Saturday, December 25, 2010

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Review

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is the third game in the NFS series to carry the Hot Pursuit subtitle.  Unlike the other games, which were developed by various internal EA studios, this interation of Hot Pursuit was developed by Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout Series (though studio DICE helped with world building).  As with the other two games in this subset, the emphasis is placed entirely on driving various exotic supercars as either racers or police.  By exotic supercars, this reviewer means racing specced vehicles from well known manufacturers, most of which only hardcore car nuts will have even heard of.  But they are all licensed real world vehicles.  Point of fact, the game’s tagline is  "All the cars you dreamed of driving, in the way you dreamed of driving them."  The Racer vehicles are available in most of their real world paint schemes, while the Police variants have Police specific paint, sirens and lights, and other equipment.

The events and progression is split between Racer and Police campaigns.  Racer events are the typical arcade style events of Racing and Time Trials, both standard styles and against AI controlled Police.  Playing as the police takes those events and turns them slightly on their ear.  Racing becomes around stopping them, while Time Trials have an added amount of precision, with penalties for sloppy driving.  

NFS:HP is not a simulation game in any way, but since it is using real world vehicles, it is not entirely an arcade affair, like Criterion’s previous title, Burnout Paradise.  The emphasis is on driving the cars fast and completing the objective.  As such, there is no vehicle performance tweaking, nor any paint, emblem, and decal editting, or even any cosmetic after-market parts.  Paint colors are limited to white and blue/green for Police, and manufacturer available colors for the Racers, which are different for every vehicle.  With the nature of the game’s progression, players will be changing vehicles often until they are all unlocked, so no tweaking is okay, but allowing players to make universally appliable custom paint and decal skins, at least on the Racer side, would be nice.

How does it play though?  Very similar to the events in Burnout Paradise.   The vehicles start off very light on the control, but become much tighter as the vehicle specs increase.  Tighter controls are needed to control them at higher speeds, though they end up a bit squirrely during acceleration.  Drifting comes into play as the best way for making tight turns, shortcuts allow multiple paths that are not always actually shorter.  All cars have Nitrous systems, with filling it coming primarily from drifting, drafting (called slipstreaming), and driving dangerously.  The nitrous is incredibly important for quickly accelerating to speed after turns and crash resets, regardless of vehicle.  Basic controls are responsive, and require a fair amount of skill to be successful.

If there was any problem with NFS, it is the same problem most other racing games seem to have, and that is rubberbanding AI.  The player is never really allowed an opportunity to get and stay ahead of the competition by any significant margin, while making nearly impossible to catch up should the player get very far behind.  It is incredibly annoying, on the Racer side, to be far ahead of a pursuing Police car only to have it suddenly burst ahead, faster than the vehicle is capable of, so that it can drop a Spike Strip in front of the player.

To help set NFS apart from other arcade style underground racing games, Criterion added in special equipment.  The core takedown (ramming) mechanic from Burnout and the other Hot Pursuit titles returns.  In some missions that include both Racers and Police, the players are outfitted with up to 4 special weapons to aid in event completion.  These include Spike Strips and EMP launchers.  Additionally, the Racers receive Radar Jammers and Turbo Boosters, while the Police receive Roadblocks and Helicopters.  They all add a dynamic element to the races where they are included.  Limited uses and recharge times keep them from becoming overpowered, as the limited number of uses will usually not even be enough, thus requiring ramming and skillful driving, especially in the later events.  The AI is aggressive and tenacious in any case, able to use the same equipment as well as actively try to dodge it.

Graphically, NFS is impressive.  While the models are not as impressive as the premium models in other recent games, they are more than good enough.  These are the world’s hottest cars looking their absolute best.  Where the cars do not look their best is during crashes.  One of the downsides of using licensed vehicles for game such as this is that the manufacturers do not want them looking bad at any time, while the nature of the game requires it.  It appears that the concession made was that Criterion was allowed to show damage, just not realistic damage modelling.  As such the damage model is the same on every car:  paint scratching, broken windows, and a hanging bumper.  The lighting effects are good as well, headlights and Police lights are dynamic, reflecting off all close objects, from cars to the environments.  The world itself, the city-less Seacrest County, is nice, but rather boring.  There is technically more roadway than in Criterion’s previous game, but without the city or possibility of non-shortcut branching paths, the player will have seen the entire map by the time they are halfway through either campaign, and some areas are repeated in events more often than others too.

The cars all sound impressive, though this reviewer is unsure how close to the actual vehicles they sound like.  Tires one pavement and off-road are different, Police sirens have an authentic wail to them as well.  Hits and crashes have a satisfying crunch to them as well.  The only downside is the soundtrack.  It is almost entirely licensed music, none of which are all that memorable, except maybe “Edge of the Earth” by “30 Seconds to Mars”, and then only because it is used on the title screen, everything else is largely drowned out by the car and siren sounds, at default volume and viewpoint settings.

Probably the big change from previous NFS games is the Autolog.  As with many things, Criterion has learned from their work on Burnout Paradise, in this case the online functionality.    NFS has no free-roaming in terms of finding and starting events, they cannot do quick, drop-in/drop-out play,  What they can do is bring other aspects in, namely the syncing of event  results, rank progress, screenshots, and comments between friends lists, as well as making it easy to add people to the friends list.  Basically, for every event completed, the best times and scores for that event are posted both to the standard online leaderboards, and a friends leaderboard that is always displayed on the event select screen.  In Autolog messages are sent when one player beats another’s time/score, and comments can be posted on them.  The idea is supposed to be along the lines of an ingame Facebook.

There is also online play.  Game types include all Racer races, and various Racer vs. Police types.  This reviewer has not played any of the online modes, and is unable to properly write about them.

All in all, Need For Speed:  Hot Pursuit is an excellent  game.  It offers great arcade style racing with top notch visuals and an incredible sense of speed.  It is a great counterpoint to the more simulation based Gran Turismo and Forza series.  If arcade style racing games are your forte, this is a recommended buy.

Score:  9/10

Pros:
Large collection of the world’s fastest cars
Autolog keeps players in competition with their friends
Great sense of speed

Cons:
Rubberbanding AI
Limited environment

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Disney Epic Mickey Review

Mickey Mouse was not the first character created by Walt Disney.  Some time earlier, when he was contracted to Universal Studios, he created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  However, dissatisfaction with his superior caused him to leave Universal, leading to the start of his own studio, and the creation of Mickey Mouse.  Mickey’s popularity grew, while Oswald was soon left by the wayside, and ultimately forgotten...

Until recently, when Disney Studios reacquired ownership of Oswald as part of a contract negotiation.  Designer Warren Spector, a self-admitted Disney-phile, knew of Oswald, and was determined to bring him back to the world.  He made Oswald one of the cornerstones of Disney Epic Mickey, a game envisioned as part of Disney Studio’s attempt to update Mickey for modern audiences.

In Disney Epic Mickey, the player plays as a retro looking version of Mickey Mouse.  As the story goes, before his rise to fame, Mickey wanders into the workshop of Yen Sid (the sorcerer from Fantasia).  Yen Sid is using a magical paintbrush to create home for those things that have been forgotten.  After he retires, Mickey attempts to create something with the magic paintbrush, and fails spectacularly, instead creating a creature of ink.  Mickey escapes, and some time later, the Inkblot comes and pulls Mickey into Yen Sid’s creation.

The creation Mickey is pulled into is the Wasteland, an idealized version of Disneyland that is home to all of Disney’s old and forgotten characters, primarily ones that most people of the current generation have probably never heard of.  The Wasteland is ruled over by the longest forgotten Disney character of them, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  But Mickey’s inadvertent creation has laid waste to Wasteland, while Oswald grows further jealous of his predecessor, ruling Wasteland from a literal mountain of old, forgotten Mickey Mouse merchandise.

DEM’s most successful feature is the art design.  All the characters and settings have that bright, friendly, retro-Disney charm, except where the blot has taken away the paint.  These areas instead take on a dark and demented look that could easily be cribbing the styles of Tim Burton or Jhonen Vasquez (in a good way).  These differeing visual styles create an interesting dichotomy, as the areas are placed together.  This works with the game’s paint/thinner mechanic in that the areas that can be affected are clearly delineated.  When thinner is used on bright areas, color, as well as portions of the environment are removed, and the remaining area matches the unpainted portions in color and style.  Adding paint to those unpainted areas returns them to their former color.  Some cinematics use the in game engine, but many others use a unique, stylized, limited animation that captures a unique art style that this reviewer has trouble describing.

Also of note is the 2D stages.  When transitioning between zones, Mickey must travel through projector screens set up throughout the Wasteland.  Inside the screens are 2D sidescrolling levels that are based on classic Disney cartoons, from early Oswald up to Fantasia.

Sound design is also very good.  No character speaks, except for Yen Sid, who provides the narration for the opening and closing cinemas, but most of the characters have some basic vocalizations to represent them.  While simple, the vocalizations are enough to add alot of character.  The music is primarily modern arrangements of classic Disney tunes, with a small number of original tracks that complement those quite nicely.  As with many of the characters, this reviewer is not a follower of classic Disney minutiae, and thus does not know which were which or if they were right.  They simply sounded good and fit with the visuals properly.

Where the game falls apart, however, is the gameplay itself.  It is not the only issue, but the first, and definitely foremost problem is the camera.  DEM makes an excellent first impression with the opening cinematic, but makes a terrible second impression when the player reaches the first area where actual camera control is needed.  As the game is primarily a platformer, the camera rarely ever reaches positions conducive for it without alot of struggling with Wii-mote d-pad, which takes the place of the right thumbstick on other controllers.  Often the camera turns slower than desired, except during combat, where it actually seems to swing around quickly enough to keep enemies in view.  The big offenders though, are that the camera often gets caught on scenery, and that in some areas the camera is completely locked.  This is okay during the 2D stages, that is how they were made after all, but in 3D areas, the camera is often placed at terrible angles.  The developer often intends that the player will go left or right from the static position, when many times the player will probably not.

The camera never truly makes the game unplayable, but struggling with it mars the experience more than any of the game’s other faults.  Warren Spector has stated that the game is an action-RPG with some platforming, but he obviously does not know what kind of game his team made.  Sure, there are action elements, but RPG is minimal at best, and the game is primarily platforming.  A camera that cannot swing around quickly and constantly gets stuck on scenery is not okay.  Why is the camera doing that anyway?  Getting caught on scenery may still happen today, but it has not been a significant issue in any game type since the N64/PS1 era.  Most developers have learned how to let the camera move through or, should it get caught, around scenery quickly to help avoid issues such as this.

Thankfully, controlling is generally okay.  Movement and jumping work well.  Mickey can run, jump, and double-jump as well as he needs to.  Most any jumping issues are do to the camera, except in the 2D stages, which have minor hit detection problems on platforms.  Painting and thinning is aimed by an onscreen cursor.  The stream follows the cursor very well, but the cursor does not travel across the screen as smoothly as it should.  As well, the paint stream originates from Mickey, and he fires from the hip.  While the player may be able to see the target onscreen, if Mickey cannot, then he will not be able to hit it, which is especially difficult when the player has to fire at targets below Mickey.  Firing at high targets is, again, made difficult by camera positioning.

Finally, there is the paint and thinner mechanic itself.  It is both a means of affecting the world, but also plays into a morality system that determines how other NPCs act towards Mickey.  Paint restores objects, while thinner destroys them.  This is interesting, except that its very binary.  Only certain areas of the world can be painted and thinned, the rest are static in their thinned state.  It makes for some interesting puzzles, as well as additional danger during combat.

The related morality system, on the other hand, does not really exist.  It is supposed to be based around completion of some sidequests and how the bosses are defeated, but has no effective ingame purpose.  It does not change anything significant.  Rather, it is more of an excuse to cover up the fact that the paint/thinner mechanic allows for two ways to solve almost all problems in the game, from combat to puzzles.  Paint makes enemies friendly, thinner will destroy them.  Paint will unlock the secret door in the wall, thinner will find a way to simply break the wall down.  It is a good mechanic, it simply is not taken as far as it should be.

Really, the saving grace of Disney Epic Mickey is the story.  Its rather simple, but still a well written and executed morality tale.  Mickey did something wrong, and it is up to him to try and set things right, and escape Wasteland, potentially leaving it better or worse off than it was.  The plot arc involving Oswald is interesting as well, how he had to try to fix Mickey’s mess and hold the Wasteland together in the interim, all the while growing more jealous of Mickey’s otherwise easy life up until then.

In the end, as Disney Epic Mickey went on, it got better.  That initial second impression after that opening cinema was very off-putting, with the camera being the primary culprit.  That problem never goes away, but this reviewer learned that it was just better to try to ignore except during combat.  Really, this is a great story trapped in an average game.  This is a game that could have lived up to its hype, and a couple more months in development could have gotten it there.


Score:  6/10

Pros:  Art design
Strong Story
Large amounts of unlockable content, including two classic Disney cartoons

Cons:
The camera is terrible
The morality system is inconsequential
Paint and thinner mechanic is somewhat limited

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Donkey Kong Country Review

When Retro Studio finished their work on the Metroid Prime series, they went silent for a very long time, working on a secret project.  Speculations ranged from non-Metroid based side-stories within the Metroid universe to the revival of one of their original titles before production of Metroid Prime 1, to a totally new IP.  No one was expecting the announcement at the 2010 E3 that they were working on a retro-revival project, Donkey Kong Country Returns, a reboot of the SNES franchise originally developed by Rare.

As with previous entries in the series, DKCR begins on the island, with all of Donkey and Diddy Kong’s bananas being stolen.  Only this time, instead of the reptilian kremlings being the thieves, a meteor falling from the sky releases musical tiki creatures from the island’s volcano that brainwash the animals to do it for them.  They even try to do it to the heroes, and get pummeled for it.  That’s all anyone needs to know about the story, the rest is unimportant.

Graphically, DKCR is impressive.  The same general art style as the original series is kept, while successfully making the transition from prerendered sprites to full 3d characters and environments.  Each section of the island has its own general theme, from the starting jungle stages, to the beach, factory, and volcano, to name a few.  In keeping with each style, the backgrounds often have a lot of activity in the main area, as well as in the background, some areas even using the backgrounds to create multi-plained stages.  Often the scrolling nature of the 3d backgrounds allows for some interesting perspective shifts, and there are several easter eggs hidden there too.

Sound design is adequate.  Basic sound effects seemed to be pulled from the original series and rerecorded.  Music are modern remixes of the original music as well.  There really is not anything to say, good or bad about it.

Gameplay is standard platforming.  Running, jumping, navigating through stages designed to test the skill of players.  As with the original, Donkey Kong still has his roll maneuver and ground slap abilities, which can allow longer jumps, stun enemies, and solve some basic environmental puzzles.  Diddy Kong is along too, this time riding along Donkey Kong’s back instead of running behind him.  Diddy Kong has a jetpack which serves as a way of extending jumps for an additional second or so, and as a safety net as jump distances often seem to be a bit deceiving.  Diddy also has a peanut gun, but it is only usable in 2-player mode, which this reviewer did not play, as the player cannot switch control between the two anymore.

Additionally, there are more collectibles this time around.  Originally, there were only bananas, which served the same function as coins in the Super Mario series (collect 100, get and extra life), balloons (extra life), and the K-O-N-G letters (collect all four letters in each stage for an extra life).  Added in DKCR are banana coins, used for buying items at the shop, and puzzle pieces.  The K-O-N-G letters no longer grant extra lives, but instead act similarly to the added puzzle pieces, and grant unlockable music and concept art if all within a stage are collected.

All of the K-O-N-G letters are placed out in the open, but are often placed in difficult to reach places.  Deaths cause the player to lose any they collected since the last checkpoint reached in the stage.  The Jigsaw pieces, however, are always hiddens.  Often they are hidden behind often obvious foreground scenery, poundable objects, from collecting a specific set of bananas, and as a reward for completing the secret rooms.  The secret rooms make a return, but they are not as interesting, as there are only about five or six rooms that are repeated throughout the entire game.  The jigsaw pieces at least do not have to be recollected after death, as long as the stage is completed without having to use a continue.

As mentioned, there are now banana coins, which are used to at the new shop.  Aside from Donkey and Diddy, Cranky Kong is the only other Kong character to appear, the rest seeming to have been excised, and he runs this shop.  The coins can buy multiple balloons, and single use items such as the parrot (finds jigsaw pieces), a heart container (additional health point for the stage), banana juice (10-hit invincibility), and a key (unlocks an alternate stage in each area).  Aside from the banana juice, which can potentially kill the difficulty of the bosses, there is nothing game breaking, as the balloons can be lost quickly, and the other items are one-shots.  Coins are plentiful enough that any used item can be replenished easily.

If there is one word this writer had to describe DKCR, it would be “hard”.  DKCR is long stages that can have long difficult sections between checkpoints, with several seconds and sometimes long stretches of progress lost.  Its often difficult to tell how far into the stage the player aside from the ever present K-O-N-G letters.  Some stages have one checkpoint, some two, and the distance between them is often  inconsistent.  As well, while a Diddy Kong barrel is usually placed near the checkpoints, but sometimes there is some platforming between the two, with the problem being that the platforming difficulty seems to be tuned to having Diddy with you at all times, the additional safety net of his jetpack making difficult jumps slightly safer.

Also, the minecart stages return, and are accompanied by new rocket-barrel stages.  There are many difficult portions of the game, but often times that difficulty is increased from trying to reach the collectibles.  The minecart and rocket-barrel stages break from the basic platforming gameplay and into automatically scrolling areas of rote pattern memorization, where a single miss is an instant death, and the uneven spacing of checkpoints truly becomes noticeable.  There are some minor branches that can be taken, but there is basically one critical path that must be followed, or the player is thrown back to the checkpoint.  These stages, while the most dynamic, are also among the most frustratingly difficult stages in the game.
One of the other iffy things about the difficulty is the controls.  This is a game where the inclusion of motion control is particularly contentious.  Simply, it is required where it should not be.  DKCR is supposed to be an homage back to the original SNES DKC, and that was a three-button game, this is a two-button-with-waggle game.  Where in the original, important moves like the roll and ground pound were mapped to the d-pad and button, those moves are mapped to d-pad and waggle.  While it works okay for the ground pound, it is impractical for the roll, and consequently the roll-jump, which is an important move for grabbing collectibles in each stage.  Even nearly finished with the game, this writer still has not quite gotten used to it.  There is no Classic Controller support.  Every major outlet, when DKCR was shown off at E3, told Retro Studio that support needed to be included.  The fact that they did not was probably a choice made by Nintendo and its want for a consistent marketing message with the string of 2D retro-revival games for the Wii, despite DKC having been an SNES game as opposed to NES.  Wii-remote and Nunchuk combo is also a control option, but this reviewer did not use it.

Being a retro-revival, the purpose is to restart a franchise by harkening back to its original fanbase, while at the same time creating a new take on the franchise.  After their work taking Metroid from 2D to first-person 3D, going for a 2D game is an interesting choice, but this writer has to say that they were generally successful with their efforts.  This writer say’s generally because despite being a reboot, at times it feels like a retread.  Everything is done well, but there are places where it seems to be missing that intangible thing that makes it all fit together.

Score:  8/10

Pros:
Strong, consistent art style
Great use of multi-plained stages for level design.

Cons:
No Classic Controller support.
Often feels more like a retread than a reboot.
Minecart and Rocket-Barrel stages are too difficult.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

A slightly modified version of this was originally posted here on 11/26/10, this is the original text as written.

Assassins Creed Brotherhood is a direct followup to 2009’s Assassins Creed II.  The story follows Desmond Miles, heir to the assassin legacy, as he further experiences the life of his ancestor, Ezio Auditore, literally picking up the story with the closing scene of ACII.  In a combination tutorial and Metroidvania style “abilitease”, Ezio escapes the Vactican and returns to his family’s villa, days before it is attacked and destroyed by the Papal Armies under the command of Borgia family (this is early enough in the game that it is not a spoiler).  Following the attack, Ezio escapes to Rome to take his revenge.  Meanwhile, in the real world, Desmond and co. are forced to move their operations to the now ruined Auditore villa.

Now, ACB is a direct sequel to ACII, but seeing as it does not follow a new lead character or take place in a different historical era, it isn’t really a full continuation of the AC story as much as it is an intermediary, inbetween story that, supposedly, will lead better into ACIII than simply going from ACII.  But that’s okay in this case, as there is so much here that it cannot be written off as a simple side story.  The writing is strong, the VAs from ACII reprise their roles, continuing to provide strong acting alongside the handful of new characters, including primary antagonist Cesare Borgia.  The accents in the English track continue to be believable, with the included Italian phrases helping add further authenticity to the acting.  Make no mistake, name and numbering aside, this is a necessary story in the greater overall plot of the franchise.  My only problem is a personal one, as this is effectively the end of Ezio’s story, and he was a great character.

If ACB is about anything besides the story, it is 1) the refinement of ACII in preparation for ACIII, and 2) the mulitplayer.

As for the refinement of the formula, the simplest way to explain it is this: if you (the reader) like ACII, you will like ACB.  Every refinement ACII made from AC, as well as every additional thing ACII added are here, and refined to make everything cleaner, easier, and more streamlined.  While the Auditore villa is gone, the city of Rome is essentially the new villa, and is the size of probably two of ACII’s cities mashed together.  Systems for buying and upgrading the shops are in place and are actively, there are just more of them, though you no longer have to return to central place to collect the rent, instead being able to go to the nearest bank.  ACB however contains the previous game’s problem of artificially blocking off portions of the map until certain plot events happen, keeping the player from fully exploring the world early on, if they feel like it.

The vistas are still sweeping and impressive, and the city itself contains and interesting mix of Renaissance era buildings and Roman era ruins existing in the same space.  While the graphics did seem to be a bit better than ACII, the clipping and mip-mapping plane was incredibly obvious to me at times.  To keep the city from getting too boring, the crypts make a return, but now with some additional elements beyond being simple platforming challenges, as well as several side missions have Ezio travelling to destroy warmachines created from Leonardo da Vinci’s designs, or remembering the woman he left behind in Florence (which ties into the beginning of ACII).

Combat is still based around counterattacking, but it was rebalanced to make doing them more effective.  Ezio is now able to perform chain-kills after a successful counter in a way not disimilar from Batman:  Arkham Asylum.  Enemies seem to be less difficult, with the new chaining mechanic further lowering it, and this is usually offset by the game throwing larger numbers of enemies at you.  Free-running still feels generally the same, it works but still occasionally seems slow and sometimes camera angles get in the way of making proper jumps, usually involving jumps at weird angles.

The biggest new addition to the single player is the addition of the Assassins themselves.  After a certain point in the story, Ezio is able to save civilians from enemy troops and then train them as assassins.  The training takes place as a sort of management minigame where you send the recruits on missions to gain experience and level up.  Why is it important?  Because when they are not on missions, the recruits can be called in at almost any time to take out enemy troops, appearing from shadows, hay bales, and out of sight ledges to attack.  The higher level of the recruits, the better their equipment and the more likely they can survive during combat.  With enough recruits ready at once, they can even launch a crossbow attack, killing all nearby enemies in one fell swoop.  The entire thing adds a great dynamic to the combat, and is pretty cool.

The biggest addition to ACB though, the addition that the game was practically sold on, was the inclusion of online, competitive multiplayer.  For a long time, before the beta test and tradeshows that showed it in progress, the big question was how this would work given AC’s core stealth-based gameplay, which confused even myself.  And actually, they did a good job of translating that very gameplay to a competitve multiplayer mode.

The basic premise is for all modes is Hunter/Prey, where each player hunts down a player, while being the prey for another hunter.  Now this by itself would lend to either rather chaotic killing, or cat-and-mouse hiding, depending largely on how the areas are set up.  The areas in ACB are large, open, and multi-layered, allowing for the same kind of free-running as the main game.  How the game keeps this kind of layout from getting chaotic is the inclusion of NPCs.  Lots and lots of NPCs.  Before a match starts, every player (or party leader) chooses one of the several types of avatars available to play the match as, and NPCs of almost every one of those types, including the ones chosen by each player, populate the map many times over.  The point is to find your prey and avoid your hunter among all of these roaming NPCs.

Scoring is based around being unnoticed, with increased scores for killing in many different ways except being noticed by your prey.  And there are quite a few ways to escape hunters too.  From blending into crowds, throwing smokebombs, hiding in haystacks, and simply outpacing pursuers during a chase.  Added into the mix is another multiplayer advancement structure, where higher levels grant access to different abilities and perks that only serve to make the game more interesting.

I, personally, have had alot of fun with the multiplayer mode.  It is well made, very good looking, and its impressive that the game is running so many AI’s at once, even if they are just simple pathing scripts and animations.  It has a unique style that is different from other games, and requires a skill set different from other games.  The almost requirement for patience is significantly different from the dominating first-person shooters.  In the set of Hunted mode matches I played, a team-based mode where each team takes a turn being the hunters and prey, the opposing team would equal the number of kills of my team, but lose because they don’t know how to be subtle, thus having low scoring kills.  While the abilities and perks do not cause any significant changes to the core strategies, the minor variations they allow keep things from becoming completely stale.

The downside though, is that when the kills start, things can go downhill in a matter of seconds.  With the hunter/prey style, many times one player will kill their target, only to get noticed by their hunter and killed, and so on, forcing several players to respawn very quickly.  As well, while prey cannot kill their hunters, they can stun them, but stunning them is often difficult, given the placement requirements, though I have seen some players who were proactive with stunning.  And above all, that same playstyle difference that makes the multiplayer unique will probably also keep it from staying popular in the long term, unless there is alot of DLC released on a regular schedule.  This isn’t like BioShock 2’s mulitplayer, which was unneeded, this is something truly outside the norm and can become even better with a few interations.

The bottom line is this, never mind AC, if you like ACII, you will like this.  Everything about ACII has been refined and improved, and the curious addition of multiplayer is a welcome change from the volume of military shooters out there.  I wholly recommend it.

Score:  9/10

Pros:
Training up Assassins is fun, and watching NPCs do what you do is badass.
Continued great storytelling and acting.
Multiplayer is interesting and different from most other things out there.

Cons:
Multiplayer, while good, is not for everyone.
Load times are long, even longer if the game isn’t installed on the hard drive.
Minor control issues from previous entries remain, namely camera angles causing missed jumps and reduced combat awareness.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Skyline Review

A slightly modified version of this was posted at http://wegotthiscovered.com/2010/11/14/skyline-review-a-second-opinion/ on 11/14/2010.

I remember two or three months ago when the first trailers of Skyline played in front of whatever movie it was I had gone to see that day.  Blue lights streak down from the sky in a city, causing no damage when they hit, and two people looking upwards as people around those lights get sucked upwards into what are revealed to be alien spaceships, followed by the title card.  Though I did not see them, I know that later trailers included rampaging creatures, and a massive aerial battle against those ships.  The movie looked really good.  It looked like it was worth seeing.

It was not.

There has always been a saying that producers in any visual medium put their best stuff out front to get people’s attention.  But there is usually enough things held back so that there is still something there to interest the people that shelled out their money for it.  Then there are the cases where people will say that the trailer was the only good stuff, as opposed to some of it, and this is the case with Skyline.  The people that made this definitely know how to cut a trailer together.

I suppose I’ll start at the beginning Eric Balfour (the only thing I know him from is SyFy’s Haven) plays Jarrod, a struggling “something” that’s never really specified (but I assume to be graphic designer), and his girlfriend Elaine (Scottie Thompson, who looks like a young Jerrie Ryan) flying  to Los Angelos for the birthday party of his now successful friend Terry (Donald Faison, Scrubs) whose job is also never specified (I assumed singer/songwriter, Wikipedia confirms Special Effects Producer).  During the party, Jarrod and Elaine fight about uprooting when Terry offers him a job, and Elaine reveals she is pregnant.

During the night, the blue lights start falling, and anyone who looks into them is lured in, and they disappear.  Jarrod is one of the people lured in his eyes going white and his blood vessels visibly changing color, but he is stopped before he can get close enough to be taken.  Shortly after it is revealed that anyone close to these lights is being sucked (more like vacuumed)  into the sky by several alien ships floating over the city.  The characters try several times, unsuccessfully, to escape the building, as smaller aliens slowly pick them off.

During the ordeal, the military tries to deal with the aliens.  First it sends in a flight of Predator drones running interference for a nuclear armed Stealth Bomber.  It takes down the largest of the alien ships, and things might be looking up, until the ship starts repairing itself.  Later, the military also attempts a more concerted attack using conventional fighters and airlifted infiltration teams.  But nothing stops the aliens, it was over before it even began.

I will say this flat out, this movie is not good.  The filmmaker’s purpose in creating this movie was to do a low budget, studio-less alien invasion film, and to have it center on a small group of characters caught in the middle.  Centering on small groups of characters caught in the sh-tstorm allows the filmmakers to keep information and exposition to a minimum while, bringing character development and intensity to the proceedings.  This, combined with strong writing is why “found-footage” style movies like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity have managed to be so successful.  Except this is not one of those found-footage films.

The script, actors, and setting are limited in such a way that this probably would have worked better as a shaky-cam, found-footage film.  As it stands, instead of watching as our intrepid survivors attempt daring escapes, we watch as they sit in this single apartment and themselves watch the invasion happen and occasionally fail to grasp the obvious danger that they’re in.  The characters are poorly written and acted, and fall back on several cliches that are unimportant, again considering the danger the characters find themselves in.

For example, stressed out, one of the supporting characters lights up a cigarette, after which Elaine tells her to stop, because she’s pregnant.  Seriously?  You’re hiding out in a high-rise condo, they know you’re there, your life expectancy can be realistically measured in hours, and you’re worried about a few minutes of secondhand smoke?  That is only the most egregious, but it is by no means the only example.  I realize that part of the purpose of keeping the focus small was to keep the characters in the dark and their reactions more natural, but the script written well enough for those reactions to feel even remotely natural.

Probably the one good thing about the movie is the design and special effects.  It should be, the directors own and operate the effects studio that produced Skyline, and its where 90% of its budget went.  There are many interesting things done with the design and visualizations of the alien ships.  The aliens come in many different shapes and sizes, from octopus creatures to hulking brutes, all well realized in a low-budget, pseudo biomechanical way.  The majority of them are purposely indistinct, despite the amount screen time they get, especially the octopus creatures.  The idea that the aliens would attack via something as simple as brainwashing and mass abduction instead of lasers blazing is an idea not commonly seen in science fiction.  And the idea that they extract the brains of said abductees for use as operators/batteries is, similarly, something that is very out of the ordinary for the genre.  I don’t believe I’ve seen anything similar except in a single Star Wars EU novel.

Ultimately, though, the special effects provided good footage for the trailers, but is not enough to truly save the movie.  Skyline is a science fiction invasion movie that doesn’t know what it wants to be, whether it be found-footage, character study, thriller, or disaster movie.  While there are some interesting choices in terms of the aliens themselves, the writing, acting, and overall plot are pointless, tensionless, and borderline absurd.  It is simply not a good movie, and the score I’m giving it is based entirely on the strength of the aliens and associated effects.

Score:  4/10

Pros:
Interesting alien designs
Good, if low budget, special effects
A lesson in how to do a trailer right

Cons:
Poor lighting
Unlikable characters
The ending was too long, adding a cliffhanger/sequel-hook where none was needed

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Vanquish Review

A slightly modified version of this was originally posted at http://wegotthiscovered.com/2010/11/04/vanquish-review/ on 11/4/2010.

There was a moment early in the game when I realized that Vanquish was not just a standard third person shooter.  That could have been when the Argus robot broke through the ground into the area, but that, technically, happened during a cutscene.  No, this was later in the chapter, when a ship crashed into the battlefield.  It may have been scripted, but literally crashed into the stage.  The sheer spectacle of Vanquish starts early, and doesn’t let up.

Vanquish was made by Platinum games and masterminded by Shinji Mikami (of Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, etc.).  I say masterminded because Vanquish is Shinji Mikami’s attempt to created a game caters to the Western market, while still managing to be undeniably over the top and Japanese.  Some parts even get as far as being downright insane.  The ship crash is one of the lesser events to happen.

In Vanquish ,Russian nationalists take over an American space colony, using the energy transmission system it contains to wipe out San Francisco, and threatening to do the same to New York should the US not surrender.  You play Sam Gideon, an engineer for DARPA, and lead tester for the ARS (Augmented Reaction Suit).  When the military launches a counterattack, DARPA sends Sam to rescue the developer of the ARS and colony transmission system, covering it up with the excuse of testing the suit in actual combat.

Really, the story is rather meaningless, doing nothing more than setting the stage for the long string of set pieces that make up Vanquish’s gameplay.  There is a bit of a plot-twist near the end of the game, but it comes so far out of left field that its very much a “huh?” moment, as well as the obligatory sequel hook, of course.  The ingame dialogue that moves the game along is rather bad too.  At least the VAs seem to understand that, with veteran VA Steve Blum (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) hamming it up as the ultra-gravelly voiced Sergeant Burns.  I am unable to find a full voice cast for some reason, but Sam himself is voiced by relative unknown Gideon Emery, also speaking in full gravel mode.  Ellen Ivanova sounds familiar, but I can’t place the actress offhand.

A cover based third-person shooter, Vanquish pulls its primary inspiration from Gears of War, with a healthy addition of Devil May Cry speed and style, with homages to other lesser known games.  The basic gameplay is the  same as Gears, players run around a battlefield, taking cover behind various objects, mostly conveniently placed waist-high walls to avoid enemy fire, popping out to shoot at enemies.  Sam, however, is sleeker and more mobile than his Gears counterparts.  There are not a huge number of enemy types, so the majority of differentiation is in enemy equipment and numbers.  The encounter design is built around using certain enemy types in limited spaces to make things more challenging.

Where it differentiates itself is with AR mode, and the “slide”.  AR mode can be best described as bullet-time.  When activated, it slows down time for the player, allowing them to better tune their shooting, or getting out of danger.  The slide, with a press of a button, Sam activates jets in the ARS’s legs to do what can best be described as a “rockstar slide”, propelling him around the battlefield at speeds that make the roadie run look like a snail crawling backwards.  What the combination of both of these systems does is allow the player to be significantly more mobile.  So mobile in fact, that a skilled enough player doesn’t actually need to play this cover as a cover based shooter.  The slide serves several gameplay functions as nearly every other function can be followed through after it.  It can be used to escape danger, dodge enemy fire, and move quickly into cover or melee range.  It allows for a game that is faster paced than other third person shooters, and everything feels incredibly tight.  Those tight controls are needed because the action sequences always very intense.  Even the first firefight after the opening cinema is visually overwhelming, the player needing time to simply adjust to everything that they’re seeing.

Everything works the way its supposed to, but there one of the related design choices serves to put a bit of a wrench in Vanquish’s usually frantic pace.  That choice would be the heat gauge.  Those three functions:  AR Mode, sliding, and melee are all connected to this meter.  AR mode and sliding both drain the gauge at a constant rate, while a successful melee attack drains it completely.  When the gauge is completely empty, it ends up taking several seconds to completely recharge, leaving the player without any of those abilities, almost requiring the player to take cover until it recharges.  Even more so, when Sam takes too much damage, AR Mode is automatically activated to allow the player an opportunity to take out the enemies and/or find cover, and there isn’t any way to end this manually, the player has to wait for the gauge to deplete.  While it isn’t an insurmountable problem, it often breaks the game flow, forcing the player to slow down, or even stop, during sections that are often frantic and overwhelming.  It also leads to many extra deaths due to AR sometimes not being available when its needed.

The other place Vanquish shows off is in the overall visual style.  Going hard into the near future setting, the inside of the colony itself shows off stark white building-scapes, accented by harsh lighting, and of course lots of explosions.  The enemies are robots, usually appearing in a shiny red, the majority of them being reminiscent of Mass Effect’s Geth, with a separate type being the more bruiser type.  Boss take several forms, from massive transforming quad-leg tanks to a veritable junk-robot (more effective than one might think).  There aren’t many enemy types, but I don’t really hold it against Vanquish, as many other shooters had limited types.  The character models are well made, especially the stylized faces, and they need to be since they’re often shown during the cut scenes.  The ARS that Sam wears, that is definitely one of these most impressive things in the entire game, all white with black trim, lots of interlocking pieces, and a sweet helmet that folds open whenever Sam needs to take a smoke (which is often).  While the overall background doesn’t change throughout, the spectacle of looking at the inside of the space colony is very impressive.

The cityscapes are stark and sterile, it ends up being the battles that add that gritty feeling that all other shooters have.  Unfortunately, aside from specific objects, usually cover points, the battlefields themselves are not interactive.  The setting’s artificiality is especially on display during a section in the late game where Sam passes through a park area, and all the foliage looks unnatural.  As well, the onscreen UI is functional, but rather ugly, and ends up taking up a lot of the right side of the screen.  Many times the player is likely to take deaths because there they simply do not have as much situational awareness as they should.

If there’s anything holding Vanquish back, it’s the selfsame style that gives it most of its character.  It’s a Japanese game trying to emulate American games.  It gets the core gameplay right, and adds on it to make things fresh, but most of the design screams of the old “this is what Japan thinks Americans want” notion.  Vanquish is more successful at it than most, but it still can’t get away from that feeling of being a Japanese game.  Sam and Burns are the biggest examples, playing off the bulky Space Marine aesthetic, but going over the top with it.  Burns is too big to be realistic, with as little actual armor as he wears.  Sam is the badass former College athlete, scientist, engineer, and world class cigar chomper.  How does that make sense?  The words “shit” and “fuck” are thrown around with almost reckless abandon, often at least somewhat out of context.  As well, Vanquish can be rather short, potentially as short as 4 hours, on the lowest difficulty, though a highscore system was added, potentially as means to add replay ability.  There is no multiplayer, but I don’t consider that a negative.  Vanquishes  primary gameplay conceits, slide and bullet-time, would not work in a competitive game.

My opinion, Vanquishes good aspects outweigh the bad, and I consider it a buy.  The gameplay is fast and furious, emphasizing a more active role in combat.  The story may be nonsensical, but it doesn’t really have to make sense.  Aside from the length, the only thing that I can see people having an issue with is the over the top Japanese styling.  Given the genre, third person shooter, this can be rather off putting.  Not to me, but others might, so my suggestion is to play the demo first.  If you like it, then you should like the full game.

Score:  9/10

Pros:  Fast gameplay
Great graphics
Slide and bullet time make it feel different from other third person shooters
Incredible set pieces

Cons:  Nonsensical story
Short
Heat gauge can break game flow
Might be too over the top for some players

Monday, November 1, 2010

Super Meat Boy Review

A slightly modified version of this review was originally posted here ( http://wegotthiscovered.com/2010/10/28/super-meat-boy-review/ ) on 10/28/2010.

Super Meat Boy is remake/pseudo-sequel to Meat Boy, an indie-game that was featured on Newgrounds and gained enough of a following to get the XBLA and WiiWare game.  And it’s one hell of a game.

Super Meat Boy is the story of Meat Boy, Bandage Girl, and Doctor Fetus.  Bandage Girl loves Meat Boy, he and her.  But Doctor Fetus, know one likes him, and he hates you.  Not just you as Meat Boy, but you, the player.  And so beats Meat Boy up and steals Bandage Girl, so its up to Meat Boy, and you controlling him, to save her from Doctor Fetus’ clutches, and remember that Doctor Fetus hates you.  That’s the story in a nutshell, it doesn’t get anymore complicated because it doesn’t need to.

To put it simply, Super Meat Boy is a 2d side-scrolling platformer.  But that’s selling the game short.  Super Meat Boy isn’t simply a platformer, rather, it’s a throwback to the old days of hardcore, hard as balls NES platforming games of the ‘80s.  This is game that is pure platforming at its core, and nothing gets in the way of it.

So what does a platformer need to be successful?  Controls and level design.  Controls are the most important part of games of this type.  If it doesn’t control well, the entire thing falls apart.  If the levels are dull, then it doesn’t matter how well it controls, since the game wouldn’t be making good use of them.  Well SMB has them both in spades.  Meat Boy controls perfectly, running, jumping, wall-jumping.  He can run, stop on a dime, and bounce back and forth between walls with absolute precision.  That’s where the stages come in.  After a few stages to help the player learn the controls, the difficultly starts ramping up, each stage giving the player a new challenge with which to test their skills.  From buzz saws to moving grinders and beds of spikes.  And that’s just the first world, the second brings in cascades of spikes, allowing them the developers to put them anywhere, and the third world has missile launchers.  And that is just the kinds of things in the stages, not how the stages are actually set up to challenge you.

What makes it interesting is how those things are used.  I know its hard to imagine with just words (indeed, it might be better to watch a youtube video of SMB in action), but imagine a stage where you have to run to the edge of a platform and long jump onto a wall, wall-jump between two walls several times, followed by a jump between two close set saw blades onto another wall and time your wall-jumps so as to not hit the saw blade that’s moving along the now opposite wall.  And consider that all of that will probably happen over the course of maybe 5 seconds, and that is, within this game, a very simple challenge.  The controls let you get through this, and many harder challenges with precision.  To put it simply, this game is pure skill, and if you fail (and you will), then it’s entirely your fault (or maybe the sweaty controller), and the game gets you back in the action very quickly, usually within one or two seconds.  One of the fun little features at the end of each stage is that it shows a replay of the stage with every single life you used up on it, all playing at once, and is pretty wild.  Each world also has a “boss” stage, which typically presents a unique challenge in itself.

Stylistically, keeping true to the 8-bit and 16-bit inspiration, SMB was definitely made in very clean, very simple style that almost looks like it could be played on an NES or SNES.  Meat Boy himself is a simple red block with eyes and a mouth, kicking up meaty blood as he runs, and leaving trails of meaty blood on  on any surfaces he touches.  All the stages seem to have a bit of a tile-set set look, but again, its in service to the throwback style.  As well, each world has its own visual style, from earthy in the first world, to industrial in the third.  Some of the persistant obstacles (the ones that aren’t world specific) have world specific visual styles.  The basic spike trap looks like saws, hypodermic needles, salt, and actual spikes, depending on the world.  As well, some stages change the style and present them in monochrome, its very striking.

Music is good.  Each world has its own general theme, with variations of volume and tempo to keep it from getting too repetitive.  Sound effects, well, Meat Boy is made of meat, and he’s pretty squishy, and it sounds like it when he runs and jumps.

One of the big things about Super Meat Boy though, is the non required, and bonus content.  Each of the seven worlds has 20 stages plus a boss stage, which must be played to complete the main game.  But each world has more than that, if you look for them.  Complete any stage under the target time earns the A+ rank, and opens up a “Dark World” version of the stage, which is harder.  Each world also has several warp zones that lead to sets of stages that are supposedly easier than the main stages, but you only have 3 lives to complete each of the three stages in the set.  All of these special stages has their own style as well, going further into homage territory by going complete 16-bit SNES, 8-bit NES, or even full on monochrome Gameboy style with the visuals and sound.

Some of these warps take you to a special set of stages where completion unlocks a new character. Each world (spread between all Light, Dark, and Warp stages) contains 20 bandages, which are collected to also unlock bonus characters.  That’s the big thing, all of the unlockable characters are from other indie-games out there, including, but not limited to, Commander Video  (of bit.trip series), Tim (of Braid), and The Guy (of I Wanna Be The Guy), each with their own speed and jump power, as well as special ability.  And they need to be used for any of those people going for 100% completion.  Meat Boy can complete every stage in the game, but he can’t obtain every bandage or make it to every warp by himself.

Final recommendation, buy it, with a caveat.  Super Meat Boy is not for everyone.  Not everyone can handle the difficulty of a game like this, which I’ve heard described as “masocore” (combination of masochist and hardcore).  So try the demo before buying.  If you don’t like it, don’t buy.  If you do, then Super Meat Boy is a hardcore platformer that will make you throw a fit, shout expletives, and make you want to throw your controller, and then you successfully complete a stage and will be thanking god for it.  Then you will move onto the next stage and the challenge it offers, and happily start the cycle again.

Pros:
-I LOVE THIS GAME!
-Great level design
-Solid controls
-Lot of game for the price

Cons:
-I HATE THIS GAME!
-Painful level design (not really con so much as just what SMB is supposed to be)
-Not for everyone

Random Thoughts:
-Doctor Fetus is a dick.
-The world 4 boss is made of your death, you’ll know what I mean when you see it.
-Poor squirrel…

Final Score:  9/10