Batman/Superman: Apocalypse - let's begin, shall we?
This follows right on the heels of the previous Batman/Superman animated feature - Public Enemies and in much the same way as that, it follows the comics in a general pattern of story... so, if you've read that - you'll know pretty much the entire story.
If you haven't - this picks up almost immediately after the end of Public Enemies, with the giant kryptonite mountain... sorry METEOR impacting into Gotham river. Batman turns up and finds a ship... and in that ship is SUPERGIRL! Except, it's comic book land so... y'know, a fight between Supergirl (only just learning to use her powers) and Batman begins.
Naturally, he eventually just gets some kryptonite out and we cut to some time later. Kara is at the FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE with Bats and Supes... Batman is naturally suspicious about a hot girl with super powers, claiming to be related to Superman and all that kind of stuff... Anyway, Superman trusts her and they take her to Metropolis... whilst trying to fit in, Batman and Wonder Woman essentially spring a trap that shows Supergirl isn't ready and she goes off to the Wonder Woman's magical lesbian island of Amazons for Spring Break for some hot girl on girl action... y'know catfights.
As one might guess, this is all going fine until Dark Seid turns up, abducts Supergirl and brainwashes her.
Supes, Batman, Wonder Woman and Big Barda get together to save her... Batman might be the world's greatest detective but going to Apokolips seems... fairly insane... but as this shows, being THE GOD DAMN BATMAN or his Bat Armour... or... SOMETHING allows him to be thrown against pillars and damage them and still be... well, alive. Most people who get thrown against a solid stone surface with any force would just collapse and die. Batman is fine though.
Anyway, Batman - being THE GOD DAMN BATMAN - basically beats Dark Seid saying "Oh, yeah - armed a bunch of world destroying bombs and if you don't let Supergirl go - BOOM! I'M THE GOD DAMN BATMAN!"
So, everyone goes home and all is well - OR IS IT?! Superman and Supergirl get jumped at the Kent's farm by Dark Seid... who points out that he just said he wouldn't mess with Supergirl... So, I guess he's lawful evil? Amusingly, Supes gets KO'd very early on and Supergirl does most of the punching. Predictably, evil is vanquished and good triumphs!
If you liked Superman/Batman: Public Enemies - this is pretty much more of the same. The story is neither complicated nor deep but it's very tight - that's presumably a function of the limited length of these features - and as far as action goes, it delivers. The quality of animation is impressive... one curious thing is that Granny Goodness not only LOOKS quite mannish... she sounds like a man. That's a minor quibble though, most of character design is great and the voice acting is all pretty good though.
Overall, probably the best DC animated effort thus far.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
Being the massive cultural phenemenon it is, changes in the actor of the eponymous Doctor of Doctor Who are inevitably burdened with people shaking heads and saying doom. So, when Matt Smith was announced - there was a great deal of clucking about him being a mere 27, the youngest Doctor ever.
Needless to say, the first episode Eleventh Hour has silenced many critics because Matt Smith and new head writer/executive producer Stephen Moffat kicked the living daylights out of everything that fanfic writing loser RTD ever did. He's energetic but not like a child sans ritalin (Tennant) and expressive but not gurning (Eccleston) and while it's just the first episode, there is no sense he's going to spend his whole time moaning about how he killed all the Timelords or how he's "so sorry" about absolutely EVERYTHING.
The episode starts right where The End Of Time left off, with the new Doctor, trying to stop the TARDIS crashing into Big Ben... amazingly, instead of crashing into slum council estate to a Billy Piper wannabe, we get him going into a village. A village that is not London... OR CARDIFF. Admittedly, the series has gradually moved away from the extreme constrictions of the first RTD season but this seems a a good fresh start and the Doctor running through a village is distinctly old school Who...
There's no pointless referencing of pop culture, gratuitous injection of homosexuality and no horrible cheesiness that makes you cringe... not to mention that technobabble and ridiculous fixes for problem are nowhere to be seen. In fact, the Doctor himself observes that he saves the day with no TARDIS and no sonic screwdriver. Which is a nice touch - a far more innovative solution to the problem presented than the Doctor simply babbling wildly while jumping around like a jack in the box with ADHD.
There's a great deal more subtlety to both the Doctor and his new companion, Amelia Pond. They are much more understate... the show does not feel as if it is going to lapse into slapstick or schmaltz and the second episode had a chance for both. It's the kind of subtlety that you'd never see in an RTD script and generally struggled to emerge under his auspices and the Doctor has yet to be venerated as some incredible and infallible person - one of the primary flaws of RTD's writing of the Doctor was that in all of three seconds, everyone would think he was the best thing since sliced bread... things with Amelia have been a little different as the Doctor kind of dicked her around a bit... and she's apparently running away from her wedding.
So, thinks are looking interesting.
Needless to say, the first episode Eleventh Hour has silenced many critics because Matt Smith and new head writer/executive producer Stephen Moffat kicked the living daylights out of everything that fanfic writing loser RTD ever did. He's energetic but not like a child sans ritalin (Tennant) and expressive but not gurning (Eccleston) and while it's just the first episode, there is no sense he's going to spend his whole time moaning about how he killed all the Timelords or how he's "so sorry" about absolutely EVERYTHING.
The episode starts right where The End Of Time left off, with the new Doctor, trying to stop the TARDIS crashing into Big Ben... amazingly, instead of crashing into slum council estate to a Billy Piper wannabe, we get him going into a village. A village that is not London... OR CARDIFF. Admittedly, the series has gradually moved away from the extreme constrictions of the first RTD season but this seems a a good fresh start and the Doctor running through a village is distinctly old school Who...
There's no pointless referencing of pop culture, gratuitous injection of homosexuality and no horrible cheesiness that makes you cringe... not to mention that technobabble and ridiculous fixes for problem are nowhere to be seen. In fact, the Doctor himself observes that he saves the day with no TARDIS and no sonic screwdriver. Which is a nice touch - a far more innovative solution to the problem presented than the Doctor simply babbling wildly while jumping around like a jack in the box with ADHD.
There's a great deal more subtlety to both the Doctor and his new companion, Amelia Pond. They are much more understate... the show does not feel as if it is going to lapse into slapstick or schmaltz and the second episode had a chance for both. It's the kind of subtlety that you'd never see in an RTD script and generally struggled to emerge under his auspices and the Doctor has yet to be venerated as some incredible and infallible person - one of the primary flaws of RTD's writing of the Doctor was that in all of three seconds, everyone would think he was the best thing since sliced bread... things with Amelia have been a little different as the Doctor kind of dicked her around a bit... and she's apparently running away from her wedding.
So, thinks are looking interesting.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Star Trek: Online had something of a rocky development but has finally finished its beta and is out.
The game breaks down into two sections - space and away missions. Most of the game is you flying around in your ship and ships come in three flavours: escort - damage per second, cruiser - tanks and science - doing buffs/debuffs. In much the same way, classes break down into tactical, engineer and science... which equates to much the same.
Your ship itself breaks down into the the equipment you have on the ship and the bridge officers you use - as well as bonuses your character gets for various starship abilities. Bridge officers provide abilities in addition to the ones you have yourself, the number and type being dictated by the class of ship you have. The abilities can do everything from increase weapon damage to improving the shields of fellow fleet members.
The obvious comparison as regards space combat goes is EVE online, things are considerably more dynamic in Star Trek: Online and you don't need to spend hours working out what kind of weapons are best for your class of ship and so on, not to mention that while in EVE online the destruction of your ship results in its permanent loss, in STO you respawn after 15 seconds. While this might kill the tension somewhat it also means that one can focus on playing the game without developing an ulcer, for fear that your new ship that cost hours of play time to buy and outfit will get destroyed because your connection decided to fail at an inopportune moment. Weapons are straightforwardly divided into energy weapons and torpedoes/mines - energy weapons like phasers and disruptors are better at damaging shields, torpedoes and mines damage hulls.
To make combat more interesting than the usual fare, shields are split into 4 sections and weapons are mounted front or aft and different weapons have different arcs of fire - with arcs of fire tending to be traded off against the damage per second. So, combat tends to require a combination of balancing shields and manoeuvring to hit your enemy's weakest shields and also, changing your power management and using your special abilities to gain advantage - and naturally, different ships manoeuvre differently - meaning that the more nimble escort craft can get away with the more powerful weapons, while more ponderous cruisers require the generous arcs of fire to keep the pressure on their enemies... All of which means that you need to be actively guiding your ship to make the best use of your weapons in a fight.
The missions undertaken in your ship are generally along the lines of the following:
Defend a sector - which entails just slogging through a certain number of random instances by killing a certain number of enemies.
Patrol a sector - which is slightly different as you go to a number of different systems and you can just have to scan for anomalies or beam down to planets or see off some pirates.
Specific missions - these are longer and generally involve more than one part and might require travelling to more than one system and several sections of space and ground combat.
Fleet actions - BIG instances where you have to take on several large numbers of enemy ships in what can amount to pretty epic battles. They even show a leader board at the end.
The other side of game are the away missions, these are carried out in a more traditional MMO manner with a third person perspective, equipment, weapons and what pass for STO's version of potions and spells. The notable difference here is that you have your bridge officers with you - so you're controlling a squad. You get to assign points to their skills for both space AND ground combat - in much the same way as you yourself progress through the ranks and skills. As you'd expect of an MMO, twitch reflexes are now required here - point and click. In truth, most of the killing is uninspiring. You get bonuses for flanking enemies but it feels as if this aspect of the game was tacked on. Granted, it's nice to be able to walk around starbases, your own bridge, explore strange new planets - and not ALL away missions require you to shoot a horde of idiotic Klingons or Gorn... Some involve scanning stuff or talking to people!
Perhaps the problem with the game is that Star Trek was always envisioned as a peaceful utopian future where everyone just gets along and humans are all about lofty aspiration such as peaceful exploration and the like. There are some exploring missions - go out and scan some rocks... but the entire setting of the game - 30 years after Nemesis, tying into the new Star Trek film by having Romulus destroyed because Spock forgot to set his alarm clock and the Klingons running amok and at war with the Federation (again) and the Borg showing up (again) pretty much your standard MMO situation. Speaking of Spock, Nimoy offers some insight (as well as titbits on load screens) into the current situation of the galaxy, when you enter a new sector of space for the first time - which is a nice touch...
Beyond the fact it's the ol' galaxy in conflict type scenario, the game does spend quite a lot of time making sure to reference familiar characters or their progeny. You get to choose from the well known species of the Star Trek universe, familiar designs of starships and they've even got systems referenced from the shows. Naturally, that won't do anything for you if you're not a Trek fan but if you've watched the shows, it's good to see that some deference is shown and isn't just tacking a franchise name onto a game for the sake of it. It's a little vexatious that you can't decide at the start of the game whether you want to create a Klingon or Federation character but given the considerably greater emphasis on PvP in the Klingon game - that makes sense from a logistical stand point.
The game itself is somewhat unusual in that you don't choose a specific server to play on, rather everything in the game is instanced. Rather helpfully - especially when you're starting out - when you blunder into enemy contacts (aka the random instances you have to beat for defend sector missions) these instances add other people, so you don't need to take on a dozen ships at a time, so... there's a greatly diminished need to shout "LFG!", for at least some of the more casual mission... and that means in the big ol' fleet action missions, you can get a WHOLE mess of people with a big range of ability, which is in itself entertaining if nothing else...
But of course, this IS an MMO - and the variety of missions isn't huge and many are just variations on a theme but you NEED to do them, if you want to get the equipment, cash (sorry, ENERGY CREDITS) and XP to progress to better ranks and hence better ships and so on and so forth - so, the grind is there but then, that wasn't exactly going to shock anyone that has played an MMO before... it feels like something of a disservice to call this EVE lite, not to mention a gross oversimplification as EVE represents at higher levels of play a lot of stuff that Star Trek: Online isn't eve trying for but in the sense that it's a space based MMO where you cruise around the galaxy, blowing people up... it probably warrants the comparison at least fleetingly for being in the same ballpark... or at least, in its carpark while EVE bites someone's ear off inside it. It's really nothing exceptional - if you love Star Trek and are looking for a game that allows you to experience Trek with other people, this is definitely the game for you... as far as the average MMO player goes... Perhaps if you have tried EVE but found it an entirely too punishing experience that didn't have a learning curve, so much as a learning suicide cliff (they have actually addressed that issue - although, the game remains insanely complicated and punishing and not overly friendly as regards its interface for the uninitiated) but WANT some kind of space game where death just means a 15 second respawn and not potentially hundreds of hours of work down the drain and combat doesn't require you to spend some time understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of your race, class, ship and weapons... then this is probably your best bet for the near future... Something like an MMO Freelancer, perhaps?
The game breaks down into two sections - space and away missions. Most of the game is you flying around in your ship and ships come in three flavours: escort - damage per second, cruiser - tanks and science - doing buffs/debuffs. In much the same way, classes break down into tactical, engineer and science... which equates to much the same.
Your ship itself breaks down into the the equipment you have on the ship and the bridge officers you use - as well as bonuses your character gets for various starship abilities. Bridge officers provide abilities in addition to the ones you have yourself, the number and type being dictated by the class of ship you have. The abilities can do everything from increase weapon damage to improving the shields of fellow fleet members.
The obvious comparison as regards space combat goes is EVE online, things are considerably more dynamic in Star Trek: Online and you don't need to spend hours working out what kind of weapons are best for your class of ship and so on, not to mention that while in EVE online the destruction of your ship results in its permanent loss, in STO you respawn after 15 seconds. While this might kill the tension somewhat it also means that one can focus on playing the game without developing an ulcer, for fear that your new ship that cost hours of play time to buy and outfit will get destroyed because your connection decided to fail at an inopportune moment. Weapons are straightforwardly divided into energy weapons and torpedoes/mines - energy weapons like phasers and disruptors are better at damaging shields, torpedoes and mines damage hulls.
To make combat more interesting than the usual fare, shields are split into 4 sections and weapons are mounted front or aft and different weapons have different arcs of fire - with arcs of fire tending to be traded off against the damage per second. So, combat tends to require a combination of balancing shields and manoeuvring to hit your enemy's weakest shields and also, changing your power management and using your special abilities to gain advantage - and naturally, different ships manoeuvre differently - meaning that the more nimble escort craft can get away with the more powerful weapons, while more ponderous cruisers require the generous arcs of fire to keep the pressure on their enemies... All of which means that you need to be actively guiding your ship to make the best use of your weapons in a fight.
The missions undertaken in your ship are generally along the lines of the following:
Defend a sector - which entails just slogging through a certain number of random instances by killing a certain number of enemies.
Patrol a sector - which is slightly different as you go to a number of different systems and you can just have to scan for anomalies or beam down to planets or see off some pirates.
Specific missions - these are longer and generally involve more than one part and might require travelling to more than one system and several sections of space and ground combat.
Fleet actions - BIG instances where you have to take on several large numbers of enemy ships in what can amount to pretty epic battles. They even show a leader board at the end.
The other side of game are the away missions, these are carried out in a more traditional MMO manner with a third person perspective, equipment, weapons and what pass for STO's version of potions and spells. The notable difference here is that you have your bridge officers with you - so you're controlling a squad. You get to assign points to their skills for both space AND ground combat - in much the same way as you yourself progress through the ranks and skills. As you'd expect of an MMO, twitch reflexes are now required here - point and click. In truth, most of the killing is uninspiring. You get bonuses for flanking enemies but it feels as if this aspect of the game was tacked on. Granted, it's nice to be able to walk around starbases, your own bridge, explore strange new planets - and not ALL away missions require you to shoot a horde of idiotic Klingons or Gorn... Some involve scanning stuff or talking to people!
Perhaps the problem with the game is that Star Trek was always envisioned as a peaceful utopian future where everyone just gets along and humans are all about lofty aspiration such as peaceful exploration and the like. There are some exploring missions - go out and scan some rocks... but the entire setting of the game - 30 years after Nemesis, tying into the new Star Trek film by having Romulus destroyed because Spock forgot to set his alarm clock and the Klingons running amok and at war with the Federation (again) and the Borg showing up (again) pretty much your standard MMO situation. Speaking of Spock, Nimoy offers some insight (as well as titbits on load screens) into the current situation of the galaxy, when you enter a new sector of space for the first time - which is a nice touch...
Beyond the fact it's the ol' galaxy in conflict type scenario, the game does spend quite a lot of time making sure to reference familiar characters or their progeny. You get to choose from the well known species of the Star Trek universe, familiar designs of starships and they've even got systems referenced from the shows. Naturally, that won't do anything for you if you're not a Trek fan but if you've watched the shows, it's good to see that some deference is shown and isn't just tacking a franchise name onto a game for the sake of it. It's a little vexatious that you can't decide at the start of the game whether you want to create a Klingon or Federation character but given the considerably greater emphasis on PvP in the Klingon game - that makes sense from a logistical stand point.
The game itself is somewhat unusual in that you don't choose a specific server to play on, rather everything in the game is instanced. Rather helpfully - especially when you're starting out - when you blunder into enemy contacts (aka the random instances you have to beat for defend sector missions) these instances add other people, so you don't need to take on a dozen ships at a time, so... there's a greatly diminished need to shout "LFG!", for at least some of the more casual mission... and that means in the big ol' fleet action missions, you can get a WHOLE mess of people with a big range of ability, which is in itself entertaining if nothing else...
But of course, this IS an MMO - and the variety of missions isn't huge and many are just variations on a theme but you NEED to do them, if you want to get the equipment, cash (sorry, ENERGY CREDITS) and XP to progress to better ranks and hence better ships and so on and so forth - so, the grind is there but then, that wasn't exactly going to shock anyone that has played an MMO before... it feels like something of a disservice to call this EVE lite, not to mention a gross oversimplification as EVE represents at higher levels of play a lot of stuff that Star Trek: Online isn't eve trying for but in the sense that it's a space based MMO where you cruise around the galaxy, blowing people up... it probably warrants the comparison at least fleetingly for being in the same ballpark... or at least, in its carpark while EVE bites someone's ear off inside it. It's really nothing exceptional - if you love Star Trek and are looking for a game that allows you to experience Trek with other people, this is definitely the game for you... as far as the average MMO player goes... Perhaps if you have tried EVE but found it an entirely too punishing experience that didn't have a learning curve, so much as a learning suicide cliff (they have actually addressed that issue - although, the game remains insanely complicated and punishing and not overly friendly as regards its interface for the uninitiated) but WANT some kind of space game where death just means a 15 second respawn and not potentially hundreds of hours of work down the drain and combat doesn't require you to spend some time understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of your race, class, ship and weapons... then this is probably your best bet for the near future... Something like an MMO Freelancer, perhaps?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Halo: Legends is to Halo what the Animatrix is to the Matrix and what Gotham Knight was to the Chris Nolan Batman films, a series of animated shorts by different Japanese directors, mostly in a standard sort of anime style.
It's - as with the aforementioned similar ventures - a mixed bag of seven different tales.
Origins is pretty good but really, it's not a story. It's essentially an excuse for Cortana to retell the Halo universe's backstory. Nice art and action but it's really not a story, per se - it just feels as though someone wanted to do a lot of explosions and stuff with The Floor... or that someone felt a person buying Halo: Legends might not have the first clue about the series, so decides to fill them in. Regardless, it's enjoyable but by its nature - is kind of shallow.
The Duel... apparently Elites are Japanese. Down to living in pagodas (seriously) and wearing samurai armour. Maybe that's part of the lesser known canon... regardless, this is something of a disconnect from the rest of the stories as it's about an Elite - apparently the first Arbiter - defying the Prophets. For this heresy, he LITERALLY fights an army. There isn't a lot of sense to this story and it has a weird, kind of blurry almost... sticky animation. Clearly done for stylistic reasons but it doesn't really do much. It's OK for the background and establishing shots but for for action... less so, although the action is kinda cool... but the trite story and the fact you don't really have any time to get to know the character... it's really just action cheesecake with no substance.
Homecoming - pretty standard anime style here. Girl SPARTAN on a planet, has flashbacks to how she escaped from SPARTAN training... again, there is a feeling they're trying to tug on the heart strings when they've just tossed a character at you. The intercutting of the stories - ticking and tocking back and forth between the past and present - is a little jarring too and... doesn't really add much.
Odd One Out - you could be forgiven for thinking that this was someone trying to pitch a Halo Saturday morning cartoon... but basically, SPARTAN 1337 is a gag character and this whole thing is a joke... not a very funny one though. There is the odd titter but really, if they wanted to do a parody of the Halo universe there is so much to do with the existing stuff you don't need to create a deliberately over the top goofy/wacky character who keeps getting punched into the ground etc. So, really - not that interesting.
Prototype - they seem to like their trite messages in this package... I suppose it's hard to get something deep and meaningful into twenty or so minutes... but still.
The Babysitter - this probably comes level with "The Package" as the best of the bunch and really, they're both in a different league to the others. We get some feel for the characters and the animation is good, with some good action and the general awesomeness that goes with having a SPARTAN involved. It even includes one of the characters from ODST... yeah, who cares about that? Still overall, a good effort... again, the Covenant seem to be living in distinctly Far Eastern style housing for no reason but it works.
The Package - naturally, anything involving the ubiquitous Master Chief from the franchise itself is going to get extra points almost as a matter of course... quite WHY the original voice actor wasn't used (it kind of detracts... he did three games just to get shoved aside here?) is a mystery and the guy sounds more like he's trying to do a Batman impression than anything - though, fortunately NOT a Christian Bale Batman. The fact this is a CGI affair may lead some people to think that in some ways, it's more like a cutscene than anything else but that's at least a mite unfair and it's not as if the Halo cutscenes weren't suitably awesome. It's really what a Halo feature should be, people running at Covenant forces and shooting the hell out of them. Also some nice space battles and just general awesomeness. It ties with "The Babysitter"... mostly because it was pretty to look at but invested nothing in the characters.
So, there you have it... really, this is only something a big Halo fan should go out of their way for. Still, at least you get almost two hours of actual material - which is more than you can say for Marvel or DC animated features that struggle to make it past an hour (excluding credits). So, make of that what you will.
It's - as with the aforementioned similar ventures - a mixed bag of seven different tales.
Origins is pretty good but really, it's not a story. It's essentially an excuse for Cortana to retell the Halo universe's backstory. Nice art and action but it's really not a story, per se - it just feels as though someone wanted to do a lot of explosions and stuff with The Floor... or that someone felt a person buying Halo: Legends might not have the first clue about the series, so decides to fill them in. Regardless, it's enjoyable but by its nature - is kind of shallow.
The Duel... apparently Elites are Japanese. Down to living in pagodas (seriously) and wearing samurai armour. Maybe that's part of the lesser known canon... regardless, this is something of a disconnect from the rest of the stories as it's about an Elite - apparently the first Arbiter - defying the Prophets. For this heresy, he LITERALLY fights an army. There isn't a lot of sense to this story and it has a weird, kind of blurry almost... sticky animation. Clearly done for stylistic reasons but it doesn't really do much. It's OK for the background and establishing shots but for for action... less so, although the action is kinda cool... but the trite story and the fact you don't really have any time to get to know the character... it's really just action cheesecake with no substance.
Homecoming - pretty standard anime style here. Girl SPARTAN on a planet, has flashbacks to how she escaped from SPARTAN training... again, there is a feeling they're trying to tug on the heart strings when they've just tossed a character at you. The intercutting of the stories - ticking and tocking back and forth between the past and present - is a little jarring too and... doesn't really add much.
Odd One Out - you could be forgiven for thinking that this was someone trying to pitch a Halo Saturday morning cartoon... but basically, SPARTAN 1337 is a gag character and this whole thing is a joke... not a very funny one though. There is the odd titter but really, if they wanted to do a parody of the Halo universe there is so much to do with the existing stuff you don't need to create a deliberately over the top goofy/wacky character who keeps getting punched into the ground etc. So, really - not that interesting.
Prototype - they seem to like their trite messages in this package... I suppose it's hard to get something deep and meaningful into twenty or so minutes... but still.
The Babysitter - this probably comes level with "The Package" as the best of the bunch and really, they're both in a different league to the others. We get some feel for the characters and the animation is good, with some good action and the general awesomeness that goes with having a SPARTAN involved. It even includes one of the characters from ODST... yeah, who cares about that? Still overall, a good effort... again, the Covenant seem to be living in distinctly Far Eastern style housing for no reason but it works.
The Package - naturally, anything involving the ubiquitous Master Chief from the franchise itself is going to get extra points almost as a matter of course... quite WHY the original voice actor wasn't used (it kind of detracts... he did three games just to get shoved aside here?) is a mystery and the guy sounds more like he's trying to do a Batman impression than anything - though, fortunately NOT a Christian Bale Batman. The fact this is a CGI affair may lead some people to think that in some ways, it's more like a cutscene than anything else but that's at least a mite unfair and it's not as if the Halo cutscenes weren't suitably awesome. It's really what a Halo feature should be, people running at Covenant forces and shooting the hell out of them. Also some nice space battles and just general awesomeness. It ties with "The Babysitter"... mostly because it was pretty to look at but invested nothing in the characters.
So, there you have it... really, this is only something a big Halo fan should go out of their way for. Still, at least you get almost two hours of actual material - which is more than you can say for Marvel or DC animated features that struggle to make it past an hour (excluding credits). So, make of that what you will.
Friday, February 12, 2010
FEAR 2, eh? Kind of felt a lot like the original FEAR.
Slightly better looking, you can find upgrades to increase the length of your bullet time... the weapons aren't quite the same and you're facing slightly different baddies... oh and you get a few romps in powered armour suits that allow you to mow down enemies with impunity...
Otherwise, there isn't a lot to say. It's still a mix of tactical gunplay, creepy facilities and regular hallucinations that sometimes try and beat you up. The AI is still good... and this time they throw in some bastarding little wretches - well, they're just like the things in Gears of War - that sneak up and attack you... inexplicably requiring button mashing... At least it's not a TRUE quick time event.
If you played the first game... it's very similar. If you haven't... there's no real need to. Although the first one might be slightly longer and more engaging...
Slightly better looking, you can find upgrades to increase the length of your bullet time... the weapons aren't quite the same and you're facing slightly different baddies... oh and you get a few romps in powered armour suits that allow you to mow down enemies with impunity...
Otherwise, there isn't a lot to say. It's still a mix of tactical gunplay, creepy facilities and regular hallucinations that sometimes try and beat you up. The AI is still good... and this time they throw in some bastarding little wretches - well, they're just like the things in Gears of War - that sneak up and attack you... inexplicably requiring button mashing... At least it's not a TRUE quick time event.
If you played the first game... it's very similar. If you haven't... there's no real need to. Although the first one might be slightly longer and more engaging...
Bioshock was one of those strange creatures - the spiritual successor - and has now spawned its own literal successor Bioshock 2. The end of Bioshock (either one) didn't really lend itself to an obvious sequel... and the nature of the game itself - which is to say one that invested itself so heavily in a single locale - rather committed any sequels that might come to again returning to the underwater dystopia of Rapture. Naturally, that's not a bad thing per se because the atmosphere of Rapture was superb but it does mean that the game is going to be covering familiar territory.
And indeed, it does. Despite the fact you're playing as a Big Daddy - the most iconic adversary from the original game - very little has changed. Hardly anything, in fact. You still have guns and plasmids... the place is still full of crazy splicers and you do research with a "genetic camera" but other than that, it's all quite similar. The only big difference is a somewhat insubstantial one - the weapons are different. As a Big Daddy (well, Big Daddy prototype... at the start of the game, you're as weak as a kitten) you get a drill as your default weapon and a rivet gun, later collecting a Gatling gun, shotgun, remote hacking tool, rock launcher and the like. This is really the ONLY area of the game where it feels like anything substantial has been reworked.
Plasmids are almost completely unchanged, there are a few more tonics and unlike the first game, you have a common pool for them, rather than only getting X number of tonics for one type of enhancement... The enemies haven't changed a great deal. There is exactly one type of new splicer - the Brute, who is somewhere between the Incredible Hulk and Mr. Hyde from the lamentable Van Helsing film (or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, take your pick). They're easily the most powerful of the splicers but still some way below a Big Daddy. There is in fact a NEW Big Daddy, the Rumbler - he uses turrets and stuff... and looks kinda different and of course, there's the much touted Big Sister. They're pretty damned rare, while you have to fight a Big Daddy every time you want to get a Little Sister, Big Sisters only turn up after you've harvested or saved about three Little Sisters... so, you'll fight only a handful of them... although, they are considerably more powerful than Big Daddys, with their plasmids and agility, so that's probably for the best... and that's ALL the new enemies, all three of 'em. Oh no! There are two new versions of the Big Daddy, the Rumbler and the Alpha Series. So, four. Four new enemies.
The main change to gameplay - in fact, make that the ONLY change - is that as a Big Daddy, you can now adopt Little Sisters, after you kill their Big Daddy. So, to get more ADAM - the stuff that lets you buy fancy new plasmids to shoot fire, electricity and so on - you have your Little Sister harvest corpses... which leads to the splicers attack and naturally, you need to defend the Little Sister until she's done. In fact, if this leads to you having some deja vu - that'll be because you did this IN THE FIRST GAME. It's just that back then, it was an arbitrary task and had no reward beyond progressing in the game... so, yes innovation ladies and gentlemen!
No, you're definitely not going to be playing Bioshock 2 for revolutionary visuals or gameplay because this is very much more of the same. So, it's fair to say that if you liked the original game, then you will probably enjoy this... if not, then you won't like this. It's hard to say much more about the game - it's enjoyable enough, although even on hard with due diligence, not even Big Sisters or Big Daddys pose any real threat and regular enemies must attack en masse to be anything more than a nuisance. In fact, the game has something of an inverse difficulty curve - at the start of the game despite being a Big Daddy, you can be offed quite easily by a pair of splicers if you aren't paying attention, by the end of the game with the right plasmids (and it seems like the freeze plasmid might be a TAD overpowered when used in conjunction with a fully pimped drill) the only real challenge comes at the very end of the game when wave after wave of high level enemies are sent at you.
If one were to ignore the story, then this might as well be some extra levels for Bioshock, so few and far between are the differences. One might not necessarily see that as a bad thing, of course - Bioshock was an enjoyable game, as is this one and of course, this has the addition of multiplayer, if such things should interest you. So, if you liked Bioshock - get it and if you didn't don't bother.
And indeed, it does. Despite the fact you're playing as a Big Daddy - the most iconic adversary from the original game - very little has changed. Hardly anything, in fact. You still have guns and plasmids... the place is still full of crazy splicers and you do research with a "genetic camera" but other than that, it's all quite similar. The only big difference is a somewhat insubstantial one - the weapons are different. As a Big Daddy (well, Big Daddy prototype... at the start of the game, you're as weak as a kitten) you get a drill as your default weapon and a rivet gun, later collecting a Gatling gun, shotgun, remote hacking tool, rock launcher and the like. This is really the ONLY area of the game where it feels like anything substantial has been reworked.
Plasmids are almost completely unchanged, there are a few more tonics and unlike the first game, you have a common pool for them, rather than only getting X number of tonics for one type of enhancement... The enemies haven't changed a great deal. There is exactly one type of new splicer - the Brute, who is somewhere between the Incredible Hulk and Mr. Hyde from the lamentable Van Helsing film (or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, take your pick). They're easily the most powerful of the splicers but still some way below a Big Daddy. There is in fact a NEW Big Daddy, the Rumbler - he uses turrets and stuff... and looks kinda different and of course, there's the much touted Big Sister. They're pretty damned rare, while you have to fight a Big Daddy every time you want to get a Little Sister, Big Sisters only turn up after you've harvested or saved about three Little Sisters... so, you'll fight only a handful of them... although, they are considerably more powerful than Big Daddys, with their plasmids and agility, so that's probably for the best... and that's ALL the new enemies, all three of 'em. Oh no! There are two new versions of the Big Daddy, the Rumbler and the Alpha Series. So, four. Four new enemies.
The main change to gameplay - in fact, make that the ONLY change - is that as a Big Daddy, you can now adopt Little Sisters, after you kill their Big Daddy. So, to get more ADAM - the stuff that lets you buy fancy new plasmids to shoot fire, electricity and so on - you have your Little Sister harvest corpses... which leads to the splicers attack and naturally, you need to defend the Little Sister until she's done. In fact, if this leads to you having some deja vu - that'll be because you did this IN THE FIRST GAME. It's just that back then, it was an arbitrary task and had no reward beyond progressing in the game... so, yes innovation ladies and gentlemen!
No, you're definitely not going to be playing Bioshock 2 for revolutionary visuals or gameplay because this is very much more of the same. So, it's fair to say that if you liked the original game, then you will probably enjoy this... if not, then you won't like this. It's hard to say much more about the game - it's enjoyable enough, although even on hard with due diligence, not even Big Sisters or Big Daddys pose any real threat and regular enemies must attack en masse to be anything more than a nuisance. In fact, the game has something of an inverse difficulty curve - at the start of the game despite being a Big Daddy, you can be offed quite easily by a pair of splicers if you aren't paying attention, by the end of the game with the right plasmids (and it seems like the freeze plasmid might be a TAD overpowered when used in conjunction with a fully pimped drill) the only real challenge comes at the very end of the game when wave after wave of high level enemies are sent at you.
If one were to ignore the story, then this might as well be some extra levels for Bioshock, so few and far between are the differences. One might not necessarily see that as a bad thing, of course - Bioshock was an enjoyable game, as is this one and of course, this has the addition of multiplayer, if such things should interest you. So, if you liked Bioshock - get it and if you didn't don't bother.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Mass Effect 2 had a lot to live up to.
Being a Bioware game these days leads to high expectations and being a sequel to Mass Effect - universally loved and well received, or near enough - that would go without saying but the build up for Mass Effect 2 started back in mid-2009 and it didn't stop until the game was loading up.
Must like the first game, you're immediately thrust into action - and a rather lengthy and super special awesome cutscene that sets up the game before you reprise the role of galactic bad ass. Things are mixed up slightly this time around as you're working for the shady Cereberus group, who it was possible to encounter in the first game, entirely as the bad guys. They're a human supremacist group and are very much modelled after every shadowy conspiracy type organisation ever. Regardless, you're working for them to try and put a stop to a spate of colonies disappearing - because as it's an RPG, no one else can ever get anything done.
The major difference from the first game is probably the first one that you'll notice - there is ammo. Given that Mass Effect made a point of there being no necessity for reloading - with weapons just overheating - it can be somewhat jarring and does make the game a rather more generic experience... but in practice, the ammo is plentiful and you're only going to be stretched for ammo in seriously protracted firefights. Beyond this, there is a HUGE simplification of the levelling logistics. In fact, most things in the gameplay department have been streamlined. There is no purchasing or finding weaponary, the number of abilities a character has been reduced to four (one of which is unlocked by gaining their loyalty) and weapons/armour upgrading has been all but scrapped.
This might all sound as if some horrific amount of damage has been done to the game but really, it merely allows for more time to be spent playing the game and focusing on the story - rather than spending hours trying to get an optimal load out for your party. It's perhaps somewhat unfortunate that the system introduced essentially means that you get gun A and then later can get gun B - which is in all ways better - but Mass Effect was never particularly heavy on sitting around and fiddling with stats and so on, so it's not really a loss.
The upgrades in question require minerals, which leads to what is the weakest part of the game - the mining mini-game. Much like the original, Mass Effect 2 lets you fly around solar systems (in this case, you literally direct your ship around the solar systems) and scan planets. The difference here being that you're not arbitrarily awarded stuff for a scan or dropped onto the planet in the MAKO, to spend hours roaming bland and generic landscapes, vaguely hoping to find something interesting. No, your scan will - 90% of the time - lead to the mining mini-game. This involves dragging the cursor over the planet to try and find mineral deposits by using the scanner. It's not horrible but it's time consuming and repetitive... and it seems strange for a game that seems designed with the intent of focusing on the narrative and the action above all else to toss in something that utterly removes the player from both... but about 10% of the time (which is probably an overly generous estimate) you'll get an anomaly and this leads to a unique encounter. These are all great fun and are a country mile better than bumping around in the MAKO for hours on end - so, really a huge improvement over that dynamic from the original.
As this is a Bioware game, it almost goes without saying that the voice acting and writing in this game is excellent. As before, one generally has a choice between a good - or paragon - response, a neutral one or the bad - renegade - responses. This has been supplemented by what could ALMOST be considered a quick time event, if that weren't an insult. In addition to dialogue, at times during a conversation, a paragon or renegade action may be available to you and by clicking appropriately, one can do anything from toss someone out of a high rise to stop someone getting shot. It's a very simple but effective way to increase the involvement of the player in the Shepard character.
The story itself is enjoyable although, despite the disappearance of entire human colonies... the threat never feels quite as imminent as it did before, possibly because of the nature of the enemy... there is no equivalent to Saren here, no nemesis for Shepard to talk with... and it hurts the story somewhat. Saren served to tie the overall thread of Mass Effect together, here we've just got an army of mooks who never really say much. Of course, it's still interesting but they don't quite get the epicness of the first game. That said, the more personal elements of the game are good. The first game only had a few personal sidequests, ME2 has a full one for all the members of your crew - they're all unique experiences and depending on how they play out, you can gain the loyalty of the party member, giving them a snazzy Cerberus jumpsuit and unlocking a new ability.
All in all, an enjoyable game that did what most good sequels should - take the framework of the original game and improve upon it. Other than the mineral mini-game and the initial surprise players of the original will have over having to reload their weapons, instead of just waiting for it to cool down, there really isn't much to complain about. The game balances humour - there are some hilarious conversations in the background on the various worlds - action, story, romance (there are EIGHT love interests compared to the original three) and sci-fi goodness into one easily digestible package. Bring on Mass Effect 3.
Being a Bioware game these days leads to high expectations and being a sequel to Mass Effect - universally loved and well received, or near enough - that would go without saying but the build up for Mass Effect 2 started back in mid-2009 and it didn't stop until the game was loading up.
Must like the first game, you're immediately thrust into action - and a rather lengthy and super special awesome cutscene that sets up the game before you reprise the role of galactic bad ass. Things are mixed up slightly this time around as you're working for the shady Cereberus group, who it was possible to encounter in the first game, entirely as the bad guys. They're a human supremacist group and are very much modelled after every shadowy conspiracy type organisation ever. Regardless, you're working for them to try and put a stop to a spate of colonies disappearing - because as it's an RPG, no one else can ever get anything done.
The major difference from the first game is probably the first one that you'll notice - there is ammo. Given that Mass Effect made a point of there being no necessity for reloading - with weapons just overheating - it can be somewhat jarring and does make the game a rather more generic experience... but in practice, the ammo is plentiful and you're only going to be stretched for ammo in seriously protracted firefights. Beyond this, there is a HUGE simplification of the levelling logistics. In fact, most things in the gameplay department have been streamlined. There is no purchasing or finding weaponary, the number of abilities a character has been reduced to four (one of which is unlocked by gaining their loyalty) and weapons/armour upgrading has been all but scrapped.
This might all sound as if some horrific amount of damage has been done to the game but really, it merely allows for more time to be spent playing the game and focusing on the story - rather than spending hours trying to get an optimal load out for your party. It's perhaps somewhat unfortunate that the system introduced essentially means that you get gun A and then later can get gun B - which is in all ways better - but Mass Effect was never particularly heavy on sitting around and fiddling with stats and so on, so it's not really a loss.
The upgrades in question require minerals, which leads to what is the weakest part of the game - the mining mini-game. Much like the original, Mass Effect 2 lets you fly around solar systems (in this case, you literally direct your ship around the solar systems) and scan planets. The difference here being that you're not arbitrarily awarded stuff for a scan or dropped onto the planet in the MAKO, to spend hours roaming bland and generic landscapes, vaguely hoping to find something interesting. No, your scan will - 90% of the time - lead to the mining mini-game. This involves dragging the cursor over the planet to try and find mineral deposits by using the scanner. It's not horrible but it's time consuming and repetitive... and it seems strange for a game that seems designed with the intent of focusing on the narrative and the action above all else to toss in something that utterly removes the player from both... but about 10% of the time (which is probably an overly generous estimate) you'll get an anomaly and this leads to a unique encounter. These are all great fun and are a country mile better than bumping around in the MAKO for hours on end - so, really a huge improvement over that dynamic from the original.
As this is a Bioware game, it almost goes without saying that the voice acting and writing in this game is excellent. As before, one generally has a choice between a good - or paragon - response, a neutral one or the bad - renegade - responses. This has been supplemented by what could ALMOST be considered a quick time event, if that weren't an insult. In addition to dialogue, at times during a conversation, a paragon or renegade action may be available to you and by clicking appropriately, one can do anything from toss someone out of a high rise to stop someone getting shot. It's a very simple but effective way to increase the involvement of the player in the Shepard character.
The story itself is enjoyable although, despite the disappearance of entire human colonies... the threat never feels quite as imminent as it did before, possibly because of the nature of the enemy... there is no equivalent to Saren here, no nemesis for Shepard to talk with... and it hurts the story somewhat. Saren served to tie the overall thread of Mass Effect together, here we've just got an army of mooks who never really say much. Of course, it's still interesting but they don't quite get the epicness of the first game. That said, the more personal elements of the game are good. The first game only had a few personal sidequests, ME2 has a full one for all the members of your crew - they're all unique experiences and depending on how they play out, you can gain the loyalty of the party member, giving them a snazzy Cerberus jumpsuit and unlocking a new ability.
All in all, an enjoyable game that did what most good sequels should - take the framework of the original game and improve upon it. Other than the mineral mini-game and the initial surprise players of the original will have over having to reload their weapons, instead of just waiting for it to cool down, there really isn't much to complain about. The game balances humour - there are some hilarious conversations in the background on the various worlds - action, story, romance (there are EIGHT love interests compared to the original three) and sci-fi goodness into one easily digestible package. Bring on Mass Effect 3.
Dragon Age - Bioware finally escapes the strictures of licensed properties and establishes its own intellectual property... which is being dubbed "dark fantasy". It's really just takes the traditional fantasy mix and moves things around... and yes, probably slightly more dark in tone that the average fantasy franchise, with the near total destruction of humanity in the past, dwarves locked in a constant battle for survival with the darkspawn (who periodically try and wipe out everything in Blights - which you're trying to avert) and elves are second class citizens, often used as slaves and treated with open contempt.
As a Bioware game, the writing and story is top notch and is the greatest strength in a game that drags on. The reason for this is very simple - the gameplay isn't particularly exciting. It's standard D&D stuff - all tick tocking masked behind a friendly interface and the player able to stop and issue orders at any point to your party. For the most part, the RPG element of the game has been stripped down to bare bones. Rogue, mage or warrior... and depending on your class and racial choices, you have a number of different possible starting missions which make some trifling difference to the game after they're done but it's a nice touch.
Thankfully, the party is not limited to the Mass Effect group of three but rather you get four in your party... not quite at the Baldur's Gate levels but still, an extra party member is always a bonus - especially as there are the occasional interactions between the NPCs... again, it's not on the same level as Baldur's Gate but it's still nice to have it there. Regardless of that, in camp you can interact extensively with your entire party to get their backstory and gain influence with them. Influence is gained by making choices they approve of when they're in your party, saying the right thing to them or just giving them gifts. This is really where the game shines - the characters are all scripted wonderfully and the voice acting is really top notch, making interaction with the characters a joy rather than a chore.
The game almost manages a wonderfully cinematic quality, right from the start. Again, scripts and acting are superb and the action and direction of the cutscenes is great. They seem to almost effortlessly manage to incorporate a sense of epic scale at times and at others, quiet intensity. It's very impressive to see this all done almost entirely with the in-game engine but then, the engine is quite impressive.
Where the game falters is the gameplay... the difficulty randomly varies, meaning sometimes attack will be easy to shrug off and other times, they'll be inexplicably harder, despite a similar number of identical enemies and when it comes down to it - it's also very rinse, wash, repeat. By halfway through the game, the combat are starting to get tiresome and by the end, it's little more than a chore to be rushed through to beat the game. Compared to something like KOTOR or Mass Effect where combat was fun AND challenging, this is a real let down and easily the weakest of Bioware's latest. There are some nice touches - like the ability to have spell effects combine - but really they're just minor and the game is in danger of having grind.
All-in-all it's a good game and worth playing for the story, if not the gameplay.
As a Bioware game, the writing and story is top notch and is the greatest strength in a game that drags on. The reason for this is very simple - the gameplay isn't particularly exciting. It's standard D&D stuff - all tick tocking masked behind a friendly interface and the player able to stop and issue orders at any point to your party. For the most part, the RPG element of the game has been stripped down to bare bones. Rogue, mage or warrior... and depending on your class and racial choices, you have a number of different possible starting missions which make some trifling difference to the game after they're done but it's a nice touch.
Thankfully, the party is not limited to the Mass Effect group of three but rather you get four in your party... not quite at the Baldur's Gate levels but still, an extra party member is always a bonus - especially as there are the occasional interactions between the NPCs... again, it's not on the same level as Baldur's Gate but it's still nice to have it there. Regardless of that, in camp you can interact extensively with your entire party to get their backstory and gain influence with them. Influence is gained by making choices they approve of when they're in your party, saying the right thing to them or just giving them gifts. This is really where the game shines - the characters are all scripted wonderfully and the voice acting is really top notch, making interaction with the characters a joy rather than a chore.
The game almost manages a wonderfully cinematic quality, right from the start. Again, scripts and acting are superb and the action and direction of the cutscenes is great. They seem to almost effortlessly manage to incorporate a sense of epic scale at times and at others, quiet intensity. It's very impressive to see this all done almost entirely with the in-game engine but then, the engine is quite impressive.
Where the game falters is the gameplay... the difficulty randomly varies, meaning sometimes attack will be easy to shrug off and other times, they'll be inexplicably harder, despite a similar number of identical enemies and when it comes down to it - it's also very rinse, wash, repeat. By halfway through the game, the combat are starting to get tiresome and by the end, it's little more than a chore to be rushed through to beat the game. Compared to something like KOTOR or Mass Effect where combat was fun AND challenging, this is a real let down and easily the weakest of Bioware's latest. There are some nice touches - like the ability to have spell effects combine - but really they're just minor and the game is in danger of having grind.
All-in-all it's a good game and worth playing for the story, if not the gameplay.
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