There Can Be Only One!

WINNER!

Well done to the lovely shiny people at Valve! After extensive polling we have found Sheffield student's game of the year to be -

Left4Dead!

The pie's are in the post. Good luck to anyone who tries to get in on the pies before Gabe Newell.

The poll will remain open, mostly since we can't figure out how to take it down, but also partly to gauge popular opinion on last year's games as they mature over time. What will be the game of the year in six months time? 6 month old pies to be won! Get voting!

Fallout 3 - X360 Review

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 4]
By Peter Walsh

War never changes, but consoles do, and with a skip and a jump comes Fallout 3 crashing into the current generation. To say that this game has been a long time coming would be a gross understatement, and in terms of ‘on-again/off-again’ production cycles it’s only outdone by Duke Nukem Forever. Thank the gods then that it’s a.) arrived and is b.) living up to expectations.

Set in a world gone rather a-wry, our history branched from that of Fallout back in 1950, and while we weathered the buffets of the Cold War the Fallout universe never did. Huge nuclear bunkers were built out of the paranoia of a pending nuclear holocaust, and sure enough when the bombs hit only the lucky survived. Born and raised in the underground village of Vault 101 your character is forced to leave the bunker to find his own way in a world scarred by the ravages of nuclear war.

Built on the engine of orc/rat/elf-slayer Oblivion, developers Bethesda have taken the lessons learnt from their previous fantasy epic to make one slick RPG-action game. Experience isn’t gained from hoping around on one foot, but from the simpler model of awarding experience points for successfully achieving stuff. Like killing, lying or perhaps even picking locks. Or if you’re of a more saintly inclination just for helping people.

Stats and ‘karma’ are definitely at the core of this game, and while ‘every action has a reaction’ the game isn’t quite as morally black and white as other RPGS. Conversations generally offer positive/neutral/negative options, yet for those with added charisma stats your powers of persuasion to get your merry way with things. Only the other day I convinced a druggy to kick his habit, and in gratitude for helping him back onto the straight and narrow he left me to ‘get rid of’ his stash of stat-enhancing substances. As it turns out I found them quite handy when I needed to clear a suburb of fire-breathing mutant ants.

Because that’s how things in Fallout 3 roll along. Whereas certain missions and side-quests in Oblivion could feel endlessly dissociated from everything else, events in Fallout 3 genuinely feel quite consequence laden. Sometimes in the short-term, affecting how you operate (eg. getting lots of drugs) or perhaps in the long-term (by helping someone else kick the habit).

Beyond corrupting and/or healing the community you encounter, the actual business of interacting with hostile characters and beasts is also tremendously rewarding. Melding the hack-n-slash action of Oblivion to the turn-based combat of Fallout 1&2, this third iteration makes use of the V.A.T.S. system. Not associated in anyway to consumer tax, this specialised targeting system freezes action and allows you to focus your assault on any one enemy, and any one of his/hers/its’ extremities. If you’re close enough you can try to debilitate them with a shot to the head, or maybe even crippling a limb or three. It may sound contrived, but it’s beautifully implemented and intuitive.

Action and interaction aside, the brilliance of the game is the vast world you’re left to explore and exploit. Taking the ‘ten’ graphics of Oblivion and just edging it up to ‘eleven’, the nuclear wasteland of Fallout 3 is tremendously realised and detailed. Like Bioshock, this game drops you into a distorted version of our own universe and not some contrived wizards and wands never-neverland of many moons ago.

Immense in its scale, the moral grey-zones of this game will have you coming back to it again and again, and that despite the first play-through holding a solid 50+ hours. It’ll remind of what RPG’s should be about; looting, killing and not actually finishing the storyline. Brilliant.

[Out of Five]

FIFA 09 - X360 Review

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 3]
By James Morris

On the back cover of Fifa 09, there is a boastful statement reading ‘true football simulation’. But then again it pretty much says that every year. This year, however, EA are actually telling the truth.

Indeed, Fifa 09 is every bit as fun, addictive and rage-inducing as its main counterpart, the long-superior Pro Evolution Soccer series.

Whilst Pro Evo has essentially stuck to the same brilliant footballing formula year after year, Fifa has slowly improved upon each edition, to the extent that now, in 2009, it can be taken seriously when compared to Pro Evo.

The immediate joy of Fifa 09 lies with its free-flowing gameplay. Every pass, however simple, must be measured to perfection. Every shot has to be weighted with precision for you to have any chance of scoring. It is this complexity that makes Fifa 09 so addictive to play, and it is why your language will become increasingly foul as you find yourself outwitted and outplayed, especially in multiplayer games. At last, this is a Fifa game that feels and plays like real football.

As can be expected from Fifa, the game is characterised by superb graphics. It could almost be mistaken for an actual game of football, if it wasn’t for two of your flat mates hunched over controllers with deadly expressions of concentration on their faces. The stadium details are exact to their real life counterparts, whilst every little detail from player appearances to their body language and movement is captured perfectly, for example Crewe Alexandra winger Joel Grant’s direct dribbling style is seamlessly incorporated.

Hard-core Fifa players will also be pleased with the vast features included in this edition, such as the ‘Be A Pro’ mode. This allows you to play as your favourite player, for example Crewe Alexandra midfielder Michael O’Connor, over the course of 4 seasons, during which you and your player can work your way to the top of the footballing world.

Even more innovative is the ‘Adidas Live Season’ feature, whereby online players can sign up for weekly updates linking the form of real footballers to their virtual counterparts. Therefore, if strikers are failing to score in real life and are clearly short on confidence, that striker will also be a liability on Fifa. A simple concept, but really quite clever.

As good as these features are, for the casual player they are irrelevant when compared to the true delight of this game, which is the simple footballing joy that can be found in multiplayer games. It is this that underpins the basic brilliance of this game, easily the best in the Fifa series so far. Watch out, Pro Evo.

[out of five]