computers

I love video games. I can play a game for hours. There is one however that scares me, Sid Meier’s “Civilization IV”. It’s the crack cocaine of video games. Hell, they even acknowledge it’s addictive properties. When you try to log off it reads “Do you really want to quit?” the answers are “Yes, quit.” and “Just… one… more… turn…”

I once spent thirteen hours playing it non-stop which, when I came to my senses, disturbed me so much I removed it and all other games off of my computer (including Warcraft!) I then mailed my copy of the game to my nephews, who live far, far away. They’re young and can afford to waste a few years on a game.

Like when I quit smoking I had to go “cold turkey” otherwise it just wouldn’t work.  No one plays just a little CIV.  That is probably why it won GameSpot Best of 2005 Award & Best Strategy game of 2005 award, IGN 2005 Stratedy Game of the Year Award, GameSpy 2005 Game of the Year Award and many, many more.

Later, a friend, Mark, reintroduced me to the game and I am learning to control my addiction, however I find I start more games than I finish. If you have played CIV III then you are familiar with the whole premise of the game. Create an empire, crush your enemies (or not) and become world ruler. The difference in this version is the 3D rendering and animation that makes the game much more visually interesting. Also you can “discover” religions, and spread their memes like a virus.

Personally I like the beginning of the game best.  I enjoy the discovering of new territories and setting up the initial cities.  As my technologies develop and far excel my competitors I rarely attack, opting instead for a spaceship victory or diplomatic victory.

A co-worker immediately attacks the nearest civilization and destroys it, and another builds a small cluster of cities and continually builds armies until he can destroy all enemies in one massive assault.  So there are many strategies to winning which is part of what makes this game so great.

If you do the scenarios you need to be willing to fight.  The Chinese unification scenario is particularly fun in my opinion.  The scenarios limit the technologies you can develop, so for example you can’t have a tank. But as your technologies improve so do your units.

I now have the game installed on my computer at home, but I am able to resist it…by playing Super Mario Galaxy

I have decided to start reviewing video games on my blog, heaven knows I play enough of them. I would like to think I am sort of an aficionado of video games. I won’t play any old shit, I’m not into niche games or cutesy stuff. “Hello fluffy Bubble kittens” isn’t my sort of gig, nor is the hyper realistic flight simulator that no one but actual pilots can play. You know the one I’m talking about, where you can press the accelerator and get the plane in the air but promptly nose dive it into the ground as soon as you try turning. I like games that entertain me, and ones that can keep me thinking about them afterwards.

Medal of Honor Airborne unfortunately is not one of those games. To be honest I stopped playing it. I refuse to finish a game I am not enjoying, just like I won’t finish a book that sucks. I won’t say this was a complete dud; this is a vast improvement over their past efforts, but it is still lacking some serious “oomph”.

The drop school at the beginning was pointless. I fell out of the plane three times and got a passing grade. I didn’t even do anything. It was just sort of this pointless semi-animation. I overlooked it though because it was really to show that you can steer the parachute and the importance of landing straight.

The real issues start with the actual gameplay. It is soulless. I know that sounds sort of stupid while talking about a game, however a game should have a narrative. There should be some sort of connection with the characters in the game. In this case the AI was so bad my fellow soldiers would hide behind crates while I was left to engage the enemy on my own. While I liked the “affordance” of being able to engage the enemy in whatever fashion I chose, I would have liked my fellow combatants to at least have followed suit and help me. Or at the very least be cannon-fodder for amusement.

There is a map that appears in the HUD that informs you where the enemies are. I wasted every last little red dot I could find and still my men were huddling behind the crates. I was hoping they might be scared and waiting for me to take care of the bad-men. They could have at least moved from one position to another or run in circles or something. They just seemed like bots, poorly animated bots.

This “bot” issue becomes extremely evident when looking at an enemy through a sniper rifle. The figures kept spasming between two positions, flickering back and forth like they’re stuck until I showed mercy and shot them.

I did enjoy the ratings afterwards though, and the upgrades that came with using each weapon. The upgrades encouraged using multiple weapons rather than relying on the same one all the time. And the blurred parts of the sniper scope was cool too, but I thought the reflection (lens flare) on every enemy sniper rifle was a bit much. Finding them is half the fun.

I will probably go back and finish the game when I have nothing else to play, but I was disappointed considering the hype that this release had.

Rating: 65/100