bitsofjoy
This article will also appear in the first issue of Pixels, a new indie-produced magazine featuring articles and interviews from some of the most respected names currently working in the games industry, and Dave.
So, as you’d expect from a nerd moving to Nerd Mecca [Mecha? Mega Mecha Mecca?], I’ve been intending to do a Japan wordy-blog-thing since my arrival. The initial idea was to give you, The Reader [hi Frank!], little snippets of Japanese culture for you to devour with genki otaku delight. But once I’d started writing, I found it very difficult to stop. That’s not because I love you so much that I can’t help but be a giver – don’t get me wrong, I think you’re great, I just don’t think we’re that compatible – I just found it very difficult to chop up said snippets into individual topics. Aspects of even geek culture are so intertwined that it’s difficult to talk about one without spilling over into what should be subsequent blog posts.
Full disclosure: I am in no way an expert, I am merely brain-vomiting observations from the perspective of a non-Japanese-speaking, slightly-above-average-height foreigner. With that in mind, I will say this: Japanese culture is so deeply and fundamentally different from English culture that even I, as someone who lives in the damn country, have barely been able to scratch the surface of what those differences really are or what they stem from. There are, of course, places you can learn about that. But we’re here to talk about games.
Personally, my image of Japanese arcade culture was the middle-aged man in full business attire, smoking a cigarette and idly destroying hapless challengers at Street Fighter whilst mumbling into his mobile phone. And whaddya know, I was right! Kind of. He does exist, and he’s awesome. Actually, he’s polluting my air and presumably making the control stick yellow (I’ve become so atmospherically coddled since the UK smoking ban, haven’t I?), but we still like him. But what I found most interesting was the answer I got when I started asking ‘who is he?’
In the UK, we like to kick up a fuss when we find a profession that still doesn’t offer gender-equal pay for (mathematically) similar jobs. It’s easy to forget that very few countries in the world even get close to our level of equality, or even want to. Japan is one of those countries that seemingly isn’t too bothered. Try to take what I say next with an open mind. Don’t jump to the conclusion that Japanese women are oppressed or Japan is living in the Middle Ages; it’s quite the opposite. For the majority of society, men and women have very clear life paths pretty much laid out for them (here’s where I could go off on one about creativity being stifled, paternity or the resilience of the economy that results from this mentality. But I won’t.) Men will study to their highest ability, get a job in a company, and keep that job until they retire. Women will study to their highest ability, start a job, meet a man, get knocked up, drop everything and become a full-time domestic overlord. Of course, this is a massive over-simplification and generalisation, but you’d be surprised at how much Japanese women will see themselves as a failure if they fail to marry before they’re 30. There’s even a commonly used phrase, “old Christmas cake”, used to describe women who remain ‘uneaten’ past the(ir) 25th. The part we’ll concentrate on for now though, is the male role as the breadwinner, and the female role as the wielder of the testicle-purse.
Japanese jobs, for Japanese men, pay well. Once you’re of an age when you should be getting married, you’ll have probably been working at your company for a handful of years, with yearly pay-rises and the like. The second you get married though, you start handing that cheque straight to the missus. You see, not only are you getting a friend, lover, mother to your children etc., you’re getting an accountant. A bloody strict one. Japanese women are very much the head of the household. You may have seen, in various anime films, that the grandmother is always the most respected and gets the final say. Those films are frighteningly accurate. Wives handle all of the bills, shopping, literally every cost of basic living, and give an allowance to their husbands. You read that right, an allowance. Want to go for a few beers on Friday after a particularly tough week of late finishes at work? Make sure you count your pocket money, Sonny Jim!
Japanese school is very tough. Not in the sense of certain schools having high standards for entry, every country has that. More in the way that most subjects are taught. There’s a very regimented, repetition-based style in Japanese schools (again, there’s an entire psychology essay in here about the merits and issues arising from this almost military-style system), so young adults are in a high-stress environment from their teens right through to their long-term jobs. And here’s where I think the balance of the gender roles comes into play. As a male, you’ve spent the last ten years cramming and being the best you can be, trying to impress everyone around you whilst never showing signs of weakness due to the competitiveness of the job market, balancing your daily efforts with attempting to have a social life, when suddenly, a woman appears and offers to take care of all of that silly financial stuff for you. The best way I, as a base and revolting individual, can describe the thought of that is like the orgasm at the end of a decade-long stress-wank. After the expectations put upon them by society, it’s only natural that most men would almost involuntarily regress into the arms of their wife, who’s starting, I don’t doubt, to look worryingly like their mother.
I’m the sort of person who wants to remain young at heart. Or at least that’s my excuse when people look at me funny when I tell them I’ve started watching pro wrestling again. But for most Japanese men, becoming a respected young adult is the time to start making up for those missed teenage years. Life actually does get easier as you get older here, after the peak of the early twenties. So next time you see Smokey McSpinningBirdKick, just know that he’s fucking earned his night off, and don’t be too angry when he Perfects you. Twice.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20111016025054/http://bitsofjoy.com/
So, as you’d expect from a nerd moving to Nerd Mecca [Mecha? Mega Mecha Mecca?], I’ve been intending to do a Japan wordy-blog-thing since my arrival. The initial idea was to give you, The Reader [hi Frank!], little snippets of Japanese culture for you to devour with genki otaku delight. But once I’d started writing, I found it very difficult to stop. That’s not because I love you so much that I can’t help but be a giver – don’t get me wrong, I think you’re great, I just don’t think we’re that compatible – I just found it very difficult to chop up said snippets into individual topics. Aspects of even geek culture are so intertwined that it’s difficult to talk about one without spilling over into what should be subsequent blog posts.
Full disclosure: I am in no way an expert, I am merely brain-vomiting observations from the perspective of a non-Japanese-speaking, slightly-above-average-height foreigner. With that in mind, I will say this: Japanese culture is so deeply and fundamentally different from English culture that even I, as someone who lives in the damn country, have barely been able to scratch the surface of what those differences really are or what they stem from. There are, of course, places you can learn about that. But we’re here to talk about games.
Personally, my image of Japanese arcade culture was the middle-aged man in full business attire, smoking a cigarette and idly destroying hapless challengers at Street Fighter whilst mumbling into his mobile phone. And whaddya know, I was right! Kind of. He does exist, and he’s awesome. Actually, he’s polluting my air and presumably making the control stick yellow (I’ve become so atmospherically coddled since the UK smoking ban, haven’t I?), but we still like him. But what I found most interesting was the answer I got when I started asking ‘who is he?’
In the UK, we like to kick up a fuss when we find a profession that still doesn’t offer gender-equal pay for (mathematically) similar jobs. It’s easy to forget that very few countries in the world even get close to our level of equality, or even want to. Japan is one of those countries that seemingly isn’t too bothered. Try to take what I say next with an open mind. Don’t jump to the conclusion that Japanese women are oppressed or Japan is living in the Middle Ages; it’s quite the opposite. For the majority of society, men and women have very clear life paths pretty much laid out for them (here’s where I could go off on one about creativity being stifled, paternity or the resilience of the economy that results from this mentality. But I won’t.) Men will study to their highest ability, get a job in a company, and keep that job until they retire. Women will study to their highest ability, start a job, meet a man, get knocked up, drop everything and become a full-time domestic overlord. Of course, this is a massive over-simplification and generalisation, but you’d be surprised at how much Japanese women will see themselves as a failure if they fail to marry before they’re 30. There’s even a commonly used phrase, “old Christmas cake”, used to describe women who remain ‘uneaten’ past the(ir) 25th. The part we’ll concentrate on for now though, is the male role as the breadwinner, and the female role as the wielder of the testicle-purse.
Japanese jobs, for Japanese men, pay well. Once you’re of an age when you should be getting married, you’ll have probably been working at your company for a handful of years, with yearly pay-rises and the like. The second you get married though, you start handing that cheque straight to the missus. You see, not only are you getting a friend, lover, mother to your children etc., you’re getting an accountant. A bloody strict one. Japanese women are very much the head of the household. You may have seen, in various anime films, that the grandmother is always the most respected and gets the final say. Those films are frighteningly accurate. Wives handle all of the bills, shopping, literally every cost of basic living, and give an allowance to their husbands. You read that right, an allowance. Want to go for a few beers on Friday after a particularly tough week of late finishes at work? Make sure you count your pocket money, Sonny Jim!
Japanese school is very tough. Not in the sense of certain schools having high standards for entry, every country has that. More in the way that most subjects are taught. There’s a very regimented, repetition-based style in Japanese schools (again, there’s an entire psychology essay in here about the merits and issues arising from this almost military-style system), so young adults are in a high-stress environment from their teens right through to their long-term jobs. And here’s where I think the balance of the gender roles comes into play. As a male, you’ve spent the last ten years cramming and being the best you can be, trying to impress everyone around you whilst never showing signs of weakness due to the competitiveness of the job market, balancing your daily efforts with attempting to have a social life, when suddenly, a woman appears and offers to take care of all of that silly financial stuff for you. The best way I, as a base and revolting individual, can describe the thought of that is like the orgasm at the end of a decade-long stress-wank. After the expectations put upon them by society, it’s only natural that most men would almost involuntarily regress into the arms of their wife, who’s starting, I don’t doubt, to look worryingly like their mother.
I’m the sort of person who wants to remain young at heart. Or at least that’s my excuse when people look at me funny when I tell them I’ve started watching pro wrestling again. But for most Japanese men, becoming a respected young adult is the time to start making up for those missed teenage years. Life actually does get easier as you get older here, after the peak of the early twenties. So next time you see Smokey McSpinningBirdKick, just know that he’s fucking earned his night off, and don’t be too angry when he Perfects you. Twice.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20111016025054/http://bitsofjoy.com/
Games Are Evil
Make or Break Time: What Sony Must Implement This Year
With the 360′s price drop making the PS3 look like even more of an exclusive luxury, and the line of “but the online service is free!” frankly no longer cutting it when compared to the vastly superior Live experience, Sony really need to buck their ideas up to stay in the game.
We may as well jump straight into the list.
- Invite friends directly into a specific online match or game from the XMB. Yes it will be expensive, but Sony should have had the foresight to build that infrastructure from the start and have developers always integrate their games with PSN (at least we can now expect trophies for every game which is a start!)
- Cross-game private chat built in to the XMB. Chat should not be its own stand-alone application, and I should be able to chat to my friend whilst playing a game.
- Short voice messages to be sent instead of having to type everything. It’s just a chore. Stop it.
- USB headsets to be given away with the next few major releases. Yes, the market will be flooded with PS3-branded headsets within weeks after people trade in their duplicate headsets. This is a good thing, as it means even more people enjoying your online service a whole lot more. Take the financial hit, Sony.
The 360 has already taken another step forward while the PS3 is yet to catch up with the old Xbox 'experience', with private group chats.
It might sound like a big hole to throw millions down, but I would argue that Sony are the ones at fault for not building these features into their plan from the start. I suppose that’s one advantage Microsoft have – hey, their consoles melt themselves to death, but they really know what they’re doing with software.
The PS3 might be the best piece of hardware out there, but until the guy on the couch chooses to play FIFA or Madden with his friends on the shiny black beast, the Xbox 360 will always be far, far ahead.
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/01/make-or-break-time-what-sony-need-to-implement-this-year/
Dawn of War II: Multiplayer Beta Impressions
At first glance, the environment around us looks to be nothing special. Certainly nothing worth fighting over. Barren, cracked ground stretches out across the horizon, occasionally broken by whichever exotic looking plant has managed to win the fight for water. Ruins blight the landscape on what could have possibly once been a beautiful planet, now permanently scarred by decades of war. Clearly someone further up the command chain doesn’t see this as a holiday spot though. Gaining a tactical advantage is the name of the game here.
From the first moment, my teammates’ Eldar and Space Marines spread out, hunting for control points. Having a defensive field commander, I opt to follow one of my allies in the hopes of fortifying any position he may gain. We win the race to the control point, but are confronted before we have chance to bed in. A blur of action takes place, with shock troops dropping in on jet packs more than once to save my scouts’ hides, and the enemies Eldar troops’ spirits broken on a number of occasions. I opt to hang back, the coward that I am, and hope that using cover effectively will give me more of an advantage than the enemy’s greater numbers. Eventually, after several waves of reinforcements and multiple clashes between opposing field commanders, my allies are able to provide enough distraction for me to set up a few cross-firing turrets and truly call this control point ours. We rally, reinforce, and start all over again at the next control point.
Dawn of War II’s multiplayer is full of these miniature dramas, where skirmishes can be won or lost by choosing to move between cover at just the right time, or opting to run out into the open, sacrificing your scouts for the sake of taking out a turret with a grenade. Tiny – sometimes seemingly meaningless – decisions can have a butterfly effect on the whole battle. This may sound like a haven for the neurotic or anally retentive, but DoW II manages to heap pressure on the player’s decisions without ever sacrificing the fun factor or a sense of balance. My team eventually lost the above encounter, and I fully accept responsibility for accidentally telling all three of my squads to hop out of cover at just the wrong time. We lost that control point and were pushed back so swiftly that our entire defensive line buckled, and the day was lost.
To call DoW II “just Company of Heroes with Space Marines” is in some ways correct, whilst still doing the game a great disservice. That Relic have managed to retain the authenticity and wide variety of the Warhammer 40,000 universe and still come out the other side with a balanced and enjoyable experience is nothing short of an RTTS (real-time tactical strategy) miracle. What we do have is an impetus on using cover rather than overwhelming numbers (Tyranids aside) and an emphasis on smaller units with multiple configurations not seen since Warcraft III or the afore-mentioned Company of Heroes. Throughout my weekend blasting through the multiplayer beta, I think the highest number of units I had was 5. Any more than that and the units would become unmanageable, and would struggle to compete for cover in narrow firefights. It made much more sense to spend my resources upgrading my commander and other units (I give my scouts shotguns and a sergeant, who in turn unlocks frag grenades, for example) rather than clutter the battlefield and not be able to maneuver my troops effectively.
To assume, as we know, is to make an ass out of you and me, but we can’t help but get a little bit giddy as we await the arrival of Dawn of War II. Relic’s track record for creating tension and cinematic moments in what is normally a genre so devoid of storyline and actually caring about the troops on the screen is sterling. And if the opening cinematic is anything to go by, they look to have even surpassed the mighty Company of Heroes this time.
Dawn of War II comes out on February 14th 2009, and is available to pre-purchase on Steam now.
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/02/dawn-of-war-ii-multiplayer-beta-impressions/
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/02/dawn-of-war-ii-multiplayer-beta-impressions/
Review: Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II (PC)
Release: Feb 20 2008
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Real-Time Strategy, Role-Playing Game
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Real-Time Strategy, Role-Playing Game
Resident ne’er-do-well Dave Barlow and ARandomGamer’s Ross Polly team up for a mammoth review of Relic/THQ’s latest offering in the Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War series. Will their opinions collide like two fat guys noticing a cake sale sign over each other’s shoulders, or will they bond in their mutual disdain or love of the title? [I kind of hope it's the fat guy thing – Ed.]
Dave Barlow: It’s impossible to talk about Dawn of War II without mentioning its predecessor. And no, I don’t mean the original Dawn of War. In fact, it might help to describe Dawn of War II by first looking at what made Company of Heroes so great in the first place.
At a time when most real-time strategy developers were enhancing their engines so that we can throw EVEN MORE (gasp!) enemies in one large cluster at the other team, Relic decided to scale down the numbers, ramp up the tactics and make a game that not only challenged players on a different level other than ‘He has 15 tanks. I must need 16 over there’, but one that could also afford tiny graphical and animation details that would just be wasted from a wider angle. What we were left with was characters that we felt more attached to, a sense that any skirmish can be won with the right tactics, and not a swarm tactic in sight.
Ross Polly: The first thing you must realize about the Dawn of War 2 campaign is that it has little to do with your average RTS. There is no resource management or building up a horde of units. Instead Dawn of War 2 reaches back to its table-top roots. Before each mission you choose up to four squads of men to come with you to battle. These are the only units you will have for the entire mission. The only exception is that once you secure a strategic point, your squads will replenish. As the game progresses you will find additional war gear that may be given to your squad leaders, allowing customization
similar to that of the table top game.
similar to that of the table top game.
DB: With Dawn of War 2, Relic have delved even further into the realm of attaching the player to the units for the long haul. And we’re talking more than just recurring characters. Hero characters will level up during combat, and skill points can be spent upgrading abilities. Do you want your main character to be good from long range and use plenty of healing abilities, or will he act as cavalry for your suppressed units with his chainsword? There’s even the addition of loot, which can be distributed in a similarly tactical fashion between missions.
RP: The campaign is more or less run by the player. As the story unfolds you are given various missions on several planets within the system. Each mission has a certain number of days that it must be completed in. Each mission attempt takes up a day, but if you are especially successful on a mission you earn an extra deployment for that day. Success is gauged by three factors: How many enemies you kill, how many squads you lose and how much time you took to complete the mission. These three factors also determine how much experience your squad leaders get, so they are important to take into consideration while playing.
Choosing which units to bring with you on any given mission greatly affects which tactics you might use. Scouts infiltrate, unseen by the enemy, but are weaker in combat than other units. Devastators lay down incredibly deadly suppressing fire, but have a limited firing radius and take time to set up. Assault marines can jump into combat quickly and are great assault troops, but can quickly be overwhelmed if they don’t get enough fire support. Even the mighty dreadnaught has its downside, being unable to regenerate health on its own. Finding the right balance among your units is essential if you are going to be successful.
Should you not complete a mission before it expires, the Tyranids’ infestation on that planet will grow. Needless to say, this is a very bad thing. It is therefore important to quickly and efficiently complete missions for those extra launches. Getting the loot, experience and strategic locations that are a part of each location are additional incentives.
DoW2’s story flows fairly well and takes advantage of the deep Warhammer 40k universe. Orks are once again being manipulated into attacking a world where a Space Marine chapter has a vested interest. Instead of the forces of Chaos it is the crafty Eldar behind the Ork attacks. When confronted, the Eldar begin their usual mutterings about more sinister forces at work and exclaiming that the humans have doomed us all. After a bit more Eldar and Ork killing, a pack of the bug-like Tyranids ambush you and everything quickly goes down the tubes.
DB: The combat itself will be very familiar to veterans of Company of Heroes, only you’ll generally be controlling even fewer units. I can give you three tips when you start playing: cover, cover and cover. Leave your troops out in the open for longer than a couple of seconds, and even a scout squad will mince them easily. Even moving between cover to gain a better vantage point has to be a calculated risk. Cover is logical, with solid, impenetrable objects (denoted by green dots) generally being the best places for your guys to hunker down. More flimsy or small cover is denoted by yellow circles, and is generally best used for a short time as you’re manoeuvring your squads, or as a last resort.
RP:For the best cover you can move your squad into a building. A quick grenade by the enemy, however, and your squad is in big trouble.
DB: After selecting a squad or unit with the left mouse button, move orders can be made with the right mouse button. By holding the right mouse button, the player can also specify which direction the unit should face when they reach their destination. This is mainly useful with certain weapons, such as machine-guns, which have a set-up time and can only fire within a certain arc. Vehicles, faithful to the source material, have areas of strong and weak armour, so this comes into the tactics of a fire-fight. Another free tip – it ain’t clever to show your tank’s arse to a guy with a rocket launcher. Just saying.
All in all, it’s pretty simple to throw your troops around at pretty much the speed of thought (or at the very least, the speed of mouse pointage). Troops will even find cover in the vicinity if you rush your order and don’t quite click precisely where you meant to. Groups can be assigned shortcut keys and can be selected by hitting numbers on the keyboard (as in any self-respecting RTS), and because there are so few units, 99% of the time you’ll find yourself in full control of the battlefield, knowing what’s going on and where at all times. For those few times when the stinky stuff’s hitting the fan and you’re not looking, audio alerts and visual pop-ups on the mini-map will grab your attention pretty sharply.
RP: The multiplayer aspect of the game is really where the strategy truly comes into play. Victory is achieved by successfully balancing unit building, holding requisition/power points, and actively pursuing the objective. The objective is either to annihilate the enemy or to hold various strategic points. Either way, you will have your hands full. Rather than wasting time constructing buildings and managing resources, DoW2 forces you to explore the map in order to gather resources, which inevitably thrusts you into combat very quickly.
DB: Whilst some may find the speed at which you’re expected to play multiplayer daunting at first, the choice of hero goes a long way to rectifying this. Play as a defensive hero, and you can hang back and reinforce each tactical point as your offensive counterparts strut forward and do their thing; use assault troops and you can be the second thrust of attack after your teammates’ tactical troops have moved into place. The opportunity for communication and tactical teamwork is staggering, rivalling the intensity with which I, my friends will profess, partake in a “game” of paintball. God forbid you’re playing on my team and you let us get flanked, even though I specifically told you to put some tactical troops behind that wall. But it’s all friendly banter. Honest.
RP: The only downside to the multiplayer is the options are somewhat limited. There are only two game types and seven maps to be played either 1vs1 or 3vs3. Even so, multiplayer is very fun and exciting. Prolonged games feature some of the biggest, meanest monsters of the Warhammer 40k universe battling it out on an epic scale.
One interesting feature is that you can have a friend join you and play the campaign co-op style. There is no matchmaking, so you will have to know your friend’s Windows Live ID. Another downside is that your partner doesn’t get to keep the rewards they earn when they go back to their own campaign. Other than that, command duties get split between you and your partner, allowing a little more flexibility to experiment with various tactics.
Ross Polly’s rating: 4/5. Overall the game is well made and contains hours of fun. The campaign is far from a traditional RTS, but is still good in its uniqueness. The multiplayer is fast paced and full of carnage. No matter which you prefer, Dawn of War 2 will offer you hours of fun.
Dave Barlow’s rating: 5/5. The game excels in all areas. It’s frantic, yet never overwhelming; accessible, but almost infinitely deep; lengthy, but in a rewarding, engaging way. More fun than Warcraft 3, more varied than Company of Heroes. In all honesty, Dawn of War II is the greatest real-time tactical game ever crafted. It almost received four stars, but apparently “I wish it was an MMO” isn’t a valid enough reason to dock points.
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/03/review-warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii-pc/
2-hour Review: FIFA 09′s ‘Ultimate Team’
If it’s possible for a non-existent pile of virtual pseudo cash to collect dust, then my most recently-purchased Microsoft points were due for a good Mr Sheening.
Imagine then the grin on my little face when I realized that – on the same day that I had moved into my new digs and gotten my replacement Xbox 360 up and running – the resurgent EA had released an entirely new feature as DLC for this year’s best football game.
The combination of the tinkerman’s wet dream, Football Manager, and every football fan’s pre-pubescent hobby, ‘Ultimate Team’ threatens to deny millions what little exposure to sunlight they might have gotten this summer.
The new mode is the amalgamation of the existing Manager Mode and a trading card collection game. The player controls the whole team to win coins and skill points, which in turn are used to buy booster packs and entry to tournaments. What we’re left with is something that falls between a sports game and crack. Initial frustration with results is quickly overwhelmed by satisfaction with just about the right amount of perserverence. One thing’s for sure, it pretty much isn’t worth going online before the majority of your team is made up ‘silver’ cards.
The cards themselves grant the player anything from new players to new kit to game-changing power-ups, such as ‘Strict Referee for 45 Minutes’. The option to transfer any cards to the mind-blowingly extensive Collection (complete with page-flippable sticker book – flashbacks of “got, got, got, got, NEED!”) mean that this won’t just be a walk in the park for completists. Extra bonuses can even be earned for permanently condemning groups of cards to the collection. For example, completing your Preston North End collection will earn a sizeable coin boost.
While FIFA’s Manager Mode might not be as painfully detailed as Football Manager, the tactics are deep enough to dramatically affect the AI behaviour of off-the-ball players. The fact that the team has been constructed and the tactis hand-picked by the player makes it all the more important that the team plays well. I found myself giving pep-talks out loud to the little virtual men running around on my TV, so there’s no questioning whether this mode evokes the same fatherly demand for success that is usually associated with a management sim.
The only real gripe is the apparent inability to challenge one’s friends to a bout of extreme fantasy football in an exhibition match, although this may just have been overlooked, such are the pitfalls of a 2-hour review.
The verdict: You’re thrown in at the deep end, but once you learn to stay afloat, the addiction takes a hold pretty damn quickly. And it looks like a lack of depth will certainly not be an issue any time soon. Buy it.
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/05/2-hour-review-fifa-09s-ultimate-team/
Dempressions – Red Faction: Guerilla
Despite the original relying heavily on its gimmick and not holding much water otherwise, Red Faction seems to have survived somewhat of a franchise cull in recent months. This is probably due to the marketing clout the original release carried, rather than a reflection of quality or success.
To call this demo ‘stupid fun’ doesn’t really do it justice. I therefore hereby coin the term ‘retarded superjoy’. Coated in a lick of sci-fi paint and seemingly padded out with a dynamic world in which factions are played against one another by the main character, RF: Guerrilla will be all about the fun factor. Sneak around inside a building before MacGuyvering your own door and obliterating any unsuspecting generic bad dudes; systematically take out a warehouse’s supports for the hell of it and cackle as its inhabitants are crushed to their physics-y, Martian death.
This is how to make a demo; give an inkling that there’s some sort of story going on in the background, sure, but it’s all about giving the player a total blast for ten minutes and leaving them craving more.
RF: Guerrilla ships 6/2.2009
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/05/dempressions-red-faction-guerilla/
Eurogamer 2009: Assassin’s Creed II Hands-On
The original Assassin’s Creed was in many ways a massive success. It forced a considerable collective jump forward in animation across the industry, it had the foundation of a great multi-enemy combat system with its deliberate, timing-based street scuffles, and the engine presented the player with a massive playground in which to feel superhuman in a world convincingly populated by mere humans. Lets not forget the advertising campaign which seemed to pervade every orifice of its TV demographic (in the UK at least), making it the most successful new series of all time. However, that is really where its merits ended. After a couple of hours spent learning the combat animations and repeating the same three core mission types (interrogation, pick-pocketing and assassinations), completing the original AC began to feel less like reveling in the future of gaming, and more like going through the same old motions with a fancy new layer of polish.
It was to my relief that James O’Reilly, Ubisoft’s Group Brand Manager understood my sentiments, commenting: “We are responding to direct feedback from the fans of Assassin’s Creed. Variety and depth of gameplay is an important learning and the team have been hard at work ensuring that the Assassin’s Creed 2 experience delivers accordingly.” When questioned if things be different this time around, he responded, saying, “I’m really excited about AC2. I feel like we’ve been able to really get what we want out of the game this time.”
Visually, the game has certainly received an upgrade. Climb a building and you’ll see that the play-area is now genuinely city-sized, with no “fog of war” cheats. See a building on the other side of town? You can free-run your way there across the roof-tops with no loading. Other touches, such as how Ezio’s (highly customizable) outfits will darken and stick to him when wet, both dripping and leaving squelchy footprints as he tries to inconspicuously wander across town, add an extra feel of finish.
The first one didn’t do too bad for itself though, did it? “What? 1.2million units for a new IP? Yeah, it did OK,” O’Reilly laughs, “but the ad campaign for the new game will be immense. I’ve never spent this much money before, it’s quite scary,” though no fear was showing in his eyes. “I really can’t wait for it to come out. It’s something the whole team’s really proud of and we know we’ve got a great game on our hands.” When saying this, O’Reilly seems genuine, as if he feels that the team has something to prove this time around, especially after the first AC showed so much promise and technical merit, but failed to cement itself as one of the greats, in the minds of players.
So where will the game be bettering its predecessor, I questioned. “Altair was already a master assassin when we jumped into his part of the story” O’Reilly reminisces. “Players will meet Ezio da Firenze Auditore before he becomes an Assassin and will join him on the path to becoming an Assassin. We can’t wait to see what’s in store as you join the character throughout a 30 year span.” He continued discussing what players would be doing over the span of the game, saying, “In the first game there were really only three mission types. In AC2 there are about 15 mission types in rotation, and the order’s mixed up so the repetition is completely gone. There’s also a ton of side missions outside the main rotation, so there’s loads more for the player to do.”
We’re not allowed to reveal anything about the story yet, but it seems that Ubisoft have really given their all to throttle out the first game’s failings, and make better still its successes. The combat animations were from a three month-old build, but they played at least as well as the first game, with more variation promised. It goes without saying that the free-running and animations are set to once again drop the jaws of passers-by. In its current state the game seemed fairly fleshed out, with surprisingly unique and varied inhabitants wandering its world, not to mention a lot of side-missions apparently already in place. That AC1 sold so well was probably down to expert marketing and the ‘wow’ factor, but AC2 looks to be shaping up to be one of the must-haves in a sea of great story and character-driven games coming our way soon.
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/11/eurogamer-2009-assassins-creed-ii-handson/
COD: World at War a Sickening Waste of Money
[Ed note: Dave Barlow is one opinionated evil bastard. Doesn't mean he's wrong, by any means. Just thought you'd like to know.]
I may have sucked online, but damn it I enjoyed CoD4. I was also not part of the “I’m sick of World War II shooters” set. On paper, you’d think CoD: WaW would be the perfect game for me. You’d be more wrong than people who pronounce it “supposably”.
All the joy of leveling up, without any of that needless effort.
OK, you might say, it’s been a while since the game came out Dave – why wait so long to play it? Because I’ve been playing other stuff, frankly. And I assumed (Ass + U + Me… + d) I would be getting a short but epic single-player game and many, many hours of coming three-from-bottom and chatting crap over the internet. The first half hour of the single-player portion didn’t really grab me, so I let it be while I downloaded Bioshock when it was Steam’s deal of the week. ‘All will be well,’ I told myself, ‘the multiplayer will be awesome’.
So, I just re-downloaded and booted that sucker up. Fair enough, it appears to still be CoD4 with a greenish skin and some New Yorker accents. I can handle this. Hang on a second – what are all these server names; ‘Speed-Level’, and ’2000 points per kill’? ‘There must be the odd hacker,’ I reassured myself, ‘PunkBuster just won’t let these people on the real servers, surely?’, my inner monologue’s voice cracking up slightly. So I scroll further down, each revolution of my mousewheel a dreadful step closer to the realisation that the sequel to a game I spent probably a hundred hours playing has been over-run by cheating asshats hell-bent on avoiding any sort of challenge or longevity.
It’s to these delightful folks that I personally raise our giant middle evil finger, and ask the question (with my sternest ‘unhappy customer’ face on) – where are the game’s makers and publishers in all of this? One more reason to not give Activision any more money says I! Who’s with me?!
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/01/call-of-duty-world-at-war-a-sickening-waste-of-money/
Enthusiast press is dead, long live enthusiast press.
So, not too long after the GameSpot stable moved on to pastures more respectable, EGM magazine is being closed and its partner site,1.up.com, has been sold to UGO.
Whether this is is genuinely being seen as a good thing by the (remaining) 1up staff or not remains to be seen, but Wombat will either be very happy or very sad right now; he’s technically part of the 1up crew now! (sort of).
That said, the following people have already been let go, signaling that the best podcasts out there, 1up Yours and The 1up Show, are no more:
Adrian Frieg
Amy Mishra
Amy Moran
Andrea Garcia
Andrew Fitch
Andrew “Skip” Pfister
Anthony Gallegos
Cesar Quintero
Christina Rosa
CoyLou Steel
Derek Chinn
Doug Parsons
Eric Ellis
Giancarlo Varanini
Greg Ford
James “Milkman” Mielke
Jason Bertrand
Jason Wilson
Jervilyn Jaramillo
Justin Frechette
Leslie Gelfand
Marci Yamaguchi
Matt Chandronait
May Tong
Meredith Stowe
Michael Donahoe
Monique Convertito
Ndubuisi Madu
Nick Suttner
Norris Boothe
Philip Kollar
Rey Serrano
Robert Bowen
Rosemary Pinkham
Ryan O’Donnell
Ryan Scott
Shane Bettenhausen
Simon Cox
Tammy Ross
Tipler Ubbelohde
Amy Mishra
Amy Moran
Andrea Garcia
Andrew Fitch
Andrew “Skip” Pfister
Anthony Gallegos
Cesar Quintero
Christina Rosa
CoyLou Steel
Derek Chinn
Doug Parsons
Eric Ellis
Giancarlo Varanini
Greg Ford
James “Milkman” Mielke
Jason Bertrand
Jason Wilson
Jervilyn Jaramillo
Justin Frechette
Leslie Gelfand
Marci Yamaguchi
Matt Chandronait
May Tong
Meredith Stowe
Michael Donahoe
Monique Convertito
Ndubuisi Madu
Nick Suttner
Norris Boothe
Philip Kollar
Rey Serrano
Robert Bowen
Rosemary Pinkham
Ryan O’Donnell
Ryan Scott
Shane Bettenhausen
Simon Cox
Tammy Ross
Tipler Ubbelohde
While the likes of Shane and Ryan O’Donnell will probably find it easier to get more work, it’s the less “in the spotlight” names who will no doubt suffer. And to them I offer the sincerest condolences. Good luck, guys.
On behalf of all ‘Evil’ staff – :(
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/01/enthusiast-press-is-dead-long-live-enthusiast-press/
Backloggery
New Year always seems to provide the opportunity to delve into one’s backlog (chortle) and play through some of those games you always planned to “come back to;” whether they be gathering dust on your game shelf, or games you never had time to purchase first time round, and maybe (in the case of Guitar Hero III for me!) are available cheap at this time of year.
The following are just some of the games I hope to rock through before the odd new title starts popping up in March:
- Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
- Dr Awesome (iPhone)
- Call of Duty: World at War (PC)
- Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)
- Saints Row 2 (PS3)
- Patapon (PSP)
- World of Goo (PC)
- Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People: Season One (PC)
- Space Invaders Extreme (PSP)
- The Eye of Judgment (PS3) – picked it up for £30 on sale at Game! (and the expansion packs are on sale on PSN too)
- MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)
- Rolando (iPhone)
- Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS3)
- Loco Roco 1 & 2 (PSP)
- Lock’s Quest (DS)
- Bioshock (PC/PS3)
- Darwinia (PC)
- Siren: Blood Curse (PS3)
On top of all that, I’ve also got the works of Pixar (DVD – upscaled through the PS3, naturally) to get through, after receiving it for Christmas (best gift ever!).
I haven’t got a hope in hell.
UPDATE: So what’s the first thing I did to try and tackle this list? That’s right, I went to trywarcraft.com, downloaded the client and got 10 days play. As I suspected, it’s exactly the same as Guild Wars, only it looks several times shittier.
Source: http://gamesareevil.com/2009/01/backloggery/
