Sam Fisher is back. And he is really, really mad.

To anyone that had played the older Splinter Cell games, this would be reason enough to celebrate. Except for one little detail. This time around, ol Sam is up against a foe that renders him helpless. This time, the enemy is so abhorrently vile that even a hard ass like him can do little but look skywards and scream a litany of curses that would make a sailor go crying home to his mommy. I am of course, referring to publisher Ubisoft and its implementation of what must be the worst DRM ever conceived. I ranted about this in detail earlier but it bears repeating. This thing is obtrusive, insulting, horrendous and just plain wrong.  Before getting into the review of the game proper, I must get this out of the way. Splinter Cell : Conviction has the sort of DRM that can render the game unplayable. The only time I could play through it was at night when my ISP wasn’t as “busy”. For some reason, Ubisoft thinks that looking at this every 40 seconds (I am not exaggerating) is fun:

So there. It seems Ubi has learned nothing from the Assassin’s Creed 2 backlash. For the record, I tried playing the game across 3 systems and 2 separate internet connections (both Airtel broadband) and the result was the same. It was impossible to play during the day. Period.

So, if you are ok with this and STILL want to know more about the game itself, read on.

Sam Fisher (the hero of the Splinter Cell franchise) is nothing if not a modern day ninja. As an operative for Third Echelon, he has access to the kind of weaponry and gadgets that would make James Bond jealous. He’s acrobatic, athletic, has more close quarter moves than Steven Segal and can snap necks like twigs. Hell, slap a cape on him and he could serve as a replacement for Batman.

However, the Splinter Cell series has always been about stealth above everything else. Gizmos and bad assery aside, an ideal mission would have Sam going deep inside enemy territory, get the job done and then get the hell out without anyone even knowing he was there. It’s here that Conviction takes the franchise in a new direction. Yes, you still have to stay in the shadows but, this time Sam is out for blood. It’s no longer about remaining unseen to hack a computer. It’s about remaining unseen till the time you decide to unleash hell. Sam is not an undercover operative but a panther stalking its prey. This might upset die hard Splinter Cell enthusiasts but does make for much more action oriented style of play. It’s interesting that most of those who came down hard on this change would not be bothered if the game lost its “Splinter Cell” tag. It is also important to note that most of the stealth is centered around finding cover, i.e., sticking close to objects a la “Gears of War”. To those of you who are rolling their eyes at the words “action oriented”, fear not, stealth is still of vital import. Going in guns blazing will get you killed almost every time. If you are still unconvinced, take comfort in the fact that there are parts where being seen means an instant mission fail.

Conviction does a passable job with its story. It’s typical of the franchise, i.e., conspiracy, technological doomsday and back stabbings aplenty. Don’t expect anything that stands up to close scrutiny however. Where the game shines is in its presentation. Conviction nailed this one. Gone are the old load out screens and mission briefings. This time, there is nothing to take you out of the action. Objectives are projected onto the scenery in a visually pleasing way complete with occasional flashbacks. It’s something that’s never been done before and is undoubtedly cool. Even the trusty old “light meter” is gone. Now, if Fisher is hidden, the game switches to black and white (except for targets and important environmental objects). The engine is pretty and the moody lighting adds to the overall somber feel of the story. Lip syncing could have been better but this is a small gripe. The soundtrack is superb and adds a whole new layer to the tension prevalent in the game. Voice work is excellent and Michael Ironside as Fisher is awesome as ever. Production levels for the game are obviously very high.

The controls for the most part are smooth and adapt well to a mouse and keyboard set up. The only thing that annoyed me a little was the fact that since almost all object interaction takes place with the space bar; the player needs to be very mindful of where Sam is looking. I frequently found myself opening a door instead of “peeking under” as I wanted to.

Sam is just as agile as ever, his repertoire of moves is now complemented with the ability to trigger “executions”. Essentially, mini quicktime events that when triggered by the player, result in instant kills. Players earn “execution points” whenever they take out an enemy with a stealthy melee attack. These points can then be used to “mark targets” (to a maximum of 4 depending on equipment) for instant headshots with the press of a button. This comes in very handy when you have a few machine-gun toting bad guys behind a door you absolutely must go through. It might seem like a gimmick but is pretty much essential as it is virtually impossible to go through most missions without leaving at least a few corpses behind. Plus, it looks cool as hell. As I mentioned earlier, stealth is important and a carefully timed execution can mean the difference between a text book mission and having every alarm in the joint go off. Especially when you consider that bodies can’t be carried anymore (WTF?!).

In the event you are seen, you still have a chance of evasion. The game will show a ghost image of your last known position that enemies will approach. This can actually be used as an effective baiting technique for more aggressive players. The AI is surprisingly competent and goons will often try to flank you and gain some sort of tactical advantage in combat. That being said, they can act as lobotomized morons on occasion. One thing that began to get old real quick was their constant chatter. Listening to repetitive sound clips is not exactly immersive. I actually ended up killing a few of these potty mouths just to shut them the hell up.

Unlike the earlier versions, you can’t interrogate anyone you want. Close quarter take downs will result in either instant kills or using someone as a human shield. The interrogation is reserved only for key NPCs that you will end up beating the crap out of. Objects can be used to interrogate people, usually by bashing their heads into them. It’s something similar to what was seen in the “Punisher” title a few years ago only, less gory. My only complaint here was that none of the interrogations were as visually shocking as the first one you carry out in this game. This seems like a missed opportunity.

Level design is good. With the whole game being set in urban environments, I was a little concerned that different levels will end up looking repetitive. Thankfully this is not the case as Conviction takes the player across varied urban themes. Industrial warehouses, hi-tech buildings, war torn areas, commercial offices, amusement parks, even daylight city areas and more are covered. Add to this the multiple ways in which Sam can approach objectives and you have good incentive to go replay most levels and try different things. This is a good thing as the main single player campaign only lasts about 5-6 hours.

The game meshes the single player achievements nicely with a point system that carries over its rewards into the multiplayer side of things. The player earns points for many actions in the game, taking down targets with executions for example. These points can then be used to upgrade weapons and equipment in the single player campaign. The upgrades will then be available in multiplayer. So if you really like that fully upgraded MP5, you can use it in multiplayer.

Sadly, useless matchmaking and pointless DRM prevented me from sampling any of the multiplayer action. Whatever I have heard about this on the console side of things promises to be enjoyable but the complete omission of text or voice chat is unforgivable.  It becomes even harder to take when you consider that this only applies to the PC version. It’s a pity because I was looking forward to the co-op campaign more than anything. As it stands, however, I have been unable to connect with anyone online. Even if I do, I see little point in teaming up with someone I can’t even communicate with. I will try convincing one of my buddies to give this a shot on LAN and report back if this changes.

All said and done, I enjoyed the time I spent with Conviction. The single player was short but fun. If it wasn’t for the fact that as of now, the multiplayer is just not playable, this would be well worth the money (DRM will not affect my score). As it stands, it’s merely good. A bit more polish and this would have been truly spectacular.

Sorry Sam ol buddy, sometimes even victory can taste like ashes.

Finale score : 8.2/10

I hate consoles. I really, really do. The “whys” are way too many to list. Suffice to say that the core reason is what consoles have done to games in general (read dumb them waaaay down). Well that and Deus Ex 2. I will never forgive the X box for blasphemy like that. But what I hate more than consoles is Macs. Don’t get me wrong now, I’ve got nothing against Mac users or all of Apple’s devices (I’m currently on my 4^th iPod), but I do hate the whole “we are the best and anyone who disagrees is a moron so fuck you” attitude. Hence, I was a little taken aback at Valve’s decision to support the Mac with their new Steam (beta) client. The state of PC gaming being what it is, i.e., vibrant but not as economically viable as a platform, I saw the decision as negative. Why you ask? After all, since all Macs are essentially PCs now, it should be seen as positive step for the PC games industry. Sure. There is just one little problem.

Macs are CONSOLES!!!

Think about it, once you buy a Mac, you have a piece of hardware that you can NEVER upgrade (Sorry Mac fanboys, upping the RAM or HDD isn’t much to shout about).  Just like consoles. You can add tons of peripherals, but never upgrade. Again, just like consoles. But once the nerd rage played itself out, I realized something; Valves decision is actually going to be a good thing. My hatred for consoles notwithstanding, there are some genuine reasons as to why they dictate the direction of the games industry. It’s a lot easier to code for a platform that is “locked”. The hardware stays unchanged, the core OS is the same, the same tools are used over and over again till developers become very efficient with them. On the consumer end, it’s a lot simpler to hook up a PS3 to a TV than it is to keep track of which driver is compatible with a game on whatever version of windows. And plopping in a DVD and playing is always better than having to wait for 10 gigs of data to be installed on a hard drive. If anything, its always boggled my mind that the Mac has never taken advantage of its unique position. The power of a PC along with the convenience of a console? That’s got to be a win right there.

The point is I don’t care what platform I’m playing on. The games are all that matter. I want to be able to actually use my skills and headshot an opponent than have the stupid program “assist” me. I like having the option of binding any of a keyboard’s 104 keys to any in-game action. I expect any game I purchase to take full advantage of modern tech rather than be hampered by the limitations of 5 yr old hardware. I demand that the game have some semblance of AI rather than shit like this.

As long as developers are not forced to gimp their titles because of hardware, I’ll be happy.

Pay attention, if you will, to the following lines of dialogue from the single player campaign of Battlefield Bad Company 2 (BC2 from here on):

Sweetwater (Yes that’s his name): “If this were a snowmobile race I’d take you down!”

Haggard (Again, that’s his name): “It’s not a snowmobile. Snowmobiles are for sissies!”

That should make things crystal clear to everyone that from the outset, BC2 is pitting itself as THE rival to the Modern Warfare (MW) series. Ever since Infinity Ward decided to give PC Gamers the finger with MW2, the community has been looking at EA/Dice for revenge. So have they succeeded? Well… the answer is a clear, albeit reserved, yes.

To the uninitiated, this is the lowdown: You play as Preston Marlowe, one of 4 characters from Bad Company, a bunch of hardass grunts with a penchant for getting in way over their heads. The single player campaign takes you through a silly story about a super weapon falling into the hands of the Russians. And the Russians (surprise, surprise) are hell bent on invading, well, pretty much any place that isn’t Russia. Let’s just say the story is passable, i.e., not as bat shit crazy as MW2. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to go to different places, meet different people and then proceed to blow em up sky high. That’s good because stuff blows up real pretty in BC2. Before playing the game I had dismissed the hullabaloo around the “destructible environment” feature as mere hype. Playing through it, however, it became apparent that it truly does add a whole new facet to the standard FPS dynamic. Sure, you can hide behind a wall to regain your health whilst in cover (the dumb AI doesn’t really know what “flank” means) but you can bet your bullet riddled ass that the wall won’t be there for long. There is no dearth of explosions in this game. Adding to the visuals is the ZOMG level of sound design. The devs did nail this one. I will not hesitate to say that this is the best use of sound I have seen in any shooter till date. Bullets whizz by, vehicles rumble ominously, explosions distort hearing and it’s hard not to get immersed. Hell, there were more than a couple of times I poked my head out to deliberately get hit by rockets. Yes, it’s THAT good. Where the game falters though, is the sheer predictability. There are some surprises throughout the 10 hr campaign but none enough to blow your socks off. The voice acting is good; unfortunately the script is straight out of a B grade Hollywood action flick. I almost feel guilty for enjoying it as much as I did. The humor in the game works sometimes. And when it does, it’s genuinely funny. Other times it will make you roll your eyes. The dialogues do an OK job of adding some personality to your motley crew, whether you like that personality, is, strictly a matter of personal preference. Mission variety is adequate enough but nothing we haven’t seen before. There were some annoying instances where certain scripted events would not trigger when they were supposed to, but these were rare. The game ran stable for me, but my 3 yr old rig did struggle with the graphical goodness on offer. Switching graphics to low made everything look like crap but it ran fine after that. Can’t fault the game for this however, my usual test system is long due for an upgrade.

All in all, the single player campaign is above average, certainly enjoyable but, there are some annoyances that mar the experience. Hardcore FPS vets have every right to complain about not seeing anything new, but the more casual amongst us will still be entertained immensely.

The real deal however is the multiplayer. And this is where things get a little tricky. The internet was rife with complaints of connectivity problems and Punkbuster (man how I HATE that thing) issues. My personal take is that any multiplayer game is bound to run into teething problems the first few weeks and by all reports, Dice has had a rocky launch. Regardless of how much we want this to be a trouble free part of the PC experience, it never really is. I did have a hard time connecting to any games, (before the patch), mainly because servers were always full. And yes, the mess that is Punkbuster (seriously, why does the damn thing even exist?) did boot me out for no reason a number of times. The server browser is pretty basic as well, I would have liked to see a lot more filters. Add to that a few random crashes that and well… you get the idea. However, when I did play online, it was hands down, the best squad based online shooter experience I have had since UT2004’s Bomber Run. Weapons feel meaty and solid, lining up shots is a skill that’s hard to master, the vehicles are a blast and every kill feels satisfyingly hard earned. The learning curve is a little steep, especially with the vehicles, but the massive battlefields with multiple ways of approaching an objective make it thoroughly enjoyable. The destructible environment makes camping hard to do (as it should be) and the game forces you to play as a team. Each of the 4 classes (Assault, Medic, Recon and Engineer) have their strengths and weaknesses and it’s a sure bet that a new player will settle on a favorite pretty soon depending on his/her style. Though would be Rambos can go solo (Recon excels in this imo), a quick look online will show you that the teams that do well consistently are the ones that play as a unit, with all classes playing their part. The top of the leader boards are full of players that did not necessarily get the highest kills, but the ones who helped their teams the most, i.e., by healing, repairing, assisting squad mates and taking out key targets. Level design is solid, with different maps catering to different classes and approaches (there are a couple of unbalanced maps however). The action never lets up and constant leveling up in “Rank” and frequent unlocks for weapons and equipment will keep things fresh for a long time.

One thing I will call out Dice on is the complete lack of a tutorial for the multiplayer. Most people will end up being frustrated with it purely because they will treat this as your average run of the mill shooter, which it most definitely is not. If you are looking for a good guide for beginners, you can find it here. Oh, and even though dedicated servers are available, LAN play is out… sort of.  If you want a friends only game, you will have to enable a password on one of those.

Having a building you were sniping from crumble around you, feeling the rumble of a tank that did it and hearing yourself yelling “MEDIIIIC!!” before being pulped by a mortar attack is something you have to experience to believe. I once saw a squad mate head-shot a pilot that was eating us for lunch, the chopper he was in crashed into our objective destroying it completely. Just like that, we won the round. I can’t think of any other game I have played where I witnessed anything half as cool.  Bottom-line, the multiplayer is awesome.

Unless you were looking forward to BC2 purely for the single player experience, there is no reason to complain. The connectivity issues and random crashes will get resolved in time (the game has already been patched once resolving many of the connectivity issues). If you ever miss your childhood days of playing “Army” in the backyard, run to your nearest retailer and buy this game.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10 (Single Player campaign) 9.3/10 (Multiplayer)

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.