Aliens vs. Predator multiplayer demo

Rebellion Developments have just released a multiplayer demo for their upcoming Aliens vs. Predator game. And I must say I’m quite impressed by it.

I’ve never played any of the previous AvP games and I haven’t seen any of the films, but I know the basic concept of it all. Not that you need to know much about the series to enjoy this game. You just jump straight in and enjoy it. You can play as either an Alien (scorpion-like creature with claws that can crawl on walls and bite people’s heads off), a Predator (tall monster with blades for hands and can turn invisible) or a Marine (guy with a gun).

The gameplay is extremely simple – players must run around a map and kill anything that moves. It sounds almost too simple but there’s nothing more satisfying that playing as a Predator, finding a Marine that’s just killed an Alien, creeping up behind him, stabbing him through the gut from behind and then ripping his head clean off. There’s a somewhat old-school feel to it all. I don’t know what it is, but it makes me feel like I’m playing Doom 3 again combined with Unreal Tournament. And that my friend, is a great combination. It’s available for pre-purchase right now via Steam.

The game will be released on February 16th in the US (I think) and Feb 19th in Europe. It’s quite cheap on Steam, so go ahead and pre-order your copy now. Hell, I might even review it when the time comes.

Console ports

By today’s standards, when a game comes out it is released on more than 1 platform. e.g. PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, etc. Most of the time, the game looks and performs exactly the same on every platform. But sometimes, a game is ported. This means that a game is developed for one specific platform and then slapped on top of all the other platforms.

The latest example of a port is Bayonetta. It was developed specifically for the Xbox 360 and was then ported to the PS3. The result? Washed out graphics, less vibrant colours, a lower frame rate and ridiculous load times.

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It’s still the same game, but porting it has really hurt the overall experience.

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Surely the developer could have designed each version specifically for each platform? Porting games just seems a little old fashioned these days, what with the technology we have now. I mean just look at the second Bayonetta picture. What the hell is going on with those PS3 wall textures!?

Another example of a recent port is the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum. According to IGN in their Head-To-Head of the game, the PS3 version has screen-tearing and the Xbox 360 version is more detailed and has richer colours. But if you look at the comparison pictures they provided…:

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…where is the screen-tearing on the PS3 picture? I can’t see any. In fact, the PS3 picture looks significantly better than the 360 picture.

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The character models are clearly more sharper (ha, ha) on the PS3, and yet IGN says that the 360 version’s graphics are better. Tut tut.

It seems that nearly all games are developed for the Xbox 360 and then ported to the PS3. However there is a less successful game that was released on the 360 and PS3, and the PS3 version reigned supreme:

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That’s right, Mirror’s Edge. Why is it that all the big budget games look and perform better on the 360 but the PS3 gets the better version of a low budget disappointment? Anyway, the PS3 version of Mirror’s edge is a lot brighter, has far more vibrant colours, a higher frame rate and faster/less load times…

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(360 on top, PS3 on bottom)

…and better anti-aliasing.

Apart from Bayonetta, none of these ports are really that different from one another. Mainly because they’re on the same generation of consoles. It’s the previous generation consoles that suffer the most.

A perfect example is Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Oh dear Lord…

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Need I say more?

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No bump-mapping, no normal-mapping, inferior lighting…

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…less world objects and detail, less complicated level geometry, I could go on and on and on and on and on. It is by far the worst port I’ve ever seen in gaming history. I almost screamed when I purchased my PS2 version, started the first level and turned on Sam’s night vision goggles. It was just abysmal.

All this begs that same question – Why not develop games specifically for each platform instead of just porting them?

Microsoft admits defeat

This is not a good month for Microsoft. First the 360 loses its support for 3rd-party memory units, Modern Warfare 2 loses its dedicated servers on the PC version and now Microsoft are planning on adding Blu-ray to the 360 as an accessory.

In an interview with Gizmodo, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was asked if we’ll ever see a Xbox 360 with a built in Blu-ray disc drive.

“Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there—you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories,” said Ballmer.

“I think the future of movies is on-demand actually, as opposed to via distribution on physical media. So we’re just going to keep driving forward and try to make [Xbox 360] the best overall entertainment experience, and not just gaming.”

Did Ballmer just let something slip? Again? Oopsy daisy…

Microsoft quickly tried to cover Ballmer’s statement saying, “Our solution for HD quality video on an Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming. As far as our future plans are concerned, we’re not ready to comment.”

All I have to say is – Microsoft, you’ve lost. If you add Blu-ray to your console then you are just admitting defeat. Your HD-DVD format was a failure and now you must adapt to the superior format that is Blu-ray.

Sony must be cackling their heads off right about now, just like me.

Bad news for all you 360 fans out there

Following a report from Joystiq, it appears that 3rd-party memory units for the Xbox 360 will be rendered useless after next week’s system update.

In other news, Microsoft are going to ban any Xbox LIVE accounts that are playing pirated copies of Forza 3 and Borderlands (which were leaked online). You can read the full report HERE.

I am literally pissing myself with laughter right now, and am so glad that I own a PS3.

Assassin Reviews

I’d like to introduce you to a small group known as Assassin Reviews. We are located at this URL – http://z3.invisionfree.com/assassinreviews/index.php?act=idx – and we review the latest games of our current time. You can find me there under the name of Mr. Blue and I review PS3 games.

I’ll post all the reviews I write for Assassin Reviews here on this blog as well.

PS. Still no dice on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves arriving in the post. And I bet there’s no post on Sundays. It better arrive on Monday, otherwise, well, you know what I’ll do…

Australian version of Left 4 Dead 2

As some of you may already know, Left 4 Dead 2 was refused clarification in Australia due to it’s graphic and violent nature. Which meant that it would not be sold in that country. Valve have now created an edited version which has been accepted by the Australian Classifications Board. The changes will include reduced blood/gore, dismemberment/decapitation will be removed and bodies will disappear as they hit the ground. To give you a good idea of what this may look like, here’s what the German version of the original Left 4 Dead ended up becoming.

All I can say is, Australia needs to get with the fucking program. This is an adult game, and for a damn good reason. That doesn’t give you the right to ban it so that even adults in your country can’t play it.

And what age do they think we’re living in? The 90′s? Are we 8-years-old? Bodies in video games don’t disappear when they hit the ground anymore! These changes are just gonna make L4D2 look cheap, outdated and extremely cheesy.

I guess it’s better to play an edited version of it than not being able to play it at all though, but it still makes me feel sorry for the Aussies. They get all the decent weather, good food, amazing wildlife, but shite video games. And they’re hundreds if not thousands of miles away from anywhere else, so it’s a bloody chore for them to import games from other countries.

I suggest that we all to to Australia, dress up like zombies and storm the Australian Classifications Board’s headquarters. That’ll teach ‘em to take L4D2 from the Aussies. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what the Aussies are doing right now.

New Amazing PS3 Gear

Well hello there, motherfuckers. I’ve just received some killer info about a lethal new controller for the PS3. It’s like a cross between a PS3 and an Xbox 360 controller, using the best elements of each. It still uses DualShock and the SIXAXIS technology.

You can find more info on them HERE.

They’re brand new, completely wireless and the best of it’s kind so far. So get your hands on ‘em for £49.99.

-
THBam.

Valve are going to spend $25 million on advertising for Left 4 Dead 2

Here’s a better idea – forget the advertising (everybody’s already pre-purchased it off Steam anyway), use that money to create more content for Left 4 Dead 1! You say that you’ll still support it after the second game is released, but so far all you’ve given us is Crash Course. We want more, damn it!

Mirror’s Edge review – 6.5

I’ve had this review saved for almost a month and quite frankly, I’m sick of the site of it. So here you go, not that you should really care that much about this game anymore anyway.

Mirror’s Edge – PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Rating – 16+, T.

Mirror’s Edge is a first-person Action/Adventure game that places you in the shoes of Faith, a messenger in a fictional city where communication is heavily monitored by the government to minimize crime. Faith, along with others who call themselves “Runners” are used to transport intel and packages through the city via rooftops and avoid detection. What the intel or packages actually contain is never revealed but that doesn’t really matter as the story takes off in another direction where Faith’s sister is framed for a murder she did not commit and you have to track down the people that did. It really is as simple as that, unfortunately. If Mirror’s Edge suffers from only one thing, which it doesn’t but I’ll get to that later, is that it has a rather weak storyline. Kind of predictable too, but still good enough to keep the game going.

I won’t get into what else is wrong with the game just yet because I have to tell you that the first-person perspective in Mirror’s Edge really is something to admire. EA Dice took a serious risk making it in the first-person; because you wouldn’t expect to see it in a game like this, a free-running/parkour game. But it does pull it off, you actually feel as though you are Faith running along rooftops, sliding under pipes, hopping over air conditioning units and leaping over the gaps between buildings, rolling as you land. You get this amazing sense of movement and speed, especially if you successfully chain together all of these things without stopping. All of this is finished off with some pretty damn good graphics, they’re simplistic but good. There are a lot of whites and reds here and there, with a handful of primary colours throughout the levels.

Now for the bad stuff, all games have them so here goes. Mirror’s Edge will only last you around 4-5 hours of gameplay, unless you wish to play through it again and complete all of the levels within a certain time limit. I’m not kidding; it really is that short, and it makes you feel like you shouldn’t have paid the full retail price for it. In my opinion it should have just been a £5-£10 download from the PlayStation Store/Xbox Live Marketplace. While the running and climbing aspect of the game is well executed, the combat is not. To take down an enemy you simply run up to them and mash on the melee button until Faith manages to land a few punches and disarm them. Personally I would be able to get out of most of Faith’s takedown moves and take her down myself, but I suppose hand-to-hand combat isn’t really what a free-running game is about. And it certainly isn’t about picking up enemy’s guns and shooting them. But oh dear, Mirror’s Edge has that as well! Don’t worry though; you’ll never need to use a gun. Making up for a very easy trophy/achievement.

Overall, Mirror’s Edge is a good game. But probably not worth a full retail purchase, maybe a rental. It’s fun, but short. It has a good concept, but a poor execution. Pretty much like most games/films nowadays huh?

The Good.

- The first-person perspective is engaging, intuitive and really well done.
- Each level has a couple of time trials that you can attempt, running from point A to point B within a certain time limit. Or you can do a speed-run of an entire level, learning to shave off vital seconds by taking the quickest and easiest route.
- The Unreal engine does a great job of making the unnamed city look bright, vibrant and colourful, and even more so on the PC version.

The Bad.

- Terrible and unnecessary hand-to-hand combat and gunplay.
- Far too short.
- If you’re not into free-running then this is not the game for you.

My Score.

6.5/10.

Batman: Arkham Asylum review – 9.0

I found all 240 of The Riddler’s riddles today, whoop whoop! Anyway here’s my review.

Batman: Arkham Asylum – PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Rating – 15+, T.

Ever since 1939, Batman has conquered the world of comic books, television shows, films and now finally video games. In the past, not a single game gave The Dark Knight as much justice as Arkham Asylum has. Remember the last Batman game, Batman Begins? *Shudders*.

The game begins with Batman accompanying The Joker to the home of Gotham City’s criminally insane – Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately he escapes just moments after you arrive, and it turns out that he’d be planning it for months. With the help of Harley Quinn and several other supervillains, he releases the imprisoned inmates and takes control of the whole asylum. It is up to you to stop them all.

Speaking of supervillains, seeing as there are quite a few of them I will list all of them and review them individually. But first, gameplay and graphics.

I’ll start with gameplay, I don’t know why. Because it’s alphabetically before “graphics”? You decide! Anyway, the gameplay in Batman: Arkham Asylum is pretty darn fantastic. In my eyes it is broken into 2 categories – Combat and Exploration.
The combat system is one of the best ones I’ve ever seen. It’s simple, but bloody fun to play with. When fighting crazed inmates, the trick is to chain together combos of punches, kicks, jumps, throws, etc. You can also use counter attacks to stop inmates from hitting you and then punish them for trying. Each hit you inflict on inmates is added to a counter in the top left of the screen which records how long a particular combo is, and it can get quite challenging, but fun to rank up 30-40 hits in a single combo.
But it’s not just fist fights that get you past the inmates. You can also use stealth to take down bad guys silently and effectively. Whether it be choking them from behind, hanging them from the ceiling or gliding down from above and kicking them in the head, the stealth element of this game will never get old and is a lot of fun if you’ve played other stealth titles such as Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid.

Batman isn’t just a man who dresses up like a bat and fights crime, he’s also a detective. And that’s where Detective Mode comes in. At the press of a button you can view your surroundings unlike any other normal human being. Objects of importance, such as control panels, air vents, switches, and other things that can help you progress are highlighted to help you notice them more easily. It also highlights the locations of inmates. Blue inmates are unarmed and red ones are (and it’s recommended that you don’t take down the latter head-on). This mode is extremely useful for planning an attack on multiple inmates and finding your way around if you’re lost or not sure what to do.
The island that holds Arkham Asylum is fairly huge and has lots of areas for you to explore, but what really makes you feel like The Dark Knight is climbing to the top of the asylum and gliding off it using your cape, watching as it shines and moves as you fly towards the ground.

Now for graphics.
Well, this game is beautiful. It takes the graphics from Batman Begins (which I thought were pretty good at the time anyway), puts them in a blender and turns it on at full power. The prison that is Arkham Asylum is a work of art in terms of design, appearance and overall eeriness. As you walk the corridors you can’t help but feel trapped in a madhouse full of lunatics ready to jump out at every corner and rip you to shreds. Which is what I’m assuming Rocksteady, the developers, were aiming for. The whole place is extremely detailed and the architecture is something that should literally be worshipped. The models for each character are also incredibly detailed, especially The Joker, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

Supervillains.

I won’t bother explaining who each one is, because if you’re playing this game then there’s a fair chance that you are a fan of Batman and already know everything about them. Plus it would take too long.

Mr. Zsasz.

He isn’t in the game much; in fact you only encounter him twice. Once at the beginning and once towards the middle. But it was nice to see him included. His model is slightly detailed, chains and broken padlocks that are tied around his body move realistically. The scars on his skin that he makes every time he kills someone aren’t that detailed though, they just look like someone’s drawn them on. But I guess that’s only because Rocksteady didn’t want the game to be too graphic.

Killer Croc.

A wonderfully rendered character that pops up every now and then throughout the game, making you eager to fight him. Unfortunately when you do get to face him, you’re left feeling as though you missed out on something. You face him in the sewers, but you don’t exactly “fight” him. You’re actually in the sewers looking for something else (I won’t spoil it) and you’re supposed to avoid him completely.

Bane.

Massive, brutal, clumsy. There isn’t that much left to say about him really. He’s pretty easy to defeat and not very well rendered for my taste.

Scarecrow.

Wipe the image of Dr. Jonathan Crane in a business suit with a bag over his head from your mind, this time Scarecrow looks a little different. And by that, I mean at least 100 feet tall with syringes attached to his fingers. But like Killer Croc, you don’t technically “fight” him. Instead you play a series of side-scrolling mini-games, where you need to reach a spotlight and shine it at Scarecrow without him noticing you.

Poison Ivy.

Who says video games don’t have enough female characters? Poison Ivy is one the best rendered characters in the game, with her waving hair and shiny lips. Not to mention the fact that she appears to have lost most of her lower half clothing…

Harley Quinn.

One of the best rendered characters, not just in a game, but ever. Her redesigned costume, which consists of a rather kinky mini-skirt and blonde pigtails, is a work of genius. Arleen Sorkin, who hasn’t played Harley since 2003, reprises her role and nails it. But alas, you don’t get to fight her. Which is a pity; she’s the co-leader of the asylum’s inmates and is remarkably acrobatic. I’d like to see what it would be like to fight her while she does quadruple back flips.

The Joker.

All the supervillains in Arkham Asylum are decently made and well voiced, but The Joker stands out. The reason for that is because the voice for him is provided by none other than Mark Hamill. Screw Heath Ledger, sod Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill deserves an Oscar for this one. His charisma and witty one-liners are both brilliant and hilarious. On top of this, Joker is rendered beautifully. The green hair, the skinny physic and the face paint put together create one of the best characters in video game history.

After all of that, I can conclude that Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the best games to come out this year and must be owned by any fan of The Caped Crusader. In fact, you don’t really need to be fan to enjoy this game. Congratulations to Rocksteady for giving Batman the game he deserved.

The Good.

- You really feel like you are Batman, attacking from the shadows, throwing Batarangs and beating the crap out of Gotham’s scum.
- Arkham Asylum is a work of art and the character models are richly detailed. Mark Hamill returns as The Joker, Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn and finally Tom Kane as Batman.
- Lots of extras for you to find adding lasting appeal once you beat the game, which lasts roughly 7-9 hours.
- An intuitive combat system which is extremely fun when you’re getting combos with over 30 hits.
- A well-written plot, decent soundtrack and the Challenge Rooms will last you a fair bit.

The Bad.

- Getting hit by an inmate mid-combo can get frustrating and sometimes Batman fails to continue a combo and ends up punching thin air, which is even more frustrating.
- A couple of low-res textures and a lot of pop-in when loading a new area.
- Not being able to fight Killer Croc, Scarecrow and Harley Quinn feels like a missed opportunity.
- Some gamers may give up on the Challenge Rooms, especially the ones where you have to take down a certain number of inmates and score as many points as you can – Being surrounded by 15 murderous maniacs at the same time can prove difficult.
- Playing through the entire game in Detective Mode is just far too tempting.

My Score.

9/10.