What Are I Playing

Its been a long time since I blogged here, and although you will likely be hearing much much more from us here in the near future, I thought I’d just update you on what I’ve been playing lately. Although the Wanderer is surviving the credit crunch having spent all his money using illegal means, I’ve taken to new tactics.

Pre-owned games, obviously. I am such a CheapAssGamer (oh snap!). In the past weeks and months I’ve added a significant number of said games to my collection, namely Army of Two, Need for Speed Carbon, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, SingStar, Rainbow Six Vegas and Warhawk, many of which you will see us talk about in the soonness.

But there is one other way to get PS3 games that’s been eating up my money too –The PlayStation Store. And yes, £3.50 games are an impulse buy. All ye readers (yes, all 0.5 of you) know I bought PAIN when I first got my PS3, but since then I’ve downloaded High Velocity Bowling, Calling All Cars, Super Rub a Dub, flow, PixelJunk Eden, Loco Roco Coccorecco, Pixel Junk Monsters, Super Stardust HD and all the DLC for PAIN. Please no-one calculate how much I’ve spent there. Seriously.

But anyways, enough debt gloating, I’m here to give the verdict on some games I’ve been playing. First up: Burnout Paradise. And more specifically – the Bikes Pack. I honestly think the Bike Pack is better than the original game (or at least as good as). Riding around the city once through the day-night cycle is a thing of beauty, and the sense of speed is like nothing else, even Burnout Cars. Oh and it’s unlikely I’ll stop playing anytime soon: trophies arrive on Thursday. I’ll have more to say on Paradise soon.

I’ve also really got into Warhawk. I bought the game pre-owned on my most recent spending spree and invested in a Bluetooth headset at the same time (okay and the Store convinced me to get the add-on packs too), but in my opinion it is money well spent – Warhawk is easily one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. More fun than MotorStorm? Potentially. I think the best bit of the game though has got to be that it never takes itself too seriously. MAG might take the “woah” victory for online gaming come its release next winter, but Warhawk will always have a fun community to play against. Oh, and jetpacks.

Elsewhere, the PAIN Abusement Park expansion is endless hours of fun, and I’m running through Uncharted yet again for some trophies. And in terms of playing with mates offline, PixelJunk Eden is the winner, followed just behind by Army of Two, which I haven’t really played too much of yet.

And it can only get better: Wipeout HD, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, Bioshock, Far Cry 2, Fat Princess, Resistance 2 and Mirror’s Edge are all on their way too. Now, to find some money…

FO

And Breeeathe

So I was looking through my bookmarks today, catching up on the world of gaming news, when lo-and-behold something familiar caught my eye.

A Pail of Beavers. That blog thing that I was meant to be posting on when I had interesting things to say.

And listen! I've got interesting things to say!

As of today, I have games. That's right. I have, for the lack of a better and more legal word, acquired several of the best DS games there is to date, and am now working my way through them. To limit myself in my range, I have chosen five games to play and complete before I go onto the next five. Here is the first group of five:

Soul Bubbles
Rune Factory
Starfox Command
Summon Night Twin Age
Professor Layton

As you can see, quite a varied bunch of awesome I have. Now, I can't really give you much of a hands on impression yet, (despite my hands being on the DS for most of the day) but what I can say is that the beginning of every single one of those games is super fun time. Now to wait and see how many prove me wrong.

Toodles.

-Aquatic Wanderer

A Case Of The Rambles

For once, I actually decided to sit down and write a blog, not because I was bored, or the Wanderer had pestered me, or I hadn’t blogged in ages, just because I actually kinda fancied it. And you know what, I don’t even know what I want to talk about, I guess I’ll just see what happens.

I haven’t played Starcraft in over a week now, and if it wasn’t for the fact I’ve had a heck of a lot of exams to revise for, as well as working on a couple of little projects I currently have going, I would probably have gone insane from the withdrawal. Seriously though, I’ve been keeping my eye on a few Starcraft 2 blogs, I’m so hyped for that game.

Only problem is, as I have noted a few times, my laptop is perfectly fine for blogging and internetting and musics (when it feels like it), but it’s only a Core Duo-thingymabob, with integrated graphics and 1GB of RAM, so although it can cope with Starcraft, I think if I showed it Starcraft 2, it would just cry. And that's on the lowest settings.

And I finally found myself a job, so I could save up for a new PC for gaming, but not having any actual approximate release date for SC2 makes it difficult to work out timings of savings. But I start next week, so first thing I’ll be getting is a wireless box at home, because having to lug the laptop downstairs every time I want to go online is so incredibly annoying, and I also need it for the PlayStation Network. After that on the shopping list is a new hi-def video camera, a hi-def TV, a new PC for family use as our (256mb RAM, AMD Athlon-based) current PC is pretty much on it’s deathbed.

But then when to get a new machine for gaming? I guess the best bet is to just keep saving up and then go out and buy the best I can get for my money just before Starcraft 2 gets released…whenever that may be. Who knows. But you can see how expensive this addiction is gonna become.

And that’s not even including the nuts amount of PS3 games coming out. God, I’m gonna be skint by Christmas again for sure. Uncharted is pretty damn awesome by the way, I’m really getting into that; I stuck GTA in again today for a bit too, but revision just keeps eating into my precious game time. Oh well, just over a week of exams left now. Then I’m free.

Mwahahaha.

FO.

Vaguely Associated (Or 'The Forgetfulness of an Octopus')

I warn you now: this post is entirely disjointed. Basically, whenever cool gaming news comes out or I get a new game, I tend to add it to this ever-lengthening list of things to blog about. Except there's always one or two things I forget to mention when I stick a post up, so certain things get rolled over until later. Or I forget completely. And so I end up with a list of items still to write about. So here goes...

Quite a while ago, I mentioned that I had brought myself the loveable PSP game Patapon. A number of guys who worked on LocoRoco also worked on this and I quite liked the look of it, so post-demo playing, I indulged myself. And it really is a great game. The graphical style is something new, the gameplay is a great concept (you move/attack/defend by inputting the correct 'beat' on the PSP face buttons) and the characterisation of the little Patapon is fantastic. However (yes, that is a however. And in italics too), it is very repetitive. Playing through levels that are very similar, defeating the same enemies with no real difference between attacks, gets very annoying. And that's before I get to the boss battles: you basically fight a big bad guy the same way about five times in a level, but there's no way to tell how well you're doing, he will just randomly die at some point. Oh and the cutesy music? Does you head in after a while. I assume all the unlockable's add a lot of replayability to the game, but I wouldn't know, because I just gave up through boredom. Great game, well executed, very repetitive. Due to not reviewing games I haven't completed, I wont give Patapon a score, but I will recommend it just for a hire.

And what do I really find weird? That there was one game everyone slated upon release for being too repetitive: Assassin's Creed. And I bought it weekend before last. And it's not as repetitive as Patapon. Maybe it's due to the lack of little critters screeching samey tunes through your headphones, or maybe that there is actually a story in AC. Whatever it is, the 'Creed is the less repetitive game. Ironically, I'm pretty sure I just repeated myself there. Anyways, I've had a little while to get my teeth into the genetically-modified medieval-em-up, and to be honest, I'm impressed. It's reeeeaaallly fun to be leaping around the roof tops (socially acceptable walking be damned), grabbing onto whatever you can find, and it feels like a developed version of the fantastic movement in Shadow of the Colossus. Adding to that comparison, the animation engine is probably the shining star of Assassin's Creed. It basically connects all the different actions together with individual animations, so there is no judderyness at all when changing direction or attacking or whatnot. Also, I'm only up to my third assassination, so the investigation-and-assassination fatigue hasn't set in yet, but if reviews are correct, it should do soon. We'll see I guess, but Assassin's Creed is definitely a great game so far.

How am I getting so many games lately even though I should be completely skint, earning no money like I do? Well that would be down to Aquatic and I's recent discovery: game trade-ins. Basically, we can finish games, then hand them back for monies. Then buy more games with those monies. It's genius! So over the past few weeks I've traded in my PS2, all of my PS2 games that aren't scratched to within an inch of their lives, and my old PSP phatface, and I didn't do badly out of it either; those trade-ins have financed the purchase of Resistance, MotorStorm, Assassin's Creed and the two most recent additions to my game library: Burnout Paradise and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. I haven't put much time into either as I've been busy revising for this week's shagloads of exams as well as edging closer and closer to the end of Resistance: Fall of Man when I find some spare moments, however I will make some very brief notes. Burnout is great fun, particularly the seamless online. Uncharted is a next-gen Tomb Raider with a green coat of paint, clothes that dynamically dry off, and more shooting, but that's no bad thing. Expect more from me on both of them soon.

PlayStation Home. How I long for thee. Okay, actually that's a lie: I still don't have my PS3 hooked up to the internet. Well not my internet. My neighbours at the moment. Bad connection. Dodgy gaming. Short sentences. Anyways, Home has always seemed pretty cool in concept, and I'm now waiting to get my hands on it. In the meantime however, Sony seems to be quite content with just adding more and more stuff to the closed beta and just taunting the rest of us with it. Bitches. The most recent addition was that of the 'Home Events and Media Space' (from here on that's the 'Event Space', kay?). Basically, the Event Space is where virtual recreations of gaming (and other) events can take place, likely simultaneously with the event in real life. The debut of the Event Space was with the PlayStation Day the other week, and the Space was all decked out in media from the event, with a live video feed from the keynote, screenshots in a literal gallery, along with gameplay footage and trailers on screens. I believe something similar was also set up for UbiDays last week. The concept is a fantastic addition to Home, as it means that come E3, rather than reading liveblogs on the web, you could be seated in a virtual arena set up in the Event Space watching the presentation live, then wandering around Home taking in all the news and games. And it makes me just a little hopeful that Home could really be something impressive and individual.

Other news that caught my eye recently: Bioshock is finally coming to PS3 in October (wahey!), which makes me happy because my poor laptop is not ideal for gaming and I own not a 360; PS3 firmware 2.40 is rumoured for an imminent release adding Trophies to the XMB as well as in-game messaging amongst other things; and Cloverfield is out (in the US) and reviewed on Blu-Ray, so expect me to grab it as soon as it arrives in my fair nation. Juno's out June 9th though, I shall be purchasing that indeed.

Speak soon, lots of gratuitous love, FO.

Major Pikey Vehicle

A little while back, I mentioned how Grand Theft Auto 3 got be back into gaming. And after playing nearly 20 hours of the next proper game in the series, I can genuinely feel excited for all of those who will be re-/discovering games via the medium of Grand Theft Auto IV.

It was the recent release of the aforementioned game that finally convinced my good ol' father to acquire me a PS3, and I admit that when I first got it, GTA fell by the wayside as Aquatic and I ploughed through Resistance, MotorStorm and my ever-increasing pile of demo disks (thanks Official PlayStation Magazine UK!). And then, a week after first picking up the SIXAXIS, GTA found itself being slotted into the disk drive. Oh boy, how I have missed that series.

You see, my copies of GTA3 and San Andreas are scratched to death, my Vice City has never returned from being borrowed by a friend, Liberty City Stories got swapped with a mate for Burnout Legends once I had finished it, and Vice City Stories got traded in on one of my make-money-quick sprees. So in fact, IV is the first taste of Posh Stealing Automobiles I've played in a long time.

As previously mentioned on this here humble blog, I play on a little 15" standard-def CRT TV; but even so, the graphical leap from the PS2 games to IV is incredible (the only thing that I've played that looks better on my screen is the Uncharted demo). New explosions are like a gorgeous pre-emptive kick in the groin to Mercenaries 2, HDR reminds me how shitscary Resi 5 will be, and taking a helicopter tour over nighttime Algonquin (GTA's Manhattan) makes me want to get a pilot's license myself. And the little visual improvements are just as important: the cut-down UI, the new location markers and the glowing weapon pickups.

But graphics aside, the gameplay is fantastic. The new controls took a bit of getting used to, but not as long as the new realistic driving. The mobile phone Niko has is probably the biggest addition to the core gameplay, as it allows him to call contacts either to chat or for missions, rather than waiting for them to get hold of him. You can also arrange social meets with the characters, call for side jobs or just pictures of random people. But it becomes crucial to the central game too. If you need a getaway vehicle, you can call your cousin for a cab. If you are running low on ammo, ring Little Jacob and he'll turn up nearby with some guns in the trunk. In one mission, you have to kill someone causing a bit of trouble for one of your contacts, and to make sure you get the right guy, you have to take a picture with your phone and send it to your boss to make sure you're not shooting up the wrong guy.

Another addition, although not as major, is the in-game internet. You can log on at any of the tw@ internet cafes dotted around Liberty City (or in some of the later safehouses) and from there you can check your e-mail, download ringtones for your phone, or find a date.At one point, you need to terminate a guy who is usually well defended, so you log on and find him on an internet dating site. After confirming a nice brunch date, it gets added to the mobile phone's organiser function and off I go to get rid of him. And it's when the phone is combined with use of the internet that you realise how clever the game really is. Example: a lawyer has uncovered some compromising pictures of a corrupt police officer, but simply setting some C4 and blowing up the law firm's offices is the old GTA way of doing things. In IV, you log onto the internet and upload your CV to the Careers section of the firm's site. A couple of days later and you'll get a call from the receptionist, and you arrange an interview. Then, once you're in the office with him, you pull out a knife and scare him into revealing where he's kept the photos, before silently stabbing him, grabbing the incriminating shots and walking calmly out of the building. Suave.

And after the confusing and outlandish plot of San Andreas, GTAIV has one of the best storylines of any game I've ever played. You don't just randomly become a violent criminal (I'm looking at you GTA3), and everything you do has real meaning. A lot of games attempt that 'your actions have consequences' approach, and fail miserably; so to see how well Rockstar have done it, and in an open-world game at that, is impressive. At various points in the game you are given the choice to let someone live or die, and when the 'execute or spare Character Y' prompt appears, you have to quickly decide what to do and evaluate what the repercussions might be. And in a section I passed not so long ago, a received phone call resulted in a 'kill either Major Character 1 or Major Character 2' command that completely changes the game. And it's at that point you realise just how perfectly crafted all the characters are. From your cousin Roman, and bullying Vlad through to high riser Playboy X and drug dealer Elizabetha, none of the the characters are even remotely like the uninteresting results of video game character cookie cutters (they exist, kay? The factory is just next door to EA HQ). And I'm avoiding spoilers here, but some of the plot twists are downright shocking and clever.

There's so much more to say about GTAIV, but that can wait. I wont be posting a full review in the future for two reasons: 1) I don't post reviews of games I haven't completed, cos that's not fair, and completing a GTA game takes a long time when you play like I do, doing everything, so by the time I did a review, everyone else would've already done it, and a review is null and void. And 2) There's so much to do it GTAIV that any kind of a review doesn't really do it justice unless it mentions every single thing that you can do, and due to the branching plot, that's pretty much impossible. I'm sure I'll have more to say on the game in the near future, just don't expect a review in the conventional sense. But as far as I can see at the moment, GTAIV is a necessary addition to any gamers library: you must play this game.

Moving on. When I first got my PS3, I ventured onto the PlayStation Store to see what I could download (in short, a hell of a lot) and along with a bunch of demos, trailers and game videos, I decided to buy a game with my ludicrously small bank account balance. PixelJunk Monsters was the first thing I looked at, but already having purchased Resistance, MotorStorm and GTA, I had plenty of deep, hour-stealing games to play, so I'll get that in the future. FlOw was up next, and as much as I wanted to get it, I really wanted something properly playable for my first purchase, but I'm sure I'll get flOw to show off my HDTV when I finally buy one. After looking over a few different games (and deciding to note down Super Rub-a-Dub for future purchase), I decided upon PAIN!. I know it doesn't have a massive storyline or astounding visuals, but that was exactly what I wanted: a quick, simple to jump into after a few hours of GTA or whatnot. I got exactly what I wanted.

PAIN! is fun. Very fun. And despite being booted up on regular intervals, the repetitive gameplay still hasn't lost its charm. You basically launch a ragdoll character out of a giant catapult into a city and attempt to cause him as much pain as possible (hence the name). You only have one setting, the previously-mentioned city, and you launch-hit, launch-hit. That's effectively it. There are explosive barrels that launch you in other directions upon being hit, other crates that you can fling to hit objects, the ability to grab in all different directions, and posing in flight, but all in all it's the same launch-hit mechanic. And that's not a problem right now because it's still relatively fresh. But even writing it down here, I'm beginning to realise how repetitive that all is.

But then you exit out to the menu and realise I've just been playing one launcher position in the city (unlockable from doing well), in one game mode (choose from simple PAINdemonium, Mime Toss, Fun with Explosives, and Spank the Monkey. Other modes named HORSE and Bowling are unlockable) with one character (some unlockable, some purchasable from the PS Store) in just the single player section of the game.Oh and I was just playing the main part of PAINdemonium - there's an aftermath mode to unlock too. So all in all, it's a game that rewards committed players. That's not even mentioning the multiplayer. And the best bit? The ever-talkative development team regularly post updates on patches and new downloads on their blog, and a new location - 'Amusement Park' - should be out in the not-too-distant future. As pointed out above, I don't review games until I've completed them, so just as a first impression, I'd probably give the game about a 7 out of 10: It's repetitive, but very fun. And I like fun.

I did plan to talk about more stuff here like the new Indiana Jones film that I saw the other night, as well as other game-related stuff, but I have rambled a little, so I'll talk about that in the future. Also, I bought Assassins Creed today, so I'm sure I'll have something to say about that. Until then, adieu!

FO

PS: I've already realised I've forgotten some other GTA stuff I wanted to mention. Expect that soon then.

En Taro Adun!

For any of you out there who's even remotely into the PC RTS scene, this blog title should speak wonders to you. It would even give you a hint as to what this post is about.

That's right bitches, it's Starcraft time.

I understand that maybe a little back story is in order (or would be nice). A while ago I was introduced to Starcraft by a sibling who was currently obsessed with it, as were his friends; calling it a cult would not be too far off actually. But after playing a few games, it seems as though I was inadvertently initiated into this cult, and my downwards spiral into vespian gas, overlord spawning and 'ling rushing had begun. So why not drag a few people down with me?

I introduced it to Octopus whilst he was gracing my chamber with his presence, and luckily enough he was hooked too. After a little venturing into the social realm, we had a team of 4 to play it online (after much 'haxxing teh internets') and it was good. No, it still is good. It's perfect.

Starcraft is unique in that it isn't hindered these days amongst such RTS's as CNC3 and Sins of a Solar Empire when it comes to graphical prowess. It holds its own beautifully; heck, it isn't even 3D and yet I can still waste away my hours (which could be better spent with that revision malarkey might I add) immersing my self in the not-so-immersive war-cries of the Protoss Zealots ("Asar de Templari, my brethren!").

One of the many things I love about it, is that unlike most traditional RTS's, the teams (in this case 'races') available aren't even remotely similar. Sure, they've all got buildings, military units, basic necessities like that, but surprisingly that's where the parallel ceases. All the units are different to each race.

Here's an example; take the Terran Marine. A basic military unit which has a gun capable of shooting ground and air units, and given pretty average health and attack. Now, looking at the Protoss, the advanced alien race of monk-like freaks...there's nothing similar to the Marine at all. The Protoss main unit, the Zealot, is so different from the Marine that I find myself grinning. Even though each unit is completely different, they've still managed to balance them. Sure, if you put a Zealot, with it's energy blades and personal shield, against a Marine, then the Zealot would win hands down. But with the high costs of the Zealot and it's drawback when it comes to not being able to attack air-units, the two become balanced again. And this isn't even going into comparison with the Zerg military units.

And I haven't even begun to scrape the iceberg that is tactics, tech-tree's, buildings, upgrades...

It's just brilliant. So brilliant that I wouldn't be ashamed to mention my addiction to it. So brilliant in fact, that I would shout it from the top of the highest Spire mountain! Which is why I estimate we'll be playing it for weeks to come, what with the newly introduced ability to create our own maps (okay, it isn't new but we didn't even consider it before our fifth member showed up), and the ever-pressing need to revise for exams (and as a result, ignore the need).

And if we didn't need enough of a reason to get excited for Starcraft II, just look at it.

It's just dripping with gah I want it.

-Aquatic Wanderer

Yatta!

I got a PS3.

So there.

Blog posts ready to go, but no: just got get myself past this bit in Resistance...then this other bit...oh look, a Stalker! (etc etc)

So, excuses aside, things have been a little eventful for the gaming division of my brain cells over the last few weeks. I got my brand new sexy amazing fantastical sexy console just over a week ago, but prior to that, I rented out Need for Speed: Carbon for PS2 and pretty much completed that before it had to go back (92% ftw). Also, after I found out the arrival of my very own big black monolith, I raced through a couple of PS2 games that I had to complete, before trading them ALL in, along with my PS2, for next-gen game monies.

And then, of course, it all changed. The recently-vacated spot next to my TV got filled by a new friend, one that greets me with the glorious noise of an orchestra every time I say hello. Obviously, I immediately called the Wanderer and we ventured down into my town to buy things: an extra SIXAXIS, Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man (I already had GTAIV and I Am Legend on Blu-Ray in the bundle I got).

Wanderer and I returned to my abode where we promptly spent time examining every single option of the PS3, updating the firmware, downloading (and installing) demos, and finally: sticking in Motorstorm.

My. Fricking. God.

You know how I like to grade games on the fun factor? Well the first game of Motorstorm we played probably got somewhere about 283 out of 10. Needless to say, that was roughly equivalent to our placement in the results of that race too. But it was incredible.

I should probably point out one thing right now: I have a crappy 15-inch standard-def TV. But did that make it any less awesome? Hell no!(no panic, I plan to invest in a 26" Bravia in the very near future).  We played through a bunch of demos, Aquatic became completely addicted to Super Rub-a-Dub, browsed the Store, bought PAIN!, and downloaded whatever we could find for free. After a brief, yet hilarious stint with PAIN!, we loaded up Resistance and attempted to play some co-op. So blooming hard. We gave up.

And then, a little later, came the time to play Grand Theft Auto Quattro. Which is totally awesome btw, but I shall go into that more in-depth in the near future on this here blog.

After that, we watched the cool alternate ending for IAL that came on the Blu-Ray, and then went our separate ways (although not before 'playing' the Haze demo. I think it's best we don't talk about it).

Over the past week (public examinations be damned), I have spent a lot of time playing games, being beaten online on Motorstorm by mates, moving music over to my PS3 from iTunes on my laptop, and yes: still dabbling in a little Starcraft from time to time (also another thing to talk about next time: we are now completely addicted).

Over the last few days, I've also begun the single-player Resistance campaign, and am actually doing pretty well, I'm about three-quarters of the way through now, so expect a review at some point. Also, of course, expect a mega-review of the PS3 itself in the future.

Gotta go, Nathan Hale's busy dying, FO.

Better Than St George's Day By Far

Today is Sony Europe's PlayStation Day in London, and here I am to give you a bit of a roundup of the news coming out of the show. First of all though, remember that this is not a massive event such as E3, TGS or GDC, so there's a lot of updates on games rather than announcements of new ones. Also, bear in mind that the show is only a Sony Europe event, so a lot of the news is Euro-centric. Don't worry if you're elsewhere in the world though, there'll be another Sony event in Tokyo next week and it's likely that America will see something similar in the near future.

 

I guess it's only right to start with our favouritest game ever (and we haven't even played it yet), LittleBigPlanet. There wasn't much new on the game during the press conference, but it was playable on the floor of the show, and PS3 Fanboy has their impressions up here. The build on display apparently felt more refined than previous hands-on sessions, and there were a few new additions. Levels are picked by navigating a globe, and PS3F noted that there were already dozens of levels on the map, showing Media Molecule's commitment to making sure there is lots of content on the disk for those who don't want to get involved with the creating/sharing aspect of the game (morons). Sackboys dressed as the Helghast from Killzone 2 appeared in the presentation, along with tons of other characters and outfits. Also announced: a new October 2008 release date.

Moving on to Resistance 2. Ted Price (head of Insomniac Games) jumped on stage to talk about the four main pillars of the game: Community, Campaign, Co-Op, and Competitive. Community-wise, he talked about expanding the massive online community surrounding the first game, mentioning things like redesigning MyResistance.net, making it more like Facebook (*sigh*) and adding website-based matchmaking. He said he couldn't talk about the campaign mode yet but that it would center on Nathan Hale's return to the US. He also mentioned R2's 8-player co-operative mode, which has a separate story with different characters to the solo game. Then it got to the real meat of the presentation: the Competitive mode. 60-player online matches had already been announced for the game, and Price talked about the "battles within battles" that would make up the online game. With so many players in one match, they are split into five different squads with different dynamic objectives, and each squad is pitched against a rival squad on the other team with the same objectives. You will be able to play as both the humans and the Chimera in the multiplayer, however this wasn't shown in the video at the event. Release in fall 2008 (October/November).

The other big shooter in the works is Killzone 2 (a game I have much more interest in having now nearly completed the original game on PS2). Very little was said about the game, but a new video was shown, and journalists got to have time to play the game at the event, so expect hands-ons from other gaming sites. The release of the game was also announced for February 2009 (yes, next year).

It wasn't just shooters up Sony's sleeve though. They brought out the first gameplay footage of Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, the sequel to last March's successful racer. As well as the usual graphical upgrades, Motorstorm: PR changes the setting to an island inspired by Hawaii, adding new cars, twice the number of tracks of the original game, water, vegetation, more destruction, monster trucks and, most importantly, split-screen multiplayer for up to 4 players. Thank god! Motorstorm: Pacific Rift should be out about the same time as Resistance 2 this autumn.

The next game to be shown was Mirror's Edge, a brand new game from DICE and EA. It is played entirely in the first person and the story is about a courier called Faith. Oh and some kind of conspiracy, naturally. I wont talk much here, as Mirror's Edge is a game I'm very much looking forward to, so will probably be going on about it sometime in the near future anyway. The best bit of the game to be shown so far? The colour. There is blue, and red, and green and white, and sunshine! Happiness! No dull browns here *cough*Killzone 2*cough*. Mirror's Edge should be out in late 2008 (although I wouldn't be surprised to see it put back to next year), and the very first gameplay footage can be seen here.

Sony, as usual, took time to talk about their social gaming products as well as the big hitters. On top of sales numbers for games like Buzz and Singstar, the PS3 versions of these games were shown. Singstar came out in Europe earlier this year, and adds HD music videos, a new sleek interface, the SingStore (for downloading new tracks to your collection), and My SingStar - a social networking tool that connects the worldwide community, with the ability to upload performances captured using the PlayStation Eye that others can then watch and rate. Also shown were new features including a duet mode for two players and Remote Play compatibility which will be added in an imminent update. The PS3 version of Buzz, called Buzz! Quiz TV, was also included in the presentation, which showed not only the new game modes, but the social tools that allow you to write your own questions and then upload and share your quizzes with other players. Singstar for PS3 is out now in Europe (and coming soon to the US), with a track pack disk called Volume 2 out in the not too distant future. Buzz! Quiz TV will be out in May.

Another part of the presentation was dedicated to the Go! peripherals for PSP (what is Sony's obsession with unnecessary exclamation marks?). They briefly mentioned the Go! Cam that was released last year, tying it into the release of Go! Messenger that happened this spring. Messenger allows you to communicate with other PSP and PC users using text, voice (with a headset or the camera) and video (with the camera, duh). They then hyped up the imminent European release of Go! Explore, the GPS add-on, before moving onto a new service called Go! View. Go! View!!!! (sorry, lost it a little there) was announced last year and enables you to download Sky TV shows (that's stuff like Lost, Battlestar Galactica and the new Gladiators) to your PSP via a PC. Shows will be available on a subscription or pay-per-show basis and the service will launch on June 30th. As for a similar service on PS3, Sony Europe president David Reeves said to "watch this space". I am, right now. It's kind of teal.

Other snippets from the event: PlayTV (the PS3 Freeview add-on) has been announced for a September release for 99 Euros, Sony is developing an indie music show for the PSN called "Movement" coming this summer, the next Siren game will be an episodic title called Blood Curse which will start in the Summer, the Gran Turismo Racing Academy will see if players can race as well in real life as they can in the game (vids will start hitting the PSN May 23rd), full PSP UMD games will soon be added to the EU Playstation Store for PC as in the US, and we finally have a description of PixelJunk Eden, the next game from the team behind Racers and Monsters: "Leap and swing between lush alien vegetation in a truly innovative platform game which constantly evolves over time as you move through the perfectly realised undergrowth, hunting treasures and smashing enemies from his path" (from a press release, not the presentation).

Remember that hands-on reports will going up on other site very soon, so check them out.

FO

Carbonated

I'm gonna be honest and say that driving games are not my forté. Well, by that I mean straight-up racing games. Gran Turismo, Project Gotham Racing, etc etc; I'm rubbish at all of them.

But then there's the other racing games. The ones that are different in their own ways, not just pure simulations of track racing. Burnout's deranged mayhem, Need for Speed's nighttime city runs, Motorstorm's off-road chaos and Ridge Racer's impossible drifts. All of which add up to ultimate fun for those of us who don't really fancy day-long endurance races.

This weekend is a Bank Holiday, so I've been using the extra day off to get some gaming done before I return to revising for exams. Therefore, whilst on socialising travels today, I popped into Blockbusters and picked up Need For Speed: Carbon for PS2 (£3 for a week, pretty cheap). I always used to play round my car-obsessive friends house when Underground and Underground 2 came out, and I got Most Wanted with my PSP in 2005. I've briefly played Most Wanted for PS2 on a hire too, but this was my first play of late 2006's Carbon.

The first thing to mention is that the core gameplay (driving around the streets of a fictional city, looking for events that culminate in boss races) is still perfect. It seems to have taken a turn for the worst in last year's ProStreet, but here in Carbon, the gameplay feels solid, the best it has since Underground 2. The next thing to mention is that the game has returned to a nighttime setting. Thank-frigging-god. How much I hated the sun-drenched streets of Most Wanted, and yearned for underground and very illegal racing to return to its seemingly logical hiding place, namely the night. Plus, you just get a much better sense of speed at night, which makes things more interesting.

Obviously, this being a yearly EA franchise, there's the inevitable gimmick new feature. For Carbon, EA Black Box added 'Canyon Duels'. These are set one of the canyons conveniently located around the main city, and involve you and a big bad boss racing down a treacherous cliffside track and attempting to shove each other off the side. I'll make my point brief: it's surprisingly good. Oh, it can be stupidly difficult from time to time, but overall its a good new addition. Another new addition is the 'Risk'-like map. The city is split up into numerous zones, each of which contain a number of events to compete. It actually gives a much more visual representation of 'winning back your rep' than the other games in the series. And my favourite thing about NFS Carbon? They brought back Drift events! =D

From what I've played (the game reports that I'm 20% of the way through), Carbon does feel like the best Need for Speed game in a long time. Graphics are sharp (for PS2), the UI is normal EA perfection, and the combination of licensed tracks and music made especially for the game is fantastic. But, and here's the bastard truth, that's because it's been the same for so long. Since Underground, its been basic improvements all-round (Yay, Autosculpt! /sarcasm) rather than anything new and exciting. And the kicker: when they did change it in ProStreet, it sucked. Big time.

Overall rating: 9/10

FO

(Note: screenshots from PS3 version of the game)

 

The Shitsons

You know what game is shit?

The Simpsons Game.

Don't start with all the bullshit about it being the best Simpsons game ever (whatever honour that title holds), it isn't, that's reserved for Simpsons Hit and Run, one of the most fun games ever made, even without debug mode.

This is the most ultimate failure of a platforming game ever invented, tying in the worst elements you can possibly choose from most platformers. Sure, you've got the generic elements which make a platformer for what it is (which the writers 'cleverly' made an excuse for by openly calling them 'video game cliché's' in-game) but they all work so terribly that it's hard for me to even force myself to play it, just in case it gets slightly less shit.

Let's give you an example of one of the levels, and where better to start than the first. The game starts off with a scene of Homer sitting (in shoddily animated graphics, might I add), dreaming about Chocolate Land, or Candy World, or Nougat Dump, I can't remember. Here they sneakily re-edit the scene from an actual Simpsons episode where exactly the same thing happens, but instead of the dream ending, we're shoved into some gameplay. We play as Homer, the fat yellow tub of...well, yellow, who's single abilities are jump and punch, which can unsurprisingly be made into a 3 string consecutive attack.

And this is where the fun ends. We have to follow the White Chocolate Rabbit up to some giant piece of cakey crap, whilst traversing the most unimaginative level ever spawned by game designers. What I do like about the Simpsons game is that it gives me hope for a future career, because if these slack-jawed designers can get a job, then I'm gunna be rolling in it. The world you are dumped in is a crushing meld of browns and dark creams, obviously to properly show the cakey chocolateyness, but in actual fact it just makes everything smush together, until distinguishing from a ledge and the terrible background texture becomes more difficult that getting yourself to care.

What really pisses me off is they use the whole 'cel-shaded' look to give themselves excuses for the obvious low quality. The lines around the characters, the enemies, the objects...okay, the lines are everything look like they're done in paint. Actually, look back at it, any in-game screenshot would look like it was just some skilled artist in paint. I don't know whether I can attribute this to my awesome TV or the result of it being in 480p, but what I do know is that if I want to imagine I'm playing a game in paint, I'll just paste a screenshot of LittleBigPlanet in there and stare at it for the next 10 hours I could've spent laughing myself to death playing Simpsons.

Anyway, back to the gameplay. Homers 3 hit attack is shit. Sorry, but it is. And when it makes up for most of the gameplay, this therefore makes the rest follow on from the previously mentioned shittiness. He punches right, punches left, then punches again, then stops for some reason. I don't know why the developers though it fun that Homer left himself open for about 2 seconds, but let me tell you, I was having barrels of laughs. You could just attribute him to being such a sack of lard that 3 simple movements tire him out completely, but I prefer to blame it on EA.

And then there's the AI. I swear to you that I could've written this AI in actionscript and I don't even know how to code in actionscript. Picture this; you're waddling along, minding your own business, eating the chocolate lumps that logically fall out of anything you punch, when you see a chocolate rabbit coming after you. You begin to run away, but alas, the rabbit follows. You turn to fight it. You begin to fight it. Huh. The rabbits not doing anything. You punch again. The rabbit does nothing. You punch aga- oh wait, it seems like the rabbit has a warm up period of about 3 seconds. I'm not joking, they may be one of the first enemies, but if you just run around mashing the B button (this is the Wii-version, by the way), even despite the colossal recovery period after Homers flabby flailing, there is little way to die. Not to mention that every time an enemy is killed, there is an orgy of energy glorbs afterwards which fills up your special ability bar no matter what, allowing every enemy you come across to be insta-killed!

You know what, I'm actually angry just writing about it. I would stop writing but then I would be left with going back to the game, and even though I despise it to the very core, I always tell myself to persevere until a certain point before I deem a game is hopelessly bad.

So here I go, I'll post later with a final verdict perhaps, but for now, The Simpsons Game for the Wii rests at a comfortable 2/10.

-Aquatic Wanderer