The Delivery Guy's Name Is Hector.

Posted by Bob on December 3, 2004: Today's comic marks part four of my story. If you like it, good, thanks. If not, well, then there's only two comics left in my story. This week's comic also marks the first look at the new Ticketlord machine. Sorry if you miss Colossus, but I've got some good things in mind for this one. Also, if you look closely, Rice Rice Baby (the chinese food place across the way from Relentless) has gotten a makeover. I was tired of always having solid blue windows, so I figured I'd redo that. Only problem is that I decided this long after the comic art was completed, so I screwed up and Hector (The UBS delivery man, duh) is more or less a floating head in panel one. You'd think I would have noticed that when I was drawing the damn thing, but obviously, you'd be wrong. I was a little worried about this comic, cause I wasn't sure if it was going to be clear what Bob was doing, but Captain Steve assured me I was wrong, and it was quite clear. So that's good news.

Let's get the links rolling with this video that shows just why everyone should have a trampoline. Or at least everyone with half a brain. Cause if I could watch stuff like this all day every day, I would be a very happy boy.

Check this out. Dog Island. I don't know about this...I would think it just leads to lots of sad, lonely dogs. Maybe I'm wrong though. But I know I'd never send any of my dogs over the years away to this place. But, if you've got a stray that no one wants, then I think this has got to be better than killing the dog. So, yeah, now you know my stance on dogs, I suppose.

Fun flash game link of the week: Grave Robber. You've got to collect body parts to make your wife all while avoiding flesh eating zombies. Sound like fun? Sure it does. The controls are a little wonky (That was for Erik,) but once you get used to 'em, it's not that bad.

This is just sad. Do I want one? No. Amanda? Well, maybe. Anyway...Please don't buy this. It's the type of things that gives us computer users a bad name.

Store prank backfires! Two men jailed! Now, this. Is funny.

This is umm...interesting, I guess. Yeah, it's kind of dumb, but I just want to make my newspost look bigger. I have a newspost inferiority complex.

Dunno how many comic artists we have here, but here's a cool video interview with Adam Hughes. Pretty interesting insight into the way the mind of a master works. Even if you're not an artist, it's worth checking out. Adam's definately a great artist.

I know I don't usually post serious news links, but this time I'm gonna. Looks like hope may be on the way. Excellent news. But it's like Bill Hicks' said, (And I'm greatly paraphrasing here,) Once they cure AIDS, there's gonna be fucking in the streets. Should be interesting.

Oh, so I've been finishing games I buy again lately. So far, I've gotten through GTA: San Andreas, Rumble Roses, and Metal Gear Solid 3. Judging by our conversations of late, I think Capt. Steve is gonna talk about MGS3, so I won't go crazy about it now, but I'll say it's got decent gameplay wrapped around a phenomenal story. The main issue is the camera, for sure. You lose the radar, and the camera wasn't changed to take advantage of it. Still, I'd rank it somewhere within the top ten games I've played this year, partly because of the story, and partly because I haven't played a lot of great games this year.

All right, I'm done. Back in a week with part five of the Ticketlord arc, unless Captain Steve and First Mate Jason come up with some sort of gay serial killer in the woods comic for me to draw. I wouldn't put anything past those two.

Posted by Steve on December 3, 2004: New comic is up. As you would expect. It's sorta what we do around here. I think this is some of Bob's best artwork yet, but don't tell him I said that.

So, I just finished Metal Gear Solid 3. In a word it's...unfair. It's unfair that a story this good is wrapped up in a game with gameplay this bad. The "comic book" thing I mentioned last week will get you through the bosses, and it's got a pretty good ending too. (though Kojima still can't pace a story.) The problem's creep in when you actually play the game.

Where to begin? Let's start with the big one, the removal of the radar system you've come to know and love over the years. It wasn't invented yet in the timeline, so you can't have it, simple as that. The problem is that the couple of items they give you to replace it suck. They're generally worthless, and I gave up on them fairly early.

Worse yet is that with the radar gone, the spotlight is shined brightly on the camera, and the results ain't pretty. It's the same top-down view you're used to, except while you used to have the radar to kind of show you what the camera doesn't, now all you have is first person view. So basically, you crawl a little bit, check first person for soldiers. Crawl a little more, check first person for soldiers. Repeat.

The codec (it probably has some kind of "retro" name or something, and I assure you I don't care what it is.) is still there, though thankfully there's much less of the 20 minute conversations. Your supporting cast on the radio are just that, supporting cast, not main characters. But there are times when calling them would be handy. I say "would be" because it has these weird load times. There's a second or two when you hit select, and a few seconds at least when you choose someone to call. That doesn't sound like much at first, but consider how often you call in during a game to save, ask about an item, whatever, and it really starts to add up.

There's a new "survival viewer" system as well. There's camo and face paint, food, (snake needs to eat to keep his stamina up, which is how he recovers energy. Also, low stamina will affect all sorts of stuff.) a backpack, (you can only have X amount of items and X amount of weapons available from the quick r2/l2 menus, the rest of your stuff is stored in the bag) and the cure menu. (Guess what that's for.) The backpack thing is kind of annoying, but not a big deal really. Same with food. You have to eat, but there's pretty much always some critters around to kill and eat. Plus it's kind of fun to call one of your support crew and listen to her shock as you ask her what different animals taste like. So far so good.

The problem I have with this new feature is the cure system. Say Snake gets shot. A little chunk of his energy is spaced out, and won't replenish until you cure yourself. No problem. Pop into the survival viewer, select cure, a knife, some disinfectant, styptic, a bandage and you're good to go. The problem is that since all of this is just a series of item selects, in the same way you'd switch through your items or guns, it's basically just a set of buttons presses. And when you're fighting a boss, it's a series of button presses that you have to do over and over, and that takes you out of the action. Nothing breaks up a good boss fight like having to pause every few seconds. Considering it's the same set of button presses for gunshot wounds, cuts, etc, (meaning gun shot wounds are always treated one way, cuts another, and so on) I think a more generic "first aid" item in the regular equipment menu would have had the same effect without constantly breaking the flow of the game (particularly boss fights) like the cure system does.

More than anything else though, my problem is with the camera. There's just too many times where it's blocking you from seeing something (or someone) that's right next to you. And having to walk any direction but north makes it even worse. What's more, considering you aim in first person, and look in first person every few seconds, it's simply maddening that you can't walk in first person. This game begs to be a first person adventure (a la Metroid Prime). First person for walking and shooting, switch to the sneaking camera thing when you press against a wall, bickety bam, you've got yourself a game. As it stands now, removing the radar without without doing something about the camera just showcases how awful the camera is for a game like this.

Overall, this game is just frustrating. It's one step forward, one step back. For every one thing that's kinda neat, there's something that just drives me crazy. For every cool little Kojima easter egg, there's that god awful camera. Pretty early on I was forcing myself to play just to see the story. I didn't have any fun with the gameplay. I just ran through with the stealth camo (which I cheated to get) going from boss to boss just to advance the story along. This game needs either a radar, or a radically new camera, cause the system as it is now just doesn't work.

So, that's my take on the whole thing. In all fairness, I think I tend to be a little too critical about these things sometimes. I don't think Bob had nearly as many problems with the game as I did. So maybe my standards are just too high. If you're a fan of the series, it's worth playing just for the story, which really is quite good, and all the little things that Kojima is known for in MGS games. If you're a hardcore MGS lunatic who loved playing the other games on extreme with no radar and no kills, this one is right up your alley.

That's all for now. See you next week.