Ah nuts! There’s just too many intriguing games that are coming out. My list is becoming unhealthy. Is there a launch date for this one? Maybe I can squeeze it in somewhere.

Looks exciting, but also kind of icky. I’m not much into icky. Hmm… I’ll probably pass on this one.

Whoa, whoa, whoa… You’ll sing praises to Half-Life 2 (”the best game every made” I believe was the comment) but then call “icky” on this?? Ha! That’s a riot. Yeah, like HL2 is any different then Prey. Prey is a little more ‘Doom-ish’ but it has the same gruesome zombie/alien/creepy-crawly shoot-em-up feel to it. I’d like to know how you explain away slicing a face-crab zombie in half with a buzz saw in HL2.

/me calls double standards

Personally, I think this game has the potential to surpass HL2 in general awesomeness. They play with physics a LOT more than HL2, more mind-bending puzzles then HL2, comparable (in some respects better) next generation graphics, and a much better sympathetic character than our ‘ol friend Mr. Mute Gordon Freeman.

I think we just found our sleeper hit for the 360 my friends.

Please. I believe that this game looks “ickier” than HL2 for exactly the point you mention - it’s darker in both tone and graphics. It’s got little children getting possesed and killing each other. The art looks freakier, too. Having played HL2 all the way through (which none of you have ever played, I believe), I say that this game looks ickier, and I won’t buy it. HL2 had violence, but it didn’t have the darkness that this story attributes to Prey. See the difference? I stand by my earlier comment.

T’is a shame when Sandstone starts making assertions about “who has played what game” and trying to one-up the crowd because of it. Sharpie will deal with this accordingly.

I think the game Prey has an intriguing storyline (easily better than the HL series, IMO) to say the least. I’ll put it into my ‘maybe’ pile, which is about 10 games deep right now. I’ll wait for Sharpie to get the game and then bring us a review before I say “yea or nay”.

BTW-did you ever beat the first HL game, Sandy? I have a copy of it if you still need to do that…

“Who has played what game” is a critical question. Critiques are worth more when someone actually has knowledge about the whole thing. Isn’t that obvious? Here’s what obvious: how much are our opinions worth, when none of us have played Prey? I think you guys are making too much of my one-line, non-defended, hastily written opinion, anyway. Goodness of griefness!

Of course I beat Half-Life.

Oh don’t worry, I’m not trying to say we somehow know more about Prey then you, Sandstone. I’m not even trying to change your opinion of it. I wouldn’t do that because every gamer is entitled to an opinion on what he likes and dislikes. Heck everybody knows that I wouldn’t touch anything Mario with a twelve foot pole (I out-grew him in 4th grade).

I think I got my feathers ruffled when you declared Half Life 2 wasn’t very “icky” or wasn’t “dark”. Now true, true we all have our own opinions of what’s dark or not. And personally, I can’t make any real judgments on Prey yet because we haven’t seen it in its entirety. But in my opinion, HL2 is very much a dark, icky game. Much more than say Halo 2. And since I have actually played most of the game , I think I am qualified to say this. Here’s a few examples of what I’m talking about:

- Watching Combine troops terrorize and violently abuse men and women in their homes and on the street.

- Hearing the screams of civilians in Combine interrogation rooms then walking into one and seeing blood/gore spilled all over a metal chair.

- Wading through waist deep sewer water with very detailed charred human corpses floating all around you.

- Watching a parasitic alien life form attach to the face of a woman and then making a conscious decision to shoot her in the head because in a few moments she will turn against you.

- Using your gravity gun to launch a buzz saw blade at advancing head-crab zombies (who used to be human) - successfully slicing in half, not one, not two, but three of the “icky” monstrosities.

- Tagging along with an insane shotgun-wielding Priest who blows away alien zombies that scurry along the ground like chimpanzees from hell - all while he’s citing apocalyptic Biblical verse. (I admit this can be kind of humerous but the undertones are a little disturbing)

- Later in the game, observing captured Combine experiments. Human subjects that have been tortured, starved, and mutilated to be nearly unrecognizable.

- Many, many more.

Now if Sandstone wants to rationalize these occurances away by saying that it’s not that “dark” because HL2 has “daylight” environments and “grassy fields” then fine, whatever, I can accept his idea of sick and twisted. But let’s get something clear: If any of our wives got a good look at HL2 or Prey they would be concerned for our souls. Seriously guys, we play some pretty “icky” games when you stop and think about it.

/all I’m saying

Te-he-he.

Ergo the reason I stated : “T’is a shame when Sandstone starts making assertions about ‘who has played what game’ and trying to one-up the crowd because of it. Sharpie will deal with this accordingly.” Because I knew that Sharpie had played HL2, and that accordingly, Sandy’s soap box would be quickly kicked out from under him, and his “icky” argument would come tumbling down as well.

I am surprised Sandy didn’t remember back in late winter the arguments over which was better; HL2 or H2. Sharpie had words back then as well, since he had played both games.

Anyway, not that this changes too much- Sharpie will buy the game, I may buy the game, and Sandstone will not. Not sure about MM as we all know he is certifiably crazy.

And to elaborate on Sharpie’s comments about our wives: yeah, I can’t even really play Halo 2 around without having her recite some scriptures about whatever. Seriously, all I hear are “covenants”, “prophets”, “temples”… hmm, maybe we are on the same wavelength… SP:CT is a serious no-no though, unless I promise to non-lethal hurt people. Boring.

I’ll accept those comments. It is my opinion, to-which-I-am-entitled-for-Pete’s-sake, that Prey looks ickier than my comfort level. Obviouly, as in “DUH” obviously, HL2 wasn’t! Maybe we’ll see a change in my opinion as the game gets closer, and more material is released.

I haven’t heard so much as a peep out of any of you about your comfort levels, and now I’m curious, as (again), obviously, you all (Well, Sharpie at least) seem to not have a “icky” problem with the violence in HL2. Pipe up - what seems to be too icky for you?

I’ve wisely been refraining from commenting on this one, having never played either of the Half Lifes (do two half lives make a whole life?) and only the demo of Doom 3, but I just wanted to throw in the thought that it’s not always the events, occurances or details of the game, but the overall feeling you get from playing it. And this overall feeling can be different for different people, and one person can look at two similar games and have different feelings about them both. Not just games; movies, music, books, etc… any media. The specific events described by Sharpie above could happen in any number of games/movies, but the tone sets the feeling. Compare seeing a guy lose a limb in a horror flick, a comedy-horror, a Saving-Private-Ryan genre war movie, a FPS, or a news report… in each case, the same thing happening affects the viewer differently and individually.I’m sure the subject would be fascinating to a psychologist, which I am not, so sorry for adding such deep thoughts. I guess all I wanted to say is each is entitled to his/her own opinion, even if it doesn’t make sense to others I saw a trailer for Prey and found it rather dark and scary, but I loved some of the game play ideas such as the shifting gravity, leaving the body into the spirit realm to pass by obsticles, and portals opening out of nowhere that lead to other parts of the map. I doubt I’ll end up playing it; I’m not the big FPS fan I used to be, but I can appreciate innovation.~hed~

hmm, sorry about the run-together… the tag seems to work in the preview but not in the post.

In my ever-so-humble opinion, I am ok with violence and/or general ickiness so long as it serves a purpose other than itself. For example, in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ you see violence, death, blood, and gore for the purpose of conveying the deeply moving moral experiences of World War II. The realism strengthens the story, builds the characters and heightens the impact. On the other hand, seeing gratuitous violence in a ‘B movie’ horror flick is more than likely just for the purpose of grossing out the audience and not for the purpose of developing a more emotionally complex plot line.

It is for this reason that I defend violence in War/Historical movies. There is reason behind it, it is retelling an important part of history. It is essential that the full impact of those times is achieved in order to properly instruct and move the audience who never experienced those things. More often than not, violence in other genres is the end of the means - not the function of the story thread.

My standards are pretty much the same for video games. I won’t bat an eyelash at playing a Tom Clancy game or other military shooter (for the same reasons mentioned above). But most of the time I’ll squirm when playing something else violent (I sold ‘Hitman’ after one too many caloused assinations). Half-Life and Prey probably fall into the gray category between pulp violence and complex violence. The deciding factor will always be the quality of the story. If I am rationally, emotionally, and morally convinced that destroying my enemies is the right thing to do and moves the story into deeper territory then I find no qualms in quickly, efficiently, and mercilessly erradicating all obstacles.

In the case of Prey - there better be a convincing plot, there better be believable and deep characters, and there better be some moral ground to stand on. All of these things were in Half Life 2 and Halo 2 and that’s what made these games fun to play and morally acceptable.

The bottom line: Not all ickiness is created equal.

Funny that you mentioned Hitman… I have the first two titles and I actually like them. At first I was also squirmish of the concept… killing for the sake of killing, and getting paid to do it. But I was able to justify it to myself in that 47’s targets are all “bad guys,” and you actually lose points if you kill civilians or policemen (in your face, GTA). The fun and challenge for me became trying to beat all missions with no unnecessary kills. Killer with a conscience, that’s me.

The last FPS I really got into was Medal of Honor, and like most games of its genre it has story mode and multiplayer mode. Most of the people I know hate the 1P game and only play multiplayer, but I was always the opposite… multiplayer shoot’em ups just bore me after a few days. Last week I discovered a free(as in beer) online FPS called Gunz (gunzonline.com). The graphics are not bad, and it plays like a character from the Matrix… you can run up or along walls, dodge, jump, backflip etc. Same thing… it enthralled me for about 3 days, then got older than last month’s fish, because it had no story, no plot, nothing to do but kill as many other people as you can. All to the taunts of “n00b” and “ch34t3r” and “pwn3d!!!!1″

So yeah, I guess I agree that the violence should be seen as a means to a righteous end… the good guys win and the bad guys meet a gratuitously violent death. Or I could just sick my Pokémon on theirs…

hed - which tag did you use that was giving you problems? The only tags I’ve got working are those accessible from the buttons - was it one of those that didn’t work?

So we’re now rating our ickiness levels, eh?

I’d say I’m an 8.8; mostly because I like the number 8 and I have no real scale to gage myself on.

I thought the child scene in Prey was a little overt for my taste, but then, I didn’t care too much for the Silent Hill series or Res. Evil either. GTA can stay on the shelf as well. In gaming, violence is nearly always the solution- destory the enemy, here’s your weapon. So, accept it on most levels but I don’t need excessive gore, and I know it wouldn’t last long in my house anyway.

The severed arm is interesting: is it like the guy on the beach in Saving Private Ryan or is it Monte Python’s “It’s only a flesh wound!”? Is it Ahhnold in Commando when he cuts off that guy’s arm with a machete (dude that was sweet!) or is it Hotel Rwanda with all the villagers getting hacked up?

I can stomach it all, but only accept some. In the same sense, I wouldn’t mind seeing more detail like this in Halo 3, but only if it happens to lil’ grunts or what not after an explosion, but would prefer not to have it in Prey as an attack option, even though I know it happens in real life. Still, I guess that’s why I’m an 8.8. and not a 9 or 10.

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