Archive for the ‘PC Gaming’ Category

Hey, people, I`m back. Did you miss me?

No, I wasn`t abducted by aliens for one of their typical anal-probing tests, although I had to take an “Ana1″ Exam(ination) just two days ago (Ana1 = Analysis 1 = Calculus).

The last two weeks I spent practically living in the library, studying until closing time every evening. In fact, I had to even decorate my bathroom in an interesting way:

Left: "A tiny bit of Calculus theorems while taking a leak"; Right: "Quite a lot of theorems when sitting on the toilet"

So I already took an exam in Experimental Physics 1 and Calculus but Theoretical Physics still awaits me on Friday… So far I`ve been managing to ignore the fact that one of my most anticipated games of the year was released in the mean time, but yesterday as I finally had time to go shopping for groceries I saw IT. Needless to say, I couldn`t resist it!

Of course, I wouldn`t just get myself 50 EUR poorer ($68 for a PC version, can you believe that!!!). So I first finished downloading a pirated version of the game JUST to see if I get good enough framerates on the crappy GeForce 9600M GT of my lappy. After sacrificing the Full HD resolution of which my beautiful 18.4 notebook screen is capable for a crappy 720p it went smoothly enough with ~40FPS. So I rushed back in the supermarket and got an original copy.

Now I just have to wait for my last exam to pass (and the most important day for any girlfriend, of course) in order to dive completely in the Mass Effect universe! I`ve been meaning to write quite a detailed and big piece about this game for some time before its release but I haven`t forgotten it and I`ll get to it and even be able to include my personal impressions when I play through it.

For now, I can just wish lots of fun to all of you, happy owners of an X360 or a PC copy of this amazing title! I will join you very soon.

Maybe “suck” is not the right word here but I still ask myself how come so many sequels don`t quite reach the quality of their predecessors?

I guess we`ve seen the scenario too many times – a company takes the time and effort to make an amazing game, the cash is more than good and in no time they suddenly want to dip their greedy little hands in the Leprechaun`s bag of gold again. The developer is being rushed to create a sequel as fast as possible and they usually take one of the following routes:

• change too little and serve us more of the same “dish” garnished with some uninspired story which the screenwriter made up in about 5 minutes while sitting on the pooper;
• change too much and create something that, if not outright bad, simply isn`t what the players expect from this particular game;

This is, of course, true for books and movies, too, but I would like to focus on the most interactive form of entertainment here.

Some examples from the Industry`s ever growing reserve of garbage:

My first ever encounter with a bad sequel was at the fragile age of 9. An innocent 3rd grader who goes to his friend`s house for some cookies and Nintendo-fun… After my classmate inserted the cartridge and assured me that I will be playing not just any sequel but Super Mario Bros, I still remember my reaction which was the closest thing to “WTF is that piece of crap” a kid is capable of. Well, I know kids are pretty extreme nowadays and I realize how absurdly it sounds when a young person speaks about “the good old times” but times really were different.

Now I know that Nintendo just re-skinned one of their other titles (Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic) and offered it as Mario 2 because they felt the real sequel (Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels) was beyond the skill level of their non-slanted-eyed brothers from the West. Now that seems like a good marketing move from Nintendo but back then you can imagine my disappointment.

Anyway, the most recent major disappointing sequel that I can think of right now is KOTOR II (“Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords”). Not that the game was bad or something like that, it simply did get anywhere near the greatness of its predecessor and that in itself was a disappointment for me. Some of my friends loved the game and coincidentally those guys haven`t played the first one.

I am sure that there are better examples of crappy sequels and new ones join the collection every year but I actually tend to avoid games that are obviously bad so I don`t get too much exposed to “low quality gaming”. Feel free to add as many as you can think of in the comments!

Now, is it so difficult to make a descent successor to your already good game?

I assume some steps in the right direction would be to:

1. research the opinion of the community about your previous game, I mean really take the time to read comments at least in the major gaming forums;
2. analyze the whole gathered data and figure out what elements the gamers LIKED and which were DISLIKED;
3. build your sequel with the focus layed on fixing the problematic areas and only MINOR tweaks of the good elements (“we know you’re creative and have plenty of new ideas but if something isn’t broken don’t fix it, please”);
4. think about what new gameplay mechanics can be added while taking into acount the gamers’ feedback on the old ones;
5. alpha-beta-and-gamma-test the s**t out of your new infant game WITH fans of your previous game as well and not only some middle-age-unemployed men who last time played Super Mario Bros. on the original NES;

What similar games were you disappointed from and what other steps do you think developers can undertake to make better sequels?

Next time I will write about the games that not only nail the sweet spot but surpass their predecessors and I have one particular title in mind. Can you guess which (hint: not yet released!)?

Over a week ago I started jotting down my thoughts and impressions of Call of Duty: MW 2 after completing the game in one frantic, sleepless night. It got a bit out of control though and so I have separated my initial post in 2 parts.

In the first part I explained what components make up a game`s “soul” and what makes some games stand out for me personally. Still I think it would come as a surprise for most people that I was rather disappointed by newest installment in the legendary Call of Duty franchise.

Maybe I should clarify here that I actually haven`t finished the first game, in fact I didn`t get past the 3rd mission. I thought the game was too simple and shallow in terms of features, you basically could run, jump, crouch, aim and shoot. This combined with the linearity of the levels was enough for me to abandon the game. I cannot explain why I felt Call of Duty 4 was supposed to be different, I`m perfectly OK with linear straight forward shooters normally.

Anyway, lets get back to the sequel

I started right away with the idea of playing through the whole campaign in one sitting. The game provided me with the minimal amount of background needed to start shooting at random people and I did it. The undercover mission with the civilian-massacre at the Zakhaev airport in Moscow didn`t make me hate me Makarov and I didn`t like the “good guys” more.

I even thought the story was too naive, in fact joking with the player in a way. So much for the believability of the game with such a moronic plot.

You take the role of Sergeant Gary “Roach” Sanderson from the elite counter-terrorism unit Task Force 141 and Private James Ramirez from the U.S. Army for most of the game. Around the end you get a chance to slip in the dirty pants of Captain “Soap” MacTavish (the main character from Modern Warfare 1).

In terms of action, I had a blast throughout the whole game. Especially the more open areas like in Rio de Janeiro offered amazingly action-packed combat. Although playing merely on “normal” difficulty, I was completely lost a couple of times among the sheds of the ghetto, running for my life with bullets flying all around. Those sections I enjoyed the most. I really liked the diversity of areas but I still think that the game doesn`t get the chance to bore you simply because of its short length.

So why am I disappointed since I had so much fun?

1. Well, I did not care for any of the characters. All I felt when “Roach” gets killed was positive surprise and respect for the development team for the well executed plot twist. The game didn`t get me at all to empathize with the character whose role I was taking. You cannot get a dramatic experience without complete immersion in the game and you can`t immerse yourself when you don`t feel anything for your character, be it love, disgust or at least some respect. Of couse as I`ve written last time, the whole emotional experience of a game depends on a lot of personal factors. For instance, an American might get more emotionally involved when he sees the burning suburbs of northeastern Virginia.

2. The other thing that kind of ruined my experience was that I didn`t feel in control. All too often I felt as if watching a movie or simply being dragged around by a bunch of people who spontaneously get new ideas to do random things without a major idea or a plan. This was the major deal-breaker for me.

Why do I compare CoD with Crysis?

Initially I wanted to bash Crysis, too, when I was thinking about what to write. The thing is, through the act of laying my thoughts down for the post, I have come to realize that what annoyed me the most about Modern Warfare 2 was the lack of sense of control (both of the character and of the events).

Exactly that element was very well executed in Crysis and its stand-alone expansion Crysis: Warhead. You got the ultimate feeling of being in control, you were the hunter in the woods and the dangerous thing hidden in the darkest shadow. The game was hyped with its state of the art visuals and realism but what made it fun for me was tactically combining the powers of the nano suit to defeat your enemies.

Of course, Crysis failed, too, in the other aspect where I criticized Call of Duty: you don`t get to emotionally live out the events with the characters. I didn`t give a rat`s ass about the characters in Crytek`s creation.

Eye candy or deeper meaning?

I think both titles tried to stake too much on “eye candy” and visually pleasing representation. That`s not a bad point at all!

Kudos to Infinity Ward for the HUMONGOUS amounts of detail in the levels of their game. That`s the thing that visually impressed me the most about CoD: MW2. You run through many tight areas and have barely seconds to gaze upon literally mountains of items and junk from the everyday life of people who really inhabit those places. Textures may not have the highest resolution but every single item is carefully “textured into actual existence”.

I don`t think there is anything to comment about Crysis graphics, 2,5 years after its release it still is the closest thing to “photo-realistic” game we have.

Sci Fi Channel is doing a new TV Special on Mass Effect 2 and this mini documentary explores some of the topics about which I`ve written recently when I asked if Games can have souls. You can watch the first part on Gametrailers where they interview not only Bioware representatives but also some random guys from the (US) Sci-Fi scene like Wil Wheaton and Tricia Helfer from “Battlestar Galactica”.

You might get the slight feeling of looking at just another piece of hype-inducing advertisement because, although asking some very interesting and I can say even philosophical questions, the TV Special still focues on exactly this title. This is true but on the other hand think about how many TOP HIT sci-fi titles are coming out this year for example? Can you even get to the f*** you finger on one hand when you count them? Yes, I believe that Mass Effect 2 will not only be T H E sci-fi game of the year but also it has pretty good chances on becoming GOTY.

How do you create the illusion of free will with a fixed ending? How do you create a compeling storyline when the audience controls the narrative?

Stories of dystopian post-apocalyptic worlds have a certain very strong appeal to me. Fact is, Fallout 3, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Bioshock are among my most favorite games, while Richard Matheson`s “I am Legend” is a book I deeply adore. Mr. Matheson practically invented the post-apocalyptic genre single-handedly 56 years ago with his masterpiece.

Can you imagine my feelings when I woke up this morning and just by accident saw the new trailer of Metro 2033? My first thought was that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sneaked into Fallout`s bed in the night, impregnated Bethesda`s game and I was seeing their newborn child.

I got so inspired that I completely forgot the humongous amount of Theoretical physics I had to read today and started researching this new title.  It seems that a certain Russian reporter by the name of Dmitry Glukhovsky published his book “Metro 2033″ as a free web project in 2002. The book got very popular with an ever accelerating speed and in 3 years it was already a printed nation-wide best-seller. The guy was very soon approached by the Ukrainian developer 4A Games and the team has been working on the adaptation very closely with the author of the book for 4-5 years. If all goes well the game will be released in Q1 for PC and Xbox 360.

Attention to detail

Actually some of the guys who formed 4A Games have left the developer of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 year before final release, so they must have experience with this genre. What I`ve seen untill now shows immense amounts of detail to the underground stations where the scattered remains of humanity reside. The world looks absolutely real, populated by real living people and that`s of no wonder. The team has set complete immersion of the player as a main goal from start. When we take control of the main protagonist Artyom (accent on the last syllable) we won`t have any on-screen indications about health, ammo, etc. Even when looking at the map the game doesn`t pause and Artyom has to take out a physical map and look at it with his flash light exposing himself to risk of becoming the dinner of something from the dark.

4A Games use a propriety engine with full support of goodies such as DX10 and Physx.

Being completely immersed by the absence of HUDs and menus what so ever can actually add a very nice touch to the gameplay when implemented successfully like for example in one game that I`m sure not many of you remember: Peter Jackson`s King Kong: The Game.

Focus on the PC version? Yes, please.

What really makes me happy is that the main focus of development was put on the PC version of the game. I am sick and tired of getting half-backed ports after spending a couple of hundred bucks on a video card that can easily top both current gen consoles. Don`t get me wrong, I enjoy gaming on all platforms (other than portable ones that is). I really enjoyed the shit out of my Xbox 360 before it died and I`m thinking about getting a new one + a PS3 some day when I suddenly get rich Well anyway, for the moment I have to do with a notebook and try to fully enjoy every piece of the little “crumbs” that fall from the Big Gaming Table to us, students with laptops sitting on the floor.

March 2010?

What more can I say? I already ordered the book in German because it still isn`t released in English and I don`t have the patience to wait for it getting delivered from my country in my own language. I cannot wait for the game and I`m all the more hyped by the fact that this title looks exactly as atmospheric and just as deeply detailed as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Fallout 3, but a lot more linear! This is a really good point when time is short in university and you can`t afford to spend all day running through an imaginary world.

Let this current map of the famous Moscow subway system speak for itself:

Three days ago I finally got my chance to play through the highly hyped sequel of Infinity Ward`s block-buster, sales-record-breaking Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I completed the whole action-packed campaign in around 6 hours in a sleepless night before my flight back to Germany. I decided to go to bed at around 07:00 AM and while I layed there for some time, completely awake, I startet pondering upon a question that has previously come to bother me many times…

Do video games actually have souls?

Was there even at The Beginnig in the 8-bit Era of Atari 2600, something special about certain games, something beyond the circuit boards of their cartridges?

30 years later, what makes a disk bored with billions of nano-holes, spinning at a few thousand RPM in the drive of our console or PC move us emotionally and leave an imprint on our memories just like a darn good novel can?

I have realized that these questions are rather subjective and one cannot really get a straight answer as easily as it sounds. Just think about it!

The gaming industry has expanded in the last two decades to a multi-billion-dollar business ($44+ bn last year!). Players` experience has evolved from spending twenty minutes with friends at the arcades for some Donkey Kong to being completely engrossed by all senses in a living and breathing world with nearly photo-realistic visuals. Simply said, people are not as easily impressed today.

Can you sit down and really imagine how you would react if you were able to catch a glimpse of some Crysis or Killzone 2 footage exactly 10 years ago, when you were scoring frags in Unreal Tournament on your Playstation 2 or PC?

Can you find the differences? Please do click on the images, resolution does matter.

My point is that this is an ever changing medium where your experience depends not only upon time but on your environment, views on life, etc. In spite of all the globalization stuff people like to worry about, an American, for example, might have a totally different emotional experience playing CoD: MW2 than me, having grown up in post-communism Eastern Europe (no, people, for the last time: eastern Europe doesn`t mean war destroyed land inhabited by wild savages like in Fallout 3!)

So basically, a game has a soul for me when it does something more than simply entertain me for a couple of days and then collect dust on a shelf forever forgotten. It has to induce really strong feelings in me, be it happiness, anger, fear or even sadness. I think that highly atmospheric games achieve that without even having to bother with some deeper meaning and enlightening truths at the end.

The sadly buggy S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was exactly such a game for me, I really felt the sorrow of its desolate and dead world. Mafia was one of the first games to really impress me on the emotional front, it simply had it all: pretty amazing graphics for its time, engulfing and highly atmospheric world and a very dramatic story. It spanned some years of the main protagonist`s life. You got the chance to really get know him and the other characters, to see them evolve and when shit happened to them you could empathize.

I think that exactly empathy is the key to the dramatic experience! I personally won`t be moved by the death or misfortune of a main character if I don`t give a shit about him, would you?

We see that the “soul” that those really special and memorable titles poses is a complex thing with many ingredients:

• detailed and realistically created world;
• believable and interesting “3-dimensional” (meaning not flat!) characters;
• dramatic story;
• some kind of premise or meaning;

Of course there are other many important aspects like fluid and intuitive controls, interesting gameplay mechanics and so on, but I think these things contribute more to the fun side of the game and not to this thing that I call “soul”. So in my opinion, a game has to fulfill at least one or more of the above mentioned criteria in order to offer a really memorable experience to us players but of course not all are necessary.

I think that Fahrenheit (aka “Indigo Prophecy”) is the best of example of what I mean. When this game came out it already had annoyingly dated visuals at first glance. The thing is, this game engrossed me in such a way that I was completely lost, not paying attention to crappy models and low-res textures. I was part of its magical world, totally oblivious to the fact that I was already late for school the first time I started it. All this now I realize was mainly due to its unique and quite innovative at the time implementation of quick-time events, quite an interesting story and a character I really cared for.

What games affected you in similar ways? Which titles had such a big impact on you?

Now that I defined what I understand under a game`s “soul” I will explain what does this all have to do with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Crysis in the second part.

to be continued…