The Last Of Us: First Impressions

I only got the game today, and have played for several hours. Obviously my views are only on the initial part of the game, and I’ll post a proper review when I’ve played rather more. I’ll keep spoilers in this post to a minimum.

Story

It’s a zombie apocalypse - with a twist. They’re not ‘zombies’ but infected, and the disease is a real thing. It’s a fungal infection, although in reality it only affects creatures such as ants. Civilisation has collapsed in the main and only a few quarantined areas remain (mostly) free of infection. However, democracy has fallen by the wayside and the military now run the show.

Joel and Tess are a pair of smugglers who get hired to take an unusual cargo, Ellie, out of the quarantine zone. But things don’t go quite to plan…

Gameplay

Joel, the player-character, will face both other humans and a range of infected. Approaches can be stealthy, Rambo-style or a combination of the two. As well as a variety of guns (and a bow, I’ve just discovered) there are shivs and Molotov Cocktails, and probably more weapons besides. Generally this works well, and the enemies can often be quite difficult.

However, I have a couple of gripes. The guns are surprisingly inaccurate. I’m not a crack shot by any means (in fact, I’m a bit shit at this sort of thing) but early on I got a headshot when the scope was pointing at my enemy’s chest. Given that the only way to take down a clicker (excepting stealth kills) is with a shot to the head, this is a strange and slightly irksome oversight.

In addition, the clickers. One hit kill enemies are not something of which I’m a fan (Bushido Blade aside). I think it’s a cheap mechanic.

The menu stays open when you’re combining items or using a medkit, and I think this works well. It adds a little bit of tension, and the system for combining items (what I’ve seen of it so far) works well.

Graphics

The graphics are excellent. Rain and water effects, wet-clothing, character animations and facial expressions, sunrises, they’re all brilliant.

Sound

The voice-acting is very good indeed. Sound effects, including the echo-location clicks of those in an advanced stage of pestilence, are also very well done. The music’s ok, although there doesn’t seem to be much of it so far.

Ellie

My biggest single worry was that Ellie’s AI would be screwed up. Escort quests aren’t exactly the favourite of most gamers, and there was the risk that Ellie would be a blundering moron who would get herself and/or Joel killed. Happily, this seems not to be the case. Ellie and Joel not only work well together in a gameplay sense (he takes the lead, she can sometimes help out) but they also have some nice moments of banter.

As an aside, this is probably the first zombie game I’ve played since Resident Evil 2, about 15 years ago.

(Preliminary) Conclusion

I’ve played twice today. The second time I forgot what time it was and ate tea later than usual, and had a crick in my neck. Can’t remember when the last time that happened was.

So, one-hit kills and dodgy aiming aside I’m really enjoying The Last Of Us. The difficulty will be finishing it without ruining my neck. When I do, I’ll post a fuller review.

Thaddeus

Dragon Age 3: spoilers and speculation

The early briefing ahead of E3 has revealed a new trailer for Dragon Age 3 (Inquisition), as well as an approximate release date of Autumn 2014. That’s a year or so later than expected, but after DA2’s clearly rushed state I think most people will be willing to wait.

It is not yet clear what platforms the game will be out for. Xbone, PS4 and PC seem very likely, although whether or not it comes out for the Xbox 360 and PS3 is less clear. I very much hope it does, as I’m really looking forward to Inquisition, but not enough to buy a PS4 for that one game alone.

After this point there are many spoilers, so if you’re deliberately avoiding them please stop reading here.

Here’s the trailer:

In it we see (and hear) a number of recurring characters. Morrigan (voiced by the delightful Claudia Black) returns, and I would guess she’s brought her baby (who has the soul of an Old God/dragon/archdemon) with her.

We also see Varric, still carrying his swanky crossbow Bianca.

I believe the lady in Seeker armour is Cassandra, which was widely expected and very welcome.

A Qunari (possibly the new Arishok, as his horns are lengthier than the usual in DA2) is present.

Near the end the sky (the Veil?) is torn open, revealing a load of demonic creatures and the dragon, which I think is probably Son of Morrigan.

Although there’s neither sight nor sound of Flemeth it would be pretty surprising if she were not present in this game. She’s been in both the previous instalments and after Morrigan attempts to kill her in Origins it’s quite possible she’ll be opposing her daughter. The other, less likely, possibility is that Flemeth *is* the dragon (she can transform into one, and does so when Morrigan sends the Warden to kill her in Origins).

Leliana also did not feature here, but was at the end of DA2 with Cassandra, which suggests she too will return.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect, characters aside, of the trailer is that it presents a war between Morrigan/magic against the forces of good and order. Whether this is simply analogous to the Templar/mage conflict we know about (with Morrigan on the mages’ side) or whether we’ve got a three way war (Morrigan, the mages and the Templars) is unclear.

It also seems to me that we’ll have a similar ally-collecting central quest, as per Origins. That worked really well in the first game, and this time it seems that siding with the ‘bad guys’ is also a possibility. 

I’m still very much looking forward to Inquisition, I just hope it comes out for the current as well as next generation of consoles. I don’t mind the extra wait, but that does make me worry that such a move diminishes the chances of it coming out for the PS3.

Thaddeus

Journey to Altmortis update and quiz

Journey to Altmortis is my second fantasy novel and, like Bane of Souls, is stand-alone. It’s gotten a couple of five star reviews on Amazon, which was a very nice surprise (Bane of Souls got 7/8 four star reviews but no five star).

In addition to Amazon and Smashwords, I’m delighted to report that Journey to Altmortis can also be bought from the following retailers:

Because the release of Journey to Altmortis was a little rushed (due to computer woe) I didn’t put up a quiz right away. However, this has been remedied and is now up at Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/results?id=27595

Thaddeus

Review: By Sword and Fire: Cruelty and Atrocity in Medieval Warfare, by Sean McGlynn

I bought this book a week or two ago, because I was interested in finding out about the level of mercy and brutality that medieval warfare involved.

The book is divided into several sections, which include placing brutality in warfare in context by explaining how pervasive violence in was in medieval peacetime, battles and sieges. The first chapter on violence during peacetime is deliberately concise, but does a very good job of providing a useful background for the warfare sections.

In addition, it was fascinating to read about the medieval perspective that a strong king, unafraid to be brutal, was actually a good thing, as viewed by those who lived under his reign. This was because the law and state was weak and violence commonplace, and it was felt that only by extreme measures could deterrence prove effective.

Even more intriguing were the competing powers of mercy and brutality. Both are shown to be successful or not at different times. For example, slaughtering the garrison of a castle that doesn’t surrender can prompt others to simply give up. On the other hand, sparing men could mean that behaviour being returned by the enemy, whereas killing prisoners could demoralise the army as they knew they’d likely face the same if they’re ever captured.

The focus in the book is England and France, although there are forays into the Holy Land, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This is partly because England and France were more cohesive and centralised nations than their rivals at the time, emphasising the authority and approval of kings when it came to atrocity. Perhaps surprisingly the bits I found most extreme were in the initial peacetime section.

There are three maps, all at the start. For this sort of book I view maps as a nice extra rather than something essential, but it’s still useful to include them, particularly for the Holy Land.

The writing style is clear and easy to understand, and good use is made of sources. The author has his own views regarding traditional and revisionist schools of thought (about King John, for example) and is quite open about it, which I like. He also explains why Philip Augustus, despite being hugely successful, isn’t nearly as celebrated as Richard the Lionheart or Saladin.

I don’t have much bad to say about this book. I’m not too fond of pointing ahead to future chapters/atrocity examples (I’d rather just read as it comes). That’s about it, to be honest. The book’s interesting, easy to read, explains why brutality was so commonplace and the balance between brutality and mercy. It more than met my expectations.

Thaddeus