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Review: Prototype 2

Prototype 2 -- 1
April 28, 2012 By In Featured, PC, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Traditionally when the mainstream media picks a game to focus on over video game violence, they usually choose the likes of Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. The most popular titles are put on the chopping block, whether they deserve the harsh criticism or not. For the most part, the criticism is not warranted. When I think of a game to focus on in this scenario, a game like Prototype 2 comes to the forefront. With its brutal violence, constant use of abrasive language, and largely hidden sexual nature, Prototype 2 is not a game for everyone. Whether you feel these characteristics are necessary for artistic expression will unfortunately be a huge judge of whether you enjoy your experience with this game.

From the get-go, Prototype 2 makes it clear that this is an adult game. The opening cut scene establishes a harsh reality in New York Zero, the game’s devastating take on The Big Apple. With infection spreading and a father on a tour duty, helpless to protect his family, the game sets a scene that it never really follows through on. Once our serviceman and main character James Heller discovers his family has been murdered by the “Mercer Virus” and unexpectedly infected by Alex Mercer himself, Heller storms into a world of destruction, killing anything and everything that stand in the way of finishing off the game’s villain. It is through this tour of destruction that the game takes a disturbing turn.

Instead of following through on this emotional opening and offering a compelling story of revenge, Prototype 2 instead becomes a cesspool of vulgarity and failed jokes. Sure, there is a ton of revenge, but it is all linked together by awful bits of story. Heller’s foul mouth is never silenced and the chauvinistic military tough-guys that litter the game spout colourful comments that will make even the most hardened veteran cringe. This relentless storm stands out more than it should for a game of this caliber.  Hearing an NPC soldier say something along the lines of “Hey, those infected women are pretty hot if you put a bag over their heads” made my stomach turn. Why would a game with so much potential stoop so low dialog-wise? Its at this point that it becomes clear the game is more interested in creating a distorted sense of “grit” than telling a worthwhile story.

To be fair, the cut scenes are rather well done and do add quite a bit to the game. Certain characters and their adventures along side Heller — such as Father Guerra — also show a glimmer of story telling ability from the developers. It’s unfortunate though that this is all overshadowed by a pile of immature responses and awful one-liners. Overall, the less-than stellar story of the game can be chalked-up to James Heller being a misguided character. Going from caring military father to deranged, vulgarity-spewing maniac was just a bad decision. The game could have been much grittier if Heller’s actions held more weight from him being an average father forced to avenge his family using newly developed, super-human powers. Instead, they simply pushed the character over the edge and created an average, unstable video game “tough guy”.

Fortunately, Prototype 2 is able to pick itself back up with its outstanding gameplay. There is no denying that Radical Entertainment knows how to make an open world game that is both expansive and enjoyable. Jumping, sprinting, and gliding across NYZ as James Heller is always a great experience. Exploration is complimented with a limited amount of collectibles that give the player something extra to do without bogging the gameplay down with hundreds of rudimentary pickups. At times all the jumping is stopped by a slight glitch or two, but none were game-breaking in my experience. A few jumps here or there will usually get you out of any glitchy situation.

Combat in the game is another stand-out. Fast and fluid is the name of this game. Mowing down enemies with Heller’s various abilities and power ups is undeniably fun. You would have to be a bitter stuck-up to not get at least the slightest bit of entertainment from viciously obliterating the troops, scientists, and pedestrians that populate NYZ. This violence is where the game shines and should have been the developer’s focus for creating a grimy scenario, instead of the heavy doses of intense language and questionable quotes. After slicing, dicing, smashing, and consuming thousands of NPCs, I have only one complaint: things can get very hectic. For the most part, these hectic scenarios are what make the game. However, there is nothing more frustrating in the game than trying to focus your attack on one enemy and having your target change without warning due to a crowding of enemies. If another Prototype game is in the works, Radical will have to either limit the amount of enemies, or, in my opinion, the much better solution of improving the aim focus system.

At the core of Prototype 2 is the game’s missions. Although there is an entire city — with three zones — to explore, the game is nothing without its missions. Unfortunately the majority of these missions are not so hot. Most missions offer something compelling through promotion of a new ability or something totally unique, which is awesome. What’s not so awesome is that the game relies far too heavily on its consumption system. With every NPC, the player has the option of having Heller consume them and take their memories, abilities, weapons, and appearance. This is a great way to create a few mission situations. However, the game uses it for just about every mission scenario. At some point in nearly every mission Heller is tasked with finding a particular NPC type, consuming one, and entering some form of building or laboratory. What’s interesting at first quickly becomes tiresome through overuse. The game has a lot of interesting ideas floating through the missions, but the constant use of consumption severely overshadows what’s great with what’s bad.

Graphically, the game is superb. The city of NYZ really comes alive as Heller trashes it. The amount of enemies on the screen and heavy action with no frame rate slowdown is amazing. There are a few graphical hitches here and there, specifically with Heller falling through environments. But for the most part the game stays strong in the graphical department. It won’t blow you away with its visuals, but the game does a fine job of creating a believable city then destroying it, all with a steady frame rate.

Another strong point for the game is its use of audio. Although Heller’s language will make you cringe most of the time, his voice acting is quite well done, as with all the NPCs in the game. While exploring there are times background music will pop-in, but none of it is ever distracting. It’s nice when it comes in and often leaves you wondering why it doesn’t come in more often. Solid audio all around.

Once all of the missions have been completed, the game does offer some replay value. It will take a while to fully upgrade Heller and his abilities. Various events and sidemissions spread across the game will also help keep players entertained. Those looking for additional replay value will find plenty more in the game’s RADNET service, which comes free with new purchases of the game. Although there are a healthy serving of sidemissions and additional content, I feel that it is lacking a bit for an open world game. But to be fair, the game is already a little cluttered as-is. Those looking to spend just as long after the credits role collecting various items and maxing out Heller may be a little disappointed. But for the average player, Prototype 2 offers the right amount of replay value.

It is unfortunate that a game like Prototype 2 is overshadowed by a misguided main character, lackluster story, and repetitious missions. With fantastic, action-packed gameplay, outstanding visuals, and solid audio, the game could have been amazing. Instead, the game will likely wallow in mediocrity, all capitalized by its preventable downfalls. Radical has many lessons to learn from this game. Those looking for a great open-world title may want to look elsewhere. Those a little more daring should definitely give this title a chance. It definitely is far from great, but there are some solid concepts for the developers to build on and enough entertaining content to keep most gamers going through the game’s six hour story and possibly even beyond.

Pros:

  • Fantastic, action-packed gameplay
  • Interesting mission concepts and objectives
  • Outstanding visuals
  • Solid audio

Cons:

  • Misguided main character who opens the door to abrasive violence and vulgarity
  • Lacklustre story
  • Repetitious mission scenarios

Score: 7/10

Review: Yesterday

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April 4, 2012 By In Featured, PC, Reviews

The prospect of playing another point-and-click adventure game elicits more snores than cheers from me. I’ll admit, I’ve enjoyed a handful, but there’s always that wall lingering, hindering your progress more often than you’d like. That’s why I’m surprised I enjoyed Péndulo Studios’ Yesterday as much as I did. Although that wall still haunted me from time to time, there’s so much done right that any usual frustrations melted away. Yesterday exemplifies the lessons learned from adventure games past, marrying smart design choices with an engaging narrative.

Most adventure games these days are light-hearted affairs, but Yesterday deals with delightfully morbid situations. It makes this quite clear, as your first task is to investigate the recent killing spree of homeless men, all burned to death. After nearly escaping death from two “colorful” bums, the game flash- forwards to the present, where we’re introduced to our new protagonist, John Yesterday. Though his name suggests otherwise, John can’t remember yesterday – or any part of his life for that matter. It’s from here his globe-trotting adventure begins, as each past detail is filled with each puzzle solved. I’d love to delve into more details, but the experience is so much more fulfilling going in blind.

It would easy to fall and make Yesterday a mundane and predictable tale, but Péndulo deftly weaved a genuinely interesting story. Perhaps it was the Tarantino-like sequencing, where past events spring up early and often, but I was invested in discovering the mysteries surrounding John. I’m a sucker for evil, religious cults as well, which Yesterday has in full force. You uncover many a macabre factoid, dealing with torture, murder, and other fiendish acts. That said, the material is handled tastefully – people are murdered but it’s never gratuitous. In fact, there’s almost no blood at all. Some characters are shot and killed, leaving only a black hole in their skin as evidence.

Thankfully, Yesterday’s gameplay compliments the story, rather than dragging it down. Veterans of point-and-click games will be right as home; it’s as traditional as it gets. However, Péndulo has added several modern touches to speed along progress. Instead of pixel-hunting areas, you can simply click to have the game highlight the available hot-spots. Interactive objects aren’t always noticeable, making this an invaluable tool. You also no longer have to wait as your character slowly trots to a doorway – he will “phase” in and out, teleporting to whatever item you clicked on. It sounds insignificant, but small touches like this keep the game’s pace lively. A guaranteed progression killer is to craft puzzles too obtuse or abstract, but Yesterday strikes the right balance. If you happen to get stuck (happens to the best of us!), there’s a fantastic hint system built in. They avoid telling you exactly what to do, and give you that final nudge you need to proceed. You can’t spam hints though, as it requires you to click around before refilling the icon. Admittedly, I’m a stubborn person, resolving to never ask for help, but using a hint here and there will greatly improve your experience. There’s nothing worse than blindly trying to combine items in your inventory, hoping someone out there will have pity on you and let something trigger.

Though the subject matter can dip into serious themes, the game’s writing is delightfully witty. Using sarcasm and dark humor, it elicited several chuckles – I had forgotten how impactful a good script can be. Although the voice work isn’t up to Uncharted standards, it’s still ahead of the curve, with actors giving believable performances. It’s unfortunate that there wasn’t proper lip-synching applied though. Characters come off like jabbering Muppets, as their mouths randomly move to mimic as if speaking, not unlike Star Fox .The rest of the game’s presentation is great, which makes this stand out all the more.

If there’s any real knock I have with Yesterday, it’s that it sticks too close to adventure game tropes. There’s nothing here that you haven’t seen or done elsewhere. Granted it’s done well, but it doesn’t deliver any new twists or surprises. The game is also a bit short, clocking in around 3 hours on your first play-through. However, just like the argument with Portal, there’s something to be said for a game not overstaying its welcome. The story doesn’t lose focus, and wraps up mostly satisfactorily.

Yesterday quickly won me over with its high production values, serious themes, and excellent writing. It’s not often that I recommend a point-and-click adventure game, especially to gamers outside of that wheelhouse, but this is the best I’ve played in a while. Although it can’t seem to break from the genre’s roots, it adds small flourishes of modern game design, chipping away at the staid formula. Péndulo should be proud; Yesterday has a bright tomorrow.

Pros:

  • Engaging narrative
  • Excellent, witty writing
  • High production values
  • Offers touches to cut down tedium

Cons:

  • Sticks too closely to point-and-click tropes
  • No lip-synching
  • $30 for 3 hours is an iffy value proposition

SCORE: 8/10

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Yesterday was provided for review by the publisher. The game was completed in roughly 3 hours. Yesterday is currently available for PC with Mac and iPad versions planned. It retails for $29.99 and is available through Steam.

 

Review: Devil May Cry HD Collection

HDDMC
April 4, 2012 By In Featured, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

With Ninja Theory’s controversial DMC reboot lurking on the horizon, it makes perfect sense for Capcom to bring as many new eyes to the franchise by packaging all the old adventures of Dante together at a discount price. The Devil May Cry HD Collection includes the first three games in the series, although their chronology is not at all consistent with their release dates. The actual order in which events take place goes thus: 3, 1, then 2. Coincidentally, that is also in the order of descending quality. You can always play them in the order they were made, but that’s quite a long wait for the payoff.

The first Devil May Cry is a landmark of action gaming. Originally planned as a Resident Evil title, the dark atmosphere and fixed camera angles are a relic of a simpler time, but the personality it exudes is still first-rate. The game also includes Trish, a character perhaps best known these days for her appearance in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. It’s also hard to not to smile at some of the iconic moments of the original title, like the scene in which Dante gets his first new sword, or the ludicrous ending. At its best, the first game is a fascinating history lesson, giving modern gamers a glimpse into a time when “stylish action” was an a new, exciting concept and it was still acceptable to send the player on a back-tracking fetch quest for a key.

On the other hand, the game is frustratingly dated in a number of ways, some of which I wasn’t expecting. Yes, the camera is far from ideal. Yes, the puzzles are tedious. Yes, this is the graphically weakest of the collection. All of these are expected. But what I wasn’t prepared for–or, what I just didn’t remember–is just how rudimentary the core action is. The controls are relatively stiff and awkward, the upgrade system is simplistic, and Dante’s arsenal is surprisingly limited. Perhaps we’re spoiled now, but it is clear that the game has changed quite a bit since Hideki Kamiya raised the bar for action.

Devil May Cry 2 takes one step forward, but then turns around and hurls itself off a cliff. The game boasts somewhat smoother and more refined controls, but sacrifices nearly everything else that made the original game special. The wisecracking protagonist is now a dark, brooding parody of his former glory. The claustrophobic, atmospheric castle is replaced a string of bland, arbitrarily confined spaces like city streets and office buildings. The highest points of the last game–the boss fights–are now complete jokes, involving blasé challenges like demon-possessed tanks and helicopters. Perhaps most embarrassingly, the combat usually just boils down to boring wars of attrition with lobotimzed A.I.

The game is bad, make no mistake. But I don’t think it’s quite as insulting as it seemed upon its initial release. Time has allowed for some perspective to seep in, and it is clear now that there are some positive changes that were made in the sequel. The camera is much less of an issue than it was in the first game. The decreased emphasis on puzzles also plays to the game’s strengths, as it further distanced itself from its origins as a Resident Evil title. The option to play as deuteragonist Lucia is a pretty nice touch, adding some replayability to the proceedings if you stomach it.

Devil May Cry 3 is the crown jewel of the collection though. With a more developed storylines, the best roster of characters in the series, the most intricate and rewarding combat, and the return of the charm that defined the first adventure, Dante’s Awakening is easily the best entry in the franchise. God of War may have topped it with sheer scale, and Bayonetta may have a deeper combo system, but for besides those games there isn’t much that has outshone DMC3 in the realms of stylish third-person action. The version of the game included with the HD Collection is even the Collector’s Edition, so you can play as through the game as antagonist Vergil. Really, it’s hard to find fault with the third offering.

Obviously, as an HD Collection, the main draw of this bundle is likely the improved visuals. As you can see from the screens, there is a noticeable improvement to the visual fidelity of the games, mostly in the edges of character models. Gone are the jaggies and blurring that marred the earlier titles, while the HD resolution allows for more details than previously possible. That’s about it though. There are no new cutscenes, only minor content bonuses (such as trophies/achievements), and the bugs that shipped with them back on the PS2 are still there. Also, expect occasional frame-rate drops and a freeze or two before you get through the collection; porting is never perfect.

It feels blindly self-evident to recommend this to people who have been interested in Devil May Cry, but never got a chance to play it, but that’s clearly the only market for it. If you’ve already played these games, there isn’t anything new for you here, besides maybe post-traumatic stress disorder triggered by the second game. Dante’s Awakening is still classic, but you can get it for less than half of this price point right now. This collection represents an important part of gaming history and an interesting mixed bag from an iconic franchise, but it’s also old and frustrating in a lot of ways. Pick it up if you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

Pros:

  • Great series overview
  • Devil May Cry 3 is still amazing

Cons:

  • Devil May Cry 2
  • Some archaic design choices will frustrate modern gamers
  • Minor bugs

Score: 7/10

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This game was purchased for review and played to completion in about 24 hours. The title was played on Xbox 360, but is also available for PS3. Points weren’t taken off for DMC2′s failures, as the score represents the overall value on offer at the MSRP.

Review: Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

RE_ORC
March 26, 2012 By In Featured, PC, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

It’s no secret that Capcom wants Resident Evil to be Call of Duty. So, while some took the announcement of the squad-based third-person shooter Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City as a return to the Outbreak experiment, many others saw hiring SOCOM developers Slant Six as an obvious step in the process of turning the once reigning horror franchise into a military shooter. Once people got a look at the four-player cooperative campaign though, Left 4 Dead became the obvious reference point. It turns out that RE:ORC borrows liberally from all of these things, but it’s also its own strange beast.

The premise is an alternate timeline, non-canonical take on Resident Evil 2‘s iconic Raccoon City outbreak, with the main campaign following the exploits of the Umbrella Security Service that has been sent in to cover up the evil corporation’s biological research. Of course, things go wrong, and a zombie outbreak erupts. It’s up to you and your ragtag team to destroy incriminating evidence, kill invading U.S. Spec Ops soldiers, and to avoid joining the ranks of the undead yourself. The big draw for fans is clearly the privilege of experiencing the series’ high point from the viewpoint of the bad guys, with cameos from everyone from Leon to Nemesis.

In practice, the game plays a lot like a third-person Left 4 Dead, albeit it with the more tactical approach you’d expect from Slant Six. Specifically, the playable characters each represent a certain class, i.e. “Medic” or “Sniper,” and you need to coordinate your abilities to survive. In fact, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say the game more or less utilizes Team Fortress 2‘s class framework, simply just giving  names to “Heavy” and “Scout.” The Valve comparisons don’t stop there though, as an enemy type is introduced that looks like an Alien facehugger, but quickly shows itself to be more like Half-Life‘s headcrab, latching onto scientists and causing them to attack you.

As long as you aren’t bothered by all of the similarities to other properties, there is fun to be had with Operation Raccoon City. The story takes you from the labs of Dr. Birkin through the streets of one of horror’s most beloved towns, stopping to at least nod at most plot points from Resident Evil 2 and 3. The campaign is pretty short, at just about 6 hours across seven missions, but downloadable content coming in the near future promises to add another storyline from the Spec Ops perspective. Ultimately, the single-player is interesting, but unremarkable in the current TPS climate… as long as you play online.

As previously stated, the game is squad-based, which means that any of the four slots not filled by an online player will be controlled by a bot. There is no other way to say this: teammate A.I. is laughably atrocious. Your squad-mates will do everything in their power to halt your progress through the game, including (but not limited to), standing impassably in doorways, relentlessly blocking your line of fire, refusing to heal you and themselves, and getting stuck in the environment, thus forcing you to go ahead alone in a game balanced for cooperation. Do not buy this game if you do not have the ability to play online.

In its defense, Operation Raccoon City does have quite a bit of value for those that put time into its multiplayer components. You gain experience and unlock new weapons and abilities for your characters, which you can then take online in a variety of modes. The modes are pretty self-explanatory, including Team Attack, Survival, and Deathmatch, but “Heroes Mode” is particularly interesting, allowing you to take control of the protagonists from Resident Evil history like Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. The DLC “Nemesis Mode” is exclusive to the Xbox 360, and combines deathmatch with the ability to control the titular hulking monster.

The great thing about the multiplayer is that it allows the unique features of the game to really shine. For example, being shot will make your character bleed, attracting zombies to your position. This makes wounding foes just as important as killing them, as you can use the impartial zombies as a tool against the opposing team. Furthermore, zombies can infect players, turning them into zombies if they aren’t treated with an item unique to one class and occasional drops. This adds an element to the title that sets it apart from Left 4 Dead and other online shooters.

Unfortunately, there are a few wrinkles that temper the positives. Even without the dead-weight computer allies, there are a number of glaring technical issues with the game that aren’t going away any time soon. First and foremost is the embarrassing amount of bugs that need to patched as soon as possible. As of the time of this writing, there are 16 pages of reported bugs in Capcom-Unity’s official thread, which is apparently meant to act as a majority of the game’s testing. The fact is that Capcom released an unfinished game, and is now using early adopters as testers.

You can always go to the above link to read the entire litany of issues, but for completion’s sake I will go over the ones I personally encountered in my time with the game. The most common was glitched animations, as characters skipped frames and occasionally teleported into position. Similarly, there were multiple occasions in which character models clipped through the environment, or just plain got stuck in a wall. Event flag activation is also strangely spotty, with doors that sometimes don’t open, events that don’t trigger, and elevators that refuse to leave. I also encountered occasional lag when online, but, as always, that could just as easily be beyond anyone’s control.

Some of the apparently cut corners are visible in other areas as well. The game is never downright ugly, but there are a noticeable lack of details in many areas other than the main characters. The blood effects for defeated enemies are a strange case, as there is entirely too much of it when most foes drop, and it boils away in a strange animation that doesn’t have any canonical precedent. Melee animations are awkward and stiff as well, although some of the instant kill animations are cool. Ultimately, there are just a lot of areas–from the grenade effects to the voice acting–that just cry out for a bigger budget and more development time.

I think it’s clear by now that Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has a lot of problems. From the glitches to the content that is still in development, it’s easy to see that Slant Six just wasn’t done with the game when it was forced out the door. But for what  it’s worth, the retail product is fun when it works, and offers a lot for fans of the series willing to accept another non-horror entry in the decreasingly scary world Capcom has built. Given a best-case scenario, the developers will be able to iron out the worst of the bugs still infesting the game and deliver enough DLC to justify the price of entry to a mostly online experience.

Pros:

  • Fun with friends
  • Interesting alternate take on series lore

Cons:

  • Buggy
  • Brain-dead A.I.
  • Short campaign

Score: 6/10

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This game was purchased for review and played to completion in about 6 hours. Another 6 hours were spent with the multiplayer. The title was played on PS3, but is also available for Xbox 360. It will release on May 18th, 2012 for PC.

Review: Silent Hill HD Collection

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March 25, 2012 By In Featured, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

The Silent Hill series began in 1999, with the release of the eponymous first game for the PlayStation. This was followed by Silent Hill 2 and 3 for the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and 2003 respectively. These latter titles are widely considered to be the two best in the series, creating the strongest atmosphere, and, in the case of Silent Hill 2 in particular, telling the most engaging story. In 2004, Silent Hill 4: The Room marked the last title to be developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. The title also made a number of deviations from the established Silent Hill style, not all of them beneficial. It was at this point that both critical and fan reaction to the series began to dip. With the release of the Silent Hill HD Collection, it seems as though Konami is looking to re-establish interest in the series by providing updated versions of the series’ strongest entries. While for the most part, the games hold up to their original standards, but that doesn’t mean the games are without their problems.

As far as story goes, neither game has seen any changes, and this is perhaps the most telling thing about this collection: the best parts of the games are those that did not need to be changed.

In Silent Hill 2, James Sunderland arrives in Silent Hill to search for his wife, Mary. Though she has been dead for three years as of the game’s opening, James has nonetheless received a letter in what he knows to be her handwriting, telling him that she has gone to Silent Hill to wait for him. It isn’t a direct sequel to the plot of the first Silent Hill. Aside from the town, Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 have no plot elements in common, but it was nevertheless seen to be a very strong story at the time, and the years have not dulled it. James Sunderland really is an every-man, a characteristic all Silent Hill games seek to embed into their characters but were most successful here. In other games in the series, there is generally something stopping the protagonist from leaving the town. In Silent Hill 2, no such physical barricade exists. James simply refuses to leave until he’s found his wife. It make him out to be a rather tragic figure, love-struck, but not to the point where he becomes completely unrelatable.  The strength of his characterization clearly shows, as now, eleven years later, he’s still just as interesting as he was when the game released.

Silent Hill 3, conversely, continues the story set out in the first game. The protagonist is Heather, the adopted daughter of Harry Mason, who was the protagonist in the first Silent Hill game. When Harry is killed, Heather resolves to go to Silent Hill to avenge him by killing the woman who had him murdered. The characterization and story here are not as strong as they are in Silent Hill 2 – revenge as a motivation is not as immediately relatable as searching for a lost loved one. Heather doesn’t hold the same appeal as a protagonist that James does, and this is further exasperated by the return of the cult that was present in the first Silent Hill game. Given the nature of the town, the presented atmosphere, and the existence of the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ worlds, the attachment of a human element to the evil is not as engaging. The story of Silent Hill 3 still has some interesting elements, but they are not nearly on par with those of its predecessor.

As with every HD update that has been recently released, the most noticeable improvement made to the games is the upgrade in graphics. The textures have been improved to remove the jagged edges that are inherent in the age of the games, and the characters are much more detailed than they would be if you were to replay your old copies. It isn’t perfect, though. The age of Silent Hill 2 means there are some parts that just can’t be updated, and as a result, the game really shows its age. Silent Hill 3 fared much better, since the two years between the games’ original releases did a lot for visual upgrades. It definitely looks the cleaner of the two, and a lot of the atmospheric elements translated better than those of Silent Hill 2. Overall, while both games look nicer, Silent Hill 3 definitely made the transition to HD better.

Silent Hill 2 was also given some audio tweaks, as those who played the original will remember that the voice acting was extremely sub-par, even for the time. New voice-overs give an extra element of life to the game, but the sound effects from the original version are still in play. This leads to a couple of weird inconsistencies, the most notable of which is James’ breathing. It didn’t sound natural at the time, and alongside the newly recorded voices, it’s even more jarring. Silent Hill 3 was also given new voice-overs, but unlike Silent Hill 2, you don’t have the option of listening to the original voices. I also had a couple of problems with Silent Hill 3‘s audio. There’s an odd audio loop in places that definitely seems to be a backlash of reworking the game, and once or twice, the audio cut out completely. I haven’t found much report of this by other players, so it may have been an isolated incident, but it’s definitely worth keeping in mind.

Both games also have some performance issues. They are more noticeable in Silent Hill 3, which features more open, heavily monster-populated environments, but in both games, when there are a lot of enemies nearby, the frame-rate drops. It doesn’t render the game unplayable, and the performance certainly aren’t as bad as they were in the recently released Silent Hill: Downpour, but they are definitely present.

The two other glaring issues with the Silent Hill HD Collection are common problems within the series: poor combat and a bad camera. In both games, you have to use the R2 button (on the PlayStation 3) to ready your weapon, and then press X to swing or fire. It was always an awkward control method, and time hasn’t made it any better. This means that fleeing is generally a more viable option than fighting. In a way, it adds to the tense atmosphere created by the games, since you spend so much time running for your life, but it still doesn’t excuse anything. It’s also not helped by the use of the fixed camera. It’s generally positioned to give you the best (or in some cases most cinematic) view of the room you’re in, but it also means that you’ll often find that entering a room changes which way is forward, which will cause you to walk right back out of the room.

There’s something to be said about the fact that the best parts of these games is what remained unchanged: the story and atmosphere in both games is top-notch, and they’re better examples of the survival-horror genre than a lot of what has been released recently. The graphical upgrades mean the games are relevant again, but players will still be left facing the same problems the games had when they originally released. Overall though, these are excellent examples of the genre. Fans of the original games will definitely need to pick these up, and those who missed them the first time around should definitely give them a try.

Pros:

+ Excellent atmosphere

+ Well told stories, especially in Silent Hill 2

+ Improved voice acting for Silent Hill 2

 

Cons:

- Poor combat

- Unwieldy camera

- Minor performance dips in both games

Score: 8/10

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The Silent Hill HD Collection was purchased for the PlayStation 3. It is also available for the Xbox 360. Both games were played to completion in roughly 7 hours. Based on research, the minor performance issues exist on both consoles. The audio problems seem to affect only a small portion of players.

Review: Ninja Gaiden 3

NinjaGaiden3
March 24, 2012 By In Featured, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

When most gamers think of Ninja Gaiden the first things to come to mind are gore and punishing difficulty. For fans in search of the former, you can rest easy. Ninja Gaiden 3 is as bloody as ever, although decapitation and limb loss are mysteriously absent. Players in search of the latter are in for a shock though. Despite a legacy of difficulty that stretches back nearly a quarter of a century, Team Ninja apparently decided to make the newest entry in the series a gentler, more accessible experience. The question lingers: at what cost?

Pre-release press made it clear that this would be a different game. Developer diaries stressed plot, character, and multiplayer over the unforgiving violence that the franchise had staked its reputation on. So, it could be seen as a bold step if the game decided to go off in a more narratively complex direction, perhaps at the cost of gameplay refinement. Strangely, this isn’t what has happened. Instead, everything has taken a noticeable step backward. The simple, effective storytelling is gone, replaced with silly attempts at high stakes drama that come off as cartoonish. The basic gameplay has been drastically simplified, removing a lot of its depth and complexity. The only identifiable progress to be found is in the arena of multiplayer, and the neccesity of such a feature is highly questionable.

Let’s start with the plot. After spending the previous two games seeking revenge, thwarting kidnappings, and stopping the summoning of powerful, ancient demons, protagonist Ryu Hayabusa finds himself aiding the Japanese Self-Defense Force in their fight against terrorists. Eventually, our hero is confronted by the admittedly intriguing figure of the Regent of the Mask, who apparently causes Ryu’s Dragon Sword to fuse with his arm, transferring the pain and suffering he has caused into him. The Regent then demands that all of the world’s governments surrender to him, causing Ryu to spend the rest of the game trying to thwart this new enemy’s plans while dealing with his grotesque and painful arm.

While there are certainly glimmers of potential in the setup, the execution falls flat in almost every department. The idea of Ryu being forced to confront all of the violence he has enacted is pretty brilliant, but it never really pays off. Also, it’s pretty hard to make some sort of commentary on the evils of violence in a game that tasks you with murdering hundreds of people. Notice the word “people” in the last sentence. One of the many disappointing things about this entry is how most of the demons and supernatural foes from previous installments are gone, simply replaced by terrorists, soldiers, and generic ninjas. Enemy variety is crucial in an action game that throws so many opponents at you, and NG3 is just lacking. The biggest letdown is in the portrayal of the protagonist himself. Ryu was always an archetypal mysterious ninja, and while the attempts to add characterization are admirable, they just don’t succeed.

Of course, most fans couldn’t care less about the story or characters. Ninja Gaiden is about gameplay. However, as I’ve stated, the overriding design approach to this iteration appears to have been a focus on simplification and accessibility. Just listing the changes seems to speak for itself: there is no essence to collect, no store or currency, no Reverse Wind Technique, no decapitations, no limit to your arrows, and a severely limited arsenal of both magic and weapons. Streamlining is one thing, but it appears as though a large portion of the essential mechanics have been gutted.

What’s left is a button-mashing hack ‘n’ slash romp that isn’t really bad, but doesn’t live up to its pedigree. Really, the nicest thing you can say about Ninja Gaiden 3‘s gameplay is that it houses a few good boss fights, but that’s damning with faint praise when the majority of your time will be spent watching Ryu stab the same few character models. The operative word there is “watch,” since the title often appears to just play itself, either with overly long cutscenes, long animations, or unnecessary cutscenes.

“Unnecessary” is another one of these key  words as well. It can most appropriately be applied to the game’s multiplayer component, which is just as strange and out of place as  it sounds. It’s not bad, just as BioShock 2‘s multiplayer wasn’t bad per se, but it reeks of the same cloying “me too” mentality that gives off the impression that  the developer didn’t think the single-player could stand on its own. The actual implementation is decent; you customize a ninja and fight other people’s ninjas online, leveling up to unlock more powerful attacks and customization options. The fact that the people you’ll face online are (usually) smarter than the campaign’s enemy AI means that you might actually run up against some real challenge, but I doubt anyone will still be playing this mode in a couple months. There is a “co-op” feature as well, but it’s really more like a series of challenges that can be undertaken simultaneously with someone else.

Honestly, besides the fact that every game seems to need multiplayer to justify its price point these days, I  see the multiplayer as a platform for future micro-transactions and downloadable content. Team Ninja has already confirmed that the campaign will be getting some  of the weapons it sorely needs as DLC, so it stand to reason that they’ll try to monetize the online component as well. It will likely start with extra costumes, but I’m curious to see if a lot of the options and variety that appear to have been excised from the rest of the game appear as paid add-ons. And, of course, an online mode means that the game comes with an online pass, meaning buying the game used locks you out from half of it unless you pay the publisher $10.

Pessimism aside, it must be reiterated that the game is still mostly fun in a simple, Final Fight-esque way. Carving your way through legions of baddies can be cathartic, even without raising the genre bar like the reboot once did. Speaking of said game though, it is sad to note how far Gaiden has fallen as  a benchmark for console graphics. Once upon a time, Ryu had the flashiest visuals around, but now he barely stands out from the pack. The voice acting is as cheesy as always though, so if you enjoy camp and unintentional comedy, there is some enjoyment to be had past the meat and potatoes swordplay.

The fact is that  Tomonobu Itagaki is sorely missed. The people left behind the helm now are clearly aware of the things that make other action games successful–quick time events, dynamic heroes, new features–but they don’t seem to understand how to utilize and combine these disparate tools into a unified whole. There is hope for the Ninja Gaiden name yet, but they’re going to have to go back to square one and rediscover what made people latch onto the  franchise in the first place before it can overcome the mediocrity of this outing.

Pros:

  • Some cinematic moments
  • Serviceable hack ‘n’ slash action

Cons:

  • Multiplayer is unnecessary
  • Story and character fall flat
  • Lacks trademark difficulty

Score: 5/10

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This game was purchased for review and played to completion in about 7 hours. Another two hours were spent with the multiplayer. The title was played on Xbox 360, but is also available for PS3.

Review: Silent Hill: Downpour

silent_hill_downpour_ps3_xbox_360_1
March 20, 2012 By In Featured, Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360

Silent Hill: Downpour is the eighth iteration of the venerable survival-horror franchise that began in the days of the original PlayStation. Since then, the development has passed to several different studios. Though the series’ origins are firmly Japanese, the last two developers, Climax Studios and Double Helix games, were British and American, respectively. While their entries into the series were respected critically, hardcore Silent Hill fans were left a little disappointed at the abandonment of the series’ eastern roots. The Czech-based developer of Silent Hill: Downpour, Vatra Games, has attempted to return the series to its roots, and although there are a few key stumbling points, fans who found themselves disappointed by the previous entries will undoubtedly find the title encouraging, if nothing else.

The Silent Hill series has wound its way through many protagonists, some genuinely interesting and relatable, others notably less so. This time around, inmate Murphy Pendleton is the man destined to enter America’s most haunted town. Pendleton is an inmate at Ryall State Corrections Facility, though what he was convicted for is not immediately evident. His arrival into Silent Hill is an unfortunate accident. During a prison transfer, the bus Pendleton is on crashes, and in his ensuing attempt to escape, he blunders blindly into Silent Hill. This moment is actually one of the weakest in an otherwise well-told story. During the first few hours, it’s hard to tell whether Murphy is actually a likable protagonist. Details about his past – even the key detail of why he was imprisoned – are held at arm’s length until several hours in. The game’s opening sequence, in which Murphy kills a fellow prisoner, seemingly in cold blood, casts further doubt upon his believability as a Silent Hill protagonist. The style of horror the series uses is centered around the player feeling connected to the protagonist, and a convicted felon, especially one as murderous as Murphy initially seems, is hard to relate to. Once you enter Silent Hill, however, and the town begins to taunt Murphy with his own past, necessitating the game’s reveal of key details about his life, the story of Silent Hill: Downpour really finds its legs, and you find yourself finally getting invested. It simply takes a little too long to reach that point.

The town of Silent Hill has seen a few changes this time around. When you finally reach the town proper, after about two hours of gameplay, you find that Vatra Games has given it more of an open-world feel. You’ll discover, though, that this is a pseudo-open-world more than anything else, as there are numerous blockades and fractures in the road that stop you from roaming freely. The result is that the town is split into a few different sections, each larger than what is practical. You’ll find yourself wandering back and forth in each of these areas attempting to find the entrance to the building you need to get into. Or how to access the next area. Or even just what you’re supposed to do next. This isn’t helped by the game’s objective system, which is extremely broad and not at all helpful. ‘Escape from Silent Hill,’ is your main objective, but the journal doesn’t provide any further direction than that. This is most notable when you first enter the town, without any real idea of what you’re supposed to do. Vague marks on your maps will draw you to areas of interest, but there’s no indication as to why you should be drawn there. This means that the truly interesting portions of the game are broken up by random wanderings in which the titular rains become more annoying than anything. They make getting from one area of the map to the another more cumbersome than it should be, since once the rains come, the monsters of Silent Hill appear more frequently and are much more difficult to kill.  When you finally get where you’re going, Silent Hill: Downpour has some extremely interesting moments. But the choice to make Silent Hill so large and provide so little direction means a lot of needless wandering as you try and figure out what you’re supposed to do next.

A Silent Hill game wouldn’t be a Silent Hill game if it didn’t feature clunky combat, and Downpour unfortunately excels all too well at this. Murphy can only carry two weapons – one melee and one holstered – with melee weapons degrading over time. In theory, this means that you’ll have to make do with what you can find on short notice. In practice, however, there are only a couple of melee weapons that are really worth carrying. Axes can break the boards off of boarded up doorways, and harpoons (which actually resemble overlong fire pokers) can hook onto ladders to pull them down into arm’s reach. This means that you’ll always want either one or the other in your hand. Weapons constantly spawn in the same locations, so as long as you’re outside, you get a pretty good feel for where the good weapons are.

Using these melee weapons for fighting is, as is the Silent Hill tradition, lacking. There’s no real visual feedback for smacking a Screamer with the broad side of your axe, so first and foremost, the combat is unsatisfying. Couple that with the lack of a lock-on function, and the fact Murphy will sometimes perform a 180 degree turn after you swing a weapon, and you find that fighting more than one enemy at a time is nearly impossible. On higher difficulties, even one enemy can be a task. They don’t always stagger when you hit them, and the breaks between their attacks are so short that you can’t employ a block-then-hit strategy, because while it stops damage, blocking doesn’t impede the monsters attacks in any other way. You often stagger when hit, though, so if you get struck while winding up for a swing, (which you will quite often), you’ll break off your attack, and probably take a few extra hits, too. Murphy’s clothes get bloody and he starts limping as he takes damage, which is a neat effect at first, but aside from that, there’s no indication of how much damage you’ve taken or how much more you can take before you die. To a certain degree, that’s understandable; it’s designed to create a feeling of tension in the combat, to really make it feel like you’re fighting for your life. But Downpour surpasses the realm of understandability and combat comes off feeling annoying and almost broken.

There are also a wealth of technical issues, the most egregious of which are frequent drops in the frame rate that sometimes devolve into an outright stutter, making the game hiccup as you walk up and down the streets of the town. The camera is also frequently a bother, especially when in combat, as it doesn’t seem to mesh well with the block mechanic. Problems like this are simply not acceptable in current generation gaming. Hardware is sufficiently powerful that frame rate issues are out and out laughable, and by now, third-person games have evolved to the point where problems with the camera are more than just a frustrating issue in the game, they’re an overt slap in the face.

When you’re not fighting or exploring, (or coping with some of the more overt technical flaws) though, Silent Hill: Downpour actually has some genuinely interesting moments. The thick fog covering the town and the darkness and dilapidation of the buildings you explore do a wonderful job of creating an authentic Silent Hill atmosphere. Some of the moments that take place in the series’ trademark ‘dark world’ can mess with your head, in addition to being appropriately creepy. There seems to be an abundance of cheap startles in some areas (wandering through a dark room only to have a pile of boxes clatter loudly to the ground, or wandering through a cavernous library only for a ceiling to collapse), but there are enough sufficiently creepy moments alongside them that it doesn’t feel like a cop-out. The soundtrack isn’t up to normal Silent Hill standards, which can be attributed to the loss of Akira Yamaoka, but composer Daniel Licht (of TV-series Dexter fame) does a fairly admirable job, considering the man he’s forced to follow. All the pieces are there, and when they click, they fit well, but there are just so many little things standing in the way.

When it embraces its origins, Silent Hill: Downpour hits the nail dead on the head, creating an engaging story, a creepy atmosphere, and throwing genuinely unsettling moments at the player, making it truly feel like a Silent Hill game. But in opening up the town of Silent Hill and not providing sufficient direction, a lot of time will be spent trying to figure out just where you’re supposed to go next, or how to get there. Couple that with the traditional problems of the Silent Hill franchise – poor camera and clunky combat – slightly worse than previous titles, and Downpour falls to the level of average. Long-time fans of the series will undoubtedly be pleased with some of the choices made by the developer, (monster designs have been toned back, the horror elements are more subtle than those found in Homecoming, and Murphy isn’t given a support character to wander around with), but the game’s problems simply make it hard to recommend this to anyone who isn’t already a fan of the series.

 

Pros:

+Genuinely creepy atmosphere

+Story is one of the series’ most interesting

+Considering the shoes he’s filling, Daniel Licht does an admirable job with the music.

Cons:

-Horrible combat

-Technical issues abound: frame rate issues most prominently

-Lack of direction leads to a lot of aimless wandering

Score: 6/10

Silent Hill: Downpour was purchased for the PlayStation 3 and completed in roughly 9 hours. The title is also available for the Xbox 360. According to other sources, the technical problems are NOT exclusive to the platform.

Review: Escape Plan

Escape-Plan-Logo
March 15, 2012 By In Reviews, Vita

Escape Plan, the premiere title of Fun Bits Interactive, is a budget downloadable title for the PlayStation Vita that was produced by Chris Millar, who some may remember as the producer of the PS3 downloadable title Fat Princess. While its quirky style of humour was well received, the lacking single player left a lot of people wanting more. Luckily, Escape Plan retains the quirky humour, albeit in a different style, that Millar managed with Fat Princess, but also manages to be an extremely strong single player puzzle game, one that may usher in a new genre of touch-based puzzlers on the PlayStation Vita.

The story is presented through captioned still images, offering up your first look at the unique graphical style. The first few images include a plea from the narrator for the player’s help, a call which, of course, you will answer. This is where you take control for the first time, guiding one of the protagonists, Lil, through a series of small simplistic rooms to start with. This is the game’s way of introducing both story and control style at the same time: your objective is to ensure that Lil – and Laarg, who you will meet later – manage to navigate their way through the death-trap filled rooms of the prison that Bakuki, the game’s villain, has trapped them in. As far as motivation goes, that’s really all you’re given. It’s no Pulitzer Prize winner, but it’s nice to see that Fun Bits understands that, in a puzzle game, story is really secondary to the puzzles themselves. They don’t overburden you with characterization when a simple presentation of your ultimate goal works just as well. Fun Bits went for simplicity here, and largely succeed, although it has to be said that there are times when the why of it all will pop into the player’s head: why are Lil and Laarg in this prison? Why is Bakuki trying to kill them? The absence of this extra dimension to the story doesn’t take away from gameplay at all, so it never feels like a huge oversight, but the characters manage to be so endearing that you can’t help but wonder about how they wound up in the position they’re in.

For the most part, though, the thin framing won’t ever stand out, since it’s not just Lil and Laarg who are the stars here: this is a puzzle game, so the puzzles must keep the player involved as much as the story would in an RPG, or the firefights in a shooter. In this, Escape Plan excels, and it’s largely due to the hardware the game has to play with. Solving puzzles generally requires a combination of swipes, taps, and touches on the front and rear screens, as well as the occasional need for tilting. The gestures needed are never grand: swipes and taps only need to be quick and light, and the game registers tilts that are very slight. This subtlety of control helps keep the player immersed in gameplay, and also ensures that the question that plagues all handheld games, (will I look silly playing this in public?) is a resolute no. Front touches and tilts both register very nicely. The rear screen, unfortunately, doesn’t fare quite so successfully.

It seems that an inherent problem with the rear screen is that it is difficult to judge exactly where the touches on the rear screen are going to register in the game, as you’re not looking at exactly where you need to touch, and you can also involuntarily brush the rear screen while simply holding the Vita. This isn’t going to be a major problem in all cases, but in Escape Plan, you’re awarded a star rating (out of three) at the end of each puzzle, based both on completion time , and how many gestures you used. The inexactness of the rear screen here means that three stars is a little harder than it should be at times. Not only that, but many of the puzzles require an element of timing, and tapping on the rear screen only to have it not register where you intended it to will undoubtedly be the cause of an otherwise avoidable death now and then. This is somewhat balanced out, however, by the inexplicable simplicity of a few of the puzzles, even later on. Some of these puzzles require nothing more than sending Lil or Laarg across a room, with only a single obstacle to avoid. It’s an odd juxtaposition to the puzzles that are intricately designed, requiring careful thought and timing. These puzzles are where the game really shines, and where the hardware truly feels necessary, so while oftentimes breaks are not unwelcome, they seem to be counterproductive to the game’s ultimate purpose: both offering a challenging puzzle game, and showcasing the Vita’s capabilities.

This showcasing of what the Vita can do comes across most clearly in the graphical style: Escape Plan forgoes colour, choosing instead a monochromatic colour scheme that couples extremely well with the game’s quirky (albeit rather bleak) sense of humour. It’s a rare thing for a game to be coloured black and white, and given the quality of the Vita’s screen, one would think a huge array of colours would be more impressive, but perhaps it is exactly this expectation that makes the black-and-white of Escape Plan so pleasing. The musical score, an array of classical pieces, many of which will sound familiar to anyone with a knowledge of that musical style, helps round out the presentation, which follows the theme the rest of the game adheres to quite well: simple, but satisfying.

Escape Plan is a solid puzzle game that makes a minor stumble in a couple of areas but is nevertheless an extremely strong entry in the PlayStation Vita’s software catalog. The simplistic controls and graphical presentation give extra weight to the game’s puzzles, and the dark humour gives an extra element of enjoyment. Though the problems with the rear screen may offer some frustration, it’s completely possible to get past, and in no way takes away from the work of art that is Escape Plan.

 

Pros:

+Excellent presentation

+Intuitive use of the PlayStation Vita

+Quirky, dark sense of humour

 

Cons:

-Some puzzles are overly simplistic

-Characters could have been a little more fleshed out

-Rear screen can be problematic at times

 

Score: 8/10

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Escape Plan was purchased for the PlayStation Vita through the PlayStation Network for $14.99. It was played to completion in roughly 6 hours. There are currently no plans to bring this title to other platforms.

 

Review: Journey

Journey
March 15, 2012 By In Featured, Playstation 3, Reviews

“You wake alone and surrounded by miles of burning, sprawling desert, and soon discover the looming mountaintop which is your goal.” In a sense, that is all that Journey is. There is no plot, no characters, no combat, no customization. There are only a bare few gameplay mechanics. It’s just players wandering through the desert on a journey to a distant mountaintop. And yet, this may be the most  important game of this generation.

In a lot of ways, Journey is a metaphor for games themselves. You move forward because that is the direction in which  the end goal is programmed. Multiplayer is a fleeting attempt at human interaction, closed off from meaningful exchange by the constraints of the medium. The interplay of visuals and music is at the forefront, exposing the limited control you have in the game world. You’re just a traveler in a world built by those that came before you, wandering in search of meaning. Why climb the mountain? Because it’s there. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do.

There have been other minimalist games in recent memory that similarly questioned conventional thought about what makes a video game. Dear Esther, most notably, was a great success,  despite a lack of any real interactivity. But what makes Journey so special is that it really does let you play and have fun while it presents its meta-fictional parable. Your nameless, arm-less, avatar slides down sand dunes, jumps through the air, and chirps out an ambiguous tone to potential fellow wanderers. The sense of exploration and wonder is palpable; it’s no wonder the game is called Journey.

It’s difficult to nail down what exactly works in such an original title with the traditional game review format, but it’s impossible not to note the impressive aesthetic achievements thatgamecompany has made with a relatively small budget. The world is an absolutely gorgeous pastel work of art, with so much richness in its simplicity that make the details you find along the way all the more memorable. The way your gait leaves behind a furrow in the sand, the subtle shifting of the landscape in deference to the howling desert wind, and the warm color palette in what could have been such a sterile setting all combine to form one of gaming’s most cohesive visual offerings. It really feels like a living, breathing place.

The music is similarly impeccable. Austin Wintory’s score is orchestral, but not overbearing. It’s simple and elegant, like the gameplay and graphics, furthering the unified artistic vision. The ending theme includes some haunting vocal work as well, which I wasn’t expecting. If you’ve played flOw or Flower then you probably have a good idea of the kind of emotional instrumentation included here; Jenova Chen and company are at the forefront of a lot the innovate usage of music in gaming. I really don’t think I can do the soundtrack justice in print, so feel free to go here and listen to it yourself.

On the more mechanical side of things, it must be said that Journey‘s approach to multiplayer is surprisingly groundbreaking, though it only works because of the central conceit of the work. As long as you’re connected to the PSN, you will occasionally come across other players who are also wandering the desert, and you can work your way up the mountain together. What makes this so unique is that there is no way to contact them; the game doesn’t even tell you their name until after you have completed it. It’s a strangely poignant moment coming upon a stranger and wordlessly deciding to team up. You can chirp at one another, but what each player interprets the other’s song to mean will likely be as different as the people behind the controller. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it intentionally symbolic of the breakdown of communication between people in our technological society, but it’s pretty hard to ignore the heavy feeling of significance that these encounters can inspire.

If you don’t run into anyone though, or the people you come across don’t seem particularly interested in sharing their journey with you, that’s fine too. Some people need to carry the burden of life alone, and the game is designed to be a perfectly complete experience when played solo. The loneliness can be an experience in and of itself. With no heads-up display, no stats to keep track of, and no dialogue at all, the feeling of wandering the desert alone can be such an immersive exercise that it can become genuinely emotionally draining. Personal accounts will likely vary, but it’s a much different dynamic than, say, Uncharted 3‘s similar scene, in which the game’s high budget and Hollywood production values still couldn’t capture the existential terror of being lost in the desert. A better comparison would be Gus Van Sant’s Gerry,  in which two friends wander silently through the desert for a majority of the run-time. The only difference is that being able to control the character makes Journey an infinitely more engrossing endeavor, instead of a tedious slog.

While it may seem as though I have nothing but praise for this title, it can’t be denied that there are many who will not get as much out of the purchase as others. The game is relatively short, even for a downloadable offering, clocking in at 2-3 hours, depending on how long you explore or simply look around. Replay-ability is limited, but there are things you likely won’t see on your first few playthroughs, and the multiplayer mechanic means there is always the potential to run into new people who can show you things you missed. I won’t spoil it, but careful searching may lead to the discovery that there is more to the desert than you may have first thought.

There is a certain canon of “great” artistic video games–Shadow of the Colossus, Braid, Portal. Journey is not only in the same class as these other works, but right up there in their ranks. There is so much pessimism in gaming and gamer culture in general, whether it’s about the corporate practices or the monotonous conformity of game design in general, that is not only important, but crucial that we celebrate releases like this. When a team can come together and make the bleak desolation of the desert into a beautiful commentary on humanity’s natural desire for progress and the spaces between strangers, we owe it to them to go on that journey. The mountaintop is waiting.

 

Pros:

  • Beautiful
  • Immersing
  • Thought-provoking

Cons:

  • Short
  • May be too simple for some

Score: 9/10

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This game was downloaded and played to completion in about 3 hours. Another play-through was also done to check replay-ability. The title is exclusive to the PSN.

Review: Deep Black: Reloaded

deep black reloaded_cover
March 11, 2012 By In Featured, PC, PC, Reviews

I’m not envious of the folks at Biart Company, developers of Deep Black: Reloaded. Third person shooters are hitting an unprecedented level of polish this generation, with Gears of War 3 and Dead Space 2 especially setting the bar. With DB:R, Biart touts the game’s underwater scenarios as its signature flavor (not to mention its budget price), but too many issues sink the promising elements. Despite the triumph of making underwater combat fun for once, DB:R is plagued numerous issues which prevent its rise above mediocrity.

DB:R opens with a simple cinematic that sets up the major players involved in the title. It’s nothing more than quick biographies set across quick cuts, but it’s an economical way of informing the player. Set in 2047, most governments are gone and replaced with mega-corporations.  You command the role of Syrus Pierce, an operative of CHARON, a beautifully complicated acronym for “Chief Amphibious Reconnaissance Operational Network.” You’re tasked with infiltrating a base owned by terrorist group Al-Azrad, giving Syrus a chance to extract vengeance from old-wrongdoings. Within the first act, you find that your mission falls into the category of “not what it seems.” The pieces are in place for a decent, if not predictable, near-future-political-thriller, but the narrative doesn’t paint a convincing enough picture. The VO work ranges from average to unintentionally silly. The various cut-scenes look like they were scripted straight out of 2001, with stiff character animation and generic camera work. And while it doesn’t shine, the story has the decency to include a satisfying ending that tastefully teases out future possibilities for the series. It’s just a shame it wasn’t better, because the game desperately needs bright spots.

Considering the dominance of Unreal Engine, it’s unusual to see a small developer to create their own. DB:R uses Biart’s biEngine to power the game, and it’s nothing if not competent. The visuals won’t impress, but they’re generally appealing. Character models look presentable and textures are sharp with great lighting effects. The engine handles land to water combat very well, and along with the occasional wide-open arena. A few instances challenged the efficiency of biEngine, especially when large enemies made an appearance. The frame-rate would drop, and character animation would chop up badly. I don’t have the most powerful rig around, but it could max out Dead Space 2 and Arkham City with no issue. Thankfully, despite performance hiccups, the game wasn’t made harder because of them.

If there’s any element that excels, it’s the sound design. Weapon effects give loud and sharp reports and explosions are speaker-filling. The game only features a handful of music tracks, but they’re somewhat catchy and fun to listen to, even though they’re often tense, classical-sounding arrangements. As mentioned before, the VO work contains some ridiculous back-and-forths (i.e. “This is the culo that launched 1000 ships”), not to mention bizarre death sounds. It always makes me smile when an enemy sounds like he angrily stubbed his toe, despite the fact that he took a bullet to the head.

Since DB:R is a third-person shooter, all it really needs is satisfying combat mechanics to make up for narrative short-comings. Unfortunately, that is largely absent too. Movement on land is stiff and slow. The game allows you to take cover, though it’s no where near as fluid as a Gears game. You’re given a decent selection of weapons, ranging from rifles and shotguns to mini-guns and rocket launchers. The game’s signature appeal is the strong focus on underwater combat, with around a third of the game’s campaign taking place in watery depths. Oddly, this is the only game (perhaps ever) where I was despondent about having to head back onto land. Not only can you easily move easily within 360° of space while underwater, but your amphibious armor is equipped with a jet boost allowing for fast movement. You can still take cover while submerged, and your reticule locks onto enemies. You can even use your harpoon to pull unwitting soldiers from the surface into the water, ending them as a bloody, gargling mess. Even though most of the game takes place on land, its best moments are spent underwater.

These elements work well enough, and the game provides no shortage of tense shoot-outs. But unlike GoW or even Dead Space, the overall polish and fluidity of movement is lacking. Snapping into cover works inconsistently, while character movement is ridiculously slow when creeping in cover. I learned very quickly that progression means deliberate, slow movement. There’s simply no way to reenact the beefy gymnastics seen in GoW. I would almost be okay with that if the game wasn’t so obtusely difficult. Even on Normal, all enemies are sharpshooters, with mid-game grunts able to take you down in a handful of shots. Far too often, encounters are impossible on the first try, as enemies will wreck you unless you’re in the right place at the right time. The game eschews traditional melee combat for a QTE when an enemy gets close. Tapping ‘F’ has Pierce perform a violent, instant takedown that looks cool but leaves you completely open to gunfire. All too often, I was killed by far-off enemies, because one solider decided he had to get a really good look at me.

On the plus side, the game integrates the Xbox 360 controller well, and even features support for the Razer Hydra motion controller. For those of you who have it, there’s also support for nVidia 3D Vision. The game includes multiplayer with regular Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. However, I never came across another person playing it, and no one ever joined my lobby. Given the rest of the game, it’s safe to say this would have been a fun distraction at best.

There’s a promising core within DB:R, but it’s marred by numerous issues. While there are a few, genuinely interesting experiences, there’s dozens of others that will infuriate you because of the difficulty. The game is definitely above average when it comes to visuals and audio, but the gameplay just isn’t up to snuff. And while the story wraps itself up, it’s not engaging enough to make you ignore the other shortcomings. There’s genuine promise here, but unfortunately, it did not deliver.

Pros:

  • Competent shooting mechanics
  • Lengthy campaign
  • Underwater combat made fun
  • Some genuinely exciting boss fights
  • Budget price

Cons:

  • Wildly imbalanced difficulty
  • Omniscient A.I.
  • Flaky movement mechanics
  • Sub-par cinematics
  • Performance issues in large areas

SCORE: 5/10

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Deep Black: Reloaded was provided for review by the publisher. The game was completed in roughly 15 hours. Multiplayer was not accounted for in this review. Deep Black: Reloaded will release on XBLA and PSN later this summer.