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Playing Indie: Capsized

By
VTV Staff
– July 10, 2011Posted in: Gavin's Blog, Staff Blogs

Thundering beats, ambient moods, and an arsenal of alien-destroying weapons make this week’s Playing Indie a must try.  AlienTrap Games Inc’s Capsized is a side-scrolling action adventure set on a distant alien planet. Your ship has gone down and it is up to you to gather the pieces and your crew.  And hey, only an entire world of man-eating beasts and territorial alien tribes stands between you and rescue.  Bring it on!

The first thing you will notice when launching this game is the music.  Heavy tones mix with ambient mixes to provide a perfect background for the entire game.  At points I found myself launching the game just to listen to the music.  Music isn’t choreographed to the exact experience, but each song seems to fit with everything in the game, making for a truly atmospheric experience.

Capsized is a visually stunning adventure too.  While some textures and levels can look similar, there is a distinct feeling of progression as you move through the alien world in search of your objectives.  Just when you start getting used to the jungle you move into underground caves.  These caves provide an even more unique visual experience, shrouding you in darkness which limits you to a small cone of light off your flashlight.  Further on you even travel through a zone where gravity seems to be weakened by the surrounding and increasingly alien-like fauna.

One of the stand out features in Capsized is the ability to use a grappling hook for multiple goals.  A chasm of doom lies before you?  Grapple the terrain above and use it to sling shot across.  Giant boulders blocking your path? Grapple it and pull the obstacle away.  Swarms of vicious bugs attacking you?  Pick up a stone and chuck it into the swarm for devastating effect.  The grappling hook makes for some really fun physics and equally entertaining action.  The game even has achievements and an arcade mode based around only using your grappling hook to deal with the opposition.

If shooting your adversaries is more to your liking, Capsized has a nice set of weapons to discover.  The basic pistol works great for most alien trash, but wouldn’t you rather burn them with a flame thrower or explode them with an RPG?  Lasers, heat seeking missiles and a projectile shooting cannon all make the list of great ways to deal with the swarms of death.  Discover a few of the games secret areas and you could even come up with a gun that creates a giant gravity well, sucking all nearby objects and enemies in for to an easy to hit death trap.

Capsized tells the story through comic book visuals during your loading screens, leaving you to stick with exploration and action while in the game.  Despite having no cutscenes, the story is visual spot on and produces an interesting and fun arc to all the shooting and rock throwing.  If you get sick of the story based campaign, try out the games arcade mode for some additional challenges including AI bot deathmatches, survival mode, armless (no weapons) or time trials.  Unfortunately, the only multiplayer function in the game is a split screen duel for the few that enjoy sharing one PC screen.

Overall, Capsized is a great buy.  If you enjoy action and great music in a side-scrolling platformer, this game won’t disappoint.  You can get it on Steam for $10.  If you would like to see more before you purchase the game, check out CapsizedGame.com to watch some gameplay vids and learn more.

 

 

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Playing Indie: Amnesia: The Dark Descent

By
VTV Staff
– July 3, 2011Posted in: Gavin's Blog, Staff Blogs

Another week of glorious indie gaming here on VagaryTV.  Last week we took a stroll through the wonderful game of Terraria, enjoying sprite based crafting and adventure to its fullest.  This week, I mix things up and scare all of last week’s joy straight into my pants.  The game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Creepy stuff can lurk in the dark.

Amnesia is a survival, horror game made by Frictional Games, the creators of the old Prenumbra series.  The objective of the game is to discover who you are and why you are in a castle seemingly alone.  With only notes and diary entries to guide you, you must discover why you have Amnesia and the meaning behind your “experiences.”  What is interesting about this game is that combat isn’t an option.  If you are attacked, you had better learn to hide, run, and throw obstacles out of your way, fast.

What makes Amnesia so fantastic is the atmosphere.  Everything in this game is utilized to help freak you out, from sounds to visuals.  Often times you are stuck in the dark with only a lantern to guide you through the worn stone halls of doom.  Suddenly a gust of wind will blow up a plume of dust or the sound of something scurrying comes at you from behind.  Many terrifying moments are in the smallest of details, but they can also come from the most intense barrage of information on your senses.  The game has moments where your character is so terrified that you will fall to the ground with fear and begin to crawl at a snail’s pace.  One of the scariest moments in the game for me was being chased by an invisible monster in the water of a basement.  I had to throw objects out of my way while splashes and guttural growls approached from behind.  You can’t move obstacles and look behind you at the same time, forcing you to panic as the noises get closer.  Mommy.

Natural Light: A rarity in Amnesia

The game’s interface is simple to use and understand.  You have a basic grid box for inventory management, a meter for how much oil is in your lamp, and two visual representation: Health and Sanity.   None of these are visible as a HUD display, but instead force you to pull out of the game using a tabbed menu.  Here you can create new items from clues and objects you have found whilst managing oil levels and tinder boxes (matches that let you light your path without using oil).   Health is straight forward and seems to slowly regen with enough time.  Played correctly, you should never take damage, but occasionally you will nearly die or fall requiring some form of healing.  Sanity is the fun element to the game.  The more time you spend in darkness the more your sanity falters.  As your sanity drops you will start to hear things, see things, have visual distortions and troubles moving.  This is where your lantern and tinder boxes  come in handy. You will need to find safe havens of light to keep from going insane by utilizing torches and candles along the journey.  This comes with a risk though, light the path too much and you could be forced into utter darkness later or even worse, be easily seen by forces that you don’t want to see you.  Trust me, you don’t want them to see you.

Amnesia also utilizes simple problem solving puzzles that will need to be solved in order to progress through the castle.  None of these are overly challenging brain teasers.  More often than not it requires you to explore and find items and then combine them to serve a purpose.  These problems cater well to the game, forcing you to explore areas that are dark and at first glance, you want to leave behind.  I did find some of the final puzzles a bit more difficult, but this was probably because I stopped reading my diary entries where the clues you need are often hidden.

Overall, the game is an amazing buy IF you love being scared and non combat based adventures.  While the game isn’t long (I played roughly 20 hours) it is well worth the $20 price tag.  If you want to try the game out first, have at the free demo on Steam.  I can promise you this game is a great way to freak yourself out.  As the intro to the game suggests, turn off your lights and put on some headphones… I only add this, bring an extra pair of pants.

 

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Playing Indie: Terraria

By
VTV Staff
– June 17, 2011Posted in: Gavin's Blog, Staff Blogs

Each week Vagary.tv takes a look at a new game from the world of indie development.  From shooters to puzzlers, we cover the games you should be buying or avoiding within the indie development scene.

Nothing quite lives up to the ability to design your own house, adventure across unknown lands, oh and beating the tar out of giant mutant eyeballs. Be it exploring large caverns, digging to the depths of hell, grouping up for a dungeon, or building a village for npc merchants, all this and more is available in the 2D side scrolling sandbox adventure from Terraria.

Designed by Andrew Sprinks, Terraria won’t look like much at first. However, Sprite graphics and only 2 dimensions shouldn’t scare you away from this terrific title.  You start as a lone adventurer with only a pick, an axe and a npc guide to help you.  The mission is simple: use the world’s resources to build yourself a house, find treasure, and/or take on savage beasts and giant bosses for glory.

Everything in Terraria is usable in some manner.  Much like the hit Minecraft, there is an extensive crafting side to Terraria.  Wood can be used to make weapons, furniture, platforms, walls, doors and more.  Mix in some iron and gold and the options begin to skyrocket.  At a point I was even able to forge new armors from fallen meteors and the burning rocks of hell.  No joke.  Every substance from dirt to hellstone has a use and something that can be crafted from its refined state.  Many of the aesthetic pieces serve a dual purpose, adding to your crafting options while making your home look spiffy.  Terraria’s world allows you to terraform and build up however you choose using an extensive array of patterns and materials.

Crafting isn’t the only side to Terraria.  Farming materials can be just as important as exploring deep caverns or the surface of the world. Monsters spawn during the day and night, allowing you to farm other materials and drops.  Treasure chests are found hidden in caves, containing riches and unique items that can’t be crafted.  Adventuring and exploration open up new areas with unique enemies, often times leading to more unique rewards.  At the end of each zone, a large dungeon awaits adventurers, filled with items, chests, and hordes of undead skeletons.

Need a greater challenge?  Collecting certain materials from enemies allows you to make items that summon terrible bosses.  The Eye of Cuthulu, Eater of Worlds, and Skeletron all pose enhanced challenges for growing players.  With health pools that represent their increased size, these bosses may require more than one player to take down if they don’t have the appropriate gear. Now that it has dedicated server options, you can put together servers for you and your friends to play on! If the players are successful, they are rewarded well with unique ore, weapons, and lots of extra coin.

The great thing about Terraria is that it mixes old adventure games with modern minecraft-like crafting.  After playing nearly 60 hours, I don’t have much left to explore within the game, but for $10 bucks on steam, that is much more game time than I have had in a large budget title in years.  Even more exciting will be future additions the developers add as time goes on.  So if you are into sandbox adventures and fun sprite battle action, this game is an incredible value for a lot of fun. I absolutely recommend this game for anyone who enjoyed minecraft and grew up with a love for sprite based adventure games.

For more info look up Terraria on Steam or check out Terraria.org to watch the official trailer.

 

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Lock, Stock, and Barrel: World of StarCraft Edition

By
VTV Staff
– January 21, 2011Posted in: Blogs, Gavin's Blog

Undoubtedly fans of World of Warcraft and StarCraft have always been curious what a StarCraft MMO would look like.   One such fan and mod maker for StarCraft2 tried to answer that question this week.  This LSB we investigate the drama, ideas and reality of the so called World of StarCraft.

The Issue

Ryan Wizen, a mod maker for StarCraft 2, released footage of a mod called World of StarCraft on youtube.  The video depicts the early stages of what a StarCraft MMO would look like if it was made in the wake of the World of Warcraft formula.  Activision/Blizzard’s legal department sent Ryan an email and asked for it to be taken down along with siting copyright infringements and other legal issues.

What the Media is Saying

Brendan Drain over at Massively starts us off with, “Today brings some bad news for fans of the World of StarCraft mod and its development, as Activision has finally taken notice. The alpha trailer released on YouTube has been removed at the request of Activision, the reason being cited as copyright and intellectual property violations.” Leigh Alexander of Gamasutra writes, “It’s unclear yet whether Blizzard, which has a new large-scale MMO of its own in development, takes major issue with the project itself — raising speculation of possible overlap with actual Blizzard projects in development.  It seems likely the problem is simply the name “World of StarCraft”, which rather overtly employs two of its brands: not just StarCraft, but its World of Warcraft too, and may violate the copyrights Blizzard has spanning both names.”

“There is, however, a silver lining in all of this. The popularity and quality of the mod caught the attention of Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends.” writes Larry Everett of Massively.  Andy Chalk of The Escapist says, “Winzen was contacted by Riot Games, the developer behind League of Legends, and offered a shot with the studio. He said it’s not a “100 percent guaranteed thing” and that he’ll still have to make his way through the application process and testing, but Riot Design Director Tom Cadwell confirmed on the League of Legends forum that the offer had been extended.”

While many jumped on Blizzard and Activision for the removal of the video, it would seem both Blizzard and Wizen are denying any wrong doing.  Chalk reports on Blizzards statement which includes, “Like many players in the community, we’re looking forward to seeing the continued development of this mod, and as part of our ongoing discussion, we’ve extended an offer to the developer to visit the Blizzard campus and meet with the StarCraft 2 development team. As always, we appreciate all of the efforts of the talented and enthusiastic mod-making community, and we look forward to seeing and playing what they create using the StarCraft 2 editor in the future.”

Also of note is Ryan Wizen’s statement which at one point he exclaims, “Literally overnight I’ve grown from a nobody to a guy that half a million people want to design a mod. I’ve had professional composers contact me, dozens upon dozens of game designers and programmers and organizers. Many professionals seeking a fun hobby project even though there is NO MONEY TO BE MADE. ( At this time premium maps is still just a concept ).” You can read his full statement here.

My Response

You may have noticed that I skipped the second set of responses, usually quoting a few community members from various comment sections.  While normally I enjoy doing this, when Blizzard or Activision are mentioned the general intelligence and wit of comments tends to degrade quickly.  From Massively’s two page discussion on the meaning of Capitalism to the variations of Blizzard and/or Activision names combined with obscenities on The Escapist.  The only decent comments seem to be coming from few and far between.

Essentially, I think this entire story needed a day to sink in before being reported on.  The issue was not that big of a deal and came down to the naming of the mod, which Wizen had clearly violated some copyrights with.  At no time had Blizzard or Activision ever served a Cease and Desist order.  Blizzard later made a statement encouraging its development and offered a trip to Wizen to come and meet the StarCraft 2 team.  All of the drama associated with this entire issue came out of the minds of Anti-Blizzard hate mongers or those who just didn’t take the time to understand more than what the headlines had told them.

Both Blizzard and Wizen have made statements saying there is not major issue here and that reasonable discussion has been made to alleviate any concerns on either side.  Yet like most provocative news stories in the gaming industry, it exploded with the inputs of the more ignorant masses.  What should be the story here is not the legal issues but more that Wizen did a great job of showing of the potential for a StarCraft MMO within a game not even designed for the mechanics.  It’s a great mod and with the encouragement of Blizzard could become something greater.

I suggest everyone take a breath, calm down, set the Blizz hate aside, and give a smile to yet another community modder getting closer to the dream of working in the industry.

Great work, Mr. Wizen.  We at Vagary wish you the best.

Sources: The Escapist 1, The Escapist 2,The Escapist 3, Wiken’s Statement, Gamasutra 1, Gamasutra 2, Massively 1, Massively 2, Massively 3

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Lock, Stock, and Barrel: Creativity Edition

By
VTV Staff
– January 13, 2011Posted in: Blogs, Gavin's Blog

With the every growing ease for independent games distribution, we are seeing more accessibility to a larger selection of games than every before.  Platforms like Steam (PC) , Xbox Live and PlayStation Networks (Console), and the huge boom of phone application stores, it is nearly impossible to find a spot other than the middle  of the ocean where a variety of games cannot be purchased and browsed.  However, is this entirely a good thing?

What Happened

The issue this week on LSB stems from three interviews with developers and their statements on creativity in the industry.  The interviews are with Jon Hare (Sensible Soccer, Mega lo Mania, Cannon Fodder), Jenova Chen (Co-Founder of thatgamecompany, makers of Flower), and Al Alcorn (Co-Founder of Atari and programmer for Pong).

What They (Hare, Chen, Alcorn) Said.

Beginning, Hare says, “I believe that as a commercial industry [the game industry] became more ‘mature’ – i.e. bloated with far too much middle management all wanting their own slice of the pie and shareholders demanding never-ending short-term success – around 1995. However, I feel that creatively, from a software design point of view, it went from being a very powerful, innovative industry to a creatively weaker, me-too industry at about the same time.” Hare later goes on to say, “From my point of view, commercially, [the games industry] has gone backwards because I am making less money, because the middle managers and their bean-counting overlords have largely disempowered the creative intellectual property generators from having sufficient influence and power within the industry.” Chen sees another trending problem within online development, stating, “When people design online games, they often do lazy work. They bring an existing single-player game — an RPG, an RTS, a fighting game, a shooter — and duct tape on some online technology. They say, “okay, there’s multiple players, now do something cool. Here, play a kid’s game like Capture the Flag.” That’s the level of design.”

Alcorn encourages us to look back saying, “If you look at our games – the earlier games – they were all really wildly different,”  ”We tried all kinds of things. It was a great time to experiment. Now, the money is so big, we’re afraid to take risks. We took a lot of risks and we had a lot of fun doing it.” Dean Takahashi of Games Beat writes, “With 200-person teams, it’s too risky to try to experiment. Alcorn says that when you have a big team, you have to know what you’re doing and you have to play it safe. That eliminates a lot of experimentation. Still, Alcorn says that if developers focus on creating a new kind of game, they might get lucky.” Chen thinks the issue is more about the lack of social relevance in most games explaining, “If you really wanted to stimulate a social activity, you need to re-think it from the ground up. What is the skill they’re supposed to acquire? Accuracy? Or is it the ability to convince others? If the skill is social, it’ll be very relevant and useful. People still play poker. Why? Because the skill of deception is useful for real life. Look at online games. How many skills are based on social elements? Most games are based on grinding, accuracy, physical dexterity. They are not social games. They’re just old games with online features.”

Hare has hope though.  When he was asked about the upswing of Indie development he gave a resounding, “Thank God for that. Sequels and license tie-ins will be the death of the industry. The business people who make the really big decisions would happily abandon this industry for another one once they have sucked the life out of it. There are many, many ways to make money out of games and I prefer the route that rewards great, new, innovative games and a limited amount of their sequels and conversions onto other systems. So all power to the indies and the truly great classic games, no matter what size budgets there are behind them – all power to great games.”

What Comments Said

Tren wrote about Hare’s interview stating, “It’s sad when great games are lost in the crowd of games/apps that honestly should never have been put in the app store to begin with. And until something is done to change how that is structured it will always be the case, very unfortunate.” M dW writes, “Not to be blunt, but the games today bear no real innovation. Ok we have Wii now, which is poorly implemented, graphics are horrible, and games are unimaginative. 3DKinect might be a nice idea, I’m waiting for a good game to use it. But i think we now live in a time to see games used as a tool in many areas such as eduction, sports, marketing, social living and many more i think.” This same notion was found interesting and similarly put, “It was really interesting to read his perspective on social interaction in gaming, and the way many online modes are a result of laziness. It’s true that I’m sick of seeing Capture the Flag in every online multiplayer game… Make up a new game.. something more relevant!!”

Marty Howe writes, “How many more muscle bound, Caucasian space marine heroes with big guns can you endure? We are treating the audience like they are truly dumb.  If we can engineer mature, sophisticated games with inventive and innovative gameplay – we’ll actually make audiences smarter. Audience expectations will rise, and they’ll demand more from a gaming experience.  People will then look back at zombies, space marines and ninjas and shake their heads in disbelief that that type of subject matter actually entertained them for X number of years. That’s the path to mature the industry, I think.” Yet Chris Kaitila thinks we already have what people want stating, “..check out the Indie Game scene – you will find everything you are looking for.”

My Thoughts

With the invention of better distribution methods I believe we are seeing a lot more titles yearly than we have in the past.  With this comes some concern and praise.  On one hand it is amazing to see more independent developers taking risks and having the ability to share those products with a larger audience.  Multi-million dollar projects may have the ability to reach a market, but they lack the freedom to truly innovate due to the concern of greater losses.

On the other hand, we have a huge amount of independent and large budget games being pushed out all the time.  While as a gamer I have always loved to see more games out, my concern is an over saturation that will deter innovation.  Hare brought up a great point in his interview about the apps market becoming a mess so much that many titles  that deserve recognition get lost in the fray.  Independent developers are finding it easier to share their games, but with the massive market ready to grab up the $25 or less  price tags, we are starting to see independent development share trends with multi billion dollar projects.  The difference here is just the gravity of money being tossed around.

I don’t think we are in a bad spot yet, but I do think that the industry should be concerned about losing the incentive to innovate.  A power that once drove creative development and gamers to the cash register.

Sources: GamaSutra 1, GamaSutra 2, Beef Jack, PlayStation Blog, VentureBeat

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Level Up: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

By
VTV Staff
– January 11, 2011Posted in: Blogs, Gavin's Blog

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) has always been a huge love of mine.  Seriously.  I had the sheets, turtle shaped pillows, toys, video games and yes even those stylish TMNT whitey tighties.  I believe I first saw them during the cartoon show on Saturdays.  It would be the first TMNT real action movie that cemented my love for the IP to the point where my most difficult decision was what turtle to have on my underwear that day.  Needless to say, this week was a huge nostalgia kick for me, even if it was one of absolute unbridled fury.

History and Mechanics

TMNT was developed in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System and released under the US Konami label, Ultra Games.  It follows some of the same story in the 1987 TV series although the visual style is much more akin to the Comics.  It was received exceptionally well, selling nearly 4 million copies.  Of interesting note, the game went on to win Nintendo Power’s Game of the Year award despite earning a 3/10 rating in Nintendo Life.  This may or may not reflect some biases being that it is one of the highest grossing NES games not developed by Nintendo.

The mechanics are a mixed bag including elements common to the rpgs of the time period and side scrolling action oriented combat.  Part of the game you will be exploring the world from an above view similar to that of Final Fantasy or Link.  While exploring you can enter buildings or sewer holes that will switch the game to the side scrolling action style part of the game.  The difference between exploration mode in TMNT is that enemies can attack you and you can attack back without switching screens.  The addition is limited and really isn’t enough to call a perk, but it is noteworthy.

Side scrolling action parts of the game pit you up against different types of enemies ranging from flies to men made of fire.  Most of the enemies are fairly simple to defeat on their own.  The challenge comes when mixing lots of them together in the same area whilst forcing the player to navigate terrain.  Defeating enemies can produce special secondary ranged weapons that aid the player in thinning the foot clan ranks.

Another great aspect to the game is the ability to swap to any turtle at any moment.  Pressing select brings up a map and turtle select screen, allowing you to choose the right turtle for the right situation.  Each turtle has strength’s and weaknesses that can help aid in your missions, but played right you will never need any turtle but Donatello.   A combination of the best range and power easily makes up for the slightly slower attack speed.  Raphael has the next best damage and second best attack speed, but the worst range; Leonardo has a great arcing attack, but is the weakest by far (not cool Konami!); Michaelangelo has medium damage medium range and the fastest attacks.  Most veteran TMNT players will recommend that you keep Donatello alive at all costs while using the others as cannon fodder.  When a turtle ‘dies’ he is actually captured.  A few locations in the game allow you to rescue the last turtle caught, however losing more than one means permanent loss of a turtle.

My Experience and Nostalgia

It has been nearly a decade since I last played TMNT, yet I still remember a large portion of the first 3 levels.  Things start off easily enough running around the streets and jumping into sewers to traverse canals or road blocks.  The combat is simple and even fun when using Don.  Other turtles pissed me off because they generally end up getting hit after failing to kill an enemy fast enough.  To be honest, Leo just makes me made cause he is the weakest and my favorite.

One of my favorite little touches to the game is that slices of pizza are used to restore health.  Staying true to the IP, TMNT makes sure that pizza is something that your turtles crave.  A slice here and a slice there are coveted items that must be shared between all four of your turtles to keep them alive.  If only life were so grand that a slice of pepperoni cured the wounds of combat.

The first level of TMNT is nothing that exciting.  I saved April no problem and moved onto the more advanced Level 2.  Level 2 is a bit more difficult.  You have to save a dam from blowing up.  The level introduces you to the first jumping challenges in the game.  Mess up the jump and you are forced to fight back through all of the respawned enemies.  If you manage to make the jump, you move onto the second most irritating part of the game (that I have played): Swimming.   Swimming isn’t too horrible in itself, but you must navigate several obstacles in order to shut down each unit of explosive.  At one point you have to swim through an arching path of electric seaweed.  Not only is the idea ludicrous (more so than turtle ninjas) but I am convinced it is nearly impossible to navigate without coming close to losing a turtle.  Oh, did I mention this is a timed segment?  Yep, you have to navigate the swimming zone in under 2 min and hit every explosive.  Miss one, you have to go back.  Don’t bother though as you will not make it.  Hitting all the explosives moved me onto level three, where all my dreams die.

I am not sure what it is about this zone that irritates me, but it is the biggest obstacle in my way.  The difficulty raises by requiring your turtle to fight his way through hordes of enemies in order to procure needed items.  Things like rope to navigate roofs and missiles to take out road blocks.  If you don’t know the path you will undoubtedly be forced to damage yourself more fighting to get the needed items you wasted while exploring the zone.  To top it off, jumping becomes an even bigger part of level navigation than previously.  The limited controls and actions you can perform will often leave you cursing with frustration when missing a jump means redoing the entire side scrolling zone and a loss of health.

One cool thing about level 3, aside from actually finishing it, is the ability to drive the Party Wagon van around.  The mechanics are not that spectacular but it is a nice change of pace from previous elements and does a great job of mixing up the game as a whole.

At level four you start at an airport looking for the Turtle Blimp.  In this zone random planes will try and bomb you while you explore between buildings and sewer holes.  This is also where I always die and for traditions sake, failed to pass for this article.  My failure in level 4 often is caused not by the bombing planes and zone difficulty, but more so by the irritating jumping mechanics and hp lowering masses of baddies combined in level 3.  Usually low on continues from jump failures resulting in low HP deaths, I am left weak and without much flexibility in terms of failure for level 4.

Analysis and Conclusion

I think the thing TMNT does better than any other game of the time is mixing game mechanics from multiple genres.  You have action, exploration, simple rpg elements, and a few different areas that have you swimming or driving.  As an early hybrid, it gave a little of something for everyone.  Games today have really started to adopt this idea well.  Mass Effect 2 is a prime example of how RPG and Action work together to form a unique yet awesome experience.  While TMNT can’t be attributed to the motivation for such games, it was a start for genre mixing decades ago.  It is interesting to see how the same types of innovations years later, are earning games the same titles.

Mix this in with a great IP and a true to form story, it is no surprise that TMNT has won a GotY award.  Even as someone who detests certain parts of this game, it still stands out as a fun title to play and revisit despite past frustrations.  You don’t have to beat this game in order to enjoy what it has to offer, and that in itself makes it a winner.

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Lock, Stock, and Barrel: 3DS Edition

By
VTV Staff
– December 30, 2010Posted in: Blogs, Gavin's Blog

Nintendo has always had a place in my heart.  It was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that first introduced me to the joys of video games.  It is because of my experience with Nintendo in my youth that I have always looked at the company as maker of games for families and kids.   Recent headlines have put a bit of a scuff mark on this image.  This Lock, Stock and Barrel, we examine what people are saying about the recent announcement by Nintendo.

What Happened?

Earlier in the week Nintendo made an announcement warning users that the 3D graphics on the 3DS cause greater strain on the eyes and could potential lead to vision problems for younger children.  With the upcoming preview next month in Japan, fans will get a hands on look and experience with the new handheld.  Unfortunately, after recent announcements, children will not be allowed to participate.

Media Response.

“Depending on how you look at it, Nintendo is taking a pretty big risk with the introduction of the 3DS.” says Matthew Humphries of Geek.com.  “Even though there is a slider to turn down the 3D effects, this is a handheld meant for games to be played in 3D.” Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku writes, “Viewing 3D at a young age could have effects later in life.” “Nintendo points out that the vision of young children is still in developmental stages, which is why it recommended that they do not use the 3DS’s 3D effects as well as watch 3D movies and 3D television.” This is not the first time such warnings have been brought to the table though.  Daisuke Wakabayshi of the Wall Street Journal informs us, “The warning is similar to those made by other makers of 3-D consumer-electronics products. Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. all provide warnings on their websites about the possible risks of viewing 3-D images for children younger than six.”

What precautions are Nintendo taking to avoid these issues? Well they “recommend that you take a break every 30 minutes as a guide,” for all players.  The reasoning behind this being that, “3D gameplay causes eye fatigue more quickly than 2D gaming,” reports Nilay Patel of Engadget.  Humphries weighs in writing, “I don’t think anyone takes any notice of the guidance given for any piece of electronic entertainment. When was the last time you played a DS game and kept an eye on the clock for a break every hour?” “…If anyone is going to get sick playing on a 3DS it will be after a purchase has been made. Hopefully Nintendo’s 3D slider will allow for such sickness to be controlled or removed completely. If it can’t then we’ll hear a few complaints, but Nintendo must know the majority of players will be happy and sickness-free.” He later adds, “Once you have really tired eyes it’s difficult to carry on looking at the screen. That may not be a bad thing, forcing kids to go and do something else for a while.”

According to Fox News, “Dr. Michael Ehrenhaus, an ophthalmologist with New York Cornea Consultants, thinks Nintendo and Sony may be getting ahead of themselves with these disclaimers.” Fox News again, “But eye strain from 3D may turn out to be merely the latest in a long line of fears about television and video gaming. It’s similar to the widespread worries that arose after flashing lights in games led to rare epileptic fits, or the old wives tale about sitting too close to the television.” Dr. Ehrenhaus concurs, “A lot of these myths never really play out.”

People’s Response.

Strando410 writes, “There’s no big deal at all. It’s just Nintendo covering their ass…   Like Wii remote straps, this warning is purely for accountability, a necessary evil in the litigious 21st century.” MrClint says, “I like how they are so responsible and warn people about the real side effects of the 3D gimmick. Many small kids will probably jump on it like wild animals because they simply do not know that it could harm their eyes.”

ColinStein wonders, “… how many parents actually know about this eye development under 6 years of age? I know there’s plenty of people I talked about about how children under 6 should watch 3D movies and no one had a clue that it’s bad for those children.” Which is why ConfederateRokr thinks it is a, “Smart move by nintendo, the parental controls were a good deciscion. Kids aren’t going to keep themselves from playing in 3D.” Although ColinStein retorts, “how many kids are going to slide that 3D back up anyway? This guy would.”

My Thoughts.

When discussing video games and raising children we will always run into a conflict.  I think it is smart of Nintendo to give warnings about these types of things.  Yes it most likely stems from a legal protection necessity but it goes a long ways towards helping warn parents about possible issues.  I don’t have much experience with how 3d effects will hurt a child, but I do remember the same things being said about 2D games and television when I was young.  I spent more than healthy amounts of time in front of a TV playing my NES and somehow turned out ok.  That said, I think it is wise for us to keep these warnings in mind when playing around with new technology.

In the end it is about taking care of yourself and Nintendo warns that for some people the 3DS visuals can be hard on the eyes.  They are doing the right thing here and incorporating parental controls and 3D adjustment sliders to help prevent any negative issues.  As far as how 3D games can have an effect on children under 6?  Kids that age don’t need video games.  They need imagination, legos, dolls and cardboard boxes.  I didn’t start playing any video game until I was 6, and at that point it was well monitored by my family.  For those worried about this technology hurting their young children I think Ontariogirl put it best on The Huffington Post: “Here is a tip. You want to experience a 3D game……­.go outside and play.”

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Geek.com, Huffington Post, Engadget, FoxNews, Nintendo (translated via Google), Kotaku

4

Level Up: Half-Life 2 (PC)

By
VTV Staff
– December 29, 2010Posted in: Blogs, Gavin's Blog

I often get into bouts of frustration that have me tweeking out like a wookie with flees.  A common cause to these flip outs is trying to decide what game to look at for the next week’s column.  With so many good titles out there, I just want to play them all!  Unfortunately, I am limited to my one human brain and I can’t dual box consoles.  Although if that could be done I would bow down to said individual.  Long story short, in order to vent some of this frustration, I picked up my laundry basket like He-Man.  While debating on what object in my vicinity deserved a smiting, it came to my mind that I love throwing objects at enemies.  So this week on Level Up, we step back from the console and look at one game that encourages slaying enemies with any object you can pick up or tear out of the wall: Half Life 2.  I guess I picked it up more like Free-man?  Ok, I’m done.

History and Mechanics

The two actually means it is a sequel and  I deduced this myself.  Half Life 2 (HL2) is the second addition to the series that, once again, follows the most bad ass scientist you will ever play: Gordon Freeman. Developed by Valve Corporation, HL2 was one of the most well received games of all time, netting in 39 Game of the Year awards.  If that doesn’t make you want to check it out, your desire to be different may be serious character flaw.

The game is a First Person Shooter style adventure with plenty of baddies to pwn with shotguns and explode with rocket launchers.  While exploding enemies is great, the true joy comes from the new game engine named Source.  The Source engine stepped up nearly every aspect of the IP with improved physics, AI, animations, rendering, and sound.  While the look of water and textures were great, the highlight was the physics.  The game encourages you to work with your surroundings and interact with the objects in them.  In fact, the physics were such a highlight of HL2 they even incorporated a weapon specifically designed to play/pwn with them: The Gravity Gun.

The Gravity gun is the best addition to a FPS game ever.  You can pick up barrels, crates, tires, paint cans, grenades, toilets, sinks, furnaces, tables, chairs, planks, saw blades… let’s just say anything around your size or smaller can be turned into a high volocity mass of doom for your enemies.  The game not only encourages the use of physics in combat (yes there is an achievement for killing someone with a toilet) but also through the nature of the game’s puzzles.  In Half Life, we saw the use of puzzles used as ways to challenge the player during progression.  Most of the puzzles were of a “find the next button” nature.  At the time that was great, but now HL2 steps it up with puzzles that require you to use physical objects and their attributes to move on.  Stacking boxes, using the weight of bricks, flammable substances, or floating material can all be used to help you get to the next section in HL2.  It is fantastic and leaves the door open for creativity when dealing with the opposition.

My Experience and Nostalgia

I have played Half Life 2 from start to finish more times then I can count.  While the AI is random enough to keep me guessing on how certain scenarios will play out, in general my experience with the game has made it so that playing on difficult and limiting myself has made the longevity of entertainment amazing.  This time through I only used my crowbar, pistol and gravity gun unless an achievement required a different weapon.  Needless to say, dying is a regular occurrence this time around.

Utilizing the games objects as weapons keeps me more in tune with the environments around me.  I take note of objects as I walk into new rooms and keep a running tab in my head of all the objects I can use for weapons in the previous few rooms.  Why the latter? Because when you play with the basic weapons only, you do a lot of retreating.

My favorite zone thus far has been Ravenholm, although every new chapter/zone brings new joys.  Set up like an small city overrun with aliens and zombie head crab people, it is an adrenaline rush.  You can’t seem to find the space that you need to feel safe. Every room is crammed and leaves little wiggle room for error. The game has an achievement to get through only using your gravity gun.  I thought it would be easy but it was tricky and scary during some parts on the highest difficulty.

I have not finished the game yet.  I have only just reached the Nova Prospect section (shady prison system).  The goal this time around wasn’t to finish, but rather to enjoy the creativity that the game offers.  I plan on finishing the whole HL2 series later on this week. For now, it has just been a blast fighting my way through the zones one toilet or paint can at a time.

Analysis and Conclusion

The great thing that HL2 does is provide you with the tools to create your own experience.  HL2 could have easily been released with just the physics and normal FPS arsenal, but the addition of the gravity gun was an invitation to mix things up and play in the HL2 world.  I’ve spent hours not even playing the actual story but goofing off with explosions and throwing barrels around.  The gravity gun truly is the most remarkable feature on an already brilliant game.

If there is something that new developers can take away from HL2 its this: Linear doesn’t have to be synonymous with limited.  You can control your story and the path of the player yet still  help the player have fun.  The gravity gun may have been something that valve decided would be fun for combat, but the biggest joy is just how it allows you to play with your surroundings.  A mechanic that encourages the player to enjoy your world.  What a concept huh?

2

Lock, Stock, and Barrel: Rift Edition

By
VTV Staff
– December 23, 2010Posted in: Blogs, Gavin's Blog

The NDA on Rift has been lifted and that has flooded the web with a ton of opinions on the game. Did you miss out on the Beta Events?  Want to get an idea of what it is like without reading 70 blogs?   This week on LSB, I do the work for you and find out what everyone is saying from the nasty to the glorifying.

What Happened?

This week, Trion Worlds lifted the NDA to the new anticipated game, Rift.  After the first two beta events, and a third on the way, bloggers, columnists and people alike are excited to finally discuss how they feel about the game.  Thank the maker because I was stressing out keeping all this bottled up inside.

Media Response

William Murphy of MMORPG.com writes, “In short, it does indeed have the “it factor” an MMO need in order to keep people playing and paying, and it might even pull some folks who are tired of Azeroth away from WoW. Emphasis on might and some. Because ultimately one of its greatest flaws will be seen as the fact that it’s very much akin to World of Wacraft (and most other traditional MMOs).” He later goes on to list a few things he loved about the game including, fluid UI, lots of quests, huge zones and the soul system.  On the later he states, “The system that seems to be the real winner in Rift has nothing to do with the game’s title itself. What’s really going to get MMORPG fans salivating is the soul system.” Massively writer Karen Bryan says, “..but this is difficult to critique right now, because even if you reached level 20, you barely scratched the surface of what the different souls and soul combinations can do.” This brings up a valid point for any assessment of content.

Murphy writes, “The problem with many MMOs rests in its UI, but that’s not the case with Rift. The controls are both responsive and straightforward.” Bryan disagrees though stating, “some things need to be a bit faster. Running, turning around, moving backwards, and panning in and out with the mousewheel all felt really slow. I’m happy Trion sped up the global cooldown between betas and added in a soft queue, but I’d still love to see combat ramped up a bit as well.” Jason “Medawky” Bolton of TenTonHammer  believes that, “Rift is a graphically stunning game that is filled with both beautiful landscapes and horrific monsters. While graphics don’t always make the game, the look of Rift is excellent and thus far runs smoothly even in a beta setting.” Karen didn’t have many issues with performance, “but I did run into some major lag during some of the larger invasions, and a few guildmates who were in raid ended up crashing out of the Sunday night invasion event. I’d love a way to swap from a high setting to a lower one instantly, for those unexpected moments when a large invasion suddenly pops up.” Which I agree would be an excellent feature for the future.

“Very few games lately have been able to convey so much in their first 20 levels, but with so much depth and such a quick leveling curve Rift has done an excellent job of immersing me in its world.” states Bolton. Murphy agrees saying, “Some players will decry the game due to the fact that they’re being handheld through the leveling process by the structure of quests. It’s not necessarily an issue for me, however, as I feel the game gives enough incentive with its collections to explore on my own and not feel restricted by questing non-stop.” Bryan adds, “Questing is no different from what you find in most MMOs, but in RIFT, it serves a different purpose. In many MMOs, questing is the fastest path to the endgame. In RIFT, it’s one path, but if beta two is any indication, it’s not necessarily a faster path than rift hunting or grouping.”

What about Rift rifts? “..the Rifts themselves, are an interesting take on the Public Quest idea first introduced by EA Mythic with Warhammer Online.” explains Murphy.  Bolton concurs, “Rift combat can happen at any time, with the map lighting up and highlighting active attacks.  The feel of the rift events is much like the public quests of Warhammer Online, where players don’t have to be grouped to participate and there is definite strength in numbers.” Bryan reminds us, “The best part about rift invasions is that they encourage teamwork and social interaction. Players quickly learned over the weekend that grouping up, rather than fighting solo, meant better experience and rewards for all.” “They’re essentially supposed to be the main draw of the game, but as I spent more time playing I found myself avoiding them and going around them on my adventures. They’re fun enough, and I’m glad that a solo player can often complete them as that’s my usual play-style,” says Murphy, reassuring us that single play is still viable.

Bryan concludes, “RIFT isn’t perfect, and there’s a lot that might feel all-to-familiar, but the rift invasions and the soul system address the two biggest problems in MMOs today: lack of player interaction and the limitations of the holy trinity in groups. Rifts encourage players to band together, include each other, and fight against a common enemy. The soul system encourages five people, regardless of class, to group up and still have the tools to make progress together. If rift invasions are tuned correctly, and if the soul system realizes its potential,RIFT has a real opportunity to breathe new life into the MMO genre.”

The Blogger’s Response

“Rift MMO feels like a polished Warhammer Online with more dynamic public quests. I am going to get it.” writes Ravious at KillTenRats.  Tipa of WestKarana praises the efforts of the development team writing, “There’s a whole “A” team, “B” team thing in game development. The “A” team develops the game according to a shared vision of something new, then the “B” team takes over and removes all the cool stuff in favor of ever-increasing mediocrity. Both EQ and EQ2 have been “B” teamed to death. But I am loving what the “A” team has done with Trion’s Rift.  There’s only room for one WoW-like in my life. Rift is the one.” Candace McCarty of MMOReporter isn’t sure what to think yet saying, “Rift: Planes of Telara has a lot of potential. It is a beautiful game world that seems “alive”. The unique class system I’m not completely sold on. It could be a blessing or a bane. I have no final judgement on what the game will be come release day. Based on my first impressions, it remains a “we shall see what happens.” Syp of Biobreak concludes, “For my money and short time in the game, RIFT is the real deal.  It’s polished, it works just fine, it seems a bit too familiar in spots, and it may have difficulty competing with other established games in the already-crowded fantasy genre.  Still, the soul system is inspired and rifts/invasions are quite cool, so I don’t doubt that this will get quite a few followers at launch.”

Not everyone was inspired by the game though.  Keen of Keen and Graev’s states, “If you like WoW, you have absolutely no reason to play Rift.  If you’re looking for a real PvP game or one with an open world even remotely like a sandbox then you have no reason to play Rift.  If you’re wanting something different then definitely do not play Rift.  If you want a good game (that isn’t WoW) that is more of the same then Rift does a great job of delivering probably the best available.” Beau Hindman of Spouse Aggro thinks the lack of innovation is something we should not be making excuses for, “But, let’s not say things like “It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel..” or other half-assed attempts at defending the game. See, for a “AAA” game, you should be required by law to reinvent the fucking wheel. If not, you should be forced to put “We in no way reinvented the wheel. But, we’re new” all over your website.”

My Thoughts

I played in both beta events and found the game enjoyable.  Was it the best thing ever? No.  Most innovative?  No.  Did it do what its advertisements claimed it did?  Arguable. However the only thing lack of huge innovation has proven to me after playing the beta is that they spent a lot of money on making a game that combined a lot of the best theme park goodness of the last 6 years.  People will compare this to other games because it is a mix of other games.  Elements from EQ2, WoW, WAR, Aion, and more.  I don’t see this as making the game bad.  I see it as making a smart alternative to what is out there.  I don’t need a perfect innovative creation anytime a new mmo comes out.  Sometimes it is even nice to play something that isn’t cutting edge (like anytime you revisit an older mmo or some independent titles).  The thing that Rift does well is support people playing together, mixing up their roles, and handing you an enjoyable experience in a clean package.

At the end of the day, it isn’t innovation that will make Rift a success.  What will? The variety of good features, solid game play and an ability to be a viable alternative to nearly any ‘AAA’ game out there.

Sources: TenTonHammer, Massively, MMORPG, KillTenRats, West Karana, MMO Reporter, Biobreak, Spouse Aggro

0

Level Up: Batman (NES)

By
VTV Staff
– December 21, 2010Posted in: Blogs, Gavin's Blog

It took me awhile to figure out what game I would tackle this week.  That is until I found my stash of stored games and came across one of my many 8-bit nemeses, Batman.  I could not remember what it was that kept me from finishing the title.  I do however recall a lot of hours spent mastering the first half of the game.  Tying a towel around my neck and putting on largely black attire, I sat down controller in hand and began to Level Up Batman.

History and Mechanics

Batman was developed by Sunsoft in 1989 shortly after the release of the cult classic Batman movie.  The game features five levels separated into two or three mini sections.  The final section of each level contains a boss.  The game plays like a lot of titles around the same time via side scrolling action and a few special mechanics.  These mechanics in Batman include wall jumping and 3 weapons: Batarang , Bat Missile Gun, and some crazy 3 pronged fireball attack.  Batman is a wizard too, I guess.  Wall jumping in particular becomes a necessity to success as you progress into the difficult levels.  To help with progression, Batman has unlimited continues that start you back at the beginning of whatever stage you fail on.  The exception being the bosses, which will require you to finish the previous zone as well.

Interestingly enough, the game had a twin developed on the SEGA Genesis system that did not include the same features.  It did follow the storyline of the movie a bit more and included some interesting mechanics of it’s own, including a few levels where you drive the Bat Mobile and Batwing.

My Experience and Nostalgia

Unlike last week’s Mega Man 2, the mastery I put into Batman had not worn off.  I was able to fly through the first two levels with little or no trouble.  Of course, during level three all of the memories and hate came flying back as though someone had rolled them into a bat, and hit me in the face.  Particularly challenging were the toad like jumping men of the sewers.  There is a pattern to killing them that is easily recognized but hard to execute.  They jump, you run under them, turn, strike, rinse and repeat.  The problem is the hit boxes on the enemies are so long that often times you are caught in a helpless loop of attacks from which you cannot escape until you die.  It is a recipe for high blood pressure and/or holes in the drywall.  It took me most of yesterday to pass the two zones in which they inhabit.

After finishing the sewers I came to the next part that always gave me trouble, the boss of level 3.  All morning I worked on finding the pattern to killing him.  I cried, cursed, and debated on deleting the column.  Eventually I was able to figure out a tactic that worked.  Full all out assault with Batarangs.  I beat him with one bar of life remaining.  HUZZAH!  I moved beyond the level 3 boss for the first time.  That feeling was like a piece of Zebra Stripes Gum, delicious for a few seconds, then you are just eating crap.  Levels four and five gave me lots of  challenge and I finally stopped.  The final two bosses are some fast punching, fireball throwing ninja guy and Joker himself.  I have yet to figure out how to defeat the former, so I can’t comment on Joker at all.  I R fail Batman.

Analysis and Conclusion

One of my favorite parts to Batman is the linear progression from zone to zone.  Each zone offers unique, interesting, and sometimes maddening challenges to overcome.  The boss fights are are tests in pattern recognition and execution, yet different enough from each other that every one inevitably slays you a few times before you move on.  Sure it may not be the most epic game in terms of variety, but it did a great job of creating an adventure for the player.

I have a standard rule of thumb when it comes to games made from movies.  Don’t play them.  I find this rule sad because the horrid design of movie based games of today is not something that has always been true.  Batman branched away from the movie scenes which gives the player a fresh feeling to their adventure.  Yet the game still contains enough resemblance to the movie that you do feel like part of the original story.  I like having differences in the game because they make the experience new.  I don’t want to know exactly how each turn or level will end.  Batman adds a lots of enemies and bosses that we did not see in the film.  They were creative without being destructive to the story. They deviated enough to make it fresh and fun something that is a rare find in the movie based games of today.

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