Geo Wars 2

Totally awesome. Review once I get more time with co-op.

Hmm… Battlefield.

I’d just like to say that at the moment, I have no want or need to finish Battlefield. I’ve just been really, really lazy.

Mah bad. Maybe next month.

POSTMORTEM – GTA IV

2008. The year of perfect tens, it seems.

GTA IV shocked the world when it was released last April. Mostly not because of the realistic open-world environment, the Hollywood-style story or its delay. It’s because GTA IV was released to the biggest fanfare of any game in the last 10 years. It has a aggregated score of 98 on Metacritic.com, with most of the reviewers calling it “the greatest game ever made.”

Do these bold claims hold up after 2 months or were the scores a result of years of hype? Grand Theft Auto IV produced one of the most widespread cases of hyperbolism in video gaming history, producing such quotes as “It’s not a stretch to say that, were this a film, some of the “performances” would be Oscar-worthy,” and “I now know how film critics felt after screening The Godfather.” Many game critics compared the game to a film, and like a film that it gives that good feeling after walking out of the theater showing a good movie.

Grand Theft Auto has always been a good franchise. GTA III pushed the envelope on gaming in general with its new concept of what an open world game should be. The two sequels further expanded on the idea, but the games’ main mechanics stayed largely untouched. Now, some would say that GTA IV did not innovate that much, and that I mostly agree with. However, it evolved the gameplay and refined it so much that it felt like a new experience while maintaining that GTA-feel. For instance, the cell phone and GPS feel like natural progression. The density is also a welcome progression in the game, unlike San Andreas’ boring and dead open spaces. This game has definitely evolved, and has made it one of the greats.

2 months from now I don’t feel nearly as much impact from the game as I did back then. Other gamers are feeling the same way too, though to a more negative extent. Many have said they’ll probably prefer Saints Row 2 because of its over the top action, but that’s something GTA has already done. That’s old news. Sure, Saints Row is going to be enjoyable for that fact, but its scores will probably not be has high because it doesn’t have character, and it doesn’t have development like in GTA IV. Well, that’s the impression the marketing has given me.

Character is something the series has greatly built upon since its beginnings. Evolving from GTA III’s nameless hero comes Niko Belic, a generally likable guy with a deep back story and motivation of vengeance. This is something GTA has never don’t fantastic (although CJ in SA was pretty good). In the latest iteration, the person you play feels like a real person. He talks, makes jokes, has a story and is a generally good guy. This is how you feel during big cut-scenes and smalltalk in the car. This is how the game shows Niko.

But when you play the small-time missions, it’s an entirely different story. Niko says he kills only when he has to. Yet he kills so many people in the course of his missions simply because he’s told to. This is where it breaks the illusion that Niko is a good guy. In these situation it just seems he doesn’t have principles and only kills for money. Even driving around, accidentally killing someone, Niko will only sometimes utter, “Oops, sorry,” but shows no real interest in the matter.

Speaking of breaking the illusion, while boasting its non-linearity, it has some extremely linear missions. Such as if you know someone is going to run out the back door, and you park a car there before hand so they can’t get out. Yet, when they run out that door, the car is gone, and you’re forced to undergo a chase where most of the time its impossible to kill the person until they crash their car because the game made it or a scene triggers. Its understandable why they did it, though. They meant to maintain the illusion of fast paced excitement all the time, but sometimes it just does the exact opposite.

These flaws are there and apparent, but they don’t detract from the game a lot. This game is very, very good. Maybe not the 10 people have given it, but just about. The story, its characters, its city in general are all fantastically well done, and probably took the most effort to make game in history. The game is fantastic, and has definitely lived up to the hype. The game still as good as it was 2 and a half months ago, even after the endless dissecting and prodding of the game. While some gamers are bashing the story, the extra curricular activities, the non-’over-the-top-ness’, I disagree. I applaud all those things. They make the game amazing.

Do yourself a favor and play it. Anywhere, rent it, buy it, borrow it from a friend. You will like this game. It will be fun.

REVIEW – Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2

I starting playing this game thinking I will give this game a glowing review, because I’ve played Hot Shot games in the past, and I considered myself a fan. I thoroughly enjoyed Open Tee 1, and the PS2 games also. It had a simple and easy to understand golfing system, along with interesting characters, and even online play! Whats not to like? I started up my first match, and said “Yep, this is Hot Shots alright.” I wasn’t mistaken.

Even though the last HS game I played was Open Tee, 3 years ago, when I started playing this game, I instantly went back to the time I played the first. It’s because everything in this game is exactly the same as the previous iteration. The mechanics, the menus, ect. Sure, they may be online play and new accessories, but that still doesn’t change the fact that the game still feels totally derivative. At first I was okay with this because, “Hey, this is why I like Hot Shots Golf.” What I should have said was “This was why I liked Hot Shots Golf.”

This type of gameplay was all well and good years ago, but these days it just does not cut it. Press button, waiting until it gets to the end, pressing the button again, waiting until it gets back to the beginning, and pressing the button a third time. Good? No. At first, the game was playing on my fun memories of the previous game. Don’t get me wrong, I was having fun. But after ranking up a bit, I realized something: the fun is now gone. The simplicity is is too simple and there is no strategy or skill besides putting. Timing is easy and you should be able to destroy most of you opponents until at least after the pro rank.

This game does introduce online mode, but like any almost any other PSP online game, it comes up short. No voice chat, and the fact that everyone always drops out before the end makes it an insubstantial addition. The accessories are almost always just for looks, though some give your golfer some new attributes.

If you’ve ever played Ridge Racer and then Ridge Racer 2 on PSP, then you know how developers can be lazy and can sometimes release an almost carbon-copy of the previous game. This is just like that.

This game is terribly boring. This doesn’t mean it isn’t for anyone. If you’ve never played HSG, then you should probably pick this up even if you don’t like golf. It will be fun for you. But for anyone else who has played any other game in this ageing series, then do not play this game. You will be bored out of your mind and will never want to play a golf game ever again.

OFF TOPIC – Wanted

One word: Badass.

Everything about this movie spells out cool. Random nobody in his rise to power. Lots and lots of ridiculous action. Hot girl lead. What more could you ask for?

Many action sequences in this film were so over the top and unimaginable, it was amazing. I knew the action was going to be cool, but I had no idea that cool and elaborate, especially near the end. The idea of curving a bullet is so dumb I would never think anyone could make it cool, but not overly cheesy. But in this film, it works. The movie is very bloody, and its used to enhance the intense action very well.

James McAvoy is great playing a regular loser, but also a good action star. Angelina Jolie is also great and a total badass. Morgan Freeman is his usual greatness.

The movie was based off a graphic novel, which in my opinion was decent, but not especially good. The movie gives a better story and is oddly more believable than its graphic novel counterpart, despite the inclusion of bending bullets. The novel was just senseless killing.

This movie is great entertainment for anyone who enjoys good action. Watch it. NOW.

IMPRESSIONS – Battlefield: Bad Company

Amount played: 3 levels/7(?), 2 online matches

Ah, Battlefield. Ever since 1942 I thought this game was great. Great for its multiplayer fun. My friend and I played the demo for hours every day for at least a few weeks. We flew planes around while trying to do tricks, suicide bombing, and having our own little war.

But this is an entirely different game. I don’t mean that in a bad way, though. Bad Company, so far from what I can tell, sports very fun multiplayer and singleplayer campaigns. The controls are not as tight as something like Call of Duty 4, but then again I don’t think its supposed to be. While this does take time getting used to, as some of the guns feel like they’re not as strong as they should be, it still feels decent. Much better than Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for consoles. That was terrible.

The game is basically a mission based shooter, where once you complete an objective, you get a new one, and then go do that. Between each there’s a scene that shows the Sarge getting the orders. This may become repetitive, but we shall see. The dialogue between the teammates, especially Sweetwater and Haggard are great. Hilarious, in the same vein as the commercials for the game. Those two characters definitely make the game more enjoyable.

The multiplayer so far, seems fun. While many people do not know what to do most of the time, I expect them to get it eventually. I also feel that a strong multiplayer community will grow, much like CoD4’s. The destructible environments definitely add to both single and multiplayer gameplay, letting you play in vastly different ways.

Battlefield: Bad Company is so far an enjoyable experience that is very fun. Look for a review in a few days.

REVIEW – Space Invaders Extreme

Remember Space Invaders? It was great wasn’t it? Shooting white-coloured aliens as they come closer and closer at accelerating speeds. Over and over. It was great, wasn’t it?

Yeah, 30 years ago. But the year is 2008, people, and we deserve a new transformation of Space Invaders. One that will bring in young gamers but will trigger the nostolgia of old gamers.

The new one is part of the 30th Anniversary for Space Invaders, and is a perfect addition to the aging series. Think of this game as the ‘Pac-Man Championship Edition‘ of Space Invaders. It invigorates the style and gameplay while also keeping the core elements intact. You still slide from side to side and you still shoot invaders that are coming towards you. But now, they can reflect shots back at you, become almost impossibly thin, become gigantic, or even split up into many invaders after they take a shot.

Its not only the invaders that get special powers, however. The player also gets a whole bunch of power-ups. These include a big laser beam that engulfs everything it touches, a gun that shoots multiple lasers, one that shoots giant bombs, and another that gives you a temporary shield.

There are also these sequences in which you have specific tasks, such as shoot down X number of invaders in this time span, and if you complete them you will get special bonuses, such as extended power-ups.

All these new things, coupled with good ol’ Space Invaders, means for a fresh new game that you’ll enjoy for years to come.

Note: The PSP version was the one reviewed.

Nintendo Wii and Casual Games: Destroyer of Worlds?

Is the Nintendo Wii a good thing?

We all know it’s selling well, and we all know everyone loves it. The thing is, it’s beckoning to the ‘casual’ market. No one disagrees on this. There have been many discussions of whether or not casual games will phase out ‘hardcore’ games from the market. Analysts and members of the enthusiast press have shot down such claims, because they believe there will always be a hardcore market, as the hardcore are the ones who support the industry, are the ones who buy many games a year, as opposed to the casual who buy a Wii and Wii Play, then stop.

The Present

People still question the hardcore market, though. Take a look at the top ten selling games every month. Sure, there’s a few heavy hitters targeted at the hardcore, ie. Call of Duty 4 and Grand Theft auto VI, but it, without fail, always includes Wii Play and other casual games. Coupled with the Wii’s consistent first place finish on the domestic and international hardware sales charts every single month, one comes to the conclusion: the Wii is not the gimmick journalists initially thought it was going to be, and it is here to stay.

Presently, it does not seem to affect core games at all. They come out at the same pace they always have, and with higher quality than ever. One thing thats come into question, though, is PC gaming, arguably the most hardcore of them all. PC, where the shooter, RTS and adventure game was born, is seeing its genres slowly leave its warm embrace to the arms of a growing threat: consoles. What does this have to do with the Wii though? Virtually nothing, but it has much to do with the casual market. There’s the fact that the less and less games are exclusive on PC, the more and more small and casual downloadable games appear. This is primarily caused by PC piracy driving developers away, but also with the success of Steam, small, bite-sized games are easier to access than ever before. Many people see this as the PC’s strong point these days; creative and small games that cannot appear or will not be as good on any other platform (Audiosurf) are definitely getting popular. The similar setup over at Xbox Live Arcade and the PS Store are also getting popular, but the simple truth is that they are are nowhere near as mass market as retail games are.

But, like everything, things start out small. It’ll only be a matter of time before they outsell the big games, and its because of money.

The Future

Ah, the future. Something mankind has envisioned since the beginning of humanity. The future is strange; it holds truths and wonders we could never imagine, yet it is strangely predictable.

The Wii’s casual theme is here to stay. Casual sells systems, and soon, it will sell more games than the competitors. Money is the reason. Today, Xbox 360, PS3 and high-end PC games are costing millions and millions of dollars to make, not to mention manpower in the hundreds. Case and point: GTA4 with its rumored budget of 100 million dollars. That is unprecedented, and cost more to make than most films. As we head into the future, no doubt will the price of big games grow, both for the consumer and the developer. They pass the savings on to you! Another sign of this is that many developers have opted not to have platform exclusive titles because, financially speaking, there is no benefit.

As the money needed to make a game grows, more and more developers are going to be tempted to dip their feet into the pool that is downloadable games. A good example would be David Jaffe of God of War fame; he came off of making blockbusters to form a studio dedicated to making small games, Eat Sleep Play. This trend is already showing signs of becoming huge. Take a look at the Xbox Live Arcade and the PS Store, for instance. The stores are full of games from big name publishers looking to get a slice of the profit. While there are independent developers who are making games in small teams or sometimes by themself (Everyday Shooter, which has won many awards), the market is saturated with large publishers. While the PC market is showing more signs of indie development thanks to its open nature, these trends don’t seem to be making their way to consoles.

With big publishers finding the downloadable space more and more attractive, they’ll reroute their resources to the smaller, more profitable games instead of the giant, expensive titles that cast doubt on whether or not they’ll make the company any money at all. Corporations cannot have doubt, especially these days, as the smaller studios are quickly being eaten up by monopolizing publishers such as Activision-Blizzard and Electronic Arts. Many companies are being forced to merge in order to stave off company buy-outs.

Unless the outbreak in popularity of casual games sparks interest in hardcore games, things look grim for the future of hardcore games. In the future, 20 or so years from now, the majority of video game sales will be of the casual variety. Video game sales will depend on the mass market appeal, and hardcore games will be few and far between. When a hardcore game, a game for the gamers, if you will, does come out, it will be funded directly by the sales figures of its casual counter-parts.

Assuming the casual trend lives on, the future IS casual.

How I grade games, among other things.

Hi there. Welcome to my new blog, which I am maintaining to help improve my writing. I thought I’d write something on how I grade games, to the random reader who has stumbled upon this blog.

REVIEWS

‘Reviews’ will be given a score of either A, B, C, D, or F. There will be no A+, A-, B+, ect. There will be no other grades besides the 5. This is because I believe you don’t need to have such unnecessary discrepancies in reviewing video games.

• A – This means the game is excellent, with good controls, game mechanics, but above all, it is extremely fun.
• B – This means the game is good, but there are certain areas that bring the game’s overall enjoyability down.
• C - This means the game is average. It it has some good ideas and is sometimes fun, but not something you’d buy and enjoy immensely.
• D – This means the game is bad, below average. The decent ideas it may have are poorly executed and it is usually a chore to play.
• F – This means the game is terrible, and no one should ever play it. Its mechanics are terrible, the controls are not responsive, and it is downright depressing to play.

The score will be easy to understand, and if you need elaboration, read the text. My goal in the future is to write short and concise reviews (unlike that 1000 word MGS4 one). I think, at least on the internet, people don’t want to read extremely long essays about something.

IMPRESSIONS

In my ‘impressions,’ I will play a game that I am possibly reviewing. The game time played can range from 10 minutes to a few hours. Here, I will tell you my thoughts on what I played so far. I will sometimes do impressions when I’m halfway or so a giant game, and want to write about it, or I’ll play a game for a short amount of time just to try it.

• Promising – This means the game has some great ideas and some fantastic gameplay, so far.
• Interesting – This means the game has turned my head, but I’m still on the fence about its quality.
• Meh – This means the game is boring or I’m not interested in it at all.
• Bad Idea – This means the game looks terrible from glance.

Again, these are easy to understand, and if you want the full breakdown, read the text, which will hopefully also be short and concise.

POSTMORTEMS

‘Postmortems’ will not be given a grade of any kind. These sections are for looking back on big, critically acclaimed titles, and seeing if they’re as good as we remember them to be. I’m hoping these pieces will be slightly longer than a ’short and concise’ review, examining certain aspects of the game that hold up to memory, or were just plain glassed over in the ensuing hype.

And there you have it. For anyone who ever comes back here more than once, now you know.

REVIEW – MGS4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear. Two words that make hearts jump. Two words that have become synonymous with ’stealth action’ and ‘cinematic storytelling.’ With its latest installment, it has set a precedent for the latter, no doubt. But what about gameplay? Does it support the weight of one of the grandest narratives in gaming history?

First things first, and I feel the need to say this: MGS4 closes every loose end the series has ever let loose. Everyone who has played previous Metal Gear games will find the utmost satisfaction from every explanation Kojima has to give. When he said that this will be the very last in Snake’s saga, he does not lie. With the help of cutscenes, Kojima tells one of the best stories ever conceived. The series has shown the rise and fall of a hero, and no doubt will it be an emotional journey for anyone playing. The game shows so much character, meaning and emotion that it’s hard not to get attached to Snake and his never ending will to save the world. This time, though, it’s different.

After playing this game, I did not first think about how they could expand on the story in MGS5. I did not even think about a sequel. This is because the story is tied up so nicely it leaves nothing more to be desired. One thing is for certain: Snake’s journey is over.

On the gameplay mechanics side of it all, things are still hanging in great. Most of the elements which have bogged down the too-traditional gameplay in the past games have been refined. The camera, which was greatly modified in MGS3: Subsistence, is perfected in MGS4. The camouflage mechanic again makes its return from MGS3, but instead of having to change it manually each time you reach a different terrain type, it is fully automatic. The OctoCamo, as the game calls it, transforms its camo pattern to whatever Snake is touching while he is either pressed up against a wall or laying on the floor. This not only leaves the player without having to fiddle with the camo frequently, but it is also a cool effect. The gunplay has also been tweaked (read: Westernized/modernized) to provide better aim and an overall better feel.

Not only does the game refine all these gameplay elements, it adds a few new and interesting ones. For instance, MGS4 marks the introduction of the Threat Ring, which indicates the direction of enemies nearby with the use of a semi-transparent ring around Snake when he is crouching or lying down. This provides for easier recognition of enemy whereabouts and helps to prevent Snake getting seen by enemies he himself cannot see. Also introduced is the Solid Eye, which is a combination of binoculars, night vision goggles and an motion detector, which provides a general map of the enemies in the area. This lets the player find the enemies easier, and other uses as the game goes on. Also, after progressing through a bit of the story, you unlock the ability to buy weapons, ammo, and upgrades directly from your start menu. The upgrades range from silencers to laser sights to grips. While this may be too easy for some people, because generally you should be rich all the time, I would argue that it can mean more stealth play, as you can buy silencers whenever your current one breaks. While these new mechanics do add to the game, others do not, such as the Stress and Psyche meters. These meters usually never impact your play, unless you’re in the odd situation where you run out of Psyche and cannot aim (happened to me once). Basically, it seems Psyche is only there for comedic effects during the narrative sequences.

Metal Gear Solid 4 features superb levels and environments. Each act, the environment changes significantly. This can be interpreted as disorienting or refreshing. The first three acts are arguably the best in terms of gameplay. They do feature the “tackle the situation in multiple ways” approach Konami has been boasting about the game, and it’s a very enjoyable experience. The last 2 acts, however, are very linear and feature mostly cutscenes. They’re more story-centric, and the actual game takes a back seat. The cutscenes, though, are amazingly well done and arguably have the highest production values of any game. Kojima is the king of video game cutscene direction. There are things in the game, camera shots and whatnot, that cannot be reproduced in a movie. One such example is the chase scene in the game. The scene is the most well directed chase scene ever made, period.

Also, the game has superb boss battles. The Beauty and the Beasts are a group of beautiful women who have been transformed by war, and are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This provides for some very interesting and innovative battles. These boss battles make the player think in different ways, and the back story for these women also provide for good little side stories.

This game is fantastic, to say the least. Any Metal Gear fan should buy it. It will be an amazing experience, especially if you own a decent surround sound system, as audio design is excellent in this game. Even if you didn’t like this game, you should give it a try, especially if what threw you off was its controls, which are greatly improved in this latest installment. If what threw you off was the convoluted story and length of cutscenes, this will just make you dislike the game even more. Sure, the game features top-notch gameplay, but it’s also cutscenes around a third of the time. If you enjoy the story though, this game will be a dream come true, and you’ll be happy to put down the controller to watch the epic narrative unfold in front of you. This game is a work of years of hard work and love, and it culminates the two-decade long story of Solid Snake. This was his final mission. And it was amazing.

Rest in peace, Snake. Here lies a true patriot.

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Note: This is a review of MGS4, the single player component. An MGO review will be posted at a later date.