2013 Blog Update

So another lull befell my blog, as it is want to do and once again I return to it. A cleaner look now I hope, a fresh lick of paint to accompany the return to writing and sharing. As ever my thoughts when it come to this blog shift and blur, I want it to be an outlet for things that are on my mind, and the writing I do here and elsewhere, but also somewhere that somehow represents me as I am in the moment. So whether this is articles on particular aspects or pieces of media that provoke a reaction in me, or an excuse for me to wax lyrical about something close my heart, my overall aim is purely that I keep it up, however sporadically and irregularly. But I will try and be more regular, I will try and put more of myself out there because... well because I can I suppose and because we all crave our voices to be heard sometimes.

My latest review for D-Pad review sits below this post (unless you view this in isolation) and I will continue to use this as a platform for my writing there. I also have a (very) short story I'm hoping to finish up and post soon, for a nice change of pace and to keep my fiction writing muscles from atrophying completely. So if you are reading this, then thanks and I look forward again to seeing what this blog becomes, and where my writing takes it.

Dave

Journey: Collectors Edition Review

Journey: Collector’s Edition is actually a somewhat misleading title for this selection of thatgamecompany games. In fact it functions more as a boxset of the studio’s work to this point, containing as it does all three of their PS3 titles as well as a raft of extras a bonus material that make the value proposition considerable even for those already familiar with their ouvre.

The company’s first game, flOw, was based on co-founder Jenova Chen’s MSE thesis. Taking the role of a series of more complex aquatic organisms the game sees you delve deeper and deeper in a microscopic world consuming, growing and evolving over time. With no real goal or fail state the game functions more as a sandbox experience, and whilst basic, looking back it clearly sets the tone and feel of the subsequent games the studio would release...

You can read the rest of the review over at D-Pad here.

Eurogamer Expo Game Impressions

Following are various impressions of some of the games I managed to get time with at the show, I tended to head for some of the smaller titles as well as a few of the known upcoming blockbusters to hopefully give a nice cross-section of what was available on the show floor, and hopefully provide some differing impressions from the others at the show.

First up was PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Sony’s, shall we politely say, homage to the Super Smash Brothers games featuring figures from all generations of Sony consoles. Gameplay wise it is very hard to get away from the Smash Bros. comparisons but it doesn’t stop it being fun and manic with four players on screen, and the morphing backgrounds that mix up the levels during the bouts are a nice addition. It looks good and the variety of characters (even if they struggle to be anywhere near as iconic as Nintendo’s equivalent) suggest a lot of varied gameplay styles. Sticking with the Sony booth next up was Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, a new adventure very much with the past in mind, echoes of the original Sly Cooper were very evident in the demo level, but with the extra polish and sheen you would expect of a current generation game. Other than that all the familiar elements of the series were present and correct, it will be interesting to see if the game works outside of the nostalgia factor and actually implements any fundamental gameplay changes, or whether it plans on coasting by on past glories.

On the PC side of things I managed to get some time with Criterion’s latest entry in the Need for Speed series, Most Wanted. Compared to the console versions also on show (though all played with a controller) the PC version seemed notably smoother and sharper, gameplay wise it felt extremely similar to Burnout but with that extra layer of NFS sheen and in a more built up city area. The demo had street races which were followed by a police chase where the aim was to escape and lie low until the heat was off. Along the way there were billboards to be smashed, shortcuts to find and jumps aplenty, it felt fast and responsive and could be the racing game to own this holiday season. Moving onto the shooters and Crysis 3 was setup in Multiplayer mode, the level I played was set in the crumbling ruins of what seemed to be apartment buildings. The games had you playing either a soldier, or cloaked hunter, as the soldiers died they converted to hunters until the last one survived. The gameplay was familiar enough to anyone with experience with modern first person shooters, but the game looked very nice and played smoothly, hunting people down whilst cloaked with your big crossbow was a lot of fun, but it was a relatively thin slice of what is destined to be a much bigger game that I got to see, so class it under one to watch.

I also got some time with Hitman: Absolution, now I’ll cop to not having much experience with the franchise but I’ve heard a lot about it, thankfully after some of the recent controversies about the game of late it is good to see that at its core, this is still very much a Hitman game. The demo mission saw you stalking through a wonderfully rendered and populated market, your target heavily guarded in the middle. How you assassinate him is up to you, the option remains to shoot him straight away (though you might not last long once the SWAT team arrives). Alternatively if you hang around and explore you find he has a habit of wandering around, a turn down an ally is a suitable spot for a silent take down, or if you are adventurous you discover his favourite lunch spot with a bowl of food begging for tampering with. A quick shuffle into chef’s uniform (after disposing of the chef of course) and discovery of poisonous Fugu from a nearby market stall the missing ingredients. It was nice to see such an open ended framework right off the bat and if this level is representative of the game then this could be an excellent and deep entry into the series.

Devil May Cry is another franchise I don’t have much history with, but the demo for the upcoming reboot of sorts impressed me, the gameplay felt snappy and tight, the combos and moves easy to learn and quickly made me feel powerful and, I can’t deny, pretty badass. There seemed to be a fair amount of grappling to either pull yourself to high ledges or bring enemies down to your level, playing through a crumbling cityscape it seemed as if another dimension was spilling out with some wonderfully gruesome monsters to fight. This is a game that wasn’t really on my radar before the show but that I came away from having had a lot of fun and pretty excited about.

The biggest portion of my day though was spent checking out the Wii-U, a system I have been very curious about getting time with since its announcement. First up was Rayman Legends which has a  neat way of incorporating the Wii-U controller for co-op play, the main screen is controlled on a standard controller (the one I used looks very like a current Xbox pad) and in that respect the game plays very like last year’s wonderful Rayman Origins, the trick comes with the second player using the touch screen pad to interact with the level, be it cutting ropes to lower platforms, killing enemies or catapulting the player to different areas of the level. In one of the coolest moments the second player used the tilt functionality to rotate a dangerous maze for the first player to then navigate, it’s brilliantly implemented and forces real co-operation between players.

Overall this was one of the standout games of the show for me and a great demonstration of the different gameplay opportunities the console offers. With regards to the pad itself it felt surprisingly comfortable and light, but not cheap, the ergonomics have clearly been prioritised. Elsewhere I played some of NintendoLand, the latest mini-game collection designed to show of the system, which seemed somewhat slight but also like it would be a lot of fun with friends around. In fact the social nature of many of the games shown are really what sets the Wii-U apart, and for those who like to have friends over it makes a compelling case that the Xbox and PS3 can’t match at the moment, focused as they are primarily on online multiplayer.

I also got some eyes-on with Platinum games’ Wonderful 101 (formerly Project P-100) which seemed a lot of fun, if slightly crazy, with a very attractive and distinctive art style and neat use of the touch screen to order about and control your band of superheroes. Pikmin 3 was also on show, but not using the tablet controller for anything other than a visual map, further implementation is bound to be in place by the time the game comes out next year, but the demo itself was a strong enough reminder of how much I love the series and seeing it in HD made it look better than ever.

So overall I was generally impressed with the Wii-U’s showing, amongst a sea of familiarity it was invigorating to play something daring and new, who knows how it will perform in the current gaming market, and there are many questions including details of the online capabilities still to be satisfactorily answered, but I’m curious and cautiously optimistic which I’m not sure I would have been before the show, so on that count mark this down as a pleasant surprise. 

Eurogamer Expo 2012 - Part 1

Now in its third year at Earls Court the Eurogamer Expo fought back this year against the somewhat apathetic and stagnant feeling that the current games climate seems to be giving off of late. The long break between generations coupled with multiple recent studio closures and a lack of big titles through the summer left the show with, theoretically, a lot to prove, but a strong holiday line up of games and the advent of the first new console in nearly 5 years in the Wii-U gave patrons much to fawn over and judging by the crowds of eager gamers queuing up throughout the day across the exhibition floor, there was a definite feeling that good things are coming.

 As usual at such events it takes a while to get your bearings, greeted as you are at every turn by rows of flatscreen monitors, flashing LED lights and signs and a vast array of attention seeking detritus, manned by enthusiastic employees eager to get your attention. From the full sized Formula 1 car that greets you at the entrance, to the elevated Just Dance stage and the giant Sony symbols that lined their Vita section (itself pitched as an ideal place to rest up a while, bathed in soothing blue light) there is a moment where the absurdity of the situation makes you smile and somehow regress, with blockbuster title after blockbuster title laid out ahead of you think of how your 14 year old self would have felt, and try and keep hold of that feeling for as long as you can.

Therein lies the rub, the industry more powerful and culturally centred than ever, runs the risk of becoming all show and glamour, thankfully this is not the case, as you spend time and circulate, you see the focus really is the games, with all sorts of players brought together by the chance to see something new and share in the experience, the PR people genuinely looking to help you get the most from your time with each game. Sure the spectre of big business looms over the event on the surface, but underneath it still feels grounded in letting the games themselves do the talking.

Before detailing any of my experiences I feel it is worth sharing some of my general impressions of the show and the industry as a whole. The somewhat lacklustre feeling I mentioned in the opening still hang over the show, but in a way that is inevitable. There are many fantastic looking games, and ones I'm really looking forward to playing in the next few months, but as we enter the 6^th year of this generation there was little that truly looked new, or innovative. Triple A games have become so expensive, their genres and gameplay so refined and honed that it seems hard for people to break out of the box, at least until we see what the next generation can do. But what they may lack in true innovation games like Assassins Creed 3, God of War, Halo 4, Back Ops 2 and Tomb Raider make up for in polished and honed gameplay and cinematics, experiences that benefit from all that has come before to offer familiar tropes in ever more streamlined and impressive forms.

That is where the Wii-U would seemingly come in, and to be fair to Nintendo it definitely seems to be doing something new. The tech itself seems solid and comfortable, it also works and is surprisingly easy to pick up. The demos on hand did a reasonably good job of explaining the various gameplay possibilities the tablet controller and different input systems allow, but it still feels that they are missing the one big title, the Mario 64 or Wii Sports, that proves the potential out of the gate and makes the system a must-buy. The Wii-U still has a lot to prove, but it also seems exciting and risky, and judging by the general reaction and popularity of the booth it might be able to carve out a decent niche for itself. I wouldn’t say I’m fully convinced yet, but I know that there will be enough great Nintendo games, and unique experiences both solo and with friends to make the Wii-U a console worth checking out.

Why I love: Dark Souls

The tower looms in the distance. Your destination. You raise your rookie sword and shield and venture across the battlements that lay ahead, venturing from the safety of the bonfire you had just recently been so happy to discover. As you rise the ghostly figure of a fellow warrior sits beside you, another runs past, no more than an outline. A memory. The knowledge that you are not alone spurs you on. Your rusty armour clanks as you step into the light, attacks come quickly from both sides, you scrape through and press on. Fireballs reign down on a narrow bridge, more enemies await should you rush to the end. Grisly skeletons with wooden shields, but daggers that pack a punch. In a brief moment of respite you replenish some health from your finite supply and press on. Eventually you reach the tower, the boulder trap on the way up takes away most of your remaining health but still you survive. Up the steps an ominous white doorway lies ahead. You steel yourself, dwindled supplies and a reckless abandon. You enter. Death doesn't take long. The giant Taurus Demon makes short work of you.

You died.

You awaken at the bonfire again. The same but different. Your collected souls lie with your corpse, your health replenished. You peer out of the same doorway, onto the same battlement. Let’s try that again.

And so there comes a time when that castle, that cunningly designed labyrinth of death and surprise, becomes your domain. You neatly waltz across the bridge dispatching enemies with precision. You instinctively dodge an oncoming fireball, remembering the enemies on the roof. With careful timing (you must always be careful) you fight your way back to the stairs. At the last second you remember the boulder trap and dive to safety. With a wry grin you approach the fog-gate once more, this time with health. This time with a plan.

When the Tauraus falls he's gone for good. This is your victory, savour it. The way across the broken bridge lies open, you pause and look around. Below great forests carpet the landscape, in the distance a sprawling cathedral. Atop the distant cliff face a walled city looms. All these places you will visit. All these places you will die, and then conquer. Unbeknownst the depths lie below, through swamp, dungeon and into cavernous flame, the very depths of hell itself. A world seemingly without boundaries, that feels at once familiar and alien. Its denizens cryptic clues, its monsters cruel and unforgiving, but pure of purpose. Lordran cares not for you, and yet… and yet… glimmers of hope in the corners. Respite for weary travellers, words of encouragement from fellow players in the form of messages scorched into the very earth. The tolling of bells both high and low a reminder that victory is possible, urging you forward, careful step by careful step.

There is beauty here, and wonder and reward for those who seek it. But for now you have a bridge to cross, and a new challenge to face. You emerge onto a battlement, a giant drawbridge lies ahead, at its end the heart of the castle. With a cautious glance ahead you step out. Halfway across a dragon appears overhead blood red and steel clawed. Its breath makes short work of you.

You awaken again at the bonfire. That same bonfire, and can’t help but laugh. Here hubris will be your downfall. So you suit up, ghostly companions by your side, take a breath, and go again.