Sunday 16 January 2011

Star Wars - The Force Unleashed 2

A few hours ago in a bedroom far, far away...

... I started playing The Force Unleashed 2. Then, 4 hours later, I stopped playing. Why? Well it could have been because the game ended. Yes, I think this game could go down as one of the shortest full priced retail video games of all time. Don't go thinking that it was an attempt to speed through either, because I sat and watched every cutscene and even paused one to talk to my mother at one point.

Now, short games I don't care about. What I care about is value for money. For a game that would have cost £40+ at launch, that is absolutely atrocious. Luckily for me, I didn't pay that much.

Well, what can you say about a game that doesn't last as long as some films and costs 4 times as much? It... When... The... graphics were nice? To be fair to the game the graphics were nice. In fact that's probably the only positive about the game.

I guess I should really start by saying that if you want to continue where the first game left off, then too bad, loser. For you see, the beginning of this game ignores the choices made by the player and begins anew, disregarding continuity like a McDonald's employee disregards personal hygiene.

You begin the game as a clone of the original Starkiller being told by Vader to hate everything he loved, i.e. Juno Eclipse. Immediately the game falters and the player becomes emotionally separate from the game. This is because love stories don't translate well to video games. In films and books, we can relate to and sympathise with characters, but they always remain individual to the viewer. However, in video games you are the character. These events are happening to a character you directly control. This makes it difficult to pull off strong emotions while keeping the player emotionally invested in the story.

What doesn't help is the blind fanaticism Starkiller shows in trying to find Juno. It's not just a strong emotion, it's his only emotion, which renders half of this incredibly short game redundant. Other plot points are thrown in to try and bring back other characters, but everything always boils down to finding Juno (who's acting hasn't got any better, crikey). This also includes an incredibly brief and utterly pointless cameo by Boba Fett, who is apparently the only bounty hunter in the galaxy.

Speaking of minuscule sub plots; the freeing of General Kota (who is so in touch with the force, he doesn't need eyes) from gladiatorial captivity is a strange one. Having laid waste to most of the imperial troops in the city, you find Kota in an arena fighting various monsters. Upon your arrival, a fearful beast known as the Gorog, who resembles Popeye if he were bitten by a radioactive spinach plant, is unleashed. The attempt at gigantic scale is admirable, but it never really feels huge. Nothing about the encounter is different enough from any of the microboss encounters. It's just avoid, force lightning, avoid, force lightning over and over. It's made all the more tedious because of the fact you could have just run away. It's not like that thing could just hop on a space cruiser and come after you.

I'm strong to the finish, 'cause I eats me spinach...

After that the game is just a slog through various unimpressive locations that look vaguely Star Wars-y, with appropriate boss encounters thrown in for length, until the inevitable confrontation with Darth Vader. Seriously, Vader is getting boring now. So boring that even the developers couldn't be bothered it seems. A straight up one-on-one with some tedious platforming and quick time events. Oh, but half way through Juno gets thrown out of a window and for all Starkiller's supposed love for her, does he go and help? Nope, his hatred of Vader consumes him. Pardon my asking, but doesn't hate lead to the dark side, the very thing you're trying to avoid? Talk about a waste of time.

Then it all comes down to one simple choice. Spare Vader, or kill him. The two choices have two completely separate outcomes, neither of which can relate to each other. I'll try and explain:
  • Light Side - You spare Vader, he is taken into custody, your droid tells you that he cannot revive Juno after her fall but she suddenly is all right again
  • Dark Side - As you are about to kill Vader a perfectly cloned Sith Starkiller lightsabers you in the back, Kota gets hurled off the platform, Juno dies and so do you
I'm sorry, what? What happened to the sith Starkiller in the light side ending? How did Juno survive one but not the other? Stories change after a choice, not before.

In the end, it seems this game is merely filling in an inevitable trilogy sandwich. It's too bad this filling is a monolayer of greasy margarine and nothing else.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

TRON 2.0

I love Tron. I wasn't even a twinkle in my Dad's eye when it came out way back in 1982, but I've loved it ever since I first saw it. It really makes me wonder how I managed to miss this game completely until quite recently.

A full 21 years after the movie's release, came TRON 2.0. A first person shooter made by Monolith, the guys more known for the F.E.A.R series.

What I found completely surprising about this game is the RPG elements. I was expecting a run and gun from start to finish, but the upgrades and customisation are a great addition to what would have been a good game to begin with. From the start you have a set amount of points for things like health and energy, but as you progress through the game you upgrade your version number, which acts as a level number. It's probably the most fitting use of a level system ever, as instead of an arbitrary number it actually has context within the world you are inhabiting.

What I love about this game is how standard FPS events are changed to fit the unique world of the Grid. Looting, for example. Each enemy you defeat drops it's core memory which gives some health and energy, and can also drop upgrades and permissions, which act as keys. Everything that you expect in an FPS is there, but so fitting to the world you are in they seem completely different.

Speaking of the Tron world, the game adheres to the original film's look really well and each area, while having the same style, feels individual. As well as looking good, each area fits it's purpose well. From deactivating a firewall to running from a reformat, each zone looks how it should. The firewall example actually has large orange forcefields which look like walls of fire. Quite brilliant.

While the world and the gameplay is tighter than a camel's arse in a sandstorm, the story is a little wobbly. The basic premise is that ENCOM's new owners, fCon, are planning to use the digitizing process to send in Users to gather information and bring it back to their servers. It's a more straightforward, hands-on form of hacking. The problem is their digitization program is crap and turns Users into viruses. Their first attempt creates a corrupted Master User called Thorne, who spreads the infection throughout the system.

It's a decent enough story, but it gets a bit left behind in some places. The whole middle part of the game seems to completely forget about Thorne and the infection, having you fight simple security programs. The infection story comes back toward the end of the game, where another great call back to the movie is presented. fCon are planning to use a new file transfer program to distribute the stolen data around. It's in the form of a giant ship, much like Sark's from the film. It would mean nothing to someone who had never seen the film, but to anyone else it's a great moment.

Now, it really wouldn't be Tron without those iconic lightcycles. Credit must be given, because they could have just shoehorned this in with no thought to it, but it actually is part of the overall story. One part is shoved in for filler later, but I'll let that go just because lightcycles are awesome. The only problem is that it's so damn hard. I could hardly sit down after the asskicking I took from those AI riders. It forces you to ride away and wait until they eliminate each other or there is one left. But when you actually eliminate an opponent, it doesn't half feel good.

There is one part of the story that I didn't like, however. In the film, Tron fights against tyranny from Sark and the MCP in the name of the Users. In this game, you have to find an updated version of the Tron program called Tron Legacy (someone at Disney must have played this game). Fair enough, you may think, but the updated version of Tron fights against the users and derezzes them off the grid. I can imagine that being handy once the true intentions of fCon became clear, but to have it called Tron, it goes against everything he was created for.

Still, even with that the game is great. If you are a fan of Tron and you can get a copy, I suggest you do. Great gameplay, good visuals (it's style keeps it looking good even for a 7 year old game) and an OK story. With Bruce Boxleitner reprising his role as Alan Bradley and Cindy Morgan (Lora/Yori) voicing a program called Ma3a, it does feel like Tron. The only thing missing is The Dude.

--End of Line--

Monday 3 January 2011

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Lack of creativity is a problem that has been plaguing the video game industry for a while now. Endless rehashes and sequels that change nothing except for where you shoot terrorists populate the market. The other boil on the ass of creativity is the "re-imagining" of established stories. Now, I can abide by stories that have similar plots and characters to other works written into a unique tale, but when the characters and their names are identical, it screams "We're bereft of writing talent".

If you've never been in a special education class, you'll probably know that story is important in entertainment. The problem with re-imaginings is that the story has been told already and most likely in a better way... that's why it's being copied.

This particular game is inspired by the Chinese novel "Journey to the West", a story telling of a man's pilgrimage to India from China to find Buddhist texts. The story in Enslaved consists of a woman's return home after escaping imprisonment by robots. Yeah... robots. What I don't understand is, if you are going to change that much about an established story, why not go the extra mile and pen your own unique tale? Yes, you could draw parallels between them, but it would be separate from the inspiration material.

Anyway, the game opens to show the player character, Monkey, escaping from a slave plane. For some reason, one girl escaping has caused it to explode and crash. She causes this mess and doesn't even have the common decency to let you through a door to the escape pods. She then has the audacity to put a slave headband on you later. What a bitch.

As this game is a puzzle action platformer, repetition is going to feature at some point throughout the game. The problem is the people who made this must have regarded that as a good thing. It has to be one of the most perpetually boring games I've ever played. An incredibly high percentage of areas start out with the path ahead being scanned for robots whom you then go and destroy. There's some climbing in there, but that is it. I'd say 70-80% of the game is right there in that sentence.

It doesn't really help either that the game mechanics are awful either. The climbing gameplay is so easy due to everything climbable glowing bright white, the combat is tedious as you only have about 4 different moves and the camera... oh God, the camera. It swings around so wildly, even the controls have a hard time keeping up.

I don't want to be too down on the game, because there were some fun parts. Most of the boss battles were interesting and they actually had a size and difficulty progression, unlike a lot of other games. There is also a part where Trip nearly drives off he side of a bridge in a hilarious commentary on women's driving ability.

We then come across the character called Pigsy. Truly, one of the least likeable characters in a video game. In the Chinese tale, he shamed himself and was banished by the Gods to be reborn as a mortal human. They screwed up and he was born from a wild boar, hence why he's half-man half-pig. In the game, he is simply a fat bloke who likes pigs, judging by what he wears and what his home looks like.

Half-man, half-annoying fat idiot

The real problem with this game isn't the borrowed-then-robotified plot, the repetitive gameplay or the outrageous frame rate, but the fact I just really didn't care about anything. They're slaves, don't care. Trip's father is dead, snore. Pigsy is in love with Trip, yawn. Pigsy dies, huzzah.

Speaking of Pigsy's death, it's a strange and unnecessary sacrifice. Nearing the end of the game, you are on a massive machine called the Leviathan. The only way to destroy all the robots attacking you is to blow that mother up. Pigsy sets that in motion... then just sits there waiting for it to blow up. He had a whole minute to escape, which was evidently long enough for Monkey and Trip to get away. An utterly pointless escapade intended to make Pigsy seem like a noble and caring person.

There was only one scene that I cared enough to not mash the X button in a vain hope that it would skip, and that was the end. Everything up until that point was about Trip. Now, finally, we get something that relates to the player character. Playing for 8 hours to see it, however, was definitely not worth it. Turns out the slaves have been living in a Matrix-esque dream world from memories of a single person.

Trip and Monkey then free the slaves in an allegory for the Buddhist tradition of enlightenment. It's a pretty haphazard way of tying the two stories together after they got wildly frayed once the robots showed up, which happened to be right at the beginning.

While it's not a terrible game; the monotonous gameplay, unengaging story and one particularly bad character make it pretty bad. Time to take the blue pill.