Dishonored Review (PC, Xbox 360)
Playability
The game is very playable. I had a lot of fun on the missions, and it was hard to stop playing to write notes for this review. I had to set a timer on my phone just to keep my head in the real world and remember I have a job to do here. And the cast is amazing. I had to stop playing long enough to look up the names of the voice cast because they sounded so familiar. Some of the voice actors/actresses include Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, and Michael Madsen. And Carrie Fisher blabbing over the loudspeaker throughout the game. I love when screen stars come over to the game world for a gig. Like when Marilyn Manson and David Duchovny did Area 51 for the original Xbox. Just beautiful.
The big man on campus is known as the Outsider. Supposedly he’s both good and evil, yet neither. He gives you, as well as other people, his mark, which grants you the powers you use during the game. Though it seems he doesn’t give a crap how you use them once you get them. One of those free will scenarios, I guess. Kind of has a religious feel to it, right up until you are given the mission to kill a bunch of high-ranking church members, then you’re back to wondering what the hell this guy is all about. I just stopped caring midway through and just had fun taking people out. The means justifies the end, as you will find out.
3 Comments
There's some weird control differences between the PC version and the Xbox 360 version. For 360, spells are left bumper and sword is right bumper (matches what's on the screen). It's reversed by default on the PC, so sword is left mouse, and spells is right mouse. Very confusing.
That was a good thorough review. Overall it sounds like a great game, although I’m still not convinced enough to buy it. Mainly because past experiences (like Deus Ex: Human Revolution) have left me a bit skeptical of some games’ value, especially when I see a lower Longevity rating. So nowadays I follow some advice I got from one of my coworkers at DISH: I don’t buy a game until AFTER I’ve rented it and had a chance to thoroughly play it. It’s saved me a lot of money just in the past six months or so. So with that in mind, Dishonored is already in my Blockbuster @Home queue, so I’ll get to play it soon; it might not be as fast as if I ran to Gamestop and bought it, but that’s alright, I’m still working on Borderlands 2.
I have to agree with you there. I usually rent games before I buy them too. I tend to play the game through, send it back to wherever I rent it, then add it to my collection later on when the price drops. The few exceptions have been games like Left 4 Dead, Bioshock, and Gears Of War. But like you, I’ve had too many experiences with bad games to just buy one outright without test driving it first.