Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I’m not a wizened grumblepuss who only enjoys the oldest of RPGs, honest I’m not! I’ve even finally managed to play some Skyrim this week and that’s probably the newest RPG in the world. Unlike most people, I haven’t actually done very much yet; instead I’ve been tinkering around to see how far I can push it before my computer starts weeping tears of molten graphics card. Mostly visual tweaks but there’s some lovely stuff here. To round things off, my favourite new Mount and Blade mod, which I mentioned before its release and now urge you all to download. Urge, you hear?

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I haven’t been adding to the well of words about Skyrim, mostly because I haven’t actually managed to play it yet. Every day I think that I’ll put aside part of my evening for it but what I really need is a 48 hour period with no commitments so that my exploration can properly begin. Being a contrary entity, I have been thinking about Daggerfall this week though and talking with friends about the excitement of stepping onto that immense continent for the first time led me to check on its current status.

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Oh no! It’s for girls! And not even the good type of girls. The bad ones. The ones who like Hollyoaks and reality TV, and feast on swirling and scurrilous rumours about Brangelina.

Except that’s a load of old rubbish, like claiming that games with guns only appeal to violent sociopaths or wargames only appeal to retired colonels. I have it on good authority that many current ranking members of the Armed Forces also like to play wargames. The Sims has long been a fascinating piece of software, in many ways experimental and exploratory, and supporting a type of creative play that is rare to find. Let’s mod it. Let’s really open it up.

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‘Tis the season to be unjolly while hiding under the bedsheets or behind the couch, so I thought it would be a good idea to share a little mod that’s been darkening my nights this week. By some measures, it’s a very simple mod indeed, but it’s one I’ve found myself hopelessly enthralled by. Minecraft, meet Weeping Angels.

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This week, a few mods that I’ve been monitoring but haven’t had a chance to have a proper go at yet. In some cases, that’s because they haven’t been released yet, in others it’s because the hours in every day are sadly limited, and as well as playing games and writing about them, I very occasionally sleep. I even venture outside from time to time, although admittedly not in the current political and meteorological climate. Too chilly. Too bitter. All too real. Onward to fantasy. Preferably with decent central heating.

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It’s self-indulgence time in Modland this week as I use my hastily rigged together platform, which runs on the Soapbox Derby engine, to direct you all to spend your weekends playing one of the greatest games ever made. Jagged Alliance 2 should need no introduction, nor should its most infamous and essential mod, known simply as 1.13, being in the form of a super patch of sorts. But does such a bountiful game require any additions? Can it be made even greater?

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What to say about Rockstar? They’ve made me gnash my teeth in anguish this week by stating, to nobody’s surprise, that Red Dead Redemption is unlikely to grace my PC, your PC or anyone else’s PC. But they are giving us LA Noire. They finally got round to releasing Grand Theft Auto IV but there were technical issues and beyond them it needed a monstrously powerful computer to fully capture its criminal charms. And then they went and annoyed parts of the substantial modding community by releasing a patch which, some claimed, was designed to cripple non-vanilla versions of the game. What to say about Rockstar?

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I do believe I promised something a bit more action-packed this week, although now that I think about it Mount And Blade has plenty of action. But I meant monsters jumping out of shadows and guns firing a staccato of panicked percussion. There are almost a million games that could scratch that particular itch, the one on your trigger fingers, but with the age of Rage almost upon us, I’ve decided to take a look at some mods for Doom. Or should that be Dooms? To the past, gentlemen and ladies, to the past.

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Mount and Blade: Warband is about as fine a Mount and Blade game as I’ve played to date. I prefer it to With Fire and Sword but that may be partly because I’ve not really given the newer title a chance because I’m playing Warband with two lovely mods that I can’t imagine doing without. The first is the simplest of mods, all it takes is a rejigging of configuration files, so if you like flames to go with your swords, you’re in luck. The second is Prophesy of Pendor, which is far from simple and altogether brilliant.

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Something old for you today, which you may well have seen before, but I think it’s worth reminding people of. It’s Radiator. I’ve included something new for good measure, but nothing blue because this isn’t a wedding, it’s a little article about mods. Sorry if that’s disappointing. You’re going to be even more disappointed if you don’t like pretentious artsy mods. I’m talking the kind that have trailers with sombre piano music playing and try to evoke a sense of loss while definitely never having guns anywhere in them at all. Imagine you’ve walked into a small cinema in Paris. Instead of popcorn and nachos, the butler (for there is a butler) provides you with a glass of port and invites you to take a seat. He places a keyboard on your lap and a mouse in your hand.

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