Dead Space. Amazing game. As a game, it is designed incredibly well. It provides a nearly flawless experience, fun to the point that you don’t pay attention to any of the flaws.

That is, unless you’re looking for an actual survival horror. See, there are plenty of design elements that work well for Dead Space as a shooter, but horrible for it to be the survival horror that EA Redshores Studio labeled it to be. While on harder difficulties these matters are less of an issue, they still interfere with the horror aspect.

Granted, what games like Resident Evil and other survival horror titles had going for them is considered bad game design. Poor controls, no checkpoints, limited saves, incredibly limited inventory, these all contributed to the horror in a different way than just making you jump. You were actually afraid of the next encounter, because you’d have to deal with clumsy controls, and if you died you would have to replay half an hour or more. Not to mention you aren’t sure if you have enough ammo to be prepared, or if you even have the right kind.

Dead Space eliminates all of that. Granted no game would be allowed to get away with horrible controls these days, and there are still great ways to balance that such as A.I., where the enemies come from, how quickly they move, etc. However, just about any other problem, and more, are eliminated from the equation.

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There aren’t many sequels I can think of that feel so similar to their predecessor they may as well be one in the same. Gears of War 2 has the same formula and feel of the first title, so much so that it feels wrong to even call it a sequel. While technically it stands on its own as a game, considering the lack of depth to the franchise’s story and setting, it is better thought of as a continuation of the first game. It isn’t Gears of War 2, it is Gears of War: Part Two.

To give you a better understanding, think of the Alien trilogy compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The three Alien films tell the overall story of Ripley and her battle against the Alien, but each film has its own isolated plot and atmosphere that allows them to each stand on their own. The Lord of the Rings films, on the other hand, are all one larger story. The Two Towers doesn’t stand on its own, but rather it continues the tale started with Fellowship of the Ring. This is how Gears of War 2 feels overall.

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I was all set for this Fall release schedule. I had picked out a handful of titles I was going to purchase on day one, and had put titles I was unsure of aside to wait for a price drop following the holidays. Plenty of excellent games should be down to $40 by February, if not more so. I was going to grab the three or four games I really wanted, put the rest on a Christmas wishlist and grab the rest at a cheaper price in ‘09.

Then I played the demo for Mirror’s Edge.

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I am fully aware of all the current controversy going on between tabletop roleplayers and the new 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Most of the folks complaining simply look like old men complaining about “the good old days”. They are told if they don’t like it, then they should just stick to 3rd or even 2nd Edition. Meanwhile, on the other side of the argument, all the people that do enjoy 4th Edition are looked upon as the World of Warcraft players that are ruining gaming.

Ultimately, there are three groups of tabletop roleplayers. The Gamists, the Simulationists and the Narrativists (those familiar with the GNS Theory will already be familiar with the idea). These three sectors often enough cross over, similarly to a Venn Diagram, but most often the goals of the Narrativist and Simulationist collide with that of the Gamist. The Narrativist and Simulationist goals are to experience a world and story that cannot be provided through other mediums, such as video games or novels. The Gamist, on the other hand, has the ultimate goal of simply winning, especially if they can maximize their character for any situation (see Pete from Darths and Droids).

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I have left my blog malnourished long enough, but I hope to keep it well fed in the coming weeks as plenty of games are releasing, meaning there is plenty to discuss.

For now, though, I want to talk about Heroes. The first season caught me by surprise and instantly turned me into a fan. It was a well written show, had plenty of interesting characters (though some less interesting ones as well), and I found the story and plot twists to be well done and thought out (even if you could tell halfway through that they needed to run some plot-hole damage control).

The second season started up, and everyone expected big things. Instead, they got a similar plot to save the future, as well as thirteen episodes of not much happening. Overall, it was supposed to be similar to the first half of season one, where not much happens until all Hell breaks loose, and then once more building up into one climax. People weren’t happy with this, and it has created quite a negative effect on season three.

This is why I hate people. I blame them for all the problems with Halo 2 and 3, as well as the existence of Alien vs. Predator 2 (not the game, but the movie. The game was awesome).

To summarize for those not keeping up, or yet caught up, season three moves pretty fast. Too fast, in fact. Each episode seems to have at least one plot twist, just about each one unnecessary. The characters do not develop in a natural manner, but instead shift in ways that makes them seem contradictory. In fact, if you were to put the second and third seasons back to back, many of the actions of the characters would make no sense. This is nothing to say of the characters that have suddenly vanished off the map from previous seasons.

The very plot twists themselves are absolutely ridiculous, almost taking on a Lost quality. While plenty of them are predictable, they are only so because of how absurd or soap opera they are.

The biggest disappointment of this all is that the season’s premise is actually a good one. While the first two seasons had a major focus on how there is a hero inside everyone, even the most unlikely, the third season tackles with the idea that there is a villain within everyone as well. Turning some characters into villains would create a lot of interesting conflict, development and make you eager to see what might happen.

Yet it is executed poorly. The writers handled the issue irresponsibly, by randomly choosing characters to flip-flop instead of gradually building them into their new role as a villain, and with good reason.

Beneath the cut, I will go into further detail, but to those that haven’t caught up, be warned of plot spoilers.

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Just a notification to all those interested, the English fan translation of Mother 3 has been completed.

It came as a surprise to me how many of my friends at school haven’t seen the original Alien film. To me, it is simply a classic. It is a perfect representation of what a horror film should be, focusing more on the psychological than on gruesome shots of blood and cheap thrills to get girls to jump out of their seats shrieking like banshees. Clearly plenty of folks out there agree, as every other year there is a new film claiming to be “the scariest since Alien”.

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Everyone hates the new Facebook layout. At least, I don’t know a single person that enjoys it. Personally, I’m not much a fan either, though I don’t seem to hate it nearly so much as anyone else. Still, my first reaction was “How the Hell did this pass usability testing?”. Trying to find the familiar links was a pain at first, and the very look of it just gave a queasy feeling.

Yet whenever I tried to describe why it was so terrible, I found any truly good reasons to escape me. I couldn’t say “well, this here is a perfect example of bad design”. So exactly what’s wrong with it? Why is it such a terrible new layout? All I’ve really heard from people is “it is/looks horrible” and “I can’t find anything”, for the most part.

So let’s try and figure out what is really going wrong with it.

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It isn’t often that I get addicted to Live Arcade games. I don’t know why, but most of the games end up being fun for a little while, but don’t have any lasting appeal. I wasn’t even sure about grabbing Castle Crashers at all, but a friend of mine had purchased and given me a 1600 MS Points card with which to buy the game. Gratefully, I accepted and downloaded the game. I played it briefly single player, and found it to be enjoyable enough, but as usual didn’t find it to be all that amazing.

Then I played it with my roommate and his brother, and together we got the full Castle Crashers experience.

There are just some games that aren’t meant to be played alone, and Castle Crashers is one of them. This technically puts it in the category of “party game”, which is quite fitting. Not only is it great for multiple people to play, but it is entertaining for an audience as well. As I played with my roommate and friends, there was always at least one observer, and never did any audience member get bored and just walk off. I imagine watching isn’t nearly as fun as playing, but the art, music and humor all combines to be an entertaining experience to watch as well as play.

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Religion. It’s one of those tricky topics that I’m always afraid to bring up. Being surrounded by Atheists, Agnostics, Wiccans and more, I have sometimes felt as if I should apologize for the actions of my fellow Christians. Other times I have felt like bringing a baseball bat to the head of any of those jerks that suggested anyone that believes in a God is a dullard. Either way, someone is pissing me off.

This time it was the other Christians.

I saw on television today that Sarah Palin, the running mate for McCain, is against sex education in schools. I don’t care about the actual politics at the moment, I just want to let you all know this is a foolish perspective to have. Bad Christian! No communion for you!

It seems that Christian parents feel that the way they raise their kids should be the way all parents should raise their kids.

Wait, scratch that.

Most parents feel that the way they raise their kids should be the way all parents should raise their kids.

There, that’s a much more fitting generalization.

It’s true, though. No matter the faith, all parents are irresponsible jack asses that think they know what is best. Considering that just about everyone in the world is an irresponsible jack ass that thinks they know what is best, this shouldn’t be too surprising. If you disagree with me and think people in this world are nice and aren’t horrible, selfish bags of flesh, I suggest you read the news. If that doesn’t convince you, Google 4chan.

However, there are some matters that Christian parents are particularly irrational over, and as a fellow Christian it is my duty to point the finger and say “UR DOIN IT RONG”.

The first problem is that you are so uptight you not only expect but demand that your child remains abstinant until marriage. In some cases, your child may comply. In a lot of cases, your strict and strong attitude on the matter will only encourage them to have sex as soon as possible. It’s kind of like the age limit on drinking. Because it’s there, teenagers are going to drink themselves stupid. Compare how teenagers and College kids drink in America compared to other countries with less strict rules about it. We look like idiotic children in comparison.

This is a mentality that needs to be understood. The more you try and tighten a leash onto a kid, particularly a teenager, the more they will think it’s a noose and fight you to set themselves free. If you try and force your child to behave, they will only want to lash out and fight back. If you let your child know the rules, but also let them know you trust them to obey, then they will be more likely to comply.

And if they break that trust, you are free to whoop some ass.

So to summarize: if you demand that your child remain abstinant until marriage, it will only make them want to do the opposite.

The second problem is the parents themselves will not take the responsibility to educate their child. Most kids have learned about sex by time they are ten anyway. I remember being in grade school and hearing all the other kids talk about Playboy magazines they grabbed from under their dad’s bed. By time kids are old enough to learn about sex, they already understand some of the basics.

However, parents are, as stated previously, irresponsible jack asses. They will either expect their kids to learn on their own, or they will just insist that they don’t have it until marriage. This generally leaves them to learn about sex from what is in movies (which is typically “it’s completely fine to have sex on the first date…assuming you have a first date”), in pornography (let’s count everything that is wrong with this method of learning) and their friends (who likely learned from the first two and tried to apply it to personal experience…or is simply talking out of their ass).

If Christian parents really want their children to be responsible and intelligent about sex, then the best thing they could do is allow schools to educate them. My highschool had a sex education program my sophomore year that taught about multiple forms of protection, as well as various STD’s. They basically teach teenagers how to be responsible, how to avoid catching and spreading diseases, and how to appropriately use the different forms of protection. It turns out that there are incorrect ways to put on and use a condom! It may seem simple, but this is a nation where Pop-Tarts need instructions on the box.

I have heard some parents assume sex education also means they teach teenagers how to have sex. This is untrue. The furthest they really got was oral sex could be a bad idea if the other person had STD’s. Which is kind of common sense at this point, but again, Pop-Tarts. They do not hand out the Kama Sutra as a textbook, or go over the intricasies of how many places to place a penis. It is simply about how to avoid pregnancy and the spreading of STD’s.

Also, they mentioned that abstinance is the only 100% sure way of avoiding said difficulties so much that it could be a drinking game.

Of course, with Christians wanting their children to avoid sex until marriage, why should they worry about all these things? Well, as should be made obvious by now, you cannot control your children. You can do your best, but in the end they are left to make their own choices. That choice may be to have sex, and you sure as Hell didn’t teach them how to do it safe since you spent so much time telling them not to do it.

But the primary issue is that not all parents care if their children wait until marriage or not. That’s not to say most non-Christian parents are fine with their children screwing anything with two legs that looks remotely human that comes their way. However, not all parents worry about their children having sex before marriage, and to demand that schools do not teach sex education means the children of those parents aren’t learning to be safe, either.

Parents, it is completely possible to separate your religious values from your political beliefs. As I said, I do not believe in wanton sex personally, and part of that comes from my religious background. However, I support sex education in schools because, in a nation where religious belief is a freedom, not everyone is going to agree on when someone should have sex and when they shouldn’t. In the end, it’s best to take a road that both sides are fine traveling.