Alone in the Dark Review

You are dropped into the midst of the story, using one of the best gaming and indeed all kinds of narrative gimmicks. Having lost your memory. Edward is being held captive along with a priest named Theo, the baddies seem to have already achieved what they want i.e. having you both captive. The head bad guy is named Crowley, which must be a reference to Alastair Crowley, famous author of similar tales. Funny that, I thought the Alone in the dark series was based more on H.P. Lovecraft. Maybe this new iteration is borrowing more from Crowley. Crowley sends you off with a henchman to be killed, since it seems we are no longer useful.

As we are being taken to the roof living cracks in the walls appear and suck the henchman in with a fountain of his own blood left as the only trace. The whole building comes apart and it's a race to escape it and the deadly cracks. The dead start to come back posessed by a creature that tells us that Edward was once also possessed by it and is now free much to it's disgust. It wants him back, naturally Edward wants to get as far away as possible.

Meeting up with a woman called Sarah and Theo again the trio escape by car through a New York that is exploding around them to central park. Once there the mysteries behind the demon and central park itself are explored. Edward finds out about his past, which is much more than meets the eye. Demons are battled and sacrifices are made, but will it be enough to stop Hell from breaking out all over the world?

The story is adequate for the most part, it does seem confused at times, with various elements that I will not go into for fear of spoilers, adding a murky confusion. I was never sure about the demon in the stone's identity. The Templar's intentions in building the secret of central park, or Hermes's intentions. Was edward being played for a fool by everyone involved? Did he save the day or bring about armageddon?

I just can't be sure, I can think what I want to think, but the story just wasn't explained enough for me to be one hundred percent sure of the outcome. Which reeks of sloppy storytelling. Also most of the plot is given in info dumps by side characters via telephone or face to face cut scenes. There are some nice shock moments and some good dialogue between characters. The first time Edward is confronted by a possessed girl he was helping earlier was genuinely creepy. There is an interesting point where a ghost helps you. Also it has to be said there is a fair amount of cheesy dialogue. I was never sure where the bat monsters and crab things were coming from, also the cocoons and eggs. Where did they spring from?

For a story based adventure the story was rather murky and confused.

The controls for this game are at first very complicated. You can switch between first person and third person view at will. At first it doesn't seem apparent but the first person view is only really for exploring flat open areas and fighting. While the third person view is for the more tomb raider style puzzles. Though both can be used according to your own taste and play style.

If you are failing in a certain area it probably is a good idea to try it in the alternate view.

The inventory system is based on real world physics. You can only carry a certain amount of items, which are displayed in pockets inside your jacket. There are a range of items in the game which can be used to combine with others. For example a bottle of flammable liquid can be combined with a rag to make a molotov cocktail. Bullets can be dipped in flammable liquid to make incendiary bullets. Molotov cocktails can be combined with tape to make sticky bombs. The problem with the inventory system is that the game does not pause while you access it. While this is lifelike, it means you end up rooting in your pockets and struggling with the interface while a monster chews your head.

To save the day there is a favorites system, which allows you to map four buttons to a set of actions. This is invaluable to your progress, I can't stress this enough, I was becoming frustrated with the game until I realized that getting your bullets and dipping them in flammable liquid and loading the gun could be mapped to one button press. It made a particular section that I was finding game breaking easy, and set the tone for the rest of the game.

The problem with the controls is that the game is almost finished by the time you work out all the nuances and actually get good at it. Once I was at the end of the game I was actually ready to play. If I was to play again I would probably enjoy the game much more. The problem is that there is no real replay value here.

Combat is complicated with many ways of dispatching the enemy. Fire is the only way to finish them for good however, if you batter them to the floor with a blunt object they will just get up again. Setting them alight or shooting the cracks on their body with flame bullets is the only way to finish them for good. At first you have to batter them around the head a bit by swinging objects. You hold the object and use an analogue stick to swing it in the desired direction, a novel approach although in practice it's not as fun as it sounds. As you progress you get more equipment and can throw sticky Molotov's at the bad guys or just shoot them with flame bullets which I found the best approach. At first I found that picking up a certain object amongst others was a hit or miss affair, however it comes with practice.

The collapsing building is well done with some tomb raider style jumping and grabbing puzzles. It feels similar to the opening of Half life with the whole place falling apart around us and a cast of extras being bumped off horribly.

The game allows you to get into cars and drive around. There is an open world section inside central park, and another race through the city as it falls apart. The driving is satisfactory, the car handles well, but sometimes you get stuck on scenery that you might think you wouldn't. The drive through the city is frustrating as you have to learn your way through the chaos and sometimes other cars just get in your way at random making death unavoidable and not your fault.

Once into the park though driving is mainly for getting from point to point quickly, cars are also a source of consumable objects.

There are a few tomb raider style sequences. One especially under central park could be ripped from a tomb raider game lock stock and smoking barrel. In these sections you have weighted puzzles, moving blocks, switching off flaming pipes, avoiding electricity, laser trip beams, simple puzzles with bugs following a set pattern, etc.

In some areas there is a black oil on the floor that seems to eat you if you stand on it. You can shine your torch on it and it sizzles and moves away, this allows you to drop flaming objects or glow-sticks around the area and make a safe path. There is also a boss battle with Crowley that sees him flying in a helicopter above you shining the spotlight beam down giving you a safe path to stand in, however the cruel devil makes you dance around for your life for about two minutes before leading you to safety. Apart from a few showdowns with Crowley there is only two other boss fights one with a tentacle made up of thousands of bats and another with a spider centaur demon.

There are some small details that make a difference, for example at some points you have to get lights or elevators working and have to juggle wires to get the connection right. This mechanic is also used to hot-wire the cars you find around central park.

At one point after having been separated from Sarah you struggle to save her only to find her cocooned in a huge monster, having got her out she has gone into cardiac arrest, you have to perform cpr using a sort of rhythm game. This was a nice touch although they got the medical details of the compression to breath ratio way off.

There is also a nice scene where a ghostly figure points in a room at things you need to understand. Although you can spend a while wondering what to do, i spent ages trying to blow open a door until I actually realized the the ghost was pointing to a newspapers clipping on the wall. If you zoom in on the clipping you get a cut scene. I know this might be a spoiler, but honestly it's one you will want to know to prevent half an hour of stumbling around grumbling to yourself getting frustrated.

Sometimes the puzzles can be a little glitchy, at one point when trying to get a forklift truck to raise a ramp i thought it wouldn't work, only to try again a few minutes later at a slightly different angle and have it work perfectly. The forklift is used for a few stacking box type puzzles also, which is variety at least.

One of the biggest sections of the game away from the main story-line is where you have to destroy some evil looking trees, which are called the roots of evil. You have to destroy a certain amount of them to lower a barrier to allow you to lob a Molotov at the beastie creating it. This lets you into an area to continue the plot. There are about 30 roots of evil. Though I think it's possible to complete the game by only doing half of them the score-whore in me did them all for the achievement.

Some are simply out in the open and need set on fire once you have killed all their guardians. Others have some fairly complex puzzling involving timing puzzles, driving puzzles and a bit of logic. A map shows you where each root of evil is on a big enough reconstruction of central park. By the end of the roots objects are getting sparse and there is a lot of backtracking to find firebomb materials.

You can also use your torch to shine through a lens which projects templar symbols onto walls, one big puzzle sees you exploring a castle filled with hazards and tomb raiding to light up all the symbols carved in the rock of the castle and open a door.

Inside the central park tomb area there are some fairly complex puzzles, and some are real lateral thinking headscratchers. Including crushing walls, dropping ceilings and burning wood to collapse masonry. A final driving scene against a tight clock is tense and nail-biting finale, probably more challenging than a boss battle.

Blinking must be given a mention, in several occurrences you must click an analogue stick to blink and clear Edward's vision. The first time this is introduced it's a novelty, by the time you have blinked green gloop out of your eyes for the hundredth time while fighting the scuttling monsters you will be wishing the developers had left out that idea.

Depending on your point of view about difficulty levels this game has no settings for difficulty. It is pitched as usual fairly easy to start with and hard at the end. I doubt adding difficulty levels would have been appropriate to the game, which is why they were probably left out.

The health system is a weird one. As Edward takes damage he is shown as having cuts and scrapes all over him. These affect him as when they get too much he limps a bit. If you are dealt serious damage a "bleeding out" wound is formed which will kill you inside a certain time unless you apply a bandage. Medical spray erases the smaller cuts and you inspect your own body and spray the spray on realistically. 

For the most part you are on you own against puzzles and enviomental hazards. So the a.i. is not really a prominent feature. The monsters that are present simply come at you and bludgeon you to death for the most part. Some shoot at you, but they also try and hit you as well. Only firing when you get a set distance from them. 

The a.i. would be classed as rubbish in a first person shooter or any other game that needed good a.i. For this game it's appropriate. There seemed to be no real glitches with the a.i. either. Zombie hordes are meant to be a bit dumb anyway, aren't they?

There were a few glitches or bugs that I noticed while playing, at one point my character froze and would not accept input from me, though strangely enough the game hadn't crashed, flames were still moving and i could go in and out of pause. At one point I jumped onto an area between forklift truck and wall and began floating in the air for a few seconds before dying for no reason. These bugs were few and far between however.

Graphics are adequate, Edward and the other characters are well done, The environment graphics aren't anything special. The physics engine is used extensively and at times impresses at other disappoints. The collapsing building is reasonably impressive graphically. The engine seems robust with everything ticking along at a reasonable if not earth shattering frame rate. The game wasn't meant to push graphical boundaries, only get the job done, and it does so well.

The level design is to be commended here, everything feels reasonably real world. I don't know how accurate the central park map is, never having been there, but it feels real enough. The hotel is well designed. The only level that feels like a game is the underground tombs, though since there are no real world counterparts then a comparison is unfair.

Sound is reasonable with some creepy music and sound effects to add atmosphere.

No multiplayer, this just isn't that kind of game, don't know if co-op would have worked. Might be worth a try for the sequel.

Checkpoints are spaced fairly well, I can't recall any unfair ones at least.

Achievements are handled well, They are mostly doled out for completing story related tasks and completing the game. I received 855 points during my time with the game which is to my mind a fair score. The remaining points are for finding and juggling around most of the objects in the game, only the handyman achievement needs serious work. For people hoping to get all 1000 points here it should be a breeze compared to some games.

Scoring

Graphics 7

Gameplay 7

Story 6

Level Design 7

A.i. 5

Total score 6.4

GTAIV Review

Grand Theft Auto IV Review

LIberty city, based on New York, the fastest most vibrant city in the world, dangerous and beatuful, ancient and modern, melting pot of humanity, all life is here and now so are you. Niko Bellic arrives on a slow boat from hell escaping a past of violence and mistakes. Ex soldier turned expert criminal odd job man.

Niko's cousin Roman has invited him to stay in his mansion, the problem is that Roman is an eternal optomist and liar. He has a business and a flat, but both are low rent, the mansion is coming or so he he says. Niko enters Romans world and is introduced to a few characters. Michelle who he will have a romance with, Vlad who will lead him back into his old ways and Mallorie Romans girlfriend. After a few gentle driving around the block missions Roman is soon in trouble with the loan sharks and Niko takes his first lives in Liberty city. Events spiral out of control and through his abilities with a gun and behind the wheel Niko is soon courted to work for practically every gangster and drug dealer in Liberty city. He will find love, have his past catch him up and shoot or chase his way through every street of the city. The story is long and winding, with many good balanced characters and plot lines. There is also comedic relief in the from of steroid crazed Brucie and other similarly off the wall characters.

Choices are given in the narrative that effect the story, but don't worry they only affect things in small ways. twice in the game after tensions build up between two factions, both ask you to kill the other person. Niko has the choice. Mostly it's rewards that differ. Taking the morally wrong choice usually ends up with the greater rewards. One of those choices will have you saying to hell with the reward you just have to kill the more annoying/bad character. Cut scenes play out differently depending on your choices.

The last few missions give you a moral choice, take revenge or be bigger than that, take the money and go against your principles. The cost of either choice is pain and ultimately suffering for those around you, Niko might not pay for his life of violence but those around him do. Remember to make an extra save before the choice moments. You might want to go back and replay choosing the alternative options.

Can Niko really go straight in Liberty City? we will have to wait for the DLC to find out.

The first thing that hits you when you take control of Niko on foot is the swagger to his walk and the weight he seems to carry. His feet are independent of each other, stand on a step and one knee will bend and he will place one foot on the higher step and the other on the lower. When people are hit by cars or explosions they fly with convincing ragdoll physics.

Driving is hard at first, each car has differing handling and some drift terribly while sports cars hold the road like glue. Motorbikes are things of beauty and they fly at terrifying speeds down the roads of Liberty city and crash in the most spectacularly painful fashion. You can drive the whole gamut of vehicles available from people carriers to forklift trucks, trucks to trash collectors. Helicopters provide fast transit across the city and control in a satisfyingly arcade/simulator fashion. Sea is covered by speedboats and yachts. The water physics are good, you are able to create waves and splashes. Other modes of transport are the train network and taxis which can be flagged down and used as you would expect. 

Weapons include the usual shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols, machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades and molotov cocktails. There are also knives and your fists. Aiming is simple enough and there is a cover system where you can stick to walls and pop your head out for a better shot.

Combat is tricky at first, with a steep learning curve, stick with it though as it's worth the mastering and by the time you are halfway thorugh the game you will be an expert and enjoying every gun battle. There are some long drawn out battles in tower blocks and factories, plus plenty of fighting out in the open. Shooting from moving vehicles is hard to co-ordinate but immensely satisfying when you kill or cause your target to crash or explode. One particularly chase on motorbikes through the subway system stands out as a high point.

Missions are of the usual gta type. Go to a waypoint, kill a person, or collect and object and take it back to the employer. Some are more convoluted but all essentially boil down to the same thing. Side missions are many and varied. They include the usual assassination, racing and collectibles, however there is also the new friends system. Niko has several friends who he hangs out with. Little Jacob, Roman, Packie etc. They will call Niko on his mobile or email him wanting to do normal everyday things like go bowling, play darts pool etc. Also girls will need to be taken out on dates which can include going to restaurants the theatre or just out drinking. Male friends like to go to the strip joint for a lap dance. Sometimes these activities get in the way of progress in the main story, though if you want certain things to be available to you it pays to keep your friends sweet. For example Little Jacob can be a mobile weapons dealer when he likes you enough. 

The use of mobile phones and the internet has been integrated into the game, with missions involving email and internet dating. On entering an internet cafe you can use a computer to get on to a fully working web browser which has a huge spoof world wide web to surf, with parodies of many existing real world sites. Logging onto a child porn site immediately gives you a huge wanted rating and sees you dead in seconds. Microsoft need to tap Rockstar for the web browser to implement it onto the Xbox360.

The mobile phone is used as in game menu. It seems fully functional, you get texts, answer and make calls and even use it to take pictures and send photo messages. It really does feel natural and organic in the game and I don't think I have seen any other game use these communication mediums in game to such effect before.

Television also gets an appearance with tv's in all of Niko's safe houses. The programs are spoof documentaries, thinly veild jabs at Halo and attacks on advertising and modern life. I have sat and watched it for longer than I should have. Though don't expect hours of viewing, it does repeat fairly regularly. Only other game that I think beats it in this respect though is The Darkness, which had a few full movies I believe. Though i never watched any of them to find out if they didn't stop twenty minutes in.

The gameplay is top notch, there are no real surprises for players of any previous GTA games. The main criticism I have of these games is the lack of mission checkpoints. Some missions can take up to thirty minutes to complete. Some missions are screamingly hard. After being shot down thirty minutes into a mission you might replay it once, after dying another thirty minutes later and being put back thirty minutes you scream at the screen and go and do something else instead to save your arteries blowing in frustration.

A checkpoint after you drive to the mission site. After securing the mission objective and before escaping your wanted level and at the end of the mission would save a lot of frustration. It would make the game easier but it would also see less people give up in disgust. Not that I did though, so maybe Rockstar know what is good for us after all. I finished the main story after 92 missions with 62% on the progress meter. I don't have the time at present to shoot all the pigeons and complete the races and other side missions. I am sure I will go back to this game in a quiet time or for some multiplayer.

A.i. in sandbox games is different from say an fps. You can follow the civilian population around and not interfere, they are there to populate the world and make it look lived in and real. Their behavior has to be at least somewhat believable or it will suck you out of the game. GTAIV has similar a.i. to other's in the series. Improvements come in the sense that they seem to be able to problem solve. rarely do you see enemy drivers stuck against walls. They seem to be doing their best to get away or alternatively get you. There are instances of pedestrians getting hit by cars, though they seem to limp out of the way eventually instead of holding up traffic forever. The game does still suffer from the look this way see three or four cars, turn away and look back and they are all gone syndrome. Though there does seem to be a huge amount of vehicles and pedestrians on screen. Much more than any other sandbox game that I can think of. 

My first impressions of the graphics were that they were slightly unconventional, with nice detail in the foreground and distance and a strange blurring in the middle distance. As familiarity crept in i lost sight of that first impression that i jotted down on first playing. I thought I would include it here though as it's often the case that first impressions of games change once you have scaled their learning curve. The city is a work of art, a living breathing human place that looks like it evolved rather than was designed by a team of artists for a game. The architecture is varied and impressive. Buildings are mostly facades with only a few having any interiors. These being the settings for missions.

The attention to detail in all elements of the game is stunning. You can see every hour of work from the hundreds of people involved in this game. I have not played every sandbox game out there, but in my opinion if the awards for sandbox world design were to be handed out GTAIV wins by a miles, followed at a long distance by Crackdown and even further behind Saints Row. Oblivion was nice but there was a little too much random number generation in it's design I feel. Physics are handled very well, the handling of cars seems to have come in for a bit of criticism. I never found it a problem once I got used to it. Lamp posts seem to be a strong as tissue paper and stick like wooden fence posts sometimes stop buses, but on the whole the physics are pretty much as you might imagine, and that is high praise for a game. The water physics deserve a mention for having waves and splashes that reminded me of Waverace, only better. 

Good diverse soundtrack, the usual gta radio stations to pick your listening taste or just accept the random setting from the cars you get into. I love the rock and the inclusion of Songs like One vision by Queen and Dominon by the Sisters of Mercy shows a diversity and willingness to step away from what was popular with the teen demographic on the month before release.

As is usual in Rockstar games there are a tremendous amount of statistics available. These deserve a mention for their obsessive compulsiveness and due to the fact that I spent a while looking through them on more than one occasion.

Achievements are fair, for between 40-50 hours play and completion of the main story-line I received 285 points Which does seem a little tight but I can see that there is still so much more to do in the game. The racing side missions are easily on a par with burnout Paradise. The city is just so damn beautiful that exploring and looking for the pigeons will be fun. The remaining achievements are multiplayer and side mission orientated.  So while this isn't a game for people looking for a quick score boost these achievement points are earned with hours of your time and not insane hyper reflexed kiddie skills.

Multiplayer seems excellent with the mobile phone being used to enter a lobby system which consists of the game itself, you can meet your team and wander about a bit, then choose a game mode and play a multitude of objective based games. races, straight deathmatch etc. One mode deserves a mention, one player at random is the Don and they have to be taken to a point win, the other team have to take him down. It's chaotic and fun. 

Simply being able to wander the city with a few others is enjoyable. I think I would still be looking for pigeons if you were allowed to do this together. A few co-op missions would have been good. Still there is patches and downloadable content to come. I vote for being able to do the pigeon hunt with friends for the patch. The fun really is endless in this game if you want it to be. I spent some time just playing with friends in the sandbox. One of us would take a bike and flee. The others would chase him in helicopters and all sorts. Don't get me wrong it did get old, but this game does have excellent multiplayer opportunities if you are into experimenting with it. Those who prefer their Halo and Call of duty probably will go back to them quickly, but that does not mean that this isn't a robust multiplayer game. I think it boils down to the size of the city. Deathmatch for me has always been better in close proximity and frantic action. That is why I enjoy things like the shipment map in Call of Duty 4.

This game is a must. There is no excuse for not owning it. I fail to understand why any PS3 or Xbox360 owner does not own and play this game. It is a master-class in design, gameplay and fun.

Scoring

Graphics 9

Gameplay 10

Story 8

Level Design 9

A.i. 8

Total 8.8

Devil May Cry 4 Review

First of all this is the first Devil May Cry game that I have played. I was away from playstation gaming around the time they came out and more into pc, work was also crazy around those times. Anyway excuses out of the way. I am apologising for not knowing the story or the moves. If I was familiar and had played through the previous games in the series I may have seen the game in a different light.

The story is told through several cut scenes at the beginning and end of each level though none of them are much more than five minutes long. The scene is set with Nero going to a church service. He seems bored and only there to be with Kyrie who seems to be his friend soon to become more than friends. During the service Dante bursts in shoots the church leader Sanctus mid service. Kyrie's brother Credo tasks you will hunting down Dante. As you leave the church demons enter the city and begin tearing it apart. Nero sends Kyrie off to safety. As the story progresses there are many twists and turns and things are not what they seem at the start of the game.

It has to be said though that the storytelling is cryptic and more concerned with flashy action in the cutscenes that telling a coherent story. At the start of the game you are intended to be in the dark about the events, it's just that unless you pay close attention you might never be entirely sure of the ins and outs. There are too many revelations that are not foreshadowed. This ensures the player is left wondering what on earth is going on for far too long. Eventually the story becomes clear, but you have to work at it. There is a story there, it's just buried by a desire to be cryptic. For example I am still not sure if Dante's levels occur in a time period after Nero's or before them and we are playing a flashback.

For me characters were introduced as if they should be known, no introduction at all. I didn't know the history and it was never explained. Though you can go into an extra on the options to read about the history of the game. unfortunately some of this is only accessible as an unlock after completing most of the game.  It would have been good to have a primer for new players, especially since this is the first time Xbox360 only players have had a chance to play the series. A "previously in Devil May Cry," video would have helped a lot.

Japanese storytelling is very quirky. Style is everything, Nero and Dante are achingly cool in an emo/goth sort of way and their dialogue is of the one liner or corny variety. I am never sure if this is a translation or a cultural issue with japanese originated dialogue. There is a difference in flow and beats of language that just never seems quite right on a subliminal level with translated dialogue. However the story does have a beginning middle and end and could be construed as a political stab at the Bush administration and the crazy conspiracy theories around The Twin towers terrorist incident. Governments bringing down attacks on their people and then stepping up to save the day for furthering of their own agenda.

Expect overblown histrionics, anatomy defying wounds and lots of confusion.

These games are all about the combat. combinations of fast, slow, jumping and pushing and pulling with the devil bringer hand to chain hits together for long combinations bring style points which increase your overall score at the end of each level. The moves are varied and satisfying, you feel the pain that Nero inflicts, a necessity for a good combat game. You have to wince and say ouch for the monsters at some point or it just isn't doing it's job. For the uninitiated moves pop up with a quick button press tutorial as they are introduced so that you are not overwhelmed, and while there are lots of moves there are not countless similar and therefore redundant ones.

You can use pistols and swords and collecting orbs from enemies and broken furniture allows you to power up in an rpg like fashion depending on which weapons you like best. If you don't want to decide the game will spend your points in what one would hope to be a wise fashion for you.

What else is there in the game besides waves and waves of monsters to practice chaining stylish moves together on?

Progression through levels is simply a matter of finding your way, with some simple puzzles. There are buttons to press to unlock doors. In some areas you use big spinning tops with blades on to open the way and kill enemies.

There are moving and disappearing platform areas. trampoline type rune platforms, big whirling blades that need you to slow time to achieve jumps.  In some levels you have floating lights which seem to attract the devil bringer and hoist you towards them, you can chain some spectacular pinball style leaps with these.

There are some old chestnuts that take me back, for example, having small areas with four exits, with only one being the right one, the others loop you back to the same area. At first you wander aimlessly until you realize there is a method for deciding which direction is the right one.

There also some innovative levels. For example in one area you play a kind of board game. When you enter the room a chess piece of yourself appears on the board and the exit only opens when you get your piece to the final square. You whack a dice and move the designated amount of steps. each square has either a bonus or a hoard of monsters spawning into the room.

This is great the first time round, then later on in the game it is reprised in an almost game breaking fashion. the dice is semi random, if you hit it when the number you want is on top it will land on that number, but you have to have excellent reflexes. In this later section the squares on the board form a loop and progress through four game boards depends on landing on one spot. This sees the player spending ages reprising boss battles, and fighting almost as many enemies as they have fought throughout the entire game so far trying to get through. It is the penultimate level of the game and as such meant to be hard, as it is it's screamingly frustrating. Way to turn a nice idea into a torture Capcom.

Twice in the game you are expected to win a boss battle only for the cut scene afterwards to show you losing, which story wise just really jarred.

For the first 11 missions you control Nero, and for the remaining 9 or so you play as Dante. His control scheme is similar but different and his move set ramps up quickly to a dizzying array of weaponry and tricks. Again, for previous players this must feel like slipping on a comfortable item of clothing, relaxing and really enjoying the game. For new players it's like being handed a new game halfway through and being expected to know how to fight as Dante.

There is quite an array of different monsters, and some move in interesting fashions, not simply coming ambling towards you, the shark fin like creatures and the floating ghost like things come to mind. The enemy design is interesting with possessed clothing, suits of armor and even ice being animated for the demon will. 

Boss fights are very traditional and very spectacular and fast paced. It's all about learning the patterns of attack and exploiting a weakness once you find it. There are three huge animal demon hybrid bosses and four human/demon hybrid ones/ They have loads of variety and I am sure that fans of boss battles with be happy here.

The most impressive levels occur in and around the Saviour which is a 200 foot tall animated statue, you climb up it in one level and fly around it in another, the graphics are really impressive here.

One thing that has to be said about the game is the repetitiveness. Basically you go through several themed areas as Nero. City, ice/castle,  underground lab, forest, church/headquarters. Then you go back through them as Dante, with levels in and around the saviour. If you count the missions there are around 20, though there are only six locations in which they take place. The game is long enough, though there is a bit of padding here to make it feel bigger.

Graphics

The graphics are excellent, the frame rate seems fairly stable at more than 30 frames per second for the most part. Without a frame rate counter it's hard to tell, but the game moves slickly for the most part. Perhaps for the fanboys all games should come with a toggle-able frame rate counter.

In small areas the camera is fixed and at others the player can control it. There are some issues when moving between static camera angles. I lost count of the amount of times i inadvertently walked into a new camera angle and was pushing in a direction with the controller which suddenly changed and i went back the way I had came. Though for the most part the camera does it's job well.

The game looks wonderful. Lush forest, old italian style city scape, huge gothic architecture, and the saviour is breathtaking. The characters are stylish and very well drawn. Females are here only to titillate with little clothes and jiggling breasts and bottoms, with one exceptions the hero's perfectly innocent love interest. Everything drips hardcore gamer cool. Think of that statement in relation to your own tastes and decide if it's a good thing. The amount of enemies is kept to a manageable amount, you fight a few and then more teleport in. 

Music is thrashy hardcore metal type stuff, and seems to be pattering away in the background annoyingly with the drums mixed high and the guitars lows. Sound effects are inoffensive. Voice acting does well with the corny dialogue.

Checkpoints are scattered fairly. There is no multiplayer whatsoever. Co-op might have been a nice option, but I don't think there are any games in this genre with co-op so we will not hold that against it.

The menu's are fairly bland and bad fonts with garish colors don't help, though there are some nice character bios and history lessons which help the uninitiated.

With respect to achievements I played through the game on normal. I only acquired 100 points, which i feel was quite stingy. The game seems to have a lot of small achievements Possibly these are for the little bonus rooms which pop up and ask  you to perform tasks against the clock, or kill so many enemies in a certain style. Not a game for easy achievement hunters, hardcore only need apply, and I would imagine anyone having 1000 points in this game would have clocked up many many hours on it and it's earlier incarnations.

A great game for fans of the genre. If you are at all skeptical of this genre then steer clear. It's a hardcore gamers game from a hardcore gamers company. Old school in many respects. Spectacular graphically, but is that enough. Frustration is waiting here for the uninitiated, joys for those who know what to expect from the son of Sparda.

I was tempted to give this game a score for fans and a score for new players. I suppose all games in franchises have to be measured up against their past and others in the genre. I will hold up my hands and say I am really too much of a novice in the genre to really say what true fans will score this game. As a newbie i give it my score. Be aware that I would agree with long time hardcore fans that it might score a high 7 in their eyes. I doubt much more as this is really a new polish on an old genre.

Scoring

Graphics 9

Gameplay 7

Story 6

Level Design 5

A.i. 5

Total 6.4

Frontlines: Fuel of War Review

I think I know what went wrong here. imagine the scenario In Kaos studio. There must be many different offices, imagine one belongs to a writer, maybe there are one or two writers, I don't know, but I doubt it. There must be many more offices for programmers, level designers, artists etc. Now The writer works away in his little office. He might have been given a brief by game designers. Possibly he might be giving the brief to the game designers but it doesn't feel that way.

The point is, it looks like he worked away on his little story while the tech people worked away on the game and the two were slotted together at the end. It could even be possible that these people don't work in the same building and might actually have never met in person.

Why do I have this theory? Well, there are missions, set in a distinct location, with objectives and a clear story like point. There are about 8 missions and each one seems to be set in a different game. The job of the writer seems to have been to come up with a scenario that all of these can fit into and link them all together with story cut scenes. The problem here is that the cut scenes are for the "short of attention span" and only last a minute at most. The characters in these cut scenes don't have enough time to imprint on us to care about them. Most of them are too generic to actually be called character rather than archetype.

While we are in the game these characters are absent and we only have generic grunts to assist us who have no real character whatsoever. This means to me that I could hardly learn the various characters names, nor did I want to because they showed up too infrequently.

In one scene the people who fight their way deep into the bowels of a missile silo to stop a missile being launched are left with only one option to stop it. By closing the silo doors it means that the nuke will launch inside the silo and be destroyed and them along with it as there is no time to get out. We see their demise from other characters point of view and are expected to be moved by their loss and sacrifice. I never even knew their names. I thought that the character I was controlling for the whole game was the same person? It was all a little too close to some scenes in Call of duty 4 for my liking anyway. 

The writer did a good job on the whole universe of the game. We are asked to believe that once oil becomes scarce the whole world will degenerate into war for control of the remaining resources. The story seems to be suggesting that the russians and chinese have clubbed together against the rest of europe and America. Whatever has happened it seems that middle eastern powers seem to be incorporated into the alliance.

The irony of using so much of a dwindling resource to fight a world war isn't lost. The cut scenes suggest that rioting and loss of societal norms has become commonplace when cars run out of fuel and homes stop getting electricity, leading to disease and looting.

We are never shown any of this however. It is all narration from the Reporter who is tagging along with the stray dogs squad. The story takes the squad from routine defense duty where they are ambushed, to full scale war with the Russian/chinese coalition. The game takes us through many engagements until a full scale assault on Moscow ends the game.

I have criticisms about the total degeneration of society as portrayed in the game. I am sure that society would go through a dark time when fossil fuel runs low. However, I hope that alternative energy will play a bigger part and society will lose its shackles rather than eat itself. Still this is one alternate future, which is reasonably plausible. The crying shame it that the writers work might as well be about a different game than what we are playing here.

Gameplay mechanics

Aiming seems slightly dodgy using sniper rifle, seems to hit girders etc in the way when it shouldn't and doesn't kill instantly with a headshot.

At one point you are asked to do a stealth mission, however, there seems to be no way to go about the job stealthily. the first shot alerts the enemy. I don't really do stealthy anyway, maybe it was my mistake.

Take a bit of getting used to to aim with standard guns, clicking the stick to zoom seems to be necessary at first until you get used to the game. Something seems to make the game hard work on first play, which requires persistence and a learning curve that is just that bit too steep, first rule of gameplay should be that nothing irritates the player too much on the first level. You don't want them to get turned off and stop playing. Which for some might have happened with the demo of this game which game some time before release and didn't seem one pixel different from the finished game.

There are the usual fps conventions and weapons, guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, grenades. In addition there are many additional weapons. There are drones which allow you to charge into heavily guarded areas and run around in the open all guns blazing and take out a few soldiers without endangering yourself. There are three types of drone, robot remote guns on tracks, little helicopters or fast moving remote control tiny car bombs. There are also moveable turret emplacements with weapons like rail-guns. Enemies also have a few tricks, in the form of emp generators which keep vehicles out of a certain area until they are taken out.

The player can control a range of tanks and jeep type weapons with varying mounted weaponry. Helicopters are also used infrequently in the single player campaign.

The areas are large and open world, though this still feels very much like a corridor shooter. It's not, they just put all the objectives in a line instead of making you run for your money around the maps.

Good terrain and a realistic feel, areas are designed well for the type of conflict that is to take place in them. The missile base being particularly well designed, with its heavy fortifications and one main entrance leading down to a believable generator room and launch silo. Missions require the taking of certain areas as if it were a capture the flag multiplayer game or the destruction of certain features like generators or pumping stations. Various enemies and tanks are in the way. There is a limitless amount of them unless you keep pushing forwards as seen in games like call of duty instead of there being a certain amount of enemies in the map. Though once you push into the latter stages of an objective then once you shoot all the enemies at the objective none re-spawn. There are no boss fights at the end of each level you have big areas inside buildings with lots of enemies shooting from all sides.

The a.i. is typical of low end old school a.i. They stand in the open, run straight at you or just stand there in cover shooting and ducking. When they are in cover they pop up at timed intervals right into your waiting shots. Weight of numbers is their only real hope of getting you.

The game allows you 5 or so respawns per mission. Checkpoints are spaced well. When you run out of re-spawns you have to restart the mission from the start rather than the last checkpoint, which means going back a fair amount. However, you really only need those respawns to count on the last few missions even on the hardest difficulties.

The audio is adequate, with no really irritating music to speak of. The usual bangs and whistles with no problems with the mixing of the sound.

Graphically the game has an adequate engine which moves smoothly most of the time. the graphics are nothing that hasn't been seen before in a thousand other fps games. Deserts towns cities. The Moscow level shows the engine to be capable of grandeur but it's too little too late in the game. In short not bad, very average and nothing we haven't seen in countless other games.

Achievements are badly handled I completed the game on hard and was given 155 points. 50 of those were for playing a multiplayer game with two other people. Two of us against one poor guy who must have been playing it for the first time also. We won a flawless victory, probably by virtue of only seeing the guy once and blowing his brains out with a sniper rifle. Hence what should have been a hard as nails online achievement being relegated to a joke. I may as well have played on normal as the achievements were for normal for completing a level. To get the points mother-load you have to complete levels in a certain time limit or do it without dying or have a certain accuracy. All obtainable on easy if I could be bothered. I might do it sometime, but I am not in any hurry. 

Multiplayer seemed mostly empty when I tried. Which is damning in itself. If a game can't keep a thriving online community then it's lost the battle before it started. If a couple of months after release it's hard to get enough players to fill a game then there is no impetus to return to the game.

Which is a shame, as with the large playing areas and variety of weapons and objectives the game could have been good. Shame it just doesn't have that popularity factor that Halo COD and BFBC have at present. Harshly put Battlefield imitators are put in the shade when the real Battlefield releases a new incarnation.

I can't really put my finger on what is wrong with this game, I enjoyed it, it seemed a little short. I would put my playing time at around 10 hours. Which actually was just long enough, any more and it would have been tiresome rather than gripping.

It's one of my little things. I don't want shooters like this to run to 80 hours of gameplay. Sure if multiplayer is your bag and you spend 80 hours on Frontlines in multiplayer then great. But single player campaigns that last more than 15 hours are usually full of padding levels. Halo 1 for example which seemed to go on for an eternity in that cartography level in very similar rooms.

The problem with Frontlines isn't that it's a bad game, it's just that it's very similar to the Battlefield games. We have seen it all before, and since it isn't better than those games then it doesn't have a lot to recommend it. Comparing it to the crop of shooters that came out around the same time as it, it was actually the best of the bunch. I am thinking of Turning Point, Conflict Denied Ops and Turok. Though I am basing that comparison on the demos of those games, which is all I have played of them.

Scoring

Graphics 7

Gameplay 7

Story 5

Level Design 8

A.i. 5

Total 6.4

Mass Effect Review

Mass effect steps games out of the old guard of science fiction and drags it kicking and screaming into the world of Iain M Banks, Peter F Hamilton and Alistair Reynolds. There are probably other Authors who whould be name checked but these will do for me.

The story is set in a future where several alien races inhabit our milky way galaxy, at the start of the story at least, almost peacefully co-existing. Humans want a bigger voice in wider affairs and are being held back and seen as young upstarts by the galaxies old guard. There are several alien races and for the most part they seem to avoid the usual star trek cliches, although Krogans sounds and acts an awful lot like Klingons. The aliens are not constrained by tv budgets however and are of varying shapes and sizes that would never do for star trek as there is only so much you can do with some make up and feathers.

The galactic stage is set by an ancient race named the Protheans, who, though now extinct, seemed to rule the galaxy and have left behind many of their more interesting toys and ruins. The most important of which are the Mass relays which all races use to travel faster than light. These seem to be wormhole generators of some kind.

At the start of the game our hero commander Shephard is involved on a mission to investigate a Prothean artifact discovery on a human colony world. It turns out that a spectre agent named Saren has turned rogue and allied himself with a machine race named the Geth. Together they have attacked the colony looking for the prothean artifact. Saren gets to the artifact and activates it and receives a vision, Shephard hard on his heels arrives and also is given the visions, which are jumbled images of war between alien and machines. Shephard is knocked unconscious and when he awakes it's back to the citadel for debriefing.

The citadel is another ancient Prothean space habitat which has been taken over as a centre for galactic politics and commerce. Sounds very like Babylon 5 which I feel Bioware might have a little soft spot for. Don't take that as a criticism, I loved Babylon 5 when I watched it on first airing. It's a little hard to watch over now, however, there are still some fine sci-fi moments there. The citadel sees Shepard being made a spectre agent, think James Bond style free roaming agent, and given the task of finding out just what Saren is up too. You are given command of the Normandy one of Humankinds best warships and let loose on an unsupecting universe.

The game feels truly cinematic, it's structure is tight, with a good beginning, middle and end. I could imagine a Mass effect movie and I would be first in line for a ticket. I know it is derivative, but I think I might be more likely to see a Mass effect movie than the Night's dawn trilogy by Peter F Hamilton being made into a movie, but beggars can't be choosers.

Once in Command you can use the Normandy to fly to a large number of worlds and each of them have a main mission or side mission. The game is huge, possibly not oblivion huge but getting there. Like oblivion though the side missions become repetitive and I could never see myself completing each and every one.

As the story progresses you are drawn into an ancient story involving ancient enemies of all life. Again the shadows of Babylon 5 come to mind, or much closer the wolves from Alastair Reynolds revelation space series. The side colorings include racial hate between humans and aliens, and various love and politics sub plots. Saren is a interesting nemesis who for once isn't bad because it says bad guy after his name on the front page. He has looked at the situation and the coming storm and chosen a route that us emotional humans would never take. You may not agree with him, but in his mind he thinks he is saving the galaxy while the player is bringing down the storm with greater fury. 

The game uses the unreal engine, it looks very good for the most part though the environments were a little sparse I felt. Virmire and the citadel were the only environments that actually held any beauty for me. The characters are excellent with the alien race designs being particularly effective if slightly derivative. There is a motion blur and grain filter applied which takes some getting used to. Take note though you can go to the options screen and turn these off which I felt made the game look much better. I only found this out on my second play-through. The facial animations are also excellent. Though sometimes eyelids seemed to being doing their own thing in comparison to the rest of the face. On the whole though the graphics are good. There is a lot of texture loading, sometimes when a scene starts there is a good thirty seconds before all the textures are in place. I don't normally notice this too much but recently Rainbow six vegas 2 and Mass effect have been games I have been playing and it is really apparent in both. I presume the reason for this is to cut loading times and actually have the game up and running while the textures pop in. Note to developers, loading times are not really a problem for me, i would rather have a few more seconds sipping my coffee and waiting for the textures with a blank loading screen than seeing peoples armor textures pop up. 

Mass effect is an rpg, It has all the trappings, xp points, huge range of customization of characters and differing classes, some are good with biotics, read magic some are good with technology and others are grunts. The game has a few basic weapon classes, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, pistol and there are grenades and various armors and upgrades to them. As you level up and find or buy weapons your characters go from being unable to hit a target an inch away to sniping for miles and taking out lesser enemies with one shot instead of forty.

There are the usual sandbox conventions, you can go to any mission in almost any order and go off the beaten path and level up before taking on the big missions, which I would recommend. Missions are broken up in bite-size, or maybe unreal engine sized chunks with loads in between disguised by elevators. There are missions, mostly on the citadel which include meeting a certain character and then doing something or killing someone for them. The main missions basically move you from point a to point b with lots of enemies in the way. There are small puzzles and the usual little blind alleys to go down and find better weapons upgrades etc.

The conversations in the game are interactive, which means you are given a few responses to choose from a list at each junction in the conversation. Some interactions will go a certain way whatever you do, others will be dictated by your choice of diplomacy or idiocy. There are a few times when your choice will mean the life or death of certain characters. In some instances you must have your charm levels full before certain options become available. One particularly memorable instance is when you are given the options of saving one person or another, both are in different directions and going one way to save one of them mean that you won't have time to go back for the other before a nuke goes off. Either choice doesn't affect the outcome of the game greatly but if you want to have some romance I suggest saving the girl.

Combat is unwieldy at first and it seems like a case of spray and pray with wide reticule weapons. As you level up you see your shots hit the cross-hair dead on and you sniper rifle doesn't wave around quite so much. Finding or buying better weapons improves your damage with each shot greatly and adding special ammo and upgrades to each weapon also improves their effectiveness. You see you character from a third person view, though you can hold the left trigger in to zoom into a first person view. there is also a cover system which is sometime clunky to get in and out of but is worth mastering as it helps greatly. The vehicle section of combat in the mako is reasonable, though I have to confess I did prefer to fight on foot. It does get you from A to B quickly however and it's weapons are satisfactory. It has a rapid fire pulse weapon and a rocket launcher type weapon. With all the upgrade capabilities on offer to the rest of your armory and technology I found the omission of upgrades to the Mako puzzling. The a.i. for the most part is fairly basic and standard though at times they can be really really stupid and stand still in the open allowing you to pick them off, not even moving properly into cover after you shoot them a few times. There are some good set piece battles and all the environments for the major missions vary and make a good stab at structure being dedicated to function rather than nice level design. 

The soundtrack to the game is adequate, there are some nice scene setting mood musics. Weapons and explosions are suitably heavy sounding although tinged with a little sci-fi electronica.

The game allows you to save at any point unless you are in combat which I found very helpful. There are some checkpoints where the game saves automatically, though you can turn this off. The menus for upgrading and buying and selling seem complex at first but after a few hours into the game you soon find them simple. On second play-through familiarity really does pay off.

Achievements are solid enough, mostly given out for using each of the weapons, and abilities a certain amount of times. There is 100 points for completion, and also more points for a second completion, which certainly encourages a second play-through of the main story. I received 390 points on my first play-through, this was only really completing the main story, and it took me 18 hours. I will play through the game again and will probably attempt to grind my character up to level 70 for those achievements. The game has much replay value as you can go back and find out what it would have been like to say all the nasty things you were too frightened to say the first time in case you wrecked the game and didn't get the proper ending. 

There is no multiplayer here, and nor is it needed, it isn't that sort of game.

I would recommend this game to anyone, yes it's a hardcore rpg. It doesn't feel like say Blue Dragon or Eternal Sonata though, for one the story and dialogue make those two seemed penned in pre-school. The combat is real shooter style combat. The stats are all there but hidden under sneaking up on a Geth while your team keep it pinned down and placing your shotgun to it's head and blasting it into pieces. When I completed the final boss fight I felt truimphant, I genuinely am really looking forward to Mass effect 2 now, and I was never really waiting for this one. I hope our next adventure with Commander Shepard is as much fun as this one was.

Mass effect has a steep learning curve, everyone should persevere with this rewarding and brilliant game.

Spoiler warning for Mass Effect 2: I think the Reapers will transfer their consciousness into the Mass relays and in that way stop all ftl travel as a first strike and then convert the resources of the mass relays into ships and soldiers and then fan out and take over planets. This will confine the game to the citadel system or whatever system Shepard is in at the start of the game. Until they can get the small mass relays working and fight back.

Scoring

Graphics 8

Gameplay 9

Story 10

Level Design 8

A.i. 7

Total 84

Rainbow six vegas 2 Review

Rainbow Six Vegas is a first person squad based shooter, it is set in Tom Clancy's Rainbow six counter terrorism squad universe and follows the exploits of an elite counter terrorism squad as they combat a terrorist threat in Las Vegas. This game follows on from the first Vegas game, though you will have to try real hard and do some research to follow the story.

To be fair this is the type of game that doesn't really need much story, you go here shoot all the bad guys and then go on to the next place and shoot all the bad guys, sure a story would be nice but in all fairness Ubisoft know that the audience for this game doesn't really give a damn. There is some nods to the first games story where you find out that one of the Rainbow team has turned traitor and is arming and aiding the terrorists, in this game you are ultimately on his trail while you stop his terrorist chums from blowing things up.

During the game you save some hostages and a stadium full of people get gassed before you can save them, however it all feels disjointed this time compared to the first game. There are no real cut scenes of note with the longest coming at the end of the game and the story is mostly thrown at you by talking heads in your helmet heads up display, similar to Graw. By the time I got to the end of the game I didn't even remember the bad guys name, possibly I never knew it.

The biggest criticism of Vegas 2 is that it is really just a new campaign for the first game, maybe if they had labelled it as such and charged a tenner less they might have got less backlash and whole lot more sales. Still I may sound harsh but I would not hesitate to recommend this game to any fans of the first, if you liked the first Vegas then please get this one, you won't be disappointed.

Vegas is a first person shooter with elements of third person built in, when you hold the left trigger near a wall you switch to third person view and go into cover, where you can blind fire or pop your head out and snipe carefully, the game is built around this mechanic and you will have a much harder time if you play using the normal fps view and neglect the cover system. The weapons are many and varied, the usual rifles, pistols, sniper rifles etc. with a smattering of grenades. You can rappel down the side of select buildings and take pot shots using your pistol from the ropes. Tactics play a big role in the game, though you can get by being gung ho and going it alone your squad can be very effective, there are literally hundred of times in the game where you are outside a room with terrorists, how you enter the room is paramount to the ease of the game. You can slide a snake cam under the door and examine the amount and position of terrorists inside and then send you men to one of the mandatory second doors into the room, you then tag terrorists for them to take out and enter the room together and headshot the lot in one go, well that is what you try to do, sometimes you pull it off, others you don't.

The games levels are well designed, there is always a thought for form and function in these games which is to be applauded, all the structures are real world structures with good reasons for you being there. There are sports centers, a theatre, convention centers, construction sites, rail-yards, industrial factories and plush villas. All seem logical and correct, maybe even modeled on real world locations.

Vegas 2 uses the unreal engine, it has terrible texture loading at the start of each scene, why? just keep the screen black while they load! That aside the graphics are satisfactory, the characters are well detailed and animated, the environments are at times good, but mostly adequate, there is no real wow factor with the graphics in this game but also no real game breaking flaws either. 

The multiplayer and single player game give you points for killing enemies, you get five to ten points per kill plus a 2-3 point bonus for style, say killing using blind fire, at long range or close quarters. As you gain XP you rise through ranks which unlocks weapons and clothing. There is no real benefit to this, the weapons are only slightly different, and it's just as easy to kill with the first weapon you are given than the last unlocked, same goes for the armor and clothing, it's all for looks, as four bullets to the body will kill irrespective of your gear. Certain camouflage and guns show that you have played the game a serious amount of time, it's all about social standing online.

It also appeals to the completionist and the score junkies. There is a gauge along the bottom of the screen at all times which shows how close you are to the next rank. The just one more go syndrome is there to get your score just that little bit higher and rank up. It's as usual completely pointless, but it can and does suck in an awful lot of people and that isn't a criticism.

One of the best things about vegas in my eyes is the co-op story mode. You simply have a friend take over from one of the team and have them jump in and out seamlessly from your game. Stuck on a particular area, call a friend in to help, simply put I think that co-op story modes are essential and within reason every game should have one. Things like Dark Sector, Call of Duty 4 Bioshock and Orange Box were crying out for co-op play. GTA 4 really should have had co-op play in every single player mission. I realize that this is a processor intensive and lag inducing feature, but surely Call of duty 4 would have been much more fun to work through the story with your friends.

The normal multiplayer modes are all there, death-match, teams etc. It is the terrorist hunt mode that I feel is genius. You have up to four human players against 50 a.i. bot terrorists. It's hard work but it's fun and I have met and chatted with some entertaining people while playing it. It's a great fun watching others after you have lost your two re-spawns, urging them on with mounting excitement as the number of terrorists dwindle. This mode has it's flaws though only five or six terrorists are in the map with you at any one time and once one dies another spawns, sometimes right behind you.

A.i. is excellent especially in terrorist hunt probably due to the flaw mentioned above, you can be guaranteed that if you can't see them in front of you then they are about to sneak up behind you. When in battle they use cover well, though sometimes stay in cover beyond being sensible as you get right in close and hammer them when they reload. There are no real boss fights, just areas with many terrorists that take a lot of working through, the final battle with a chopper and about twenty terrorists is a doozy and I never even tried it on my own. With two human players it becomes much more manageable.

The now normal checkpoint system is used and there are a few times when you wish that the checkpoints were a little closer together, however it's nowhere near as game breaking as some games.

I played through the games single player mode twice, once on my own and another time with a friend, also played a ton of multiplayer, I ended up with 405 achievement points, which I feel was a little stingy for the amount of time I put into the game.

Scoring

Graphics 7

Gameplay 8

Story 4

Level Design 9

A.i. 9

Score 7.4

The potential problem with Trophies on the PS3

First let me state my position on Achievements on the Xbox 360. I really like the whole concept that Microsoft introduced here. It might not be the first time a game has given out awards and unlockables. There have always been easter eggs and unlocks for playing a game through on Hard mode or collecting all the hidden objects etc. The clever thing that Microsoft did was make a console wide system out of it. What are the components of this system?

1)

Each game has an points tied to in game actions like completing the game or doing something which can take minutes or hours.

1000 points for each retail game to be given out by the developer as they see fit

200 points for each arcade game as above

Games may add up to 250 points for downloadable content

2)

A score that is visible to others, wether you are online or off, thanks to the gamercard system which is essentially a microsoft hotmail style passport. Your achievements are stored on a microsoft server for all to see.

3)

The hard drive is a closed system. You can't copy to it practically in any way without hacking or additional hardware. Only recognised authorised software can put anything onto the drive.

These are the main components of the achievement system. The third point has led to many criticisms, for example you can copy music from a cd to the hdd but not video from a memory stick. Why restrict the freedom of the user to use the drive as they wish? especially when big name games like unreal tournament need it for user mods. One quick and easy answer, if you could copy freely you could take your game save, where for example you have 1000 points unlocked in Call of duty 4 and upload it to the net and allow anyone who wants to cheat their way up the score rankings an easy ride to the thousand points by downloading it and copying to the xbox 360 hard drive.

Now achievements have changed the way I play games. I think about the achievements before I play, go online and see the best tactics to get the most points. Games now reward multiple playthroughs, collecting all the collectables etc. What does the score mean? Nothing at all, and everything when you compare yours to a friend who also has an xbox360. The friendly rivalry for points has seen me buy stinkers of games just because they have an easy 1000, for example King Kong and Avatar: The Burning Earth.

Now as someone who has been playing games since the late seventies, I have never really needed much motivation to play games. Sure, I have had times when girls or some other hormonal imbalance has seen me leave games alone for say six months at a time, I have always game back. However, not since I could see clearly and simply that I was more of a game geek than my friends list, have I tried so hard to complete games fully and on the hardest difficulties.Think of this what you will

Now with rumours of trophies being implemented onto the PS3 I felt I had to write some of my fears down.

Firstly There must be a clear score or ranking system, I can understand that there may be some copyright issues here, but all the controllers look the same and hardly anyone sues. Surely Sony can get a work around and have a system where I can clearly see a score which shows time and effort put into my games without having to go into my home apartment which probably will need me to be online. Maybe a ranking like call of duty with an awful lot of subdivisions.

The trophy system sounds pretty silly, as in the first point it's the score that counts. Sure I can go into someone achievement history and see that they completed Halo 3 on legendary if I want to, and all the thousands of other achievements that they have.  Sometimes I meet someone online and go into their profile and compare games, I hardly go much further than seeing that I have same or higher scores in certain games.

The point is that if they implement a similar system you are going to end up with thousands of trophies after a few years. not even the PS3 has enough polygon pushing power to show all of these on your virtual mantlepiece. So they will be scrolled arounds in a menu just like the xbox360. With no score you are going to have to do an awful lot of digging to see how good someone is.

The last point is the most important, as mentioned before microsoft locked the xbox360 drive into their own rules. Some might say that it so that you can't have custom themes without buying them, The main reason I think is copy protection for xbox live arcade games. What about gamerscore boosting? Think about it if you could copy savegames then you could get a hold of a save with all the unlocks and voila instant gamerscore godhood.

As is usual with computers anything can be hacked, and for a while people were indeed doing this. Microsoft were clever though, going on in the background of an achievement is all sorts of technical trickery, like recording the time and date of the achievment but more importantly the gamertag and the console serial number. Once devices had been sold to allow save trading microsoft simply banged the lid on it by wielding a hammer from on high and wiping the false scores out. Score cheating is a dirty word in most circles and from my standpoint here it seems like they won and you can pretty much say that a gamerscore is a reflection of the amount of time, money and to some extent skill and dedication of someone you meet on Xbox live. Xbox live being the main weapon here, with Microsoft having copies of the data they can run searches on it and find irregularities like all achievements being unlocked in a microsecond etc.

Now where does the PS3 stand here, on a quick inpsection using google I found numerous saved games that i could easily download and copy to my PS3, I don't even have Call of duty for it but at the moment there is a savegame on it's drive which shows that I have played it all through on veteran and unlocked everything possible. What will happen when the Trophies go live, will I be awarded them all for Call of duty, a game I have never put inside my PS3?

If so isn't the whole system completely invalidated right out of the box?

Have Sony even paused for thought on this? The open nature of the PS3 is touted as a plus.

Before i get hate mail I am sure they have, however the question is valid and how are they going to work around the fact that there are loads of savegames out there to download which could potentially see me getting every trophy created first day.

If I was them I would not look at old savegame data. The first thing to do would be to tag each savegame with an encrypted tag which shows the psn id and the console serial number, and any other identifying into they can think of and then start from scratch. It will be a bummer to have to play old games again to gain trophies, but I am sure if the game was good enough then that isn't too much of a hardship.

Otherwise the outcome will be a farce, with rampant trophy cheating rendering the whole system invalid.

If anyone has any info on this then please provide me with a link.