Miami, and Havana. Plus, the game didn’t allow me to take out Castro. What’s the point of sending me to Havana if you’re not going to let me change history?

When it comes to Godfather games, the second one is good enough to be played once but it doesn’t reward a replay. The first Godfather game is the one that still remains enjoyable after all these years.

Video Game Review: The Godfather (2006, EA)

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

Due to getting handed a major project at work, I missed the last few days of our annual Horrorthon and now I’ve got some catching up to do. It’s frustrating and, whenever I get frustrated and need to blow off some steam, I get my old Xbox 360 out of storage and I concentrate my efforts on running the Straccis out of New Jersey.

New Jersey is one of the many neighborhoods that you can take over in EA’s video game version of The Godfather. New Jersey is full of nice houses, dive bars, and police that are so incompetent that I got away with bombing their station on numerous occasions. If you don’t feel like taking over New Jersey, you can go into Brooklyn and pick a fight with the Tattaglia family. Or you can drive into Hell’s Kitchen, the worst part of New York and fight the Cuneos. If you’re really brave, you can try to take over Midtown but Midtown is controlled by the Barzini family and the Barzinis don’t go down without a fight. If you get into too many fights, you might accidentally start a gang war but you can always find an FBI agent in a church and bribe him to end the war. Just don’t accidentally shoot the guy. I did that a few times.

The Godfather is an open world game, a 1940s version of Grand Theft Auto that happens to feature characters from classic gangster film. You play a Corleone family associate who, over the course of the game, goes from being a soldier to being the Don of New York. Along the way, you take part in all of the major scenes from the film. When Sonny is gunned down, you’re the one who chases his assassins. When Michael shoots the Turk, you’re the one who drives him to the docks so he can head to Sicily. When it’s time to get revenge on Paulie Gatto and Tessio, you’re the one handed the gun. You get the idea. James Caan, Robert Duvall, and even Marlon Brando voiced their film characters for the game. (Brando’s recordings, unfortunately, weren’t usable and a soundalike was brought in to redo most of his lines.) Al Pacino did not voice Michael and the game’s Michael looks nothing like Pacino because Pacino had already agreed to exclusively license his appearance to the Scarface game.

As a game, The Godfather can get repetitive. As your gangster gains experience, he’ll level up and receive skill points. It really doesn’t take that long to become so powerful that none of the other families have a chance against you. (Only the Barzini Family remains challenging to the very end.) The interactions with the storekeepers that you intimidate to get protection all tend to follow the same pattern. Storywise, the game actually cheapens the movie because it suggests that the Corleones were so incompetent that they had to keep calling you in to clean up all of their messes.

But, flaws and all, the game is pretty damn addictive. Once I get into my vintage, 1940s car and start driving around New York (which is lovingly recreated, even if it is on a much smaller scale than the real New York), I’m in the zone. Under the right circumstances, the simplicity of The Godfather can be refreshing. Drive around. Hijack a truck. Fight the gangsters. If the police get upset, just go to a nearby safehouse and save the game. If you get bored, grab a bomb and take out an abandoned building or maybe a parked car. It’s a game so there aren’t any consequences to doing incredibly foolish things. Or, if you just want to relax, you can just drive around the city and appreciate all of your territory. It’s up to you. When you’re the Don of New York, you can do anything you want.

Mass Effect: Andromeda Official Launch Trailer

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Arleigh

It’s been five years since the Mass Effect 3 ended Commander Shepard’s fight against the intergalactic menace known as the Reapers. While there were many who didn’t like how the trilogy ended by way of choosing which color circle it was still a satisfying conclusion to one of best game series in recent memory.

One bittersweet note was the fact that it was the last game that I played co-cooperatively with long-time site video game writer Semtex Skittle who passed away a year after the game’s release.

From what I’ve seen of Mass Effect: Andromeda since it was first announced two years ago this looks like a new direction in the series that Semtex Skittle would’ve found refreshing and worth revisiting the game universe.

This launch trailer for Mass Effect: Andromeda definitely follows in the cinematic trailers of it’s three previous entries. Here’s to hoping that this new story in the series lives up to the original trilogy’s legacy.

Dragon Age: Inquisition Has Arrived

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Arleigh

I’ve not been buying that many games this year, but this is one little title from EA’s BioWare I know I must have and play before year’s end. That title is the third game in their fantasy rpg series Dragon Age.

Dragon Age: Inquisitor will mark the arrival of BioWare onto the nextgen platforms (Xbox One, PS4) and looks to combine what was good with the first two titles in the series while trimming off what went wrong with those two.

The game already looks gorgeous from just clips and gameplay videos shown leading up to this release. If the title looks to expand on the world-building that has been laid down by the first two titles in the series then I should expect to be playing this game for at least a minimum of 80 hours, if not more.

Now, I just need to decide on race and class for my character.

Quick Review: Need for Speed (dir. by Scott Waugh)

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Leonard Wilson

My Short Take on Need for Speed –

Reasons to see it:

+ Fast cars doing interesting stunts that don’t feel like a CGI stunt reel. Take the Mustang chase from Drive and stretch it out.

+ It’s a tightly shot film. The chances of saying “Come on, go somewhere.” Are small and the driving camera work does its best to invoke a sense of being in the scene.

+ Imogen Poots steals practically every scene she’s in, and the cast overall seemed to enjoy themselves. Michael Keaton may be the most animated he’s been since Beetlejuice. Aaron Paul sounds like a mix between Charlie Hunnam and Solid Snake.

Reasons to hold off for now:

– It’s not the tightest story in the world. You’ll probably be able to easily call out plot angles as the movie progresses. There is also one scene in the film that never connects to anything after it, leaving something of a hole there. Overall, the film gives you just enough to understand why everyone’s doing what they’re doing, but don’t search for a whole lot of character growth here.

– The Air support moments seem a little implausible, given air traffic rules and what not.

The Long Take:

Ever since The Fast and The Furious hit the big screen in 2001, you’ve had a number of race related movies. I think the worst I can recall was 2007’s Redline, which tried to throw some wild extortion theme into the mix. The movie adaptation for Need for Speed may actually be a better movie than some of Electronic Arts’ games. It may not be Hamlet, but it handles itself just fine.

The premise for Need for Speed is very simple. A young racer (Aaron Paul, whose voice sounds he’s channelling Sons of Anarchy’s Jax Teller) seeks vengeance against a former business partner (Dominic Cooper, Howard Stark from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) by way of a dangerous high speed race known as the Deleon. He assembles a team of friends, and goes about trying to reach his goal. There you go, all you need. It might sound as bad as this year’s Robocop, but at least the audience laughed along with this one.

Although many know Aaron Paul from his Emmy winning run on Breaking Bad, but he isn’t new to movies. He’s had a great turn in Smashed with Mary Elizabeth Winstead and worked previously with co-star Imogen Poots on The Long Way Down. Here in Need for Speed, I felt he did really well with what was given as racer Tobey Marshall, granted that it wasn’t a whole lot. Still, he sells it as best he can. Poots, on the other hand is as much the bright light in the film as Hayley Atwell was in Captain America: The First Avenger. Overall, the casting was okay here. Dominic Cooper plays the rival role well, though doesn’t come off as sinister in any way and Michael Keaton seems to enjoy himself in this as the host of the Deleon, a high stakes private race. He channels his inner Beetlejuice and is one of the high points of the film. Between he and Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi to those who know him musically), they have the best scenes apart from the main cast.

The car scenes themselves are okay. You may find yourself leaning back in your seat in some instances, but they don’t quite have the tight feel of say Ronin. Still, you won’t see anything happen in these cars that go beyond the extreme. Truth be told, it’s almost similar to the first Fast and the Furious, save for all the wavy speed lines in the high speed chases. One of the remarkable things about Need for Speed is that it tries its best to avoid throwing too many CGI driving moments. It has a feel that’s similar to Tarantino’s Death Proof or, as the film highlights in the beginning of the movie, Bullitt. This being only his second major film (Act of Valor being the first), Director Scott Waugh gets away with making the racing moments as intense as they can be without getting too crazy…well, almost. It’s cut quick, and there are very few lag scenes as far as I could notice.

If the movie has any bad points, it’s that almost everything happens in a bubble. The plot has someone who is effectively on the run, and yet I would have imagined there’d be more of a police presence, especially given the exposure. Then again, this is Need for Speed, where you only need to avoid the cops or 2 minutes before being given the chance to hide in a cooldown zone (in NFS: Most Wanted, anyway). Fans of the games will see some of those elements in play during the film and they are functional here, if not realistic.

Additionally, there’s one other scene that involves the recruiting of a reluctant team member that goes almost no where. The reason for bringing the person along (having to do with a car issue) never appears to be addressed either visually or verbally. This left me asking, “Well, was it fixed?” and then shaking my head later on. It’s not a terrible mistake to have while munching on popcorn ( you won’t choke for not getting an answer), but someone really could have taken the time to dot that particular “i” on George Gatins’ script.

Overall, Need for Speed is a fun ride. It’s predictable in a lot of ways, and you’ll see some of it coming, but you may also find yourself smiling and swerving in your seats with the traffic.

Trailer: Titanfall “Gamescom Gameplay”

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Arleigh

Titanfall is really turning out to be one of my most-anticipated game titles of 2013.

It’s the very first title for Respawn Entertainment. A studio made up of the people who first created the Call of Duty studio, Infinity Ward, and who ended up being fired (or leaving to follow their fired leaders) by the powers-that-be who held sway over Activision. There was talk about whether Respawn Entertainment would ever get a chance to show Activision and it’s detractors that they still had what it takes to succeed in the first-person shooter market dominated by three titles (Call of Duty, Battlefield and Halo).

Titanfall looks to dispel such notions first with a triumphant return to this summer’s E3 where they revealed the title to everyone to much acclaim. Now we got to see more of the gameplay itself both in mechanics and graphics at this past week’s Gamescom 2013 over at Cologne, Germany.

The gameplay trailer pretty much dispelled whatever doubts I might have had about this title and now has my money ready to be exchanged for it when it comes out for the Xbox One (for some on the PC or Xbox 360) in early 2014.

Trailer: Titanfall (Official E3 Announcement)

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Arleigh

Titanfall is the first title to come out of Respawn Entertainment. This is big news in the gaming community. It’s the title many have been waiting for not because it’s any good (it’s not out yet so no way to gauge whether its good or bad), but because of who is making it.

Respawn Entertainment is the studio made up of former Infinity Ward developers and it’s two co-founders after a very acrimonious split (which included lawsuits and counter-lawsuits) with parent company Activision. There’s little love-lost between these two groups. Those who left had wanted to make something other than another Call of Duty title while Activision only wanted more Call of Duty titles (it continues to be a billion-dollar money maker for the company).

So, it’s now 2013 and at this year’s E3 we finally get a glimpse at Titanfall and exactly what Respawn Entertainment wanted to make but couldn’t while they remained with Activision. It’s been called a mecha first-person shooter. It looks to try and combine the run-and-gun aspects of this team of developers’ Call of Duty and Medal of Honor lineage with some Mech action.

Titanfall looks great from the announcement trailer released today at the Microsoft E3 Presser. It looks to be a title being put in the forefront as one of the new Xbox One’s exclusive titles. This means if one wanted to play this title when it comes out they can only play it on the Xbox One (Xbox 360 for those not willing to adopt the new system early) and not on the PS3 or the upcoming PS4.

Titanfall looks to drop on the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows sometime in the Spring of 2014.

Trailer: Dragon Age: Inquisition (Official E3 Trailer)

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Arleigh

With Mass Effect 3 now over a year gone it’s time for BioWare to concentrate on moving forward with it’s fantasy rpg franchise which seems to have languished on the sidelines after the very controversial second title in the series. I speak of BioWare’s Dragon Age series and what fans of the title seem to consider a lost opportunity to make it the fantasy equivalent of Mass Effect.

The first game in the franchise was well-received but not without some complaints about the title’s gameplay mechanics being too reliant on micromanaging and less on intuitive controls. The second title was suppose to fix the problem when it came to combat which it did, but then this sequel brought up complaints about a storyline that felt rushed and game environments which relied too much of reusing the same backgrounds and layouts.

Now we have the announcement from EA and BioWare that the third game in the franchise will look to combine the good things about the first two games while looking to fix the problems which many saw as keeping the franchise from reaching great status.

Dragon Age: Inquisition arrives at this year’s E3 with a trailer which looks to be pre-rendered cinematics but with the title set to be released on the upcoming nextgen systems of the Xbox One and PS4 there’s a good chance that future gameplay trailers will look exactly like this trailer. Only time will tell whether that’s the case or not.

Dragon Age: Inquisition looks to drop on the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and Microsoft Windows in the Fall of 2014.

Oh yeah: Morrigan and Varric are back!

Trailer: Mass Effect 3 “Against All Odds”

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Arleigh

Mass Effect 3 is one of the most-anticipated gaming titles for 2012. It will be the third and final title that chronicles the character of Cmdr. Shepard and his fight to save the galaxy against the extragalactic threat of the “Reapers”. It’s developer, BioWare, has been quite busy since the title was first announced with showing gaming fans some tidbits about the game’s development. Most of the trailer which has come out about this game has been a mix of pre-rendered CG animation and actual gameplay footage which at times seems to be quite indistinguishable from each other.

The latest trailer for this game first premiered at this weekend’s Spike TV’s Video Game Awards. To say that the reaction to the trailer was a near-unanimous geekgasm would be an understatement. If there was a game that will pull gamers from their near-obsessive playing of Bethesda’s Skyrim it would be BioWare’s Mass Effect 3. This trailer is all gameplay and shows some of the latest gameplay mechanics (such as the dodge roll moves) during one of the game’s many stages.

I, for one, have already preordered and fully paid my N7 Collector’s Edition copy of this game and will just have to wait for it’s release date of March 6, 2012.