Sonic R was originally released in 1997 for the infamous Sega Saturn that almost killed Sega. Eventually Dreamcast was the last nail in the coffin for SEGA consoles but that is a subject to be talked later, maybe in a post of its own. It was also released for PC, Playstation 2 and the Nintendo Game Cube.
When we think of Sonic we think of speed. When we think of speed we think of races. So, in the paper, this game was like peanut butter and jelly. Problem is...it didn't went that well. Which is funny because I don't really like peanut butter with jelly that much.
The game, incrediby, has a story. The game focuses on the characters effort to win a series of races to prevent Dr. Robotnik from getting the Chaos Emeralds and enslaving the world. I discovered that today as I was researching for this review. I now know why Dr. Robotnik is an unlockable character.
In a way this game was the predecessor to Sonic & All-Stars Racing which is a really good game (I really did not liked Sonic Riders). This 3D experience had its flaws but it showed that a Sonic racing game in 3D could be something really good.
Graphics - 2/5
Sonic R aged horribly. Still, it's Sonic. The main problem are the Saturn famous polygons which are light-years away from the rival Playstation. This is a powerful 2D machine that just happened to manage to render 3D too.
Gameplay - 3/5
Incredibly has an intersting mechanic to it because you have boosts that cost coins, many routes and bonus to get during the race. Easy to learn but you have to prepare every lap very well in order to make the best time possible. It's not an easy game unless you're used to race games or a lot of practice in Sonic R. It has clunky controls that seem to don't do exactly what you want, they should have done better in a Sonic game. It's a very fun game to play despite its problems.
Sound - 3/5
Typical techno\soul mix from the 90's, it's not something you would say you like but still it sticks in your head. You get so used to the music that you eventually will like it.
Longevity - 2/5
It has 4 tracks when you begin. You can unlock 1 track when you win races in all the other 4 tracks. You have 4 characters when you begin, You can unlock 1 character by beating the 5 tracks which you can easily do in about 30 minutes. There are 4 more characters to unlock by collecting 5 special coins, beating the race and then beating the new character in each of the first 4 tracks. And 1 last character to unlock by colleting the 7 Chaos Emeralds in the first 4 tracks in which you have to win the race, its Super Sonic so its worth it. The game higly benefits in lenght by the Vs mode, tag mode and balloon catching mode.
This is it. This is Sonic R. There is not much more to tell about it. It is incredibly small, flawed but fun to play. I've spent several hours just trying to beat my own records (I remember to have a near perfect time lap time in the first track, just under the 17 seconds). Sonic R gets 10/20.
Up until last week I had never played Metal Gear Solid, and now I deeply regret I haven't done it earlier.
Launched in the distant year of 1998 this action-adventure stealh game developed by Hideo Kojima and distributed by Konami has gained the status of a groundbreaking title. Metal Gear Solid was very well received by the critic, and is recognized by many as one of the best and most important games of all time. Selling more than 6 million copies, Metal Gear Solid made the stealth genre popular which led to sequels, prequels, spin-offs, remakes, radio drama, comics and novels.
Truth be told, Metal Gear Solid is actually a sequel to the MSX2 games titled Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The MSX2 was a Japanese Home Computer known for its limitations, for instance the impossibility to have more than 4 enemies at the same time in a screen. Kojima was a newbie and didn't really know much about programing, after all he took economics course in college, but he had the dream and desire to make games that looked like movies, and when Konami ordered Kojima to make an action game for the MSX2T Kojima's creativity led to Metal Gear. He surpassed the limitations of the MSX2 and came up with the idea to make a game focused on the goal of not being seen rather than confronting hordes of enemies like most games at the time
Solid Snake sneaking upon an enemy inside a cardbox. An iconic prop in the Metal Gear series.
Metal Gear was released in the western market as a port for the NES system, without any envolvement by Kojima. The game has some differences over the original game, one of them critical...the robot that is the reason for the game (Metal Gear, a kind of mobile tank aka a Mecha) does not appear in the NES version which is simply ridiculous. Nonetheless Metal Gear was a success in the US which led to a sequel (Snake's Revenge) for the NES which, once again, wasn't developed by Kojima. He himself did not knew that a sequel was being made and was during a train trip with one of the delevopers of that game, who had previously worked with Kojima, that he discovered that. His former co-worker asked Kojima to develop a real sequel and that's what he did, by the next day Kojima had the idea of the game almost complete. Snake's Revenge was a success and was never released in Japan, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was only released in Japan and was considered even better than his predecessor, but due to only being released in the MSX2 led to a low number of units sold.
Solid Snake running away from Metal Gear Rex.
Up until today Kojima despises the NES versions and considers them to be garbage due to have significant diferences over his original vision of the game. Snake's Revenge is considered to be non-canon on the series.
So what is Metal Gear Solid about? The game follows Solid Snake, a soldier and main protagonist of the previous games, who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility in an island on Alaska known as Shadow Moses in the, at the time, future year of 2005. The goal is to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit. Also, Snake must rescue three hostages, the head of DARPA, the president of a major arms manufacturer and Meryl Silverburgh, which is the niece of Snake's commanding officer Roy Campbell.
The main antagonist and leader of FOXHOUND is Liquid Snake. This special force has specialized members like Revolver Ocelot, a gunslinger, Sniper Wolf, a sniper, Vulcan Raven, a heavy-gun specialist, Psycho Mantis, a psychic and Decoy Octopus, a master of disguise. Liquid Snake threatens to launch a nuclear attack if his demands are not fulfilled which might cause a new World War.
Graphics - 4/5
Being a release to the Sony Playstation game console, Metal Gear Solid is the first entry in 3D of the series. Now we might think that the graphics are a little dated, but the thing is that an HD version of the game would not make a big difference, because it still looks good, and if we think that it was released 15 years ago they look really awesome. A remake for the GameCube using the game engine of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released, titled, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes but still I've played the Playstation and looked as good as some Playstation 2 titles.
Gameplay - 5/5
This is where Metal Gear Solid excels. The top view is, in my opinion, the best way to play any Metal Gear Solid game. I've tried the Playstation Portable titles and found them less enjoyable due to the camera view.
The game has several ways to be played. You can either be extra sneaky and refrain from killing enemy soldiers or just being sneaky and cleaning everything that comes in your way using the various methods you are allowed to use. You can knock on walls to lure the enemies to traps. You have to use cigarettes to be able to see lasers in some rooms. One particular enemy predicts what you are going to do and the way to trick him is to plug your controller in the player 2 slot. Using a cardbox to avoid being detected or letting dogs pee on it to prevent them to attack you later. The details are awesome and encourage the player to look for different ways to reach the goal.
The boss fights are among the best ever in the gaming history and that is to say a lot about it.
Another great thing about the game is the storytelling, it is a great story that is told by playing the missions and by the many cutscenes that are simply awesome. I think that at the time nothing has been done like that, the game truly looks like a movie. The game takes about 2-3 hours to complete but the cutscenes extend the game for 3 more hours more or less.
It doesn't get much better than this.
Sound - 5/5
Immersive. That is the perfect adjective to describe the soundtrack of this game. The sound becomes part of the action, thrills the player and can either make you feel safe or in danger.
The voice acting is also superb.
Longevity - 4/5
As said before the game isn't very long, but due to the many ways to complete the game, the two different endings and the bonus items that are given by the end of the game (like a bandana that when equipped makes you to have infinite bullets) when you complete certain goals add a great replay value. Also there are the VR Missions which, despite not having any story, are also interesting to play.
Truly a masterpiece, a must have and must play. If you have not played it yet I urge you to do it. I give it a SOLID 18/20.
Alongside with the FIFA/PES war there is a title which has no rival, Football Manager. Football, because it is played with the feet and a ball instead of the hands and an egg. And it's older than the American cousin too.
Every year since 2004, Football Manager has been the king among the football managing simulators. Nothing extraordinary because Sports Interactive was responsible for Championship Manager up untill then. With the brand Championship Manager being explored by someone else and SI keeping the formula that brought them a dedicated fanbase this was the expected result.
It's hard to talk about this game without talking about the whole series and in many ways this is an upgraded version of the previous title, so just this time I will individualize the review by each cathegory.
Graphics
Being a simulator that relies on statistics, stat points, informations and news on most of the time it is easy to say that the game does not look pretty. It has a 3D match engine that has been upgraded since it was released but it's far from looking as good as FIFA, which is, in my opinion, the reference when we talk about football and graphics, but nonetheless it does not look bad, it's reasonable.
I also have to say that the windows never tire you, and you can even change the layout due to the skins available in almost every site and forum about the game. You can change the color of the stats, add facepacks and add logopack, it has a great costumization value which is a good feature to compensate for other flaws.
Comparing to the 2013 version the game looks better but still it's not great. I give it 3/5.
Gameplay
Being
a game that is launched every year, the question everyone who hasn't
played is the same: "Isn't it the same every year? What's new besides
new rosters?"
And that is a plausible question that is better answered by playing. Every year there are many new features that make the player feel like they really are in control of their team. Every year something is introduced and refined to the point you just cannot remember how did were you capable to play the game without those features. Each new title looks and feels like the better instalment yet. And "yet" is a very important thing because every Football Manager knows that, somehow, next year this game is going to improve.
I've been playing the Manager series since 2000 and I've never read the manual of the game. It's so intuitive that you just learn how to play it by yourself. You can easily discover how to do anything due to the easy interface that the game offers or you can play the tutorial, and you also have a help system that you can use to ask anything.
If you don't know, the players have stats just like in a RPG and you have to manage the players, tactics, finances, transfers, training and many more things. Football Manager 2014 just might be the most intuitive version ever.
So, as gameplay is concerned, Football Manager is as easy as it is satisfying to do things well done. It's easy to play but it's not easy to be great at it, that balance is crucial to the success of the series. I just cannot imagine it to be any other way. It's only boring for those who have not played it.
I give it 5/5.
Sound
This is where Football Manager falls short to many. The only sound in the game is during the matches. You hear the crowd cheering, the referee and the ball being kicked. Nothing more but it's a managing simulator, in my opinion any more than this would make it repetitive. For me this is enough but they could add real chanting to the supporters in the stadium. Just to make it more like in real life.
I give it 3/5.
Longevity
Dozens of countries, hundreds of divisions and thousands of teams. To be the best you want to win everything. I easily play more than 20 hours in any save I start because it's easy to get addicted on taking your team to the top. On Football Manager 2003 I've spent more than 130 hours at it. There are not many games that are as lasting as this one. It's 5/5.
Final Score
In conclusion, if you not own any Football Manager game, I highly recommend you this title as it is the most refined version ever. If you do own Football Manager 2013, I still recommend it because the changes made to the game make it a new challenge.Every new instalment made me feel like a noob and this was no exception.
Football Manager 2014 scores 16/20.
Today we slash and dice the most recent entry on the Metal Gear series, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. I still haven't finished the game, but I am close to it. So here's my thoughts so far.
Most of you are already familiar with the Metal Gear Saga. Political and warfare conflicts, sneaking and being evasive, with a great narrative from his creator Hideo Kojima. Well, forget about all that, because Metal Gear Rising is completely different from what you are accostumed within the franchise. As in Metal Gear Solid 2, you control Raiden (yes I know what it may sound but bear with me). Here's a little resume from Raiden's history:
Raiden - Real name Jack, is a Liberian-American Mercenary and former special operations soldier. He was a child soldier, and used by the Patriots for the S3 Plan at the Big Shell. Later he joined the Paradise Lost Army, the anti-Patriots group, but was captured and had his head and spine excised from his body and planted on a cyborg one by the Patriots. He then escaped and aided Solid Snake in the Liquid Ocelot's insurrection on Metal Gear Solid 4 events. After that he joined the PMC (Public Mercenary Company) Maverick and the events of the game start.
The story isn't as deep as in other Metal Gear titles, and it's easier to follow. There are some references from past games but, if you didn't play any of it, you'll still can enjoy the game's story, as it is disconnected to all the conflict and web of schemes from the other series. After the fall of the Patriots, PMCs split up in minor groups, and turned to cyborg technology as a mean to power up their forces. The story starts in a unnamed country in Africa, Maverick is doing a job of security for the Prime Minister N'mani, a pacifist working for peace in the continent, as a PMC named Desperado Enforcement LLC attacks them and tries to kill N'mani, in a way to keep the countries in Africa fighting and so they can still make profit. Raiden goes to the rescue of N'mani only to be utterly defeated by Samuel "Jet-stream Sam" Rodrigues, a master cyborg swordsman working for Desperado.
Jet-Stream Sam, the most brazilian badass since BlanKa.
In a future mission, Raiden encounters again Desperado and starts investigating it, leading to the events of the game that follow that, and that I won't spoil.
The gameplay is also very different from past titles. In the past there was more of a focus on stealth unlike this one. The stealth is still present, but they give more focus to the battles than avoiding them. As Platinum Games took a more "gore" approach to the game, you can litterally have blood flowing everywhere as you cut through the enemy cyborgs (they say its mecanical fluids and artificial blood, but I like to think otherwise). In the PS3 version you press square for light attacks and triangle for heavy ones, and you can chain both as you please. Pressing X will make Raiden jump and circle for activating a lot of stuff. If you press circle behind an enemy it will be a silent, but not less gory, takedown. R1 gives you the "ninja run" (actual name!), you will run faster and deflect bullets automatically, to parry normally you have to press the light attack button and the direction of the enemy attack. It's hard at the beggining but I found it very interesting. The most interesting is the Blade mode that you enter by pressing L1, time slows down and you can slash at very high speeds, and if the target is damaged enough, you can cut some parts of the body and if you have the skill bar full, you can detect the auto-reparing unit of the cyborg, pull it and smash it to assimilate it and recover yourself. This is called a Zandatsu in game, and Zandatsus are awesome! You get ranks in every chapter and gain Battle Points to enhance Raiden's body and skills. Even Weapons from the bosses. This is a different take in the series. With both Snakes more peacefull approaches were encouraged, in this one it's exactly the opposite. Even the stuff around the level is destroyable, having even happened being needed to cut a bridge to fight a cyborg that was on top of it. Sure the cardboxes are still around, but this game makes you want to slice everything that is around you. And the bosses, oh the bosses, are just epic gameplay.
The visuals, as in every game of the franchise, are simply stunning. From the epic boss battles, to slashing normal enemies everything is so well made it's hard to find flaws. Everything feel futuristic, and the game delivers what you are expecting of a ninja cyborg can do. Even the soundtrack is amazing, being a personal favourite. I haven't heard a soundtrack as good as this in a long time. I have it on my laptop and I can't stop hearing it.
It also has some easter eggs from the previous games, such as the man that hide in cardboxes in every scenario for you to find, to the DLC themes for Raiden. My favourite is the US gamestop pre-order (included in every copy in Europe) Gray Fox skin and his blade. Unfortunatelly as I have the digital copy I don't have it. It's a shame that the only skin in the DLC section for Raiden is the MGS4 look he had. There's also 2 DLCs for playing with Samuel and Blade Wolf, but I'm waiting to complete the game to get them.
Gray Fox, the original cyborg from the first Metal Gear Solid
This game made me like Raiden, and that's a hard thing to do! (Kojima why didn't you make him like this in MGS2!!??)
Story 3/5 - Not the masterpieces of previous entries but still very good.
Soundtrack 5/5 - Fits perfectly the game and the feeling it gives.
Gameplay 4/5 - It's entertaining, and blade mode is awfully fun to use.
Longevity 4/5 - Despite being a short game, it makes want to clear it in lots of difficulties, and unlock all the good stuff and weapons at Raiden's disposal. There's also a awful lot of trophies to unlock, so it gains a lot of replay value.
This is where Borderlands is set. The world of Pandora (it has nothing to do with Avatar's Pandora) is a mining colony sponsored by the Dahl Corporation where the player is a scavenger in search for an ancient alien vault. Another of this vaults was found in the nearby planet of Prometheus (it has nothing to do with the movie Prometheus) and was filled with alien weapon technology wich allowed the Atlas Corporation (not to be confused with the Dahl Corporation) to overtake their competitors and in the world of Pandora it's all about the weapons.
There is a really good story that you by follow doing the missions in which you get to know more and more about what kind of world this is and it is a really interesting one but it isn't something you really care about. You care about the humor of the game (it's a really funny game) and the loot. Borderlands is mostly known for having a massive amount of different weapons. According to some official information there is a little over 3,5 million different weapons in the game, well...kinda. There are some base weapons which get different stats and different traits like having a scope or elemental damage and that's how they've turned several dozen weapons to 3,5 million, still...it's very impressive.
Visually the game has a bold cartoonish style which most hardcore FPS players do not like but Borderlands is not a game for the hardcore FPS player. The RPG elements that were put into the game made it different from the other titles, and for some it made it different for better. I know a couple of friends who do not like FPS that cleared the game. Still, it's a beautiful game with maps that are a joy to explore.
You have the standard leveling up that doesn't require you to have the trouble of selecting which stats you want to update, that you decide in the beggining when you select one of four characters which have different atrributes, and they are the Berserker, the Siren, the Hunter and the Soldier. What you can do is to equip up to 4 different guns, a class mod, a shield and a grenade mod that suits the better your playing style. I went for the Soldier and prepared myself to take a lot of hits but to shoot even more. I finished the main game and 2 DLC's this weekend and I think that it worked great for me but I'm tempted to return to the game with a different character. Either that or to take on the playthrough 2 mode which is to repeat everything but with the stats you already have, the enemies get tougher to match you and the loot get even better. I'm more of a solo player but you can also have co-op in the game. I've spent more than 25 hours in the game and I feel like I could easily spend another 25 or 50 hours in it.
One problem with the game is the backpack size. Even though you can expand it by completing side-quests or saving items in the Mad Moxxi's DLC, you always feel that it's not big enough. Many times I've found a crate of weapons and had to leave thing behind to take the new items. You will rarely buy weapons but you do have to sell a lot of them to buy ammo and health packs. I understand that the size you have is most likely the better but I'm a hoarder and I could always use a little bit more space.
The music in the game pumps up the adrenaline for the tasks ahead of you. I really enjoyed it. Sometimes it seems like asian and western music met and had a child. The cutscenes are different and for better. Overall, not being great it's up to the job and flows nicely with the game.
To wrap up this review I have to say that I'm definetly going to buy Borderlands 2 and I do not understad why the success of Borderlands was unexpected to the developers because this is something to be proud of. I highly recommend you to buy the Game Of The Year edition of this game and to try it out for yourself. I had a blast killing hordes of enemies in the game and laughing because it is hilarious. You gotta love Claptrap, that's all I have to say.
Today I review a game that I've completed a while back on PS3. Capcom's Remember Me.
The year is 2084, and the location is the city of Neo-Paris. The game starts with an ad for Sensen, a device that stores your memories and let's you share them with other people. The people of the ad talk about their experiences with sensen and how it changed their lives. It looks wonderful, if we didn't know what we're about to play.
At the beginning of the game we find our heroine, Nillin, in a facility being held up, and beaten up. We find that allmost all her memories have been wiped from her sensen, thus from her brain also, keeping only her name and only little things. As she is being lead to the final phase of the treatment, someone calls into her sensen and helps her escape the facility. Bit by bit Nillin remembers how to fight and a bit of her past is revealed. She is in the Errorists, a revolucionary faction in Neo-Paris against the creators of sensen, that uses memory hunters, like Nillin, to get info and alter memories.
The world is very good looking. We get a feeling of the futuristic vibe that Capcom tried to show to the player. Lot's of screens, lots of augmented reality stuff lying around, the tone of light gives the game a great look, and is always clear when it needs to get, the city area is very bright, in contrast to the slums were I find myself lately hoping to find a light. The slums is one of my favourite areas, and is the first we get contact with. As we reach the slums we are greeted with the enemies for that area, the Leapers.
And you thought that meth was bad.
Leapers are addicted to memories, it's like a drug to them, and because of that they are very mentally instable and agressive. It's never revealed how the sensen abuse makes them become disfigured. The other enemies that you will find are the S.A.B.R.E soldiers, that work for Memorize, the company that created sensen and rule the world.
"I'll kick your ass if you don't follow our dystopian world rules" kind of guy.
The game takes a heavy look on how fragile memories are if shared like an app on Facebook. They can be copied, shared even modified and stolen (one of the missions in the game is to steal security codes for a dam). One of the defining gameplay features is the unique ability that Nillim has to 'Remix memories', to get into the memories of an individual and change them. It envolves seeing the memory in it's entirity and then search for moments you can alter, eventually modifying to the Remix goal (the first one is to make the target think her husband is dead), but not every change gives you the desired ending.
Other good point on the gameplay is the Combo Lab, you are given a series of numbered hit combos (3 hit combos, 5 hit combos etc), and you personalize them. Each combo is consisted in pressens, and there are a range of them: increased damage dealing ones, HP regen ones, ones that reduce the cooldown of special abilites, etc. It's a good way to give the fight the style you want, from a defensive one to using lots of special abilities by reducing cooldown. The only fault I put on it is that sometimes I find myself starting the combo with the wrong button, the first one can't be changed, and some are very complicated to do, the property of the combos can be changed but the keys for it can't. It's hard to grasp and it requires some practice, and it doesn't help that the game treats you like a begginer, even if you're in the end of the game, giving you the same advice when you break combos. It gets a bit annoying.
The rest of the gameplay is Nillin moving around the city, climbing buildings a lot, and when I say a lot is really a lot, running from S.A.B.R.E force or fighting Leapers. It could be good all the climbing and escaping if it wasn't such a linear world and the encounter zones fixed. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike linear games and sometimes even give up on some for being too open world (Far Cry 3 I'm looking at you), but as it takes place in a city that they try to make big, this linearity and lack of free choice makes it feel really small. And the camera doesn't help much, as it get's in the way too much. It's even hard to keep zones in your memory, as so similar they are. other thing that bothered me in the game was the empty apartments or rooms. I never found another person inside them and always found robots, that I can't understand why, ignore me and just let me go as I please. It seems that security isn't the future's priority, eh?
Even the music that goes with the game, it's nice to the ear but I find myself so concentrated in the combos I don't even listen to it and when I listen to it is like...meh. It's there to make noise.
I even find hard to sympathize with the main character, as I find hard how a person without memories follows orders from a stranger without even having a little doubt or denying moment, and when that moment comes, is so late in the game and is so short that it was like someone remembered that point when the story has advanced so far.
Graphics - 4/5 - Despite all zones seem the same, the world is very well made, and feels futuristic. Where it should appear bad is bad, and good where it is meant to be good. It just delivers, and don't make you stop to watch the scenery but still it meshes well.
Gameplay - 3/5 - Most of the time climbing, and the camera getting in the way. The combos are fun to edit, but require practice. The memory remixes are very good and are the best feature of the game.
Sound - 2/5 - It's just...meh.
Longevity - 2/5 - It's a game to clear once. The story is average, with one or two good revelations. The bonus hunting items that reveal background of the city don't reward as much as thought, I can't find myself wanting to know more about that world, but maybe for some, they will feel compelled to.
Remember Me had an interesting pitch but I feel that Capcom fell a little bit short on this one. The story is average, and it's an entretaining game, but it's not something to revisit a lot of times.
Remember Me gets a 11/20, but it will be hard to remember it.
From the distant future year of 2007 has come one of the greatest Stand-Alone Expansion of all times, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, which in itself it's not that hard to accomplish.
This is a retro-futuristic FPS where you take on an island as the eye-patched cyber-commando Sergeant Rex Power Colt. The island is under control of Colonel Ike Sloan who as gone rogue, controls the Omega Force, which is an army of cyborg soldiers, and wishes to create an armageddon on a post-apocalyptic world and it's up to the player to stop it or as Ubisoft said "get the girl, kill the bad guys, and save the world". In essence, this is not a game to be taken seriously because it is a parody to the 80's action movies. And a very-well done parody if I might add.
So what does it have to do with Far Cry 3 after all? Well...the title, the map was borrowed and adapted, the graphic engine and not much else that I can remember.
As in Far Cry 3, the graphics are really good looking. In this entry the developers decided for a 80's-cyber look so the game is a little dark and the pallete of colors reminded me of TRON which I liked a lot, it was the perfect choice. The Blood Dragons are the most awesome-looking thing in the game and as for the Omega Force concerns all the different troops look almost the same, in my opinion maybe they could have done a little better here.
As you start the game you are presented with one of the best cutscenes of all times. The decision to stick to a 16-bit look was a correct one. It gave the game the true sense that it was made in that era and that 2007 was a future where anything could happen. They even exploit that in the punchlines that Rex Power Colt delivers throught all the game (e.g. "Doors that open by themselves? I love 2007").
As for the gameplay, all the traits, leveling up and crafting from Far Cry 3 was scrapped. It is much simpler, as you level up you automatically gain new abilities and a bigger life bar. In everything else it is like Far Cry 3. The health does not work like in Call of Duty or other FPS games, you have bars which regenerate if they're not empty and to regenerate completely you have to use medpacks or "repair" yourself just like in previous Far Cry games which is a thing I really like.
There are only 8 weapons (plus the grenades and explosives) in the game but they just might be more than enough. You have a pistol, a machine-gun, a bow, a shotgun, shurikens, a heavy machine-gun, a sniper riffle (all of them have different names) and the Deathstar which is probably the only weapon you need. You only get it near the end and you have to earn it but this weapon is devastating, it damages your health but it is worth it! Many weapons have some attachments that can be bought once they are unblocked in-game which makes better but nothing compares to DEATHSTAR.
On the worst side of the game I have to say that there is not much to do in the game. You free garrisons, do the side-quests that freeing the garrisons enables (which is always either hunting something or freeing some scientists) and gain new attachments to the weapons which is repetitive to say the least even though you can use the hearts that you rip off your enemies to lure the Blood Dragons to do the dirty work of killing the Omega Forces in the garrisons for you. It is a treat that you soon get bored of. This game-mechanics is getting traditional to the Far Cry series since the second installment and I'm not really a fan of that.
Another problem with the game is the Blood Dragons death. You kill them, you see an explosion of purple goo and they simply disappear in a weird way. It almost looks like the developers forgot to do something.
The music to the game was composed by the Australian duo Power Glove, they've uploaded the music game's music to SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/powerglove) even before it was announced that the game was being released and it is...awesome. Again, it reminds me of Tron, specially the Daft Punk's OST to the latest movie which I consider to be one of the best OST's ever. Not because it has the best tracks ever but because it is perfect for the movie and that is what happens in Blood Dragon.
I'm addicted to this theme.
The voice actor is Michael Biehn which is known for his roles on some games in the past and in many movies like Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss just to name a few. So they've chose a 80's action movie star to take on the role of a 80's-action-hero and, as expected, it worked out. Biehn has the perfect voice to deliver punchline after punchline and make credible and awesome.
The sound effects are standard. Laser guns and things like that sound like they should. People screaming and dying...the usual. The music is so good that nothing else stands out in this category.
The Achilles' heel of the game is due to one of its main virtues. There aren't many dull moments in the main plot if you stick to it but that makes it a small game. In less than 6 hours I completed the main story, the only thing that kept me going and complete the side quests and collect all there is to collect was the Deathstar, I really cannot get enough of it, and even so I only spent 2 more hours into it. Still it has high replay value and it is only a fraction of the price of a full-sized game which in many cases are not even close to be as good as Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.
In conclusion, I have to say that I've enjoyed a lot more this expansion than the original game. When it was released, I've played the demo and put it on my Steam wishlist. Now that I've played it, I feel that probably I should have not waited for a sale to buy it because I really enjoyed it. It is not an average FPS, it just might be everything we hoped for Duke Nukem Forever and we didn't get which is a recurring opinion about this game throughout the internet. Despite the final score not being very high, I highly recommend everyone to buy this game.
Today I review a game I've been playing since the beta phase 3, and from day one launch. Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn.
Yoshitaka Amano drew the game logo. Look at it. LOOK AT IT!!
Enter the Epic Cinemating Opening!!
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn is a improved version of the original Final Fantasy 14, most known from the many bugs and horrible gameplay. I personally didn't play it, but I read about it and watched gameplay videos so I can't enter in any details for that reason.
Despite the bad reputation that the previous incarnation, known around as version 1.0, when Square-Enix announced the revamped version: FF14: A Realm Reborn, I was curious. The company had gone such measures to clean its good name, so when it was available I signed up for the Beta phase 3, and eventually pre-ordered the game and acessed it on the early access phase.
As I loged in for the first time, and watched the opening sequence, I was still sceptic. Sure the opening was great, and epic like most of the Final Fantasy franchise, but will the game be as good as they wanted to show it? As the character creation screen appeared, half of my doubts were gone. Already at the character creator screen we could have a taste of the game's ambient. While I was modyfing my character, I could swap the background to be in various areas of the game, and have a taste of the graphic ambient before even playing. I even hadn't played the game and was already whispering "damn this looks beautiful".
In the game there are 4 races:
The Hyur: the human like race of Eorzea. The Hyur are a race not originally from Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV, having migrated there and brought their technology with them. There are two types of Hyur, the Midlanders and Highlanders.
Midlanders on the left and Highlanders on the right. The Midlander is the main character in the game presentations.
The Elezen: The elven like race of Eorzea. They are the race that has lived in Eorzea the longest and co-exist peacefully with the other races. There are two types of Elezen, the Wildwood Elezen and the Duskwight Elezen. As in other mmo's they are comparable to City elves and Dark Elves, and as such they aren't really on good terms.
Wildwood Elezen on the left side and Duskwight on the right. Hey is that Drizzt japanese cousin??
The Lalafell: The hobbit-like race of Eorzea. The Lalafell are a race from the seas south of Eorzea and the race consists of the Plainsfolk, which live in thatched-roof homes and have great hearing, and the Dunesfolk who live in the desert and herd animals.
Dunesfolk on the right side and Plainsfolk on the left. Small and cute. I don't like them.
The Miqo'te: The cat-like race of Eorzea (as a JRPG wouldn't have cat-like characters). Like Hyur the race is an immigrant race on Eorzea. They are two types of Miqo'te: The Seekers of the Sun and the Keepers of the Moon.
The Seekers of the Sun on the left and the Keepers of the Moon on the right. A must have character of the most hardcore of otakus.
Roegadyn: the fourth race of Eorzea. The Roegadyn are a race from the seas north of Eorzea. There are two types of Roegadyn: the Sea Wolves and the Lohengarde or Hellsguard.
Sea Wolves on the left and Hellsguard on the right. They just scream tank characters right?
As I usually start with the most human like race so I went with a Midlander Hyur.
Then I had to choose a Class. There are 8 in the begining: Archer, Lancer, Gladiator (a kind of swordsman tank class), Conjurer (the basic kind of healer), Arcanist (the basic kind of summoner), Marauder (a tank class), Pugilist and Thaumaturge (debuffs and damaging magic). These classes are levelud up by completing quests, and can be upgraded for advanced classes called Jobs. These are Paladin, Dragoon (a classic Final Fantasy class), Monk (as in other Final fantasy series it's not a healer class, but a kind of martial artist), Bard (buffer and archer), Warrior, White Mage (the advanced healers, as in other Final Fantasies), The Black Mage (the advanced wizard), Summoner and Scholar (buffer and healer).
These classes are called The Disciples of War and The Disciples of Magic (if they are mainly magic based skill classes). There are also two more disciple classes.
The Disciples of the Hand: Armourers, weavers, carpenters, goldsmiths, alchemists, culinarians and leatherworkers. They are crafting classes, and gain experience by crafting materials, enabling them to craft different items as they level up. Each class has specific items that they craft.
The Disciples of the Land: Botanists, Fishers and Miners. They are the gatherer classes and level up by Gathering.
Durign the beta phase 3, I played as a Gladiator, but on the launch as I had done some research before and I always liked the dragoons from other series, I went with Lancer.
Depending on wich class you chose, you'll start in one of the three capital cities of Eorzea. Each capital has its own Grand Company, kind of an army, and eventually you have to join one, but it doesn't influence the storyline.
Ul'dah - Ul'dah is a city-state known as the most wealthy of the city-states, ruled by a Sultanate. It's the home of the Gladiator's, Arcanist's and Pugilist's Guild, if you chose one of this classes, this is where you start. The Grand Company of Ul'dah are The Immortal Flames and the beastkind that threathens this area are the Amalj'aa, who whorship Ifrit, the Lord of Inferno.
Gridania - Gridania is located on the Aldenard continent. It is located in the midst of the Black Shroud, a dense forest also known as the Twelvewoods that serves to filter out those hostile toward the Elementals and those in cooperation with them. Gridania is by far the most unified of the city-states. It's home for The Lancer's, Archer's and Conjurer's Guild, and if you chose one of this classes it's where you start. The Grand Company of Gridania is The Order of The Twin Adder and there are two beastkind to this area, the Sylphs who whorship Ramu, The Lord of Thunder, and have a peace treaty with Gridania, and the Ixal who worship Garuda, the Queen of Storms.
Limsa Lominsa - Limsa Lominsa is an independent marine city state of Eorzea. Located on the southern coast of the island Vylbrand, Limsa Lominsa is a bustling port and pirate hideout. It's home for the Marauder's and Arcanist's Guild. It's Grand Company is The Maelstrom. The two beastkind of this area are the Kobolds, who whorship Titan, The Lord of Crags and the Sahagin who whorship Leviathan, The lord of the Tide.
The opening depicted the last event in the 1.0 version, Eorzea was in war with the Garland Empire, and the Empire unsealed the Primal (God-like creatures that thread in aether, that is what composes everything in Eorzea) Bahamut (what's a Final Fantasy title without the king of wyverns?) and unleashed hell on the land. It was stopped by the Scions of The Seven Dawn, an Order dedicated to study Aether and it's disturbances, and a group of adventurers, later called The Warriors of Light. The story starts 5 years after this event, now called The Calamity, and it seems that no one can remember the face or the name of the Warriors. As I was a Lancer I started in Gridania. The initial sequence is the same for every class, changing only which zone and wich beast kind are introduced. As I stepped in Gridania I was sent to the Adventurer's Guild of that City, The Carlile Canopy. The start of the story revolves around doing quests in the starting region of Eorzea you have chosen, and the Guilds that you join. It's very easy to change classes in this game, first you have to sign up on it's guld and then you just have to switch weapons to change class. You only gain experience points to the class that you are though, so if you are a lv10 Lancer and join the Conjurer's guild, when you change to Conjurer you'll be lv1. As you level up a class you gain new abilities (as any mmo) and unlock additional slots for skills from another class (advanced jobs only let you equip skills from 2 specific classes, while basic classes like lancer let you choose from any basic class that has a skill compatible with it). This lets you have lots of strategies until you get an advanced job.
Until level 15 you can play solo but as you advance in the story, you will be required to enter parties to clear dungeons. The game has a function to pair up players randomly by class called The Duty Finder, or you can make your own party of 4 and enter the dungeon. It wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game if you didn't have a party. Usually it isn't a problem solving them with random people, as almost everytime they explain it to newbies and are very accessible. It has been a plus for me in this game, the community is very accessible and fun, and as I like to play solo, it isn't a torture to go on a party for dungeon raiding. The Duty Finder only had a problem at the beggining of the game, as the levels were too concentrated on specific zones, there wasn't a healer or a tank for a specific dungeon for long periods of time. Today, as the levels are more dispersed, it hasn't been an issue.
Eventually while you're questing you are aproached by the Scions of the Seven Dawn, and start researching various aether disturbances, leading to the unravelling of the plot and eventually the Empire and The Primals. The Primals are the most threating force on Eorzea, they are summoned by their worshippers and influence living being to worshipe them. But (surprise!) you are immune to them, and become a key in the war against them.
The world of Eorzea is appealing to the eye, and each zone is unique and feels alive. The weather is always changing varying from sunny, cloudy and even having storms, and also the usual day/night cycle.
Coerthas, the north part of Gridania. It always remembers me something out of A Song of Ice and Fire.
La Noscea - the area around Limsa Lominsa.
Me chilling with my chocobo on Costa Del Sol, a part of La Noscea. Final Fantasy fans might remember this name from Final Fantasy 7.
Mor Dohna, the end game zone and where the last part of the story happens. A nice view of the Coil of Bahamut, one of the End Game Dungeons.
Thanalan, the desert area around Ul'dah.
The Black Shroud, a huge forest area around Gridania.
The FATEs ( Free Action Time Events) also give dynamism to the world. I still remember my first fate, as I din't yet know what it was and a crowd of chocobo riders passed through me, as the message 'A FATE has been detected nearby' appeared on the screen. They are 'Free to join quests' being killing hords of mobs, killing a special monster, heck even special Primals such as Odin, that level up every time it is defeated. I got lucky to fight it once, as he is a world boss. I wasn't lucky to be one of the 400 (yes 400 players) victims of his Zantetsuken, instant killing everyone in the FATE.
ODIN!!! *shakes fist in the air angrily* I shall have my revenge!
As I stand in lv47 and the level cap is 50, I'm reaching the end game now, and the thing that has been bothering me the most in the game has appeared. The Exp gained is small. It takes a lot of time to level up. That can be normal if the dungeons were the most exp rewarding events in the game, you would get exp and loot, but they aren't. The most exp rewarding events near end game are FATES or Levequests (repeatable quests you can take) and they get grindy and boring as they are always the same events. But, gotta grind to end that game and get the final Drachen armor!
Yes it's my character at the moment, a Lv47 Dragoon. And yes the lack of a full set annoys me as much as you, but the next part is only obtainable at lv50. Damn you Square-Enix!
It had some issues in the launch too. There were a lot more than the expected number of users and the servers were always full or kicking players out, having SE to upgrade them and refunding free play time to all users. Lately there were an issue with a critical Lag, but it seemed solved, or at least for me it has. Not a good start for a subscriptioned game.
In the incoming update (2.01) it will include PVP of 4 vs 4, housing and access to the Crystal Tower, a 21 player instance dungeon. I'm looking forward to it, and how depressing it will be to have 21 random players doing it by Duty Finder if you're not part of a Free Company like me (Free Companies are the Guild system of FF14). Well, that's a part of the fun I guess, whining about cooperations of strangers xD.
Graphics 5/5 - I play the PS3 version and, and unfortunatelly on 520i definiton, the game looks amazing already. As agame that runs on PC and will be launched for the PS4 (for free if you own the ps3 version), it will be even more appealing to the eye. I got to get a new TV...
Gameplay 3/5 - The crafting is easy, and as I said I play on a ps3 and playing with the controller is fairly easy. It doesn't bring anything new to the mmo gameplay and it annoys me that on the beta while plugged with a keyboard, I would have a pc hotbar hub and later it was removed. What the hell SE??
Sound 5/5 - The OST is astounding. Every zone has its own theme and battle theme, variants of the main one, the FATES have one too, Levequests too, and there are specific boss theme songs.
Sadly the full version and the Titan's Boss Theme are out of youtube. A sad day indeed.
Longevity 4/5 - As a MMO that will receive future updates, it has the potencial to have a great longevity, and if you like grinding you have a lot of classes to level up.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn deals a critical hit of 17/20.
How great is Doom? I’ll tell you, it’s the
grandaddy of FPS gaming. Hell, FPSs were called Doom clones for a long time even
though there were other FPS’s before him.
The year was 1993 when Doom was released and
since then it was ported to at least 20 different platforms. As many games from
that time, it was released as shareware, you would get a copy from a store or a
friend with only the first chapter available and to play the full version of
the game you would have to order it from the developer id Software. You would
receive the full version at home by mail, like Steam but without internet.
But, what makes Doom so great? And that’s easy,
everything!
Up until Doom there is, in my opinion, only one
game worth mentioning in the FPS genre and that was another game from id, Wolfenstein
3d, from 1992, which I will likely talk about it later. But the improvements in
all the aspects of the game make Doom seem like they weren’t even made in the
same decade.
Let’s start to talk about graphics. Back in
1993, the first thing you would notice is….the ceilings. The game had ceilings.
It doesn’t look like much but at the time this was the first FPS to have
something to look like a ceiling instead of a single color trying to look like
one. The relatively realistic 3d graphics were also a big improvement. The
walls weren’t in a rectangular grid and they would have different sizes. There
were flickering lights and a dark ambience to the game. The enemies were no
longer 2d cardboards but they would seem to move diagonally. Again it does not
seem like much but the non-perpendicular walls, full texture mapping of all
surfaces, varying light levels and custom palettes were a big thing back then.
It was essential to give the game the amazing atmosphere it still has. I mean,
it’s been 20 years since the release and I still look at it and don’t think it
looks bad. It still looks good, very good! Better than many, many games that
were released since.
The sound. Oh, the sound! The menu had a simple
music on the background and some metallic sound when you made a selection but
when you started a game there was really music unlike the boring beat on the
Wolfenstein 3d’s background. And it could have been any better? Unlikely. In a
game called Doom which promises to take to hell it could only have been some
music from hell. Metal it is! The first music is loosely based on Metallica’s
Master of Puppets and the list goes on…Pantera, AC/DC, Slayer, Black Sabbath,
Judas Priest and Alice in Chains were some of the bands which music inspired the
Robert Prince’s soundtrack to the game. Why spend a lot of money paying to
bands to use a legally MIDI-like (it was the MUS format that was used) version
when you could make something that sounded just the same for a lot less?
The weapons sound awesome and the enemies grunt
during the levels making you afraid to turn any corner. The goal was to make
the gamer scared and the sound was spot on to do so. They all sound like they
are in a really bad mood and all willing to kill you.
And talking about bad guys trying to kill you
we talk about the difficulty, even in the easier mode the game is not that easy
as you would think and the more you improve the difficulty of the game you see
less ammo, less medkits and a lot more enemies to kill. The hardest mode is
called “Nightmare” which I find suitable because you are due to have a lot of
them if you play it.
Another thing that makes Doom great is the
maps. They don’t simply go from A to C passing through B. No! Unlike most games
today, they make you go from A to B but you have to go to C…and then to F…back
to A…then to D…back to C and then, maybe, you would get to B. The maps were big
and they would get bigger each level. Lots of rooms, filled with enemies and
ammo. Keys to collect so you could open doors and progress in the game. I
mean…you would want to explore the whole map before leaving while nowadays you
simply go to wherever the compass points. When you finish a level there is an
intermission screen which shows the percentages of kills, items collected and
secrets found in the level. I guarantee it’s not easy to simply continue to the
next level without seeing 100% in those stats.
The game has 3 chapters with 9 levels each
which end with a boss battle. A lot more than today’s games. And the game takes
some time to complete. There are some speedruns you can search on the web but
not that many. John Romero, the level designer, once said that such a thing had
to be impossible. In 1995 a store version of the game was released which included
a new chapter. Some other ports, like the one on Xbox 360, contains some new
secret levels.
The game has 8 different weapons. You are
likely to never use the brass-knuckled fists if you run out of ammo because you
have the awesome chainsaw and even if you have ammo you are drawn to use it.
You have the pistol with which you start the game but still in the first level
you get the shotgun and the Doom’s shotgun is awesome, you can almost complete
the game with only the shotgun, that’s how good it is. There’s also a chaingun,
a rocket launcher and a plasma gun which are good but not as fun as the
chainsaw, the shotgun and the BFG9000! Even the name is epic! And the thrill to
shoot it can only be experienced and never told, I can only say that it's
devastating.
It has 10 different enemies that range
from a possessed soldier or an imp which can be killed with a single shotgun to
the bigger demons or bosses which take a lot of shots from the player’s
strongest weapons to kill.
The gameplay is pretty straight forward. You
can use auto-aim with only the keyboard or you could use a mouse. The game runs
smoothly, it’s easy to move around either by turning around or strafing using
the controls and there are no obstacles to keep you from your goals that cannot
be solved by your gaming skills. The first person perspective makes you think
that your arm is right in the middle of your chest but apart from that there is
only two real problems. The first being a little bit difficult to see what’s
above or beneath with you do not use the mouse and you cannot jump. I really do
not know if it was a game engine limitation or a programmers decision but it
works fine nonetheless.
An interesting fact about Doom is that from its
first release, Doom supported networked multiplayer gameplay in addition to its
single-player gameplay. It was one of the first popular games to support
networked play. In other words, Doom was the pioneer of deathmatch so a lot of
games still deserve the title of Doom-clone in my opinion. Also, you could play
co-op.
But…what’s Doom about? When you play the game
there is not much story in it. Between each episode of the game you get some
short messages which tell what happened but not much. The only way to know is
the old-fashioned way, to read the instruction manual.
The player takes the role of a space marine on
Mars. He works as a security for the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) which
accidentally create a gateway while performing experiments with teleportation.
Evil demons then came from the gateway killing and possessing the UAC personnel
and it’s up to the unnamed player to prevent the demons to get to Earth.
It’s been 20 years since its release and I
still look at the game and think it looks awesome. It’s still more challenging
and more rewarding to play than most of the games that are released nowadays.
The gameplay is great and it only depends on the player to complete the game,
the programing and level design was almost perfect. It looks good. It sounds
good. There is just nothing wrong with it. That’s why it’s great. A timeless classic
which will be played for a long time. I play it every once in a while and sometimes more than once a year.
There are many ways to get the game nowadays.
In the consoles you can get it on PSN Store or the XBLA. You can also get it on
Doom 3 BFG Edition which was released in all platforms or Steam if you use Mac,
Linux or Windows. I did not tried the PSN, the XBLA and the Steam versions but
I tried and thought that the Doom 3 BFG Edition version to be a little bit
“laggy” to respond to controls.
Personally, I keep my old WAD file from
Ultimate Doom on my Dropbox to have it always available, as it should be, and
use ZDoom to play them on all my computers, this way I can even jump.
