Dr.Haggard • Comments

  • Starbreeze's latest looks like it could be this year's Journey

  • Dr.Haggard 12/03/2013

    @smoothpete I found it dull unfortunately. It was obviously well crafted but didn't do anything at all for me, just a taste thing. Reply 0

  • Dr.Haggard 12/03/2013

    Everyone seems to forget about Enclave when talking about Starbreeze these days, which I loved to bits (Enclave 2 sadly joined Into The Shadows and Sorcery in their growing archive of hugely promising cancelled projects - I really wish they'd resurrect one of those).

    Riddick was also brilliant, but The Darkness and Syndicate were very disappointing, it's really good to see them doing something all their own - and not FPS - again.     Reply 0

  • Project Shield: Nvidia's Android-based portable that streams PC games

  • Dr.Haggard 07/01/2013

    Lots of people are doing this already with tablets like the Nexus 7/10 and this app (as long as you have an nVidia GPU). If you use a wireless 360 pad you don't even have to worry about input lag. Reply +6

  • Defiance: the console MMO that might just work

  • Dr.Haggard 13/12/2012

    @Gambit1977 Here's some extra words to help you understand, "as well as [the aforementioned] PS3". Reply +9

  • OnLive lays off most of its staff, files for alternative to bankruptcy

  • Dr.Haggard 18/08/2012

    Is it me or is 'S*** just got real!' an incredibly childish and insensitive tag line for an update on an article about people losing their jobs? Reply +22

  • Retrospective: Daikatana

  • Dr.Haggard 18/03/2012

    @Nazo Precisely. Ion, and specifically Romero, failed spectacularly because he couldn't edit himself. He couldn't keep his own ideas in check and work within limits, so high on Quake's success and with all the scrapped concepts for that game fresh in his mind, he just went for it. And Eidos kept giving him money and the games press kept calling him a rock star.

    There was no one to temper him and tell him this stuff just wouldn't work very well, or that it was too difficult, or that his story and characters were juvenile and tacky etc.

    What he never seemed to get was that if Quake had wound up the way he'd originally envisioned it would have been rubbish.

    Edit: Don't get me wrong he's a nice chap, and I'm sure he knows better than all of us where he went wrong.     Reply +4

  • Dr.Haggard 18/03/2012

    I enjoyed that. In a funny way I'm still quite proud to have that big red Daikatana box sitting on my shelf amongst its contemporaries. It's a terrible game but it belongs there, and I always had an inexplicable soft spot for it too.

    Plus I think it's probably one of the last, if not the last game I bought in a big box, so it's historic for that reason too.

    It was still a huge disappointment at the time despite all the warning signs. I actually really quite liked that MPlayer deathmatch demo they released for a competition a while before the games release, the weapons were fun, so I still had some hope for it. How wrong I was. I remember the ancient Greece and Norway levels being my favourite parts, but overall it was just dreadful.     Reply +3

  • Dragon Age II

  • Dr.Haggard 09/02/2011

    It might seem a silly question but what's the GUI like Christian? Is it the horribly basic utilitarian design they've show in screenshots so far, or was that just a cruel ruse and there's a lovely Origins-esque interface full of crumbling parchment and blood spatters decorating this one too? I'm such a sucker for all that, the PC GUI in Origins was lovely.

    Oh and whoever said they should cut down on the codex stuff, no! It was brilliant.     Reply 0

  • EG Expo: The Witcher 2 session

  • Dr.Haggard 11/11/2010

    I went on the Friday so didn't get to see this, thanks for putting it up.

    What a disappointing reaction when he asked if anyone had played the first game! Shame on you lot.     Reply +1

  • Retrospective: King's Bounty

  • Dr.Haggard 09/08/2010

    Skellingtons?

    Enjoyed the article, I've only recently started playing Legends and it's brilliant.     Reply 0

  • Enslaved's Tameem Antoniades

  • Dr.Haggard 05/08/2010

    Not a comfortable read. He came across as a genuinely interesting and likeable guy, but some of the questions were just inappropriate and the tone of the whole thing was quite aggressive.

    Heavenly Sword might've been a bit crap but that's hardly a good reason to go all Paxman on him.     Reply +26

  • Dark Void

  • Dr.Haggard 17/11/2009

    Nice to see a positive preview, it didn't seem to go down too well at the expo but I kept coming back to it. It wasn't a great demo, but there's something about the game I find really appealing. Reply 0

  • Halo 3: ODST tops UK charts

  • Dr.Haggard 28/09/2009

    Best description of ODST I've heard so far was that it's "Halo with a System Shock atmosphere".

    The flashbacks are classic Halo and the New Mombasa hub with its thick atmosphere, log-hunting, and slightly-sinister-yet-chirpy AI are where Halo meets System Shock/Bioshock. Great atmosphere and the most consistently good Halo game since... well ever really.     Reply +3

  • SCEI's Fumito Ueda

  • Dr.Haggard 25/09/2009

    Wish Ellie had asked if a re-release of ICO and SOtC was in the pipeline ala GoW Collection. Call him back Ellie!

    Joystiq asked him. Sounds promising.     Reply +4

  • Next Blizzard MMO is new IP

  • Dr.Haggard 13/05/2009

    "They had HL2 and all the Episodes apparently "in the works" and somewhat playable in 2003-2004"

    The Borealis was originally meant to be the opening level of HL2, that's why it was there in 2003, not because they had the episodes planned out. That idea was scrapped and it was intended for the ship to make an appearance later in the game, but that too was scrapped and it became part of the story for the episodes.     Reply 0

  • Dr.Haggard 13/05/2009

    @zoidberg - HL2 was released in 2004, only a year later than originally planned, not 2005. Where did you get the idea that the gameplay shown at E3 in 2003 represented "70% of the game"? They were just scripted set pieces, they weren't fragments of larger, completed levels and as it turned out they weren't even using fully functioning AI iirc. The game wasn't even close to being done at that point.

    You might find this interesting. Have you read Raising the Bar?     Reply 0

  • Eidos Montreal confirms Thief 4

  • Dr.Haggard 11/05/2009

    @Freek - unfortunately it wasn't. Reply 0

  • Demon's Souls

  • Dr.Haggard 24/04/2009

    Slight correction to dominic's post above, for co-op you use the Blue Eye Stone and you can only place it when you're in soul form. If you're in body form you see those glyphs on the ground and you can invite them into your game to aid you (maximum of two at a time).

    As a blue phantom in another player's world you earn souls (edit: and tendency), but bosses you beat together and events you trigger only affect the host player's game - when you return to your game it's just as you left it.

    In other words you can only advertise yourself as a soul available to aid other players, you can't place a 'help wanted' glyph, so you can only progress your game via co-op if you're alive and you find another player's blue glyph.
     Reply +1

  • Dr.Haggard 23/04/2009

    @Xuio - It's the closest thing to a Severance-alike you'll find. Reply 0

  • Dr.Haggard 23/04/2009

    If i'm right its linear (to an extent) levels with hard side missons

    Nope, there's a hub from which you access the five areas, each having 3 or 4 sections, and you can visit any area at any time. Progress through the areas is linear, each section ending with a boss demon which then opens up the next section and a portal back to the hub. If you're having trouble with a particular section or boss you can go and make some progress in another area instead, then come back when you've levelled a bit or got better gear.

    Levelling up is done at the hub by spending souls. Repairs, upgrades and purchasing (for which the currency is also souls) is done either at the hub or at vendors/blacksmiths you meet out in the world.

    Is the combat any good (thinking NGS or DMC)?

    Nothing like either of the above. This is far more realistic, weighty combat, there's no jumping in the air and bouncing off walls. Think Severance.
     Reply +1

  • Dr.Haggard 23/04/2009

    Good read and a well deserved score, it's a superb game. It's kept me hooked for nearly 90 hours now over two months, and I still have no desire to play anything else yet. Reply 0

  • Rage for Xbox 360 to come on two discs

  • Dr.Haggard 17/09/2008

    So pretty much said they find it easier to write for the Xbox because its simple, and they don't have the time or intelligence to fulfil the PS3 potential.

    Lou, could I borrow that massive facepalm?     Reply 0

  • Dr.Haggard 17/09/2008

    EDIT: aaaah, removal of the fuckwit comment. Wise choice. Swearing is for children, you twat. haha.

    I removed it because it wasn't aimed at you, but since it was you I was replying to I thought it might have looked that way. Nevertheless the phrase 'lazy programming' really gets up my nose :)     Reply 0

  • Dr.Haggard 17/09/2008

    Still sounds like lazy programming. All this "we've had to compress the textures so much to fit it onto two DVD's" bollocks doesn't sound right to me. Like I said, if it fits on a single PC DVD, why won't it fit on one 360 DVD?

    The moment someone calls John Carmack a 'lazy programmer' you just know it's time to stop reading these comments threads.

    With regard to the comment about it fitting on a PC dvd, the data is compressed into cab files which the installer unpacks, it will be a lot bigger once you've installed it. On the 360 it has to be streamed directly from the dvd as you play, and obviously the more compression the slower it'll be accessing that data.     Reply 0