Topic: adventure game online guide

Fable was one of those titles that caught my attention well before its release in some article in a game magazine back when paper gaming magazines were still in abundant supply. How far exactly before the release is uncertain, but I want to say it was well over a year before Fable's launch, possibly even as far back as 2002 or 2003 when it was still called its working title Project Ego. Open world gameplay has practically become the standard in modern game design, but this was not the case in th...

The stakes don't get much higher than trying to prevent a race of synthetic beings from wiping out every last trace of intelligent life in the galaxy. That's the task that falls to Commander Shepherd in Bioware's Mass Effect trilogy, which is set a long way into the future after humanity has managed to tentatively establish itself in the hierarchy of the Milky Way's alien races. This beautiful and expansive science fiction epic captured the hearts of gamers, and with the right director on board ...

Choosing to be good or evil was usually straightforward. Several of the main quests had an optional way to end them depending on the outcome, typically spare the foe for good points and kill them for evil. There were a couple quests where there were two available quests but they were the same event, the choice was just to determine what side the player was on which actually was a cool way of making it feel like you were choosing a side. A more fun way to rack up the evil points was to just go on...

Anyone who's played Fable knows that it fell short of these amazing claims and there's a good chance they felt disappointed when they saw it failed to live up to everything it was supposed to be if they pre-ordered. This is unfortunate, because once we get past Molyneux's grandiose claims for what Fable will be and just accept it for what it actually is, Fable turned out to be a rather impressive final product. Raising children wasn't an option in the first Fable and sadly neither was killing th...

While Molyneux has certainly made this attitude a recurring (and expected) one, many of the creative ideas from him are the ones that never saw the light of day. Personally, I’m of the small camp who believe the Kinect/Natal demo Milo was an interesting idea that deserved to be investigated upon further ; maybe not with Kinect, but with the idea of simply talking to a person and developing a social relationship with them over time, similar to how you build the foundation of a city into a giant m...

This idea continues with microtransactions, something that Molyneux has been dead-set on improving. Trust me, I don’t like how microtransactions are being used today , but Molyneux has been working on ways to use them without letting them lean toward the realm of exploitation. He’s condemned the use of microtransactions in the mobile version of Dungeon Keeper , claiming they are not consumer-friendly, but he wants to find a way to make them palatable to an audience. That’s become something of an...

As is common with Kinect, enjoyment of the title will largely be based on how accurate your set-up is. I played the game with a 42" TV in moderate lighting conditions and adequate space around me. Some will experience the game in better conditions, but I prefer to review Kinect releases with what I feel is a realistic representation of most gamer’s arrangements. To calibrate, there’s a special tool that has you cast spells at stationary enemies. It seems easy enough, but after using the new sett...

This idea continues with microtransactions, something that Molyneux has been dead-set on improving. Trust me, I don’t like how microtransactions are being used today , but Molyneux has been working on ways to use them without letting them lean toward the realm of exploitation. He’s condemned the use of microtransactions in the mobile version of Dungeon Keeper , claiming they are not consumer-friendly, but he wants to find a way to make them palatable to an audience. That’s become something of an...

Fable III was another big moment for Molyneux. The game introduced more management features in ruling the kingdom, but was panned for many of the same simplification qualms that plagued the first Fable . It certainly wasn’t poorly received, but it showed that many of these ideas that Molyneux pitches are ones that are much less practical and efficient within the current state of the medium. If the first part of the Molyneux Paradigm is hyping up a game to ridiculous levels, then the second part ...

Anyone who's seen a Mad Max movie will easily be able to spot the direct influence of those films in Borderlands , Gearbox Software's colorful, cel shaded open world role-playing shooter. The alien planet of Pandora is a dangerous wasteland and pretty much everyone who lives there is insane, but that's all part of its charm. The plot of the games follows groups of fortune seekers who are trying to track down mysterious Vaults full of immensely powerful alien technology, and we'd love to see a fi...

Gameplay itself is a nice blend of action elements with those traditional to an RPG. On the offense, a melee weapon, long range weapon and magical will powers are always available, each assigned to a different face button. For defense, numerous gear combinations are available to ensure you’ll always be protected in the heat of battle. Plus you can block and roll. Enemies tend to rush you and offer quite a challenge for those unfamiliar with the proper strategies. Grinding isn’t a common occurren...

Another cool feature is that of photograph locations throughout the map that when touched display a viewpoint from the original Xbox game. This is quite nifty as it allows you to match up with your television and see exactly what has been improved for the Anniversary edition. It’s also said that backgrounds for key players have been written and are viewable upon meeting them, but I was unable to find how to access these. A title update will be supposedly be released on launch day, so perhaps the...