Halo: One of the biggest game franchises of all. It is so ingrained in popular culture now that people who are not even gamers may recognise the name 'Halo' or the image of the Master Chief. However, for all the hype, the first game seems to be rated slightly higher than it should be.
There isn't much to say in this review - most things about this game are excellent. The graphics are visually spectacular and the first time you look up and see the ring rising in the distance - its a memorable experience. The landscapes and level design is generally superb.
The music and sound for this game are excellent also, they really give a cinematic feel making it feel you are less playing a game and more you are in a movie. The sound effects are especially detailed as you can hear the slightest noises such as shell casings hitting the ground.
The gameplay controls are tight; this is where Halo got its master domination of shooters and now there are few others that can lay claim to the title of best shooter. However this game is now outdated and obsolete when compared to Halo 2 and the updated controls such as dual wielding.
Now to the not so great things about Halo Combat Evolved. This is essentially a good game. However, there are things that are certainly not great: Enemy imbalance and level design. To be honest, the game from the level 'The Library' is a pretty broken experience. The level is dark, and confusing, and although it doesn't take much to realise where you're meant to be going the player shouldn't have to stand around wondering where to go next in a linear game such as Halo. The torch is really bad, especially as it keeps running out of power.
As for the level where the player has to disable the pulse generators, that's where it gets extremely frustrating. I played this on easy, because I hate games that make it too difficult for the player, and I wanted to get through the game quickly. If I have to play a certain section 4 times over (on easy difficulty) I think there's a problem there. The situation was: I had to fly down to the bottom of the tower on the banshee to grab a health pack, then fly back up, enter the tower, fight some Flood and disable the generator. And then get flooded by Flood again, resulting in death. The Flood are horrendously imbalanced: they are much too powerful due to no real flaws, good in melee and also armed with weapons such as assault rifles and missile launchers. Thus I had to replay this section multiple times: NOT FUN.
The health packs are also a major criticism in the game. Players don't want to scavenge around for health packs, and while at the time this was often the norm in games they are often placed badly, and not where the player most needs them.
Now to vehicles. While the ghost and banshee are an absolute delight to use, with excellent transitions, controls and balance, the warthog is a horror to drive. In open terrain it isn't so bad, but in the final countdown section with all the pillars and walls in the way, trying to steer with the warthog is a nightmare. Not to mention keeping an eye on the clock. The final level is a very stressful and frustrating affair: it was here that I put down the controller in disgust. Time limits are much hated in video games and although some gamers see it as 'challenging', having to replay the final level at least five or six (or more) times is not fun. As soon as the game ceases to be fun the player often puts the game down, never to pick it up again. And that's where Halo Combat Evolved fails again. Although the game has a great storyline, there's almost no replay value in single player.
So, that's my rant on the flaws of an otherwise stable and pretty revolutionary game that spurred the xbox onwards and the Halo franchise to where it is today. With Halo 2, 3 and Reach now released, there's little point in playing Halo Combat Evolved so I won't be picking it up again. Although an excellent game it isn't perfect, so I'm giving it a 7.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Rise of the Argonauts: Great Sound, Crap Game
I got into this game because I love Greek mythology. It's good to make your version different, after all if you make your satyrs and centaurs look exactly like someone else's you're simply copying theirs. However, the satyrs here are clear rip offs from Warhammer Beastmen and the centaurs are obviously ripped straight out of World of Warcraft. While the story here isn't bad, and the visuals are quite good, there are several factors in Rise of the Argonauts that I severely disliked.
First though, the good parts. The sound for this game is excellent, from the clash of weapons, the sound of armour as you walk, the ambience in the surrounding environment and the awesome score by Tyler Bates. This game certainly has one of the best game soundtracks I've heard. The fast-paced action combat is good too, especially the slo-mo execution moves as an enemy's torso is sliced in half and blood spatters. However, the sound and combat is pretty much all that's good about Rise of the Argonauts.
The lengthy, tedious dialogue sequences really bore the player and although you have choices about what response to give, this is nothing like Mass Effect. The character animations are a complete joke, as Jason says every line practically in the same pose. The only real thing that moves are his eyes and mouth. Pathetic. This is a horrendous job of dialogue in a game.
This game's level design is absolutely shocking. It is becoming the norm in many games to have some sort of minimap to indicate where you should be going. If its clear, or open world, it's not as necessary. But this game's levels are so confusing and badly designed that a minimap is essential. Yet there isn't one, instead you have to constantly go back to the menu to check the map, which is a true horror to behold. The symbols are miniscule, and the quest objectives are utterly primitive. Also, the levels themselves are often so dark its hard to even see where you're meant to go next.
The third factor which I think detracts from this game is the poorly designed and hellishly frustrating boss fights. While the combat is good, the boss fights are a complete farce. There's barely any indication as to how you're actually meant to win the fight, and even then they're very difficult and require replaying again and again and again. The battle with Medusa is especially horrible, as the camera draws out and you can barely even see your character sometimes. The final boss forced me to put down the game in disgust as the thrown spear lags so badly, sometimes doesn't even work and there's no indication if it actually did anything at all. I must have thrown at least 20 spears to no avail and that was on the first section of that end boss fight.
The last thing to critique on Rise of the Argonauts is the bugs and glitches which detract massively from the game, removing all fun and causing the player to replay whole scenes of dialogue (which is a complete waste of time.) This game seems unfinished and barely any effort went into it.
Verdict: With terrible dialogue, horrendous level design, poor gameplay, along with a bunch of bugs and glitches Rise of the Argonauts is one of the worst games I've ever played. I would never recommend it, especially as there are much more worthy games out there. I'm giving it a 5.
First though, the good parts. The sound for this game is excellent, from the clash of weapons, the sound of armour as you walk, the ambience in the surrounding environment and the awesome score by Tyler Bates. This game certainly has one of the best game soundtracks I've heard. The fast-paced action combat is good too, especially the slo-mo execution moves as an enemy's torso is sliced in half and blood spatters. However, the sound and combat is pretty much all that's good about Rise of the Argonauts.
The lengthy, tedious dialogue sequences really bore the player and although you have choices about what response to give, this is nothing like Mass Effect. The character animations are a complete joke, as Jason says every line practically in the same pose. The only real thing that moves are his eyes and mouth. Pathetic. This is a horrendous job of dialogue in a game.
This game's level design is absolutely shocking. It is becoming the norm in many games to have some sort of minimap to indicate where you should be going. If its clear, or open world, it's not as necessary. But this game's levels are so confusing and badly designed that a minimap is essential. Yet there isn't one, instead you have to constantly go back to the menu to check the map, which is a true horror to behold. The symbols are miniscule, and the quest objectives are utterly primitive. Also, the levels themselves are often so dark its hard to even see where you're meant to go next.
The third factor which I think detracts from this game is the poorly designed and hellishly frustrating boss fights. While the combat is good, the boss fights are a complete farce. There's barely any indication as to how you're actually meant to win the fight, and even then they're very difficult and require replaying again and again and again. The battle with Medusa is especially horrible, as the camera draws out and you can barely even see your character sometimes. The final boss forced me to put down the game in disgust as the thrown spear lags so badly, sometimes doesn't even work and there's no indication if it actually did anything at all. I must have thrown at least 20 spears to no avail and that was on the first section of that end boss fight.
The last thing to critique on Rise of the Argonauts is the bugs and glitches which detract massively from the game, removing all fun and causing the player to replay whole scenes of dialogue (which is a complete waste of time.) This game seems unfinished and barely any effort went into it.
Verdict: With terrible dialogue, horrendous level design, poor gameplay, along with a bunch of bugs and glitches Rise of the Argonauts is one of the worst games I've ever played. I would never recommend it, especially as there are much more worthy games out there. I'm giving it a 5.
Fallout 3: Thrilling rpg set in apocalyptic wastes
Well first off, let me echo IGN and say this is not Oblivion with guns. Its open world, you can ignore the main quest if you want and go do your own thing, but this game isn’t quite as immersive as that title. There isn’t a huge variety of races and classes. Having said that, Fallout 3 is still a great game in its own right, set in a disturbingly convincing, dark and twisted sci fi future.
The presentation for Fallout 3 is superb, from Ron Perlman’s narrative, the excellent voice overs, including that of Malcolm McDowell and Liam Neeson, to the realistic graphics that really capture post-apocalyptic America. Speaking of which, the Capital Wasteland suffers a bit in the field of diversity – it’s very bleak, and depressing, which is great because it really conveys a sense of failure and loss, but wherever you go on the surface its pretty much the same everywhere. The level design is excellent though in the ‘dungeons’, adding a very frightening sense of dread and darkness when you enter them. And they are frightening, with dark passageways, half-eaten corpses and terrible things that lurk in the blackness, always ready to leap out at you when you least expect it. Fallout 3 is a very scary (and bloody) game in certain areas so if you are squeamish or scare easily, be warned. Bethesda have really captured the feeling of scraping out an existence in a post-apocalyptic world.
The roleplaying element in this game can get very dark. You can do some very evil and twisted things in Fallout 3. There’s a certain sequence in the main quest where it is quite disturbing what you have to do. However, this is all portrayed extremely well, and is one of the things that make Fallout 3 great. The game is filled with interesting characters and stories, and you may find that you’ve spent more time in this game than you expected. Just with Bethesda’s previous title, if you just rush through you’re probably not going to get as much out of the game as you could. However, once you get to the main quest ending though, make sure you’ve done everything else you want to do in the wastelands, because there is no coming back. Fallout 3 is a great roleplaying game with a dirty and radioactive edge.
The combat system is awesome. Being able to select which body part to aim for with the awesome VATS makes for some very gorey combat, although it can be very entertaining and very satisfying to watch it play out. Once you get some half-decent guns the enemies become slightly easier, especially if you keep going for headshots, but there is the opportunity to take someone’s arm out which forces them to drop their weapon, or maybe you want to blow off their legs, slowing them down. These choices make for some very bloody cut scenes, but it is very rewarding after winning your hard-earned gun and is a very visually spectacular system. I’d love to see this incorporated in other games as it makes the act of shooting people more like a cinematic experience (I know that sounds really bad.)
Borderlands: Fun Shooter in a Blasted Wasteland
"You shouldna come here and now you're gonna pay!"
Welcome to my Borderlands review (spoiler alert for the story, though its not much of a spoiler because that would actually require something to spoil). I was attracted to this game because of its style and mad max look. Having said that, it is very mad max like, from the guns, dust and beaten up vehicles to the fact that there are characters such as 'Mad Mel.' Despite a few flaws this is one of the best games that I've played on the 360. I should also say that I'm reviewing this on the Xbox 360 since it seems there are a few differences on the PC.
Onto the flaws (bad things first.) Most games nowadays have a difficulty setting. This is not present in Borderlands. Each mission has a difficulty indicator, however often it will be a lot harder than it suggests. Many of the missions are quite easy but some of the ones stating they are 'Normal' are actually quite hard. In most rpgs now the higher level you are means its easier to beat lower level creatures. This is not necessarily the case in Borderlands. I found that even if you're higher level the bosses are quite difficult, including the final boss. While it was at level 33, I was 2 level higher and couldn't beat it. With a little help I was able to do it, however the point remains that a difficulty setting would be nice.
The story of Borderlands is its weakest point and is a real pity since it looks like the devs have prioritized gameplay over story, whereas ideally both should play equal parts. And the story is very very weak. Basically the player takes on the role of a mercenary on Pandora (hardly an original name) amongst thousands searching for a cache of alien weapons called The Vault. Guided by your Guardian Angel, a disembodied woman, you have to collect the pieces of a key before the nazi-like Crimson Lance take the key for themselves and open the vault. The leader of the Crimson Lance is then killed by the Destroyer, a massive alien locked inside (what a surprise.) You then have to take it down. The story behind the Destroyer is that the Eridians sacrificed their entire civilization to contain the Destroyer and stop it from taking over the universe. Sound familiar? After the Destroyer is, well, destroyed, you get a large cash payout and that's it. As I said, a very weak story, not creative at all.
But its not all bad news, in fact its mostly good with Borderlands. The presentation is great from the intro scene on the bus all the way to the final boss, with great dialogue, a great sense of humour and excellent graphics with tons of detail in cell-shaded style. The models for characters, enemies and vehicles are excellent, although the vehicles could do with a little more customization. They do look, however, very beaten up and this is appropriate since Borderlands uses the 'Used Future' settings. The landscape is awesome and very spectacular, if a little samey, since its mostly all a pile of rusting trash heap. The menus and interface are laid out very well and the fact that like Elder Scrolls Oblivion there is a day-night cycle immerses the player in the world of Pandora.
As for sound and music Borderlands once again does a good job. From the crunch of your boots when you're running away from howling skags to the chatter of machine gun fire whilst blasting alien-shrieking Rakk from the skies, the game really makes you feel like you're there. The music is good too, and is suitably stressful during combat situations.
Gameplay - this is Borderlands' big winner. Controls are tight, and easy to pick up, with the exception of a rather clunky melee attack by pushing the right stick. As with many open world games you can wander around shooting enemies, bumping up your weapon proficiencies, completing side missions and riding vehicles. You can ignore the storyline to an extent - certain missions will simply unlock the next areas in the game. While the arenas are fun for a while for a bit of player vs player action its the running around in a vast, junk-strewn landscape filled with loot, enemies and vehicles that will keep players coming back again and again. If you haven't played Borderlands in a multiplayer game you're not really appreciating all that the game has to offer as this is definitely one of the most fun aspects of the game. And as stated in the IGN review, there are thousands of guns in Pandora and you'll find yourself spending time choosing which gun that really suits your style.
There isn't much else to say except Borderlands rocks. Hardcore RPG fans may not get enough out of this and the storyline isn't anything to boast about, but there's the core of a really good game here and few gamers into rpgs or shooters won't find something about Borderlands to enjoy. Even after you've finished the game you'll find there's still plenty of reasons to come back and shoot bad guys for years to come. Verdict: I'm giving it an 8.5.
Welcome to my Borderlands review (spoiler alert for the story, though its not much of a spoiler because that would actually require something to spoil). I was attracted to this game because of its style and mad max look. Having said that, it is very mad max like, from the guns, dust and beaten up vehicles to the fact that there are characters such as 'Mad Mel.' Despite a few flaws this is one of the best games that I've played on the 360. I should also say that I'm reviewing this on the Xbox 360 since it seems there are a few differences on the PC.
Onto the flaws (bad things first.) Most games nowadays have a difficulty setting. This is not present in Borderlands. Each mission has a difficulty indicator, however often it will be a lot harder than it suggests. Many of the missions are quite easy but some of the ones stating they are 'Normal' are actually quite hard. In most rpgs now the higher level you are means its easier to beat lower level creatures. This is not necessarily the case in Borderlands. I found that even if you're higher level the bosses are quite difficult, including the final boss. While it was at level 33, I was 2 level higher and couldn't beat it. With a little help I was able to do it, however the point remains that a difficulty setting would be nice.
The story of Borderlands is its weakest point and is a real pity since it looks like the devs have prioritized gameplay over story, whereas ideally both should play equal parts. And the story is very very weak. Basically the player takes on the role of a mercenary on Pandora (hardly an original name) amongst thousands searching for a cache of alien weapons called The Vault. Guided by your Guardian Angel, a disembodied woman, you have to collect the pieces of a key before the nazi-like Crimson Lance take the key for themselves and open the vault. The leader of the Crimson Lance is then killed by the Destroyer, a massive alien locked inside (what a surprise.) You then have to take it down. The story behind the Destroyer is that the Eridians sacrificed their entire civilization to contain the Destroyer and stop it from taking over the universe. Sound familiar? After the Destroyer is, well, destroyed, you get a large cash payout and that's it. As I said, a very weak story, not creative at all.
But its not all bad news, in fact its mostly good with Borderlands. The presentation is great from the intro scene on the bus all the way to the final boss, with great dialogue, a great sense of humour and excellent graphics with tons of detail in cell-shaded style. The models for characters, enemies and vehicles are excellent, although the vehicles could do with a little more customization. They do look, however, very beaten up and this is appropriate since Borderlands uses the 'Used Future' settings. The landscape is awesome and very spectacular, if a little samey, since its mostly all a pile of rusting trash heap. The menus and interface are laid out very well and the fact that like Elder Scrolls Oblivion there is a day-night cycle immerses the player in the world of Pandora.
As for sound and music Borderlands once again does a good job. From the crunch of your boots when you're running away from howling skags to the chatter of machine gun fire whilst blasting alien-shrieking Rakk from the skies, the game really makes you feel like you're there. The music is good too, and is suitably stressful during combat situations.
Gameplay - this is Borderlands' big winner. Controls are tight, and easy to pick up, with the exception of a rather clunky melee attack by pushing the right stick. As with many open world games you can wander around shooting enemies, bumping up your weapon proficiencies, completing side missions and riding vehicles. You can ignore the storyline to an extent - certain missions will simply unlock the next areas in the game. While the arenas are fun for a while for a bit of player vs player action its the running around in a vast, junk-strewn landscape filled with loot, enemies and vehicles that will keep players coming back again and again. If you haven't played Borderlands in a multiplayer game you're not really appreciating all that the game has to offer as this is definitely one of the most fun aspects of the game. And as stated in the IGN review, there are thousands of guns in Pandora and you'll find yourself spending time choosing which gun that really suits your style.
There isn't much else to say except Borderlands rocks. Hardcore RPG fans may not get enough out of this and the storyline isn't anything to boast about, but there's the core of a really good game here and few gamers into rpgs or shooters won't find something about Borderlands to enjoy. Even after you've finished the game you'll find there's still plenty of reasons to come back and shoot bad guys for years to come. Verdict: I'm giving it an 8.5.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Bioshock 2: Return to Rapture
“I’m ready for dream-time, Mr B.”
This is a line you’ll hear often when playing in the disturbing and yet beautiful world of Bioshock 2. It’s an action-packed game, full of detail, great stories and heart-pumping ambience. This game might not beat the original Bioshock, which attracted me to the sequel, but it comes damn close.
Bioshock 2 is once again set in the ruins of Andrew Ryan’s Rapture. Rapture, like in the first game, is a highly detailed, graphically awesome, underwater paradise. Well at least it was a paradise until everything went wrong. Nevertheless the game world is visually striking, filled with posters telling you to ‘Pick your Plasmid and Evolve today!’ I would often stop to check things out in this game, and there are a couple of places where you actually have to go outside Rapture across the seabed to reach another section of the city. The story-telling is great because rather than have the player read vast amounts of text on the screen, the story devices are interwoven into the environment itself. Also like in the first game, there are heaps of audio logs littering each level, which really help to fill in the story about what sort of hell the people of Rapture were going through. These are excellent, and really add that feeling of reality to the game. Although it’s not necessary to listen to them, I felt that I had to. While the game’s ambience, voice acting and music are pretty much the same high calibre as the last game, the story isn’t as good as its predecessor, but it’s still a compelling experience. Basically you travel through various sections of Rapture by a train, unlocking doors and meeting interesting characters along the way. You play as one of the original Big Daddies and your mission is to rescue your Little Sister Eleanor from the bitch villainess Sophia Lamb. While Lamb doesn’t particularly come across as a great villain, the game introduces a new type of enemy – the Big Sisters.
Big Sisters are a skinnier, faster version of the Big Daddies, and come equipped with plasmids which they will use frequently and with much ferocity in their effort to take you down. But once you defeat them you’ll be rewarded with a glut of Adam to buy more plasmids. Throughout the game you’ll have the opportunity to help the Little Sisters gather Adam. This can get a little tedious at times. First you’ll have to kill the Big Daddy in order to adopt his Little Sister, and then battle against two waves of Splicers – one for each time you set her down to gather from a corpse. Then, after you ‘deal’ with the Little Sister by either harvesting or rescuing her, as in the first game, the Big Sister turns up and you have to fight her. All this action uses up massive amounts of ammunition, but luckily there are usually heaps of ammo dumps around and ammo drops from the Splicers you kill. The action is exciting though, and is just as thrilling as in the game’s predecessor and the lines of dialogue your Little Sister reels off are quite humorous (“Unzip ‘em, daddy!”) Battling the Big Sisters gets easier throughout the game as you buy and upgrade Plasmids and gene tonics to give you a whole heap of passive bonuses and I noticed that the Big Sisters didn’t turn up to hunt you every time – it was more like one Big Sister for every two Little Sisters you rescued.
It should be noted that hacking is a bit smoother now, using a dial system instead of the pipes, and the plasmids work a lot better as you upgrade them, giving a greater feeling of power and progression. The plasmids in the first game make a welcome return, but with interesting new additions. As for the weapons, while there is a great variety, including a Big Daddy’s drill I sorely missed the crossbow with incendiary bolts as it was my favourite from the first Bioshock and I don’t see why it’s been excluded this time. There is a spear gun, with rocket-like projectiles, but the spear gun is cumbersome and slow and doesn’t really make up for what the crossbow brought to the game. The closest thing to the crossbow was the shotgun, using phosphorous shot, with each shot causing mini-explosions on the target, which was actually pretty cool. Of course though the most prominent evolution Bioshock 2 displays is the dual-wielding. This is excellent, as now you can have a plasmid in one hand and a gun in the other to ‘shock ‘em and clock ‘em.’ There are many combinations of plasmids and weapons, and it’s up to you to find the right mix of death-dealing that suits your playing style, whether you blast enemies with ice and then charge in there with the drill, or set them on fire and pump them full of lead while they’re running around burning and shrieking. And remember there are areas of the environment that can help out with combat: using fire on oil spills and electricity on enemies standing in water.
Interestingly, there is also a multiplayer option on Bioshock 2. The setting is a prequel to the original Bioshock, involving a civil war that leads to Rapture’s downfall, so you can see the city’s appearance as to how it was originally intended. Unfortunately due to my not being a Gold Member on XBOX Live I wasn’t able to check it out. Looks pretty fun though.
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