By Ben / 2010-04-18 19:00:01Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. 3D Dot Game Heroes is a Zelda clone. Not a 3D Zelda clone, that would be Okami, this is a 3D clone of the 2D Zelda’s. Hopefully that’s all cleared up, of course, a lot of classics are classics with the rose-tints only, so maybe sticking so close to your inspiration isn’t such a great idea?
The plot to 3D Dot Game Heroes is fairly traditional. A dark force is gathering and you must travel the land collecting ancient orbs so you can seal it and save the kingdom. In gameplay terms this means a split between exploring the open map, before heading into a dungeon. Once the dungeon is complete you’ll be rewarded with a new skill, likely required to open the route to the next area.
Invariably this is a single screen game, outside there is some camera movement, but essentially as you finish one area you’ll ‘load’ the next screen, just like the old days (don’t worry, it’s more for effect and there’s very little wait). This means respawning enemies, and items, and in the dungeons each room is unique.
Graphically the game is almost stunning. While it’s all presented in simplistic blocks, from the characters to the environment, the game’s actually doing some very impressive things. The use of lighting adds a sense of depth to everything, and at its best, you’d swear someone’s just filmed some Lego stop motion.
The downside to this visual trickery is that there are instances of slowdown in the game. It usually occurs when you’ve destroyed numerous enemies in one attack, as each one will scatter into assorted blocks, but in the final dungeon the slowdown is almost ever present, and can hinder your game. Unfortunately due to the deceptively simple look of the game, it’s sometimes hard to remember it’s struggling for a reason.
One other aspect of gameplay that’s important is the relationship between your health and your sword. At full health it’s possible for your sword to fill the screen, pass through obstacles, and even fire projectiles. Take some damage though and that all goes. You’ll be weaker, hampered by objects, and simply lack the width and range that can make all the difference. It also means that there are instances where it’s better to die than keep on struggling. In a dungeon this will dump you back to its entrance, with full health (and so sword), and all your progress saved.
There’s no doubting that the dungeons are the more interesting part of the game. The outside areas aren’t terrible, some areas of the map are genuinely interesting, but the lack of detail in the map means you’ll get tired of walking in circles. It’s the outside areas where you’ll find the sub-quests though, which again can require a lot of walking, but sometimes the rewards are worth it. Increased health, weapon capacity, and more frequently towards the end of the game, new swords for you to tinker with.
3D Dot Game Heroes is genuinely funny at points too, well, genuinely funny if you’re a bit of a geek. There’s the obvious Zelda references (don’t hit that chicken), the odd Dragon Quest nod, and countless references to other From Software titles. There’s also some mischievously crude humour that might just be funnier because of the twee setting.
While there’s no denying the game’s fun, and that the retro charm goes a long way to glossing over would be problems, there are some issues it can’t hide. At one point my progress ground to a halt because I’d missed a key item, while ultimately my fault, that it was missable to the point I could leave the dungeon without it is poor design. There’s also some old-fashioned game lengthening packed in (games really should have shaken this by now). Towards the end you have to revisit each of the dungeons again on a pointless wild goose chase, then re-fight bosses you’ve already bested.
There are a lot of things wrong with 3D Dot Game Heroes, it’s occasionally dull, occasionally tedious, with a poor map system outside the dungeons, analogue control that’s unworkable inside the later dungeons, and of course slowdown.
That being said the game is effortlessly charming, and when it gets it right, compelling. It doles out the rewards pretty frequently, enough so that you’ve usually got something new to play with. It’s also broken up into manageably chunks, and while you’ll restart from certain set points, your progress can be saved anywhere.
It doesn’t better Zelda, and I dare say there’s better current-gen adventure games out there, but 3D Dot Game Heroes does enough that it wont disappoint. Not essential, but for those that like there games creaky or quirky then it’s definitely worth a look.
The plot to 3D Dot Game Heroes is fairly traditional. A dark force is gathering and you must travel the land collecting ancient orbs so you can seal it and save the kingdom. In gameplay terms this means a split between exploring the open map, before heading into a dungeon. Once the dungeon is complete you’ll be rewarded with a new skill, likely required to open the route to the next area.
Invariably this is a single screen game, outside there is some camera movement, but essentially as you finish one area you’ll ‘load’ the next screen, just like the old days (don’t worry, it’s more for effect and there’s very little wait). This means respawning enemies, and items, and in the dungeons each room is unique.
Graphically the game is almost stunning. While it’s all presented in simplistic blocks, from the characters to the environment, the game’s actually doing some very impressive things. The use of lighting adds a sense of depth to everything, and at its best, you’d swear someone’s just filmed some Lego stop motion.
The downside to this visual trickery is that there are instances of slowdown in the game. It usually occurs when you’ve destroyed numerous enemies in one attack, as each one will scatter into assorted blocks, but in the final dungeon the slowdown is almost ever present, and can hinder your game. Unfortunately due to the deceptively simple look of the game, it’s sometimes hard to remember it’s struggling for a reason.
One other aspect of gameplay that’s important is the relationship between your health and your sword. At full health it’s possible for your sword to fill the screen, pass through obstacles, and even fire projectiles. Take some damage though and that all goes. You’ll be weaker, hampered by objects, and simply lack the width and range that can make all the difference. It also means that there are instances where it’s better to die than keep on struggling. In a dungeon this will dump you back to its entrance, with full health (and so sword), and all your progress saved.
There’s no doubting that the dungeons are the more interesting part of the game. The outside areas aren’t terrible, some areas of the map are genuinely interesting, but the lack of detail in the map means you’ll get tired of walking in circles. It’s the outside areas where you’ll find the sub-quests though, which again can require a lot of walking, but sometimes the rewards are worth it. Increased health, weapon capacity, and more frequently towards the end of the game, new swords for you to tinker with.
3D Dot Game Heroes is genuinely funny at points too, well, genuinely funny if you’re a bit of a geek. There’s the obvious Zelda references (don’t hit that chicken), the odd Dragon Quest nod, and countless references to other From Software titles. There’s also some mischievously crude humour that might just be funnier because of the twee setting.
While there’s no denying the game’s fun, and that the retro charm goes a long way to glossing over would be problems, there are some issues it can’t hide. At one point my progress ground to a halt because I’d missed a key item, while ultimately my fault, that it was missable to the point I could leave the dungeon without it is poor design. There’s also some old-fashioned game lengthening packed in (games really should have shaken this by now). Towards the end you have to revisit each of the dungeons again on a pointless wild goose chase, then re-fight bosses you’ve already bested.
There are a lot of things wrong with 3D Dot Game Heroes, it’s occasionally dull, occasionally tedious, with a poor map system outside the dungeons, analogue control that’s unworkable inside the later dungeons, and of course slowdown.
That being said the game is effortlessly charming, and when it gets it right, compelling. It doles out the rewards pretty frequently, enough so that you’ve usually got something new to play with. It’s also broken up into manageably chunks, and while you’ll restart from certain set points, your progress can be saved anywhere.
It doesn’t better Zelda, and I dare say there’s better current-gen adventure games out there, but 3D Dot Game Heroes does enough that it wont disappoint. Not essential, but for those that like there games creaky or quirky then it’s definitely worth a look.
By Ben / 2010-04-08 17:24:57After taking a bit of stick for previous efforts, Capcom return with Moto GP 09/10. But do they finally get it right this time?
The problem the modern Moto GP games face is finding the balance between arcade accessibility and sim-like depth. Moto GP approaches this problem in a quite literal way, offering a lengthy arcade mode, or if you prefer, the tinkering and background gameplay of the career mode.
Arcade largely works as you’d expect, you race against the clock and other competitors for your continued survival. Take a corner perfectly, hitting each of the racing line markers as you do, and you’ll be awarded with a few seconds of bonus time. Slipstream, show boat, overtake and you’ll get a bit more. The big rewards come from staying on the track, pass the mid-stage markers without a penalty from getting your tyres muddy and you’ll be rewarded with a chunk of extra time.
The real surprise with the arcade mode is how lengthy it is. Perhaps it’s a hangover from my Sega Rally days (which gets a nod here if you fail), but having to play the full season in arcade mode is a surprise, and one that’s a double edged sword. It’s nice to have an arcade mode that lasts a while, especially as you can save after each race, but it does blur the lines between each of the modes.
The career mode certainly has more depth than arcade, and is also more frustrating. You can alter and improve your bike, change sponsors and manufacturers, and even recruit press officers and mechanics. The problem is that it’s never made especially explicit what’s going on. First time through you’ll be told you can alter something or sign someone, but there’s no easy way of seeing what you’ve already got, and what effect your actions will take. For example I wasted money firing and resigning staff because it seemed I could only hire one at a time
In gameplay terms career mode offers heightened difficulty, largely because your bike is so hampered in the early stages. It’s a credit to the game that the bikes really vary as you progress, the different engine powers are prime examples, with the Moto GP class being a leap beyond what you’ve ridden before. The weight of the bike plays a part too, you can’t just flick left and right; if you want to turn, or correct a turn, then twitching isn’t going to get you any where.
Ultimately the problem is that everything is the arcade mode. Online, career, championship, you cant shake the feeling that it’s the same game just with a different point scoring system, a bit like cycling at the Olympics. That’s not to say the core game is bad, far from it, it’s the kind of experience that keeps you playing and teases you back for more.
Moto GP is fast, incredibly so at points, it’s also commendably smooth. The braking system couple with the ‘realistic’ weight to the bikes when cornering help add some depth and sim-like aspects to the game. At the same time though I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering to how much I’d quite like a new Road Rash. The balance maybe falls slightly too far to the arcade side of things, but given how enjoyable Moto GP is I find it hard to complain about that fact.
Really the only issue with Moto GP, outside of the more baffling moments of the career mode, is that the various modes don’t do enough to distinguish themselves in gameplay terms. Once you get stuck into the career mode, arcade and championship become redundant,. A shame because there’s stacks to unlock should you be interested.
It’s not hard to imagine that Moto GP is the best bike game in quite some time, but don’t let the lack of competition for that title put you off, Moto GP is a very good racer, just perhaps not all it could have been
The problem the modern Moto GP games face is finding the balance between arcade accessibility and sim-like depth. Moto GP approaches this problem in a quite literal way, offering a lengthy arcade mode, or if you prefer, the tinkering and background gameplay of the career mode.
Arcade largely works as you’d expect, you race against the clock and other competitors for your continued survival. Take a corner perfectly, hitting each of the racing line markers as you do, and you’ll be awarded with a few seconds of bonus time. Slipstream, show boat, overtake and you’ll get a bit more. The big rewards come from staying on the track, pass the mid-stage markers without a penalty from getting your tyres muddy and you’ll be rewarded with a chunk of extra time.
The real surprise with the arcade mode is how lengthy it is. Perhaps it’s a hangover from my Sega Rally days (which gets a nod here if you fail), but having to play the full season in arcade mode is a surprise, and one that’s a double edged sword. It’s nice to have an arcade mode that lasts a while, especially as you can save after each race, but it does blur the lines between each of the modes.
The career mode certainly has more depth than arcade, and is also more frustrating. You can alter and improve your bike, change sponsors and manufacturers, and even recruit press officers and mechanics. The problem is that it’s never made especially explicit what’s going on. First time through you’ll be told you can alter something or sign someone, but there’s no easy way of seeing what you’ve already got, and what effect your actions will take. For example I wasted money firing and resigning staff because it seemed I could only hire one at a time
In gameplay terms career mode offers heightened difficulty, largely because your bike is so hampered in the early stages. It’s a credit to the game that the bikes really vary as you progress, the different engine powers are prime examples, with the Moto GP class being a leap beyond what you’ve ridden before. The weight of the bike plays a part too, you can’t just flick left and right; if you want to turn, or correct a turn, then twitching isn’t going to get you any where.
Ultimately the problem is that everything is the arcade mode. Online, career, championship, you cant shake the feeling that it’s the same game just with a different point scoring system, a bit like cycling at the Olympics. That’s not to say the core game is bad, far from it, it’s the kind of experience that keeps you playing and teases you back for more.
Moto GP is fast, incredibly so at points, it’s also commendably smooth. The braking system couple with the ‘realistic’ weight to the bikes when cornering help add some depth and sim-like aspects to the game. At the same time though I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering to how much I’d quite like a new Road Rash. The balance maybe falls slightly too far to the arcade side of things, but given how enjoyable Moto GP is I find it hard to complain about that fact.
Really the only issue with Moto GP, outside of the more baffling moments of the career mode, is that the various modes don’t do enough to distinguish themselves in gameplay terms. Once you get stuck into the career mode, arcade and championship become redundant,. A shame because there’s stacks to unlock should you be interested.
It’s not hard to imagine that Moto GP is the best bike game in quite some time, but don’t let the lack of competition for that title put you off, Moto GP is a very good racer, just perhaps not all it could have been
By Ben / 2010-03-14 11:43:50Depending who you ask, Heavy Rain is either the most important game of its generation, or the most pretentious one. I’ll leave others to battle out the 'games as art' topic, but I will say that it certainly ranks as one of this generations most interesting titles.
The first thing that strikes you about Heavy Rain is how good it looks. There may be a few niggles here and there, but on the whole it's very impressive both in quality and design. Changes between cutscene and game are virtually seamless, there's bags of incidental detail to the environments, fleshing them out, making the game world feel lived in, even if the locations you visit are actually quite closed.
While some characters look better than others, Jayden and Blake look a little like Max Payne villains, that's without doubt the stand out aspect of the graphics. It's not simply that middle-aged private eye Scott Shelby has a high texture mac on, or 35 points of articulation or whatever, it's that the character looks like he's lived. He looks dour, beaten, his face permanently droopy and his shoulders heavy as lead.
As mentioned there are a few issues with the graphics. The level of detail present comes at a cost, with tearing being a frequent occurrence. Of course due to the games sedate pace it never hampers gameplay, but because of that pace you'll notice it every single time. To cut down on processing demands the game tends to not completely fill characters who are out of focus. If the character's towards the back of the screen that's not too noticeable, but there are plenty of times a character is in the foreground, only a few feet from the character in focus, yet is a blurry, vague mess.
Gameplay wise there isn't a huge amount to talk about, but what's there is split between simple motions and button presses. Generally the difference between the investigation sections and the action sections is merely pace, you'll still have to do sweeps of the analogue stick, combinations of button presses, and thrusts of the 6-axis. It's hard to tell if it's deliberate or not, but it does stop the game from feeling broken up. It also handles QTEs much better than Fahrenheit did, you never dread them, and certainly I rarely failed them.
This is where the divisiveness will come in, for my money this works great, I wouldn't suggest that it's the only way to make this type of game, but again it helps both the narrative and the game flow. As redundant as it sounds, if the story hooks you then that's all the gameplay you'll need, and while limbo-ing through electric cables might not be a high point, fleeing the police is hugely exhilarating. The one thing that is rightly universally criticised is the walking controls. You clumsily point your character in a direction, then press R1 to set them walking. Given that you've essentially got an unused analogue stick, it's hard to see why Quantic Dreams didn't just hand over all movement to it.
The majority of the voice acting is commendable, in fact very little of it is what you'd call bad, really the issues are elsewhere. Having one of the main characters speak with a noticeable French accent could possibly be explained away, but when you get a childhood flashback where both children speak with thick French accents you can't help but raise an eyebrow. Surely it can't be that hard to find a couple of American child actors?
The only other criticism is that the game is quite short, maybe 10 hours long, but given that you really 'do' very little, it does exaggerate the brevity. Commendably though, despite the early shaving scenes and the like, there's very little filler to pad things out. There's also the likely hood that you wont return to Heavy Rain once it's done, not that you'll have seen everything or that there's nothing you'd like to go back and change, just that once the mystery's been solved there's little motivation to.
Heavy Rain is a game that's been thought about, starting with a contrast between the ultra bright 'before', and the unrelentingly gloomy present, and leading to a superb wide-eyed moment where you piece it all together. There's a few questionable moments here and there, but ultimately it's the narrative that makes Heavy Rain so compelling and so essential.
It's easy to see why some wont take to it, but frankly it's their loss. Heavy Rain ranks as one of my favourite games of this generation, it's not without its flaws, but few have gripped me quite so completely.
The first thing that strikes you about Heavy Rain is how good it looks. There may be a few niggles here and there, but on the whole it's very impressive both in quality and design. Changes between cutscene and game are virtually seamless, there's bags of incidental detail to the environments, fleshing them out, making the game world feel lived in, even if the locations you visit are actually quite closed.
While some characters look better than others, Jayden and Blake look a little like Max Payne villains, that's without doubt the stand out aspect of the graphics. It's not simply that middle-aged private eye Scott Shelby has a high texture mac on, or 35 points of articulation or whatever, it's that the character looks like he's lived. He looks dour, beaten, his face permanently droopy and his shoulders heavy as lead.
As mentioned there are a few issues with the graphics. The level of detail present comes at a cost, with tearing being a frequent occurrence. Of course due to the games sedate pace it never hampers gameplay, but because of that pace you'll notice it every single time. To cut down on processing demands the game tends to not completely fill characters who are out of focus. If the character's towards the back of the screen that's not too noticeable, but there are plenty of times a character is in the foreground, only a few feet from the character in focus, yet is a blurry, vague mess.
Gameplay wise there isn't a huge amount to talk about, but what's there is split between simple motions and button presses. Generally the difference between the investigation sections and the action sections is merely pace, you'll still have to do sweeps of the analogue stick, combinations of button presses, and thrusts of the 6-axis. It's hard to tell if it's deliberate or not, but it does stop the game from feeling broken up. It also handles QTEs much better than Fahrenheit did, you never dread them, and certainly I rarely failed them.
This is where the divisiveness will come in, for my money this works great, I wouldn't suggest that it's the only way to make this type of game, but again it helps both the narrative and the game flow. As redundant as it sounds, if the story hooks you then that's all the gameplay you'll need, and while limbo-ing through electric cables might not be a high point, fleeing the police is hugely exhilarating. The one thing that is rightly universally criticised is the walking controls. You clumsily point your character in a direction, then press R1 to set them walking. Given that you've essentially got an unused analogue stick, it's hard to see why Quantic Dreams didn't just hand over all movement to it.
The majority of the voice acting is commendable, in fact very little of it is what you'd call bad, really the issues are elsewhere. Having one of the main characters speak with a noticeable French accent could possibly be explained away, but when you get a childhood flashback where both children speak with thick French accents you can't help but raise an eyebrow. Surely it can't be that hard to find a couple of American child actors?
The only other criticism is that the game is quite short, maybe 10 hours long, but given that you really 'do' very little, it does exaggerate the brevity. Commendably though, despite the early shaving scenes and the like, there's very little filler to pad things out. There's also the likely hood that you wont return to Heavy Rain once it's done, not that you'll have seen everything or that there's nothing you'd like to go back and change, just that once the mystery's been solved there's little motivation to.
Heavy Rain is a game that's been thought about, starting with a contrast between the ultra bright 'before', and the unrelentingly gloomy present, and leading to a superb wide-eyed moment where you piece it all together. There's a few questionable moments here and there, but ultimately it's the narrative that makes Heavy Rain so compelling and so essential.
It's easy to see why some wont take to it, but frankly it's their loss. Heavy Rain ranks as one of my favourite games of this generation, it's not without its flaws, but few have gripped me quite so completely.
By Ben / 2010-03-08 16:05:09The main game was fairly solid, lacking in ideas certainly, but not bad if you like your God of War games. Dark Forest though is bad, the kind of bad that leaves you feeling genuinely annoyed you've paid money for it
Dark Forest acts as a prequel of sorts to the main Dante story. It takes place after Dante has defeated death, but before he returns home. Which begs the question of why Dante is already seeing Beatrice’s ghost, and why he’s squaring off against enemies on a par of with the latter circles of hell.
Talking of enemies, Dark Forest boasts that it features two new enemies. This is slightly disingenuous, as they’re actually re-skins of characters you’ve already fought a hundred times. You also get a disco suit for Dante, it’s a decent enough novelty if you like that sort of thing, but it adds nothing. You do get a new relic, but everything you earned on your main play-through is taken away, and your abilities maxed out. I’m unsure what to make of this, having some new moves to play with is appreciated, but not using your old save exaggerates how ill thought through this DLC is.
The actual game content is itself both light and poor. You start with the standard artificial kill room, where you have to defeat a few waves of enemies before your route becomes unblocked. The rest of the level pretty much consists of some simple puzzles, with instructions like “The moon shines from the north, you need to head east”. There’s little other challenge to these puzzles either, it’s simply a case of killing the one flying enemy (a throw is all it takes), then picking the right door.
The puzzle that closes the level is so easy that I assumed it would be more complicated that it was, taking far longer to solve it than it really warranted. Really the only challenge comes from the cheapness of the female enemies, which is another problem with this DLC. Dante’s Inferno was at its best when you were either fighting enormous demons, or parrying your way through skilful combos. Neither of those things happen in Dark Forest, instead combat is a war of attrition against some fairly unimaginative enemies.
On the whole Dark Forest feels lazy and cheap. Certainly charging £4 for at best 30 minutes worth of game is obscene (the 360 version works out slightly cheaper), ignoring the levels length, the use of puzzle rooms mean re-using assets repeatedly, the ‘new’ enemies are just re-skins, and the final scene represents the worst graphics of the whole game. As a freebie this would be disappointing, but having paid £4 for it, Dark Forest represents everything that can go wrong with the DLC format.
Dark Forest acts as a prequel of sorts to the main Dante story. It takes place after Dante has defeated death, but before he returns home. Which begs the question of why Dante is already seeing Beatrice’s ghost, and why he’s squaring off against enemies on a par of with the latter circles of hell.
Talking of enemies, Dark Forest boasts that it features two new enemies. This is slightly disingenuous, as they’re actually re-skins of characters you’ve already fought a hundred times. You also get a disco suit for Dante, it’s a decent enough novelty if you like that sort of thing, but it adds nothing. You do get a new relic, but everything you earned on your main play-through is taken away, and your abilities maxed out. I’m unsure what to make of this, having some new moves to play with is appreciated, but not using your old save exaggerates how ill thought through this DLC is.
The actual game content is itself both light and poor. You start with the standard artificial kill room, where you have to defeat a few waves of enemies before your route becomes unblocked. The rest of the level pretty much consists of some simple puzzles, with instructions like “The moon shines from the north, you need to head east”. There’s little other challenge to these puzzles either, it’s simply a case of killing the one flying enemy (a throw is all it takes), then picking the right door.
The puzzle that closes the level is so easy that I assumed it would be more complicated that it was, taking far longer to solve it than it really warranted. Really the only challenge comes from the cheapness of the female enemies, which is another problem with this DLC. Dante’s Inferno was at its best when you were either fighting enormous demons, or parrying your way through skilful combos. Neither of those things happen in Dark Forest, instead combat is a war of attrition against some fairly unimaginative enemies.
On the whole Dark Forest feels lazy and cheap. Certainly charging £4 for at best 30 minutes worth of game is obscene (the 360 version works out slightly cheaper), ignoring the levels length, the use of puzzle rooms mean re-using assets repeatedly, the ‘new’ enemies are just re-skins, and the final scene represents the worst graphics of the whole game. As a freebie this would be disappointing, but having paid £4 for it, Dark Forest represents everything that can go wrong with the DLC format.
By Ben / 2010-02-14 13:36:05Regardless what you think of the methods used, there's no denying the Divine Comedy makes for interesting source material. And while I'm not about to pass judgment as to the worth of Visceral Games' adaptation, I will tell you if it's any good
There’s no denying Dante’s Inferno starts well, you’re dumped straight into the action, presented with all the instruction you need to handle the early enemies. From their you face off against Death, the fight is overly long, but killing Death within the opening moments of a game doesn’t happen too often. It’s not long till you’re taking on enormous creatures, and making the most of grotesque QTE’s to tear off heads and disembowel demons.
In its early stages Dante’s Inferno also throws new ideas at you, you’re never far from a new enemy type or gameplay mechanic. This relentlessness makes the game feel like a ride, a rollercoaster that throws you from one battle for survival to the next. You’ll see new horrors around every corner, with both animations and designs getting ever closer to the knuckle. It’s all very bruising, but it’s something that doesn’t last.
The sheer ludicrousness of the first half of the game disappears as you approach its end, as the game descends into kill room after kill room. The novelty disapates, as you’re left with another challenge-less scamper down a cliff, and another wave of samey enemies. New enemy designs become less frequent, and worse you realise that there are actually precious few enemy types, and what there is you’ll be seeing frequently. It’s a point made elsewhere, but having enemies from ‘Lust’ and purgatory appear when you’re in the circle of ‘Heresy’ makes little sense.
This lack of distinctness is a real problem for Dante’s Inferno, once you get into the deeper depths of Hell it all starts to look the same. While it’s commendable that the game isn’t split up into levels as such (though you can’t back track), it does make it all blur into one. All these factors add up to make the game overly familiar, adding a drag to the game’s otherwise reasonable length.
Graphically the game is the definition of a mixed bag. It’s nice and smooth with no slowdown to speak of at all. However the graphics will occasionally get quite blocky, particularly areas with lots of effects. While this isn’t so common in-game, it is during cut scenes, hugely disappointing considering it’s using the Blu-Ray format, though even for a DVD it would be bad. The score is superb, and I’ve few complaints about the voice acting, indeed the sound really adds a bit of the gravitas EA were grasping for.
Dante’s Inferno is hardly a bad game though, it just doesn’t build on its early promise. This is even true of its combat, otherwise solid enough, there just isn’t the scope and depth you’d want. Hardly the greatest crime, but it’s combo system also isn’t as fun as something like Bayonetta, nor as visceral as God of War. What’s there is fine, and the option to buy new abilities and equip items does help.
If you ignore the cynicism of the games creation then really the only thing Dante’s Inferno gets wrong is that it’s incredibly front loaded. The lack of progression and depth are one thing, but replacing the overblown set pieces with challenge rooms and simplistic puzzles is a mistake. Watching the same animations for the QTE’s destroys their impact, and I’ll never understand why I need to hammer a button to open every door in the game.
Dante’s Inferno is a well made, tightly controlled game, that my only real complaints revolve around over familiarity and repetition should tell you that ultimately it does little wrong. It doesn’t scale the heights of its competition, but it’s a more than adequate stop gap. If you can get past any reservations about how it’s used its source (and its muse) then there’s a decent game here
There’s no denying Dante’s Inferno starts well, you’re dumped straight into the action, presented with all the instruction you need to handle the early enemies. From their you face off against Death, the fight is overly long, but killing Death within the opening moments of a game doesn’t happen too often. It’s not long till you’re taking on enormous creatures, and making the most of grotesque QTE’s to tear off heads and disembowel demons.
In its early stages Dante’s Inferno also throws new ideas at you, you’re never far from a new enemy type or gameplay mechanic. This relentlessness makes the game feel like a ride, a rollercoaster that throws you from one battle for survival to the next. You’ll see new horrors around every corner, with both animations and designs getting ever closer to the knuckle. It’s all very bruising, but it’s something that doesn’t last.
The sheer ludicrousness of the first half of the game disappears as you approach its end, as the game descends into kill room after kill room. The novelty disapates, as you’re left with another challenge-less scamper down a cliff, and another wave of samey enemies. New enemy designs become less frequent, and worse you realise that there are actually precious few enemy types, and what there is you’ll be seeing frequently. It’s a point made elsewhere, but having enemies from ‘Lust’ and purgatory appear when you’re in the circle of ‘Heresy’ makes little sense.
This lack of distinctness is a real problem for Dante’s Inferno, once you get into the deeper depths of Hell it all starts to look the same. While it’s commendable that the game isn’t split up into levels as such (though you can’t back track), it does make it all blur into one. All these factors add up to make the game overly familiar, adding a drag to the game’s otherwise reasonable length.
Graphically the game is the definition of a mixed bag. It’s nice and smooth with no slowdown to speak of at all. However the graphics will occasionally get quite blocky, particularly areas with lots of effects. While this isn’t so common in-game, it is during cut scenes, hugely disappointing considering it’s using the Blu-Ray format, though even for a DVD it would be bad. The score is superb, and I’ve few complaints about the voice acting, indeed the sound really adds a bit of the gravitas EA were grasping for.
Dante’s Inferno is hardly a bad game though, it just doesn’t build on its early promise. This is even true of its combat, otherwise solid enough, there just isn’t the scope and depth you’d want. Hardly the greatest crime, but it’s combo system also isn’t as fun as something like Bayonetta, nor as visceral as God of War. What’s there is fine, and the option to buy new abilities and equip items does help.
If you ignore the cynicism of the games creation then really the only thing Dante’s Inferno gets wrong is that it’s incredibly front loaded. The lack of progression and depth are one thing, but replacing the overblown set pieces with challenge rooms and simplistic puzzles is a mistake. Watching the same animations for the QTE’s destroys their impact, and I’ll never understand why I need to hammer a button to open every door in the game.
Dante’s Inferno is a well made, tightly controlled game, that my only real complaints revolve around over familiarity and repetition should tell you that ultimately it does little wrong. It doesn’t scale the heights of its competition, but it’s a more than adequate stop gap. If you can get past any reservations about how it’s used its source (and its muse) then there’s a decent game here
By Ben / 2010-02-04 19:11:26Capcom's western developed Nolan North 'em-up has taken a bit of stick, and I'm here to say it's not entirely deserved
Dark Void is not the game I was expecting. The focus on the jetpack in the previews for the game gave me the impression most of my time would be spent in the air, with the ground combat being almost incidental. If anything the reverse is true.
The game opens with some air combat, but this lasts only a handful of minutes and doesn’t reappear for around another hour or so. Fortunately the ground combat works well, it generally keeps you pretty busy, there’s a reasonable mix of locations, and the upgradeable weapons add the feeling of progress (albeit slight). Bullets feel weak later on unless you focus your upgrades, and they move a little slow, especially with the way enemies leap about.
That’s not to say the A.I. is especially smart, indeed most enemies leave themselves exposed enough for you to sink rounds into them, although those with jetpacks can be a nightmare to hit. The A.I. never really tests you, you can be swamped but never flanked, enemies will generally keep their distance, so ducking in and out of cover is all you need. You can take to the air and hover-shoot people, or even blast through a crowd with your jetpack, but you’re never encouraged to, and never need to.
There are some semi-platform sections to the game, where you either perch on or under ledges and platforms, blasting away at enemies who do the same. Its here where the game offers the most variety, superficially at least. The obvious is the change between climbing down a cliff to climbing and shooting up one. While you’ll mainly be scrambling up/down cliffs and sci-fi cores of some sort, the boat section is a real stand out moment, a novel touch lacking in the rest of the game.
The much talked about flying combat is initially the games weak link, it was only on the 4rt or 5th variant that it finally started to click with me. Aiming is far too loose, perhaps a lock-on feature would have imbalanced the game, but these sections can become tedious. I suspect it was the lack of enemies and wide open spaces that hindered my enjoyment early on; more enemies in a smaller area, such as the later levels, means they are easier to hit. Your turning circle is stoic, combated to some extent by the flip move, although this plays havoc with your aim, so really only helps defensively.
Graphically the game does enough, it’s nice and solid, and while the frame rate isn’t buttery smooth, it only dips on a handful of occasions. The games low point is without doubt the cut scenes, with their glitchy frame rate, popping textures, jaggy lines, and occasional repeating sound. The plot’s not so bad, written down it’s horrendous, and the twists are fairly obvious, but it’s presented well and certainly entertaining enough.
The biggest shame with Dark Void is that everything you see in the first episode of the game represents what you see in the whole. There’s a handful of new weapons to find, but essentially everything you face in the first flying mission, or the first ground mission, or the first platform mission, are exactly the same (aside from some tougher enemies) as what you’ll find in the last. There’s a lack of development, that coupled with the increasingly generic environments, makes you glad the game is so short (less than 10 hours). There‘s also the sense something has been cut, there‘s a few levels where the narrative doesn‘t walk you up to the gate the way you‘d expect, as though perhaps there was supposed to be a level in between.
So far this has been reasonably complimentary, unfortunately there’s a sense of frustration permeating the whole game. The targeting while flying, the targeting while hovering, the bullet sponge enemies, the lengthy recovery time of your health, the awkward camera, the list goes on. And this is really the crux of the issue with Dark Void, it’s not so clever or essential a game that you can brush aside its problems, however there’s no doubt that when the game isn’t getting in its own way it’s a lot of fun.
Don’t believe the hate this game is getting, but at the same time go in with your eyes open. You’ll have fun, but at times it will also be a little too much work.
Dark Void is not the game I was expecting. The focus on the jetpack in the previews for the game gave me the impression most of my time would be spent in the air, with the ground combat being almost incidental. If anything the reverse is true.
The game opens with some air combat, but this lasts only a handful of minutes and doesn’t reappear for around another hour or so. Fortunately the ground combat works well, it generally keeps you pretty busy, there’s a reasonable mix of locations, and the upgradeable weapons add the feeling of progress (albeit slight). Bullets feel weak later on unless you focus your upgrades, and they move a little slow, especially with the way enemies leap about.
That’s not to say the A.I. is especially smart, indeed most enemies leave themselves exposed enough for you to sink rounds into them, although those with jetpacks can be a nightmare to hit. The A.I. never really tests you, you can be swamped but never flanked, enemies will generally keep their distance, so ducking in and out of cover is all you need. You can take to the air and hover-shoot people, or even blast through a crowd with your jetpack, but you’re never encouraged to, and never need to.
There are some semi-platform sections to the game, where you either perch on or under ledges and platforms, blasting away at enemies who do the same. Its here where the game offers the most variety, superficially at least. The obvious is the change between climbing down a cliff to climbing and shooting up one. While you’ll mainly be scrambling up/down cliffs and sci-fi cores of some sort, the boat section is a real stand out moment, a novel touch lacking in the rest of the game.
The much talked about flying combat is initially the games weak link, it was only on the 4rt or 5th variant that it finally started to click with me. Aiming is far too loose, perhaps a lock-on feature would have imbalanced the game, but these sections can become tedious. I suspect it was the lack of enemies and wide open spaces that hindered my enjoyment early on; more enemies in a smaller area, such as the later levels, means they are easier to hit. Your turning circle is stoic, combated to some extent by the flip move, although this plays havoc with your aim, so really only helps defensively.
Graphically the game does enough, it’s nice and solid, and while the frame rate isn’t buttery smooth, it only dips on a handful of occasions. The games low point is without doubt the cut scenes, with their glitchy frame rate, popping textures, jaggy lines, and occasional repeating sound. The plot’s not so bad, written down it’s horrendous, and the twists are fairly obvious, but it’s presented well and certainly entertaining enough.
The biggest shame with Dark Void is that everything you see in the first episode of the game represents what you see in the whole. There’s a handful of new weapons to find, but essentially everything you face in the first flying mission, or the first ground mission, or the first platform mission, are exactly the same (aside from some tougher enemies) as what you’ll find in the last. There’s a lack of development, that coupled with the increasingly generic environments, makes you glad the game is so short (less than 10 hours). There‘s also the sense something has been cut, there‘s a few levels where the narrative doesn‘t walk you up to the gate the way you‘d expect, as though perhaps there was supposed to be a level in between.
So far this has been reasonably complimentary, unfortunately there’s a sense of frustration permeating the whole game. The targeting while flying, the targeting while hovering, the bullet sponge enemies, the lengthy recovery time of your health, the awkward camera, the list goes on. And this is really the crux of the issue with Dark Void, it’s not so clever or essential a game that you can brush aside its problems, however there’s no doubt that when the game isn’t getting in its own way it’s a lot of fun.
Don’t believe the hate this game is getting, but at the same time go in with your eyes open. You’ll have fun, but at times it will also be a little too much work.
By Ben / 2010-01-06 07:49:42The Saboteur was/is Pandemic Studios final game before closure, which might set alarm bells off. Fear not though, while the game could certainly have used more time and polish, but it's far from as bad as you might think,
For the uninitiated The Saboteur follows Sean, an Irish mechanic-come-race car driver, as he gets caught up in the Nazi occupation of Europe. At first he’s largely indifferent to the Nazi’s plans, but soon joins the resistance as his friend is tortured and killed in front of his eyes. Sworn on revenge, Sean sets about hunting down his torturer, prompting the inhabitants of Paris to rise up against the Nazi’s along the way.
Gameplay is similar to a variety of other ‘sandbox’ games, although not identical to any. There’s climbing and leaping akin to Assassin’s Creed, although this is much slower and stoic, the driving missions of GTA, although with 1940’s vehicles, and so has a unique weight, and there’s even some competent run and gun gameplay.
The hand to hand combat is the weakest part of The Saboteur, it’s largely inaccurate, but it is also infrequent, with stealth kills and weapons quickly becoming the norm. More of a problem is the game’s climbing controls, an aspect you will spend far more time battling with. Scampering up a building takes no skill, which makes it surprising that it’s so slow and clumsy. The platforming across rooftops is fraught with frustrations too, Sean will grab things you don’t want him to, miss vital ledges, and stick to walls when there’s no one around.
However, while there were a few occasions where the controls of both the hand to hand combat, and the platforming failed me enough to affect a mission, it’s worth noting that neither is enough to break the game, and the platforming in particular can be quite a lot of fun, something to look forward to even.
The same is true for the various bugs and glitches that litter the game. For the most part we’re talking peculiarities like uniforms clipping, cars ploughing in to each other, and enemies spinning on the spot. Some though are a bit more worrying, I had to commit suicide a couple of times because Sean fell through a platform and later somehow ended up trapped inside a box. Most troublesome though is that the game froze on me more than once. Fortunately no great progress was lost, in fact it seemed to only happen after I’d finished a mission, so when I reloaded the mission would be complete.
Graphically the game can be generously described as a mixed bag. Much has been made of the new AA technique for the PS3 version, and it certainly does help smooth out the character models. The problem is that everything not in the immediate vicinity suffers quite heavily from ‘jaggies‘, with objects in the far distance looking particularly bad. The cut scenes are packed with character, but are incredibly choppy, especially in comparison with the mostly smooth main game.
There’s plenty to like about The Saboteur though, a surprising amount in fact considering the early impression the game gives you. While ultimately missions all boil down to the same few gameplay mechanics, they still feel varied, and never overly familiar. Perhaps that’s due to multitude of ways you can approach the missions. Going on a killing spree is usually an option, but then you could always use a disguise. And if stealth is your preferred method, then do you edge your way through hoping no one notices your disguise, or climb and scamper your way through, trying to avoid any contact? The downside to this is that there are a handful of missions where there is a correct method, the game doesn’t do a good enough job of letting you know this.
The aesthetic of the game stands out too, the black & white splashed with red of the Nazi controlled areas of Paris looks great. The city too looks good, with accurate looking architecture, and bustling streets. The soundtrack is fantastic, if not historically accurate, it still adds something to the game.
There’s also a peculiar mood to the whole game. Sean is quite a likable character, despite being largely unsympathetic. Sean has no patience for anyone, and is incredibly cold blooded about killing people. Fair enough, it’s not inconceivable that Sean wouldn’t feel any guilt about killing Nazi soldiers, but just how ruthless Pandemic made their lead character is slightly surprising. There are some lighter moments, although these mainly come at the beginning of the game, similarly the game develops some depth in its final scene.
Of the more minor gripes, some missions can move slowly, and driving all the way across Paris is a pain. But the game has a good length to it, there’s lots of stuff to find and destroy, and by the end of the game you feel quite powerful.
Because of its problems it’s hard to recommend The Saboteur unreservedly, but I can tell you I really enjoyed my time with it. It’s far from perfect, and it’s conceivable that some people will loathe the game, but after 20 hours I still want to go back, and that’s more than can be said for most games.
For the uninitiated The Saboteur follows Sean, an Irish mechanic-come-race car driver, as he gets caught up in the Nazi occupation of Europe. At first he’s largely indifferent to the Nazi’s plans, but soon joins the resistance as his friend is tortured and killed in front of his eyes. Sworn on revenge, Sean sets about hunting down his torturer, prompting the inhabitants of Paris to rise up against the Nazi’s along the way.
Gameplay is similar to a variety of other ‘sandbox’ games, although not identical to any. There’s climbing and leaping akin to Assassin’s Creed, although this is much slower and stoic, the driving missions of GTA, although with 1940’s vehicles, and so has a unique weight, and there’s even some competent run and gun gameplay.
The hand to hand combat is the weakest part of The Saboteur, it’s largely inaccurate, but it is also infrequent, with stealth kills and weapons quickly becoming the norm. More of a problem is the game’s climbing controls, an aspect you will spend far more time battling with. Scampering up a building takes no skill, which makes it surprising that it’s so slow and clumsy. The platforming across rooftops is fraught with frustrations too, Sean will grab things you don’t want him to, miss vital ledges, and stick to walls when there’s no one around.
However, while there were a few occasions where the controls of both the hand to hand combat, and the platforming failed me enough to affect a mission, it’s worth noting that neither is enough to break the game, and the platforming in particular can be quite a lot of fun, something to look forward to even.
The same is true for the various bugs and glitches that litter the game. For the most part we’re talking peculiarities like uniforms clipping, cars ploughing in to each other, and enemies spinning on the spot. Some though are a bit more worrying, I had to commit suicide a couple of times because Sean fell through a platform and later somehow ended up trapped inside a box. Most troublesome though is that the game froze on me more than once. Fortunately no great progress was lost, in fact it seemed to only happen after I’d finished a mission, so when I reloaded the mission would be complete.
Graphically the game can be generously described as a mixed bag. Much has been made of the new AA technique for the PS3 version, and it certainly does help smooth out the character models. The problem is that everything not in the immediate vicinity suffers quite heavily from ‘jaggies‘, with objects in the far distance looking particularly bad. The cut scenes are packed with character, but are incredibly choppy, especially in comparison with the mostly smooth main game.
There’s plenty to like about The Saboteur though, a surprising amount in fact considering the early impression the game gives you. While ultimately missions all boil down to the same few gameplay mechanics, they still feel varied, and never overly familiar. Perhaps that’s due to multitude of ways you can approach the missions. Going on a killing spree is usually an option, but then you could always use a disguise. And if stealth is your preferred method, then do you edge your way through hoping no one notices your disguise, or climb and scamper your way through, trying to avoid any contact? The downside to this is that there are a handful of missions where there is a correct method, the game doesn’t do a good enough job of letting you know this.
The aesthetic of the game stands out too, the black & white splashed with red of the Nazi controlled areas of Paris looks great. The city too looks good, with accurate looking architecture, and bustling streets. The soundtrack is fantastic, if not historically accurate, it still adds something to the game.
There’s also a peculiar mood to the whole game. Sean is quite a likable character, despite being largely unsympathetic. Sean has no patience for anyone, and is incredibly cold blooded about killing people. Fair enough, it’s not inconceivable that Sean wouldn’t feel any guilt about killing Nazi soldiers, but just how ruthless Pandemic made their lead character is slightly surprising. There are some lighter moments, although these mainly come at the beginning of the game, similarly the game develops some depth in its final scene.
Of the more minor gripes, some missions can move slowly, and driving all the way across Paris is a pain. But the game has a good length to it, there’s lots of stuff to find and destroy, and by the end of the game you feel quite powerful.
Because of its problems it’s hard to recommend The Saboteur unreservedly, but I can tell you I really enjoyed my time with it. It’s far from perfect, and it’s conceivable that some people will loathe the game, but after 20 hours I still want to go back, and that’s more than can be said for most games.
By Ben / 2009-10-22 06:47:56What with this and the awesome Generation Kill, I reckon I could pretty much be a soldier now. So long as I didn't have to run, or shoot, or follow orders for that matter. In fact it's probably better for everyone if I just stay at home and play games
I’ll admit to feeling a little bad starting this review discussing the Flashpoint’s graphics, Flashpoint doesn‘t really need to look great. It‘s the same principle as a hardcore JRPG, gameplay and planning are kings. All that being said there are a few issues with the graphics, and Flashpoint is never going to rival Crysis of Killzone in terms sheer beauty. Textures lack detail, the frame rate could be smoother, and architecture is best described as ‘functional’,
Probably of more concern is the way detail loads in. It’s impossible to get an instant shot off when using a scope, instead you have to allow half a second for the view to load. Similarly when you load a checkpoint, or even come over a hill quickly, you notice the distance load in. And often when reloading a checkpoint you’ll be temporarily blind from glare, though this is perhaps a design choice. In most shooters this would be a killing blow, but due to the pace of Flashpoint, it’s rarely a problem.
Those shooter fans who are practiced at the rocket-jump, or who throw sticky bombs and hide to recharge their shields, might want to think twice about Flashpoint. To put things into perspective, if you take a bullet to the leg then you can no longer run, and if you leave the wound untreated you’re liable to bleed to death. There will be plenty of times when you’ll die and wont even have seen the bullet coming.
This all sounds very harsh, but the same weaknesses are true for everyone. Pop a couple of rounds into an enemy and they’ll go down, do it without them spotting you and they wont even have time to react. Your team-mates aren’t super soldiers either, they’ll die if you’re overwhelmed, and will certainly spend a chunk of each mission with an injury. The game’s not completely unforgiving though, hit a checkpoint and any lost team mates will be restored, and any injuries healed.
The realism affects the difficulty in other ways. Ammo for example is reasonably scarce, at least if you want to keep your default weapon. Your character can only hold a sprint for a limited time, fine for darting to cover, but what do you do when you need to make it across a stretch of open land. Indeed, stay out of cover too long and you will be spotted by any nearby soldiers. You’ll also be spending a lot of time crouched, and in extreme situations laying flat to the ground to dodge fire and line up a shot. Bullet physics also share the realism, hitting an enemy from distance means aiming above them, and hitting a fleeing enemy means aiming in front of them.
While the game is tough, and certainly doesn’t take it easy on you, it is rarely unfair, and in fact not as hard as you initially think. Flashpoint masters the difficulty curve of learning from your mistakes, and they will be your mistakes. You’ll learn pretty quickly how not to do things, changing tact for your second attempt at an enemy encampment. Considering the abruptness and frequency of your deaths the game is surprisingly compulsive because of this. It could merely be stubbornness, but I would generally keep retrying rather than quitting, and more often than not I would do a little better. The best exemplar of this is that when revisiting levels, I’d race through large chunks of it, halving my time, and making short work of sections that had previously stumped me.
Flashpoint does suffer from a few design problems however, most of which essentially boil down to a lack of information. If you mastered the first game, or at least a similar game, then you can largely disregard many of these, but anyone new or sporadic to the genre will have a few problems. Fairly simple things such as moving your squad around, either on the map screen or the in game dial, aren’t explained well enough. It’s also not made clear enough when you’re up against a clock, certainly before the 5 minute counter. On one mission I kept failing for seemingly no reason whenever I loaded from a checkpoint, it transpired that I had simply ran out of time, and the level was uncompletable from the position I was in. Some information or comment clearing this up would have helped massively.
I also had an issue where every time I reloaded a checkpoint I was immediately gunned down by a gunship. The gunship wasn’t there when I activated the checkpoint, but still appeared every time. I couldn’t get out of its sights without losing at least one squad member, at best, and frequently would be killed myself. Another glitch I encountered was that at one point a truck I was hiding behind disappeared, I’ve no idea why or where to, it just completely vanished.
However I can honestly say I’ve really enjoyed Flashpoint, sure it likes to punish you for making mistakes or rushing in, and yes there can be a long walk from your checkpoint to the rejoin action, but the combat is incredibly satisfying. Every kill you make feels like an achievement, and clearing a village or encampment makes you feel like a god. Outsmarting and outflanking the competent, yet not impossibly dead-eyed A.I. is a rare feeling in most games. Here if you claim victory through mere brute force it feels tarnished. And if you can arrange a game co-op with friends all the better, and all the more tactical.
Put simply if you like your shooters realistic then Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising is damn near essential. If not then be prepared for a rough ride, because the game isn’t as accessible as it could be, there isn’t even an easy mode. However stick with it and it will begin to make sense and reward your perseverance.
I’ll admit to feeling a little bad starting this review discussing the Flashpoint’s graphics, Flashpoint doesn‘t really need to look great. It‘s the same principle as a hardcore JRPG, gameplay and planning are kings. All that being said there are a few issues with the graphics, and Flashpoint is never going to rival Crysis of Killzone in terms sheer beauty. Textures lack detail, the frame rate could be smoother, and architecture is best described as ‘functional’,
Probably of more concern is the way detail loads in. It’s impossible to get an instant shot off when using a scope, instead you have to allow half a second for the view to load. Similarly when you load a checkpoint, or even come over a hill quickly, you notice the distance load in. And often when reloading a checkpoint you’ll be temporarily blind from glare, though this is perhaps a design choice. In most shooters this would be a killing blow, but due to the pace of Flashpoint, it’s rarely a problem.
Those shooter fans who are practiced at the rocket-jump, or who throw sticky bombs and hide to recharge their shields, might want to think twice about Flashpoint. To put things into perspective, if you take a bullet to the leg then you can no longer run, and if you leave the wound untreated you’re liable to bleed to death. There will be plenty of times when you’ll die and wont even have seen the bullet coming.
This all sounds very harsh, but the same weaknesses are true for everyone. Pop a couple of rounds into an enemy and they’ll go down, do it without them spotting you and they wont even have time to react. Your team-mates aren’t super soldiers either, they’ll die if you’re overwhelmed, and will certainly spend a chunk of each mission with an injury. The game’s not completely unforgiving though, hit a checkpoint and any lost team mates will be restored, and any injuries healed.
The realism affects the difficulty in other ways. Ammo for example is reasonably scarce, at least if you want to keep your default weapon. Your character can only hold a sprint for a limited time, fine for darting to cover, but what do you do when you need to make it across a stretch of open land. Indeed, stay out of cover too long and you will be spotted by any nearby soldiers. You’ll also be spending a lot of time crouched, and in extreme situations laying flat to the ground to dodge fire and line up a shot. Bullet physics also share the realism, hitting an enemy from distance means aiming above them, and hitting a fleeing enemy means aiming in front of them.
While the game is tough, and certainly doesn’t take it easy on you, it is rarely unfair, and in fact not as hard as you initially think. Flashpoint masters the difficulty curve of learning from your mistakes, and they will be your mistakes. You’ll learn pretty quickly how not to do things, changing tact for your second attempt at an enemy encampment. Considering the abruptness and frequency of your deaths the game is surprisingly compulsive because of this. It could merely be stubbornness, but I would generally keep retrying rather than quitting, and more often than not I would do a little better. The best exemplar of this is that when revisiting levels, I’d race through large chunks of it, halving my time, and making short work of sections that had previously stumped me.
Flashpoint does suffer from a few design problems however, most of which essentially boil down to a lack of information. If you mastered the first game, or at least a similar game, then you can largely disregard many of these, but anyone new or sporadic to the genre will have a few problems. Fairly simple things such as moving your squad around, either on the map screen or the in game dial, aren’t explained well enough. It’s also not made clear enough when you’re up against a clock, certainly before the 5 minute counter. On one mission I kept failing for seemingly no reason whenever I loaded from a checkpoint, it transpired that I had simply ran out of time, and the level was uncompletable from the position I was in. Some information or comment clearing this up would have helped massively.
I also had an issue where every time I reloaded a checkpoint I was immediately gunned down by a gunship. The gunship wasn’t there when I activated the checkpoint, but still appeared every time. I couldn’t get out of its sights without losing at least one squad member, at best, and frequently would be killed myself. Another glitch I encountered was that at one point a truck I was hiding behind disappeared, I’ve no idea why or where to, it just completely vanished.
However I can honestly say I’ve really enjoyed Flashpoint, sure it likes to punish you for making mistakes or rushing in, and yes there can be a long walk from your checkpoint to the rejoin action, but the combat is incredibly satisfying. Every kill you make feels like an achievement, and clearing a village or encampment makes you feel like a god. Outsmarting and outflanking the competent, yet not impossibly dead-eyed A.I. is a rare feeling in most games. Here if you claim victory through mere brute force it feels tarnished. And if you can arrange a game co-op with friends all the better, and all the more tactical.
Put simply if you like your shooters realistic then Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising is damn near essential. If not then be prepared for a rough ride, because the game isn’t as accessible as it could be, there isn’t even an easy mode. However stick with it and it will begin to make sense and reward your perseverance.
By Ben / 2009-10-14 19:58:50Trine carries a certain weight of expectation on its shoulders. Much lauded on its PC release, the lengthy delay of the Euro PSN release, and that it’s still not hit the US store, means it’s lost the element of surprise. There’s big expectations, but can it live up to them?
In Trine you play as a horny wizard, an acrobatic thief, and a tubby warrior. You only control one at a time, and each have their own health meters, but more importantly their own strengths. To oversimplify things, the knight is best for combat, the thief platforming, and the magician puzzles. It is more complicated than that of course, as you adapt to whatever the game sees fit to throw at you.
Unfortunately for Trine, it’s problems revolve around each of its 3 gameplay mechanics. The physics for the platforming can often be sporadic, you’ll make a jump but perhaps just the edge of the ledge, and it’ll knock you backwards so you fall to your death. It’s as though some of the platforms have a layer of slimy moss on them, so that rather than jumping or climbing you’re running up a travelator. There are also occasions where items you’ve destroyed catch your foot or shoulder, pulling you down so you miss your jump. Nowhere is this more prevalent than on the final level, which to be fair is an extreme example and not entirely representative of the rest of the game.
The platforming has its annoyances but it’s the other aspects of gameplay that cause more ire. The combat for example is boring and tedious. With the knight you have a sword and shield, you must block attacks with your shield, then counter. When faced with multiple enemies this becomes a slow process, as you’ll be unable to land any sort of combo on an enemy without taking damage from someone else.
You’ll likely abandon the ‘correct’ method for fighting and instead use the knights learned kick move. A cheap method undoubtedly, it’s also not a fun one, but it brought some much needed brevity to combat. Similarly if enemies appeared while I was still some distance from them, I would opt to use the thief’s arrows rather than stand toe to toe.
The downside to using the thief, and occasionally the knight, is that I would often be unwittingly stood on an enemy spawn point. While stood there it wouldn’t activate, but once I thought I was done with the skeletal hordes I’d move on, allowing for another seemingly endless wave of enemies to appear. This is really the problem, the combat isn’t interesting, fun, or competent enough for you to look forward to enemy encounters. The game, in the interest of performance doesn’t throw all its enemies at you all at once, instead piecemeal-ing them. Which ultimately means that just when you think you’re ready to move on yet another skeleton will appear and you’ll start muttering to yourself. A better idea would have been to have enemies in set places, like a traditional action platformer.
The wizard is probably the most frustrating character though. Bar the thief’s swing mechanic, his ability to create platforms, ramps and blocks is the most interesting part of the game. Finding some elaborate way to snatch an out of reach vial of experience, or building a contraption to get past some scenery is good fun, and certainly a highlight. Unfortunately the physics start to get in the way. Perhaps this is a problem exclusive to the PS3 version, and why it’s been delayed so long. The problem is that the objects he creates will sporadically spin uncontrollably, a pain when all you’re trying to do is plant a box, but infuriating when you’re riding his moving platform, and this isn’t due entirely to the 6-axis controls.
It’s also hard to know if you’re completing the puzzles in the right way. Were you meant to build a tower? Were you meant to hover up there? What about exploiting the thief’s rope? And surely you weren’t meant to just use an object to knock an item down?
It’s not all bad though, and it would be disingenuous of me to pretend otherwise. The graphics are pretty good, nice and chunky with lots of lighting effects. The characters are well animated and the game holds its frame rate well considering how much it’s doing. I had some issues with the later fire levels, but that was noticeable as much because it was such a novelty. Personally I found the contrast a little garish, but it certainly looks superb on the lighter, greener levels. The sound and score too are top drawer, the narrative perhaps doesn’t quite do enough to distinguish one level from another, but these are small gripes.
Believe it or not I really enjoyed Trine in it’s early stages, playing around with the physics, swinging with the thief, even the simple joy of besting a puzzle. But as the game progressed I felt more and more like I was fighting against the physics, frustration replaced compulsion, and I began to dread combat. I dare say what I found frustrating will barely register with many of you, so if you are still intrigued by the game give it a go. It has a decent length, and for as infuriating as it is, it can also be compulsive.
In Trine you play as a horny wizard, an acrobatic thief, and a tubby warrior. You only control one at a time, and each have their own health meters, but more importantly their own strengths. To oversimplify things, the knight is best for combat, the thief platforming, and the magician puzzles. It is more complicated than that of course, as you adapt to whatever the game sees fit to throw at you.
Unfortunately for Trine, it’s problems revolve around each of its 3 gameplay mechanics. The physics for the platforming can often be sporadic, you’ll make a jump but perhaps just the edge of the ledge, and it’ll knock you backwards so you fall to your death. It’s as though some of the platforms have a layer of slimy moss on them, so that rather than jumping or climbing you’re running up a travelator. There are also occasions where items you’ve destroyed catch your foot or shoulder, pulling you down so you miss your jump. Nowhere is this more prevalent than on the final level, which to be fair is an extreme example and not entirely representative of the rest of the game.
The platforming has its annoyances but it’s the other aspects of gameplay that cause more ire. The combat for example is boring and tedious. With the knight you have a sword and shield, you must block attacks with your shield, then counter. When faced with multiple enemies this becomes a slow process, as you’ll be unable to land any sort of combo on an enemy without taking damage from someone else.
You’ll likely abandon the ‘correct’ method for fighting and instead use the knights learned kick move. A cheap method undoubtedly, it’s also not a fun one, but it brought some much needed brevity to combat. Similarly if enemies appeared while I was still some distance from them, I would opt to use the thief’s arrows rather than stand toe to toe.
The downside to using the thief, and occasionally the knight, is that I would often be unwittingly stood on an enemy spawn point. While stood there it wouldn’t activate, but once I thought I was done with the skeletal hordes I’d move on, allowing for another seemingly endless wave of enemies to appear. This is really the problem, the combat isn’t interesting, fun, or competent enough for you to look forward to enemy encounters. The game, in the interest of performance doesn’t throw all its enemies at you all at once, instead piecemeal-ing them. Which ultimately means that just when you think you’re ready to move on yet another skeleton will appear and you’ll start muttering to yourself. A better idea would have been to have enemies in set places, like a traditional action platformer.
The wizard is probably the most frustrating character though. Bar the thief’s swing mechanic, his ability to create platforms, ramps and blocks is the most interesting part of the game. Finding some elaborate way to snatch an out of reach vial of experience, or building a contraption to get past some scenery is good fun, and certainly a highlight. Unfortunately the physics start to get in the way. Perhaps this is a problem exclusive to the PS3 version, and why it’s been delayed so long. The problem is that the objects he creates will sporadically spin uncontrollably, a pain when all you’re trying to do is plant a box, but infuriating when you’re riding his moving platform, and this isn’t due entirely to the 6-axis controls.
It’s also hard to know if you’re completing the puzzles in the right way. Were you meant to build a tower? Were you meant to hover up there? What about exploiting the thief’s rope? And surely you weren’t meant to just use an object to knock an item down?
It’s not all bad though, and it would be disingenuous of me to pretend otherwise. The graphics are pretty good, nice and chunky with lots of lighting effects. The characters are well animated and the game holds its frame rate well considering how much it’s doing. I had some issues with the later fire levels, but that was noticeable as much because it was such a novelty. Personally I found the contrast a little garish, but it certainly looks superb on the lighter, greener levels. The sound and score too are top drawer, the narrative perhaps doesn’t quite do enough to distinguish one level from another, but these are small gripes.
Believe it or not I really enjoyed Trine in it’s early stages, playing around with the physics, swinging with the thief, even the simple joy of besting a puzzle. But as the game progressed I felt more and more like I was fighting against the physics, frustration replaced compulsion, and I began to dread combat. I dare say what I found frustrating will barely register with many of you, so if you are still intrigued by the game give it a go. It has a decent length, and for as infuriating as it is, it can also be compulsive.
By Ben / 2009-10-12 06:14:58We might do a video review of this later in the week because it's been a while since we've done one. It's a good game though and deserves the extra attention
I’m not sure why we were sent a download code for Heavy Weapon, it is after all something of an old game. Originally released in 2005, it later came to the 360 in 07, and a few months back was published on PSN by SOE. Don’t get me wrong, I may not understand it, but I’m certainly not complaining. Heavy Weapon is superb, charming fun.
In Heavy Weapon Atomic Tank you control the titular tank, reminiscent of the Metal Slug, and must single-handedly reclaim the continent back from the Red Star. The gameplay is fairly simple, the screen constantly moves to the right, but you are free to move within that. Helicopters, planes, blimps, and satellites appear overhead and you must take them down. To help you with this there’s power-ups both within, and post levels which help transform your tank from stodgy moving target, to fear inspiring killing machine.
Enemies get increasingly tough, and increasingly dangerous. While at first they throw out easily disposed of missiles, later they’ll fire out lasers and nukes that must be destroyed lest you face certain death. As you progress the games gets a lot more hectic, it’s never true bullet hell, but you will end up fighting a few too many fires. Things really do get tough after you ‘complete’ your mission, you’re tasked with a second run through.
You’ll face bosses at the end of each mission, some of these are merely great big killing machines, others though have a set pattern that must be worked out. The wrecking ball boss for instance reminded me of a boss on Sonic the Hedgehog, and caused me far more trouble than it really should have. Indeed, the boss fights are generally easier than the level leading to them. What isn’t easy though is the survival mode. It starts off eminently manageable, but lasting beyond 12 minutes takes real concentration and no little luck.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that the graphics aren’t great, in fact they’re almost ironically bad. There’s a few nice tricks with the layers here and there, and the explosions and smoke trails are nothing to complain about, but everything else looks a little retro. Not the worst thing for those who remember the likes of Cannon Fodder, particularly with the comical nature of some of the background art, but the chunky, fuzzy visuals do betray the games Flash past.
The only other criticism I really have of Heavy Weapon is with it’s multiplayer. The multiplayer actually works quite well, up to 4 players try to survive against the Red Star hordes for as long as possible, powering up as you progress through the unending level. Available both offline and online, which is pleasingly lag-free, it’s problem is that once you’re all powered up, there isn’t much short of complacently that can stop you. Things maybe get a bit too busy, but the challenge of the single player game isn’t really there. It’s still fun though, much better than you might think.
To go with Heavy Weapons retro looks and gameplay is it’s 'one more go' compulsion. Even if you get decimated on the later set of levels and turn the game off in defeat, you'll find yourself itching to return twenty minutes later. If you like your games to be fun, simple, and with a actual difficulty curve to them, then I have no qualms recommending Heavy Weapon.
I’m not sure why we were sent a download code for Heavy Weapon, it is after all something of an old game. Originally released in 2005, it later came to the 360 in 07, and a few months back was published on PSN by SOE. Don’t get me wrong, I may not understand it, but I’m certainly not complaining. Heavy Weapon is superb, charming fun.
In Heavy Weapon Atomic Tank you control the titular tank, reminiscent of the Metal Slug, and must single-handedly reclaim the continent back from the Red Star. The gameplay is fairly simple, the screen constantly moves to the right, but you are free to move within that. Helicopters, planes, blimps, and satellites appear overhead and you must take them down. To help you with this there’s power-ups both within, and post levels which help transform your tank from stodgy moving target, to fear inspiring killing machine.
Enemies get increasingly tough, and increasingly dangerous. While at first they throw out easily disposed of missiles, later they’ll fire out lasers and nukes that must be destroyed lest you face certain death. As you progress the games gets a lot more hectic, it’s never true bullet hell, but you will end up fighting a few too many fires. Things really do get tough after you ‘complete’ your mission, you’re tasked with a second run through.
You’ll face bosses at the end of each mission, some of these are merely great big killing machines, others though have a set pattern that must be worked out. The wrecking ball boss for instance reminded me of a boss on Sonic the Hedgehog, and caused me far more trouble than it really should have. Indeed, the boss fights are generally easier than the level leading to them. What isn’t easy though is the survival mode. It starts off eminently manageable, but lasting beyond 12 minutes takes real concentration and no little luck.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that the graphics aren’t great, in fact they’re almost ironically bad. There’s a few nice tricks with the layers here and there, and the explosions and smoke trails are nothing to complain about, but everything else looks a little retro. Not the worst thing for those who remember the likes of Cannon Fodder, particularly with the comical nature of some of the background art, but the chunky, fuzzy visuals do betray the games Flash past.
The only other criticism I really have of Heavy Weapon is with it’s multiplayer. The multiplayer actually works quite well, up to 4 players try to survive against the Red Star hordes for as long as possible, powering up as you progress through the unending level. Available both offline and online, which is pleasingly lag-free, it’s problem is that once you’re all powered up, there isn’t much short of complacently that can stop you. Things maybe get a bit too busy, but the challenge of the single player game isn’t really there. It’s still fun though, much better than you might think.
To go with Heavy Weapons retro looks and gameplay is it’s 'one more go' compulsion. Even if you get decimated on the later set of levels and turn the game off in defeat, you'll find yourself itching to return twenty minutes later. If you like your games to be fun, simple, and with a actual difficulty curve to them, then I have no qualms recommending Heavy Weapon.
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