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Transformers Review

Voodoo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:30:29 +0000

The latest Transformers game: War for Cybertron has been released with very little fanfare (surprising considering Activision are involved), and that coupled with the fact it’s yet another licensed game may lead you to think that it’s not worth your attention. Is that really the case? Read on to find out.

Let me begin by talking a little about the story. In short: it’s very good indeed. So good in fact that the narrative from this game has been incorporated into the official transformers canon. By playing through two campagns, first as decepticons and then as autobots, we are able to learn exactly what went on during the titular war for Cybertron and just why exactly the transformers came to leave their homeworld. The great reveals don’t stop there though, because during the autobot campaign we also learn how Optimus came to be the leader of the autobots and how he gained the title of ‘Prime’. The story sent many of my childhood memories flooding back and the sense of nostalgia is hard to shift throughout the game.

The high standard of writing is not just limited to the overarching story however. Some of the in game banter that takes place between the robots is, on occasion, laugh out loud funny. Personally I found that between the decepticons to be the most entertaining as various robots questioned the orders of Megatron and then quickly made excuses or changed their minds to save their own backsides.

Each of the two campaigns consists of 5 levels which are all roughly around 45 minutes to an hours worth of gameplay. I did find the first level to be a little annoying as you’re constantly bombarded with requests to view the tutorials through using the pause menu. This really should have been incorporated into the game in a more stylish manner. The days of simply reading tutorials should be long behind us.

Each of these levels is a little formulaic: blast your way through various enemies and then fight some sort of boss at the climax. It’s prevented from being too tedious at first by the fact that you can choose which robot to play as, each having a different form to transform into and different special attacks. My main complaint would be that the standard enemy types which you fight during both campaigns are exactly the same, save for a change in colour. This means that by the time you’ve played the first level of the second campaign then you’ve seen pretty much all the game has to offer.

The game is built on Unreal technology and this is evident within seconds of loading it up. Dark colours prevail throughout and some of the environments are a little difficult to navigate as a result, but the character models do look decent. I was disappointed with some of the textures, one lift in particular featuring those of a standard so low I have not seen the like for some time.

Gameplay is of a run and gun nature and at first it’s super fun to play as your favourite evil decepticon and blast your way through various autobots. You can collect several different guns through each level and again at first experimenting with each type is good fun. Making your robot transform into their vehicle form is just plain awesome and I never got tired of leaping into battle, changing into a tank then blasting an enemy with a rocket before driving over a jump, transforming back to robot form and unleashing hell on enemies. If that sounds like fun it’s because it is. It’s very fun.

The trouble is that the game just cannot sustain itself for as long as the campaign lasts. As fun as the gameplay is there just isn’t enough variation in enemies or even in what you’re doing in the increasingly similar levels to hold your interest. By the time I came to the last couple of missions the only thing keeping me going was the desire to know how the story ended. At the end it was more a feeling of relief than of exhilaration.

The game features a surprising wealth of multiplayer modes. The entire campaign can be played through in co-op and there’s also online versus modes aplenty, plus the rather enjoyable escalation (Horde) mode. I found the multiplayer to be a fun experience, but not one that held my attention for any length of time. It’s worth noting though that the highest number of players I saw online was around 2,000 so I can’t see the online portion of this game having much of a community for any length of time.

Verdict: 7.5/10. Worth a rental

New Reach Trailer

Voodoo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:51:50 +0000

The Reach hype train is in full flow and things are only gonna get more exciting from now until release as the information trickle becomes a flood (no pun intended). This new trailer has turned my personal hype level to the max and hopefully it will do the same for you.

Episode 127 – 20XP

Webby317 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:50:13 +0000

In this episode we all discuss XP whoring on Gears 2. We discuss many games that we have been playing, Lots of news and have a discussion about girlfriends and gaming.

We hope you enjoy and please don’t forget the 5 star Itunes reviews

New xbox logo coming in 2011

Webby317 — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:41:02 +0000

New xbox logo and motto coming in 2011 with the motto ‘’Be what’s next’’

Personally I think it looks shit

Vanquish Q&A

Voodoo — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:49:05 +0000

You may all have guessed from my numerous postings of videos and previews of the upcoming shooter by Platinum Games, Vanquish, that I’m rather taken with the title. The game blends a Western style third person shooter with a Japanese style third person action game to come up with something that looks just fantastic.

By way of another hint as to how excited I am for this game, here’s a set of questions that were put to game designer Shinji Mikami during E3 and his answers to each of them:

What was the inspiration behind the style and setting of VANQUISH?

We based things on the Japanese animated series, Casshern. As far as the game goes, we really put an emphasis on speed during the gameplay.

How Important will the Melee combat be in the game? and how many melee moves are there?

We haven’t made melee the focal point of combat in the game, but it is an effective technique when you close in on an enemy. The focal point of combat in the game is shooting, so the melee attacks are really just to add to the combat repertoire.

Do you think VANQUISH will be able to successfully compete with other shooters on the market without Multiplayer?

Of course, the lack of multiplayer will probably make things difficult on the sales front, but what we have instead is the speedy exhilaration of Vanquish’s gameplay, along with the content you can really sink your teeth into. I think it will provide more than enough enjoyment for those who buy the game.

What was your inspiration to make this into a third person shooter and not first person?

I wanted people to really feel the action going on during the game, which means that we needed to show the player on the screen.

Will we’ll see any characters from your previous titles making an guest appearance?

Nope.

Do you think Vanquish represents a sort of attempt at making a very traditionally “western” genre and infusing it with a style that is centric to Japanese video games?

If that is how people take the game, I am totally fine with that.

Will it be different color swaps for the suit? I want a black one!!

At first, we thought it would be fun to have a black version of the main character included in special edition. During production though, this plan fell by the wayside, but you are right, a black version of Sam would be really cool.

Will the Achievements / Trophies be difficult to obtain?

We aren’t making them insanely difficult, but you are going to have to challenge yourself to earn them.

What is your favorite aspect of Vanquish?

I really love the boost system in the game, as well as the English voice for our main character, Sam. It is incredibly cool, and I’m hooked on it.

Is aiming of the guns smooth and precise despite the speed and hectic atmosphere of the game?

We have tuned things so that the guns in the game are easy to aim, and that aiming is smooth.

How serious is the story going to be?

Basically, it is a serious story, becoming a bit dark at the end.

Can Shinji Mikami shed some light on some hidden parts of the game that make it special and different?

The staff decided to screw with me a little bit by hiding some rhinoceros beetles in the game. They did this without me knowing, so definitely be on the lookout for them in the game.

Will be bosses be solely “Shoot and Dodge” or will there be pseudo puzzle challenges like environmental hazards?

The bosses are a bit old-school, in that there is a distinct process for defeating them, kind of like exposing their weak points and then firing upon them.

Did you go to a gaming art school or a regular university?

I went to a normal university, Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. I didn’t really study, but I was somehow able to graduate.

What was the inspiration for the visual style?

The backgrounds are influenced by a movie called Tristan + Isolde. In the end, the visuals are really the product of the individual tastes of the staff creating them, but I think the graphics in the game are something we can be proud to recommend to people.

Who will be composing the soundtrack for the game?

The soundtrack was mainly composed by our in-house composers; however, ex-Grasshopper Manufacture composer Masafumi Takada was also in on composing some tracks.

He never seems to stick with one game style for his projects, often doing something very different with each game genre he tackles. I’d like to ask why he chose the third-person shooter genre this time?

It isn’t really a question of why. There was a reason the game had to be a third-person shooter. To create a shooter with strong action elements, I felt the only way to pull things off was with the third person perspective.

What is the main difference between an Occidental shooter and a Oriental shooter?

The short answer is Realism. From the graphics, to the worlds, games created in the West tend to want to simulate reality at a very high level. On the other hand, there tends to be a great number of Japanese games going for distinctive styles of expression.

Thanks to Sega for gathering these questions and answers, they have certainly increased my excitement for the game. Hopefully they have done the same for you!

Episode 126 – Impressions

Webby317 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:24:37 +0000

In this weeks show Glasgow pulls off some great impressions of the podcasts host and Peter Molyneaux.

We discuss Split Second, Prince of Persia, Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption and much more. Lots of news and discussion about the new xbox.

Out-takes are hilarious and please don’t forget the Itunes reviews

Licensed Fun?

Voodoo — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:30:54 +0000

In a piece of news that seems to have slipped somewhat under the radar, at least as far as I’m concerned, Telltale Games has announced a deal with Universal Studios to bring out episodic games based on the Back to the Future and Jurassic Park IP’s.

Telltale CEO, Dan Connors, said ‘I think it’s a prime time to reintroduce these properties in the digital world…Telltale Games has always set out to be a great storytelling company. We’ve been honing our chops over the past six years, and we’re ready to take on these two iconic properties and continue to advance storytelling in games.’ The games are going to be [not]‘sequels per se but a new interpretation of their worlds for a new medium’.

We all know just how many useless licensed games are out there, but I’m just hoping that Telltale can create something special with these two. You’ve got to admit that the potential exists in both sets of IP to create quality games, so let’s hope that’s what we get.

Issues with Sequels

James Taylor — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:51:55 +0000

It seems that in today’s gaming market everything successful has a 2, 3, 4 etc… after its name. Crackdown 2, Modern Warfare 2, GTA 4, Forza 3. New IP’s are great but there is another sequel.

Now don’t get me wrong I love sequels, Assassin’s Creed 2 was my game of the year last year, but why does almost every good game get a sequel? In the film industry you get you multi million one offs. Titanic, Avatar etc… so why can’t we settle for a one off game?

Modern Warfare 2 broke almost every entertainment record in sight, but would it have done if CoD4 hadn’t been release? You take a film like Titanic, it’s one of the biggest grossing entities of all time, but there is no prequel, there is no Titanic 2. OK it’s true story but my point is there doesn’t need to be a series and that maybe we are missing out on good games because every good game is expected to have a sequel.

Bioshock is a great example of this, many people loved the first game yet when Bioshock 2 was released it was met with scepticism. Maybe Bioshock could have been the game to show the industry that a collection of "one offs" is just as good as one series.

Personally I would rather play 5 good games that are totally different from one company than play the same game with a new skin and a few new features. I fear this chance has/is disappearing rapidly. With Call of Duty:Black Ops out pacing Modern Warfare 2 pre-orders all ready, publisher will see money and go for the brand rather than the experience in my opinion. Why couldn’t Activision let Infinity Ward work on something new? The answer is clearly money, which is a shame as it seems gamers are now second to the mighty dollar.

I guess what I am trying to get across is that I feel the "core" of gamers have become narrow minded and stick to a brand and not a genre like the film industry. If gamers were more into a particular genre would we get more games? More variety? More advances in gaming technology? All these questions are hard to answer with out seeing it happen, which is a shame and I feel as a collective market we are all missing out.

Episode 125 – Giant Turd

Webby317 — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:34:50 +0000

Extended episode this week. We discuss what we have been playing including Singularity, Crackdown 2 and Split Second. We have lots of news and Natal Talk.

Make sure you listen to the hilarious out-takes

Please don’t forget the Itunes reviews

Crackdown 2 Review

Voodoo — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:19:18 +0000

The original Crackdown was a massive commercial success, but just how much of that success was down to the fact the game came bundled with Halo 3 beta access is difficult to estimate. Crackdown 2 has been left to stand (and jump) on its own two feet, but has Ruffian games managed to create a worthy successor to a game that became a hit in its own right amongst gamers, or have they fallen flat on their faces? Read on to find out…

Crackdown 2 sees us once again returning to the fictional Pacific City from the first game. In fact it sees us returning to the exact same city. The layout is the same, the buildings are the same, hell even some of the achievements are the same. The only difference is that this time Pacific City is clearly starting to fall apart at the seams due to the war which is raging in it’s streets, both day and night.

Players once again take on the role of a clone Agent, with instructions getting passed down from the mysterious annoucer from the first game. In fact the announcer has gotten even better in this new installment, notably in his congratulations that are dished out when players earn achievements.

Graphically the game features an absolutely beautiful cell shaded look. I would go as far as to say that this game is the finest example of cell shaded graphics I’ve seen (sorry Bordelands lovers). The colours are so vibrant and the effects so well put together that the game really is well worth seeing in motion.

The game features a day/night cycle and this feeds into what enemies players will be facing. During daylight hours the main source of opponent will be members of a terrorist organisation known as Cell. To start with very little is known about why these people are standing against the agency, however as the game progresses more is learned about the motives of Cell, notably through the collecting of Audio Logs which reveal a decent amount of backstory to proceedings.

Night time is when things start to turn really ugly on the streets of Pacific City because that is when the freaks come out to play. They are mutated, zombie like creatures and come in different shapes and sizes. Different types of freak feature varied attacks ranging from simple punching to spitting harmful acid onto unsuspecting agents. The freaks show off how well put together the game engine is because at times there can be hundreds of them on screen at once and as yet I haven’t seen a single instance of slow down.

The main mission of Crackdown 2, and in essence the only mission in the game, is to rid the city of the freaks which are causing such havok. The freaks have a vulnerability to light, which has the nasty effect of melting them into nothingness. It’s this vulnerability that the agency seeks to expose through Project Sunburst. This project involves activating a set number of absorption units which have fallen into the hands of Cell and then setting off a beacon of light inside a freak lair.

The absorption units are activated simply by players standing on pressure pads next to them, and the only real difficulty in most cases is that often they are located atop tall buildings. Setting off the beacons can be a little more of a challenge. Players must delve below ground, into the very lairs of the freaks and defend the beacon from freak attack for a set period of time before it can be activated. Once the beacon is activated it will destroy all of the freaks in each lair and then players can move onto the next. These freak lair battles are some of the most entertaining and frantic ones of the game as players struggle to stay alive whilst at the same time defending the beacon from attack.

There are 9 of these beacons which players have to activate as part of the main mission, and whilst the overall structure is therefore rather repetative, the gameplay more than makes up for this. Crackdown 2 is all about empowering the player through how awesome their agent becomes as they progress through the ranks in strength, agility, driving, firearms and explosives. Ranks are gained by simply performing the associated action, or by carrying out special skill specific actions such as collecting the famous agility orbs or winning street races. It’s a fun system that encourages players to level their character to the fullest in order to gain the unlockables that come with each increase in level.

Thankfully there’s plenty of other things to do in Pacific City besides just sticking to the main missions. New activities include: destroying freak breaches (think gears style emergence holes) by killing a set amount of freaks which pour out of the hole; wingsuit races which involve flying the agent through a set of rings using the suit modifictaion gained at level 5 agility and capturing strategic points from Cell which rewards players with supply points throughout the game. All of these activities are useful in what for me became the main addiction of the game: levelling up my agent.

The argument that Crackdown 2 is simply a re-hash of old ideas is one that I’ve read many times in reviews of the game, but in my opinion it just doesn’t wash. Does the latest FIFA game become and less entertaining because it still features the same grounds as last year? No it does not. And the reason it does not is because the core gameplay remains solid. That’s what, in my opinion, elevates Crackdown 2 from an average game to a rather good one. The core gameplay of ranking up, collecting orbs and messing around a city with three friends in co-op just doesn’t stop being fun. If the game had been released close to the original then maybe I could have understood the ciriticism, but it wasn’t and I don’t.

Verdict: 8/10. Still fun, no matter what they say!