Two years after the release of Gears of War, Epic Games have given us the sequel to their stop-n-pop tactical action masterpiece. And although the juxtaposition of tactical and action may seem strange - it applies perfectly in this case.
So far, I've been mainly playing campaign so my comments will focus on the singleplayer and co-op campaign mode. Multiplayer commentary to come in a later post.
The short version of this is - Yes, Epic Games have delivered a fantastic sequel worthy of the GoW franchise. And just like before, if you like action games and own an X360, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
Story
The story picks up shortly after the end of the original Gears of War. By the end of the first game, you were able to kill the bad guys, bed the hot girls, cause mass destruction (using that funky new missile technology I talked about in my original review) and basically save the day. Actually, you don't get to bed any hot girls but hey, three out of four ain't bad (kinda like a modern Bond film, really!).
Unfortunately, that new missile tech doesn't actually kill off all the Locust (fancy that, military intelligence screwing up. I never would have guessed that would happen...). All it seems to do is really piss off the Locust as they are now launching an all out offensive against Jacinto, humanity's last remaining bastion of civilisation and beacon of hope for all humanity. Reinforcements are low and hopes are grim. Basically, the Locust are one step away from wiping out all humanity and playing Dance Dance Revolution on our grave.
By this point in the narrative, the COG (Coalition of Ordered Governments) has its back to the wall and has to resort to desperate measures if humanity is to have any hope of survival. The COG does the only thing it can do. It takes all remaining soldiers and launches an all out offensive against the Locust stronghold.
What a brilliant idea! I'm sure the Gears will only run into minimal resistance as they attack the Locust stronghold. After all, all the Locust will be surrounding Jacinto. Take that Locust! All our base are not belong to you!!!
And this is basically where the game starts. Reprising the role of Marcus Fenix, your job is to take your squad and attack the queen inside the Locust stronghold. Along the way, Dominic Santiago will be looking for his wife and, surprise surprise, the two routes actually converge. Over the course of the campaign, you will kill the bad guys, bed the hot girls, cause mass destruction and basically save the day again. Well, three out of four ain't bad right?
One of the design goals for GoW2 was apparently to make it "bigger, better and more badass". And you really see this come through in the campaign. In addition to the campaign itself being significantly longer, Epic Games have taken full advantage of advancements in their Unreal Engine technology. There are several scenes during the campaign where you are literally facing off against a Locust horde - something they were unable to do in the first game due to the limited number of locust the graphics engine could put on screen.
The other big thing that Epic Games tried to do with GoW2 was to make the storyline more emotional. This is basically where Dom's search for his missing wife comes in. During the course of the campaign, various cinematics detail Dom's and his emotions as he searches desperately for his wife. Unfortunately, the absolutely hammy script and godawful acting prevent you from actually feeling any of the emotions which Epic tried to invoke (although admittedly, the scene where Dom finally succeeds and actually finds his wife is done quite well).
To quote from my first GoW review - Story has always taken second fiddle in action games so I suppose its no surprise that GoW(2) didn't buck the trend.
Gameplay
The gameplay in the first GoW was, to be perfectly honest, superb. In fact, it was so good that, even if Epic didn't make any changes to the gameplay, they could still probably release GoW2 and have a best seller on their hands. Luckily for gamers everywhere, the people at Epic Games aren't quite as lazy as I am and have made a host of tweaks to the gameplay mechanics.
One of the most noticable tweaks is with the cover system itself. With the original GoW, it was quite easy for Marcus to accidentally slide into cover when you were actually trying to roadie run past the cover. In Gow2, although it does still happens occasionally, there are much fewer instances of accidentally jumping into cover. Which is great as I signed up in order to fight the locust, not the controls...
Epic Games have also introduced lots of new toys for you to play around with. Unfortunately, most of the new weapons don't really shine until you get into multiplayer or co-op mode. The problem is that you can only carry two guns. In singleplayer mode, this means that you invariably choose one long range weapon and 1 short and medium range weapon. For long range, I generally prefer the sniper which means my other weapon will generally be the lancer (and its awesome chainsaw - after 2 years, I still love that chainsaw animation!!). Admittedly, this may just have been a problem with my preferences, but I definitely felt that the sniper and lancer combo gave me the best chance of surviving any situation.
However, if you play the campaign in co-op, the new weapons really start to add flavour. At this point, you can grab the other weapons safe in the knowledge that your partner can cover any shortcomings in your weapon pairing. For example, at one point during the campaign, I was armed with the sniper rifle and flamethrower while my partner had the torque bow and lancer.
Our tactics were generally for one guy to go forward and draw fire while the other guy gave covering fire. So if he moved forward, I would stay back with the sniper rifle and headshot any enemies attacking him. Alternatively, if I moved forward, I would use the flamethrower from behind cover (the constant stream of flame from the flamethrower means that it is very effective when blindfiring from behind cover) to burn enemies while safely behind cover. This would force the enemy out of cover and allow my partner to hit him with the torque bow. All in all, a great strategy which worked really well for the most part (we were playing co-op on Insane difficulty).
Of the new weapons, my favourite is without a doubt, the flamethrower - not because it is the most effective but because it looks the coolest. Unfortunately, as a close range weapon, it isn't as good as the lancer (with its instant kill chainsaw). However, the flamethrower just looks awesome. Whenever you use the flamethrower on someone, you first see them light up as they burn. And then if you get the kill using the flamethrower, the dead body is just a charred husk. Too freaking cool!!
Graphics
Again, Epic Games have raised the bar for graphics quality on the X360. Despite being on the same hardware, there is a very noticable upgrade in graphics from the original Gears to the sequel. Possibly, the upgrade in graphics is really noticable because the game is a 3rd person shooter so you really see Marcus (and the characters have an incredible amount of detail on them) up close in lots of situations.
The campaign has also been specially designed to show off the strengths of the Unreal engine. Throughout the campaign, you end up in some really wacky situations which you suspect the developers only thought up so that they could take advantage of the new features of the Unreal engine. Having said that, the lighting effects in this game are incredible. There are a couple of areas where the game is pitch black except for a light from a nearby vehicle or from Jack (your friendly robot AI whose main job is to open doors).
Summary
Another great game from Epic Games and it really looks like they have created another must-have franchise on the X360. Come the end of the year, I would be very surprised if GoW2 didn't pick up several awards in the various gaming publications (although there are some very good candidates this year - its been a good year for gaming).
As with the original GoW, if you like action games and own an X360, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Everton Manager 2009
Instead of thinking about what to write on my gaming blog, I spent the entire weekend playing Gears of War 2 (or at least, all of my personal spare time!). Unfortunately, this leaves me with a quandary as to what to do on this blog (having said that - spending too much time playing video games isn't exactly a bad way to go!).
Hence this morning, a quick trawl of news sites to see if there was anything interesting I could talk about. Luckily for me - this showed up. Everton has struck a deal for access to the full database used by Football Manager 2009. Apparently, they intend to use the database to help them scout for new young talent.
On the face of it, this sounds ridiculous. However, if you give it some thought, it isn't as outrageous as it initially appears.
As a long term player of Football Manager, one thing which I have consistently noticed is how good the scouting in Football Manager is. There has been loads of times where I signed a hot prospect in the game for my Liverpool squad who then turned out to be a good player in real life (several years down the line of course). The other common situation is buying a good player after several in-game years and then, after several years have passed in real life, seeing that same player become a household name.
Obviously not every good player identified by the game will turn out to be good in real life - there are too many variables affecting a players performance for that to be possible. However, it happens often enough that you have to think that you may be able to find some "hidden" gems by reviewing the FM database. Admittedly, real life factors will limit who Everton could sign (for example, some 15 year old from Argentina may not be willing or able to relocate to the UK) and I suspect that the bulk of any identified players will be young players from the Championship. Still, if they can get some cheap young potential prospects who will become useful squad players in a couple of years - why not?
And this is what it comes down to. In conjunction with their normal scouts (who I'm sure would scout out the player before actually buying), this may allow Everton to identify and buy future squad players on the cheap.
Hence this morning, a quick trawl of news sites to see if there was anything interesting I could talk about. Luckily for me - this showed up. Everton has struck a deal for access to the full database used by Football Manager 2009. Apparently, they intend to use the database to help them scout for new young talent.
On the face of it, this sounds ridiculous. However, if you give it some thought, it isn't as outrageous as it initially appears.
As a long term player of Football Manager, one thing which I have consistently noticed is how good the scouting in Football Manager is. There has been loads of times where I signed a hot prospect in the game for my Liverpool squad who then turned out to be a good player in real life (several years down the line of course). The other common situation is buying a good player after several in-game years and then, after several years have passed in real life, seeing that same player become a household name.
Obviously not every good player identified by the game will turn out to be good in real life - there are too many variables affecting a players performance for that to be possible. However, it happens often enough that you have to think that you may be able to find some "hidden" gems by reviewing the FM database. Admittedly, real life factors will limit who Everton could sign (for example, some 15 year old from Argentina may not be willing or able to relocate to the UK) and I suspect that the bulk of any identified players will be young players from the Championship. Still, if they can get some cheap young potential prospects who will become useful squad players in a couple of years - why not?
And this is what it comes down to. In conjunction with their normal scouts (who I'm sure would scout out the player before actually buying), this may allow Everton to identify and buy future squad players on the cheap.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Fable II
I've been mucking around with Fable II lately. Before you ask, yes, I did buy Gears of War 2 but as I've only just got it, it would be premature to start talking about it, no?
Anyway, as I was saying, I've been mucking around with Fable II lately. I won't talk much about the game itself (you can read online reviews if that is what you are looking for) but I really wanted to give my thoughts on the game itself.
My initial impressions of the game were very good, and if I had been writing this last week, the tone of the blog would have been all positive. You see, Fable II is the kind of game that really gives a good first impression.
You have an expansive world to explore. There are loads of citizens to interact with. Loads of property to buy. And what seems like loads of stuff to do - quests, jobs etc. The problem is that the game is very shallow and I can see that it would get boring after a while (admittedly, it hasn't started to get boring for me yet, but I can see that happening in the not too distant future). What do I mean by shallow? Well, let me give you some examples.
One of the big things about the game is meant to be that you can interact with all the various denizens of Albion and even get them to fall in love with you (whereupon its "wham, bam thank you ma'am!" followed by the sounds of tiny feet pattering around the marital home). In theory, this sounds good - lots of potential for roleplaying as you woo your future wife. In practice - not so much.
You start the game with no money and pauper clothes. While dressed like a pauper, no-one particularly notices you. However, as soon as I had enough money, I was able to buy myself a snazzy set of noble's clothing. Whereupon, everything with 2 legs and a hole seemed to think that I was James Bond. Suddenly, everywhere I went, I was surrounded by members of the female sex declaring their undying love for me. All I had to do was sneeze and people would offer me discounts on healing potions.
And the dreaded task of wooing a wench to be my lawfully wedded wife? All I had to do was buy a ring and then "wham bam ..." - well, you get the idea. I got a wife but I couldn't help but think - "what an easy slag!" (especially as everytime I see her, she wants to have sex! Its getting to the stage where I think I accidentally married a bitch permanently in heat!!).
The game also makes a big thing about the economy. Shopkeepers will occasionally offer discounts or jack up prices if they suffer a shortage. The economy also impacts property prices. Again, in practice, several things conspire to make this relatively meaningless. You see, in Fable II, money is never in short supply.
Jobs are on offer for you to make money. Although the jobs differ, the minigame attached is invariably about hitting a button at the right moment. The only difference in jobs is when you should hit that button. Can anyone say repetitive? Even if you don't want to take on a job, you can really start to earn money by being a property magnate. Once you can afford your first property (probably some kind of shop stall), its easy to make a fortune from property. How?
All you have to do is nothing. Literally nothing. Even when you aren't playing the game, you still get rental income from the property. So if you switch off your Xbox, go to bed and then log back on the next evening (say after work), you suddenly find yourself with a stack of money. Once you realise how easy it is to get money, you stop caring about the economy. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter if I'm buying goods at an inflated price when I know that I will have plenty of money by tomorrow evening anyway.
Quests are also disappointing in that there don't seem to be many quests. Granted, this may simply be because I haven't gotten very far in the game yet. But somehow, that's not the impression I get. I'll know more after I finish the game, but the impression I get is that there really aren't a lot of quests because I suspect the developers expected people to be busy doing other stuff (like wooing the nympho wife or looking out for discounts before going shopping).
To be honest, I'm being highly unfair on Fable II. Looking back at the above, it sounds like I'm not enjoying the game. However, the truth is that, despite all of the faults I mention above, I am having loads of fun just running around living my life in Albion (including doing the odd repetitive job). Fable II is the kind of game that would be really boring if you just shot through the main quest. However, when you wander around and immerse yourself in Albion, then all the little charms and quirks come through and you find yourself having fun despite the faults.
Of course, I fully intend to replay the game so that I can see the alternative endings. The problem is that, at this moment in time, I really don't know if I'll be able to live another life in Albion when I start my second character. And this is what concerns me and what led to the negative post above.
The acid test for any game is, of course, would I recommend it to someone else. The answer is maybe.
If you prefer RPGs with a good story, then I would suggest you have a long hard think before you buy this game. This isn't to say that you won't have fun (after all, I'm having fun despite my gaming preference for story driven RPGs) but rather that to enjoy Fable II, you really have to forgo the story and just life your life.
However, if you enjoy open world games then I really can recommend this title for you. And as acid tests go, I guess that isn't too bad.
Anyway, as I was saying, I've been mucking around with Fable II lately. I won't talk much about the game itself (you can read online reviews if that is what you are looking for) but I really wanted to give my thoughts on the game itself.
My initial impressions of the game were very good, and if I had been writing this last week, the tone of the blog would have been all positive. You see, Fable II is the kind of game that really gives a good first impression.
You have an expansive world to explore. There are loads of citizens to interact with. Loads of property to buy. And what seems like loads of stuff to do - quests, jobs etc. The problem is that the game is very shallow and I can see that it would get boring after a while (admittedly, it hasn't started to get boring for me yet, but I can see that happening in the not too distant future). What do I mean by shallow? Well, let me give you some examples.
One of the big things about the game is meant to be that you can interact with all the various denizens of Albion and even get them to fall in love with you (whereupon its "wham, bam thank you ma'am!" followed by the sounds of tiny feet pattering around the marital home). In theory, this sounds good - lots of potential for roleplaying as you woo your future wife. In practice - not so much.
You start the game with no money and pauper clothes. While dressed like a pauper, no-one particularly notices you. However, as soon as I had enough money, I was able to buy myself a snazzy set of noble's clothing. Whereupon, everything with 2 legs and a hole seemed to think that I was James Bond. Suddenly, everywhere I went, I was surrounded by members of the female sex declaring their undying love for me. All I had to do was sneeze and people would offer me discounts on healing potions.
And the dreaded task of wooing a wench to be my lawfully wedded wife? All I had to do was buy a ring and then "wham bam ..." - well, you get the idea. I got a wife but I couldn't help but think - "what an easy slag!" (especially as everytime I see her, she wants to have sex! Its getting to the stage where I think I accidentally married a bitch permanently in heat!!).
The game also makes a big thing about the economy. Shopkeepers will occasionally offer discounts or jack up prices if they suffer a shortage. The economy also impacts property prices. Again, in practice, several things conspire to make this relatively meaningless. You see, in Fable II, money is never in short supply.
Jobs are on offer for you to make money. Although the jobs differ, the minigame attached is invariably about hitting a button at the right moment. The only difference in jobs is when you should hit that button. Can anyone say repetitive? Even if you don't want to take on a job, you can really start to earn money by being a property magnate. Once you can afford your first property (probably some kind of shop stall), its easy to make a fortune from property. How?
All you have to do is nothing. Literally nothing. Even when you aren't playing the game, you still get rental income from the property. So if you switch off your Xbox, go to bed and then log back on the next evening (say after work), you suddenly find yourself with a stack of money. Once you realise how easy it is to get money, you stop caring about the economy. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter if I'm buying goods at an inflated price when I know that I will have plenty of money by tomorrow evening anyway.
Quests are also disappointing in that there don't seem to be many quests. Granted, this may simply be because I haven't gotten very far in the game yet. But somehow, that's not the impression I get. I'll know more after I finish the game, but the impression I get is that there really aren't a lot of quests because I suspect the developers expected people to be busy doing other stuff (like wooing the nympho wife or looking out for discounts before going shopping).
To be honest, I'm being highly unfair on Fable II. Looking back at the above, it sounds like I'm not enjoying the game. However, the truth is that, despite all of the faults I mention above, I am having loads of fun just running around living my life in Albion (including doing the odd repetitive job). Fable II is the kind of game that would be really boring if you just shot through the main quest. However, when you wander around and immerse yourself in Albion, then all the little charms and quirks come through and you find yourself having fun despite the faults.
Of course, I fully intend to replay the game so that I can see the alternative endings. The problem is that, at this moment in time, I really don't know if I'll be able to live another life in Albion when I start my second character. And this is what concerns me and what led to the negative post above.
The acid test for any game is, of course, would I recommend it to someone else. The answer is maybe.
If you prefer RPGs with a good story, then I would suggest you have a long hard think before you buy this game. This isn't to say that you won't have fun (after all, I'm having fun despite my gaming preference for story driven RPGs) but rather that to enjoy Fable II, you really have to forgo the story and just life your life.
However, if you enjoy open world games then I really can recommend this title for you. And as acid tests go, I guess that isn't too bad.
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