Maybe I've played too much inFamous 2. Feel free to put my complaints down to that. Zipping around New Marais at a mile a minute, slicing through the dank air with thrusters or punching upwards on a shard of ice... it melts your mind, so that anything other than constant movement feels slow and irritating. That's why it was such an abrupt jolt when I leapt into the Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception beta: everything felt awkward and lazy. Well, I've spent a number of days with Drake and pals now, and I can safely say that the problem persists. In fact, the Uncharted 3 beta seems rife with little concerns, that build up to create a palpable air of disappointment.

You'll load up the beta, and you immediately get to customise your avatar. Great. It's something we've come to expect from all multiplayer games, and while the bits and bobs you can glue onto the gear is kept at a minimum for this beta, with clothes, badges, and guns to turn pink and draw a penis on, Uncharted 3 looks to have an impressive range of variation. There is the certain, unavoidable issue that absolutely everyone will almost always play as Drake, but hey - Naughty Dog are never going to stop that from happening.

There's also the inclusion of kickbacks and medals, Uncharted's answer to killstreaks. Get fourteen medals through killing or finding treasure, for example, and a brand new RPG appears in your hands. With only two rockets, it's overpowered enough to give you a reward but too fleeting to unbalance the flow of the game. You won't find any helicopters tearing down buildings or nukes wiping out humanity; the kickbacks are subtle and suitably weak for Uncharted 3, giving that extra goal to aim for but never giving anyone a major and unbalanced advantage.


You might be wondering why I've started with two quite low-key features. "Why, Chris, dost thou dance around the elephant in the room?" I hear your cry. Truth is, I don't want to talk about it. Because I know what I say won't be popular. Yet there's no denying it.

Uncharted 3's multiplayer isn't very good.

Whilst being able to put Drake in a funny hat or raining fire with an RPG for a few seconds is all nice and well, it does nothing to dampen the sudden realisation that smacks you in the teeth as soon as you attempt to kill an enemy: the game is just lethargic. Movement is excruciatingly slow, whilst two players trying to jump onto the same object or wall results in both bouncing off like dim flies. This might seem a minor grievance, but it'll reduce you to screams and tears on Airstrip. When aiming, Uncharted 3 isn't a 'twitch shooter' - in fact, it's not even a 'deliberate, forceful movement shooter'; swinging your gun around to face an enemy takes half an afternoon, by which time they've buggered off somewhere else.

But the main thing that attracts all my loathing of Uncharted 3's beta is the fact it takes so long to kill anyone. Nine shots with the G-MAL; yeah, I counted, and that's simply preposterous. Whilst other multiplayer games are fast-paced and exciting, with rewarding kills that require a bit of skill and cunning, Uncharted 3 is nothing short of a slog. You see an enemy. You shoot at him. He shoots at you. This will continue for a good number of seconds, as you wrestle with your gun's recoil and desperately hope that your headshots have some effect. Then, one of you will run away. It's just ridiculous. Any time there's a firefight, one player can just roll away, into a building, and no one gets a kill. In fact, this happens so often that it seems ninety per cent of your deaths are from two other players: the one that you're trying to fight, and someone else who's run up behind you and pumped half a clip into your back. Great.


Why not use mêlée, to stop them in their tracks? Well, as you move into position to punch someone, the enemy will be shooting at you. Since it takes two punches to kill a man in Uncharted, after you punch them, they will punch you, and thanks to those fresh new bulletholes he made in your face whilst you were lamping him, he'll very easily be able to merely knock your lights out. I've never seen the instigator of a fist fight in Uncharted 3 emerge the victor. Unless you get lucky, and happen to sneak up on them and crack their neck, don't bother throwing a punch.

I'll accept that this could just be me. Maybe I only like multiplayer games in which it takes one or two bullets to kill someone. If you want to call me names and denounce me as 'weird', or 'different', go ahead. There could be some odd joy in trying to shoot a player for a solid five seconds as he rolls and ducks away that I just don't 'get'. But any game that requires two full-blown sniper shots to end a life? That's not for me.

For all that, Uncharted 3 does hide a few surprises up its damp, dirt-ridden sleeves. The opening airplane battle on Airstrip is inventive and a superb taster with which to have some unique fun with, and dynamic maps - such as Chataeu slowly burning down - are a lovely touch.


The biggest surprise was co-op; it's by far the best part of the beta. The oncoming waves of enemies are easier to kill than human counterparts, it lasts a solid 15 minutes, so you become really involved, and the different game modes forcing teamwork perfectly emphasises how to do co-op well. With a focus on the co-operative.

It looks pretty. It does some new, fresh and exciting things. It's great fun with two friends. But Uncharted 3 has some huge competition in November, not only from the multiplayer components of Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3, but also from single player timehogs like Skyrim. With such weak, dull, apathetic and slow combat, Drake won't hold your attention for long.

Labels: 2011, Beta, Beta Impressions, Chris Hawke, Feature, Multiplayer, Naughty Dog, Uncharted 3, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

The Gears of War 3 beta is now in full motion, and you're probably already murdering dudes with your bare hands. Great as that may be, your bloodlust might have blinded you to the changes Epic has made to the system. Not sure what I'm talking about? It's alright, Gearsheimers has affected a great many and I'm here to make it all perfectly clear.

Some of the changes present are fairly obvious, so forgive me if I delve into a couple of items the Gears-deprived are ignorant to. Now, where to start? Ah, who could forget the wonderful...

Dedicated Servers

A locust depicting the stranglehold that 'host' connection had on the community.

Arguably the most tremendous addition to the game, the Gears franchise has an infamous history of that heinous thing called 'host advantage'; when the person hosting the game also holds a greater connection and thus inflicts more damage, has greater accuracy, and pretty much everything is better for the host. In Gears of War 3, host advantage doesn't exist, and it's incredible. You see, now no-one has to worry about that sole guy who can take on the entire team with only a pistol, craggy game connections are extinct, and silly things like the room being dumped or host migration have vanished. The servers stand tall and proud, basically making Gears a lag-free endeavour, something that the series has needed from the start.

This has also affected joining games. Unlike the twenty-minute wait everyone had to endure during the launch of Gears of War 2, Gears 3 makes this process seamless and fast. Players will also be able to join your game on a whim when someone else unexpectedly quits. If no one is there to take the place of your former comrade, Epic's 'gear bots' jump into the mix. And, no, they aren't as asinine as the last ones were. Don't you remember the behind the back, no look, Boltok headshots?

Menus, Ribbons & Unlockables

See this here? He too could one day be yours to play as. Maybe.

When Gears 2 released a couple of years back, the menus were something of an afterthought. How bad was it? Well, let's just say that there was no option to even quit the game. In order to do so you had to jump back to your dashboard and boot the game again. Thankfully, Gears 3 sees a departure from this shoddy programming, and goes the extra mile by throwing in unlockables, and special awards that Epic are calling 'Ribbons'.

I really don't care about achievements, trophies, medals or ribbons, unless they net you something worthwhile in the game itself. Surprisingly, Epic has implemented a system that does just that. By completing tasks such as killing twenty-five enemies with the Retro Lancer, or performing a certain number of Executions, not only will you grab Ribbons, but you'll also net add-ons like weapon skins, characters, and unique executions for specific weaponry. In Gears 2 all the weapon executions were open, but if you want all the unique ones in Gears 3 you'll have to work for them.

More about Ribbons; they'll have a direct impact on how fast you'll 'level up'. Once again, a Call of Duty-esque experience system strikes into the heart of another shooter, and it works well for Gears of War 3. Depending on how well you do and how many Ribbons you've achieved, your experience will be bolstered tenfold. Since you pretty much get a Ribbon for everything you do in the game (including being the first to die), doing well and Ribbon-mongering share a symbiotic relationship. Progress is tracked in real-time during a game, like in Gears 2, but you can also observe what you've done on the main menu screen.

Combat

Violence really is the spice of life; a spice which costs $59.99, and is available from September 20th.

The thing that's seen the most tweaking in Gears 3 is probably the way combat unfolds. Sure, the new Team Deatchmatch mode has respawns with lives, which is slightly odd, but I'm really talking about the other major mechanic: rolling. Since the start, you've only ever been able to roll forward, backward, left, and right, frozen-rope style. In the new game, if you hold up and a little to the left while rolling, you guessed it, that's where you're rolling to.

This subtle tweak has changed much more than how it appears on the surface. Rolling with accuracy allows you to hit those tight corners you otherwise might have missed in the previous games. It also allows you to move about more erratically when fleeing for your life, or maybe even when you're chasing someone down. No more rolling in place gents, it's a skill roll now.

You also can't forget that stopping power is still in effect. When someone is shooting you, it means evasion is a necessity, as you won't be moving forward at the standard rate. Remember, Gears is a cover-based shooter, and Epic clearly would like it to remain as such. When it comes to cover, you also have to remember that if your enemy is present when you hop over some cover, landing inevitably on top of them, you'll kick them right in the face, causing disorientation and setting you up for an easy kill.

Oh and before I forget, if you're standing next to a teammate, you can now actually swap weapons with them. That's important because that novice with the Torque Bow can now give it to someone who isn't absolute rubbish with it. Thank you.

Weapons

I won't say it. Really, I won't.

Practically all of the standard weapons make a return in Gears 3, but some new ones and old favorites have surfaced with a twist. Take, for instance, the Gorgon Pistol. Now subtract 'Pistol' and add 'SMG'. That deadly dual-stream of bullets from the second game is now a constant stream, and it's all the better for it. The Hammerburst, along with the Lancer and Retro-Lancer, can all be selected any time you die during the match, to switch with whichever one isn't working for you. Whilst the Retro-Lancer is powerful but highly inaccurate, and the Lancer is largely the same, the Hammerburst is the most accurate of the bunch and can even zoom into a first-person view. Despite the apparent incompatibility of a first-person view in a third-person game, it's actually quite awesome and is a great unique feature of the Hammerburst.

Smoke Grenades are now useful, funny as that sounds, and can change the tide of a fight in a split second. Upon throwing down your smog-inducing spherical device, it'll explode, causing a concussive blast that stuns surrounding foes. The stun still allows enemies to move, but for a short period they cannot fire. Also, the Gnasher works again (thank the gaming Gods). Plus, the Lancer can only be interrupted if you're shot in the revving process. Don't believe me, believe Rod Fergusson:

I'm particularly fond of the fact that the Lancer chainsaw can only be interrupted when it's being raised. Like me, once it's up, it's on!

Active reloading is also a bit different. Veterans won't balk at the standard Lancer and Gnasher shotguns' active reloading, since nothing's really changed, but the other weapons you're used to may tell a different story. Take, for instance, the Hammerburst. Instead of increasing in speed, the Hammerburst takes you off guard by going at a steady rate. This might not seem like much, but in the midst of battle, having varying speeds at which your weapon reloads can make or break the fight. The new sawed-off shotgun is the epitome of this practice. Miss that active and you wont be shooting for a while, but land it, and things are gonna get dead quick.


Whether you've noticed them or not, the Gears 3 beta has given us plenty of minor and major changes. All hasn't been revealed yet, but you can definitely expect much more when the full game hits this September. Also, remember to submit some feedback, over on the Gears of War 3 beta forums. Epic wills it.

What do you think? What's your favourite change from Gears 2 to Gears 3? Let us know in the comments section, or you can tweet us @ggtl.

Labels: 2011, Andrew Whipple III, Beta, Beta Impressions, Epic Games, Gears of War, Gears of War 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360

A lone, mourning violin heralds your arrival into the world of Killzone 3, greeting you with such a beautiful but sorrowful soundscape that, were it not for the Helghan writing, one might well wonder if they’d accidentally wandered into entirely the wrong piece of software. It’s an oddly serious, sombre opening to the latest in a series renowned for its straight-up shooting and un-shying goriness. The deceptive simplicity of the opening score inspires a straight-faced, somewhat austere feel that makes at least one thing clear from the very start. Guerrilla’s baby has grown up into one of that very rare breed: a serious first-person shooter.

Where Killzone 2 was a loud, egocentric teenager, flexing its not-quite-fully-developed virtual muscles with testosterone-fuelled bloodiness and shouting you down with a range of obscenities that even criminals on North London estates would struggle to recognise, its successor is a solemn, straight-faced adult, stoic and businesslike, getting on with whichever tasks are necessary with unfaltering professionalism. Whilst understated, the effort that has been put into giving Killzone 3 – or at least its online functionality – such a refined and developed feel is ultimately its saving grace; it turns a good game into something that could potentially reserve Killzone’s place in the history books of gaming.

Killzone 3 is simply a more mature game all-round. Amongst first-person shooters, for the grimness of war to be effectively put into game form is both a rarity and a pleasant surprise (a complete antithesis considering the gravity of the subject matter). Throughout my time on the beta, however, I’ve found Killzone 3 to continually surprise me with its adult, mature approach to the overdone war-game format that serves only to increase the feeling of immersion one enjoys when playing it. Small details like the bodies which litter the map during a game, the brutal mêlée animations, the increased sense of teamwork and tactic and the lovely interjecting cut-scenes in Operations mode make Killzone 3’s online mode feel more grown-up and – despite the fact that the horrors of war still aren’t quite accurately or fully portrayed – make Killzone 3 feel generally more involving that its predecessor or, indeed, other first-person shooters.


The quality is evident throughout the beta, but there are drastic differences between the three game modes. Whilst Guerrilla Warfare and Warzone mode are fantastic for a twenty-or-so minute blast, providing some fast-paced shootouts and the typical Killzone online action that series connoisseurs have hitherto enjoyed, it is the new Operations mode that is the star of the Killzone 3 show. Operations (and Warzone, but to a lesser extent) both boast a real sense of tactic and teamwork that is largely missing from modern first-person shooters, and it is this tactic that is key to taking objectives and winning matches. Whereas Guerrilla Warfare feels like a free-for-all, with every player gunning for themselves and for the top-spot on the leaderboard, Operations and Warzone have a sense of team cohesion that increases the game’s engagement of the player, and requires a level of skill and intellect in order to effectively win over your objectives (be that defending as the Helghast or attacking as the ISA). This sense of combined effort and unity is ultimately what makes these modes more rewarding than Guerrilla Warfare; in Operations, covering frontline infantry as a marksman from far behind the lines, to go on and successfully gain ground or an objective is hugely satisfying, whereas whilst Guerrilla Warfare is a speedy blast of fun there is never the same sense of satisfaction. In this lies the issue with Guerrilla Warfare and the winning factor for Operations and Warzone: Guerrilla Warfare provides no reward and therefore no incentive to continue playing, whereas Operations and Warzone provide rewards in the forms of won objectives, and so will ultimately end up being the more popular game modes.

The key thing with Operations is it provides new aspects that haven’t been seen before in Killzone and are still largely novel across the online gaming world, no matter what your console of choice. The intermittent mid-match mini-cutscenes are a lovely touch that give some sense of a story or situation to an online match, something that barely any other games hasten (or even bother) to add. Guerrilla ought to be praised on the idea to feature the best players from each operation are the characters featured in the cutscenes; it is a reward which not only increases your sense of involvement in the match, but also serves as a nice way to quench the thirst for bragging rights and recognition, and encourages clever, tactical play so one can be featured in these miniature scenes. The mode’s system of completing objectives to push forward, unlocking new areas of the map, will be familiar to players of EA’s recent Medal of Honor reboot, as they use a similar system; it works well as not only does it provide an impression of progression through the level, but it also means the game can end at any of the objectives depending on whether or not you play well, and so you have a real drive to play well to maximise the game length (and therefore your chances of winning the most experience points).

Broadly, however, there isn’t a mode which is unenjoyable, due to the smooth-flowing, much-improved combat and game mechanics. The trademark ‘heavy’ feel of previous Killzones has, for the most part, been dumbed down and lessened, largely through smoother movement animations and the increased speed with which one can aim, reload and take down an opponent in battle. Whilst this makes the action much speedier and smoother, due to the less labourious and unfamiliar style of movement compared to other FPS titles, it does make Killzone 3 feel different to its predecessors. And whilst I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing, it will be something that die-hard fans of Guerrilla Games’ series will have to get used to.


In some ways, the changes that have been made enable the game to be more accessible to newcomers. One of the major problems that I found with Killzone 2 was that, whilst it was by no means a badly developed game, the way that it handled and the foreign-feeling control scheme meant that those uninitiated with the original Killzone were much less likely to find the second title an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. With the Killzone 3 beta, however, this seems to have been addressed. Old weapons return in order to ensure those migrating from Killzone 2 don’t find the experience entirely detached from its foregoer, some new weapons have been thrown in to increase variety and the weightiness of the weapons has been highly varied in order to bring the feel of the game more in line with recent and upcoming games in the same genre (Killzone 3’s shooting mechanic, for instance, has a similar aura to Splash Damage’s Brink, and regular readers will know how much I enjoyed that). The controls have been made more approachable for new players, with it being much more obvious how to use various functions than in the previous game. All the small tweaks to the gameplay serve to make Killzone 3 an all-round easier-to-play game than Killzone 2, and whilst veterans might not like that, it is certain to boost sales and chart rankings when the game releases later this month.

Matches themselves are more varied. The new brutal mêlées increase the hardened ruthlessness of the games new, more adult feel, and the XP reward (alongside the savage animations, none of which are overdone) make you as the player want to use mêlée function more, which makes for a more vibrant combat experience. The range of weaponry is much increased, with the new class- and skill-based system making for more choice when deciding on your killing tools; and the roster of side arms is more fully-featured than before. Furthermore, weapon choices have to be made carefully, as the balancing of the weapons has been very well done, meaning certain weapons are more suited to some situations or uses than others, and put together these few new additions make for an overall more tactical experience. My only gripes with the combat were that occasionally, (particularly at the beginning of a match, and most noticeably when playing as the ISA) the enemy tends to respawn far too close to your original basecamp, which prevents the battle from effectively spreading across the map; and that grenade aiming and throwing was largely hit-and-miss, and the system could do with tightening up in order to make it more intuitive and effective.

On some basic points, the single map which is playable on the beta is quite extensive – much larger than the average FPS map you might have played on before – and is well designed, with some lovely little nooks-and-crannies to hide in, some semi-secret passages and action over (at one point) five storeys. The game feels more brutal and is gory (if not as much as Killzone 2, then more so), but sometimes the gore effects can feel unrealistic and superfluous, less a well-considered component of the overall experience and more a mere party popper once the birthday banners are up (if you’ll excuse the metaphor). The game automatically puts you into an open match slot using the evermore-popular matchmaking mechanic and, whilst it is (for the most part) quick and efficient it can also mean you are sometimes allocated to a game that is late on in proceedings, meaning you’re destined to end the match with little XP and an overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction. Killzone 3 is graphically nice: the visuals have been improved on since Killzone 2, and whilst the visuals on a large scale are still a little underwhelming, the small detail such as the slight blur effect of the reflex sight’s crosshair when changing your angle of aim is what is most striking. Lastly, ranking up is quick if you play the game for extended periods, particularly if you’re a regular of games where XP is gained for completing objectives, and despite the fact that there are many ranks players may find that they reach the top ranks with little difficulty and with minimal effort.


For a moment, though, forget everything about the tweaked feel and the combat and the graphical prowess that I’ve already imparted because, although they certainly all make Killzone 3 the beautifully-formed package that the Killzone franchise was always going to naturally form into, for once they’re largely unnecessary in summing up what makes this beta so awe-inspiring. Killzone 3 – or at least the beta – is the turning point for the series, because it is drama, not melodrama. When you enter the beta, right from that very first bereft, quavering violin chord to the moment you leave the console, there is such a striking sense of thought to the whole thing. Where Killzone 2 was a good game, this is an excellent experience. It has the depth, the foresight and the development of the detail that Killzone 2 just didn’t have enough of. You can be walking the alpine expanses of the dam base one moment, the silence almost deafening when combined with the omnipresent danger, when suddenly gunfire explodes from nowhere with a roar like a wild animal. It is a refined, perfected, perfectly-glossed product that, if the single player mode and the final online functionality are as good as this beta has been, will be one of the titles best-recognised for its achievements this side of the next console generation.


You can download the Killzone 3 Open Beta now from the PlayStation Store, through 15th February. The Killzone 3 single player demo will be released onto the PlayStation Store on 16th February.

Killzone 3 is released in the United States on 22nd February, and in the United Kingdom on 25th February.

Labels: 2011, Beta Impressions, Brink, Feature, Guerrilla Games, Killzone, Killzone 2, Killzone 3, Linford Butler, Medal of Honor, PlayStation Store, PlayStation3, PS3, Review

You remember Frozen Synapse, right? The indie title we had an interview about here? Yeah, the one with the blue lights. Well, Mode7Games have been kind enough to part ways with a beta key so that we can bring you the verdict on the game's beta. And guess what? It's totally awesome.

Frozen Synapse doesn't really 'do' story. It doesn't bother itself with tales of heartbroken soldiers going through hell, or heroes traversing wastelands to save the human race. Because Frozen Synapse is a game for men. Not protein-guzzling, rugby-playing men who bump fists and work out 10 times a day - real men. The kind who see a problem, take a deep breath, and get right on to solving it. At first glance, it's very hard to tell whether Frozen Synapse is an action game, or a puzzle game.

You play as green. You must defeat the red team within five turns, without losing all of your green men. So far, so simple, you're thinking: just like every mission-based puzzle, there's always a certain path to take, right? Frozen Synapse shakes all that up brilliantly. Missions are, apparently, infinite. The game randomly generates a playing field and units, which instantly turns each battle into an absolute joy; suddenly, clicking the 'play' button isn't just another step in a grind to finish the game, but a totally unique experience, each one subtly different in its own way. Sometimes, it's a tense 1v1 in a tiny map, as each soldier slowly checks corners and carefully advances upon a last known position. Other times, it's a huge 10v10 on a battlefield the size of the moon, with rockets and grenades flying left right and centre.

Controlling your tiny men might seem like a mammoth task considering the wealth of options at your disposal (move, duck, stand, continue on sight, engage on sight, aim, wait, etc.), especially with the fact it's all mouse controlled. But Frozen Synapse has possibly the best user interface ever. It's clean, crisp, simple yet relentlessly powerful, and within a matter of minutes you'll be chaining together incredibly complex actions with ease. The tutorial is split into both an introductory video, and an in-game walkthrough, which is as informative as it is funny. The fact that it's so easy means the game flows perfectly.

You'll need to perform a lot of actions. After all, this is a thinking man's game - there's no rushing in with a shotgun and pumping the walls with lead. You'll need to factor in direction of aim, stillness, cover, and fight sight in order to successfully down your opponent. In the first of five turns, as you survey the battlefield you have to command your troops conservatively, due to the fact you can't see what the computer will do until you click the 'go' button. Having a tactical mind is key - do you place your shotgun in the window to mow down anyone across the hallway, or move him outside in order to ambush where you think the enemy will go? Does your sniper take up position at the edge of the map to take potshots from a distance, or use him to lure the enemy grenadier into the path of your machine gunner? The only thing we can think to compare it to is Splinter Cell: Conviction: you know the feeling of power and accomplishment when you Mark and Execute an entire room of bad guys, unseen? Frozen Synapse has that sort of ebb and flow; you spend a good minute planning, thinking, second guessing, hoping, before unleashing the action. If you've done it right, that feeling of destructive power as your entire squad swiftly ambushes the enemy in a single turn is one that few other games muster up.

And that's our favorite part of Frozen Synapse: it's incredibly fresh. Medal Of Honor, a hugely expensive AAA title which we tested, struggled so hard to craft an identity of its own, as so many games seem to do these days, getting bogged down in 'me too!' gameplay. Not Frozen Synapse. Effortlessly blending action with thinking, it's decisively unforgiving, deliciously moreish, and unlike anything you've ever played before, blending a brilliantly unique concoction of tense firefights with tactical skill.

There's a multiplayer, too. We almost missed it due to the joys of single player, but it's there, and it's possibly even more stunning. The 'lobby' page shows you the rankings in the world, who's online, what matches are being played, and other cool features. You can even join a huge chat with everyone else in the game, which the developers often frequent to answer questions. The multiplayer is just as you'd expect - both players organise their troops around, trying to guess where the other will move, again in totally randomised maps that are always challenging, yet never broken or one-sided. Then, once you've both pressed 'go', the action happens, but with a twist - the enemy then disappears. After the initial go where you see everything, like some sort of omniscient future-Haig, the enemy's soldiers don't show up on the map anymore, meaning you have to work on memory and fluke sightings to cut them off and win the game. It's difficult at first, but once you learn never to rush out into the open, it's one of the best and most unique online experiences you'll have had. The ability to share smack-talk via the chat button is a blessing, too.

The developers say they're aiming for a January 2011 release, but from the beta, you'd think it could be out tomorrow. Everything is polished to near perfection, and the framerate and graphics are as smooth as they are crisp - think DEFCON, but more interactive. There are a few small oddities - while the blood is superb, the death animations are stiff and repetitive, and the random map generator seems to shy away from big games with rocket and grenade troops, instead favoring simple machine gun vs machine gun, but the developers say they're working on these. The music is great, beautifully complementing the military and minimalistic mood, the UI is flawless, the AI is competitive, and the graphics and art style are unprecedented in their creation of a one-of-a-kind atmosphere.

It's not totally perfect, of course. The fact that each of the five turns is only five seconds long means that, sometimes, a turn or even an entire match can end just as two soldiers engage each other, which is odd. Also, once finished, the game just seems to stop - you can click the 'get result' button to see your score, but there's no 'you win!' or 'play again' option, just an odd eternal pause.

You can get the beta when you preorder the game, and we really can't encourage you enough - it's cheap and it's amazing. If you ever looked at the upcoming games in 2010 and felt your heart drop when surveying the number of sequels, copycats and bland, boring FPSs, immediately purchase Frozen Synapse - it's a small slice of gaming heaven.

Labels: Beta Impressions, Chris Hawke, Frozen Synapse, Indie, Mode7Games, PC

If we had to condense all the problems of the Medal of Honor Beta into a few words, it would be that we already have Battlefield: Bad Company 2. And while it's a good game, we don't feel like spending another £40 for what feels like an expansion pack that removed the best aspects.

Let's start at the top - if you're lucky enough to get a beta key, then your download will weigh in at a surprisingly light 617MB, and within the hour you're up and running. You're hit with the menu first. It's hard to tell if this is a placeholder, but it feels rather bland. Of course, you have the options to play online, with a friend, or alter your loadout and check the unlocks. There's no ability to change your character's looks, but that will be present in the main game.

So, after tinkering with your tools of death, you're straight in to play a game. Our first map was Kabul City Ruins, in which 24 players duke it out to kill the opposition team the most. We think they call it a 'Team Deathmatch'. It'll never catch on. Swiftly, you're allowed to choose between your Rifleman set-up, an all-rounder; your Spec Ops, which is just close-range; or your Sniper. Guess what that does. In our match, we spawned right next to the friendly fellas from official PlayStation Magazine UK. They died within seconds.

And that's when our heart dropped. In case you don't know, while the single-player is being handled by a team at EA, the multiplayer is down to DICE, the self-proclaimed king of online shooters. As soon as you walk forward, your gun bobbles back and forth exactly as it does in Bad Company 2. When you look down the sights, it zooms in exactly the same. Even the red dot sight on the sniper is exactly the same.

Luckily, sounds are also the same. For the most part, this means firing a gun in a building is like setting alight to an overexcited dragon - you might wanna turn your speakers down. Similarly, the battlefield is wrought with screams from your buddies, explosions, and radio chatter. There are some weak points, such as grenades exploding with a half-hearted whimper, but nothing that can't be tweaked before release.

The graphics, however, are not the same. While Bad Company 2 can focus on anything from snow-capped oil rigs to lush, steamy jungle; Medal of Honor takes the same weapon sway, character movements, and explosions, and then lets a five-year-old child colour them in with brown crayon. We've never been one to complain about a colour scheme - Fallout 3 was grey, yes, but it was grey for a reason. Medal of Honor is aggressively brown, with no justification. The bright, lividly-coloured explosions from Bad Company 2 are replaced with a rainbow of beige. Walls are brown, with specks of grey. Character models' clothes are caked in dust and dirt, while everything else - from cars to foliage - is brown. It gets to the point where you're walking towards explosions just because it lights the screen up with yellow: you feel starved of the beauty of the spectrum. Graphical mediocrity is not limited to the palette; the flare from a gun when you fire it looks like you're shooting out pure flour - the blaze is larger than the character itself, meaning you can't see what you're firing at, only see a haze of yellow. The planes that fly overhead seem to be going at three miles per hour, and explosions throw debris up in the air that immediately vanishes. We're sure some of the drabness could be fixed before October, but the sickly colour scheme coupled with the similarity to Bad Company 2 means it might no be contenting with Modern Warfare 2 on the looks scale - it might be on par with MAG.

The gameplay, though, is where the real disappointment hits. We had been led to believe that Medal of Honor would provide a more realistic experience, generating a feeling totally new to FPS genre of fast-paced battles and vigilance necessary at all times. Maybe that is true in the single player, but the multiplayer feels like Battefield, minus it's best features. There's no blowing holes in walls. The Kabul map is horrifically small (think Vacant from Call of Duty 4), so 24 players bounce around like mayflies, spraying lead non-stop until someone spawns behind them and puts a knife into them. It takes an age to kill anything - while a headshot will bring them down fast, the sticky aiming means you're more likely to be pointing your gun at their body, and then it becomes a simple case of whose gun fires faster. It takes pretty much a whole pistol clip to make an impact, and even with the sniper - which years of gaming taught us is slow but incredibly deadly - takes up to four bullets to end a life, and by that stage the enemy has probably finished his picnic, packed everything up and leisurely strolled off behind a building. Even the bog-standard AK47 takes a good two seconds of non-stop fire on a target to get a kill. It's 'fast paced' just because the play area is so tiny that, as soon as you spawn, you hold down the fire button and you're bound to hit something, then get capped in the back after 10 seconds.

Yes, that's a little harsh. There is small joy to be garnished from taking out three players with a random grenade, but it's the joy we expect from the likes of Modern Warfare easy modes - teams bouncing off walls and spraying lead, with the last man standing being victorious. Medal of Honor was meant to be a thinking man's game, one about teamwork, tactics and adrenaline, but ends up feeling like a Bad Company knock-off with the best features, like destructible environments and epic landscapes removed. The second map, Helmand Valley, goes some way to rectifying this, with a much larger and more beautiful map, and one objective means the action is channeled into certain areas, but the problem remains that when you actually find a bad guy, the jerky aiming and weak weapons turn it into a game of hit-and-hope, rather than skill.

It's hard to tell how much of the Beta is representative of the real game. Are animations from Battlefield just placeholders? Will the damage system be revamped? Right now, from the Beta, Medal of Honor online is a rather disappointing slew of déjà vu and lacklustre gameplay.

Labels: Beta Impressions, Chris Hawke, Medal Of Honour

Oh Halo, the hours and hours I've lost to your stupidly addicting online multiplayer. Halo: Combat Evolved on the PC had incredible multiplayer; Halo 2 was amazing on the Xbox; Halo 3 topped it; Halo Wars was surprisingly good; and I sunk many an hour into ODST's excellent Firefight mode. However, along came a game called Modern Warfare 2, quickly followed by Left 4 Dead 2 and an obsession with FIFA 10 that led to me rather neglecting my Halo games. Then, on May 3rd, Bungie dropped the multiplayer beta for Halo: Reach, and I was sucked right back in again for the 16 days it lasted.

Now, there are some pretty significant changes in terms of the way Halo works now. There's a class system for a start and they all have their own starting weapons and unique abilities such as a jetpack, invisibility, a dash move, a shield and some other neat and useful ones. The way these affect the gameplay is noticeable in all the game modes that were available (Slayer, Team Slayer, Free-For-All, Crazy Kings, Oddball, Capture the Flag, SWAT) but are most useful in the new game modes created for Reach.


First of all you've got Headhunter; a fast and frantic mode in which everyone in the game carries a flaming skull which they drop when they die. The other players have to collect the fallen skulls and take them to a capture point to score points. The points are constantly changing, and what makes it even more challenging is that the number of skulls you're carrying shows up above your Spartan, making you a more likely target for the opposition if they see you have a nice collection of skulls. I had 6 skulls at once one time. I died quite quickly.

Stockpile was the next available new mode, which tasks you with picking up neutral flags from all over the map and taking them back to your team's base. It's basically capture the flag on steroids, and it's a hell of a lot of fun. You can't use your class abilities whilst your carrying the flag, creating a challenging game mode, but making it a shame that you can't jetpack your way across the map, holding a flag aloft.


The final two modes are kickass to say the least; Generator Defence and Invasion. These are both setup as Spartan vs. Elites (you can't be an Elite at any time like in Halo 3; only for these modes) and each team has different weapons and abilities available to them. Elites can run faster at normal speed but Spartans can sprint; Elites can become invisible but Spartans have jetpacks; Elites can do rolypolys and dash but Spartans can power up a shield. It's perfecly balanced and both modes are great fun.

In Generator Defence, the Spartans are defending and the Elites are trying to destroy the generators. The Elites have to destroy all three generators within the allocated time, but the Spartans should be okay as long as they can save at least one generator.


Invasion is the real big daddy of the Reach multiplayer experience (unless Bungie announce something even better). The Elites' objective is to assault a giant industrial complex, fight their way to the rear, steal a data core and take it to a waiting Phantom for removal from the area. The Spartans have a time limit in which to stop the Elites from advancing to each stage of the map. The Elites basically have to complete objectives to push the Spartans back and eventually capture the data core. Each time the Elites advance, more weapons and vehicles become available and the classes upgrade. It's really, really good.

The base gameplay is very similar to Halo 3 but the abilities really push it up a few notches. What helps are the new weapons too; there are some really awesome new guns in Reach and there'll be plenty more in the full game. Some of my favourites from the beta were a Needler/sniper variant for the Elites, a grenade launcher for the Spartans and, best of all, a plasma grenade launcher for the Elites. Using that against a Warthog is ridiculously satisfying. Games seem more tactical than before too, thanks to the new modes and abilities. It feels like a nice mix between Call of Duty and Battlefield, which is no bad thing at all. Having said that, it doesn’t feel as viscerally brutal as rival shooters such as Modern Warfare 2. Instead, Halo Reach multiplayer plays like a peculiarly violent sport, perhaps a little like if Sky Sports decided to give tazers to all the players before Arsenal took on Chelsea.


Reach's matchmaking and menu systems are also upgraded to the extent that they're actually worth mentioning. It's incredibly easy to hook up with friends, with no need to enter the Xbox 360 dashboard: just nudge your analogue stick to the right and you get a list of all your friends online, represented by their custom-made Spartan. You can see what they're playing and invite them into a match as easily as pressing a button.

Speaking of custom Spartans, the feature has been expanded a little for Reach too. The new armour pieces are purely cosmetic, but there's more satisfaction in how you earn them compared to Halo 3. Master the new weapons and game modes and you’ll amass in-game points that can be traded for new bits of armour. Colours and emblems are also available. However, you cannot customise your Elite, but as you can only play as them in 2 modes (and you might not even play as them in these modes anyway) it wouldn't be a worthwhile feature if you were able to.


Graphically, the Reach beta was more impressive than Halo 3, but not quite by the massive margin that Bungie had led us to believe. Fair enough, it's a beta with a while until release, and it's multiplayer, so the single player will probably look better, but I was still a tad disappointed. Whilst the Spartan models looked really good, everything else was a bit bland and underpar. However, the sense of scale is something that I haven't seen online outside the Battlefield series and that was something especially impressive in the Invasion game mode.

By the time the beta was over, I was very impressed. The additions are really fantastic and, at the end of the day, it's still Halo and therefore still very fun. Of course, this is just a portion of the online multiplayer, and Bungie have shown hardly any of the campaign or the co-op. With four months for Bungie to polish and perfect, I'm confident that this could be the greatest Halo game yet.

Tom

Labels: 360, Beta, Beta Impressions, Bungie, Halo Reach, Microsoft, Tom Acres, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE

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When Massive Action Game was first announced to games journalists and an audience of hundreds and thousands (via high-speed internet streams), people were impressed. Whether it was the idea of a semi-realistic military shooter, or the idea of a full chain of command system, or the promise of 256 online players per match, I don't know, but it's safe to say that Zipper Interactive's promise - to bring a true MMO shooter to a console - shook the gaming world a little, like the aftershock of a mild earthquake. Or something like that.

However, over time, everyone has grown up slightly, has slightly less hair, is a little tubbier than before - and many have forgotten about MAG in the light of other triple-A releases and the wonderful news that Gamer's Guide to Life will be live at the Eurogamer Expo this year. Which is sad, as MAG made such an impression at E3 '08. There are some who haven't quite forgotten about MAG, though - and they're already playing a pre-release beta version of it.

When I got home on 23rd September to find a rather slick-looking email from the lovely people at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, inviting me into the beta testing phase of MAG, I can honestly say that I was giddy with childish excitement. I had friends who were official SCEE beta testers, who had already been in the beta for around a month, and every competition I entered didn't see me come away with a shiny redeem code, so my hopes for getting to play MAG before retail release were considerably lower than they were a few weeks previously. I needn't have feared, it turns out - I was one of the lucky few who Sony decided could make a good job of beta testing what could possibly be one of the most high-capacity games ever published. And I'm ever so glad they did.

The beta test is by no means as large as the full game will be - each match only features 64 players - and yet it still impresses. The games are frantic, fun and - surprisingly and impressively for a FPS - teamwork is pretty much essential to deciding whether you win or lose. It does nothing much new at all for the genre, bar the command view and faction concept, but what it does do is decent enough.

Gameplay is fluid and works very well indeed. Featuring many of the guns which FPS gamers will have become accustomed to, or at least some variants of those weapons, the game's combat is fluid and has the same feel as many other FPS games. Weapons are good, and all feature the aim down sights (ADS) view customary when it comes to today's shooters; however, some weapons - particularly the starting loadouts - lack a punch which leaves you a little disappointed at first. The game features armoured personell carriers too, so those with a flair for driving are catered for - these vehicles are solid-feeling and work really well: each have three seats, of which one is reserved for the driver and one for the gunner, whilst the one left over can carry a passenger. The turret view in these vehicles is excellent, with a high-tech look and feel which works just perfectly when driving into the heat of battle.

Graphically, the beta doesn't deliver quite as much as you'd think it might. Menu screens are very nice and look sleek and high-tech, but in-game screen resolution isn't fantastic, despite being in high-definition. However, various sources claim that the beta version of the game only features a fraction of the graphical intensity which the full retail version will have to offer. Weapon and character models are good though, and textures are pretty much standard quality FPS textures. In fact, there isn't much wrong at all with the beta's visuals, apart from the low screen-res. I'm sure this'll be upscaled in the final release, though.

MAG is an online-only game, and you can tell that a huge amount of effort and work has gone into making it a good online experience. The lack of lag is certainly noticeable - there is only ever lag when someone has an extremely low connection, and even then it doesn't affect the entire game, only that single player. There's no peer-to-peer server kafuffledegook*, either, as all of MAG's matches run from official servers setup to do the job of hosting. Voice comms over microphones and headsets are clear, crisp and audible, and work well in-lobby and in the midst of battle. There are options for building clans and getting friends together in one lobby, with the only exception being that they must be in the same faction as you are. However, if you play with those friends option, then you should already know which faction you're going to join before even installing the beta.

In all, the Massive Action Game beta certainly does what Zipper promised it would do when they were stood on stage at E3 '08. The battles are frantic, and teamwork is almost essential to avoiding defeat. The maps are huge and the game handles a large number of players well (although there are only 64 per game during the beta - the game will feel even more frantic once the retail version is released and 256-player battles are waged). However, so far, I've not seen much which does anything new for the first person shooter genre, so those of you expecting something revolutionary - gauging this from what I've experienced of the beta - think again.

Linford

Unfortunately, we could not provide in-play screenshots from the actual beta for legal reasons.

Labels: Beta, Beta Impressions, Linford Butler, MAG, Massive Action Game, Zipper Interactive

When racing comes up in conversation between gamers, it tends to be the way that the same series', games and developers are spoken about. Almost anyone reading this article now will have heard of, played or be fanatic about Gran Turismo, Forza or even the more casual ones like Burnout or Destruction Derby. Which is fine, but it tends to be the way that developers who really know the racing genre are forgotten about. Eutechnyx, for example.

Really, it's fine - I was already anticipating those blank faces. Eutechnyx is the dev responsible for various decent racing games dating back to 1988 (on the Atari 8-Bit). Remember Ferrari Challenge? Not too bad at all. And then there were the not-so-great ones, such as Pimp My Ride and 007 Racing. But let's forget those and move on, because Eutechnyx's latest - a very realistic dish published by System3 - most definitely goes into the decent box.

Originally set for release in Spring 2009 - a window which came and went - Supercar Challenge actually decided that a closed beta phase was in order. Which was good for me, as I managed to get my hands on very early on in the beta phase. And now, with not long at all before release, System3 are giving out many more beta keys via various prestige gaming sites. Such as here, for example.

Although the game takes a long time to download and get onto - there's an around-500MB patch even after the initial install - it's immediately evident that Supercar Challenge is going to be decent, even before jumping into a game. The music and colours used are classy without feeling overdone, and the exterior car models are very good too.

Jumping into a game isn't difficult either - you have the choice of either joining an existing lobby or creating one of your own. Lobby hosts have a plethora of settings to fiddle with, which can change everything from the track, car and weather settings, right down to whether to use ADS, anti-lock breaks or traction control. Also, nicely, the more advanced settings are set apart from the simple controls, which allows those inexperienced racers to stick to the simple stuff, while more savvy players can mess about with the advanced settings and get things just as they like. It's a system which is fully-featured, but evidently considerate of its mixed audience.

In-lobby comms are clear and very-good quality, surprisingly for online game lobbies. A nice feature is the ability to speak to other headset-users when they're racing and you're waiting in the lobby - it's something which prevents people leaving the lobby because of long and boring wait times.

The racing mechanic itself is very good - while there is a steep learning curve for first time and inexperienced racers, the gameplay itself cannot be faulted. True, it may lean in the favour of regular racing gamers, with a very realistic, almost hardcore feel to the gaming, but an inexperienced racer can find themselves getting good times and challenging the leaders after practise.

In all, the beta is very impressive, and, if it weren't for the steep learning curve, would most certainly earn an A-grade in Beta Proficiency. If that particular exam actually existed. However, as it doesn't, all I can say is that to miss out on this beta - particularly when your favourite videogames site is handing keys out willy-nilly - would be a very silly move indeed.

Linford

Labels: Beta Impressions, Linford Butler, Supercar Challenge

Labels: Beta Impressions, Jacques Hulme, Uncharted 2

There's many things people join in a mad rush for. Celebrities autographs, book signings, running away from a massacre. Or, in the case of the game industry, beta keys for upcoming, highly anticipated PS3 exclusives. Like, say... Resistance 2 for example.

Resistance 2 is the sequel to the bestselling PS3-launch title Resistance: Fall of Man. The game follows on where FoM left off, with Nathan Hale taking centre stage again as the main character. R2 is set in America during the 1950s, and focuses on the Chimeran invasion of the east and west coasts of the USA.

I downloaded the beta - which weighs in at 2.2GB - after I became one of 7,000 lucky European PS3 owners to grab a beta key from IGN's giveaway. The beta gives you an insight into the network features of the game, without giving away too much of the storyline.

The 'competitive' portion of the beta includes competitive maps from three different locations in the game. 60, 40 and 20-player maps from Orick, 40 and 20-player maps from Chicago, and a standalone 10-player map called Sub Docks. Two new modes, Skirmish and Core Control, are supported, as well as traditional Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch.

The co-operative part of the beta is entirely focused on the Orick level, and gives beta testers a glance at the new 8-player online co-op mode. This portion supports play-path randomisation, so each time you play is slightly different.

Competitive mode works well, and the squad based gameplay is fantastic. Not only does it enable you to play tactically with friends or strangers, but it also allows you to be given hostile targets to 'take out', as it were. I encountered problems attempting to matchmake games - the beta either responded with 'Network Error' or a similar sort of message. However, this is one thing which is sure to be non-existant in the full game.



Insomniac have evidently been working hard on the co-op side of things. Jumping into a game with a group of friends is easy, and with up to 8-player play and class-based weapon sets, it makes it simple to get a well-rounded team together. The beta, however, only includes three classes - soldier, medic and Spec Ops. Hopefully there will be more options available in the full release.

High-definition really is made worthwhile with this beauty. The beta runs at a solid 720p, 60fps on my HDTV, with almost no gittering or pixelation at all. The renders are spot on, too - there's no square edges to be seen, and the lighting effects look fantastic. There's a good colour range, and that makes for a viewing experience that's full of vibrancy, rather than boring. The one thing which did not look quite how I thought it would, however, is water - it seems to have some unseen foce pulling it about, and looks almost comical.

Gameplay is good, and there was hardly any lag when playing in a 60-player deathmatch. Shooting feels satisfying, although enemies seem to take huge amounts of damage before finally kicking the bucket. Whether this is part of the story - stronger Chimera for a new invasion - is yet to be found out.

The menu system is well implemented, and easy-to-use. I really like the way you can still navigate through main menus and friends lists without leaving the party you're in - it makes navigation much more time-efficient. However, the beta was filled with minor glitches; attempts to view a profile always resulted in a network error and the game could occassionaly freeze and entirely crash the PS3, forcing a hard reset. However, that really couldn't put me off in the slightest.

If the beta is anything to go by, Resistance2 is going to be absolutely fantastic, and will live up to the hype. I'm really glad I got an exclusive insight into the beta, although there's one little thing that's niggling at me.

I desperately want the full game.

Linford

Labels: Beta Impressions, Exclusive, Matthew, Matthew Meadows, R:Fom, Resistance 2