Intro
Street Fighter games I've played:
SFII, SFII CE, SFII SCE, SFII Turbo, Super SFII, SF Alpha, SFA2, SFA3, SFIII, Super SFIV
Tekken games I've played:
1, 2, 3, 4 (briefly), Tag Tournament, 5, Dark Resurrection, 6
I generally prefer the generally projectile-less Tekken style of gameplay, but Ryu and I go back a ways. Two great tastes that taste great together, right? ...kinda.
Highly Lethal Artwork
The visuals and sound are straight from Street Fighter IV, which make this game a sight to behold. The characters and backgrounds have a cell-shaded look that make them appear to be graphic novel panels come to life. Each paired team has custom pre-match animations, which range from spine-tingling aweseome (Ryu & Ken) to just silly (Zangief & Rufus). Throw in victory-screen dialog and cinematic ending videos, and I found myself playing through the Arcade mode for the storylines. There weren't very many backgrounds, but they were quite colorful and animated, with cameos by SF and Tekken characters that didn't make it into the roster. The music is fitting, but none of the songs were particularly memorable.
Getting Up to Speed
For all the SF and Tekken games listed above, I've never devoted myself to truly mastering a character, much less getting competitive with one. Therefore, first stop for me was the Training mode. In an effort to get new players up to speed, Training mode has twenty Trials (read: exercises) per character to make sure you know a character's special moves and some combos. It's wonderful in theory, but the implementation is rather awkward. For each Trial, the sequence of moves is displayed on the screen, but only the names of special moves. If you have not memorized the names, pressing the Back button (for Xbox 360) displays all of the key presses for the entire sequence. It works, but for multiple attempts to learn a combo with a handful of Japanese terms in the directions, the process gets old really quickly. Also, completion of an Trial displays a victory sequence, with animations for both characters on screen. This isn't a problem if you're looking to master an individual combo, but for running through a sequence of familiar fireballs, hurricane kicks, and dragon punches, those extra moments add up. An example of a well-done list of exercises is the Dead or Alive series; their training mode will cycle through on-screen commands as fast as you can execute them. This may be my lack of devotion to a single character/game showing, but I found myself plateauing around exercise 13 or so, even for familiar characters like Ryu. The game will not show you what the combos are supposed to look like, so you're left to trial & error to figure out the tempo of button presses.
Call me a Luddite, but the ever-increasing complexity of systems in fighting games have been a turn-off in the last few years. (How many ways can I use Cross Gauge energy???) Thankfully there's a tutorial for the unique mechanics in this game, but like the Trials, it's awkward. The infamous Dan from SF games makes a cameo as an instructor, complete with narration. At first it's amusing to hear him ramble on and generally act dorky, but you'll find yourself hammering on the Start button pretty quickly to get to the actual instructions.
In the Fight
As much as I dislike multiple systems to keep track of in the heat of battle, it's nice to know that there's multiple ways to switch between characters. This is encouraged because a round is over as soon as one character is knocked out. This also makes it easier to learn a new character, since you can pair them with someone you're already familiar with to provide backup. Another system that affects you within matches is Gems, a concept almost harkening back to Marvel Superheros and one that I'm on the fence about. Each character has two loadouts for trios of gems; you edit loadouts outside of matches, and choose a loadout when you select characters before a match. Gems can be used to augment abilities (deal more damage, move faster) or assist you (reduce damage taken, auto-block), and have conditions for when they're activated, such as after sustaining X number of hits. Customizability is always nice, although there's something to be said for knowing that the only difference between your opponent and you is their characters and player skill. Also, the numbered list of available gems has quite a few holes in it, hinting at unlockables, so there may be balance issues if the most skilled players also have access to more powerful gems as well.
Online Play: No Noobs Allowed
Hopefully this issue will get fixed in time, but as of 3/15/2012, lag is so terrible that online matches are nearly unplayable and often are reduced to slideshows. When you can get a decent connection, you'll get the joy of experiencing a poor matchmaking system. This may be from a small pool of players from which to be paired against, perhaps a flaw in determining a well-matched pair, not promoting skilled players quickly enough, or a combination of any of those, but even when set for the "same" skill level, I was being paired with opponents who were vastly superior to me. They get bored from no challenge, I get frustrated at the utter inevitability of death, no one wins. At this point my only recourse is to play offline until I'm able to pull of a 15-hit juggle combo, and then I can begin to play online.
Something worth noting separately is that although two players can fight cooperatively online, for Xbox 360 it requires both teammates to have their own console and XBL Gold account. (Four players can fight in pairs locally, however.) Allegedly this has something to due with the architecture of XBL, although other games *cough(Halo series, UT3)cough* prove that it is fully possible.
Bells & Whistles
Every developer now seems to think that they need unlockable player titles, and Capcom has implemented this in the same way as SSFIV. As far as additional modes, there is a fairly useless character editor, due to lack of color options beyond defaults+white+black, and Missions, where you're given a unique condition for the match (no special moves, only Supers, etc.).
Conclusions
Street Fighter x Tekken is meant for hardcore fighting fans. Although there are systems in place to attempt to ease newcomers into the game, they are not implemented in a user-friendly way, and the gameplay has so much depth as to be unfathomable for anyone not already used to Capcom 2D fighters.
There is something else, however, that will keep me from ever buying this game unless a Game of the Year edition is released: on-disc DLC. Roughly a third of the content in the game is inaccessible, including 12 full characters, and you must pay to unlock it. I have no problem with DLC (it gives the development team something to work on after the game goes to the DVD factory), but if content is finished by the time the game "goes gold" and it's on the $60 disc, it's a blatant money-grab to intentionally withhold it from your customers. To add insult to injury, Capcom has allegedly had Youtube videos removed that show the "DLC" characters in use. I understand Capcom is a business and businesses exist to make money, but as long as this practice continues I refuse to further financially reward a company that has this little respect for their customers.
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Friday, March 16, 2012
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Humble Indie Bundle 3
If you haven't heard, there's once again a Humble Indie Bundle sale going on, for another five days. I think it's a wonderful idea for a fundraiser, and for the first time I threw my $.02 in (and then some). I haven't played all of the games yet, but here's a rundown of the ones I have tried:
Cogs: as a puzzle game, once you see some images/videos, you know what to expect. I like it, although I'm not too good at it yet.
VVVVVV: this was a pleasant surprise for me. The graphics are C64-style, including the loading screen ( X-D ), and the gameplay mechanics are almost Atari-simple. That said, there's a dorky certain charm about it. I can't help but notice that when you die, your character's expression goes from a big grin to a frown. The hook for me is that you're exploring and mapping out a rather large world, like in a Metroid or Castlevania game. There may not be any Steam 'cheevos, but I want to at least fill in the entire map. :-}
And Yet It Moves: I love this one. After a few minutes you start getting into a rhythm, and the experience changes from fighting to get used to the controls into enjoying the visually surreal environments. I'm rather excited to try for the 'cheevo that involves passing a level by just rotating it, without directly moving the character.
Since I paid a little more than the average donation, I also received the games from HIB 2. That was a really nice surprise, since I let time slip away and missed out on them originally...
Braid: Originally I had played this on the 360, but I'm wagering that there aren't any significant differences. The game is beautiful to look at, haunting to listen to, has some of the most original gameplay I've experienced in years, and has a surprisingly powerful finale. That said, if you want to know what the game is really about (Spoiler Alert!):It's the atomic bomb. Although the game is a masterpiece, the creator always struck me as pretentious.
Braid: Originally I had played this on the 360, but I'm wagering that there aren't any significant differences. The game is beautiful to look at, haunting to listen to, has some of the most original gameplay I've experienced in years, and has a surprisingly powerful finale. That said, if you want to know what the game is really about (Spoiler Alert!):
Next I want to try out Machinarium, Cortex Command, and Revenge of the Titans, and eventually I'll get to them all. I was a little saddened that Cortex Command isn't currently available on Steam, as all the rest are, but I just need to clear out some hard drive space and fire up the installer. If you're still on the fence, go check out http://www.humblebundle.com/ and see how much money has been raised for Child's Play, the EFF, and the developers. It's pay-what-you-want, so even $1 will help and you'll get some neat games.
Friday, May 27, 2011
OnLive: It Just Works
Intro
The concept for OnLive is pretty cool: you install a small client program or use their set-top box with your TV, and as soon as you click the Buy button (or Free Trial button), you're playing the game, in flippin' sweet graphical goodness. No installs, play on any computer, easy peasy. The whole concept is that the games are running on their servers, so you're simply sending keystrokes/mousing to the server, and watching a video stream of the action in real-time. If you're computer can handle YouTube, it should be able to handle any game on OnLive. So, does it work as advertised?
OnWard to Victory!
I decided to try the 30-min. trial for Unreal Tournament III, a game that I already own. That way, I could compare the two experiences. Just like the company claims, as soon as I clicked the button to start the trial, I was looking at the title screen. I played a round of Warfare and one of CTF, against bots. I was a little curious how well a twitchy shooter like UTIII would work via streaming, especially since I use wi-fi (something OnLive doesn't recommend). If this works, the only thing more demanding regarding accuracy would probably be Homefront, since Counter-Strike isn't offered for some reason. ;) Amazingly, it worked. Really well. There was a tiny bit of lag, but on par for me with playing online. Never did I wish I was playing my installed version instead, and that's the big thing for me; if you can forget that the game you're playing isn't installed on your computer, mission accomplished for OnLive.
If you don't want to be restricted to playing on a computer, purchasing some AAA-titles will score you an OnLive 'mini-console' for free. It's a little box that you plug into a wired internet connection, your TV via HDMI, and a USB keyboard and mouse if you don't feel like using the included wireless controller. When the price for the device is $100, spending $45 on Warhammer 40k: Space Marine (pre-order) and the mini-console and the game Darksiders doesn't seem that bad of a deal.
A nice bonus to having someone else handling your game's hardware is that the game will look as pretty as they can make it look. Although it's rather early to see this in action, one conceptual advantage to OnLive is that they can upgrade their servers to whatever's cutting edge, freeing you from the expensive cycle of hardware upgrades. Also, they offer a $9.99/month PlayPack subscription that gives you access to 50-something games at a time. Provided that the selection changes regularly, it would be like NetFlix for computer games. Some games also offer rentals for a few days at a time, something that you can't exactly do through Steam or store-bought PC games. Not all of the games offer this, but that may be the game publisher's decision.
OnDead
Maybe I've gotten too used to the Steam school of storefront aesthetics, but the vertical-scrolling list of available games seemed rather quaint. When your library of games is small, however, it works. As an unproven concept, OnLive is in a catch-22 where publishers don't want to invest in an unpopular system, but it won't become popular without compelling games/prices. The list of upcoming AAA titles like Duke Nukem Forever and the new Deus Ex are encouraging, but this definitely isn't Steam yet. One oddity when I was playing UTIII was that it was in widescreen format, with the video options being customized so I couldn't change it. I suppose that shows how determined OnLive is about promoting their service as an alternative to gaming consoles (vs. PC gamers). Just like Steam, if the company ever disappears so do your games. And with no local files at all, your OnLive games are VERY gone. For some reason I felt inspired to actually look over the TOS agreement when I updated the client, and something stood out to me: apparently OnLive can delete your account if you don't log in and actually use the service for a year. I'd be curious to see if the TOS for Steam has anything like this. I still reinstall old games on occasion (American McGee's Alice right now), and I'd hate to think that a chunk of my gaming library would just vanish if OnLive doesn't offer any new games that I'm interested in for a year or more.
This isn't a ding against OnLive, but I'm wondering if they're slightly ahead of their time given the current state of American internet access. When the ISPs have things like undisclosed bandwidth caps & traffic shaping to combat what they consider "excessive usage" of their advertised unlimited plans, it makes me nervous to pay full price for, and then play for hours on end, a game that could cause service charges or get my internet cut off for the rest of the billing cycle. (But considering how much NetFlix some of my friends watch on their Xbox 360, maybe I'm just paranoid. :> )
Conclusions
I really hope OnLive survives to reach the critical mass that Steam saw, with tons of new games big & small added all the time, and crazy-cheap sales. Right now I can't see myself paying $50-60 for a game when the company doesn't have a very long track record for their completely new concept yet, but if three things happen I could definitely see myself splitting my online purchases between OnLive and Steam:
The concept for OnLive is pretty cool: you install a small client program or use their set-top box with your TV, and as soon as you click the Buy button (or Free Trial button), you're playing the game, in flippin' sweet graphical goodness. No installs, play on any computer, easy peasy. The whole concept is that the games are running on their servers, so you're simply sending keystrokes/mousing to the server, and watching a video stream of the action in real-time. If you're computer can handle YouTube, it should be able to handle any game on OnLive. So, does it work as advertised?
OnWard to Victory!
I decided to try the 30-min. trial for Unreal Tournament III, a game that I already own. That way, I could compare the two experiences. Just like the company claims, as soon as I clicked the button to start the trial, I was looking at the title screen. I played a round of Warfare and one of CTF, against bots. I was a little curious how well a twitchy shooter like UTIII would work via streaming, especially since I use wi-fi (something OnLive doesn't recommend). If this works, the only thing more demanding regarding accuracy would probably be Homefront, since Counter-Strike isn't offered for some reason. ;) Amazingly, it worked. Really well. There was a tiny bit of lag, but on par for me with playing online. Never did I wish I was playing my installed version instead, and that's the big thing for me; if you can forget that the game you're playing isn't installed on your computer, mission accomplished for OnLive.
If you don't want to be restricted to playing on a computer, purchasing some AAA-titles will score you an OnLive 'mini-console' for free. It's a little box that you plug into a wired internet connection, your TV via HDMI, and a USB keyboard and mouse if you don't feel like using the included wireless controller. When the price for the device is $100, spending $45 on Warhammer 40k: Space Marine (pre-order) and the mini-console and the game Darksiders doesn't seem that bad of a deal.
A nice bonus to having someone else handling your game's hardware is that the game will look as pretty as they can make it look. Although it's rather early to see this in action, one conceptual advantage to OnLive is that they can upgrade their servers to whatever's cutting edge, freeing you from the expensive cycle of hardware upgrades. Also, they offer a $9.99/month PlayPack subscription that gives you access to 50-something games at a time. Provided that the selection changes regularly, it would be like NetFlix for computer games. Some games also offer rentals for a few days at a time, something that you can't exactly do through Steam or store-bought PC games. Not all of the games offer this, but that may be the game publisher's decision.
OnDead
Maybe I've gotten too used to the Steam school of storefront aesthetics, but the vertical-scrolling list of available games seemed rather quaint. When your library of games is small, however, it works. As an unproven concept, OnLive is in a catch-22 where publishers don't want to invest in an unpopular system, but it won't become popular without compelling games/prices. The list of upcoming AAA titles like Duke Nukem Forever and the new Deus Ex are encouraging, but this definitely isn't Steam yet. One oddity when I was playing UTIII was that it was in widescreen format, with the video options being customized so I couldn't change it. I suppose that shows how determined OnLive is about promoting their service as an alternative to gaming consoles (vs. PC gamers). Just like Steam, if the company ever disappears so do your games. And with no local files at all, your OnLive games are VERY gone. For some reason I felt inspired to actually look over the TOS agreement when I updated the client, and something stood out to me: apparently OnLive can delete your account if you don't log in and actually use the service for a year. I'd be curious to see if the TOS for Steam has anything like this. I still reinstall old games on occasion (American McGee's Alice right now), and I'd hate to think that a chunk of my gaming library would just vanish if OnLive doesn't offer any new games that I'm interested in for a year or more.
This isn't a ding against OnLive, but I'm wondering if they're slightly ahead of their time given the current state of American internet access. When the ISPs have things like undisclosed bandwidth caps & traffic shaping to combat what they consider "excessive usage" of their advertised unlimited plans, it makes me nervous to pay full price for, and then play for hours on end, a game that could cause service charges or get my internet cut off for the rest of the billing cycle. (But considering how much NetFlix some of my friends watch on their Xbox 360, maybe I'm just paranoid. :> )
Conclusions
I really hope OnLive survives to reach the critical mass that Steam saw, with tons of new games big & small added all the time, and crazy-cheap sales. Right now I can't see myself paying $50-60 for a game when the company doesn't have a very long track record for their completely new concept yet, but if three things happen I could definitely see myself splitting my online purchases between OnLive and Steam:
- OnLive emerges as a stable company that will still be around in a few years.
- They offer impulse-buy sales for games. Under $10 is my sweet spot.
- American ISPs legitimately upgrade their infrastructure, enabling truly unlimited, fast connections.
Also, if more games offer the rental option, I could definitely see myself trying them out on long weekends. I'd highly recommend downloading the client and playing a trial or two to test the OnLive service before plunking down any cash, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Lego Rock Band: Under-appreciated Gem?
INTRODUCTION
I've been playing plastic-guitar games since the original Guitar Hero came out for PS2, and have tried all of them except for RB: Green Day (one of these days, though). The descriptions for Lego Rock Band made it out to be a slightly different experience from RB1, which is apparently the era in which it was developed during. Was it worth the $10 at Gamestop? Read on.
THE FEEL
Not even completely through the teaser cinematic, it's obvious that this is meant to fit in with the other contemporary Lego games: a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the source material, that happens to be family-friendly. I couldn't help but notice that some of the pre-made characters are Lego versions of the RB standbys like the Duke of Gravity. Much like in RB3, cinematics are used to tell the story of your band's rise to superstardom. While demolishing a building, ghost hunting, and fighting off a sea monster, among other Challenges, I caught myself cracking up (and maybe even squeeing at one point) at the genuinely funny videos. And that's coming from someone jaded enough to not flinch at anything he encounters on /b/.
MECHANICS
If you've played any RB games, the gameplay is exactly the same. One small difference is that when you fail, you can work your own way back in without relying on a bandmate's star power. Since the game is meant to be accessible to younger players, the difficulty ratings for songs seems to be a bit more generous, and I believe there are a couple more ratings to better show differences in difficulty. My hard drive has exported tracks for RB1, 2, and a lot of downloaded songs; the game detected the RB1 and downloaded tracks, filtering out any that are apparently deemed inappropriate. It was nice having a decent number of songs to choose from, since the tracklist for Lego Rock Band is rather "meh" for me.
A nifty addition that the builder in me enjoyed is that you have a home-base that you navigate around rather than static menus for campaign stuff. Your band can be seen just hanging out, and the characters you hire such as your manager and roadies will occasionally wander through. As you progress through the campaign you will unlock decorative items to buy and position around your home, although there is not as much variety as in a game like The Sims. Along with your band members, the roadies and members of you entourage can be customized as well.
GRAPHICS, SOUND & CONTROLS
Exactly what you'd expect from the RB series. The visuals during the ghost-hunting challenge was the funniest (intentional) thing I've seen in a video game for as long as I can remember.
CONCLUSION
Will I be getting rid of Rock Band 3? Heck no. As a one-time experience, however, I'm loving Lego Rock Band. And for achievement-hunters, there's nothing too hard (except for the Endless Setlist). My usual RB buddies didn't really care for small issues such as long-ish load times, but that may be because we're quite used to the more-refined systems in RB3. For $10-20, you could do worse. A lot worse. *cough(GH Rocks the '80s)cough*
I've been playing plastic-guitar games since the original Guitar Hero came out for PS2, and have tried all of them except for RB: Green Day (one of these days, though). The descriptions for Lego Rock Band made it out to be a slightly different experience from RB1, which is apparently the era in which it was developed during. Was it worth the $10 at Gamestop? Read on.
THE FEEL
Not even completely through the teaser cinematic, it's obvious that this is meant to fit in with the other contemporary Lego games: a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the source material, that happens to be family-friendly. I couldn't help but notice that some of the pre-made characters are Lego versions of the RB standbys like the Duke of Gravity. Much like in RB3, cinematics are used to tell the story of your band's rise to superstardom. While demolishing a building, ghost hunting, and fighting off a sea monster, among other Challenges, I caught myself cracking up (and maybe even squeeing at one point) at the genuinely funny videos. And that's coming from someone jaded enough to not flinch at anything he encounters on /b/.
MECHANICS
If you've played any RB games, the gameplay is exactly the same. One small difference is that when you fail, you can work your own way back in without relying on a bandmate's star power. Since the game is meant to be accessible to younger players, the difficulty ratings for songs seems to be a bit more generous, and I believe there are a couple more ratings to better show differences in difficulty. My hard drive has exported tracks for RB1, 2, and a lot of downloaded songs; the game detected the RB1 and downloaded tracks, filtering out any that are apparently deemed inappropriate. It was nice having a decent number of songs to choose from, since the tracklist for Lego Rock Band is rather "meh" for me.
A nifty addition that the builder in me enjoyed is that you have a home-base that you navigate around rather than static menus for campaign stuff. Your band can be seen just hanging out, and the characters you hire such as your manager and roadies will occasionally wander through. As you progress through the campaign you will unlock decorative items to buy and position around your home, although there is not as much variety as in a game like The Sims. Along with your band members, the roadies and members of you entourage can be customized as well.
GRAPHICS, SOUND & CONTROLS
Exactly what you'd expect from the RB series. The visuals during the ghost-hunting challenge was the funniest (intentional) thing I've seen in a video game for as long as I can remember.
CONCLUSION
Will I be getting rid of Rock Band 3? Heck no. As a one-time experience, however, I'm loving Lego Rock Band. And for achievement-hunters, there's nothing too hard (except for the Endless Setlist). My usual RB buddies didn't really care for small issues such as long-ish load times, but that may be because we're quite used to the more-refined systems in RB3. For $10-20, you could do worse. A lot worse. *cough(GH Rocks the '80s)cough*
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Brink - A Redbox Review
INTRODUCTION
After hearing about Brink, I was immediately in love. Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite games (as a one-time experience), but I cut my gaming teeth on games like Quake II and Counter-Strike. More guns were needed, and Brink delivered.
THE FEEL
Brink is what would happen if Al Gore watched "Waterworld", played Mirror's Edge and then penned the backstory for Bioshock. A floating arcology (The Ark, get it? lololol) is built sometime in the next 44 years out in the Pacific, as a(n expensive) haven for the rich, brilliant, and hip. Due to the seas rising, presumably from the polar ice caps melting, The Ark sees tourists replaced by refugees. In a scene right out of Snow Crash, all those extra commoners end up in an organic growth of boats and anything else that will float, moored at the edges of The Ark. As far as we know, no one in The Ark knows if there are any other survivors elsewhere on Earth. The two playable factions are Ark security forces, looking to maintain order, and a loose-knit band of rebels who want to escape and go looking for dry land away from The Ark. And maybe some olives.
I'm probably forgetting some classic, but this is the first game I can remember that really tells a compelling story within a round-based shooter. There are little cinematics before, after and sometimes during a match, with audiologs that you unlock as you level up. It made me unnaturally giddy to see my created character inserted into those cinematics, even if 'I' am just checking my weapon in the background while two teammate have a conversation. It's the little things that count.
Speaking of character creation and the little things, you maintain two costumes per character: one for Security and one for the Rebels. You can switch between them at will, and the music subtly changes for each. As you level up, you'll unlock new clothes to customize your officer and ragamuffin. Although some more choices would've been nice, especially regarding hair/hats, the last time I paid so much attention to my clothes was in Soul Calibur IV. Kinda random, but apparently there are no women in the Ark Security forces, nor in the fighting branch of the rebellion.
MECHANICS
Once you create a character, you can choose to play through the story, do challenges to unlock weapon modifications and get onto the leaderboards, free-play versus games, and tinker with your character & weapons. Modding weapons really stood out for me, since each gun can have up to four mods added, and each mod will improve some stats while lowering others. Most mods also are visible on the gun itself, giving you a sense of ownership after taking a 'stock' weapon and making it just right for you.
There are four classes: soldier, medic, engineer, and operative (read: spy). Each one has unique skills that you can buy with points earned from leveling up, and matches will generally require a mix of classes to complete multiple objectives. It's nice how classes are completely separate from weapon choices, and you can change your class at command posts mid-match. Pretty much anything you do in a match gains you experience points, even 'guarding' a door while you wait for the one operative on your team to come plant their doodad on it, fighting in close proximity to teammates, or playing online. It's a beautifully simple way to encourage players into playing the way that the developers intended.
Each level of the story is a match between the two teams, with the aforementioned cinematics and objectives that are appropriate with that part of the story. If your match settings are set accordingly, friends or strangers will simply replace bots. There's no gameplay outside of combat, unless you're like me and agonize over optimum weapon loadouts.
Within a match there will be a primary objective (e.g. a Soldier needs to plant explosives on a door), and secondary ones to help your team. If you aren't the 'right' class for the primary objective, it will display to you as Guard the Door. Hopefully this will encourage players to work together towards the primary goals. Secondary objectives might be blowing open a shortcut or securing a CP that grants a team-wide bonus. You can bring up a radial dial to select an objective, and it displays how many teammates are also working towards it. It's handy to see at a glance if no one is bothering with the most vital goal of the match. The levels are laid out like what you'd expect from a game that's about parkour gunfights in a dystopia, with plenty of places to jump, climb and slide around (except for the big, linebacker characters).
GRAPHICS
Yep, it looks like you're in a run-down shell of a place that was once great, except this time you're on top of the water. The rubble & such looks good, though... at least, as well as rubble can look. One complaint I had was that certain places were really dark at times. That's fine if it's for dramatic effect, but on occasion I would have trouble entering the battlefield, simply because our shipping-container HQ wasn't properly lit for emergency egresses.
SOUND
There isn't any background music during matches, unless I was so wrapped up in shootin' that I didn't even notice music. What you do hear, though... WOW. I was playing with headphones on, and I haven't heard such a satisfying shotgun since Quake II. Hearing that, I half-expected to see a head go flying 50 ft. as if I'd gotten a crit-hit with V.A.T.S. Oh, and the other guns also sound good & dangerous. Something rather random, though, is my character's apparent Foreign Accent Syndrome. I'm the type of player that will make created characters (the first one, at least) roughly based on myself, so it came as a surprise when my Washingtonian Filipino/Germanic avatar started talking with a Jamaican accent. Normally this would be a non-issue... except that you can't change a character's voice after he's created.
CONTROLS
Coming from Mirror's Edge, going nuts on junk lying around the environment came naturally to me, although there aren't quite as many moves available this time. If you hold down the sprint button (more like a brisk jog button), you'll automatically vault over obstacles and climb up ledges you jump towards. Crouching while sprinting will slide you under things like pipes & gunfire, and is a rather effective way to slide past enemies en route to putting some holes in the back panels of their armor. Raising up the sights for your weapons felt a little slower than I'm used to, but it didn't seem to affect gameplay. After the CoD series, it just feels weird. A nifty feature that I hope other games will implement is how a medic revives someone. Rather than running up to a downed teammate with defibrillators, the medic will toss them a syringe. It's then up to the casualty to decide if it's safe for him to revive himself. It's certainly not realistic, but you'll appreciate it the first time a pack of enemies run right past your almost-dead body.
ONLINE ASPECTS
There's been some scuttlebutt about Brink having issues with online multiplayer. It's all true.
Besides the $2 rental, I chose to try Brink on 360 due to the typically solid performance I've had with XBL. When I tried out a public game, the two other human players I was with brought the match down to a slideshow any time I tried to move. It definitely wasn't gameplay slowdown, as the bots were moving around as smoothly as usual when I stood still. I learned to play Counter-Strike on dial-up with ping of 200, so I can tolerate not having pixel-perfect accuracy & other players simply having better connections, but this was unplayable. This is why the big titles like Halo: Reach & Gear of War III have betas, even though they know the DVD factory is simply printing money: to iron the kinks out beforehand. It really burns my butter when developers & publishers are willing to let the early adopters be beta testers who pay $60 for the privilege.
Similarly, there's a Brink stats-tracking site; I even have the code to link my gameplay stats. Too bad the site isn't up, with no word (as of 18May11) when it will be.
CONCLUSION
I like this game. I really, really do. Bethesda or Splash Damage must have snuck a Polybius machine into my local theater, and used it to find out exactly what features I'd have in my dream game. That might also explain why I don't remember ever playing Polybius. And the night terrors.
Will I be buying it? YES... eventually. I didn't even play the game on release day, yet someone in charge at Bethesda, Splash Damage or ZeniMax thought it was okay to release a game centered around online multiplayer, with online features that aren't even finished. Am I just bat-guano crazy to expect a non-MMO game to have the features that work as advertised on release day, or have been adequately playtested? It's great that problems can be fixed after release through patches, but it seems like developers are getting lazier now that they know that the game doesn't have to be perfect by the time it 'goes gold'. Looking at what was shipped on the Brink disk +8 days of patching (or not), it's not worth $60. If I found it for $30 or less, definitely. If it's patched to the point where everything 'just works', I might ever reconsider $60. I just hope that Brink becomes popular enough that it'll be supported to the point where price meets quality, wherever that is.
After hearing about Brink, I was immediately in love. Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite games (as a one-time experience), but I cut my gaming teeth on games like Quake II and Counter-Strike. More guns were needed, and Brink delivered.
THE FEEL
Brink is what would happen if Al Gore watched "Waterworld", played Mirror's Edge and then penned the backstory for Bioshock. A floating arcology (The Ark, get it? lololol) is built sometime in the next 44 years out in the Pacific, as a(n expensive) haven for the rich, brilliant, and hip. Due to the seas rising, presumably from the polar ice caps melting, The Ark sees tourists replaced by refugees. In a scene right out of Snow Crash, all those extra commoners end up in an organic growth of boats and anything else that will float, moored at the edges of The Ark. As far as we know, no one in The Ark knows if there are any other survivors elsewhere on Earth. The two playable factions are Ark security forces, looking to maintain order, and a loose-knit band of rebels who want to escape and go looking for dry land away from The Ark. And maybe some olives.
I'm probably forgetting some classic, but this is the first game I can remember that really tells a compelling story within a round-based shooter. There are little cinematics before, after and sometimes during a match, with audiologs that you unlock as you level up. It made me unnaturally giddy to see my created character inserted into those cinematics, even if 'I' am just checking my weapon in the background while two teammate have a conversation. It's the little things that count.
Speaking of character creation and the little things, you maintain two costumes per character: one for Security and one for the Rebels. You can switch between them at will, and the music subtly changes for each. As you level up, you'll unlock new clothes to customize your officer and ragamuffin. Although some more choices would've been nice, especially regarding hair/hats, the last time I paid so much attention to my clothes was in Soul Calibur IV. Kinda random, but apparently there are no women in the Ark Security forces, nor in the fighting branch of the rebellion.
MECHANICS
Once you create a character, you can choose to play through the story, do challenges to unlock weapon modifications and get onto the leaderboards, free-play versus games, and tinker with your character & weapons. Modding weapons really stood out for me, since each gun can have up to four mods added, and each mod will improve some stats while lowering others. Most mods also are visible on the gun itself, giving you a sense of ownership after taking a 'stock' weapon and making it just right for you.
There are four classes: soldier, medic, engineer, and operative (read: spy). Each one has unique skills that you can buy with points earned from leveling up, and matches will generally require a mix of classes to complete multiple objectives. It's nice how classes are completely separate from weapon choices, and you can change your class at command posts mid-match. Pretty much anything you do in a match gains you experience points, even 'guarding' a door while you wait for the one operative on your team to come plant their doodad on it, fighting in close proximity to teammates, or playing online. It's a beautifully simple way to encourage players into playing the way that the developers intended.
Each level of the story is a match between the two teams, with the aforementioned cinematics and objectives that are appropriate with that part of the story. If your match settings are set accordingly, friends or strangers will simply replace bots. There's no gameplay outside of combat, unless you're like me and agonize over optimum weapon loadouts.
Within a match there will be a primary objective (e.g. a Soldier needs to plant explosives on a door), and secondary ones to help your team. If you aren't the 'right' class for the primary objective, it will display to you as Guard the Door. Hopefully this will encourage players to work together towards the primary goals. Secondary objectives might be blowing open a shortcut or securing a CP that grants a team-wide bonus. You can bring up a radial dial to select an objective, and it displays how many teammates are also working towards it. It's handy to see at a glance if no one is bothering with the most vital goal of the match. The levels are laid out like what you'd expect from a game that's about parkour gunfights in a dystopia, with plenty of places to jump, climb and slide around (except for the big, linebacker characters).
GRAPHICS
Yep, it looks like you're in a run-down shell of a place that was once great, except this time you're on top of the water. The rubble & such looks good, though... at least, as well as rubble can look. One complaint I had was that certain places were really dark at times. That's fine if it's for dramatic effect, but on occasion I would have trouble entering the battlefield, simply because our shipping-container HQ wasn't properly lit for emergency egresses.
SOUND
There isn't any background music during matches, unless I was so wrapped up in shootin' that I didn't even notice music. What you do hear, though... WOW. I was playing with headphones on, and I haven't heard such a satisfying shotgun since Quake II. Hearing that, I half-expected to see a head go flying 50 ft. as if I'd gotten a crit-hit with V.A.T.S. Oh, and the other guns also sound good & dangerous. Something rather random, though, is my character's apparent Foreign Accent Syndrome. I'm the type of player that will make created characters (the first one, at least) roughly based on myself, so it came as a surprise when my Washingtonian Filipino/Germanic avatar started talking with a Jamaican accent. Normally this would be a non-issue... except that you can't change a character's voice after he's created.
CONTROLS
Coming from Mirror's Edge, going nuts on junk lying around the environment came naturally to me, although there aren't quite as many moves available this time. If you hold down the sprint button (more like a brisk jog button), you'll automatically vault over obstacles and climb up ledges you jump towards. Crouching while sprinting will slide you under things like pipes & gunfire, and is a rather effective way to slide past enemies en route to putting some holes in the back panels of their armor. Raising up the sights for your weapons felt a little slower than I'm used to, but it didn't seem to affect gameplay. After the CoD series, it just feels weird. A nifty feature that I hope other games will implement is how a medic revives someone. Rather than running up to a downed teammate with defibrillators, the medic will toss them a syringe. It's then up to the casualty to decide if it's safe for him to revive himself. It's certainly not realistic, but you'll appreciate it the first time a pack of enemies run right past your almost-dead body.
ONLINE ASPECTS
There's been some scuttlebutt about Brink having issues with online multiplayer. It's all true.
Besides the $2 rental, I chose to try Brink on 360 due to the typically solid performance I've had with XBL. When I tried out a public game, the two other human players I was with brought the match down to a slideshow any time I tried to move. It definitely wasn't gameplay slowdown, as the bots were moving around as smoothly as usual when I stood still. I learned to play Counter-Strike on dial-up with ping of 200, so I can tolerate not having pixel-perfect accuracy & other players simply having better connections, but this was unplayable. This is why the big titles like Halo: Reach & Gear of War III have betas, even though they know the DVD factory is simply printing money: to iron the kinks out beforehand. It really burns my butter when developers & publishers are willing to let the early adopters be beta testers who pay $60 for the privilege.
Similarly, there's a Brink stats-tracking site; I even have the code to link my gameplay stats. Too bad the site isn't up, with no word (as of 18May11) when it will be.
CONCLUSION
I like this game. I really, really do. Bethesda or Splash Damage must have snuck a Polybius machine into my local theater, and used it to find out exactly what features I'd have in my dream game. That might also explain why I don't remember ever playing Polybius. And the night terrors.
Will I be buying it? YES... eventually. I didn't even play the game on release day, yet someone in charge at Bethesda, Splash Damage or ZeniMax thought it was okay to release a game centered around online multiplayer, with online features that aren't even finished. Am I just bat-guano crazy to expect a non-MMO game to have the features that work as advertised on release day, or have been adequately playtested? It's great that problems can be fixed after release through patches, but it seems like developers are getting lazier now that they know that the game doesn't have to be perfect by the time it 'goes gold'. Looking at what was shipped on the Brink disk +8 days of patching (or not), it's not worth $60. If I found it for $30 or less, definitely. If it's patched to the point where everything 'just works', I might ever reconsider $60. I just hope that Brink becomes popular enough that it'll be supported to the point where price meets quality, wherever that is.
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