As part of the week of free Xbox Live and the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), I'm playing the E3 Xbox 360 demo for Capcom's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition.
I've been stoked about Lost Planet for a long time, and this demo doesn't disappoint.
I hate to box anything in, but think of it as a third-person, next-gen game that mixes the best parts of Starship Troopers (wtihout the communal shower scene) and The Thing from Another World (the 1951 version).
The game feels next-gen (which is impressive for a demo, and a nice change of pace from the current crop of "next-gen" titles), is stylish, has some great environments and effects (it feels like I'm trekking through waste-deep snow; my character pitches depending on where the big bug baddies slam the ground near me), and the mech portions are slick -- being able to change out heavy guns from machine gun to heavy shotgun (and use them myself in a pinch) is a really cool feature.
Think I'll be playing this demo over several times ...
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Stubbs the Zombie
It was the best of zombies. It was the worst of zombies.OK, so I finally finished Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse, the seminal work from Wideload Games. And while the game may not be the cat's meow, it's got a ton going for it, and I really recommend it for the game play and humor.
Four score and seven zombies ago ...
Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt!
Why am I playing (and writing about) a last-gen Xbox game that came out in October?
Because (A) I've been hyping the hell out of the "coming zombie game from Halo's Daddy" for a long time, and (B) I was promised a free review copy, so I held off buying it. Which actually didn't show up until mid-December -- after I was well into Xbox 360 insanity.
Not that I'm looking this gift zombie in the mouth (because it's like a gift horse, except bipedal, and undead, and ... Look, similes aren't really my thing; it's like me driving a car with a ladle).
Besides, despite all my writing about the game industry, I've never asked for any freebies, so this unsolicited one for something I was genuinely excited about was pretty cool.
Right -- about the game.
Awesome! Best thing since sliced brain!
Concept, gameplay, and humor are the three areas where this pussed little gem really shines.
Setting the game in a 1950s idea of what the future would look like? Brilliant! Zombie specific powers like being able to toss a gut grenade, detachable possessing hand, unholy flatulance, and exploding cranium? Brilliant! A soundtrack with covers of 50s tunes by today's musical hotties (Ben Kweller, The Raveonettes, Death Cab for Cutie, etc.)? Brilliant!
Oh, and the humor. Read signs. Everywhere. Notice that packages of hamburgers have several normal looking ingredients ... except for eyeballs. Read the menu in the diner level. Read it!
Not that everything on the game play front is pushing up daisies, though. Shambling sucks. Seriously, there are some booooring sequences where you have to watch your third-person zombie move coagulated-blood-slow from one end of a level to another. And forget getting away from a vehicle that's hell-bent on mowing you down.
And the story is seriously lacking. You're kind of thrown into Stubb's rotting skin at the outset, with a teaser of a story that isn't fleshed out enough to keep you going (and the denouement bites) -- so if the game play and humor hadn't been there, this title would have sunk. Luckily, the game play and humor are there. In spades.
And though I like being able to call and shove my zombie brethren, the truth is the game has brain dead squad controls; they're inconsistent, and unavailable when you want them most.
And though they trumpet the game being built on the Halo engine, the graphics, honestly, look like warmed-over death. I put in the original Halo to see if the engine is just that dated, but no (kind of), it's Stubbs. Part of it is I was playing the game on the Xbox 360, so hi-def on a projector really showed off the jaggies.
And the game is playable on the Xbox 360 (thanks, I'm sure, to Microsoft enabling Halo), but there are some levels that are so dark as to be almost unplayable. I had to ramp my projector up all the way and due total light killage to get through them.
And the sound is great (and funny), but it turns the constant screams as heard by someone outside the gaming room (and missing the humor) can be alternately grating and freaky.
All that said, the game is a solid 8(ish) out 10, and soooo worth spinning through for the humor, the game play, and the innovation. And for co-op. Thanks to Wideload for getting how important it is that every game have co-op. Tag-teaming unholy flatulance and a gut grenade is one of those beautiful moments in cooperative gaming.
So, shamble outside and pick up a copy of Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse today. Support Wideload. Support Austin-based publisher Aspyr Media, Inc. Support good game innovation and design, and an innovative model for game development (applying the Hollywood staffing model to game production).
I think you'll find the purchase worth it (it's also available on PC and Mac).
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
I recently mentioned I've been playing the Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Xbox 360 demo (among others).
After playing the online-only mutliplayer demo a lot, I decided to rent the full version of Electronic Arts's BF2:MC.
It took the full version of the game to tell me what I already knew from the demo -- It's all about the online mutlplayer.
I mean, the game is pretty good looking, and you get a lot of frenetic action. But the game play is unbalanced, and has a lot of "That would not happen!" moments. (Yes, BF2:MC is an arcade-y take on war, this game steps over a lot of game play lines.)
For example, on the first Chinese level (ignore the offensive faux accents), you can be looking at a blank wall and machine gun turret, and an enemy will blink into existance, take the turret, and mow you down. Over and over and over again.
And this level also highlights how stupid the friendlies AI is. The first time I played the level, in the segment where you trek to the next battle zone via gun boat or jeep, I could not get my guys into the vehicles. I ended up Hotswapping between soldiers to have each one get in the vehicle, and gave up on that, because as I swapped to someone outside of the vehicle to make them get in, the guys inside would get out. I ended up driving by myself to the next zone, being a one-man army, and getting mowed down again.
And, on the same level, my guys were nowhere near the action. So everytime I got mowed down by a baddie, I'd swap out the equivalent of a few hundred yards away, and have to trek back again to get mowed down. It was fun. Not so much.
The second time I played the level (the fist time made me give up on the game that night), the AI was a little better.
I do have to say the Hotswapping feature in BF2:MC is incredibly slick -- both in usefulness and in visual effect -- particularly in multi-sniper situations, or when you need to move between a Special Ops class for mowing down infantry to an Engineer to take out multiple enemy choppers. But I also found myself Hotswapping to take over idiot AI that were "sneaking" as they were getting shot in the back, and though they've removed the "line-of-sight" restriction for the feature, I found myself swapping inadvertently to someone other than who I was looking at. And the Hotswapping mini-challenges do require line-of-site, and shortest path (which, of course, were not the same). What?
Overall, with all its shortcomings, the single player is a solid renter, and the online will keep me coming back for a long time ...
After playing the online-only mutliplayer demo a lot, I decided to rent the full version of Electronic Arts's BF2:MC.
It took the full version of the game to tell me what I already knew from the demo -- It's all about the online mutlplayer.
I mean, the game is pretty good looking, and you get a lot of frenetic action. But the game play is unbalanced, and has a lot of "That would not happen!" moments. (Yes, BF2:MC is an arcade-y take on war, this game steps over a lot of game play lines.)
For example, on the first Chinese level (ignore the offensive faux accents), you can be looking at a blank wall and machine gun turret, and an enemy will blink into existance, take the turret, and mow you down. Over and over and over again.
And this level also highlights how stupid the friendlies AI is. The first time I played the level, in the segment where you trek to the next battle zone via gun boat or jeep, I could not get my guys into the vehicles. I ended up Hotswapping between soldiers to have each one get in the vehicle, and gave up on that, because as I swapped to someone outside of the vehicle to make them get in, the guys inside would get out. I ended up driving by myself to the next zone, being a one-man army, and getting mowed down again.
And, on the same level, my guys were nowhere near the action. So everytime I got mowed down by a baddie, I'd swap out the equivalent of a few hundred yards away, and have to trek back again to get mowed down. It was fun. Not so much.
The second time I played the level (the fist time made me give up on the game that night), the AI was a little better.
I do have to say the Hotswapping feature in BF2:MC is incredibly slick -- both in usefulness and in visual effect -- particularly in multi-sniper situations, or when you need to move between a Special Ops class for mowing down infantry to an Engineer to take out multiple enemy choppers. But I also found myself Hotswapping to take over idiot AI that were "sneaking" as they were getting shot in the back, and though they've removed the "line-of-sight" restriction for the feature, I found myself swapping inadvertently to someone other than who I was looking at. And the Hotswapping mini-challenges do require line-of-site, and shortest path (which, of course, were not the same). What?
Overall, with all its shortcomings, the single player is a solid renter, and the online will keep me coming back for a long time ...
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
BF2:MC; G.R.A.W.; Tomb Raider: Legend (Xbox 360)
One of the coolest parts of the new Xbox 360 incarnation of Xbox Live is the free downloadable demos.
Recently, a bunch of demos hit the network, with Electronic Arts releasing Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (BF2:MC); Ubisoft posting Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter (G.R.A.W.), and Eidos dropping the Xbox 360 version of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend.
I keep getting sucked back into the Battlefield 2: Modern Combat demo (the full version ships today). The game is a visceral, intense, absolutely huge, and less-serious war game ripe for "That's what I'm talkin' about!" moments. For example, me driving a tank over a bridge I know is out, as a guy on a rooftop takes aim at me with a rocket launcher. I drive the tank over the edge of the bridge, but not before I jumped out, rocket whizzing over my head and missing the plummeting tank, as I swap to a sniper rifle and cap the guy on the rooftop. He'd just been served.
The BF2:MC demo is buggy as all get out, so I'm hoping the retail version fixes some of the glitches. Seriously, the demo makes Oblivion look good (don't get me wrong -- Oblivion is a beautiful, engrossing game; but it's glitchy, and I can't currently play it because the "fragmented disk cache fix" isn't working).
The Xbox 360 version of BF2:MC has the content from the Xbox version (prettied up), plus the three new maps and four new vehicles from the Xbox “Warsome Booster Pack” released in December.
A more serious (and much more gorgeous) demo is Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter (G.R.A.W.). This game is intense, and for the less-experienced player, pretty unforgiving. This game plays more like a war version of a chess game (where you're an shootable chess piece), and can be pretty frustrating until you get the hang of the controls and different game play style. I jumped into this after playing BF2:MC, and had to seriously adjust my "who can take more bullets" game style.
Also, this game is a totally different game than the Xbox version of the game -- developed by a different studio, and with a much higher level of quality and overall game play.
In a previous blog, I passed on info that the demo wassn't going to have co-op. But last night, a buddy and I fired it up and were able to co-op -- though he hit that steep learning curve pretty quickly, and didn't enjoy his taste of the game.
Finally, I downloaded and played Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend. I'm warming up to this, and admittedly, I'm not a big non-2D platformer fan, but my issues with the game aren't with it being a platformer -- it's that it doesn't feel next-gen.
The game is fun, and things like the water are fairly impressive. But there are some jaggies, and when Ms. Croft stands on a downed tree, for example, her feet are set apart as if she's standing on a transparent, flat surface -- which looks wonky.
If I'm playing a next-gen game, I really want the physicality of an object to be apparent. I want her feet to land roughly more where they "should" land on a tree trunk.
But I did say the game was growing on me. Lara's got some new moves, and the God of War inspired grappler is a nice addition, and I think swimming handles better than it has in the franchise.
I should play it again, and see if it grows on my some more.
Recently, a bunch of demos hit the network, with Electronic Arts releasing Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (BF2:MC); Ubisoft posting Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter (G.R.A.W.), and Eidos dropping the Xbox 360 version of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend.
I keep getting sucked back into the Battlefield 2: Modern Combat demo (the full version ships today). The game is a visceral, intense, absolutely huge, and less-serious war game ripe for "That's what I'm talkin' about!" moments. For example, me driving a tank over a bridge I know is out, as a guy on a rooftop takes aim at me with a rocket launcher. I drive the tank over the edge of the bridge, but not before I jumped out, rocket whizzing over my head and missing the plummeting tank, as I swap to a sniper rifle and cap the guy on the rooftop. He'd just been served.
The BF2:MC demo is buggy as all get out, so I'm hoping the retail version fixes some of the glitches. Seriously, the demo makes Oblivion look good (don't get me wrong -- Oblivion is a beautiful, engrossing game; but it's glitchy, and I can't currently play it because the "fragmented disk cache fix" isn't working).
The Xbox 360 version of BF2:MC has the content from the Xbox version (prettied up), plus the three new maps and four new vehicles from the Xbox “Warsome Booster Pack” released in December.
A more serious (and much more gorgeous) demo is Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter (G.R.A.W.). This game is intense, and for the less-experienced player, pretty unforgiving. This game plays more like a war version of a chess game (where you're an shootable chess piece), and can be pretty frustrating until you get the hang of the controls and different game play style. I jumped into this after playing BF2:MC, and had to seriously adjust my "who can take more bullets" game style.
Also, this game is a totally different game than the Xbox version of the game -- developed by a different studio, and with a much higher level of quality and overall game play.
In a previous blog, I passed on info that the demo wassn't going to have co-op. But last night, a buddy and I fired it up and were able to co-op -- though he hit that steep learning curve pretty quickly, and didn't enjoy his taste of the game.
Finally, I downloaded and played Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend. I'm warming up to this, and admittedly, I'm not a big non-2D platformer fan, but my issues with the game aren't with it being a platformer -- it's that it doesn't feel next-gen.
The game is fun, and things like the water are fairly impressive. But there are some jaggies, and when Ms. Croft stands on a downed tree, for example, her feet are set apart as if she's standing on a transparent, flat surface -- which looks wonky.
If I'm playing a next-gen game, I really want the physicality of an object to be apparent. I want her feet to land roughly more where they "should" land on a tree trunk.
But I did say the game was growing on me. Lara's got some new moves, and the God of War inspired grappler is a nice addition, and I think swimming handles better than it has in the franchise.
I should play it again, and see if it grows on my some more.
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