Category Archives: PlayStation

Games, Impressions, PlayStation, Xbox

LTTP: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Leave a comment

This game has blown me away. Whatever Rocksteady does next, I’m already interested.

I know I’m only a month or so removed from the game’s release, but that seems like a lifetime these days, when my entire friends list has already deserted this for Forza 3 and FIFA 10. We’re a fickle bunch with short attention spans, us gamers.

But anyway, my initial statement is an accurate summation of how this game makes me feel, now that I’ve got around to playing it as a belated birthday present. I remember saying, back when Zelda: Twilight Princess came out, that it was the first time in ages that I’d found myself losing track of time as I played, and Arkham Asylum has been one of the few games since to have done the same thing. The other day I sat down to play, intending to do so for an hour or so, and ended up stopping four hours later. The next day, five and a half. I started at 7:00 and literally the next time I looked at the clock it was 11:30. It’s scary when it happens, but it’s also the mark of a very, very good game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

A lot of this game’s inspirations are obvious, but Rocksteady has certainly picked the right ones. Arkham has that same worn-down and dirty – not to mention suspiciously unsanitary for a hospital – look of BioShock’s Rapture, as well as discarded audio diaries to fill in the back stories; it plays to the strengths of Unreal Engine 3 – it’s really one of the best-looking non-Epic uses of the tech, with gorgeous character models and brilliant animation – by making its buildings and architecture look like they come directly from Sera, but still differentiates itself by looking like a Batman game.

Rocksteady’s carefully straddled the line between accessibility and fan service, presenting an almost-complete who’s who of Batman villains – Batman’s no killing policy and the ending leave the possibility for sequels open, of course – with hundreds of nods to famous characters and events in Batman’s past to be found, mainly through the Riddler’s challenges. I’m a bit of a Batman fan and I don’t recall anything that will cause the fanboys to lose too much sleep through the developer taking liberties, and there are a few elements that I know are drawn from the comics but drew confused rolled eyes from laymen who assumed that it was Rocksteady fabricating things.

Coming at the game late on, I’d heard about the saggy portion as the game approached its climax, but I didn’t find it problematic at all. The game moves at a fantastic pace, bringing in new areas and gameplay elements constantly, doing a superb job of giving you new and interesting things to do. A list of gadgets and new moves meant that stealthy confrontations with multiple enemies was something I looked forward to, because the game does a stunning job of making you feel like Batman, using your skills to isolate an enemy and take him down silently as his friends are made ever more anxious and jumpy – look at the scene in Batman Begins when he clears a room of thugs by darting around and hiding in the rafters and imagine how badass it feels to do it yourself.

And the aforementioned all-star cast of the Dark Knight’s nemeses is certainly done justice. Only a couple really strike me as feeling like your typical boss battles, and the rest are of extremely high quality. Without spoiling anything, the encounters with Scarecrow are stunningly well done, and I have high hopes that he’ll be back in the next one.

I heartily recommend this game. It’s running high in my provisional GOTY list and while it’ll do well to top the one to beat, it’s definitely one of this year’s best adventures.

Games, Impressions, PlayStation

Uncharted 2: Wow…

Leave a comment

Uncharted 2 does a lot of impressive things, but what gets me more than anything is quite how old it makes something as beautiful as the original game. If you have both I encourage you to compare, say, the first game’s forest sequences to the sequel’s Borneo rainforest, and then bear in mind that this is just a short sequence, and within a few hours you’ll hit the mountains of Tibet, Istanbul, Kathmandu… and some that it would spoil it to tell about. Even in that short sequence it wipes the floor with the first game, let alone the competition, and still manages far more variety in its environments.

Uncharted 2

In short, I’ll be very surprised if we see many – or any, in fact – console games this generation that look better than this. The gloriously animated and acted cut-scenes are up to the standard of Heavenly Sword, and unlike that, this has a good story and a good game to back it up.

Aurally, as well, it’s a masterpiece. This is really the first game that I’ve bought since my new sound system that can output uncompressed PCM sound, and it’s done everything from shake the walls to making me think that a knock on the door from the rear speaker was real. Little things like rain, and big things like debris from explosions landing all around you just all sound crystal clear and so well defined. It manages subtlety and giving the sub a workout with equal aplomb.

Don’t think it’s also just an AV upgrade, though, because Naughty Dog’s done a fabulous job of tightening up the few rough edges that the first had, gameplay-wise. Uncharted fell victim to that early PS3 problem of having to somehow justify the Sixaxis’ motion control through superfluous and gimmicky use, from the annoying but fairly sensible use of it when balancing across logs, undermined somewhat by the baffling use of motion control to aim grenades, and both are thankfully excised here. Hand-to-hand combat is less of an uphill struggle, too, as I can actually now perform combos.

If I have a complaint, it’s that a lot of the environment is simply window-dressing and completely non-interactive, and as a result you can frequently find ledges and platforms that look climbable but actually aren’t. After a couple of hours, once you learn the game’s visual vocabulary, you can tell at a glance, but as it’s neither as obvious as, say, Mirror’s Edge’s red highlights – not saying that’s a bad thing, obviously – nor as organically clear as the best Prince of Persia games. It might have been a bit less subtle about the highlighting of interactive objects early on, as I’m not the only one who’s been overlooking things in the opening stages, and late on, in the mountains, there were more than a couple of moments where I fell a couple of feet to my death because that platform wasn’t meant to be jumped on.

But regardless, is this an early contender for game of the year? Certainly. I’m struggling to see anything that can come close at the moment.

Games, Nintendo, PlayStation, Sega, Xbox

Best News Ever

Leave a comment

How could I forget to make a post about this? It’s not exactly Shenmue III, but the confirmation that Ryo Hazuki will be making an appearance in the upcoming Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, his first in-game appearance since Shenmue II on the Xbox in 2002, is the next best thing.

Ryo Hazuki in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

What’s weird is that back when the game was first unveiled I was going around making jokes about this, suggesting that Ryo and his forklift – as well as the currently unconfirmed New Yokosuka Harbor race track – would be a perfect little acknowledgement of the Shenmue series’ not inconsiderable cult following. This would have the dual benefit of also raising the profile of the series again and forcing Sega to update the Ryo Hazuki character model for the current generation, which is surely half the work of Shenmue III done.

And that’s only what’s gone and happened. The people behind it are obviously savvy enough to know that this game has a significant following, as your average character wouldn’t command such fanfare and such a self-referential announcement – “He shall appear from a far eastern land across the sea, a young man who has yet to know his potential… And he’ll be driving a badass motorcycle” – but baby steps, right?

But yeah, it’s not quite what we’re looking for, but I’m almost ashamed to admit that it’s enough to make this a probable purchase on day one, if only to complete the collection.

Editorials, Games, PlayStation, Xbox

The Good and the Bad of Downloadable Games

Leave a comment

Given that downloadable games are The Future of the Games Industry™ and all that, I find it quite funny how this summer has brilliantly illustrated both why it’s so great and the huge challenges that digital distribution will have to overcome if it’s to meet my prediction of being the preferred standard within the next two console generations – accept it and embrace it and you’ll be much happier.

On one hand, Microsoft’s apparently annual Summer of Arcade has delivered one of the highest concentrations of great downloadable games that I can remember, not to mention a solid contender for the best downloadable yet. I’ll get to them in a moment, because the enthusiasm is tempered by the complete dropping of the ball that has been its attempt at taking a big leap forward and digitally distributing full retail games, Games on Demand. This is undoubtedly testing the water for where things go with the next Xbox – personally, my money’s on a middle ground where all games are available both on disc and on demand – but so much has been piled against it that it’s impossible to see it being a success on any level.

Funny how it’s always Microsoft that can enthral and infuriate at the same time, isn’t it?

The fundamentals, bar one big one, are just fine for Games on Demand, with Microsoft even taking a step in the right direction by letting us pay for the games using actual money. It all works as it should, technically speaking, and on a fast connection you can be playing Oblivion or Call of Duty 2 in an hour. The problem, quite obviously, is that they want £19.99 for all those games; they’re £14.99 and £12.71 respectively from Game at the moment. I’m not desperate enough to play four-year-old games that I can’t wait a couple of days for them to be delivered.

The problem, I have to suspect, is that there’s some pressure from retailers not to make downloadable games too competitive on price. And by ‘pressure’, I mean ‘don’t make your downloads cheaper than us or we won’t stock your stuff’. Consoles are traditionally kept affordable because retailers accept poor margins on hardware in exchange for high markups on software and accessories, and without that opportunity to make some money back they’re not going to be happy. Why else do you think the PSP Go, which gives you no reason to visit a retail store once you’ve bought it, is selling for such a ridiculous price? It wasn’t all Sony’s idea, that’s for sure.

Who knows? Maybe we’re just not ready yet, technically or psychologically. There’s been a clear but slow ramping up in what constitutes a downloadable game that has already taken us from Geometry Wars to Shadow Complex, so maybe that’s how it’s going to happen. Even the most anti-downloads gamer thinks nothing of downloading the ‘little’ games, and before you know it you’re downloading Fallout 4 and Gran Turismo 6…

Games, Impressions, PlayStation, Xbox

Ghostbusters Impressions

Leave a comment

I went into the Ghostbusters game having just watched the original movie – over 25 years old now, if you can believe it – on Blu-ray. Its effects may be a bit rough around the edges and they really do smoke a lot compared to what you could get away with now, but it’s certainly not as embarrassing to look back on with 21st Century eyes as some of the popular films of the era and holds up amazingly well.

Ghostbusters

This is where it’s tempting to spout a cliché about the traditional shortcomings of movie-licensed games and the dangers of resurrecting beloved classics – never forget – but Ghostbusters is notable for the involvement of the original creative team, still clearly enthusiastic about it and what it could mean for the seemingly inevitable Ghostbusters 3, and it makes a massive difference. Much of the original cast is in it, and while some are better than others – Dan Aykroyd’s apparently never left character, for example, whereas Bill Murray sounds slightly phoned in in comparison – the script is great and it’s genuinely funny.

Now you may have noticed that I’ve spent a lot of time talking about how authentic and funny it is and not much time on what it’s actually like to play. This is where it becomes a bit hit and miss. It’s absolutely brilliant when you’ve got the whole team together, wrangling a ghost as it struggles to escape the trap – and the effects here are spot-on, it must be said – but it’s less so when you’re using the shotgun-like attachment to your proton pack to shoot down waves of flying ghosts or slowly whittling down the health of another palette-swapped golem.

Despite the flaws, though, I’m really enjoying it. Setting it in 1991 was a smart decision, and the modern hardware – well… some more than others – proves more than capable of recreating 80s special effects. The aforementioned ghost-wrangling really is a treat for fans.

Terminal Reality has also done a great job of creating an atmosphere and actually proves pretty adept at getting in some decent scares. There are a couple of moments in the hotel when particularly powerful apparitions bend reality itself, like when an area is flooded with water and comes over all nautical while you’re in it. The game takes delight in forcing you to search for paranormal disturbances using your PKE meter and the narrow field of view that comes with it only to make something jump out or, when it’s being more subtle, flash just outside your field of view, all to good effect. It’s hardly Silent Hill scary, and it’s probably not even up there with when the library ghost traumatised you as a child, but it proves that there’s more to the game than Dan Aykroyd’s script.

While Ghostbusters may be a little rough around the edges, those with fond memories of the film will likely have fun with it. I certainly have.

Games, Impressions, PlayStation, Xbox

Battlefield 1943

Leave a comment

Remember when I said that Killzone 2 was the new Battlefield? I was wrong. Battlefield is still the new Battlefield.

This series is an old favourite of mine, going back to when I first got a gaming PC and played hundreds of hours of Battlefield 1942 and its expansions. It’s had its ups and downs, but few gaming franchises have reached the heights of the sublime Battlefield 2. That was the end of my affair with it, though, because after that the likes of Modern Combat, Battlefield 2142 and Bad Company just seemed like a step down.

Battlefield 1943

This, though, taking three of the maps from 1942 and porting it all to the Bad Company engine – complete with the real-time destruction that it entails – for only a tenner, is genius.

I see a lot of criticism doing the rounds, calling it some variance of Battlefield for babies, often with a dig at the console audience in there for good measure, but I don’t get it. Maybe it’s just that I’m a whore for this kind of games, putting countless hours into the good Battlefields as well as the decent pretenders like Warhawk – still the best game on the PS3, by the way – but I can tell that this will be a favourite for a long time. I still play Warhawk because it’s perfect for dipping in and out of, and having it there all the time, launchable from the hard drive, is extremely conducive to dipping in and out occasionally. Keep it fresh with new maps and you’ll keep me coming back for a long time.

Yeah, this only has three – soon to be four – maps and three character classes. Does this damage the game? Not really. This has been planned as a trim and accessible version of Battlefield, designed for new players and veterans, and everything from the consolidated classes to the infinite ammo – it recharges in the same vein as health now does in every FPS ever created – reflects that. I suppose you could argue that it’s ‘dumbed down’ if that’s your thing, but it hasn’t really affected my enjoyment. There’s something to be said for keeping things simple when your base product is already so good.

The first few days were pretty rough going, with a delightful combination of the expected DICE bugs – BF1942 still had launch bugs after gigs of patches – and EA’s always-wonderful server infrastructure, but the teething problems seem to have been ironed out and it’s smooth sailing now. It’s quite stable and things should continue to improve fairly rapidly, so this one gets a definite thumbs up.