Your dose of dirt/news/rampant speculation on all things Video Game related.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Review - Black (xbox/ps2)


Criterion, best known for their fan-favorite Burnout series of white-knuckle racing, throw their hat into the crowded first-person shooter market with Black, a modern military themed jaunt through foriegn countries with action a-plenty. Some amazing technology powers what is ultimately an accessible, frantic, and yet ever-so slightly shallow experience.

Black throws you into the shoes of covert operative Jack Kellar, more Rambo than James Bond. Kellar lives on the fringe, carrying out unauthorized military operations in the name of the US Government. These operations typically consist of shooting a lot of really big guns at a lot of unnamed enemy forces. The game uses very slick live action (real actors) footage to tell it's story, it's your typical Jerry Bruckhiemer as directed by Tony Scott footage (though there are no actual Hollywood names attached) - lots of smoke, a grim-faced politician, and rapid cuts. It does a great job of getting you into the game. While completely superficial, the story is told rather well, and unfolds in a deliberate manner, throwing a few curveballs here and there. Ultimately it leaves things unresolved, it feels more like the first act in a much larger tale.

Gameplay wise, Black doesn't re-invent the formula. This is a first person shooter, you know more or less what to expect. Where Black excels is in the work and polish that went into the game. Movement isn't whip-fast or rapid paced, it's more akin to Call of Duty or the original Halo. Enemy AI is generally well done, once these guys spot you they'll do whatever it takes to take you out, and keep themselves alive. This keeps Black from becoming a run and gun shooter, you can dart out into the open with barrells blazing, but this approach will typically result in a quick death. Cover is important, which leads me to Black's biggest draw, the destructable environment. Pretty much everything in the game can be altered or destroyed given enough gunfire or a well placed grenade, which makes your choice of cover that much more strategic. Sure you could hunker down behind that low wooden wall, but there's not much point when a barrage of gunfire will take it apart in a matter of seconds. This element works both ways, enemies can be shot through walls, and with enough firepower, there is little that can prevent you from ultimately destroying your target. Factor in areas where enough gunfire kicks up so much dust and debris that you can't see clearly, and the whole destruction element really adds to the fundamental underpinning of Black. It becomes so much more than some interactive eye-candy. The game also starts hard, and stays hard. There are 9 or so missions, and each will take you a few tries to get through. An experienced shooter may get through these levels in 30 - 45 minutes on Normal difficulty, but on Hard, the fundamental game design changes, and yu'll find yourself moving at a snail's pace, staying behind cover, each skirmish becomes an epic firefight, and levels may take upwards of 90 minutes! There is a checkpoint system in place, though i felt it was spread out a little too much, and when your 45 minutes in, get slaughtered, and have to start from the beginning of the mission, Black can be a frustrating experience. Ultimately, the gameplay remains frantic and engaging throughout despite the occasional frustrations, framerate remains consistant, levels are huge and somewhat open, and the action is addictive. Gameplay wise, while Black doesn't really change the rules, it does a fantastic job with the pre-established formula, and gameplay wise, it's one of the best shooters available for current gen consoles.

Black is a graphical powerhouse. This game looks absolutely beautiful. Upon first glance it could be very easy to mistake this one for a next gen shooter. The weapons are rendered in intimate detail, right down to animating the swivels for carrying straps on weapons. Reload animations are detailed and well executed, and the levels are wonderfully rendered. You'll see a misty haze above the damp earth of a temperate Russian forest. Shafts of light penetrating the autumn leaves of a small war torn town. and everything is fully animated. The game also handles its trademark destruction with aplomb. Explosions rip into the scenery, sending shards of wood, metal, and glass skyward in a grandiose display of smoke and flame. The excellent physics applied to the debris, and people, sent reeling from the action are about as good as it gets these days. This game is a jaw dropping spectacle in the graphics department. How Criterion managed to pull this off on aging hardware and keep the framerate more or less consistant is a wonder, and no small feat. You will encounter some slowdown during the bigger booms, but nothing that cripples or hinders the gameplay - the combat remains smooth at 30fps through the duration. You also don't see a lot of repetetive texture work - the levels are vastly diverse, the scenery constantly changing, which keeps all of this graphical flair from getting old. You'll constantly be seeing things explode in new and interesting ways.

As good as the game is graphically, the sound design is every bit its equal. Explosions and gunfire are loud, drowning out the scenery and causing your speakers to shudder. Each weapon sounds distinct, and packs a punch unrivaled in any shooter to date. If you have a nice home audio setup you'll really appreciate what this game can do when it's cranked nice and loud. The ps2 version supports Pro Logic II, while the Xbox version gives you a full blown (and rather awe-inspiring) 5.1 Dolby digital track. This oen is definitely meant to be played loud. The game also uses it's orchestral soundtrack (produced by Medal of Honor and The Incredibles composer Michael Giacchino) rather well. The game usually starts you in silence, and the score comes in at specific points during the level, really kicking the action into overdrive and getting the pulse racing. You'll be hard pressed to find a game that sounds as good as Black. Voice acting is also pretty solid stuff - typically gruff and soldier-like - though the audio in the realtime cutscenes is a little too obviously pre-recorded.

Shooter-fans would do well to check out Black. No, the game doesn't change or revolutionize what came before. It's pretty pedestrian as far as these sorts of games go, there are no vehicles to be found, no intense battles with tanks or aircraft like you may see in some of it's military contemporaries, and there aren't any "boss" battles per se, but what the game has going for it is engaging and somewhat strategic gameplay combined with larger than life Hollywood gun battles, an interesting (if a little tacked-on) story, and some of the finest production values you're going to see in a current gen shooter. Black is refined and polished to a fine shine, much like Criterion's Burnout franchise, and like Burnout, it's accessible to some of the more casual gaming crowd. Shallow elements or not, it's about the best "non world War II" military shooter available for the old guard of consoles. There's an "M" rating tagged on the package, though oddly enough there is very little gore present. There is however some harsh language in there, including a few F-bombs, so i don't recommend handing ths one off to the tykes.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Review Roundup - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (pc/xbox360)

It's out now! The reviews took a bit of time getting here, but this is one HUGE game!

IGN says:
Anyone who played through the previous The Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind, will remember the almost total lack of direction, a feature which turned many off. While in that game that main quest didn't even begin until around 15 hours after starting, Oblivion kicks off with a major plot development and thrusts you immediately into the main adventure. Once given your initial task to restore order to Cyrodiil and shut down the demonic invasion from Oblivion, you'll never have trouble figuring out what to do next.

This is mostly due to the intuitive map and easy to use quest log. Whenever you accept a task to perform or are assigned a duty, an entry is made in your journal. By clicking on the quest you can see a brief description and set it to "active." Any active quest in your log is highlighted on your map screen with an arrow. Red arrows mean you need to pass through a door, green ones mean you're in the right place, and the arrow also pops up on the compass at the bottom of your screen for extra convenience. Unless you're a total masochist, it's a much welcome improvement, making quest objectives and locations much easier to find.

Currently, it's as good as gaming gets on the Xbox 360. If you're an RPG fan, it's an incredible experience. If you regularly beat RPG fans with hockey sticks, you should still try this one out. It's got combat issues, the hotkey system could have been implemented better and some may be ticked off by the environmental loading stutters. However, none of those criticisms hold back Oblivion from being a thoroughly enjoyable, user-friendly, gorgeous experience with enough content to keep you returning time and time again.
They scored it a 9.3 (out of 10)


Gamespot says:
This is a rare and remarkable achievement--a huge, open-ended, complex, detailed role-playing game that's fun to play and a pleasure to behold. Oblivion not only delivers everything that earned the Elder Scrolls series the devoted loyalty of a huge following of fans, but also significantly improves on the weaknesses of its 2002 predecessor, Morrowind. Morrowind earned recognition for being one of the best role-playing games in years, but the immersive and long-lasting experience it provided wasn't for everyone. Oblivion is hands-down better, so much so that even those who'd normally have no interest in a role-playing game should find it hard to resist getting swept up in this big, beautiful, meticulously crafted world.
They scored it a 9.6 (out of 10)


Eurogamer says:
The overwhelming thing about Oblivion isn't knowing where to start, but when to stop. It's an adventure game in the purest sense of the word in its effortless capacity to give the player a seemingly infinite wealth of possibilities - full of intrigue, excitement, risk, reward and this continual sense of the unknown.
Advertisement

Much of this was true of Morrowind, of course, but technically, things have moved on to a breathtaking extent. Stepping out of the game's introductory (and obligatory) dungeon, nothing can prepare you for the genuine sense of awe of entering Tamriel's outside world. The beautiful, sweeping vistas are, without question, the most beautiful game settings achieved to date. Whichever direction you cast your gaze, there are marvellous sights to behold at every turn; lush grass sways over rolling hills, deer bound through dappled woodland, once-proud temples lie crumbling in ruins, while towns of immense, stunning architectural majesty stands proud in the distance, beckoning you to explore their secrets.
They scored it a 10 (out of 10)


Team Xbox says:
While we’ve touched on all of the major aspects of Oblivion’s gameplay, we haven’t begun to even scratch the surface because there are so many other areas and action to talk about, such as different creatures you’ll run into (including vampires!), free-form quests, and the arena. Fans of the series are probably already 400 hours in and not looking back. Still on the fence on whether this title has what you want gameplay-wise? It probably does. It is an RPG set in a “middle earth”-type of land, but it is packed full of enough action and customization to win over almost any gamer. The sheer variety is stunning, and a true benchmark in RPGs. You may start out trying to accomplish a quest objective, but it is so easy to get distracted by all that there is to do; hours may go by before you wind up back on the track you started on in the first place. The flow of the game is natural, and truly feels like it evolves with your character.

Upon booting up The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the first time, the game feels overwhelming. Massive…daunting…basically, any synonym for freaking huge works. This left us (as it may for most) a bit unsure as to where to proceed, the right choices to make, or even what on earth is going on. However, once some time is spent furthering the main quest, picking up some side quests here and there, working on leveling up your character (plus going for a horseback ride or two), you will be hooked. This title evolves as players get deeper and deeper, and it just keeps getting better.
They scored it a 9.5 (out of 10)


The Busted Controller's take so far?:

This is one of the most mindblowing experiences i've ever had with a video game. Immersion is not the word, this game has the potential to captivate a player far more than any Massively Multiplayer RPG ever could. It's a marvel of game design, with beautiful artwork and assets all around. The framerate issues alluded to do exist, but not nearly to the degree that some have cited - in fact i've been so enthralled that i haven't noticed a one. The "load Times" are akin to the original Halo's one second pauses as areas load into memory. And entering cities and towns isn't unlike the "zoning" you see in many online role players (like Everquest II or Final Fantasy XI).

What continues to amaze is the amount of depth put into each and every aspect of the game, from the brilliantly executed main quest to the deep, multi-layerd sidequests (no fetching here!) to the wonderful degree of customization offered to your central character.

A general rule of thumb in past "open ended" RPG's was that freedom comes at the cost of storyline - Apparently Bethesda didn't get this memo. Not once thus far (in 15 hours or so of gameplay) has Oblivion hearded or coerced me to follow any sort of set path, and yet the tale thse guys have woven is on par with the best of the fantasy RPG epics!

Graphically the game also shines, and the third person perspective does indeed work extremely well (and the camera is scaleable, despite what one of the above posted reviews states) for everything but ranged combat.I actually prefer playing from this perspective, switching to 1st person when i draw a bow or toss a fireball.

Oblivion is a true classic in every sense of the word. Morrowind was a solid niche game, endlessly open ended yet hamstrung by many technological issues, Oblivion has all of morrowind's strengths, and none of its weaknesses. Bethesda has really proven itself with this one, the degree of care and attention this game has recieved places it in the upper echelon. The rarest of the rare. Bethesda can stand tall with the likes of Blizzard, Bungie, or Id software, they have created a game for the ages, and have provided the polish and care to ensure it remains that way.

A full review will be forthcoming. The score will be high.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Playstation 3 news!

Ken Kutaragi, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, the company's game division, made the announcement at the firm's annual PlayStation business briefing to software licencees.

Sony plans to produce 1 million PS3s a month. 6 million will be ready by March 2007.
Other info from the conference report:
  • Worldwide November 2006 launch
  • Two-tiered online service model
  • Requiring of HDD
  • Linux on the HDD
  • Basic model of online service is free
  • Final dev kits will be sent in June 2006
  • Full backwards compatibility with PS2 and PS1 in HD
  • All PS3 games are on BR discs
It's official, and exactly what many expected - The Playstation 3 will launch in Novemeber of 2006 in North America.

Worth noting is Sony's online structure, obviously patterned after microsoft's excellent Xbox Live service. Also rumored is an iTunes like music store were you can purchase music and movies, downloaded directly to the HDD in your PS3, and support for Sony's LocationFree wireless streaming setup (similar to the xbox360 Media Center Extender functionality) which allows you to stream video and music from your PC, as well as access your streaming media from anywhere via the internet. Imagine being on the road and streaming a movie from your PS3 at home to your PSP! Or streaming some music from your extensive MP3 collection whist on the move! It may become a reality with the PS3!

If all of this is indeed true, then the PS3 will be one HELL of a machine!

Now we can only hope Sony doesn't price the system out of the game. A 449.99 US/599.99 CAN price tag wouldn't be wholly unreasonable.

From EvilAvatar.com

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Review Roundup - Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (xbox360)

Well, the game is out, should be on shelves as you read this. Here's what some of the major players in the game review world are saying:

IGN says:
The list of impressive additions is long and detailed, just as the feature list is, but the core elements to this game emerge from the single-player campaign's integrated presentation and graphics, which tie the game together like few before it. Both are impressive and well-handled and more significantly, they affect and enhance the most important thing, gameplay. GRAW is fundamentally the same methodically paced, squad-based sniper game of yesteryear, but the formula has been enhanced, polished, and realized in ways it's never been capable of reaching in prior generations. Of course, the online portion is vast, impressive, and deep in replay value, and it may very well be the reason to finally get on and stay on Xbox Live for the first time in this console's short history.
They scored it a 9.2 (out of 10)


Gamespot says:
The first thing you'll notice about the game is how breathtakingly massive and believable the city looks. You take several helicopter rides throughout the campaign, and the city is literally sprawled out all the way to the horizon with buildings and streets. Fires and smoke curl up into the sky from patches of fighting or factories. As you land, you find yourself engulfed by the metropolis and plying your way through the maze of buildings, streets, and alleys. The graphic detail extends not only to the character models, which are some of the best we've seen in a modern shooter, but also to the unique lighting and shadows.
They scored it a 9.2 (out of 10)


Gamepro says:
You actually feel like you're in a gun-downed urban sprawl of Mexico City, complete with towering office buildings, hillside shanty towns, and unwelcoming resident neighborhoods. Other graphical eye pleasers that shine include slick visual effects like gun fire and exploding armored vehicles to your team's detailed fatigues. Truly, Advance Warfighter's visual presentation is a force not to be reckoned with.

The visuals may be on target, but Advance Warfighter's controls in the single-player campaign bites the bullet. It's been an unfortunate and ongoing theme in the Ghost Recon series, yet the wonky control scheme still hasn't been fixed. Your teammates still walk in front of you while you're busy firing off rounds, and for some reason, your comrades neglect to automatically find cover once fired upon. They'll even sporadically move directly into a hot zone on their own without your command.
(Busted Controller says: They must have been playing a pre-final build - Control was amazing in the retail, and i've yet to encounter any AI issues)
They scored it a 4.0 (out of 5)


Team Xbox says:
The game in its final form is a finely polished realization of what the Ghost Recon franchise is all about, as well as a good indication that developers have only began to touch the potential of what the Xbox 360 is capable of. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter serves up a hefty helping of tactical combat in a variety of interesting and complex environments that every living, breathing shooter fan definitely must experience.
They scored it a 9.3 (out of 10)


The Busted Controller's take so far?
This is our first TRUELY next generation game. Farcry, Doom 3, and Half Life 2 may have upped the graphics ante, but G.R.A.W really brings entirely new gameplay features to the table. From the near seamless gameplay (you seldom if ever see a real "loading screen" outside of first booting up the game, the controls seem complex at first, but are quick to learn, and really bring new abilities (gameplay altering abilities) to the table. Graphically the game is a powerhouse - a beautiful showpiece for that XBOX360 and that nice new 55" Sony Grand VVega you just bought. Difficulty is up there, this one is a challenge, especially on the Hard difficulty, and the degree of multiplayer features is insane! (16 player co-op anyone?) Fight Night Round 3 may have looked pretty, Call of Duty 2 may have had lovely smoke effects, but Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter truely BRINGS IT! Welcome to the next level people. I'll be back in the next week or so with a full on review. Oh, and The Gamepro guys are smoking some bad rock.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Good News Everyone!

This just in:

ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION has gone gold! It will be available at retail for both Xbox360 and PC on March 21st.

March is looking to be a very good month for Xbox360 owners. Check out the official announcement here.

For those unfarmiliar with the Elder Scrolls seris, It's two most recent iterations in particular, Oblivion is a huge sprawling open-ended Role-playing game set in the Elder Scrolls universe. The most recent title, The PC/Xbox entry, Morrowind, was heralded for unparalleled levels of freedom and a huge, beautiful, game world to roam in. Oblivion looks to up the ante on every level, but provides some signifigant enhances to combat and interface to make things a little more user friendly. This is what many consider the first truely MUST OWN title for the Xbox360. Take a look at these purdy pictures (stolen from ign.com)


Discs Gone Gold! - Xbox360!

Two highly anticipated titles for the Xbox360 have gone gold! (Meaning games are finished and on the way to duplication!) Look for the following on shelves in the next few weeks:

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter - The latest entry in Ubi soft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series finds the elite team embroiled in political crisis in Mexico City. Strategic action featuring the latest in real military hardware. The single player looks amazing, add in unprecedented online features like 16 player online co-op, and this one looks like a must buy for 360 owners!

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter


Burnout Revenge
- Esentially the same game released last year for current consoles, only with drastically improved graphics and some additional features. The game was immensely popular on the old machines, and well met by press and public alike. A solid entry for fans of Arcade racing and shameless vehicular mayhem.
Burnout: Revenge

Now we can only hope the rumors for a March 21st release for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion hold true!

Images from www.ign.com

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Review - Full Auto (xbox360)



It’s been a hard crawl for those of us who were lucky enough to land Xbox360’s before Christmas. The first new release to grace Microsoft’s ivory super-beast since Dead or Alive back in December is Sega’s arcade racer Full Auto. Is it worth the cash? Can it fill the void for greedy 360 owners looking for something new to play? Maybe.

Full Auto takes cues from Criterion’s excellent Burnout series; it’s a hard hitting arcade racer with an emphasis on destruction and carnage. What it does differently, however, is add big bore firepower to the mix. You take to the streets in larger than life muscle cars and hot rods laden with machine guns, rockets, cannons, grenades, and all sorts of fun implements of destruction. Pretty much everything you see on a particular course is destructable, including the other racers. The concept is pretty straight forward – race to the finish and blow up everything you see. There are plenty of gameplay modes, including the traditional multiplayer, career(where you’ll probably spend the majority of time) and arcade modes, and there’s a decent enough tutorial which teaches you the inns and outs of the game. So what’s not to like?

Races consist of a few laps of carnage and explosions, rinse, repeat ad infinitum. Have I mentioned how much this game resembles Burnout yet? There’s just no depth here, none. You unlock weapons, new paint jobs, vehicles and such, and you’ll get some achievement points to make your gamercard look nice, but after a few tracks everything just starts to blend together. The vehicles all feel about the same, the sense of speed never really hits the heights of something like Burnout Revenge, and the car handling is terrible – there’s no feeling of weight or grip to the vehicles, they all slide around like bars of soap on a wet bathtub. About the only significant differences between rides (that I noticed) is how much punishment a particular vehicle can take. The level of destructibility in the environments is pretty impressive, but really doesn’t serve any purpose in the grand scheme of things – the first race in the tutorial (a straight up “clean” run) really feels no different from the later runs, outside of the explosions. The game also gives you a rewind feature to go along with the traditional “boost” feature, so that you can flip time backwards and avoid that nasty crash or screw-up that may have cost you the race. It’s a neat little feature that actually works pretty well. The boost works much like other racers, build up the boost meter and you’ll get your typical nitrous-oxide style boost of speed. Courses are pretty standard fare city runs and what not – nothing you haven’t seen before.

Full Auto really shines in the graphical department. This is a damn nice looking game. Cars all shine and shimmer, reflect their surroundings, and generally look like highly stylized racers. The particle effects and lighting are also solid, as are the wonderfully rendered explosions. It’s not a showpiece for the Xbox360 by any means, but it’s probably a little glossier than anything you’d see on the old Xbox. It definitely wears it’s Burnout influences on it’s sleeve, both in the car designs, and in the text effects, motion blurring, and general sheen of the action during a race. Seeing as how Burnout Revenge was one of the nicest looking games on the last generation of consoles, this is hardly a complaint. The destruction also looks absolutely fantastic, towers break apart and crumble to the ground in shards, buildings explode in a shower of glass, steel, and flame, Cars erupt and deform, flipping end over end leaving trails of smoke, and bullets tear chunks out of everything they hit. At times the screen is utterly littered with flying debris, and yet the frame rate remains consistent throughout.

Sound wise, Full Auto really doesn’t do anything special. Sound effects are pretty stock affairs, explosions are passable, but really lack any sort of heavy presence. Car sounds are generic, but differ between vehicles. The soundtrack is also hopelessly generic rock and techno stuff – thankfully you can break out the custom soundtracks.

Overall, the complete lack of anything even remotely resembling depth keeps me from wholeheartedly recommending Full Auto. If you played the hell out of the Burnout series, or you’re looking for something you can enjoy in quick bursts, then Full Auto may be right up your alley. The multi-player is enjoyable, as long as you don’t go for marathon sessions. Parents – despite the “T” rating, this thing might be just the game for little Timmy or Johnny, and it’s halfway entertaining to watch.

Overall: 6 (out of 10)