FUNside

I spent large part of my weekend playing Need For Speed: Undercover.

NFS games have been around for many years and it’s nice to see this addition returning to some older ideas that made the franchise popular instead of insisting on the false path of its recent history (I’m looking at you Pro Street).

Remember the good old days when “NFS Underground” introduced the open world layout for the races and “NFS Most Wanted” introduced the chasing element by the police? Well all this has returned in a big way.

Featuring a HUGE city you will never get bored to drive in with many different sceneries and probably the best designed city roads for any NFS game. The creators built upon their previous experience and have included many cool and realistically presented effects - most notable being the smoke effects of course. The graphics are siply superb.

The one thing that they really got right this time though was the soundtrack. At first I thought it was just another club mix with some repetitive songs but I was wrong. The songs ties around the action so nice that there were many times that I caught myself shaking my head during the races. At some cases I got so caught up by the music that it wasn’t even about avoiding cars - it was about driving with rhythm. Like a guitar hero piece where play the game with rhythm, this was the same expereince for me but in a driving game. A road hero so to speak….

Preview the addictive soundtrack below:

As for the rest of the game, the story is trivial and the babes might be the only good thing about the cut scenes (minus the acting) but it all adds to the cinematic experience. I didn’t like that there is no GPS for driving to the events - you just instantly start one race after the other. As much as that direction arrow was hated (not keeping a constant route), it did make driving to the races a more realistic experience.

But all this is insignificant…. Great music and graphics. That’s all I wanted to say. Works for me

Oh my… Fallout 3. Where to start with this one and how can I be something more than a negative creep… And with good reason if I might add, if you consider all the hype that has been going on for this game. I’ve heard people say “it’s the best game ever!”, “it will knock the socks off Far Cry 2″ and “a sure buy - with 100 hours of gameplay guaranteed”….

Having experience with the previous two games of the series, which were a completely different implementation of the same concept (isometric sprite-based RPG, for those interested 1, 2) and seeing the direction the developers were taking for the new game (first person in a real time 3d environment) I knew I had to be cautious and wait to see for my own eyes how this “mutation” is going to work out.

Unfortunately my fears were confirmed.

After watching a few hours on Justin.TV I was glad I didn’t go as far as purchasing it myself to test it out (and obviously will not be doing that now). Hmm, do you ask why? Let’s dismiss some of the major arguments:

• The destroyed environments look cool. They look crap cool I’d say. Everything looks the same, grainy and broken, and disorientation is frequent.
• The characters are life-like. Nah, more like avatars from an online world. And to top it off they lack any kind of intelligence. There are also robots in the game and they seem more realistic than the people simply because this mechanical behavior is more acceptable from machines. And to top that off twice the pre-recorded dialogues where done by some BAD actors. Bad acting, just bad.
• Cool retro style interface. Only the soviet military would appreciate this interface. And If you want to do it “console style” don’t drop the mascot on the side that removes any believability from the menu screen and just leaves the ugliness for us to “enjoy”.
• Turn-based gameplay done in real time. Oh man, is this for laughs or what? Once you confront an enemy all you need to do is freeze the game, program your move and then sit back and watch a cinematic sequence you can’t control. Yes, you’re done - you just eliminated the threat, and it didn’t even hit you. Hmm, yes this is even better than imagining your fights in Might and Magic. Barely…just that.

Shall I go on? I was astonished to find most of the common quirks older games usually have.

• The camera is off. In many occasions you can’t see the action. Someone might be talking to you and he is partly covered. And control of this sort is highly unlikable.
• Polygons are colliding-overlapping. It’s not unusual to see a character pass through another character, stand partly inside a wall etc.
• Animations are not natural. Just as an example I’ll mention that the player does not stop running when hitting a surface he can’t walk - come on.
• Repetition (of everything). Do the same 5 moves 100 times an hour and you will pray the game does not last 100 hours. What’s the point of extended gameplay if it’s going to be if it’s going to be painfully boring?
• No freedom. It looks like an open world, it tries to be an open world but it’s not an open world. You can’t do naturally all the things you want to do and I find the RPG elements to be less than helpful on this matter.

Awful, awful awful. To keep the retrospect from the game, play this if you want to see how a 50’s game developer would create a futuristic game about a post-apocalyptic world.

Fallout 3 falls out in my book.

I’m always keen to blog about games that have a unique approach in their presentation and are aiming to provide the user with an experience rather than a stress reliever.

When I first came across Flow (as a Japanese release) it seemed mysterious, dreamy and out of this world. I’m pretty sure this was the intended image the creators wanted the game to project. After playing it all the way through though I can say it’s pretty straight forward - a unique but simple game.

Here you can see an extended walkthrough of the game, which includes almost everything you will do with the game:

I certainly don’t want to start negative comments but having an 8 min vid summing up the whole experience is pretty embarrassing. The game does VERY WELL what it’s title is, setting up a floating universe but other than that its a stale environment where nothing really changes throughout the game… You will get to control half a dozen cell-sized “creatures” which you can size up to a multi-cell form by eating other creatures - and that’s it. So, gameplay-wise don’t expect too much.

To be honest games like these are ment to be this way. Having real challenges and a morphing scenario my alienate a group of people that simply want one easily to absorb experience. And people of older ages, that will most likely play this game, don’t have much time to get immersed in a real full-blown universe…

I loved paying this game right before I went to bed because it was calming and I didn’t have to strain myself to complete achievements. It was a doorway to dreamland (for real) and for that I will always keep it dear to my heart

Read other reviews of this game

Can you imagine a video game without a gun? It’s really hard these days isn’t it? If you’re like me and are eager to play something other than killing your opponents I suggest you try this game, released by Valve:

The concept is simple. You play a human trapped in a research facility, being tested and observed - pretty much like a lab rat. The activity “they” are testing you on is the use of a portal device you carry along with you. Portals are like holes in the walls that transfer you from point A to point B instantly.

This is where the “fun” kicks in. You actually have to use your brain to solve logical puzzles so you can move on from one room to the next. I know - thinking is hard - but this game makes it very interesting…

Technically, the game runs on the Source engine which is good but a bit outdated. So, don’t expect anything special on the graphics side - most of the time you’ll be walking through corridors and small rooms (it kinda reminded me of an old game called “Marathon” in that sense). Special attention was obviously paid to the audio that really builds the atmosphere and keeps you on the tip of your toes. And the puzzles themselves weren’t half as bad - just kidding - they where great, very entertaining and rewarding.

I probably shouldn’t spoil you too much but I had to include the ending credits song as it has already become a pop culture reference by itself:

Don’t worry - with your uber skillz you’ll finish the game in no time. This brings forward the only “bad” issue I had with the game. This game is too small. I only spent 4 hours of casual gaming with my girlfriend at that was it.

I know it was created by students and most likely it was rushed for release but come on! I still remember the days of the first Unreal, where there where tens of BIG levels. You played one world after the next until you hoped that was the last one - and then you played some more, and some more…

Portal is truly a phenomenon and it was one of those anticipated titles that didn’t let us down. Let’s hope that there will be more games like this in the future and it won’t end up being an “experiment” in video game history.

Now that I’ve competed this game I can honestly say it’s one of the finest yet shortest games I’ve ever played.

6 hours to complete the story mode and a couple more to consume in the challenges doesn’t seem enough. But don’t get me wrong - this is not a bad review. In fact everything else is top notch about it. The graphics are superb, the gameplay is exhausting (that said in a good way), the characters are “likable” (even those horrific monsters) and the quest are surely self-engaging.

If I had to make a comparison with other popular games, I’d say it’s a breed between “Prince of Persia” and “Devil May Cry”, with a Greek mythology twist.

I noticed a few innovations though - some cut scenes have used an interesting technique with layered 2d renders to fake a 3d environment (probably to speed up their completion compared to doing them in full 3D) and at the end credits there where some highlights of gameplay action that I thought they were recorded from my game (although I’m not absolutely certain about that).

All’s well, it’s just that I wanted MORE! That’s why the short length bugs me so much. Perhaps the developers are hoping the users will have another go in God mode after they complete the game once, which I will probably be doing (will you dare??).

But that seems more of an excuse than a real reason. Probably it’s too time consuming to create such stunning graphics and animation sequences that they had to cut the length in half of most other shooters.

Anyhow, if you are a gamer and don’t know about “God of War - Chains of Olympus” (LOL, that must be a contradiction in terms) go out and look for it - it’s certainly the best game for the PSP you can buy off the shelves these days.