After 12 years, the gates of hell have opened again. Diablo 3 is finally out. I have spent about 3 hours in the game and am far from finished (also, I skipped the beta so this is my first contact with the game). These are my initial impressions:

1)      It was impossible to log in right after the game unlocked. Blizzard’s servers were overloaded and at this point I expect “Error 37” to become an internet meme of some sort.

2)      I did log in around five hours after launch. This time, without a hitch. Character selection is the first thing to do. As expected, there is no customization here beyond choosing a gender and class. The models do look pretty though. I decide to roll a mage.

3)      The first few minutes are a bare bones tutorial. The control scheme is an exercise in simplicity.

4)      The game looks ok. I was expecting more textures and the ability to pull back the camera little more would be welcome. People with old hardware will be pleased however.

5)      Art direction is awesome. The whole thing is very gothic and “diabloesque”. Nicely done devs.

6)      Whoa! Killing stuff is fun! There is a tangible sense of feedback right off the bat.

7)      What the …lag?!! In a single player game? I’m sorry, but this is bullshit. DRM or not, I should not have to experience this as a customer. Color me disappointed.

8)      Sound direction in the game is phenomenal. Effects are done just right and the music is quite simply, awesome. Nailed this bit Blizzard.

9)      There isn’t much of a story so far. And whatever I have seen in terms of plot is laughable. Characters seem to have no, er, character. There is not even an attempt to engage the player on an emotional level. This game is all about loot and killing stuff. Lots of stuff.

10)   Holy crap this ice beam of death is awesome! Pew, pew, pew ZAAAAAAP! Did I mention killing stuff is fun?

11)   There is some banter with NPCs. People talk when you are around even if you do not initiate dialogue, shedding more light on recent events. Too bad I do not care. Seriously, I could write better than this.

12)   Character development looks interesting. It’s too early to comment on how deep this is (only made it to level 9) but it looks promising. The rune system should provide a ridiculous amount of customization. I wish there was more info on skills though. Mousing over does not tell me how much damage a particular attack does. Maybe I’m missing something.

That’s all for now. Remember, these are just initial impressions. I get the feeling this is going to be a loooong game. I shall try to get some co-op action going later in the day if I can. Stay tuned.

(I’ve been sitting on this idea for a long time now. Seeing as how it seems to be a bit of a lean period with respect to new titles coming out, I may as well get on it. Starting this month I will be adding a new feature to the blog, called Character Corner. As the name suggests, it is going to be centered on some of the more memorable characters that I interacted with in the many, many games I played over the years.  The only rule? This will never feature the protagonist. Instead, it will focus on the vast milieu of supporting characters that the hero/heroine interacts with. Villains are fair game too.)

To start things off, I’d like to introduce a personality that a lot of old school RPG fans will recognize. It also ties in nicely with the recent announcement that one of my favorite games of all time is getting a makeover. I am talking of course, about the old classic Baldur’s Gate. And who better to act as the face of the series than the lovable ranger Minsc. And his space hamster Boo.

Most people do not realize just how much of an influence Minsc and Boo had in almost all of Bioware’s games. There are references to the duo in games such as Mass Effect, Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age. Ray Muzyka(Co-founder of Bioware) once said the Minsc was his favorite character in the entire BG series. The next time you hear Tali from Mass Effect say “Go for the optics!” you can thank Minsc.

My introduction to him could not have been more generic. My character leaves a building and is “forced” by the game into an inescapable dialogue tree. This would be the 90s version of an unskippable cut scene. But the very first words Minsc utters, held my attention. “Stand and deliver, that my hamster may have a better look at you.” Wait… did he just say “hamster”?!

Apparently so. But this no mere rodent. Oh no sire. If the imposing ranger is to be believed, the furry creature named “Boo” is actually a giant miniature space hamster. Oooookay. It does not take long to figure out that Minsc is a little deranged. But the quest he offers is simple enough and I need the xp. Heck if nothing else, this should provide some comic relief.

Let me just stop here for a second at point out something about the Baldur’s Gate series. These were, thematically at least, dark games. Maybe not as dark as Planescape Torment or Fallout, but pretty dark nonetheless. When one of the first things the game tells you is that you are a “Bhallspawn”, i.e. the child of Bhall the god of murder, it leaves little scope for lightheartedness. It would be safe to assume that Minsc was brought in purely for the occasional laugh. Maybe that’s all he was supposed to be. I wonder if the writers knew he would turn out to be as popular as he became.

There are number of reasons why this lummox was so memorable. First off, he was voiced to perfection. Voice actor Jim Cummings did an excellent job of injecting this diminutive collection of pixels with oodles of character. Everything about him, from the exotic accent, the exuberant battle cries and downright funny dialogues are pulled off with aplomb.

Secondly, he is really well written. The player does not notice at first, but as the story of the Bhallspawn progresses, the protagonist is forced down a darker path. Every companion he picks up on the way responds in some way to the changes in him/her. This brain damaged mountain of a man is the only thing constant in that journey. As long as you keep on fighting the good fight, Minsc has your back. Until he goes berserk of course. Then you realize that equipping him with a helm that makes him immune to mind control is the closest thing to insurance you have.

Thirdly, as a party member, he made an excellent tank. But to be honest, I usually kept him around for his battle cries. You gotta love a guy that has a simple way of approaching most problems, ie, “You point, I punch”. It may not seem like much, but when you hear this stuff in game, it’s pretty hilarious.

In my opinion, the Baldurs Gate saga is the most epic fantasy RPG to show up on any platform. Taken together, the three titles that comprise it had roughly 750 hours of gaming in them. Think on that number for a minute. A journey that long would have been unbearable were it not been for the company. And this deranged ranger stands up as a shining example of what good company is.

Here’s to you Minsc and Boo.

Last week I wrote about my views on the ME3 ending controversy. Today, I’m looking for silver linings. As much as I hate the way the ending was presented, I still firmly believe there is no need to fundamentally change the conclusion. The implementation was rubbish and there are massive holes that need to be filled plot wise but apart from that, I can live with the fact that Bioware wanted to tell a dark and brooding tale. This whole post is me looking at possible directions that the franchise can go in from this point on.

Obviously, there are going to be massive spoilers about the Mass Effect series here.

So let’s recap shall we? Even with EA Bioware’s announcement of incoming DLC that better explains the events around the ending of ME3, certain things will remain unchanged:

• The mass relays blow up.
• The fleets are left stranded around earth, effectively cramming a number of species together in a space that has limited resources.
• Some key characters will survive e.g.  Joker, Admiral Hackett, Major Coats and at least some of the Normandy’s crew.

Right, so given all that, there is still no clue as to which of the three possible endings will be taken as canon. This bit is important because the question of synthetics remains unanswered from a continuity stand point. Imo the Geth are too interesting to be killed off outright. The theme of organics vs synthetics is an integral part of the ME universe. My gut says the renegade option will not be taken as canon because of these reasons. So what possibilities exist?

1)      A prequel. This would be the easiest. It would also be a complete cop out and horribly clichéd. That being said, I would not mind a story set around the time of the “First contact war”. The one down side would be having a full human complement. Since this was the first time humanity came into contact with an alien species, there is no way the protagonist would have anything but humans in his/her squad. Plus we already know how that story ends. On second thought, I’ll pass.

2)      Time travel. I cringe as I write this. I have always hated time travel as a plot device. To my mind, it’s the easiest way of saying “Sorry we fucked up. We’ll try and fix it now” without actually saying it. Going back in time and giving us a different ending would be worse than what we currently have.

Image source: http://www.good.is/post/which-time-travel-movies-hold-up-to-science/

3)      More protheans. This one is interesting. The “From ashes” DLC gave us a prothean team mate. The story suggests he is the only surviving member of a species that was wiped out eons ago. It would not be too much of a stretch to find some more. Especially if they can lead to:

4)      Rebuilding the relays. Galactic civilization and all travel technology was centered around the mass relays. There can easily be a story written around rebuilding these. Find a prothean scientist or two and viola; we now have a “fetch and gather” quest of galactic proportions.

5)      Major Coats. OK, I confess this is pure speculation on my part. I just have a feeling that this soldier’s part in the tale is not yet done. Whether it be through a small DLC pack or a full blown sequel, we should be seeing more of this guy. He was featured in the promo video where he was sniping baddies from inside the Big Ben and was an integral part of the resistance on Earth. I’m actually surprised we got to see so little of him in the game. Though he only had a dozen or so lines in ME3, they were well voiced and gave a lot of weight to his character. This dude is a badass just waiting for a shot in the big leagues.

6)      A giant reset button. One could argue this is what the destruction of the relays actually is. A chance to go back and tell a different story altogether. The galaxy was united under Shepard but now he/she is dead. There are too many people and not enough resources or space to go around. Old hatreds are ignited and new alliances are formed. Throw some synthetics in the mix and you have a real powder keg. The key to this would be how the writers tell the tale. The premise is brimming with promise but one misstep will bring the whole plot flat on its face.

All things considered, there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty: there will undoubtedly be more Mass Effect games. The series is too much of a cash cow to be ignored. All criticisms aside, Bioware have done themselves and gamers everywhere a huge service by creating a world that, in my opinion at least, surpasses those of Star Trek and Star Wars. Their response to community feedback is also very heartening to see. Those two things alone bode very well for fans like me.

Make it happen Bioware.

It’s been a month since Mass Effect 3 came out. Enough has been said about the ending without me having to add to the noise. So why am I writing this? Two reasons.

One:  I’m a little tired of telling people why I think the ending sucks. The next email I get asking me about it gets a link to this post in reply.

Two: I cannot help but feel that in spite of the ruckus created over this, the community (as a whole) has not really done a very good job of explaining why the conclusion to such a beloved franchise was garbage. Some game journalists have acted very high and mighty about the issue, dismissing the whole thing as gamers acting as “crybabies”. This of course, is bullshit. If it was just a matter of people complaining about nothing, Ray Muzyka (Co-founder of Bioware) would not have to say any of this. There is a legitimate problem here. And it deserves to be discussed.

If it isn’t obvious by now, this post has major spoilers about the Mass Effect series. Consider yourselves warned.

Before I get start however, let me state this for the record: My issues with the ending have nothing to do with the fact that there is no “Happily ever after”. As I mentioned in my review, I was never expecting one. It would have been nice to have one but I can respect the writer’s decision to tell a bleak story. Now that I have that out of the way, let’s get into it.

1)      The ending felt pointless and devoid of closure. At the beginning of the game, I was convinced that the catalyst was Shepard him/herself.  In my head, the climax would involve Shepard “merging” with the machine somehow. So it’s safe to say that I was expecting some sort of “ultimate sacrifice” scenario. To be fair, one of the endings is sort of like this but it still felt very futile. Why? Because it totally pisses over all the themes that were at the heart of the series. Equality, peace with synthetics, free will, the meaning of “intelligence” and everything else. This is further elaborated in point 2.

2)      Regardless of whatever the player did, the eventual outcome is the same. Compare this to the ending, or rather possible endings of ME2, which in my book was one of the most spectacular ways to end a game. The suicide run felt like mission impossible from the get go, but the choices you made throughout the game, even during the mission itself and the rapport you had with every individual team member dictated how fulfilling the end would be. There was a lot of variation there. Even if the final result was the destruction of the collector base, it could play out in many different ways. A few team members could die, all of them could die, the Normandy’s crew might not have survived and yes, even Shepard could go bye bye. In ME3, the only variation is the color of explosion you get to see in the end. The mass relays always explode and the Normandy crash lands on some tropical paradise.

3)      Complete negation of player choice. This is a big one. The previous games did a good job of rewarding players for doing side quests in different ways. Even the things you said to your squad mates made a difference. In other words, player choice mattered. It’s the only reason why I felt like the hours spent with the ridiculous scanning mini game in ME2 were not a waste. Here though, it is hard for the player to not feel betrayed. The series has always rewarded players for putting in the time to get all the odds in their favor, which simply did not happen here.

4)      Bioware’s marketing promised things that were not delivered. The developers made a huge deal about how ME3 would be keeping track of over a 1000 variables found in save games so that the players journey would feel personal. For the most part, they delivered on this. This is why the series is such an accomplishment. But a lot was also said about how the ending would reflect the same. Casey Hudson, the games lead designer, said the following before the games release “This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different.” Well, they weren’t.

5)      The ending contradicts itself. Let’s look at the plan here: The “machine god star child catalyst” thing is an evolved AI of some sort. OK. It decides that organic life is inherently flawed and will eventually create a situation where it goes to war with its creations, ie, synthetics. Fine. This war will lead to the complete destruction of the organics. Basically, organics lose. Every time. Hmmm, pushing it a bit but OK. This cycle is inevitable and has repeated countless times. Alright.  So the solution is simple. Kill all intelligent organic life every 50000 years. Wait, what?  Also, the “Arrival” DLC for ME2 established that the destruction of a mass relay results in an explosion of super nova proportions. It effectively destroys the star system it is located in. Considering that Shepard is forced to destroy every relay in the galaxy at the end, it makes him the biggest mass murderer in the history of ever. Even the Reaper’s would be proud. In other words; WTF?!

6)      Some events make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Let’s make this simple. Right before Shepard miraculously beams up to the citadel, there’s a big mother of an explosion. Its so bad, its takes badass Shepard and fucks him/her up like so:

It also kills everything around him. But when the loony ending/s play out and the Normandy crashes, this dude walks out:

He was two feet behind me before I got beamed up.

That’s just one example. I could also ask how Joker managed to get him off the ground in the first place. Or why he was running away like a sissy when he’s been doing the exact opposite throughout the series. Or a dozen other nonsensical events. The whole thing just felt rushed and incomplete.

So there. In my opinion, the writers were trying to end on a note that encourages debate and discourse long after the game is finished. Sort of like the final scene in Inception where the viewer is left with the image of the spinning top. It’s a brilliant piece of film making and succeeded in what it was trying to do. A worthy goal for any game as well. Only problem is, instead of the spinning top we ended up getting something like the end to the Matrix trilogy ,i.e., a conclusion that made no sense and came across as a desperate attempt to be “deep”.

Again, as I stressed in my review, the end does not change the fact that ME3 is still a fantastic game. The series as a whole is a triumph of storytelling using the medium of games. It will be very interesting to see how Bioware responds to this. Whether they like it or not, the actions they take may end up dictating more that how the series ends. It could very well change how video-game writers everywhere conclude their tales.

RPGs are probably the hardest type of game to design. The sheer number of permutations and combinations that go into skills, character balance, player choice and consequences must make it a nightmare for developers. And don’t even get me started on the amount of writing required. Get it right though, and you end up with more than just a game. Get it right and you end up with a personal saga that takes you through a range of human emotions and forces you to ask yourself some pretty tough questions. And it has to do this while still being “fun”. It’s no wonder then, that a good RPG is a rare thing indeed. Because more than anything, a good RPG is an experience. A very personal one.

The Mass Effect (ME) series has been a favorite of mine. ME2 is one of only four games I have played over five times. As I mentioned in my review in 2010, it was an excellent example of showing just how far video games have come as a medium.  Mass Effect 3 is the conclusion of a saga that has been 5 years in the making. It’s fair to say then, that this reviewer’s hopes were pretty sky high right out of the gate.

The game continues with the “Reaper” story which, for the uninitiated, centers around a race of machines that are hell bent on exterminating all organic life across the galaxy every 50000 years. As Commander Shepard, it has been the player’s job to keep that from happening. The first two games in the series were all about finding out and delaying an all-out invasion by the things. ME3 begins with the Reapers finally launching their invasion and as an opening act, nuking the bejeezus out of Earth.

As is typical of the franchise, the game has you scampering across the galaxy in search of allies to lead a desperate defense. The series has always emphasized cinematic presentation with a heavy presence of digital actors and ME3 is no exception. The first half hour is nothing but a scripted event that is more cut scenes than actual gameplay (although there is a basic tutorial in there too). I suppose this was a necessary evil needed to introduce the story to new players. I could not help but notice that the engine was really beginning to show its age. The lip syncing was hilarious and it took me a while to remember that this thing blew my mind 5 years ago. In any event, this awkwardness pretty much disappears as soon as the opening credits roll. From this point on, it’s like visiting an old friend.

Old hands will immediately get back into the swing of things. And if you have you have your old save games handy, they can be imported into ME3 so as to continue your personal journey. The world of Mass Effect is rich with sci-fi lore and interesting characters and the story pushes you along with a sense of urgency. Just like the older games, there are side quests in abundance. Only this time, everything you do, no matter how small, is somehow tied to the galactic war effort. It a subtle thing, but makes the dated mechanic of “go there and get me that” seem meaningful. The series has never really been about exploration as such. Though the games send you all over the galaxy to complete missions on different planets, each one of those planets is essentially a very constrained map tied together with shooting corridors. Corridors chock full of conveniently placed things to take cover behind. This sounds dull until you consider just how much of a joy combat actually is.

Played from a third person perspective, ME combat is all about balancing straight up cover based shooting with devastating biotic (essentially sci-fi magic) powers. Shepard is always accompanied by two squad mates, each with their own specialties and unique personalities. Achieving a balance between different kinds of attack and defensive abilities is key to winning battles. Some foes rely heavily on biotics for instance, which will make a particular squad member’s skill-set essential. One of the biggest complaints of the series so far was how quickly combat became repetitive. This is one thing Bioware have certainly worked on and the results speak for themselves. The action in ME3 is undoubtedly the best the series has to offer. Enemy AI has been bumped up and foes will react in an intelligent manner (most of the time). They make judicious use of cover, grenades, smoke etc and present more of a challenge than ever before. There are a bunch of new baddies making an appearance some of which can make a seemingly easy battle suddenly tense. Expect liberal use of the “active pause” feature that allows you to make tactical decisions like squad placement and specific use of powers. Good as the enemy AI is, your companions do have a tendency to get themselves killed when the opposition puts on some pressure.

The one thing that did annoy me was Bioware’s decision to use the space key as the “cover” “run” “slide” and “interact” key. This lead to frequent moments of frustration where I would pop out of cover at the worst possible time. Seriously devs, is it too much to ask for to have them mapped to different keys? My mouse alone has 12 buttons and I’m pretty sure the keyboard has some to spare. Cross platform development does not excuse laziness like this. I can easily attribute half of my in game deaths to this reason alone. That being said, combat is an absolute joy for the most part and seeing your squad tear into an enemies’ formations with all the tools at their disposal is spectacular and extremely satisfying.

The skill system has been revamped and there is now a lot more depth to character development. Each skill set has two possible branches to develop which caters to different play styles. The classes themselves are unique but one feature that deserves special mention is the effect of “weight” on power cool down times. Unlike the previous games, where Shepard’s class dictated what kind of guns he/she could carry, ME3 has no such restrictions. However, the more weight the Commander carries, the longer it takes for special abilities to charge up. This allows you to tailor your play style according to your tastes. Run and gun types will appreciate the ability to pack every weapon they can get their hands on. Biotics have the option of carrying a light sidearm and nothing else so as to lay down a steady stream of devastating mind bombs.

Weapons themselves some in all shapes and sizes and in typical RPG fashion, have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are discovered during the course of a mission while others can be purchased from merchants. All weapons can be upgraded and customized.

The music is expectedly cinematic and complements the action well. Emotional scenes are given more weight by the magic of Clint Mansell . Though the purist in me is saddened by the departure of Jack Wall (composer on the last two games), most of his work has carried over. Sound production is excellent across the board. Some of the creature audio effects are creepy as hell and the Reapers deserve special mention. The high standards apply to the voice actors as well. ME has some of the best voice overs that exist in games today. When you consider the fact that any time the player is not blowing shit up, he/she is engaged in some sort of dialogue, this is good news. This brings me to my favorite part of the series, ie, the characters.

Loyal fans will see the return of some old and very welcome faces. There are some new ones along for the ride of course but having some of the old companions back is an absolute delight. Every squad mate has a unique personality and is voiced to perfection. I have always maintained that this is the true strength of the franchise. The Reaper storyline is hardly original but add these characters to it and you have something very special indeed. There are points in the story where you have to decide between getting the job done or saving a compatriot’s life. In a game where the companions are little more than pixels with no personality, this is hardly worth mentioning. But in Mass Effect, this is a gut wrenching moment. Even if it’s not a life and death decision, doing something that might upset your love interest (yes romance is a possibility) is something that may haunt you. It may even have far reaching consequences. This is where Bioware has always shown its expertise. It takes a lot to get a player truly invested in a virtual character; to do it for an “alien” that does not look even remotely human is harder still. And no one does it better than Bioware.

RPGs to me are all about emotional impact, there is only so much you can do with the typical “the world is ending and you must save it” plot.  Saving a world where you genuinely care about the people that inhabit it is different. The story in ME3 is bleak and dark. The Reapers are already here, there is no saving the billions that are already dying as you shuttle from pillar to post in an desperate attempt to make allies of old enemies. Enemies that have hated each other for centuries. The game constantly reminds you of the fact that its going to take everything Shepard has and more to even have a snow ball’s chance in hell against a foe so overwhelmingly powerful. And it frequently asks you to make sacrifices for the greater good. In fact, one of your friends puts it in perspective:

You really have hand it to Bioware, they manage to squeeze out a lot of emotion from what is at the end of the day, a commercial product meant to entertain. Over the course of three games it has forced me to ask myself questions on free will, equality, tolerance, civilization, the meaning of intelligence, sexual preference, the need for empathy and a host of other things that I simply do not expect from a “game”. Its things like these that make me forget that I never saw any female members of many species, or any children for that matter. In any other game, this would stand out like a sore thumb but not here. Because ME has you thinking about so much other stuff, the absence of kids is something you do not even notice. This brings me to the game’s biggest and downright inexcusable failure.

The ending.

There is no easy way to say this: the ending to Mass Effect 3 is downright terrible. I cannot go into detail here without spoiling the story but let’s just say it fails on every conceivable level. Apart from the fact that it negates all the choices you made up to this point, or that it makes no sense of any kind, its biggest crime was to rob the player of the one thing he/she expects at the end of tale like this. Closure. In a way, I can see what the writers were going for, but the implementation is pathetic and just plain wrong. The ending leaves us with more questions than it does answers. It contradicts so many things in the game itself that I’m stunned it was even considered let alone actually implemented. It’s one thing to end things on a bleak note, I wasn’t expecting a “happily ever after” but it’s quite another to invalidate every single decision made by a player across three games. This was a tale that took me a hundred and fifty hours to get through. I waited five years to see it to the end. And my reward was a kick in the nuts.

So how do I rate a game like this? How do I score something that had me enthralled every second of the way till the final 10 minutes? There is no denying that the time I spent with the series is some of the best gaming experience I’ve ever had. I know that I will play through ME2 at least once more. But knowing how the series ends, I doubt I’m ever finishing ME3 again even though it is a fantastic game. That’s how much of a bad taste it left in my mouth. It is impossible for me to judge this impartially because I’m so heavily invested in the series. The best thing I can do is ask myself “was it worth the money?”

The answer to that is yes.

Was it worth the wait? Was it worth agonizing over the decisions I made? Did it justify me feeling bad about some of the choices I made over the last five years?

No. No it was not.

And that’s a tragedy only old time fans of the series will understand.

There is one thing that may entice old hands from uninstalling ME3 in disgust the second they see the final cut scene. Multiplayer.  I’ll be honest, I really thought this would be a tacked on gimmick meant to add another bullet point to the box. It’s actually quite good. Players can choose a class and level up with experience points they gain form playing co-op missions. The missions themselves comprise of surviving waves of progressively harder enemies. There are a number of different maps each requiring different tactics and skill sets. There may be varied objectives within a map to keep things interesting. For instance, one wave may involve hunting down certain mini bosses before a timer runs out. Another may require you to guard a squad mate as he downloads data from an exposed console. Team work is vital and there are some insane “last man standing” moments to be had. As an additional carrot for the ones who dislike side quests in the single player campaign: the victories in co-op count towards the “Military strength” score needed to beat the story. This effectively negates the need for scouring the galaxy for artifacts and such.

One caveat: any upgrades you buy are random; the game forces you to buy “packs” from the online store with either in game credits (awarded for finishing missions) or real money. It’s the kind of system designed to keep players hooked in the hope of finding that one epic piece of loot. If you are the sort who loathes micro transactions, this will annoy you. If you are the kind of person that is prone to addictive tendencies, I foresee bankruptcy in your future.

So there you have it folks. The Mass Effect experience was a heck of a roller coaster ride while it lasted. It spent five years building up to a magnificent emotional crescendo. And then went out of its way to painfully remind you that in the end, it’s just a game.

So enjoy the experience. Go travel across galaxies, explore the universe, meet interesting people, solve galactic problems, be the best bad-ass in the history of ever. And try to forget the final ten minutes.

Good luck with that.

FINAL SCORE: 8.7/10 (Single Player campaign) 8.2/10 (Multiplayer)

If your childhood was anything like mine, you would remember hours upon hours of playing “army” as a kid. It’s amazing what a kid’s imagination can conjure with the help of a few water pistols and some cardboard boxes. If what they say about men is true, ie, we never really grow up, then it’s safe to say that EA DICE will never run out of customers for their Battlefield series.

But before I get to the good stuff, let’s get the bad news out of the way shall we? Yes, Battlefield 3 (BF3) has a single player component. And yes, it’s not exactly great. But for the sake of keeping this review complete, I am going to cover it nonetheless.

The weakly written story starts off quite well, with a strictly on rails experience that ironically enough, begins on a subway train. The plot revolves around the protagonist Sgt Blackburn, out to stop a bomb from going off on said train. It’s all very standard corridor shooter stuff complete with annoying quick time events and on screen prompts. Thought to DICE’s credit, the do pull this off with more flair than anything else they have done in the single player space ever since they decided to tack on campaigns to products that don’t really need them (I’m looking at you Bad Company 2). The story is told via flashbacks that occur during Blackburn’s interrogation (oh yes, never seen THAT before have we?) and is a convenient plot device that allows for hopping across the globe and showing off BF3’s vehicle combat. The voice work is good and the music is surprisingly so. The “Caspian Border” track in particular maybe the best game score I have heard all year. As far as gameplay goes, there are occasional flashes of brilliance that nonetheless are not enough to recommend this as a single player experience. The story is garbage, the characters are entirely forgettable (I seriously do not remember more than two names) and the quick time events are horribly annoying. Add to this a stupid save system and well, you get the idea.

Let me make this clear, it’s not that the campaign is “bad”, it’s just that it’s so very generic and feels so forced, it may as well have been left out entirely. In this reviewer’s humble opinion, people looking for a single player experience and nothing else, should really look elsewhere. To those of you who insist on me saying it, here it is: The Call of Duty series still takes the single player military shooter crown.

The real reason anyone would purchase a BF title of course, is the multiplayer. It is here that the game shows us what it’s all about and boy does it deliver. To those that are bad at reading hints, this is where the good news begins. So pay attention soldier.

The Frostbite 2 engine is a thing to behold. The graphical jump from Frostbite 1 (used in Bad Company 2) is not huge, but big enough to be spectacular. This is one of the best looking games on the market across any platform. But where DICE has nailed it (again) is sound. I said this about them in BC2, I’ll say it again: no one does sound like DICE does. If you have a semi-decent sound set up, expect to be blown away to the point where every other game sounds like garbage. The rumble of tanks, the crumbling of the destructive scenery, and the distinct retort of every gun in the game all add up to an exhilarating crescendo of destruction. It is quite frankly, amazing.

Old hands will be happy to see the huge open maps that have been the trademarks of the series make a return. BF3 has a number of multiplayer modes including conquest (my favorite), Rush, Team death match and Squad team death match. Unlike most military shooters, battles in BF3 are all about team work. For instance Conquest focuses on holding certain “control points” on a map. Every team has 300 “tickets” (essentially “lives”) that run out as player die. The first team to reach zero tickets loses. If a team occupies more than half the control points on a map, the enemy team starts “bleeding” tickets. This is a game where having the most kills means absolutely nothing if objectives and squad support are not paid attention to. Squad mates act as mobile spawns, can revive fallen comrades and supply much needed equipment. Killing stuff is a small part of a greater strategy.

Each class has a specific role and every squad needs to support its members to have any hope of victory. Vehicular combat is a large part of the game and it is hard not to stare in amazement the first time you spawn in the middle of a battle. Jets are engaged in dogfights overhead, choppers being targeted by anti-air missiles, tanks roll across the field spreading death and soldiers doing a hell lot of killing and dying in good measure. To be honest, if you are new to the series, it can be a little overwhelming.

Which brings me to the game’s biggest success and ironically, its biggest flaw. So heavily are the odds in favor of a cohesive team, that an unorganized team of newbies don’t have a snowballs chance in hell of putting up even a token resistance. After spending over 25 hours in the multiplayer, I can now easily see within the first few seconds of a match if a team has some experienced squads in it. When you do get lucky and spawn with folk who know what is needed and how to go about it, each game is like a bunch of mini A Team episodes, i.e., glorious. Victory is pretty much assured and seeing a squad’s plan come together is a thing of beauty. On the opposite end of the spectrum, finding yourself in a team full of Rambo wannabes is a series of rather painfully embarrassing facepalms. It does not help that the game shipped with little in terms of in game communication aids. If ever there was title that screamed for voice chat, this is it. Typing out commands takes too long and with everything going on around you, the chances of actually reading anything typed out by a player are pretty remote.

The problem gets worse when there are some ace pilots or tank drivers in the opposition. At this point, any idea of balance goes out the window. However, let me stress this, it’s not that BF3 is an unbalanced game. If anything, DICE has done an excellent job of keeping things well tuned with its constant patches. It’s just that the game greatly rewards teamwork to the point where it can become unbalanced. The fault lies with the players not the game. But try telling yourself that when the same helicopter has owned you for the tenth time.

Your attempts at exacting winged vengeance will be short lived when you realize that yet again, DICE refused to put in a “training map” of any sort for the vehicles. Seeing how critical jets and choppers are, the fact you have to crash a bunch of em before you even begin to get the hang of flying is mind numbingly stupid. Crash enough of them and a kick form the server is pretty much guaranteed from your (rightly) pissed off team mates.

At least the constant leveling up and unlocks keep things interesting. There was more than one occasion where that was the only thing that kept me playing through some bad losing streaks.

Map design is solid, with some levels putting extra emphasis on vehicles and a couple that are virtual meat grinders.  All weapons have a distinct feel and are pretty balanced though I am far from unlocking all of them. One weird thing is DICE’s decision to keep the game browser separate from the game itself. Multiplayer is launched via your internet browser of choice, an act that at first seemed completely alien. I will be honest, I thought this was stupid decision at first but, having used it for as long as I have, I can see the wisdom in it. It still feels strange but works the way it should. Stat tracking is very robust and I have to admit, the browser based navigation brings with it extra functionality that would otherwise not be possible in game (at least not efficiently). This much touted “Battlelog” system does have one big short coming however, ie, it does not make the job of finding a clan (platoon) any easier. Sure there is a build in search feature that allows you to look for platoons and friends by name, but it does not help in finding one based by region, or interests. And though the official forums can be a good place to start, finding a platoon based around this part of the world is pretty much mission impossible. That being said, finding friends is easy and the system itself has a lot of potential if DICE does it justice. My advice? Don’t go into this game alone. Buy a couple of extra copies to give to some friends and play together. It is the only way to enjoy the game. Random groups can be fun but the experience you will have playing with a bunch of guys you can depend on is sheer bliss.

The one place where a random group can work out is the Co-Op missions. Similar to CoD’s “Spec Ops”, this mode allows two people to go through some rather well designed missions. This is also, the only place where you can learn how to fly without pissing off a whole team (just the poor sod you pair up with). The missions are tense and hectic and surprisingly well done. Connectivity from India can be spotty however, another reason why you shouldn’t be doing this alone.

A note on realism: there isn’t any. At no point does BF3 pretend to be a military sim like Arma. This is a game centered around making things go “Boom!” in spectacular fashion. It allows you to pull of some insane James Bond crap like this. It is fun and frequently hilarious. Do not expect anything more than a game. A bloody good one.

Dismissed.

FINAL SCORE: 7.0/10 (Single Player campaign) 9.2/10 (Multiplayer)

When Batman Arkham Asylum came out in 2009, it blew me away. Admittedly I had very low hopes for the game. The fact that it fulfilled every bat-fuelled fantasy I had as a kid made it one of the best games I have ever played period. However, when details about the sequel started to leak out, I began to get a tad worried. Sure developers Rocksteady had delivered with style, but it seemed that they might be overdoing things with Arkham City. Open world design with side quests? Thats the exact opposite of what Arkham asylum was.

Well, looks like Rocksteady have this Batman thing down pat.  If you happen to be the sort that does not like long worded reviews, let me save you some time. Arkham City is the best super hero game out there.

It seems the developers really listened to all the complaints I had from the first game. They not only corrected them all (with one major exception) but also took everything I liked about Asylum and cranked the awesome factor by ten. The unreal engine has been reused but tweaked enough to give the game a bit more color. Mind you, Gotham never needed it; this is a city that’s never been the colorful type. Not much has changed in terms of presentation but where Asylum had very restricted level design; Arkham City is a different beast all together. After the tightly scripted opening, which was a surprising twist to begin with, the game lets you decide where to go and how to get there. But before I get to that, let me vaguely lay out the plot. Do not worry, there are no spoilers here.

The game begins with Gotham city’s mayor Quincy Sharp, cordoning a section of the city using some pretty deft political tricks. This section, called “Arkham City” has been presented as a solution to Arkham Asylum. All criminals are essentially let loose in this area and stripped of all rights. No one except a private security firm (Tyger) is allowed in or out. It does not take a Batman level detective to figure out that this is a really, really bad idea. Long story short, things start going to hell, it becomes apparent that someone called Dr Hugo Strange is manipulating Sharp but no one knows why or for what. To make things even more complicated, Strange knows Batman’s secret, i.e., he is Bruce Wayne.

The story plays out across different sections of the city which means the player will spend a lot of time going from point A to point B looking for clues and hunting down leads. It a good thing then, that travel is one of the highlights of the game. The grapple gun makes a return, as does gliding, but they have both been given an upgrade. Given the large distances, Batman can now “dive bomb” while gliding to build momentum before spreading his cape and taking off again. It’s a brilliant mechanic and do not be surprised if you spend the first few minutes just shuttling form one place to another just for the heck of it. The grapple can be used as before and if you are feeling lazy, there’s always a low flying Tyger helicopter around to hitch a ride on (as long as they don’t see you).

From the get go, it’s obvious that the game allows for a lot of freedom. This is not really as free form as GTA or Oblivion, Batman can’t break down every door and enter every building for example. He can however, decide to snoop on some suspicious characters and gather some intel before heading out to see the Penguin. Or he could beat it out of them. Or he could pick up a ringing payphone and be lead on a psychopath’s version of “Simon says”. Personally, I am glad that this isn’t a true free world experience. To me, it makes zero sense for Batman to enter abandoned apartments and rummage through drawers to find “loot”.

It does however; make sense for him to look for clues and forensic evidence using “detective view”. Unlike Asylum, where this was overpowered, in Arkham City, it is just about adequate. As a result, I did not find myself using it as the default view. You will use it frequently for sure and if anything, it drives home the fact that above all, Batman is a detective. It’s a subtle thing, but goes to show how well Rocksteady “gets” the character.

But the real star here is the combat. Asylum had nailed the combat to feel very “Batmanish”. Every move executed felt like something out of a comic. It was brutal, free flowing and blow your socks off awesome.

And it does not hold a candle to what Arkham City has to offer.

I won’t waste time by using fancy words here. The combat in Arkham city is the best I have seen in any third person action game. It is almost like Rocksteady used some techno magic to plug directly into my cerebral cortex and find out what it takes to make me feel like Batman. One can get through most fights with using a handful of basic moves but once you master the range of special moves and gadgets at your disposal, every battle transforms from a brawl to a carefully executed ballet of badassery. It’s the sort of thing that’s an absolute joy to play and just as fun to watch someone else play. Seriously, who ever came up with the combat system deserves a raise. One caveat though, to really get the most out of it, you are going to need either a gamepad or multi button mouse (I used the Razer Naga for my play through). Using a standard keyboard is fine and will more than suffice for getting through the game but some of the harder combos will need some pretty nifty finger yoga.

Strangely enough, in spite of everything that Batman has going for him, he is still extremely vulnerable. Regardless of all the ninja moves and techno gadgetry at his disposal, the game constantly reminds you that this is still a normal human being in a bat-suit. In many ways, this is definitely a harder game than Asylum. The number of bad guys is larger, there are more weapons in their hands and charging into the middle of a gun totting mob is suicide. That’s the beauty of it, it’s one thing to swoop down in the midst of a dozen unarmed goons and utterly destroy them, but give one of them a shotgun and it’s a completely different game. Attacks will have to be planned carefully and executed with precision. Again, very Batman. Just like in the first game, there is a “challenge mode” available outside of the campaign. Apart from giving some solid replay value, it can also let you hone your combat skills.

Another enticing extra is the option of playing as Catwoman. Though the main campaign is centered on Batman, there are bits where the player will take control of Selina “Catwoman” Kyle. Here, the play style switches a bit. Selina’s moves are more restricted than Bruce’s and she only has a handful of gadgets at her disposal. But what she lacks in physical strength, she makes up for with speed. And really, really bad puns. Expect some eye roll moments when she starts to speak. This is the only part where the writing felt weak. Thankfully, this does not happen often and even when it does, it is short lived. You can however, continue to play as Catwoman once the main story is finished. If nothing else, it’s a nice change of pace.

Sound production is of very high quality across the board. The voice work is spot on. Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy make repeat appearances as the voices of Joker and Batman respectively and I really liked Nolan North’s cockney twist on the Penguin. The music is suitably broody and once again, is very reminiscent of the movie “Dark Knight”. All epic wins in my book.

One thing that I faulted Asylum for was the terrible boss battles. Well ok, maybe terrible is too strong a word. “Unimaginative” would be more apt. That complaint has been addressed in Arkham City. Though I hasten to add here, people seem to be divided on this. Quite a few players still hate them. For what it’s worth, I certainly felt they were well executed. They are still not perfect but I enjoyed them nonetheless. The Mr Freeze battle in particular, is fantastic. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that its one of the highlights of the game.

This does bring me to one complaint that I do have. In their effort to give players more of everything, the devs might have overshot a little with the villains. Batman’s rouges gallery is the most interesting one in the world of comics by far. I have heard more than one case of how the reason Batman is so awesome is because of the kind of people he faces off against. Regardless of whether that is true or not, it does take time to develop a character within any story. This is particularly challenging when the medium used to tell that story is an interactive one like video games. I won’t give out a list here for fear of spoiling anything but suffice to say there are a few villains that make an appearance just for the heck of it. There is no good reason for them to exist within this particular story except to satiate fanboys like me. It is a small thing and ultimately does not affect gameplay in any way at all but does make the overall story seem just a tad rushed in places.

The second issue I have with the game, and this one really pisses me off, is how messed up the save system is. Just like Asylum, there is just one save slot that the game automatically saves to, ie, there is one master save file that gets constantly overwritten automatically. If ANYTHING goes wrong with it, you are pretty much boned and have to start all over again. The same applies if you want to go back to specific point and replay it. The only option is to start a new game from scratch. This is just unacceptable. Especially when you consider that the game is integrated with Games for windows live (GFWL), ie, the most hideous and broken thing to exist on the platform. It essentially makes it impossible for save games to be transferred between systems. So if you plan on playing across 2 systems or are in the midst of an OS/HDD upgrade, forget it.

Overall however, Arkham City is a damn near perfect game. Its a title created by and for Batman fans and it clearly shows. The story is excellent and well written, the combat is fantastic and it really does make you feel like Batman. If there is any higher praise, I can’t think of it. Now if you will excuse me, there’s a certain clown that has a date with my fist.

FINAL SCORE: 9.3/10

Ninjas.

I’m just going to let that word hang for moment. As a kid… alright dammit I admit, even as an adult, I can’t think of anything cooler. Except maybe cyber ninjas. But I digress. Total War: Shogun 2, makes it possible to recruit and command an ARMY of ninjas. That’s like, a whole army of nothing but pure awesomeness. This was one of the first goals I had going into the game. It took a while, but I finally had me an army of nothing but “shadow hugging-smoke bomb throwing- stab you in the face and disappear” dudes. Snickering with glee, I watched as an enemy force of mixed, cheaper and technically inferior (albeit numerically superior) troops wandered right into the path of my death dealers. With a mouse click, I unleashed hell.

And had my ass handed to me.

Let’s recap shall we? The Total War franchise has been a favorite of mine ever since the first Shogun came crashing into the RTS scene way back in 2000. With its mix of turn based grand strategy coupled with real time battles that allowed players to control massive armies in a glorious spectacle of virtual carnage, it quickly wowed the gaming community. Over time, developers Creative Assembly have taken the series from strength to strength. The historical settings have changed of course; Total War fans have waged wars across the Roman Empire, medieval Europe, colonial Americas and rubbed shoulders with Napoleon. For its latest release, Creative Assembly has come full circle to their roots and brings the messy era of 16^th century Japan back to glorious life. Its a bloody chapter in Japanese history, rife with political intrigue, religious unrest, bloody wars and yes, ninjas.

If you have never played any game in the series before because, you know, that rock you were living under was too hard to move, here’s the skinny:

Every total war title is essentially two games rolled into one. The first part is akin to the popular board game “Risk” where players look upon the entire map that covered all regions of the “world” available in the campaign. This is the grand strategy bit. Special emphasis on “grand”. The sheer number of things that go into one single turn can be mind boggling but extremely satisfying.

The second part is all about real time battles. This is where players get to command their armies/navies in massive areas or engage in siege warfare. Total War battles have always been visually spectacular with hundreds of units going at each other at once. The action here is hectic and will tax a players tactical prowess.

As far as presentation goes, visual fidelity has always been one of the franchise’s strong points. With Shogun 2, the devs have upped the ante. To be honest, there is nothing in the strategy genre, real time or otherwise, that comes even remotely close to this. The game is stunningly beautiful. Everything from the loading screen, to the tactical maps, right down to the level of detail on a single soldier’s armor is rendered exquisitely. Shogun 2 has an artistic style that permeates through every aspect of the game. Even the heavily Japanese accented English spoken by the advisers add to the atmosphere. Every battle commanded by a general starts with a rousing speech (another staple of the series). Only in this case, the speech is not translated from its original Japanese. It is subtitled of course, but the force of your katana wielding badass’s words comes through without losing anything in translation. The music only adds to this. The title score in particular, is one of my favorites. No doubt about it, with respect to presentation, there is now a new benchmark for strategy titles everywhere.  Expect your system to get a good workout.

In terms of game mechanics, not much has changed. Just like the older games, the overall goal here is to occupy key cities and control enough territory to secure your position as supreme leader (Shogun in this case). This is nothing like the usual “build your base, raise an army and rush em” strategy that most RTS games are like. If anything, it’s very similar to the “Civilization” series. Anyone with even a passing interest in turn based strategy will feel right at home here. It brings home the fact that managing an empire of any sort in real life must have been a logistical nightmare.

The sheer amount of information the game hits you with can be overwhelming at first but a little patience will go a long way. I daresay games like this cater well to a certain type of gamer, i.e., the one that likes to take his/her time. The ability to see things a few turns in advance is easy at first with a handful of cities but the more your empire grows, the more complicated things become. There is tremendous depth here if you are willing to learn the ins and outs. The fact that Shogun 2 has its own built in encyclopedia to help players should give you a good idea of how much there is do.

There are cities to develop, treaties to sign, trade routes to secure, assassinations to conduct and counter spying to initiate. Religion is a huge part of this, adopting Christianity for instance, may get you access to guns but pisses off the local populace resulting in revolts. It also makes you a hated enemy of every neighbor within range of a yari thrust. On the flip side, you could always use religion as a weapon by spreading your faith to those outside your borders. Do this long enough and the people will “see the light” and overthrow their rulers, making your job so much more easier. I have literally spent an hour on some turns although most will be resolved in a few minutes. Wars are expensive, maintaining a decent city is even more so and taxing your populace can only take you so far. Trade routes are things to be protected and diplomacy is key to victory. In short, this is where the meat of the game really is.

Even managing your family is a game in itself. The bloodline needs to be kept strong and protected. Enemy ninjas will undoubtedly be looking for ways to dispose of the player’s most promising heirs. Marriage is an excellent political tool and crafty individuals will quickly realize that having a bunch of women of marriageable age can be an excellent resource used to garner support from that nasty clan that’s got a military machine twice your size and is breathing down your neck. Like everything else though, this too can backfire, any rejected offer will lower your Daimyo’s honor which adversely affects the whole clan. Armies, generals and even family members of a Daimyo with poor honor can easily be bribed over to the enemies’ side.

Unlike the previous games, the map here is a lot smaller, this focused on Japan after all. So there is only so much land to fight over. It is still an epic campaign (expect 50 hrs plus at least) but this focus comes at a cost, since all the clans are Japanese and share the same cultural roots, there is not a lot to distinguish one form the other. Unlike Rome for example, where a Germanic barbarian horde functioned, looked and played completely different from a “civilized” nation like Carthage, there is little to distinguish the Shimazu clan from the Chosokabe. Sure one may train better archers and prefer the color green but that’s about it. In terms of variety Shogun 2 is found wanting against older games in its own franchise. This is not huge deal for someone new, but for old hands like me, it will seriously affect replay value.

When all the planning is done, when all the pieces are in place, it time to unsheathe your sword, get on your trusty steed and take to the field of battle. Regardless of good your political strategy is, war is inevitable. Thankfully, in Shogun 2 war is also a whole lot of fun.  And in this respect, it is the best game in the series. It’s hard to get a sense of how stunning the game looks via screenshots. One really has to see in engine in motion to appreciate just how good it is. Horses stomp the ground restlessly, no daichi samurai shrug and adjust their armor while the general waits, and all the while, birds fly overhead as cherry blossoms waft over the armies. My first few minutes were spent just admiring the astonishing level of detail.

Though it is viable to play out a battle in real time, there is an active pause system that allows one to pause the action at any time and queue up commands. This is a very handy feature as battles can be very chaotic affairs. If you are a control freak like me, you will probably end up using it every few seconds although this is admittedly, overkill.

The kind of units engaged in battle, their gear and level of experience, topography of the battlefield, skill of the generals and even the weather, all have a role to play. So it was no surprise to see my army of ninjas decimated by a force that was much more balanced. Speaking of which, combat and the way it plays out is a lot more believable this time around. Previous Total War games though always fun, were frequently capable of being unbalanced. Rome Total War especially, had me often best a force 3 times my size. Technically superior troops almost always trumped a larger inferior force. In Shogun, being out numbered is a serious handicap. Superior troops will still need numbers on their side and a large force of technologically inferior forces with competent leadership will usually win. Another notable difference is how devastating archers are. Heavy armor was an unusual sight during the Sengoku jidia period and as a result, a melee heavy force will need to move quickly to close the gap between it and any enemy ranged forces. Even cavalry can be decimated by a few accurate volleys. One thing that I did notice was that having the advantage of higher ground did not give much of a range bonus to archers. The fact that the opposite holds true for every game before this seems to suggest this may be a bug which may be patched out. That being said, the AI in Shogun 2 is the best I have seen in the franchise so far. Though not completely immune to stupidity, it usually presents a good challenge in most battles.

There is an “auto resolve” option for people who do not wish to bother with the real time aspect of the game though the results here tend to be hit and miss.

Two things have changed dramatically. First off, generals are a lot more hands on. There is direct control of how the player decides to improve them. This brings in a RPG flavor which I absolutely loved. Where they were little more than portraits and no personality in previous titles, here, I knew each one of my favorites my name. Suddenly, the idea of losing one in battle became a scary prospect. This is made even more interesting when you consider how their presence affects the outcome of an engagement. Depending on how they were leveled, generals get special abilities that can be used in the thick of a scrap. Having a competent general makes for some exciting “victory from the jaws of defeat” scenarios but this almost always involving putting him at risk. Make no mistake; losing a good general comes as huge strategic and personal loss.

Secondly, siege warfare has completely changed. Unlike the castles and fortresses of Europe that were designed to keep the enemy out at all costs, Japanese structures were built with the idea of funneling enemy troops into killing grounds. The theory was to make the idea of gaining every inch of ground a very costly affair. Defenders do have an advantage but only with comparable numbers on their side. Defensive or not, castles can be easily swarmed by a numerically superior force especially if they are quick. This is another example of where having a competent general makes all the difference.

What has not changed unfortunately is the boredom of naval battles. Though more refined from previous iterations, it still remains a weak spot in the Total War arsenal. Expect to use the “auto resolve” feature a lot with them.

Things have also been taken to a whole new level with multiplayer. Players now have a persistent avatar. Winning battles and gaining experience will unlock new abilities for your general and cosmetic upgrades. Match making seems to work for the most part but I have had some laggy games. No surprise given how few people play this in my part of the world. To be honest I have not spent enough time online to give an unbiased opinion but for what it’s worth, what little time I did spend was enjoyable.

At its core, Shogun 2 is a balancing act. All aspects of 16^th century Japan need to be catered to. It is a game that is easy to play, but hard to master. On default difficulty settings, Total War vets will likely tear through the campaign like a hot katana through sushi. Bump it up however, and its whole new game. I have been playing Rome Total War (still my favorite in the series) since its release in 2004 and have yet to beat it on the highest difficulty. Shogun 2 will undoubtedly pose the same challenge. But yes, the polish that comes with such a focused approach has come at the cost of variety in both number of units and type of factions. If you are new to the series, this is an excellent place to start. If you are a fan of the series, there is enough different here to make it seem fresh for at least another few months. And besides…..

Ninjas.

FINAL SCORE: 8.8/10

(This is a re-write of the Crysis 2 review which was supposed to be published on the 27th of April but ended up getting lost in internet limbo. The game since then has been updated to v 1.8 which brings a lot of tweaks to the multiplayer side of things. As such, my criticisms of the single player campaign still stand but multiplayer has certainly become a lot more enjoyable. The scores have been updated to reflect this.)

When Crysis first came out, it made the PC gaming community go nuts. The press around the game made it seem like it was the pinnacle of the FPS genre. The graphics were rig meltingly awesome, the world was a huge playground, the AI was usually competent and the Nano suit was just plain cool.

Too bad I hated it.

Well ok, maybe “hate” is too strong a word. At best it was “meh” imo. I should add here that I’m not much of an “open world” player. I like my shooters to have a tight scripted feel without being a strict corridor affair. Half life would be a good example. Regardless, even if I personally did not enjoy Crysis as much as the press did, I could still respect it for what it was, ie, a decent open world shooter that did give you a myriad of ways of making things go “boom”. It was in many ways, a landmark for the genre.

Why the sequel decided to piss all of that way then, is a true head scratcher. Sorry folks, if you are looking for a glowing review (at least for single player), you should probably stop reading right now. Crysis 2 is so generic it makes me want to take a boxed copy over to the developers, slam it on their heads and scream “WHYYYYYYY?!?!?!”

Where do I even begin? The game starts with a yawn worthy cinematic with a bunch of spec op guys doing their chest thumping routine. “Rah Rah bring it on blah blah”. This quickly launches into a scene that seems copy pasted from CoD4. Escape from a sinking vessel. Great.

This is followed by some other sleep inducing cut scenes which show the Statue of liberty on fire (Oooooh, never seen THAT before have we?) and the inevitable rescue by generic mystery man number 3417. I suppose the whole point of this exercise was to drive home the fact that the aliens from the first game have totally taken over. Fine. From this point on though, the story from the first game is effectively flushed down the toilet. Let me say this as clearly as possible: Apart from the nano suit that you quickly procure and a guest appearance by a character from the original Crysis there is absolutely no connection to the narrative of the first game. None. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing; I can totally live with the revamp of an existing plot if it makes any sense at all. Though the story does come together towards the end, chances are that most players would have long lost interest in it by then.

The aliens look completely different, none of the characters I meet seem to shed any light on wtf is going on and somehow, there is some kind of plague to content with. Oh, and for some damned reason, I’m a target of both the aliens AND humans. Crysis 2 went to extra ordinary lengths to confuse the hell out of me (plot wise) in the first 10 minutes.

Soon I’m out in the city looking upon a rather stunning urban landscape. Ill give Crysis 2 this: it does look pretty. Sunlight glints over shattered concrete, trees sway realistically and shadows play across everything. The engine is by far the game’s biggest strength. And perhaps the only thing of note. Oh btw, forget about tweaking your graphical settings beyond pre-defined options. Obviously it was too much to ask for even though its been a key feature on the PC for decades. That being said, you can still expect some stunning graphics even on a mid-range system.

It soon becomes apparent that the rest of the game is divided into mini levels giving the illusion of being in a huge expansive world. The key word here being “illusion”. The world is full of walls and not all of them are the visible kind. For all its bluster and media hype, Crysis 2 is just like your average shooter with some extra options thrown in. The devs refer to these as “action bubbles”, ie, small areas of freedom that are connected to each other within a huge world. I call them disappointment centers. It is nothing more than a design crutch and a flawed one at that. What they have effectively done is strip away the sense of wonder that was to be had in not knowing which way was the “right” way. There is no exploration here. I’m shaking my head even as I write this; Crytek excels in free world exploration. Look at Farcry 1. That was a great example of how to do exploration right. And this was a game the same people made 8 years ago! How could they get this aspect of it so wrong?

Oh but there’s more, not content with flat out locking me into these tiny areas, they actually felt the need to hold my hand throughout missions. The so called “tactical mode” is a joke. It essentially highlights the options I have available for completing an objective . I could see how highlighting foes and ammo caches can be helpful but do I really need to be told “Look! A ladder. You can climb this!!”? Oh right, I DO need to be told, because as I mentioned, the world of Crysis 2 isn’t really open at all. You can only climb ladders that the “tactical” visor tells you about. Sure, the other ladders look perfectly climbable, but unless a certain path was clearly highlighted for the player, it’s not an option at all. May as well give me a compass that points me in the right direction. Oh wait, there’s no need, the game highlights where to go anyway. Silly me.

There are even parts where the player will be prompted to press a key so as to not miss a pretty but pointless explosion. Or click the left and right mouse button alternatively to “crawl”. If you are thinking of Call of Duty right now, don’t worry, so am I. I don’t mind mechanics like that if they make sense for the game in question. CoD4 was nothing but a series of corridors glued together with cut scenes and quick time events. But they were executed brilliantly. They gelled and came together in a fantastic climax. In Crysis 2 they just plain suck. Level design, narration, gameplay, all suffer as a result.

Not content with diluting the core experience, Crytek also decided that it would be an excellent idea to slap on a ridiculous checkpoint save system. You know, so when those wall hopping aliens manage to get the drop on you, you can repeat the last 10 minutes of sneaking. Sigh. Speaking of which, expect to do a lot of that. Sneaking, that is. Unlike the first game, Crysis 2 does make stealth a less frustrating option. But there is only so many times one can play the “shoot and stealth behind wreckage” game before it gets tedious. And therein lies one of the biggest problems. There just isn’t enough variety in the battles. There is the occasional vehicle mission and mandatory boss to spice things up but by and large these are just tacked on fillers.

It would have helped if there was strong sense of narrative but there isn’t. Most of the time you are on your own. The only company you keep is the annoying voices in your ear piece telling you where to go and what to do. Who these people are and what their deal is remains a mystery to me even after finishing the game. The story is a loosely written mess that did little more than bore me. On the rare occasions that you do meet people, you will wish you were back on your own. Every person I came across was essentially a card board cutout with zero personality. And the voice acting does not help matters. Lines are delivered flatly with little or no emotion (with some exceptions). One small consolation is the music, which is surprisingly well done. The title score in particular is excellent. Overall, the sound in the game is of high quality. Gunshots sound just right, the aliens sound suitably otherworldly and metal crunches convincingly. Too bad it’s not enough to dull the pain of the biggest hurt of all.

You guessed it. The Nano suit. I honestly think Crytek should change the title of the game to “How to nerf a Nano suit”. The original Crysis made no bones about the fact that it was all about the suit. It was the real hero. The guy in it was just along for the ride. By all accounts, this worked just fine because the suit was truly awesome. In Crysis 2 however, it feels totally gimped. Super speed is little more than an average sprint and the super jump just, isn’t. It boggles the mind how the game has you jumping across buildings like a would be spider man only to be foiled by something as simple as this:

As for strength mode, granted, its immensely satisfying to grab a foe by the neck and send him flying into a wall, but why is it that the same “maximum strength” that can falcon kick cars across a street finds its nemesis in a wooden door? The fact that the suit can be “upgraded” does little to help in the beginning. Towards the end of the game, when the suit is tricked out, it does become a lot of fun. Its tragic that it takes too long.

The AI does a good job most of the time and had the suit actually been any good, it would have been truly wonderful to use its abilities to out jump and out run the competition. Unfortunately it’s just too easy to die in the first few hours. This effectively forced me to stealth my way through places I did not want to.

Everything I criticized the game for would have easily been forgotten had the Nano suit been implemented correctly. Unfortunately, it is easily the biggest disappointment in the whole game. And considering how Crysis 2 is essentially a long string of disappointments, that’s saying something.

The game does have its moments of brilliance now and then. But that only goes to remind the player of what a fantastic game it could have been. As it stands however, Crysis 2 has become (for me at least) the poster child for hype over substance.

I expected this sequel to address the complaints I had about its predecessor. What it ended up doing was take out everything that made Crysis fun in the first place and fill it with things that either have no place in a game like this, or just do not work. I hate to say this, because in many ways, Crysis was the PCs flagship title for FPSs. It is a game I desperately want to like. But the console bug has bitten it’s pretty little head right off. The gratuitous hand holding, pointless story, gimmicky mechanics and severely restricted world make it precisely the kind of game I have no interest in. And though I admit I enjoyed the last couple of hours immensely, it hard to forgive the initial hours of drudgery.

The multiplayer aspect of the game does redeem it somewhat. Going up against human opponents with their own upgrades to the Nano suit opens up new possibilities. Unfortunately, the ping I got playing from India made it difficult to give an unbiased opinion. I kept getting disconnected frequently which was annoying. Whether this was the game’s fault or just the initial server load, I cannot say. What precious little I did play was certainly enjoyable.

As is becoming the norm, the stats for multiplayer are persistent, ie, a player gains experience points which unlocks new ranks and bonuses. Crysis 2 also has a direct rip off of the kill streak rewards that Modern Warfare has made so famous. Although here, it isn’t as over powered. The tight level design actually works quite well in multiplayer where unleashing the suit’s powers becomes an act of sheer joy. The feeling of satisfaction I got from pulling of a powerful ground slam move to instantly kill three enemies from above is something to make one feel truly badass. It’s a pity the same sensation never came across even once in single player.

Rounds are hectic and short which make Crysis 2 perfect for thirty minute sessions. The single player may be an exercise in mediocrity but those looking for some human vs human action might find the game worth the money. Give the demo a go to see if it holds true for you.

Whether the multiplayer keeps me hooked for long still remains to be seen. But for the most part, it looks promising enough for a couple of months at least.

In closing I can only say that Crysis 2 is not a bad game. It’s just not nearly as good as it should have been. In an effort to cater to the console crowd, it has given up most of what made its predecessor special. Whichever way you look at it, the single player campaign is still a disappointment.

FINAL SCORE: 7.0/10 (Single Player campaign) 8.1/10 (Multiplayer)

Update: The game is now patched to version 1.8. The constant disconnects seem to have been fixed as have many minor bugs and crashes in the single player. The game runs stable now with nary a crash. There is a definite improvement in pings as well. It runs a lot smoother and as a result is more fun to play now.

Well hello world!
I should explain why I haven’t been seen here for a bit. There is no way of saying it without sounding lame but, for what it’s worth, here it is: I had way too much happening at once. The last 60 days have been beyond hectic. And a little unfortunate as well. Most of April had me making regular trips to the doctor and the medications prescribed left me drained. I actually had a couple of posts good to go in the last week of April but a WordPress update went horribly wrong and wiped out everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING. Luckily I had a backup that was good till the DA2 review so “Whew!” But the real kicker was the holiday that Naina (my wife) and I took to Canada which basically swallowed the entire month of May. So essentially, not only have I not played anything, I have been out of touch with all that’s been going on in the PC gaming world. The rest of the world too, to be honest.
That is all soon set to change however. The Crysis 2 review (which was one of the things that I lost in April) is being rewritten, and I have Dawn of War Retribution and Shogun 2 lined up next. As soon as I see a good deal on the Witcher 2, that’s getting done as well. But what I’m most looking forward to is Deus Ex Human Revolution. I’m actually having dreams about that one.
So yeah, sorry for the Houdini act. Stay tuned.

(Btw I’ve added a Facebook “like” button to all existing posts. So if you enjoyed reading some of the earlier stuff, do click it)