I haven’t paid any attention to this but hopefully I can catch up. Here’s last week in a few concise sentences: Monday through Wednesday, I played the game that was meant to start off the next generation of gaming two years in the making, Watch_Dogs. Playing it for the first time at 9:30 at night, I was quick to progress through the first act that contained the setup of the story and missions that introduced us to the world I was entering. The next few days I progressed rather slowly, not fully satisfied with the game I had been anticipating since E3 2012. After I had returned Watch_Dogs to Family Video, I turned to Max Payne 3, a game I had already beaten but wanted to play again. The rich visuals, the fast gameplay, the onslaught of metaphors, all culminated in the emotional chapter of the broken man’s life. Leaving his old life behind, he traveled to Brazil to become a bodygaurd and to get involved in a vast conspiracy.
For tonight’s gameplay (6/19) Max had discovered that the Sao Paulo private police force, UFE, had been selling humans to be harvested of their organs to sell those on the black market. This dark turn threw me a loop the first time I played the game as I had never experienced a matter quite like this in a videogame. I left Max off ambushing the police station so hopefully he’s doing fine choking down pain pills like he needed a new hole in his stomach. I’ll get to him tomorrow.
(6/20) I got home from work and picked up where I left off with Max. I played it in my dark room devoid of outside light and noises. As I led Max through the blood splattered hallways, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him and all he had stumbled into. After a short boss fight, we find out that Victor Branco, the last remaining member of the family Max was hired to protect, was colluding with UFE in the illegal organ business. This twist was rather expected as he was the last of the Brancos alive and Max had already determined that he was only hired to be the fall guy as the rest of the family burned. I felt as betrayed as Max and still as confused, not understanding the whole situation. The Brancos were already rich, they didn’t need to resort to this. Max didn’t have time to contemplate this as Victor and the head of UFE escaped. There’s still one more leg of this journey and a lot of unjustified “Payne” to end.
(6/21) It’s finally finished. After an arduous journey through the UFE controlled airport, Max finally caught up to Victor and Becker, the head of UFE. Victor was boarding a plane, unwilling to do his own job and dirty his hands and Becker equipped a riot shield and grenade launcher. After a few minutes of dodging grenades and killing more nameless soldiers, Max got a good shot at one of the grenades, detonating it in Becker’s face. After the blast, Max found Becker crawling away with his one attached arm bleeding and burned. At this point, Max and I were given a choice: execute Becker or let him suffer for a few more moments. Both choices produce the same outcome and net you a separate achievement for either choice so the action is really more cosmetic. Taking the grenade launcher with him, Max chases after Victor’s plane, stops it and at the behest of the police, lets Victor live. After a brief epilogue showing that Victor killed himself short after arriving in prison, Max walks off into the sunset and the credits roll. With this end, I was left both satisfied and wanting for Max’s story to continue. I’m not sure what game I’ll start next but I’m leaning toward Alan Wake.
I haven’t paid any attention to this but hopefully I can catch up. Here’s last week in a few concise sentences: Monday through Wednesday, I played the game that was meant to start off the next generation of gaming two years in the making, Watch_Dogs. Playing it for the first time at 9:30 at night, I was quick to progress through the first act that contained the setup of the story and missions that introduced us to the world I was entering. The next few days I progressed rather slowly, not fully satisfied with the game I had been anticipating since E3 2012. After I had returned Watch_Dogs to Family Video, I turned to Max Payne 3, a game I had already beaten but wanted to play again. The rich visuals, the fast gameplay, the onslaught of metaphors, all culminated in the emotional chapter of the broken man’s life. Leaving his old life behind, he traveled to Brazil to become a bodygaurd and to get involved in a vast conspiracy.
For tonight’s gameplay (6/19) Max had discovered that the Sao Paulo private police force, UFE, had been selling humans to be harvested of their organs to sell those on the black market. This dark turn threw me a loop the first time I played the game as I had never experienced a matter quite like this in a videogame. I left Max off ambushing the police station so hopefully he’s doing fine choking down pain pills like he needed a new hole in his stomach. I’ll get to him tomorrow.
(6/20) I got home from work and picked up where I left off with Max. I played it in my dark room devoid of outside light and noises. As I led Max through the blood splattered hallways, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him and all he had stumbled into. After a short boss fight, we find out that Victor Branco, the last remaining member of the family Max was hired to protect, was colluding with UFE in the illegal organ business. This twist was rather expected as he was the last of the Brancos alive and Max had already determined that he was only hired to be the fall guy as the rest of the family burned. I felt as betrayed as Max and still as confused, not understanding the whole situation. The Brancos were already rich, they didn’t need to resort to this. Max didn’t have time to contemplate this as Victor and the head of UFE escaped. There’s still one more leg of this journey and a lot of unjustified “Payne” to end.
(6/21) It’s finally finished. After an arduous journey through the UFE controlled airport, Max finally caught up to Victor and Becker, the head of UFE. Victor was boarding a plane, unwilling to do his own job and dirty his hands and Becker equipped a riot shield and grenade launcher. After a few minutes of dodging grenades and killing more nameless soldiers, Max got a good shot at one of the grenades, detonating it in Becker’s face. After the blast, Max found Becker crawling away with his one attached arm bleeding and burned. At this point, Max and I were given a choice: execute Becker or let him suffer for a few more moments. Both choices produce the same outcome and net you a separate achievement for either choice so the action is really more cosmetic. Taking the grenade launcher with him, Max chases after Victor’s plane, stops it and at the behest of the police, lets Victor live. After a brief epilogue showing that Victor killed himself short after arriving in prison, Max walks off into the sunset and the credits roll. With this end, I was left both satisfied and wanting for Max’s story to continue. I’m not sure what game I’ll start next but I’m leaning toward Alan Wake.