Marine, gun and gimmick? Check.

I’ve always had a little bit of a soft spot for Raven Software ever since they released Heretic, the fantasy inspired Doom clone.  The game established Raven as a company who weren’t afraid to make something original in an unoriginal format.  The Star Trek nerd in me enjoyed Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force too, another of Raven’s creations, which turned out to offer not only a good fan service but also a highly decent Quake-inspired shooter.

So I was fairly optimistic when I picked up a copy of Singularity, Raven Software’s latest first-person shooter, as it seemed to tick all the boxes for an interesting game.  First-person shooter, with temporal puzzles and effects, set in a mutant infested Russian military research facility.  Unfortunately, upon playing the game, I was left with the lasting impression that ticking boxes was all Singularity did in the hopes of creating an imaginative new title.

The story surrounds Captain Nathaniel Renko, your typical US space marine Black Ops soldier, who’s been sent on a recon mission to the supposedly abandoned Russian island of Katorga-12 after reports of a massive electro-magnetic pulse.  After crash landing, Renko finds himself thrown back through time to 1955, where the facility is self-destructing.  While in the past he saves a scientist from a burning building, and after returning to the present day finds that time has altered radically.  The scientist, Nikolai Demichev, has used the power of Katorga-12′s experimental Element 99 (or E99 for short) to overthrow the government and has proceeded to conquer the globe.

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Violet Summer ... or her ass at least

So I’ve been meaning to play Velvet Assassin for a while now, and before you all decide to heave rotten fruit at me let me explain myself.  Firstly because I’m a big fan of the stealth genre, and secondly (and probably more importantly) because the moment someone tells me a certain game is absolutely crap, I’m always curious to find out why.

And there was no shortage of people to tell me that this game was absolute crap.

But just like a car crash on a highway, I was compelled to slow down to take a look … once the price had dropped to around $20.

The game is “based on” the real life experiences of Violet Szabo (renamed Violet Summer in the game), an undercover agent for the British Special Operations Executive during World War 2. I haven’t personally read Young, Brave and Beautiful, the biography with which Velvet Assassin has taken it’s liberties, so I’m a little unsure as to the validity of claims that Violet once killed an entire squadron of sadistic Nazis wearing only a silk nightie.  I’m guessing that’s what Replay Studios are choosing to call “artistic licence”.

The plot is standard stealth game fare, so I can’t really rip into it for being too ridiculous. Violet’s missions usually center around a singular target that needs to be killed, which for some reasons necessitates the violent murder of every other soldier in a five kilometer radius. The missions are told in flashback, recalled by Violet as she lays in a coma on a French hospital bed. Every now and then you’ll regain lucidity long enough to overhear discussions about your eventual fate, but the majority of the game is spent inside the memories.

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A mechsuit AND an eyepatch? You don't stand a chance ...

It’s difficult not to be impressed with what Gearbox Software has accomplished with Borderlands.  When the game was released last October, undoubtedly most gamers were impressed, but could be forgiven for assuming that it might not have the lasting power to hook players in the long term.  And here we are, in the second quarter of 2010, playing the game’s third DLC expansion The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.

Congratulations, Gearbox, you’ve managed to squeeze me for about $40 in extra sales and not have me resent you.

Secret Armory whisks the players away to the remote highway town of T-Bone Junction, where a Crimson Lance assassin named Athena wishes to defect and help you remove the Lance occupation on Pandora for good.  Standing in the way are raiders, drones, mechs, massive sand spiders, a whole horde of Lance troops and of course the good General Knoxx himself.

If Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot left a somewhat unpleasant taste in your mouth (like it did with me), you’ll be happy to discover that Knoxx actually has more in common with Zombie Island of Dr Ned.  T-Bone Junction is a massive, multi-zone area that’s ready for exploration, houses it’s own story quest along with multiple new side quests.  Gearbox wisely aimed this expansion at higher level players (let’s face it, even lazy players should be close to level 50 by now), and with this in mind also raised the level cap from 50 to 61.  Enemies will pose a significant threat to even the highest level characters, especially if said characters are running their second or third playthoughs.

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Take notes, kids, we're only 13 years away!

It’s amazing what one option can do to change your perception of a game.  For the recently released Metro 2033 from Ukrainian developers 4A Games, that option is a Russian language track.

I should probably explain.  My Metro 2033 review was supposed to be finished last week, and while I undoubtedly enjoyed the game, I’d drafted a whole section around the game’s voice acting and how unimpressed I was with the English dub.  So two playthroughs completed, all in English, and I figure I’m ready to complete my write-up.  Then, thanks to a heads up from several people online, I discover that this whole time the game has had the option for Russian language audio and I’d never seen it, thanks to never staying in the Main Menu and a particularly unhelpful game manual.

And with this one toggle, Metro 2033 has gone from being just alright to atmospheric brilliance in my books.  Why?  Well, let’s elaborate…

Metro 2033, based on the novel of the same name by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky, is set in a post-apocalyptic Russia where humanity has been forced to take shelter inside the Moscow train system to protect themselves from the nuclear winter playing out on the surface.  The protagonist is a young man named Artyom, who sets out to save his home station of Exhibition from the attacks of an unknown enemy, referred to only as “the Dark Ones”.  To do so, Artyom must make his way through Moscow’s radiation infested tunnels, fighting to survive against both metro mutants and other survivors alike, decipher the Dark Ones’ goal and cobble together a workable defence.

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Mad Moxxi, the ... titular character

Amongst it’s many other accomplishments (well, depending who you ask I guess), Gears of War 2 can be lauded for the popularisation of the “Horde” style of multiplayer.  Allowing players to team up against a superior-numbered AI controlled enemy force managed to hit a real chord with shooter fans everywhere, and has since spawned many similar modes amongst the FPS genre.

Borderlands: Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot puts it’s hand up and declares “us too”, by adding a completely new area based upon wave-style arena combat.

As the story goes, Mad Moxxi (the Underdome’s well-endowed, carnival-themed owner) has made her way through three husbands, all of whom didn’t seem to survive the relationship.  In the search for a suitable suitor for her fourth wedlock, Moxxi has constructed the Underdome, three huge arenas based upon different areas of Pandora.  There adventurers pit themselves against hordes of enemies, while the crowd watches on in the happy knowledge that, win or lose, violence will be plentiful.

The back-story sounds entertaining enough, but truth be told there’s surprisingly little Mad Moxxi to be had in Underdome.  After her introduction, she’s basically consigned to her role as announcer.  And although much of her commentary is amusing enough, it can grow old quite quickly for reasons I’ll explain shortly. (more…)

Piggybacks are fine, Little Sister, just don't ask for a helicopter

The 2010 sequel season (sequelganza!) continues it’s unstoppable march with the release of 2K Games’ BioShock 2.  The highly-anticipated “Deco ‘n Daddy” shooter has been a long time in the making, suffering delays in 2009 and requiring no less than five game studios to bring to fruition.  Has the result proved to be worth the wait?  Or does the sequel fall prey to the high expectations carried over from the original?

It’s been almost three years since we last descended into Andrew Ryan’s Rapture, and from the moment you stumble to your feet in BioShock 2, you’ll feel like you never left.  In-game, however, it’s been ten years since the events of Jack Ryan’s return and Fontaine’s fall, events for which our new protagonist was, for all intensive purposes, stone dead.  Subject Delta is an early model “Protector” Big Daddy, who’s line was genetically bonded to a single Little Sister to increase the effectiveness of the pairing.  Delta’s Little Sister is Eleanor Lamb, daughter of Rapture’s new leader Sofia Lamb.  In the game’s prologue Sofia gains control over Delta and forces him to commit suicide, reclaiming Eleanor in the process.  Ten years later, Delta falls out of a Vita-Chamber and discovers that he’s regained his free will.

From here Delta must make his way back to a now teenage Eleanor and effect an escape from Rapture’s grasp.  Along they way you’ll meet both new and familiar faces, and discover a whole new side of Rapture in the process.

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Zombies improve everything. It's science.

It was only a short time ago we got our hands on the RPG-shooter Borderlands, and we’ve been loving it ever since.  So naturally when it’s first DLC chapter, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, was released I automatically put up the points to buy it.  Why?  Well most likely because I’m a good little consumer who’s been deeply ingrained with the compulsion to hand over his money.  But that aside, what’s the best way to make a great game even better? Why you add zombies, of course.

Once downloaded, the new chapter isn’t too hard to access.  Jakob’s Cove, where the action takes place, can only be accessed via a New-U station’s fast travel menu.  It should be noted that you can travel there before even technically activating the fast travel service in the game’s plot.  I suppose this early availability is required, however, as Jakob’s Cove is a completely stand-alone area (hence the “island” part of the name), and the only way to enter is to fast travel.

Once you’ve made your way to the island, you’ll be greeted by the local Claptrap, who wants you to take care of this rather bothersome zombie apocalypse they seem to be experiencing lately.  He points you in the direction of the camp’s doctor, Dr. Ned (who totally isn’t Dr. Zed, as the game keeps reminding you) and from here on inwards you’ll be up to your armpits in undead minions.

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In case you're wondering, YES, the game is about sword-wielding cowboys

“You are the last remaining member of a clan that called themselves “The Protectors”. Slain by a fellow clan, calling themselves “The Jackals”, you found your way to safety and now hunt them down for vengeance. You are The Swordsman and you are all that is man!“

I wish that this had been the description of the game given by Ubisoft Paris, but instead they chose to surrender to the press conference and then eat some cheese.

At the “recent” iDef Expo I got my hands on a preview of Red Steel 2, part of the Ubisoft stall. Looking at this game it seemed to check off most of my likes: a Wii game with ninja’s and a slightly cowboy feel. At first glance one would think that this was a video game version of Sukiyaki Western Django (an absolutely boss movie, for all of you out there unaware of it’s brilliance) but it’s not. It’s Wii’s cell-shaded sequel that seems to have made changes for the better. I say that tentatively … tentatively!

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Blowing his own brains out will just save you some time later

I’ll admit to the fact that I was a little skeptical when I originally heard about Borderlands. A game that’s structured like Diablo, but plays like a first person shooter? You probably couldn’t shove the chalk any further into the cheese, as far as pitching a game is concerned.

But the art style did look fantastic, and once there were a few gameplay videos to peruse the concept became more palatable. In the end, Borderlands managed to close the deal with me by emblazoning “splitscreen co-op” on the back of the case, and that was that.

As strange as the idea sounded when I first heard it, everything clicks the moment you pick up the controller. The gameplay is simple, yet addictive, as it simultaneously appeals to both the item scrounging RPGer and headshot focused shooter fan inside nearly every gamer. If you love power-levelling and kitting out your character with the best gear you can find, then this game is for you. If you enjoy fast-paced firefights, then this game is for you.

And what backs you up in these firefights? Well the game boasts an estimated seventeen million different guns (which I believe technically qualifies as a “fuck-tonne” on the metric system). While this is certainly impressive, many people may be a little disappointed to discover that most of these seventeen million weapons are variable instances of the same gun, much in the same way that everyone used to trade different versions of their “Lapis Plate of the Wolf” in Diablo. So while there are millions upon millions of guns, they still distill down into eight or nine catagories, so don’t walk in expecting to discover a gun that shoots guns or anything equally crazy (like a certain reviewer did).  (more…)

Proof!

Proof that it hasn’t been taken off the shelves.

After the rumour-mill went wild with the word that the game would be pulled from the shelves early morn (read more here and here), I’m glad to actually have a copy after that video got leaked that apparently ‘promotes terrorism’.

I’m more glad, in fact, that our archaic non-R rated games system didn’t pull rank and push back the release, or even worse, cripple what is shaping up to be a game of the year.

Unfortunately, I’m still at work.

This game is going to get the shit reviewed out of it, so stay tuned.