Saturday, April 23, 2005
Some video games are like crack.
Mmmmm... crack!
I posted previously about my irrational giddiness in the days leading up to the release of Doom 3 on the Mac. I'm here to report that said giddiness was not, in fact, all that irrational. The game is Bee-Yoo-Tee-Ful. Absolutely gorgeous. It's like walking around inside a painting that's equal parts Geiger and Escher.
Some folks have made hay about the actual gameplay being overly simplistic. While I agree that the game doesn't have the complexity found in a game like Rainbow Six, I don't care. This is DOOM, people. DOOM. The game isn't about managing an entire squadron of characters, or using some special keyboard combination to twist an opponent into a Boston Crab. Mankind is the most ruthless, efficient predator Earth has ever seen, and this game is about becoming the hunted. We're being attacked by things we don't understand for reasons we can't comprehend, just like every species mankind ever hunted to extinction. It's the ultimate role-reversal, and that's what makes the Doom games the greatest first-person shooters ever made.
The other game I've glommed on to in recent months is Pax Galaxia, a very, very different game from Doom 3. It's a riff off of the classic Risk formula, but I find it really well executed. I don't have time to get into it right now, but I implore you to check it out. It's essentially a board game, so it doesn't have the mind-blowing eye candy of Doom 3, but it's video crack in its purest form: easy to learn, near-infinite replayability, and supremely satisfying when you win. It's available for both Macintosh and PC, there's a free demo available for download, and the full version of the game is just $20.00.
Pax Galaxia -- Dio Games
I posted previously about my irrational giddiness in the days leading up to the release of Doom 3 on the Mac. I'm here to report that said giddiness was not, in fact, all that irrational. The game is Bee-Yoo-Tee-Ful. Absolutely gorgeous. It's like walking around inside a painting that's equal parts Geiger and Escher.
Some folks have made hay about the actual gameplay being overly simplistic. While I agree that the game doesn't have the complexity found in a game like Rainbow Six, I don't care. This is DOOM, people. DOOM. The game isn't about managing an entire squadron of characters, or using some special keyboard combination to twist an opponent into a Boston Crab. Mankind is the most ruthless, efficient predator Earth has ever seen, and this game is about becoming the hunted. We're being attacked by things we don't understand for reasons we can't comprehend, just like every species mankind ever hunted to extinction. It's the ultimate role-reversal, and that's what makes the Doom games the greatest first-person shooters ever made.
The other game I've glommed on to in recent months is Pax Galaxia, a very, very different game from Doom 3. It's a riff off of the classic Risk formula, but I find it really well executed. I don't have time to get into it right now, but I implore you to check it out. It's essentially a board game, so it doesn't have the mind-blowing eye candy of Doom 3, but it's video crack in its purest form: easy to learn, near-infinite replayability, and supremely satisfying when you win. It's available for both Macintosh and PC, there's a free demo available for download, and the full version of the game is just $20.00.
Pax Galaxia -- Dio Games
