As you might have already known, I've finally got my new DIY PC. We can share the specs later but more importantly I'd like to share something with you.
First off, Shank. Or at least, the Shank Demo readily available on Steam. Shank is an indie game by Electronic Arts in the style of a 2D action-platform. You take control of a skilled, but angry, man on the quest to find a lubre wrestler who kind of crashed into your home, beat up your avatar really bad, and to top it off even kidnapped your girlfriend/wife for who knows what sort of, er, 'evil' deeds that's in his sleeve.
So, off you go and first stop is a typical scene from a wild-west genre, a bar. Yup, a bar. And without much of an ado the opening sequence starts off with you handing severe punishment on the customers who clearly went after you banishing an assortment of weapons namely a 2-piece blade, a 2 pistols, and a chainsaw, which you expertly took control and becomes your primary choices.
Though on a keyboard the control mechanism is smooth and quick, though clearly the game was designed more for the gamepad in mind. Nevertheless, keyboard players are in no significant disadvantage. The graphics are pretty close to what you might see in a Flash animation. Likewise, smooth and fluid. Colour scheme matches the atmosphere and the era that the game might be taking place in, which I presume most likely in Mexico.
Sounds are pretty standard though I felt that the voice-acting could use some buck-up. The main actor's voice sounded non-chalent despite the avatar's pissed-off facial features. But if the story build-up is not going to bother you, chances are these little hiccups are gonna pass by you without as much of a notice.
Overall the experience with the Shank Demo is in the positive zone and I could see myself investing some hard-earned cash on this, but with the advent of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood in the horizon, I'll keep content with the knowledge I enjoyed at least the demo for the time being.
Right after this, I checked back my progress with Steam on my download progress with Alien Swarm, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Demo, and my first bought game Left for Dead 2.
Clearly Left for Dead 2, or L4D2 as more commonly known to my classmates, my new PC fortunately handles it well and I could only hope that my scaredy-cat guts could take the strain as I plunge into this unknown world. Already, what was immediate evident is that for best experience L4D2 is best enjoyed with friends, specifically if via Co-Op campaign gameplay or multiplayer slaughter for all.
My first session was with JJ and Neo, who kindly accomodated my invitation for my first game into a co-op mission. My mouse, though, was giving me problems as the cursor would jump to a random direction or angle and I would struggle to resume control of it while the other players patiently wait for me (thanks, guys!).
As like any other FPS, my first link to this title was Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Twisted monsters of shapes and sizes, wide variety of weapons both melee and long-range, as well as the vast stages that runs from a rooftop to a safe house some distance away. Though not surprisingly since the game IS designed by the Valve Team, but my initial experience has to be in the positive light.
As I mentioned before, I can't really take things that just rushes towards you with inhuman speed and start gnawing your virtual flesh off, no... Personally, I hate horror and monster survival games, which is why initially I'm particularly fond of this title.
But with the inclusion of friends joining in the fight with you? Now that's a different story.
On the technical note, the atmosphere with the game scene is pretty good, though I did got to some stages with pretty dense smoke or maybe it's something else that the designer did not intend, I am unable to discern.
Still, clearly the game demands that one should have a pretty decent piece of machinery in order to bring out the best eye-candy of this game title.
Finally, the experience in online multiplayer. The initial gameplay with JJ and Neo is actually quite impressive. I am unable to pick out any significant lag during the play though it did eventually stop due to the server that we were on. Oh, and one note I did not expect was that the game starter can let the game choose the best possible server around so as to provide the best possible experience. Nice one, Valve!
So, that's it for now. I think that this post is already a little too long for most and so I'll leave it here for now. See ya this coming Monday and have a nice Deepavali!
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