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Hunted: The Demon's Forge Review

الأربعاء، 15 يونيو 2011 game review أضف تعليق

The dungeon crawler is among the oldest genres in gaming. As such, it's probably in need of a makeover to make it more appealing to a modern market. Developer inXile attempts to provide that very thing with its newest title, Hunted: The Demon's Forge.

Hunted features many recurring themes that long-time fans of dungeon crawlers will be familiar with. There are red health pots, blue mana pots, piles of gold, tons of creepy enemies, and, of course, lever puzzles. However, the top-down viewpoint of the more traditional dungeon crawler has been replaced with a behind-the-back viewpoint. Bows fire much in the same way guns do in third-person shooters: while firing, players can switch to an over-the-shoulder point-of-view. It's not really "down-the-barrel" view, but it's about the closest you'll come with a bow and arrow. Another feature that attempts to make the game feel more modern is the cover system. Hunted will have you ducking behind waist-high objects, where you can peek over to get a quick shot off before hiding again

The game tells the story of Caddoc (the super buff human warrior) and E'lara (the half-naked elf chick). Caddoc has been having recurring dreams about a mysterious woman, and believes these are more than just the result of some "undigested boar meat" in his stomach. When he and E'lara meet this "dream woman" in real life, an adventure begins that pits them against swarms of evil creatures and sends them into the very bowels of the earth

I spent a good deal of my time with Hunted playing as E'lara. It wasn't just the half-naked elf thing that drew me to her character—though that did help—it was that she used a bow and arrow as her primary weapon. Playing as E'lara is a lot like playing a third-person shooter. I did, however, spend some time with Caddoc, who uses a sword primarily and plays a lot more like a hack and slash character. Personally, I'm much more into third-person shooters than hack and slash games, so E'lara was a good fit. (However, it should be noted that Caddoc carries a crossbow and E'lara wields a sword, both as secondary weapons.) Hunted succeeds at delivering two fairly different gameplay styles in a way that makes perfect sense

Unfortunatley, the first portion of the game is an absolute disaster. The environments funnel you down narrow walkways, the characters feel like two-dimensional fantasy clichés, and the story is completely uninteresting. But the worst offender of all is the control scheme.

When you first start playing Hunted, the controls are baffling. Sure, there's a tutorial to show you the nuts and bolts, but it doesn't tell you how to put up with the counter-intuitive control scheme or the inconsistent environmental interactions.

For example, the button you use to toss health pots to your partner is the same button you use to finish off an enemy with a quick-time event. A friend and I actually ended up failing a mission because I hit the circle button to toss him a heal pot and instead finished off a wounded goblin with an elaborate set of moves. All the while, on the screen was a message that told me to hit circle to heal my partner. On top of that, I've had instances in which I got stuck in an endless arrow-firing loop, which could only be ended by either running out of arrows or mashing a bunch of buttons until my character finally stopped shooting

And the cover system is awful. In fact, even though this tries to present itself as a cover-based game, it's not. Not at all. You won't be able to cover behind any old flat surface, like in other cover-based games. You can only take cover behind certain waist-high walls and pillars. In a pinch, you'll often try to duck behind something only to find that you simply aren't allowed to. To make matters worse, the cover button (X on the PS3) is very inconsistent. You'll walk right up to something and try to duck behind it, only to stand there staring at it. You'll often have to press the button several times, searching for the "sweet spot" on a wall before you can use it as cover. At other times, you'll hit the cover button when you aren't even close to something, and you'll wind up roadie running for twenty feet to get behind a wall. You can never head toward something knowing whether or not you'll be able to duck behind it, and when under fire, this cover system is just not consistent enough that you can depend on it as an actual battle tactic.

The first chapter of the game is pretty frustrating as well. It's a poorly designed village that, even though it should be pretty wide open, funnels you into narrow and awkward walkways. And the very first place you'll ever get an enchanted weapon—the place that actually pops up a hint about using enchanted weapons—is incredibly difficult to reach. A friend and I spent a good twenty minutes trying to figure out how to get to them, only to come back later on and realize someone was supposed to shoot a barely-noticeable rope that will cause a sign to smash the wall open for you. This would be fine on any other set of enchanted items, but not on the very first ones in the entire game. In fact, most of the later ones are much easier to find than these.

But Hunted does get better. In fact, it gets much better. Once you step into your first dungeon, you'll feel that the world opens up a bit. Even though narrow walkways and linear progression would make perfect sense in a dungeon environment, the dungeons feel a lot more open than the village ever did. There are several offshoots and tunnels, many of which extend for miles and feature their own sets of hazards and puzzles. As you travel deeper and deeper into these dungeons, the action sequences get more and more interesting. There's even a scene in which you'll be chased by a spider the size of a four-story building.

Garshasp: The Monster Slayer Review

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Any time a video game is hugely successful, you can expect to see some clones. God of War has been no exception, with Dante's Inferno being the most well-known ripoff.

Thanks to this deluge of God of War-style games, pretty much everyone is familiar with the basic hack-and-slash formula: your character—probably a beefy, bare-chested dude drawn from some ancient story about gods and/or dragons—walks into a new area. He gets closed in, and some monsters attack him. He slices through the enemies with his sword, maybe using some fancy combos, and lots of blood comes out. He flips a switch or two and heads to the next area, and so on—until he fights a boss, a battle that is sure to include quick-time events.

And now, in that proud tradition, we have Garshasp: The Monster Slayer, the PC debut of indie developer Dead Mage Inc. The titular hero is drawn from ancient Persian mythology, in which, true to the game's subtitle, he slays a whole bunch of monsters

Dead Mage is a true underdog; the developer's core team for this game was comprised all of nine people. In fact, only about twenty-five pitched in overall. You can tell they really poured their hearts into every aspect of Garshasp, from the storyline to the mythological enemies to the combat system. Unfortunately, though, the studio lacked either the funding or the technical expertise to polish the gameplay experience, and, as a result, the game probably isn't worth your time or your $20

Of course, an indie game can be just as polished as a blockbuster—the usual suspects in this category are Braid, Limbo, World of Goo, Super Meat Boy, etc. But all of those games share something that Garshasp does not: two-dimensional graphics. In trying to make a game that looks like God of War instead of Super Mario World, Dead Mage bit off more than they could chew. The product they ended up with is great for showing off their skills, and in fact it's one of the most technically impressive games I've seen from a studio of this size. But "from a studio of this size" is the key phrase here. There are plenty of similar-yet-better-made games available from bigger studios, and Garshasp is not much fun in comparison.

Most of the game's problems can be traced directly to the fact that the developers couldn't fix all of the problems that 3D graphics tend to introduce. For example, there's no camera control, which leaves you at the mercy of whatever camera angles the developers chose for each screen. These are usually fine, but they prevent you from exploring as much as you'd like to, and they make a few of the platforming sections a lot harder than they need to be

Then there are the invisible walls. I first noticed these in my first boss battle, not five minutes into the game. The monster was much bigger than I was, and it was obvious that I should be able to run between his legs when he attacked me. Yet every attempt to do so failed. Further, if I tried to dodge toward the screen in some parts of the arena, I was blocked in my attempt to do that as well. The trick to beating the boss wasn't to figure out any sort of strategy, but to figure out where I was allowed to move.

Battlefield 3 Preview On october 2011

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Battlefield has been somewhat of a niche series that has historically only been appreciated by those who already know its awesomeness. And with almost five years since the last numerical release of Battlefield, it's easy to forget about it. But if you are sleeping on Battlefield 3, it is time to wake up! We were recently able to participate in a closed-door presentation and subsequent gameplay session, and let's just say Battlefiled 3 may be one of the best playable games on the E3 2011 show floor. Yeah, it's that good.

What is initially striking about Battlefield 3 is the size and scope of the world. The mission we were on had us fighting our way through Paris and hitting several rally points throughout the world. However, though it is possible to run and gun through each level, we actually took some time to explore the city of lights. Unlike other shooter franchises, Battlefield aims to create a warzone that consists of more than linear stages with checkpoints that dot the landscape. You can approach targets and checkpoints in any way you want, and the feeling of freedom in the game is something that is certainly rare in shooters. The open world makes Battlefield 3 feel like an experience unlike any other shooter out there

Battlefield 3's world wouldn't be as impressive though without Frostbite 2. By now you've certainly heard about DICE's new engine that brings realistic animation and unprecedented detail to the world of Battlefield. However, you can't really appreciate the game's new engine until you see it yourself. Everything in the world of Battlefield is rendered amazingly, from dilapidated subway tunnels to the streets of Paris. Oh, and everything is destructible too, which makes your combat possibilities endless

Although it is nice to talk about how beautiful the scenery is, and how much we love to walk around, the point of Battlefield is to shoot and kill enemies. And in case you were wondering, the shooting is fabulous. We played the game on PC, which I'll admit I wasn't immediately proficient with (I'm a console gamer), but once I got used to playing with the keyboard and mouse controls, I was able to really get into the game. Like other Battlefield games, you are able to pick one of four classes with their own loadouts. I was able to play as the run and gun medic class, as well as a support class that gave me extra ammo to share. Though I never really used my ability as an ammo cache, when I had the medic ability I was able to chuck health packs at teammates who had been gunned down. We played in teams of four, and while everyone was kind of going their own way, it is admittedly cool that even while we were splitting up everyone was able to get to the checkpoints and take out enemies. If you are a strategic player, Battlefield 3 will give you plenty to work with, as there are an infinite number of ways you can approach simple, complex, or just plain brutal combat situations. And because things on the Battlefield can change so rapidly, having options is crucial to the gameplay and makes playing Battlefield feel more like an active experience rather than just more "going through the motions."

Unfortunately, during our demo we were only able to play with generic assault weapons and handguns. The guns we used felt tight and devastated our enemies, but we weren't able to play with anything beyond basic firepower. However, what we did get to test out was the destruction physics. Though the goal was to move forward, I couldn't help but get sidetracked a few times and throw some grenades in the direction of some support beams and watch squat buildings fall. And of course, like in the real Battlefield, when you start kicking up a fuss and taking out buildings, people are bound to notice, which meant the AI was on to my position, and I had to get to some cover. However, cover in Battlefield is hard to find, and hiding spots can be destroyed by enemies in a matter of seconds

Battlefield 3 is an extremely impressive game, and if you are a military shooter fan, it will likely be the best game you'll play this year. The open levels, destructible environments, and of course the incredible visuals make this a can't-miss game. I know all the buzz is about Modern Warfare 3, but if you are looking for a higher class of shooter that is unafraid to do things a little differently and has enough technical advancement to feel like a true sequel instead of an annual cash-in, then Battlefield is your game. Yeah, I went there. Look for it this fall.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Preview

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It's no exaggeration to say that the Call of Duty series has become a signature franchise for this console generation. It has sold the most units, is almost synonymous with online gaming, and has garnered a following that can't be rivaled with anything else we've seen thus far. With that in mind, we look to the third iteration of Call of Duty's Modern Warfare series to bring us a cinematic style of gameplay that will hopefully move the series forward with amazing gameplay, visuals, and, of course, an unforgettable multiplayer experience.

We recently got the chance to preview some early gameplay footage behind closed doors at a press-only Activision event, and we can definitely say that from what we've seen, Modern Warfare 3 is going to live by the mantra "Bigger is Better".

The Modern Warfare series has always taken place on a global scale, and this trend is certainly continuing in Modern Warfare 3. We were able to watch a playthrough of two early levels—one in the United States, and one in England—and were told that there would be many more locations revealed at a later date. If you want to do some virtual globetrotting, it looks like Modern Warfare 3 will help you do just that. The game takes place directly after Modern Warfare 2, and the gameplay we saw in the American location takes place very early in the game's timeline. It's pretty intense. The player's objective is to get across the streets of New York and into the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. However, with the city burning around you, it's easier said than done.

The landscape we saw was extremely detailed, giving us an absolutely beautiful view of war-torn America. As the player was dropped into battle, the action picked up immediately. Enemies came from behind nearly every corner, and the player had to keep alert at all times. The game's pacing is impeccable. Even though there's rarely a moment where the action lets up, it doesn't just feel like you are moving from firefight to firefight. There's some real content in between battles, and everything flows in an intelligent manner. After getting through several moderate action pieces and firefights, we saw a scripted event that involved taking a helicopter ride. But as Modern Warfare 3 is set to do everything bigger, this wasn't going to be just an ordinary chopper ride. Both friendly and enemy choppers crashed around the landscape, and there were so many explosions you might think this was a Michael Bay film

The next area we saw was London. Unlike the scene we saw in New York, London was covered in darkness and there were a lot more possibilities for stealth gameplay than there was in the first stage. Of course, that went out the window as our team fought their way down into London's famous Underground, getting into an amazing chase involving a pickup truck and several Underground trains. The animation was fast, and the action was relentless. Keeping the pace frantic seemed to be a big goal for the Modern Warfare 3 team (which includes Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Studios) and from what we've seen, that is one goal that is certainly going to be accomplished in Modern Warfare 3.

Unfortunately, we didn't see much else at the event, and we weren't able to pick up a controller to play the thing ourselves. However, we did learn quite a bit about the single-player campaign just by looking at these few stages. First up, the main shooting mechanics haven't changed. Why mess with a formula that works? Secondly, all these rumors about an outdated engine and sub-par visuals were completely false. The screens we saw the game on were ridiculously large, and the detail we saw in the visuals was impeccable. Animations and framerate all stayed consistent throughout, and there were no breaks in between combat and triggered events

From what we've seen, it looks like Modern Warfare 3 is firing on all cylinders and is poised to break its own records when it releases this November. We actually know a bit more about Modern Warfare 3 (specifically, the multiplayer aspect) but we're going to have to keep our secrets for just a little bit longer, so make sure to check back once E3 rolls around for the latest news on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

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Hunted: The Demon's Forge Review

Garshasp: The Monster Slayer Review

Battlefield 3 Preview On october 2011

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Preview

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