Been A While…

I’m not really sure if anyone followed this blog when I was writing more consistently, but I just thought I’d drop by to say hello. I’m going to be refocusing my channel significantly with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops II for a number of reasons. Some of those are personal, some of them are financial. One of the ‘personal’ reasons, I guess, is my desire to return to writing about videogames here on this blog. While my YouTube channel will be focused on the Call of Duty series for the most part (with the occasional look at other shooters) my blog will allow me to write about all the other games I play and/or are interested in.

This will be a place for reviews, previews, opinion pieces, and maybe a giveaway or two. I’m going to spend the next couple of days restructuring the layout of the blog, as well as writing some new stuff to post. I think first of I’ll be reviewing the recent re-release of Killzone, something I predicted a while back. Anyways, that’s all I got to say for now. See ya around.

Twisted Metal Review

Call me a masochist if you like, but I love a game that gives you a challenge. Whether it’s legitimately difficult, or just unbelievably cheap (DAMN YOU SHAO KAHN), I love when I actually have to think my way through something. Why? Because of that amazing sense of reward that seems so difficult to find in any videogames anymore. Now, thanks to David Jaffe and the team at Eat Sleep Play, Sony’s longest running franchise is back and better than ever. The vehicular combat madness that is Twisted Metal is back-in glorious HD-on the PlayStation 3 with its first fully-fledged console iteration since 2001′s Twisted Metal: Black. The newest entry, simply titled Twisted Metal, boasts some of the best gameplay and level design the franchise has ever seen, and hasn’t at all suffered from being too “old-school” for today’s game market. The explosive craziness of classic Twisted Metal games have been combined with the depth of strategy and fighting games, making for one of the most enjoyable experiences you can find on the PS3.

From a purely gameplay perspective, this is the best Twisted Metal has ever been. The controls are tight and responsive, allowing you to make the split second reactions that a game like this requires. While the button layout will be instantly familiar to series regulars, with almost no changes since TM Black, newcomers to the series will take some time to adjust to the unique control scheme. Each vehicle feels slightly different, whether it’s because of handling or special weapons (which each car now has two of) there are plenty of different play styles to learn. For example, you would be okay getting right into the fray with Sweet Tooth thanks to his high armour rating. However, if you were using Reaper, you would want to stay away from that and go for hit-and-run attacks because of the motorcycle’s low armour and high special weapon damage. Speaking of weapons, there are plenty to choose from here. There are your basic fire and forget types, such as the fire and homing missiles. The remote bomb has an added incentive does an added damage bonus if stuck to the environment rather than an enemy, and little details like this add to the depth of the game. Finally, there are some specials like Reaper’s chainsaw. It deals massive damage, but there is a delay from pressing the button to actually throwing the weapon, and no homing ability. This weapon takes serious skill to utilize properly, and is easiest done with a freeze/throw combo attack.

Twisted Metal also boasts some of the best level design, not only in the franchise, but in any game today. Of course there are one or two duds, like any other game, but battlegrounds such as Black Rock Stadium and Diesel City are instantly memorable. What may be most remarkable about these maps, is that while the game only ships with eight of them, each map has 4 to 5 variants giving players over 30 different maps to blow the crap out of each other on. You won’t just blow the crap out of each other either, as most of the maps have a ton of destructible buildings, and Sunsprings, CA can be almost entirely levelled. The constantly changing layouts and death traps of Black Rock Stadium also standout, as potentially the best representation of what Twisted Metal is, in a single arena, ever. All this means that it’s going to take quite the time investment to learn the ins-and-outs of every map, weapon, and vehicle to be able to dominate, but it’s something that comes with a sense of reward that is difficult to find in any other modern game.

PRE-ORDER BONUS

If you pre-ordered Twisted Metal, or were lucky enough to have your local store order a few extras, received a code to download Twisted Metal: Black off the PlayStation Store. It’s not an HD remastering, rather it is just a re-release of the original PS2 version of the game. This is not the online-enabled version of Black, so players are limited to the multitude of story modes and offline splitscreen. It shows its age in many ways, as it was originally released back in 2001, but plays at a silky smooth 60 frames per second, which is absolutely awesome. If the streamlined campaign in this new Twisted Metal isn’t your thing, you can re-live (or in my case, experience for the first time) an even more demented Twisted Metal universe from 15 different perspectives.

Twisted Metal’s campaign mode is completely revamped this time, with characters no longer tied to vehicles. That means Mr. Grimm can drive the iconic Sweet Tooth ice cream truck. If this was the trade-off for the awesome live-action cutscenes the campaign has, I’m still not too sure about it. This time around, the story is divvied up into three chapters; one for Sweet Tooth, one for Mr. Grimm and one for Dollface. Each chapter has 6 events, and 3 of the aforementioned cutscenes. While the campaign is short (about 1 hour each chapter) it doesn’t get repetitive, and there are absolutely reasons to replay it. Besting your previous times, unlocking new stuff for beating the game on each difficulty, and of course, trophies. The best thing in the campaign, besides the cutscenes, are the awesome boss battles. Each story has a boss battle to finish things off, and boy, are they both difficult and memorable. When you beat these monsters, it brings about as big a sense of accomplishment as any game can. Especially on the two harder difficulties. While the short campaign is enjoyable, the meat-and-bones of TM 2012 is the multiplayer offering. Despite some nasty network errors on Sony’s end on launch, (which have been gradually fixed over the first week) when you get into a match, Twisted Metal is one of the best experiences on PS3. There are plenty of unlockable vehicles, sidearms and more, and players will be able to distinguish themselves from the competition with the basic, in-game paint shop, or the online custom skin editor that Photoshop-savvy players can make use of. On top of all this are the 30+ maps, and a solid helping of game modes such as Death Match, Hunted, team variants of those game modes, and the all-new Nuke. Nuke is the real standout here, calling for a superb amount of communication and teamwork to nab the enemies’ leaders, sacrifice them, and make sure that missile you just launched makes it all the way to its’ target. Then you’re on defence, and you’ve got to keep the other team from doing what you just did. It’s crazy, insane and chaotic, and even if your teammates have no clue what they are doing, it’s a helluva lot of fun.

Graphically, Twisted Metal doesn’t deliver on the level of other PS3 exclusives like Uncharted, but it’s easily above the average game with the amount of detail in the vehicles and battlegrounds, the destructibility and the fact the frame rate almost never drops. The arena most notable for this is Sunsprings, CA. The entire level can be decimated except for a handful of larger buildings, and in one of the boss battles, it can be entirely flattened. The grandiose scales of these arenas, especially online, is pretty awesome. You and 15 other players are duking it out in Nuke mode, trying to sacrifice or defend a faction leader while a giant statue of that leader is being carried around the map by a helicopter. It’s a pretty awesome sight, and showcases exactly the kind of insanity that Twisted Metal represents. Weapons look great and feel powerful, through a combination of great visual effects and great sound design. The vehicles also feature a ton of detail, everything from the bumper hanging off and bouncing around after taking a lot of damage, to panels of the car shifting around for a missile launcher to pop out of the side. It’s Transformer-esque, and literally so when using Sweet Tooth’s alternate special. The biggest thing to mention about this game’s graphics, is that it is still, without a doubt, Twisted Metal. In tone, it strikes a chord between extremely dark tone of TM Black, and the comic book-y feel of the earlier titles, leaning a little more towards the sadistic nature of TM Black in its cutscenes and visual style.

When it comes to sound, the first thing that comes to attention is the rockin’ soundtrack. Long time fans of the franchise will immediately recognize “Dragula” by Rob Zombie, a song that was in a couple of the PSone Twisted Metal games. It’s surrounded by a great setlist of rock, rap and metal. Some of my favourites are the aforementioned Dragula, as well as some songs from Avenged Sevenfold, Airbourne and Wolfmother. It fits in perfectly with the game, and if the developer’s choice of music isn’t your style, Twisted Metal supports that lovely custom soundtrack feature so many games seem to ignore. As for the in-game sounds, vehicle, weapons and explosions sound powerfully awesome, as they should. The voice acting isn’t amazing, but it’s serviceable. Considering the campaign itself is rather barebones, it doesn’t have as much of an impact as it would in a story-driven game like Mass Effect. The menu design isn’t a real standout in this game. It’s serviceable, and the multiple offers a maze of sub-menus that can be annoying to navigate, but that’s about it.

The plot of the overall story is insane, as always, and there isn’t much to it. Not surprising considering David Jaffe’s recent comments that the story is interfering with the gameplay more than ever in today’s games. The draw in Twisted Metal has always been the gameplay, so if you’re looking for a deep, dark story, don’t waste your time. Luckily enough for us, Calypso is at his wish-granting best, giving the driver’s exactly what they asked for, but not necessarily what they wanted. I especially got a kick out of Sweet Tooth’s ending. The majority of Twisted Metal’s barebones story are told in the three cutscenes each chapter holds, and while the story it tells isn’t much to marvel at, the cutscenes themselves are rather awesome. One could recall the lost endings from the original TM on PSone and freak out about how bad they could be. Thankfully, they aren’t. They are crazy, campy and maybe a little cheesy, but the game embraces this. It is Twisted Metal after all. The best thing about this, is that they are unique, and they can be a little creepy too. It’s like the B-movie slasher flick that Twisted Metal is somewhat of a tribute too, and it’s absolutely fitting. My only gripe is that there were only three chapters to the campaign. If there is a sequel to this game, I’d hope we can get more storylines AND these awesome cutscenes together.

Verdict

In the words of David Jaffe, “It’s Twisted f***ing Metal, and it’s back b****es.” This is Twisted Metal at its finest; it hasn’t been corrupted or messed with to fit the modern “standard”, if you can call it that. Old fans of the series will feel right at home, and while there is a steep learning curve for new players, it rewards the time investment with being able to kick everyone else’s asses. Despite the streamlined campaign, Twisted Metal’s core is a superb multiplayer offering, that one can only hope keeps a solid community for a good, long time. It’s not just a welcome return for Twisted Metal as a franchise, but for the car combat genre. 8.5/10. Click to view the review scale.

RUMOUR: Killzone Getting A Remake?

If you guys follow me on Twitter, you’d know I was extremely excited for a certain PS2 Classics re-release on the PlayStation Store near the end of January. The day finally came, and after 8 years of waiting, I was finally going to have the opportunity to play the original Killzone, a game I had only experienced through a short demo and various videos in what seems like an eternity ago. Then that day passed by, and without any explanation from Sony or Guerrilla Games, I was left still waiting… Killzone never made it into the PS Store update, and I am still waiting to play the game that hooked me onto a franchise that I love to this day. Now, two weeks after its planned re-release, we finally have some word on the status of the game via the Official Killzone Twitter:

“With regards to KZ1 for PS3, not sure what happened but I’ve been informed that it’s been delayed indefinitely… I have no further info about KZ1 for PS3, save for the fact that it’s delayed indefinitely. If I learn anything else, I’ll tweet it here.”

Now this came as a major disappointment to many. Both fans of the original that wanted to re-live an old favourite, or those who were somewhat late to the party like myself; We all wanted to have the beginning of the Killzone saga at our fingertips once again, and being delayed “indefinitely” is usually a sign of a game being on the chopping block. But Killzone is a complete game already, it’s just being ported over to run on the PS3. No updated graphics, no trophies, just a straight port. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to just throw it out the window. For that matter, why have Sony and GG deleted almost all traces of the planned re-release?  This has got the Killzone community thinking, and there are really two possibilities, one of which I would like to think I got the ball rolling on with a tweet a week or so back.

1) A full HD remake of the original Killzone, on the new engine utilized in Killzone 3, similar to Halo CE Anniversary last year. New graphics, trophy support, improved everything basically. This is the route I’d prefer Sony and GG would take. The PS2 could not handle Killzone, and it suffered from an unstable framerate and short draw distances as a result. Killzone is not only known for being one of the top AAA shooters on the market, but for being a graphical powerhouse on every console it has graced. Bringing back Killzone as it was in its’ original form, 8 years later, would do a disservice to the game. A remake would also allow GG and the game to realize its full potential, something it fell short of with middling reviews upon release. It’d also be a great way to tide over fans of the series while they wait for Killzone 4, which I have speculated will be a launch title for the next PlayStation console, 2-3 years down the road.

2) The Killzone Collection, including Killzone and Killzone: Liberation. Now I initially referred to this as Killzone: The Vekta Collection on Twitter, as the two games it would include were set on the planet Vekta, rather than Helghan like the last two entries in the series. This would obviously be an HD re-master in vain of the two God of War Collections, with the upscaled Killzone PS2 title, and an upscaled version of the PSP title Killzone: Liberation. While the addition of Killzone: Liberation in a potential package such as this is a tantalizing thought, I have to go back to what I said earlier. A simple upscaling/remaster would not do the original Killzone justice. I fear this would be the more likely option of the two, as it would cost Sony much, MUCH less to put another collection (which they have been very fond of recently) into development than a full remake.

Whichever option Sony chooses, I’ll be happy to finally get my hands on Killzone. Again, this is all just speculation, but enough has happened at this point to suggest this is a likely possibility. Stay tuned to @KillzoneDotCom on Twitter for the latest updates on the Killzone re-releases’ status.

THE SOAPBOX: My KZ4 Class Ideas

So this little article/feature thingy is really just a re-post of something going on over on the Killzone.com forums. We were talking about how many classes should be in Killzone 4, and what they should be. Now months ago, I wrote up my own ideas for classes that I intended to expand upon and posted on the forums. I never did, but I had the class suggestions and I posted those. After seeing other peoples suggestions, some of which were modified from my list, I came up with a bit of a “master list”, so-to-speak, of ideas for Killzone 4. In my opinion, it seems pretty balanced and I think it delivers a great balance of the goods of both KZ2 and KZ3. Initially, I didn’t want to include a second upgrade to abilities because I felt it make them too strong and then the abilities would become a more central focus in gameplay than actual skill, one of the issues in Killzone 3.

Right off the bat, I’d like Guerrilla Games to combine the unlock systems of KZ2 and KZ3. Some of it is done through the ‘unlock points’ acquired by ranking up, others are earned through the (in my opinion, superior) performance-based rewards of KZ2. The primary weapons and abilities would be made available through the unlock points that you earn while ranking up. Players would then have to earn the ability to combine their secondary abilities, or badges (as I would like to rename them) with other classes primary abilities, so you could have something like a Tactician-Medic. You can place spawn beacons, and throw out health packs. I loved this aspect of Killzone 2, because it allowed for the player to switch things up to fit their play style. The other performance-based unlock, would be your “power secondary”, as I will refer to it. All classes start with the StA18 Pistol as their secondary weapon, but depending on the class, would also be able to unlock one of the VC8 Shotgun Pistol, M4 Revolver, M66 Machine Pistol or FSK-7 Fury Combat Knife. This would apply to all classes except the Rifleman, which will unlock secondary weapons with unlock points similar to primary weapons, since they’ve traded abilities/badges for access to almost all the weapons.

Rifleman - Typical grunt class from KZ2. Exchanges abilities for all the weapons.
Ability #1 – None
Ability #2 – None
Primary Weapons – M82 Assault Rifle, StA52 Assault Rifle, LS57 SMG, StA-11 SMG, M224-A1 LMG, StA3 LMG
Secondary Weapons – StA18 Pistol, VC8 Shotgun Pistol, M4 Revolver, M66 Machine Pistol, FSK-7 Fury Combat Knife

Medic - A blend of the KZ2 Medic and KZ3 Field Medic’s abilities and weapons. Maybe the most important class besides the Tactician.
Ability #1 – Revive; Revive downed teammates to 75% health.
 - Revive +; Revive downed teammates to 100% health, with ammunition supply reloaded.
 - Revive ++; Increase the range of the Reviving Device.
Ability #2 – Heal; Drop health packs the return teammates to 75% health.
 - Heal +; Drop health packs that return teammates to 100% health.
 - Heal ++; Drop health packs that give teammates 125% health.
Primary Weapons – M82 Assault Rifle, StA52 Assault Rifle
Secondary Weapons – StA18 Pistol, M4 Revolver

"Merry Christmas, you Helghast bastards!"

Engineer – Extremely important as a vital source of ammo for the team, and defending sections of the map.
Ability #1 - Repair; Repair destroyed ammo boxes and turrets.
 - Repair +; Repair ammo boxes and turrets 25% faster.
 - Repair ++; Hack enemy ammo boxes, emplaced guns and sentry turrets.
Ability #2 – Sentry Turret; Place a stationary sentry bot that fires at enemy soldiers and drones.
 - Sentry Turret +; Turret is able to spot cloaked and disguised enemies.
 - Sentry Turret ++; Increased rate of fire and fires rockets at vehicles/drones.
Primary Weapons – LS13 Shotgun, (New HGH Shotgun; Higher ROF, Lower DMG)
Secondary Weapons – StA18 Pistol, M66 Machine Pistol

Tactician - Can control the flow of a match. Mid-level unlock so teams aren’t out of the loop too long, but new players aren’t able to access the class.
Ability #1 – Spawn Beacon; Place a beacon to designate a temporary spawn point for teammates.
 - Spawn Beacon +; Spawn Beacon lasts 60 seconds longer.
 - Spawn Beacon ++; Able to deactivate your own spawn beacon.
Ability #2 – Sentry Drone; Throw a beacon to call in a flying drone that fires at enemies.
 - Sentry Drone +; Drone fires at enemy sentry drones and sentry turrets.
 - Sentry Drone ++; Increase rate of fire, and fires at cloaked and disguised enemies.
Primary Weapons – M82 Assault Rifle, StA52 Assault Rifle
Secondary Weapons - StA18 Pistol, M4 Revolver

The Saboteur looked so much cooler in KZ2.

Infiltrator - A CQC expert, perfect for flanking the enemy and thinning their ranks from the inside.
Ability #1 – Disguise; Activate a cloak that disguises the player as an enemy soldier.
 - Disguise +; Perform melee attacks without breaking disguise.
 - Disguise ++; Disguise recharge time is decreased by 25%.
Ability #2 – Proximity Mine; Place a stick, proximity-activated charge.
 - Proximity Mine +; Carry a third proximity mine.
 - Proximity Mine ++; Ability recharge time is decreased by 25%.
Primary Weapons – LS57 Submachine Gun, StA-11 Submachine Gun
Secondary Weapons – StA18 Pistol, FSK-7 Fury Combat Knife

Scout - The perfect long-range killing machine; excels at range, but has limited ability in close quarters.
Ability #1 – Cloak; Activate a cloak that makes the player invisible until they fire a shot.
 - Cloak +; Cloak disabled when a the shot fired hits an enemy.
 - Cloak ++; Cloak recharge time is decreased by 25%.
Ability #2 – Spot & Mark; Temporarily mark any enemies that can be seen with an on-screen marker.
 - Spot & Mark +; Any marked enemies will also be temporarily marked on the mini-map.
 - Spot & Mark ++; Calls in a UAV sweep, marking enemies not under cover on the radar. Refreshes every 3-5 seconds.
Primary Weapons – StA14 Rifle (Unscoped), VC32 Sniper Rifle
Secondary Weapons – StA18 Pistol, M66 Machine Pistol

The re-imagined Assault class returns as the Grenadier.

Grenadier *NEW* - A combination of the KZ2 Assault, as well as some of the KZ3 Infiltrator abilities.
Ability #1 – Demolitions; Plant or defuse charges 25% faster.
 - Demolitions +; Plant or defuse charges 50% faster.
 - Demolitions ++; Carry one extra frag grenade and one extra rocket/six extra M327 grenades.
Ability #2 – Boost; Sprint speed is temporarily increased.
 - Boost +; Regular movement speed is temporarily increased.
 - Boost ++; Stamina is temporarily increased.
Primary Weapons – VC9 Rocket Launcher, M327 Grenade Launcher
Secondary Weapons – StA18 Pistol, VC8 Shotgun Pistol

Support *NEW* - A new class that allows the game to keep mortar strikes, but would hopefully limit abuse/base camping for them.
Ability #1 – EMP; Detonate an EMP that jams the radar of enemies within a certain radius of the player.
 - EMP +; Disables enemy cloaks and disguises.
 - EMP ++; Disables enemy sentry turrets and sentry drones.
Ability #2 – Mortar Strike; Throw a beacon to designate a mortar strike on that location.
 - Mortar Strike +; Mortar Strike blast radius increased by 10%.
 - Mortar Strike ++; Mortar Strke recharge time is decreased by 10%.
Primary Weapons – M224-A1 Light Machine Gun, StA3 Light Machine Gun
Secondary Weapons – StA18 Pistol, VC8 Shotgun Pistol

Alright, now to detail some of the new classes and weapons. First off would be the removal of all those modified versions of weapons. Burst fire, suppressors, etc. It’s not needed, most people agreed to do away with them and I believe that’s what GG should do. In addition to that, I’d remove that terrible ACOG scope that was dropped on the StA14 rifle. Leave unscoped, it would still be a precision rifle, but could be more effectively used in short/medium range, as well as at long range. Next is that new, unnamed HGH shotgun I mentioned giving to the Engineer class. I wanted every class to have two primary weapons, but I felt the Engineer should be a shotgun specialist of sorts. The LS13 Shotgun that has been a staple throughout the series is created by the ISA, but is stolen by the Helghast at some point in the storyline (during Killzone: Liberation I believe) which is why both factions have it. I felt the Helghast should have their own shotgun, but it should be unique. It would differ visually (obviously) and use the standard balancing; a higher rate of fire, but it suffers in terms of damage. This gives players a little more choice in their close-quarters weapon of choice. Variety is good, but it should still have a purpose to it. That’s something I felt was an issue in KZ3.

The FSK-7 Fury Combat Knife from KZ1.

Another “new” weapon is something that returns from Killzone 1, and that’s the FSK-7 Fury Combat Knife (seen above). It’s the Helghast equivalent of the M32 Knife seen used in Killzone 2 and 3. It would be equipped as secondary weapon for the CQC-expert Infiltrator class, as an upgrade over the standard M32. It’s a larger knife, that is described as a “light axe” by the Killzone Wiki. It would do more damage and have a larger range than the M32, but takes longer to swing. In addition to this, there is a change I would make to the melee system. Taking note from the KZ2 campaign, players would be able to equip the M32 Knife by hitting down on the d-pad, to use as a melee weapon. Other than this, it would take two hits from the butt-end of the gun to kill an enemy from the front, and if you successfully sneak up behind an enemy, the player would be able to execute one of the Brutal Melee kills introduced in Killzone 3.

One of my biggest beefs with the Infiltrator in Killzone 3, is that it had way, WAY too many abilities. The cloak, infinite sprint, planting and defusing charges faster, etc. Along with the StA52SE and LS13 shotgun, the class was basically God Mode. I would take some of those abilities away, and put them into my re-imagined version of the Assault class, called the Grenadier. It’s main ability is called Demolitions, taking advantage of the decreased time to plant and defuse explosives.  It’s a great ability, but I don’t believe it’s overpowered because it is only useful in 2 out of 7 rounds in a Warzone match. Their second ability is the same as the Assault, and that is Boost. The reason for that is that the class have heavy weapons in the VC9 and M327, and their movement speed will be decreased as a result of that. It’s only fair to give them that temporary boost, if only so they can move around the map faster. Next is the Support class, which acts as a counter to drones, turrets and both forms of cloaks with their EMP blast ability. The range is limited, but once fully upgraded, it will disable all four of the mentioned abilities. It’s second ability is the Mortar Strike, which allows this feature to remain in the game with the removal of Tactical Spawn Points (or TSPs) and removing that dreaded base camping for the mortar beacon that was a result. Obviously, as an ability instead of a pick-up, the mortar strike would not be as effective as it was in KZ3. This would be both because I would lower the blast radius of the strike, and increase the player count back to 32, increasing map sizes with it.

Now that I think about it, those last two classes are quite strong. We need a solution to that. If Killzone 4 were to return to 16v16 matches, I would limit teams to only have two of each class at any one time; first come, first serve. That means each team would only be able to have two Grenadiers and two Supports active at any time. If it remains 12v12 like KZ3, teams would be limited to only one of each. I’ll refer to these as “power classes”, similar to the power weapons you would pick up in a game like Uncharted or Gears of War. This is done for balancing reasons, and to encourage people to use other classes such as the Tactician and Medic that are so vital to a team’s success. Anyways, those are my ideas for class restructuring in Killzone 4, and knowing that GG reads their forums, it’d be pretty bad ass if they used my ideas in KZ4 and helped the series return to the glory of Killzone 2. I, obviously, think that my ideas here are an improvement over Killzone 3′s classes in both variety and balance, now what do you guys think?

Syndicate Demo Impressions

So, the co-op demo for the new Syndicate reboot went live on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace on Tuesday, February 1st, and I’ve spent a few hours messing around with it. Right off the bat, the menu design looks really sleak, though the text may be too small at times. I don’t really need or want to lean in a 18″ from my TV to be able to read the on screen instructions. The next thing, is something that I’m not sure anyone who isn’t Photoshop-savvy will understand; this is that the game looks like someone has applied the sharpen filter way, way too much. Once into the co-op menus, there are plenty of options for the player to customize. This is just a demo, so I anticipate it’s only a slice of what will be available in the full game. If that’s accurate, there will be PLENTY unlockable upgrades for players to pursue. Chip upgrades, points that can be spent on “researching” (and then upgrading) weapons and chip abilities; there is more than enough to keep you busy for a long time. As I understand it, there will be nine maps available on disc, and if the game sells well, you can bet on seeing it supported through DLC in the future. This is an old franchise that EA is rebooting, and I don’t think they are a company that would put money into a one-and-done. If the re-imagined Syndicate catches on with gamers, EA will gladly take the money and run with a four-pronged shooter attack of Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Syndicate and whatever the hell the boys over at Respawn Entertainment (a new studio full of former Infinity Ward employees) are cooking up right now. Activision and THQ, take notice and beware, because from what I played, there is some serious potential for Syndicate.

Amongst a sea of generic cash-in shooters that seem to release every other week,  Syndicate actually has a unique feel to it. I guess I shouldn’t be overly surprised, the game’s developer (Starbreeze Studios) has a great track record of success with The Darkness, and The Chronicles of Riddick. Both fantastic, campaign-driven games that were received well critically. While I never played either, I’ve heard enough good things and seen enough of the epic trailers that EA’s marketing guys put together to give this a shot. If you absolutely wanted me to give comparisons, I would say this; the gameplay is closer to Crysis 2 more than anything (the whole super soldier angle helps with that) and the art style is kinda like someone pasted Deus Ex: Human Revolution into Photoshop, and pressed Ctrl + I. Yes, another joke for the Photoshop nerds to gobble up. And I’m not going to explain it to all you muggles either! *insert evil laugh here* As I was saying, the game feels about a unique as a first-person shooter can these days. It has all the standard features that you would expect, with a couple cool ones that stood out. First is the melee attacks, which remind me of the Brutal Melee system in Killzone 3 – sans the knife – as well as how the alt fire mode works. Instead of just switching between fully automatic and semi-automatic (which you still do) you switch from looking through something like the CIRV scope (an ACOG scope for all you COD junkies) to tilting the gun and looking down the iron sights or a mini red-dot sight. It’s a cool little detail that hardcore gamers will appreciate. I’m rather amazed at how much something as small as that can make such a big different in my opinion of a game, I guess it’s just something that feels unique and stands out from other games. Also noticeable is the sleek, Mirror’s Edge and Deus Ex inspired visuals. It’s definitely got that steampunk vibe to it, but it also has that clean, vibrant and… sanitized look that Mirror’s Edge stood out so much for. The UI-style heaps up display looks great, I’ve always though it looks cool when you see the ammo counter displayed on the gun and stuff like that. I dunno, it’s just a style I’ve really appreciated since I first played Dead Space years ago. I love the real-time projection style of the HUD, though it does feel a little cluttered at first with your squadmates health bars on top and all that crazy stuff. Once you figure out what does what, you only really notice what you need at that time. I think it’s some crazy deceptive mind trick the boys over at Starbreeze figured out and have employed to mind fuck us all! I do not believe the game has a set frame rate, it’s definitely not 30fps and it’s definitely not 60fps, but I’ve noticed it drop a couple times as well. I believe it’s just one of those games that is in fact running at 30fps, but you don’t really notice it through a variety of effects such as motion blur. That’s a theory that makes sense to me, because I still think Killzone 2 runs smoother than Killzone 3, when I know they both run at 30fps as well.

Overall, it’s only a slice of what we’ll get to play in the final game, but it’s some intense, action-packed fun that I’d definitely recommend checking out. Maybe the biggest thing that stood out to me above everything in the demo, is that Syndicate does not hold you hand. While this is a bad thing when they don’t list all of a buttons functions in the control screen (whoops?) it’s an amazing thing when you get thrown right into the middle of things and have to figure it out. With a lack of health regeneration and having to breach the armour of your strongest enemies before doing any actual damage, it forces you and your teammates to figure things out and work together, and do so quickly. It’s a rare thing to say a game from a western developer is actually challenging, without being cheap; a perk that seems to be exclusive to Japanese games such as Dark Souls and Vanquish these days. The demo is only available for a limited time, so get a few buddies together, download the demo and give it a run. The main draw will be the sure-to-be-lengthy single player campaign, but the co-op has the potential to keep fans glued to Syndicate for months after release. Check out my playthrough of the demo with live commentary below.

FIRST MOAB EVER!

I sucked at MW2. I never got a Tactical Nuke. I’ve been okay at MW3 on 360. It’s not my “native console”, so-to-speak, and I’m up against a lot better players thanks to my Gamer Zone. Now I wasn’t trying for this, but I finally picked up my first ever MOAB in about 5 minutes a couple days ago. It’s kinda funny because I was playing Kill Confirmed on Interchange when I died 3 kills short on like, the third day the game was out. This time, equipped with my smexy Gold ACR 6.8, and listening to some insanely epic music (not the same featured in this video) I finally pulled off the awesomeness that is earning an MOAB with 24 straight gun/equipment kills! Enjoy!

Resident Evil 6 First Thoughts

So earlier in the week, we got our first look at Resident Evil 6, which Capcom had been teasing for a little while with that NoHopeLeft website. The first big thing that caught my attention while watching, is that the game looks really, REALLY good. Like, I couldn’t see any noticeable difference between the cutscenes and the gameplay. I’m actually wondering if the gameplay in this trailer has been touched up a bit as well, because the cutscene shown at the beginning are clearly pre-rendered.

Die hard fans are obviously upset, because RE6 appears to be further moving away from it’s pure survival horror roots, with new gameplay mechanics such as sprinting, moving while aiming, a cover system and the ability to fire while knocked down on your back. While many of these mechanics would bring gameplay up to par with other third-person shooters, I think the addition of moving while shooting will end up lessening the almost non-existent tension that was present in RE5. It’s setting didn’t provide much intensity, but when you’re being chased down by 10 Majini, knowing full-well you will have to stop moving and try to take them out was a rather intense, if not a little terrifying experience. A cover system seems kind of pointless to me, unless you will be fighting something other than zombies. Firing while knocked down is another ‘meh’ addition, and while I always like being able to move faster, adding in sprinting might be another of those tension-relieving additions. The two things I’d say about moving while aiming and sprinting is this; you’d better not be able to move extremely fast while aiming, and your ability to turn while sprinting better be restricted a la Gears of War or Army of Two. That way you have these abilities that have come to be standard features in a third-person action game, but it’s not going to be too easy to escape whatever zombie-type creatures are attacking you. Another interesting bit, is that there appears to be three different stories with three different feels to it. Leon’s story appears to be the closest to the franchise’s roots, where Chris Redfield’s seems more action-oriented with the BSAA/Military vibe going. Finally, there are two new characters that it didn’t really show a whole lot of.

It’s hard for me to criticize Resident Evil 5, because it was my first RE game (I had only gotten into survival horror games a few months earlier with Dead Space) and I have many fond memories of playing that game many times in co-op. Other than that, the game is set for a November 20th release over here in North America, and I’. look forward to seeing more of the game at E3. Hopefully Capcom brings the game along to PAX Prime as well, I’d love to get my hands on the game a couple months early and see what kind of experience I’m going to be in for.