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

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!

If you enjoy racing games but feel that in general they lack something in the excitement department than BlackRock studio’s Split/Second may well be the game for you. The game is an adrenalin fuelled experience from start to finish featuring some unique game modes and ideas that combine in rather excellent fashion.

The single player experience follows racers in an explosive gameshow where the ability to use the environment in order to take down opponents is just as important as driving skill. The campaign is split over 12 TV style episodes, each comprised of 4 main races plus unlockable bonus stages and a final elite race. Bonus stages and elite races must be unlocked by earning credits and taking down opponents. Players must then finish in the top 3 of the elite race in order to unlock the next episode in the series. Credits earned also go towards unlocking new vehicles throughout the campaign.



Along with racing staples such as straight up races and elimination rounds, the game also features some unique games modes. Detonation sees players looking to set the fastest laptime using a set vehicle, all the while avoiding myriad explosions and on track events designed to smash the players car. Survival is a new take on an overtake game mode, the twist being that the vehicles players have to overtake are trucks which release a barrage of explosive barrels all over the track. Helicpter attack/revenge sees players dodging missiles fired from a chopper and on occasion turning those same missiles against the heli.

The driving experience is very much an arcade one, so much so that there is no handbrake as the cars drift quite naturally around corners by themselves. The main gimmick of the game is the ability to set off power plays which include things such as setting off landslides or causing airtraffic control towers to come smashing down onto the track. The aim of these power plays is a simple one: stop your rivals by any means necessary. In order to gain the ability to use power plays, players have to meet certain criteria such as drifting around corners or drafting behind opponents. It’s a clever system which rewards players who race in an exciting style, and it’s this main gameplay mechanic that sets Split/Second apart from the pack.

Presentation wise the game is great looking and it features some of the most superb explosions I’ve seen on the 360. Nice touches include decals on players cars appearing which correspond to achievements earned during gameplay, and the subtle yet effective way in which motion blur and camera movement combine to convey the feeling of racing at great speed. Everything about the presentation of the game, from the UI to the opening and closing sequences of each episode accentuate the illusion that players are taking part in some kind of extreme sports style TV show.

The way in which the HUD is displayed is the most impressive piece of presentation in the game. What’s pleased me the most about this generation of consoles is the way in which HUD’s have been shrunk, or included in innovative ways in games. Until Split/Second racing games have lagged behind this move to a more streamlined HUD, but this game has moved things along superbly. The entire HUD is displayed below the players car, the main advantage of this being that the rest of the screen is then free, giving a better view of the action.



I do have a few gripes with the game. The AI suffers from a rather erratic difficulty level which can vary greatly from one event to the next. This means that quite often if players fall foul of a power play triggered by a rival then they will find themselves going from 1st to last in an instant. Also, on occasion, it seems simply impossible to catch the AI no matter how well you’re driving. It’s also frustrating to see the AI corner perfectly as your own car drifts way out wide, which is quite a frequent occurrence.

The elite races which form the overall campaign leaderboard suffer from an annoying HUD feature. For some reason the devs have decided to show the names of rival drivers over their cars for the entire race. This only happens during these elite races and can be very annoying as it often prevents proper viewing of the track ahead. The fact that the rest of the HUD is so well put together serves to highlight this as an annoyance.



The game is also rather short as far as racing games go, with each episode lasting around half an hour. This means the game is able to be completed within around 6-7 hours of play. There’s also not that an extensive a selection of tracks, and once locations of power plays have been learned it’s possible for experienced drivers to easily avoid the majority of them. Yes, it’s exciting to see a bridge explode the first time around, but the 5th or 6th time just isn’t as much fun. Multiplayer does extend the life of the game somewhat but suffers from the same issue of familiarity breeding contempt.

Split/Second is not for the racing purists. It’s a kind of wham bam thank you mam of racing games. Fun at first, but quickly losing it’s charm. That’s not to say the game should be discounted. As a short term rental proposition it’s a must in my opinion, but if you’re thinking of parting with some hard earned cash for it then I would urge caution.

Verdict: 7.5/10

So EA have churned out another football game just in time for the world cup, but is it a cynical cash in on the massive interest that the tournament is bound to generate or a worthwhile release? Read on to find out…

The first thing that you notice when playing 2010 Fifa world cup (fwc) is the atmosphere of the game. I’ve never been to a world cup myself but I’d be willing to bet that one of the best things about being there would be the atmosphere of excitement and anticipation that would prevail. It’s this element that the creators of fwc have absolutely nailed, you are immediately drawn in by the way in which the game succeeds in giving you the feeling that only a world cup can. From the authentic soundtrack (including the official world cup 2010 anthem naturally) to playing matches in fantastically detailed digital versions of the real stadia, fwc really is the perfect accompaniment to the upcoming tournament.

This sense of atmosphere is aided by the refinements that EA have made to the Fifa engine. The grass looks absolutely fantastic, as do the cut away shots featuring managers and fans which play during breaks in play. Character models in particular are deserving of high praise with some of them looking eerily lifelike. This is enhanced by the superb animations now on display, my favourite of which being the way linesmen (no, I’m never calling them assistant refs), jump out of the way of the ball as it’s cleared for a throw in. It’s a nice little touch and one which goes to show the great level of detail EA have gone to here.

I won’t go into too great detail about the gameplay as fwc essentially features only a few small (but significant) updates to that featured in Fifa 10. Play feels faster all round, with passing and through balls having gained a little extra refinement. The main area of change that I’ve noticed has been that of light tackling using the A button. It’s now vital to manouver your player into position before pressing A, and simply holding down the button will more often than not result in conceding a foul (I learned this to my cost, giving away a penalty in the quarter finals that would send England out). This feels like a natural evolution of the system from Fifa 10 and becomes second nature extremely fast. It’s safe to say that if you know your way around Fifa 10 then you’ll feel right at home with fwc. Penalties have also been changed up to reflect the extra nerves on show at big tournaments, and in my opinion this is a welcome inclusion.

EA’s recent Fifa offerings have quite rightly garnered much praise for how well they are using their official licenses to create great gaming experiences. Naturally you’re able to play through the world cup finals and guide whatever nation you choose to world cup glory. However, thanks to the rather clever ‘road to qualification’ mode it’s possible to replay scenarios from qualification in an attempt to re-write history. What about attempting to help Ireland come back from that shocking Henry handball? Ok. Fancy your chances in re-creating Walcott’s hat-trick against Croatia? It’s all in there. Should you fancy it then it’s also possible to replay the entire qualification campaign, including friendlies, with a team of your choice. So if you would like to guide Scotland to the world cup then that is possible.

Be the pro makes a welcome return from Fifa 10, this time re-imagined as ‘captain your country’ mode. In this mode you control one player only and are tasked with working your way up from B international fringe player to indispensable national captain. This can be done either by choosing one of the real life players or by creating/importing from Fifa 10 a virtual pro. The ultimate goal of this mode is to have your player captain his country in the world cup final and to lift that famous trophy aloft. As far as empowering moments in gaming go it’s difficult to top this one.

The main online mode in fwc is the ‘online world cup’. In this mode you’re automatched against random opponents and have to attempt to qualify from a random group and then go on to win the tournament. In my opinion this is by far the poorest section of the game. Gameplay wise there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, let me make that clear from the start as it’s identical to the single player game (with admittedly a little lag from time to time). My main disappointment with it is that you can select any international team to play as rather than just those that have qualified for the finals and therefore it feels somewhat inauthentic and out of place. Also, and this is more a gripe with people than anything else, it seems the vast majority of people only choose 5 star teams to play as despite the fact that many of the online cheevos are aimed at teams with lower ratings. This makes it extrememly frustrating for those not so gifted at Fifa games such as myself. Add to this the fact that in order to skip a replay of a goal it’s required for both players to press the A button. This means that nasty online sorts force you to watch their goals over and over and over again. Frustration is indeed the word.

So it’s safe to say that I’ve enjoyed my time with 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa and will continue to do so during the actual tournament, but I will end with one cautionary note. As many people have noted before: the longevity of this game will be severely limited. Will anyone be playing this once the tournament is over? I sincerely doubt it. Having said that though I can find barely anything wrong with this game and if you’re serious about your football then I seriously advise you to go pick it up.

Verdict: 9/10. Come on England!

It is almost 4years since the last Test Drive graced our 360’s. That, however, is all about to change with Eden Games Test Drive Unlimited 2 hitting store shelves near you this autumn. Using the power of the Internet and a lot of free time here is a preview of the upcoming game Massively Open Online Racer (M.O.O.R).

Read the rest of this entry »

Sam Fisher is having a bad time of things. He’s been betrayed by the people he works for, he’s killed his best friend and worst of all he’s lost the one thing enabling him to keep his humanity: his daughter. Lesser men would have crumbled, but not Mr Fisher. He’s determined to get to the bottom of what happened to his daughter and he doesn’t care how many goons will have to be disposed of along the way.

 
Splinter Cell Conviction has been a long time in the making. So long in fact that the game actually went completely back to the drawingboard at one stage. Hobo Fisher and the ‘stealth in a crowd’ mechanic that was originally at the heart of the game were abandoned in favour of a more traditional Splinter Cell experience. The end result of this is a slightly schizophrenic but mostly enjoyable experience.

The story mode in conviction attempts to emulate a series of 24 or one of the Bourne films and playing through it engenders a sense of how it would feel to be someone like Jack Bauer. Sadly though the story itself is rather predictable and the characters, with the exception of Fisher himself, are eminently forgettable.

 
 
 
 
I’m pleased to report that the gameplay has been sharpened up from previous iterations. Sam now moves much quicker and the all new ‘mark and execute’ system is mainly a success. After pulling off a hand to hand kill Sam gains the ability to mark a set number of enemies, as determined by which gun he is using, and then automatically pull off headshots on each of them if they are in range. On occasion this does mean that bullets somehow manage to go straight through walls and into enemies heads which can pull you out of the experience somewhat. Despite that flaw in the system it is very satisfying to stalk an enemy and then instantly pull off headshots of his companions, clearing a room in seconds.

The cover mechanic has been updated and rather than the usual sticky cover system, like a Gears of War, conviction requires the player to keep the left trigger held in order to stay in cover and to use the A buttton to move between different pieces of cover. This is an extrememly intuitive system in practice and plays into the new faster pace of the game excellently. Now that I’ve experienced this mechanic it’s become one that I hope many other developers use in their games. It’s that good that any other cover system feels dated in comparison.

Whilst eventually Sam does have all of the usual gadgets from previous games at his disposal, on the normal setting it is possible to just run and gun through the game as you would any standard third person shooter. This is no more evident than in the flashback Iraq level which massively feels out of place in a Splinter Cell game. This level in particular highlights the schizophrenic nature of the game: it’s a stealth game through which you can play through without actually employing all that much stealth.

If you choose to take a more stealthy approach you will find that the game is much more enjoyable and lasts rather longer, but whatever your gameplay style there is something in conviction for you. Perhaps there was a conscious decision by the developers to try and get more people interested in their game by making it more of a shooter than a sneaker. If it was then the compromise really was not worth it as the game ends up somewhere in the middle of the two.

By far the best thing about conviction is the sheer stylishness of the experience. Graphically the game is superb, with the way in which objectives are conveyed to the player being a particular highlight. Having the objectives displayed on the environment as the player passes was an inspired idea and whoever came up with it deserves all the praise that they receive.

Unfortunately the single player experience is rather short. The game can be completed in around 6 to 7 hours on the normal setting (possibly even quicker if you run and gun it), which does leave you feeling somewhat shortchanged. Fortunately conviction does include a wealth of excellent multiplayer modes which add to the replay value of the package as a whole, however if you’re considering buying the game solely for the single player then I would strongly urge you to change your mind.

Verdict: 7/10. Try before you buy.

During my school days I was one of those kids into the whole games workshop/warhammer thing. As a result I was seriously excited when it was announced that a console version of their tabletop classic Blood Bowl was being developed. The potential was clearly there for a gaming experience that was just as addictive and exciting as the tabletop version. Did French developer Cyanide succeed? Read on to find out.

For those not in the know, Blood Bowl is a strategy game set in the games workshop universe and loosely based on American football. Teams consisting of different races (Elves, Orcs, Goblins and Humans amongst others) compete to score touchdowns by moving the ball into the opposition endzone, just like in the U.S sport.

However in this game pounding your opponents into the turf until they are dead is just as valid a tactic as a long pass. Each of the races specialises in different aspects of the game: the elves are superb passers of the ball but are very easily injured, whereas Orcs are rarely incapacitated but often struggle with even picking up the ball. Players on Goblin teams can even make use of special weapons such as chainsaws and pogo sticks.

The game features both the traditional 2 halves of 8 turns in turnbased mode, and the all new realtime ‘blitz’ mode. The realtime mode though is an absolute joke, as it’s realtime in name only. Players pause the match in order to give instructions to their team which are then played out when the game is restarted. It’s a good job then that the turn based mode has been executed much more successfully.

In turn based mode players can choose from a set of actions to be performed by each of the players on their team. The main actions revolve around moving, passing the ball or tackling opponents. The success or failure of each action is determined by a dice roll which is performed in the background in the case of all rolls with the exception of blocking (tackling) What dice roll is required to succeed is determined by the stats of the player performing it, and adjustments based upon the in game situation at the time.

If all of this sounds very complicated, that’s because it is. The turn based rules of blood bowl have been built up over the years since its release in 1987. To fully understand the rules of the game then players really need to read the ‘Living Rule Book’ which is over 60 pages long, and not included with the game. This makes the game exceedingly inaccessible to new players, many of whom will no doubt be put off by the bewildering array of things to learn. There is a tutorial included to try and ease new players into the game, but it is insufficient to say the least.

So, you may well be thinking that this game is worth avoiding. If you’re put off by having a lot to learn then that would probably be the best idea. If you’re willing to stick it out, however, then there’s a really fun gaming experience to be had here. Blood Bowl is well known amongst tabletop gamers for it’s superb balance of strategy and luck. Once you’ve learned the rules then it’s possible to appreciate this game for what it is: a high quality strategy experience. Earning star player points for actions completed during matches allows players to rank up, thereby gaining new skills and allowing managers to customise their style of play.

The single player game allows for cup competitions, one off games, tournaments, and the career mode. Be prepared for a long game should you choose career mode as it consists of a large number of tournaments each of which are made up of several matches. The beauty of this mode is that it allows for much ranking up which really can allow players massive customisation over their team.

I’m afraid that I can’t pass much judgement on the multiplayer part of the game due to the fact that on several occasions when I’ve tried to give it a go there hasn’t been a single other person online. I am able to bemoan the fact that you are not able to gain experience online and therefore a lot of the addictiveness of the game will be missing from it.

As much as I would like to be able to recommend this game to all of you, I can’t. The flaws are too many and too apparent. You just have to work too hard in order to find the fun here, which is an absolute shame. This makes my disappointment all the more profound, as I know from experience just how excellent the tabletop game is. I just wish that Cyanide had managed to translate this entertainment more capably into what should have been a quality game.

Verdict: 4.5/10. Only worth considering if you’ve got a lot of patience.

The much loved Gadget Show (as shown on Five TV) have recently reviewed the Natal, and I must say, this short review is probably one of the better, unbias pieces I’ve heard. If you’re interested in the Natal at all, I suggest viewing the link below.

 

Click here for the video.

 

Good times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first two words of Alan Wake are “Stephen King.” The next big Xbox 360 exclusive game is an interactive thriller played in the shadows of America’s Pacific Northwest. I recently played the game’s impressive first full “episode.”

Remedy Entertainment’s May-dated game comes on a disc but is divided into episodes. These chapters are sometimes narrated in the past tense and they are designed to end in cliffhangers. To describe the first one, as I’m about to, involves spoilers, though we’re talking spoilers of a pilot episode designed to set up mysteries and tone and answer just about nothing — that’s what the rest of the episodes are for. So reading this will allow you to remain as much in the dark as I was at the end of the first episode or even as was Alan himself.

The first episode is called Nightmare. It opens with the “Stephen King” reference and some narration by Alan, setting himself up as “a writer.” He’s a King-style writer, an author of thrillers, visiting a Twin-Peaks-style town, Bright Falls in the Pacific Northwest. Nightmare begins in the middle of things. Alan Wake is driving down a dark highway. It’s late. He drives smack into a hitchhiker. Alan has a flashlight, wielded in his left hand in this third-person game. Pulling the Xbox 360′s left trigger focuses the beam. Seconds after he is out of his car, Alan is creeping down a path that descends near the highway’s cliffs. He’s being pursued by a shadowy figure, possibly the hitchhiker, who is maybe a character from one of Alan’s books. As would be the prevailing gameplay theme of most of Nightmare’s action sequences, Alan was being pursued, hounded, by one and then by multiple shadowy axe-men.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gameplay was mostly panicked escape in this first section of Nightmare. I had to rush Alan down outdoor paths and into a house. A couple of times, a mysterious voice offered advice, pointing out a pistol that Alan could wield and a player could fire with a squeeze of the right trigger. When confronting a shadowy enemy in Alan Wake, the main mechanic requires using the L trigger to burn off the shadows covering the enemies and then shooting them with the R trigger. A well-timed press of the game’s dodge button triggers a slow-motion effect, shades of Remedy’s Max Payne games, which allows the player more time to roll Alan out of the way, turn and fire a good shot.

Alan Wake is a thriller that appears to be the exception to two gaming genre rules. Games that are scary often have two deficiencies: controls and graphics.

The former can frustrate in a Silent Hill or a Resident Evil, forcing the player to deal with clunky or muddy controls. The inability to move a character with swiftness and finesse is arguably an essential element of the games’ creators’ intent to make the player feel overpowered and afraid. Recent, more dynamic controls, such as in Resident Evil 5, seemed to help make the game more of an action movie and less of a horror flick. Better controls produce fewer scares?

Alan Wake’s scheme denies that better controls necessarily alleviate fear and tension. Alan may have controlled pleasantly, like a man and not a tank, but the need to illuminate enemies and then shoot them — and to do so while batteries swiftly drained and then needed to be recharged or be replaced in the flashlight — provided just enough enjoyable trouble to make skirmishes a fright, without being a frustration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for graphics, well, it’s hard to say if the darkness enshrouding many of the games in the genre excused less than industry-leading graphics or if it is smaller development teams, not armed with the resources to make industry-leading graphics that turned to the horror genre. Whatever the case, it is rare to see a game in the dark-and-creepy category that could be a Best Graphics candidate, but Alan Wake, like EA’s Dead Space before it, represents a pleasant exception. The Pacific Northwest is a rare and magnificent sight in video games, rendered in real and spooky detail in the episode I played. The forests were tall, dark and dense, light playing through branches. As Alan ran into a house for refuge, I noticed it was full of details, chairs and TVs and wall-hangings, meeting my newfound Uncharted 2 standard of amount of stuff I think a developer can render in a realistic indoors space. As some dark presence shook the house apart, I felt not that I was in a primitive diorama but that I was in a big-budget blockbuster. Even in the dark it felt I could see far across the valley, that this was a detailed world so well-rendered I could almost smell the sawed logs.

I’ve barely described the events of Nightmare so far. Alan’s shelter is wrecked. He is told, by that voice, to go to a lighthouse that beams in the night. Light is refuge in this game. As he runs, the shadowy figures pursue him. And just as he’s getting there, this first little bit of the episode ends.

Time turns back. It’s sunny. Alan and his wife, Alice, are driving to Bright Falls, ready to start a vacation. They park their product-placed car on a ferry, where Alan is immediately recognized by a local disc jockey. Alan takes a call from his agent. The ferry rides us into town, setting that Twin Peaks scene of a remote and quaint corner of American civilization full of folks who know each other maybe too well. There’s some sort of festival called Deerfest starting in two weeks.

The couple goes to a diner to pick up keys to the house where they’re going to stay. They want to meet a man named Carl Stuckey. Alan is recognized again in the diner by a waitress gets an earful from two old codgers, one of whom wants him to put a song on the jukebox — I don’t know if it matters if the player does it — and then heads to the back where a creepy lady in a black veil hands Alan the keys she says he’s looking for. Alan and Alice drive away. Carl Stuckey stumbles after them yelling that he needs to give them keys. That’s the first sign of trouble for Alan and Alice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cabin they drive to is nice. It’s set on a small island at the end of a dock, nestled into a cove at the foot of wooded hills. This house also is highly-detailed, with rugs and a radio (the disc jockey is blabbing that Alan is in town), paintings and furniture and an odd framed photo of what looks like someone in a diving suit. I had control of Alan on the island. I walked him around to explore and picked up the details about Alan and Alice’s struggles. Their marriage isn’t perfect. His writer’s block is a struggle. He wanted the trip to be a vacation from the stress and is not pleased when he sees the surprise Alice has set up for him: A typewriter in a room of his own. She’s even found a local doctor who she thinks can help him surmount any mental blocks. Alan’s angry.

The next events happened fast. Alan is back outside. It’s getting dark. Alice is suddenly calling for help, as if she’s drowning. Alan dives into the water for her. And then a scene change. Alan wakes up in a crashed car. He’s outside of town. What follows are some dark and lovely scenes of chase and combat. Putting them in words wouldn’t do them justice. Alan winds up chased by shadowy figures in a logging camp. The big trucks that haul and cut tall evergreens create their own frightful shadows and set up new dangers: rolling logs, falling logs, blind corners hiding another enemy. Alan sees a service station in the distance. Its bright lights are his his goal.

The first half of the episode, which would last about an hour, was easy. The second half was tough. Enemies are numerous and relentless. On some walls my flashlight revealed arrows which pointed to hidden caches of weapons or batteries (also product-placed, Energizer brand). There are pages of a novel seemingly written by Alan scattered in the level. Collecting them tells a story. Everything, including the arrows, has a narrative explanation, if players dig for it, the developers told me. But I was busy trying to survive. I fared better with a shotgun and then with a flare gun which can flash-shock a cluster of enemies. I made it to the service station after a few more tough fights and called for the police. A sheriff showed up. She drove Alan to where he said his wife had fallen into the water, outside that house on that island in that cove. The sheriff drove him there and made him look. There was no house there. Just a dock leading to nowhere. Just a cove.

Admit it: you thought Bioshock 2 was going to suck, didn’t you? You thought that the first game was such a complete experience that it didn’t need or leave room for a sequel. Well, until I played the second installment I would have agreed with you. Thankfully 2k games have changed my mind due to their crafting of such an atmospheric and eminently playable adventure.

The game is set 8 years after the events of the first, with players taking on the role of one of the original Big Daddies. As anyone who has played the first game will know, the story in Bioshock is central to the entire experience. Because of that I will try to avoid mentioning any specifics of the narrative so as to avoid spoiling it for any of you.

Whilst I did enjoy the story that runs through Bioshock 2 it was not as involving as that of the first game. This was partly down to the fact that it felt somewhat shoehorned into the canon set up by the first. Major events from the history of Rapture are revealed during the game that were not even touched upon in the original, and this can feel rather forced at times.

I was also slightly disappointed with the characters in this game, again this was due to the high quality of the people we met in the first. There is just no-one here that compares to the sheer lunacy of Sander Cohen or the thrill of meeting Andrew Ryan for the first time. The characters in the second game are much more forgettable.

What with all the discussion of the lofty ideals discussed in Bioshock it seems that people sometimes forget that the game is at heart an FPS. I’m glad to report that this part of the game has been sharpened up nicely. It’s now possible to duel wield a weapon and a plasmid, both of which are upgradeable. This creates opportunities for even better combat experiences. You can be setting cyclone traps which launch splicers into the air and then set them on fire, or pin them to the wall with your spear gun, or use your hypnotise plasmid to set them on each other. The different ways in which you can approach each situation give a tremendous variety to the entire game.

The Vita chambers from the original make a re-appearance, only this time around they are more of an essential inclusion. In Bioshock 2 you are going to die, a lot. Thankfully the checkpoints and Vita chambers are well placed and stop any one section from becoming a chore. Having said that there is the option to turn them off, and even an achievement for completing the game without using them. Good luck to anyone attempting that!

The decision to let players take on the role of a Big Daddy in this game was something of a controversial one amongst fans. I’m happy to report that in gameplay terms it’s definitely been a good one. Smashing into splicers and cutting them to ribbons with your drill really is as fun as it sounds. Despite playing as such a powerful character there is still a constant feeling of foreboding permeating the whole experience. Hearing the stomp of another Daddy, or the screach of a Big Sister is enough to get your heart racing. Hell, even the voices of splicers around the next corner can be enough to put you on edge.

Talking of the Big Sisters, as fun as they were to fight during the game, I did feel that they were a bit of an unnecessary inclusion. Their back story is rather poorly explained and in my opinion the Big Daddies provide far more entertaining opponents. You just can’t beat setting up all of your traps and turrets and planning your route through an area before angering one of those hulking giants.

The question of harvesting or saving little sisters also returns this time around, only with a slight twist. As the player is now a Big Daddy it’s possible to choose to adopt the little sister and use her to collect adam from dead bodies. Doing so will attract splicers in large numbers, attracted by that lovely adam, so you had better be ready to defend your little sister against their onslaught. In many of the reviews I’ve read this part of the game has been criticised for it’s repetition. I have to say that I completely disagree with that evaluation. Yes, you do go through this process many times during the course of the game but in my opinion these were some of the most enjoyable sections of gameplay. It really is exhilarating setting up a defensive position using whatever traps and plasmids you have at your disposal and then battling the onrushing splicers.

Graphically the game is a wonderful sight to behold and ratpure is every bit as beautiful a place to explore as it was before. There are plenty of interesting places to visit and marvel at. The soundtrack is also just as excellent as before and compliments the whole atmosphere perfectly.

This time around Bioshock has ventured into the overpopulated sphere of the online shooter. The competetive part of the game has actually been developed by a different studio than the single player game in the hope that they would be able to craft a better experience. As much as I wanted to love the multiplayer, it really does feel completely unnecessary. Most games I played were laggy and this was excentuated whenever someone used the incinerate plasmid. The multiplayer as a whole reminded me of the tacked on efforts we’ve seen in games such as Condemned 2 and The Darkness. You’re better off concentrating of the single player game which is far superior and leaving the multiplayer well alone.

I had plenty of doubts before playing Bioshock 2 and that’s made me all the more pleased at how well the game has turned out. It’s exceeded my expectations in pretty much every way. The only let down was the story, but this is mainly due to the unavoidable comparisons with the first game which had one of the finest narratives in gaming history. As a standalone game Bioshock 2 is an experience not to be missed.

Verdict: 8.5/10. Miss it, miss out.