I saw something in a comment thread today, and it made me a little bit cross. Not cross in a reply-to-the-comment sort of way, just in a blog-that-the-guy-will-never-read sort of way.
As most gamers are want to do, I frequent The Escapist during my jaunts into the Internet. One of the videos in there was the reveal trailer for the Gunsmith mode which will be included in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. If you haven't seen this then I suggest you look up this trailer and the E3 demonstration. To say it made me excited about how the Kinect can be used for things beyond dancing games would be an understatement. I was practically foaming at the mouth, and I've never even played a Ghost Recon game (the image of someone who has watching this trailer then collapsing in frantic ecstasy comes to mind, which dampens the experience somewhat).
The comment thread contained an entry which described the Gunsmith mode as "a gimmick". I had initially mixed feelings about this, which have gradually moved closer to the negative. For those who don't know and didn't go to Google when I suggested it, Gunsmith will be the bit of Future Soldier where the player can customise their weapons, down to the smallest component - from barrels to gas parts. The controls are really cool-looking as I see it: the game uses a Kinect to allow the player to disassemble weapons, view and switch out parts, and test the weapon on a shooting range using hand signals and voice commands. From the look of demos it amounts to the level of the computer from Star Trek - you can even ask the game to optimise your weapon for a particular purpose e.g. long range, damage output etc. The use of technology looks damn impressive and if it works out then it'll set a new standard for controls in a shooter.
And then some jackass calls it a gimmick. This sort of language is starting to grate on me a little. Yes, there are some features to game which are just gimmicks, tacked-on extras to make a game look original with minimal effort. For example, the gimmick to Madworld was the fact that it was a violent adult game on the Wii (if it had been on any other console, it would have slipped way under the radar). However, some new and different game features are genuinely going for innovation, but get thrown in with the turkeys, and it gets on my wick.
It seems to be that many will only accept a game as at all original if it's damn near 100% new. Take Little Big Planet, for example. That game was applauded for being new, and rightly so; it was unlike anything on the market at that time. It's player-created-content focus was fresh and original.
Future Soldier isn't going that far (only so much you can do with a sequel), but I think that the developers deserve praise for really trying here. It's unfair for people to write Gunsmith off as a gimmick at this stage, especially considering the precedent for mistakes that word has: the motion controls in the Wii were called a gimmick way back when, but it ended up starting the biggest revolution in gaming hardware since the DualShock (which I imagine received similar jeers prior to its release).
I'll of course withhold full judgement until release day, but if Gunsmith works out well then the guys at Ubisoft should get major kudos. It's a sad fact that contemporary games show such a lack of creative vision, we should have more appreciation for when someone actually puts the effort in. The Kinect has such potential as a piece of hardware, and it's been squandered for the most part by developers (by the look of the current range of titles, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Kinect was a dance-mat). Ubisoft are trying to put it to good use (as are others, it should be pointed out - the coming year or so will really show us whether or not the Kinect can be used properly), so I say cut 'em some slack you guys. Innovation looks to be on their minds, and innovation is our watchword. Recognise it when it's there.
Now, if the game does turn out to be a samey shooter and that Gunsmith is in fact a useless tack-on, then fair play to you. Just do me a favour and save if for the release. I like to live in hope for the future.
Comments down below :)
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is the property of Ubisoft.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Friday, 10 June 2011
Duke Nukem Forever Review
Wow, first proper review of a full video game :)
Ok, we've waited 15 years for this, I'll cut to the chase: Good but not great. C+ to B-, depending on how you like your shooters (and games in general), and how much nostalgia you have for the Duke series in particular.
Having been born in the early 90s and not really getting into gaming until at least 2000 [that's right: the world has been anticipating this game longer than I have been gaming], Duke Nukem did not form any part of my formative years, and therefore has no place in my nostalgia. I'd like to think that makes me a lot more impartial but, while I have played a Duke game, I won't see this through the lens of someone who has been really waiting for this. Whether that's an advantage or a handicap I'll let you decide, but it did worry me that I might not "get" it as much as I otherwise would.
Not so, however. The game is pretty open and broad in terms of what there is to get: the narrative is simple [aliens invade, you kill the aliens], the jokes are mostly pop/gamer culture references and anything that refers to the Duke Nukem games is pretty easy to understand, just like the games themselves I'd wager. The gameplay is just as simple, but not quite what I was expecting. Given it's pedigree, I expected this to be a basic run-and-gun shooter throughout, with all the originality carried by the jokes - yes, the humour is there and it's good, including (Spoiler Alert) a chuckle-worthy send up of Christian Bale's notorious rant - I was pleasantly surprised with the other things to do. The shooting sections are broken up at intervals with driving, platforming and even a bit of light puzzle solving. It got me thinking of all the best shooters of today, particularly Call of Duty and it's ilk: they're good fun, but all you do is kill things in those games. Duke Nukem Forever, while not nearly the smartest game on the market does provide challenges other than aiming, moving and ducking for cover.
The game world is used particularly well for this. The world itself is fun to look at and listen to, with things to see, people to talk to and buttons to push. While this isn't the first game to do this by a long shot, DNF actively encourages exploration of this world with rewards in the form of boosts to your health bar, just for playing slots/benching pressing/admiring yourself in the mirror. The fun doesn't stop at shooting the baddies, which is nice to see in a generation where only still it seem pure platformers and RPGs encourage that kind of messing around, and it doesn't need a massive sandbox to do it.
The tone follows much in the footsteps of it's predecessors in being a very boy's-own tale of heroism, without being at all serious. The developers have recognised the status of Duke Nukem as a character, and play on that well in the game. The events take place in a world that admires the hero for real in the way that his real-life fans admire him ironically. Duke has always been a caricature, a combination of boyhood fantasies, the traditional ideal man and even the American Dream parodied to hell; a completely non-introspective chauvinistic action-man. In this game, however, it goes up a level: Duke has taken all of that, and made something of it. He has the admiration of billions, all the money he could want, women dropping to their knees at his feet. Hell, the game starts with him receiving favours from twins in a huge house filled with statues of himself. He is lionised, in this world, for qualities that in real-life would get him branded a jerk and a lowlife - and that's just funny! It's the level of fame he has in the gamer world, come to life. Practically everything the NPC cast has to say is along the lines of "Thank God you're here!" or "You are the most awesomest thing EVER!" Duke comes back with a pure-90's one-liner, and the game moves on, never losing the feeling that you are God's gift to mankind.
The game isn't without faults, of course. The graphics aren't the best thing going: the textures are occasionally bland and flat, and objects appear blurry at short distances (I had the graphics set on Ultra; the game ran well, but it didn't look as good as that might sound). While enemies vary reasonably well (the fact that they're pigs mostly excuses the no-more-than-adequate AI), the things you kill them with don't. Out of the half-a-dozen-ish weapons I saw, I regularly used only half of them. The particularly special weapons (including a Freeze Gun) are fun at first as a novelty, but were nearly always so badly designed that I dropped them almost instantly.
Still, I can honestly say I have had fun with Duke Nukem Forever. It was a good laugh, and there was always something interesting going on. Whether I was shooting, jumping or getting shrunk to the size of an action figure, I always felt like an action hero. While no-where near perfect, and very little to justify all those years in development, I can't deny that I enjoyed myself, which is no less than I asked for. I'd recommend it to those who like a good varied game without much narrative weight. Can't say how well it would go down with an old-school Duke Nukem enthusiast - depends on how hard you're holding onto those rose-tinted specs I suppose.
At time of writing, I haven't quite finished the game [damn near, though], but I will be getting it done within the next couple of days (got some things going in the meantime) and if my opinions change at that point then there will certainly be a post script underneath.
Duke Nukem Forever is the property of 2K Games, and was developed by 3D Realms and Gearbox
Ok, we've waited 15 years for this, I'll cut to the chase: Good but not great. C+ to B-, depending on how you like your shooters (and games in general), and how much nostalgia you have for the Duke series in particular.
Having been born in the early 90s and not really getting into gaming until at least 2000 [that's right: the world has been anticipating this game longer than I have been gaming], Duke Nukem did not form any part of my formative years, and therefore has no place in my nostalgia. I'd like to think that makes me a lot more impartial but, while I have played a Duke game, I won't see this through the lens of someone who has been really waiting for this. Whether that's an advantage or a handicap I'll let you decide, but it did worry me that I might not "get" it as much as I otherwise would.
Not so, however. The game is pretty open and broad in terms of what there is to get: the narrative is simple [aliens invade, you kill the aliens], the jokes are mostly pop/gamer culture references and anything that refers to the Duke Nukem games is pretty easy to understand, just like the games themselves I'd wager. The gameplay is just as simple, but not quite what I was expecting. Given it's pedigree, I expected this to be a basic run-and-gun shooter throughout, with all the originality carried by the jokes - yes, the humour is there and it's good, including (Spoiler Alert) a chuckle-worthy send up of Christian Bale's notorious rant - I was pleasantly surprised with the other things to do. The shooting sections are broken up at intervals with driving, platforming and even a bit of light puzzle solving. It got me thinking of all the best shooters of today, particularly Call of Duty and it's ilk: they're good fun, but all you do is kill things in those games. Duke Nukem Forever, while not nearly the smartest game on the market does provide challenges other than aiming, moving and ducking for cover.
The game world is used particularly well for this. The world itself is fun to look at and listen to, with things to see, people to talk to and buttons to push. While this isn't the first game to do this by a long shot, DNF actively encourages exploration of this world with rewards in the form of boosts to your health bar, just for playing slots/benching pressing/admiring yourself in the mirror. The fun doesn't stop at shooting the baddies, which is nice to see in a generation where only still it seem pure platformers and RPGs encourage that kind of messing around, and it doesn't need a massive sandbox to do it.
The tone follows much in the footsteps of it's predecessors in being a very boy's-own tale of heroism, without being at all serious. The developers have recognised the status of Duke Nukem as a character, and play on that well in the game. The events take place in a world that admires the hero for real in the way that his real-life fans admire him ironically. Duke has always been a caricature, a combination of boyhood fantasies, the traditional ideal man and even the American Dream parodied to hell; a completely non-introspective chauvinistic action-man. In this game, however, it goes up a level: Duke has taken all of that, and made something of it. He has the admiration of billions, all the money he could want, women dropping to their knees at his feet. Hell, the game starts with him receiving favours from twins in a huge house filled with statues of himself. He is lionised, in this world, for qualities that in real-life would get him branded a jerk and a lowlife - and that's just funny! It's the level of fame he has in the gamer world, come to life. Practically everything the NPC cast has to say is along the lines of "Thank God you're here!" or "You are the most awesomest thing EVER!" Duke comes back with a pure-90's one-liner, and the game moves on, never losing the feeling that you are God's gift to mankind.
The game isn't without faults, of course. The graphics aren't the best thing going: the textures are occasionally bland and flat, and objects appear blurry at short distances (I had the graphics set on Ultra; the game ran well, but it didn't look as good as that might sound). While enemies vary reasonably well (the fact that they're pigs mostly excuses the no-more-than-adequate AI), the things you kill them with don't. Out of the half-a-dozen-ish weapons I saw, I regularly used only half of them. The particularly special weapons (including a Freeze Gun) are fun at first as a novelty, but were nearly always so badly designed that I dropped them almost instantly.
Still, I can honestly say I have had fun with Duke Nukem Forever. It was a good laugh, and there was always something interesting going on. Whether I was shooting, jumping or getting shrunk to the size of an action figure, I always felt like an action hero. While no-where near perfect, and very little to justify all those years in development, I can't deny that I enjoyed myself, which is no less than I asked for. I'd recommend it to those who like a good varied game without much narrative weight. Can't say how well it would go down with an old-school Duke Nukem enthusiast - depends on how hard you're holding onto those rose-tinted specs I suppose.
At time of writing, I haven't quite finished the game [damn near, though], but I will be getting it done within the next couple of days (got some things going in the meantime) and if my opinions change at that point then there will certainly be a post script underneath.
Duke Nukem Forever is the property of 2K Games, and was developed by 3D Realms and Gearbox
Monday, 6 June 2011
SWars-gasm
This...is...the single greatest cutscene in the history of mankind. It is also the greatest thing to be made in the name of Star Wars. I am so damn impressed and excited, and I was already impressed with and excited by this game.
Watch this! DO EET: http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/return
The game is Star Wars: The Old Republic. For the uninitiated (though if you've more than a passing interest in games, you won't be), that's the Star Wars Massively Multiplayer Online RPG being developed by Bioware. It's been in the works a while now, and while I've not kept myself 100% abreast of every detail, I do like to watch the trailers, which include such beauties as Deceived and Hope. They are animated masterpieces, and easily top most action scenes from the films. This new one, entitled "Return" is not just any trailer. It's the opening cinematic to game itself...and and what a f***ing opening!
First, we have a smuggler with a cowboy hat and duster coat. This guy just waltzes onscreen and manages to be the coolest, most dashing rogue since Han Solo himself set the bar for cool, dashing rogues. Two of other characters, the female Jedi and the Trooper are easily recognisable from Hope. There's a swift attack from the Sith (the Jedi Master wasting no time deducing what's going on, nice to see the Jedi on the ball) and it all kicks off.
The next bit will be what I point to when I say that EVERYONE will want to play the Smuggler class upon release. This dude just eats and breathes cool. Sure, that Trooper is badass here and in his previous appearance (the guy goes at a Sith with a knife - that just screams "don't mess"), but it's a little overshadowed by the gunslinger; the Browncoats will be all over that.
The last part is the greatest lightsaber battle ever. The first part is awesome all by itself, and it could have ended there, but then...TRIPLE SABER ACTION!!! God damn, that's just hot. I don't think words can do it justice, you really have to see this for yourself, guys. There's a bit of dogfighting, which is pretty nice, but it doesn't carry on too long; time is the difference between an epic climax and just jumping the shark. This trailer gets the right one.
I have to say, I always thought that if any MMO would persuade me to fork over the dosh it would be The Old Republic, but now I am just too excited. I hope this remains the open cinematic for the final game, because this would provide the perfect mood for any session of Star Wars goodness. My only lament is that we must wait a few more months for it...
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the property of Lucasarts, developed by Bioware
Watch this! DO EET: http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/return
The game is Star Wars: The Old Republic. For the uninitiated (though if you've more than a passing interest in games, you won't be), that's the Star Wars Massively Multiplayer Online RPG being developed by Bioware. It's been in the works a while now, and while I've not kept myself 100% abreast of every detail, I do like to watch the trailers, which include such beauties as Deceived and Hope. They are animated masterpieces, and easily top most action scenes from the films. This new one, entitled "Return" is not just any trailer. It's the opening cinematic to game itself...and and what a f***ing opening!
First, we have a smuggler with a cowboy hat and duster coat. This guy just waltzes onscreen and manages to be the coolest, most dashing rogue since Han Solo himself set the bar for cool, dashing rogues. Two of other characters, the female Jedi and the Trooper are easily recognisable from Hope. There's a swift attack from the Sith (the Jedi Master wasting no time deducing what's going on, nice to see the Jedi on the ball) and it all kicks off.
The next bit will be what I point to when I say that EVERYONE will want to play the Smuggler class upon release. This dude just eats and breathes cool. Sure, that Trooper is badass here and in his previous appearance (the guy goes at a Sith with a knife - that just screams "don't mess"), but it's a little overshadowed by the gunslinger; the Browncoats will be all over that.
The last part is the greatest lightsaber battle ever. The first part is awesome all by itself, and it could have ended there, but then...TRIPLE SABER ACTION!!! God damn, that's just hot. I don't think words can do it justice, you really have to see this for yourself, guys. There's a bit of dogfighting, which is pretty nice, but it doesn't carry on too long; time is the difference between an epic climax and just jumping the shark. This trailer gets the right one.
I have to say, I always thought that if any MMO would persuade me to fork over the dosh it would be The Old Republic, but now I am just too excited. I hope this remains the open cinematic for the final game, because this would provide the perfect mood for any session of Star Wars goodness. My only lament is that we must wait a few more months for it...
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the property of Lucasarts, developed by Bioware
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