Driver: San Francisco

Here’s a blast from the past – remember Driver? Well, Reflections (now owned by Ubisoft) have announced that the legendary driving franchise shall return later this year on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Mac and possibly the Wii at this year’s E3.

I’ve been waiting for this game for just over 4 years and judging from this trailer, it’s going to be a hoot.

But there’s more – gameplay!

From that video, it’s obvious that Driver is officially back. And by Driver I mean the two original PS1 titles, not the God-awful PS2 titles (GTA clones, which is ironic as GTA wouldn’t exist if it weren’t were Driver). I’m not sure about the whole “Tanner-being-in-a-coma-and-having-supernatural-powers-that-allow-him-to-teleport-to-different-vehicles” thing. To be honest I think it’s shit and belongs to Science Fiction version of Pursuit Force, not Driver. But hey, San Francisco is practically a reboot of the franchise so I guess it needs something new and interesting. Lets just hope it doesn’t turn out as shit as it looks/sounds.

So no more GTA knock-offs. San Francisco will take the franchise back to its routes. Which if you ask me, has been a long time coming.

Pac-Man 30 years old tomorrow

That’s right. The little yellow drug addict is 30 years old tomorrow. And to celebrate this joyous occasion, Google has made a playable Pac-Man version of their logo on their front page.

30 years ago, Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky, Inky & Clyde hit Japan and took the country by storm. He then travelled the rest of the world bring joy to our hearts and minds
I’ve always had a strong relation to Pac-Man, what with the word ghost being in my name. My avatar for pretty much every site I use (including this one) is a Pac-Man ghost.

So thank you, Pac-Man. May you gobble pills for another 30 years. And then some.

Left 4 Dead > Left 4 Dead 2

Not a year after L4D1 was released, Valve announced L4D2. Before it even came out people decided that they would continue playing L4D1 and that L4D2 was going to suck. After it was released many of those people were convinced to abandon L4D1 and move onto L4D2. I however, am one of those who didn’t chose to move on.
Sure, L4D2 is a good game and I do play it from time to time. But L4D1 is still a better game, and here’s why:

L4D1

L4D2

Left 4 Dead is all about zombies. Now tell me; of the 2 screenshots above, which one are you more likely to run away from? The first one? I thought so. L4D1 was much scarier than than L4D2:

- Every campaign was at night, making the zombies even scarier.
- You were confined to small areas including buildings with tight corridors that were easy to get lost in .
- You didn’t have any melee weapons so you had to rely entirely on your gun.

Whereas in L4D2:

- Almost every campaign is set during the day, making the zombies no more than Rabies infected humanoids.
- Really big open areas such as a shopping mall and a theme park (no, not “carnival”. I’m not American) so it’s impossible to get lost.
- You don’t have to worry about being swarmed by common infected because you have melee weapons.

What happened Valve? L4D1 was brilliant game that captured every vital concept of a zombie/survival-horror game and you squandered the lot with L4D2.

Oh, and did I mention the L4D2 survivors? Bloody hell!

L4D1

L4D2

The first game’s survivors were much more profound, more likeable than the second game’s. Bill is your awesome war veteran still alive and kicking, Zoey is the adorable team mascot, Louis is the cocky office worker and Francis is the hotheaded biker who hates everything.

But all that went south when Valve decided to introduce a new set of survivors. So for L4D2 we got Nick the dick-headed hillbilly, Rochelle the immeasurably annoying hillbilly, Coach the badass yet incompetent hillbilly and Ellis the… well, hillbilly. Surely you’re noticing some kind of pattern here.

And to top it off, the gameplay is basically the same in both games. L4D2 tried to make it different by introducing 3 new Special Infected (Charger, Spitter Jockey) but they all just seem to have been used for comical effect. Running into an open area to see one of your teammates rugby tackled by a Charger, gobbed on by a Spitter or face raped by a Jockey never really contributes to the fear factor given to you by L4D1′s Hunters or Boomers. They just make you piss your pants with laughter. Not that that isn’t fun, it’s just missing the point.

One final thing; the Boss Special Infected (Tank & Witch) were absolutely ruined in L4D2. In L4D1 the Tank ran at a suitable speed allowing you to get away if you wanted to. Now, it’s almost impossible to get away because the Tank runs too damn fast. And the Witch, once this mysterious weeping woman whom you were advised to avoid is now this lumbering, easily killed bint who’s in dire need of a hug. If only she wasn’t so violent while doing it.

Splinter Cell – How it all started, and how it all ended.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, an action-adventure stealth game developed by Ubisoft Montreal released in 2002. It defined the stealth/action genre and it was awesome. If you haven’t heard of it, then you should be locked away.

The game offered fantastic and groundbreaking lighting effects, a great story and a great cast. Not to mention the engaging gameplay – hiding in the shadows, eliminating enemies silently and remaining undetected. But it wasn’t without its problems. The cutscenes weren’t up to par with the rest of the graphics and the entire game was plagued with trial and error – you get spotted by a guard and are then forced to start again. And the terrible AI didn’t exactly help with that issue.

Then came Pandora Tomorrow.

Developed by Ubisoft Shanghai. A good game, despite the weaker storyline. It used the same gameplay mechanics (sticking to the shadows, etc), but took it to a new level. The first game’s levels were basically all indoors. Pandora Tomorrow introduced, wait for it… outdoor levels! Jungles, a train and an airport. Unfortunately, almost all of the problems from the first game were still there – trial and error, bad AI, etc. So there wasn’t really anything new to enjoy.

At this stage, Splinter Cell didn’t look like it was going anywhere. But that’s when Ubisoft Montreal saved the franchise and returned with Chaos Theory.

This game was, in a word, perfect. EVERY problem was the first two games were fixed, the graphics were improved tremendously, the story was great and it was just genuinely fun to play. Oh, and did I mention the fucking soundtrack!?

At this point, Splinter Cell was at it’s highest peak. But all that was ruined with the next instalment – Double Agent.

Forget all the things that you loved about Splinter Cell. Forget lurking in the shadows, eliminating guards silently, hiding bodies and remaining undetected. Practically all of the levels took place during the day, meaning no places to hide, and you were free to go guns blazing and kill everybody Max Payne style. The story was retarded, the cast was terrible, Lambert fucking DIES, the witty banter between Sam & Grim was gone, I could go on forever. The series started on a wing and a prayer, but then the wing was on fire and the prayer was answered. By Satan. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it certainly wasn’t what we were used to.

Lets just hope the series can redeem itself with Conviction when it’s released on February 26th.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

Not a lot of people remember him but back in 1997; a 2.5D platformer developed by Namco was released on the Sony PlayStation, that went by the name of Klonoa.

“Who is Klonoa?”, you may ask. Klonoa is a small cat-like creature with very large ears who lives in a fantasy land called Phantomile. In this mystical land, the whole place is fuelled by the very dreams people have at night. As a result, no one can clearly remember the dreams they had, even if they occurred recently. But Klonoa dreams one night that a mysterious aircraft crashes into a nearby mountain, and can remember every detail of it. He also finds a ring that possesses magical powers, and holds another small creature called Huepow who lives in the ring. But not all is as it seems, the two of them must investigate the crash and eventually save Phantomile from total annihilation.

This isn’t a review as such, just a look back at the past. I love Klonoa. I love his charm, everything down to how he runs and that adorable little “Wahoo!” that he does whenever he jumps really high. I love his quirkiness and the fact that Door To Phantomile is such a great game. Even if you don’t like platformers, you will thoroughly enjoy it.

Along with Crash Bandicoot, Klonoa is one of my all-time favourite video game characters. Unfortunately under-used and practically forgotten in today’s society, but I think that’s what makes me love him more – Not everyone knows about him, and I do.

The basic gameplay mechanics consist of grabbing enemies with your ring (which fires “wind bullets”, go figure…) and then either throwing them at other enemies, breakable objects or throwing them downwards to propel yourself upwards to reach high areas. This can be useful to collect jewels that are scattered throughout the land and can be used to solve simple, and as you progress further into the game, very complicated puzzles. I have yet to see another platforming game do this, that isn’t a Klonoa game.

Finding a legitimate copy of this game is extremely difficult nowadays. Even if you do find one, you can bet that it’ll cost around $60-$100. There is a Wii version that came out recently, which updates the graphics a little. But it doesn’t beat the originality of the PS1′s, clearly dated, but still impressive visuals.

If you own a copy of the PS1 original, well done you. What you have there is an extremely rare PS1 gem. I own a copy that’s in relatively mint condition (I say “relatively”, I was 5 when I got it), and you can still smell the ink on the pages of the instruction manual. It’s a pity it’s not compatible with DualShock though.

My first love

What with the release of Naughty Dog’s next instalment in the Uncharted franchise, I started thinking about their/my very first game.

Crash Bandicoot on PSone

Oh Crash, how I miss you these days…

It was at someone’s house I didn’t know that well and they asked me if I wanted a go. Of course, I said yes. From that moment on I knew I was going to love gaming. When I eventually got my own PSone and a copy of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (a few years down the line), I got stuck on a level and had to get my brother to help me; it was the one moment in my life that brother and sister united to help each other. What games can do, aye? After that, me and games just clicked.

Now at that time the graphics were incredible, but it was the gameplay that got me. You got to help Crash through his many adventures and control his every move. What more could you want?

I’ve tried games like Pac-Man World, Mario and several other platforming games, but Crash is a game you can never relieve through another title. It was love at first sight, and, although I’ve moved on, there’s always going to be a place in my gaming heart for him.