Eurogamer Expo 2011

Earl’s Court in London was once again taken over by gamers as the hugely popular Eurogamer Expo hit town.

With a wealth of games on display and the first UK showing of Sony’s new handheld, the PSVita, it was set to be an exciting show.

So without further ado, here are the titles I managed to get my hands on:

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TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON: FUTURE SOLDIER

A few E3′s ago this game looked like a futuristic warfare shooter where you would be using lots of gadgets to take out your enemies. While this is still the case to an extent, the game this most reminded me of was SOCOM 4 – no bad thing. Definitely a solid third person shooter, I’d certainly be interesting in playing through this if the story is strong enough.

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BATTLEFIELD 3

I make no apology for the fact that I *love* the campaign and online of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Battlefield 3 is from the same makers but is the sequel to Battlefield 2, as opposed to Bad Company 2. Which means it’s more realistic and less like Kelly’s Heroes. We played the online beta (which releases to everyone on Thursday 29th September 2011) and I have to say ‘wow.’ Once I’d got used to the changes (the recoil kicks especially) I had a great few rounds. Graphically great this is definitely a step up from any other shooter out there.

* ‘BATTLEFIELD 3′ : GREGHORRORSHOW’S BEST IN SHOW – Eurogamer Expo 2011*

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CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 3

Spec Ops was the only thing I got a chance to play – they had the game set up with headsets so you could communicate with your partner and the whole experience was great fun. The game looks really nice and while it doesn’t have the realism of Battlefield in terms of recoil etc, Modern Warfare 3 will be lapped up by fans of the series.

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INVERSION

Inversion is one of those games that hit me out of leftfield when I first saw footage of it earlier this year. It certainly looked interesting and the gravity based gun play seemed like it could be fun. Unfortunately while this may turn out to be the case the gameplay on offer here didn’t really sell me on the game. Not to mention the fact that graphically it was quite poor, with lots of jagged edges and pop in. Fingers crossed the full game gets more polish before release.

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JOE DANGER: THE MOVIE

I really enjoyed Joe Danger and the follow up plays it safe in terms of gameplay, with great stunts and lots of combos. What changes here is that not every level is bike based – there are mine carts, skis and more besides as Joe shoots scenes for a film. Brilliant fun and with the game moving to XBox 360 as well even more people will be able to enjoy it.

*EDIT* Been told that Joe Danger isn’t confirmed for XBox 360 – so we’ll have to see what platforms are confirmed.

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RAGE

Rage is one of those games that just never excited me. It certainly looked great but coming on as a cross between Fallout and Borderlands I wasn’t sure whether I would end up picking it up – there are only so many post apocalyptic shooters I can play… But having got my hands on it I’ve changed my mind. What impressed most was the enemy AI, the fact they ran for cover and scurried away to protect themselves was very cool. The shooting felt strong and I liked the vibe of the game. This has gone from a maybe to a definite play.

* ‘RAGE’ : GREGHORRORSHOW’S MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE – Eurogamer Expo 2011 *

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AWESOMENAUTS

Awesomenauts is a downloadable, 2D online battle game in which you take control of one of a selection of cartoon mercenaries. The gameplay is objective based and was good fun for a quick blast. Each character has their own abilities and can contribute towards the goal of destroying the enemy base (while also defending your own). Not sure if I’ll pick it up but if you like battle arena games, this is something different.

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SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD

The trailers for Saints Row made the game look like a fun open world title and after getting a chance to try it out I can confirm this is indeed the case. Running around shooting random people and dealing with the cops/enemy gang members when they showed up left me with a big smile on my face. The only problem I have is that the game didn’t do enough to convince me to pick it up so I’ll wait and see before making a decision.

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STARHAWK

It was more than a little disappointing to find that the hands on with Starhawk was ground based as opposed to in the sky or being multiplayer. Regardless, the action was solid and fairly enjoyable, though it was reminiscent of Red Faction, without the comedy destruction. I’m still looking forward to this but I don’t think this demo would have sold many people.

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BINARY DOMAIN

This almost took my Most Pleasant Surprise award but was pipped at the post by Rage. Looking very much like Vanquish, Binary Domain features a nice bit of squad interplay in that you can issue commands but also have conversations based on which members you included in your squad. Fast and loose shooting is the name of the game in this title and you’ll be ripping through evil robots on the way to, what I expect will be one of many, boss battles. Definitely one to watch out for if you liked Vanquish.

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PS VITA

Well I got to *see* a Vita – unfortunately the queue was so long that we’d barely moved after 15 minutes and with time running out we had to make an executive decision to get out and see a few more games instead. It didn’t look as big as I’d heard it described, which is a good thing and although I was viewing from a distance the screen gave a pretty clear picture. Would’ve loved to have actually played one but sadly it wasn’t to be… yet!

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So there we have it, lots on show and plenty of stuff to play. One of the bigger surprises for me was that Bioshock: Infinite didn’t make any sort of appearance – seemed weird for one of the biggest games of next year.

Overall the Eurogamer Expo goes from strength to strength – now I need to start planning for next year

Singularity – Review (PS3)

Singularity was another of those games I’d been meaning to get around to for ages. Then on my first play through I encountered a horrible corrupt save bug that meant my PS3 reset itself every other time I hit a checkpoint in the game.

After deciding to cut my losses and just restart the game, I blasted my way through the couple of hours I’d lost and was back up to speed in no time.

Hopefully that is an issue that won’t affect many people because other than that Singularity was a pretty smooth running game.

It’s made by Raven (of Wolverine fame) so unfortunately my pet hate of having no subtitle option rears it’s ugly again but that certainly isn’t a game breaker.

Singularity tells the story of Captain Nathaniel Renko, a military investigator sent as part of a squad to check out a weird electromagnetic surge originating in Russia.

I won’t touch on the story any more than that as the game had some very nice plot twists and interesting mechanics.

Graphically the game looks ok – I wasn’t particularly blown away by it – and the controls handle well enough.

Singularity is similar to Bioshock in that you have one hand wielding a weapon and the other using a power. Rather than plasmids, in this case it’s the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) which allows you to age or revitalise items (such as broken staircases/bridges etc) or even people if you wish.

The TMD also allows you (at certain pre-scripted points in the game) to open up time rifts and travel back in time. This leads to some great game moments but, as with anything time travel related, can mean the story becomes fairly complex.

Overall, Singularity is a good game. My bugged first attempt at playing it didn’t discourage me enough to put me off the game and I’m glad of that. This is a competent shooter with a decent story and some really nice plot moments.

Rating: 7/10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Review (PS3)

Wolverine Origins was one of those games that I picked up ages ago with the intention of playing it not long after.

The trouble being that a whole heap of other great titles came out and shunted Wolverine down the pecking order.

With the hacking of the PSN taking online play out of the equation, Wolverine was one of many in my game backlog to benefit from the downtime.

The clue to the story is in the name of the game, with this telling the story of how Wolverine came into being before he became one of the X-Men.

Graphically the game looks good and the cut scenes in particular have a great resemblance to Hugh Jackman. Origins isn’t a stunning looking game but, bearing in mind it was released over 2 years ago, it can still hold it’s head up against some of today’s titles.

The gameplay is fairly straight forward and is reminiscent of God Of War or Dante’s Inferno. It’s a button masher for sure but you have the ability to level up your attacks/combos etc.

Unfortunately I found the game to be plagued with bugs/glitches. A lot of them weren’t too troublesome – Wolverine getting frozen in an animation (taking no damage) for example meant a reset of the game. The game occasionally froze up completely, which was fairly annoying but again not a gamebreaker.

Sadly neither of those were the worst of my troubles, as I discovered a problem that did turn out to be a gamebreaker. On one of the puzzles that required the use of weighted platforms I just couldn’t get over quick enough to the next platform before it returned to it’s original position.

After a frustrating 40 minutes or so I ended up looking on youtube and discovered that the platform was no longer fully extended – which was why I didn’t have enough time. After a reset it happened again until I managed to avoid the glitch on the fourth attempt.

Other people I’ve spoken to that have played the game didn’t have as rough a time as I did with the glitches but this game also fell foul of one of my pet hates in gaming – no subtitles.

As a gamer who plays when his small children are in bed I can’t have the volume very high but also can’t have headphones in case they call out. Quite how deaf or hearing impaired gamers are supposed to enjoy the joy is beyond me and in this day and age it shouldn’t be something that’s missing from a game.

Wolverine is a decent enough game that is certainly worth a play through, unfortunately the problems I encountered meant after the first few hours it felt too much like a chore to get through.

Rating: 5/10

Call Of Duty: Black Ops – Review (PS3)

Last years Call Of Duty game was a bit of a fun mess with regards to the single player campaign but early reviews of Black Ops seemed to indicate that Treyarch had tightened up the story in the latest instalment. So is Black Ops a better gaming experience?

The answer is undoubtedly yes.

Firstly let’s take a look at the single player portion of the game. You take control of Alex Mason for the majority of the time, with a few cameo levels in which you control other characters. Certainly there felt like a lot less switching of characters than in Modern Warfare 2 and when you started each mission it clearly stated who you were before it began.

Those of you looking for a realistic interpretation of the special forces would probably be better served by Medal Of Honor (or if you fancy something older Rainbow Six Vegas) because this is Hollywood war plain and simple.

The set pieces are great, with lots going on around you but at times there can be too much happening and it’s tough to know what you are supposed to be doing.

Often the game design is flawed with regards to waypoints etc. One example is the infamous Vietnam level – I’ll save you all some time by explaining, as this took me almost an hour to stumble across

Essentially you need to make your way down a hill that has a few barricades for protection on. Your colleagues lead the charge and as you follow them down a waypoint marker appears at the bottom of the hill in the trench. So you would presume you need to get to the marker, like you do in the rest of the game. Your buddies are shouting out about ‘improvising’ and you’re faced with an infinite amount of oncoming enemies.

Hey wait! Didn’t they mention that the barrels have napalm in them? Ok no problem I’ll just shoot the barrels… No? Ah cool, I’ll use one of these grenade launchers to blow the barrels up… No? To trigger the next scene and end this madness you’re expected to run up to the barrels and press square to stick a mine on it, slice it with a knife and roll it down the hill. The effect is very cool but I was past caring.

Why on earth didn’t they put the markers on the barrels rather than the trench? Why not make the dialogue clearer? Have them actually say ‘Mason, we need to roll these barrels down onto them!’ Having them say ‘We need to improvise’ just doesn’t cut it – damn, I did improvise. I tried everything I could think of to get down to that marker in the trench. It’s just shoddy and not expected of such a huge title.

That’s not the only problem but I’m not going to list the issues. Needless to say at times Black Ops was frustrating as hell and it soured the single player experience for me.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed it and it is a step up from Modern Warfare 2 but really those are school boy errors, without which this could’ve been an even better game.

Also as a side note I found the shenanigans after the end credits veered too close to bad taste for my liking. Just felt like it didn’t need to be in there with those characters.

On the multiplayer front Treyarch seems to have taken Modern Warfare’s huge offering and trimmed it down. Losing the fat and keeping the best bits while also improving it in their own way.

Sure I’m still getting my ass handed to me but I’m having fun while doing it and I certainly feel more competitive than I ever did in Modern Warfare 2.

Also you earn points per round which can be used to unlock weapons, rather than weapons being tied to your level/rank. This is much better as it lets the more casual gamers pick and choose their weapons more easily.

There is no doubt that the Call Of Duty franchise goes from strength to strength with Black Ops taking $650m in its opening week. More importantly than that though is the improvement in the game itself. While I still prefer both the single and multiplayer of Battlefield and Killzone, Black Ops is edging towards that territory. Treyarch have done a great job despite some fundamental flaws and the ball is now firmly in Infinity Ward’s court to see what they can come up with for Modern Warfare 3.

Black Ops is as close to a 9/10 as you can be without getting one. And the reason it doesn’t get one is solely the bad design in places. Without those frustrations this would’ve easily ranked higher but the breakdown that bad design causes in the campaign mode can’t be overlooked.

Rating: 8/10

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Review (PS3)

For the first time in a long while I have not been sucked into the hype for a big triple A game.

I just wasn’t excited about Modern Warfare at all – a mixture of not getting on with the first title and a general disappointment from the multiplayer footage I’d seen.

Upon firing up the single player mode I was struck by how good the graphics were and after a quick run through the training camp I was on my way.

The campaign mode sees you take on the role of several characters and while the story is full of big set pieces, the lack of depth in any of the characters you control leads to a sense of confusion at times.

This is also one of the games biggest weaknesses – without any sort of attachment to any of the characters it was difficult to care about what was going on as I worked my way through set piece after set piece.

The set pieces themselves were great when they worked but on the whole were another weakness in my opinion.

Take the snow mobile ride. Now I know someone who did it in one flowing attempt and thought it was amazing. It took me 3 or 4 goes to nail it – on one occasion failing right on the last jump as I wasn’t going quick enough – and was just a disappointing pain in the ass.

I just feel sections like that should be very hard to mess up, not knocking into one tree kills you (as realistic as that is).

Overall the single player is a bit of an enjoyable mess, with a story that is all over the place.

But no-one is going to be buying Modern Warfare 2 for the campaign mode… it’s all about the multiplayer.

And it’s a pretty good experience.

It’s been patched 4 times in the opening two weeks after release which I think may be a record – and it certainly struggles at times.

I’ve been kicked off because ‘the server is full’, disconnected from lobbies, been unable to party up, got stuck in doorways, had the cpu move for me when I was trying to stay still and had general connection issues.

Having said all that the actual gameplay is polished, and while it took a while to get used to the speed of moving (having been used to the slower Killzone 2), Modern Warfare 2 is fantastic fun online.

They have incorporated some features from other games and improved their own stuff from the previous installment.

The best thing for me are the Deathstreaks, where instead of being rewarded for killing opponents you get a bonus for dying. Very helpful if you’re having a bad round or just starting out.

Modern Warfare 2 is a vast multiplayer experience, with a ton of unlocks and perks to get over time. It’s a rich and deep set of abilities and weapons, which will keep you busy for a while to come.

As an overall package though Modern Warfare 2 is a lopsided beast.

The single player lacks any depth and would be no great loss to skip and the multiplayer, while fun and engaging, is extremely glitchy and suffers from connection problems.

Better than I thought then but not quite the second coming everyone was raving about.

Rating: 8/10

Latest Bug Killer? Patch It Up!

With the advent of online gaming and the wonderful ability to enhance already bought games via updates/patches I had hoped games developers would be putting a lot more thought into their products and planning DLC/features to liven up games.

While this is true for many developers a worrying trend is arising among the rest culminating in Prototype being released this week broken.

And I don’t use the term ‘broken’ lightly. From what I can gather online at the install screen before the game loads up it tells you that you don’t have enough free disk space no matter how much you delete!

The solution, according to Activision’s help page, is to delete a few things or try installing a different game (?!). Eventually you’ll do something to make it work. Sweet Lord they’re not even sure exactly what you have to do.

But they will be releasing a patch to fix it asap.

And there ladies and gents is my problem with all this.

Now I understand that mistakes happen and that a patch may be required to fix it but games are being released littered with bugs (Alone In The Dark, Fallout 3 etc) and then being patched to fix ‘em up later (or not in the case of Alone In The Dark ).

I mean look at this video, he’s supposed to be able to climb that rope!!!

But this is different.

It’s not an in game bug – this happens when you install the game. BEFORE. YOU. START.

How could this possibly have not been spotted by the people who’ve been testing the game out.

In this day and age it’s a disgrace this sort of thing could happen – I’ve heard of games freezing up etc but never have I heard of a brand new game that you can’t actually play at all!

I was really looking forward to Prototype and I won’t be boycotting the game or anything like that but it’s made me wonder whether the game will be full of bugs as well

I don’t know who is to blame – the people making the games or the publishers trying to rush them out onto shelves but we shouldn’t be expected to buy a broken product that’ll be ‘fixed with a patch asap.’