Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Starcraft II

With the new release of the highly anticipated Starcraft II and having a friend who is nothing but a fanatic of the series, I agreed to let him write a review for the game.  That being said, here is the Starcraft review, brought to you by Peter Davidson:

Here we are, twelve years and $100 million later we finally have the sequel to the most successful strategy game of all time. Starcraft changed the face of PC gaming when it came out in ’97. It is still played today, a testament to its longevity. In Korea, the original Starcraft game is a national pastime, with televised tournaments and a website devoted solely to streaming live tournament matches. After long last, we have Blizzard’s Sci-Fi companion to the mighty fantasy War Craft that has become a global Phenom.


This game picks up right where the Brood War expansion left off. For those of you who played the first game names like Arcturus Megnsk, Jim Raynor, and Kerrigan will sound familiar. In Wings of Liberty, Kerrigan has ascended to become the Queen of Blades and general of the Zerg forces, an insectoid race of genetic assimilators. Jim Raynor is now an outlaw of the new Dominion under Megnsk and is leading a single battle cruiser in surgical strikes all over the sector to do what he can to thwart the Dominion. Wings of Liberty is the first in a three part game that will make up the entirety of SC2. With the focus on the Terran, or human, aspect of this section, those of you who favor the Zerg Rush, or the Psi of the Protoss will have to wait in the comprehensive Multiplayer until the campaigns for those races are launched respectively.

The campaign is a non-linear whirlwind of activity. The protagonist Jim Raynor, now must choose between prosecuting the next mission, or going to collect a bounty of artifacts to gain upgrades for his forces. Set on the interactive command bridge of the Battle Cruiser, Hyperion, these decisions determine the lives of many, his soldiers included. The player can interact with characters, hire Mercenary forces, upgrade weapons and armor, and research powerful Zerg and Protoss abilities. This gives the player a large level of customization when it comes to playing style. Those of you who are extremely thorough, achievement chasers have a wealth of new achievements that tax even the most battle hardened commander. But do not let this dissuade you if this is your first real time strategy (RTS), the game features a comprehensive in game tutorial prompted by the command interface aptly named, Adjutant. This new spin on the campaign gives you, as a commander, a wealth of power to choose which path you will take. The Mercenary options allow you to call in drop ship reinforcements with enhanced abilities if the going gets too tough.

As far as Wings of Liberty goes we could not have asked for a better sequel. Gone are the 12 unit limit on selection, gone are the narrow camera frames, gone are the pixilated graphics, gone are all of the small things we gritted our teeth and pushed past to play the original Starcraft. There is no longer a limit on how many units you can select, the camera has a roller ball zoom function which lets you get up close and personal with the action and the graphics are stellar to say the least. Wings of Liberty features a new graphics engine that allows for in game cut scenes that look like cinematics from any other RTS game. Of course the action is interspersed with Bilzzard’s legendary cinematics that look like a motion picture. The game features over 30 minutes of this beautiful footage. The beauty of all of this is that the new engine means that you don’t need the latest Alienware to power this graphics masterpiece. I am playing on a two year old gaming laptop and have very good load times and no glitching. The combat engines have improved and the units move seamlessly over the terrain and interact with each other with violent ease.

As far as multiplayer goes Starcraft’s Battle.Net is back with a new ladder system designed to sort players into matches with gamers who have compatible abilities. This new system prevents veterans from decimating new comers to the game and is effective at sorting (I should know, I got owned by a 12 Korean boy on the old Starcraft in just under 5 minutes). There is of course an option to play against some good old fashioned A.I. in skirmish mode to hone your skills. There is even a new map editor, entitled The Galaxy Editor, which Blizzard made easier to use than the old Star Editor of the original Starcraft.

With an abundance of new units, this new game plays like the classic but with a more customizable feel. All the old units are back spouting their notable Starcraft responses like: “Are you gunna give me orders?!”, or the classic ghost line “Did somebody call for an exterminator." All the classic lines are back with some new ones like “Fear the Reaper, Man.” That combined with the new soundtrack, ranging from old western cantina music to a full horn orchestra for space scenes, makes for an excellent soundtrack out shadowed only by the graphics and cinematics. The in game hints and tips are delivered by the animatronic Adjutant and even Raynor. The two biggest new characters are ex-con Tychus Findlay, the reactivated space marine and Specter Gabriel Tosh, the Jamaican Super Ghost looking to make a dishonest dollar with the help of the Hyperion crew. These two add a whole new level of humor and emotion to the cut scenes and their tactical advice can sway the commander towards stealth or brutal assault.


The game as a whole definitely delivers. It has been very long in the making but the effort shows off. I have no doubt that this game will be successful and I would categorize it as a must have for anyone who enjoys RTS gaming. For those of you who have more of an inclination to other genres, I would still highly recommend this as a first foray into the world of RTS. The seamless controls make for easy transition and there are no “secret buttons;" the controls are basic and comprehensive, you just organize and click, get your units in the proper tactical position and the combat AI will take over. Instead of milling about aimlessly marines plug the gap between bunkers, creating a wall of gauss fire while medics scurry to heal your valiant marines. The controls give this game a very smooth feel that is addicting for someone who has struggled to get RTS units of past games into formation.

The designers at Blizzard have done it again, they have potentially raised the bar for RTS to come.  Starcraft 2 delivers tight, cutting edge graphics with manageable system requirements and a story line that is both engaging and addicting. Anyone, whether a grizzled veteran of the Brood War or someone who wants a break from first person and a chance to take a seat at the station of an interstellar command, will find this game very exciting and stimulating, just don’t get hooked on those StimPacks!

-Peter Davidson

Monday, July 26, 2010

Killzone 2

Released in February of 2009, Killzone 2 was meant to be the "Halo" of the Play Station 3.  The first Killzone (2004) was originally released to compete directly with the first Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved, but fell incredibly short and didn't amount to the level of success Halo had, let alone to a very good game in general.  Killzone 2, however, was released on the Play Station 3, a system that meant worlds for the competitor of the Halo franchise.  With a three year gap in between the first and second game, designers, developers, and the like had plenty of time to improve upon what was lacking in the original Killzone.  It suffices to say that Killzone 2 more than exceeds its predecessor and is a worthy competitor not only for the Halo franchise, but likely for the Call of Duty multi-console franchise.

In Killzone 2, you're placed into the game as Sev, a veteran member of the ISA, in a special forces unit known as Legion.  Along side you are several other characters that seemingly are important, but throughout the game, you don't care much about them, so I'm not going to bother naming them.  Legion is placed on Vekta, the home planet of the Helghast, the enemy that invaded earth in the first installment of Killzone.  Now taking the fight to the Helghast's front door, your mission is fairly straight forward: capture the Helghast leader, Emperor Visari.  While the characters aren't incredibly memorable like in other games (*cough* Bad Company *cough*) you still manage to remember where they fit into the story and why they're important, more so in the latter half of the game rather than the first.  The plot isn't entirely complicated and is a little mottled, but is easy enough to follow and understand what your primary objectives are.  In the end, one doesn't necessarily play Killzone 2 for the incredible story line.

The gameplay in Killzone 2 is relatively smooth.  Enemies don't flood you an unnecessary amount, but if you do stay in cover for too long, they will stab you.  Friendly AI tends to be a little stupid, providing you with little to no cover or walking away to the next check point and waiting for you while you're still under fire.  As I said, while all of the people in the Legion squad aren't just jar heads, you'll definitely end up treating them that way seeing as how you easily can complete the game without them.  Dialogue amongst characters in the game both in cut scenes and in-game aren't too exciting either.  Emotions between characters seem forced and even when one of your squad mates dies, while you may feel a tinge of regret, your character's emotions seem a bit painted on.  The one character that does manage to stand out in the game, however, is Emperor Visari.  As an ominous, looming figure, Visari's voice is ever-present throughout the war zone, whether it be far off in the form of a wide spread warning or a radio placed on the ground.  Furthermore, out of all of the enemies you face, he's the only one whose entire face you see and one of only two enemies whose eyes you see.  This being said, Visari stands out among the crowd and some of the speeches and monologues that come from his character are incredibly well written and powerful.  I will say, that while the story of Killzone 2 isn't very strong, it does have an unexpectedly powerful ending.

The controls for Killzone 2 are a bit infuriating at the begging.  This could be in part because I'm used to a 360 controller when I'm playing a shooter, but it is also due to the fact that the control layout is counter intuitive, at least to today's standards.  Where in most contemporary shooters, the left trigger is aim and the right is fire, in Killzone 2, there is no configuration that gives you those controls.  There is absolutely no way to make L2 aim and R2 fire.  The closest you can get is to have L1 as aim and R1 as fire, but that configuration is just as counter intuitive.  What I ended up settling with was using R2 as fire, L2 as grenade, and a click of the right joystick (R3) as aim.  While this took some getting used to, by the time I finished that game, I had gotten pretty well adjusted to it.  Another controls issue is the running; while its placed where one would think (as a click of the left joystick [L3]), you don't stop running once you let off.  If you try to stop and aim, you'll run right past your enemies and get stabbed; if you try to run up to cover, but don't click L3 again, you get stabbed.  Motion controls are also tacked on when you need to set a mine or turn a valve.  By rotating your controller, your character twists a valve; sort of useless in my opinion.  One thing that stands out among the controls, however, is the cover system.  By holding L1, I could get into cover, stay there, and with a simple push of the left joystick, I could lean over, lean to the right, or lean to the left to get a better shot at my enemies.  When I let off of the joystick, I would immediately drop back into cover. 

If anything though, there are two primary reasons to play Killzone 2: the multiplayer and the graphics.  The multiplayer in Killzone 2 is what one would expect: it has your standard kill everything games; your capture the object games; your protect this dude because I said so games, etc.  What is different about Killzone 2, however, is that you can play all of these games together in one huge match.  Once one team wins one mission, it switches to the next without going to a lobby or anything of the sort.  For instance, your first mission will be to get a collective total of fifty kills.  Once one team has achieved that, they get a point, and the next mission pops up: defend the objective, so on and so forth.  For each mission that a team wins, they get a point.  In every game I played it was a best of seven style, which provides for long matches with incredibly varied gameplay.  Two things, however, hurt Killzone's online.  The first of these is its connectivity issues; when I went online for the first time, I couldn't connect at all.  Searching online for a solution for almost an hour, I found hundreds upon hundreds of people with the same issue.  Luckily, I came across someone who said to disable the UPnP, which ,surprisingly, worked.  The second thing is the community, which is on par with the Halo community.  Not only is in-game chatter annoying and obnoxiously loud, but being able to mute someone isn't nearly as fluid as in Halo.  Even worse is tea bagging.  For anyone who hasn't played Halo with me, tea bagging is just what it is in the real world; its when you kill an enemy and then while they're re-spawning with a clear view of their dead body, you stand over them and dip your crotch right into their face.  Tea bagging has been taken to a new extreme in Killzone 2.  When you die in Killzone 2, you can "bleed out" and lay on the ground, gasping for air until you decide to re-spawn, someone revives you, or someone kills you.  On several occasions, I was crawling on the ground, waiting to respawn, only to have the guy that had killed me tea bag me for ten seconds and then pop me in the head right before I was about to re-spawn.

With tea bagging aside, the graphics of Killzone 2 are by far some of the best I have ever seen.  Everything in the game seems incredibly fluid and life like.  Textures on all of the guns are incredibly detailed, human characters look exceptional and, oddly enough, almost life-like when their eyes are closed.  The environments are vast and expansive and seem to take a bit of influence from the grand landscaping designs seen in Gears of War.  The environments are incredibly moody and dark, with bits of ash and fire flickering through the sky.  Lighting is also astoundingly well done, setting the mood for every environments you find yourself in, whether it be a desert or an underground passageway.  Body movements of enemies are incredibly fluid, but not so much so that they have that rag doll effect once they're dead.  All of the movements in the game, such as running and reloading, are incredibly smooth and life-like, and carry the weight that would seem necessary for such actions. In the end, Killzone 2's graphics top many that I have ever seen, managing to create vast environments that span miles, while still defining fine details such as stitching and hair.

Before I close I would like to mention a couple of other quick points.  The guns in Killzone 2 are fairly limited and the good guns don't start to make an appearance until almost over half way though the campaign.  Boss fights are pretty fun, but can be a little easy, save for the very last one.  The Helghast enemies, while there are fifteen different types of them, all look similar enough that its hard to really distinguish which is which, something that is unfortunate because, upon closer inspection, many of them have unique looks.

Overall, Killzone 2 is an incredible game that any PS3 owner should at least play.  The game play is fun and can mold to first time gamers as well as veteran shooters.  The story, while a little weak throughout, manages to end incredibly well, really creating anticipation as to what will happen next.  The multiplayer, while it has its faults and the community is unbearable, once you get on a roll and play for a while, it is a lot of fun.  The graphics for Killzone 2 are beyond amazing and I could just sit and look at my screen for hours in awe.  Now that I've played catch-up with one of the major PS3 titles, I can finally start anticipating Killzone 3, which will be released on February 28th, 2011, and will be in 3D!  Lets hope that works out.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2, released just this past March by EA DICE, is the much anticipated sequel to the original released in 2008.  With a returning cast of characters that include Sarge, Sweetwater, Haggard, and Preston Marlowe, gamers could expect to have a serious FPS accompanied by the humor and wit that was seen in the first Bad Company.  Added to the mix is a little more comic relief in the form of a pacifist, hippie helicopter pilot named Flynn.  The game starts out a little unexpectedly, placing you in Japan on an extraction mission just a few hours before the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.  That being said, the player is placed in 1945 as opposed to modern day, which only livens up the overall game.  EA DICE manages to toss in some older guns to keep the time line straight, but then afterward, the players returns to modern times standing amongst Bad Company as Preston Marlow.  The story line of the game, while well done, isn't nearly as fun as the first game.  In the first it is a lot of fun to go AWOL and search mercenary camps for gold, knowing that while you're in the army, they just sort of drop you and pick you up as needed.  In the second, the story line is much more heavily based on a sort of weapon of mass destruction that Special Ops has recruited you to find.  This makes the story line much more straight forward, but Bad Company is much less the "runt of the litter" that it was in the first game.  However, in the second game, the antagonist is much more sinister and plays a bigger role than the one in the first game did.

Graphically, the series has improved significantly.  The various landscapes in which you're placed are much more varied than in the first one ranging from blizzard torn tundras to lush green jungles riddled with trip wire explosives.  While the campaign of Bad Company 2 is significantly shorter than Bad Company, these creative environments help to spice up the single player experience and make it just as enjoyable.  Certain things are a bit choppy such as shadows that seem overly pixel-like, which tends to distract from the incredible textures and lighting on the guns and various other elements in the game.  Ground textures for the most part are pretty good especially in the snow and desert, but the jungle environments consist of flat leaves and twigs plastered to the ground.  The character figures in the game are more or less the same, but look a little sharper than their predecessors.  Certain things still feel a little off, but nevertheless it isn't a huge issue.  Visually I didn't run into any glitches like I did in the last game, I never saw my team mates flying through the air or anything of the sort.

The controls in Bad Company 2 are much more friendly than in the first release.  The controls have adapted to what is more common nowadays, placing the melee attack with a click of the right joystick and making use of the "Y" button to switch weapons.  On that note, the weapons system has had a huge change.  Where in the first you were limited to a set of weapons, either containing an assault rifle with a grenade launcher, a sniper with a pistol, a light machine gun with grenades, etc., in the second you have something called supply crates.  Every so often when you come to a check point there will be a supply crate which is filled with every gun you have yet to find in the game.  Furthermore, you are allowed to take two weapons with you, no matter what they are, enabling me to carry around my sniper and assault rifle combo.  The gadgets in the game have taken a step down and aren't nearly as common or numerous as they were in the first game.  Gadgets are also only provided to you when they are needed, as opposed to always being at your disposal.  While this makes the game slightly less interesting, it also makes it more challenging.

Destructive environments still play a key roll to Bad Company's game play, but the feature has been upgraded from two years ago.  Where in the first game basic structures such as supports, roofs, and the like were the only things that could be left standing, now even those basic elements can be torn down.  If you wait too long undercover of a house being bombarded with explosives, be sure that the roof will eventually collapse on top of you and kill you (In fact, there's an achievement in online multiplayer that you receive for getting twenty kills in such a way).  As in the first game, with destructive environments comes great sound, which has also been upgraded to Dolby Digital in Bad Company 2.  Sound is incredible making your every movement life like and making every situation, whether it be fleeing from an aerial drop or slowly creeping down a jungle river, that much more intense and suspenseful. While the sound effects have gotten better, unfortunately, the music has taken a hit and, while still impressive, isn't nearly as fun or creative as in the first game; it just ain't got no flava.

The AI of the game is a lot better than in the first game.  Stealth is much easier without super soldiers lurking around every corner in a tank.  In several instances you actually have to sneak up behind someone and take them out without anyone noticing.  The best example of this is a moment when the squad comes upon a sniper post outside of a military encampment.  After silently taking out the sniper, two of your squad mates approach the camp masked by darkness, rain, and thunder.  As they approach, you use your sniper to take out all the guards in their way.  However, in the dead of night, a sniper is something that makes a lot of noise. "Sarge: Time it and use the thunder to mask the sound of your sniper shots.  Sweetwater: Is it bad that I wish I had thought of that?  Sarge: Yes."  AI still has some difficulty, however, in concerns to your squad mates.  I understand that while playing on hard I am supposed to receive less help from them, but I expect them to at least run to cover.  Several instances placed me under fire, waiting for my squad members to reach a me because they had decided to walk instead of RUN.  This wasn't a particular issue throughout most of the game, but was a bit of an annoyance at times.

The multiplayer experience is much more polished than in the first, making everything seem a bit more organized and structured.  There are four classes players can play as, Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon, all of which have their own unique weapons, upgrades, and special abilities.  This style combines the cutomization of the Modern Warfare 2 online multiplayer with a load out system much like can be seen in Team Fotress 2 or the upcoming Halo: Reach.  Multiplayer maps are just as huge as the first, pitting you against several players in various missions which either involve planting bombs, capturing locations, or just killing everything in sight.  The server also seems to be relatively smooth seeing as how I have experienced little to no lag at all, even while my computer is hooked up to the internet and downloading things.

Overall, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a worthy successor to Battlefield: Bad Company.  Although it doesn't have everything players loved about the first game, such as music and play time, it manages to suck you in just the same.  The members of Bad Company are just as loveable if not more so than in the first and really make you feel like you could just go out and have a drink with them.  Graphics are a little choppy in areas, but overall are stunning.  The sound, as always, is incredible and simulates each and every beautiful environment to a "T."  While the campaign is short (and also less difficult) than the first, the multiplayer is something that is sure to suck you in with its immense maps and epic battles.  Bad Company 2 is a game I highly recommend to anyone who loves first-person shooters and, as the hype has said time and time again, is a worthy competitor to the Modern Warfare series.  In conclusion, I would like to leave you with my favorite quote from the game: 

"Sarge: Hags, come on now, if you leave, no more T-Bone steaks, now.  Preston: Yeah, no more buying AR-15 ammo at the mall.  Sweetwater: No more shootin' trespassers on your porch. Sarge: No more biscuits and gravy.  Sweetwater: No more Super Bowl Sundays... No more Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.  Haggard: Shiiiiiiiiiiiit.  That's terrible.  Get outta my way!  Gotta save me some cheerleaders.

Game Review: Shadow of the Colossus (2005)

I've been in a drought as far as new games go recently, so I've found myself playing older games that I never got around to finishing. The latest of these is "Shadow of the Colossus," created for the PlayStation 2 by Japanese developer Team Ico. This is my first game review, so bear with me.



"Shadow of the Colossus" was released in 2005 to astonishing success for a game with such an unusual premise. In simple terms, the game revolves around a young warrior named Wander, who at the game's outset travels by horse to a forbidden land in order to seek the resurrection of an unnamed woman. Upon entering the land, a disembodied voice informs Wander that in order to restore the woman to life, he must defeat 16 giant beasts that roam the surrounding landscape. As far as story goes, that's really all the player knows for most of the game. Little else is revealed until the game's conclusion; more on that later.

Since so little is explained at the beginning, the first challenge of the game is simply exploring the world of "Shadow." Many games live or die on the strength of their environments, and "Shadow" is no exception. Fortunately, the game's developers have gone to great lengths to create a vast, detailed land that astonishes at nearly every turn. Since each colossus is located a reasonable distance from your starting point, you'll have plenty of time to marvel at the grand landscape that has been laid before you. The terrain varies depending on location, ranging from dense forests to wide lakes to impenetrable deserts, but they all have one thing in common: size. These lands are simply huge, and it's unlikely that you'll discover everything they have to offer just by going from colossus to colossus. The distances that must be traveled to reach each beast are almost entirely uninterrupted, creating a feeling of complete loneliness that increases as you face ever greater challenges without so much as a word of human comfort. Likewise, these quiet periods allow for a deep introspection that is rare in the world of video games.

Of course, even the best environments would be meaningless if they didn't lead to something. The colossi that are your ultimate targets are as varied and beautiful as the lands, masterfully constructed and awe-inspiringly huge. The basic principle behind these battles is simple: one must climb upon the beast, find its weak points, and stab them with your sword. However, the colossi are so different that the player must devise a unique set of strategies and techniques to defeat each one. Some tower over you, some swim beneath you, and some soar far above your head. These challenges are often daunting, but rest assured, the solutions are there. Of course, these beasts don't appreciate your unsolicited attacks, and most will fight back when challenged. This issue is exacerbated by the game's controls, which are often clunky and unresponsive. Frequently, your character will ignore you entirely, falling from obvious ledges and missing clear movement directions. This is without doubt the game's greatest flaw; it is a source of great and frequent irritation, and it somewhat removes the player from the otherwise perfect immersion.


However, one cannot describe "Shadow of the Colossus" without mentioning its musical score, which is one of the best in the gaming world, even to the present. A combination of orchestral and vocal arrangements provide a quiet tension in the buildup to each battle, broken by a heightened intensity when you finally manage to climb upon the colossus. The music at the end of each battle is particularly strong; when combined with the artful colossus death scenes, it's hard to stay emotionally detached from the creatures you're forced to destroy. Indeed, one can't help but feel a terrible sense of regret with each passing victory, as you destroy these beautiful creatures that existed peacefully before your arrival. It's by far the most emotionally gripping part of the game, and it will certainly make you question the motives behind the violence. The final act of the game sheds some light on those motives, and it does a remarkable job of tying up the considerable loose ends that have lingered throughout the game. Truly, "Shadow" is surprisingly well-written for a game with so little writing. You will likely find yourself satisfied but conflicted at the game's conclusion; perhaps you know why you've been doing the things you've been doing, but you probably won't feel much better about it.

Ultimately, "Shadow of the Colossus" is one of the most unique and artful games to ever grace the PS2. Strong visual composition and a haunting musical score combine to form a truly unmatched storytelling experience, and the unique enemies consistently astonish throughout. Though the control scheme is flawed and the camera system can be infuriating, dedicated players will find this to be an immensely rewarding experience. Distractions aside, perseverance will be rewarded by an emotionally powerful journey that will grip your heart and linger in your mind long after you've felled the final colossus.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Battlefield: Bad Company

"Capitalist pigs, very nice"
Battlefield: Bad Company, released in 2008 by EA DICE, is a first-person shooter (FPS) that places you as a soldier, Private Preston Marlowe, as the fresh meant to a squad called Bad Company.  First off, let me say, thank you for finally making a war FPS with lovable characters, a solid story line, and a main character that you actually feel connected to.  Now, don't get me wrong, in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise, there's a solid story.  However, the story gets complicated and a little muddy, especially in the second one.  Not to mention that you could give two shits about whether or not your character dies.  In BF: BC, you genuinely care about the character you play as.  Not only that, but you probably care more about your three squad mates: Sweetwater, Haggard, and Sarge.  Because of this unique cast of characters, each has a distinct personality, which makes the dialogue great as well.  One of the first examples of this is a cut scene early on in the game that causes you to pass out.  While looking at a black screen, you hear this: Haggard: Oh look. New guy's dead. Sweetwater: Already? I was just about to learn his name. Haggard: I think it was probably Joe. Usually is. Sarge: His name's Preston. Preston Marlowe. And he's not dead. Right, soldier?  Later on in the game, you get separated from your squad and have to figure out what their location is.  Without them, the entire mission feels incredibly lonely, especially without Haggard yammering on about who would win in a fight: Truckasaurus or a tank.  One of my favorite conversations goes as follows: Sweetwater: Sarge, Haggard's running away again! Sarge: Hold on, something ain't right. Sweetwater: I know, look at him, he runs like a girl. Sarge: No, not that.  I'm talking about something else.

The story places you in Bad Company in Eastern Europe to do some final missions before Sarge retires.  After your first mission, you stumble upon a solid gold bar the was smuggled by the mercenaries you have been fighting.  Haggard, being the maniac he is, instantly gets gold fever and starts firing his gun in the air in a neutral zone looking for the gold.  After you manage to get him back, the army informs you that they've dropped you and you will not be able to be extracted.  With this news, Sarge decides that Bad Company may as well go AWOL and search for the gold.  The rest of the story bats you back and forth between working for the army and trying to find the gold.  Outside of the single player campaign, although I have yet to play it in the first one, the multi-player is incredibly fun with large scale maps and several enemies, as is common to the Battlefield name.

The controls for the game are a little different from what a lot of people are used to, such as melee attacks with the knife being switched to the Y button and switching weapons being changed to the right bumper.  However, basic controls such as firing and aiming being placed to the right and left triggers respectively remain the same.  There's a vast assortment of weapons that can be found throughout the game and are considered "Collectibles;" finding  five, 50%, and 100% of them will each earn you an achievement.  One downside to the weapon system is that you are forced to swap out both your primary and secondary weapon upon switching weapons.  Most assault rifles will come with a secondary of a grenade launcher and snipers will come with a pistol.  I typically like to keep a sniper on me and an assault rifle if I can, however, in BF: BC, this isn't an option.  They manage to make up for it a bit with giving you special items, or gadgets, such as the MRTR-5, a GPS transmitter which can lock onto any area, enemy or otherwise, within a certain range and send a barrage of missiles to that location.  This is incredibly useful, but makes certain parts of the game a little too easy, even on hard.  

However, while playing through the game, I was incredibly grateful to have it because of the artificial intelligence (AI).  The AI seems to be either incredibly stupid or the best soldier that has ever lived.  Some enemy soldiers will be standing right on top of you and do nothing, whereas others, especially tanks, will be able to spot you among trees from a mile away and pick you off no problem (making a stealth approach to the game nearly impossible).  This is especially infurating if you have a long ways to go until your next save point.  If you die, you re-spawn at your last save area, which is useful if you're put right outside of the action, however, other times it will put you miles away from the enemies without a vehicle. Other times, the save points will literally spawn you side-by-side with an enemy, which can be easily frustrating seeing as how half the time enemies are much quicker with their instant kill knife attacks than you are.

The graphics of BF: BC aren't incredible with today's standards, but are still pretty impressive.  The whole game seems to be in sort of a grainy film, giving everything a very rough texture, which is distracting at first, but eventually you get used to it.  Human models look relatively accurate, although the facial features, especially the eyes, seem a bit odd.  However, with your character from the FPS perspective, everything seems spot on.  Grenade throws are heavy, it takes an effort to reload, and when swimming, you can see your hands stroking the water in front of you.  One innovation that helped BF: BC tremendously graphically is their destructive environments.  Nearly everything in the game can be knocked down, save for basic structures of buildings, rocks, etc.  Entire houses can be blown through, forests can be demolished, and even the ground you walk or drive on can have giant craters blown into by a tank that is trying to hit you.  This aspect, while incredibly realistic, is also incredibly fun.  Several times I would know an enemy was in a building, but instead of risking going through the front door and him having the upper hand, I just took my grenade launcher and blew a hole in the wall (Click on the image on the left for a better look at what I'm talking about).  

With all the destruction around you, the sound is also incredibly well done, further emphasizing the war time feel.  Everything sounds incredibly realistic from the shuffling of your boots to trees falling over; from enemies shouting out to their comrades to a nearby gas tank exploding behind you.  This game truly benefits from a surround sound system and really makes me happy that I shelled out to get a good one.  Not to mention that the soundtrack of the game is a lot of fun and manages to keep a light hearted feel to the game, even though you may be at the brink of possible destruction.

Here's the theme song to the game.  Swanky, huh?

Battlefield: Bad Company, although a couple of years old, is an incredibly satisfying game.  In fact, I bought the second, released this past March, before I bought the first.  After playing it a bit, I realized that the story was good and I should buy the first one.  Luckily, I found it for only $10 at a Blockbuster that was closing.  I have to say it was one of the better game purchases I have ever made.  Going through on hard right now I have already spent about ten hours playing and just got to the final mission of the game.  While there were a few visual glitches, such as things flying high into the sky and my squad mates essentially flying to a vehicle from yards away, most of them were minor.  The real problem in BF: BC is the AI.  However, this problem is overshadowed by the incredible sound, the great cast and storyline, as well as the superbly executed destructive environments.


Review: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time


Jordan Mechner's much-loved Prince of Persia character has been an immensely popular staple of the video game world since the glory days of the PS2. The title character, who is not one man but seemingly an archetypal witty, brash, and athletically gifted smartass, draws incredible sales each time a developer decides to release a new game in the series. It was only a matter of time, then, until the concept was picked up by a film studio to be made into a summer blockbuster. Just as unsurprising is the fact that Disney is behind the project; the Prince has always been family-friendly, despite his violent tendencies.

The plots of the games seem to have been melted together for this summer's film, which involves around a mystical knife with the power to reverse time. The knife is held by a princess of a sacred city, charged with protecting the dagger and its power. The titular prince, with his uncle (Kingsley) and brothers invade the city, discovering the knife along the way. Wall-running adventures ensue, charged by special effects and several generally well-directed fight scenes.

The resulting adaptation stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsley, both of whom have proven their acting chops in classier venues. Eyebrows were raised when the former was announced to play the film's lead, though fans of the video games will acknowledge that the protagonist of the series was rarely, if ever, a cultural match to the Arabian setting. However, Gyllenhaal brings his characteristic charm to the film, providing an effective, if one-dimensional rendering of the video game hero. What troubles more is the film's dialogue, which is weak at best and outright cringeworthy at worst. Skilled actors like Gyllenhaal and Kingsley seem to wince their way through the film, doing their best with a script that does little to improve upon preceding video game adaptations. It's a shame, because scripted distractions aside, the story is actually quite strong for the majority of the film. Enough twists and turns are provided to keep the audience guessing, and the action is entertaining enough to sustain the film for most of its 116 minutes.

Unfortunately, by the end of the movie, one gets the feeling that the writers have simply run out of ideas. The film's third act feels lost, searching for a satisfying resolution. It never really finds one. Without spoiling too much, suffice it to say that many films involving time travel tend to use it as a crutch, and "Sands of Time" is no exception. The film's ending feels entirely disingenuous, and one can't help but be disappointed that a closing with more finality could be found.

Ultimately, "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" relies heavily on the strength of its actors, who are more than up to the task of the film's meager script. Fast-paced thrills and flashy effects will certainly entertain most audiences, and a reasonably complex story puts a little meat on a the bones of a film that could have been utterly decrepit. In the end, though, the film fails to find a convincing resolution, and most audiences will be left hungry for more.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

We're Personable... Sort of...

Since no one except people who care about Colin and I (Hugh) are going to read this first post I'm going to keep it casual.  Hey, what's up?  That sounds cool err whatever.  Well, Colin and I decided to start another blog.  Yeah, its pretty cool.  Colin's going to write movie reviews and junk and I'm going to write reviews for video games.  We'll switch off every now and again to spice things up a bit.  We'll try to get a few posts up within the next week or so.  We will be reviewing older things as well as new things so if there's anything anyone wants us to review or wants to recommend anything to us, please feel free.  Just don't be a ponce about it.