It's like Fidel Castro in his Santa phase
There’s been a long running debate going through the community about the role of game demos. One side (let’s call them “consumers”) are all for them, given that they allow a chance to try a game before opening their wallet. The other side (tentatively labelled “most publishers”) usually see game demos as a threat, as they’d rather people purchase games first before discovering that they’re rubbish.
Well thankfully Haemimont Games had the forethought to offer a demo for Tropico 3, because if they hadn’t I probably would have missed this gem of a game.
Typically I’m not much of a fan of sim games. In fact the last sim game I played and really loved was the original SimCity, where I cheated so often that my cashed-up utopia was frequently crushed by Godzilla. But after countless hours of play, and several catchy calypso songs almost burned into my brain, I can honestly say that Tropico 3 has become one of my favourite games of all time.
The concept is quite simple. In Tropico 3, you take the role of El Presidente, ruler of your very own Cold War banana republic. In order to run a successful island you have to balance the happiness of your citizens with your financial and political ambitions. Sound easy? Yeah, that’s what I thought too.
It's arrived!
I’m Commander Stu Shepard and this is my new favourite game on the PC. Guess I just gave away the ending of this review, huh…
Regular readers* will know the original Mass Effect was my pick for game of the decade and I know I wasn’t the only one eagerly looking forward to the next installment. That’s a lot of pressure, so have Bioware cracked or have the delivered?
.
..
Relax people, they’ve delivered.
Mass Effect 2 picks up a short while after the end of the first game and there’s a new menace in the galaxy. A species known as the Collectors are attacking human settlements and it’s fallen to Commander Shepard to assemble his or her team and put a stop to it. I won’t go into detail, but the story is involving and fans of the first game won’t be disappointed.
As promised, choices you made in the original game carry over. They don’t really affect the main plot but it’s a great touch. You did keep your save games, right? Read more
Enemies trust a mock surrender from Rios' giant soulful eyes
“Let’s do the math on whoever screwed us later, and concentrate on getting the hell outta dodge…”
This line, spoken by Rios near the beginning of their latest title, Army of Two: the 40th Day, borders on a prescience that John Edward would probably kill to achieve. With this one simple line, he’s not only accurately encapsulated the entire game’s plot, but also predicted the reaction most gamers will experience by the time they finish. It’s probably close to the most succinct review I could give of this game, so if you want to save yourself ~1000 words of reading then by all means take this as my official sentiment too … you lazy bastard.
Army of Two: the 40th Day is the sequel to EA Montreal’s firefights ‘n’ fist-bumps co-op shooter Army of Two. The “just good friends” duo of Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem find themselves in Shanghai, employed to complete a simple mission that unfolds into the city’s complete destruction and occupancy by the enigmatic 40th Day Initiative. The 40th Day is commanded by an ex-military soldier called Jonah, a fact that will possibly escape you all the way up until you decide to kill him.
The majority of the game follows Salem and Rios’ attempt to escape the city. While I can appreciate what the developers have attempted here, to recreate a somewhat realistic military situation based on lack of information and rapidly changing situation, the result is less than impressive. The open nature of the plot strips most of the purpose out of the combat, which means the combat feels somewhat dull. Read more
OK, so there’s plenty of cool tech news that’s come out of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, but this one caught my eye for the sheer oddity. In it’s keynote presentation, Microsoft finally revealed it’s previously spoiled avatar arcade hub entitled “Game Room”.
PlayStation Home people will already get half the idea. Your account is given a space to customise to your heart’s content (and wallet’s expense), except Game Room will allow Xbox avatars to install working arcade games into the environment to play against your friends. So now you can finally relive the heady classics like Outlaw, Astrosmash and … uhh Space Hawk, and it will only cost you a nominal fee to play something you could find online for free! Or even better you can demonstrate your intellectual inferiority to lobotamy patients true love of retro gaming by pumping in 40 Microsoft Funbux for a single play. Z0MG, I never realised how nostalgic I was for the lack of value we had in the olden days!
So the complete lack of a demographic, desire and sensible pricing aside, here’s the oddity. One of the real life arcades I used to go to when I was a kid was Playtime arcade in Northland (sometimes pronounced Norf-lans) Shopping Centre. And when I was looking over the announcement trailer, something seemed creepily familiar:
That’s Game Room on the left and Playtime on the right, for anyone who’s having difficulty telling them apart.
So while I’m fine with Microsoft obviously basing their avatar arcade on a real life arcade, I’m now curious to find out if they’ll also bother to include all the other pertinent aspects of a visit to Playtime? Namely machines that don’t work, staff that don’t care and wandering gangs of high-school drop outs saying “The fuck you looking at, c**t?” while huffing paint out of a plastic bag. Maybe Microsoft, just to protect against any unexpected residual self-image, should take Northland’s approach and make sure classical music is playing inside Game Room at all times to keep the undesirables out.
Game Room is set to be released sometime in the first half of the year. I can tell you’re all just holding your breath in anticipation.
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.
Every now and then a game crops up that gains so much love that we can’t agree on who gets to write it up. Assassin’s Creed 2 is one such game, and both Mark and Matt want to have their say.
It would probably be classified lower if it wasn't for all the Italian swear words
Mark says: Ubisoft Montreal have seriously broken the usual stigma regarding sequels.
Assassin’s Creed 2 has you once again playing as modern day assassin Desmond, who in turn plays Ezio Auditore di Firenze, a decendant of previously played assassin Altair. Yeah, I think that’s about right. I had to try and explain the concept of the game to a friend who isn’t down the Assassin’s Creed 1 backstory. It was … trying.
Okay, so the run down.
Set for the most part in 15th century Italy, you’ll be playing as this Ezio Auditore di Firenze fella. Standard sob story; your family gets knocked off by this dude, and you are out to settle the score. But revenge doesn’t turn out to be a simple as Ezio might have expected.
Well, you could sum it up that way, but that kind of makes Assassin’s Creed 2 sound like an 80’s cop film, which doesn’t exactly do justice to the awesome writing that’s gone into this series. The game opens with Ezio facing what essentially is his boyhood enemy, Vieri de Pazzi, who is naturally a coward and hence, must eventually be stabbed in the face in the middle of the night. Beating up his posse leads you into a beautiful vista of Firenze, standing next to your brother on top of a church, exclaiming how life is kind of ace, and that things should never change.
And then they hang your father, older brother and younger (sissy, feather collecting) brother. It was the plot twist that absolutely no-one saw coming from nine miles away (or 14.4 kilometers away, if you’re in the EU/AU).
It Came From An Alternate Time Continuum!
It seems like over the past few months a I’ve managed to grab myself a great number of adventure games published by Telltale Games. Part of this is nostaglia for the franchises that Telltale has continued, and part of this is from my enthusiasm to see the adventure genre as a whole resurface. But most of all, it’s because Telltale (even in their weaker chapters) haven’t yet failed to deliver a quality game to me.
Now Season 2 of Telltale’s Sam and Max series (renamed to Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space for XBLA) has actually been available since the later part of 2007, but after seeing what an enjoyable port Season 1 had made, I’d basically decided to hold off buying the second season for PC and wait for the Xbox port instead. Also, waiting for the Xbox port would give me another 200 achievement points. Yes, my brain does operate that way some days.
Anyhow, Beyond Time and Space hit XBLA mid-October this year, and after playing it through I’m confident in saying that this is probably Telltale’s strongest adventure game season yet.
Beyond Time and Space basically picks up where Save the World left off, which might prove a bit of a problem to those of you who haven’t played the first season. Much of the game’s plot relies on previous knowledge. Max’s presidency, the detatched statue head of Abe Lincoln dating professional careerist Sybil, the obsolete computers running an auto shop … all of these things will make little sense unless you’ve played through Sam and Max: Save the World. In this regard, it’s probably best to think of the two seasons as one large game, and be sure to play it from the beginning.
As recommended by Ice T
Damn, son.
Without sounding like every other fanboy on the net, I’m going to try and give a critical, even-handed (if possible) opinion on this mega-title.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, is a solid game. It continues a long history of excellent first-person-shooters and great multiplayer games, but primarily I have become a huge fan of the single player campaigns.
Traditionally the story missions have been quite short, but after cranking through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single campaign a little while ago, I was eagerly looking forward to this next installment.
And how was I pleased.
The game picks up where the last left off; albeit five years have passed. You now play a new range of soldiers, but some familiar faces (and voices, which for some odd reason, made me think of a fictitious uncle I have that sounds surprisingly like Bill Nighy) crop up along the way. Read more
You simply can't touch his level of awesome
The king of the old-school cool, MC Hammer, was in Melbourne this Monday as part of the Xbox Insider Tour (pics and details soon!) and was happy to share his ideas about Twitter and gaming with the people (alongside singing a few classic hits). My voice recorder did a fine job amongst the pumped up crowd, so I managed to get his words down on tape.
But while his philosophy on Twitter is somewhat inspiring, did you also know he’s got the inside low-down on Call of Duty 5? … Well, sort of:
The message is, get your new update, get on Twitter and connect. We stay connected on Twitter, and I can travel the world, you can travel the world and we all still connected, because the world is only this big [holds his fingers millimeters apart] now, right? We just a tweet away from each other, and it’s fantastic that people want to connect that way. In particular all the people who are gaming, while I’m whooping you at Call of Duty or whatnot. All of you gamers get ready, because I’ve been in training! Call of Duty 4 … or 5 or whatever it is. Be ready!
-MC Hammer, ready to cause hammer-time online
And when the Hammer tells you to be ready, you listen. Now if only we had of found out his gamertag … that’s a multiplayer game of Modern Warfare 2 I wouldn’t want to miss! I mean the guy essentially invented the idea of side-strafing!
If you’re digging his message, maybe you should add to the 1.6 million people who follow him on Twitter. I’m sure 1.7 million can’t be that far off.
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). Read more
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