River City Ransom may be familiar to some and others may never have heard of the old NES brawler. Regardless of whether or not you know of the title it looks like the game will be finally getting a sequel after over twenty years. Miracle Kidz has announced that they will be bringing the brawler to the Wii console in Japan this summer in the form of WiiWare. They also divulged that there is a PC version in the works as well but it will not be ready until 2012 but will contain an online mode according to andriasang.
There has been no announcement about a U.S. release but it is likely to happen due to Miracle Kidz previous game, Downtown Smash Dodgeball is available in English for the Xbox Live Indie Game section. It is also curious that the Wii would be getting the game only instead of a release on multiple consoles.
Is it bad form for the first details about a game under development to be leaked by the rating it was given and the explanation for said rating? That is up to the reader of course but it seems that Sega’s Rise of Nightmares game has gotten its official ESRB rating of M and they have also released their reasoning for the rating which you can read below.
But before that it is worth taking note that Rise of Nightmares was announced back at Tokyo Game Show and was described as the first Kinect enabled horror game for the Xbox 360 and would be released some point in Spring 2011. There was no more information given since then except for this rating which you can read below:
This is a horror-adventure game in which players assume the role of an American tourist who must rescue his wife from a deranged scientist. From a first-person perspective, players use brass knuckles, knives, hatchets, and chainsaws to kill zombie-like creatures and disfigured monsters inside a mansion environment. Combat is highlighted by exaggerated sprays of blood, and damage often results in dismemberment or decapitation—stray body parts sometimes litter the ground.
Some sequences and cutscenes depict more intense acts of violence: a man screams loudly as spikes impale his body; a restrained character’s hand is chopped off before he is killed; a character (cut in half) crawls away in a pool of blood; a soldier is ripped apart by a monster, causing blood to stain the screen. During the course of the game, some female creatures are depicted in revealing outfits (e.g., ‘pasties’ that partially cover their breasts); in one sequence, a woman sits on the central character’s chest and engages in suggestive dialogue (e.g., ‘Oh, how I’ve thought of this—night after night. How I’ve missed these lips.’). Dialogue also includes phrases such as ‘Best sex of my life.’/’Worst sex of my life,’ ‘f**k,’ and ‘sh*t.’
Well… wow is all I can say at first glance. Could this be perhaps one of the first hardcore-audience targeted games for the Kinect? Because that description certainly sounds like Rise of Nightmares will be a great game. Unfortunately nothing else is known at this time, but it is worth noting that the ESRB has since pulled the rating from their site. This most likely means that Sega will have plenty of official announcements next week for the titlle.
The users over at BoingBoingVideo made a pretty cool if not a bit sad homage to the games of yesteryear. Specifically, it’s a compilation death in video games dating back to the 80’s and 90’s. The video definitely evokes a sense of nostalgia if you were old enough to have played these games back then. Take note of the simultaneously awesome and somber MIDI remix of “Mad World” (the song, not the game).
Those who aren’t getting a 3DS (or at least not for the meantime) may be interested to know that LEGO Ninjago – The Videogame which is coming exclusively on DS has been dated and given a new trailer. The trailer depicts a large Ice Dragon, just one of the many obstacles you’ll have to overcome in the game. The game itself has been confirmed as releasing on 15th April.
It’s aimed at a younger audience,produced to coincide with the LEGO Ninjago toy line and puts gamers into a world where ninjas face-off against evil Skeleton forces to restore harmony to the Earth, using the tornado martial art of Spinjitzu. Its part predecessor LEGO Battles was surprisingly strategic, so this could go the same way, offering a simple, likeable game for people to play with younger siblings or their children. Plus, it’s nice to see the DS still getting some support after the 3DS is out.
Genre: Action/Sci-fi/Comedy Producer: Sushi Typhoon Director: Seiji Chiba Actors: Mika Hijii, Shuji Kashiwabara, Masanori Mimoto, Yuuki Ogoe, Donpei Tsuchihira Tag line: “Seriously.” Running time: 90 minutes Available for purchase at: Madman Online Store ($29.95AUD) , Amazon US ($21.50USD), Amazon UK (£8.93)
Overview
“Seriously…”
I suppose it’s only fitting that this was the tag line, because that’s what I was saying for the entire duration of watching the film. It was only when I jumped on to Google and looked up the IMDB page for this movie that it clicked…this is a comedy, and I had missed director Seiji Chiba’s entire point. Suddenly, all the ludicrous aspects of the film and the moments where I said “seriously…” began to make sense, and I could breathe a sigh of relief.
With a name “Alien vs. Ninja”, it’s pretty hard to take the film seriously even if it wasn’t a comedy. It sounds a little bit like that book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and it goes down the same path. AvN takes on a satirical approach to sci-fi films such as “Alien vs. Predator”, and ultimately serves up a ridiculous clash of Eastern and Western action and horror cinema which would never happen anywhere else. In concept, film like this sound great. In reality, I’m not so sure about how they managed to pull it off.
Plot
The story follows a band of ninja warriors led by Iga ninja Yamata (Masanori Mimoto). One day after blowing up enemy Lord Oda’s castle, the warriors are chased into the forest by some of Oda’s men. While in the forest, the ninjas see a fireball crash into the forest and are sent by their village Master to investigate the potential threat, which is assumed to be the work of Oda again. What the ninjas find instead are bloodthirsty aliens who proceed to attack and feast on any victims they can find, and a boy from a distant village who saw the aliens slaughter and kill all the people in his community. The aliens are immune to throwing stars, swords, and even guns, and together the ninjas must find another way to rid their world of these creatures.
The fact that the ninja weapons don’t work against the aliens is a little bit of a paradox, and inevitably turns the movie more into “Alien vs. Throw anything you’ve got at them”. Overall it’s a solid storyline that doesn’t leave audiences too confused over what’s happening, but halfway through the film I began to wonder if I was watching ninjas or kung fu. I will say, however, that the combination of aliens and ninjas was pretty awesome, and was a great amalgamation of heroes in traditional Asian cinema and monsters in Western sci-fi.
The plot is a cookie cutter storyline, although a few funny twists took the story to ridiculous places I wouldn’t have expected. There was no real sub-plot; throughout the entire film I was focused on one story which I suppose makes it easy for the filmmakers to do improbable things because no other story will suffer. In a way, I wouldn’t have expected it any other way although and it was really the ridiculous twists in the storyline which give AvN a little bit more life and hilarity.
The script is also very corny and flat, with most dialogue being either crude, cliche, or just plain unnecessary. I understand that satires and parodies don’t necessarily look for the best script as it’s supposed to be bad, but it really wouldn’t have killed the scriptwriters to think a little bit more about what the characters are saying.
Characters
The three ninja warriors in AvN are Yamata, Jinnai (Shuji Kashiwabara), and Rin (Mika Hijii). There is also the boy from the village, Nishi (Yuuki Ogoe), and Nezumi (Donpei Tsuchihara), a fellow ninja who is extremely cowardly and with the warriors from the start.
For the most part, the characters were one dimensional which is what you’d expect. However, I really didn’t like most of them and as per any satire, they were more there to satirise than to serve any real purpose. As with the plot, the characters are cookie cutter: Yamata is the strong one who always goes against what he is told, Jinnai is the quiet, brooding one who protects but doesn’t reveal too much about himself, and Rin is the token female who has to deal with quips about her being a woman. Nishi is a weak boy who needs to get stronger and Nezumi is a massive chicken (there’s always one, isn’t there?). Every character is sex obsessed too (and when I say every character, I mean the aliens too), which definitely adds comedic value to the film.
Chiba develops the characters a little bit – there is a scene where Yamata and Rin reveal why they became ninja, but this felt very awkwardly thrown in. It would have probably suited me more if the characters had just stayed one dimensional the entire time instead of trying to gain some sort of audience sympathy. Also, the acting is very overdone but not in the typical Scary Movie sense – in Scary Movie, the characters are overdramatic but at least believable as actors. Instead, you end up with an amalgamation of overemphasized angry looks on Yamata’s face, and strange half laughing, half angry looks on Rin’s face.
In all honesty, I’ve heard a lot of people say they hated Nezumi but I think he was the least one-dimensional character. Even though he is cowardly (and when I say cowardly, he runs away from everything and would sacrifice his fellow ninjas in the hope that he will stay alive), his fear is completely justified and probably more relatable than the likes of Yamata who seem completely fearless. Nezumi’s expressions are so extreme that he really portrays a bimbo-like character common to Asian cinema, yet at the same time he is funny because of how extreme and ridiculous he is.
Visual and Audio
The special effects – if you can call them that – are probably the most ridiculous thing in the film, and the most funny and great aspect because they’re just so ridiculous. The film clearly did not get a high budget, and Chiba used that to create visual and audio that was so bad it was good.
The aliens for starters look like giant walking dolphin toys and let out little creatures from the holes on top of their heads; the little creatures themselves are obviously little squishy toys the props department found from a dollar store somewhere. The aliens are really just people in costume and made to resemble human weaknesses, so it’s great when Rin punches one in the crotch as a means of defeating them.
Explosion-like effects are also used when the aliens reach up from under the ground to drag their victims and eat their bones. These explosions are more like the cut-and-paste effects you’ll find in iMovie or Windows Movie Maker than real explosions, which again are so clearly not real that it’s laughable.
The sound effects and soundtrack were pretty average for this film. Of course the sound effects were also taken straight from another source instead of generated by the AV departments, but where the audio could have been so much better was the soundtrack. The song for the final fight scene (without giving away anything about the story) is a strange mix of J-pop and J-rock, but going with the overall film I would have felt a Japanese cover of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger would have been much more fitting and not difficult to do.
DVD Extras
The DVD really only comes with an extra couple of trailers. Some US ones may have extra special features, but as far as I know mine only had the AvN trailer and a few extra Eastern Eye trailers. It’s nothing to write home about, but it is good to have the trailer on there in case you want to watch it.
Final Comments
The easiest way to put it is this: if you watch this film prepared for ridiculousness, you will get a lot more out of it than expecting a lyrical masterpiece. When I went back and watched it again, it was a lot better just because I knew exactly what it was about. With that being said, this is not a film for those without a gory sense of humor (or a sexual one, at that), and it really isn’t anything you’ll write home about. I’m still in two minds whether it was brilliant or whether it was ludicrous, and I think the only safe thing to say is that AvN was brilliantly ludicrous. Crack open a beer and have a good laugh while watching it, then shelve it and pull it out on a rainy day.
Rift is the latest MMORPG offering to hit the market. Developed by Trion Worlds and published by QV Software (here in Australia), it offers a beautiful world to explore and daring adventure to be had. Team up with players or solo the content, this game is easily one of the best MMORPGs out at the present.
Story
Guardians –
Regulos the destroyer led a campaign against humanity and lost. In his defeat he used a Defiant teleportation device to go back in time. Upon his leaving a dragon came along and so did the rifts. The rifts opened and eliminated humanity from the face of the world. But some gods intervened and resurrected a select few in order to embark on a quest to save the world from the rift invasion.
Before creating a character you must first select your team. To play with friends you need to be on the same side.
Defiants –
Basically the same thing happens as the Guardians, only instead of being resurrected by the gods, you are resurrected through technology. You are tasked with tracking down Regulos and putting an end to the rift invasion as well as gaining the upper hand on the guardians. To do this, they send you through a time-machine to a fixed location in the past.
The story in rift is pretty much a backdrop for all the cool stuff to happen on. While it can be pushed to the side by most players, collecting all the books and learning the lore of the world really does enhance the gameplay experience. It adds an interest to the game, a reason for what you’re doing and best of all, some of the books are interesting and entertaining. The game doesn’t just use books to tell the story, it also engages the audience through pre-rendered cutscenes and NPC dialogue.
I would say that if you don’t at least read some of the lore; you will be missing out on something big. You don’t have to read every piece, but the stuff you find along the way should be interesting enough just to take a closer look at.
Stretching while I read my books.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Rift is similar to most mainstream MMORPGs that have been appearing since World of Warcraft or even Everquest before that. The basic premise is that you do quests for certain non-player characters and they reward you with gold, experience and sometimes items. While quests are not the only thing that make up the game, they do make up of the bulk of what you’ll be doing while playing this game. There are also dungeons to explore, raids to be run and even Rifts to seal.
The game begins with players choosing a server to play on and then designing their own unique character in the game. Each character can be heavily customised and players are allowed to store a large amount of characters across not only their chosen server, but also across all servers. The character customisation tool allows for players to fully customise their characters appearance. Faces, head shape, eyes, tattoos, height, class, race, gender and etc. are all customisable in the game. Each race in the game has it’s own racial abilities, though they are pretty much just a resistance to something and some other kind of non-ability enhancing ability. This makes all the races balanced which makes the game more interesting competitively.
After creating a characters appearance and giving it a name, the game presents you with a short cinematic of your teams history and then plunges you straight into the newbie zone. Each of the two factions have their own newbie zones and they are both very similar in aesthetics, quests and layouts. The starter areas are designed to get you from level 1 to around level 5 in regards to character experience and also to gain and get used to your first three souls.
Newbie Zones generally have players that like to dress this way. In this instance it was me.
In Rift, souls are what determine a classes abilities and talents. Each class has 9 souls and can have any three active at one time, so long as the soul is unlocked, and can have up to four combinations to quickly switch between, as opposed to visiting a soul trainer to re-specialise. Additional souls can be unlocked by doing special quests in a factions capital city, which generally involve closing a rift and then using the rift fragment to summon a spirit of the soul that you are trying to unlock.
Soul Tree. As you can tell, I like to focus on one branch primarily.
I quite like the soul tree feature, but in some aspects it’s a bit clunky. As you level you gain points to distribute through each of the soul trees that you have active, but it becomes easier to simply specialise in the one that suits your play style then to evenly distribute points between each of the trees. The developers try to combat this by having some kind of lock in each tree which stops you from adding more to that tree until you reach a higher level. This kind of forces you to spend your points in the other trees, even though it’s not something that I agree with. If I want to specialise completely in one tree I should be able to. The good thing about the soul trees is that they’re both customisable and fixed. What I mean by this is that you are able to distribute points on one section of the tree and when you reach a certain amount of points spent on that particular tree, a kind of sub-tree advances and unlocks more skills for you to utilise in combat.
In combat, players utilise the skills that they have gained from their souls to defeat their foes. Simply right-clicking on an opponent will cause your character to auto-attack the selected enemy, assuming that you are in range. Players can assign skills to their hotbar in order to quickly access spells and skills that they have acquired over the course of the game which adds a way to quickly utilise these skills in combat. By default players are given a hotbar or two, but more can be added in the interface settings in the options menu. I found that adding more bars to the game made things much easier to manage. You can also change the positions of these bars in the interface settings. By using skills on the hotbar on enemies while in combat a player character will perform that action in a way that is relevant to what’s happening. For instance, a potion will affect the player (regardless of whether they have targeted an enemy or not) whereas an attack action will not work on a friendly target should they be targeted. If a player has smart-targeting turned on in the options, any skill used without an enemy selected will automatically select the nearest enemy and use it on them. It’s quite handy.
Public Group after we just closed a Rift. It was pretty fun.
Rift focuses heavily on teamwork with the game almost pushing it into your face with all of its “Join Public Group” and “Merge Public Group” options, as well as all the team based content; like dungeons and battlegrounds. This is good as the game is a MMORPG, which means that multiplayer is a core feature of the game. What’s the use of having all the other players around if you’re just going to solo it all anyway? Not that you can’t solo it or anything, but it is a lot more fun playing with others. One of the most fun things you can do with other players is take on a series of rifts. As you approach a rift you will receive an option to join a public group with any other players in the area, assuming that they are solo or have an open party. When you attempt to close a rift you have to take on 5 waves of enemies, which include a sub-boss and a main boss. What’s really interesting with the rifts is that if you do well you have a chance of gaining some really nice loot, which makes things like dungeons a lot easier. Even if you don’t do all that well on the scoreboards for closing a rift (which can be quite often) you still receive Planarite and other things that can be traded in for more goods, like armour.
All of the gameplay elements in Rift meld together very nicely. Everything works, everything is smooth, easy to understand, nice to look at, responsive and intuitive. This means that you spend less time fighting with the interface and more time actually playing and enjoying the game. The world is expansive, the battles range from easy to difficult and there is a lot of lore and hidden items to collect. The inventory, skills and every other kind of window that is used for tracking stats, quests and etc. are mapped on both the GUI and the keyboard and both feel quite natural to use. I have to mention that initially I got confused with some of the key bindings on the keyboard, although they’re all fully re-mappable, I didn’t feel the need to change any of the bindings. PvP is both fast, strategic and requires a large amount of teamwork to become successful at. Dungeons are a blast to play through and you’ll likely find yourself wanting to complete another run immediately after the completion of a successful dungeon. Something I haven’t seen in a MMORPG for a while now.
To finish off the gameplay section, I will briefly go over the chat functions. Basically you press enter to chat. This will make you talk to the people immediately around you. But, like most MMORPGs, you can add switches to the beginning of what you’re saying to talk to a different group. For example, ‘/p’ will switch your chatter to all party members. There are many different switches, like: /p, /g, /y, /r and there might be a few others, like /1. There is also a special overlay for guilds, which is accessed from the guild tab on the GUI or the assigned hotkey. This shows all members of your guild and everyone that is online will likely receive any messages sent to them via the /g switch.
Guild Interface. Unfortunately only two members were on at the time of photography. One of them being me.
Sound
The sound effects in Rift are quite good. The music does its job but is really forgettable. The music itself is mostly orchestrated works with an emphasis on the horns. This makes it feel like it’s inspired by Inception, I just can’t game to slow-paced music for too long. Personally I think Rift ate about 3-4 hours before I turned the music off and I switched into Windows Media Player mode. This isn’t a record for a game, it’s just a personal preference really. I should also mention that while writing this review, I did actually go around with in-game music on to give it a fair judgement.
Each skill has a sound effect assigned to it, but I can’t quite work out if some of the effects are borrowed or shared between skills, or if they all have their own fully unique sounds. They’re an aspect of the game that I believe works almost perfectly. So props to the sound team for that.
Through the game, some of the NPC’s talk, some of them do not. Usually the speech is limited to a catch phrase or two while handing in a quest and other times comes in the form of grunts by the player character. The voice work is a nice addition to the game and adds a level of character to the otherwise empty-shells that are the NPCs.
Graphics
For an MMORPG and as a game itself, Rift has an amazing graphical fidelity. It looks great, it runs smoothly even if you have a low amount of frames (I mean ~20fps) and doesn’t look too bad at lower settings.
The character models are mostly accurate to human proportions, some might be a little idealised while others aren’t actually human, so that’s definitely something good. The armour and weaponry all fit the characters really well and do not look out of place in the game. Though one complaint I have about the armour in particular is that they seem to re-use the same base model and skin a lot. Sure the stats are new, but didn’t I just shift that piece off 3-4 levels ago? While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does make it hard to distinguish a decently geared player at a glance from a lesser geared player.
The proportions are mostly human.
One of the features I love about this game graphically is it’s use of colour. Man, seriously, the colours that come off those rifts are so awesome. Especially the Purple that comes off the Death Rifts, so very, very pretty. The colours aren’t just used by rifts though, they’re used on everything, some things are more naturally coloured than others, and all pieces of armour are fully colourable via the dyeing mechanism.
Everything in this game looks incredibly nice. The water, the trees, the ground and even the buildings. Everything is crafted very nicely and you can tell that the developers went through great lengths in order to get the game to be as high a quality, graphics wise, as the game could realistically be given current technological limitations. I mean, I have a fairly nice gaming rig (i7, 8gb RAM, 5770HD) and even it is pushed in some places.
Very pretty city in a very pretty game.
Overall
Rift is a solid video game, not just as an MMORPG, but as a game in general. Initially, I was not too impressed with the game as I felt it was just a simple rehash of the same-old style being employed by MMORPGs for a while now. But after playing through it and getting a feel for the world, the mechanics and all the little things that start to add up; I became highly impressed with the game. As someone once told me in-game (paraphrased as I can’t quite remember the exact quote): the developers have taken the best bits out of all the successful MMOs and combined them together to make a really good game. That someone is my all-wise guild leader Maelcontent.
I, for one, look forward to continuing my adventures throughout Telara.
With only 6 days to go until the Nintendo 3DS is launched in Australia, Nintendo and EB Games have invited customers to attend the official midnight launch for this brand new console.
The launch (which Nintendo have dubbed “The Nintendo Experience”) will be held on the 30th of March from 10pm until 1am at EB Games Swanston St, Melbourne. There will be plenty of food, drink, and music to welcome in the newest to the Nintendo family – we all know how much gamers love food, right?
Staff at the midnight launch will show customers features of the Nintendo 3DS including the Streetpass and Mii Maker. Everyone who attends has the opportunity to receive a Mii souvenir, and Nintendo will even be giving away a 3DS console on the night.
For more information, visit the Nintendo Experience site here. This is definitely worth going along to just to see it for yourself, because it really is true: you have to see it to believe it.
Razer are known for bringing the gaming world some of the most advanced and high-end peripherals, and now it looks like we are going to see even more from the developer in the coming years. The company have just opened a new Technical Research Center in Austin, Texas which will focus on creating new technologies to change the future of gaming and consumer electronics.
“It really made sense to develop a technical research center in the heart of what people are calling the Silicon Hills,” said Min-Liang Tan, CEO and Creative Director, Razer. “We are moving full speed ahead to change the gaming space via a collaborative effort to focus even more on our intricate and high-quality designs, such as our recently announced Razer Switchblade. We intend to bring on only the best and most ambitious team members to help make the new research center a place where dreams and new technologies come true.”
Razer are also planning to build relationships with gaming developers and independent software providers to not just improve, but define the future direction of hardware technology. Lead Technologist, Rick Carini, will be at the forefront of the effort in Austin, which will include a technology lab where engineers and developers will create new concept vehicles as well as technology demos to help stimulate the market for ground-breaking technologies and ideas.
“If you were blown away by the Razer Switchblade and its dynamic interface, well then you haven’t seen anything yet,” adds Min. “The new research center will provide what we believe to be the future of several innovative technologies around the world. Our purpose is to be real game changers out there.”
With this new research center opening, it certainly looks like if you were not keeping up with Razer before, now is the time. I have a feeling with this announcement will come nothing but new technologies and releases that may very well change the way we not only play games, but also set a bar that all other developers will have to aim for. Kinda makes you want to get into those offices and see just what is being produced, but for now we must now wait impatiently to see just what is next for Razer.
Its been something console gamers have long awaited: the release of Crysis on the Xbox 360 and PS3. While we are still not getting the first game, at least we get the sequel. Having never had a PC powerful enough to run the original game, it is awesome to finally be able to play a game from the franchise. And what a game it is.
A squad of regular Marines is on a mission to rescue a man named Nathan Gould. While on their way to the waypoint, they are attacked and only one man survives. While laying there, groggy as all get out, he sees what looks like a vision of a superhuman that rescues him and fends off the enemy.
Soon enough, it is revealed that New York City is in turmoil, its people being infected by a strange disease, the politicians doing nothing but looking out for themselves and, to top it off, an independent military has taken control of the streets.
The next scene is so good that I would hate to ruin it for you; it is so emotionally impacting that it sets the stage for the entire game. Lets just say that eventually you end up getting a super human suit of your own and are tasked with saving the day.
Crysis 2 tells a story that has all the elements that many other games also have. Namely, there are aliens, infections, bad guys and morally confused scientists that created the superpowers that you currently use. Sound familiar? However, Crytek managed to make this story seem unique & they put in enough heart, detail and polish to make it memorable. In addition , the characters are interesting and will make you care about what happens to them.
During the game, there are a variety of ways the story told. There is the overarching storyline dealing with the aliens and the spore that has contaminated many citizens. Then there is the story that deals with how the nano-suit came to fruition and what is happening to it now and why. Next, there is the plot about how you came to be in your current situation. Although these are slightly separated, they eventually all feed into one overall experience full of mystery, intrigue, action and revelations. It is a little confusing, but eventually, it does make sense and it is worth sitting through the cut scenes to understand the greatness that Crytek has created.
Speaking of cut scenes, I would like to compliment Crytek on their implementation of this critical game component. They made sure that every scene was intricately filled with everything they wanted to show. In other words, they did not skimp on the scenes; this made the story so much more real and it prevented a lot of the confusion that often happens in video game stories. Some may say that cut scenes in the game are too long, but although they are long, I appreciated the effort they obviously put into them. Even the character models are finely crafted and they rank up there among the best, although they are still not perfect. For example, lip syncing is a small problem.
Does the gameplay hold up to the same standards as the story? Yes, it does. Basically, you are the ultimate soldier that can do anything and take on the most difficult assignments. You wear a nanosuit that literally attaches itself to your body and forms a symbiotic, syncing relationship with it. However, in this relationship, you get the better deal. You are granted the ability to be invisible. Or have super speed and strength. Perhaps a grenade has been thrown too close your person. One simple press of the RB button and the suit tightens up, building a heavy layer of webbing that protects you from the effects of the blast until the suit runs out of energy. Super jumping is also a trait that is enabled with the suit’s mighty powers. The best part about the suit is that, even though the energy runs out frequently, it is quick to recharge and you will hardly ever be without a power that you desperately need.
Using these powers in combat is truly one of the best moments you will ever experience in your video game life. At first, it took me awhile to shed my typical FPS gaming habits (the cover and shoot, if you will.) Often this led to me to my untimely death, even when using my newfound nano suit of incredibleness. But, once I ACTUALLY started using the powers, by running around in stealth mode taking out enemies and then using my Supermanerrific speed or jumping skills to get out of there, I found that the gameplay was much more rewarding. This suit of all trades could also be upgraded. Collecting alien DNA allows you to customize the various features of your suit. Simply press “Select” and you can do all sorts of stuff. One option was to allow you see a bullet’s trajectory before it hit you. Decreased energy loss was another upgrade. In total, there are 16 upgrades spread across four menus. You can only have four of these active at a time though. Your guns can also be upgraded in a similar way. Basically, your a walking arsenal that can pick and choose between weapons and abilities that are available at your fingertips. I can’t even begin to express how much innovation there is in the customization options. Nevertheless, often times, the nature of the game prevents you from feeling like a total bad ass all the time.
For one, your nano suit alerts you to when there are tactical options available to use. For example, it may alert you to the presence of a re-suppply station or sniping spot. However, often 3 or 4 of these markers will show up at once, and they are meant to be completed in a specific order. But, Crytek also wanted to give you the option to plan your own attacks and use your own tactics. Therefore, if you perfectly replicate the steps of their plan, using the tactical options, it most likely will turn out well. If you fail a step, or you try to use your own tactics, the environment basically just turns into a standard firefight. Admittedly it is still a firefight that you can use your suit in, but is still more or less the firefight that have you played in countless other games. It seems as though the game could have had more paths and options to use a in the areas that you mess around in. For instance, once I could not find my way out of a building. There were numerous windows, platforms and other things where I could have used my nano-tuxedo to break out, or climb out , but the level was set up in such way that I could only go out one way. Unfortunately ,the game wanted me to find a tiny, obscured lock in the basement to progress. It took me 15 minutes of running around the stairwells to finally stumble upon the solution. While writing that, I realized that there was one more little error in game design. Selecting guns and equipment to use was time consuming. To open doors, the main character had to literally look at the handle of the door. The same applied to trying to pick up guns on the floor. Just one little annoying trait that was often maddening.
Also, the game rarely needs you use all your abilities. I ran around the game using the stealth & armor options the most, and I didn’t use the other combos as much as I wanted too. Sometimes, yes, they were extremely useful, but rarely did feel like I NEEDED them. More levels that required platforming or running/sliding would have been appreciated.
Finally, the last fault with the game is the AI. Sometimes, they were super smart, and seemed as though they had eyes in the back of their head. Other times, these enemies were complete idiots, not seeing me run to them until I was at their throat. And then there the glitched ones. These buggy bad dudes would get stuck in the terrain, run into parked cars or go around in circles. It was a laugh riot for sure, but it was also awfully disheartening. I actually felt pity for them a few times.
All in all though, when used correctly, the suit is source of awe inspiring power that will make you feel like a true super soldier. At the same time though, it was as if the suit was so powerful, the developers had to overcompensate in level design to make it so that the game was not just piece of cake. Unless I am really missing something though, I think more tactical options for the PLAYER to choose would have been a stellar idea and one that could have provided the challenge that gamers like.
Now, the moment you have all been waiting for. The first Crysis has been the game that PC players flock to to set the bar for video cards. This game does not disappoint on the Xbox 360 either. All the art assets are crazy detailed to the finest degree, and it is stunning. It is readily apparent that graphics were lovingly created.
I also really liked the art direction of the game. A devastated city would normally just be boring colors. But this game’s color palette included much brighter colors, like silver, blue and orange that made the everything feel futuristic, and it improved the atmosphere of the game even more.
Hans Zimmer composed the soundtrack to Crysis 2, and, as usual, he hit it out of the park. A mix of techno beats, classical style and modern orchestra, I couldn’t get enough of it. The spookier parts of the game are perfectly exacerbated by the creepy tracks, and the faster songs pump up the adrenaline to max levels during action sequences. If there was one feature that I had to pick as my favorite from the game, it would be soundtrack. Voice acting is also quite good, as is virtually every sound that you will hear in the game. Every weapon sounds different, and every audio cue is right on the money.
Multi-player in Crysis 2 is also a treat, especially if you like twitchy, one burst kills. Plus, you can use your nanosuit in this mode, and that is great. Of course, there are those who abuse the suit, and who camp while invisible. Luckily, you can use your superhuman traits to take down these game wreckers, and it usually ends up being pretty fun. Using all your combat effectiveness with the suit is just as key in the online modes as it is in single player, and its just as fun too. The suit changes up the FPS formula so well that it almost feels like less of shooter and more of an all out war. A war where every advantage must be taken, and where you can’t just rely on your gun, reflexes and headshots.
Online playing will also keep the game going for a long time after you have finished. There are hundreds of unlockable dog tags to score, and there are plenty of weapons and other collectibles to get. Of course, there are also custom class options and these must be unlocked too.
Kill streak rewards are another way the game innovates. To get a kill streak award, you have to actually collect the dog tags of your fallen opponent. This slows the ultra killers down and prevents people from getting to the better stuff too fast. It also allows those who are not as good at the game to collect the tags their comrades missed and use the special rewards themselves. Overall, this is another unique feature that helps Crysis set the bar for the modern shooter.
The other really cool thing that Crysis multi-player features is the kill cam. It not only shows you where they guy who shot was, it also shows what weapons and suit powers he was using when he got you. It does move very quickly though, so you have to know what your looking for, or read it fast. Luckily, it can help you find different play styles that may make you a better player. This feature is another indication of just how much attention the developers put into this game.
All in all, one of the most frustrating parts of the game is the loading times. It takes as much as 1 minute to get into a multi-player match AFTER the lobby finishes choosing a map and waiting in between matches. Single player loading times are also atrocious. Waiting so long in between battles is awful, and it may be the worst part of the game.
In conclusion though, this game is something all shooter fans should play. The engaging story is complemented with fun gameplay and the graphics & audio make it all the better. Even the errors in level design and AI are overshadowed by the other fine parts of the experience. Multi-player is another high point in the game’s repertoire of superb elements. This is a game that will not disappoint you.
With the release of the 3DS just hours away in the UK and a few days from release in North America, many will be looking to test out the 3D aspects in all forms possible. Nintendo are now providing all users who update the system a nice incentive, the video for OK GO’s “White Knuckles” in full 3D. This video features a plethora of rescue dogs (and one goat), and has exceeded over 9 million views on Youtube alone.
“We shot the ‘White Knuckles’ video in 2D and 3D at the same time, but until now, there hasn’t been much opportunity for people to see the 3D version,” said Trish Sie, the video’s Grammy-winning director. “I’m fired up for people to watch the video again with Nintendo 3DS and experience it in a whole new way. This opens up all kinds of creative opportunities.”
For users who want to grab the video, all you have to do is just go into “System Settings” from the Home Menu, select “Other Settings” and scroll the page right to select “System Update.” Simple as that, really. This bit of news also makes me wonder just what sort of updates and videos we can expect later on in the handheld’s lifespan as the opportunities are truly endless. For now though, this update will serve as not only a great way to watch an awesome 3D video, but also will enhance the communication features of the Nintendo 3DS system so don’t forget to update when you pick up your 3DS.
