This Blog Is In Another Castle (Temporary Hiatus)

I'm about to move to a different city, and as such, I have quite a lot to do at the moment. Finding and applying for jobs alone takes a large amount of time and a number of other bits and bobs to sort out keep popping up. Obviously, these things have to take priority right now, so I'm going to have to put blogging on hold for a few weeks, until I've moved and got settled into the new place.

I had planned on trying to keep up with it, but everything else is taking a little more time than I thought. I'm sure you noticed how long it took me to put out just 3 posts about E3. Any writing I do now is going to be rushed, and I don't really want to post anything that I haven't put 100% effort into.

I'm moving on July 15th, so I should be back shortly after that. Until then, may your nets always be full.

Commentary on E3 - Part 3: Miscellaneous

The PS Vita and the Wii U were the only real 'big' announcements of E3 2011. Everything else was either an upgrade to existing systems or more information on games we already knew about. In this last part of my E3 commentary, I'd like to share my views on some of the things on show at E3 that don't really warrant a full blog entry, but can be summed up in a paragraph or two.

New New New Xbox Live Experience

I appreciate that Microsoft are still improving their existing console, despite how close we are to the next generation. Something I've enjoyed about the current consoles is all the extra services on offer that turn your games console into more of an entertainment centre. Sure, a games console should be, for the most part, all about the games, but it is convenient having those extra services, such as BBC iPlayer and LoveFilm streaming on the PS3. Live Television is along the same lines of convenience. I'm not sure what it'll entail here in the UK, but I can imagine it might double as a Freeview box, offering a small selection of free channels. But wherever you are in the world, it just means you have even less reason to turn off your Xbox 360 during your downtime.

Adding Youtube to Xbox Live is a no-brainer. It opens up an easy way of bringing Youtube to your living room TV, meaning you can now waste all those hours watching funny cat videos from the comfort of your sofa! The future is here.

I don't own an Xbox 360, but I'd be very happy with these new additions if I did, and it would've been nice to see Sony announce similar new services to their own dashboard.

Kinect

Following the showcase of new titles supporting Kinect controls, I'm still firmly in the camp of "it's not for me". Mass Effect 3 was probably one of the best examples of this. It may have sounded 'cool' on paper to be able to communicate with other characters by voicing your responses to the TV, but when it was shown at Microsoft's press conference, it just looked awkward. For starters, in Mass Effect you've always picked a general summary of the response you want to give, and Shepard then communicates it in his own way. Voicing your response and then having Shepard say something completely different just doesn't feel normal. Furthermore, with the inclusion of voice commands to order your squad around, I can't see myself wanting to be constantly yelling at my TV. That just sounds tiring.

I also still have no inclination to pretend I'm holding a gun and play out character actions, when using a controller has always got the job done just fine. Playing games with Kinect still appears to be very limiting compared to playing with a controller, and probably makes games more difficult than they need to be.

But I'm not the target audience of Kinect. The people Microsoft are trying to appeal to are more on the casual side of gaming interest, and just want to have a bit of fun with new technology. I understand that, but the amount of time spent on Kinect at Microsoft's press conference meant that quite a large chunk of it held no interest to me or, I'm sure, many 'core' gamers.

Pikmin

I was a massive fan of the Pikmin games on the Gamecube, and thought it was a brilliant effort by Nintendo of bringing an almost RTS style game to a console and making it work well. I was very happy to hear that a new Pikmin game is still in development, and I'll be interested to see how it'll make use of the Wii U's controller, as an extra screen could be valuable in improving the game's control scheme even further.

Uncharted 3

Watching the trailers for Uncharted 3 reminded me just how much I enjoyed the characters in the second game. These are some very strong personalities that were instantly interesting despite the fact that I missed the introduction to them by not playing the first game. The third entry in the series looks just as cinematic as ever, and it's honestly becoming difficult to tell apart from Hollywood films. That's a good step forward in an industry that's still fighting to become as accepted a medium of entertainment as film, television and literature.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

I'm going to agree with Square-Enix's decision to leave the battle system mostly unchanged in the direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII. It was one of the successes amongst the flaws of the first game, and the familiarity with it may come in handy when new mechanics are to be introduced, such as the intriguing new "Feral Link" system, that has you fighting alongside a beastly companion, akin to a World of Warcraft hunter.

The reason FFXIII-2 interests me in particular is that, while the game was flawed, I did enjoy the world and characters of FFXIII. Hopefully, Square-Enix will take note of the complaints against the first game and make it a worthwhile return visit to its world.

Playstation 3D TV 

As far as I know, this hasn't received a lot of attention from the gaming press, which I find surprising. Obviously, an affordable 3D TV is Sony's way of pushing 3D gaming on the people who are still unable to play 3D games on the PS3, which I imagine is a large majority. But the interesting thing about this TV is its ability to display separate images to two different players. 3D or not, I think that's a really cool feature. It combines the fun of having your friends in the room with you and the convenience of having an entire screen to yourself as you would when playing an online multiplayer game.

---

There were many other trailers I enjoyed watching, but mostly for games I was already planning on purchasing anyway. You can't really get me more excited about games like Bioshock Infinite or Mass Effect 3 because I'm already as pumped about them as you can get.

All in all, it was a fairly tame E3 this year. There was nothing particularly groundbreaking announced, but there was enough to assure us that there's plenty to look forward to in the coming year.

This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (19/06/2011)

Katamari Forever

Now that I've got used to the controls again, I'm having a great time with this. I'm slowly plodding along through each level, running into the occasional difficult stage that has me retrying a few times. I'm happy to say that I've finished a couple of levels that have had my katamari grow big enough to roll up continents. The greatest feeling in the Katamari series is starting off with a tiny katamari that's no bigger than a paper clip and having it grow bigger and bigger until you've rolled up the table the paper clip was on, the room the table was in, the house the room was in, the city the house was in, the country the city was in and the continent the country was on. That level of progression in the space of 10 minutes is wonderful. 

I'm glad to see the presence of 'Eternal' mode, something that was missing from We Love Katamari, that allows you to keep on rollin' until there's nothing left to roll up. It means that people like me, who panic under the pressures of a time limit, get to enjoy a slower, more relaxing journey to a massive katamari.

As it turns out, I'm not brilliant at Katamari games. I'm good enough to complete a level, but not without being scorned by an unimpressed King/RoboKing. Some practice in advanced rolling techniques may be required.

World of Warcraft

The journey into Outland begins. This is the first time I've been able to fly as soon as I stepped into Hellfire Peninsula, and already I'm wondering how I had the patience to travel around it on foot. We're level 61 and at around the halfway point of the zone's quest achievement. We haven't suffered a painful death at the hands of the Fel Reaver just yet, but there have been a few close calls. He still instills just as much terror in me as he did the first time I saw him stomping up behind me several years ago.

Little Big Planet 2

It's been a few months since I played this, but I had a hankering for it this week. I've decided to attempt the gold trophy for finishing all the single player levels without dying, a challenge I really enjoyed stepping up to in the first game. So far it seems a little easier, which may be due to the levels being more of a means to introduce and give an overview of the new game mechanics, rather than being a progression of increasingly difficult and devious platforming levels as in the first game.

What's Next?

I don't really have a main game on the go at the moment. Katamari Forever is sort of acting as my main source of gaming, but I'm still only dipping into it when I have the time. Things are getting pretty busy in the real world. I'm moving to a different city in less than a month and I need to find a new job there. Obviously, that sort of thing takes priority, so I've decided not to start playing anything that I'll need to get heavily invested in until after I've moved and got settled in to the new place.

For now, I'll carry on with my one or two WoW nights a week and my Team Fortress 2 night on a Saturday. If I do get any other smidgens of free time to play games, I'll either carry on with Katamari, or go back to some PS3 games I've already finished and grab a few trophies.

Commentary on E3 - Part 2: Wii U

Wii U. If you can get over how uncomfortable it is to say, or even look at, the name starts to make sense when you think about what Nintendo is aiming to do with its next console. The Wii was named to sound like "we", to represent Nintendo's goal of allowing everyone, gamer or not, to have fun playing video games. Of course, the problem is that they focused a little too much on the non-gamers, leaving their usual gaming audience with reason to look elsewhere for the deeper gaming experience they craved.

Nintendo's new console has retained the Wii name, most likely as they want to continue to be inviting to the massive casual player base that contributed to the commercial success of the Wii. The company has now stated that they want to bring core gamers back, hence "Wii U", as in this console is catered for "U" (you) personally, rather than everyone in a general sense.

Nintendo Needs a New Controller Pun - "Umote" Won't Cut It

So far we've only seen the controller, and what an elaborate controller it is. What could be described as a handheld tethered to your console, the Wii U's controller features both buttons and a 6 inch touch screen. Already there's a lot of potential for more traditional controls in games rather than the ultimately restrictive motion control scheme of the Wii. Buttons are important. They give us the necessary amount of feedback to let us know that we've pushed them. At the same time, touch control has seen a lot of success on the DS, as well as in non-gaming technology such as smart phones. The combination of the two could allow for some very specialised controls, where buttons and touch are used for the specific tasks they're most suited to.

From the tech demos at E3, it seems that at the moment, there are only a handful of simple ideas floating around as to the use of the screen. Having the controller display interactive menus, inventories or maps will surely be a nice convenience, but not exactly revolutionary. The demos in which objects were being flung from the controller to the TV screen were also mildy interesting, but give that sense of yet another control scheme that actually hinders gameplay rather than enhances it. And yes, transferring a game from the TV to your controller will definitely be useful when, for whatever reason, the TV isn't an option, but again, it's just a cool trick rather than a strong selling point.

Having a controller with its own screen invokes memories of GBAs being linked up to the Gamecube to play multiplayer games, such as Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, and it's this sort of feature that might have been of big interest to many gamers. Local multiplayer is dying a slow death thanks to the accessability of online gaming these days, and it would've been a bold move for Nintendo to try and revive it. Alas, for the moment, it appears that the console only supports one touch screen controller at a time.

So for now, we haven't really seen enough to form a full opinion of the Wii U's controller. Hopefully we'll see more in the coming months.

Playing Catch-up

One other major feature of the Wii U that was announced is that it'll be Nintendo's first step into HD, all the way up to delicious 1080p. It's not surprising, as HD gaming has become standard since the start of the current generation.

What is a tiny bit surprising is that there were a fair few third party games announced for the console; games that you would usually only see released on the PS3 and Xbox 360. For instance, Darksiders 2 and Arkham City are both set for a Wii U release.

While it's great to see more traditional games being released on a Nintendo system, one has to question whether this will bring back as many core gamers as Nintendo is hoping. For starters, these games are going to have to wait until the console itself is released, and will most likely have been available on the other consoles long enough for anyone that's interested in them to have already played them.

Furthermore, showing off games from the generation that'll be coming to an end in 2 or 3 years almost seems backwards for the first console of the next generation. It's currently known that the Wii U will be at least more powerful than the PS3, but how will it compare to Sony and Microsoft's next offerings? Third party support isn't going to last long if Nintendo once again gets left in the dust when Sony and Microsoft announce their new consoles within the next few years. As we've seen in the past, developers are much more likely to focus on the higher spec consoles.

Of course, we haven't seen everything yet. The purpose of Nintendo's press conference was clearly to ease us into the idea of a controller with a screen. With no actual games shown off yet, we should perhaps hold back our full judgement until Nintendo lays all its cards on the table.

Commentary on E3 - Part 1: Handhelds

Before I begin, it's worth noting that I don't currently own a handheld as I don't have a lot of use for one. I use my commute to and from work to listen to podcasts and catch up on RSS feeds and Twitter, so the only time I play games is when I'm at home, where the more attractive options of PS3 and PC gaming are available. That said, I used to own a DS and I occasionally miss lounging around in bed/on the sofa and being able to pick up and play a few levels of a 2D platformer, complete a mission of a strategy RPG or level some Pokemon. With two new handheld systems entering the fray, I'm keeping an eye out for anything that'll convince me to get back into portable gaming.

We're entering a familiar phase in handheld gaming that mirrors the rivalry between the original DS and PSP, with the recent release of the 3DS and the upcoming PS Vita. Both got a lot of attention in their respective press conferences at this year's E3, and it's clear that they're both still shooting for completely different audiences.

PS Vita - HD Gaming, But Smaller

In the months leading up to E3, there was a lot of news and speculation floating around the web about Sony's new handheld, previously code-named NGP. Officially announced in Sony's press conference as the PS Vita, this looks a lot like a modern version of the original PSP. Remember the PSP? It didn't do quite as well as Sony was perhaps hoping it would and was heavily overshadowed by the widely successful Nintendo DS. Its successor is going to need some changes in its approach to competing in the handheld market.

So, what is the Vita doing differently? Looking at the types of games announced, not a lot. Some of the games shown at E3 do look pretty good, but not at all suited to portable gaming. Uncharted is a fantastic franchise, but one of things that made Uncharted 2 so brilliant was how cinematic and epic it was. Picture in your mind some of those helicopter chases or the scene where Drake is leaping from jeep to jeep, and imagine it shrunk down to the small screen of the Vita. Something tells me it'll lose some of that cinematic quality.

It's the same deal with Wipeout, which will also be getting a release on the Vita. Wipeout is best played on a decently sized screen in 1080p, with a good sub-woofer blasting out its bass heavy soundtrack.

And how about Bioshock, characterised by its captivating atmosphere? Playing it in a public place is going to ruin everything that makes Bioshock immersive. I can hardly see Rapture being quite as creepy when you're sat on a bus behind two old ladies complaining about the price of tinned fruit. On the other hand, the crazy guy that shiftily looks around the bus and randomly yells at other passengers may add to Rapture experience, if you look at him as a potential splicer. Of course, that's a very situational occurrence.

These are the wrong types of games for a portable system. They're the games you want to play on a big HD screen for a couple of hours at a time and become completely immersed in, not when you want something more 'pick up and play' that you can dive into for as little or as much time as you have free.

It's not all bad though, as a few titles did pique my interest. Specifically, Little Big Planet looks very promising. Not only does it have that low-commitment, short burst style gameplay that's well suited to a handheld, but the Vita version brings something new in the form of touch controls. There's already so much the community has been able to do with the tools in Little Big Planet 2 on the PS3. Touch controls are going to add a whole new level to the game, and I can't wait to see what the creative minds of the LBP community can do with them.

As a final note, it looks like we're already heading into social networking integration, as the Vita's "Near" functionality will apparently allow gamers to comment on games that friends and other Vita users in your area are playing, as well as connect with each other to unlock extra items. That, at least, is something that you may find interesting if you're roaming around a lot with your Vita in your pocket, but again, that's very situational.

Nintendo 3DS - Déjà Vu, But In 3D

Nintendo is sticking to its usual strategy; more of the same. That's not always necessarily a bad thing, as some of the games shown off in Nintendo's press conference looked invitingly fresh, despite being part of extremely long running franchises. The Super Mario title for the 3DS looks like an excellent mix of the 2D and 3D elements of the best Mario games, and Luigi's Mansion 2 was a nice surprise as I really enjoyed the original game.

Unlike Sony, Nintendo is still focusing on games that rely less on production values and more on solid gameplay. They're going with what made the original DS sell so well; games that every member of the family can enjoy, as opposed to Sony who are still shooting purely for core gamers. You're not going to find epics such as Uncharted or God of War on the 3DS (the exception being Snake Eater, which seems a little out of place), but as I said, these aren't the sort of games you want to play when you're in a situation that warrants you reaching for your portable system.

Unfortunately, I personally haven't seen enough to be swayed. So far I haven't seen the 3D graphics as anything but a cool novelty that'll quickly wear thin. The new games in the usual Nintendo franchises are always fun, but are they enough to justify the purchase of yet another system?

With titles such as Resident Evil, Snake Eater and Tekken popping up, it seems Nintendo is going for more third-party support this time round, so perhaps we will get something other than just more Zelda and more Mario.

So with Sony slightly missing the point of a portable system and Nintendo playing it safe with what they've known to sell in the past, one can probably assume that handheld gaming isn't going to be making any giant leaps forward in the next few years. The handheld war quietly continues...

Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Release Date: October 7, 2010
Developed By: Dimps, Sonic Team
Genre: 2D Platformer
Platforms: PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, iOS
Platform Reviewed: PSN

Leading up to the announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 4, instead of raising hype by announcing which characters would be in the game, Sega gradually eliminated potential characters, eventually revealing that Sonic would be the sole hero of his latest adventure. Are Sega so out of touch with fans that they've only just come to the realisation that no-one wants monstrosities such as Rouge the Bat and Silver the Hedgehog tainting what was once a respectable series of games? Or were they aware all along, ignoring the collective sighs of gamers as they indulged in designing another redundant humanoid-animal to add to Sonic's crew? Neither is a particularly appealing reality.

Whatever the case, Sonic 4 is dubbed as the game that fans have been wanting for the past 15 years. The obvious question is “why did we get the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game instead?” The fact that they decided to name it as a direct sequel to fan-favourite Sonic 3 & Knuckles almost seems to imply that Sega wants to brush the troubled releases of the last decade under the Big the Cat skin rug.

Titled “Episode 1”, this is the first in a series of releases that will make up Sonic the Hedgehog 4. In this first episode you get 4 zones, each consisting of 3 acts and a boss, as well as 7 special stages in which you find the chaos emeralds.

There's Something Wrong With The Gravity!

Immediately after the nostalgic zone intro overlay disappeared, I noticed that the soles of Sonic's shoes were apparently coated in glue. Sonic's acceleration rate is severely sluggish. The protagonist who is characterised by speed is now having trouble getting started at all. There's also something seriously wrong with basic physics such as gravity and momentum, as Sonic will frequently come to a sudden stop in the air and fall down in a perfect vertical line. It means that getting used to the controls takes time; something that never happened in the original Sonic games that boasted fluid controls that allowed Sonic to spring into action quickly. Even when you do learn to make up for the engine's shortcomings, controlling Sonic just never feels quite right. This, being one of the great strengths of the earlier games, grants the game quite a significant handicap from the get-go.

Sonic is equipped with his staple moves, such as the spin dash, as well as the more modern homing attack, which comes as a double-edged sword. When you do eventually get Sonic running at the speed he's supposed to, using the homing attack can destroy a succession of enemies while keeping him moving. However, this also removes the challenge of the precision Badnik bouncing of the past, replacing it with a pinch of the much berated 'on rails' style of the newer Sonic games.

Deja Vu

The zones on offer are influenced by Green Hill, Casino Night, Labyrinth and Metropolis, though to say that the zones are inspired by classic Sonic zones is putting it lightly. At times it feels like you're just playing remixed versions of the aforementioned zones. The occasional new mechanic will pop up, such as using a flaming torch to light the way or casino style poker cards that can be flipped for bonuses, but this doesn't make up for the moments where you're faced with a section that has been ripped straight out of Sonic 1 or 2 and awkwardly shoehorned into the level. It's a shame, because the level of design that makes up the majority of Sonic 4's zones is what made the original games great. If it had been put to use in creating zones with new themes and mechanics, Sonic 4 would have felt much fresher.

Another complaint about the level design is that the dreaded bottomless pits often have no warning. There were many times I found myself falling to an unexpected death purely because I didn't see the pit coming. That's not challenging. That's just cheap.

The bosses are copied and pasted from the old zones of reference, with a slight twist revealing itself once the original version is defeated. The main audience of this game, Sonic fans, will naturally get through the first phase of the boss battles with very little thought. It's interesting to see a new mechanic added to each of the bosses, but most of the time, it's an awkward one that's more irritating than enjoyable. For instance, the Labyrinth boss now ends with a room of moving columns that must be used to reach Dr Robotnik/Eggman, before quickly finding and moving to the small safe spot in which you won't be crushed by them. This is mostly a case of dying several times to find out which are the wrong ways to reach that safe spot. Even when you do get it down, the sluggish movement of Sonic can still cause a frustrating instant death.

Speaking of bosses, Sonic 4 includes one of the deepest of gaming sins. Before fighting the final boss, each of the previous bosses must be fought in succession. Just as in every game that this boss gauntlet has appeared in, rather than actually adding anything to the game, it's nothing more than a lazy way of padding out the final level.

You'll find nothing new in the special stages, as Sonic Team have decided to recycle the most annoying of them all; the rotating mazes from the first game. There is a slight difference in that you now rotate the stage, rather than directly controlling Sonic, but there's still every chance for the smallest wrong movement to cause Sonic to fall straight into a "goal" pit, instantly throwing him out of the special stage empty handed. If they insisted on bringing back a classic special stage rather than designing a new one, it's a wonder they didn't bring back the infinitely more enjoyable blue sphere stage from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or even the often remixed tunnel of rings that first appeared in Sonic 2.

Mega Drive Drums

Sonic 4: Episode 1 certainly looks like a 2D Sonic game. It's bright and colourful with a style heavily influenced by the Mega Drive games. The character models are decent enough, but are less detailed than the environment and thus look detached. Also paying homage to the classics is the return of the instantly recognisable 16-bit Sonic drums included in the game's soundtrack. In fact, every part of the music seems to be trying to recreate the style of the old 16-bit tunes, but unfortunately, it doesn't quite work and leaves the music feeling a little too primitive sounding. It doesn't help that most of the tracks are barely memorable or catchy, and loop far too quickly.

I did appreciate hearing all the old sound effects, such as when collecting rings, passing a starpost or bouncing off a spring, as they at least still sound like they mingle well with the overall style of the game.

So Close, Yet So Far

There is a half decent platformer in there somewhere, with some 2D Sonic-esque level design that the series has needed for a long time. But poor controls, unoriginality and lazy presentation mean that this is just another disappointment in the troubled last decade of the blue blur.

Calling it Sonic 4 was a big risk, and this first episode doesn't come close to living up to the name. Rather than feeling like a sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the step back to the style of Sonic 1 and 2, and the poor execution of basic Sonic gameplay result in something that resembles a bad fan game. In fact, you can still have a much better Sonic experience by playing the original games, which are easily accessible in the many compilations and digital downloads that have been released over the past few years. Why would you want to play a below average rehash of the brilliant 16-bit Sonic games when you can just as easily play the real thing?

There was potential here, and I just hope they use it to create something new and refreshing for episode 2.

Rating: 4/10

This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (05/06/2011)

...not a lot. As I tweeted, I've been ill all week, so I've mostly been feeling too drained to do anything, even video games. That's not to say I haven't played anything at all, though, so I'll briefly summarise what I have been playing when I haven't been having coughing/sneezing/having feverish dreams about vikings.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

I finally got round to playing this and finished it in a couple of sessions. I suppose it's in the nature of episodic content, but £9.99 actually seems quite steep for a game that takes so little time to complete. There are a few things to do after completion, such as getting all the chaos emeralds and trying to get yourself on the online scoreboards, but I'm not entirely sure I want to. You'll find out why in my upcoming review.

Katamari Forever

I managed to pick this up fairly cheaply on Ebay. As far as I know, the original game was never released over here in the UK, but the hype surrounding it was enough to make me grab We Love Katamari (which was released here, thank King of All Cosmos) on release day. After so many enjoyable hours with it, I could hardly pass up on a 1080p Katamari adventure.

At first I found myself struggling to get back into the control scheme, but after about half an hour with it, muscle memory took over and I was fully back into Katamari rolling mode.

It's still just as comically weird as ever, and I love the robotic doppelganger of the King of All Cosmos. In fact, the King himself is probably one of our -- I mean, my favourite video game characters of all time. Royal Rainbow!

Team Fortress 2

This time we were joined by two more of our old WoW guild-mates and proved that more is indeed merrier. This time I was mostly focused on the heavy weapons guy, as he's the class I've been able to get the most kills on thus far, mostly due to the fact that less precision aiming is involved. Pointing in the general direction of the enemy and spraying bullets at them seems to work just fine for the time being, especially with the support of a friendly medic.

What I enjoyed most was when we were all able to get on the same team and work together on the map specific objectives. A small band of four players is just about enough to get the payload moving in Badwater.

World of Warcraft

I've just logged off from a WoW session where my druid finally hit level 58. I made sure to take the traditional "standing outside the portal" screenshot before stepping through into the twisted world of Outland. I've missed it. It looks like they've fixed the bug that made the floor of Shattrath city slightly wet. I appreciate that.