Special Guest: Issac Clarke

So Dead Space 2's out all around the world. From the hour or so I've played of it, it's quite a fun game, and if you've got the means to play it - Dead Space Extraction HD is also quite fun. But it's thanks to Dead Space 2 that I've gotta look at EA and question their crossing over ability, because it's something suspect.

For those who purchase a new copy of Dead Space 2 (either of the three versions), you'll get a code that allows you to download the "Ser Issac of Clarke" armour to use in the upcoming Dragon Age II. It's kinda similar to the same type of deal EA pulled with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, in which you recieved a code in new copies of the latter which allowed you to use the same armour in the former.

But the weird thing about all this, is why Issac Clarke? It's not that the character hasn't got the greatest design out there (the engineering suit has a neat look to it), but EA have this really odd habit of putting the Issac skin in a whole series of games that don't make a lick of sense. Don't believe me?

Here's Issac in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10:

Here's Issac in the PSP version of Army of Two: The 40th Day:

Here's Issac in My Sims Agents:

Here's Issac in Skate 3 :

Here's Issac in Dante's Inferno :

I mean, I can understand EA's strategy here - they're putting Dead Space and Issac out there unlike a lot of their other brands and trying to get the name out. Compared to other EA games, Dead Space has two animated movies, three comic book series, a Wii (now PS3) prequel game, and XBLA and PSN prequel game to the sequel, and even an iOS game. Not even other, and possibly more popular, EA games have this type of additional items.

However, it seems just so random and pointless to do so - and worst of all, the Issac skin is completely out of place for most of those games I mentioned above. You'd have to be mad to justify the costume being in Dante's Inferno, it clashes with the design aesthetic in Dragon Age; but the most jarring is in Skate and Tiger Woods - more so in Tiger, which uses real-life locations and people. It just feels...weird.

For comparison's sake, Sony have it down pretty well on how they let Kratos be used in non-God of War games. Sure, he's made appearances in games like Everybody's Golf (subtitle?), Modnation Racers & Little Big Planet, but at the same time - you look at his use in PSP title Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny and the upcoming Mortal Kombat. Thanks to the God of War games being kinda-fighting games, he's a natural fit in playing, plus his backstory actually makes him fit in with the Soul Calibur storyline better than every guest character not named Link. As for Mortal Kombat, anyone who's played a God of War game can tell you that he's an absolute perfect pick.

I mean, I'm all for EA trying to get Dead Space out there...but putting him in every bloody game ever isn't going to work. What's next, an Issac Clarke driver/car for Shift 2 Unleashed?

Heavy Rain (PS3) Review

NOTE: Heavy Rain is a very interesting game, if only because a lot of the game can be very easily spoiled. That being said though, this review only contains information that has been made publically known and should not ruin the experience for players. 

There are some fine lines defining whether or not a game is a series of actions and interactions where everything you do has an impact on the game, or just playing through one long sequence of unskippable events, feeling more like a movie than anything else. This is the dilemma surrounding the latest release by Sony and developer Quantic Dream’s latest title – the PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain. And for a game that’s been in the works for ages, it’s finally good that the wait was worth it. Somewhat. 

Heavy Rain prides itself on being “Interactive Drama”, wherein a more traditional gaming experience is eschewed in favour of a much slower experience. This is a game that lives and breathes cinematic atmosphere – feeling at times like a very high quality crime drama. The story follows the lives of four individuals whom are after the one person – the mysterious Origami Killer, whose modius operandi is to kidnap young boys, drown them in rainwater (hence, the Heavy Rain) and places the corpses on a wasteland, with flowers and an origami figure. The shit really hits the fan when the son of one of the playable characters goes missing, as they’re put through the paces to learn just how far the character would go to save him; and forms a crucial part of the plot.

Each of the four playable characters aren’t exactly your standard game characters either – with each suffering from various problems and aren’t exactly pleasant to be around; such as architect Ethan – who after the death of one of his sons and divorce is starting to lose grip on reality, or FBI agent Norman, whom is struggling to deal with a drug addiction.

Much like with Quantic Dreams previous game, Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit (depending on where you live in the world), the game plays out via gratitutious use of quick time events and some minor forms of other interaction, mostly in the form of moving your character around the scene, picking up items, talking to other characters and so on.

There’s a joke here about the woman getting soaked by something. But I’ll leave you to guess that for yourselves.

But what really makes Heavy Rain stand out is how progression is handled. The game never stops for anything – time is always moving, so you’ll constantly need to make snap decisions and take advantage of the little time you have. Even things like character death don’t impact the plot – if any of the four characters die, the game doesn’t stop and forces you to reload, and it keeps going. The same goes with the Quick Time Events. They’re handled in such a unique way that it never really feels forced or tired, but fascinating. Best of all, there’s almost no penalty for failing most of them – save for the few occasions where you can kill characters.

That being said though, the game does have a few key problems with it. For starters, the game is a technical mess. Loading times can be exceedingly long, the audio drops out completely at times (albeit briefly), character animations define the laws of physics and much more. Then there are times when the game crashes, refuses to load and much more. Even with a 226MB patch as a mandatory download, it manages to be staggering at how glitch the game is.

Oh hi. I was the first character ever shown for Heavy Rain back in 2006 as a test character. And guess what? I’m still in the game!

As well as that, the story itself has its problems. While the experience overall is great, there are moments in the game where you’re constantly questioning to their existence. There are moments that are absolutely pointless to the overall plot, and feel utterly stupid to be playing. As well as that, the story makes some use of some rather cheap storytelling mechanics and pulls off some weak twists. It does tend to derail the story, but thankfully, doesn’t totally kill the experience.

Visually, the game ranges from tipping the uncanny valley to looking great. The character models in particular look fantastic, though there are moments where they’d fit in well in the Uncanny Valley. The animation on all the characters is great, but the facial animation can sometimes lead to some weird mouth movements that make for a better comedy than a serious scene. That being said though – the environments you move around in are jaw droppingly beautiful, fitting in well with the somewhat noir atmosphere going on. And yes, there’s a lot of great looking rain.

The same thing can be said of the sound – its equal parts amazing and equal parts unintentionally hilarious. The voice acting is mostly solid, though there are periods where the mostly European cast drop out of their American accents and back into tinges of their regular ones, or don’t even try to be American. That, and there’s quite a bit of weak delivery at times. That being said though, the music is fantastic, and does wonders to compliment the atmosphere the game is trying to present.

Overall, Heavy Rain is a unique experience that begs to be tried out, with some of the best music and visuals you’re bound to experience in a video game. Definitely worth it – especially if you’re after something new.

12 Games For Christmas - Game #11

11. Shatter (PSN)

Let’s face it, the Xbox Live Arcade has a monopoly on the downloadable games service. It’s better organized and maintained than the Playstation Network, even if a disappointingly large portion of games on there are mostly ports of other games or shooters. Whereas on the PSN, sure there isn’t as much – but there’s a better influx of more quirky and interesting games. But what if you combine the best of both worlds – the arcade gameplay mixed in with some quirks? This is where Sidhe’s Shatter comes into play.

Shatter is very much similar to brick breaking classics Arkanoid or Breakout; the goal here to generally break all the bricks without losing your ball. Where Shatter differs is by offering the ability to control airflow. After shooting a ball, you can choose to suck the ball towards the paddle, or choose to blow it away from the paddle. This in turn helps to better strategically play the game and helps incredibly so in the game’s boss battles. It sounds weird, but it totally makes sense once you actually start playing it.

What generally does work about the game is the atmosphere. Shatter looks great, has some cool design choices, but what helps to accentuate the game is the absolutely fantastic music. Put simply, this is one soundtrack that’s worth tracking down. Hell, at one point – the entire soundtrack was being sold digitally for only $1.

If you’ve got a PS3, and want a cool downloadable game to show off to your friends, this is the one to do it. It’s a familiar game, with an entirely new coat of paint.

12 Games For Christmas 2009 - Game #1

Here we go, my annual "Game of the Year" posts. Always look forward to doing these, as it allows me to look back on the year that was and analyze what games were truly exemplary in a year full of fantastic purchases for just about anyone. Should also mention that everything here is stuff that I've played, so I can't wax lyrical on anything that I haven't sampled (i.e Borderlands, for instance). 

And here we go...

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)

The Playstation 3 has been a joke of a console since before it even launched. I'm sure I don't need to bring up the $599, Ridge Racer and Giant Enemy Crab memes to remind anyone of that. And hell, for close to a year, there was very little reason for anyone to actually own one. But ever since then - the system's slowly been getting better and better, and the line up of exclusive  software has been arguably the best of the generation so far. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a further example of that, and may very well be easily the best game released all year.

Uncharted 2 does many, many things right. It has some of the best characterization you'll see in any game, and while the story and characters can fall into stereotypes and cliches, that's the point - it's meant to be reminiscent of those pulp serials that helped inspire the Indiana Jones series of films, and really, is that a bad thing? When the game shifts to a cutscene, you're interested and excited to see what's going to happen next, and not only because the story, but also because of the visuals - Uncharted 2 is easily one of the best looking games you'll see on any console. It's no wonder why Sony went with the cringe inducing "it looks like a movie" ad campaign.

The gameplay has also seen some improvement. The difficulty now works better so that if you're playing on harder difficulties, it's still relatively manageable throughout the whole game, compared to the original, where it proved to be more of a pain than anything else. The gun combat has also been improved so that enemies don't take a ludicrous amount of damage to kill, but still doesn't feel right, compared to similar games like Gears of War 2, which has that whole cover based shooter thing down pat.

One are also worth commenting on is the improved stealth gameplay and multiplayer. Despite being initially thought as being terrible additions, they prove to be some of the best handled aspects of the game - the stealth isn't a required opiton to play the game, but it becomes incredibly useful later. The multiplayer is also one of the most fun games you'll experience on the Playstation Network, thanks to the fact that everything you can do in the single player you can do in the multiplayer, so jumping and climbing plays just as much of a role as taking cover or precisely shooting. It breaks the trend of fantastic single player games having unnecessary and often pointless multiplayer.

All in all, Uncharted 2 is easily one of the best games of the year, providing an excellent single player with a well thoughtout and fun multiplayer component. Looks absolutely stunning and matches that aurally to boot. And the best part? There's very little to actually complain about. Good news to everyone who doesn't own a PS3 - you now have your reason to pick one up.