I was wrong on all fronts. I am addicted, and the game is pretty damn great.

JD, Jedi Badass

Almost too good, as if I have to take back everything negative I have ever said about Bioware. I think I have narrowed the reason why down to this – story. Everyone knows Bioware writes a good story – Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Dragon Age. The problem I had was that I did not want to read it. The dialog trees which equated to walls of text took me out of the story. I’m playing a video game. If I wanted to read I’d pick up a book or at the very least listen to one read to me on my ipod (my laziness knows no bounds). What Bioware did for SWTOR was the perfect solution – voice overs. Everything is voiced in this game, every quest, every reward, every interaction with your companions, everything. So much so, in fact, that Star Wars the Old Republic is in the Guinness World Records as having the most lines of recorded dialogue ever. 200,000 lines – more than any motion picture, let alone video game. I don’t even mind having to read subtitles for an alien language when someone is voicing it for me at the same time. Weird.

Now that I didn’t have to read everything that a NPC says to me, I concentrated on the story line, and my character. What a story it is. I have just finished Act I of the game, essentially completing the main story quests for my character, a Jedi Knight Guardian (tank). From the double agents to the evil Sith lords, I loved every second of it. Even the back stories of my two main companions, an astromech droid named T7 and a Jedi Padawan named Kira. As for what happens in Acts II and III, check back with me in a couple months. That is if I don’t get lost in the story lines of one of the eight other classes when I start a new character.

SWTOR is an RPG at its heart. Bioware repeatedly said during the development process that they were bringing story to the MMORPG, not just making a clone of other MMOs (WoW). I had no doubt that they would get the RPG part right, that’s what Bioware does. The MMO part is what I was worried about – multiplayer (co-op), player vs player (pvp), chat, etc. Things that other MMOs take for granted were new to Bioware. After a pretty flawless launch (save for some long wait times to login early on), I can report all of the ‘MMO’ parts are working well. There are things that need to be tweaked, primarily in the pvp sections, maybe make the economy a little more robust, a ‘looking for group’ menu, etc. But these things will get better, as the game gets patched and updated weekly, and as players level their characters.

As with all combat in SWTOR (quests, pvp, heroics, space) any xp you get levels your character, ship, and companions at the same time. This makes leveling simple and fun. You can basically do whatever you want. If you choose to skip all side missions and just do your main quests, you can do it. Make up for the loss in xp with pvp or space missions. The game is flexible in that respect.

The game is made up of planets that are designed for certain character levels, currently about 17 planets. Once you get your ship, you are free to travel to any of them, but obviously you will be spending time on planets appropriate for your level. I think the travel is pretty cool in this game. I like the idea of hopping in your ship, bringing up the galaxy map, and traveling to a spaceport on any planet you like, hopping out and starting quests. Early days of Star Wars Galaxies was all based on fast travel between planets (also from spaceports). Something about getting in your own ship first makes it cooler. There is a central hub in the game called the fleet. It is essentially a bunch of space stations/ships that have nearly any vendor/trainer/NPC you will ever need.

I have played many MMOs – Dark Ages of Camelot, WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes, Guild Wars to name a few. Is this game WoW with a Star Wars skin over it? Not in the least bit. Yes, there are the standard fetch quests, kill x number of these quests, etc. These are in most RPGs, standard fare. Loot grinders will be in heaven. But Star Wars: The Old Republic has some things that are different from any other MMORPG – the companion system, the combat, the way gear and upgrading your gear is handled, and the detailed and varied story.  You will see aspects of many other games in there as well, and Bioware would be stupid not to learn from other MMO successes. While SWTOR may not be a revolutionary game, it most certainly is an evolutionary game, there are many many things that the game does very well, a lot of them new. Looting multiple mobs at once! Hello?! Where have you been all my life?

I know I haven’t mentioned a lot of the details of the game, but there is too much to mention. The only thing I can say is if you have been thinking about getting this game, do it. Use the free month subscription and try it out. Just make sure you have a lot of spare time and say goodbye to your significant other beforehand. If you do join up, look up the Space Pimps guild on the Sith Wyrm server.  Tell them JD sent ya.

Kills = Points, With a twist

I had a chance at PAX to chat with Joel DeYoung, producer for HotHead Games, about their upcoming release Swarm. In Swarm, you play as a group of small blue aliens called swarmites.  The swarmites have landed on a planet filled with deadly objects and traps.  The goal of each level is to simply reach the end with at least one swarmite alive. The group moves together as one unit, and with the controller you can spread the swarmites out, pack them densly together, stack them up, jump, etc.   Throughout each level are collectible orbs which boost your score, as well as DNA items that you can bring back your “mother” to help her grow.  One thing that is different about this game is that you get points for dying.  For each swarmite that dies, you get more points, as well as increase or extend any score multiplier you may have.

You need DNA. For your mom.

This game is really all about your score.  Taking a cue from Trials HD, Geometry Wars and other games -your friends list is constantly displayed with other scores that are just above you.  When you go back to your mother between levels, she might say “Why can’t you be more like TeeTocks?”  (Hopefully not.)  There is no set high score for each level, so there is always room for improvement and to beat the next score on your friends list.

Swarm is out next week on PSN and XBLA.

Cole Phelps - Lie to Him at Your Own Risk

I’ve always been a fan of Rockstar Games.  Heck, GTA IV is the reason I bought my Xbox 360.  I’ve been looking forward to L.A. Noire for a long time.  So when I got early access to the PAX East show floor with my media badge, I made a b-line for the Rockstar booth (just like last year for Red Dead Redemption).  This time Allen and Sam were close behind me.  As we settled down to see what was my first glimpse of actual game play, I noticed a familiar face, the same Rockstar Dev that demoed Red Dead Redemption for me last year.

L.A. Noire is set in 1940′s Los Angeles, taking inspiration from the brutal “Black Dahlia” murders.  Key word there – brutal.  This game is no different, the brutality is up front and in your face – the first case they showed us was that of a woman beaten to death in a park.  When protagonist Cole Phelps and his partner get to the crime scene, the camera pans to a naked dead woman with a severe head wound.  This is not for the feint at heart, not a kids game.  As Phelps, the game stresses you to use your detective intuition to find clues, interrogate people, and evaluate the results.  You may pick up an item and put it down without noticing something unless you turn it exactly the right angle as to reveal a tiny clue.   When interrogating, a person’s facial expressions, tone of voice, mannerisms all need to be studied to determine the value of the information given.  After someone answers a question, you are sometimes asked if you think the answer is truth, and outright lie, or somewhere in between.  If you accuse someone of lying, you need to have something to back it up in order to make your accusation stick.  If you’re wrong, clues may not be revealed to you.

Speaking of facial expressions, L.A. Noire has the most detailed player faces that I have ever seen.  Using a new ‘MotionScan’ technology, Rockstar digitally scanned actor’s faces for use in the game.  The results are obvious.  That being said, this is a huge open world Rocktsar game, an graphically it will not blow you away.  What we saw was a pre-alpha version with obvious frame rate issues.

The other game play mechanics that we have come to know from Rockstar – the HUD, shooting, cover system, driving, open world exploration are all there.  With the polish that I know Rockstar will put into this game, I will be playing this on day one.  Confirmed.

Raise your hands. Now wiggle for the camera.

Recently I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Kinect and so far it has been an absolute pleasure.  To state it simply, Kinect works.  It is an impressive piece of technology and it works well.  Kinect promises both audio voice recognition and more importantly, motion detection and it delivers.

It’s not flawless.  There are minor glitches.  It occasionally has trouble recognizing my daughter’s voice.  It sometimes doesn’t react to a player’s motion, or doesn’t react as quickly as expected.  The motion control isn’t 1:1, there is lag if you pay close attention. In some of the running games, the animation doesn’t sync to your leg movement.  That being said, none of this affects the gameplay, which is great fun.

The Basics

Kinect brings with it an Xbox dashboard update.  The dashboard update allows access to the Kinect hub.  The Kinect hub is where you can access your Kinect games and other Kinect enabled content.  Best way to get there is simply say “Xbox, Kinect”.  At this point, you can put down your controller, because your hands ARE the controller.  Think Minority Report where Tom Cruise is waving his hands in the air manipulating files on a projected image.  It’s like that.  You wave your hand, and the Kinect tracks your hand movement.  If your hand stops on a selectable item, it opens.  Easy.  The Zune marketplace is now Kinect enabled as well, so you can page through movies and previews sans controller.  Most of this can also be done using voice commands.  “Kinect Zune” takes you to the Zune marketplace,  You can say pause, play and stop when watching a movie.  “Kinect previous” takes you to the previous page, etc.

The Games

So far I have had experience with Kinect Sports, Joyride, and Kinect Adventures.  All three games use your avatar in game.  Rare has done a good job implementing the avatar support and having the avatar animations sync up with your movements.  Graphically, all of these games are similar.  Not bad, but nothing to make you say “wow”.  That’s not what Microsoft is going for here, lets face it.  These game are going to live or die based on gameplay and the ability of the Kinect controller.

Ride! With Joy!

I’ll start with Joy Ride.  It’s an arcadey cart racer, where you steer with your hands as if you were holding a steering wheel.  You also can perform tricks for bonus points while you car is in the air by contorting your body.  I did not spend a whole lot of time with this, but my kids definitely seemed to enjoy their time with it.

Kinect Adventures

Kinect Adventures is a group of Kinect mini games.  It consists of Rally Ball, River Rush, Reflex Ridge, 20,000 Leaks, Space Pop, and Living Statues.  Unfortunately, was not able to play all of the different mini games with this title, but it comes free with your Kinect.  Rally Ball and River Rush I did play, and both are fun.  Rally Ball is an intense version of pong, where there are multiple balls and your whole body is the paddle.  River Rush is similar to Joy Ride, except you’re in a boat!  Waterfalls, jumps, collecting items for bonuses are all there.  At the end of each game in Kinect Adventures, the Kinect will reply a video of you jumping around your living room looking like a fool.  It is almost always funny.

This is some good shtuff.

Kinect Sports is the jewel of the Kinect games I have played so far.  Again, a mini game compilation consisting of boxing, ping pong, bowling, beach volleyball, soccer, and track and field.  In my mind, this is what Wii Sports should have been.  And that’s saying a lot considering how much I loved Wii Sports.  I will admit I have not tried Wii Motion Plus, so take my comparison with a grain of salt.  This is the game that reminded me of why I bought a Wii.  It, for my purposes at least, turned my Xbox 360 into a family loving, jump up and down, smack your partner in the face accidentally, Wii.  Or as I like to call it, a WiiBox360.  The Track and Field part of Kinect Sports is made up of multiple running/jumping/throwing games.  I’m not into running in place, never have been.  So I wasn’t a fan of track and field.  I did have a ton of fun with bowling, soccer, volleyball, and my favorite, ping pong.  Bowling and ping pong in particular seem to show off the sensitivity of Kinect.  A simple twist of the wrist in your swing finish will impart spin on the bowling ball.  As it is in real bowling, I found it hard to duplicate the same results over and over.  This compared to Wii bowling where I bowled a 286 within days of first playing.  I see this as a good thing.

Ping pong, similarly, requires precise movements.  It compares to Wii Sports tennis in gameplay, only without the delay.  You can turn your body and use only forehand shots or turn the other way and do backhand.  Or stay parallel to the table and do both.  The Kinect recognizes everything.  If you simply flail away when the ball comes, you will miss.  You must align your actions with your hand on the screen.  Since the Kinect tracks your entire body, you need to adjust to get in the right position to return a volley.  If a ball is coming square at your chest and you don’t adjust, chances are you’re going to miss.

The Verdict

To wrap up, Kinect is great fun, but I don’t think it’s for your hard core COD or Halo only players.  Then again, maybe a Kinect version of Halo does come out in the future.  I think it’s pretty easy to determine that Microsoft is targeting the “casual” audience.  The launch lineup of games centers heavily around family fun.  If you’ve seen a Kinect advertisement, you know what I’m talking about.  So if you’re in the market for a Wii – are there people still thinking about buying a Wii?  Or maybe you’re like me – with some youngsters at home and own a Wii and Xbox but the Wii is collecting dust.  In any of these cases, the Kinect may be for you.

A two player PlayStation Move setup with navigation controllers is going to cost more than $200.  Kinect is $150.   Microsoft reportedly spent more than $8.7 billion in research and development in its last fiscal year.  A good chunk of that presumably on Kinect.  They’re spending $500 million to market Kinect.  They are expecting a huge hit this holiday season.  The price tag is steep, but who can blame Microsoft for trying to recoup their investment.  Bottom line, it’s expensive, but fun.  If you have $150 laying around, I can definitely think of worse things to spend it on.  If you have an Xbox and have been thinking about a Wii, give Kinect a try.  I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Ravenholm in Half Life 2. Survival horror at its best.

Inspired by this week’s show, episode 137, I thought I would take a second to extol the virtues of one of the greatest gaming compilations ever put together – The Orange Box.  The Orange Box consists of  three games and two expansions from developer Valve.  Portal is an action puzzle game that must be played to believe.  Team Fortress 2  is a team and class based shooter that is great fun when you have friends to play with.

The gem of The Orange Box, however, is Half Life 2 and its two expansions.  Half Life 2, in my opinion, is the greatest game ever made.  It was voted so by PC Gamer Magazine as well.  When you play it, keep in mind that Half Life 2 was released in 2004.  I believe the graphics still hold up, which is impressive.  I still remember playing this game on my PC in 2004 and being flabbergasted by the graphics at the time.  Gameplay is second to none.  This game was an innovator in many ways, especially how it integrated fast paced first person shooter action interspersed with puzzle solving.  This game has it all, great weapons, varied enemies, vehicles, puzzles, hair raising suspense, and creepy look behind your back survival horror.

Possibly the greatest weapon ever used in a shooter, the gravity gun, is one of my favorite parts.  You just need to fire a saw blade through three zombified head crab beings, cutting them in half as they slowly march toward you.  Just something that everyone should do.  And the change that the gravity gun goes through at the end of the game is epic.  EPIC.

The Orange Box is less than $20 new.  Go get it if you haven’t played it.  Please.

Yes, those are my feet

The following blog post is in response to GHR Episode 118, “Matrimony vs. Mancaves”; and the subsequent comments in episode 119.  If you haven’t listened to them, please do!
To start with – in regards to my wife putting a bid on a house without me seeing it – you have to look at it from our point of view.  We had been looking at houses for months, only finding one house that we both agreed deserved a bid.  That bid expired because the owner was dragging his feet and it was an estate sale, plus we didn’t get a good vibe from the realtor or owner.  After all of this house searching (we walked through probably 20 houses) my wife had a good idea of what my expectations were in a house.  While I was at PAX, my wife looked at another house and fell in love with it.  She said it had everything we needed, but there were multiple parties interested in the house and we needed to act immediately.  I’ve known my wife since elementary school, nearly 25 years.  There is no one I trust more.  However, she does not have a critical eye for the “nuts and bolts” aspects of home ownership.  Things like, how old is the furnace, how old is the roof, how many layers of shingles are on it, are there any water issues, etc.  These are the things that I look at in a house.  That being said, for those of you that don’t know, there are two parts of negotiating a house – the sale price – and the home inspection.  After the home is inspected, you negotiate what repairs are required before you move in, or how much money the owner will take off of the sale price for you to make the repairs.  If both parries don’t agree, you can void the sale contract.  Knowing this, I trusted my wife and allowed her to place a bid on the house.  It turns out that there were a couple issues that turned up during the inspection that would have allowed us to back out, but we decided to buy the house anyway, as a team.  I feel that if that level of trust doesn’t exist after 10 plus years of marriage and knowing her as long as I have, then we shouldn’t be married.

For those that feel my email was selfish/whiny (Scooter Dad!), I agree.  That was my point.  I know it was a selfish point of view, I was simply being honest and asking if I should even broach the subject with my wife.  Turns out she listened to the podcast and agreed with Samantha that I’m lucky to even have a man cave.  She did however agree to put up blackout curtains.  Everyone knows a good cave can’t have any natural light.

Also, Mrs. Vicjo’s comments about her ipod gift struck a chord with me as well, as I get in similar discussions with my wife.  Mrs. JD took a rock in her windshield and it cracked.  She told me about it, I had gone through the same thing last year with my car.  She went ahead and called the glass repair place, they came to her work and replaced the windshield.  One night she decided to use this against me, saying that I should have been the one to call and get the windshield replaced.  First of all she doesn’t let me drive her car.  Secondly, if she had asked me to do it, I would have gladly taken care of it.  Since I never drive her car, I forgot about the windshield until she mentioned that she had it repaired.  Same thing goes with “alone time”.  If you want some time to yourself without any kids, just ask.  I’ll gladly make dinner for the kids while the wife goes for a walk or takes a bath.  I’ll take the kids grocery shopping on weekends, no problem.  But don’t complain about it if you never ask for help.  I know – “I shouldn’t have to ask, you should just offer to help.”  Wrong.  Don’t work that way.  Communication is a 2 way street, no mind reading should be required.  Ask and ye shall receive.  Otherwise don’t whine about it.

Finally, EA.  Charging $10 for online play is crazy.  They are simply trying to take money out of Gamestop’s bottom line.  That’s it.  EA’s argument that they should be paid for providing online access to their games is flawed.  They are paid, when someone buys a new game.  The cost of the game allows for EA to maintain servers for online play.  Just because the owner trades in the game and someone else buys it used, EA was still paid originally when the game was bought new.  It’s not like the number of users are multiplying – the number of game discs remains the same.  One disc = one user (ignoring piracy).  EA’s stance is that the ability to play online is not transferrable, and it’s BS.  The only thing this will do is hurt used sales of EA’s games, along with hurting the consumer who relies on buying and selling used games to supplement their gaming budget.  Shame on you, EA!

The views expressed in this post are the ramblings of a dbag and are in no way the views of the Gamer Husbands™.

I'm your Huckleberry...

One of the titles I was most looking forward to seeing at PAX was Rockstar’s upcoming Red Dead sequel, Red Dead Redemption.  Thankfully, the GHR crew was able to get some face time and hands on with the game.  The Red Dead booth was a popular one all weekend, despite not having any real PAX swag to give away.  Every time I walked by, there was a line. When our 7PM Friday appointment rolled around, we were all eager see what the GTA folks had done.

Problem was, the show floor closed at 7PM.  We were able to get back in and get to the booth for a brief presentation before the PAX enforcers booted us.  Full_Tilt and I went back first thing Saturday during the media hour to get some play time in.  Boy was it worth it.

The game looks really good.  Still using the Rockstar proprietary RAGE engine – graphically it looks better than GTA4, which impressed me.  Obviously with Redemption we’re talking desert cactus, horses and ghost towns compared to Liberty City – but it all looked great.  Playing on a 360, I saw no problems with draw distance or pop-ins.

As far as scale, we’re told that Redemption is bigger than GTA San Andreas.  Yes, let me say that again – bigger than San Andreas.  For those of you that haven’t played it, GTA:SA is one of the biggest games Rockstar has ever made.  You could hop in a plane and it would still take you a while to fly across the map.  Redemption consists of three main areas, each one progressively unlocking as you progress through the main story line.  We also asked about multiplayer, and while Rockstar couldn’t give details, they did confirm that there was multiplayer, and they’re excited about it.  Look for more news next week.

When I finally got my hands on the controller the first thing I asked was how do I get my horse.  Up on the D-pad, and my trusty steed came galloping along.  The horse controls well, no complaints.  Tapping A, just as in GTA4, causes the horse to run.  Mashing A too much will get the horse upset with you and you will be thrown off, so beware.  Just as in GTA, the radar in the lower left showed a letter which represented a contact/mission start point.  I started to follow the path set by the map waypoint marker when I came across a bandit who had stolen someone’s horse and buggy.  Me being the nice guy I am, decided to kill said bandit.  I sped up next to the driver, and clicked in on the right stick to enter dead-eye mode.  Dead-eye is from Red Dead Revolver, the first game in this series, and carries over to Red Dead Redemption.  It is basically “bullet time” – where everything goes into slow motion, and you can carefully pick your targets.  Either shoot a bunch of guys in a row, or one guy a bunch of times in a row, whatever floats your boat.  So I proceed to paint a red x on the bandit (and one accidentally on the horse), and pull the trigger.  Bam bam, back to real time, bandit down, horse slightly perturbed at me (but walking).  I hop on the buggy and return to lady in distress who it was stolen from.  These non scripted events are designed to happen anywhere and everywhere throughout the game.  I got the impression that there is a lot to do.  There could be a train passing by begging to be robbed, or you could stop and shoot at birds, opening a hunting sequence.  Your character can hunt the various wildlife of Red Dead, skin the animals and sell for money.

The Rockstar dev we talked to wanted to convey that Redemption is not simply “GTA4 with cowboy hats”.  One of the things that seem to set it aside from GTA is the character development.  The promos we saw emphasized how you can control your character’s decisions.  Be a bad guy, and make more money, but people are afraid of you.  Choose the nicer path and get accolades from townsfolk.  Reminded me of Fable.  Rockstar is known for it’s interesting and well developed characters, so I’m anxious to see how this aspect of the game plays out.

I handed the controller over to Tilt, and after some awkward fumbling around trying to get on the horse (Tilt has a history with horses in media, ask me some other time) – he was off to the mission marker.  At this point the game really did remind me of GTA4.  Get to the waypoint, talk to guy, watch cutscene, start killing.  The mission was to help a grave robber get his treasure back.  The radar showed red dots for the bad guys, and you methodically worked your way from cover point to cover point, shooting baddies.  The weapons we saw were your standard, pistol, rifle, and shotgun, but it appeared there are more options.  The demo we were playing had unlimited dead-eye mode, which made the mission rather easy.  Tilt and I took turns killing bandits and making it to the treasure to help out our skeevy grave robber friend.

I may be a bit biased, GTA4 is the reason I bought my 360 in the first place, but I am really looking forward to Red Dead Redemption.  May 18th, Redemption is coming for you…

Get that gun out my face, don't you know I'm from Bosyorkatchewan?!?

Heavy Rain is one of the most engaging video games I’ve ever played.  To call it a video game doesn’t really do it justice.  Heavy Rain is about the story, first and foremost.  And the story is compelling.  Unlike so many titles where the story is an afterthought that seems tacked on to the game (Gears of War, anyone?); Heavy Rain feels like a rich, character driven story with a game added to it.

The game is not perfect, don’t get me wrong.  I’ll try and do this without spoilers, so feel safe to read on if you haven’t played it yet.  Heavy Rain is about a series of murders completed by the “Origami Killer”.  Named so because he leaves an origami figure with his victims.  You play as one of four characters, rotating between them as they all travel along separate – yet sometimes intermingling -paths to try and stop the killer.  There’s the good samaritan, the private investigator, the FBI agent, and the father trying to save his son.  Each one with their own vested interest in finding the murderer.  The story is well done, just what you would expect from a good mystery.  It starts off slow, and depressing (make sure you play the first couple hours on a sunny day).  Even with the slow start, the emotions that the main character was going through were palpable.  I was immersed and emotionally affected very early on in the story.  It picks up nicely a few hours in however, gradually building to the eventual set piece finale where the murderer is revealed.

That being said, the story does have some flaws.  Mainly when you finally learn who the killer is and start to recount what happened previously, there are several WTF?!? moments.  I won’t go into detail, but post in the Heavy Rain spoiler thread in the forums if you’re interested.  It almost feels as if it were a movie where some of the “set-up” scenes were cut for length.  For the most part, I think the story did a good job of keeping me engaged and moved at a good pace.  I think the game could have been a tad bit short, but the length of the game does lend itself to replayability.  Due to the myriad of possible endings, most are going to retry at least portions of the game.

The controls are….let’s see – interesting.  This is not an action game.  There are no “twitch” style controls here.  There are some new, innovative control mechanics.  I like the idea of what Quantic Dream was trying to do, which is keep the player immersed in the game.  Sure, you could hit X to punch, square to kick, circle to run, triangle to interact with items – but I think that would take you out of the story.  One of the early sequences (also in the demo) where we see the controls start to take shape is when the FBI agent, Norman Jayden, is investigating a murder scene.  There is a muddy hill that he needs to climb to check for clues.  In order to do this, you must hit a series of three buttons, holding down each one.  The idea being one button for his right leg, another for his right arm, another for his left leg, etc.  I don’t know about you, but it’s not often that I’m simultaneously holding down three or four buttons on my controller.  If you miss a button, you fail and must try again.  If the action requires you to be slow or deliberate, you may have to perform a quarter-turn on the right stick very slowly.  Put all this into a more tense situation – escaping a burning building let’s say – and your adrenaline does start to pump.  If you’re like me, and invested in these characters, you want to help them, so you pay attention and hit the right sequence of buttons.

There are some six axis controls as well, most of it nicely done.  Thrust your controller up to jump, or to the left to clear off a table, tilt the controller to steer a car, etc.  Shaking the controller up and down to brush your teeth was a little over the top, but it was during the beginning in-game tutorial, so I’ll let it slide.  The sensitivity was fine, I rarely had any issues.  In addition there are some standard quick time event controls, usually revolving around combat.  On the medium difficulty, I found these to be pretty easy.  Even if you do miss one or two prompts in a fight, you won’t necessarily fail the sequence – your character my have a bit more bumps and bruises however.

Another game mechanic I thought was well designed was the characters’ “thoughts”.  If you are interviewing someone, for instance, your character’s thoughts will circle around their head in one or two word phrases with a corresponding button.  Press the button and the character asks the pertaining question.   It’s much better than beating you over the head with a huge wall of text dialog box with 5 options, which lead to another dialog box with 4 options, which then leads back to the first list so you can try another option.    Heavy Rain does the same thing in a much less obtrusive style.  You read the three or four one word options and make a choice.  If you delay and don’t make a choice, the game makes one for you.  That’s right, no dilly dallying here, you have to think quickly.  Also, most of the time you won’t be able to go through every option.  You, as the player, must decide which of the options are pertinent and will produce the best leads.  If your character is agitated, or under duress, the options will appear shaky and difficult to read. All of this adds to the immersion.

Graphically the game is really good.  The loading screens, which focus in on the face of the character you are about to play, are particularly striking.  Some of the best graphics I can remember.  But, like most of the other aspects of the game, there are some nagging drawbacks.  Some of the voice animations are glitchy, and I did notice some weird motion capture issues that can take you out of the moment.  None of it game breaking, but could have used some more polish.

The main complaint, by far – that I have with this game is the voice over work.  Quantic Dream is a French studio.  I imagine good American (Heavy Rain is set in Philadelphia) voice actors are hard to come by in Europe.  My guess, and this is only a guess, is that they sub-contracted the voice over work to a French Canadian casting agency.  Some of the character voices are fine.  Scott Shelby, the PI, was ok.  Madison, the good samaritan, was good.  Norman Jayden however, I thought was borderline awful.  His accent fluctuated from Boston to New York City to Saskatchewan and everywhere in between.  I really had problems with him.  The children were another bad example.  They were obviously bi-lingual Canadian.  I half expected them to whip out a helmet and skates and say “How’s it goin there, eh?  You fellas see the new tuuk my mum got me there?”  (Apologies to Canadian readers.)  My point is these kids did not sound like they were from Philadelphia.  Far from it.  In addition, I noticed some “bean” instead of “been”, “oot” instead of “out”, etc.

In summary, I greatly enjoyed my experience with Heavy Rain.  I’ll take something new and innovative that needs a little polish over a perfectly executed re-tread space cowboy game any day of the week.  This game was well done, even with the flaws I mention above.  With a bit more money and time, I think all the problems could have been fixed.  This is a business however, and there are budgets and deadlines.  I applaud Quantic Dream for the effort and hope the next in this style of game can build on it.  It’s not for everybody, but I think Heavy Rain is something every well-rounded gamer should try if given the opportunity.

For FREEEEEEE?

After a few weeks of patient waiting, THQ announced today that the code included in new retail copies of Darksiders will allow you to get a free ($5 shipping) copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla!  Awesome news, and even more reason to go out and buy Darksiders.  Both are great games.  Check out my review of Darksiders if you’re curious.

Offer ends March 7th, and is only good in the U.S.

War. He speaks softly but carries a BIG SCYTHE.

One of the main things I like about Darksiders was how it really surprised me.  Surprised me by how good it was in a below the radar dark horse (pardon the pun) sort of way.  I feel this game stands up well against your triple-A high profile titles like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta.  That being said, this game is not simply a brawler.  It is a true adventure game in the style of the popular Zelda series.  Having read and heard a few reviews of the game while deciding if I should buy it or not, I heard the Zelda comparison often.  But the similarities are obvious and in-your-face – from the grappling hook, to the horse, to the boomerang.  All the other aspects are there as well – puzzle solving, exploration, collecting health boosts (not hearts :p ), and of course the combat.  I’m not a Zelda expert, but I do enjoy the series, most recently having played through Twilight Princess on the Wii.

In Darksiders, you play as one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, War.  The game starts off with War coming to Earth believing that the apocalypse is at hand, ready to crack some skulls.  He finds it odd that his three horsemen brethren aren’t there with him, and soon learns that he was duped into believing that the seventh seal was broken and that in fact there is no apocalypse.  Don’t tell that to the humans though, because they’re wiped out in the aftermath of the fighting between the demons and angels.  War gets called before the Charred Council, who the Horsemen work for to keep the peace.  War takes the heat for the screw-up but convinces the council to let him go back to Earth to clear his name.  The council reluctantly agrees, with limitations.  War must be followed by “The Watcher”, a demon who keeps a tight leash on War, making sure that he keeps the council’s best interests at heart.  The Watcher is voiced by Mark “The Joker” Hamill, who does a pretty good job with it.  Also, most of War’s powers and weapons/skills are stripped from him – which of course you regain as you play though the story.  So War goes back to Earth – and thus ends the first 15 minutes of the game.

The rest of the game proceeds similar to your standard Zelda game – go to dungeon, solve various puzzles, beat dungeon boss, collect object, get rewarded with item/skill that allows you to beat the next dungeon – rinse/repeat.  The game does vary a bit with some arena style battles- kill x number of enemies using this skill, etc.  Also, there is an in game economy – the currency being souls – which you can trade with a demon merchant for skill combos and powerups.

The combat is fun – not too difficult (I played on the medium difficulty).  You can get technical by using certain combos in order to keep enemies at bay, or you can get by with simple button mashing with the occasional dodge thrown in.  There is good variety in the combat as well, with three different primary weapons combining with a handful of secondary weapons.  The three main weapons – sword, scythe, and a gauntlet/fist weapon – each have a powerup slot that you can use to boost the weapons damage, soul collecting ability, etc.  The enemy variety is good, fighting angels (who think you started this whole mess) and all manners of demons.  The boss battles are fun and varied – one on horseback with your hand gun, Western style for example.

Graphically the game is good, the 360 version had obvious screen tearing and frame rate issues, but they seem to be fixed with the recent patch, and weren’t game breaking.  No complaints.  The voiceover work was another pleasant surprise, I enjoyed listening to War’s dialogues with the various characters he came across in the game.

The final boss battle was a bit on the easy side, maybe because I had the pimped out armor and legendary weapon mods, but it set up for a nice sequel if one gets made.  I surely hope it does.

All in all, I put about 20 hours into this game, spilled thousands of gallons of demon blood (it keeps track, there’s an achievement at 3000 gallons) and enjoyed every minute of it.  If you’re into the Zelda style adventure games with a twist, you can’t go wrong with Darksiders.  I’d recommend it to anybody.

I wanted to wait until I played the last game in the list of what I considered to be game of the year candidates before I rendered my opinion of Assassin’s Creed II.  My list, by the way, in no particular order – Resident Evil 5, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Batman: Arkham Asylum, COD: MW2, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed 2, L4D2, and The Saboteur.  Now back to Assassin’s Creed…

For those of you who have not played Assassin’s Creed 1 or 2 – first of all, shame on you.  Taking place in the near future, you play as Desmond Miles, a regular guy who happens to be a direct descendant of a group of ancient assassins.  Desmond is captured by the evil corporation Abstergo, run by the Knights Templar.  Through a device called the Animus, Desmond is forced to re-enact the memories of his assassin predecessors in order to find clues to the whereabouts of  mysterious technology called “Pieces of Eden”.  Assassins Creed 1 concentrates on the life and memories of Altair, an assassin from the Holy Land during the time of the Crusades.

Assassins Creed 2 picks up right where the first left off, with Desmond trying to escape from the evil Abstergo.  Desmond is aided by a group of modern day assassins, who are looking to thwart the efforts of the Knights Templar.  Once out of Abstergo, Desmond is taken to a hideout where a new and improved Animus 2.0 is set up, ready for him to relive the memories of another assassin, Ezio Auditore.  In addition, Desmond’s new modern assassin friends have learned of a “bleeding effect” that the Animus produces where the user can physically gain the skills and abilities of the ancient subject.  So – modern day Desmond can become as badass as his assassin relatives.

The vast majority of gameplay in the second game takes place while inside the Animus,  in Florence, Forli, and Venice Italy.  Creed 2 improves on nearly every aspect of Creed 1.  Combat – in addition to new weapons, Ezio has a new arsenal of moves he can use.  In Assassins Creed 1, combat became jokingly easy at the end of the game when all of your combat skills were learned.  All you needed to do was wait for someone to strike, counter, and they were done.  In this way, I was able to take on 15-20 enemies at a time, barley taking a hit, if at all.  In AC2 there are new enemy types, two of which are difficult to counter, forcing you to vary your moves by using disarms and evades along with counters.  When all said and done, combat is much improved, more difficult and fun.

Missions – if I had a nickel for every time I heard Assassins Creed was too repetitive, I’d be richer then Tiger Woods’ flower salesman.  Ok the first one was repetitive.  But it was fun, and what game nowadays isn’t repetitive?    New  types of side missions, along with the interesting story line involving the likes of Lorenzo de Medici, Leonardo DaVinci, and Machiavelli keep Creed 2 fresh.  In addition, new ways to “blend” with your environment to escape from enemies and the ability to swim gives you even more options.

Collectors and completionists will love this game as well, since there are symbols or “glyphs” spread throughout the game that take you through minor sub-story line, as well as feathers that can be collected in each area for various bonuses and a special Auditore family cape to wear.  Another new aspect of the game I loved was the assassin tombs.  Each city in the game and one or two tombs that were only accessible by assassins.  Each tomb involved a Tomb Raider style running/climbing/jumping puzzle to unlock the tomb treasure room.  Each treasure room contained a stone seal used to unlock a special outfit in your family villa.

Overall, there are very few reasons not to play this game.  If you played the first but didn’t quite like it, play this game, it’s much improved.  If you have never have played an Assassins Creed game, this is the one to try.  If you liked the first game, well then this is a no brainer.  I took about 25 hours to complete this game, doing only a handful of side missions.  I’m not the fastest game player, but this game definitely gives you your money’s worth.

I can’t recommend this game enough.  That’s why it’s my game of the year.

Gearbox announced that “The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned” downloadable content for Borderlands will be available November 24th.  It will set you back $10.  More varieties of skags to kill!

I’m definitely getting this, looking forward to seeing gearbox’s take on the zombie craze.

Like Borderlands, The Saboteur is a game I’ve had on my radar for a long time.  Not the typical WWII shooter, The Saboteur has you play Sean Devlin, who has somehow been wronged by a Nazi general.  As Devlin, you set out sabotaging Nazi occupied Europe by joining the French Resistance in order to get back at those pesky Nazis.  The thing that interests me most about this game is the art style.  When you are in a Nazi occupied area, the art style is a black and white film noir (think Sin City) with the occasional yellow (and red ) accents.

From the videos I’ve seen, the gameplay seems to be a cross between Splinter Cell, Assasins Creed, and Call of Duty (or pick any WWII shooter).  There is some stealth to the game, but all of your standard era guns are in there as well, so you’ll have more than piano wire to help you out.  Also of note is Devlin’s ability to climb structures, although I doubt he does the Triple Lindy from the top of buildings like Altair to get down.  Due out December 8th.

Hit me up if you want to be in the GHR Skate crew.  If not, and I see you in game, I WILL SHRED ALL OVER YOUR FACE.  That’s how I roll.

See you in May. 

Chainsaw. Rawr.

Valve, developers of such awesomeness as Half Life 2, Portal, Counter Strike and Left 4 Dead – recently announced the newest gameplay mode for the upcoming Left 4 Dead 2.  Scavenge mode pits survivors vs. infected in a race to collect (hence the name, ‘Scavenge’) gas cans and dump them into a generator located in each map.  The more gas the survivors dump, the more points you get.  The infecteds job is – you guessed it – to stop the collection of said gas cans.  Switch sides, rinse and repeat.  Most points wins the round.

The new mode should be shorter than the typical versus mode in the current L4D.  This, and the addition of female boomers, makes L4D2 a must buy for me.  That and the fact that I’ve played every Valve game ever produced.  Check out Giant Bomb for more info.

]]> http://www.gamerhusbands.com/valve-announces-new-mode-in-left-4-dead-2/feed/ 1 http://www.gamerhusbands.com/yet-another-zombie-apocalypse-next-week/ http://www.gamerhusbands.com/yet-another-zombie-apocalypse-next-week/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:24:18 +0000 JDsBlackBox http://www.gamerhusbands.com/?p=1402 Konami announced that their newest zombie killing game, Zombie Apocalypse will be released next week on PSN and XBLA.  Looks fun based on the screenshots.  4 player online co-op as well.

KONAMI ANNOUNCES RELEASE DATE

The Fight For Survival Hits Xbox LIVE® Arcade On September 23 and PLAYSTATION®NETWORK on September 24

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today announced the release date and new screenshots from the highly anticipated downloadable game Zombie Apocalypse. Coming to Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft on September 23 and the PlayStation®Network on September 24, Zombie Apocalypse drops players in an epic battle between the dead and the living!

Equipped with ample artillery, players’ dual analog stick shooting skills will be put to the test in the thrilling arcade style shooter. As gamers set forth on their mission to conquer zombies, they can choose from up to 11 diverse weapons including assault rifles, flamethrowers and teddy bears filled with C4 explosives. A chainsaw is also available to players who want an up close and personal encounter with the roaming dead. Savvy players can also take advantage of their surroundings as they utilize environmental hazards to destroy massive hordes of zombies.

Players navigate through seven environments and fight their way through 55 days of zombie attacks without becoming a brainless zombie. Should they succeed, they will be rewarded with seven challenging game modes that will enable them to re-live the apocalypse all over again. As an added bonus, gamers do not have to face the evil masses alone as multiplayer capabilities allow up to four shooters to take on the zombie confrontation locally or co-operatively online.

Zombie Apocalypse will be available on September 23 on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points and September 24 on PlayStation®Network for $9.99.

MTV Multiplayer has footage of gameplay from the upcoming Lego Rock Band.  Personally, I don’t get it.  Seems like something Activision should be pushing.  Take a look and form your own opinion.

I’m loving this game so far. It may be bit overpriced at 1200 space bucks, but if you’re into physics based skill games, you need to give it a shot.  As Weasel put it – “It’s ‘Little Big Planet’ with motorcycles!”  How can you go wrong!

The game has multiple skill levels, as well as a ‘Skill Game” section where you can do cool things like ride your bike in a steel ball, on a steel ball, and through rings of fire.  I think the replay value is there, especially because you can build your own tracks and share with friends.  Too bad no one on my friends list as built any tracks.  Get busy people!

If you re-install them, that is. According to Joystiq, word is spreading that the recent Xbox update (if you got into the preview program, otherwise you’ll get it Aug. 11th) can help you out if you’re tight on hard drive space. According to the article, some games can go from 3.4 to 0.8 GB. Big savings. Comments have Rock Band 2 going from 6.3 to 4.6 GB. Nice.

GiantBomb has a new piece up today on the upcoming Gearbox Software game, Borderlands. I have been looking forward to this game for a couple years now. I got nervous when they up and switched the entire art style mid-development, but looking at the video, I’m getting excited again.

Four player drop in/drop out co-op, millions of gun combinations based on the loot you acquire, RPG/shooter melded goodness. Borderlands. October. Give it a try!

Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm(?) coming to xbox live according to todays E3 news deluge from Microsoft. I think this is cooler than the motion stuff, call me crazy. Mafia Wars on the Xbox? Scott’s brain just exploded!

Now’s your chance to pick up Graw 2 for Sam’s Monday night sessions!

Bethesda announced in a press release today that all previous DLC – Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, and Broken Steel will be available for download on PS3 starting late June.

In addition, two new DLC packs were announced for all systems (PC, 360, PS3). Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta will be available starting in June as well.

OK. Wife and kids are gone to Columbus this weekend. (why would anyone go to Columbus?! ) I’m thinking of attempting the endless set list in Rock Band 2 on 360. Anyone else interested? Let me know here! Saturday at 4ish eastern is my suggestion. I’ve heard it takes 6 hours. If we have enough people we could try simultaneous attempts! I’m rolling with guitar or bass, post in the comments if you’re in and what your instrument is.

Microsoft finally confirms that the wireless Lips microphones will work with other games, first being Guitar Hero Metallica. A title update this summer will make the mics useable in Rock Band 2. Add Lips to my wish list!

You’ve heard the guys talk about him on the show, you’ve heard him spin records in second life (maybe not) – now play with him on xbox live!

Check out the forum post for details. Gaming starts at 9PM eastern. Meet the legend!

EA confirmed today that the sequel for Army of Two is in the works. For some fun 2 player co-op action, Army of Two is the best. Can’t wait for this one. D1C for Tilt and me.

Play as the Phils or the Rays (we know which one you should pick ) in the new MLB 2K9 demo.

Just for Scott, here’s a link to Major Nelson’s blog where you can add the demo to your download cue.

According to Games on Smash (what kind of name is that?) – Gamestop Canada is offering a full refund if you don’t like Resident Evil 5 after 7 days of playing.

This game just became D1C for Allen… can I get a “Heck yeah!”?

Thought to have been lost in the Vivendi/Activsion merger, developer A2M announced it’s new IP ‘Wet’ is set for a release sometime in 2009. Wet features a Tomb-Raideresque female lead named Rubi.

I remember reading about this game last year, and noting the graphics looked impressive. I will be keeping this on my radar.