Azure79

Is there a good kicking off point into getting into comic books? When I hear people talking about it, it seems like so many characters have died then come to life in some reincarnation, I really have no idea where to begin.

That was great. They should just make a movie with that as the starting point. I don't read comic books, so just how much kryptonite is there? Luthor seems to find it in abundance without any problem whatsoever.

If Bioware can really create a combat system that is similar to Ninja Gaiden like the 1up article describes, I might even get the console version. I doubt it will be anything like that though. But here's hoping. Of course I'd prefer the old system with better animations and some revamped skills, but it Bioware seems to be set in a new direction, so I hope they make the best of it.

Few things I noticed during my daily game news fix. New ME2 DLC featuring Shephard and Liara hunting down the Shadow Broker - I might be interested in buying this one. Street Fighter Vs. Tekken - http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180566 I suck at fighting games, especially Street Fighter, but sounds cool.

I really want another Jedi Knight game. Force Unleashed was disappointing.

The trailer was incredibly underwhelming. Still find the game interesting though.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Looks interesting. I don't know enough of Todd Farlane's work beside Spawn, which I found interesting (artwork I mean), but then again I only saw the movie. He seems talented enough. I read some of Salvatore's earlier Drizzt books. Sure it's not the pinnacle of fantasy, but they were fun reads. Isn't he credited with creating drow history and culture? I suppose it's considered trite now, but it must have been something fresh and interesting back when he first came up with it. Hope he came up with something interesting for this game. I'm not too sure about the lead designers all from the Oblivion/Morrowind background. Hopefully the game won't devolve into your character traversing the land and just killing everything in similar environments over and over again. I'm sure there were more interesting quests, but I was bored a few hours in for both games and never finished. Fallout 3 was better, but for all the interesting places that were in the game, it mostly came down to killing everything in that location. I remember going to several interesting buildings in the game that I thought would have interesting NPCs that would give me quests or otherwise let me handle the situation in interesting ways, but most npcs just attacked on sight forcing me to kill them.

Picked up GTA4 on steam when it was on sale. I'm about 6 hours in and while I can appreciate the work and effort that went into building the world, I'm finding the actual game a bit on the boring side. The missions are mostly follow this person then kill them, or go pick this item up and return it somewhere. Going on wild random rampages was only fun the first few times. The available mini games (bowling, darts etc) were ok, nothing special. I do like the majority of the characters though. I think they're well realized and Niko himself I find interesting. I'm just plowing through the story as fast as I can to see if it leads somewhere interesting.

I prefer no VO for the PC. I like imagining different voices for different characters I create, even though admittedly they say the same thing and the reactions are the same. Easy solution will be to have the option to turn on or off according to player preference. Just reading the the basic information reminded me of Fable, which I tried did didn't much like. I hope that they keep the party based combat but with a revamped combat system with better animations. Like, 2H warriors engaging multiple enemies at once. I don't mind if its has a more actiony feel. Anyways, I'm glad a sequel is coming relatively soon. I really enjoyed Dragon Age.

I was thinking of picking up Assassin's Creed 2 and PoP Forgotten Sand, but remembered the stupid DRM. Is that still in place for steam versions?

Stealth, Pistols, Martial Arts, with some in Toughness. Sneak in, chain shot, flying knee to the face to any enemy left standing. Every game should have a flying knee to the face move followed by a stomp option.

It's a shame so many people are running into bugs. Personally I haven't run into any game crashing, super annoying bugs and found the core of the game quite enjoyable. I'm on my third game mostly sneaking through the levels as fast as I can to see what different choices affect the story. This game I'm trying my hardest to defeat everyone with the flying knee to the face attack. It's highly satisfying. Hopefully some technical problems can be worked around and bugs fixed, because AP is great fun.

There are fixes for the mouse stuttering issues. I recommend you look at the PC support forums. As for the protect Surkov battle, it can be tough if Moscow is the first city you tackle. There is an easy solution. Before the mission buy intel that will leave a sniper rifle on the roof of the embassy. When you get to the part in the courtyard, don't go out the front door. Instead make your way to the 2nd floor to the roof. The rifle will be there along with a nice wide view of the courtyard and enemies. Snipe away.

I completed a game and am in the middle of my second playthrough. There was one moment in the game that really made it for me. Spoiler below Many games present the players with choices, but this is the first time that I've thought of an NPC as an thinking individual and tried to adjust my choices accordingly. This makes Alpha Protocol a great game in my book. My 2 cents.

I just finished my first game last night as a spy (pistol, CQC, stealth, recruit, hard mode) and I didn't find the combat mediocre at all. Actually compared to my ME2 game as a soldier, the combat in AP was much more challenging, had greater options and was generally more fun, despite the stat based mechanics. Here is how a typical ME2 encounter as soldier went for me. Storm to cover, crouch, take my time and kill everything within range with the assault rifle. No enemies tried to flank, cover was indestructible, no enemies threw grenades to flush me out of hiding, the only enemies to charge were Krogan and Overlord Super Collecter, usually in a slow plodding pace that gave me plenty of time to kill them. An AP encounter would usually have me sprinting from cover to cover because man, those enemies love to throw grenades, armored shotgun wielding enemies would always charge in, forcing my wimpy pistol wielding spy to give up position and retreat, a lot of the cover offered were truck and gas tanks which would frequently explode forcing me to find other means of cover. It was great. I was always in danger. But I also had a lot of options to combat this. I would frequently use incendiary grenades and shock traps to make any charge dangerous to the enemy, I would do everything I could to stop charges and flanking with my gadgets while I lined up criticals. It got even more fun when my skills improved. I loved sneaking into the center of a group of enemies, chainshotting them, then taking out any that survived with CQC while they were still reeling from the initial attack. The charging knee to the head is awesome. I don't think the reviewers really explored all the options that were available.

PC: I've only just reached Saudi Arabia, but the stuttering is really making me want to stop playing. Every time I flick the mouse the game stutters and I end up turned around in some random direction. My system specs are more than enough to handle AP. That's pretty much my only issue.

I'll have to play it to see if all the negative reviews are mostly true. I'm sure they have some valid points because from all the gameplay videos I've seen, animations did seem a little clunky. I can't believe the kept that ridiculous crouch-walking animation. I'm sure the combat will be like your typical RPG, where your skills are mediocre at first but come to possess an enormous lethality later on. Perhaps a mistake on Obsidian's part to create the main combat system like a shooter. In the post ME2 gaming world, I think a lot of people will expect the game to act like a shooter since it so closely resembles one, even if it is just the outer casing. Perhaps a more top-down perspective in combat would have given it a more RPGish feel with the proper expectations? What I'm really looking forward to is the the dialogue options and the choices that go along with them. I'm looking forward to playing a stealthy, diplomatic type that tries to get as many allies as possible while trying to see all the angles, staying one step ahead of adversaries. The reports of dumb AI don't really bother me. I don't think I've ever played a game where the AI has really impressed. The sneaking up and taking down enemies while other enemies are two feet away? You could do that in Drake's Fortune and Arkham Asylum. Granted it was a minor point on two very excellent games, but I don't see anyone ever knocking off points from those games for poor AI. Looking forward to playing when Steam finally unlocks.

I thought Crossroads Keep was better done that Vigil's Keep. I enjoyed Awakenings and have played through it twice now. I wish the end game had been longer and the epilogue more polished, but it was good overall. From the ending, it looks like DA2 will be less about the Darkspawn though, since your choice at the end has some pretty serious implications.

Good ol' Sarevok.

Yup, Rise of the Argonauts. I played through it once and its not as bad as the reviews make it out to be. It plays like an action RPG and you can make choices throughout the game that affect the outcome of some characters and events. You also gain deeds as you complete quests, which then you devote to one of the 4 gods. These leads to different powers and skills. I usually ended up using the mace 90% of the time due to the its shield breaking abilities.

what FPS games haven't you played? I'll just throw in a couple that I've had fun with. These aren't the latest shooters, but just ones that stick out in my memory. Tron 2.0 - Kind of a sequel to the movie. Interesting story and fun gameplay, especially after you master the disc throwing and blocking. NOLF (No one lives forever) 2 - Fun game with lots of humor. The evil organization is called H.A.R.M. FEAR is another good action shooter. Scary at times too with an adequate story to move things along. I just realized that the three games so far were all developed by Monolith. Oh well. You could try the two first Halo games on PC. I got them when they were dirt cheap and they were fun. The music is great. Bioshock is a good choice if you haven't tried it. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is also fun. I guess its not technically a shooter, but it is first person and you get to kick lots of people off cliffs, into spike traps etc. Fun.

Playing The Sith Lords with the TSL restored content mod. So far I can't tell what was added, since its been years since I played the game last, but its been fun so far. I also felt MSG3 was far superior, just because there was more game to it. MGS4 felt more like a series of cutscenes with moments of gameplay mixed in. 4 was still great, I think I enjoyed more for the nostalgic moments from previous games as you mentioned.

The single player is really only 5 hours long. Thought that was a bad rumor. Won't get it until its deeply discounted.

Starcraft 2 is on top of my list. Alpha Protocol is a close second. New Vegas is third. Then in no particular order: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Metroid: Other M Uncharted 3 Diablo 3 Witcher 2 Beyond Good and Evil 2 Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands Splinter Cell Conviction I just hope Ubi gets rid of that DRM scheme.

And the lawyers win!