Saturday, March 31, 2007

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC)

Back in 1995, Westwood Studios released its seminal masterpiece, the original Command & Conquer. The real-time strategy genre has evolved considerably since those days, but the memory of the original C&C still lives on, periodically refreshed by a new iteration in the series.

The latest of these is the third--and final--installment in the Tiberium trilogy that was begun all those years ago. It's been a long wait, but it has been worth it. The developers at EA Los Angles have pulled out all the stops for C&C3, delivering an immensely satisfying experience that serves as a perfect endnote for the legendary series.
Going Down in History

The story behind Tiberium Wars should already be familiar to fans of the previous games, but let me recap it anyway: With the supposed death of NOD leader Kane at the end of Tiberium Dawn, the world enters a twenty year period of relative calm. The growth of tiberium has now become the most significant threat to humanity--over thirty percent of the globe has become uninhabitable red zones, with a further fifty percent largely damaged, leaving a scant thirty percent relatively intact and hospitable.

The Global Defense Initiative, having won the Second Tiberium War, begins to focus heavily on eliminating this growing threat, and by the year 2047 has carved out several safe zones. NOD on the other hand has kept itself busy with military matters, beginning the game by destroying the space station Philadelphia with a nuclear strike and launching a planetary wide assault against GDI forces. This is just the start of Kane's latest plan, involving the extraterrestrial origins of tiberium and the mysterious third faction known as the Scrin.

That's a lot to take in, but even gamers who aren't diehard fans will appreciate C&C3's story, if only because it's told through the series' trademark FMV cut-scenes. Best of all, EA recruited some major talent that includes the likes of Michael Ironsides, Grace Park, Tricia Helfer, and Jennifer Morrison. But, of course, the biggest draw is the return of Joseph Kucan, who once again reprises his role of the charismatic NOD leader, Kane.
Take Command

As you'd expect from the impressive backdrop, Tiberium Wars has plenty of gameplay to go around. There are three absolutely epic campaigns, each from the viewpoint of one of the factions, with roughly forty missions in all. Likewise, the action takes place throughout much of the world, with missions occurring in the United States, Egypt, Brazil, Australia, Germany, and Italy, just to name a few locales.

The missions all follow the same old formula of build a base, collect resources, start cranking out units and rush the enemy until victory is assured. It's pretty standard fare, but the game never becomes tedious or overly repetitive thanks to its dynamic feel. Each mission has several main objectives, but there are also several secondary objectives that can help ease the burden of overcoming your foes. Completing secondary objectives also has the notable result of often providing you with new intelligence briefings and the occasional in-mission cutscene, which really helps flesh out the game's story.

Augmenting this excellent backdrop is an excellent graphics engine. While it may not have the complex scope or specialized physics of other contemporary titles, the game is one of most beautiful we've seen yet. With every setting pushed to the max, the game is simply a joy to behold. The different settings allow for a great assortment of battlefield locations, from urban areas to quasi-rainforest and desert environments, all of which offer a visual experience that has rarely been achieved before.

Of particular note is the attention to detail that has been exercised with every unit--tanks eject shell casings after firing, vehicles smolder and burn as they take critical damage, and heavy vehicles throw up clouds of smoke as they traverse the battlefield. Adding to the full visual sensation are some exceedingly well done particle and lighting effects that fully bring out the sensation of fighting in a barren, tiberium-transformed wasteland during some of the latter missions.

As Starcraft demonstrated, diversity is a good thing, and while all three sides play roughly the same--each builds its base in fundamentally the same way, for instance--the differences between the three factions' units help set them apart. GDI units are largely modeled after the premier military powers, so they're big on direct firepower machines like tanks and aircraft. The NOD faction, in contrast, prefers to sneak high-tech units around base defenses, finding weak spots and exploiting them with a bevy of stealth equipped units. Finally, the Scrin manage to outright dominate air warfare in most respects, though they suffer in ground-based skirmishes. Old school fans will appreciate the return of classic units, which include the original Mammoth tank and the NOD's flame tank, but new units, such as the NOD Avatar--a unit that can destroy its comrades to steal their combat abilities--are welcomed additions.
AI Ailments

But for all the praise that I've heaped upon C&C3, and there still are some flaws in the single-player design. For instance, the path finding is generally good, but tends to trip up large groups of units whenever they attempt to move through small passages. Also, the artificial intelligence is somewhat suspect in its decisions, often forgetting to rebuild defensive structures or launch regular scouting raids upon your forces. The largest issue, however, is the near uselessness of infantry units. They're effective in the first two or three missions but beyond that, they're mere fodder for the far more useful vehicular units.

Multiplayer has always been a key part of the C&C franchise, and this latest offering is no different. After completing the three campaigns, players can hop aboard the Gamespy-powered match-up system. While the system is not as advanced as many others, it is the best we've seen in the series, and offline there is also a robust skirmish mode. Together these two additional features should ensure that Tiberium Wars remains on hard drives for a long time to come.

In conclusion, Tiberium Wars is the perfect synthesis of the Command & Conquer series. It's not as innovative as some of the other titles that have been released in the past few years, but the series has never been known for novelty. Instead, Tiberium Wars does what the series has always done best; providing the most enjoyable RTS experience around via excellent storytelling, enjoyable campaigns and a lasting multiplayer experience.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Armored Core 4 (Xbox360, PS3)

Mech games come in two varieties. You've got the West's MechWarrior tradition, characterized by hulking, barbaric monstrosities, and the East's Gundam or Macross tradition, characterized by lithe and agile bots. With the release of Chromehounds last year, From Software seems to want to corner the mech market, offering the best of the East and the West. And with Chromehounds accommodating the grognard sect, it seems only natural that Armored Core's already booster-engine-friendly action would transition out of that market in favor of the fast-paced arcade-style experience. In many ways, Armored Core 4 trims the fat from the series, removing or toning down some of the interesting but not particularly well-executed aspects of the game. But to compensate, the developers layered on a heaping helping of butter by ramping up the intensity and action, as well as simplifying the mech-building process. However you cook it, Armored Core 4 offers a delightfully unhealthy amount of mech-busting fun.

For six-and-a-half years and seven games, the Armored Core faithful have been pining for a graphical update. That update has now arrived. From an artistic standpoint, AC4 looks as you'd expect from a world exposed to one ecologically obliterating war after another. The whole game has an overexposed, grainy aesthetic that really immerses you in the foul state the world has deteriorated into. Depth of field is heavily relied upon to blur out distant objects, which further adds a hazy and surreal quality to the game's appearance. AC4 also shines from a technical standpoint. Lighting, in particular, is phenomenally well done, from the way your boosters illuminate your mech in the night to the way billowing clouds of dark, oily smoke blot out the sun and darken the environment. Particle effects look really good, and in a first for the series, the game's environments are fairly destructible, as buildings will partially collapse under heavy fire and certain environments break apart. Further, the frame rate is for the most part rock steady, but it does drop to a crawl if you're given a rocket-barrage sandwich. And this will occasionally happen, as there's definitely a lot more ordnance flying every which way than before.

Armored Core 4's graphics do have a few notable faults, however. Namely, though collision detection is spot-on when it comes to enemies, your mech's lower extremities and weapons will occasionally clip through particularly hilly areas of the environments. Also, destroyed mechs and other debris pretty much disappear as soon as they're destroyed, which means you can't take pride in your wake of carnage after the fact. Lastly, this game is meant to be played in high definition, as it's here that the lighting and detail on the mechs really pop. In standard def, the graphics are still decent, but their impact is greatly diminished. The Xbox 360 version and PS3 version are functionally the same in nearly every respect, but you will find that, surprisingly, the Xbox 360 version will look a tad better, particularly in atmospheric particle effects. Otherwise, the only real difference between the two is the 360's achievement points.

Overall, AC4 is a much faster, more visceral experience than previous games in the series. The foremost reason behind this is the completely redesigned boost mechanic. In the past, you were given a fairly limited amount of energy that quickly drained every time you engaged your boost, and if you weren't careful, it would bottom out and you'd be left to plod along as you waited for it to recharge. In AC4, that design has pretty much been tossed out the window, because now if you aren't boosting, you're either dead or soon will be. Your energy now drops only when you go vertical or when you activate the game's new boost option, the quick boost. Quick boost eats up a chunk of energy in exchange for a burst of speed in whichever direction you indicate, and it acts as an evasive maneuver or as a way to cover a lot of ground quickly. Even better, you no longer need to worry about overheating or bottoming out your energy meter, as the coolant mechanic has been removed.

With those shiny new boosters, you're going to want space to really cut loose, and Armored Core 4 accommodates. In the past, you were limited by a fairly rigid boundary limit, where you could go only so high or so far before warning lights flashed and you were charged with dereliction. While those limits still exist, they're not anywhere near as confining as they were. So you can now fly to the top of towering structures and rain death down below, engage in prolonged aerial combat with helicopters or other zippy mechs, or speed through a sprawling city, pausing only to bust up a cadre of simpletons who have a mind to bring you down--as if.

The logical progression of 'roiding up the graphics and opening up the environments to accommodate for the faster and more furious gameplay is to design missions that speak directly to these assets. The storyline plays out over the course of 37 missions, and these are kept fresh and varied by giving you objectives other than just kill-'em-all, though you'll occasionally do that, too. Whether it's blasting out of the sky waves and waves of self-guided missiles, working your way through pitch-black night to destroy an experimental weapon, or just going one-on-one with a highly skilled enemy merc, the action is intense and satisfying. Strategy is more heavily emphasized, as well, and if you fail on your first attempt, you'll typically have a good idea on which weapons loadout to try on your next attempt. And really, it's often just as fun to fail as it is to succeed. This is because From Software has done a significantly better job of reducing the frustration level of many missions by making failures feel less arbitrary. There's always a sense that when you fail, it is your fault, not that of the game being cheap.

An unfortunate holdover from previous AC games is that missions are still entirely too short, lasting no longer than five minutes and occasionally less than 60 seconds. It can be absurdly unsatisfying to find that you've accomplished your mission just as the action was heating up. What's worse is that you're often still in quite a precarious situation when many missions end, so it seems as though a good many of them could have been quite naturally extended by requiring you to escape after you've infiltrated. As it is, they end with an abrupt invulnerability and an accompanying "Please return to base" message once you complete your objective.

Aside from revamping the boost mechanic and opening up the environments, the other significant alteration to the Armored Core formula is primal armor. Cores now come equipped with PA, which is a force field of sorts and is fueled by that which fuels many an ardent Metal Gear Solid devotee, Kojima. In AC4, Kojima is a recently developed technology that acts essentially like nuclear radiation, as it decimates the environment and kills anyone not insulated from it. But, it is highly effective as a military instrument, so in true-to-life fashion, it's been implemented on a wide scale. The primal armor system works quite well, and it adds an interesting dynamic, especially to fights against enemy Nexts, which are the advanced mech suits that you and the other skilled mercenaries pilot. Weapons now have a PA piercing and PA reduction stat, and these significantly play into your loadout choices when you square off against one of your fellow mechanized killers.

If one thing can be said about the AC series, it's that From Software has no qualms with tweaking the assembly interface. Throwing together a mech and seeing how it runs has traditionally been the meat of the Armored Core experience, and to the potential dismay of series vets and the unbridled glee of everyone else, this aspect of the game has been slightly deemphasized. To begin with, you're no longer given a stock mech and a fistful of cash and then left to your own devices. Schematics are the name of the game this time around, and they're essentially prebuilt mechs that have their attack, mobility, defense, and armor points rating numerically represented. This means you can jump right into a fully functional mech that is already well on its way to matching your play style. The tweaking process has subsequently been streamlined by combining the shopping and assembly interfaces. Initially, this can be quite confusing because you don't automatically equip an item once you buy it, and items that you sell aren't automatically unequipped. So if you leave the garage with an item you no longer own equipped, you'll be prompted to purchase that item (or items) without being told what it is, exactly, you're about to buy. This can be especially frustrating if you don't have enough cash for the purchase, because you then have to go back through each item to see what it is you forgot to equip. You quickly learn to keep better track of what you're doing, but initially it can cause a serious headache.

But on the whole, customization has been made more transparent to newcomers. Unlike the baffling 20-odd helmets and 50 or more weapons that were immediately thrown at you in the last installment of this series, equipment is now slowly unlocked as you progress through the game's chapters. Your choices, then, are fairly limited in the beginning, which makes it significantly easier to compute how the various parts fit together. It is a bit of a drag, though, that while there is a good number of new types of weapons that eventually become available, what are unlocked are mostly just upgraded versions of what you already have. Also, AC4 still relies too heavily on ambiguous abbreviations for certain stats. Between your EN, KP, PA, FCS, and FRS, it can get pretty confusing. A lot of the finer tuning can now be done automatically, which also helps. For instance, instead of being awarded points to individually tune parts, you are now allocated fractional regulation system (FRS) points by completing the game's chapters, as well as completing the game's data packs. Giving the CPU control here won't be as efficient as fine-tuning everything yourself, but it certainly simplifies the process and makes the whole system more approachable.

To make mech assembly even more transparent to newcomers, a lot of the finer tuning can now be done automatically. For instance, instead of being awarded points to individually tune parts, you are now allocated fractional regulation system (FRS) points by completing the game's chapters, as well as completing a data pack (discussed below). These points can be either manually or automatically distributed to various specialty areas, such as attack or boost. Likewise, stabilizers, which are also new to the series and affect your mech's balance, can be manually or automatically tweaked. Letting the CPU handle these aspects won't be as efficient as fine-tuning them yourself, but it certainly simplifies the process and makes the whole system more approachable.

A coherent storyline has never factored into the Armored Core equation, and such is also the case in AC4. The world is once again under the totalitarian control of a group of superpower companies, and humanity is subjugated to the group's will. Some folks aren't keen on this type of existence, so you're hired by a small colony and allied with an antiquated company to essentially wage guerrilla warfare on the major companies and take them out. It's pretty much a mess, but whatever--you're a mercenary. It's your job to shut your mouth, do what you're told, and get paid if you survive. As it pertains to the game, the story justifies your globetrotting because events transpire on a global level and your missions aren't limited to a specific region. In fact, you'll regularly bounce from America's verdant fields to Antarctica's frigid ice caps to the sea-swallowed former Shanghai. The story is told with the same aloof and chilling tone that characterizes the series, where neutralizing equates to slaughtering and casualties are rated on an acceptable versus unacceptable scale. The actors voicing the story do a uniformly excellent job, with an erudite-sounding narrator between chapter cutscenes and an emotive mission debriefer whose tone gradually shifts from professional to emotionally invested.

The soundtrack has also gotten some much-needed attention this time around, as it sloughs off the techno-heavy beats of many of the prior games and replaces them with some really standout tunes, including a truly epic chanting-chorus ensemble with a wailing guitar and heavy drum beats. It's also nice that it accompanies rather than trumps the action, and plays at a subdued din as the sound effects from the environment and your weapons scream to the forefront. Given how well the soundtrack is integrated into the game, and because it just rocks, it's a shame there isn't much variety to it, as there only seem to be four or five different tracks.

Aside from the storyline, you've got data packs and online multiplayer to flesh out the experience. Data packs are unlocked over the course of the game, and they essentially replace the arena from past games. They pit you against top-ranked Nexts, and when you defeat these pilots, you're rewarded with their schematic, emblem, and FRS, as well as achievement points in the Xbox 360 version. These fights can be extremely challenging, and you'll probably need to do extensive customization to hold your ground against these opponents. Online battling has been a much-anticipated feature for longtime AC followers. After all, what's the point of spending hours upon hours devising color schemes and weapon loadouts for your mech if you can't blow the mind of some easily impressionable youth in Xenia, Ohio? Unfortunately, online play doesn't offer much to get excited about. There are only a few different maps, and the ones available are tantamount to open, featureless fields. Your gameplay options are also severely limited, as you'll have access to only the bare-bones one-on-one to four-on-four matches, as well as a four- or eight-player battle royal. The action itself holds up quite nicely, however, and it can be a lot of fun to humiliate your friends by reducing their pride and joy to a flaming heap of scrap. You're also able to trade schematics online, but there doesn't seem to be away to check out other people's schematics without freeing up your FRS to accommodate the other person's settings, which is a massive hassle. All in all, the online functionality is a fairly lackluster effort, but at least it lays the groundwork for future installments.

Between the streamlined assembly process, the retooled control scheme, and the junking of the cooling system and other mechanics that slowed down the action, Armored Core 4 is far more approachable game than previous installments in the series. Its heavier emphasis on arcade-style mech-on-mech action also means that its enhanced fast-paced action will appeal to a more mainstream audience. And even though it isn't as complex as it once was, there's still plenty to obsess over for the hardcore lot. Suffice it to say, yes, really, this is a very good mech combat game.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

UEFA Champions League 2006–2007 (Xbox 360)

The majority of U.S. citizens use the term soccer instead of football when describing the most popular sport on the planet. Perhaps it’s because they don’t want to get the two sports confused, as the pigskin is quite a sensation in the U.S. of A. However, maybe it’s more deeply rooted than that. Do U.S. citizens loathe football, er, soccer enough to completely disassociate with it?

Not each and every American that bleeds red, white and blue despises soccer (well call it so to keep word confusion to a minimum). In fact, with the MLS nabbing some of the world’s better players, you may see increased soccer acceptance year-round, instead of every four years when Team U.S.A. wins a game or two in the Olympics or World Cup.

The real weapon in turning the U.S. into a more soccer-conscious country is the video game. Leading this charge for sometime is developer Electronic Arts, whose FIFA series has been teaching kids and adults alike that there is life outside the gridiron, even if John Madden preaches otherwise.

Not one to rest on their laurels, EA has gone past the World Cup and into the backyard of the Union of European Football Associations. UEFA fits on the box a bit better, especially when UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 is the official title of Electronic Arts’ latest, next generation soccer kick-about.

UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 is based off of the visionary game engine first dropped onto the pitch in FIFA 07 for the Xbox 360. The entire engine was designed around this notion of ball physics being independent of player physics. The combo of ball and player physics created unrealistic games in the past, where the pill was seemingly tied to the players’ boots with string. The ball was in fact tied to the boot, but with animation sets rather than twine. This produced early FIFAand other franchised soccer games that were fairly predictable, especially if a player was good enough to learn the patterns of the animations. For example, if your opponent could never play a ball into space (no animation for it), then why would you want to protect that space defensively?

The independent ball/player physics engine that debuted in FIFA 07 was a bit ambitious at the time. The dev team didn’t fully flesh it out, so it didn’t quite live up to its potential. But we all know that most things get better with age, and definitely improve when game designers and programmers go back to the drawing board for engine tune-ups and tweaks.

The result of these tweaks of the FIFA 07 engine can be experienced in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, as the gameplay has actually come a long way in a little under a half of a year. Where things were a bit jumpy and pace between animations was inconsistent in FiFA 07, you’ll be treated to a more methodical and predictable player control in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007. In fact, the overall tempo of the gameplay action is slower in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, resulting in an experience that is just plain more believable and enjoyable to those that are actually ambassadors of this amazing sport.

Since the ball has a mind of its own in this engine, the team working on UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 decided to give it the once-over and tweak it a bit as well. The biggest improvement can be seen when a ball is passed or shot in the air. The moon ball of UEFA Champions League 2006-2007’s predecessor has been replaced with a ball that now carries force, and now naturally rises as the laws of physics take over on the light, inflated object. Balls played along the ground are now a bit slower to match the slower-tempo players too, and you’re even treated to a touch-sensitive through pass system in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, which cuts down on erroneous dishes when multiple players are in the intended pathway.

With the ball and player physics honed, EA Canada moved onto doing something about player positioning and collision detection. It was nearly impossible to jostle for correct position in FIFA 07 for the Xbox 360, but it seems as though a system more like FIFA 07 for the original Xbox is now in place. Leaning on an opponent now pays dividends on goal kicks and any high balls played to an area. Same goes for ground passes that occur around a marked recipient. You can also rest more assured that contact with another player won’t result in abrupt stops as in FIFA 07. The engine discerns much better between nudges, bumps, and full-on, high speed contact. It is a bit of a shame that the penalties seem to be up now with this change, but it’s still worth having this tweak in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007.

EACA thought UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 would be the perfect platform to try out a new mode that could make its way into other EA Sports titles. Dubbed Ultimate Team Mode, this card game style mode invites players to experience each part of UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 in one way or another. Gamers start out with a pack of trading cards that depict players and staff, gameplay items, stadiums, club development items and more.

In the spirit of Magic or other popular fantasy card games, gamers must take their starter pack of cards and attempt to assemble a team of players that will eventually compete in the Champions League Tournament. You’ll begin with a weak roster and poor modifier cards (for player/team boosts), but credits can be earned to turn the luck of the draw in your favor. Credits are earned for playing UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 in ANY mode with any team, but big points can be acquired under certain circumstances. For example, if you decide to use your scrub team in a tournament, there’s a good chance it won’t be pretty, but the credit payout is larger than taking a set team. EA also wants to keep their servers busy, so there are also big rewards for playing in the online multiplayer, which is good for up to eight players in this go-around. Upping the difficulty in any match also kicks up the credits. The goal here is to acquire enough credits to buy higher pack levels (gold packs if you can) that are stuffed with much better players, modifiers and bonus content (like custom balls).

The virtual card system in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 is much deeper than those days of trading baseball cards with your neighbors. Non roster players can be retired to an “album” for perusal later, but setting an actual lineup is skill, luck and fun all at the same time. You’ll need to be mindful of player and staff contracts that run out and force retirement (savvy players will trump with a Contract Extension car, however), and realize that good team chemistry will make mediocre players shine. Knowing when to throw down Gameplay cards is also a big part of the strategy in Ultimate Team mode, as these can really turn the tide of any match. Pre-match preparation and team progression must also be managed via Development cards which, to make things even strategically deeper, are modified by staff card attributes. The result is a franchise-style mode with additional zest, and an excellent addition to the standard quick play/tournament/online modes of most sports titles.

There are a few areas of UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 that should have been paid a bit more attention of course, although we’re a bit surprised that the graphics is one of them. FIFA 07 was looking pretty decent, but it looks as though UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 offers little improvement, and is seemingly a step back in areas. The greasy character model has resurfaced, and there’s such a basic textile animation system in place that it looks quite unrealistic on close-ups. The facial maps are so-so, but they are no match for those seen in Konami’s soccer romp on the Xbox 360. The character animation sets are another story. These keep getting better and better, and EA is finally getting to the point where their sports players can appear to transfer weight naturally. The normal EA next-gen animation skips have been cut down on a great deal in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, and the frame rate stays solid throughout as well. The audio doesn’t quite fare as well in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, as the soundtrack doesn’t have that international FIFA pop, and suffers from commentator cueing issues. And when are we going to get announcers that are less condescending? There’s nothing like the fear of being scolded to enter a gamer’s mind before teeing one up just beyond the box.

As mentioned earlier, the EA Sports engine powering UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 is works quite well. Hit detection still needs a bit more refinement, but it’s close. The shot system is pretty familiar, but that entire dynamic could use some inspection for 08 titles. But the real sticking point in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 is the A.I., which seems to defy all tenets of professional soccer. The A.I.’s dribbling skill is so high (on any difficulty) that many matches turn into a one man show. A bit more realistic soccer gameplay on the part of the CPU would go a long way in making UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 a better overall single-player experience.

The refinements made in the EA Sports soccer engine (this independent player/ball physics engine is the wave of the future weather you like it or not) allow UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 to play like FIFA 07 should have for the Xbox 360, and it’s good to know that EA cares about such things. They could have merely slapped UEFA licensing on the same exact engine and many gamers would have been none the wiser. Add the gameplay tweaks to a new mode that makes a strong case for the combination of card and sports games, and the result is a surprising effort from EA’s Canadian development house.

There are still some improvements to be made (the graphics and audio could be better, and the A.I. is still frustrating), and we still want those online leagues like FIFA 07 for the Xbox, but it’s hard to complain about having a strong soccer offering like UEFA Champions League 2006-2007. A soccer effort that just may give us all a glimpse of just how good FIFA 08 could be.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Virtua Tennis 3 (Xbox360)

After a long drought in which SEGA's original tennis game went missing, the Japanese publisher dug into its sports library to revive its great tennis series with an Xbox 360 version of Virtua Tennis 3. The original arcade game, which gave rise to a sequel and numerous other interpretations and competitor rip-offs, remains a solid, deep, and enjoyable game, even if it's not terribly inspired.

SEGA's development strategy for Virtua Tennis 3 features Sumo Digital on the Xbox 360, while internal studio AM2 has its hands on the PS3 and PSP versions. There appears to be at least one good reason for this. The Xbox 360 version has a respectable online mode, which supports singles and doubles matches across four consoles, voice chat, a spectator mode called VT.TV, Achievements and leaderboards. The PS3 version doesn't support online features at all. Aside from that, the differences aren't too significant. This online edge is important, especially since Xbox 360 owners have come to expect online functionality in all their games. But the real question you should ask yourself is this: What do you want from your next tennis game? More mini-games? A deeper single-player experience? Better graphics? More innovation?

From the Top
Virtua Tennis 3 is a solid, enhanced iteration that plays a lot like the previous version (Virtua Tennis 2 on Dreamcast and SEGA Sports Tennis). First, it looks better. VT3 offers 1080p support, more realistic characters, better motion capture and animations. And it plays better. VT3 is slightly superior to its predecessor because it's better-rounded, a little deeper, and provides more gameplay modes and options. It sports a more thorough single-player career, including a decent create-a-player feature, and it offers a respectable online mode that enables your built-up, created character to vie online.

It will not, however, usher in the next generation of tennis. It's nether terribly original, nor is it innovative in any way. SEGA hasn't added any significant feature sets to give this a true next-generation feel other than online support, whether we're talking about the controls, mini-games, or the basic career mode progression. Don't get me wrong, Virtua Tennis 3 is a solid, fun tennis game -- the best of its kind -- but it could use some fresh ideas and lacks that creative spark to give it real life in this generation.

The Xbox 360 version offers five modes of play: World Tour (Career mode), Tournament (compete in four Grand Slam events), Exhibition (a singles or doubles match with one to four players), Court Games (play mini-games against other players), or Xbox Live (ranked or unranked matches with two to four players, including VT.TV and leaderboards). While World Tour is the game's meat and potatoes (which I'll get to in a second), SEGA was smart to support Xbox Live and also to branch out the mini-games in Court Games.

You can pick from 20 professional players including Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, as well as Rafael Nadal, David Nalbandian, Sebastien Grosjean, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tim Henman, James Blake, Mario Ancic, Taylor Dent, Gael Monfils, Tommy Haas, Lindsay Davenport, Daniela Hantuchova, Martina Hingis, Nicole Vaidisova, Amelie Mauresmo and Venus Williams. Each athlete is also described with a terse sentence such as big server, "fastest serve in the game"; all rounder, "precise shots make him the best"; and hard hitter, "complete attacking game." Each descriptor offers enough detail to help players pick the style of athlete they'd like to play as, which is helpful when confronted with a tougher opponent.

You won't play as Serena Williams (apparently one Williams sister is enough for one game), and you won't play as legacy stars either. You couldn't play as a legacy player in any other SEGA tennis games, but playing as Jimmy Connor, Andre Agassi, or Steffi Graf, for instance, would add another whole level of enjoyment to the series.

Live Support
Aside from Exhibition, which enables players easy access to a simple singles or doubles game, Court Games' mini-games provide that quick, arcade feeling so gamers can jump in, compete against each other in crazy little games such as Court Curling, Alien Attack, Super Bingo, or Pin Crusher, and get out again. These games are just plain stupid fun and their two-player functionality is a big plus. The Xbox Live support offers the same essential ease and delight. Click on the Xbox Live menu, decide whether you want to play in Ranked or Unranked matches, singles or double matches, set up your own custom game, and play. Smartly, SEGA enables four independent players to vie on Xbox Live (instead of forcing two players to double up on one unit), and it permits your created player to suit up online too.

Technically, VT3's online modes does a good job of quickly connecting players and giving them a relatively lag-free session whether they're playing singles or doubles. Online, you can play against anyone else across the world and because of the nature of tennis, getting four players into one lobby is pretty quick. Of course, doubles with another human player is an intense, coordinated effort that requires you to pay as much attention to your partner's behavior as to your opponent's. My online experience was virtually lag-free until the end of our session, when lag raised its ugly head and made interpreting the opponent's next move difficult, if not impossible. Like all online games, lag depends on the connections each player has with the service, so lag in general is bound to happen.

The lobby is a visual affair; you pick a pro or import your laboriously-created athlete, and place them on a virtual court with the person with whom you want to play. After the game, the lobby is a little less friendly, pushing you into a rather vague place in which you're not sure where to go next. There is some slowdown with the online doubles game, but it's not much worse than the single-player game's slowdown that takes place when any doubles player misses the ball.

From a pure gameplay standpoint, VT3's online mode is not only a key component, but playing online provides an excellent feeling. While Top Spin 2 offered online support, it just didn't match the caliber as the original Top Spin. Here, the online play is fun with single opponents, but it's particularly fun to play in doubles tournaments. You can talk all the smack you want, and you're very likely to do so, but the dynamic play of doubles puts players into a cooperative state of play that's intense, competitive, and reliant on supporting your team mate. The visuals and sound stand up solidly online, too.

World Tour
World Tour, or Career mode, digs down deep into the game's role-playing element. Essentially, Career consists of creating a player, building aspects of his or her game (serves, volley, groundstroke, footwork, and technical practice), and playing tournaments. What VT3 does better than its predecessor is to infuse more variety into the mix. In VT2, the career mode was fun, but also limited and repetitive. You played mini-games and tournaments. Now, there are 10 new mini-games and two classic ones, a Tennis Academy, practice sessions with pros that pop up randomly on the calendar, and a stamina meter. The stamina meter requires players to constantly check their health or they'll get injured and be forced to sit out several weeks before returning to play. Naturally, you have a coach who provides general information, occasionally sends you free gear, and, if you're having a tough time beating a certain mini-game or pro player, he will provide useful, concrete tips.

The World Tour mode requires you pick a female or male pro career, and gives the option to pick a home country, a coach, some email to start things off, the Academy, and a few mini-games. Players start out as a total nobody, ranked 300th in the world, who must improve their skills until reaching the number-one ranking. As players progress, they'll open up new mini-games and tournaments, and as their skill increases, they'll meet pro players, earn new gear (including clothes, sunglasses, rackets, wristbands, and), and grow older. Nothing actually affects play except increasingly better rackets. The create-a-player tool is a decent instrument, but you'll always create one of two types of player: 1) an ordinary looking one, or 2) a downright ugly one. In reality, it's far more fun to create the ugliest player in the world than the prettiest one. But SEGA keeps the tool in check, so players can't create the monstrosities they could in Top Spin 2.

Meeting the pros essentially consists of a nearly static custcene in which a robotic pro, like say, Roger Federer, says something like, "Hey, I've watched you on the courts. You're good. Want to practice together?" The text shows on screen as the player uses about 1,000 mouth movements over about 15 seconds for what should be a five-second sentence. In other words, characters' mouths move far too long to utter the short amount of words they're given. The cutscenes don't actually do anything either, except that they tally up to give an Achievement once all of the pros have been met. These little segments have the potential to offer potentially deeper RPG aspects, like creating rivalries or friendships with other players that could play out during the World Tour's progression, but sadly, they don't.

As for the basic structure of the World Tour mode, it's essentially the same as Virtua Tennis 2, only built out with more variety and little management elements. You can practice against lots of people now, not just enter into mini-games. By playing others in practice sessions, you'll learn their styles of play on various court surfaces, and you'll upgrade stats (but not ranking) after each session. The mini-games are deeper, too. As players progress, they will constantly see the mini-games increasing in difficulty, so players will see level 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on, in each game.

The new stamina meter is simplistic, but it keeps things sort or real. If you drain stamina below 50%, injuries such as strained wrists, knees and elbows, will occur. You'll miss weeks of play time and potentially big tournaments. So after each game or tournament you'll want to keep an eye on it and rest by choosing to imbibe an energy drink, chill at home for a week, or take a three-week vacation on a tropical island. Each one revives energy, though the energy drink is a short-term solution that doesn't prevent injuries, it just postpones them. You'll eventually realize that your life-span as a pro is quite long, so missing a few weeks here and there doesn't mean jack.

This time around the World Tour mode is better paced than the last game. You'll start off a little quicker, opening up all sorts of mini-games right away. And, even if your stats stink for a season or even two, the variety of stuff to do is so great you'll nonetheless get lost in them. And that's the point, right, getting lost in the game? VT3 starts off quickly, slows down for a while, and then, at least in my season, the pace picked up as I passed the 204th and the 100th ranks, each one signifying a new level of more competitive tournaments. The game finally grows challenging once you've attained a ranking of 100. Up until then I was able to breeze past nearly every competitor shut-out games and 3-0 games matches. But finally, the game kicks into gear around that 100th ranking. You'll see players like Henman work his drop shots, Roddick use his powerful serves to push you all over the court, and Juan Carlos Ferrero blast the crap out of every single shot. Surprisingly, my most feared competitor, Federer, wasn't ever a challenge, which is the very opposite of real life, where he is dominant on all but clay courts.

The game offers a decent spread of Achievements that regularly offer 10 points here and 20 points there, such as simply creating a player, talking to all pro players, reaching the 200th ranking, running for approximately 10 kilometers, and playing and beat all female and male athletes, to name a few. You'll also breathe a sigh of relief as the game camera is set in a fixed position, meaning it will always stay behind you as opposed to switching to the opposite side of the court. Of course, you have the option to change that, too.

Sound and Graphics
Graphically, Virtua Tennis 3 hits some high notes. The character models are realistic in most cases: Roger Federer and Venus Williams look great, for instance, while everyone's favorite tennis sex symbol, Maria Sharapova, leaves a lot to be desired. The animations -- like swishing cloth textures and hair -- are excellent, and you'll really enjoy the new spin, reach, and dive animations. The grass and clay courts wear down over time, too, showing spots where players planted a perfectly placed corner shot. The crowds generally look good, with a variety of different attendees animating in different ways, and the courts are pretty good looking, too.

The game looks solid in 1080p. If you have a TV to show off this resolution, you're sort of in luck. My review build showed off some pretty ugly texture seams in players' heads, on the courts, and in cutscenes. Overall, the texture work isn't stunning. You'll see the textures are very basic, and the resolution doesn't enhance tremendous graphic design. The visuals appear more like high-res versions of the current generation version than true next-gen graphics.

The sound effects also leave a little to be desired. Thankfully, SEGA cut out most of the female pro player shrieks that have grown phenomenally horrible to listen to in real tennis, though Sharapova yelps out a funny one every so often. It doesn't quite sound like a shriek of pain or success, but rather like a confused morning dove, lost in a fierce wind, hit by a BB gun pellet. Not sure what SEGA was going for there. The music is pretty sub-standard, too, but par for the series. It's essentially cut from the same mold as the original game, giving players generic guitar riffs in forgettable rock themes. You'll eventually want to just turn the music off. It's what coin-op developers call attract mode music, although I'm not really sure who it's attracting.

Closing Comments
SEGA's Virtua Tennis 3 is an example of a tennis game inching forward, instead of making significant or even moderate leaps forward. Most gamers who bought an Xbox 360 are hoping to play brand new experiences and full-bodied improvements over their predecessors. I know I am. SEGA only goes half way.

Virtua Tennis 3 does make some decent steps forward in the World Tour mode. The added variety -- the attempt at making athletes more realistic and at humanizing them in conversations, for instance, was a nice attempt -- is welcome. The Court mode mini-games are fun for gamers to fiddle around with. And the Xbox Live component does what all good Xbox 360 should do, which is to provide a solid, entertaining, and working online version of the game for both singles and doubles players.

In short, VT3 is impressive in some ways, and all too familiar in others. While SEGA's game provides the best tennis experience on the Xbox 360, there is still a lot of room for SEGA to improve.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (PC)

It's F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. here. Equip your hazmat suit and get ready for the most radioactive experience since Fallout.

Following years of delays and more than six years in development, THQ and GSC Game World are finally ready to release S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to the public. At the cost of blood, sweat and tears, and a few game elements, the game is finally ready for release this March, which also means that the game isn’t quite as the developer originally told us. That’s not necessarily bad, though, as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. offers a fresh post-apocalyptic experience, with a mix of the best from Fallout and Oblivion. Got your hazmat suit on? Good, then read on.

In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. you take on the role of a cliché-struck fellow who wakes up in the wilderness with no recollection of who you are. Unfortunately, the wilderness you picked to wake up in turns out to be the Zone, an area close to the Chernobyl reactor which, following another accident in 2006, is full of criminals and military folks looking for food, power and adventure. After the leakage in 2006, the military closed off access to the area, but some managed to sneak past the guards and came out with strange objects that puzzled scientists. The objects possess a lot of different characteristics, both positive and negative, which puts them in great demand.

Your goal in the game is to survive in the Zone and follow the leads to discover who you are and what you are really doing in the darkest part of Eastern Europe.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a First Person Shooter with big open areas divided into a range of zones. Take Oblivion and change the background and you have a pretty good idea of how it works. You are free to go anywhere you please, but certain areas are closed until you are ready to get closer. Each zone consists of rather large areas inhabited by humans and animals, all living their own life. You often bump into people moving from zone to zone, and armed conflict between the different factions is not uncommon.

Also in regards to missions the game works quite like the system in Oblivion. There’s a main story that you can follow through the game, but you are free to take on other missions and explore the world on your own. The game feels quite alive too. As you make your way through the different areas you will meet other Stalkers – survivors, travelling around and selling stuff they find in the wilderness – and soldiers along with mutated wildlife. The side-missions are pretty generic, though, and something close to unending. Often you will be asked to find an object, clear an area for mutants or criminals or kill a stalker. There’s no real story in it and the only reason to do the missions is to earn money.

But here the comparisons stop. In contrast to Oblivion there’s not much role play in the game. You decide whether you want to be on good or bad terms with people or not, but there’s no real development of the character. Instead you develop though the things that you find. In the beginning you only have access to low calibre weapons, but as you make your way though the game you gain access to more potent equipment and artefacts found in the ruins throughout the zones.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a complete day and night cycle, meaning that you will often have to seek shelter when darkness falls – unless, of course, you can see in the dark. You are equipped with a flashlight, but its usefulness is quite limited in total darkness. Once I went on a mission to clear an area for wild boars just when it had turned dark. I decided to go to the area only equipped with a machinegun, a leather jacket and a small flashlight. As I got closer to the area, I got more and more convinced that we weren’t talking about regular harmless pigs, but pissed off radioactive bacon, and with the dim light from my discount flashlight, I decided that life’s too short to hunt mutated pigs at night, and made my way to the guarded camp close by, where I sad shaking till daylight broke.

The atmosphere of the game is so thick that you can cut it. At no point are you in doubt that a big catastrophe took place here. Everything is ravaged – only a few buildings are left standing, and even there everything is chaos. The blind mutated dogs, hunting in packs for food, causes both pity and disgust. Especially when they crazed with hunger attack you only run off scared when you fire a shot at them, or you find them eating one of the corpses you at an earlier point left behind in the zone.

Despite S.T.A.L.K.E.R.S.’ lengthy development, the game is both visually pleasing and full of atmosphere, and the lighting effects in particular are made well use of. Even though the graphics can appear a bit barren and boring, it’s exactly that visual expression, along with the sounds, that gives you a chill down the spine. There’s almost a melancholic feel to running though the ruins and going though dark cellars deep under ground, listening to strange voices and sounds from the many anomalies caused by the accident – its downright terrifying, especially if you play in a dark room.

Not quite, but almost

All in all, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has been a good experience all the way through, but I can’t help the feeling that something is missing. I have played through the game and seen one of the endings (supposedly there is a few) and I don’t really feel that any of my questions were answered.

The ending I reached wasn’t very “ending”, and it’s like something is missing. At the same time, I have no idea what to do next time to see one of the other endings. There are many signs that THQ has cut through and made GSC finish the game before time. And that is really sad, as towards the end you are given new weapons and objects that you will never really get to use. For example I only got to fire one shot with the rocket launcher, even though I carried it around for four to five hours, simply because of lack of ammunition.

Other elements only appear for a short time, and don’t have the significance they are hinted to have – like you can move around bodies, but not once in the game is it necessary or useful – or the amount of money you collect has no connection to the amount you will actually need to spend. The game could have been bigger too without making the game too long or boring.

Even though it all ends kind of sudden, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is still one of the best First Person Shooters I’ve played in a long time, especially if you like the post-apocalyptic atmosphere from games like Fallout. It’s beautiful, it has a nice feel and is so well built that it deserves a 9, even though the version I played only contained the finished single-player part. Multiplayer offers Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Artifact Hunt for up to 32 players.

Monday, March 19, 2007

College Hoops 2K7 - PS3

With .47 seconds in a Midwest beatdown in College Hoops 2K7, my Tigers were able to pull within two points of the St. Louis University Billikens. Another bucket would send the game to overtime or propel Mizzou to victory in one of the greatest comebacks the IGN offices had ever seen.

Somehow, Mizzou lost by nine.

I couldn't believe the self-destruction. As the nanoseconds ticked away, my players shook their heads during the stream of late fouls, head coach Mike Anderson fumed from the bench and announcers Vern Lundquist and Bill Raftery broke down the debacle.

I returned to the main menu emotionally wound-up, frustrated and angry, but all I wanted was to play again.

Welcome back to College Hoops. If you're reading this, you're probably a 2K fan and just want to make sure the ball wasn't dropped on the four-year-old franchise's jump to Sony's next generation.

I can assure you it wasn't.

The insanely deep Legacy mode with recruiting, pre-season camps and the Selection Sunday show? Intact. Lots of real college coaches such as Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim and Kelvin Sampson? They're stomping the sidelines. Online leagues, Greg Gumbel post-game shows, unlockable balls, challenges and cheerleaders galore? You can bet your bracket they're on the disc.

There's so much to the game that it's hard to talk about College Hoops and not sound like I want it to have my babies.

You know, College Hoops 2K7, I usually don't say this about video games filled with nubile, sweaty men, but you sure are pretty. Your arena floors reflect the sparkling stadium lights, jerseys and shorts ruffle as my point guard breaks to the basket and replays and cut scenes look downright mesmerizing as sweet drips and faces contort after questionable calls. Sure, when one of your players leaves the ground for a shot or block, his jersey inflates as if he was standing over a fan and some of the stadiums are a bit too generic, but those are just two small flaws, baby.

I think I love you.

Now, reader, you can mock me all you want, but you need to understand - I have basketball video game relationship baggage. I used to be in an abusive relationship with EA's March Madness. Year after year I'd buy EA's newest installment of its flashy series and end up being let down. I needed a game that would listen to my needs - namely well-rounded gameplay - but all EA would offer was an offense that revolved around holding turbo, driving to the hoop and dunking.

It's like I was from Mars, and EA was from Venus.

College Hoops understands me. If I lose in 2K's game, it's because I didn't move the ball efficiently enough, I didn't take my shot when I had it or I missed my free throws when it counted. There's a strategy in 2K's monster beyond holding turbo.

That's awesome.

Of course, like any solid relationship, there are growing pains. When 2K and I first hooked up with College Hoops 2K6, I thought the title had a good personality - tight controls with bright AI - but was let down on the overall promise. See, 2K6 promised an authentic college basketball experience but featured players that seemed as if they just stepped out of the Speed Force. Guards and centers would shoot up and down the court in a way that made every play feel like a fast break and detracted from the satisfaction of working the ball around the perimeter to the open shooter.

2K7 fixed my players' need for speed. You can hold R1 for a boost, but any other time your players are moving at a reasonable speed to set up screens and work out plays. Although the rest of the controls are pretty run of the mill, the use of the Six Axis for free throws - tilt the controller back and rotate it forward as the player shoots - takes some getting used to but ultimately is more satisfying and challenging that 2K6's similar use of the analog stick.

Getting your legacy team on a roll takes a detail-oriented eye. As you navigate your calendar and delegate which coach is recruiting what player, you also have the option to monitor your current roster. If one player is down, you might want to consider doling out one of your ten pep talks. When game day comes around, a Unity meter in the lower left corner of the screen tells you how well your team is meshing. Substitutions will either add or detract from their cohesion and that will equate to success on the scoreboard.

When your heart starts racing and your team goes on a run, be prepared for your opponents to lose composure and start bumbling - when my Tigers would get a kick start, terrible passes, bad shots and out-of-position players became the hallmark of my rivals.

The action on the court is mirrored by the clamor of the crowd. Although I could have done with a more active throng of hardcore hoop fans rather than the placid crowd in 2K7, their vocal intensity is unbeatable. Play in the house Coach K built, and the Cameron Crazies get louder and louder as the Blue Devils pull away. Head to Kansas to face the Jayhawks, and the crowd inside Phog Allen Fieldhouse breaks out their eerie chant of "Rock Chalk Jayhawk."

Closing Comments
If you’re a college basketball fan and you own a PS3, there’s really no reason you shouldn’t buy this game. The Legacy mode is deep, you can create your own online leagues and when all that gets boring, you can try to make dirty chants in Chant Creator. It’s the basketball title that keeps on giving.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Wii)

Tiger Woods faces off against your Mii. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for Wii is a lot like the game last-generation consoles, with the obvious motion-sensing capabilities thrown in. Although using the Wii Remote isn’t perfect, it does work very well most of the time and the game is the most full-fledged golf experience available on the Wii.

Tiger Woods 07 features the expected gameplay modes such as Tiger Challenge where you will be taking on fictional golfers and PGA Tour mode, which is the game’s season mode. The game still includes the typical game modes like stroke, best ball, skills 18, skins, real time event calendar, battle golf, etc. New modes include one-ball where you and another player alternate shots with the goal of setting up your opponent with a bad shot. The game also includes two team-based modes in bloodsome and greensome modes. Of course, you can still create your own golfer and task yourself with making him the best golfer in the world. You still earn money for winning rounds, which you can use to upgrade your character’s skill set.

Tiger Woods 07 includes 18 courses, 20 professional golfers and 15 fictional golfers. The professional golfers include big names like John Daly, Mike Weir and of course Tiger Woods. There are even some LPGA pros like Natalie Gulbis. The courses include some oldies but goodies like Pebble Beach, Bay Hills and St. Andrews. New courses include K Club, Las Vegas’ The Falls and California’s Aviara. EA also included some fictional courses like Safari Country Club and Central Park. The number of courses and golfers is slightly less than the PS2 version of the game, but more than the other next-generation versions.

Tiger Woods 07’s biggest differentiating factor on the Wii is the use of the Wiimote. To swing, you simply hold the Wiimote like a golf club and move it in a swing-like fashion. You hold the B button to let the game know you want to actually swing and not just take a practice shot. As expected, the farther back and quicker your shot is, the longer the in-game drive will be. Be warned though that you need to have solid aiming since a tilting a little will be reflected in your in-game shot. The game still uses the true aiming system although in the Wii version this is shown by a circle showing you where your shot will land.

If the control scheme proves too difficult, an easier swinging mechanism was implemented that lets you hit the ball in a straight line every time. The swinging mechanism doesn’t always work perfectly, and putting in particular will take some practice but it does work the way it’s supposed to the vast majority of the time. Lastly, there is a traditional swinging mechanism that uses the Nunchuk’s analog stick, which works fine but sort of eliminates the purpose of the Wii version of the game.
Visually, Tiger Woods is disappointing for a Wii game, with graphics about equal to the PS2 version of the game. The player models look fairly good and are definitely the highlight of the visuals thanks to solid character models and animation. The courses look okay but the low-quality textures and simple architecture leave a lot to be desired—even for a Wii game. While we aren’t expecting PS3-quality graphics here, the Wii is certainly a more capable machine than the 6-year old PS2.

The game’s audio package is also nearly identical to the PS2 version. For the audio, though, this isn’t as big of a drawback. It is still top-notch, accurately recreating the sounds of golf. The commentary from Gary McCord who provides well-meaning commentary contrasts with the comical arrogance of David Feherty. The game’s create a player tool allows you to choose one of give voices for your character. All of the voices are pretty good and add life to the character. Once again, it would be nice to hear some new sound effects or voice overs every now and then.

If you have already played the game for other consoles and are not interested in the motion controls, there is little incentive to purchase Tiger 07 for the Wii. However, if you loved Wii Sports Golf and were looking for more, this game will be exactly what you’re looking for as the game is undoubtedly the most in-depth and fun golf game on the Wii.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Top Spin 2 (PC)

PAM Development delivered a high-quality game of tennis when it originally brought Top Spin 2 to the Xbox 360 a year ago. It wasn't particularly revolutionary, but it offered a flexible character creation system, a playful career mode, first-rate production values, and most importantly, some of the sharpest, most nuanced tennis action to be found anywhere. Aspyr has now brought Top Spin 2 to the PC, and although most of what made the Xbox 360 version great remains applicable here, the passing of time and some sloppiness in the translation make it a less impressive package all around.

First off, you should know that this is a game that simply demands you play it with a gamepad, and unsurprisingly, the Xbox 360 controller proves to be ideal. This necessity is driven by the fact that Top Spin has always offered a slightly more technical game of tennis than Sega's standard-bearing Virtua Tennis franchise, though it's still quite easy to pick up. You've got four basic swings, including the aptly named safe swing, which will never go out of bounds, though the other three shot types require a bit more finesse to keep inside the lines. The slice shot flies low and fast and is great for crossing up your opponent; the topspin shot flies straight and bounces high but moves fast and can slip right past opponents who aren't on their toes; and the lob shot, which should be used sparingly, can be very potent against aggressive opponents apt to ride the net.

While the four basic shot types can be used at any time, eight additional swings require some portion of your momentum meter. Momentum is gained and lost naturally as you score points and are scored on and can be used for either risk shots, which take up big chunks of your momentum, or advanced shots, which eat up a more modest amount of momentum. The advanced shots are high-powered versions of your standard swings. Risk shots are even more powerful, but as the name suggests, they're rather risky, too. Holding down the assigned modifier button before you start a swing will bring up a rising power meter, which you need to stop right at the top. If your timing is off, you'll botch the shot and likely give your opponent the upper hand. If you nail it, the ball moves hard and fast and can be difficult to return.

As potent as they can be, though, risk shots are usually worth taking only during your first serve, when you have a free pass to hit the net. Otherwise, the stakes are too high, and it's prohibitively difficult to keep an eye on the meter and your opponent while also keeping your player in motion in the middle of the match. While the risk shots still don't have an optimal risk-to-reward ratio, they've been refined a bit since the first Top Spin, and they don't have any ill effect on the rest of the gameplay, which is consistently responsive and, thanks to some aggressive and skilled artificial intelligence, regularly quite intense.

Digesting all of the tennis jargon in Top Spin 2 can be a bit much if you don't know the sport, and hopping right into the game's exhibition or tournament modes may give you a bit of a rocky start. It's best, then, that you go into the game's career mode, which does a fine job of casually acclimating you to the nuances of the gameplay as you play. Before you start mastering your smokin'-fast ace serves and humiliating dump shots, though, you'll have to create your own custom tennis pro.

In addition to offering basics like gender, age, and nationality, the character creation system in Top Spin 2 gives you rather impressive control over the facial features and physical build of your player and is almost comparable to the character creation system found in 2K Games' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion--though, as far as we could tell, there's no option to create a crazy magic-adept lizard-man tennis pro in Top Spin 2. Maybe next year! There's kind of an "uncanny valley" thing going on with the facial features. The skin tones often have flat, mannequinlike sheens to them, but the player models still feature a good amount of realistic detail. Despite the support of higher screen resolutions, it can be tougher to make the tennis pro you want in the PC version, as the work-in-progress model you're shown during the creation process is blurry and indistinct, making some of the finer details hard to make out. It's odd, because once you're actually in the game everything is crisp and clear. The animation has also suffered in the translation. There's still some nice subtlety to the players' movements, but the smoothness of the Xbox 360 version has been replaced by erratic choppiness. This isn't just a minor aesthetic problem, as it can affect the timing of the gameplay as well.


Once your player is created and dolled up in some appropriately fresh gear from major tennis apparel companies like Adidas, Nike, Wilson, and Lacoste, you'll start your career at the bottom of the barrel with a rank of 200 and a low-level sponsorship. Your goals over the course of your career are to build up your player's skills, rise in the ranks, and rake in an obscene amount of coin. The game progresses a week at a time, and each week has room for one training event, one tournament event, and one special event. The training events should be your primary concern when you first start off--you won't qualify for most of the tournaments when you first start anyways, and even if you did, the competition will more than likely eat you alive.

Training is handled much the same as in the original Top Spin, and the Virtua Tennis games before that, turning the tennis court into the stage for a series of skill-building minigames. Sometimes your task is as simple as hitting specific spots on the court a number of times, but more often than not, you'll be hitting balls into rows of giant dominoes, bowling balls, gigantic tennis balls, and towering walls made out of translucent bricks. The variety of training games you'll encounter over the course of your career has increased since the first Top Spin, and it's a change that helps make the career mode here much more compelling--while training has been a little tedious in the past, the variety and the novelty of the minigames here makes training something to look forward to. Successfully completing a training event nets you stars that you can apply to up to three of the 11 different attributes, techniques, and skills that define your player's performance.

But training events cost money. Eventually you'll run out of money, and the only way to get back into the black is to participate in and win tournaments. You'll start off competing in minor regional tournaments, which are often held in extremely inauspicious locales such as community centers or outdoor public courts, and go all the way up to centre court at Wimbledon. Aside from the distraction of stands filled with thousands of tennis fans watching you during a grand slam event, you'll find that the kind of surface you're playing on will affect the speed of the game. There are subtle atmospheric differences between the courts, too, such as the casual poolside chatter you'll hear when playing at a Mediterranean resort, the international announcers you'll hear at different venues, the way tennis shoes will squeak across a hardwood floor, or the way a player's grunt will echo in a large stadium (it's just too bad that there isn't a greater variety of grunt sounds). Additionally, no matter where you go, you'll be treated to the same generic rock and hip-hop Muzak over and over again.

Winning or even placing well in a tournament will increase your rank, which will in turn open up bigger and better tournaments to you and will also garner you invites to special events. Before you know it, you'll be playing for your country in special international events, getting invitations to play in private matches for the amusement of wealthy bon vivants, putting on exhibition matches for your incredibly grateful sponsors, and trading barbs with rival players.

The career mode goes on for years and years, and if you chose to play every last match yourself, it could take that long to finish it. Taking a cue from the lengthy career/dynasty/franchise modes found in nearly any other serious professional-sport game, Top Spin 2 will regularly let you simulate your matches, and it does it on a surprisingly granular level. You can choose to simulate an entire tournament, all the way down to a single game. So, if you want to step onto the court only when it looks like you might lose otherwise, Top Spin 2 makes it possible.

If you'd rather not invest yourself in the career mode, or you'd rather play against someone with a pulse, Top Spin 2 has several options for you. Exhibition matches are available from the main menu, and you can choose both your player and your opponent from dozens of today's hottest tennis stars, including current top-ranked players like Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and Lindsay Davenport. You can also build your own custom tournament, which lets you choose the number of both real and AI players involved, the venue, and the name of the event.

Both the exhibition and tournament modes allow for multiplayer action, though Top Spin 2 also features some multiplayer-only modes. The party games are somewhat similar to the training minigames in that they put a wild spin on conventional tennis. Time bomb sees you trying to score points to slow down your own countdown clock; wall breaker challenges you to knock down your opponent's wall of boxes while protecting your own; and splash court covers portions of the court in paint whenever a point is scored. Additionally, Top Spin 2 includes online support for up to four players, though the match options are pretty bland and include only the most basic match types. Also, you can play online ranked matches only with a custom tennis pro, which means you'll have to spend a lot of time in the career mode if you intend to compete seriously online. The online play in Top Spin 2 could and should have been much more fleshed out.

While it didn't do a lot of technical grandstanding, Top Spin 2 was a sharp-looking game when it appeared last year on the Xbox 360, and all told it still holds up pretty nicely on the PC a year later, though we did experience some strange texture dropout issues. Player portraits would disappear, player clothing would appear as black, and in the strangest occurrence, entire player models would lack any texture at all, making them look as if they just fell out of an iPod ad. The most egregious problem with the presentation also happens to be one of the most basic, and is carried over from the Xbox 360 version. When you're playing solo, rather than being able to keep your player on the side of the court closest to the camera, you'll regularly find yourself on the far side of the court, which presents some frustrating perspective issues. Your only option is to switch to the zoom camera, which is lower and closer to the player. It can take some getting used to, but it's definitely preferable to playing on the back side of the court.

Technical hiccups aside, Top Spin 2 for the PC is still a good game of tennis, and its $19.99 price tag makes it that much more attractive. But it definitely has its flaws, the majority of which are so head-shakingly clear-cut it's hard to understand how they made it into a product that is otherwise pretty well thought out. If you haven't cared for tennis games in the past, Top Spin 2 won't change your mind, but if you enjoy the genre, you'll be hard-pressed to find much better on the PC.

Monday, March 12, 2007

God of War II (PS2)

Just as a generation of schoolkids learned about Greek mythology from the stop-motion monsters of 1981’s Clash Of The Titans, you can bet a fresh-faced moppet in a classroom somewhere is raising his hand and asking, “But teacher, what about Kratos? He was the one who killed Perseus and freed Atlas and defeated Zeus. It says so in God Of War II.”

Anti-heroes don’t come much more anti than Kratos, the bald and burly Spartan warrior who slices, swings and sexes his way through mythical ancient Greece in God Of War II, the follow-up to what was widely hailed as the best game of 2005.

Does the sequel, due in stores on March 13, live up to expectations? Does a minotaur poop in the labyrinth? Does a cyclops have depth perception problems? Hades yeah it delivers.

Centered around an appropriately epic quest for vengeance, God Of War II sees Kratos betrayed by his fellow deities, stripped of his powers and murdered by Zeus. But he’s plucked from death’s doorstep door by earth-momma Gaia, who tasks Kratos with unravelling the thread of his own fate and reshaping his destiny.

Sounds kind of highfalutin’ -- and the production values on God Of War II certainly rival those of a big-budget movie -- but let’s not mince words here. There’s a whole lot of killin’ going on in this game. A whole, whole lot.

Fans of the original will thrill to the new combat moves, new weapons, new magic, a new roster of sort-of-based-on-Greek-myth characters and a new set of even more intricate deathtraps and head-scratching puzzles.

Though it keeps a lot of the slick flow and intuitive combat mechanics from the first game intact, God Of War II does introduce some new wrinkles. Not only will you ride the flying steed Pegasus and rip Griffins to shreds in mid-air, but you’ll make death-defying leaps from swinging chains, freeze time with a magical amulet and glide along with the help of wings stolen from Icarus during a savage, free-fall beat-em up.

The game is ruthlessly and unapologetically violent, with blood-drenched finishing moves that literally rip opponents limb from limb. At one point, players must frantically tap a controller button to make Kratos pound a scholar’s head into a crimson pulp against a lectern. So much for the meek inheriting the earth.

But there’s nothing meek about God Of War II, and rightly so. It’s an over-the-top mix of action, drama and spectacle that’s intense and engaging from start to finish, save for a few puzzles towards the end that are more tedious than challenging.

And although the ending lacks the clear-cut resolution of the first game, it leaves the door very deliberately open for a future installment on the next-gen PlayStation 3. Just enough time to catch your breath. And maybe rent Clash Of The Titans again.

Bottom line: Aside from a few frustrating spikes in difficulty and a slower-paced final act, God Of War II is about as perfect an action game as you could ever hope for, and a worthy sequel to one of the PlayStation 2’s crown jewels.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Def Jam: Icon (Xbox360)

When it comes to concept, Def Jam games have always been shaky -- rappers fighting rappers for almost no reason at all in the original game, followed by a sequel where rappers fought rappers for control of New York City! Yawn. But the latest in the series, Def Jam: Icon, finally serves up a believable premise with way more crunk than clunk. The story mode kicks off by having you create a thug using some wicked face-generating technology. Problem is, if you're trying to create a white dude, we should brace you for serious disappointment. The limited haircuts are lame, and you'll end up with a pizza-faced goof that has enough neck acne to turn your stomach. He looks plenty realistic as a guy you'd run from on the street, but it's wack that creating a dough-faced hipster is impossible. Blazer-wearing white dudes like hip-hop, too!

Once you're ready to start the game, you're put in a club where some lunkhead shoulder checks you to show off. Next thing you know, you're throwing down with him. Win, and you catch the eye of a Def Jam exec huddled in the club's private area. From there you earn a sort of bodyguard status, which means you'll be called on to dole out punishment when the paparazzi won't stay off Ludacris' tail, or if some psycho fan keeps stalking Mike Jones. Once you layeth the smacketh down, you earn the trust of the hip-hop artists you're protecting. That leads the Def Jam exec to put you in charge of securing talent. So then you get in fights with people over who will sign Sean Paul, or you fight to get Young Jeezy out of terrible contract so he'll consider joining your team. One night, maybe you have to choose between a fight to earn Ghostface Killah's respect and a fight to get Big Boi to sign with your label. Soon enough, you're not just fighting to make ducats for Def Jam, your making your own bank by managing artists, releasing their albums, setting up their marketing budgets, bailing them out of jail when things go down, or just giving them 500 bucks because they ask you for it. It's not rocket science, but at least there's some believability.

The system does break down on two accounts, though. First, when trying to sign an artist (like, say, Sean Paul), sometimes you'll have to fight another artist (like, say, Redman) -- which is just weird. We have a feeling Redman has better things to do than jujitsu a record producer. But who are we to judge? Another breakdown is the entire financial system. You can add bucks to marketing an album, or to getting it played on the radio, but it doesn't seem to matter. You end up with so much money that you have way more capital than you can spend. So when one of your clients wants to throw a party on your dime, or wants you to fund the making a videogame, it's all chump change. No risk, all reward.

Now, with storyline mostly sorted, the series' biggest weakness is the fighting itself -- which, we'll concede, is a big deal for a fighting game. Problems start when you find that the amount of moves in your arsenal feels way too limited. Two quick attacks, two bigger attacks, grab and throw, four grab-and-slam maneuvers, six right analog attacks, and defend high and low. There's more than enough there to beat the crap out of new and old Gs alike, but you'll occasionally come up against a brawler who has your number (Redman, in particular, gave us fits). With the limited set of moves, adjustments are tough to make. Plus, the right analog -- which controls grabbing and throwing opponents -- is about as responsive as a stretch Hummer's steering. As the game is overly throwcentric, the busted right analog means you'll be on the receiving end of a lot of long tosses. Many times you'll try for a grab two or three times before your character will take notice, which results in you being popped by two or three jabs, or your opponent grabbing your collar so he can launch you across the room.

The reason throwing is so important: The gorgeous environments are alive. As the bass drops, so do your surroundings. Everything starts out looking sterling (this game stylistically rivals the brilliant NBA Street Homecourt), but the background music breaks the environment apart. Fissures appear in buildings, windows break, fireplaces erupt, all to the beat. One fighting arena is a gas station, where throwing your opponent into a broken fuel pump will blast them across the screen (and inflict serious damage). On a rooftop, a helicopter's tail swings down every eight count, so if you throw your opponent at the right time, they get swatted. And if the beats aren't timed to carve your opponent in two, you can hold a trigger and remix the song yourself -- by spinning the analog sticks like turntables.

Music -- as it should -- plays a big part in Icon, not just by deteriorating your surroundings, but by giving a boost to your brawler. If you play as Big Boi versus Method Man, you get a boost if Big Boi's song is spinning in the background. But give Meth enough time and he can change the song to his own by using the analog stick turntables. It all looks sort of silly -- a grown man picks up another grown man, throws him into, say, a fireplace, stands there mixing on the air turntables, then sort of throws an invisible fistful of energy at the thrown opponent so that the opponent is consumed in flames for a few seconds. Ahh, videogames.

We should mention that the cloth physics in the game are very cool -- in part because the clothing options are plentiful. You can sport a blazer, camouflage pants, white dress shoes and sunglasses, or a do-rag, shorts, tank top and Timberlands. The mixing and matching is endless, and no matter how much blood gets on your $1,500 shirt or how many rips it suffers, the dry cleaners and tailors fix it up real nice for your next battle -- free of charge.

One of the game's coolest bonuses is being able to play your own tracks in the game (though this only works on the 360). You can spin Linda Ronstadt and watch the background ease into breakage, or you can pop in the Stanton Warriors and see the joint get shredded in 30 seconds. It's a shame uploading music doesn't work in the story mode (you can play your music, but it doesn't give you a boost and can't be turned off), but in the versus game it works just fine.

Lastly, we want to give big kudos to EA for allowing the dropping of N- and F-bombs -- the restriction-free language serves the audience, and there's no point in sugarcoating the culture. Big ups. Plus, playing through the game will skyrocket your hip-hop vernacular. We have no idea what Mike Jones is saying half the time and we don't care -- its genius!

This one's fun, no doubt about it, and the way the beats bang the environment is a must-see. But its lack of fighting depth definitely keeps it on the casual tip.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Ghost Recon: Advanced War Fighter 2 (Xbox360)

Dear Ubisoft, if you can crank out GRAW’s of this quality every year I will be one happy camper. It doesn’t really matter that things have been upgraded and not totally gutted because if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right? Things will look and feel much the same as last year but if you’re a fan of the series this will be a good thing. Add on a totally redone multiplayer component and you’ve got another solid GRAW that everyone with a 360 should consider.

With a mix of team-based gameplay, solo missions, stealth missions, and the ability to command unmanned vehicles, GRAW 2’s single player campaign delivers a lot of variety. Just like in the first there are a large handful of “Holy crap did that just happen?” moments that escalate the experience above pretty much every other game on the market. It’s somewhat troubling that the single player campaign only lasts a good 7 hours but if you’re a believer in quality over quantity then you won’t be disappointed.

This time around you’ll be on the Mexican/US border and you’ll actually get to do some missions on the US side which actually makes the whole visual experience just different enough. Some of the new features on the battlefield include viewing the action through teammates’ eyes, viewing the overhead view of a camera drone, and even commanding an unmanned vehicle. Thankfully your brothers in combat are also much smarter this time around as well as easier to command around the battlefield. If there’s one thing I hated about GRAW 1, it was your stupid buddies.

What’s amazing about the multiplayer portion is the co-op. Not only is it completely unique content, but it mixes the greatness of the single player with the amazing new online competitive mode. You’ll also be able to compete in a ton more modes with up to 16 players this time around and it feels great. No more run and gun, you actually need tactics to win.

If you loved GRAW, then GRAW 2 is a no-brainer. Get this now.

Pros
  • Great new multiplayer features
  • Co-op
  • Updated graphics
  • New locations
  • Great single player experience
Cons
  • Short single player

Friday, March 9, 2007

MotorStorm - Review (PS3)

Can you remember where you were during E3 2005 when you saw Sony’s demo reel of the PS3? So many “target demos” were shown that it was hard to keep straight what game was what. One of those highlighted titles was soon to be known as MotorStorm. The video depicted a crazy scene in the desert where mud junkies were racing and crashing all over the place. The Sony community was thrilled, now all they needed to do was make a game that played like it looked.

That’s where Evolution Studios comes into play. They have a history of making “off road” games with their World Rally Championship series. Sony, more or less, gave them carte blanche to craft the next franchise to sit with the racing classics like Twisted Metal, WipEout, and Gran Turismo. The hype reached a feaver pitch when journalists and gamers alike got their hands on the playable demo which featured amazing visuals and fantastically fun gameplay. That duo alone was just enough to have eager PlayStation 3 gamers salivate.

Head To The MotorStorm Festival
The entire game is centered on one geographic location - a desert badlands full of rocks, plateaus, mud, and mesas. Adrenaline junkies flock to this spot to relish in dangerous racing and music. Think of it as Woodstock for gear heads. During the festival, you have control over a number of different classes of vehicles. ATV, Dirt Bike, 4X4, Semi, Rally, Mud Plugger, and Buggy cars and trucks are selectable for different styles of racing. You take your ruggedly built machine and race it on all kinds of muddy tracks. While the general location is similar, the courses are actually diverse while still staying true to the central festival theme. It might seem on the surface that the festival idea was just a way to loosely hold the game together, to the contrary, it helps immerse you in the MotorStorm universe.

Look Out For That Giant Boulder
Navigating your way around the unforgiving terrain in MotorStorm can be handled in two ways. The first is the most traditional method of controlling, the good old analog sticks. The other method for controlling the game is via the SIXAXIS controller. At any time during a race, you can toggle on the motion controls. The motion controls are very sensitive. Too much turning your wrists will send you jack-knifing left or right. If you have played Excite Truck, the principle is the same, only in MotorStorm you have the option to not use the SIXAXIS motion.

Depending on the mode of transportation, each car or truck class handles differently. The bikes and ATVs are fast and nimble but will explode if they hit a pebble. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the semi cabs. They turn as well as a rotating door filled with buffalo but they can plow through any obstacles in the field that would cause others to slow down. Subtle differences like that make each class stick out. Unfortunately, some vehicles aren’t as fun to drive as others. ATVs and Bikes tend to explode all the time and the Semi trucks go too slow. A lot of the problem steams from the paths the vehicles take. Each course has twisty and uneven surfaces that are more fun to drive on compared to the straightforward mud pit. As you imagine, smaller vehicles can handle the twisted paths while bigger ones can’t.

You Can Hear Them Come From A Mile Away
Part of the MotorStorm festival is music, and there are plenty of hard rock tunes to keep the gas peddle on the floor. There are enough tracks to not repeat itself too often. The music selection does a great job at making the MotorStorm universe consistent to the games concept. It should be noted that these are licensed music tracks so these aren’t original scores from the developers. Aside from the top notch sound track, there are the sound effects that accompany it.

The engines roar and the crashes sound painful. That about sums up the SFX experience for MotorStorm. They do enhance the gameplay quite a bit because if you have the TV down, you feel like you are missing a key piece to the game. Even the boost meter gives audio clues before your engine explodes into a fiery mess.

Next-Gen Has Never Been More Brown
The joke floating around the internet is that all the next-gen games all have brown tints to the game. MotorStorm keeps that stereotype alive but not without good reason. Mud will fly all over the place and you’ll see your vehicle and driver start to get all dirty from the AI kicking up dust and mud. There is a neat trick the developers used to make there be a slight risk driving the mud, splatter hits your TV screen and obstructs your view for a few seconds. Nothing too crucial, just something to make you more immersed.

The canyons you race in all look gorgeous. MotorStorm must have barrowed some assets from Formula 1 because the lighting looks just as good too. For how dull rocks usually are, Evolution Studio brought them to life with ultra detailed scenery and lighting techniques that compliment the landscapes. To add a more human touch, there are structures that are man-made so that the racers can better traverse the courses and vehicle specific routes. In high-def this baby will stun anyone that passes by. The max resolution supported is 720p which is more than enough to show off just how good this game looks. With all these fine visuals, there is not much noticeable slowdown. I did pick up on a few frame rate hiccups that didn’t last more than a moment. Even when there were chain reaction crashes, slowdown was virtually non-existent. To date, MotorStorm is the best looking PS3 game.

Racing At Its Finest
The biggest stand-out feature of MotorStorm is that it is one of the best racing experiences out there today. To say MotorStorm is just “fun” is a huge understatement. Part of reason why is the combination of smartly designed courses and complex AI that keeps the game challenging. The courses are designed to keep races chaotic. Boulders will clutter the race tracks and you have to decide what way to go around them. Think for too long and you’ll smash your vehicle into the side of a granite wall. Add the AI that gets competitive (sometimes TOO competitive) and all hell breaks loose. If you are old enough to remember how frantic some combat racing games, like Road Rash or Combat Cars, MotorStorm keeps that very spirit alive and well. You have a boost gauge which grants you boost power trough out the race. Use it too much and your engine blows up in your face. Strategic boosting is key to winning races.

As you race more of the single player mode, some of the key problems with the game start to show up. First offending problem is the limited options all around. The single player only has the festival mode where you race on the game’s terms. You can’t choose your track or choose your own vehicle. If you want to unlock more races, you need to beat through the courses provided. When you beat the first few rounds of courses, the AI really gets nasty and starts to play dirtier than the ground you are driving on. There aren’t any Time Attack or Practice modes to speak of so your offline single player experience can feel limited. Also limited are the multiplayer modes. There is not an option for splitscreen racing on your PS3. However, if you get online, that is when the ball game changes.

Getting online is very simple. It also opens up the opportunity to pick and choose your options for a race. Up to twelve PlayStation network users can race at a time to make the online multiplayer races just as insane (if not more). There are player stats that are collected during the game so you can see how well your opponents race by looking at percents. Voice chat support makes it possible to verbally sling mud to the competition as well. Unless you are without broadband internet, there is no excuse not to play online matches.

Must Own Mud Adventure
I had the best time playing MotorStorm. It’s not too often that after a review process, you’ll want to keep playing the game. MotorStorm still has appeal to me. Even with the limitations this is the first true killer app for the PS3. MotorStorm will now be an ever important franchise in the armory of Sony. Every aspect of the game works so well on so many levels that we can only hope it’ll get support through some downloadable content. I can keep singing MotorStorms praises but this is one game you have to experience for yourself, otherwise you’ll be missing out on one of the finest crafted extreme racing games out there. No joke, with MotorStorm, you are playing beyond.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

The Sims 2 Seasons (PC)

Yeah, I was sceptical too. I mean, I realise that it's been on the wish list of many Sims fans ever since Will Wright's little computer people first wandered onto our monitors, but I just couldn't get my head around the idea of paying for an expansion pack just so you could see some virtual snow.

University gave them ambition and options for improvement beyond the slender bookcases of their homes. Nightlife gave them an actual social life that didn't revolve around endless house parties. Open for Business made them self-sufficient, and freed them from rigidly defined career paths. And Pets? Well, pets at least introduced living additions to each household.

So, for this fifth update to the globe-conquering Sims 2, the prospect of making it rain didn't quite jump out as an essential evolution of the ever-expanding Sim suburbs. It's impact on the Sims themselves seemed too intangible - sure, they might get wet or cold but so what? Surely it's only ever going to be a background effect, not a major gameplay development.

It's raining Sims (Hallelujah)
'' Screenshot 1

Lobster-coloured British tourists - now available on your PC, all year round!

Well, yes and no. It's certainly true that the benefits of Seasons won't be immediately apparent. The first thing you'll notice is an additional icon in the top left of your Neighbourhood screen, from where you can set the quartet of seasons that your Sims will go through. You can follow the usual Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter sequence, or mix things up to your liking. You may, for instance, prefer to create a virtual California where it's hot all year round. Or you may like to keep things frosty.

Once in the game, a new gauge on the control panel shows which season you're in, and how long it'll be before the transition to the next. Six Sim days is the normal time period for one season, and it's really just a matter of waiting to see what the weather will bring. Rain, hail, snow, thunderstorms - all can occur, depending on the season. When the weather does change, your Sims react with commendable realism. Their first snowfall is greeted with delight, while perpetual rain makes them stand at the window, grumbling. Lightning can strike trees - and Sims - setting them ablaze. This actually happened within the first few minutes of my installing the expansion, and it was undeniably impressive to see flames flicker around the shrubbery before the downpour put it out.

'' Screenshot 2

Gardening, splashing and lightning. Three new features, in one screenshot. Boo-yah!

There's certainly no faulting the effort that has gone into creating the weather effects. Snow, in particular, is a subtly complicated piece of simulation. Rather than just covering the ground as a standard texture map, it gathers on the tops of objects (even user-defined objects), dusting your neighbourhood with speckles of white. If it keeps snowing then it builds up in drifts around buildings and objects, while Sims leave paths of disturbed snow in their wake. Such prettiness comes at a price though - The Sims 2 is becoming more of a system hog than ever, and even with 2Gb of RAM and a 512Mb video card - far beyond the recommended minimum specs - sustained snowfall did result in graphical chugging when moving the camera.

Should the chaotic nature of the weather prove too random, one of the new Aspiration rewards is a mad scientist's dream - a bizarre contraption that can be used to change the weather, or the season, to your liking. As with all Aspiration objects, using it while in the wrong mood can have catastrophic results. Two words: meteor shower. Personally I'd hoped the game would make you work harder to earn something so powerful, but it's easily unlockable after less than an hour of play.

One day a real rain's gonna come...
'' Screenshot 3

A scene from my harrowing Sims machinima re-enactment of The Thing.

So, you can have realistic virtual weather. Big whoop. How does it actually affect the gameplay? At the most obvious level, each weather type brings with it specific activities - splashing in puddles, raking up leaves, making snowmen, having snowball fights and so on. If you have Pets installed, then your cats and dogs will also frolic in the wonders of this new ecosystem. There are also the expected additions to the object database and costume options. A new preset outfit is available when creating or editing a Sim, allowing you to define their outdoor clothes, while a coat stand can be placed next to the door for convenient manual changes. Should your Sims spend too long outdoors, inappropriately dressed, then they'll catch a cold or even get sunburned, sending them scurrying back to bed to moan and groan.

Because so much of this expansion involves the great outdoors, there have been tweaks to the way Sims stats are updated. Their needs drop slower when outside, so you don't have to worry about dashing into the house every ten minutes for a snack or a shower. The seasons also affect the effectiveness of various Sims activities. Romantic gestures receive a boost during Spring, friendships are boosted in the Summer while strengthening family bonds during Winter has an enhanced effect. Autumn, apropos of nothing, has been designated the season of self-improvement so all studies carried out during this time result in faster advancement.

'' Screenshot 4

Family interactions are more effective in the winter. Arguments over who's cooking the turkey not included.

Unlike University, Nightlife and Open for Business, Seasons doesn't introduce any new areas for your Sims to explore, but it does feature a new neighbourhood - Riverblossom Hills - which includes a grocery store and other NPC facilities. It's a rural neighbourhood, with plenty of farm lots and a generally laidback vibe. Riverblossom Hills also introduces this update's token comedy character skin, in the shape of plant people. These Jolly Green Giant look-alikes function in much the same way as werewolves and vampires from previous expansions, albeit without any noticeable negative side effects. Unlike the other transformations, this one can be passed down through Sim DNA, resulting in human/plant hybrid babies. There's a preset plant family - the Greenmans - that does just this, or you can vegetablise your own Sims by using too much pesticide.

Organic addict

This brings us, rather neatly, to Seasons' other major gameplay addition - namely gardening. You can now place vegetable patches and greenhouses, and use them to grow your own fresh produce. Unlike the existing flowers and shrubs, these plants require more than just an occasional watering can and must be tended regularly, removing weeds and parasites. It's a tricky skill to master, especially if your Sims have ongoing careers, but the rewards are significant.

Not only can your fresh food be stored in the fridge (along with leftovers, another new tweak) but they can be used in new recipes, and have benefits beyond the usual hunger reduction. Homegrown fruits, for example, can be put through the new juicer object to create drinks with status effects. Ponds come stocked with fish, which opens up a wealth of fishing options, including different baits. Again, your catches can be transferred to the fridge and used to keep your Sims healthier. If you have Open for Business installed, then you can even go into the grocery trade. For organic types, it's a whole new way to play. For those who'd rather not be distracted by such unrestrained Titchmarshery, it's yet another feature that will only distract you from those all-important Aspirations.

Kitchens now have a range of decorative items like spice racks, dried flowers and stupid men who open red hot ovens with their bare hands.

Beyond that, the expansion is full of smaller additions and refinements. Bills can now be paid all at once by clicking on the mailbox. Pools can be constructed using curved corners, allowing for much more elaborate designs, while water slides are a fun new way to take a dip. Skating rinks - both ice and roller - are ideal for communal fun, if you have the space. There are six new career paths, though none of them are particularly in keeping with the seasonal theme, or worth ditching a character in progress to try. Adventurer and Gamer are the most fun, though I did balk at the prospect of playing a virtual me, getting paid virtual money to play games, just as I'm getting paid real money to play as the virtual me, who's getting paid to...woah. Cosmic.

It's just a shame more time hasn't been spent on ironing out some of the more persistent niggles - such as the way Sims still get stuck on the scenery. There's a house in the new Riverblossom Hills neighbourhood where characters get stuck on the same corner every single time. Any annoyance is tempered by appreciation of the sheer scale of what the Sims engine is now capable of simulating, but after five passes through the tweaking machine you'd hope such fundamental glitches would be less frequent. Bah. Humbug.

Viewed as a whole, Seasons is a strange expansion. The biggest change - weather - is one that impacts your game in a mostly subtle background way, rather than redefining your Sims world in appreciable gameplay terms. The weather effects are quite wonderful, and there's something perfectly cosy about having a snowstorm fluttering outside the window, but they only change the game as much as you want them to. After the tenth rainstorm, the novelty starts to wane. Gardening and fishing offer interesting new ways to approach the game, if you want to get away from the virtual rat race, but other than that it's a thematically confused update - somewhere between a oversized object pack and an impressive weather system tech demo. It certainly doesn't damage the game, or disgrace the Sims brand, and veteran Sims players will find enough new and improved features here to justify investing another twenty notes. Newcomers, however, might feel more at home with the more immediate gratification of the earlier expansions.