Kry Previews: Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 has been a game mired in controversy since its public debut at E3 in June. The long anticipated Left 4 Dead 2 Demo hit this week for preorders, and I eagerly soaked up everything in it. Though I never really hopped on the boycott bandwagon, I understood and agreed with a lot of the complaints. My research and the demo experience, though not perfect, have left me with a mostly positive impression for its November release.

The exception to this, and the most negative thing about the demo, was the absolutely awful handling of the release by Valve. The demo was delayed five or six times over an approximately one day stretch, with no official word on the matter whatsoever except an expected release time on a Steam community group. Honestly, it was kind of like chasing a carrot on a stick, with some delays not being posted until 5 minutes before the release date. This kind of PR is absolutely unacceptable, no matter what the product or company.

With that rant out of the way, onto the demo! The first two maps of The Parish, which is the fifth and final campaign, are showcased. This is our first time playing L4D in daylight. Besides that, many new gameplay elements are showcased, including: the new special infected, a dynamic panic event, as well as new guns, bombs, and melee weapons. These all add a refreshing amount of variety to a game that had threatened to become stagnant. But, what really psyches me up about the game is trying out the new gore system firsthand; it’s a marked improvement over Left 4 Dead and other zombie games (except, perhaps, Dead Space) in its... attention to detail.

The in-game issues with the L4D2 demo are small and strange. Playing the demo, I get the sneaking suspicion that it’s an Xbox game on PC. Not only do I keep hearing sounds that I know are from Microsoft, but also the field of view perspective is messed up; it’s zoomed in too far. The weapons take up a lot more of the on-screen real estate, which is a negative change. Lastly, L4D2 does not improve upon the loathed server selection system of L4D, and already, poor latency servers have ended games early for me.

Still, the demo makes a strong case for the game. It will very likely be what L4D1 should have been when it came out. And, if you pre-order the 4-pack of L4D2, you can score the game for $34 each, a very solid acquisition. The demo is released to the regular public on Steam next week, and on Xbox the following week. You'll have my full impressions on the game in a future entry.

Kry Retro-Reviews: Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is an acclaimed first person shooter title, released in late 2007 and developed by Infinity Ward; it proved an immensely popular title. As such, a sequel, Modern Warfare 2 is due out this November. Interest in playing the sequel is what drove me to give COD4 a quick run through. This is an abbreviated review. Since playing FPS games on consoles is an extreme source of frustration for me, I only ran through the single player of COD4; my review omits the multiplayer, which is a most significant feature.

COD4 is set in faux modern times, pitting the player as SAS and USMC versus terrorists of the standard Arab and Russian fare. Despite this common setting, COD 4 still offers a fresh, compelling narrative, and is able to keep interest throughout the entire campaign. It also disguises its linearity well. That, along with a very strong visual and aural presentation, makes for a solid experience. The only real immersion breaking experiences are with your teammates’ AI. It sometimes leaves you wondering as to why they will prioritize less dangerous targets or conveniently sit around doing nothing. This is more nitpicking though, and usually the AI is nothing short of stellar.

Gameplay is similar to your standard shooter these days, and it should be, as COD4 set a benchmark that many other titles have followed. Indeed, I do believe COD4 is one of the titles responsible for starting the current fad of automatically recovering health by not getting hit. But I digress. The campaign puts you in a variety of roles, and you can usually pick up the weapons you want to fit your playstyle as you progress through missions, so the game continually feels fresh until the end. You usually are given a surplus of ammo as well as secondary items, like grenades, to complete your mission. Speaking of grenades, my one biggest gripe about the campaign has to be just how many times I got killed by them. It’s pretty frustrating how easy it is to get instagibbed by them, especially because it doesn’t feel parallel at all to how many bullets it takes to kill me. It’s probably more me approaching the game the wrong way, but either way, it’s a cause for rage.

COD4 certainly feels like it’s worth the money, and with Modern Warfare 2 releasing imminently, it should be available for pretty cheap, if you’re into yesterday’s big thing. I will be picking MW2 up on launch, assuming it’s not just hype. Hopefully, it will sate my FPS needs for quite awhile. If not, well, Left 4 Dead 2 is coming out about the same time… so there is a contingency plan in place.

Kry Reviews: Blizzcon '09

So Blizzcon came and went this weekend to much fanfare. And what a show it was! I certainly wish I could have been in attendance. I’m a huge fan of all products by Blizzard, so naturally this entry shall focus on me gushing over all the news from Blizzcon.

Let’s start out with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which was definitely the headliner of Blizzcon ‘09. Despite the huge information leak the week before, I think everyone was still blown away by the gravity of this expansion. The main selling point of Cataclysm is that it nukes and completely redoes levels 1-60. This was easily the most tired part of the game, with the content from newer expansions really underlining how antiquated Classic WoW’s zones are. Along with this come new races (Goblins and Worgen), additional class/race combinations, and a push of the level cap to 85, among other things. After getting bored of Wrath quite quickly into the expansion, I was almost sure that I had put the WoWcrack behind me for good. Now after seeing the Cataclysm, my will has wavered quite a bit.

There wasn’t much left to reveal in Starcraft 2, with it being the Blizzard game most imminent to release. But, we did get to see an excellent preview of Battle.net 2.0, which looks quite satisfactory. It’s about everything I expected. There are all across the board improvements to battle.net, including achievements, better friends integration, and easier searching for games (especially custom games). I’m not too keen on Blizz keeping in a form of macromanagement drudgery with the release of SC2, but this concern is a minor one compared to how far everything else is coming with this game.

Last, and certainly least, is Diablo 3. Though this game is definitely the most anticipated release for me and many of my friends, it is still very much in development, likely not seeing the light of day until late 2011 at the earliest. As such, news is scarce. Regardless, the game looks beautiful, and the monk class debuted at Blizzcon is an interesting and welcome addition to the cast.

Three games and probably three purchases at midnight release day for me. There is no developer as influential in my video gaming career as Blizzard, and I eagerly await each morsel of information on these upcoming titles until I can play them myself.

Kry Previews: Heroes of Newerth

Heroes of Newerth is a standalone game based on the very popular Warcraft 3 mod, Defense of the Ancients. In development by S2 Games, it is currently in closed beta, and as of now, strangely unannounced. I’m astonished that I’ve heard nothing about this game until I got in the beta last week!

HoN is a faithful adaptation of DotA, and at first glance, seems identical. I do not doubt for all of HoN’s lifetime that people will at first glance describe it as ‘dota with better graphics’. But, HoN innovates beyond that. The UI is improved in nearly every way, in-game voice has been added, and there are new maps and heroes.

The gameplay of HoN is like that of DotA, with the above additions. For those unfamiliar with DotA, it is a cooperative, team-based strategy game where you control a hero with unique abilities in an attempt to outmatch the enemy team and destroy their base. In addition there is a wide array of items to buff up your hero. With so much depth, and a reasonable balance, it’s understandable to see why DotA (and now HoN) is so popular.

There are a few things currently lacking in the HoN beta that are problems inherited from DotA. It has possibly the steepest learning curve of any game I’ve played in recent times. There are many minor nuances that must be learned to play effectively, in addition to becoming familiar with the many heroes and items. There is little to no help, and a new player is effectively on his own to learn the game. HoN direly needs a tutorial system before release.

The other current problem in the beta is the stat tracking system, and its unfriendliness to new players. As of right now, it is the main way you’re judged when getting into public games, and, since a new player can easily rack up a terrible record, they’ll get booted before the game begins. Though this is partially a byproduct of the terrible community DotA has, it is also a problem with the system in its current iteration. Planned quickmatching and advanced rating systems will hopefully alleviate this problem. I like having a stats system, but there’s definitely tuning needing in how it affects the new players and games.

HoN has the potential to be the biggest surprise in gaming this summer. It came out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. No pricing plan or release date have been revealed as of yet, but it is vital for S2 that this game be cheap and/or released before League of Legends (which recently announced a free to play model) in the fall.

Kry Previews: Battlefield Heroes

Battlefield: Heroes is the latest iteration of the acclaimed Battlefield series by EA DICE, and the first to utilize the ‘Play 4 Free’ mechanic. The game has just hit open beta as of this writing, and with that, the NDA is lifted and I can give you guys my thoughts. All in all, BF: Heroes is definitely worth a looksie. To me, it is the best free game I’ve played since the original Gunbound.

BFH uses simple, but effective graphics, notably the use of cel-shading, for its World War 2 aesthetic. The thought process is that an extremely wide range of computers should be able to play, and I have no problem with that. Nor do the graphics give me a feel that the game looks dated; they sacrifice realism for style. There is a large amount of purchasable clothing, most of which are done with micropayments, which offers a good degree of customization for players’ avatars, and the main draw of income for the developers. My only complaint is that with these simple, unvarying graphics, they should be able to pump out new maps faster; right now the game is limited to only four.

BFH offers solid gameplay for a free title, featuring three distinct classes, with unique, varying abilities and playstyles. Each game is fun and frantic, assuming the sides are even, which is generally the case. Characters level up through playing to gain access to these powers. Micropayments do not affect the gameplay in any direct way, a smart design decision. Players have a lot of health in BFH; you will rarely die before being able to react.

The game is not without flaws. The menu, where you purchase items, change game settings, and customize your arsenal is inaccessible while playing, creating an unnecessary disconnect. Planes are poorly implemented, a recurring error of the BF series. You must use a joystick to effectively fly one. But, thankfully, in BFH planes are noticeably less lethal than in prior iterations of the series, so it’s not as big a problem. And lastly, it irks me that the capturable flags on maps serve no gameplay purpose except a personal score boost. I’d rather there be a little strategy involved there.

All in all, BFH is fun. For a free game, it has a good amount of depth. But, it does not have enough to compare with full-game offerings over the long term like Team Fortress 2 or the Call of Duty franchise. What Battlefield Heroes is though, is a nice distraction for a couple weeks. There is no reason not to check it out. Perhaps you can even get it running at school or work.

Kry Reviews: Myriad Games

In this entry, I'm going to discuss a bunch of games I either didn't finish or just don't have that much to say about.

Team Fortress 2 is a cartoony, critically acclaimed, first person shooter published by Valve. It's a game I've owned since it's 2007 release, but have only just gotten into. I've come to really love this game over the last couple months; it's probably what I'll be spending the majority of summer playing.

What TF2 brings to the table is a great amount of variety. Not only are there nine distinct, well-balanced classes, but for the classes that have received updates there are a few differing playstyles within as well. There are also plenty of different game variants (although nearly everything has a desert aesthetic). What I especially love about TF2 though are the different characters. Their personalities, backgrounds, and design are all unique, and what more, I would argue that, for a multiplayer-only game, Valve has given each of these characters a better persona than the vast majority of games out there.

I don't really have much to complain about, the game is near perfect. There are two issues, one of which was just cleared up with a very recent patch. The game used to tie weapon unlocks to an achievement system, which resulted in myself and many others having to cheat our way through the achievements to unlock the new weapons. Now unlocks are random, and though I'd prefer all my new weapons immediately, this is a good compromise. The system's buggy and unfinished, but it should be really cool when Valve finishes it up. The other problem I have in TF2 is random critical damage, which lowers the skill-based element. This element of randomness should be removed. But, these problems are minute on the grand scale. Valve has shown their dedication in the games upkeep spanning nearly two years since it's original release, there is absolutely no reason not to own this game if you are into first person shooters. You also get Portal and Half Life 2 with the game, both of which are also exceptional productions by Valve.

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Dead Rising came out in 2006, to a mostly positive reaction. What I liked: story, sandbox style gameplay and the in-game photography element (lol Wii version goes here). What made me quit? A very crappy save system. I played for about an hour, beat my first miniboss, and then died in a zombie clusterfuck in the next area. I then realized that the game had not saved any progress I had made in that past hour. What a stupid design decision. After realizing that I would have to start over from nearly the beginning, I pretty much rage quit. I might look at Dead Rising 2 to see if they've rectified this, but otherwise, this game is a wash for me.

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an older game, released in 2003. I played this game then, and I played through it earlier this year when I purchased it on Steam. Really quite a fun game. It was very innovative in its time, with tricky puzzles involving some serious parkour, and especially with the time-control mechanic. This combined with what is one of the better stories in the games industry makes for a great legacy of a game (so good in fact that they're making a movie out of it... we'll see how that goes). The only downside this game had was that the combat was dull, frustrating, and repetitive. And... said combat makes up a good part of the game. Overall though, a good game, and a decent quality port.

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Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is the sequel to Sands of Time, and I believe came with an overhaul to the aforementioned combat system. Unfortunately, the port of it on Steam has bogged me down with framerate issues, so I haven't touched it in a while.

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Prince of Persia came out last year, and was the newest iteration of the Prince of Persia series. This game has some really pretty graphics; I loved the cel-shaded style. On the other hand, the story and dialogue are absolutely banal. I disliked the slow pace of combat and seeming disappearance of the prince's athletic fighting style in previous games. Prince of Persia trades linearity for an open-ended world; this I also dislike. I jumped, hopped, and flipped my way over to one side of the world only to find the door at the end required me to gather more light seeds. I felt pretty lost, so I started hopping, jumping, and skipping my way back only to have the game crash out of Steam and never load properly again. I uninstalled it and since haven't gone back to it. I really felt like I wasted my money here.

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And finally, Lost Planet. I have almost nothing positive to say about this game. I bought the Steam port for $5 during the discount weekend because it looked cool (I'm a huge sucker for the snow aesthetic). Bought it, bashed my head on the wall trying to get through the ass-backwards tutorial that only taught me how to play the game on an xbox controller. Hey you buffoons, I'm on a pc! Whatever... I figured it out; decided to keep playing on. The gameplay is standard fare third person action shooting, with a contrived storyline featuring a bunch of predictable stereotypes. Through the second level and into the third I got sound issues which eventually made the game unplayable; it was quickly uninstalled. The Steam port is an absolute piece of garbage; the game itself might be worth it on xbox if you find it in the bargain bin. Also, all these poor-quality ports have seriously turned me off buying anything third-party on the Steam platform.

Kry Reviews: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the latest game in the Star Wars universe, released September, 2008. It was a commercial success, but had mixed reviews by critics. I had the opportunity to play through it, and blasted through in a single weekend. I enjoyed it, but at the same time, I understand a lot of the complaints. The summation of this review: fun, but frustrating.

The best thing Unleashed has going for it is that it is everything Star Wars. It’s a very immersive game, with a very compelling storyline. The acting and graphics are both stellar. If you’re a Star Wars fan, this game will have you riveted from beginning to end.

Unfortunately, you can’t go very far without noticing the lack of polish on the game. Whether it’s the levels that seem just too linear given your force powers, triggered falling deaths on what looks to be safe ground, or the physics engine betraying you, you’ll be raging constantly throughout the levels. With regards to the physics in particular, you’ll discover just how hard those droids work at waxing the Death Star floors when you are hit by blaster fire and slide 30 feet. Also for some reason the menus in this game have a loading screen. That’s pretty damn annoying considering how often you interact with them.

The actual gameplay itself is fun and frantic, while you’re in control. Combat is very engaging, and right from the beginning you feel powerful. You have a rich upgrade system that you are constantly using throughout the game. You have a wide variety of moves at your disposal as you progress. And, almost everywhere, the environment plays a huge aspect in strategy. Chucking jawas into toxic sludge or freezing stormtroopers in carbonite are just two different ways to score quick (and funny!) kills on baddies.

Unfortunately, that whole “in control” thing is fleeting during actual battles, especially towards the end of the game. Many attacks come with a knockdown effect, and when that happens, the enemies show no mercy and kick the crap out of you to the best of their ability. Instead of your multi-button combos, your most effective move for much of the game is the force lightning ability, which is just a button hold. I constantly raged at the targeting system as well, when I turned to aim at an enemy sometimes I’d just do a force lightning right next to him and wind up wasting time and energy doing no damage.

So once again, in summation, fun but frustrating. All the good things in this game come saddled with just as many bad aspects. However, if you love Star Wars, you’ll find the good outweighs the bad… probably.