sprites & bites

Gaming, iPads and a few biscuits on the side…

Category Archives: video games

Heavy Rain

I have been playing video games in some form or another for about 20 years or so now.  I have played a zillion and one games in all sorts of genres from action to sports and platforming to horrors.

Every once in a while a game comes along which is attempting to redefine video games and their genres and maybe even create a new genre.  Heavy Rain on the Playstation 3 is one such game and expectations are high that this game is going to have a positive impact in the way future games are constructed.

Heavy Rain is not just a game, it is also an interactive thriller based around 5 main characters who you get to play. These characters are actually real people alive today and they all centre around a fictional story of a serial killer – The Origami Killer. Your actions and reactions to events in this game will determine how the game plays out, in fact your actions are so important to the gameplay that a wrong decision may lead to the death of that character and once dead they are dead for the rest of the game and you continue with the remaining characters so you may have to think hard about your actions before committing to them.

The developer, “Quantic Dream” wants to play with our emotions. They want the gamer to feel real emotion when playing the game and to feel what the characters are feeling. If they succeed with this then maybe it may change some games forever. If they fail, then it will only be remembered as just a game in gaming history.

Heavy Rain is an adult game and not suitable for children. It has mature content and is designed solely for a mature audience. Kids need not apply on this one. Think Patricia Cornwall or James Patterson.

Heavy Rain will only be available on the Playstation 3 and is due for release at the end of February. Check out www.youtube.com for lots of trailers and preview videos.

Rated 18 years and over.

Christmas Gifts for under 50 Quid

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat but your wallet is getting smaller and Christmas might be crap. Of course you do not need to spend hundreds of £££’s to make someone happy this year or even choose a small pressie for yourself.  Here are my top 5 gaming gifts to please someone this year.  Young or old, male or female, there should be something here to please.

In at number 5 is Professor Layton & Pandoras Box. The successor to Professor Layton & the Curious Village, this game brings you more mind bending puzzles than you can flick a baked bean at and is recommended for all ages although may be quite hard for younger gamers.

RRP £34.99

professor

At 4 is Singstar Volume 2 on PS3. Old and young there are songs to sing for everyone.  The bundle comes complete with two microphones so you can further deafen your deaf great grandma.

RRP £49.99

singstar2

In at 3 is the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit. An unusual gift maybe, this pack is a mini keyboard and headset which attaches to an Xbox 360 controller. Today Microsoft released an update which allows for Twitter and Facebook on the 360 so this mini keyboard can be a thumb-saver for typing messages over Xbox live.

RRP £24.99

messenger

Number 2 is Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City. This standalone disc contains the two downloadable add-on packs which were released for the original game on Xbox marketplace – The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and the Damned.. The great thing about this is if your boyfriend/wife/husband has sold/traded/lost their original disc, they do not need the original to play this game. Available on Xbox 360.

RRP £34.99

libertycity


At Number 1 slot I do recommend an Xbox 360 4200 points card for the marketplace.  On the face of it, it looks like a boring pressie but believe me this will give hours of fun to the internet connected Xbox 360 gamer.  For those not in the know and are shopping for others, a points card is like a voucher which a person can spend online via their xbox 360 to buy games, movies and additional content for games.  Games range typically between 800-1200 points each so they can choose for themselves what games they wish to download. This is very useful when buying for someone when you know they have an Xbox 360 but you have no idea what to buy them.  Ultimately they get a valuable gift for them but they can choose the real prize :)

RRP £34.99

4200

If you decide any of these products might be a good gift or even want to browse for other products, www.vouchercodes.co.uk can offer you some money saving vouchers to try and help ease the Christmas spending burden, every penny saved is an extra tot of brandy or nibble of a mince pie (with cream)! Go directly to the link above or below are some handy links direct to a few video game retailers discounts.

Game – www.vouchercodes.co.uk/game.co.uk

Play.com – www.vouchercodes.co.uk/play.com

Amazon – www.vouchercodes.co.uk/amazon.co.uk

These are just a few of the stores who offer discount vouchers from free delivery to money off, bogoffs and so on.

Merry Christmas!

Looking forward to 2010

2010 – the year when 30 years ago when I was at primary school we used to think was going to be full of robots and people living on space stations and walking around in astronaut suits. That did not quite happen but in 30 years I have seen video games go from small pixelated square blocks to full blown graphics which also look cinematic.   I remember playing a text adventure on the Commodore 64 and I remember being in awe of the graphics, there was a shot of the outside of a cave and there were only 3 colours – green for the grass, brown for the cave rocks and black for the inside of the cave.  I do also remember saying to my Dad back then that it was so amazing then I could never imagine graphics getting better than that ever.  Of course at 7-8 years old at the time I never realised that computers would get better and that programming skills would get better and over time use different softwares and better softwares to create those worlds around us.

I feel honoured to0 be this age (36) that I am now.  I have seen computer games from birth to the present day and all their incarnations and have enjoyed the excitement and amazement that every new games generation console has brought me and assuming I live another 50 years, I cannot wait for the next generation of consoles and then one after that and that etc.  I could see 5 more generations of consoles and be 86 years old playing Call of Duty: Gulf War 10 and having 10 year old kids telling me they are going to kill my mother when she will probably already be dead by then. I really cannot wait for what is to come and how game graphics will be seen in future generations.

That is all too far into the future though and right here and right now we have a slew of games coming out in the first quarter of 2010 which are beginning to excite the games playing audience. This is not an exhaustive list and some dates may slip further.

Bayonetta – devil woman attacks peeps with her long hair.  Xbox 360, PS3 – 8th January

Alan Wake – Been in production for many years, will it make it? – Xbox 360 exclusive – 29th January (let us at least pretend)

MAG Massive Action Game – First MMORPG for the PS3 (exclusive) 29th January

Mass Effect 2 – It has to be played, its the law. Xbox 360 exclusive, 29th January

Dead Rising 2 – More millions of zombies causing claustrophobia and dirty pants. Xbox 360, PS3.  29th January

Bioshock 2 – Needs no description of this awesome game.  Xbox 360, PS3 – 9th February

Dante’s Inferno – More horror/evil/hell/demons/devils.  Xbox 360, PS3.  26th February

Dead to Rights: Retribution – Will the dog be in it?  PS3 only.  26th February

Final Fantasy XIII – Not my cup of tea but worthy of a mention. Xbox 360, PS3.  9th March

Splinter Cell Conviction. Its a pretend date really…  Xbox 360.  26th March

Mafia 2 – Bring on  the Mafia in the cars going at 20mph! woo.  Xbox 360, PS3. 26th March

Red Dead Redemption – Cowboys and Indians go open world and free roam. Xbox 360, PS3 26th March

Max Payne 3 – Please no more dream sequences. Xbox 360, PS3 – sometime next year maybe



A Gaggle of Platformers

First up is Mini Ninjas.  Mini Ninjas is aimed at young children to promote exploration in a large world. The world is not that big and the game is very linear but it does promote exploration by way of collectable items. You can collect many new magical powers throughout the game and of course you have your ninja skills. You can also choose up to 8 playable characters all with their own unique skills.  To also promote a friendly way of fighting without nastiness for the younger audience, whenever you kill an enemy they do not die but turn into an animal. You can also turn into any animal yourself to use their skills.

Mini Ninjas is a fun game and has some replayability when you want to go back and repeat a level to find the items you missed.  Lots to collect and great fun.  GOOD/10

“UP” is a new game from Disney Pixar which follows in the adventures of Russell and Carl – an elderly gentleman and a young boy – from the upcoming film UP due soon. Russell and Carl are tied by a very long piece of ribbon to a floating house.  You have to navigate through the levels and you can choose to play either of them at any time.  They follow each other so you can easily switch between them to do different tasks.  Some tasks require a certain character to play so you can switch when necessary.  It all seems an okay platforming game at first but you soon realise that the game is very broken and not very well programmed. Voice acting can be out of sync with what is happening and also voices get repeated a lot. The other problem is that when the computer controls your other character it is doing a terrible job and may miss jumps and die.  The game is very slow, cumbersome and and glitchy.  I do not recommend anybody buy this game full price.  Accept it gracefully as a gift or wait until it is in the bargain bin.  TERRIBLE/10

Ice Age 3 is another movie which has been transformed into a game. Ice Age 3 was actually released a few months ago but I have only just got around to playing it.  This game is incredibly fun and is the best of the 3 in this issue. In fact it is the best platformer released  this year.  You play as various characters from the film in various locations from the snow of the Ice Age to the jungles riddled with dinosaurs.  The game starts off feeling a little bit generic but soon it blows open and the levels become insanely fun.  To go with a fun game, the script is also quite funny. There are fruits to collect to spend in the Ice Age store on upgrades and you can collect weapons as you go, including a rocket launcher made of a giant bamboo cane!

Ice Age 3 has everything you can want from a platformer including typical platforming styles taken from the likes of Crash Bandicoot. The only downside is that it is quite short and I completed it in around the 5 hour mark.  So it is a short game but well worth playing.  It is probably not worth the full high street asking price at the moment, but try and get it second hand or wait until the price drops, it is definitely not one to be missed. GREAT/10


Round up of the Latest Releases

WOLFENSTEIN – PC, XBOX 360 & PS3

The Castle of Wolfenstein games have come a long way since their inception many sunrises ago.  Wolfenstein is it’s latest incarnation and is the first on the current generation of consoles.  Set in World War 2, you are fighting the Nazi German’s and their zombies.  You find an old talisman which has special secret powers to unlock.  As you progress through the game you gain extra powers to the talisman – powers like the ability to make enemies glow up so you can see them easily and a special power to see hidden doors and secrets. Weaponry comes in the form of the usual WW2 guns – MP4, M23 and the rifle.

The game is made by Activision who are the publishers of the Call of Duty series, this is no Call of Duty but there are influences from those games.  The controls are very similar and have the same feel and even the mission markers look just like the Call of Duty stars.

Graphically the game does look good but there are sometimes low resolution detail and you can see they could have put a little bit more into the presentation. It is certainly no deal-breaker though and there are far worse looking games around.

Wolfenstein is of average length and a casual gamer can get through the campaign in 10-12 hours, maybe a little more if you do all the side extras.

Good/10

Shadow Complex  – Xbox Live Arcade 1200 points

For 1200 points you are getting a fantastic game which is almost of full retail price proportions and is far better than some of the sludge that has been released lately.

Shadow Complex is a side scrolling 3D platformer/shooter/puzzler all thrown into one tasty package. It is made by Epic Games – of Gears of War fame, so you know that every effort has been made to give you a great gaming experience.  It looks good, the graphics are high detail for an arcade game and I experienced no problems.  There was only one time when the game showed some screen tearing and that was when riding the minecart.

The game is quite easy to play and even grandad’s would not have a problem with the controls.  My finish play time was over 6 hours but I did not take the time to collect all items and visit every room.  My stat at the end of the game was only 49% of items to complete so it has the possibility of a good 4-5 hours extra if you are wishing for 100% completion.

Shadow Complex in my opinion is the best Xbox Live Arcade game to date, bar none and is worth every penny I spent on it.

Great/10

Batman: Arkham Asylum

History shows that video games made from movies/comic books have always been very poor, with little gameplay, lots of bugs and look graphically rubbish.  It is like the developers are trying to milk a cash cow without putting in any effort.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is here and is definitely one to break the mould.  This game looks every bit a high definition game with amazing visuals. I would go as far to say next to Call of Duty 4, it is the best looking game on the Xbox 360 to date. There were no bugs, no glitches, no tearing and no framerate problems except for a bit near the end – some cutscenes with the Joker. I am not saying it is the best game ever, only that it looks the best, nearly.

The game is a bit of a hack and slash button mashing affair when it comes to combat, this makes it a relatively easy game to play except really when it comes to the boss battles.  I have to admit I have not completed the game.  I have come to a boss battle near the end and I simply cannot do it and there seems no way to change the difficulty.  This may be a game which ends up unfinished, which is a shame as I have throughly enjoyed it.

There are lots to collect, from riddler puzzles to trophies and interview tapes with prisoners.  There are also challenges to unlock, these can be timed challenges or set pieces to achieve certain goals.  The challenges are accessed through the main menu.  If you have the PS3 version of the game it does include the Joker challenge missions for free.  Sadly the Xbox 360 version does not have these challenges and you will probably have to pay for them if you want them at a later date.

This is a must have game which is worth at the very least a rental.

Great/10

Xbox 360 Games Marketplace

Great idea but like everything else run by a big corporation, it is too expensive.

I really want Call of Duty 2 as I have never been able to find it again in the shops but at £20 I think that is far too expsnive for a game which is 5 years old.  If it was £9.99 I would buy it instantly but not at £20, I am not that desperate.

They should really have prices whcih reflect the market for older games.  Maybe have a tier system – new games at near full price, games over 2-3 years old should be bargain bucket.

Unfortunately I think people will accept these prices and pay them which will in turn justify them to Microsoft and they will not bother changing them.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is the sequel to Call of Juarez.  Actually it is more of a prequel because the storyline happens before the storyline of the original.  Remember the God-fearing Reverand Ray McCall from the previous game?  Well this is when the mighty Reverand was not a Reverand but a soldier in the American Civil War fighting for the confederate.

The game starts off in the American Civil War until Mr Ray gets bored and decides to pursue other matters, getting him into trouble with his superiors.  You play alongside Ray’s brother Thomas.  When each level starts you get to choose who to play – Ray or Thomas.  Both of them have unique abilities that the other does not have.  If you choose Ray on a level if you go back and play again with Thomas, you are playing the level from a different perspective so there is some replayability in the game.

The game is very linear and only one route through a level but it really does not matter, it is an enjoyable game nevertheless.  At certain points of the game, before you choose to start your mission you can play around a bit with some side missions.  Just go to the stores and look at the wanted posters on the walls.  There are sides to kill people or to get back stolen property for example.  They are small destractions from the main game.

It is not the best looking current gen game around, but it does the job and sometimes it does look great.  I found when playing I had some picture tearing at times but it was never a serious issue.

Generally it is not too difficult a game but my main gripe is the shooting duels, I find them incredibly hard and sometimes they took 10 attempts or more to win.  Very frustrating.

Good game, definitely worth a rental and maybe pick it up to buy if you are interested in the included multiplayer.

Good/10