Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption is the latest release from Rockstar Games and is proving to be a big hit.  Based on 71 critic reviews Metacritic have given the game a score of 95 while 407 ratings among users came to 8.1 out of 10, pretty impressive. The game itself is a sandbox style, free roaming third person shooter.

So what is Red Dead all about? The year is 1911 and the railroads are slowly spreading across the United States. Behind them follow the influence of the federal government and inescapable modernization. The Old West may very well be on its last legs. Your character is John Marston; a former outlaw turned bounty hunter sent to hunt down his former gang members by federal agents. Your motive? The agents have ‘seized’ your family.

The storyline that unfolds as you start the game is pretty good with an array of interesting and humorous characters that you’d expect from Rockstar. Besides the main storyline there’s dozens of Stranger Missions as well. Stranger Missions are a bit like Friend Missions in GTA IV but easier to find. All are definitely worth playing out as they add good depth to the game and highlight the often strange and dark humor of Rockstar. As well as those there are also what I call Event Missions. An example of this would be you passing by a stagecoach under attack, you then have the option of assisting.

Red Dead handles itself beautifully in all aspects. The movements of the horses, which will be your main mode of transportation, look exceptionally fluid and realistic. Whether wild or tamed the horses are just stunning and in my opinion Rockstar outdid themselves with this. Another element I can compliment highly are the weapons. From revolvers to repeater carbines, rifles to shotguns you have a nice variety of weapons to choose from. But what I really love about the weapons is that each time you fire a shot a visible cloud of smoke is released, very suitable for the time period. Now don’t worry, this won’t obscure your view at all it just adds to the atmosphere of the game.

As you’d hope in a third person shooter the cover and aim system is spot on, you won’t find any problems with it. You can of course shoot from horseback and this works seamlessly as well. The real shooting feature is Dead Eye which is a bit like bullet time. Time slows down allowing you to accurately fire off a few shots into your targets before they hit you. As the game progresses your Dead Eye gets better allowing you to assign multiple shots to different targets, a bit like VATS in Fallout 3 but not as in depth.

If you don’t want to play any of the missions then you’re free to explore the wild west. Perhaps collect some flowers (seriously) or indulge in some hunting. Hunting is great fun with a wide variety of birds and animals to choose from. Elk, deer, bears, beavers, raccoons, bobcats, wolves, coyotes, foxes, owls, hawks and many more. All can be hunted and skinned to bring back to the stores. You can even skin your own horse if it has the poor misfortune of dying. (I tried to avoid killing any horses) Not interested in hunting? Chase down some wild horses, lasso them and break them in or even rob a bank, the game is limitless.

The map is quite large and divided in two by a large deep river. One side is the U.S state of New Austin and the other is Mexico. Graphically the world is quite stunning with a surprisingly wide variety of landscapes from snowy bear ridden mountains to dry dusty deserts, it’s a visual delight. If you’re like me you’ll enjoy riding between your destinations drinking in the scenery. I do have one caveat here though; several times while looking up at the starry night sky it appeared fragmented to me and not to well done. Besides the scenery the NPC’s in the game are well designed, especially the outfits.

Briefly I’ll mention the music for the game. Now you’d image a western such as this would be riddled with American country music or something far worse but in fact Red Dead has a great musical score that is more blues than anything. It really sets the scene for the game and Rockstar made a brilliant move including the music that they did.

I’ve more or less praised this game throughout so now it’s only fair I throw in some critiques. While character interaction is generally quite good the main character has a tendency to threaten people with a shot to the head a little too much. I found this tiring after a while, I mean he could’ve changed body parts at least.

Overall though, this is a game I’d highly recommend that you pick up. If you like sandbox games, if you like westerns or you’re just a fan of Rockstars work then you’ll enjoy Red Dead Redemption.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days or Doghouse

After browsing through Metacritic I became aware that recent release (Aug. 17th in the U.S, Aug. 27th in Ireland) Kane and Lynch 2 has been garnering itself pretty disappointing reviews. 

A collation of the critic reviews has come to a low score of 64. Now 64 doesn’t sound so low but for a recent, anticipated release it doesn’t quite cut it. That’s just the critic reviews, if you look to the user reviews it gets pretty bad; 5.3 out of 10… there must be something pretty bad going on there.

Issues reported with the game included headachy graphics with much flickering, blurring and flaring of the world you find yourself in while the camera will make you feel queasy with the amount of swaying and shaking going on.
Further problems revolve around the in-game plot which is apparently lacking and replaced with shooting, lots and lots of shooting. This alone puts images of Left 4 Dead 2 back into my mind. *shudders at the thought*

For a first person shooter the aiming and cover system are reportedly poor and the character development equally so. Remember Lynch, the hallucinating psychotic? Apparently IO Interactive doesn’t because the psychosis has all dried up.

Well what more can I say? I had a hope that Dog Days would be a good FPS now that it has trophy\achievement support but since reading the reviews on Metacritic all hopes have been dashed. This is one I won’t be picking up.

Killzone 2

Killzone 2 is a hardcore first person shooter developed by Guerilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for Playstation 3.

The game takes place during the ISA invasion of the planet Helghan and presumably follows on from Killzone and Killzone: Liberation. I say presumably because I’ve played neither so I can’t really comment.

Describing Killzone 2 in terms of graphics and atmosphere I’d have to say it’s pretty damn good. From storm wracked, ashen cities to windswept, desolate deserts you’re presented with an ominous environment populated with tough, ruthless soldiers. I was particularly impressed with the flame\fire effects and the electricity effects; both are fairly prevalent within the game. The dark atmosphere of the game is backed with an excellent musical composition which meshes perfectly with the game play delivering an air of intensity, urgency and desperation.

Game play is also very good although at times difficult. Right from the get go you’re thrown into the rough turmoil of war. This is, however, where my first gripe appeared;  a lack of objective markers. A lot of games use objective markers for the obvious reason of helping to guide the player towards the objective. Killzone 2 doesn’t and thusly sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing.

You won’t be confused for too long though, after all most first person shooters are fairly linear. While you’re finding your way to the objective you’ll be caught up in some pretty intense firefights. Helghast soldiers are no pushovers. They’re well armed and pretty tough. You’ll encounter different varieties of soldiers as you move through different levels and each variety is armed differently. Despite these varieties they all have common features so it never looks out of place.

The range of weapons is pretty nice. The majority are what I’d call solid shot weapons by which I mean they fire bullets instead of lasers. Exceptions are the flame thrower and a sort of electro cannon which are both fun. Do you like your enemies fired or char grilled?

There are two levels in the game that are incredibly difficult. I don’t want to go into too much detail and end up spoiling the game but I will say this; no matter how hard it looks and how impossible it feels just persevere and eventually you’ll get it. I didn’t call it a hardcore game for nothing.

The storyline throughout the game is interesting and engaging; you’ll want to keep playing more. For trophy hunters you’ll be pleased to known that each finished mission awards you a trophy and there is a bunch of other trophies available for various things.

This a great first person shooter that will challenge you and keep you entertained.

GTA IV – Episodes from Liberty City.

Having recently finished Episodes from Liberty City I’ve decided I’d do a little review on them both.

Now if you haven’t played GTA IV then it’s alright. You don’t need the main game to play Episodes from Liberty City or to understand what’s going on. However, I can’t recommend GTA IV enough. It’s a great game, one of the best I’ve played. 

Episodes from Liberty City consist of two games of which The Lost and Damned is first. This game puts you in the shoes of Johnny Klebitz, vice president of The Lost and Damned Motorcycle Club – Alderney City chapter. He’s also Jewish which has little relevance to the game play but it highlights the superb character development that Rockstar works on.

If you’ve played through GTA IV then you might remember Johnny from a few missions. This is because The Lost and Damned runs concurrently alongside the main GTA IV storyline. For those of you who have played it you’ll get to play several missions from a different perspective which I thought was an excellent move by Rockstar as it both games added depth.

The game as a darker, grittier, New Jersey feel than the main GTA IV which is a nice change of atmosphere. This atmosphere is added to by new music on the radio stations which can be both a good and bad thing. Liberty Rock Radio and Radio Broker have some great music on them now, better than the main GTA IV even but other stations like Radio Vladivostock have lost their unique Eastern European Music to some sort of techno trance garbage.

Another element that adds to the atmosphere is the fact that Rockstar are very good at referencing current events. Liberty City is being gripped by the same recession we’re all suffering from and this is quite noticeable from character interactions and news stories.

The game features new weapons including a sawn off shotgun and automatic pistol, both of which can be fired from your motorcycle by the way. Other weapons include pipe bombs and a nasty automatic shotgun as well. New vehicles are another feature including a range of different motorcycles. By motorcycles I’m talking about “all American” choppers and hogs such as the picture below.

Pretty yes? Anyway as you play the game you’ll find yourself on a motorcycle quite a bit which you may find awkward at first but you will get used to it. You can, of course, jack any vehicle you like but many of the missions seem geared towards a chopper.

There’s not much to say about the game play though. The storyline is engaging and well written, the missions are quite interesting. Side missions include drug wars which are limitless but can be quite fun.

If you liked GTA IV then you’ll definitely like this and if you haven’t played GTA IV then I’d encourage you to do so and play this as well in any order.

The Ballad of Gay Tony (BoTC) is the second game within Episodes of Liberty City. It puts you in the shoes of Luis Lopez, a Dominican working for, or with, socialite and night club owner Tony Prince also known as Gay Tony.

Much like The Lost and Damned this game runs concurrently to both the main GTA IV storyline and Lost and Damned storyline. You might remember meeting Lopez or Prince as you played through as Niko Bellic or Johnny Klebitz. If you don’t then you will as soon as you play through BoTC.

While The Lost and Damned gave off a dark atmosphere BoTC is more glitz and glamour set against the backdrop of the recession. Again the radio stations have been equipped with new music to suit the feel of the game.

The glitzy atmosphere is further boosted by new vehicles including several classy sports cars, several new helicopters and even an armored car. Once again new weapons make an appearance including a P90, a light machine gun, a shotgun firing explosive shells (so much fun) and satchel charges.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is, in my opinion, a lot more fun and engaging than The Lost and Damned. I’m not shooting down The Lost and Damned, it was fun but there is something about BoTC that’s very fun. Play it and you’ll see.

The storyline, once again, is very well written with interesting character interactions. As I mentioned before a few of the missions for BoTC overlap with the main storyline of GTA IV and the storyline of The Lost and Damned so give greater depth to both games. I don’t know if Rockstar had all this planned out during the development stage of GTA IV or thought it up later but they did an excellent job on it.

There’s quite a few side games within BoTC as well. These include fun dancing and drinking games, more intense drug war games and the absolutely brilliant base jumping game. Base jumping is a big feature of BoTC. Equipped with a parachute Luis Lopez can jump from the tallest skyscrapers and from helicopters to perform a freefall – parachute maneuver. Even better, you can do this in multiplayer.

Like The Lost and Damned I’d highly recommend The Ballad of Gay Tony. It’ a great play for fans of the GTA series and for those who haven’t played it yet as well.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Seeing as I’ve been playing a lot more PS3 games as of late I decided it might be a good idea to do a short review after I finish each one. After all, it makes my blog look busy instead of on the cusp of death.

This is in no way a copy of my girlfriends blog in any way… I swear it’s a completely original idea. >> Yeah…

Anyway the first game I’m going to review is Bad Company 2 which I recently finished, although not on my own PSN profile so I’ll be playing it again to get the trophies. 

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is, unsurprisingly, the sequel to Battlefield: Bad Company and brought to us from the Electronic Arts. Having never played the first game I can’t really contrast the two but I’m sure I’ll get to it eventually.

Graphically Bad Company 2 (BC2) is rendered quite beautifully in my opinion. Some of the landscapes are breathtaking while the gun fights happening around you can be graphically intense. There are some small gripes however; some of the weapons can appear rather flat. That is to say they’re lacking in raised detail. However if you get very immersed into the game you probably won’t notice. Another gripe is that there have been many reports of bad screen tear within the single player campaign but none in the multiplayer. I’ll admit I didn’t notice any when I played through the campaign but my girlfriend has noticed quite a bit so watch out for that.
Rumors that the game is clogged with dust are, in my opinion, greatly exaggerated. While a quantity of dust can be thrown up from the destructible terrain it’s not so bad as to obscure game play. In my opinion it adds a nice realistic feature to the game.

Game play is also good and can get quite intense at times. You operate as part of a squad so there’s usually three other guys with you at all times. They’re handy to have around, although you have little choice, but they can get in the way sometimes. Each level is large enough to allow you to choose your own way of dealing with the enemy and there’s a wide variety of weapons available to suit your own tastes as well. One well publicized feature is entirely destructible terrain which can be a nice feature but at the same time can also be a minor annoyance.  Taking cover can become quite difficult; several times I took cover inside a house only to have the wall stripped away by a heavy machine gun or rocket propelled grenade. The best option is to keep moving; don’t stay in one place for too long or the building could collapse around you… literally. The single player campaign is rather engaging and the storyline is pretty good. There’s nothing worse than a first or third person shooter with a poor storyline. *cough*Left 4 Dead*cough*

I did mention this was a first person shooter? Well it is, although you can switch to the third person whilst operating vehicles. That’s another thing I should mention; many of the vehicles you find in the game can be used to your advantage which has its ups and downs. When you hop into a vehicle your squad members will join you if they can, they’ll man any mounted weapons on the vehicle and fire their own if possible. So the upside of hopping into a vehicle is mobile firepower.
The downside? It’s all two easy for your vehicle to get heavily damaged quickly forcing you to abandon it before you’re killed in a fireball of contempt and wasted time.

 
The multiplayer in BC2 is very fun, much better than any CoD game in fact. Large maps, plenty of vehicles including the classic “how the f**k do I fly this helicopter”, but… there’s always a but. Like many FPS games you’ll run into the problem of camping snipers. It’s an FPS wide epidemic I’m afraid, one without a cure.

Trophy support for the game is in place also. I found that trophies weren’t to difficult to achieve in the single player campaign so if you’re a trophy hunter you’ll enjoy that. Be warned though that many of the trophies can only be acquired through playing the multiplayer but that is getting true of many games these days.

My verdict? If you’re into first person shooters then Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is definitely worth a look. The same can be said if you’re looking for good multiplayer games as well. Price wise I’d play no more than €40 for the game and even then I’d hope for less.