Controller1.com Focus Test: inFamous
Its like Crackdown but its not crackdown. See how many times Crackdown can be mentioned in a 25 minute podcast
that’s not about Crackdown.
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videogames and stuff
PS3 now $99
The Playstation 3 has now been cut to US$99 starting April 1. A new SKU has been released, the SCPH-10000. SCEA head Jack Tretton said “This price realignment has come about as our manufacturing processes have evolved. We can now produce a PS3 at a profit AND sell it a low low price. That’s what we’ve just realized. We were doing the ass backwards way before. No wonder we lost so much money.”
One feature return welcomed by many is the return of the ability to play PS2 games. Of course, as with previous cost-reduced versions of the PS3, some features have been omitted such as Six Axis controllers, wireless controllers, wifi abilities, HDMI, Hard Drives, Blu Ray support and online functionality. While the deleted features mean gamers won’t be able to play hot PS3 exclusive titles such as Lair, Heavenly Sword and Haze, there is an upside in that PS3 gamers won’t be able to play Lair, Heavenly Sword and Haze. Executive editor of Game Man magazine, Lasse Figstromme told controller1.com in a laggy Skype interview “Thank fuck, those games sucked more ass that rectal leaches in a Uwe Boll movie.”
Of course this is a crushing blow to Microsoft and its Xbox 360 because it means now there are dozens of exclusive game playable only on the new PS3 (and all PS2′s). Figstromme continued “Why would I want to play Mass Effect or Gears of War when I can now play Downhill Domination on my PS3?”
Why indeed.
REVIEW: KILLZONE 2
Reviewed on PS3. Developed by Guerrilla Games. Published by Sony
Killzone 2 has come. Let there be rejoicing in the streets. It is far better than the PS2 original. But it is not perfect. What the hell?
Ever since the notorious “target renders” of E3 2005, Killzone has had as many people waiting for it to fail as they have been willing its success. KZ2 falls somewhere in the middles, not because of its graphics, which are gorgeous, but for its gameplay, which is very good, but not great. For all the shading tricks and spectacular lighting, there’s a solid, if pedestrian game underneath. If only the design could match up to the presentation, we’d be onto a winner.
So now that the legion of PS3 fans with no sense of humour have gone off to post on NeoGaf, we can talk turkey. If the intro paragraph makes out I didn’t enjoy Killzone 2, its because my last experience of the game was rage-quitting whilst trying to beat the game’s final encounter. Overall, I’ve liked the game a lot but its not the be all and end all that many, including Sony, were hoping for. It ranks along CoD 4 and WaW as the best shooters on PS3 but it doesn’t eclipse them in my view (as a CoD fan, so make of that what you will).
So let’s talk about how it plays. Its a first person shooter where your character, Sev is a sergeant in the Space Marines plays alongside an AI NPC, even though there’s no co-op. Rico- loud mouth black guy; Natko, sarcastic Marcus Fenix- the teenage years and Garza, a guy with a cap. You run, you have melee, can jump (slowly), zoom in and have one rifle and one pistol. It plays like a slightly slower version of Call of Duty, which is the standard of how to do FPS control on consoles if you don’t have a lead character whose name rhymes with Pasterchief.
For the most part you can summarise the gameplay as mainly consisting of either:
1- Kill all the enemies in a locked area .
or
2- Keep moving forward in order to reach thresholds that stop enemies from spawning ad infinitum.
What Killzone does well, it does very well. It just doesn’t throw you many surprises. And most of those are in cutscenes. But when you’re in control of the game, you can almost feel deja vu as there’s nothing in this game that feels unique to Killzone. That’s a shame. Its doen well, just not particularly innovative or original. I don’t say those as a criticism, just as an observation after playing this game. Its a short game (My stats said about 7 hours, but I doubt that tracks the bits I had to replay so let’s say 8-9 hours).
Moving from the single player campaign to multiplayer and things look up. While there’s nothing original in multi either, its just about perfect in its implementation. You can pick a server and jump in. And it works great. In the rounds I’ve played, I noticed no lag (I’m assuming servers are hosting the game rather than peer to peer- god please Activision host servers for the next CoD game) and the gameplay was fun for anyone to be able to jump in and enjoy the game. Most of the servers available to me featured a constantly evolving playlist within each map. You might have capture and hold, the 5 minutes of assassination, 5 minutes of search and destroy and then Team Deathmatch until the timer runs out.
Unlike R2, where it was a game Insomniac concentrated on co-op and multiplayer at the cost of a mediocre single player experience , Killzone 2 pushes the single player into the spotlight yet manages to offer a fully featured and polished multiplayer component. KZ2 multiplayer is obviously going to be the game to beat on PS3 multiplayer for a while. Its likely to be where you find all your friends on PSN at the moment.
So we all know the graphics are fantastic but the game’s sound is fantastic. The effects are top notch with DSP effects that make this the best sounding PS3 game at the moment. Metal Gear was good, Uncharted was better but KZ2 raises the bar higher still. The music score is suitably epic with the cinematics utilising a full orchestra (though not during ingame for some reason). The voice acting is good but the script is on a level of Gears of War 2 silliness. So if you found “10 shitloads” to be laughable, then you might find KZ2′s cheese to be of a similar bouquet.
So you see, this is a video game for the Playstation 3. So if it doesn’t walk on water, sell 19 million copies in a week or shift 3 million consoles, it doesn’t make the game any less enjoyable.
Controller1.com rating 3/3 (its not perfect but its a very good game you need to play if you own a PS3. Give the Dark Knight Blu Ray a break)
REVIEW- RESISTANCE 2
Reviewed on PS3. Developed by Insomniac. Published by Sony
Not being a pro site, C1 doesn’t have to try and rush reviews of games in time for the day of release. Although this review goes up just in time for the release of another big PS3 FPS it must be said that Resistance 2 was lost in the late 2008 Holiday release rush and for good reason. It offers absolutely nothing compelling over Gears of War 2, Little Big Planet, Fallout 3 or Call of Duty World at War. The sequel to the PS3′s first million-seller, R2 improves on the rather ordinary original in very slight ways, concentrating on online multiplayer modes and delivering an adequate gameplay experience. Merely adequate.
The game follows the protagonist of the first game, Nathan Hale, who has now found a voice in a n adventure with actual cinematics rather than a concept art montage. In this alternate history where the Earth was invaded during WWII, we have ridiculously anachronistic technology (the “cobbled together from the alien tech” argument makes absolutely no sense) such as Xbox1 vintage headsets, advanced projectile weaponry and vehicle design straight out of Starship Troopers. In the few levels set in smalltown America of the era, there’s less atmosphere than Fallout 3.
As far as the game itself, R2 continues with the rather ‘gamey’ and gimmick-laden weapons of the original. The controls are ok and none of the usual criticisms of the DS3 controller and FPS game really hinder your progress. But the level design, cheating AI and general difficulty (played on normal) made it a very frustratiing experience overall. I can sometimes swear occasionally during gameplay but the number of times I involuntarily utter the words “Fuck Off” after yet another cheap death might make anyone watching me through a hidden webcam think I have Tourette’s syndrome. It takes me back to Jak II (another developer). I made it halfway through the single player campaign before rage-ejecting the disc from PS3 (the boss battle against the Swarm if you must know).When the AI isn’t raping you, the level design instills a feeling of deja vu. You feel as though you’ve been here before. It’s like visiting a McDonald’s in a different city. It looks and feels exactly the same even though you’ve never been there before.
The game is not pretty to look at. Not ugly but not particularly impressive for a first party effort. Compared to the Ratchet and Clank, MGS or Uncharted games on PS3, this game looks nearly as ordinary as some third party movie lisence games. The visuals seem very flat, with really ordinary lighting in most levels. It does look slightly like a Wii game with higher poly models. The visual style is bland to say the least and derivative of so many better games. The sound is not up to the usual standard of a developer of Insomniac’s standing with nothing sounding crisp. I found the radio effect on voice particularly annoying. A guy who’s standing in front of you and not wearing a headset speaks to you as if you’ve picked him up by accident on HAM radio. What’s worse (and somewhat illogical), this radio voice is 3D and moves when you pan the camera. …. the fuck?
OK, so the clinical singleplayer and merely adequate presentation must mean that the multiplayer is fantastic. Well, no. It’s OK, but suffers from a lack of real direction as to what you’re meant to do and where your enemies are in relation to you. I jumped into a game and found it relatively easy to start killing foes so kudos to the online system, but after a while it was apparent that the maps were so big (R2 is one of those games that shows that more people per server, whilst a nice technical achievement, doesn’t make for a better game). I ended up in the last 5 minutes of the round wandering around with minimal health looking for someone to either shoot or put me out of my misery. There’s apparently a coop campaign that’s supposedly completely different from the normal singleplayer but I will never ever find out if its any good.
Insomniac have usually made games I have found very accessible and loved, but there’s something about the Resistance games that just doesn’t gel with me.
Controller1.com rating 1/3
Going to buy the sequel to a game I hated…
Killzone 2 comes out this week. I hated Killzone 1. It was so try hard yet failed to make any positive impression upon me, its gameplay wasn’t anything special and its level design merely adequate when it didn’t suck. There were no highs and no particular lows but it was middling in every way. So I’m going to buy Killzone 2 when it comes out later this week.
I’m not a heavily invested in PS3 fanboy so there’s no particular reason why I cling to KZ2 as the PS3 saviour and poo poo any contrary opinions with such anger that counsellors will have a field day. The first game was just a fairly ordinary game so I don’t hold out hope that Killzone will be game of the year since, graphics aside, there’s no indication that Guerilla have done anything majorly different this time around. Time will tell.
So why am I buying this? Its a shooter, a genre which I obviously enjoy (if you’re reading this, then you’d have a fair inkling of this fact) and there isn’t much competition from shooters in the first half of this year. And its a well received one. Yes, there are lots of platitudes being spouted about this game, but I’m guessing they can’t be completely wrong. 80% plus on review sites is a decent indicator. And truth be told, its the comments about this game not being innovative, just doing the FPS very well that actually intrigue me. We have Left 4 Dead, Gears 2 and Call of Duty World at War late last year- all very good shooters. Even though Resistance 2 was not great, it is certainly playable. But there’s a bit of drought of these games in the early part of the year. We are promised Halo 3: ODSTDSTDTSTD and MAG later in the year, and probably a new Infinity Ward shooter. But who will fill the gap till then?
Or will we just go back to playing CoD4?
NOW PLAYING: KILLZONE 2 Demo, FALLOUT 3
Two system exclusive demoes were released onto their respective systems late last week. One was for the first big 360 only game of 2009, Halo Wars and the other was for Sony’s Great White Hope, Killzone 2. Halo Wars demo we will Focus Test soon, but since I plan to buy the full KZ2 game, we aren’t go FT the demo. Here are some impressions of the Killzone 2 demo. Let’s preface this by saying I played 2/3 of the original game was unimpressed to say the least which is why I’ve not boarded the hype machine for the sequel. Good looking doesn’t mean great games, especially when the developers, Guerrilla Games, have yet to prove they can make something fun.
The demo starts off with you attacking a beach held by Helgast troops, then you move inside. Then some slo mo opera happens and you see a video trumpeting the high review scores the game has received so far (the game’s been in the can for a while, possibly held back so to avoid cannibalising sales from Resistance 2). See the picture below for a taster
More about the actual demo, though.
The good: Its pretty. Its got some very nice lighting effects. The score is magnificent and the sounds mostly great (if a little muted).
The bad: People laughed at Gears 2′s “10 shitloads” dialogue and it looks like KZ2 is trying to go down the same path. It’s just generic .
Gameplay: the demo doesn’t do anything you have seen a bazillion times before but I think it does it ok. It’s just not very responsive to control though.I’m actually less enthusiastic about the game since playing the demo but I hear its mostly good and I think I need a shooter. Fallout 3 is kinda shooter but not quite.
Fallout 3 got a good going over this past weekend (up to level 11 and around the 22 hour mark- not counting many many restarts. I had a few issues where I would find a new area, went exploring and then found i wasted two hours on an area where I have to trigger a mission elsewhere first. So after a while I decided I would just map the thing. I literally spent about 3 hours walking around the map so that I can now fast travel anywhere and get to a location with a minute or two. I really want to go onto another game but F3 just does everything that Mass Effect didn’t.
One thing still bothers me about Fallout 3. There are many places where people make homes in various places that are still habitable. But no one has cleaned up. The war was years earlier yes people have lost many things: love ones, their homes and it seems their brooms.
NEWS: KAZ HIRAI INHALING OWN PRESS RELEASES
Sony Computer Entertainment head honcho Kaz Hirai recently made gaming headlines for some interesting claims made to a Playstation magazine. Despite the fact that worldwide there are over 45 millions Wiis and around 20 million PS3′s and 27 million Xbox 360′s (5 of which are in Japan- gaijin and/or homosexuals obviously). Hirai made the claim “I’d like to think that we continue official leadership in this industry.”
OK?
LITTLE BIG PLANET review
Reviewed on PS3. Developed by Media Molecule. Published by SCEE.
We have to clear the air before we continue…
Firstly, despite the will of some people, Little Big Planet is not the game that makes people buy PS3′s in huge numbers. Secondly, although you can make levels, you can make really shitty levels. Thirdly its a good game.
Little Big Planet is a side scrolling platformer. You move from one end of a level to the other, using the world in various ways, using simple machines, sometimes with infuriating physics puzzles. But, it does play a lot lot the old 2D Mario games. You collect all manner of trinkets as you play, such as stickers (some of which are needed for puzzles- at least in the early part of the game, objects, textures and clothing for your playable character. A little cutie known as Sack Boy (or Sack Girl).
Sackboy only has a limited suite of moves. He can walk and run. He can grab (which combined with walking or running can operate switches and push/pull items) and he has his popit button. As so much o fthe game is based around a realistic physics model, you’ll find that it gets to be quite a hard and challenging platformer later on. Frustrating and infuriating beyond belief.
The popit button just brings up a menu with all of the items you have collected so that you can decorate your sack person at any stage. You can also deface the levels with stickers if you must. The levels are teeming with baubles containing some new element. Some of them in ridiculously difficult to get at spaces which seems to be why puzzles based on fitting the correct sticker seem to be less important as the game wears on. You basically see a cartboard cutout with what looks like a chip- similar to those you see on some credit cards. If you have the correct sticker in your inventory, you may be able to unlock a new area. I believe a lot of what you collect may be useful to you if you choose to make your own levels.
I found that as I progressed through the game, I became less concerned with collecting all o fthe baubles and more concerned just getting through to the end of the level. My main reason for this is the checkpoint system. You pass what looks and sounds like a gong and you get 4 attempts at getting to the next checkpoint before getting booted back to the start of the level. Hey guess what MM? The game stops being fun when you have to trawl through some of the longer levels over and over when you can’t get to the penultimate checkpoint of a level.
There are some sections that you can play as coop with a second sack person (or as we say these days, a Person of Sack) but really what a lot of people have gone gaga over is the level creation. You can make a level and put it on the web. And if it infringes on ANYONE’s copyright or might possibly infringe on someone’s copyright, it will be removed. The level creator requires you to sit through a rather long tutorial and its necessary since its actually quite a hard thing to acocomplish. I baulked at the price of entry so I downloaded some levels other people had made. One was supposedly Ghostbusters and the other was Metal Gear Sacklid. They were somewhat cruder than the MM levels but they got the job done. Just. But maybe the single player is all I needed to get out of the game.
The graphics are rather pretty and cute (if a little blurry) and the musical score is very hypnotic and memorable. And of course, since there are only four attempts per checkpoint before you have to restart the level- the music firstly becomes highly repetitive and then highly annoying.
LBP will spawn a PSP version and most likely a PS3 sequel. I like the game but I can’t call it a system seller but every PS3 owner should get it (especially since it seems to be discounted in some online retailers). If you like 2D platformers and own a PS3, get this. If you want to make your own levels and you already own a PS3, get this.
controller1.com RATING 2/3
Controller1.com Focus Test 8- Little Big Planet
Three men play Little Big Planet with varying intentions. Clint wants to make levels, George wants to play levels and Cam wants the levels to design themselves
Now Playing- Little Big Planet, GHWT
Little Big Planet is a 2D platformer with a level editor built in. We have recorded a focus test for this and the instant gratification factor in wanting to build a level is zero. You need to sit though tutorials before you can do anything which insta-fail.
Hoewver the singleplayer platforming is so delightful that its a lot of fun to play. Even though I loved All New Super Mario on DS (the last great new 2D platformer), it didn’t feel all that different to what had come previously. This feels boh new and familiar. I’ve heard complaints abut the jumping, but its fine, no worse than Braids and probably more forgiving than than XBLA game.
There is one thing about LBP. It can overload you with crap. You only have a few buttons (jump, grab and your menu- popit- buttons), but the amount of stuff you collect will get pretty daunting to manage. You need this stuff for making your own levels (or, as is more likely to be the case, just redoing someone else’s levels- oh look 1:1 again) but without the create a level- the SP is almost a collect-a-thon. Hey but its a good collect-a-thon.
I’ve been playing a bit of GHWT, mainly just guitars and occasionally busting out a hit on the drums. I’ve recently investigated what I would get if I picked up Rock Band 1 and 2 as well. All of the songs I like in GHWT are also in Rock Band 1 or 2 so that sucks. New songs unique to the RB 1 or 2 discs? Nothing I like much. The DLC is where there are a few choice morsels, particularly Still Alive from Portal. So I’ve decided to get the cheapest iteration of RB which is the AC/DC track pack and just use that (assuming I don’t also need a RB 1 or 2 disc).
The thing I love about DLC is that there might be songs I like, but aren’t the best for playing in these games. I got the Quantum of Solace song for GHWT the other day. I love the song but as GHWT fodder, its quite average. So the question must be asked. Why is Bohemian Rhapsody in Singstar but not in RB/GHWT?
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