Tag Archives: PS3

Serving the douche: When usability trumps character

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Oh, I have a partner in this game? Wonderful! You take this, and this, and this, oh I might need this, but take this….

Partners in video games have it rough. They’ve been shafted ever since the palette-swapped Luigi. From glorified attaché cases to obedient lap dogs, the secondary character has struggled to define their identity, balancing usability with personality and frequently tripping over themselves in the process. Developers tend to who sabotage the appeal of their secondary characters. You get the feeling that they’re  the kind of developers who liked The Odd Couple so much they stole the dynamic without considering the balance of friendly snark so integral to the characters.

What you really get out of Prince of Persia (2008), for instance, is an awful prince belittling a lovely princess. The Prince and Elika’s relationship initially comes off as a bickering married couple whose amusing banter lends a sense of humour to the experience, but a closer look reveals the Prince is anything but supportive of Elika. He criticizes not only her consideration of other people before herself, but openly abuses her magical abilities to explore the world and gives her nothing in return. And while the writing portrays Elika …

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Confronting violence in Nier

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I’ve killed a lot of people in video games.

There weren’t many games that chastised me for killing until Nier, though. Shadow of the Colossus certainly tried, but it’s difficult to feel guilty when you can unlock power ups via Time Attacks that encourage your violent behaviour. Fumito Ueda’s questioning of violence in games is muddled by the inclusion of video game tropes. In Nier, Cavia embrace the familiar design points of games and use New Game + to illustrate how easily we commit violence in games. Nier does not coddle you, though. Yoko Taro, the director of Nier, is a man who doesn’t want your approval or respect. He wants to teach you a lesson.

In the early to mid-20th century, a theatrical movement entitled Epic Theatre came about as a reaction to the popular melodrama and naturalistic acting style employed in theatre productions at the time. Epic Theatre stressed that the audience were complacent and fat; incapable of any grand thoughts or moral teachings as modern plays were designed to uphold the illusion of naturalism and merely entertain. At all times, Epic Theatre seeks to remind the audience that they’re watching a play, arguing that the audience are only capable …

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Metal Gear Solid’s postmodern legacy: part 1

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Naked Raiden

“What was that noise?”

I love the Metal Gear Solid series. Despite it’s overindulgence of cutscenes and increasingly nonsensical plots, I love the series to death. I tell you this so that you know my next statement is going to be horrendously biased. As a videogame series, Metal Gear Solid is one of the most important pieces of evidence we have to prove that our beloved industry can hold up against some of the more “intellectual” mediums (I’m looking at you, literature!).

I present to you part one of my exploration into the postmodern legacy of Kojima’s masterpiece. Expect name-dropping galore and hopefully ideas on the series that many of you will have never considered before, all combining to further prove that videogames can be as academically relevant as literature or film.

Videogames lend themselves very well to postmodern theory. A train of thought that embraces notions about simulation, hyperreality, self-reference, intertextuality and parody is always going to be useful when explaining any contemporary visual medium, but the added interactivity of videogames seems to be incredibly well-suited to playing with the Postmodern questions of reality and identity first explored by the likes of Baudrillard, Lyotard and Jameson.

A series that constantly confronted, challenged and …

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Rayman Origins is a Roller Coaster Ride

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Warning: This review contains detailed narrative spoilers but only moderate mechanical spoilers.

Rayman started with a quirky and fun 2D platformer released back in 1995. Then came the 3D sequels, one that was unrelated to the first game but still good, and another that was… hrrrngggh. Unfortunately, the series eventually fell into the common trap of becoming little more than a string of spin-offs, party games, and the occasional handheld title. Those fans longing for a return to form were seemingly marginalized until 2010, the year when Michel Ancel and Co. announced Rayman Origins.

It was originally intended to be a downloadable, possibly even episodic, title conceptualized as a direct result of Ubisoft Montpellier’s work on Beyond Good & Evil 2 that would join the disparate elements of the first two games together and definitively cover the previously glossed-over origins of protagonist Rayman and friend Globox. What we actually ended up with was some odd remake-sequel hybrid and a “story” altogether different from what we were led to expect, but more on that later. Before we get to the downers, let me highlight the meritorious parts of the package.

Couldn't agree more!

The first thing …

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Ken Levine doesn’t want a new console just yet

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It’s been said before that this generation’s hardware would live longer than its predecessors; the original Xbox lasted only four years before Microsoft rolled out the 360, which turns six this month. With no official word of its successor, it’s unlikely 2012 will see a new outing from Microsoft, nor Sony, for that matter. However, we’ve reached the point we’re devs are getting antsy – DICE have made clear their preference for the PC’s raw power with Battlefield 3, and consoles still lack a suitable digital distribution models for AAA games. Irrational Games’ Ken Levine, however, is quite confident this console generation still has life in it yet.

“It’s clear there’s still a fair bit of juice left in these machines,” said Levine. “You look at Arkham City, you look at Uncharted and you look at Gears of War and you’re starting to see that these games don’t look old to me. They look very current.”

Levine, who is currently working on Bioshock Infinite, acknowledged the difficulty in creating a sequel using what is essentially the same technology, but praised his team’s ability to push the technology to its limits.

“We’re working on the same hardware platform, so basically your engineers have to …

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Why The Tomb Raider Franchise Isn’t Beyond Saving

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After the disappointing sales of Tomb Raider Underworld, the Crystal Dynamics team realized that Lara Croft was in trouble. They took a hard look at the video game landscape and came to the conclusion that they needed to re-work and re-imagine every aspect of the franchise or risk becoming irrelevant. The developers chose to destroy a character they spent fifteen years creating to pave the way for the biggest gamble in their company’s history: a Tomb Raider reboot.

When done correctly, the reboot is a powerful weapon in restoring a franchise to its former glory. While television has introduced the world to remakes of Charlie’s Angels, Hawaii Five-0 and Smallville, video games have been reluctant to bring their icons back to their origins.

Wisely, Karl Stewart, the Global Brand Director of Tomb Raider, has found inspiration in the greatest reboot of all time, Batman Begins. “We found that people didn’t feel emotionally attached to Lara,” said Stewart. “[Director] Christopher Nolan took Batman and basically made that character culturally relevant. The first part of that movie was about breaking Batman down. Then he finally dons the mask, and you get why he does what he does.”

Jim Gordon: You’re just one man?
Bruce Wayne: …

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Justin Wong Shares More Tips on Becoming a Great Fighter

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Video game fighting expert Justin Wong must be looking for some stronger competition. In the last few weeks, he has been sharing his personal formula for success so that fans of Street Fighter IV and Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 can improve their skills.

In an earlier column, Wong touched on the importance of utilizing the training rooms to create the muscle memory needed for chaining combos together. His most recent article is a reminder to all the “training mode monsters” that they must also learn how to adapt to their environment.

“Not being able to land your combos against a moving target (Computer/Human opponent) is what a lot of players suffer from.

“The computer will stand, crouch, jump, spam an unsafe move and more, but this is beneficial for the player because you will be able to change up the type of combos due to the situation.”

Wong also suggested that you find players that are similar in talent whenever possible as well as a consistent sparring partner. He cites the problems with testing your abilities against tougher opponents.

“Obviously, the best type of training is playing against a human opponent because they are more strategic and skillful than the current CPU AI in fighting …

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

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Detroit, 2027 AD. You are Adam Jensen. An ex-SWAT operative, now head of security at Sarif Industries–A biomedical augmentation manufacturer central to the game’s primary conflict. A group of terrorists have attacked the company you work for, murdered the woman you love, and damaged you to the point where drastic measures have been taken to save your life. It’s this encounter that sets the stage for the newest entry, and prequel, in the much beloved Deus Ex franchise. Naturally, expectations have set the bar quite high, but has Eidos Montreal delivered?

***

“There is no right or wrong. Just the consequences of your actions.” 

The story is centered around an ongoing civil rights battle between the haves and have-nots, with human naturalists opposing augmentation enhancement that eerily echoes the anti-science conservative movement present in America today. However, unlike current day tea partiers, Eidos have given a sense of legitimacy to the Humanity Front. From Neuropozyne dependency to government control, not everything is better on the side of technology in the world of Deus Ex, and it’s this balancing act that’s at the heart of the game’s story. Who is good and who is bad? Both sides fight for a reasonable cause …

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Battlefield 3′s Platoons Take Clans “To The Next Level”

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Battleblog #12 is out, and with it a wealth of new information on Battlefield 3′s battlelog and the game’s new Platoon feature. As described on the battleblog,  ”A Platoon is essentially the classic concept of gaming clans, only taken to the next level of flexibility and social interaction.”

On the outset, the features are pretty normal. You can create your platoon’s name and emblem, while each platoon can house 100 players, and each player can be a member of up to 3 platoons. It’s your standard fair, but nothing remarkable. Beyond that, however, is a feature rich network of statistics and information provided to you and your fellow platoon members that effects it’s overall standing within the online community.

Everything you and your members do will have an impact on your platoon’s rank, score, and stats–tracking not only your individual performance, but the collective performance of your entire platoon as well. To assist this, you’re also given a breakdown of how well members are performing, along with the classes people are playing and who your most valuable players are.

In addition, there will also be a host of social features integrated into the battlelog to keep you connected to your fellow …

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Uncharted 3 To Focus on Fist Fighting and Characterization

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If you were one of the 1.5 million Playstation 3 users that had the chance to play the Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception beta this summer, you may have noticed that the developers have put a stronger emphasis on hand to hand combat. A recent interview with the game’s co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand says that this was a conscious decision by the Naughty Dog team.

“With this game we decided to switch things up a little bit, and it has seen us shift the focus we have on the different elements of the gameplay. We’ve been talking about the way we’ve put an increased focus on the fist fighting in the game, because that’s an important part of pulp adventure. Most of the great pulp heroes are two-fisted sluggers. That gave us a great opportunity to try some new things in terms of game mechanics.”

The Uncharted titles have never fit into any particular genre because they offer the player a wide variety of gameplay. While the largest portion of the pie is comprised of shooting, the developers have integrated platforming, cut scenes, brawling, and puzzle solving to keep each segment of the story fresh. Even though the gun fights are top notch, the …

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