Brütal Legend demo impresssions

One word: Awesome.

To tell you the truth, I had already planned to buy Brutal Legend just for the story writing and the fact that original games are few and should be promoted. But after playing the demo I have to say that the team at Double Fine has outdone themselves. This is one hell of a game, the gameplay is simple and fun while the narrative is awesome. The game has excellent polish and definitely seems worth the money.

Truthfully, I’m a bit surprised and a bit impressed. I had not suspected that the game would be this fun to play.

Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta impressions

I like Uncharted 1. Let’s get that straight before I say anything else. Because it does make me slightly biased.

But that aside, Uncharted 2 among thieves really ups the ante. The graphics are slightly better, everything is more smooth and the free running/climbing is really more integrated into the world.

The multiplayer beta is just what it sounds like, a demo that only showcases multiplayer. And its a lot of fun. Gameplay is engaging even though it’s quite slow compared to other shooters. The levels are pretty large and since you can climb you have to think vertically unless you want to get shot repeatedly by the other players climbing the ruins.

There is a modern standard leveling system and a matchmaking system that we really don’t know much about since there aren’t that many players playing it.

So far though, the beta has me convinced that the game itself is holding up to the hype. Still, Uncharted is just as much about the narrative progression as the game mechanics. And we haven’t seen them yet.

Monopoly city streets

The word wide Monopoly match is finally running smoothly without slowdowns or lag. The game is a fantastic experiment on the google maps platform. I’ve been wondering why it hasn’t  been used more for games up til now, let’s see if that changes.

There is only one problem with the game. Chance has such a small effect on actual play that the main strategy in Monopoly (buy everything as fast as possible) is not only dominant but effectively the only one. Still pretty fun though, buying your own neighbourhood.

Plants vs Zombies first impressions

Popcap have released their newest casual venture Plants vs Zombies. Basically a simplified tower defense game with levels and really cute graphics.

My first impression was, truthfully: “Wow! This is great! This is so much fun!”. Yes, I committed the exclamation fan-boy crime.

My second impression, 20minutes later was: “What? Is this it? This isn’t that much fun…”

The next time I had a conscious thought was an hour later. An hour of hard concentration trying to kill zombies. Have no doubts, this is a most excellent game. And I will get into detail on why I think this is shortly.

UPDATE:

Downloaded the demo on my girlfriends Mac, two hours later she’d bought the full game. Two days later she was stuck on one of the final levels of the game. She’d grinded the entire game. Yes, I’m proud of her!

Dawn of War 2 impressions

Dawn of War 2 is Relic Entertainments follow up on the massively succesful Dawn of War series. Relic being the only remaining RTS studio competing with Blizzard sure has it’s work cut out for it but the success of Homeworld, Dawn of War and recently Company of Heroes seem to indicate that they are somewhat good at what they do (understating for effect).

Dawn of War 2 is a game that is more focused on small unit tactics compared to the massive armies of it’s predecessor but apart from that not a lot has really changed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a big change. And for the better in my opinion.

DoW2 is simple put: fun. It’s a lot more like the classic Myth series then Command & Conquer style RTS games which makes play a lot more focused and immersive. The graphics are great and the different units with their different abilities make for interesting game dynamics. But there are a few glitches in this new way of playing.

First though, I wonder why it requires such outrageous system specs? It’s not prettier then Company of Heroes but it makes my core2duo 2,4 Ghz, 2GB DD2, XFX 8800GT 512MB machine stutter and jerk. Sure, I’m running the game in 1080p but I have no problem running CoH in the same resolution. Isn’t DoW2 based on the same engine? Recommended system specs are way below my machine so I can’t help feeling Relic somehow forgot, or didn’t have time for optimization. Please patch this up, this is just silly.

Gameplay wise there is also a question of complexity, long time readers will know by now that I’ve been an active advocate for simple games for the past 5 years but DoW2 is plain weird. It’s a game made to be simple to pick up, small units, distinct advantages for different units. Small skirmishes and simple to understand goals. Sounds great right? So why does each unit has 3 interchangeable special abilities that seem to come in enormous variety, all with different uses and hot keys?

It’s like if some part of the design was just hammered into the game without following the same rules as the rest of the game:
Overall game design “simplicity and stream lined experience”
Unit and ability control “pre 2000’s complexity comparable to text based logistic shipping simulators from the early 90’s?”
I’m drastically exadurating now but the complexity is really strange to find in this game. It just makes little sense. Why aren’t the unit abilities locked to special roles? Or at least the ability groups locked to certain units? Does a sniper really ever need to use melee-charge?
And why can’t I control all the abilities with the same keys, as I do in World in Conflict? Button A for ability A, button B for ability B and so on. No matter WHAT that ability is?

Oh, and the multiplayer gameplay is copied without shame from the original version of Dreamlords. But that’s just awesome.  ;)

Flower impressions

Sublime.

Flower is the most engaging experience of movement, speed, atmosphere and space I’ve had in any game. The runner up, Eve Online, is not even close but even Eve is light years ahead of most games. Flower has room for improvements, nothing is perfect. But it might be the most innovative game I’ve played since Dune 2. It is not a classic game in almost any way, it is more an interactive experience of engaging fun rather then a computer- console- arcade- game. And it’s better for it. It breaks most of the molds that hold this medium from growing but is never artsy or pretentious.

The only complaint I have with flower is that I have to play it with the SixAxis controller. Don’t get me wrong, the 360 controller would certainly not be better and I doubt even the wiimote would be an improvement. A clunky piece of plastic simply doesn’t do the experience justice. For preference I would have liked to play it using an iPod nano. But we can’t have everything can we?

Flower. It’s the best game in it’s range (a short, small, cheap but luxurious experience). Buy it. You’ll not regret it, I wish I was home playing it right now.

Thatgamecompany has really hit the mark with this one, let’s hope they keep reshaping our perception of games and entertainment!

 

Mirrors edge is fantastic

I just tried the Mirrors Edge demo and before I say anything else: if you can play the demo and haven’t: PLAY IT NOW. Believe me, it’s worth it. And yes, it is that good.

Mirrors edge uses a first person camera with innovative gameplay and an extremely stylized environment to bring us the feeling of being a runner. A sort of lawless messenger service that hiden on the rooftops of a sparkling white totally oppressed city.

At first the game is disconcerting but in less then a minute of gameplay I was flying over the rooftops in a state of flow. The game is challenging, fun and beautiful. The controls are fantastic and the sense of immersion is quite beyond anything else I’ve experienced.

I have one problem that I intend to discuss with a friend of mine who happens to be a producer at Dice. The tutorial is pretty hard and therefore setup with restart points conveniently spaced in between maneuvers. But apparently Dice has either not played this part at all themselves, or their designers are so god awful bad that they didn’t see that if a player fails at doing something the player has to watch an NPC doing it. Each time. And the NPC takes about 3 times as long to do it as you do, and there is no way to skip it. In short: I fell of a pipe several times during the tutorial, which led to me sitting for 5 minutes watching an NPC walk across the same pipe with close to 1 minute of gameplay spaced in between. That’s just unforgivable. Well, at least I never have to play the tutorial again.

If I were you, I’d buy this game. Personally, I can’t afford it because I bought the PS3 to play it on… Catch 22 anyone?

Ratchet and Clank: Quest for booty micro review

Waiting for the Mirrors Edge demo to finish downloading I decided to try out the latest Ratchet and Clank adventure, quest for booty.

QoB is supposed to be a short and sweet downloadable game that will be a fun expansion to play for previous fans of the series and a simple introduction for players who’ve yet to experience Ratchet and Clank.

I’m probably neither of these groups since I have played some Ratchet and Clank tools of destruction but never actually bought a Ratchet and Clank game. I am however a big fan of platformers and Tools of Destruction really gave me a taste for the gameplay.

QoB starts the player off with a great intro sequence and superb voiceacting with some geeky humor. It looks stunning and the level of graphical and sound polish is just amazing. QoB is a very sleek product… Which makes the bad side so much more dissapointing. You see, those were the good points. The Control doesn’t feel sleek at all, there is no introduction and it certainly isn’t pick up and play. In some platform elements (climbing comes to mind) the controls are just wonky. Jumping is jerky and collision isn’t obvious because of the cinematic camera, I find myself hitting air in front of enemies or walking into fire because the damn camera is trying to be Gears of War.

Level design is also pretty bad. At least for the first few levels. The pirate cruisers at the start of the game are just copied and not very interesting. When I land on an island I have no idea where to go because the ultra-realistic scenary doesn’t give any hints and I still can’t see much because of the camera. Maybe there is a map or a way to look around but I still haven’t figured out all the control yet. This is a downloadable short and fast game, I didn’t intend to do anything but just pick up the controller and play for an hour.

To summerize this game is actually quite good. It’s funny and plays really well. It just dissapoints to no end when you’ve played Tools of Destruction, why does a game with more time for polish play worse?! If the control is exactly the same, games have moved on, why hasn’t the controls been improved?

Mirrors Edge demo

A Mirrors Edge demo is available on PSN today and on XBLA tomorrow. Has anyone played it yet?

Mirrors Edge is interesting from many game mechanical aspects as well as the different playstyle of running away from firefights instead of engadging in them.

I’ll post my thoughts on this very different game tomorrow.

World of Goo review

I’ve just played World of Goo, the indie title by developer 2D boy that does everything right!

The mechanics of World of Goo have more in common with building sand castles then any other computer game and as such is more of a toy then a game. But this is not a bad thing. To be accurate I have to say that I’ve only just finished the first chapter of the “story campaign” but so far this game does everything right as far as game design is concerned.

It’s accessible, simply and easy yet engaging and engrossing. You can jump in to play for a few minutes or play levels of increasing complexity for hours. It’s also a feast for the eyes and ears and has a lot of humor.

My only issue with the game is that it’s fullscreen, it wants to take up all of my attention while playing. And though this might be most effective and certainly the first choice of most players it’s quite odd to play such a light title without the ability to keep IMing on the side. I do that in WoW, why not in WoG?

Watch a video of the gameplay, if you find it even mildly interesting or seemingly fun you’ll really enjoy the title. And please, BUY this game. It’s cheap, it’s indie and it doesn’t use DRM. Support a just cause by getting your money’s worth.