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29.11.11
It's over. It's finished, man. It's done - that's it.
Skyrim and Assassin's Creed are out, and with them arrive the bitterly cold winds of change; we stand on the brink of 2012, a brand new year brimming with adventure and intrigue. And another Call of Duty. With Star Wars: The Old Republic and Rocksmith bringing up the rear and probably being too late to be included in most Game Of The Year lists, you can turn your mind back to a year that saw Libya Liberated, Osama Obama-nated, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 single-handedly ruin everything I hold dear.
Unless Postal III pulls a stunner (spoiler: it won't), that's pretty much it for 2011, so we're compiling the most notable games you've played over the past twelve months and shamelessly judging them based on our incredibly poor recollections. Portal 2 is the one about the Italian plumber, right? Good.
Note: if you can't tell by now, the following list isn't to be taken very seriously.
Dead Space 2
It was kind of like Dead Space, except...Nope. I've got nothing. Basically, you ran about and shot zombie-alien things and there was a lot of blood. While it's hardly original, Dead Space 2 was actually a resounding success; the dismemberment was a grotesquely gleeful as ever, the characters were believable and well-rounded, and the story had enough hooks and twists to keep you blasting on. It's going to take a lot longer than a year for us to forget that needle-to-eye scene.
Why it might win GOTY:
A more refined, polished Dead Space that still haunts our dreams, the buckets of atmosphere and flashy set-pieces (complete with severed baby faces) make it a heart-stopping thriller.Why it might not win GOTY:
The multiplayer was a giant alien sack of balls, and it came out in January. January. I'm pretty sure the British Empire was still intact back then.Dragon Age II
You were called Hawke. Now, call me biased, but that's basically the best name in the world. If I could come up with a fake name, it would be Hawke. Luckily, I don't have to. I'm one of the lucky ones. The chosen ones.
Oh, the game? I don't know. I think it had something about violence in it, I forget...
Why it might win GOTY:
Building on the success of the original, what could possibly go wrong?Why it might not win GOTY:
Quite a lot. Fans were perturbed, to use on overly fancy word, at the shoddy control system, the confusing story and general lack of ingenuity or originality. Plus, we have Skyrim now. Dragon Age II can only look on in wonder.Homefront
Ha! Just kidding.
Crysis 2
Probably the most visually impressive game on this list - so long as you've got a high-end PC. As this PC poster boy shifted onto the consoles, many worried the Nanosuit would be dumbed down; and while the set-pieces were epic, the story exciting, and the graphics one-of-a-kind, the series had lost some of its charm; no longer were we allowed to wreak havoc in a sandbox paradise, but instead tied down in a tightly scripted, linear, shoot-em-up.
Why it might win GOTY:
It's got the looks. When you boil it down, Crysis 2 is basically an entire series based upon being pixel-perfect, and as shallow as that is; cor. Look at them explosions!Why it might not win GOTY:
The stealth mechanics are to fiddly and slippery to be a long-term strategy, and the straight-up-shooting is just a bit bland. Crysis 2 might be a jack of all trades, but a master of none.Portal 2
It was actually funny. Which surprised me - the original Portal was so fleeting, experimental and unexpected that it took everyone by surprise and was allowed to be itself. But when shoved on a standalone stage and told to perform for ten hours, there was a worry that GLADoS would lose her charm, the mechanics would become stale, and it would all be a little bit disappointing. But with the excellent Merchant at the helm, Portal 2 managed to be legitimately hilarious (with as little nerd-humour as possible) and keep a strong pace. Wait - did someone say pace?
Why it might win GOTY:
Cute, funny and thought-provoking, with a solid co-op mode and tonnes of little secrets. There's not another game as unique as Portal 2 out there.Why it might not win GOTY:
If you pushed through the campaign in a matter of days, the endless portal-shooting and gel-jumping do start to wear thin. Also, it might not be the best critique of a game, but...it's just not Portal 1, is it?L.A. Noire
Hang on - did I say there wasn't a unique game like Portal 2 out there? Excuse me - I must have forgotten about the game where you solve crimes around a perfectly-recreated 1940s Los Angeles. And accuse old ladies of being killers. L.A. Noire made up for what it lacked in freedom with a mature, developed plot, involving some superbly crafted characters, rich dialogue, and a whole lot of picking up cigarette packets. And drawing. And racism.
Why it might win GOTY:
It's a Rockstar game.Why it might not win GOTY:
It's a Rockstar game shrouded in modern-day slavery court-cases. And did Cole Phelps put on a flamethrower at the end of the game? Like, for real?Infamous 2
While a lot of games on this list are criticised for the fact they lose the charm of their predecessor, Infamous 2 is the exception. It's messy and repetitive and shoddy and slightly creepy (why the hell is this city so quiet?!), but it's such a beautiful game when it all comes together. The progression, the powers, the freedom of movement and the powerful-as-a-lighting-storm ending; it may not be perfect, but it sure as hell tries.
Why it might win GOTY:
It should win just for this scene only. (Big spoiler)Why it might not win GOTY:
While they're easy to forgive, you can't quite overlook the plethora of AI issues, graphical slip-ups, and repetitive missions forever.Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I never asked for this.
Forza Motorsport 4
Since Gran Turismo 6 won't come out until we all get hovercars and the game becomes outdated before its even released, Forza Motorsport 4 is left to hold high the torch of virtual racing. And fanboyism. It's beautiful, it's fast, and it's flashy.
Why it might win GOTY:
Enough simulation to be realistic, but enough arcade to be masses of fun.Why it might not win GOTY:
Racing games never win Game Of The Year. Ever.Battlefield 3
64 players tearing the French Metro to shreds, bombing it across the crisp blue skies of the Caspian Boarder and commanding tanks in the dusty plains of Iran? Forget the rubbish single-player; Battlefield 3 is all about the multiplayer, and with a slew of grand maps, an endless array of weaponry, and a multiplayer shooter that's NOT Call of Duty, Battlefield 3 has a real shout.
Why it might win GOTY:
It's big, loud and a visual stunner. EA's plugged everything they've got into making this a real winner, and they'll be livid if it doesn't come out on top.Why it might not win GOTY:
The game is certainly not without its problems, with countless issues abound on forums everywhere. These things mount up, y'know.Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Serious undertones of paedophilia. That's what I remember most about Uncharted 3; you're a ten-year-old orphan getting chased around by an old man with a moustache. I think there was a lot of other stuff about spiders and adventure and treasure, but I basically zoned out after that and expect Chris Hansen to turn up at my doorstep any minute.
Why it might win GOTY:
As someone who thinks Uncharted 2 was massively overrated, Drake's Deception pumped a lot of my faith back into the series - it's got swagger, ambition and oomph. And when you're reduced to using onomatopoeia to describe a video game, you know you've got something special.Why it might not win GOTY:
While it's the strongest first two-thirds of any Uncharted yet, it pulls its punches at the end - there's no big revelation or seismic shift for the series, but just another 'sunset and banter' fade-out.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Why it might win GOTY:
It's a brand new Call of Duty!Why it might not win GOTY:
It's exactly like Call Of Duty 4. Again.The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I'm not even going to talk about the game here. Instead, I'm going to ask you to look at Dead End Thrills. You'll see why.
Driver: San Francisco
Why it might win GOTY:
Best interracial back-and-forth of 2011.There you have it folks. We'll know soon enough which of these games will come out on top, in the meantime, troll us below with your picks.
Labels: 2011, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Crysis 2, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age II, Driver, Forza Motorsport 4, Game of the year, Homefront, L.A. Noire, Portal 2, Skyrim, Uncharted 3
- Chris Hawke
Think that 2011 has been a good year for gamers, having given them a slew of new, unique, and enjoyable titles for their consumption? Think again. Tom Acres is here to tell you why five of the year's top games aren't worth the discs they're pressed on.
We're only just in August - still a good few months away from the time of year in which many of the years best games tend to be released - and already critics and gamers alike have been lauding many of 2011's titles as masterpieces and Game of the Year contenders.
Five of the top games of the year happen to include three sequels, a remake and a glorified adventure game - hardly the innovation or creativity that surely we should expect from the very best of the medium? Yet critics will tell you why the following five titles are worth their weight in gold. Well, I'm here to tell you exactly why they're not.
Editor's note: this article is intended as a humourous, tongue-in-cheek look at some of the year's top games, and should be taken with as big a pinch of salt as possible.
Portal 2
It says a lot about this generation of games when Portal 2 is lauded as a game for clever people. A challenging game, with puzzles that 'make you feel smart'.
Well, I suppose in comparison to the mindless shooting of Black Ops, or the incredibly stupid enemies you stab repeatedly in Assassin’s Creed, Portal 2 is for clever people. But that's like saying Wayne Rooney is supremely intelligent, just because he might be ever-so-slightly more intellectual than Katie Price. At the end of the day, there's a rather large difference between being clever, and being made to feel clever.
The only way Portal 2 makes you feel clever is the way you get through the game from a first-person viewpoint without killing anything. To gamers of this generation, a first-person viewpoint basically means 'aim, pull trigger, kill'. Just because Portal 2 is a first-person game that doesn't involve killing, doesn't mean it's suddenly ingenious. Portal 2 is a puzzle game, I'll give it that, but just because it's a puzzle game in a generation full of shooters doesn't suddenly make it brilliant. Critics have lauded it as being a thinking man’s experience - really? Portal 2's repetitive chambers basically work like this:
Step 1: You see a huge wall, just about the right shape for a portal, made of the right material for portals to be placed on.
Step 2: You find another wall of exactly the same attributes.
Step 3: Shoot a portal on each wall.
Step 4: Walk through a wall and pretend to feel like a genius because you've been told that this game is God’s gift to intellectuals.
Step 2: You find another wall of exactly the same attributes.
Step 3: Shoot a portal on each wall.
Step 4: Walk through a wall and pretend to feel like a genius because you've been told that this game is God’s gift to intellectuals.
So, yeah; Portal 2 is hardly the mind-bending experience that so many claim it to be. If that wasn't enough, Valve has also received a great deal of praise for its use of 'dark humour' and mature writing.
I'm sorry, what? Are you telling me that a game rated 12+ is considered to be at the forefront of dark humour? And the plot twist at the end? Oh my goodness me! You mean the good guy turns into a bad guy? What an incredibly unique storytelling device that is totally unpredictable in every way!
So what of these remarkable characters that everyone seems so keen on? Sure, it may be novel to have the other one from all of Ricky Gervais' stuff voicing a little robot, but that novelty soon wears off when the writers recycle the same gags again and again... and again. So then they make him evil, for seemingly no reason other than to try and 'surprise' the player.
Portal 2 is a game that is placed firmly up its own backside; it thinks it's oh-so-funny and oh-so-clever and oh-so-different, when in actual fact it's a simple puzzle game for fools who otherwise spend their time either playing Modern Combat Space Marine Reach Wars 2011 or watching porn.
It's a puzzle game for 2011. So it's essentially a puzzle game for idiots.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Why do people even pretend to have a sense of nostalgia when old games are re-released? Publishers don't re-release games with a new lick of paint because they love you, the consumer, or because they want to 'let a brand new audience experience a classic'. No; it's because they want your money.
Despite this rather obvious money-making scheme, for the most part, gamers seem to fall for it. Why do we even pretend to enjoy playing old games in 2011? When an old game is re-released, people seem almost inclined to buy it because they'd feel bad if they didn't. It's like when your mum asks if you'd like to come with her to visit your grandma; of course you don't - she's boring and smells funny - but you feel almost as though you have to, and once you're there, you have to pretend to be enjoying it. This is exactly what it's like to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
Sure, it was good in 1998, but you know what else was good in 1998? Arsenal. Now look at them. Don't pretend to admire their pretty football; they won't win anything, and all their best players want to leave. Look at Ocarina of Time 3D; sure, you could admire the pretty new visuals, but it's still an old game that wouldn't have received nearly as much attention if the Nintendo 3DS library wasn't so bad that one of the best titles to be released for it thus far is Spongebob Squarepants 3D.
The things that were good about Ocarina of Time in 1998 have since been done better in Twilight Princess, and probably again better in Skyward Sword. The bad stuff from 1998 is now considered not just bad, but monumentally shit. Still, people seem willing to excuse it because it's 2011. Just like when your grandma addresses you by your uncle's name - you laugh it off, but deep down you want to give her a good slap.
Why would anyone want to spend a Friday afternoon pretending to be pleased to see their grandma? Exactly. So why do so many pretend to enjoy The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D? It's an old game and the new headline feature gives you a headache. Good one, Nintendo.
L.A. Noire
Just like Portal 2, Rockstar's L.A. Noire has been lauded the world over for being a bit different. So different, in fact, that you're not even allowed to kill innocent people. I know, what a monumental step forward in game design that is.
In all seriousness, L.A. Noire is just a glorified point-and-click adventure game. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with adventure games, but the way in which L.A. Noire hides this core concept beneath an unnecessary sandbox world and clunky gunfights makes it seem as though Team Bondi are almost ashamed to declare it an adventure game. Perhaps having 'Rockstar' emblazoned all over the box and TV adverts made the Australian developer think, "Oh bollocks. People are going to buy this hoping for the next GTA. Let's connect all the missions together with a bit of a boring sandbox, chuck in some rubbish gunfights with movement so clunky it makes Heather Mills look like a gymnast, and end up with a weird hybrid of a game called Tales Of Monkey Theft Auto And Max."
The focus of L.A. Noire is solving cases, but, much like Portal 2, these scenarios aren't nearly as clever as the developers like to think. Sure, it might cause ten-year-old Timmy some frustration, and avid sixteen-year-old Modern Warfare player Steve with his 1 GCSE might find the pretence of 'solving things' all too much to bear, but for the average person, this game is about as clever as a ham sandwich.
L.A. Noire also so clearly wishes it was a HBO crime series; it's almost embarrassing. If you've watched Mad Men, or The Sopranos, or any of the countless other similar shows distributed by that channel, then you've seen each and every character and crime found in L.A. Noire. In fact, you could just watch an episode of Sherlock on the BBC, and pause the show every so often to try and use the clues found so far by the character to solve the cases before clever old Benedict Cumberpatch can. And, by doing so, you could get just as much enjoyment and satisfaction as you would from playing L.A. Noire, without all the rubbish gunfights, driving and exploring.
The next series of Sherlock will air next year; remember to record each episode, pay nothing, and experience everything good about L.A. Noire without having to pay a penny. Solve crimes for free, but with likeable characters instead!
And don't try and bring up the facial animation. So it might look quite cool. But the faces look far more realistic in Sherlock.
LittleBigPlanet 2
So here we have the sequel to the game that lets you play other people's shit versions of Super Mario World.
Come on, let's not beat around the bush here - the majority of the user created levels in LittleBigPlanet 2 are rip-offs of practically every somewhat-popular game in the history of the world. You want a rubbish, top-down version of Gran Turismo? You can have it. You want a boring and slow take on Space Invaders? Not a problem. You want to play through someone's effort at an Uncharted game, but in a side-scrolling environment in which you play as a little stuffed toy? Whatever floats your boat.
Also, the majority of people that buy LittleBigPlanet 2 can't actually be arsed to make their own levels. They just play through the Media Molecule-developed campaign and then muck about with some user-created levels before trading it in.
LittleBigPlanet 2 doesn't even work on a basic level. Every time you jump, you feel like you're going to float into space; grabbing things is an absolute nightmare, whilst the introduction of new gameplay types like racing and flying just make you wish you were playing other games.
Summing up LittleBigPlanet 2 is as easy as saying that it's a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of absolutely none. In fact, it isn't even moderately okay at any of the trades, either.
Dead Space 2
Oh look, it's Resident Evil 4 in space. But, as if that wasn't enough of a creative idea the first time round, Visceral Games - who also made the highly original God of War: Crusades Edition, something they tried to pass off as Dante's Inferno, or something along those lines - decided to make a sequel! Oh, how kind of them; they've made a sequel to cash-in on a franchise that was only created in the first place to cash-in on the success of another franchise.
"Who cares if it's not original? The gameplay is great and it looks fantastic, it's atmospheric and scary!" I hear you cry. Well, you're wrong. Massively wrong.
The game plays like Resident Evil 4. Which is to say that the shooting is clunky and there are some boring puzzle bits that make Portal 2 look like the work of Albert Einstein himself. The game isn't scary, either; the monsters are generic, and the creepy babies are only there to provide shock value. To me, it just made me question the mental health of the developers - shooting creepy babies isn't scary, or fun, or exhilirating. One thing it is, though, is sick.
And not sick in a good way, like, 'Innit, blud, that was sick!' It's sick like, 'what kind of vile individual came up with that idea?'
Most of the 'scares' come from cheap tricks, like monsters jumping out of doors and things - yet another highly creative decision from the developers, there. The game is also really short, but the developers manage to extend the lifespan by forcing cheap deaths upon you. You can almost hear them screaming, "You will learn to appreciate this game!" as you're rushed again and again by mutant babies and stupid fleshy things that look like someone put concept art from Alien in a bonfire. If you've made a bad game, the least you could do is let me finish it quickly, so stop making me die! You're making me hate it even more; now leave me alone, and go and finish developing Army of Duty: Contemporary Combat, or whatever your next highly original piece of work will be.
Did I mention that Dead Space 2 also has multiplayer? No, that's correct: I didn't. Because it's rather poor and completely unnecessary. Even people who like Dead Space seem to agree that multiplayer is a dumb idea. So do I really need to explain what I think of it?
Here's to Dead Space 3, which I imagine will come out in about two months' time with a brave new feature not often mentioned in the gaming community, called 'co-op'.
Labels: 2011, Dead Space 2, Feature, L.A. Noire, LittleBigPlanet 2, Portal 2, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Tom Acres
- Unknown
“I think I believe this guy,” says Kieran.
“Eh? I think he looks kinda shaky,” replies Regi, sceptically.
“Yeah, he’s totally avoiding eye contact,” I chime in. “What do you think, Renee?”
“Hmmm. Yeah. He’s probably holding out,” says Renee, with finality.
My friends and I aren’t watching some whodunnit movie on Showtime, or reading the latest John Grisham legal thriller — in fact, we’re all watching me play L.A. Noire. Together.
And we’re all enjoying the hell out of it.
If L.A. Noire goes on to echo the breakout success of Red Dead Redemption, the industry press will be filled with dumbfounded stories of its detractors who, in hindsight, were too blind to see the mass appeal that Noire provides. Before I picked up Noire on Tuesday, I was a member of this group. Even now, I’m still not convinced that Rockstar will find true mainstream success with L.A. Noire. Film noir has fallen out of the public eye, at least in the United States, and is hardly a popular genre in entertainment, though conventional wisdom says I might be wrong. I’m also not sure how many gamers will be ready for the slow, deliberate pace at which L.A. Noire moves; in today’s Call of Duty-dominated marketplace, any game that doesn’t involve some sort of firefight or explosion in any five minute span seems downright boring. Last is the 1940’s detective setting, which, in the U.S., has always held only niche appeal, though I’ve always had affection for it. All told, at face value, L.A. Noire does not provide undeniable proof that it will be another massive, Rockstar-sized hit.
What L.A. Noire does provide, though, is a rarity in gaming: an experience that’s just as much fun to watch as it is to play. Noire’s top-notch story, writing, and acting (both vocal and facial) give it the feel of an interactive movie, making the experience more akin to an episode of Mad Men than a Grand Theft Auto-esque story arc, and appreciable to anyone with a hunger for well-told, mature narratives. Though the game could be described as mechanical and repetitive (you’ll look at a lot of matchbooks before the ending credits roll), L.A. Noire’s pleasures are far more inviting than the mechanical gratification of a perfectly-timed headshot or finishing move.
Because L.A. Noire is so inviting, its gameplay lends itself to group participation gaming in a way I’ve never experienced outside the likes of Rock Band and Smash Bros. The game encourages players to be slow, thorough, taking in every scrap of evidence in the hope of catching a suspect in a lie. This turns any casual observer of the game into a first-rate gumshoe, right alongside the person actually holding the controls. “Check the bathroom,” Renee tells me as I peruse a suspect’s house, and - surely enough - after some snooping around, we’re three clues closer to putting the case together.
The group participation lends itself even further to the game’s interrogation scenes. After scouring a crime scene for evidence, players are asked to lead other characters through a line of questioning, and must decide if the witness is lying or telling the truth. This effectively turns the game into Twelve Angry Men Noire, and my friends and I had a blast trying to determine if a suspect was being truthful, or feeding us a triple-decker bullshit sandwich instead. “Oh, hell no!” shouts Kieran after one particular testimony, and flips through our notebook to find a piece of evidence that flatly contradicts the poor schmuck’s story entirely.
Smashing a case wide open with a few well-placed questions is pretty satisfying alone, but with a few buddies in tow, it becomes downright epic. I had no idea how much I would enjoy the game, and even less of an idea how much more I would enjoy it with a group, turning this faux-multiplayer into one of my most-surprising and favourite gaming moments of 2011. I can clean up the grimy streets of Los Angeles all by myself in any number of other games, but only L.A. Noire gives me and my best mates a chance to work at it together.
And believe me, after we’ve had our say, this town won’t know what hit it.
Labels: 2011, Andrew Testerman, Feature, L.A. Noire, Multiplayer, Rockstar, Social Gaming, Team Bondi
- Andrew Testerman
These two weeks see the release of two of this year's supposed 'biggest hits' Brink and L.A. Noire, which both aim to both bring a new set of dynamics into the lives of gamers. Yet, how do the changes offered by the two big budget titles rack up against one another?
Rockstar's L.A. Noire is, straight off the bat, a completely different experience from most mainstream games released today. This, coming from the publisher that brought us Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, is to be expected; Rockstar are known - nay, famed - for their top-quality, innovative games, and their recipe certainly seems to work, as all they touch seems to turn to gold.
One of L.A. Noire's features that Rockstar really want to push home is the facial detail that they've managed to achieve using the MotionScan system, a sparkling new feature which manages to express a character's every feeling. From gameplay videos, it is clear that the team have really used the system to their advantage; it is arguably the first time a player has been able to easily distinguish lip movements, allowing for near-perfect lip reading.
However good it may look, though, some may question whether the tech will significantly change gamplay in the way Rockstar hope that it will. Rockstar claim that the features offered are needed for the detective-action title, as one needs to physically note whether the character they're interrogating is telling the truth. If it is true, then perhaps we'll see the MotionScan wizardry adopted for other titles, even despite the time-consuming process needed for significant results.
Connections between L.A. Noire and many other titles can be drawn, as it manages to delve into several different genres. It can be difficult to avoid placing it in comparison to Heavy Rain, as both share some common roots, but if you were to look further into the gameplay mechanics of L.A. Noire, you might find it closer to something in the point-and-click genre. Indeed, when searching a crime scene for a set of clues, we are reminded of the lovable Sam & Max duo. In certain scenes, equipped with a gun, elements from third person shooters are seen, although it is apparent that these areas of the game are minimal. The game is trying to 'blend' the genre boundaries, like many titles this generation have attempted to, but perhaps it is worth mentioning that L.A. Noire seems to have picked its colours from a very different palette to those other titles.
The other big hitter of this week is Brink, a title which, similarly, tries to 'blur' the genre boundaries by bringing single player and online play closer together. The system that Brink utilises allows for 'drop in, drop out' gameplay, whereby a player can invite their companion to join them straight from a single player game, without the need to set up lobbies specifically for online campaign game modes.
In my honest opinion, I've been extremely excited for a system such as this, and I really want it to succeed, in the hope that other companies will adopt the idea. Imagine the variety it could bring to other genre; for example, in something like Skyrim, one could wander into a town, find a tavern and seamlessly 'recruit' a friend as a mercenary force. One of the biggest pitfalls for a system like this, though, is that it could be completely ignored by players - if you want to maintain a single player campaign, it's likely you'd entirely leave any sort of seamless offline-online, jump-in-and-jump-out feature alone.
Brink is also a title which offers a grand amount of customisation for gamers, with recent stats having revealed the scale of this mechanic. Bethesda stated that there are over 4,963 different combinations of weapon attachments, and a mind-boggling approximate of 47,325,358,080,000,000 costume combinations (that's over forty-seven quintillion combinations, if you couldn't work it out). It's one crazy amount, and means it'll be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to find two players with exactly the same qualities.
Both games are set to rock some pretty nifty changes from the norms that gamers are used to, and both are extremely unique. For a purely technical advantage,the most impressivle has to be L.A. Noire, as the impressive facial animation is something it is difficult to find in past games. However, with questions surrounding how many games the advanced technology will really change, the award for influence to the way we play can only go to Brink, whose innovative online system will hopefully lead to a fluid mix of online and single player play.
Labels: 2011, Bethesda, Brink, Jacques Hulme, L.A. Noire, Rockstar, Splash Damage, Team Bondi, Trailer, Video
- Anonymous
Dearest Rockstar...
How's life in California? The wife and kids thriving? Glad to hear it. Colorado is doing well. Unemployment is down, the Rockies have been blanketed with a foot of fresh powder, and the seventy-foot-tall series of statues portraying John Elway fighting off a horde of ninjas whilst riding a flaming bronco Pegasus and swinging Excalibur in front of the capital building are coming along steadily.
I'm writing about a matter of great importance: your upcoming blockbuster title, L.A. Noire (which looks all kinds of fancy, by the way. Good, pipe-smoking, rustic gentleman fancy. Not 80s glampop music video fancy). I couldn't help but notice that it shares a release date with last year's mega-hit Rockstar title, Red Dead Redemption. Does this represent a shared development timeline between the two games? If so, then I'd like to discuss L.A. Noire's inevitable Hallowe'en downloadable content.
I'd like 50s style aliens to invade Los Angeles.
The famous 'Battle of Los Angeles' photo, taken during a supposed alien encounter over the city in 1942. Somehow, your conspiracy theorist neighbour will link this to 9/11.
Space music.
You may already have a plan in the works for new Hallowe'en DLC. With the rich history of corny B-movies being shot by-the-minute in 1950s Los Angeles, there are a cornucopia of zipper-suited monsters you can pull from. That said, tin-foil suited, antennaed, green-skinned visitors are the best choice. The fear of malevolent, subvertive life forms from outer space, abducting cows[1] and plotting the destruction of humanity, beats at the heart of America's cultural identity during the awkward pubescent years of an age heralded by changing lifestyles, frightening new technologies, and a neverending showdown with a quiet, leering enemy - the Cold War.
L.A. Noire is set during this 'Cold War'. I'm just sayin'.
Imagine Cole Phelps, detective on-the-beat, discovering through a series of clues that the City of Angels is being secretly invaded by little green men. Without any help from the city government, he follows a trail of oddities across his urban jungle. Characters Phelps knows (from L.A. Noire's campaign) walk and talk awkwardly, as if puppeteered by invisible strings. Quiet, black-suited federal agents tail Phelps, then disappear without a trace. Blurry photographs of levitating saucers hovering above the city skyline somehow find their way into his padlocked desk drawer.
It would work perfectly.
Alien invasion film noir has been done well before. Where, you ask? How about a forgotten short story in a tattered old anthology found on the top shelf in a dank, labyrinthine library in a quiet little hamlet known to its shadowy denizens as... The Twilight Zone.
Here's a taste of Martian invaders, complete with Rod Serling's famous pun-infested conclusion. As you watch, imagine a hardened human detective listening in the back of the diner, face hidden by a fedora, but for the cigarette he sits tending. As his offhand rests on his revolver, his heart threatens to hammer out of his chest at the exchange he hears.
Now conceive a different invasion scenario, in which the supposed conquerors are not conspiratorial at all, but friendly and outgoing. As the rest of Los Angeles embraces their Samaritan extraterrestrial benefactors, one doubting Thomas-in-a-trenchcoat suspects that the city's would-be messiahs are too good to be true.
L.A. Noire's aliens could be boldfaced warmongers, assailing Los Angeles with saucers and death rays with a head-on attack, à la War of the Worlds...
...or honestly come in peace, for the good of all living things, like those of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Hell, it could be completely zany, like Destroy all Humans! or Invader Zim. The point is, any alien-themed Hallowe'en expansion would be the greatest DLC since... well, since Undead Nightmare.
It's in your hands, Rockstar. If you can mate this with this, then you'll have created something beautiful[2].
You see, Jimmy? This is why you never get in the car with strangers - they'll fatten you up and turn you into pie. Now finish your broccoli.
You don't have to respond right away. I know that when it comes to far-off development plans you're a little shy, Rockstar. That's okay, you're human. I only suggest that you do this: go outside on a clear, moonless night, when the stars are so clear and vibrant they fill the sky and the Hubble telescope seems unnecessary, listen to some jazz, and think on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Then put on your thinking cap, light a fresh cigarette, and ask yourself whether or it's possible that human beings are, in fact, alone in this universe (or in the saxophone-echoing streets of Los Angeles, circa-1955). Who knows? Maybe there'll be a life-form somewhere out in that vast expanse looking back at you.
Thanks for reading, Rockstar. You're a real pal. We've been through a lot together, which is why I swear to you, with Thor as my witness... if you make this alien invasion DLC, I'll forever erase my memories of the drunken mistakes of your past.
Good luck with the L.A. Noire release, buddy. See you at the review party.
Footnotes
[1] But they're covered in nipples!^[2] Inversely, not doing so will make the baby Jesus cry.^
Labels: 2011, DLC, Feature, film noir, Greg Mengel, L.A. Noire, Open Letter, Rockstar
- Greg Mengel
L.A. Noire, the long-delayed mystery thriller from Team Bondi, had its first in-game footage shown to the world on Thursday. Thanks to some superb lighting and the best facial animations ever seen in a video game, 2011 has suddenly become a lot more interesting. It's such exciting news that I trawled through the trailer to find all the hidden goodness for you, the eagle-eyed public.
"The case that makes you, and the case that breaks you."
Immediately, we're introduced to a beautiful shot of night-time L.A. Despite the city being 'a perfectly re-created Los Angeles', neither InstAheat nor Guanaco are real brands. The shop in the background looks very highly detailed, though, hinting that some buildings might be able to be entered at will.
This is very early on in the game, possibly the first mission. Our man, Cole Phelps, is still in police uniform (you progress through the ranks of the police as the game goes on), ready to take part in an interrogation mini-game. The terrifying Irish man is your boss. Thanks to ground-breaking facial technology, interrogations are simply watching for facial ticks and trying to spot lies, exactly like in real life.
The beauty doesn't stop with the faces, though; reflections are stunning thanks to Global Illumination technology. This classic 1940s rim casts a pretty accurate picture of the world around you.
Now we get to the 'Noire' bit. Expect plenty of blood and gore as you investigate crimes, searching for clues to lead you to the killer. See the scars around the wedding ring? We'll bet that this unfortunate soul had an affair.
Joy of joys! Thank goodness it's not all mystery and intrigue, as Cole has to fight the dreaded blur effects and lens smudge while taking police photographs of the deceased. It'll be interesting to see how much of a part this will play: will poor photographs make it harder to spot clues later on?
Unique number plates are in, as are hit-and-runs. Hey, it wouldn't be a Rockstar-developed game without them.
Here's where you get to the real action: a high speed chase down the streets of the City of Angels. In the frame before, the car at the front had blood on the bumper. Could you be intercepting crimes as they're happening? Notice the wonderful damage physics, too.
Interesting fact; Midnight Manhunt is an actual film. To wind down after a long day in the office, could it be possible for the player to sit down and watch a movie, à la Red Dead Redemption? This is also the first time we've seen any shots fired; pistols and revolvers are in, and a shotgun is seen earlier in the trailer.
Leave any other observations in the comments below, and be sure to follow our Twitter for more!
Labels: Analysis, Chris Hawke, L.A. Noire, Rockstar, Team Bondi
- Chris Hawke
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