St. Martyne
Reviews
Xenogears (PlayStation)
Ye Olde Bible Could Use Some Japanese Mecha In It
The Good
You know those games. Games, that don't require you to save the world, don't feature outlandish mixes of fantasy and sci-fi, short on exposition and usually dealing with "relationship" problems and personal dramas. These games can be adequately described as chamber games, taking cues from filmmaking and classical music. Do you like the sound of it? Well, suck it up, pal. Because, Xenogears, is the exact opposite of the game I described above. It's 100% concentrated epic. Hell, if you ever wanted to define "epic" in a single word, Xenogears is the word to go for. This game is grand, it plays with titans and gods, Freudian psychoanalysis, organized religion and Jungian philosophy. It doesn't shy away from destroying nations and exploring the genesis of life itself. It's an enormous leviathan, filled with delusions of grandeur and megalomania. It's monumental and relentless on its mission to explode your brain from within, with hundreds of plotlines, dozens of twists, numerous characters and the whole library worth of backstory, shifting gears (no pun intended) far beyond the capacities of any reasonable gearbox. And it also has giant robots and a cutesy sidekick animal that says "chu" instead of "to" or "too".
You can immediately tell its a Japanese game. The maxim of making everything either as cool as possible, or as grand as possible or as saturated as possible is in full play here. However, there is also aplenty of stuff that really separates the game from other <moby>SquareSoft</moby> RPGs. The most important difference here, is that story is the ultimate boss, not a single character can be named a protagonist, even Fei - the character you play with most of the time is but another thread in weaving the tapestry of Xenogears story. Leave your emotional problems upon entry, nobody cares if your father didn't appreciate for what you were, nobody cares if you can't express your feelings adequately, here people play with gods and demons, far beyond the petty problems of mere mortals.
In the end, it's definitely cool, that moving at a breakneck pace, in effort to tell its grand story, the game forgets the half of its cast on the sidewalk, once they've served their function as many cogs moving the story of Xenogears forward. Including an obligatory cutesy animal, thankfully. No time for comic relief, we have a powerful story of majestic proportions to tell! Actually, there is rarely time for anything. Thinking about it now, it seems that the game pace moved with the speed of light, changing major players, motivations and identities every two minutes or so. Which is rather impressive, for despite its length, neither part of the game's narrative feels dispensable. Something happens all the time, the development of plot never stops. And it's nothing but commendable, in light of many jRPGs, artificially prolonging their narratives, just to put a bullet point about 100+ hours of story and gameplay.
About gameplay. It's hilarious how immersed the creators have become in their story, that they often forget that its actually a game, and that the player is also expected, by definition, to do... stuff. It feels like they've hired someone specifically for the purpose of entering the busy room of developers team once in a while, and saying "Are you working on gameplay portions?" followed by the disgruntled sighs "Oh, yeah... totally forgot about that. Let's put a boss fight here... or something". Not to say that the gameplay isn't without its share of imagination. It's part generic jRPG fare, with random battles and grinding, part a fighting game with combos and special moves. Once a selection of moves has been learned, one can employ those abilities while fighting in giant robots or, as they called them in the game, gears. Unfortunately, the game doesn't really have time to explore this promising system at any significant depth, for the reasons mentioned above. Thankfully, the gameplay portion of this visual novel is never a nuisance, the game is very easy. Every single boss requires only but a few strategically placed kicks in the nuts to get out of your way.
Another thing worthy of praise is the game's presentation. It's basically a Playstation game with SNES sensibilities. No need for fancy 3D model, if a lushly animated sprite will do the trick. And looking at the horrible simplicity of character models in <moby>Final Fantasy VII</moby>, I think it was a correct choice. The environment is in full 3D, however, removing much of the annoyance of pixel hunting in the prerendered stills of Xenogears bigger and more popular <moby game="Fina Fantasy VII">sistergame</moby>. The design is also great. Especially the interiors. Little cups, pots, pictures, sinks, stoves are painstakingly detailed with warm light flooding the room through the open window, evoking the first moments of <moby>Chrono Trigger</moby>, the game featuring the same level of detail. Another similarity with <moby>Chrono Trigger</moby> is Xenogears score. While not exactly well-versed in Japanese game composers, I have still unmistakably identified the author of Xenogears music, by his style and touch alone.
Robots are cool too. I'm not a mecha fan, but I definitely enjoyed the introduction of every new gear, and always looked forward to trying them out in battle. <br><br>**The Bad**<br>The major problem is the one I've already mentioned. While I don't mind long cutscenes to munch popcorn (I hate popcorn, btw) to, I do become easily annoyed when I'm asked to hit a confirmation button every time someone finished a sentence, or even performed the infamous Japanese art of dots pronouncing i.e. ".....", ".....!", ".......!??!", and my all time favourite "!!!......!?..I..?". No idea what those are supposed to mean.
No to say that substituting dots with actual words makes sentences any better. While on macrolevel, the narrative of Xenogears is incredibly complex, entangled and rich, on microlevel of words, sentences and phraseological units, its rather dull and pedestrian. A sin shared with many other jRPGs, so no big deal, if you're used to this strain of Japanese/American teenage anime talk.
Another point I would like to make deals with the fact, that the game is unfinished, and obviously was rushed towards the release by the forces unknown to me. The 2nd disc is a good indicator of that. Having lost the support, money or time, but not willing to sacrifice the original story plan, the developers chose to present the rest of its grandiose storyline with walls of text backgrounded by a handful of still frames. Obviously, the game suffered as a result. The already fast pace nearly skyrocketed, with events happening so fast, that its beyond human abilities to keep up. Side plot lines like those of Rico's claim to royalty, or the relationship between Bart and Sig are also never explored, let alone resolved, the same with many other characters arcs like Billy's, Emeralda's etc.
And lastly, although it isn't really fair to criticize the game for being what it is, I can't help but feel, that perhaps Xenogears does take itself too seriously. Don't get me wrong, I did dig all the Biblical stuff, and as I said in oneliner, it definitely is a much more enjoyable piece of work than Bible, now that it has giant bipedal robots, and god is nothing but a... nah, won't spoil it. But really, sometimes, it does go a bit too self-conscious with its epic madness of a story. And given the amount of symbolism it carries over from religion, philosophy and psychology, it wouldn't have hurt to be, I dunno, more playful with it. Mirroring the crucifixion scene at Golgotha, with Jesus substituted with a giant mech is an example of that. And, unfortunately, it never gets any wilder that that.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that if you never experienced even a faint interest in the genre of jRPG, Xenogears won't sway you over. If, however, like me, you are equally mesmerized by them as you are frustrated by their deficiencies, Xenogears is a gem. It's a game, which couldn't have been made outside Japan. It's a grand, awe inspiring and a genuinely deep adventure, with no equivalent to be found in miles. It's better than any Final Fantasy and it's one of my favourite jRPGs ever.
Basically, if there ever was a way to convincingly marry Jesus and Freud in a ceremony involving giant walking robots and flying submarines - this is it.
By St. Martyne on October 7, 2009
Cryostasis (Windows)
An Arctic Quest
The Good
Natural disasters have always formed great plot devices for many stories told. They served to bring out the best in human beings, let them explore their courage and willingness to stand up to the most devastating forces of nature. Heroic feats, indeed, considering what a marvelous villain nature is cut out to be. Faceless, relentless, devoid of any kind of motivation and morality, a perfect adversary for our brave protagonists. Cryostasis definitely belongs to those numerous stories of valor and self-sacrifice, but it does have a one important distinction.
I guess, it has to do an unexpected side effect of its videogame heritage, that is belonging to an immature, struggling medium basing its lackluster stories in escapist realms of fantasy and science fiction, other two popular teenage pastimes. What I am trying to convey here is that «realistic» would be the last word used to describe Cryostasis. Apart from other «disaster stories» it is firmly rooted in supernatural, it gives an Arctic cold an embodiment, it summons the monstrosities out of the ice and generally reeks with the elements of the «worst» kind of fiction. Which, amazingly, works in its favor, giving it a leverage needed to be a much more interesting deal, than simply another «man vs volcano» type of story all over again. As famous Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson has once put it: «There are two kinds of Arctic problems, the imaginary and the real. Of the two, the imaginary are the most real.»
Cryostasis treats cold with respect, it admires its force and adores silent elegance of the patterns on the walls of defeated icebreaker, it gives it a atmospheric aura of mysticism and beauty. It's a definite symbol, one of many you will find here. As it turned out, Cryostsis is a goldmine of symbolism and subtexts. Icebreaker, frost, mysterious hooded figure, atomic reactor, snow, captain, protagonist, a framing story of Danko and even monsters themselves â everything here is just a stand in for some concept or an idea of the story. Some are easy to identify, like Captain and reactor are obviously related to the heart Danko rips out off his chest, both symbols of passion and devotion. Others will require a bit of thought, while some will remain the mystery forever.
And, personally, I have no problem with that. Even more so, I feel that those blank spots in the story are there for a reason. It's refreshing not to have everything explained and cataloged, something many developers have been guilty of. «Trust your audience with doing some thinking on their own» is a nice motto to have indeed.
At this point you might be asking: «Alright, I get all that pseudo-philosophical bullshit, but how does the thing play. Is it any fun? Does it look good?». Well, the short answers are «yes» and «yes» . The longer ones are as follows:
With all its rich arthousey ideas and content, it's surprising to see Cryostasis not shying away from the technological advantages made in recent years. Which is something I applaud with tears of joy in my, otherwise manly and emotionally secure, eyes. Regardless of what some folks say, technology is great, bumpmapping is great, four layered textures are great, dynamic fluids are also fantastic and motion capture is simply the second best thing since French Baguette, to choose another bread allegory for a change. Sadly, it only becomes apparent when all those fancy words are translated into haunting atmosphere of the icebreaker trapped in Arctic glaciers, long forgotten by its God and people, in the middle of nowhere, at the time of nowhen. Cryostasis presents a great union of artistry and engineering, and shows that one shouldn't exclude another, but rather help and enhance each other instead.
As far as core game mechanics go, Cryostasis is rather straightforward. A first person shooter with the health meter, window dressed as a temperature gauge and «mental echoes», which on closer inspection reveals itself to be nothing but interactive flahsbacks, all of which are obligatory in order to proceed. It all plays and controls itself rather well. Just don't look for any serious gameplay depth here for even the Bioshock is a monster of incomprehensible complexity compared to this game. To its credit, Cryostasis doesn't position itself as a hybrid of any sort, so no black points from me.
On the closing notes of the Good section, I'd like to give some deserved praise to the music. Thank you for not being there. That's right, apart from the closing «period» song, the game is virtually musicless. On first glance it might seem as a pretentious gimmick of some Dogma 95 enthusiasts. Upon completing the game it became clear that the music is not there not for the purposes of «purifying» the experience, but rather for the silence to stand in as its rightful ruler.
Cold, death, darkness, silence, bagpipes. Pick the odd one out.
The Bad
Oh, such a splendid game I gave you a picture of, didn't I? Wouldn't it be a shame if it all crumbles to dust in this section? It, certainly, would, so let's keep it as brief as possible.
What is bad with Cryostasis? The answer is much more precise than you might think. It is all in its third quarter. Somehow, the developers thought it would be an awesome idea to give the player a rest from all the story, symbolism and hidden meanings, which mercilessly bombarded poor gamer in the first half of the game. They didn't anticipated, however, that the game has absolutely no chances of staying above zero while stripped of the very things that make it so charmingly appealing in the first place.
It's pathetically linear. Each room has just two doors, one for entrance, another one for the exit. Other hatches, somehow, lost all their handles. Ironically, having trusted us with thinking, the developers deviate to trust our vestibular systems and navigational skills.
It's painfully repetitive. The game takes place on a atomic icebreaker, an industrial soviet beast of machine, created with absolutely no regard for aesthetics and variety. Combined with the design notion , that the door should only open after a nth wave of respawning attackers, it starts to get on one's nerves rather quickly.
It's AI is far from...
Alright, that's enough. Sure, the game has some problems, but all of them evaporate immediately after the adventure comes full circle for the last leg of its journey, because of constant leaps back and forth between past and present, backed up with strong narration and flashbacks. It's grand finale and unexpectedly touching ending will leave you with moist handkerchiefs in your hands and too many unanswered questions in your mind to bother with such trifling nonsense as poor AI or bad optimization that will make a wreck of your PC even if it cracks Crysis with a chuckle.
Oh, and your English, French, Chinese and Italian voice overs are crap. Not that I heard them, but they will have a hard time matching the quality of work Russian voice actors did for the game's release back at home. Except for Spanish, I heard that an old lady narrating the story has a rather sexy voice and Spanish are just too awesome in general to be discarded as crap.
The Bottom Line
Talent: 4/5
A clear vision and masterful handling of the resources prompted the best in the developers to come out and make this piece of awesomeness. The game proudly stands on its own with a raised head, as if speaking «Take it or leave it, but this is what I am and I'm proud of it!»
Ambition: 5/5
A game company, from which I expected a yet another «good but not great» shooter for a quick weekend session, delivered something that made me come back in my thoughts to it for nearly a week. That's definitely an immense leap in quality for Action Forms, one impossible to achieve without genuinely aspiring to it.
Originality: 4/5
Not only it surpasses all games and movies in its treatment of «disaster» motif, it also prides itself on its unique presentation, setting and context. One point off for being too conservative with the game mechanics and linear level design.
Effort: 4/5
With the exclusion of that infamous one quarter, the game is packed with dozens of characters and each and every one of them has a personal story to tell. One of valor, one of cowardice, one of thirst for freedom, another of depressing loneliness and so on. Meticulously recreated ice-breaker from the real life blueprints further reinforces the idea that the developers weren't looking for easy paths and shortcuts.
Adequacy: 4/5
A great handling of Soviet theme, without overreliance on recognizable gimmicks like vodka, ushanka and hammer with sickle. In the center of the game are always people at a time of crisis and it's impossible not to relate to their troubles. One point off for your adversaries, who are a bit too much overinspired by Japanese horrors. Still, each freak has a perfect reason for looking the way he does. Part of the fun is discovering this reason yourself.
Total: 4.2/5
A perfect score for this amazing game, suggesting greatness only eight tenths short of immortality. Still, one of the definite surprises of the year 2008 and a perfect image of the games I prefer to play. Bold in their ideas, never settling for a compromise and carrying with them a bit of heart of its creators. I applaud Action Forms for this success and eagerly await the announcement of their next project, which I presume is long way off. According to a rumor, Action Forms is hard at work on the console version of Cryostasis.
Let's wish them the best of luck while I leave you with this poem by Helen Hunt Jackson perfectly reflecting the spirit of the game.
An Arctic QuestÂ
O proudly name their names who bravely sail
To seek brave lost in Arctic snows and seas!
Bring money and bring ships, and on strong knees
Pray prayers so strong that not one word can fail
To pierce God's listening heart!
Rigid and pale,
The lost men's bodies, waiting, drift and freeze;
Yet shall their solemn dead lips tell to these
Who find them secrets mighty to prevail
On farther, darker, icier seas.
I go
Alone, unhelped, unprayed-for. Perishing
For years in realms of more than Arctic snow,
My heart has lingered.
Will the poor dead thing
Be sign to guide past bitter flood and floe,
To open sea, some strong heart triumphing?
By St. Martyne on January 1, 2009
Fallout 3 (Windows)
A peculiar experiment.
The Good
Let it be known from the very beginning that Fallout 3 is a RPG, just as original games were, just as Oblivion was. The majority of the outcomes of your actions will depend on your skill points. Shoot, hack, talk, repair, shop or do anything else and you can easily expect a dice roll determining the success of your action. There is another thing I should get out my system right away before getting down to the fine details. Fallout 3 wasn't developed by Black Isle. This means a number of things, but most importantly it entails an idea that Bethesda couldn't physically deliver a game which would have stayed faithful to the classic Fallout games. This should be remembered while evaluating this game.
Alright. So what is great about Fallout 3, you ask? Very many things is the obvious answer! The most outstanding aspect of this game is that it was developed for explorers. Being one very deep in my heart, I just can't possibly resist a game that offers a huge world filled with thousands of hundreds of details to uncover, characters to meet and places to roam. This is where FO3 differs greatly from Oblivion. There are no generic Ayleid ruins #53 or the samey Cave interior over and over again. The locations in Fallout 3 have history to them or at least a peculiar idea behind their existence.
Here's a last message received by a 911 operator at a police HQ. Here's a Vault with a cloning project gone bad. Here's a Nuka-Cola plant, complete with a working conveyor belt and specifically designed robotic security. Here's an Oasis with the real trees growing amidst the wasteland. Here's a US fort with an ability to launch a nuclear missile, or another one introducing to you the latest, unique model of power armor. Here's a museum of technology with a number of expositions still working. Here's an abandoned hotel with the residents gone mad worshipping a deity with a silly name -- an obvious nod to Lovecraft. This list can go on forever.
No matter how much time you invest in exploring the locations of Fallout 3, you will always be rewarded with either a unique weapon, armour, environment or a story. That really brings the exploration aspect of the game to the foreground of Fallout 3 experience. The feeling of discovering a yet another interesting location carries with it the most pleasure to be had with this game.
Not to say that it doesn't excel in other areas. There is a lot of talk, saying that Fallout 3 has been dumbed down when compared to its predecessors. It's not a completely unreasonable claim. However, personally I was amazed by the amount of details which comprised the RPG system of the original games making their way into Fallout 3, with a few welcome additions. Because your stats really matter. There were always doors and locks I couldn't pick, computers I couldn't hack and NPCs I couldn't outsmart. The repair system works fabulously well, making sure that you won't be getting a great weapon from the enemy corpse that easily. The barter system really works too with me being short on cash most of the time. Sure, your experience may differ. But I really felt the challenge this game poses, and I have completed both Fallouts without a drop of sweat! Just kidding, it's an easier game, but certainly not "dumbed down".
At this point we should really to talk about the inevitable. The visual representation. I deliberately avoid employing a word "graphics", because it usually implies a number of distinct technological requirements and Fallout 3, while not exactly belonging to the Luddite camp of modern day Adventures is still two or three years long out of date. This is not by all means a cr(y/i)sis, because the lack of technological prowess is easily made up with stupendous and absorbing world design. I am not sure how Washington DC will look after a nuclear blast, but Fallout 3 gives a very convincing picture indeed. Desolate square miles of concrete debris populating a scorched corpse of a land aren't that easy to forget. The menacing remains Washington monument seen from all over the wasteland are akin to the tower in Cyrodiil in Oblivion, but, of course, the effect here is much more intimidating and depressing.
Sure, doesn't avoid repetition at some parts, but I guess that's price you have to pay for achieving such a strong homogeneous look. And, seriously, we don't really expect one collapsed building to be drastically different from the other?
But worlds mean absolutely nothing without exciting stuff to do in them and while exploration aspect, which I mentioned in the second paragraph, is all nice and cool, the RPG is nothing without quests to perform and NPCs to please. Now, quest system in Fallout 3 is a coin, and a very doublesided one at that. By no means they are dull. God, no. There is always a double bottom to every one of them and it's impossible to predict where a quest might take you or what turn of events might await around the next journal entry. Even more than that, Bethesda clearly made its homework, for not only the quests are interesting they are also filled with numerous choices and checks. Don't want to be bothered going to a remote minefield? How about lying that you did? Suspicious of your quest giver, ask around, maybe there is something completely sinister about his motives. Pretty much every quest is multilayered, filled with choices and really provides an opportunity to flex all of you various perks, skills and attributes in numerous checks.
The Bad
Now, here comes a tricky coiny part. Surely, the quests in Fallout 3 are amusing. But that's that. They are just hilariously amusing leaving us with nearly an ocean of unused opportunities and an Everest of untouched subjects and themes, post-apocalyptic fiction is usually respected and loved for. A humanity rebuilding itself from the ruins of the nuclear holocaust has nothing better to do than collect Nuka-Cola bottles, build towns around atomic bombs for other people to blow them up, live in towns full of children, listen to the radio DJs and dress up in ridiculous super hero costumes. I mean really? Where is the slavery, violence, bigotry, gambling, prostitution, rape in the amounts encountered in the original Fallout games? Most certainly not here - for Fallout 3 takes only a passing glance at those themes at a curious angle, as if asking the player "Isn't that fun?". So much wasted chances for the stories that would really matter to our hearts and brains.
This is true not only in regard to the quests of Fallout 3. It's really a part of a much bigger problem. Which is this: Fallout 3 quadruples all the superficial aspects of original games, without being able to match their true nature. What do I mean by "superficial aspects"? Well, you've seen them all in the marketing: Vaultboy, Nuka-Cola, 50's aesthetics, mellow jazz and well-known standards, over the top violence and so on. Indeed, all these were bringing a huge amount of style and identity to original games, but they were much subtler there. Retro stylistics were only there to introduce you to the world of Fallout, to make an initial shock of encountering this horrifying world for the first time. This was a sort of an amusing gimmick, that really helped a transition into the much more grittier and darker world, in which nobody really knew or cared about the vault boy, retro songs, American lifestyle, rock-n-roll jackets and robot butlers.
Not so in Fallout 3. It remains rooted in those amusing gimmicks right to the very end of the game undermining any attempts to make this version of a Fallout world believable and vibrant. With the exception of amazing environmental design, it's simply a fake. Its characters are fake, their feelings are fake, their stories are not that real either.
And I firmly believe that many other problems with the game like uneven voice acting and dodgy writing are also the symptoms of the overall superficial quality the game, unfortunately possess. The worst part in all this story is that it was a deliberate decision on the developers part, who wanted this game first of all be amusing and franchise once again recognizable. Oh, well.
To a lesser degree one can easily be annoyed with poor animation, not exactly the best interface, few unimportant bugs and a rather generic, by-the-book soundtrack clearly lacking a masterful touch of Mr. Morgan.
So, without further ado, let's sum it up!âą
The Bottom Line
Talent: 3/5
Bethesda is no Black Isle or Troika. There was absolutely no need to create or play Fallout 3 to state that. But what they can do, they do nicely. An amazing look of the Capital Wasteland stands as a proof that Bethesda doesn't need any tree rendering middleware for it's locations to look stunningly great.
Ambition: 4/5
Merging two RPGs of such different pedigrees is a spectacular feat in itself. Just as with Oblivion, Bethesda really believes that with games like Fallout 3 it's creating a great new brand of RPGs for the future. Many people believe that, while I just applaud the moving forward even though I am wary of the direction the wagon is facing.
Originality: 3/5
Fallout 3 owns every bit of its personality to a couple of well-known games. The strings that hold these two together are interesting enough to examine up close, though.
Effort: 4/5
Bethesda tried, it really tried hard, having created tons of original content, quests, locations to absorb you into its world and never let go. They worked long hours to integrate SPECIAL system into a completely new context and that shows. One point off for not hiring Mark Morgan and a new animator.
Adequacy: 2/5
Oh, well. Contrary to what people say, Bethesda did get Fallout. But, unfortunately, chose to ignore it in favour of the more recognizable, fan-base building and generally amusing gimmicks.
Total: 3.2/5
Oh, what a pity. I advise you not be fooled by such a low score. Fallout 3 was a successful experiment, even though it is based more on a compromise rather than "the best of both worlds" philosophy. So, in line with the positive outlook of the 50's America I suggest looking at Fallout 3 as a continual growth for the Bethesda game company, building upon its own achievements while not shying away from taking the tips from the classics. And as for original games, they are always there to provide a nostalgic shoulder to cry on about the days long gone. So stop this nonsense about butchering the franchise, and enjoy the game for what it is. An interesting experiment that manages to produce an excellent breed of great RPGing, at the same time rejecting any emotional connection you try to establish towards it.
By St. Martyne on December 16, 2008
Mass Effect (Windows)
An epic adventure of the most humble proportions.
The Good
I liked Mass Effect. Itâs great game packed with action, suspense, impressive visuals and quite a bundle of technological wonders, all of which Iâll try to praise to the best of my ability in the following paragraphs. The only problem I had with this game is that it failed to meet all the expectations I had for it. Or, to be more precise, the expectations I had in mind for a Bioware game.
There are plenty of things to be thrilled at in Mass Effect. Just like a previous Bioware game, Jade Empire, it is set in entirely new universe, which was created specifically for this game. And although the majority of components comprising the world of ME have been clichĂ©d to death, the shear amount of detail and a careful attention to the actual âscienceâ in âscience fictionâ is admirable. Very rarely we can enjoy a sci-fi game that actually tries to explain the inner workings of its wondrous technological future.
While not required in order to progress through the game, the in-built Codex containing the lore of ME world has clearly enjoyed a lot of effort on part of Bioware developers. Learning about the world, the customs of its inhabitants and the history of conflict between humanity and other races never get dull. And, although, this information will hardly ever come to an actual use (you donât really have to know how the scanning equipment of your ship works) this enormous conglomerate of optional information helps to create an illusion of a huge world persisting outside your ship. The world, which is, unfortunately, not there.
However, you wonât notice that at first. Remarkable voice acting and brilliant cinematography of the gameâs NPC interaction will make you believe in the characters before you and in things they say. Their actions, gestures, smiles and eye movements feel superbly natural and expressive. Even the species from other worlds have a set of facial gestures transforming the prosthetic mask into a living, breathing alien being. An effort which couldâve been undermined by amateur voice acting. Not this time, though.
Mass Effect contains some of the most brilliant video game acting ever captured on a DVD. Some notable Hollywood stars have been invited to lend their voices to generals, captains, aliens and dozens of other inhabitants of Mass Effect version of the galaxy. Specifically, I wouldnât forgive myself if I let Jennifer Hale get away from this review without getting a special mention. Her confident and at the same time gentle acting has once again brought life and vigor to her on-monitor persona. This time it was Commander Martyne Shepard, the character I personally assumed control over. It was amazing how good her facial features (created by yours truly via gameâs robust character creation utility) complimented on her voice and vice versa. In the end I have established a character, which I wonât be able to forget. What astounds me the most is that Shepard I know is totally different from what you could have come up with. This detail has provided another layer of an emotional connection to the character.
Other characters have also received additional personality treatment. Each characterâs voice is characterized not only by its timbre, but by intonation, speed, simple but effective EQ effects and so on. Wry and cynic comments by Wrex, childlike awe by Tali, careful probing by Kaidan and confused arrogance by Liara. Every character is blooming with personality, thanks to ingenious acting performance.
But once they leave your ship they become little more than mindless squad members. Forget about the memorable exchanges between the characters of your party in Baldurâs Gate 2 and Knights Of The Old Republic. The occasional two lines of pointless dialog in a random elevator are all one can look forward to.
And given the gameâs quality of tactical combat, I would have preferred to leave all my pals on Normandy altogether. The combat gameplay of Mass Effect bears little resemblance to either elegant brawl of the games based on Infinity engine or spectacular yet still thoughtful battles of Knights Of the Republic. But I have to admit, that gunwaving in ME is rather fun. Taking cover and shooting bastards into small pieces feels very tight, and with the additional support of biotic abilities it can provide an interesting field for experimentations. Your weapon proficiency matters a great deal, so take care while choosing your weapon, a low level in it might result in a quick and painful death. Anyway, the combat of ME is a good blend between Action and RPG with a complete failure in place of a tactical component.
The Bad
This is something I couldâve lived with; if not for other glaring flaws and mistakes Bioware had committed during the development of this game. The major flaw of ME is the lack of variety, scope and content. Everything in Mass Effect is small-sized, short and cut on expenses. Where have all the various worlds of Knights Of the Republic and Baldurs Gate 2 gone? There is only one (!) community area in Mass Effect, the Citadel. Itâs impossible to believe, that this is the game made by the same people who created all those phenomenal locations from BG2: the drow city, the underwater fish city, the elven coven, various villages and huge Amn, the size of which alone equals nearly ten of ME citadels. Thereâs none of that in Mass Effect, thereâs shortage on characters to meet, thereâs a shortage on engaging side quests, thereâs a shortage on dialog options, thereâs a shortage on interaction with party members. The game is short of virtually everything which made past Bioware games so appealing.
But what Bioware offers us in exchange for memorable worlds and situations? Surely they must have provided something, since the game took me thirty hours to complete. Quite long for the modern age RPG actually.
They have, but I really wish they havenât. I donât know who had the idea, that all, yes, all the side quests (the majority of which rarely deviate from save/kill formula) must be completed in the same backgrounds, over and over again. At least all those barren planets I am asked to land on are reskinned every now and then, but the locations where the gameâs side quests take place are totally indistinguishable, - bunker, warehouse, floating ship and an excavation site.
Only four three-room levels for every quest you may find in this game. Itâs unbelievable. Should I remind that earlier games of this very company have featured hand-crafted environments for every room, closet and object, in a quantity that far surpass whatever Mass Effect may offer? Even Oblivion, which has been criticized for identical-looking dungeons have tried to change the layout of them, and certainly did not copied them over and over again like ME did.
The storyline planets are unique alright. As unique as you would expect four corridor shooting galleries to look. There are rarely more than two additional quests on these worlds, both of which can be completed in under five minutes and there is nothing memorable to them either.
Everything in Mass Effect has this taint of incompleteness, even the praised storyline. The characters arcs arenât even complicated, let alone resolved. Despite having six party members, only three will actually give you quests, and all three will have no consequences on the characterâs development. The main story leaves a lot to be desired too. Forget the violent plot twist of KOTOR, the personal agenda of BG2, or even the loyalty tale of Jade Empire. Saren isnât cut to be a memorable villain and a mysterious cybernetic race threatening to wipe the whole galaxy is nothing original (I can trace it as far as Frederick Pohl, but I am no expert) either.
âBut why are they doing it? Why are they destroying everything?â asks the dialog option, âWho cares? Do you want to die?â answers a superior being. So much for motivation.
Other artificial substitutions for real content which made their way into Mass Effect are: a ridiculous number of collecting mini-games to please Achievement obsessed X360 fans; funny little hacking mini-game, which is overused so many times, that it stops being funny at your first hour into the game; uncomfortable interface that makes party and item management much more painful than they have to be and general repetition in everything.
On this sad note I have only this left to say.
Letâs sum it up! âą
The Bottom Line
Talent: 4/5
Whatever Bioware does, it does it like no other can. That much is true, Mass Effect was created by a very skilled bunch of men and women. Even if they did it during the coffee break, the pure talent of those folks demands respect, which I am happy to provide.
Ambition: 3/5
The intention behind this game is a far cry from what we could read in the Baldurâs Gate 2 manual. Bioware didnât care to deliver the ultimate role-playing experience this time around. However, their ambition was enough to make the most cinematic one.
Pteity (Pushing The Envelope - ity): 2/5
Thereâs really nothing new to admire in Mass Effect. The dialog system is the same we used for years, albeit a bit more fluid. But whatâs point of the system if I have to endure characters repeating the same lines over and over again? If this is what people mean by ânext-gen cRPGâ then my generation is long gone.
Effort: 1/5
The minimal effort applied shows everywhere. Uninspired quests, lack of exploration options, a vast galaxy to investigate, yet nothing but barren rocks in it. No wonder Mass Effect is just a first game of the planned trilogy. Currently, it doesnât have even the quarter of the content of previous Bioware titles (excluding Jade Empire, which shared the same disease).
Adequacy: 4/5
Despite couple of questionable aspects to the story, the gameâs quite consistent in its presentation. The stylistic approach is maintained throughout the game at the expense of diversity. Why do every species clothe themselves in exactly the same colors and design? The characters feel extremely real though, no matter if they are blue-skinned female aliens with tentacles on their heads or a straightwalking bugs. Mostly thanks to the adequate voice acting.
Total: 2.6/5
As you can see, the problem lies not with the gameâs length, but with the type and quality of content it presents. I hate to give Mass Effect such a low score, but truth of the matter is that a company of Biowareâs stature should be ashamed of releasing a game like this. With the amount of the talent the team possesses itâs unfortunate that they decided to keep things as small as possible this time around, relying more on copy/paste techniques rather than on original thinking.
Why? I believe the answer is quite simple. Why bother making a full fledged game with tons of opportunities, options and possibilities, if you can recreate only the fifth part of it and put the same price tag on the box?
That makes business sense. But Bioware should take notice, because new kids have already arrived, and in the world of competition, talent is nothing without hard work to support it. Beware Bioware, youâre walking an extremely thin line here; make sure you wonât fall the victim of your own laziness.
By St. Martyne on June 16, 2008
The Witcher (Windows)
A grain of truth
The Good
It took me some time to write a proper review for The Witcher. At first I tried to focus on the significance this game has, on the fascination I experienced about the fact that unknown Polish developer has managed to challenge the established leaders of the genre and even surpass them in some areas. I wanted you to see the gameâs utmost importance, to fill you with resonance, I am certain, The Witcher should have in the gaming community. Yet, in the end, I overlooked one of the most important things I have to say about this game.
Just, what exactly it means to me, personally? If you will, Iâll start precisely with that.
The Witcher helped me to realize what my gaming preferences are. I have been playing for over sixteen years, Iâve completed hundreds of different games, but Iâve never really managed to say properly what fascinates me the most about games, what my exact tastes and preferences are.
Now I can tell you. Here they are, on one DVD worth of data.
What separates The Witcher from many other games of many different genres is that itâs a game that has something to say to us and that it uses every aspect of it to communicate that message. Everything, including graphics, sound, gameplay, non-linearity, dialogs and even combat is there for a reason, besides simply âfor the fun of itâ. The game is a major step in the most interesting of the directions the games are facing. It makes you a better person and it shows you the reason for the things and people around you to exist. The Witcher makes bold moves and takes huge risks, yet succeeds in all of them.
When playing The Witcher, I have often been confronted with a certain peculiar feeling. Itâs rather hard to describe. I have to say, that I was sure I was witnessing the ultimate truth about nearly everything. âHere it is! Thatâs the truth.â I wanted to exclaim on numerous occasions. Partly that can be attributed to the excellent source material, series of short stories and novels written by a brilliant Polish writer -- Andrzej Sapkowski. He managed to portray an extremely faulted and corrupted world, maybe even more faulted than the one you and I live in, and then, through the eyes of Geralt, a monster hunter, he uncovered every vice, every despicable thing and person in such world, and pointed at them with his finger, asking you, if you are any better.
The game is shaped in exactly the same vein. Be prepared to be subjected to the issues, you werenât even considering. The Witcher has commented on many different things, including terrorism, love, friendship, greed, power, loyalty, destiny, prostitution, alcoholism, drugs, life, death, fear, prejudices, racism, faith and even more. Its quire remarkable, that with such a large scope of topics covered, the game has managed to remain coherent in its story and general theme.
But whatâs even more important, is that, being a game, The Witcher allows you to engage into a discussion with it. It opens up a dialog with a player trying to anticipate any response he might have. You have your say in every controversial topic the game presents. Express your will through your actions and see the world around you respond to your decisions. Trust me, the result will not only surprise, but will have you reconsider your decision in the first place. The game doesnât try to impose its message upon you in an intruding fashion. It poses a problem, asks for your opinion and presents you with a consequence, which is bound to make a better person out of you, more considerate in your actions, more thoughtful in your decisions, and most importantly -- less indifferent and apathetic. This is a goal a true piece of art is destined for.
Another thing that fascinates me about The Witcher, is that it applies all that choice & consequences stuff one of the most beautiful shapes of a game I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. More so, it takes advantage of its visuals and sounds to support the claims the game make in the ideology department. Itâs not very convincing to see a packed, asphyxiating life of a big city, full of different races and class segregation without all the marvelous art CD Projekt RED has powered their game with. The same goes for the serene atmosphere of the Murky Waters village, the rural image of which, painted in pastel tones, provides an excellent background to the peaceful and seclusive life of the village, making it even more shocking for you to unwillingly bring despair and the politics of the âbig worldâ into it. Every character, every location is blooming with detail and shows a great talent put in it.
And as I said, the fact that this beauty works for a cause, elevates it infinitely higher than anything you might see in a Final Fantasy game, where unfortunately, the beauty exists only for a beautyâs sake.
The whole previous paragraph may be repeated in regard to the music as well. The Witcher features the most diverse and thought-out soundtrack. Be it an aggressive combat tune, or a small interlude presenting a new location, the music of Pawel Blaszczak and Adam Skorupa is jam-packed with life and spark so often absent in the generic fantasy tracks of even the most talented of game composers. And once again, its not the quality of the music itself that strikes me the most, but the undeniable bond that ties the music to the environment and the story it backdrops. A game composer, as a movie composer, isnât as free in his creativity as your average musician is. He has to reflect and extend upon the things being witnessed in the game, by his music, highlighting the elements and things worthy of additional attention. Thatâs how it is in The Witcher, and thatâs how it must be done, period.
But many games prior to The Witcherâs release had excellent music, thought-provoking story and artistically ambitious graphics. What separates this particular game from the likes of Fallout, Baldurâs Gate 2 or Planescape: Torment? A distinct difference between those games and The Witcher lies in the fact, that unlike those games, The Witcher has finally come in terms with its gameplay mechanics. I wasnât among the crowd who was impressed with Baldurâs Gate appliance of AD&D rules; I didnât see how dice-driven combat, even if tactically flexible, emphasized the overall theme of the game. I donât think a good game is made of a turn-based, Fallout-type of combat either. Both of those variants were fun, but they didnât carry a message with them. There was no point to those battles, except for refreshing a rather thrill-less formula of dialog-driven gameplay. Planescape: Torment has tried to approach that problem, but resulted in a very uneven mix, in which the starting portions of the game were dedicated to talking and exploring, while the later were totally given way to the spectacular but unnecessary fighting.
The Witcher closes its eyes on its competitors. It does away with all the save rolls, +3 artifacts, or unnecessary augment effects. It eliminates the plague of modern RPGs, known as âphat lootâ syndrome, which although might be engaging on its own, hardly brings any additional facet to the idea the game is conveying. Secondly, the game makes a huge emphasis on knowledge gathering, rather on application of that knowledge. Alchemy, combat, item management â every aspect of gameplay requires to be researched first. The bigger part of the gameplay is devoted to analyzing and making choice rather than implementing it. And during that process, the player unwillingly learns about the gameworld he plays in, he begins to understand it better through the series of his own experiences. That creates an additional level of depth, only a video game is capable of.
Take a look at the gameâs bestiary, for example. Unlike any other fantasy novel/game/movie you have seen, the monsters roaming the land are not an evil threat from far-away lands guided by a mysterious, yet inevitably evil force. The monsters in The Witcher are the products of a man himself. In the fashion of Shakespearean Hamlet, Sapkowski takes use of the supernatural elements in his stories, only if they will serve a necessary dramatic function. Just like in Hamlet, a man-devouring plant grows in backyard, because âa murder most foul and unnaturalâ has taken place there, and not without a help of this backyardâs owner.
A character in the game suggests that every monster you encounter is a personification of each of the manâs vices. An image of war, for example, wouldnât be so astonishing in The Witcher, if not for a dozen of Graveirs attracted to the battlefield by a smell of rotting corpse. So all the supernatural elements used in game are designed to emphasize the most horrific of the humanityâs acts, which I find impossible to call ânaturalâ.
I must stop there, because the length of this review has already exceeded any levels of decency and respect for the reader. But thereâs so much I havenât tell you about this game yet. The brilliant writing, borrowing its style directly from the books, tragic characters, a deep and dark (but not morbid) sense of humor, luxurious and most importantly unintrusive cutscenes, lots of fascinating âcharacter momentsâ and even dozens of eastern eggs, a careful eye will take a pleasure of finding.
Well, I guess, these are things you will have to discover on your own.
The Bad
I would hardly grant myself a liberty of nit-picking a game that took so much effort and colossal dedication to make. So, it isn't exactly your average Mobygames bad section, but a certain set of wishes for CDProjekt RED plans for the future.
Wish number one. However excellent the story presented in the game is, I canât brush off the feeling that the game relies on its source material a bit too heavily. Donât misunderstand me, you most certainly is under no obligation to read any of the Sapkowskiâs books to enjoy the game. Itâs just that the game doesnât introduce any elements or themes, which havenât been seen in the novels before. The Witcher is certainly no Knights Of the Old Republic, when it comes to extending upon the existing franchises and universes. I wish, that in the next installment of The Witcher, (which is inevitable, at least judging by the outro) the developers would try to take some liberties and expand themes and images we have already a very good knowledge of.
Wish number two. I donât think thereâs much difference if the game requires you to click every time you make a hit, once in a while or only once. Itâs making battles meaningful whatâs important. So, I donât think that completely revamping the gameâs combat system was called for. I couldâve easily been satisfied with a Diablo clickfest, as long as thereâs an idea or a message being conveyed through those clicks. So, please, CDProjekt, instead of spending sleepless night trying to come up with combat that will satisfy any obsessed Oblivion hater out there, try to extend on the idea of meaningfulness and reason for those combat scenes to exist in the first place.
Wish number three. I hope CDPR will make enough money of The Witcher, to solidify its position as a king of the modern age RPG. So far, it was an extremely good shot, but itâs too early to say, if it was by chance or by the providence.
Wish number four. I hope next time CDProjekt will be allowed to have a personal control over all the localized versions of the game. That kind of high quality stuff should not be brought down by a short-sighted and greedy publisher. Atari, donât take a promising developer to a grave with you.
The Bottom Line
Talent: 5/5
I have numerously said, while giving away a high score for talent that a developer has been touched by God. Well, I fear, this is not the case. The talent of CDProjekt is so strong, that I believe a much shadier deal has taken place. I hope youâll manage to buy your souls back, CDProjekt!
Ambition: 5/5
A first project by an unknown studio, tasked to rival the best of the best of all the time. Trust me; it doesnât get more ambitious than that.
Pteity (Pushing The Envelope - ity): 5/5
The game takes significant and bold steps in reinventing not only the Action or RPG genre, but the gaming itself.
Effort: 5/5
Be it music, graphics, style or writing the team behind the game goes great lengths to be impressive. They resent a notion that a game with a good story shouldnât have excellent graphics, or thought-out sound. Itâs the philosophy of professionalism on every level. And such kind of professionalism requires a life-consuming dedication from a person. With no experience behind their backs, itâs only through the hard work, The Witcher came to be what it is.
Adequacy: 6/5
Well, five, really. I just want to stress upon the fact that I felt, as if I was presented with an supreme wisdom and truth just about everything. The feeling has passed now, but the memory remains.
Donât miss a cool Metallica reference. ;-)
Total: 5/5 (and not a point less)
The Witcher is a game that comes only once. The next game delivered by CDProjekt may be (and should be) better than The Witcher in every respect, but it wonât repeat the impact Witcher had on PC gaming community and me personally. Could you have imagined a year ago, that a game marking a debut of an unknown Eastern European studio would be bursting with creative ideas, be near to the perfect state in technology, please your eyes and ears with glorious score and visuals and at the same time, making you a better man and opening your eyes to the faults of the world around you? I couldnât have.
The Witcher is slap in the face to all the bitter and grumpy folks, sitting on their asses and complaining on how commercialized the industry of video games has become. The Witcher is a slap in the face to all of the whining âcreative geniusesâ waiting for a goody publisher to give them money for their ideas. The Witcher is a slap in the face to all who thinks video games canât make you think and evolve as a human being.
Read the one-liner once again. A Grain Of Truth is a title of one of the stories, comprising the written saga of Geralt, the witcher. And this exact phrase I apply to The Witcher, a video game. It is a grain of truth amidst the sands of deceit around us. Donât let this grain slip through your fingers unnoticed. Save it. Treasure it.
By St. Martyne on January 13, 2008
MusicVR Episode 1: Tr3s Lunas (Windows)
An emotional roller-coaster.
The Good
Excuse me a confusing one-liner. I was trying to come up with something profound and simple that would have explained what I feel about this game and I genuinely found it impossible to do it in one sentence, mostly because my relationship with Tr3s Luna became much more complex than I initially anticipated.
What does Tr3s Lunas look like for a casual observer? An ambitious attempt of a renowned (at least in some circles) musician, who presumably barely knows a single bit about gaming culture, to provide an alternative to violent gorefests, which, in his righteous opinion, all of other games are.
I donât like this kind of ignorance, and I am disgusted with this man's self-imposing as a savior of the sinned gamers. If there was a man who I wouldâve trust with re-imagining the games as we know them, he would, at least, be of a gaming background, so that he would actually know something about games before aiming at such ambitious goals.
Still, ignorant as he may be, Mr. Oldfield firmly believed into what he was saying about Tr3s Lunas, and seemed to be very passionate about the project. So let the comments like: âThe technology has finally reached the level for me to flesh out my ideasâ slip past our ears and let's take a look at the game itself.
I have to confess I was deeply amazed by it. It managed to capture so many things right, that I have even begun to doubt the lack of any gaming experience behind Mikeâs shoulders. Anyway, I believe that it mostly was a good stroke of luck and earnest work that made Tr3s Lunas what it is.
The first thing that Mike got right is the idea of interactive freedom. He decides not to guide the player on the leash, in fear that the little kid may be confused. He isnât an overprotective developer who intends to show everything his game has to offer in the most redeeming light. Tr3s Lunas is the game that rewards the curious. I might even go as far as saying that this is the most rewarding game I have ever played. And what is the most extraordinary, it is that the game is rewarding without setting any specific objectives, except for one. Explore.
Take a look around, listen to the sounds, to the music, and watch the animals, the shapes, the figures, the stars. Play with them, see their response, be amazed by the results. There are hundreds of mysteries to unravel in the surreal world of Tr3s Lunas. Even the most obsessive of fans havenât yet discovered all the treats this game has to offer.
However, despite its exemplary non-linear and free-roaming nature, the game knows very well when to take the controls away the player. This might have been a major fault for any other game, but Tr3s Lunas does it with utmost style and performance. The âjourneysâ is the most apt word for describing these parts of the game. Flying with the birds, swimming with the dolphins, being engulfed into the ballet of crystals under the moonlit sky, hopping on the space arrow taking you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, or surfing as a silver skater among the planets. The balance between these journeys and free-roaming sequences is amazingly well-maintained.
Of course, neither of that would have mattered if Oldfield had nothing to fill his jar of concepts with. And here is where all the prejudices I have against this game vanish into oblivion. I didnât expect a game with no story and filled with hallucinogenic surreal imagery coupled with a music trend I have never had any interest in, to be able to make such a strong emotional impact upon me.
I can write thousands of words about the emotions I experienced while playing Tr3s Lunas: anticipation, joy, disbelief, awe, fear, serenity, anxiety, excitement, melancholy and lots of other emotions I simply donât have words to describe. This game is an emotional roller-coaster, perfectly combining the inspiring music with the artistic visuals for itâs goals. A bigger part of that perfect union is attributable to the way music is tied to the environment. There are dozens of techniques the game utilize to stress upon the fact that music is an integral part of the world. Dynamic soundtrack with instruments fading in or out depending on playerâs position. Subtle changes in tunes indicating the differences that happen to the world around the player. The melodies accentuating the mood of the scene portrayed. All of those is delivered in high quality audio with the full support for 5.1 music playback. Needless to say, that I was completely blown away by most of the pieces themselves and shortly after completing the game went to my local music store to acquire a couple of Oldfieldâs albums for further listening.
As for visuals â two words - Salvador Dali. Even a direct reference to the master can be seen in the horizon. Real things and creatures from our world are taken together and mixed with completely otherworldly effects and lighting. Sometimes, the game steps outside the boundaries of surrealism right in the realm of the straight-out impressionism. Weird rhombic shapes dancing a tribal dance is something I have a hard time associating with this world.
But whatever artistic direction the game takes, it always hits the emotional notes inside the player. And, yes, I have never felt a so intense feeling towards rhombic shapes in my whole life.
Another point I would like to make is a bit unusual. I found it extremely fascinating that the game pays as much attention to the microworld as to the macroworld. Let me explain: at one point in game youâll be chasing bugs with a size of your fingernail and then, a moment later, in a brief sequence of events you will find yourself gliding among the celestial bodies helping Mike to flesh out his own symphony of Space. The transition effect is seamless, and itâs very amazing that a game from a musician shows so much technical professionalism and integrity.
And let's not forget a complete control the designers have on the game scenes. Lighting, texturing, music â everything is chosen manually to create the most authentic experience possible in each of the gameâs instances.
Weird and confusing as it may be, in time, you grow accustomed to the world of Tr3s Lunas, but you donât want to leave it. You feel secured in its boundaries and discovering more and more about your new home feels very thrilling and very exciting.
The Bad
Upon completing and contemplating on my experience with it, I couldnât disregard the fact, that the way Tr3s Lunas thrills me, the way it pulls my emotions on the surface is very artificial. Yes, I was experiencing that gigantic range of different emotions I was talking about earlier. But once, these emotions have passed, thereâs nothing left. The game has no message, itâs about nothing, it leaves me exhausted, satisfied and blank at the same time.
Itâs a bit frightening to see how the game juggles with human emotions by using blinking lights and otherworldly sounds. Itâs pleasant, but, in a way, it is very wrong.
Actually itâs the same fault I can ascribe to surrealism and impressionism. Sure, they can thrill, excite and make the viewer experience different feelings, but they donât make him learn something from these experiences. They donât make him a better (or worse) person.
Itâs like a sophisticated version of a pure action movie, which saturate the hunger for thrills in the same artificial manner, but with a more elitist audience in mind.
But is it so bad? Taking into account the fact that Iâm raising all these issues while talking about a video game, I would say âNo way!â. It had to be done, and thank God it was done in such a great manner.
This game is, evidently, not for everybody. Try it, maybe it will be to your liking. Itâs a fifty-fifty deal. If the game manages to have an emotional impact upon you, then itâs a terrific success, if not â a pathetic failure. Considering itâs been freeware for sometime now, I canât see what is preventing you from downloading it right now.
The Bottom Line
Letâs draw conclusions, using my uber rating system ;-)
Talent: 5/5
I canât deny any bit of musical talent to Mr. Oldfield. But the fact that he proves to be an able game designer is just remarkable. The man really feels and knows how to convey those feelings to the audience regardless of the media he chooses, be it music or a game.
Ambition: 5/5
While most of the ambition comes from ignorance, I canât stress more upon the fact that Oldfield does everything his own way, taking huge risks and not settling for compromises, not for once.
Pteity (Pushing The Envelope - ity): 3/5
Tr3s Lunas does an outstanding of pushing the boundaries of what a video game can be. But original as it may be, I wouldnât want to see more games following this way. It takes too much talent to deliver great pieces for such kind of art direction. It canât be achieved in procedural manner.
In the world of art painting we are now facing the situation with many âgeniusâ painters considering their âred paint splattered across the yellow oneâ paintings masterpieces worthy of millions of dollars. I wouldnât want to see that happening to gaming.
Effort: 5/5
Every sequence of the game feels like a game on itâs own. Thereâs nothing showing that Tr3s Lunas could have been more. Itâs already grand, magnificent and extremely saturated.
Adequacy: 4/5
Thatâs a risky deal. Either you are (as I was) overwhelmed by emotions and donât need any rational or adequate explanation for the things youâre witnessing. Or you might just say âWhat the hell was that? I wonder, what was this guy smoking.â and proceed to delete the game off your hard drive. Thereâs no third option here.
Total: 4.4/5
Tr3s Lunas made me remember that I am a living and breathing human being. It made me feel the feelings I was never aware I am capable of. As Data from Star Trek I felt as if I have acquired an emotion chip giving me an access to my humanity.
Still, I will never have any use for most of these emotions. I havenât learned anything substantial about me or about the world I live in. Yet I enjoyed the experiment. Tr3s Lunas is clearly an art-game, even if its priorities are not exactly to my liking. As for you, my reader, I can only say this:
Take a ride on emotional roller-coaster and see how many emotions you are capable of yourself. Take a test and see how much of a human you are. And after you do so, come back to the real world, the world where you would have feelings towards real people and not rhombic shapes in fancy lighting.
By St. Martyne on January 2, 2008
God of War (PlayStation 2)
*I* *AM* *THE* *GOD OF WAR*
The Good
I admit that I was approaching this game with a small bucket of skepticism. Actually it was a huge tank car of skepticism, to be exact. âThe Best Game For PS2â (as labeled by some professional critics) while observing from the bird-view perspective of a hardcore PC gamer, seemed to be nothing more than an mindless teenager slasher-fantasy full of inappropriate tits and gore. When I had actually completed it, the game turned out to be exactly that, with a small exception. Itâs an extremely bloody fantastic mindless teenager slasher-fantasy full of inappropriate tits and gore.
During the course of the game I tried very hard to suppress all the good feelings I felt towards this game. I guessed that is what every sane and mature person would do. The game has surprisingly little to lure you in from the start. The bastardized version of ancient Greek mythology, square-jawed protagonist who speaks more akin to a US marine than to a champion of gods and to finish it all lots of QTE sequences taken straight from Shenmue and elevated to height of Olympus itself. So, tell me, who would actually buy into that sort of crap? As it turned out, I would. The explanation for this paradox can be summarized in three words: premise, design and variety. These are three whales upon which the genius of this game rests. In the good section of this review I try to explain each of those in detail. Follow me.
The premise of God Of War is deceivingly simple. You are Kratos, son of Sparta and the champion of the Gods. Athena, your only contact with the Olympus asks you of last favor, after which all the nightmares and horrors of your past would be erased and you will be released from the servitude to the Gods. The task is daunting: kill Ares, the God of War. Whatâs brilliant is that it unwillingly copycats (or maybe devoutly follows) one of the most popular story in the ancient Greek mythos. Not a particular one, but a general idea. The idea of a mortal opposing the gods themselves. Kratos is a powerful character; he doesnât undergo a series of dramatic changes or offer any psychological insight into the human nature. Instead he is son of anarchy, the mortal who defies fate, and is up to challenge the god of Olympus himself.
The Gods VS Man theme is evident throughout the whole game and is retained in sequel, God Of War II, and I presume will be concluded in the final installment of the series on PS3. This is a effective albeit a very simple theme. It gives the game an initial charge that provides player with enough amount of motivation to complete the game no matter what. The first time you see Ares, a true god of Olympus, you wander âHow on Earth would I be able to defeat such a creature?â (a feeling not so unlike the one experienced in Shadow Of Colossus), and only the determined look on Kratos face reassure you, that this man is certainly up to the task. The idea of initial thrust is actually a saving grace of many action-oriented games. Many of the not-so-bad shooters have fallen a victim to their extremely mediocre starting levels with no personal connection to the protagonist: Black, Chaser, Far Cry, Doom 3, Cybermage and lots of others. The player ought to be given some motivation in order to cope with the limited interaction possibilities an action game offers. The good examples of that are Max Payne and Outlaws, utilizing the ever-green plot of revenge. God Of War stands besides those titles offering us an amazingly determined protagonist, Kratos, who in his hatred and despair challenge the Gods.
But the premise and cool character alone is not enough for any game to succeed. People need meat! The minute to minute process of the gameplay, so to speak. While being a slasher in its core God Of War still carries with itself a huge bag of additional goodies. Youâll get puzzles to solve, huge areas to explore and items to collect. Everything here is governed by Variety. I deliberately spell variety from the capital letter, since it appears a capital design idea behind the game. No matter what, the Santa Monica studios gently caters each of the playerâs wishes. As if afraid that he might lose interest in the midgame. Tired of town ruins? Hereâs a change in scenery. Tired of puzzles? Hereâs a nasty monster. Want some jumping? Here you go. The amazing fact is that those sequences are timed just right. Never had I encounter a group of monsters with a thought âNot again!â in my mind.
Another side of the entire âkeeping things freshâ agenda manifests itself in game constantly feeding you new abilities. It doesnât give all the powers at once, but give them out gradually through the course of the game. You wonât feel that things have become stale not once. Alright, partly that is due to the game being rather short, but mostly thanks to diversity God Of War boasts. Even the Quick Time Events, which has already earned an infamous status, are brilliantly executed. You donât press the buttons because developers felt limited in providing real gameplay. You do just for delivering a final blow to the weakened enemy, which if done with traditional cut-scenes would have felt anticlimactic. Perfect implementation of the not-so perfect element. As much as I like Fahrenheit, God Of War presents a completely different and at the same time utterly correct use of QTE ever imaginable. Look closer, Quantic Dream (developer of Fahrenheit) this is what QTE are for.
Iâve mentioned puzzles a bit earlier in the review. I think those require a few more bytes of this HTML page. Puzzles in God Of War are not particularly challenging, however they are extremely entertaining. Once again an amazing âno thing repeats itselfâ formula takes its effect. Various contraptions, combinations, traps provide the most interesting tomb raiding experience reminiscent of ⊠well, Tomb Raider series, I guess. While in search for the Pandora Box in the huge temple complex, Kratos has to partake in a series of challenges associated with each God of Olympus. That bit of the game was clearly influenced by original Tomb Raider. A very good choice of inspiration, I might add.
And to finish it all, the game wraps its already attractive nature into eye-popping visuals. I wonât grow tired of repeating that the graphics must solely lie on the shoulders of artists, not programmers. Artist draw, programmers fit into a gameâs engine. God Of War is a prefect visualization to that design idea. It neatly combines the Greek approach to design with an overall fantasy flavor and spice it up with extreme love to gigantism. Everything is big and awe-inspiring in this game. Titans, gods, temples â everything visually speaks for itself. In its graphical department GoW easily beats every other game of its genre. Even Prince Of Persia series, while trying to do something similar with Arabian Nights setting doesnât quite reach the Olympic production values of God Of War.
All in all, GoW is one fantastic game. Keep that in mind while reading the bad section, and donât you forget, that I am trying really hard to find something wrong with it.
The Bad
The first problem that bugs me is too connected with the gameâs style and presentation. Much of its goodness relies upon on a camera angle and superior lighting techniques. Add to this an extreme linearity of God Of War levels, and you will see that the gameâs illustrious locations are nothing more than a cardboard set of Hollywood decorations and there is no world to speak of behind them. Mind you, those are very well crafted decorations. However, in order not to reveal their other ugly cardboard side, the developers p have ceased a camera control away from the player, so you wonât be able to look where developers donât want you to. That in its turn provides an opportunity for some very juicy angles and camera work. It doesnât make the technique any less cheaper and fake though.
As I said, thatâs not just a problem of camera. The whole approach to visual design consists of load upon loads of tricks and limitations according to what gets on camera and what doesnât. You canât depict a convincing virtual world based on such trickery. Shadow Of Colossus is a perfect combination of cinematic action and unrestricted freedom of movement and camera.
Another gripe I have with the game is its plot. I donât mean premise or story, which being not exactly great serve their function well. What I have in mind is the changing objectives and unfolding narrative. This game has none of that. In the beginning you are told to retrieve the Pandora Box, (developers should really have chosen another name for it, since itâs nothing like a Pandora Box from the Greek mythos) the only weapon capable of defeating Ares. Little did I know, that the whole game will consists of that important but ultimately not that inspiring an objective. The road to Pandoraâs Box is interesting enough, but I would definitely preferred a larger number of milestones. As it is, the pace of the game feels extremely uneven. Something Max Payne, for example, which also had a very simple story, avoided altogether by introducing a lot of interesting side villains and constantly changing the current objective of protagonist consequently keeping the pace strong.
And last and the most least is that gore and sex haves a very juvenile portrayal in this game. Sex doesnât go beyond showing tits with blurry textures on them and gore just stays in the middle with disjointed limbs without venturing to do some really nasty stuff. Not that it bothers me so much. In fact, it rather saddens me that people concentrate their attention on such stuff instead of parts where the game really shines. If so I could've appreciated it much earlier.
The Bottom Line
Letâs sum it up!
Talent: 4/5
As far as camera changing, locations and music go this game was a dream-like experience. Itâs hard to believe that the only game the studio has outputted before this one is a distasteful Twisted Metal racing game. Great job!
Ambition: 4/5
Clearly, the game screams to you: âI am something you have never seen before!â. Canât say I agree. But the ambition of developers is very hard to ignore. They really wished the game to be âthe mostâ in pretty much every area. And they did succeed. The Titan Kronos wandering in his eternal torment through the sands of damned desert is a good illustration to Santa Monicaâs titanic ambition.
Pteity (Pushing The Envelope - ity): 2/5
Weâve seen it all before. The amazing level design and thrilling action together with the exploration of the ancient Greek setting and QTE sequences werenât invented by this game. In fact taking into account that the game takes a freelook camera view away from the player may be considered as a step backwards to the days of 2D platformers. And that is not a good thing.
Effort: 5/5
No problem, here. The game goes to great lengths to be constantly entertaining to a player. That results in a zero amount of filler material. Everything is unique and well timed.
Adequacy: 4/5
I say that even if the Greek setting isn't portrayed exactly as Homer and Co envisioned it, the overall theme and story the game takes is pretty much consistent with the Greek mythology. A single mortal defies the rule of Gods upon him and defeats the God Of War. Will do.
Total: 3.8/5
God Of War is an action game. And everything which is required from an action game it does well. It has plenty of variety in it to keep you coming back for more, or as in my case, spend a whole night through playing it unable to stop at all.
The amazing design of locations is enough for everyone even in 2007 not to regret the lack of next-generation console at home. The music is a perfect fit for the game. I canât even find the words to describe it properly. I guess it can be called a classical music with an attitude of Trash Metal band. Great!
And a nicely presented story keeps you from wondering, why you are playing this stupid slasher game when there is a serious Role-Playing experience awaiting you in other room.
Thatâs all, folks! See you back in God Of War II.
By St. Martyne on November 29, 2007
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PlayStation 2)
Snakes? No, thank you. I prefer pork.
The Good
Before we get to the review itself, I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, I haven't played any game of Metal Gear series before Snake Eater. Secondly, I have played a Subsistence version of the game, however, I had no interest either in multiplayer or in retro delights the package had to offer, and thus I will concentrate my efforts solely on Snake Eater. And last, but not least, Metal Gear Solid 3, for all its drawbacks, hasn't dissuaded me from trying other games in the series. The reasons to that fact are described below.
Approaching the game was a hard endeavor for me. Even although the first and the second game of the series have been released on PC, I've never really felt like trying them out. For some reason I always had enough games on my hands not to check out some obscure, unknown spy-games, that have presumably achieved a cult status on the consoles, which in its own right wasn't a praise for me at that time either.
Now that I have overcome my prejudices I brought myself to completing the PS2 exclusive third and closing part in the Solid trilogy, hailed to include the best series has to offer and pushing the corny plot of its predecessors on the new level of drama and emotional depth. After fourteen hours of playing I would only say that I can't imagine how awfully cheesy must have been the stories of two previous games to name the storyline of Snake Eater an improvement.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of good things to say about it as well. And I would like to start with... Intro.
James Bond has always occupied a special place in my heart. I've always enjoyed the opening credits for every new movie, with some lady with a good voice singing some obscure lines and abstraction paintings flying by in some kind of mix of female figures and gun/bullets shapes. Snake Eater starts on exactly the same note, prompting you to expect some excellent spy-thriller with fantastic production values, evidently capable to rival even the budget of recent Bond's movies. And it does not disappoint, at least partly.
Although, it fails to deliver the kind of suspense and thrill Bond movies were famous for, the amazing quality of the game is very hard to deny. Everything, starting from sounds and music and ending with cut-scenes direction and stunts is top-notch. Visually the game is very impressive. It's hard to believe that this kind of graphics is achievable on the PS2 hardware. Despite low polygonal count, clever use of lighting, textures and shader effects creates an illusion of a real next-gen title. It's quite a feat to be admired.
Since the better part of the game takes place in jungles one should expect a decent rendition of flora. And rightly so. Although not at the same level as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or Far Cry, the game manages to achieve the feeling of "plausible forest density" that even Vietcong would feel rivaled by. Once again, nothing extra-ordinary, just some clever tricks, we perhaps should thank Konami programmers for, and not the artists themselves.
One wouldn't argue that the main strength of Metal Gear Solid series lies not in the gameplay department, but in the one that deals with plot and narrative. So, what's the device that Konami and Mr. Kojima use to unfold their narrative? Nothing unusual, simple in-game cutscenes. Simple, you say? Wait, till you see the game. The cut-scenes here may be described by lots of different words, but "simple" is certainly not one of them. Unfortunately, the true genius of the gameâs movie-like qualities truly uncovers itself only towards the end of it. Those among you, who played the game immediately recognized what exactly I am talking about. Of course, I mean the exciting bike chase and all the events surrounding it. Intelligent use of camera, lighting, sounds and music provide one of the most exhilarating moments in the video games history.
But not merely a bike chase, every scene shows much effort put in it. And although it doesnât work most of the times, it has nothing to do with the input of minor minds behind the game. Each of them has done his share of work adequately in the limits of requirements Hideo Kojima set, according to his personal vision. The vision, which, in the matter of factâŠ
The Bad
âŠsucks.
Yes, really sucks. Metal Gear Solid 3 story/plot/presentation is among the most ridiculous ones, if not the most. By the way, you can start counting the number of times I use the word âridiculousâ in the bad section of this review, because, I have a feeling that itâs going to be a pretty big one (number, not section).
All that is bad with MGS3 can actually be summarized in four words: characters, story, presentation and gameplay. Letâs go through these four aspects, one by one, ok?
Story. I am not sure if Mr. Kojima has opened a history book in a school, but this is the most inaccurate presentation of the Cold War ever. After this game everything Tom Clancy outputs will seem to me as the most accurate historic truth, as it can possibly be. I couldâve really understood if there was an alternative history theme going on, but even if so, thereâs absolutely no explanation for the some of the most inappropriate things. Portable bazooka-nukes, hover platforms, bi-pedal tanks, lighting-infused generals, fire-burning cosmonauts, Russian jungles (!) and lots of other things that are completely inadequate for the time epoch the game chooses as its setting. The way the game juggles with the names of the known historical figures like Khrushchev or Brezhnev in the combination of pseudo-documentary shots doesnât provide any historical authenticity either. Wait, thereâs more.
The gameâs story is guilty not only of being laughable, but of more serious crimes as well. It completely bogs down any emotional connection one might have established toward the events described in it. Really, how is it possible for a person like me to care either about Snake, Eva or The Boss, if neither of what I see happening before my eyes I can imagine being possible. All the plot twists exists only because of the flexible/ignorant attitude towards history. The defections as described in the game were not possible in the period of Cold War, at least not in the multitude as suggested by Konami. That in its turn eliminates the basic premise for a story or characters to exist and subjects every message the game might have tried (and in good faith it seems) to communicate to failure.
One could suggest not to take the story-part seriously. I would love to, really. Metal Gear Solid 3 would have made an excellent comedy adventure with its cartoon villains and spy wannabes. How does Metal Gear Island 3: LeVolgin's Revenge sound to you? Alas, the game obviously takes itself very seriously and offers no room for interpretations.
The truth is that all of those problems could have been easily overlooked, if the characters of the game were strong on their own, without necessarily being tightly connected to the setting. It saddens me that itâs not that close to the the truth either. Itâs difficult to perceive Snake Eater characters as real people. They make a lot of unnecessary movements, gestures and the words they speak are those of 12-year old anime fan. How can someone be impressed with the stupidity and bland showing-off as shown by Ocelot. Heâs the most annoying of the bunch, mainly because he appears for no apparent reason and all too often, without actually carrying any point to his presence in the game.
It doesnât end there. Each member of the Cobra team is a new landmark in creating the most absurd and videogamish character ever. They do not, even in the least, fit into the game set in Russia during the Cold War, more so with the background given to them being⊠Wait a minute. Nonexistent. Cobra Unit is something taken from the mind of the same 12 years old anime fan. Because even the real, good anime films, nowadays, do not resort to such kind of horribleness.
Major Raikov and General Volgin shows how little do people in Japan know about Russians. No, they donât look like a cute anime-male character with white long hair and, no, they do not look like a walking conduits of electricity with unintelligible tattoos on their face.
However they do know how an average American secret agent looks like. No-nonsense kind of approach and a grim attitude. Snake doesnât speak much, and, actually turns out to be a very nice guy until the moment he does start to speak. And, oh boy, where should I start? First, is it me or Naked Snake doesnât know any other grammatical construction instead that of interrogative sentence? And if he doesnât ask questions, he still sounds like asking somebody.
âWe have deployed a nuclear device.â
âNuclear device?â
âYes, itâs located in Groznyj Grad.â
âGroznyj Grad?â
âYes. Want me to show it on you map?â
âMy map?.. I mean, why should I trust you?â.
Well, you got the idea.
More so, the actor who did the voice-job for Snake is very good at only two intonations. They are very good intonations but voice-acting actually implies some acting, not just reading with the same voice regardless of their content.
And I am not even going start on the lack of motivations or reasons behind Snake's actions. His relationship (especially the way it starts) with EVA is clearly not a very good example of outstanding storytelling.
EVA. A good character, as far as you donât look past the boobs, which Mr. Kojima, apparently considers to be the main character trait for his female characters. I agree, it worked for the first time, when she had half-naked herself for no apparent reason in the middle of the jungle. But really how much of the same boobs in the same bra can one actually take, before he starts to notice that the character itself is very flat otherwise. And again the overall irrationality, that dominates the game, shows it's nasty grin. There was simply no way for her to do all tricks she has done right under the nose of Volgin. It just doesnât work that way in the world where villains are something more than boy-loving bastards in fancy boots.
And to finish it all â The Boss. The most applauded character at first appears to be very interesting and intriguing. But, as in case with Snake, it's just because she doesnât get to speak much. When she actually does, she discovers herself not to be that much different from her colleagues. Her final speech is an incredible illustration of un-related banality disguised as a profound revelation. Of course, everything is relative on the war, but how does that explains your own situation, Ms. Boss?
The MGS3 characters have a nasty habit of talking too much without actual point to it. A trait not that uncommon to many Japanese games Iâve played.
But back to The Boss. The tragic story of this character is the centerpiece of the game. If it doesnât get to your heart, Snake Eater is pretty much wasted upon you. This is my case exactly. Yet again the absurd and illogical storyline with the plot twists, being probable only if we assume the villains of the game to be complete retards, entirely eliminates any meaning, The Bossâs sacrifice was supposed to have. The Boss, regardless of her dim-witted name, could have been an excellent character. Not in this game, though.
Anyway, who actually cares about stories and characters in games these days? Itâs a grit-teething gameplay that people want with breathtaking action and suspenseful stealth. Or not that breathtaking and not so suspenseful, as Snake Eater conveniently proves . While providing some interesting elements like healing system (similar to Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of Earth) and eating/hunting twist, the game fails to offer anything that could have threatened established leaders of either stealth (Splinter Cell, Thief) or action (pretty much every other major game) genres.
Not to say, that gameplay is boring. Some sequences were, actually, quite enjoyable (the battle with an old sniper being the most interesting one) but the limitations the game self-imposes on itself canât provide any twists, worthy of notice, to the already stale formula of either genre. Duck, stand up, shoot, duck. You won't find anything else to boil the blood or tickle the nerves here. Yawn!
And the last but not least, I don't like the games telling me that I am stupid. I like them to tell me that I am smart, agile, strong and very women-friendly. However, developers of Snake Eater have made a most inaccurate assumption that I am the same 12-years old boy, who barely knows what Russia is. All the common historic facts are explained over and over again, and the way EVA describes everything in the end for those "who hasn't figured it out yet" is simply distasteful and lacks subtlety, which is very important in these cases.
The Bottom Line
Talent: 3/5
The team behind the game shows unprecedented skill and talent. Special mention goes to visual and programming folks, who achieved an impossible with the aged PS2 hardware. However, the gameâs writing and story do not step anywhere outside the boundaries of everyoneâs favorite 12-years old kid's imagination.
Ambition: 3/5
The gameâs pretentious style and narrative, although failing to reach its point more often than not, is something I can respect. As they say, itâs a try that counts. However, the developers havenât even ventured to do something interesting with the gameplay. So all the ambition was wasted on the cut-scenes, which is, as I have stated above, not such a bad thing either.
Pteity (Pushing The Envelope - ity): 1/5
A lot of games nowadays present great cutscenes. Some of them are better, some worse. But it takes much more than style and professionalism to make others follow you. It takes content and meaning to those stories you try to tell via your cut-scenes. And I donât want to see any other game following in MGS3 footsteps in terms of its content and meaning. Gameplay distinctively lacks originality as well. So only 1 point for a little technical wonder this game represents.
Effort: 4/5
Once again, itâs evident that no one was trying to play a lazy dog. Everyone at Konami did their share of work responsibly and with heart. Even Hideo Kojima, however far-fetched his ideas might be, obviously has put a part of his soul in the game and it shows. 4 points for effort, regardless of how misplaced it is.
Adequacy: 0/5
Nothing, I repeat, nothing feels right in this game. Characters -- speaking in nonsense and making over-exaggerated theatrical gestures without any point to them. Storyline -- bringing the word ludicrous a whole new meaning. Setting treatment that really makes me question the sanity of those responsible for the story in this game. Everything is out of place and out of simple common sense. Oh... And did I mention that they actually expected me to collect green frog figurines (!) while on the mission? For God's sake!
Total: 2.2/5
Some people might respond to this review with the accusations of lack of sensitivity on my part towards the culture not similar to my own, namely Japanese. I have two things to answer to that. The first being that the game doesnât deal with Japanese culture at all and the mere fact that the game was developed in Japan doesnât give the developers an exclusive right to ridicule history and make characters behave like very bad Shakespearean actors.
And the second thing is that, in reality, many Japanese games actually do have a sense of reason, appropriateness and common sense. Shadow Of Colossus is a very recent example of that. And even Final Fantasy series , which also can be very inadequate at times, doesnât fall to the point of being just plain stupid.
So how about that word I asked you to count in the beginning of the bad section of this review? Do you remember, the one beginning with ârâ? Only one, you say. Well, itâs still enough to characterize Snake Eater most fully and comprehensively.
Ridiculous, indeed. Make it two.
By St. Martyne on November 7, 2007
BioShock (Windows)
Who is John Galt? -- A question without an answer.
The Good
Do you like the term - intellectual shooter? I don't, since itâs used mostly to identify oneself as an intellectual gamer instead of celebrating the game itself. However, I think itâs impossible to find any other two words describing BioShock so fully and extensively. I mean it in the most neutral sense of the phrase, because it is a well-known fact that you canât take good without the bad. And it canât be more so as in case of BioShock.
Irrational Gamesâ lastborn child, a successor to the critically acclaimed, yet ultimately unknown System Shock series, BioShock has brought the company just two things they were short of â wealth and fame. Now if there was just a single developer company that didnât get enough of that, I would have bet on Irrational anytime of day. During its eight years course it hasnât released a single average game. Let me remind you of the the unique concept of Freedom Force, flawless game mechanics and stunning level design of SWAT4, brilliant storytelling and engaging multiplayer of Tribes: Vengeance. All of those games (including, of course, System Shock 2 â the masterpiece of sci-fi horror) clearly showed that Irrational Games is an extraordinary team worthy of any amount of hype, overreaction and 10/10 reviews making the unsuspecting X360 owners rush into the street in order to buy a title from one of the most prominent developer of the recent decade.
However that should not cloud oneâs judgment in light of the most obvious of BioShock faults, which weâre going to look over shortly.
Now to the premise. BioShock casts you in the role of a simple man living a simple life, who accidentally discovers a huge underwater city which the brightest minds of the post-war (WWII) world have made their home. Rapture. The world of unlimited possibilities for anyone who is willing to work and create. It opens its gates for anyone except for a single man - a parasite, a man whoâs unable to do anything with his life, carrying his pathetic existence through the false notions of compassion, mercy and morality. Those who live in Rapture reject these people and all the governments supporting them, which is pretty much the whole "civilized" world. âIt was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the ocean, it was impossible to build it anywhere elseâ, says Andrew Ryan, the architect and the mastermind behind the city.
But you arrive too late to ripe the fruits of one manâs vision. As with all the ideas and utopias there is always one thing people forget to account for â itâs the faulty nature of the man himself. In case of Rapture, greed and lust for power turned out to be the harbingers of cityâs downfall. You canât build a society based on rationale and objectivism, because (watch out! Another Star Trek quote is coming!) human-beings are extremely irrational creatures and logic is just the beginning of wisdom. Despite seeming overwhelmingly complex the main idea of the gameâs story is actually very simple and profound. Itâs about how faulty the man is. No matter how much we strive into the sky towards perfection we should not forget about the chains on our legs, chains of human nature. The only thing that can beat the story of this game is the presentation of it..
The postfactum nature of BioShockâs storytelling provides the most impressive strength of the game. Youâre not experiencing the story through the series of cut scenes or dialogs. Actually thereâs no even a story to experience. Of course there is a series of events taking place inside the gameworld with varying objections and motivations but it is secondary to the history of the place. Itâs not that important who you are and what youâre doing, what is important are the characters of Rapture and the details of their sad demise. The game achieves that sort of unusual narrative through the series of audio logs scattered throughout the gameworld combined with the detailed vision of what a certain environment has become. Irrational doesnât connect the dots for you as it is done in many games via cutscenes or long dialogs. It offers you point A and point B and let your imagination do the rest, with results being much more striking and impressive.
That level of immersion is possible only in a video game, which in its own turn creates a much needed excuse for ideas of BioShock to take form of a video game. It creates an illusion of time overlapping â you hear the choices people made, the feelings theyâve experienced and at the same time you see the consequences of those choices and feelings right before your eyes. An amazing example of the interactive storytelling!
Ron Gilbert, the creator of Monkey Island series has once said that a game is a shitty place to tell a story. Yes, Mr. Gilbert it is, but instead of trying to tell it with the common devices used in movies and books, (yes, Square, you too) BioShock chooses another method unimaginable in the limits of those two media.
Certainly, a knowing man would notice that all of that (retrospective narrative, audio logs, post-factum presentation) was already presented by both System Shocks, Doom 3 and lots of other games which thought this to be a neat way to cut expenses on cutscenes, motion-cap and character modeling. But very few of them offered such an amazing treatment of this technique as BioShock did and neither has put it to so much use. The counterarguments to the tenets of objectivism, coined by Ayn Rand, are perfect fit for the BioShockâs way of narrating, with the characters speaking not of the current events or explaining a lot unnecessary info but expressing their thoughts and views in words instead. This in its own turn creates one of the most fleshed out set of videogame characters of recent years.
The best one being nobody else but the creator of Rapture himself â Andrew Ryan. Much as his prototype â Ayn Rand â Andrew has emigrated from the Soviet Union when he had found himself unable to cope with all the changes happening to his country. Yet he didnât find any rest in USA either. Everywhere he was despised for his talent, money and radical views. He didnât want the parasites, people without ambition or talent, to impose their will upon him. Much in fashion of Dostoevskyâs characters Ryan saw himself as an extraordinary being far above the issues of morality and decency. But unlike Raskolnikov, Ryan doesnât doubt his beliefs and is not tormented by them. He is the man of great faith and strong convictions. He firmly believes in everything he does and doesn't care what others think of it. So even in time of his death he remains as strong in his faith as he ever was.
To be frank, the scene of Andrew Ryan's death requires some more space of this review. This is undoubtedly the piece of drama that will stay in your mind forever. Without spoilering much I can only say, that during witnessing it, I haven't thought for a second about how great/talented/skilled the guys at Irrational are. All of my thoughts were with that man before me, who even in his death doesn't lose a single inch of his faith and views. Very strong and convincing scene, indeed. It would make every movie director jealous.
In the spotlight is also a well-known duo. Big Daddy and Little Sister are perfect metaphor to unconditional love that requires no objective or rational explanation. You will love those interplays, they bring warmth and create a very important contrast to the cold and menacing environments of the city. Of course itâs a cheap argument to put a cute little girl on one plate of the scales and Ayn Rand with her philosophy on the other. The contrast works well, however.Partly, because it is a contrast which you, the player, must inevitably break, not by your choice, but by the necessity.
Other characters do not disappoint either. Each of them is a representation of a specific part of the new, corrupted Rapture. Art, Science and Industry. Fueled by plasmids (which are essentially a plot device and a key gameplay feature) they strive for perfection in those areas. A mad plastic surgeon with his mind completely whacked, an artist finishing his last masterpiece of dead bodies and a smuggler with non-existent values. Each character has lots of background to him depending on how thorough you are in examining your environments, finding clues and actually thinking. Because, as I mentioned earlier, Irrational doesn't care if you're following a story or not. This is excellent, since it always keeps you on your toes and your mind is always working, trying to figure out the real motivations of the characters. No wonder there are so many plot-analysis written after the game's release.
Visually, Bioshock is nothing but stunning. The game's visuals are a beautiful example as to what exactly constitutes great graphics in a game. Obviously, not technical superiority or the hardware the game is capable of taking advantage of. The true brilliance of graphics lies on sole shoulders of an artist. Artistically, BioShock is a very ambitious project. It has been compared to Fallout on numerous occasions with similarities in its 30's ads stylistic approach. Some people attached "art-deco" label shortly after. But the truth is that BioShock is something you haven't ever seen before. It seamlessly combines incombinable. The screaming ads of smiling people reminiscent of mid-20th century America is merged with technological wonders which feels more at home in Wells and Verne novels, than in the works of Asimov and Clarke, and all that is spiced up with the extreme attention to details. Texturing, modeling, special effects - everything in here is working in a single unit to bring the atmosphere of the decayed city of wonders as to close to reality as possible. I've already known that level designers of Irrational are miracle workers with their amazing job on SWAT4 realistic levels, but this time, when they were not constrained by limitations of our real world, they outdid themselves. Sometimes, I even felt like crying staring looking over beautiful locations, so different and yet following the same stylistic guidelines.
That does sound like a perfect game, doesn't it? Well, I don't want to break it for you, but it isn't. The irony is that if BioShock didn't have all those extraordinary things I've mentioned up to this point I might have had no problem with it whatsoever. But the game's unique and unusual subject, superior artistic design and overall professional quality brings me to blaming BioShock for a thing I wouldn't consider to blame any other game for. Namely, it's genre choice.
The Bad
Why on Earth this game decided to be a First Person Shooter?
As I said I had no problems with any game's choice of genre up to this point. You see in games like No One Lives Forever, System Shock I & II, Outlaws, Dark Forces, Strife, Half-Life - all the additional features (non-shooting) are used to enhance them. Thus, it results in a perfect blend. We take a shooter canvas and put some nice touches on it that elevates it above it's contemporaries. It worked on numerous times, and should have worked with BioShock as well.
Especially, if we take into consideration, that the "shooter canvas" of it is much more superior to any other FPS. You have lots of abilities to choose from, different plasmids in various combinations can easily provide a lot of unexpected results. It's fun to experiment with those techniques, trying to find an instant-kill solution. Which, of course, is impossible to find, prompting you to keep chaging your approach in every situation. I didn't miss any of the System Shock exclusive features, like inventory, research or character stats, and was completely satisfied with the way revival chamber were realized in BioShock. So, what's wrong? We have an excellent story/subject and great gameplay which easily result in a game like one has never seen before, donât we?
The problem is that those do not go together at all. I think the reason of that lies in BioShock's subject which requires everything to work for it. It wasn't a problem in NOLF - where subject required you to be a spy, you did what spies usually do (at least in 60's movies), in Outlaws - subject required you to take revenge on your dead wife and daughter. And what does BioShock subject (counterarguments to objectivism) requires you to do? Nice question.
Kill hordes of zombie-like Splicers is the answer. Now tell me, how does that reinforce the game's point? What is the reason to all the time I spent in-between admiring locations and listening to the logs? There's none. BioShock with its serious subject would have looked much better in the canvas of adventure or an RPG (as showed by Bioware/Black Isle) or maybe tried to get there by some other means. The core of the BioShock's gameplay should have been "a choice" instead of "a shooting". The choice players face in the current game is laughable, because it doesn't provide any effect on the story, (it shows another cut-scene in the end, true, but how does it help to change the message of the game?) and benefits from saving the girls are obvious from the start.
Once again, I will say that have the subject of the game been simpler and less dominant; it wouldn't have made the action seem much more appropriate. But as it is, each part of the game must work towards a single goal -- conveying an idea. Obviously, "shooting zombies", which is somewhere around 70% of the game doesn't help that cause much.
I completely understand the reasons behind BioShock's choice of genre. First, people were expecting a successor to System Shock, secondly, one cannot expect BioShock the Adventure to break as many sells as BioShock the FPS did. Which is a shame, since in the end, it did outgrow both System Shocks, and perhaps became the best top-sold game of the last decade. It certainly deserved upon much better treatment.
The Bottom Line
This is my first review that features a newly created rating system. It came up as I wasn't satisfied with the criteria usually used for game ratings. I called it TAPEA, with each letter standing for a certain aspect of Developer Company as reflected by the game.
Talent: 5/5
One should not doubt the talent of Irrational. Once again they proved that they were touched by God himself. I can't imagine an untalented person coming up with those outstanding locations and brilliant ideas. Rapture, Big Daddies, Art-Deco, Plasmids, Little Sisters, Underwater setting â they're constantly feeding you high-class ideas, which couldâve only born in the minds of extremely talented individuals.
Ambition: 4/5
In BioShock the developer offered something rarely seen in a video game. A mature subject venturing beyond love/hatred/revenge clichés. Unfortunately they didn't dare to carry this ambition through. I mean creating a gameplay that would have been on par with the game's subject, hence a drop in one point.
Pteity (Pushing The Envelope - ity): 3/5
BioShock does go when nobody has gone before. It changes your mind on the subject of how games can communicate stories and ideas. Unfortunately, all of those elements have been already seen in other games, even if executed on a much lower scale and with much lesser effect. The story repeats itself in game play department as well - it does provide some unique ideas, but nothing warranting a legion of clones.
Effort: 5/5
The colossal attention to detail and the game's impressive length (around 12 hours) show many sleepless nights and cups of coffee drunk in the Irrational Games headquarters.
Adequacy: 5/5
The overall coherency of different departments is the evidence of how much the developer cared about how things are fitting together, the style and theme are always maintained regardless of the situation. I won't drop any point here since even the game's questionable FPS attitude towards gameplay is reasonably justified within the limits of the gameworld. Completely adequate and nothing feels out of place.
In the end we receive 4.4/5 which is an average score of those five equally important criteria.
As for the closing part I'll just repeat the one-liner "Who is John Galt?" It's a quote from "Atlas Shrugged", book by Ayn Rand, which BioShock names as its primary source of inspiration. It's a synonym to hopelessness and inability to change anything. The same feelings I am left with after completing BioShock. I understand that you can't have best of both worlds at the same time. You can't be commercially successful and yet break new grounds, at least not on a scale, shareholders' meeting would appreciate.
Perhaps, you need people like Andrew Ryan or Dagny Taggart (a character from the book) to do it, people not constrained by the concerns of others or by the questions of appropriateness and decency. Men who uses only common sense and objective truth as their Bible. And, you know, I am sure that the phrase "BioShock could have been so much more" would have been written somewhere in that book.
Maybe Ayn Rand was actually right?
Nah. :)
By St. Martyne on October 31, 2007
Bully (PlayStation 2)
Parents ought to play it.
The Good
How old are you? Do you remember your school days? Or are you still trying to survive in the harsh and competitive environment of the educational establishments that have more in common with prisons and concentration camps than places where the flowers of the nation are being cultivated? If so, than I suppose you should skip on this game, because it will hold nothing new for you, which you don't have the access to already. This game was designed only for those who has passed the twenty years mark and who might have already forgotten what it is like -- being a teenager. When nobody understands what occupies your mind, and dismiss it as something not worthy of attention of a grown-up. That if they don't label you as a trouble-child and avoid common sense altogether.
This game is a must-play for every parent, so that he can recall his school experience and would have an ability to relate to what his children are going through right now. Albert once said "Everything is relative.âAnd so does it remain in the walls of school, where the hard-working, money-earning adults presumes their children to be having an effortless life, whereas, in reality, they have to mercilessly fight for survival, even if this "survival" is mere "not letting others to call you a jerk".
Now that we're done with metaphysics let's talk about the game itself. Bully continues a streak of so-called GTA-clones that have spawned in uncountable numbers since the release of GTAIII, with only exception being, that this game was released under the same logo as Grand Theft Auto games, namely Rockstar. However, itâs not the same Rockstar, who developed GTA games. Itâs Rockstar Vancouver, former Barking Dog Studios, notable for their outstanding add-on to enigmatic Homeworld.
Unlike GTA games, Driver: Parallel Lines or True Crime games, Bully doesnât confine itself to the cramped walls of urban-crime story. And here comes the first pro of this game. Unlike any other GTA clone the game takes place in a unique setting of private school, where every notable side of it has taken it's own manifestation. I mean corrupted teachers, gangs, bullies and girls developing secondary sex characteristics. Its setting is so original and unique, that it makes you wonder why this theme wasn't developed earlier. However, it's not the setting itself that proves the genius of Rockstar Vancouver, but the treatment of it.
When I first heard about Bully and it's setting, especially since it was after completing GTA: San Andreas, I immediately thought about every possible image of the contemporary American high school. Drugs, guns, cars, rap, lots of rap and rap again. Well, I imagined that with the game's target audience being mostly teenagers the game has to almost absolutely include everything which is popular on MTV nowadays. Little did I know, that despite its Teen rating the game is in fact targeted towards a much more mature audience. It shows everywhere.
First, the number of contemporary pop culture references is subjected to the minimum, unlike, say, Need For Speed recent games, with their graffiti and rap soundtrack. Second, the game's story takes place in the timeless period. It could have happen in 70's as well as today. Nothing in the game pins down the story to a certain background. It's a definite plus, since it establishes that schools of our children today are not that much different than those we have attended.
And, lastly, the music. It's absolutely gorgeous. The fusion of funk, rock-n-roll and contemporary jazz is a perfect background layer for the things happening on your screen. The music is dynamic. In style of Lucas Arts adventures and another PS2 exclusive (as of 2007) Shadow Of Colossus the music changes according to the situation while still maintaining an uninterrupted flow. In essence it has a couple of versions of the same piece recorded which interchange each other as the pace of the scene develops.
As you see the ideas of the overall design ides behind the art direction are fabulous. The game's unique approach to an original setting proves that Rockstar-labeled games has much more to their stories, than yet another Scarface or Gansta rap saga.
So what is so wonderful with the Bully story? Very much as others modern games, Bully's story comprises of two equally important parts, plot and characters. The plot is trivial. A classic romantic story of the protagonist being judged unfairly and then him reclaiming that which belongs to him by right. It worked 150 years ago in times of Victor Hugo, Byron and Goethe and so does it work now. I may be biased, since I have always hold romanticism very close to my heart, but every work of art following the guidelines of the XIX century prominent movement is doomed for my admiration.
Now, Bully's characters is a much more mixed bag. Since we're still in the Good section, let me describe a shinier side of the coin. Although, most of the Bully cast are typical school stereotypes that serve no particular function except that to show the lack of imagination on Rockstar Vancouver writersâ part, there are still notable figures worth mentioning. Of course, Jimmy Hoppkins, the protagonist, receives the first award, simply because his character has much more screentime devoted to him than any other. The character walks a thin line separating a tough, cool teenager everybody wants to be and a noble defender of weak and offended. Although he does make occasional leaps in either of the sides, overall impression remains very strong and convincing. Jimmy is a good boy, without being too cute and sweet.
Obviously, his arch-enemy Gary comes second. Unlike Jimmy I doubt you will ever find someone like Gary in average American school. At least not of that magnitude. Gary is sinister, cunning, devil-tongued bastard who precedes every movement of yours in one or even two steps. The closing scene is so intense only because of his outstanding personality. Unfortunately, he appears only in 10 cut scenes, with each being about 1 minute long. Thatâs so depressingly little for such a powerful character. Being an Anarchist myself, Iâve actually sympathized a lot to his cause. âWhy do you do it?â asks Jimmy in the closing scene on the roof. âBecause, I can!â follows the answer. Still it hasnât kept me from grinning while beating the hell out of the twisted son of a bâŠ..
Unfortunately every other character (except, perhaps, a manly cook Edna) is below average. The worst of them I will mention shortly. For now, however, Iâd like to turn your attention to the nerds. Bully features the coolest portrayal of the social outcasts ever. Much unlike stereotyped muscle-pumped Jocks or stucked-in-the-50s Greasers, Nerds here are completely different from what you usually expect of them. Theyâre cunning, devious and inventive in their schemes while still remaining a bunch of spineless smartasses who plays pen-and-paper RPGs in the comics shop basement. Fantastic combination!
The Bad
I wished I couldâve stopped there, but as a man wiser than myself once said âThe First Duty of a Starfleet officer belongs to the truth!â And so, in this extremely nerdy and Star Trek-ish manner, I have to continue.
Since Iâve already mentioned characters Iâll start there. Nobody of supporting cast comes anywhere near the strength of Jimmy and Gary. However, some of them even fall much lower. Firstly, itâs Zoe. A strong promising female lead was a must to this game, but, unfortunately, Zoe feels very underdeveloped, and not at all essential to the plot, although in design she, apparently, was supposed to be. The horrible ending scene of her kissing Jimmy shows how artificial and unsatisfying she came out to be in the final game.
As for everybody else, itâs safe to say that all of them (teachers, gang leaders) are uninspired, featureless and run of the mill, without any cool twist for an excuse of a caricature approach, the game boasts all the time. All in all, even GTA: San Andreas presented a much more weird and interesting cast than Bully.
But the controversial cast is not the most disappointing flaw of the game. Itâs gameplay.
Yes, you heard it right. The critically acclaimed open-endedness of GTA clones doesnât befit this one at all. As actually any other game for that matter, but thatâs a completely different story. You may inquire: âBut what about all the stuff you can do in this game?â. Then I will response with âBut why would I want to?â Really, why? Why would I want to mow the lawn, participate in bike races, change clothes and haircuts, play arcade minigames, attend classes if it all doesnât have any effect on the game itself? Nor does it bring any significant benefit. Money, you say? Thereâs no shortage of money ever in this game, since you receive everything to suit your needs from completing the story missions. Nothing you do besides the obligatory missions have any point to it. There are no interesting side-stories to this optional stuff. Nothing.
As another reviewer has already said, it feels like youâre playing a game inside a game. But, unlike him I donât consider it to be a positive aspect at all.
One might reply with âBut, itâs so fun!â Excuse me, but itâs not. Once again the obligatory missions have all the fun and diversity to satisfy any gamer needs, but the time spent by developers on those minigames I would have loved to see devoted to fleshing out the characters or, maybe, allowing me do some meaningful choices on my characterâs part. Because, itâs much more entertaining to do something that actually matters.
The Bottom Line
Weâre almost done. As you can see from this review, Bully is anything but an average game. In spite of the flawed characters and lacking gameplay, it manages to capture the essence of the youth spirit today: rebellious, harsh and competitive, but still having the basic understanding of honor, friendship and honesty.
You might recognize yourself as one of the adults in this game. Indifferent, rule-abiding, deaf to children needs and problems, overconfident, self-important and above anything they can dismiss as âchildish gamesâ. If so than this is a perfect opportunity for you to change.
âThe worries of the child are not trivial matters!â says the game. I concur. Now, itâs up to you.
By St. Martyne on October 18, 2007
Medal of Honor: Airborne (Windows)
Itâs not fun to shoot Nazis anymore.
The Good
However, I should confess that for me the last time it was fun, was in Wolf 3D, back in 1993. Since those times the number of quasi-realistic WWII shooters grew in exponential proportion. Each one bringing new meaning to the words: cliché, copy/paste and ultimate boredom.
So, where does the new Electronic Arts offering in the long-run Medal Of Honor series fit in? Prior to its release in September, 2007, it was marketed as the title which will reboot the series by pumping into its heart fresh ideas and unusual approach. The core feature of the upcoming title was stated to be the non-linear level design.
That was a good move. Since the biggest criticism MoH series received in press, itâs that the whole experience was completely linear with player not being allowed to move a step to the left or right. Only forward, killing hordes Nazis conjuring out of thin air by smart triggers.
This time itâs different. Being an airborne trooper, player is free to overview the whole level and choose an appropriate landing site. That should have left every part of the map open for the initial starting point. The possibilities that became open for the player are mind-boggling. How about dropping in the heart of the enemy, quickly ducking behind the nearby crate and methodically assaulting a dozen of enemies in 10 meters before you? Or landing on the building roof with a sniper rifle? Or setting foot on the water tower? Or flying in the window? Or, maybeâŠ
Well, the fact is that the system works. Not in the way youâre expected, though. There are stills areas that are off limits for you when youâre guiding your parachute down. And given a short drop (40 seconds) and a horrible control scheme it really doesnât matter that much when youâve landed.
The gameplay of the game, however, remained unchanged. That will of course please some people, who are looking for an evening of relaxation, shooting Germans and Italians wearing Nazi uniform and feel good about it. I admit that I also had a bit of that guilty pleasure while playing MoH series and its twin brothers, members of Call Of Duty series. The soothing quality of Nazi soldaten jerking in pain after your astounding shot always was the key reason for the high demand on WWII themed games. People fear, people buy. I too fear Nazis, I am happy that I wasnât alive in 1942 during the Naziâs occupation of my hometown. And I am glad that now, each year, I have the opportunity to shoot the bastards to hell in the complete safety of my computer room.
Unfortunately, Electronic Arts Los Angeles (the developer of MoH:A) hardly has anything to do with helping me with my psychological problems.
To be done with the Good section, just imagine what a generic AAA class title is, which was developed with enough money to buy a small town in Africa. High-quality motion-capture, realistic booming sounds, pompous orchestrated music with nearly a thousand musicians playing at the same time and grand explosions witnessed from the cinematic angles. If you fancy all that, youâll get a pretty clear idea of what the positive side of MoH:A essentially is.
And now brace yourself, âcause we enteringâŠ
The Bad
First and foremost, the game is boring. Yep. No amount of the false innovations (the novelty wears off after a half an hour into the game) will be able to change the fact that rushing through the generic levels (some village, some bunker, some town, you name it) kicking the Nazis butt for 8 hours will become deviously tiresome after the first one. WWII themed games are not suited for a fast-paced action. Period. Check the Hidden & Dangerous series or Operation Flashpoint to see what I mean.
They donât send legions of evil demons⊠er⊠Nazis your way, but make your carefully think about what is that youâre doing if youâre going to survive that war hell. The war is about survival, not about being a Rambo.
The simple human war drama couldâve improved things a lot. If EALA has taken a bit more from Saving Private Ryan movie, which style itâs desperately trying to mimc for a fifth time straight, I wouldâve loved it. But as it is, even Company Of Heroes, which is a strategy game, has more tear-inducing moments than this. I donât even remember what the main protagonist name is, and Iâm writing this an hour since completing the game.
The war is pain and suffering. Itâs not fun.
Next. Visuals. Bleak and uninspiring. As I mentioned before, Steven Spielberg movieâs color scheme of dark shades of grey and brown remains the working palette for MoH:A as well. In the movie it underlined the despair and lifeless image of war. In MoH:A it underlines the grayness and lack of creative thinking in the minds of art directors behind the title. Even Unreal Engine 3 added to the game as an afterthought is not enough to bring this game to its graphical senses.
So, while technically on the frontline, the art direction the game takes is right from the 1999 when the original Medal Of Honor was released. If you do want some style in a realistic war-themed shooter, play Vietcong.
I couldâve talk more and more about how gameplay system is limited, how stupid the AI remained, how unresponsive the controls are, how videogamish all those kits with red crosses on them look, how American developer once again prefers to forget who has actually contributed the most to the victory of 1945. I could, but I wonât, since all that couldâve been forgiven this game, have it been not so shallow and inexpressibly stupid.
The Bottom Line
If you think of video games as of nothing more than a way to relieve your stress and pet your ego, than go ahead and buy Airborne. Itâs more of the same stuff you came to appreciate in the series with a cool parachute thingy twist. There will be enough Nazis to keep you busy for a week, granted you play it only at evenings. The next generation graphics, and full surround audio support never hurt any game either.
But, if youâre looking for intelligent gameplay, unexpected stylistic and artistic decisions and appealing war drama, you wonât find any of that in MoH:A. Why? âCause itâs not the way the WWII games are meant to be played in 2007. Thatâs what the guys at EA think.
What do you think?
By St. Martyne on September 22, 2007
Frets on Fire (Windows)
Who said PC gamers canât be heroes of rock guitar?
The Good
Iâve always been a bit envious for those lucky ones who managed to get their hands on one of two Guitar Hero games. Itâs not that I was too desperate to play it someday, just a feeling that Iâm missing out something important and cool. So while all the people around were banging their plastic guitars upon the wall, I just recited for a thousand time, why I think those console toys are inferior to PC.
I wouldâve given up all hope in the end, if not for Frets On Fire. The game starts very strong. It says that you donât need a stupid toy guitar to enjoy it, just take your trusty keyboard and rock the world with all your might. I might be called a retrograde or a PC chauvinist, but itâs thousands times cooler to play your own keyboard than a guitar which looks like it was stolen from the nearby children garden.
Anyway, next thing that should be remembered about Frets On Fire, itâs that while it rip-offs Guitar Hero core gameplay almost bit to bit, it doesnât have anything extra on top of it. You donât have to buy anything, thereâs no any career to pursue. Just you, your keyboard, a song and a world waiting to be impressed. You might wonder why I am writing this in a good section. Well because, I tend to agree with Indra Depari in his Guitar Hero review that everything else that is not related to guitar-riffing fun feels artificial and in the end simply distract from the game itself. So yes, we donât need fancy Barbi-style customization on PC.
Which brings to the next point. The whole feel of the game has been changed to suit the style of PC as of gaming platform. Imagine Guitar Hero with no glamour, shiny cover, toxic bliss and cheap effects and you will get Frets On Fire. Spartan, stern, mature and completely home-brew. No one is going to entertain you, you will have to work to get something back from this game. That of course includes songs. Three songs supplied with the game wonât be enough for anyone. So after youâve mastered all of them be prepared to embark on the epic journey of finding additional songs on the endless plains of the Internet. Depending on how fruitful your search shall be, you will either love this game or hate it. I was lucky enough and managed to find all the songs I thought about playing and lots of cool original songs written specifically for this game. Of course, the availability of easily accessible user-created content is one more thing that separates Frets On Fire from its commercial console progenitor.
Oh, and you can import Guitar Hero songs here too. Isnât that cool?
The Bad
Well, no. It isnât. Since I canât imagine what a console gamer (the one having those Guitar hero discs) in his right (and even wrong) mind would want to do with this game. Which is so PC-like that it will scare of any console fan, who canât tell a Mac from PC, in the wink of an eye. Consider this: loads upon loads of tweaking, exhaustible search for content, amateurish, home-brew quality of that content, occasional drops to the desktop.
And most importantly this console gamer kid simply wonât find that bit in keyboardâs manual which will tell him that using it in such an unusual manner wonât void itâs warranty. I donât want to sound like a snob. But those of you enjoying your plastic guitars in front of TVs, really, shouldnât bother.
Another thing which is not necessarily bad, is that neither Frets On Fire nor Guitar Heroes canât even be called games. Theyâre just toys that might be fun for a couple of nights. But in the end, you shouldnât spend too much time on any of them. Trust me there will always be much more interesting, rewarding and intelligent games to be experienced both on PC and console, than this mindless button-mashing.
However FoF doesnât pretend to be something else (unlike Guitar Hero) so I donât hold that against it in particular.
The Bottom Line
Iâve been playing a real guitar for 10 years. Without false modesty Iâm safe to say that I am able to do it pretty well. So, allow me to put it this way: although most of the time you will spend feeling that youâre playing some kind of overlong QTE from, say, Shenmue, occasionally, in the flash of inspiration, you will think that you are playing a real guitar in front of 50 thousand full stadium. And in those moments you truly are a rock star.
Add to this feeling an unlimited number of songs available on the net and sheer creativity with which the input controller problem was brilliantly resolved, and youâll see why this game might easily hook you up for almost a week straight.
Let me end this review with a short excerpt from AC/DC song [with my own humble bits]:
Hey there, all you middle men [and console kids]
Throw away your fancy clothes [and fancy toy guitars]
And while you're out there sittin' on a fence [and before your TVs]
So get off your ass and come down here [to your monitors]
'Cause rock 'n' roll ain't no riddle man [neither are your keyboards]
To me it makes good, good sense
Good sense.
We're just talkin' about the future
Forget about the past
It'll always be with us
It's never gonna die, never gonna die
Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution
Rock 'n' roll ain't gonna die. [not with games like Frets On Fire around]
By St. Martyne on September 17, 2007
Sam & Max: Season One (Windows)
You crack me up little buddy! Though not as much as your older brother.
The Good
Forget about the one-liner for the time-being. I loved this game! Because if there was a list of Sam & Max fans out there I am sure that Telltale Games would be on the top of it. Because first and foremost these guys are big fans of all things Sam & Max, certainly much bigger then you or me. Which actually brings me to the next question, was it enough to create worthy sequel to a beloved 1993 classic? Well⊠Yes and no. Letâs go through this step by step, shall we?
Visually Sam & Max: Season One is spectacular. Period. There are many 2D games that suffered much from their transition to 3D, adventures being the most unfortunate case. Look at Simon 3D or Broken Sword 4 for example. Just donât look too much or your eyes may hurt. Now Sam & Max is a perfect example how such an ambitious artistic style that was present in the original game could be painlessly converted into 3D and even amped up a bit. The level detail is so high, so you always feel like a child who enters a toy store. Together with Art goes Animation and this game still keeps up to its older brother . All the motions are so fluid and effortless that after a long time visual gags in a 3D game are actually very funny.
But of course the soul and spirit of any Sam & Max game are its characters. And as expected in the spotlight is always a famous duo. Gentlemen of extraordinary talent and outstanding verbal capacity. Each action, event and even object is commented upon by Sam, Max or, most often, both of them. While not the same as you may remember it in original game (more on that in Bad section) the elusive vibe that tied together these so different ⊠for the lack of a proper word, creatures, is present in here as well. A lot of a screen time is given for the arguing, recollections, idle talk and expression of affection in different forms between these two characters. Sometimes you may get a feeling that Sam & Max are actually more interested in talking to each other and doing stuff together than actually discovering the devious plots of their adversaries. No wonder there, eh? The other characters are no letdown either. None of them is boring, all of them are brilliantly voiced. And being of episodic format and featuring a main cast of characters the show⊠uh⊠I meant the game introduces quite a nice feature. Each time starting a new episode youâll be wondering what changes happened to our well-known friends. What new job a-very-short-attention-span Sybil found for herself? What new disguise a-conspiracy-buff-Bosco is hiding in now? And youâll be impressed by the answers more often than not. As for the villains, they are evil and mad enough to warrant a lot of healthy laughs. Though I canât reveal too much about them without spoilering. The identities of the villains are always covered in a shred of mystery here.
While each episode features a unique and separate plotline all of them are connected into a massive masterplan by an ultimate evil, yet unknown (up to the last episode) force. And right here I want to stand up and applaud Telltale for a brilliant idea. The point is that every episode in Season One is actually a spoof on a certain pop-culture phenomena. That makes every episode fresh, interesting and unusually relevant. During the course of the six episodes the developers have managed to comment on sitcoms, talk shows, former child stars, mafia, politics, election campaign, Abe Lincoln, Internet, interactive fiction, lots of conspiracy theories, and even some philosophical views. And mind you, Iâm not talking about an occasional remark by Sam or Max. I am talking about a major plot element, a integral part of the gameplay, so to speak.
Now if thereâs at least one area in which a new game beats the old one fair and square it would be the music. Starting from a hot (but it is) theme song and ending with a humorous Broadway-like musical number âWarâ by Secrete Service officer the music is coherent, professional and very cool! I havenât heard soundtrack of such an exceptional quality as that of Sam & Max: Season One for a long time. Heck, even Sam himself will step up to the microphone with that banjo of his. Now to the puzzles.
Some major sites game reviewers commented upon a lack of difficulty in puzzles, especially in the earlier episodes. Now for me there are always two criteria when judging puzzles in an adventure game. They are difficulty and entertainment. So that the high difficulty doesnât warrant any entertainment in solving puzzles, and vice versa. That ruined a Monkey Island 2 for me and elevated Full Throttle to unreachable heights (among other more obvious reasons). For example getting a key stuck in a drain with rubber duck, a pair of pliers and a piece of scotch tape may sound difficult but hardly entertaining. On the other hand describing one dream so that a doctor would find an exact symptom of a disease you want him to find (being actually inside that dream) while essentially very easy for a seasoned adventurer is actually very entertaining. So although a difficulty is amped a bit towards the end of the season (still not on par with the original game) the puzzle-solving process is very entertaining. The solutions to the puzzles are extremely elaborate and funny. And thatâs why we are here, to get funny and⊠uh elaborated.
The Bad
Well all good things must come to an end. More so the good section for my Sam & Max: Season One review. So whatâs the problem with the new incarnation of the Freelance police? The answer is that it is simply worse than Sam & Max Hit The Road. Not WORSE in the big sense of the word. Just not as good as the original was.
First of all letâs speak about the writing. Compared to the games of its own time period Season One receives a strong A, but merely a B when it comes to the outstanding quality of writing in Hit the Road. The point is that where it takes about 10 seconds to get the joke to the audience across the sophisticated and intertwined character speech in Season One, the old game just uses one or two carefully chosen words. Just think about what exactly separates a high-skill amateur and a professional. Itâs exactly the same case here.
The second problem is the one that I mentioned a bit earlier in the review. The point being that Sam & Max from the Season One are not the same Sam & Max from the Hit the Road. Those two from 1993 were so sarcastic, violent and unspoiled by anything resembling humanism that the guys from 2006-2007 seems like a pair of little angels sitting on the cloud engaged in an idle talk. Hereâs a little example. What the first thing Sam & Max do when they enter the Boscoâs store in the original? They (Sam too) beat up the thug stealing the money right after they enter a store. And what do the new guys do? They lazily take their time while in the end coming up with an elaborate plot to knock out the offender with some kind of the dubious anti-theft system. Theyâre Sam & Max, for godâs sake! Only then a Freelance police. Thereâs more. Whereas Max still retains an undeniable love for violence and all sorts of ugly business, he doesnât actually do much. He just talks and talks and talks. Now in the first game he really kicked the butt around. The same goes for Sam. He looks like a older version himself now. Heâs always a bit tired and embarrassed for Max. Sam I knew back in 1993 didnât mind to join Max for a bit of fight and always encouraged the inappropriate behavior of his friend-like rabitty-thing. So sorry Telltale, I know you tried hard, but in our age of political correctness such a thing as a toned-down violence, especially in a comic adventure, is not a welcome sight.
I really know how difficult it must be to create a new content every month or so, but the way Sam & Max: Season One overuses the same locations and characters is a bit unnerving. I know that idea of starting every episode in the office is kinda cool. But why there is so little change around, all the same objects with the same responses certainly take the fun out of exploration with each new episode. The same goes for the characters. Theyâre cool and fresh and all, but how much can you take of these Soda Poppers guys, for example. Theyâre featured in three episodes with little or completely no change at all. The last episode is a complete disaster in that regard. It is called Bright Side Of the Moon, and features about a dozen of different character. But (Surprise! surprise!) all of them are taken from the first five episodes. Thereâs no excuse for that, except that Telltale Games ran out of gas right at the finish line.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of everything I said in the bad section the Sam & Max: Season One was a one hell of ride. And considering the state of comic adventure market in 2007, with so few games around and even those are either lame (Runaway 2) or amateurish (Al Emmo, Ankh), it was certainly a welcome change. Beautiful artwork, professionally written music, colorful characters, intricate satiric plot and enjoyable puzzles make up for the toned down violence, not-so accurate portrayal of the main characters, and lack of the new creative content in the later episodes. The game certainly deserves the proud Sam & Max logo upon it, itâs just not as Hit and Roadish as some people (including me) wanted it to be.
By St. Martyne on August 28, 2007
King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones (Windows)
Itâs better than most of the commercial Kingâs Quests!
The Good
In 1999 the whole adventure gaming world was blessed with a fantastic, easy to use game creation kit namely Adventure Game Studio . By the will of Chris Jones finally all those people who craved for a new never-to-be-released Sierraâs or Lucas Artsâ adventure had an opportunity to create something of their own. Even the author of this review didnât miss the chance to do one. But some folks saw this as a perfect way to reacquaint those who missed the EGA era of graphic adventures with immortal classics. Such as the kiddie fairy tale game Kingâs Quest 2.
For me it was like a game that came straight from the heaven. You see, as a gamer I was born during the golden age of VGA adventures. EGA games that preceded them were lost for me for awhile. Some years later Iâve been trying hard and long to overcome my initial negative reaction to a limited 16 color palette and a horrifying parser. Ultimately I failed and abandon all attempts to appreciate the first ones in the streak of Sierraâs masterpieces. The only such games I finished were Space Quest 2 and Space Quest 3 and even those required much effort on my part to endure.
So what it has to do with the remake of KQ2? Plain and simple, it makes the original game accessible, applies a wonderful, loved and trusted Sierraâs point-n-click interface and adds the breathtaking 256 colors eye-candies. All-in-all pushes the game on whole lotta a new level. For the sake of research Iâve actually brought myself to completing the original KQ2, and as it turns out that the remake surpasses its original even in the matter of content and creativity as well!
There are actually two levels on which this game should be evaluated. The first one is how it compares to the other amateur games made with AGS and especially the first Tierraâs offering â remake of the Kingâs Quest I. In that regard I can only say that KQ2 remake provides the most professional, faithful and qualitive experience to the date. The remake of KQ1 was like trying grounds for the new team, the amateurish quality of which was evident nearly everywhere from uninspired blurry backgrounds. There are many other games created with AGS that beat KQ1 fair and square in every department. But what really hurt the game the most in my opinion is that it followed the original much too faithfully, as a result weâve got a shallow and boring scavenger hunt in the end, which the first game (if we would forget about itâs innovativeness and originality for a moment) essentially was. The KQ2 on the other hand did everything just right. Beautiful artwork, professionally written music, engaging close-ups, everything is top-notch in this game. But most importantly it uses the original storyline just as a canvas for the whole new kind of experience inspired by the later Sierraâs games. This brings to the second level of comparison I mentioned earlier. Just how this game compares to the Sierraâs own games it tries to mimic.
What can I say? As much as I want to preserve the cult status behind the Kingâs Quest series the truth is that they have always lacked depth the adventures of such caliber require. We have been already successfully shown what can be achieved for that matter in Quest For Glory series (the fourth part especially) and Gabriel Knight series also of Sierraâs fame by the way. The remake of Kingâs Quest 2 takes the last route, the route of interesting sidestories and characters full of depth and mystery. The freak beauty of the vampire couple, the mysterious figure of The Father, the little girl Possum turned into a dark mistress, the noble Mermen, the horrifying werewolf monks â everything and everyone in this game shouts class right in your face. I particularly liked the tests of the Air guardian. Those tests unmistakably show how the game medium must be actually used. My point is that, above everything else, gaming is about making a choice and facing the consequences a moment later. Obviously the folks at AGDI utterly comprehend that.
The game actually manages to elevate the series on the much higher level outranking every other ârealâ Kingâs Quest (except for the sixth, maybe, but it did still come very close).
And I want to finish the good section of this review with these four words. clears his throat AND ITâS BLOODY FREE!!!
The Bad
Well, there were no particular problems Iâve experienced with this game. The terrible voice acting is very much expected in the freeware game and it can be very easily turned off. What else? Maybe some of the close-ups were a bit messy, but mind you theyâre âmessyâ only in comparison to commercial games.
Also I would like to say that AGDI clearly has resources and talent enough to make an adventure of their own without any restrictions imposed by the old classics. Unfortunately AGDI and its commercial alternative Himalaya Studios still feel secure behind the Sierra oldânâdusty back. Al Emmo, the only commercial game the studio has released so far (August 2007) is still nothing more than a simple tribute to a beloved developer. I earnestly hope that in future we will see more of unique games from such a promising team.
The Bottom Line
Apart from that everything is great in KQ2 remake, it was a nice and touching experience from the beginning to the end. It's about the best freeware adventure game you might found around the net.
So if you've ever wondered what does âadventureâ stands for in the genre title, few hours of this great, beautiful and immersive game will make it clear for you in a blink of an eye, right from the start. And when you complete it, watch out for the remake of Quest For Glory II: Trials By Fire. Considering what these guys did with KQ I say weâre in for a high class and tasty treat.
By St. Martyne on August 24, 2007
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (Windows)
See beyond the bugs.
The Good
Welcome to the city of fallen angels. The place of eternal darkness, where children of the night fight for survival. Welcome to the world where âgoodâ doesnât exist and âevilâ is painted with thousands different shades of black and red. Embrace your newfound gift and enter the world of intrigue, treachery and every kind of sin you can think of. Welcome to the Masquerade.
Please excuse my overdramatic intro that looks like it belongs on the discâs back cover. The reason I started the review in this way lies inside the game itself. Bloodlines is not an ordinary game, it belongs to the type of games that must be judged on different grounds and with different criteria than any other game of usual type. It must be approached differently because it transcends all the requirements gaming community sets to it. It goes beyond expectations and sets new standards, which wonât be broken, unless other game developers will change their mindset about what exactly constitutes a game as form of art. It may sound confusing, so Iâll try to explain it in detail. Read on.
Letâs discuss visuals of Bloodlines. What can be said here? Source engine? Bump mapping? Dynamic shadows? No. The first thing that catches my eye is the exceptional artistic quality of the locations you visit and the environments you see. I donât give a damn about the pixel shader version the game uses. I couldnât care less about the amount of polygons rendered in real-time by gameâs engine. I donât want to know whether itâs next-gen, cur-gen or past-gen. However I do care when I see a mysterious abandoned Chinese theatre where the old stone gargoyle had taken a residence or the sick sets of the underground porn studios or the luxurious interior of Prince LaCroix tower. Every location (with minor exception) of Bloodlines feels unique, original and helps to create an amazing sense of immediate presence.
The environments of the Bloodlines are not merely sets for the story to unfold in. They are also a continuation of charactersâ portraits. Itâs impossible to think about the sisters running the Asylum club without imagining a complete layout of the room they live in. This room is a manifestation of their mindsets, the fruitful addition to their storyline. The character designers and environmental designers must have been working really hard to achieve such an astounding level of collaboration.
As for the characters themselves I will simply say that Bloodlines features one of the most charismatic cast of characters ever to be encountered in a video game. The irony is that the undead characters of Bloodlines feel more real and human-like than many of living characters in other games. There are no good or bad characters in the game. Each one is a representation of certain ideas relevant to the rules of the vampiric society. And when those ideas clash you will have to decide what side is your character on and more importantly what ideals YOU personally uphold.
Really, I can go on and on praising the exceptional voice-work, perfect lip-sync and unparalleled range of face emotions Bloodlines characters are capable of. But truth is that you donât think about any of that while meeting these characters, you simply like them, hate them, trust them or despise them. All in all, you feel a wide array of emotions that are usually applied to real people rather than to those at the other side of the screen.
As you see I deliberately missed out all the gameplay related issues. I did so not because I saved them for a Bad part, but because itâs really strange to think of Bloodlines while trying to establish how balanced RPG skills were or how responsive weapon controls were. Itâs like trying to remember a picture frame for a painting you saw in a gallery. It feels secondary to the painting itself. And by no means is the frame bad, itâs just not that important when it comes to the magnificent artwork the painting itself represents.
The Bad
Much has been said about how bug-ridden this game is. Well, itâs true. The game was left unfinished, rushed by greedy publisher to the release date with only one or two bugs fixed. But is it Troikaâs fault? Do you really believe that the game that received so much love and care from its creators would be simply abandoned and treated lightly when the time for QA came? I donât think so. The same applies to the last quarter of the game which was surprisingly turned into a pure hack-and-slash non-fun, as if one of Troikaâs executives had gone for a smoke, while a Diablo developer sneaked into a computer room and did his evil deeds.
If you allow me to carry a picture gallery analogy here as well I will ask you this. Would you think of Mona Lisa to be any less of an art if it was to be admired behind the iron bars? Or if you listened to Beethovenâs âMoonlight Sonataâ in a crowded room on a lame stereo, would it lose its masterpiece status as well?
The Bottom Line
Donât let people who answer yes to those questions fool you. True art lies not in perfection but in sacrifice, love and honesty multiplied by a considerable amount of talent. And I am safe to say that Bloodlines has plenty of this mixture in it.
By St. Martyne on August 4, 2007
Penumbra: Overture - Episode 1 (Windows)
The most unusual adventure of recent time, but is it enough?
The Good
Finally after long years of waiting the adventure genre had moved forward. The year 2006 showed a lot of innovation together with a rediscovery of a hilarious narrative of a comedy adventure in form of such games as Fahrenheit, Scratches, Dreamfall, Sam & Max Season One, Al Emmo, Scratches and so on. The trend of innovation continues in 2007 by the will of Frictional Games, an independent developer together with their horror-adventure game Penumbra: Overture â Episode 1. With a powerful physics engine and a complete real-time 3D environment Frictional Games has managed to succeed where it seems that everybody else failed, in creating a constant suspense atmosphere that canât be ruined by either illogical puzzles (as in other horror adventures) or by over-reliance on cheap effects (as in other horror actions). But unfortunately for the Penumbra, all that glitters isnât always gold. Check out the not so Good section for details.
Of course the main driving force behind the title is physics. The game that has a library file called âNewton.dllâ in its folder convincingly proves that harnessing the computing power of a gamerâs CPU may yield not only spectacular results for an action gaming but provide a sophisticated and intelligent gameplay of an adventure as well. Much like in Fahrenheit the player has to perform a certain pattern of movements with his mouse to do simple actions which in any another game may be accomplished by simply pushing a button. However unlike Fahrenheit, Penumbra applies all the known laws of Newtonian (all three of them) physics to these actions. So opening a door will be a much easier enterprise, if you get hold of it as far away from the hinges as you can. Otherwise expect a lot of effort to be put in moving your USB rodent. The same goes for turning valves, pulling levers, opening drawers, moving barrels, throwing motors and so on. With Penumbra all these everyday actions (at least for a gamerâs life) are performed with a fresh and interesting approach.
Thank God Frictional Games has not applied the same system to the combat part as well. Although it still has certain issues, the action in Penumbra is a far cry of that unyielding monstrosity as seen in Trespasser. Thank God, because the action takes a bigger role in the gameplay of Penumbra, as one might expect. Fighting off zombie dogs could be a much more a nuisance than it is in its current state. But still, although I always support the inclusion of action sequences in my adventures I would recommend you to set the difficulty level to easy at the beginning of the game. You wonât lose any bit of a challenge, because the main challenge of Penumbra lies in its puzzles, but will save yourself a lot of unnecessary encounters with the gameâs awkward combat system.
In terms of story and presentation the game is a devoted follower of System Shock. The masterpiece by Looking Glass studios and Irrational games is constant source of inspiration for the developers. Penumbra features the same nonstop gameplay in which all the plot twists are revealed not in separate cutscenes, but during the game itself (Yes, you zealous Half-Life fans, System Shock did it first!). You will constantly find the notes of the previous (and a few current) inhabitants of the underground complex youâre exploring, much like in fashion of audio logs as seen in original System Shock. Even the greatest villain of all time, Shodan, has got her respective counterpart in the first episode of Penumbra. A delusional yet mysterious and obviously intelligent person Red will guide you, in his own cryptic way, through the obstacles, you will be constantly encountering. Expect some serious and convincing voice-acting on his part. Unfortunately all the other parts of its inspirational source Penumbra got wrong. Which brings me to theâŠ
The Bad
So whatâs wrong with this game? First of all it is level design. The guys from Frictional Games obviously put a lot of effort in the locations that require a lot of exploring on players part. But what about all the others? Running through the constant featureless corridors can hardly be a worthwhile time spending for a seasoned adventurer. Now System Shock did that right. All the corridors and rooms connected represented a unified whole. In Penumbra you almost feel that those aspects of level design were created by different people. Tell me why do we have to suffer through these tedious, long and tiresome corridors every time we want to get somewhere? It seems that Frictional Games has a lot to work upon until the release of the second episode.
Another miss is all those notes scattered throughout the game. The problem with them is that theyâre so unrelated to the game and to each other that considering their size it hardly worth the bother to read them through. Again, System Shock got that right. In SS, and especially in SS2 all the logs were personal, intimate I might say. There were a countless number of subplots going on through these messages. Each new log was like a birthday present. You were always wondering what happened to this particular person and what he was going through. Penumbra does neither of that. Except a thrilling diary of a spider-eating madman, all that you have to read is dry news clippings, and workersâ log reports. Hardly an entertaining or intimate stuff if you ask me.
And the last and most serious of Penumbra crimes is that it doesnât live up to its advertisement. All of the inventory based puzzles has nothing to do with physics whatsoever. Double-click on an item, click on the hotspot and here you are! No physics implied, classic adventure gaming in its purest form. All the physics go to opening the doors, pulling levers and pushing rocks. I really expected from Penumbra a much more serious level of interaction than just pulling, pushing and turning stuff.
The Bottom Line
So what do we have? Cool physics system, advanced graphics, thrilling atmosphere and excellent voice-acting against poor level design, limited interaction and overabundance of unrelated text. Itâs truly a tough choice. But given a game indie status and that itâs an episodic title, I think we should give Frictional Games a chance to improve. If truth be told theyâve managed to deliver a decent and honest game. So I have to say that you support the game now, otherwise youâll miss one of the most unique gaming experience on this (PC) shore of the gaming market and deny the most promising game series of recent time its right for existence. And it would be a real shame if you do so.
By St. Martyne on July 21, 2007
A Mind Forever Voyaging (DOS)
The game that defines the concept of adventure gaming.
The Good
What is the adventure gaming about? What is the underlying principle that should be present in all the adventure games without any exception? Inventory puzzles, myst-like puzzles, pointânâclick interface, branched dialogue trees? No. The answer to these questions is deceptively simple. Exploration and interaction. If youâre given ability to explore the virtual surrounding and interact with it on many levels, than itâs an adventure game. If not, then itâs something else, probably a F22 flight simulator. What Iâm trying to say is that adventure game isnât about puzzles at all. Puzzle in an adventure game is just a necessary evil, designed to make up for the lack of challenge otherwise. That actually became one of the reasons of unfortunate demise of adventure genre in the late nineties. The issue has been addressed many times since. Fahrenheit, Shenmue, Dreamfall, Gabriel Knight 3 all of these games offered their versions of puzzle-less adventure game with a variable success. But the answer has been already given a long time ago, back in 1985. In the form of the game called A Mind Forever Voyaging.
Hereâs a little story background for those unfamiliar with the game. In the AMFV you take role of PRISM, a sentient computer capable of exploring virtual reality and reporting back to people maintaining it. It seems that in the world of near future the government has run into some problems with the country. Crime levels elevated, people lose their jobs, all in all the usual kind of stuff. So government officials come up with something called - The Plan. A 20 years development plan thatâll let the country to overcome its difficulties and create a perfect society. Utopia? Maybe, thatâs why youâre here. Scientists have recreated a generic American town inside a computer and applied The Plan to its development course. Your task is to investigate what itâs like living in that town in 10 years from now, 20 years and so on. First youâre given list of things to do by the scientists â eat in the restaurant, buy food from the grocery store, take a subway ride etc. Then they leave it on your discretion. Youâre alone is deciding what relevant or not, what will be help to the people of tomorrow or what will hurt them. As more of the time periods become available youâll see that some things are not exactly what they seemed to be. Well that covers it up, now to the review itself.
Text adventures have always been in a way superior to their graphical counterpart. Whereas graphic adventures are always limited by the current technology level, text adventures are only limited by the power of playerâs imagination. So creating big and immersive life-like reality is a task that only a text adventure is capable of, at least now in 2007. And AMFV uses that advantage to its fullest capacity. A handful of completely different towns (while staying essentially the same town but in different time periods) with a lot stuff to do, things to notice, events to experience, facts to investigate and without any restriction from developers is simply a joy. That kind of freedom makes you drunk. You can literally do whatever you want. I know that this kind of sentence has been applied too many times to different games, but it canât be more truthful than in a case of AMFV. Hereâs an example. You as a game character have a wife; you can visit her in the town youâre exploring in the first 10 or 20 years. And you will undoubtedly get really attached to her. So when you visit her sometime later it will really break your heart to see whatâs happening to her. Damn! Itâs so hard to explain without spoilering. What I mean is that you could not visit your wife at all, and still complete the game. Now that is an adventure, experiencing things in a way you want them to experience in the context of the story and setting created by the developers
And whatâs the most brilliant is that everything is so credible and realistic. Youâre always in the game; you donât go âOMG! What a blurry texture? How could they leave it in so otherwise quite a perfect game?â You donât have to suspend your disbelief, because there is none. The graphic adventures unfortunately are still not capable of that kind of immersion.
The game is bundled (ah⊠those Infocom bundles) with a wonderful science fiction preface story that is so good, that I wonder why it hasnât received a Hugo award or something. Be sure to read it before getting into the game. Heck! Read it even if youâre not going to play the game at all. It is a really fascinating read.
The Bad
Well the usual text adventures problems apply here as well. Tiresome interface, awful conversation system, lots of text (thatâs unexpected) and so on. Thereâs actually one of the more common types of puzzle late in the game, but itâs only one and not that hard. Also I wish they would have done mode changing a trifle easier. It certainly eats a lot of time just to enter into a town reality.
The Bottom Line
Otherwise, a perfect a game! If the other video games were more like it, they couldâve achieved that art status theyâre desperately seeking a long time ago. Undoubtedly AMFV is one of the best adventures up to date with hardly a single puzzle in it. If youâre going to play only one interactive fiction game in your lifetime, make sure itâs A Mind Forever Voyaging.
By St. Martyne on July 17, 2007
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Anniversary (Windows)
Back in 1997, you must have been playing this game!
The Good
Tomb Raider: Anniversary is the follow-up to successful Tomb Raider: Legend by Crystal Dynamics mostly known for their Legacy Of Kain series. While Legend being a great game on its own and certainly a welcome addition into a long-run Tomb Raider series I felt it was somewhat lacking. It was a sunning professionally executed brilliantly written game. Superb action and a new revised look of the main heroine showed that finally after years long years of constant failure, franchise started to move in right direction. But still it remained just number two in my book. Despite of mind-boggling action of this new offering the game was extremely linear. The exploration was the centerpiece of each Tomb Raider. And there certainly wasnât enough of it in Legend. I always felt led by hand through a sheer dozen of beautiful levels with no step left or right allowed.
So to remind myself what once made the original Tomb Raider such a hit I took my old dusty copy of this oldie âŠ. and was utterly disappointed. âWhat the #@$% is this?â I cried. Itâs not the game I played ten years ago. How on earth could I see ancient Coliseum in those lumpy sets of polygons or be impressed by the detail in that triangular breast? Now mind you, Iâm a very tolerant person in terms of old titles. I still think of the VGA-era of graphic adventures having the most beautiful artwork and ingenious game design this side of Milky Way has ever seen. But on the dawn of 3D era the game engines were so limited and controls were so atrocious and unintuitive that itâs pretty understandable that those titles crumbles under heavy weight of sands of time, especially those from a third-person perspective (another one that immediately comes to mind is Fade To Black).
And then like a send from the heaven a new game in the series was released. And what a game it is! Tomb Raider: Anniversary is not simply a remake; itâs the reinvention the old genre in regard of modern gamer demands. My memory must be playing tricks upon me, but this is THE game I played 10 years ago, and not that monster from 1997 I carelessly installed a year ago.
I am not talking about specific details because most of the game has been altered due to all the possibilities that exist in game mechanics these days. I am talking about the spirit and the essence of the original Tomb Raider. And it most certainly resides now in the body of Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The game firmly reminds players why itâs actually called Tomb Raider and not any other title. Itâs about exploring tombs, for godâs sake, finding lost civilizations and experiencing the sense of grand adventure. Obviously not shooting cops in Louvre gallery or hiking through military base number 245.
Above all Iâd like to mention an incredible level design. Taking basic ideas from original game the designers have revised them and then expanded upon them. No room serves no purpose. Each level is unique and aesthetically pleasing. The Greek-inspired level with a crumbled stairway is a bright example of what most of the current game designers arenât capable of. Except for Crystal Dynamics, with a little help from Core Design. As for others aspects of the game, everything is really top-notch. The game features the most fluid animations of animals I have ever seen. The battles are fast, dynamic and really vicious. Be sure to the turn the lights on while playing Tomb Raider: Anniversary or you might lose a bit more of them nerve cells then you would do otherwise. The music is beautiful and fits the game so well that you start to feel affection for it on a really close, personal level.
The Bad
This game is faithful to the original. Maybe too much faithful for itâs own good. Of course itâs nice to see so many familiar places spread over four grand levels of the game, but Crystal Dynamic doesnât have to prove us anything, we know what they are capable of, so a bit more of creative freedom would have been certainly welcome.
The only major grudge I have with this game is the unfortunate decision not to include next-generation content at all. I canât care less about marketing policy Eidos is taking, so donât start on me. If they donât want to release it on the next-generation console then why we the PC gamers have to suffer technologically dated graphics. Just imagine what would the game look like with the entire next-gen extravaganza⊠Not gonna happen! Sorry.
The Bottom Line
If you still remember what the word âadventureâ actually means, if forgotten civilizations still send you spinal shivers, if you young at heart and open in mind, then donât miss this one. You wouldnât forgive yourself if you do!
By St. Martyne on July 10, 2007