Aussie Game Geek

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Review

2012-01-31T20:14:00.000+11:00

Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR from now on) is the latest release by RPG veterans BioWare. The game takes place several thousand years before the events of the Star Wars films, and about 300 years after the Knights of the Old Republic game.
SWTOR is also BioWares first entry into the MMO field. For those who don't know what that means, basically an MMO is a multiplayer RPG. Players will find their character exploring the universe with thousands of other players, both experiencing their own stories, and banding together to overcome much bigger obstacles.

Instantly the comparison between SWTOR and World of Warcraft are thrown up, and to an extent they are quite fair and valid points. SWTOR has a very similar combat system, using hotkey combat and the tried and true trinty of TANK/HEALER/DPS class structure. Many other MMO's have attempted this formula, but not as successfully. Because I'm an ExWoW player, I like this. I found I could dive straight into SWTOR and find it instantly familiar. Even the talent trees have a similar design.

Companions come in all shapes and sizes

The big thing that SWTOR boasts over any other MMORPG I've yet to see is the story. Every NPC interaction is fully voiced, complete with Mass Effect 2 style dialogue chooses. So while you are inevitably doing the same fetch or escort style quest, it feels more coherent. It also opens up the opportunities to use a morality system, which is exactly what BioWare have done. Conversation choices have various effects. Some are purely just aesthetic choices, while others can effect either the standing with your companions or you affinity to the force. This opens up the possibility for players to have Sith who are more attuned to the light side of the force, as well as Jedi who are on a darker path. It adds nice contrast to characters, as well as allowing access to various force level gear.

Companions are also a strong feature of the game experience. This sounds quite odd to say, but companions are actually really useful. Not only do they follow you faithfully into combat (and do a good roll in what ever area they are suited to), but they also form the basis of your crafting skills. Your character can learn upto 3 craft skills, but when you're out in the world it is your companions who do all the hard work. Firstly, they can gather materials from the environment you are in. This works similarly to other MMO's, where you see a plant, for example, and harvest it. You can also send your companion of on missions for materials, although this will mean you have to adventure with out them for a small period of time. Finally you can send them off to craft for you, again taking a small amount of time. Initially when you have one companion this gets tricky, because you're going to want them out in the field with you. However once you get your second one you can leave one at your ship, giving them orders to craft for you while you're getting on with your game. This is also a handy trick to do before you log off for the night. Next time you log in, they'll be finshed and you'll have something shiny in your pack.

Sound also deserves to be mentioned, and the music in particular. The score is unmistakably Star Wars, and is constant through out your game. No matter if you are in a canteena on Tatooine, or exploring the seedy under belly of Nar Shaddaa, the music blends seamlessly. Its not obtuse in anyway, instead enhancing the overall experience.

So is the game worth getting?
That's actually a tough question to answer. Essentially this is 8 different fully developed stories rolled into one, without even considering PVP and end game. If you are someone who is time poor, then this game is not for you. If you love Star Wars, or loved the Knights of the Old Republic, then this game is almost certainly a must for you. There is a monthly subscription fee, but for the amount of content on release, its more than worth the price of admission.

Final Verdict

Story:	9	The stories are well written, each would have been perfectly suited to their own stand alone title
Gameplay:	8	Combat Mechanics are tight, and the usual MMO trappings of grinding gameplay are really well hidden
Sound:	10	The voice acting is great, but the musical score is one of the best I've heard in a game
Graphics:	9	Even on the lowest setting (My PC needs an overhaul), the scenery is lush and well designed. However the character faces do tend to look just a little like plasticine.
Overall:	9	There are hours and hours of entertainment to be had here, and for the about 2/3 the price of most console releases its an absolute bargain.

Xbox 720

2012-01-25T11:49:00.003+11:00

Speculation has be flying around about Microsoft's next console release for months now. Will it be announced at E3? Will it's launch date be close to the Nintendo Wii U?

Today two new pieces of news are buzzing around the wires from various industry insiders.
The first from fudzilla, which stated "the power behind the next Xbox will be a PowerPC CPU that is married to an ATI Southern Islands GPU, or modified 7000 series.". It seems that the System on a Chip (SoC) has gone into production.

The second piece of news come courtesy of IGN, claiming that the new Xbox will be six time more powerful than the 360, and 20% more powerful than the Wii U. The GPU is predicted to be similar to the Radeon HD 6670, and offers multi display output, 3D and 1080p HD output.

This all points to an announcement this year at E3, and a launch date landing around October 2013.
With Microsoft expected to reveal their new console, and the Wii U it's line up of launch titles, one can only imagine that Sony will need something up their sleeves this year. Will we see the announcement of the PlayStation 4?

Back again

2012-01-24T21:33:00.002+11:00

Well, as you may have noticed, this will be my first post in over a year. I'm hoping to change the format of the blog, offering news as well as reviews on all things gaming.

Last year was a pretty big year in gaming. We saw some great new IP's coming out, although it seemed that the year was to be dominated by sequels. Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 went head to head to to compete for your hard earned dollars in the FPS market. Gears of War and Uncharted both delivered fantastic entries for their respective consoles, and fueled the every growing flame war that seems to plague the Internet.

Nintendo confirmed one of the worst kept secrets of the year, announcing the Wii U at E3. This will be their first contestant in the HD console category, and while it seemed the end of the Wii was written on the wall, the breath taking Zelda Skyward Sword had me dusting off the wiimotes once again.

2011 also had its share of turkeys. Finally, after spending so much time in development hell that it became and ongoing gag, Duke Nukem Forever was finally released. Too bad it was a jumbled mess that had all the charm of a turd left to float in the toilet.

So what's to look forward to in 2012?
Bioware will be concluding their epic SciFi series with Mass Effect 3, Gearbox will be releasing Borderlands 2 as well as Aliens: Colonial Marine. The Wii U will (hopefully) be officially launched. Microsoft and Sony are being tipped to announce their new consoles, and Max Payne will finally make his first true HD appearance in Max Payne 3.
2012 will be a big year.

Kinected

2010-11-23T20:50:00.001+11:00

This week, I’m looking at Kinect. Kinect is the new motion control device from Microsoft, and their answer to the Nintendo Wii. The big difference is that no controllers are requires, with the device showering your living room with thousands of tiny pin prick lasers designed to measure depth, and movement.

Technologically speaking the Kinect is miles ahead of both the Wii and Sonys Move. As well as picking up motion, Kinect can be used with voice control as well. Basically, Kinect remembers your face (after you assign yourself with a Kinect Id) and “listens” to the area around your mouth to hear your voice only. This means you can actually navigate the menu using simple voice commands (unless you’re in Australia, at least for a little while), which is heaps cool.

Warning. You won't look like Tom Cruise using Kinect

So how does it play?

At the moment the selection of games types is a little limited. Your left with the choices of either dance games, fitness games or mini game…games. This has put a lot of gamers off the idea of Kinect, those who consider their console a halobox. Still, the potential for the system is huge. Here are some of my ideas for hard core games that can be worked with Kinect.

1) RPG’s. A game such as Mass Effect, which could use a combination of controller for running around and shooting things, but using the Kinect for voice selection of conversations with NPC’s. Imagine reading out the option and having the NPC react to your voice.

2) FPS. This would HAVE to be used in conjunction with a controller, due to pretty much every FPS fan hating the idea of a shooter on rails. Kinect could be used for aiming your weapon at enemies, as well as actions such as tossing grenades. Expect a gun peripheral to be released with initial titles.

3) RTS. These could use full Kinect integration. Imagine standing before your battlefield, deploying troops with a wave of your hand, and sending them into battle by simply telling them to attack. I believe this could be the first style of hardcore game to push it as something more than a party device.

So overall, Kinect has some big potential. If you like dancing like a tool in front of your television, and jumping all around like a rabid monkey, then pick yourself up a Kinect now. If not, wait….and watch. Sooner or later someone is going to release a title that will fully realize the jaw dropping potential of the system, and change the way we game.

As a side note, one of the downsides of this system is out of shape people like me really struggle to play for extended periods. Which is a real shame cos I want to keep playing it, but my body doesn’t have much steam left in it. Still, maybe one more crack at funky town before I keel over.

Next Week: Assassins Creed:Brotherhood

Back In Black

2010-11-17T17:41:00.003+11:00

This week I’m talking about Call Of Duty: Black Ops, the 7^th title in the franchise. This one has been developed by Treyarch, the team responsible for about half of the Call Of Duty titles. It should also be noted that this is not part of the Modern War franchise, although it feels very similar. It also managed to sell a remarkable 5.6 million copies in the U.S & UK in 24 hrs. That’s a lot of happy CoD fans.

So onto the game.

Black Ops is told through a series of flashbacks, as the main character Alex Mason (voiced by Avatar’s Sam Worthington) is interrogated by an unseen captor. From here you are flung head first into some of the most intense firefights of the cold war era. Starting out in Cuba with an assassination attempt on Communist leader Fidel Castro, the story quickly sends you all around the world, blowing the crap out of stuff all the way.

How does it rate with Modern Warfare?

Black ops was always going to be compared to its predecessor, so I may as well jump on this band wagon to. Simply put, Black Ops could be the best FPS this year, and more than addresses concerns about Treyarch ability to produce a game on par with MW2. The story is compelling, dragging you along for the rollercoaster ride for thrills and kills. The visuals are stunning….when you can pause to soak them in (some of the levels in the jungles of Vietnam look phenomenal). There are plenty of intense shootouts, although there are some parts that are cripplingly difficult (especially on veteran). And to top it off there are some truly inspired vehicle levels that give you a break from the running and ducking action of being on foot. For example, one level has you piloting a boat along a river shooting at Vietcong while the Rolling Stones Sympathy for the devil is blaring out of the speakers. Awesome.

Multiplayer feels very similar to MW2, but in a good way. The levels fell balanced and no load out seem to overpower others. It uses a similar leveling system, but instead of complete challenges to unlock weapon addons, you earn money depending on how well you do, and can buy the addon’s you want. The kill streaks rewards you earn are also more balanced, so gone are the match winning atomic bombs, replaced with a pack of wild dogs that roam the map looking for enemies to maul. Also worth a try are the remote control cars with bombs attached. Heaps of fun to use, and you can even get some pretty awesome kills with them.

You can also review the action using theater mode to watch any matches you’ve been part of. While this is cool for checking out how you played, it also adds the ability for developers to keep an eye on those who would exploit the game. Cos everyone hates being killed by someone exploiting.

Black Ops is chock heavy with content, including some hidden stuff, and even a zombie killing mode which sees you fighting wave after wave of the risen dead, with some hilarious cameos.

So how does it rate?

Game Play: 9/10. Some of the levels, especially the later ones are a joy to play, even when you have just spent a good hour swearing at the TV while trying to make it to a new checkpoint.

Sound: 8/10. In general the sound is top notch; the only downside is occasionally Sam Worthington’s accent switches from American to his native Australian, which can be a bit off putting.

Graphics 9/10. Some of the set pieces are awe inspiring, but sometimes some of the character models look a little …odd.

Replay Value: 9/10. There is so much to do in this game, that you will still be playing it long after the single player campaign is completed.

Over All: 9/10. This could be a contender for game of the year.

Next Week: Kinect. Microsoft’s answer to motion control.

A Little Older, A Little Wiser

2010-11-09T17:17:00.003+11:00

This week I’m taking a look at Splinter Cell Conviction, the sixth installment in the franchise. For those not familiar with the series, it follows the exploits of Sam Fisher, a secret agent working for a top secret government group called Third Echelon. The game relies on stealth tactics to neutralize your enemies, rather than the traditional run in and blow them all away game play of many action titles.

Splinter Cell Conviction takes somewhat of a detour from the previous games, adding more action and making Sam an all round bad ass. New mechanics include Mark and Execute, which gives you the ability to tee up multiple targets (usually while your hidden) and proceed to shoot them with one button press. This adds an element strategy to clearing out a room full of people, giving you the opportunity to choose your targets, mark them, kill them then get the hell out. Another mechanism is the last know position silhouette, which appears when you’ve been seen by a guard, but have managed to hide from them. Again useful for strategies, as guards will investigate your last known location, giving you the chance to sneak up on them.

The game itself has become more brutal, and rawer, than the previous titles. Sam is no longer working for Third Echelon, instead following leads on his daughter’s killer. As part of his investigation, you’ll need to interrogate people, and by interrogate I mean beat the living snot out of by throwing them around the room as well as smashing heads into window, mirrors and walls.

There is still plenty of sneaking around though, and more windows to jump out than you can poke a stick at. The single player is however quite short, clocking in at about 7-8 hours of game play. Luckily there is an entirely separate co-op campaign (which I’ve been unable to play, due to no one on my friends list having it anymore), as well as various multiplayer modes.

So how does it rate?

Game Play: 8/10. The game flows quite well, with all mission prompts incorporated into the environment. The gun fights are fluid, and the controls are not complicated at all

Sound: 8/10. Michael Ironside returns to provide the voice of an aging Sam Fisher.

Graphics: 8.5/10. The graphics are lush, with a very gritty, real feel

Replay Value: 7/10. At only 7 odd hours to finish it’s over quick, but there are a slew of challenges to go back and complete, and the multiplayer extends the shelf life somewhat too.

Over All: 8/10. A great addition to the series, and showing that an old dog can be taught new tricks (especially tricks that involve shooting lots of bad guys)

Next week: Call Of Duty Black Ops. Can it live up to the hype?

Fableulous

2010-11-02T21:26:00.001+11:00

This week I’ll be talking about Fable 3, but before so I should take a moment to mention the two previous Fables. Personally I’m a huge fan of the series. I love the world of Albion, and the humor that is injected (quite liberally sometimes) into it. If you love chickens or are an associate of PETA, this series may not be for you. One thing that has plagued the Fable series comes in the form of Peter Molyneux, the oft times outspoken and, frankly, batshit crazy lead designer of the series. It seems that with every Fable release Peter has come out proclaiming some amazing, ground breaking features that usually end up getting cut from the final release (remember the acorn anyone).

With Fable 3 however, Peter has been uncharacteristically quiet. In fact, when asked about what he was most excited about in Fable 3 he responded “the simulations”. Not his usual over the top response at all. However, there is a hell of a lot going on behind Fable that we, as players, seldom notice. Each civilian in Albion has their own set of characteristics that change depending on how the hero interacts with them. You can take up a career as a trader, buying goods cheap, them moving to another location where one of the shops is looking for stock and make yourself some cash. With Fable 3, like the pervious titles, you get out as much as you put in.

So, how is the game?

If I were to sum it up in one word, I’d say ambitious. It’s sometimes hit, sometimes miss, and depending of the mind set you’re in when you play it you’ll either love it or hate it. You see, they’ve made some pretty interesting changes to the game dynamics from the previous games. The menu system that plagued Fable 2 has been completely removed. Now when you hit the select button you’re whisked away to Sanctuary. From here you can wander around, select your weapons, magic, clothes and more. You can also manage your funds; use the map to fast travel around etc. Basically it replaces all the menu options. Many people I spoke to hate this, but I actually think it’s a great innovation. The menu is now organic and a part of the gameplay instead of something that breaks the immersion.

Interaction with the people of Albion has likewise been simplified; doing away with the radial menu of emotes. Not you choose a good emote or a bad emote and that’s about it. This seems a step backwards, removing a lot of the choices present in Fable 2. Also gone are the multiple choices for leveling your abilities. Instead of having three choices in each of Strength, Skill and Will you only have one. This is done by opening chests in the road to rule (Basically the leveling system), and as you unlock various chests they improve the corresponding ability. For example, open a Strength chest and you do more damage in melee. The weapons themselves are more organic, each with their own challenges you need to complete in order to upgrade them. It’s a new take on the traditional RPG elements, and one which seems to polarize people. I, for one love that they are trying new things, even if they don’t always work out.

Now for the unpleasant stuff. Fable 3 has bugs. Lots of bugs. These range from annoying, such as the breadcrumb not loading or taking you the wrong way, to game breaking problems. A game from a production house of this caliber has no excuse for some of these problems.

Bugs aside, pretty much the only thing I really though needed improvement was the morality aspect of the game. Basically your choices are virtuous or dastardly. There is nothing in the middle, no murky water to tread. This makes it easy if you are focusing on maxing out your morality one way or another, but I think it’s too clear cut.

Overall, I loved the game. I didn’t personally encounter any of the game crippling bugs, and have had a blast running around shooting gnomes, finding plants and ruling my Kingdom. The game has some fantastic scenery, and many truly epic moments that will probably see me running through it again (This time I’m going evil all the way mwah ha ha.) If you liked the previous Fable games, and are open to some of the new ideas they’re trying here, then you should go out and grab a copy. I have spoken

Next week. Something. I still haven’t decided yet. Must play more Fable

Memories

2010-10-26T00:08:00.002+11:00

Ok, so I know I said I was going to talk about Splinter Cell Conviction this week, but unfortunately I made the mistake of buying too many games to devote enough time to having a good look any one of them. So expect to see some reviews in the next few weeks for Fallout New Vegas, DJ Hero 2 and probably Fable 2 after tomorrow.

So this week instead I figured I’d talk about moments in my gaming past in particular, times that I was genuinely awestruck by the game I was playing. I should also prefix this by saying that there may be a spoiler or two in here, but I’ll make sure you know where in advance.

There have been many truly inspiring moments in gaming for me. Just recently in Enslaved during the first level as you’re whizzing above the skies of a post apocalyptic New York on the wing of a crashing plane, I was left thinking “wow. That looks really cool.” Much like when I first played Fallout 3.

You see, back before I found the love of console gaming I was a PC advocate all the way, and one of the staple games for me was the Fallout series. I lost sooo many hours of my life slugging around the wastelands dealing with super mutants, deathclaws and whatever crossed my path. When I heard that Fallout 3 was being developed, and by the guys who made Morrowind as well, I was in heaven. When I finally got the game, I still recall the sense of awe I got when I completed my training inside the vault and stepped outside into the wasteland. It was truly impressive, and I stood on the cliff top, scanning the horizon in a desperate attempt to soak it all in.

Another RPG that grabbed me was KOTOR, or Knights of the Old Republic. It’s a Star Wars game set thousands of years before the movies. Spoiler alert coming up. The game itself was an engaging RPG, really filling out the Star Wars universe without destroying cannon law in the process. What set this game apart was the story, with the final revelation that the character you played for the whole game was in fact the current Dark Lord of the Sith, who’s memory had been wiped, giving you a chance to convert to the side of good. The moment I realized who you were, my jaw dropped and I got goosebumps. More games should give you goosebumps….and maybe bacon, but that’s a different issue altogeather.

Going back further still, I remember when a friend of mine got his hands on a copy of Wing Commander 3. We sat crowded around his monitor (all 16 inches of it), and watched the story unfold. This was back before the concept of interactive movies was birthed and then written off as a waste of time. The live actors added a depth of realism to the game that I never thought was possible. I think we watched the introduction to that game several times over, just soaking it in.

Well, tomorrow Fable 3 comes out. Despite the fact that I have a swagger of epic RPG’s to finish (Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Dragon Age Origins, I’m looking at all three of you now) I know I’m going to grab myself a copy, and if it lives up to even ½ of its potential, I may have something new to add next time I write one of these trips down memory lane.

So now I want to hear from you. What gaming moments have really made you say “Wow!” What ones have left a bitter taste in your mouth? Where do you stand on the whole bacon issue? Let me know.

Next week: Fable 3. Unless its crap, then Fallout New Vegas. Unless its crap too

Tour Of Duty

2010-10-18T17:58:00.000+11:00

Ok, so this week I was a little apprehensive about the game I was going to review. Medal of Honor holds a special place in my heart as one of the finest WWII shooters I’ve played. I still have fond memories of attempting to storm the beach at Normandy, only to be shot to pieces as soon as I’ve stepped of the boat. Last week Medal of Honor was released, with the series set in Afghanistan and focusing on hunting Al-Qaeda. As per usual before a big game release, I checked out IGN’s review and was astonished. They gave it a 6. That means that the game is just passable. For a game this big, a 6 is just beyond belief. But I was intent on at least trying is out, if nothing else to see if it was as bad as they said.

And I am glad I did. This game is fantastic. The visuals are spectacular, giving many moments where you want to pause to really soak it in (even though you’ll probably die doing so). As I said this game is set in Afghanistan, so you won’t be speeding down the side of a hill on a snowmobile while shooting at bad guys like James Bond, as you did in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. You see it’s hard to look at MoH without comparing it. For the record CoD was given a 9.4 from IGN, and sort of set the bar of military first person shooters.

One of the issues brought up regarding MoH was the lack of character development, which I will agree with. You never find out who your character is and why they joined the army. But then again, do you really need to? The game play is great, well paced with spectacular set pieces that give you an epic cinematic feeling, without resorting to a “Do this and save ~~America~~ the world” mood. It feels gritty and real. Everything from the sound of gun fire to the dust being whipped up around you adds to this, and to that extent it becomes an immersive experience.

The multiplayer was actually developed by a different studio (Dice) who were responsible for Battlefield Bad Company 2, and has a solid, polished feel to it. The ultimate test came on Thursday night when I was playing it and time came to turn it off and call it a night. My initial reaction was “aww”, and regret that I couldn’t play just one more map. There are a few different modes to help keep it interesting, including objective based death match, team death match and more. It also features a leveling system, although the number of classes is a bit lacking at only 3.

So the big question is, is this game worth getting?

My answer is yes. The game, in my opinion, is fantastic. Where CoD is like watching Commando, MoH is more like Saving Private Ryan. It feels real and gritty, not over the top set pieces with increasingly more outlandish stunts and action. Of course, this all may change with CoD Black Ops comes out next month.

On a side note I learnt a lesson. Never take a review for granted. Especially with companies like Game offering 7 day return policy. If you think you may like a game, I say grab it, try it and if its crap *cough Kane and Lynch cough*, and if so return it and get your money back.

Next week: Splinter Cell Conviction. A little older, a little wiser.

Monkey Business

2010-10-11T17:27:00.000+11:00

Growing up as young kid I feel in love with a strange little show from Japan detailing the exploits of a magical monkey man, and his ragtag group of companions including a pig monster, some sort of water demon, a horse that’s really a dragon and a young Buddhist boy who till this day I still think was a girl. The show was called Monkey (I knew it as Monkey Magic due to the opening credits tune), and it was based off an ancient Chinese story call Journey to the West. As I grew up I always thought this would have been a great idea for a video game of some description. Luckily I wasn’t the only one, and the good people at Ninja Theory decided to take this story, twist it a bit, and come out with a fantastic little game called Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

Set 150 years in the future, you play Monkey, A loner on the run from Mechs and slavers. During your voyage you are enslaved by a young girl named Tripitaka (but everyone calls her Trip) who agrees to let you go free if you take her back to her home village.

The game itself plays similarly to Ubisofts treatment of the Prince of Persia franchise. You’ll need to negotiate your way through a beautifully designed New York city years after a global war has ravaged the earth. You’ll climb pipes, leap for hand holds and other such acrobatics while trying to reach your destination, all the while searching for floating orange orbs to level up your abilities.

Combat comes in the form of your magic staff. The staff can be used to fire stun rounds, plasma rounds, or just beat the snot out of things. It all flows quite smoothly, and although uses a fair amount of button mashing it feels instantly familiar to use. Also worth a mention is Monkey’s cloud. In the tv series monkey whistles and a magic pink cloud comes along to take monkey where ever he needs to go. In Enslaved the cloud is represented as a flying blue hover disk that when you get enough speed on looks kind of like the aforementioned cloud. Its clever and really cool to zip about on.

The game itself isn’t particularly long, but at the end its quite satisfying. You feel the story has been told, and the pacing of it is fantastic.

There are some downsides though. Sometimes the graphics get a little glitchy, and there are some moments of frantic button mashing, but these are usually forgotten when one of the many beautiful set pieces are revealed to you.

One of the other things I noticed in this, which I usually don’t pay attention to, was the sound track. The voice acting is superb, with monkey being voiced by Andy Serkis aka the guy behind Gollum. The music is also fantastic, matching the atmosphere of the game, without being too intrusive.

This game is defiantly worth a look, and if you’re still unsure I suggest downloading the demo and giving it a try. It’s free and it’ll help give you a really good idea of what to suspect.

Next Week: Medal of Honor. Can EA topple Activision in the war based first person shooter market?

Spiderman Faces His Greatest Foe Yet: Camera Angles

2010-10-04T11:46:00.000+11:00

So last week I picked up a copy of Spiderman Shattered Dimensions with a little bit of trepidation. You see, the last few installments for everyone favorite web spinner have all been, shall we say, less than stellar. In fact some might even go as far as to say that they were craptastic. I’m glad to say that this game turns a corner for the franchise.

The basic story is that Mysterio, a fish bowl headed amateur magician/villain, has attempted to steal an artifact. Spidey turns up and in the ensuing fight the artifact is broken and bits sent flying into other dimensions. Now Spidey needs to team up with three other Spidermen from different dimensions.

This adds a depth of game play, as each of the different Spidermen have different play styles and abilities. Ultimate Spiderman wears the symbiote suit and uses a special attack called rage which sends tendrils flying out in all directions. 2099 Spiderman fights villains in a neon future using a special spider sense ability that slows time down. Noir Spiderman is probably the most different in style, and in my opinion the most fun. Noir Spidey creeps around in the shadows and focus on silent take downs and webbing unsuspecting bad guys while avoiding being seen.

Overall this game is fun. Lots of web slinging fun. The different Spidermen all add a different dimension (no pun intended) to the game play, and help the game from becoming too repetitive. There are some downsides, which while are not deal breakers, they do make the game somewhat frustrating. Wall crawling is massively annoying. It’s almost impossible to control the camera making wall crawling an almost vomit inducing experience. Luckily there are only a few times when you need to use it, so the blow is lessened. There are also some button mashing moments, such as guarding civilians from wave after wave of henchmen, which can be just plain annoying. I mean how long could it possibly take two guys to open a door? Surely at a console the size of the one they’re bashing away at there must be an open door button.

All that aside, Spiderman is still fun. A little short, but a hell of a lot of fun.

Next Week: Enslaved. A futuristic retelling of an old Chinese fable.

Overdue

2010-09-28T23:19:00.001+10:00

Ok, so this week I'm a little late with my posting. I can attribute this to one thing. Dead Rising 2.
If you've not played Dead Rising before, its pretty much an exercise in zombie genocide. At its heart, dead rising 2 is a dumb game. Its got a wafer thin plot about a extreme motorbike rider who is trapped in a Vagas like casino complex that has been overrun by hoards of the undead. You mission (whether or not you choose to accept) is to kill lots of zombies, get the medicine your daughter needs to survive, and clear your name. Not exactly from the pen of William Shakespeare.

What Dead Rising 2 does well is Killing. Whether that is killing thousands of zombies, murderous psychopaths or marauding looters. At your disposal are a huge array of weapons. Everything from hand bags to park benches can be picked up and used to beat a zombies head in. Then there are combo weapons. These are combination's of two other weapons to make an instrument of mass zombie destruction. Some examples are boxing gloves with bowie knives stuck to them, to a cement saw the spits plates out. There are so many different choices you can make that it never seems to get old.

There have also been some drastic improvements from the first Dead Rising too. Survivors AI has jumped ahead, choosing to follow you through a crowd of zombies rather than try and kill everything that comes with in 50 meters. That's my job.This makes the task of retrieving survivors from various locations a lot less painful. Couple that with a more open environment and less pressing time constraints than the first game and you can see that Capcom have really set out to raise the bar.

Now the downside, and yes Dead Rising has its fair share of annoyances. Firstly the psychopaths. I imported my character from Dead Rising: Case Zero, so I already started at lvl5. Even with this head start I found the psychos impossible at early levels. It seemed that to beat them you really had to find ways to bug them out. Now most of the forums online suggest ignoring them as long as you can, and if need be restarting with the character at a higher level, it feels as though these are things that you shouldn't be required to do to enjoy the game first time.

Poker. Several of the missions you're given revolve around playing some poker, hell there is even a group of people who won't let you rescue them till you've beaten them at a high stakes game seemingly ignoring the swarm of brain eaters massing around them. Combine that with the length of time it takes to play and win, you really start getting pushed for time.

Finally Multiplayer. This comes in two flavors. Co-op or TIR. Co-op feels a little tacked on. You both play Chuck Greene, and if the host saves you get booted out of the game. While Co-op could have been awesome, it always feels like your running around in someone else's game. TIR on the other hand truly surprised me. It plays like a game show where you and three opponents are pitted against each other in a variety of zombie killing games. What ever money you win you can cash out and add to your saved game, increasing Chucks bank roll.
Over all I am enjoying Dead Rising 2, despite its flaws, and I know that as soon as I've finished the main story, I'm going to be starting again and seeing if I can save some more of those damn survivors I missed.

Next Week: Spiderman Shattered Dimensions. Can this game finally break Spideys run of craptacular games?

End Of An Era

2010-09-21T07:39:00.000+10:00

Well, in case you missed my last post, Halo Reach was released last week, taking a staggering $213 million on day one. So basically if you're reading this chances are you already own it. The game itself if the perfect swansong for Bungie, with a combination of an epic campaign and near flawless multiplayer.

The campaign tells the story of the fall of Reach, a human colony, from the view point of Noble Six who along with the rest of Noble Company are charged with defending the planet. While only 9 missions long, and taking about 6-7 hours to finish, it is a satisfying conclusion to the series. I liken it to Limbo in that its not overly long, but the enjoyment you get from that is more than enough.

As far as multiplayer goes, as would be expected from Bungie, Halo has more options than you can shake a gravity hammer at. Firefight is back, where up to four of you have to defend yourselves against wave after wave of bad guys. Deathmatch has a slew of options, from standard slayer to headhunter, where you need to collect and deposit the skulls of your fallen foes. All this is made more interesting with the addition of armor abilities. This range from jet packs to invisibility to holograms and more. They all add a tactical element to the game, and none seem overpowered.

All in all if you haven't played Halo and are into FPS then go and get a copy. Now. No questions asked.

Coming this week
Dead Rising 2. Sweet sweet zombitastic killing fun.

Halo Vs Move

2010-09-13T21:34:00.000+10:00

So this week is a big one for both Microsoft and Sony with Halo Reach (the last/first in the series) being released on the Xbox, and Sony releasing their motion capture device Move later in the week. I've been weighing up between the Move and Kinect (due out November) and I've decided to wait until some more solid games are released before I'll shell out the $$ for it. A quick calculation on the cost works it out to be about $350 for the Move adapters, plus a second set of controls, plus a game. At this stage I'm still more keen on Kinect.

Halo. What is there to say about Halo. For those of you who don't know much about Halo (for shame) its effectively the title that sold the original Xbox. Originally developed as a RTS, then a 3rd person shooter for the Mac until Microsoft swooped in (possibly in a hang glider made of pure gold) and brought the exclusive rights to the tile and earning the vocal anger of Mac users everywhere.

With it's fast paced combat, truly epic story telling and amazing multiplayer content Halo and its 3 sequels have truly cemented their place in video gaming history. I'm sure there are plenty of haters out there who will reel of a stack of reasons why its a flawed game, but the sales figures alone set the franchise apart in the gaming world selling over 20 million copies internationally.

So with its release tomorrow (I plan a few sleepless nights) I've decided to celebrate by inviting a group of mates to bring their Xbox's around for a good old fashion LAN party this weekend, cos I still believe that as much fun as it is to own your mates online, its much better when you can see the look on their face when their on the receiving end of the butt of your gun for the 100th time. Sweeet.

As you may be able to tell, I'm slightly more excited about the Halo release than Move, but that could be because I'm still relatively new to the PS3 experience. Time can only tell.

Pew Pew

2010-09-06T18:55:00.002+10:00

Ok, so this week I've got a few things I'm going to talk about this week. I've been playing (and as of yesterday finishing) inFamous. I know its a bit old now, but I figured that I should have played the first one before the second one comes out. Now I should start by saying I'm a huge fan of the open world sandbox style game. I loved prototype, and I think that Red Dead Redemption is still game of the year without contest, and given the caliber of games released so far that's a pretty big pegging.

So naturally I was presold on inFamous, and after playing I'd have to say its a mighty fine game. Heaps of fun to be had doing such fun things as zapping a chain link fence with electricity then basting a bad guy into them. First time I did that I burst out laughing like some sort of evil super villain. Anyway the game itself has a good story, with choices all through the game (basically broken down into good and evil choices) and some really great looking cut scenes. I'm not too sure if I'll go back and try for the Trophies I missed, but ask me that again in a month or two and I may tell a different story.

I also downloaded Dead Rising: Case Zero for Xbox during the week. For those who played the original Dead Rising, well it's like that, but better (It bridges the story of Dead Rising and the upcoming Dead Rising 2). If you haven't played dead rising, think of every cheezy, camp zombie film you've seen and you're close to being upto speed on things. The important thing in Dead Rising is that pretty much anything can be used to kill the hoards of zombies shuffling around the small desert town. A new feature is the ability to combine weapons to make stuff thats even more awesomer. For example, get a leaf rake and a battery, slap em together and you've got an electro rake. Massive Win!
Dead Rising 2 drops at the end of the month, so for a good look at how it runs, and what improvements they've made *cough* gun aiming system *cough*, its well worth the 400 odd points it'll set you back.

In a final note, I had some quite tragic news during the week. Up until a few months ago I was a WoW addict, playing with a small guild becoming friends with most of the members. I found out (through facebook of all things) that the guild leader, Malac, passed away after a motorbike accident. A lot of people in the past have told me that because I didn't know these people in real life that they I couldn't really call them "friends". Well on this matter I am forced to strongly disagree, and am morning the passing of a good friend, great guild leader, and a pretty damn good raid leader too. Malac you'll be missed.

Kickin Old School....ish

2010-08-30T21:20:00.001+10:00

So I finally got myself a PS3 the other day, and after putting in the bonus game (Kane and Lynch 2) and promptly deciding to trade that bad boy straight in, I picked up a copy of Modnation Racers.

If you’ve never seen Modnation before, it’s kind of like Mario Kart, only more awesome. The big sell of the game is the insane level of customization that you can do. Everything from the Karts and drivers, to the tracks you race in. Best part is you can upload your creations, or download other peoples. Naturally, being a Top Gear fan, I promptly made my own version of The Stig, along with about two thousand other people who had the same innovative idea.

So now I’m busy making all sorts of weird and wacky creations, hoping that someone will download one, but not holding my breath (although I still have strong hopes for Lord Cobblepot, who looks strangely like the monopoly man). I’ll get around to finishing the “career” mode eventually, but right now I’ve got another idea for a driver so I must away.

First!

2010-08-23T19:42:00.004+10:00

This is is my first blog post of many (hopefully) dedicated to my favorite past time... gaming (gasp).
The last month or so has been somewhat flat as far as gaming goes, although thats maybe because we've already seen some truly impressive titles released (think Red Dead Redemption for one). So to keep me sated until the onslaught of awesome gaming that's about to hit us in time for Christmas, I've been playing indie games from XBLA, such as the obscenely funny Deathspank, as well as going through my older games and reliving some classics.

Primary among these is Fallout GOTY edition.

Now I should start by saying that I haven't played Fallout since it first came out on pc. The other day I was at my local game store when I saw the xbox GOTY edition on the shelf and thought "why not?", having yet to play any of the addons. I've got to say that I'm loving it a whole lot more the second time around. I've found myself exploring a whole lot more, wandering the wastelands looking for the next random location, fighting off giant scorpions, raiders and the occasional super mutant. This time around I find myself making a real push for achievements (having become somewhat of an achievement whore), which is in turn revealing more and more of the game. For instance, I only recently discovered there are more than one Super Mutant Behemoths.

So my plan is to knock this one over before New Vegas is released in October. That's going to get a little harder from next month onwards with Halo Reach, Dead Rising 2, Guitar Hero amongst others getting released, and I get the feeling that I may be missing a few more hours sleep than usual.