Kratos eh – he’s a bit of a boisterous wag don’t you think? Not content with laying waste to a very large chunk of Greek mythologies more prominent characters he now wants to take down Zeus himself. – as he also turns out to be Kratos’s father there is a serious Starwars fetish at work here! We find ourselves starting the game at the exact point we left it in God of War II. Namely Kratos has managed to whip the elemental Titans up into a battle ready frenzy to take down Zeus. The camera pans in on Titans clambering Mount Olympus and there, riding on the back of tree-hugging Titan Gaia, is Kratos, all the while screaming bloody murder at the top of his voice. Zeus sends forth his last remaining loyal Gods to take care of Kratos and the ensuing Titan horde. Thus we step into the action as Kratos rides upon Gaia whilst fending off the attacks from Poseidon in the form of water based snake creatures and a plethora of generic henchmen. So from this point on we will keep things as spoiler free as possible – let’s face it did you really come to God of War III for the story arc?
After our hands-on time back in October with God of War 3 we had good expectations that the game would be solid enough. After a short amount of playtime into the game any fears you had that Sony’s Santa Monica studio would find it hard to follow up on two of gamings most epic titles are firmly disembowelled. This is basically God of War 2.5 in the sense of character ad game mechanic progression and certainly titles like Darksiders have streamlined a lot of the quick time events but this game is just too epic to ignore, to visceral to be placated into the shadow of any other title – this game truly define the phrase “epic”.
You seriously would not fuck with this guy right?!?
GoW3 does the tried and tested “Fuck You!” of videogames when it basically allows you to have all the awesome skills you would of acquired at the end of God of War 2 and then takes the whole damn lot away from you. Basically Zeus whips your arse in the first fifteen minutes of the game sending you plunging back into the depth of Hades. From here, with your now limited abilities, you must fight your way back up to the top of Mount Olympus to twat that smug lightening chucker.
The game plays like pretty much every God of War title – so exactly how you would want this God of War title to play lets be honest. If you are coming to GoW3 with the expectation that something radical will of changed in the gameplay then forget about it. This is tried, tested and tweaked a little. Unlike the combo heavy Bayonetta, GoW3 focuses on mashing buttons and remembering fairly simple combos to pull off some spectacularly devastating special moves.
Click this image to get the large picture - its epic!
What has changed significantly, as as you would expect, is the scale of the game. This game looks epic. Sometimes the camera will pan back until Kratos looks little more than a textured lump of muscle in the distance. The opening scenes of the game are some of the most impressive I have ever witnessed in a videogame. Riding upon the back of a mighty Titan whilst fighting hordes of Zeus’s minions is epic in itself but when this is set to the backdrop of a massive full scale assault taking place, filled with hugely detailed Titans – this just has to be experienced to be understood.
Whilst we are talking ascetics lets deal with the graphics. At times this game is THE most beautiful game ever created – it makes Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2 look dated and flat at times – it’s that damn good. That said at other times some odd design choices or uninspired locations make it appear plain old good looking – I realise the ludicrous nature of that statement but when the rest of the game looks better than some movie CG you really notice the parts that lack that level of sheen. If you are sat looking at the demo and thinking “Yeah OK mate it looks good but nothing that amazing!” then you have a real treat as the demo code looks shite and slow in comparison. Sony Santa Monica have taken the time to completely overhaul the lighting engine and tweak so much more – even the frame rate is a damn sight better even with the extra bells and whistles.
Insert you own jokes about Kratos giving head here please!
A few games have been given the title of jaw droopingly gorgeous – I’ve not been compelled to slacken my jaw at a game since I probably first saw Shadow of the Beast running on the Amiga 500. Even the lush visuals of Uncharted 2 failed to unsteady my hardened gamer jaw. I sat with my chin in my hands, jaw slack as anything, on multiple occasions in this game. The scene near the beginning, which I won’t spoil, sees the water levels rising across the land – this is all in real-time and it looks stunning! The sheer scale and amount of visual fidelity on display is mind boggling even for the supposed “power of the Cell”. Add to this superb lighting effects (even weapons reflect in the environment), flawless character animations and some incredible environments and you have THE best looking game on any platform at the moment – period (and yes that goes for you PC guys whacking off over Crysis on 1billionx1billion resolution- I’ve seen it, it looks great but this is better!).
OK enough gushing over the graphics and on to more pertinent issues – the game play. As mentioned this follows the tried and tested path used by the previous two outings (three if you include Ready at Dawn’s excellent Chains of Olympus on the PSP). That said most people coming to God of War 3 will not want a drastic change. This is the last game in Kratos’s trilogy and as such needs to go out playing in a similar fashion to any other GoW title. Simple mashing of the Square, Triangle and Circle buttons will achieve all the damage you need. The old favourites return like Kratos’s whirlwind attack plus a great grab mechanic that allows to get hold of smaller combatants and use them as a human (demon, whatever) battering ram.
Helios is about to get seriously done over by this Titan
The game relies heavily on Quick Time Events once again. As has been documented recently I’ve pretty much had it with QTEs. Darksiders really had the correct idea here as they stripped down a lot of these button presses in to one initiating button press. Where as GoW 3 keeps close to it;s roots and has you pummelling buttons like a coked up monkey. That said they have made things a little easier in so far as button prompts will appear on the side of the screen that the button exists on the controller. For instance the X prompt appears at the bottom of the screen. This helps alleviate a lot of wrong button presses as you simply need to mirror the activity on the screen.
Voice acting is top notch and the dialogue is delivered well. This is not high concept drama we are talking here, this is Michael Bay type scripting for a popcorn generation. That said the script is more than agreeable and facilitates the brutal action very well. Unlike the recent Sony exclusive Heavy Rain we are treated to actors that at least speak English as a first language. The voice over work is well delivered and adds greatly to the feel of the title. The real star in the audio department must be the music. Stupendously uplifting and dramatic scores soar and dip in the background as the bloodthirsty action takes place on screen. Some of the compositions would shame most summer blockbusters and really help add to the epic nature of the gameplay. The sound effects too have been well thought out and this game at all times sounds like a cacophony of bloody war.
The pyrotechnics and effects on display are astounding
The game is not exactly short but it could of maybe done with an extra hour or so added to it’s 8′ish hour play time. Luckily this is the type of game you can quiet simply star over again as soon as you finish it. There are plenty of collectibles in the usual guise of Phoenix Feathers, Gordon Eyes and Minotaur Horns so this will add a little to the overall play time and urge to replay through – not to mention the unlockable extras like making of videos etc. There are even a handful of Batman : Arkham Asylum style challenge rooms on offer to give you that extra bit of play for you money.
The game is not all glory and good times though. The play style has really had it’s day, and there is a small level of monotony encompassed by a button mashing title. There are a few glitches in the game too, once or twice I died by falling through level geometry and the camera can also dish out it’s fair share of unreasonable deaths. All these things are not game breakers they just frustrate slightly in an otherwise exceptionally produced game. If you never did like this style of game then God of War 3 is not the game to change your mind (try Darksiders) because after all it’s just a platform brawler clinging to “the old ways” for one last hurrah. The checkpoint system is a little woolly at times and the fact you have to start from the beginning during multipart major encounters (for example a four stage brawl atop some massive moving cubes almost resulted in my controller going through the window!) is just plain mean but it does make you strive to be a better player – just be warned that at times this game can get frustratingly difficult (not as much as Bayonetta by a long stretch though!).
The grandeous scene setting is sometime just breathtaking
Final Thoughts :-
God of War 3 defines the word “Epic” in respect to videogames. The game is a powerhouse of visual accomplishment and demonstrates once again what can be achieved with Sony’s chunk of black plastic. It fails to reach some of the heights in gameplay that the earlier games did but this never detracts from what is simply the best game in it’s genre. Sure there are a few control, checkpoint and camera niggles but that is why GoW3 doesn’t hit the full 10/10. If you don’t yet own a PS3 I have to ask, what better reason do you need than God of War 3, Heavy Rainand Uncharted 2. This game is an essential purchase for any gamer regardless of platform loyalty.
When DICE announced the first Battlefield : Bad Company title there were several strong thoughts circling the gamesphere. “Please god make it better then the last console Battlefield title” & “Please god make it as good as Battlefield 2“. Well DICE managed the first of those wishes but fell well short with the last. The game was lauded for it’s excellent engine technology but lambasted for it’s lacklustre campaign and under developed multiplayer. Receiving some solid scores all round, and a good score in our review, DICE had a firm foundation to move on from.
Zip forward to today and BAM! Battlefield : Bad Company 2 is here and fuck me if it’s not THE BEST multiplayer game since Call of Duty 4… Yeah that’s right, Battlefield Bad Company 2 makes Modern Warfare 2 it’s bitch and no mistaking.
We pick up the trail with our four less than willing heroes as they become roped in to yet another special assignment. This time the carrot to get the job done isn’t a large haul of gold bars but the chance to finally get free of the army and return to civilian life. Only problem is they have been forced into a special forces unit locked in a race to locate some WMDs before their Russian counterparts do.
The single player game of the original Battlefield Bad Company was and OK experience but as our review states it was mostly about the multiplayer. Well DICE can finally mark their calendar; they have managed to make a single player shooter campaign that stands up with the best of them. The main draw of the first title was the banter between the four squad mates. Now this is maybe not as fresh as it once was in this outing but it still raises the game well above the usual overly serious competition in the shooter genre.
The single player campaign is full of set pieces and moments that shove two fingers up to COD4 and Modern Warfare 2. Things like comments being made by the squad about snowmobiles and other plays lifted straight from the previous Call of Duty titles play books. This makes the game a little “me too!” at times but the clincher is that BFBC2 takes those elements and adds more destruction, more chaos and more fun. Gone too is the slightly wonky aiming & health packs. In comes regenerating health, sharper targeting (still a little fiddly) and the ability to change your load-out mid game from supply drop crates. The game has employed some reasonably intelligent placements for checkpoints and does a great job most of the time of keeping the pace tight and forward flowing even in the sometimes expansive open environments.
Graphically the game has taken a large step up and you can tell that DICE have spent a lot of time tweaking the Frostbyte engine. There is the odd clipping issue (for instance I shot a soldier only to have him fall through a crate, leaving his head poking through – it was bloody hilarious!) and a small amount of pop-in of textures. None of this detracts from the stunning visuals on display and the sheer amount of destruction crammed in to every fire fight is mesmerising at the very least. Animation is solid and well defined. Characters and environments move with the purpose and fluidity expected of a top-tier developer at the top of their game.
One of the absolute standout elements of Battlefield Bad Company 2 has to be the sound design. Sure an awful lot of shooters can boast great weapon sounds, or well defined environmental soundscapes. What BFBC2 can offer is all that plus a whole heap more. For example to sound of the weapons both up close and in the distance reverberate and dissipate as you would expect them too. Sounds seem to actually live in the environment they are being born in rather than just a layer of superficial noise being applied over an action to facilitate a game mechanic. It truly is hard to explain until you hear those shots ring out. And the “special” weapon noise that you hear in the first fifteen minutes or so of the game will shake your fillings out if you have a sub-woofer (and some fillings as well to be honest..) and literally fill you with impending dread; brilliant stuff!
The rest of the game is none too shabby audibly either with great in game and menu music as well as, once again, superb voice acting, especially from the four main cast members. The pace and emphasis placed on their dialogue help elevate the game to the higher echelons reserved for the Call of Dutys of this world.
The single player does satisfy well enough. The plot is loose at best, the dialogue is easy to miss between the squad mates due to it being relayed in game and certain elements fall a little flat. During the 8 or so hours it will take you on an average play through (add maybe 1 or 2 hours extra if you intend on searching out all the weapons and satellite uplink stations) there will be plenty of thrills and a single player campaign that made more cohesive sense than that of Modern Warfare 2. It trounces the first Battlefield Bad Company game in this area and most of the competition too. If I was to score the single player separately it would be a solid 7.5/8 at most.
Where this game truly shines though is in the multiplayer. For many years DICE have found it tricky to replicate the sheer scale and form of their earlier PC Battlefield titles. Many a review will list the earlier console games as poor distant cousins to the likes of Battlefield 2 & Battlefield : Vietnam. With sheer number of options and the mammoth scale DICE have stepped up to the plate and smacked this one out of the park. There are only four modes of play in multiplayer, something that might be somewhat of a turn-off it it was not for the extremely well balanced nature of each one. These modes take the guise of Conquest mode, Rush ( a timed speed round) , Squad Rush (as Rush but split into squads – which is locked, unless you pre-ordered the game, for 30 days) and Squad Deathmatch. Each mode offers an intense and thrilling experience that will satisfy even the most hardened Modern Warfare 2 fan and tempt the most ardent COD4 zealot too.
The multiplayer is laced with great features like the ability to just spawn behind your team mates – no more trudging miles and miles to get to the action. The points are handed out for a multitude of actions and distributed fairly and evenly across a match. You never feel like you should of earnt a load more points for your heroics (I’m looking at youMAG!) but it also doesn’t just hand out points like confetti (ahem… MW2!). Unlocks are layered in reference to the character class, so for example engineers will unlock mainly sub-machine guns and lighter weapons as well as repair tools etc, where as Medic will unlock similar light guns but a medi-pack and a defibrillator. Each character class does a great job of feeding you better and better items and weapons as your skill and rank progresses and you earn numerous awards and badges too. All round these modes, especially Conquest, will endure as they are great fun and offer a slightly more tactical approach than the usual run and gun mayhem of other titles. There are vehicles a plenty to drive and shoot from which include tanks, helicopters and quad bikes. A really neat feature was the ability to fly a UAV high over the action , pinpoint enemy armour or encamped squads and drop a very satisfying missile right at their front door – I can’t emphasis how cool this actually was and how much fun too!
Final Thoughts:
If you are looking for a single player shooter then this game is fun, noisy and rock solid. It will provide you with several hours of great set pieces and explosive concussive action. If you are looking to play online then I simply say this – Welcome to the game that will put Call of Duty 4 down. “The King is dead – Long live the King!”
A BrutalGamer.com review. And YES there is no score for this game…
Welcome friends, welcome one and all. We find ourselves back in the languid luxury or middle-England. Betwixt babbling brooks and rolling hills of purest green we find the quintessential town of Little Riddle. After the trials and tribulations of the first two episodes you find yourself with one unsolved murder and a missing statue. This will never do for a member of the Blue Toad Detective Agency.
Taking up literally after the second episode you are once again set the task of resolving the puzzles around the village whilst solving the current crime. This time out someone has been “Arson” about with matches and tried to burn the Town Hall to the ground. “Hot” on the trail of the culprit you must investigate the four main suspects whilst also trying to track down the missing statue from the end of the last episode.
Welcome the new character of The Librarian
This time out Relentless seem to have listened to the small amounts of criticism that were levelled at the first episodes – that being it was pretty simple and the bang for buck ration was terrible. The game is now much harder than it was previously, with the majority of puzzles being very high in the logic/mental arithmetic stakes. What this does mean is that the structure of the puzzles are all very similar in this outing. There are numerous puzzles that require you to place an object (Person/Duck/Stained Glass etc) in certain configurations in a grid based structure. These are functionally fine but did elicit a groan when yet another one cropped up.
The issue to “Bang for Buck” has also firmly been addressed both in this game and throughout the series. For anyone who purchased episode one you get this episode completely free. This is a very generous offering on Relentless’s part and goes to prove that they not only listen to the consumers but also care about them too. That quality in a developer should never be overlooked! They have also altered the pricing structure to make the final three episodes come in at a combined price of £10. This is excellent news and addresses the major reason of criticism in our previous review.
Once again the graphics and voice work are a notch above anything you would usually be purchasing via the PSN store. The characters and environments are incredibly bright and colourful and retain the same graphical feel of previous Relentless stable mate Buzz!. The voice over work in particular sets the whole thing off and without the tireless characterisations from Tom Dussek the game would be a much poorer experience.
Once again the whole things will last you roughly 40 – 60 minutes depending on your ability to resolve the brainteasers. Just keep in mind that once complete, there is little more to do with the title except go back and obtain the Gold Medal for each puzzle and collect the relinquished trophies.
Final Thoughts:
As you can see this is not a full review. Many sites will not review a “free” game and to many intents and purposes this is a free title. As such I feel it unfair to level a score at it. What I will say is that Relentless continue to impress and produce consistently good family orientated titles. The fact they amended their business model to address the issues of the previous releases should be applauded and we look forward to the final three episodes hitting over the next month. If you were tempted with Blue Toad Murder Files before but were hesitant due to costs I would heartily recommend dropping the £10 for the first two episodes and then grabbing this title for free. £10 for 3 hours of great quality detective-em-up should not be ignored.
I think its well documented in both articles and on the podcasts that I loved Bioshock. Seriously loved it! The game came at a time I was just fed up to the back teeth with yet another bloody shooter coming out for my shiny new Xbox 360. The game introduced us to the over the top Andrew Ryan, the chilling Little Sisters and the lumbering moans of the Big Daddies. The true star though was the location, an underwater utopia setup in the 1950’s called Rapture by the afore mentioned Andrew Ryan.
This time we return to Rapture around ten years after the events of the first game. You take the role of Delta, a prototype Big Daddy who is deactivated right at the start of the game before the fall of rapture. Upon sudden reactivation ten years later you awake in the aftermath of the first games activities. Upon awaking your thoughts turn to the Little Sister you were paired with and making sure she is safe. This time the main protagonist is the chilling Dr Lamb. A huge opponent of Andrew Ryan she has continued the work that Ryan started with the Little Sister project. Only Dr Lamb has taken her experiments further in the years since the fall.
The Little Sisters are as creepy as ever!
Taking place in in an older part of the city the first thing that strikes you is the linearity of the game this time out. In the first game you could transfer to and from various areas of the city by using the Bathesphere submarines. This time you take a leaf out of Zelda’s book and make your way around the city using the railway system. You must make your way through the ruins of Rapture to find and face Dr Lamb and locate your Little Sister.
OK, so that sounds fairly weak-sauce right? I’m afraid you are pretty spot on. The main draws in Bioshock were the strong story narrative and the uniquely realised location. Bioshock 2 fails to deliver the same dramatic punch as the first title and the story falls a little flat in more than a few places. This is a real shame as gameplay wise Bioshock 2 beats the first title hands-down.
It's Drilling time!
Graphically things have moved on nicely. Utilising the Unreal 3 engine again the multiple teams that have worked on the game have taken the environments and conventions laid down by the first game and extrapolated. Nothing really new has been added to the environment but the world of Rapture still remains as rich and compelling as ever. The water effects are superb, as ever, and the animation is top notch. The art design of the original game was one of the things that dragged me in and it continues on again. It seems a little too familiar but that’s a symptom of the first games success. Frame rates are solid and things run at a fair old clip improving on the first game in every way.
One thing strikes you right away, the shooting is much better. The weapons provide a much more robust solution than in the first title. Most of the first game could be waded through using the Wrench and some key Plasmids; the ability giving genetic soup you take to give you special abilities like Lightning, Fire etc. This time out the melee weapon is a huge drill attached to your right arm. This allows you to smack people about with said drill or rev it up and “dig in”, if you’ll pardon the pun, to the opposition. As awesome as this sounds the drill is slow and nowhere near as useful as the wrench from the first game. Just as well the weapons are super meaty. From rivet guns to .50 calibre machine guns there is plenty of hardware to choose from.
Add to that the ability to pimp out your guns at one time use weapon upgrade stations and purchase specialist ammo like electric buck shot or armour piercing rounds from the various vending machines around. These elements combine well to breath life in to the shooting and make the game play so much more varied than the initial game.
LOVE the shotgun - Very meaty sound effect too!
Other things to return are the Gathers Garden plasmid update vending machines, the hackable gun turrets, security cameras and sentry bots. On the note of hacking many were aggrieved by the Pipe Mania mini game you had to play to hack each machine. Well those days are gone all you have to do now is stop a swinging needle in the green areas of a gauge. Correctly performing this several times in a row will hack the device. If you happen to hit the minute blue portions of the gauge you are rewarded for your accuracy with extra items or a longer activation time on security devices. I can appreciate that many will be relieved that this lengthy mini-game is no more, but I was pretty fond of it myself.
In your pursuit for Dr Lamb you will once again come across Little Sisters flanked by their original Big Daddys. Taking these lumbering giants down this time is nothing like the arduous battle it was in the first game, after all you are a Big Daddy yourself. Once the Little Sister is free of her chaperon you are free to take her as she will trust you implicitly. This time rather than just choosing to free or harvest the small girls you place them on your shoulders and they will show you a number of fallen corpses ripe with the nectar of Rapture, ADAM. Whilst collecting this ADAM you must defend the Little Sister from the oncoming hordes of Splicers. ADAM full and ready to trot you pick up your Little Sister and take her to a vent. Here you have the choice of either harvesting her for extra ADAM or saving her for less ADAM but better karma and a few extra treats later on. Choices like this help to add a little depth to Bioshock 2 but the impact is muted as much has moved on since the first Bioshock used these mechanics.
Once you have harvested or freed all the little sisters on a level you will hear a piercing shriek. The signals the imminent arrival of a Big Sister. These are Little Sisters all grown up and encased in a lightweight suit. This is as close to a boss fight that Bioshock 2 manages and provides the most challenging aspect to the game. You must quickly prepare for the arrival by laying traps, mines and mini gun turrets to help you in your plight. These battles aer a good distraction but are ultimately quickly dealt with by the time you reach the latter third of the game.
Face to face with a Big Sister...
Longevity is good at around ten hours plus for a reasonably paced play through and extended if you want to search every nook and cranny or Rapture for audio logs. On the subject of the audio the production values are high once again. The first game benefited from great voice work and some excellent 50’s tunes. The voice work is good once again with the main characters portrayed well. The music is much more prevalent this time and were are Bioshock 1 left me wanting more of the old time tunes Bioshock 2 crams in so many that it feels a little like overkill.
To be honest reading through I have seemed fairly negative and I think the reason for this is that Bioshock 2 had such a high standard to beat. In all fairness it was going to be impossible for Bioshock 2 to have anywhere near the same impact as the first title. As such this feels more like an expansion to the first title. You could very easily roll straight on from Bioshock 1 to Bioshock 2 and still feel immersed in the same world and as such it’s a fans dream.
With it’s tight well managed shooting, great set design, high concept environments and solid multiplayer Bioshock 2 should of pounded it’s ageing predecessor in to the ocean floor. The only elements missing are some of the ones that defined Bioshock 1, ie the atmosphere creating set pieces and high level of story telling.
Nice hat... Leigh has the same one at home...
Final Thoughts:
Bioshock 2 is a good, solid game. Better than it’s predecessor in so many ways and offering a surprisingly robust multiplayer. The fact remains that the story just can’t stack up to the first title and the environment is, with this installment, played out. On it’s own merits Bioshock 2 is a worthy underwater shooter with some RPG elements and is a recommendation to anyone. If you are a Bioshock fan I heartily recommend you grab this asap as you won’t be too disappointed – things will just be a little familiar is all.
Never before, as a game reviewer, have I felt so far out of my comfort zone. You see Quantic Dreams’ Heavy Rain is not so much a game as it is an experience. Now stop rolling your eyes and groaning at that statement as I can quantify it. You remember Linger in Shadows and Flower right? They were more artistic experience than game – both great and Flower was one of my favourite titles from last year – but not strictly games. Well Heavy Rain is more of an interactive movie experience. I know that phrase is the kiss of death to so many titles but Heavy Rain wears the badge with pride and with good reason. When I did my hands on back in October I said it looked good – man can I understate things!
You take the role of several key characters all intertwined in the pursuit of a notorious serial killer known only as the Origami Killer – so called thanks to the Origami figures he leaves in the right hand of all his victims. The main plot thread in loose terms follows each of these four characters as they take different paths to help them track down the killer. I say in loose terms as at certain key moments in the game it is totally plausible that your character will suffer a fatal injury and their plot path will come to an end. That is not to say the game will end, instead you proceed with the remaining characters towards to twisting, turning conclusion.
The much troubled Ethan Mars
The story is woven around the incidents in the life of Ethan Mars, an architect torn apart by the death of his eldest son. When Mars’s younger son disappears he is thrown in to a deadly game of cat and mouse with the notorious Origami Killer that will push exactly how far he will go to save his child. Intersecting these events are the lives of Madison Page ( Photo journalist & avid insomniac), FBI Agent Norman Jayden and world beaten gumshoe Scott Shelby. Each characters story is woven extremely well through one another and a tight fabric of events unwind through the ten or so hours of gameplay. I will, from this point on be seriously vague because to ruin the plot, is to kill the game.
The visuals employed in Heavy Rain are truly jaw dropping. Not just for the serious amount of polygons and polish that can be witnessed on every screen but also for the exception set design and decoration. For the top notch animations, the gorgeously high resolution texture work – heck you can see the muscles twitch under the skin of a characters face and see the rain trickle down the pores in the skin. I spent so much time just watching the rain trickle down cars or bounce off of objects in this game – sounds stupid until you actually sit and watch digital rain behave just like proper rain would do. Sure there is a little screen tearing in a few places, noticeable mostly in the entrance to a nightclub scene part way through the game but it does not detract. Likewise a few animation glitches creep in at times and frames are skipped suddenly leaving things a bit disjointed. These are small prices to pay for what almost looks as good as the pre-rendered Final Fantasy: Spirits Within movie in real time. If you want to settle the “Why can’t this be done on an Xbox 360?” argument just sit the asker in front of Heavy Rain for ten minutes and the answer is crystal clear. The look and feel of the game is so compelling that after a fairly lengthy session I set out to watch 24 and was waiting for the on screen prompts so I could steer the action.. very weird feeling.
Madison Page - Making herself sexy apparently..
Fantastic visuals aside the game needs to at least play well to get a look in and on this front I think our audience will be polarized. You see what Heavy Rain kind of boils down to gameplay wise is a mixture of Dragons Lair, God of War’s quicktime events & the cut scenes from Metal Gear Solid 4 (all be it with the mad Japanese taken out !). See… Polarized! Anyone who is familiar with Quantic’s previous title, Fahrenheit, will have an idea of the control scheme as it was pioneered in that title and refined and improved in this one. One of the biggest upsets is that you control your character in a totally unconventional method. You use the Left Stick to move your characters head, there by orientating you in a certain direction. You then hold the R2 button to actually move in the direction you are facing. This works well in the pacing of the action but can be a little frustrating when you are trying to position your character to investigate a certain item in a scene. You interact with your environment by using a gesture system mapped to the rest of teh controller. For instance to take Agent Jayden’s ARI glasses out of his breast pocket you perform a right then up movement with the Right Stick. There are multiple variations on this theme involving slow movements, rapid button presses, flicking the whole controller in a direction (SixAxis finally used to good effect!) and the finger contorting multiple button press. All these sound pretty stale but in the context of the game the work well and translate to on screen movements very effectively. On the subject of the ARI glasses these are a novel and great way of quickly processing a crime scene for clues. A quick press of the R1 button and a pulse goes out around your character highlighting anything of interest. It’s a gimmick but a very well thought out one.
Agent Jayden making friends as ususal!
This game has, with out exception, provided me with the most heart pounding, gut wrenchingly frantic scenes in any video game. A sequence later on when Madison is attacked in her apartment leaves you feeling drained and fraught. This provides the greatest of Heavy Rains compliments, the game really draws you in and makes you experience the environments and character situations like no other title. There are countless tussles and fraught escapes in the game that should and do leave you feeling breathless and frantic. Added to this there a lots of points in the game that seem trivial that you will agonise over both during and after. Should of of killed X? Or perhaps I should of said Y. These moments provide the heart of the Heavy Rain experience and also give it replayability. Lets face it, once you know who the Origami Killer is there is little point going back right? Well these branching events and small choices make for a very compelling reason to return and experience the alternate endings the game has to offer.
Now to the story itself. Billed as an interactive movie by Quantic Dreams I can see their intentions were grand. What we end up with though is at best a TV special. A two-part special staring some D listers shown over consecutive nights on BBC One after 9pm. A lot of the plot is pedestrian and the camera work could do with some tips from Naughty Dog. The writing is passable and avoids any “game” speak to drag you out of the reality it presents. That said the story is enjoyable, and will keep you compelled to the very end. I played through with my wife watching as if a movie and she enjoyed it greatly and was ready to play through again the very next day.
Ah, the calm before the storm.. or rain in this case
The characters are likable enough if a little 2D at times. The most compelling and rounded character is the addiction battling FBI profiler Norman Jayden, although I had a good affinity for the weathered PI Scott Shelby. The whole cast of characters range from paper thin stereotypes (an antiques dealer is himself an antique) to much more diverse and likable characters. The voice acting ranges from poor to excellent. Ninety percent is passable and above but a few ropey voices, notably the kids that are plainly French voice actors trying to sound American, could of been improved. The main characters are all excellent and deliver their dialogue well and with conviction to the scenario at hand. The musical score is well suited and has a very 24 like quality to it’s approach and composition – in fact the whole game at times apes the style of TV making that 24 introduced.
The emponimous Mr Scott Shelby
Heavy Rain is impossibly subjective to score. I know the same can be said of reviews in general but this one is different. With this title Quantic Dreams have blurred the line between movie and game. Pushes gaming towards a more interactive narrative than any game has done before. There are games that mark the start of something through out gaming’s relatively short history. When iD unleashed a little title called Wolfenstein 3D, Peter Molyneux created Populous, David Braben & Andy Bell made Elite, DICE unleashed Battlefield 2’s online system, Valve released the much delayed Half Life, Gears of War perfected the cover mechanic, Sid Meir made Sim City, Lucas Arts made Maniac Mansion – all of these impacted the way game were made forever after. Heavy Rain will now be added to that list as it’s not so much the game that will stand the test of time, but the ideas and the achievements it has made in pushing interactive popular entertainment. This game should be compulsory for anyone who considers themselves a hard core gamer, or even has the faintest interest after looking at the demo. This title has it’s faults and no mistake and I hope to god that enough people buy it to allow Quantic Dreams to make a sequel as with a little more refinement to the game side, fleshed out characters and a slightly better story this would be perfect.
Madison looking moody in her granny pants.. sexy!
Final Thoughts:
As a game I rate Heavy Rain as a solid 7/10, as a technological & artistic demonstration piece I rate it a 20/10. Combine this package together and you get the score levelled above. As such I still feel that rating it as a “game” is unfair. This transcends gaming as you currently know it. Sure it has flaws, the voice acting is patchy, there are technical glitches, the branching story is a slight gimmick and the story is a TV movie at best BUT, this is a watershed moment for interactive storytelling. I can not emphasis enough how much I enjoyed being involved in this game and the awe that hits you at the incredible accomplishments of the Quantic team and the guts of SCEE for sticking this project out. No other platform manufacturer would of made this game I am almost 100% certain of that. This is an experience that even someone with a vague interest in the concept of Heavy Rain should experience without hesitation – when they ask, tell them you were there when gaming changed.
Re-imagining of any cult or long standing medium rarely works out well. Taking an Italian poem, famed for establishing the Italian language itself, from the early 1300’s might be considered a one way trip to development hell (pun intended). Visceral Games, of Dead Space fame, seem to of embarrassed this opportunity with open arms and bent it to their will – for the most part.
Everyone has read the poem right? We are all up to speed on the story right…. Ah… OK in a nutshell then here we go. Dante’s Inferno is based on the worked of Dante Alighieri, a well renowned poet from 14th Century Italy. The premise is based upon his poetic work the Divine Comedy which sees Dante reference himself in the poem as a lost and confused person in a forest, surrounded by temptations. Rescued from these temptation by Virgil (another poet from around 70BC) Dante must traverse Inferno (Hell), Purgatory & Paradise with the help of both Virgil and his muse Beatrice to seek his salvation.
OK Beatrice I give up - have you altered your hair or something?
The game deals with the “Inferno” part of the poem and takes you through the 9 levels of hell as defined in the poems structure. In reality the game, as in the poem, splits these 9 levels in to 3 distinct regions of Sin. The first 5 levels of hell (refereed to in the poem as the Upper Levels of Hell) deal with self indulgent Sins. Things like Greed, Lust etc. The next 2 levels cover violent Sins and the last 2 deal with malicious Sin.
So, everyone is up to speed now on Dante’s imaginations of Hell. So what do Visceral do with this? Sure it’s a great piece of literature but what about a game? Point and Click maybe, or even an RPG at a push? Nope they take the bare bones of this and fashion it in to a massive God of War clone. The story still follows main protagonist Dante only this time Dante is a Knight of the Crusades. Lied to by a twisted bishop Dante, along with his fellow Knights, have been laying waste to the local populous only to end their days having wine fuelled orgies. When Dante is slain in battle he overcomes death itself (and steals his scythe!) and swears to free his loved ones from the Sin he placed upon them. When Dante returns home he finds his house destroyed and his wife dead on the ground. The spirit of his wife, Beatrice, rises from her body and tells Dante that she has made a pact as a result of his betrayal of her. Lucifer then appears and drags Beatrice down in to the depth s of hell itself.
Dante can lay a serious smackdown at times and no mistaking!
Graphically I have read some fairly unkind remarks about Dante’s Inferno. Now I must admit that things are a little shiny and shimmer in a whole bunch in places, but on the whole the game looks great. Sure, anyone who has played Dead Space will immediately tell that they have recycled the engine but it does a good enough job (not as well used as Dead Space). Where the game excels is in the art design and the scale of the locations. Small enclosed areas made of screaming walls of the Damned with fire spiting rectums give way to huge open areas where you traverse walls or platforms to reach far away locations. The creatures that inhabit the 9 levels of hell have been well thought out to work in that location. For instance slutty looking, half naked speedster chicks appear in the Lust realm that try and fire gentiles and spiky body parts or large blobby creatures ooze towards you in the Gluttony level. Each area has a very similar feel but a distinctive look to it. A lot of the environments truly stuck in my mind to the point I felt a little jaded by them – but more on that later.
Progression is via the usual God of War / Onimusha style of gameplay. Hack everything to death using your melee weapon (Death’s scythe), ranged weapon (Beatrice’s cross which shoots glowing cruciform) and mixture of magical powers (like a dash that leaves ice in your wake or a whirlwind of lust that destroys enemies near enough). As you fell these foes they release souls, these souls are then collected and used to purchase upgrades to your health, mana and abilities in general. You also have special relics that you find during the course of the game that can be levelled up and offer a small buff in some way – ie faster soul collection, less damage, longer grab reach etc.
You get to rip the boat's head off in a bit - Awesome sauce!
Sound wise Dante’s Inferno is well produced. There are huge orchestral scores soaring away in the background like some tragic German Opera and they all capture the tone of the game perfectly – if a little overbearing and melodramatic at times. The voice work is solid and dialogue well weaved through what is a difficult subject to give additional life to that won;t seem totally corny. The screams of the Damned are present throughout the levels but it’s touches like the orgasmic gasps in the Lust level that help make the environmental effects feel something more than just another part of the package. Once again Visceral’s sound department excel themselves – hell I purchased a 5.1 system just to play Dead Space on!
The game plays well and the movement is a smooth 60fps. The combat feels sturdy enough and does just enough to prevent it just being a button masher – but I do mean JUST. There is no real fleshed out combat system on offer here. This suites me as I rarely dig past the fundamentals on titles like God of War, Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta. So if you are looking for a string of meaty combos to learn then you might be disappointed. Stretched out over the barely eight hours though the combat does start to wear out it’s welcome and you can do pretty much all the damage you need too by mashing the [] button. It did all feel a might easy to progress and the deaths come fast and cheap for the most part.
One of the early boss fights - all are pretty simple
The problem most of the time stems from a fixed camera that will choose to suddenly pan at just the moment you are about to traverse some platforms above pools of fire filled with writhing damned. This causes the nicely lined up jump to go side ways landing you squarely in said pool. This can send you back a few moments but can also send you back minutes as the sporadic checkpoint system does seem to lack a good pace. This criticism can also be levelled at the save points that are spread throughout levels. Some times you will have a couple in about 5 minutes of each other and then not see one for half an hour. There are various Damned souls to be found around the levels. These give you the opportunity to either punish or absolve the individual ala Bioshock. These take the form of notables from history such as do you punish or forgive Pontious Pilot? Punishment adds to your unholy level & redemption adds to you holy level. Taking the punishment path means you eviscerate the individual in question where are forgiveness will bring up a mini-game akin to Beats on the PSP where you with a button as a icon floats by. As you gain more unholy/holy XP you will start to unlock later levels in those disciplines and thus gain access to better combos or magic.
Cleopatra in all her gnarly boobness
Whilst we are are finding fault we might as well deal with the remainder of the down points of the game. I found some of the enemies and subject matter titillation for the sake of reaction. The crying and gurgling infants that attack you with knife hands maybe justified as the product of Lust but really have no place being in the game. The 200 foot Cleopatra that squeezes there knife wielding infants from her lactating breasts is just terrible. It’s not that I feel uncomfortable with mature content, it’s just you feel that if anyone walked in on you playing this portion you would die of shame trying to justify it. Also, what’s with all the breasts guys? Seriously how long did you spend modelling all the boobs in this game? The final score demolisher for Dante’s Inferno is the sheer number of quick time events (aka QTE). It seems like the simplest thing, like opening a door or collecting life from a font elicits a QTE. As noted in my Darksiders review QTE can detract from the game significantly and Darksiders overcame this by doing away with 90% of all QTEs.
Final moan but EA are selling “Soul Packs” via the online console stores. This effectively lets you jump ahead on upgrades by having the souls to spend sooner rather than later. You can pick up a a 500 pack for free (thanks EA) but the rest cost from 0.79p for a 1500 soul pack to £3 for a 5000 soul pack. My take on this is that you get plenty of souls through regular game play. Sure take the 500 extra for free but charging for these is a little bit naughty and smacks of desperate micro-transaction money grabbing.
Yet another weird creation being impaled!
Final Thoughts:
Dante’s Inferno is a good game. What it can’t do is compete with Darksiders or Bayonetta. If you thrown the potential of God of War in to the mix it’s running a bottom rung 4th in this current crop of brawlers. Don’t let that put you off though as Dante is a great blast to play, simple from start to finish. 8 hours is a reasonable time for this type of game but replay might be mixed. The St Lucia DLC might be worth a look in April as this allows puzzle rooms akin to Batman: AA, to be created and shared online. If you like this style of game then grab it. If you are not finished with Bayonetta or Darksiders then finish those up and grab Dante from the bargain shelves later in the year. If this had arrived last year it would of been thought of greater but in this current climate I feel it may get largely overlooked. I enjoyed the game greatly despite the knots if gave me in my stomach at times.
The year is 2025 my friends and war is over. Well war as we knew it is over. Countries too impoverish to sustain their own armies have turned to private military companies (PMCs) to do their fighting for them. As more and more countries clamoured for the best PMCs three massive factions took over the playing field. These three companies, Raven, SVER & Valour, are now locking in a bitter feud over who should be the dominant player in the worlds PMC market. This has lead to the Shadow War, and you are their newest recruit.
Sony produced more than a little shock and awe when MAG was first shown. Many people presumed that Zipper Interactive had been working on a spiritual successor to the incredibly successful SOCOM franchise. Not many could have guessed that they would be coming back will a hybrid MMO-FPS with 256 player skirmishes.
The first and foremost things you must keep in your mind here is that Zipper have made a war game. Not an fps, not an MMO, not another COD pretender – a WAR game. “So?” you say, right. Well it’s important to keep this in mind when judging the game and if it’s right for you. This game is going to live or die by it’s community much like any other online only title.
Let’s crack out the story element here and now shall we – it’s basically supermodel thin – we are talking slip through pavement cracks my friends. And here in lies one of MAGs big issues – it’s all a little impersonal. You are given the option of joining the hi-tech VR trained might of Raven, the hotchpotch freedom fighting resistance types of S.V.E.R or the grizzled battle hardened elite vets of Valour. Depending on which faction you side with you get different unlocks and skill updates. You then create your character from a pre-designed set of heads (15 in all if I recall) and then off you go to do your training. Oh and by the way Zipper – where all the ladies at? Zippers vision of future war is a little male dominant to say the least!
So you undertake a brief training segment before being unleashed on the first two game types available to you. The training has some issues all it’s own but I will just refer you to the two hour quick look I posted earlier in the week for those. There are five different game types in all – Suppression (Team Deathmatch basically), Sabotage (A sort of king of the hill), Acquisition (locate and retrieve item from the enemy – so capture the flag), and Domination (dur… work it out) & Directives (a full scale war theatre). So you start off playing the 64 man maps in either Suppression or Sabotage. These really ease you in gently to the game giving you the chance to get to grips with the slightly slower, more strategic pace of the game (especially for you COD run & gunners). Within a few rounds you have managed to rack up enough XP to level up and this opens the upgrades section of the game. Here you can assign skill points earnt to certain skills thus improving certain elements of your character. For instance investing in the medical upgrades will produce a support icon against your character and make you the medic of a squad. Or investing in sniper gear will make you more specialised in sniper skills. You get the idea.
MAG is a solid FPS, with a great shooting mechanic that offers more refinement than things like COD & UT. You can certainly try the run and gun approach but the shooting has more in common with titles like the original Battlefields (on PC) and Killzone 2 than it does with anything else. That is not to say it’s not very satisfying and great fun – it is. Its just more about surviving and using your weapon as a tool of your trade than just removing faces with Akimbo Shotguns.
So the shooting is great and feels methodical and rewarding – but then so does the shooting in tens of other online enabled shooters. The thing that drags MAG screaming to the forefront is the sheer scale of these battles and the skill in which Zipper has handled their creation. This is more about team work and communication than it is about getting the best score or a great kill to death ratio. To be honest you may go an entire thirty minute match only ever making a handful of kills because you positioned as a flanking sniper on a hill – but that’s OK. You see that was your job, your small contribution to the outcome of the match. Those three kills might of turned the entire tide of a battle. That said people who just want to plough straight in are welcome to do so – you will get some kills but you will also die, a lot.
As the rankings start to mount you are introduced to the 128 player maps which seem like a complete culture shock. You are placed in these sprawling 1KM play areas along with 64 enemy combatants and 63 team mates and you have very little to guide you other than your squad leader. You see the combatants are broken down into 8 man squads. There are then multiples of those 4 squads in teams depending on the match size. You will have an overall leader, chosen by election at the start of rounds (you have to be level 15 or more to be in charge btw) and the squad leaders (again chosen at round start or you can elect yourself for the position). The idea being your squad leaders will co-ordinate a certain task on the map and lead you and your merry squaddies to a glorious victory. Unfortunately due to the fact that a lot of people are just out for themselves this does not always work very well. Battles can hinge on the leadership and co-ordination of you leaders and if they A) don’t have a mic or B) are only out for themselves you are going to have a problem. I even witnessed one Squad leader who just kept picking off his own squad and then laughing about it. Admittedly you lost 5XP for a team kill but it seemed to not bother him in the slightest.
And there lies the glory and the possible downfall of MAG – it relies on people. MAG is a pretty hardcore game when you come down to it. Not at the same level as Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising but it sits in a middle ground between that and the CODs of this world. I think as time goes on people are going to get serious about the whole thing and the game will mature into what Zipper probably envisaged. It will have tightly fought battles on a scale never seen before on a console. It will let people develop through the ranks and become squad leaders and battle commanders. The game is completely huge in scope and this can be so overwhelming when you shift up to the 256 player matches. Sure you are in your squad but that is a shit load of people in one map. More often than not you are just yet another anonymous grunt on the front lines – and this compounds the feeling of being in a real down and dirty fight.
Another master stroke from Zipper is the fact that battles count. Each battle that takes places is recorded as a loss or victory for your PMC. This impacts the way the Shadow War is progressing and is displayed on the statistics for each game type. It adds a cohesive community to the game that draws you together as a team. Sure it does not overcome the impersonal elements or increase attachment to your character but it certainly makes it all feel like it means something more than just a meaningless unconnected battle.
Now with such scale and well paced online play some things have to give and in this case the game has taken a walk on fugly side. It’s completely to be expected and to be honest I would rather forgo the lag and get all that scale than have it look MW2/Killzone2 pretty. What is there is more than functional. The environments are well stocked and levels look populated rather than just a sparse playground. The character models are a little 2008 as it the texture detail, lighting etc. The sound is also nothing special. There is a title tune for the game that plays in menus and it’s serviceable enough. The spot effects are all as expected and serve the purpose they are intended to fulfil. Some of the weapons could have used a little more beef in the audio area but all in all there will be no complaints that the audio is not good enough.
I have to say that I was not sure about my time with MAG. The training level was a shambles and the first few matches were not conducive to endearing the came to me. MAG does a bad job of easing you in to some of this at times and leaves you blind as to the over arcing objectives or plans of the upper-levels of command. The more selfish elements of the teams can mean you will play an entire round with people who just want to play COD in the MAG environment which screws the dynamic of the game somewhat. All said and done though once you start levelling up and get into the larger matches with more people (lets be honest that’s why you picked up the game!) who get the way the game plays you start to see the beauty of the game. The vehicular combat works well, the ability to parachute in to areas of the match is great fun. You will spend a significant amount of time staring at the spawn screen waiting sometimes up to 20 seconds for it to countdown. This might seem like an agonizing wait but it makes sense as the system makes sure you spawn with a few squad mates so you don’t have to go it alone.
The game does have its issues. The graphics are not too special, the sound is so-so, there are a few technical issues here and there (grenade detection on training is one of those – grrrr), there is no real story or character so attachment to the game’s character is minimal and fleeting. Also, the enjoyment of the game depends largely on the people around you… and this is the internet we are talking about!
Final Thoughts:
For all the doubters I just have this to say MAG works! It really has achieved everything it said it would. Online play was lag-free. No, no read that again – 256 player matches were LAG FREE. I never got kicked from a game, it never dropped hosts, no stupid glitching – nothing. MAG is a stunning technical achievement that has issues for sure, but will blossom in to something unique and compelling for fans of that genre. If you are looking for something a bit more grown up that Call of Duty or Modern Warfare 2 then this game is essential.
Listen, to be honest I had barely taken notice of Darksiders until just before the Holidays. Even then it was just to have knowledge of the game and the release news articles. So when the copy plopped on to my door mat I was kinda like “meh!”. I have a huge stack of games from last year to play including FEAR2, Borderlands (more of it), MW2 (Multiplayer), Batman Arkham Asylum, Torchlight and many others. I tried to dish out the review copy to Viatrophy but he would of had to turn on his PS3 so declined. So reluctantly I slapped the disc in and thought “FINE! I guess I’ll take a look then pass off to Ognawk or Cod”. Probably around three hours later I realised it was 2am and I should probably be going to bed… just maybe after I clear this room of hell spawn… or maybe solve the next puzzle….
Penned by comic book artist Joe Madureira (X-Men, Battle Chasers, The Ultimates), Darksiders is set in a Post-Apocalyptic demon-ravaged world where evil forces have prematurely brought about the end of the time. Originally sent to oversee the destruction of Earth, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been betrayed by their master, stripped of their powers and cast down to Earth. You take the part of War, tricked in to starting the Apocalypse and then stripped of his powers and sentenced to death (no pun – honest!). As reprieve War negotiates a return to Earth to set right the Balance of the universe and drive the angels and demons from the land of man. Any game that starts with the destruction of the human race is gonna be pretty sweet right? Right!
War - seriously hard & very pissed off!
Graphically this game is real hard to score – if I had scored it in the first couple of hours the graphics would of come off badly. It takes time to appreciate the scale of what is taking place on screen. The environments are fantastically designed and realised. They vary through all manor of standard videogame fodder from sewers, to graveyards and run down castles; each recreated with a slightly new twist that makes them feel slightly refreshed from the norm. The character designs are all fantastic. War is one hell (sorry, still no puns!) of a chunky character looking and feeling incredibly stocky and powerful. The main issue I have with the look of the game is that it can appear more than a little “jaggy” and lacking in polish. In fact I think that another round of tech updates and polish would of made this one of the most visually complete games this generation. As it stands the graphics are good, great in places. The animation is fluid and satisfying, the main drag here is that lack of polish – at times it looks a little early this generation but that will be in contrast to, for example, a water effect near your character which will look fantastic. Don’t get me wrong the design is exemplary it is just that the tech does not keep up with the ideas – and we know the kind of thing the tech can do. That said there are several “woah” moments, like the arcs of blood and arterial spray coming from a main boss as you stab it or rip it’s heart clean out. The game cleverly uses colour to detract from the fact that there is a lot of “grey” in the world at large. Also, even though this is yet another post Apocalyptic world this one feels fresh and somehow more tangible than most others.
You fight this sort of thing a lot - cool huh!
Sound wise the game is excellent. The score seemed very familiar in structure until I read that the composers previously worked on God of War. The soundscape is epic and encompasses mostly classic orchestral compositions and epic movie fare. The voice work it great also with Mark Hamill lending his vocal talents once more the the demon that possess War’s left hand – trust me it makes sense in the game. The rest of that cast, whilst not up to Hamill’s level, all do a great job and not a duff performance can be found.
The game plays like so many other games. It’s like Vigil sat down and cherry picked a whole raft of features from some of their favourite games of the decade. The main combat system is the bastard child of Devil May Cry and Onimusha. The life system is ripped from Zelda, as is the horse. The flying sections (oh yeah you ride an angelic griffin with laser cannons – don’t ask!) are swipped from Rebel Assault and Panzer Dragoon. There are huge nods to Soul Reaver and Shadowman. You obtain a Glaive like blade ala Dark Sector. The list of things borrowed or inspired is almost endless – in fact part of the fun is working out which game each part reminds you of. With that said Vigil have blended all of these things together will surprising skill for a first release game. As you progress you slowly master the intricate combat system on offer. You start out with your trusty sword and slowly start being able to buy or find other weapons. The Syth is used for large scale groups, the blade used for ranged combat and so on. As you kill enemies you collect Wrath, Souls and Health spirits. The Wrath fills a specials meter that allows you to use magical abilities (like rock hard skin, walls of flame or exploding spikes that errupt from the floor) and later allows you to temporarily unleash War’s rage form – basically a 10 feet tall demon made of hellish fire and carrying a HUGE sword. The Souls are the games currency and allows you to purchase upgrades for your skills, weapons and extra life vials etc from a demon called Vulgrim.
Checkout my 'effing huge sword!
You progress through an open world that allows you to backtrack at any point once you unlock certain abilities. For example a glove you collect will smash ice and early in the game several paths are blocked with said ice. You have the ability to use the fast travel system (at Vulgrim’s portals) to quickly travel to and from certain areas. Think of it like the back tracking in Shadow Complex that allows you explore other areas. This helps add to the longevity but to be honest at 15 hours+ it does not exactly need it! There are chest and hidden extras around the levels for completionists so you will get extremely good value for money in this game. There are a few technical issues with the title. From time to time the action will just pause for no reason, may for a split second, but at other times it was like 1 – 2 seconds and in a fast paced action title that is so jarring. There are a few clipping issues and I have mentioned the jagged outlines on the main character. Another biggie is that the controls are not quite right. Pressing X to jump I could tap the button and lift my finger back in to the air before War had even executed the move. You learn to compensate for this but when you are trying to time a particularly tricky jump it can be so frustrating. Another niggle is that the button layout is a little messy. You sometimes have 2 or 3 actions mapped to a button and depending on which context and which shoulder button you are holding you will perform one of those tasks. I lost count of the number of times I centered the camera instead of taking aim and picking a target. The controls are not broken by any means they just need tightening up.
The combat is very satisfying and even though the premise is repeated throughout the entire 15+ hours you never get fed up of performing the execution moves with the O and watching War splatter an enemy in a variety of ways. Finding and taking down the four Guardians in the game is a bloody and epic struggle and towards the back third of the game you start to get the feeling this is all repeating far too much. I personally think it ends before it outstays it’s welcome but some might feel otherwise. This game really does improve as it gets played and introduces new items and fighting mechanics almost right up to the end of the game keeping this fresh as much as possible. You know quicktime events right? They used to be great fun and now they are kind of a pain in the arse. Gameplay elements that require multiple stabs of a button to wind a winch etc – all starting to wear pretty thin in my book. Well Darksiders gives you the huge payoff of these quicktime kills but without the multiple button presses. Simply stun a foe enough, include the huge bosses, then hit O and guts and red goo is flying around the screen in marvellous technicolour – just one example of the refinement of an idea that Vigil have manged in Darksiders,
Fighting the Jailer was a real "WOW!" moment
Final Thoughts :
Darksiders was an ambitious game in so many ways. The melding of all these ideas was bound to not pay off 100% and that rings true here. That said 85% is pulled off with such skill that the game is an absolute blast from start to finish. The puzzles are reasonably diverting, some proving a show stopper for small amounts of time, but each completable with out too much grief and leaving you satisfied. The boss fights are simple in their method of completion but can be frustrating at times – that said they are so satisfying once done. The game has a very rich world to explore and a compelling enough story to make you want to see the lengthy campaign through. For a game I had no interest in I am looking forward to the inevitable Darksiders 2 with great anticipation – THQ and Vigil have a great new IP on their hands. If you want a proper brawling action adventure that gets just so many elements spot on, go grab Darksiders now – it might of been under the radar fotr many but that is all about to change my friends as Darksiders is superb in almost all respects.
Welcome one and all to Little Riddle. The quaint village at the centre of a whole heap of trouble in Relentless Software’s Blue Toad Murder Files. Epically known as the creators of all things Buzz! Relentless take their party game casual know how and try and apply it to a whole new genre of game. Sitting somewhere between Professor Layton Relentless’ own Buzz! this marks a really joyous event on the PS3 – the Detective-em-up.
You take the role of a detective from the afore mentioned Blue Toad Detective Agency. You arrive in the village under strict instructions to rest and relax by the agency overlord MOTHER. Shortly after arriving though, in truest Miss Marple/Scooby Doo fashion, murder and all manor of foul things start to occur around you.
Blue Toad is primarily a party game, similar in a fashion to things like Cluedo (Clue for out US audience) but having more of an affinity with recent puzzle games like Professor Layton’s Diabolical Box than the original Parker Bros board game. You play the part of one of four detectives and can be joined by up to 3 other players. Each takes it in turn to visit a specific location on the map and question a suspect (or retrieve a clue). Much like navigating the map in Professor Layton you are presented a puzzle with each enquiry. Correctly solving the puzzle allows you to get the relevant information you need to continue your enquiries. By the end of the series of questions (there are 12 in each) you will be presented with the opportunity to select who you think committed the crime under investigation.
Graphically the game looks fantastic for a downloadable title. The unmistakably Relentless art style found in the Buzz! games is here in abundance and as such everything just looks so clean and charmingly quaint. Character and environmental art style is solidly in the vein of games like Tales of Monkey Island and Sam and Max from Telltale but adds a certain “British” quality to it that is hard to truly define in words – just watch the video and you will see what I mean. Animation is top notch and the lip/facial animation meets the high level set by Telltale and in places exceeds it. This game is bright, simple and very pleasing to the eye – exactly what it needs to be to draw in the large age group and audience it is set to appeal to.
The music in the game fits perfectly with the quaint English village setting as well as the grandiose musical interludes that accompany the announcement of each puzzle in a Hitchcock like “dun dun duuuunnnnn” style. It has all been designed exactly as you would want it to be. The voice acting, all the work of one man, Tom Dussek, is absolutely top notch. Once again, and sorry to keep comparing to TellTale, this work is up there with the likes of Monkey Island and Sam & Max for sheer consistent quality. Sure some of the caricatures are sterotypical and a little rough around the edges but somehow that also adds to the charm of the thing. The Narration is a total rip of Tom Baker in Little Britain but suits the whole thing perfectly.
The puzzles are relatively simple especially if you have spent any time with the good Professor of late but offer a reasonable distraction. They take the form of word, logic and maths problems. For example you might have to re-order a hand written note. First you have to work out that it is written backwards then you have to replace the relevant letters to complete the solution. Never fear though as if you, or one of your fellow detectives, gets stuck you can simply pass and the solution is shown to you and the story progresses. This is a master stroke for inclusion and will appeal to the family audience and auntie Flo or whoever is visiting and being roped in to playing. The down side? Well you get scored on each puzzle. You can achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold rosette dependant on your performance. Complete the task quickly and with no errors then you will get yourself a Gold. Complete it quickly but with more than one try and you will get silver etc. This adds a smidge of replay to the game…. and that my friends leads me to the biggest down side.
Longevity IS a major factor. Once you have played an episode (which should take you 45 – 60 minutes at most) then you are done. There is no reason to play back through that episode unless you want to pick up Gold awards (which unlocks a trophy). The 12 puzzles remain the same as does all the dialogue and the overall murderer/thief. Priced at £6.99 an episode and with siz episodes planned you are looking at £42 for the full set. Sure you will get around 90 puzzles by the end making the whole thing comparable to something like Professor Layton but it still feels expensive. The bonus at the moment is that you get Episode 1 and 2 for the bundle price of £9.99. This feels a better overall deal to be honest as £5 an episode would be an easier pill to swallow. The entire reason for the loss of points in this review is lack of replay and overall cost – the game is great, the sales model is, in my opinion, flawed. There is not really any replay with new friends or family members as you know most, if not all, the answers as well as who did the crime.
Final Thoughts:
Blue Toad is charming, engaging, immediately accessible and dripping in good old British, Ealing Studios quality, humour. When the entire package is complete you will have, if content remains constant, a great package that will rival the handeld sheenanigans of Professor Layton and all the clones that will follow. The lack of any real replay is a real shame but inevitable in a game like this (as it is with Layton, Monkey Island etc – the difference being they are cheaper to reflect this at around £20 – £25 a season) so perhaps the £40 package is reasonable enough for 6 hours gameplay – look at Halo ODST! Both episodes are fantastic fun and well worth taking a look at. Relentless have proven once again that they have a great grasp of family/group gaming and execute it with almost effortless ease. This should be the start of a great IP/series.
Now wait, did I not just review this game? Was it not set in some caves with colonists and lava… I’m pretty sure I did? Oh no wait that’s Sony’s other retro shooter Pixel Junk Shooter. In all seriousness, although I though these two game were going to play alike, Gravity Crash is much more retro than PJS and just like JetPac/Lunar Lander/Zarathruster etc from the late 80’s. Where PJS shied away from the gravity induced booster physics of those older games and employed a more direct control, Gravity Crash goes old skool. Old skool with a new dual stick flavour though if you want to.
Firstly let’s get the anorexic plot out of the way shall we. You play a lonely droid left to rot until lone day you are activated when the world realises they screwed up and need you to clean up the galaxy. That’s pretty much it to be honest but what more do you need? Did you need Geometry Wars to have a plot? Not thought not. Gravity Crash is attempting to do for this genre of game what Geometry Wars did for the Robotron dual stick shooter series of games – and it pretty much manages it too.
The game still uses the old style wire frame vectors to generate the landscapes that you would of associated with the old games like Asteroids and Lunar Lander. What it does those it take those and make them neon glowing representations of themselves, gradient fills them and then adds a saucy layer of psychedelia to the mix. What you get is something so totally retro but so pure HD in it’s facsimile that is all looks gorgeous… in a retro way. It’s hard to fully appreciate this without experiencing the game running first hand – much in the same way Geometry Wars looks a little flat until you play it for 30 seconds and see that it is 100% nuts! Bags of neon explosions and particles are strew over the screen as you make your way through the multiple levels in the game.
Audio wise the game is firmly gunning for Geometry Wars’ audience with tons of eurohouse and dance inspired electronica pounding out of the speakers. Although not a real favourite area of music for me the soundtrack fits the game perfectly and amps up the adrenaline rush you get playing the game. Coincidentally the music was written by recent interviewee Tim Wright and demonstrates yet again what a top class game composer he is. Spot effects and explosions are all great and everything fits together very well.
As mentioned the game is similar in style to PixelJunk Shooter and the old skool thrust titles mentioned. You have to navigate the caverns to fulfil a specified criteria be that destroying three generators or two towers, collecting stranded spacemen etc. Once you fulfil these objective a warp portal opens up for you to make good your escape. You have the choice of getting the hell outta space-dodge or sticking around to collect the various coloured gem stones, extra spacemen and hidden artifact found on each level. Collecting these additional items increases your end of level score, but so does finishing in a fast time so it;s a fine balance.
Control is handled in one of two ways. You can either use the traditional left stick to thrust and move and then fire in the direction you are facing or use the new method, which was my method of choice, which allows you to control with the left stick but use the right stick to shoot in any direction a la Robotron/Geometry Wars. You also have the facility of a shield that you can either manually deploy and wait for it to recharge or allow it to be deployed automatically. The automatic deployment means that it is a lot harder for you to actually crash and destroy your craft but the downside is that once the shield energy is depleted it will not recharge. Your craft has finite energy for it’s shield but it also has finite energy for it’s boosters and lasers. Luckily strewn around a level are crystal clusters that you have to destroy with your lasers to release small shard of crystal that will rechage your shields and your fuel tanks.
All of these elements help life Gravity Crash out of the pile of mediocre shooter and throw away download titles. The emphasis on exploration is great but it must be done with some caution not only for safety of self, but for you also never know where your next hit of crystal is coming from.
Longevity is moderate as the single player will take you around 3 or 4 hours to get through. The main bonus to longevity is the online create and share package. Yes Gravity Crash is bundled with a fantastic level editor/creator that means you can make your own dastardly fiendish levels and then share them with peeps on the internet. This means that as long as community support is strong there should be plenty of caverns to explore for many months to come. The editor is reasonably simple to use and you should be able to knock something up reasonably quickly with only minimal knowledge. The multiplayer is local but a good laugh non the less allowing you to play in several game modes such as deathmatch. There is the odd issue with the difficulty just dipping and spiking like mad as you progress not to mention that doing yet another seek and destroy mission in the caverns for the 23rd time can get more than a little repetitive.
Final Thoughts:-
Just Add Water have done a great job of updating the ageing Thrust game play. If this title had shipped a month earlier, or even a couple of months earlier then it would of gained at least another point. The main reason it does not? Pixel Junk Shooter. If you compare these two games the improvements Q Games have made to the genre are vastly superior to the efforts of Just Add Water’s title. Don’t take that the wrong way though, this is a great game and Just Add Water have done a super job it’s just a pity these two came out weeks apart. That said if you liked the look and feel of Geometry Wars and think the traditional Thrust game play is more your bag then pick it right up, you really won’t regret the spend. Regardless of preferences I can whole heartly say that this is worth the £6/$10 for absolute certain. The editor will bring longevity and great value for money, the soundtrack is great and the game play simple yet absorbing.
