Ubisoft: Hi there! Welcome to Ubisoft.

Me: Thanks.

Ubisoft: What can we help you with today?

Me: Well, I purchased this game from you today called “Assassin’s Creed 2”…

Ubisoft: Ah yes, isn’t that a fine game?

Me: I wouldn’t know, I haven’t been able to play it yet. And actually, I don’t think I want to either. In fact, I want my money back.

Ubisoft: What?! Why?

Me: Well, after all this crap about your stupid DRM hit the internet, I’ve sorta changed my mind. I can live with having to authenticate my game online once while installing it or hell, even once before I start playing, but this whole “you gotta be online at all times to play the game” thing sucks ass. I’m sorry but my internet connection cannot be relied upon 24/7 and to be taken to a grey screen midway through a game is not my idea of fun. And what happens if your servers are down? Nope, this isn’t what I paid for.

Ubisoft: Sir, we understand your concern but we do have an obligation towards our employees and shareholders to protect our intellectual properties from piracy. How would you feel if someone stole from you?

Me: I understand. May I ask you a question?

Ubisoft: Of course sir.

Me: Did I steal from you? Coz I clearly remember forking over 50 bucks.

Ubisoft: No, obviously you are a valuable customer. But, you have to understand that…

Me: Piracy, yeah, I know. And I understand, really, I do. But lemme ask you this “Are your hands clean?”

Ubisoft: I’m afraid I do not understand.

Me: Coz if you must insist on grabbing me by my balls, the least you could do is clean your hands.

Ubisoft: Sir there is really no need to…

Me: BEEEEP! Wrong again asshole. There is a DEFINITE fucking need to get this point across. DRM should not screw with a paying customer. It should screw with a pirate sure, but, not someone who paid you for your precious intellectual property. You aren’t alone in this; I will grant you that much, but that doesn’t make this shit slide. This “I’ll fuck you till you love me” routine may be good for Mike Tyson or prison. It’s not good for me.

Ubisoft: Sir I really think…

Me: Shut the fuck up, I’m not done yet. You know what you have effectively done here? Do you? You are basically telling me that by paying you 50 dollars like a good little boy, all I have done is look forward to is a substandard experience. Had I pirated this thing, I wouldn’t have to deal with this shit. I could have saved my game like a normal person. AND I could have done it for free. Hell, I think that exactly what I’ll do from now on. So fuck you too.

Ubisoft: What?! Filthy pirate! You are the reason PC gaming is dying etc etc…

—

Somethings not quite right with this picture.

Pissed as I am at Ubisoft’s choice of DRM, I do see their point. Piracy is and always will be a huge issue. What I can’t understand is why paying customers have to be at the receiving end. The fact of the matter is that Ubi could have their DRM coded by the goddamned Borg and it would STILL be broken in a week. Publishers need to stop looking at every downloaded copy of a game as a lost sale. There never WAS a sale. These guys were never going to pay for your product even if you priced it on the cheap. A thief wouldn’t think twice about jacking a car if it was cheaper. He just sees an opportunity for ill gotten gain. Asking the legitimate owner of the vehicle to check in with the manufacturer via radio every mile while driving is not a solution. The same applies here.

I do not expect publishers to ship games without any DRM. But I do not want to be screwed with either. It should not be that hard a nut to crack.

If you really think about it, the whole sci-fi and fantasy thing is silly. I mean, we know there are no elves. We know there are no death stars or Jedis, yet we get sucked into worlds that are home to these imaginary beings with their impossible characters and ridiculous plots. Lemme see, the world is about to end, someone’s gotta save it… again. Yeah, didn’t see that one coming. The true triumph of any such world or the creators that craft them then, lies in this: you want to believe that they exist.

When my 30 hour campaign with Mass Effect 2 was over, I felt genuinely disappointed about coming back to reality. What fun is it living in a world where there aren’t any flying cars, pulse rifles or Krogans? If that isn’t a testament to how good Bioware’s latest offering is, I don’t know what is.

The sequel to Mass Effect 1 is a refinement and improvement in almost every department. To the ones that never played the prequel (and you really should), the story ended with the hero, Commander Shepard (that’s you) and his crew aboard the star ship “Normandy”, saving the galaxy from these nasty things called “Reapers” (I am deliberately being  vague here).  Though one of these Reapers was defeated, they still had remnants of an army scattered in space. Mass Effect 2 begins with Shepard and his crew looking for said remnants.

The screenshots and gameplay videos will probably have you believe this is more of an action game rather than a pure RPG like Bioware’s own Dragon Age. In a way this is true. The combat is hectic and plays more like a third person shooter a la Gears of War. But make no mistake; this is an RPG through and through. This is a beautifully realised world with interesting races, deep history and characters you can genuinely connect with. And explosions. Lots of explosions. Which brings me to a word that I will be using a lot throughout this review: cinematic. ME2 is very, very cinematic. No other game has employed digital actors as effectively as this has. Right from the spectacular opening sequence, the player knows he’s in for a treat.

That being said, I must make one thing very clear at the onset, this is not a game where the player goes around exploring the world per se. Not that you can’t do it, because you can… well, sort of (more on this later).  Just don’t expect an epic 100+ hour romp like Dragon Age. The onus here is on delivering a tight, story driven experience. And in this, ME2 excels beyond anything I have played in a very long time. As far as the game mechanics go, there’s the usual quests, dialogues and conversation options etc that one would expect from any standard RPG. What sets it apart is the sheer amount of detail. The voice acting is spectacular; every planet you go to has a different look and feel to it (unlike the prequel where every place looked the same), the story is darker, the characters develop beautifully and there are thankfully no vehicle missions to bring things down.

I’m still surprised at how such an action-centric game managed to come across as a genuine RPG. The focus on combat might make some believe that the role playing aspect must be toned down but thankfully this is not the case. Sure, the complete absence of inventory management may come as a shock to many (me included) but once you realize that it does not take anything away from the experience, you see the logic behind it. The player rarely picks up weapons or gear during missions. You do however, pick up cash, hack PDAs and security systems (via a couple of neat mini games shown in the pic below) and scan enemy weapons for “schematics” that can be used to research upgrades/prototypes onboard the Normandy. There’s is a catch however. Said upgrades or research can only happen if you have enough of certain “resources”. Resources that the player needs to gather by scanning various planets in the galaxy. This involves another mini game which is fine the first few times but quickly becomes tedious. Unfortunately, this is the weakest part of the whole ME2 experience. What makes it so lame is the amount of scanning a player will have to do to get all the good upgrades. Think hours. Yeah, like I said, lame. To be fair, you don’t HAVE to get all the upgrades provided, but, not doing so will have some pretty severe repercussions, the least of which will be to make combat harder.

Speaking of which, combat is where Bioware removed all stops. Once you look past the whole “inspired by Gears of War” thing, i.e., the cover system and automatic health regen etc., the tactical depth becomes apparent. Character animations are fluid and natural, deployment of party members is important and usage of powers is critical. Although you could technically shoot your way through most fights without really having to bother with biotic powers, at least on normal difficulty, the real fun begins when you let loose with everything you have. Those of us that like to take advantage of every tactical opportunity will use the “active pause” feature to devastating effect. Like anything else in the game, it looks wonderfully cinematic.  You can take a look at the sample video below to get an idea of how slick it all is (mind you, I deliberately slowed things down so that the viewer gets to see what power I’m going to fire up. Real time battles would be much quicker with hotkeys and not much pausing.)

One unique thing the developers did was to give players the option of carrying over their character from the first game.  The actions you took as Commander Shepard in ME1 will have consequences in ME2. For instance, if you treated a certain NPC badly in the first game, he will remember once you encounter him again. This is more than a mere gimmick as it adds to the atmosphere and persistence of not just your adventure but the world itself. Not to mention, it will decide how certain quests play out, or if you have access to them at all. The beauty of it is that even if you import a previous character, you do have the option of changing his/her looks and class. How this happens will not be discussed as it would be a HUGE spoiler. Let’s just say it’s something you haven’t seen before.

Creating a new character is no less fun. The customisation options are robust and can help you create a unique looking Shepard complete with personal background and history. One small complaint I did have was the limited skills you have access to (take a look at the last screenshot).  A deeper skill pool would have been welcome. Also, there is no option of customizing the gear of your teammates beyond choosing weapons and skills. This could well be a moot point as most of the time the camera is centred on you anyway.

Doing justice to the darker story (ME2 has already had its share of “The empire strikes back” comparisons) is the way dialogue options refrain from being purely a choice between “good” “bad” “neutral”. Strictly speaking there is no “evil” path here. Shepard is out to save the galaxy after all. The much talked about Paragon/Renegade options should really be labelled Lawful/Badass. Taking the supposed “evil” path and acting like a ruthless bastard has never been so much fun. Adding to the cinematic (there’s that word again) feel is how you can interrupt cut scenes to perform Paragon/Renegade actions. This is another first and one that is a whole lot of fun.

The game makes good use of the Unreal 3.5 engine. As mentioned earlier, there is a lot of variety in how different areas look. With regards to level design, the space you can “explore” is fairly limited. Although, I must say, it feels a lot larger than it is. Mass Effect has never been about exploration anyway. Getting lost in an alien wilderness looking for random loot would be a huge deviation from the whole cinematic thing. The only reason most people would shuttle between planets is to either continue the story or look for those damn resources. The game makes no apologies for being focused on what it’s out to deliver and is all the richer for it.

No review of ME2 would be complete without giving due attention to the awesome cast of NPCs that make up your squad. I’ve mentioned before how Bioware pretty much define the bar when it comes to infusing character into NPCs. This game is no exception. Every team mate you have is voiced to perfection; the time you spend getting to know them better will pay off via getting side quests specific to each member of your team. Hell, even the damn ship has a personality! It’s safe to say that by the end of the game, most people will know the Normandy and its crew inside out.

Minor complaints notwithstanding, the only reason I would ask people not to plunge right into ME 2 is if they missed the prequel. This is one title that is so much more than the sum of its parts. And when you consider just how good each individual part is, that’s saying something.

Mass Effect 2 is more than just a game. It is a statement of how far the medium has evolved and what it is capable of.

FINAL SCORE: 9.1/10

The following isn’t really a blog post. It’s an excerpt from an email conversation I had with some like-minded folk about the state and direction of gaming in the Indian context. Credit for this goes to NT Balanarayan. He is the one that got the ball rolling on this one. Some of the questions asked were :

What’s holding back India as a market to develop games? What can we do to popularise professional gaming in the country?

Here is the guilty party:

Anand Ramachandran, blogs at bossfight.in is a columnist for The New Indian Express

Chirantan Patnaik, blogs at neuralchaos.com. He set a record by playing GTA for 40 hours straight!

NT Balanarayan, blogs at gamebashing.com and writes for DNA.

Bharat Joshi, yours truly.

BHARAT:

“What’s holding India back as a viable game development destination? There are many factors to be honest.

1) The way I see it, our education system is structured to create a professional army of drones. Essentially, we create some of the best software coders and IT specialists that are great on a technical level but crap from a creative standpoint. Game design is a lot more than just writing stable code. Hell, coding isn’t really a part of the creative process till much later. The concept is key, everything else follows. Unfortunately, in India’s quest to create a professional workforce, creativity is the first thing that is killed off in a student. If you want more proof, ask yourself when was the last time you played a decent mod created by an Indian for any game. (Mods NOT maps)

2) Gaming has yet to become accepted as “normal” in this part of the world. In Korea, if you claim to be a person who does not game in anyway, people look at you funny (trust me on this one; I’ve been there about a dozen times). It does not matter that the average US gamer’s age today is 33. Here, an adult that confesses to being a hardcore CS player is seen as being brain damaged or, at the very least, “immature”. Can you gauge the reaction of a standard parent when their kid walks in and says “I’ve really thought about it Dad, I’ve decided I do not want to be an engineer. Instead, I want to create the next Duke Nukem.”? Nuff said.

3) Lack of funding. This ties in closely to the lack of any professional talent. There isn’t a single game developer in India worth mentioning. I hasten to add here that I am not including flash/browser based games. Even if there are some brave souls with the balls to put their careers on the line to back up their idea, their budget would be slim indeed. The average title costs a few million dollars to develop, not counting marketing etc. I’m pretty sure Ghajini “the game” didn’t cost that much.

4) Piracy. Most of the leaked code you find tends to get through during the cloning process, i.e., it’s when DVDs are being manufactured that some asshole nicks a copy to sell to pirates (usually a factory worker). India is notorious for not having a legal system in place to protect intellectual property. Why the hell would anyone set up shop here?

I could go into further detail but these are the biggies.”

ANAND:

“The Indian gaming industry grew out of IT roots, not entertainment roots. These typically value processes over people, numbers over creativity. Our development studios simply don’t have the DNA to build competent entertainment content – just look at animation for a parallel.

Things will change as the kids take over – but it’s not going to happen in a hurry. I met several young development studios at NASSCOM this year, they’re all making okay games. But not ONE of them, in my opinion, has the capability to create decent, contemporary game – even something like Machinarium or Plants vs. Zombies for instance, leave alone high end stuff.

I think it will be at least three to five years before we see world class casual games, and ten before we see a top-end title from India (complete – not outsourcing based)”

NT:

“Interesting, meanwhile there’s this talk of prices of EA games for consoles going up by Rs. 800, do you think it’ll have an impact on gaming in India?”

ANAND:

“In the short run – probably yes – it will prevent growth. The numbers we do are so small anyway, that there’s probably no major impact in terms of revenue. But it certainly will reduce / limit the number of games people will buy, for sure. That’s Economics 101. But in the long run, not really. Once the recession is truly behind us, and companies start thinking long-term again, they will not be able to ignore India as a market (it’s the largest untapped gaming market in the world) and will do whatever is needed to boost sales.”

CHIRANTAN:

“Bharat had an intriguing point of view on seeing games through a ‘normal’ perspective. In fact, most of the issues raised around cost and maturity of development are directly proportional to the fact that video games are still considered a geek’s sanctuary and domain. This definitely has to change. Development woes and lack of creative talent in the Indian gaming industry is often blamed for intriguing titles. Before I talk about the year that went by, I’d like to stick my neck out and say this: Consoles may yet be the closet thing to an answer for the lack of interest/market.

I have been a PC gamer throughout and have only in the recent 2 years or so started playing on consoles. I wanted something that I can immediately switch on and play on a big TV instead of having to constantly upgrade my PC and install arcane system drivers.

The experience of pick-up & play is really what the console industry is pushing for. It is via this medium that most of the casual consumers can reach out to some of the blockbuster AAA titles that next-gen gaming has produced. I can’t be bothered to keep up with every damn NVIDIA card that comes up.

So there: More penetration in the homes of people, would directly impact gaming sales in the region as well as pique interest amongst smaller developers to make interesting home-grown content.

As far as the year that was, I totally loved it, and hated it. Indian games that came out were lacking in almost every department. A franchise like ‘Hanuman’ could’ve been totally mind blowing had it been made with an iota of interest and storyline. Why does a game only have to involve punching and firing guns? Plot out some radical RPG elements into the franchise, and we might as well be exporting these games like Japan has been doing since the past 10-12 years.

I still believe that most of the development in India is stymied by the belief that a creatively led game would only appeal to the niche. Let’s face it, we are a very ‘mass-market’ oriented culture. From political strategies, marketing plans of companies to bollywood; everyone aims for the ‘lowest common denominator’. However, I refuse to believe that individual and creative content does not get into the mainstream. Take a look at some of the movies that have done well despite having interesting stories and shoe string budgets. The same can be said of games, make something truly creative and engaging and you are bound to get noticed.

How about a well structured RTS game based on the Mahabharata? Or perhaps a dark yet tactical FPS located in the streets on Mumbai. This is obviously an oversimplification but hope you get the drift. What do you guys think ?”

BHARAT:

“I agree with consoles being a lot more convenient. The plug and play aspect is something the PC cannot compete with (at least in the short term). Also, from a strictly cultural standpoint, it would be much easier to get a family huddled around the home TV rather than the PC in Dad’s den. As Anand rightly surmised “India is the largest untapped gaming market in the world”.

That being said, from a purely Indian perspective, ask yourself this, “How many PCs are sold for every Xbox?” Furthermore, console games are a lot more expensive. Even the “plug and play” nature of consoles is changing. Mods are becoming common; games have to be installed on built in hard drives etc. Besides, PC penetration here is ridiculously high; I live a few miles from the biggest IT hardware market in Asia (Nehru Place, Delhi). Just take a look at how many “Farmville” players are from this country. This is where I think things are going to start turning.
The interest generated around browser-based games is pretty much impossible to ignore. The span is global and it’s instant. Compare that to the supposed 25 million dollars Valve spent on promoting Left 4 Dead 2. How many posters or ads on TV did you see for the game in this part of the world? Modern Warfare 2 is the biggest selling IP in the history of entertainment. THE HISTORY OF ENTERTAINMENT for crying out loud!! The PC version of the game is STILL not available in India. I want to be optimistic, I really do, but the fact remains that there is something very, very wrong here.
(Totally on board with the Mahabharata RTS though. That would be awesome. As would a Ramayan MMO)”

ANAND:

“Small nit-pick – but it’s simply the biggest launch, in terms of revenue, not units sold. Consider a movie ticket as a unit, which costs about $10, as opposed to a game, which costs $50 or more. The numbers here don’t always tell the complete story.

Harry potter / Star Wars are still by far the largest selling entertainment IPs – sellling books, comics, games, toys, clothing, merchandise and more. MW2 still has a loooooooong way to go

Also – completely agree with Bharat on PC / Mobile and other high-penetration devices for growing gaming in India. With consoles, the entry barrier is simply too high for a mass-market penetration in the near future.

It’s simple – in mature markets, games do the numbers they do because of one reason – the general middle-class can afford and buy them. In India, this will only be possible if we broaden the ambit of what we see as ‘games’ and a ‘gaming market’. Facebook and Farmville is a good example of where to begin.

Having said that, we aren’t even tapping into a decent percentage of those who CAN afford them. This can surely be done with better pricing and smarter marketing.”

Just dropping in to say a big THANK YOU to all who sent in their wishes. Now that the honeymoon is over with, we now find ourselves being busy beyond belief setting up the new apartment. Doing that while coming back to work AND trying to get back into shape after a month of gorging on take-aways and desserts is proving to be quite a challenge.
2009 was a great year for me personally as well as for PC gamers everywhere. A slew of really good titles towards the fag end of the year did perk things up in a big way. By the look of things, 2010 is going to be excellent. Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, AvP, Alpha Protocol, are coming out in the first quarter but the real geekgasms will occur when two of the most hotly anticiapted MMOs hit our systems. Both Star Wars AND Star Trek. Both. BOTH!!!! The nerd in me is about to catch fire.
Here’s to a terrific 2010.
(BTW, in case you are wondering, I am currently working on two reviews. Watch this space.)

Just letting you guys know that I wont be blogging for a while as I’m leaving for my honeymoon. Me and the missus will be back on the 20th of Jan. Till then, take care and keep playing.

The musclebound psycho has no idea that I’m right above him. From the shadows, I watch with a smug expression as two of his gun toting buddies walk right towards the motion sensitive trap I set for them. BOOM! The explosion sends one of the idiots flying over the railings in a spectacular show of rag doll physics, the other hits a wall and is knocked out. The target under me is scared out of his wits. I revel in the moment; I’m drinking deep from his terror and savouring the hunt. A split second later I swoop down, the cape surrounding my prey within its embracing shadows. In one smooth motion he is strung up from the gargoyle I was perched on. Level complete. This Dark Knight’s job is done. For the umpteenth time I’m left in awe with the game’s (Batman: Arkham Asylum) brilliance.

And then it all goes to shit.

A small whirling icon in the corner of the screen tells me that the game is auto saving. No probs, it’s done it a few dozen times already. This time however, the screen goes black. My heart stops for a second. As a PC gamer, I have seen this happen before. Computers can crash due to a million reasons. Usually it’s no more than a minor annoyance.

Saving regularly is something you learn fairly early on this format. A corrupted save just means you lose a few minutes of progress. You still have a bunch of other saves from not too long ago (at least, you should). But what if the game does not give you the option at all? Batman is a perfect example. There is just one save slot. One. That’s it. And the game saves automatically. I frantically start the game again, hoping against hope that the worst isn’t true. No such luck, the save file is corrupted. I was 12 hours into the campaign. Now I have to start from scratch. (If the game wasn’t as awesome as it is, I wouldn’t even bother.)

The fact that it worked 99.99% of the time is not the point. I’m playing on a PC. And PCs are … mercurial. Things do go wrong. Hell it happens on consoles too. The point then, is simple: “I shouldn’t have to go through this crap”

More and more developers are turning to auto saves/checkpoint saves as a means of keeping the gaming experience uninterrupted. Not that auto saving is a new feature; it has been around for decades now. It’s the implementation of said feature that is becoming horribly flawed. Older generation consoles have had to deal with shitty save systems (checkpoints every 30 mins for instance) because of their hardware limitations. And regardless of how “next gen” a console gets, it will always be limited when compared to a gaming PC. Just because a title is developed as a cross platform release does not entitle the devs to shaft PC gamers with features that have no business being on their platform of choice.

Quite often, formats have nothing do to with it at all. In many cases, “difficulty” is stated as a convenient excuse. If anything, this is even more absurd. Giving limited saves within a game does not make it any harder. It only makes it a lot more annoying. If a player feels that a game is way too easy, there is nothing to stop him/her from NEVER saving at all. The rest of us need something that allows us to play for 10 mins before saving and going to answer the door.

Apart from the nightmare scenario that I went through, there is another reason as to why having a single save point is stupid. What if the player wanted to replay a certain level again? I do this frequently with my favourite games just as a way of reliving a good time. Good luck with that, you will have to start a new game and play through the entire thing again till you get to the part you really like.

I may not be a programmer, but when I see a game like Soldier of Fortune 2 come up with a perfect solution to this problem as early as 2007 (the game let you choose difficulty level and the number of saves available before each mission), it does make me wonder why something like this isn’t even an option any more.

Ultimately, developers need to realize that a game needs to make full use of the advantages inherent to every format it is to be released on. A half assed compromise is not just detrimental to the experience, its downright insulting to the community as a whole.

Real time strategy games (RTS’) have come a long way. There was something inherently addictive about old school RTS titles like Age of Empires and the ridiculously popular Starcraft. The mecahnics were simple enough.  Build a base, collect resources, build an army, go forth and pwn. This is obviously a gross over-simplification but it serves to prove the point that all RTS’ share certain core mechanics.

There is always a base.

There are always resources to manage.

There will always be different unit types that need to be employed to make an effective army. (Tank rushes do not count.)

There is always some sort of “tech tree” used to unlock better weapons and such.

Somewhere down the line, however, things began to change. Gamers began to see that once you removed the shiny new skin, every RTS was essentially EXACTLY the same. It did not matter if you were fighting cyborgs or elves. You were still going through the exact same motions. In short, it began to feel just a tad bit boring, and very, very dated. Some developers tried to shake things up now and then but the core experience did not deviate. Throughout most of the late 90’s all changes were essentially cosmetic. There were exceptions of course; Empire Earth and Warcraft 3 did bring some fresh ideas that were implemented well. But it was Relic Entertainment’s Warhammer 40,000 : Dawn of war (2004) that marked an important turning point in the evolution of the genre. Here was a game that put the emphasis on constant aggression. The player absolutely had to keep moving forward, constantly claiming “strategic points” to gain more “requisition” (one of only two resources to manage) and though there was a base of operations and the usual “gather-research-mobilize-rush” element to things, the focus was always on the action.

In my opinion, this was the first game in which the player’s attention was forced towards the next attack as opposed to building the base (turtling). Not that one couldn’t do it, but rather, it always felt like it was the wrong thing to do. The game didn’t revolutionize the genre per se, but, it did sow some very important seeds. The lessons learned from Dawn of War (DOW) came through in Relic’s own Company of Heroes (COH). A game that has pretty much raised the bar for RTS’. In many ways it was refinement of the DOW formula. If anything there was a marked shift towards focusing even more on tactics as opposed to strategy. The strict unit cap in COH meant that the player had to really think about keeping a good mix of units within his army. Tank rushes failed to work (that alone was a worthy enough achievement in itself). I was expecting pretty much the same thing from DOW2.

Before I continue, let me make it clear that I love the game. This post is far from criticism. In fact, I believe Relic deserves to be given credit for trying something very different from what the industry has seen so far. However, let’s look at how the game actually plays out:

There is no base whatsoever.

There are a handful of squads (anything between 1 to 5 guys per squad). No armies. At no point does the player control more than 4 squads total.

There are no resources to collect. Only strategic points that replenish fallen squad members.

There is a levelling system with generous amounts of loot drops. Wait…what?!

Yep, that’s right, sounds more like an RPG. Because that’s what it is in my opinion. Not a Real Time Strategy title but a Tactical Role Playing Game. The only “strategy” is deciding where and how to attack. Oh, and how to equip and outfit your motley crew of hard asses. The “Risk” type world map used in the DOW Dark crusade expansion makes a triumphant return but the strategic value of that in DOW2 is damn near zero. Throughout the entire game, I kept getting reminded of Fallout Tactics (FT). A brilliant little gem from the good old days. Like FT, the positioning of your troops and how they were levelled made all the difference in battle. Hell, the combat aspect is closer to Dragon Age more than the original DOW!

All this begs the question: is this a sign of things to come? Are all RTS’ from now on going to have a more “tactical” approach to game play? There haven’t been many RTS titles out to give a clear picture. The CnC universe is still sticking to its old school formula and it looks like Starcraft 2 will do the same. Regardless, I personally think that the present day gamer’s appetite has been whetted enough by Relic’s work to demand more action oriented RTS’. I only hope that it does not water down the genre permanently to the point where the mere idea of an old school RTS becomes economically unviable.

It is a little known fact that 95.2% of all males above the age of 13 absolutely WANT a zombie apocalypse *. Why? Well, to our testosterone-flooded, Romero-fueled, eternally adolescent minds, it would be fun. And each of us, to a man, is convinced that while the rest of the human populace would be snack food, we would be murderously awesome. What the Left 4 Dead series has proved however, is that we would all totally suck.

It would still be fun though.

If you are unfamiliar with Valve’s co-op shooter Left 4 Dead (L4D) here’s the low-down: A mysterious infection has turned most of the world into a zombie-infested hell hole. All major cities have been evacuated and you (along with 3 other unlucky survivors) have been left behind. Your job then, is to get to designated “safe rooms” en route to some sort of rescue vehicle. There is no plot to speak of and none is required. This game is all about grouping up with like-minded zombie haters with twitchy trigger fingers to leave a trail of guts in your wake. Keep in mind that it isn’t a simple shooting gallery. The zombies aren’t merely shambling undead targets hungry for bullets. They are the fast running types akin to the ones seen in the classic zombie flick “28 days later”. Though not much of a threat in small groups, they can quickly overwhelm your group of survivors when attacking in swarms. Then there are the “special infected”, the zombies with special powers that will make your run to safety a lot more complicated. This turned the game into a very tense, tactics based adrenaline rush.

The original Left 4 Dead was a runaway hit with both consumers and critics alike (Metacritic gave it a score of 89). Not only was the co-op play an absolute blast, the real thrill was in the much loved “versus mode” where 4 human players played the part of the survivors while 4 opponents took over the role of the “special infected”. This game created more “water cooler” moments than other game I can think of.

Though L4D2 is a sequel, it’s much more than old wine in a new bottle. The mechanics are still the same. The idea is still to get yourselves rescued if you are the survivors. As zombies, it’s to ensure they never make it. What makes it different is how Valve has used the lessons learned from the first game to make this one an even more compelling experience. There are more guns, melee weapons (including a laugh riot inducing chainsaw that was surprisingly absent in the first game), more equipment to lend you a hand and of course, new special infected to even out the odds.

Visually, the game still uses the Source engine which, for something so old, still manages to look good. Unlike the original, most of the levels here are set in daylight and although might not look as spooky as the night time levels of the original, they do spring up some nasty surprises. There are five campaign maps, each with its own distinct feel. Valve have truly outdone themselves with the quality of level design. Each map presents unique challenges and requires different approaches to make it to safety. In one instance, the weather can change bringing in a new dynamic to tactics employed, e.g. rain might make it impossible to see beyond a few feet. The game certainly is a lot more visceral and gorier than the prequel. Limbs fly all over the place, bullets do very obvious damage and buckets of blood stain the surroundings after any protracted battle. And this only increases when you start using melee weapons.

Fun as the melee aspect is, it does have a strategic role. This becomes more apparent when you realize how quickly you can run out of ammo. Nothing holds off a horde in a choke point like a chainsaw does. In some cases, zombies show up in gear that renders them fire proof or bullet resistant. A katana can come in real handy then. Keep in mind though, getting up close and personal also means putting yourself in more danger.

The new guns include a silenced sub machine gun, AK-47, military sniper rifle, combat shotgun, magnum pistol and a grenade launcher. Unfortunately, my hopes for a flame thrower were dashed. The newly introduced “incendiary ammo” does set zombies alight though. I guess that will have to do.

Speaking of danger, the new special infected are a dangerous lot indeed. The Spitter, as the name suggests, spits out gobs of toxic goo to either directly damage you or render a patch of ground impassable. The Charger slams into a group like a rhino, throwing people back while carrying one unfortunate victim to be pounded into pulp. The Jockey (my personal fave), is a puny runt with a crazy laugh that jumps on top of a player taking control of his movement to steer him directly into harms way. Devious and funny as hell. Add these to the original special infected from the prequel and you realize just how important playing as a team is.

Even though you could jump into a single player game if you want (the game will give you 3 AI companions to complete your team), on normal difficulty you might find the lack of actual human beings rather frustrating. The AI does a passable job at best but you will find yourself flying into a nerd rage on occasion due to their stupefying actions. Actions such as this one. I can’t knock the game too much for this as it has been designed to be played along with real people.

While we are on the subject of AI, I should mention that the series uses an “AI Director”. Basically, it adjusts the difficulty of a campaign on the fly. So if you are constantly running out of ammo, the director will drop in extra ammo stashes. On the flip side, if you seem to be rushing through a level without much trouble, it will hit you with more special infected and take away any spare med kits etc. This keeps the game balanced and usually works like a charm. It also ensures that no two play-throughs unravel the same way.

The real meat of the game, however, is versus mode. Playing as the zombies is a real blast and even though I’ve been playing the original for almost a year, it never gets old. As mentioned in my preview of the demo, the new special infected were designed purely to counteract cheap tactics like closet camping or huddling in a corner. The emphasis now is to be constantly on the move. Coordination between players is EVERYTHING.

For those of you that are just looking for a quick game, the newly introduced “Scavenge” mode will be right up your alley. The aim here is to (as the survivors) collect gas cans spread around the map to fuel a generator. Each refill adds time to a countdown clock. The zombies obviously, will try to thwart that. The team will switch sides at the end of a round. The first team to win three rounds wins the game. Since this isn’t a long drawn campaign map, games usually last about 30 minutes.

The game did not crash during my time with it but I did find myself getting “stuck” on two separate occasions. In both these cases, I had been thrown by a Charger into a part of the map that normally could not be accessed. I’m certain errors like these are rare and given Valve’s proven track record of constantly updating their games, I would not worry about it.

To sum it up, L4D2 is not just a sequel, but, a refinement of everything L4D itself was. It’s more fast paced, tense, unpredictable and ultimately, a lot more fun to play. The thrill of finding yourself and your near dead friends in the middle of a sea of corpses, constantly shooting into never ending waves of zombies while waiting for rescue is something that has to be experienced to be believed. If you are into co-op action of any sort, you simply can’t afford to miss this game.

FINAL SCORE: 9/10

(*In case you are wondering, I totally made that up)

I finished Dragon Age Origins last night. I should say that I finished playing Dragon Age Origins last night but I won’t. Why? Well, in the 75 hours that I have spent with it, I have been accused of regicide, been an instrument of vengeance, been hit on by a bisexual elf, made deals with werewolves, robbed some snobbish nobles, befriended a golem,  concocted deadly poisons, lost myself in a world ripe with adventure and yes, saved the world. And of course, I’ve killed Dragons. Big ones. With a sword. In essence, I haven’t played Dragon Age as much as I’ve experienced it. And if you haven’t figured it out by now, I have loved every minute of it.

A few days ago I mentioned in my first impressions that I really wasn’t expecting the game to live up to all the hype. This is one of those rare moments where I am glad to be proved wrong. Marketing mis-steps aside, it is ironic that I agree with Mr Manson. This, ladies and gentlemen, IS indeed the shit (sorry).

To start with, the player’s choice of race and background is going to ensure a unique perspective throughout the story. Even though the character selection screen may seem limited, (you can only choose between Human, Elf or Dwarf) with only certain classes available to each (Dwarves can’t become mages for example) in actual experience, this gives the player a tailor-made experience. So, if you choose to play as a Dwarven noble, the first hour or so of the game is going to be completely different from say, a Dalish Elf. Though all such “origins” will eventually conjoin to follow a common story arc, the first taste of the game will do enough to introduce you to not just the lore and history of Ferelden but your own place in it. As a noble and a Dwarven one at that, the world will see you differently. The people you meet will treat you differently. You may also find that some of the decisions you make early in the game, characters you have wronged for example, come back and haunt you much later. It might be easy to dismiss this as a mere gimmick, but as any RPG veteran will tell you, it makes the story a lot more personal. And that’s what makes this game stand apart; almost everything that happens in it is personal. In terms of cosmetic character customization, there is a fair bit you can do to alter the facial features of your protagonist. Though, if you want to create a beefy elf, you are out of luck (the tool alters faces only). You can download the character creator for free from here. With regards to character classes, the game has the 3 fantasy staples (warrior, mage and rouge) each of which has access to 4 individual specializations. As expected, the skill system is deep and satisfying with the possibility of creating some truly powerful characters (especially mages).

(You can click on the images for full-resolution screen-shots.)

As far as presentation goes, the Eclipse engine does an acceptable job but it does look dated. The player can switch between a  “3^rd person” view to a more traditional isometric one by using the scroll button. The textures aren’t really as clear as I would have liked (which is apparent in 3^rd person) but, to be honest, I didn’t even notice it after a while. The one thing that I did notice was the lip-syncing in cut scenes (and there are a lot of those btw) just didn’t seem right. Add to that the fact that your character never speaks during any of them and it makes one wonder why that is. Whatever the reason, it does affect the immersion a little. What does look cool however is combat. Every battle looks choreographed, the animation is spot on and spell effects make for some good visuals. Plus, every time a character pulls off a critical to finish an opponent or brings down a particularly tough boss, the camera goes into slow motion to show off an awesome finishing move. It’s always a “Whoa!” moment when this happens.

Speaking of which, I must stress that regardless of what you may have heard or read in forums, the combat is NOT hard. It is certainly challenging and is frequently very unforgiving to those who go rushing in willy nilly. Calling the combat in Dragon Age hard is like saying chess is difficult. It may be difficult to master, but, not difficult to play. Tactics and positioning are everything here, more so during the earlier levels. The fact that most spells have friendly fire on in normal difficulty makes it imperative to have your team position itself strategically. Make full use of terrain and draw enemies into choke points when you can. Using poisons to coat your weapons and the occasional grenade or trap works wonders too. Basically, stop pretending this is Diablo and you will be fine. If the friendly fire bit annoys you, feel free to change the difficulty to easy at anytime during the game. Also, pressing the space key will put the game in “active pause” so that you may give your party commands that they will carry out in real time once you unpause. A control freak like me will probably use the space button for every move and tell each of your party (limited to a max number of 4) what to do every second but, it’s not necessary by any means. The game allows you to script the AI of party members to a ridiculous degree which will do away with the need for such babysitting. So if you want your healer to heal your front line warriors when they get to 25% of their health, you can program it. It is a simple system and it works (most of the time).

The one thing that did bother me was the inventory management. Or rather, the lack there of. Like Mass Effect, Dragon Age uses a common party inventory so you don’t have to worry about the carrying capacity of individual party members. However, inventory space is limited (you can upgrade this by purchasing “backpacks”). The complete absence of pouches or bags for potions and jewels is a pain. Considering how games that came out 10 years ago incorporated something this basic, the lack of this in Dragon Age makes no sense. The loot is nothing to get excited about either, which is a tad disappointing. It’s not that the gear is bad; it’s just that no weapon in the game made me feel like I had something really powerful.  99% of what you pick up will be going straight to a merchant.

Dragon Age does a wonderful job of making the land of Ferelden seem like a living breathing thing. This is a world with a lot of history, deep lore and is rife with political intrigue. It also takes some standard fantasy staples and turns them on their head. So Elves are essentially a slave race and seen as second class citizens. And lo and behold, Dwarves don’t speak like drunken Scots. The characters you team up with and encounter are voiced (with some notable exceptions) to perfection and the dialogues show a high quality of writing. I frequently found myself wishing that I could have more people in my party not because I needed them, but because I longed for their company and witty banter. Not since Baldur’s Gate 2 have I felt like this in any game. Which is just as well, because without these little touches, a game this long would be very boring.

Like other Bioware titles before this (Mass Effect, KOTOR etc), Dragon Age also utilizes an “influence” system to decided how party members feel toward you. It’s pretty much a given that acting as a “do-gooder” will piss some members off. Being a heartless bastard will irk others. Managing your party members’ influence is a game in itself. Do this right and not only will your companions enjoy some stat boosts, they will also trust you enough to unlock some character specific quests. Ignore or anger them too much and you might find yourself being ditched. The possibility of romance also exists if you play your cards right.

Tolkien’s influences are apparent throughout Ferelden. There are more than a few instances where I said “that looks like something I saw in the Lord of the Rings”. The music is also suitably epic and adds tremendously to the atmosphere. The story in itself does not break any new ground. It’s the typical “everything is coming to an end and you must save the world” scenario but, there are enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.

Bioware have employed an interesting method of community building. The game takes automatic takes screen-shots during play and uploads them on an online album/scrapbook that you can share with like-minded folk. The same applies to any achievements you unlock. Great if you are into that sort of thing I suppose. You do have to log into Bioware’s servers for this to happen though. In fact, if you have any DLC at all you will have to log in at least once before you start playing every time. (I personally find DRM of this kind annoying but will not allow it to affect the way I review a game). Looking at how successful the original Neverwinter Nights (an earlier Bioware title) community was at releasing fan created content, I can only salivate at what we have to look forward to in the next few months. The modding scene is going to explode with this one. Not that you will need to lengthen your stay in Ferelden right away, make no mistake, this is a deliciously long game. You can easily expect to get a 100 hours plus worth of gaming if you take your time with the campaign.

I knew this was going to be a rock solid RPG like every other title Bioware has crafted but, I certainly wasn’t expecting something to raise the bar for every other game of this genre. Well, that’s exactly what has been delivered folks. The bar has been raised and it has been raised HIGH. Some minor faults notwithstanding, this is going to be the standard that every RPG of this type is going to be judged by.

FINAL SCORE: 9.4 / 10

Finally got Dragon Age up and running on my system at home. Can’t play this thing at The Bunker as I keep getting interrupted. Here’s what I think so far (I’m only 10% of the way through):

1)      The game started on a slow note. I was initially peeved at having limited choices with regards to choice of race and class but later realized it’s much deeper than it looks at first.

2)      The engine looks a little dated, surprising seeing as how it’s been launched so much later after Mass Effect.

3)      The mouse scroll to change between old school isometric and third person view works well. I do wish that you could pull back the camera a tad bit more in isometric though.

4)      Nice take on lore here. Elves as a slave race? Wow. And humans are absolute pricks (No surprises there).

5)      Voice acting is spot on. Bioware does know how to inject personality into everyone you meet, even non essential characters.

6)      Hmm… the videos could have used some more work; the central character never speaks in cut scenes. And even NPC facial animations seem a little off. This seems like a step back after Mass Effect’s cinematics. No biggie however.

7)      There is some heavy Lord of the Rings influences in the game (Don’t worry, it’s all good).

8)      The world seems alive. There’s a lot of history here and tomes full of lore. Well done devs!

9)      Combat is no cake walk. Diablo fans should start worrying. Hack and slash tactics will get you killed every time. It’s more akin to chess. All the pieces need to be placed right. Positioning is everything here. It’s tempting to call the battles hard but that would not be accurate. It’s challenging sure but not difficult if you know what you are doing. Baldur’s Gate fans will feel right at home. Backstabs FTW!

10)   Party members seem interesting enough. It’s becoming clear that keeping all of them happy is not going to be easy. Excellent.

All in all Bioware seems to have delivered another winner. The full review might take a while as I can already see this is going to be a long game. There have already been some interesting plot twists and I find myself getting sucked into the world completely.

For Ferelden!