Hello all!
Currently the GFGG team is prepping themselves for the long and early morning train ride down to Eurogamer.
I shall be Tweeting (@JaffaKira) and blogging the whole time - as well as posting some Youtube vids.
Hopefully we'll grab some good content, stay tuned and I'll speak to you soon!
29/10/2009
18/10/2009
The Last Stand
Every videogame and their mothers these days have some sort of survival mode attached to the experience so it really wasn't a surprise when Relic/THQ announced one for Dawn of War II. Having been released a few days ago I've put a bit of time into it and have found it to be enjoyable. There are a few gripes though.
The first of my problems is the obvious and most annoying fault, the lag. Now I don't have the greastest internet connection yet I can play just about any game out at the moment with little to no problem. The Last Stand lags no matter who your connected to and it does begin to get annoying. The second issue I have is that you HAVE to have 3 people in your party to play. This isn't a huge problem but a few times I have found myself wanting to play a match with Drahc but having to wait for the server to find us a third player.
Having said all of this the DLC is fantastically good fun. You may have worries about how long this fun will last but I assure you that there are enough upgrades and wargear to keep you going for a long time, and 3 characters to play. The gameplay basically revolves around surving against waves of various races. Every fourth wave is a boss battle (which are always challenging) and there are also 2 control points that increase your points multiplier. Once you die (and you will die) you gain experience on the character that you were using. This experience is the same for all of the players in the match. This ensures that everyone gets a level playing field and team play becomes a more intergrated part of the game (as opposed toa rush to get the kills). Gaining levels only unlocks wargear meaning that a level 1 player can be as effective as a level 15 depending on the skill of the player. This is a welcome change to normal RPG systems.
Overall The Last Stand is a good addition to Dawn of War II, and, although it isn't something that you should buy the game for I recommend downloading it (if you already own the game) and putting some time into it. Especially if you have some mates to do it with.
The first of my problems is the obvious and most annoying fault, the lag. Now I don't have the greastest internet connection yet I can play just about any game out at the moment with little to no problem. The Last Stand lags no matter who your connected to and it does begin to get annoying. The second issue I have is that you HAVE to have 3 people in your party to play. This isn't a huge problem but a few times I have found myself wanting to play a match with Drahc but having to wait for the server to find us a third player.
Having said all of this the DLC is fantastically good fun. You may have worries about how long this fun will last but I assure you that there are enough upgrades and wargear to keep you going for a long time, and 3 characters to play. The gameplay basically revolves around surving against waves of various races. Every fourth wave is a boss battle (which are always challenging) and there are also 2 control points that increase your points multiplier. Once you die (and you will die) you gain experience on the character that you were using. This experience is the same for all of the players in the match. This ensures that everyone gets a level playing field and team play becomes a more intergrated part of the game (as opposed toa rush to get the kills). Gaining levels only unlocks wargear meaning that a level 1 player can be as effective as a level 15 depending on the skill of the player. This is a welcome change to normal RPG systems.
Overall The Last Stand is a good addition to Dawn of War II, and, although it isn't something that you should buy the game for I recommend downloading it (if you already own the game) and putting some time into it. Especially if you have some mates to do it with.
05/10/2009
All Hands, Man Your Stations! There's War to be Had in the Pacific!
"December 7th, 1941 - a day which will live in infamy" - Franklin D. Roosevelt, on the attack of Pearl Harbour
On May 15, 2009 Battlestations: Pacific appeared in Europe, to no great hype or excitement. Although its predecessor, Battlestations: Midway had been reasonable it had not been awesome. A limited amount of missions and scenarios meant the replayability wasn't too good, and so personally my expectations for its sequel weren't too high.
However, having played the game itself, Battlestations: Pacific has proved to cure most of the ailments that afflicted its older brother, sister, mutant, disc, or whatever you want to refer to it as. Straight from the off, there is now a Japanese Campaign, much to my delight, as we can all assume the Japanese Battleship Yamato will make an appearance, and where there is a Yamato Class Battleship, there will be carnage... and lots of dead US sailors. Fact.
On May 15, 2009 Battlestations: Pacific appeared in Europe, to no great hype or excitement. Although its predecessor, Battlestations: Midway had been reasonable it had not been awesome. A limited amount of missions and scenarios meant the replayability wasn't too good, and so personally my expectations for its sequel weren't too high.
However, having played the game itself, Battlestations: Pacific has proved to cure most of the ailments that afflicted its older brother, sister, mutant, disc, or whatever you want to refer to it as. Straight from the off, there is now a Japanese Campaign, much to my delight, as we can all assume the Japanese Battleship Yamato will make an appearance, and where there is a Yamato Class Battleship, there will be carnage... and lots of dead US sailors. Fact.
Of course, where there's foreign voices, there is a possibility of bad voice acting, and this plague has visited BS:P. The Japanese voice acting, is now in English, so rather than hearing a Japanese person shouting at you “Torpedoes in the water” in a language you don't understand, you now have some awful voice acting telling you the important information of your impending doom. This for me though, makes the game that little bit better, as it gives me a chance to evade and carry on playing, rather than encouraging me to learn how to swear at fellow crewmen in Japanese.
Another detail I have noticed is that game balance has been restored. No longer can you spam Torpedo bombers at everything that moves and hope to let the waterline do the rest. Torpedo damage is now reduced and water pumping more efficient, meaning if you leave that destroyer to die, it will slowly repair itself, and then destroy you. As its name suggests. Enemy AI has also been improved, reacting to your movements rather than moving in your fleets’ general direction and hoping for a kill.
The absolute best thing that helps haul this game from Midway to the Pacific is the new Skirmish mode. At last, once the campaigns have finally been completed (after surviving those really annoying Submarine and Plane missions), you now have a replayability factor in the form of several Skirmish modes, ranging from Take and Hold style maps to Protect the Invasion Fleet and Duel mode, improving the online experience tenfold, as gamers get to enjoy new competitive game modes to challenge their gunnery, strategy and general "blow-uppery" skills.
However, it's not all sunshine and lollipops for BS:P. There comes a time where you'll hit, as mentioned before, missions that are limited to Submarines, Planes, or something else you really don't like doing. Although there is slightly more mission variation than “kill this, move here, protect this” (including a raid against an Australian harbour in the Japanese Campaign), the time will come where you have to fight in a vehicle you don't like, or when the odds are so horribly stacked against you that you don't feel a chance of victory. Depth Charges still own Submarines... (hint hint) I hate Sub missions.
Strategic importance
has also been pivotal to this games development, as with the reactive AI, players have to think of tactics rather than just getting Heavy Cruisers and Battleships in Skirmish modes. This is what truly makes the game brilliant. Unlockables and even interchangeable Nose-Art on Planes makes the game more in-depth than ever before, allowing you a certain amount of customisation in your forces.
So overall? BS:P has the right mix of tactics and 3rd person Battleship Carnage that made the first game bearable. Although with a couple of annoying missions, BS:P is certainly a marked improvement, and definitely worth getting if you're interested in ship-to-ship warfare or general carnage. When all else fails, take command of the biggest ship you've got and turn the tide yourself. Sounds good right? All hands, Battlestations!
04/10/2009
Uncharted 2 Beta Impressions
Now we all know that Uncharted 2 has been hyped beyond comparison but, possibly, by some nigh on impossible way it might have lived up to the buzz? Now before you take my head off for saying this hear me out. Think what Uncharted is being praised for. Good looking? Check. Good voice acting? Check. Good multiplayer? Most definitely yes.
The beta has been knocking around those lucky enough to be part of it for a few months now and all we have been hearing are good things. It went live to the public a few days ago and the reception has been fantastic. I downloaded it 2 days ago and am already addicted, see here’s the thing. Not only is playing Uncharted 2 online a hell of a lot of fun and absolutely stunning, it’s also rewarding and very addictive. There is an enormous amount of modes and game types to delve into despite how little it seems at first.
The demo gives you 4 different modes to play with: Deathmatch, Objective, Co-op Objective and Co-op Arena. The 2 co-op modes are good fun to play through with some friends but the real meat of the demo is in the Deathmatch and Objective modes. I have been playing for 2 days now and have put in about 4-5 hours and have not played a single game type twice. There are only a handful of maps but the intricacies of the games alter constantly. Be it a standard all weapons point capture or an all RPG fight to the, quite explosive, death. I have played such a numerous amount of different game types but I’m still convinced that I haven’t seen everything this has to offer (I haven't even discussed the brilliant machinima mode). And this is just the beta.
Point I’m trying to get across is this: Download the beta, enjoy it, buy the game, enjoy it and be happy. This is incredible considering it’s free and is in many ways more value for money than some full games I’ve played. Get it and love it.
(As a side note it seems that some people are experiencing a very long wait to get into their first few online games. Whillst I didn't experience this myself I thought I would mention it anyway just incase thats a factor for any of you.)
The beta has been knocking around those lucky enough to be part of it for a few months now and all we have been hearing are good things. It went live to the public a few days ago and the reception has been fantastic. I downloaded it 2 days ago and am already addicted, see here’s the thing. Not only is playing Uncharted 2 online a hell of a lot of fun and absolutely stunning, it’s also rewarding and very addictive. There is an enormous amount of modes and game types to delve into despite how little it seems at first.
The demo gives you 4 different modes to play with: Deathmatch, Objective, Co-op Objective and Co-op Arena. The 2 co-op modes are good fun to play through with some friends but the real meat of the demo is in the Deathmatch and Objective modes. I have been playing for 2 days now and have put in about 4-5 hours and have not played a single game type twice. There are only a handful of maps but the intricacies of the games alter constantly. Be it a standard all weapons point capture or an all RPG fight to the, quite explosive, death. I have played such a numerous amount of different game types but I’m still convinced that I haven’t seen everything this has to offer (I haven't even discussed the brilliant machinima mode). And this is just the beta.
Point I’m trying to get across is this: Download the beta, enjoy it, buy the game, enjoy it and be happy. This is incredible considering it’s free and is in many ways more value for money than some full games I’ve played. Get it and love it.
(As a side note it seems that some people are experiencing a very long wait to get into their first few online games. Whillst I didn't experience this myself I thought I would mention it anyway just incase thats a factor for any of you.)
29/09/2009
The Old Republic
Since I am a MMO player, and for all those who are interested, and I am preparing myself for the mocking of the fellow GFGG staff, I play WoW or World of Warcraft, that awfully addictive game... I’ve played EVE online, which I was doing ok with until I lost my ship, threw all my toys out of the pram and quit. And once upon a time I played that, now looking back bad, game, Runescape, over the interwebs. I did once try to play Star Wars Galaxies, and it was either all the bad things I heard about it, or a technical issue that stopped me from actually playing the game, but I never got round to it.
Now its LucasArt’s second attempt to breathe life into their bank accounts (Although, with all the merchandise LucasArt’s have made, I’m sure their bank accounts are lined and made from Gold), with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now, for you lot in the know, you’ll know what series this is following on from. For all of you who don’t. Look back at other games LucasArts have made, say... in the RPG genre. Then say... look at games set BBY (Before Battle of Yavin.) Then say... look at the name and realise it shares a name with KOTOR, Knights of The Old Republic. Yes!! LucasArt’s have decided that the follow on to that brilliant game KOTOR 2, that they are going to make an MMO from it. Congratulations, Most of your fan base now hates you...
Now its LucasArt’s second attempt to breathe life into their bank accounts (Although, with all the merchandise LucasArt’s have made, I’m sure their bank accounts are lined and made from Gold), with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now, for you lot in the know, you’ll know what series this is following on from. For all of you who don’t. Look back at other games LucasArts have made, say... in the RPG genre. Then say... look at games set BBY (Before Battle of Yavin.) Then say... look at the name and realise it shares a name with KOTOR, Knights of The Old Republic. Yes!! LucasArt’s have decided that the follow on to that brilliant game KOTOR 2, that they are going to make an MMO from it. Congratulations, Most of your fan base now hates you...
Since Galaxies, When they messed it up bad ways by making the Hero class (Jedi) easier to obtain by casual players, which caused all kinds of problems (If you having problems thinking why this is bad, imagine a group of intellectual people being given a button to destroy the world, but because they are intelligent they have no wish to destroy the world, now imagine, that button gets mass produced and given to monkies... And the button has a picture and smell of bananas...) Now, LucasArts thinking ahead, have released a (At the moment only Sith Warrior) Jedi ish class. This may sound mad. But wait! If they release them as a default class to pick, then they have the ability to be normalised around the rest of the default classes, making the game more balanced. This might make a lot of people since that will mean that the Sith and the Jedi won’t be super powered, but it’s all for the best.
This game has two basic ways it can go, in terms of combat. It can either go for a WoW interface of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Then abilities linked to each of the buttons. Or it will follow a KOTOR style combat system of lining up attacks (to people who haven’t played KOTOR, I’m sorry if you don’t understand this, just image a menu of all your attacks that you cycle through) Either way, people will adapt to this way of play easily. So combat won’t be an issue. The only problem I see with the combat is that a soldier will have fewer abilities, than, say, a bounty hunter, who will have fewer abilities than Sith Warrior etc. So classes, unless they surprise me and give each people the same amount of abilities to balance it, will be unbalanced.
Dialogue will always be dialogue, and I don’t intend on hovering on the subject long, I just hope they implement a KOTOR 2 style dialogue system, where you can pick what you say, and you can influence relationships with people based on what you pick (So telling a quest giver they have a ugly haircut will make them not want to give you quests.)
Which leads me swiftly onto quests, as I assume that, since every other MMO does it, that this one will too, give Quests or Missions to level your character up faster, but, as previously mentioned, every MMO does something like that. I can’t see them getting around that, but I would like to see them try, make an Original MMO (sorry for swearing, “Original MMO”)
The planet selection is limited at the moment, but they always have chances to increase the amount of planets you can go to later on, out of the millions in the Star Wars universe. What will interest me to see, is how you get to other planets. You’d either have to pay to fly on a Transport full of other people (Which will get tedious), Transport will be free (Still tedious but better) or pay for your own ship (which is brilliant, but then raises questions.) I mean, for the latter, if you have your own ship, why don’t you sellotape a massive gun to the front and blow people to the moon of Endor and back.
Finally, and this is very, Very, early days to be thinking about this, and some people will hate me for this, but what on Coruscant (see what I did there, “What on Earth”, “What on Coruscant” Teehee) will they do for End Game. “Gather 40 people up and go blow up a early Star Destroyer... well... an early version of the early version of the Star Destroyer... it gets complicated” or “Go kill this badass Sith dude” in which case, the first one means that Space Warfare might be involved, (By the way, this is all hypothetically, off the top of my head stuff, don’t expect any of this in the actual game) which would be badass, but it means that ship to ship fighting would occur, which means space could be dominated, which causes a lot of issues. And the second option seems awful, Cause End Game means that you need to gather a lot of people, and it gives more rewarding stuff, but Kill a person? And that needs 40 of you? Seems unfair, and it kind of makes you disheartened that you can’t do it by yourself...
Dialogue will always be dialogue, and I don’t intend on hovering on the subject long, I just hope they implement a KOTOR 2 style dialogue system, where you can pick what you say, and you can influence relationships with people based on what you pick (So telling a quest giver they have a ugly haircut will make them not want to give you quests.)
Which leads me swiftly onto quests, as I assume that, since every other MMO does it, that this one will too, give Quests or Missions to level your character up faster, but, as previously mentioned, every MMO does something like that. I can’t see them getting around that, but I would like to see them try, make an Original MMO (sorry for swearing, “Original MMO”)
The planet selection is limited at the moment, but they always have chances to increase the amount of planets you can go to later on, out of the millions in the Star Wars universe. What will interest me to see, is how you get to other planets. You’d either have to pay to fly on a Transport full of other people (Which will get tedious), Transport will be free (Still tedious but better) or pay for your own ship (which is brilliant, but then raises questions.) I mean, for the latter, if you have your own ship, why don’t you sellotape a massive gun to the front and blow people to the moon of Endor and back.
Finally, and this is very, Very, early days to be thinking about this, and some people will hate me for this, but what on Coruscant (see what I did there, “What on Earth”, “What on Coruscant” Teehee) will they do for End Game. “Gather 40 people up and go blow up a early Star Destroyer... well... an early version of the early version of the Star Destroyer... it gets complicated” or “Go kill this badass Sith dude” in which case, the first one means that Space Warfare might be involved, (By the way, this is all hypothetically, off the top of my head stuff, don’t expect any of this in the actual game) which would be badass, but it means that ship to ship fighting would occur, which means space could be dominated, which causes a lot of issues. And the second option seems awful, Cause End Game means that you need to gather a lot of people, and it gives more rewarding stuff, but Kill a person? And that needs 40 of you? Seems unfair, and it kind of makes you disheartened that you can’t do it by yourself...
Anyway, I can only hope they sort out the website soon, so I can play it, and have no social life still. And I hope they don’t mess it up like Galaxies. Anyway, this is Craig signing off, sorry if this has gone back to Essay like form :(. And may the force be with you.
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