Thursday, February 28, 2013

You Touch Me, I Cut You

Yesterday I tried out the demo for Hideo Kojima's latest title, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It's a hefty download at 1.9GB but you'll soon see why.

The graphics are outrageous. The texture work is massive and deep. Animations are flawless, lighting is realistic and attention to detail is quite impressive. In general, the art direction is very much Metal Gear and extremely high quality. I can't help but wonder if we've reached the capability peak of this generation of consoles.

The gameplay is something else entirely. It doesn't play like any other Metal Gear game. It's more of a slash-happy action beat-em-up game. That said, Metal Gear holdovers remain: you can be stealthy up to a point and the game is challenging enough to force you to think and plan ahead before attacking a group of enemies.

In Revengeance you play as Raiden, who, four years following the events of Guns of the Patriots, has become an even dangerous-er cybernetic ninja. Yes, you get to ninja-bunny hop around the environment, slicing and dicing enemies to smithereens just like Raiden did during all those cutscenes in Guns of the Patriots. It's incredibly satisfying even while it lacks in depth.

Speaking of depth, there may be more to it than the demo lets on. I'm led to understand that Raiden's abilities are upgradable, though the game's campaign is a decidedly brief affair, so I don't know the true extent of the combat system.

Suffice it to say I'm really impressed by this (brief) demo. I'll definitely be purchasing this title.

Monday, February 25, 2013

So, the PS4

Hardware: Along with Sony's recent Playstation 4 announcement came a wave of speculation: Sony didn't show the PS4 because they don't really have it yet. Or they haven't designed the chassis yet. Or they don't want to show all of their cards so early.

I personally don't care that Sony chose not to show off the hardware. The timing of this PS4 announcement seems odd to me, so I believe they are simply making the industry aware of the impending PS4 to drum up some excitement. I think Sony will really reveal the PS4 at E3.

First up: the controller. It looks like a slightly evolved DualShock. Is that a miniature touchpad on the controller? What use could that possibly have? I'm skeptical, and I smell a gimmick. Where's the Playstation Move, by the way?

Sony stated that the PS4 supports 3-D technology but they are not focused on it in any way. This makes a whole lot of sense when you consider the consumer electronics branch of Sony is also turning away from 3-D TVs and the like. I applaud this in every way possible. They did not remove the PS3's existing 3-D capabilities, nor are they wasting any further effort on the 3-D folly.

Software: What do we get in terms of games?

Diablo III. You must be kidding me. I already passed on this game once, even though I'm a long-time fan of both the genre and franchise. Who cares that a year-old game (not very popular, either) is finally going to show up on a console another year from now?

Killzone: Shadow Fall and a new Infamous title. Both are decent franchises, but I really don't think it's enough to move new, expensive hardware.

A new Final Fantasy. I always look forward to these releases, but FFXIII really burned me so I'm cautiously optimistic. I wonder if the new title will be multiplatform, anyway?

I'm not impressed by the launch titles, but it's still very early. What bothers me the most about the PS4, ultimately, is the utter lack of backward compatibility. I recognize the system architecture is changing dramatically, but it really bugs me. I don't really want to keep a last-gen console around if I don't have to. I have also heard that PSN titles and game saves won't transfer over to your PS4. If true, that is downright outrageous.

I'm hopeful the PS4 is a success. I look forward to the next generation of physics, graphics, and audio engines, but I fear these things are taking more and more priority over gameplay and story. Let's hope Microsoft responds with an announcement of their own in the near future. After all, competition is what brings out the best in us.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Weekly Report - 02/22/2013

I completed Rage on nightmare with all collectibles, side quests, races, and all that jazz last weekend. I found myself really enjoying the game and didn't want it to end. Ultimately, however, it ended. And boy, that is one atrocious ending. No final boss or interesting cutscene. No difficult final challenge. In fact, I didn't even use the pulse cannon they gave me for the final mission. Wingsticks and fat mamma rounds in my pistol did just fine. The ending consists of a pair of Arks rising up out of the ground... then the credits roll. That's it.

Then I moved on to Dishonored, which I've heard great things about. I'm really looking forward to the change of pace offered by a stealth game.

So I load it up and boy, having just stepped out of Rage, the graphics in Dishonored appear flat, boring, dull; just abysmal. Whatever, I can play through that. Graphics aren't everything.

Nor is sound design, apparently. Everywhere I go, the characters sound as if they are talking in a tiny bathroom with reflective tile walls. What's with the echo effect? It's obnoxious, not to mention overdone and totally unnecessary.

The gameplay, however, is why I'm here. Here's to hoping for some!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Project SHIELD

NVIDIA's Project SHIELD caused a number of raised eyebrows when it was first announced at CES 2013 on January 7, 2013. Since then, NVIDIA has launched a series of videos to explain, showcase, and - hopefully - sell Project SHIELD to consumers.

SHIELD is initially described as a handheld, portable game console, but there's a lot more to it than that. A new handheld alone would have a difficult time competing against Nintendo's DS platform. SHIELD breaks out of the mold in one key aspect, which I view as its primary purpose: it can stream gameplay running on a PC.

SHIELD gives the player a portable, 5-inch display and controller for their PC games. Check out this live gameplay video to see what NVIDIA is aiming for. It's quite impressive that SHIELD manages to maintain a quality framerate. I wonder how much bandwidth it consumes, and what its tolerance for network latency might be. I strongly suspect it will only work well over private, local, uncluttered wi-fi networks. Still, it's pretty impressive technology.

But would it be fun to play a PC game like that? I don't think so. I can't imagine wanting to play on a 5-inch screen when I have a nice, 24-inch 1080p display with wonderful Bose speakers hooked up to my PC. The controller might be nice at times, though it looks a bit cramped, however there are always times I want to play on my PC for the sole purpose of having keyboard and mouse controls. Now, make a SHIELD set-top box hooked up to my TV and we'll get serious.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Weekly Report - 02/15/2013

I've been totally focused on Rage this week. I just reached disc 2 (the game spans three DVDs on the Xbox 360) and Subway Town.

Rage a great game that I think deserves a better rap than it received. It has some technical issues, but not as many as other beloved titles. Texture pop-in is the single most evident issue. If you don't install the game to your hard drive, be prepared for a muddy experience with lots of suddenly resolving textures. This is one game I cannot stand without a hard drive installation. Once you pass that hurdle and get used to the PC-style save system, the game offers a painless experience on the technical side of things.

Moreover, Rage is engaging even though its story is barely skin deep. Why is it so much more interesting than the Black Ops series, I wonder? Perhaps due to the sense of awe and mystery revolving around the Authority and, more importantly, what happened to the world you live in while your body was locked away in that Ark. Rage fails to fully tap into this potential (so does Fallout 3, for that matter), which could have been an incredible post-apocalyptic tale. I always enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction, but it rarely feels complete: too many pieces of the backstory always seem to be missing.

I'm excited to see how Rage ends. My playthrough is intended to accomplish a full completion of the game on nightmare difficulty, including all collectibles, races, and side quests.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Weekly Report - 02/08/2013

With my Xbox 360 collection fully conquered, I decided to go questing for a few new games. I took my old, partially-broken PS2 with network adaptor add-on and a handful of terrible DVDs (e.g. Swimfan) to a nearby independent video game store. They traded me even for Dishonored and Rage.

So I started Rage today. So far I'm very impressed. The graphics are really great; the textures are enormous and the character animations are absolutely incredible. Enemies don't just stand there and shoot at you; oh no, they lean around corners, bob up and down behind obstacles, lay on the ground and shoot at you while reeling in pain, blind fire from behind cover, and occasionally jump up and sprint at you, ducking and weaving, waving a flaming, spiked club. It's a refreshingly dynamic game in a world full of stale games.

What's Next?

I'm just about finished with my Xbox 360 collection again. Being my favorite system for the past few years, I'm looking into my next couple of purchases.
  • Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - I really enjoy third-person tactical action games like Metal Gear Solid and Gears of War (yes, I'm aware how radically different those two franchises are). I've also never played any games from the Tom Clancy's franchise, so I look forward to picking this one up.
  • Dead Space - I don't usually play horror games (except Doom) but this one has caught my eye. It's a trilogy now, which indicates it has left at least some lasting impression on gamers. I should be able to pick up Dead Space and Dead Space 2 on the cheap. Dead Space 3 is brand new, but perhaps I can find it for $40 by the time I'm ready for it.
  • Dishonored - A lot of people are playing this and it's very highly reviewed. I know absolutely nothing about it but sometimes it's fun to pick a title like that. Kind of like a blind date.
  • A decent JRPG. It's been a long, long time since I played a JRPG. Final Fantasy XIII burned me last time (technically I enjoyed it except for the incoherent plot) and I want something to scratch the itch. A Wild Arms title would really hit the spot...

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Weekly Report - 02/01/2013

I've been a laggard the past few weeks. Rather, I've spent my free time gaming instead of writing about it. What have I accomplished over the past two weeks?

Black Ops is done, as are two play-throughs of Black Ops 2 on normal and veteran. I collected all worthwhile achievements and put the game away. Normally I spend a few months post-campaign playing multiplayer, but I let my Xbox Live subscription expire in July and just have no interest in playing with herds of prepubescent ten-year-old whiners. I'm really just not that interested in Call of Duty multiplayer anymore.

I enjoyed Black Ops 2, but as I've mentioned before the franchise is really growing long in the tooth. My favorite Black Ops 2-ism? The fact that you can customize your gear loadout at the beginning of each level. My least favorite Black Ops 2-ism? The storyline had such potential but was just poorly told. Most of the celerium subplot is utterly senseless if you fail to rescue Karma - in fact, it is never explained at all if Karma is kidnapped.

After Call of Duty, I picked up Dark Souls again after a four-month hiatus. I was roughly halfway through a NG+ play-through. I spent the past weekend polishing off a few achievements, cleaning up the last few bosses, and blasting Gwyn into a pile of cinder (yay pun). I'm ready to begin my NG++ play-through. This time around I merely have to defeat Sif once again and reach the giant blacksmith in Anor Londo to pick up the remaining two achievements.

Going back to Dark Souls has taught me some things about gaming that many players never seem to realize. The game has some technical problems (most notably a low framerate in certain areas), little plot to speak of, and little direction, but it still manages to be - in my opinion - a more engaging game than the last three Call of Duty titles (that would be back to Modern Warfare 2, which was amazing). Why? I suspect it's mostly because the player is forced to explore on his or her own. There's a sense of wonder and investment that Call of Duty has lost.

Don't get me wrong - Call of Duty is a solid franchise and I still enjoy the games. They are all of impressive quality. I'm just yearning for some innovation.