Fable 2 - X360 review

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 4]

Long ago there was a developer called Peter Molyneux. He had many weird and wonderful ideas like creating large chimps and making them Gods. Then one day he got the idea to experiment with good and evil. These foundations were experimented with and after many years this blossomed into Fable 2. And so our tale begins.

Fable 2 is one of those games you love to hate. With so much hype around its release there is every need to be wary. You tell yourself this could just be the next Halo 3. Of course these fears melt away once you play it at which point the game swiftly swallows you up.

What first hits you is the grand scale of things. While a lot of time and effort has been put into providing game environments that allow the free roam to do what you like, it’s the small things that add up.

Flowers gently sway in the wind and over the course of the game the land changes based on your decisions. Knowing that what you do has consequences is an interesting feature of this game. Donate money to a developer and in a few years a settlement has been built on what originally was derelict land. For once you actually feel like you’ve accomplished something.

This of course leads onto the main issue of decisions. While games will never be able to fully mimic the complexities of modern day living, Fable 2 makes a valiant attempt to do so. Influencing factors of wealth and corruption are included adding variety to the standard good versus evil. At times it even reflects real life, especially the shame you feel knowing you’ve caught an STD.

Removal of screen clutter like mini-maps is also a welcome change. Instead a bread crumbs style trail is introduced, guiding you along in the event you get lost and to its credit it is hardly noticeable only appearing in the situations when you really need it. And of course there is the option to turn it off for the truly adventurous.

Then there comes an issue. A fairly big issue for a role playing game: the plot. The main storyline fails to impress instead opting for the usual unite and kill the crazed villain. While the witty Pratchett-esque dialogue makes up for this, it still seems a failure on Molyneux’s part not to have made the plot a cut above the rest.

Combat likewise feels slightly imbalanced. Once you’ve learnt how to headshot people to kill them instantly you tend not to use anything else. This does help for new gamers but it does make the game a little easier knowing you can wipe out an entire group with little effort. Another minor problem is the distinct lack of bosses which is like removing the filling from a Cadburys crème egg.

Nevertheless Fable 2 is a stable successor to the original. It builds upon the core mechanics of good and evil allowing many different ways to be the ultimate badass. While it may not last for years the time spent playing with it is precious. And so concludes another chapter of notable gaming.

[Out of Five]

Dead Space - X360 review

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 4]

Fear is often a difficult feeling to create in a video game. Some recent attempts at horror have fallen spectacularly on their arse (Alone in the Dark comes to mind), which leaves Condemned as the only actually scary next gen horror series. Fear not though, Dead Space is here to save the day, and it is scary. So very scary.

The story on offer here is generic spaceship gone wrong, and all seems very Alien influenced. You play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent to try and repair a derelict spaceship. Of course things are not as they seem, and it turns out that the crew have all been genetically mutated and turned into Necromorphs, which are reanimated dead bodies.

The scares here are provided almost entirely by the environment, which is brilliantly crafted and very believable. The ship (USG Ishimura) is a sprawling, epic environment which just begs to be explored. It makes for a superbly atmospheric experience which keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time, and there are wonderful little touches to keep you guessing. Lights flicker as you approach, malfunctioning doors make repeated unsettling bangs, and chunking noises are pretty much a permanent feature of the Ishimura. In fact, the sound design here is some of the best ever found in a video game, it manages to take the atmosphere of Rapture in Bioshock and ramp it up a notch for truly superb results.

The game takes place from the Resident Evil 4 over the shoulder perspective, which seems to be the favourite amongst 3rd person shooters these days, and features mostly combat with some puzzle solving thrown in. The Necromorphs themselves are agile and quick, and make for formidable opponents. Killing them requires carefully shooting off their limbs rather than the more straightforward ‘shoot until dead’ approach, and this gives the gameplay a more measured feel than most shooters. However, the fine aiming and tactics often go to hell when several enemies attack at once, and in this instance the game reveals another problem. In an attempt to remove the HUD, the health bar was put on the back of Isaac’s suit. Fine in theory, but when the action gets particularly chaotic, the health bar can be obscured. Fortunately, this is a very minor complaint in an otherwise excellent game.

So, in short, Dead Space is scary, but not as terrifying as it could have been. It seems that scares were sacrificed in favour of better cinematography in some cases, such as the camera willingly swinging round to show you enemies. Having said that, this is still the best horror game available for the next gen consoles, and fans of the genre should definitely consider picking this up.

[Out of Five]

Fracture - X360 Review

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 3]

Terrain Deformation. These two words feature heavily in Fracture, the latest in a string of next gen ‘gimmick shooters.’ Like games such as Army of Two, Dark Sector and Timeshift, Fracture offers a fairly generic shooting experience overall, but adds a unique gimmick in order to keep things interesting.

The big new thing here is that the landscape can be changed at will, allowing the player to drastically reshape the battlefield. Every weapon can impact the environment, which gives the game a truly chaotic feel which only enhances the run and gun gameplay on offer.

While it all sounds good in theory, Fracture feels like a game with a serious lack of polish. The AI is terrible, with enemies rarely trying to find cover, and frequently not responding at all to being shot in the head. The graphics could do with a bit of work, especially during cut scenes, but overall they get the job done.

The storyline also seems a bit dubious. It seems that Day 1 Studios decided to try and get every generic storyline into the same game, and the result is a bit of a joke. You play as a cybernetically enhanced American fighting against an army of genetically enhanced Americans who aren’t really Americans any more, while global warming has melted the ice caps and raised the ocean level to the point where America is now two separate landmasses. Ok then...

Gimmick shooters in the past tend to have suffered from the same problem; none of them have been particularly enjoyable to play. Fracture, despite all of its shortcomings, provides a lot of entertainment. There are ways of manipulating the landscape which invoke feelings of utter joy, such as creating a rock spike under an enemy in a cave which then crushes him against the roof. Yes, it’s very silly, but it’s fun while being silly, and even manages to have a sense of humour about itself.

So, in short, is Fracture worth your money? Yes, provided that you can overlook its flaws. It is a game of decent length (nearly ten hours on first playthrough), with a well implemented online mode. While the single player campaign is highly linear, the opportunities to create Terrain Deformation related havok are almost endless, and the game demands a second run just to try out some new styles and techniques, not to mention the hundred collectible data chips strewn throughout the campaign. In the rush of big releases all hitting in the next couple of months, Fracture will probably be overlooked by many, which is a great shame as this is a unique game with substance to back up the gimmick. Those looking for an interesting run and gun shooter should pick this up, and for those who are undecided, it’s much more entertaining than the likes of Halo 3.

[out of five]

Star Wars: Force Unleashed - X360 Review

[Originally published in Forge Press:Issue 2]
By Brendan Caldwell

To sum up the gameplay of Star Wars: Force Unleashed in three words: shit gets broken. Windows, spaceships, ribs. They all get smashed to tiny little bits. Sometimes they explode. Extensive research has shown that explosions are always cool, with the exception of those that actually happen. You will be pleased to learn that none of the explosions that happen in Force Unleashed are historically accurate. Ergo, every explosion in the new Star Wars game is cool.

Now that the rough science is out of the way, the game itself can be considered. SW:FU, aside from sounding like an insulting internet acronym, is a really enjoyable game. The story is set between the third and forth episodes and centres on the actions of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, the lovingly named Starkiller.

As Darth’s tea-bitch you’re sent on various missions to root out the last of the trouble-making Jedi scattered over the galaxy. They haven’t been paying their protection moneys or something and Mr Vader would like you to rough them up a bit. Like, until they die. But seeing as you’re no ordinary goon, you don’t have to use blasters or baseball bats. Starkiller gets his own shiny lightsaber and a collection of destructive force powers which you can use to cripple enemy soldiers and solve an occasional puzzle-ish thing.

If you’re a Star Wars fan you’ll probably have dreamed of wielding the powers of the force at some point in your life. If you aren’t a Star Wars fan, then you won’t be reading this and I can use this opportunity to insult your mum. She’s fat.

The force is presented incredibly in the game. Using force grip to hurl an enemy through a window into deep space is almost as satisfying as watching his comrades get sucked out after him by the loud, rushing vacuum that has been created. A blast shield closes and the window is sealed. Stormtroopers float off into the great black, spinning recklessly toward some distant star. You will giggle.

The level design is, in short, astounding. In shorter: wow. One level will see you explore the stomach of a Sarlacc, that thing what ate Boba Fett in Return of the Jedi. The detail of this huge monster’s intestines is just one of the many triumphs by the games design team. Unfortunately, there are a few platforming sections that feel like they belong in Super Mario 64. And some of the levels are recycled later in the game, giving a disappointing sense of déjà vu.

There are obviously other flaws. Boss battles can be stupidly frustrating on higher difficulties and the inclusion of quicktime events – where you have to press certain buttons in time with your actions – can be annoying when they pop up mid battle. And although the animation following this will look cool, you’ll get bored by the tenth time you see it. It’s a short game and it isn’t perfect but any game that lets you throw a spaceship at someone using just your mind is pretty damn solid.

[out of five]