This Week in Gaming #1 – Part 2

July 26th, 2010

And here’s the rest of stuff I’ve played this week:

Medal of Honor (Xbox 360, Multiplayer Beta) – The most ‘beta’ version of any (released) beta I’ve played, so much so that I was surprised that EA had thought to release it in this condition.

The controls and movement were pretty standard (read: a lot like COD:MW2) but shooting however felt a bit inaccurate and unresponsive. Most of my (many) deaths went as follows: 1) walk/run around the map, 2) see a momentary flash of red from the damage indicator, 3) see your player character on the floor, dead.

Every single time I got killed, there was an obvious freeze between catching the first bullet (seeing the damage indicator) and then suddenly being on the floor; it almost felt like the game lagged every time I died. And it did happen every single time. It made for a very uncomfortable, awkward experience.

On the plus side, it looked quite nice (after one respawn, my gun texture decided to not appear, leaving a bright, white gun taking up space on the screen). Hopefully the Beta version will get an update before the game releases, otherwise it could be rather damaging to sales.

Lucidity (XBLA, Demo) – A nice little puzzle game from the LucasArts team that did the Monkey Island 1 update. You steer little Sofi on her ceaseless march through a beautiful dreamscape, utilising various puzzle pieces (abilities) to navigate over, under and round danger.

It looks lovely, the animations are beautiful and there seems to be plenty of challenge and replay value, but I found the controls to be quite fiddly considering there are so few buttons and the way of holding and selecting new puzzle pieces left me feeling a little confused. One for a rainy day and excess MS points perhaps?

Lazy Raiders (XBLA, Demo) – A puzzle game where you rotate the world to move the eponymous lazy tomb raider, Dr. Diggabone, around the map. Rotating the map is fast and responsive, perhaps a little too responsive actually as I found myself getting a little dizzy and disoriented during some of the more frantic moments.

Axel & Pixel (XBLA, Demo) – I’ve played Samorost (which apparently is completely unrelated to A&P, I was surprised to learn) and while this idea worked fine as a little interactive curio on the web, I really couldn’t get into this offering on XBLA. It felt like a point & click adventure minus the thinking and when you consider that I’ve also been playing Monkey Island 2 this week with it’s great puzzles, unforgettable characters and hilarious dialogue… Well, there’s not a lot more to say is there?

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This Week in Gaming #1

July 26th, 2010

I’ve been wanting to talk more about the games I play, so I thought it might be a nice idea to do a weekly post about what I’ve been up to. I have toyed with the idea of proper reviews but I’ve never get round to actually doing them, so just writing a few sentences about the things I’ve played seems like it might be a better compromise.

There won’t be any spoilers here today, but I think as the weeks go on I might start going into specifics about the things I’ve been up to. Rest assured that any spoilers will be clearly marked, so don’t worry about that!

This week (especially as I’ve played quite a lot), it will be a more general post but eventually I hope to talk at length about my thoughts on the games I play, looking at various aspects from the animation and visual style, through to the controls and gameplay/level design. Hope you enjoy it!

Oh and this list is just the fully-released games I’ve played this week. There’ll be a post a bit later about the various demos and trials I’ve finally got round to testing!

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Xbox 360) – I finally got round to picking this up just before I went for the interview in Edinburgh. I’d been meaning to get it for ages, but figured I really HAD to at least make a start before going to chat to the guys at R*.

I have found it to be a fantastic DLC package. It’s difficult to sound unbiased, but I loved GTAIV and Episodes from Liberty City is no exception. The characters are as brilliant and colourful as always, although I must admit I haven’t connected with the characters in the same way as I did in IV, in particular the two leads. I know many don’t agree, but I loved Niko as a protagonist; perhaps it’s unrealistic of me to expect to experience the same level of connection with two characters that you don’t spend nearly as much time with over the course of the episodes.

Despite this, the mission design is brilliant and far more fantastical and bombastic than most of the missions from the original game; loads more “blockbuster” action than the grittier, slightly more ground experience of IV (the base-jumping in particular is great fun). New experiences, characters, weapons and missions for an already great game? What more could you ask for from GTA DLC?

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition (XBLA) – There’s not really much to say about this one. It was a brilliant game when I played it on the family’s 386 back in the day and it’s just as good now. The updated graphics are beautiful (it looks way better than The Secret of Monkey SE released not long ago incidentally), the voice acting is great and it’s a fantastic price to boot!

It took me a little while to get used to the new control scheme (there’s the default choice of directional control, where Guybrush’s movement is linked directly to the left stick or the updated point & click controls of MI1:SE), but overall it’s a better, slicker system that also makes inventory navigation much easier.

LIMBO (XBLA) – This game is brilliant. I don’t even want to say too much about, you really should just play it. A puzzle platformer with real style and grace. It’s a grim, bleak game that plays out like Braid’s darker, twisted brother. One of the stand-out things about it is just how good the game feels; the beautifully balanced controls, subtle animations and simple gameplay all work together to create a wonderfully tactile experience. Play it now!

Alan Wake (Xbox 360) - I’ve finally got round to starting this, having been quite excited by everything I’d seen in the (long, protracted) run up to release. My early impressions are very good. I’m only just into the third chapter, but so far it’s proved to be an enjoyable romp and the story is intriguing enough to keep you playing, despite little niggles (such as having to go into menus to listen to the manuscript extracts you find dotted around the world).

The combat mechanics are excellent and provide a great deal of tension and strategy as to how best to dispose of your attackers. Said enemies do have a habit of sneaking up on you though – they seem to have mastered the art of near-silent running!

I should make a quick mention of the graphics, which are excellent and the incredible atmosphere the team at Remedy have managed to create. I am finding it quite creepy at the moment, but I am a big wuss when it comes to scary films/games, so your mileage may vary.

I’m definitely going to be talking more about Alan Wake as I play more, so stay tuned!

Blur (Xbox 360) – I finished blur’s singleplayer game quite a while ago, but  I’ve still been diving into the multiplayer now and again. The races are fast and furious and the turnaround time between events short enough to make it incredibly compulsive; it’s very easy to have “just one more go”.

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GameDevBlogs.net

July 25th, 2010

A chum of mine, FreakyZoid, has set up a new site called GameDevBlogs.net; a blog directory for game developers. The intention of the site is to “help game developers be heard”, those unsung gaming heroes you’ve never heard of!

As he says, “believe it or not, these guys spend a lot of time making the games you love, and they have a lot of knowledge to share.” Now, I don’t know if I could make such claims of myself, but it’s definitely a noble idea – I’ve long believed that games developers (and not just the famous, high-ups that you’ve probably already know about) should get a bit more recognition for the hard work they put in to make the games that you play!

It’s still early days (you can already find me on the Artists page) but the site needs more blogs and more input! The more the better! If you’re involved in games development and you’ve got a blog, you should get yourself over there and submit your site for listing. If you don’t have a blog, maybe you should consider getting one? GameDevBlogs.net also has a presence on Twitter, so get going!

If nothing else, it should ensure I keep my blog more up-to-date! ;)

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New job: New software

July 20th, 2010

People have been asking me how my first week has been. By it’s nature, the first week at a new place of work is rarely as exciting as you imagine it will be. Alas, it’s true!

You tend to get bogged down in paperwork, reading documentation and the new tools and procedures you need to learn, when all you really want to do is crack on with work. Of course, in this instance having been a Maya user almost exclusively since I started university, it will be a little while before my work performance in MotionBuilder will be able to keep up with my enthusiasm. When you throw in trying to remember everyone’s name and how to get in and out the building without getting lost, it’s a wonder new-starters get anything done in their first week!

I’d never really thought about it before (and I don’t suppose you will have either unless you’ve changed 3D software), but one of the worst things about using new software is learning the camera controls. If you feel like you can’t navigate a scene properly, it massively compounds the sensation that you have no flipping idea what you’re doing and that learning the new software is going to be a near-impossible task. If only you could remember what button combination controls pan and which activates tumble, you’d be able to concentrate on learning the important stuff… the new stuff!

People are telling me not to worry about it and that I’ve got plenty of time to settle in, which is really nice but it does highlight the sense of frustration; that the software and workflow are hindering my ability to just get on with it and if only I can get that stuff out of the way, the fun stuff can really begin.

I had a little breakthrough on Thursday when I got a good bit of pace going, turning out three or four animation cycles. On Friday a totally new thing landed at on my desk and I felt completely lost again! 8)

Despite all that and with a great deal of help from Andy and the other guys on the team, I already feel like I’m starting to get used to MotionBuilder, it’s camera controls and it’s slightly obscure “thought process”. It’s only been a week; I suppose I ought not to worry too much!

My first week at Rockstar was absolutely brilliant; the people, the project, the office are all completely awesome, but it was  intermingled with a heck of a lot of frustration! I should also say that (since I wrote most of this post last week) I feel like I’ve made tons of progress in MotionBuilder today and yesterday – things are definitely starting to click!

I think I’ll have to do a post about the bonkers way MotionBuilder works/thinks sometime soon!

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