POP on the PS3 concluded
So carrying forward the last review…
The PS3 POP has changed the way the fighting works too. Instead of the basically button punching, in mindless patterns bit, you now have more delicate combos to aim for. While this makes the game more challenging, it’s not quite as much fun, something I find a little irritating, in a very real way. The game, during combat seems to slow down, and the prince looses almost all his powers. Apparently it becomes somewhat linear based, what ever that means. He’s actually better at blocking than at attacking, and much faster, this is supposed to foster a more precise sort of attacking strategy. It also makes the game run longer and slower. The combat is definitely one of the fames weaker points.
Apparently the amount of combat too has been lowered, and you fight in very predictable patterns across similar parts of the world. And have to combat the boss of each level multiple times, which also makes the game a little repetitive.
There are fewer puzzles though, something I appreciate, and more run and jump, death, and gravity defying feats, a definite plus as far as I’m concerned. Though the way in which they work has changed a little too, its not quite as structured or fixed as before, and apparently, those moments in which you were suspended in air, wondering what to do next, and then watched yourself fall into the pit, have been eliminated, or atleast, you have other options. But with the game being so elaborate, the tutorials etc. are very long too.
The environment and effects, as I’ve said before are a real USP, and anyway, anything tha the PS3 magazine rates with an 8 on 10, has got to be good. If you like POP buy it, if you like Fun, I’d suggest the same course of action.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
PS3 POP I
This too is a secondary source piece. I’ve not played the game, I don’t like the PS3, but the game seems interesting, actually pretty good, good enough to get an 8 on 10 from the PS3 magazine. But that is not supposed to be its greatest achievement.
The game is slightly new, and has done away with the old time warping system, something I found really irritating. On the other hand, one of my favourite parts of the game, the lady is far more prominent. She appears right at the start, and plays a really imp. Part in the game, actually, as his guardian angel. Everytime you make a mistake that should cost your life, she very coolly put him back on safe ground. A bit of a hit for our egos, but a convenient substitute for all the time wasted redoing bits of the game, and watching that LOADING screen.
The story is based as usual on the prince having to save the world. And blah blah… its been corrupted by some bad magic, or whatever….
But what is cool is the world itself. Apparently its huge, with really well done everything, and if PS3 says it you better believe it. I’ve not yet seen it though.
The prince has some pretty cool new moves too, as well as all the old ones. He can slide down walls with his iron claw and use the woman to make extra long jumps, and a few other nifty moves. This has also changed the way in which the game reacts to things, its no longer quite as linear, both in geometry and in story line.
But more on that later.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
NFS Undercover Review
Anyone who’s read my blog so far, will know that I’m a fan of the NFS underground series, simply for the variations in racing styles it offers you, and the amazing mods you can pull off in the game. I mean it’s great fun… and that’s what makes a good game for me.
The latest title in the game seems to less inclined to be fun. The title is based along the lines of the fast and the furious with you playing and undercover cop. The game is based on a story, and the only reason you’re trying to get to the top of the cities racing circuit is to bust it.
The game play is standard NFS stuff, though apparently the Muscle cars are a pain in the ass, with handling being virtually beyond the average human. The tuners as usual are the most fun.
Upgrades have been simplified to a degree, where you can buy both ‘packages’ and individual components. You can also strap on visual mods, etc. and change the way your ride looks… a standard feature right now.
The game looks really good, and the soundtrack is done by some of the top artists right now. But even with Maggie Q throwing in the occasional appearance, intense police chases, which are stressed on in this game, and decent sound effects including radio chatter, nothing I’ve read so far would induce me to buy this game. Yes even the pirated one.
Sorry NFS but its just too bad a case of been there done that right now.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
The new Sonic Game
Now this is a game I’ve not yet checked out. Largely because I don’t get to, being a college student in India, doesn’t help. But I’ve read up on it, and I’ve played a few earlier sonic titles, so I can at least pretend I know what I’m talking about.
The low down on Sonic the Hedgehog is that it has two kind of gaming modes. The first is classical fast, racing… streaky, sonic action. Which is obviously good, but apparently there is too little of this sort of action. Though it is much faster and closer to the original, and best loved Sonic, speed wise. Apparently there are much nicer tracks, which are hugely long, and fulfilling, with fewer obstacles, and better controlling, though apparently the sensitivity of the handheld Wii remote might be an issue. So the racing has a universal thumbs up.
The other side of the gaming involves a were-wolf Sonic. This guy is rather large, has a long arms, is very hairy, and has a loping, it would appear, gait. Not really very attractive from the screen shots. The game play here is platform based, and the usual issues like positioning angles of the character, and to a much larger degree of the camera come into play. The stages are hard, and falls can be unmerciful, and painful. The levels are apparently, sometimes to long and tedious to complete, and Sonic purists will hate it.
There are some good points though, like the fighting with Sonic becoming adept as time and stages progress, and creating some nifty combos, which using the Wii remote, might make fun. I think the game play is a bit like i-ninja if anyone remembers the game. I never got bored and never completed it, but the levels I played were great fun!
The graphics are supposed to be really cool, and I cant comment on what people using the Wii will feel about controls etc. the sounds is classic techno stuff that listeners found consistent with Sonic, the game, and pleasure. I don’t know what else to add. Go play the game.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
I Still Wish I Could Loose!
So to continue on my looserish or loose favouring rant… I really don’t get it. Is competition really that big a part of our lives today that a sub-par score just wont do? I mean we are supposed to be gaming for fun right?
Its weird in games like counterstrike when you get a single head shot and then just die, or spend an entire round hidden up in some corner, waiting for a victim… you know in typical sniper style people don’t get what you’re doing. Is it really that important to run after kills? If all I’m trying to do is have fun, then that’s all I’m trying to do…
If I find it interesting to build 20 ornagers and have them mow down a forest, while my woodcutters do nothing, is that really all that big a deal? I don’t get it… why aren’t we allowed to be weird, and slightly irrational when we play a game?
Its really not fair!
I mean most games are bad parodies of realities, specially in the FPS format, so then if I want to have some fun and just get myself killed as I try to at least play the character with some amount of dignity what is the bid deal?
For example when I Splinter Cell, I find it virtually impossible to actually pull of the whole stealth bit, and instead try Rambo mode… the game wont let me. In fact most games don’t let you do most of what you want to… which brings me to the topic of my next blog… but then you’ll have to wait for that, because I’m not yet sure what I want to say.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Can I Loose? Please!
So another thing about gaming, that is interesting, is the fact of the only choice you have, to play or not to play. Once you’ve made that choice, there’s really not much free will you have left, assuming of course that you want to win the game.
First I’d like to qualify my statement. Okay, now I know there are games that let you make some very significant choices. As an RTS fan, I cannot but acknowledge that, of course the choice between training horsemen, pikemen or bowmen is very important, as is the choice between collecting gold, wood or food, or gems, or whatever it is the game requires you to do.
Even FPS games give you a choice, you can either go through the front door, or the sewers or the back door… or I don’t know, the roof maybe. Sports games give you choice too, the team you want to play with, how you want to play with it. I mean you can make someone like yourself become the star of the NBA. The only thing that you cant choose, and this is common to all games…
Is to loose. There is no game, at least none that I know of where if you pursue a strategy with any goal other than winning in mind that you can be successful. I mean I know what I’m arguing for is kind of stupid… to say that you want to play a game to loose it, is not exactly intelligent…
What I’m complaining about is the simple, singlemindedness with which we are required to pursue this goal. There are no hasty beatings of the retreat… no changes in strategy… to use analogy from the economic world, as a gamer the only goal you are allowed to have is that of profit maximization… even in economics one can try risk minimization, or underselling etc.
So I’m not saying I want to loose… just that sometimes we should be allowed to choose what it means to win. In Racing games a third place should be acceptable… the insistence on a win before the game allows us to proceed is kind of irritating.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Gaming as part of Life, the Universe and Everything
Now I’m bored.
This is pretty much when I like to play games, but instead here I am writing this blog, which I’m pretty sure no one is going to read, and in the end, doesn’t really serve too much purpose after all.
I mean for all the amount of actual ‘positive’ it will add to the world, I may as well be playing a game. Though that implies that while playing a game, I’m not doing any thing remotely constructive or ‘positive.’ I’m not sure that’s too accurate.
Of course playing single player games is not really positive, for example winning the last race of NFS carbon, will not in any way add anything to the world, beyond the cost of the game, and if like I usually have, it’s a pirated copy I’m playing, then not even that, really!
But when playing online games, that’s kind of cool, and might actually pass of as true social interaction after all, you make fun of people, tell them they’re loosers, etc. and then you win. And in all of this, you’ll probably never see the person you’ve just called a looser again. And for what? Some immaterial little cyber blue ribbon? Does it really matter in the world.
Okay now I’m flirting with the much more dangerous philosophical questions of life the universe and everything, and all I know about them, is the answer to the question is 42. Now go figure.
Till I figure out the rest of the book!
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
The RTS
So then,
What about the ideal RTS. Well, like I said, it should have the elements of an actual battle, and we should get to be part of it, not some kind of removed chappy, with nothing to really do in the bloody overall plans of the world, with out any immediate agency.
That’s sad, imagine the immense amount of fun you could have, manipulating a character, Never Winter Nights Style, outfitting it before a battle, designing battle plans around it etc. and then choosing the mode of battle, setting out reinforcements and all that. And finally attacking.
I mean each unit has a definite strength in a game, and you use it for a definite reason. The whole period before, when you’re collecting resources and the like, WHY? It serves little or not purpose at all, in the sense that I don’t really enjoy it, it slows down things tremendously and really, really, provides no entertainment, nor is it particularly nerve racking. You’re in a particular surrounding, go collect as much of everything you can. What else is there to do?
I really hate the whole collecting bit… researching techs, well may be, but even that, I think should just be normal when you increase an age, you should get to choose how you want civilization to go, and what kind of researches you want to do, and then proceed.
In fact I think this is a worthy theme. An alternative to the stupidly stereotypical method of building up a stupid army, based on resource collection. There have to be other paradigms in which it can be achieved without the boring-ness of things.
And why should building armies be so slow too. You know that n number of units is the kind of army you want to have… why cant you just have it immediately, so that fighting involves a greater degree of actual in battle strategy so to speak, than just scrambling to have a steady stream of military units to fight?
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
The Ideal RTS
The ideal RTS…
Well strategy is all fine good, but in all honesty the best gave ever in that genre is chess, with Chinese checkers coming a close second. So what is different with the idea of a computer game along the same lines.
The idea of resource collection is quite irritating and actually adds an element of unsurity and chance in the game. Plus it creates a definite, unchangeable structure to the game… this is how you must play it, to win, because resource collection or the amount of it, is basically decides who wins, with actual military stratagem playing a subordinate role. If you can afford the best unit, you will win. Pretty simple!
Well alright not really, because each unit can be used in various ways, and siege weaponry, and ranged weaponry are good versus various other kinds of units… so alright I take that last point back. But at the end of the day, there is a formula, which is all I’m trying to say.
So my idea of the idea RTS… well the Ideal RTS would allow me to play in the action. If we were allowed to become one of the heroes of war craft III or something like that how cool would that be?
I mean you know actually play the role of a general on the field, sword buckling action like that of LOTR, mixed with some basic strategy of say Rise of Nations. Meaning that we design an army… like create specific battle groups, cavalry, infantry archers etc. and then choose to be part of one such group, say an infantry man, and then command the field… like generals of the old school did.
Imagine being able to give the “Charge” cry and actually charge into battle, and in some limited way, single handedly change the tide of the battle etc. I don’t know, we’ll thrash out the heroics of it later.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Review: Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway
The Brothers in Arms series has offered some of the most compelling takes on the WWII shooter genre, mixing in a healthy blend of squad mechanics, as well as some excellent story elements. Now, developer Gearbox has launched the fourth proper entry to the series, Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway. Hell’s Highway plays up the series’ strengths quite nicely, offering intuitive squad elements and great action, as well as a compelling storyline. While there are some issues with the game, including problematic AI, it still stands as a solid entry to the series and worth a look for fans of WWII shooters.
In Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, you once again fill the heavy shoes of Sgt. Matt Baker as he commands his units through Operation Market Garden, a risky move that pushed military forces through Holland and into Germany in an effort to end the war before Christmas 1944. The story focuses heavily on Sgt. Baker and the toll that has been done to his emotional and mental state throughout his tour of duty, and does an excellent job of adding seriousness and emotional gravity to the game’s plot.
Like its predecessors, Hell’s Highway is a first-person shooter with squad command elements. You’ll be able to command squad groups around the map, getting them to suppress enemies with fire, allowing you to flank their position and move in for the kill, as well as move to different locations. Another element that comes into play is the destructible cover system. Some objects that can be used for cover, like barrels or wooden tables, can also be destroyed if hit with enough firepower. Therefore, you can command your units to focus their attacks on your enemy’s cover, breaking it and exposing them to fire.
Your individual squads will each have their own strengths in battle, as well. You’ll have squads that are better at laying suppressing fire, as well as bazooka units, leading you to utilize a bit of strategy when giving out orders to your different units.
While you do have access to squad commands in the game, it is primarily an FPS, and features some great mechanics. The cover system works quite well, similarly to Rainbow Six: Vegas, as you’ll be able to find cover in a variety of objects throughout the environment. Once you move into a cover position, the game will switch to a third-person perspective, from which you’ll be able to fire at enemies while avoiding gunfire.
The game does have some issues that prevent it from being a truly great WWII shooter, namely the often problematic AI. Your enemies will often perform some screwy actions, including popping out of cover for no reason, or just generally leaving themselves out there to get shot. However, the biggest problem with the AI comes from your squadmates. Although the game states that your squadmates are soldiers and therefore will react to enemies and find cover whenever necessary, you’ll find yourself doing a fair amount of handholding in order to keep your teammates out of harm’s way, otherwise they’ll get wiped out fairly quickly.
Additionally, ordering your troops around can be a hassle when the action gets hairy. You can be pinned down by enemy fire and try to get your squad to suppress your foes, only to accidentally order them to run out of cover and getting taken out. This happened to me more than a few times, and became quite frustrating.
Graphically, the game looks very good, utilizing the Unreal Engine 3 to some great results. The character models look great and showcase some varied emotions. The environments are also great looking, offering tons of details and destruction effects.
The sound is also done very well. The voice work and dialogue sounds very good, and the soundtrack is dynamic and changes when the action gets intense.
Hell’s Highway is a welcomed addition to the series, bringing some fine new elements to the series’ successful blend of compelling narrative and squad-based gameplay. While there are some problems, including spotty AI and rough squad controls, the game is still a solid title for fans of WWII shooters.
Join StealthGamers Community
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!