Everyone has their religion. For some, it's found in a church. For others, it's located on a board, down the pipe of a twenty-foot wave. Performing Shakespeare might provide serenity for John, while Sarah finds her peace reading Tolkien. Everyone has at least one thing - one activity, setting, or scenario - that allows them to step off of the rails of life for a moment and take stock of the world. Human beings need these moments, these vacations of calm understanding in an otherwise confusing existence, to survive.

Closing my eyes and remembering playing Mega Man X at my cousin's house, excitedly using the secret I looked up in a friend's crumpled strategy guide three months earlier to take down Sigma with a single life left, as my older relatives laugh raucously down the hall thanks to eggnog and peppermint Schnapps, isn't my religion. But it's damn close.

I first discovered Mega Man X when I was seven years old. My family was taking a road trip from our home in San Jose, California, to my Aunt Judy's house, two hours to the north in Davis, near the state capital of Sacramento nestled just west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. My brother and I looked forward to these visits for months, for two reasons: (a) Aunt Judy's pumpkin pie was delectable enough to be an Iron Chef's last meal, and (b) our cousins owned a Super Nintendo, the holiest device in the pantheon of toys available during the early Clinton era. Being older, and cooler by nature, our cousins spent dozens of hours not playing their games in favour of chasing girls, watching sports on television, or getting high and debating whether or not Kurt Cobain was a sellout during time designated towards writing new songs with their bands. While we disagreed with their life choices, we appreciated the fact that they often left their SNES lonely, unplayed, and in dire need of our attention.

These were moments we cherished. For reasons we never quite understood or accepted, my brother and I grew up with a strict no-video-games-in-the-house policy. We could play at friends' houses, or at demo stations in Walmarts or Fry's Electronics, but when our parents' shopping was over there was no chance of us bringing Mario or Sonic home. This made it easy for us to not be choosy when the opportunity to game arose. It could be Donkey Kong Country or Hello Kitty Superhearts and Ponytime Adventure - it didn't matter; we were all in. We played whatever was available. When in Davis, we could choose between Super Mario World, NBA Jam...

...and Mega Man X, the holy trinity of my SNES experience. Amen.

Though NBA Jam was hilarious, and Super Mario World will always be heralded as one of the legends of early gaming, Mega Man X was always my hands-down favourite of the three.

Why?

Because it's one of the greatest platformers in game history? Because it took the innocent boy Mega Man and made a man out of him? Because the first boss you meet is basically Boba Fett? Because it cures the lame and feeds the sick?

Yep. That's why.



For those of you who have never tried it, the gameplay in Mega Man X is similar to that of any other title in the Mega Man series leading up to it: there are platforms. You jump on these platforms in a mostly linear direction until you reach a boss room. Taking down a boss will allow you to select a new stage, where you will once again jump on platforms until you slay an evil robot. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In order to reach a boss, X must navigate through a sea of enemies bent on reducing his Cadillac-shiny exoskeleton to singed scrap metal. Sliding and jumping allows X to avoid some of these robot combatants, but the majority of them need to be dispatched with X's handy ole 'X Buster', the giant lump attached to his right arm which, I can only assume, uses nuclear fusion to shoot blasts of energy. Defeated bosses will drop microchips that, when attached to this tumorous appendage, give X a valuable and unique special attack to use on command. Vanquishing Storm Eagle, for example, will enhance X's gun with 'Storm Tornado', an air cannon that launches a funnelled gust of wind which continuously damages enemies for a period of three or four seconds. On top of these upgrades, X can discover secret upgrades throughout the various stages which improve his health, energy tanks, special gun ammo capability, and armour. These upgrades are a real necessity for anyone who wants to actually beat the game. With the exception of being able to jump-kick off walls, the gameplay in Mega Man X is standard fare for anyone who has played a Mega Man title before.


Bosses and their minions look unbelievably ridiculous. I'm not sure which future engineer would ever think that a giant robot penguin, whose deadly power is making penguin-shaped snowmen and sliding stomach-first into them with childlike glee, is a logical design model, but I assume he will hail from Japan. There are times, however, when you will still fear them, despite their sheer silliness. This is brilliant in itself. I shouldn't be frightened of a the cartoony lovechild of a red giant octopus and the unthreatening Cylons from the Battlestar Galactica of the 1970s, but if I don't have the 'Rolling Shield' gun, I am shivering with horror.

Perhaps the greatest gift from Mega Man X to the world is its soundtrack. Heavy metal bands the globe over rock out to it every day. I could spend the remainder of this article listing my favourite Mega Man X covers, but instead I'll bring you back to the source: the original tracks in all their 16-bit glory. These themes are essential to the pace, ambiance, and gameplay of Mega Man X. Without them, the game would likely have been good, but never great.

Be sure to spend a minute listening to every hyperlink in that paragraph.

Mega Man X is not an easy game. Like almost every platformer of the early 90s era, it takes an intense focus and a keen memory to know just when to jump, slide, and shoot your way out of a gauntlet of patterned danger. Put a controller in the hands of anyone you know who has successfully beaten Sigma, the final boss in X, and after a few lives to shake off the rust their muscle memory will kick in, guiding their fingers in an impressive show of retro gaming skill that will very likely wow you. Reaching and defeating Sigma for the first time is one of those feats that people should be able to put on their résumés. It's tough, and takes the kind of serious repetitive practice (different than grinding) that today's games simply don't require. You don't forget how to play Mega Man X. You just put those skills in hibernation when you're not playing it, until you need them again.


I know my love for this game is tied completely to my own nostalgia. I'm biased because my childhood experiences sway my judgment. But you know what? That's a good thing. When I contemplate Mega Man X, I don't just think of rapid-fire gameplay, challenging levels, and hilariously zany enemies. I think of Christmas when it was most magical. I think of family, all gathered together to celebrate the best parts of the season. I think of relatives no longer with us, and how I wished I could put off January somehow to be with them as long as I could. I think of those tacky winter sweaters my mom had us all make, and how proud she was when we handed them to cousins, who thanked us politely before burying them deep in an attic or closet.

When I smell pumpkin pie at Christmastime, I think of Mega Man X.

Labels: 2011, Capcom, Christmas, Greg Mengel, Mega Man, Megaman X, Retro review, Retrospective, Review, SNES, Super Nintendo

Grand Theft Auto.

It sends a small shiver down your spine, no? You can forget your Modern Warfare and your FIFA; if you want a game that encapsulates all that's great about gaming, you look straight to arguably the most popular, loved and revered series ever made. From the breathtaking and ground-breaking GTA III, to the hedonistic overkill of San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV, the highest rated game ever made - Grand Theft Auto was all that gaming needed to be.

But was it worth it? Now that the hype has all but disintegrated into ashes, and days spent roaming the vicious streets of Liberty City are all but a distant memory to most, we can clad Niko Bellic in his trademark tracksuits and set out once more, beneath overcast skies, to cause some havoc. It's all so 'noughties'.

Nearly every detail is perfect. That's the first thing to hit you. You survey the typical Mohawk street, from the bin bags left out in the rain to the businessmen sprinting home, and absolutely nothing looks out of place. The cars queue, fumes rising from their dirty exhausts; the outdoor vendor expertly squirts condiments onto hotdogs; people run from the downpour, holding up newspapers to protect their receding hair or charging to the nearest awning with shopping bags in tow. The graphics might be a little blurry, but Rockstar have studied every detail of the city that never sleeps, and somehow crammed all the trappings and activities that happen into a single disc. The whole place just feels alive.

And let's not forget how important that is. Mafia II was criticised for feeling sterile and lifeless, and reviewers pointed to Liberty City, more than two years Mafia's predecessor, as an example of a city that feels teeming with life and energy. When you steal a car, people react. When you pull a gun, people run. Bags get dropped, screams ring out, the world explodes into panic. This gets taken for granted, but it's so vital for an enjoyable experience; remember how depressing it is when you shoot an enemy in a videogame, only for them to just stand there and soak it up like a slightly 'slow' superhero? Aiming a shotgun at a passer-by, only for them to glance up, look back down and keep walking? Doing something extraordinary only for the world around you to look on with indifference? It snatches that atmosphere, that feeling of realism and believability (yeah, it's a word), and crushes it with a sharp stamp of the lacklustre. In GTA IV, every action has a reaction, just like Newton's third law.

Which brings us neatly and smoothly onto GTA IV's best feature: its physics. The Euphoria physics engine, familiar to any gamer, allows for the most realistic movement and horrific ragdolls. Forget scripted animations when a cop gets shot; instead, he stumbles, clinging onto anything he can find, before collapsing in a crumpled heap on the cold pavement. Just as the AI has the intelligence to react to what the player is doing, the physics engine allows characters to react to bullets and objects. The effect is exactly the same: no two shots are ever the same, allowing for infinite replay value and endless fun. Watching a hapless bystander tumble and fall, or seeing - I hate to say - static civilians suddenly thrown into the air, cartwheeling several times before face-planing on the damp road as your stolen Infernus careers into the U.N. is unbelievably boisterous activity, despite the questionable morality.

For a minute, focus solely on the sound design. Forget about the glorious physics or the vibrant graphics, and just keep your ears open. The hustle and bustle is all there; car horns in the distance, constant chatter down cellphones, a police siren storming past as birds sing and water laps against the concrete barrier. It's goddamn perfect. The slightest details, even the most gruesome, are meticulously recreated: the sound of some poor soul's head smashing into the windscreen, or a gut-churning scream from a terrified passenger of the vehicle you've just jacked. The care and attention that Rockstar have put into something as small as sound design oozes out, clear for all to see (or hear). Each facet, each tiny detail; each seemingly unnecessary area of the game has been perfected and mastered.

Of course, you can focus on the tiny details until your face goes blue, but it's medically inadvisable and, frankly, a little creepy. Ask any player what the main - possibly only - fault was, and they'll simply say "it wasn't fun enough". Now, 'fun' is an incredibly odd and subjective word; it can mean a plethora of different things to different people. Prod a bit further, and eventually you'll get something like: "Well, couldn't that have put harrier jets in there too?".

Ah. There it is. After San Andreas spoiled gamers with harriers, jetpacks, tanks and all manner of improbable luxuries, it was a shock to some that Rockstar then created a game which was so... grounded. Literally. Helicopters were your only set of wings, and you didn't even go higher than the tallest building in the game. People will put this down to the game being 'too realistic', but without realism, we wouldn't have that beautiful physics engine or that perfection of detail. No: Grand Theft Auto IV suffered one crippling flaw. After the dark and engrossing plot had tied itself up, there was bugger all to do.

Roman wanted to go bowling. Brucie wanted to hit a strip club. Some random woman wants to do god-knows-what. You can scrape together half an hour's worth of enjoyment from slow-mo driving along vast stretches of sidewalk, clipping poor souls and watching them fly through the air; or even doing a good deed and finding some crimes to swiftly and gruesomely stop with your Police Cruiser (crime doesn't pay, kids), but they're shallow and meaningless. The excellent assassination missions were only 10 in number, and extra-story missions are non-existent. Can't we be a proper vigilante, stopping bank robberies and security van hijacks? Can't we have a near-endless supply of assassination missions from a random generator? Can't we have something to do, rather than aimlessly wandering the streets and jumping off high buildings? The lack of a proper lobby system meant the multiplayer died out quickly, and while there is certainly fun to be found even now, you'll find yourself longing for activities with more depth, more purpose.

But when a game's only misstep is the player simply wanting more, you know you've got a winner on your hands. Ever since that beautiful teaser trailer threatened to break the internet with the sheer volume of rabid gamers trying to view it, the world knew Grand Theft Auto IV would be special. Lo and behold, almost three years on, you can still slide the disc back in to your platform of choice, load up a save and find Liberty City as breathtaking, stunning, wondrous and alive as it was all those years ago.

It's like you never left.



Want to reminisce about times gone by? Put your comments below, and follow our Twitter - tweet us and we'll do our utmost to reply.

Labels: 2011, Chris Hawke, Feature, Grand Theft Auto IV, GTA4, Looking Back On, Retrospective, Rockstar

It has been over a year since League of Legends hit the masses, and since then it’s created quite the following. While the initial reviews weren’t exactly stellar, the game wasn’t in the most stable or polished state when it first released either. All things considered, with the announcement of Defense of the Ancients 2, and being its one-year anniversary, we’ve decided to reopen the review book on this one to give it a fair shake.

Unlike Gas Powered Games’ Demigod and S2 Games’ Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends is completely free-to-play whilst still following the DOTA model. If you’re unfamiliar with the format, let me clarify: DOTA is a team-based strategy game where you control a single hero. The object of the game is to slowly overtake your opponents by traversing three pathways (lanes) that lead to their base. During the course of the game you’ll level up, obtain various items of power, and roll with your team in a diverse array of group battles. However, the road to victory isn’t always easy and is obstructed by a constant flow of fodder minions, massively damaging towers, and enemy champions who will impede you at every chance they get.

It may be confusing to visualise how the game works, but since the game is free it’s easy to jump in to experience it yourself. Whilst free, the game can also be purchased, in a retail package which comes with additional champions and Riot Points. Riot Points are the game’s proprietary currency which allows you to pick up extra champions, skins, or specialised runes. The thing about Riot Points is that they require actual money, the other form of currency, whilst Influence Points (IP) do not. IP works exactly like Riot Points but you cannot purchase skins or other specialised functions, like IP boosts, from the store. To gain IP all you need to do is play games. Every player gains various amounts after they finish their game, and usually there are bonuses. For instance, you’ll receive an IP bonus for finishing games consecutively without leaving and upon your first victory of the day.

League of Legends also throws the player into the formula by considering them a Summoner. By playing games you’ll also gain experience and will slowly unlock various features that will aid you in the game. For example, by increasing your level you’ll be treated to special Summoner spells, of which you may select two before the game starts. Spells like Teleport get you back into the fight quickly, while abilities like Ghost can aid in running from or chasing down enemies. You’ll also eventually unlock the ability to utilise Runes and Masteries. The Mastery function is the requisite skill tree for most RPGs and you’ll be able to go down three unique pathways. Since you’ll be playing with a myriad of heroes, your Masteries can be reset each game as you like. Runes work much in the same way. Every Summoner has a Rune Page, but in order for it to work correctly you’ll be forced to purchase Runes from the store. Some can be quite expensive, but when applied correctly the change in your champion’s play cannot be denied.

Riot now has over sixty champions to choose from, and more are being added weekly. Every single champion comes with three unique abilities, one ultimate technique, and a passive skill. It certainly makes it difficult to choose who you’d like to play through the game with, but the experimentation also makes up a great majority of the reasons why League of Legends is so good. Every week Riot has a free champion rotation, so even if you don’t own any characters you’ll be able to try some new ones out. Do you want to play the virulent creature, Cho’Gath, or perhaps the sleek and accurate frost archer, Ashe? Maybe you’d rather have the more eccentric types like the sad mummy, Amumu, or the regenerative bastard, Dr. Mundo, on your side. Whichever you choose you can pretty surely bet that it’ll be an interesting affair with this cast of characters.

Games are played in either 5v5 or 3v3 scenarios, with 5v5 being the most popular and balanced of the two. At the champion select screen you’ll be able to communicate with your team to select the best composition for the match. Unfortunately, unless you’re playing with your friends you often won’t have the ideal matchup. Usually players just pick the champions who can dish out the most damage without corresponding to what the team actually needs. This can present a large problem since games can take upwards of forty minutes to complete. Thankfully, you can surrender if things are going really badly at the twenty-five minute mark.

As you play the game you’ll become accustomed to the play styles of particular champions. You’ll also find yourself studying the mini-map more often and coordinating ambushes to give your team a boost. To get to this point will take a while, but once you’re there it’s an entirely different feeling. There’s nothing like showing up on your enemy’s doorstep and vapourising them as you carry your team to victory. Show some persistence with a character you enjoy and you’ll surely get there... eventually.

Fun as League of Legends is, the game has an incredibly steep learning curve. It does come with a built-in tutorial that gives you the basics, but the only real way to learn is by jumping in a real match. Getting the last hit on minions, what items to build, how to play against certain characters; it's all incredibly important but isn’t explained all that well. It also doesn’t help that the community is overly hostile. Make one mistake (or several if you’re new) and prepare to feel the wroth of your team. Need to go to the bathroom? Has an emergency come up? Do you have to get the door for your buddy? Too bad. There’s no pause in play and the longer you’re out of the fight, the more you ruin your team’s chances to win. The worst situation is when you’re playing with a man down. Sometimes players just up-and-quit, since the game’s outcome is often gauged by the beginning of the game.

Some champions are also pretty imbalanced. Get ready to lose at higher levels of play if you don’t have the 'broken' or extremely powerful champions at your disposal. This is especially apparent when playing normal games. Since you can’t see the champions your opponents are choosing, the game could be over before it even began. Sure, there’s a measure of skill involved in gameplay and a whole team of the most powerful champions could lose to the worst ones, but it’s unlikely when controlled by competent players.

Players who attain the maximum rank of 30 (or 20 with a certain number of heroes and a full five-man party) are open to play ranked matches. These ranked matches come with a draft mode and are by far the best way to play the game. Each team may ban up to two champions and then teams take turns picking their heroes. This allows for counter-picking, ensuring the matches are a little more balanced. Unfortunately, draft modes are not available in normal games and I’m puzzled as to why.

Thankfully, despite all the bad, Riot constantly updates their game with all manner of fixes and goodies. Halloween brought the visually excellent "The Harrowing" map, and they're working on a brand new one as we speak. Riot also listens to community feedback, Lux being the prime example. As a character, her artwork was something awful and it still lacks in several departments, but Riot went back and recreated her moves and her art at the behest of the community. Now that's commendable.

If you have an affinity for strategy games and possess a certain patience for learning the game, League of Legends is all kinds of fun. Though it has its problems, the depth of the game and the interactive features outside it will keep you coming back for more. Just be prepared for a learning curve that could kill a small animal and some hair-removing moments you won’t soon forget.

7/10 [?]

Labels: Andrew Whipple III, League of Legends, Retrospective, Review

I have lost faith in humanity. Only recently, I was reminded of the PS2 TV-tie-in 24: The Game, and my memories flooded back of all the brilliant hours I spent with a virtual Jack Bauer and his last-gen crew. I completed it not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times. That’s three more than once. I frikkin' loved it. So imagine how my heart fell when I checked out some old reviews and was met with a slew of fives and sixes. Hell, someone even chucked a 2/10 in there too. How? Why? And whom? That is why I'm here; to set things right. Once and for all, I will prove that 24: The Game was, and still is, the best game ever*.

* "Best Game Ever" is totally subjective and may vary depending on personal opinion.

Aiming And Cover

Few things anger me more than when Grand Theft Auto IV is credited with the best, and sometimes earliest, use of a 'free-aim/lock-on' hybrid system. 24 was there before you, Bellic. Not only was it revolutionary for its time, but it worked perfectly. All you had to do was hold down a button to aim, and a large yellow circle would appear over the terrorist, for they are always terrorists. Then, using the analog stick, you simply move the crosshair anywhere you want within that circle: the head for quick takedowns, the legs for some kicks (geddit?), or the 'special area', if that's your thing. Smooth, simple, and instantly makes the bread-and-butter of the game exciting and fun. The cover system is similarly simple; just click to cover, and you're safe, and pop out when you want to aim and shoot stuff. Couldn't be better.

Variety

You know how Call of Duty and the like can only muster up 8-9 hours of play and ten or so missions? 24: The Game has fifty-eight. Fifty-eight separate missions. And all of them are incredible. They take you from 6AM, storming a boat with a bomb on it, through to an earthquake in the centre of Los Angeles.

It's not just run and gun all the way though. One mission you're shooting. One mission you're driving. The next you're disarming a bomb. Then you've got to chase a low-life criminal down back-alleys on foot. Or maybe you'd like to storm a private yacht, using a helicopter. Or shall I throw in some interrogation missions? Or some steath missions? You can be an undercover agent taking a tour of a government building, while actually stealing important information. Some sniping missions for good measure. And then there’s one where you control Kim Bauer.

We’ll forget that one.

Sure, the stealth missions were mostly broken. And the puzzles were shoddy at best. And, of course, the best missions revolved around shooting. But that's not the point; the point is, at least the developers were trying to give you a change of pace and keep you on your toes, something you rarely see in modern games.

Oh, and did I mention? It's open world (but you're drawn along a linear path for the main game), so has a whole city to explore. Not only that, but after the earthquake, another city replaces the first, with fissures everywhere, roads blocked and buildings tumbling. Eat it, Liberty City.

Voice Acting

Admittedly, recent titles like Uncharted 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum trump 24, but only just. All provided by the cast of the TV show, it's much better than your usual spiel, but totally brought into a new level of awesome by Kiefer Sutherland. His voice is like the trembling of mountains as they crash to the sea in Revelations 7. Basically, epic. He whispers every word at the end of a sentence, and shouts for little to no reason, but it’s better than the norm.

Story

The usual 24 story. Black Presidents - crazy, I know! - assassinations, bombs, more bombs, CTU being destroyed/taken over/infiltrated, someone important dies. In fact, it's so action packed, I thought I'd just guide you through the story - or, at least, around two or three hours of it.

A major earthquake occurs in Los Angeles, caused by terrorists detonating explosives at focal points, the places where fault lines intersect. Kate Warner is kidnapped by the terrorist cell, along with Governor James Radford who is kidnapped for assassination, but is then rescued by the CTU. A conspiracy involving Radford in the day's attacks is uncovered by the CTU, and Radford is killed by the terrorist cell because he attempts to back out of the terrorist plot. Fort Lesker, the U.S. military base and the epicentre of the earthquakes, is attacked and taken over by terrorists, who then begin stealing weapons-grade plutonium before attempting to smuggle the weapons out of the U.S. to the Middle East.

That’s almost as confusing as Lost. Well, maybe not Lost: it doesn’t get stupid, explain everything with magic and then pump out a lacklustre final episode. Instead, it twists and turns like a storyline-snake. Whatever that is. Somehow, it never gets too much to understand - maybe that's the magic of 24, but it's rare that games have such narrative quantity, and the quality to go with.

Graphics

Alright, so it isn't a stunner. But neither was Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, and that was utterly sublime. The characters are faithfully recreated, and while the visuals never make you gasp, the fact that it has both a pre- and post-earthquake city is commendable. Framerates were stable, and you should be thankful it wasn't a montage of the Dulux 'post-apocalyptic-grey-and-brown' range.

Longetivity

Each mission is graded out of 100 points, based on the quality of performance, number of objectives completed, shooting accuracy and so forth. A grade of 90 points or higher rewards the player, by unlocking some form of bonus feature: there are three movies (interviews with cast about the game, TV promos); 98 images (wallpapers of main characters); and 23 characters (3D models that the player can view). So, you have 58 missions in which to get 100 in each. That's going to be a good few hours spent working for CTU.


So, what does the future hold for 24? It's an oddity. It’s doubtful 2K Games have it on their timetable, though the game did leave room for a sequel, with Jack being rushed to hospital and the appearance of a woman that's never explained or followed up. But 24 has gone out-of-fashion. Maybe if there is a crazed public outcry for a return for another day in the life of Jack Bauer, there could be a sequel, but I doubt many share the same views on this game as I do.

Or do you? Express your views in the comments section.

Labels: 24: The Game, Chris Hawke, Feature, Retrospective