As promised, my impressions of Mass Effect. Sorry this took so long - but when you see the length of this post, I'm sure you will understand why!
In short, I think this game is awesome. Obviously, its not perfect and has some flaws (what game doesn't?) but in my opinion, a lot of the criticisms being directed at this game seem to be nitpicking. Anyway, I'll cover some of the stuff I wasn't impressed with and also some of the nitpicks I hear about this game in my next blog post - this post will primarily be about the stuff I liked.
Also, there won't be any gameplay examples as this is an RPG and I really don't want to put any spoilers into this post. If you really want to check out some of the cool stuff in this game and aren't worried about spoilers, then head over to YouTube. There are tons of videos there from people who played this game.
Story
As with all BioWare RPGs, BioWare have spent a lot of time and effort in writing a good story. And it shows. They have managed to create a very interesting and gripping storyline. In brief, the Reapers, an ancient race of synthetics ie non organic life, are about to awaken and these guys seriously dislike organic life. Your job is to stop them. If you fail, the Reapers won't just wipe out humanity, they will render the entire galaxy void of sentient life. No pressure!
What is really impressive about the story is that you really feel like you are in a space opera. At times, watching the story unfold, it made me feel just like a kid watching Star Wars.
At the end of Mass Effect, you are able to stop the initial threat. However, this story is far from over. BioWare have stated that this game is just the first in a planned trilogy. The story arc will span 3 games with each game being self contained. After having completed Mass Effect, I have to agree that the writers have done a fantastic job of giving closure to the first game while leaving room for future sequels.
This is hugely important as a bad ending to a game can really spoil the entire experience of the game. If you have ever played Halo 2, you will know exactly what I mean. The storyline in Halo 2 ended very abruptly and you never got that sense of closure. Halo 2 was panned heavily for this reason - and rightly so. It was also for this reason that I didn't feel comfortable giving my impressions of this game until I had completed it. Luckily, Mass Effect doesn't suffer here. The ending is superb and I can't wait for Mass Effect 2 - I guess I should have had more faith in BioWare.
:)
Universe
Unlike BioWare's previous space opera (Knights of the Old Republic), Mass Effect is a completely new Intellectual Property. What this basically means is that BioWare cannot rely on terms which people are familiar with. Lets face it, if you are in KOTOR and you mention jedi or lightsaber, 99% of people will probably already know what you are talking about. This makes it a lot easier for game designers as they don't have to worry about whether you understand what the game means when it mentions the jedi.
However, with a new IP, the designers have to do a lot more work. If they come up with a new term (eg Mass Relay), they have to find a way to explain that term to you so that you know what is happening within the game. For the record, this obviously isn't just a game designer issue - authors face this exact same issue if they are trying to create their own world. In fact, I believe it was some famous author (possibly Tolkien) who said something along the lines of - in order to create a new world, you have to come up with all of the lore and background of the world you are creating even though only 30% of it will show up in your novel.
And it certainly seems like the writers of Mass Effect have tried to do that. Throughout the game, you will pick up new entries in your Codex. The Codex is basically a giant encyclopedia that gives you more information about the Mass Effect universe. The good thing is that reading the Codex is never necessary. The game itself gives you enough information in-game to appreciate the story. However, if you want to delve deeper, then the Codex gives you that option.
Gameplay
The gameplay is surprisingly good. I will be honest when I say that the shooter elements of the game were one of my concerns about whether I would enjoy this game. BioWare aren't exactly famous for creating good shooters and their previous action RPG, Jade Empire, disappointed me a little in that I felt that the combat system in JE was too simple. When you spend a significant portion of time in combat, a simple combat system can be deadly to a games replay value.
However, the combat in Mass Effect is actually done quite well. To be fair, its nowhere near as good as some of the dedicated FPS's available on the market (which to be honest, is expected). However, the action is just good enough to keep me interested in the combat. Which is incredibly important as you spend a lot of time in combat - particularly if you take on the side quests on the uncharted worlds.
The uncharted worlds are basically BioWare's attempt to let you have a Universe to explore with your ship. Unfortunately, the uncharted worlds, overall, are one of the games weaker points. I'll elaborate on this in more detail in a later blog post.
Conversations
One of the big aims of BioWare in developing Mass Effect was to make the game, in particular the conversations, as cinematic as possible. The way they did this was to significantly change the way you approach conversations.
In many other RPGs, you would hear or read the conversation on screen. When it came for your character to speak, you were given several options on what your character would say. If the game had full voice over, you would then hear your character say the words that you had chosen. The advantage of this system is that you know exactly what your character will say. The disadvantage is that this basically results in a large pause in the conversation while everyone waits for you to read all of the available options, think about what your character would say and then make the choice.
Mass Effect gets around this by having a wheel from which you choose your response. The wheel itself only shows a couple of words to give you a general idea of what that response will be. However, the words themselves aren't known to you until the character actually speaks them after you have chosen the response. Add in the fact that the wheel pops up just before the other person finishes speaking and you can basically queue up your response. Watching this in action is incredible. It really looks and sounds like two people having a normal conversation.
Role Playing
And so we eventually come to the Role Playing aspect of Mass Effect. The reason I left this for last is because, in my opinion, the role playing aspect of this game is its main strength and I have a lot to say here.
Some of the decisions that you have to make in this game are epic. Will you genocide or save another race? Which of your team members will you save - your romantic interest or the poor pleb who wasn't pretty enough to attract you? One of your alien team members is from a race which is slowly dieing out due to a genetic virus which results in most pregnancies failing. The main antagonist develops a cure - but in order to defeat the main antagonist, you have to destroy the cure. Can you still trust your alien team member? Or do you play safe and kill him first thereby not endangering your mission?
However, what really impresses me about the role playing aspect is that the responses you get are very believable. One of my gripes about previous BioWare games (in fact, most RPGs!) is that its very hard to role play an evil character. As a general rule, in resolving any quest or conversation, you can 3-4 choices which roughly correspond to:
a) choose to be a goody goody two shoes. For example - "Oh look, a puddle. Let me lie down in it so that you can walk all over me and not get your shoes dirty!"
b) choose a neutral response which gets you the XP. For example - "Oh look, a puddle. Let me put down my cloak so that you can walk over the puddle without getting your shoes dirty!"
c) choose a neutral response that gets you no XP. For example - "Oh look, a puddle."
d) choose the evil response. For example - "Oh look, a puddle. Let me assist you in getting a closer view."
The problem is that the so called evil response isn't actually very evil. Most of the time, you just end up acting like a petty thug. Think of all the really evil characters in stories (Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, Dr. Evil - ok, maybe not that last one...). Seriously, can you see Darth Vader pushing people into puddles?
The thing with Mass Effect is that there is no good and evil. Your job is to save the Universe so basically, you are a hero. The difference is whether you follow or bend the rules. Someone who follows the rules and tries to be the "good" guy is basically labelled as Paragon. Someone who makes his own rules (and you can do that as a Spectre!) is basically labelled as Renegade. The Paragon/Renegade meters are counted separately. This allows you to create the character as you desire.
For example, on my first playthrough, I created a female Commander Shepard. She was a good person in that she would do her best to save lives. However, she was ruthless in that she was willing to do whatever it took to complete the mission. If you got in her way or jeopardised the completion of her mission - she would take you down without a second thought. No remorse.
In other words, she was a renegade. She had no problem with breaking the rules if there was a point to it. However, she would not break rules for the sake of breaking rules - it was always mission focused.
And this was how I played her. Most of my decisions got me renegade points. In fact, by the end of the game, I was able to max out my renegade meter. On the other hand, I also had a fair whack of paragon points simply because she was also out there to save lives. This was what impressed me the most about this game. The fact that the choices I had within the game allowed me to role play my Commander Shepard the way her character had been designed.
And not many RPGs can make that claim.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Commander Shepard
Currently playing Mass Effect on my X360. Mass Effect is the latest RPG from BioWare, my favourite RPG developer. So far, I've been having great fun with this game. I'll give you my proper impressions of the game at a later date (being an RPG, I don't want to rush the experience!).
Anyway, while we're waiting for my impressions of the game, I thought it would be useful to give you an idea of who my Commander Shepard is. At this point, I should apologise for the poor quality of the pictures you are about to see. Just bear in mind that they aren't screenshots but rather a photo taken of my TV screen.
Anyway, this is Commander Sarah Shepard. She was born in the slums of old Earth and spent her childhood running with various gangs in da hood. However, watching her friends being gunned down made her into the woman she is today.
Deciding that she didn't want to spend her life in the slums, she joined the Systems Alliance military as a Soldier the first chance she could. And she quickly demonstrated her ability in the field. She also developed a reputation for being ruthless. This culminated in the operation on Torfan during the Skyllian Blitz where she got most of her squad killed - although she did manage to complete the mission.
Her ability to get the job done at any cost was exactly the attribute the Systems Alliance was looking for when it was looking for a Spectre candidate. Spectre's are basically the intergalactic version of James Bond. They are authorised by the Citadel Council (the ultimate authority in the explored universe) to protect galactic peace - at any cost. To this end, Spectre's answer only to the Council and are basically above the law. As a spectre, I can gun you down in cold blood and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
This is Liara - an Asari scientist and expert on the Protheans (a race of technologically advanced aliens who died out 50,000 years ago). She is a biotics expert (think magic in D&D) and is basically my bitch! If you have been following Mass Effect, you will know that there is a lesbian love scene. Well, Liara is the other party in the love scene - and now you know why my main character is female :p
This is Tali and she is basically my chief engineer. She is a Quarian - a member of the race that developed the Geth. The Geth are basically sentient machines which were created by the Quarians to serve as slave labour. The Geth didn't like being slaves and so they rebelled and kicked the Quarians off their homeworld (clearly, the Quarians never watched any of the Terminator movies).
Tali is always fully encased in armor because Quarians are used to living in a completely sterile environment. As such, when they are outside of the Quarian Flotilla, they completely encase themselves in their armor to ensure they don't catch any of our germs. I guess this is also why Tali isn't one of the romance options! :)
This is a picture of the Bitch Brigade (as I affectionately call them) on Feros, one of the colonies established by the Systems Alliance. You can tell I am expecting trouble as the helmets are down in case of sniper fire!
And this is a picture of us sightseeing on some hazardous planet. In this picture, our combat suits have been sealed in order to protect us from the harsh environment. Even so, we can only step outside our Mako (the Mako is the armoured car you see in the background) for short periods of time.
Anyway, while we're waiting for my impressions of the game, I thought it would be useful to give you an idea of who my Commander Shepard is. At this point, I should apologise for the poor quality of the pictures you are about to see. Just bear in mind that they aren't screenshots but rather a photo taken of my TV screen.
Anyway, this is Commander Sarah Shepard. She was born in the slums of old Earth and spent her childhood running with various gangs in da hood. However, watching her friends being gunned down made her into the woman she is today.
Deciding that she didn't want to spend her life in the slums, she joined the Systems Alliance military as a Soldier the first chance she could. And she quickly demonstrated her ability in the field. She also developed a reputation for being ruthless. This culminated in the operation on Torfan during the Skyllian Blitz where she got most of her squad killed - although she did manage to complete the mission.
Her ability to get the job done at any cost was exactly the attribute the Systems Alliance was looking for when it was looking for a Spectre candidate. Spectre's are basically the intergalactic version of James Bond. They are authorised by the Citadel Council (the ultimate authority in the explored universe) to protect galactic peace - at any cost. To this end, Spectre's answer only to the Council and are basically above the law. As a spectre, I can gun you down in cold blood and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
This is Liara - an Asari scientist and expert on the Protheans (a race of technologically advanced aliens who died out 50,000 years ago). She is a biotics expert (think magic in D&D) and is basically my bitch! If you have been following Mass Effect, you will know that there is a lesbian love scene. Well, Liara is the other party in the love scene - and now you know why my main character is female :p
This is Tali and she is basically my chief engineer. She is a Quarian - a member of the race that developed the Geth. The Geth are basically sentient machines which were created by the Quarians to serve as slave labour. The Geth didn't like being slaves and so they rebelled and kicked the Quarians off their homeworld (clearly, the Quarians never watched any of the Terminator movies).
Tali is always fully encased in armor because Quarians are used to living in a completely sterile environment. As such, when they are outside of the Quarian Flotilla, they completely encase themselves in their armor to ensure they don't catch any of our germs. I guess this is also why Tali isn't one of the romance options! :)
This is a picture of the Bitch Brigade (as I affectionately call them) on Feros, one of the colonies established by the Systems Alliance. You can tell I am expecting trouble as the helmets are down in case of sniper fire!
And this is a picture of us sightseeing on some hazardous planet. In this picture, our combat suits have been sealed in order to protect us from the harsh environment. Even so, we can only step outside our Mako (the Mako is the armoured car you see in the background) for short periods of time.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Game journalism integrity
I was really hoping to spend this weeks post talking about Mass Effect. Unfortunately, other events have intervened which I feel I have to comment on.
In brief, Jeff Gerstmann has been fired from Gamespot (a game review website). In itself, this doesn't sound like a huge deal. However, the problem rests with the circumstances in which he was fired. You can find out more about the controversy from these links (here and here).
Now, before I get any further, bear in mind that I don't actually know what happened. Although I have read a few news articles and blog posts, all I know can be summarised in the above couple of posts that I linked to. All of my following comments are going to be based on the gut feel and impression I get when looking at what happened.
However, looking at the arguments both for and against the idea that Jeff was fired for a negative review, it seems to me that the truth (as always) is somewhere inbetween.
I highly doubt that Jeff was fired for 1 negative review. In this regard, I believe that Gamespot have indeed given him several warning about the tone of his negative reviews. To me, it seems likely that the Kane & Lynch review was simply the straw that broke the camels back.
Does this mean that Gamespot did the right thing? In my opinion - No. I read the Kane & Lynch review (and also saw the video review). Although Jeff panned the game, it seemed like he justified the reason that he thought the game was a piece of crap with examples. In a situation like this, it seems to me to be a fair review of his opinion on that game and he should be allowed to call out Eidos as having published a shitty game.
Based on this belief (and again, I have to stress that I don't actually know what happened), by taking the action to fire him (and by all accounts, it was done in a horrible manner - ie he came into the office and found his door locked), Gamespot have sent the clear message that their advertising revenue is more important than their journalists integrity. Granted, the review score for Kane & Lynch was never modified - however, other game reviewers at Gamespot now know very clearly the potential consequences for pissing off a big advertiser on their site. And you have to ask the question - will this affect futusre review scores?
Most likely yes (in my opinion). Which is a shame because Gamespot used to be game review site which I trusted highly.
Update - interesting article here.
In brief, Jeff Gerstmann has been fired from Gamespot (a game review website). In itself, this doesn't sound like a huge deal. However, the problem rests with the circumstances in which he was fired. You can find out more about the controversy from these links (here and here).
Now, before I get any further, bear in mind that I don't actually know what happened. Although I have read a few news articles and blog posts, all I know can be summarised in the above couple of posts that I linked to. All of my following comments are going to be based on the gut feel and impression I get when looking at what happened.
Anyway, the key issue in the departure of Jeff Gerstmann is the reason that he was fired. Currently, the hot rumor is that Jeff was fired for a negative review of Kane & Lynch. Eidos, the publisher of Kane & Lynch had spent a ton of money on advertising this game on Gamespot. Apparently, the negative review was leading Eidos to push future advertising money away from Gamespot which would have made a huge dent in their pocket. As such, Jeff Gerstmann lost his job.
I believe the official position is that Jeff was fired due to negative tone in his reviews and that he had been warned about this before. This sounds like Gamespot are saying that he was fired because he wasn't objective enough when reviewing a game.
As I said above, I have no idea if this is true or not. In one sense, the general public will never know for sure simply because Gamespot can't divulge the exact reasons for Jeffs firing and Jeff has already stated that for legal reasons he can't disclose the reason for his firing either. In other words, all we will ever have is rumours and heresay from 3rd parties.However, looking at the arguments both for and against the idea that Jeff was fired for a negative review, it seems to me that the truth (as always) is somewhere inbetween.
I highly doubt that Jeff was fired for 1 negative review. In this regard, I believe that Gamespot have indeed given him several warning about the tone of his negative reviews. To me, it seems likely that the Kane & Lynch review was simply the straw that broke the camels back.
Does this mean that Gamespot did the right thing? In my opinion - No. I read the Kane & Lynch review (and also saw the video review). Although Jeff panned the game, it seemed like he justified the reason that he thought the game was a piece of crap with examples. In a situation like this, it seems to me to be a fair review of his opinion on that game and he should be allowed to call out Eidos as having published a shitty game.
Based on this belief (and again, I have to stress that I don't actually know what happened), by taking the action to fire him (and by all accounts, it was done in a horrible manner - ie he came into the office and found his door locked), Gamespot have sent the clear message that their advertising revenue is more important than their journalists integrity. Granted, the review score for Kane & Lynch was never modified - however, other game reviewers at Gamespot now know very clearly the potential consequences for pissing off a big advertiser on their site. And you have to ask the question - will this affect futusre review scores?
Most likely yes (in my opinion). Which is a shame because Gamespot used to be game review site which I trusted highly.
Update - interesting article here.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Is this video game hell or heaven?
The onslaught of awesome games continues unabated. As you know, Halo 3 was released in September and I'm still getting a massive amount of fun out of that.
Meanwhile, it now has some serious competition in the form of Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat. The Call of Duty series has always been very well received. I played the CoD 2 and that was a really fun game. CoD4 is by the same developer as 2 and I guess their experience in making this series of games has shone through in CoD4.
In addition, Assassins Creed was also recently released. Although some of the reviews are mixed, it seems to be the kind of game where you either love it or hate it (or rather, like it as 70% for a game isn't exactly bad). In particular, I note that Gamespot gave it a very good review. Gamespot are a review site which I often agree with - if their reviewers loved Assassins Creed, I suspect that I will as well.
And then, the nail in the coffin. Mass Effect is released in 2 days.
As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I've been looking forward to this game for ages. I've followed Bioware, as an RPG developer, for a good number of years now. As a result, I've seen the slow evolution of games by Bioware. However, the new conversation mechanic that they have developed seems to be such a large step that it can be called revolutionary rather than just evolutionary. Check out some of the videos here and you will see what I mean.
There are a ton of other good games coming out this year. The above are just the ones which I intend to get. Having said that, just clearing out the above games could take me well into next year!
What is a gamer meant to do!!
Meanwhile, it now has some serious competition in the form of Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat. The Call of Duty series has always been very well received. I played the CoD 2 and that was a really fun game. CoD4 is by the same developer as 2 and I guess their experience in making this series of games has shone through in CoD4.
In addition, Assassins Creed was also recently released. Although some of the reviews are mixed, it seems to be the kind of game where you either love it or hate it (or rather, like it as 70% for a game isn't exactly bad). In particular, I note that Gamespot gave it a very good review. Gamespot are a review site which I often agree with - if their reviewers loved Assassins Creed, I suspect that I will as well.
And then, the nail in the coffin. Mass Effect is released in 2 days.
As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I've been looking forward to this game for ages. I've followed Bioware, as an RPG developer, for a good number of years now. As a result, I've seen the slow evolution of games by Bioware. However, the new conversation mechanic that they have developed seems to be such a large step that it can be called revolutionary rather than just evolutionary. Check out some of the videos here and you will see what I mean.
There are a ton of other good games coming out this year. The above are just the ones which I intend to get. Having said that, just clearing out the above games could take me well into next year!
What is a gamer meant to do!!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Halo 3 - multiplayer
Last week, I gave you my thoughts on the Halo 3 singleplayer campaign. As promised, here are my impressions of the multiplayer.
As I said last week, the multiplayer is good. The game is a very fast paced FPS and has a completely different feel from Gears of War, which had a much slower pace. Having said that, after a couple of weeks play, I realised that you can't just run around like a maniac (unless you want to get killed very quickly) and that the game does a good job of mixing in teamwork and tactical play.
To be honest, there really isn't much I can say about the multiplayer gameplay for H3. If you have ever played a fast paced FPS before, then you know exactly what to expect. And if you haven't, then quite frankly, you would be better off going to one of the professional review sites rather than reading the brief commentary that I would have on it on my blog. Suffice to say, the gameplay does everything right - nice controls, smooth action, well balanced weapons etc etc. Nothing earth-shatteringly innovative (with the possible exception of equipment) but definitely polished into an extremely fun package. As I said, if you want to know how good the multiplayer is, read one of the professional reviews - they do a much better job of telling you how good the multiplayer is.
One of the things which is groundbreaking (imo) is the theater function. As I mentioned before, the game automatically records games which you can then go back into and watch. This is a really cool feature. So far, I have spent an inordinate amount of time in the theater rewatching some of my matches (look out for more gameplay examples in future!).
One of the other great functions of the game is that Bungie keep detailed stats of your game. I won't talk too much about that here as I have blogged about it before.
So, onto the faults and other stuff that I didn't like.
First off (and this is no fault of Bungies) - damn, I really hate 90% of people on Xbox Live! You see, my favourite gametype is team objective games. This is stuff like Capture the Flag, Plant the Bomb etc. In these kinds of games, you really need to play like a team if you want any chance of winning. However, in most of the games I play on Live, the people on my team don't even bother to connect the mic. Or even when they do, they don't bother speaking.
What the f*$k is the point of playing a team game if you aren't going to communicate with your team!!! It is so incredibly frustrating to start a game of Capture the Flag and then find everybody runs around on their own to get killed in piecemeal fashion. I know how good this game could be based on the rare times that I actually managed to get a group which spoke with each other. Unfortunately, these games are the exception.
Its gotten to the point at the moment where I rarely play team objective games anymore. Nowadays, I mainly play team slayer which is basically team deathmatch. In these games, talking to your teammates, although beneficial, isn't essential so I can still have a good game of H3 without all the frustration from the lack of communication in the team games. One unexpected benefit of this is that my kill/death ratio has been rising recently as I'm focusing on getting kills instead of focusing on trying to meet the team objective (and dieing miserably in the process).
The second really annoying thing (and this is Bungies fault) is that there is no way to search for the kind of game that you want to play. There are a lot of default game types (including zombie game types). Furthermore, the Forge function in the game really allows you to be very creative in coming up with new gametypes. The problem is that there is no way to search for these gametypes so it becomes really hard to play them.
The matchmaking system in H3 only gives you random maps and random gametypes within certain specified parameters. So for example, I can specify a team objective game type or a team slayer game type. However, the exact game type and map are chosen at random. However, these random game types are limited to several game types only and ignore some of the game types which come as standard. For example, Bungie created a zombie variant of the game which doesn't come up in matchmaking.
This means that in order to play a zombie game, you have to setup a custom game. This in itself is no big deal. The problem is that you can't search for custom game types when you want to play - which means that if you want to play a zombie game, you either need a lot of real life friends who can play with you or you need to hope that random people you meet online are willing to join you for a game of zombies. Who the hell thought that was a good idea!!??
Just to give you an idea of how bad this is, some gameplayers have created their own custom gamefinder online. Basically, you can register a profile and create an entry for your custom game. People who are interested can register for the game and join in at the appropriate time. Although this kinda solves the problem, I'm not really interested as I can't be bothered running back and forth between my PC and my Xbox between every game for the purpose of registering for another game!!
The third thing about the game I'm unsure about is the melee system. In order to try and eradicate host advantage (host advantage is the fact that the host doesn't have lag), Bungie made an "interesting" decision about the melee system. Basically, they created a rather large window whereby if two people both melee each other within that window, then the person who has the most health wins.
To understand the issue with this, you have to realise that melee in this game is absolutely lethal. A couple of rounds from an Assualt Rifle coupled with a melee attack will kill you. The melee system which Bungie have adopted basically results in a situation where, if two players are running at each other and firing, the player with the slower reaction time will win.
Let me repeat that - the player with the slower reaction time wins. Why? Because the person with the faster reaction time hits melee as soon as they are within melee range. The person with the slower reaction fires off a couple more bullets first before starting his melee. As the melee system has quite a large window, the person with slower reaction time is still within the melee window. However, as he fired off a couple more bullets with his weapon, he has more health and wins the melee. The "better" player (ie player with better reaction time) ends up dying.
As you can imagine, this has pissed off a lot of people on the forums. Its also an issue which Bungie have acknowledged and are looking at again. I guess the problem is how to resolve the issue. Possibly, just a reduction in the window time may be enough to fix this problem. In any event, lag in an online game is a very real issue and how to deal with it can cause problems. Anyway, the fact that they tried to account for lag has already made H3 better than GoW where the host advantage was quite severe (and well documented).
One last point before I log off - despite my primarily harping on about the faults of H3, please remember that I do really enjoy the multiplayer aspect of it. I think Bungie have done a great job with H3. The only reason I haven't waxed lyrical is that there are plenty of professional reviews online which can do a much better job than me in telling you how good this game is.
As I said last week, the multiplayer is good. The game is a very fast paced FPS and has a completely different feel from Gears of War, which had a much slower pace. Having said that, after a couple of weeks play, I realised that you can't just run around like a maniac (unless you want to get killed very quickly) and that the game does a good job of mixing in teamwork and tactical play.
To be honest, there really isn't much I can say about the multiplayer gameplay for H3. If you have ever played a fast paced FPS before, then you know exactly what to expect. And if you haven't, then quite frankly, you would be better off going to one of the professional review sites rather than reading the brief commentary that I would have on it on my blog. Suffice to say, the gameplay does everything right - nice controls, smooth action, well balanced weapons etc etc. Nothing earth-shatteringly innovative (with the possible exception of equipment) but definitely polished into an extremely fun package. As I said, if you want to know how good the multiplayer is, read one of the professional reviews - they do a much better job of telling you how good the multiplayer is.
One of the things which is groundbreaking (imo) is the theater function. As I mentioned before, the game automatically records games which you can then go back into and watch. This is a really cool feature. So far, I have spent an inordinate amount of time in the theater rewatching some of my matches (look out for more gameplay examples in future!).
One of the other great functions of the game is that Bungie keep detailed stats of your game. I won't talk too much about that here as I have blogged about it before.
So, onto the faults and other stuff that I didn't like.
First off (and this is no fault of Bungies) - damn, I really hate 90% of people on Xbox Live! You see, my favourite gametype is team objective games. This is stuff like Capture the Flag, Plant the Bomb etc. In these kinds of games, you really need to play like a team if you want any chance of winning. However, in most of the games I play on Live, the people on my team don't even bother to connect the mic. Or even when they do, they don't bother speaking.
What the f*$k is the point of playing a team game if you aren't going to communicate with your team!!! It is so incredibly frustrating to start a game of Capture the Flag and then find everybody runs around on their own to get killed in piecemeal fashion. I know how good this game could be based on the rare times that I actually managed to get a group which spoke with each other. Unfortunately, these games are the exception.
Its gotten to the point at the moment where I rarely play team objective games anymore. Nowadays, I mainly play team slayer which is basically team deathmatch. In these games, talking to your teammates, although beneficial, isn't essential so I can still have a good game of H3 without all the frustration from the lack of communication in the team games. One unexpected benefit of this is that my kill/death ratio has been rising recently as I'm focusing on getting kills instead of focusing on trying to meet the team objective (and dieing miserably in the process).
The second really annoying thing (and this is Bungies fault) is that there is no way to search for the kind of game that you want to play. There are a lot of default game types (including zombie game types). Furthermore, the Forge function in the game really allows you to be very creative in coming up with new gametypes. The problem is that there is no way to search for these gametypes so it becomes really hard to play them.
The matchmaking system in H3 only gives you random maps and random gametypes within certain specified parameters. So for example, I can specify a team objective game type or a team slayer game type. However, the exact game type and map are chosen at random. However, these random game types are limited to several game types only and ignore some of the game types which come as standard. For example, Bungie created a zombie variant of the game which doesn't come up in matchmaking.
This means that in order to play a zombie game, you have to setup a custom game. This in itself is no big deal. The problem is that you can't search for custom game types when you want to play - which means that if you want to play a zombie game, you either need a lot of real life friends who can play with you or you need to hope that random people you meet online are willing to join you for a game of zombies. Who the hell thought that was a good idea!!??
Just to give you an idea of how bad this is, some gameplayers have created their own custom gamefinder online. Basically, you can register a profile and create an entry for your custom game. People who are interested can register for the game and join in at the appropriate time. Although this kinda solves the problem, I'm not really interested as I can't be bothered running back and forth between my PC and my Xbox between every game for the purpose of registering for another game!!
The third thing about the game I'm unsure about is the melee system. In order to try and eradicate host advantage (host advantage is the fact that the host doesn't have lag), Bungie made an "interesting" decision about the melee system. Basically, they created a rather large window whereby if two people both melee each other within that window, then the person who has the most health wins.
To understand the issue with this, you have to realise that melee in this game is absolutely lethal. A couple of rounds from an Assualt Rifle coupled with a melee attack will kill you. The melee system which Bungie have adopted basically results in a situation where, if two players are running at each other and firing, the player with the slower reaction time will win.
Let me repeat that - the player with the slower reaction time wins. Why? Because the person with the faster reaction time hits melee as soon as they are within melee range. The person with the slower reaction fires off a couple more bullets first before starting his melee. As the melee system has quite a large window, the person with slower reaction time is still within the melee window. However, as he fired off a couple more bullets with his weapon, he has more health and wins the melee. The "better" player (ie player with better reaction time) ends up dying.
As you can imagine, this has pissed off a lot of people on the forums. Its also an issue which Bungie have acknowledged and are looking at again. I guess the problem is how to resolve the issue. Possibly, just a reduction in the window time may be enough to fix this problem. In any event, lag in an online game is a very real issue and how to deal with it can cause problems. Anyway, the fact that they tried to account for lag has already made H3 better than GoW where the host advantage was quite severe (and well documented).
One last point before I log off - despite my primarily harping on about the faults of H3, please remember that I do really enjoy the multiplayer aspect of it. I think Bungie have done a great job with H3. The only reason I haven't waxed lyrical is that there are plenty of professional reviews online which can do a much better job than me in telling you how good this game is.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Halo 3 - fin
Well, I finally managed to complete Halo 3 on legendary. The campaign in H3 is a lot better then Halo 2. Having said that, it isn't as good as the original Halo campaign and the main reason for this is that by now, its very hard for them to surprise us the way they did in the original Halo.
For example, in Halo, the arrival of the Flood was a big event and it completely changed the way you played the game at that point. However, by Halo 3, you now exactly what to expect and what tactics to use to beat the different enemies in the game. So in that sense, I guess its no surprise that the campaign isn't as good.
The other reason that I feel that the campaign in Halo was better is that in the original Halo, I had a much better sense of being in a large battlefield. There were a couple of points in the original Halo campaign where you were in a massive battlefield and it felt pretty awesome. Didn't get that same experience from Halo 3.
Having said that, the gameplay of Halo 3 is much improved. You can tell that Bungie have really taken their lessons from the first 2 Halo games and polished it a bit more so that by now, it really shines. One of the changes they made which I really liked, and which also made the game a bit easier in legendary mode, in how power armour works.
In the original Halo, the Elites had power armour just like yours. Basically, this meant that if you were going to kill an Elite, you had to do it in 1 attack. If you pulled back, then the Elite would just hide and recharge its armour and you had to start from scratch. This made the game extremely frustrating in legendary mode as trying to kill Elites in 1 attack is really hard.
As soon as you stick your head out, the Elite would send a burst of plasma rifle fire at you. 3-4 hits from that would take out your shields and another 1-2 hits would kill you. Basically, by the time that you have taken down the Elites shields, your own shields would have been depleted and at that point, its a question of whether you can kill him before he kills you. As I said, this could be extremely frustrating.
However, the new power armour worn by the Brutes in Halo 3 are much weaker. Basically, although they recharge, some element of damage remains so that over time, you can shoot off all the armor worn by the Brute. This actually makes the game a lot easier as you can stay back (trust me, you don't want to take on a platoon of Brutes in close!) and shoot them rather than having to charge in even though your shields are depleted. All in all, it makes for a more satisfactory game experience even though it isn't as difficult.
Anyway, next week, I'll post some thoughts on the multiplayer aspect of Halo 3.
As a quick preview - yes, the multiplayer is good. However, a couple of flaws stop it from being this good:
:)
http://view.break.com/390565 - Watch more free videos
For example, in Halo, the arrival of the Flood was a big event and it completely changed the way you played the game at that point. However, by Halo 3, you now exactly what to expect and what tactics to use to beat the different enemies in the game. So in that sense, I guess its no surprise that the campaign isn't as good.
The other reason that I feel that the campaign in Halo was better is that in the original Halo, I had a much better sense of being in a large battlefield. There were a couple of points in the original Halo campaign where you were in a massive battlefield and it felt pretty awesome. Didn't get that same experience from Halo 3.
Having said that, the gameplay of Halo 3 is much improved. You can tell that Bungie have really taken their lessons from the first 2 Halo games and polished it a bit more so that by now, it really shines. One of the changes they made which I really liked, and which also made the game a bit easier in legendary mode, in how power armour works.
In the original Halo, the Elites had power armour just like yours. Basically, this meant that if you were going to kill an Elite, you had to do it in 1 attack. If you pulled back, then the Elite would just hide and recharge its armour and you had to start from scratch. This made the game extremely frustrating in legendary mode as trying to kill Elites in 1 attack is really hard.
As soon as you stick your head out, the Elite would send a burst of plasma rifle fire at you. 3-4 hits from that would take out your shields and another 1-2 hits would kill you. Basically, by the time that you have taken down the Elites shields, your own shields would have been depleted and at that point, its a question of whether you can kill him before he kills you. As I said, this could be extremely frustrating.
However, the new power armour worn by the Brutes in Halo 3 are much weaker. Basically, although they recharge, some element of damage remains so that over time, you can shoot off all the armor worn by the Brute. This actually makes the game a lot easier as you can stay back (trust me, you don't want to take on a platoon of Brutes in close!) and shoot them rather than having to charge in even though your shields are depleted. All in all, it makes for a more satisfactory game experience even though it isn't as difficult.
Anyway, next week, I'll post some thoughts on the multiplayer aspect of Halo 3.
As a quick preview - yes, the multiplayer is good. However, a couple of flaws stop it from being this good:
:)
http://view.break.com/390565 - Watch more free videos
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Statto - H3 version
Not much to talk about this week. As you can guess, I've been spending most of my time playing Halo 3.
One of the things about Halo 3 which I've spent a lot of time on without realising it is the detailed stats that are being kept on www.bungie.net. You see, on the bungie website, you can pull up your gamertag (or anyone elses) and check out how they are doing. Basically, it keeps a record of all my games (both multiplayer and campaign) and how many times I've died, how many kills I have and which weapons I used etc. Its actually quite impressive.
Unfortunately, the stats are also currently down as Bungie are making some upgrades to their system. My guess is that the success of Halo 3 was unprecedented (even the cinema's are blaming Halo 3 for a drop in attendance - how awesome is that!) and hence, their servers weren't really ready for the load. In fact, during the last month, there have been lots of complaints about records not being updated promptly or in some cases, not being updated at all.
Anyway, as I said, the stats page is currently down. The funny thing is that I never realised how much time I spent on that page until it was missing. I just got so used to checking my stats after each play session. I wonder what my kill/death ratio is at the moment?
One of the things about Halo 3 which I've spent a lot of time on without realising it is the detailed stats that are being kept on www.bungie.net. You see, on the bungie website, you can pull up your gamertag (or anyone elses) and check out how they are doing. Basically, it keeps a record of all my games (both multiplayer and campaign) and how many times I've died, how many kills I have and which weapons I used etc. Its actually quite impressive.
Unfortunately, the stats are also currently down as Bungie are making some upgrades to their system. My guess is that the success of Halo 3 was unprecedented (even the cinema's are blaming Halo 3 for a drop in attendance - how awesome is that!) and hence, their servers weren't really ready for the load. In fact, during the last month, there have been lots of complaints about records not being updated promptly or in some cases, not being updated at all.
Anyway, as I said, the stats page is currently down. The funny thing is that I never realised how much time I spent on that page until it was missing. I just got so used to checking my stats after each play session. I wonder what my kill/death ratio is at the moment?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The EA Strikes Back!
As you may (or may not) know, BioWare is my favourite RPG developer. Starting with their original Baldurs Gate, which rejuvenated the RPG genre on the PC, all the way through their console RPGs, they have always released quality games. In fact, their next release (Mass Effect) is probably my most anticipated game this year.
All of which makes me extremely worried to hear that BioWare are now a part of EA. Yup - thats right - EA are now the owners of BioWare.
As you can imagine, the forums are ablaze with hate mail directed at EA - check out this forum thread (on the 4th thread and rising rapidly!). Now granted, I don't hate EA with the passion that others seem to. In my opinion, EA have some good games and they have some poor games - just like any other publisher.
However, I am extremely concerned about the history of EA. Put simply, BioWare aren't the first popular RPG developer acquired by EA. If you are wondering why you haven't heard of any good EA RPGs before, its because those popular RPG developers no longer exist. Worryingly often, after acquisition by EA, the quality of games dropped and those studios then get closed down (granted, I have no idea of how much EA was involved in the development of those games - all I know is that those developers were able to develop good games before they were acquired by EA but not after).
The best case scenario is that EA will give funding to BioWare but leave them alone to create the kind of games which BioWare is famous for. I am desperately hoping that this will be the case. Unfortunately, the reality will likely be that EA will try to exert some influence. In any event, here's hoping that BioWare are still around in 5 years.
At least Mass Effect is so far along the development cycle that it won't be affected by any of this.
All of which makes me extremely worried to hear that BioWare are now a part of EA. Yup - thats right - EA are now the owners of BioWare.
As you can imagine, the forums are ablaze with hate mail directed at EA - check out this forum thread (on the 4th thread and rising rapidly!). Now granted, I don't hate EA with the passion that others seem to. In my opinion, EA have some good games and they have some poor games - just like any other publisher.
However, I am extremely concerned about the history of EA. Put simply, BioWare aren't the first popular RPG developer acquired by EA. If you are wondering why you haven't heard of any good EA RPGs before, its because those popular RPG developers no longer exist. Worryingly often, after acquisition by EA, the quality of games dropped and those studios then get closed down (granted, I have no idea of how much EA was involved in the development of those games - all I know is that those developers were able to develop good games before they were acquired by EA but not after).
The best case scenario is that EA will give funding to BioWare but leave them alone to create the kind of games which BioWare is famous for. I am desperately hoping that this will be the case. Unfortunately, the reality will likely be that EA will try to exert some influence. In any event, here's hoping that BioWare are still around in 5 years.
At least Mass Effect is so far along the development cycle that it won't be affected by any of this.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Caught by surprise
Another Halo 3 gameplay example. This time, for a change of pace, I am going to show me getting creamed. :)
In the first screenshot, you can see me in the middle. This is at the tail-end of a hard and strenous fight. One which I won!
In fact, you can see me drill the guy in front of me. The strange pose is because the guy has just died (if you look closely, you can see the blood splatter). Unfortunately, all my attention was on the guy I was shooting and I didn't notice the other guy in white armor jumping in behind me.
Just after I drill the guy in front of me (and even before I can feel elation that I killed him), the guy in white armor gets in close and whacks me up the back of the head. :(
The next screenshot shows me dropping my gun just after he has caved my head in.
The two deaths (ie mine and the guy I killed) were so close together that you can actually see us fall to the ground together in the next screenshot. I'm the guy on the left - slumping onto the ground after bouncing off the wall.
Our final resting place. Looks almost peaceful doesn't it. :)
In the first screenshot, you can see me in the middle. This is at the tail-end of a hard and strenous fight. One which I won!
In fact, you can see me drill the guy in front of me. The strange pose is because the guy has just died (if you look closely, you can see the blood splatter). Unfortunately, all my attention was on the guy I was shooting and I didn't notice the other guy in white armor jumping in behind me.
Just after I drill the guy in front of me (and even before I can feel elation that I killed him), the guy in white armor gets in close and whacks me up the back of the head. :(
The next screenshot shows me dropping my gun just after he has caved my head in.
The two deaths (ie mine and the guy I killed) were so close together that you can actually see us fall to the ground together in the next screenshot. I'm the guy on the left - slumping onto the ground after bouncing off the wall.
Our final resting place. Looks almost peaceful doesn't it. :)
Leaping grenade tag!
Another gameplay example for you. This was taken from a free for all Slayer match (this is your basic deathmatch).
In the first picture, you can see me (thats me in the foreground) running towards an alcove. I had just managed to pick up an overshield which is why I'm sparkling like a Christmas tree. Just in front of me is a large gap and in the alcove, you can just see someone coming up the grav chute.
As I get to the hole in the floor, I bunch my legs and leap high over the gaping chasm. Meanwhile, the pleb in front of me has now exited the grav chute and has turned to attack a guy to his right. The next screenshot is from the point of view of the pleb who's about to get a nasty surprise. :)
You can see that he has already turned away (there is a guy to his right which you can't see). Meanwhile, in the background, you can see me with the hot potato in hand.
Check out that throw! The grenade draws a beautiful arc as it homes in on the pleb - who is probably thinking that he is about to get a kill. Look at the concentration as he's firing his assault rifle!
The next screenshot is a closeup of the grenade attached to his head. :)
Followed by a bright explosion as the grenade goes off (and takes his head with it!).
In the first picture, you can see me (thats me in the foreground) running towards an alcove. I had just managed to pick up an overshield which is why I'm sparkling like a Christmas tree. Just in front of me is a large gap and in the alcove, you can just see someone coming up the grav chute.
As I get to the hole in the floor, I bunch my legs and leap high over the gaping chasm. Meanwhile, the pleb in front of me has now exited the grav chute and has turned to attack a guy to his right. The next screenshot is from the point of view of the pleb who's about to get a nasty surprise. :)
You can see that he has already turned away (there is a guy to his right which you can't see). Meanwhile, in the background, you can see me with the hot potato in hand.
Check out that throw! The grenade draws a beautiful arc as it homes in on the pleb - who is probably thinking that he is about to get a kill. Look at the concentration as he's firing his assault rifle!
The next screenshot is a closeup of the grenade attached to his head. :)
Followed by a bright explosion as the grenade goes off (and takes his head with it!).
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Results of my first Halo 3 match
I acquired Halo 3 yesterday and played a couple of games online last night. One of the cool features of Halo 3 is that the game automatically records the whole game session so that you can replay it at a later date. Unfortunately, I don't have a capture card and don't know how else to get the video of the game out into a video format that I can post to this blog.
Luckily, the game also lets you take screenshots of the action and download them. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I enclose a couple of screenshots from my first Halo match. If you like them, keep an eye on this blog as I will update this with stories and screenshots of Halo 3 games that I play. :)
Anyway, as I was new to Halo 3, I started off in Training Camp. This is basically a 4 player deathmatch game which only noobs will partake in (ie people like me!).
This picture is a screenshot of my very first kill in Halo 3!! Thats me in the background drilling the guy with gunfire! It was also the first kill of the match (yay me!).
Actually, although this is registered as my first kill, its probably more apt to describe it as my first suicide. What actually happened was that the guy threw a grenade at me. The grenade bounced off a wall and rebounded next to him. Basically, he blew himself up. Still, the game counted it as my kill (a forced error!) so I'm taking it! :)
Unfortunately, despite the good start, my first death followed shortly after. In the next screenshot, you can see me in the foreground chasing after another guy as we faceoff. Unfotunately, he got the better of me. :(
You can clearly see a bullet bouncing off my head (check out the blood splatter!) in the screenshot.
Anyway, the match kinda went downhill from there. Hey, its been a while since I played Halo 2 (well over a year now - possibly over 2 years) and I never played Halo 2 online either! However, after a couple of deaths, I started to get a better handle on the controls and managed to do a lot better.
I even managed to grenade tag someone with an alien grenade (which is an instant kill). For all you sadists out there, I took a close up of the grenade tag. The grenade is the big round thing on the face of the guys helmet. :)
Anyway, despite the poor start, I managed to catch up and do well. In fact, I won the match!
This is me with proof that I won the match. Strike the pose!
Luckily, the game also lets you take screenshots of the action and download them. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I enclose a couple of screenshots from my first Halo match. If you like them, keep an eye on this blog as I will update this with stories and screenshots of Halo 3 games that I play. :)
Anyway, as I was new to Halo 3, I started off in Training Camp. This is basically a 4 player deathmatch game which only noobs will partake in (ie people like me!).
This picture is a screenshot of my very first kill in Halo 3!! Thats me in the background drilling the guy with gunfire! It was also the first kill of the match (yay me!).
Actually, although this is registered as my first kill, its probably more apt to describe it as my first suicide. What actually happened was that the guy threw a grenade at me. The grenade bounced off a wall and rebounded next to him. Basically, he blew himself up. Still, the game counted it as my kill (a forced error!) so I'm taking it! :)
Unfortunately, despite the good start, my first death followed shortly after. In the next screenshot, you can see me in the foreground chasing after another guy as we faceoff. Unfotunately, he got the better of me. :(
You can clearly see a bullet bouncing off my head (check out the blood splatter!) in the screenshot.
Anyway, the match kinda went downhill from there. Hey, its been a while since I played Halo 2 (well over a year now - possibly over 2 years) and I never played Halo 2 online either! However, after a couple of deaths, I started to get a better handle on the controls and managed to do a lot better.
I even managed to grenade tag someone with an alien grenade (which is an instant kill). For all you sadists out there, I took a close up of the grenade tag. The grenade is the big round thing on the face of the guys helmet. :)
Anyway, despite the poor start, I managed to catch up and do well. In fact, I won the match!
This is me with proof that I won the match. Strike the pose!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Finish the Fight
Just 2 more days till I can finish the fight. The anticipation is killing me!
Anyway, while I'm waiting for Halo 3 to come out, I've been mucking around with some other games. As you know from last weeks post, I've been replaying Gears of War. On a side note, I really hope that Halo 3 doesn't suffer from the same lag issues that GoW has - in case you weren't aware, the host in GoW has a pretty big advantage as he suffers no lag. And this isn't the case of a shitty player bitching as the lag and resulting host advantage in GoW is well documented.
Anyway, what you probably didn't know is that I have also been mucking around with Command & Conquer. Not C&C3 but the original C&C that was released 12 years ago and which kick-started the whole RTS genre. Basically, if you were a PC gamer 12 years ago, you would have known about this game (thats how famous it is!). Maybe its nostalgia, but its incredible how much fun I still have playing this game - especially as I got it for free by downloading it off the internet.
Shock! Did I say download for free? Have I turned into a pirate (avast ye!)?
Well - not quite. You see, as part of the birthday celebrations for C&C, EA (who now own the franchise) released the game for free on their website. In fact, you can download it here. So go on - download this classic of RTS gaming and relive your youth!
Anyway, while I'm waiting for Halo 3 to come out, I've been mucking around with some other games. As you know from last weeks post, I've been replaying Gears of War. On a side note, I really hope that Halo 3 doesn't suffer from the same lag issues that GoW has - in case you weren't aware, the host in GoW has a pretty big advantage as he suffers no lag. And this isn't the case of a shitty player bitching as the lag and resulting host advantage in GoW is well documented.
Anyway, what you probably didn't know is that I have also been mucking around with Command & Conquer. Not C&C3 but the original C&C that was released 12 years ago and which kick-started the whole RTS genre. Basically, if you were a PC gamer 12 years ago, you would have known about this game (thats how famous it is!). Maybe its nostalgia, but its incredible how much fun I still have playing this game - especially as I got it for free by downloading it off the internet.
Shock! Did I say download for free? Have I turned into a pirate (avast ye!)?
Well - not quite. You see, as part of the birthday celebrations for C&C, EA (who now own the franchise) released the game for free on their website. In fact, you can download it here. So go on - download this classic of RTS gaming and relive your youth!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Gears of War redux
Halo 3 comes out on 25 September. And I am sooo looking forward to this game.
Or maybe I'm just a victim of the Microsoft marketing machine. As you can imagine, with a game like this, the PR team at Microsoft have gone into overdrive. This marketing blitz has placed Master Chief on every conceivable and in some cases inconceivable locations!
Anyway, while I'm waiting for Halo 3, I've been replaying GoW on Xbox Live. After several months not playing this game, I'm very happy to report that statistically, my skills haven't really deteriorated. In the past, out of 8 players, I would regularly challenge for 7th place. I am still challenging for 7th place now - so now change!
What can I say - them damn 13 year old kids are good at this game.
I need to find a group of old guys who have shitty reflexes like me!
:)
Or maybe I'm just a victim of the Microsoft marketing machine. As you can imagine, with a game like this, the PR team at Microsoft have gone into overdrive. This marketing blitz has placed Master Chief on every conceivable and in some cases inconceivable locations!
Anyway, while I'm waiting for Halo 3, I've been replaying GoW on Xbox Live. After several months not playing this game, I'm very happy to report that statistically, my skills haven't really deteriorated. In the past, out of 8 players, I would regularly challenge for 7th place. I am still challenging for 7th place now - so now change!
What can I say - them damn 13 year old kids are good at this game.
I need to find a group of old guys who have shitty reflexes like me!
:)
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Adios Bioshock
Last week, I posted about some of my dislike for DRM. Just when I think things can't get any worse, this happens.
So what happened? Basically, one of the buyers of Bioshock installed it on his PC. This guy has several users on the same PC and so, in accordance with PC best practice, he installed it as an admin. The problem arose when another user on the same PC tried to run the game. At this point, the game asked for the serial number again. Before proceeding, the guy went back to the forums and asked if this would count as 2 of his 5 activations.
Just in case that last statement wasn't clear, 2K games has put an install limit of 5 on this game (actually, it was 2 but the outcry on the forums was so bad that they upped it to 5). What this means is that you can install the game 5 times - if you want to install more, you have to properly uninstall once and get a reinstallation key.
So in summary, the question was whether 2 guys using the same PC, but under a different profile, would count as having installed the game twice. Reasonable question.
This was the answer from 2K Tech JT:
The other way to view this, is one USER has purchased the game. Not the whole family. So why should your brother play for free?
So in other words, if you want your entire family of say 5 people to play the game, you should buy 5 copies. Even if they are all using the same PC. This is so fucked up it defies belief (and if you can't understand why, please jump in front of a bus so that we can remove you from the gene pool).
2K have since said that he wasn't actually an employee of 2K - he was just a tech guy they outsourced technical support to. Furthermore, the guy has been suspended pending the results of an investigation (I have no idea what they are investigating - this is just what they said).
First off, if 2K Tech JT honestly believes in his above statement, then he fully deserves to be fired and publicly pilloried.
However, another point to consider is whether 2K Tech JT was simply toeing the company line. Although his comment was indelicate (and stupid), it seems to be a fair summary of the way that 2K are implementing DRM for Bioshock. Importantly, I note that although 2K are distancing themselves from 2K Tech JT, no one has actually said that the above situation does not count as 2 installs (although admittedly, the thread is soooo long that I might just have missed it).
Indelicate as his statements may have been, has 2K Tech JT nailed down in a nutshell the view taken by 2K based on how they are actually implementing DRM? Is 2K Tech JT being made a scapegoat?
Possibly. Either way, unless 2K do something drastic and soon, they are going to be joining Starforce on my boycott list.
So what happened? Basically, one of the buyers of Bioshock installed it on his PC. This guy has several users on the same PC and so, in accordance with PC best practice, he installed it as an admin. The problem arose when another user on the same PC tried to run the game. At this point, the game asked for the serial number again. Before proceeding, the guy went back to the forums and asked if this would count as 2 of his 5 activations.
Just in case that last statement wasn't clear, 2K games has put an install limit of 5 on this game (actually, it was 2 but the outcry on the forums was so bad that they upped it to 5). What this means is that you can install the game 5 times - if you want to install more, you have to properly uninstall once and get a reinstallation key.
So in summary, the question was whether 2 guys using the same PC, but under a different profile, would count as having installed the game twice. Reasonable question.
This was the answer from 2K Tech JT:
The other way to view this, is one USER has purchased the game. Not the whole family. So why should your brother play for free?
So in other words, if you want your entire family of say 5 people to play the game, you should buy 5 copies. Even if they are all using the same PC. This is so fucked up it defies belief (and if you can't understand why, please jump in front of a bus so that we can remove you from the gene pool).
2K have since said that he wasn't actually an employee of 2K - he was just a tech guy they outsourced technical support to. Furthermore, the guy has been suspended pending the results of an investigation (I have no idea what they are investigating - this is just what they said).
First off, if 2K Tech JT honestly believes in his above statement, then he fully deserves to be fired and publicly pilloried.
However, another point to consider is whether 2K Tech JT was simply toeing the company line. Although his comment was indelicate (and stupid), it seems to be a fair summary of the way that 2K are implementing DRM for Bioshock. Importantly, I note that although 2K are distancing themselves from 2K Tech JT, no one has actually said that the above situation does not count as 2 installs (although admittedly, the thread is soooo long that I might just have missed it).
Indelicate as his statements may have been, has 2K Tech JT nailed down in a nutshell the view taken by 2K based on how they are actually implementing DRM? Is 2K Tech JT being made a scapegoat?
Possibly. Either way, unless 2K do something drastic and soon, they are going to be joining Starforce on my boycott list.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
DRM is BAD
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is bad. Very bad.
For those of you who don't know, DRM is basically copy protection. DRM is used in a lot of applications, but as this is a gaming blog, I'm only going to talk about DRM in a game context. More specifically, in the context of Bioshock.
Bioshock came out for the PC and X360 recently. Based on the reviews, this is one hell of a kickass game! And I feel very comfortable saying that as I have also played the demo on the X360. In fact, after playing the demo, I had resolved to buy the game!
And then this happened. It turns out that Bioshock uses SecuRom copy protection which means that you only get to install the game twice (you can install more if you uninstall properly thereby getting an installation key - however, lots of users reported problems uninstalling the game properly). SecuRom also has other problems (eg other users have reported that they had to remove all virtual drives on their machine before allowing them to install the game). And this really really annoys me.
You see, I am hugely against DRM in games. In my opinion, having DRM in games is worthless. No matter how good your DRM is, within a couple of weeks, a pirated version of the game usually becomes available. In other words, people who don't intend to buy the original can very easily get a pirate copy.
It seems that the biggest argument in favour of DRM is piracy and the resulting lost sales revenue. However, in my opinion, this is a hugely overstated loss. In most cases, people who download pirate copies of the game probably would never have bought your game in the first place. In other words, you really aren't losing out that much. Having said that, I am also a realist and I know that most games will have some form of copy protection. So in most cases, I ignore the copy protection and get on with life.
However, I draw the line when people who do buy the original get screwed up the ass (as beautifully illustrated in the link above). If you are going to implement copy protection in your game, at least make it unobtrusive and ensure it doesn't contain any malware. Bioshock was unable to do this.
I doubt any of the developers of Bioshock or anyone at 2K Games is reading this. However, if there are, I just want you to know that I will not be buying Bioshock even though it wouldn't have effected me on the X360.
It is your prerogative to screw your customers. It is my prerogative to not become your customer.
For those of you who don't know, DRM is basically copy protection. DRM is used in a lot of applications, but as this is a gaming blog, I'm only going to talk about DRM in a game context. More specifically, in the context of Bioshock.
Bioshock came out for the PC and X360 recently. Based on the reviews, this is one hell of a kickass game! And I feel very comfortable saying that as I have also played the demo on the X360. In fact, after playing the demo, I had resolved to buy the game!
And then this happened. It turns out that Bioshock uses SecuRom copy protection which means that you only get to install the game twice (you can install more if you uninstall properly thereby getting an installation key - however, lots of users reported problems uninstalling the game properly). SecuRom also has other problems (eg other users have reported that they had to remove all virtual drives on their machine before allowing them to install the game). And this really really annoys me.
You see, I am hugely against DRM in games. In my opinion, having DRM in games is worthless. No matter how good your DRM is, within a couple of weeks, a pirated version of the game usually becomes available. In other words, people who don't intend to buy the original can very easily get a pirate copy.
It seems that the biggest argument in favour of DRM is piracy and the resulting lost sales revenue. However, in my opinion, this is a hugely overstated loss. In most cases, people who download pirate copies of the game probably would never have bought your game in the first place. In other words, you really aren't losing out that much. Having said that, I am also a realist and I know that most games will have some form of copy protection. So in most cases, I ignore the copy protection and get on with life.
However, I draw the line when people who do buy the original get screwed up the ass (as beautifully illustrated in the link above). If you are going to implement copy protection in your game, at least make it unobtrusive and ensure it doesn't contain any malware. Bioshock was unable to do this.
I doubt any of the developers of Bioshock or anyone at 2K Games is reading this. However, if there are, I just want you to know that I will not be buying Bioshock even though it wouldn't have effected me on the X360.
It is your prerogative to screw your customers. It is my prerogative to not become your customer.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Mass Effect
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Mass Effect was one of the games that I was looking forward to. Mass Effect is the next RPG from Bioware - one of the premier developers of western style RPGs and my favourite RPG developer by far (I've played all of their RPGs except Neverwinter Nights).
After having played Blue Dragon, which I blogged about last week, I am especially looking forward to Mass Effect. Although Blue Dragon was good, the problem with JRPGs in general is that you don't really feel like you are the protagonist. In JRPGs, the protagonist is always a well developed character (assuming the developers did a good job!) and has his own personality etc. You go through the game and the only thing which you really control is how he levels up.
However, in WRPGs, the character and quests are generally designed to be a bit more open ended. This means that the protagonist in most cases, acts the way that you as the player want him to - you get to decide what you want to do and how you want to repond in different situations. Not only does this give you more replayability, but for me, it also increases the empathy I feel with the main character. Considering how long an RPG can last, this is quite an important "feature".
This is the reason that I tend to prefer WRPGs although I do still enjoy playing JRPGs for the storys which are generally quite good.
Anyway, as I said, Mass Effect is the next RPG from Bioware and I can't wait to get my hands on this. Historically, I have played each of their RPGs at least 2-3 times so I have a lot of expectations for this one. Just to share my enthusiasm, I have provided below some recent trailers and clips from the game. If you are interested, check out the games website here. I'm also not the only one looking forward to this game as it was recently awarded Best Console Game and Best RPG of E3 2007 by game critics!
The first trailer you see below is an in-game trailer shown at the recent E3. It primarily shows some of the combat mechanics and some of the back story to the game.
The next clip below shows an in-game conversation between Shepard (the protagonist) and Liara, one of his crew. As you can see, it looks like the schmuck is trying to chat up Liara (go Kirk!). The conversation mechanic in this game looks awesome and I really can't wait to check it out when the game comes up.
After having played Blue Dragon, which I blogged about last week, I am especially looking forward to Mass Effect. Although Blue Dragon was good, the problem with JRPGs in general is that you don't really feel like you are the protagonist. In JRPGs, the protagonist is always a well developed character (assuming the developers did a good job!) and has his own personality etc. You go through the game and the only thing which you really control is how he levels up.
However, in WRPGs, the character and quests are generally designed to be a bit more open ended. This means that the protagonist in most cases, acts the way that you as the player want him to - you get to decide what you want to do and how you want to repond in different situations. Not only does this give you more replayability, but for me, it also increases the empathy I feel with the main character. Considering how long an RPG can last, this is quite an important "feature".
This is the reason that I tend to prefer WRPGs although I do still enjoy playing JRPGs for the storys which are generally quite good.
Anyway, as I said, Mass Effect is the next RPG from Bioware and I can't wait to get my hands on this. Historically, I have played each of their RPGs at least 2-3 times so I have a lot of expectations for this one. Just to share my enthusiasm, I have provided below some recent trailers and clips from the game. If you are interested, check out the games website here. I'm also not the only one looking forward to this game as it was recently awarded Best Console Game and Best RPG of E3 2007 by game critics!
The first trailer you see below is an in-game trailer shown at the recent E3. It primarily shows some of the combat mechanics and some of the back story to the game.
The next clip below shows an in-game conversation between Shepard (the protagonist) and Liara, one of his crew. As you can see, it looks like the schmuck is trying to chat up Liara (go Kirk!). The conversation mechanic in this game looks awesome and I really can't wait to check it out when the game comes up.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Blue Dragon - completed
Well, I finally completed Blue Dragon. After over a month of play, 70+ hours of sitting on my couch, I have finally completed Blue Dragon.
My final impressions of the game are definitely positive. It has a good storyline with an interesting twist at the end which I wasn't really expecting. Having said that, the twist wasn't completely unexpected as it does answer a few questions about one of the characters I had but which I initially dismissed as being bad writing on the programmers. Basically, I had noticed a few "discrepancies" in the story and wrote them off as discrepancies without giving the writers their proper due. Not the first time its happened which I guess is indicative of my opinion of writers for games!
The highlights of this game for me were definitely the story (I've always been a sucker for a good story - or even an average one!!) and the combat. More specifically, the fact that the combat doesn't have random battles. I mentioned this in my first post and I can tell you, when you near the end of a 70+ hour game, sometimes you just wanna get through the rest of the story without being distracted by plebby monsters who die with 1 hit!
I haven't got all the achievements for this game yet so I will be continuing to play. However, once I get all the achievements, I can see me putting this game on the shelf. The problem with Japanese style RPGs is that, although you get a good story and some good cinematics, the style of the game doesn't really lend itself to replay. If I play through the game again, I know exactly how the storyline and how the side quests will play out.
Still, it was a good game while it lasted. And considering I've already gotten over 70 hours of gameplay from it (which will rise as I go for the last set of achievements), it was value for money.
My final impressions of the game are definitely positive. It has a good storyline with an interesting twist at the end which I wasn't really expecting. Having said that, the twist wasn't completely unexpected as it does answer a few questions about one of the characters I had but which I initially dismissed as being bad writing on the programmers. Basically, I had noticed a few "discrepancies" in the story and wrote them off as discrepancies without giving the writers their proper due. Not the first time its happened which I guess is indicative of my opinion of writers for games!
The highlights of this game for me were definitely the story (I've always been a sucker for a good story - or even an average one!!) and the combat. More specifically, the fact that the combat doesn't have random battles. I mentioned this in my first post and I can tell you, when you near the end of a 70+ hour game, sometimes you just wanna get through the rest of the story without being distracted by plebby monsters who die with 1 hit!
I haven't got all the achievements for this game yet so I will be continuing to play. However, once I get all the achievements, I can see me putting this game on the shelf. The problem with Japanese style RPGs is that, although you get a good story and some good cinematics, the style of the game doesn't really lend itself to replay. If I play through the game again, I know exactly how the storyline and how the side quests will play out.
Still, it was a good game while it lasted. And considering I've already gotten over 70 hours of gameplay from it (which will rise as I go for the last set of achievements), it was value for money.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Another successful season?
And so another season ends in Football Manager 2006 (the 2014/15 season for those who are keeping track). In some regards, it was a good year as I won another Premier League title and another FA Cup. However, I lost 1-0 in the final of the Champions Cup to Betis and that left a bad taste in my mouth as my team really didn't play well in the final.
This is a real shame as I was really hoping for a consecutive Champions Cup win. Chelsea managed to pull this off a couple of seasons ago and it is one of the few records that I haven't broken in this game. As a result, although I got some silverware, I am hesitant to call it a successful season.
Anyway, the last time I blogged about FM2006, I mentioned that the core of my midfield still comprised of Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko. This remained true for 2014/15 although Gerrard played a lot less games (hey, the guy is now 35 years old!). Alonso is now 33 and Sissoko is 30. Although relatively old, Alonso and Sissoko have been playing really well.
Alonso managed to get an average rating of 7.64, scored 17 goals and got 9 assists. Sissoko also managed to get an average rating of 7.64, scored 10 goals and also got 9 assists. With stats like these, you can understand why they are still playing in my first team!
Anyway, the lows of this season. Anthony Vanden Borre, my key central defender, decided he wanted a new challenge and requested a transfer. This is a real bummer as he was a central lynchpin in my defence and one of the reasons why I had the best defence in the league. I managed to sign a younger player (a regen called Roberto Castillo) to replace him although I have no idea how well he will do.
The second bummer is Fernando Genro. I signed him from Barcelona on a free transfer at the start of the 2013/14 season and he has been doing brilliantly in terms of scoring goals (26 goals in his first season and 23 in this season - could have been more though). The problem is that Genro has always been a bit of a prima donna. In the current season, although he was getting more games than any other striker, he was still unhappy and wanted more first team football.
Initially, I was going to let this slide as he is a really great player (even though the git went to the press). However, he decided not to show up for training one day. I immediately gave him a formal warning for unprofessional behaviour which he felt was unfair. Then, a couple of weeks later, he was absent from training again. Being absent again so quickly was a blatant challenge to my authority and I wasn't having it. I fined him 2 weeks wages (which he accepted as being fair strangely enough).
However, despite what he said, he clearly wasn't happy as his profile said that he wanted me to show him more respect (rich considering this is from a guy who decided not to show up for training). And then, he went public again - saying that I should either play him or lose him.
Adios amigo. No one is bigger than the team. If you can't be part of the team - then so long. I put him on the transfer list (no offers yet though). This is a real shame as he really is a very good player and was on track to be the top scorer this season. Naturally, after I put him on the transfer list, he never got another game for me. I don't need prima donna's in my team.
Still, considering I got him on a free transfer, selling him for any value at all will be a straight gain.
:)
This is a real shame as I was really hoping for a consecutive Champions Cup win. Chelsea managed to pull this off a couple of seasons ago and it is one of the few records that I haven't broken in this game. As a result, although I got some silverware, I am hesitant to call it a successful season.
Anyway, the last time I blogged about FM2006, I mentioned that the core of my midfield still comprised of Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko. This remained true for 2014/15 although Gerrard played a lot less games (hey, the guy is now 35 years old!). Alonso is now 33 and Sissoko is 30. Although relatively old, Alonso and Sissoko have been playing really well.
Alonso managed to get an average rating of 7.64, scored 17 goals and got 9 assists. Sissoko also managed to get an average rating of 7.64, scored 10 goals and also got 9 assists. With stats like these, you can understand why they are still playing in my first team!
Anyway, the lows of this season. Anthony Vanden Borre, my key central defender, decided he wanted a new challenge and requested a transfer. This is a real bummer as he was a central lynchpin in my defence and one of the reasons why I had the best defence in the league. I managed to sign a younger player (a regen called Roberto Castillo) to replace him although I have no idea how well he will do.
The second bummer is Fernando Genro. I signed him from Barcelona on a free transfer at the start of the 2013/14 season and he has been doing brilliantly in terms of scoring goals (26 goals in his first season and 23 in this season - could have been more though). The problem is that Genro has always been a bit of a prima donna. In the current season, although he was getting more games than any other striker, he was still unhappy and wanted more first team football.
Initially, I was going to let this slide as he is a really great player (even though the git went to the press). However, he decided not to show up for training one day. I immediately gave him a formal warning for unprofessional behaviour which he felt was unfair. Then, a couple of weeks later, he was absent from training again. Being absent again so quickly was a blatant challenge to my authority and I wasn't having it. I fined him 2 weeks wages (which he accepted as being fair strangely enough).
However, despite what he said, he clearly wasn't happy as his profile said that he wanted me to show him more respect (rich considering this is from a guy who decided not to show up for training). And then, he went public again - saying that I should either play him or lose him.
Adios amigo. No one is bigger than the team. If you can't be part of the team - then so long. I put him on the transfer list (no offers yet though). This is a real shame as he really is a very good player and was on track to be the top scorer this season. Naturally, after I put him on the transfer list, he never got another game for me. I don't need prima donna's in my team.
Still, considering I got him on a free transfer, selling him for any value at all will be a straight gain.
:)
Sunday, July 15, 2007
E3 2007
As you know, the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2007 just wrapped up in the US. This was the first year in the new E3 format and, as far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been much difference. Anyway, the point of this post is to blog some random thoughts about some of the demos and trailers which were released over Xbox live during E3.
Warning - these will mainly be my random thoughts and I am assuming you are familiar with th games mentioned within. If you aren't, you might want to pop over to a game review site to get some basic info first.
Ace Combat 6 demo
AC6, as the name suggests, is an arcade style flight simulator. Having recently mucked about with the Project Sylpheed demo, I was kinda looking forward to trying this one out. In a sense, the 2 games are very similar. However, where Project Sylpheed is a space opera, AC6 uses real planes in a realistic environ.
And boy is it realistic! The graphics in this game are mindblowingly photorealistic. They really have to be seen to be believed. If I was to nitpick, I could say that the buildings don't look that good close up (the fact that I saw a building up close tells you how well I was doing).
The only downside is that, with me being a sci-fi fan, the setting of Project Sylpheed is more interesting.
Assassins Creed trailer
Another game which looks to be more awesome than it has any right to be. In this game, you play the role of an assassin in the middle ages.
Based on the trailer, one of the big draws of this game seems to be the open environment that you will be able to explore. It very much looks like you will be able to eliminate your target using any means that you can creatively come up with. What is especially interesting is the free running aspect of the game where you can see Altair (the protagonist) running and jumping around the rooftops. Again, the movements are so smooth that it has to be seen to be believed.
Mass Effect trailer
The next RPG from Bioware, who are far and away my favourite RPG developer. With this game, Bioware continue on their recent trend of developing their own IPs but go back into Space (the theme of one of their most popular RPGs - KOTOR).
Considering Biowares history, I have no doubt that the storyline in Mass Effect will be awesome. However, what really makes this game stand out (potentially anyway) is the conversation system.
The conversation system in this game is meant to be real time. Basically, while people are speaking, you will have the option to choose a response even before they finish speaking. This basically allows you to interrupt their speech midway through especially if you don't like what they are saying. This opens up whole new avenues of roleplaying as well as looking bloody cool when you see it in action!
Can't wait to get my hands on this and start trashtalking my way across the galaxy!
Warning - these will mainly be my random thoughts and I am assuming you are familiar with th games mentioned within. If you aren't, you might want to pop over to a game review site to get some basic info first.
Ace Combat 6 demo
AC6, as the name suggests, is an arcade style flight simulator. Having recently mucked about with the Project Sylpheed demo, I was kinda looking forward to trying this one out. In a sense, the 2 games are very similar. However, where Project Sylpheed is a space opera, AC6 uses real planes in a realistic environ.
And boy is it realistic! The graphics in this game are mindblowingly photorealistic. They really have to be seen to be believed. If I was to nitpick, I could say that the buildings don't look that good close up (the fact that I saw a building up close tells you how well I was doing).
The only downside is that, with me being a sci-fi fan, the setting of Project Sylpheed is more interesting.
Assassins Creed trailer
Another game which looks to be more awesome than it has any right to be. In this game, you play the role of an assassin in the middle ages.
Based on the trailer, one of the big draws of this game seems to be the open environment that you will be able to explore. It very much looks like you will be able to eliminate your target using any means that you can creatively come up with. What is especially interesting is the free running aspect of the game where you can see Altair (the protagonist) running and jumping around the rooftops. Again, the movements are so smooth that it has to be seen to be believed.
Mass Effect trailer
The next RPG from Bioware, who are far and away my favourite RPG developer. With this game, Bioware continue on their recent trend of developing their own IPs but go back into Space (the theme of one of their most popular RPGs - KOTOR).
Considering Biowares history, I have no doubt that the storyline in Mass Effect will be awesome. However, what really makes this game stand out (potentially anyway) is the conversation system.
The conversation system in this game is meant to be real time. Basically, while people are speaking, you will have the option to choose a response even before they finish speaking. This basically allows you to interrupt their speech midway through especially if you don't like what they are saying. This opens up whole new avenues of roleplaying as well as looking bloody cool when you see it in action!
Can't wait to get my hands on this and start trashtalking my way across the galaxy!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Manhunt 2
For those who keep abreast of gaming news, you will be aware that Manhunt 2 has been banned in the UK by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) - which gives me some very mixed feelings.
Bear in mind that I never played the original Manhunt nor have I ever played any part of Manhunt 2 (and probably never will now). However, considering the brutality of films like Hostel (both 1 and 2) and Saw, it makes me wonder what kind of content Manhunt 2 could have for the BBFC to ban it. Is the content really that much worse than Hostel? Or is the interactive nature of games the reason that Manhunt 2 got banned?
I've been thinking about this for a while now and although I probably don't know enough about the Manhunt games to give a definitive comment, it seems to me that Manhunt 2 is just being made a scapegoat. Although the BBFC has a history of "supporting" games in the face of criticism, it seems that there is more political pressure on games now more than ever (especially since the "Hot Coffee" incident). And I believe that the BBFC caved into that pressure (and I say this knowing full well the history of the BBFC in terms of how it has "stood up" for the industry in the past by rating games which were highly controversial - this being another reason why I took so long to think about this).
Having said this, were they right to ban the game? In my opinion - they were absolutely wrong to ban it (and I say this knowing full well that I have never seen or played the game).
The game is designed for the same kind of audience as those who enjoy films like Hostel and Saw. By banning this game, instead of just giving it an 18+ rating (or whatever they call it), the BBFC are effectively controlling what kind of entertainment adults are allowed. Even though I have no interest in the Manhunt games, I cannot accept the consequences of such a ruling. In the final analysis, it doesn't matter what kind of game Manhunt is - the fact is that the BBFC are curtailing my freedom of choice as an adult by way of their ruling.
And this is just plain wrong.
Bear in mind that I never played the original Manhunt nor have I ever played any part of Manhunt 2 (and probably never will now). However, considering the brutality of films like Hostel (both 1 and 2) and Saw, it makes me wonder what kind of content Manhunt 2 could have for the BBFC to ban it. Is the content really that much worse than Hostel? Or is the interactive nature of games the reason that Manhunt 2 got banned?
I've been thinking about this for a while now and although I probably don't know enough about the Manhunt games to give a definitive comment, it seems to me that Manhunt 2 is just being made a scapegoat. Although the BBFC has a history of "supporting" games in the face of criticism, it seems that there is more political pressure on games now more than ever (especially since the "Hot Coffee" incident). And I believe that the BBFC caved into that pressure (and I say this knowing full well the history of the BBFC in terms of how it has "stood up" for the industry in the past by rating games which were highly controversial - this being another reason why I took so long to think about this).
Having said this, were they right to ban the game? In my opinion - they were absolutely wrong to ban it (and I say this knowing full well that I have never seen or played the game).
The game is designed for the same kind of audience as those who enjoy films like Hostel and Saw. By banning this game, instead of just giving it an 18+ rating (or whatever they call it), the BBFC are effectively controlling what kind of entertainment adults are allowed. Even though I have no interest in the Manhunt games, I cannot accept the consequences of such a ruling. In the final analysis, it doesn't matter what kind of game Manhunt is - the fact is that the BBFC are curtailing my freedom of choice as an adult by way of their ruling.
And this is just plain wrong.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Blue Dragon
The other game I've been playing recently is Blue Dragon. Blue Dragon is a JRPG and in some ways, it is very similar to Final Fantasy (For example, the main character is another spikey haired teenager who has more guts than sense :p ). I guess this shouldn't be surprising as the creator was the guy who also originally created FF.
The art style is also very good. The game uses lots of bright colors and almost looks like an animated feature. In fact, its almost like watching a cartoon at times especially when you watch a cutscene. Again, this isn't be too surprising when you consider that the lead artist was Toriyama (the guy who did the Dragonball series).
The gameplay is, for lack of a better description, almost copied from FF. Your characters have jobs (Black magic, white magic etc) and skills and you can level them up however you like. However, one area that Blue Dragon is very good at (and bear in mind that the last FF game I played was FFX) is that there are no random battles.
One of the most annoying features of FF is the random battles. Sometimes, you just wanna get somewhere quickly (for example to progress the story or to save the game) and you keep getting interrupted by random battles. Fricking annoying and one of the main reasons why I don't whole heartedly endorse the FF games. However, in Blue Dragon, you get random monsters - but they show up on the map and if you don't want to, you can just run past them without engaging them.
Anyway, I've only played around 15 hours so far (which isn't much considering the game comes on 3 DVDs!) so I can't give a definitive impression yet. For example, my party isn't even complete yet (I know there is another girl still to join the party). Having said that, my initial impressions are very positive.
The game looks good. The story seems quite interesting so far (I'll elaborate more on this in a later post) and the gameplay is quite fun. So far - thumbs up!
The art style is also very good. The game uses lots of bright colors and almost looks like an animated feature. In fact, its almost like watching a cartoon at times especially when you watch a cutscene. Again, this isn't be too surprising when you consider that the lead artist was Toriyama (the guy who did the Dragonball series).
The gameplay is, for lack of a better description, almost copied from FF. Your characters have jobs (Black magic, white magic etc) and skills and you can level them up however you like. However, one area that Blue Dragon is very good at (and bear in mind that the last FF game I played was FFX) is that there are no random battles.
One of the most annoying features of FF is the random battles. Sometimes, you just wanna get somewhere quickly (for example to progress the story or to save the game) and you keep getting interrupted by random battles. Fricking annoying and one of the main reasons why I don't whole heartedly endorse the FF games. However, in Blue Dragon, you get random monsters - but they show up on the map and if you don't want to, you can just run past them without engaging them.
Anyway, I've only played around 15 hours so far (which isn't much considering the game comes on 3 DVDs!) so I can't give a definitive impression yet. For example, my party isn't even complete yet (I know there is another girl still to join the party). Having said that, my initial impressions are very positive.
The game looks good. The story seems quite interesting so far (I'll elaborate more on this in a later post) and the gameplay is quite fun. So far - thumbs up!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Dead or Alive 4
I've always had a soft spot for beat-em-ups ever since my introduction to Street Fighter II. I also played, and enjoyed, Dead or Alive 3 for the original xbox. So it was with a certain level of excitement that I put the Dead or Alive 4 disc into my xbox 360 (you may recall, this was borrowed from my sister in law).
Graphics wise, the game is excellent. Admittedly, at first glance, it doesn't look significantly better than DoA3 (which is an indication of how good the graphics on the original DoA3 are). The fighters are instantly recognisable and in fact seem to look the same. However, after playing for a bit longer, you start to realise where the developers put the extra muscle of the xbox 360 to good use.
The main difference in the graphics is that the clothes and backgrounds are more detailed now. There just seems to be more stuff swaying, bobbing etc on the clothes. The backgrounds also have more stuff happening - with cars and dinosaurs wandering around in different stages.
However, graphics do not a good game make. And in particular, for a fighter, the gameplay is crucial. Unfortunately, this is also where DoA4 falls short imo.
DoA3 was already quite a fast paced game. However, for DoA4, the developers seem to have speeded up the game even more. So much so that the game feels like one huge button mash - which seriously detracts from the fun. Basically, when I fight in DoA4, I just don't feel like I'm having any fun as all I do is button mash on different combinations. I tried slowing things down and playing more tactically, but this just resulted in me getting whipped (admittedly, this could just be cos I suck).
And then there is Alpha 152 - the final boss fight in the game. I have been gaming for decades - and I have to say that Alpha 152 is easily one of the cheapest boss fights I have come across. She is super fast, teleports around the place and can hit you for a third of your total health bar in one go (her attacks result in loooong combos). Although I have been able to beat her - I just didn't have any fun in the process (which then begs the question - why am I playing this in the first place?).
I enjoyed DoA3 and I really wanted to enjoy DoA4. Although the graphics are great (and you get a great first impression of the game), the seemingly button mash nature of the gameplay coupled with the cheap final boss is highly frustrating. Granted, the strength of any fighter will be in its player vs player component. However, after having played the single player for a bit, the frustration was enough for me to lose interest. Right now, I just can't be bothered taking this game online.
I hate to do this - but I have no choice. DoA4 gets the singular distinction of being the first game on my blog to get a thumbs down.
Graphics wise, the game is excellent. Admittedly, at first glance, it doesn't look significantly better than DoA3 (which is an indication of how good the graphics on the original DoA3 are). The fighters are instantly recognisable and in fact seem to look the same. However, after playing for a bit longer, you start to realise where the developers put the extra muscle of the xbox 360 to good use.
The main difference in the graphics is that the clothes and backgrounds are more detailed now. There just seems to be more stuff swaying, bobbing etc on the clothes. The backgrounds also have more stuff happening - with cars and dinosaurs wandering around in different stages.
However, graphics do not a good game make. And in particular, for a fighter, the gameplay is crucial. Unfortunately, this is also where DoA4 falls short imo.
DoA3 was already quite a fast paced game. However, for DoA4, the developers seem to have speeded up the game even more. So much so that the game feels like one huge button mash - which seriously detracts from the fun. Basically, when I fight in DoA4, I just don't feel like I'm having any fun as all I do is button mash on different combinations. I tried slowing things down and playing more tactically, but this just resulted in me getting whipped (admittedly, this could just be cos I suck).
And then there is Alpha 152 - the final boss fight in the game. I have been gaming for decades - and I have to say that Alpha 152 is easily one of the cheapest boss fights I have come across. She is super fast, teleports around the place and can hit you for a third of your total health bar in one go (her attacks result in loooong combos). Although I have been able to beat her - I just didn't have any fun in the process (which then begs the question - why am I playing this in the first place?).
I enjoyed DoA3 and I really wanted to enjoy DoA4. Although the graphics are great (and you get a great first impression of the game), the seemingly button mash nature of the gameplay coupled with the cheap final boss is highly frustrating. Granted, the strength of any fighter will be in its player vs player component. However, after having played the single player for a bit, the frustration was enough for me to lose interest. Right now, I just can't be bothered taking this game online.
I hate to do this - but I have no choice. DoA4 gets the singular distinction of being the first game on my blog to get a thumbs down.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Abundance of games
Gaming-wise, I find myself in an odd situation. You see, although I spend a lot of time reading about games, I don't actually spend that much money buying games. The reason is that I tend to only buy a new game after I start to get bored of my existing games. At any one time, you can expect that I will have 2-3 active games. Once I start getting bored of one, I will then go out and buy another.
Which means its very rare for me to have an abundance of games. But that is exactly the situation I find myself in now. How?
My wifes sister has a kid - just a couple of years old. She recently decided to buy him an Xbox 360 (I'm guessing because I had one - if she had asked my opinion, I would have told her to get the Wii - more suitable for a kid in my opinion due to the control scheme). Anyway, she recently passed me 2 games that he had stopped playing. One of these was Crackdown; the other was Dead or Alive 4.
In itself, this wouldn't have given me the abundance of games. However, the problem is that I had just bought Blue Dragon - 3 games over the space of 1 weekend. Wow.
Anyway, I haven't tried Crackdown yet. I did pop DOA4 in for a quick spin though. Naturally, I have also been playing Blue Dragon. Anyway, over the next couple of weeks, I'll post my impressions of these games.
Which means its very rare for me to have an abundance of games. But that is exactly the situation I find myself in now. How?
My wifes sister has a kid - just a couple of years old. She recently decided to buy him an Xbox 360 (I'm guessing because I had one - if she had asked my opinion, I would have told her to get the Wii - more suitable for a kid in my opinion due to the control scheme). Anyway, she recently passed me 2 games that he had stopped playing. One of these was Crackdown; the other was Dead or Alive 4.
In itself, this wouldn't have given me the abundance of games. However, the problem is that I had just bought Blue Dragon - 3 games over the space of 1 weekend. Wow.
Anyway, I haven't tried Crackdown yet. I did pop DOA4 in for a quick spin though. Naturally, I have also been playing Blue Dragon. Anyway, over the next couple of weeks, I'll post my impressions of these games.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Trash talking Van Gaal
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Football Manager 2006.
Since then, I've started the new season. Although I'm top of the Premiership, my Liverpool side haven't been doing as well as last year (when we absolutely dominated). Although I have been winning most games, the margin of victory is smaller compared to last year. Also, a couple of draws and the odd defeat mean that I'm not running away with the Premiership. In fact, I even got knocked out of the League Cup by Arsenal in the 3rd round!
Which is probably why Louis Van Gaal thinks he can trash talk me. Van Gaal was made the manager of Manchester United midway through last season. Ever since Fergie retired, Man Utd haven't been the same team. Although they still have some quality players, they haven't been doing well and have gone through several managers (In fact, after almost a decade, Mourinho is the only manager who has kept his job at Chelsea, probably due to Chelsea having won the European Champions League 3 times during that period - ironic given the speculation about his job in real life).
Anyway, Van Gaal was appointed manager of Man Utd midway through last season. Didn't really see an improvement in their results though. And as the new season started, he must have been under a lot of pressure from the board to perform. He spectacularly failed to do so - Man Utd were 16th in the league when we met them at Old Trafford.
A week before the game, Van Gaal decides to trash talk my team. He tells the media that Liverpool aren't good enough to be title contenders. I didn't want to get into a media war with him just in case we lost so there was only one thing I could do. I ignored him and prepared my squad. In footballing terms, I wanted to do my talking on the pitch. Which meant I had to suck up the trash talk without reply.
Saturday rolls round and I pick my best team. We absolutely demolish Man Utd at Old Trafford (we put 4 goals past them) - arf arf. The after match press conference arrives and I have a decision to make. Do I now get my revenge on Van Gaal (safe in the knowledge that I already beat him) or can I be the bigger man and stay professional?
Can I bugger! I immediately lay into Van Gaal -saying that the guy is an overrated twit and still needs to learn a lot about football management. Some of my players don't like my "unprofessional" comments but I don't care - it was worth it.
Anyway, it appears that the Man Utd board agreed with me - one week later, Van Gaal was sacked.
>:)
Let that be a lesson to anyone else who want to trash talk the mighty Liverpool!
Since then, I've started the new season. Although I'm top of the Premiership, my Liverpool side haven't been doing as well as last year (when we absolutely dominated). Although I have been winning most games, the margin of victory is smaller compared to last year. Also, a couple of draws and the odd defeat mean that I'm not running away with the Premiership. In fact, I even got knocked out of the League Cup by Arsenal in the 3rd round!
Which is probably why Louis Van Gaal thinks he can trash talk me. Van Gaal was made the manager of Manchester United midway through last season. Ever since Fergie retired, Man Utd haven't been the same team. Although they still have some quality players, they haven't been doing well and have gone through several managers (In fact, after almost a decade, Mourinho is the only manager who has kept his job at Chelsea, probably due to Chelsea having won the European Champions League 3 times during that period - ironic given the speculation about his job in real life).
Anyway, Van Gaal was appointed manager of Man Utd midway through last season. Didn't really see an improvement in their results though. And as the new season started, he must have been under a lot of pressure from the board to perform. He spectacularly failed to do so - Man Utd were 16th in the league when we met them at Old Trafford.
A week before the game, Van Gaal decides to trash talk my team. He tells the media that Liverpool aren't good enough to be title contenders. I didn't want to get into a media war with him just in case we lost so there was only one thing I could do. I ignored him and prepared my squad. In footballing terms, I wanted to do my talking on the pitch. Which meant I had to suck up the trash talk without reply.
Saturday rolls round and I pick my best team. We absolutely demolish Man Utd at Old Trafford (we put 4 goals past them) - arf arf. The after match press conference arrives and I have a decision to make. Do I now get my revenge on Van Gaal (safe in the knowledge that I already beat him) or can I be the bigger man and stay professional?
Can I bugger! I immediately lay into Van Gaal -saying that the guy is an overrated twit and still needs to learn a lot about football management. Some of my players don't like my "unprofessional" comments but I don't care - it was worth it.
Anyway, it appears that the Man Utd board agreed with me - one week later, Van Gaal was sacked.
>:)
Let that be a lesson to anyone else who want to trash talk the mighty Liverpool!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
GalCiv 2 - gameplay example
As some of you know, I like playing Galactic Civilizations 2. It also helps that Stardock, the developer, is such a great company (no DRM - how cool is that!).
GalCiv 2 is a fantastic turn based strategy game. The best description is that it is Civilizations but in space. Alternatively, you could call it the spiritual successor to MOO. No matter what you call it, its a really fun and deep strategy game.
Anyway, rather than me harping on about it (I'll save that for another post) - I'll let someone else do the work. This is a link to a gameplay example on PC Gamer - its long, but well worth a read.
Thats all for this week - just a quick post. I figure the above link will give you plenty of reading anyway!
GalCiv 2 is a fantastic turn based strategy game. The best description is that it is Civilizations but in space. Alternatively, you could call it the spiritual successor to MOO. No matter what you call it, its a really fun and deep strategy game.
Anyway, rather than me harping on about it (I'll save that for another post) - I'll let someone else do the work. This is a link to a gameplay example on PC Gamer - its long, but well worth a read.
Thats all for this week - just a quick post. I figure the above link will give you plenty of reading anyway!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Catan
Recently, I've been playing Catan on Xbox Live Arcade. The game is the electronic version of the board game "Settlers of Catan".
For those who have never heard of it (and I was one of these unfortunate souls), you can get more info on it here. Basically, its a highly successful board game which according to wikipedia, has now sold over 11 million copies worldwide. Not bad for a board game!
Anyway, the game got translated into an electronic version for XBLA. I downloaded the trial version and had a lot of fun with it (I've always been a fan of board games) so I decided to buy the full version. After all, it is relatively cheap at only approx HK$80.
The game itself is based on a group of people finding a new island with plentiful resources. Naturally, these people immediately settle the island and the game then becomes an interesting mix of luck and skill. As with all good board games, dice rolling is involved hence the element of luck.
However, unlike other board games (such as Talisman), there is a huge element of skill involved in Catan. The reason is that very often, you don't have the resources you need to build stuff. And the only way to get those resources is to trade with the other players (or with the bank if no-one will trade with you - at a much higher rate though of course!).
Unlike other board games, there are limited opportunities to "attack" other players. Most often, damage is done simply by not trading with them thus it becomes hard for that player to get the resources he needs.
Rereading what I wrote above, I just realised that I'm not doing a very good job of describing this game. I would suggest you read the wikipedia article I linked to above - it does a much better job than me.
Anyway, to put this into perspective - this is only the second game on XBLA that I have purchased (the first game is Doom - a bona-fide classic from id Software which I still enjoyed playing even after all this time). Two games purchased - might not sound like much - but bear in mind that 1-2 XBLA games get released each week.
Having played Catan - I am now even more eager for Talisman!
For those who have never heard of it (and I was one of these unfortunate souls), you can get more info on it here. Basically, its a highly successful board game which according to wikipedia, has now sold over 11 million copies worldwide. Not bad for a board game!
Anyway, the game got translated into an electronic version for XBLA. I downloaded the trial version and had a lot of fun with it (I've always been a fan of board games) so I decided to buy the full version. After all, it is relatively cheap at only approx HK$80.
The game itself is based on a group of people finding a new island with plentiful resources. Naturally, these people immediately settle the island and the game then becomes an interesting mix of luck and skill. As with all good board games, dice rolling is involved hence the element of luck.
However, unlike other board games (such as Talisman), there is a huge element of skill involved in Catan. The reason is that very often, you don't have the resources you need to build stuff. And the only way to get those resources is to trade with the other players (or with the bank if no-one will trade with you - at a much higher rate though of course!).
Unlike other board games, there are limited opportunities to "attack" other players. Most often, damage is done simply by not trading with them thus it becomes hard for that player to get the resources he needs.
Rereading what I wrote above, I just realised that I'm not doing a very good job of describing this game. I would suggest you read the wikipedia article I linked to above - it does a much better job than me.
Anyway, to put this into perspective - this is only the second game on XBLA that I have purchased (the first game is Doom - a bona-fide classic from id Software which I still enjoyed playing even after all this time). Two games purchased - might not sound like much - but bear in mind that 1-2 XBLA games get released each week.
Having played Catan - I am now even more eager for Talisman!
Monday, May 7, 2007
The highs and lows of football management
Without a doubt, the best football management game, by far, is the series developed by sigames. The level of detail, complexity and sheer statto-ness of this game defies belief. Of course, this also makes it extremely hard for newbs to get into the game - which is probably the only reason other football management games can survive!
Anyway, I've been playing Football Manager for well over 300 hours now (talk about great value for money!) and I just recently finished my 2013/14 season. After 8 seasons in charge at Liverpool, the biggest surprise is that my central midfield is still comprised of Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko! Other than that, the only players left from the original Liverpool are John Arne Riise (still playing great) and Pepe Reina (plays second fiddle to Casillas).
The highs
Anyway, as I said, I just finished the 2013/14 season and my Liverpool side are really dominating. In fact, we are kicking so much ass that I managed to do something I've never been able to do before - in any of my numerous years playing this game or its predecessors. I managed to win the quadruple!
Thats right. I won the Premiership, the League Cup (beat Chelsea on penalties!), the FA Cup and the Champions League all in the same year. Furthermore, I have been undefeated in approx 50 games! Talk about total domination.
The key for us this year is that my reserves and under 18's have been doing really well when I've played them in the first team. In order to rest my first team, I've been playing the reserves and under 18's in the League Cup and also in the FA Cup where possible. They have managed to step up and deliver some great performances.
In addition, we managed to wrap up the Premiership in mid-March. At this point, I decided to start playing the second string players in the Premiership so that they could get some more experience. I figured I would lose some matches but no big deal as I had already won the Premiership. However, once again, my reserves delivered big time and kept on winning matches. In fact, I ended the Premiership with 107 points!!
The Lows
I was also the manager of Portugal during this period. I say "was" as I got sacked after the World Cup (unfairly in my opinion!).
Basically, Portugal had been doing really badly during the World Cup qualifiers. In fact, they were in real danger of not qualifying for the World Cup. At this point, the Portuguese FA sacked the old manager and asked me to step in.
I agreed and promptly won the next 4 games and finished second in the qualifying group. Luckily, this was still enough to qualify for the World Cup as I was the best second placed team. Huzzah - I'm going to the World Cup.
So the World Cup starts in the summer of 2014 and things start well. I win the first 2 games in the group and qualify for Round 2. This was basically the expectations of the FA in the first place so I figure I'm not doing too badly. Plus, it also set a new record in the game for most number of games won in a row by Portugal! :)
The third game in the group stage was against France. I decided to rest some of my key players and played a second string team. We lost to France 2-1 which wasn't a bad result considering it was my second string team. Anyway, I didn't care as I had already qualified.
Unfortunately, our Round 2 match is against Brazil (the tournament favourites!). :(
I give it my best shot. Playing my best team, we manage to push Brazil all the way to extra time before losing 3-2. I figure this is a pretty good performance. Losing to Brazil by 1 goal isn't bad imo.
Unfortunately, the FA have a different view. They decide to sack me for the teams "awful performance" in the World Cup - despite the fact that I made it to Round 2 and eventually got knocked out by Brazil by 1 goal! :(
Talk about unjust. Maybe I should just stick to club management.
Anyway, I've been playing Football Manager for well over 300 hours now (talk about great value for money!) and I just recently finished my 2013/14 season. After 8 seasons in charge at Liverpool, the biggest surprise is that my central midfield is still comprised of Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko! Other than that, the only players left from the original Liverpool are John Arne Riise (still playing great) and Pepe Reina (plays second fiddle to Casillas).
The highs
Anyway, as I said, I just finished the 2013/14 season and my Liverpool side are really dominating. In fact, we are kicking so much ass that I managed to do something I've never been able to do before - in any of my numerous years playing this game or its predecessors. I managed to win the quadruple!
Thats right. I won the Premiership, the League Cup (beat Chelsea on penalties!), the FA Cup and the Champions League all in the same year. Furthermore, I have been undefeated in approx 50 games! Talk about total domination.
The key for us this year is that my reserves and under 18's have been doing really well when I've played them in the first team. In order to rest my first team, I've been playing the reserves and under 18's in the League Cup and also in the FA Cup where possible. They have managed to step up and deliver some great performances.
In addition, we managed to wrap up the Premiership in mid-March. At this point, I decided to start playing the second string players in the Premiership so that they could get some more experience. I figured I would lose some matches but no big deal as I had already won the Premiership. However, once again, my reserves delivered big time and kept on winning matches. In fact, I ended the Premiership with 107 points!!
The Lows
I was also the manager of Portugal during this period. I say "was" as I got sacked after the World Cup (unfairly in my opinion!).
Basically, Portugal had been doing really badly during the World Cup qualifiers. In fact, they were in real danger of not qualifying for the World Cup. At this point, the Portuguese FA sacked the old manager and asked me to step in.
I agreed and promptly won the next 4 games and finished second in the qualifying group. Luckily, this was still enough to qualify for the World Cup as I was the best second placed team. Huzzah - I'm going to the World Cup.
So the World Cup starts in the summer of 2014 and things start well. I win the first 2 games in the group and qualify for Round 2. This was basically the expectations of the FA in the first place so I figure I'm not doing too badly. Plus, it also set a new record in the game for most number of games won in a row by Portugal! :)
The third game in the group stage was against France. I decided to rest some of my key players and played a second string team. We lost to France 2-1 which wasn't a bad result considering it was my second string team. Anyway, I didn't care as I had already qualified.
Unfortunately, our Round 2 match is against Brazil (the tournament favourites!). :(
I give it my best shot. Playing my best team, we manage to push Brazil all the way to extra time before losing 3-2. I figure this is a pretty good performance. Losing to Brazil by 1 goal isn't bad imo.
Unfortunately, the FA have a different view. They decide to sack me for the teams "awful performance" in the World Cup - despite the fact that I made it to Round 2 and eventually got knocked out by Brazil by 1 goal! :(
Talk about unjust. Maybe I should just stick to club management.
Monday, April 30, 2007
The Last Stand
I don't play flash games that often - too many other games to play!
However, every once in a while, you come across a flash game that is really great fun. The Last Stand is an example of a simple yet fun flash game. Basically, you play the role of a zombie horror fest survivor - ie everyone else is a zombie and you have to kill them! The premise itself is a tried and true example of the zombie horror genre.
Anyway, the point of the game is that you need to survive in your "fortress" for 20 nights until the army can come and rescue you. The downside is that you only have 1 pistol and no help! However, if you survive the first night, you can spend the day repairing your fortress, looking for new weapons or even other survivors.
As I said, the game is very simple. However, it is really fun - definitely recommend you give it a try.
However, every once in a while, you come across a flash game that is really great fun. The Last Stand is an example of a simple yet fun flash game. Basically, you play the role of a zombie horror fest survivor - ie everyone else is a zombie and you have to kill them! The premise itself is a tried and true example of the zombie horror genre.
Anyway, the point of the game is that you need to survive in your "fortress" for 20 nights until the army can come and rescue you. The downside is that you only have 1 pistol and no help! However, if you survive the first night, you can spend the day repairing your fortress, looking for new weapons or even other survivors.
As I said, the game is very simple. However, it is really fun - definitely recommend you give it a try.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Talisman
Another week in BJ so not much gaming done this week. However, a very exciting week for gaming news - for me anyway.
One of my favourite board games when I was a kid was Talisman. I used to love this game - my brother and I even created some of our own content for it! I even bought most of the expansion packs for it and it was one of the rare things that I kept when I moved to HK from the UK many years ago.
Although I don't play the board game anymore (no time and no space - with all those expansion packs, you need a ton of room!) - I have never thrown out the board game. I just couldn't do it. The thing is too much a part of my childhood.
So you can imagine how excited I am to hear that Capcom is bringing Talisman to Xbox Live!
I don't have many games from Xbox Live - however, this could well be the game to make me buy loads of Microsoft points in expectation for the game and its inevitable expansions!
One of my favourite board games when I was a kid was Talisman. I used to love this game - my brother and I even created some of our own content for it! I even bought most of the expansion packs for it and it was one of the rare things that I kept when I moved to HK from the UK many years ago.
Although I don't play the board game anymore (no time and no space - with all those expansion packs, you need a ton of room!) - I have never thrown out the board game. I just couldn't do it. The thing is too much a part of my childhood.
So you can imagine how excited I am to hear that Capcom is bringing Talisman to Xbox Live!
I don't have many games from Xbox Live - however, this could well be the game to make me buy loads of Microsoft points in expectation for the game and its inevitable expansions!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
F.E.A.R.
I finally managed to complete F.E.A.R. It took me longer than I expected. Not because the game is long (most FPS's don't have a long campaign mode) but because of the way I played.
Considering how scary this game is, I deliberately only played at night. When I could turn the lights down low, put on my earphones and get into the game without distraction. Although this meant that I could only play for an hour at most each time, it was worth it. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Monolith have done a fantastic job in creating a really atmospheric FPS.
Although it has its usual Hollywood scare moments (ie something popping up unexpectedly) - there are a couple of occasions where the game really creeps you out.
All in all, well worth the price of entry.
My favourite weapon in the game is the shotgun. This staple of FPS's is done particularly well in this game. If you get up close to someone before unloading a shotgun blast into them, there is a chance that you blow them in half! The first time this happened, I just couldn't help laughing.
I had turned on my bullet-time and managed to watch in slow motion as his body blew apart - his torso flying off to the right while his legs flew to the left.
>:)
Considering how scary this game is, I deliberately only played at night. When I could turn the lights down low, put on my earphones and get into the game without distraction. Although this meant that I could only play for an hour at most each time, it was worth it. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Monolith have done a fantastic job in creating a really atmospheric FPS.
Although it has its usual Hollywood scare moments (ie something popping up unexpectedly) - there are a couple of occasions where the game really creeps you out.
All in all, well worth the price of entry.
My favourite weapon in the game is the shotgun. This staple of FPS's is done particularly well in this game. If you get up close to someone before unloading a shotgun blast into them, there is a chance that you blow them in half! The first time this happened, I just couldn't help laughing.
I had turned on my bullet-time and managed to watch in slow motion as his body blew apart - his torso flying off to the right while his legs flew to the left.
>:)
Monday, April 9, 2007
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
I'm a big Marvel fan (or at least, I used to be. Don't get to read much of their comics anymore). I also really enjoyed Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
So it will come as no shock to you that I am really looking forward to the extra characters which are about to be introduced for Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Several reasons for this.
I've always like Hawkeye. Not the character himself (tbh - I'm not that familiar with the character). What I've always liked is the image of the archer. Robin Hood was another of my boyhood fantasies and in D&D games, I've always been partial to the Ranger character class. Something about the archer stereotype just really clicks with my psyche.
The second reason is Venom. Everybody's favourite anti-hero (provided you are a Spidey fan - and I am a huge Spidey fan) is one of the new playable characters and I can't wait to take him out for a spin. I really enjoyed playing Spider-Man in MUA and it will be interesting to see how Venom differs.
The last reason is achievement based. I have come very close to unlocking all the achievements for this game. However, the introduction of some newer games meant that this game went on the shelf and I never really got round to getting the remaining few achievements. Hopefully, this will be my chance to grab the last couple of achievements.
So it will come as no shock to you that I am really looking forward to the extra characters which are about to be introduced for Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Several reasons for this.
I've always like Hawkeye. Not the character himself (tbh - I'm not that familiar with the character). What I've always liked is the image of the archer. Robin Hood was another of my boyhood fantasies and in D&D games, I've always been partial to the Ranger character class. Something about the archer stereotype just really clicks with my psyche.
The second reason is Venom. Everybody's favourite anti-hero (provided you are a Spidey fan - and I am a huge Spidey fan) is one of the new playable characters and I can't wait to take him out for a spin. I really enjoyed playing Spider-Man in MUA and it will be interesting to see how Venom differs.
The last reason is achievement based. I have come very close to unlocking all the achievements for this game. However, the introduction of some newer games meant that this game went on the shelf and I never really got round to getting the remaining few achievements. Hopefully, this will be my chance to grab the last couple of achievements.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Jetpac Refuelled
Not much to talk about this week as I was in Beijing and didn't get much game time. I guess the biggest gaming news (for me at least) is that Jetpac Refuelled was released on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday.
I remember playing this game when it first came out on the ZX Spectrum (or rather, I remember playing Jetpac). Although the premise of the game is simple, its amazing how much fun this game still is. At times, I wonder how much this is due to the nostalgia factor. However, I never had this much fun replaying some of the other arcade classics (eg pacman).
The games premise is fairly simple. You put together a spaceship and then have to fill it with fuel. Once refuelled, you take off and fly to the next planet. After landing, you once again, have to collect fuel in order to refuel your ship before taking off for the next planet. Repeat ad inifitum.
As I said, the game is fairly simple. Harking back to a time when games were simpler and I was younger. Wow - so much nostalgia in my posts recently. Wonder why?
I remember playing this game when it first came out on the ZX Spectrum (or rather, I remember playing Jetpac). Although the premise of the game is simple, its amazing how much fun this game still is. At times, I wonder how much this is due to the nostalgia factor. However, I never had this much fun replaying some of the other arcade classics (eg pacman).
The games premise is fairly simple. You put together a spaceship and then have to fill it with fuel. Once refuelled, you take off and fly to the next planet. After landing, you once again, have to collect fuel in order to refuel your ship before taking off for the next planet. Repeat ad inifitum.
As I said, the game is fairly simple. Harking back to a time when games were simpler and I was younger. Wow - so much nostalgia in my posts recently. Wonder why?
Monday, March 26, 2007
Gears of War
Developed by Epic Games, Gears of War is a 3rd person tactical shooter and represents a departure from the style of their previous Unreal Tournament games. Unlike the UT series, GoW is very much focused on cover. If you aren't in cover, then you are probably either dead or dying. However, unlike other tactical shooters, the game is very fast paced and plays out like an action movie. This game is easily one of the best action games ever made.
Story
GoW is set in the beautiful world of Sera. Unfortunately, Sera has been at war with the Locust, a race of subterranean creatures intent on the total annihilation of mankind, for the past 14 years. Humanity has not been faring well in this war and post-apocalyptic is probably the best description for what Sera now resembles.
You take on the role of Marcus Fenix - a Gear in the COG military (COG being the Coalition of Ordered Governments). Marcus starts the game in jail, having been court-martialed for deserting his post in a futile attempt to save his father. However, as mentioned above, humanity has really not been faring well and the COG needs all the help it can get - including from traitorous soldiers.
The games campaign starts as you are freed from prison by your old war buddy - Dominic Santiago.
The game itself focuses on the COGs desperate attempt to win the war against the Locust with some funky new missile technology. However, before the missiles can be used, the COG needs targeting data. Which is where you come in. Your job is to basically find and deploy the Resonator, which will map the Locust tunnels. Naturally, things aren't quite that simple.
All told, the storyline is nothing special. Its just serves as a backdrop for all the shooting action to follow. Story has always taken second fiddle in action games so I suppose its no surprise that GoW didn't buck the trend.
Gameplay
Although the storyline isn't much cop, the gameplay is superb. The basic mechanics are very much "stop and pop" and you spend most of your time running from cover to cover, occasionally popping out to shoot at the Locust. Although cover mechanics have been used in various games before, none of them (or at least, none of the ones I have played) have managed to pull it off quite so well.
The games AI is good enough that you really feel that you are taking your life into your own hands when you pop your head out to shoot. As such, you are constantly on edge when you play this game.
Unlike other shooters, GoW also makes the reload into a minigame. Pressing the reload button activates the Active Reload system. Basically, its a timing minigame - if you can stop the moving bar in the Active Reload zone, you end up reloadng faster (and your bullets can also do more damage if you get a perfect Active Reload). However, if you mistime your reload, you end up jamming the gun which means you take even longer to reload.
The Active Reload system is a great idea and adds even more adrenaline when you play. The Active Reload isn't difficult to pull off - however, when you are in the thick of combat, with bullets and explosions going off around you, it becomes very easy to screw up the reload. Which really makes you sweat as you are stuck with an empty gun until you can unjam it!
The game also offers multiplayer co-op. Basically, one of you takes on Marcus Fenix (the protagonist mentioned above) while your friend (either sitting next to you or playing over Xbox Live) takes the role of Santiago (the guy who busts Marcus out of prison). The co-op aspect really adds another dimension to the game where you can setup traps for the Locust - with 1 guy drawing the Locusts attention while the other guy runs and flanks them.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are superb. While I don't have any screenshots to show you, you can easily find lots of them online. Whats amazing is that the game looks even better when you see it in motion. I have no idea how they managed to get such detailed graphics to run in realtime - but it definitely raises the bar for other X360 games.
The graphics themselves are very visceral. One of the main weapons that you use throughout the game is the lancer - which has a chainsaw in place of the bayonet. After any battle involving the chainsaw, you can expect to see body parts lying all over the place (with some of them still pumping out blood!). The graphics showing the chainsaw in action are especially gory. As you cut the locust in half, blood sprays everywhere (including a nice big red splatter on your screen!) - the animation for this is superb and never gets old!
Sound
The sound, as in any shooter, is incredibly important. Luckily, GoW gets this spot on as well. When you fire your gun, or rev up your chainsaw, the accompanying sounds really make you believe that you are holding a lethal piece of weaponry.
In addition, other sounds are also done extremely well. Wander past a dead corpse and you can hear the flies buzzing around. Your teammates are constantly talking and giving feedback on either what they are up to or where the enemy Locust are. Similarly, the Locust are constantly hissing and doing the exact same thing your squad are - ie giving feedback on where we are!
Summary
Released in November 2006, the game has already won numerous awards from the mainstream gaming press - and with good reason. If you like action games and own an Xbox 360, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
Story
GoW is set in the beautiful world of Sera. Unfortunately, Sera has been at war with the Locust, a race of subterranean creatures intent on the total annihilation of mankind, for the past 14 years. Humanity has not been faring well in this war and post-apocalyptic is probably the best description for what Sera now resembles.
You take on the role of Marcus Fenix - a Gear in the COG military (COG being the Coalition of Ordered Governments). Marcus starts the game in jail, having been court-martialed for deserting his post in a futile attempt to save his father. However, as mentioned above, humanity has really not been faring well and the COG needs all the help it can get - including from traitorous soldiers.
The games campaign starts as you are freed from prison by your old war buddy - Dominic Santiago.
The game itself focuses on the COGs desperate attempt to win the war against the Locust with some funky new missile technology. However, before the missiles can be used, the COG needs targeting data. Which is where you come in. Your job is to basically find and deploy the Resonator, which will map the Locust tunnels. Naturally, things aren't quite that simple.
All told, the storyline is nothing special. Its just serves as a backdrop for all the shooting action to follow. Story has always taken second fiddle in action games so I suppose its no surprise that GoW didn't buck the trend.
Gameplay
Although the storyline isn't much cop, the gameplay is superb. The basic mechanics are very much "stop and pop" and you spend most of your time running from cover to cover, occasionally popping out to shoot at the Locust. Although cover mechanics have been used in various games before, none of them (or at least, none of the ones I have played) have managed to pull it off quite so well.
The games AI is good enough that you really feel that you are taking your life into your own hands when you pop your head out to shoot. As such, you are constantly on edge when you play this game.
Unlike other shooters, GoW also makes the reload into a minigame. Pressing the reload button activates the Active Reload system. Basically, its a timing minigame - if you can stop the moving bar in the Active Reload zone, you end up reloadng faster (and your bullets can also do more damage if you get a perfect Active Reload). However, if you mistime your reload, you end up jamming the gun which means you take even longer to reload.
The Active Reload system is a great idea and adds even more adrenaline when you play. The Active Reload isn't difficult to pull off - however, when you are in the thick of combat, with bullets and explosions going off around you, it becomes very easy to screw up the reload. Which really makes you sweat as you are stuck with an empty gun until you can unjam it!
The game also offers multiplayer co-op. Basically, one of you takes on Marcus Fenix (the protagonist mentioned above) while your friend (either sitting next to you or playing over Xbox Live) takes the role of Santiago (the guy who busts Marcus out of prison). The co-op aspect really adds another dimension to the game where you can setup traps for the Locust - with 1 guy drawing the Locusts attention while the other guy runs and flanks them.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are superb. While I don't have any screenshots to show you, you can easily find lots of them online. Whats amazing is that the game looks even better when you see it in motion. I have no idea how they managed to get such detailed graphics to run in realtime - but it definitely raises the bar for other X360 games.
The graphics themselves are very visceral. One of the main weapons that you use throughout the game is the lancer - which has a chainsaw in place of the bayonet. After any battle involving the chainsaw, you can expect to see body parts lying all over the place (with some of them still pumping out blood!). The graphics showing the chainsaw in action are especially gory. As you cut the locust in half, blood sprays everywhere (including a nice big red splatter on your screen!) - the animation for this is superb and never gets old!
Sound
The sound, as in any shooter, is incredibly important. Luckily, GoW gets this spot on as well. When you fire your gun, or rev up your chainsaw, the accompanying sounds really make you believe that you are holding a lethal piece of weaponry.
In addition, other sounds are also done extremely well. Wander past a dead corpse and you can hear the flies buzzing around. Your teammates are constantly talking and giving feedback on either what they are up to or where the enemy Locust are. Similarly, the Locust are constantly hissing and doing the exact same thing your squad are - ie giving feedback on where we are!
Summary
Released in November 2006, the game has already won numerous awards from the mainstream gaming press - and with good reason. If you like action games and own an Xbox 360, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
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