'That's like videogame football' used to be a criticism levelled against real football by fans, commentators and pundits, when something unlikely, stupid or particularly half-arsed happened on the pitch during a game. I've been playing a lot of FIFA 10 this week and I no longer think that that criticism can be used, validly. Footballers haven't got any more competent, it's just that videogame football isn't like videogame game football any more.
I've just watched the extended highlights of West Ham v Sunderland on Sky Sports Football First. 'That's just like FIFA', I thought to myself several times during the game. Not because of comedy capers on the pitch, though throwing away a 2-0 lead away from home is half-arsed but, as any West Ham fan will tell you, nothing particularly unusual. No, rather the game was bringing home home how well-modelled FIFA is this year - the movement, the tactics, the reactions of players to what teammates are doing, the marshalling of defences, the running off the ball. It's just like real football, without the swearing, spitting and diving. Maybe that's for FIFA 11?
Saturday, 31 October 2009
God of War III & Dante's Inferno
Unfortunately for Electronics Arts, the Dante's Inferno PS3s were set up adjacent to the GoW3 ones at the Eurogamer Expo. Dante's Inferno has a similar gameplay mechanic to GoW - use melée weapons to thrash your way through hordes of reasonably weak (individually) enemies with regular, harder, bosses - but suffers in direct comparison.
GoW3 enjoys much smoother textures and and seems to flow better. It also has a more attractive setting - Hell/Limbo is, as you can imagine, a bit of a downer. Ancient Greece, even when plagued by harpies, chimeras, centaurs and titans, is a prettier sight than the underworld plagued by the restless souls of the damned.
Gameplay-wise, GoW3 follows that of the previous two games -light, heavy and special attacks chained together in insane combos (I chained over a 100 without too much trouble). But the I don't think that anyone thought the third instalment would offer a change of pace, did they - Kratos Kart Racing, anyone?
On the evidence of GoW3 and Heavy Rain, next year could be a big one for the PS3, building on the foundations laid by Uncharted 2.
GoW3 enjoys much smoother textures and and seems to flow better. It also has a more attractive setting - Hell/Limbo is, as you can imagine, a bit of a downer. Ancient Greece, even when plagued by harpies, chimeras, centaurs and titans, is a prettier sight than the underworld plagued by the restless souls of the damned.
Gameplay-wise, GoW3 follows that of the previous two games -light, heavy and special attacks chained together in insane combos (I chained over a 100 without too much trouble). But the I don't think that anyone thought the third instalment would offer a change of pace, did they - Kratos Kart Racing, anyone?
On the evidence of GoW3 and Heavy Rain, next year could be a big one for the PS3, building on the foundations laid by Uncharted 2.
Heavy Rain
I had enjoyed, to a point, Quantic Dream's previous game, Fahrenheit, on the Xbox. My problem with it was that, while the story (other than the last third, when it got a bit silly) was decent, well-directed and acted, the gameplay was a bit lacking. At times it was more like a game of 'Simon' than a videogame.
So I approached Heavy Rain with some trepidation. However, I was very impressed with what I saw the demo at the Expo though.
Two scenarios were shown in the demo, one involving an FBI agent visiting a junkyard as part of an investigation and the other, more interesting, one showed a different, older, detective, Shelby, thwart a stick-up artist in a convenience store.
The former was more conventional - agent investigates yard (albeit with cool toys), questions suspect, rumbles suspect, fights. The latter, however, was far more interesting.
Shleby thought that the shopkeeper, Hassan, held information for his case, based on the murder of Hassan's own son some years before. The still grief-stricken Hassan wouldn't help initially and Shelby looks to depart but first goes to pick an asthma inhaler from the back of the store.
While he searches for the inhaler, Hassan is held up by a stick-up artist and will not give up his hard-earned cash. Shelby moves to the front of the store and his subsequent interactions with the robber can take a number of diverging paths depending on what responses are given. I played it once and saw others play it too and I witnessed a number of different paths through that scene based on the player's/Shelby's responses, making a refreshing change for a videogame. If this level of originality and depth can be carried through the rest of the game, I think it could be one of the best games on PS3.
So I approached Heavy Rain with some trepidation. However, I was very impressed with what I saw the demo at the Expo though.
Two scenarios were shown in the demo, one involving an FBI agent visiting a junkyard as part of an investigation and the other, more interesting, one showed a different, older, detective, Shelby, thwart a stick-up artist in a convenience store.
The former was more conventional - agent investigates yard (albeit with cool toys), questions suspect, rumbles suspect, fights. The latter, however, was far more interesting.
Shleby thought that the shopkeeper, Hassan, held information for his case, based on the murder of Hassan's own son some years before. The still grief-stricken Hassan wouldn't help initially and Shelby looks to depart but first goes to pick an asthma inhaler from the back of the store.
While he searches for the inhaler, Hassan is held up by a stick-up artist and will not give up his hard-earned cash. Shelby moves to the front of the store and his subsequent interactions with the robber can take a number of diverging paths depending on what responses are given. I played it once and saw others play it too and I witnessed a number of different paths through that scene based on the player's/Shelby's responses, making a refreshing change for a videogame. If this level of originality and depth can be carried through the rest of the game, I think it could be one of the best games on PS3.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Eurogamer Expo 2009, London
I went to the Eurogamer Expo in London today. I'd gone to the one last year in Brick Lane - this year's was bigger and better. I was there for four hours and I did not have a chance to sample everything - Battlefield Bad Company 2, MAG and Bayonetta are just three of the games I didn't really get a chance to take in in any depth.
Given how many games have been shunted into 2010 that were expected before Christmas, quite a lot was on show that won't be available in store until the New Year. I'll be posting about some of them over the next few days.
And for the guy that dressed up as Bill, from Left 4 Dead - I salute you!
Given how many games have been shunted into 2010 that were expected before Christmas, quite a lot was on show that won't be available in store until the New Year. I'll be posting about some of them over the next few days.
And for the guy that dressed up as Bill, from Left 4 Dead - I salute you!
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Left 4 Dead 2 demo
I've been playing the Left 4 Dead 2 demo on 360, having pre-ordered the game from Game. They had offered a 7-day exclusivity deal for the demo, before it becomes available for Xbox Live Gold subscribers next week. I think there's a similar deal for PC on Steam.
The demo level (two chapters of a full level) is in the daylight, which is an interesting twist for a zombie game. Even without the darkness, it's a scary game but a different type of scary. Nighttime plays on primal fears of darkness - evolutionarily speaking, a fear of the dark is a good thing, unless you want sabre-toothed tigers in your near (and considerably fore-shortened) future. Daylight is another thing entirely. We live our outdoor lives, for the most part (goths excepted) in the daylight - a game that has zombies wandering around during the day plays on our own personal fears. I mean, who's never thought about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse in their town?
The game itself seems more of the same, which is no bad thing (sorry Internet petitioners). There have, of course, been updates and improvements - new special infected, the daylight, the - yes!! - melée weapons, new items - but the central idea of the main (and only part on the demo) game, for four survivors to escape the undead, remains the same. The controls are also unaltered - if it ain't broke, don't decap it with a shotgun shell.
I'd initially thought that the frame rate had been upped but a quick revisit to the first game indicated that it probably hadn't (both are very smooth). Even though the game is in daylight, you don't see vast panoramas - New Orleans feels claustrophobic and past mid distance, descends into a balmy Louisianan heat haze.
In terms of difficulty, I'd say it is a bit harder than the first game, which was hardly a cakewalk. The new special infected, particularly, add to the difficulty level and there seem to be even more (fantastic) horde moments to 'enjoy'. I couldn't really feel the much-vaunted AI director at play but reckon that will be apparent in the full game that, on the strength of the demo, I will be getting.
The demo level (two chapters of a full level) is in the daylight, which is an interesting twist for a zombie game. Even without the darkness, it's a scary game but a different type of scary. Nighttime plays on primal fears of darkness - evolutionarily speaking, a fear of the dark is a good thing, unless you want sabre-toothed tigers in your near (and considerably fore-shortened) future. Daylight is another thing entirely. We live our outdoor lives, for the most part (goths excepted) in the daylight - a game that has zombies wandering around during the day plays on our own personal fears. I mean, who's never thought about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse in their town?
The game itself seems more of the same, which is no bad thing (sorry Internet petitioners). There have, of course, been updates and improvements - new special infected, the daylight, the - yes!! - melée weapons, new items - but the central idea of the main (and only part on the demo) game, for four survivors to escape the undead, remains the same. The controls are also unaltered - if it ain't broke, don't decap it with a shotgun shell.
I'd initially thought that the frame rate had been upped but a quick revisit to the first game indicated that it probably hadn't (both are very smooth). Even though the game is in daylight, you don't see vast panoramas - New Orleans feels claustrophobic and past mid distance, descends into a balmy Louisianan heat haze.
In terms of difficulty, I'd say it is a bit harder than the first game, which was hardly a cakewalk. The new special infected, particularly, add to the difficulty level and there seem to be even more (fantastic) horde moments to 'enjoy'. I couldn't really feel the much-vaunted AI director at play but reckon that will be apparent in the full game that, on the strength of the demo, I will be getting.
The Economics of Fanboyism
I am fortunate enough to have all the current systems - 360, PS3, Wii, DS and PSP. Well, I say all - Sony and Nintendo will be waiting a long time before I buy the micro-update offered by the PSP-Go and DSi. Even longer than it would take to download a PSP game on the laughable 'broad'band that BT pick my pocket for each month....
All the systems have particular advantages (and great games) and all have certain disadvantages (and clunkers). No one system is 'the best' and fanboyism is a self-defeating position that only makes gaming seem juvenile to outsiders.
Without wanting to get all 'Psych 101', maybe fanboys have a lack of self-esteem and need the validation that having 'the best' will give them (hey, maybe their mothers never said that they loved them). Or maybe it is economic - they can't afford to be a multi-system gamer, so need to belittle the other consoles as they don't want to consider them as options?
I think that last point may be a big reason. When I was kid, I had a ZX Spectrum. I/my parents couldn't afford a Commodore 64 (the BBC was never an option - only the posh kids had those). I took the position that the Spectrum was 'the best' but I enjoyed playing on friends' C64s and would have had one if I could. Economic circumstance made me a fanboy - and if that isn't a telling indictment of Thatcher's Britain, then I don't know what is.
All the systems have particular advantages (and great games) and all have certain disadvantages (and clunkers). No one system is 'the best' and fanboyism is a self-defeating position that only makes gaming seem juvenile to outsiders.
Without wanting to get all 'Psych 101', maybe fanboys have a lack of self-esteem and need the validation that having 'the best' will give them (hey, maybe their mothers never said that they loved them). Or maybe it is economic - they can't afford to be a multi-system gamer, so need to belittle the other consoles as they don't want to consider them as options?
I think that last point may be a big reason. When I was kid, I had a ZX Spectrum. I/my parents couldn't afford a Commodore 64 (the BBC was never an option - only the posh kids had those). I took the position that the Spectrum was 'the best' but I enjoyed playing on friends' C64s and would have had one if I could. Economic circumstance made me a fanboy - and if that isn't a telling indictment of Thatcher's Britain, then I don't know what is.
Monday, 26 October 2009
Intro
This cartoon is from the ever-excellent www.xkcd.com. Sometimes, when you read an item or watch something on TV, you slap your head and think 'That's me!' and that's what I got with this strip. I'm a pretend adult, dealing with important grown up stuff but I continually think that one day I'll be found out. Sooner or later, my boss will point at me and say 'hey, you play videogames, read comics and wear 'Battle of the Planets' t-shirts - you shouldn't be here, get me your parents, you kidult!'.
But videogames have been - and continue to be - an important part of my life. I will be detailing my game-related thoughts on this blog - reviews, game experiences, features. Blather, basically. I hope you enjoy it - I won't grow up without a fight.
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