Exasperated Calculator

Category: Games

  • Trekathon Special #1: Mass Effect 2

    Star Trek is a very influential show, and so I’ll be looking at a few other TV show episodes, movies and games inspired by Star Trek as part of the Trekathon. First up is *Mass Effect 2*. The best Star Trek game ever made (even though it’s not a Star Trek game).[^1] In fact, *Mass…

  • Game Review: Prince of Persia (reboot)

    [*Prince of Persia*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia_(2008_video_game\)) is the seventh 7th game in the main [*Prince of Persia*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia) series, and the 12th game overall. Spoilers in this review, so you’ll have to click through.

  • Game Review: Half Life 2 + Episode 1 + Episode 2

    I just finished playing through all of [*Half Life 2*](http://orange.half-life2.com/) (at least, all of what’s been released so far) for [Rebel FM’s Game Club](https://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/category/game-club/). Yes, a little late to the party. But better late than never, especially for [one of the best games of all time](http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/halflife2theorangebox?q=orange%20box). I was playing through on the XBox – I’d…

  • Game Review: World in Conflict

    [World in Conflict](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_in_conflict) for PC is a real time strategy game with a new twist on the genre. Rather than emphasise the base building and resource harvesting that have been at the core of the genre ever since [Dune II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_II), it emphasises lower level combat, with fewer units and less emphasis on resources.[^1] So rather…

  • The Exasperated Calculator Game of the Year 2007

    Yes, I’m aware it’s 2009 now. But I still need to cover the games that I played in 2007, before I can move on to the 2008 edition. The rule is that it has to be a game that I played for the first time in 2007 – not paying too much attention to the…

  • Game Review: Mirror’s Edge

    [Mirror’s Edge](http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3160956), by DICE, published by Electronic Arts. I don’t play a lot of games all the way to the finish. The current pile of unfinished games includes *Assasin’s Creed*, *Oblivion*, *Fallout 3*, *Mass Effect*, *Super Mario Galaxy* and *Psychonauts*. So the first thing to note about Mirror’s Edge is that I actually finished the…

  • Why isn’t the computer game business more like films?

    Just last week [Electronic Arts offered $US 2 billion to purchase another publisher, Take-Two](http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/news/131375.20080225.EA-offers-2-Billion-to-buy-Take-Two/). This is part of a continuing trend in the computer video game business, with the really big publishers consolidating. In some sense, this is a lot like the film business – the big studios make up a very substantial proportion of…

  • Criticising computer games

    I was struck by a [really interesting post](http://playthisthing.com/game-criticism-why-we-need-it-and-why-reviews-arent-it) by [Greg Costiykan](http://playthisthing.com/) on the difference between reviews and criticism, and the absence of real criticism of computer games at present. Most people aren’t very interested in ‘criticism’ per se. [Pauline Kael](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Kael) was one of the most influential film critic, but I’d imagine there are third teir…

  • Wii unboxing

    In the rest of this entry are the pictures from when I got my shiny new [Wii](http://wii.nintendo.com) back in December. I didn’t post the pictures at the time due to my laptop explosion. Warning: only geeks will care. For the rest of you: the Wii is great fun, and I wish I had some more…

  • Wiiii!!!!!!!!!

    Yes, I was one of the sad multitudes who stayed up past midnight to buy the new Nintendo Wii. I regret nothing! Haven’t had much of a chance to play with it, just a brief wrestle with the internet settings (no luck yet, but I’ll get there), and a few rounds of baseball, boxing and…