Like a futuristic sledgehammer to your minds my Red Faction Guerrilla review is up over at NTSC-UK.
I had a lot of fun with this game and can't wait to see what Volition do with the series.
As always the rest of my reviews can be hit up here.
I head to PAX next week so if you're lucky you may be getting daily posts. I am also going to endeavour to write a proper feature about it.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Finally, Some Good Box Art
You may remember that a while ago I talked about box art. Heady times indeed.
2K has recently revealed the box art for Borderlands (a post apocalyptic shooter RPG for those not in the know) and it is probably the best box art ever.
Come, let us regard it.
This box art is beautiful and somewhat surprising. Where is the hero? Where is the gritty backdrop? Instead one of the low level enemies is miming shooting himself in the head and the blood splat shows a glimpse of vehicle combat from the game. It's nice to see someone doing something like this.
I'll also mention the Halo 3 ODST box art.
I really like this box art and not just because the word Halo features on it. I think it captures some of the atmosphere of a lone special ops trooper in a hostile city. It thankfully isn't like the Halo 3 box art where all I can see is Master Chief tipping over.
2K has recently revealed the box art for Borderlands (a post apocalyptic shooter RPG for those not in the know) and it is probably the best box art ever.
Come, let us regard it.
This box art is beautiful and somewhat surprising. Where is the hero? Where is the gritty backdrop? Instead one of the low level enemies is miming shooting himself in the head and the blood splat shows a glimpse of vehicle combat from the game. It's nice to see someone doing something like this.
I'll also mention the Halo 3 ODST box art.
I really like this box art and not just because the word Halo features on it. I think it captures some of the atmosphere of a lone special ops trooper in a hostile city. It thankfully isn't like the Halo 3 box art where all I can see is Master Chief tipping over.
Monday, 10 August 2009
New Gadget Get!
I've added a new gadget to the of the old, heh heh, blog where I will list the games I'm currently playing. As I update it you will get a post like this:
I'm currently a fairly wide selection of games. I'm rocking import goodness like Blazblue with my girl and revisiting RV62 and SR2 with friends in coop. Sometimes you forget just how good some games are. Saints Row 2 is a total masterpiece and the fun me and Phil have in coop is just crazy. We are currently tearing it up in Ronin territory and the amount of fun we are having can only be measured in increments of 'hella'. Rainbow Six is a game that is have played a lot of at home and at work and I never get sick of it.
I have a weakness for anything that has "2D" and "fighter" in its description. Unfotunately that weakness usually involves me either buying them and playing them once or indeed, not at all. There are currently 3 different 2D fighters sat unopened on my shelves. Fortunately Rachel has taken a real shine to it and so our Sundays are spent taking the fight to Xbox Live where we encounter an ungodly amount of people playing Jin. It's like SF4 and Ken all over again. Except I'm still not adept enough at it to counter him all that well.
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires is a game that is thoroughly excellent but will be over looked. People need to check out DW games and this is an excellent one to jump into.
And then there is Damnation. As a designer I take my gaming literacy pretty seriously and will always find time to play bad games. There is often a lot to learn from them and Damnation is a game with many, many problems but at the centre there is a small glimmer of genius. Blue Omega bit off way more than they could chew with the tech and the combat designer needs a guiding hand but there are many interesting things to take away from it. It also has the most gratuitous cleavage I have ever seen in a game (I own and have played both version of Dead or Alive Volleyball).
Anyone want to talk about what they are playing in the comments? It's strange saying this but I don't get to talk to people enough about the games they are playing.
I'm currently a fairly wide selection of games. I'm rocking import goodness like Blazblue with my girl and revisiting RV62 and SR2 with friends in coop. Sometimes you forget just how good some games are. Saints Row 2 is a total masterpiece and the fun me and Phil have in coop is just crazy. We are currently tearing it up in Ronin territory and the amount of fun we are having can only be measured in increments of 'hella'. Rainbow Six is a game that is have played a lot of at home and at work and I never get sick of it.
I have a weakness for anything that has "2D" and "fighter" in its description. Unfotunately that weakness usually involves me either buying them and playing them once or indeed, not at all. There are currently 3 different 2D fighters sat unopened on my shelves. Fortunately Rachel has taken a real shine to it and so our Sundays are spent taking the fight to Xbox Live where we encounter an ungodly amount of people playing Jin. It's like SF4 and Ken all over again. Except I'm still not adept enough at it to counter him all that well.
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires is a game that is thoroughly excellent but will be over looked. People need to check out DW games and this is an excellent one to jump into.
And then there is Damnation. As a designer I take my gaming literacy pretty seriously and will always find time to play bad games. There is often a lot to learn from them and Damnation is a game with many, many problems but at the centre there is a small glimmer of genius. Blue Omega bit off way more than they could chew with the tech and the combat designer needs a guiding hand but there are many interesting things to take away from it. It also has the most gratuitous cleavage I have ever seen in a game (I own and have played both version of Dead or Alive Volleyball).
Anyone want to talk about what they are playing in the comments? It's strange saying this but I don't get to talk to people enough about the games they are playing.
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Bionic Assassin
My reviews for Bionic Commando and Velvet Assassin went up recently over at NTSC-UK.
As ever, writing with those guys was a great experience.
I also want to point you to the review we recently put up of Rainbow Six Vegas and the ensuing comments thread.
Many people questioned why a review of a (nearly) three year old game went up now and why it criticised the game so much. Pretty much everyone in thread disagreed with the text and score with one person saying that because because it goes into Metacritic we should be embarrassed about putting a review up that so many consider 'wrong'.
Rather than being considered an embarrassment, it should be considered a celebration. NTSC-UK publishes reviews that have something to say, no matter the game or the release date. When reading them I tend to look at reviews as a discussion between myself and the reviewer and that reading their critique I inform, enforce and explore my own feelings and views on the game.
I will go ahead and say that I disagree with many of the points in the R6V review but it is a fascinating read because the reviewer's view point is so opposed to my own. He came at the game from a totally different angle to me and that is super interesting to me.
When we are subjectively reviewing a subjective piece of art, can someone be wrong?
I would argue not.
As ever, writing with those guys was a great experience.
I also want to point you to the review we recently put up of Rainbow Six Vegas and the ensuing comments thread.
Many people questioned why a review of a (nearly) three year old game went up now and why it criticised the game so much. Pretty much everyone in thread disagreed with the text and score with one person saying that because because it goes into Metacritic we should be embarrassed about putting a review up that so many consider 'wrong'.
Rather than being considered an embarrassment, it should be considered a celebration. NTSC-UK publishes reviews that have something to say, no matter the game or the release date. When reading them I tend to look at reviews as a discussion between myself and the reviewer and that reading their critique I inform, enforce and explore my own feelings and views on the game.
I will go ahead and say that I disagree with many of the points in the R6V review but it is a fascinating read because the reviewer's view point is so opposed to my own. He came at the game from a totally different angle to me and that is super interesting to me.
When we are subjectively reviewing a subjective piece of art, can someone be wrong?
I would argue not.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Of Juarez and it's Call
Another huge delay between blog posts.
Remember the carefree days of GDC where I would post multiple times a day and you would lap the posts up like the salivating dogs that you are? Happy times.
Life has been incredibly busy for multiple reasons and I have been hard pressed to actually sit in front of my Xbox, let alone write some ish. Last week I failed to get any achievements. I know, right?
I have actually instructed my family that if I am offline from Xbox Live for more than seven days, I am probably dead. Or dying. Or wishing I was dead. Last week I was offline for four days straight. They had already pre-emptively warned the relevant authorities.
So, like I say I haven't had a chance to play a lot of games recently so I'm still slowly plodding through RF Guerrilla but last night I managed to get an hour in on Call of Juarez Bound in Blood.
The original Call of Juarez completely fascinated me. The developers Techland have flashes of stunning genius but can't maintain a constant level of polish across an entire game. Like From Software, Techland create games that are very much bound to the intended atmosphere of the game and they don't necessarily conform to game design conventions.
The level design places a great deal of faith in the player buying into the scenario and moving through the sequence without trying to break it. Set pieces will trigger and events will happen regardless of whether you are in the right place or not and if played 'properly' (as much as I shudder to type that) the game is enthralling experience.
It might not be the strongest FPS out there but it is rare in that it attempts to craft a first person experience that relies heavily on story and actions other than shooting to draw you in and through.
In the first chapter you enter a quick draw shoot out with a law man and instead of just blasting him away like any other enemy, the camera goes third person and focuses on your character's hand and holster. You can manipulate the hand with the right stick and the objective of the mini game is to wait until you hear the town bell toll before drawing your pistol and not blowing your load too early. My mouth was agape with how simple but amazing it was.
After that you drive a stage coach (complete with horses) through buildings.
My hetero life-mate Beast has requested that I post more than about games. I'm not sure what about though.
Stay tuned for a post this week which will hopefully be off topic as they say.
Remember the carefree days of GDC where I would post multiple times a day and you would lap the posts up like the salivating dogs that you are? Happy times.
Life has been incredibly busy for multiple reasons and I have been hard pressed to actually sit in front of my Xbox, let alone write some ish. Last week I failed to get any achievements. I know, right?
I have actually instructed my family that if I am offline from Xbox Live for more than seven days, I am probably dead. Or dying. Or wishing I was dead. Last week I was offline for four days straight. They had already pre-emptively warned the relevant authorities.
So, like I say I haven't had a chance to play a lot of games recently so I'm still slowly plodding through RF Guerrilla but last night I managed to get an hour in on Call of Juarez Bound in Blood.
The original Call of Juarez completely fascinated me. The developers Techland have flashes of stunning genius but can't maintain a constant level of polish across an entire game. Like From Software, Techland create games that are very much bound to the intended atmosphere of the game and they don't necessarily conform to game design conventions.
The level design places a great deal of faith in the player buying into the scenario and moving through the sequence without trying to break it. Set pieces will trigger and events will happen regardless of whether you are in the right place or not and if played 'properly' (as much as I shudder to type that) the game is enthralling experience.
It might not be the strongest FPS out there but it is rare in that it attempts to craft a first person experience that relies heavily on story and actions other than shooting to draw you in and through.
In the first chapter you enter a quick draw shoot out with a law man and instead of just blasting him away like any other enemy, the camera goes third person and focuses on your character's hand and holster. You can manipulate the hand with the right stick and the objective of the mini game is to wait until you hear the town bell toll before drawing your pistol and not blowing your load too early. My mouth was agape with how simple but amazing it was.
After that you drive a stage coach (complete with horses) through buildings.
My hetero life-mate Beast has requested that I post more than about games. I'm not sure what about though.
Stay tuned for a post this week which will hopefully be off topic as they say.
Monday, 22 June 2009
Smashing Their Stupid Shit into Tiny Pieces
Red Faction troubles me.
When not playing it I am haunted by visions of a trench coated hero standing amidst a pile of other people's property, hammer clasped in hand with said property reduced to a state approaching nothingness. Around me, overall clad rebels cheer at the fact that I exist and that I am hitting stuff. Continuously.
When I am playing it, I tool around smashing stuff up marvelling at how some people just get it.
I didn't use to think very much of Volition. Red Faction and it's sequel were so-so shooters and Saints Row drove me up the wall. Saints Row 2 on the other hand is a masterpiece. I use the term masterpiece in most cases as a subjective rather than objective term. When I say masterpiece it means I fell in love with something completely and then I have to explain the reasons why.
Saints Row 2 knows exactly what it is and then revels completely in the execution of this vision.
Saints Row 2 allows you to create a hermaphrodite who is tasked with throwing C4 at ninjas and pirates WHO ARE HAVING A TURF WAR. It never takes itself at all seriously and it is brimming with excellently crafted content.
Red Faction Guerrilla is another excellently crafted vision. It is more serious in tone than SR2 (but no less self aware) and Volition have obviously struggled without the ninjas and pirates and the excesses of crime comedy but have otherwise very competently filled a game world that feels coherent and whole.
I started out not having much fun as I was just running around, smashing stuff up and not really enjoying the combat and getting killed a lot. The gun play is lifeless and best avoided but the puzzle gameplay of demolishing buildings is fiendishly excellent. I found that to best enjoy the game I needed to knock it down to Easy so I could just run into a base, hit a bunch of fools with a sledgehammer and pick apart their buildings by identifying and crippling the most structurally important walls.
This post serves three purposes:
Red Faction Guerrilla is a brilliantly focused game that never strays from it's strengths and marries mayhem with very thoughtful destruction and it derserves to sell by the truck load.
I also want to talk about Fuel seeing as quite a few people are slamming it.
I love Fuel.
It isn't the best racer and it has a fair few flaws but I want to point a couple of things out:
Over and out.
When not playing it I am haunted by visions of a trench coated hero standing amidst a pile of other people's property, hammer clasped in hand with said property reduced to a state approaching nothingness. Around me, overall clad rebels cheer at the fact that I exist and that I am hitting stuff. Continuously.
When I am playing it, I tool around smashing stuff up marvelling at how some people just get it.
I didn't use to think very much of Volition. Red Faction and it's sequel were so-so shooters and Saints Row drove me up the wall. Saints Row 2 on the other hand is a masterpiece. I use the term masterpiece in most cases as a subjective rather than objective term. When I say masterpiece it means I fell in love with something completely and then I have to explain the reasons why.
Saints Row 2 knows exactly what it is and then revels completely in the execution of this vision.
Saints Row 2 allows you to create a hermaphrodite who is tasked with throwing C4 at ninjas and pirates WHO ARE HAVING A TURF WAR. It never takes itself at all seriously and it is brimming with excellently crafted content.
Red Faction Guerrilla is another excellently crafted vision. It is more serious in tone than SR2 (but no less self aware) and Volition have obviously struggled without the ninjas and pirates and the excesses of crime comedy but have otherwise very competently filled a game world that feels coherent and whole.
I started out not having much fun as I was just running around, smashing stuff up and not really enjoying the combat and getting killed a lot. The gun play is lifeless and best avoided but the puzzle gameplay of demolishing buildings is fiendishly excellent. I found that to best enjoy the game I needed to knock it down to Easy so I could just run into a base, hit a bunch of fools with a sledgehammer and pick apart their buildings by identifying and crippling the most structurally important walls.
This post serves three purposes:
- I felt like writing something.
- I wish to evangelise RFG.
- I want people to start engineering their games to cater to the player's needs.
Red Faction Guerrilla is a brilliantly focused game that never strays from it's strengths and marries mayhem with very thoughtful destruction and it derserves to sell by the truck load.
I also want to talk about Fuel seeing as quite a few people are slamming it.
I love Fuel.
It isn't the best racer and it has a fair few flaws but I want to point a couple of things out:
- It is beautiful and huge.
- You race through the centre of a tornado.
Over and out.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Outbursts Revisited
The last blog was pretty angry. I have been having a few outbursts recently. There are many reasons why but I feel bad about not properly explaining the Red Faction and Prototype comments (I stand by everything I said about that news post).
Note, the post this refers to has since been removed. Professionalism and what not.
Creating a great game is incredibly hard. For a studio aiming to produce triple A content on a current gen platform there are incredible and massive barriers to overcome. You have to create tech that is up to and maybe above a certain standard, generate a huge amount of art, get the backing of a publisher, create a solid and/or innovative design and then hone the gameplay. That is before the natural problems of dealing with a team of 100+ humans arise.
Prototype and Red Faction Guerrilla are both fantastic games. Their core concepts are exceptionally well realised and are amazing experiences. Special mention must go to the tech in each games. Wow, just wow.
Anyway, my problem with both games is that the difficulty curve doesn't match the game progression. Both games have a number of quirks that are incredibly unfair in certain situations and I specifically want to talk about Prototype in this regard.
For all their victories, videogames have never solved the super hero problem well. In a traditional videogame that has all of the trappings of a videogame (specifically a health bar in this case), super heroes often cause ludonarrative dissonance. How can Wolverine die? Why is Superman taking damage from things that aren't kryptonite?
Prototype runs into this problem as you play a character that is basically a god. He may not have the ability to create matter (maybe I didn't unlock that) but he outclasses every other character in the game. He has an overwhelming amount of powers and many of these dramatically change the game.
As a designer you are faced with a problem. How do you kill a god?
In this case they chose a high level answer and a low level answer.
For the high level they created an engine that can handle Godzilla. That is to say that at any time the screen can be full of fleeing civilian AI, military infantry and vehicle AI, zombie horde AI and monster AI all interacting. It is total chaos and it looks stunning. For the player it means there's probably one hundred things all trying to kill you at once. Therein lies a massive player weakness; chaos. Sometimes you just get overwhelmed, can't crowd control, get pinned and beaten to a pulp. It is frustrating but one of the few ways the designers can actually get you killed.
The low level solution (by which I mean discreet values or mechanics) is that in certain animations during which you have no control, you can be hit and killed. When hijacking a vehicle or consuming something for health you can be hit and knocked out of said animation. You can choose to enter into the animation but due to the zoomed in camera during the lengthy animations you cannot see what is going on and can be hit by the Hunters (which are really annoying as they have very little group AI to stagger their attacks) or missiles or tank shells and lose all of your health. This is really frustrating and eventually forced me to give up on the game.
Prototype is a great game and there is a lot of fun to be had but I am done with difficulty spikes and dying through no fault of my own.
I must reiterate though, Prototype is a great game.
On the subject of writing about games (last post), I want to link you to four of my favourite pieces of writing about games.
Ex GFW editor Sean Molloy talking about personal gaming.
Tim Rogers talking about Super Mario Bros. 3 as a memoir (read all 7 pages or die).
A review of Dead Space by Tim Rogers (I adore Dead Space BTW).
Leigh Alexander talking about the completely misguided Silent Hill Homecoming reviews.
I have also been wanting to pimp MC Lars for a while but haven't found a reason so whatever, here it is. He is one of my favourite rappers and it has been a joy to watch him grow as an artist. His new album is thoroughly excellent and it worth buying the physical CD for the emotional liner notes that catches you completely off guard. So here's a video (it's about videogames y'all).
Note, the post this refers to has since been removed. Professionalism and what not.
Creating a great game is incredibly hard. For a studio aiming to produce triple A content on a current gen platform there are incredible and massive barriers to overcome. You have to create tech that is up to and maybe above a certain standard, generate a huge amount of art, get the backing of a publisher, create a solid and/or innovative design and then hone the gameplay. That is before the natural problems of dealing with a team of 100+ humans arise.
Prototype and Red Faction Guerrilla are both fantastic games. Their core concepts are exceptionally well realised and are amazing experiences. Special mention must go to the tech in each games. Wow, just wow.
Anyway, my problem with both games is that the difficulty curve doesn't match the game progression. Both games have a number of quirks that are incredibly unfair in certain situations and I specifically want to talk about Prototype in this regard.
For all their victories, videogames have never solved the super hero problem well. In a traditional videogame that has all of the trappings of a videogame (specifically a health bar in this case), super heroes often cause ludonarrative dissonance. How can Wolverine die? Why is Superman taking damage from things that aren't kryptonite?
Prototype runs into this problem as you play a character that is basically a god. He may not have the ability to create matter (maybe I didn't unlock that) but he outclasses every other character in the game. He has an overwhelming amount of powers and many of these dramatically change the game.
As a designer you are faced with a problem. How do you kill a god?
In this case they chose a high level answer and a low level answer.
For the high level they created an engine that can handle Godzilla. That is to say that at any time the screen can be full of fleeing civilian AI, military infantry and vehicle AI, zombie horde AI and monster AI all interacting. It is total chaos and it looks stunning. For the player it means there's probably one hundred things all trying to kill you at once. Therein lies a massive player weakness; chaos. Sometimes you just get overwhelmed, can't crowd control, get pinned and beaten to a pulp. It is frustrating but one of the few ways the designers can actually get you killed.
The low level solution (by which I mean discreet values or mechanics) is that in certain animations during which you have no control, you can be hit and killed. When hijacking a vehicle or consuming something for health you can be hit and knocked out of said animation. You can choose to enter into the animation but due to the zoomed in camera during the lengthy animations you cannot see what is going on and can be hit by the Hunters (which are really annoying as they have very little group AI to stagger their attacks) or missiles or tank shells and lose all of your health. This is really frustrating and eventually forced me to give up on the game.
Prototype is a great game and there is a lot of fun to be had but I am done with difficulty spikes and dying through no fault of my own.
I must reiterate though, Prototype is a great game.
On the subject of writing about games (last post), I want to link you to four of my favourite pieces of writing about games.
Ex GFW editor Sean Molloy talking about personal gaming.
Tim Rogers talking about Super Mario Bros. 3 as a memoir (read all 7 pages or die).
A review of Dead Space by Tim Rogers (I adore Dead Space BTW).
Leigh Alexander talking about the completely misguided Silent Hill Homecoming reviews.
I have also been wanting to pimp MC Lars for a while but haven't found a reason so whatever, here it is. He is one of my favourite rappers and it has been a joy to watch him grow as an artist. His new album is thoroughly excellent and it worth buying the physical CD for the emotional liner notes that catches you completely off guard. So here's a video (it's about videogames y'all).
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