Many of you may not even know of the existence of our Hall of Fame feature, and that’s basically because the last one was all the way back in May last year, and there have only been three of them so far. For those who don’t know, our Hall of Fame feature is all about taking a look back to remember what we, as well as many other gamers out there, consider to be incredible and unforgettable gaming experiences that will always stay with us year after year. For this entry, we’ll be focusing on none other than Unreal Tournament 2004, which released back on PC in, you guessed it, 2004.

That’s right. We’re bringing the nostalgia, along with history’s greatest gaming legends.

Unreal Tournament 2004

It's just unreal how good this game was. And yes, I'm aware of how painfully lame that pun is.

If you’ve been around recently, then you may have noticed that in my 7 Of The Best FPS Games feature, I didn’t include Unreal Tournament 2004, much to the outrage of some humans. Well, UT2K4 is undoubtedly in my top 10, so I feel that it’s fitting to give it what it deserves right here in the Hall of Fame. Also take note of the fact that I’m not featuring the entire series here, but only UT2K4, because I feel it’s the best game in the franchise, and the most memorable. Now that we’ve gotten that random business out of the way, let’s take an in-depth look at what made UT2K4 the bees freaking knees.

Firstly, to be Captain Obvious, it’s one of history’s greatest ever arcade shooters, and was one of the best FPS multiplayer games for the PC back in the day. I can fondly remember the hours upon hours I spent playing it on weekends when I was still at school, and it was so damn good that I actually spent all my time playing it completely on my own, because back then my internet connection was much too crap to play online. So what exactly was it that set UT2K4 apart from all of the other games in the franchise? I mean, it was a sequel after all, and had a number of games before it. Well, fortunately back then sequels were subject to dramatic change, unlike today, and as honestly as I can put it, what made the game so amazing was absolutely everything. The game introduced significant changes to the gameplay mechanics and graphics, as well as added major new features to the game that made it feel almost entirely fresh. It was a groundbreaking turning point for the franchise, as well as the pinnacle of it.

The game was actually developed by multiple studios, which included the likes of leaders Epic Games and partners Digital Extremes, Psyonix and Streamline Studios. Each brought a number of significant elements to the table, but before taking a look at that in detail it’s important to realise that UT2K4 was built with Unreal Engine 2.5 and already included the content of its predecessor, Unreal Tournament 2003. Furthermore, the game addressed nearly all of its predecessor’s shortcomings and succeeded in almost doubling the amount of content available right out of the box. Epic Games handled a large bulk of the work, which included introducing enhancements to the game modes, the new UI, voice over IP and bot voice command support. They also upgraded the engine and introduced many optimizations, and worked on improving the single player and community features. Epic Games also made sure of the thirty-one new playable characters, a classic sniper rifle, an Onslaught map, AI support for the Onslaught game mode, 16 new Deathmatch maps, 5 new Capture the Flag maps, 2 new Double Domination maps and a new Bombing Run map. They also brought back the Assault game mode.

Epic Games’ Lead programmer Steve Polge detailed the work of the partners as well. Polge revealed that Digital Extremes were responsible for 3 new Deathmatch maps, 6 new Capture the Flag maps, 2 new Bombing Run maps and 3 new Double Domination maps. They also brought 2 new playable characters to the table, as well as the new HUD design and new weapon models for three weapons, including the Assault Rifle, Shock Rifle, and Link Gun. Psyonix took credit for the Onslaught game mode design and implementation, and the 6 new vehicles and 4 new weapons that it brought, namely the Grenade Launcher, Spider Mine Layer, AVRiL and the Phoenix target painter. The Energy Turret and a new model for the Translocator was also included in their credit, in addition to the seven Onslaught maps they created. Psyonix and Streamline Studios worked together on the popular map called ONS-Torlan. Finally, Streamline Studios worked on the the single player introduction movie and the Assault map AS-Confexia as a demo for ONS-Torlan, and it was released for free.

It’s easy to see from the above that for its time UT2K4 was a massive project. And now that you’re aware of what role each of the developers had in bringing this game to life, we can go into the actual gameplay and what made this game so incredible to play, and arguably so much better than what came both before and after it. Undoubtedly amongst the biggest new additions to the game was the inclusion of vehicles and the new Onslaught game mode. The latter is still for me one of the best multiplayer modes I’ve ever played. For the first time in Unreal Tournament, players were able to engage in vehicle combat, both on the ground and in the air, and the Onslaught mode provided the perfect launch pad for this, as it was specifically designed for large-scale battles. However, the talent behind this game designed the game and maps so brilliantly that vehicles fitted right into UT2K4 with ease, and instead of causing the game to lose its identity or change in a way that fans didn’t like, it completely evolved it. The gameplay was just pitch-perfect, and the introduction of vehicle combat and the Onslaught mode breathed so much more life into the game, making it feel completely fresh and exciting.

The game was just bursting with content, variety, value and appeal and for its time it was just a game you could seemingly never get bored of. It was fast, action-packed, dynamic, tactical and exhilarating, and was just amazing in every mode and style it attempted. Again, for its time it was the perfect example of a complete package, and it was a rare and extraordinary achievement in this regard. And the grand cherry on top was that, despite all of the new game-changing additions, the developers ensured that UT2K4 was expertly balanced and an absolute blast to play, staying true to everything that made Unreal Tournament what it was. It was just everything fans dream a sequel to be, and it was polished to a level that made it masterful. And the fact that it featured fantastic graphics and a lengthy single player mode only made things infinitely better. For its time it was a gorgeous game, packed with detail and rich with flare and personality. It’s pretty safe to say that it was a rare game that had it all, and served as a shining example as to why PC gaming will always be unbeatable for many gamers out there.

But what made this sheer behemoth of a multiplayer game so much better, or rather perfected it, was a feature that gets all PC gamers giddy with excitement. Yes, if you guessed mod support then you’d be completely right. UT2K4 included extensive mod support, which allowed users to easily create new maps, models and game modes as well as introduce various other additions. The modification system was highly flexible and open, seamlessly blending custom user content with the core game content, allowing users to both appreciate the Unreal experience as well as build their own. They were also able to easily tweak the game to their liking with the “mutator” system, and ultimately UT2K4 was just a pure game made for gamers. Mods support is definitely no small extra, as it provides the platform for users to significantly extend the lifespan of a game, tailor it to their liking and even craft their own experience out of it and share their ideas and creations with the rest of the community. For many it’s actually what defines the experience, and fans couldn’t have asked for more from UT2K4 at the end of the day.

In the end, Unreal Tournament 2004 was in many ways the very best of what the genre had to offer at the time. It showed excellence on all fronts, and was a dream to play and experience. It’s actually the only pure multiplayer game I can remember where I could only play the single player modes and still love it absolutely. Perhaps that’s because I was a much younger gamer back then, but the point still stands. It’s revolutionary games like this that makes PC gaming and multiplayer what it is today, and I don’t think it can really be challenged that this game deserves its spot on the Hall of Fame.

Keep an eye out for the next entry in the Hall of Fame.

One of video game history's finest. A true legend.

What to talk about? Well I really want to speak about Final Fantasy XIII-2 but considering I’m doing the review on that, I’d just be shooting myself in the foot. What I will say is it’s awesome, one extravagant step forward and will even please some of the most hardcore opponents of Final Fantasy XIII. I suppose I could diverge from my norm and talk about something political or of consequence among the gaming community but well, that’s a lot of thinking and I don’t do thinking this late at night. Doom 4 was my other idea, but I think I’ll leave that for next week, sly hint about Doom 4 feature next week initiated.

No, actually I will talk about Final Fantasy XIII, more specifically, the reason I enjoyed it despite its apparent failings for many a Final Fantasy fan. I could go on and on about its strengths, weaknesses, what it did wrong, what it did right and still I might never get anything though to the stalwart haters. Instead I’m going to make two simple arguments and let you decide whether there’s anything to my ramblings.

Firstly, Final Fantasy XIII is by no means the 13th (was tempted to use XIIIth) game in the series. In fact, it’s probably like 20 or 30 something; I’m including all the Tactic games, games like Dirge of Cerberus and the Crystal Chronicles series. Anyway, the point is there are a lot of them and if then Square and now Square Enix didn’t constantly mix it up, the series would be dead long ago. What I’m trying to argue is that people are always harping on about sequels too often being just more of the same, yet when Final Fantasy XIII tries something different, it gets hated on. Sure it was missing some of the staples we all love but it didn’t promise to be anything more than it was. Final Fantasy XIII had a great story and a new and enjoyable combat system. The story wasn’t meant to be dark, tense, or in any way like Mass Effect. This is a Japanese game, inspired by Japanese ideas, if you expect a Western style of story you’d be what I like to call a little slow. Finally, don’t knock on characters by calling them anime like, that’s the point of the series, every game has been like that. Each character personifies a particular strength and weakness of humanity and in this sense it was done well. There was a lot of personality in the story and the plot is supposed to some second to the characters. Whether you dislike or loved Snow, you almost certainly did because he represents something about someone you didn’t like. It was a bit linear but if you enjoyed the story then that’s all you need. I agree I would’ve preferred more to the game but what it had it did well and I can’t fault a game for that. It would be like faulting a Ferrari for not having rocket boosters just because they’d make the car better than it is.

The other aspect, the combat that is, was actually very well done and much better than most give credit for. If you were one of those that just button mashed the auto combat button, don’t complain then that was all you needed to do. In most of Final Fantasy VIII I could spam summoning and would’ve cake walked most of the game, the thing is, I didn’t because I wanted challenge and to strategically invest in combat. Well Final Fantasy XIII allowed for the same thing. Its paradigm mechanic was the strategic element and how you used them was what made it fun. Swapping to defensive and healing paradigms; then to buff and debuff while staggering the opponent was all very entertaining and brilliantly executed. Because you could defeat an enemy with a single star ranking and moving on doesn’t make the game easy. What gave some challenge, though I admit not enough, was trying to get 5 stars for each battle. That required more than just spamming auto combat and was exactly where the enjoyability of the combat lied.

At the end of the day, some loved Final Fantasy XIII and others didn’t. I respect those that disliked it for what it did wrong but to like it for what it didn’t have and then hating on it is a different matter altogether. I don’t hate Final Fantasy IX because it went back to the fantasy style of old rather than the sci-fi of the last two games.

I was quietly surfing the internet the other night and glazing over all the news feed on my Facebook account when I happened upon a Reddit session with R.A. Salvatore. Salvatore is the writing genius behind the lore and story of the open world RPG Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning. He was conducting a Reddit session open to the public in the hopes of further promoting the release of the game which is coming to us here in South Africa this Friday. If you don’t know who R.A. Salvatore is then let me educate you a bit.

Salvatore is famous for writing The DemonWars Saga series of books which had an accompanying role-playing game. He also wrote The Dark Elf trilogy set in the Forgotten Realms universe (the same as Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate) with his own character creation Drizzt, a famous dark elf by RPG fan standards. He is also famous for killing off Chewbacca in his Star Wars novel Vector Prime. Following this, he has had a fantastic career in the fantasy genre. Eventually, he was invited by Curt Schilling (Head honcho of 38 Studios) to take a step in developing an entire universe and lore for a new IP which was Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning. So when I came across a Reddit session with R.A. Salvatore I decided to take a look at what went on behind the creative process of making the game. In this feature, I’ve basically summarised some of the interesting questions and answers that were thrown around in the Reddit session that may interest you.

One of the first interesting questions asked was: “Can you give us some details on how you used previous character and world-building experience in Kingdoms of Amalur?”. Salvatore responded by saying, “Whenever I’m building a world, I relate the cultures/religions/power structures/governments, etc. to things we’ve seen in our own world. So I lay down the boundaries, the guideposts, the system of logic that guides the illogical (magic and gods), and then look within those boundaries through a tilted prism. I’m not trying to recreate the wheel from scratch – doing so (which many people claim to want) never works, but trying to find new and interesting combinations, and then push some of the tropes and details out one way or another”. What he says already gives me hope for how good this game is going to be. Clearly setting out how the world operates is the first step in good game design.

A world in an RPG like Kingdoms Of Amalur needs to have set principles that guide how everything works. It can’t just be stitched together like an abortion of many games from the genre. That’s a useless exercise and alienates fans. But using the elements of an RPG in such a way that is conducive to something interesting to play is a good indication of a well crafted universe and lore.

The next question from the Reddit session which I felt might to be of greater interest than all the Dark Elf Drizzt fanboyism and accusations about killing off a certain Wookie was related to Salvatore’s position. Particularly, what his role exactly entailed. One of the users asked, “What role in the game’s development did you play?”, with a further question about the “struggles” Salvatore may have run into as a game designer that he didn’t expect, as well as his favourite part of the game. Salvatore replied by saying, “I created the world, and hammered the narrative team early on as a 10,000-foot editor. We have a policy at 38 Studios: we hire talented people and let them be wonderful, so I made sure not to tell other people, even the writers, how they had to do it. In the end, I created the skeleton of Amalur, but this world and these games are truly a team effort, down to the last writer, designer, engineer, artist, etc. So my role, and Todd’s for that matter, was to mentor people without stifling them. I’m sure I’ll get more blame for things than I deserve, but more than that, I’ll get more CREDIT for things than I deserve. Team effort, to every rock and path and quest and boss fight”. Effective co-operation amongst individuals in the development team is a good sign for a game, not like Duke Nukem Forever’s spastic development cycle.

I think that if the game is successful we could be seeing more from 38 Studios, and with a dedicated team such as this I won’t be surprised if we do. It’s clear that 38 Studios has a good work ethic. Let’s hope it’s consistent and timely, and we’re not left waiting another five years for a follow-up game. Following this, another user asked a question in reference to the fateless nature of your character within the game and asked, “When you were creating the world, how did you evolve the idea of a character that can truly control his own fate?”. Salvatore responded stating that the idea of developing the character in such a direction “was just one of those fortunate coincidences” because the mechanics that 38 Studios had in mind fitted well with the story. The mechanics instead of alienating narrative construction enriched the story, rather than limited it. The same Reddit user followed up his previous question with another. It was related to how the development team operated and he asked, “Was your mission to set-up the envelope for the developers and leave them to their own devices, or did you sort of guide the narrative and quest team through the process like some kind of narrative strider?”

R.A. replied to the enamoured user by saying, “It’s always hard to marry those two things, but really, that speaks to the hard work of the BHG team and their contacts at 38, with constant back and forth conversations. My role is as mentor/editor, trying to pull the best work out of the writers and designers without stifling them”. Without clear creative direction such as this I think that Kingdoms Of Amalur would be receiving a far greater negative reception among critics than positive.

However, what I found intriguing reading through some of Salvatore’s answers was how one becomes so close to the game’s world in writing for a game. Yet for a game such as this your own character is the central cog on which your own experience is determined in the game’s world. A particular user in the session asked, “How’s it different to write for games than it is to write conventional novels?”. Salvatore replied by pointing out that when you write a book the readers “live vicariously through your characters”. He further stated, “When you write for a game, the only character which truly matters is the one the player creates”. This for me is the point of an RPG. It’s all about your character and how he or she interacts with the world. If this basic element is missing from an RPG then the experience is rather dull.

In conclusion, after reading through a huge amount of comments I found these few questions and answers to be the best in terms of offering perspective about what went into Kingdoms Of Amalur writing-wise. However, if you are interested in checking out more of the Reddit session be my guest and have a gander by following this link. If you enjoyed this feature and want more in-game perspectives in the future then send us an email, and we’ll get right on it.

Earlier last week, EA released a demo to their latest shooter Syndicate. A game that is a modern, FPS take on a cherished retro isometric tactical shooter title, Syndicate has already received many criticisms about its Deus Ex like setting, its shift into the FPS realm and more, but these were all made before anyone really had a chance to play the game. Developers Starbreeze Studios are also no strangers to the shooter scene, with stand out titles such as the two Chronicles of Riddick games and The Darkness. With a developer like that behind the wheel, it’s surprising that fans still refused to have faith in the reboot, despite the fact that the original was released decades ago. However, most of us here at the eGamer office played the co-op demo online, and suffice to say, we were pretty impressed.

But let’s just slow down a bit and let everyone catch up. Syndicate is based in the future, around 2069, where corporations all vie for power, and hostile asset takeovers are the norm. In this demo, you and 3 other players take control of four agents who have been sent into a compound in order to assassinate several Generals and, in turn, damage the reputation and share price of a rival corporation. The game’s tagline “Business is War” is evidently fitting, and as soon as you step out of the vehicle you arrive in, you’ll fully realise this new take on the future. The map in question was Western Europe, and is one of the many multiplayer maps that will be available when the game releases. The whole encounter plays out in a kind of “Left4Dead” style, with you and your team mates fighting through numerous hostile sectors and eventually reaching “safe zones” which act as reloading bays and checkpoints. The map in question was designed pretty well, with numerous flanking options and choke points for the A.I to slaughter you in. And boy, given the chance, they’ll do exactly that.

The enemy A.I. in Syndicate seems to be quite brutal. They work well together, usually attacking you in pairs or small groups, making them extremely effective. Syndicate is also quite difficult, and I found attempting to tackle the map with less than the recommended four players led to challenging and almost impossible endeavours. So, in order to take out this opposable force, you’ll need a lot of awesome, futuristic weaponry, right? Well, thankfully, you’ll have enough weapons to satisfy your gunpowder craving hearts, and even in the demo there were more than a few weapons on show. Ranging from powerful shotguns, light sub-machine guns and sniper rifles, each and every weapon feels like it packs a powerful punch behind, although it wouldn’t be apparent to you when you actually shoot enemies. Enemy soldiers don’t really seem to react to your fire, and would rather take an entire magazine to the face instead of running away. Enemies take quite a few bullets to kill, which makes these ammunition sponges all the more pesky to dispatch.

Thankfully, guns and grenades aren’t the only things that make up your arsenal in Syndicate. As you may have heard, agents in Syndicate all come equipped with militarised versions of the game’s neural chip implants. Basically, the world has become so technologically centered, that everyone has neural implants that feed them information about their surroundings, homes, business, news, banking and much more. But how does this translate onto the battlefield. Well, the chip basically makes up your HUD, displaying weapon ammunition, hit indicators, highlighting important equipment and marking threats. Sounding a lot like Deus Ex? That’s okay, because when it comes to the actual gameplay, Syndicate’s use of its “tomorrow” technology is quite different.

First off, every player is able to heal a team mate, regardless of what loadout is picked. What is really handy is the fact that you can heal other players from ridiculously long distances by holding down a single button, even while you’re shooting the head off of another sniper. This really does come in handy in really tight situations, and the way the points system evenly awards points for both healing and shooting keeps players working together effectively. While your health does regenerate over time, teams that constantly watch each others health metres will probably die a lot less, a lesson I had to constant drill into Dean’s head until he finally healed me once in a while. But let’s face it, you’re going to die eventually, and when you do you’ll be forced to walk around, hunched over like you’re from Notre Dame, until another team mate “reboots” you. Basically, until someone gets close enough to revive you, you’re stuck like this, and the “Bash X to move quicker” prompt that pops up really doesn’t make a noticeable difference. In this state, enemies are still free to shoot and completely take you out of the equation until either your entire team dies or they reach the next safe point.

But that’s really the boring part of what this neural implant does. The fun parts come into play when you realise how you can “hack” into enemies’ implants and manipulate them on the fly. This act is called Breaching, and it is the crux of Syndicate’s gameplay. Using various different types of Breach, you are able to open gates that allow you to flank, disable turrets, dud grenades that are tossed at you, disable enemy armor and close enemy attack points. A more direct approach allows you to even cause bullets to explode in enemy’s guns, knocking them back and even instantly killing them. There are also passive abilities that you are able to activate, including shielding or additional damage to your entire team, as well as a universal heal function. Combine all of that with an overlay that allows you to see through walls and more, and you’ve got some explosive gameplay on your hands.

Outside of the battlefield, you are able to upgrade and enhance these abilities through leveling up. While Syndicate may not offer competitive online multiplayer, the developers really did a fine job of making sure that your progress and numerous co-op playthroughs would still reward you. After leveling up, you’re awarded with one chip point, which you can place on a skill tree that enhances your health, regeneration, Breach time and even unlocks additional Breaching capabilities and tiers. When you unlock one of these nodes, you are able to research and develop your current Breach abilities in order to make them stronger or faster, or research completely new ones to add to your arsenal. You are assigned a specific ability depending on what type of loadout you pick, but level up enough and you’ll be able to equip an additional two capabilities to utilise on the battlefield. While I wasn’t able to play enough to reach some of the really interesting ones, the smaller, lighter Tier One applications were still extremely useful and fun to use. The only small problem I have is with weapon customisation and upgrading.

Unlike the Breach chip upgrades, weapon attachments and upgrades are earned through research and development rather than simple leveling up. While other weapons are unlocked through levelling up, the attachments that you are able to equip on them come much more easily. Basically, you’re given a list of weapon specific upgrades that you are able to research, allowing you to tag one for current development and another for pending development, in case you hit mid-match and have already reached your first upgrade. While in research, any points you earn in matches fill up a bar that, when complete, unlocks that certain attachment. However, the bars in question are extremely short, and I found I could easily fully upgrade a certain weapon in less than ten matches. Even less if I played with Adam and Dean, since I was able to rack up a huge score after constantly reviving them. It takes away from the game’s progression, but I’m hoping that when the full game releases that there will be more weapons for me to focus on and really fight for.

Other than that, there is not much else I can really say at this moment about Syndicate. Matchmaking worked smoothly, although I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to create a party and then take it online to fill the empty seats. While the maps were well designed, they were also very bland, offering no real visual change through each section, though I’m hoping the other eight co-op maps will each feature varying locales. One thing I can say though is that I’m extremely excited for this game’s launch. No competitive multiplayer could mean that the single-player portion of the game has been given a really good treatment, and after the mass amount of fun I had in co-op, I doubt it will be getting old anytime soon.

Fighting games and I have a real love-hate relationship. I really enjoy them; right up until a friend comes over, hits the gamepad with their face and ends up winning matches. The other possibility is I practice, unlock every character and refine my skills, only for the game to then become less enjoyable with friends because I can just cream them. There are exceptions to this however, take Mortal Kombat for example, it’s not only fun to master but easy to enjoy and all my friends actually bought it. So Soul Calibur 5, is it any good? Well I should say so, it may be my first real experience with the Soul Calibur series but I know the genre well and it was definitely better than I expected.

Let’s start with the story, well Soul Calibur 5 definitely takes its story quite seriously, more serious than most in fact. Soul Calibur 5, in true fighting game style, leaves little to be desired and despite trying hard is quite cheesy. It’s called 1607 A.D., taking place 17 years after Soul Calibur IV and revolves around a young Patroklos searching for revenge and the two swords Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. Without giving too much away it is rather predictable and not exactly award winning but that really doesn’t matter does it. The story pushes you forward and keeps combat from being nothing but match after match, occasionally letting you duke it out against adversaries you otherwise wouldn’t get to fight. It is interesting at times and despite its flaws, much more enjoyable than many of the dry story modes served up with most fighting games.

Apart from the story mode, there’s all the sorts of offline modes you’d expect; arcade mode, versus mode, a quick battle mode, a training mode and a legendary souls mode. Legendary souls mode is for the more hardcore player and offers a more difficult arcade mode. Quick battle mode presents you with 4 custom characters (I’ll get to that in a minute) to which you can either challenge or swap out for 4 more characters to challenge. Each battle earns you titles, experience to level up and occasionally a fighting style. Of course there’s an online mode and contains all the features you’d expect from a current-gen fighting game; ranked matches, unranked matches and a rather interesting mode called global colesseo. Global colosseo mode places all players who join into a sort of randomly generated tournament where you move up as you win matches, leading to the two best players to duke it out in the finals. I did try this mode and it was very enjoyable but be warned, there are some insane players coming off of previous Soul Calibur games.

The result of playing online with little to no experience.

Character creation, told you I’d get to it, is back and far more creative and approachable than in Soul Calibur IV; and even more so as you unlock items by levelling up your rank. In character creation you are allowed to customise almost every aspect of what your character wears and what colour or pattern that item should have. This aesthetic skin is placed over the fighting style of a chosen character within the game and makes for a great way to individualise yourself from everyone else who chose the same character. Speaking of characters, there are a few new and many old faces to pit against each other. Of course guest character Ezio from Assassin’s Creed is present and has quite a unique fighting style to match his personality and well… career. It’s one of the larger rosters in the series and maintains a balance of unique fighters who each makes use of a very specialised fighting style. I’m surprised they wrung so much balance out of a weapon system that would seem to make combat quite chaotic.

Gameplay is where Soul Calibur has seen its biggest changes and quite a large change to what was considered the staple mechanics of the Soul Calibur series. Critical finishes and its accompanying soul gauge have been removed so there are no more instant kill opportunities in Soul Calibur V. Armour remains destructible but there is no longer a meter to gauge how destroyed a piece of armour is; the only sign your armour is wearing down is when it shatters off of your character should they take too many heavy blows. Additionally, and to allow for a set of super moves, rather than instant kills, there is a new super gauge that as it fills allows you to use ‘brave’ and ‘critical’ edge attacks that deal heavy damage. They work well enough and seem to balance out the style of combat the character uses; so some more damaging but harder to get in and this will correspond with the tank like character Nightmare. 8-Way-Run (I’m sure they could’ve thought of a better name) allows characters to easily side step their adversary with a quick double-tap of either up or down; something that is crucial in this game as blocking is nowhere near as effective as avoiding an attack all together. I should say that this aspect of combat is rather balanced and means that you can either block, a far easier move to execute, but leaves you open to grabs and other moves. Or you can dodge, which is harder to do as the opponent may read your manoeuvre, opening you to attack but also allowing for retaliation if done right. The final mechanic is called ‘just guard’ and if done correctly results in a ‘perfect’ guard, allowing for a considerably shorter time required countering the opponent. All in all the combat is quite balanced and seems to favour all styles of combat while not making any specific character overbalanced or open to exploit. There are a few characters who are still able to spam a move and create annoying situations though I am yet to play a fighting game where that isn’t the case to some extent.

Yoshimitsu using a critical edge.

Speaking of gameplay, the A.I can be quite brutal at times, something you’d expect from a fighting game, but can also be a bit dim-witted at the easier settings. That’s easy to get around and a quick change of the difficulty will fetch a more suited experience. There is one strange occurrence however, and seems to occur in modes like quick battle where different levels of character difficulty are meshed into one mode. What seems to happen is you’ll choose an adversary who seems relatively easy for the first round and about half way into another round when all of a sudden their difficulty kicks up 10 levels and you get creamed. The other aspect of A.I that might frustrate those new to the series, and without at least some modest level of skill, you might find the last stages of story mode to be surprisingly difficult when all previous matches were far less challenging. None of these A.I faults are game wrecking but can be annoying at times.

The one clear improvement over any other iteration in the series is obviously visuals. Soul Calibur V is a very pretty fighter and makes every effort to squeeze all the detail it can into its characters and levels. To work wonders with the visuals is a fitting and enjoyable sound track as well as smooth framerates, something vital to any tournament level fighter. Soul Calibur V is definitely one of the better looking fighters and makes up for what it lacks in some of the characters voices.

Soul Calibur is an enjoyable game, a great online fighter and will look good for a time to come. Its gameplay isn’t exactly new and employs many of the same characters the series has carried over since the first iteration. It’s definitely an evolution of the series rather than a revolution and despite being the same Soul Calibur we’ve come to expect, it does it rather well. The few hiccups it has are easily outweighed by its strengths and while it may not be my favourite fighter ever, it is far from my least.

I don’t think the title contains that much ambiguity but, to reiterate, in this feature I’ll be presenting my take on seven of history’s greatest ever first person shooters. Of course, these are all games I feel very strongly about, and are my personal choices that I feel represent the very best of what the genre has to offer. Don’t get too carried away though, because as the title says it’s only a list of seven games, and doesn’t encapsulate the entire genre – just my absolute favourite games from it.

So that’s in before the inevitable “why you no include megaton destructor alienz shooter 72 trolol” – it’s my list, not yours, and that’s the way the potato crumbles. I think I messed up that saying. Although that said, I’d very much like to hear your opinions about my list as well as what would be on your own personal lists, so feel free to sound off, praise me or flame me in the comments section.

Without further point-delaying ranting, let’s get to it.

7. Portal

You have a gun and you shoot stuff. Problem?

There’s a reason I didn’t specifically say which Portal I’m referring to, and that’s because I’m just considering the whole game itself, and not really choosing between the original or its sequel. Out of interest though, the latter was our Game of the Year for 2011, and it was very deserving of that award. Those who love Portal will know exactly why it has made my list. The original game in the series was basically a two hour experiment from Valve, but it turned out to be very much close to a perfect game. Protal was entirely original, full of personality and expertly paced, and it featured great writing and absolutely brilliant gameplay. It was definitely a winner, and in my books one of the greatest games to ever grace this genre. And to top it off, its charm, writing and humour makes it memorable.

And last year, let’s not forget Portal 2, which was Valve turning a two hour perfect experience into a full-length game that included an amazing new multiplayer feature. The result was something more. An absolute masterpiece that was one up on perfection. You may be wondering at this point why, if I’m speaking so highly of it, is it at number seven on my list. Well, that’s only because of personal preference, and because I never said my list order made sense. Still, Portal 2 continued to deliver at the standard the original game set, and raised the stakes, especially with its phenomenal multiplayer mode. It was the sequel that we as gamers both deserved and needed (take that The Dark Knight meme!), and I definitely feel that it’s amongst the best this genre has ever had to offer.

6. Crysis (2007)

I can’t stress it enough that I’m not talking about Crysis 2 – that game doesn’t come close to what the original achieved for PC gaming, and neither is it even a good game in my opinion. The original Crysis released in 2007, and it’s one of my favourite games of all time, and one of the best PC and FPS games I’ve ever played. In fact, it’s so damn good that I’ve actually been playing it again recently while waiting for this month’s releases, and I’m enjoying every moment. Not only was the original Crysis the best-looking game ever made for its time, setting the benchmark for PC graphics for years and still having visuals that are brilliant today, but it was also an innovative, unique and exceptional game.

The game centered around an advanced military nanosuit that used energy to enhance strength, speed and armour, as well as render the wearer invisible at will. This feature, coupled together with the expanded open world environment similar to Crytek’s Far Cry, made the game extremely dynamic and diverse. You truly felt like something more than human, and like a force to be reckoned with. You were not invincible by any means, but if you played skillfully and combined your abilities correctly then you could very well feel like it. One of my favourite features in the game was its unique weapon custimisation, which allowed you to modify your guns with silencers, scopes and tactical equipment in real-time and at any moment. You were just completely free to play the game however you wanted to, and the four suit powers, gorgeous visuals and excellent physics made things infinitely more enjoyable. And no one can say that it’s not exhilarating to use maximum strength and throw Koreans clean through buildings. I never grow tired of it, and I have nothing against Asians. I seriously don’t.

Crysis also had a fantastic, action-packed campaign, which also featured an intriguing story. And the cherry on top was that PC gamers could enjoy a great deal of modding to make the game worth playing multiple times. And for me, never since Grand Theft Auto has using cheats been so damn fun in a game, as Crysis allowed you to tweak practically everything through the developer console, including things like the speed and strength boosts your suit gives. It’s easy to see from this exactly how much I love the original Crysis, and I’m really not exaggering anything I’ve said. It’s just awesome.

5. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a game that I will always remember, because not only is it one of the best FPS and multiplayer games I’ve played, but it was also an experience that reinforced to me years ago the idea that graphics don’t make a game. Released as a free, downloadable game, Enemy Territory was a dynamic and unique class-based multiplayer shooter that was as much tactical as it was extremely fun. In the game you could choose to be a solider, medic, engineer, field operator or covert operator, with each having a very distinct play-style and value on the battlefield. Engineers were key for completing objectives required to win, while soldiers were highly effective in combat. Field operators were a unique class, in that they could act as support by giving ammo packs to allies, but they could also call in air strikes. Medics could heal and revive teammates, and they had more health. Covert operators could use silenced weaponry as well as sniper rifles, and take the uniforms of the dead, allowing them to infiltrate enemy bases, and destroy objectives using remotely detonated charges.

There are more abilities for each class that I haven’t mentioned, but the main thing is that from my perspective it’s one of the best class-based tactical shooters you can find. One of the best features was that experience points actually advanced your class in-game the more you played, which granted you new abilities and advantages. However, these were not permanent upgrades like we commonly see today. Rather they lasted for the duration of the rounds before the map changed. Everyone was on even playing fields this way, and had to play well to level up, of which there were four levels.

It was just such a joy to play, finding a fine line between complexity and simplicity. The maps were fantastically designed too, almost providing a fresh experience with each different one. This is one of those games I often find myself thinking about and hoping to play again, because it’s just that great.

4. Half-Life

I’m pretty sure that no one needs to be told why Half-Life is here, and again just like Portal I’m referring to the series as a whole rather than any individual game in it. Half-Life is just one of the most innovative, unique and amazing first person shooters you can ever find, and it was revolutionary for its time. Fans are pleading to the Gods every day that Episode 3 gets officially announced, but at the same time they’re thanking the Lord every night before they sleep because Valve created this series. I think that sums up all the praise I can give it. Well, I could just say “Crowbar” and all fans would probably find themselves smiling. On the upside though, at least Black Mesa, the independent remake of the original Half-Life, is still alive, so there’s that to look forward to. I know I definitely am.

Head over to the next page for the remaining games – my top three.

In this week’s What Makes A Gamer we look at the infinitely extending and eternally occurring phenomenon known as ‘rage quitting’. Rage quitting has never been precisely defined, and we’ll see if we can come to common ground with it here.

The first step I took in trying to define rage quitting was to use Google because as we all know Google is the most reliable source of information available to the human race. I then clicked on a Wikipedia link titled “Computer rage” and was jetted off to an even more reliable Wiki page explaining what exactly computer rage is. The article states:

“Computer rage is a heightened physiological response with associated feelings of anger and frustration resulting from using a computer or other complex electronic device. It may result in the physical assault of the computer or similar item, possibly leading to the device incurring more damage than it had before”.

This broad definition doesn’t apply to the specificity of rage quitting but does encompass some of the involvement necessary for the action of ‘rage quitting’. The finer points of the definition manifest with verbal abuse, physical abuse towards a peripheral such as whacking your keyboard, controller against a wall or kicking your chair. In the online realm, players flame other players shouting over voice chats, and sending rude messages.

Finally we come to the only mention of rage quitting precisely in the article. Rage Quitting is defined as, “exiting a game prematurely out of anger”. But rage quitting is more complex than one measly line of text. It is normally confounded by the type of game being played, the players themselves and the context of what has caused the rage-induced quitting in the first place. A gamer can fail to achieve an objective in a game, get repeatedly killed in an FPS, forget to save before a big boss getting smashed to oblivion in the process and even have their game bug out inducing the rage quit procedure.

So now I’ll attempt to sum up the experience of rage quitting as best I can. Things are about to get ugly. Say, have you ever had that experience whilst playing an RPG after grinding your character for a good few hours only to find out in the middle of a battle that you’re character has levelled up the wrong skills? Meaning that your character is utterly useless in the context of the boss fight. I reckon that we’ve all had that happen to us (unless you’re an uber killing machine like Dean or an inter-dimensional cyborg like Tim, yes he is the terminator).

You feel the rage slowly build within you like an ‘agro’ monster waiting to be released. The rage leaks out of your body consuming your mouth as you repeatedly utter “fuck, Fuck, FUCK!”, and then once you’ve been ‘caned’ by the aforementioned boss guys, or some 14 year old, you kick the controller and quit the game without the slightest concern for the well being of your console or PC. They you my brother (or sister) are experiencing the rage quit in all it’s ‘agro’ glory.

This is the experience that I suspect many gamers who’ve played Dark Souls endured. A game which is designed to make you rage quit is indication enough of the epidemic that is rage quitting. I think that on the flipside rage quitting is okay within a single player game, but when you’re playing a multiplayer game particularly of the FPS variety it gives an aura of bad sportsmanship (which nearly everyone is online). But that is to say that most of the reasons for rage quitting are normally due to the screams of 14 year olds on XBOX live attacking you with insults as they murder your face at COD. However, that is to be expected since they don’t know what sex is and obviously don’t have a girlfriend so they get their jollies off pestering players who just want to have fun.

Yet the rage is easily culpable in the situation because it’s so easy to fall prey to it. There’s a reason why many of the Jedi in Star Wars became Sith it’s because they weren’t leet enough to stick to the Jedi Code like a hardcore gamer, and essentially rage quit the light side. Although, Jedi’s and hardcore gamers can also be prudes and of the ‘arschloch’ persuasion and are like the disciples of the rage quitting universe. Count Dooku was just mad at Yoda because he had douchey Jedi name and rage quitted the light side of the force. But Jedi, who are also hardcore gamers, are also butthurt because they can’t get any booty calls for religious reasons, as one’s force purity is stained by the throes of passion. Essentially, when it comes to rage quitting everyone is guilty of it. If you aren’t than you are a cyborg from the future, astalavista baby.

Imagine if you could rage quit real things in life. Your girlfriend’s getting on your case; you just rage quit. Boss giving you problems and you rage quit. Playing too much LoL (League of Legends) in a Korean internet café; you rage quit. Well, that’s suicide. I guess then that rage quitting wouldn’t help in real life. We have emo kids for that. Obviously because losing the game in real life and a videogame are two totally different things.

If you just read that previous line you might be rageful, if not carry on your way in ignorant bliss. If you did ‘get’ it you might as well rage quit. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s a part of every gamer’s nature, and therefore if you rage quit — you’re a gamer. So, just go with it.

Features removed, game redesigns, release date unconfirmed and the hunger for Diablo 3 grows. Diablo 3 may come out tomorrow, ok probably not, though we might only see it at the dawn of 2013. Luckily, and for all those loot heads out there, those who need an isometric RPG this year, we’ve compiled a list of five games to compete with Diablo 3. Some of these games are relatively light on detail and we’ll give you a video of each to accommodate any info we have. We can’t be sure any of these games will release before Diablo 3, but we’re hoping their developers have stepped up their game in order to compete with Diablo 3. So without further delay, here’s that list — across five pages.

Name: Torchlight 2
Genre: Isometric, Action RPG
Multiplayer: Yes
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
Developers: Runic Games
Publishers: Perfect World
Release Date: Early 2012 (Pending Confirmation)
Preview: Torchlight 2

Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer, one of the lead designers on Diablo 2 and now assisting on Torchlight 2, along with lead developer Travis Baldree are confident Torchlight 2 will be an indie AAA. Runic Games are not only planning to improve every aspect of Torchlight’s gameplay, as we’ve already talked about in the lengthier preview, but plans to improve on the original’s sales figures; which hit the millions. Furthermore, and with a modestly cheap price, mod support and a multiplayer component over and above the original game’s single player only experience; Runic Games are staring Diablo 3 straight in the eyes and aren’t budging.

Torchlight 2 has a lot of content and sports a very refined and much improved Diablo 2 style of play. And with diverse classes, pet and fishing mechanics returning and a whole bucket load of other nifty little extras; Torchlight 2 is looking to put up a serious fight.

Next entry on the next page.

Fan favourites that no one will remember when something better comes alo…ooohh look! Something shiny.

We have all started to use the word memorable to mean fun or enjoyable. I’ve been slapped by a woman before and it was neither fun nor enjoyable but it was pretty memorable.

This is the distinction I’m making. Memorable does not mean good or fun, it doesn’t even mean intense or shocking. It’s far more personal than that. What is memorable to one person might be completely forgettable to another.

What we find memorable is what touches us. Something about the world, story or gameplay somehow becomes linked with powerful emotion. Certain songs remind me of ex-girlfriends, some books are so vivid in my memory I still can’t believe they aren’t real, and some games I will remember forever.

Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. The first is a masterpiece, the second is arguable the first game to ever seriously grab you by the scrotum and pull you on a wild globe-trotting adventure so spectacular you’re left almost feeling sexually satisfied, but what about the third? Releasing to positive but not spectacular reviews, why do I lump that piece of coal in with those other gems? It’s personal. The game lets you choose which of the two brothers to play as and their interactions and dynamic were so similar to my own relationship with my brother that I genuinely loved the characters. I will remember them forever and I cannot defend the game as anything more than good. Memorable is personal.

Last week I wrote an article on 5 Games We’ll Remember In 20 Years. Those were the select few games from the last year or so that gave experiences that lead to a profound feeling of inner growth. They all had those “OMG!!” moments but what made them special was what you got left with afterwards.

The games on this list are the one night stands. Fun, special, one hell of a good time, and they make you smile when you think about them but I won’t remember them when their sequels release or bigger things come along.

I’m not speaking about recollection. Any normal person who has their morning coffee without whisky and leaves cocaine on toast only for special occasions will hopefully be able to recollect most of the good games they’ve played. They should even have some fond memories and when the ice caps melt, our grandchildren are plentiful and Half Life 3 is a folk legend, we should still be able to do a healthy bit of reminiscing while sitting in a nuclear-powered rocking chair, but they won’t make us fall silent. In our private moments we won’t suddenly remember them and get a warm sensation in our bellies.

5 games from the last 24 months that took the world by storm but that I won’t remember come the sunshine. These games burn bright and fiercely but when I put the down the controller, once the initial awe and excitement has died down, I’m left satisfied but I’m not in love.
 
 

5. Call of Duty. Anything After 4.

This may seem obvious but it’s being said anyway. This is the epitome of what I’m talking about here. Fun, well made and maybe even awe-inspiring, until the sequel comes along. These games are fast food, cheap wine and the easy, drunk chick at the party.

There’s fun to be had and lots of it too, but these game won’t stick with me. I barely understand their stories and the action starts to meld together into one big ‘splosion of Scottish, bearded, magnificent mustached, action.

I’ll probably continue to play them every year. The same way I’ll watch the new Transformers movies.

Pretty things and things that go boom.

Not everything has to be profound and that’s completely fine.

I love Blue Mountain State – who doesn’t?
 
 

4. Batman: Arkham City

Yes, I know – this was an outstanding game. Certainly the best Batman experience you can have short of actually eating gravel and becoming Batman.

Fluid, well designed combat, fun gadgets and even a memorable story.

Nothing new enough.

After Arkham Asylum swept me off my feet Arkham City was going to have to work really hard to impress me. It did to an extent but the problems start right at the conceptual level.

Arkham Asylum but bigger and more open world. If the game wasn’t so big and fleshed out this could have passed for an expansion.

As it stands, I remember the feeling I got when I first ran around feeling like Batman – in Arkham Asylum. Now I have a lot of fun but this just feels like an expanded game without any serious innovation or hooks to make me remember Arkham City over Asylum.

Rocksteady are talented developers and I’m excited for whatever they do next.

I’ll remember the first time I silently took out a room of thugs using my bad-assery. It was in Arkham Asylum.
 
 

3. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

I know I’m not alone here. In fact my distinguished colleague wrote an entire article on why the Assassin’s Creed franchise has become that weird slightly over 40 woman at the teenage party.

In fact I’m going to quote him directly and link to his article because there is nothing left to say that he hasn’t already said.

Firstly, and amongst the biggest issues with the game, is that it showed me how exhausted the gameplay was. With barely anything worth writing home about added to the game, and an identical formula to its predecessors, Revelations couldn’t bring back the excitement of past games. Variety was a lot less, and things like the renovating system and slow pace often made playing it a serious chore. The game relied heavily on its previous successes, and failed to really build from its predecessors in any significant way.

Azhar’s Full Article. Go read it and then send a letter to Ubisoft.
 
 
Find the next two entries on the following page.

Be honest, two months ago if I said that a game was coming out in a few months that would be a third-person open-world RPG that would be similar to Fable in some ways and similar to more conventional RPGs in other ways, would you know what I was talking about?

What if I gave you a name and a backstory; told you that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was a game where you played as a character who had previously died and been successfully revived and therefore had the ability to alter their destiny and therefore save the world, would you know what the fuck I was talking about?

Sure some of you who are nodding along actually would have. Indeed I heard of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning a few months ago before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released, because someone on a local gaming forum said that they would hold off on a day-one purchase of the latter because they wished to see what the former was all about. And then I went and researched the game because the thought that someone would hold off on something like Skyrim for it, intrigued me. The rest of you who are nodding, are liars. Filthy, stinking liars. Go wash out your necks with soap.

The thing is, many people did not in fact know of Kingdoms of Amalur, from here on simply Reckoning because it’s shorter and it sounds cooler as well. Many knew the name but not much else about the game, no details nor any sort of prior experience with gameplay.

How did you all find out about the game, then? Why are so many more people excited for this game just before it releases, whereas only a fraction knew it even existed just a few months ago?

That’s right, Electronic Arts offered you items for Mass Effect 3 for playing the demo.

Such is the power of marketing.

I could pretty much drop my metaphorical microphone at that point and walk out in dramatic fashion, ending this column only a few hundred words in and still conveying perfectly, the point that I am trying to make. But why ruin the fun for everyone who actually enjoys these things I do? … What? Yes they exist!

When the purpose of a developer is to create games that players will enjoy, the purpose of the publisher is then to make money off those games, such is the way of the games industry.

A game can be about as brilliant as Half-Life 2 or Dragon Age 2 (just kidding everyone… calm down) and yet if it isn’t marketed well, it’s going to flop and die a sad, miserable death. Not unlike that child who died of cancer last night while you were contemplating the death of say, Michael Jackson… Too far?

Would you like some examples of games that were brilliant but sold pathetically? Of course you would. Beyond Good & Evil is the first and probably most relevant because it was a cult classic, adored to bits by anyone who had the pleasure of playing it, but it sold abysmally and it took a very long time before Ubisoft approved — and eventually shelved — a proposed sequel to the game. Another Ubisoft series that bears mention is the Prince of Persia trilogy that began with a tongue-in-cheek Sands of Time, got dark and gothic in Warrior Within and then returned to the yellow and blue hues of the first game with The Two Thrones, switching styles at each step because the developer kept trying something that would attract more fans. They never did and the PoP series as we know it, is more or less dead in the water now, replaced by Assassin’s Creed, something that is marketed far better and sells as such.

Now there is a comparison that one could very easily make. The PoP series and the AC series. Two generations of similarly-styled games, one effectively the forefather of the other, yet both selling remarkably differently because of that great facet of the gaming industry that turns your typical game into a hyper-lethal vector of sales; marketing.

If a game is marketed well, gamers will tend to swoop to it like vultures to a rotting carcass lying out in the desert for too long because the poor soul spent too much time playing games and not enough time getting fit enough to survive in such a harsh environment, or something. ¹

And then they’ll swoop to every subsequent title because you’ve already got them under your hold, locked in and gripped tight, eager for their next fix of your series, a la Assassin’s Creed.

“I drink much more than I ought to drink, because it brings me back you.” — Jeff Buckley.

Jim Sterling once remarked that the Halo series is only as highly rated and successful as it is because Microsoft told everyone that it was, even prior to release.

Again, that’s marketing.

Before you fanboys come streaming through the rafters, back off because this is not me hating on your precious holy grail, I promise. There’s just a point that I have to make. Bite your fist and bear it for a paragraph or two.

The Halo series as it stands was not the first console FPS, but what it did was popularise the genre by streamlining the experience. Placing things in the right places. Melee, crouch, grenades, all were in places that removed the need for constantly and clumsily switching weapons. That’s about it, though. The first game didn’t exactly break new ground in story-telling, nor level design, nor anything else even. The graphics weren’t great, the sound wasn’t either.

Microsoft simply told you that Halo: Combat Evolved is where it’s at. And consumers ate it up.

Marketing.

See that advertisement? Let’s say you drive past that each day on your way to work, campus or back from a walk of shame brought on by a night of excessive alcohol intake with a platonic friend. Are you seriously going to ignore it when the game releases? Of course not. You’re going to be interested. You’re going to see it in a store some day and think: “Hey, there’s that game from the building. I wonder what it’s about lol.” Then you’ll stop and pick up the box, give it a scan and because it’s so vague and nondescript but nonetheless enticing, you’ll probably pick it up and attempt to sate your curiosity by giving it a go on your gaming platform of choice.

Game over. The publisher wins.

This works for any game, as well. It’s most definitely one of the main reasons that some really bad games sell so well, while other really good games fade away to nothingness in terms of sales.

Examples? I mentioned one earlier in this column. Actually I mentioned two if you count the AC series with its most recent release, Revelations, being considered less than exceptional by the great majority of those who’ve played it, many who have deemed it the series’ low point.

Yet it sold so well because gamers were already hooked onto the series — see what I did there? — and they made you want to play it through trailers, teased gameplay (if you would recall, there was no hands-on gaming allowed at rAge last year) and generally great marketing strategy. Salute.

Coming back to Reckoning, which releases very soon, many gamers didn’t even care for it until they got wind of the Mass Effect 3 crossover promotion that rewarded those who downloaded the demo for Reckoning with free DLC for BioWare’s upcoming blockbuster franchise (if I may call it that) featuring one Commander Shepard. Suddenly, mass interest was sparked in a game that would have otherwise flown entirely under the radar of most and probably not sold nearly as well. Heresy, perhaps. Still.

Sheer marketing genius, Electronic Arts. Well played to you.

Even if you then went and opted to fuck us with an online pass system that restricts access to certain areas if you’ve not bought at retail and entered in a 25-digit code, for an entirely singleplayer game.

Still, never has marketing and all its inherent successes been so apparent than now.

Consider if you will, the games that we are all clamouring for this year. How many of those have had just a trailer or two, if not none? How many of those would require some extensive Google searching before we find out exactly what it’s about? How many of those are not listed under the upcoming games section of some online store? Not many, right?

And that, my dear gamers, is why marketing wins.

¹ : A fallacy of course, since we all know that gamers are far better survivalists, ready for any apocalypse that comes our way.

—

Update: Well, this is embarrassing. It would seem that in my endeavours to carry a point, I neglected to actually bring that point to the fore in my concluding paragraphs. Something clearly went very wrong, there. I humbly apologise, and offer up this as a closing statement instead:

In today’s gaming industry where a series of games is not so much the only content in itself but an entire franchise including books, movies and all sorts of other media, publishers have been pushing marketing like crazy on titles. Not all make the returns that they expect, with titles like Dead Space 2 — a franchise that EA is pushing extremely hard — performing a touch underwhelmingly compared to something like Dark Souls which, though it sold far less, was realistic about its sales prospects in the first place and so can be considered a marketing success. Inevitably though, it is the publisher’s marketing decisions that dictate whether a game sells well or not.

Look at EA with Reckoning. They offered you some incentive to play the demo and that was all you needed, and now many more gamers are looking forward to the full release. Yes, the demo also played a part in that but would you have honestly played said demo in the first place of not for those DLC incentives?

Sometimes publishers give the impression that they don’t really know what they’re doing, offering up what they call ‘Limited Edition’ versions by the millions, that include just a sticker and an item DLC code or something equally silly, or indeed attempting to goad you into purchasing a game by releasing an animated movie to compliment the title’s release. But sometimes, every now and again, publishers nail it, and hard.

Electronic Arts did that, now. And here’s hoping more publishers — and indeed EA itself — look at this and see that sometimes all it takes to sell to gamers is to make the venture worth their while. Even if you fuck them in the eventual product (as mentioned above), throw them a bone for giving your game a chance, and reap the benefits. Okay, publishers? Now go sell some games.

I seem to be rolling in the controversial headlines when it comes to my column rants, hey? Well, this time it will be different to my last column on Call of Duty, because even though the concept is the same, my stance on the matter here is entirely different. I actually love the Assassin’s Creed series, certainly the first two games above all, believe it or not. But lately the series has put quite a huge strain on my love for it, with Revelations almost completely putting me off it if not for the game’s engaging final hour. All of this has unfortunately gotten me really worried for the final game in the franchise.

I’m writing this to voice my concerns for the series, as an actual fan of it, and I will as always try to uphold an objective perspective on the matter, and discuss honestly while I feel the final game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise is in deep waters, and may need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to give the series a grand send off. But first, let’s talk about what I believe to be the actual problems with the franchise as it stands now, and why South Africa just might need to bring KFC’s Double Crunch back to heal our decaying souls. Definitely more on that last one at some point in the future.

This won’t be as convoluted as my Call of Duty rant, because the issue here is a lot less delicate and complex in my opinion. So I’m going to go straight to it. I believe that the main problem with Assassin’s Creed right now is much like the one its protagonists all seemed to have lately: age and exhaustion. And similarly to Call of Duty right about now, it seems like Assassin’s Creed has also become quite a bit about money. I’d even go as far as to say that I feel they’ve milked it much more than it should have been. And again, to fully elaborate the point, I’d like to go through the franchises’ history and provide a clear analysis on why I believe this to be the case. Let’s start right at the beginning.

• Assassin’s Creed: A brand new IP released in 2007, the game received massive amounts of hype and attention for its awesome concept and setting. I believe the story was the strongest aspect of the game, and really made it worth playing. The game was by no means perfect, as it suffered from many issues ranging from repetitiveness and lack of game variety to unskippable cutscenes and technical problems. But graphically the game was amazing, and its story and audio made the experience. I completely loved the game despite its flaws, and it had the advantage of being a new world and new game, so gamers were very open to it and not overly critical. There was definitely huge potential to be seen, and after the game’s ending all fans were highly anticipating a sequel already. Assassin’s Creed did its job, and did it fantastically well in this regard.

• Assassin’s Creed 2: The hype was phenomenal, and many fans including myself were counting the days until this game would release. When the game finally came out, it was a winner on all fronts. When you took away the painfully slow and horrific pace to the first few hours of the game, then Assassin’s Creed 2 became every bit the sequel it needed to be. The story was really great, and provided a lot more depth to the universe as well as increased the hype for the main plot, as it ended with a bang. And with better action, a longer campaign, more variety in all areas of the game, upgraded graphics, a new setting and story direction and awesome new gadgetry and ideas, Assassin’s Creed 2 was an outstanding game, and marked the series’ rise to its throne.

• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood: The alarm bells started to sound a little when it was announced that this game would be releasing just one year after Assassin’s Creed 2. But the momentum and freshness for the series was much too strong at this point, so fans were ready for another game, especially for the story. But when it launched, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood marked a critical point in the franchise for me. On the one hand, the gameplay was very much improved, and closer to the vision many of us originally had for the series. More emphasis on stealth and a greater emphasis on variety and making the player more deadly in combat paid off really well. A true winner for the series was its newly introduced multiplayer component, which was like nothing else on the market and was compelling for a first attempt. However, I feel that Brotherhood did the story a lot of injustice. In fact it exhausted it to some extent, because it wasn’t gripping or particularly interesting, and the Desmond sections felt mostly there to just keep him in the game. In fact the story only really became relevant in the last hour, and fortunately there was a great cliff hanger. Overall, the game was quite an improvement, and probably the best in the franchise, but it was definitely noticeable that the gap for improvement was growing smaller, and some mechanics were growing old.

• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations: After playing this I must say that if it were not for the franchises’ story, this would have put me completely off the Assassin’s Creed series. Firstly, and amongst the biggest issues with the game, is that it showed me how exhausted the gameplay was. With barely anything worth writing home about added to the game, and an identical formula to its predecessors, Revelations couldn’t bring back the excitement of past games. Variety was a lot less, and things like the renovating system and slow pace often made playing it a serious chore. The game relied heavily on its previous successes, and failed to really build from its predecessors in any significant way if we’re not counting the multiplayer component, which thankfully was a good improvement. However, the worst problem with Revelations, which affected the gameplay as well, was that by now the story had been pretty much exhausted. While Desmond’s dilemma was pretty interesting, the entire Ezio campaign felt like a twenty minute tale stretched over six hours, and everything was pointless and devoid of entertainment until the final hour which wrapped up Ezio’s and Altair’s stories, and that was actually done well. Yep, the yearly development cycle had definitely taken its toll on the series, and even critics rated this game significantly lower than its predecessors. It was just the worst game in the series for me, and it really showed the game’s lack of enthusiasm. It tried to take the story deeper, but Desmond just isn’t anywhere near the level of depth required to carry a story like this, and only the last stretch of the story was remotely interesting or relevant.

This is where I’ll be getting to the real heart of the problem. Which is what Assassin’s Creed 3 needs to do to give this series a great sending off, because right now the game is in trouble. Of course, that trouble is not financially-related, but regarding critical and fan reception. Well, some fans. I’m definitely amongst those worrying for the game, and I feel it seriously needs to step up its game if it wants to reach its previous levels of excellence. But for the first time now, I’m not really excited for the next game in the franchise. That’s highly ironic considering that it’s the final game that will wrap everything up. But the truth is, if Revelations is anything to go by, then I don’t want to get my expectations to an unrealistic level. Because those who know me will know that when I love a game, I have massive expectations for its sequels, and right now I just don’t think Assassin’s Creed has put itself in a very good position, especially since the enthusiastic lead designer, Patrice Désilets, left the series at Brotherhood.

I believe that what is needed for the franchise right now is a progression jump similar to the one from the first game to Assassin’s Creed 2, and even more than that. This is the final game in the series, so the developers need to pull out all the stops and seriously increase the variety and pacing for starters. In fact one of the most important things the game needs is actually meaningful variety. For me, especially in Revelations, it felt like, aside from the Hookblade, almost everything added to the game were just extras there for the sake of it, and were in no way needed. So I feel the game needs to have greater variety in that sense, especially in its missions, arsenal and structure. While I can’t say for sure whether the game needs to go undergo complete reinvention, or just supreme expansion, I can definitely say that a new direction is badly needed. And I don’t mean for the story, because this is obviously the last game, but for the gameplay. Assassin’s Creed 3 needs to heavily emphasise its change of setting, and needs to embrace a change of style and a change in gameplay types. It can’t rely on past successes or its old mechanics. It needs to be bold and new, and once again breathe new life into the franchise, because personally speaking that’s something the series is in dire need of.

The next thing the series obviously needs is complete story emphasis. The time for stretching out details and raising more questions than giving answers should be over. Lackluster, dragged out story missions and slow pacing needs to end as well, and this game really needs to give players what the series has been building up to: a tale where the fate of the entire world is in the protagonist’s hands. The game definitely needs to give players more meaning and importance than hours of jacking around on rooftops and slaughtering people with no plot relevance until the generally significant ending. I know the developers built their game around a 2012 timeline, but that shouldn’t be the excuse as to why the series has become dried out, nor should it be a justification for such short development periods that have actually damaged the series. It’s natural that any new game will eventually stop being new and fresh at a certain point in time, and will also eventually lose its sense of wonder and discovery as fans begin to know the ins and outs of the game. Once this happens, both fans and developers realise the series must stop relying on its freshness, and instead has to turn to producing better sequels. As a result, expectations rise. That’s all normal. But there’s a right way to lose freshness and a wrong way, and Revelations was definitely an example of the wrong way in that it exhausted its own mechanics. This series had, and still has, so much more potential, and it shouldn’t be wasted like this.

Finally, one of the most critical things the series needs is Desmond to actually effectively take on the mantle as the lead protagonist. Both Ezio and Altair are miles above him in terms of character depth and intrigue. I still feel this issue dates back to the original game, when Nolan North was becoming the business in video game voice acting and the developers of Assassin’s Creed seriously underestimated the future of their franchise and Desmond’s importance in it. Revelations did a fairly decent job at giving Desmond some background, but none of it was deeply interesting, most of it was predictable based on hints dropped in previous games and it definitely came at the wrong time. I mean, it was only the fourth game in the franchise that had us learn anything personal and meaningful about him directly from him. Assassin’s Creed 3 therefore needs much more meaningful emphasis on Desmond as a character, because whether we like him or not he is the star of the show, and he needs to step up to it.

In conclusion, I think Assassin’s Creed 3 is in trouble, and it really needs to be something special to give the series the grand sending off it probably deserves. If I have to be perfectly honest, with the story alone Revelations could have been combined with Brotherhood, with some clear cuts made on content, and the result would have been much better. But it stands now that the next entry in the franchise needs to seriously step up big time, and if it manages to pull that off as well as deliver the goods with its story, then I think it will turn out great. If not, and if it makes the same mistakes as Revelations, then from my perspective this franchise won’t be as memorable as I really want it to be.

Assassin’s Creed 3 has a great deal to live up to, and it’s time to raise expectations and not settle for another Revelations, because this series can definitely do a whole lot better than that.

And that is exactly what I want for this franchise. I want Assassin’s Creed 3 to be the best – the series’ magnum opus. It deserves to end that way, and fans deserve nothing less than that.

Cyberconnect 2 are probably known best for their work on the Naruto games, with their most recent and notable titles being Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm on PlayStation 3 and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox360. If you’re a fan of the anime and games, then you probably know that Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is coming out in March. But we’re not here to talk about Naruto, as we’re in fact taking a look at Cyberconnect 2′s brand new IP, Asura’s Wrath, which incidentally is also very much like an anime. Right then, let’s check it out.

Name: Asura’s Wrath
Genre: Action, Beat em’ up
Players: 1
Multiplayer: N/A
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Developers: Cyberconnect 2
Publishers: Capcom
Release Date: 21 February 2012 (NA), 24 February 2012 (EU, SA)

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Asura’s Wrath is its unique concept. By that I mean the game’s universe being a fusion of Asian mythology and sci-fi. You don’t hear that everyday, do you? But it’s definitely intriguing, you have to admit. What’s more so is that since the developers appear to be such big anime lovers, Asura’s Wrath is said to seamlessly blend action and narrative, as well as have each of its chapters play out like an episode of an anime series. Although don’t start thinking cell-shaded now, because that’s not what this is. Now, I’ve played the demo of the game as well as done my research on it, so I’ve gotten a fairly solid idea of what to expect from this title and how it plays, but before we go into all of that business let’s first get into what the game is actually about.

In the game you take on the role of the mighty Asura, who was once a revered general of the Gods. After returning from war, Asura receives a summoning from the Emperor, but arrives to find the big chief murdered. Even worse is that Asura is being accused of the crime. From there he rushes home to his family, only to discover his wife, Durga, dead and his daughter, Mithra, kidnapped. Filled with anger, and realising that the Gods have betrayed him, Asura pursues his former allies in search of Mithra, who the Gods have sealed in a glass capsule. Before he can save his daughter, Asura is thwarted by the God Deus, who confesses to murdering the Emperor so that he can bring about something called “The Great Rebirth”. Asura, weakened from the battle, is thrown into space and finds himself falling down to Earth, swearing to have his revenge. Twelve millenia later, Asura is awakened from his slumber and, consumed with rage and a thirst for vengeance, journeys through Earth unleashing his wrath on the forces of the Gods, fighting to save Mithra from Deus and the Seven Deities, who are his betrayers that now rule over Heaven and have been using Mithra’s magical powers to enhance their own.

Asura’s Wrath is actually a very unique game, based on my short time with it. Yes there are many comparisons currently being made with it and the famous God of War series, mostly because of the game’s premise, but with regards to gameplay they couldn’t be more different. If the two boss fight sections available in the demo are anything to go on, then the game probably isn’t like any other action-filled beat em’ up you’ve played. Whether that’s a good or bad thing depends on you, as well as the final product. However, you can definitely see the anime goodness pouring out of this game, as it’s eccentric in ways only an anime can capture, it’s extremely flashy and over-the-top, there are plenty of rage-filled powering up moments and, of course, there are planet-sized bosses to fight. If all of that is exactly the kind of stuff that gets you going, then this might just be the game that you’re looking for.

The gameplay is really quite diverse, and there are lots of different elements to it. While the game mainly features visually awesome cinematic sequences that you progress through with quick time events, there are other elements incorporated, such as one on one fist fights and high speed rail shooter sections. However, often progressing through the story requires you to build up a Burst meter at the top of the screen through landing successful attacks on your opponents. Once it’s fully charged, you’ll be able to activate the next cinematic sequence. Now, I’m still not completely sold on the quick-time event sections, because even though they’re amazing to look at and the fights I played really flowed fantastically well, there’s only so much appeal you can get from so little input at the end of the day. Hopefully the game can deliver the goods on its other gameplay styles. Seeing as how there’s virtually nothing to explain about quick time events, I’ll move onto the other types of gameplay.

In the demo I was able to play both a shoot em’ up section as well as a one on one fist fight. In the former, the game moves at an exhilarating speed, and you’ll be trading ranged blasts with your enemy. You’ll have access to low damage rapid energy shots, as well as high damage lock-on blasts, where you have to move your aiming reticule over multiple parts of an enemy or over incoming projectiles to guarantee hits and counter attacks. These sections are fairly straightforward and enjoyable due to the simplicity and explosive excitement, but unless there are some mix ups, additional moves or new ways to handle these sections in the game, I can see them growing lackluster after a few repeats. As for the fist fight sections, they’re surprisingly good fun. Instead of homing energy blasts, you’ll get light and heavy attacks, as well as access to jump and evade abilities. You can also use a trigger to power up into hyper mode. The combat system may not be anywhere near deep, but it’s flashy and the fights are set up in an epic enough way that you don’t really end up thinking too much on the combat, but more on the spectacle. And that leads to what is probably my most crucial point about this game.

Asura’s Wrath is a lot about the spectacle and epic-scale battles. It’s definitely not a game that everyone is going to like, but I can’t take anything away from it with regards to it performing as advertised. It’s insane, over-the-top, it’s definitely like an anime and there doesn’t seem to be a dull or mellow moment to this game. It’s completely bonkers. I mean, a chaotic fight on the moon with a guy who has a sword that can extend practically longer than planet Earth? Check. An enemy so gigantic that his finger is as large as an entire planet — and he attempts to crush you with it? Check. A crazy-ass main character who gets the snot kicked out of him but can always bring his monster fury to the battle at the right moments? Check. I can keep going, but I’m sure by now you know exactly what you’re in for. If you’re the right person for this game, then it looks set to entertain you immensely. But if you’re not, then you’ll probably end up finding it utterly ridiculous. Personally? It’s got my attention.

The game’s producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya had some interesting things to say about the gameplay, for those interested to hear more since there seems to be so little information out on this game right now. And that’s a bit puzzling seeing as how the game is releasing at the end of this month. Perhaps that’s for the best so we can all be pleasantly surprised – or so that we don’t get our hopes up. Either way, Tsuchiya commented on Asura’s combat style in the game, saying: “Unlike most action games where you can level up and acquire new abilities, Asura’s fighting style will change according to the story. Asura’s fighting styles are all predicated from the dramatic story or beats within the game. At certain points in the game, if Asura gets extremely angry, you might see him fight with six arms. At even later points in the game, Asura might get beat down and lose most of his arms.” That last part seems like it will often be the case in the game, because already in the demo Asura gets pretty beat up.

The one thing I can say I absolutely loved about Asura’s Wrath was the amazing soundtrack. At least, the music in the demo was just so awesome, and made the fights seem a lot more epic than they probably were. The voice acting is crazy as you’d expect from something like this, and the English voices aren’t really that bad. It’s definitely cheesy enough though. But there’s too little dialogue in the demo to get a complete opinion on it, but the screaming is certainly working out alright. However, the good news for us anime fans is that the PlayStation 3 version of the game will include the option to choose between the Japanese or English voices. However, it has unfortunately not been confirmed yet whether the Xbox360 version will allow for this option, but I certainly hope so for the sake of those gamers, because the original Japanese voices are usually always the best. Graphically, the game is pretty good, and the style is quite attractive. The character models look great, and the game just looks amazing in motion, especially during the cinematic quick-time events. The environments look a bit bland and uninteresting though, but truthfully too little is shown in the demo to get a full conclusion.

Asura’s Wrath doesn’t look to be a game for everyone. It’s undoubtedly a very unique and bold game, but its apparent high focus on spectacle over depth could potentially be its undoing, or even its success. The game definitely looks to be delivering the goods when it comes to audio, visuals and fluidity, but only time will tell if the game can offer enough variety and exciting gameplay to make it a winner. However, one thing is for sure: Asura’s Wrath definitely performs as advertised.

Just in case you haven’t seen the sort of gameplay to expect from Final Fantasy Versus XIII

This is not a wish list and this isn’t a list of features or mechanics we hope to see in Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Instead, this is a look at a couple of the features we are almost certain about the game, features we want done right. I like Final Fantasy XIII and know I’ll enjoy XIII-2 just as much, if not more. However, I think Versus XIII is something new, something different and a chance for Square Enix to evolve the entirety of the JRPG genre. So for that sake, and for the sake of Final Fantasy XIV, which will happen, we want Versus XIII to do well so that it excites that fire back in Square Enix. We want it to affect how Final Fantasy XIV is done and perhaps make Square Enix enough coin to fund remakes of Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX. I’m a long time fan and veteran of Final Fantasy and will be taking experience from previous titles and applying that to the features of Versus XIII.

1) Final Fantasy has always had some sort of statistic based level up system with which to improve characters. Final Fantasy XIII’s for example had a crystarium system, which while working well enough, never had much depth to it. That’s why we want a more complex, or at least a more in depth, level up and equipment system from Versus XIII. More than that though, it shouldn’t be overly convoluted and instead must be simple to learn but difficult to master. However, and even if it’s done right, the most important thing we’re looking for is a diversity of approaches and paths to level up. While it may seem it a bit silly to ask for the ability to separate your characters from your friends in a single player JRPG, despite everyone experiencing the exact same story, we still think it necessary. Previous Final Fantasy games were more replayable and gave a meaning to grinding because you could develop your own characters; independently catering to the strategies you have in mind. Final Fantasy XIII removed a lot of that by forcing everyone to take the same level up path. If Versus XII makes good on this and this alone, I know it’ll be a much better game for it.

2) A well designed level up system is all well and good but has no real point without a great battle mechanic to accompany it. Versus XIII is taking a more real time approach to battles, not dissimilar from Final Fantasy XII’s system. As such, we immediately know that for a magic system to work, it’s going to need some definite balancing. The reason is Final Fantasy XII, as real time as it was, eliminated almost any need for magic by making it slow and limiting in effectiveness. This time we want it relative from start to finish. Each character is also promised to have unique traits and abilities like (of who seems to be the main character) Nocturnis who is able to equip all weapon types. Or another character, as seen in the gameplay video, is able to aim with his weapon allowing for more precise and so I would assume critical hits. The final thing I would argue for is that the summon system be made more versatile and above all remain useful. That’s right, there is a summon system and I can’t wait to see if you get to directly control the each individual summon. Just make sure they don’t get too weak by the end of the game like you have done in other Final Fantasy games Square Enix.

3) Versus XIII has promised and shown a far more realistic atmosphere, set of characters and environments than ever done before. Above all else, the game seems a whole lot darker than we’ve been used to. That’s great and I love the experimentation with new plot styles and tones of story but Square Enix needs to keep it in check throughout. Like all JRPG’s, there will be some influence from anime and manga, this being the case, I don’t want Versus XIII to make the same mistake as many manga and anime series do; that is to be too dark too much of the time. At the end of the day, Final Fantasy is about overcoming an evil or obstacle and improving in the end. So keep this in mind Square Enix. Also, and knowing Final Fantasy has a habit of revealing weird and unrelated bosses near the end, please don’t just reveal some weird omniscient being at the end of the game; keep us guessing but not at the expense of story. Final Fantasy IX for example was very well done and sported a great story but the last boss had almost no relation to the game.

4) Joy of joys, a traversable map and airships are back, reminiscent of games before FFX; let’s hope they do it correctly. Just in case, we want areas not pertaining to the main story and that, like above, link to side missions and stories. Large open maps are great and providing vehicles to traverse them is a great sign of their size and hopefully scope as well as detail.

5) This final feature hasn’t been confirmed but we’re implying it from what we’ve seen. We want more choice, more options. I realise that JRPG’s and western RPG’s are a different breed and I want it to remain that way. I don’t believe that all RPG’s should be like Mass Effect and being told a story rather than shaping it has its appeal; I love Final Fantasy for being a story book. That doesn’t mean that we don’t want more to the world, more side stories and chances for the inquisitive player to learn more about their characters. Reward the extra effort and time spent by giving those players who have invested some love into the game. I don’t just mean bonus summons and ultimate weapons, although I sorely missed that from Final Fantasy XIII. I just want the kind of effort put into the gameplay and main story to be put into side stories. It’s the small things.

At the end of the day, and judging by the videos and screenshots we’ve seen, Final Fantasy Versus XIII is going to be one hell of a game. I just hope it does more than that, that it evolves and moves the JRPG genre onto a new level. I love western RPG’s but sometimes you just gotta give those JRPG’s some love

You know what I haven’t used in ages? Apart from the common sense to choose opening sentences that don’t contain innuendos regarding my sexual activity, that is. Ahem. Moving swiftly onwards, then, to what I was actually referring to — cheat codes. Think about it for a second — how long has it been since you saw, let alone used a cheat for a game that wasn’t from the Saints Row or GTA series? My guess would be quite a while.

I suppose I’m one of the last people out there to be consciously noticing the absence of cheats from games in my day-to-day life of gaming, but upon reflection I really start to appreciate just how absent cheats are from the games of today, and how large a facet of gaming cheats were in the formative years of my gaming career. It really is nothing short of impossible to look back on those days of Gameboy Colours, Socket 478 Pentium PCs and Playstation 2 at friends’ houses without stirring up memories like precariously balancing weighty objects on my ‘Shift’ and ‘F4′ keys in Zoo Tycoon and returning hours later to find myself rolling in enough cashola to use to turn my entire plot into a giant, acquatic, Shark vs Orca deathmatch arena, religiously spamming the gold cheat in Age of Mythology in order to raise a nation consisting entirely of minotaurs, or simply entering a convoluted combination of arrows and shapes into the pause menu of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 so that I could fly. These memories signify the moments and experiences which shaped my passion for gaming, and as you can certainly gather, cheats played a very large role in them.

It wasn’t and isn’t just me, either — I think it is pretty safe to say that cheats played a prominent role in gaming culture as a whole. Nerds the world over flocked to new magazines for their features on the newest cheats for their favourite games, cheats were the first thing you looked for when you bought a new game and I’m pretty confident that the presence of a particularly awesome cheat was often the motivating factor in a game purchase. There is next to no comparison between the situation of a few years ago which I just described and the status quo, however. You’d be hard pressed to find a game (exclusive of Saints Row, of course — we’ll get to that in a bit) that has cheats at all, let alone a magazine or online feature detailing various cheat codes. Cheats seem to have all but disappeared overnight, with what seems to be virtually no outcry from the general gaming community; the question I aim to answer in this column is that of why both of these things — the disappearance and the lack of outcry — have happened.

We shan’t get too ahead of ourselves, though — we are only five hundred words in — and so before we go about answering these questions, let’s take a brief look at the history and context of cheats in general.

Fun fact: The first cheat codes were actually used by play testers of games, to allow them to make the games as demanding as they could be for the system they were using. It was far easier for them to play test and find bugs when they weren’t limited by the conventional constraints of the games in question. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before consumers found out about these, and this, combined with the fact that many gamers were altering binary values and other important-sounding things like those to create their own cheats, resulted in developers deliberately adding cheats for consumer use.

As I’m sure we all know, cheats ranged from your run-of-the-mill God Mode and Bottomless Clip to the slightly more wacky alternative skins, bonus levels, and so on and so forth which could be unlocked through entering certain codes. My personal favourite was playing as Boba Fett in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater; that jet pack got me not only through the dark days, but some mother-trucking insane combos.

Anecdotes of awesomeness aside, the question remains: Why, when developers were willingly adding cheats to games (and didn’t really seem to have a problem with it, either) would there be such a sudden shift away from cheats?

As with most of my topics, the answer will consist of more than one paragraph. The first reason we should consider, though, is that we’ve seen the gaming industry mature from one based largely on less serious, arcade-style games to one based very much on games which try to deal with serious issues, try to be more emotionally engaging with the player and seem to, on the whole, take themselves more seriously as well. I actually think that it is really awesome that we’ve reached a point in the gaming industry where developers are able to take a stand and say, “We’re proud of the work we’ve put in and what we’ve created; we want this to be an experience that immerses and connects with the player. We love fun as much as the next guy, but we don’t want aspects like cheats to ruin the atmosphere we’re trying to create.” Developers, it would seem, are taking the burden upon themselves more and more to create an entertaining experience, and as such want to be recognised for what they do. That, to me, sounds like something that can only benefit the gaming industry.

There is another, quite easily overlooked reason, however, which I think also aids us in answering the question of why gamers don’t have an issue with the removal of cheats from games. This is simply that many things, specifically unlockables, which were made available by cheats are still available in the game; you just have to do something for it, first. Complete a set challenge, achieve ‘x’ amount of headshots or finish a race in a set time and you get a reward for it — the same sort of reward you would have once simply entered a succession of characters to attain. Making unlockables attainable through challenges instead of cheat codes benefits both the developers and the consumers, in my book, so I’m certainly in support of this shift.

Producers are benefited because they have the ability to market their product as a more worthwhile or complete package — not only do you get an amazingly immersive storyline, but there are over 200 rabbit’s tails to collect, and when you get them all you get a special move called the ‘Chicken Dance’ which knocks all of your enemies out and triples your score multiplier. Or something. Whatever reward they choose, it all acts as more bait which they can tout to entice gamers into buying their product.

Consumers benefit because there is a far greater accomplishment associated with completing a challenge than with simply entering a code — if you unlock that Spiderman skin now, it is because you earned it, not because you read about it in a magazine. That makes the game a lot more rewarding and thus, a lot more enjoyable. And I’m a huge fan of enjoyable games.

Given this last reason — that of how unlockables are still available, and are, in fact, more rewarding once attained — it becomes a lot easier to see why the downfall of cheats hasn’t really been mourned.

Unless I missed a pretty big memo somewhere along the line, that is.

Having said all of this, though, I can’t help but feel that an ‘unlimited mana’ cheat can’t have done too much harm in Skyrim. Granted, there is probably a mod for that, but hey — I’m lazy.

There have been five main games so far in the Twisted Metal series, of course not counting the two spin-offs in 2001 and 2002, with the most recent title being 2008′s Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition, which was a PlayStation 2 port of the 2005 PSP title Twisted Metal: Head On. All titles considered, that makes Twisted Metal (2012) the eighth entry in the franchise, and marks the series’ first appearance on next-gen consoles. So, what exactly are we in for? Let’s take a look.

Name: Twisted Metal
Genre: Action, Vehicle Combat
Players: 1
Multiplayer: Offline and online split-screen (4 players), Competitive (16 players)
Platforms: PS3 Exclusive
Developers: Eat Sleep Play
Publishers: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: 14 February 2012 (NA), 17 February 2012 (EU, SA)

The game was originally meant to release in October 2011, but was delayed to February 14, 2012 so that it could receive more polish and be “the best Twisted Metal game ever made”, according to developer Eat Sleep Play co-founder David Jaffe. This will be the series’ first appearance on next-gen consoles after all, and fans have huge expectations of it. According to Jaffe, when it comes to story the game will stick to its original concept, where players will compete in Calypso’s Twisted Metal Tournament in order to win and earn their prize. You’ll get to choose which character you want to play the story mode with and, while there won’t be many choices, the available characters will have the option of faction gameplay online. The characters that will be included are Sweet Tooth (The Clowns), Dollface (The Dolls), Mr. Grimm (The Skulls) and the Preacher (The Holy Men), and these make up four factions in the game. Each character can use any vehicle, and each of them will have three different endings to their storylines depending on action taken in the game and the difficulty setting.

However, Twisted Metal’s main attraction is most definitely not the single-player component, as its always been heavily focused on its crazy multiplayer. It’s all about over-the-top vehicle combat, and the game aims to outdo everything the series has done in the past. With regards to content, in addition to the single-player modes, you’ll be able to play split-screen both offline and online with up to 4 players, as well as head into competitive multiplayer with up to 16 players through PlayStation Network. With a variety of game modes including series’ classics as well as completely new ones, and the promise of being able to unleash massive amounts of destruction in brand new, never before seen Twisted levels, this looks to be gearing up to be a winner, and an early triumph for the PlayStation 3 this year.

Twisted Metal isn’t just about whacky fun though, as it’s actually also a strategic game. And there are plenty of new features on offer that look set to evolve the game’s scope beyond its predecessors and change the way it’s played. For starters, there will be over a dozen Twisted vehicles to choose from, and each of them will come equipped with kick-ass weapons to brutally and tactically take apart your enemies, as well as two special abilities unique to each vehicle. While the game will feature many returning vehicles from previous titles, there will also be a lot of new ones to choose from, such as the Death Warrant, which is a 2005-2009 Ford Mustang, the Road Boat, which is an armored 60′s Cadillac sedan, the Vermin, which is a rodent catcher van, and some other fun cars like the Juggernaut, Kamikaze and Meat Wagon. On top of this, the game will feature aerial combat, which is significant because flight is actually a first for the series. Examples of this would be in some of the game’s new vehicles, like the Talon, which is a helicopter equipped with a minigun turret, and a custom chopper dubbed the Reaper. Oh, and don’t worry, Motorbikes are still here, so there’s lots to smile about.

The staple gameplay has players speed around in vehicles, armed to the teeth with explosive weaponry, attempting to obliterate their enemies. However, variety is key to the experience, and it won’t only come from the environments, weapons and vehicles, but also from the various game modes, which offer some exciting twists. You’ll get your standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes, and then you’ll also get modes like Race, where players must get to checkpoints as fast as they can, Endurance, in which players must survive against respawning enemies until death, Team Hunted, where a player on each team is chosen as the Hunted and will be a target to everyone on the opposing team, and Last Man Standing, where each player has a specific amount of lives and the last surviving player is deemed the winner. There’s also a new online game mode called Nuke Mode, in which each faction has a giant airborne statue that the opposing team must try to destroy. It’s rather interesting because in order to destroy the statues, players must kidnap the enemy team’s leader, and sacrifice that player to a missile launcher to launch a nuke. The player who conducted the sacrifice must control the nuclear missile and guide it to the opposing team’s statue in the air. To win, this process has to be completed three times.

In the game each faction will have different campaigns. But it’s not something to jump for joy over really, because players will basically just get different mix ups of missions depending on their choice of faction. For example, the clowns may start off the game with a deathmatch, while the skulls could have an endurance challenge in the first level. However, it’s been said that each faction will have their own things to do in their story, in order to avoid repetitiveness. If you’re one for achievements or generally just a proud individual, you may be happy to know that each level in the game will have three collectable medals, namely bronze, silver, and gold, as you’d expect. There is solid incentive to earn these medals though, as they will lead to unlocks such as skins, side arms, and even secret characters. On that note, as was seen in the Comic-Con presentation by director David Jaffe and producer Scott Campbell, the game will have a custom paint shop to change the appearance of your vehicles.

When it comes to firepower, players will have a complete and creative arsenal of weapons at their disposal, ranging from missiles and miniguns to giant magnets, Napalm, bombs and – no jokes – flying mascots. New weapons added to the game include the Sniper Rifle and Shotgun, which will be able to do high damage to enemy players if aimed at their vehicle’s windshield. In the game you’ll have access to primary weapons and side-arms. The former are in limited supply, while the latter don’t run out of ammo, but have various pros and cons depending on your choice of weapon in this category. You’ll get to choose side-arms like the Mounted Gun, Submachine Gun, 12 Ga. Shotgun, Rockets, Magnum Revolver or Laser Pistol. Additionally, as previously mentioned, vehicles will also have innate abilities, like perks, as well as advanced attacks and special abilities, such as EMP missiles, shields, mines, rear fire, jump, transformations and more. There’s definitely no shortage of variety in this regard. And the cherry on top is that the game’s levels are fully destructible, allowing players to alter the battlefield.

From what I’ve seen so far, there’s a healthy variety in the game’s stages. For some examples, there’s the Blackrock Stadium, which is an arena, based on a level from Twisted Metal 2, that features lava pits and an overhead track. Then there’s Metro Square, which is a Christmas-themed town square that features Times Square and the Museum of Natural History as landmarks. A nostalgic battleground would be the Los Angeles Skyline, as it combines Twisted Metal rooftop levels from the early games in the series. Then there’s Sunsprings, California, which features as a suburban town that has places like a school, a movie theater and a downtown area to wreak havoc in. Other confirmed maps include Diesel City, Watkyn’s Harbor, Diablo Pass and the classic Adventure Park, which features interactive environments and open design. The game certainly has plenty of diversity when it comes to its maps.

Extra information that may prove useful to you would be that the game will unfortunately make use of the infamous online pass system for access to its mutliplayer features, so without that you’d be missing out on what the experience is all about. On a lighter note, those who pre-order the Limited Edition of Twisted Metal will receive a voucher to download Twisted Metal: Black for free from PlayStation Network. So basically, buy it new and early for the highest reward. Still, I have to say that the more I see this game the more awesome it looks, and it’s really tempting to pre-order it, especially since you can get it brand new for a pleasantly surprising R400, which is an excellent price.

Twisted Metal is shaping up to be a fantastic start to the PlayStation 3′s exclusive line-up. It has great potential, looks hellishly fun and comes with a very reasonable asking price. If you’re in search of something whacky, exciting and multiplayer-focused, then this could turn out to be exactly what you’re looking for. The game will be released exclusively on PlayStation 3 on February 14 in North America, and on February 17 in Europe and here in South Africa. Let’s hope it seriously kicks ass.

January has flown past and we’re now in a new month with plenty more exciting games. There are some big names spread across February and March, so you’d better get your wallets ready if you’re interested. Check out the full list down below, and plan out your spending budget.

Note: The games listed here are not all games being released in February, but rather the more noticeable ones.

February 2012’s Game List

Index

• Asura’s Wrath
• Binary Domain
• Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition
• Final Fantasy XIII-2
• Jak and Daxter HD Collection
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
• NeverDead
• Soul Calibur V
• Syndicate
• The Darkness II
• Twisted Metal
• UFC Undisputed 3
• Uncharted: Golden Abyss
• Wipeout 2048

Browse through the pages below to see all of the games and their information in detail, or simply click the name of the game above to be taken straight to that specific game’s page.

SOL Exodus is here, Freelancer fans it’s time to rejoice… well I mean there’ll probably be a sequel to look forward in the future, and that’ll be cool right. SOL Exodus says it’s a current-gen ode to past greats like Wing Commander and the aforementioned Freelancer, but who really believes what it says on the can. Maybe I’m being a bit unfair, SOL Exodus does promise, well at least the developers promise that, SOL Exodus:

SOL: Exodus is the first downloadable, 3D space-action game that leverages the power of modern graphics technology to deliver epic space battles featuring enormous capital ships, hordes of spacecraft, and beautifully rendered planetary battlegrounds in an action-packed, cinematic presentation reminiscent of TV shows and movies.

So I’ll give it a fair chance and compare the game’s presentation to its supposed promise.

Well the first part mentions that SOL Exodus is the first game to offer beautifully rendered visuals and modern graphics. I assume then that Seamless Entertainment (that’s the developer) hasn’t heard of X3 because well, I’m sorry to tell you this but they use modern graphical effects too and are a lot better at it. The game’s textures aren’t half bad but are nothing to write home about. The rest of the game’s aesthetics are quite good for an indie game but not quite good enough to warrant such a rave write-up about them. The biggest problem by far is that this attempt to do such detailed graphics, as an indie team, means that the rest of the game suffers.

To SOL Exodus’s credit (it’s kind of annoying to use caps lock for ‘SOL’ every time), it does make a genuine attempt to be cinematic and action-packed. If this was 2002 then it would most certainly be exactly that; however, this is 2012 and SOL Exodus really doesn’t cut the mustard. The cinematics are full of simplistic scenes and cheesy one-liners, it just feels like an old game and the story doesn’t really help. The story tells the tale of a Commander trying to save humanity; sounds very Master Chief or Commander Shepard-like doesn’t it? Well the problem is it’s all very generic and has no defining detail to separate it from every other space game ever invented. You’re supposed to be saving humanity with the aid of an A.I. I can’t remember, so I’m going to call her Cortana, and as Commander What’s-His-Name you use your fighter craft to defend against and thwart the efforts of COD (a concept I’m sure Azhar will approve of). COD is a fanatical religious group and I know COD stands for something but well, I don’t really remember that either. It’s all quite forgettable and I just don’t feel like I want to save this version of humanity. Religious fanatics (who I’m going to call the Chaos Space Marines rather than COD) are too overused and only really work if done well and let’s just say these particular Chaos Space Marines aren’t exactly winning SOL Exodus any prizes.

Gameplay wise, SOL Exodus isn’t as action-packed as I was lead to believe, this seems to be a trend now. There’s nothing wrong with the controls and the whole shooting-enemy-fighters mechanic seems solid and polished enough, but that’s again as far as it goes. The game doesn’t distinguish it in any way, it’s just fly to ship; shoot ship; change target; shoot next ship; rinse and repeat. There’s almost no variety in weaponry and the upgrade system is very limited offering only to give you a couple extra missiles or hull integrity for each point invested. It seems like Seamless Entertainment tried too hard to get what they thought an arcade space shooter should be like and forgot to make a game we’d love and enjoy instead. There is a hacking component to combat against the larger enemy ships where you can disable or change the target of their own arsenal or things like engines. The problem is it isn’t fleshed out enough and seems tacked on rather than integrated into the entire experience.

There is one aspect to SOL Exodus that remains completely faithful to the statement made by the developers, it is downloadable. Unfortunately, and in a year so full of AAA titles that they’re literally leaking out of my ear, I really can’t suggest such a generic indie game to anyone. Don’t get me wrong, there are some upcoming indie games to blow the pants off many AAA’s, like Torchlight 2 for example, but this is certainly not one of them. I don’t like to be mean about any game, that’s Azhar’s job, but I certainly can’t say anything nice about SOL Exodus either.

A side note to this is the hacking mechanic of SOL Exodus is called torchlight, and well as I heard torchlight I kinda wanted to play that and not play this. I wonder, is it fate?

The games that we’ll make our kids play while they’re taking a break from virtual reality porn.

Let’s be clear, these games are those special experiences that brought something so unique, polished or wonderful that they become timeless. They are far from perfect but like any man in love will tell you, the imperfections just makes her that much more special.

To make things more interesting we’re also trying to stick to newer games. Bioshock, Call of Duty 4 and Half Life 2 are already classics in their own right so we’re not going to suck them off again.

Without further mumbling here are five games that, like it or not, changed the course of gaming for the better. Graphics will improve and consoles will change but these five games should be played by every generation until the sun burns out or Half Life 3 is released, whichever comes sooner.

Never let the length of an entry or even its position on this list sway you from immediately playing the game mentioned. The quality of each game is undeniable so the order of the list is numbered for ease, but still random. The length of the entry depends on the type of game mentioned. Some bring new ideas and complex gameplay systems that need long in-depth explanation while others need fewer words to express the magnificence they bring.

Play them all because one day, it will be the law anyway.

5. Deus Ex Human Revolution

This game is like if badass and choice made a love child. Everything is cool, slick and well groomed without sacrificing player freedom or choice.

Released last year, it is the prequel to the original Deus Ex. A smart move since many people haven’t played or don’t remember the original; but that wasn’t the only benefit. The far greater intelligence behind the decision was to let the game be set in the not-too-distant-future; far enough to be plausible and exciting but near enough to really hit home with a very real issue. What happens when machines are better than humans?

This is an idea explored many times in science fiction’s long and colourful history but few can rival the deftness and detail shown in Deus Ex. The game revolves around augmentation, mechanical prosthetics. In the fiction of the game machines are being used to replace human limbs, organs or being added to give new abilities altogether.

Initially, as you would expect, these were used purely for medical purposes. Let the crippled walk and the blind see. Magnificent! Miracle! Now what happens when those same augmentations allow the blind to see better than any natural person? The crippled man can now run faster and longer than any human leg could ever hope to match.

Ethically, should the healthy be allowed elective surgery even if it’s unnecessary? Do the augmented count as humans and should they be allowed to compete in sporting events? In a world where your competitor might be augmenting their employees, athletes or army, how can you afford not to?

Moreover, the costs involved mean that the rich are now markedly, and immeasurably better than the poor. They live longer, look better, and can do things that the we would never have thought possible. Holy shit. These questions swirl around the games populace and waft around the games meticulous world.

Mash into this world a conspiracy and some seriously well written dialogue all with the chocolate covered goodness of genuinely intricate player-choice driven gameplay and you have a game that raises many valuable questions with a rare deftness and sensitivity that is rarely seen in any medium, let alone gaming.

4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Adventure. Exciting, unknown and full of the promises of potential; we crave it because we have always dreamt of the magnificent things in life. To be bold, shameless in your lust for life and to experience the wonders of this world while still fighting for the ultimate treasure, for fame or glory, or a cause.

There is no greater joy than in fighting for what you believe in, exploring the unknown and appreciating the beauty in life.

The Uncharted series understand adventure. The wild ride. Needless to say, as can be said for any game on this list, there is more than just what is written here but what can be said is that the graphics are among the best ever made. From animations to scenery, lighting to level design, the experience of playing Uncharted is like watching fireworks. There is too much to take in and so much happening that you need to experience it again and again; with open mouthed, slack jawed amazement.

Uncharted 1 is very good but not transcendent and likewise Uncharted 3 is a fitting finale with as much amazement but it does not compare to the very deliberate pace of the middle child.

The moments of quiet wonder and puzzle solving are carefully positioned around the action so that the experience feels organic and continually fresh.

If there was one problem with Indiana Jones and any film of its type, it was that the adventure was removed from you. We could experience the thrills by proxy but never actively a part of the magnificent journey.

Now we can.

3. Mass Effect Trilogy

Sure, this is cheating a bit. The original Mass Effect came out at the same time as Bioshock and Call Of Duty 4 and the third game hasn’t even released yet.

So why, you might be wondering in the brief nano-second before you close the browser, is this entry here? Why are three games counting as one entry? Why is this list comprised exclusively of singleplayer focused, storyline driven games? Why was Firefly cancelled while the like of Two and a Half Men continue?

In order, the Mass Effect franchise as a whole is a very important step forward for gaming and represents a massive and outstandingly fun achievement. Tantamount to the series enjoyment is the playing of all three games in order so they kinda count as one experience. Singleplayer gaming is, was, and will always be the core of gaming’s purpose: to entertain through interactive experience. Multiplayer is great too, and is increasingly implanted in ingenious ways, but singleplayer and storyline remain the greatest experiences to be had from the gaming industry.

Finally, the answer to the last question is that either god does not exist or he\she\it is dead. If Firefly comes back and the entire cast of Two and a Half Men get genital warts from each other then this statement will be revised.

Back to Mass Effect. The games are cinematic, outstandingly written, massive in scope, awesome in concept and mouth dropping in execution. Given Bioware’s status as a developer and given what we have seen of Mass Effect 3, it is a reasonable assumption to say that the trilogy will end properly.

When it does, one can stand by the statement that the series will be a shining example of determination and artistic achievement. The company has held a vision for nearly a decade and across three games to see fruition. The series represents the only modern franchise that actually tracks decisions across all three games and is also one of the very few series in history to start and end on a single generation of hardware, with a single developer at its helm. One company, one vision, one epic story, three games.

 
 
Continue reading on the next page.

Gamers often try to come up with the best possible idea for an RPG combining design concepts from other games. They change up the norms and standards, and propose new directions for the genre to take. As such, comparing games is normally the way in which we try to decide the best elements of an RPG. For instance, elements like the expansive vistas and endless questions of Skyrim, the combat system of Dragon Age 2 and the decisiveness of the storyline in Mass Effect.

I’ve lately been hearing complaints mainly from fellow eGamer staff member Alessandro and some of our readers about the main storyline of Skyrim, and its anticlimactic ending. Adding to this he criticised how dated the combat system was, the immense number of fetch quests, repetitive dungeon sections, stupid AI and bugs.

Essentially the point argued was that Skyrim started building up a story with all of the epic events only to be thwarted by a really cumbersome and unapologetic ending. This killed the timely investment for many gamers which could be anywhere from 40 to 70 hours of gameplay for some players. The time investment is to be expected, but the mundane ending is not. Counter arguments for the lacking ending of Skyrim are that the game is the sum of its parts and being a typically ‘Bethesda’ game the ending is not the real focus of the game.

Rather the focus is on exploration, combat and epic adventure which Skyrim fulfills to a tee. Whilst the combat for some may appear dated, like is Alessandro’s argument. It is suited to the Elder Scrolls format. This type of combat has been a hallmark of the series since early on in its inception and drastic changes would remove part of its identity. But to be reasonable the combat has changed tremendously since Oblivion and is far more fluid and interactive than the previous outing.

But change is not always a bad thing, and this brings me to the point of this column. What elements would be encompassed in the perfect Western RPG? I’m not going to write about RPGs generally because then I would have to try and debate the issue around JRPGs, which take an entirely different approach to the genre. So instead I’m going to look at couple of important elements which are: aesthetics, storyline, combat and character development. This outing will take at least another whole column. So expect Part 2 in my next slot.

Focussing on aesthetics Skyrim definitively has great visuals which suit the expansive fantasy world of the Elder Scrolls world and the environments which make up this world are breathtakingly beautiful. One just has to think of Black Reach and the amount of detail that went into making that underground city. Whilst I can agree that some of the missions within the dungeons may be repetitive. I found that visually they were not. Each dungeon felt specific to the region it was in be it a mine or a cavernous area. The music and general soundtrack of the game was a highpoint for RPGs and the Elder Scrolls series. The soundtrack of the game created atmosphere and presence for the Dragonborn, and the voice acting was spot-on in most cases. A contemporary RPG needs to encompass a competent yet distinctive visual style and also have a suitable soundtrack that lends itself to creating an escape for the player from reality, and not be distracting and pull the player away from becoming engrossed in the world of the game. That is an error and a step into bad game design choices.

Particularly an RPG needs to be engrossing otherwise players will move on to something else. As is the case, the visuals in an RPG don’t need to be ultra-realistic. They have to be distinctive like what was done visually in Diablo II, Fallout 3 and Mass Effect. The visuals created the texture of the game upon which the tone of the game emanates from. Diablo II was decidedly dark in tone and its visual darkness added to this tension of overwhelming evil present around every corner. Fallout 3 whilst having hilarious facial expressions in character models; also had a visual design which lent itself to giving the game that “Mad Max” post-apocalyptic atmosphere ever present throughout the whole game. Mass Effect had very clean visuals and Sci-Fi interiors and characters were clearly defined with particular nuances visually and vocally between interstellar races. As a result, the game brought across the feeling of the vastness of space and the intrigue of adventuring across the final frontier.

Now we have Kingdoms Of Amalur: The Reckoning releasing soon and speculation around the game is that it may in competition with Skyrim. Although, one may argue that Bioware is already fulfilling that role somewhat. If Kingdoms Of Amalur is to be the ‘Skyrim Killer’ it would need an epic storyline. The kind of storytelling where there is a focus on both the depth of characters and broader defining moments that change the game world indefinitely. Apparently, this is something which Skyrim is missing to a greater extent. Although one should note that the arrival of the Dragonborn is already a world changing event in the land of Skyrim.

Anyway, if an RPG is to compete with Skyrim it needs this type of narrative construction and method of storytelling which is particular of great RPGs. Many great RPG are loved for their engrossing stories which can range from the tales spoken of by NPCs when engaging side quests to defining moments within the main quest line. When those are missing memory of a game often falls into obscurity during the ensuing years following the game’s release.

Great RPGs like Skyrim have immense amounts of content that provides a vastness of storytelling potential for the player and each player’s experience of the game may be different according to whom they interact with throughout the game. However, the main quest line of an RPG is crucial as well, and Bethesda often forgets the importance of it and prefers to focus on the open world element of their games. If a game like Kingdoms Of Amalur is to compete with Skyrim being a good open world RPG will not merely suffice. The Elders Scrolls franchise has had a great length of a time to perfect its open world experience.

But that primary focus has let the other parts of Skyrim’s experience dull in comparison. These parts are just as important to overall RPG experience. Kingdoms Of Amalur has a chance to pick up story-wise with its main quest line where Skyrim may have dragged its feet. We will focus on these areas in the second part of this column which will be released in the next couple of weeks.

I don’t usually write columns, as I’m sure most of our frequent readers have noticed. I hardly even read columns, much to the dismay of my fellow writers (sorry guys), as they are honestly just not my thing. I do, however, love the occasional rant about something I utterly disagree with, and I somehow twist it into some form of pseudo-column. The last time I wrote anything similar to what I’m about to write was when I complained about the horrid online support EA was giving Crysis 2 after it launched, nearly a year ago. Yes, it’s been that long since I tried something like this, so please bear with me.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, massive spoilers are about to follow. You have been warned.

Following 35+ solid hours of Skyrim, I finally decided to tackle the main quest’s ending. Namely, taking on the all mighty bad-ass black dragon guy, Alduin, in the land of the dead along with 3 other dead Nord heroes that faced off with him centuries before. Sounds awesome right? Well, that’s exactly what I think the writers were thinking when they put pen to paper. Theoretically it should have been one of the most epic fights of the game. You clear fog with your voice, and Alduin arrives, unleashing all sorts of fire and frost on you and your comrades. And before you know it, it’s over — done and dusted. Alduin is slowing dying in a blaze of what should have been glory.

And after that? You get a pat on the back from your ghost buddies, only to be told: “Well, while you may have saved us all here, we’re going to have to kick your sorry ass out of a warriors paradise and back into Skyrim, because, well, you’re still technically alive.” Well, it was totally a pleasure saving all of you. So I get beamed back to Skyrim, only to be confronted with a lot of crying dragons and a depressed Paarthurnax. “I cannot celebrate Alduin’s death, since we were once brothers.” Um, sorry, as poetic as that sounds, weren’t you the one telling me how to kill him? And fighting him mid air while I planned my attack from below? Sorry, am I missing something? Oh, wait, you’re leaving now? No “thanks for saving Skyrim?”, or something like that? No, okay well, goodbye then! Oh, and look, I now have my own personal Dragon pet to summon in fights. A shame that most fights I partake in are underground, and most enemies are so stupid that I can simply back up away from them and spam fire attacks until they’re dead. And then, well, that’s it. That’s how the most anticipated and most ass kissed title of 2011 ended. With a lame fight and sobbing dragons. Thanks, Bethesda, I guess.

The real problem for me starts with the final boss fight against Alduin. Again, a game of this type of caliber ends in a bout of healing and throwing fireballs, making all my countless efforts before this penultimate climax seem meaningless. Hell, just give me tons of Magicka and a Fireball spell book and I’d be set to take on the “most challenging” villain of the game. But I’m not going to dive into that argument right now, since Bethesda aren’t the only ones still committing the “end level boss fight” crime. What is a crime, however, is just how ridiculously easy it is. Actually, most dragons fights are easy already, and having an AI partner with you just reduces the time it take. I mean, slashing a dragon from behind is extremely easy when he’s busy shooting fire at your near invincible companion. In fact, the only thing you really have to worry about is when the dragon takes flight again and decides to follow you instead. Surely testers would have realised this, right? If they did, then why the hell does the final encounter give you not one, but three AI companions and a Shout to ground a dragon indefinitely?

I understand the whole concept of “Alduin’s too strong to be hurt in flight”, but then why give the Shout such a small cooldown? Once Alduin landed, that was it, game over for him, as not only did he have me to deal with, he now had three other heroes hacking and slashing away. I honestly couldn’t believe that my 35+ hour adventure had culminated into a 5 minute “Shoot, heal, replenish Magika” rinse and repeat exercise. It felt cheap, boring, and sloppy above all things. But that’s only half the problem with Skyrim’s ending. The real shit storm comes when you actually interact with various allies when you get back. You soon realise how unbelievably ungrateful they are.

So, you already know that Paarthurnax just leaves you in the wake of your victory, with a massive sad panda face, I might add. That is, unless you killed him, which I didn’t since he seemed like the most engaging character I had come across the entire game — and not to mention he was a massive bloody reptile. And then, that was it. I had ridded Skyrim of the planet-consuming demon that was Alduin, and I was left to ponder this on a mountain top alone, like a really good date gone bad. Then, I decided to find out what all my other comrades thought of my heroics, despite the fact that not one of the selfish bastards decided to come and congratulate or thank me. The Greybeards were happy, despite the fact that they were willing to let the world end a few moments ago. Also, they believed Alduin would one day come back, so basically I hadn’t done much for them. The Blades still refused to talk to me beyond a shallow thank you, since I refused to kill Paarthurnax. Winterhold was unmoved, and one student still demanded that I help him retrieve an amulet of his. Um, I just fucking saved Skyrim, you ungrateful little peasant. Okay — that’s a bit harsh, but you can see what I’m getting at here.

There was no pay off, no celebration, no nothing. At first I wasn’t even sure if I had completely finished yet. The Stormcloaks still wanted the Imperials blood, Thieves were still thieves, Companions were still werewolves, and Giants were still overpowered. Skyrim had gone unaffected. And this is exactly were Skyrim failed. Before facing Alduin, I reeled back to previous Fallout titles from Bethesda, and loathed how they used to end your game after the final encounter. “Why not let me roam the world I saved afterwards,” I thought, and I hoped that Skyrim would be different. Thankfully, it was, but it wasn’t what I expected at all. In Fallout, your story ends, and you’re treated with a nice little cutscene which shows how your actions, good or bad, left a lasting impact on the world around you. In Skyrim, you get none of that. You could be the savior or plague of Skyrim, and no one would care. You could be the Thane in every single city, and still no one would care. You could be Arch-Mage of Whiterun, an Imperial Legate, a Stormcloak General, Leader of the Thieves Guild and even guide the Companion order, and, again, no one in Skyrim gives a flying fuck. Your actions have no real impact on the world around you, so why do anything at all? Basically, you’re getting more recognition as the local Riverwood whore, so why save Skyrim?

Granted, Skyrim is not a bad game by all means. I mean, once you over look all the glaring bugs, repetitive dungeon sections, numerous fetch quests, retarded enemy AI, dated combat system and extremely unsatisfying ending, then it’s actually perfect. But with so many other RPG’s that are able to gives us a seamless experience and rewarding climax, it’s bizarre that people will still blindly worship Skyrim as some sort of RPG messiah. It’s good, not great, or outstanding. But most importantly, it’s not worth the time you invest. It won’t show you the same love you show it. And if you disagree with me, that’s perfectly fine. Just tell me how much you’re enjoying that dragon armor after countless hours of smithing. Pretty lame, right?

I knew this day was coming.

I’ve been around long enough so it was just a matter of time, but finally I have something that allows me to rid myself of the reputation I’ve accrued, of being too soft on the games I review.

This then, is Blackwater.

They’re calling it an action FPS, designed for use with Microsoft’s motion-sensing Kinect technology.

What it actually is, however, is a steaming pile of turd.

Blackwater is an on-rails shooter that’s kind of like the Virtua Cop and Time Crisis games of old, but designed for Kinect so there is no fancy and cool-looking gun controller in your hand. You are the controller.

To that extent, the classification of the game as an action FPS is perhaps extremely suitable since this game will give you more of a workout than anything else. But you don’t want a workout, do you? You didn’t buy this game because you thought it was the new Zumba Fitness, you bought it because you wanted to kill things while pretending you have a gun in your hand.

Actually, that you bought it at all would make you something of an idiot or just a hopeless optimist at the very least.

The fact is, the lack of a controller means that most of the action feels about as contrived as it is, and all the game succeeds in doing is making you tired without really entertaining you, like something Zumba-esque would.

Don’t have a Kinect, or just don’t enjoy jumping around? No problem, the game supports a controller as well, but good luck hitting a thing with the shoddy control system that seems to almost punish you for not getting up and off your lazy ass to play the thing using motion controls.

I needn’t say this because the pictures are enough, but the game also looks atrocious. On-rails shooters have never broken records with graphical fidelity, but at the very least give us something that looks like it wasn’t made before Quake 2. The levels and textures are bland, uninspired and telling of a game that was made for the wrong reasons.

The game’s story tells of an elite group of mercenaries who call themselves Blackwater (a ‘private security’ group that actually does exist in real life — yes, this game is based on real-life mercs but that’s about the only cool thing you’ll find here) that are attempting to protect aid workers from a villainous warlord, or something like that…

To be honest, if you manage to follow the story at all then you deserve some kind of medal, or perhaps an Achievement, because for the life of me I tried but I couldn’t hear any of the dialogue thanks to the spoken audio being far softer than the rest of the game’s sounds, and the fact that each piece of story happens for five seconds at the start of each mission.

Missions themselves are spread out over stages, with multiple paths through each stage and pretty much nothing about the game changing throughout.

There are some collectibles to be found, if you’re into that kind of stuff.

To call this game bad would be an understatement.

It fails as any form of entertainment.

You won’t enjoy the gunplay because it’s contrived, lifeless and highly inaccurate on Kinect, and if you switch to a controller you might as well use your love handles to control your shots because that way you at least might accidentally hit something. You won’t enjoy the visuals because you saw them before in 1998 and most of it is brown and ugly anyway. You won’t enjoy the audio on offer because half the time there isn’t any, and when there is you’re too busy trying to hit something to concentrate on enjoying it. You won’t enjoy the story because there pretty much isn’t one that can be understood. And finally, the AI never does a thing other than standing and aiming at you. So no fulfillment there.

If you really must play this game, let it be because you’re tired of using things like Wii Fit and Zumba Fitness and want another way to work out, perhaps to the sounds of gunshots and explosions.

If I had to rate this game as a fitness title, I might have been a bit more lenient but nobody is going to look at the cover for this game and think: “Ooh, here’s a great way to shed a few kilograms.”

Nobody.

And that’s exactly who I would recommend this game for.

I get that it’s not a triple-A title, but really there are so many other games developed by entirely unknown studios, that are wholly better as an experience than this (I would know, because I’m playing a few of them right now), and actually cost a bit less to boot. This game wants to charge you close to triple-A prices for an abysmal experience, and that’s just not on.

Better on Kinect? Yeah, no.

Essentially, the game runs on combo system so depending on the amount of dust-related items you dispose of your score will be reflected as such. This also involves completing the level you’re on in as quick a time as possible because you are graded according to your completed time and your combo score. If you mess up and die your combo counter is restarted and you resume from a checkpoint within the level, similar to the checkpoint setup you get in Sonic. If you accumulate enough combo points and get a high enough score you can initiate an area effect special which rids an area of dirt with immense sweeping power.

There are four characters to pick from: a male janitor with a broom, a female janitor with a broom, a beret wearing female janitor equipped with feather dusters and an elderly male janitor who uses a vacuum cleaner. The game offers you a range of different levels to overcome, with a few starting levels to get the dust ball rolling. They are of course all different difficulties. Completing a level with a perfect score will unlock new ones, and so on and so forth.

Levels consist of vast ramps, inclines and obstacles to overcome with a persistence of spikes, falling rubbish bags, sludge, leaves and enemies whose dirty ways you have to combat. But since you are an acrobatic janitor no feat is unattainable. Simply you have to slide down dust covered slopes of sludge and leafy matter sweeping as you go along, doing flips over obstacles and hitting dust boys, dirt ninjas and sludge shooters. You can traverse ceilings, walls and inclines with simple slides and the use of speed and momentum.

Your character of choice can dash, jump, follow through with light and heavy sweep attacks. Also, your character’s special attack obliterates enemies within your radius. So accumulating enough bonus combo points and doing it in record speed means you can dish out loads of extensive damage upon your foes. Many of the levels whilst requiring enough speed to complete the challenge may also require exploration throughout for bonuses. With over 50 levels of varying difficulty you have to be conscious of where you leap and dash off of because you might miss something, or kill your character in the process.

Multiplayer in Dustforce increases the replay value of the game immensely. You and a friend can join in a local co-op and challenge other players online. If you don’t have a friend nearby you can also play against another player on a ” 1 vs. 1″ basis which is quite challenging. In these modes, you can play as either the janitors or a selection of enemies from the game. The janitors have to clean up a level in record time. Those playing as the enemy characters have to dirty the level to combat the sweeping of the janitors. This provides a great challenge for players.

Visually, the game is simple and has a bright colourful scheme throughout which livens up the platforming and combat sections tremendously. Character animations and physics within the game are impeccably well crafted. However, I cannot help thinking that the controls at times can be a bit tricky to get the hang of. The issue being that sometimes response times with the controls can be less than satisfactory on a keyboard. This issue was somewhat alleviated by using a controller which I feel should be recommended for the game. This is due to it’s sidecrolling platformer nature and general ‘arcade’ feel. Otherwise, the game flows quite well and with the help of a punchy upbeat electronic soundtrack the game is a overall fun experience.

If you enjoy platforming games then Dustforce is a sure recommendation for the avid fan. As an indie game it really shines with it’s great flow and fluidity in it’s gameplay design. But by the same token the controls may be a bit unresponsive at times when a challenge becomes complicated. But the nature of the game itself is trial and error. So expect to die a lot as you try to get that perfect score. Dustforce itself is a great game and is good value for money. Yet it’s not the best platformer available on Steam.

At the moment, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the big thing happening. We’re talking about it, we’re promoting it and you should be getting ready to play it. But, perhaps you’re saving money for another game like Mass Effect 3? Well if you are, we have you covered — again.

Electronic Arts South Africa has been nice enough to let us give away three copies of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: one for each platform — PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Therefore, you have no excuse not to enter. It’s a great game — read our hands on preview, if you don’t believe me — and you can get it on the platform of your choice.

To Enter — in true eGamer fashion:

1. Comment in this article with the platform you’d like to win on. You may select all three platforms to win on, if you don’t mind how you play it.
2. Once you’ve commented here, follow our site from today (26 January, 2012) and comment on articles until 08 February, 2012. We’ll count all comments as entries into the competition. In other words, we’ll better your odds if you visit us daily and comment on our articles.
3. It’s that easy.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an RPG. Therefore, you’d better get ready to spend hours in front of your computer, or console.

Competition is closed!

Things to remember:

• Terms and Conditions apply
• Competition closes at 23:59 on Thursday 09 February, 2012.
• Comment in this thread with your platform choice to enter.
• All other comments on articles between 26 January and 09 February count as extra entries into the draw.
• We will randomise the winners.
• There can only be one winner per platform (PC, Xbox 360, PS3), for a total of three winners.
• This competition was made possible by Electronic Arts South Africa.

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And so the republic of hack and slash role playing gamers was plunged into despair and chaos as the evil galactic Blizzard empire announced possibly another year of development for Diablo 3. A game which we all thought was so close to completion.

ETA’s of April and March 2012 were being flung around carelessly by local online retailers such as Kalahari. I myself had already pre-ordered my collectors edition off Kalahari. But alas it was not meant to be. All hope was lost… Or was it? In what seems to be our darkest hour (or year), a challenger has appeared!

Path of Exile might arguably have the potential to overshadow the stalled ship of Diablo 3. Currently in closed beta this free to play Hack and Slash RPG being developed by Grinding Gear Games seems to hold true to all we know and love. I’ve been quite privileged to be part of the game’s closed beta recently and I’d like to tell you all about it.

Path of Exile is what Diablo 2 fans have been dreaming about for years: a dark gritty hack and slash with amazing character development opportunities that was not developed in the 20th century. The first thing that really got my mouth salivating as a recovering Diablo 2 addict was the absolutely massive passive skill tree. Unfortunately a recent update has limited the ability to zoom out all the way on the skill tree so the best picture I can give you for this is a quick photo I took with my phone when I initially started in the beta Test.

Now before you get completely overwhelmed by this picture I must point out that each of those nodes can only be chosen once unlike in Diablo where a skill could level to 20. Also this passive tree is rather interestingly shared by all the characters, with each character merely starting at a different point in the tree. This lends itself to endless possibilities in paths taken on the skill tree (or more formally skill graph) with the freedom to do any kinky hipster build or cookie cutter build that your heart so desires. You gain 1 passive skill point per level as one is used to in Diablo 2. Some of these passives increase your core attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Intellegence) and some of them increase other misc attributes. Of course a select few of them are what are known as keystone abilities which will completely polarize your character towards a particular style of play or build.

But what about active skills you may be asking? Well, dear reader, this is where things get even more crazy. All your active skills are acquired through skill gems. A few rarer skill gems are found but most of the stock skills that you’ll require are available to you rather easily through quest rewards. These gems are usable in item sockets of the correct colour on your items (Don’t worry you can socket and unsocket gems without any penalty whatsoever). The gems also level up when equipped while you’re gaining experience (although they won’t level if you lack the attribute requirement of the gem). Here is the really fun part though: it’s possible to link support gems with active gems to create synergies for a particular skill. For example, I have a cold spell that has an area of effect. This area of effect can be increased by socketing an increased area of effect gem into a socket that is linked with this gems socket.

The game play itself is exactly what you’d expect from the genre: a great fixed camera angle view, decent graphics for it’s detailed terrain with a variety of monsters spanning, for the moment, two acts. The game is particularly dark lighting wise, sometimes too dark for my liking. I’ve suggested a gamma slider on the forums and I’m almost sure the final game will probably have one.

One particularly unique aspect of the game is it’s game currency. There is no gold. Profound I know, but basically monsters drop orbs, items and scrolls (portal or identification). Scrolls are your bread and butter for item identification and easy transportation to and from town and are fairly common. However since there’s no gold to use to buy them you just have to pick them all up as you go since you really will need them at some point. Orbs are used to perform various upgrades on items. There are orbs to do almost anything to an item. I would list them all here but you can quite easily read about them on the Path of Exile site. Anyway orbs are used to buy items from vendors and items generally sell to vendors for pieces of orbs or a full orb if it’s a goodie. Also since all the orbs serve some sort of useful purchase they translate into a perfect currency for inter player trading (just like runes in Diablo 2).

There are currently five playable characters with a sixth character scheduled for release soon hopefully. Three of the characters specialize in pure Strength Dexterity or Intelligence, with the other three Characters being a hybrid of two of each these attributes.

Those of you who play the closed beta will unsurprisingly find it a bit rough around the edges. For example the story isn’t very well developed at the moment (or maybe it is and I’m too lazy to read what the NPC’s are saying) and the voice acting has yet to be done. There are also one or two nagging usability issues such as not being able to use identification scrolls in the sell screen etc. Nothing particularly major and nothing that I’m sure won’t be fixed during open beta or even before open beta. The game is also currently missing an act two boss and another two acts. Personally I can’t wait until they add in this extra content.

From my experience in the beta it seems the development team are really dedicated to the community and are player orientated with their primary focus being to create the most enjoyable and balanced RPG experience possible. The moneterisation of the game seems almost to be an after thought to cover their costs since their plan is to make the game completely free to play with payable features not affecting the game mechanics or fairness at all. These payable features will most likely include aesthetic virtual goods, extra stash space and private leagues with special game mods.

If you’re a Diablo 2 or Titan Quest fan, or you were planning on purchasing Diablo 3 then this game is definitely for you. Hell it’s going to be free to play so I think you should definitely give it a go. If you enjoy it then you should definitely purchase some in game content to show your support and gratitude to the developers for making an authentic and honest hack and slash gaming experience that Diablo made us fall in love with.

Sign up for the beta on the Path of Exile site.

If there is one thing I absolutely cannot stand it’s when a studio takes a name from a popular and revered franchise, and butchers it with a cheap, uninspired spin-off title. A lot of this was seen on Sony’s previous handheld, the PSP, but so were some truly outstanding titles that made their console counterparts proud. Titles such as God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker are some examples of portable games that delivered the same, if not better, experiences than the console games that made them famous. So when Sony announced Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the PS Vita, a burning question was asked. Could the PS Vita launch title match the cinematic, explosive and incredible experiences had on a PS3. In short, absolutely. But not only has Bend Studio provided a faithful Uncharted portable experience, they have also introduced features that Naughty Dog should seriously considered putting into their titles as well.

Before anything else though, let’s talk about story. The story has always been an outstanding feature in the Uncharted series, and Golden Abyss is no exception. Golden Abyss acts as a prequel to the entire Uncharted series, introducing us to Drake before his adventures during Drake’s Fortune. Drake has been brought in as a historical advisor by an old friend, namely Jason Dante. Drake and Dante are in search of none other than a forgotten treasure (this is Uncharted after all), which involves uncovering the dark secret behind a 400 year old Spanish massacre and picking up the murderous trail of their attackers. Not long into the game, Drake is introduced to Marisa Chase, the daughter of an archeologist who went missing a few months before, attempting to uncover the exact same secrets. On top of all this, a retired General is hot on the trail of the treasure too, in search of the forgotten riches in order to fuel is rebellion in Central America. It reeks of classic Uncharted lore, and is absolutely spot on with the rest of the series.

Since this game acts as a prequel, some might be worried that part of the incredible chemistry between characters may have been lost. While it’s true that every character is new, save for Drake and a certain someone that fans will immediately recognise, each new face brings tons of personality to the table. Marisa acts as this entry’s love interest, and while that may make her sound immediately generic and boring, her interactions with Drake are far from it. She has some particularly stand out moments, especially when it comes to the more emotional and tear jerking parts of the story. The General is as vicious as you’d expect, and there is certainly no shortage of wise cracks coming from Drake’s mouth and every turn. Uncharted is known for its memorable and developed characters, and Bend Studio did not take any shortcuts here. The script is as strong as always, and it’s fantastic to see so much of it in a portable game. Nolan North does yet another excellent job with Drake, and the new actors on the block really keep up with the pace.

At first, I was a bit worried about the story though. A few hours in, I could already see most of the twists unraveling before they actually did, and without the same scale of cinematic moments, it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay interested beyond the fantastic gameplay. However, as is with every other Uncharted, the story fails to disappoint in the end. Even before I had reached about halfway through this roughly 10 hour campaign (yes, 10 hours on a portable), I was fully engrossed in the story. There were many moments where I actually thought I was reaching the climax of the tale, only to be slapped with another twist and even more game time. Having an entirely new developing cast also helped keep my interest intact, as learning of Chase’s past and the General’s failed revolution added to the already explosive story that was unfolding.

And this is where Bend’s first real innovation really shone. In order to fully detail every character and event happening around you, Bend came up with something that I only realised was missing now. In previous Uncharted title, you hunted treasures in each Chapter for Trophies. Now, you hunt them for back story. Throughout the game, there are various different treasures that you’ll come across, from simple gems to pick up to photographs you have to replicate. Each treasure and discovery has a place within the narrative, making it really worth your while to stop and look for these items. While the journal does tell you which chapter they are located in, this does not make them easier to find. Locating charcoal rubbings and items to investigate can be difficult, and even the regular glinting treasures are more of a challenge to see against Golden Abyss’s extraordinary backdrop.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss is absolutely jaw dropping for a portable title. In fact, it’s probably better than a few console games. With stunning jungle scenery that breaks into a gorgeous sunset into the background, to dark underground caverns with a soft lighting, the visuals are truly top notch. The is probably why I became so engrossed in this title immediately. Gone is the massive visual gap between portable and console gaming. Uncharted: Golden Abyss truly shows that console level gaming is indeed possible on the move. While Drake may not have the same amount of unique animations that he did in Uncharted 3, there is no doubt they you’ll as quickly forget about it as soon as you see how smooth the entire game is. Taking slow trips down rivers in the jungles are truly standout moments, however there are some small issues that did catch my attention.

Most noticeable is the occasional drop in framerate during intense fire fights. I say occasional because while they may have only cropped up three or four time during the campaign, they were noticeable enough to bother me. Thankfully the rest of the game runs smoothly, and with more emphasis on climbing and exploration, you’ll probably forgive the 10 second slowdown after an hour of seamless navigation. Another thing is fire. Yes, fire. For some reason, the fire effects in Golden Abyss seem somewhat out of place. While everything around it screams with artistic delight and eye-popping detail, fires look pixelated and old for this day and age. It’s not really that serious, but it just seems a bit odd that Bend could pull off crystal clear running water and a beautiful sunset in real time, and then fail on the occasional fire here and there. Other than that, prepare yourself to be as lost as Drake becomes in the jungles of Central America, and marvel at what a launch title can already squeeze out of the PS Vita.

But what would an Uncharted game be with outstanding gameplay? Thankfully, Golden Abyss retains the same level of quality gameplay you’d expect, and Bend Studios have adapted many things to suit the Vita’s expansive control elements. As you would expect, you’re going to do a lot of climbing, a lot of shooting, and even more running. If you’ve played Uncharted before, then you’ll feel right at home straight away, as Golden Abyss plays and handles just as you’d expect it too. Drake retains the same style of running and climbing, and still knows how to wield a weapon effectively. Weapons come in all shapes and sizes, and most of the series signature weapons make an appearance. With dual thumbsticks, shooting from cover is a breeze, and it honestly feels like you’re playing with a controller from the get go. What is really amazing are the things that you can’t do with a normal controller.

Obviously, I’m referring to the Vita’s various other control elements, namely touch and accelerometer controls. Melee combat is where touch controls probably shine the brightest. Just as in previous title, you’re often going to get up and close with most enemies, meaning that a few swift punches are more effective than blind shooting. Just as on a console, one button is dedicated to these offensive moves, but you could also just touch the swing to take the next swing. In each encounter though, you’ll be forced to use the touch screen near the end in order to bring down the final blow, making each brawl exciting and dynamic. Touch also becomes an option with climb, and serves to make it even easier than it already is at some points. If you don’t feel like hitting X every time you want to jump for a ledge, then why not just touch it with your finger? Better yet, why don’t you draw a climbing path for Drake and watch him tackle it in the exact way you wanted? All of this is possible, and extremely responsive. I never once found Drake jumping for a ledge that I didn’t select, even when it looked like my finger had hit three different ledges simultaneously.

Close calls also require more interaction this time around, with you having to quickly swipe your fingers across the screen every time Drake gets brave and nearly falls to his death. This makes his daredevil (yet impressive) climbing sections all the more interactive, and even more enthralling than on consoles. Gunplay has also been given its fair share of touch screen love. Picking up weapons now takes place on the touch screen, with a gun icon popping up every time you walk over a weapon. Throwing grenades is the best it has ever been in the series, allowing you to get pinpoint accuracy with your finger tips. If you’re not up for throwing with your fingers however, you can still blindly throw grenades with the hit of a button. Probably the best adaption is the ability to fine tune your targeting using the Vita’s accelerometer. While using the thumbsticks is still as responsive as you’d expect, making small adjustments to your aiming by tilting your device is so responsive, that you’ll probably wonder how you ever lived without it. This is probably most noticeable when using snipers, where running your fingers down the rear touch pad allows you to fine tune your zoom level while lining up your shot to perfection.

With such an emphasis on exploration, Bend also made sure that exploring new items was as entertaining as it possibly could be. You’ll come across various charcoal rubbings, that require you to rub the rear touch pad as if you were rubbing down the item itself, and you’ll often have to clean artifacts found in order to study them further. While it is a great way to show off just how well the Vita’s more “gimmicky” features can be used, they offer no real challenge, and after a while the novelty wears thin. Most of the puzzle you under take involve touch, but they too are often also far too easy. Solving combination locks and statue based puzzles are as fun as they sound, but having Chase tell you every time if you’re right or wrong leads to it becoming a hit or miss chore. Thankfully, later on in the game, the puzzles start increasing in difficulty and enjoyment, and feel more familiar to what the series is famous for.

Drake also has a camera this time around, and it really is puzzling why this feature wasn’t thought of before. In your journal, you’re given various photography challenges that require you to take a photo of a certain piece of scenery, from a certain distance, with a certain amount of zoom. The camera’s zoom is also controlled with the rear touch pad, while titling the Vita makes fine adjustments to where you’re looking while zoomed. Completing these challenges require a 100% replica to what you’re given, and while this is not always that difficult, it is entertaining and rewarding. Whipping out your camera and taking a photo of literally anything at any moment is also possible, storing each image on your memory card. The Vita’s camera is also utilised at one point, in an extremely inventive way, but I feel that explaining it would destroy the effect it had on me. Needless to say, I grinned when I figured out what to do, and it truly showed Bend really thought of every way to use the Vita they possibly could. Most importantly, most of the features are completely optional and not forced, meaning that you can play Uncharted the way you’re used to, if you wish.

When you consider Uncharted: Golden Abyss as a launch title, then the real work that Bend put in starts to show. As one of the first games on the system, Golden Abyss could prove to be one of the best the device will ever receive, as topping this near flawless experience will be a feat. I like to compare Golden Abyss to the first Uncharted, purely because I think Bend can take this game to all new heights. If you consider Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, it still stands as one of the best PS3 out there, and it’s sequels only improved on the formula. If Bend can keep that pattern up with their portable series, and keep it from feeling like spin-offs, then buying a Vita may become a requirement for Uncharted fans.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss is easily the best launch title Sony could’ve hoped for. Firstly, it shows off excellently that experiences on a console can be replicated, and even beaten, on a portable scale. Secondly, it is a real show of how impressive the Vita really is, and sets the bar for developers currently making games for it. It shows how to utilise all of the Vita’s elements perfectly, as well as add to a tried and tested formula. While there are some issues that exist, most of them are minor, and I have no doubt that Bend will easily improve them if they plan to make a sequel for the Vita. I remember buying a PSP just to play Final Fantasy: Crisis Core. I could easily say the same with the Vita and Uncharted: Golden Abyss. If you’re an Uncharted fan, and you’re not planning on buying a PS Vita for this game, then you’re absolutely insane.

Name: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Genre: Action RPG, Open World
Players: 1
Multiplayer: None
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3 & PC
Developers: 38 Studios, Big Head Games
Publishers: Electronic Arts
Release Date: 10 February

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is regarded as the next open world RPG challenger to the Elder Scrolls throne and is set to head squarely against the hit game Skyrim. Last week the game received a notable amount of attention due to a cross-franchise promotion with Mass Effect 3 where items related to both games can be unlocked in the respective demos. As is the case, I downloaded the demo and was surprisingly enthralled by the hands-on experience and first glance I got of the world of Amalur in the demo.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has been developed by two relatively unknown studios: 38 Studios and Big Huge Games. But the staff on board is what really made the demo shine with art direction from Todd McFarlane (the creator of Spawn), written lore provided by R.A. Salvatore (with novels in the Forgotten Realms series) a well known stalwart of the fantasy genre and Ken Rolston involved in the development of both Morrowind and Oblivion. You already can see that Kingdoms Of Amalur might indeed be a unique experience.

The demo was released last week and after playing it through a few times I came back from the experience increasingly more intrigued by the world crafted by the developers. The story of Kingdoms Of Amalur is set in the fantasy world of Amalur where a faction of creatures called the Tuatha Deohn, originally part of the Winter Fae (mystical creatures of Amalur lore) have turned on their own kind in the pursuit of world magical domination. They are led by a charismatic Fae known as Gladflow who opposes the peaceful ways of the other Fae. Be it of the fantasy genre, Gladflow decides to rage war on all of the other races of Amalur. This includes elves, gnomes and humans to list a few. As war rages between the kingdoms of men and the Fae a prophecy is born that one who is reborn from the Well of Souls following death will rise to face Gladflow’s onslaught. One with a blank destiny and no true fate to his or her name, and that’s where the player fits in and the demo takes you into a tutorial mode just after your awakening.

You awaken amongst a pile of corpses and it’s truly the first time that you get a glimpse of the world of Amalur which is undeniably different to that of Skyrim in every single conceivable way, and I found this refreshing. First off, Kingdoms of Amalur is a third person open world RPG which suits the combat system and overall RPG scheme incredibly well. The art style of the game is decidedly cartoonish and the comic style is so persistently ‘McFarlane’ that the game already has a discernible identity aesthetically. The game has a colourful comic book feel which adds to the overall atmosphere that persists throughout the demo. The interface of the game gives Kingdoms Of Amalur a feeling of being an MMORPG, which it was originally intended to be. Yet the demo does a good job of a giving you an idea of the overall experience of the game. So in the first dungeon you’re dumped into you are introduced to some of the game’s basic gameplay concepts.

Firstly, you are allowed to get to grips with the combat and the excessively sensitive camera which from my experience on the PC demo needed to be lowered. In the first dungeon of the demo, many of the core combat concepts are introduced involving various weapons available to you in Kingdoms of Amalur. Mainly, a sword, daggers and long bow, and each weapon is utilised for a distinctive tactic within the game to suit a variety of approaches to battle. In the demo, the first weapon you come across is a sword. The sword forms part of the introduction to the hack and slash combat of the game. The combat itself is in the vein of God Of War, Devil May Cry and Bayonetta.

This type of combat allows the player to potentially execute many different combos which livens up the often stale RPG combat we’ve become accustomed to in other games. You can block, parry and thwart enemy attacks from a number of different avenues and with the aid of quicktime events slaughtering enemies has never been so fun. You can also collect gold and weapons, and armour from chests by slashing through miscellaneous boxes and items. The menu interface especially the inventory is pretty well designed and offers enough comparative information about weapons, armour and consumable items. This give you enough information in order to make an educated guess about why type of playing style would suit you in the game when it’s fully released.

After being introduced to the sword and defeating an army of Tuatha you encounter a bow. The bow is used for longer range combat meaning you can take out enemies swiftly and without the brutal closeness of a sword, and another weapon introduced in the tutorial was daggers. Daggers were of course Alessandro’s favourite weapon as sneaking around the dungeon was one of the many ways to approach enemies. Once more, if you got close enough to enemies without their eye icons lighting up whilst you’re sneaking you could execute an assassination move which was bloody terrific. With a lot of emphasis on the ‘bloody’ part of the assassination moves you can perform. The mage’s staff is the last weapon introduced to you in the tutorial dungeon. It basically allows you to shoot torrents of fire at spiders as you try and cross some catacombs, and dodge their poisonous attacks. After making it through, and finally reaching a gnome, named Hugues, who has possible answers to your prophetic purpose your chat is cut short.

You evacuate the recesses of the dungeon and are greeted by the colourful world of Amalur, and after a brief exploration of the area a circle on your mini-map pulses indicating a mission objective. This is where you meet Agarth one of the Fateweavers who can foretell the path of a hero’s fate. It ends up that you have no fate. After hearing that you have no destiny some Tuatha decide to attack. It is during this attack that you are introduced to the game’s tagline Reckoning mode which is initiated after you collect enough purple energy from defeated enemies.

In Reckoning mode, you are extremely fast and can instantaneously decide the ‘fates’ of your enemies. In turn, this means you can execute enemies with the precision of a katana decapitating a flower with added blood spurts for effect. Each of your quicktime executions in Reckoning mode depends on the primary weapon you’re carrying. So you can have incredible fun with it. Following this, you have 45 minutes or so to explore the world around you and finish a couple of side quests, while getting a feel for the overall game. Or just follow Dean’s cue and proceed to try and kill all the townsfolk. This ended up not being such a good decision on Dean’s part.

From this point, you are properly given a chance to explore the core RPG elements of the game and “destiny” system unique to Kingdoms Of Amalur. The “destiny” system allows you to pick and choose from a number of different tier-based destinies which you can select to suit you as you play the game. Different selections bestow specific benefits upon the player. For example if you want to be a battle mage you can pick a destiny in the might and sorcery category, but if you prefer to be a mage assassin you could choose a destiny in the finesse and sorcery category.

The options are truly endless. Add to this, the other RPG elements like lock picking, sneaking, levelling up, advanced skill trees, a variety of different abilities, unique character development and the game is set to be quite the challenger to the Elder Scrolls throne. Here at eGamer, we’re all looking forward to it.

In the previous feature, we discussed what gamers eat and how that may define them as a gamer. Now we face a more ‘integral’ question. One which I think resonates with each gamer out there. The question simply put is: are you what you game? I pose this question because the reality for many gamers and I draw from my own experiences as well is that we spend a lot of time living, breathing and playing videogames. We endear ourselves towards a certain series of games with a love and passion we would normally share with a loved one. Well, that’s only some of us and typically more so in the fanboy legions, like Bioware fanboys.

There are those moments in videogames where you resonate with the hero, main character and perhaps a supporting character of a videogame. It can be those defining moments of a game like in Half-Life when Gordon Freeman meets G-Man for the first time, the death of Aerith in Final Fantasy VII and Master Chief saving Cortana from the Flood Hive Mind in Halo 3. The sum of these impressions leave a sort of everlasting impact on you as a person. A bet that in some way a game has changed some aspect of your life and took what is considered by many to be a childish hobby from that, to a love affair with the medium. It’s what drives many of us to continue playing videogames for those ‘moments’ of utter bewilderment, and when a game doesn’t deliver on its promises (*cough* like Fable III) we feel like we have been betrayed. For many gamers, videogames become integral to their daily existence (*insert* Forever Alone face). We look up news about upcoming titles and await the release of our favourite installment in a long standing series.

This site was built on a passion for videogames and all the different games we’ve played here at eGamer have shaped each and everyone of us in some way or another. Relatively speaking I do believe some people do take it too far and the level of fanboyism across all fanbases may be a bit irksome at times. But I think for all the negative criticism that videogames receive in the press; there are also far more postive effects. In many studies, games have improved concentration skills and reflexes of participants, and in some cases improve the grades of participants.

I myself participated in a study at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban where memory retention of shapes and how they fit together was tested. Tetris was used as the medium of experimentation and participants were given different versions of Tetris tailored to different levels of difficulty. The effects of playing Tetris throughout the experiment meant that I now played Tetris on a daily basis on my Android phone. The game had become a part of my daily routine.

Therefore I think that what we play affects us in a variety of ways. Think about it when you’ve dedicated yourself to a game for so long like Skyrim. You know all the intricacies of the world, all its nooks and crannies. You know the characters as if they were your own friends. In Portal, the way the in which the game works itself into the recesses of your mind and ends with that song moves beyond pure digital interface. It becomes like a nursery rhyme which when heard makes you recall a fond childhood memory. Videogames are like fond childhood memories and just like the simple nursery rhyme take shape within us, and become a part of us. To the point that we are what we game. A sum of experiences. In our experience they are videogames.

What are your thoughts dear readers?

If you had to dig inside the head of your typical Sega fanboy and remove every memory of Sonic in all of the games that were released featuring the speedy blue hedgehog, you would get something of a better idea of exactly what Sonic Generations is attempting to achieve.

The game is more of a celebration than anything, of the last twenty years of Sonic games — at least, the good ones — but with a fresh high-definition coat of paint slapped on. It is an amalgamation of the core concepts of both the 2D-platformer worlds of the classic games, and the 3D-platformer worlds of later entries into the series.

This game is basically a mash-up of all things Sonic, and as such is a must-buy for every fan of the Sonic series who ever dared to appreciate blazing rapidly through levels as a little blue, humanoid animal.

But what about the rest of the world?

As with most of the recent entries in the Sonic series of games, Sonic Generations does in fact have some story behind it; Sonic is cheerfully celebrating his birthday with friends but it all goes to shit as an inter-dimensional rift opens up and swallows everything whole. Sonic later awakens missing his friends and must seek them out by racing through and restoring various familiar levels that featured in previous titles.

That’s not all though and as an added twist, the inter-dimensional rift happened to also swallow a different version of Sonic, effectively meaning that there are two versions of the blue hedgehog from, let’s call them parallel universes, that must seek out their friends and then save them from the clutches of– we’ll get to that in a bit.

The two Sonic characters, Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic as they’re known in the game, have very distinct play styles that both centre around excessive speed, but diversify in execution.

Classic Sonic keeps things traditionally 2D with all levels strictly side-scrolling, and pretty much as you would remember them from way back when, be it the enemies, the rings, the powerups or the methods of navigation. It’s all very much an ode to the old. For some reason this Sonic is also shorter, slightly lighter, and for the most part a mute.

Modern Sonic is stylistically similar to recent entries in the Sonic series in that his levels are 3D for the most part with you running ‘into the camera’ as it were, but there are also parts where you end up side-scrolling through the level as well. Definitely the more interesting of the two even if a bit more frustrating to play, Modern Sonic’s levels will go from 3D to 2D and back again, with the lock-on controls and jump pads that you know from the modern forays. Modern Sonic is also taller, a darker shade of blue, and able to communicate with actual speech.

The game world consists of what could only be described as an extra-dimensional limbo of sorts where various levels from the previous Sonic games are featured as areas that must be restored, first by travelling through and completing the initial stage — basically the level in its entirety — and then through various challenges that range from using one of Sonic’s powers to achieving a certain goal within some time limit.

Completing each of the initial stages will save one of your friends and unlock the challenges for that area. Upon completing one of those challenges, a key will be unlocked for you to collect. For every three keys you collect, you unlock a story-related boss fight that unlocks new stages for you, and the cycle repeats.

There are also various miscellaneous boss battles not related to the game’s story that you may play through.

Since there are two Sonics this time around, each stage has two Acts associated with it, forcing you to switch between Sonics in order to clear every challenge for that stage. While this does mean that you would effectively have to complete each challenge twice, the actual challenges for each Sonic differ in their execution and the levels themselves are varied enough that you end up actually looking forward to doing so in any case.

Apart from that, there is a tonne of unlocks available for either version of Sonic that includes but is not limited to artwork, music and various power-ups, some that allow you to call in friends to help you out in stages.

There is a lot of ‘game’ to be found in this game, and a fan of Sonic series would be quite at home with this title. For the rest of us, it would depend on how much you enjoy arcade-like platformers.

Don’t get me wrong when I call it arcade-like. There are many, many hours to be lost in this game, completing all the challenges and unlocking everything, but Sonic Generations is most certainly not going to win any awards for story-telling or cinematics. I mean, inter-dimensional rifts that bring together two different kinds of Sonic that must then work together to save both dimensions from an evil time and space traversing enemy that threatens to destroy all of space-time? It’s almost laughable.

See, this is basically Sega finally keeling over and giving in to the rage from Sonic fanboys who have longed for a return to the ways of the classic games in the series, but at the same time offering up a means of showing said fanboys that the classic can be mixed with the modern in a way that works for all.

Whether they actually managed to achieve that depends on how much of a fanboy you are, but all for intents and purposes it certainly seems as though they have, with seamless integration of both perspectives in all the modern stages, and enough of the classic stages to keep the rest happy anyway.

The game also looks great. As it should, being a title released for the current generation of consoles. Be it the classic or modern levels, everything looks pretty and aesthetically delightful, with crisp textures and excellent character animation abound. The contrast between the classic and modern versions of each character and level is also a neat touch that really shows off the polish of the game.

The music is suitable to the arcade nature of the game, with many tracks being very upbeat and ‘happy’ for lack of a better word. It’s a Sonic title, so you expect as much.

There is an online component of the game, but it is limited to ranked scoreboards and speed-runs, and as such it still keeps things strictly singleplayer but allows you to compete with friends for times as well.

Sega have really pulled no punches with this game, and offered up a title that really cannot fail at pleasing everyone. It’s not the perfect Sonic game by any means, but it’s pretty much the best of the series for a very long time.

It’s equal parts challenging as it is entertaining, and a proper throwback to the days of old where running through Green Hill was all you needed to enjoy yourself. Sonic has finally got a game that everyone should play. And it’s about damn time.

Last week as many of you may have read by now, our very own Azhar “Tody” “Potato” Amien released an opinion column that discussed his views on the reasons why people hate on the Call of Duty series so much.

Being one of the few people who doesn’t actually hate the Call of Duty series and a long-time (entirely hopeless) defender of the recent releases in the series, I was one of those who opted to air my views in the comments section of that article. I played a bit of Devil’s Advocate on some points, but spent other parts explaining my beliefs as best I could.

Later that evening, Dean and I got to discussing the various aspects of both that article in particular — insofar as the comments I made — as well as gaming as a whole.

This discussion made one thing extremely apparent, at least for me: Innovation, at least in terms of gaming, isn’t quite as strictly defined as it is in other media.

Indeed innovation in gaming, need not be as strictly defined as it is in other media.

A true test of this came when I tweeted asking fellow gamers what they considered to be innovation in gaming, and no two responses were the same.

Wikipedia has the following to say on the subject: “For other uses, see Innovation (disambiguation).” But also:

Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a new idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself.

Okay so I’m lazy to find a better definition, but this suffices to the extent of explaining that innovation is considered to be the creation of “better and more effective products” and so on, and that it “refers to the use of a new idea or method.”

These are important points to consider for what I am going to say next:

We in the gaming industry still don’t quite know just what the fuck innovation is.

Allow me to explain that point by pointing to two separate references, both of which could be classified as bearing innovation.

The first of these is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

In it, much like in the previous Call of Duty games, you were part of a squad and for the most part lone-wolf tactics would be your undoing, effectively forcing you to stick with your team and work together while moving through levels. The game was heralded as an outstanding success and many consider it to be the Call of Duty series’ magnum opus. But why?

Sure, there was that nuke level. A moment in gaming that up to today remains unparalleled. But what else? Was it the first time you switched on nightvision goggles and saw your weapon’s infrared laser-sight? Was it the stealth sections that felt intense and edge-of-the-seat, sphincter-clenching? Was it the rollercoaster feel of the game, moving from set-piece to set-piece between linear gunplay sections? Or was it all of that and more, as you were finally shown a glimpse of what the modern combat experience is truly like. What Modern Warfare did not do first, it did best.

See now why I had to mention that I was a defender of the Call of Duty series higher up? No? You will in a moment.

To be honest, depending on how you looked at it, there was barely any innovation to be seen. Sure the nuke level was an epoch for jaw-dropping moments in gaming, but apart from that? There are certainly other games that did frenetic warfare equally as well. There are many games with far better stealth sections. Even that rollercoaster feel wasn’t an innovative concept, since I got more of that feeling from Doom 3. True story.

Nonetheless, it is a widely accepted truth that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is in fact regarded as a game that had innovation in bounds.

Now, let’s look at another game. The one in the header, to be specific.

Portal is a game that is very much in the age-old western style of empowerment through external entities (a weapon) rather than the eastern style of being one with all (powers and melee) but you would never think it from actually playing the game. It arms you with a weapon that shoots portals and as such, you will only ever be able to damage things by quite literally removing the surfaces from around them (or something else, that then drops onto them).

The Half-Life series is littered with levels that challenged you to think out of the box in order to navigate levels and make the most of what you were given — think Ravenholm — and the Portal games remain true to that ideal.

In Portal, you shoot portals onto different surfaces (the ones that sustain them, anyway) in order to navigate an abandoned facility that contains test chambers designed to test your wits and your survival skills. There are other hazards such as poisonous swamp-like wet traps, laser beams, energy orbs and the cutest little turrets you’ll ever see before they tear you to shreds. There’s also the small matter of a deranged, homicidal artificial intelligence voiced by Ellen McLain. Throughout the entire game, you will navigate these levels in the first person perspective and your weapon will not expend a single shell casing. All you will shoot at things will be portals, yet the game will entertain you and keep you feeling fulfilled as a gamer, for your purchase. Granted, the first Portal was bundled with The Orange Box, but Portal 2 certainly was a stand-alone, and our game of the year last year to boot.

So that’s two games that have had “innovating” slapped across their titles, from the same genre (first person) albeit with different perspectives and play styles. One a no-holds-barred action romp and the other a tongue-in-cheek dark comedy puzzler.

Quick sidebar: Yahtzee once said: “It’s funny how innovation today simply means catching up to Valve.”

People deem Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to have innovated because of the above-mentioned reasons, as they deem Portal to have innovated. But why is the latter so entirely uncontested when we’ve actually found reasons to dismiss the claims of innovation for the former?

“Angels of the love affair, do you know that other, the dark one, that other me?”

It’s a matter of perspective, you see.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare borrowed a few, at the time relatively new concepts for gaming, and popularised them, while doing the same for a few new things. What it lacked in sideways gaming, the art of working out of the box like Valve regularly do, it made up for in delivering on the concepts that it attempted to implement.

You could think of the Call of Duty series as we know it now, to be an action film series, akin to Transformers (robot porn) or The Fast And The Furious (car porn), both of which make terrible showcases as Academy-Award-winning material but deliver entirely on mindless action and popcorn entertainment. Also, they rake in millions in profits, more so than many of the movies that would go on to win said Academy Awards.

Then you get games like Portal, with others like BioShock and Fallout also worth mentioning, that are true art-house equivalents of gaming, not meant for the mainstream but rather for those gamers who appreciate innovation and a spirit that can only be found in a game that was made by forward thinkers.

That sounds a bit pretentious, but work with me on this for a moment.

Oh, and before we move on, this is not about the Call of Duty series, be it hating on or defending the brand. That’s not my intention with this column, those are just examples to convey my points on innovation. If you assume that at any point in our little foray, I meant to do either the defending or hating on the Call of Duty series, effectively allowing you to do so as well, you dear reader have just won yourself Cavie’s stamp of Fail.

Would you like a side of Epic with that?

Moving on, innovation is a subjective term. Very much a chameleon. Especially in gaming where the diversity on offer is so broad that the spectrum almost loops back into itself (think Rage — the game that tried to be too many things at once).

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Portal are both innovative in their own respects. It’s when you sit down and talk about the points (something I saved you all the trouble of doing — you’re welcome) that you begin to understand the differences.

The truth as far as I see it, is that innovation in gaming isn’t quite as strictly defined as one would allow themselves to complacently think.

And that’s okay because innovation (as we know it, subjectively) is not everything. Not every game needs to be Portal or BioShock. Not every game needs to be Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (although Activision have tried). Not every game needs to be fucking Slumdog Millionaire. I’m perfectly happy to take both The Black Swan and Mr Popper’s Penguins, because I don’t really feel a need to justify each purchase by how much different it is from all the previous ones, or what it does so amazingly well that I simply had to buy it.

After all, did you not enjoy some of the games you purchased previously? Would more of the same and more not appeal to you?

Until we meet face-to-face, Freelancer 2.

A quick post-script: I found these little excerpts (all my words) of that conversation with Dean to be funny, so I thought I’d share them. Here you go:
“My concept of innovation is finding different ways to achieve the same goal, or straight throwing out the goal in the first place.”
“For example, if you want innovation in say a Call of Duty game, how about a level where you aren’t allowed to take a shot, where you must run from one end of the level, let’s say Mirror’s Edge style, to the other while minimising hostilities because you have to maintain your speed through the level else you die. If you move fast enough, you won’t get shot as much so there’s incentive to keep moving.”
“Or they could do another thing and let’s say there were three targets for you, all groups of soldiers or tanks or something. Your squad has the advantage of moving through buildings so you can flank each tank and either hit it from behind with explosives, run up into it and kill the crew, RPG it or say drop a crane onto it. That’s a different kind of innovation but it still applies.”
Yeah, I’m not really sure what I was smoking either…

Tower defence has been made popular by its many mapped iterations within Warcraft 3. Since then, a horde of clones and wannabes has moved in to make a quick buck off of that success, subsequently creating a tower defence genre in itself. From mods, to maps to games in their entirety, I have always been a fan of the tower defence genre. That being said, it’s one of those genres I don’t get to spend a whole of time rummaging playing. As such, I usually find myself playing the first couple stages of any tower defence I come across, then, and if it’s a decidedly addictive waste of a few weeks, well I keep playing.

Unstoppable Gorg is a tower defence genre that pays homage to the 1950’s and all the wacky black & white sci-fi that ensued from that period. The theme is executed well and employs old school aesthetics to drive it home. The 1950’s styled audio track is a charming attempt that suits the brightly styled visuals really well. I must point out that the audio track is used a little too often, though it never quite managed to get on my nerves. The cinematics between each stage is done as a black & white news report, the kind you’d expect from the period. I especially enjoyed all of the special effects I would imagine occurred, like the clear use of models held up by string for ships and space stations. Gorg himself, the alien overlord set on destroying all of humanity, makes the odd appearance and I’ve laughed a couple times at the whole presentation, and believe you me, a chuckle a day keeps the nerd at play.

So it looks and feels good, but in a genre defined by a singular game mechanic, that of tower defence, Unstoppable Gorg needs to do this well for me to bother with the purchase. In this regard I’m happy to report, Unstoppable Gorg’s claim to be revolutionary as a tower defence game is done very well and I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. I feel I should explain what makes Unstoppable Gorg so revolutionary. Rather than be another standard, run of the mill tower defence, Unstoppable Gorg, rather brilliantly, has added the ability to place your towers (or in this case satellites) on specific points within the orbits around the space stations you’re protecting. Once the towers are placed on these points, you are able to freely rotate those orbits and so reposition your towers to best suit the changing routes of the attackers. Moreover, each tower is able to continue shooting while being repositioned, thereby allowing the player to keep towers continuously focused on specific enemies. Finally, the enemy attackers are able to attack your towers and so towers need to be switched and repaired, or need to move to avoid fire altogether. It’s not overly complex but the ability to rotate your orbits, and so move your towers, puts a demand not only your strategic ability but your quick thinking tactical side. Because of this, and rather enjoyably, Unstoppable Gorg has a relentless pace at times, an enjoyable change from the usually slow approach to standard tower defence games.

On top of the revolving orbit style of play, Unstoppable Gorg gives the ability to place other support styled towers that aid by collecting research points and additional cash. Research points allow the player to upgrade towers before the start of play, upgrades that can make quite a difference if used correctly. The other enjoyable addition is set challenges within each stage of play. Completing challenges, like don’t let your home space station take damage, grants you with the opportunity to better any stage you’ve already attempted as well as unlocking new challenge levels that will test you even more. This adds to an essential aspect of any tower defence, replayability.

All in all, Unstoppable Gorg is a thoroughly enjoyable tower defence that has become one of my favourites alongside the likes of Plants V.S. Zombies and Defense Grid. If you’re looking for a tower defence game, Unstoppable Gorg is it. There are a couple that are just as good as Unstoppable Gorg, but none of those have the charm or quite frankly, the awesome 1950’s theme to them. Emperor Gorg is like one of those evil bad guys from Power Rangers and he wants to destroy you, so buy the game and show him what’s what.

As we all know, Valve is currently seeing Dota 2 through its closed beta phase, and for many it’s one of the most anticipated games of 2012, as it’s expected to be the true successor to arguably the most popular mod in the world. Now, I’ve been an avid player of the original DotA for quite a number of years, probably over six, and after personally playing a solid 116 hours of Dota 2, marking around 101 games in total, it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve built my complete opinion of it. This article will not only give you that, because I know how you all love my trolling opinions, but also present you with a complete introduction to the beta so that newcomers can see exactly what to expect from the game.

Welcome to Dota 2

Of course, this would be the title screen. It may not be the most pretty thing in the world, but it’s simple and clean, and that’s exactly what I like about it. From here, you’ll basically have access to everything you need, whether it be chatting to our fellow South African players (or some Asians, Russians and other lifeforms), joining a party, searching for a game, creating a practice match, spectating a live match, learning the heroes, reading the changelogs and changing your user settings. If you’re wondering about cheating through spectating matches, then don’t worry because Valve has addressed that, and spectating a match puts you about two minutes behind, so you won’t be of any help to the people playing. Now, the awesome part is that we South Africans have our own channel, which you can access by clicking the plus button next to the chat-room name and scrolling down the list for our country. Secondly, hosting single player games through Warcraft 3 to try out the latest map or going online to read changelogs is a thing of the past, because that’s all been incorporated here.

Valve has done a great job at making things easily accessible. I’m sure you can see the “updates” button, which gives you all of the latest changelogs at a click. In addition to this, another cool feature of Dota 2 is that you’ll be able to host private practice matches and populate them with both your friends and bots with adjustable difficulty settings, so that you can get used to the game and try out anything you want. Regarding servers and delay, if you look closely, you’ll see that “Europe” is highlighted in the Active Regions section, and that’s naturally because it would be our server of choice to get minimal delay. Fortunately, Dota 2 is a blast to play, and with my 4mb connection I barely get any delay whatsoever. Now, I’d like to draw your attention to the “learn” tab, as it’s one of my favourite features.

Simple, but effective, the learn screen will introduce you to every hero currently in the game, complete with a summary of their moves, lore, portrait and primary function in the game. For example, the obnoxious Spirit Breaker is listed as a Ganker, while Lifestealer is naturally a Carry and someone like Axe is described as an Initiator. It’s a nice touch to tell newcomers at a glance what they should be doing with each hero in the game. Valve has done its duty to make sure that newcomers to Dota 2 get a decent introduction to the game and easy access to important information, and of course you can’t go wrong with practice matches, where you’re free to experiment with whatever you wish.

The best thing about Dota 2 for me, functionality wise, is the awesome party and buddy system. In the original game, Battle.net sometimes made it a mission to get three or four spots for friends in a game, as well as keep track of what all of your friends are doing. But with Dota 2′s party system that’s never a problem. Firstly, through your Steam friendlist you’re able to, at a glance, see exactly what all of your friends are doing, whether they’re online, playing a game, spectating or simply hanging around in the main menu. The one problem is communication though, because Steam’s messaging system isn’t exactly the most comfortable thing to use, and I feel Dota 2 probably needs a “whisper” function much like Battle.net had, where you can privately and directly send messages to other players who aren’t necessarily on your friend’s list. Moving on to the most important feature, you’re able to make a party of friends up to a maximum of five players including yourself, and from there you’ll be able to chat directly to them and begin searching for a game, guaranteeing spots for each member in your party.

However, before moving on it’s time to explain another great system the game has. See, the game not only keeps track of players’ win-lose ratio and most played heroes, but also takes note of the amount of games you’ve abandoned or quit, if any. Now, Dota 2 does have the awesome reconnect feature, where if let’s say your connection crashes and you get booted out of the game, you’ll have five minutes to reconnect to the game and resume playing without penalty. If, however, the five minutes expires, you’ll gain a “quit”, and the game will become safe to leave for the other players. However, if the other players resume the game and finish it, then win-loss ratios will be affected. If all players on a team leave, the game ends and the other team instantly wins, so there are no more rage quits without penalties. So what does your quit count do? Well, the more games you’ve abandoned, the longer it will take for you to find a game as your priority will go down firstly, and secondly you’ll get put in the same pool as other players with abandons, so you could end up playing lesser games with the ragers and quitters. I doubt that’s a fate any player would want, so it’s solid incentive to have a good track record.

So, back to the party system. Let’s talk about how it works. Firstly you’ll get an invite from your buddies. Or do the inviting yourself, if you’re the one creating the party. Let’s assume it’s the former.

Then you’ll get all your friends together, and wait for them to be ready.

From there, it’s as simple as clicking “Play” and pressing the button to find a game. Make sure you have Europe set as active though. Once your game is found, your speakers will explode as a giant Dota 2-styled “Fus Ro Dah” will emit from them alerting you to click the accept button.

After all players have accepted, the game will begin. If a player declines or takes too long to accept, then they will be booted from the list and you’ll once again find yourself searching for a game except this time with much higher priority, so you’ll find a new game much faster. Either way, once the game starts you’ll get past the loading screen and into the player waiting screen, with all of your friends.

Finally, once all the players in the game have loaded up, you’ll get sent to the hero selection screen, and then you’ll be ready to play. Unfortunately, for some reason at this point in time the beta doesn’t allow you to repick your hero or swap with another player, so be careful when you decide to random. It’s pretty cool though that there’s a dedicated pre-game screen for the hero selection process, and you’ll get to chat to your teammates for about a minute to decide on your strategies and picks.

Now that the introduction to the beta and how it works is finished with, let’s get down to real business. The actual game, and how it’s doing so far. Well, there’s plenty to talk about, and right now the latest update for Dota 2 has just incorporated all of the changes from the original Dota’s 6.73 update, except for the new heroes. It did however add Silencer and Spirit Breaker to the game, and there are plenty more updates on the way as the game heads towards its eventual open beta stage.

Dota 2 Beta Impressions

There are currently 66 heroes in Dota 2, spread across the two factions with 33 heroes per side. Naturally there are still plenty more to come to reach the original game’s roster, and we’ll be seeing more heroes get added in as the game continues to be updated. While the original Dota’s Sentinel and Scourge teams have been replaced with the Radiant and the Dire respectively, all of the heroes have retained their original titles and skill names. Additionally, most items in the game have their original names, except for the ones trademarked by Warcraft III. Now, what I absolutely love about the new Dota is that once you get used to the interface and how things work, which should take you a couple of games, you’ll discover how great the experience really is. I believe this is what most of us envisioned a true sequel to Dota to be like. The same game, but with better graphics and without all of the things that held the game back due to its rigid and old engine. I think Valve has achieved exactly that.

The first thing you’ll notice from the screen above, if not the pretty, clean visuals, is the new shop. No longer are there multiple shops to navigate through to get the items you want, and you don’t need to spend a few precious seconds reading recipes anymore. Now, there’s only one shopkeeper in your home base. Don’t worry, the two secret shops are still there of course. But with the new system, for every hero you’ll get a basic guide of what to get under Suggested Items. Here the game will helpfully inform you of starting, early game, core and situational items. Once you get used to it, you’ll see how comfortable and fantastic the shop is to use. All items are arranged in simple categories, but if you don’t want to browse through the shop you simply have to type the name of the item in the search bar and it will instantly reveal the item you’re looking for. Even better, is that you’ll just need to left-click on an item to see what you’ll need to build it, and from there it becomes easy to get what you want.

All players will have their own personal stash in the home base that holds up to five items, while a courier can hold anything else you need. For some reason purchasing a courier automatically shares it with the entire team, so you can’t be selective in this regard and as such you’ll have to make sure you’re playing with decent players or your friends, for the safest option, so that no one ruins things for you, especially if you’re the solo for instance. What’s really great about Dota 2 is the clever inventory and shopping systems. If you have enough money for a full item, for example, you don’t have to buy every invidual item that makes it up, but you can buy the complete item straight up. Another example is that if you have parts of an item in your inventory and the rest in your stash, it will automatically build once you get within range. From this it’s easy to deduce that Valve has really made the experience of Dota 2 much more free-flowing by removing some unnecessary haggles that previously slowed down gameplay. All of these features are exactly what the original game missed and couldn’t have.

The game’s visual style is actually exactly what I wanted it to be, personally speaking. It’s clean, and definitely not overly busy, and the design is excellent. The heroes and skills look amazing, and what’s great is that they don’t distract or get in the way and make players unable to see what’s going on once you get used to them after one or two games. Dota 2 is actually beautiful to look at, and the experience is really fluid and easy on the eye, which is again exactly what most players of the original game wanted when thinking of the game’s upgraded graphics and utilisation of the Source engine. I feel Valve has done a spectacular job, especially considering the amount of work they had to do in trying to replicate an ancient engine and the original game’s mechanics with their own engine. Lastly, the audio is great and most of the heroes have fantastic voice work, and for me it’s pretty awesome to see their dialogue take on a more comical and lighthearted approach, as opposed to a serious or “cool” one.

Truthfully, there’s nothing new to be said about the gameplay that you won’t already know from the original. After all, it’s the same game, and that’s exactly what we wanted Dota 2 to be. Just a whole lot better in terms of functionality, and that’s what we’re getting. The interface is simple and clean, and will probably get a few tweaks as it gets updated. You’re able to set your own hotkeys and shortcuts, but the default settings will use the “QWER” system for hero abilities that third party applications like Dotakeys use, and the numpad will be assigned to your item slots. However, you can change this in the options menu. The mini map has some pretty cool functionality, such as allowing players to hold the alt key and see little portraits on the map of visible heroes, so you can see who’s around and who you’re dealing with at a glance, rather than by matching the colour to the hero. You’re also able to draw on the mini map by holding control and left-clicking, and this is for showing routes to take and places to be. The drawings fade after a few seconds, and can really be tactically helpful. Lastly, just like in the original game, holding alt and clicking on the map will “ping” a location, alerting your allies to places of interest. It’s pretty sweet that the pings show up in-game as well, on the ground, and pinging structures will tell your allies to defend them or attack them, wrapping them in shield or sword icons on the map.

Overall, when it comes to the core gameplay, Dota 2 is played exactly like the original, and in my opinion it’s definitely the sequel we’ve always wanted. In all honesty, after spending so much time with Dota 2, I just can’t play the original game again. I haven’t gone back to it. I absolutely love Dota 2, and it’s just a blast to play. Sure the heroes aren’t all in there yet, and it’s definitely going to take quite some time to be completed and get to the same level as the original, but I personally feel that Valve has simply nailed it, and I can’t wait to see how the game develops from here on out. I know I’m full of praise at this point in time, but seriously, aside from a few minor things here and there, I can’t say that there’s anything I don’t completely love about the game. It really is coming along amazingly, and it’s just great.

In conclusion, I hope this article proved useful to you if you’re a newcomer to Dota 2 and haven’t yet gotten your hands on a beta key. Hopefully now you’ll have a solid idea of what to expect from it, and can be all the more excited to play the game. For those who have already played it and are currently doing so, I definitely hope you’re loving it as much as I am right now. As far as I see it, Dota 2 is speedily moving in the right direction, and I want to be along for the ride. It’s just awesome.

For a long time now, the world has waited patiently for a portable device that was able to take the experiences you encounter on a console and put them in your pocket. A portable device that could deliver stunning graphics, intuitive and on-par gameplay, multimedia entertainment and more. Sony’s first PSP may have paved the way for portable gaming around the world, and while the PS Vita may not be a redefinition regarding how we play portably, it is certainly the closest thing you’re going to get to console gaming outside of your home. However, a few business decisions and the ever growing competition could prove fatal to Sony’s flagship handheld, regardless of the quality it brings to the table.

When I first booted up the PS Vita, I was excited and ready to be introduced to a new form of portable play. I owned a PSP, but never really got into it as it was unable to give me the same experiences that I was able to get playing a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. So, I was excited, but skeptical at the same time, and after a few hours I was a bit worried as well. I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy my PS Vita more than my PC which was just a few meters away. It was console gaming on the move, but I wasn’t “on the move”, so the appeal nearly vanished. But Sony didn’t design the PS Vita to contend with consoles. It designed it to provide an optimal portable gaming experience, and after taking it along over a weekend away, I saw Sony’s hard work in action.

To say that the Playstation Vita is a console in your pocket is probably the most accurate description I can give the device. The device is fairly big, meaning that a snug fit in your back pocket may not be an option, but tossing it in a backpack or jacket pocket is still on the cards. Considering the times, this is not essentially such a big deal, especially since our pockets are usually filled with our big smartphones and IPods anyway. The big size allowed Sony to squeeze in more features and control options at the sacrifice of size, which was a smart move on their part.

Probably the biggest new control option is the inclusion of two comfortable thumbsticks over the bizarre single one on the PSP. Having two thumbsticks opens up more possibilities for games on the PS Vita, and takes a a huge leap forward in feeling more like a console on the move rather than a hardware spin-off. The casing is made entire out of plastic, though it feels thick and hard, so it could probably survive a drop or two. Just don’t go throwing the thing at walls and expecting it to bounce back. Sony sadly stuck with the glossy finish for the product, meaning that your new device will go from a pristine, shiny new console to a fingerprint littered mess in only a few minutes out of the box. The gloss gives the product a premium look out of the box, but it’s baffling that Sony didn’t choose a matte finish instead. It’s a device that is going to be touched and fiddled with a lot, surely that should’ve warranted a bit more thought into a gloss-free design?

Besides the utterly blind gloss decision, the rest of the Vita is actually very well designed. Buttons click down in a manner that feels more like a mouse click rather than a traditional controller press, but the change is welcomed. The buttons are smaller, but you’ll never find yourself hitting more buttons than you wish. Thumbsticks don’t click down and aren’t the same size as their controller counterparts, but their rubber surface makes them easy to use and control, even after extended hours of play. I found myself occasionally having to re-adjust my grip every now and then, especially when prompted to use the rear touch panel, but other than that the PS Vita is comfortable and practical to use and hold, which is a real accomplishment considering its size.

However, the really outstanding feature of the Vita has to be its stunning display. Sporting a 5′ OLED display, the Playstation Vita’s screen is a vast improvement over the PSP, and it’s not hard becoming engrossed in your game with a screen as gorgeous as this. Colours are vivid and deep, and while it my not be HD, it certainly gets close. However, there is still a major issue with glare. Step outside into the sunlight with your Vita, and it practically becomes unplayable. I even struggled sometimes on an overcast day, especially when playing games with a dark setting. This issue can be fought to an extent by notching up the brightness, but then you’ll be faced with an alarming battery life drop. On the standard brightness, the Vita’s battery lasts an impressive 5-6 hours, which is astonishing considering the hardware and graphical capabilities on the device.

Then comes Vita’s more “gimmicky” features. I say “gimmicky” mainly because that is exactly what I thought of them when first shown off at E3. The front and rear touch panels may seem like a cheap gimmick employed by Sony to raise the price for more real reasons, but they actually come into play very well with the device. It may not be explicitly apparent when you first boot up the device and everything you do involves touch, but after a bit of time with Welcome Park and especially Uncharted: Golden Abyss, it is apparent that these two features could form another layer of gameplay. For instance, in Uncharted, when Drake nearly misses a jump, the touch screen comes into play rather than Drake miraculously making the catch by himself. The rear touch pad is used to make charcoal rubbings and clean objects, making you feel as though you actually hold the object in your hands. The built-in accelerometer also aids with aiming and sniping, and even the camera is utilised in some interesting ways. If all developers utilise the Vita’s hardware in a similar way, then the features cease being gimmicks and rather add an interesting layer to your gameplay.

The Vita also does a great job of introducing you to all these and more new features using an application called Welcome Park. Basically, instead of just prompting text bubbles to pop up and tell you about each new feature, Welcome Park designs some mildly entertaining minigames that utilise each new feature that the Vita has to offer. Games that involve touching numbers in order, peeling away numbered tiles, solving tile puzzles that use a picture you took with the camera and more all help you understand the Vita’s already easy to use features, and even rewards you with Trophies for doing so. Sadly, the rest of the UI isn’t as friendly with you.

With the PS Vita, Sony decided to ditch the sleek XMB design that they have used in the past in favour of a more smartphone looking UI. Applications all have their own bubbles that require touch, and each application can be minimised and “peeled away” when not in use. While the multitasking aspect is appreciated, the whole look and feel of the UI feels like a step back. Rather than just redesigning the XMB design to work with touch and controls, the new UI can only be operated with touch. App bubbles don’t look that nice, and while you can rearrange them in order you want, there is no way to sort them into folders or delete icons that aren’t in use. Deleting an icon deletes the program, so what you’re stuck with is an ever growing list of bubble icons, which is even more aggravating when you take into account that each new game you play will come with its own icon. It’s cumbersome, annoying and not practical at all.

But despite all of this, the biggest problem that Sony might face from the Vita is the price needed to actually get one up and running. It was a slightly underhanded move for Sony to come out and say at E3 that their console was going for $249 for the WiFi option, and only $299 for the 3G/WiFi version. It didn’t sound that bad at all at the time, though Sony failed to mention that you’d need to spend more in actuality. I’m mainly speaking of the Vita’s memory cards here. Since there is no internal memory, a memory card is essential and not an optional accessory for the Vita. Now, this wouldn’t be such an issue of Sony didn’t make the things so obscenely expensive. I mean, R500.00 for a 16GB memory card? It’s ridiculous, and it could end up meaning a lot less sales for Sony.

To put it more into perspective, let me break it down. Say you’re looking for just the WiFi version, and you’d like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and an 8GB memory card. That bundle itself already costs around R3300.00, which is already more expensive than a 320GB Playstation 3 bundle with Uncharted 3 by R300.00. If you want to compare it to direct competition, the Nintendo 3DS only comes in at around R1799.00, which is over R1000.00 less. With this type of pricing, Sony is going to struggle to make initial sales when the device first drops around the rest of the world, as most people are probably going to wait for the inevitable price cuts, regardless of the fact that this is an amazing product.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to test out certain features such as the Playstation Store and Remote Play with the Vita yet, as some features will only make their debut when the device makes its global release on February 22nd. However, from the week I have spent so far with the Vita, I am beyond impressed. It will only truly hit you how amazing this device is when you get to try it out for yourself. Although Sony might need to focus on the market and prices in order to garner a more widespread appeal, the fact remains that the Playstation Vita is the most powerful, smart and impressive solution to portable gaming yet. If you love your console, gaming on the move, and won’t settle for anything but the best, then the Playstation Vita is exactly the product you should be purchasing.

It’s quite simple really, these are the games you may not know about or have passed up for other titles. This article is our attempt to persuade you otherwise, because these have the potential to be awesome.

Developer: Valve, Hidden Path Entertainment
Publisher: Valve
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Mac

To be honest this wasn’t on anyone’s radar until one particular voice in eGamer pointed out it should be. CS: GO is seen by many as a fruitless attempt to revive a dying series; we see it as a new hope. While Counterstrike is certainly still quite popular, it isn’t going from strength to strength anymore. In fact, its competition with behemoths like Modern Warfare, Battlefield 3 and Halo has meant its community has dropped several magnitudes in size. CS: GO hopes to bring back the appeal of what once was.

First of all, CS: GO is not free to play like some have assumed, instead it will be a retail purchase. The best thing about CS: GO is that Valve is taking community feedback very seriously and massive changes are made seemingly overnight to appeal to the many eSport and CS fans tasked with feedback. The changes are making sure to keep CS: GO competitive but fun and accessible enough to target more than the l33t player. Its introduction of separate casual and competitive modes should further improve this. Moreover, there are many other features made to improve its odds in a very competitive genre; like new weapons and a thorough rebalancing of the old ones, a focus on competitive 5v5, LAN support, ranked ladder play and a new money system. All of which make CS: GO sound appealing to us.

Developer: 38 Studios, Big Huge Games
Publisher: EA
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

What is there that hasn’t been said? It seems as though we all know Kingdoms of Amalur so well, though that’s probably because we at eGamer have been so faithfully looking forward to it, it’s come up in a fair share of articles.

While we have already talked about some of what Kingdoms of Amalur has to offer, it’s easy enough to just think of it as Skyrim and God of War’s illegitimate love child. It really is going for a world as rich as Skyrim’s and a combat system that favours the likes of God of War and Devil May Cry. That’s all well and good but can it pull it off? Well judging from what we’ve seen so far, we definitely think so.

As far as mechanics and the finer points of gameplay are concerned; Kingdoms of Amalur has a well thought out fate and destiny RPG mechanic that allows for a diversity of play styles as well as customising your character. The fate and destiny mechanic allows the player to focus or find a balance between all the standard classes of RPG like mage, warrior and rogue. It allows for rewards in approaching the classes with your own unique investment into the skill trees of Might, Finesse and Sorcery. As you invest in specific skills across the three trees, certain destinies are presented to you and act as the pre-emptive class system. Speaking of which, combat does use some variance on button timing and pressing, as well as the occasional boss fight quick event, but does not take away from the strategic nature of RPG combat.

The other thing to get excited about is the many factions and the size of the world promised. Kingdoms of Amalur may not be the biggest game ever but it certainly isn’t small by any means. Factions mean while let the player get missions, destinies bonuses and loot unique to that faction; think of them as Skyrim or Oblivion’s guilds.

It’s not a lot and there are gameplay videos that certainly paint a better picture than what I have said here. My goal is to get you aware, if you remember Kingdoms of Amalur my job is done; if it sucks though, blame Caveshen okay.

Developer: Runic Games
Publisher: Perfect World
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360

There isn’t a whole lot to go on with Torchlight 2. Still, knowing its goals are to improve upon the original Torchlight says a whole lot. The original Torchlight had a lot going for it and was a brilliant example of a modern interpretation of a Diablo like isometric RPG. Its only flaw was a lack of multiplayer and Torchlight 2 will address this through both online as well as LAN support.

There’s a lot I could say about the game, and in fact I already have, so check out this preview of Torchlight 2.

Developed by Runic Games, former founders of Blizzard North, Torchlight 2, like its recent prequel Torchlight 1, is rather predictably an isometric RPG. As equally predictable however, and as you’d imagine from the former members of Blizzard North, Torchlight is a gem of an RPG experience and easily rivals the greats like Diablo. In fact, Torchlight can very much be likened to a new and improved Diablo for the modern age. Its only shortcoming was the absence of a multiplayer component, though the game was awesome without it. Despite this however, Torchlight 2 is on its way and this time its packing multiplayer.

Name: Torchlight 2
Genre: Isometric RPG
Multiplayer: Yes
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
Developers: Runic Games
Publishers: Perfect World
Release Date: Early 2012 (Pending Confirmation)

Except for a few gameplay videos and slide presentations, there’s not much to go by with Torchlight 2. In fact, much of Torchlight 2’s pre-release marketing campaign has been focused on selling the idea that Torchlight 2, in comparison to Torchlight 1, is an improvement in every conceivable facet as well as the all important addition of multiplayer. Just in case you’re not familiar with Torchlight 1, and seeing as explaining it is the best way of making you aware of what Torchlight 2 has to offer, here is a brief account. Torchlight was by all accounts a clone to Diablo 1 and massive improvement of a similar RPG called Fate. What made Torchlight different was in the details and it was more a modern interpretation and thorough improvement than a unique game in itself.

As such, there were three classes, skill trees and a single town on top of the mine (not church) you had to descend. On top of these things there was a pet system. The pet system granted you a permanent companion, either cat or dog, that was capable of carrying additional loot for the player. What’s more was the pet’s ability to independently travel to town with said loot, sell it and return back to the player with your profits in paw. Of course your pet was able to fight by your side and made an effective team mate in tough situations. There was also a fishing mechanic which unsurprisingly allowed you to catch all manner of fish types that, and when fed to your pet, would transform said pet into a number of creatures with useful support, defensive or offensive abilities. The other great mechanic was the addition of portals that transported the player to limited level dungeons that would end in experience and well, more loot. It was a clever way of increasing play time and giving more ways of raiding for loot without having to do the same levels of the mine over and over again. There were a few other things but suffice it to say, Torchlight was an awesome little RPG.

Torchlight 2 is offering the same kinds of mechanics, but expands on classes, the size of the world, multiplayer and making it all-in-all more like Diablo 2 than Diablo 1. I like to think of Torchlight 2 as continuing the fine trend of recreating a Diablo experience with modern gaming technology and will be a brilliant addition to this year’s Diablo 3 release.

Speaking of new additions, the classes will include the Engineer, a steampunk inspired technological character sporting a heavy melee; the Outlander, a light magic wielder and overall ranged wanderer; the Beserker, a fast striking warrior using animal-themed powers to overwhelm and batter enemies; and finally, the Embermage, a highly powerful elemental mage. The other addition is much larger and better randomly generated areas which promise more variety; so from deserts to forests, Torchlight 2 is going far beyond traversing a dingy mine. What we’re not too sure about right now is the exact details of the multiplayer component of Torchlight 2; though, and like everything else, Runic Games is keeping it hush. What we do know is its co-op based and will include, thank god, LAN support. And while there’s no confirmation of what the player limit is, Runic Games seems to think round about 4 players is best per game.

The other aspect about Torchlight was its modability. This meant there were all kinds of downloadable graphical mods as well as new classes, spells and monsters to combat. All of this will be returning to Torchlight 2 and should make for an even better experience.

For some the news that Torchlight is more a Diablo clone creates a bit of a sore spot and so they refuse to play it. I don’t quite get it myself because Torchlight had enough variation and polish to make it a better game than Diablo, clone or not. I know huge fans of the isometric RPG, like Diablo and Titan Quest, and believe me when I say they might be more excited for Torchlight 2 than Diablo 3. Take that with a pinch or perhaps a mountain of salt but let that seep in. At the end of the day there really isn’t any reason not to get both, I know I am.

Cave Story Plus is an updated version of the original Cave Story released in 2004 and developed by Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya over a four year period. The culmination of his effort resulted in a sidescrolling platform adventure following in the footsteps of Metroid, Castlevania and Mega Man.

The premise might at first glance seem outdated but its execution turns the game into one of the most endearing indie games of all time. It is very simple. The story of Cave Story follows the adventures of Quote a young robot who becomes stranded in the cavernous interior of a floating island. Suffering from amnesia Quote awakens with no memories and through explorations of the interior discovers the nefarious acts of a mad doctor named the Doctor. He forces the denizens of the cave (the Mimigas) to fight for him in order to conquer the world, and in turn Quote fights back.

That’s the basic gist of Cave Story’s story and it doesn’t become more complex than that. On the visual front, the game is a vastly different experience to many indie games out there. The game embraces a classic 2D aesthetic reminiscent of classic sidescrolling platforming games. Cave Story’s colour scheme is bright and colourful. The character sprites are brilliantly animated and expressive. In this new version, the game has improved visuals displaying higher definition quality graphics and support for higher resolutions. The beauty of the update is that you can switch between the original visuals and the new visuals.

The gameplay of Cave Story is where the game really shines. The level types change across the game with water based levels, levels with huge spikes and various obstacles, and even grass meadows where friendly cuddly enemies greet you. You can manoeuvre Quote through the various environments, dodge enemies from left to right whilst jumping from platform to platform. You collect power-ups which can be used to upgrade your available weapons from a simple peashooter of a gun to a massive bazooka that deals area damage to enemies.

Cave Story incorporates many RPG elements with an inventory, upgradeable weapons and the fact that you can collect Life Capsules which upgrade your HP bar. Also, if you collect yellow triangles Quote can utilise more powerful forms. Character interactions are also an important part of Cave Story’s gameplay design where decisions affect the storyline’s development. So in the game’s finale there are different possibilities for the ending.

The game is quite challenging and it’s easy to see that the game prides itself on not being a walk in the park, or acid trip coloured wonderland. One careless mistake may leave your health bar greatly diminished. But checkpoints all across the game add balance to Cave Story’s overall gameplay dynamic. The game cleverly combines the best of 2D sidescrolling games and being developed by one man is a testament to what good game development is about.

The soundtrack is still as great as ever and harkens back to the NES, SNES and Sega Genesis with MIDI gloriousness. The score fits the retro design of the game to a tee. Cave Story comes together as a whole package, and is considered by many to be one of the premier games that started the movement towards the popularisation of indie games.

Now the game is available for purchase on Steam and deserves a great deal more attention. The greatest plus is that you’re purchasing both the original Cave Story and the enhanced version with updated HD visuals, and higher resolutions. Cave Story Plus is a true indie gem and an unappreciated game. I suggest you give it a try.

Welcome to the second edition of our “What Happened To” feature, in which we analyse games that have undergone drastic change, or have had a complex development period that our readers may not be fully sure about. The first feature covered Hitman: Absolution, and it also serves to inform you all about the reasons for the change as well as tell you about the new game. Right, let’s go!

The story of Metal Gear Solid: Rising, now called Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, is perhaps one of the most interesting ones in recent times. It’s the story of how a game first emerged looking like one of the most exciting games some of us have seen in years, to turning into something that gave us mixed reactions and we’re not too sure about. But of course, we give everything a chance and will wait until the game releases to judge properly, but it’s still upsetting considering what we saw in the beginning.

Where It All Began

The game was first hinted at during Hideo Kojima’s keynote presentation at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco back in 2009, and it was during a lengthy presentation that covered the entire development process of the Metal Gear franchise right up to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, but at the end there was a reveal for the future. The final mission title was “The Next MGS” and featured MGS4′s Cyborg Raiden standing next to the title. But that’s not when we first saw it.

Gamers got their first ever teaser for Metal Gear Solid: Rising at E3 2009, where it was officially announced to the public at the Microsoft Press Conference. The legendary series’ director Hideo Kojima revealed it himself, and the game was originally only announced for Xbox360 before it was later confirmed for both PC and PlayStation 3, marking the first fully multi-platform Metal Gear Solid game in the series’ history. According to the “Kojima Productions Report” podcast that surfaced at the time, the game was going to use a brand new engine instead of the one seen in MGS4, and it was also announced that Hideo Kojima would not have a big involvement with the game because he wanted to give the new bloods at the studio a chance, as well as focus 100% of his attention on the PSP’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker project. You can take a look at the game’s first teaser trailer down below.

Fans were very excited to see actual gameplay of Metal Gear Solid: Rising, because before the game was teased at E3 of 2009, it was hyped up on Kojima Productions’ website, and gamers took particular notice of the traditional MGS tagline of “Tactical Espionage Action” being replaced with “Lightning Bolt Action,” which was seen as a play on the fact that Raiden’s name means “thunder and lightning” in Japanese. However after E3 2009, the game pretty much disappeared, and it wasn’t until E3 of 2010, the next year, that we heard about it again, and this time it came packed with an exciting full reveal.

Again during Microsoft’s press conference at E3 2010 on June 14, Hideo Kojima made an appearance to introduce the game as well as Rising’s original lead designer, Mineshi Kimura, who unveiled the first ever trailer for the game that featured a cutscene as well as actual gameplay footage that caused MGS fans to lose their minds from the awesomeness on display. It was in this trailer that we were first introduced to the game’s zan-datsu concept, which means “cut and take” roughly translated.

Check out the fantastic trailer.

Shortly after, details exploded. First up were some great screenshots taken from the E3 trailer, and a few days later we got our hands on the first details for the game, which informed us that the game would be an interquel taking place somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The story would follow Raiden’s journey and explain how he became the cyborg ninja we saw and loved in MGS4.  We were also told that the game aimed to raise Raiden’s popularity, and would feature a new type of predator stealth for the series titled “hunting stealth”, and focus heavily on the player’s freedom to “cut at will” with Raiden’s blade during combat.

We then found out that the game wouldn’t feature many returning characters, as the developers wanted “newcomers to the game to come in and play freely without needing to know and understand the background of the whole Metal Gear Solid universe.” The game was further hyped by lead designer Mineshi Kimura, who said that the game’s stealth elements would focus on Raiden’s heightened speed and agility, as the player would hunt their targets and be able to move like he did in the MGS4 trailers. The game would show “the stealth of the sword, and the strength of not even losing to the gun, and the fear and power you have with this blade.” Excitement was on the rise, excuse the pun, when the game’s producer, Shigenobu Matsuyama, told us that a “no-kill completion” could be achieved.

Later in the year at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, we were treated to the “Free Cutting” trailer that showed off the game’s slicing mechanics. Here, Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 version of the game would be playable in 3D, which was exciting for fans. After that, the game completely dropped off the radar until January 2011 where we got some concept art, and November 2011 where we discovered, shortly before Rising was set to appear at 2011′s Spike VGAs, that the game’s producer had been replaced. Yuji Korekado was now at the helm, taking over from Shigenobu Matsuyama.

Finally, before we learned that Rising was in fact no more, we heard our last of it in November 2011, when we were informed that Hideo Kojima would be talking about Rising and Metal Gear Solid 5 in the next issue of the Official PlayStation Magazine. We didn’t know what to expect, but it was certainly exciting. Sadly, that was last we heard of Metal Gear Solid: Rising before the great change.

Why The Change?

The word is that Kojima Productions were struggling when it came to development of the game. Even though the team had thought out stories and scenarios for the game, the studio was allegedly finding it difficult to design Rising around the cutting concept. Perhaps there were many more reasons than that, but it came as devastating news to fans, including myself, when we learned that the project had been somewhat quietly cancelled late in 2010, baffling us since we had still been hearing about it here and there last year. However, we finally started learning the truth. Word is that Kojima had considered moving the project to developers abroad, but in the end he felt that a Japanese developer would be better suited to produce a ninja action game. We discovered that in early 2011, Kojima approached the president and CEO of Platinum Games, Tatsuya Minami, and spoke to him about restarting the cancelled Rising project with them. In case you’re wondering, Platinum Games are the guys who developed Bayonetta and Vanquish, which were both fast-paced, awesome action games.

Platinum must have been intrigued by the concept of Rising, because they accepted the project and took over development with Atsushi Inaba as the producer. The entire game was reworked from scratch, and would now use Platinum Games’ own engine. While the gameplay would be developed by them, Kojima Productions would be handling the game’s cutscenes and story elements. The story had been completely revised so that it now takes place after Metal Gear Solid 4 in order to reflect the new development style. This meant that Rising was no longer an interquel, and neither was it canon to the MGS story. It was now a spin-off project, and was no longer part of the main MGS series.

At the Spike Video Game Awards in December 2011, we finally learned that Metal Gear Solid: Rising was no more, and the game was now Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. We got to see the first gameplay footage of it, and reactions to it were extremely mixed, because the game was entirely different, and had even changed genres, as it was now a hack and slash game. On top of that, it seemed to resemble some wild anime when it came to style, and had become fully action orientated and, well, cheesy. Check out the trailer below, and see for yourself how much Rising changed.

Well, what do you think?

Whatever our opinions towards it now may be, the fact remains that it is what it is, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Personally I’m sad to see what was originally an extremely awesome and interesting concept turn into something like this, but I can’t deny that Platinum Games have delivered the goods with Bayonetta and Vanquish, so perhaps we’re in for another great experience.

Time will tell, that’s for sure, but for now let’s end this off by talking about what we actually know about Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. In all honesty, it’s not a whole lot, but that’s understandable considering that the game was only officially unveiled early last month. Let’s take a look.

What Do We Know?

For starters, around the time of the unveiling, in December’s Official PlayStation Magazine UK, Kojima revealed that Metal Gear Solid: Rising was “moving forward”, and that it was still significantly different other games in the series. But he assured fans that he still had an element of control over the project and would not let it stray too far away from the series’ roots. He said that “If somebody thinks ‘I love Snake’ and just really wants traditional stealth gameplay and that experience, then it may be hard to get into Rising, but for people who are more open and willing to try new things, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

It was revealed that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance would be releasing in 2012 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox360, but unfortunately it was confirmed that there will be no PC version of the game. Hideo Kojima is now the executive producer of the project, and will be overseeing the game’s story and world. The trailer confirmed that the character of Raiden will once again be voiced by Quinton Flynn, who featured in previous MGS games. There was speculation that Bayonetta’s director Hideki Kamiya would be involved in the project, but he himself confirmed that he wasn’t part of the game’s development. The reasons for the game’s new title were also explained, and we were told that the change was made in order to reflect that the game isn’t part of the main series. Kojima confirmed that Revengeance will run at 60 frames per second, which was apparently a requirement he personally requested to Platinum Games. Finally, producer Atsushi Inaba stated that the PlayStation 3 would be the lead platform for the game, and this decision was made due to performance issues of Bayonetta on Sony’s console.

It may come of interest to you that Inaba acknowledged the mixed reactions to the unveiling of Revengeance, and used Twitter to address fans’ concern over the project. He said that even though he is aware of the mixed reactions, he hopes gamers will spot “a glimpse of the future” in the game’s first trailer. The producer also promised that its “love and respect will shine through” Revengeance.

Let’s conclude this long article with some information about the game from the development team.

The official story description for the game reads as follows:

The main character, Raiden, was once feared as the child soldier “Jack the Ripper” on the front lines of the First Liberian Civil War. Now, his combat mastery is channeled through a cyborg body as the strikes from his high-frequency blade slice even massive assault drones in two.

Raiden is contracted for VIP protection, military training and other duties by PMSCs (Private Military and Security Companies) in a developing country piecing itself back together after a bloody civil war. Little does he know that the stage is set for a clash with an enigmatic force of countless cyborgs. Reborn at the hands of PlatinumGames, METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE pits cyborg against cyborg in battle that blazes past every human limit!

And here is a extract from the game’s official website, briefly elaborating on the development process:

METAL GEAR SOLID: RISING was a spin-off intended to feature the actions and transformation of Raiden, one of METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY’s main characters, in the lead-up to METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS. However, after PlatinumGames came on board, the story was changed to take place several years after METAL GEAR SOLID 4 to give them more of an opportunity to show off what they can bring to the series. Cyborgs are spreading at a rapid pace in the game’s world, resulting in earth-shattering superhuman action at every turn! The original aim for a combination of stealth and action has also been enhanced, for a more aggressive new focus on pure, exhilarating action.

Naturally, Kojima Productions is still overseeing the game’s story and its world, and is also providing visual direction to ensure METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE retains the characteristic look of the METAL GEAR series. Though its exact identity is a step apart from the METAL GEAR SOLID games, the blood of the series still flows within this new METAL GEAR. Kojima Productions and PlatinumGames: Two world-class powerhouses among Japanese studios join forces to bring you METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE .

Lastly, an interview titled “The Truth Behind Rising” was released, with its aim being to allow fans to “get the facts straight from Hideo Kojima as well as PlatinumGames and Kojima Productions members! The truth that has been under wraps for so long is finally revealed!” Check it out below.

That wraps up the story of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Personally, I’m a bit sad to see what happened to the original concept of this game, because I definitely took interest to the unique and exciting premise, but I guess I can’t pass judgement at this point in time, and should perhaps give Platinum Games some more credit since they recently brought us Bayonetta and Vanquish.

We’ll be watching this one closely in the future, so stay tuned for what’s to come.

Contention around what exactly constitutes a “videogame” is one of the more highly debatable topics of choice among gamers alike. There are many elements that make up an entire game. But what people denote as being a game is varied across the board. Firstly, the elements of a video game need to be defined clearly. Moving on from there we can make some educated assertions about what exactly defines what a videogame is. Typically a videogame can be divided into five categories: graphics, sound, interface, gameplay and story.

Graphics can be arguably seen as what James Newman in his book entitled Videogames suggests, “Any images that are displayed and any effects performed on them”. This can include 3D objects, 2D objects, both types of textures, full motion videos, overlays and other visual elements. Sound is basically the music, sound effects and audio programming involved in the game. The interface of the game includes elements on the screen of which the player can have direct contact with. It transcends the simplicity of the pure input of the console or PC peripheral.

Gameplay is generally a complicated term to decipher in terms of definition. It can incorporate the fun factor of a game, how immersive a game is and the length of playability of the title (which includes replay value). Accordingly, Newman further suggests that the story element of a video game can consist of any background information before a game starts. Following this, all information gained throughout the game about characters and the central plotline make up the story element of a game.
But even if you can define a set of values which determine exactly what a game is. There are some problematic issues to consider.

I think that dictating the elements of what a videogame is and can limit the perceptions of what a videogame can achieve. Be it as an advanced narrative with interactive storytelling like in the case of Heavy Rain, or a backdrop for player positioning within a morally ambiguous world like that of Bioshock. The expectations of what video games can do and be posited as is definitively linked with the historical context of where game development is at, and the direction it’s heading in. One can ascertain that some of the elements discussed above are heavily focussed on within game development circles whilst other elements are favoured less. At times any attempt at trying to pigeonhole a game into genre specifics may end up being a useless exercise and of no help in pinpointing what defines a videogame.

A video game can perhaps be conceivably understood as the sum of its parts. At first, I feel it’s important to note what games are not. Two videogame researchers Rollings and Morris argue that a game is not:
• A bunch of cool features.
• A lot of fancy graphics.
• A series of challenging puzzles.
• An intriguing setting and story.

I’m not saying that a definition of videogames would preclude these elements. Rather I am suggesting as Newman does that videogames as a medium are not made by these values, and in turn that video games are quite a unique form. Embracing all of the elements is not a necessity for a videogame to be a game. I think what needs to be stressed and I’ve discussed this before is that videogames are primed in the contemporary sense as being immersive experiences. This is largely due to developers promoting interactivity as the number one value in their game design ethic.

Fancy graphics, great narrative construction, an awesome soundtrack and interface may give a game a semblance of polish. But this may falter under scrutiny when actual gameplay elements are criticised. Inferior execution of gameplay design within a game can insurmountably destroy faith in a franchise, prospective gamers and even casual gamers. For example, Red Faction Armageddon was a decent looking game but after playing a few minutes of the game the experience felt soulless. The removal of the free roaming destruction in the game bogged down the experience into a linear hodgepodge of mediocrity. The same can be said of Dark Void which looked promising in trailers, and yet was an immense mess of a game on release. The main feature of its gameplay design involving jet pack flight set pieces was soiled by frustrating controls and a buggy camera, and the rest of the game was mundane to say the least.

Conclusively, what I think one can stress about videogames is that it is the most interactive form of media which fosters “first-hand participation” in a fictional world generated by the medium. However, it should be said that there are different levels of interaction across all different types of videogames. An arcade title may require a lesser level of interaction than an RPG. Games can be puzzle based, free roaming epics or simply flash-based. Asking exactly, “What is a videogame?” is a difficult question. I’ll explore more of these intricacies in the next column of this series.

Now, that’s quite a controversial headline I’ve chosen isn’t it? But there’s an actual reason for that, and I’m about 43% sure that it wasn’t just to attract attention. I mean, really now.

So, now that you’re here, my fellow brethren, let me assure you right from the beginning that when push comes to shove, even though I’ve personally grown to dislike Call of Duy, I’ll be taking an objective stance here to present my reasoning as to why Modern Warfare 3 marks a critical point in, let’s call it a surge of hatred, for the Call of Duty franchise. I’m very vocal about my opinions, that’s a given, but I believe in enlightenment through understanding, rather than raging or shrugging things off.

Why? Because I’m Tody. Okay, maybe that doesn’t work as well as the Batman line, but hey I tried.

Secondly, and most importantly, I won’t be resorting to tired arguments like “oh but it’s the same old thing over and over again blah blah modern warfare 2.5 trolololol”. We all know that. And truthfully, the same thing can be said about something like Assassin’s Creed for instance. There just hasn’t exactly been eight Assassin’s Creed games, have there now? Right then, let’s get on with this.

Fine, I admit, that was a cheap shot. Moving on…

Firstly, and funnily enough, the hatred for Call of Duty right now strikes me as identical to the hatred in South Africa for the infamous Blackberry mobile phones. Call of Duty is like the video game Blackberry if you look at it. Most gamers get it because their friends get it, regardless of the fact that it is nowhere near the best technically or when it comes to functionality and software. It’s easily accessible and simple to play and get into, and can hardly be called sophisticated or deep. But the reality is that it works. It does what it’s supposed to, and it’s probably the best at doing exactly that. Call of Duty probably is the best arcade shooter around, and it solidly gives its audience what they want. That goes for both Blackberries and Call of Duty actually. Now, much like with the Blackberry, I’ve noticed gamers getting highly frustrated with fans of Call of Duty who refuse to see the problems with the franchise, and get even more frustrated with their continuous acceptance of a “mediocre” product that does nothing to advance the industry forward, innovate or raise the bar, and repeatedly gets away with “DLC update sequels” and high product costs that don’t compensate for the cash spent. Quite the dilemma.

Honestly, the accusations are not entirely unfounded. Call of Duty has become a lot about money. That’s obvious. From the notably higher cost of the games, to the questionably high prices of the DLC packs and right down to the annual release schedule, it’s not that hard to see that money is the driving force here. And gamers against Call of Duty hate that. And they hate its continued success despite these things. But you know what? Even though I do consider these things from time to time, personally I think there’s a far bigger problem at stake that affects us all, and I am truthfully glad that Modern Warfare 3 received massive backlash. That may sound like a bad thing to say, but I’ll explain right now why I believe it’s a good thing, because it’s very apparent that Call of Duty won’t get away unscathed with this again this year considering that even some critics jumped on the anti-Cod train.

The true, unmentioned reason I believe Modern Warfare 3 deserved that backlash, was that it stood firmly as a blow to gamers that Call of Duty has lost the drive to innovate and revolutionise and push boundaries like it used to. That it is now content with making the most money possible and no longer tries to raise the bar. It has ceased to influence or drive forward the gaming industry, and is no longer a pure video game made for gamers, but a business profit machine. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a proper look at the Call of Duty franchises’ decorated history and see for ourselves then, shall we?

I have played every single game in the series, and have been a massive fan of a number of them, particularly Call of Duty 1 and 2, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The rest I have outright rejected and feel represent exactly what gamers hate about the franchise. Here’s why:

• Call of Duty 1: What originally brought the Call of Duty franchise to fame was its unconventional style. It was an unusual game that delivered an entirely new experience in the growing-old “World War 2″ genre, and focused more on capturing the realistic feeling of war, with the player no longer being a “lone wolf” super-soldier freak taking on the whole world like in the early Medal Of Honor games. It was an immersive and realistic experience that teamed the player up with computer-controlled allies who affected how the campaign was played, and involved realistic warfare and tactical battles. The multiplayer was a winner, and in many ways the original Call of Duty made a significant impact on first person shooters, the World War 2 genre and multiplayer.

• Call of Duty 2: A fantastic sequel that raised the stakes from the original, Call of Duty 2 changed and improved upon many things from the original. It brought fame to the regenerative health system used in the original Halo games, and added things like grenade-indicators and bloody-red screens to illustrate a player’s critical health, which today are widely popular in first person shooters. It aided in making rail and vehicle sections popular, and greatly influenced the genre as a whole. Not to mention the multiplayer was yet again a winner, and one of the most popular experiences of its kind for years. It seemed like Infinity Ward had almost single-handedly took over the genre.

• Call of Duty 3: Treyarch’s first attempt. They played it completely safe. It barely made a jump from its predecessor, and even though it received critical acclaim, I don’t know any gamers who thought highly of it, and I personally felt it to be an utterly flat game, and probably the worst in the franchise. A dark point for the series, and it was obvious that things had to change.

• Modern Warfare: Standing today as one of the most popular and iconic first person shooters to grace the industry, Modern Warfare was a godsend. It effectively killed the World War 2 genre and brought fame to a new type of warfare. It gave PC gamers, even us here in South Africa, a dream multiplayer experience. It significantly impacted the FPS genre, especially with multiplayer, bringing fame to the “perk” system used so widely in shooters today, and perfectly executed its take on unlocks, customisation options, personal player challenges and progression for online play that have all heavily influenced practically all multiplayer shooters. It was undeniably a revolution for single player and multiplayer in first person shooters, and the strongest entry in the franchise.

• World At War: Treyarch’s second turn. A good game, but many fans stuck with Modern Warfare because the world groaned when “back to World War 2″ was the unspoken tagline for the game. But it too made its mark on the genre, especially with its now incredibly popular “Zombie mode”, which the game had struck gold with. It was a good game that presented a fresh take on World War 2 and featured co-op split screen for single player, but it was criticized for not advancing forward from its predecessor. It chose to play things safe, and as a result didn’t particularly “wow” anyone.

• Modern Warfare 2: And so it begins. Some fans and critics start noticing the lack of innovation. Modern Warfare 2 was a great game, regardless of my personal dislike for it. But the signs were there. A surprisingly short single player campaign that didn’t live up to its predecessor, high retail cost and DLC prices, PC gamers were neglected in favour of consoles, barely any innovations or changes were made to the core formula and the aging game engine was much more noticeable. Still, buying it was basically considered a no-brainer, considering the staggering depth to the multiplayer experience, and overall it was still a fantastic game.

• Black Ops: Oh dear, this was the beginning of the end. Completely a console game, as the PC version was deemed “almost unplayable” by users due to multiplayer lag and bugs, Black Ops was mixed. While it was great on console and featured an engaging single-player experience with a strong focus on story, the aging engine was still there, by this point the entire game was being called a “yearly update” rather than a sequel and the game received massive fan backlash not just for the PC version, but the apparent problems on the PS3 version as well. I personally liked the game for its single-player, but even though the multiplayer offered so much, it just didn’t seem to excite and drive players to stick with it as much as its predecessors did. Still, it was obviously a financial success that destroyed even the records set by Modern Warfare 2.

• Modern Warfare 3: The nail in the coffin has been struck with vengeance. Arguably the first completely love-hate game in the franchise, Modern Warfare’s fanbase erupted. Split between those who love it and those who wish to see it destroyed, the game was still a critical and commercial success, but many gamers and even critics have had enough. Receiving more fan backlash that I’ve ever seen for a game, especially from gamers who sided with Battlefield 3, common complaints were of the PC version, the complete lack of innovation, the infamous “Modern Warfare 2.5″ insult, the lackluster thrills, the relic of a game engine, the empty single player campaign and of course the lack of any noticeable differences from its predecessor. You just need to set foot on one forum to see the ongoing flame debates with the game. But it was still widely considered to be an excellent game and much-loved by its fans.

Do you see it now? Call of Duty used to be the game that revolutionised the entire genre and pushed it forward, but not anymore. The past four games, especially the last two, have been considered yearly updates and lacking in innovation. And why should the developers go out of their way to innovate or revolutionise once again? They’re making truckloads of cash, and the games continue to sell despite all the hate. Personally, I still believe the original Modern Warfare is the best game in the entire franchise if you look at how it influenced the genre, but we’re not going to get another game-changer like that while the series continues to be the most financially successful game out there. It would be senseless from a business point of view to take risks now or go boldly into new territory. And that’s another reason gamers hate it – it’s not a pure video game made for gamers anymore.

In conclusion, there are many other reasons why gamers hate Call of Duty, and I’m not going to go into them because you can find them on practically any message board, or by just having a chat with your friend. But I believe the reasons discussed here are amongst the most important ones. Take from this what you will, because personally I just want to understand the reasons behind these things. My opinion, however, is simple. After eight Call of Duty games, I’m just sick and tired of the franchise. There are other games that hold my interest now, such as Battlefield 3, Dota 2, Skyrim and various Indie games, while I’m waiting for all the exciting releases ahead. Call of Duty just doesn’t excite or interest me anymore like it used to. But hey, different strokes for different folks and all those other cliched sayings to illustrate a gamers’ free choice to play and love what they please – except you, Cavie. I guess writing this almost made me sympathise with haters of Call of Duty, because it wasn’t always like this. It used to be something truly special, but now it just represents something else.

And that something isn’t what gamers want.

The sad part is that gamers have just as much power to influence the next Call of Duty game’s success as the developers have the power to change the genre, innovate and take bold steps forward to make gamers try out and learn to love potentially cool new things. But that just won’t happen will it?

To end off, I will finally explain the reason I believe Modern Warfare 3′s backlash was a good thing. It’s simple really. Much like with Call of Duty 3, it’s apparent now that something has got to change.

But whether that will be from the gamers’ side or the developers’ side – or both – remains to be seen.

Most successful gaming series end on a trilogy; this is especially the case with a series as well received as the Batman Arkham series. As such, I’m going to assume a third Batman Arkham game is on the way some time next year. In honour of that impending title, and so Rocksteady has time to take my advice into consideration, a little wishful thinking never hurt anyone, this piece is dedicated to providing some ideas for said game.

Ok, so how best to arrange this? Well a list of 5 or so ideas should do, though my lists usually imply some sort of ranking order within the ideas listed. In this case however, ranking ideas would suggest some are more important than others and instead I want each one to be considered with the same determination. I’m going to suggest a list of 5 ideas that all need equal consideration, they need to collaborate and they need to intermingle with one another for the most effective Batman game.

Plot

For the game to feel fresh and innovative, it’s going to need to avoid being based entirely around Batman V.S. one or more of his long standing super villain rivals. It’s a great structure for video games; however, Arkham Asylum just did it too well and Arkham City exhausted almost every possible bad guy worth fighting. I propose Batman has to work with a villain instead, and in process had to hurt a particular set of civilians or aid that villain against his will. While that may not sound like Batman’s usual practice, he’s not being forced to do so by said villain. Instead, there is some other sinister force endangering Batman and he needs to collaborate in order to survive. Moreover, and if Batman does not collaborate with his rival super villains, he will be unable to prevent the loss of millions of lives and destruction of Gotham. This plot will allow for morale choices to be made by the player, choices that say, could affect whether a group of innocent people die or a super villain goes free. It’s a relatively basic idea and definitely needs working on, but it certainly has merit and will push Batman’s character to its absolute limit. Forcing Batman and the player to weigh up choices on a moral scale will not only present a more interesting story in itself, but through testing Batman’s fundamental beliefs, it’ll give us a chance to see the more human side of Batman.

Characters

I think this will come down to which villains he’d encounter? Not Joker obviously, perhaps the Riddler or Ra’s al Ghul. We can assume then that Batman as well as the villains are trying to escape and are only capable of doing so with the aid of one another. The game could revolve largely around Batman but needs sections where you play as the villain. Perhaps there are situations where Batman falls into a trap and the player is given control of the villain setting up said trap, as a sort of flashback event. I think another great idea for the plot would be the inclusion of at least one other character from within the DC universe but outside of Batman’s, like The Flash, Green Lantern or of course Superman for example. Even if you never get to play as them, their presence would indicate an even more dangerous situation than if Batman were to tackle it alone. Even better, and by making the threatening force a villain from another DC universe, someone considerably dangerous but that presents an entirely new challenge to Batman, having no idea of that person’s or group’s weaknesses or psyche, would make a great plot device.

Location

This is difficult, I mean, how do you trump the size of Arkham City or the detail of Arkham Asylum? Remember, it can’t be too out there, it needs some level of believability. I think that a few linked locations, potentially outside of Batman’s comfort zone, say not in Gotham, could have definite potential. Somewhere where he isn’t familiar with his area and must do more than usual show up and kick ass. Instead, he might need to scout ahead and tactically retreat to consider his options. Furthermore, and outside the range of his bat cave, Batman must once again rely on others to overcome the loss of access to the usual resources he has at disposal. This will not only add reason to aid a particular super villain but will force Batman into a more survival rather than detective style of play.

Gadgets

Perhaps, and as mentioned in ‘location’, Batman is far from home and must make do without all his gadgets. In order to do so, he must either create what he can out of what he can find or make use of a variety of the villain’s gadgets. This would not only allow for an interesting and new diversity to Batman’s arsenal but further the plot of working with the villains as well.

Aesthetics

There isn’t that much to say really, obviously the visuals need to match the setting decided upon by the developers. The one addition I would suggest is that the game needs to accommodate according to character. This would mean that when playing as a super villain, perhaps Riddler say, you would see world as graphical novel, this also better represents the flash back state of the game. It would be difficult I know, but not impossible.

Now I know many of the ideas would be hard to implement, chief among which would be the change of aesthetic to accommodate the character change. Though my biggest point is that while many might look upon another Batman as a weakening of the series, one sequel too many so to speak; there is potential for so much more from this franchise. The Batman Arkham series is brilliantly designed and well executed; now all they need is to break the comfort zone with the plot and its accommodating devices in order to create a truly awesome Batman game.

2012 is looking to be a great year for gaming and in particular, multiplayer gaming. This list is a list of the games everyone expects to be great, but that we want to exceed even beyond those expectations. To be more specific, and for now, we’re disregarding any singleplayer experiences and only talking about a game exceeding our expectations in its multiplayer suite. That said, here’s our list, enjoy:

Developer: Valve

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the motto Ice Frog and Valve are taking with DotA 2. In most respects DotA 2 is DotA ported to the Source engine with multiplayer and community support provided by its co-conspirator, Steam Works. This initially sounds like another cash cow, DotA clone until you start to consider the short comings of the original DotA. The gameplay was great and constantly being improved but its chokehold, its key weakness was its reliance on Warcraft 3’s aging Battle.net support and map editor. With the move to Steam DotA is able to overcome its limitations and achieve even more.

As such, and by in large, much of DotA’s aspects like items, abilities and characters are almost the exact same as they were in the original DotA. This has a point however, it allows Valve to focus on community support and its engine rather trying to rewrite DotA’s winning formula. This stronger communal experience comes in the way of Steam as a more effective way to update the game and use news bulletins to keep everyone on the same page; it adds support for live spectating; more obvious and functional options for the host from the get go, rather than having to rush changes once the map has loaded; and of course matchmaking as well as ranked matches. DotA’s biggest strength has always been its community and by keeping this in mind, Ice Frog and Valve have gone a long way to improve the experience of a game that never really needed the improvement anyway. It’s for that reason that we’re expecting DotA 2 to be so much more than its younger brethren.

Developer: Gearbox Software

Despite the flaws, and yeah we agree, there were many, Borderlands was a lot of fun to play with friends or even alone. Chiefly among its little niggles was its badly designed UI and the subsequent difficulty or chore to doing even the simplest of tasks, such as comparing weapon stats. There were other foibles too: a very repeatable mission structure; a bland setting as well as aesthetic; and a very liberal use of the same units throughout each area with predictable spawning points. Not exactly perfect I know. That’s in the past however and Gearbox software wants another crack at it. So imagine that same entertaining experience Borderlands offered, remove many of the faults you had with it, add a bucket load of new and improved features and hey presto, you have Borderlands 2.

Borderlands 2 builds on its predecessor by keeping the gunplay, FPS and RPG mechanics but makes sure to improve on them in an number of crucial ways. More diverse weaponry; a more meaningful and customisable experience where weapons are concerned; new characters and vehicles designed for four from the start; and of course, a much more diverse world setting. Call us guilty but the thought of dual wielding heavy machine guns and an improved Borderlands experience is what has given us the hope for a better multiplayer game. Now if only they manage not to make the ending a colossal let down.

Developer: 343 Industries

New trilogy and development team aside, there isn’t a lot to go on for Halo 4’s multiplayer. Regardless of this and many an Xbox owner’s explicit hatred for the Halo series, despite most never actually playing the game, the Halo series has only maintained its long stand thanks to its thoroughly entertaining multiplayer suite. Each Halo attempts to improve and tweak the game to within perfection and we’re almost certain that will be the case here. In fact, to the untrained eye Halo 3 seems very similar to Halo: Reach. However, the changes made are usually more akin to the differences between COD 3 and COD 4 rather than the minor differences between MW2 and MW3.

It’s because of these potentialities that we are so excited for what Halo 4 has to offer. Pass off the single player campaign if you want, but Halo hasn’t clocked over a century of gameplay and more than a billion recorded games because it’s a bad game.

Developer: Blizzard

There’s not much we can say about Diablo 3 that hasn’t been said by the many gameplay videos, interviews, beta game and sites dedicated to explaining every last titbit of Diablo 3. That’s all well and good, and it’s certainly shaping up to be a great isometric RPG experience, but what has got our blood pumping is the much deeper multiplayer experience over Diablo 2’s. The inclusion of banners, PvP, auction houses and many other little tweaks seems to be exactly what Diablo will need to make it.

It’s always been the little things that have made Blizzard games so successful and Diablo 3 is proving it should have what it takes, or that Blizzard is the greatest hype machine that has ever existed. So why are we hoping for Diablo 3 to exceed expectations when it’s already expected to achieve so much? Well that’s because most are expecting it to be an excellent singleplayer and multiplayer campaign more than anything else. What we want to see, and in order to surpass our expectations is for Battle.net, love it or hate it, to be done and developed right. If the aforementioned multiplayer features are over and above what we ask, Diablo 3 will win our seal of approval.

Hello there Readers. Long time no column as usual. To be honest there’s not much to say from me in the mobile arena so I thought, in true Monty Python style, it’s time for something completely different. When we talk about gamers today, one implicitly assumes we’re talking about computer or console gamers. Some stereotypes indeed exist about gamers. Last year waves of outrage rippled through the sea of the South African gaming community when that dumb bitch / slag / whore (excuse my nouns) caught a bunch of gamers off guard at rAge (here’s a dead link to the video for all of you who didn’t get to see it).

I don’t particularly care about non-gamers ripping gamers off. I would assume (I’m not an expert) that it stems from ignorance or stupidity when non-gamers make fun of gamers. But what I do care about is when gamers make fun of other gamers. Surely as a gamer you should realize that it’s different strokes for different folks. In particular, the type of gaming I think has taken a particularly hard rap is board / card gaming.

Gaming is a lot of things to a lot of different people. For me I’d like to think it’s about immersing yourself in a world that isn’t real. Enjoying a good story, assisting a narrative, solving a mystery, enjoying a rich and detailed fantasy world full of interesting spaces with great artwork. It’s also about identifying complex patterns and strategies in order to best your opponents. It’s about socializing with your friends and playing as a team. I’d like to apologise for the caps in advance but it must be said that all of these wonderful experiences I just mentioned DON’T HAVE TO INVOLVE A COMPUTER.

Many board and card games exist which can fulfill your every gaming desire. They can be just as sociable, if not even more sociable than electronic forms of gaming. Yet I seem to be looked down upon by other gamers when I suggest boardgames as if I was some sort of lowly bottom feeder, a nerd of nerds. Maybe these games have just acquired a bad stigma over the years (kind of like your tea and biscuits Christians) or maybe, just maybe our fast paced tube (TV or feeding) is just shoving pre-chewed information down our throats. No one wants to put in the effort to play a 3-4 hour boardgame. No one wants to imagine themselves in a fantasy world, when they can so easily be stimulated from a television or a monitor. Similarly many people just opt to watch television shows instead of engaging their imaginations in a book (I myself am a culprit of book neglect, but it’s something I’m in the process of changing).

Whatever the reason for this aversion is, I think if you (the gamer) have never played a board or card game as teenager or adult, then you truly are as lame as that bitch / slag / whore has made you out to be. I’m not saying you need to whip out the monopoly or the rummy. Believe it or not board / card gaming has progressed since the 1960’s. To get you started I’ll list some of my favourites with a short review for each:

Munchkin
Complexity/Nerd Rating: 4/10
Munchkin is a fun card game where you level your character, fight monsters and gain treasures and items. Learning to play is pretty easy and it can be quite a laugh.

San Juan
Complexity/Nerd Rating: 5/10
A fun light hearted card game where your goal is to build the most magnificent city possible. 3-4 players with a shortish play time of about 45 minutes makes for a great game indeed. P.S. The gold mine prospecting feature could be used to make it a drinking game quite easily.

Settlers of Catan
Complexity/Nerd Rating: 4/10
Probably the most strategic board game you’ll ever play. Settlers of Catan can become quite a science when using a statistical dice roller. This is probably one of my favourites based on the game play mechanics, since it has the least element of luck out of all the board games I’ve ever played. Easy to play, difficult to master.

Mansions of Madness
Complexity/Nerd Rating: 9/10
Play Time: 3-4 hours
Mansions is like Cluedo meets D&D and Cthulu Mythos. The depth of the story that can be woven in this game really appeals to me. Something about haunted mansions and unsolved mysteries in a Cthulu mythos universe really makes it a great game in my opinion.

Magic The Gathering
Complexity/Nerd Rating: 10/10
Cost: Infinite
The most popular trading card game in the world. If you haven’t heard of it you probably were born within the last week. It’s been around for almost 2 decades. It’s also the best game in the world. The only problem is you have to be a veritable millionaire to play it professionally. No one can truly support a Magic the Gathering habit on a salary of less than R500 000 a year. Ok I might have slightly over exaggerated here. But if you can afford it, then definitely play it. The nerd rating is particularly high on Magic since it requires the constant financial commitment.

There are tales that speak of monsters and evil creatures in a land that is different from our own, a world where a simple venture outside could prove a dangerous and lethal activity. When your very way of life is in jeopardy as a result, it’s time to call in the professionals; the witchers.

Charged with the protection of humans, elves and dwarves, witchers are self-mutated humans who kill monsters for a price, effectively safeguarding and protecting towns and villages. However in recent times because of the downfall of their home, witchers have become glorified bounty hunters.

Geralt of Rivia is one of the last few remaining witchers in the fantasy land of Temeria. This is his story.

Name: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Genre: Role Playing Game
Players: 1
Multiplayer: None
Platforms: Xbox 360
Developers: CD Projekt RED
Publishers: Namco Bandai
Release Date: February 2012 (Pending confirmation)

I thought it would be apt to do a preview on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, from here on sans extended title, since it is releasing for Xbox 360 next month and there have been enough significant changes from the original version that released on PC to justify getting excited over it.

With that taken care of, the next order of business is the sequel nature of the game. Like Mass Effect 2 on PS3, where the previous game in the series was entirely missing in action and so replaced by an interactive comic to fill in the blanks, the first game in the Witcher series has no console version but will not be accounted for in any way, shape or form. Unlike Mass Effect 2 on PS3 however, the first Witcher game is entirely irrelevant to the second.

The first Witcher bears resemblance to the sequel insofar as the world and lore upon which the games are based, the main character upon which the story is based and the genre upon which the series is based. So basically, only the good bits.

The Witcher 2 boasts an entirely new game engine that has only Battlefield 3 with its Frostbite 2 engine as competition, albeit for PC. It is the same engine that will be utilised in the console version, and judging from all that has been seen so far, they’ve shirked on very little to get it running at a playable rate. It’s truly something to look forward to, for Xbox 360 gamers who enjoy graphics and visuals on their now extremely dated hardware.

The game’s engine also allows for an entirely new and streamlined combat system that focuses more on the action elements of a game that is played from the third person perspective. No more of that tedious clicking at the right time so Geralt can do some dance on your screen, like in the first game (for those who’ve played it). This time around, Geralt is a right and proper warrior who, although still enjoys the odd barrel roll here and there, controls very much like an elite soldier with a sword. Two swords, actually.

All of that is good and well, but everyone knows that an RPG is all about the story that the game tells, and how immersive your experience will be once you give it a go.

Once again, you are Geralt of Rivia, a witcher who is under the employ of a king during a time of war between capitals in the fantasy land of Temeria. As a witcher, he is charged with protecting his employer from any and all monsters, creatures and even humans if they so dared to challenge him. To add to his troubles, Geralt is suffering from amnesia and has huge gaps in his memory that he and Triss Merigold, a red-headed mage whom he is in a relationship with, must fill.

Before he can do so, however, tragedy and controversy strikes as he is framed for the murder of the king he was charged to protect, effectively being labelled as not only a kingslayer, but an enemy of the state, together with his mage girlfriend. Held captive for the crime by Vernon Roche, the head of his Majesty’s secret service, Geralt eventually convinces his captor to free him so that together they may find the true kingslayer and bring him to justice, thereby clearing Geralt’s name.

What follows is a story of intrigue and politically charged controversy as Geralt’s endeavours find him in the company of rich and powerful parties; other kings of the land, sorcerers, mages, rebel leaders and other witchers.

To call the story of The Witcher 2 a compelling and fulfilling experience would be the understatement of the year, and this in a year when people are clamouring over the untimely demise of humanity amongst other things. It is mature beyond words, and there are adult themes in play that have truly set it apart from other games in the genre.

Last year, we gave the PC version of the game Best Story in our eGamer Awards, and it is exactly that story that has been carried through to the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Better yet, all of the updates that were brought to the PC version of the game will be carried through as well, so you can expect the slightly newer Dark difficulty as well as the tutorial sections and re-worked inventory system for easier navigation using your standard Xbox 360 controller.

The standard Xbox 360 controller in fact, is far more suited to the style of play that is on show in The Witcher 2. Geralt is quick, nimble and handles very much like a character from various other third person action titles that involve swordplay, but with a twist of RPG flair with potions, traps, skills and attribute points affecting the outcome of battles more so than simple combat acumen.

What’s even better is that because you’re playing on an Xbox 360, you finally get Achievements! Okay, I had to add that bit in, because it’s important to achievement whores like myself.

The Witcher 2 has sixteen different endings to the story, in total. Entire sequences of the game play out differently based on your choices prior to those points. The game reeks of replayability, especially when you factor in that as Geralt, you may opt to focus on either combat, powers or mutant abilities.

As well as warriors, witchers are able users of magic, and have their own set of powers and spells available to them. They also use two types of swords, one for human enemies and one for monsters. Finally, their many years of intense training have mutated and warped their bodies until their eyes turned wolf-like and in Geralt’s case, hair lost all colour. It’s for that reason that he is dubbed The White Wolf, by those who revere his name.

The final point that bears mention is that The Witcher 2 is a difficult game. Brutally so. Unlike many other RPGs where playing on the normal difficulty setting is enough for a game with some challenge but not that much, where you could get away with minor indulgence in the game’s other various means to damage, heal (potions, spells, traps, etc.) or otherwise, in The Witcher 2, if you don’t utilise every possible item in your inventory, you will fail miserably. Even on normal difficulty. It is tough as steel nails. Granted it’s no Dark Souls, but there are points where the games are on parallel in terms of difficulty.

So with all of that said, if you are a fan of intriguingly intricate, mature plotlines that branch out depending on your choices, with none of that morality garbage that plagues other RPGs, you really need to look out for this game. If you are a fan of games with tough but fair combat, where you need to explore every avenue of your character’s arsenal in order to emerge victorious, you really need to look out for this game. If you like digital renditions of sexual encounters with females, you really need to look out for this game. Are you excited yet?

Is a gamer the sum of what he or she devours? This is the question that many of the eGamer staff ponders. And interestingly enough, I’ve noticed such a trend amongst the staff at eGamer. Or maybe it’s only me.

I had a real experience of gamers and gaming journalists at last year’s rAge and throughout all the days at rAge there were massive queues. Mostly male I might add, but the odd female could be seen on the outskirts of the line like the Zerg Queen Kerrigan attending to her zerglings. Yet we need to move on with these shenanigans.

Many gamers at rAge were in constant upheaval mainly over purchases and the abundance of cheaply available pre-owned titles. I myself am reaping the benefits of over the past few holiday weeks. A great proportion of these gamers were meandering swiftly through the rows of humanity awaiting the showcase of their beloved franchise. In other words, this equals Caveshen nerdgasming over the Mass Effect 3 stand, a guy dressed up as Hawke and the lack of any nearby source of food. Never again will I pay for expensive highly overrated Shawarmas.

Caveshen raved about the deliciousness of the Shawarmas. To cut a long story short, he somehow persuaded us to buy the expensive Shawarmas. Never again you Renegade you, Caveshen. We were duped and stunned. Yet Caveshen still smiled with Renegade flair.

That’s the point really isn’t it to some extent. Different types of gamers have different associations with their food stuffs. For Caveshen it’s like a fine woman that needs good loving, for Azhar it’s that hot wing chicken deliciousness of KFC fried rat meat, and for Dean it’s more so Nando’s.

Generally, one could say what you eat is a marker of a certain aspect of your personality. Perhaps your eating habits may reflect you as a gamer? Maybe, truly hardcore gamers have a burgeoning appetite and all consuming desire to conquer all known games to man (except Dragon Age 2). With said gamer having a desire for pizza to fuel to their ongoing game domination.

Alternatively, they’re just incredibly hungry because whilst playing DotA they decided to smoke a joint and really had hardcore ‘munchies’ to deal with. Conceivably, these extrapolations may just be unnecessary banter. But I bet you’re thinking about food now, and that’s alright.

From this, we all know that a gamer is one who chooses unhealthily, and that is what makes a gamer who they are.

Yes, this review is quite late, but I have an explanation. As many of you may know, I took a trip around China in December and discovered something unbelievable. Internet is even harder to come by there than it is here. It’s a true story, as well as having no Facebook or YouTube while abroad. Gaming news flew over my head, and so did a number of other important things. One of those things was in fact a code for RAAM’s Shadow, the latest expansion for Gears of War 3 that adds some more multiplayer characters, weapons, and, above all, a campaign which serves as a prequel to the entire series. While RAAM’s Shadow doesn’t put you in control of Delta squad once again, there are still more Locust to shoot, more Hammer strikes to rain down and…chocolate guns?

It’s just days after Emergence Day, also known as E-Day, has shocked and ravaged the world of Sera, as thousand of Locust rose from underground and began the mindless slaughter of all humans nearby. Evacuations have begun, and the city of Llima is next on the Locust hit list. Luckily, Zeta squad is present, overseeing the last of the evacuation transports leave and ensuring the safety of as many survivors as possible. You take control of Michael Barrick, a former Stranded with oppressive views on the COG and their governing body, who none the less fights alongside them for survival alone. Those of you who read the Gears of War comics should immediately recognise him, as well as Lt. Minh Young Kim from Gears of War 1, who appears way before General RAAM stuck his massive sword into his squishy bits. Along for the ride as well are Tai Kaliso, who made a short but meaningful appearance in Gears of War 2, and Alicia Valera, a newcomer to the series. The main, and biggest flaw with this entire DLC starts right here with Zeta squad unfortunately.

Unlike Delta squad, Zeta just doesn’t have the same type of chemistry. Granted, they only have around fours hours to show off their relationship as opposed to three whole games, but their dialouge and conversations often feel repetitive and generic, and occasionally bordering on bizarre. Kim and Barrick argue back and forth about the values of the COG, with Barrick taking the usual tone of “The COG just hurt their own”, and Kim coming back with “All for the greater good” type banter. Barrick does occasionally has some shinning moments, especially near the end where certain characters make return appearances. Tai is by far the most annoying of the lot, spitting out philosophical riddles one after another, often prompting Kim to translate it for the rest of the squad. It’s annoying, and really doesn’t add to anything that is going on. Thankfully, that’s mostly what’s wrong with RAAM’S Shadow, meaning that there’s still tons that’s done right.

The action begins almost immediately, and you’re quickly thrust into an explosive set piece that has you fighting on the back foot straight away. Set pieces and executed just as meticulously as every other entry, meaning that the memorable fire fights you’ve come to love get brand new additions. E-Holes make a prominent resurgence, bringing back a nostalgic feeling from the first game. Grenades hold more importance, and the feeling when you realise that you have none left with still three emergence holes left is a real rush. With no Lambent in sight, you’re back to fighting the classic, and better, Locust horde. What is quite surprising, and definitely welcomed, is the addition of more slower paced, tension filled sections that play more on anxiety and fear, just as the first game did with Wretches. These portions are some of the best the series has to offer, and having countless Wretches storm is truly terrifying, as it should be.

Across the long five chapters, Zeta will make it’s way through the progressively worsening Llima City, which is a nice change of scenery from what you’ve come to expect from Gears of War. Many building are still standing and mostly untouched, giving you the chance to explore and marvel at some of Sera’s greatest architecture. From a bank vault to a deserted high school, each of RAAM’s Shadow’s environments feel fresh and real, and not simply a copy/ paste effort with different encounters. The Kryll storm that takes place above is also dynamic, as darkness creeps closer and closer with each chapter, adding to the tension and giving a real glimpse into the final days of Llima.

Speaking of Kryll, they finally make a return in RAAM’s Shadow, along with the fearless Locust General RAAM. Probably the biggest selling point of this DLC was the ability to play as the feared General, and slaughtering COG soldiers is a real change of pace, and a hell of a lot of fun. While playing as RAAM, you’ll rarely have to worry about anything. A shield of living, moving Kryll will swarm around you, protecting you from everything expect explosions and fire. Point your finger at a poor, helpless COG, and your Kryll swarm will attack, devouring anything you wish. Along with that, RAAM also wields a massive blade, which you are able to swipe or rush with. Oh, and don’t forget about executions, especially RAAM’s. It’s brutal, gory and exactly what you’d expect from the most feared Locust ever. They only real disappointment with these sections is that they’re way too easy. Granted, the whole purpose of controlling RAAM was to experience just how powerful the General really was, but moving slowly from section to section, slaughtering waves of COG just feels like a short dose of horde mode rather than a campaign segment. Regardless, the sequences are fun, but don’t be to surprised if the novelty wears thin quickly.

Coupled with this are some odd logical issues that present themselves constantly throughout the campaign. While these little oddities won’t really bother most people, real Gears fans will surely pick up on them, and certainly raise an eyebrow while thinking, “Wait, wasn’t that only afterwards”. For instance, the Locust are all equipped with Hammerburst rifles, which only made their appearance in Gears of War 2. RAAM has to dodge COG armed with Oneshot’s, which only debuted in Gears of War 3. How do RAAM’s Kryll not die in the sunlight, especially after using a spotlight was the only way to disperse them at the end of Gears of War. These examples and a few more did catch my attention, but they never wrecked the experience for me, though those looking for an authentic Gears of War 1 type feel will be disappointed. It’s understandable that Epic Games chose to include all the weapons, because taking down a Kantus would not be the same with a Oneshot.

On top of all this single-player goodness, you are also able to tackle the entire campaign with friends in 4-player co-op. Chocolate gun skins now infiltrate your armory, as well as six additional characters for you to lay siege with, including RAAM, the Elite Kantus and Kim. There is really no excuse for any Gears fan to miss out on this package. Priced at 1200 MSP, you’ll feel that you’re money has been well spent, with an explosive campaign that is essentially more Gears of War time. And there is nothing wrong with that at all.

We’re giving you the choice to win what you want, as long as it’s gaming related. If you’d like us to pre-order a game on your behalf, we’ll do so. If you want us to buy a game on your behalf, we’ll have it delivered. If you’d like a new piece of hardware, well, we can help. But of course, there’s a price we’re willing to pay.

For the competition this month we are willing to buy you a game or piece of hardware which we can find online, for under — let’s say — R700, the standard price of an in-store game. In other words, instead of us offering a game which you might not want, we’re offering you the chance to get something you want.

Be it a pre-order, or a game already available. Steam, Origin or an online store.

Want a pre-order of Mass Effect 3? Perhaps a pre-order of Diablo III? Maybe you’d like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Your choice.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Comment in this thread with what you’d like. Provide a link, if you want. Just so you know, if you win we won’t hold you to this. You may change your mind. It’s just something to enter with.
2. Once you’ve commented here, back track our site to 5 January, 2012. Comment on articles from then until 23 January, 2012. All comments from 9 January, 2012 to 23 January, 2012 will count as extra entries into the competition. In other words, we’ll better your odds if you participate and visit us daily.

To clarify, you only need to comment here with what you want to enter. Thereafter, participate in the site.

Things to remember:

• Terms and Conditions apply
• Competition closes Monday 23 January, 2012.
• Only one entry per person.
• Maximum prize amount R700.
• Comment in this thread with your prize to enter.
• All other comments between 9 January and 23 January, 2012 on posts later than 5 January, 2012 count as extra entries.
• Stores available include: South African online shops, Steam and Origin. Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network with Special Permission.
• There can only be one winner.

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Foreword: Hello again, and welcome back to the only place on eGamer where gaming discussion dies a horrid death in the face of, well, nobody really knows what it is that I talk about, most days. Since it’s a new year and everyone’s all about their resolutions and other such fallacies, I thought it would be an apt opportunity to mix things up a bit, by doing things a little differently. Sure, it’s still a month from my technical “anniversary” of column-writing, but nobody’s keeping track of that, right? So with that in mind, let’s call this a sort of Column 2.0 from last year, with the promise of actual gaming speak this time around, and far less Hawke and Dragon Age 2 references. But only until March, at which point I will replace those with Shepard and Mass Effect 3 references, instead. Enjoy.

We all loved Star Wars, right?

Star Wars fans certainly would call that an understatement. Of course, by now I’ve already lost most of them to the great memories of Han Solo rescuing Princess Leia, or Luke totally making out with her even though she’s technically his sister, and also that asthmatic overlord person with the really cool gloves.

All of that nostalgia is great, but watch what happens when I say the following word: “Prequel.”

Did you wince as well? All of the Star Wars fans that are still with us are now frothing at the mouth, at the mere mention.

Let’s bring this around full circle and talk about games, in a similar way.

Doom.

Good memories, yes?

Running around a maze-like world, killing imps and all sorts of other monsters with guns that protrude from every possible orifice of your main character, a nameless and voiceless marine who does for blood splatter what car windows do for pidgeon shit.

The thing about games like Doom, Quake and the original Wolfenstein, is that gamers get all nostalgic at the mere mention of the series, and like anyone who dwells too long in the past, eventually they want something that will remind them of the happier times, while forgetting that there were really bad times as well.

The same can be said of Star Wars, where the original trilogy did amazing things for the world, but really wasn’t the greatest creation to have graced your local cinema, even back then. I realise that at this point, I may very well have predator missiles being aimed at my face for saying that, but stay with me for a moment because I have a point to make, I promise.

In recent years, the advent of the muddy-brown, realistic warfare shooter has created something of a stagnant first person genre, at least according to the majority of gamers who clearly know everything about anything to do with gaming since time immemorial, obviously. I spoke about as much in a previous column that nobody read.

Ever since Painkiller, said majority of gamers have clamoured for a more recent retro release that would feature as an ode to the earlier first person games, a haven of nostalgia and happy fun, “just like in the good old days” where 256 fucking colours is all you got. But that’s okay because happy memories!

The first of the games to satiate the desiring gamers, albeit an indie release, was that of Hard Reset.

Now, having not actually played Hard Reset for myself, when we did our eGamer Awards for 2011, it shocked me to hear that the game was in fact not that great at all, a verdict that was wholly backed up by the average scores of most gaming websites. This surprised me because from what I had heard, the premise seemed pretty sweet; a retro style of first person shooter that was exclusive to the PC, entirely singleplayer and very much focused on running, gunning and not much else. It was basically Painkiller 2, for all intents and purposes. Except it wasn’t, and based on review scores, doubly so.

The second game to release was something that many gamers believed had already cemented itself as a proper nostalgic throw-back to yester-year, with hordes of enemies and a single, lone wolf character who formed a Swiss army knife of weaponry, blasting his way through the lot of them. I of course speak of Serious Sam 3: BFE (which stands for Before First Encounter, as was eventually revealed) which follows many years after Serious Sam 2, and aimed to make the experience more like the first game, something that was heralded as a pure, no-frills experience that offered up tonnes of enemies, and run-gun-fun.

Sadly, review scores for Serious Sam 3 don’t seem to have quite panned out, either. Many fans complained that the game didn’t do enough, or that it still borrowed from the recent FPS genre’s infamous ‘checklist’ by incorporating certain elements from those muddy-brown, realistic warfare shooters. Others claimed that it wasn’t the Serious Sam game they were hoping for, and for all intents and purposes, it wasn’t as fun as the previous games were.

Granted, there’s a bit of hyperbole there, and in fact, Serious Sam 3 didn’t suffer all-round. It just wasn’t that great, either.

So here you have two games that released late last year with the promise of retro-styled FPS action that brought nostalgia and happy memories to gamers, and what happened?

Exactly what happened with the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

See, the thing about nostalgia is that, like I mentioned earlier, it has this habit of filtering experiences so that you remember the good bits, but not much else. So in the minds of gamers who have played such titles as Doom, Quake and the original Wolfenstein, the experience they remember is an idealised version of what the actual experience was like. Also, the fact that at the time, it was probably the cutting edge of what they had experienced. Likewise for Star Wars, where the original trilogy was considered to be this great creation that many generations have come to love, but really it was only good because you knew no better when you watched it for the first time (hopefully before watching the prequel trilogy) and again, idealised experience because your fickle mind opted to forget all the really bad parts, like how much of a muppet Yoda looked like.

Much like Hard Reset and Serious Sam 3: BFE, when the prequel trilogy for Star Wars came out, a few changes and additions were forced and the experience was undoubtedly murdered, but not the regular kind of murdered. No, the experience was first poisoned into submission, then taken out to a dark alleyway and run over by a car, twice, while its appendages were torn off by rabid dogs and an old bearded guy in a white robe danced over the remaining stump of a corpse, singing Cotton Eye Joe and poking at the head with a twig.

Err.

Painkiller, undoubtedly a phantasmagoria of retro gaming, is an exception to this because instead of trying to simply be a throw-back to “a better time, herp derp” that tried to be other games, it was simply itself and offered no fucks to anyone who cared to question its method.

This is what Hard Reset did not do. This is what Serious Sam 3: BFE did not do.

Nostalgia is all good and well, but when you try to take cues from the content on which you are basing your work while still adding in your own stuff, there is bound to be issues.

At the end of the day, both games proved to be underwhelming experiences that while not entirely failing to deliver on what was promised, did not invoke the feelings that were expected upon playing.

What can we learn from this? The same lesson that was learned from the Star Wars prequel trilogy: Either you take whatever you get with a handful of salt, or you pretend it never existed in the first place and go about your life as you please with your happy memories intact.

I’m sure you guys all remember the fateful November of 2011. Commonly hailed as ‘The Month of Gaming’ due to its high number of triple-A game releases, I have a somewhat different name for it: ‘The Month of Numerous Overwhelmingly Stupid Marketing Decisions’. Or TMNOSMD, for short, though you’d probably waste more time trying to learn that acronym than just saying the damn name in the first place. But I digress.

The issue I’m getting at here, basically, is that publishers have a habit of releasing their games at the same time, usually around November. This is extremely frustrating for us as gamers, because we only have a certain amount of free time and cash which we can put into gaming every month. In the months leading up to November, we’re lucky if we get one triple-A title in a month (and that’s when we’re lucky, mind you) but as soon as November comes we’re bombarded with twice as many triple-A titles as we’ve seen in the entire year… and we can’t play them.

We don’t have enough money to buy all of the shiny games being released, and even if we did we wouldn’t have enough time to play them. For me, this means that I’ve completely missed out on Battlefield 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, two truly epic games which I would have killed people for in any other month (granted, Battlefield 3 was a few days before November, but I was still saving my cash for Skyrim).

The thing is, it isn’t just the consumer losing out, either — I’m convinced that not one of those games did as well as they could have if released in isolation… which brings us to the aforementioned idiocy of the marketing decisions involved.

Take a moment to think about it. I mean, as a hypothetical marketing director, doesn’t releasing your triple-A title at the same time as the new Call of Duty comes out seem really stupid? Let alone releasing your game at the same time as Call of Duty and nine other triple-A titles!

The reason for this is, again, the limited resources of time and money which the customer has. If a gamer doesn’t have the time to play your game, they won’t buy it, and if they don’t have the money to buy your game then not only will they not buy it, but they are pretty likely to go out and pirate it instead. Seeing as other games being released at the same time as yours takes away from the total available pool of time and money which customers could potentially put into your game, you are most likely going to have less sales than you could if you released it at a different time.

The logic in the above paragraph holds if we are in a world completely devoid of context, but we do need to realise that there are three very good reasons as to why so many publishers release their games around the month of November. Black Friday, the Christmas Holidays and Christmas itself.

Now, in theory all three of these essentially ‘boost’ the total amount of resources (time and money) which the consumer conglomerate has – people spend more because of Black Friday and Christmas, and the Christmas Holidays increase the amount of free time which people have. Thus, game sales should go up, right?

Well, sort of. You see, if you have two games which sell equally well in what is essentially a ‘normal’ month (a month where nothing out of the ordinary influences buyer behaviour, decision making or time on-hand) — let’s use March as our example of a normal month — and you sell one of them in March and the other in November, the one sold in November will naturally sell more, because of the factors I listed above.

The situation we have now, however, is one where the games market in November is too saturated for all of the games to benefit from being released then. The great games get overshadowed by the really great games (who claim most of the sales), and have to share out the attention between themselves, meaning that they don’t sell as well as they could in isolation.

All that sounds fine in theory, but the question is whether or not it actually stands up in practice — a question I’m sure some fun statistics can help us answer. Before we take a look at the stats, though, let’s take a quick look at the notable titles released in November of 2010:

• MAG: Escalation
• PES 2011
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
• HAWX 2

• NFS: Hot Pursuit
• AC: Brotherhood
• Football Manager 2011
• Gran Turismo 5

Not a bad selection, certainly, but let’s compare that to the notable releases of November 2011:

• Uncharted 3
• Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary
• AC: Revelations
• CoD: MW3
• Skyrim
• Saints Row: The Third
• Need for Speed: The Run
• Sonic Generations
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
• Minecraft
• Batman: Arkham City

In my opinion, Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3 and Assassin’s Creed alone could trump the selection from 2010, but when we have that many games of such high calibre? Well, the competition of quality is an absolute landslide in favour of 2011. Not just that, but many of those games were sequels in series’, meaning that the reputations of their predecessors essentially guarantee numerous purchases, and that’s before we take advertising into account.

So, all things considered, the sales of November 2011 should have annihilated those of November 2010, right? How much would you expect — twenty-five percent? Fifty percent?

Fifteen percent. Game sales in Novermber 2011 were only fifteen percent better than those of November 2010.

Factor in the analysis that gaming as a whole is growing as a pastime (meaning that game sales should increase year-to-year anyway), and an increase of fifteen percent, given how much better the games on offer were, really isn’t a lot.

What does this tell us?

Well, in an ideal world, where time and money are infinite, most gamers would opt to have at least two or three of those titles for their playing pleasure, suggesting that, in a theoretical perfect world (where most gamers in the previous year only wanted one or two titles from the November selection), we should see increases in sales of between one and two hundred percent.

So, believe it or not, what that evidence helps us conclude is that gamers do, in fact, have limited amounts of time and money. I still have enough misguided faith in publishers to allow myself the gut feeling that they can’t be quite stupid enough to not realise that, though — so, apart from sheer ignorance, what could some other reasons for so many publishers releasing their games in November be?

I’d say a large part of the reason is that publishers don’t want to try and fix what (from their perspective) isn’t broke. They are most certainly still making money off of the games sold in November — it is by no means a feast or famine situation; a quick trip to VGCharts will show that most of the games I’ve talked about from November shipped over one million units across the platforms in their first one or two weeks. If they managed to ship that many in November, with the competition so stiff, imagine what they could ship in a month of relative isolation!

This is where you point me to Deus Ex: Human Revolution and say: “But Duncan! It hardly came close to a million sales in its first week, and it was released on its own!”

This brings us to another reason why publishers may favour November: free advertising. With so many good games being released in November last year, the internet was ablaze with articles telling us all just which games were coming out and voila, free advertising for the publisher. Combine this with many people only really switching on to game releases come November, and incidental advertising of having your game on a shelf during a peak shopping period, and sales come pretty easily.

To properly answer that question, though, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves how many of us really knew Deus Ex was coming out — many of the younger generation of gamers have no idea what the original Deus Ex was, so it has no real legacy to fall back on there, and in general it just wasn’t hyped that much. Compare it to Battlefield 3, which had tons of advertising not just in adverts, but also in creating hype around itself by calling out Modern Warfare 3 and getting into the news all the time. Battlefield 3 shipped well over a million units in its first week of sales.

So, what’s the remedy for this situation? Were I in charge of an epic Avengers-style task team, what would my plan of action be to make sure that publishers don’t go under and gamers get a steady flow of games throughout the year?

Well, that’s pretty bloody simple, isn’t it? If publishers just schedule their releases so that there are one, maybe two triple-A games in a month, then they all win because they attract more sales on account of being sold in isolation. After that they just need to advertise so that consumers actually know that the damn game is coming out, I suppose.

TL;DR: How about releasing a game around my birthday, ‘ey Mr Marketing Director?

It’s a bad day gone worse for John Rochard, the leader of a team of asteroid miners working for Skyrig Corporation. Their mission, to mine and extract turbinium, a kind of space diesel and well, it’s not going so great for John’s particular team. They’ve been having a dry run and the entire complex seems to be slowly breaking down; so you can imagine their excitement when they discover some kind of ruin while digging. As is the nature with discovering mysterious ruins however, things start to decline when space pirates and one or two other adversaries show up to claim said ruin for themselves. Thus starts John’s search for his team and adventure to put a stop to his “bad day”.

Rochard is a side scrolling platformer which tasks the player with manoeuvring John from one side of an area to another. This is made entirely more complex by a variety of brilliantly designed physics based puzzles. You’ll soon find yourself navigating an assortment of physics altering objects and obstacles. Some of these things include using your trusty G-Lifer to move and launch objects, basically Rochard’s version of Half-Life 2’s grav-gun; a device that allows John to swap from normal gravity to low gravity at the player’s whim; different types of force fields, each blocking specific things; areas of upside-down gravity; as well as a whole bucket load of very enjoyable gaming devices. More than that and what makes Rochard so enjoyable is the variety to the approaches the player can make to overcome each obstacle. I usually find myself slightly disappointed with puzzle mechanics when there is only one, very clearly defined, way of getting through a section and Rochard’s indifference to this makes it so enjoyable.

Speaking of all the puzzles and design gone into Rochard, I was honestly surprised at how well done the mechanics were executed and it is definitely something above and beyond what you’d expect from the usual indie game. It’s a well polished game and the difficulty curve is almost perfect; making sure to get increasingly difficult but never frustrating you. Moreover, the game makes sure to introduce new challenges and obstacles just when you think you’ve seen all it has to offer. Something I also found enjoyable was the placement of collectible treasures that gave that extra test to any who wished to tackle collecting them.

When it comes to aesthetics, you’d imagine an indie game would fall flat in this aspect, but in fact, Rochard isn’t too shabby at all. Its visuals are what you’d expect from Team Fortress 2 as a side scrolling game and the music, when there is any, fits the current area and game overall. If anything, the production values, despite a slightly weak story, keeps the game rolling along at a great pace. And if you’re willing to forgive a story that isn’t exactly breaking any records or winning medals, but that at least makes an effort, you’ll be in for a cracker of a game. This is especially the case when John will utter odd country American phrases like “If a frog had wings it wouldn’t keep bumping its ass” or the game will try introducing a little humour to the situation. It’s not overdone and while occasionally a little cheesy, it works to keep you enjoying the gameplay and connected to John’s plight.

When all is said and done, Rochard is a great indie title to consider purchasing. If anything, its low price on Steam and PSN should seal the deal. There’s a demo available to all, try it out, it’s a hoot.

We’re back, and happy to see all of you again! We’re excited to get straight back into action, but first of all we’d like to wish Matric students all the best for their results today, and hope each and every one of you are having a fantastic holiday – up until today, at the very least.

The year of 2012 isn’t exactly kicking off with a bang, but fortunately there’s plenty more to come next month that will probably make up for this one. At least it can be said that we’re getting an extra month to recover from last year’s November spending spree…

Take a look at the games coming out this month. It will only take a second.

Note: The games listed here are not all games being released in January, but rather the more noticeable ones.

January 2012’s Game List

Index

• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – Mediterranean Traveler DLC
• Gears of War 3 – Fenix Rising DLC
• Gotham City Imposters
• Silent Hill HD Collection

Browse through the pages below to see all of the games and their information in detail, or simply click the name of the game above to be taken straight to that specific game’s page.

Many gamers, gaming sites and journalists alike, and despite our usual tendency to endlessly argue and fan boy rage, have called 2007 the best year for gaming and I’m inclined to agree. As we all know however, ‘the best’ is a relative term and I agree that many might argue for different years or that we should in fact avoid ranking such things all together. I myself don’t particularly like to rank things and prefer to avoid it if at all possible. So for the sake of argument, just go with me on this. The point of this argument, as you might have gathered when reading the title, is because I believe 2012 could be one of the best years for gaming. So good in fact, I think it will trump 2007 and assume the thrown as the best, that’s assuming all goes to plan of course.

Now, and thanks to my complete inability to choose a list of 5, I have broken this list up into 2 sections. All the games on both lists are just as exciting as the others to me and there is no particular rank, it’s entirely random. So what does a game need to do to get on this list? Well, and in my attempt to avoid riding the hype train all the way into disappointment station, wow, that was cheesy, I have chosen these games on merit of seeing gameplay as well as reading extensively about them. These are the games that get the most hairs on the back of my neck to stand up and I just thought you’d want to hear about them.

Mass Effect 3

Much of the story has been leaked and the announcement of multiplayer promises to make Mass Effect 3 far more susceptible to being less than we expected. If it manages to meet our expectations however, Mass Effect 3 could very well grant us one of the finest gaming experiences and cement my eternal love for the series.

The largest problem to confront Bioware is of their design. Mass Effect 1 & 2 both had quite differing mechanics when it came to combat, upgrading characters and a number of other things. As such, and despite both being very good games, they offered differing experiences. To be truly great, Mass Effect 3 needs to marry a number of mechanics from each of the previous Mass Effect games and create an altogether better game at the core. Some of the absolute requirements from Mass Effect 1 will be the more in depth RPG mechanics as well as dialogue choices and more planet side vehicular missions. From Mass Effect 2 we need the more fluid combat, the more detailed environments and most importantly, the consequences system. By consequences system I mean the more varied options and outcomes available to us, according to our decisions of course, in Mass Effect 2 as opposed to Mass Effect 1. Some of the other mechanics like mining need to be redesigned altogether and I can’t wait to see what Bioware comes up with. I know Bioware has promised to do all of these things and in fact, they’re going one step further with weapon modifiers and other skill tree additions but until the game is released, who really knows for sure. Gaming mechanics in games, especially Bioware games, have been known to be altered by time constraints or development choices; we really just need to cross thumbs and hope.

Speaking of new mechanics, how will the multiplayer affect our single player experiences and what kinds of endings can we get? Not to mention, who might die this time. It’s all very exciting and I’m counting down the days. Personally, I can’t wait to see how my decisions have decided the fate of the universe. Will the Geth and Rachni aid or prevent Shepard saving the universe? Is the apparent option to fail at saving the universe threaded into multiple plot wide decisions or does it come down to one final decision? All of these things keep me on edge and that’s why Mass Effect 3 is on this list. Now don’t get me wrong, Bioware have been known to get the balance of introducing new and keeping the old wrong. Dragon Age 2 as well as aspects of Mass Effect 2 is a very clear demonstration of this and I just hope they’ve learnt from those mistakes.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

I know many disliked the approach to and overall result of Final Fantasy XIII. It had its flaws, I agree, but I certainly did not dislike it, and in fact, I loved it. It was linear and for much of the game we were unable to pick the characters we wanted to. But so what, not every game needs to be Skyrim sized and have a variety of outcomes like Mass Effect. Sometimes you just want to enjoy a story for what it has to say, and Final Fantasy does that brilliantly. I know many have called it convoluted and its plot is too much like that of an anime, not deep or rich enough. But those are the same people who would never own a Wii simply because that’s not what so called hardcore gamers do. All of the Final Fantasy games have been convoluted fairy tales where defeating some bad guy or force and saving the princess or world makes the crux of the plot. The difference is in each game’s unique way of telling that story, the world it inhabits and the characters it presents. It is a fantasy series remember, not a sci-fi. Final Fantasy XIII’s fantastical world and rich over the top plot is what makes it so lovable. It removed a lot of the excess and refined it entirely to the main story, I for one enjoyed that. I too enjoy all of the exploring and side quests but I also like what Final Fantasy XIII did, which was tell a story.

Now, I won’t go so far as to say it was perfect, it wasn’t and I can admit that. This is where Final Fantasy XIII-2 promises to deliver, to bring back some of the Final Fantasy aspects we love and missed. Moogles; exploring endless corridors for that one item we must collect; super bosses that require hours upon hours of grinding to defeat; it promises to have all of that and still keep the great story telling of the original. The paradigm combat system was great fun and offered more variety than most realised. And now with the inclusion of paradigm specialising creatures to aid in combat and a multi-tiered plot, well frankly I can’t wait.

At the end of the day, if you don’t enjoy the way Final Fantasy does things, don’t buy it and buy Mass Effect 3 instead. Hell, I’m going to buy both, and you know what, I’m going to enjoy each for what they do best. Just make sure Snow is there Square Enix.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Call me a sucker for RPG’s but my recent love for Skyrim and the Witcher 2 means I’m even more enthusiastic about Kingdoms of Amalur. Neither is that similar but all have given me the same type of vibe before getting them. The first two have been just awesome and let’s just say I’m a glass half full kind of guy.

Kingdom of Amalur seems to be the love child between a Skyrim inspired world, God of War combat mechanics and an almost Fable aesthetic; a great mix as it turns out. Moreover, and not content with rehashing other RPG mechanics, Kingdom of Amalur’s fate, destiny and faction system has a hint of original thinking to it and will give it that needed freshness. As long as they can get the combat right, keep it balanced and RPG centred, rather than button mash or reflex centric system, it promises to be a fine addition to my collection this year. That’ll be especially true if its story book aesthetic is anything to go by; I’m a sucker for a fantasy fairy tale. With regards to its story, of which I haven’t heard much of at this point, it’s probably not going to be as much a page turner as Uncharted 3 or the Witcher 2. Despite this however, it has something, a certain charm, that makes me really want to play it and isn’t that all we really need from a game.

Hmm, there really isn’t a whole lot more to say about Kingdoms of Amalur. Its developers are holding their cards close to their chest and that just makes for more to see when I finally play the game.

Tomb Raider

A much larger and more explorable world, some sort of levelling up system and fast travelling; is it just me or are even the non-RPG’s these days all sporting RPG elements. As the new mechanics might suggest, the new Tomb Raider is a series reset and promises to introduce a whole lot more to the table. If the gameplay videos are anything to go by, the aesthetics are absolutely gorgeous and the more combat focused experience will make a nice change to the series. The developers just need to remember that Tomb Raider will always need that element of exploration and should not remove too much of it. As long as it maintains a well refined and polished adventure and keeps some of the puzzle mechanics Tomb Raider is known for; it should make for a great game. In fact, this Tomb Raider seems to be a mesh between the Batman Arkham series, Uncharted and of course Tomb Raider; a formula that certainly has potential. Especially when the story seems to take a lot of inspiration from its current peer Uncharted 3; which if you think about it makes sense considering that a lot of Uncharted and Drake himself is inspired by Lara and Tomb Raider.

The last Tomb Raider Square Enix was responsible for guiding was Guardian of Light and that was a great game. Tomb Raider needs a whole lot more than simple makeover if it’s going to redeem the glory it once had, and this game just might have the potential to do so.

Bioshock Infinite

The thing Bioshock did best was made me wonder what was around each and every corner. It delivered some insanely detailed environments and introduced a dystopian world so well done I thought I could jump through my screen and visit Rapture. If Bioshock Infinite shows the potential for only one thing, it’d be the environment and world it’s based in. The lost utopia, steam punk dystopia and the almost vibrant noir setting it has going is truly a sight to behold. More than that, the characters have been given more depth, more consequence and emotion; a dangerous move in my opinion. Why dangerous? Well if Bioshock Infinite’s story and characters hold up to what I’m expecting from it, it might literally blow my mind, like chunks everywhere blow my mind.

Irrational Games has really stepped up its game and I fall in love each time I see any of its gameplay. The roaming and combat mechanics look well refined and polished to a shine. The tonics make a welcome refresh from the previous games, though still quite similar to the Adam powers of its deep sea brethren; I guess if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Despite flying to close to the sun, by which I mean I’m getting within close proximity to becoming a fan boy of Bioshock Infinite, I cannot wait for its seemingly perfect blend of old and new.

So, that’s it for this half of the list. Well half isn’t quite accurate, I’m not entirely sure how many entrants the second half will have but it’s safe to assume a certain Blizzard game or two will be there. Until next week, I’m outie.