To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Team have recently announced a game that will pay tribute to the blue blur; Sonic Generations. The game will feature both 'classic' and 'modern' Sonic who must team up to defeat some sort of time traveling adversary.
Gameplay will be divided into classic Sonic's traditional 2D style of the Mega Drive/Genesis days and modern Sonic's 3D on-rails style of the past decade or so. It's a popular opinion among gamers, and especially Sonic fans, that while the 2D games of the 90s were the speedy hedgehog's finest hour, the shift to 3D was rocky at best. Focusing on the main characteristic of Sonic, speed, meant that shifting to a behind-the-character view made it a little more difficult to see what was ahead and react accordingly. As a result, levels had to be linear, and many of the platforming elements of the 2D games had to be left behind as they just wouldn't have worked in a 3D environment. What was left was a major example of style over substance that barely felt like a platform game anymore.
From the sound of it you'll be able to choose which style you want to play each level in, which begs the question, why would anyone pick modern Sonic? It's an interesting idea to include both approaches to the same level, but it's likely that the main draw of the game will be the chance to revisit the golden 2D days of the character that used to compete with the likes of Mario. What we may end up with here is half a good game and half a so-so game.
Of course, the main interest to Sonic fans will be the reworking of classic zones. Watching the trailer, Green Hill Zone looks fantastic and hopefully quite true to the original. Something I hope Sonic Team doesn't forget is that while the 2D Sonic games did contain sections of pure speed, there were plenty of sections that required more careful precision platforming like any other action game of its time. There are parts of the trailer that lead me to believe that Generations will include such sections.
I'm very much looking forward to more classic zones being announced for a makeover. I'm fairly certain iconic stages such as Chemical Plant and Casino Night will also be featured, but if anyone from Sonic Team happens to be reading this, I'm quite partial to Mushroom Hill and Flying Battery. Hint hint.
Apart from Sonic 4 (which I will get round to playing eventually), I haven't purchased a Sonic game since Heroes, but this is looking very interesting. For someone who's first console was a Sega Master System and who grew up on the 90s Sonic games, the opportunity to revisit this hedgehog's glory days will be much too tempting to pass up on. I'll be keeping an eye on this with cautious optimism.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Sunday, 15 May 2011
This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (15/05/2011)
Infamous
Last week I wrote about my shaky first impressions of this game. When I picked it up for a second time this week I was very pleasantly surprised. Now that I know not expect much from the still shallow and mostly uninteresting story, I've focused all my attention on the gameplay. It turns out that it's a lot of fun. As I've picked up more of the powers I've really begun to enjoy the overall feel of the game.
Also keeping me interested are the abundant side missions which are short enough that, depending on how many of them you do, don't detract from the main path. It's due to these that I found myself able to play for a good few hours without feeling the need to stop. Usually I like to save and quit a game when I've just completed what feels like a complete 'section' of the game, usually ending with a boss fight or the conclusion to a major mission. With Infamous I've actually found myself immediately running to the next yellow exclamation point on the minimap to start doing some more of the side missions. It's GTA syndrome all over again.
The Sims Medieval
Still addictive but the old Sims flaws are starting to show. The camera controls haven't been well adapted to the complex buildings of medieval times. Zoom out too much or rotate the camera the wrong way and you find yourself staring at the outer wall of a building with no way of getting back inside other than auto-zooming to your Sim. But the main annoyance is the reliance of some quests on the non-playable Sims. Sometimes you need them to be in a certain location to complete a task and they'll be bumbling about halfway across the kingdom. This isn't too much of a problem if you can invite them to your abode but if you're playing as the King and you need his wife to be at the castle, you can't exactly invite her over to her own home.
I imagine these sorts of kinks will be ironed out in forthcoming patches. It's not the first Sims game to be released with bugs and gameplay issues and others have been fixed up in subsequent patches.
I don't want to be too negative about the game though. I am still enjoying its RPG qualities and I'm impressed with how much there is to do. I've completed a fair amount of quests and I'm still only in the first chapter.
World of Warcraft
This week, me, my other half and our friend in Norwich got back to leveling what I suppose you could call our 'main' characters. This is my first time leveling through the newly improved old world zones and "improved" is indeed a good way to describe them. The zones I've enjoyed the most are the ones that include a story arc that spans the entirety of its questlines, similar to the Dragonblight in Wrath of the Lich King. Storylines like this allow some involvement in the quests and at least give you a reason for killing x number of this mob and collecting x number of that item. Thousand Needles was the last zone we finished and was a good example of one of these story heavy areas.
Team Fortress 2
I played a first person shooter this weekend. Anyone that knows me likely just spat coffee all over their screen, even if they weren't reading this. FPS games are something that I've just never been into. But, I have a weekly multiplayer session with an old WoW guildie and after finishing Portal 2 we found ourselves stuck as to what to play next. I already owned Team Fortress 2 as it came with the Orange Box but I'd never had a proper look at it. This weekend we decided to give it a shot.
Though I say I've never been a fan of FPS games, I did have one insane moment in my youth when I played the first Team Fortress for a while. I was never any good at it but it at least means I knew a little bit about TF2 before jumping in. To my surprise, I had a really cool couple of hours playing it. I still have an issue with my shots mostly missing other players but it was satisfying when I managed to score a kill, even if it was a lucky shot.
I'm looking forward to getting into this some more. Who knows, maybe it'll be my gateway to the FPS genre.
What's Next?
You've probably noticed that Civilization V isn't listed this week. That's because I haven't found much time for it, which is why I'm loading it up right now to get my fix.
Last week I wrote about my shaky first impressions of this game. When I picked it up for a second time this week I was very pleasantly surprised. Now that I know not expect much from the still shallow and mostly uninteresting story, I've focused all my attention on the gameplay. It turns out that it's a lot of fun. As I've picked up more of the powers I've really begun to enjoy the overall feel of the game.
Also keeping me interested are the abundant side missions which are short enough that, depending on how many of them you do, don't detract from the main path. It's due to these that I found myself able to play for a good few hours without feeling the need to stop. Usually I like to save and quit a game when I've just completed what feels like a complete 'section' of the game, usually ending with a boss fight or the conclusion to a major mission. With Infamous I've actually found myself immediately running to the next yellow exclamation point on the minimap to start doing some more of the side missions. It's GTA syndrome all over again.
The Sims Medieval
Still addictive but the old Sims flaws are starting to show. The camera controls haven't been well adapted to the complex buildings of medieval times. Zoom out too much or rotate the camera the wrong way and you find yourself staring at the outer wall of a building with no way of getting back inside other than auto-zooming to your Sim. But the main annoyance is the reliance of some quests on the non-playable Sims. Sometimes you need them to be in a certain location to complete a task and they'll be bumbling about halfway across the kingdom. This isn't too much of a problem if you can invite them to your abode but if you're playing as the King and you need his wife to be at the castle, you can't exactly invite her over to her own home.
I imagine these sorts of kinks will be ironed out in forthcoming patches. It's not the first Sims game to be released with bugs and gameplay issues and others have been fixed up in subsequent patches.
I don't want to be too negative about the game though. I am still enjoying its RPG qualities and I'm impressed with how much there is to do. I've completed a fair amount of quests and I'm still only in the first chapter.
World of Warcraft
This week, me, my other half and our friend in Norwich got back to leveling what I suppose you could call our 'main' characters. This is my first time leveling through the newly improved old world zones and "improved" is indeed a good way to describe them. The zones I've enjoyed the most are the ones that include a story arc that spans the entirety of its questlines, similar to the Dragonblight in Wrath of the Lich King. Storylines like this allow some involvement in the quests and at least give you a reason for killing x number of this mob and collecting x number of that item. Thousand Needles was the last zone we finished and was a good example of one of these story heavy areas.
Team Fortress 2
I played a first person shooter this weekend. Anyone that knows me likely just spat coffee all over their screen, even if they weren't reading this. FPS games are something that I've just never been into. But, I have a weekly multiplayer session with an old WoW guildie and after finishing Portal 2 we found ourselves stuck as to what to play next. I already owned Team Fortress 2 as it came with the Orange Box but I'd never had a proper look at it. This weekend we decided to give it a shot.
Though I say I've never been a fan of FPS games, I did have one insane moment in my youth when I played the first Team Fortress for a while. I was never any good at it but it at least means I knew a little bit about TF2 before jumping in. To my surprise, I had a really cool couple of hours playing it. I still have an issue with my shots mostly missing other players but it was satisfying when I managed to score a kill, even if it was a lucky shot.
I'm looking forward to getting into this some more. Who knows, maybe it'll be my gateway to the FPS genre.
What's Next?
You've probably noticed that Civilization V isn't listed this week. That's because I haven't found much time for it, which is why I'm loading it up right now to get my fix.
Assassin's Creed 2: San Andreas - Thoughts on Revelations
In the last couple of weeks it's been revealed that a third Assassin's Creed game in the Ezio saga (essentially Assassin's Creed 2: Part 3) will be released in November, this year. Though we don't have many details to go off, we do at least know that it'll take place in Constantinople and will feature Ezio, Desmond and Altair.
I'll say now that I didn't play the first Assassin's Creed but it's no secret that Altair wasn't well liked, so the decision to include him as a major player in Revelations is likely to be controversial. The word I often hear when people describe Altair is "blank", so perhaps he'll be receiving something of an overhaul so as to not be completely overshadowed by Ezio's lively and more colourful persona.
On the topic of less-than-popular characters, Desmond will also inevitably return. Since this has been described as the final chapter of Ezio's story, it's likely that the focus will still be on him with Desmond only appearing a couple of times throughout the game. But with the attention also shifting to Altair at various intervals, one can't help but wonder how that's going affect the game's immersion. The transitions between each story are going to be tough to pull off while allowing the player to retain a suitable amount of involvement in each one.
Giant Bomb brought up a rather frightening concept in their latest podcast; what if the shifting of time periods ends up becoming a game mechanic? For example, Altair could open a gate in his time which would then remain open in Ezio's, allowing access to a previously inaccessible area. The problem with that is that it's been done plenty of times before and would be such an obvious and unoriginal thing to do. It would go against the story telling greatly and further the feeling that you're just playing as Desmond playing a video game of his own. Can you imagine? "Desmond, to access this temple you'll need to go back to Altair's time and locate the 3 hidden switches that open it. Only then can you complete the assassination as Ezio. If you need help, open the strategy gui... I mean, DNA information... archive from your Animus desktop." Thankfully, with Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood both receiving such critical acclaim, we can have a little faith in Ubisoft Montreal.
Revelations will continue the now annual release schedule of Assassin's Creed games. While this has caused certain video game franchises to be bled dry, I think we're far from that point with Assassin's Creed. In fact, it was almost surprising that Brotherhood was so exceptional despite being released only a year after Assassin's Creed 2 (I should also note that this also based on reviews; I'm still yet to play Brotherhood having only just finished Assassin's Creed 2). It's almost as if Ubisoft Montreal struck gold with the character of Ezio. His likeable and interesting personality has probably served as a large part of the success of the last two games and at this point it feels like he deserved a trilogy of his own, to do the character suitable justice by completing his story before the series, one can assume, moves onto a new assassin in Assassin's Creed 3.
I'll say now that I didn't play the first Assassin's Creed but it's no secret that Altair wasn't well liked, so the decision to include him as a major player in Revelations is likely to be controversial. The word I often hear when people describe Altair is "blank", so perhaps he'll be receiving something of an overhaul so as to not be completely overshadowed by Ezio's lively and more colourful persona.
On the topic of less-than-popular characters, Desmond will also inevitably return. Since this has been described as the final chapter of Ezio's story, it's likely that the focus will still be on him with Desmond only appearing a couple of times throughout the game. But with the attention also shifting to Altair at various intervals, one can't help but wonder how that's going affect the game's immersion. The transitions between each story are going to be tough to pull off while allowing the player to retain a suitable amount of involvement in each one.
Giant Bomb brought up a rather frightening concept in their latest podcast; what if the shifting of time periods ends up becoming a game mechanic? For example, Altair could open a gate in his time which would then remain open in Ezio's, allowing access to a previously inaccessible area. The problem with that is that it's been done plenty of times before and would be such an obvious and unoriginal thing to do. It would go against the story telling greatly and further the feeling that you're just playing as Desmond playing a video game of his own. Can you imagine? "Desmond, to access this temple you'll need to go back to Altair's time and locate the 3 hidden switches that open it. Only then can you complete the assassination as Ezio. If you need help, open the strategy gui... I mean, DNA information... archive from your Animus desktop." Thankfully, with Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood both receiving such critical acclaim, we can have a little faith in Ubisoft Montreal.
Revelations will continue the now annual release schedule of Assassin's Creed games. While this has caused certain video game franchises to be bled dry, I think we're far from that point with Assassin's Creed. In fact, it was almost surprising that Brotherhood was so exceptional despite being released only a year after Assassin's Creed 2 (I should also note that this also based on reviews; I'm still yet to play Brotherhood having only just finished Assassin's Creed 2). It's almost as if Ubisoft Montreal struck gold with the character of Ezio. His likeable and interesting personality has probably served as a large part of the success of the last two games and at this point it feels like he deserved a trilogy of his own, to do the character suitable justice by completing his story before the series, one can assume, moves onto a new assassin in Assassin's Creed 3.
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Social Networking - The Next Step in Online Integration?
Recently it was announced that Uncharted 3 will make use of social networking integration with services such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Players will, presumably, be able to have their Facebook and Twitter feeds automatically updated with achievements and upload replays of their most impressive moments to Youtube. Social networks have been showing their faces in games for a while now. The latest Need for Speed games include an autologging system (referred to by Criterion as "Facebook for the game") that allows players to keep track of game progress, compare best times with friends and share screenshots. More recently, the heavily community-based Little Big Planet 2 was released with features such as commenting on user-created levels and activity feeds for yourself, your friends and your favourite creators. I'm sure it's no coincidence that you now rate levels by either "liking" or "disliking" them.
The Rise of Facebook Games - So Many Lost Cows
Games companies are turning their attention towards social networking more and more. And why wouldn't they? The popularity of Facebook and Twitter has exploded in the last 5 years. There are millions of people using both services, meaning a lot of potential consumers outside of the existing gaming audience. In particular, the success of Facebook games must have turned a fair few heads. Back in March 2010, 32 million people were playing Farmville on a daily basis. That's 3 times the amount of subscribers World of Warcraft has and that's already considered a huge market. Being able to reach that many people has to be very tantalising to game developers. In fact, we're already seeing some big developers working on Facebook games of their own. Firaxis are currently developing a Facebook version of Civilization that'll be free to play and will make use of similar social features of other Facebook games.
Also drawing developers in is the business model of free to play games with micro-transactions. Making a game free to play draws in a much larger audience who may find the price tags on the shelves of game stores intimidating. Companies still need to make their money, however, and that's where micro-transactions come in. Progress is limited per day and players are given the tempting option of spending a little pocket change to get something extra out of the game. While many players will stick to playing the free content only, others may see the cost as so small and of little commitment that it's an easy decision to make a few transactions every now and then. Even if only half of the 32 million people that were playing Farmville in 2010 regularly made micro-transactions, that's still a massive amount of income for Zynga. Whether or not Firaxis and other companies developing Facebook games will follow a similar model is unclear but with the opportunity of high profits in a market that is mostly untouched by their usual gaming products, it's difficult to find a reason why they wouldn't.
Specialisation
Of course, this means very little to us gamers as we prefer a little more complexity in our games that Facebook just doesn't offer. However, the focus on social networking may have quite an influence on the next generation of consoles. For a long time, multiplayer has been used as a way of increasing the longevity and overall value for money of games and the increasing online integration in our consoles and PC gaming platforms has made multiplayer much more accessible to players. We may very well find games moving beyond the simple feed-updating tools that exist now and into online services that are more dependent on social networking ideals.
That doesn't necessarily mean we'll be logging into Facebook when we switch our consoles on. Facebook and Twitter, while popular, are not focused on any particular audience and contain many features that just wouldn't work well with a console's online service, to the point where it could even be frustrating to have to put up with it. Sony and Microsoft (and Nintendo, depending on how much online integration their next console has) may benefit from designing their own exclusive social networks. The next PSN and Xbox Live could end up closely resembling Facebook, only catered to gamers.
The advantages to games companies would mostly be to do with advertising. For starters, with a news feed feature game developers would have a much easier way to deliver news of updates and upcoming downloadable content releases, keeping players interested in their products. Users talking about games or posting updates of their achievements could be followed by a 'learn more about this game' button that conveniently links to the game's page on the online store. Of course, with social networks you also have the most powerful advertising tool there is; word of mouth. Games that are trending in conversation or receiving a lot of 'likes' are likely to create a lot of buzz and increased interest that could lead to a boom in sales.
Not All Doom and Dislike
But what's in it for us? So far I've painted a picture of corporations rubbing their hands together in glee as we're led to line their pockets with cash by their automated sale-making system. Thankfully, we could get a lot out of social networking too. We'd get more tools to share our finest gaming moments by being able to share screenshots and videos of our antics. With activity feeds we'd be able to flaunt our achievements more than ever before. Finding like-minded people who enjoy the same types of games as you would be easy and there'd be the potential for tools that allow you to arrange multiplayer events with your friends.
Recommendations of games could be offered by looking at your most played games and pointing out titles that you may also enjoy. Yes, this is another way you could be fooled into emptying your wallet but it could also be a way of finding some of those lesser known gems that usually get overlooked.
How Close Are We?
Some companies are already dabbling in this concept. Bioware have a social network for their own games that includes many of the features mentioned. Due to the limited amount of games that use social networks such as this, it's unlikely that they'll be successful with anyone other than hardcore fans of the developer in question. Steam is probably one of the closest platforms we have so far that resembles the social network that online gaming services might become. It has news feeds, friends, groups, community forums and event planning, as well as a wish list and gifting system that, once again, promotes sales of games. Since it supports releases from a wide variety of publishers and is already a good template for a social network, Valve shouldn't find any difficulty in keeping up with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo if this is the route they take.
Like it or not, social networking is big right now and is just waiting to spread to other mediums. The potential for its success on games consoles and in PC gaming all depends on how it is handled by respective games companies. Too much of the advertising aspect and it could result in a lot of resentment from those who have been gaming for several generations. A balance between profit for the company and benefit to the gamer will be vital. It'll be interesting to see just how much of the social networking craze makes its way into future generations of gaming, especially in the next one that's set to occur during the current height of the frenzy.
The Rise of Facebook Games - So Many Lost Cows
Games companies are turning their attention towards social networking more and more. And why wouldn't they? The popularity of Facebook and Twitter has exploded in the last 5 years. There are millions of people using both services, meaning a lot of potential consumers outside of the existing gaming audience. In particular, the success of Facebook games must have turned a fair few heads. Back in March 2010, 32 million people were playing Farmville on a daily basis. That's 3 times the amount of subscribers World of Warcraft has and that's already considered a huge market. Being able to reach that many people has to be very tantalising to game developers. In fact, we're already seeing some big developers working on Facebook games of their own. Firaxis are currently developing a Facebook version of Civilization that'll be free to play and will make use of similar social features of other Facebook games.
Also drawing developers in is the business model of free to play games with micro-transactions. Making a game free to play draws in a much larger audience who may find the price tags on the shelves of game stores intimidating. Companies still need to make their money, however, and that's where micro-transactions come in. Progress is limited per day and players are given the tempting option of spending a little pocket change to get something extra out of the game. While many players will stick to playing the free content only, others may see the cost as so small and of little commitment that it's an easy decision to make a few transactions every now and then. Even if only half of the 32 million people that were playing Farmville in 2010 regularly made micro-transactions, that's still a massive amount of income for Zynga. Whether or not Firaxis and other companies developing Facebook games will follow a similar model is unclear but with the opportunity of high profits in a market that is mostly untouched by their usual gaming products, it's difficult to find a reason why they wouldn't.
Specialisation
Of course, this means very little to us gamers as we prefer a little more complexity in our games that Facebook just doesn't offer. However, the focus on social networking may have quite an influence on the next generation of consoles. For a long time, multiplayer has been used as a way of increasing the longevity and overall value for money of games and the increasing online integration in our consoles and PC gaming platforms has made multiplayer much more accessible to players. We may very well find games moving beyond the simple feed-updating tools that exist now and into online services that are more dependent on social networking ideals.
That doesn't necessarily mean we'll be logging into Facebook when we switch our consoles on. Facebook and Twitter, while popular, are not focused on any particular audience and contain many features that just wouldn't work well with a console's online service, to the point where it could even be frustrating to have to put up with it. Sony and Microsoft (and Nintendo, depending on how much online integration their next console has) may benefit from designing their own exclusive social networks. The next PSN and Xbox Live could end up closely resembling Facebook, only catered to gamers.
The advantages to games companies would mostly be to do with advertising. For starters, with a news feed feature game developers would have a much easier way to deliver news of updates and upcoming downloadable content releases, keeping players interested in their products. Users talking about games or posting updates of their achievements could be followed by a 'learn more about this game' button that conveniently links to the game's page on the online store. Of course, with social networks you also have the most powerful advertising tool there is; word of mouth. Games that are trending in conversation or receiving a lot of 'likes' are likely to create a lot of buzz and increased interest that could lead to a boom in sales.
Not All Doom and Dislike
But what's in it for us? So far I've painted a picture of corporations rubbing their hands together in glee as we're led to line their pockets with cash by their automated sale-making system. Thankfully, we could get a lot out of social networking too. We'd get more tools to share our finest gaming moments by being able to share screenshots and videos of our antics. With activity feeds we'd be able to flaunt our achievements more than ever before. Finding like-minded people who enjoy the same types of games as you would be easy and there'd be the potential for tools that allow you to arrange multiplayer events with your friends.
Recommendations of games could be offered by looking at your most played games and pointing out titles that you may also enjoy. Yes, this is another way you could be fooled into emptying your wallet but it could also be a way of finding some of those lesser known gems that usually get overlooked.
How Close Are We?
Some companies are already dabbling in this concept. Bioware have a social network for their own games that includes many of the features mentioned. Due to the limited amount of games that use social networks such as this, it's unlikely that they'll be successful with anyone other than hardcore fans of the developer in question. Steam is probably one of the closest platforms we have so far that resembles the social network that online gaming services might become. It has news feeds, friends, groups, community forums and event planning, as well as a wish list and gifting system that, once again, promotes sales of games. Since it supports releases from a wide variety of publishers and is already a good template for a social network, Valve shouldn't find any difficulty in keeping up with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo if this is the route they take.
Like it or not, social networking is big right now and is just waiting to spread to other mediums. The potential for its success on games consoles and in PC gaming all depends on how it is handled by respective games companies. Too much of the advertising aspect and it could result in a lot of resentment from those who have been gaming for several generations. A balance between profit for the company and benefit to the gamer will be vital. It'll be interesting to see just how much of the social networking craze makes its way into future generations of gaming, especially in the next one that's set to occur during the current height of the frenzy.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (08/05/2011)
Civilization V
I'm still cracking on with the game I was playing last week but I seem to have reached the 'mop up' stage where I'm almost guaranteed to win. My massive armies of musketmen and cannons have been unbeatable so far and upgrading them to foreign legion units and artillery is going to bring the world to its knees.
This assured victory has come a little early for my liking. I seem to remember the AI opponents putting up at least a moderate fight in the later stages of Civilization IV but since I started my world conquest in my current Civ V game, I've done nothing but steamroll my enemies. There were some issues with the AI's performance in war when the game was first released which has since been tweaked in numerous patches. Hopefully it's just a case of the difficulty setting being too low. I think I'll try moving up to Emperor level (2 above medium) for my next game and see how it goes.
World of Warcraft
My other half returned from Easter break this week so we've re-entered Azeroth for more leveling goodness. We weren't really feeling it with our goblins, mostly due to the classes we picked, so we've started a couple of Tauren instead. It's strange that I've never leveled a Tauren before; I've loved the race and their lore ever since Thrall first bumped into them in Warcraft 3. I've leveled a Shaman up to about 70 before but I decided to start a new one anyway since it's a class I enjoy and Cataclysm has refreshed the leveling experience for most, if not all, classes.
Infamous
I've been meaning to start this all week but didn't get round to it until Friday evening. So far I'm not really sure what to make of it. The story is mildy interesting but the characters seem quite shallow. Cole, the main protagonist, is particularly one-dimensional, sporting a typical 'hardened badass' persona. Perhaps it's intended for you to fill in the blanks yourself with the good/evil decisions the game presents you with. Either way, I am only about 2-3 hours into it so there's still plenty of time for some character development.
The gameplay is pretty fun. After Assassin's Creed 2 it's quite comforting that I'm still able to climb up buildings and run along rooftops. I think seeing all those tall buildings and having to stick to the ground might have brought about feelings of withdrawal. The powers are also interesting and I like the electricity theme. It seems the developers have put some thought into how the electrical properties of Cole react with the game environment. I wondered why I died so quickly when I first jumped into a pool of water before realising I'd apparently forgotten basic physics. Trial and error; it's how I play.
The Sims Medieval
Despite telling myself I was out of the Sims addiction cycle for a while and also that I didn't need to buy any more games right now, I still 'accidentally' wandered into Game this weekend and purchased The Sims Medieval (the collector's edition, no less).
It's so good to see that The Sims has finally admitted that it's a closet RPG. Even though I'm still having to feed my Sims and let them sleep at night, I'm spending most of the time completing requirements for quests. That's right, quests! Quests with rewards, experience and gear! The Sims finally has a point.
I was concerned that this game was just going to be The Sims 3 with different skins and occupations but after spending quite a lot of time with it this afternoon, I feel that this is a fully justified standalone Sims title. A good first impression, then.
What's Next?
I hear Infamous is quite short so I might get it finished this week. That is, unless Civ V retains its titan-like grip on me (which it probably will). Then there's the fact that I've just started a whole new Sims game with a ton of things still to discover. It's a wonder I get any games finished at all with the hour-killing stuff I get into.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Review: Portal 2
Release Date: Steam: April 19, 2011, Retail: NA: April 19, 2011, EU/AUS: April 21, 2011
Developed By: Valve Corporation
Genre: First-person Puzzle
Platforms: PC, Mac, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Platform Reviewed: PC
Developed By: Valve Corporation
Genre: First-person Puzzle
Platforms: PC, Mac, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Platform Reviewed: PC
Fear not, this review will not contain spoilers. Any plot points mentioned here were revealed by Valve in trailers prior to the game's release.
The fact that I've felt it necessary to assure readers that this review will be spoiler free speaks volumes about the powerful effect Portal had on the gaming community. All over social networking sites and gaming forums people are being extra vigilant in what they read about Portal 2, begging those that have completed the game not to blurt out any details of its story. Portal received huge amounts of praise for the combination of its unique logical puzzle-solving gameplay and its brilliantly intelligent and witty story-telling, despite a confined setting with just one speaking character. The element of surprise was a core part of the Portal experience so it stands to reason that gamers have been looking forward to having the sequel throw everything they couldn't possibly have expected at them.
GlaDOS and Aperture Science have left a lasting impression on the gaming community. Portal 2, then, has the extremely daunting task of remaining absolutely true to the fiction and personality of its predecessor while introducing new elements to keep it from becoming 'just a sequel'. Almost immediately it's apparent that the story goes much deeper than in the first game as you're introduced to a new character in the first few minutes. Already the dynamic has shifted; Chell, the silent woman you'll once again be playing as, is no longer alone with GlaDOS. There's much more of a narrative this time round with some rather delicious and completely 'out there' plot twists that will genuinely keep you guessing as to how it's all going to unravel.
This is supported by the return of the dark humour that made the first game so memorable, with a well-written script complimented by fantastic voice acting. GlaDOS remains as chillingly menacing as ever, while the new characters are introduced with equally strong personalities. No one character ever steals the spotlight and it's likely you'll come out of the game finding it difficult to pick a favourite, as they each have a substantial effect on you in their own way. It's also interesting to see Aperture Science itself given a little more attention by allowing you to explore its history, but at the same time, you're not given so much that it loses any of the mystery that makes it such an intriguing company.
The voice actors for Portal 2 have been well chosen for their respective characters. Timing and delivery are spot on and allow for some genuine laugh-out-loud moments while at other times sending shivers down your spine.
Also noticeable is the increase in music over the original. The score includes a range of ambient background music as well as appropriately dramatic pieces for some of the more eventful moments. An interesting touch is the extra musical elements that are injected into the overall theme when interacting with specific objects in the game's environment. Even though they occur at the moment you perform a certain action, they somehow feel like they're a natural part of the music.
After becoming enthralled by the introduction and being taken back into the laboratory you've previously grown to love (and fear), you could be forgiven for almost forgetting that there's an actual game to play here too. Portal laid the foundations of a simple premise that facilitated some truly complex logic problems. For those that missed out, Portal and its sequel equip you with a device that allows you to place two portals on certain surfaces within the Aperture laboratories. Enter one of the portals and you exit through the other. It's simple, but add in puzzle elements such as blocks, buttons and lasers and you end up with some wonderfully tricky but logical conundrums. Portal 2 gives you a quick reminder as to how your portals work in some 'classic' test chambers before moving on to the new mechanics designed to further test your brain-power.
Like the story, the gameplay of Portal is fragile. Mess with it too much and you could end up losing whatever it was that made it work so well. Thankfully, Valve have struck a good balance of quantity and quality as only a handful of new elements are introduced, each working very well with the existing tools at hand. Some of the test chambers are truly devious and getting into the 'thinking with portals mindset' is definitely required to come up with solutions. There are plenty of those satisfying moments where, after you've been looking around a test chamber, prodding buttons and scratching your head for some time, it all suddenly clicks into place in your mind as you exclaim a triumphant "Oh... I get it!"
The single-player mode clocks in at around 7-8 hours, give or take depending on how many times you find yourself stumped. This may seem short for a full priced game that has been in development for so long but when I reached the end, it felt about right. It's clear that every one of those hours has been lovingly crafted as the game is consistently enjoyable throughout. Furthermore, any longer and it might have run out of steam* as the story could only tease you so for so long before rewarding you with a conclusion. It's also best to play Portal 2 in sessions of a couple of hours at a time as thinking with portals can be mentally taxing if engaged in for too long.
If you've got a Portal playing friend to bring along, Portal 2 offers a cooperative mode that, thankfully, never feels tacked on. Entering this mode makes you realise just how 'meant to be' cooperative Portal gameplay is. The addition of another player with an extra two portals allows for some interesting twists on the puzzles you experience in the single-player mode. The thought process that's usually confined to your mind now becomes a back and forth conversation of collective thinking, as you each work together to come up with a solution. Though voice chat is highly recommended, you're given tools, such as a countdown timer and the ability to place a marker where you want a portal creating, to facilitate the basic communication you'll need to get by. There's no less of the charm that makes the single-player great either, as GlaDOS is along for the ride once again to offer much needed sarcastic masochism.
Every now and then a sequel comes along that feels more like an important event than just a video game. Portal 2 is one such sequel. The original saw such huge popularity that the follow-up had to be no less than superior in every single way. Valve have excelled in pulling this off and it was a genuine pleasure to be able to experience a game that has had such a powerful emotional impact on myself and hopefully, many others.
Rating: 10/10
*Not a pun. Too predictable.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
This Week, I 'Ave Been Mostly Playing... (01/05/2011)
Assassin's Creed 2
It turns out the platinum trophy in this game is very easy to get. Only a couple of sessions following completion and three trophies remain. I need to grab all 100 of the feathers dotted about the cities and find a few more of the glyphs as part of the intriguing 'Truth' side story. I'm looking forward to seeing the conclusion to that one.
The combat trophies were a little too irritating for my liking. Trying to throw dust in the faces of four guards at a time proved difficult when they were all busy relentlessly poking me with swords. Sweeping five guards at once with a long weapon was even more difficult because you had to actually find a guard with a long weapon to begin with. Thankfully, the rest of the trophies have been a little more enjoyable. The assassins' tombs in particular are a lot of fun, especially those with timed climbing sections; they were a refreshing challenge in a game that's mostly easy.
The Sims 3
I finally got my ghost-busting Sim to the highest level of his profession. Unfortunately, I seem to have come to end of another Sims addiction cycle. Once or twice a year I'll get a sudden urge to create a new Sim and I'll play it solidly for two or three weeks. When I get to the point where my Sim is at the top of his or her career and rolling in cash, my motivation to play drops considerably. The beginning of a new cycle usually coincides with the purchase of an expansion pack, so I'll probably return to it when Generations hits the shelves.
Civilization V
Whereas I've recovered from my Sims addiction for the moment, I've caught full on Civ fever in its place. It's been a few months since I last played and a few patches have been released since then. There's a very noticeable improvement in the balance of the game. Production speed seems to have quickened to a point where it feels reasonable and balancing happiness and gold seems much more possible now.
I'm in the Renaissance era of my current game and both my happiness and economy have stayed in the positive all the way up to this point. This has by no means made the game too easy; the reason I've had such success is because I've aggressively pursued a strong economy, while at the same time sacrificing my potential military power. My AI opponents have tried to take advantage of this by attempting to 'pick me off' but with my powerful infrastructure and gold reserves, I've at least been able to build up a competent defensive force to hold them off. Now, I'm on my way to victory as all this preparation has resulted in an empire that can crank out the most advanced units very quickly. Domination of my opponents will be swift.
I love it when a plan comes together and that's exactly why I play Civilization.
Portal 2
This week I finished off the cooperative mode. It's incredible just how well Portal style puzzles lend themselves to cooperative gameplay. I've had a real blast with it. That's all I'm going to say for now since I'll be writing a full review for my next post, though I will point out that no matter how many more steps Atlas has taken, P-Body will always be the superior droid.
What's Next?
I've got a copy of Infamous waiting for me to play it, so I'll be starting that this week. I've heard some good things about it and with the sequel set for release next month, I thought I'd play it and make sure I don't fall behind on yet another series (Another Assassin's Creed game rumoured so soon? I've only just finished the second one!).
Other than that, more Civ. If PSN comes back up, maybe I'll grab those last few Assassin's Creed 2 trophies so that I have another platinum to show off.
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