Fool's Gold

After a long winded run that witness the downsizing, downgrading and down syndrome of ‘modern’ games, degradation and shame in the quality of programming and design, the creation of a new form of vulgarity called ‘DLC’ and the decline of creativity in the insane pursuit of the almighty dollar, we finally are seeing end of one of the saddest eras in the history of video gaming. May this era be wholly documented in the anals…I mean, annals of history, lest we forget! Apologies, but nearly of decade of sodomy and arse pokery in concole gaming has taken its toll.

This generation of gaming examplifies the worst era in history. Never before have consumers been cheated out of their hard earned money in return for some of the most shameful programming to ever grace the idiot box. The Playstation 3, despite initially being a technical marvel purely designed for the true gamer, was placed in the hands of clueless people who failed to market the superior gaming console in a tightly contested console battlefront. Sony almost revealed that it is actually run by a bunch of chimps when they decided to create an uproar by removing certain features from the console. Stupidity seems to be the most prized skill in the world of gaming.

Microsoft fared no better. Having had the upperhand with the early release of the Xbox 360, the pirates of silicon valley stole the march on the Playstation 3. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from then on. Incredibly, Microsoft failed to capitalize on the Japanese market. If you can’t sell a gaming console in the most famous gaming nation in the world, then you are most definitely fucked up. Despite luring the legendary Final Fantasy creators into developing a couple of Xbox 360 exclusive RPGs in their efforts to woo the Japanese, Microsoft half hearted approach was rewarded with a good old ‘Kiss My Ass’ attitude from the Asian consumers.

To add insult to injury, there seemed to be a collective consensus from the major software houses and developers that led to the fraudulent next gen development guidelines propogated by the nefarious suits at Sony, Microsoft, along with third party monsters Electronic Arts and Activision.

Games were considerably shorter and less engaging. The multiplayer element seemed to supercede all the governing factors that went into the production of games despite the fact that high speed broadband was only available to a select few. The achievement/trophy reward system was introduced thereby critically stunting any efforts for modding. The age heralded the demise of homebrew development. Sony and Microsoft insatiable greed had reached unprecendented scales and served as a clear indication or warning regarding the future principals of video game marketing. Piracy would not be tolerated. In short, the old ‘Kill The Poor’ doctrine had finally festered itself in one of the biggest money making industries.

All these only served to guarantee the consumers expectations of a grossly limited range of genres that soon became known collective as ‘console type’. The market was flooded with First Person Shooters that copied the standard of the old Playstation 2 game ‘Black’ with each new offering extolling ‘nice graphics’ and nothing else, the action adventure genre managed to stay above the drowning waters by utilizing a combination of famous big name franchises and sly marketing promos that consisted of short spectacular trailers that were designed to mislead gamers by conveying over the top cutscenes and short high octane in-game footage which usually was about 5% of the actual QTE riddled game play.

The RPG market fared no better. Gone were the days of immersive elaborate extragavanzas. In its place, the deplorable ‘Action RPG’ concept that hardly held its ground in the Playstation 2 days was the de-facto standard. The once revered genre had decomposed into an unrecognizable state as many major RPG developers saw the exodus of their legendary workforce who refused to abide by the degrading new standard of RPG development. As a result, the influx of inept and unskilled programmers and developers quickly assimilated into the vacated positions. Their less than stellar abilities soon became apparent as gamers were force fed some of the worlds worst RPG games of all time. Even the greatest franchises brought shame with unforgivable offerings that were so inferior it remains hard to believe that they had passed a single quality inspection. SquareEnix who once commanded the respect of the masses were found delving into the bottom of rotting barrels to replenish their loss of genius. Bioware simply slipped into a steaming mire of shit by grossly underestimating RPG gamers the world over and seemed to have re-evaluated their strategy based on the ‘Dollar! Dollar bill y’all’ code.

The market was reshaped and corners were cut. Real programmers became extinct. Console manufacturers sat back and cashed their cheques. Third party developers aquired a new degree of arrogance. The software list for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 had soon filled itself with titles that would not have made it past the planning stages a little more than a decade ago. And console gamers? Well, they had now become those fuckers who buy games.

So, to all game buying fuckers out there, myself included, of course. The future looks bleak but being the fuckers that we are, we won’t lose hope even if hope abandons us by tapping us on the shoulder and saying goodbye. We’ve survived the boredom of a few Modern Warfare tours, hell, some of us got cheated badly into joining the Colonial Marines, we’ve seen Krikwall..once, at least and we frowned and sighed and made that choice closely based on our favorite color. And now, we stand upon the cusp of a brand new generation of gaming as we watch Microsoft and Sony struggle to squirt their premature new babies out of their disinfected anuses thanks to the panic induced by the WiiU from Nintendo, who still remain radiant as ever, unfazed and unchallenged by the Disk Operating System makers (kiss home-made programming goodbye!) and the creators of the Video Cassette Recorders (porn at home!) who both have a perchant for slyly slipping their cocks in the gamers ass. Well, we don’t care what is going to happen next, because we are all strapped in for the ride and none of us are bending over forward again. Let’s hope that this time the ride over the cliff is a short but good one.

Fool's Gold

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Army of Two: Devil's Cartel

If  you ever wanted to take a ride on a 80s movie train, Army of Two Devil’s Cartel is it. Third in the franchise, I hated the second one…40th day. Gameplay was slow, co-op was too rigid and graphics was generally very PS2. Now this is one of the games that was purpose made for co-op play, online or offline. This is probably an important consideration if you are going to be playing this with someone as the single player option isn’t all that hot. You have very little control over your partner and for some reason, it just doesn’t play that well.

So EA took over the reigns and installed the Frostbite Engine. Devil’s Cartel started to look better since then but not much. Graphics is only one aspect of the game, the rest is positively gameplay.

This new installment has two new guys as Rios and Saleem are semi-retired, well sort of, until Saleem becomes the bad guy, hired by the drug cartel. The two new heros are simply known as Alpha and Bravo and with Rios as back up, time to kick ass.

Faster and Better

Going back to 40th Day—which in my book bombed bigger than a constipated water buffalo. But this one plays much better and faster. The controls are slicker and the play environment is far less rigid. Sure the usual controls are still there. Taking cover, breaching and tag teaming to take out a single badie. But it’s different. You find yourself fighting the controls less and there isn’t much resistance to the controls.Getting in and out of cover was a pain the last one as the controls stuck, this one doesn’t.

Overkill mode is back too, allowing you to become invincible during those precious seconds when you most need it. In this mode, you have unlimited health and ammo. Both players can access this power up at the same time but I never found the need to.

Stage by Stage

One of the problems with shooting games in local co-op mode is that when you play as a single player, some missions become questionable. For example in one mission where you need to provide cover for each other while you are up in the air in a chopper and your partner is down below. Your chopper can take on multiple hits from rocket fire from below without flinching because your partner [AI] needs to take out the rocket launchers from below. It is silly but there is no need to do this since you can’t possibly have control over two players while playing alone so for these challenges, you sort of become invincible. I remember the chopper taking multiple hits. Not a scratch on my health score or the chopper’s damage.

This changes when two players are at the helm. You need to back up your partner or he gets killed. This two tier system is most fun as you separate from your partner to take a different route. This makes for better gameplay as you have to battle alone and if you die, your partner can’t reach you to revive you. Revival is fast too, that is a bonus.

The weapons are pretty stoic affairs. You get to choose your loadout, SMGs, Assault Rifles, Sniper rifles, Machine guns, etc. You get through each stage and get rewarded with cash to buy these great little weapons. But there is a limit to the amount of accessories. Like an iPhone, you can choose a different camo paint, install better sights, silencers and blast shields. The side arm is less inspiring. You get standard issue pistols with no customization available unless all you’re looking for is a camo paint job.

There are no RPGs, heat seekers or the odd AVIS rent-a-tank. You get to shoot people with Gatling guns and a grenade launcher on some missions but it’s not part of the standard load out. That coz you need to take on these heavies, similar to the Juggernauts from Call of Duty series. Heavily armored and carrying a machine gun or a shotgun, they do heavy damage but you can counter that with some well placed shots to the head or use your Overkill ticket.

Gone are weapon exchanges. You can’t swap weapons with your partner but you can pick one up from a dead enemy. There are no ammo dumps to ante up but with more than enough dead enemies lying after the mayhem, getting reloaded isn’t a problem.

The much advertised shoot-the-turkey-after-you-shoot-its-hiding-place is misstated. Not everything will go to dust if you fire at it long enough. Some hiding places are not that difficult to take down but that applies to your hiding places as well. The aiming isn’t spot on either. There have been times when I aimed for the head and the shot just didn’t register because of some bug.

Bug wise, I only found one. I was floating in mid-air for no apparent reason and could not shoot back. It was only after my hiding place got got blown up that I found myself being let down to earth again.

Conclusion

It’s fun, it’s not fantastic but as a two player co-op, it’s better than expected. Like an 80s action movie. Lots of shooting, killing and mayhem.  There is very little variation to the gameplay and you can’t possibly expect this game to be such a hit that it somehow eclipses Call or Duty. What this game offers you is a tag-team play that is a pleasant surprise.

There are no big time enemies to take out, no puzzles, no struggling with high places or gameplay on rails where you have to push different buttons to execute a kill. The melee option looks positive. If you are up close, you just slaughter them, if they come after you with a knife, you wrestle them to the ground and do unto him what he wanted to do unto you. Play time is roughly six hours, but I was taking my time.

It’s simple. Light hearted at times and easy to get into. The story and cut scenes are reminiscent of a typical 80s action movie. No depth, lots of getting even. That said, blind violence is not a bad thing.


Army of Two: Devil's Cartel

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Unreal Engine 3 For The Web

Mozilla and Epic Games are working on bringing a web version of the Unreal Engine 3.

Mozilla stated their commitment toward developing applications improving 3D performance on the web. Browsers will be enabled to fully utilize a hyper efficient JavaScript capable of displaying the fastest and most visually impressive 3D works.

Here’s the ambitious lowdown from Mozilla.

Unreal Engine 3 For The Web

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Resident Evil 6 And Left 4 Dead 2 Crossover

Capcom has announced that the PC version of Resident Evil 6 will feature characters and creatures from Valve’s popular Left 4 Dead 2.

PC owners will have the luxury of playing the exclusive version of RE:6 Mercenaries No Mercy mode that will allow them to select the cast from Left 4 Dead 2 along with the original RE:6 characters. It will also feature a couple of nefarious monsters from the Left 4 Dead series.

The PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 will also see the appearance of a few creatures from Resident Evil 6 making their presence felt.

Resident Evil 6 And Left 4 Dead 2 Crossover

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Not a WipEout Clone

Have you played WipEout on the PS2? It rocked and WipEout was put to sleep by SCE with the very last installment being WipEout 2048 on the PS Vita. Now here’s a chance for someone to recycle the series into iOS fodder but Pixelbite seems to have missed the point.

I love the whole WipEout series. I bought in on the PSP and got it on the PS3 too. That said, I didn’t hesitate to download Repulze in the hope it was a clone of a good gravity racer.

Man was I mistaken. First and formost, Repulze may LOOK like WipEout but doesn’t play like it at all. The control is limited to onscreen left to right (or by tilting your iDevice which is not recommended due to the limited scope of your turning radius) and boosting is done by going through these colored gates. You need to collect a number of them to get a boost.

Then there is the gameplay. There are NO competitors! This is a pure TT race (TT being a Time Trial) and you don’t bump fenders with any opposing team. So this also means, no weapons to pick up to blow away the opposition.

Crashing is optional of course and should you do it too many times (which happens to be quite often) you get a time penalty handed to you. So in order to get through this game, you will need among other talents, clairvoyance, to get by those nasty turns.

The graphics are cool, that much I must admit. It looks the part and plays smoothly too. But beyond this shell, there isn’t much that will compel you play on, except maybe when you want to beat your friend’s score posted on the time standings.

Once you get past the spiffy graphics, you will find it hard to motivate yourself to do anything on the game. The controls don’t always work out and regardless of your need for an adrenaline rush, you will not be rewarded with the same thrills of say playing the real WipEout on a PSP for that matter.

 

Conclusion

Is there life on Mars? I think you’d be better off pondering such questions than playing the game. Repulze offers limited thrills and repeat gameplay. The only motivation is to challenge your friend’s time on different tracks if you have a friend to play with.

The idea behind a TT gravity racer has been done before, Repulze is just a repackaged version of the same thing. You’d probably marvel at the effort of putting the whole game together but beyond that. I can’t think of a reason to buy this game except when it cost only 0.99 cents.

Not a WipEout Clone

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20 Minutes Of Up Coming Turn Based RPG

The first slice of gameplay footage from Kickstarter success Shadowrun Returns has been released online.

Nearly 20 minutes of alpha gameplay are available to watch below. It’s our best look yet at Harebrained Schemes’ ambitious project, which completed its crowd-funding campaign almost a year ago.

Shadowrun Returns’ barn-storming Kickstarter raised a huge $1.89m (£1.25m), more than quadruple its $400,000 goal.

Highlights of the new footage include demonstrations of the game’s solo and party-based fight systems. You can holster weapons to try and trick the game’s enemies, use cover, and shoot people in the face with a shotgun.

The turn-based role-player is due for an “early summer” release for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android.

20 Minutes Of Up Coming Turn Based RPG

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Respect The Gamer

Although the economy might not be in the thick of a recession as it once was, that doesn’t mean things are going especially great for videogame publishers. Take Electronic Arts, for instance, which hasn’t exactly set the world on fire with its performance as of late. The start of the next generation is an ideal opportunity to effect change that doesn’t come along often, and it seems EA doesn’t intend to miss it; just yesterday it revealed plans to proliferate microtransactions throughout each of its games. As EA and publishers in general attempt to do this (and try out other means for generating additional revenue), I hope they don’t forget to treat gamers with respect.

This current generation of consoles has seen the onset of numerous new money-making tactics. While expansion packs had been offered in the past, downloadable content became the norm for nearly every game, delivering everything from horse armor to new characters, maps, and more. Online passes have attempted to fight used games sales, encouraging gamers to buy new copies of their games or, failing that, forcing them to pay money directly to the publisher for access to certain (often multiplayer) content. Always-online connections, allegedly intended to enable new features but with the obvious benefit of trying to ward off piracy, spread from games where its use was implicit to those where its use is a detriment more than anything else.

The next generation will bring with it consoles that are more open to alternative business models and give publishers an opportunity to reprogram the way gamers think about buying games (much in the same way they have over the past seven or eight years). What that means is we can expect to see the way games are delivered to us, and the way we’re asked to pay for their content, to change. You can’t blame a company like Electronic Arts, which has posted more than its fair share of losses in recent years, for trying; I like a lot of the company’s games, and I want to see more of them. I appreciate that these companies are businesses with stockholders expecting them to make money, but I do worry that things could be taken too far in a hostile direction.

I have no problem with downloadable content. I like having the option to play more of a game I enjoy without having to wait for the sequel. Provided the content in question is worthwhile and wasn’t yanked out of the base game because it’s something that they knew gamers would have to buy later, I’m perfectly okay with downloadable content continuing to be a mainstay going forward. After all, without it, we’d never have gotten something like Minerva’s Den — widely considered the best part of BioShock 2 — and so long as games are released as complete experiences like they used to be, I don’t see downloadable content as the plague that some do.

Online passes aren’t especially objectionable to me, though it’s easy to see why people dislike them. Simply by choosing to take advantage of all of a game’s features, the game loses value because a secondhand buyer would then have to purchase an online pass to gain access to whatever it locks. It also makes the simple act of borrowing a game from a friend a less-than-ideal experience.

But it’s always-online requirements that I find much more hostile. Take Diablo III, for instance. Blizzard liked to point to the benefits this requirement allowed for (persistent friends lists, server-side characters accessible from any computer, and the like), but it ignored the fact that this prevented a segment of gamers from playing the way they wanted to. This is not World of Warcraft where an online connection is critical to the experience; Diablo III can be played solo, but you have to connect to Battle.net’s servers in order to do so even if you have no intention of ever taking advantage of an online feature. Considering the sales success of Diablo III and what’s almost assured to be a big hit in Destiny, we’ve got the makings of a trend that’s only going to become more prevalent, not less.

Microtransactions are something that have already become a common sight in all sorts of games, with the possible exception of the traditional, $60 retail titles. Dead Space 3 made headlines earlier this year when it was revealed the game includes microtransactions that essentially act as a shortcut for obtaining resources used to craft weapons. It’s not the first time a shortcut like this has been offered — we’ve even seen it in multiplayer games before. In case you thought it was a one-time experiment, this kind of thing officially is not going anywhere, as EA declared this week that it will include microtransactions in all of its games.

I’m not necessarily opposed to this option being offered for those who want it — if people want to spend their money on shortcuts, so be it — but there is something that simply feels untoward about it all. Trying to squeeze extra money out of gamers, not with new or better content, but by hoping they won’t have the time or inclination to play a game the old fashioned way, strikes me as a poor strategy for turning a business around. Again, I get that this is a business and the goal is to make money, but wouldn’t better products be a preferable path to profitability? I certainly think so, and that’s before raising the concern that microtransactions could eventually influence design decisions in some capacity; if companies are going to sell weapons and the like as DLC, who’s to say they won’t also make the time investment required to obtain a high-end weapon/car/whatever higher in order to nudge people in the direction of microtransactions? Even if that doesn’t happen, the suspicion will be there, and the potential backlash won’t be good for anyone.

The bottom line is that the gaming industry needs to ensure it treats gamers with respect. It might ultimately view them as walking bank accounts, but that doesn’t mean it can’t shy away from some of the more anti-consumer practices out there. Take DRM, for instance: Far too many companies (which is to say, more than zero) place an emphasis on trying to block pirates from accessing their games rather than making the experience of buying and owning the game more pleasant. Instead of everyone putting effort into delivering a kick-ass boxed product, as some do, you have a company like Ubisoft that has, in the past, employed always-online requirements as a form of DRM that only punished legitimate customers once the DRM was cracked. It’s the equivalent of the piracy warning you’re subjected to when you boot up a DVD that can only be skipped on pirated discs, only far more detrimental. Paying customers shouldn’t be treated like criminals.

Asking to be treated with respect is not that outrageous of a request. At the very least, doing so will avoid running the risk of scaring gamers away from the industry altogether. Beyond that, publishers might even find that treating people with respect is to their benefit. By passing up an opportunity to make a quick buck, considering things from the gamers’ perspective, and delivering better games, they might find they instill a sense of loyalty that ultimately leads to gamers who are more willing to open their wallets. Perhaps the path to making money that seems to elude these companies has been in front of them this entire time.

Respect The Gamer

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