Let’s Look At: Dead Rising

What is it about zombies that fascinates people so much - the loss of control, the chance to cut loose in a world with no rules, or maybe the way they shamble? In any case, zombies infest everything from movies like George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, to Capcom’s Resident Evil. With Dead Rising (2006) Capcom, arguably the master of the zombie game, decided to take things in a campier direction.

...I may need a bigger shovel.

Let me start by saying that I have a nuanced relationship with the undead. If were on Facebook, it would definitely fall under the “it’s complicated” umbrella. On one hand, I kind of have a (mildly) crippling fear of zombie movies. Every single one follows people who have clearly never seen a zombie movie or even picked up Frankenstein for eighth grade English. So-called protagonists always lean over corpses, let the bitten person hang around, and in general have zero self-preservation skills. On the other hand, I love zombie games. Give me an axe, and I’m good to go. Park me in front of a screen without a controller, and we’ll have issues. Maybe it’s a control thing.

In Dead Rising you play as Frank West, a photojournalist who enters the small town of Willamette, Colorado, a, on a tip that “something big was going down.” Turns out several things are up, and shambling out of their graves and into the town. The national guard has closed the whole place off, and your helicopter is forced to leave you at the mall where you’ll be picked be picked up in 72 hours. You’re on your own until then, and before you know it, you’re unraveling the whole narrative like the amazing journalist you are.

Maybe "amazing journalist" isn't the phrase I'm looking for. Maybe it's more like "dude with zero self preservation diving into a screaming undead deathtrap." Yeah, that feels better.

Dead Rising takes its setting and theme from George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, where a bunch of people are trapped in a middle American mall amidst a zombie apocalypse. While the movie bitingly critiques the consumerism of the 70s, Dead Rising is really an exercise in how silly you can make a plot and still have it make sense. Since the infamous “Jill Sandwich” days of Resident Evil, Capcom has reigned unrivaled in its ability to produce stupid dialogue and that’s on full display here. The mall is filled with helpless survivors, psychopaths who can’t adapt to their non-American life, and lots of clothing options. You can chop through zombies with a chainsaw wearing only a giant horse head.

Or a lego type head. Who am I to judge?

If solving my undead problems with a potted plant is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

Combat in Dead Rising is messy and fun. Some weapons are better than others, but you can use almost anything from giant battle axes to teddy bears. Some of the bosses have unique weapons, which respawn where they die, which is nice if you want an extra powerful option. Most weapons have their own unique movesets and fit a variety of situations, from crowd-control to one-on-one. Things can feel a bit wooden at times, but you’ll be too deep in zombie parts to really notice.

You level up as you kill zombies, rescue survivors, and complete missions, and with level one of your stats will increase. You gain can a skill, or attack, item storage, throw strength, speed, and life can all increase, at the rate of one point in one of your attributes per level. Some of the skills are more useful than others. I found little use for the “Zombie Ride” skill, which allows you to walk on top of a horde of undead, but I did use the “Jump Kick” skill nearly 500% of the time I was moving. By the time you get to the end of the game, you’ll be a one-man-karate-judo-and-wrestling master, flinging undead by their rotten ankles across the mall. Who wouldn’t want that on their resume?

By the end of this wild ride, you'll be able to crash through the zombie hordes like a magma tsunami through a marshmallow skyscraper.

One of the best parts of this game is also the most divisive; every mission occurs as specific times, so you have to get places by a certain point. In your first play through, it is very hard (if not impossible) to complete every side mission, main mission, and save every survivor. If you fail to recue a survivor in time a message will flash across your screen in red “GREG ROBERTS IS DEAD”, or somesuch. If you fail to complete a story mission, you can’t do any of the rest of them. You can still survive for 72 hours but, as the game says, “the truth will remain buried forever.” It’s so goddamn rare that a game has the guts to deny players something that I’m always pleased to see when a game says, “No, you do it my way or you don’t fucking do it.”

Missions will appear after a certain time, with Otis (one of the survivors) calling you on a two way radio to inform you. You can see around how much time is left for a particular mission. Sacrifices will likely have to be made your first run through.

Part of the combat’s strengths falls apart around the boss fights. Zombies usually die in a hit or two, but bosses are often extremely hard. They move faster, have better weapons, and usually have an environmental advantage. One of the earliest bosses, a clown with twin chainsaws, also can breathe fire, throw knives, and throw balloons filled with some kind of noxious gas. You can easily lose all your health in a minute, so you need to study the bosses before you engage them. You can only save at certain points of the game, so it’s very easy to lose hours of progress if you stumble on a boss fight by accident.

Good luck getting through Adam on your first try. He's surprisingly mobile for a clown carrying two chainsaws, an unlimited amount of throwing knives, and balloons filled with poison gas.

The final issue with Dead Rising is one I’ve written about before; ludonarrative dissonance. In Dead Rising you can beat bosses with sledge hammers, swords, and fill them with bullets, but the cutscenes will have them running off, looking fine. Or worse, the boss will get shot once in the leg and be down for the count. It pulls you out of the game each time happens, especially with the main antagonist. I understand it’s a hard problem to fix. If you have guns behave realistically, the game falls apart. If enemies take shotgun shells to the face, guns lose the story impact we expect them to have. Maybe the only solution would be to remove guns from the game entirely, but that really wouldn’t make sense for middle America. Either way, it’s a more minor niggle.

Worth Playing?

Yes

Dead Rising is a stupid, silly, nonsense romp through a sea of putrid zombie parts. It’s the most fun you’ll have with the undead until the government finally hears my proposal to start the Department of Reanimation. The bosses are a bit too hard the first time around and the cut scenes jar, but the rest of Dead Rising is so well put together that I can forgive the problems. Go forth and suplex some zombies, my friends.

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Let’s Look At: Hyper Light Drifter

One of my favorite music genres is synthwave (just imagine if the 80s never stopped). I like the little imperfections that synths bring, as well as the art style that accompanies the music. Bright magentas, teals and cyans seem to leap off of album covers and landscapes. Ever since 2011’s Drive, the style has been popping up in other places, much to my delight like Far Cry 3’s expansion Blood Dragon. One of the more unexpected places was Hyper Light Drifter, a The Legend of Zelda inspired explora-thon.

Welcome to pretty colors and total confusion.

Hyper Light Driver does have a story, but good luck figuring it out. Our main character basically appears out of nowhere, not terribly phased by the fact that they came through a dimensional portal into a new world. After a short rest and brief spout of coughing up blood, they’re off to explore their new world. There are several areas to explore, each of which with a theme to its monsters, like the wizard birds in the library-mountain, or the orc-samurai things in the ancient ruins.

As you might be able to tell, there's not a lot of dialogue in HLD, so I'm making up my own names as I go.

Throughout each area you collect little rhombuses that unlock more areas, as well as some kind of giant lock that the main hub town is built around. Each area also has a final boss with unlocks one of the bigger locks. So, you keep moving towards unlocking this giant thing, but why? Does your character know what it is, or what it does? Will it send them home? Will it cure your mysterious illness? Fuck if I know, but it’s a good mystery that keeps you invested.

My absolute favorite part of this game is its design; visual, audio, and story-wise. I’m a sucker for both good pixel art and neon, and this game uses both to fantastic effect. The overall look of the game mirrors 16 bit SNES and Genesis games, but with modern polishes designers of the 90s could only dream about. The colors in the game are bright and vibrant which makes the world seem alien and wild. Everywhere you go, there are signs of previous civilizations and battles, empty except for the enemies and one or two friendly NPCs.

It's always nice to see a friendly face, especially when near everything else in this world is dead.

The whole package has a very solemn and haunting effect. There’s no dialogue in the game, so you never have to stop focusing on the art, which is a concession that few games are willing to make. The soundtrack to this game deserves praise as well. It’s ambient and stirring without intruding on gameplay or overriding any other part of the game. I would bet that the designers of this game are big synthwave fans. Each area has its own unique tracks and ambient sound, which keep every location feeling fresh. Lastly, the story design deserves recognition for its restraint. Much like The Legend of Zelda did, HLD plays its cards close to the vest; if you want to know about the story behind this place, you’re going to have to do some detective work and a good bit of guessing.

There's even a co-op mode, so you can dash around with a friend.

The combat in this game is very satisfying. Your character starts out with a laser sword and acquires several other kinds of weapons as you go including ranged weapons and bombs. Your sword has a nice three-hit combo which you can time to great effectiveness against groups of enemies. You can also get upgrades your weapons that increase their ammo count (in the case of ranged weapons) or give you alternate moves (in the case of your sword). You quickly acquire the ability to dash, which makes you feel like an action hero, zipping between enemies and cutting them down. Enemies in this game come in a variety of types, ranged and melee, and each enemy requires their own strategy. The orcs, for example, are relatively easy one-on-one, but it can be hard to dodge their attacks in groups. The joy of combat really shines in boss fights. Each boss has their own patterns, which you must study in an almost Dark Souls like fashion to beat them. Each of the bosses is difficult in their own way, which makes progressing past them feel as good as defeating some evil titan should.

Despite how much I love the story design, there are some drawbacks to the style. Because everything is kind of mysterious, it can be very easy to lose track of where you’re supposed to be going. There were some rhombuses that took me absolutely forever to find because even though I could see around where they were on the map, I couldn’t find out how to get to that particular point.

The map isn't super detailed, but it is a good general-direction kind of thing.

The game also has a 30FPS cap, which presents its own set of problems. Because the game runs slightly slower than most PC games do, the controls can feel a little fiddly. The game will not react to a very fast combination of buttons which can leave you on the wrong side of a bosses’ weapon swing, or down a pit. This keeps the combat from feeling graceful in the way that you would imagine it should feel like.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

If you’re at all interested in indie action games, exploration, or a mysterious and beautiful world you should definitely invest some time in Hyper Light Drifter. The neon alone sold it for me, but y’all might be tougher customers. Anybody who enjoyed the original Legend of Zelda game will enjoy this one, so I also recommend it to any diehard NES and SNES fans.

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Let’s Look At: System Shock Pre-Alpha Demo

Disclosure: I have backed this game on Kickstarter to the tune of 30 dollars. I am not paid in any way to talk about this as-yet-unfulfilled-project. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, on to our regularly scheduled programming.

Horror and Sci-Fi go together like sleep deprivation and a new parent. Horror aims to inspire fear, which often springs from a lack of understanding. What’s less understood than an alien, or an emotionless artificial intelligence? Horror games add an extra dimension to this trope by giving you control over somebody in such a situation. System Shock (1994) took HAL 9000 and cranked the terror up to 11, later inspiring games like Bioshock and SOMA. Unfortunately, System Shock hasn’t aged well. The control scheme is maximalist beyond words, with no mouselook. The graphics, music, and enemy sound design maintain a certain spooky charm, but the voice acting sounds more bored than terrified. The folks over at Nightdive Studios decided that enough was enough and that they were going to remake the original cyberpunk horror experience. They recently released a pre-alpha demo, so let’s see where it’s going.

Awwww yissss. Shodan is back to kill humans and control robots, and she's all out of robots.

I’m not sure if they’re keeping the original story, but it bears repeating because it’s awesome. In 2072, you (a hacker wearing a funny shirt) hack into the TriOptimum Corporation database to learn about Citadel Station. You are brought before a TriOptimum executive who promises to clear all charges against you if you hack the Station A.I. SHODAN to give him control over it. He even promises to throw in a valuable (and illegal) military grade neural implant.

Executives these days. You hack a sentient A.I to remove all ethical constraints and next thing you know, everything goes to pot.

You hack SHODAN and hand control over to the executive and they implant some tech in your head, you take a 6 month healing nap. You wake up to find that SHODAN has taken control of the station, reprogrammed all the robots, and killed, mutated, and transformed the human occupants of the station. You quickly learn Citadel Station’s mining laser is charging and that SHODAN is planning to destroy all of Earth’s major cities. Time to go stop a super powerful artificial intelligence with total control of a space station. Off you get.

The demo starts out much like the original, with you waking up in an abandoned station. Right off the bat, the visual style of the remake is beautiful. Nightdive Studios have maintained the original layout of the Citadel Station, but they’ve also created a modern and sensible new look. Gas and bits of fog filter across your vision as neon lights of every shade emanate from the various screens and touchpads.

Colorful, bloody, and full of tech-nonsense. This is how I like my games.

The particle effects are impressive in their own right; lightning jumps out of power stations and jumps around your gloved hand, sparks fly from your weapon impact on a robot, and your electro-gun unleashes bolts of blue electricity that leave glowing orange scorch marks. All together it creates a very cohesive and mysterious cyberpunk feeling. While most things remain the same the remake has made the game a little darker, lighting wise. The original was very bright, even pastel colored at times, which didn’t mesh with the tone.

The movement of your character is appropriately slow, just like the original game, but with a lot more kinetic feeling. When picking up an important item or weapon, your character flips it around in their hands for a minute, looking at it before putting it away or wielding it. It’s a nice bit of real-world curiosity that gives a lot of character to your silent protagonist.

It's important to see if your weapons are free of structural damage. Plus, who doesn't like to get a feel for the heft of a lead pipe?

It makes sense that you’d be curious; you did hack into a super powerful corporation’s files just for shits’n’giggles. Swinging your weapon has the kind of weight that the swing of a real pipe might; impact feels satisfying and blows land with a good thunk. Climbing up and down ladders isn’t instant, like in Half-Life 2, but a process of getting on and off that reinforces the weight your character has. All in all, it feels like movement in a horror game should.

The original System Shock was very text based and the remake brings a little bit of that magic back with frequent on-screen messages. When your character opens a box a line of text will appear, as if somebody was typing it, that scrolls across the middle of your screen: “I wonder what’s inside?”. When you attempt to interact with a computer screen texture, you’ll get a message of “It’s all gibberish.” Intractable items will have an augmented-reality like circle around them, mimicking the look of the original game and modern augmented reality devices.

Modern AR devices do a very similar sort of thing with important objects, so I thought this was a really clever touch.

Given that this is a demo designed to get people to invest in a game that doesn’t exist yet, Nightdive studios is trying to put their best foot forward. With any such attempt, you’re bound to stumble a bit. Some of the issues I have with this demo can definitely be fixed, but we’ll see what happens. First of all, it’s hard to tell if an enemy is close enough to hit you. I think this is an issue related to your field of view and the difficult nature of melee combat in first person, but it’s a bit annoying. I always end up backing up and charging toward enemies like some kind of indecisive Roomba.

One of your weapons, which I’m calling the Electrogun (because I don’t know it’s name), has several power modes which you can switch between. Each level corresponds to a different amount of electricity you use per shot and damage you do. Each time you change the level, an animation plays where your character raises the gun in front of their/your face and turns the little knob on the side of the gun that changes the power.

As much as I love neon (and believe me I love neon) I really can't tell what I've just turned my gun to.

Thing is, it’s really hard to see which level you’ve just turned to and there’s no indication anywhere else on the screen. There’s little markings next to the different settings on the gun, but other parts of the gun and your hands obscure the markings when you’re turning the knob. If other weapons have this style of alteration, I hope Nightdive adds an indication somewhere else on the screen to let you know which power level you’re on.

System Shock had a wonderful and atmospheric soundtrack that added a lot to the eerie feelings that the game evoked. The demo doesn’t seem to have a soundtrack, aside from a short orchestral number as you look out a window. While I’m not sure if the original 90s cyberpunk soundtrack would fit with the darker visual choices Nightdive has made, I think a reimagining of the original soundtrack would be a good idea. From what I’ve seen, a full soundtrack is planned, but I hope they go with something with an outrun style bent. I think the Neo-80’s sound would work well with the more neon visual style.

Worth Playing/Worth Backing?

Yes/Maybe

This demo is definitely fun, visually well designed, and atmospheric. There are some issues around sound, enemy attacks, and unclear mechanics, but the whole package is a great throwback to a different era of game. However, if you were not a fan of the original game’s tone, atmosphere, or speed, you might not want to back this one. This game is not Bioshock, or even System Shock 2. It’s slower and not and RPG, though that could change with one of the kickstarter’s stretch goals. If you liked the original, then I would suggest backing this one.

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Let’s Look At: MDK

Playing the same games you played as a kid later on in life can bring up some odd questions from people. Questions like, “Why are you 24 years old and playing Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren’t So Frightening?”, “why is that plumber stomping on those mushrooms?”, and “seriously, why are you playing Pajama Sam. It’s meant for five year olds.” Maybe I like Pajama Sam, okay? But, it can also bring up questions you ask yourself like, “What the hell is going on? Who am I? How did I get this robo-suit with a machine gun for an arm?” MDK is a 3rd person shooting game that made me ask a lot of questions, but that sure as hell beats a boring game.

No video-game-playing-chlid can look at this cover and not immediately want to know more about that suit. Also fun fact, there's no agreed upon meaning for the MDK acronym. It has been said to mean anything from "Murder Death Kill" to "Mother's Day Kisses".

One of the biggest surprises I got while playing MDK again as an adult is that it apparently has a story! I don’t remember if I ever got this game in a box, so maybe I didn’t read any manuals that would have told me the fittingly strange plot of this game.

You play as Kurt Hectic, a laboratory janitor tricked onto a space station by the brilliant (if deranged) Doctor Fluke Hawkins. There’s also a 6 legged dog named Bones, though he prefers Max. Dr. Hawkins, ashamed that he couldn’t prove one of his theorems, decided to stay on his space station until he accomplishes something. He is the first to detect the coming of the Steamriders (a group of aliens who use massive “minelayers” to strip planets of their resources). Dr. Hawkins attempts to warn Earth, but he is ignored. Earth’s military is destroyed and the only hope to defeat the aliens is Dr. Hawkins “Coil Suit”, but given his age and Max’s extra legs, Kurt is the only one who can use it. The funniest part is how literally none of this matters at all to the gameplay. I, as a kid, saw the machine gun arm and I was sold.

Each mission opens with a one sentence crawl about where the Minecrawler is headed. You drop out of the space-station to land on the Minecrawler, picking up items and dodging missles as you go.

To say that MDK looks interesting is like saying that Dali painted odd paintings; it’s true, but you’re understating things. The graphics from 1997 show their age, but the overall look is still stunning in terms of its imagination. Each Minecrawler is a whirl of color, shapes, and music. MDK didn’t ape Quake’s brown hues; instead it explored every color in the rainbow, and then made every surface reflective. The music compliments the visual style. Each song on the soundtrack is clamoring, odd, and cyberpunk-y.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

As for level design, MDK’s designers didn’t bother with labyrinths found in Doom or Quake, but featured a straightforward layout for each level. There are few, if any, branching paths throughout each level, though you can find hidden secrets. Most levels are made up of corridors and one or two wide open spaces. Wind-tunnel like segments add a verticality you wouldn’t expect from such 2d focused game. While the levels are all linear, each Minecrawler has a unique look that makes going through the level fun.

The combat in MDK is as strange as the rest of it with no vertical aiming, ala Doom, and only one weapon. Your machine gun arm has two modes: spray’n’pray and sniper. You can hold down the shoot button and you’ll hit anything in front of you within a certain range (with the closest enemy hit first), or you can activate the sniper mode to fire off three precise shots at a time. You have one ammo variety for the spray’n’pray, which does more damage, but several varieties of sniper fire including, mortars, smart bombs, and homing bullets. If you can headshot a non-boss enemy in sniper mode, you’ll take their head off in a shower of green blood. You can also pick up a variety of throwable weapons, including an inflatable dummy, grenades, and “The World’s Smallest Nuclear Explosion.” The grenades come in handy for the larger enemies you fight. You only use the World’s Smallest Nuclear Explosion to open doors, which is an odd twist on the old “I might need it later” weapon conservation strategy.

Enemies fall apart as you whittle down their health; it's entertaining but can be distracting when you're swarmed.

Some parts of a game age like fine wine and some age like milk. The graphics and visual style of MDK still hold up, but man, combat has come a long way since 1997. In the 1st level you have to fight an enemy who jumps between ledges in a vertical wind tunnel which is pretty fun, but most fights devolve into “hold down shoot button because you never run out of ammo, jump straight up to dodge any laser blasts, and rinse/repeat.” Things go faster if you’ve got the super chaingun ammo, but you never have enough to last the whole level.

A stronger combination of the platforming and shooting mechanics would result in more dynamic combat. The vertical segment in the 1st level is fun because you have to manage your aim, movement, height, as well as dodge your enemy’s attacks. Otherwise you’re just holding down the shoot button and waiting.

Trying to use sniper mode is impossible unless your enemies can't hit you. Every large hit you take knocks you down and brings you back to 3rd person mode.

The controls are very similar to Doom’s, arrow keys for movement, control for shooting, but they are awkward at best. Mario 64 came out in 1996 and practically wrote the book on running and jumping, but it looks like the makers of MDK weren’t overly fond of Mario 64. You can jump with the Alt key, use items with the enter key, and if you hold the “x” key you can sidestep by pressing left or right (which normally just turn Kurt).  Getting anything done quickly in MDK is challenging, and more so when the game throws dozens of enemies at you. I think default mouselook and a WASD scheme would have made movement a lot less annoying.

Worth Playing?

No.

MDK requires context to really enjoy. If you could go back in time and play this game when it came out the visuals would be stunning and the combat/movement would be par the course. If you play it now, the visuals are still interesting as hell, but the movement is annoying and the dull combat can’t hold your interest. The sniper mode the game would be a fun addition to lots of FPS, but it doesn’t make MDK worth playing now.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Let’s Look At. Share it with you friends, your enemies, and people you meet on the street. Everybody knows the best way to make friends with somebody new is to share video game writing with them.

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Let’s Look At: Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

At this point, it’s fairly clear the only thing I’m as obsessed with as I am video games is Star Wars. My current desktop background is a fan-created poster for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and the Despecialized Edition of the Original Trilogy is my favorite edition of the movies. However, you might be surprised at the number of Star Wars games I’ve missed. The first Star Wars game (brilliantly titled Star Wars) came out in 1983 and publishers been releasing games ever since, year after year. While I have missed a fair few of them, I did manage to hit some of the highlights of the series. Let’s Look At one of the best Star Wars games that lets you be a Jedi; Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

Still the only game where I can play as Trandoshan with a lightsaber and cut off Luke Skywalker's arm, so that's cool.

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast puts you in the boots of Kyle Katarn, an imperial officer turned rebel agent and later Jedi Knight. You head off to investigate the dregs of the Empire, scattered and weakened after Luke’s triumph against the Emperor and Darth Vader. After discovering how to infuse the Force into his followers, a Dark Jedi plans to revive the Empire. Kyle must take up his lightsaber again to defeat Desaan and his nefarious plans.

Why are the bad guys always reptile-y lookin'? Why couldn't he be a furry kitty or something? This is species-ist.

Jedi Outcast, built on the Quake 3 engine, drawing on its excellent shooting gameplay and movement mechanics. Kyle has real momentum as you run and jump around, which gives the combat a more realistic feel despite the lightsabers whirring about. All of your weapons feel responsive and punchy; each weapon has an alternate fire mode, adding versatility and expanding your options. With a large variety of guns, you can use different weapons for every type of situation. The Flachette gun, for instance, is really well suited for hallway combat, as its buckshot like fire fills a small space quickly. The E-11 Blaster Rifle’s secondary fire allows for extremely rapid fire, which makes it way easier to dispose of groups of clustered enemies.

Also worth noting is the excellent sound design in Jedi Outcast. Everything sounds just as it should.

Emulating the pure fictional awesomeness of Lightsaber usually feels like you’re wielding a wifflebat, but Jedi Outcast does a pretty good job. Your lightsaber is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal, by far. You can deflect blaster bolts, and cut through Stormtroopers like butter, nyooom-ing away the whole while. You feel like a real Jedi, powerful and deadly, but you’re never invincible using your lightsaber against the non-lightsaber equipped enemies. You can still get him from behind and any kind of explosive weapon will require some caution on your part. Like the Cantina scene in A New Hope, the game even lets you lop off an arm or two.

Or, with the help of a mod or two, even take off some noggins.

Along with a lightsaber, every Jedi worth their salt needs to have command of the force. You don’t get your force powers until a few missions into the game and you don’t start out with every power under the sun. But you get more powers as you play through the game, which communicates Kyle’s returning relationship with The Force with more grace than most games handle their narratives. Force powers feel about as awesome as they should. There’s something satisfying about using Force Choke to levitate and enemy then using Force Push to send them flying off the edge of Bespin’s famous cloud platforms.

Or failing Force Choke, you could always use Lightning. Kyle has spent some time with the Dark Side, so you have access to both kinds of powers.

Like the Star Wars movies, Jedi Outcast doesn’t skimp on exotic locales and new planets. The missions take you on an awesome tour of the galaxy, from the Outer Rim to Nar Shaada. Each level has its own unique design with different assets, architecture, and atmosphere. The swampy atmosphere and ancient stone of the Jedi Temple on Yavin 4 leaves you with a little history of the place, and the power of the Dark Side there. While they might look a bit dated, a lot of charm and clever work went into the environments of Jedi Outcast.

Think of Yavin as a slightly sunnier Dagobah, and you'll have the right idea. 

However, while mission locations might be varied, the mission objectives are sadly lacking. Most of the mission objectives are just “find key, open door, end level”, which is disappointing given the richness of the universe. There could have been more interesting mission objectives revolving around light and dark side choices, instead of relying on the usual shooter fare.

While the stellar lightsaber combat makes Jedi Knight II stand out, it also makes all of your other weapons superfluous. Why snipe at an enemy when you can deflect all of their shots with your lightsaber and then lop off a leg when you’re close enough? You get the lightsaber after two missions, so maybe they started you out with a cap gun so you could appreciate the real thing a little more, but I’m not sure it worked out entirely. If there were more enemies that resisted the lightsaber more, combat might have been a little more complex.

This fight is not going to end will for these stormtroopers. It already went badly for a few of them. 

The lightsaber v lightsaber combat has its own share of issues. You swing at each other, occasionally colliding and locking sabers. By mashing the left click button you can overpower your enemy and deal a large amount of damage to your opponent, often ending the battle. That part is pretty well designed, but the rest of the time they feel a little too easy to swing around. If your swings had more weight to them, then the lightsaber would feel less wooden. Of course, a solid melee combat system is one of the hardest things to design in games, as there are only a handful of good examples.

Most lightsaber fights devolve into frantic leaping around and mashing the attack button.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

It’s by no means a perfect picture, but Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is worth spending some time with. The melee system has issues, the guns can feel a bit superfluous, but this game does make you feel like a Jedi, which is hard to achieve.

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Let’s Look At: Tribes 2

My first gaming machine was an old PC of my parents’. As soon as I figured out how to work it, I was glued to that PC. I started out playing games like Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds and Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside. As I got older and my reflexes evolved beyond floundering incompetence, I played games that asked a little more of players. One game dominated my free time time, essentially until support for it ceased: Tribes 2. It’s the only game I was ever part of a Clan for and one of the few games I’ve ever been decent at. More than just another multiplayer game, Tribes 2’s mechanical innovations are worth remembering and maybe even imitating.

This box tells you literally everything you need to know about this game; there's jetpacks, CTR, and other sci-fi nonsense.

Tribes 2 is the sequel to Starsiege: Tribes and hits many of the same beats, but with more pizazz and intensity. You and up to 63 other players/bots could play through a variety of modes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Rabbit (basically like tag). There were a total of five tribes to choose from, each visually distinct but mechanically exactly the same. When you start a match you choose an armor class (that you can change at any equipment station), Light, Medium, or Heavy. Each class has its own equitable weapons/packs and useable vehicles. Each team has a base where you spawn and where you can change out your equipment, spawn vehicles, etc. Each base has generators which can be destroyed to temporary disable all of the above stations, making them a common target. Once all that’s ironed out, you’re off to capture the flag, or what have you.

I'm not sure what happened, but jetpacks fell out of vogue as of these last few years. Shame, really.

One of the most impressive aspects of Tribes 2 was its movement system. One of the shining examples of physics use in a game, Tribes 2’s movement is all about momentum. Each player has a jetpack which they can use to ascend vertically and the ability to “ski” using energy blades on the bottom of their shoes. Players in Tribes 2 didn’t walk anywhere; they flew and skied. Every map was designed with plenty of inclines and declines for building up the speed required to play at the higher skill levels. Skiing became even more important in more objective based modes like CTF because a skilled scout could ski at such high speeds that they could flash right through the middle of a base, picking up the flag as they went, and be gone before you had time to even fire off a shot.

This is not a game for those worried about making the wrong choice. You've just got to pick what looks good and get out there, soldier.

The weapons and armor in Tribes 2 allowed for a huge degree of strategic play. The Spinfusor, for instance, fired a fairly slow moving explosive disc. On the surface, it’s a good weapon because of its high damage and splash radius, but the more experienced player also recognized that it can be fired at one’s own feet in order to generate a quick boost of movement in a particular direction. A skilled player could use the spinfusor while skiing to catch up to a flag carrier, or to escape a dangerous situation. Each class of armor had things it could and couldn’t do, which added a huge amount of weight to your choices. Scouts were the fastest and could use the Laser Sniper Rifle, but could only carry up to three weapons. Heavies could use the mortar (an extremely powerful explosive weapon with lock-on capabilities), carry the most weapons, but they were also the slowest and couldn’t drive any vehicles. Each player also gets a pack of their choice (besides the ubiquitous jetpack), which adds unique benefits. The energy pack recharges your jetpack energy faster and allows the use of the Laser Sniper rifle, for instance. Each pack had serious gameplay implications and factored heavily in your choice of playstyle. 

The maps of Tribes 2 are varied and feature terrain going anywhere from lush rainy plains to snowy mountains. Each map had its own set of strategies and common routes, but the inventive player could figure out something new to surprise their opponents. As you played the game more and more, you got a better idea of the best places to ski to get into your opponents base or the best place to catch a flag carrier unawares. The different vehicles suited themselves to different maps as well. Using the Wildcat light cycle in a mountainous map was not the smartest choice, but it beats trying to use the Havoc Transport Gunship in a very open map. The amount of tactical choice available to players dwarfs most modern games, to say nothing of the high skill ceiling.

Clever teamwork and use of vehicles could change the course of any match.

The bases in Tribes 2 are a huge part of what makes the game so dynamic and interesting. As mentioned above, all of your resources are there (save if somebody uses the Jericho Mobile Base vehicle to establish a bulkhead somewhere) as well as your flag if you’re playing CTF. On every balanced team, you have somebody who has to defend the base and its generators and even in that role, there’s a huge amount of strategy. Do you lay down turrets, or an explosive satchel? Are you using heavy armor for the added firepower, or scout armor so you can move through the base more quickly? Tribes 2 asked a lot of players, but it rewarded your time and skill with amazing matches time after time.

Generator runs were not to be undertaken lightly. If you weren't in and out of there in 30 seconds, you'd have the whole opposing team up your butt before you can say, "I totally didn't destroy your generators."

Worth Playing?

Maybe.

The maybe above might surprise you given I’ve just spend a bit over 900 words tell you how this game is the best thing ever. Thing is, there aren’t a lot of people that play it anymore, and the ones that do are very good. Entering a match in Tribes 2 these days is like getting jumped into a gang; you’re going to have a bunch of people beating the crap out of you for a few minutes. It was a great game, but the extremely high skill of current players makes it very hard to get into. If you’re brave and don’t mind a few scuffs, give it a shot, but don’t expect to pick this one up and be the best.

Tribes 2 is now free for download. Just head to Google and you’ll find it.

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Let’s Follow Up: Dark Souls III

Dark Souls III is a vending machine where you pay by punching yourself instead of coins. You keep going because each time you step up the machine you know you that you’re going to hurt yourself, but you’ll get something cool out of it. At the same time, I think I’m getting a little tired of forced masochism. I’ve now played DSIII for around 40 hours and have a much better idea of how the game is put together. Let’s finish looking at Dark Souls III, (hopefully) the last Souls game.

For a quick recap of my first impressions, click here.

Take a break from playing every ten deaths or so; your controllers and screens with thank you. I'm not one for throwing controllers, but I came close a few times with DSIII.

The combat in DSIII is my favorite in the whole series, by far. The variety of weapons is impressive in scale and the designers clearly had some fun giving some weapons pretty wacky movesets; things definitely get a little anime-looking with the Farron Greatsword or Onikiri and Ubadachi. Soul Transposition, the ability to use Boss Souls to create weapons/rings/spells, adds a new dimension to the game and more value to boss souls. You find a lot more upgrade materials in DSIII than the other games which is nice if you want to try out a variety of weapons throughout any one playthrough. The large variety of enemy movesets encourages you to try out different kinds of weapons/tactics as well.

Keep acting cocky, buddy. I'm taking that dagger and fancy greatsword when you're ash. 

The Bosses in DSIII are fun to fight, though ideas were clearly running a little short. DSII was criticized for most bosses falling into the “people in armor” category, but it seems like the designers of DSIII didn’t find that to be a problem. There are some really interesting bosses, both in their visual design and how to fight them, but you’ll be facing off against a lot of people in armor in this one. That being said, the non-human looking bosses are really cool. Most bosses have two stages, the second one usually being faster and more difficult, which is cool because it forces you to change around your strategy. Oceiros, The Consumed King, is a great example. He starts out as a mage, casting spells at you from afar and retreating whenever you get too close. In his second stage, he attacks in a way that matches his dragon-like appearance; up close and on all fours.

He's quite the chatterbox too. A charmer, really.

In the online sphere, things have definitely become smoother compared to DSI/II. There’s a total of eight covenants (one down from DSI/II) each of which falls into the summoner or invader type. There’s a tied-together nature to a bunch of the covenants, which is interesting. For example, followers of the Blue Sentinel Covenant will be automatically summoned whenever a follower of the Way of Blue is invaded. This definitely creates a new kind of dynamic to invasions, where you have to think if you’re ready to fight two or three people at once. The netcode has been improved massively, so PvP is much smoother in general and parrying is actually viable, unlike the horror that was DSI PvP.

From left to right and top to bottom: Rosaria's Fingers, Way of Blue, Blades of the Darkmoon, Blue Sentinals, Watchdogs of Farron, Mound-Makers, Aldrich Faithful, Warriors of Sunlight.

Despite what some people think, you can have too much of a good thing. Dark Souls is feeling a little tired by the end of Dark Souls III. Some of the issues I noticed in my first twelve hours became more glaring as time went on. The lack of a “working” poise stat seems like a huge oversight for the developers. In DSI and DSII poise affected how likely you were to be staggered by an enemy attack. DSIII has the stat, but it basically means nothing now. The only way to get poise to have the same effect as previous games is with certain Weapon Arts. I don’t think this is as much a problem for PvP, but in PvE it means that fast hitting enemies can rip through you. The Dogs or Thralls, for instance, pose an incredibly high threat if you can’t take them on one on one. Given how fond DSIII is of throwing multiple of these kinds of enemies at you (along with some kind of ranged enemy), things can get very frustrating very fast. DS combat is about one-on-one fights and DSIII habit of sic’ing multiple enemies on you at once makes the elegant, well-thought out, and generally enjoyable combat feel more frustrating than it should.

Here's somebody wearing the highest poise armor in the game, with a shield that also increases poise. They're still getting staggered by the first kind of enemy in the game.

The Souls games are supposed to be hard, for sure, but it seems like the developers of DSIII cranked things up to eleven when we were barely making it through at eight. Some of the mini-bosses are incredibly fast, strong, and presented in areas where you have almost no room to maneuver. Some levels towards the end of the game, like the Grand Archives, are very enemy and obstacle dense which makes progressing through them feel like more a slog than it should. There are some enemies which seem a little broken, frankly. The Jailers in Ihyll Dungeon, for instance, have the ability to lower your total possible health as long as you’re in their line of sight. They have a grab attack which will almost certainly kill you if they’ve lowered your health and their normal attack slows your movement speed to a crawl. I know this games are supposed to be punishing, but they were fun because you could overcome a great challenge, not because you beat your face into a wall.

You will hate these things by the end of your first trip to the Dungeon. They are the most annoying enemy I've ever fought in any game, period.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

Dark Souls III is a great game, but the cracks we started to see in Dark Souls II are definitely in the fore here. The formula is turning stale and the designers seem like they’re making things harder without giving the player more abilities to compensate. However, the combat is still better than 99% of games, the world is beautiful in that dead-tree-kind-of-way, and the amount of replayability is insane. I’ve put 40 hours into this game, but I feel like I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I hope this is the last Souls game, because it’s a good way to go out. Dark Souls III isn’t perfect, but it’s fun, special, and worth your time.

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Let's Look At: Sleeping Dogs

Despite great action movies coming out of Hong Kong, there aren’t a huge amount of games set in the city. The Deus Ex series occasionally travels Hong Kong side, but it’s an exception rather than a rule. The lack of exploration leaves a huge amount of untapped potential in the setting. Sleeping Dogs takes advantage of the history and culture of Hong Kong. It’s also one of the few GTA clones to focus more on hand-to-hand combat rather than guns. It’s suffered from its similarity seeming similarity to Grand Theft Auto, but I think that it’s worth another look.

Welcome to Hong Kong, Puk Gai. That's one of the many Cantonese swears you'll be learning. Get a notebook handy.

Sleeping Dogs uses Hong Kong as a beautiful, gritty, and enveloping backdrop. The world is so full of detail and charm; anybody who has traveled to Hong Kong might notice the resemblance to real places, or just the same general feel of the in-game world. From the humid night markets to the glamorous shopping districts to the lush greenery, Sleeping Dogs overflows with well-thought out touches that bring the city to life. People mill about and form crowds which are common in the city and rushing through them feels as chaotic as it should. Exploration is important for any open-world game, and Sleeping Dogs makes its map inviting. With visually distinct areas, you can navigate without the minimap easily. Shrines that increase your health and hidden caches of money or clothing are hidden give you a solid incentive to explore beyond the beaten path. 

Don't you wanna get out there and find a food stall? Something about all the rain and neon draws you in.

As mentioned in my 5/18/16 article, the martial arts in Sleeping Dogs are fantastic for the most part. Moves feel fast and powerful. You can chain together strikes, grapples, and throws to take down enemies. The heavy focus on hand-to-hand plays into one of the main sidequests of the game. One of your old Gong-Fu master's students has stolen his jade statue collection. By finding and bringing it back, Sifu teaches you knew moves. The quest merges gameplay, world, and setting nicely; a hard trifecta for most games to pull off. 

The Gong-Fu school you learn in is nicely designed. It's very spartan, which suits Sifu Kwok very well.

The use of “Face” is fun and an interesting way to “gamify” a part of culture, though I don't know enough about the culture to say whether it's a respectful handling of the idea. Missions and small favors to people increase your Face, which allows you buy more socially daring and sophisticated items, clothes, and cars. It does fit very well with the idea of somebody rising through the ranks of a major criminal syndicate. In a more immediate way, your Face meter builds up throughout combat and regenerates your health when full.

As you rise in Face, you get bonuses that affect how your Face meter works in combat. This really helps you feel like you're progressing throughout the game.

What goes up must come down; nothing good lasts forever, and Sleeping Dogs is no exception. Firstly, the combat is way too easy. You can counter too easily compared to normal fighting and use too many trump moves that turn combat into a joke halfway through the game. It’s a letdown considering how novel the focus of the game seemed at the beginning.

Sleeping Dogs could use some more sidequests. Generally, sidequets help show you more of the world and the people in it. The Hong Kong setting is so interesting it’s a shame that there’s not more quest based exploration of it. Some of the Face quests are interesting because you get a little insight into the lives of people in Hong Kong connected to, but not involved with, the gang. The police quests are interesting because you can forget that you’re part of the police as well as of the gang and the quests help remind you of that.

Most Face quests are just little favors that you do for people, but they're fun.

Lastly, the “dating” minigame is stupid and sexist as hell. There are three women you can “date”, most of which consists of cringe worthy dialogue and walking from point A to point B. Completing each woman's storyline leads to a perk in game, like the ability to see the health-increasing-shrines on your minimap, so each woman just becomes something to check off, rather than a good character.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

I called Sleeping Dogs a GTA clone, but I honestly think it's better. It explores a place that most games don't, it's hand-to-hand focus is more interesting than just shooting, and its story is more gripping. Any fan of open world games should play Sleeping Dogs, as well as anybody who wants to pick up some Cantonese swear words.

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Let's Look At: EV: Nova

Space is final frontier, at least according to James Tiberius Kirk. It has captured the imagination of humanity if the Space Race, Star Trek, and Star Wars are any indication. It only makes sense that video games would want to explore the great beyond as well. From humble beginnings like Elite (1984) to the unparalleled imagination of Star Citizen, space-faring games have come a long way and taken many forms. The genre is still progressing to this day, but it’s always interesting to look at some highlights along the way. Let’s have a look at a small game that’s largely forgotten by the community and see what it did right and what it did wrong.

Seems like every space game ever has to have an explosion of some kind on the cover. I really hope that space explosions aren't as a common as games make them seem. It does not bode well for our space expansion.

Escape Velocity: Nova, or EV: Nova, is the third game in the Escape Velocity series. Long ago, humanity left earth and developed the Hypergate technology, which allows them to travel faster than light. You start out as a wet-behind-the-ears captain right after you’ve scrounged up the funds to buy your first ship, a Sigma Shipyard Alpha-Class Shuttle. Right as you land on your first planet, an older Captain named Barry offers to show you the ropes. Barry functions as the games tutorial, teaching you about combat, the various marketplaces, the missions system, trading, and more.

Barry is the nicest guy you'll find in this universe and possibly the only one without some kind ulterior motive.

He’s very helpful for first time players, but you can figure out everything he says without ferrying him about, if you so choose. All of the dialogue, exposition, and story in the game takes place in second-person text boxes, which I personally love. There are six main story lines you can follow, some of which have sub-lines that can be unlocked by the correct set of circumstances. There are also a number of smaller mission strings you can complete, some side quests, as well as the infinitely spawning random quests that you can pick up for extra credits.

You find a good variety of your missions by random chance or by heading to bars you find on most planets.

You ship has a certain amount of mass, which can be spent on weapons or upgrades, and a certain amount of free space, which you can hold cargo in. As the game progresses, you can buy new ships and upgrades with different stats. The main story missions aren’t terribly long, but the six of them will take you a while to unlock and complete.

EV: Nova has an isometric, birds eye view of your ship as you move around the galaxy, land on planets, and take missions. The controls are fluid and fairly easy to grasp, but they are definitely a product of their time. You play the game almost entirely with the keyboard, only using the mouse to interact with menus on screen. You accelerate by holding the up arrow, and turn with the left and right arrow. The down will spin your ship 180°, useful for boarding an enemy ship or landing on a planet. It’s not the usual way to play a space trading and combat game, but I don’t find that it hurts the experience.

Some ships maintain a constant throttle, so you just turn them as they move forward. The Vell-Os ships are among this kind of craft.

What would controls be without something to use them with? Well, EV: Nova offers you a wide variety of ships, with each with their own variants. Several ships can only be purchased if you have the right licenses and some are only available if you pursue certain story lines. Most of the ships control similarly, but there are unique upgrades or weapons that only certain ships can use. I really like that EV: Nova isn’t afraid to lock you out of content, because it both encourages replayability and also leaves a lot of secrets for the player to discover.

The IDA Frigate and some other ships can only be purchased if you go through certain story-lines, like the Sigma Shipyards side quests.

With any space game come weapons, and EV: Nova is no exception. There are a huge variety of weapons, be it blasters, missiles, or even energy weapons. Each type of weapon operates uniquely and has several variants with different damage levels, ranges, and weight. There is also a large number of non-combat upgrades like radars, shields, and solar panels. These upgrades help you make your ship more than just a flying gun and allow you to see more of the galaxy. After all, how will you refuel without a solar panel if you’re 20 star systems away from the last inhabited planet?

Some weapons can only be found on certain planets, so you'll have to search far and wide to find the ones you want.

EV: Nova might not be the most technologically advanced game, but its galaxy map is certainly impressive. There are dozens of systems and planets to visit, and the designers did a great job of making the different areas of the galaxy seem unique. The central planets are policed heavily by the blue-and-white ships that the Federation favor, while the southern systems are patrolled by the wild and reckless Auroran Empire, and so on. You always know where you are just by who is (and isn’t) flying around. The visual design of all the ships is really strong, so you’ll always be able to figure out the general kind of combat or interaction you’ll be dealing with.

You can see Auroran systems in red, Federation in blue, Polaris in purple, and the Rebels in green. I don't think I've ever explored of this map.

A neat little inclusion is the ability to talk to other ships. You can ask for fuel if you’re out, beg for mercy if you find yourself in over your head, or just shoot the breeze without various pilots across the galaxy. In a surprising turn of events, EV: Nova had a big mod scene, with over 70 pages of modifications on the official site alone. You can find new storylines, ships, upgrades, and more so you can play EV: Nova different ways each time. It’s always nice when developers recognize the potential use of mods and give the tools out so freely.

Though there’s a lot that’s great about the game, there are definite areas where things either show their age, or feature poor design. The Wild Geese storyline is fun and well-written, but the majority of the major story lines aren’t going to be willing any Pulitzers. The Vell-Os storyline in particular really feels like bad fanfiction. A super powerful race of telepathic humans fought a war with the Federation because they were setting planets were they shouldn’t but the Vell-Os (undefeated up to that point) surrender because they don’t want any more bloodshed. The federation then enslaves them and forces them to do their evil bidding. All you need is a pointlessly long description of somebody’s clothing and you’re good.

You're telling me that a group of people who can literally create a spaceship out of their telekinetic energy decided to surrender? I doubt it.

Nearly all of the main story missions involve combat in some way, which is a bit of letdown. For such an open ended game, there’s no way to reach the end of anything without killing everything. Offering different playstyles is another way to increase replayability, but evidently the designers of EV: Nova thought that murder was the best way to deal with everything.  Without the internet, there’s a good chance you’ll miss most of the missions in EV: Nova. Many of them have very specific requirements about your legal record in the system, your combat record, your ship type, the location, the time, along with just plain old random chance. Thankfully, there are many well written EV: Nova walkthroughs, but game designers should plan for people playing their game blind, unless it’s an online game. The controls are mostly well designed, but cheesing enemies is really easy. You can outrun most ships in any medium class fighter, turn around and just fire infinite range rail cannons at them while their shots miss you entirely.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

EV: Nova is a rare kind of game; it’s small in focus, but has a huge amount of space. Most of its mechanics are well designed and fun to use, even if the writing will make you roll your eyes a few times. The game is still $30, which is absurd given that it came out fourteen years ago, but I will say that this game is worth it.

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Let’s Look at: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

The original Deus Ex mixed and matched genres like few others. It had FPS, RPG, and stealth elements without becoming a confused mess. The story was filled with meaningful player choice and used a player driven mission structure; with any objective, you had a huge number of ways to complete it. Unfortunately, the sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War (released in 2003) simplified many of the impressive elements from the first game, so sales and reviews took a hit.

Eight long years later, Deus Ex: Human Revolution came out to take back the crown.

More like Deus Ex: Grizzled White Guy Revolution, right? Also, get used to that yellow-orange color.

DX: HR maintains the same amount of player freedom as the original. You play as Adam Jensen, the Head of Security for Sarif Industries, a leading company in human augmentation. One day, Sarif Industries is attacked by an unknown party. After you are severely injured to a point beyond normal recovery, you receive Sarif’s most advanced full body prosthetic augmentations.

Finally the flesh reflects the robotic personality within... On a serious note, I would totally chop off all my limbs for awesome robot parts.

Six months later, you return to work.  You’re called in to rescue hostages and secure technology from a Sarif Industries plant. Right away, you have a choice. You can choose a lethal assault rifle, a long range tranquilizer gun, or a short range stun-gun.  You can sneak past all the terrorists, take them out with stealth, firearms, or any combination of the above. You can hack all sorts of technology to get control of cameras, learn new information about the world, or open new paths for yourself.

How you upgrade Jensen determines the way you play the game, much like the original Deus Ex. After you complete quests or explore, you acquire experience points. After every level up, you get Praxis Kits, which are basically skill points.

Companies would totally nickle-and-dime you for the more advanced features of your equipment. "Oh no, sir. You bought the basic robotic legs package. If you'd like to be able to run, you can subscribe to our Athlete program."

With a large variety of possibilities, you can choose tech that can do anything from making hacking computers more efficient, to turning Jensen totally invisible, to seeing through walls. But there’s a limit. You don’t have enough points to upgrade Jensen completely. Refreshingly, DX: HR is not afraid to close off content to you if you don’t have the right kind of upgrades.

The game takes place in a number of hub levels, each of which is filled with areas to explore, shops, and quests. The levels are visually interesting, filled with neon and dark shadows. The levels can seem overwhelming at first before you find shortcuts between all the different parts.

Hengsha is the second hub you spend a lot of time in. It's seedy, dangerous, and basically Blade Runner: The Location. 

Exploration is heavily rewarded, and certain upgrades, like the ability to jump 15 feet straight up, are basically designed to make exploring the hard to reach spots possible. DX: HR gives you the feeling that you can get anywhere, if you can stack enough crates to get up there. You can find all sorts of side quests just by speaking to people in the cities if you get tired of the main quest.

There’s a huge emphasis on character interaction in DX: HR that wasn’t present in the original Deus EX. Side and main quests have sequences where you can change the outcome based on what you say to characters.

These scenes can be really tense and are very well done. Most games will have conversation options that all lead the same place, but DX: HR puts power in your words.

The first quest, for instance, ends in a standoff between you and the head of the terrorists. He’s holding a woman hostage, but you can talk him down. Or, if you don’t think about what you’re saying, he escapes with the hostage and they both die in a hail of police bullets. Jensen is pretty much a blank slate, so he can be anyone from your choices.

For all its successes, there are a few times when DX: HR shoots itself in the (augmented) foot. Despite all the customization, the game forces you into several boss fights where you have to kill the boss. This really screws with the player freedom the game wags in your face earlier. You can play through the whole game up to the first boss as a sneaky hacker who only uses tranquilizer darts and suddenly you have to kill a guy with machineguns for arms.

Somehow I don't think my ability to crawl through gates and hack people's computers is going to mean much to Mr. ShootyMcMyArmsAreMachineguns here.

Fortunately, there aren’t a lot of boss fights. Some of the upgrades are basically must haves for any gameplay style, so should be either removed or included automatically. One is the Emotional Intelligence Upgrade, which tells you exactly what the person you’re talking to is feeling and allows you to release pheromones to guide the conversion the way you’d like to go. Some might say, “Just don’t pick the upgrade then!” but if a game offers you a dominant strategy, there’s no sense ignoring it, at least for your first run through. And in the most minor of gripes, the sprint time you start with is incredibly short. You can sprint for less than 25 feet, at the same time you can literally jump 15 feet in the air.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a great game, full of player choice, well designed levels, and fun gameplay and the most minor of issues. I don’t do ratings on this site, but this game would definitely be up there if I did. If you can, pick up the Director’s Cut, which improved the graphics and removed some of the issues I spoke about with regards to the boss fights.

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Let’s Look at Bioshock Infinite

The Shock series of games are lauded like few others. Each game crafted a unique, memorable, and horrifying world to explore. System Shock and System Shock 2 focused on the terror of space, while Bioshock and Bioshock 2 dropped you 20,000 leagues under the sea. Then along came Bioshock Infinite. In many ways, it’s the odd one out. The game world is colorful and vibrant, there aren’t any grotesque or disturbing enemies, and there’s no impactful moral choices to make. Bioshock Infinite is a game that deserves a second look, so let’s get to it.

I'm a huge fan of the Shock games, so I was really excited for this one. I was surprised by how much they changed the formula.

And coming in first place for the "Most Generic Protagonist Ever" we have Booker DeWitt!

In Bioshock Infinite you play as Booker Dewitt, a former US cavalryman and Pinkerton strikebreaker. A mysterious client agrees to pay off your massive debts if you bring back a girl from the floating city of Columbia. You quickly figure out that finding Elizabeth and bringing her to New York will be harder than you imagined. Before you know it, you and Elizabeth are fighting your way through all of Columbia, warping reality, and clashing with the highest powers in the city.

The combat in Bioshock Infinite might be the best in the series. It certainly beats the combat in the two System Shock games, as well as Bioshock. Shooting feels punchy and smooth and the enemies are well designed. Your movement speed is quick enough that navigating the large spaces you find yourself in is easy and rewarding. The weapons in BI remind me of the weapons in Black for the PS2; you can use any of the weapons throughout the whole game, rather than upgrading, ala Mass Effect 2.  You have a variety of Vigors (Infinite’s version of Plasmids), which are powered by Salts that you can find throughout the game. 

i feel like shooting somebody clad in crazy metal armor and wielding fireballs might not be best gameplan, but hey, what do I know?

The environments in Infinite are beautifully designed. From the minute you land in Columbia, you see a vibrant, colorful, and beautiful city full of well-designed little details. People mill about on the grass have picnics, others run little shops here and there, and everybody looks like they walked right out of a 1910’s painting.

Ugh, Jesus, this game is too damn pretty. The art style, lighting, and atmosphere are top notch. The sound design is well done and it complements the atmosphere very well.. There's amazing covers of God Only Knows and Fortunate Son as well.

The cohesiveness in the art direction, sound design, and environments is really impressive for a modern game.  The “levels” of the game are designed to encourage exploration, with hidden items scattered about, as well as a sense of verticality that’s new to the series. Columbia is full of “skylines”, metal rail lines that you can hop on and off in the middle of combat or just to explore the world. This helps you think of the game world as a 3D space, rather than just a 2D shooting gallery.

Bioshock Infinite does a fantastic job painting the elegant outside of 1910’s America, but it doesn’t shy away from the rotten core. The racism and classism that you experience in Columbia is shocking and omnipresent, but not more so than it needed to be.

So much racist history to think about, so little time. Bioshock Infinite puts you in a beautiful and sobering world, especially given modern politics.

Some people have criticized the violence in the game, saying that it’s excessive and that it doesn’t mesh with the beautiful, colorful world of Columbia, but I disagree. American history is a history of warfare. As of 2015, out of the 239 years America has been a recognized nation, 222 of them have involved armed conflict of some kind. The beginning of America as a nation was the Revolutionary War and American expansion was marked by the slaughter of the indigenous peoples. Violence is what we do, and Bioshock Infinite doesn’t let you forget that.

As Penny Arcade pointed out, she's basically a Disney Princess. She certainly has more character than a few of them.

All of the above is impressive, but not unique. There’s one part of Infinite that stands above all other games, and that’s Elizabeth. Elizabeth feels real in the way that incredibly few characters do, let alone game characters. She is blessed (or perhaps cursed) with the ability to interact with “Tears”, holes in the fabric of reality that can be found all over Columbia. She can bring things in from other dimensions as well as pass into them. This power of hers is remarkable by itself, but the game designers also did a fantastic job giving her both thematic and gameplay impact. Her strange abilities are the reason why she was locked in Columbia her whole life. You can see her use this power several times to advance the plot, but you can also use them in the middle of combat. She’s one of the few escort quests that never feels annoying, partly because she can’t be damaged in combat and partly because she’s just enjoyable to be around. Creating characters that aren’t one dimensional and have a story impact is difficult in media, but the designers of Infinite struck gold with Elizabeth.

While the actual shooting mechanics are well designed, a lot of the mechanics surrounding combat are not so well thought out. Unlike previous Shock games, Infinite only allows you to carry two weapons at any time. You can upgrade weapons throughout the game, but you’ll find yourself running out of ammo for your upgraded weapons a lot, especially on harder difficulties. Interestingly enough, you have access to all of your Vigors at all times and most of them (six of eight possible Vigors) have only direct combat uses. Maybe the developers wanted you to use the Vigors more than guns, but there aren’t enough Salts to use them for every situation. I think you could have removed the Vigors from the game, and you wouldn’t lose much. The level of possible customization also decreased in this game compared to the previous games in the series. In the Bioshock games you could equip a variety of Gene Tonics, which offered passive bonuses like increased melee damage, or fire resistance, etc. In Infinite you can find a variety of Gear, clothes which offer some bonuses, but you can only equip four at any given time. Lastly, the increased difficulty settings for this game are the worst kind: the kind where all enemies become bullet sponges while you become paper-thin. Challenge is more than just weighing the scale against the player.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

Bioshock Infinite is an odd duck, especially when compared to the rest of the series. It stumbles a fair number of times, but in the end, its charm, fast paced combat, and Elizabeth make it worth playing for sure. I really can’t say how impressive Elizabeth is as an NPC in a game. She sets the bar and I’ve yet to find an NPC as engaging, useful, or so well tied to both and gameplay.

Let's Look At: Hotline Miami

Let’s Look At: Hotline Miami

Few games question the player in any meaningful way. Spec Ops: The Line made some efforts, but it felt a bit crude. “Do you feel like a hero now?” popped up at you on the loading screens on occasion. Hotline Miami handles things in a different way that ironically might be more subtle. There’s something less judgmental, and more probing, about the way a character asks you, “Do you like hurting other people?”

Hotline Miami is a top down 2D arena action game that takes place in the neon tinged world of 1989 Miami Florida. You play as an unnamed protagonist, dubbed Jacket by the fans. Somebody calls you and informs you that the “cookies have been delivered” to your home. All you find in the bag, however, is a rooster mask and instructions to carry out a hit on the Russian mafia. You are warned that “failure is not an option.”

You're never told what's going on,  just where to go. There's something compelling about all of it, though. You'll always be looking for clues.

Each mission starts with a seemingly unrelated phone call, involves a giant amount of carnage, and ends with a trip to a convenience store and restaurant, all run by the same bearded man. After every chapter you get points based on style and brutality, which unlock various items. You can find secrets on each mission which progress the story, but Jacket is an unreliable narrator at best.

This is always a little unsettling, and the pixel art doesn't help things look less grotesque.

He sometimes hears voices from the corpses of his victims and tells (or perhaps remembers) the story out of order. You can also play as a character dubbed Biker after you’ve completed the main missions to find out more about the plot of the game, which is nice for those who don’t like loose ends.

The combat in Hotline Miami is the focus, and for good reason. You can use a large selection of melee weapons and guns, all of which can be thrown to knock enemies down. You can open doors to knock down any enemies in your path, or shoot through windows to deal with threats in the other rooms. Knocked down enemies will get back up unless dealt with, usually none too gently.

Grotesque though it may be, but you only really notice it after you're done. Maybe that was intentional; to show you how people can do terrible things not even realize until it's quiet.

The large variety of weapons gives you a lot of options for playstyles and definitely increases the replay value. What’s especially gratifying is that both you and most enemies can take only each one hit before dying. Dying is quick and not aggravating, which makes it easy and fun to try all kinds of strategies without repercussion. Over time you unlock new masks to take with you at the start of every mission. The variety of bonuses that the masks give you can change up your combat style and increase replay value.

The sound design, art, and level design are also wonderful. Everything in this game is bright pastel or neon, with none of the so called “modern grit” that we see in most action games. The pixel art gives a surprising amount of character to the world, despite the lack of detail. Every song on the soundtrack is a neo-80’s treat, which goes extremely well with the fast paced combat. 

Prolific developer Jonatan Söderström and graphic artist Dennis Wedin have announced their newest game collaboration Hotline Miami will be released under their new joint label Dennaton Games and published by shady game cartel Devolver Digital. Step into the neon-soaked underground of 1980s Miami as bizarre messages on your answering machine seem to be urging you to commit terrible acts of violence -- but will you obey? Hotline Miami overflows with raw brutality and skull crushing close combat as you find yourself outgunned and using your wits to choreograph your way through impossible situations. An unmistakable visual style, a driving soundtrack, and a surreal plot that will have you question your own thirst for blood. Bash and blast through over 20 multiscreen levels with 35 unique weapons and collect 25 game-altering masks in one of the darkest and most unusual independent games on the scene. The hotline itself can be reached at +1 786 519 3708 or @HotlineMiami. Leave a message. http://www.HotlineMiami.com/ http://www.Dennaton.com/ http://www.DevolverDigital.com/

The convenience stores and restaurants you see after missions are grimy enough to be interesting, which help make the game feel like a real world. Every stage is designed so that you have multiple ways to carry out your mission, and a number of them have several levels to work your up or down. There aren’t any places where you feel the game designers were trying to give the opposing team the advantage.

The story is minimal without feeling barebones. You don’t know who the protagonists are, who the enemies are besides their mob status, or even what’s happening (until the very end of the Biker Campaign that is). You get a feeling for the overall narrative quickly though. Somebody is organizing what seems like a gang war, or maybe even a larger conflict, and you’re the blunt instrument. You, as a player, start to really question why things are happening the way they are. Why is every shop run by the same bearded guy?

Who are you? Are you with them? Are you even real? How do you know my pizza order?

Why does he keep giving me free stuff no matter what? He comments on the massive death toll in the city, but never seems to ask me about it, even for an opinion. Periodically, Jacket has visions where he is confronted by three mask wearing figures, who ask him questions about why he’s doing what he’s doing, and how he feels about it. You’re not sure if this is a real thing that’s happening, or if Jacket is just so messed up from what he’s doing that he has to argue with himself about it.

Personally, I think they represent his mind. One wears a rooster mask, Richard. He is cryptic and questioning. Another, the owl-headed Rasmus is angry and confronts you about your actions. The horse-headed Don Juan, is sympathetic. I think these three are Jacket’s brain trying to come to terms with the things he’s done or been forced to do.

There are times when Hotline Miami missteps, however. The points system only encourages a very high risk style of play, which is frustrating if you want to unlock all the masks/weapons. You could play through the game once as a berserker, then go through a second run more calmly, but I think the points system should be a little more flexible.

As you can see, not a lot of subtlety here.

Also, due to the fast nature of combat and how the physics of the game work, you can end up throwing a bunch of weapons on top of each other, and you’ll have to keep picking up and throwing them to get at the one you want. This is really difficult to do in the middle of combat and stands out as an annoyance in an otherwise well-designed game. Another nice addition would be the ability to block or parry other melee weapons with a well-timed swing. As it stands, you can’t approach anybody wielding a melee weapon if you don’t have a longer one, a weapon to throw, or a gun.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

Hotline Miami is fun, fast-paced, difficult, and more introspective than a game about a rooster mask wearing murder has any right to be. You’ll play the levels over and over again, trying for that perfect run, and at the end of it all, you’ll wonder if that owl guy was right when he asked, “You’re not a very nice person, are you?”

Let’s Look At: MechCommander 2

Confession time: I love mechs.

I’ve watched Godzilla Vs Megalon more times than I can count because Jet Jaguar is so awesome. Pacific Rim was the highlight of my 2013.

Giant robots are clearly the answer to all of society's ills.

I usually enjoy mech games, as well, with a few exceptions (lookin’ at you Armored Core: Nine Breaker). Most of them put you in the pilot’s seat of a mech, but a few, like MechCommander 2 put you in charge of a whole squad. MC2 is the last game in the MechCommander series and one of the last of its caliber.

MechCommander, released in 2001, is a Real Time Strategy/Tactics game. You’re the squad leader for a mercenary company of mech pilots, and you lead them through a variety of missions. In the distant future on a planet called Carver 5, you are hired by one of the great houses to defeat a bandit uprising on the planet. Allegiances change quickly as houses rise and fall, but you don’t have any control over who you’re following and whose missions do. Instead, I would have preferred a branching path storyline, with three possible campaigns depending on which of the three factions you want to join. As it is, the plot is largely forgettable, except for the use of unintentionally funny live action sequences.

At the beginning of each mission you must choose mechs and a pilot for each one. Keep a careful eye on your weight limit; you can’t bring everybody. Once formed, your squad of pilots are dropped into a map to fulfill a few generic objectives. Usually you have a few extra objectives that can be completed for bonus currency, as well as new ones that you uncover as you head through the mission.

You can select, modify, and buy/sell mechs before every mission. Each mission is replayable, so you can always try out a new squad or mech.

You don’t really want to bulldoze through all your enemies because after each mission, you can salvage any mechs that aren’t completely destroyed. While missions are similar, you encounter new kinds of enemies and opposing mechs in each one, so they don’t feel too stale. Finding new kinds of mechs is always exciting, and some of the later missions are decently challenging.

You spend most of your time in MC2 in combat, controlling a squad of mechs in real time. You can pause anytime to set up waypoints or issue commands, but you don’t control the mechs directly. Rather, you point them at a target and they choose what to do (hint: it’s shooting).

Look at all this shooting. Combining long and short range mechs covers you for most combat situations, but specializing one one or the other can be fun as well.

All of the parts of the mechs in MC2 can be damaged individually, although you can’t target them directly. You can blow off an enemy mech’s arm and they’ll lose the weapon attached to it, or one of your mechs can step on a mine will limp for the rest of the mission. This high detail to the different types and aspects of damage adds a level of realism and fun to combat. Each mission takes place on a variety of different terrain, which plays into combat as well. You have to put some thought into your firing positions, and taking the high ground improves your chances a lot. For example, by hitting the top of an enemy mech, you have a higher chance of hitting the pilot and disabling your enemy faster.

 By customizing the loadouts of your mechs, you can define their operating style, adding depth and complexity to team building for each mission. Your mechs can equip a variety of different weapons from long/short range missiles, lasers, pulse weapons, machine guns, and more.

Decisions, decisions. Every weapon generates heat, with higher damage weapons usually generating more heat. Every mech has a max heat rating, though you can improve it with heat sinks, but they take up weapon space.

Each weapon has a usage range that determines when the mech will try to use that weapon. For example, a mech equipped with a long range missile and a machine gun array will only try to use the machine gun if it’s within a short distance from an enemy, and will use missiles from farther away. You can also add armor and jump-jets to certain mechs, which allows them to perform more versatile roles.  

Each in-mission comes with a set amount of credits. You can pay to repair vehicles for you mech, minelaying vehicles, airstrikes, radar probes, or even a mech salvage team. A resource depot or two are usually located in the mission area, which extends your line of credit a bit.

From left to right, you can see the airstrike, fixed artillery, radar probe, repair truck, scout helicopter, minelayer, and mech salvage plane.

Therefore when you’re told to hold a base/defend an area because they create a wide variety of tactical choices, you can push ahead with your mechs, but you can also lay mines down and position a few mobile artillery units to shell the enemy before they get close enough for your mechs.

Each one of your mechs is piloted by a member of your team, and they gain experience by defeating enemies on missions. Once they advance a level, you can choose specific skills for them, like the ability to read sensor data more accurately, or pilot certain weight classes of mechs more efficiently.

Pilots go from green, to regular, to veteran, to elite. At each new level, you can choose a skill. With each mission and each instance of combat, your pilots shooting and piloting skills go up as well.

By the end of the game you’ll be quite attached to your squad. This was a clever move on the part of designers, because any of your pilots can die during a mission if their mech is destroyed. You’ll want to reload if anything bad happens, but resisting the urge makes for a much more intense experience.

One of the only downsides to the combat in the game is the difficulty. The game is fairly easy on all of the difficulty settings except for the highest one, borderlines unfair. On the hardest difficulty, your enemies gain increased health, damage resistance, and damage output, and you can’t dodge a majority of the weapons that they use, so you’ll end up losing pilots and mechs faster than you can replace them. I think a better route would have been to up the damage output for both sides and increase the number of enemies. Being a little overwhelmed leads to some of my best moments in MC2 were because I had to plan on the fly.

"“Crap, there’s 10 mechs behind us. Okay, I’ll send the scout ahead to that base on the radar, she can jump-jet over their walls and take control of their gate and torrent systems, then I’ll put my long range guy behind the walls and keep the enemy occupied out front with my heavy.”

Worth Playing?

Yes.

There really aren’t many MechCommander 2 it in terms of replayability and depth of combat. Most games with giant robots are basically just shooting games with a giant metal body, but MechCommander 2 shows you the power of that giant robot by giving you a sense of scale to the world. Installing this game on a modern system is a little bit of a headache, but it’s worth playing if you’ve got the time. 

Let's Look At: Gone Home

Video games are like any other medium. Over time, people create new styles and everybody argues over whether it counts as a part of the medium. Hard as it might be to believe, there was a time when people would look at Picasso’s works and call them a waste of paint. Games have come under a similar sort of lens as of the last few years. Gaming has traditionally been about beating levels, conquering bosses, and with a few exceptions, violence. Designers are going to design new things, however. In the last couple years, designers have come about with a whole new genre dubbed “Walking Simulators”. These games don’t have combat, bosses, or challenge, some might say. Since their inception, people have been debating on whether these games are “games”. Gone Home is a game that has featured in these discussions more than any other, so let’s have a look at why.

How many houses that look like this aren't haunted? Zero, that's how many.

Gone Home tells the story of a small family living in Oregon in 1995. You play as Kaitlin, coming home after a trip through Europe. You quickly find a note from your 18 year old sister, Samantha on the front door. She tells you that she’s sorry she can’t be here to see you, not to go digging around trying to find where she is, and that she’ll see you one day.

The detail on the handwriting here is great. It looks like a teenager actually wrote it, and there's a lot of feeling in the writing.

You enter your house to find it complexly empty, dark, and silent. You play in first person, and there’s nothing you can do except walking, opening and closing doors/cabinets/etc., and picking up objects for a closer look. Games have been getting more advanced over time, so it seems odd that the mechanics are so simple, but there’s a genius behind it. Constraint breeds creativity, you see. When all you can do is walk around like in real life, you get into a real-life mindset.

This room is full of details that tell you about the family and uncovering them is engrossing.

As you progress through the game, you explore the house, learn about what your family has been up to while you’ve been gone. You learn everything from little newspaper clippings, letters, and hidden notes. It’s an amazing example of environmental storytelling, which is something that no medium can do as well as games. You unlock more parts of the house as you explore, finding keys and even the occasional secret passage. Before you know it, you’ve learned all about your family, solved the mystery, and the game is over.

Gone Home has atmosphere dripping out of its ears, and not just one kind. The dark house is at once inviting and terrifying. Remember being a kid and turning the lights off in the stairway then running up so the monsters in the dark couldn’t get you? Gone Home remembers, and it taps into these kind of childhood feelings about home.

You can bet your ass I sprinted through this basement until I found the light. Everyone dies in the basement in horror movies. I wasn't taking that chance.

There are other times when you’ll be laughing about finding your father’s porn magazines, or finding a sheet with Chun Li’s moves from Street Fighter. Other times you’ll just be filled with curiosity about what’s behind the next door, or what’s in your father’s safe. Like family and old memories, Gone Home helps you realize that things might not be how you thought they were.

Your sister has become a punk rock listening, zine-writing, staying-out-late rebel while you've been gallivanting around Europe.

Even though we’re not really Kaitlin, we feel how sometimes ignorance can be bliss, especially with family. I don’t want to spoil the plot for you because this is one of the few games where there’s not a lot there besides plot. The graphics are simple, but they’re clear they help the home feel like a home. Nothing in Gone Home takes you out of the game, like an inventory menu or pop up notification about controls. I’ve never played a game that’s as “unbroken” as Gone Home, and it’s something I think other games should strive to emulate.

So, the real question: Is Gone Home a game? Yes, it is, absolutely. It’s an interactive piece of entertainment, so I don’t think there’s anything else you could call it. Yes, there’s not really a lot in the way of challenge, but you could say the same about most of the Kirby Series. The lack of combat certainly didn’t stop games like Myst, so it shouldn’t bar Gone Home from “game” status. It’s not just a game, either; it’s a great game. I don’t know of another game that managed to create a mystery so compelling and enticing so fast, except maybe Amnesia: The Dark Decent. It has a powerful story, masterful use of tone and atmosphere, as well as intuitively designed mechanics. It’s not what we might have been used to, but neither was Picasso. As time goes on, it will be remembered as one of the best examples of a narrative in a game, as well as the epitome of environmental storytelling. I would be impressed to find anybody who doesn’t feel anything by the end of the Gone Home, even if they came into the experience planning to hate the game.

Worth Playing?

Yes. Gone Home is an emotional and heartfelt game with clever use of emotion and simple mechanics that pull you in. If you’re wondering what games as “art” look like, I would say that if Gone Home doesn’t qualify, its damn close, and more than worth your time.

Let's Look At: Jade Empire

Despite how obsessed the world is with Martial Arts, there aren’t a lot of non-fighting games that feature them in any serious way. Even if they do, they’re side scrollers and the like. Well, evidently somebody at BioWare said, “Screw that! Let’s make a martial arts game set in a weird, fictional version of China! We’ll make up our own language instead of just using Chinese! The game will have demons, gods, and magic! And flying machines! And maybe a little girl who acts as a conduit for an otherworldly guardian?” Somehow, it got greenlit, and we ended up with Jade Empire, one of the more interesting RPGs to come out of BioWare.

Sometimes strange ideas manage to survive the hell of corporate nonsense, and I'm glad that Jade Empire did.

Jade Empire is a real-time action RPG that focuses on marital arts, magic, and weapons combat. You have three stats (body, mind, and spirit) which feed into three resources (health, spirit, and focus). Weapon use drains your focus, and magic use drains your spirit energy, but you can use your martial arts as long as you’ve got health. You gain experience from defeating enemies and completing quests, which you can use to upgrade your martial arts, weapons, and magic skills as well as your three main stats. You have a number of companions that can assist you in battle or provide support, like slowly regenerating your spirit or health. You also have a number of transformation skills that allow you to transform into several kinds of demons that you encounter throughout the game. There’s a sort of morality system called the Open Palm and the Closed Fist which is affected by your quest and dialogue choices.

The UI in Jade Empire is non-intrusive, which is always good. The focus here is on the in-game world, rather than hardcore RPG-ing.

Jade Empire tells the story of a martial arts student from the little town of Two Rivers. One day your teacher reveals to you that you’re the last of the Spirit Monks, an ancient order who protected the Water Dragon, the god of life and death. You find out that she is unable to perform her duties, so the ghosts of the dead cannot pass on and are wreaking havoc. Your village is destroyed when the empire discovers this, and you embark on an epic quest to seek revenge. You will travel from the swamps near your village, to the heavenly realms, to the imperial city itself on this quest, and meet many companions along the way.

Welcome to an epic quest of discovery, revenge, and belonging.

It’s an odd game, really. The focus on martial arts in a somewhat open world is fairly unique. It’s not a sandbox, like Sleeping Dogs or the Yakuza series of games, but calling the areas “levels” would definitely be wrong. The areas are extremely varied and interesting. They range from simple villages, to grand cities, and even the heavenly realms of the gods. Jade Empire also has a really vivid and interesting retelling of a lot of Chinese mythology and Daoism that really helps with the world building. There’s not a huge amount of reused assets or, so every area feels unique and memorable. There’s also a really cool use of color palettes to set the mood for area. The heavenly realms make good use of bloom and bright, airy colors while the caves of the cannibals are filled with sinister purples, blacks, and browns. Each area has a number of side quests and a few main quests that allow you to move the plot along, so you never feel as if an area overstays its welcome.

The most unique part of Jade Empire is the combat, for sure. As mentioned, you have a number of different martial arts, weapons, and magic skills that you can improve over time. I think whoever designed the combat was a big fan of classic beat-em-ups, because the combat works very similarly. You’ve got a light attack, a heavy attack, and a block. You can also do an area of effect attack to knock enemies back, as well as the ability to augment your attacks with spirit energy to do extra damage. You can also use your focus to slow down time temporarily as well as power your weapon styles. You choose a few styles at the beginning of the game, but you can find many more throughout your adventures. What’s interesting is that you can miss a lot of styles completely, which adds a lot of replay value to a fairly linear game. What’s also really nice is that your morality standing plays into certain combat styles, which are more effective if you’re aligned with the right morality. The martial arts systems can feel a bit dull after a while, though. The moves never change, despite upgrading. While you acquire more different kinds of skills, you aren’t really given enough upgrade points to upgrade all of them, so you pretty much have to choose a few to use for the game. I think a Witcher inspired style of combat would be better, where you moves change based on distance and speed, rather than just using the same ones over and over again.

You can see a martial style, a support style, a weapon style, and a magic style in the hotbar in the bottom left here. All of the styles work together to make you a formidable force. 

Your companions are another serious high point in Jade Empire. You collect a large variety of them, most of which can assist in combat, though a one is a mobile item shop, and one only provides a unique martial arts style. All of your companions have rich backstories, motivations, and side quests all their own. They’re a bit disappointing when it comes to supporting you in combat, though. They don’t do a lot of damage, and are generally better used for their support abilities. It feels like missed opportunity, because they have all have the same combat effectiveness, so the only reason to bring different companions along is their different support abilities.

Most companions offer direct combat support, or some other passive effect. There's not much difference between them in actual combat, which is disappointing. 

Worth Playing?

Yes. Jade Empire is a really fun game. It’s got enjoyable combat, interesting companions, and a really imaginative and beautiful world. There aren’t many games about China, fictional or otherwise, so it’s really cool to see one that does everything so well. I would highly recommend this game if you like role playing games, games with a non-Eurocentric focus, or strong art design.

Let's Look at: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Some of that might be due to the box art. I mean, look at this. How much more generic could you be without doing the whole, "white guy looks away while slinging a gun over his shoulder" thing.

First person cameras are crazy common in games. It might be the most common perspective but despite all of that, there are certain things that are remarkably hard to do in 1st person. Platforming is one of them, and so is any kind of melee combat. Somehow, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic manages to do it. It didn’t make a huge splash when it came out, and it continues to be more of a cult hit than anything, but it deserves a little more of a spotlight than it gets.

Dark Messiah is an action RPG that came out in 2006 for the PC, and later in 2008 for the Xbox 360. In Dark Messiah you play as Sareth, a wizard’s apprentice. After finding the mysterious and magical Shantiri Crystal, you are sent off to deliver the item to an acquaintance of your master. You find out that both wizards are after an artifact called the Skull of Shadows, and you are to help them find it. As you can guess, things don’t go so well, but I won’t spoil any more of the plot. As you complete story sections, you get experience points which can be spent on the three skill trees the game offers (Combat, Magic, and Miscellaneous). The game is fairly straightforward, though there are many hidden areas with bonus items. There are not a huge amount of items and armor to use, so I would not expect a Skyrim like experience, if I were you.

Suck it, random guard. Hope you like the taste of wall and 50 foot fall.

The melee combat in Dark Messiah is dynamic, fast paced, and just plain enjoyable. Unlike most 1st person combat systems, some amount of trial and error is needed to really understand how to beat enemies. Unlike Skyrim or Oblivion, you can’t just mash the attack button and expect everybody to fall over. Enemies will keep blocking if you try to wail on them, and if you time your blocks correctly, you can set them off balance and deliver a flurry of blows. There’s also a really good sense of weight to your and your enemies’ attacks. An odd, but extremely awesome, addition to melee combat is the ability to kick enemies. You can use your kick in the middle of combat to unbalance enemies, knock them off ledges, or into the spiked walls that seem to be everywhere for some reason. There are few things more satisfying than blocking an enemy then kicking them into their partner, making them both fall off a cliff. You can mix melee with magic, stealth, and ranged combat to give yourself a slew of different approaches to every problem, and your quick movement means that combat never feels too slow or too rooted in one place.

The platforming in Dark Messiah is also very well done, despite the 1st person camera. This is helped by the fact that you can actually see your feet, so you have a much better idea of where you’re landing. Sprinting and making a huge leap or climbing across a roof to reach a hidden area gives you a great feeling of momentum and speed. The game was designed around a lot of vertical movement and it’s amazing how non-frustrating it is. Most times when a first person game introduces platforming it just means they’re giving you a section where you can die a bunch without meaning to, but Dark Messiah manages to make it thrilling without being overly unfair. Also, this game has the best utility item ever: the rope arrow. Essentially, you can stick an arrow into anything wooden, and a rope will hang down. You can climb up the rope to reach whatever you need to, and it totally unlocks the space in a unique way. I think a lot of developers usually design linear games in a very planned way, to guide the player through the story in a specific way. It’s very interesting to see them give the player tools to really change how they make it through the levels.

Go anywhere, with the power of rope arrow! Even to areas of the level that aren't actually designed fully!

It’s never all roses and puppy dogs though and Dark Messiah is no exception. While you get to visit a bunch of different kinds of environments, the levels are confusingly designed. Most of them are fairly linear, but there are usually a few ways to get to the end, and when you introduce the ability to climb pretty much anything with the rope arrow, you can get turned around pretty easily. There’s not a lot of difference between one sandy temple corridor and another, really. I also think the combat and platforming also would have fit fantastically in a more open world setting, especially with the rope arrow. Something more exploration based would have really suited the characters ability to get pretty much anywhere, rather than forcing you down a bunch of similar corridors. The female characters are also really, really one dimensional. They really don’t have a lot in the way of agency, an arc, or importance, and I feel like that was a real waste. There are two female characters that get some screen time, and they could both have had really interesting backstories given the magical and fantastical world this game is in, but they’re mainly eye candy.

Gosh. Which of these three exactly-the-same paths should I choose?

Worth Playing?

Yes.

I would not head into this game if you’re looking for a well fleshed out story, an open world, or a really long game. But, if you’re looking for great melee combat, some fun exploration, and the sort of combat item since Half Life 2’s gravity gun, then yeah, this one is worth your time.

Let's Look At: FTL: Advanced Edition

FTL: Advanced Edition is a rogue-like, top-down, spaceship simulator. It’s currently available on Mac, PC, and mobile devices. Playing FTL is basically like being Captain Kirk in Star Trek. You can actually yell out, “All power to shields! Fire lasers at their engines! Crewman, get to the medbay!” and it makes sense (well, you’d still be yelling at a computer, makes you look a little crazy). It’s an unforgiving game that will require a fair amount of time on your part, but there aren’t many games like it on the market.

There’s not much story in FTL, but you’re given enough to make sense of things. You’re a member of the federation, transporting secret information about the weakness of the Rebel’s Flagship. To do this, you have to make it from one end of the sector the other, then jump to the next sector.

Seems simple right? Civilian systems usually have less danger, but also less rewards. Nebulas mess with your sensors, but can have rare quests.

The game randomly generates the sectors you can choose to jump to. Each sector has about 21 waypoints and you need to jump between them to make it to the exit waypoint. Each point on the map has random events, like stores you can buy crewmembers, weapons, repair your ship, or ship upgrades from, or enemy encounters. Certain waypoints also feature hazardous environments like asteroid belts or solar flares. The Rebel fleet chases you through the galaxy, taking over waypoints, so moving backwards is always a gamble.

The Rebel fleet peruses you as you try to collect as much scrap as possible in each system. An upgraded ship stands a much better chance surviving the galaxy.

Your ship requires fuel to jump, which you can find or buy in various ways. When you encounter an enemy, you have to either destroy their ship, kill the crew, or simply wait until your “faster than light” drive charges to jump away. By destroying enemy ships, accomplishing side quests, or encountering random events you get scrap which you can use to repair your ship or buy weapons, upgrades, and crewmembers.

FTL is about management at its heart. You assign your crew members to different rooms and they man their equipment there. Each subsystem of your ship (weapons, shields, engines, etc.) is actually a skill that your crewmember can level up by using that station in combat. For instance, every time you fire a weapon in combat, the crewmember’s weapons skill increases a little.

Here's the starting ship, The Kestrel. It's pretty bare bones, but very up-gradable It's got three human crewmemebers, but they haven't been assigned anywhere except the pilot.

There are a number races of crew that you can, each with their own unique traits. Humans, for instance, learn skills faster than any other races. The Engi (a race of sentient machines) can repair things twice as fast as all the other races, but they do half the damage in hand to hand combat. You should aim to have a number of different races on your crew, and figuring out who does what best is really gratifying.

Here you can see human and Engi crewmembers. You can have a total 8 crew members, which is definitely helpful.

All of your ships systems (weapons, shields, etc.) require power from your ships reactor, which can be upgraded and improved over time. You make choices throughout the game about which systems you’re going to focus on, because you can’t generate enough power to fuel every part of the ship at once. This allows you to focus on certain playstyles and really opens the replayablity of the game.

You can see that each weapon requires a certain number of power bars to work, as do the rest of the ships subsystems. Here, the weapons system has not been upgraded enough to allow all three weapons to be active at once.

Combat is the main way you deal with enemies in FTL. Each encounter shows your and the enemies ship from a top down perspective, and you can target individual rooms of the enemy ship. You’ll face rebels, pirates, slavers, religious zealots, and more. Your ship’s weapons each require power, and the missile based weapons require ammunition each time you fire. Each weapon has a charge up time that resets once it fires, so you need to manage the warm up times of everything while dealing with incoming fire from the enemy. Each ship has up to 4 shield bars that you need to get through before hitting the enemy ship directly (certain weapons bypass the shields directly, like missiles). The combat takes place in real time, but you can pause the game and issue orders, so it’s almost possible to play the game turn-by-turn. There’s a large variety of weapons with different effects, warm up times, and damages. Mixing and matching them is challenging, but rewarding when you figure out a good combo.

By targeting the subsystems of the enemy ship, you can disable that system until the enemy repairs it. This makes combat really dynamic and strategic. Yeah, it would be good to knock out their weapons, but if you knock out the shields first, the rest of their ship is open to attack.

There’s a lot of different kinds of ships you can use, with different layouts and subsystems. Each ship has an A, B, and C variation and more ships unlocked as you beat the Rebel Flagship or complete various side quests. The ships themselves don’t actually make a huge difference in gameplay, other than that you start with different races of crewmembers and subsystems. Throughout the game you can also acquire up to three upgrades for your ship that have various effects (collecting 10% more scrap every time you find some, missiles have a chance to do no damage, etc.) Unlocking new ships is fun and it really gives you a reason to keep playing besides just how many points you can get.

Playing with the various ships is fun and can force you to change your playstyle, which is definitely interesting.

There are some parts of the game that can be annoying. You can be totally screwed over by RNG at any point during combat. RNG, for those who aren’t familiar, stands for Random Number Generator. It means that the game rolls a die and if the number is above “x”, the attack will hit. This means that you can launch 20 attacks in a row and have all of them miss, while getting hit by all 30 of your enemies’ attacks even though you have a 50% dodge chance. This is amazingly frustrating, but it can work on your side.

The last boss is also crazy hard. I won’t spoil it for you, but beating the Rebel Flagship takes a number of attempts and a good amount of luck. It’s really frustrating to be intensely invested in your ship, crew and just lose because they game decided that you’re going to miss all of your attacks, or because the first volley of shots knocks out your shields. A large number of the random events you encounter can also end in you losing crew members, and since training them takes time, it can be a huge loss. It’s hard to get an idea of exactly what’s going to happen for every quest or dialogue choice and the game autosaves after every event, so there’s no going back.

Get used to seeing this screen a lot.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

I love this game. It has more replay value that most triple AAA games, more interesting mechanics, and it’s more challenging. The amount of customizability you have with your ship, your crew, the weapons, the upgrades, and path is fun and really well designed. It’s hard though. If you’re looking for a nice, relaxing game to play after a rough day in the salt mines, you should choose something else. This game will make you yell at your computer as well as anybody that tells you to calm down.

Let’s Look At: Metro 2033 Redux

Living in post-apocalyptic Russian subway tunnels would be hell.

Among the mutants, the cramped and disgusting spaces, the toxic gases, and the bandits, death might be better. For the characters in Metro 2033 Redux (Metro 2033) every day is a new struggle to survive to the next miserable day. Yet, they move forward anyway, hoping that the next day will be better.

The game’s mechanics ironically reflect the differences between the hope of the characters and the oppressiveness of the world.  So much about Metro 2033 is wonderfully made and executed, but there are times when parts of the game can make the player feel squeezed in from all sides.

Welcome to the Metro, comrade.

Metro 2033 Redux, released on August 26, 2014 is a visually and technically upgraded version of the original game, with both graphical upgrades, less hiccups, and all DLC released for the original Metro 2033. The game takes place in 2033, 20 years after Russia was devastated by nuclear bombs. A small fraction of the populace of Moscow survived by retreating into the Russian metro tunnels.

Metro 2033 Redux makes several improvements on the original, and is definitely the definitive version of the game.

You play as Artyom, a young man who has spent almost his whole life underground, at his home metro station, Exhibition. After mysterious creatures known as “The Dark Ones” attack Exhibition you leave your home to seek the help of the elite combat unit, The Rangers.

This game is actually based on a 2005 Russian novel of the same name, by Dmitry Glukhovsky. You can see how having a concrete plot to work with definitely helps the story of the game in terms of cohesiveness and flow. As you play through the story, you can feel how Artyom feels and really get a sense for what life is like for people in the stations.

While a strong point, the story of Metro 2033 is outshone by the scenery and attention to detail, among other aspects. The metro runs on a currency of military grade bullets, so most weapons use inferior homemade rounds. Of course you can use military grade rounds in your weapons, but then what will you do when you need to trade for food or other resources? You need to wear a gasmask every time you head onto the irradiated surface, and you need to keep a steady supply of filters to even use the mask. Every station designed so it looks like somewhere people would actually live. Every station has areas to sleep, little markets, a makeshift bar, or entertainment areas. Walking through the various tunnels and on the surface, you find the bodies of others who tried to make it to other stations, just like you are trying to do. You pray you are luckier than them.

The thought put into the stations in the Metro really helps you understand the people inside them and Metro 2033's world.

The weapons are another high point. Some of them, like the Kalash, are based off of real world weapon (in this case the AK-47). Others, however, are cobbled together from whatever the metro citizens could find. For instance, the “Bigun” is a 6 round semi-automatic shotgun made entirely out of bicycle parts. Almost all the weapons can be upgraded, with a variety of sights, barrels, and other attachments. They are punchy and satisfying to use, and the different varieties mean that you’re always looking forward to your next shop visit to upgrade a current weapon or buy a new one.

Who doesn't want to use a shotgun made out of a bicycle?

Along the same lines, the variety of enemy AI keeps you on your toes, as you have to consider strategically how to use your weapons every time you encounter someone (or something) different. The human enemies try to flank you, throw explosives, and lay down covering fire. The mutants charge in groups and come in from behind, with the faster mutants attacking you in the back and retreating. Firefights are always dynamic, and never pop-up shooting galleries.

Another great feature in Metro 2033 is the “Ranger” difficulty that you can play on. This mode removes the heads up display entirely, along with crosshairs, among other things. It only takes a shot or two to kill you or any other character. Ammo is scarcer and total ammo inventory is halved, with the exception of silent throwing knife storage, which increases. As you can guess, stealth is heavily encouraged on this mode, but I would argue it’s not the most fun way to play. Sneaking around until you make a mistake and a frantic gunfight begins is definitely more enjoyable than reloading every time you’re caught. After all, who doesn’t feel proud of getting themselves out of a sticky situation?

Metro 2033 isn’t without its share of issues, however.

While the metro stations are generally well designed and thought out, the outdoor levels are significantly less directed. It makes sense that the surface of Moscow would be a snowy, chaotic mess, but it makes it very difficult to find where you’re supposed to go. Often, a doorway or path forward looks like a dozen of the other pieces of old wreckage that litters the surface. Sometimes it feels as if the designers were attempting to make you backtrack through every inch of the level, rather than leading you where you’re supposed to be going.

There are 20,000 possible directions to go in this picture alone.

There are also times the game doesn’t tell you what you’re supposed to be doing. The goal is usually simple: move forward. You can be given more complex objectives, such as planting charges to close a mutant-spewing tunnel. In that case however, I found myself shooting wave after wave of mutant, waiting for it to end. Normally, other characters remind you what you need to do, but not this time. I had to check my menu to figure out the objective, which obviously removes a lot of the tension at the moment.

Without spoiling anything, there are actually two endings to game. If you take enough “moral” actions during the game, you get the second ending. I thought that figuring out these specific actions was confusing and under-explained. Sometimes, the “moral” action makes sense, like when you give rounds to a man that begs against the wall of a station. Others, like moving to stand in the corner of a hospital room to get a better view of the beds, does not. Each moral action causes the screen to brighten momentarily and noise can be heard for less than a second, but there’s no explanation for what’s going on. All through the game, your screen colors change for a huge number of story and gameplay reasons, so I didn’t even notice when I was making a “moral” action. While a nice treat for anybody who looks it up, it seems as if this ending was hidden a bit too well.

Worth playing?

Yes. Metro 2033 Redux is an extremely enjoyable ride from start to finish. The story keeps you engaged, the combat is brutal and punchy, and the attention to detail and world building are exceptional among first person shooters. While there are significant issues with level design, direction, and explanation they do not detract from the overall package enough to sour the experience.

Let's Look At: Receiver

Receiver is a first person shooter designed by Wolfire Games, an independent studio also responsible for Overgrowth and Lugaru: The Rabbit’s Foot. It’s not a very large or long game - the entire world takes place on top of a roof of a very large building. Receiver explores the mechanics of shooting more than a traditional FPS; not really surprising given that it was developed for the 7-Day FPS challenge.

 The game really begins when you find cassette tapes lying around, which gradually reveal your history and purpose. The monotonic voice on the tapes claims to be your only hope of survival against interdimensional beings, and guides you through the game as you find new ones along the way. You proceed uneasily through dark hallways, and barren and sterile rooms. The layout procedurally generates itself and never looks exactly the same, although patterns tend to pop up every so often. The enemies, quiet and drab. They creep; they do not jump. 

As you move through the “houses,” the bare bones user interface doesn’t add any frills. In the bottom of the screen, the player can see their items laid out in a straight line, going left to right, each slot corresponding to a number key. The fairly Spartan visual look of the game, with little in the way of complex graphics (mainly flat shading and the occasional colored light), feels more deliberately empty to create a feeling of loneliness rather than incompleteness.

While sparse, the environments in Receiver do a lot to add tension and unease.

Receiver places a huge emphasis on the controls Reloading a gun takes 7 full key presses and aiming is iron-sights or hip-fire only. Whichever pistol you choose (of which there are three possible options), you have to hold the right mouse button to aim the gun, and fire with the left mouse button. To sprint, you must tap the W key rapidly to gain speed in-game. However, when you enter combat with the enemy, your complete control over your movements makes you feel both in control and helpless as you scramble to press all the right buttons to link the minute movements that make up the fight while furiously mashing the "w" key to sprint away.

Receiver helps you by giving you an option to view all the actions you can take at any given moment (in white) against the total possible actions that the player can do (in gray).

From this description, you might imagine the enemies were some kind of horror-movie fodder, but they’re just machines. There are two kinds of enemies in the game, rotating automatic turrets and flying tazer drones. You find both in any place, though usually not right next to where you start. A single beeping tone indicates that one of them has spotted you. One hit means death, so you must see them first. The lock on beep sends more of a chill down your spine than most horror movies can.

Like the environment, the enemies are simply visually designed, but like the gunplay, their complex mechanics force you to use a very careful playstyle. The turret is made up of the ammo box, the battery, a motor,and a camera. If you shoot out the camera lens, the turret spins and won’t see you. If you shoot out the battery, the gun stops spinning. If you shoot out the ammo box, the turret spins and sees you, but can’t shoot. If you shoot out the motor, the barrel of the guns drops to the floor and stays stationary. The flying drone has a similar set of mechanics, though hitting their various parts is more difficult because of their high attack speed. As you might have guessed by now. running and gunning in Receiver is usually tantamount to suicide.

Enemies are carefully designed to promote a careful and considered approach.

    I would be very interested to see this model applied to a larger game. The difficultly and tension of the gunplay would work well with an inversion of the usual macho hero first person shooter. Maybe you’re a civilian who gets caught in an active warzone and you find a weapon on a downed soldier and you use it to try to escape, your skills with it building every time you need to fire it, or a similar situation where the violence inherent in the gameplay speaks to the horror of war. 

Worth Playing? 

    Yes. Though Receiver is sparse on details and content, it creates one of the most viscerally potent experiences in the FPS genre. You can’t spend more than a few hours delving into the game. The minimal layout and procedural levels become monotonous before too long, but it’s a short, sweet, and won’t take up too much of your time and wallet. It’s worth playing if only for the stark contrast with almost any other first person shooter, save some of the more simulation based ones.