Euan

I played a little of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes on the PS2 yesterday. I was impressed by how hard it was trying for a 2009 PS2 game, in a lot of ways. It had surprisingly sophisticatedly animated in-engine cutscenes, which looked like they had a lot of involvement from the crew of the TV show. When you hit a droid with your lightsaber it chops in half and the pieces tumble to the ground with physics. The environments were impressive and detailed. It played in widescreen. In all aspects but the output resolution, it could probably pass for a PS3 game.

It also slogged under the weight of it all and wasn't super fun to play.

By contrast, I've also been playing Spider-Man: Friend or Foe on the PS2, another post-PS3 tie-in game that only made it to the PS2 cuz they could easily make that version at the same time as a Wii and PSP version, and it holds up great. No widescreen, cartoony artstyle, some minimalist cutscenes, fairly bare-bones samey environments, so it's not as impressive or next-gen feeling as Republic Heroes. But it runs completely smooth by comparison, and the combat is much more nuanced and fun. It's got that Next Level Games sauce, so it just feels so deliberate and well-judged.

#VideoGames #Gaming #PS2

Got caught up with the Sontarans vs. Rutans #BigFinish line (I'm excited for the 8th/2nd multi-Doctor entry next month) and one of my takeaways is: I don't know why Big Finish has been characterizing both the Fugitive Doctor and the War Doctor as so constantly sarcastic. That doesn't feel like a very Doctor-y thing to me. Jo Martin's story from this month, it felt like almost every single line out of her mouth was something sarcastic. I really don't vibe with it.

I've really really liked a few of the stories in her line, and I've really enjoyed some Jonathan Carley stories, but it's feeling like a recurring issue, their characterization feeling off. That might be down to how little TV screen time each of them had, though. There's so little to base their characterization on, and both of them are clear departures from other Doctor characterizations. But I think some writers have been conflating "cynical/aloof/detached" with "actively being an asshole all the time".