Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Wake The Cat iOS Review
Originally posted on PixelBedlam
Who doesn't love kittens? If you’re saying “I don’t!” right now then I put it to you that, just like a fine wine, you just haven’t found the right one yet (of course, if you’re allergic you get a free pass here). Kittens are adorable little creatures. Well, they are when they're asleep anyway.
Wake The Cat is first project from new indie developer Halfpixel Games (published by Chillingo) and has the greatest element needed in mobile gaming, a simple premise. In this case, it’s chuck a ball of wool at the sleeping cat and wake the little blighter up. The mechanics of the game will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played a mini golf game before, press on the ball, drag your finger to indicate direction and strength then release to action the shot. If you hit the kitty, she wakes up and if you miss she purrs on and you have another go.
Cute is the name of the game here. Right from the off we are presented with a loading screen showing a little cartoon kitty that looks awfully happy to have been disturbed from its slumber. In the game actual, all the objects are designed to appear realistic with a slight over exaggeration in colour to appeal to your senses. Add to this a plucky soundtrack that isn't overly offensive.
What's interesting about this particular game is the range of obstacles and actions you have. In the beginning you have only a few objects in your path that require a few easy bounces to get your goal. After a few levels you are introduced to blue objects, all of which can be altered to some degree with a quick touch (trains can stopped, fans can be turned off, barriers can be lifted and so on) and red items that cannot be affected in anyway. Soon after getting the hang of these, slippers are introduced and act as a portal to a matching slipper. Before you know it, you'll be attempting to navigate each level in flurry of timed touches and well aimed shots.
Each level is scored on both time and shots taken, but you'll get a three star rating on a given level by waking up that lazy mog in one shot (a task not that hard as you can restart the level easily enough once you have the feel for it). So if you want to be in with a chance of being high up on the leaderboard, you not only have to be accurate, you have to be fast. Here's where the games replay factor kicks in, it's incredibly annoying when some chump is 10 points higher than you on GameCentre so you want to go back and attempt a few levels a bit quicker.
At the moment there are only 60 levels on offer and if this writers’ experience was average, most of you will be able to tackle all of them with three star ratings in a few sittings. I'm not saying it's too easy, but it's hardly headache material for the adult mind. Still, at present there is at least one more level set on the way so hopefully more will follow in due course. I for one love it when games are supported months after release with new updates.
It’s fairly difficult to find much fault with Wake The Cat. Saying it’s too short seems somewhat premature when updates will buff out the experience. It is true that none of it feels particularly innovative or original, but it is enjoyable enough for that to be forgotten.
Fury Of The Gods iOS Review
Originally posted on PixelBedlam
I can’t precisely remember which Tower Defense style game I played first but I can remember the one that sapped many hours out of my youth when flash based browser gaming was becoming huge. Bloons is that culprit. A time waster like no other, the possibilities for air filled carnage were endless and it was a constant battle to beat my friends scores. It’s fair to say that I will probably judge any game that classifies itself as tower defense squarely against the joy I once gleamed from the lost time of yester-year.
Enter Fury of the Gods on iOS platforms, from Chillingo and developed by Spectral Games. Billed as ‘tower defense on a godly scale’ I have to admit to being initially skeptical as my brain took me back to the days of paragraph one. But this is not subjectivegaming.com/badreviews, this is PixelBedlam so off comes the Shroud of Nostalgia and on goes the Objective Cowl of Truth +1 lightning damage.
The opening video shows a series of events that lead to the gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades all pissing off their subjects. The humans have had enough of the gods bullshit and decided to do something about it, namely tearing down the temple of their respective deity. Obviously, the all-powerful immortals aren't going sit back and watch this insolence take place, which means its up to you to use a decent array of divine powers to smite any hapless peasants who deem their lives unfair.
The gameplay takes place in level form around the temple of whichever god you are playing. Each level has several paths by which creepers can get to your temple and start the destruction. Whilst the camera angle is isometric, the entire level can be navigated with ease with a standard pinch zoom that almost everyone is familiar with by now.
In traditional TD games, the player would place towers of differing abilities around a set course and either have a wave countdown or a start wave button. Fury takes a more arcade route to gameplay, whereby you don't actually place many units at all. Most of the peasant smiting is done by either your default attack (the Almighty Finger, where you deal damage just by touching enemies) or the several unlockable special attacks (which range from lightning bolts to meteors and even whirlwinds). As you progress through each level, you can spend acquired points to buy some special creatures, like the cyclops, to stand in a particular spot and deal damage to any folk dumb enough to wander into its path. This can be a bit of a pain due to the multiple paths creepers can take, but I guess that’s part of the replay value. When not in play, there are several options to spend your silver on including upgrades to your finger as well as several god-specific powers that require leveling up separately.
Graphically, Fury performs well enough. Everything is in decent 3D and movements are smooth to prevent any issues with gameplay, though it is impossible to say it’s top notch when compared with the graphical prowess of Real Racing 3 for instance. Each god has his own themed stages with the relevant effects you might expect from their mythologies. Sound wise, it’s all what you might expect from a game based around Greek gods with dramatic title music and suitable noises to go with your powers in game.
My only real issue with the game was how you play. The nature of the game requires you have one hand free for tapping at all times. I tried several different ways to interface with the game. The most preferable of which was placing my iPad on a table to free up both hands, but that isn't always possible. Holding the device with one hand and tapping with the other soon game some wrist ache. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but Fury’s constant action in the later stages requires several minutes of concentration at a time. This problem is somewhat alleviated by the iPhone edition, though in that case the smaller screen poses problems of its own.
Score 7/10
Gameplay
+ Fun, fast action
- Uncomfortable after prolonged play
Graphics
+ Smooth 3D effect stages
+ Good element effects
Sound
+ Apt music and sound
Diary Of A Wimpy Vin Pt1
Originally posted on PixelBedlam
Going to the gym has never inspired me. I join up and go solidly for a few weeks then something breaks my routine (be it illness or car troubles) and I remember how easy it was to NOT go. I severely doubt I’m the only one with this lack of commitment to exercise, especially amongst us gamer types. What can be done with us? How about attaching achievements to it?
Enter Nike+ Kinect Training, the latest in a line of kinect based exercise software. Yes, I hear the Internets collective groan of apathy at the slightest mention of motion technology but bare with me as I take you on a journey through my prescribed four week program!
DAY ONE
That’s right kids, day one is so huge it needs its own article! First things first, make sure your KinectID is set up properly as this will aid your experience no end. Once you put the disc in, it will guide you straight to the set up where you can enter critical info like height, weight and age. This, of course, is not compulsory but let face it, now is not the time to be getting all shy about your weight when your standing in your living room in your pants prancing about in front of your TV. After all, the point is to track your progress accurately.
Right, we’re all set up. The next step is brief assessment of your capabilities. In my opinion, this is where the software shines above its direct competitors. Using a few basic movements, the pixelised on-screen trainer will be able to tell if you have balance issues, one stronger leg, problems keeping your back straight and that’s just the problems I had! Think of this as a calibration for your future experience. Straight after this is without a doubt the hardest Nike+ Session you will have.
The fitness test. My god am I unfit. By this time, you will have selected which trainer you prefer (obviously I picked the woman, who wants to stare at a bloke the whole time?!) and your personal aim you desire from the program. ‘Get Strong’ focuses on slow, methodical exercises to build up power, ‘Get Lean’ is mostly cardio and ‘Get Toned’ is a decent mixture of the two. I digress, the fitness test is a series of quick movements designed to test your fitness and athleticism, the result of which gives you your Nike+ ‘Fuel Print’. The main idea behind this is to run the test at the beginning and end of your program (or whenever you want) to gauge any improvement and progress.
After your test, the software will ask you to choose which days of the week you want to commit to (yes, that right. The dreaded word) and will build an exercise regime based around your goals, strengths and weaknesses by selecting relevant moves from a huge matrix. That’s day one over for now. If you’re feeling brave, or not as dead as I felt, you can jump straight into some unprogrammed sessions or challenges. Personally, I went straight to the shower.
I mentioned before about the difficulty of the fitness test. This isn't necessarily about being unfit. I’m not overweight and I have a reasonably active job. The problem is, with life in general, your body is a machine of repetition. Nike+ Kinect will challenge muscles in your body that you never knew you had. Some of the exercises feel really difficult and my body protested at this new strain for the next 24 hours.
Next up, the rest of week one!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Zooniverse iOS Review
*Originally posted on PixelBedlam
Freemium [free-mee-uh m] noun. A sales strategy, especially on the Internet, in which the basic product or service is free, but customers are charged for additional features and content. That’s the dictionary definition for an ever prevalent format in current gaming. Zooniverse is latest offering of the genre, brought to us by the mobile giant Chillingo.
The concept of freemium has been around for a few years now. You get the main software for free and if you want the best features, or to speed things up a bit, you can pay a sum of money and get what you want. The issues are always the same. It is possible to spend £70 in app to unlock a tonne of in game currency, but the key point is you don’t have to. Or do you?
The premise of Zooniverse is simple. Create a zoo, fill it with animals and attract visitors. Animals generate XP (used to level up and gain access to more habitats, animals and shops) and shops give you cash (which you use to buy said items). So far so simple. Then you factor in the many hybrid versions of the cutesy animals and the need to ‘assign’ guests to shops to begin generating money and what you get is a rather confusing mess of on screen happenings. The hybrids themselves aid the monotony of placing ‘normal’ animals everywhere, even if some are downright ridiculous (here’s looking at you ‘Nue’, a mixture of a Siberian Tiger, Boa Constrictor and Japanese Macaque).
Graphically, there is very little wrong with Zooniverse. It’s all very colourful and aesthetically pleasing. The animals themselves are well drawn, with a slight pang of anime to them and there has been obvious effort to make the hybrid animals look at least a little bit feasible. I would have preferred a little more on-screen real estate to make it less cramped and the edges get a bit fuzzy if you zoom in or out.
The trouble with Zooniverse is it does absolutely nothing new. It makes a slight attempt at doing something interesting with the hybrids feature, but in the end it’s just a way to make you wait for something else and hopefully buy some coins. I think my biggest gripe with Zooniverse is some of the missions cannot be completed unless you spend money on the game (it is theoretically possible to earn access for free, but the given time needed is unfathomable) and that really is committing the #1 sin of freemium. For me, freemium games should be completely free and if I enjoy it, I should feel like want to give the devs some money and not that I have to.
All that said, the game is free. So try it out, your kids will probably love it (if you’re one of these insane people who let infants go wild on an iPad) but for [enter relevant deity here]’s sake PLEASE don’t tell them your apple password so they can’t spend the aforementioned £70 on in-game rubbish. You have to help yourselves folks.
Score 6/10
Gameplay
+ Fairly familiar to Freemium veterans
- Overly complicated for the target audience
-Too many paid for elements
Graphics
+ Cute art style
- Cramped
- Zoom in/out at your peril
Sound
+Fits the theme well
-Repetitive enough to get in your head
Thursday, February 16, 2012
NFL Flick Quarterback & NFL Kicker iOS5 Review*
*Originally posted on 7bitarcade.com
British people are an odd bunch. Our sense of humour rarely translates beyond our borders. Our inability to adapt to weather patterns leads us to be perceived as a bunch of moaners – and lord help anyone who tries to use one of our words incorrectly.
The latter point there, amongst others, is the chief cause of American Football’s failure to penetrate our sport loving nation. “It’s not football if you use your hands” we cry, along with “blast”, “crickey” and “cup of cha old chap?”
That is until Superbowl time. All of a sudden its okay to show an interest in this great American tradition of taking your enemies territory by force, one yard at a time. Piggy backing on the boom of interest in NFL is Full Fat Games, developer of such hits as Flick Golf!, and Flick Soccer!
NFL Flick Quarterback and NFL Kicker! are essentially physics based mini games themed around each of the player positions in the team. Absolutely no knowledge of the sport is required on either front. Plus one point already. If you are looking for reasonable comparison, look no further than Paper Toss.
Where these games differ from the aforementioned paper throwing simulator is the variation of mini games and simple XP system. For example, Flick QB has you throwing balls into buckets at increasing yardage, whilst ramping up wind speed. On a similar note, Kicker! has a great mode where the aim is to actually hit the upright bars at the field goal. XP builds after each game is completed and each rank unlocks a new mini game to get your teeth into.
Control wise, flicking is the action of the day. Flick to throw/kick, then flick again to affect the after-touch, all the while compensating for the severity of wind. The simplicity lends itself greatly to Kicker! as power isn’t much of an issue. I did find it hamper Flick QB on several occasions where a millimetre or so extra flick-age can result in throw so far away from your team mate you’ll wonder if Superman chucked it.
The only real shame of these games is they could have quite easily banded them together under one package for 99p instead of two separate games for 69p each. Out of the two, I most enjoyed NFL Kicker! as I felt it penalised you much less for a slightly inaccurate initial flick and with a decent spread of mini games, it is slightly more entertaining overall. But they both score the same in the big picture. Well worth a look.
British people are an odd bunch. Our sense of humour rarely translates beyond our borders. Our inability to adapt to weather patterns leads us to be perceived as a bunch of moaners – and lord help anyone who tries to use one of our words incorrectly.
The latter point there, amongst others, is the chief cause of American Football’s failure to penetrate our sport loving nation. “It’s not football if you use your hands” we cry, along with “blast”, “crickey” and “cup of cha old chap?”
That is until Superbowl time. All of a sudden its okay to show an interest in this great American tradition of taking your enemies territory by force, one yard at a time. Piggy backing on the boom of interest in NFL is Full Fat Games, developer of such hits as Flick Golf!, and Flick Soccer!
NFL Flick Quarterback and NFL Kicker! are essentially physics based mini games themed around each of the player positions in the team. Absolutely no knowledge of the sport is required on either front. Plus one point already. If you are looking for reasonable comparison, look no further than Paper Toss.
Where these games differ from the aforementioned paper throwing simulator is the variation of mini games and simple XP system. For example, Flick QB has you throwing balls into buckets at increasing yardage, whilst ramping up wind speed. On a similar note, Kicker! has a great mode where the aim is to actually hit the upright bars at the field goal. XP builds after each game is completed and each rank unlocks a new mini game to get your teeth into.
Control wise, flicking is the action of the day. Flick to throw/kick, then flick again to affect the after-touch, all the while compensating for the severity of wind. The simplicity lends itself greatly to Kicker! as power isn’t much of an issue. I did find it hamper Flick QB on several occasions where a millimetre or so extra flick-age can result in throw so far away from your team mate you’ll wonder if Superman chucked it.
The only real shame of these games is they could have quite easily banded them together under one package for 99p instead of two separate games for 69p each. Out of the two, I most enjoyed NFL Kicker! as I felt it penalised you much less for a slightly inaccurate initial flick and with a decent spread of mini games, it is slightly more entertaining overall. But they both score the same in the big picture. Well worth a look.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Battlefield 3 Review*
*Originally posted on 7bitarcade.com
Consoles have been in the multiplayer spotlight for some years now but it wasn’t always so. Before Xbox Live and PSN the only way to get a console online was to buy a Network adapter for your PS2, configure it for four hours then try to find a game that the other ten people in the world who completed the former were playing. Go back even further and the only device capable of such a feat was your trusty Personal Computer. It’s in this sector of history we discover the origins of Battlefield.
The key to the Battlefield heritage, whether set in the past or present, has been its heavy emphasis on vehicular combat. Rather than facing off in the direct firing line of idiots dual wielding AA12’s, players could jump into tanks, jeeps, APCs, fighters, bombers, water craft, anti-aircraft guns and mounted machine-guns. It took computerised warfare away from the simple man v man aspect seen previously and turned it into, well, a battlefield.
Recently, DICE and EA have been playing around with the Battlefield formula and trying to get the consoles users onboard, starting out with the extremely poor Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and then moving onto two story driven games. I, personally, didn’t enjoy Bad Company. It’s single player campaign felt a bit out of sorts and almost entirely unrealistic and, at the time, I wasn’t even hooked up to Xbox Live (for shame) so the multiplayer aspect passed me by completely. So when Bad Company 2 was released and I was initially put off by my experiences of its predecessor. How wrong I was is a story for another time.
Here we are then, Battlefield 3. A direct sequel to the PC only Battlefield 2, the aim is take everything learned from the previous games and produce the ultimate Battlefield experience across all platforms whilst appealing to as broad a demographic as possible. By and large, this is exactly what DICE have achieved (although some eagle-eyed readers noting my score will know its not exactly perfect). The new Frostbite 2 engine looks superb, even on the consoles, creating excellent lighting effects and shadows that actually change the gamplay.
Although, on the 360 at least, disc one is multiplayer, I feel I should first tackle the single player campaign relegated to disc two. Moving away from the rag-tag crew of B Company, we are given an entirely new plot arc centred around Staff Sergeant Blackburn’s efforts to prevent nuclear attacks on US and French soil. The majority of the story cutscenes are played out in a ‘present day’ fashion with all the action taking place in flashbacks while Blackburn attempts to explain himself to the CIA. It’s not exactly the most original story going, having only just been similarly tackled by Black Ops only last year. However, the resulting gameplay is mostly engaging and fun to play through.
I did manage to break the gameplay on several occasions. At one stage, my AI comrades were waiting for me by a closed door only to stand in silence for a good 15 seconds before they finally tripped into action and opened the door for me. At another point, just before a certain fight involving some Russians, I was idly standing next to my squad while they were talking about the mission when I literally died on the spot. I had been run over by the trucks on my own side! Add to this some truly horrendous quick time events that have absolutely no place in an FPS and you begin to understand why the campaign was relegated to Disc 2! The moments are easy to anticipate though as they are the only sections where your squadmates make you go in first. The real bread and butter of Battlefield will be found in the multiplayer.
Before the final release of Battlefield 3, there existed an air of discontent from the fanboys aided quite heavily by the Beta which I covered in a previous article. DICE released a statement soon after listing all the things they were going to fix by the time we would be unwrapping the cellophane on our shiny new obsessions, albeit in a day one patch *shudder*. From the first minute you play in-game it’s clear they have fixed the majority of problems, even if there are a few others rearing their heads.
Fans of the series will not be disappointed. The majority of the maps are gargantuan (maybe even a little too big). All the expected vehicular sexiness is present and correct (including the jet fighter!). And we now have the ability to go prone. There are a few close quarters maps that are more akin to similar shooters, but these shake up the gameplay adequately enough to alleviate any ‘mapathy’ you might other wise incur. It has the same mode set as Bad Company 2 (with the inclusion of the frankly pointless Team Deathmatch option) which will see you attacking/defending MCOM stations, fighting over control of flags and competing in 4v4v4v4 squad deathmatches. Everything feels very Battlefield.
Let me be clear, this game is NOT Call of Duty. If you try to play it like CoD then you WILL die and die frequently. Any keen players of other shooters will first have to adjust not only their play style but also their fundamental way of thinking. Acting like a lone wolf will only hurt your team in the long run, and so will caring about your K/D ratio. On one match I died 10 times and didn’t kill a single opposing soldier but still ended the highest scoring player of the round. I dedicated myself to capturing and defending objectives whilst healing and reviving squadmates. Team actions are paramount to achieving Battlefield greatness. Addionally, the squad member with the highest score is appointed Squad Leader and can dish out objectives to gain more points. It’s a shame as the old Commanders in BF2 could bring a world of hurt onto the enemy.
On your way to attaining glory, you will level up and level up frequently. It seems like you are forever unlocking something new, whether it be a simple upgrade to your weapon or game changing gadgets. There is always something to be working towards, adding to the desire of ‘I’m only 500 points from level 10, I’ll just play the next round’. Each weapon, gadget and vehicle has its own unlock tree, requiring a certain amount of XP to unlock the next item. Then each kit has its own unlocks when you reach XP milestones using that specific kit. Finally, all of the previous plus ribbons and medals are collated into your total XP used to level up, each level giving more unlocks!
The funny thing about this game is it may well have been a perfect 10/10 if Dice would have just completely sacked off single player and spent the extra time refining the multiplayer from the excellence that it is to the supreme greatness it could have been. Let’s face it, not a single person bought BF3 for the campaign and most of us only completed it when EA’s servers were down. It’s highly unlikely that Battlefield 3 will knock MW3 off its throne this year, which is a shame on global scale as its more than capable of it and better in almost every way.
Consoles have been in the multiplayer spotlight for some years now but it wasn’t always so. Before Xbox Live and PSN the only way to get a console online was to buy a Network adapter for your PS2, configure it for four hours then try to find a game that the other ten people in the world who completed the former were playing. Go back even further and the only device capable of such a feat was your trusty Personal Computer. It’s in this sector of history we discover the origins of Battlefield.
The key to the Battlefield heritage, whether set in the past or present, has been its heavy emphasis on vehicular combat. Rather than facing off in the direct firing line of idiots dual wielding AA12’s, players could jump into tanks, jeeps, APCs, fighters, bombers, water craft, anti-aircraft guns and mounted machine-guns. It took computerised warfare away from the simple man v man aspect seen previously and turned it into, well, a battlefield.
Recently, DICE and EA have been playing around with the Battlefield formula and trying to get the consoles users onboard, starting out with the extremely poor Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and then moving onto two story driven games. I, personally, didn’t enjoy Bad Company. It’s single player campaign felt a bit out of sorts and almost entirely unrealistic and, at the time, I wasn’t even hooked up to Xbox Live (for shame) so the multiplayer aspect passed me by completely. So when Bad Company 2 was released and I was initially put off by my experiences of its predecessor. How wrong I was is a story for another time.
Here we are then, Battlefield 3. A direct sequel to the PC only Battlefield 2, the aim is take everything learned from the previous games and produce the ultimate Battlefield experience across all platforms whilst appealing to as broad a demographic as possible. By and large, this is exactly what DICE have achieved (although some eagle-eyed readers noting my score will know its not exactly perfect). The new Frostbite 2 engine looks superb, even on the consoles, creating excellent lighting effects and shadows that actually change the gamplay.
Although, on the 360 at least, disc one is multiplayer, I feel I should first tackle the single player campaign relegated to disc two. Moving away from the rag-tag crew of B Company, we are given an entirely new plot arc centred around Staff Sergeant Blackburn’s efforts to prevent nuclear attacks on US and French soil. The majority of the story cutscenes are played out in a ‘present day’ fashion with all the action taking place in flashbacks while Blackburn attempts to explain himself to the CIA. It’s not exactly the most original story going, having only just been similarly tackled by Black Ops only last year. However, the resulting gameplay is mostly engaging and fun to play through.
I did manage to break the gameplay on several occasions. At one stage, my AI comrades were waiting for me by a closed door only to stand in silence for a good 15 seconds before they finally tripped into action and opened the door for me. At another point, just before a certain fight involving some Russians, I was idly standing next to my squad while they were talking about the mission when I literally died on the spot. I had been run over by the trucks on my own side! Add to this some truly horrendous quick time events that have absolutely no place in an FPS and you begin to understand why the campaign was relegated to Disc 2! The moments are easy to anticipate though as they are the only sections where your squadmates make you go in first. The real bread and butter of Battlefield will be found in the multiplayer.
Before the final release of Battlefield 3, there existed an air of discontent from the fanboys aided quite heavily by the Beta which I covered in a previous article. DICE released a statement soon after listing all the things they were going to fix by the time we would be unwrapping the cellophane on our shiny new obsessions, albeit in a day one patch *shudder*. From the first minute you play in-game it’s clear they have fixed the majority of problems, even if there are a few others rearing their heads.
Fans of the series will not be disappointed. The majority of the maps are gargantuan (maybe even a little too big). All the expected vehicular sexiness is present and correct (including the jet fighter!). And we now have the ability to go prone. There are a few close quarters maps that are more akin to similar shooters, but these shake up the gameplay adequately enough to alleviate any ‘mapathy’ you might other wise incur. It has the same mode set as Bad Company 2 (with the inclusion of the frankly pointless Team Deathmatch option) which will see you attacking/defending MCOM stations, fighting over control of flags and competing in 4v4v4v4 squad deathmatches. Everything feels very Battlefield.
Let me be clear, this game is NOT Call of Duty. If you try to play it like CoD then you WILL die and die frequently. Any keen players of other shooters will first have to adjust not only their play style but also their fundamental way of thinking. Acting like a lone wolf will only hurt your team in the long run, and so will caring about your K/D ratio. On one match I died 10 times and didn’t kill a single opposing soldier but still ended the highest scoring player of the round. I dedicated myself to capturing and defending objectives whilst healing and reviving squadmates. Team actions are paramount to achieving Battlefield greatness. Addionally, the squad member with the highest score is appointed Squad Leader and can dish out objectives to gain more points. It’s a shame as the old Commanders in BF2 could bring a world of hurt onto the enemy.
On your way to attaining glory, you will level up and level up frequently. It seems like you are forever unlocking something new, whether it be a simple upgrade to your weapon or game changing gadgets. There is always something to be working towards, adding to the desire of ‘I’m only 500 points from level 10, I’ll just play the next round’. Each weapon, gadget and vehicle has its own unlock tree, requiring a certain amount of XP to unlock the next item. Then each kit has its own unlocks when you reach XP milestones using that specific kit. Finally, all of the previous plus ribbons and medals are collated into your total XP used to level up, each level giving more unlocks!
The funny thing about this game is it may well have been a perfect 10/10 if Dice would have just completely sacked off single player and spent the extra time refining the multiplayer from the excellence that it is to the supreme greatness it could have been. Let’s face it, not a single person bought BF3 for the campaign and most of us only completed it when EA’s servers were down. It’s highly unlikely that Battlefield 3 will knock MW3 off its throne this year, which is a shame on global scale as its more than capable of it and better in almost every way.
Civiballs iOS Review*
*Originally posted on 7bitarcade.com
Civiballs HD is the latest in a long line of iPhone remakes of classic browser flash games. The premise of this particular app is to cut chains in sequence to drop coloured balls into their respective pots with an increasing amount of obstacles in your way. If it sounds a little familiar it’s because it plays quite similarly to another Chillingo title (*cough* Cut The Rope *cough*). In addition to getting the balls in the right place, there are also two stars per level to collect to add some replay value.
As the title may (not) suggest, the game takes place in four themed level collections based on different civilisations. These backgrounds serve to keep things fresh but with only 20 levels in each setting I hardly found myself getting bored with the back drop and gasping for more.
The gameplay is definitely a distinctive update from the old web-based version. It runs smoothly and looks slightly better, but calling ‘HD’ is a bit far fetched. The only real complaint is the same with many of these games, as its often wearisome to see the specific chain you are trying to cut underneath your opaque fingers.
All in all, it’s difficult to bark at 69p for an evenings entertainment but that is exactly what you get for your pennies. Even the more taxing levels can be solved in a few minutes of trial and error. Once you’re done there is very little to keep you coming back for more. As such it’s not easy to recommend next to all the other apps available at the same price. Perhaps the most Herculean aspect of reviewing this game was avoiding puns about the rather unfortunate, slightly too literal, title.
Civiballs HD is the latest in a long line of iPhone remakes of classic browser flash games. The premise of this particular app is to cut chains in sequence to drop coloured balls into their respective pots with an increasing amount of obstacles in your way. If it sounds a little familiar it’s because it plays quite similarly to another Chillingo title (*cough* Cut The Rope *cough*). In addition to getting the balls in the right place, there are also two stars per level to collect to add some replay value.
As the title may (not) suggest, the game takes place in four themed level collections based on different civilisations. These backgrounds serve to keep things fresh but with only 20 levels in each setting I hardly found myself getting bored with the back drop and gasping for more.
The gameplay is definitely a distinctive update from the old web-based version. It runs smoothly and looks slightly better, but calling ‘HD’ is a bit far fetched. The only real complaint is the same with many of these games, as its often wearisome to see the specific chain you are trying to cut underneath your opaque fingers.
All in all, it’s difficult to bark at 69p for an evenings entertainment but that is exactly what you get for your pennies. Even the more taxing levels can be solved in a few minutes of trial and error. Once you’re done there is very little to keep you coming back for more. As such it’s not easy to recommend next to all the other apps available at the same price. Perhaps the most Herculean aspect of reviewing this game was avoiding puns about the rather unfortunate, slightly too literal, title.
Rage Review*
*Originally posted on 7bitarcade.com
Always at the forefront of graphical prowess, id Software have some frankly amazing heritage. With the likes of Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D under their developer belts it’s difficult to have anything but awe for their works. Difficult, but not impossible. id Tech, id’s engine family, is also responsible for such games as the first Call of Duty, Half Life, Prey and the recent Brink. The big question is whether their latest title, Rage, can live up to the pedigree or not.
Before booting up, I had no real knowledge of the game so was immediately struck but just how beautiful Rage is - stunning in fact. Get it running on a big TV in full 1080p HD and you’ll see what I mean. Everything feels incredibly crafted from the landscapes right up to the diversity of characters you’ll meet across the campaign. It’s a shame that frequent texture pop ups ruin the up close experience.
We pick up the campaign following a rather nice intro sequence depicting the apocalypse avec asteroid and our character going into cryo to one day return and kick the shit out of whatever inhabits the world. It’s ironic really, as this is pretty much as far as the story goes. My first few hours with game were literally nothing more than running a series of odd jobs for a few folk that I had zero attachment to. It’s somewhat disconnects the player from the game when there’s no real explanation as to why you are agreeing to go into a random hideout and kill everything. Even the ‘twist’ at the end wasn’t enough for me to want to call it a ‘story’.
Thankfully, killing everything is mighty fun. While the weapon count isn’t quite as high as other post-apocalyptic games - like Borderlands and Fallout - each weapon has a selection of ammo types. These can be used to combat harder enemies or different situations but can also be used for your pleasure (pop rocket shells + standard enemy = red goo messy joy). There are only four slots for your quick select, but I found this didn’t bother me as I quickly discovered my four weapons of choice and sacked everything else off. Of course, it’s impossible to talk about weapons without mentioning the Wingsticks. Think of them like smart, brutal boomerangs. Chuck one just right and it’ll lop the head of a weaker opponent or embed itself neatly in the cranium of a tougher foe. Using them takes a bit of practice, but it’s highly rewarding!
It’s not all a murderous jolly though. A couple of minor elements spoil the experience for me. First is the quick menu. Holding your right trigger brings up two wheels in real time allowing you select a weapon with the right stick and its ammo with the left. The point of this is to be able to swap in a pinch to deal with a particular enemy type. In reality, the fact the game doesn’t pause during this action means too much pressure is placed on quick fingers, often resulting in you drawing the wrong item and wasting even more time in a tense fire fight.
My other gripe is the completely broken stealth mechanics. You are given a crossbow quite early on and told that it is often easier to sneak up on enemies rather than engage them. If you make a kill with said crossbow you will indeed be silent, but it will still alert everyone to your exact location. Similarly, moving silently is completely impossible and a massive waste of time. Given the incredibly confined setting of the shooting sections, it is often easier to get your quarries attention then back track to a choke point and mow everything that comes to find you down with a shotgun.
In addition to all the other tacked on elements, you have the multiplayer. You’d be forgiven for assuming I mean ‘tacked on’ due to it being an FPS and therefore must have all the standard FPS modes. In fact there are NO shooter modes at all. Instead, we are presented with the weakest gameplay mechanic, vehicular combat. Yawn. It works well enough but it won’t be the defining aspect of the game and, frankly, it could have done without it.
Unfortunately, it has all been done before. I’m about as tired of the typical wasteland as I am with zombie DLC. As fun as the shooting bits can be, the sheer lack of tangible plot made the experience to a very pretty but entirely forgettable one. In the presence of blockbusters like Deus Ex and, the soon to be released, Skyrim, I find it simply unacceptable to allow weak writing to be slapped onto such a beautiful game. In addition to this, the game is extremely linear. Very rarely will you have side missions of any importance to complete, and the ones you do get are just revisiting a previous location for some other object that wasn’t there before.
Are you a fan of the pretty but brainless shooter? Or do you prefer strong narratives? Comment it up!
Always at the forefront of graphical prowess, id Software have some frankly amazing heritage. With the likes of Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D under their developer belts it’s difficult to have anything but awe for their works. Difficult, but not impossible. id Tech, id’s engine family, is also responsible for such games as the first Call of Duty, Half Life, Prey and the recent Brink. The big question is whether their latest title, Rage, can live up to the pedigree or not.
Before booting up, I had no real knowledge of the game so was immediately struck but just how beautiful Rage is - stunning in fact. Get it running on a big TV in full 1080p HD and you’ll see what I mean. Everything feels incredibly crafted from the landscapes right up to the diversity of characters you’ll meet across the campaign. It’s a shame that frequent texture pop ups ruin the up close experience.
We pick up the campaign following a rather nice intro sequence depicting the apocalypse avec asteroid and our character going into cryo to one day return and kick the shit out of whatever inhabits the world. It’s ironic really, as this is pretty much as far as the story goes. My first few hours with game were literally nothing more than running a series of odd jobs for a few folk that I had zero attachment to. It’s somewhat disconnects the player from the game when there’s no real explanation as to why you are agreeing to go into a random hideout and kill everything. Even the ‘twist’ at the end wasn’t enough for me to want to call it a ‘story’.
Thankfully, killing everything is mighty fun. While the weapon count isn’t quite as high as other post-apocalyptic games - like Borderlands and Fallout - each weapon has a selection of ammo types. These can be used to combat harder enemies or different situations but can also be used for your pleasure (pop rocket shells + standard enemy = red goo messy joy). There are only four slots for your quick select, but I found this didn’t bother me as I quickly discovered my four weapons of choice and sacked everything else off. Of course, it’s impossible to talk about weapons without mentioning the Wingsticks. Think of them like smart, brutal boomerangs. Chuck one just right and it’ll lop the head of a weaker opponent or embed itself neatly in the cranium of a tougher foe. Using them takes a bit of practice, but it’s highly rewarding!
It’s not all a murderous jolly though. A couple of minor elements spoil the experience for me. First is the quick menu. Holding your right trigger brings up two wheels in real time allowing you select a weapon with the right stick and its ammo with the left. The point of this is to be able to swap in a pinch to deal with a particular enemy type. In reality, the fact the game doesn’t pause during this action means too much pressure is placed on quick fingers, often resulting in you drawing the wrong item and wasting even more time in a tense fire fight.
My other gripe is the completely broken stealth mechanics. You are given a crossbow quite early on and told that it is often easier to sneak up on enemies rather than engage them. If you make a kill with said crossbow you will indeed be silent, but it will still alert everyone to your exact location. Similarly, moving silently is completely impossible and a massive waste of time. Given the incredibly confined setting of the shooting sections, it is often easier to get your quarries attention then back track to a choke point and mow everything that comes to find you down with a shotgun.
In addition to all the other tacked on elements, you have the multiplayer. You’d be forgiven for assuming I mean ‘tacked on’ due to it being an FPS and therefore must have all the standard FPS modes. In fact there are NO shooter modes at all. Instead, we are presented with the weakest gameplay mechanic, vehicular combat. Yawn. It works well enough but it won’t be the defining aspect of the game and, frankly, it could have done without it.
Unfortunately, it has all been done before. I’m about as tired of the typical wasteland as I am with zombie DLC. As fun as the shooting bits can be, the sheer lack of tangible plot made the experience to a very pretty but entirely forgettable one. In the presence of blockbusters like Deus Ex and, the soon to be released, Skyrim, I find it simply unacceptable to allow weak writing to be slapped onto such a beautiful game. In addition to this, the game is extremely linear. Very rarely will you have side missions of any importance to complete, and the ones you do get are just revisiting a previous location for some other object that wasn’t there before.
Are you a fan of the pretty but brainless shooter? Or do you prefer strong narratives? Comment it up!
F1 2011 Review*
*Originally posted on 7bitarcade.com
Last year, racing developer legends Codemasters, treated us to the first ‘proper’ F1 game for a long time. Interest, which had once dwindled, was gaining within the masses, so much so that copies were sold out across the board. The success of the title meant a yearly update was to be inevitable. And here we are one year later with F1 2011 in our yellow and black 7Bit hands.
The first real question anyone will ask you about a direct sequel to any yearly update game is inevitably “will it be significantly better than last years iteration that I forked out nigh on 40 notes for?” The good news for these folks is that F1 2011 surpasses its predecessor in almost every conceivable way.
Graphically, 2011 has been given a noticeable overhaul. Every car has now been refined to the smallest details so you can actually see the suspension and front wing flexing should you care to pause and watch a slow-mo replay of your last chicane. Eagle eyed enthusiasts will also notice different levels of wear on tyres depending on your driving. Last year suffered badly from first corner mayhem frame rate issues, this time around all these problems are corrected making the whole experience a much smoother one. In addition to this, each team now gets a custom steering wheel and unique animations to cope with the different button locations.
In terms of gameplay, several new features have been added. To keep up with the rule changes this year, we now have to cope with KERS (Kinetic Energy Recover System) and DRS (Drag Reduction System) buttons. Luckily, these set to L1/Triangle and LB/Y for the different systems mean they are logically in the button map for a boost button anyway. There is also the addition of a safety car to control the race pace should a major incident occur on track. This is a great addition but does take some control away from the player allowing them to only swerve from side to side to heat the tyres a la real life. Handling has been significantly tweeked making it somewhat easier to keep the car on the track, although you can change a few setting to make it harder again if you are so inclined. The AI has also been updated to allow them to utilise advanced defensive techniques
The career mode is largely unchanged, your first career is still in the eyes of a rookie driver for a lower team. However this year you will have Force India and Williams to play about with as well as HRT, Virgin and Lotus. You can still change each weekend’s settings to suit your available time for play and all the strategy elements have remained in place. Before each session you receive emails regarding the weather of the upcoming weekend, but this information is easily obtainable through your race monitor anyway.
Multiplayer has been dramatically altered to include up to 16 human cars with an additional 8 AI cars in the usual game modes and host options. Typically, these races are a mixed bag depending on the other players ability to not crash. The major addition is a coop career in which you and a buddy race a full season under the same team. This mode is great as you must work together to obtain the Construction Championship but you must also strive to out pace, out qualify and out race your team mate at every opportunity. The person who performs better will be the number one driver and, therefore, get all the upgrades first.
By now, any non-F1 fans will probably be wondering what I’ve been guffing on about. The truth is this is still the major flaw in the franchise. Normal racing game fans will be able to somewhat guide their car through a career, but you do need quite a substantial knowledge of Formula 1 to be able to get anywhere in the higher difficulties. Functions like the afore mentioned KERS and DRS are just race changing devices that used improperly they can actually impede your chances of success. For such an in depth sport there really should be a few tutorials to explain such advance mechanics as the extremely late breaking zones, making effect use of KERS and DRS and managing your fuel and tyres.
The only other issue I have with the game is it can be impossibly long. Of course you can reduce your time investment at every opportunity by skipping sessions and shortening race length but, as a true F1 fan, I want the full experience. This can mean up to 8 hours of gameplay for a single race weekend, which equates to a gargantuan 150 hours across a full season. Unfortunately, this leads to becoming uninterested in the vast season ahead of you and, after one race, most will only play a short race weekend.
Overall, F1 2011 is everything F1 2010 should and could have been. Looking back on both games, it’s clear the extra year of development was much needed. There just simply wasn’t anything to compare last years game to and now 2010 seems remarkably unfinished in comparison. I’m mildly disappointed that I didn’t have this game last year as it is truly fantastic and the most complete F1 interactive experience to date. Let’s hope next year will include some minor tutorials in the guise of pre-season testing.
Last year, racing developer legends Codemasters, treated us to the first ‘proper’ F1 game for a long time. Interest, which had once dwindled, was gaining within the masses, so much so that copies were sold out across the board. The success of the title meant a yearly update was to be inevitable. And here we are one year later with F1 2011 in our yellow and black 7Bit hands.
The first real question anyone will ask you about a direct sequel to any yearly update game is inevitably “will it be significantly better than last years iteration that I forked out nigh on 40 notes for?” The good news for these folks is that F1 2011 surpasses its predecessor in almost every conceivable way.
Graphically, 2011 has been given a noticeable overhaul. Every car has now been refined to the smallest details so you can actually see the suspension and front wing flexing should you care to pause and watch a slow-mo replay of your last chicane. Eagle eyed enthusiasts will also notice different levels of wear on tyres depending on your driving. Last year suffered badly from first corner mayhem frame rate issues, this time around all these problems are corrected making the whole experience a much smoother one. In addition to this, each team now gets a custom steering wheel and unique animations to cope with the different button locations.
In terms of gameplay, several new features have been added. To keep up with the rule changes this year, we now have to cope with KERS (Kinetic Energy Recover System) and DRS (Drag Reduction System) buttons. Luckily, these set to L1/Triangle and LB/Y for the different systems mean they are logically in the button map for a boost button anyway. There is also the addition of a safety car to control the race pace should a major incident occur on track. This is a great addition but does take some control away from the player allowing them to only swerve from side to side to heat the tyres a la real life. Handling has been significantly tweeked making it somewhat easier to keep the car on the track, although you can change a few setting to make it harder again if you are so inclined. The AI has also been updated to allow them to utilise advanced defensive techniques
The career mode is largely unchanged, your first career is still in the eyes of a rookie driver for a lower team. However this year you will have Force India and Williams to play about with as well as HRT, Virgin and Lotus. You can still change each weekend’s settings to suit your available time for play and all the strategy elements have remained in place. Before each session you receive emails regarding the weather of the upcoming weekend, but this information is easily obtainable through your race monitor anyway.
Multiplayer has been dramatically altered to include up to 16 human cars with an additional 8 AI cars in the usual game modes and host options. Typically, these races are a mixed bag depending on the other players ability to not crash. The major addition is a coop career in which you and a buddy race a full season under the same team. This mode is great as you must work together to obtain the Construction Championship but you must also strive to out pace, out qualify and out race your team mate at every opportunity. The person who performs better will be the number one driver and, therefore, get all the upgrades first.
By now, any non-F1 fans will probably be wondering what I’ve been guffing on about. The truth is this is still the major flaw in the franchise. Normal racing game fans will be able to somewhat guide their car through a career, but you do need quite a substantial knowledge of Formula 1 to be able to get anywhere in the higher difficulties. Functions like the afore mentioned KERS and DRS are just race changing devices that used improperly they can actually impede your chances of success. For such an in depth sport there really should be a few tutorials to explain such advance mechanics as the extremely late breaking zones, making effect use of KERS and DRS and managing your fuel and tyres.
The only other issue I have with the game is it can be impossibly long. Of course you can reduce your time investment at every opportunity by skipping sessions and shortening race length but, as a true F1 fan, I want the full experience. This can mean up to 8 hours of gameplay for a single race weekend, which equates to a gargantuan 150 hours across a full season. Unfortunately, this leads to becoming uninterested in the vast season ahead of you and, after one race, most will only play a short race weekend.
Overall, F1 2011 is everything F1 2010 should and could have been. Looking back on both games, it’s clear the extra year of development was much needed. There just simply wasn’t anything to compare last years game to and now 2010 seems remarkably unfinished in comparison. I’m mildly disappointed that I didn’t have this game last year as it is truly fantastic and the most complete F1 interactive experience to date. Let’s hope next year will include some minor tutorials in the guise of pre-season testing.
Friday, July 22, 2011
To the Brink and back!
The review process for brink has been an interesting one. Normally when I review a game it’s because I have had an experience worthy of discussing and that experience is usually a positive one. So when the fine people of PostABargain.co.uk asked me to review Brink I jumped at the chance to get out of my comfort zone and delve into a game I had no interest in buying.
In the run up to Brink’s release the hype was almost overwhelming. Everywhere I turned people could be heard talking about how good it looked and how fresh the gameplay would be. Personally, I rarely fall for hype. I have been burned way too many times in the past (here’s looking at you Halo 3!) to trust any opinion that derived from a pre release code. In Brinks case that turned out to be right on the money.
Previews of the game came back with rave reviews of how good the gameplay is and how well it all works. But on the day of release when millions logged into play, the game was marred with lag issues resulting in a completely unplayable game that many swiftly put down and went back to Call of Duty.
Fast forward to two weeks ago when I received the game and inserted it into my PS3.
Given all the bad press I had already read, I was determined to give the game a fair chance. If there was anything good about Brink I was going to find it and redeem it.
So, what is Brink?
In the future, some clever folk built a floating, self-sustaining city called the Arc. Everyone rejoice. As global warming came into effect and sea levels rise, the inhabitants decided to tow the city out to the ocean. Soon after, contact is lost with the mainland and ships full of refugees turn up. Cue several years of poverty and unrest for the ‘guests’ plus oppression by the Arc Security and you’ve got a recipe for revolution. The Arc Security want to ‘save’ the city and the Resistance want to leave it. A silly premise and one that could easily be averted by simply allowing those that want to, to leave.
That is the story, and don’t expect any more as you won’t get it. What you do get is a series of missions based on the faction you choose and their eventual objective coming to a close. Every mission plays outs with several objectives that are tied closely to the different classes available. For example, one objective might be to fix a crane to proceed. Only the engineer can repair stuff, but you’ll need all the other classes to get you to the location and protect you. One side assaults, the other defends. If the objective is completed, the attackers win. If the timer runs out, the defenders win.
The class based gameplay works very well. Everything is balanced as you would expect and everyone gets their turn to do something, everyone is useful and every class has strengths and weaknesses. Along with the gameplay is an extraordinary level of customisation. Not only can your entire appearance to be changed to suit, you can also customise the attachments on your weapon to allow greater choices on the field.
Readers who have played the game will note that I have yet to mention SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain). This basically boils down to the addition of a ‘parkour’ button that allows you to jump railings and climb buildings rapidly. The reason I haven’t mentioned it is because it’s rubbish. Don’t get me wrong, it does work, but it’s entirely unnecessary. Why have a button to traverse random crap in the level and not just remove all the crap?!
So what are the issues with the game? Well for one, the single player ‘experience’ is exactly the same as the multiplayer except with bots…Stupid bots…Stupid bots that don’t help you in anyway at all. I would define single player as DIY multiplayer.
The second problem is that everyone traded the game in on its dire launch week resulting in very few online players, so you can’t play online. And the third problem is even when you do get a game with real people, no one communicates. You end up with a team full of medics and no one fighting for the goal. It is possible that this experience is different on the 360 with its vastly superior chat functions, but in Brinks case I highly doubt it.
I really wanted Brink to be good. I wanted to write this review to tell everyone that is was safe to pick Brink up again. But the truth is it just isn’t good. There are two types of gamer who plays shooting games, those who play Call of Duty and those who play Battlefield. Brink appeals to neither audience in the long term.
Did you play Brink? What did you think of it? Or are you just waiting for MW3/Battlefield 3 in Q4 2011? Leave a comment below!
In the run up to Brink’s release the hype was almost overwhelming. Everywhere I turned people could be heard talking about how good it looked and how fresh the gameplay would be. Personally, I rarely fall for hype. I have been burned way too many times in the past (here’s looking at you Halo 3!) to trust any opinion that derived from a pre release code. In Brinks case that turned out to be right on the money.
Previews of the game came back with rave reviews of how good the gameplay is and how well it all works. But on the day of release when millions logged into play, the game was marred with lag issues resulting in a completely unplayable game that many swiftly put down and went back to Call of Duty.
Fast forward to two weeks ago when I received the game and inserted it into my PS3.
Given all the bad press I had already read, I was determined to give the game a fair chance. If there was anything good about Brink I was going to find it and redeem it.
So, what is Brink?
In the future, some clever folk built a floating, self-sustaining city called the Arc. Everyone rejoice. As global warming came into effect and sea levels rise, the inhabitants decided to tow the city out to the ocean. Soon after, contact is lost with the mainland and ships full of refugees turn up. Cue several years of poverty and unrest for the ‘guests’ plus oppression by the Arc Security and you’ve got a recipe for revolution. The Arc Security want to ‘save’ the city and the Resistance want to leave it. A silly premise and one that could easily be averted by simply allowing those that want to, to leave.
That is the story, and don’t expect any more as you won’t get it. What you do get is a series of missions based on the faction you choose and their eventual objective coming to a close. Every mission plays outs with several objectives that are tied closely to the different classes available. For example, one objective might be to fix a crane to proceed. Only the engineer can repair stuff, but you’ll need all the other classes to get you to the location and protect you. One side assaults, the other defends. If the objective is completed, the attackers win. If the timer runs out, the defenders win.
The class based gameplay works very well. Everything is balanced as you would expect and everyone gets their turn to do something, everyone is useful and every class has strengths and weaknesses. Along with the gameplay is an extraordinary level of customisation. Not only can your entire appearance to be changed to suit, you can also customise the attachments on your weapon to allow greater choices on the field.
Readers who have played the game will note that I have yet to mention SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain). This basically boils down to the addition of a ‘parkour’ button that allows you to jump railings and climb buildings rapidly. The reason I haven’t mentioned it is because it’s rubbish. Don’t get me wrong, it does work, but it’s entirely unnecessary. Why have a button to traverse random crap in the level and not just remove all the crap?!
So what are the issues with the game? Well for one, the single player ‘experience’ is exactly the same as the multiplayer except with bots…Stupid bots…Stupid bots that don’t help you in anyway at all. I would define single player as DIY multiplayer.
The second problem is that everyone traded the game in on its dire launch week resulting in very few online players, so you can’t play online. And the third problem is even when you do get a game with real people, no one communicates. You end up with a team full of medics and no one fighting for the goal. It is possible that this experience is different on the 360 with its vastly superior chat functions, but in Brinks case I highly doubt it.
I really wanted Brink to be good. I wanted to write this review to tell everyone that is was safe to pick Brink up again. But the truth is it just isn’t good. There are two types of gamer who plays shooting games, those who play Call of Duty and those who play Battlefield. Brink appeals to neither audience in the long term.
Did you play Brink? What did you think of it? Or are you just waiting for MW3/Battlefield 3 in Q4 2011? Leave a comment below!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
LA Noire: Shining light or black as night?
LA Noire, an investigate-em-up from developer giants Rockstar, is a brand new intellectual property and is said to be unlike anything we’ve ever played before. For the most part this is true, though it’s far from perfect.
You play Cole Phelps, a decorated war hero, who returns to LA to right the wrongs of war and clean up the streets. Starting as an officer in the LAPD, you follow Coles’ career up to detective and work cases for various desks (Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson). On each desk you get a partner and they’re not always happy to be working with you.
So, how thrilling can being a detective really be? The answer is mostly, but not always. Searching crime scenes for clues is fun but slow paced and methodical and very reminiscent of old point-and-click adventure games. Similarly, the interrogations offer little in terms of excitement but are branching puzzle elements were you must decide if a person is lying or not based on their facial twitches and eye contact.
This leads me to the main selling point of the game, a new technology called MotionScan. This system uses 32 HD cameras to record the facial expressions of actors from every angle. The result is perfectly captured animations on screen and accurate digital recreations of actors that are so good that you find yourself saying “Hey, isn’t that the guy from Heroes?” throughout the game.
Action junkies will be pleased to hear these downtime sections are dispersed with high paced sequences involving both car and foot chases, gunplay and old fashion fisticuffs. At times, these feel like they HAD to be written to provide an extra 10 minutes of gameplay, but they break up the progress significantly enough to not bother you.
The games size is something to awe but also contempt. Reaching approximately 8 square miles, the map has been recreated using aerial photos taken over the 50 year career of Robert Spence. So good is recreation that you can navigate it using a route planner. The downside of the gargantuan gameworld is the distances to drive. Over a total of 12 hours game time, I spent no less than 2 hours behind the wheel of a car. Of course, this can be skipped entirely by making your partner drive. The massive nature of the game can be quantified by simply noting that it takes THREE discs on the Xbox 360.
My main concern with LA Noire is that I am not a trained detective. At times, the links you must make between a lie and piece of evidence are so obscure that only a genius would make the correlation. I felt that it was in the games nature to have you fail first before trying again in a different tactic rather than helping you genuinely solve some cases. One such example is the murder of a woman; you have two suspects with overwhelming evidence against both, the husband and a hobo. If you convict the husband you get a 3 star rating and telling off and if you convict the hobo its champers and 5 stars for you.
It’s the style of the game that will keep you playing. Everything is presented perfectly. You feel like you’re taking part in a genuine film noire. You can even play in crisp black and white (though if you do, you miss out on the beautiful colouring of the city).
The plot, that doesn’t really kick in until half way through the game, is a hive of intrigue, not only for the supporting characters, but also for Phelps. Little cut scenes showing his back-story appear after most cases and slowly reveal that he is not exactly the golden boy he first appears to be.
There in lies the truth about LA Noire. It should have been a film (or a series of films). Infinitely more entertaining to watch someone else played than controlling yourself but none the less a great effort to tackle the frankly lacklustre state of today’s gaming quality. No doubt a sequel will be in the works and hopefully it will tackle the issues presented here head on and provide an experience a little more refined.
In answer to my title question, this game is neither. It’s one of the many shades of grey that appear between black and white. But, like Heavy Rain, it is a great example that developers are not afraid to try something new, and not just churn out endless gimmicky nonsense.
What did you think of the game? What would you like to see in an LA Noire sequel? Leave a comment below and let me know!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Super Street Fighter 4 Review (Xbox)
Firstly, I feel I must make you aware that I neither like fighting games nor do I really know anything about their history other than the infamous death of Liu Kang from the Mortal Kombat series.
This is mostly because I suck hardcore at them (having once been beaten by my aunty on the original Tekken) and I have a really short temper when I lose.
However, I am a sucker for hype and the opinion of others, so I picked up SSF4 on day of release and remained sure that I would, as my past predicts, hate it and never play it again.
Let me get the bad points out of the way first; It is frustrating at times (here's looking at you Seth) and it can be horribly fiddly for someone who isn't used contorting their fingers into the shapes required. It is also immensely difficult on the harder settings.
The good news is there's a bright side too. In fact, I've had so much fun playing the game that it has changed my perspective on the genre entirely.
Yes it is hard, but it's meant to be. You're meant to spend ages learning the moves of the fighters to be good and you're meant to dedicate yourself to get used to chaining Ultras from cancelled specials. The game even gives you a dedicated section to learn all the moves (including the new characters and the new Ultra for each of them).
The main fun of this game lies, not in the arcade mode, but in the improved online modes. My personal favourite is Endless Battle, which has you entering a lobby of up to 8 people with the top two fighting. From then on in it's winner stays on. The beautiful thing is the rest of the lobby watches the fight take place while the voice chat is still fully enabled. This leads to some excellent banter.
On top of this there is also a team battle mode as well as your standard 1 on 1 fights.
The final genius of the online modes are the leaderboards. Winning fights not only provides you with points, but you are also awarded character specific points allowing you track your ability with each individual fighter as well as on a whole.
The only question I cannot answer here is, if you already bought Street Fighter 4 should you buy the Super version. If you want more characters, moves and online options then your answer is a simple yes. However, this is mainly due to the price tag. If this were a full priced game it would be a different story.
Overall I'd give SSF4 a solid 8/10
Immensly fun in the right company, but the frustration that is inevitable from losing A LOT loses a mark or two for me.
If you didn't buy SF4 this should be a must buy for fans and haters a like, you never know, it may just convert you too. And if you did buy it, then it depends on if the features included tickle your soft spot.
This is mostly because I suck hardcore at them (having once been beaten by my aunty on the original Tekken) and I have a really short temper when I lose.
However, I am a sucker for hype and the opinion of others, so I picked up SSF4 on day of release and remained sure that I would, as my past predicts, hate it and never play it again.
Let me get the bad points out of the way first; It is frustrating at times (here's looking at you Seth) and it can be horribly fiddly for someone who isn't used contorting their fingers into the shapes required. It is also immensely difficult on the harder settings.
The good news is there's a bright side too. In fact, I've had so much fun playing the game that it has changed my perspective on the genre entirely.
Yes it is hard, but it's meant to be. You're meant to spend ages learning the moves of the fighters to be good and you're meant to dedicate yourself to get used to chaining Ultras from cancelled specials. The game even gives you a dedicated section to learn all the moves (including the new characters and the new Ultra for each of them).
The main fun of this game lies, not in the arcade mode, but in the improved online modes. My personal favourite is Endless Battle, which has you entering a lobby of up to 8 people with the top two fighting. From then on in it's winner stays on. The beautiful thing is the rest of the lobby watches the fight take place while the voice chat is still fully enabled. This leads to some excellent banter.
On top of this there is also a team battle mode as well as your standard 1 on 1 fights.
The final genius of the online modes are the leaderboards. Winning fights not only provides you with points, but you are also awarded character specific points allowing you track your ability with each individual fighter as well as on a whole.
The only question I cannot answer here is, if you already bought Street Fighter 4 should you buy the Super version. If you want more characters, moves and online options then your answer is a simple yes. However, this is mainly due to the price tag. If this were a full priced game it would be a different story.
Overall I'd give SSF4 a solid 8/10
Immensly fun in the right company, but the frustration that is inevitable from losing A LOT loses a mark or two for me.
If you didn't buy SF4 this should be a must buy for fans and haters a like, you never know, it may just convert you too. And if you did buy it, then it depends on if the features included tickle your soft spot.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
'Splosion Man XBLA Review
I'm always skeptical of brand new developers. The people must be skilled to be producing games, but do they really know what they are doing? Can they produce games to the quality of long standing companies?
When Twisted Pixel Games released The Maw on XBLA a while back I was proven wrong. It was the perfect example of what fresh blood can bring to digital media.
The developers’ next title, Splosion Man, is much of the same level of creativity and ingenuity.
Simplicity is key here. Effectively, you have two controls in single player: the ability to move left and right and 'Splode' (which is basically a jump). The aim is to traverse through the 50 single player and 50 multiplayer levels, sploding your way through and past various traps, enemies and puzzles.
Simple often translates as easy, but Splosion Man isn't willing to fall into this category lightly. You see, you can only Splode three times in succession before having to recharge by landing. And add into the equation that you will have to time your splodes very carefully, some of the later levels get very challenging without getting too frustrating and stopping you from playing. At one point, I even died so often the game humorously offered to let me chicken out of the level and skip it.
The multiplayer allows you to romp through an entirely different set of 50 puzzles with a pal. This adds extra depth as you are required to splode with the other person (adding your third control, the ability to countdown to your splode) to propel one, or both of you, higher, or further, through the level. This definitely took some practice, especially section that didn’t allow you to stand together before sploding, and it got a little confusing at time, but practice makes perfect.
So what happens after you complete the 100 levels? Glad you asked! The design of the games leaderboards means that you'll be fighting for the best times on your favorite levels. I found myself thinking of ways to shave valuable seconds off my times, whilst also sploding enough scientists and equipment to boost my score.
All in all, this is one of the more enjoyable XBLA titles I've played this year and at 800 MSP it's a bargain.
When Twisted Pixel Games released The Maw on XBLA a while back I was proven wrong. It was the perfect example of what fresh blood can bring to digital media.
The developers’ next title, Splosion Man, is much of the same level of creativity and ingenuity.
Simplicity is key here. Effectively, you have two controls in single player: the ability to move left and right and 'Splode' (which is basically a jump). The aim is to traverse through the 50 single player and 50 multiplayer levels, sploding your way through and past various traps, enemies and puzzles.
Simple often translates as easy, but Splosion Man isn't willing to fall into this category lightly. You see, you can only Splode three times in succession before having to recharge by landing. And add into the equation that you will have to time your splodes very carefully, some of the later levels get very challenging without getting too frustrating and stopping you from playing. At one point, I even died so often the game humorously offered to let me chicken out of the level and skip it.
The multiplayer allows you to romp through an entirely different set of 50 puzzles with a pal. This adds extra depth as you are required to splode with the other person (adding your third control, the ability to countdown to your splode) to propel one, or both of you, higher, or further, through the level. This definitely took some practice, especially section that didn’t allow you to stand together before sploding, and it got a little confusing at time, but practice makes perfect.
So what happens after you complete the 100 levels? Glad you asked! The design of the games leaderboards means that you'll be fighting for the best times on your favorite levels. I found myself thinking of ways to shave valuable seconds off my times, whilst also sploding enough scientists and equipment to boost my score.
All in all, this is one of the more enjoyable XBLA titles I've played this year and at 800 MSP it's a bargain.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Avatar Xbox 360 Review
Man, this is probably the worst game I have played on a current generation console.
It really does need to be seen to be beleived.
The graphics are truely substandard, being on par with a late PS1 game. The characters barely even move in the cut scenes.
In all honesty, I got the 1000 GS from this (achievable in less than 5 mins, that no joke!) and then I sent it back to the place it was rented from.
If it weren't for the easy gamerscore then I would give this game zero but as it stands...
VAPF Rating: 1/5
It really does need to be seen to be beleived.
The graphics are truely substandard, being on par with a late PS1 game. The characters barely even move in the cut scenes.
In all honesty, I got the 1000 GS from this (achievable in less than 5 mins, that no joke!) and then I sent it back to the place it was rented from.
If it weren't for the easy gamerscore then I would give this game zero but as it stands...
VAPF Rating: 1/5
Friday, July 3, 2009
TMNT Xbox360 Review
Primarily, this will be a game for the kids, though I played it because of its easy achievement list.
Made by Ubisoft, its easy to see that this game was made to test out some of the acrobatic features that would be later used in Prince Of Persia. There are a lot of control issues that will cause you some major headaches and frequent trips of the edges of the levels, but the infinite respawn at your last checkpoint (which are fairly regular) means a second go isn't far behind.
The platforming sections are very easy, control issues aside, due to the auto camera pointing you in the right direction constantly. These are usually followed by a one-on-many fight that won't be too much off a problem for most people. The boss battles add some element of strategy, but once you figure out the weakness its just a case of rinse and repeat.
All in all, this game if perfect for the achievement hunters out there, but is not recommended for those looking for an enjoyable, engaging experience.
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