Lucid Delusions

My Love/Hate Relationship With Capcom

2012-02-13T22:34:00.000-05:00

Capcom is by and far one of the most recognizable Japanese developers/publishers in the gaming industry. They're a fairly prestigious company who have created some of the most recognizable characters in the industry; ranging from the likes of Mega Man to popular current characters like Phoenix Wright. Over the years I've become quite fond of the company and their games, some of which I still follow today. If it isn't already clear from prior posts, I'm a very big fan of the Resident Evil series and the genre of survival horror that it created back in the days of the original Playstation. Recent dealings with Capcom however have left me a little jaded in regards to my feelings on the company as a whole.

Being a long time gamer and knowing the trends of Capcom's business dealings, I've come to expect certain things from them. In a sense I think we all have. Capcom is very much known for creating top notch titles, and then continuously improving upon them. My problem with these improvements? The way they have evolved into what amount to cash-grabs rather than true improvements. Last year Capcom released Marvel vs Capcom 3 to great fanfare. I reviewed the game here on the blog and to be honest I absolutely loved it. I had a certain level of expectations based on my nostalgia for Marvel vs Capcom 2 and it was beaten out with a tightly produced game. And well I have much respect to Capcom for that. I even loved that for a brief time after the release of the game they supported it with downloadable content in the form of two new characters, a costume pack, and the shadow player packs with the A.I tendencies of producers and top players.

Fast forward a couple months though and Capcom announces a new version of Marvel vs Capcom 3. You'll probably say to yourself, "What's the big deal? They do this all the time." You would be correct in this assessment. Even dating back to the days of the Super Nintendo, Capcom has had a habit of releasing expanded versions of games that are usually packed with extra characters, stages, levels, etc. We all remember Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo right? I know I do. I spent a ton of time playing it as a kid and it was fantastic. The thing is it took a while before Turbo(as I'll refer to it in short) was actually ported to the Super Nintendo after its predecessor. What miffed me about the announcement of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 was the fact that it was announced and released no more than 8 months after the arrival of the original Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Considering the original MvC3 was released in both a standard and collector's edition it sort of seemed like a slap in the face to release the Ultimate edition in the same year. It's not like we didn't know there would eventually be a beefed up product released at some point. Most fans knew it would happen. You would never anticipate that it would all be in the same year. As someone who purchased the collector's edition at the time of release I just felt kind of cheated. It's okay though, I got over it. Again, Capcom's known for this sort of thing and while I was annoyed, I still respect the company and understand it's a business.

Still love ya Mega Man, even if Capcom doesn't.

However after the most recent reveal of Resident Evil 6 and the announcement that early access to the demo would be tethered to a purchase of their upcoming game, Dragon's Dogma; I once again find myself questioning their tactics. Again, I'm a big fan of the Resident Evil series and I was super excited when I saw the trailer. Go back a page or so and you'll my breakdown of the reveal trailer. But back to the matter at hand; the packing of the demo with Dragon's Dogma. Major problem? Not really but it seems odd to package access to a demo for what will be a highly anticipated game this year with a game that's essentially been flying under the radar for the last 6 months. It comes off solely as a marketing ploy to me to sell a couple extra copies of Dragon's Dogma. I'm not sure about you but that doesn't really bode well for a new franchise.

Or maybe I just think it's kinda weird because on some level I just really appreciate product synergy. Capcom has a spin off Resident Evil game coming out in March called Operation Raccoon City. Why not package the early access to the demo with another Resident Evil game? You already have a fan base that will more than likely be buying the product(and it does look pretty interesting to say the least). While I understand the need to promote new franchises and expose audiences to them, it seems a little silly in my mind. I'm not saying that Dragon's Dogma might be a bad game. Frankly I haven't seen or heard enough about it to even make a prediction on how it'll fare once it's released. And that's my point. You're already attaching an incentive to buy on a game that's still largely mysterious. And for a highly anticipated title at that. Granted no one is being forced to it. I just think if it was coming out with something more established, more people would be inclined to do so.

Still, I'll give Capcom the benefit of the doubt. For as many times as they have annoyed the hell out of me they go on to redeem themselves in some way later down the road. For example, while I'm still annoyed about the Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 fiasco, the fact that they brought back my favorite character in the game goes a long way towards me actually picking it up at some point down the line. That is if they don't announce a super ultimate edition before I get the chance.

The Evolution of Arcade Games

2012-01-27T10:38:00.000-05:00

Since the current console cycle began all the way back in 2005, all three systems have found increased success with the release of mini games straight to their online services. This is even more evident with the Playstation Network and X-Box Live. Although today we find ourselves in a place where the line between full retail games and arcade games is starting to blur. In the beginning there were games like Hexic and Geometry Wars. To be fair these were more like time waster games that one would find on their smart phone. Nothing more than general puzzle games to pass the time. That's not to say they weren't a big hit though as I remember dumping quite a few hours into playing Geometry Wars myself and even Uno when it was released. Because lets face it, who doesn't love playing Uno?

Indeed the early days were relatively basic in terms of what was being offered. But as time drew on we slowly saw what Microsoft and Sony could do with their respective online services. At one point nostalgia kicked in pretty hard and we saw classic games making a return to the forefront. Being these old games are so small in size they fit neatly into the original criteria for the arcade games and thus we saw releases such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. I for one have the classic Altered Beast downloaded to my PS3 at this very moment. Frankly sometimes it's just fun to play those retro games and see the kinds of games we used to enjoy versus the offerings we have on shelves today.

Now while we had this boom in retro gaming, new arcade games were still being developed, along with even smaller indie titles. And as the indie games came around that's about when both companies saw fit to raise the file size limit on the arcade games. Thus, more developers began to embrace the arcade model as a place where they could create unique and in some cases niche games that will reach a wide audience. The risk in doing so is much lower than it would be for a full retail release.Games like Shadow Complex and Braid are just two examples that come to mind. On one hand you have Shadow Complex which is more a action platformer developed with the Unreal Engine by EPIC Games. It's got all the flare of a big budget title in a small package. Though while it's not a lengthy game, it is quite enjoyable for what it is and it showed that you can deliver a great experience to core gamers through the arcade. Braid on the other and is a title you'd be more likely to see pop up on Steam(and yes it is also available on Steam) where indie developers seem to get the most love. But that's the good thing about the arcade. There's plenty of love to go around for all kinds of genres. And as the file size limits keep increasing, the games become even better.

Currently X-Box Live is prepping for another big month of releases in February. We'll be seeing Ubisoft's long awaited I Am Alive along with a sequel to Alan Wake(oh and two other titles as well). I Am Alive is interesting because this a game that was being developed for years and was previously presumed to be a full retail release. It dropped off the radar for quite a while and reappeared recently being touted as an upcoming arcade release. Granted some of the game has been restructured but taking a look at the trailer, it doesn't come across as your average arcade title. It's reasons like this that people say that the industry is slowly moving away from a physical medium retail model and moving into the realm of digital delivery for content. I really think the arcade games will be a driving force in making that happen. With that, I'll leave you to view a video preview for I Am Alive and see just what companies are now capable of delivering straight to your console for a cheap, yet fulfilling gaming experience.

Resident Evil 6 Trailer Breakdown

2012-01-20T11:57:00.000-05:00

I know I never got around to doing a 2011 recap post. Currently it's a work in progress and I've been a little busy with other tasks lately. I promised more blog activity this year and it will surely come. I just have to adjust my blog activity to my new schedule. Nonetheless I figured I can at least get a quick post in about some good news that was released yesterday from Capcom in the form of a trailer and press release regarding the next entry in the Resident Evil franchise. Hey, I know I previously bashed the movies but they're a whole other entity apart from the game franchise. And quite frankly this new game is looking pretty interesting. Here's the trailer and then I'll bring up a few interesting talking points following it.

All right, lets get down to it. First off we've got the return of every one's favorite Resident Evil protagonist, Leon Kennedy. To be fair, he's not particularly my favorite protagonist but I will admit that the character was used in possibly the best Resident Evil game to date in Resident Evil 4. Anyway, I like the idea they're toying with here as it expands on what was built in the last two games. From Resident Evil 4 we know that Leon has been working for the president so it kind of puts the character in a bind when the president says he's going to reveal the truth about the Raccoon City incident. Okay, this is more story oriented but it relates to the fact that this takes place in more of a old school Resident Evil kind of environment. The following action scenes show chaos in the streets and some pretty dark, more survival horror oriented atmosphere which has been missing from the series for the last two games. The plus side though seems to be some changes to the gameplay mechanics of the game. Resident Evil characters have always had what fans have come to refer to as "tank" controls. The characters were slow moving, you could only aim standing still and your range of movement was just all around limited. Thankfully this doesn't seem to be the case.

At one point I think you even see Leon shooting from the ground on his back which is pretty revolutionary for this series. It's not the first time we've seen something like this recently. If you take a look back a few posts ago at my Max Payne 3 blog post you'll see Rockstar is doing something similar. Not to take anything away from Capcom for doing this. It's still a great change and anything that helps the player not get ripped apart by zombies is a good thing. Should be interesting to see how this relates to the slower pace of the more survival horror oriented portion of this game. And on a brief side note, I have to mention that the character model for Leon looks amazing.

Next up we see one of Resident Evil 5's heroes in Chris Redfield, still working for the same company as the last game. The location of course has switched to what we now know is China thanks to Capcom's press release. Neon lights and all, I have to say it strikes me more as being somewhere in Japan but hey, I'll go with what Capcom says. In any case the story for this particular section seems to be that there is some bio-terrorism attack being unleashed in China and Chris' team has been dispatched to deal with it. No idea how this relates to Leon's section of the story but like before we can glean a few interesting tidbits relating to the actual gameplay. For one it seems there's almost a Assassin's Creed like system at play here in terms of characters moving alongside non-playable characters. We see Chris actually push a citizen aside as he walks by instead of his movement being deterred by them. Minor but that can be handy. Also right after this he launches into a full blown sprint. The fact that the game finally gives us the ability to run is kind of huge. Why it took 6 entries into the series to do this I have no idea but with smarter, faster enemies this will actually be crucial.

It also appears that some of the combat in Chris' scenario will require cover based action. Resident Evil 5 did see a few rare moments later in the game when the enemies began to attack with weapons which required you and your co-op partner to actually use cover. It wasn't implemented very well but from what I've seen in the short gameplay clips here they have greatly expanded on it. Chris' scene also seem to reveal some all new bio-weapons. These aren't your run of the mill zombies or lickers from prior series. Personally I do hope the lickers make a return as they're my favorite creature from the series. No signs of them yet but hey, we've got a ways to go in terms of coverage.

RE6's mystery character

The next scenario we catch before the buffet of gameplay action is kind of a toss up. It appears to be a totally new character alongside a character that could possibly be familiar(Sherry Birkin or Ashley). This section is the one that's got some rampant discussion going trying to figure out who these two characters are. Nonetheless, the character seems to have a focus of melee combat versus the gunplay seen with Leon and Chris. It's a nice departure from the regular shoot everything tactics and leans more towards Capcom's Mercenaries mode which saw melee attacks used more often to conserve ammo. In that regard, the only character we've ever seen to really use melee combat in the series versus anyone was Wesker who was killed at the end of Resident Evil 5. Take that for what it's worth but my bet is on this new character being tied in to Wesker in some way. Currently waiting for more details to leak out on this but so far this has more of my attention than the other scenarios.

Overall I'd say the trailer successfully hyped me up for the upcoming game. The action seems to be ramped up much like it was in Resident Evil 4 and 5 while blending some of the atmosphere from the creepier games; tight spaces, the lack of light and pop out scares. Though part of the charm of survival horror games was the fact that you did indeed have to use your wits and couldn't blast through everything. I'd love to see a return to conserving your ammo and carefully crafting the perfect inventory for getting the job done. I also look forward to the new additions to the gameplay. Finally giving a full revision to the tank controls with something more modern is a big step. Some people question if making the character more mobile will take away from the fear induced by knowing that the tank controls limited the way you could engage the zombies. I like to take into account the fact that these aren't the same slow moving zombies we once knew. That just doesn't work against human enemies either. It remains to be seen how it will actually play out but I'd like to think this will be for the better.

Resident Evil 6 releases in November of 2012. Expect to hear more of it in the coming months as we approach E3, Gamescom, and eventually the Tokyo Game Show.

Should Nintendo Be Worried?

2011-11-28T21:04:00.000-05:00

If you've been keeping up with news lately and you're in tune with gaming financial reports then you know that at the moment Nintendo isn't doing too well this year. Yes this is the same Nintendo that just a few short years ago we were all joking about saying that the Wii and DS were basically printing money for them. And to be fair Nintendo was riding quite high on the success of both machines. The Wii made motion control in gaming a hot commodity and opened up gaming to a lot of people who otherwise would not have been interested in it. Meanwhile the DS was still performing quite well, basically making up a majority of the handheld gaming market as Sony's PSP could just never find a foothold.

Gamers still love you, Link.

Nintendo has always faced certain challenges though. While their in house, first party developed titles are always big sellers(Mario, the Legend of Zelda, etc.); they never really have the support they need from third party developers. The Wii was no different. This is why the system has seen ports of major titles only rarely. When these ports do show up on the system they are vastly inferior to their 360/PS3 counterparts. With Sony and Microsoft now bridging the motion gaming gap with the Move and Kinect respectively, Nintendo no longer had the motion gaming gimmick as their stand out feature. When you take that away, you're left with a less than stellar gaming library mostly made up of shovel ware and ill received ports of popular games.

Naturally Nintendo combats their competition through innovation. This year saw the release of their 3-D capable handheld, the 3DS, along with the announcement of their next console, the Wii-U. Normally Nintendo banks on the sales of their handhelds and for good reason. Usually new iterations of the DS fly right off the shelves but sales of the 3DS have been lagging. With the rise of gaming on smartphones, Nintendo is actually facing competition from an unlikely source. Quite frankly it's more conventional to have your little time wasters and mobile gaming in an all in one device rather than a dedicated handheld. And so iOS and Android devices are now cutting into Nintendo's mobile gaming market share.

Not only this but the Wii is no longer the hot product it was back in its early years. We're only five years removed from its release but right now the product is lukewarm. This is why Nintendo saw fit to announce the Wii-U this year. The problem is that this is not the console people were expecting. Rather than a full on console redesign, the Wii-U is almost just an upgraded Wii, hence the moniker, Though to be fair we don't have any concrete details on the console itself, but we do know it will be capable of high definition graphics and be on par if not a little better than the PS3 and X-Box 360 are right now. Nintendo's main highlight from E3 earlier this year was the new Wii-U controller which operates much like you would expect an iPad to. With it's touch controls and large screen, the unit acts as a controller for the Wii-U and when the TV is in use, it can also stream the games straight to the screen as well. The controller will also be able to play mini-games and the like as well. Sounds good, but there was some backlash when it people found out you can only use one of these new controllers per console. I like that they're focusing on the individual in a sense but this is an industry that is moving further and further into the realm of connectivity with fellow gamers and multiplayer experiences. In any case Nintendo seemed confident in the direction they plan on heading with their new technology though they have stated they're trying to work on allowing more than one Wii-U controller connect to the console at once.

This all seems well and good but still take into consideration that reception to this has not be what Nintendo expected. In fact most consumers seem to be confused over what the Wii-U actually will be. This is Nintendo's own fault because when they made the unveil at E3 this year they highlighted the new controller and nothing but the new controller. Most people were left wondering if there was actually a new console at all and not just another gimmick with the control scheme. Press releases and interviews would later reveal that there was indeed a new console. You put all these missteps together and you result in the bad financial report that Nintendo just posted for the recent quarter. Fan demand just isn't there right now. Considering how late into the current console cycle it is this could become a bigger problem. There is some talk of Microsoft and Sony beginning work on their next consoles but they're a few years off from now. There's still plenty of life left in the PS3 and X-Box 360 where as the Wii is seemingly tapped out. Nintendo is essentially being forced into kick-starting their next console cycle just to keep up.

Nintendo's answer to..the iPad?

But to be honest haven't we seen this song and dance before? The Gamecube touted exclusive titles from third party developers and slowly fell by the wayside. The Wii was supported initially for the new and unique gameplay styles it would introduce and then fell out of favor years later. At this point Nintendo is always left relying on their classic characters to pick up the slack. Now once again they're touting the support of various third party developers for the Wii-U. They've promised that hit games like the recently released Arkham City will arrive on the new console. However with a handheld division that is slowly being eaten away at by smartphones and early reception of the Wii-U, it might be time for Nintendo to rethink their strategy.

This might slant a certain direction but I actually love and respect Nintendo. I'd hate to see them fall by the wayside as Sega did all those years ago because they couldn't change their plan of attack. The market has grown and changed and Nintendo needs to do the same. Innovation for the sake of innovation isn't the way they're going to maintain their relevance. They've always walked to the beat of their own drum, and I'm not saying to stop completely but open your eyes a bit and look around at the industry; reassess and adjust. You can reclaim the spot that was yours just a few short years ago. Though to simply answer the question in the title of the blog; should they be worried? If they continue down this current path, then yes they should be worried. But they're not doomed just yet.

Building a Better Game

2011-11-20T20:39:00.001-05:00

If there's one thing I really love about Rockstar Games and their approach to designing a game its the way they give gamers a chance to take a peek at their design process. I think this started more so when Grand Theft Auto 4 was in development years ago but Rockstar started a design series where they would detail features not just features for the game but also the new technology powering the game. So naturally you'd expect this for their upcoming title, Max Payne 3 and Rockstar does not disappoint. They recently released the first in their gameplay series videos detailing the design and technology behind Max Payne 3. Based on this first look I can already see some very cool ways that the new tech Rockstar is using will impact the gameplay.

The Max Payne series has always relied on a blend of action and cinema style presentation and the third game appears to be no different. A recent series which seems to do the same would be the Uncharted series. It's good to see more games that are managing to seamlessly integrate the gameplay and presentation. It makes for a far more immersive gameplay experience. Anyway, rather than me continue to talk about this how about I just show you the video so you can see what Rockstar is up to for yourself. Happy gaming guys and gals.

[credit to Rockstar's YouTube channel for the video.]

Lock and Load

2011-11-14T11:09:00.001-05:00

I would like to preface this entire post with the following statement; I realize that in some cases I can be hypocritical. For months I sort of raged against Activision following the release of Black Ops and in regards to how broken Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer became over the course of time. Still I ended up swallowing my pride and purchased Modern Warfare 3 on day one and I have to be honest in saying that I don't regret a damned thing. I thought that I would. Hell I even swore off the game at one point, stating that I'd rather put my money and time behind Battlefield 3(until I played and disliked the BF3 beta.) So here it is and I'm giving this franchise even more coverage despite the fact that it doesn't really need it. The game sold more than $400 million dollars worth in the first 24 hours alone. Still, I'd like to talk about my time with the game and what I feel some people may enjoy. Also I'll be reviewing the single player campaign. Saddle up ladies and gentlemen, this is Modern Warfare 3.

Story

Like with most reviews I don't want to spoil anything in case you readers plan to play the game in question. When it comes to MW3 there's a fair bit of business here that can be spoiled but I'll do my best to give you some broad strokes. Picking up after the events of Modern Warfare 3 we're tossed into the ongoing struggle invasion that Makarov has launched on pretty much a worldwide scale. Because of the epic scale you'll be tasked with taking control of two different groups throughout the campaign, playing as either a character named Yuri or a character code named Frost. This can sometimes seemingly make things disjointed as far as the story is concerned but towards the end the two groups begin to converge. Being the battles span the globe you'll find yourself participating in epic battles in varying locales including New York, London, and Paris. All this leads to a very satisfying and considerably stunning storyline conclusion.

The only problem is that as good as some of these sequences are and as intense as the battles become, this whole thing clocks in at about 5 hours. I know the main campaign isn't the meat and potatoes of this series, it never has been. But as someone who actually enjoyed how fun some of the missions were I would have liked to see them lengthened just a bit. Finishing the campaign in roughly 5-6 hours just seemed far too short for a campaign. Regardless though if you're into single player at all you should find this rewarding and an excellent end to the Modern Warfare trilogy.

Gameplay

Well naturally the gameplay hasn't changed by much. In the single player it's your basic first person shooter affair. Not much changed between Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 except for some new weaponry to try out and some very interesting vehicle sequences. It's sort of hard to discuss gameplay because it's so straight forward. It's refined from two previous iterations so the buttons are responsive, and you're able to make any tweaks to the sensitivity you may need in the options. The multiplayer is a whole different beast when it comes to the gameplay and that is pretty much the area you'll spend most of your time in.

As far as the mutliplayer goes you'll find quite a few new interesting things. First off there is Kill Confirmed which has become my favorite new game mode by far. The concept of this is pretty much that when you kill an enemy they drop a golden dog tag. In order to score points for your team you must collect the dog tags of these enemies. Meanwhile should you get shot dead your teammates have the ability to pick up your dog tag and deny the kill/point of the other team. This lends itself to some very strategic tactics that you wouldn't normally see happen in a regular team deathmatch game type.

Also new to the game is Team Defender which is similar to Capture the Flag but with a Domination slant. In Team Defender there is a single flag which the team must capture. Upon capturing the flag it is up to the teammates to defend the flag holder at all costs as they rack up points. Once again it's a game mode that is far more strategic than your normal frag fest. Instead of running around all over the place it's up to you to properly defend your teammate and use actual teamwork. I've had some pretty great experiences thus far with teams that communicated very well and some awful experiences with people who played the mode like it was another version of team deathmatch. Playing for kills is not a necessity in every mode.

And this notion is something I give Infinity Ward credit for. They know that not everyone who plays this game is going to rack up tons of kills. So this is why they have introduced the concept of strike packages. There are three strike packages which players can customize to their liking. The first strike package is the Assault package which operates very much like your normal killstreaks. These are earned in game by racking up a certain amount of kills in a row without being killed. This is obviously for the player who can go into a game and take down half the enemy team without being touched and thus they are rewarded with air strikes, air support and the like. For your more conservative player who can't earn as many kills but plays more for the objectives there is the Support package. In this case it's more about points than kills. Sure you can score points towards your streak by killing enemies but you also get points for completing objectives as well. The rewards for the Support package are just that, support for the rest of your team. You can earn UAVs, counter UAVS and even an EMP to take down enemy electronics.

Lastly there is the Specialist package. This is for your lone wolf player who just doesn't care about the rest of his team. He'll go out there alone and do his thing without help from his team's support. The Specialist can basically become a one man army in the game and destroy whatever is in his path. The basic Specialist set up consists of a loadout with three perks. After scoring two kills you unlock another perk. Drop two more enemies and you unlock a 5th perk. Two more kills and you unlock your 6th perk. If you're lucky enough to still be alive at this point and you take down another two opponents then you basically engage god mode in which every perk is unlocked and at your disposal. Should you have the pro versions of these then you're just given that much more of an advantage in combat. With the three strike packages you're easily able to customize how you want to head into battle.Even better now is that you can save different strike package set ups to different load outs.

Sadly this is one of those games where even your skill sometimes can't help you and you may end up at the mercy of your internet connection. Like most other games this is host supported so your connection can be integral in determining how well you do. If your connection to the host is terrible then more than likely you'll find yourself on the losing end of encounters. Unfortunately there's no way around this as there isn't with any online multiplayer game. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw and you have to make due. Aside from the normal connection issues and the online portion of the game tends to run without a problem.

Sound

I'm starting to think that sound design isn't Infinity Ward's forte. In terms of the character voices and background music the sound design is done quite well. It's not on the level of say Arkham City of L.A. Noire but it's very good. The guns also have very distinct firing sounds to set them apart from one another. It's the quality of the audio that can sometimes be an issue. This is even more evident once you jump into the multiplayer mode and actually engage in voice chat with people. The voice chat can sometimes be very muffled or just generally low. On a personal note sometimes I really don't mind this as it means I don't have to totally be hearing little kids and their random hate speech when I'm in a game by myself but it can be annoying when you're trying to communicate in a party.

Aside from that I'm not sure what else there is to expect in terms of sound from a game such as this. Sure there's background music for menus but they're more bothersome than anything else and there's no way to turn it off. As mentioned before the voice acting is capable and the sound effects are what one would expect from Infinity Ward based on what they've done in previous iterations of the game.

Visuals

Graphically this game is impressive considering the engine that Infinity Ward is still working with. While it isn't on the same level of Battlefield 3's Frostbite engine it does a good job of pushing the IW 4.0 engine to the limit. Thankfully this led to some more realistic movements from the character which is something I always hated about Modern Warfare 2. Granted there are some moments where things still get rather wonky looking and that's a given considering the age of the engine they're working with but it's nice to see that they're getting as much out of it as possible before moving on. And I'm sure some people will even make comparisons about some of the destructible environments to be gleamed in the campaign mode which look pretty stunning when they come tumbling down but these are also scripted events in the engine and not entirely destructible.

The particle effects in Modern Warfare still happen to be some of its better visual aspects. Explosions and billowing smoke still look as impressive as ever. And as per usual the heads up display(or HUD for short) is clean, only giving you the information you absolutely need at any given time. The character models are slightly touched up from Modern Warfare 2. They're sporting some smoother textures and with the improved lighting they look rather slick on an high definition display. This also helps for some more detailed maps as well. Although given the maps are based on the campaign, they have the same pitfall. Each of them tend to blend together into destroyed combat zones. While this is great for tactical gameplay by providing tons of cover, it doesn't lend itself to making any of the maps stand out visually when most of them are just maps littered with debris. Maybe this is due to my short time with the multiplayer mode but none of them really stand out just yet. Other than that I can say the game does indeed look good, it's just not as amazing visually as it's main competitor, Battlefield 3.

So in closing this is by no means a bad game. The main story while short is actually interesting enough to get you hooked in a short while. It'll be over before you know it but at least the ending is satisfying. The sound and the visuals are a step above the last game but not vastly improved as they're simply working with a improved version of the same engine. Again, the gameplay is the main course here and quite frankly it's still just as fun and addicting. New game types like Kill Confirmed and Team Defender bring even more team oriented and strategy heavy gameplay to the multiplayer. The strike packages also help to diversify the killstreak idea so that support players are no longer left in the dust. Meanwhile the Specialist package means that players who like to go it their own. I can tell you though that while I'm having fun with it, I also accept the game for what it is. I've played a lot of games this year that I would consider to be top tier and highly acclaimed titles and in my opinion I'm not sure I would rank Modern Warfare 3 with them. To put it into more comparable terms; Modern Warfare 3 is like a Michael Bay film. Going into it you know there's going to be a lot of explosions and action and for the most part it will be a fun popcorn movie. But if you want good drama and something that's going to be far more thought out and heavy on plot, you better look elsewhere.

Final Score - 8.0/10

As an added treat I'll be including three clips of gameplay I've uploaded to YouTube via the Theater feature. Have fun gaming guys and gals!

Welcome to Arkham City

2011-10-27T20:09:00.000-04:00

Last week Warner Bros Games, Rocksteady Games, and DC Comics unleashed what could possibly be the best Batman game ever; quite possibly the best video game based on a comic book license as well. This was no easy task considering how great Arkham Asylum turned out to be. It might be early and there's still a ton of games left to be released in the next month or so but I'm confident that Arkham City is already a major contender for game of the year. In the following write up of the game you'll find out exactly why I feel this way. I'll try to keep this spoiler free outside of mentioning some plot threads that carried over from Arkham Asylum which was released in 2009. If you haven't gotten around to playing that yet, I highly suggest doing so but there's enough going on here that's fresh that you could probably pick up Arkham City and still understand what's going on. On with the review.

Lets get up to speed real quick before we dive into this thing. In Arkham Asylum we followed the Dark Knight into the compound that housed Gotham's most dangerous criminals after the Joker set a plan into motion to take over the Asylum. This led to encounters with an assortment of villains ranging from the likes of the Scarecrow to Killer Croc. Of course in the end the Joker's plot was foiled by the world's greatest detective but not before other plans were set in motion, leading to our sequel. The warden of Arkham Asylum, Quincy Sharp manages to use the breakout and chaos to his advantage. Sharp launches a successful campaign to become the mayor of Gotham. Once elected he sets in motion the plan to section off a portion of Gotham as the new correctional facility dubbed Arkham City. And that is where things begin.

Story

In Arkham Asylum the story was one of the strongest parts of the game. Sure there were some moments where things seemed to get a little wonky and outlandish but at the same time you're playing a character who's a billionaire and dresses up like a bat. You should expect things to get just a little crazy. In terms of Arkham City I can honestly say the story is just as strong. The project was written again by Paul Dini who wrote the story for Arkham Asylum and also worked on the Arkham City tie in comic. Some of you may also be familiar with Dini's work as he was one of the driving creative forces behind Batman: The Animated Series along with the likes of Bruce Timm and many other talented writers. Having a writer who's so familiar with the property goes a long way towards making a great story.

You'll also see some characters pop up in Gotham city that you wouldn't normally expect to see. With each villain trying to carve out their own little spot of Arkham City they'll pull out all the stops to make sure they're in control. Naturally Batman has to go and spoil their fun, but to that effect we get to see another side of Arkham City through the eyes of Catwoman. Back when it was announced that players would get to take control of Catwoman in Arkham City no one was really sure what role she would play in the game. What Rocksteady and the writers actually did was construct a story that plays out concurrent to one another but also converge at various points. In a sense each character has a specific plot line but their interactions with one another are integral to the overall story. There is a small tidbit in regards to that though. I've only had one playthrough so far and there does come a point in Catwoman's story where you can either make a choice to save Batman or leave him. I won't say which option I chose as not to spoil the outcome of either decision but it's interesting that Rocksteady saw fit to include such an option in the story as either decision still plays well into the behavior of the character.

So overall the story is good and plays out almost exactly the way you'd expect a Batman comic to play out. There are twists, turns, and surprises. The Bat-Family lends a hand in a pinch and the Joker runs amok just as he always does. If this all sounds vague that's because I'm trying my best not to give out details on the story. You have to see some of this stuff for yourself and experience the story unfolding before you. And once you take it all in, the ending will send you for a loop because it's so appropriate for the situation and yet it could be seen as somewhat controversial. In any case, it's a story worth seeing through to the end.

Gameplay

Bruce and Selina take a minute to catch up

As I mentioned in my initial impressions the gameplay here is solid. It took me a few minutes to get back into the swing of things without a tutorial to go through the motions of being Batman again. Once I was adjusted to the control scheme again it was smooth sailing, literally and figuratively. If you played Arkham Asylum you'll be right at home with the gameplay but like me you'll realize that it's a hell of a lot tighter than it was in the previous game. When you dub your combat system the "freeflow" system then having fluid movement and responsive controls is a must. Rocksteady proved they could do such a thing with Arkham Asylum and to even greater effect this time around. Not only that but they've increased Batman's arsenal so now you have even more options in dispatching your foes while maintaining that freeflow combo streak.

Don't worry, it's not just Batman's combat capabilities that have been expanded but he packs more of those wonderful toys of his. Favorites like the Line Launcher and the Batclaw make a return and you'll even get an upgraded grapple hook that can latch onto rooftops and be used not just to pull Batman up to the rooftops but launch him further into the air to continue gliding through the streets. New gadgets into a disruptor which can be used to remotely deactivate guns and mines. In a pinch you'll be able to get away from hordes of enemies by dropping a smoke pellet which will conceal you while confusing the enemy(sometimes in a fit of panic they will swing wildly and even hit each other). These are just two of the new gadgets that you'll get to play with but there are several others that you'll find just as useful.

Much like it's predecessor, Arkham City also contains some sections of it's own unique brand of platforming. It's not straight forward platforming but rather sequences that will require a bit of logic, proper timing, and use of Batman's tools. This is mixed with some very great stealth gameplay as well. A big part of being Batman is instilling fear in your opponents and nothing helps to do that more than silently picking them off one by one until there's only one terrified thug left, jumping at the slightest noise. In moments like this it helps to use the environment to your advantage. Certain rooms will have shoddy walls and windows. Staying out of sight and waiting for the right moment can lead to a takedown involving Batman punching right through that weakened wood panel to nab an enemy and incapacitate him. From a personal standpoint though nothing is better than perching high above your enemies and unexpectedly dropping down to nab them and string them up from said perch; leaving them on display for the rest of the group to see.

Lastly you'll be happy to know that the Riddler challenges and trophies make a return in Arkham City. You'll be able to find them all over the city either on your own or by interrogating Riddler thugs who will reveal the locations of trophies and puzzles. Once again they provide a nice distraction from the story related side missions and the main story itself. And once you've completed the main story you can still go back and soar through the city to complete the challenges and find the trophies. Or you can try your hand at the newly added Game+ feature. Game+ simply allows you to run through the main story and side missions once again but you get to maintain your upgrades and unlocked gadgets from your original run. This is absolutely key as in Game+ the enemy A.I will be tougher than before. Obviously this is the next challenge I plan to tackle. But if you're done with the story and you just want to beat up thugs in succession then the combat challenge maps will be more your speed. You'll be able to take on these challenges as either Batman, Catwoman, Robin, and in November after the release of a DLC pack, Nightwing. If you're an achievement junkie or just really enjoy the combat of the game I highly suggestion trying to complete these challenge maps.

Visuals

This game is incredibly gorgeous. Yes, the characters appear beefy and I think that has become the hallmark of the Unreal Engine much like EPIC's Gears of War character designs. Despite this though all the characters appear just as you'd expect them to. Costumes and characters are recreated with exceptional amounts of detail. Rocksteady's graphics team really went all out in this case and it paid off. And while this is evident in the character art, some of which I'm sure you've seen from the promotional posters and marketing materials, it's the way the city of Gotham appears in the game that is the true marvel of Rocksteady's design team.

Joker's never looked better

The Unreal Engine lends itself well to creating gritty, dilapidated scenery. This works perfectly for Arkham City as the premise of the game sees this once great city turned to ruins. The city is dark, dank, and slowly crumbling bit by bit. As Batman stands atop the rooftops of the city he protects you can gaze out over the expansive area that Rocksteady has built to be your playground; stocked full with landmarks you would expect to see in Gotham. You'll come across sights such as the old police department building, the steel mill run by Roman Sionis(Black Mask) and you'll even be able to visit Crime Alley where you'll able to to have Batman pay his respects to a certain chalk outline. Attention to detail like this in such a vast map is what makes Arkham City so great. Things don't get lost in the shuffle and they manage to stay true to the source material.

What also helps is the HUD(heads up display) for the game. All the vital information you need to know about Batman, your health, your gadgets and the like are handled extremely well again. You'll see this sort of information only when you need to call it up or it's important to know such as in combat. Otherwise you're free to take in the scenery of the game without it being obstructed by ugly menus or a cluttered display of vital information. There are other little visual touches that are nice as well just as rips and holes in Batman's suits and cape as he continues on through battles and scrapes with enemies. So when I put it simply and say this game is gorgeous, you probably really won't understand until it's sitting in front of you on a high definition display in all its glory. I can honestly say it's one of the best looking games released this year and there's been some visually impressive titles released in 2011.

Sound

The audio isn't that far removed from the audio in Arkham Asylum. You still have your visual cues for when the coast is clear and when Batman is engaged in combat. It's almost becoming cliche to say but the score is just what you would expect from a game about DC's hottest property. The tone of the score is dark and brooding but with a certain sense of urgency. If I had to compare it to anything it would probably be Hans Zimmer's score for Batman Begins. It's very similar in what the score tries to convey in relation to what's happening on screen.

You will find very impressive voice over work in this game though. Like I mentioned in my impressions, this game is a bit of a reunion of Batman: The Animated Series with Dini working on the story and with the return of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill in the respective voices of Batman and the Joker. And while the original voice actor for Harley Quinn was replaced by Tara Strong, Strong does her best to pay homage to the original voice of Harley. And before I forget, I have to applaud Nolan North's performance as the Penguin. Normally when I hear Nolan North is doing a voice over there's almost a part of me that can hear Nathan Drake's voice in that character but North's Penguin is so far removed from any character he's voiced recently.

Truly though, the stars of this show are Batman and the Joker. Luckily for fans Hamill puts in one of his best performances as the Joker perhaps since the Return of the Joker animated movie. And it's fitting that it was one of his more memorable appearances as the Joker as Arkham City is Hamill's last hurrah as the character. He definitely goes out with a bang in this performance. As for Conroy, he will still remain the defining voice of the character. He's able to convey two different distinct voices for both Bruce and Batman without the Batman voice becoming ridiculous(I'm looking at you Bale).

Final Thoughts

This game is pretty much the total package. The story, the gameplay, the graphics and the sound come together to make one of the most enjoyable games of the year for me. And there is something here for all kinds of players in the gaming spectrum. If you like stealth gameplay, there's plenty of that to keep you satisfied. Big fan of third person adventure games? This just might wet your whistle. And if you're a fan of Batman..well, more than likely you're already playing this right now so I don't even need to suggest you pick it up. I thought it would be hard for Arkham City to live up to the hype after how well Arkham Asylum was received by fans and journalists/publications alike but Arkham City lives up to the hype and then some. Warner Bros and Rocksteady have a real gem of a series on their hands here. I realize this is a very glowing review and you're probably wonder why that is. Outside of the length of the main story, I didn't have any problems with the game whatsoever. The main story clocks in at over 10 hours of gameplay but that's if you're trying to tear right through it like I did. And frankly I did that for the sake of the review. There's still enough content here to warrant repeat play which I think negates the length of the main campaign. and the side quests themselves which have other little neat details really pad out the experience. In the end I'd say this is a definite must buy.

Final Score

10/10

First Impressions - Batman: Arkham City

2011-10-19T20:44:00.000-04:00

We all know that first impressions are extremely important. First impressions can make or break any given situation depending on how they go. Despite the success of Batman: Arkham Asylum I still reserved judgement of Arkham City based on the track record of licensed property titles; something I covered in my blog post yesterday. As I stated then, and I'll reiterate now, more often than not a licensed title will end up just being completely terrible. After spending some time with Arkham City last night I can safely say fans of the series will not be disappointed. Without spoiling anything I'll say this; things pick up fairly soon after the end of Arkham Asylum. The inmates of the asylum and Blackgate prison are now confined to a sectioned off portion of Gotham now referred to as Arkham City. Naturally when you assemble Gotham's most wanted into one city state there's bound to be some problems and tensions definitely do run high.

Of course this requires the dark knight to drop into the thick of things to investigate. Though you're no longer confined to the spaces of Arkham Asylum. Instead a large portion of Gotham City serves as Batman's stomping grounds this time out and to put it simply, it's amazing. While Arkham Asylum allowed Batman to prowl in a small space and usually from within the confines of a building, Arkham City sets Batman loose in his natural habitat. When you take into account how great the visuals in this game are it can be stunning sometimes to just creep along the rooftops of Gotham's unique landmarks, surveying the skyline. It perfectly captures what a dystopian Gotham would look like if all the criminals finally took control and were allowed run amok.

Though it's not all peaches and cream for the villains as they go to war with one another inside Arkham City, each one trying to stake out their claim to the city and rule the city state with an iron fist. This leads to some memorable altercations with Gotham's most notorious scoundrels. But that's not the biggest part of the game as there's an underlying plot afoot that draws the Batman into Arkham City in the first place. Luckily you'll have access to Batman's full set of moves and an arsenal of toys to help you undercover the conspiracy at play in Arkham City.

In terms of gameplay Arkham City feels both fresh and familiar at the same time. For the most part the mechanics are unchanged but Batman's abilities and weaponry are expanded a bit with some new items to upgrade. Free-flow combat makes its return in grand fashion, looking smoother and more fluid than it did in Arkham Asylum if that's even possible. Generally the controls just feel tighter and that goes a long way towards the gameplay when you need precise timing and response from the buttons to amass incredible combo multipliers. It also helps when you're simply soaring through the air with your cape, gradually dropping into a dive bomb only to pull up and cover more ground. Trust me, just this activity alone can be satisfying in Arkham City.

And if you're worried that the game might have the pitfall of making Catwoman and Batman too alike when you play as either character; well Rocksteady managed to remedy that too. Both characters have their own distinct skill sets and while combat plays out similarly, getting around the environment and their actions themselves are wholly different. So yes, it feels like playing with a totally different character and not just Batman with a different texture skin and model. Speaking of Catwoman, I had my reservations about Rocksteady introducing her to the series and making her playable but wow, they really pulled it off well. Without giving anything away, lets just say she plays a very important role early on. To that effect, here's a suggestion. Download the Catwoman bundle before you start the campaign. You can thank me for that tip later.

That's pretty much what I've learned from my short time with the game. I plan to get back to it soon and you can expect a full review of the game very soon.

Licensed Property

2011-10-17T22:18:00.001-04:00

On the eve of the release of Batman: Arkham City I thought I would touch on something that seems to be a problem in the gaming industry; licensed property. While all signs point to Arkham City being a wonderful experience(based on reviews that have been released already), games based on licensed properties are still a tricky obstacle to tackle. The inherent problem with licensed properties is that a high percentage of them are used simply to cash in on something else. To put it bluntly, you get a blockbuster movie that's being released in theaters like say, Avatar, and more than likely the company will option the rights to a publisher to create a game based on the property. What ends up happening more often than not is a sloppy game that's put together in time for the release date to coincide with the release date of the film.

I bring this up because this is something that never seems to get resolved. In recent years Hollywood has seen an increasing amount of comic book franchises launched in theaters. Not only have there been at least 4 comic book related movies released this year, there are many others in the pipeline for years to come. And while these characters and franchises range from the pages of DC Comics, to Dark Horse, to Marvel; most of them have one thing in common. They'll have a terrible movie tie in game attached to their theatrical release. This doesn't have to be the case though and we know this to be true. Surprisingly there are good games out there based on existing franchises. Some of them even date back to the 80s.

For instance, does anyone remember those kick ass arcade games Konami made in the 80s? Several of them were based on hot properties at the time but didn't tie into anything specific. Instead the games were made with a stand alone story for the game itself and out of it came greatness. I can't even remember how many quarters I dumped into that X-Men Arcade machine all those years ago. Same with the similarly designed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Simpsons games. These games were designed with fun gameplay in mind. They weren't simply there to make a quick buck off the property and saturate the market with merchandise for a high profile marketing campaign.

These days though we end up with terrible, almost unplayable games like Sega's Iron Man tie in game or the awful Superman Returns game. But in the sea of mediocrity there was a shining beacon of hope in 2009 when Rocksteady Games released Batman: Arkham Asylum. Together with writers from DC Comics they crafted the most authentic Batman experience ever put forth in a video game. They perfectly captured the spirit of the character; not to mention they used the most recognizable voice of the Dark Knight by employing Kevin Conroy. For those of you who don't know, Kevin Conroy voiced Batman for all those years in the 90s in Batman: The Animated Series. And of course he is joined by another recognizable name in Mark Hamill who reprises his role as the Joker.

And so Rocksteady crafted quite possibly one of the best superhero games ever made. The goal was to make the player feel as lethal in the game as Batman appears in the comics and movies and they captured it perfectly. Sure there were some missteps with some of the boss fights but they certainly got more right than they did wrong. And now here we are two years later and Rocksteady is about to release Batman: Arkham City. This sequel promises to unleash players in an open world where they will encounter various members of Batman's rogues' gallery from the clever Riddler to the duality obsessed Two-Face. What makes these two games so promising is that they're not being tied down by some strict release window or being used as promotional material for a coming attraction. These two games have the ability to stand on their own merit.

And that is the main problem with licensed property games. On average 90% of them cannot stand on their own. I'm not calling for more licensed property games to be developed here either. There's more than enough on the horizon already. But I would hope that developers take the same approach as Rocksteady and really try to pull off something a little more special. Up the ante and deliver something fresh; fans will thank you for it in the end.

Gears of War 3: Multiplayer Impressions

2011-09-29T20:46:00.000-04:00

So Gears of War 3 has been out for about a week now; released on September 20th. A week removed from the release date I've had a chance to hop into multiplayer and amass a fairly high amount of experience points. As of this writing I believe I'm a level 19 which I think is a decent number to cultivate an idea of things thus far. Luckily I had an opportunity to participate in the Gears 3 beta that Epic ran earlier this year so I was able to get a good idea of how the final product would play. I'm happy to report that there are some definite improvements.

Firstly let me just say the gameplay was already very tight; with a steady, smooth framerate and responsive controls. Nothing about this has changed. That is all still exactly the same and just as good as before. As far as the weapon balance goes; originally I had some problems with the sawed-off shotgun but not so much anymore. It hasn't been toned down much but having had more time with other weapons I can see that it's not as strategically advantageous as I thought it would be. Quite frankly I see most people rushing head strong at enemies into a stream of gunfire just to fire off their deadly sawed-off shot. Sadly for them a player like myself will use the Retro Lancer to cut them down in mid run and laugh at their mistake.

So to sum that up; gun balance is just fine. Map balance is a different story but there's absolutely good news there. Once again I reference the beta back in the early summer which had a few problems with the three maps that were in rotation. For instance there was the map named Thrashball which was a crumbling stadium. Each team spawned in the map's locker rooms on either end of the field. The problem with this was that there was only one way out. So if you ever experienced an overly aggressive team it was likely that they would attempt to push you back into your spawn area and lock you there with no real way of fighting your way out. Another map, Trenches, was set up in such a similar way that it was very easy to spawn trap a team and pick them a part. This is why Gears employs a rotating spawn system so when things get too heated, you spawn in a safe zone.

Unfortunately, the spawn system was sometimes broken and you would continually spawn back into the doomed situation. Thankfully with a few tweaks to the maps Epic remedied the situation. They added in escape passages out of the locker rooms on Thrashball and under the incline in Trenches. This way you always have an escape route when a team tries to spawn lock you. Meanwhile some maps prove to be more strategic than others. Immediately coming to mind is a map called Overpass in which the team that overtakes the large bridge overhead takes the tactical advantage away from the other team. It was quite interesting watching other players attempt to fight their way up the staircase while gunfire rained down from the high ground. It's good to play a game that requires strategy again. And this goes for all the returning modes; the revamped Team Deathmatch(which I covered in my beta write up), King of the Hill, Capture the Leader(Gear's version of capture the flag), and my personal favorite, Wingman.

Also returning but with some new additions is the fan favorite Horde mode. In the original Horde mode, you and a team of 4 other players would band together to find wave after wave of oncoming Locust enemies. The goal was to last to and defeat 50 waves. The trick? Each wave increased the amount of enemies as well as the kind of enemies that attacked. And after 10 waves, the Locust became tougher to kill and more accurate with their shots. It also didn't help that ammunition was in low supply and had to be split between 5 different people. Things got a little hectic. Horde 2.0 only ratchets up the experience but they definitely added some unique twists. What they did was add some tower defense aspects to an already stellar mode. Now each round you make a certain amount of money for your efforts which you can then use to buy outposts. Each outpost can then be surrounded with fences which are upgradable to barb wire and eventually electrified fences. You can also purchase decoys and turrets to protect your outpost.

This is all definitely handy versus the amount of opposition the game tosses at you. Even going as far as to raise the stakes and include boss fights after every 9 rounds. Needless to say it gets hectic and a little crazy at times. So far I have managed to get into a group that's lasted an amazing 20 rounds before we could go no further. It was a hell of an experience.

One thing I haven't had a chance to touch yet has been the newest addition to Gears' multiplayer suite; Beast Mode. However I will definitely have some thoughts to share on it once I've actually had more time to dissect it. For now you have the general idea of how Gears' multiplayer works and what's in store for you once you pick up the controller. Have at it ladies and gentlemen; and look for me online with my Retro Lancer.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations Beta

2011-09-10T18:27:00.000-04:00

Yes indeed it is that time yet again. If you haven't figured it out yet, multiplayer betas are a big part of the gaming industry these days. While it may give us players a chance to test out a game much earlier than its release date, it allows developers to test out the code for the multiplayer portion of their game and make sure the balance is up to snuff. If you remember my write up on the Gears of War 3 beta, you'll note that I had some problems with some weapons that needed a bit more balancing in terms of their damage and range. So I went into the beta for Assassin's Creed: Revelations with the same mindset of seeing how tight the gameplay was and if there was anything that needed to be tweaked.

This seemed kind of hard on m part at first because I didn't play Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood so this would be my first foray into the franchises' multiplayer. Needless to say it took me a while to get adjusted to the game's control scheme once again since the last game I played in the series was Assassin's Creed 2. Sure enough, the same mechanics from the main game seem to be intact in multiplayer. You're still able to scale rooftops and do the fantastic free-running that the series is known for.

Things are a bit more hectic in multiplayer though. So far I have seen two modes of gameplay; manhunt which stands in as a form of team deathmatch and artifact which is like capture the flag. These modes are pretty standard in any multiplayer game these days so I was not surprised to see them here. I was shocked by how well they're pulled off with the game's engine and the amount of fun I had playing them. And thankfully before I jumped into this pit, I was treated to a brief tutorial session that showed me the ropes.

In Manhunt you're broken into two teams for two rounds of action. In one round you and your teammates will do your best to seek out the other team in the midst of a sea of non-playable characters and assassinate them. Sounds fun and very simple honestly but the fun part is that much like the single player game, the opposing team has the abilities to go incognito by blending into the crowd, sitting idly on benches out of sight or even retreating to rooftops or haystacks. Should they see you coming they can just as easily attack you and stun you before running away; depriving your team of a kill and collecting points for their team in the process. However in the next round the sides change and it will be your turn to evade the enemy team.

You'll have more than your wits and cunning to aid you though. Each player will be able to choose a pre-made ability set which grants you such items as knives, smoke bombs, or disguises. Though you must use them wisely as disguising yourself in sight of an enemy will leave you wide open for an assassination attempt.

The Artifact game type reminded me of Uncharted's Treasure Hunter mode. Each team has a set spawn with an artifact and the other team must retrieve it and run it back to their spawn. Sounds like your basic capture the flag mode but once again the game play style of Assassin's Creed breathes some much needed life into it. It was amazing watching some of these players swoop in from rooftops to steal the artifact and then hightail it out of the spawn zone with enemies in pursuit.

Considering I was still getting used to the play style I kept back to play more of a support and protect role for the team. Being able to blend into crowds and sit on a nearby bench allowed me to quietly monitor artifact and watch for suspicious movements from other players. Whenever someone moved in to steal it I was able to spring into action and quickly assassinate them as they tried to steal our artifact. Of course as I got more familiar with the game I was able to venture out and attempt to steal the enemy artifact, though not with much success at first.

In any case I can say the game is running very smooth so far. I haven't seen any bugs to report but I have encountered some connection issues. Sometimes the game just can't seem to connect to other players. And other times I've seen people constantly drop from lobbies or the game itself. Also I've had the game lock up my system once. Still it has a better track record than the glitchy DC Universe Online beta back in December. I was granted early access to this beta by being a PS Plus member but I do believe it is now open to all PSN members so I highly recommend checking it out if you have a chance. In the meantime, check out the trailer for the game from the Gamescom conference in August.

The Summer Drought

2011-08-24T22:38:00.001-04:00

This is also known as that period of the year where I get to discover new, indie titles while revisiting old classics. Why? Well that's because during the summer there's not a lot going on. Usually my gaming time in the summer is spent finishing up titles that were released earlier in the year because there's no big releases during June, July, or August. Okay, to be fair, Madden is a big release but it has August all to itself. It's a heavy hitter but only because there is no competition to stand against it in August. I haven't been into Madden over the last couple years so my summers have helped me save money for big fall releases, some of which start hitting at early as the second week of September. However we still have a ways to go before September arrives. So the question is just what have I been doing with my time instead of updating the blog? Yes, I have been gaming, I just haven't gotten around to recounting my experiences here in a while. So today I'm going to rundown the titles that I've been playing this summer. In it I hope you find a few suggestions that you might like to check out.

First off, I should note that I'm not really a PC gamer. Honestly the thought of using a keyboard to play games seemed so foreign to me for years that I refused to do it. I was a console gamer through and through. That was until I played the Sims 2 and found that it was actually pretty intuitive. So here it is summer of 2011 and I find myself loving PC titles more and more. Mainly I can attribute this to titles that Andrew has suggested to me. That is why my list of games consists mainly of PC games.

The Sims 3: Late Night

I love the Sims through and through but sometimes I get bored with it after a while. Thankfully Maxis/EA have the remedy for that with regularly released expansion packs. This summer I bought and downloaded the Late Night expansion while it was on sale in EA's online store. Boy did this expansion breathe new life into my Sims world. Of course this meant that I had to start from scratch so I could enjoy the full scope of Late Night's activities and I found myself having more fun with my new Sim than my old Sim. And just like in real life, it became interesting trying to juggle the various aspects of the Sims life without getting into complete micro-managing mode. Sometimes I even took myself out of the equation and let my Sim just carry on with his free will set at full. Thanks to his character traits it led to him basically blowing off his job and having a lot of late nights partying. Very entertaining stuff to peek in on every now and then. Having heard good things about the other expansions I think I might invest a bit more time into this game in the coming months.

Terraria

I never got into the Minecraft craze. Yes I've played the game and I thought it was fantastic but it just seemed beyond me. And frankly like most first person games it made me a little dizzy at times. Still I loved the concept behind it so I was thrilled when I heard about Terraria. Terraria is very similar in that it's a game that is mainly about survival. Like with Minecraft you must mine for materials and resources that will help you survive the onslaught of enemies that will come your way when night falls over the land, except in Terraria it comes in the form of 2-D side scrolling. It's very retro in it's design but with a modern concept and that's why I love it. Well that and excellent game mechanics, an elegant user interface, and pleasant soundtrack. Because of this the game can become a black hole for time as I've sometimes spent more than 2 hours with Andrew in a multi-player world just exploring underground dungeons and jungles to see what new materials we could find. It also has a certain level of strategy to it as you have to craft weapons and armor to protect yourself monsters as well as the terrain itself. Not only that but certain materials you find can be combined to make food and potions that temporarily increase certain aspects of your character. Coupled with the multi-player aspect of the game this can lead to a lot of lost time just digging for new material and discovering new recipes and crafts for your characters to use. If you're a fan of Minecraft I highly recommend it, and if not you still may get a kick out of it. It's currently available on Steam.

League of Legends

I had some history with this game well before the summer. When I got my gaming caliber PC back in March Andrew immediately suggested that I download a free game from a company called Riot Games. That game of course is the extremely popular League of Legends. On my own I had a rough go at it. I played through the tutorials but on my own it just didn't really sit well with me. So I left it untouched for months. Andrew however has continued playing it and I'd be damned if the topic of League of Legends didn't come up once or twice a week. So finally I decided I'd give it another go with Andrew showing me the ropes of the game instead of going through the preset tutorial. After gaining a better understanding of the game and playing a match with other human players I started to get into it. In a nutshell this is more of a real time strategy kind of game. Riot gives you a pre-set list of characters(that rotates each week) to choose from named Champions. Your selected champion, along with a team of 4 other members do battle on a given map. Much like chess or checkers, each team starts on a side at the beginning of the game. From each end to the middle of the map the team has several turrets which act as territory for each team.

The gist of the game is that you and your team need to battle the opposing force and destroy their turrets to advance on their base. It may sound simple but it's not. Over the course of battle you're accompanied by computer controlled minions who take a brunt of the damage from the other team's turrets and minions. Meanwhile your own attacks help to level up your character over the course of the round. Along the way you'll upgrade your attacks which include melee attacks or magic(which requires mana). You will also collect gold which can be used to buy items such as health potions and items to upgrade your abilities in the round. Again this may all sound very simplistic because it's as easy as I could break it down. The game is far more complex than I make it sound and that is why it's enjoyable. There are many different facets of the gameplay that can attract a player. It can get a little crazy but it can also be a ton of fun so I would definitely suggest it. Best of all, it's free so it won't cost you a dime to at least try it out.

And those are the games that have kept me entertained over the last couple of months. The drought is almost over though. Madden releases to the masses next week and next month I have quite a bit on my plate to try and get around to; from the release of Gears of War 3 to the high-def releases of Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4, and the Metal Gear Solid HD collection. What are you looking forward to in the Fall?

Milking A Product

2011-07-20T22:17:00.001-04:00

It's been about six weeks since my last post. E3 coverage really burned me out and now we're in the midst of the gaming summer drought. There isn't a lot being released right now up until Madden makes its summer appearance. It's a fact of life for gamers. However I'm writing today purely due to my mild outrage over some news that hit the net not too long ago. You can thank Capcom for that. For a while there were rumors that Capcom was working on an update to Marvel vs Capcom 3 which released earlier this year. Fast forward to today when Capcom unleashes the first bit of info about Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.

I probably shouldn't be mad about this because Capcom has been releasing enhanced versions of their fighting games for years now. You almost expect it at this point. However that doesn't change the fact that it leaves me feeling a bit sour having shelled out the cash for the collector's edition of Marvel vs Capcom 3 not even 6 months ago. The fact that they would release Ultimate MvC3 not as DLC but as a full fledged retail copy just screams milking to me. It reminds me of Activision and the way they treated the Guitar Hero franchise for all those years. Look, we as gamers understand that when a company finds a lucrative property that they'll do everything in their power to get as much profit out of it as they can. We know this, we understand it, we've come to accept it in some ways. And by accept I mean either people buy into it or they avoid the products at all cost. Whatever you choose, that's fine. What bothers me the most about this Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 thing is that for a while Capcom talked about the possibility of DLC.

At the release of Marvel vs Capcom 3 in February(of this year mind you) we knew right out the gate that we would have a chance to download two new characters later down the line. It was an exciting prospect. And some of us, myself included, ponied up the cash to get the collector's edition at launch which gave us the DLC characters free of charge when they would be released. Cool notion and solid marketing. What we didn't know at the time was that would be the end of expanding the base roster for Marvel vs Capcom 3. There was an opportunity to continue to expand the roster through downloadable content and Capcom just didn't capitalize on it. Why? Well my best guess is that they were conjuring up this Ultimate edition instead. Much like they did with Super Street Fighter 4.

That's fine and all. Actually if this had been 2012 I probably wouldn't have a major issue with a enhanced edition of the game. But Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out in February of 2011. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is already slated to drop in November of 2011. You're releasing an enhanced version of a game in the same year of its release? What are you guys smoking over there? In what world is this a good idea? Is making this $39.99 really going to soften the blow of what is basically them releasing the same game twice in one year when they very simply could have done a few DLC packs? I hope I'm not alone when thinking that instead of a full fledged release that they could have just extended the life-span on the game they released in February. This just comes across as such a cash grab situation. And the worst part about it is the fact that it has features and characters that fans were clamoring for when the game was released. This move is just poor taste in my opinion. And yes, I will admit that it stems from me being bitter about buying the game at launch only to have them announce a new version with a release window all within the same year. To borrow a phrase from the Simpsons, what happened to you Capcom? You used to be cool..

E3 Day 2 - The Nintendo Conference

2011-06-07T14:20:00.000-04:00

Mass confusion? I'm still kind of puzzled about what to think about Nintendo's conference which literally just ended a few minutes ago. The event kicked off with a nice retrospective montage on the Legend of Zelda set to an in house orchestra playing the music to the game. It was definitely a nice step before introducing Miyamoto who talked a bit about the 25th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda. In celebration, Nintendo will be releasing past versions of the franchise to the DS over the year as well as doing a concert series of the franchise's music. This includes a free version of the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords being released in the fall on the 3DS. Also coming in the fall will be The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword with a special tie in peripheral in the form of a gold colored Wii controller. Sounds reminiscent of the gold colored Zelda cartridge from all those years ago. Retro in such a good way.

The 3DS was the first big highlight of Nintendo's conference. They've heard complaints from consumers about the current line up of games for the handheld and so today they hoped to introduce a few titles that people can get really excited for. First on that slate was Super Mario Adventure 3DS, a brand new Mario title launching exclusively for the handheld platform. Joining the new Super Mario game of course is a brand new Mario Kart title for the 3DS that will see some unique game play effects with the 3-D technology in effect. Fans of the lesser Mario brother can get excited as the spin-off title of Luigi's Mansion will finally see a sequel as Luigi's Mansion 2 was announced for the 3DS as well. These titles are joined by the reveal of what seems to be a revival of Star Fox in a new 3D title. Rounding out the line up was a new look at the previously announced Kid Icarus: Uprising complete with augmented reality features for multi-player play.

The second highlight for Nintendo was what everyone had been talking about leading up to the conference; Project Cafe. Nintendo's mantra for revealing this seemed to be that while the Wii concentrated on bringing gamers together in new ways, their new system, freshly dubbed the Wii-U, will be a more user-focused experience. Things get a little fuzzy here for a little while but it's currently being clarified in follow up interviews going on at the moment. There is a new console, let that be known right off the bat. The thing Nintendo chose to focus on though is the new controller. The controller itself reminded me of the PS Vita right off the bat but mixed slightly with the iPad. The demonstration itself would lat go on to show just what this controller was capable of. First off, Wii peripherals and games will be compatible with the new console, spreading the love to current users. The controller however will offer new ways to interact with your games and to play in general. For one the video they showed displayed how it won't necessary disrupt the flow of a living room situation in that you can take the game being played on the TV and play it directly on the controller's 6.2 in touch screen.

The controller will feature a regular set of button controls and analog controls to go along with the touch screen itself. It will also contain a built in camera which will allow for video chat while also featuring a gyroscope for motion control and its own set of speakers. While specifics have not been released yet, it has been noted the controller will have its own internal flash memory. No word yet on if this is expandable. What we do know is that the console itself will use a new kinda of high density optical disc that will hold memory comparable to Blu-Ray discs. This is indicative of Nintendo's claim that the system will be full high definition, sporting 1080P visuals. While they had no games to show off they did show off some early tech demos to illustrate this which included a sleek looking high def version of Link battling inside a dungeon. Along with these we got a few other ways the new controller can be utilized. This ranged from using it as a two player gaming pad separate from the console itself to using it conjunction with the previous released Nintendo zapper attachment, using it like a mock scope for a shooter demo. From what we can tell early on is that the controller itself can essentially replace the need for playing games on the TV and make it more of a personalized experience for the end user.

Now all of this is good and well. When the rumors of a new Nintendo console started we sort of expected certain things to be announced. The console is full HD which is one thing we expected. We knew they would support it with great first party software which they will as they have already announced a new Super Smash Brothers game that will launch on both the 3DS and the Wii-U as well as a new Super Mario Brothers Mii which will allow use of your Nintendo Mii in the game. The new Super Mario Brothers Mii will also be released on both the Wii-U and the 3DS. But what about third party support? This of course is what has killed Nintendo before when it came to competing with everyone else in the market. Lucky for fans, Nintendo has the interest of many third party developers, ranging from the likes of Irrational Games, UbisoftNintendo's brand new console. The result of which is a line up of games that stands proudly beside their PS3 and 360 brethren. The Wii-U will see releases of such games as Batman: Arkham City, Ghost Recon: Online, Darksiders II, Tekken, and even Ninja Gaiden 3. Third party developers are on board and as details continue to come to light, this new console is starting to shape up.

While I was initially confused with what they had actually announced I was intrigued. They're planning a release of the Wii-U in 2012 while the 3DS titles will be releasing over the course of 2011 and into 2012. I suspect in that time we'll hear much more about the Wii-U, even possibly get a spec sheet on it. It seemed odd that at first they only highlighted the control, but have since clarified that yes the console unit will be new, it will be HD capable, and they have officially leveled the playing field between them and the other console creators. All that remains to be seen is how Nintendo beefs up their online presence with the new console, and since we have E3 2012 to hear more about the console there is plenty of time for them to flesh things out. I was skeptic of Nintendo going into this conference but I honestly think they delivered. Going in they had the best position of the big three and they came out ahead of them as well. Good job Nintendo. You're still the industry's darling.

E3 Day 1 - Trailer/Demo Round Up

2011-06-06T23:16:00.000-04:00

The following trailers are the ones I found most interesting today so yes, this is a very subjective post. In any case, check them out below. I'll keep the list to a simple five but there were many other great looking showings and some awesome demos. Definitely check them out if you can.

1) OverStrike - Insomniac Games/EA Games

2) Tomb Raider - Crystal Dynamics

3) Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - Ubisoft

4) Star Wars: The Old Republic - BioWare

5) Battlefield 3 - D.I.C.E./EA Games

E3 Day 1 - The Sony Conference

2011-06-06T23:03:00.001-04:00

Sony, you're classier than I thought you were. You're probably asking yourself why that is? Well like Jack Tretton stated at the opening of the conference, Sony headed in with a big elephant in the room. Once more they offered a sincere apology for the Playstation Network intrusion. The apology wasn't just to consumers though but also to their publishing partners who also felt the bitter sting of this PSN outage. Quoting the man directly he had this to say about the developers and consumers who were effected by the PSN hack. "You are the lifeblood of the company," Tretton said. "Without you there is no PlayStation." While a lot of coverage lately has been negative in regards to Sony's handling of the hack, this was a stand up move on their part and they hoped that the conference moving forward would help restore fans' faith in the Playstation brand.

So from the get go this would be a bit of a battle for Sony but they seemed to find their footing fairly quickly as they moved into demos and trailers for their slate of upcoming exclusive games. This of course included some lengthy demos and new trailers for the likes of Uncharted 3, Resistance 3, and inFamous 2(releasing in stores tomorrow). The guys from Naughty Dog even dropped some interesting info that in a advertising campaign with Subway, gamers will be able to gain early access to Uncharted 3's multi-player mode. And that as a big point for Sony in this year's conference. Not so much that deal itself but the fact that they were reaching out to their partners to provide interesting and extra content. Together with third party publishers and developers, Sony has brought Move compatibility to a wide array of games which they proceeded to show off.

2K Games demoed the move interface for their NBA2K franchise while Ken Levine of Irrational Games(under 2K Games) came out to discuss how Sony sent the developer a Move developer kit after he made some disparaging remarks about the motion control in a recent interview. Since then he has gone on to incorporate Move control in unique ways that don't alienate hardcore gamers and will expand the appeal of Bioshock Infinite to casual audiences as well. Sony also highlighted their partnership with Bad Robot for a Move enabled PSN title that will be set in JJ Abrahm's Star Trek universe( and will come complete with a move peripheral shaped like a phaser!). Much like Microsoft's conference, Sony was all about showing how much the Move has grown as a peripheral and how much potential is still left to be discovered. While they didn't show off the Sorcery game that they announced last year, they did show a bit of a dungeon crawler which seamlessly let you move between sword fighting, using a cross-bow, and throwing ninja stars all with the Move controller.

Sony was also still pushing their 3D technology, heavily in fact. Just before the show they were still handing out 3-D glasses to the crowd which they prompted them for use during the show. Much like high-definition gaming and storage with the PS3 and Blu-Ray, Sony is pushing 3-D hard. Their intent is to make it an affordable option just as the PS3 made high definition gaming and movies an inexpensive option for consumers. To do this, they are introducing a 24 inch 3-D Playstation branded display screen. The screen comes bundled with a set of 3-D glasses, a copy of Resistance 3(with Move and 3-D support) and a 6 foot HDMI cable all for the price of $499. I'm not an advocate of 3-D gaming as I think much like 3-D movies they appeal to a niche audience and don't really add anything to the overall experience. However if you're a technophile and you just need that awesome 3-D display but you don't want to spend over $600 dollars for a decent sized display then this might be an option for you.

The big thing Sony had up its sleeve to reveal was their new handheld which we previously had been referring to as the Next Generation Portable. Recent leaks had a trademark filing for PS Vita uncovered and that is indeed the name Sony gave their new handheld tonight. The PS Vita will replace their Playstation Portable with a far superior machine, sporting a five-inch multi-touch screen, dual analog sticks, sixaxis motion detection, front and rear touch pads, front and rear facing cameras and will be available in both Wi-Fi and 3G/Wi-Fi capable formats. Not only this but Sony will be partnering with AT&T(I'm assuming for the 3G capabilities) and will offer the Wi-Fi only version for $249.99 and the 3G/Wi-Fi capable model for $299. Why is this a big deal? Well for one Sony priced itself out of the handheld market with the original PSP. Did people buy it? Yeah, but the Nintendo handhelds as the time had lower price points and more software support. Sony hopes to change this with a handheld with the base Wi-Fi model priced the same as the Nintendo 3DS which is currently struggling to catch fire in the sales department. So we'll see how this battle rages on once the PS Vita is released in late 2011.

But a handheld is only as good as its software and Sony went right to work detailing what will be on the NGP. Because the handheld can handle the graphics of the PS3 there seems to be a lot of crossover in what games will be appearing on the Vita. During it's Vita showcase, Sony showed off demos for a ModNationModNation Racers for the PS3 version of the game. They also demoed the Vita Uncharted game which handles exactly like its PS3 counterpart while seemingly being a side story for Nathan Drake and co. LittleBigPlanet will also make its way to the PS Vita complete with level and game creation tools previously seen in LittleBigPlanet 2 while offering touch controls for level creation and online multi-player. While I expected Sony to take big franchises like that and bring them to the Vita, I was shocked to see a Capcom representative come out on stage to demo a Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken, looking amazingly smooth and exactly like the console version. The twist of course being the Vita version will come with inFamous' Cole as a playable character. Rounding out the titles shown off on stage for the Vita was a game called Ruin which will be a bit of a dungeon crawler type hack and slash game that will come with cross platform interactivity; allowing play between Vita players and PS3 players.

Sony had it's fair share of exclusive touting just as Microsoft did during their conference. Both companies like to beat their chests about their exclusive content and while Microsoft boasts about getting Call of Duty content first, Sony partnered with its third party developers to offer its own expanded content. Together with Electronic Arts and THQ, Sony will offer exclusive maps, bonus games and more for titles such as the newly rebooted SSX, Need for Speed: The Run, Battlefield 3, and Saints Row: The Third. Not only this but Sony will be bringing remastered games to the PS3 with added 3-D support in the forms of the God of War Origins collection which contains the two God of War games that were released on the PSP. The other collection appeals to a smaller audience in the form of the highly praised and award winning titles of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus which will release in September on the PS3.

As far as brand new intellectual properties are concerned, Sony only introduced one while bringing back an old favorite. While Sucker Punch studios delivers inFamous 2 to consumers across the world tomorrow, they are in the midst of reviving one of their creations from the PS2 era in a brand new Sly Cooper game which is due out in 2012. The character is a fan favorite so it was a nice to see Sony going back to a franchise that helped make the PS2 so successful. On the other end of the spectrum Sony introduced what seemed to be a new first person shooter franchise in the form of a PSN exclusive title called Dust 514. It will also have a PS Vita tie in game and considering Sony is pushing cross compatibility I'm sure that will be included as well. Dust 514 is still a bit of a mystery but the studio is eying a spring 2012 with a close beta coming later this year. Should be interesting.

So that was Sony's show in a nutshell. They came out and apologized once again for the PSN network intrusion not only to fans but to their development partners and they promised to give us looks into their line up that would hopefully restore our faith in the product line. They came out swinging and I think the delivered exactly what they needed to in order to show that no matter what, they're still in the business of delivering a quality experience to their customers. They were a little light in terms of what developments they'll be doing in terms of the PSN, only announcing a deal that will bring added movies and programming to the PSN but I think that's more about them making sure the network is secure before they start announcing new content to be rolled out over the PSN. In terms of games they really delivered and the price point of the Vita keeps them competitive with Nintendo and the 3DS which is currently struggling to find a foothold since its release. With the right launch line up and proper software support, the Vita can really take off where the PSP failed. Overall, I think this was a strong showing for Sony.

E3 Day 1 - The Microsoft Conference

2011-06-06T19:43:00.000-04:00

Holy crap where do I even begin?! Last the last few years E3 kicked off with Microsoft trotting out onto stage first to show us they've got in store for gamers for the rest of 2011 as well as the coming year. This year they kicked off the day with a bang by starting off with a demo of Modern Warfare 3. As critical of Activision as I am I have to say this game looked good. Everything about this game is just bigger than its predecessor. The mere scope of that level they showed in the demo was massive and I'm kind of hoping the game play lives up to the visuals because the game looks and sounds wonderful so far. Beyond this, though Microsoft still had a ton of things up its sleeve to show off and rolled right forward from their Modern Warfare 3 demo by bringing out the lead designer on Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider.

If you haven't heard about it in the last two months or so, Crystal Dynamics is rebooting the series by showing the origin of Lara Croft's adventuring ways. Up until today we had only seen concept art of the new design of the Lara Croft model. Today we not only got the E3 trailer but we also got to see our first glimpse of the game play and it looked awesome. Being it's an origin story and before Lara became the bad-ass we see in the original games, the game play comes across as more of a survival based game than a exploration shooter. The demo mainly consisted of Lara trying to find her way through and darkened cave after being shipwrecked. Visually it was stunning and really gave me a feeling reminiscent to that of when Uncharted was first unveiled. It looked like a fresh approach to the third person adventure kind of games I enjoy. I look forward to more game play being released on this. We also got to see a demo of the single-player campaign for Gears of War 3 with Cliffy B and one of the game's voice actors, Ice-T. Cliff of course thanked everyone for their support in the beta and finally showed off some long awaited campaign footage which looked top notch. Following the demo, Ice-T promised Cliff that his band Bodycount would reunite to create a song for Gears 3. Look for that to release in September.

Of course Microsoft was quick to drop some knowledge on what they're cooking up with Kinect and that was evident early when they showed off a Kinect compatible version of Mass Effect 3 as well as a Kinect enabled Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. We didn't get to see a lot of these two games but what they did incorporate was rather interesting. Both games have a bit of a tactical aspect to them so being able to call out commands vocally to the Kinect microphone which the characters then pick up on is kind of cool. On the plus side we finally got to see what is probably the first game that'll be marketed to hardcore gamers for the Kinect in the form of Crytek's Ryse which appears to be a first person battle simulator. Again we only got a brief glimpse of it in trailer form and not a full fledged demo but it could be pretty interesting.

By this point the Kinect enabled games were in full swing but it seemed as if Microsoft took a slight step back to quickly talk about the new things coming out for X-Box Live itself. As with the last few years they have a full slate of games for the X-Box Live Arcade's Summer of Arcade(including the very cool From Dust). Then they laid out the new features to expect in the fall including a new dashboard layout that is optimized for the Kinect controller free interface. It's a more streamlined interface from what we could see on screen at the time. Along with the interface change, Microsoft will also roll out a new service for live television. This was long rumored going into E3 and we finally got confirmation, thus making the X-Box 360 on step closer to being your one stop shop for entertainment in the living room as it comes with TV (even local channels), Netflix, ESPN, Hulu; not to mention the newly announced for the fall update inclusion of YouTube and live, interactive UFC events. Yep, Microsoft means business when it comes to their online service. No details yet on whether or not this service will cost extra or if it will definitely be part of the rumored X-Box Live Diamond service. Part of me hopes that the increase in membership fees last year sometime contributes to this service.

Sticking with the Kinect trend in the show, Microsoft continued to tout the motion controller's usefulness as they announced console exclusive version of Minecraft to be released later this year. This game has really taken off and now the indie darling is heading to the X-Box 360 with full Kinect support. Joining Minecraft will be the Star Wars Kinect game which went from a tech demo at last year's E3 to a full fledged title this year. The good thing here though is that Microsoft is back tracking from its original stance on Kinect tweaks as it is now releasing the Kinect Fun Labs which will give all users access to the many tweaks and hacks that have been shown on the Internet since the Kinect hit the market. This service is currently available for free to all Kinect users. Take a look at how the gaming community itself is helping to make strides in the usefulness of the motion technology.

Rounding out the Kinect heavy portion of the briefing was the announcement of a sequel to the wildly successful Dance Central, a Sesame Street inspired game from Double Fine, and Kinect Disneyland Adventures. A game for the kids is always kind of cool and having Tim Schafer at the helm of it is rather awesome. Dance Central 2 of course is coming from Harmonix, with the ability to import all your tracks from Dance Central 1 and now with co-op, a career mode, and improved mechanics. It should be a really cool experience for Kinect users. Kinect Disneyland Adventures is sort of a mixed bag though. It's basically experiencing Disneyland's attractions from the comfort of your home it would appear from the demo. I'm not sure I quite get the appeal as I'd much rather go to Disneyland but to each their own. If you're looking for more gaming centric things then look no further than Lionshead's freshly announced Fable: The Journey which will once again, take advantage of the Kinect motion control. There was a brief trailer and demo which mainly showed some of the combat including the player forming some kind of magic spear. It looked kind of nifty so it's something I'll follow a bit as far as updates go.

I'm sure at this point I've sort of gone out of order but once I got into the Kinect stuff I figured it'd be best to roll with it. In any case, along with all this Kinect heavy property, we got the announcement of Halo: Combat Evolved the remix. Yes, to go along with the 10 year anniversary of the release of Halo, Microsoft is remaking Halo: Combat Evolved, cashing in on the remastering trend that is sweeping the industry. But if old school Halo isn't your cup of tea, then don't fret. Closing out Microsoft's conference was the announcement of Halo 4, the beginning of a new trilogy. It would have been an unexpected surprised if this news hadn't been leaked this morning shortly before the conference when someone accidentally updated the X-Box homepage just a little too early. fortunately for Microsoft, it didn't dampen any one's enthusiasm for the announcement as they got quite the loud ovation for the teaser. I'm sure we'll hear much more about it in the coming months.

That about covers Microsoft's conference and honestly I have mixed feelings about it. Some of the stuff that was shown off looked amazing. The Modern Warfare 3 demo looked good and I'm very much looking forward to hearing more about Tomb Raider, Ghost Recon, and Mass Effect 3. The problem here though is that all these games are third party games. Aside from Gears and Halo, they didn't have much to show off in terms of first party games. It's the reverse of the Nintendo situation where they lack third party support but have stellar first party games. We'll see how it goes but it could be an uphill battle for them from the software end. Let me know what you think of Microsoft's showing today. Sound off in the comments!

Konami's Pre-E3 Show

2011-06-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

Konami opted to do something a little different this year. Normally there are several publishers that hold their own personal conferences during E3. These companies are usually Ubisoft, Konami, and Electronic Arts; relative giants in the industry. Seemingly getting a leg up and kick starting E3 a few days early, Konami decided to hold their conference today. Though to be fair it wasn't so much a conference and more of an hour long infomercial on what Konami has up their sleeves for the coming year. So what did they unveil in their hour long segment? A lot of cool tidbits actually. We got brief looks at some of the games they have in development for release this year along with some information on some high-def collections that will be coming out. Lets get the rundown.

Okay lets get one thing out of the way, which I think is the most pressing thing coming out of Konami. Hideo Kojima, of Kojima Productions is not attending E3 this year. That's sort of a big deal considering the creator of Metal Gear has dished out almost yearly announcements at E3 for quite a while. More often than not these were followed up with some epic and humorous trailer offerings. This year Kojima took a more subtle approach by having some segments set up for Konami's recorded presser. Together with the guys over at Mega64 he dropped a few of the bombshells he's known for without even attending the big conference. So what did he let loose on the industry? Some pretty nifty ideas if I must say so myself. Oh and in case you're wondering about Metal Gear Solid: Rising, it will have no presence at this year's E3 but is on track for a 2012 release. Now onto the good stuff!

1. Transfarring

Don't get thrown off by the name he's come up with this new system. The basic concept behind this is taking an active saved game file on your PS3 and basically loading it onto your PSP so that you can continue playing this game on the go. Recently Sony has come out with an idea called remastering where they take old PS1 and PS2 games that people would like to see revitalized and bring them to the PS3 via emulation. What Kojima is proposing isn't done via emulation, but essentially taking the same game that you're playing on the PS3 and putting it right on your portable gaming system. This will begin with HD remakes from the Metal Gear Solid series. Coming to the Playstation 3(and surprisingly to the 360 as well) this fall will be high definition remakes of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The major point he wanted to stress was that with the transfarring enabled, you will be able to start up a game of say Snake Eater on your console. And say you are taking a trip via train or bus or what-have-you. You'll be able to plug your PSP into your PS3 and transfer your save file to the PSP. From there you will be able to continue your game and when needed you will be able to transfer the save file back onto the PS3 to continue playing on your home console set up.

2. HD Remakes

I kind of spilled the beans on that already with my write up on transfarring. Basically we'll be seeing the Metal Gear Solid games revitalized in an HD collection. Not only that but fans of the Zone of Enders series will be getting their grubby little mitts on an HD collection of Zone of Enders 1 and 2. Elsewhere in the Konami world the franchise of Silent Hill will see a set of remakes as well. So yeah, the whole updated classics thing is really taking off.

Snake Eater 3DS Promo Shot

3. The Fox Engine

The last thing Kojima talked about was sort of a reveal and not at the same time. The Fox Engine is something Kojima Productions has been working on since they finished Metal Gear Solid 4 in 2007 apparently. While most of the company's games have been developed with a single console in mind, the new developer tools they've created in the Fox Engine will allow for greater portability. The key concept in mind when developing the engine was multi-platform releases that could help them expand their horizons. There wasn't much to see of it now but it appears they have a very nice amount of work completed on the engine and we can expect an official announcement of Kojima's newest project at next year's E3.

Aside from Kojima Productions info, there wasn't very much announced. We got a look at some of the new animations and motion capture that is going into the new Pro Evolution Soccer title, along with a new trailer for it over course. One of the developers of Silent Hill: Downpour talked briefly about the direction of the game and you guessed it, there was a short trailer to follow soon after. As far as announcing new titles, there was a brief tease of a possible Contra sequel and a nice look at an interesting new third person shooter called NeverDead. As pointed out before in my E3 post, video recaps from the conferences can be found over at IGN, Gamespot, and Game Trailers. Out of everything I would definitely suggest checking out the trailer for NeverDead. It's got a very interesting concept behind it and some slick looking visuals to go along with a unique art style. And if you're interested in portable titles at all, you might want to take a look Snake Eater 3DS and the freshly announced Silent Hill: Book of Memories for the NGP.

Expect much more E3 news and tidbits to come in the next couple of days!

It's That Time Of The Year Again!

2011-06-02T11:52:00.001-04:00

This year's E3 is very quickly taking shape and it's starting to get pretty damn huge. Information seems to be getting released at a breakneck pace, I can barely keep up with it honestly. And that pace is only going to get faster as the days lead up to the actual event. For now I at least want to preview some of the big things we can expect to see covered when the big three step out onto their respective stages for their annual press conferences.

Nintendo

Right off the bat we know Nintendo is quite possibly going to have the most interesting conference of the year. Normally I never look forward to a Nintendo conference because they have a certain formula to them and an odd pacing. For years Nintendo used to trot out a representative who would go over various facts and figures displaying how their business has grown over the last year. For a while it was basically Nintendo boasting about how much money their handheld division was printing for them with the Gamecube's less than stellar performance. The Wii seemingly turned things around and made Nintendo's conferences just a little more exciting. But here we are five years down the road from the Wii's release; sales have slowed but the recently released 3DS is more than likely picking up the slack despite some of the sales not living up to expectations.

Despite this, I expect Nintendo to have the biggest showing of the three for one simple reason. They have already stated that the successor to the Wii console will be unveiled at this year's E3. Currently titled, Project Cafe, is Nintendo's latest foray into the console war, promising HD graphics while retaining the motion control that has wildly revolutionized Nintendo's brand in recent years. The more recent trade shows have been about Nintendo showing off the 3DS technology, expect their E3 conference to be the same but with Project Cafe's new tech at the forefront. But what will it take for Nintendo to really set themselves up to dominate yet again? Simple, they need games. New technology is all well and good but Nintendo needs support from third party developers. Rumor has it they have been courting Rockstar to develop for their new platform. It remains to be seen but I'd keep an eye out for interesting third party developers and publishers to sign on board for Nintendo's next console release.

Sony

Sony has their work cut out for them this year. Originally I thought they would have a ton of momentum going into this year's convention because for one, they have continued to support the motion controller they introduced last year. The Playstation Move has been integrated into many titles already, even being bundled with high profile releases like Killzone 3 and Socom 4. Not to mention the many attachments that these releases spawned such as the sharpshooter rifle attachment. Simply put, Sony has been smart about what the Move can do for them in the long run. On the other end of the spectrum Sony had a new portable in the wings waiting to be profiled. After its official unveiling a few months ago, we'd finally get some proper hands on looks at their new handheld platform, the NGP(Next Generation Portable). Yes the name still kinda sucks so I expect it will be re-branded at E3 next week with something to fall in line with the Playstation brand itself. On top of this, it's just an all around big year for Sony's games divisions with several exclusives on shelves and more to come. We've already seen the release and success of LittleBigPlanet 2, Killzone 3, and Socom 4 this year. In the coming months they will deliver inFamous 2, Uncharted 3, Resistance 3, The Last Guardian, Twisted Metal and I'm sure they have a slate of motion specific games to show off as well.

You'd think will all that on its plate, things would be looking up for the folks at Sony. I have a feeling that won't be the case, at least not entirely. Earlier this year Sony found themselves in a legal tussle with a hacker who had unlocked the keys to the PS3 and posted them online for the hacking community to take advantage of. While Sony was in their legal right to protect their property, it was still sort of a dicey situation to get into and it certainly enraged a portion of the hacking community who later went on cause trouble for Sony with some server disruption. This eventually led to the massive internal intrusion into Sony's Playstation Network where millions of users had the private information that was stored on the network compromised. In turn Sony shut down the PSN for a number of days in order to reconfigure the network and beef up their security. The network has only recently gone back up. Considering some people are still up in arms about this I expect a portion of Sony's conference will be set aside to talk about what they're doing to ensure another breach like this cannot happen. We know they have a lot of interesting things to show off, but I wonder how much time they'll have to do that while also still running damage control on the PSN situation. Once again, we'll find out next week.

Microsoft

In my opinion, Microsoft seems to have the weakest going into the conference. Last year they trotted out Project Natal which was then re-branded as the Kinect. Their revolutionary controller free motion technology would release in the fall and go on to sell like hotcakes. Hell even to this day they're still selling tons of these things. However Microsoft hasn't followed Sony's example with the Move. The games that launched with the Kinect in the fall of 2010 are essentially the only games currently available aside from a few mini game collections and fitness games. Much like the Wii, Microsoft seems to have fallen into a small rut where there aren't a lot of major titles being released for the Kinect or developers who are incorporating Kinect into their regular releases. As it stands right now, the Kinect is kind of stagnant.

Now when Microsoft and Sony released their respective motion controllers I always figured the race between them would heat up at the following E3 once each company had a solid install base. The difference here is that like I've stated, Sony has continued to support the Move since its launch. Meanwhile Microsoft just kind of let the Kinect flounder while relying on the sales of the initial launch titles. It just kind of seems lazy to me. In any case we know that we can at least expect to see Microsoft try to revitalize interest in the Kinect with some new titles for it. Already there's word going around that they'll show off the Star Wars Kinect title that they teased at last year's event so that's something at least. In essence, they will have to trot out a line up of games to captivate the audience. I've already listed the number of exclusives Sony has released and will release this year. Nintendo has quite a few up its sleeve still to come for the 3DS and I'm sure they'll pull the lid off of titles being developed for Project Cafe. That leaves the X-Box to come out the gates with..Gears of War 3. Don't get me wrong, Gears 3 is a BIG title for Microsoft. I'm even highly anticipating that game myself. But after racking my brain and discussing the topic with Andrew, we came to realize that Gears 3 is Microsoft's only big exclusive on the horizon.

So we can probably expect some massive Gears coverage from Microsoft themselves. Then much like previous conferences I imagine they'll pad things out between Gears and the Kinect with some high profile third party titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, The Darkness II, and perhaps even another look at Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Though this is E3 we're talking about here. It's the biggest show of the year for all three companies and I imagine there will be many surprises. Microsoft is the one company I'd expect to see pull out many of those surprises because at first glance their conference looks like it doesn't have much going for it on paper.

We'll all know these things for sure when the conference kicks off on June 7th. If you're interested in watching any of these conferences they will be streaming online as well as covered on TV by a variety of outlets. Sony will even be streaming their conference on the Playstation Network via PS Home. You'll also find streams from the usual suspects such as Gamespot, IGN, 1UP, Game Trailers, and G4(who will also televise the conferences.) Once again E3 is upon us and I have to admit I'm sorta excited to see where the industry is headed next. Game on!

How Much Is Too Much?

2011-05-30T22:24:00.000-04:00

When it comes to console gaming not much changed over the years. The experience is about the same; you buy your console of choice and your buy your games. In recent years developers have tried to give consumers more bang for their buck as the prices of consoles and games rise. That's fair considering the current $59.99 price point for your average brick and mortar release. They have even managed to breathe new life into games by releasing additional content that can be downloaded via your console, for a price of course. The good thing about this is that these prices are usually fairly low because the additional content isn't as significant as what would come on the disc. That is unless you're Activision and know that people will buy the content for their game because of its runaway success and so they charge $15 for 5 maps. I would normally say that's besides the point and get to the matter at hand but the matter at hand is just that. Here were are a few days away from E3 and the Wall Street Journal just dropped some information to the net about Activision once again riding a slippery slope as they are attempting to adopt a subscription based model for their next Call of Duty release.

Subscription based games aren't a new thing. PC gaming is almost built around it with many massively multi-player online games that require a monthly subscription fee to play. However these games have massive amounts of support, influxes of content, and dedicated servers that the subscription goes to maintaining. For PC gaming, it's a sound model because it is the only charge for access that the consumer receives after the initial purchase of their game. The situation is much different with consoles. For most people they buy the console, and the game and that's it. Sure they can choose whether or not to take the game online or to purchase additional downloadable content for the game. But the fact that Activision has the audacity to introduce a subscription based model to their Call of Duty games seems like another way they can milk the franchise. After all, this is the same company that ran the Guitar Hero franchise into the ground by trying to release 9 Guitar Hero branded games in one year. Their basis for this is that the subscription fee will only be for extra features and not any of the base online features people have come to expect with their games. However the Wall Street Journal article goes on to detail some of the features included.

Basically your subscription, that you will pay monthly will give you access to extra content like downloadable maps. These are the same maps that you normally pay a flat rate for. Unless you're getting a new set of maps on a monthly basis, I don't see how that's justifiable. But for the sake of argument let me continue on with a direct quote; "Another feature of the service will give Call of Duty players tolls, modeled on those from stock-trading websites, to analyze their performance within the game, gauging factors such as which weapons have been most successful for them in killing enemies." I'm not sure about you but this sounds an awful lot like the comprehensive stat tracking that the more recent Call of Duty games already have which shows how many times you have killed people with the various in game weapons, which weapon you use the most, and so on and so forth.

I'm not going to deny that this isn't a good business strategy but it's also a very risky one. Lots of fans already complain about Activision's pricing for map packs. Some people still buy them, hell I bought Black Ops and the first map pack when it came out. I have however become annoyed with Activision's business practices and the fact that they will pimp out an intellectual property to the point that it becomes unprofitable. They've created a franchise that for the passed three years has generated billions in profits and sold millions of additional map packs. Activision is raking in the cash from the Call of Duty machine and yet they still believe there is more money to be sought from the consumer. Not only will you plunk down $60 on the game itself but they think you'll then go on to pay roughly $9.99 a month ($120 a year) for added content. Of course, if you are playing on the X-Box 360, this is on top of your subscription for X-Box Live. Should you get suckered in for this added content, you'll be paying for access to X-Box Live so you can play online, then you'll be paying Activision for stat tracking, maps, and a couple other features, on top of your $60 game purchase. I'm sorry but that's too much. Just because it works on the PC doesn't meant it'll work on consoles, that's why it hasn't been done before. Publishers know this. But low and behold, Activision proves once again that much like the honey badger, they just don't care. They want your money and they want it bad. All I'm pleading for here is a little bit of sanity. If you're hardcore into Call of Duty I won't fault you for purchasing this. But please know that you're simply giving them free reign to monetize features that were previously free. Frankly, I think enough is enough.

[Source, Wall Street Journal Online]

Free To Play!

2011-05-25T20:03:00.000-04:00

Admit it, you probably saw that title and jumped up with joy. Yes I'm about to talk about a game at that very special sweet price point of FREE! Okay let me drop my excitement level so I can actually do this right. Recently it was reported that several of Ubisoft's titles would slip out of the 2011 release calendar into 2012. One of those titles, Ghost Recon: Future Solider, I was really looking forward to. Frankly I love a good third person cover shooter so it was one title I highly anticipated. Fortunately for us Ubisoft is going to quench our multi player blood lust by releasing a free to play online version of Ghost Recon, aptly titled Ghost Recon: Online. For those of you familiar with the earlier entries into the Ghost Recon series this generation on the X-Box 360, the game will essentially be what you've come to expect with more of a streamlined interface and all for the price of FREE. I'm still excited I guess. In any case check out the trailer below and make sure to keep an eye peeled for more info on it at this year's E3. We're only a week away!

[source Ghost Recon: Online]

Good News Everyone! (Trenched Related)

2011-05-25T17:31:00.003-04:00

This pretty much made my day. After a lengthy period with absolutely no news or media, Double Fine's genre bending 3rd person coop mech combat tower defense shooter action game thing Trenched has been given an official release date, price, and a sweet trailer to boot! Thanks for the update Joystiq!

We can get our eager little hands on this beast on June 22nd for the price of $15, unfortunately only being released on Xbox Live. $15 is not much more than $10, which isn't much more than $5, which means it's practically free! For the amount of content this game is promising, it's already a steal.

I hope to have a first impressions up the week of release, with a review shortly after the first impressions. Can't wait!

Good gaming!

L.A. Noire - The Review

2011-05-23T10:59:00.001-04:00

I really couldn't wait to get back and share my thoughts on L.A. Noire. So much so that I did some impressions the day after its release just to share some thoughts on how much I was enjoying it. Little did I know that what I had experienced was just the tip of the iceberg. This game is deep, thoughtful, and ridiculously awesome. What Team Bondi has delivered into the hands of gamers might be the first step in a new wave of interactive media and quite frankly I welcome it with open arms. While some of the concepts might not be entirely new, the interface and material are presented in such a way that L.A. Noire is very much creating its own special genre. It is perfect by no means but the high spots definitely outshine the flaws and makes L.A. Noire Rockstar's finest game to date. That statement is one I found hard to make at first considering how much I loved 2010's Red Dead Redemption, but after spending enough time with this game it became an accurate statement.

The thing about L.A. Noire is that at some points it almost borders on being a straight up detective simulator. This is something that not many games have allowed players to experience. Most of the time we're on the other side of the law as some amoral thug who deep down has a heart of gold. That routine was becoming a bit cliche for Rockstar and very quickly people labeled Noire as Grand Theft Auto set in the 1940s. That couldn't be farther from the truth though. Rockstar allowed Team Bondi to craft something different entirely. Sure the fact that you play a cop isn't a new thing in games. Titles such as True Crime and Stranglehold allowed you to do the same thing, except the entire time you were still driving recklessly and mowing down countless enemies. In L.A. Noire you can't even draw your gun unless you are engaging a suspect who has pulled a gun on you. Basically you only use extreme force when necessary. I'm getting ahead of myself here though. Lets break this game down to give you a good idea of what you would be getting into.

Story

I'm going to do my best to keep this spoiler free because I know there are a lot of people out there who have not played the game yet or are unsure of even trying it. The story revolves a World War II veteran and now a police officer for the L.A.P.D, Cole Phelps. Taking control of Phelps, the player is first tasked with being a simple patrol officer. As you complete your cases, your progress is marked and evaluated to give you a rating at the end of each case. While the rating has no real bearing on your progress it does note things that could have been handled differently. Regardless you will advance through the ranks of the police department from patrol officer to traffic cop, later to homicide, to vice, and lastly to arson. Peppered throughout the cases are various cut-scenes that fill you in on the inner workings of the city as well as an overarching plot that runs deeply throughout the game.

L.A. Noire's protagonist, Cole Phelps

There are threads that tie the separate cases together and while they might not be apparent at first, a keen eye will be able to pick up on subtle hints throughout the game. Surprisingly, at later points in the game the story takes a weird turn. This is something I knew before playing the game as IGN's review called attention to the situation (but not the details.) While somewhat odd at first from a story standpoint, as you progress through these later portions you'll find how everything connects. In the end the story is a well woven tale of corruption in the City of Angels that seems almost common place given the time period the game is set in. But as you play as the city's white knight, it is up to you to unravel the various conspiracies surrounding drugs flooding the streets and the unfortunate demise of returning war vets. All the while you'll learn more about Phelps' service in the war while following his rise through the ranks and then some.

Game-Play

Going into L.A. Noire we all knew that the game play would be somewhat different from traditional Rockstar games. As I've stated many times before, most of Rockstar's titles have you playing some outlaw with no regard for pedestrians or the law. L.A. Noire is very different in this way because technically you are the law now. It is up to you to go out and protect the upstanding citizens of Los Angeles by keeping the riff-raff off the streets and making sure the bad guys are behind bars. To do this it will take incredible amounts of careful investigation and rousing interrogations to find the culprits behind murders and arson cases and make sure justice is served. Playing most of this game will be very familiar territory. The interface is very similar to that of Grand Theft and Red Dead. Cover mechanics are provided for shoot outs and the driving is all too familiar. This isn't a bad thing though because those games had very good control schemes that provided a high amount of ease for new players to slip into.

The difference is not just the circumstances of who you're playing but the style in which you play. Each case starts with a briefing in the police station from your commanding officer following a cut scene of the crime itself. From here your and your partner visit the scene of the crime and investigate. First you will have to gather clues and evidence surrounding the crime scene while also consulting with the coroner on the scene. Any information you gather will then be transferred to your notepad for easy access throughout the case.More often than not there will be a witness at the scene who will provide added information for your case. Sometimes this will even lead to mini-interrogations of the witness and that is where L.A. Noire shines its brightest. The interrogation system is Noire's ace in the hole thanks to the advanced motion capture technology that transcribes an actor's whole performance rather than just their voice and a few visual cues that are later touched up by an animator.

This level of realism requires you to carefully scour your case notes when you interrogate a witness or suspect. At the same time you must watch the witness/suspect as they respond to your questions because it is then up to you to decide whether they are telling the truth. If you don't believe they are telling the truth you can accuse them of lying but you will need evidence in your case notes to back up this claim and get them to spill the beans. If you believe that they're not being completely truthful and may just be holding back on you a bit you can select the option to doubt their testimony. There are audio cues letting you know if you have selected correctly and the person of interest will give up more information to help your case. In my experience I had varying success in determining whether someone was being truthful or if they were flat out lying to me. Incorrect interpretations of testimony can cut off tracks in your investigation, leading you to do more legwork than necessary. So if you are completely terrible at reading people you'll still be able to progress through the game. However this can lead to you putting the wrong person behind bars every now and then. It's not truly detrimental to your specific case or career, but on occasion you may just feel bad.

That is why the investigation phase of each case is very important. Leave no nook and cranny untouched because if you don't have any evidence you will have to rely on your wits just that much more when you go in for an interrogation. And that is the aspect of L.A. Noire that I think is most intriguing. A game that doesn't push you forward with action sequences and big set pieces. The pacing is slow and the action is only there when necessary. This game is based more on intuition and wit rather than the game just tossing things out at you. Very rarely does a game put that much faith in a player to figure these sorts of things out and I applaud Team Bondi and Rockstar for believing that we're very capable of doing this. That isn't to say that they don't offer ways of giving us a little help. There is a option to turn on controller vibration during a case and the controller will vibrate when you are close to a clue.

Also included are several musical cues to let you know when you've gotten a interrogation assumption correct or incorrect as well as a separate musical cue to let you know all the clues in a vicinity have been found. And before I forget, there are intuition points you gain from advancing through the game's separate ranking system. For every rank you receive an intuition point which can be used during a case to eliminate an answer from the choices of Truth, Doubt, or Lie. You can also spend that point to scour the internet servers to see what the popular choice of the gaming community was or if you're stumped for clues you can use the point to reveal all clues in the area. As you can see there is a lot of help if you need it but for the most part they try to leave you to your gut feelings and what you find on your own. I should also mention though that investigations and interrogations are not the only part of the game. There are street crimes that you and your partner can take part in by answering distress calls over the dispatch radio, providing another layer of depth to the game. These crimes can range from suicidal jumpers to bank robberies and everything in between.

Graphics

Team Bondi set out to create a certain aesthetic when they made this game. Drawing from classic film noir influences, they crafted a game that embodies the style perfectly. To be fair the game is in color but there is also an option to play it in black and white if you want to go the extra mile. Still it is not just the style of the game that jumps out at you. Unlike other Rockstar games, this is not set in a fictional city. The game and the crimes themselves are based on Los Angeles in the 1940s. Because of this Team Bondi went to great lengths to recreate the city in all its glory from that time period. The result of their hours of research and planning results in an incredible interpretation of 1940s Los Angeles; a city teeming with life and burgeoning style on the surface but with a seedy underbelly. And while the recreation of the city itself is stunning, just as much credit needs to be given to the team for their studious attention to detail in designing the clothing and vehicles of the time period.

Of course Los Angeles is a huge place so things aren't exactly to scale but for an in game map there is definitely a lot of ground to cover between the towns of Wilshire and Hollywood. Along the way you'll come across 30 different landmarks and there are over 90 different vehicles to discover. As you explore the map you'll even come across several garages that house hidden vehicles for you to discover so you should keep an eye out for marked doors. The graphical presentation of this game isn't solely based on the environment though, as good as it is. And believe me, Team Bondi deserves a large amount of credit for what they did with the environment. The presentation of the characters deserved to be heralded as well though.

I have been singing the praises of Depth Analysis' MotionScan technology for a while on the blog. Depth Analysis, by the way, happens to be Team Bondi's sister company and the ones that created the most advanced motion capture technology the industry has ever seen specifically for L.A. Noire. This technology is already being used by other studios as well as studios in the film industry. Needless to say it is becoming a big deal and this game clearly proves why. L.A. Noire's intricate interrogation system just simply would not have been possible if animators had to take voice over work and then had to sync flapping lips to the dialogue. This is a pitfall that effects many games and during cut-scenes can actually be sort of distracting. In Noire it is pivotal to the interrogation system to be able to read subtle facial expressions and eye movements in order to tell just what your suspect is thinking. Normal animation techniques just wouldn't allow the level of detail Team Bondi needed. The result? Simple amazing, due in part to a great cast who made some very strong performances. Frankly that was necessary for a game that is more of a study in character than anything else. While it's not chock full of recognizable faces and voices, there are certain character performance that just leap out at you and become instantly memorable. If we're lucky this technology will catch on in the coming years, eliminating dull eyes and out of sync flapping lips and replacing them with top notch performances.

Sound

Oddly enough I think I covered part of the sound in the prior portions of this review. Ambient sounds and musical cues add to effective help when you're investigating a crime scene while the swell of the dramatic score accompanies your interrogation as you gain the upper hand over your suspect. The actor performances are fantastic and are transcribed with incredible feeling and care, bringing the cast of L.A. Noire to life with incredible realism. As far as sound effects go, Rockstar has never been one to disappoint in this area. From the sounds of gunshots to the crunch of metal when cars collide, they're all delivered with crystal clear clarity in Dolby digital.

As for the soundtrack, like the rest of the game it's true to the spirit of the era. Over the course of the game there is a club that Cole Phelps will visit from time to time, leaving one of his partners to comment on the rise of jazz in Los Angeles. Some of this can clearly be heard over the car radio as you cruise the streets of L.A. to the sounds of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Accompanying these songs is an original score very much in the same jazzy vein; created by the same composer who handled the soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Andrew Hale. The tunes are pretty catchy and honestly I found myself humming along with them as I traveled to each new location in a case. More often than not I even found myself taking non-police cars as my mode of transportation so that I could listen to the soundtrack as opposed to the music being interrupted by the dispatch radio.

Closing Remarks

I was very wary of this game. In recent days some reviews had tempered my level of hype for Rockstar's latest effort. The game had long been in development, much like last year's Red Dead Redemption. Regardless I still bought it. It was a bit of a risk but I made the decision based on Rockstar's track record, Team Bondi's prior work on the Getaway series in the PlayStation 2 era, and the new tech that powered the game. It was a risk that I think payed off immensely. What was delivered to me and every other gamer was an experience unlike any other game on the market. While some games have you mindlessly plod through immense set pieces simply blowing away every enemy in sight, L.A. Noire takes games to a more mature level. The game makes you use your own wits and cunning to progress. In the event that you're wrong it's not game over though, you still move on. In fact there's no real way to fail a case unless you get into a shoot out and die. Much like in life, a poor investigation can lead to collaring the wrong guy and doing so just means you're back working the beat for a while. This is more for story flow than a real demotion but quite frankly tossing the wrong guy into the slammer has a certain kind of effect on the way you handle your next case.

As far as cons go there's a few. The game has it's fair share of glitches that range from graphical problems to sound glitches. There was a few instances in the game where the audio cut out during bits of dialogue. Also there was one cut-scene where not only was the dialogue cut out but seemingly an entire character appeared to be missing. I thought perhaps this was some sort of element of mystery in the story but since it never came up later in the story I figured it for a glitch. As of this writing there has already been a title update from Team Bondi and Rockstar to cover some of the glitches. Hopefully those has been covered. For note, the game is out for the PS3 and X-Box 360 but it's been noted that the PS3 was the lead platform for the development team.

Because of this it fills an entire Blu-Ray disc while spanning across three separate DVDs for the 360. The 21 cases are split between the discs and it seems either disc can be played in the Streets of L.A. free roam to collect cars, landmarks, and do street cases. And while I can't speak for its performance on the PS3, there are times during my play through on the 360 that the game began to chug because there was simply too much going on. Noire is very resource intensive and it clearly shows. The city scape is massive and the graphical details are some of the best ever seen in a game without dipping into the uncanny valley so I can understand it being very taxing on either system. There have even been some reports of the game causing PS3s and 360s to overheat. I haven't experienced any of this myself and I've played the game for some pretty lengthy amounts of time (some cases can take an hour or longer to complete). Fortunately Rockstar is aware of the issue and I believe they're doing their best to rectify the situation. I personally haven't downloaded the update yet but I plan to and play through the game again to see if it corrects the graphical glitches I mentioned above.

So in the end I think the gamble paid off in big ways for Rockstar and Team Bondi. They put together a strong story and some of the best performances ever seen in this form of media. Not only this but they have introduced a mechanic that made this less of a normal video game and more of an interactive drama. In an age where gamers are growing up and the demographic skews towards young adults who actually have income to purchase these games, it's great to see a studio that is crafting an experience to appeal to that more mature audience. With this release, Rockstar continues their streak of delivering some of this generation's best games. I can't wait to see what they, and Team Bondi, collaborate on next.

Final Score

9,0/10

First Impressions - L.A. Noire

2011-05-18T11:37:00.000-04:00

Going into L.A. Noire I wasn't sure what to expect. As the release date neared I found myself reading many reviews in preparation but I knew none of them would really sway my decision to play the game. I was far too interested in the premise as well as the technology powering Rockstar's latest marvel. I already had a small taste of what a detective styled game could be like with small portions of detective work presented in last year's Heavy Rain. However L.A. Noire takes that ball and runs with it at full force while retaining some of our favorite sandbox game play mechanics. Those of us familiar with Grand Theft Auto's previous installments know full well that there's plenty to do and see around the model cities when you're not out doing missions.

L.A. Noire is no different as very often dispatch will notify you of crimes in progress while you're on your way to a destination. This breaks up the monotony between actual cases and even introduces a fair bit of action into the game play as these crimes in progress usually lead to some heated gun play or fist fights. Thankfully Team Bondi has a fairly capable cover and shoot system on their hands very reminiscent to Grand Theft Auto 4's cover system. It works extremely well and makes the game play smoothly. One thing I've noticed so far is that the game has more of a free-running element to it where the animation system compensates for distance and movement when chasing down a criminal. This allows you to scale fences, climb ladders, and jump gaps without additional button presses so you're focused more on the task at hand; catching the perp.

The meat of this game though is still the fantastic facial performances and the way Cole interacts with these unique characters. The first desk of the precinct that you work does well to hold your hand through the process of investigation and interrogation but after that it simply falls on your shoulders to read a person's face when they're giving an eye witness account or filling the gaps to information that you have thus far collected. It brings a very different feel to the game as you have to rely more on your wits than anything else. The game is essentially challenging you. And let me tell you, these performances are outstanding. I was honestly fooled on two separate occasions during my first two hours with the game. This creates a lot of tension in the way you conduct your investigation. Your best bet is always to cover the crime scene and find everything as the more clues you gather the more ammunition you have when you finally sit someone down and start asking questions.

Though you'll still have to put one and one together and build a solid case. One wrong accusation could cut off your case at the knees and require more legwork than necessary. At the same time, you are being graded to an extent, building experience with each case. The best grade seems to come from follow up on every lead and making the most thorough investigation possible. Needless to say it was trial and error that made me realize this after leaving one lead unchecked because I had already figured out who the culprit was. It was more of a perfectionist thing. In any case, the game is crisp, the dialogue is fantastic and the performances are nothing short of amazing. From my short time with the game I can say so far Team Bondi has delivered on everything they built this game up to be. Look for a full review of the game to come up very shortly.

L.A. Noire Preview

2011-05-12T13:15:00.000-04:00

With under a week to go before the game releases on the X-Box 360 and PS3 platforms I thought it would be nice to do a little preview of the title. Considering it's probably the number one game I'm anticipating this year I've been giving it a lot of play on the blog. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Rockstar Games because they continue to put out quality products that appeal to the mature gaming audience. Rockstar is mainly known for their huge, open world sandbox games which became popular with Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PS2. Their unique blend of freedom, story, and game play created a juggernaut of a franchise with the follow ups to GTA3. They would also branch out this generation with Red Dead Redemption, which some people thought would simple be Grand Theft Auto with horses but it proved itself to be much more than that.

With L.A. Noire they seem to have an entirely different beast on their hands. Gone are the fictional towns of the old west and Liberty City. Instead Team Bondi has taken on the task of recreating Los Angeles of the 1940s while researching the various real life crimes and unsolved murders of the era. This is where L.A. Noire seems to take a bit of a turn from what Rockstar is known for. In Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption the player takes control of some fairly rugged individuals. John Marston was a reformed outlaw while Niko Bellic was more a former soldier trying to make a new start. In both cases the characters were trying to leave their old ways behind and live upstanding lives, however over the course of the story they were led into situations which required them to set their morals aside. L.A. Noire's Cole Phelps is vastly different from the start though. Phelps is a World War II veteran who returns home to Los Angeles where joins the police department. From the get go you're going to be upholding the law instead of breaking it.

This is an area I think Rockstar tends to shine as they manage to create some very compelling characters so it will be interesting to see how Phelps' personality progresses throughout the game based not only on the story but the player's actions. Speaking of progression, much like Rockstar's other games there is a interesting story that unfolds over the course of the missions you take on. The spin on L.A. Noire though is that as a police officer, Cole will advance through the ranks of the precinct. This means that you'll start off with a low level position such as a traffic cop but once certain objectives within that branch have been completed you will be promoted and you slowly make your way up to being a detective. From all intents and purposes it seems like a more organized version of Grand Theft Auto's mission trees which branch off with you doing different jobs for mobsters and their associates; just this time you're on the other side of the law.

Of course the meat of this game will be the work involved in solving the cases that come across your desk. The game being set in the 1940s gives it some rather interesting game play aesthetics that have been marketed very well by Rockstar and Team Bondi. Unlike modern times, there was no DNA testing or sure fire ways of knowing who committed a crime. Instead your crime scene investigation will consist of what you find on the scene, interviewing witnesses and then interrogating suspects. Part of this is achieved with the brand new motion capture process Team Bondi has used in creating L.A Noire. At this point I don't think I need to go in depth regarding their MotionScan technology considering I have covered it before in the blog which can be found here. To break it down simply, the tech allows for an actor's full facial performance to be translated on screen to create a very lifelike simulation. Because of this a big part of the investigation will be reading a person's face during an interrogation in order to tell if they are lying or not. If you believe they are, you can press them for more information. Of course you can never be too sure so it will take some intuition, not to mention some solid detective work as the clues you gather prior to an interrogation will help you close in on the perpetrator.

This isn't the only part of L.A. Noire though. Much like Rockstar's other games people will simply want to cruise around in cars or do some side missions that don't particularly relate to the story itself. If that's the case, Team Bondi has you covered. Much like the stranger system in Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto, there will be side quests that you can pick up just by listening to the police dispatch and heading to the scene of a crime or while patrolling the streets. In this regard there's no shortage of missions to take part in across the vast world Team Bondi has created. And if some of this sounds just a tad bit slow paced for you allow me to set your mind at ease. There is definitely enough action to go around. While the detective work is a big part of the game, that doesn't mean suspects will come quietly or willingly. If you're closing in on someone who clearly doesn't want to be caught you can definitely expect a struggle against you and your partner. And don't worry, you'll be well equipped to take down those criminals who resist arrest. The game uses some of the same technology for animation and physics as the rest of Rockstar's games and there are some techniques that can subdue an enemy without killing them; such as shooting them in the leg or disarming them. Lethal force is available to use but also remember, you're a cop and cuffing your suspect and bringing them in is your main priority. Though it will be interesting to see just what happens if worse comes to worse and you have to actually eliminate a difficult suspect.

Needless to say there will be enough content packed into this game to appeal to a wide variety of players. And if you don't believe that look no further than the 3-disc version for the X-Box 360. Yes, the game is that massive. Players will get enough bang for their buck though and there is a promise of downloadable content on the horizon with some of the pre-order bonuses that are currently being offered. Recent interviews have also revealed two other mission lines that were left out of the game that could eventually make their way in as DLC. It may have taken seven years to get this project from conception to finished project but it may have been well worth the wait. L.A. Noire releases on May 17th. Check back with us here at the blog for a full set of impressions on the finished game as well as a review. Until then you can check out the launch trailer below.

[Credit to IGN for the launch trailer video.]

Gears of War 3: The Beta

2011-04-27T13:48:00.000-04:00

If you haven't noticed by now we try to take advantage of beta testing here on the blog. If there's a beta, sure enough I'll try to get into it and give a game a whirl. Not only does it satisfy my need to try new games, but it also helps provide feedback to developers well before the game ships. Beta testing is almost necessary these days in order to balance the online portion of their games. That is why today I am able to write about the Gears 3 beta that is currently ongoing on X-Box Live. For those of you unfamiliar with the Gears of War series, let me provide some brief history. Gears is a futuristic 3rd person shooter chronicling humanity's war against a subterranean alien species called the Locust. This of course is a very vague description of the story as there are a few twists and turns along the way and I don't exactly want to spoil anything for anyone who may want to explore the games one day.

Anyway, the point of the beta isn't exactly trying out the final game's campaign but actually the online multi-player aspects. EPIC Games has actually put a nice little twist on the beta in that there are items in the final game that can be unlocked during the beta and later carried over when it releases in September. The beta is in Week Two of operations and currently there is a set number of options available to those participating. First of all you have Team Death-Match(TDM), a staple in every online shooter game. Gears 3 does try to put a nice spine on an old favorite though. Much like regular TDM, there is a score limit of sorts but the spin that EPIC applies here is that your score limit is the amount of respawns you get per match. There are 15 respawns per team and each round ends after a team's respawns have been depleted and the final team members have been killed. So of course the key here is to play smart because you don't have an endless supply of respawns. Your team is only as strong as the weakest link so if your team has someone foolishly running out into battle and using all your respawns you are essentially doomed to fail.

The other game type available during this phase of the beta is King of the Hill. Pretty basic here formula; the first team to collect 170 points from the hill points is the winner. Of course each point rotates from one area of the map to the other after a set number of points have been collected. It might sound basic but this is by far the craziest mode of the two available. Death-Match is all about decision making and some levels of strategy because you don't want to waste all your respawns. In King of the Hill however, things are completely opposite and that's why things tend to get hectic. There will be shots flying and body parts flailing all over the place in attempt to take hold of the hill. And trust me, Gears 3 has no short supply of weaponry to blow each other away with.

Standard issue gear returns from previous games in the form of the Gnasher shotgun, the Lancer chainsaw rifle, and the Hammerburst sub-machine gun. Gears 3 does introduce two more weapons into the default classes though in the forms of the Sawed-Off Shotgun and the Retro Lancer. The Sawed-Off is exactly as it sounds. It doesn't carry the same amount of ammo as the Gnasher but it does pack quite a punch, making it devastating at close range. The Retro Lancer isn't very good from a distance but at mid-range it can be very powerful. The recoil however can become problematic so it's best used as a burst weapon. As for the melee aspect, instead of a chainsaw there is a bayonet attached which can be used in the form of a roadie-run melee attack that essentially gores your opponent. Gears 3 also introduces a new series of weaponry procured on the maps themselves, along with several new executions.

The One-Shot

Previous games gave us a sniper rifle in the form of the Long-Shot. Very simple in it's execution and extremely powerful in the hands of a skilled player. A team with a proper sniper could definitely do lots of damage. The One-Shot however puts this weapon to shame. This hefty piece of machinery carries only three shots but you can really make them count as the weapon is essentially blows a hole through any living person(s) it's aimed at. Think of it as the Long-Shot on steroids with laser sight. Takes a little while to engage, much like the Mulcher gatling-gun, but when you get that shot off and your opponent explodes it is very much worth it.

The Digger Launcher

Grenades are definitely a big part of Gears game play. Right now there are frags, smoke grenades, poison ink grenades. The Digger Launcher takes this a step further, launching a projectile that burrows underground, traveling in a straight line and surfaces just in time to explode in the face of your opponent. Much like the One-Shot it comes with a limited number of rounds but the amount of damage it can inflict upon your enemies is far greater. Considering how important cover is in a cover-based shooter, having a weapon that circumvents that creates havoc for the first team to get the Digger.

Incendiary Grenades
Sure the poison ink grenade is great at flushing out enemies and causing damage but what if you just wanted to punish the hell out of your opponent? Well that's where the incendiary grenade comes in handy. Plenty of times a fire fight can break down into two groups hidden behind cover firing away at each other. It can get hairy and while a smoke grenade is a great distraction it also means you still need to close the gap and fire away at the other team. Sure you could toss a frag grenade if you have one but there's still a chance once it's engaged for your enemy to dodge away from the blast radius. This is where the incendiary grenade shines. Much like the ink grenade the incendiary grenade releases its contents as soon as it lands. But instead of a cloud of ink the enemy is instantly set ablaze. The grenade canvases a fairly large radius so it can easily be used to trap an enemy team and flush them out or simply burn them to a crisp. Basically it all comes down to preference. By far it is one of my favorite new weapons, right behind the One Shot.

Playing around with these weapons has been great fun so far but there are some definite cons to them as well. The One Shot for instance scopes in, leaving you vulnerable to incoming attacks at your sides and the Digger requires that your enemies be straight ahead in order for you to nail them as it only travels in a straight line. But I think we all know that with certain weapons and tactics come certain risks. Let me tell you the risks are definitely worth it if you succeed in your task. Which leads me to the level progression in this Gears game.

Before leveling in Gears was pretty basic. You collect experience points(XP) for different tasks you do in game. This was great especially in the fact that the game also took certain stats into count with this. Each round tallies the amount of kills, deaths, downs, and revives you've had. Much like Modern Warfare 2 though, the game now has badges and medals that you earn each game. There are also little cosmetic unlocks such as weapon skins and titles for your name of course. Lets face it, in this day and age we all expect a certain level of customization in our online shooters and EPIC provides us with just enough. Several unlockable character skins to choose from after starting off with Marcus and Dom for the COGS and your base Locust warriors. Some of these unlocks come from challenges while others come from just playing the game itself so there's a nice mixture of things that each person can unlock.

Now I know this all sounds lovey-dovey and like this beta is godly. I'll be honest I am really enjoying this beta but it still has a lot of the faults that Gears of War 2's multi-player had. For instance there are no dedicated servers. I get that this is a hard task to achieve for some games as it takes a lot of extra maintenance and work to include dedicated servers for a console game. This means that most games are hosted by the person with the strongest connection. Because of this the host always seems to have an in game advantage because of their superior connection. This leads to a lot of occurrences in game where one player completely dominates the competition. It can become frustratingly difficult for the other team to even put up a decent fight as the host's hits will connect faster and do more damage. It's an uphill battle for those of us who don't have the best connection.

After a while it just becomes disheartening for a player when they clearly know that despite what they're doing on screen there is an intangible factor preventing their shots from connecting with certain people. If anything it's one thing keeping me from logging in some serious time with the game. Not to mention some of the hit detection issues that have plagued some of the weaponry from the last game. I understand that the Gnasher shotgun is very powerful, but that doesn't mean that from a distance it should in any way be able to fire two shots and down me while I fire an entire Lancer clip into their chest. To borrow a phrase from South Park, that does not make sense!

Chewbacca Defense - That Does Not Make Sense!

And while I love the addition of the Sawed-Off Shotgun as a more powerful weapon with certain drawbacks, it's already proving to be a bit of a headache for some players when coupled with faulty hit detection and host advantage. This leads to some sad scenarios that end up with your head blown off via someone's Sawed-Off while you sit there puzzled about what just took place. Don't think much about it and just realize what happened does not make sense sometimes. If you really want a clear picture of the difference then watch the following video of Gears 2 in action. I'm not saying Gears 3 isn't great so far but it's starting to appear that the same pitfalls from Gears 2 are still there. These are problems that can potentially keep the game from being balanced and I hope there is some way to address them because the game play itself is very fun.

A Whole New Ball Game

2011-04-22T16:08:00.000-04:00

Recent rumors have been flying around that Nintendo has been working on a new console already. In fact if these rumors are correct they may be so far along in development that they'll be ready to reveal their newest creation at this year's E3 show. Now I know Nintendo doesn't get a lot of love here on the blog but there's a reason for that and it's not because I personally hate Nintendo. I just think their business model is a little wacky. And that's not to say that it isn't effective though because quite frankly everything they've developed in the last 9 years or so essentially just prints more money for them. However I feel like some of my dislike for Nintendo for so heavily investing themselves in the motion gaming movement of the last six years. Okay dislike is a strong term. I don't hate Nintendo or anything. I have a great deal of respect for them as I grew up with the brand being very prominent; loved the SNES and Nintendo 64.

However as I have matured and my tastes have changed, Nintendo has essentially stayed the same. When they finally did change with the Wii I just felt they were riding out a fad. The system sold well and for all intents and purposes revolutionized the industry. So much so that Sony and Microsoft were quick to turn around and create their own motion tech; the Move and Kinect respectively. The difference however is that this is additional hardware for Microsoft and Sony whereas Nintendo made a huge gamble by making the motion control of the Wii its main feature. Almost every game has been designed to include some level of motion control. Big gamble with some huge payoffs. The system is profitable and fun at the same time. But here we are five years later and Nintendo is already working on a new console when Microsoft and Sony are rumored to be looking at 2014 as the launch date for the next "console war" to begin. That's a full two years after the supposed debut of Nintendo's Wii 2.0. The plan for this system is to retain the Wii's control system but to basically increase the power of the system and it's graphical output to be on level, if not a little better than the PS3 and the 360.

Now I'm not an industry insider or anything, but I do follow the way things trend. I've seen systems launched only to be declared dead in the water shortly after. Is that going to happen to Project Cafe as it's being called right now? I have no idea. But if the rumors of a 2012 launch date are true I do think Nintendo is being a little short sighted here and it's because of the Wii itself. When the Wii launched it was all about the user experience and not the graphics. It was a solid mantra for Nintendo. The graphics weren't terrible but they weren't on par with the high definition visuals Sony and Microsoft were pumping out win their games. Cross-platform games meant a whole different engine scaled down for the game to even work on the Wii, not to mention a completely different control scheme. But the motion control scheme would add a whole new level of depth and fun that was appealing across the board; from casual to hardcore players alike. As the years go on though the difference between versions became glaringly obvious. Some games don't even get ported to the Wii because of it. Sales have slowed, and while it's still a high selling item Sony and Microsoft have gained considerable ground.

This would be fine if the Wii could continue to stand against the two machines. But once you exhaust the motion controlled play mechanics, there's not much room to grow. The other two systems though have room to keep increasing their graphical output as well as offer various modes for online play in their internet services, which is another department Nintendo is severely lacking in. So the gist of what I'm getting at here is the potential scenario of Nintendo dazzling crowds and dropping their new system in 2012. The system builds upon the success of the Wii and prints more money for Nintendo with it's fresh graphical capabilities and the new power source packed under the hood. Finally they would be on par, if not a little better than the 360/PS3 games coming out at the time.

Fast forward to 2014, Sony and Microsoft introduce full fledged console follow ups even more powerful than the PS3 and 360. Once again Nintendo would be the one fighting an uphill battle in the visual department and must rely on the user interface to be the deciding factor. Unless they go with a full fledged upgrade in their next system, once again they'll be faced with cutting a console's life cycle short in order to catch up with the capabilities of their competitors. Again, I respect Nintendo, and I'd hate to see them go down the same road again. More power to them for wanting to hit the market early much like Microsoft did with the 360 in 2005. There's no doubt that being first to market can have huge advantages. However if the rumors of a slightly better Wii with HD graphics is true, then it has the potential to come back and bite them in the rear. Now we still have a ways to go before E3 2011 kicks off where they will supposedly show off Project Cafe for the first time. Between now and then things could certainly change and they could prove me completely wrong with what they actually show off to the public. I just think it would be more beneficial for them and gamers alike to think more in the long term battle against Sony and Microsoft than in the short term. Create something that's still going to be viable competitive when the "war" kicks up again.

Emotional Connection

2011-04-11T19:12:00.000-04:00

Every now and then there comes a movie, song, or even a game that seems to connect with a person on all levels. It just manages to tug on your heart strings in the right way and connect you deeper with said form of media. In the world of games this is something that I can say rarely happens for me. I could probably only name a handful of games where I truly cared about what was happening to the character in the story. So many of our games today are today are created in the mold of turning the gamer into a faceless, silent protagonist who pushes forward with their mission regardless of story developments. Right off the bat I'll agree that these games can still be a lot fun, but I appreciate it more when I'm given a character that I can invest in. For a medium where a portion of its fans are crying out for it to be considered art, we have very few titles that can truly be considered as such.

I'm not talking about art from the stand point of art direction and such because quite frankly some of these games are down right gorgeous graphically. There's no doubt that they're created by some talented artists. But in terms of art on the level of a form of media that can move you in the emotional sense and connect with the player on a deeper level the industry seems kind of light. You're probably asking yourself what it takes for a game to have that kind of emotional attachment that most games seem to be missing. Well it takes several factors. Some games seem to be able to combine bits and pieces of this formula while others just falter miserably. I'm going to run through some of the qualities that I think help to bring real sentiment into the gaming realm. Also just a note, this post will contain spoilers for a few games.

Choice

Believe it or not but choice can be a big factor in drawing a gamer into their character. Taking one look at the Fable series shows a game franchise built on the idea of living the heroes journey while making difficult choices along the way. Forging a character the way you want them to appear and play can greatly impact your emotional involvement within a game. Though Fable still has a set narrative, the paths you take to reach the end of your character's journey are not so linear. Each person's path through the game can be unique to their own taste in several ways. From the way your character dresses to the subtle interactions with the citizens of Lionshead's fantasy world, each choice can help to create a sense of impact. In the end the world helps to reflect that what you do truly makes a difference to this little virtual world, whether it be for the better or for worse.

Infamous's Cole displaying the player's ability to make him good or evil

Fable isn't the innovator of the interactive choose your own adventure style of game play but it stands out as a game that definitely shines brightly because of the concept. However the problem with the franchise is that at times it can be a tad bit linear. For a series that promotes the concept of choice, it can be very limiting and use that idea of choice as a thin veil over the narrative. Fable 3 comes to mind where an idea was purely stripped down to its core for story purposes where your choices as the King of Albion have no real overall effect. It's a disconnect with the story that the prior game did not have. The series did have one other thing going for it though and that would be the inclusion of a canine companion.

Companionship

Building a relationship with a virtual character might sound off-putting but that's exactly what some developers strive for when they create in game companions to accompany your character on their journey. I think no other game exemplifies this quite like Shadow of the Colossus. The game is set in a desolate world of beautiful landscapes where the only characters that interact with the hero, dubbed Wander, are the disembodied temple voice he seeks out to restore his love, Mono, to the world of the living. This all powerful being tasks Wander with finding and slaying the 16 colossi of this world in order to bring Mono back to life. As Wander sets out on his quest, fueled by love, he has his trusty steed, Agro, by his side. That very horse becomes your life-line in this game as you battle creatures 10 times the size of your character.

Though faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, Wander fights and defeats colossus after colossus, each time suffering a blackout after slaying a creature. Through all of it though, Agro stands by Wanders side. It also helps that the remarkable Team ICO even allowed players to interact with the horse while traversing the landscapes of the barren world; almost mimicking a real relationship between a horse and its trainer. Needless to say that by the end of the game I had grown quite attached not only to Wander as he effectively played the role of the underdog as he battled monster after monster to bring back the love of his life, but also to Agro who joined me time and time again in accomplishing that goal. That only made it far more tragic and a bit heart-wrenching when the following scene played out on my television back in 2005.

At the time it was very shocking. Here it was that you were heading into battle with the last colossus and Agro was with you every step of the way; even going so far to sacrifice herself in order for you to complete your task. I won't spoil the rest of the game for those of you who have not played it but that's just the tip of the iceberg as far as the emotional ending to this game goes. It definitely shows just how effective companionship can be when you're working with an interactive medium. While it may start off seeming like forced interaction, it usually overcomes this to become a dynamic aspect of the game itself. When you couple this with a good plot and rich characters then you know the player is in for a treat. And that leads me to the third aspect of my list.

Characterization

While Shadow of the Colossus has a great narrative and the companionship factor going for it, it doesn't have the most amazing protagonist. I love Wander, I really do. But for the most part he's playing the normal role of a silent hero. Sure he has a few lines of dialogue here and there in the game's created language but it's not enough to flesh out the character. It's kinda hard to connect to a character who doesn't talk. However most games don't suffer from that. They just suffer from poorly written characters and overly cheap dialogue. One of the few exceptions to this I think comes from one of my favorite developers, Rockstar. Okay, some of the dialogue they create is kinda cheesy but they have a knack for creating compelling characters. The character that immediately comes to mind is none other than Red Dead Redemption's John Marston.

The grizzled frontiersman has a lot going for him but the main thing I want to talk about is the fact that he has qualities that the player can identify with throughout the game. At the outset of the game we find out that Marston used to run with a pretty tough crowd. The gang he once associated with use to run amok in the old west, causing problems for the innocent townsfolk that they came across. Somewhere down the line the life of crime became a bit much Marston and he decided to settle down with his lady. He leaves the old life behind and starts anew as a simple farmer with his son, Jack, and wife, Abigail. That is until the law finally catches up with him and tasks him with bringing in his old gang.

Much like other Rockstar games, Red Dead is all about the sandbox style of game play. You can do the missions when you want and basically however you want. Or there's plenty of other things to keep you busy without ever touching the missions. Open world games have a knack for easily distracting the player with events that don't necessarily tie into the story itself. Regardless of this fact, what makes Red Dead great is the way Marston is portrayed; coupled with the choice of the player. The idea of a man who's taken some questionable paths in his life and is now trying to live on the up and up is something that many people can relate to. It makes Marston easy to identify with. When you're able to relate to the character you're playing it's possible to become invested in their quest and in the character as well.

Considering Marston's in game motivation, it only seemed right to play the guy like the reformed criminal he was. What that entailed was basically upholding the law and doing the right thing. It essentially felt like I was helping to keep the character from regressing back to his old ways and turned him into a morally upstanding citizen. I have to admit, it doesn't mean things didn't get a little brutal at times. My Marston might have been upholding the law but he still got his hands dirty when he needed to. And that was the fun of the whole process really, crafting an experience that was unique to me. So there you are, fully drawn into Marston's tale of redemption, when the finale sends you for a loop. I've got to be honest in stating that it was the most emotional scene I had seen in a game since Agro's fall in Shadow of the Colossus.

When it's all said and done, at the end is a real life scenario in which a man struggles to get back to his family, only to have that ripped away from him when he finally achieves his goal. Just because it's told through a different form of media doesn't mean it can't carry that shame emotional weight it would in a book or movie. I think what it comes down to is creating a game that can succeed in that spectrum of entertainment though. Games like this have a more lasting impact on gamers as opposed to faceless space marine battles. As we gamers mature and grow older, I think that's the sort of experience we're looking for. All right I have ranted enough about this subject. Sound off in the comments and let me know what you think about my check list and if you have anything you think should be on the list.

Return to Raccoon City

2011-03-28T12:56:00.000-04:00

Many years ago Capcom dabbled with the idea of a multi-player Resident Evil game. And we're not just talking two player co-op but a full fledged online multi-player experience. This is before online gaming had taken off on the console market and exploded like it has over the last couple years. The result was the Resident Evil: Outbreak series.on the Playstation 2. Needless to say the technology back then couldn't handle the task Capcom had set before themselves. While the main series had moved onto Resident Evil: Code Veronica and was nearing Resident Evil 4, Outbreak returned gamers to the initial spread of the T-Virus in Raccoon City. Playing as one of several survivors of the zombie outbreak, you were tasked with partnering with three other players to complete several scenarios in which our survivors escaped the city before it became a smoking crater to contain the T-Virus.

While the game's premise was great, the execution left a little to be desired. As I look at some of the titles that people are playing today though it could be that Outbreak was just a little ahead of its time. The Playstation 2 was never really intended to be an online gaming console and so connections were slow and very unstable. It was very hard to find a game where people's connections didn't drop 10 minutes into a scenario. This unfortunate fact made it hard to ever complete a scenario with players online. This fact was only compounded by Capcom's design choice to not allow voice chat but instead opting for pre-set voice commands mapped to buttons on the controller such as calling out another character's name or yelling "Help!". Fair enough to say it was very basic but it sure did ramp up the suspense when playing. Especially when you saw that when starting a game more often than not you were separated from the rest group. Much like the other games, Capcom saw fit to minimize the amount of guns and ammo you could find. Luckily they also included rudimentary weapons such as lead pipes and broom handles that characters could use to fend off the onslaught of the undead. So very much of this game was spent walking around alone, searching for your teammates with a broom handle that could break at any minute. Tense? Yes. Fun? Sometimes. Again it was ahead of its time and just not something that could do the concept justice given the hardware.

Fast forward to 2011 and it seems Capcom might be going back to that well with a new game called Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. As part of their new initiative of partnering with western developers, Capcom has partnered with Slant Six Games; who previously worked on the Socom series for the Playstation. Together, they plan to revisit the Raccoon City incident and bring a whole new style of game-play to the Resident Evil series. Much like Socom, the game will be a squad-based third person shooter in which you play as Umbrella operatives during the Raccoon City outbreak which took place during Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Along (with a CPU team) or in co-op, you and your team will clash with the legions of the undead, cross paths with memorable Resident Evil characters, and battle United States agents hell bent on finding evidence of Umbrella's involvement in the outbreak. Slant Six and Capcom plan to deliver this title in the Fall/Winter of 2011 so expect more news and coverage to follow on this title in the coming months. Also check out the press release from Capcom after the break. In the meantime I'm going to get my zombie survival kit ready.

Capcom® a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced Resident Evil®: Operation Raccoon City, is in development for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and PC. In addition it was also confirmed that the forthcoming Nintendo 3DS™ title, Resident Evil®: The Mercenaries 3D, will ship with a playable demo of Resident Evil® Revelations.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is collaboration between Capcom and Vancouver based studio Slant 6 Games and is scheduled for release this Winter. Since the launch of the first title 15 years ago the Resident Evil® series has enjoyed phenomenal success, selling over 45 million units worldwide to date. This latest offering will take the series in a completely new direction and offer a style of game play yet to be seen from the franchise.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City delivers a true third person team based shooter experience set within the dark and sinister Resident Evil universe and a reinterpretation of the events depicted in Resident Evil® 2 and Resident Evil® 3. The setting of the Resident Evil universe not only provides a rich backdrop to the action but delivers a unique and thrilling triple threat battle. Zombies and Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W’s) add to the mix as players not only compete against an opposing squad but also tackle this third unpredictable element, creating a brand new style of game play and breaking the conventions of traditional team based shooters.

It is September 1998 and the action centres once more on the ill-fated Raccoon City and the horrific consequences of the deadly T-virus outbreak from the Umbrella facility. With a cover up required, Umbrella orders an elite team into Raccoon City to destroy all evidence of the outbreak and eliminate any survivors. Hearing of this plan, the US Government dispatches its own special forces to uncover any evidence that exposes the cause of the viral infection and Umbrella’s actions. Players take on the role of an Umbrella Security Services soldier (U.S.S.), competing alone or in four player co-op in a battle against all the competing forces at play in Raccoon City.

Expect the return of original Resident Evil enemies, iconic landmarks such as the Raccoon City Police Department and fan favourite characters, including Leon S. Kennedy, who as a rookie police officer in Raccoon City is on your hit list to eliminate. Players will experience a retelling of classic moments from past titles Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 and watch the events unfolding from the menacing perspective of the Umbrella Security Service, giving fans the chance to rewrite the history of the Raccoon City outbreak.

In addition, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will deliver a number of competitive online multi player modes. Each one of these will provide a unique gaming experience thanks to the three way combat between the Umbrella Security Service, US Special Ops and threat of zombies and B.O.W’s that could only exist in the deadly and twisted Resident Evil Universe.

Purchasers of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, scheduled for release in the coming months, will get an extra taste of horror thanks to the addition of a playable demo of Resident Evil Revelations. Set on board an ocean liner, the demo lets players take control of one of the full game’s characters, Jill Valentine, as she explores the ship’s dark interior, killing any mysterious creatures that emerge from the shadows. A brand new title built from the ground up for the Nintendo 3DS, further details on Resident Evil Revelations will be revealed at this year’s E3.

[courtesy of Capcom Unity]

Big Things Poppin'

2011-03-27T15:50:00.004-04:00

Ain't nothin' stoppin'! We have a lot going on in our respective lives right now. Sean recently purchased a new computer so I can throw a ridiculous amount of games and programs at him, and I have tons I need to do before the middle of summer. But does that mean we're slowing down? Maybe a little bit for the moment, but we're still playing a bunch of games.

Sean is rocking out Sims 3 again for the first time in I don't know how long, and I'm madly obsessed with the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game League of Legends, but that's not where our lists end. We've got some stuff in the works that will hopefully grab your interests.

My side of the blog includes a big article on Minecraft (if you don't know what that is by now, you'll probably be interested after the article...I hope), a review of the visionary Jason Rohrers most recent Game/Art/Life-changing piece, thoughts or a review of Okamiden on the DS, and what I thought of Final Fantasy X-2 and Fallout 3 (yes, I finally got around to playing Fallout 3...almost 2 and a half years late).

On top of that, a bunch of great planned titles this year have grabbed our attention and refuse to let up, so make sure to keep checking back for some fun articles and interesting information regarding the new, old and unique! Be sure to check out Sean's write up on the highly anticipated fighter rebirth, Mortal Kombat, right here.

Good gaming!

Test Your Might: MK Impressions

2011-03-24T23:49:00.001-04:00

I know I've been absent for a while. My laptop was crippled for a while and could handle only the simplest of tasks. It kind of sucks because before this happened I thought we were on a bit of a roll as far as blog activity went. The plus side to this is that it has definitely given me time to dig into my actual hobby of gaming without the added incentive to play simply for blogging purposes. Not that that wasn't fun or anything because I like giving my opinion on demos, betas, and sharing news and all; but there are times where I just want to sit down and play for fun and not play to rip the game apart piece by piece to get a better understanding of how good or bad a game is so I can relay that in a post.

In that time I have had a chance to check out a few demos and get back into some games that I enjoy very much. For one I'm back to kicking the ball around in FIFA and thanks to the new Depeche Mode track-pack released by Harmonix I find myself oddly drawing to breaking out my guitar and keyboard once again. Don't fear though as I've had a chance to sample a few demos and today I can share my opinion on one of them with you here on the blog. So here are my thoughts on the demo for Mortal Kombat on the PS3.

Like always, I like to preface a preview with some thoughts on the franchise I'm talking about. Fortunately for us, Mortal Kombat is a long standing franchise that can be summed up very quickly; at least from my point of view. Mortal Kombat has a very awkward past. From a personal stand point I think the series reached its peak with Mortal Kombat 2. While MK3 was good and Ultimate MK3 just built on that formula, the series faltered and never really found a way to transition to the 3-D era. It wasn't until the last few years that they really started to change things around.

Fast forward to today and the ninth game in the series is in development and almost ready for release. Like Capcom, NetherRealm Studios has decided to give their game somewhat of a retro feel. While the characters are fully rendered in 3-D, the fighters battle on a two-dimensional plane just like in the original games. What this accomplishes is blending the old with the new while maintaining the integrity of the series. So yes, Mortal Kombat is back in a very big way which became clear shortly after starting the demo.

Upon beginning the demo you're greeted by a very sleek menu set up, most of which is not accessible in the demo. The meat of this demo comes from the ladder style tournament. The available fighters should be familiar to fans in the form of series favorites Sub Zero, Scorpion, Johnny Cage, and Mileena. Once you've picked your fighter it's off to the first match in your ladder. Once again the developers manage to take old school influences and adapt them to the modern age of graphical capabilities as some of the old stage backgrounds from Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 make a return with more vigor. The living forest and pit never looked so good.

But when you get passed all the bells and whistles in this game, it boils down to combat between you and your opponent; whether that be the computer or another player. Luckily this Mortal Kombat continues it's trend of handling like the Mortal Kombats of old. Of course it took some time to become familiar with the controller set up on the PS3 controller but when the game is paused there are handy menus that show you the button layout as well as command lists for each character. I was even surprised to find that in that command list the fatalities for characters were listed. I'm not sure if this is simply for the demo or if that feature will remain in the final game. However I have to say that it disappointed me a little bit. Was it cool that I was able to rip out the computer opponent's spine in the demo? Heck yea it was. Watching that gore unfold on my screen in sweet high definition was amazingly brutal and entertaining. Still if the fatalities are readily available it kind of takes away some of the mystique the earlier games had when people had to discover them.

Still there is much room for experimentation. There are certain combos listed in command list that you can try out with the characters. While the combo system doesn't appear to be as free-form as Marvel vs Capcom 3's where you can seemingly chain almost anything together, it is still very accessible. It will definitely take some time and experimentation with the timing but the game definitely has potential for linking various attacks and specials together into extensive combos. Also judging from the four characters, it seems that the characters will be distinctively different. Some fighting games can suffer from the fact that playing each character can feel essentially the same. Luckily based on the time I had with the demo the four characters available definitely had their own pros and cons. As per usual it will come down to player preference.

So to sum this up, the game plays extremely well. The controls are extremely tight and responsive. The character animation is solid and the level design is equally as good. The whole game has a wonderfully retro feeling while still coming off as being fresh and new. This is definitely one to keep on your radar if you're a fan of the series. Look out for Mortal Kombat to release for consoles on April 19th. Soon you too will be able to test your might.

Back in the Saddle

2011-03-23T22:48:00.000-04:00

Okay folks, I am now up and running on my new beast of a machine (pics will come soon). Expect the blog to ramp up it's production again. In the meantime Andrew has posted up some info about the new mech battle game that Double Fine is working on. I do have some impressions to share with you all very soon including my take on the demo for the upcoming Mortal Kombat game, the currently on-going beta for Socom 4, as well as my thoughts on the on going discussion of California's proposed gaming bill. We're back folks, lets get things done.

Double Fine's Triple Sweet New Downloadable Title , "Trenched"

2011-03-17T14:19:00.007-04:00

While I'm on a bit of a vacation, I planned on doing some writing while gone considering I would have some time for a few small projects I had planned, but this one took priority quickly. So I'd love to share it with you, continue on...

Double Fine's Tim Schafer helped put his company on the map by creating a number of unique and artistic titles including Grim Fandango and the classic Psychonauts, to the more recent Brutal Legend and recent foray into the world of downloadable titles with Stacking and Costume Quest. Each title has been very different from the last, and that trend continues with the third-person, customizable mech combat, co-op, loot grabbing, strategic tower defense filled with manly explosions and aliens...Trenched.

The basis around the game shows a lot of promise for a fun and exciting title. Two WWI vets are stationed at a listening post when a mysterious broadcast comes through, and kills everyone that hears it...except for those two vets. They walked away with super intelligence, but put it to use in two very different ways. One creates mechs for himself and the other wounded war soldiers, called Trenches, and the other invents the television all the while going insane, and trying to take over the world with his 'network' and army of alien television monstrosities.

That lays the foundation for the tower defense portion of the game play. You're there to defend against the menace with the help of your Trench. The enemies will attack in waves, and while some Trench builds will be more suited for direct combat, others can focus on defense and turret building. This is part of the strategic element, considering you can have up to 4 players working together through the campaign together, specializing in different areas will be crucial to the success of the group.

The customization promises to be incredibly deep. Whenever you gain a kill, enemies will occasionally drop items (including rare ones), and little televisions referred to as scrap, which is the game's currency. This is used to build a variety of turrets as well as upgrade their abilities on the fly, assuring maximum TV explodanation (It's a word in my book). Unlocking new parts and guns for your Trench is also necessary. New and different parts can be used to a variety of different play types, and the load-out system we've seen in recent shooters that give players a number of different weapons and suit different styles will be making an appearance here as well. Also, you can customize your soldier and mech with a number of appearance altering options as well. Colors and textures for the Trench, along with clothes and hats for your soldier. They don't give any impact on the gameplay, but the customization freak in me wouldn't have it any other way. Loves me some custom-made suits.

We don't entirely know how the customization will work exactly yet, I can see that Double Fine is putting a lot of effort into giving players choice. I've heard whispers of a leveling system as well, but don't quote me on that (if I can find the article I saw it in, I'll post in confirmation). Hopefully more news will be available soon. I'm also curious as to what will be available after the campaign is completed. Will there be a number of different difficulty settings? Gameplay altering modes or competitive based game types? A horde mode that goes on indefinitely? As long as the content is there (Tons of loot, high level cap, lots of maps and reasons to keep playing them after completion), I see myself playing this for quite a while.

I'm incredibly excited. From the way it looks, to the way the game looks like it plays, it's quickly become one of my most anticipated games of the year. From love Double Fine puts into their games, to the humor and unique premise, to the impressive loot system, customization and gameplay on top of a XBLA price tag, I can't wait. The game is scheduled to release sometime in 2011, and I'll be following it closely until then.

Brief Update

2011-03-03T10:37:00.000-05:00

Sean here, just giving you an update on the status of the blog. I know things have calmed down a bit. Part of it is due to my increased gaming in both Black Ops and Marvel vs Capcom 3. Part of it also has to do with the newly enhanced Crysis 2 demo as well as the Dragon Age 2 demo, which I will discuss as soon as I can. The other part is due to the fact that my current laptop seems to be in the process of breathing its final breaths. So if updates are less frequent this month, bear with me. I'm already in the process of purchasing a new system and hope to be up and running again at the same pace by the end of the month. With the added bonus of me being able to cover more PC games in the long run. Til that happens, I'll update when I can, and they may end up being more like micro-posts than full fledged posts.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds: The Second Opinion!

2011-02-23T15:05:00.002-05:00

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 has been released to the public for about a week now, and a little longer for others (how did they manage that?). We've got a little under a week's worth of playtime in, ranging from most of the characters on the roster to a little bit of online play between Sean and I, considering the servers have been having some issues performing because of the large amount of people looking to scrap and trash talk amongst those involved with the online community. I'm here to give my take on one of the biggest game releases of the year, and if you missed it, read Sean's official write-up here.

Leading into the release, I couldn't help but compare the changes to the core MvC battle component to the BlazBlue (BB for short) franchise. Like with BB, MvC3's control scheme consists of a light, medium, and hard/strong attack buttons, followed by special attack button. In BB, the special button activates each characters unique abilities or powers. Some characters steal life or freeze opponents, and others fly around the map with ease or have a number of powerful counter attacks. MvC3's special button is at it's most basic function, a launch attack on the ground and smash back to the ground while in the air. Beyond that, it allows you to tag a partner (or two) in midair to continue a flashy air combo, it can also activate some characters unique abilities such as Dr. Doom's flight or Felicia's awesome dodge that sends her into the foreground while moving close to 3/4 of the screen towards the opponent. Aside from attack and button layout, they added a simple mode for casual players that aren't familiar with fighting games, but also want to enjoy the game and player vs. player battles without the complexity. BB did the same thing, last year, and they pretty much work the same way. I find that the simple mode turns the game into nothing more than a shadow of what it was. It splits the attacks into a basic attack button that when pressed rapidly, performs the basic light-medium-hard combo, a special move button that gives you two special moves on the ground, and if they have it, two in the air. But which moves will get selected? Exactly, you need to have prior knowledge of what attack will come out of what character before going in, and this brings problems for characters such as Dante, who when using the normal mode, has a staggering amount of moves at his disposal. Also, those couple of special moves you have at your disposal have a preselected intensity or direction, so if you wish to change up your game at all, the simple mode renders that part of the character useless. This also adds a hyper combo button, but you only get one hyper combo even if your character has multiple, unless they have an air hyper available as well. Lastly, the special attack button works just about the same as it normally does with it's launch and smash properties, except trying to punch in a command like using flight with some characters results in nothing. Basically, Simple mode might (for some players) be a good place to start if you aren't familiar with fighting games and have issues doing a quarter-circle forward, but it's inclusion doesn't help bring the casual players into a hardcore world, in fact it cripples them. Which as far as I'm concerned, almost tells an important story in MvC3.

There is no tutorial. Those of us that have fighting game experience and enjoy tapping the hours away in training to discover new uses to all of the equipment we've been given is one thing, but to the average John Doe on the street who uses their PS3 or 360 for Rock band and the like generally requires something closer to instant gratification (awesome stuff instantly) or an easier way to learn. I didn't have a problem reading the manual for the interesting tricks that add depth to the fighting system and then trying it out on the fly or in training, but with a game like this that is so involved could really use a fully built in tutorial. There are three main ways to learn, you can see it (visual), you can hear it (auditory), and you can do it (kinaesthetic). This game only barely encourages learning through experience and mistakes, which works well for some, but certainly not for all considering the game already assumes you've spent tons of time with previous fighting games or this one in particular. This leads me to the closest thing to a tutorial they have besides reading the manual and tinkering around with training, the mission mode. There are no missions to be found here besides a couple of moves, and then a number of combos that range from simple to ridiculous. The worst thing here is the serious ramp in difficulty with most characters, and the absence of a way to preview the combos. Considering the online community has been trading combos and tips online for years now, this is nothing new to the hardcore crowd. This is again crippling to the casual crowd, aside from the absence of previews and the sometimes hard to follow scrolling commands on the left side of the screen, mission mode doesn't support the simple control scheme. This could have been a great way for those players that use the simple mode that want to jump up to the normal control scheme to practice all of those complex directional sequences alone and within combos, but the large ramp in difficulty and lack of a visual aid, casual players have little chance of getting past a few missions without frustration. Capcom tried adding the simple mode with the idea of hopefully drawing in more of the casual gamer, but without dedicating almost as much time as they spent crafting the game for the hardcore followers, all I see is a lackluster attempt to expand their demographic. While I'm not a casual gamer, I have some trouble tapping some of the higher level combos in the mission mode because of a lack of understanding the physics, timing, and general unfamiliarity with the game as of now. Regardless, I still feel cheated that this portion of the game wasn't fully fleshed out.

Speaking of not fully fleshed out, aside from the arcade mode, training/missions and the basic components of fighting online, the rest of the game feels pretty barren. The first thing that comes up when in defense is that it's a fighting game, all it needs is an awesome game play engine and a platform to do battle on. I agree and also disagree with that statement. Now, the game play is fast, deep, and incredibly satisfying, but the nothing about the game feels personal. You don't ever feel attached to the characters or really feel the struggle. The story is quite good actually, I like the way this particular adventure is structured, but besides the good guys wanting to save their dimension and the bad guys wanting to enslave or destroy theirs, that's pretty much where the presentation of it ends outside of the fantastic trailers released over the past few months. It all goes right back to the fighting, aside from a witty line at the beginning of a match between a number of characters in the game, that's as far as the relationships between characters is explored. The thing is, fighting games have always been about telling their own stories in player vs. player combat (Justin Wong's impressive EVO MvC2 victory a few years ago with Cyclops against an entire other team, youtube that if you don't know what I'm talking about please, you'll thank me), of how the underdog in a match or tournament somehow fought his way into the finals against the multi-time champion and scored an upset, or didn't but earned a reputation, so this is easily overlooked. I personally don't have a problem with the comic book-like stills that tell the aftermath of the final battle with Galactus, though I would have really enjoyed seeing more like the gorgeous CGI trailers/intro, but what can you do.

There neither a campaign nor survival mode. The lack of a campaign/story mode can again be forgiven because of the throwback-style of fighting games that are played not for their lore, but for the competition of other actual people. A survival mode is always fun to jump into and see how long you can last against an endless wave of enemies, but it was left out for unknown reasons. But this and the disappointing mission mode aren't the only shortcomings, the online mode has received similar treatment. There is no way to create lobbies with custom rules. You can't set restrictions besides through verbal communication, and you can't set a handicap, damage, time limit or anything else. On top of this, there is no spectator mode when you're waiting to battle. We're reduced to watching life bars bounce around while a couple of player-cards of the two current combatants smack against each other. And what if you had a particularly awesome win you'd like to save, upload or share with others to gloat about your victory? There are no replay functions either, so that match is lost unless you have some type of video capture device hooked up to a computer somewhere. It's also lacking the tournament mode that was featured with it's older sibling, Super Street Fighter IV. As a current gen fighter, these shortcomings are extremely disappointing considering many games that were released in the past launched with the features mentioned previously. My only hope is that they can somehow patch a bunch of stuff like spectator mode, replay and custom lobby support sometime soon, though I have a feeling a lot of this is going to be saved for the "Super" version of the game Capcom loves releasing a year or so after the product has been released, which leaves a very stale taste in my mouth.

Unlockable content is kept relatively simple as well. There are 4 characters to unlock, that requires nothing more than an hour or two involved with game play to get all 4, titles and icons to customize your online playercard, and the usual host of sound effects and galleries to fill. The titles are unlocked by fulfilling certain requirements with each of the characters such as selecting a character 30 times, finishing the arcade mode, repeating it on the very hard mode, finishing 5 and all missions with characters. The titles are unlocked by doing the same thing with each of the characters, do don't expect any variety while unlock the titles besides the pleasure of using a different character. The sound effects, voices and background music are typical game unlocks, though it is nice to be able to switch which characters you want to have Japanese or English voices. The gallery has a few promotional images, movies unlocked so far, interesting character bios that details their back-story and power levels within the game, as well as character themes and a model viewer. Aside from the character bios, most of it is pretty useless unless you get attached to some of the themes or grunts of the characters, as we've seen a lot of the images online already. If you haven't checked it out yet then it's worth taking a look, but I'd rather be playing the game than looking at images I've seen or listening to sounds I could be hearing while playing.

However, if you know what you're getting into, and that's a great core fighting game with a untold amount of depth and replay value (if you really dig the combat anyhow) with very few bells and whistles. The visuals are detailed and beautiful, though the action is so fast you can't see how amazing these animations are (until you knock a character out, Trish's Air Special, I'm looking at you...awesome, replay feature with slo-mo please) most of the time, but believe me as they are there. The sound is also stellar, the characters comment frequently during combat which makes for a much louder game than before, but coming from BlazBlue I love and welcome all of the mouthiness in it's glory. The net code has also been quite good from my experience, though I've only played a few friends in a private lobby from around this area and Sean or resides a few states away. A bit of lag did hit us, but nothing a host switch and new lobby couldn't fix.

Regardless of the ranting above, I really do enjoy the game but I am disappointed at what it should not be lacking. It's a great experience if you have an open mind and some time with fighting games in the past, especially with a fight stick of some sort (I'm running the Tekken 6 Limited Edition fight stick that came with that respective bundle, I love it so far) which really enhances the old-school arcade presence and precision. While some characters are more popular than others, character balance appears well thought out, and is much less an issue now than it was in Marvel vs Capcom 2, though Sentinel is still a very large jerk. We'll see in how it plays out in the coming months.

In case you forgot, Sean's official review can be found right here. I agree with pretty much everything he posted, this is just meant to complement his post with a few of my concerns. Thanks for reading, good gaming!

Two Worlds, One Celestial

2011-02-17T21:22:00.003-05:00

The fighting game genre has seen a resurgence in the last couple of years. While the genre had not been very prominent for a while, games like Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, and King of Fighters continued to blaze trails. And after many years Capcom finally stepped back into the ring with the official follow up to Street Fighter 3. Boasting a brand new graphical interface built upon the MT Framework(the next generation game engine that powers Residentl Evil 5, Lost Planet, and Dead Rising), Capcom introduced a new generation of gamers to Ryu, Ken, and the rest of the Street Fighter gang. Meanwhile they revamped the wildly successful, decade old Marvel vs Capcom 2 for an HD release on the Playstation Network and X-Box Live Arcade. Both items sold very well and reinvigorated the fighting genre. Capcom was quick to build upon this resurgence with the follow up, Super Street Fighter 4, bringing in new characters and reintroducing old characters into their brand new engine. Then in April of 2010, after a decade long wait, Capcom finally announced the next iteration in their VS series; and thus Marvel vs Capcom 3 was born.

This wouldn't just be a rehash of the old game though. This was a brand new game, also built on Capcom's MT Framework engine. While familiar faces returned, Capcom and Marvel promised to bring new characters to the series as well as promising to balance them. Certain programming choices in Marvel vs Capcom 2 left some characters overpowered and dominant, leading players to exploit these attributes in games and giving themselves a clear advantage over the competition. Thankfully Capcom made good on this claim. While some characters are definitely more powerful than others, it doesn't throw off the balance of the matches. And lets not forget that style of play can also be a big part of how fights unfold. I'm getting ahead of myself here though. Lets break this game down to its basic core for this review.

Story

Lets face it, story never really plays a big part in a fighting game. It's usually an afterthought, but in this case there is some thought behind the story. Partnered with Marvel and their talented writers and artists, we're presented with a story that actually seems plausible for both worlds. While not everyone is privy to this, those who bought the special edition are treated to a comic book that serves as a prequel to the game. If you were one of those people that just bought the regular edition, don't fret because you're not missing out on much aside from some fantastic artwork. The gist of the story is that worlds essentially collide when Capcom's Albert Wesker manages to team up with Marvel's Doctor Doom, Super Skrull, M.O.D.O.K, Magneto, and Taskmaster.

Together this group of villains manages to cross planes and invade each others' worlds. However to sustain their dimension bending portals they attempt to siphon off the power of the celestial being, Galactus. This of course attracts the attention of the devourer of worlds who becomes intent on gobbling up both planets to satiate his hunger. So there you have your basic premise for the game. The great thing about games like this is that each character has their own unique ending so it becomes fun to run through the game with each one to see their ending. Though which ending is the true ending is always up for debate. Still, it's not far-fetched for either company's characters, especially Marvel who promote cross-over titles all the time.

Capcom's Ryu faces off with Marvel's Wolverine

Graphics

Simply put, this game is gorgeous. I've always had a fond appreciation for Capcom's character art and the MT Framwork definitely provides them the ability to create some beautiful looking characters. Like Street Fighter 4, the game isn't truly 3-D. It's a call-back to the old style of fighting games. That's not to say the characters aren't rendered in three dimensional but they battle on a two-dimensional plane. This is coupled with a semi-cel shaded art style that is very reminiscent of a comic book. The art style was used before for Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4 and it works especially well here in depicting the heroes and villains of the Marvel world.

And being the game is in association with Marvel is means there is a wide array of color palettes being used while some of the Capcom related properties have a darker tone to them in both feeling and color. This is more evident in the background levels such as the brightly colored New York skyline filled with Marvel character floats drifting through the air as opposed to the dark green, scrolling pastures of Arthur's Ghouls and Goblins level; decked out in gray castles and stone structures. The visuals help to show the stark contrast between the two worlds that house each company's characters

Gameplay

Capcom created brawlers haven't really changed in many years when it comes to the game play. Marquee characters like Ryu still essentially play like they have for years with special maneuvers that require quarter-circle motions of the analog stick and the like. However this game still has its own level of nuance. On the surface one can mash buttons senselessly and claw their way to victory. With the frenetic pacing of the game rounds can easily devolve into this sort of action. Beneath that is a combo system that is varied and widely engaging. These combos can range from simple button presses in succession to a complex sequences and analog motions.

Lets break it down to be a bit more simple though. Like the game before it, Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a team based game. Each player selects a team of 3 characters to go into battle with, sharing a meter for super powered special maneuvers for them all. Movement is controlled with the left analog stick and strikes are broken down into four separate buttons; a Low Powered attack, a Medium Powered attack, a High Powered attack, and a special button. The two shoulder buttons are used to tag in your partners as well as call them in for one attack assistance. The special button has two applications; for some characters, like Spencer, it has special properties like helping them traverse the screen while for others it is purely for launching your opponent into the air, providing you with an opportunity to leap up after them for an air combo. It's tricky but when landed you can dish out a great deal of damage to your opponent by launching from the air. This second launch actually tags in your partner to attack your opponent in the air. If your timing and placement is absolutely perfect you can perform a ground combo before launching your opponent into the air, leaping up to further pound them before tagging out to your partner for the continued air combo. You can then use the launch button again to swap out to your third partner, to finish off the combo.

Team Resident Evil

It might sound convoluted but it is glorious in execution as Andrew can attest when I used this very tactic on him in a round over X-Box Live. It also takes patience to actually master these techniques. This is why Capcom included a robust training mode that allows you to practice with a full team. They also created a separate Mission mode that outlines various attacks and combos for you to complete with each character. Having run through a few of these with several characters I can say it is fun and also frustrating. Each combo set up is ranked by stars and once you reach the four starred level combos, things become insanely tricky with even shorter timing windows and intricate tie ins to special attacks and super moves.

If this sounds like it's too much for your hand eye coordination to handle, you're in luck. Capcom made many strides to make this game accessible to all parties. To do so they've included two separate control settings. Normal of course is the basic control set up that most fighting game players are already used to. But if this is your first foray into the genre then Capcom has you covered with Simple mode. This maps character specials to the buttons instead of requiring the specific analog motions to accompany them. No doubt it is a great tool for leveling the playing field when beginners take on veteran players but it comes at a cost. Because you don't have the normal set up your move set becomes limited. There are certain moves and combos that will be locked off before you don't have the button options required to perform them. Again, it's a great jumping off point for beginners but Capcom's goal is for those players to eventually graduate to using the normal control scheme to access the full potential of their preferred characters.

Sound
Sound plays a big part in the fighting genre, well sound effects that is. Luckily this is another area that Capcom tends to excel and in many different realms. Each character has their own voice actor of course and exchange little quips before the rounds start. The cool part is depending on who the initial match up is between they may make comments about the opponent they are facing. For instance in a round between Andrew and I over X-Box Live, he started with Spencer as his main character while I used Captain America. The pre-fight quip saw Cap commenting on Spencer's mechanical body enhancements. Not a big deal but it's definitely a nice touch.And to follow this in the options menu you have the option of setting the voice over work to English or Japanese if you want that purist feeling for brawlers such as Ryu.

Just as the games before it, Capcom produces some extremely catchy background music. Some of these themes are pulled directly from the game's predecessor, Marvel vs Capcom 2. However in this modern age they have been given a touch of refinement, bringing a harder edge to the updated tunes. I'll admit some are for the better with the updates while some I'm not particularly fond of. This only really counts for the returning characters though. You'll find some of the new characters have some recognizable techno remixes. Case in point, Wesker's theme is a remix of the music that plays in Resident Evil 5 when Chris and Sheva fight him in the Tricell hangar. The themes are presented dynamically as well. Gone are the days where one stage has its own looping theme music. Now the theme changes depending on the character that happens to be on screen at the time and will change appropriately when you tag out to another character. All of this is combined with Capcom's sharp sound effects package for the separate strikes, special moves, and super combos to create the final package.

Final Thoughts
Ten years is a long time to wait for a sequel. In that time period expectations can become monumental. Most projects would crumble under the weight of trying to live up to such a high degree of quality. Fortunately for fans and for the two companies involved, Marvel vs Capcom 3 manages to live up to the hype. Now I'm not saying the game is perfect. I have some qualms with it. While it has some modes that will appeal greatly to fighting game purists, it still feels light on things that will keep you playing for extended periods. There are also some options that I feel should have been included in the online match making functions such as a spectator mode for watching other matches. It is possible that things like this can be patched in at later points or even added in with a upgraded release ala Super Street Fighter 4 but I really feel like they should have been offered from the get go.

We do at least know that Capcom and Marvel will continue supporting the game beyond its initial release. Before the game had even hit store shelves there were DLC packages in the works and it was later revealed what those packs would contain. On March 1st players can look forward to a costume pack that will add additional attires for Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Ryu, Dante, and Chris Redfield. This pack will also contain two new downloadable characters in the form of Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorath. Both characters were part of the special edition bonus and can be redeemed by special edition owners on March 15th via the redeem codes on the back of their tie in comic book. Beyond that though, Capcom also has a new mode they have dubbed Shadow Mode which will be released in the second DLC pack. Shadow Mode will introduce character teams that are created with the A.I of Capcom producers as well as the top players around the world. This is a mode they will continue to support beyond this first DLC pack, provided they sell of course.

In the end, is it worth a purchase? For me it definitely was. I was a huge fan of Marvel vs Capcom 2 but like the genre as a whole I had a cooling off period for a few years. As the genre fought its way back into prominence I sat back and waited for a title that actually appealed to me. BlazBlue briefly filled that void but it took Marvel vs Capcom 3 to swing me back around. If you're a fan of the genre you'll probably feel the same way. If you're new to the realm of fighting games there are the tools I have described above for beginners that help to simplify the game until you feel more comfortable with the set up. Bearing in mind the few issues I have with the game modes, there's still enough to appeal to the hardcore and casual crowds while maintaining the depth the series is known for. For that I commend Capcom and Marvel for their efforts in delivering a top notch fighting experience.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Fate of Two Worlds: The Unboxing

2011-02-15T20:59:00.001-05:00

After a year of waiting, Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds finally hit store shelves today. Being it's on my list of anticipated titles for the year you bet your butt I was gonna be picking it up today. The package from Amazon was sitting on my doorstep when I got home from work and now it safely resides in my console; the disc that is. I'll have some quick impressions of the game play tomorrow but for now, enjoy a few snapshots of the package that arrived from in the mail.

The special edition slipcover is pretty swanky. If you can't see, the characters are etched into it.

Left: The tie in comic book with character art and promotional art work
Right: The front cover of the steel book casing for the game

Obligatory open case shot of the disc and manual.

The back cover of the steel book.

So there you have it, Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Special Edition. Nice goodies for the fans especially the accompanied comic with all the promo art work and even a few pages of fan submitted art. The special edition even comes with a free month of Marvel Digital Comics and codes for the two DLC characters, Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorath.

Begone undead flesh eaters!

2011-02-10T23:23:00.001-05:00

"Oh man, I need to reload, but they won't stop attacking!" "Can you handle everything upstairs? You can't? I'm on my way as soon as I barricade this window! Hold on!" "We need more weapons! Time to move to a new area!" "Why didn't you revive me!? We lost because you didn't revive me!"

Sound familiar? That's because it is familiar to anyone whose had the pleasure of experiencing Treyarch's unique experience on the Zombie invasion formula that they've bundled not so secretly with their past two Call of Duty outings. The thing that sets it apart from typical zombie invasion or horde-like modes is the sheer amount of depth to each level on top of all of the other things there are to do in order to survive as long as possible. There are a multitude of different pathways to take, weapons to purchase and with each new level, tricks and almost an individual storyline to experience in each of the levels. This makes each randomly-generated play through immensely satisfying, and from my experience, never frustrating.

As a partner post to Sean's First Strike impressions, this is going to focus on the zombie map they've packed in, entitled Ascension. The first thing you're going to notice is the massive rocket ship as you descend to the starting point of the stage. Before it begins, the entire color scheme gets desaturated. Yup, the entire stage is played out in black, white and shades of gray until you hit the power...but should you hit the power? More on that shortly.

The level layout leaves you with just as many ways into a situation as there are ways out, and double that for the zombies. The entire stage is huge, overwhelming at first with all of the options, twists and turns available. Weapons and vending machines placed strategically so knowing the layout is just as important, if not more, than your gun skills. But which doors to open? Which weapons work the best against the undead horde? Experimentation and rash decisions are what await you.

Like with previous maps, if you decide to turn the power on, this gives you a large amount of new options for your zombie stakeout, but can also provide just as many problems as it can solutions. For starters, the color returns in all of it's yellow and red glory. You also receive access to a number of other switches and levers I have yet to explore, including something involving an authentication code for that ominous rocket, and a launch platform that lets you fly over to previously visited launchpads as a great escape route when feeling a bit cramped (After you've visited them with the power on, of course). The main downside I've noticed was that during certain waves, undead perk-stealing space spider monkeys show up. Being siblings to the Cosmic Silverback (From the fantastic Easter egg Dead Ops), they're just as greedy as they are dangerous. Some of them seek and attack any survivors as soon as they touch down with their Hulk-like ground stomp, but most go straight for the vending machines if you've purchased any perks earlier to steal your abilities. That's right, they don't steal them directly from you, they steal them from you through the vending machines. So if you've bought perks, then trying to protect those investments involve going back to the vending machines and gunning down the dangerous little guys in spacesuits, but don't expect it to be easy.

Overall, I feel like it's an entertaining and varied addition that complements the other maps that have been released thus far, and that's including the flashback maps from World at War they've bundled with the limited edition copies of the game. The routes are well selected, the doors and weapons are well placed, and the monochrome style and lab coat zombies are a great throwback to simpler and sillier times. From what I've read, a lot of people buy the map packs solely for the zombie map, and while this is one of the most interesting zombie maps yet, the bulk of the $15 purchase is 4 shiny new multiplayer maps. Are they as interesting as Ascension? Head over to Sean's first impressions of the 4 multiplayer maps to see if he believes your hard earned money is worth it.

The First Strike

2011-02-10T14:08:00.002-05:00

Another write up about Black Ops? I know, I know. It seems I tend to retread ground sometimes but this is technically new! On February 1st, Treyarch dropped the first map pack for their hit game, Call of Duty: Black Ops. Included in the pack are four brand new multi-player maps and a fifth map for the zombie mode. With the pack clocking in at $15 total, I thought it was a little steep in price. Regardless, Andrew (Ramble On Dru) convinced me to purchase the pack and we put it through the paces over the course of the week. Here are my thoughts. The four new multi-player maps include Kowloon, Stadium, Berlin Wall, and Discovery. I'll break each map down as best I can to give you a feel for what each one is like.

Stadium

Probably the most simplistic map. This mimics an actual sports stadium, though you'll be disappointed to find that you can't venture onto the ice inside the stadium itself. However you can venture through disheveled concession and merchandise stands. On the outskirts of the map are several office buildings and locker rooms housing equipment as well as various nooks and crannies perfect for camping out. They also provide second floor vantage points to stage you stand from the high ground. These points aren't great for long range fire though as the map is relatively small, leading to fierce ground battles and a fairly speedy pace of game play as there is little ground to cover. In essence it renders sniping ineffective unless you are mobile. Despite these shortcomings, Stadium has quickly become my favorite of the new maps.

Kowloon

This map is created after the Nova Gas section of the single player campaign. The map is medium sized and covers the sprawling rooftops of Kowloon, just like the campaign. Because of this there are many high vantage points. The upside to this sniper's haven is that there are turns and paths that can lead to different flag points and sections of the map. These create easy flanking points. Though when proper teamwork is employed these paths can be locked down, making it very difficult for a team to overtake their opposition. The other fun addition in this map would be the zip line. They are used for quick travel from one point to another but leave you completely vulnerable to attack until you have landed. Is it great when it works? Completely! But it's humiliating when it fails. Overall this map is great.

Discovery

This is by far the biggest map out of the whole pack. Discovery is modeled after another portion of the single player campaign, taking gamers to a snowy, abandoned outpost. From either spawn point there are three main routes to the other side. The most direct route is over the bridge in the middle of the map, which happens to be the middle flag point in a game of Domination. Craftier players can avoid these congested areas by taking an icy walkway below the bridge to cross over into enemy territory. This can lead to its own set of problems as this bridge of ice can be blown apart while you're on it, leaving a chasm in the middle of the map. So far this map has proven to be the best of the four for snipers as the main routes of travel leave ample room for a player to set up shop and snipe to their heart's content. This makes being able to navigate the underground pathways invaluable so that you can flank them and swarm their spawn. Keep that in mind when when you venture out on this map.

Berlin Wall

This is the map I was most excited about after seeing the trailer for the map pack a month ago. While I applaud Treyarch for what they did with it, it's still a mixed bag in its execution. The map is fairly small, just a little bigger than Stadium perhaps. However the unique thing about it is a quarter of the map is sectioned off and unusable. You're probably asking yourself how this is if you haven't played it yet. Well on either spawn side you have your Domination points of A and C. Much like Discovery the B point is directly in the middle of the map. The problem with this is that B consists of a very narrow pathway leading from one side to the other and it's wide open. When you enter the sides surrounding B, a siren will begin to wail and very shortly afterwards you will be gunned down for trespassing. This means that your modes of travel are very limited as the B point is always congested.

So there you go. I hope from these impressions you have gotten some idea of how these maps play out in the field so to speak. I took a little extra time to play these for a few more days before finishing my write up to see if it would change how I felt about some of them(I started this post on Saturday, it's now Thursday.) Honestly, nothing really changed. Stadium is still my favorite by far but I'm starting to really get a feel for Berlin Wall. It can still become a bit of a mess at the B point in Domination but it is possible to work around that, almost turning the game into musical chairs for points. If you haven't picked up the pack yet, then I hope my write up can help you in your decision to do so or not. If you already have the map pack, you should join up with me for a game. Also look for a review of the Ascension zombie map from the First Strike from Andrew sometime soon.

Games are Art, suck it Roger Ebert

2011-02-02T20:20:00.010-05:00

Appropriate? I think it is. Video and computer games successfully wrap everything about art into a delicious and savory burrito I just can't seem to stop thinking about. The way the music hits during a boss battle, or ambiance of a travel sequence or safe zone, an explosion of color and sound in a space shooter, or the way an entire city or empire comes together after spending days and days plotting, planning and building. They aren't just a sense of accomplishment or immersion...as far as I'm concerned, it's a beautiful melting pot of everything we commonly and uncommonly consider, art.

My name is Andrew, and I'm a serious gamer. I have been my entire life and as long as I have a breath in my body, I still will be. One of my uncles exposed me intellivision at an early age, while my other uncle still actively games and calls me for advice from time to time. My older brother would hide games from my mother so she couldn't practice when he was at school and get better than him, and my younger brother is going into game development as we speak. Needless to say, it's in my blood. I love all types of games (Disregarding shovel-ware....do I have to comment on that?) ranging from sports to RPG's, and shooters to simulations, I appreciate all of them for what they are, and what they've accomplished. Good games are good games as far as I'm concerned, regardless of the genre, console or time period (I've recently purchased a bunch of first gen PSX RPG's for example...timeless). Actually, I have a serious backlog of games I've been meaning to play for years...but more on that later. I've been here for a while actually, just have been a bit preoccupied to introduce myself and learn how to work this website, so I've just given Sean some advice and proofread some of his posts considering that two sets of eyes are better than one. Speaking of Sean, we've been gaming together for years now so we know each other pretty well. An online partnership with him to manage and promote a blog about video games and the like? If I had to sign on the dotted line I wouldn't have read the fine print.

Now, this is supposed to be an introduction post so I guess I'll continue with that before I rant more about how much I hate Roger Ebert. As I said games are a large part of my life, but I also enjoy exercise and fitness even though I'm on a bit of a hiatus. I had the privilege to train on and off for the past 5 years as a professional wrestler and I absolutely love it, though injuries, money, and a number of other things came into play so that also is on a hiatus at the moment. I had a blast, and have some serious desire to finish my training and start working on shows though it needs to wait at the time being. I went to school for exercise science with the goal of being a personal trainer, though I'm second guessing that now. I have a great girlfriend that not only games along next to me, but also helps devour as many of a given city's restaurants we can find...I'm looking at you Chicago! I also have dreadlocks along with a fantastic beard to complement them. I love me some adult swim, though aside from wrestling, I don't really follow television as much anymore with all of the fantastic games I have to enjoy. Also, the Ramble On part of my username/gamertag is a reference to the trippy and cracked out adult swim show Xavier: Renegade Angel as well as the fantastic Zeppelin tune "Ramble On." The word ramble means, "To walk about aimlessly" and also means, "To speak or write at length with many digressions." Welcome to my life.

My ideas of how I would like to contribute to this already stellar blog are to basically try to keep up with Sean. I follow a few different consoles, games and genres that he doesn't have direct access to, so I'll also try to keep updated on those. I am a PC gamer, though most of my time resides in lower cpu requirement Indie titles (Minecraft FTW! Global Agenda and Super Meat Boy get some nods too!) since I don't have the best gaming desktop/laptop around, nor will I have the money for one for a while now. I also own a DS, probably play my PS2 more than my 360 and friends PS3 I've borrowed indefinitely (with his permission...of course). I'll also try to throw up some second opinions on some titles we both play, preview and follow if I have a drastically different opinion that he does or if there's something big that he somehow doesn't touch on, I'll try to get to it.

I've decided that in writing this, I have no desire to keep ranting about how much I dislike Roger Ebert for his opinion and comments, and how much we know that games are art, and there is no way a movie critic or anyone else will be able to convince us otherwise. I love video games, they've made me feel the same emotions as my favorite movie or favorite songs with just as much depth if not more than the latter. I look forward to having the chance to write about my time with these games, experiments, masterpieces and even the less than stellar titles that I happen to get my mitts on. But there's nothing like the chase as well, right? Following development is a huge part of the gaming industry, so chances are I'll have more time devoted to those future releases after my back log begins to dwindle. I guess we'll see what comes up. I'm currently working on Final Fantasy X-2, God of War 2, Dark Cloud and still obsessed with Fire Pro Returns on the PS2. Black Ops and FIFA 11 primarily on the 360. Recently finished Enslaved and Demon's Souls on the PS3, with Yakuza 3 next on my plate. And on the DS I'm working on SMT: Strange Journey, The Unemployed Ninja: Izuna 2, Hotel Dusk 215 and a bunch more. Finally, for the PSX I recently got my hands on Parasite EVE, Vagrant Story, Crono Cross, FF8, and looming is SMT: Persona 2 Eternal Punishment amongst others

We love games. Regardless of console differences or time period gaps, we love this industry. Thanks for loving it, because regardless of what Ebert thinks, all the love we give to this industry just helps it grow.

Thanks for reading the blog too, I look forward to sharing as much as possible. And thanks to Sean for the voice. Lets grab those stars buddy!

A Gamer's Perspective

2011-02-02T13:54:00.001-05:00

So a while back I wrote up a brief blog on the new relaunch of Game Crush. The post happened to spark a small debate with a friend of mine. The basis of the debate boiled down to the perception of the gaming community in modern society. My feeling was generally slanted towards the belief that this service looks bad for gamers and that comes from my experiences in life and a "hardcore" gamer.

For years gaming had been (and in some cases still is) considered a degenerate form of entertainment. There was a certain stigma associated with being a gamer. The industry appealed to a niche market of people. However through the years video games have grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. The industry has grown considerably since I was a young child playing Super Mario Brothers on the living room floor of my parent's house.

But what about society's view on those or us who play games? In my youth it was sort of a touchy subject. No one wanted to be associated with that nerdy, loner stereotype closely resembling that of the gadget geek. As a child it was fine because it was common ground. But as you got older and developed socially it almost became taboo. It wasn't in the realm of what is considered "cool". No instead gamers were viewed as socially awkward basement dwellers; more comfortable in front of their console than in a normal social setting. Generally you had gamers that are ashamed of their hobby.

It seems regardless of how mainstream gaming has become there will always be a stigma attached to it that makes people shy away from being associated with it. I'd say since the Wii was launched we've come a long way in breaking the misconception that gamers are lazy, pale-faced, couch potatoes. I may often talk ill of the Wii and its motion control but it has done wonders for breaking down barriers and making gaming seem like a respectable hobby to those who continue to look down on it. Though for every attempt at knocking a wall down another is built right back up by a story of a young parent who neglects their child due to a gaming binge or some act of violence being blamed upon a violent video game like the recent incident in Russia. The fact is, as long as video games remain a relatively new and easy scapegoat for society's ills then being associated with them will continue to retain that negative stigma. Hopefully that will change one day, and I assume it's up to the members of the community to lead the charge.

Crysis 2 Demo Impressions

2011-01-30T00:13:00.001-05:00

Crysis 2 is kind of weird for me. I had heard of the original Crysis for the PC but the game was so technologically advanced that you needed a top of the line PC rig to run the damned thing. Crysis 2 however is making the transition into being a multi-platform experience in that it will be available for the PC, PS3, and X-Box 360. Recently the multi-player beta was put on the X-Box Live marketplace for gold members. I figured I would check it out after reading some impressions from IGN and Gamespot. Of course I was a little wary going into this since most sites and blogs have commented on sluggish controls plaguing the game in the builds that they had played.

So I put the demo through its paces between last night and today (thanks snow day!). From the start the user interface is very slick. The menus are straightforward and lay out all the important information you need going in. If you're just now getting into the demo I would suggest giving the controls a once over because there's a lot you can do in this game compared to other shooters. Once you get into the game of course you're given one set class that you can use. Like with any other shooter you have to progress through and earn experience points to unlock more classes. And of course you'll get the chance to unlock your own customizable class once you have accumulated enough XP.

The basis behind the multi-player seems to be the customization options themselves. Each player has a battle suit with the ability to use a stealth cloaking system as well as boost their battle suit's armor, using the left and right bumper buttons. The rest of the button layout is your basic shooter affair; triggers are used to aim and shoot and the face buttons provide you the ability to crouch, jump, reload, and switch between weapons. The D-Pad comes in handy in selecting your grenades, changing your weapon from single shot to full auto and engaging your binoculars and infrared vision. I think that pretty much covers the basics.

As you progress through the multi-player ranks you're able to unlock more weapons, attachments for your weapons, and new enhancements for your armor. Some of these enhancements include quicker cloaking, an air stomp, and an enhanced armor mode allowing you to take increased damage. As one would assume, you're able to mix and match these to your liking with one set for each of your three battle suit enhancements, those being stealth, power, and armor.

So far the game play seems very frantic at times but I've been able to adjust my playing style to take things a bit more slowly. The result is a more methodical approach to a shooter.Considering at any moment someone could cloak and sneak up behind you it definitely takes a great amount of team work and strategy to win. In the games where teammates were actually communicating results were a lot better. Even playing in a party with one friend and the two of us watching each other's backs was infinitely better than the chaos of everyone going their own way. Then again, that could be said of any shooter.

Nonetheless, while frantic the game play seems somewhat balanced overall. The only problems I've had so far is that sometimes it seems hard to place your timing when trying to use a melee attack. Also, there seems to be some issues with hit detection. At times it seems as if there's no way to tell if you're connecting with your shots until you check out a kill-cam detailing what transpired. The controls are very responsive, unlike what was pointed out by some journalists so perhaps the system has been tweaked since that build of the game. However there still remains some issues. I fully expect EA to hammer these out after getting feedback on the demo.

In short, the multi-player experience is definitely fun. The full customization options will definitely be a hit with shooter junkies and provide some unique match ups. The graphics being powered by EA and Crytek's engine are simply amazing. Altogether it becomes a nice little package on screen. I look forward to hearing more about this title soon. Crysis 2 is expected in stores in late March.

The Lost Art of Survival Horror

2011-01-25T14:02:00.001-05:00

Just like in books and films, atmosphere can play a big part in your gaming experience. Setting and ambiance play a big part in immersing a person into the game that they're playing. The games that take full advantage of this fact and play it to their advantage would be the sub-genre of Survival Horror. Just as it sounds, the basis for the survival horror genre is just that, to survive given the bleak circumstances that surround you. Take the earlier Resident Evil games as an example. More often than not, the game have you very limited resources and forced you to strategically navigate through it. Things tend to get a lot more tense for a player when they can't shoot their way through a scenario.

Of course these earlier games had more than just low ammunition going for them. The set up for these scenarios often find the player left to fend for themselves in some remote location. Said location is a big part of creating the proper atmosphere. In Konami's Silent Hill series, the titular location is always the foggy town of Silent Hill. On the surface it might just come across as a an old ghost town but there's more going on than one would think, as shown here in the trailer for Konami's latest entry into the series, Silent Hill: Downpour.

Not all out scary but there's definitely some moments implanted in there to keep you on the edge of your seat. Survival horror, while having it's fair share all out scares, has always been more about uneasy tension. While it keeps you on edge and ready for anything, it still doesn't keep you from getting a bit jumpy sometimes. One scenario that immediately comes to mind is in the original Resident Evil. After your first zombie encounter you're probably just a little anxious to see what's coming next. Moment later as you enter a hallway you're surprised by several zombified dogs leaping through the mansion windows to attack you. This is encapsulated by the ominous background music and effective lighting situation. And while I don't want to give credit to a crappy camera system, the fixed angles in the original Resident Evil games helped better sense of confinement as opposed to the over the shoulder camera styling of Resident Evil 4 and 5.

By taking advantage of a few key elements; setting, music, space, and limited in game resources, developers manage to create an uphill struggle for survival. Thankfully these days we're seeing a small resurgence in this style of developing. As stated before, Capcom is attempting to reboot their Resident Evil series by going back to their survival horror roots. Though they'll be taking into account what they've learned over the years with subsequent sequels. Personally I wouldn't except the return of fixed camera angles to take create that old sense of claustrophobia. I'd even go as far to guess that they won't give the player heaps of ammunition as well. Nothing adds to the suspense more than having to face down an enemy knowing that the only thing keeping you from dying at that moment is that final magazine in your inventory. At the other end of the survival horror spectrum stands the other innovator, Konami and their Silent Hill series. As you can see from the trailer above they're still hard at work with the 8th game in their series due out in the fall of this year. In just a few months time we'll see if their decision to revitalize the franchise pays off.

Mark Your Calendars

2011-01-24T12:44:00.001-05:00

Why? Well because Rockstar just dropped the release date for their latest game via the latest trailer. The following video gives us some clues as to what the game's storyline is about as well as when we can get our hands on this gem. So give it a looksie and sound off with your thoughts on the matter in the comments. Video after the break.

Video comes courtesy of Rockstar's official site.

Fan Service

2011-01-21T13:27:00.000-05:00

Fan service can be a double edged sword. Sometimes it can be so blatant that it just completely destroys a project. Other times it’s just enough to satisfy the fans without being over the top. The following video is one of those times. As found on Youtube, this is D.C. Douglas, the voice actor of Wesker for Capcom’s Resident Evil series. This is when fan service results in awesome-sauce.

New Technology, New Experiences

2011-01-17T16:14:00.001-05:00

My mini write up on L.A. Noire for my last post really got me thinking that I want to expand on my coverage of the game. However I realized there's one part of that coverage that I wanted to dedicate a whole post to. Lately I've been trying to keep the talk on the blog a little casual but today we're going to get a bit more technical. That is to say, this post is going to explore the new motion capture technologies that are driving forward today's entertainment. Once again I'll just warn you this will get a little technical but you'll have a better understanding of the tech that's powering the games you're playing.

In my best of 2010 post I kinda gushed over one of the few PS3 games I played last year, Heavy Rain. While the finished product didn't look exactly like the cutting edge graphics from Sony's infamous E3 2005 video, they came pretty damn close. Quantic Dream may have just released the game last year but about four years ago at E3 2006 they released a tech demo that showed off just what their new motion capture technology was capable of. Not only could they do full body capture but their new system would allow them to accurately capture a person's face, providing even more accuracy for the end product. The following demo was just a sampling of what they would soon be capable of.

This was all captured in real time and then translated to the character model for the portrayal that you see above. Considering I'm a former animation student I can assure you that traditional means while effective could not have come this close to matching the performance of the original actor. And even still, four years ago this representation still left a little to be desired. The syncing of the lips and dialogue still isn't the best but it's damn close. Having played the final product that Quantic Dream released last year, I can say they succeeded in their task of using this motion capture technique to convey emotion in 3-D characters that was unparalleled by any other game, for the time that is.

Later on in 2010 we'd finally get the first taste of what Rockstar and Team Bondi had been working on for the last five or so years. Team Bondi's end game is to create an experience where the subtle twitches of a face and a person's mannerisms can impact your investigation in L.A. Noire. In order to achieve this they employed a similar use of motion capture technology that was used by Quantic Dream for Heavy Rain. Using their new facility they are able to scan and capture the full performance of an actor with incredible accuracy, providing just the amount of detail they set forth to create for both presentation and game play purposes. Here's a look at the revolutionary MotionScan being used by Team Bondi.

The real test to how effective MotionScan will be when L.A. Noire releases later this year. Until then you might want to brush up on your investigative skills for when you sit in the interrogation room with these virtual suspects.

Anticipation, I Has It.

2011-01-16T15:29:00.000-05:00

Yes my friends, 2011 is upon us and with it comes a new slew of titles and expansions for us gamers to enjoy. Unfortunately there are far too many of them for me to name check them all. Sad, I know. However I can still countdown a list of the ones that are garnering the most interest from me. So without further adieu, here is my list of games to keep an eye on in 2011.

Marvel vs Capcom 3

Do you even really need to ask about this one? MvC3, as it's lovingly shortened to, has been a decade in the making. Fans still clamor over Marvel vs Capcom 2 to this very day. With a new graphics engine and a slew of new characters, Capcom hopes to recapture the hearts of the fighting game community. If initial reactions from Capcom tournament events are any indication, this is a sequel that is well worth the wait. Expect this to hit shelves in February.

DC Universe Online

Over at fellow blog, Femme Gamer, I recently chronicled my time with the DC Universe beta. If MMOs are more your speed then this is a game you'll want to explore. Step into the shoes of a superhero and fight along DC's greatest characters or join the fray as a villain and fight against them. And don't worry, there's enough loot and customization options to keep you busy for a long time; per the $15 a month subscription fee that is. You'll get your money's worth with promised expansions and continued support beyond the launch date. As of this post, DC Universe Online is available for both the PC and PS3.

L.A. Noire

There's no possible way I could leave Rockstar Games off this list. After delivering one of my favorite games of 2010 in Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar promises to innovate the industry again with Team Bondi's L.A. Noire. Though this game doesn't follow the normal Rockstar formula as you won't be playing an outlaw but rather a cop on his way up through the ranks in the 1940s. Team Bondi's biggest boast of course is their new motion capture technique that can capture the most subtle facial expressions and mannerisms. Being able to read those facial expressions during interrogations will be key to your investigations. Sounds pretty nifty to me.

The Last Guardian

You're probably asking yourself right now, "What the hell is the Last Guardian?" Very little is known about this game other than that it's sporting some gorgeous graphics and that it features some sort of giant bird/cat hybrid animal. Sure that's not a lot to go on but gamers in the know are aware that the team behind this game created two of the most highly regarded Playstation 2 titles, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (both of which will be featured as HD remakes for the PS3 later this year.) That fact alone is enough to at least keep an eye out for this one. I'd expect more info and at least another trailer by the time E3 rolls around.

Gears of War 3

A year after the X-Box 360 launched, EPIC Games dropped the console defining Gears of War. It was a game that boasted great visuals, unique game play, and solid character design. It was also the first in their Gears trilogy. In 2011, EPIC plans to finish that trilogy with a game that features even more weaponry, new characters (fan requested female soldiers), and refined multi player. Gears fans can expect to rev their chainsaws once again in the fall and, to steal a line from Halo 3's marketing campaign, finish the fight.

Batman: Arkham City

Most gamers know that it's almost impossible to make a good title out of licensed property. Movie tie in games are almost always terrible and made simply to cash in on the movie marketing. Rocksteady Games endeavored to change that years ago and the result was one of the best games of 2009, Arkham Asylum. Two years later they're hoping to expand on what they've created with the follow up title, Arkham City. This time gamers won't be confined to the island housing the sanitarium. Instead the streets of Gotham itself will be Batman's playground as you investigate the strange ongoing plot of Batman's foes. To help you'll have even more gadgets in your arsenal, advanced interrogation techniques, and tweaks to the free-flow combat. I fully expect this to be good enough make a serious play at being the game of the year.

Of course those aren't the only games I can feature, but I don't want this article to be extraordinarily long. It's pretty big as it is. So just like I did with my best of 2010 list, I'll give a nice list of honorable mentions that will be under my radar in 2011 as well. They're not must buys yet, but they could end up in that column.

LittleBigPlanet 2
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Mortal Kombat
Infamous 2
I Am Alive
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Silent Hill: Downpour

And there you have it. I'm sure some of your interests may overlap with mine and that's cool. If not, maybe I've given you some ideas of titles you might want to investigate and follow as the year goes on. Either way, you can expect 2011 to be just as packed as with content from the industry as 2010 was. Get your wallets ready folks.

The Very Best of 2010

2011-01-07T00:19:00.002-05:00

2010 was a pretty big year as far as gaming went. The year was entirely packed to the brim with big titles; from new properties to tried and true franchises. This post is going to be all about the games I thought were the best and ultimately that came down to the titles that I actually played the passed year. I'll also post the title that I thought was the most disappointing game I played in 2010.

Being a gamer for many years now I know exactly what kind of titles I like to play so I'm able to pare down the amount of games I actually pick up over the year. Though now and again I will explore an unknown title but mainly my plate consists of new interesting properties and sequels that I pretty much can't wait to get my hands on. In any case, here's the list of games that I thoroughly enjoyed in 2010 in order of release.

Heavy Rain

What can I say about this game that reviewers haven't covered over the last year? The studio behind this game boasted stellar graphics in demos for a good two years before this title was released. They constantly touted their graphical accomplishments and their unique control scheme. In the end the controls were a little wonky at first but it was different. It helped Heavy Rain stand out. Paired with a very intriguing concepts, interactivity, and branching storyline this is one Playstation 3 exclusive that you should definitely check out if you haven't already.

Red Dead Redemption

Simply put, Red Dead Redemption was the game of the year for me. Having played a third person adventure game before it in Splinter Cell: Conviction, I was well prepared for another shoot 'em up. I was pleasantly surprised by Red Dead though. Like with many of Rockstar Studios' games, Red Dead's sandbox style adventure unravels a very epic and thoughtful story from beginning to end. And that story unfurls through hours of game play, side missions and the occasional game of poker. Rounding out the experience is an amazing soundtrack, deep character development and multi player that has been supported with several downloadable additions. This is a title from 2010 that you can't miss out on.

FIFA 2011

This one is kind of a toss up. I'm not much of a sports gamer these days but EA's sports titles used to be mainstays in my library on earlier consoles. I played the FIFA demo and I was leaning towards picking it up. After a friend got it and convinced me it was worth it I made the plunge. Quite frankly, it's the best sports game I've played since EA Sports discontinued their MVP Baseball series. The controls are very intuitive and the presentation is simply stellar. If you're a fan of the series you already have this so there's no reason for me to convince you to purchase it. For other gamers, it's worth downloading the demo to give it a shot at least.

Rock Band 3

Back when Rock Band 3 came out I wrote up what I think was a very good description of how excellent that game is. With the addition of keyboards and harmonies Harmonix really broadened the range of music they could offer to their customers. The game wasn't just a new coat of paint though. It was a major overhaul of the graphics and the way we play the game in general. Adding in a new instrument as well as the addition of pro guitar and bass really set the bar way above what their competitors can reach. Despite Viacom recently selling the studio, Harmonix has retained the rights to their properties and downloadable content will continue to be released. Harmonix and their genre changing franchise will live on.

And there you have it; my top games of the year. While there were other titles I played, they simply get an honorable mention. Those titles are are follows:

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Blazeblue: Continuum Shift

Call of Duty: Black Ops

It's not that these titles are bad. They were fun in their own right and I still play Black Ops like it's going out of style. However the other games just stood head and shoulders above the rest. Demos for most of these games are on X-Box Live and the Playstation Network so there's always a chance to give them a try. Hopefully you'll enjoy them as much as I did. Before I end this post though I would like to list the most disappointing title I experienced last year.

Most Disappointing Game - Fable 3

What can I say that I didn't already cover in my review of Fable 3. It's just not packed with the same content that Fable 2 had. While the length of the main story is a little longer, the game itself feels incomplete. In the end what Lionshead studio delivered was ambitious, but it still paled in comparison to what had come before it. As the days go on, I'm finding it harder and harder to pop in the disc to return to Albion for a second play through. Perhaps some well crafted downloadable content can breathe new life into that game but for now it remains my most disappointing game of 2010.

A New Year

2011-01-06T16:43:00.001-05:00

I've let a lot of time pass side my last post. Since then the blog and the twitter account have seen little activity. For that I apologize. The problem is that as a gamer, I often get caught up doing just that and completely forget that I'm trying to run a blog here.

That actually brings me to the reason for this post; to wish my readers a happy new year. Hopefully over the holidays you picked up some worthwhile loot over the holidays. I know I've been quite busy with my copy of FIFA 2011. The new year holds a lot of promise and I look forward to exploring the world of gaming further with my readers and on a more frequent basis. Next on my agenda is to recap my favorite titles of 2010 and my most anticipated titles of 2011. I'll also be doing a post about my favorite mobile games so there's also that to look forward to. Plus I'll still be back with news, previews and occasional opinion work.

It's go time!

Motion Gaming - Wave of the Future or Passing Fad

2010-11-11T14:36:00.000-05:00

In 2006 Nintendo released the Wii to the masses and with it came the age of motion gaming. The battle of the next generation systems had officially begun with Microsoft and Sony battling it out for high definition supremacy. Meanwhile Nintendo decided to go a different route and introduced the Wii, providing a completely different gaming experience. No longer were you limited to just sitting with a controller in hand but the game called for you to be active and interact with it on a whole new level. This was obviously good for Nintendo as the system went on to sell millions of units despite the fact that it wasn't on par with the graphical powerhouses in the X-Box 360 and PS3.

Fast forward to 2010 where Nintendo's Wii has maintained a growing share. While sales have slowed the Wii is still doing well. And now it finally has competition in the motion gaming arena as Sony and Microsoft's motion technology has hit the market. While Sony went the similar route by introducing a wand controller with sensors that are picked up by it's sensor camera, Microsoft went in an entirely different direction. With the Kinect, they have released a camera sensor that picks up on body movement as well as a user's voice. This eliminates the use of a wand or remote and makes you the controller. Finally each system is working on level ground and the real competition can begin.

But really what competition is there left to have? Motion gaming has split gamers into camps: casuals and "hard cores". Hard core gamers have never really been swayed by the allure of the motion control. At the same time motion control itself has brought new exposure to the industry and has made gamers out of people who normally never would have touched a console. In a way it has become a double edged sword in that it has brought new exposure to this growing business but hardcore gamers feel it detracts from the gaming experiences that they are used to. Thus far the biggest problem Nintendo has faced is that it cannot combine the two audiences. Not to mention that they have yet to produce truly unique titles that require motion gaming outside of Wii Sports.

Microsoft's Kinect

I can't help but wonder if Sony and Microsoft have entered a state of gaming that is slowly dying off. The Wii has done tremendous business since it was released in 2006 but it hasn't exactly been burning up the charts like it used to. Tried and true titles still sell just as well if not better than heavily marketed titles that involve motion control. Again I draw my comparison between regular titles and the Wii titles as the Move and Kinect were only recently released. While both Sony and Microsoft have seen good sales from this, I'm not sure how long that will continue. Technically we have until E3 2011 when they really break out the new titles they have been building with motion control technology but what haven't we seen done on the Wii that Sony and Microsoft can do better? And like the Wii, how long will it be until we see bargain bin mini-game titles released in droves? If they truly want to these peripherals to succeed they have to show gamers, casual and hardcore alike that motion gaming can appeal to broad audiences as well as niche gamers. They need to show that this tech is here to stay instead of another trend that will slowly die a miserable death on store shelves.

Burnin' Down The House

2010-11-05T13:05:00.000-04:00

Burning up the charts might be a better term. Recently Harmonix studios released the third iteration in their Rock Band series and boy is it remarkable. Originally I intended to simply do a write up covering the keyboard but I think I may have to go more in depth after having some extra days to play through some of the challenge system and get a better feel for the set list. Simply put, this is the best rhythm game on the market today and I'm going to tell you why.

When Rock Band 3 was announced the big thing that caught every one's eye was the announcement of the keyboard peripheral. The previous two games, along with Beatles: Rock Band and LEGO: Rock Band already have consumers the ability to mimic guitar, bass, drums, and sing to their heart's content. The Beatles: Rock Band even upped the ante by allowing three part harmonies to be included; a feature that would find its way into Green Day: Rock Band earlier this year. While having three instruments and a singer was great and provided hours of fun, adding keys would open the avenues for an even deeper song selection. This was clearly evident when the first batch of songs were announced, including the likes of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again", and John Lennon's "Imagine".

The official Rock Band 3 keyboard/keytar

Now while the addition of a keyboard might not sound revolutionary, what path that it opened up led to the creation of Rock Band 3's defining feature. In adding keyboards, thus came the keyboard peripheral. While modest in size, it's a fully functional midi keyboard that is not limited to a five button set up. Instead you're given 24 keys. The normal way of playing Rock Band would require you only to focus on five colored keys. Harmonix's most ambitious project though would be utilizing the rest of that keyboard in it's brand new Pro Mode which actually allows you to play the full song, note for note. When you jump into Pro Keys on Expert, you're officially playing the song. They even went to the extent of including a tutorial mode to teach you the basics of playing the instrument as well as a similar game mode that allows you to learn a song piece by piece.

If you're not a keyboard person don't fret! Harmonix saw fit to also include Pro Modes for the guitar and bass as well as the drums. And while pro modes for guitar, keys, and bass are limited to tracks in Rock Band 3 and DLC from this point on; Pro Drums has been charted into every song since day one. So if drumming is what you enjoy most about Rock Band, you'll be able to go through the entire back catalog of Rock Band 1, Rock Band 2, LEGO: Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band, and any DLC you may have. Of course this requires the the new Rock Band 3 drum kit, or the cymbal expansion kit for your Rock Band 2 kit. Thus, Harmonix provides an even more authentic experience for gamers, further bridging the gap between playing the game and playing music.

Currently the only Pro Guitar on the market is the Mustang Pro guitar but Harmonix has recently announced the pricing and availability of the Fender Squire guitar. The Squire will be a fully functional midi guitar that players will be able to hook up to an amp when they play. This will of course require the Midi box they will be releasing later this month which can also be used to hook up your own electronic drum set or keyboard for a more authentic Pro playing experience.

Rock Band's Pro Instruments
(Red Mustang Pro, Fender Squire, Keyboard.)

When you put this together with the expansive Rock Band catalog of music you definitely get one hell of an experience. The ability to import your earlier tracks from the previous games goes a long way, despite the few tracks that will be missing from the packs. And unfortunately, The Beatles: Rock Band remains its own experience and cannot be exported. However there is a great slate of new artists finally lending their material to the rhythm game genre. If you're like me and still enjoy playing rhythm games then this is definitely one you will want to experience. Rock Band 3 elevates the genre to new heights and I applaud Harmonix for their efforts. I also look forward to the release of the Bon Jovi 12 pack next week, featuring pro versions of previously released tracks "Livin' On a Prayer", "Wanted Dead or Alive", and "You Give Love A Bad Name". Rock on ladies and gentlemen!