Plus XP

Mar

Portal 2: The Next Slice Of The Cake

Categories: Game News
Tags: Cake, first person, Glados, PC, Portal, Portal 2, puzzle, Xbox 360

As you already know, Portal is one of those Xbox Live Arcade games that will never ever be wiped off my Xbox Hardrive. Even though the game itself isn’t that huge. The whole idea, game play and the very story telling is fantastic and something I have never come across before or since the games release.

So who can imagine my epic excitement when I heard about portal 2’s conformation yesterday. The beautiful people at Game Informer magazine gave us a nice slice of the Portal 2 cake and have given us some great information which I cannot help but be excited about.

All this started when the tech heads at Valve let loose some new content and patches for the original Portal on PC last week. There was one new achievement slapped onto the game and some weird new cryptic noises and sounds coming from the radio in your chamber when you start the game. These new additions to the game sparked off a lot of PC geeks out there in the vast universe that is the internet to decode these sounds, turns out they were some sort of morse code which could be subverted into images. Sounds blinking weird I know but, these were the images that were uncovered.

Confused much? I sure as hell am. But as I dug deeper into the wealth of information about these images, it turns out that these are images taken from the Aperture Science CCTV from the first Portal. I bet some of you are thinking, yeah? so what? Well these images contain vital equations and data that all of the portal geeks out there were hungry to find and solve. After slaving over a keyboard and staring at these images till their eyes bled, it turns out they all lead to a number that once dialed up would let you into Valve’s bulletin board system and then let the user download some more images. These images known as ASCII images are images that are made up of keyboard characters. Here is an example

These were the first ever images of Portal 2. A lot of hacking coding and problem solving boiled down to 3 of these images….

…Then valve went and confirmed that Portal 2 will be coming out and hitting shelves at the end of the year for Xbox 360 and PC. Game informer then scooped it up and hey presto we have a sequel to a truly awesome game.

So what is this next installment going to be like? I have been doing reasearch here and there and I have found a couple of things out. Whether they are true or not I don’t know but I am going to list them anyway.

1. This is going to be a full-blown title, unlike Portal 1 where it was an attachment to the orange box. This title will be a stand-alone. Meaning it will be a lot bigger. This make me think that Portal 1 was maybe testing the water for the actual main event which is portal 2

2. This title is going to be set way in the future. Meaning that the long abandon Aperture Science labs are going to overgrown with foliage and very forest like. But be rest assure that this will not stop GLaDOS one bit.

3. GLaDOS makes a welcome return. The next generation SHODAN is back Baby!!

4. You again play as Chell (the same woman you played as in Portal 1)

5. split screen and online co-op staring 2 biped robots. Apparently these robots like to hold hands alot…in teresting.

6. some of the games physics will be juggled about to make up for some interesting game play. An air vent can be combined with a portal. This in turn sucks the player into the portal and spits them out the other side. Sounds awesome.

7. there will be alot more interactive objects from things that fling you sky-high to cubes that will deflect lasers.

8. there will be some new characters and a bit more story. Meaning that Valve has probably going all out on this title.

And that’s about it so far, stay tuned to Plus XP for more Portal 2 info as I hear it. Untill then I may have another stint at 1. I love GLaDOS!

Garv

Mar

Heavy Rain

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Review
Tags: david cage, Heavy Rain, ps3, qte, quantic dream, story

In the world of game storytelling, coming up with a good concept is one thing – telling it well is the other. I’m a sucker for a good story, and Heavy Rain focuses on just that. After seeing David Cage talking about it at Eurogamer 2009, I was anxious to get hold of a copy when it came out just recently. I preordered to make sure, and it turned up a day before release – excellent. After a fairly lengthy install (in which the game actually teaches you a little origami, cool!) the game was ready to play. So I sat down, turned off the lights and dove in.

The game follows four main characters. Ethan Mars, perhaps the “lead” character, is a fairly regular guy who finds himself torn as his son goes missing, presumably taken by the notorious Origami Killer – a mystery character who kidnaps children, and then dumps the bodies 5 days later, unexplained. Ethan will do almost anything to get him back, leading to the game’s tagline – “How far would you go to save someone you love?“. It really is that – the more Ethan works toward saving his son from the Origami Killer, the more difficult his choices become. And these choices become your choices – you can really find yourself wrapped up in the world, and I often found myself thinking.. “What would I do, given that choice to make?”. It’s very much about taking this into mind, and the more you invest yourself into it, the more enjoyable and tense the game becomes.

As for the other characters – there’s Madison Paige, a photographer who becomes closer to Ethan as she meets up with him during his quest, Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler working with the police to try and work out who the Origami Killer is, and Scott Shelby, a Private investigator looking to find out information about the murderer by seeking out and talking to people who’s lives were ruined by the Origami Killer and his previous victims. All of the characters suffer from their own personal problems – Ethan suffers blackouts leading him to question his own sanity, while Madison is an insomniac plagued by vivid nightmares. Jayden suffers an addiction to a drug “triptocane”, which is seemingly tied to his over-use of the “ARI”, a sort of ‘reality altering’ set of glasses that allow him to access virtual reality aspects and manipulate the way he sees the world around him – to aid his work, and help him focus. Shelby is an asthmatic, to complete the set!

The game generally works in two styles of play (Fahrenheit players will feel familiar with this) – the first being the more “exploratory” sections which involve walking around, interacting with people and objects at your own pace to a degree. This is where the bulk of the more “laid-back” scenes occur, such as walking around Ethan’s home at the beginning. The game uses a system with minimal HUD – where the only symbols you will see are the ones that tell you what you need to do in order to interact with the object in question – a Down arrow on a door handle indicates you must move the right analogue down to interact with it, or a curved arrow indicates a more rolling quarter-circle motion. Unlike Fahrenheit, however, the game makes much better use of these different actions, making them different depending on the action; getting a grip on something - such as taking hold of a huge bag of shopping with both arms - means holding several buttons at once, and releasing them too early or accidentally can result in dropping it. Some actions require you to do things slowly and carefully, or slamming the motion controller in a certain direction, to bang on a door for instance. Obviously its never 1:1 control, but it feels that theyve really tried to make each input relevant to the corresponding action. Also, in most cases the speed at which you perform the motion affects the speed at which the animation will work in game, which helps it even more.

The other main style of gameplay are action sequences – somewhat like really long QTE events. The characters will move by themselves in a more cinematic movie-like fashion, and you will have to react to the button prompts as they appear on-screen. The beauty of this, however, is that missing a button doesn’t necessarily result in failure, only the flow and outcome of the scene – missing a button one time may mean the enemy will get an upper hand in the fight, but get the following commands right and you could get some good punches in to reverse the state of affairs. Sometimes there will even be options – such as which way to turn or what action to do, meaning you have to make split second decisions that can affect the outcome of the event.

Often these sections have a couple of different outcomes, and it depends on your performance to how the scene commences. Sometimes this will affect the plot minimally, but other times it can be bigger things, such as character deaths. At some points, characters lives will be placed in your hands – at one point I actually killed a man by accident, and the character felt remorse for it later on. However, interestingly, some of the main characters can also die – if put in a life-threatening situation it’s possible to fail and for the character to meet their demise. The story will continue however, and in my playthrough of the game I did in fact lose one of my characters due to not acting fast enough. Don’t worry, however – these instances are fairly clear, and you won’t lose a character simply due to one slip of the hand on an action scene or anything like that. Usually you have a fair amount of chances to turn things around – but you can’t guarantee they’ll all survive if you don’t act!

There’s not a lot I can say about the story without spoiling anything – it’s very much a personal journey where you should take each moment as it comes. The events along the story are done particularly well, Quantic Dream managed to really capture the characters’ emotions and instilled a real sense of despair or confusion in characters’ like Ethan, including some of the non-playable characters who are done equally well. With more than one possible ending, which I’m pretty sure is not always guaranteed to be a happy one, your performance during the game can affect the final scenes and decide the fate of the cast. Thich means you’re never secure to come out on top if you don’t really go for it and think about your actions. Although the game does have some parts that can change, it’s not a totally open story - so some critical events will always occur in the same order, in one way or another. There are odd scenes that can be different, and of course the characters can “drop out” of the story and the ending can change, but generally there’s an overall plot that will be followed to a degree. Although this is a good feature, it doesn’t mean you can re-play the game and have a completely different experience each time, more than each person who plays will have the plot tailored to them, and the outcome will be a result of their own choices and actions. It’s certainly interesting to re-play – especially to change the fates of those who lived/died, but the first time you play it will always be the best.

There were a few plot holes/continuity errors in places, which were a shame yet not game-breaking, I think perhaps this is to do with the slightly different storyline possibilities perhaps getting a few elements confused. If you don’t think about it too hard it’s not bad, and believe me the story is still well worth playing – but there were one or two moments I thought “how did that character know that?” or in hindsight a few of their actions didn’t make total sense when I knew more about the characters’ histories and motivations.

Overall though, the game was an incredible experience and it’s quite hard to explain how much I enjoyed it without going into detail about certain scenes! The game really does throw you into an emotional journey, and so long as you really go for it, the game is gripping and it really does make you think about your own morals and ideals. Really, the ultimate question is, how far would you go to save someone you love?

-Leon

Mar

5 Reasons My Console Is Better Than Yours

By plusxp 4 Comments

Categories: Article, Humor Post and Rant
Tags: consoles, fanboys, Rant

Contributed by Edward Price

As a gamer, I like to buy and play videogames, and then tell other people my views on the games I play. However, videogames are a serious business, and I feel a need to attach myself to and champion a particular videogame console that not only does not reciprocate the love which I give it, but is made by a company who not only do not care what I think, but would probably look at me with distain if they did!

You don’t think I’m right? Then sit back and watch as I prove to you why my choice of Videogame Console is clearly superior to yours.

Soon you'll realise I am like a King, and that you all shall bow!

1. My Console Has Features That Yours Doesn’t

You see this thing that my console does? Yeah, your console is incapable of doing that. That automatically makes my console better than yours. Oh, so your console is bringing out their own version of that feature? Well, yours is a bad knock-off, and it’ll never be as good as the original! Oh, what’s that? My console’s bringing out its own version of your feature, well, because the feature is newer, it can improve on your one and make it better! My logic is infallible, and you can’t win!

Anyone who doesn’t understand this joke needs to go to http://www.scene-stealers.com/blogs/james-camerons-avatar-disneys-pocahontas/

2. Exclusives & Forthcoming Games

My console has better exclusives than yours! Allow me to list all the games that are coming to my console and not yours! I won’t even buy half of these games I mention, but I’ll use them as examples to prove that my console choice, and by extension, myself, are better than you. Even if some of those games aren’t very good, I’ll claim that the reviewers are all biased against the console (even if their review is positive), that their writing is bad, and that they should be fired and their review replaced by someone who actually knows what they’re talking about… Me! And then I still won’t play them.

"This game... Is totally proof... that I'm better than you... Okay, where's my money?"

3. The Game Is Superior On My Console

So that upcoming game that looks really good is multiplatform, but that fact is irrelevant! You know why? Because that game is going to be better on my console, not yours! My console will have the better graphics/sound/gameplay/controls/online mode/a feature my console has that yours doesn’t/mine does better, while your console’s version will be ruined by inferior graphics/online/loading times/multiple discs/mandatory installs/the fact your console doesn’t have a feature mine does/does as well! That’s why when a game comes out that’s the same on every console; I still win for having the better version!

See? The graphics on my version are way superior...

4. Inaccurate (Possibly Made Up)/Irrelevant Statement About Your Console:

And another thing! My console is so much better than yours because not only does it have features yours doesn’t, the better exclusives, and any multiplatform games will be better on mine, but (and yes, there is more!) you also need to contend with something else. That is the following thing I’m about to point out about your console, that will either be incredibly irrelevant to the argument thus far, will be completely untrue, or will have been said so many times before that you can probably see it coming from a mile away. This last one will be like a Reality or Talent TV show, in that it’s inevitable, and yet you’re more likely to score with a supermodel than stop it.

These red lights are in no way relevant to what I am saying right now... Or Are They?

Primarily, I’ll end up using this as a “…and furthermore!” argument, in that despite it having no actual relevance to the rest of the debate, I’ll still use this ad verbatim because I believe this actually matters.

5. Grossly Inaccurate Personal Insult

If you’ve seriously not been bought round to my way of thinking, and you somehow haven’t realised that my logic is that of a God, and made a shrine in my honour, yet, then you know what? I don’t care what you think, and to show how much your comments haven’t affected me, I’m going to post some grossly inaccurate assumptions about the way you live your life! You disagree with me? Ironically, I’ll end up using insults and descriptions of gamers that I’ve criticised the media for using, such as your possible living arrangements (with your parents), your weight, social standing, appearance, your ability to spell or use the English language, and whether or not you have a life.

(Because apparently having a life doesn't simply mean being alive or dead, anymore)

You know why I’m going to do that? Because I’m right, no matter what, and since my previous arguments somehow haven’t swayed you, then my only course of action that remains is to baselessly insult you, because nothing makes you realise you’re wrong like a complete stranger on the internet trying to persuade you insulting you!

Now it should be incredibly clear to see that I am completely correct, and that my choice of console is clearly better than yours. You’re allowed to praise me, and worship me as your new God. You know why? Because by devoting myself to just one console, and insulting anyone who dares question me, I not only like to prove how I’m right and you’re not, I then uphold the same image of gamers that most people are trying to shake from our industry; the obsessive, annoying fan boy.

…

Okay, screw it; I’ll buy the other consoles too.

Mar

Will The Halo Reach Multiplayer Take The Series To The Next Level?

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Article and Game News
Tags: first person, halo, Halo Reach, Halo Reach Beta, Multi Player, xbox

On Wednesday, I was gawping at the new multiplayer trailer for Halo Reach. After playing rounds and rounds of Halo 3’s multiplayer, I personally thought that this game couldn’t get any better multiplayer wise. After watching this new trailer, I realised just how wrong I was.

You ever get those moment where, after you have seen an epic game trailer/video, you realise that you were starting at the screen with you mouth physically open and a vacant stare spread across your face while you were watching said video. This is exactly what happened to me when I watched the multiplayer trailer. I personally didn’t think Halo could get any better multiplayer wise. There are new game modes, new weapons and assassination moves just to name a few. Today I am gonna pick out the new things I saw from the trailer and give you my opinion what the new additions to the game are going to be like.

JETPACKS

Ever since I saw the elites bobbing round in these things in Halo 2, I could not help but think ‘I Want That!’ well a couple of games later, my mental message has eventually reached Bungie and now we have Jet Packs in multiplayer and I could not be happier.

Then I thought some more, how will these jetpacks work? Are we looking at a fuel gauge for them? Are they just going to feel like the anti-gravity mod in Unreal Tournament? Or are these actually going to be the single best thing to ever come out of Halo Reach and everyone will be having mid-air gun fights? I have learnt in the past that ideas such as these don’t pan out the way you think they are going too. I personally expect some limit to these jetpacks, so I am preparing myself for a fuel gauge of some sort, unless it will be classed as a new vehicle, in which case it will be unlimited and awesome.

ASSASINATIONS

I touched briefly on the addition of assassinations in my Halo Reach News Round Up a couple of weeks back. In this new multiplayer trailer you get to see them in full action.

Right off the baton I immediately thought Aliens Vs Predator. This was the first time I ever saw the assassination mechanic used in an FPS game when I played it back at Eurogamer in October. I personally love the fact that Bungie have brought it into Reach. Sure, since Halo 2 the game had the assassination medal for when you melee’d an opponent from behind, but this takes it to the next level with full on assassination animations, which I have to say look awesome and a lot better than the AvP ones. So I will be looking forward to assassinating any Halo player that gets in my way, be it Spartan or Elite!

WEAPONS

Again, another thing I briefly touched on in the previous article but this trailer brings us some interesting footage of some of the new weapons available. We all know that the needler rifle can take out three enemies at a time, and the marksman rifle is a love child of the sniper rifle and assault rifle. But in the trailer I saw what looked like a Covenant version of the Spartan laser! If that is true, we could be looking at some insane laser battles. I also saw what looked like a laser guided fuel rod cannon too.

NEW GAME MODES

Probably one of the most important things in any new multi player game, whether it is a sequel or not. Game variety is key to anyones enjoyment. It definitely looks like Bungie have added a breath of fresh air to the multi player with a good few game modes.

So here is the all-important list and what I think you have to do for each game mode. I could be wrong here but I’m gonna give it a go.

HEAD HUNTERS – It looks to me that head shots are key here. Kill someone with a head shot and they drop skulls, collect the skulls and the total of skulls is totted up at the end, the player with the most skulls wins. How did I get all that from a little clip on a trailer? I put it down to educated guess. But that is not necessarily what will happen. I believe this will be one of those games that snipers are gonna love or hate. All well and good scoring head shots but if you half way across the map when ya do it, someone else is bound to collect those skulls.

INVASION – To me this looks like Bungie’s answer to an assault type game mode. Meaning that one team defends while the other fills out objectives to inevitably invade an area or destroy something. I loved assault levels in time splitters so I hope Bungie’s attempt at this game mode (if it is what I think it is) will be perfect.

SPARTANS VS ELITES – To me this just sounds like a team death match, one team Spartans, the other Elites. What they could implement into this though is race specific abilities, like Spartans can sprint while Elites have active camo, or something along those lines. It will be interesting to see how Bungie develop this game idea.

THE ARENA – To me it just sounds like they renamed slayer. I could be totally wrong, it may be something like a one on one shoot out? I am pretty confused about this one and can’t comment much on it. best wait and find out.

OTHER THINGS I PICKED UP ON

DODGE ROLL – It looks like Bungie have implemented a dodge rolling system of some sort. Looks pretty cool but how it will work form a first person perspective is beyond me. Will it zoom out like an assassination?

ACTIVE ROSTER – This looks cool. Looks like you can jump in and out of active games. Means you don’t have to scoff down your dinner in time to play a game with your mates.

Halo reach multi player looks like its taking a step in the right direction. And I cannot wait to jump into some Beta test action on May 3rd. Who’s with me?

Till then I will leave you with the Multiplayer Trailer:

Garv

Mar

Super Mario Galaxy 2

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News
Tags: Mario, Nintendo, Super Mario, super mario galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, wii, Yoshi

The sequel to the critically acclaimed platform game was finally given a release date last week ad I am going to give you all the info we know about the next installment in Mario’s 3D platform adventure.

I will start this article off with one word: Yoshi! Yes the famous pint-sized Dino is making his way to the Super Mario Galaxy universe, which I have to say is great, I mean who doesn’t like Yoshi? The cool thing here is he can use his tongue to swing across gaps, he also eats fruit which in turn gives him a variety of power ups, such as inflating like a balloon ‘Kirby style’ or a nice little speed boost to help you along your crazy 3D planet scaling.

Now we all know about the star pointer in the first game, well that’s also making a welcome return; but while riding your very hungry green Dino friend, the pointer turns into a red dot which in allows you to control Yoshi’s tongue, this can be used to grab levers, swallow enemies in classic Yoshi fashion and of course swing over gaps as previously mentioned.

Another new addition to game play is Mario’s ability to dig. This means he can start shoveling away at the planet’s surface and eventually find new places to explore. There are also switches scattered around the levels which slow down time momentarily. It’s a shame you can’t equip Mario’s Dr Mario costume and change the colour to black like you could in Smash Brothers Melee, because I thing that would add to the Matrix effect the switches are inevitably going to have!

There will be some interesting level design thrown into Super Mario Galaxy 2. As with Galaxy 1 there will be some levels which will be forced perspective side scrolling, much like the 2D Mario we grew up with. But this time there will be levels where the gravity shifts from up to down, or rolling log type levels with 2D platforms cut into a cylinder which you have to jump on. The creators here have definitely been experimenting and it will be great to see what things they have come up with.

On a side note, rumour has it that Mario’s gaming rival, the speedy hedgehog known as Sonic will be playable in the game. If it’s false then blame Ngamer magazine for spreading the rumour.

Along with the new gameplay elements there are a lot of the same classic Super Mario Galaxy game play we all fell in love with when we first played the original title on the Wii. Many gamers out there believe that the first game was the best game to ever hit the Wii console, so will the second installment of this new mini franchise have the same impact as the first game? We will know, June 11 2010.

Garv

Mar

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News
Tags: Harry Potter, Lego, Lego harry potter years 1-4, the chamber of secrets, the goblet of fire, The philosphers stone, the prisoner of azkaban

As a kid I was pretty much submerged in a skip full of Lego bricks. I would spend most weekends and evenings playing with Lego. I loved it and to be honest I still love it now.

The recent onslaught of Lego video games has caught my attention. I played a little of Lego Batman and I am in the process of completing a band session on Lego Rockband. I will hopefully get my mitts on Lego Star Wars eventually, but untill then I am going to shed some light on the latest Lego tale, Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

All you Harry potter nuts out there will know from just reading the title of this game that years 1-4 will be covering The Philosophers Stone, The Chamber Of Secrets, The Prisoner Of Azkaban and the Goblet Of Fire. This time round the emphasis of game play is on collecting and exploring, rather than the combat we are used to from the likes of Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Bat Man. What is pretty cool though is the use of magic spells (it wouldn’t really be a harry potter game without and magic now would it?) from the get go you will have one or two spells available for you to use, one of the being Wingardium Leviosa, which does the neat trick of lifting and arranging Lego bricks and another being Immobulus which freezes enemies for a short time.

Potion making is another element of game play. In some levels it is a vital for you to make potions to progress, also if you mix a potion incorrectly it may have an adverse effect on you. It would appear that some incorrectly mixed potions will tune you into a Frog, so be careful.

The great thing about this game is there are so many characters you can play as, 140 to be exact, including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and also Fang, Dobby, Buckbeak and centaurs which is pretty cool - you have to give the side characters some love too. Each of these characters has their own abilities, such as Harry will have amazing broom flying skills and Hermione would be the best character for casting spells as she is the brains of the bunch.

Not much else is known about the game but I can safely say this is going to be a classic tongue in cheek video game, combining the Harry Potter universe with the Lego phenomenon we all grew up with as kids.

But what does this all mean for the future of Lego? Will the building bricks start to phase out while the video games take over? Or are we looking at a Lego fad? I mean whats next, will Lego start parodying games as well? A little bit of me wants it to, as I am sure a Lego Halo would be quite awesome.

Garv

Mar

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Review
Tags: all-stars racing, mario kart, ps3, sega, sonic, wii, Xbox 360

As many people will agree, Sonic games have been on a steady decline since they left the 2D roots – although I enjoyed Sonic Adventure, the games have seemingly gotten ever worse with SEGA trying everything they could to make him work on a 3D plane, and with each failed effort moving ever closer to his retirement. The latest installment, Sonic Unleashed, had me cringing at cheesy voices and boring gameplay, with some semi-enjoyable running scenes and a heck of a lot of awful “Were-hog” parts that separated the fun parts with some long, really boring rubbish. I quit the game soon enough, and finally accepted that Sonic was well overdue on his retirement, and had strayed too far.

However, I recently got hold of the demo of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. I don’t know why I did – I mean, I’m not a huge fan of racing games or 3D Sonic, so it didn’t have a lot going for it. Perhaps I was bored. Anyway – the single race the demo offered made me want to try a little more, being surprisingly decent and bursting with colour.

Come release day, I decided I’d buy it and give it a real shot – heck, I hadn’t bought a racing game since Mario Kart Wii, and I felt like picking up something casual to play between Heavy Rain and Final Fantasy XIII.

As Garv said in his demo review, S&SASR plays almost exactly like Mario Kart – with fast paced multiplayer kart-style racing set in colourful environments, with weapons, jumps and turbo pads. Almost everything feels like Mario Kart – but is this a bad thing? I don’t think so.

Thing is, I think Mario Kart is a real solid racer, especially good for casual fun with friends and equally good fun solo. However, since I’ve never been a fan of Mario, the cast was never something I really enjoyed – I picked my characters for their attributes since none of the characters appeal to me for who they were. So what have we got? Take the Mario Kart system and change all the levels and characters to that of Sonic and other SEGA titles – and pretty much what S&SASR is on a basic level. And that’s the end of the Mario Kart comparison (mostly) how does the game stand as a title of its own?

The cars in the game aren’t Karts, rather they’re vehicles specific to each character – Sonic drives a personalised blue sports car, Eggman (or Robotnik as he should be known) drives his traditional Egg Mobile kitted out with some monster-truck wheels, and Billy Hatcher drives an egg-styled car. Some characters, such as Ulala and Tails, have vehicles that don’t even have wheels, but they all play evenly and balanced - though they have different stats with some characters with better acceleration, while others are better at manoeuvering or have better turbo boosts. There are 20 characters in total (plus one or two extra depending on console), with racers from wide range of source games both old and new.

The game offers 24 tracks in total, which are separated into 6 Grand Prix’s for the main solo mode. There are eight main level themes including Sonic “grassland/beach” style, Sonic “Casino” style, Billy Hatcher themed courses, House of the Dead and Samba De Amigo themes. Each of these themes has three courses, but they’re all individual in their own right – such as the HotD stages which include an outdoor course, a sewer run and an indoor/rooftop course. There’s a good mix of different arenas, from the snowy Icicle Valley (of the Billy Hatcher set), the psychedelic Samba De Amigo stages, and the urban Shibuya Downtown city course (as one of three Jet-Set Radio courses). The selection is quite vast, and it feels as though it encompasses a wide range of different areas and elements.

As you progress through the game, you earn “Sega Miles” which act as credits to unlock new characters (since only some are available to start), courses to play in the modes outside of Grand Prix, and alternate music tracks which can be selected to play when you race. Unlocking new characters is always good, and the other items feel worth unlocking rather than just garbage gallery content, too. Each character only has one car each, which at first disappointed me – until I realised that they all have their own unique vehicles, unlike the Mario Kart’s simple Light, Medium or Heavy class Karts – and all of their unique vehicles are actually well modelled and often intricate, which is quite impressive really.

As with a certain Kart game I’m no longer mentioning, the game has a variety of weapons, obtained from pickups around the course. There’s a good selection of weapons such as homing missiles, proximity mines, nitro shoes, and disorienting abilities such as the “Confusing Star” which flips the target’s screen upside down, and the “Pocket Rainbow” which temporarily obscures the vision of whoever is unlucky enough to hit it. There’s a decent selection, and they don’t feel too overpowered, either. There is one super-weapon, though – the All-Star move. Each character has a specific attack that they can access at random, usually when toward the back of the pack, and it gives them a temporary but huge advantage – such as driving at super speed for a while, or being able to fire barrages of missiles at anyone who gets in their way. The moves are really fun, and it’s quite exciting to see what each character does – Sonic turns into Super Sonic and speeds up the road, while Billy Hatcher runs on a giant egg and crushes anyone he rolls over. Although the moves are powerful and can make a big difference, they don’t feel overpowered so in the end skill is the main deciding factor to who wins the race rather than chance - it just gives a bit of extra fun and a helping hand to whoever falls behind.

The game has a decent challenge to it - the Beginner mode is easy enough that a skilled player should be able to win 99% of the time. However, once you progress to the Advanced level, the AI really ups it’s game and it’s a lot more challenging to pull out ahead of the pack. I have yet to attempt Expert, but I can safely say it will definitely need some skill to master – it’s required to learn how to drift and score extra turbo boosts if you want to keep up with the AI on the later levels, since they’ll be making use of it all the time.

The game has a solid base to it with a good cast and a decent selection of tracks, but one thing that does make it shine is the inclusion of optional extras. The time trial mode is included as with most racers, and allows you to race against the leaderboards, yourself, and also a Staff Ghost to give yourself a sort of par to set yourself to. One of the bigger modes is Mission Mode, which gives an assortment of different challenges with set rules, such as winning one-on-one race as Tails against Sonic, collecting rings and chaos emeralds down a course within a time limit as Eggman, or crushing as many birds as you can using Billy Hatcher’s special. This mode really adds some extra enjoyment, feeling like a real full mode rather than simply filler material, giving the game some extra depth.

Obviously with a game like this, Multiplayer is a big factor - and it goes just as well as it should. Offering up to four-player local split-screen, the game allows you to play all the courses against your friends, and also allows you to toggle weapons and AI opponents to tailor the matches to your needs. Sadly there’s no “multiplayer Grand Prix” mode, but the game does keep track of who wins each game so all that’s really missing is an end-of-set award ceremony of sorts.

Of course with today’s standards online modes are included, allowing for 8-player matches. This is great for playing against friends, and is also fun in random matchups, although I must say the lobby system might need some tweaking – I found myself waiting for over 15 minutes to get into a session before, but this may just be early-release kinks that will be fixed when there are more people playing. Still, when it works, its great fun and you can keep playing so long as there are people left in the lobby after each race.

Although the game is available on all three major consoles, I personally went with the Xbox 360 version which is arguably the best, with the most characters. The 360 version includes Banjo-Kazooie as an extra character, alongside the ability to play as your Xbox Live Avatar – which works really well given the game’s graphical style. The Wii version includes Mii capability, and the PS3 has no extras (no idea why it got the short end of the straw).

The game is solid, and although it’s almost impossible not to compare it to Mario Kart it seems to be using the ideas to great potential rather than simply making a sub-par clone. The game is bright and exciting, and is really good fun with lots to do. Personally, I think that the courses, racers and modes elevate the game to a level even more enjoyable than Mario Kart, but then I am a little biased. Let’s just say, I own both – and I know which one I’ll be sticking to in future.

Although the game is fleshed out and definitely doesn’t feel lacking, it’s been said that DLC is also a possibility in the future – if the coming year finds us having access to an even wider selection of racers and courses to expand the game even further, this could easily be one of the best kart-style racers ever made. With Sonic 4 on the way, perhaps Sonic’s got something more to give us yet.

-Leon

Mar

Plus XP Exclusive: Perfect Dark (XBLA) Interview

By Leon 7 Comments

Categories: Interview and Preview
Tags: interview, joanna dark, nick ferguson, perfect dark, XBLA, Xbox 360

After the announcement concerning the Xbox Live Arcade port of Perfect Dark, previously on Nintendo 64, I was excited to know more. So with a little bit of work, I managed to score an exclusive Plus XP interview with producer Nick Ferguson, who is involved in it’s port to the re-release on Xbox 360.

Leon: Thank you for taking the time to answer questions with Plus XP, Nick. After seeing the recent news on Perfect Dark on Xbox Live Arcade, we’re excited to know more. So, on with the interview!

The game has been given a fairly big overhaul, looking a lot cleaner than the original. Have there been any modifications to the game’s engine at all, or is it mostly aesthetic changes?

Nick: The original Perfect Dark codebase has been ported over to the Xbox 360, which means that the game benefits from higher resolution textures, geometry and performance whilst retaining the original game’s unique look and feel. Under the hood there have been a lot of changes to the game engine to keep it looking and feeling like Perfect Dark on N64, and the overall effect has been to improve the aesthetic experience to something that looks fantastic in 1080p HD.

Leon: The original Perfect Dark featured bots that would allow players to play deathmatch modes with AI characters to make up numbers and allow solo play on the multiplayer modes – a good feature that is sadly rare nowadays. Will we be seeing a return of this feature in the XBLA version?

Nick: Yes, I am pleased to confirm that the simulants will return in all their glory. Multiplayer games are still capped at 12 entities, but this can now comprise eight human players and four simulants (the original game was capped at four human players and eight simulants). Of course, if you want to play as a single human against 11 DarkSims, be our guest!

Leon: Great to hear that! Will this option be available in the online mode, or local only?

Nick: Online

Leon: With an improved multiplayer engine compatible with online play, I assume this will be a bigger focus than in the original version. Will there be any new features we can look forward to?

Nick: In the original N64 game, the classic weapons (based on GoldenEye guns) could only be used in single player. We’ve brought them into multiplayer as a series of Classic weapon sets, so players can now use the GoldenEye weapons on GoldenEye levels for the first time since, er, GoldenEye.

It’s no good supporting LIVE if you can’t find someone to play against, so the game supports a variety of matchmaking scenarios across both Solo and Team modes. In addition, Private Custom Games are supported so you can set up that painfully obscure game scenario you used to play with your friends all those years ago.

Aside from the boost to eight players, the game engine now runs at a solid 60 frames per second at 1080p. This makes a big difference, particularly in four-player split-screen where players can now have more resolution in their split-screen game window than they did in the original N64 single player game!

Leon: It has been said that there is to be new support for online co-op and counter operative modes. Can you tell us anything more about this addition?

Nick: The game supports two players over Xbox LIVE, in addition to the classic split-screen experience. Players will be able to search for games on any mission, and we hope it opens up the excellent Co-Op and Counter-Ops modes to many more players.

Leon: I’ve heard that maps from GoldenEye will be included in the game’s multiplayer modes – is this perhaps a sign that we won’t be seeing a similar port of the popular Bond FPS in the near future?

Nick: The Felicity, Temple and Complex maps which were included in the original N64 Perfect Dark are available in the XBLA version. No other maps from GoldenEye have been added to the game, and we have nothing to announce regarding DLC at this time.

Leon: Xbox Live gives us a lot of options for competing aside from online play – are we likely to see any leaderboards or similar features included?

Nick: Yes, the game has full support for Leaderboards on every mission from Agent to Perfect Agent. In addition, there is an Overall Leaderboard based on Percentage Completion. We also have 20 Achievements, which is a first for an XBLA title.

Leon: Another modern feature is the option for DLC to be added to games. Do you know whether it’s likely there will be any additional content available for download at a later date?

Nick: 4J have only just begun to recover from finishing the game, and you’re already asking for DLC? Well, that’s a good sign… but the honest answer is that we are going to wait and see how Perfect Dark performs on Xbox LIVE Marketplace before making any decisions. We should probably wait until at least one person gets 201% complete before making a decision.

Leon: Do we have an official release date for the UK? I need to set a date for my calendar!

Nick: Perfect Dark launches in the UK on 17th March 2010 – the same day as the USA. That’s right… no need to import the NTSC version this time around!

Leon: Excellent! Do you have anything else you would like to let us know?

Nick: Everyone involved has been working extremely, EXTREMELY hard to get Perfect Dark for Xbox LIVE Arcade finished and we really hope you enjoy the final result.

We know Perfect Dark fans were told the game was coming “this winter” back at E3 in 2009 and didn’t get much more information than that until X10 a few weeks ago. We managed to get some screenshots out in the interim, but for the most part everyone involved has been heads-down for the last six months getting the game done.

We appreciate that people wanted to know more about release dates and the like but (contrary to popular belief on t’internet) the game was only finished recently and we didn’t want to pluck a date out of thin air and then miss it.

My point being: Sorry for the wait, PD fans – we honestly didn’t have an official date till a few weeks ago!

Leon: Thank you again for your time, Nick. It was a pleasure hearing from you.

So there you have it – it sounds like all good news, with plenty to look forward to. Make a note in your calendars – 17th of March will see the UK release of Perfect Dark on Xbox Live Arcade – definitely something worth getting excited about.

-Leon

Mar

Just Cause 2

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News
Tags: free falling, Just Cause, Just Cause 2, sandbox

There is nothing more satisfying than jumping into a game and having the freedom of doing pretty much anything you want. I am of course talking about the sandbox game, the game genre that gives you a sense of freedom and in most cases the unstoppable power to do/kill whoever or whatever you want.

Just Cause 2 is the latest addition to hit the sandbox genre with a pretty hefty punch. On march 26th we will be invited into the world of Rico Rodriguez once more. This time he has a score to settle with his old boss, Tom Sheldon and to overthrow the evil dictator of Panau island Baby Panay.

As we know already, we are looking at a sandbox game. To me the sandbox genre is getting to the stage where there is a constant flow of generic titles, only once in a blue moon some classic sandbox games come over the horizon that are just too damn hard to beat. So what will Just Cause 2 bring to the party? Well one of the things that has caught my eye is, what the developers call an adaptive difficulty system. Meaning as you play through the game the AI and the games general difficulty adapts to your skills. So as with any game when you start you are probably going to be pretty rubbish, but as you practise and learn skills the difficulty if the game will get slightly harder. This I think is a brilliant idea and concept. But as we all know concepts and ideas are great and all, but in practices sometimes they can fall flat on their face. So this will be an interesting element.

I watched a video a good while back on this game, and I was pretty impressed. The video showed our protagonist free-falling from the top of a waterfall, then parachuting down into a gun fight. After a flurry of bullets were fired Rico then started scaling buildings with his dual grapple hooks. The film then cut to him parachuting on top of a car while it was speeding down a highway and another gun fight took place. From that small video I could tell that this game was probably going to be quite intense and hold a lot of potential.

So, now you’re sort of a free-lance mercenary of sorts you gotta get your weapons and equipment from somewhere. Bring on the black-market! this will be your one stop shop for weapons and equipment. But thankfully you will be able to obtain weapons that enemies have dropped in the usual gaming fashion. As this is a sequel you will get a nice serving of new weapons, such as a laser guided rocket launcher, remote C4, one-handed grenade launcher and a detachable mounted mini gun. So there will be plenty of weapons at your disposal while you are overthrowing an evil dictatorship…awesome!

With all sandbox games you get a nice collection of vehicles for you to use. Just cause 2 is no exception, with addition such as a full on Boeing 747, you will have a lot of stuff to play with. Additionally road surfaces will change how the vehicles handle, so rough terrain will inevitably throw you off you motorcycle if your not careful. All we need to know now really is if weather will affect aircraft or any flying vehicles.

Not much else is known about this title, but I can assure you I will be able to iron out some of the creases when the Demo hits on March 4th, so keep your eyes peeled.

Garv.

Feb

Tropico 3, The Beanie’s Back

By That Bloke In The Beanie Leave a Comment

Categories: Review
Tags: PC, stratergy, tropico 3, turn based

The sun shone down on the golden sands of Tropico as I longed on the beach with a cool glass of coconut milk. Then, out of the blur that was the background, a figure approached.

“El Presidente, there is a man here to see you.”

“Urgh, tell the US ambassador I’m not going to praise them unless they give us the plan to the power plant!”

“Er, president, he is not an American, he is British, says he says he is your boss.”

“Garvaos? Bring him over!”

“Si presidente!”

I sipped my milk and re-adjust my beanie, trying to look somewhat regal.

“BEANIE!”

An angry figure storms up the beach towards me.

“Oh hey Garv, wassup? What can El president do for you?”

“El president my arse! What are you doing!? Where are the reviews you promised me!? Why is your face on ‘Tropican Rum’?”

“Hey man chill. I just landed a sweet gig here. They needed a leader and I was available. Sorry about the lack of reviews, Manuel is still learning English, but he’ll have one done by next week I swear!”

“Oh well that’s alright then…no wait, no its not! I don’t care if you’re king-“

“Presidente!”

“…president of some Caribbean island, you have obligations! Now either you start your reviews or I revoke your staff writer status!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me.” He said imposingly

“…Manuel! Escort Mr Gravaos to Ed international airport, see he gets a nice seat…”

“Si Presidente!”

“Not so fast! I brough some friends along to help persuade you to go back to work.”

“Oh yeah, good luck with that. What’cha gonna do? Force me to get on that plane?”

“Exactly.”

“You and what army?” I scoffed.

“Me and YOUR’E army!”

I looked down the beach in disbelief; all of the officers were lined up and weren’t looking happy.

“What did you do!?” I demanded.

“Oh they didn’t need much persuading, a few Xboxes and TV’s and they were only too happy to switch sides.”

“…Maneul, you won’t betray me for a game console will you?”

“Si president!” he said happily.

“…I’ll get my beanie…”

And thus begins my review of Tropico 3. I miss my personal dancing girls…

Tropico 3 is a society building simulator where you play the role of El Presidente, trying to hold onto power while you manage the needs of your citizens and your particular campaigns goals.

You can play any pre-generated dictator, like Castro or Guevara or create your own custom avatar. From there you choose your appearance from a painfully short list of options and then chose his or her traits as a ruler, how they come to power and their vices. While this is a nice addition from the previous Tropico games, it still feels lacklustre and unfinished. While I don’t mind playing a womanizing alcoholic man, it would have been nice to have some different options for a woman avatar, similarly, when the radio pronouncer Jaulito talks about in game events he doesn’t differentiate between male and female presidents.

I know it seems like I’m nit picking here, but I want you guys to realise that while Tropico 3 is a decent game, its let down by pretty minor annoyances and inconsistencies. Your citizens can also be incredibly unforgiving, especially in the later campaigns, becoming rebels if their every whim is not met near instantaneously. The learning curve is also pretty steep, even with the tutorial; it takes you awhile to get around the resource management in order to run your island economy. Are your citizens exporting Papaya and Bananas or eating them?

However! Once you get over these petty annoyances and cracks, you have an interesting and, well, quite addictive game in your hands. The island is beautifully rendered; the samba and jazz from the radio station may get a bit repetitive but really helps to give it that great Caribbean atmosphere. You can abuse your power to siphon off money into your Swiss bank account for your retirement, use your secret police to organise hits against those who would stand against you. But the most fun to be had is with the events that pop up during the campaign, such as when you discover that you are a hidden cyborg made by the FBI to rule an island.

The combat is unfortunately lack lustre and by the numbers, you can’t control your forces and it seems like as long as you have more men you’ll win unless it glitches out. The other campaign modes offer some variety and replayability to the game which is a welcome addition and you can upload your scores online to compete with other like minded dictators.

So ultimately tropic 3 is a mixed bag, for those who enjoy pretending to be a dictator and running an economy and population, this is the game for you. But if that doesn’t sound like your bag then give it a miss. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a score to settle with my manservant…

- That Bloke In The Beanie