Dead Space 2 review

Dead Space 2 Xbox 360 review

Visceral games, bless them, have given you a plasma cutter and a space station chock full of alien death-cult uglies to strategically dismember, what are you going to do about it?

In 2008 Visceral games brought us Dead Space, an ambitious and unique survival-horror  and first person shooter set on the enormous planet-cracking spaceship; the U.S.S Ishimura.  The game was original in the fact that it presented players with not only a great a looking, beautifully lit and decidedly eerie environment, but also the challenge of having to dismember foes instead of opting for the traditional headshot. 

The game centered on silent protagonist Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent to investigate the Ishimura.  This led to that and it quickly became clear that the Ishimura’s new tenants are not your run of the mill space alien zombie things, no sir, these guys needed to be cut, literally, limb from limb to get them to stay down.  Luckily you had your trusty mining tools/guns to help you cut them down to size. 

Dead Space 2 is set a few years after the events of the original, with Isaac waking up from a coma inside a massive space-station called The Sprawl. Right from the start it becomes clear that an outbreak has occurred and the station is overwhelmed, what isn’t clear is how and why this has happened.   Just a few minutes after starting your game, you are immediately thrust into an intense opening sequence with necromorphs jumping out from all around you, and just to add a little spice to the whole running for your life thing, you’re wearing a straight jacket.  Trust me, you do not want to wear a straight jacket when necromorphs are lurking about, just ask Isaac Clarke, I died twice during this sequence alone.  It sets the mood perfectly right from the start. 

The game’s plot revolves around the alien artifact known as The Marker, and Isaac’s place in its construction, there’s also the matter of Isaac’s girlfriend Nicole who died on the Ishimura and continually haunts Isaac.  The story is a gripping one, if a bit confusing at times and lacking the sheer gravitas of the original.  The game’s pacing is pretty smooth, although it does fall just a bit flat during the middle sequence where the opening sequence and climatic finale really stand out.  Isaac feels less like a voiceless pawn, and more like an honest to goodness sci-fi action hero, albeit an action hero suffering from dementia. 

Everything about Dead Space 2 feels bigger and better.  Where the original was all about claustrophobic spaces and stressful moments, the sequel’s got more action, more confidence, bigger spaces and is filled to the brim with holy sh*t moments, all with a heavy dose of continuous terror.  There’s also a generous amount of puzzles to be solved, these are mostly logical and involve using your telekinesis to put power supplies in place or move obstacles out of the way but on more than one occasion you have to hold a corpse in front of a security scanner so you can get access to a room. 

Just like its predecessor, Dead Space 2 doesn’t do HUD’s, instead your health meter is on the back of your rig, along with your stasis (you use this to slow enemies down), and your current ammo count is shown above your weapon.   This might not be a new thing but it definitely helps in keeping the immersion.

Isaac really feels like he’s had some experience in necromorph slaying, like this isn’t the first time he’s had to use a plasma-cutter for this less than routine, but infinitely cooler, function.  Faster melee and stomping are small but noticeable improvements, which is great because you’ll be doing a whole lot of stomping.  The focus on action and cinematic set-pieces doesn’t subtract from the fear factor at all however, and while the game environment is more open and dynamic it still retains the oppressively claustrophobic creepiness of its predecessor. 

The Sprawl is a very interesting setting, and offers some great variety in terms of game environments.  A massive church of Unitology, the spookiest pre-school ever, and a hospital from hell are but a few of the incredibly detailed areas on offer here.

The game’s numerous zero-gravity areas are worth mentioning here.  There’s one scene in the game where you have to turn the artificial gravity off, as soon as you flick the switch all the debris that was lying on the ground drifts upwards very surreally.  It’s really something to see bodies and body parts drifting slowly around you as you maneuver Isaac through these environments.  Moving around in zero-g is a bit different this time around, where the original Dead Space had you aiming at where you wanted to land and then jump to that location, Dead Space 2 allows full 360 degree movement.

The plasma-cutter, line-gun, ripper, and pulse rifle all make their return, and there’s also a few new toys for Isaac to play with this time around.  The javelin gun shoots electric javelins that can impale baddies to walls and then electrify them, and the proximity-mine launcher is very handy for setting up perimeters.  A little bit more emphasis has been put on using your telekinesis and loads of conveniently placed spiky rods are lying around to impale baddies with when you’re out of ammo, there’s nothing quite like impaling a necromorph with its own arm.

There are also a couple of spiffy new suits for Isaac to wear, each offering its own little perk, like a vintage suit that gives you a ten percent discount at the store.  As always your weapons and rig can be upgraded with the power nodes scattered across the sprawl, spend them wisely because you’ll never have enough to upgrade everything completely.  Luckily there’s the New Game + option, which allows you to start a new game while keeping your current load-out and upgrades.

New necromorph types also make their debut, like the stalker; this faster and smarter kind of ugly will actually attack and then retreat, using the environment for cover and sneaking around to ambush you.  Most necromorph types just sort of charge and flail at you, but the stalker really shows how the A.I can shine.  Another new addition is the Pack, these pint-sized necromorphs may be weak individually but when they come at you in numbers, and they will, they can cause heavy damage.  The necromorphs in general make for excellent enemies, I mean seriously, anything that keeps coming at you after you shot its head, legs and arms off, crawling on its bloody freakin stumps, deserves a tip of the hat.

Dead Space 2 is a great looking game, the lighting in particular is incredible, and the amount of detail put into the environments really brings the Sprawl to life.  The high-quality sound is essential to the immersion, and while the voice acting is a bit of a hit and miss affair, the sound effects are very well done.  The single player campaign can take you anything between 8 and 12 hours to complete, depending on how much exploring you do.  There’s also a surprisingly fun multiplayer aspect to the game in which teams are split into human and necromorph groups, so if you have Xbox LIVE you can strategically dismember your friends online, which is a whole new kind of fun.

All in all Dead Space 2 is definitely a must-play, especially if you were a fan of the original or any survival-horror first-person-shooter set on massive space-stations with alien- artifact- crazy zombie mutants and industrial power tool weaponry.  It’s an intense, disorientating and beautiful ride that does just about everything right.  Turn off the lights, have a fresh pair of underpants at hand, and get ready to learn a thing or two about anatomy, dead space style.

GOOD

-          Looks great

-          Sounds great

-          Immersive

-          Awesome story

NOT SO GOOD

-          Falls a little flat during the middle sequence

-          Quick-turn would’ve been appreciated

9.0

Cops and robbers

L.A Noire Xbox 360 review


Rockstar games have certainly made a name for themselves when it comes to developing epic games with immersive stories and great characters.  Most famous for their massively popular GTA franchise, the developer's last outing, Red Dead Redemption, showed a level of maturity, and cinematic confidence that was staggeringly beautiful.  Now, having teamed up with Australian based Team Bondi, their latest tale of crime and intrigue surpasses all expectations.

 You play as Cole Phelps, war hero and fedora sporting over achiever who won the Silver Star during his stay in Okinawa.  You follow Phelps as he solves various cases and rises through the ranks of the LAPD.  Starting off as a beat cop on patrol, you'll tackle various department desks; Traffic, Homicide, Arson, and Vice, each containing about four or five cases to solve, and each offering the player a different perspective on the criminal element of Hollywood. 

As you progress through the ranks you’ll be assigned different partners as well, who will often help in finding clues and serves as an effective hint system. The story is brilliantly written, and flows at a fluid pace.  It’s a dark and violent crime thriller that has everything you’d expect, murder, drugs, sex, and corruption, all done with style.  There are also newspapers you collect throughout the game that shed light on some of the characters and show information that may, or may not be relevant to your case.  Black and white flashbacks of Cole’s time in Okinawa also do a good job of bringing him to light as a character.

The game is set in 1947 Los Angeles during Hollywood’s golden age, in a time before freeways, and a generous portion of L.A has been faithfully recreated for your pleasure.  Famous landmarks are beautifully presented with accurate details right down to the signage.  In fact, the amount of detail put in the streets of L.A is simply breathtaking, resulting in a city that truly feels alive.  Smoky back-alley bars, the crumbling ruins of an old movie set, the inside of an ice factory, and swamp-like tar pits are but a few of the varied environments waiting to be explored. 

 The game’s soundtrack is also noteworthy, with classic jazz tunes, and authentic vintage radio ads and shows, and of course the brilliantly brooding and dramatic original score immersing you in the bygone time’s atmosphere.   

The revolutionary facial animation technology employed in L.A Noire has been receiving a lot of hype, and rightfully so.  It is truly a game-changer, conveying a strong sense of emotional investment and believability and effectively blurring the line between movie and game beautifully.  Aaron Staton, who you might recognize from TV’s Madmen, convincingly voices Cole Phelps.  The voice acting in general is top-notch all around and it is clear that a lot of effort went into each and every performance.

 
The game play can be divided into three main categories; Investigation, Interrogation, and Action sequences.  While investigating a crime scene you move Phelps around and look for clues to aid in your investigation, these can be anything from a cigarette with a lipstick stain to a bloody tire iron, and you’ll frequently find yourself picking up deliberately placed red herrings. There are musical cues to help you find clues, and the controller can be set to vibrate when you’re near one, but even with these aids it can still be easy to overlook something.

All of your clues, people of interest, and known locations are listed in your notebook, a very effective and handy little menu. As you solve cases and discover landmarks you’ll get experience points that increase your rank, as your rank increases you unlock intuition point, hidden vehicles or even a new suit once in a while.  Intuition points are used kind of like the life-lines in a certain game-show; they can be used to remove one of the three answers during an interview, to see what the majority of players chose through Xbox live, or to show all the clues available at a crime scene.

Interrogation is probably the most talked about aspect of the game, this is where you have to read the person of interest’s face and judge whether or not they are telling the truth.  In the beginning phases of the game this is actually frustratingly easy but there are some cool cucumbers out there that are anything but easy to read.  While interrogating a suspect you have to choose either Truth, Doubt, or Lie.  When accusing someone of lying, you’ll have to be able to back up your accusation with evidence you found during your investigation.

Besides investigating crime scenes and interrogating suspects the game is peppered with action sequences.  This usually involves tailing a suspect while remaining incognito, chasing a suspect on foot, or in a car, a fist fight, or a shootout.  The action sequences are well implemented and are really enjoyable, with chase sequences and shootouts standing out. 

Driving around the city of fallen angels is both fun and simple, while driving around you’ll frequently receive call outs to respond to street crimes, which serves kind of like side-missions.  There are a lot of vintage cars available to discover, some of them very rare and all of them very detailed.  You can also niftily view all of the cars you’ve driven in through the main menu.

The loading screens are frequent and long, and installing the game to the hard-drive should probably be the first thing you should do.  A few visual glitches can also break the immersion, such as blocky shadows and pop in textures.  Cases can sometimes feel disjointed, for example your superior can be screaming your head off after you book the wrong guy the one moment, and then praise your fine police work the next.  These minor problems are too few to really be jarring though, except maybe the loading screens, which can become very annoying. 

Depending on how much time you invest in doing your own driving and completing street crimes, L.A Noire will take you anything between twelve and twenty hours to complete, and it’s worth noting that this is a game that requires at least one replay to experience all that its story has on offer.

Those expecting the rampant chaos and freedom of GTA should look elsewhere, this game stands out on its own and being a member of the LAPD comes with its own set of rules.  No killing random prostitutes here, only solving cases to imprison people who kill random prostitutes.  That’s just fine though, because L.A Noire is actually a breath of fresh air in the genre and feels unique right from the get-go, it’s hard to actually find fault with it. The game is authentically unique, feels polished and very stylish, and manages to really stand out from the crowd. 

The good

- Facial-animation is fantastic
- Great voice-acting
- Nice variety in gameplay
- Good replay value

The not so good

- Loading screens are frustratingly frequent and long
- Some cases feel disjointed

9.0

In Dead Space, no one can hear you scream.

At around 1 am this morning I was knee deep in necromorph guts, having recently purchased the utterly awesome Dead Space 2.  So there I was, happily obliging some cranky necromorphs with complimentary cosmetic surgery (a la plasma-cutter),when out of nowhere this HUGE spiky creature with one hell of chip on its shoulder starts flinging me around like an armour-clad ragdoll.  After banging me around for a while I noticed the glowy orange bit on its arm that's exposed every now and then, so I fired like a madman until, through a seriously awesome chain of events, the creature and myself were sucked into the vacuum of space.  Some button-mashing and one well placed shot later, I was able to re-enter the space station alive and intact, while tall, dark and f*ck ugly went spiralling off into the void.  It was like eating a giant slice of awesome, with extra awesome, and a side order of WTF. 

The achievement you get informs you that the creature you just put in the deep freeze of space is (was) called the tormentor, an apt name.  The point I'm trying to make is that Dead Space 2 is beautiful, full of death and guts and evil little necro-toddlers, but beautiful.  I loved the original but I delayed buying the sequel until I was sure I had enough fresh sets of underwear, anyways, I'll be posting a full review soon - better late than never.

Dragon Age 2 XBOX 360 Review

Waiter!   There’s a dragon in my sequel…

BIOWARE, the developer behind titles like Baldur’s Gate, Never Winter Nights and Mass Effect, knows a thing or two when it comes to making epic, timeless and immersive RPGs. 

 The 2010 dark fantasy epic intriguingly titled Dragon Age: Origins was a spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate and introduced us to the world of Ferelden, a place rife with war, political intrigue, racial and religious tension and, of course, dragons.  Origins was many things but at its core it was a great game with a gripping story , a likeable cast of characters and game play mechanics that recalled all the fantasy RPG intricacies of yore.

Dragon Age 2 manages to take that winning formula and improve on it even further, resulting in a sequel that, while not exactly the tour de force it predecessor was, definitely raises the bar.  

You’ll assume the role of Hawke, a Ferelden refugee and one of the few to escape the destruction of your homeland.  Arriving in the city of Kirkwall with nothing but the robe on your back, it will be up to you to gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and ultimately seal your place in history.

Dragon Age 2 utilizes an interesting narrative approach with the game being played as recalled by Varric, a smooth-talking dwarf who witnessed your actions.   

Varric is telling your story to a chantry seeker called Cassandra, you see it is already known that you will eventually become “the champion”, what Cassandra wants to find out is the devil in the detail.   

Varric has a penchant for exaggerating your adventures though, often to humorous effect, but Cassandra is quick to spot these blemishes on the truth and set Varric straight.  It’s an interesting feature that makes the story feel more dynamic.  The game makes another big change by trading in space for time, that is to say the game doesn’t cover the sheer geographical space of Origins but rather sets your adventure over the span of an entire decade.  Most of your time will be spent in and around Kirkwall though, and you’ll probably get tired of seeing the same areas reused multiple times for different quests.

Combat in Dragon Age 2 is one of the big improvements of the game, taking a decidedly action-orientated approach; the whole process feels much faster and more involving.  Better animations and more responsive controls make slaughtering your enemies a satisfying affair without sacrificing too much of Origins’ tactical finesse. 

Visually the game improves on its predecessor with more detailed textures and livelier character models, NPCs don’t look like they’re paralyzed from the waist down any more and the in-game cut scenes and conversations just feel more believable. 

It’s true that Dragon Age 2 is still graphically a bit sub-par with other recent releases, not fully realizing the visual achievements of BIOWARE’s other million dollar baby; Mass Effect 2. 

The sound, however, is still amazing; with a soaring orchestral score which perfectly complements the game’s mood and tone along with great sound effects that cover everything from a qunari’s dying gurgles down to the clinking of your chainmail as you walk about Kirkwall. 

Story-wise the game is epic, although you don’t have the same sort of clear goal and known enemy you did in Origins, it’s a bit difficult to see how all the pieces fit together but during your ten years in Kirkwall you’ll encounter a lot of fascinating characters and complete a variety of interesting quests that all adds up eventually. 

The element of choice still plays a very important role, even more so than in Origins, and you’ll be presented with quite a few morally difficult decisions to make, and they all have consequences.   The game does a great job of making your decisions feel truly impactful on the game world and the repercussions of your decisions will surprise you time and time again. 

The voice acting is brilliant, which is a good thing since Hawke is now a fully a voiced character.   The dialogue has taken up a Mass Effect style radial menu, generally with three main options; a diplomatic response, a joking response, and a harsh response, with the option to investigate the matter further and sometimes to deputize one of your party members to act on your behalf.  This is interesting because, depending on which characters you take with you, ; multiple paths to complete your mission become available. 

Inventory management has been simplified, and you might feel a pang of disappointment when you first want to equip your characters.  Only Hawke can be fully customized with armour and weapons, your party members generally always have the same weapons and armour, although a certain number of armour upgrades can be found for them and you can still equip them with rings, belts and amulets you find. 

Potion and poison crafting have also been simplified; the player now has to find certain ingredients and recipes on his travels to make potions available, once you found them however you’ll always have those ingredients, and only your coin will deplete when ordering new ones.

Your party members are fascinating, each has their own unique story to tell and part to play.  The option to get involved romantically is still there and this will open up new quests and conversation options. However deep your relationships develop, your party performs a vital role of providing a strong emotional tie to the world you play in. 

There’s Carver, your brother and perpetual pessimist, the strong willed Avaline, the busty pirate Queen Isabella, Merril the dalish elf with a dark secret and many more.  There are even some familiar faces from Origins to be seen, like a memorable early encounter with Flemmeth, the witch of the wilds that aided the original hero of Ferelden.

All in all, Dragon Age 2 is a great game and, even though some might find the simplified interface and lack of geographical diversity annoying, is definitely one of the year’s best fantasy RPGs.

The good     

-           Great story

-           Moral complexity

-           Changes are mostly well implemented

-           It’s Dragon Age!

                                                                              

The not so good

-           Long and frequent loading screens

-           A few glitches and pop-in textures

-           Some monotonous level design


7.5

Origin of the Consoles

Origin of the Consoles

A brief account of the evolution of the home console

Video Games; whether you love them or hate them there is no question that they’ve helped define multiple generations of entertainment starved consumers, and have, over the years, become a showcase of technological progress and achievement.  The evolution of the home video game console in particular has come a long way and in today’s post “next-generation console” world it’s worth taking a look back at where it all began.   So put down that sleek wireless controller, tear your eyes from the hypnotic glare of your high-definition screen and meet some of the grand-pappies of home console gaming and witness the evolution of a cultural phenomenon. 

The year is 1967, war rages in Vietnam, the Beatles are bigger than ever, and German born television engineer Ralph Baer designs the first video game console that works on a standard television set.   Baer and his colleagues started work on what he called a “chase game” at an electronics firm called Sanders Associates, building a vacuum tube circuit that connected to a television and allowed players to control two squares chasing each other on screen.  They would later add a light gun and develop a total of twelve games.  The console became affectionately known as the “Brown Box”.

In 1972 Baer presented his “brown box” prototype to Magnavox and the company began production of the first ever commercial video game console; the Magnavox Odyssey.  Using six cartridges to play up to twelve games featuring on screen dots and lines, the Odyssey was marketed in Magnavox TV dealerships.  A false rumor that it only ran on Magnavox TV’s hurt its popularity though and it eventually dwindled into obscurity.

1972 also saw the founding of Atari by Nolan Bushnell, and in 1975 the company produced its first big hit with (drum-roll please) Pong.  Sold in Sears stores under the Sears Tele-games label, the bulky console featured a single chip that produced both an on-screen score, and the sound the game made when paddle met ball.  Pong is widely regarded as the console to first introduce at-home video games to the masses.

After Pong’s commercial success Atari got to work on a cartridge based system that would play multiple games, affectionately naming the project “Stella”.  Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in ’76 and they enthusiastically backed the new project.  The Atari 2600 gets released in 1977 and becomes a tremendous success with all time classics like Space Invaders, Breakout, and Missile Command, games that are still being reproduced today.

The first real challenger to Atari’s dominance of the console market was Mattel.  The company first unveiled their Intellivision in 1980 and kicked off the early 80’s war between Atari and Mattel.  The Intellivision featured slightly better graphics and the first ever synthesized voices used in video games.  Both consoles attracted third party developers like Coleco and Activision, but an influx of unlicensed games and new home consoles like Colecovision and Vectrex led to a major industry crash in ’83 which resulted in many gaming companies going bankrupt.

Two years later this industry crash was sharply contrasted by the birth of one of gaming’s most influential heavy weights; Nintendo.  Originally a Japanese playing card company, Nintendo released their Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the U.S in 1985.  Known as the Famicom in Japan, the console introduced the world to Super Mario Bros, Metroid, and The Legend Of Zelda.  It also encouraged high quality third party development resulting in epic titles like Contra, Final Fantasy, and Mega Man.  Retailers were skeptical after the ’83 industry crash, but the NES managed to become the best selling console of its time.

Nintendo then went on to release another smash hit in 1989, the Nintendo Game Boy.  The Game Boy was the first major hand held gaming console and featured an 8-bit CPU (like its parent system) and a black and white LCD screen.  Undergoing several makeovers over the years including Game Boy Pocket in 1996 and the Game Boy Color in ’98, thanks primarily to Tetris in the U.S. and Pokemon (or Pocket Monsters) in Japan the handheld console’s sales went through the roof.

In 1989 Sega released their home console; the Sega Genesis.  It’s superior 16-bit technology helped it compete against the NES in the early 90’s and with the strength of Sega’s massive arcade library and hugely popular sports titles from Electronic Arts, as well as the repeatedly delayed introduction of Nintendo’s own 16-bit offering, the Genesis was a pretty big success.  In 1992 the Genesis reached the peak of its popularity with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, a title that was way ahead of its time in terms of visuals and sound.

Before the release of Sonic however, the debut of SNK’s 24-bit Neo-Geo in 1990 brought arcade level quality to home consoles for the first time.  Years ahead of its competitors the Neo-Geo showcased greatly improved 2D graphics, but a steep launch price (about $650) prohibited it from achieving any real popularity.

Nintendo finally released their own 16-bit console in ’91, having been beaten to the punch by the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System had a slow start but caught up quickly thanks to slightly superior graphics.  Upgraded existing brands like Super Mario Bros, Zelda, and the graphically amazing (for its time) Donkey Kong Country helped propel the SNES to eclipse the Genesis in the mid 90’s and become the top selling 16-bit system in the U.S.

The launch of Sony’s Playstation in 1995 marked a tremendous change in the way people viewed home consoles.  Before the Playstation, games were mainly 2D and relatively sporadic in terms of visual styles, but Sony’s workhorse console changed all that by stressing 3D gameplay and improved game mechanics.  The console’s CD-Rom technology also allowed the price of games to drop dramatically from those of earlier cartridge based systems.  It introduced us to the likes of Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, Tekken and numerous other popular franchises still being expanded on today.

Nintendo stepped up to the 32-bit plate a year later with the N64, the last mass-market system to utilize cartridges.  Although more expensive to produce, N64 cartridges load much faster than CD-Rom games.  Cartridges also allowed gamers to save their games on the cartridge itself, whereas the Playstation required a memory card.  The N64 lacked the Playstation’s broad range of games but managed to score big with Nintendo mainstays like Super Mario, and Legend of Zelda, not forgetting the immensely popular James Bond shooter; Golden Eye 007 ( a game that has recently been remade for Nintendo Wii.)

The world’s first 128-bit system came in the form of Sony’s, rather unimaginatively titled, Playstation 2.  It featured backwards compatibility and also functions as a DVD player.  The Playstation 2 was integral to the massive rise in video game popularity of the 2000’s, and is seen as a vital part of the beginning of what has been called; the console revolution.  The PS2 goes on to become the best selling console to date (over 147 million units and counting), gets 18 hardware revisions, and three different model releases.

So there you have it, the legends themselves.  Of course it doesn’t end there, console gaming, now more popular and more advanced than ever, continues its unstoppable snowballing towards perfection.  While you wait for that perfection (probably some sort of futuristic neural plug-in or something), think of how far gaming has come, the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 both now have their own motion control devices (the Kinect for XBOX, and Playstation Move for, you guessed it, the Playstation 3), and Nintendo just released the Nintendo 3DS (capable of displaying 3D without the need for glasses).

From here on out anything is possible.