The Podcats: Allegiances
Where do your loyalties lie? Discussed in this podcats are various concepts that will blow your mind, fanboy!
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Now Playing: Red Dead Redemption
It’s fair to say that GTA has become a little stale of late. And since the engine developed for RDR was later used in GTA IV, you can see how the improvements to the open world genre suggested by games such as Red Faction: Guerrilla have bypassed Rock Star. But it has at least learned some of GTA IV’s lessons in not forcing man-dates on you.
So after about 6 hours, I’m not quite ready to render a verdict, nor am I ready to hang up my spurs. But after going to a mission start only to find it is literally a cowboy misson, the influence of Nico and Roman can be felt everytime you realise you’ve been gazumped into a side mission that involces no mayhem of any description. Side missions in this game include races (grrr), herding cattle, breaking horses, following a dog around, hunting animals, skinning animals, looking for herbs and bounties. The missions themselves features large periods of riding to a location, often having to have a conversation with someone along the way.
Thankfully, fast travel turns up later and makes a big difference. Of course, being Rockstar, you can’t just select fast-travel from a menu, you have to wait for some nice motion capture work to play out. It’s atmospheric to be sure, but the point of fast travel is I’M IMPATIENT!
Shooting controls, important in a western are mostly well done, even if the auto targeting makes it a mite easy (at least in the first third or so of the game). You have your dead eye mode (bullet time) which makes this game automatically better than the just plain broken duels which totally ruined Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
It’s an attractive game with great presentation. I’ve also decided the story is unimportant so I’ve taken to skipping most cutscenes. I don’t know why because Rockstar usually does these well. But they just seem to drag out to the point that skip button looks so attractive. So very, very attractive.
RDR doesn’t regain Rock Star’s crown for the best open world games. The world has moved on from San Andreas, even if Rock Star sometimes forget the fun bits. If you’re an OCD type, then you have many collectibles and challenges to keep you entertained.
The Podcats: Replay!
Not to be confused with a popular Japanese game genre, why do we want to replay some games?
Review: PORTAL
Reviewed on Macintosh. Also on: PC, PS3, Xbox 360. Developed by Valve. Published by Valve (EA for consoles, EA co-developers of PS3)
original C1 review of Orange Box
So Portal. Although we briefly reviewed it long ago, it’s back, it’s on Mac for the first time, and it’s free on Mac or PC for a limited time (if you’re reading this and the date doesn’t rhyme with Bay two thousand and Len, it’s too late). How do you describe this phenomenon? Starting off as a HL2 mod before Valve released it as a full product and as part of The Orange Box in 2007, Portal is a first person puzzle game with more charisma than a cheerleader after a half a bottle of bourbon.
The protagonist is a girl called Chell, who remains voiceless, locked in an underground testing facility with only your wits, and eventually a strange gun that opens up holes in the wall. Think of those old Looney tunes cartoons where Daffy Duck moves a hole in the ground as if it was was a piece of cloth, or more recently, the short film with the magician and the rabbit that preceded Wall-E- that’s what the Portal gun does.
Your abilities in the game are rather limited. You can walk, crouch, jump and lift and that’s about it until you get the Portal Gun, which allows you to open up one end of a tunnel in the wall, the floor or the ceiling (though not every surface). Later on, you receive an enhancement that gives you control over the other end of the tunnel, but it’s a fairly simple move set. Of course, add momentum and the game opens up to a whole new level of fiendish puzzles, each more dastardly…
YOU BASTARDS, VALVE!
So the game itself is brilliant and two and a half years later is still fantastic. We have a sequel coming later this year which is a full priced game with multiplayer aspects to it. Huh? Doesn’t take like three hours to beat? I haven’t mentioned GlaDOS yet.
Chell may not speak but GlaDOS, the computer running the Aperture Science facility you find yourself in sure as shit has a story to tell (Aperture are a competitor to Half Life’s Black Mesa and are briefly glimpsed at the end of Half Life 2: Episode 2). GlaDOS is a rather typical computer offering you hints and tips in between challenges and occasionally during levels. But the hints and tips aren’t particularly reliable as you come to realise GlaDOS isn’t particularly trustworthy. GlaDOS turns a cool puzzle game into something special. The vocoded/autotuned voice augments a fantastic vocal performance. GlaDOS is almost the only voice heard in the game but you’d have to have a pretty cold heart not to crack a smile at the inanity of its statements.
The graphics were never flashy but there were clean and gave you a good sense of the environment inside of Aperture. The sound is simple and works fantastically. There’s very little music in Portal but it has its probably the most quote song lyric of any game. Still Alive is still considered one of the best pieces of game music ever written and I love it. So does Bob Dylan.
So how does it work on a Mac? Like a PC, only you change the mouse first. Yes, one button mouse jokes in 2010 are funny. They just aren’t particularly accurate. That said, any USB Logitech or MS mouse will be a better gaming mouse than a mighty or magic mouse. OK, I have a decent machine with a decent card, not something the entry level Apple computers have featured but hopefully Valve’s entry into this more or less untapped (apart from casual games and two year old ports) market will stimulate development in this area. A few teething problems (Valve have patched it twice in the few days I played this), but nothing worse than Windows. I am looking forward to finally playing Left 4 Dead 2 when it shows up in a few weeks, a game that should be a much better showcase.
Mac’s main ting hamstringing it isn’t the reduced spec of video cards, it’s the lack of Direct X- something most PC games are based around. Open GL fills in many of the holes but wit will take more development to see both systems on par. That said, if you already boot camp for the PC only stuff, Valve allows you to play the game on Mac or PC without charging any extra. Nice. And it only takes 3-4 hours to play. If you get bored there’s also the developer commentaries, plus you can import bonus maps and challenges- though I can’t say if these are the same as those on Portal- Still Alive expanded edition released on XBLA a while back.
Get in quick and grab it for less that it costs to buy a DVD-R.
Controller1.com rating 3/3 (or Free/Free)
The Podcats: Gains and Losses
We look at the gains and losses gamers have seen during this generation of gaming devices.
Review: Splinter Cell Conviction
Reviewed on Xbox 360. Also on PC. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal. Published by Ubisoft
Announced yonks ago with a long-haired hippy Sam Fisher and retooled to higher res-version of the Sam we’ve always known and loved, SCC updates the series with a new take action-stealth. Similar to how the stealth in MGS4 was not the only way to go, SCC is an intense game. It’s also shorter than the height requirements for tag-team midget wrestling.
So Sam’s been away for a while. His daughter’s dead, accidentally hit by a car. Sam’s brought back into the fold, when Third Eschelon, Sam’s old paymatsers, come a knocking. Aided by old friend Grimsdottir and that old guy from Uncharted, Sam embarks on a mission to find the truth.
Firstly, this is a complete re-tooling of the SC formula. Gone are so many of the gadgets, replaced by upgradable weapons and a more limited, tough more useful selection of gadgets acquired during the game. Sam can run and crouch, take cover and that’s about it without the help of a context sensitive button. “A” button (on 360) is used to jump, to climb, to use, to talk, to open doors and windows, to upgrade, pick up weapons, to peek underneath doors- all depending on what you’re facing. Sam can also attack enemies who are close by using B to attack, or use them as a human shield.
Ubisoft Quality Control
Incapaciting enemies without weapons earn you executions. So if you knock out one of the chatty cathy guards, you can mark a number of targets and press Y for Sam to execute them more or less instantly provided they’re in range. You can kill between two and four enemies, depending on the weapon, some upgrades up the number of marks a weapon can offer. You may think this is a bit of a cheat but there’s nothing compelling you to use it.
You earn points for everything which act in a similar method to achievements, except each one gives you a set number of points that you can spend on upgrading weapons. Be careful though since you won’t come close to upgrading everything during the short campaign, nor will you need them. I do believe some of this may carry over into the MP and coop missions but I concentrated on the single player portion of the game. Thankfully these happen around checkpoints, where there are weapons stashes that can just refill your ammo, change weapons and, quite usefully, restock during a battle. It probably lowers the difficulty significantly but it’s not a cakewalk.
As you start the game a rogue agent, you don’t have access to the gadgets of old, at least not initially, though many old favourites do pop up during the game including sticky camera and remove mine, but you’ll also be using EMP mines and flashbangs to distract guards while they espouse the benefits of kicking your ass. Hiding in the shadows is still your number one best tactic, which sends the game black and white to indicate you can’t be seen unless a patrolling guards walks right into you. It’s a pity since the game is quite pretty, and made worse when you do reclaim old faithful later in the game, since the picture effects dirty up the screen so much that you will spend very little time using night vision in the game.
So one change is, for the most part, you don’t instafail a mission by killing guards. There are one or two areas where absolute stealth is required, but these are in fact few and far between. However, if you do decide to start shooting up the place as your main strategy, expect to see the game over screen more often ex-Infinity Ward staffers update their Linked-In accounts. Sam is not made of metal and most of the time, he can take only a very small amount of damage before succumbing to his wounds. I found the balance of checkpoints is generally well-spaced out (though not always) and the difficulty reasonable, though I did restart sections fairly often. Three difficulty levels (I played on normal) mean there should be some extra challenge for those who want it, an no challenge for those that don’t. Trial and Error is still part of the game play, but whereas in the previous games, you were scratching your head at what to do next, here, you know what to do next, it’s just making that happen that’s what trips you up. I mean, you can’t fail to miss what to do next…
The first thing you notice about the visuals are the text projected onto walls. These might be phrases telling you what to do next or reflect Sam’s state of mind. You also often see flashbacks, which are quite impressive, but the more you move through the game, they become annoying or distracting. Which of those is up to you. It is however, striking and the thing most people take away from the game.
So we’ve touched on the fact it’s an attractive game with good visuals, great audio and decent voice work from the likes of Michael Ironside and other Canadian superstars. Apart from one important respect. The guards in the game talk. A lot. Have you even been stuck in a lift with a very talkative person with verbal diarrhea, someone who has to talk for absolutely every second of the day because they are so enamoured with the sound of ther own voice. Well that’s the guards here. If they haven’t seen you, there might be a little chit-chat between two guards, sometimes recounting events earlier in the game. But if they know you’re there. They taunt you a lot. And in a frankly embarrassing way that possibly sounds better said in French.
So is it good? Yes? Is it essential- I think so but there are caveats. Are you likley to play coop and multiplayer modes as well as the single player? Are you likely to replay a quality game? If so, the game is definitely worth picking up. Are you likely to play the single player only on easy? Don’t bother, it’s too short to justify at full price. Also- are likely to play on PC and your internet connection is regularly flaky? The PC version uses Ubisofts new always on DRM.
controller1.com rating 2/3 (or 3/3 if you’re likely to explore multiplayer elements as well as single player)
The Podcats: Unfinished Business
Unfinished games. Games released before they were ready. Not so much Medium-Rare as Steak Tartare.
Now Playing: Halo Reach MP Beta and stuff…
This week, I have played a little bit of the multiplayer beta for Bungie’s Halo Reach.
It’s Halo 3 with some enhancements. Apart from one small thing, for the life of me, I can’t really tell what they are yet.
Reach is a prequel to the Halo games starring MasterChief and as many know, it’s Bungie’s last game for MS and the last time they visit the world they unleashed on gamers nearly a decade ago. Halo redefined console multiplayer for many, made console FPS acceptable to all but a few cranky people with superiority/impotence issues and despite several iterations, hasn’t changed all that much. You still have a red team and a green team, with some customisations of armour available. You can change your armor’s color yet you always end up as red or blue in a team game but there’s not a huge visual difference in classes, which is a bit of a shame these days.
But here’s what’s new, armour abilities. You pick one of five nearly identical loadouts but you can access camo- which sends you semi-invisible in the same way as the camo powerup from the earlier games; a powerful ground attack which locks you do the group while you let off a powerful shockwave attack; a super sprint move; and jet pack. Jet pack is the most fun, and the one open to the most early abuse so be prepared for lots of shouting. Unless you’re like me and mute everything.
I find Halo a relaxing game to play since I never have been great at it. Since I never expect to do well, I enjoy it more. No headset means I don’t listen to all the whining brats and hence the game is fun. If I stick at it, I will generally do better but I expect final Halo Reach will be something I play online for a month or so until Medal of Honor comes out a month later.
I’m also playing Splinter Cell Conviction with its annoyingly vocal guards. They’re even tweeting GuardFromSCC
The game is brief. ODST brief. I’ve barely touched it and seem to be close to the end. It’s also very good. Since the end is near and the review won’t be far off, I’ll leave it at that.
Medal of Honor’s trailer, showing an emotionally mature storyline seems to have confused many weaned on Infinity Ward’s teen-baiting shenanigans of late, but MoH was always po-faced and reverential of soldiers when you consider it came out of Steven Spielberg’s continuing fascination with World War II even after making Saving Private Ryan. CoD 7 looks to be more of the same- no bad thing for fans, but the law of diminishing returns will hit Activision’s franchise the saw as it did for EA years ago.
Also, we’ve got a Podcats coming tomorrow. Don’t clap just yet…
Medal of Hhhhhhonor
In the wake of today’s more subdued and emotional MoH trailer, I don’t know if the more mature, subdued tone will resonate with people beyond older hardcore shooter fans as much as this might…
The Podcats: Music in Games
This week we’re talking about Music in videogames- Chip Tunes, Red Book, MIDI, Ad Lib, etc.
Keep listening past the first 30 seconds please.
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