Quite simply an active gaming blog for gamers by gamers!
We review console games as well as free online games... you know the ones you love to play in the office when nobody is watching ;-)
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
EA SPORTS 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
This how EA describes 2010 FIFA world cup:
"EA SPORTS 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa features all the emotion and passion of the fiercest national rivalries battling on the world’s biggest stage, with all 199 national teams that took part in qualification, all 10 official stadiums to be used in South Africa and stadiums from each qualifying region. Gamers can play as their home nation from qualification right through to a virtual reproduction of the FIFA World Cup Final and feel what it is like to score the goal that lifts a nation. Everything fans love about the World Cup comes to life in spectacular detail, including confetti rain, streamers, & fireworks - just like the official tournament" [Electronic Art]
And honestly, I can not disagree. It's another great game in this hugely successful series. Now let's hope that the world cup has the same winners as my ps3 ;-)
There's a decent game lurking somewhere in Marvel's superhero, Iron Man. Maybe it's even a brilliant game. Sure, those palm-mounted laser cannons mean that he's going to enter most battles with his hands up, looking like he's dead set on capitulating, but he can fly, he can blast stuff into pieces, and he's made of bright, shining Metroid metal. Best of all, Iron Man's both weighty and lithe, capable of dropping out of the sky and busting open paving slabs before dancing out of the way of tracer fire and barrel-rolling into the distance.
Iron Man 2 will show you isolated moments of the character's potential, but not that many. SEGA Studios San Francisco, the team that made Tony Stark's latest movie tie-in, has already been closed down following the game's completion, and you can almost sense that external crisis intruding into the safe world of this blockbuster license. There's been a clear effort to make Iron Man work, but there's a lingering air of misery to proceedings, too: a feeling that the developers knew that it was P45s rather than DLC lurking beyond that last milestone.
In many ways, Iron Man 2 is an admirable endeavour. As ever, it has its fair share of indicators that it was rushed to meet a movie release date - there's plenty of texture pop-in, enemy animations are basic, and collision detection leaves gaps between melee attacks that Evel Knievel might have liked to try jumping - but there's a lot of effort on display, too. The story, kicking off after the end of the film by the looks of it, isn't that bad; missions show a willingness to mix up your objectives from time to time; and there's a generous upgrade system available in between levels.
SEGA's got the basics of the character right, too. Iron Man juggles ranged and melee combat relatively smoothly and there's total freedom as to whether you float through levels on your jets or run around on foot. While the control mappings for flight are a bit of a muddle, that's not the developer's fault. With weapons hogging the triggers and targeting lodged on the bumpers, there's nowhere else for your pitch control to hang out other than the face buttons, really. It's a little bit awful at first, and never becomes truly comfortable, but as with that rock climber who got his arm stuck between two boulders and had to, like, cut it off with his penknife before he starved to death, it's hard to see what else Studios San Francisco could have done given the circumstances. 'Iron Man 2' Screenshot 1
Don Cheadle voices War Machine, which sounds like a coup until you go to IMDB and realise he was in a Golden Girls spin-off.
Besides, a far bigger problem is that, beyond the basics of character control, the whole thing is faintly drab. Environments are large but blandly decorated and filled with nasty textures, muddlesome menus take too much of the pleasure out of deciding whether to spend your upgrade points on researching new weapons or learning additional combos, and combat, while never frustrating, lacks the necessary weight and connection to make it genuinely enjoyable.
No weight: that's a problem when you're making a game about a man who likes to dress in metal. Iron Man and War Machine (you can almost always choose which character to play before each mission, and deciding whether you want a basis in energy bolts or machine guns and rockets is one of the game's more entertaining choices) may look the part, but they waft around like they're made of cardboard.
This is one of my favourite games so far on the PS3 -
A veritable master class of all-round game development. From a sensational single-player experience that never takes any short-cuts and maintains its story's mythological credibility right to the end to the co-operative online play to the robust, balanced, and just plain fun multiplayer modes.
It's been a while since I bought something for the Wii. Pro Evo is my first soccer game on the Wii. I've played Pro Evo for days on the PC and PS2, so I was very interested to see how the controls would work.
Overall impression: it's ok, but not great
Maybe it' s the hours of practice on the other consoles, but it never felt real and always a bit too predictable. This can not be blamed on just the controls, so i fear Pro Evo continue to lag behind Fifa.... (it hurts to say this)
Who really is the worst gaming villain of all time? ...
10. King Bohan (Heavenly Sword)
Arguably the best thing about PS3 exclusive slash-'em up Heavenly Sword was the diabolical King Bohan, voiced with maniacal glee by Andy 'Gollum' Serkis. Bohan is obsessed with obtaining the titular sword for his own dastardly deeds and never-ending quest for power. Throughout the game his hysterical, high-pitched voice spits forth orders of murder and torture. HIs lack of compassion extends to his minions and even his own son Roach, whom he mercilessly mocks and sends to do his dirty work. A real sod and no mistake.
9. GlaDos (Portal)
Waking in the clean, glass chambers of the Aperture Science test facility, the soothing voice of GlaDos is the first thing you hear. She promises cake, and even a party. What you get instead are a series of diabolical puzzle rooms, GlaDos putting you through hours of physical and mental trauma. She makes you incinerate the only friend you have, your faithful Companion Cube. Tells you you were adopted. The cake turns out to be a lie and instead of a party, GlaDos tries to send you into a pit of fire at the end of the test. She's about as mean as an insidious female AI construct can get, and that includes Shodan from System Shock 2.
8. Albert Wesker (Resident Evil series)
Equal parts cheese and hairspray, Wesker is a former STARS team-member who turned on his comrades for heap-loads of cash paid to him by the not-so-environmentally-friendly Umbrella Corporation. He then sold out his new employers when their plans went south and wound up injecting himself with a serum which enhanced his speed and ability to heal. Completely amoral and always one to hold a grudge, Wesker seems to be motivated only by filthy lucre and the demands of his own gigantic ego. He may look like a boyband reject, but you're advised not to turn your back on him.
7. Andrew Ryan (BioShock)
Players first meet the founder of Rapture, as they descend to his broken-down underwater city in a bathysphere. He's introduced by way of a short propaganda film espousing his objectivist philosophies and presenting Rapture as a place where the gifted and exceptional are free to excel. However, the players soon find out (through a series of audio diaries) that Ryan was only keen to follow the principles of the free market until it turned against him. He then resorted to corruption and brutality to maintain his position at the top of Rapture's food-chain. Damning him even further, Ryan, for the most part couches all of his insidious behaviour in patriotic zealotry. Ultimately he emerges as a self-deluded hypocrite, who for all his pompous rhetoric about truth and the nature of man, is never able to own up to what he eventually becomes, which is a liar, and a murderer and a thief.
6. Ganondorf (The Legend Of Zelda series)
Nintendo may have a reputation for being cute and cuddly, but they sure know how to create all round bad eggs. Ganondorf is a terrifying embodiment of evil; an ugly, twisted tyrant with an unquenchable thirst for power. When he finally get his hands on the beautiful world of Hyrule, he burns it to the ground and scorches the sky black to reflect the evil in his heart. At once a powerful sorcerer, thief and a grotesque beast, Ganondorf undoubtedly takes his rightful place on this list. Fearsome ginger chinstrap, too.
5. The Lich King (World Of Warcraft)
Where do you start with the Lich King? The nemesis of all that is good and pure on Azeroth seems to be comprised almost entirely of hate and cruelty. Not content with unleashing a plague upon Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, the Lich King released undead horrors on both the Alliance and Horde lands in an attempt to lure powerful heroes into his domain, where he could consume their souls at his leisure. It's perhaps fitting that the only villain evil enough to unite the warring factions of the orcs and the humans is himself an unholy union of both species. While we're on the topic, he's also quite cynical and condescending into the bargain.
4. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy series)
A former hero of the SOLDIER unit, Sephiroth became dark and twisted as his arrogant desire for power grew stronger. He mercilessly slaughtered anyone that stood in his way as he attempted to drain the lifeforce of the planet and use it for his own malevolent will. He's also the man who killed Aeris, and for that, will remain the number one villain for many Final Fantasy fans. We must get the number of his hairdresser, though...
3. G Man (Half Life series)
The mysterious nemesis of Dr Gordon Freeman is the creepiest antagonist on this list by a country mile. It's not that G Man speaks in cryptic riddles and alludes to knowing more than he lets on about the horrors facing Freeman. It's not even that he appears by turns to be a figment of Freeman's imagination and a malevolent presence invading the good doctor's mind. No, G Man's power is wrapped up in his unblinking, piercing gaze which exudes gleefully sadistic malice and that rasping, sandpaper voice which only needs to hiss "Mr Freeeee-man" to make your flesh crawl. It's a testament to the animation and voice-work that went into creating this character that out of all the horrors encountered in Half Life, this polite, besuited gentleman is the most likely to feature in your nightmares. "Rise and shine, Mr Freeman. Rise and shine."
2. M Bison (Street Fighter II onwards)
Players don't need to think to hard to find a reason to both fear and loathe M Bison. He's the leader of a global terrorist cell. He killed Guile's best friend. He murdered Chun Li's father. His organisation destroyed T. Hawk's homeland for material gain. He brainwashed Cammy. His arsenal of moves contained the unlockable side-scrolling torpedo. He was the top choice for anyone butting into your game in the arcade. He was the ignorable swansong to Raul Julia's esteemed career in acting. He is a character that is equal parts smarm and unstoppable brutality. Above all, anyone who ever played Street Fighter II remembers how much their palms sweated, their mouth went dry and their hands shook the first time they faced M Bison.
1. Bowser (Super Mario Bros series)
The embodiment of all that is evil in video games, Bowser has been tormenting players probably longer than any other character in the medium. The oldest and most resolutely evil villain in Mario's canon – ever since Donkey Kong sold out and turned good – Bowser remains steadfast in his belief that kidnapping a princess is clearly a key part in any plan for universal domination. This is a villain so evil, he attacks during the spring fair, destroys Mario's holiday and even puts his own children to work in his never-ending quest to defeat the portly plumber. He probably works as a traffic warden on the weekends.
We could fill this intro paragraph with some gumpf about the innumerable awful Batman games that litter the annals of videogame history - can Arkham Asylum buck the trend etc.? We could, but we won't. It will only waste valuable time, so we'll cut right to the chase and tell you that Batman: Arkham Asylum isn't one of these games. Even if we expand the search to all superhero games, we're struggling to think of a title in recent times that comes close to the level of quality exhibited here by Rocksteady Studios and Eidos.
At its heart, Arkham Asylum is a hack 'n slash game, which is a genre that has two fundamental gameplay tenets at its core: puzzles and combat. Put another way, poor hack 'n slashers usually fall down on at least one of these two areas, if not both. Great hack 'n slash titles, on the other hand, excel at both (i.e. God of War). The curious thing about Arkham Asylum is that combat and puzzles are not where it excels. It's not that there's anything wrong with either one - both gameplay devices are thoroughly competent throughout - It's just that they're not the elements that shine through.
Instead, aspects of the game such as its story, characters, hidden items, inventory, and set-pieces are what set it apart from the rest. Other hack 'n slash titles will often gloss over features like these, treating them as little more than padding, but Arkham Asylum embraces them. As a result, well observed touches are poured all over the periphery of this game, raising it from an above average title to one that lies somewhere on the border between very good and superb.
Other set-pieces that particularly stand out are the stealth sections in Arkham Asylum. Our fears at the preview stage were that these sections might suffer from two-dimensional AI and overly rigid principles, such as Batman's ability to disappear from the enemy's sight simply by mounting a gargoyle statue. Having played through the game, we can now say that although the principles are rigid, this is by no means a bad thing. It's actually what makes the experience fun, which may not be for stealth purists but we'll bet good money that most gamers will enjoy it.
In addition to the sonic Batarang, there are a range of other upgradeable gadgets to get to grips with throughout the game, whether it's one that spurts out explosive gel or another that uses a nifty thumbstick mini-game to power-down electrified doors. Each one makes you feel more like The Dark Knight himself, which is perhaps the ultimate aim of a Batman game after all. These gadgets are also pretty useful for uncovering hidden items across Arkham, of which there are literally hundreds, from trophies dished out by The Riddler to mysterious memorial stones for the asylum's founder, Amadeus Arkham.
These items don't merely unlock cursory concept art and stale character bios though, as paying close attention to them uncovers oodles of depth underneath the game's surface. Usually we don't have much time for the way these story branches are dished out in games, via a lump of badly written text that pops up on screen when you uncover a letter or some such. In Arkham Asylum's case though, they're dished out through voice clips, such as records of psychiatric sessions with the game's supervillain inmates or the tragic side story of Amadeus Arkham told from beyond the grave by the founder himself.
All of this serves to immerse gamers in the world further beyond the stunning visual depiction of Arkham itself, which is without doubt the best use of Unreal Engine 3 technology outside of an Epic game. Snappy dialogue for the game's characters is then expertly provided by perfect-for-the-job script writer Paul Dini, while Mark Hamill's role reprisal as The Joker couldn't be more spot-on. It all adds up to a story, characters, and setting that are darker than The Bat himself, which is far more than we could have hoped for (most Batman games veer more towards the corny superhero image, as if they were pictures on the front of a cereal box).
But while all of these supplemental features are far beyond what most games manage to muster, the rudimentary gameplay also flows strongly alongside this and is paced well enough that the game rarely becomes repetitive. Combat is simplistic but manages to avoid the rigmarole of button mashing that the genre is plagued by with the application of a rhythmic system for attacks. A multiplier is ratcheted up with well-timed, chained attacks on the X button or counter attacks on the Y button, while a range of Takedown moves can then be used to finish off an enemy. Upgradeable finishing moves, which can be dished out once a certain amount of chained hits are achieved, then become available as the game progresses.
The combat really is that simple, although widely varied animations that flow well between each attack do make the system feel much more dynamic than it would otherwise have been. In all fairness though, the system is a lot more fitting of Batman's character than one that would have him doing triple-whipspin Batarang attacks by pressing X, X, X, Y, B, as is often the case in lesser hack 'n slash games. Nonetheless, we'd like to have seen more variation in the enemies we faced throughout the game. Rocksteady Studios attempts to up the ante too many times by simply throwing more enemies at you rather than different types that require varying approaches. Beyond the game's basic henchmen, enemies don't get much more varied than a knife or cattle prod wielding bad guy, so a little more spice could've been added by Rocksteady here. Occasional mini-bosses pumped with a drug called Titan do remedy this problem to a degree in the game's later stages though.
Puzzle solving is then dealt with through the game's Detective Mode, which is initiated with the left bumper and casts an X-ray style filter over the environment. Through this filter, gamers can pickup everything from DNA and fingerprint trails left by supervillains and those they have kidnapped, to electronic panels that can be fiddled with to open doors or kick-start ventilator shaft fans. With that in mind, we've got to say that we haven't seen the plot device of a ventilator shaft being hammered to quite such an extent since the Alien movies. Batman is invariably locked out of pretty much everywhere in Arkham Asylum and asks with almost comical repetition when this happens, "There must be another way in, there always is." Could that be a ventilator shaft by chance? Almost invariably in this game's case, yes.
The single-player campaign's length clocks in far beyond the 10 hour mark and will likely take around 15 hours for most gamers to play through. In addition to this, the sheer volume of items dotted around the game world and the various ways to get at them (it's almost reminiscent of LEGO: Batman in this way), make multiple play-throughs more appealing than most other games. Once all of that's done and dusted, a Challenge mode with online leaderboards then extends Arkham Asylum's impressive lifecycle, making it a more than worthy purchase.
