tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1679532553449364242024-02-21T15:36:22.206+00:00GamesReview UKThe latest reviews and commentary from GamesReview. View the archives for older content.GamesReview UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06789674923484924185noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-90068171650667405322013-02-20T12:50:00.003+00:002013-02-20T13:01:57.430+00:00Playstation Nostalgia: Demo Disc 1 (1994)<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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xGUNISHMENTxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-58508413332212287802012-12-04T14:34:00.001+00:002013-02-20T12:51:38.335+00:00Planetside 2: Epic Tank Rush<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rlSOuHrt7Ww&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=1&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x50DF8F&color2=0x58DC56&border=0&loop=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rlSOuHrt7Ww&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=0&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x50DF8F&color2=0x58DC56&border=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>xGUNISHMENTxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-51472249198761888852011-04-30T12:56:00.007+01:002011-08-26T14:33:18.871+01:00A look at Breach and thoughts on a few new FPS titles<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<object width= "640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6k6Eo3y7_wU&hd=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=0&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x32E851&color2=0x5AD337&border=0&loop=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6k6Eo3y7_wU&hd=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=0&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x32E851&color2=0x5AD337&border=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>xGUNISHMENTxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-61235198480456523432011-02-26T13:14:00.002+00:002011-02-26T13:28:30.971+00:00Ultima Online: The Greatest MMORPG of All Time!<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x-5GBfQwqNA&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=0&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x4FD93B&color2=0x6CCA6E&border=0&loop=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x-5GBfQwqNA&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=0&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x4FD93B&color2=0x6CCA6E&border=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object>xGUNISHMENTxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-52085179283446193672011-02-16T22:24:00.013+00:002011-02-19T15:24:26.346+00:00Looking back at... Delta Force (1998)<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/00266610718023806621">xGUNISHMENTx</a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://gamesreview.co.uk/1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CjC9sgqn1I4&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=0&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x4FD93B&color2=0x6CCA6E&border=0&loop=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CjC9sgqn1I4&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&autoplay=0&rel=0&fs=1&color1=0x4FD93B&color2=0x6CCA6E&border=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>GamesReview UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06789674923484924185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-32950445385539330502011-02-16T21:48:00.002+00:002011-02-16T22:29:03.117+00:00Changes<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 103px; width: 88px;" /></a></span><br />
by<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604">The Critical Alien</a></div><br />
It's been a while since the blog was last updated. Frankly, I've just been too busy recently. However, fear not! For those of you eager to find out where my gaming time has taken me in the last few months, stick around. Updates will be hitting soon.<br />
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My focus has started to switch from text based reviews / gaming commentary (old net) to the ever evolving medium of v-logging. Most of my new posts will therefore be direct links to YouTube vids of mine. Be aware that some of this content will be strictly "for the lulz"! Call this laziness on my part if you like... I call it rolling with the online trends. <br />
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Also, due to some recent back-end housekeeping, you may find that certain links and pictures will no longer work for various older posts. This is due to a recent server change I've made for the older content from my original website. Although I have all this backed up, I don't intend to upload it all across into the blog again. The actual reviews themselves can still be accessed in the blog archives going back to 2003.GamesReview UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06789674923484924185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-91409504461817971602010-09-17T15:21:00.003+01:002011-02-16T21:53:04.175+00:00Review: Halo Reach<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 103px; width: 88px;" /></a></span><br />
by<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604">The Critical Alien</a></div><br />
Years ago, I posted an <a href="http://gamesreviewblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/archive-review-halo-3.html">angry review</a> about <i>Halo 3</i>. I didn't like it much but saw hope and potential in what was achieved by Bungie. <i>Halo 3</i> was technically incredible but lacked the Halo feel and omitted a lot of features we all wanted to see at the time in 2007.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8omUVbRveGTfNgI0Ikm0Rq-IY-KpT8jPFKHWSVS0cGjYYgAhDAjRk_3he9pdeGmgz3QClduJEbNVFawosyN_BsDi1OP6-IY7vC4HdfTp3CcrBID85ouThi8c-6tPtfGwT4nhjHX-SCZsI/s1600/Halo-Reach1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8omUVbRveGTfNgI0Ikm0Rq-IY-KpT8jPFKHWSVS0cGjYYgAhDAjRk_3he9pdeGmgz3QClduJEbNVFawosyN_BsDi1OP6-IY7vC4HdfTp3CcrBID85ouThi8c-6tPtfGwT4nhjHX-SCZsI/s320/Halo-Reach1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>So, years later and here we are with <b>Halo Reach</b>. This is Bungie's final Halo game and you get the sense that they wanted to go out with a bang. For my money, this is the greatest Halo game I've played. It feels like the original Halo (which is good) and adds many new features to the mix. My favourite is Firefight mode. I'm a stickler for co-op and survival based co-op in particular. Firefight mode, which was first devised in last year's <i>Halo: ODST</i>, is insanely fun and addictive. I don't feel like I've even touched the surface of it either. You can alter any option you like and pretty much define the rules and content of your game to a precise idea in your head. Customisation, in every respect, is the key with <b>Halo Reach</b>.<br />
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Beyond Firefight, Reach delivers in all other areas. Matchmaking based Multiplayer feels even more polished and responsive than it did with <i>Halo 3</i> and I suspect <i>Halo: ODST</i> (although I never played that one). It's fast at finding games but is still not quite as fast as the <i>Call of Duty</i> system. However, it's more sophisticated and essentially better. Any game mode you can think of is available and some you probably can't. Combined with the infinite potential for custom games, I'm going to go as far as to say that this is probably the most complete Multiplayer package I've ever seen in all my years of gaming online.<br />
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If the online side is not your bag then fear not. The Single Player (or 4 player co-op) Campaign mode is truly an incredible achievement by Bungie. I'm actually only half way through it, attempting Legendary (the toughest difficulty) in my first play through. However, I've seen enough to know this is the greatest Campaign of any Halo game. The word epic comes to mind. Every level is epic. There are no boring stages and you feel as if you could replay every moment again and again. I even loved the space combat mission. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji9c7wMVOTvNVIPCWSh2yXeQT4S_3k_gHMp7TSs46L1aomLaa5X2PrjfWfqkQ3tcnPjjIcyTeCceTCaUl7IzfQ2byy2-S2LR3O2TL1ZMHt8K5xyRHvMR8qEMcrl5ikts1Ituvgr5D7Mgn1/s1600/halo-reach-amazon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji9c7wMVOTvNVIPCWSh2yXeQT4S_3k_gHMp7TSs46L1aomLaa5X2PrjfWfqkQ3tcnPjjIcyTeCceTCaUl7IzfQ2byy2-S2LR3O2TL1ZMHt8K5xyRHvMR8qEMcrl5ikts1Ituvgr5D7Mgn1/s320/halo-reach-amazon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The level design is excellent and the AI seems to be even more polished than before. No Halo game has ever suffered from bad AI though. Taking on an Elite in a one on one confrontation has always been the bread and butter of Halo for me. They are tough and always seem like a formidable, intelligent, adversary. So many games fail to achieve this sense of worthiness when it comes to the enemy's they throw at you. Even bosses in most games are nothing compared to just a standard grunt in this game. Bungie are simply the masters of AI coding.<br />
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<b>Reach </b>also offers the same Theatre mode and Forge mode we saw in <i>Halo 3</i>. Forge is improved and now allows for insane levels of design. You can essentially now make your own level. Your only limitation is the vast canvas of a map you get to use as your template for placing things down.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzkhQnNHdV1lCvZ05DE5VN4lkVdcbaLbZ0AS4WZs6SAT7hEJiLfyyxH6aI1sM7d_aAnhKw1St7v_I-Us8j8HIOCIG-lQMlnjoJFZG2TUxPp96TLXbNvCx8ThmciJRyDn6F6LV8nnlf55If/s1600/asylum_oddball_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzkhQnNHdV1lCvZ05DE5VN4lkVdcbaLbZ0AS4WZs6SAT7hEJiLfyyxH6aI1sM7d_aAnhKw1St7v_I-Us8j8HIOCIG-lQMlnjoJFZG2TUxPp96TLXbNvCx8ThmciJRyDn6F6LV8nnlf55If/s320/asylum_oddball_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There really is nothing to fault with <b>Reach </b>(unless you're simply not into the Halo mechanic that is). Some have argued that the graphics could be better. Although this game is no <i>Killzone 2</i> in the graphics department, the visuals are still excellent in my opinion. It's not until you go into Theatre mode and start zooming in on characters and vehicles that you realise quite how good the graphics actually are. Sound is also top notch, although I'm at odds about why Bungie decided to assign the sound of your weapon firing to a front 5.1 channel instead of the centre. It's no biggie though and you won't even notice this if you don't have 5.1 surround sound rigged up. <br />
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In summary, this game is as close to a flawless product as a gamer is ever going to see. 2010 hasn't seen much in the way of particularly memorable titles so far but <b>Halo Reach</b> has changed that. For my money, this is not only game of the year but also one of the greatest games I've ever played.The Critical Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-56163645137644724442010-06-10T20:03:00.000+01:002010-06-11T01:38:02.271+01:00iPaddedby The Critical Alien (on the iPad) <br /><br /><a href='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/10/1832.jpg'><img src='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/10/s_1832.jpg' border='0' width='90' height='104' align='right' style='margin:5px'></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br />In my last blog post, I talked about trends. Well the iPad certainly is one. So I've got mine (have you?) and am now typing this up on it. I don't want to use this space to big this gadget up. I just want to make it clear that yours truly now owns one (and adores it). <br /><br />The concept of an app (or widget in old speak) is nothing new. The rise of the iPhone in 2007 gave birth to, or at least propelled, the concept. However, no matter how good a game is on any smartphone I've always considered their screens to be too small to really get to grips with gaming on them. In my opinion, the iPad is much better suited for solid gaming. And so I've taken the leap into perhaps what is a new era, or at least platform, for computer games. <br /><br />I'm going to talk about apps. Gaming apps. There are already some great ones available through Apple's App Store and so far I've been genuinely impressed, and surprised, by the calibre of these games. In this post, I'm going to list some favourites.<br /><br /><br /><br />Angry Birds HD<br /><br /><a href='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/10/1823.jpg'><img src='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/10/s_1823.jpg' border='0' width='124' height='83' align='right' style='margin:5px'></a><br />Based on the popular iPhone app, this is an incredibly good little game. It's extremely addictive and based on a simple premise; to sling shoot birds via <br />multi-touch with the aim of penetrating defences and flattening those evil pigs. It's war against pigs and birds and about as brutal as any Wii game. To me, this game represents pure old school gaming goodness but, combined with the flawless tech that drives the iPad, it seems new to boot. This is pure gameplay combined with great, uniquely responsive touch technology on an incredible LED screen. <br /><br /><br />PInball HD<br /><br />Another example of a gaming staple but one that greatly benefits from the merits of its platform. This is a brilliant pinball game and comes at a time where pinball as a gaming genre has surely been tilted out of the scope of consoles and the PC. It's really a perfect pinball game and better than any measly Xbox Live Arcade or PSN title you might find that boasts balls and the odd flipper.<br /> <br /><br />Plants vs Zombies HD<br /><br />A PC game brought to the iPad. This is a classy app and certainly got me reevaluating what ingredients are needed for a great game. It's just simple base defence in the form of plants you select and place in a yard repelling a zombie horde hell bent on busting your garden fence.<br /> <br /><br /> Worms HD <br /><br /><a href='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/10/1814.jpg'><img src='http://blogpress.w18.net/photos/10/06/10/s_1814.jpg' border='0' width='124' height='83' align='right' style='margin:5px'></a><br />This is a games blog and no one reading it needs any introduction to <br />Worms. If you do, I suggest a visit back to Google. I was very impressed by this particular version of the Worms template. All the coolest weapons are here, along with multiplayer options and enough customisation options to keep teams varied. The key is the iPad's screen and, again, the intuitive nature of multi-touch for a game like this. A match made in heaven perhaps. WASD style is the way Worms evolved but I was able to very quickly adapt and now simply love playing Worms in this new way.<br /> <br />This is really just a little report on my current gaming time with the iPad. All I know is that I've been gaming on this more in the last week than I've been riding into sunsets on Red Dead Redemption. I've been iPadded.<br /><br />The Critical Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-18435175210305819722010-03-29T15:25:00.008+01:002010-03-29T15:51:56.449+01:00State of Gaming: The Flow of Rehashes<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" onblur="try
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by<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604">The Critical Alien</a></div><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Firstly, <a href="http://twitter.com/Critical_Alien">follow me</a> on Twitter you fools. K thx. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">I'm currently playing <i>Heavy Rain</i>, which I've completed twice, and <i>Final Fantasy XIII</i> on the PS3. Occasionally, I'll step into <i>Left 4 Dead 2</i> on PC. So does this mean I've finally signed up for the <a href="http://www.sonydefenseforce.com/">SDF</a>? No. What is does mean though is that it's clear to me now that Sony are the only ones attempting to push gaming to the next level. <i>Heavy Rain</i> is simply incredible, and in many ways ground breaking. <i>Final Fantasy XIII</i> on the PS3 is technically impeccable. Due to the Blu-Ray format, it can be played in full HD goodness and with full Master DTS sound. The 360 version, all three discs of it, falls very short in comparison. As a game, <i>FFXIII </i>is just a bit of escapist fantasy. I love it because I don't take it seriously. I let the HD goodness fill my room and blast me into an alternative world (whilst muting the dialogue).</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Personally, I'm starting to cotton on to Sony's master plan: push hard for the true HD gaming revolution and mammoth sized Blu-Ray content. This is the only way to move forward. It gives developers scope and vast space to play with. Now I'm no PS3 fanboy. I just follow the trends and roll with where it's at. The 360 still has the edge online, for sure, but what does that really mean when all you're doing is playing Modern Warfare 2 with 15 people? The battlefield is shifting.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">In stark comparison to Sony's attempt to push HD, Blu-Ray, and 256 player warzones (<i>MAG</i>), we have what I like to call the Western Gaming Establishment. Now these guys just don't seem to want to budge and right now we're seeing rehash central. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">I was going to review Dice's latest offering for PC, PS3, and 360. <i>Battlefield: Bad Company 2</i> to be precise. The problem is, I can't say a lot about it. The truth is that I'm starting to lose the will to review rehash titles and this is one. They come and go again, they offer no great advancement, and in some ways they even seem to be a step backwards.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">You see, I'm a PC gamer at heart. If you read my blog posts, dating back to 2003 when I was a nipper, this fact isn't that hard to suss. This latest generation of consoles though has clearly blurred the line between PC and console gaming. The problem I find is that I'm now looking back to the days before this happened. When the PC was leap years ahead of console technology developers seemed to work harder at harnessing the PC hardware. Nowadays, they port it across nine times out of ten. These ports are subject to console limitations, such as ram limits, and it really shows.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><i>Bad Company 2</i> is a quality game. It's a step forward from the <a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/2008/06/battlefield-bad-company-initial.html">extremely flawed original</a>. I loved it for a few weeks. However, within those three or four weeks I was basically bored of it. It has a console sense about it. For instance, the maps are tiny compared to the PC exclusive of <i>Battlefield 2</i> from 2005. The controls are clearly designed around a controller first, mouse and keyboard second. The PC centric stuff, such as the server browser, and player limit, are also clearly afterthoughts. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Sure, Destruction 2.0 is incredible. This is a system that sees every building brought down into rubble and every annoying fence knifed wide open. This is unfortunately where the innovation ends though. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">In terms of the core combat, nothing has advanced that much since <i>BF2</i>. In 2005, this was the cream on the cake. In 2010, it feels five years old to me. Energy bars essentially. You snipe a guy in the chest and he never quite dies. It's all about headshots. This is fine though. All I'm saying is it's based on aged code. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">What really is a joke is the gun selection. In an efforts to rival <i>Modern Warfare 2</i>, which <a href="http://gamesreviewblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/oh-look-bandwagon-3-2-1-jump.html">wasn't that bad</a>, Dice have attempted to implement a gun unlock progression system. Sadly, it makes no sense. Why are all the initial guns basically miles better than the stuff you unlock? It's important for starting guns to be good but surely not the best in almost every class! I'll accept that scopes etc do give you a sense of expansion though. The problem is just that there is little to no incentive to bother unlocking guns and when you do you're just downright disappointed. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><i>Bad Company 2</i> is basically a good FPS. PC gamers have embraced it due to the horrible lack of high-end online FPS games currently out there. You know something's wrong when your steam friends list consists of people playing <i>Counter Strike: Source</i> and, in some instances, <i>CS 1.6</i>. This game has at least brought a new title to the table. For how long though is anyone's guess. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">I'm becoming less and less interested in games that don't seem to shift the envelope. So here we are playing <i>BC2</i> in 2010. We have destructible buildings but far smaller maps than <i>BF2</i>, no jets or warships, and half the amount of players? Something doesn't add up. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">People joke about stuff like <i>PSN Home</i> on the PS3 but at least it's new and ambitious. I'm all about advancement. Rehashes are the enemy of gaming folks. They set a nasty trend and are designed to be rolled out, hyped, and sold to the masses. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">Besides Sony, who encourage developers to do big things, I believe that Valve are about the only pioneers left out there. Steam is generally embraced nowadays and stuff like <i>Left 4 Dead 2</i> has a calibre to it that cannot be denied. I'm hoping <i>Half Life 3</i> is coming along because I can imagine it will be a real trend setter. Time will tell and in the meantime I'm left hoping for greater things to come for gaming than what we're currently seeing. <i>Battlefield 3</i> maybe... hmm. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>The Critical Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-13898761283672104342010-02-15T23:45:00.001+00:002010-02-15T23:48:14.817+00:003 months later... Hello!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736316.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 88px; height: 103px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736295.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com/"></a><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />By <a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com/">Morgan</a></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />Its all been fairly quiet since November and with work and my personal (gaming) life taking up most of my time, I've not really had the motivation to put hand to keyboard in Open Office. Still, 3 months later here I am ready to share my opinions once again. Prepare to not care.<br /><br />2009 – A Review<br />I've been trying to write an intro piece for this section, the “Best of '09” however everything seems to generic and forced. Therefore I have taken the decision to jump right in. Instead of your usual categorised (and generally rigged) awards I'm just going to summarise a few of the games I played in 2009 and why I feel they are worthy of some playtime.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Starting chronologically</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mirror's Edge</span><br />I completed this game in one sitting for two reasons:<br />The first, because this game is incredibly short. My first play-through took me around 5 and a half hours. Don't get me wrong, there is a fair bit to do but in a game where the player character is constantly running, you're going to get things done fairly quickly.<br />The second reason? Its bags of fun. I remember renting this as I was unsure of whether it was worth the price tag of £39.99. Given its length I'd have to say no, however when I picked it up 3 months after release for the sum of £10 I felt like I'd committed daylight robbery. The story is fairly decent (if not predictable) with the bland looking back drop brought to life through the simple use of colours. Add that to an extremely smooth game-play experience with well mapped controls and you have a game that seriously should have been given more praise than it was.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Killzone 2</span><br />The Playstation 3's Halo killer. I quite enjoy how Sony are still trying to murder a near 10 year old game... Still, this is the closest they've come.<br />Akin to an action film, explosions and death are just a part of the Killzone 2 roller-coaster. You're not going to find an epic story, character depth or emotional scenes worthy of Hollywood blockbusters but you will have fun. Yes the controls are weighty but once you get used to them you'll wonder why you ever complained (and I have to wonder why as Bad Company 2 doesn't seem to be getting a rap for it). Its also visually one of the best games the Playstation 3 has to offer and packs one of the few multi-player modes I've bothered trying out on the PS3. Its an almost complete package and although repetitive at times, does just enough to keep you going.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Demon's Souls</span><br />This is what games should be. Described as impossible by some, I'd choose to call Demon's Souls “Unforgiving” in that although everything is painfully hard, there is always a way forward. I spent the better part of 2 days trying to get past the first 2 levels, it recently took me 2 days to complete Bioshock 2.<br />Yes the learning curve is steep, yes the enemies are powerful but so are you. This game combines some of the best things about RPG games (stats, weapons, armour, magic) and brings them all together in a way that actually effects your play style. Being a jack of all trades ala Final Fantasy will not help you win easily whereas a more methodical approach to character building will reap rewards in the long term. Try this game, even if its just for 2 days.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Uncharted 2: Among Theives</span><br />My game of the year and the only game I've ever purchased at midnight. Taking features from great games such as Tomb Raider and Gears of War is one thing, but to combine them so well with cinematic influences from the Indiana Jones series makes this game stand out amongst the crowd. Yes its an obvious comparison but its all there and it doesn't try to hide it, instead it uses the general themes of treasure, girls, guns and betrayal to its advantage; building on the first game whilst making every new feature its own.<br />The multi-player's quite good too...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Left4Dead 2</span><br />Not an add-on, not an expansion but a bloody worthy sequel. I enjoyed Left4Dead, clocking up around 50-60 hours of overall playtime. Since release I've clocked up nearly 80 hours on this game and with the large variety in campaigns, new weapons and interesting game modes its not hard to see why.<br />Scavenge is probably my favourite addition, akin to versus mode in its team vs team approach the games are shorter and rage quits generally don't destroy any semblance of fun. It requires a great sense of teamwork in a shorter time and can inspire some hilarious moments. Jockey'ing people off roofs has never been so much fun.<br />One improvement? A ratings system so rage quitters can be punished for their sins.<br /><br />Honourable mentions: Resident Evil 5, inFamous, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Demigod, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.<br /><br />So rounds up my review. No doubt I'll get flamed for a) Only owning a pc and PS3 and b) For not buying Modern Warfare 2, though from my previous posts I'd say its fairly clear why I didn't...<br /><br />As for the next post, hopefully it will appear sometime before April. Maybe I'll be venting about the colossal disappointment that was Bioshock 2 (for me at least anyway). Until next time.</span></span>Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01528487825853562377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-52555942187447281062010-02-10T21:41:00.004+00:002010-02-16T21:53:29.897+00:00Oh look, a Bandwagon, .. 3 .. 2 .. 1 .. Jump!<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">The Modern Warfare 2 Review</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/8730_173171599477_601819477_3764437_1438919_n-744563.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" height="113" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/8730_173171599477_601819477_3764437_1438919_n-744561.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" width="99" /></a><a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/boxart_eur_call-of-dut26zr-744614.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/boxart_eur_call-of-dut26zr-744594.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 226px;" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/17155550645478180387">Robinson09</a></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><i>plus </i><i>a quick take </i><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="post-body"><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" style="height: 103px; width: 88px;" /></a></span> </div><div style="text-align: right;">by<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604">The Critical Alien</a></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So here it is, the most highly anticipated game of all time. Causing controversy that makes <a href="http://gamesreviewblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/extended-review-gta-iv.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">GTA</span></a> look like a sequel to <i>viva pinata</i>, and selling a truly astronomical amount of copies (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/nov/11/modern-warfare-2-sales-record">1.23m units in its first day in the UK</a>)</span><span style="font-size: large;">, this game has really taken the world by storm.</span><br />
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I have a unique angle to the game, in that I am one of the very few who never actually played the first. Admittedly, I had a quick bang at the multiplayer at a mates and also owned <a href="http://gamesreviewblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/rant-review-call-of-duty-world-at-war.html">World at War</a> on the PC, but i had yet to experience that much loved single player campaign so praised from <i>COD 4</i>.<br />
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The first comment I'd like to make was the price. One of the first (of a few) reasons this game became newsworthy fodder was the fact that its producer, Activision, had decided to market the game at a £54.99 price point, about a £15 mark up on most game releases. This raised the eyebrows of many, seeing Activision really milking the franchise for all its worth. In my opinion retailers were never going to sell at that price point, with most settling on a £44.99 position. Much was my surprise then when I can pick up this game (again, the most highly anticipated game of all time) for a measly £26 on launch day. In fact, due to some cheeky <i>sainsburys </i>staff discount cards being thrown around, my copy was £22.10! It was a truly incredible price drop, like I'd never seen before for video-games. I mean, if they'd dropped the price to just £35, a fair few people would have be delighted, but to take a full £30 from the RRP on release day is just crazy.</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">But anyway onto the game. I was as excited as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFlcqWQVVuU">this kid </a>as the game loaded up, having heard so much about the original, and knew I was in for a treat as the introduction movie ran, with voice acting and a musical score worthy of a Hollywood movie. And then I'm thrown into the Afghan warzone, apparently teaching the local Afghans some soldier skills. The graphics are glorious, I just couldn't stop looking around and taking it all in. I move through the small 'training' section that signals what your difficulty should be (I chose hardened - more on that later) before suddenly (albeit predictably) all hell breaks loose. Within minutes I'm in the back of a military Jeep, shooting the crap out of pretty much anything as we flew down a street (think black hawk down); the game moves so fast at points, your literally getting shot at from all directions and it really does feel intense.<br />
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As I mentioned earlier, I chose the 'hardened' difficultly level. Many <i>COD </i>players will be familiar with the system, and the kudos that come from completing on veteran (a feat I dare not attempt), but even on hardened, this game is hard. You will die, and you will most likely die alot. Often, you won't even know where the shot came from before you're down on the floor, blood pouring down the screen. However, whilst in most games relentless death frustrates me, it seems different in <b>MW2</b>. When you die, there's a short blood screen and then a fast load straight back to the previous checkpoint. This is seamless and quick, and with generally well placed checkpoints, you never really have to redo too much.</span><br />
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The difficulty is also where my first gripe comes however. There seems to be a slight lack of balance between the levels. For example, I was breezing fairly swiftly through the first few levels, with a regular amount of failure, but then hit the 'favela' level, which really seemed to turn it up notch. I died so many times I lost count, and frustration really started to kick in. For a Brazilian shanty town, there seemed to be an almost ridiculous amount of resistance, akin to some kind of crappy tramps military base.<br />
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Anyway back to the positives. Almost every level comes with a breath-taking set piece with many showing real innovation from the designers. They really are totally awesome and really show how the game is a step up from your regular run and gun FPS. The levels are also well designed and varied, with locations including Afghanistan, an oil rig, suburban America, a snowy place and an airport.<br />
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Now would be a good time to talk about one of the other reasons this game has been so controversial. The third level of the game has the player actively taking part in a terrorist attack, with the four perpetrators (including the player) committing mass murder. There is truly a sense of horror during this scene and it is perhaps unjustified. Although you are warned multiple times about the intensity of this scene, it still just doesn't seem right in a video-game. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">All in all then, a solid FPS. I didn't really dabble with the online side of things though and I get the impression that's really where the party's at. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Alien's quick take:</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've played enough FPS games over the years to know when one comes along and does something differently and <i>Infinity Ward's</i> <b>MW2</b> clearly doesn't do much new. It's essentially the same old game. This is <i>CoD </i>in every respect and I don't think I need to add much to what Robinson has said about this title. All I will say is that I simply loved the MP for the first few months. It then just got stale somehow. Unlike <i>CoD 4</i>, it wasn't a new experience and therefore the thrill didn't stick for as long as it did in 2007.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If I'm honest, I'd be lying if I said <b>MW2 </b>let me down though. It delivered the <i>MW </i>fix and that's really all we wanted isn't it? The MP is still up their with the best of them too. <a href="http://gamesreviewblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/call-of-duty-world-at-war-early-warning.html">World at War</a> was a non starter online for me due to the poorly designed maps and vehicles. If I want those I'll hit <i>Battlefield</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The main thing to discuss about <b>MW2 </b>MP is the plethora of new kill streak rewards. It's basically air-strike city. Call in the Pave Low buddy! I wasn't happy to see the spamming initially and felt the raw arcade skill of <i>CoD 4 </i>had been reduced to harrier whoring. It does grow on you though (although I still think the chopper gunner is a joke). Due to the map design and carefully designed anti-air perks, things aren't as chaotic as I feared at first. The reality is <i>CoD 4</i> will probably seem lacking in this department now with its measly three pre-set support options. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Single player isn't the reason I play <i>CoD</i>. Not since <i>CoD 2</i> have I cared. When I played <i>CoD 4</i> back in '07 and realised its SP greatness I was shocked. I loved it like we all did. However, I wasn't expecting this again with <b>MW2</b> and didn't receive it. It's workable and I kinda liked the whole "betrayed by the man" dynamic. I'll accept it was about as original as your average <a href="http://seagalology.com/">Seagal</a><i> </i>movie though. It's also just pretty short. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I want to discuss this game more in a pending post I am putting together on the latest grim pattern that seems to be developing in the gaming industry. I think for now I'll just keep it at that. All in all though, <b>MW2</b> certainly gets a thumbs up from me.</span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-88369688704392444812010-02-04T18:04:00.007+00:002010-02-07T23:01:59.655+00:00Still alive!<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 103px; width: 88px;" /></a></span><br />
by<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604">The Critical Alien</a></div><span style="font-size: 130%;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">It's been a good while since anything new hit the blog. If you've been standing by, in hope for some great new post, then I apologise. I guess we've all been too bust binging on <span style="font-style: italic;">MW2</span>. However, fear not! I intend to roll a few new posts out in the next few weeks covering some of the most pressing gaming developments.</span></span></div>GamesReview UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06789674923484924185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-13846639926065198792009-11-16T20:31:00.003+00:002009-11-18T23:03:29.026+00:00You're Late!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736316.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 88px; height: 103px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736295.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com/"></a><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />By <a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com/">Morgan</a></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />Things I’ve been playing recently:<br />Borderlands<br />Uncharted 2<br />The Left4Dead 2 Demo<br />The Torchlight Demo<br />Dragon Age (the reason I’ve missed another Monday post)<br /><br />Given that the merits of Uncharted 2 have already been discussed in an earlier post, I’m only going to say that this is a game of sheer quality. Its one of those games that really pushes this medium as an art form, blending fun and intuitive game play elements with an exemplary cast and script.<br /><br />Borderlands and Left4Dead 2 have been briefly run over by myself, so I’ll avoid these two. As much as I love Borderlands I don’t feel that there’s much more to say than it’s a brave attempt at a new concept, flawed if you will by its own design. Left4Dead 2 will be receiving a bit more coverage from me around the time of its release.<br /><br />That leaves us with (arguably) this year’s two biggest RPG releases. Both games are vying for the void left between the date Diablo 3 was announced and its eventual release (probably in around 5 years time). I was going to rant about why I hate developers releasing in game footage of titles when they’re nowhere near completion but I don’t want to sound like a miserable git. Instead I’m going to actually discuss why after playing over 30 hours of one, and around 30 minutes of the other I adore both.<br /><br />Created by a team of RPG veterans, Torchlight focuses heavily on Dungeon Crawling game play mixed with the same click to attack style of combat found in the Diablo games. For a short time, it’s an extremely fun game and its one I could see myself playing in bursts (<a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/41500/">and for £14.99 I’m not complaining</a>) however over a long period of time, I’m really not so sure it will hold me as much as say... Dragon Age. That’s not to say Torchlight isn’t a good game, it has both good and bad points. Its just a shame that for me, its repetitive game play stands out as a bad point.<br /><br />Overall, the thing that really stands out for me in the game is the music. Immediately on your arrival in the town a huge sense of atmosphere is created by the sombre song playing in the background. It’s almost depressing in tone, but works really well to set the mood of the dead end town you find yourself in. Inside the dungeon itself, the music takes much more of a background role to the well recorded combat sounds yet still manages to set the dark and dangerous feel of each floor you pass through. It really does help to make the very repetitive game play much more bearable and it is easily in my opinion, the game’s best feature.<br /><br />Bioware’s latest effort, Dragon Age takes influence from a variety of mediums including most fantasy genres and of course, tabletop Dungeons and Dragons. What Bioware Game (Mass Effect not included) would be able to function without stats, stats, more stats and damage rolls. As confusing as it may be to your average gamer, it’s something that quickly becomes clear after an hour of play and in my opinion there is nothing like it. As ridiculous as it sounds, what better way is there to ensure you never play the same game twice than by adding random chance to almost everything you do in the game! Seriously, I’m not complaining here! I know it’s a huge over exaggeration but it’s something that I feel is a core component of the genre. Baldurs Gate was rock solid because of it and luckily, Dragon Age is just the same (to the point that I *may* have lost some hair).<br /><br />The one thing that had kept me engaged throughout the difficult situations was the constant need to progress though the story within the game. Engaging narratives have been common features within Bioware games (<a href="http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Bioware-RPG-Cliche-Chart">even if they can be criticised for their similarities over the various games</a>) and this one is no different, combining traditional medieval themes of war and treachery with a swords and sorcery fantasy setting. It works well for the most part, assuming that you ignore some of the stereotypical plot points and contrived characters (Morrigan) and focus on some of the better things to come out of the game (Opening Character Sections, Shale).<br /><br />At present I’ve clocked up around 50 hours in the game and according to the in game progress calculator I’m around 30% of the way through. For £30 I think this is fantastic value for money, especially when you consider most games nowadays offer 6-8 hours of single player game play, with developers assuming most players will fall in love with the multiplayer side. In terms of numbers, you’re getting around 6 games for the price of one here and it’s a great deal for a great game. Definitely a game of the year contender.<br /><br />This is all starting to look a little jumbled now so I’m going to quit whilst I’m behind. Stay tuned sometime this week (hopefully) for a Left4Dead 2 piece.<br /></span></span>Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01528487825853562377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-85142773259593404552009-11-16T12:09:00.007+00:002009-11-16T12:43:56.201+00:00Gaming Podcasts<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/8730_173171599477_601819477_3764437_1438919_n-784637.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 128px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/8730_173171599477_601819477_3764437_1438919_n-784635.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/17155550645478180387">Robinson09</a><br /></div><br /><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">I'm</span> sure that many of you out there own <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ipods</span> and the like, so therefore enjoy a good podcast. I have various favourites 'casts on my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ipod</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">some</span> gaming ones in particular. I have chosen my favourite two and thought id would share the enjoyment with you!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">First up we have the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Gamespot</span> UK Podcast, which can be found </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://uk.gamespot.com/pages/features/ukpodcast/index.php">her</a><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://uk.gamespot.com/pages/features/ukpodcast/index.php">e</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/gamespot-uk-pc-789828.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 85px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/gamespot-uk-pc-789813.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >Presented by the brilliant Guy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Cocker</span> (insert immature name joke here), this podcast releases a new recording 3/4 times a month, generally between 1 and 2 hours long. The team discuss all the latest gaming news, latest reviews and also have a special guest for every episode, often a highlight. Guests are generally from a more obscure gaming background, giving a great in-site into many different sections of the industry. The pod</span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >cast has a high production value and is very informative and entertaining, making it a great listen on the bus or when walking the dog etc.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><br />Secondly, i would also recommend the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Joystiq</span> podcast, which accompanies the great gaming blog <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Joystiq</span>. Find it <a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/podcasts/">here</a>.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/dsf-735262.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/dsf-735249.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">This podcast, recorded in the states, I would class as second place to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">gamespot</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">UK</span>. The cast is very informative, and i find that discussion on certain issues can be deeper than <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">GSUK</span> and more provoking. The podcast is also fairly humorous at points, but where it is let down compared to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">GSUK</span> is the production value. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Whereas</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">GSUK</span> is very tight and well produced, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Joystiq</span> takes more of a 'wing it' approach, with people entering and leaving randomly, mobile phones going off and various sneezes and what-not throughout the recording. This does let it down, but its a good podcast none-the-less.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">So i suggest you check them out. Stand-by for my Modern Warfare 2 review, making sure i give it a proper play through, and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">I'm</span> finding some parts fairly hard at the minute. Should be up soon though.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Thanks for reading.</span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-76074582518134142382009-11-12T09:19:00.007+00:002009-11-17T21:15:25.364+00:00Fear? not really.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/gold-bars-636-761608.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 104px; height: 104px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/gold-bars-636-761608.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"> <div class="post-body"> <div> <br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/17777009032380178040">Goldfingers</a></span></span><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />Fear 2 is the successor to the popular PC game Fear, a ‘port’ later ended up on 360.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well successor is perhaps not the right word, but I’ll get into that later.</span></span></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Once you get into the game most PC players will immediately notice one thing, black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Yep that’s right, they didn’t bother to add support for 16:10 resolutions and if the recent steam hardware surveys are anything to go by it’s easy to see how it’s an annoyance for most people.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From then on I realised this was a game made for consoles, and pc was now the ‘port’.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now let me make this clear, Fear 2 is a console game</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The game actually looks pretty acceptable aside from the black bars. Although it suffers from a boring colour palette (and the black lines) the game looks quite pretty; great effects, satifisfying blood puffs, a few shiny textures here and there. </span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Once you actually start shooting at stuff there are a couple of differences that differentiate the game play to fear 1, but largely you would be forgiven for thinking it’s the same game. The biggest improvement is that when you aren’t in slo-mo mode the combat still feels great. And it creates a more cinematic feeling of going back to normal motion- slo mo and so on. In fear 1, while the combat felt great in slo-mo the weapons all felt wrong, they didn’t do enough damage and the recoil was too much in normal speed. Aside from that it’s still going to try and scare you in the same ways, except there’s a difference this time. You’ve seen it all before. In fact the enemies are almost identical to the first game as well.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It’s a simple story; this super being that they have created is now going mad and killing everything in sight. She’s more powerful this time, and actually seems a formidable foe. In fact the parts of the game with Alma in are actually really fun, atmospheric and often scary. </span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Right now your thinking how could anyone go wrong with a story so simple as that, right? Well IW choose to tell the story through notepads, borrowing from games like system shock 2 and doom 3. There are few cut scenes, and the radio messages do little to explain things. The problem is, these little notepads have some of the most cringe worthy writing I’ve ever seen In a game, simply has to be seen to believed.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The sound does it’s job fairly well, it’s all in 5.1 and works. It creates more of an adrenaline feel this time, rather than the tense atmosphere of the last game.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Overall you’re getting an average experience, it all works it just doesn’t do anything really well.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For fans of the first game prepare to be disappointed, and for those who haven’t played the first game; stick to that.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Goldfingershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17777009032380178040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-31948018537220883822009-11-08T18:59:00.010+00:002009-11-09T16:41:21.203+00:00Football Manager 2010 Review<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/football-manager-2010-box-artwork-791340.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 209px; height: 320px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/football-manager-2010-box-artwork-791321.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/8730_173171599477_601819477_3764437_1438919_n-716884.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 128px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/8730_173171599477_601819477_3764437_1438919_n-716882.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></span><span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/17155550645478180387">Robinson 09</a></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Being my first post on the site, i have decided to 'kick off' (excuse the pun) well within my comfort zone with the new football manager relea</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">se. My love of the football manager genre began with Championship Manager 4, since which i have been a sucker with my money every year since.<br />Last years title saw the introduction of the controversial 3D match engine, and with new competion from the now revived Championship Manager series, what improvements can Football Manager 10 offer to hold onto its crown?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The first thing you notice is a total re-jig of the user interface. This hit me for six, having just come from FM09, trying to navigate around the new UI was particularly dificult. After a while the new setup does come easier, but still, admittedly after just a few hours gameplay (like clicking you fingers in FM terms), i still feel mys</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">elf getting frustrated with what seems to be a rather fiddly UI (The continue button is now in the top right hand corner! Why put it there, it has never been there, it should never be there e</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">tc etc).<br /><br />So, the UI apart, what other new features do you ge</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">t from FM10. The 3D match engine, first introduced last year, has seen a years worth of polish, which really shows in the end result. The play seems much dynamic somehow, with 'over 100' new player animations, the whole thing just feels slicker and altogether more enjoyable. Ball physics seem to have been notably improved, so watching the net ripple as your midfield maestro curls one in from 30 yards looks great.<br />Other things that i have found especially useful are the inclusion of 'Backroom Advice', where your staff offer there advice on various different actio</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ns you could take to improve the team or sign a new player etc. For the lazy player (like myself), this enables quick and easy changes to be made. Players can also now 'Shout' tactical changes from</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> the touchline for his team, and also chant and gesture rudely towards the referee (ok, that may not all be true). This extra tactical option adds another layer to FM's already extensive tactics system, but in reality, I didn't find myself using it much on a regular basis.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">So yes, its football manager. They still don't have the license for the German National Team, and it will most definitely still eat up large amounts of your time. As with last years game, i will be trying to win the champions league with Everton, which is always good fun (my 2.3 million signing of Ruud Van Nisterrooooy is looking inspi</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">red).</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The thing is, for the first time with a FM game, i would rather be playing last years title. I wish that Sports Interactive had taken the 'If it aint broke' approach on the user interface, as this is where the game seems to be let down. This may well improve with time however, meaning Football Manager 10 is still very much the undisputed king of Football Management Games.<br />Thanks for Reading.</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-27748862254714371082009-11-02T23:26:00.009+00:002009-11-04T22:37:24.477+00:00Weekly Update<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736316.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 88px; height: 103px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736295.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com"></a><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />By <a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com">Morgan</a></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />Rather than a full on article this week, I'm going to be skimming over several topics. After spending most of my week playing Borderlands I've become fairly out of touch with what's going on in the gaming world. Of course, I won't just be talking about Gearbox Software's new game, I'll also be reviewing some of the stories that have been brought to my attention this past week.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Borderlands</span><br />After taking advantage of the 4-pack deal on Steam I had expected a wonderful co-operative experience from Borderlands that would combine the game play of Fallout 3 with the old school Dungeon Crawling loot of the Diablo series. Instead what I found was a worthy effort at re-inventing a genre, verging on brilliance but unfortunately failing due to simple mistakes made by its developers.<br /><br />Upon release for the consoles Borderlands was <a href="http://kotaku.com/5386810/ps3-version-of-borderlands-has-co+op-issues-gearbox-promises-fix-%5Bupdate%5D"><span style="font-style: italic;">blighted by networking problems</span></a> that often meant a large majority of people could not host or join co-operative games online. Worse still, the PC version that was released around 2 weeks later still had these crippling issues, despite a console patch being released the previous day. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the game; however if a publisher chooses to market a game on the strength of its co-op play they should at least make sure the developer has not cocked up the netcode before release. Yes there are workarounds such as lan software (Hamachi, Tunngle, Gameranger) or port forwarding however these should not be needed. It reeks of laziness on the part of Gearbox and its hard to justify paying full price for what is essentially a broken game.<br /><br />They have however nailed something that a lot of games are missing these days, fun. When you can get a co-op game going this game is fantastic, just make sure to play with friends if you want your fair share of the loot. I just feel that simple development issues are stopping me from enjoying it even further.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Left4Dead 2</span><br />Another moan as pre-order customers get shafted once again. A demo that was 2 days late, no apology and no real benefit to pre-order customers. Yes, there is a hat that you can use in Team Fortress 2, but if you don't own said game, its more money you're paying out just to get your pre-order bonus.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Modern Warfare 2</span><br />I'm glad I left it a few days late to write this article, else I wouldn't have stumbled across <a href="http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=78352&posted=1#post78352"><span style="font-style: italic;">this great transcript</span></a> from a chat session with the Infinity Ward team. I am astounded that the developers of one of the most successful games ever seem to be continually driving away a market that has allowed them to reach the position that they are in today.<br /><br />It would also seem that a video entitled “Killing FourTwoZero” (That's IW's Robert Bowling) has been removed from Youtube as Activision claimed copyright infringement. Are they are blind to the storm they have caused?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />...And Finally</span><br />Dragon Age: Origins is released in the UK on Friday and I honestly can't wait. After being hooked on the flash game I am eager to jump in to the full game head first and lose myself just as I did with Baldurs Gate.<br /></span></span>Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01528487825853562377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-70799109232400656262009-10-26T23:43:00.008+00:002009-11-04T22:38:48.362+00:00Moan, Moan, Moan... and Moan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736316.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 88px; height: 103px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/infect-the-uninfected-MORG-736295.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com"></a>
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<br />By <a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com">Morgan</a></span></span></div>
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<br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I’ve recently been trying to write an article regarding the current Infinity Ward Dedicated Server malarkey, however I find myself struggling to provide anything other than what’s already been said. Therefore during this article I’m going to moan about Activision.</span></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Robert Kotick can’t seem to get enough of controversy at the minute. Here is a man at the head of one of the top gaming publishers in the world, a man who is in charge of so much responsibility and a man who for his own reasons, seems to hate the gaming world.</span></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">First he announced the </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://mynameismdotorg.blogspot.com/2009/07/modern-whorefare.html">rise</a> <a href="http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/07/17/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-to-cost-55/1">in pricing</a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> for Modern Warfare 2 with copies reaching up to the dizzy heights of around £55 per console copy of the game. This was shortly followed by a complete contradiction of his former views claiming that due to the high price of the Playstation 3 and its accessories, Activision didn’t feel it was a profitable platform to produce games for. All of this coming from the man who watches Guitar Hero (a game with a plastic guitar) sell millions of units with each going for up to £100 in the United Kingdom on release. Seemingly not content with angering the console and pc crowds, Kotick recently made a speech at the 2009 Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in which he claimed the future of video games (more specifically, game development) was one </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/09/actiblizzard-ceo-kotick-policy-rewards-profits-removes-fun.ars">“without fun”</a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">; a nice choice of words there from one of the most powerful men in gaming.</span></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Kotick doesn’t seem to realise that the games industry is an entertainment one, built on the foundations of fun. Imagine if he was in charge of cinema and film distribution. Would every film be a low budget, art house piece of crap where we sit and watch a girl drink, smoke and cry for 5 minutes whilst a man pats her on the shoulder? Probably, but heh, if we take out the fun all we’re left with is mind numbing boredom and drawn out references to social problems (for those wondering about the above, it’s probably daddy issues). The problem is that if said film sells out he’ll be encouraged to make more (unless he’s Uwe Boll, in which case he will just make more...).</span></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">As the industry grew it was always likely that management types such as this would take an interest and it’s a shame to say that we as gamers may have brought this upon ourselves. Who else remembers the days of demo’s, shareware and (dare I say it) free games! It was a time in which people were just expected to have fun and nothing else. Nowadays it’s all about addicting the consumer to a concept, rather than allowing them to just enjoy something.</span></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Games such as World of Warcraft rake in millions ever year and although enjoyed by gamers, one has to ask what exactly it gives people over other games? An epic story? Great characters? An amazing setting? Endless replayability? You could probably tick some boxes however a lot of questions remain. Endgame raiding for example just screams endless repetition to me and can it really be called replay value when you’re paying money for the game each month? Sure fans may love it, but for me, the growing price of the game over time does not make it a worthwhile investment. Compare this with a game such as Dead Space that cost a maximum of £40 on release (Around 3-4 months of World of Warcraft, not including the price of the boxed media), a game that attempted (and succeeded) to revitalise the horror genre. Despite its great reviews, the game encountered poor sales EA and had apparently considered scrapping the brand until they saw the cult following it had developed. Companies seem to be in favour of scrapping innovation in return for a profit, and it’s something people like Kotick are really pushing for. The problem is that shareholders and investors are seeking profits and are likely to agree with him, thus forcing the industry down a very bad road.</span></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Before someone says it, piracy is NOT the answer. But neither is shelling out large amounts of money on games that are using their name to generate interest. Just look at FarCry 2, what a crock of shit that was. Look for innovation, look for fun and through buying these games we can hope to show the industry that fun is the way forward, that fun is what the consumer wants when they’re spending their money.</span></span>
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Maybe a Modern Warfare 2 article next week. Maybe...</span></span></div>Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01528487825853562377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-6010089092662386042009-10-26T11:59:00.009+00:002009-10-26T13:05:53.871+00:00Uncharted 2: A new era of gaming<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/uncharted2-783514.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 136px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/uncharted2-783481.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg"><img style="width: 88px; cursor: pointer; height: 103px;" alt="" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><br />by<br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604">The Critical Alien</a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2: Among Thieves</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >I've never actually said this before about a game. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2</span> has blurred the line for me between film and game. Finally, after years of gaming highs and lows, a game hits that does pretty much every single thing right. There isn't any issue with the game. There isn't any blemish that erodes its greatness. This, my friends, is as good as gaming gets.<br /><br />Whenever I play <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2</span>, which I've completed twice now, my reaction is always the same. It plays like a movie. Ever since the first 3d titles, games have attempted to mimic and recreate film. Set pieces have always been an attempt to portray cinematic moments. As far as I'm concerned, gaming has, since its infancy, been on a journey of catch up with film as a narrative medium.<br /><br />I guess <span style="font-style: italic;">Half Life 2</span> was perhaps the first example of this boundary dissolution between the two. In that, characters were lifelike and there was never a differentiation between cut scene and game. Steven Spielberg, the <a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/2008/11/rant-review-call-of-duty-world-at-war.html">CoD4</a> whore, <a href="http://www.dasgamer.com/indy-4-sucked-because-spielberg-was-too-busy-playing-cod4/">even commented on this</a> and believed this was where games needed to be heading in order to reach the next level. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2 </span>is surely the first game ever to cross this boundary. Personally, I think <a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/2008/05/extended-review-gta-iv.html">GTA IV</a> was close but didn't quite make that jump.<br /><br />Beyond the characters and dialogue <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2</span> is simply an excellent game. The level design is homed and never overly fleshed out. The action is tight too. The cover system is perfect, and works online, as is the cool melee system and climbing mechanic. Even the enemy A.I seems flawless. They make an effort to flank you, use cover effectively, hurl grenades, and even retreat.<br /><br />I honestly have tried to find flaws here. If I was being picky, I'd say that perhaps the last level lacked the sheer wow factor of mid-game stages. This is such a straw man though. Perhaps the only thing that can be said about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2</span> is that it could do with even more co-op levels. The co-op isn't linked to the single player, a good thing, but with only three levels to play through with mates you soon plough through it. However, more are likely on the way in the form of DLC.<br /><br />The multiplayer is generally excellent. Matchmaking is here but works well for this sort of game (not for stuff like... <a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/2009/10/infinity-ward-and-pc-community.html">oh MW2 on PC</a>). There are also other co-op modes for up to three players such as a fun and unique gold rush mode and standard survival. This game has also opened up the Playstation Network to new great things that Xbox Live users have grown accustomed to. Now all we need is <a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=225490">cross game chat</a> ;)<br /><br />I don't want to go on about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2</span> too much for fear of coming across like a fanboy. I don't care what console this game is on, nor do I care if it could or couldn't potentially run on an <span style="font-style: italic;">Xbox 360</span>. All I know is that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uncharted 2: Among Thieves</span> is one of the best games I've ever played on any format. </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> </span></span><br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>GamesReview UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06789674923484924185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-21829801172377964692009-10-25T22:27:00.029+00:002009-10-26T12:57:37.680+00:00Infinity Ward and the PC Community<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/custom_1248638870636_modern-warfare-2-713621.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 253px; height: 141px;" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/uploaded_images/custom_1248638870636_modern-warfare-2-713620.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div class="bodytext" style="width: 610px; font-family: times new roman;"><div> </div><div style="text-align: right;"><p style="text-align: right; font-family: times new roman;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtwshgKIaRMJHIdwOg6Uktkt6COv076Os4PDMnVoImKOFo7Lm08OFR21byDM8_lwKAWUNt8arSsaPofBL8ekkW6JYKRTFmyqNKsFE6cCGP9kztD1yrHdPHdpvnXkwju9YCbNRMTZHwA8/s220-h/P1000518+-+small.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtwshgKIaRMJHIdwOg6Uktkt6COv076Os4PDMnVoImKOFo7Lm08OFR21byDM8_lwKAWUNt8arSsaPofBL8ekkW6JYKRTFmyqNKsFE6cCGP9kztD1yrHdPHdpvnXkwju9YCbNRMTZHwA8/s220/P1000518+-+small.jpg" style="border: 3px solid black; width: 89px; height: 112px;" alt="My Photo" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">by<br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/13487292900926212110">Laxe</a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Well, as a new contributor to the site my first post will be on a topic that's quite big right now in the PC community. Namely Infinity Ward's decision to take away dedicated server support for their new title Modern Warfare 2<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>(you may have heard of it).</span><br /></span></p></div><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Now before I get flamed by the console crowd be aware that I do own all the current gen consoles and handhelds bar the DS Lite cos I sold that a while back. I chose to play many of the multi-plat games on the PC and if it was a console only game the PS3/360. I do not play FPS on the consoles if I can help it, mainly due to the control scheme but also due to the match-making. As a matter of fact I choose to play my FPS and most other games on my PC because I find p2p match-making botched and very often laggy - something which dedicated servers alleviate.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Personally I don't know why Infinity Ward decided to get rid of the dedicated servers instead of having both match-making and dedicated servers. It's not like they're mutually exclusive methods of getting into a game. Also I cannot understand why they did not go for a 'master server' which EA did with Battlefield 2142 where there were stat tracking and had a log-in system in order to prevent pirated copies playing online. This worked fairly well in my opinion and whilst not perfect (stat-padding etc.) it still supported dedicated servers which many PC gamers prefer.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Of course I know many console gamers don't know nor care why the PC gamer crowd (or most of them from what I can see) are so uptight about this change Infinity Ward has made to Modern Warfare 2 but for me it's simply this: they've taken away the online advantages of playing online with the PC which hinges around those dedicated servers and lag-free gaming. That and now that the player cap has been reduced from 32 players to 16 to account for the p2p connection which in my eyes means less fun with more players in games. Some may not see it that way but the value proposition of the game has suddenly plunged four-fold so far. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The fact that Infinity Ward says that these changes were made to cater to the 'casual' and 'moderate' COD4 player is somewhat of an oxymoron. Such players either do not mind the server browser or don't exist. Those that found PC COD4 intimidating have either moved past the difficulty curve of choosing a server (which, let's be honest, if you can install a game on a PC and configure it you won't have much trouble at all) or have moved on to the console scene. I do not think that COD4 nor MW2 will ever be a 'casual' game by any stretch of the imagination and therefore saying that such a gamer exists on the PC is both an ice-thin argument and laughable.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">It is a sad state of affairs overall in the PC community and I can't see this getting any better anytime soon. There were other avenues Infinity Ward could have taken to combat piracy (which will always be a problem on both the PC and 360) but the lack of choice of method is one I cannot accept. On a deeper level I do not like the fact that they have waited until now to announce these changes to the PC community. One could say they knew that there would be backlash and wanted to quietly slide this under our noses so near to release, especially if the claim that they have invested a lot of time and money into this new system. Surely one would think they'd want to shout about it from the rooftops if they honestly had believed that IW.NET would be a resounding success?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">As many I don't think I will be buying this game and have instead pre-ordered Borderlands which I had not before since I had assumed all my gaming time would've been taken up by playing MW2. It's sad to think that within two years Infinity Ward has changed it's tune so drastically regarding the PC community; from their stance on supporting modders and dedicated servers (see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMfTR8PBrsE">here </a>for an interview with Grant Collier) to the poor excuse of catering for players that either do not </span><span style="font-size:130%;">exist or are the distinct minority of PC gamers. That and the lack of information about IW.NET </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >this</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">close to release does not alleviate my concerns for the tone In</span><span style="font-size:130%;">finity Ward are taking towards PC gaming in general.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;">For all those who are interested, please sign the petition <a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/dedis4mw/petition.html">here</a> and show your support. As of writing it has reached 156744 signitures. If anything it will show Infinity Ward how many people's toes they are treading on with this decision.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></p><p></p></div>Laxehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13487292900926212110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-52597771168236284832009-10-14T17:18:00.012+01:002009-10-24T12:41:52.380+01:00Clash of the mil-sims: A dragon is rising<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.digitalbattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/arma2soldiers.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 94px;" src="http://www.digitalbattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/arma2soldiers.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I'm not even convinced there is such a genre as the mil-sim. There is really only one true fully fledged military simulation game and that is <span style="font-style: italic;">Operation Flashpoint </span>and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Arma</span> series. There isn't anything else out there that is even remotely comparable to those <span style="font-style: italic;">Bohemia</span> titles. However, it is clear that the tubes speak of the mil-sim nowadays like it is a defined category of game. The reality is that most realistic war games are closer to tactical FPSs. The mil-sim is something more than just that. It is a sandbox open world where a multitude of military vehicles, small arms, and disciplines can be played, tested, driven, and destroyed.</span></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I was going to talk about <a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/2009/07/bloody-armazing.html">Arma2</a>. My review of it didn't quite finalise what I had to say. However, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising</span> has now hit and I've decided to combine my opinion on this new game with what I have to say about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span>.</span></span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />The reception <span style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Rising</span> has received seems to be pretty negative from the perspective of the community yet rather positive on the reviews front. This is because no matter how hardcore a games reviewer is, writing for a well known website or magazine, they are not in the same obsessive league as those true mil-sim aficionados who will spend hours arguing on youtube over whether or not the Chinese fire green tracers or not.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Rising</span> is all about accessibility. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span> is more a toolkit for smart people. D<span style="font-style: italic;">ragon Rising</span> aims to bring the mil-sim (or in other words the original <span style="font-style: italic;">Flashpoint </span>template) to the masses. In my opinion, this has been achieved. Console players seem to like the game. It is easy to learn but not so easy to master. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span>, on the other hand, is hard to learn and hard to master. It is just hard. I love <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span> though. But I also love <span style="font-style: italic;">Codemaster's</span> new take on the mil-sim.</span></span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />Sadly, most of my gaming buddies don't do sneaking around in the bushes with night vision goggles on. They're too busy grinding in caves or surviving onslaughts of the undead. I did manage to get one pal onboard for my tour of <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span> though. Using neat <a href="http://hamachi.en.softonic.com/">virtual LAN software</a> to get over the problems with the game's influxed master server, we hit some co-op. We aren't yet close to completion but I've seen enough to know that DR is a quality game.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">DR is alot like the original <span style="font-style: italic;">Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon</span> before <span style="font-style: italic;">Red Storm Entertainment </span>got shafted and <span style="font-style: italic;">Ubisoft</span> borked the franchise in the <a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/2007/05/archive-review-ghost-recon-advanced.html">GRAW</a> series. You can't muck about. Enemies will catch you out and cleverly flank you. The key is in applying realistic doctrines to your assaults and behaviours in game. This is why I like <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span>: because using real world tactics actually achieves outcomes. Even Arma2 sometimes fails to achieve authenticity when it comes to stuff like this. Enemies won't be pinned down by suppression for example whereas in <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span> they will be suppressed if you sustain enough covering fire on a position. They also run away and even play dead. Gunfights are dirty affairs but when things go to plan it feels oh so great.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">It all reminds me of <a href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/2008/10/review-brothers-in-arms-hells-highway.html">Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway</a>. This was a vastly underrated game that adopted the same system as <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span>. This is squad based combat and it is homed for that. Co-op for up to four players is what <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span> is all about although the A.I is workable.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span> is a different sort of experience to this because <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span> is realistic in ways no other game attempts to realise. If <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span> is hollywood realism then <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span> is just realism. Hardcore mil-simmers want full realism. Most gamers want a mixture. Me, it depends on my mood and that's why I have both games on PC.</span></span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />The editor that ships with <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span> for PC is simply incredible. It's probably more sophisticated than <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2's</span> one and is certainly much easier to learn. However, <span style="font-style: italic;">CM</span> made a pretty big mistake with regards to hosting your mission files. In order to play them with people, you must manually send them the files first. Not a big issue but I personally loved showing random players in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2 </span>my crazy attempts at a mission.</span></span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />There is also a 64 object limit for the editor in<span style="font-style: italic;"> DR</span>. Clever people will overcome this (<span style="font-style: italic;">CM </span>are sure of it) but it requires proper scripting knowledge in the LUA language. This means that <span style="font-style: italic;">DR's</span> accessibility doesn't quite put a lid on the complex ambitions of mission makers out there. </span></span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.nextgn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/operation-flashpoint-2-dragon-rising-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 122px;" src="http://www.nextgn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/operation-flashpoint-2-dragon-rising-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">There is no denying that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span> is the real <span style="font-style: italic;">Operation Flashpoint </span>sequel. It is also a far more </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ambitious game. However, <span style="font-style: italic;">DR</span> is still a good game though. It isn't as good as <span style="font-style: italic;">Hell's Highway</span> (and if that game had co-op I'd be in heaven) and it really feels like a console game but it's sound, tactical stuff. It also achieves a greater sense of immersion than <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span>. This does fall short with classic console coding limitations though, such as enemy bodies vanishing after 30 seconds.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In summary then. What I'm saying here is that it isn't that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span> is <span style="font-style: italic;">a</span> mil-sim. It's that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arma2</span>, and other <span style="font-style: italic;">Bohemia</span> titles, are <span style="font-style: italic;">the only</span> mil-sims. <span style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Rising </span>is a tactical FPS and a rather good one. Ultimately then, there is no clash going on here. Personally, after all is said and done, I'm left wondering what could have been if <span style="font-style: italic;">Codemasters</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Bohemia </span>had never parted company. As a fan of the original <span style="font-style: italic;">Flashpoint</span> from 2001, I still feel that the polish of <span style="font-style: italic;">Codemasters</span> as publisher combined with the genius of <span style="font-style: italic;">Bohemia </span>as developer is what both these games ultimately lack in order to be classed as truly great games. </span></span> </div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg"><img style="width: 88px; cursor: pointer; height: 103px;" alt="" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><br />by <a href="mailto:%20blog@gamesreview.co.uk">The Critical Alien</a><br />2009</div>The Critical Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-167953255344936424.post-8631515545227814382009-09-21T15:40:00.004+01:002009-09-21T16:05:34.984+01:00Batman: Arkham Asylum<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I don't care much for caped crusaders. Never been one for the comic books. It just hasn't ever resonated with me. Because of this, I've never really been interested in computer games based on comic book characters. However,<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arkham Asylum</span> has proved the one comic book game that stands above the usual suspects. Here we have a genuinely great game and one that actually makes the uninitiated rather interested in the man dressed as a bat.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Simply put, this game is a master class is level design and pacing. It is vanilla gaming. Gaming 101. I couldn't put the damn thing down. Like a great movie, it ends too quickly and you want more. Challenge mode keeps you going though once the single player is dealt with. It's fun for a while and gives you quick access to punch ups and stealth stages. You can also freely roam the map once you've done the game and hunt for all the riddles and trophies you may have missed.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I'm not one to go around trying to find all the lost gems in games and even with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arkham Asylum</span> I don't really plan on bothering to get that 100% completion achievement. That is just me though. The game is just a masterful romp around a well designed island. The fun of the fighting system is probably unsurpassed. I've not seen a better scrolling beat-em-up since <span style="font-style: italic;">Streets of Rage 2</span>. There is also a really nice sense of cinematic quality to the set pieces and the gadgets are well implemented as they all must be used during certain points.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Solid as a rock game by <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocksteady</span>. You don't see this sort of old school stuff that much nowadays. It's a fresh title and one that really came from nowhere for gamers like me not that interested in the source material. A quick review I know, but there is little else to say. If you are reading this and own either a PS3 or 360, or have a decent gaming PC, just go and get this one. Anyway, back to the batcave.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg"><img style="width: 88px; cursor: pointer; height: 103px;" alt="" src="http://www.gamesreview.co.uk/alien2.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><br />by <a href="mailto:%20blog@gamesreview.co.uk">The Critical Alien</a><br /><br /></div>The Critical Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08967260823864413604noreply@blogger.com0