2011 Gaming Review

I can't really remember such a great year for gaming goodness.

I began the year by playing yesteryears games (I'm always behind these days) I was still playing the wonderful F1 2010 released September last year. Although not perfect, it was wonderful to play an F1 sim again after so many years of mediocre F1 racers. I did find myself making the game easier for the two toughest tracks Monaco and Singapore which are as hard as nails compared to the others. I played two seasons (19 races each) in the two slowest teams on the grid. I must have been rubbish at the media interviews as any decent team did not have interest in me until winning the championship in HRT (!) bagged me a seat at Red Bull!

I just can't face F1 2011 just yet, it's way too soon and will probably just skip it if 2012 game comes along next year.

Next on the menu, Batman Arkham Asylum picked up in a cheap sale. It's a great movie type game with bone crunching combat and featuring some very clever gadgets to play with. Again, Arkham City will just have to wait a while!

I then began another game which had been on the backburner for a while Red Dead Redemption which I  blogged about earlier in the year. I much preferred this to which I felt was a rather formulaic GTA IV.


With RDR finished, the summer had begun and so too my rather mixed experience of Portal 2 which I also blogged about. Lara Croft Guardian of Light was also very enjoyable, a nice surprise really which in an odd way reminded me of the 8bit title Where Time Stood Still. 

With the Autumn came the blockbusters of the year, the first of which I played was Deus Ex Human Revolution. I loved the original a decade ago, and this prequel has been nailed delivering just as much tension and moody Blade Runner atmosphere and challenge.

The stealthy bits and radar remind me very much of Headhunter (which itself borrowed from Metal Gear Solid), the overlooked Dreamcast/PS2 action/adventure from ten years ago.

Because of the £1 introductory offer, I played Deus Ex via the new cloud gaming service Onlive and I managed to play it all the way though without any major technical hiccups. Onlive itself a great technical feat that nobody actually thought would work, but we were all proved wrong. Next year could be a very big year for Onlive if they can sort out the prices (Nobody will pay full price for lower resolutions after all).

Game of the Year Runner Up

Not having played much multiplayer FPSes for a while, it was with much excitement that Battlefield 3 rolled in to town offering a brand new graphics and physics engine. The graphics really are amazing, the best yet seen this generation. You could even be forgiven for thinking you are looking at the next generation.

Offering larger maps and more tactical freedom than Call of Duty, it was also nice to see the PC version offering even larger maps, levels and visuals that the platform is capable of rather than just another console port. There are so many ways to play Battlefield, that combined with regular matches with friends guarantee many months of play.

2011 Game of the Year

Despite its flaws, the Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion was a cracking game. An open world RPG set on a grand scale with pretty graphics and the freedom to match it, hell it even played well on a console five years ago.

But in those five years, a master piece was being created. A game which would fix Oblivion's mistakes and perhaps bring Tolkien-esque RPG gaming to the mainstream. A game which would become Steam's fastest selling title ever and even beat COD and FIFA in the sales charts.

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim will be seen by many as one of the best RPGs ever made. Playing better on a joypad, it has never been easier to traverse a fantasy world with a first person view point. The dual wielding system lets you arm yourself with a shield and sword being able to use each other via the two trigger buttons or if you prefer sorcery you can launch your favourite two spells simultaneously while in combat.

The icy snow of Skyrim will allow some players to pretend they are adventuring in Westeros from Game of Thrones, added to that the epic dragons which once slain offer the player special abilities.

I have many months of great gaming to come attempting to juggle Skyrim and Battlefield 3 :)

Four Steps to Revive Nintendo's Recent Bad Fortune

As much as anyone tries to deny it, Nintendo has fallen on hard times. It only seemed like yesterday that the Wii and DS were printing money and Nintendo executives could wipe their derrieres with our hard earned cash, but no longer.

The company has managed to ostracise swathes of gamers with their 'casual-friendly' approach to the Wii, and the launch of the 3DS earlier this year can't really be classed as anything other than calamitous.

So what can Nintendo do about it? Well, if they follow these handy tips then their luck is bound to turn around... 

1. Ensure that the Wii U has a great launch  Considering how Nintendo has managed to collapse in on itself after the poor early sales of the 3DS, the Wii U really has to really hit the ground running. Some of the main issues with the 3DS on launch were the high price point and the lack of games. Nintendo will be hoping to avoid falling into the same trap again. So far they've made a great start on the games side of things by attracting a large amount of 3rd party support. Titles such as The Darkness II and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge mean that there will be a selection of great games available from day 1. The issue, though, is that some of these games may be released on rival consoles before they hit the launch of the Wii U in 2012. As a result, titles such as Arkham City - due to come out on PS3/360 next month - could already be old news by the time the console is released. Perhaps Nintendo's greatest concern should be the distinct lack of quality exclusive titles announced for the system. 'Exclusive' titles such as Killer Freaks From Outer Space and Lego City Stories won't be shifting consoles and Ninty really needs to have one or two great 1st party launch games lined up to guarantee that the Wii U sells. If not, the console really could struggle to find its feet. 2. Keep doing what they're doing with the 3DS  Nintendo screwed up the launch of the 3DS big time. A poor line-up of early games for the system, delayed launch of the Nintendo eShop and expensive hardware proved to be a massive entry barrier for would-be purchasers, but since then Nintendo has made some positive steps towards fixing errors. It was wise for Nintendo to take the big decision to slash the cost of the console, as sales of the system have jumped 260% in the US since its price cut. It was also a stroke of brilliance to compensate early 3DS adopters with 20 free games through the Ambassador program as it ensured that the dedicated fanbase kept their faith in the company. The console's position has also no doubt been aided by the rapidly approaching end to the 3DS game drought. Big hitters such as Super Mario 3DS Land and Mario Kart 7 are due before the end of the year and titles such as Kid Icarus, Paper Mario and a raft of impressive 3rd party titles such as Resident Evil Revelations and Metal Gear Solid 3DS arriving next year. The recent 3DS conference has also generated further enthusiasm for the 3D wonder with a new Fire Emblem and Mario Tennis being announced for the portable. The future of the 3DS is looking bright again after a distinctly murky patch and our advice to Nintendo would be to not screw up what they're currently doing. 3. Improve their online facilities  It's no longer 2006 and Nintendo can't get away with burying its head in the sand when it comes to providing a competent online service. Xbox Live and the Playstation Network are miles ahead of Nintendo's current internet infrastructure and Ninty needs to provide a service of a similar standard with the Wii U otherwise it will be in real trouble. It is remarkable that in this day and age Nintendo still doesn't have a suitable platform for DLC. Downloadable content is essential to the way we game these days and it is bizarre to think that up until recently developers have had to churn out DLC on discs for titles such as Rock Band on the Wii. This is an issue that has to be addressed. Online play should also be streamlined to provide a better service. Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of the Wii's most popular online offerings, was subject to bad lag and a generally poor online experience. Either a free or paid online service would have to match their rivals otherwise people will simply buy multiplatform online games on other consoles. Nintendo absolutely has to produce a capable online service for the Wii U in order to be successful. However, with the criticism that has been launched at the user-unfriendly layout of the 3DS eShop it seems as though Nintendo still has a lot to learn. 4. Win back the hardcore  Nintendo marketed the Wii as a casual, gamer-centric console: one that could appeal to the entire family. It was fantastic business sense and console sales went through the roof, making Nintendo millions in the process. But there was a catch, although the Wii sold like hotcakes, software for it didn't always sell, especially for those games made by third party developers. This resulted in many developers moving onto pastures new. At the time Nintendo didn't need to care as it was rolling in cash but now it is facing a situation where the casual console gaming bubble has burst and it has to win back the type of fans that may have moved onto the 360 or PS3. It appears as though Ninty are doing everything possible to prove that the Wii U will be a serious gaming platform. It is slowly but surely managing to lure back developers to create content for the Wii U and having the support of developers such as Square Enix and Tecmo Koei will likely expedite that process. Nintendo has gotten itself in an awkward situation: as much as it wants to lure in more 'hardcore' gamers it isn't willing to surrender the casual market it has conquered in the last few years. It will be vitally important for the Wii U to appeal to both groups sufficiently, otherwise the predicted decline of Nintendo will become a reality.

Author Resource:- Written for Submit Game Article by Joseph Dart.

The sentimental power of LOTRO housing

I've had a couple of sessions in LOTRO this week as I wanted to get the last section of the epic quest done before the new expansion Rise of Isengard hits next month.

I don't play LOTRO much these days, in fact since Lorien a couple of years ago I have jumped in and out just to do the epic quests, not getting too bogged down with side quests except when exploring new areas (such as the the most recent, and lovely Enedwaith) and when I HAVE to level my character to access gated epic quests.

When I had finished Volume 3 Book 3 I noticed I had a couple of pieces of housing furniture in my inventory so I thought I would check them out and see what they looked like in my house before logging off for the evening.

When done occasionally, it's always a pleasure to visit my cosy little cottage a minute's horse ride from Bree. It's a big dose of self indulgment. Lighting up the fire and choosing my favourite music from my selection stored in house chest - all in my private little dwelling.

But where I had not really visited my home at any length for what felt like a year at least, this particular occasion felt rather special.

Adorned on the walls of my small two room cottage are various trophies and rewards collected over the years since housing was introduced in 2008 over four years ago.

As I wandered through my house looking at each piece my memory recalled how I obtained it, some of the pieces bringing back some very happy memories I have had playing LOTRO over the years and here they were still preserved in my private little home, and preserved they will stay until the servers eventually get shut down.

Ah, here's that portrait of Narmaleth I got when I finally completed Volume 1 Chapter 15, one of my most treasured LOTRO memories (http://www.vetgaming.com/2009/03/ecstacy-playing-lotro-shock.html).

Wow, I forgot I had a Turtle head! You need a whole Raid to take him down (http://www.vetgaming.com/2009/05/lotro-turtle-raid-spoilers.html) !  Not quite as rare as the first age weapon drop reward, but still quite rare when you consider there were 12 players rolling for it each time.

I still even have the songbird in its cage that I got from the first expansion pack Moria, and a goblin drum from Goblin Town. I even have a Cave Troll head - I can't even remember where I got that one, but it looks cool sat on the wall. And there's that catfish, the biggest fish I've ever caught while out fishing.

It was only twenty minutes, but I received a very powerful melancholic dosage whilst pondering the long-term sentimental sensation some larger games can invoke. One of those rather unique gaming moments then that I will remember for a while.

Shadows of the Damned better than Resident Evil? (review)

Not having the time or money these days to try out as many games as I would like, I have a little rule.

If a game gets mediocre reviews it is highly unlikely I will try it. Hell, there's a lot of games out there that get great reviews that I still don't get around to trying for the previously explained reasons.

So when a friend suggested I give it a go because I'm a fan of Resident Evil 4 (his words not mine), the obvious 'are you crazy' discussion started. You see, said friend doesn't really 'get' survival horror, at least not in its traditional sense. He thinks they should be about fast action and not about using ammo very prudently, making every shot count, revelling in the current situation and plot twists, you know actually being scared and even jumping in terror at some points (anyone who played the first few minutes of the original Resi will remember when that dog smashed through the window in the foreground, all my friends literally jumped when they played it).

As the discussion got more heated, I realised I'd have to try the damn thing. One of my pet hates is when people say they don't like this or that when actually they haven't tried it.

So I rented Shadows of the Damned for 5 days and almost got to the half-way point.

The game starts off terribly. In fact, before I go any further I would say in terms of the tone and story of the game (both vital elements of a survival horror) Shadows of the Damned has more in common with Bayonetta than it does Resident Evil.

Firstly this ain't believable science fiction (the whole RE story revolves around a corporations bio-hazard experiments that result in zombies and other undead mutants set on planet Earth), instead Shadows is pure fantasy playing the character of a 'demon-hunter' sent in to Hell itself to rescue your girlfriend.

This situation could still have been saved despite the hackneyed plot. It could have been very scary, what scarier places are there than Hell?  Many it seems, the designers deciding to go for a comedy approach (what?) full of smutty teenage innuendo.

You know the successful horror movie Scream? Well I hated that. I just don't understand the point of mixing the horror genre with comedy so you don't actually take it seriously or find it very funny.

So that's the 'Shadows is not a survival horror' bit out of the way (if it ain't scary it's not a horror, simple logic).

Your rather charmless hero also has a 'skull-on-a-stick' to keep you company with a very irritating and inappropriate English accent which acts as your weapon and also your tour guide cracking crude knob jokes when it feels like.

Taking the above into account, the designers clearly wanted to try something different (and faster) with Shadows and although it shares a similar viewpoint and controls as RE4, the differences include jogging as default instead of walking and also the ability to be able to strafe, neither adding anything to the game. In fact they contribute to the game feeling even more removed from a survival horror that would otherwise create intended anxiety from more restrictive controls. Naturally, with faster and freer movement the enemies are also faster dodging about all over the place compared to the skulking and foreboding zombies of RE. Many ideas are inherited from RE4, such as the 'u-turn' button and the famous 'What will it be Stranger?' merchant has changed in to some bizarre large but friendly freak.

One last crazy thing to mention, I played all the way through the second chapter without realising I had another more powerful weapon to switch to. You would have thought it would have been made more obvious, or perhaps change automatically to the new weapon. I thought the game was getting hard considering I had chosen the easy difficulty setting!

By the third stage, the last one I played, I actually started to like the game a bit more. I suppose I was getting used to the game's chosen tone. The separate sections to the stage (the 'acts') seemed to be becoming more varied, as well as having two additional weapons to play with. I even came across a unique set-piece (gosh!) the only one I saw which involves raising yourself up a tower on a chandelier swinging about and smashing things as you go.

I would have played it a little more if I had had enough time, but having fully enjoyed one of the best games of the last decade, the jump down into Hell with tongue-in-cheek was always going to be a come-down into mediocrity. Shadows of the Damned is a cross breed of survival horror and third-person shooting wrapped in an inappropriately smutty and light-hearted tone adding nothing significant to either genre.

Portal 2 - Too short, or Too Long?

I know, I'm in the minority.

Games don't get 95 on metacritic for nothing, although I noticed the user score was lower at 8.3.

Ah, perhaps my view isn't so controversial after all then.

A lot of my opinion has to do with that fact I don't particularly like puzzles. I mean, I don't mind 'em and sure - when 'it clicks' that's a great feeling when solving particular puzzles, but I can only take so much head-scratching before the entertainment starts to feel more like a chore.

So anyway Portal 2 is a full length version of the previous game which was a much shorter game, an experiment really, bundled into The Orange Box. I knew I didn't want to pay full price (£40) for Portal 2 so I waited until the price dropped by half in a Steam sale. Ultimately, my instinct was proved right.

Ironically, my worry was that for the price, Portal 2 was too short. But it ain't ;)

Perhaps I'm just crap at puzzles, but I really enjoyed the very easy ones at the beginning revelling in the fast pace at which I was returning to the elevator between puzzle chambers. I enjoyed even more the scripted short bursts of escape, but these were too few and far between.

The middle of the game introduces the new gameplay elements, the blue, orange and white gels. I found that when you hit the orange gel puzzles the difficulty spikes up a bit - the first time I was stuck for say 20 minutes or so. This was still fine. They were tough, but not too hard to work out for myself. You then start getting combination gel puzzles and this was where I found the game to be at its hardest.

After about the third time I got stuck for what seemed like half an hour, I started to resort to youtube for solutions, aware of my precious personal time ticking away. I only cheated when I felt I really needed to, doing so about five times roughly in total (in comparison to the once in the original game).

On the positive side, the game feels a lot crisper to look at than the original, and the fantastic Stephen Merchant provides some funny comic relief to what can be a very sterile environment. There are certainly some moments of genius in this game provided by some of the better puzzles - the ones that are so simple but sometimes takes a little time to get your head around.

By the time I was finished with the single player story though, I had played some 14 hours in total. I came away thinking it should have been shorter at a lower price. I'm hoping Portal 3 will involve some combat, or anything to break up the test chamber after test chamber - which is far too dry for me...

...until I tried Co-op tonight that is :)  The puzzles are so much more enjoyable if you can grab a friend. All the co-op puzzles rely on teamwork, the game also cleverly plays on you being in particularly trusting situations where the wrong button press will have your friend killing you accidently ;)

It is also just hilarious when you or your friend die whilst pressing buttons, or just simply miss a portal in mid-flight.

As the challenges get tougher and the chambers get bigger, you can choose to see your friends viewpoint through a small window in the corner of the screen. We managed to get through a couple of stages that took around 2 hours or so (the time flew by), the very last room we tried also showed the potential for arguments where you could possibly not quite agree on how to go about a puzzle. I'm not sure if there any co-op puzzles that have more than one way to solve it, but that could certainly exaggerate the situation!

It is tempting sometimes for some of us after completing a game to get in the habit of not bothering with the multiplayer, but in Portal 2's case to do so is to miss half the experience.

Black Prophecy Review - A Single Player alternative to Battlestar Galactica Online

There have been a couple of Free-to-play space combat MMO's released recently, 

Battlestar Galactica Online felt very influenced by EVE Online, in the harsh stylings and wide open systems. It also proved to be a lot more accessible, offering large PvMP space battles to anyone wanting to 'follow the zerg'.

BSG:O actually reminded me of Planetside, the pioneering eight year-old FPS MMO that also had a never-ending battle for supremacy but across three factions, not just two.

Black Prophecy though, has decided to return to the good 'ol days of Wing Commander offering what appears to mainly to be a single player adventure attuned more to a mainstream audience lavishing them with sometimes quite long cut-scenes that will make you think you are back in the Nineties when the PC ruled and those troublesome consoles were just for kids.

The graphics and indeed the UI seem a lot more polished than in BSG:O too, although I did note the lack of loading bars which result in juddery action that lasts a few seconds until you realise the next area is loading.

For a game that wants to grab a lot of space combat fans then, the story in the beginning is quite hi-brow riddled with politics and all sorts of strange names and races ready to confuse you. I was rather overwhelmed with the plot and all the unfamiliar names, and had no idea what was going on in terms of the story.

Once you get out of the tutorial mode you get to start the main chain of story quests. 

There are lots of icons to navigate through, and not always intuitive. For example, to cash in the mission or in other words find the commander, you don't go to the obvious ports of call, the communicator or the mission log. Instead, you find him in the sector log as if he was a location, and then you still have to right click on him and choose 'communicate'.

Despite the amount of stuff you have to take in at the start, this is very impressive for a free game.

I was also pleased joypads are supported (BSGO's big error imo), so I was using my twin sticks to fly about, rolling on the left stick and strafing (rudders) with the rear shoulder buttons, front shoulder buttons for thrust. Targeting-killing might be easier with the mouse, but I find maneuvering a nicer experience with analogue sticks than keys.

After my first challenging mission (took me four or five attempts) I progressed to level 4 and started upgrading my ship and trading with the dealer guy. In fact if I'm honest the tough mission probably prompted me to get beefier weapons.

When you are using the joypad to fly around, It's not ideal having to hit space to enter 'mouse mode' when you want to click on icons, my main gripe with the game as it is quite jarring. You have to switch to 'mouse mode' to target large objects to scan them or whatever. But otherwise you can get by with 'nearest target' mapped to a joypad button. Obviously when docked, you will be using the mouse anyway to navigate all those icons.

I also recommend switching to the cockpit view, I did not realise the game even had one until I noticed while looking at the key control bindings.

Sadly, the MMO part of the game, PvP etc does not seem easy to access. When you are not questing on the main story chain, there are mission terminals at space stations offering solo and PVP missions. But I could not get the multiplayer stuff going. Perhaps no-one was around, they were all busy with the main story.

To conclude then, Black Prohecy is a great free game to try if you fancy a good old fashioned space combat romp. However, if mass multiplayer battles are your thing (these games are MMOs after all), I would choose the less glossy BSG:O instead.

RDR - Why Do Open Worlds Have Too Long A Story?

I was very late playing Red Dead Redemption and finally completed it the other day.

This has the same game mechanic as GTA = follow the letters on the radar for the missions, exploring the open world and its diversions as you like.

However, while the acting and face motion capture is top drawer as you'd expect from Rockstar, the wagons, steam trains, saloon bars, cacti, lassoing and open camp fires lend themselves a lot more to the enjoyable pursuit of RP than thug-city ever can.

In particular, the owning of horses (the more you bond the less likely it will throw you off) adds to the whole RP thing. It's the little things like being able walk/trot/canter/gallop at various speeds that all add to the immersion.

The other difference from GTA, is that being in the Wild West you can play lead John Marston as honourable (or as bad) as you like, whereas in GTA you are forced to be involved in crime.

I found the first couple of hours to be wonderful. Riding around the Wild West soaking up a very polished new game. The more I progressed into the game, the less spectacular it felt as the game obviously follows a very familiar formula to GTA veterans.

However, the difference in being in the wild west and the improved gun fights were enough to keep me entertained. In fact I enjoyed this game a lot more than GTA IV. The former game's flaws such as the difficulty spikes and the over familiar Liberty City were gratefully missing.

My only criticism is that I don't understand why these sandbox masterpieces have to be so big in terms of the main story. I would have been happy for the game to have ended in Mexico (the game's second zone) as I felt the third and final zone stretched my patience a little. Surely a huge open world can get away with a shorter main story as those gamers that have more gaming time can deviate away to their hearts content?

RDR won't change your mind about GTA/open worlds in gameplay terms, but if you like cowboys in the Wild West, well worth checking it out.

Submit Game Article - a Brand New Gaming Article Directory

Hi Guys,

I have not posted anything for ages as I have been busy with that other thing called 'life' and all sorts of other stuff I won't bore you with right now.

Except one thing.

Last Autumn I launched a new article directory dedicated to our wonderful passion of Gaming over at http://SubmitGameArticle.com .

Cleverly titled Submit Game Article. (Gotta love all that SEO-Keyword stuff right?)

Anyhow, it was a long hard slog (it still is) with every Internet Marketer in the world wanting to publish everything from Illnesses to DIY. Being a gaming site I currently accept around 5% of all article submissions which I get tons of daily.

Yup, SGA is starting to pick up speed so if you have any good quality articles you want publishing ABOUT GAMING ;)  please submit it over at http://SubmitGameArticle.com .

Cheers,

Matt.