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.
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.
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)
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…
Reviewed on PC. Also on: PS3, Xbox 360. Developed by Rocksteady. Published by Eidos (Square Enix)
So you’re Batman. You’ve just captured the Joker and are just dropping him off at Arkham Asylum, Gotham City’s biggest and best nuthouse. And then, shit gets real…
All hell breaks loose on Arkham Island and Batman has to track down his nemesis, as well as several other villains conveniently locked up in the asylum. It’s a mix of exploration, combat and action, telling a story in a way that sounds like an ordinary license but has so much flair and inventiveness that you will never automatically talk about Uncharted 2 as the best game of 2009. How is this possible? Let’s break it down.
Note: I played this on PC with a mouse and keyboard. And it needs a gamepad and since there’s no 360 gamepad driver for my computer, mouse and keyboard it is. I recommend playing this with a controller.
You play as Batman (duh), criss-crossing the island in search of clues, beating up roid head convicts, taking on the odd boss, exploring all sorts of nooks and crannies. You detect, you codebreak, you grapple and you beat the living shit out of things. You are, after all, THE Batman. Not just a batman. The definite article.
Unlike other superheroes, Batman doesn’t have superpowers. He’s just an ordinary roid-enhanced (as are all the men in this, it has to be said) dude with lots of gadgets such as his Batarang, a grappling hook, a decoder etc, to help him through his tasks. Gadgets unlock at salient points in the game, many of which allow Batman to get to areas you would have noticed during the early stages of your travels, areas that early on, you can merely look at longfully, ruing that you will have to come back at a later date if you’re remotely OCD. Batman also has Detective mode, which highlights areas of interest and x-rayed allies/enemies. It will help Bats to find ledges to grapple to, to find vents, track down traces of DNA, etc. And if you find yourself not playing in Detective mode 90% of the time, I would be royally surprised. Some gadgets can also be used as weapons, but these generally only have a temporary stunning effect on some foes, but useful nonetheless. Batman doesn’t use guns. He’s Batman.
Combat in the game is simple- usually just a button for attack with another for countering and a third to stun some foes who are otherwise impervious to your blows. Combat is generally not random and metered out in a fun way at intervals that help vary the game’s overall pacing nicely. Often the game will lock you in a room with a set number of foes to beat (like 90% of other games). Of course if you knock them down, you’ll still need to perform a takedown in many cases. Bosses are well thought out in general with a degree of variety (apart from Scarecrow encounters, which are really just 2D stealth missions) though your enjoyment of them may vary. Of course, the game, though it looks like a brawler, isn’t a beat-em-up. It just does the fights it does offer quite well. This could so easily have turned into fight wave after wave of enemies, monotony being your constant companion and repetition your amusingly Southern sidekick dealio.
If you end up in an area with armed foes, then the game requires you to take a stealthier approach, since if you run in expecting to take out armed guards with just your fists, you’re going to die faster than a whale on a plankton-free diet. These chambers usually have stone gargoyles along the ceiling and you’re meant to take a guard out quietly, then using your grappling hook to zip up to a Gargoyle. If you’re seen, rapidly moving between gargoyles seems to confuse your pursuers, because really, they’re that stupid. AA is easily the best stealth game since Metal Gear 3 or Splinter Cell:Chaos Theory (not to denigrate MGS4 or the latest Splinter Cell- but they aren’t really stealth games any more, are they?). Many of your gadgets also assist in combat with the batarang, explosive gel and grapple gun able to assist you in briefly disarming foes while you move in for the takedown. The game will also mix these up by placing restrictions and adds to the feeling that everything old is new but still way cool and fresher than a daisy that’s won Fresh Daisy of the Year. Remember how everyone says Grabbed By the Ghoulies is one of Rare’s worst games (I’d put Perfect Dark Zero in that slot)? Well Rocksteady obviously took something away from that game since they do the exact same thing here.
You upgrade your gadgets by finding them, but every little thing you do contributes experience points, which will unlock upgrades such as better suit armour, enhanced abilities for your gadgets etc. You also have The Riddler placing puzzles all over the island, most of which just involve finding an icon, but some others require scanning using detective mode. You can also find recordings of Therapy sessions with some of the choice inmates. Replay is a big focus with this game, with challenges unlocked as you play the game (these are accessed separately from the main game.
The game has a story to tell, something many titles based on comics don’t do very well, concentrating on action. Comics have wiz-bang action but they tell a story and here, story is well serviced by what’s happening. You feel the story unfolds around you, not just in loading mission briefing screens on games such as MW2. The story also doesn’t usurp the game as Hideo Kojima fails to understand time and time again. So we do get to see a fair few of Batman’s favourites, to name them all would A) spoil the game and B) reveal I haven’t gotten to the end. Oops, what a giveaway! Batman fans of most persuasions will get a kick out of this game (unless you can’t accept anyone other than Heath Ledger portraying the Joker).
Speaking of actors, Kevin Conroy’s more measured Batman is easier to listen to than the what-the-fuck-is-going-on with Christian Bales’ voice in the latest films. Occasionally there’s a little wood in some of his lines, such is the deadpan delivery but he’s as badass as he needs to be. Of note is Mark Hamill’s performance as The Joker. Whether in cutscenes or bombarding you with his wisdom over the Asylum’s public address system, he gets it note perfect. All’s I can say Luke- lay off the lucky strikes and Bourbon-flavoured Corn Flakes. Huskier than the Iditarod, he gives it his all. It’s probably his best villainous performances since Cock-knocker but since that wasn’t that great. Anyhoo…
The presentation in this game is uniformly excellent with this being possibly THE single most polished game of last year. Visuals are fantastic with an art style that let Rocksteady’s team bring this dense world alive. Sounds is top notch with a sound design that games will be referencing for years to come. It’s purdy and sounds nice, too. I’m assured the console versions look nice as well.
It’s hard not to recommend this game to practically anyone referring to gaming as a hobby. It’s got action, it’s got drama, it’s got Harley Quinn upskirts, it’s got a ***-**** (how the fuck to you build that under a high security installation with no-one noticing?). Also- it’s usually quite cheap by now so no excuses.
Controller1.com Rating 3/3
Review rig specs: quadcore PC with 8GB RAM and a 512MB ATI 4870 card. Monitor resolution at 1920X1200. Win 7 64 bit. Steam version tested.
Available on Gamecube and Playstation 2. Developed by Grasshopper Manufacture.
Here’s an example of a story-based game done right. Killer 7 is a fever dream of a game, comprised of an off-the-wall collection of experimental ideas. Goichi Suda, its writer, designer, and director, deserves the acclaim that this title has brought him. He has made a game that is truly unlike any other. It’s a fine game for action-adventure lovers, but you should try Killer 7 even if you just enjoy a good mindfuck. Killer 7 is not always an easy game to play, or even to understand, but don’t give up on it. It’ll haunt you.
It’s Friday night, and Harman Smith (God) and Kun Lan (the devil) are in the mood for a friendly competition. They take a good look at the world, and see that its nations are at peace, having stamped out terrorism, opened up all trade, and destroyed their nuclear stockpiles. Kun Lan decides that it’s time to introduce a new threat to humanity: the Heaven Smiles, an army of cackling suicide bombers who exist only to inspire fear. In response, Harman takes charge of a mysterious group of assassins called the Killer 7, who are singularly skilled at hunting the Smiles. So begins another turn in the cycle of human history, one that will be marked by many bizarre and terrible events.
THE KILLER 7
Garcian Smith, the front man. He’s the one who takes orders from Harman and missions from the U.S. Government. His silenced pistol is a poor weapon, but he’ll have to risk his neck occasionally to do corpse runs: Garcian is the only one who can recover fallen members of the team and bring them back to life.
Dan Smith, the all-rounder. He’s a cocky and angry fellow in a business suit who hefts a huge revolver. He can “charge” his gunshots to take out even the toughest enemies instantly.
Kaede Smith, a.k.a. Barefoot. Her pistol bears a scope for long-range sniping, and she can open hidden doors by showering them with her blood.
Kevin Smith, the oddball. Kevin is as pale as the moon, he never speaks, and he prefers throwing knives to guns. He can also turn invisible for short periods to sneak past enemies and tripwires.
Con Smith, the kid. Quickness is the name of Con’s game. His automatic pistols fire rapidly, he can sprint at high speed for a short time, and he can squeeze through tiny passages.
Coyote Smith, the thief. Sort of a mix between Dan’s power and Con’s mobility, Coyote can charge his shots, jump onto roofs, and pick padlocks.
Mask de Smith, the luchador. He’s big and slow, but when you need heavy firepower, Mask’s your man. His twin grenade launchers are devastating to groups of enemies, as well as to certain cracked walls.
The game’s look is as memorable as its cast. Few of its polygons are textured. The backgrounds are filled with simple color gradients, and every surface is edged with hard black shadows. It looks like an elaborately lit stage play, and that works to the game’s benefit: you can view any given screenshot of Killer 7 and recognize it immediately.
The game is divided into six chapters, and each chapter is represented by the target you’re out to eliminate. You’ll take control of the Killer 7 and pilot them through large, maze-like buildings and complexes. As you go, you’ll shoot down hordes of Heaven Smile, converse with the ghosts of your past kills, solve the occasional puzzle, and collect widgey-whazzits to open doors and gain access to your targets.
None of these conventions sounds particularly unique for a video game, but Killer 7 grabs them and twists them into new shapes. While most shooting games give you an arsenal of weapons to switch between at any time, Killer 7 lets you switch entire assassins at any time. You choose the Smith you want from the pause menu, and your character literally transmogrifies from one form to another. You’ll have to do this many times to advance in the game.
Another striking feature is that you don’t use the control stick for movement. Instead, you hold A to move your character along a pre-determined path. You press B to turn him or her around to move in the opposite direction down that path. When you reach a point where you can choose from multiple paths or interact with objects, a list of choices appears. You select your choice of direction with the control stick, and then continue holding A to move along the path. You don’t have the freedom to move wherever you like, but in a way, this is kind of a relief. You don’t have to adjust the camera, and you’re only ever presented with meaningful options. You’re not going to be obsessively checking every door, corner, and wall for secrets to hoard, because you can’t. It’s really a daring and brilliant design choice. The only game I can think of that incorporates a similar sort of “on-rails” movement is The 7th Guest, but that game didn’t have bloodthirsty terrorists out to kill you.
The Heaven Smile are a violent lot, but they’re also rather cheery. As you run about the area, you’ll hear these mad bombers snicker at you. When that happens, hold the R trigger to enter first-person aiming mode. While aiming, pull the L trigger to perform a “scan,” which neutralizes the Predator-like camouflage the Smiles use. Suddenly, you’ll see these hideous, gangly beasts creeping toward you. Lock on to them using B, aim manually with the left stick, and press A to fire.
The shooting action plays something like The House of the Dead. None of the Smiles have long-range attacks; their only method of fighting is to march up to you and detonate their bombs. You must finish them off before they can get close enough to do that. The trouble is that most of the Smiles don’t go down easily. You can tear off their arms, legs, and even their heads, and they’ll continue to come after you. Every Smile has a glowing weak point which can be shot for a one-hit kill, but it’s not easy to hit, and sometimes it’s in an awkward place, like a knee or an elbow.
You could just use Mask and his grenades to burn up the bad guys, but there are a couple of drawbacks to that strategy. First, some enemies are immune to grenades, and second, burning the enemies wins you no blood.
Blood is the currency of Killer 7, and you earn it by blasting off Smile limbs or by shooting out their weak points. You’ll collect two kinds of blood: thin blood, which is depicted as test tubes while aiming, and thick blood, which is depicted as a beaker in the pause menu.
Thin blood can be used to heal your character, or to power special attacks. Dan, Kevin, Mask, and Coyote can each “charge up” their weapons by pressing Y while aiming. Each level of charge requires one tube of thin blood. Some enemies can only be killed using these charged attacks, and sometimes you’ll be unable to advance in the game until those enemies are killed. This means that without blood, you’re fucked.
The key to success is to be a sharpshooter. Your gunplay must be accurate enough to consistently hit the Smiles’ blood-spilling weak points, while also being fast enough to kill the Smiles before they can reach you. Once you get the hang of it, picking off Smiles with one shot a piece is a thrilling and wonderful rush.
It’ll take practice to get to that point, but upgrades are available to help you along. You can purchase them at the “Harman’s Rooms” that are scattered about each area. Thick blood is converted into a special serum, which is then used to improve the stats of your team members. You can boost each assassin’s attack power, increase their firing rates, reduce the kicks of their guns, and inflate the hitboxes of enemy weak points. At the beginning of the game, it’s easy to keep every member at an even level of strength, but towards the end, the upgrades become pricey, and you’ll have to make some tough choices about whom to improve and in what areas. Odds are you’ll grow to specialize in the use of a particular Smith, and I recommend you pour most of your upgrades into that guy (or girl).
As a bizarre game, Killer 7 also has some bizarre problems. The worst one is that its difficulty is uneven. It’s all over the place. Early missions have some tough encounters against hordes of spawning Smiles, while later areas can be extremely tame. These tough fights aren’t too bad if you use the different skills of the Smiths effectively, but they still seem as though they belong in later stages. Meanwhile the final areas offer hardly any combat at all.
The puzzles are so simple as to be laughable, and if you still get stumped by them, there is a friendly character who will give you complete solutions in exchange for some thick blood. In case you encounter a confusing obstacle, you can check the map screen for icons that tell you exactly which Smith you need to use to get past that obstacle. It’s nice that you’ll rarely get stuck, but it makes me wonder why the puzzles are even there in the first place.
Then there’s the story. It’s a cool story, told in a tongue-in-cheek, horror-movie style that keeps you from taking it too seriously, but it’s also a little ambitious, and by “ambitious,” I mean confusing. It’s messy and wild, which can be fun if you’re in the mood for it, but after a while it can make you crazy. This is a story you want to seize by the shoulders and force down in a chair so it can start talking sense. It leaps from one plot thread to another in an instant, it dramatically introduces characters who may or may not be significant, it delves into the pasts of some of the Smiths while ignoring others, and it never bothers to piece its own dreamlike fragments together. You might be able to connect some of the dots if you’re especially attentive, but a host of unanswered questions will still remain. The natures of Harman, Dan, and Garcian are especially strange, but the game never clarifies them, so you have to draw your own conclusions. The finale is a series of half-revelations that seem like they could be powerful and resonant, if only they actually explained anything.
I get the feeling that Goichi Suda had a hell of a lot to say in this game, but he didn’t have the time or the resources to make it all fit. If you’re the sort of person who pores over episodes of Twin Peaks, Aeon Flux, or Lost in search of the tiniest connections in logic, then Killer 7 will keep your mind revved and spinning for weeks. If you’d rather ignore a game’s story, or prefer that the it tie up its own loose ends, then Killer 7 is not the one for you.
Killer 7 is a polarizing experience. Its nightmarish look, unorthodox controls, freaky characters, and shattered plot pissed off a ton of gamers back in 2005, and it didn’t sell well in any territory. Odds are that it will still piss off a lot of people today. Your enjoyment of this game will depend on your willingness to be hypnotized by its creepy world. Once you’re drawn into it, you’ll find Killer 7 to be a lovely gem.
If I still haven’t convinced you of how exceptional this game is, check out the following video, which illustrates the action better than I can describe it.
Reviewed on PS3. Also on PC, Xbox 360 Developed by Pandemic. Send to to die by EA.
Pandemic’s last release before being shuttered late last year, The Saboteur is a third-person, open world action game set in Paris during the Nazi occupation of WWII. You play as Sean Devlin, a hard drinkin’, hard-lovin’, hard drivin’, hard swearin’ fecker possibly from Ireland who wreaks havoc throughout gay Paris. Released with less fanfare than a deaf marching band, The Saboteur set new records for a major release being barely marketed and therefore ignored by the buying public. It’s also a cracker of a game.
As with many Pandemic games, it’s a melting pot of other games, most notably GTA. Take GTA and set it in World War II, an idea that is surprising only in that it took so long for someone to actually do it. You’ve played GTA, right? Well add in the ability to climb up most buildings a la inFamous or Assassin’s Creed; then add the dozens of items to blow up (channeling, though not copying, Red Faction Guerrilla’s biggest thrill) and add in some rather wonky driving mechanics; add a pinch of over the top stereotypical accents and more tits than you can poke something resembling a stick at or at least something that is stick-shaped in a NSFW type of way and you have The Saboteur.
Sean Devlin is an Irish mechanic-cum-racing driver in Paris during the Nazi occupation who fast becomes the go-to guy for most of the resistance factions. You’ll meet a faction leader and they may give you a mission that’s either a side mission or one that will advance the storyline. Variety here is pretty good and you don’t get the feeling that you did the same mission for another guy earlier in the game. Now some of the story missions have a really epic scope. Not to say they’re overly long, but you don’t that “scripted by a level designer out of available elements” feeling that many of the missions in GTA /GTA-style games engender. So you might be assassinating an informant in one mission with a sniper rifle; having to kill a German general locked up safely in an armoured car surrounded by a division on men; Or take sabotage a bridge, then kidnap a defecting scientist from the train before it reaches said bridge, all the while laying waste to Germans. Lots of laffs guaranteed. Play this game and join the Laffwaffer.
Some of these side missions can be done easily by hijacking a gun emplacement or unlocking certain weapons, others can be exercises in frustration as you attempt to escape from hordes of Nazis. And I mean hordes. Not so much at the start, but around the time you hit the game’s halfway point, there is a marked spike in Nazi aggression to the point where mission restarts become commonplace. There are at least checkpoints during missions which often (but not always) lessen the sting of death.
The next type of mission is a sort of target-of-opportunity called Freeplay. This basically means that many signs of Nazi occupation, whether it’s a stationery armoured vehicle, a German general, propaganda speakers, AA gun, guard tower, etc can be blown up with dynamite or a remote detonator. And there are hundreds of these across the maps you can atatck at any time, even during missions. They are invaluable for collecting contraband and the like; though so of these targets, such as gun emplacements, can be more useful to keep around since you can use them yourself to blow up other targets or pursuing soldiers (even the Zeppelin’s hovering over Paris’ skyline). They are also a massive distraction whenever you are out and about as blowing them up becomes somewhat addictive, and working out ways to get everything in a clustered area before you are overrun by pursuing Germans is a hell of a lot of fun. Best thing is, as long as the game registers the destruction of the target before you die, you can respawn from your last checkpoint or safehouse.
Being a Saboteur implies some sort of stealth and this game uses stealth in a variety of ways. Unlike Liberty City, this is a town occupied by soldiers. If you are just walking around with no guns on show, you’ll be fine. But if you start waving your piece around, or worse, pull out a gun near a Nazi, the soldiers will often react. If this happens you can try and lower their suspicion level by walking in the other direction but if they get too hyped up, they will call for backup and that’s where the fun starts. Climbing or running near troops can also raise the suspicion level, but somehow you seem able to get close enough to parked vehicle to set a charge even with two guards nearby. They will be roused by the explosion but you have to be right on top of them for them to spot you. If you destroy Freeplay targets clustered together (as often they are), you may find the Alert level rising faster than a Swiss Banker denying rightful owners of their gold fillings. This generally means guards with bigger weapons, airships and even the odd Messerschmidt fighter attacking you with a vigour not seen since the French rush to surrender in 1940. The Germans get plenty pissed and you can get away either by driving (or running) out of the area of investigation indicated on your minimap or find a hiding place (also marked on your map). Alternatively you can find an alarm button and as long as you aren’t being watched by a German, you can deactivate the alarm. Later on, you can lead the Germans into areas where your resistance friends are fighting Germans in the streets and join them. Once you’ve killed a number of Germans, the alarm is over and you can continue with the mayhem. If you despatch a German soldier using stealth tactics or unarmed combat, you can borrow his uniform if no one’s about. This will also cancel alerts so it’s quite a good habit to get into, even if it isn’t as polished as it should be. A number of missions reply on the disguise mechanic to get you into even more trouble. You hold a button down to walk like a Nazi, which reduces the distance around you where you will be spotted as a spy, but you can get further this way that rolling in guns blazing. You can’t get too close as Germans are smarter than the average Fascist.
The Saboteur also adds free climbing into the mix, handy for evading pursuers as you seem to take less damage from enemy fire whilst climbing. It’s not as fluid as the climbing in inFamous or ACII, but it works relatively well and adds verticality to a game world that is very open. The game handily highlights what you can grab onto next but unfortunately doesn’t handle an eave or a protruding ledge quite as nicely as ACII does. If every game did things as nicely as ACII, we wouldn’t need the 2010 Assassin’s Creed II-2 that seems to be coming out.
Everything you achieve earns you contraband, the game’s currency (I can’t see why francs or marks couldn’t have been used), whether it’s the reward for successfully completing a mission, freeplay target destruction or just finding a crate from an OSS drop. Contraband can be used to unlock maps showing freeplay targets, new weapons car upgrades, etc. Or you can gamble with it in the boob room (more on that later). There are a lot of freeplay targets in this game but the reason seems to be the contraband you get for things is rather measly. A few missions need you to have a certain amount in order to bribe a black market operator which will usually mean stocking up on dynamite and going fishing. A pleasant drive through the Parisian burbs later and I’ve destroyed two sniper towers, a fuel dump, an AA gun, three propaganda speakers and two searchlights. And collected several hundred in contraband.
There are also races. I hate races. Most of them are optional apart from the few that aren’t. I hate races.
One element I’ve not found a use for, nor be able to get to work is you can apparently call back up from resistance members. Every time I try to use it, I get a big fat zip in response. Oh well.
The presentation is interesting. At the start of the game, most of Paris is black and white with the colour returning to an area after you’ve beaten a major mission. Apparently the locals are inspired by your actions to resist the Nazi’s. These areas are now in full colour and feature points mentioned earlier in the review where you can cancel an alarm by picking off a set number of Germans. So sounds great when you first see the game, and then progressively less so when you can’t see a fucking thing on the screen (especially in some night time scenes). You’re totally fucked if your screen gets lots of reflections (such as the glass screen on a Plasma or a somputer with a glossy monitor) The graphics (on PS3) are crisp and the frame rate usually behaves itself though after a recent firmware update, I did have a problem where the game constantly hard locked the PS3 (about 4 times in an hour) but it’s behaved itself since then. The audio is mostly excellent save for for the outrageously fake accents sported by most of the cast.
The main character is voiced by actor is Robin Atkin-Downes, who Babylon 5 fans may remember as the much vilified Bryon in that show’s last season but fear not her could star in a Father Ted remake. Lots of shits, feckers and pronouncing ‘I’ as ‘Oi.’ Also, UNCHARTED GUY is in here as a bald Frenchman with a hook! Nolan North represent! The worst voice is a character called Mingo, who seems like winning a race for bass with Paul Robeson. The initial safehouse is in a burlesque theatre, so there are lots of scantily clad, if not topless, ladies with really bad accents but surprisingly modern lingerie and could best be described as ‘pert gallic.’ Lastly, the history in this game is only slightly more reliable that that featured in Inglourious Basterds.
This being an EA game, it features, like Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 and Bad Company 2, a coupon inside the box with a redeemable one-use code meant for the person who buys the game new. Mass Effect 2 gave you some items and an extra character with some missions. Battlefield gave you a weapon. The Saboteur takes a different tack. There is a secret passage in the Burlesque theatre called The Midnight Room that is only accessible with the code which you can enter for free if you buy new or EA would like to charge you $15 to buy online if you buy pre-owned. Now, since the new price of the game has actually fallen to only marginally more than the DLC, let me tell you what you get. A speakeasy with even more topless girls, one (admittedly fun)betting game combining alcohol, knives and Wheel of Fortune; and a bunch of topless girls who will dance for you in close-up. YMMV.
So the design is ambitious and Pandemic manages to tie it together well for the most part. Like any open world game there will be a few annoyances in there but I’ve been mostly impressed by how Pandemic dealt with those. Fast Travel between hideouts might have been nice but overall it’s a credible effort. There are a few edges that could use a bit of sandpaper, but nothing you could cut yourself on. I’m actually surprised how polished it is considering Pandemic’s fate. It’s not an essential purchase, by any means. But if you do spring for it, it is a good time and it’s also now a cheap date as well.
You don’t hate WWII games, like Pandemic’s output, like open world games with a ton of things to do and blow up? Then get this.
Controller1.com Rating 2/3
Get it if you liked Just Cause 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Medal of Honor Underground, GTA, Saint’s Row, Red Faction Guerilla.
Don’t get it if you like: Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Imagine: Nazis
Reviewed on Xbox 360. Also on: PC, PS3 Developed by 2K Marin, Digital Extremes (multiplayer), Irrational Games, 2K China, Arkane Studios. Published by 2k Games
The sequel no-one wanted to a decent-selling but critically-loved game, Bioshock 2 shouldn’t work as well as it does. The original’s story wasn’t shouting out for continued adventures; the original studio wasn’t involved (apart from the crew who developed the PC version of the original); multiple dev studios all served to engender the sequel with a “it should fail” aura. But here we are, the game is out, has sold well enough and the game itself doesn’t actually suck. It’s quite good without feeling like a mere expansion.
In BS2, you are a Big Daddy named Delta, stuck in Rapture several years after the death of Andrew Ryan. Dr Sofia Lamb, one of Ryan’s former advisors/rivals, has her own plans for Rapture, plans which you aren’t a part of. Melding her interest for controlling others for their own good and social experimentation, Lamb’s own daughter is the Little Sister to your Big Daddy. The story is a simple, yet unusual for a game, tale of family, megalomania and the recovery of humanity, though without the dramatic plot twists of the original game, nor the iconic philosophy of Andrew Ryan (though his sayings do occasionally crop up in some of the audio diaries).
The game itself is very heavily based on the design of the original with a few crucial changes. You can’t customise weapons in BS2 though upgrades are still available. If you choose to rescue a Little Sister, you need to hunt down corpses from which your ward will extract precious ADAM you miss out on due to altruism. Of course, this is more or less an escort mission since you have to keep the hordes of enemies away from your charge. You still have a large variety of plasmids and gene tonics to alter your character’s abilities but its’ still a case of “red M&M’s, blue M&M’s, they all end up the same colour in the end.”
So if you rescue the little sisters, you then have to guard them while they extract ADAM since you get less of the stuff this way than if you just harvested them. In BS2, once you’re accounted for all of the Little Sisters in a level, you then have to face off against a Big Sister, who are faster and more agile than Big Daddies, but still pack a mean punch.
One criticism of the first game was that many found the way the Vita Chamber/ Checkpoints worked made the game feel a bit easy, something that was made optional in a post-release patch. Here they work much the same way, retaining the option to turn them off. But, if you happen to die whilst protecting a Little Sister during an extraction, you will return to the last Vita Chamber and have to restart the extraction process. However, all the ammo you may have expended in unsuccessfully defending her is gone and you may find yourself having to fend off splicers with no ammo and no money to buy more.
So it feels like a sequel to Bioshock and feels new enough to be worthwhile. The texture work seems a bit hit and miss compared to the original and the sounds aren’t always as crisp as other games. But they do set the mood very well. The actual art and sound work is still top notch. There’s even effective lip sync here. The script is excellent even without the massive twist the first game managed so well. The shocking parts here aren’t quite as shocking but it’s an interesting story and Sofia Lamb’s philosophy provide and interesting counterpoint to that of Andrew Ryan.
There is apparently some multiplayer, which I have not tested. By all accounts it’s competent but not worth buying the game for.
A good game, worth playing if you’re after a good single player FPS. It’s as different from Call of Duty, Killzone, Halo and Battlefield as you’re likely to get yet is a better shooter than Mass Effect 2 or Fallout 3 or Borderlands.
Controller1.com rating 2/3
(3/3 if you think you’re entitled to the sweat on your brow)
Reviewed on PS3 Developed by Sony Santa Monica/ Published by Sony Computer Entertainment
Oh (Greek) God. Kratos is back in town, and he’s pissed. I mean, really pissed. He’s so pissed this time, that tearing off heads and slitting open bellies isn’t enough for him; now he’s out to annihilate the very fabric of nature.
In God of War III: Kratos Kills Everybody, the outlandish violence that’s the signature of the series has been inflated to a ridiculous level, and the Playstation 3’s hardware makes it look prettier than ever before. Unfortunately, little has been done to adjust or improve the structure of the game. If anything, with the game’s new emphasis on showing off artwork and fancy cinematics, it’s gotten worse.
The game begins with Kratos riding the shoulders of Gaia, a woodsy, rocky giant who’s clambering up Mount Olympus in a balls-out assault on the gods. Zeus and his posse, which includes Poseidon, Hades, Helios, and the very annoying Hermes, are none too happy about this aggression, and each god will set out to taunt and irritate Kratos in his own way. Before Kratos will take his precious revenge on Zeus (which he reminds us of regularly), he’ll plod through several gorgeous mythological backdrops, ride on the backs of titans, collect weapons and magic spells, rescue Scarlett Johansson, and endure endless flashbacks that clobber us over the head with their message of hope.
Throughout this trek, Kratos will repeatedly face the typical God of War challenge: barriers will enclose you in a small arena, and a crowd of ineffectual, undead Greek soldiers will pour out of the ground, spoiling for a fight. What you do in these situations is hit Square over and over, occasionally throwing a Triangle in for variety. Kratos will do a little dance, swinging his chain-blades around in fancy patterns, until all the enemies are dead. If you see an bad guy winding up to get a hit of his own, just hold L1 to block, and then commence the Squaring.
After going through this ceremony dozens of times over the past few years, I began to wonder if God of War would play just as well if Kratos just swung his blades constantly, and you’d have to press a button to stop him. It would probably work.
When you’re done Squaring your enemies to death, the barriers will vanish, and you get to run ahead for a minute or so. Eventually you’ll encounter…a puzzle.
Most of the puzzles in God of War III use familiar video game logic: activate a switch to open the way forward. Kratos can push buttons and pull cranks, set things on fire, or search for hidden passageways using a glowing severed head. You’ll also find weird, blue stones jutting from the ground here and there. They usually obstruct you from reaching a secret or a goal. You’ll need the Cestus, a pair of laughably large metal gloves, to punch through the stone. Since they’re also powerful enough to fell even the biggest creatures in a few hits, I recommend that you just keep the Cestus equipped at all times. They really are all-purpose tools, silly and uncomfortable though they look.
A couple of the puzzle sections are clever, like a garden that uses Escher-like illusions to connect pathways, or a labyrinth constructed from an array of rotating cubes. The rest, though, are recycled from the Book of Zelda, and they go on for so long that you’ll start to wonder when you can just back to killing monsters already.
If you’re especially patient, you can always travel off the path that the game’s camera leads you down, and try to find some secrets. Kratos can discover treasure chests that contain the usual collections of Gorgon Eyes, Phoenix Feathers, and red orbs, which increase his health and magic meters, and the strengths and capabilities of his weapons. The game is very generous with these orbs, and you won’t have to stray from the main road too often to get most of your weapons maxed out. I guess the designers wanted to be sure that everyone will get to see all the fancy combo animations they came up with.
One of the few additions to God of War is the Minotaur Horn, which increases the length of Kratos’s new Item meter. Kratos is now limited on how often he can use special items, such as Apollo’s Bow, Hermes’s Shoes, and Helios’s Head. I’m not sure why there are limitations on these things, as they don’t provide any great advantages to Kratos in combat, but the meter is there anyway, and now we have Minotaur Horns to go searching for. Locating a hidden chest and finding a Minotaur Horn, when you were hoping for a far more desirable Gorgon Eye, is a tremendous disappointment.
As in previous God of War games, you’ll run into some stupid segments that break things up rather unpleasantly. Like the parts when Kratos has to climb hand-over-hand across ropes, kicking at approaching enemies like a spastic idiot. Then there are the scenes where he has to ride steam plumes up enormous shafts, dodging obstacles and unexplained balls of fire like this is Star Fox or Battletoads or something. I dreaded these scenes, and couldn’t wait for them to be over.
So what, if anything, is the true draw of God of War III? It would seem to be, as with Heavy Rain, the dazzling Quick-Time Events, which involve astounding action and camerawork that still isn’t possible in regular gameplay. After you’ve beaten an enemy or boss into a sufficient level of weakness, a huge, flaming Circle will appear above it. Get Kratos close and press Circle, and watch the magic begin!
Kratos is as gymnastically skilled and cruel as ever in this game, and in these Quick-Time Events, he’ll swing, jump, fly, stab, and just beat the hell out of whatever he’s up against, provided you press the buttons that appear on the screen at the right times. It’s Dragon’s Lair rendered on a Cell processor. I must admit, though, that these scenes really are impressive, and even therapeutic, especially when you get to see Kratos punish an irritating boss.
The violence in God of War III has already garnered a ton of internet attention and gorehound love, but those who are squeamish probably won’t have to turn their heads. Sure, the grisly deaths Kratos imparts on his opponents are pretty gross, but they’re also so bizarre, and so far over the top, that they’re hilarious. The flashy spectacle of the QTEs had me saying “whoa” quite often, but they also had me cracking up. The designers at Sony Santa Monica have obviously watched a lot of horror movies in order to devise kills this creative.
What I realized while “playing” God of War III is that it’s not a game to be played so much as a game to be looked at. The QTEs are impressive enough, but there are plenty of other aspects the designers labored over to make the game an eye-popper. The characters are superbly detailed, especially Hephaestus and Kronos, with their wrinkled, stained skin and burnt out eyes. The designers planted some books on pedestals at scenic overlooks throughout the game, and they function like the mounted binoculars in Brutal Legend: they do nothing but allow you a lengthy eyeful of the landmarks the artists constructed. Aside from the Cestus, Kratos’s multitude of weapons and attacks differ in appearance only. You’re not going to be changing them because one weapon is more effective against a specific enemy than another, and it’s pretty safe to ignore the many combos the game offers in favor of hitting the Square button over and over. One attack works just as well as another.
Pretty pictures don’t make a game worth buying. This is a rental, through and through. It will take around eight or nine hours to complete, so maybe two rentals will be necessary, but that will still be cheaper than buying the game. I hope that games like Heavy Rain and God of War III – and hell, let’s throw Metal Gear Solid 4 in there too – are not representative of a trend, one in which video games throw out all the thoughtful and challenging play and then replace it with cutting-edge imagery and interactive movies. That stuff is entertaining in its own way, but it should be kept in the venue where it belongs: the theater.
To close, I’ll say that even God of War III’s cover is stupid. It’s just Kratos’s eye, glowering with rage. It’s a terrible cover that tells us nothing about what you actually do in the game. It looks like the teaser poster for a movie, which is probably fitting, because that’s more or less what’s in the case.
Reviewed on PC. Also on: Xbox 360, PS3. Developed by DICE. Published by EA
Sweden’s DICE are back to the Battlefields with their latest release. It’s an interesting release for various reasons and it’s also one of the better games in the series. The first game in the series came out for PC in 2002 with two decent expansion packs before the law of diminishing returns started to kick in and we had the unloved Battlefield Vietnam and that’s where things went all over the place. There was the somewhat-loved Battlefield 2 with a DLC fragmented player base, its late to the party console versions BF: Modern Combat and the best forgotten Battlefield: 2142 and Battlefield Heroes. The first Battlefield Bad Company was DICE’s first designed for console-only title and was loved by most of those who played it, though the lack of a PC version was bemoaned by many (which is fair considering it was a defining game franchise in the PC shooter space). Bad Company was sold as a single player-focused game with a multiplayer component, but it felt like a single player shoehorned into the wide-open multiplayer maps. BC’s multiplayer was excellent (I played it on PS3/PSN) with its infantry combat now being useful and not 100% dominated by whoever camped long enough for a Tank or can fly a chopper for more than 20 seconds without crashing. It also brought with it the excellent Gold Rush mode, where one team attacks and the other defends its bases. Once two crates in each base had been destroyed, the action moved to the next base until the defender’s bases were all destroyed or the tickets of the attackers had exhausted. That said, it was unfortunately ignored by a lot of long-time BF fans w. many of whom aren’t interested in FPS games on a console. The still console-only but soon to be PC Battlefield 1943, which remade 3 maps from the original game using the Bad Company Frostbite engine, made a of those people sit up and take notice (BF1943 is apparently the first game on XBLA to sell over 1 million units. This also sold well on PSN, so that’s a lot of people taking notice).
BC2 came out early in 2010 and brought with it a PC version. Before release, the PC diehards were still waiting for a true sequel to Battlefield, but having played the PC version to death since release, they need not wait as this is what they need. I do, however, find the need to write a review to attempt to extricate myself from its charms and its vices.
BC2 has several modes. Single player feels like a fun version of a scripted classic Medal of Honor or CoD single player experience, though here, instead of tough and gruff professional soldiers, we have a bunch of whiny slackers. The single player campaign on its own is not worth buying the game for but could be a pleasant enough diversion if you find yourself unable to connect to EA’s servers (which occasionally happens). The real meat and potatoes (or tofu and potatoes for vegetarian readers) is in going online in Rush mode. Yes, there’s BF’s traditional conquest mode, plus Squad Deathmatch, Squad Rush, etc but I’ve only played Rush. It’s a pity that there aren’t more playing Rush on PC (surprise, surprise- more PC players are playing Conquest). Rush offers and intense experience that Modern Warfare 2 removed by going down that arcadey, badly networked path; an experience that targets the action very well, funnels you to the action quickly without having to walk across the entire map due to a poor spawn choice. Squads, first introduced in BF2, allow you to spawn alongside people already in the thick of it which can save valuable battle time. It also means, you can spawn in the middle of a mortar strike or your opponents spawning squad members in the middle of a pistol duel can shift the balance very quickly.
There are four classes you can play as in BC2. The grunt with the assault rifle and grenade launcher is not as overpowered as in MW2, though the grenade launcher is at least usable in BC2 (it was so incredibly weak in BC). The Engineer has a sub machine gun, can repair vehicles and carry mines or a rocket launcher to take out tanks and APCs. The Medic runs around with an light machine gun and drop medkits and later on can revive fallen team-mates so they can go back into battle and get shot again by the same enemy within 3 seconds or resurrection. The last class is the recon, AKA sniper AKA sniping fuckers. Snipers will generally sit back in their ghillie suits and snipe from a very long way away and pepper the field of battle with mortar strikes. Even with BC2 making sniping trickier by having bullets falling away, a good sniper will be able to make a defending team’s life miserable. However, due to the perception that sniping is easy, you sometimes end up in a game where all of the attackers are sniping, meaning no one gets around to setting charges. Oh well.
The more you play the more gadgets and weapons you can unlock. Unlike MW2, if you unlock a new sniper scope, you can equip it the next time you respawn rather than between matches (on PC, anyway). The progress and unlocks does encourage farming. I recall one sparsely populated server where there 5 members of the one clan used a public server to unlock a boating medal. That’s fine, we just used them to farm our sniping stats.
Of course, there are vehicles in BC2. You have a few tanks, armoured personnel carriers, mobile anti aircraft, jeeps, quad bikes, boats, jetskis and helicopters. And unlike previous games, you have far better tools, as ground forces, to deal with them. Some of which are improved by improving your stats to unlock specialties, better vehicle armour, improved reload times, etc. Missing, are the artillery batteries but we have the UAV which is a remote controlled chopper that can be used to send in a missile strike. Fortunately, Tamiya doesn’t build them very strong so a few hits from an M16 should see them right. Engineers can use a variety of rocket launchers to take out vehicles, Snipers can use mortar strikes or place charges on a tank, Engineers can use the LMG to pound the choppers plus there are a profusion of mounted machine guns and stationary rocket launchers dotted around the maps. It’s not like the original game where you were totally fucked once someone who could fly got into a cockpit of a Zero.
An online game is only as good as your community and it seems all popular games are going to be full of dickheads. BC2 started off well in the first few weeks when everyone was learning the ropes, but once the tricks start emerging, most games quickly degenerate. With BC2, it depends on the server you’re on but generally seems to have far fewer abusive players (or maybe the worst ones are the ones with headsets, which I have muted anyway).
The Frostbite engine produces great graphics and the sound for BC has a unique real world sound you don’t hear often in games. It sounds loud even when it’s not.One technical aspect that has cast a vast shadow over this game is network code. It’s just not as god as you’d expect from DICE on a PC title. Back wen I played the older games on PC on bog standard 512k ADSL, a ping of 70 was average for a server in the same country as me. Years later with much much faster ADSL 2+, pings of less than 150 are wishful thinking. That said, you can have a decent game playing with people in other countries, so long as you don’t use sniper rifles. The server browser was not working that well at launch and I took to using the matchmaking for a week or two.
It’s certainly a pretty game that runs well, plays well and you will have fun playing. Until the fucking snipers get you. Spawn and again. Overall, if you like shooting games, BF games and are sick of MW2 and/or the extortionate price of the ‘stimulus to Kotick’s wallet,’ give BC2 a spin.
Controller1.com rating 3/3
Play if you like Bad Company, Battlefield Modern Combat, Battlefield 1943, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Modern Warfare 2
Don’t play if you like: Single player, Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain, Tetris
