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14.9.11
By now, you've seen the excellent 15 minutes of Bioshock Infinite. There's no need to beat around the bush; it looks stunning, and you know it. After all, Rapture was such a hauntingly unique experience. Why would Columbia fail to be? Well, look beyond the Bioshock title and there's surprisingly little to connect the two worlds. What's different to the frightening shadows of Rapture in this new, floating dystopia?
While Rapture was a sodden, dank and murky-blue mess of rust, Columbia is unmistakably beautiful. Classic American architecture gently baked in soft sunlight, surrounded by clear blue skies; you wouldn't expect Infinite to be scary. But rather than mysterious shadows and sudden sounds, Bioshock Infinite takes a new direction; the frightful nature of Columbia comes from the fact there's blood in the streets, dead bodies piling up, and all in what looks to be a perfect holiday resort. That juxtaposition - combined with the explicit, in-your-face fear from the crazed Vox Populi - create an entirely new mood for Bioshock; Columbia was built to fanfare and celebration, rather than pieced together underground. Now, the dream is going wrong before your very eyes.
The original Bioshock was a solitary game. Fleeting accompaniment from friendly robots couldn't do much to stave off the heavy weight of loneliness; the sole survivor of a plane crash, you creep in the shadows as a lone wolf, with only the dulcet Irish tones of Atlus to guide you. It created tension, an eerie atmosphere, and meant you immediately formed a strong bond with your only friend. Which is why it hurt so much when he betrayed you.
Infinite is the polar opposite. Elizabeth is a constant companion, able to both shout out help and magic up some cover whilst in combat. Booker himself spouts more than a few lines of dialogue, acting as a narrator whilst also channelling the feelings and opinions of the player, be that "let's help the horse" or "LEMME SHOOT IT IN THE EYE". The increased human interaction in all forms, from saving distressed postmen to staring down a Vox Populi henchman, means Columbia feels more alive and vibrant, but even more terrifying to most; a crazy lady sweeping up leaves next to a burning building is a far more haunting image than a Splicer in a dark corridor.
Combat in Bioshock was always chaotic and messy. Even with the many steps forward in Bioshock 2, allowing you to handle both guns and plasmids, you'd spray your Tommy Gun fire all over the room and lay down a constant stream of zaps in the hope of pinning the agile Splicers. Enemies took quite a bit of damage, and thus needed a good beating in order to put to rest for good.
Maybe it's the thin air up in Columbia, but these enemies are far more susceptible to lead. The gunplay is now more tactical and finely-tuned; headshots produce grim blobs of brain matter, while a single shotgun blast is enough to send someone flying. Plasmids also seem to have undergone a silent overhaul; in the past, electricity and fire flew freely around the battlefield. Now, plasmids are sparingly used to great effect, and Elizabeth can alter the environment to your advantage. The Murder of Crows is thrown into a crowd as a distraction for a quick escape, alongside a new ability that seems to lift the Vox Populi and leave them hanging in the air for an easy headshot.
Do you want to save some slightly creepy little girls, or shoot them right in their ugly little faces? That was pretty much the only choice you had in Bioshock, and you had to make it about fifteen times over. If you'd chosen one way, you'd probably choose that same way throughout the whole game, unless you wanted to forgo a happy/evil ending and an achievement or two. As far as choices in games go, it was bog-standard.
Put an animal out of its misery, or attempt to save it? Stop an innocent man getting lynched, or let fate play out? Do you want some cover, more weapons, or a quick escape while being attacked? Every minute, it seems, you have a decision to make in Infinite, whether it be minor or major. The effect of this is not only a unique experience that allows you more space for personal play, but also distracts from a clear good/bad ending or rewards. Infinite wants you to make quick decisions that truly reflect how you want to play.
Why was Just Cause 2 an absolute pleasure to jump in to? Was it the outrageous destruction, the mental physics or the beautiful tropical setting? Those certainly helped, but the key reason for the smile on your face was the fact that it was so easy to get around. You zip from mountain to valley in a matter of seconds, blissfully free-falling as you go. It's just fun.
Columbia's big. And it's sprawling. And it's so beautiful you want to see as much of it as possible. The new Skylines allow for rapid movement in between towering American architecture, giving combat a sense a scale not usually seen, least of all in linear FPSs.
Do the meanacing streets of Bioshock Infinite make your blood run cold, or would you rather be stuck under the sea? Put your comments below and make sure to follow our Twitter for all the latest.
Labels: 2011, 360, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, Microsoft Windows, PC, PlayStation 3, PS3, Xbox 360
- Chris Hawke
Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade continues with Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, a 2D Metroidvania game from developer Fuel Cell Games, and animator Michel Gagné. The Xbox Live Arcade has no shortage of quality platformers, but Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet sets itself apart with a heavily-stylised art direction and an impressive atmosphere. The game has a few technical issues holding it back from greatness, but its offbeat, edgy charm and mostly-solid mechanics make for a well-playing and a highly-unique experience.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet opens with an unknown darkness enveloping the star of a small solar system, spreading its corruptive influence to the nearby planets. Players take control of a nameless spaceship pilot, as he attempts to thwart the planet’s darkness and restore his home. The story is told sans dialogue, through a small series of short cutscenes, letting gamers focus on the gameplay with little interruption from the plot.
Gameplay consists of exploring the eponymous planet, defeating bosses and discovering new tools for further exploration. Players will chart their way through six different areas, and, in true Metroidvania fashion, revisit them several times with new abilities. Hidden throughout the map are upgrades to the ship’s weapons and armour, with additional cinematics or pieces of concept art lying even further off the beaten path.
Play mechanics in Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet are fairly sound. Controlling a spaceship allows for greater mobility than other platforming titles, letting gamers zip about to their heart’s content. As a result, much of the game is built around solving equipment-related puzzles to get to the next area, rather than tricky jumps or intense combat. The tools collected throughout the game are varied, from object-destroying missiles to block-moving tractor beams. Many of the items collected can also be used in battle, such as the laser’s crowd-control abilities, or the barrier’s ability to block oncoming enemy fire.
Part of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet’s draw is its imaginative art direction, by Michel Gagné. Gagné, an effects animator who has worked on films such as An American Tail, The Land Before Time and The Iron Giant, gives every environment an off-kilter, malevolent edge, with stark and sharply-contrasting colours and harsh-looking landscapes. With its borderless designs and intensely-saturated aesthetic, the overall look of the game is reminiscent of the TV series Samurai Jack.
The art lends itself to the atmosphere as well. The backgrounds often have different activities visible in the distance, from flying birds to flowing liquid, whilst the sound design is filled with ambient noises of the planet functioning. The game uses progressively darker colours, as players delve further and further into the planet, making the excursion feel akin to Journey to the Centre of the Earth or, combined with the free range of movement, deep sea exploration.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is not without its faults, though. Many puzzles rely on the grappling tool for their solution, but unlike other items in the game, there’s never a clear ‘tell’ of what can be grappled and what can’t, leaving players to blind grab at various objects in the environment, usually with negative results. The map system also doesn’t do as good a job as other, similar titles at hinting at potentially-hidden items in the environment; completists looking to collect every hidden trinket are going to face an uphill battle.
At its best, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet flaunts several brilliant puzzle scenarios, making creative use of previously-gained equipment and making the player feel clever for solving them. At its worst, however, it creates many overly-vague and arbitrary situations, leaving the player to literally grope around the environment for a solution that will lead them to the next area. This wide split between the fun and the frustrating makes Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet a somewhat schizophrenic experience.
Ultimately, though, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a fine game, with addictive exploration elements and a look that is a welcome antidote to modern next-gen visual stylings (read: bronze-and-dirt-coloured). It’s the least of the three Metroidvania titles on the Xbox Live Arcade (behind Shadow Complex and Outland), but Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet’s solid hook, fun play mechanics and inventive art direction still make it well-worth invading.
8/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, Andrew Testerman, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Michel Gagné, Microsoft, Review, Shadow Planet Productions, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, Xbox Live Summer of Arcade
- Andrew Testerman
For me, every aspect of the Harry Potter franchise has been incredibly inconsistent in terms of quality. Whether it's the books, films or games, every time you think "yes, they've nailed this", a subsequent entry will probably leave you wondering what on earth went wrong. The books became somewhat convoluted with nonsense towards the end; the films have struggled more and more to turn the books into some sort of engaging or interesting spectacle; and the games have bizarrely got progressively worse as the technology has improved. The first few games on the PlayStation were charming, somewhat open-ended platform/puzzle games. The move to the PlayStation 2 era saw them take a disappointing step towards third-person action, and despite briefly flirting with a surprisingly well done open-world formula in Order of the Phoenix, the current generation of Potter games have become dull, tedious third-person shooters.
It shouldn't really be too much for Potter fans to expect a decent game from EA Bright Light, to send the series out with a bang. As it turns out, the developers have barely managed to send it out with a whimper with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
It's hard to imagine that someone who hasn't either read the book or seen the film will play this game, and that's clearly what the developer thought as well when it came to telling the story. There is practically no narrative development at all. Characters will talk and chat about things that were - even as someone who had just seen the film that morning - leaving me scratching my head somewhat. The story-telling is practically non-existent, and doesn't really provide you with the basic gist of what's going on. The opening level sees you fighting your way through the caverns underneath Gringotts Bank, but unless you've seen the film, you'll have absolutely no idea how or why Harry, Ron and Hermione have ended up in such a place. It's as if someone threw the movie script into a bonfire, and any bits of paper that survived were used to craft the story for the game. The film's most memorable storytelling moments, such as Snape's memories, are not even referenced in the game. It's an absolutely botched attempt at telling a story, and for EA Bright Light to treat such dearly loved source material with so little care and attention will no doubt anger long-standing fans of the wizarding world.
The script is also littered with some absolutely woeful dialogue, and equally poor voice acting. Whoever takes on the role of Harry in this game makes the wooden Daniel Radcliffe seem like an Oscar-winning acting legend; that's how poor it is. The memorable moments from the film that were supposed to represent real drama are included in the game as stiff and boring cutscenes, with awful dialogue and laughable voice acting. They aren't helped by the fact that the character models just look plain creepy, almost like Madame Tussauds replicas of the actors having just begun to melt. Facial animation is distressing, to the point that it almost looks funny. The character likenesses are actually passable but, on the whole, they definitely fall on the wrong side of uncanny valley.
Unfortunately, the gameplay and level design lives up to the lacklustre presentation of the story and visuals, with derivative combat mechanics and repetitive level layouts coming together to create something that really doesn't feel like the magical world so many people have come to love. Rather than the the creative and imaginative environments of Hogwarts and other locations from past games, you'll be fighting through dank caverns, boring towns and the castle itself has been relegated to empty corridors and rubble. The environments are just plain dull, and the way in which the levels themselves are designed is incredibly repetitive. Predictable and boring use of cover is a key issue of the landscape, whether they're columns, walls or rocks, and the whole game simply ushers you through in a linear direction, as you move from boring combat encounter to yet another boring combat encounter.
Throughout the majority of the game, you'll be controlling Harry, with Ron and Hermione at your side, but the game tries to freshen things up by letting you play as other characters such as Neville Longbottom and Professor McGonagall at set points during the story. However, there is no difference in playing as these characters other than their appearance, which just makes it feel like a cheap attempt at fan service. There are no unique spells or combat moves, so each character is effectively just a skin. There's also no co-op play, which seems like an obvious element to include since you have other characters with you at all times. It probably wouldn't have made the game much more fun, but it would at least have made it quicker to complete; a good thing when the game is so bad that you just want it to end as quickly as possible. I completed the whole thing in just short of four hours, even shorter than Modern Warfare 2 took me, and the end simply couldn't come quickly enough.
All you do in Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is fight and run, and perhaps occasionally stop to collect an utterly pointless collectable. The collectables simply distracts from the main path, and the running only gets you to the next mind-numbingly dull battle. The combat is just plain boring, even though the developers have clearly been inspired by the likes of Gears of War, so much so that each spell is basically the equivalent of a widely-recognised weapon from such a game. You have a spell that acts much like a grenade launcher and one that seems to resemble a colourful machine gun; it really is the most uncreative use of the Potter license I can remember experiencing. Remember levitating objects with 'Wingadium Leviosa', or stunning enemies with 'Petrificus Totalus'? There's none of that here; each spell is just a slightly different way of killing someone. The only variation between the spells is that some can be more effective when dealing with certain situations that others; for example, there's a spell for dealing with enemies at long range. Honestly, though, it's basically just a colourful sniper rifle.
Combat is just incredibly unfulfilling, and not at all satisfying. Spells feel weak, as your Death Eater enemies will simply go up in a puff of smoke. The enemy AI is almost non-existent, as they will often just stand still waiting for you to kill them. Cover means you're basically indestructible, and I ran through the entire game whilst dying only once. And that was only when I was trying to shove Hermione out of cover to get her killed, because - quite frankly - the game itself was boring me to tears by that point. All the combat scenarios come straight out of the 'generic gaming clichés' box, with most of them taking the form of cover-based shooting. Occasionally, though, you'll run towards the camera whilst shooting behind you, as the game struggles to feel 'cinematic'. It fails miserably.
There's nothing to break the monotony, and none of the film's more creative set pieces are used. You don't get to ride the dragon out of Gringotts, nor are you able to fly a broom through the Room of Requirement. You do get to experience the flooding of the Chamber of Secrets, but it's been handled as if EA have no respect for the source material, akin to the rest of the game. Even the battle with Voldemort is painfully dull, as you just shoot puffy little spells at him until he falls over. And, then, you fist pump the air. Because it means the game is over and you can throw it away.
Just because I'm not completely heartless, I'll say something slightly positive: the game does make use of some of the music from the films, which is just about the only good thing I can say about it. There is also a relatively nice montage of every prior Potter game in the series just before the credits roll, but this just served to make me ask "What on Earth have you done to this series?" Because it used to be quite enjoyable.
Quite frankly, I cannot think of one person on this planet who'll find even one ounce of enjoyment in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. For gamers, this is an absolutely shoddy attempt at a third-person shooter, with boring combat and repetitive level design, that make it an absolute waste of your time when you consider the other games available in the genre. Even for Potter fans, though, this game is simply a waste of your money; the game treats the original stimulus with no sense of respect, with a botched script, poor visuals, awful voice acting and a measly four-hour runtime. The best thing you can glean from this game is the fact that it represents the end of the series. For those of you who are desperate for some Potter videogame fun, stick to the LEGO games.
2/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, DS, EA, EA Bright Light, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Lego Harry Potter, PS3, Review, Tom Acres, Wii
- Unknown
Is the latest in a series known for it's lack of advancement anything to get excited about, or the last nail in the series' coffin? Andrew Whipple finds out. Reviewed on Xbox 360.
If there were ever a series of games that epitomise the lack of ingenuity and hard saturation that steer gamers away, it'd undoubtedly trace back to Dynasty Warriors. Infamous for constantly releasing title upon title of the same game, along with multiple expansions and sometimes crazy spinoffs, it's no wonder that the series is largely either ignored or frowned upon. Something surprising has happened though. Maybe it's because there hasn't been a good Dynasty Warriors game for over half a decade, or maybe it's because the majority of gamers have given up on the formula Koei has been following. Whatever the case, Koei has dipped its hand in the contemporary magic developer pot and (I'm being honest when I say this) Dynasty Warriors 7 has emerged as, quite possibly, one of the most underrated titles of the year.
I have no shame when I tell you that I'm a Dynasty Warriors fan. Having been introduced to the god-like, seminal Dynasty Warriors 3 when I was very young, I was taken aback by how simplistic yet utterly deep and addicting the gameplay was. Nothing about the title screamed difficulty; it was all about having a plethora of officers to choose from and a seemingly infinite amount of braindead enemies to crush under the weight of your dancing, flame-encrusted, demon dragon sword of truth. You could also bring a friend along for the ride. The time I spent maxing out statistics and locating legendary weapons is borderline embarrassing, but like the esteemed Ma Chao, "I have no regrets."
These dudes are about to catch a wave of some nice fire.
Saying all this, every title beyond Dynasty Warriors 3 was severely lacking. The only title I found some sort of solace in was Dynasty Warriors 5. We'll just ride right past the absolute atrocity Dynasty Warriors 6 was, which brings us to mid-2011, when Dynasty Warriors 7 jumped out of the bushes and stole my unwavering attention.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it". The old proverb holds complete truth when discussing this game. Dynasty Warriors 7 is based entirely around you slashing up no-name soldiers and beating down the higher-ups for loot and stat increases, just as it always was. There's actually some deep narrative involved in the game but, unless you're a history junkie actually interested in the actual history of what happened in ancient China, or a Warriors fan, there's no Mass Effect-esque storyline here for you. Stop looking.
Unlike its predecessors, Dynasty Warriors 7 brings an entirely new story mode system that will shock long-time fans and moderately please newcomers. Instead of picking an officer and running through the standard maps and scenarios that every faction would always do, Koei has crafted an elaborate campaign that spans hours. Each of the four factions - Wu, Wei, Shu and the new Jin - have a story campaign, and each one is riddled with cinematics, interesting dialogue (shocking, I know), and unique stages. As you progress through the story, the game will actually make you switch officers on-the-fly, in order to compensate for what's happening in the world. Officers will die, kingdoms will crumble, and most of the events are all fairly accurate to what actually happened in ancient China.
Split-screen is still present, along with new online functionality. That means someone can actually join your game.
At first I wasn't too sure about the story approach, as playing freely on whatever level on wanted was what I was always used to. Right out of the gate, when I bore witness to a cutscene without horrendous dialogue and watched as it seamlessly threw me into the scenario, I was sold. During your adventure with each kingdom, you'll also be running around towns talking to the people and purchasing weapons for your officers. The spaces you can move around within are small, and the things people say are mostly useless, but I still found this much more personable than simply jumping into a scenario without any knowledge of what's going on. However, you can still do this if you wish, by talking to the officer who initiates the fight.
If the story mode doesn't do it for you, then there's the brand new Conquest mode. It's a hexagon-like board that has you moving around from space to space completing scenarios that involve special events. This is also the mode of the game that Koei has finally optimised for online play. That's right: Conquest mode is fully playable with another person locally or over the internet. As far as the events go, sometimes you'll just be completing a standard battle, but if you do then your stats will increase in a specific field. There are also weapon scenarios that will net you an ultra-powerful piece of equipment if you can beat the general at the end. Officers have their very own legendary battle scenarios, too, that are a complete blast to play through. Complete these and you'll unlock the corresponding officer. There are 46 playable officers in the game; that's a lot of unlocking.
Did I mention the game actually looks very nice? Seriously.
Speaking of weapons, Dynasty Warriors 7 boasts a completely revamped gameplay system. Instead of being stuck with the same weapon for a specific officer, you can now hold two types of weapons at any time. Within your stats, though, it indicates whether you're proficient with a weapon or not. Having maximum proficiency means you're faster with your weapon and can perform a special function with it. There are also special EX moves that can only be performed with an officer's innate weapon; these EX attacks are pretty flashy and give you reason to hang onto that type of weapon. There's also a bonus attack for switching weapons on-the-fly in battle.
As you rack up the kills per officer in each and every scenario, you'll actually be achieving skill points. You can use these points to unlock special abilities like longer combo chains, special charge attacks and my personal favorite, the new second musou. Musou is your special attack and, typically, the Dynasty Warriors games only had one per officer. In this game, though, each and every officer has two unique musou attacks that are as over-the-top as they are awesome to behold. Would you say watching a small man hop on his cane, turn it into a blazing phoenix of fire, and shoot off into the distance, melting away the skin of every surrounding soldier is a waste of time? I didn't think so.
Lu Bu, the bastard child of Hu Lao Gate, is ever present and damn, will his musou rock your world.
A.I. is still a problem in the game, granted, but it's a lot smarter than it ever used to be. Enemies might attack you one minute and then take off in another direction the next. Hundreds of enemies can fit on the screen at one time, at least, but sometimes with another player you'll get some slowing down. Usually it's not a big deal, but it's still present, which is somewhat annoying. Also, the voice acting is superb compared to what we've witnessed before, but some characters still sound completely stupid. All that aside, these are mere minor complaints.
Dynasty Warriors 7 is by no means a perfect game, but what it commits to is what it does best, and that's vintage hack-and-slash goodness. The story mode is incredibly engaging, and Conquest has finally thrown much-needed online play into the mix. The game certainly isn't for everyone, but if you're looking for some simplistic, addictive action, then Dynasty Warriors 7 will do you proud.
8/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, Andrew Whipple III, Dynasty Warriors 7, Omega Force, PlayStation 3, PS3, Review, Tecmo Koei, Xbox 360
- Andrew Whipple III
Does this year's Mortal Kombat reboot live up to its expectations? Andrew Whipple III takes a second look at the game in this follow-up to Tom's original review, and finds it to be an anomaly in the fighting genre. Reviewed on PlayStation 3.
The extraordinary history that encompasses the universe of Mortal Kombat is a thrilling - albeit abhorrent - experience. Having essentially created the rating system for the video games of today, Mortal Kombat was a striking, mature, showpiece of a fighter that wasn't afraid to get imaginative. That was true of the games of old; cut to its 3D-centric brethren and that philosophy existed beneath pillars of filth no-one dared spring free. Suffice to say, Mortal Kombat has been through quite a bit. Fortunately, this experience has given the franchise another chance. Under the banner of new studio NetherRealm, Ed Boon and company have turned back time on the famed fighter, finding a winning formula in the days of the past.
Fighters are a fickle thing. Whether it's delay-timing, button-mashing or standard memorisation, there's always a quirk to the fighter that throws an audience off. Few fighters are easily accessible to the targeted gamer, and even fewer to a wide audience. Whilst I haven't played every single fighter out there, I can safely say that Mortal Kombat is the end-all standard that every fighter should aim to be. Accessible to the hardcore or casual gamer without a hitch, all you need to do is pick up a controller and the game will guide you toward your first digital beheading in minutes. That isn't to say that there's nothing for the avid fighter junkie - because there totally is - but it's so easy to become involved in the mechanics of the game. It's refreshing.
Most fighters throw you right into the thick of it by letting you select whoever you want and allowing you to begin a sort of ladder climb. As you progress this ladder, enemies usually become more difficult and eventually it ends with a boss fight which gives you some kind of cinematic story short that absolutely never makes any damn sense. Ladder climbing is still in Mortal Kombat, as it should be, but NetherRealm has gone the extra mile and incorporated a story mode that functions as the real core to the narrative.
I know what you're thinking. Narrative, in a fighter? You'd better believe it. The story mode is essentially an amalgamation of the first three Mortal Kombat games, crafted into one interweaving story that has you progressing with different characters. This is single-handedly one of the best features Mortal Kombat has brought to the forefront of the modern day fighter. Not only does it wean you into the glorious arenas and mechanics of the game, it also serves as a purpose to play if you're not always wanting to fight online. The best part is that it isn't a cobbled together mess and - get this - the story actually makes you want to continue forwards just to see what happens.
When was the last time a fighter did that?
Story mode alone will take you upwards of ten hours to complete and, once that's finished, there's a plethora of additional content you can sift through. Primarily, the Challenge Tower will be your after-story focus. This beast is a 300-scenario tower you crawl up as events are completed. These events can range from a standard fight, to shooting zombies, to battling whilst headless and on fire. Some challenges are rather difficult, but after each one you complete you'll be rewarded with currency called 'koins' which can be used to unlock bonuses. Story mode, normal fights, performing fatalities; almost everything in Mortal Kombat will net you some amount of koins. Like Deadly Alliance and Deception before it, the Krypt returns, where your koins can be spent. Fatalities, skins, music, artwork; practically everything can be unlocked in the Krypt. At least this time you don't have to worry about coloured koins.
All these extras sure are great, but the central combat is what you should really be caring about. Sporting a cast of over twenty six characters, Mortal Kombat has cut out the fluff and focussed on the characters that matter. Practically all the classic characters - including Sektor, Kabal, Jade and Stryker - return fully-equipped with an arsenal of special moves and combos that are, quite honestly, spectacular to behold. Every single selectable fighter has special attacks, two fatalities, a stage fatality, and a myriad of combo strings available. Everyone also takes real-time damage that persists until the match has been completed. There's something about finishing off your opponent with half your face missing that just screams awesome.
Perhaps the most noticeable change to Mortal Kombat rests within the special bars at the bottom of the screen. Upon performing a move or taking a hit, this bar increases to a maximum of three bars. The significance of these bars is that they allow you to perform an enhanced special attack by using one of the bars to power-up your move. Let's say Reptile normally just shoots a small glob of acid; if he uses a bar of his meter to enhance the move it'll now become a full stream of acid. The best comes, though, when you can manage to build up your meter to its capacity, three bars. Once this is achieved you can unleash a devastating X-Ray attack that's as grotesque as it is crushing to your opponent's health bar. Don't miss it, though, otherwise you just saved up all that energy for nothing.
The online component works, but it's been struggling since launch. There was a patch that fixed many of the connectivity issues but it still isn't picture-perfect. The only other complaint I have is what the conventional fighter always has: cheap-ass bosses. You'll find, over the course of the game, that several bosses have insane combos and 'armour' that allows them to stay standing when they otherwise should be sprawled on the floor. It can certainly get frustrating, but this is all trivial when looking at the overall package NetherRealm has crafted.
Mortal Kombat is an anomaly within the fighting genre. Whilst easily accessible to the casual gamer, it also caters to the hardcore in terms of how deep the combat can become. Even if you don't care for playing online - or maybe don't even care about fighters - the story mode is worth going through at least once. There's no fighting game like this out right now. With that said, welcome back, Mortal Kombat. Welcome back.
9/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, Andrew Whipple III, Mortal Kombat, NetherRealm Studios, PlayStation 3, PS3, Review, Warner Bros., Xbox 360
- Andrew Whipple III
Following on from last year's Transformers: War for Cybertron, High Moon Studios' latest Transformers-licensed title - Dark of the Moon - gives players the opportunity to transform once again into the legendary machines. Andrew Testerman sees whether it lives up to expectation. Reviewed on Xbox 360.
Last year, High Moon Studios gave gamers something they thought they’d never see: a legitimately fun Transformers game that stayed true to the fiction of the original 80’s series. With Transformers: Dark of the Moon, High Moon took the play mechanics that made Transformers: War for Cybertron so enjoyable, and implemented them into a new game, based on the upcoming movie. On paper, it seems like a recipe for success, but Dark of the Moon falls short in several of the areas its predecessor excelled in, and ultimately doesn’t manage to be much more than an above-average licensed game.
Dark of the Moon presents players with a two-act campaign, playing during the first half as Autobots and the second half as Decepticons, with a small Autobot epilogue. The narrative deals with the two sides fighting to control technology known as 'MechTech', though exactly what MechTech actually does is a little dubious, as the uses are never really mentioned in the game itself. The game’s story is a prequel to the upcoming movie, but - apart from ominously showing the moon in a few cutscenes - the connections with the film seem pretty tenuous. Unless Nolan North is actually featured alongside Shia LaBeouf and Tyrese Gibson?
The heart of a Transformers game is, of course, the transforming mechanics, and this is where Dark of the Moon is at its best. Players click the left analogue stick to change from robot to vehicular form, and vice versa, with each form having its own distinct advantage; vehicles are slightly more unwieldy in combat, but have heavier armour. New to Dark of the Moon is the Stealth Force mode, a hybrid of the robot and vehicle form with heavy weapons and the ability to strafe. The range of movement afforded by this system greatly shines in multiplayer, where a hasty retreat is sometimes necessary to avoid death.
The shooting mechanics that make up the brunt of Dark of the Moon are fairly solid, with each weapon having a nice sense of heftiness to it, in particular the heavy weapons like Megatron’s Fusion Cannon. A few issues hold it back from greatness, though; it’s pretty tough to gauge whether or not a shot connected with an enemy, especially since some of the guns can be wildly inaccurate. Also, the Transformers’ movements make the Cogs from Gears of War look positively graceful, and it’s all-too-easy to accidentally galumph into a wall and die from repeated shots to the back. Most annoying are the flying controls, an awkward mix of hovering, strafing, and ever-changing altitudes that never quite does what the player wants.
Presentation-wise, the game is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, Dark of the Moon ditches the monotonous metallic greys of War for Cybertron in favour of a variety of locations, like a dusty, remote South American village, a bombed-out incarnation of Detroit, and a lush tropical island complete with lava-strewn volcano interior. There are even a few nice atmospheric touches, such as small flocks of birds, or brilliant morning sunrises. However, the game is filled with technical glitches, ranging from the annoying (getting stuck in the environment) to the cringe-inducing (reloading a checkpoint because a scripted moment didn’t trigger).
Multiplayer is solid, if unspectacular. Players can customise their character loadout, choosing from different weapons and abilities, as well as assigning perks. Similarly to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, each of the game’s four classes level up separately, encouraging players to experiment but also rewarding those who stick with and specialise in one class. Unlike last year’s game, players are allowed to choose from licensed Transformers in matches, though the design of Michael Bay’s Transformers can make it hard to tell Bumblebee from Enforcer without first looking at the colour. Sadly, the multiplayer has its fair share of glitches as well, often acting laggy and occasionally dropping players from matches entirely.
Much of the content in Dark of the Moon is good enough, but seems downright lacking when compared to War for Cybertron. Dark of the Moon's single player is woefully short, clocking in at about six hours on Normal difficulty — in the face of War for Cybertron’s two-part, ten hour campaign, it’s a bit of a disappointment. Also, War for Cybertron’s robust set of multiplayer modes have been significantly cut down in translation to this iteration, from seven in last year’s game to three in Dark of the Moon. Perhaps High Moon was rushed in getting Dark of the Moon out in time for its film counterpart to hit theaters, but the shortened campaign and dearth of multiplayer modes give the game a small, slightly unsatisfying feeling, especially for a title that costs sixty dollars at retail.
Dark of the Moon is good fun while it lasts, but its brief playtime, lack of multiplayer options and host of technical glitches make it worth only a rental, for everyone but the most stalwart Transformers fans.
7/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, Activision, Andrew Testerman, High Moon, PlayStation 3, PS3, Review, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Xbox 360
- Andrew Testerman
Since 2005, Traveller's Tales' LEGO-themes games have tackled various high-profile film and book series, and have captured the hearts of both casual, young gamers and the gaming-obsessed alike. Can their latest installment stand up to that reputation, though? Tom Acres wonders that question. Reviewed on PlayStation 3.
Since its inception in 2005, with the original LEGO Star Wars game, Traveller's Tales' family-friendly, LEGO-themed action games have gone from strength to strength. Rather than fall into the all-too-predictable trap of resting on one's laurels and simply churning out the same game with the same flaws and no improvements, each subsequent LEGO game has offered far more than simply a new skin to entice gamers back. The UK-based studio have been averaging a game a year thus far, but many feel they may finally be pushing their luck. After the March release of a fourth game based on the Star Wars franchise, Traveller's Tales shipped a new game just two months later: LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean.
Thankfully, there are just enough innovations and advancements made in this latest installment to draw you back in, except if you're perhaps one of those suffering from serious LEGO fatigue.
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is structured in just the same way as any LEGO game before it: a hub allows you to run about and unlock characters or just explore, as well as providing access to all the available levels. In the case of Pirates, there are twenty levels spanning all four of the films: Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, At World's End and On Stranger Tides. Whilst it could easily be argued that the films get progressively worse, the crazier and grander set-pieces from the latter films do make for some enjoyable gaming situations. Duelling atop a giant rolling cage in Dead Man's Chest is commendably well done, as is the Maelstrom set piece from At World's End, and some large scale battles from the latest adventure that I won't spoil here. Of course, all these grandiose moments are interconnected by the same old platforming, puzzle-solving and simple combat that the series has become known for. Nothing is drastically different, but it's difficult to envisage exactly how the structure of these games would be changed. All the elements come together nicely, and fans wouldn't have it any other way.
The twenty levels on offer will probably be enough for around ten hours of enjoyment on your first playthrough, but one of the big draws of the LEGO series has always been replaying levels with different characters to collect studs, unlock new bonuses and - of course - scurry after those delicious Xbox 360 achievements and PlayStation 3 trophies. The formula of playing through the levels, collecting studs, buying characters, unlocking cheat codes and then replaying levels again still works. Smashing everything in sight to hoard more of the game's currency has a strangely addictive quality to it, as all the prior games also have. Everything that has made these games enjoyable, and stopped them from becoming stale despite their recycled mechanics, are here. There aren't many surprises to be had in that sense.
Recycled structures and predictable design might become a problem if the gameplay wasn't being continuously improved and refined. Whilst the mix of platforming, puzzles and combat is still here, each aspect has been markedly improved in each game, and the same holds true here. Platforming still feels a little loose, but the way the levels are designed means that the consequences of this aren't felt quite so dramatically as in prior games. Platforms are easier to jump to, swinging on poles is a breeze, and climbing and shimmying along ledges is also handled well.
The puzzles are probably some of the best in the series so far; there's a fair amount of standing on buttons and pulling levers, as you'd expect, but there are also some more creative sections on offer, such as rearranging and directing mirrors to direct beams of sunlight. Any potential frustration caused by these puzzles has been removed with the addition of handy hints and prompts to give you an idea of what you ought to be focussing on and where exactly you need to be. Plenty of 'what do I do now?' moments have plagued the LEGO videogame franchise for a number of years now, so it's nice to see Traveller's Tales take steps towards addressing that issue. Experience breeds quality, and that's certainly the case here.
What surprised me the most about the refinements to the overall gameplay was the combat, which is now genuinely quite thrilling. Sword duelling is fun to execute, with blocks now a possibility, and the fights seem far better choreographed than in prior games, in which random pushing of the attack button without any real brain power was the one and only route to success. Other items can also be incorporated into the mêlée combat, with sidearms like spades and rum bottles being used to turn the tide of a battle in your favour. As with all the past LEGO games, different characters make use of different weapons, so whilst many of the characters will be taking on the enemy with swords, there's also a fair opportunity to wield firearms and bombs to take down foes.
As always, there is a ridiculous number of characters to unlock, and the rich lore and wide variety of the wacky individuals from the film series lends itself very well to the LEGO treatment. The films themselves are already pretty ridiculous by their nature, so Jack Sparrow and his motley crew fit right into the ridiculous cinematic style that Traveller's Tales have polished to near-perfection since 2005. As ever, there is a tonne of lovely little touches spread throughout the game, like LEGO Sparrow's fantastic walk animation, and the way the cursed crew of the Black Pearl seamlessly turn into skeletons when they step into moonlight. The game does a great job of recreating the feel of the movies, all whilst providing plenty of laughs along the way, thanks to the brilliant pantomime style that the series is famous for.
The LEGO games have always been better enjoyed with a friend, and whilst that still holds true with LEGO Pirates, this is one area where Traveller's Tales' attempts to improve the system haven't quite hit the mark. The dynamic split-screen element that was introduced in last year's LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is still here, and whilst it looks great on paper, in practice it can cause some frustrations. When you and your buddy are a fair distance apart and trying to accomplish different sections of a level, it works fantastically well, but when you're still relatively close together and trying to attempt a tricky platforming section, it can all go pear-shaped rather quickly. For me, the split-screen simply comes into effect far too quickly, resulting in situations where the screen splits even when two players are still quite close together. The way this occurs is quite jarring and more than a little off-putting. It's commendable to see the developers try to improve the system - and, as I said, it seems like a great idea in theory - so we'll see how the system can be improved further in future titles.
One aspect that I'm not sure can be improved much more are the visuals. I promise you that I don't exaggerate when I say that this is a simply stunning game. It's always been great to see LEGO Jedi or wizards running around, and the look-and-feel of the movies is captured just as well in LEGO Pirates as it was in LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Harry Potter and every other LEGO-franchise game before. But even on a technical level, this new title is fantastic to look at. Graphical elements like high-contrast lighting, reflections, motion blur and depth of field are all used to fantastic effect. Animation on the characters is superb, the LEGO bricks are terrifically modelled and the realistic environments not only do a great job of contrasting with the LEGO theme, but also look beautiful in their own right. This is not just a great-looking game by LEGO standards: this is a great looking game by any standards.
As you'd expect, the visual presentation is supplemented by an excellent audio presentation. Hans Zimmer's terrific musical score is present and accounted for, with plenty of other sound effects ripped straight from the films. Grumbles and other audio exclamations from the characters are fantastically well done, working brilliantly in conjunction with the animations to help deliver the hilarious cutscenes.
Like I said at the start, it could be easy for Traveller's Tales to rest on their laurels: these games are guaranteed to make money and there's little motivation for Traveller's Tales to really make effort to improve them each time, but the way in which LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is so much better than March's LEGO Star Wars III shows just how much work goes into each of these games. From the visuals right down to the level design, every aspect of these games improve with each subsequent entry in the series, and that trend isn't likely to end with LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. It may well be a kids' game at its core, and there's still room for improvement in terms of gameplay and variety of tasks, but it's a damn good kids' game. And it's still one that any gamer who has ever enjoyed the LEGO series will be able to play through, with a huge grin on their face.
8/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, Disney Interactive Entertainment, Lego, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, PS3, Review, Tom Acres, Traveller's Tales
- Unknown
When a fighting game comes along that makes me stop and take notice, it's usually a sign that it's a damn good fighter. Street Fighter IV was possibly the first fighting game I'd enjoyed playing since Tekken 3 on the original PlayStation, but after hearing of the hardcore-centric arcade past enjoyed by the Mortal Kombat series, I have to say I felt a rather large degree of trepidation going into this game. I'd had a good time with the demo for sure, but delving into the larger overall single player and multiplayer experiences offered in the full game would surely be an entirely different story.
Don't get me wrong, this rebooted Mortal Kombat is just about as classic and hardcore as you're likely to get in this generation of console fighters, but even for a relatively inexperienced fighting game player like myself, this is still a damn enjoyable, blood-drenched good time.
Mortal Kombat's reboot undoubtedly stems from the 'easy to learn, difficult to master' template of approachability, and in the eyes of most people this is probably the ideal way to design the gameplay system of a fighting game. Mortal Kombat is set on a traditional 2D plane, a departure from the 3D plane of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe; as a result, the action is far more immediate and intense. The style of fighting encourages an offensive strategy, with techniques such as projectile attacks and air combos far more dangerous and effective than they were in the more recent entries to the series. Indeed, this new Mortal Kombat has its feet firmly planted in the arcades. Learning defensive moves like blocking, jumping and teleporting are obviously important if you're to have any success on the harder difficulties, or when taking the fight online, but the way in which you are encouraged to play with an open and offensive style certainly caters itself to newcomers looking for a bloody good time.
Fighting is ultimately thrilling, as it should be, and the formula is given even more flash by the special moves. As you take damage or land hits, a combo bar fills up at the bottom of the screen. As it fills, you're able to perform special moves simply by landing a combo on an enemy whilst holding down the right trigger button. Alternatively, you can wait until the entire combo bar is filled up and subsequently unleash a devastating 'X-Ray' move, by simply holding down both triggers. These bone-crunching moves not only do ridiculous damage that can change the direction of a fight immediately, but they also look completely insane. Fighters are subjected to acts of complete brutality and, as the name suggests, players are given an X-Ray view of their opponent, as their spines are snapped, skulls are stamped on and crotches are kicked. Whilst obviously looking insanely brutal - and also rather cool, in a sick kind of way - these special moves ensure that the game isn't just a nineties arcade title with modern day graphics. Whilst the basic fighting is still fantastic despite the age of its core mechanics, the special and X-Ray moves keep the gameplay feeling fresh and unpredictable, even for veterans of the series.
Fatalities also make a return. These finishing moves are more for visual punch than anything gameplay-related, but it's undeniably more fun to finish a fight by ripping your opponent in half - or, eating their face playing as a scantily-clad, busty, deranged woman - than it is to simply kick them over. They look ridiculously violent, and you haven't lived before you've seen Johnny Cage rip someone's torso off in 3D.
The classic one-on-one fighting is what most people will get their kicks out of, but Mortal Kombat has also introduced a new tag-team approach to fighting. The game lets up to four humans play at once, if you're interested in tag-teaming with a real person; but you can also play alongside an AI partner against two other AI-controlled fighters, or can control both of the fighters on your team and swap between them as the fight plays out. The tag battles add some extra moves to the game as well, such as allowing you to call in your partner to perform quick special moves, or tagging out in the middle of a combo for additional brutality. Personally, I prefer the classic one-on-one style, but tagging in and out makes for a fun variant which may be even more enjoyable for some.
What surprised me the most about Mortal Kombat was the sheer amount of content on the disc, ensuring that there are plenty of ways for you to kick arse across a multitude of modes. The multiplayer modes are obviously worth considering, but what really impressed me was the breadth of single-player options available. In fact, the game probably has the widest and best selection of single-player modes that I've ever seen in a fighting game. The flagship mode is the story mode, which simply connects the traditional fighting with a decent story told through very well-produced cutscenes. To be honest, the story flew right over my head, but it will probably appeal to long-time fans of the series tenfold more. In fairness, a clear amount of effort and resources have gone into the story mode, and that fact alone impressed me, even though I really didn't have a great idea of what was going on half the time. From what I've gathered from friends who are somewhat more familiar with the Mortal Kombat lore than myself, the story mode here retells the events of the first three games of the series as if they had taken place in an alternate timeline. As a result, some characters end up in totally different states than they had done in the prior games, and so loyal followers of the lore will find some interest in seeing what happens to their favourite characters. For me personally (and for other newcomers as well, I'm sure) the story mode is just a well-presented excuse to rip people's heads off.
The eight-hour story mode isn't the only single-player mode here, though. The traditional arcade mode is present and accounted for, and plays out in a ladder-based tournament style. Playing through this mode with different characters will give you slightly different endings depending on who you choose.
The final single-player mode, the Challenge Tower, is a collection of 300 tasks, from traditional fights to some seriously crazy twists and variants to keep you guessing. Some of these variants are simple enough, such as requiring you to use a certain move or to perform a fatality, but some of them are much crazier - launching one of your limbs at your enemy, for example. Your limbs grow back over time, giving you a steady stream of heads, arms and legs to launch instead of traditional punches and kicks. Other twists include having the stage tilt from side-to-side as hits land, or even fighting upside-down. Some of the tasks come with silly bits of dialogue, such as one that has Mileena trying to give a teddy bear as a gift, or another that has Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn fighting over a baby that sits in the background as you battle. A crying baby sitting there as two guys tear each other limb-from-limb? It's at times like that when you wonder about the state of Ed Boon's mental health.
These single-player modes are worth playing before you dive into the online competition, mainly because you'll want to master at least a few of the twenty-seven characters on offer. Old favourites like Scorpion are available, and all the fighters have at least two fatalities and two costumes. These extras are unlocked in the Krypt by spending your MK Points, which are earned simply by fighting, completing challenges and advancing in the story. As well as costumes and fatalities, you can also unlock music, concept art and other goodies that can be viewed later in the Nekropolis. PlayStation 3 owners can also enjoy playing as God of War frontman, Kratos, which might be worth considering if you have the choice between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.
The aforementioned online experience is a key cornerstone of this new Mortal Kombat. Ranked and unranked options are both available in order to quickly dive into a fight, but lobbies make a welcome return and are a fun way of experiencing the online component of the game. As well as fighting, other members of the lobby can watch ongoing fights and perform gestures, as their Xbox Live avatar watches the fight on a cinema screen. PlayStation 3 gamers instead use cartoon doll versions of Mortal Kombat fighters (don't expect to see your much-loved PlayStation Home avatar jumping around anytime soon). In terms of online modes, regular fights as well as tag-team battles are available, and there are also some unique modes to the online experience such as King of the Hill. The concept is simple: the winner stays on, the loser goes to the back of the queue and is forced to watch the next few fights from the lobby as the next contender gets a chance to fight. None of the interesting mini-games from the Challenge Tower are available to play online, but with DLC promised further down the road, that may eventually become a reality for players to enjoy.
Clearly, there is a hell of a lot to Mortal Kombat, and it's all brought together in a very impressive visual package. Characters and backgrounds are exceptionally detailed, with a disturbingly impressive range of animations for the X-Ray moves and Fatalities. Fighters get battered and bruised throughout the course of a fight and their costumes become ripped and bloodied, which is another really nice touch. Of course, a further bonus for PlayStation 3 owners is the ability to play in 3D and - whilst I only have my experience with the PlayStation 3 demo's 3D capabilities to go on - it's a very impressive visual element which adds a nice layer of depth to the proceedings. In terms of mere graphical detail and performance, however, there are no noticeable differences between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.
There isn't much that's in any way negative about Mortal Kombat. It's a fantastic fighting game with a ridiculous number of modes for both single-player games and online competition, a terrifically approachable but fiendishly difficult to master fighting system, and it's incredibly good-looking as well. Whether you're a hardcore fighting game fan or someone who just wants to kick some arse and rip some heads off in a ridiculously violent game, Mortal Kombat is absolutely worth playing. Absolutely.
9/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, 3D gaming, Fighting, Mortal Kombat, NetherRealm Studios, PlayStation 3, PS3, Review, Tom Acres, Warner Bros., Xbox 360
- Unknown
Remember that Tropico 4 Community Interview that we promised? Well, after escaping from the beautiful island by only the skin of our teeth, we've brought back a secretly-taped discussion with El Presidente and one of his aides. The UN, the EU, the League of Nations (they're still kicking about, right?) all want a piece of the infamous El Presidente - and GGTL exclusively has the dirt on him that can bring him to justice.
Read on after the jump for the full interview.
With the new 'Fire Station' building added in Tropico 4, will there be dynamic damage/fires that affect our buildings and island at large in the game?
El Presidente: The Tropican buildings are made by only the best materials. They do not burn or get damaged. Ever. If one of them falls it was meant to fall, by my order.
Anonymous underling: Both will be present in the game. Disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes can cause buildings to become damaged. If a construction worker does not come to repair them, they will catch fire.
Fires can also start because of a volcano, or because of citizen negligence. You can prioritise which buildings should be put out first by your firemen or pay for a helicopter that puts out the fire instantly.
How will privatisation/nationalisation be dealt with? Will we be able to charge for services that were always provided for free in previous Tropico games?
El Presidente: Everything should be under my control at all times. After all, who but me can decide what is best for my people.
Healthcare, food and religion are my gifts to society and will remain free.
Anonymous underling: Privatisation will play a bigger role in Tropico 4. The Stock Exchange will attract foreign offers for constructing private buildings. Private buildings may go bankrupt if they do not have enough resources, or workers. Their owners will also be able to set wages as they see fit. The list of buildings that can be private is not yet finalised, but there will be more options compared to Tropico 3.
Healthcare, food and religion are Presidente’s gifts to society. There are no imminent plans to change that.
Will we have any kind of terraforming tools during our presidential reign?
El Presidente: Tropico is the most beautiful island on Earth. Why would we want to change its landscape if not to build several new factories?
Anonymous underling: Players will not be able to terraform their islands during gameplay. When creating a challenge (both online or offline), you will be able to customise the island including modifications on the terrain and adding/removing resources, crop and beauty markers.
Will there be improvements to the constant traffic congestion we suffered from in Tropico 3?
El Presidente: Traffic jams are a sure symbol of progress. Only well-developed countries can afford to have traffic jams. We should be proud of them!
Anonymous underling: As of this moment, no measures are planned to reduce traffic congestion but that is liable to change. There will be improvements to how roads are constructed, however.
What new opposition will there be to your regime? Right now there are rebels, superpowers, and local politics. What new challenges will be part of Presidente's threat profile?
El Presidente: Threats?!? Don’t make me laugh. Presidente was, Presidente is and Presidente will be forever. No matter what our enemies throw at us, it will always bounce back at them.
Anonymous underling: There are more superpowers now and they are just as fickle as the old ones. The new trade system allows for the superpowers to impose embargos on some goods.
Also, the citizens of Tropico may become criminals and start committing armed robberies and even murder. Your policemen will try to arrest them or shoot them down.
Will the new foreign powers added (China, Europe) place demands on El Presidente, in the same way that the US & USSR currently expect you to, and if so, what kind of new demands might we see from these powers given they are not explicitly Capitalist/Communist?
El Presidente: All they do is demand. I can’t get a minute of peace without someone nagging me to export smoked beef or to become their favoured trade partner.
Anonymous underling: Each superpower has its own unique agenda. Europe is deeply concerned about human rights on your island, while the Middle East is deeply worried by the price of oil and how you affect it. The new superpowers will not be able to invade your island, but they can do damage in other ways, like imposing embargos and other penalties.
How will the combat be handled in Tropico 4?
El Presidente: There is only one way to handle combat: you point your gun and you shoot. If you are doing something else, you are doing it wrong.
Anonymous underling: We do not plan on modifying the combat of the game. We do not plan on making the game an RTS or a shooter. Still, there are a few surprises for the rebels that el Presidente has in his sleeve. I will mention two: one will make El Presidente twice as effective in combat and the other just goes boom.
What are some of the new features/buildings that industrialist dictators can look forward to in Tropico 4?
El Presidente: This is a secret of national importance. You must be a spy if you want this information.
Anonymous underling: Here are two buildings that affect your industry and production:
The Chemical plant is a new production building that does not require input resources, but needs a lot
of electricity. With upgrades it can also improve the life of the everyday Tropican.
The Horticulture Station is a new building that affects your agriculture. It can be used to plant forests, turn all of your agricultural production organic, or you can dabble in the dark arts of genetically modified corn.
of electricity. With upgrades it can also improve the life of the everyday Tropican.
The Horticulture Station is a new building that affects your agriculture. It can be used to plant forests, turn all of your agricultural production organic, or you can dabble in the dark arts of genetically modified corn.
Will there be modding tools for the PC community?
El Presidente: Tropico is a work of art. Anyone trying to modify it better wash his hands first and be ready for swift arrest if I do not approve of his creations.
Anonymous underling: Yes. The player will be able to create online challenges. The tools and interface for challenge creation have been totally redone and give many new options. As mentioned before, you will be able to modify the terrain of your island when editing your challenge and add or remove resources, beauty and crop markers. You will also be able to place the starting buildings as you wish.
How politically-minded do you feel Tropico 4 is? Does the construction come before the politics?
El Presidente: This is a very good question. Next question please.
Anonymous underling: Well, looking at current politics and headlines I will say that we don’t dare to go that crazy, but we’re close enough. With the new National Agenda mechanic, the different factions are able to communicate more freely with El Presidente and he can answer to their needs more directly.
Construction and politics go hand in hand. This is precisely why Tropico is unique: you don’t need every building to win - in fact, you don’t need half of them, but what you do need is good planning and awareness.
Are mission islands larger than those of Tropico 4?
El Presidente: Have you heard of a game called Minecraft? Our islands are bigger.
Anonymous underling: Yes. Everything is bigger, as it should be. Alas, we did not manage to reach infinity, but the area of the new maps is twice that of the old.
When can we expect to see new trailers/assets for the game?
El Presidente: I spoil you too much by giving you trailers and screenshots for free.
Anonymous underling: Like all cool developers say, you will see them when they are ready. They are currently in the works.
Could you give us an advance on the 'August 2011' release date
El Presidente: If some dollars were to come to my Swiss account, the game could be out by next week. Propositions below the current US budget deficit will not be viewed seriously.
Anonymous underling: What Presidente said.
Presidente and Underling answers were compiled by Lyubomir Iliev, Game Designer at Haemimont Games.
The verdict? Tropico 4 is guilty. Of being a damn fine proposition. We can't wait to bring you more info on the exotic title, and Gamer's Guide to Life.com would like to thank the men and women at Kalypso Media and Haemimont Games for such a wonderfully inventive interview. Stay tuned to our Twitter for our future Community Interviews, and much more; it only takes a moment to follow us, and you get all that gaming goodness. You know you want to.
Labels: 2011, 360, Chris, Chris Hawke, Community Interview, Exclusive, Haemimont, Interview, PC, Tropico, Tropico 4, Xbox, Xbox 360
- Chris Hawke
Stacking is a simplified and more casual version of the adventure games of yore. To me it was particularly evocative of the Monkey Island series, titles known for their quirky, humourous stories and esoteric puzzles. Despite only being Double Fine’s second foray into the downloadable game arena, Stacking is a delightful game for anyone pining for a classic adventure game.
The player controls Charlie Blackmore, the smallest (and perhaps most adorable) doll in a family of Russian nesting dolls. Charlie can stack into, and 'unstack' from, larger dolls to solve puzzles and save his family, who have been captured by the evil child-labour propagator, known as the Baron. Charlie explores a larger-than-life, early 20th century Britain, as he quests to save his family from the Baron and undo nasty child labour laws once and for all.
In the same way that Monkey Island was about finding and combining items to solve puzzles, Stacking is about applying the correct item to the correct situation. The only difference is that your items are characters, the dolls, spread out across the environment and full of such personality and quirkiness that they colour the game a strikingly unique, enjoyable puzzle-playground. What would be static, menu-based inventory items in most games turn into a circus of charming dolls scurrying around the playable field. Each doll has one ability that it can perform, ranging from generally useless actions (breakdancing and flatulance) to uniquely applicable ones (vomiting cookies and playing pied piper). The flavour provided by these character-items makes puzzle solving much more visual and friendly to those not well-learned in the obscurity of adventure game logic.
Stacking actually does a lot to circumvent much of the frustration which adventure games can inspire, most notably the tendency for visual puzzle-solving to become repetitive and irritating. Take Monkey Island, or even more modern adventure games, like Sam & Max; it’s easy to get stuck or lost in the game’s language, which is often impractical or humourous rather than logical. Who knew that a rubber chicken could be used as a zipline trolley? A pot can double as a helmet? There’s a certain out-of-the-box abstract logic to adventure games that takes a conditioned mind to recognise, and that invites some negative frustration. Being able to see the dolls' abilities in Stacking helped me to understand how a particular doll could aid in a situation. Even though the puzzles are rarely brilliant, elegant, or even all that complex, the impressive visuality of it all is a nice design choice that cuts through a lot of that nebulous misunderstanding and frustration that adventure games have forced players to wallow in for years.
Every puzzle has multiple solutions, but usually it only needs to be solved once to proceed through the game. If you were to just go find one solution to every puzzle, Stacking wouldn’t take you very long to complete, but there’s fun to be had in discovering every solution: they’re usually clever and make use of an unfamiliar doll. The real upside of multiple-solution puzzles is that, chances are, you’ll be able to figure out at least one of the solutions without much trouble, which goes a long way in removing the dissatisfaction of getting stuck on a particularly tricky riddle.
A trend in modern iterations of adventure games that I really appreciate is the hint system, and Stacking has a three-step hint system that begins vaguely and ends by directly outlining how to proceed. This mechanic can help anyone along at any time, during any puzzle, only augmenting how ideal Stacking is for adventure game fans of any calibre.
Stacking bookends puzzles and levels with stylised cutscenes that mimic the silent films of the game's era: bouncy piano music plays whilst the dolls bounce up and down to indicate who's talking to whom, and after a second or two the screen shifts to text and dialogue. It's part of the charm, but the scenes come up often and run slowly, and none are skippable. If anything, their use highlights how antiquated the idea of a cutscene can be in a game, but given Stacking’s late 19th/early 20th century motif, the antiquation feels almost appropriate.
There’s a strong aesthetic in Stacking that’s both charming and cohesive. Dolls scuttle and wobble about with an almost stilted animation that feels very appropriate for they way they look. The garbled grunts and chubby faces of the dolls provide just enough enjoyment to make me fine with being stuck in puzzles momentarily, because at least the experimentation was still visually fun. Environments in the game range from a high-class train, to a cruise boat, to an ominous zeppelin. Each feels decorated and is populated with a cast of new dolls and puzzles that fit the setting. In one level of a train car I found a crowd of humongous dolls wearing monocles and top hats, feasting on piles of golden coins served to them by lowly child labourers, as a fire - fuelled by hundred dollar bills - roared behind them. Much of the reason to play this game is to enjoy the art style and the embedded humour.
Adventure games are definitely a 'certain type' of game, one that hasn’t changed much since their inception. Stacking is fun, and its design breathes some simple ingenuity into the concept of puzzle solving in game design. Fans of adventure games will certainly appreciate Stacking, though it is slightly skewed to be more accessible and inviting to the young or uninitiated. It works perfectly as a downloadable title, with satisfying length and plenty of replay value for those who like unexhaustive solutions. In short, Stacking is no breakthrough, but it takes the adventure genre and gives it its own unique twist. I’d be remiss to not encourage the unique.
8/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, Double Fine, Parker Scott Mortensen, PlayStation3, PS3, PSN, Review, Stacking, THQ, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE
- Parker Scott Mortensen
Music karaoke games are something that we're all pretty familiar with; whether it's SingStar on the Playstation 3 or Lips on the Xbox 360, they can be enjoyed by people ranging from budding pop stars to those of us who can't hold a note. No doubt about it, the music karaoke genre is pretty entertaining and really quite popular. But how would you feel if I told you there was a thing called movie karaoke? The concept may seem incredibly strange, but Yoostar 2 manages to make it incredibly enticing. Being dropped into your favourite films is something everyone can get a kick out of. I have no doubt that anyone who much as rents it for a weekend will have many a laugh, but does it have the longevity to remain a party favourite, or will it be eclipsed by other music games? Will your relationship with Yoostar 2 be a one-night stand basis?
Truth is, it depends.
In concept, Yoostar 2 is both cool and simple. There are 80 famous film scenes on the disc and you can step into the role of one or two of the characters involved to either perfectly recapture the original performance or ad-lib your own craziness. Some of the scenes can be performed with two people at once, some involve no dialogue at all, and others are set up as action battlegrounds in which you direct yourself. You simply step in front of the PlayStation Eye or Kinect camera, line yourself up in the correct position and presto! - you're in a scene. It sounds simple because it is - there isn't really much complexity to Yoostar 2. not only do its rating systems seem a little off, but unless you get creative redoing scenes multiple times won't be as appealing as singing your favourite songs again and again via SingStar, Lips, Rock Band, or one of the other classics.
Whilst the process of playing the game itself is simple, getting everything to work correctly from a technical standpoint can be an exercise in frustration. For the camera technology to work as it should, you're going to need stand in front of a clear backdrop and ensure that lighting is completely even. Objects such as sofas, or minor lighting issues like furniture shadows will result in your surroundings bleeding into the scene. While it may be amusing to see a lampshade appear on top of Marlon Brando's head during a scene from The Godfather, it does kill the illusion.
I'm lucky enough to be in a position where it's relatively easy to set up the camera in a furniture-free, well-lit location, and everything works as it should, but these technical shenanigans are certainly something to consider if you only have access to a clustered living room. When the camera does work as intended, the effect is fantastic (especially in scenes where you are working with other real actors). The illusion is certainly there, so it's worth putting some effort in to ensure you get the best experience possible as there are laughs and fun to be had if you get it to work.
In terms of modes, Quick Play is the one to choose. It simply lets you pick any scene you want and act it out without any faffing around - it's quick and simple enough that most people will probably stick with it rather than head into the Challenge mode, which plays out like some sort of half-hearted attempt at a single player career mode. It's not particularly appealing, and will leave you trudging through a fair amount of scenes that you may not be remotely interested in.
Speaking of scenes you may not be interested in, that is what will ultimately make or break Yoostar 2 - the content it offers you. There are some great scenes on its list, but inevitably there are a few duff ones too (Angels and Demons, who chose that one?!). DLC has been promised, but as of now nothing is available, meaning that it's difficult to predict what kind of scenes will eventually be put on sale (or more importantly, how much they are going to cost). If there's good enough DLC support in store for us, then Yoostar 2's Quick Play mode will make it well worth returning to months down the line.
What's also impressive about Yoostar 2 is it's social networking element. You can save all your scenes locally and also upload them to the Yoostar Playground, an online hub where they can be viewed and rated by other users. From here they can easily be posted onto Facebook and Twitter, which is a nice touch. It's these sort of options which will keep people engaged with the game, and if a budding community can flourish and grow then Yoostar 2 may have a healthy future in store for it.
The length of playtime you'll get out of Yoostar 2 will depend on:
a) Your love for films
b) How creative you are
c) Whether or not it ever receives DLC worth buying
b) How creative you are
c) Whether or not it ever receives DLC worth buying
There are some pretty good scenes on the disc, and Quick Play mode can be an absolute barrel of laughs when enjoyed with friends, but beyond that there isn't anything else to do with Yoostar 2. The social networking element is an innovative and well realised step forward for party games of this style, but what will keep you coming back is the ad-lib option to mess around with famous scenes and the future DLC support. As it stands today, Yoostar 2 is an amusing party game with some neat technology behind it and one that will keep you entertained for a few Saturday nights at the very least.
7/10 [?]
Labels: 2011, 360, Kinect, PlayStation Move, PS3, Review, Tom Acres, Yoostar 2
- Unknown
After a few decent but pretty unspectacular entries in the long running Mortal Kombat series, series creator Ed Boon is taking it back to its roots this April, with a new game simply entitled Mortal Kombat. As the first entry in the core series to appear on the current generation of consoles, hopes and expectations are high, particularly amongst hardcore fans. I have no real affinity towards the series (or fighting games in general), but in a bid to see what the fuss is all about, I downloaded the demo on my PlayStation 3, and was quickly having my arse handed to me on a plate.
I was somewhat disappointed that the demo was single-player only, but you do get to compete against the AI on five difficulty levels as you move up the first four stages of a ladder; fighting Scorpion, Johnny Cage, Mileena, and Sub-Zero along the way. The demo ends at the fifth stage, but being able to check out four characters across a few different environments is relatively impressive for a demo that only weighed in at just over 500MB. The difficulty began as tame on the lower few settings, with opponents barely trying to register any sort of attack on me as I jumped around and crouched like an idiot, desperately trying to get a grip on the controls. Once I had, I was able to string a few combos together by accident, and after checking the moves list I was having a decent time beating the crap out of an AI opponent who wasn't really doing anything in response.
Moving up a few difficulty levels, the intricacies of the fighting system became clear, and soon I was failing epically. It's fairly fast-paced, but not anywhere near the speed of something like Street Fighter IV or Marvel vs Capcom 3. Combos and moves can sometimes take a while to perform, thanks to some pretty excessive animations from a few of the characters, but overall the fights have a nice flow to them. Playing with a D-pad is obviously preferable to using an analogue stick, and for that reason alone anyone with the choice of PS3 or 360 at launch should surely choose the former - the PlayStation 3's easy-to-use D-pad lends itself better than its rival to the gameplay of Mortal Kombat. It's also worth noting that PlayStation owners will enjoy Kratos as an exclusive playable character, although he wasn't available in the demo, and there's no word on whether or not 360 fans will have anything similar to look forward to.
The main menu also reveals the other modes you can expect to be playing; though many single player modes are all present and correct, some interesting challenge rooms make an appearance, and (of course) online multiplayer will also be a feature. After spending some time with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe online, I think we can expect this new game to provide an excellent online multiplayer experience.
What's abundantly clear from the demo is that this is one damn good looking game. Running on the Unreal Engine, character models and animations are absolutely fantastic, with a great level of detail. The fatal blows you can perform at the end of a fight look incredible and are also absolutely brutal, from freezing a dude's legs and then ripping off his torso, to tearing a guy's head off and swinging it lasso-style by the spinal cord; these moves are not for the faint-hearted. If you're rich enough, you can also enjoy all these brutal delights in glorious 3D. The game looks even more brilliant in 3D, which surprised me, since the fighting happens on a 2D plain. The 3D adds some really excellent depth to the landscapes, and the already-excellent looking environments look even better. It definitely falls into the category of '3D just-for-looks' (rather than '3D for gameplay enhancements'), but it looks terrific and is actually a lot more focussed and much less headache-inducing thanks to its 2D plain.
Sound effects are also top notch; the sounds of bones breaking and limbs ripping sound incredibly shocking and satisfying on a surround sound system.
Bearing in mind that I'm not a massive fan of fighting games, I came away feeling very impressed with Mortal Kombat. I think that fans of the series will instantly feel at home with the fighting system, whilst those who have never touched Mortal Kombat will be able to marvel at its stunning presentation and ridiculous violence. Whether you're a hardcore fan of the series, or a fighting game novice looking for a baptism by aesthetically-wonderful fire, Mortal Kombat could well be worth checking out.
Mortal Kombat releases for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 21st in Europe and April 19th in North America.
Labels: 2011, 360, 3D gaming, Demo Impressions, Mortal Kombat, Preview, PS3, Tom Acres
- Unknown
If you think of online shooters, the first game to spring to mind is probably any one of the titles spawned from the ridiculously popular Call of Duty series. Like it or not, first-person shooters are all the rage right now, and it seems as though every game, from Medal of Honor to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is trying to grab a slice of the pie before it's all gobbled up by Activision's behemoth. These games are everywhere, and perhaps soon you'll grow tired of authentic weaponry and urban environments, kill-streaks and XP bonuses, red dot sights and the like.
There was a time when less ultra-realistic FPS games were common, however. Remember Crysis, that stunningly gorgeous shooter from the guys at Crytek? The lush jungles, the sci-fi gadgets, the brutal combat, the special suit manoeuvres and the crazy aliens; remember all that? You probably do, but chances are you probably didn't have a computer that could run Crysis at a framerate above 4fps. In fact, you probably still don't have a computer that could run it at a framerate of more than 4fps.
Luckily for you, however, the sequel is here soon and it's coming to consoles. EA released a multiplayer demo of Crysis 2 last month to give players the chance to sample the latest shooter attempting to steal Call of Duty's crown. Perhaps its unique take on weapons, special suits and game types will tempt you into buying it?
I was certainly excited, and wondered what kind of cool take on the shooter genre this would throw at me. Turns out, after all this build-up, it may as well be Call of Duty with slightly different fonts when an XP indicator pops up.
Don't get me wrong, Crysis 2 plays just fine and if you've played any sort of military-based shooter recently you'll feel right at home. It feels a bit more weighty than something like Call of Duty, striking quite a nice balance between that and something more akin to Killzone. The thing is that it's also the biggest problem I've had with my time with the multiplayer: it just doesn't feel like I'm playing a Crysis game. The maps are small, enclosed urban environments and the weapons are fairly uninspired. The game modes aren't anything that you haven't seen before, and everything from kill-cams to XP bonuses are present and accounted for - it's very much more of the same. You can customise equipment and load-outs too, but you can also do that in every other shooter out there. Even the control scheme is ripped straight from the Black Ops manual and there's just not enough about it to make you say, "hey, this is fun and interesting and new'. It's all just kinda 'meh'.
Like I said, Crysis 2 plays perfectly well, and the nano-suit abilities do provide at least some variety even though they don't seem as impacting or relevant as they did in the original game. The abilities include the likes of invisibility and super speed, but we've seen this done before in the Halo series; whilst these abilities felt fun and fresh in the huge jungle environments of the original game, in Crysis 2 the cramped urban spaces just make it feel like you're playing Modern Warfare with some Halo perks.
The fairly familiar feel behind the game extends to the visuals as well, with fairly plain-looking environments, albeit with very technically proficient textures, animations, effects and the like. Say goodbye to the beautiful sandy beaches and lush jungles of the first game, and say hello to grey rooftops and boring office blocks. As with everything else about the multiplayer though, it just screams Modern Warfare 2 rather than what you may of been hoping from a Crysis sequel.
In fairness, the single-player mode may well be a little more interesting, and from what I've seen of it, it looks like that may well be the case. The multiplayer however just doesn't have enough about it to draw you away from the popular shooters you're already playing. It doesn't help that Crysis isn't a particularly huge franchise, and it almost feels like the developers realised this, and in doing so have sucked all the originality and personality from the game, which will no doubt alienate existing fans.
It's too early to say if the single-player is going to retain the open-endedness and freedom that made the first game so great, but the multiplayer certainly isn't anything to write home about as it stands.
Sure, you could accuse me of double standards after my glowing review of Call of Duty: Black Ops, but that is what Call of Duty is. Millions of you buy that game every year because you love that style of gameplay with all the perks that come with it, and you're always guaranteed a fun campaign and some great co-op to go with the addicting multiplayer. Ask yourself why you might want to check out Crysis 2 and you'll probably end up disappointed when you play the game itself.
If Crysis 2 is to succeed then it needs at least some identity to call its own, and on the evidence of the multiplayer demo it simply does not have that.
Crysis 2 is due for release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on 25th March.
Labels: 2011, 360, Crysis, Crysis 2, Crytek, Demo Impressions, Preview, Tom Acres, Xbox 360
- Unknown
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