A big thanks to everyone who let me participate in the Bombing Run, which allowed me to get footage for my video!
Text Version of Review: Gears of War 2 Platform:Xbox 360 Developer: Epic Games Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios 1-2 Players in campaign, number varies in multi-player modes. ESRB Rating: M for Mature, recommended for ages 17 or older.
It's been six months since the events that took place in Gears of War, with the lightmass bomb destroying many locust forces. However, the many locusts who survived have come back stronger than ever, and have begun sinking entire cities. Jacinto, the only safe haven left on planet Sera, is now endanger of being destroyed.
In this third person shooter sequel, the core gameplay has been retained with improvements and the inclusion of additional features. Along with Casual, Hardcore and Insane difficulty, a new difficulty entitled "Normal" is also included, which seems to be for players who want something more difficult than Casual but not as intense as Hardcore. Players once again take on the role of Marcus Fenix, or Dominic Santiago in co-op. The artificial intelligence has been enhanced and offers a much more challenging experience for players. Team mates are much more helpful than they were in the first game and the locust horde seems to be as tough as ever. Players can still hold on to four different weapons at any given time. Life is the same, with the crimson omen filling as players take more damage. The active reload system is still in place, where a perfect reload timing will give players a boost in the damage they can inflict.
New abilities include using downed enemies as meat shields, performing executions and crawling. Using a meat shield will protect players from oncoming fire. Performing executions allows characters to kill a downed enemy with their fists or bash their heads in by making one of their weapons serve as a baseball bat. Both teammates and enemies can now crawl to seek someone to revive them, which helps players avoid enemy fire when trying to revive a teammate.
There are a number of new weapons, such as the flamethrower and the mortar. Additionally, the returning weapons have been upgraded to deliver more impact. If two characters are revving their chainsaws at the same time and come into contact, a chainsaw duel will take place and requires players to tap the B button rapidly in order to win. Gears 2 features new types of enemies and much larger scale battles. There are only a few breaks in between intense combat, however the game will frequently save automatically after almost every battle, so dying at an area doesn't feel too frustrating.
The vehicle that players will have to navigate at some point in the game has the ability to shoot and drive at the same time, unlike the Junker in the first game. The controls for the vehicle are pretty easy to adjust to, the left analog stick moves the vehicle and right analog stick is used to change directions. Players can also use short boosts to move quickly. The health of the vehicle is similar to the characters, if the vehicle takes damage and players can avoid any further damage, team member Baird will be able to repair it.
The story line is much more in depth compared to the first game. There's more background information presented this time, diary entries found with COG tags and other interesting collectibles throughout the game give more insight to past and current events within the Gears universe which really helps flesh out the story. Players may be surprised when they see the dramatic twists that take place.
The same voice actors reprise their roles for their characters in the sequel, and keep with the spirit of saying witty dialogue. The sound effects, even for the returning weapons, have been enhanced and sound more momentous. Many fans did not find the music in the first game to be very memorable, but a new composer, Steve Jablonsky, (who is known for his work in The Transformer movie), gives the sequel a different arrangement of orchestra sounds, and a much better tone for the dramatic sequences that take place.
Even though Gears of War was one of the best looking games when it released, it wasn't very colorful. Gears 2 takes a more colorful palette, with more details in the environment, using much warmer colors as opposed to the gray hues in the first game. Character models are also more detailed. Still keeping the same gore factor in place, blood will still spatter across the screen when taking damage, body parts will fly if hit by a frag grenade or turret, and heads will spew blood when shot off.
Co-op returns in Gears 2, allowing two players to tackle the main campaign together over Xbox Live or, if on the same console, in split screen. Multiplayer modes that return in Gears 2 are Warzone, Execution, Annex, and Guardian (formerly known as Assassination). In Warzone, a COG team is up against a Locust team. The goal is to simply eliminate all members of the other team. If killed, players have to wait until the next round before they can play again. Execution is almost identical to Warzone, except players will automatically revive if killed. Annex has players win by controlling a fixed capture location long enough to collect points, the first team to reach the target score wins the round. Guardian has one player from each team selected to act as a leader, whose goal is to stay alive for as long as possible. If the leader dies, the team loses the ability to respawn.
Some additions to multi-player include Horde, Wingman, Submission and King of the Hill. Horde Mode is cooperative, where up to five players can band together to take on fifty waves of locusts. The difficulty will steadily increase which can make it a challenging run through even on the easiest settings. In Wingman, up to five two-player teams can compete against each other until one team reaches a set amount of points. Submission is "capture the flag" with a twist. The "flag" happens to be a Stranded character who is armed and dangerous. Teams have to capture the "flag" and hold him there for a set amount of time to win the round. King of the Hill has players control a fixed location and retain control long enough to collect a number of points, with only one location per round.
Anyone who was a fan of the first game shouldn't be disappointed by the sequel. While keeping the core gameplay the same, the sequel adds many enhancements and features that refine it that make it even better. A more in depth story line helps to answer questions posed by the first game and also gives insight to the main protagonists. New multiplayer modes add tons of replay value. Not to mention better graphics and some battles being grand in scale, this sequel definitely delivers. 20 Comments
I re-recorded this a few times, but for some reason my voice still sounds unenthusiastic. Maybe it's a sign that I shouldn't be doing video reviews. I just don't have a good narrating voice. I apologize if the audio is too low or too loud at certain points.
Any feedback is appreciated, even if you think it sucks, do tell! Thank you!
Text version of review: LittleBigPlanet Platform: Sony PlayStation 3 Developer: Media Molecule Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe 1-4 Players. ESRB Rating: E for Everyone.
LittleBigPlanet, one of the most anticipated PlayStation 3 games ever since it's announcement, has finally released. Does it live up to the hype or is it a flop?
LBP is a puzzle platformer that has players take control of a customizable character known as a "sackperson." There's not really a plot in the story mode, aside from sackpersons going missing and it's the player's job to find out why. Starting off the game takes players through a few tutorials to get the basics down, with a disembodied voice offering some guidance along the way. In addition to playing through story mode levels, there's also quick play and cool levels. Quick play will randomly select a new level to play with another online player and cool levels are the user created levels that have been published for anyone to play. Players have the choice to play online or by themselves. Playing online will allow players to join anyone who is currently playing a particular level. They also have the ability to join or invite a friend.
Depending on which level players are going through while playing with others, they can either help each other out to complete the level or compete with each other to see who can win the most points. There are some areas in story mode that can only be ventured through with a friend, so teamwork is required to get some items. Each level contains bubbles which can be collected. After the end of each level, players are ranked based on how many bubbles, items and objects they've collected.
The character menu, known as the "Popit" allows players to favorite a level, use stickers and accessories, change their sackperson's features, and type out text messages. The Popit can be used at any time. The area that is used to select levels and serves as a home for players is known as the "pod." Players can decorate their pod however they like with the items they've gathered.
The difficulty of LittleBigPlanet ranges from being easy to challenging, along with harder levels created by users. The variety of items and accessories found throughout levels can be used to customize a sackperson and in creation of player's own levels. Creating levels is a pretty simple process, but obviously it will take time to make something really complex.
LittleBigPlanet has unique and simplistic graphics, however it really looks amazing. In terms of sound, there's quite an assortment of songs. From original pieces to licensed tracks, most of them are pretty catchy and set a nice tone for the game.
Obviously a huge portion of LittleBigPlanet is it's online features. Players who don't have online access are missing out on the game's full potential. Without online, the game actually feels mediocre. The levels in story mode have little replay value, but that increases immensely when going through a level with a friend.
The greatest online feature is being able to access user created levels. Not all the user created levels are great, but there are quite a few already out that are actually interesting. After playing through another person's level, players must rate the level and can also label it with a short tag to let others know what to expect. As players become more comfortable with their creations, there will surely be more fun levels to play through in the future.
LittleBigPlanet was definitely made for playing with others online and playing user created levels. Anyone interested in purchasing this game and doesn't have online access should really rethink their decision before paying full retail price. Otherwise, LBP is a very fun game that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. With user created content constantly being published, this game promises to always have something new to offer. Players will be able to find a lot of content that will certainly engage them for hours at a time.
Edit: I say a lot of redundant info... Too late to fix now.
15 Comments
The secret shame of the gaming industry: Not giving credit where credit is due.
I've been working on this blog post for a while. Actually, I started writing it after this post, but have put off finishing it until today. For those who read that blog entry, you may see that the following post relates to some items on that list.
OkamiA sad state of affairs...
When I first learned that Okami had it's staff credits removed from the Wii port, I was furious. The fact that Capcom had the nerve to remove credits from the game just because their employees had left was simply immature in my eyes. Their decision to do so created a grudge that I don't think I will ever let go of, but more importantly, it made me realize that I was very unaware of current crediting practices within the gaming industry.
It was only after someone pointed out another game that had it's credits removed that I began to do some research into crediting within games. To my dismay, I learned that this not only has been going on for a long time now, but game companies were not really doing anything to improve their standards of crediting.
The following are games known to have left out staff credits:
Okami (Wii port)
Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning
ManHunt 2
To say I am disappointed, angered and saddened by this may be an understatement. The fact that this has been going on for quite sometime is quite a shock to me. Call me naive, stupid, whatever you'd like, but this problem has gotten far too little attention in my book. Quite often I still encounter a lot of knowledgeable gamers, who often stay updated on the latest news, who had no idea about the removal of staff credits in the Wii port of Okami. Although the majority of gaming news websites will report these kinds of things, these stories are often buried under the overflow of gaming news that stacks up each day. It's really not the fault of journalist sites or their readers, it's simply a matter of other news getting more attention.
Shame on the gaming industry.
Of course, not everyone cares about the credits in games. They just want a game, they don't care about who made it, to them it's just a name added to the credit screen that they are usually forced to watch upon a game's completion, the less names on a screen for them, the better. I ask the people who feel that way to put themselves in the shoes of one of those staff members. Imagine this scenario: You worked tirelessly on a game and the company decides that they don't have to put your name on the credits screen. Hey, they paid your salary right? What more do you want? Recognition for a job well done? Well, too bad, the company is leaving your name out and there's nothing you can do about it. Some other members of the team have their name added to the game, even though they worked just as hard as you did, they don't deserve a spot on the credits page anymore than you do.
If someone was to say that the movie industry also leaves people uncredited, I must ask how important their role really is. If someone plays such a small role in a film and it goes uncredited, it is just not the same as those who go uncredited in a game. No matter what, employees who work on these games spend days, weeks, countless hours of their time doing their job. What does a uncredited person in a film do, maybe say a line or two and then their done? Is making a minute or two appearance in a film really the same as working countless hours on game? I think not.
Besides the feeling of not having their own work be appreciated, some people don't realize that failure to receive credit in games for employees can make them less successful in finding future job opportunities. Jurie Horneman, who has worked in the industry for over 17 years stated that, "...They [credits] play a role in hiring decisions; the game you last worked on is something that employers use to decide whether to hire you or not. And credits are also important for developer motivation. The bottom line is that they are just the right thing to do."
Some current crediting procedures...
Valve, Neversoft, Insomniac and some other major developer's approach to crediting, in my opinion, is nearly as bad as not crediting at all. They list everyone alphabetically without regard for the nature of their input. In this sense, it sounds like a person whose only involvemeant with a game happened to be getting everyone's lunch and dinner would be on that list. While I am not trying to devalue the importance of the person in charge of food, I do find it quite absurd to list them in the credits, without a description, alongside a person who actually was directly involved in the project.
Is there anything being done?
Indeed, there is. The International Game Developers Association has been a proponent of an adoption of universal credit standard for the gaming industry. In late 2007, IGDA created a Credit Standards Committee. The Committee was started in response to the breaking news from Gamasutra of credits being left out in Manhunt 2.
"...Additionally, the non-standard naming procedures for job titles that have thus far characterized the free spirit of the gaming industry have now become liability for those who wish to prove their skills when moving from one company to another. A movement to standardize crediting procedures and titles has never been more needed."
"The IGDA Credit Standards Committee is a group of volunteers who have come together to study, document and propose voluntary game industry crediting practices that properly recognize those responsible for the creation of games..."
I applaud IGDA for trying to set standards within the gaming industry for credits. Unfortunately the mentality of marketing Vice President's such as Doug Lombardi proves that the industry still has a long way to go before crediting standards will be seen as a necessity and not a "luxury."
As for standardizing crediting within the industry, Lombardi is skeptical: "You know, in the movie industry, some people put credits at the beginning of their films, some at the end, it’s a creative call. I don’t understand why it needs to be standardized. It really feels to me like a big issue is being made of out … hey, we’re just talking about credits. I mean, if we didn’t list anybody, then I’d say, okay, that’s a little weird. But I don’t think we’ve ever lost a single employee because they were frustrated over the way our credits are done."
Would he consider adopting the IGDA standards?
"I really think," Lombardi says, "I would need to understand why I’d need to spend the time to read such a thing."
Programmer, Artist, Designer, Producer. Who determines who has done what on a project so that they can be credited correctly? Currently, the vast majority of game studios are extremely informal in determining who worked on a game, and what function they provided during development. This can be as informal as passing around a sheet of paper where the employee is expected to write down whether he worked on a game and what role they provided, or an oligarchic process where the top managers of a project sit together and try to remember who all touched the game and what their capacity was.
In most cases, the crediting procedure is usually a last minute affair, and can suffer because of this rush. Generally it is up to the individual employee to verify whether his or her name has been included on the list and has been assigned the correct role and has been spelled correctly. Due to the hectic nature of the final phases of shipping a game, this additional burden is often prioritized below most other tasks, and can often ship with errors that can cause frustration later on."
With the recent delay of LittleBigPlanet and the controversy over at GameSpot, I've been thinking... Will cases of people being offended by something affect the future of gaming, perhaps even other mediums, and possibly cause censorship to creativity? I'm going to highlight some games that have caused some controversy:
LittleBigPlanet LogoLittleBigPlanet
Scheduled for a release date of October 21, the release was recently pushed back to "the week of October 27," Sony stated the reasoning for the delay:
"During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Koran," Sony said in a statement. "We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused."
I think it was a smart decision, and honestly, a 1 week delay isn't much too cry about at all. However, a news article was released today by EDGE magazine, entitled, "Muslim Group Condemns LBP "Censorship":
M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., president of the non-profit American Islamic Forum for Democracy told Edge on Monday, “Muslims cannot benefit from freedom of expression and religion and then turn around and ask that anytime their sensibilities are offended that the freedom of others be restricted.
I think this goes to show that just because one group that is representative of a religion or organization is offended by something, it does not mean that all who follow the religion agrees with the that particular group. Still, the fact that one small group being outraged over lyrics and actually causing Sony to delay the game just for that reason shows just how much power consumers have and how much fear a big company like Sony has for keeping their reputation in good standing.
Resistance Box ArtResistance: Fall of Man
The Church of England considered taking legal action against Sony due to the game featuring the Manchester Cathedral without their permission. Both the Dean and Bishop of the Manchester Church stated that the game encouraged youths to fire guns in the building. Other Cathedral officials stated that the use of guns in a city which has gun crime problems was very irresponsible. They demanded that Sony give an apology and that the game be withdrawn from further sales. A spokesperson for Sony stated that the church in the game did hold some resemblance to the Manchester Catherdral, but that "the point was to depict a backdrop of an old church, not to illustrate a specific church." Although Sony issued several statements and offered quite a few apologies, the game was never pulled, and has gone on to sell over 3 million copies.
Back cover of GTA:San Andreas.GTA: San Andreas
A software patch was released for the PC version entitled "Hot Coffee mod," referring to unseen sex scenes in the game. RockStar initially denied the fact that this mini-game was hidden within the game, but a console hacker was able to prove that the mini-game was in fact part of the game's original data. This sparked much controversy with politicians. The game was re-evaluated by the ESRB and upped to an Adults Only rating, causing RockStar to discontinue it's manufacturing until a re-release, with the mini-game data removed, was issued. Let's not forget that the game required purchasers to be 17 years old or that the mini-game in question could only be accessed by using an Action Replay device (for console versions) or changing code in the PC version, and could not be accessed by playing the game normally. A GameSpot article asserted the fact that no nether regions were shown, no matter how players rotated the camera, also stating that: "...the minigame is about as raunchy as an episode of Sex and the City." I'd like to point out the fact that the uncensored version of Sex and the City is rated MA, intended for audience 17 years old or older... So why did GTA:SA have to change it's rating to AO with no nudity being shown while Sex and the City with nudity is allowed to air with the same exact age rating?
Fat Princess
An upcoming PSN game for the PS3 that "pits two hordes of players against each other in comic medieval battle royal." The goal is to rescue the princess from the enemy dungeon, but player's adversaries have been "stuffing her with food to fatten her up" and "it's going to take most your army working together to carry her back across the battlefield." An angry feminist blogger, Melissa McEwan stated her feelings about the game:
Anyway, congrats on your awesome new game, Sony. I'm positivelythrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes. It's not often I have the opportunity to congratulate a cutting-edge tech company on such splendiferous retrofuck jackholery. Way to go! The Fat Princess of Shakes Manor salutes you.
This statement was followed up with a photo of herself giving the middle finger as a salute to Sony.
Future of Gaming
I don't know about other countries, but in the United States, we have an overwhelming number of cases of people suing others in court. I'm speaking primarily of absurd cases. I once read about a gentleman who drove a city dump truck and sued the city because he backed up into his own vehicle. So perhaps I am being a bit paranoid, but with the amount of sue-happy people these days and the fact that people are finding more and more thing offended, I think I have a good reason to be a little worried. I can only imagine a bunch of feminists will be up in arms over Bayonetta. Is the fact that people finding more and more things offensive going to hinder how some games play for us? Will some games be out right censored or significantly changed in the future for this very reason? Am I worrying too much?
Would love to hear other's thoughts on this, thanks for reading.
If I have missed any thread, (and I probably have), please let me know and I will edit this list accordingly. Note: This is going to be updated, obviously I won't be on GiantBomb 24/7 so I'll try to update the list as soon as I can. Also, TGS is going on until Sunday.
Tokyo Game Show 2008
Official website: http://tgs.cesa.or.jp/english/ Business Days: 10:00 to 17:00 on October 9 (Thursday) and October 10 (Friday), 2008 Open to the Public: 10:00 to 17:00 on October 11 (Saturday) and October 12 (Sunday), 2008 (Last entry at 16:00)
Note: By "hit" I mean that I would love to go up to the higher-ups in each of the following companies and smack the crap out of them!
Capcom
Capcom? ...More like Crapcom!Reason why I hate them: For removing staff credits out of the Wii port of Okami.
Why did Capcom do this? Capcom USA offered the following comment:
"The credits were removed because they were a pre-rendered movie that contained the Clover logo. We have no legal right to use the Clover logo in a game they were not involved with directly. We also didn't have the source to the credit movie itself, so we couldn't just use it and remove the Clover logo."
Really? You couldn't have just... Created another cut scene with the staff credits rolling over? No, too much work, huh?
I've pretty much vowed to never buy a Capcom game brand new ever again after they did this.
(Okay, so they're not a game company, but it's related to my hatred for Ubisoft).
Performance Designed Products
Gee, that heart shaped controller would really help my feminine hands to perform so much better when playing Guitar Hero!
Reason why I hate them:PDP is a company that makes peripherals for all major videogame platforms. They decided that making Guitar Hero/Rock Band controllers that were more suitable for females was a great idea. Since PDP does not have a description for the controllers at their website yet, I think this description from SlipperyBrick (a videogame news website) will be similar to what PDP will say:
"The plain and masculine guitar controllers typically available with the games can be a problem for the ladies. Thankfully girly controllers are available in the aftermarket.”"
Electronic Arts/MythicDid you guys see what Capcom did? Let's copy them by taking staff credits out of Warhammer!
Reason I hate them: Removing staff credits out of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.
An ex-employee of Mythic, who requested anonymity, described the surprisingly frequent move as "dogging out many, many developers."
"This has been an ongoing problem in this industry for many years," they informed Shacknews, while expressing confidence that their work appears in the final product. "I spent three years on WAR and I, including many other people who spent just as much if not close to the same amount of time, will NOT be credited in the game."
Really, years now? How many other companies have been doing this? They'll be added to this list, too! Seriously, this is ridiculous. Former employees or not, that's not an excuse to not credit them. These people have worked tirelessly on these games and it is absolutely absurd to not credit them.
Thank you, Jayge, for pointing out this EA scandal to me!
That's pretty much the list for now... I'm sure there will be more companies that will make me angry, and they'll also be put on my hit list as well! 13 Comments
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