Tag Archives: EA

Games, Impressions, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

I Love Dead Space

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It’s a veritable Halloween in February here, what with this and Left 4 Dead occupying lofty positions in my current playlist and F.E.A.R. 2 shortly to join my collection, but before the inevitable comparisons to Resident Evil 5 start turning things a bit nasty, I have to state how bloody good this game is.

Get it? Bloody good?

Dead Space

I’m not getting into that whole Resi 5 comparison because it only ends in tears – suffice to say that Resi did it first but Dead Space has better controls – and this game can stand on its own merits. Yes, it has obvious filmic inspirations as well, and the similarities between the aesthetic here and stuff like Event Horizon, Alien, and The Thing are so clear as to almost go without saying, but this does its own thing where it matters and has plenty of surprises as it begins to ramp up within a couple of chapters. By that point you’ve been through several of the Nostromo Ishimura’s environments and it starts to mix things up on you a little bit.

It’s actually quite difficult to put my finger on what exactly it is that I like so much because so much has been seen before, so I’m just going to have to shrug and say that it’s just a very good, very polished game. It doesn’t really do anything new, a couple of nifty gimmicks like the dismemberment and zero-gravity sequences aside, but what it does it does well.

Maybe the fact that people have seen a lot of the stuff before is part of the reason why it didn’t set the sales charts on fire, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with a game just doing old things in a polished and pretty way. It has fantastic presentation – the graphical quality is obvious from the screenshots and the HUD design is superb, but the audio is beyond stellar – and, if nothing else, the development team at EA Redwood Shores knew which parts of which games to borrow in making a well-rounded horror experience. Nothing wrong with that when it’s done as well and is as fun as this, right?

This may be tempting fate – new EA is still EA, after all – but fingers crossed that Dead Space did enough business to warrant a sequel.

Best of 2008, Games, GOTY, Xbox

Best of 2008 #10: Mirror’s Edge

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Mirrors Edge

As the most risky of EA’s two big new IPs, the other being Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge already looks to have been a bit of a commercial disappointment. If that means that it doesn’t get a sequel, I think that will be a tragedy, because the thing that this fledgling series really needs is a second game to iron out the handful of flaws that this one has.

I’m reluctant to criticise it too much for its short length, both because it’s already cheap and because, as I’ve always said, I’d much rather have a brilliant six-hour game than a padded-out 20-hour one that outstays its welcome. As Sonic Team has no doubt discovered with its next-gen Sonic games, it gets expensive to model all these carefully balanced environments that players aim to blast through as quickly as possible. Would this have been a better game with a lengthening gimmick? That’s a definite no.

The combat is the other weak point and really all that keeps it from placing higher on the list. The game is at its best when you’re leaping across the rooftops and pulling off these leaps and vaults without breaking stride, and some slightly dodgy disarming and shooting – not that you should be doing that here – against increasingly tough enemies only takes away from it and really hurts the pacing. The time attacks could well be what justifies spending the money on this game, because seeing that a friend can get through a level a full minute faster than you is all the encouragement you’ll need to have another run.

Those issues aside, Mirror’s Edge is a fabulous game. It’s one of those where you’ll just feel in tune with your character and know instinctively whether or not you can make a jump; the best at that since the almighty Crackdown. By the end, when you’re doing time attack runs, you’ll spot routes that you simply wouldn’t have seen the first time through because you’ve just become that much better at it.

And that’s why this needs a sequel. It’s a great game marred by some poor design decisions, and I hope that it made enough money to warrant another one with those kinks ironed out. It has the potential to be phenomenal.

Editorials, Games, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

Sending EA The Wrong Message

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It’s fair to say that I’ve been critical of EA in the past, accusing the company of everything from single-handedly bringing down the industry to the ritual murder of virgins… maybe. It’s been massively improved recently, though, somehow turning Pro Evo into the football franchise that’s resting on its laurels with the really rather good FIFA 09 and, for every questionable decision, releasing a few games that are actually pretty risky and unique.

Dead Space

In the last year, for example, Burnout Paradise was a major departure from the previous games’ successful formula, and it has since been supported by some incredibly diverse downloadable content, most of which has been free. Bearing in mind that this is the company that has charged for in-game money and that’s incredible.

Rock Band 2 came out and, understandable licensing fee aside, Harmonix was allowed to patch in the ability to export almost every game from the original game for the new one, which made me happy.

Then, this Christmas, we’ve had Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge, both new IPs that bring new things to their respective genres – if Mirror’s Edge could even be considered part of a traditional genre – and have allowed a couple of clearly talented studios to cut loose from their usual licensed pap and Battlefield drudgery respectively and flex their creative muscles.

So it’s good that the new, risk-taking EA is reaping the benefits, then, right? Oh…

It’s not all that surprising considering that people are going to be picky about their games and new stuff like this has to go up against guaranteed sellers like Gears 2 and a new Call of Duty, but it’s still a huge shame. I’ve seen some pretty good deals on both of those, and Dead Space in particular is brilliant, so if you’re looking for some late Christmas presents at least consider them because otherwise the new EA will take over from Activision as the new old EA… or something.

Games, Xbox

How’s This For a Deal?

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Rock Band 2 = £37.99 from Game

– £3 credit for a late price reduction on Fallout 3
– £15 Reward Card credit from the last few months’ pre-orders
+ £3.40 (400 MSP) for Rock Band export key
£0 to rent Rock Band on a free trial of Game’s rental service 

That gives us Rock Band 2 and almost the whole track list for Rock Band – 139 tracks in all – for a total expenditure of £23.39. Admittedly I’m getting by with my Guitar Hero II guitar instead of the Rock Band model, and I had to spend a tad more than I saved to build up that much credit, but it’s still nothing to be sniffed at.

I have no idea what’s been happening with this Rock Band 2 launch, though. It didn’t even seem to have a firm release date at all until a couple of weeks ago, and then after I eventually pre-ordered it I got an email saying that my order wouldn’t be fulfilled for launch day, and neither of the branches of Game in town even had copies, despite their large presence for the first game and its various bundles and versions. This is a major EA release coming out in the run-up to Christmas that’s been promoted on TV and I can’t even see a poster for it?

Probably just a delay in shipping to retail. Blame Somali pirates or something…

Editorials, Games, PlayStation, Xbox

Who’s More Evil: EA or the Taxman?

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Rock BandSo today it was confirmed that we, in Europe, will be getting a game several months after its US release. Still, can’t blame the publishers when the console manufacturers and enforcing these draconian region locks. What’s more, the price will be a direct dollar-to-pound conversion, but with the exchange rate at around $1.40-£1, that’s fair enough if you take into account taxes and shipping costs. Oh, and I wonder what it’ll be like in a couple of years when Tony Blair is Prime Minister?

Oops, sorry. I was using a post template from 1995 and forgot to delete it all. I was really ahead of the curve on this blogging thing.

So today it was confirmed that we, in Europe, will be getting a game several months after its US release. This is a game that is region locked on the 360, despite it being an option. And with an exchange rate now closer to $2-£1, an already-expensive game coming in at £179.98 (that’s £49.99 for the game, plus £129.99 for instruments) equates to $354.34. By comparison, a complete US copy will cost you $169.99 from EB, which comes out as £86.34.

It’s not really on, is it? The timed exclusivity is nearly here nor there for me, because if I was going to buy the game – I’m not, regardless of price – I have the facility to play it on either console and I’d be comfortable importing the region-free US PS3 version if I had to. In any case, even if you got slapped by the full complement of import duties (17.5% VAT and 3.5% import tax), you’d still only be paying £104.47 plus shipping for the import.

So, to return to my original question, who’s more evil: EA or the taxman? It may seem like a rock and a hard place, but EA won’t pay for schools and hospitals, will it? And you’ll end up paying less anyway, so it’s win-win.

Games, PC games

An Unfortunate Use of the Term ‘Red Alert’

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I found this advert for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 in an old FHM, circa 2000, when I was in the barber a couple of years back, and only now that it’s started to fall apart after I liberated it (I did ask first) have I got around to scanning it for posterity. I thought it might be of some interest as a curiosity:

I’m a bit surprised that I’ve never seen it online before or since as those vitriolic ‘EA is teh evil’ posts always get hits. Quite alarming in retrospect and I can only assume that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Isn’t coincidence a strange thing?