sprites & bites

Gaming, iPads and a few biscuits on the side…

Category Archives: video games

Singularity

Singularity was quietly released in Europe on 25th June 2010. When I say quietly I mean really quiet. So quiet that I could not even get a copy of it on launch day in my town. None of the supermarkets had it nor did the game shops, it was not because they sold out, they just did not get any copies. You have to wonder what Activision the publisher were thinking when they make no effort to market a game and then subsequently cry when the sales are bad. Well they will be bad if they do not even bother to get the game into the shops.  One week on and I managed to get the game in Gamestation but even then they were only given 3-4 copies.

This game has borrowed (copied) many elements of some of my favourite games. You will see elements from the likes of Bioshock, F.E.A.R and Fallout 3 just to name a few. There is an old saying that imitation is the best form of flattery and the developer here has done very well in it’s flattery and come up with a very accomplished game which is worthy of your money.

The detail in the graphics is excellent and unlike the above named games I experienced no glitches, bugs or graphical issues like tearing whatsoever.  It was like they took all these games, mixed them up and actually improved the look and feel to give a polished experience.

The story itself is a little wild and at times has you going from the year 2010 back to 1955 via a TMD (Time Manipulation Device) strapped to your arm. The game is based around time manipulation but unfortunately I do not think they used it enough in the game. There was only a bit near the beginning and some near the end of the game where you went back to 1955. I would liked them to have extended this and had more experiences of going through the time warp. It was a good feature but not used to it’s potential. This did not affect my enjoyment of the game at all, I just think it should have been utilised more within the storyline.

I really enjoyed Singularity and it was a pleasant reminder of some games I had played in the recent past and would definitely recommend everyone play it. It is an accomplished FPS and whilst it may not be worthy of the full RRP price, this is a must-play if you can get it cheaper than what the game shops are offering (£44.99). Available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Rated 18 Years

GREAT/10


Lego Harry Potter

Let me get my admission out of the way first, I do not like Harry Potter films. I only ever saw one and could not be bothered with the rest but I had to play the game because it is Lego and I have played all Lego video games so far except for Lego Rock Band.  So I went in playing this game thinking it was going to be also rubbish.  To my pleasant surprise, it was not like Harry Potter really at all and it was not long before I just felt like I was playing a Lego game with wizards and spells. This was fantastic as I was able to brush aside my dislike of Hogwarts and just concentrate on playing the game.

It is classic Lego game fun and while I would not rate is as highly as the previous games – Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones it is still definitely a worthy addition to your collection if you are also a Lego fan.

The previous games got bigger and bigger in gameplay space especially the last Indiana Jones episodes so it was a disappointment to find that Harry Potter version feels a heck of a lot smaller.  I think this is due to being mostly in the confines of Hogwarts Castle so I did feel at times a little claustrophobic and restricted and it also felt quite linear.  I suppose this is not really something I can criticise too much because of course they are trying to vaguely follow a story which was mostly set around Hogwarts and if they strayed too much away from that, die hard Harry Potter fans would find holes in the story.  As usual with Lego games there are tons of collectibles – red bricks, gold bricks, postal boxes and some which are unique to Harry Potter like shield crests – each level has 4 quarters of a shield to collect. There are also bonus levels to play for extra gold bricks.

There is really not much I can say about this game further. It is Lego, in the same vein as the other games with a different skin and a smaller playing area. If you are a Harry Potter fan you can add it to your collection, if you are like me and do not like Harry Potter but are a Lego game fan, it is still a worthy game to play because you will soon forget you are playing the series.

One final note for the developer, I think the title is wrong. I know the game is aimed at all ages, but the title Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 really makes it sound like the actual game is aimed at pre-school when it is not.

GOOD/10

What next for Lego games?  Spiderman, Superman, or maybe a collection of super heroes would be good?

Incoming Releases

25th June

Naughty Bear – Xbox 360, PS3.  Cuddly bears meet Grand Theft Auto. Well sort of. Cuddly bears  but not for kids under 12 apparently as it is a bit gory.  It is a brand new game idea so hopefully it may bring something new to the table. Even if it does not, shotgun-toting teddy bears could be interesting. Remember folks, it is only a game, your teddy bear will not attack you while you sleep.

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 – All consoles.  If ever a film did not deserve to become a Lego game, it is Harry Potter. What were they thinking?  Oh well, it could be a good bit of fun, I do love Lego videogames.

2nd July

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – All consoles. Another year, another Tiger Woods game. It is hard to know how they can change a year-in/year-out golf game but  this time you do get to play in the Ryder Cup.  Fortunately no sign of added  girlfriends.

9th July

Crackdown 2 – Xbox 360. Another long awaited sequel. Hopefully this time round the game will have just a wee bit more substance rather than just jumping around collecting orbs and shooting people.

16th July

Toy Story 3 – All consoles. Oh yes everybody loves Toy Story, right?  Good platforming games do not come around often, I am hoping this is going to be an excellent edition.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

I don’t know what is wrong with the developer Ubisoft of late, but some of their games have been terrible, one such bad game is their newest Prince of Perisa: The Forgotten Sands.I mistakenly bought this game on a whim when I meant to rent and I so wish I had rented it and it is certainly not as good as their last episode.

Firstly, the combat has no depth whatsoever, it is a simple press X to swing your sword and that is it. There are special powers you can upgrade to but these actually make the game a bit too easy. I am all for easy games, but eventually I was getting a one shot kill and there was no challenge. There are also not many puzzles and those that were there did not require much brain power to work out, apart from one where I resorted to looking on the web as it had me stumped.  Breakable pots and vases only contained power or health and it would have been nice to have found some collectibles. The only collectibles in the game were stone statues which you had to break – for more power and health. The other thing is the look of the game feels very dated. The previous Prince of Persia on the Xbox 360 looked stunning but this game feels like a step back before that, just not good at all.

The platforming sections – swinging jumping etc, the controls worked well but it was dull. It was the same old jumping from pole to pole, swinging from swings and evading razor saws on walls. There was just no variety at all and I felt the game was just a rehash of older versions.

I really would not recommend anyone buy this game at all unless it is in the bargain bin. It is short, it has no depth and is just old tired ideas mashed up into an omelette of nothingness.  Buy cheap, rent or avoid.

AVERAGE/10

Previously on Alan Wake…

The storyline strong Heavy Rain was released on the PS3 to critical acclaim a few months ago and a few days ago it Microsoft’s turn to release a storyline strong game – Alan Wake, which has been in development since the original Xbox was out. Both Alan Wake and Heavy Rain feature action aplenty with impressive storylines to carry the game through.  Heavy Rain had the thriller but Alan Wake is a horror story with enough twists and screams to affect your nightly dreams.

Alan Wake your character is a horror book author who has writers block and decides to go to Bright Falls with his wife Alice to take a break and end his writers block. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned, Alice goes missing and he sets on a frightening tale trying to get her back.  The world is twists, full of horrors, the darkness of evil consuming the population of Bright Falls.  To remain spoiler free I will not mention the story further, only to say that I found myself questioning the storyline several times because it kept twisting – this is not a negative note, it is saying that I was kept on my toes trying to keep up with the twists in the story and at one point I had myself thinking I got the story all wrong, but it was the story playing with my mind.

Graphically the game has its superb points when the environments look polished with high detail. Unfortunately the game looks bad in places on my big 40″ TV. Sometimes the background appears a lower resolution so while you have Alan Wake looking good, the area in the background looks pixelated and like I say on a big TV this is evident. ON a smaller TV this may not be so noticeable.  There is also an element of screen tearing at times when Alan is forced to walk places and follow people, it is no game-breaker but can be a tad annoying at times.

They have included some excellent songs in the game and the sound effects match the spooky atmosphere in the game.  There is a big fail with one part of the sound though. When someone is talking as part of the story, sometimes you can hear conversations in the background so it plays two conversations at once and it can be hard to distinguish the two apart. Turn on the subtitles and it is even more of a mess. You end up with two lots of subtitles one above another with no indication as to which subtitle is which.  If anyone has the sound turned down or is deaf and relies on subtitles this is very bad because there is no indication which are the storyline conversation words and which are the background conversation words.  It is not very well implemented at all and they should have had it so when storyline conversations come up, the background conversations are muted.  I would say this is the one thing that ruins the game sometimes and it is very distracting.

So for those obsessed with numbers, with the graphical issues and the sound/subtitles issues I have to mark this game down, I would have expected more from a game in development alledgedly for 10 years and it is a disappointment to have these flaws. However, whilst I would have knocked away 2 points from the score giving an average 8, I think the storyline has enough gusto to carry the game into a 9 score. Because the game is all about the story and you will find yourself gripped from the very beginning and emotionally driven to solve the mystery and find Alice – dead or alive.

GREAT/10

Alan Wake is available now on Xbox 360 only. Rated 15 years and over.

Don’t forget also you can download filmed episodes of the Bright Falls series on Xbox live marketplace. They add to the story of Alan Wake and are free to download.

Splinter Cell Conviction Demo

There is one thing in life guaranteed apart from death and taxes and that is that you can never please everybody.  Splinter Cell Conviction demo was released today with a few new changes to the series and from reading the forums there are generally two camps – those who love the changes and those who feel it is too far away from the other games and do not like it at all.

The real problem as far as I can see was that the series was getting old.  It was stale and none of the previous games really improved that much on the previous before that. In a nutshell it was the same gameplay, different location each time and very similar storyline.  Splinter Cell Conviction throws away the old rigid rule book and starts afresh with a new set of rules.  He is no longer an operative in a silly black outfit and donning night vision goggles but is working alone in civvies to his own agenda.

Gameplay wise, Ubisoft have now implemented an quick execute option so you can tag and kill multiple enemies with a couple of button presses.  I like this option. I have problem with some games sometimes in that my reactions are a bit slow so creating a set piece for multiple kills I think is excellent. It is not a given right either, so not to make it too easy, the execute option has to be earned by close up kills.  If anyone complains this makes the game too simple then the easy answer is do not use it. You are not forced to use the tag-then-execute option, it is merely there for those who do want to use it.

Personally I love the new gameplay. It is very fresh and I love the fact that they have moved away from the dry old black-clad-super-spy theme to give us something new.  This may be the recipe they need to bring back gamers who abandoned the series before because it was getting stale.

Roll on April, I will now submit my pre-order.

My friend Cat hates the changes  and you can read her well thought out rant on here

http://carocat.co.uk/2010/03/21/splinter-cell-conviction-demo/

Cat gives more information about the changes although I do not think they are all negative things. Two very polarised opinions :)

Missing My Xbox 360

My beloved Elite 360 has been sent to the retailer for repair.  It is well out of warranty so Microsoft wopuld not repair it for free but I did remember I had purchased the extended warranty for it at the time.

It went on Wednesday with the hard drive attached (the retailer wanted to send both to test both) and now it is in the lap of the gods.

The problem was not the red ring of death nor the E74 error but it simply had a problem recognising discs – game was placed into the tray but instead of showing the picture of the game and option to play it only said “open tray”. 15-20 minutes of faffing around switching on and off and swapping discs and I was getting lucky getti9ng them to work but over a period of a few weeks it was just getting worse.

I don’t usually buy extended warranties but the 360 is such a fragile machine and has so many potential problems it was well worth getting the extended warranty for only £20 or so. A repair from Microsoft would have cost me £60.

Shall I start a book on how long it will take to come back to me and whether it will be fixed properly?