My First 7 Hours of Minecraft
The sun rose on my first day in Minecraft. I found myself on a beach on a clear sunny day, surrounded by a beautiful pixel-art landscape. I went for a walk. In the distance, a pig was hopping up and down the ledges of a small hill, fringed with little yellow pixelated flowers, in the shade of a small tree. I did what any normal person would do in this situation. Strode purposefully up to the pig and beat it to death with my bare hands, stripped the tree of all its leaves and tore up every flower I could find.
As I finished smashing the tree to pieces and collecting its wood, the sun disappeared below the horizon. “Ooh, night time!” I exclaimed gleefully, “I wonder what else I can terrorize under the shroud of darkness?!” Little did I know, that the placid and beautiful environment that is Minecraft had more to offer than simple violence against defenceless farmyard animals… and as a zombie prized open my skull to feast on my delicious brains, I began to wonder… what’s this game all about anyway??
So, what is Minecraft? That was the question I just couldn’t seem to get an answer to. I’d seen the YouTube vids of people making mine-cart rollercoasters, 1:1 scale models of the star ship enterprise or just messing around with the water, fire and explosive physics of the game world. “So it’s a sandbox?” I asked. Well, yes and no is the answer. Like any PC game worth its salt, Minecraft has opened itself up to the modding community who have produced countless skin packs, level editors and world generators, allowing a user to create pretty much anything they want. However to the casual observer, this might look a bit daunting and it’s easy to forget that as well as all the crazy modding and the awesome 200ft statues of Mario, there is a game in here as well.
If you’re like me and new to the whole phenomenon, then your first 20minutes of Minecraft will probably have been similar – a confused wander round the landscape, trying to interact with it until you inevitably die. You quickly learn that, if you want to survive, you’re going to have to build yourself a shelter and hide away from all the things that go bump in the night. You’ll need to harvest blocks of material from the environment in order to build your shelter. You can create tools to help you do this quicker by combining different in game elements: wood and stone in certain quantities and combinations will fashion you a sword or a pick axe. The meat you gain from slaughtering pigs can be cooked and eaten and the leather you pick up from killing cows can be used to make armour.
So you’ve successfully built your shelter and the beasts of the night are safe on the other side of your sturdy front door. What do you do now? I was loathe to go outside again and be part of the brain-buffet so I spent my time expanding my home. You can dig away at blocks in the walls and floor. If you harvested some wood during the day time, it can be combined with coal to make torches that will both light your home and keep the beasties from spawning inside next time the sun goes down. I dug down a little. Then a bit more. I fashioned myself some steps and added another room to my shelter. Within an hour or so I had a tunnel that stretched for what seemed like miles underground. I eventually broke through into a massive underground cave, complete with its own sub terranian river and lake. The deeper you go, the more you’ll find, including rarer, more durable materials that can be used to create more complicated items. The crafting system is huge and very simple to use. All manner of switches, rail tracks, mine carts, explosives, tools and armour as well as dozens of decorative items for your house can be created and there’s hours of fun to be had harvesting the resources to do just that.
The landscapes for each single player game of Minecraft are procedurally generated, which means they are different every time you play. The land to be explored above ground is huge and the day-night cycle means that if you want to do so, you’d best bring tools, weapons, armour and provisions. To get to those snow-capped mountains in the distance might take a couple of in-game days, meaning you’re going to have to set up a shelter & defend yourself until dawn.
The possibilities for single player adventures are vast. Minecraft also allows you to host or connect to a world, making multiplayer possible. I haven’t tried this yet but there are already some hilarious machinima popping up that demonstrate what is possible when teams of people work together to create their own towns and cities.
Minecraft is 25% off all the way through the beta phase. Although the game still sports its “Beta” tag it didn’t seem very buggy to me at all. You can pick it up at www.minecraft.net for $14.95. So do it!
Hitman: Blood Money – Retro Review
Christmas is finally over. With any luck you’ll have polished off the rest of the turkey sandwiches, dispatched the rest of the mince pies and signalled the end of the festive season with the resounding “thud” of a kilogram of fruit cake landing squarely in the bin. For me, the holidays ended on January 2nd, the end of another epic Steam Sale.
Among the multitude of cheap games I bought this year was Hitman: Blood Money, a real gem of game and a title which had somehow managed to pass me by when it was first released. Indeed, one of the great things about the Steam sales is the incentive for gamers to purchase (for next to nothing) classic games that they might have missed for whatever reason and perhaps would never normally play. Personally, I’m in the habit of only playing the latest titles, more for review purposes than anything else.
Hitman: Blood Money was originally released for Playstation 2, XBOX360 and PC back in 2006. The latest game in an excellent series, Blood Money takes a slightly different angle on narrative, instead of following Agent 47’s progress directly, your missions are a series of flashbacks taken from the conversations between a reporter and Jack Cayne, a wheelchair-bound ex-director of the FBI. The two discuss the assassin’s exploits and you play through each mission as they come up in conversation.
If you’ve played the previous games, you’ll already know the formula. You are given targets in a brief before the mission, a little bit of background information on their whereabouts and habits, which may or may not help you, and then you are unleashed upon them and their unsuspecting henchmen. Although you can complete each level by going “gunman” and blasting your way through the levels, true artistry comes in dispatching your targets whilst remaining completely undetected by their guards and the general public.
There are innumerable ways in which a target can be neutralised. You may want to get close, disguised as a bodyguard, and strangle the unsuspecting victim while he’s watching TV. You might feel like picking up a hammer from the garage and making the kill a little messier or you could always try being creative. The true beauty of the game is that there is no single path to victory when completing the missions and if you take the time to explore you’ll be rewarded with some ingenious methods of execution. Want to kill an Italian mafia boss from a distance? Sure, you could use a sniper rifle… or you could attach an anti-personnel mine to his cello and detonate it from a safe distance when he starts playing. Want to kill a famous opera singer? You could sit amongst the crowd and shoot him when he comes on stage, or you could replace the prop pistol they use in the second act with a gun that fires live ammo, then sit in the front row and watch the co-star do the dirty work for you!
Blood Money has aged well considering it was built for release on the PS2. Visually, the PC version still stands up against many games released last year. The way the narration is handled and the score, which sounds like it’s been taken from Ridley Scott’s “Hannibal”, go a long way to setting the scene, making the game feel more cinematic than previous iterations.
There is more replay value here that you might expect, with the opportunity to replay any completed mission on any difficulty setting, allowing you to test your skills as a killer in a bid to get a perfect score, or spending money earned from past contracts on upgrades for one of your weapons and taking a target down Rambo-style.
If you have the patience for a game that makes you think and rewards deviousness and sneakery, Blood Money is the game for you. One of the benefits of Steam is that you don’t have to let classics pass you by, only to be re-discovered much later at the bottom of a bargain bin in CEX. So Don’t!
Happy hunting Number 47.
Uncharted 3: Behind The Scenes
Originally aired on the PSN, this is part #1 of a behind the scenes look at Naughty Dog, the studio behind the smash-hit Uncharted series.
Resistance 3
Set in a brutal, alternate 1950s universe, America has been successfully conquered and destroyed by the deadly Chimeran race, forcing the last remaining human survivors to seek refuge in hiding. Players must take on the role of Joseph Capelli, the last surviving Sentinel from a clandestine military program, as he comes out of hiding to journey across a land of ruin in a heroic fight for survival against the merciless Chimera. In addition to an epic single-player campaign, Resistance 3 will offer two-player online or split-screen co-op through the single-player campaign, and a new, focused progression-based multiplayer experience.
Castlevania DLC Announced
Konami has announced two new downloadable content packages for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow which will feature all new areas, monsters, and brand new story lines.
In Castlevania Lords of Shadow ‘Reverie’ players will return to the Castle as Gabriel to help Laura, the former servant to the vampire Carmilla, in destroying the unruly evil that was previously kept in check by the recently slain Queen.
Once completed, fans of the series can download the second DLC entitled‘Resurrection’, which continues the story directly after the end of the game and gives some insight into the dramatic epilogue seen by players upon completion of the game, and Gabriel’s ultimate destiny. This will be larger in scope than the first add-on, as it features a final showdown with a very notorious enemy. Both packs are expected to launch in early 2011.
Tyrian 2000 Still Free for Christmas
For those of you that weren’t already aware – the awesome classic vertical scroller Tyrian 2000 is available absolutely free of charge from www.gog.com.
If that wasn’t enough – they are also giving away a DosBox copy of Beneath a Steel Sky, absolutely free of charge. All you have to do is go to www.gog.com and register.
Thanks GOG.com and merry christmas!
Portal 2 Box Art Revealed!
Recently named the most anticipated game of 2011 at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, and releasing worldwide in April 2011, Portal 2 will see players introduced to a host of fresh puzzles, devious new test chambers in never-before-seen areas of Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion from the originalPortal. The game’s all-new co-operative mode will feature its own unique campaign and characters, and will force players to both act and think together.
“Portal 2 is Valve’s most innovative title in the company’s history and will be launched with a first-class launch campaign this April,” said Doug Lombardi, vice president of marketing at Valve. “We’re excited to be working with Electronic Arts to deliver this title as we expand our platform strategy to include the Mac and PlayStation 3 platforms.”
Merry Christmas From Mads
As a special Christmas treat for all of us at theHundredth. Mads Peitersen has sent us the latest in his series of anatomical art. Titled “PS3 Anatomies”, his latest image shows the PS3 stripped to bone, blood and guts for our pleasure and amusement.
You can read my original interview with Mads here
Keep checking out his DeviantArt page for more awesome work. Mads, we all wish you a Merry Christmas!
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Review: Fable 3
It has been many years since the events of Fable II and Albion has entered an era of industry and commerce. Governed by a tyranical ruler, the skyline of Bowerstone has become picked and blotted with the smoke stacks of factories, her grubby-faced children forced to toil away in workhouses or beg on the streets.
Fable III casts you in the role of the prince regent, brother to Logan, the King. It isn’t long before your evil older brothers harsh treatment of the populace becomes too much to bear. You speak out against him and are forced to leave the palace in search of those who might help you depose and de-throne the tyrant-king.
Story and Characters
In Fable 3 you will travel the lands of Albion, gathering the support of various rulers, generals and revolutionaries to join you as you attempt lead a coup to take the throne from your brother. This story structure is very similar to Fable II, wherein your hero travels around Albion in the search for heroes to help you in a big final battle against an ultimate evil. It’s also not a million miles away from Mass Effect 2, which sees you gathering allies for a battle against some evil aliens or Dragon Age: Origins, which has you running all over the land, gathering support from its rulers against the Darkspawn. Even though it’s a popular RPG story template, I don’t really mind playing it but I was initially disappointed that Lionhead couldn’t come up with something a bit more original.
The story is nevertheless compelling and the characters you will meet along the way are funny and engaging. The storyline is much more linear than the other two games but this didn’t bother me too much since I really enjoyed how it was told and the beautiful backdrops it was set against. The all-star cast performed well and only added to the experience.
The shining jewel in the game without a doubt was John Cleese as Jasper the butler, who is with you throughout. Jasper is used primarily to introduce you to new features as they are unveiled in the game, this is a brilliant idea and works much better than a tutorial or on-screen prompts would ever do. One of Jaspers other functions, however, is to try and sell you DLC, which he will do regularly when there’s nothing else for him to say. I found this a tad annoying to be honest, but it’s still one of the best ways I’ve seen so far of in-game upselling. I wish games wouldn’t try to sell stuff to you for real money while you’re playing them, but I don’t think that particular niggle is going to disappear any time soon.
Character Progression
There have been some changes to the character progression in Fable III. This game does away with the skill screen from the previous games and instead puts you on a “road to rule” – a path that contains skills in chests that can be unlocked once you have earned enough “guild seals” from combat and questing.
In Fable II, skill points are awarded based on how an enemy is killed. For example, you kill an enemy with your gun, you get points to spend on your ranged weapons – developing your skill in that area. Not so in Fable III. Guild seals are awarded, no matter what method you use to dispatch your foes. Combos and combat bonuses for perfect fights have also been removed. This frankly baffling decision removes the incentive to mix up your attacks or focus your skills in a single school of combat. There’s no real reward for being a balanced fighter or developing your skills in magic to become an unholy sorcerer.
Your spells and melee attacks remain pretty much the same throughout the entire game. You can increase the power of your ranged, melee and magic attacks but when you do so, you upgrade the entire school. So you cant focus on being a powerful user of fire magic or a skilled pistol marksman. I felt this took a huge degree of personalization away from the character progression.
Combat
The ability to aim with ranged weapons has been removed too. In Fable II, it was possible to shoot a gun out of someones hand or blow their head off with a carefully aimed shot to the face. Not anymore. Ranged combat is now simply a matter of tapping the Y button. Very boring.
Your weapons will slowly change as you progress to reflect your personality. This doesn’t make up for the fact that you’re faced with little choice of weapons – There’s Sword or Hammer\Pistol or Rifle and that’s pretty much it. You can get a couple of variations of these from shops or quests but the selection of weapons with their varying levels of speed and performance from the last game are not present here. Neither is socketing, so you won’t be able to imbue your sword with fire and lightning any more. Towards the end of the game, my rifle did take on a firey aura but this was purely cosmetic and had no elemental effect on my shots.
Spell casting remains the same as in Fable II. You cast spells by charging them up and each spell has an area of effect or a direct damage version. The total number of spells has been reduced to five. The final spell, Blades, isn’t unlockable until the last portion of the game, which is a real shame and you no longer level up and improve individual spells with experience, they all level up at the same time when you purchase the upgrade on the “Road to Rule”. You can only take two of the five spells into the field with you and even then, they combine to make a single spell, which is basically both spells being cast at the same time.
Good and Evil
Character morphing is a feature that was present in the first two episodes of the series and a theme that runs throughout most of the games that Lionhead creates. There is something really cool about playing the game as a total douche-bag and slowly but surely, noticing little hints of evil creeping into your characters features. This doesn’t really happen as much in Fable III – Aside from you turning red instead of blue when you start casting spells. The main storyline is so linear that you rarely get the chance to make a good vs evil decision, leaving you to fart at residents of Albion or maybe killing a few villagers. The good and evil decision making is all condensed into the “King” stage of the game in which you rule Albion, but this section is over in a couple of hours of play, making it pretty much irrelevant.
Becoming A King
This is the final section of the game. I’ll try not to spoil too much, but if you don’t want to ruin anything and keep this section a surprise, you’re probably best skipping to the end of the review.
Becoming a King is what the storyline is driving towards. I played the game not really minding that they had stripped down the combat and casting system, because I assumed they were saving space on the disc or whatever for a feature-rich new game mode that would allow me to rule over Albion as King. The section of the game in which you become the king is pretty lacklustre to be honest, being no more than an on-rails quest line in which you are faced with a number of good or evil decisions that ultimately change key parts of the game world. This section is over quite quickly and only lasts for 1 year of game time for reasons I won’t go into. 1 year of gametime is depleted pretty quickly, in fact, the last hundred or so days just disappeared at the end, catapulting me into the final boss battle and the end of the game.
There’s no extra features on display here and if you’re hoping for some control over where buildings are built, the countrys economy or building an army outside of a few binary choices that come up in dialogue – be prepared for disappointment. I felt like this was Lionheads chance to really change the genre and the series, maybe mx-in some elements of the Black and White games and give the player real control over the world as they promised they would. I at least expected the game to run-on for longer than it did. The final boss battle is pathetic. So pathetic in-fact, that I didn’t even realise it was the final encounter until the end-game sequence started rolling.
In Summary
Fable III baffled me. Why? Well, they stripped out so much from the game, numerous features that I didn’t even mention in this review, but still I kept playing it. The story was very engaging and well told, its characters each unique and colourful in their own way, existing in a beautifully crafted world to a standard that other games don’t even come close to. However, it felt like it was no longer an RPG but just a story that you play through. Lionhead have distilled their game to the point that all you really have to do is follow the twinkling golden trail and mash a single button to complete it. After I reached the end of Fable III, all I really wanted to do was play Fable II to recapture all the awesome stuff they have removed.
In terms of gameplay, I think I get what they are trying to do. They are trying to make a beautiful game that is simple to play with all of what they consider to be bad about RPG games removed. They succeeded in doing this with Fable II. Fable III takes this ethos too far and leaves a good story, but unfortunately, a story you’ll probably only want playthrough once.
The Golden Joystick Awards 2010
This year saw the 28th annual Games Master Golden Joystick awards, hosted by Rich Hall. Dan and I went down to check it out, take some pictures, have a few drinks and bring you back the results.
Action/Adventure Game Of The Year: Assassins Creed 2
Shooter Game Of The Year: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Sports Game Of The Year: FIFA 10
Fighting Game Of The Year: Super Streetfighter IV
Puzzle Game Of The Year: World Of Goo
Soundtrack Of The Year: Final Fantasy XIII
Racing Game Of The Year: Forza Motorsport 3
Music Game Of The Year: Guitar Hero 5
UK Developer Of The Year: Jagex
Online Game Of The Year: League Of Legends
RPG Game Of The Year: Mass Effect 2
The “One To Watch” Award: Call Of Duty: Black Ops
Portable Game Of The Year: Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
Strategy Game Of The Year: Plants vs Zombies
Download Game Of The Year: Plants vs Zombies
ULTIMATE Game Of The Year: Mass Effect 2
Halo: REACH – Noble Team Map Pack Announced
You heard of Halo: REACH, right? Guess what – They have some DLC! I know!
A map-pack…. yes!! I know!!!
Seriously though – 3 maps for 800 MS points isn’t what I’d call a bargain. I really want to grumble more about this some more, but I’ll shut my stupid face. I know how you all like Halo.
Below is the Trailer for the new DLC and below THAT is a snippet from the accompanying press release, explaining the maps in a little more detail. The DLC is out on the 30th of November. Enjoy!
- Tempest – “Though we may never fully understand these devices, it is not our nature to leave ancient stones unturned.” This abandoned shoreline facility bends both sea and sky to an unnatural purpose, but the ground itself has quickly become another all too familiar battlefield. Though the two opposing symmetrical bases may never reveal their ancient purpose, both now offer makeshift shelter and access to strategic routes perfectly suited for small and large scale skirmishes alike. Tempest supports 8 – 16 players and offers a variety of modes including Free for All, Team Slayer, Team Objective and Big Team Battle. Tempest also provides players with a huge Forge palette, allowing them to create new custom map variants that can be shared with the community-at-large
- Anchor 9 – “Orbital dockyards provide rapid refuelling and repairs for a variety of UNSC vessels.” Within the confines of this low orbit dry-dock, UNSC craft undergo rapid repair and rearmament in support of the enduring war effort. But for the small squads of infantry who now fight over the mirrored interior hallways and open central hangar bay, this platform no longer provides any safe harbour – whether the close quarters combat is occurring inside or out of its artificial gravitational field. Anchor 9 allows 2-8 players to face off in game variants including Free for All, Team Slayer and Team Objective
- Breakpoint – “ONI officials believe the data buried within this artefact is key to our survival.” Atop this icy precipice, the Invasion continues. These modular archaeological labs were never intended to withstand such a large scale onslaught of Covenant military power, but the information being extracted here may prove vital to humanity’s survival. In response to the imminent Covenant threat, UNSC ground and air assets have been deployed to bolster entrenched Spartan countermeasures. This dig site must yield salvation, or it will become a grave. Breakpoint offers multiplayer mayhem for 8-16 players, and supports the Invasion and Big Team Battle game variants
BlizzCon: Diablo 3 Class – Demon Hunter
“She emerged from the shadows cast by the setting sun and wasted no time in dispatching the rest of my attackers. Her hands worked twin crossbows, launching a glowing arc of flaming bolts over my head, blanketing the hulking monsters.”
This years Blizzcon got underway this year with the announcement of the final class to be released with Diablo 3. The Demon hunter employs bows, arrows and knives to obliterate the denizens of hell with astonishing efficiency. At first glance, she appears to be primarily a ranged class. Her skills, as announced so far are:
Fan of Knives:
An AOE attack that damages groups of enemies, Ideal for when enemies get within melee range of the Demon Hunter. WoW players who play rogues will definitely recognise this skill and it is used to the same effect in D3.
Molten Arrow:
An instant-cast magical arrow of fire that can burn through multiple enemies and leave the ground smouldering in its wake. It looks useful for taking out hordes but also for creating temporary barriers, allowing the Demon Hunter time to put some distance between her foes.
Grenade:
A medium-range, instant cast AOE explosive attack.
Bola:
An instant cast spell that binds to an enemy and explodes a few seconds later.
Entangling Shot:
A shot that slows an enemy by binding it to enemies around him. Another technique the Demon Hunter can use to slow her foes before they can close on her.
Sonic Fan Remix
If you own a half decent PC and you’re a fan of the little blue hedgehog, you might be interested in trying this… Sonic Fan Remix is an entirely fan-made project that brings Sonic into glorious HD. The SFR team have recreated some classic levels from the franchise as well as adding their own twists to the classic 2D platformer. Seeing how the official Sonic 4 release got a fairly tepid response from the gaming community, this beautiful independent game might be just what Sonic needed.
Feedback from the initial free demo that was released this week is complimentary, but be warned, this first general release build is processor intensive. Looking at some of these screenshots, you can see why that might be the case.
I’d get hold of a copy sharpish if I were you. Only time will tell if this unlicensed game will survive the scything talons of SEGAs intellectual property lawyers. If it doesn’t, it may not be around for too long. If it does, it would be nice to see this out for the consoles although it would be in direct competition to SEGAS own Sonic 4 series. I’ll add this to my download list right now and prepare my eye-goo for imminent HD-multicolour meltage. More to come!
Homefront
So my Crysis 2 post from yesterday got me thinking… There is another FPS in the pipeline, Another shooter placing you in the shattered homestead of the United States, where the world has already taken its turn for the worst and the only option left to ensure your survival is sickening and gratuitous violence – dispensed from the barrel of a gun. Today I’m going to look at Homefront.
I’ve read the back-story and the press release, so I’ll fill you in on the basics. The game is set 17 years in the future in an America that has been brought to its knees by a global economic meltdown. Strangely enough, it isn’t China that comes stomping into Hollywood, but the evil and insidious Greater Korean Republic. The country is quickly turned into a warzone, its football stadiums turned into detention centres, its shopping malls shelter armoured attack vehicles. You will fight alongside regular men and women that have joined together to form a resistance against the Korean occupation force and a police state.
OK, so the story concept isn’t exactly knockout and it already conjures up scenes from the latter half of Modern Warfare 2. You’ll also be using weapons you might already be familiar with. Luckily for America, most of the resistance will already be quite proficient with the M16, the SCAR and the LMG, having previously used them in hundreds of first person shooters prior to the Korean occupation. The same goes for the Humvee, the Apache Helicopter or the Abrams Tank – all present in this game.
I’m unsure as to exactly why this is all so underwhelming. Perhaps the “not so far distant future” FPS is being done to death at the moment (probably). Maybe the present day theatre of war needs to be given a rest for a bit, like they seem to have done for World War 2. Maybe it’s a question of personal taste – I tend to lean more towards science fiction anyway, which is why Crysis 2 seems so much more exciting to me. I doubt we’ll be seeing and weird and wonderful aliens descend into the midst of the American-Korean conflict to cut their ranks asunder with bright green lazorz in Homefront.
“Homefront isn’t about going to war on the other side of the world or battling aliens from another planet; it’s about fighting foreign invaders in your own backyard and defending your right to live,”
David Votypka, design director
I guess what I really need from Homefront is a twist or a hook – a MacGuffin to really pull me in. One thing that has peaked my interest is that writer John Milius (Apocalypse Now) is involved so there is still hope for an explosive story – one in which I care enough about the characters to want to keep them alive. I really want to be proven wrong by this one, so THQ don’t let us down! (they rarely do, to be fair.)
Homefront will be available for PC, XBOX360 and PS3 on the 22nd February 2011
Crysis 2
Yes, that’s right, if you have the readies to splash out on a new monitor and you have an NVIDIA video card good enough to support it, Crysis 2 places itself amongst the lofty ranks of games willing to blow your tiny mind in 3 glorious dimensions. I’m still not 100% sold on 3D gaming yet, it still has a ways to go, but it DOES mean that when the plasma rounds of distant invaders tear up the clods of earth just in front of your toes – the mud and debris will seem to spatter on your glasses, making you duck slightly, swear loudly and return fire with maximum prejudity* which can only really be described as downright fucking awesome.
This version of Crysis 2 seemed to be the XBOX360 version, running on a PC. I was controlling it with keyboard and mouse but all the controls and calls to action on screen showed the familiar blue\green\red\yellow of the 360 joypad. This is good news for Console owners, because if they really can get it to run at that speed and resolution on a console, gamers accross the board are in for a real treat.
Besides swapping out the environment from a jungle in the West Pacific to the urban chaos we see in the screens and vids, Crysis 2 boasts a new Nanosuit that is as customisable as the weapons you carry. Offering you the chance to unlock a range of new supersoldier abilities and weapon\suit combos. Multiple playthroughs of the game will be needed to experience the full range of abilities offered up to the user.
Last but not least, multiplayer is being developed right here in England by Crytek UK. The usual FPS game modes look to be available here, plus a new game mode, Crash Site
“Crash Site is a team-based game mode where 2 sides compete for control of Ceph Drop Pods launched periodically into the map by dropships patrolling overhead. Teams score points by guarding the pods and keeping enemies at bay.”
All said I’m very excited about this release and am now off to play Crysis 1 all aver again – brimming with anticipation. Crysis 2 will be released on the 25th March 2011 for PC, XBOX360 and PS3. Available for preorder from March 22nd 2011. Make sure you buy it! Adam out.
*a word I have just created. Prejudity, verb – an awesome measurement of prejudice.
Killzone 3 In 3D!
The Eurogamer Expo had a few exciting upcoming releases for people to get their hands on, Fable 3, Vanquish and Castlevania, to name but a few. The highlight of the show for me had to be Killzone 3. Not only was it the first time I got to see some extended footage of the game, but also – it was my first time seeing a Playstation game in 3D.
The Demo we played sets the player on an oil platform in an arctic sea, waves crashing amongst huge ice bergs, the sound of the chill wind whistling past your head. You’re thrown right into the action, with Helghast immediately attacking you from sneaky little hidey-holes within the rig itself. After quickly dispatching them however, the real fun begins.
One of the more publicised additions to KZ:3 is the Helghast rocket pack. Rather than allowing you to fly, the rocket pack provides a boost to your normal jumps, allowing you to jump across large chasms or quickly lifting you off into the air in a firefight. You don’t stay up for long though and what comes up must come down, as Pat found as he slowly plummeted into the frigid water below the rig, much to the glee of the on-looking crowd. The short jumps add a new, slightly frantic dimension to the combat and should make for some interesting new multiplayer games. The Helghast use jetpacks too, making them tricky to kill when out in the open. I found luring them into a tunnel worked well but the AI isn’t easily tricked in this way. The new melee combat is brutal and dispatching an unlucky Helghast trooper who got too close by ramming a massive hunting knife into his eye is the perfect way to end an encounter.
The 3D works very well so far. What we were looking at this weekend was only an early alpha build, but it was already obvious how the PS3 3D was going to work. For Killzone, it made the HUD and blood spatter effects on screen appear to hover just above the rest of the game. The first time I took some bullets to the face was really impressive to see.
A good basis for comparison would, of course, be Avatar. If you went to see Avatar in 3D at the cinema, you’ve probably already experienced the type of 3D that Playstation will be offering with their games. For me, this seems to work best on the little nuances that make up the background, rather than the main action itself. For instance, I used the example of the blood on the screen or the HUD working really well in 3D, as does snow and ash falling in the air around you or smoke wreathing from an explosion. I didn’t at any time feel the urge to duck out of the way of bullets but the 3D effect did definitely enhance the experience. 3D gaming is still in its infancy but as long as it doesn’t end up being a flash in the pan, I think we can look forward to some very creative and immersive experiences.
Interview: CoolSurface.com
We have a real treat this week for all you burgeoning digital artists out there. Digital designers David and Sarah Cousens are the co-founders www.CoolSurface.com, a site that both showcases their formidable design talents and serves up some high quality design tutorials that you really should check out. We have included some links to tutorials within this article but these are only a small selection of what’s on offer over at www.CoolSurface.com . I took the opportunity to ask David Cousens a few questions about his work.
From looking through your online gallery, I get the feeling you’re more than slightly influenced by Comics and Videogames, is that a fair assumption?
Guilty as charged, I’m definitely big on geek culture. As a kid I loved video games and comics, as an adult I’m exactly the same. Well my voice is deeper and my stubble wasn’t as impressive when I was a kid but you get the point. The main difference I find these days is that I don’t just appreciate game play, I get inspired by the different visual approaches games are using these days. I love it when developers take a bit of a risk; for example Zelda: Wind Waker still looks good to me now, whereas Twilight Princess looks old-fashioned to me (and that’s me speaking as a huge Zelda fan).
I also find that video games are one of the best ways to unwind after a hard day at the graphics tablet. I’m currently playing Tales of Monkey Island on the PC, Prince of Persia (2008) on the Xbox and my wife/Illustration partner Sarah and I are currently getting near 100% completion on Lego Star Wars: The complete saga on the Wii. We always play our games together, it’s great to have a wife with the same interests!
Who’s your favourite Superhero?
The person that invented the Wacom Cintiq! Being able to draw directly onto the screen has made my life so much easier!
When I was a teenager I used to like Gambit from the X-Men the best, but he’s been slowly ruined over the last 20 years and has become far too whiney(little known fact: Gambit used to be cool!). I tend to like characters that are a bit cheeky and sarcastic -can’t think why! 
– so I always quite liked DeadPool for his irreverent nature.
You have a great portfolio of characters here. When you are trying to think-up a new character for a client, is there a process that you follow? Are there any resources that you tend to rely on again and again?
Thanks very much. Creating characters can be either very quick or very thoughtful. Some characters I’ve created have been the first doodle off the top of my head which is one of those rare occasions where everything just falls into place design-wise, which is great as you can pretend to be some sort of uber-genius as opposed to some very lucky moron!
However normally when making characters for clients it’s best to really think about the character before you start drawing anything. What sort of personality do they have? Are they happy, sad, angry or depressed? Do they have a job or any hobbies? How old are they? Are they physically fit or lazy? Where do they come from and where are they going? Once you start asking yourself these questions you start to come up with subtle things to add to their design that people won’t notice initially, but it will help them understand the character.
As far as resources you should look everywhere! Not just the most popular current trends (in fact you should avoid them if you can, otherwise your designs will start to look a bit generic). I look to old fairy tales and mythology, historical events, periods and people can be a good way of alluding to something in a character. Have you ever noticed the Empire characters in the proper Star Wars films all have bit of a Nazi/SS aesthetic to them? It’s a quick way to let the audience know you’re dealing with oppressive bad guys without having them wear a t-shirt that says “Bad Guy” which would be silly. Although that could work nicely in a comedy…
If I were to try to give one decent piece of advice to people designing characters, don’t add something just to be cool, try to have as many elements as possible have a purpose. Have you noticed that in 2008/2009 people were designing characters with tribal style tattoos just because it was cool at the time? They’re already starting to look a little dated because the tattoos have no meaning to the character.
For the younger or less experienced designers reading this article, do you have any tips or advice for them?
Try to learn as much as possible. I made the naïve mistake of only learning about comic pencilling because that was what I wanted to do and figured I didn’t need to know anything about colour, or Photoshop. It really limited me as a young artist and my work is actually quite painful to look at now, despite the fact I thought I was amazing back then (when in reality I was pretty dire).
When I started to branch out into learning other things, my art progressed by leaps and bounds. As an artist, the second you think you know everything is the second you should reconsider what you’re doing. Never stop learning!
Also, never swear in public forums and always be polite with everyone you deal with. Good manners go a surprisingly long way!
As an established artist, who do you look up to and respect?
I think I tend to look up to people that are either remarkably talented like Drew Struzan, who has a remarkable amount of skill, or people that aren’t afraid to share their knowledge. It sucks when you see a good artist that won’t share their techniques as they just seem afraid that they will fall behind if anyone else finds out their secret. I lose a lot of respect for people like that. I’ve always believed that if you know something, you share it as not only does it help other people out, also it forces you to raise your own game and keep improving.
There’s a huge amount of up and coming talent appearing on sites like DeviantArt. Is there anyone you’ve seen recently who has really caught your eye?
Nobody is springing to mind, but I think “up and coming” talent tends to hover under the radar of most people until the new person suddenly “levels up” and make something that’s quite attention grabbing and then they start to make a name for themselves. That’s normally when established artists start to take notice.
Being “established” is partly a state of mind in the art world. I read a great piece of advice that essentially said “Don’t say you’re an aspiring artist as people will never take you seriously. You’re either an artist or you’re not.” Which in it’s own Yoda-like way is very true; people treat you the way you act. When I listened to this advice I got over my fear of rejection and that little nagging voice that said “I’m not good enough yet” and started to act like I was ready to join the big bad illustration world. My first commission in the industry came within a week of not acting like I was “aspiring” anymore.
We’ve put a list below of tutorials that people can access via your site. Which would you say is a good introductory lesson to get people started in the www.CoolSurface.com tutorials?
I’d say the “Broken Link” tutorial is the most helpful tutorial overall as it tells you a lot of design hints as well as the technical Photoshop tricks. I didn’t have a word count on that one so I got to share anything that came to mind whilst making it. It gives you an insight into how I approach both the technical and conceptual sides to my images and explains things pretty well. Plus it’s rammed with silly jokes which always makes things go more easily.
That’s it for now. A big thank-you to David for taking the time out to answer some of our questions and for providing us with some great examples of his work. If you’d like to hire David or Sarah for any freelance work or if you’d like to look into any of their tutorials, you can visit www.coolsurface.com/about-2 for more information.
You can follow David on twitter: http://twitter.com/DavidCousens
Below, we’ve included some links to some of the choice pages of their site for you to check out.
Fable 3: Voice Acting – Behind The Scenes
Simon Pegg has been added to the star studded ranks of Fable 3. This new “Inside Lionhead” development diary introduces us, not just to Peggs character, but also to a myriad of others, both new and old, voiced by Wannamaker, Ross, Fry and Kingsley.
Fable 3 is slated to be released at the end of October and you’ll most likely see the number of posts on this website decline drastically as I plug myself into what is easily one of my most eagerly anticipated games of 2010. What’s more, Molyneux hasn’t been quite so vocal about this one, maybe because of his other engagements with Microsoft or maybe because he has finally learnt his lesson about overhyping his games to the point where they can’t possibly live up to the unrealistic expectations he has set for them. Either way, the Fable series is one of my favourites and I’m really looking forward to seeing more Lionhead videos before they Launch later this year.
Fable 3 will be available on XBOX360 and Games for Windows Live, late October 2010.
Check out our other Fable 3 Articles!
Fable 3: Developer Diary #1
Fable 3: Developer Diary #2
Fable 3: GDC Screenshots
Fable 3: Latest Screenshots
Civilization 5: Review
In order to write this review I completed a normal game on regular difficulty. My game took 10 hours, 2 bottles of cheap booze and a fuck-tonne of cigarettes.
Civ 5 for me is a halfway house between Civ4 and Civ Revolution, the simplified version of Civilization for the consoles, iPod, iPhone and iPad. I say this because, while the game has definitely been streamlined in comparison to Civ 4, it still has more depth and plays on a larger scale to “Civ Rev”.
So, what’s different? Well, let’s first talk about the graphics. If your PC has the hardware, Civ 5 can be amped up to stupendous beauty mode. The game is fairly scalable though, even offering the user the opportunity to use Direct x9 for some unfathomable reason.
In terms of game-play, several key changes have been made:
Hexagons! – Yes, the board tiles are now hexagons, meaning more sides are exposed and units can move in more directions. The importance of this will become clear further down the list.
City States – In addition to the other civilizations on the map, a second type of AI has been added to the game. City states begin as neutral cities that do not expand and are not trying to win the game. Instead, they set you mini quests to complete. They can be bribed into helping you in war or commerce and they can, of course, be captured – although this might have diplomatic repercussions.
You may no longer stack units – Single units are now built as squads of soldiers with health bars and experience points. Squads no longer fight to the death if evenly matched, a squad may engage an enemy multiple times before one of them is destroyed. Also, very annoyingly, your squads can’t move through an occupied tile, which can make moving your army across the board extremely frustrating at times, especially when attacking a city. The hexagon tiles do make this slightly less of a disadvantage though.
Cities now defend themselves – I personally don’t like this mechanic. Cities are now given a defence rating based on their size and what defensive buildings have been built. They get one strike at any enemy within their range via catapults. The problem with this is that cities can fall very easily. A problem I always had with Civ 4 was that it was nearly impossible to take cities without incurring massive losses – but this mechanic possibly swings too much the other way.
Sea transport units have been removed from the game – units instead gain an amphibious ability which magically turns them into a boat when they need to cross a water tile.
Siege units and some ranged units can now fire over multiple tiles – This is an excellent addition, making artillery viable for the first time ever in a Civ game. It is now possible to set-up a trebuchet behind a row of melee units and pound the enemy into submission. Very useful for holding key choke points on the map.
My crossbow defeats your tank! – Not any more. Thankfully, this is no longer possible. FUCK YEAH!
Religion? Gone! – Although you can build churches and temples, the whole mechanic of discovering religions and manipulating the AI through religion and missionaries is gone. There definitely seems to be more of a PVP focus in Civ 5 so I can understand this move, as religion didn’t really have any effect on a human opponent in Civ 4.
Culture Capture – I still haven’t managed to convert a city to my side through culture. I’m not sure if it is even possible anymore. The culture mechanic has been changed significantly now. A player no longer adopts a type of rule, like monarchy or despotism, instead they adopt social policies which gradually unlock different culture bonuses over time. The social policies look a lot like skill trees from MMOs. A Player may mix and match their policies to create potentially hundreds of different combinations of bonuses for their Civilization.
Pay For Your Influence – The area of influence generated by a city still grows over time depending on the familiar limiting factors of food, production and luxury resources. New the player can further extend their influence by spending gold on adjacent tiles. This will no doubt be crucial to rush play in PVP.
In summary – I’m 28 year old male and as such I am becoming more and more resistant to change. I greet re-boots, remakes and improvements to my old favourite games with ever increasing grumpiness and suspicion. I think the changes to Civ 5 (especially to units and combat) are controversial but not unforgivable and, although it is now a lot easier to lose your cities to invading hordes, the changes to combat make the game much quicker and emphasise the need to counter units properly. Civilization 5 is an excellent addition to the series and if you spend the time to learn the new play mechanics you will be rewarded with a more streamlined game that maintains all the charm and deviousness of the original.
Let them eat WAR!
Sonic 4: New Casino Reveal Trailer
Sega revealed a preview video of the latest zone for Sonic 4 Episode 1 – Casino Street. I’m loving this video. Bright, vibrant colours & break-neck speed. Everything my primitive brain needs to keep it focussed on anything for more than a few minutes. The zone really is classic Sonic, the level design echoing those tricky levels of yesteryear that had my younger self glued to the TV, foaming at the mouth in exasperation as I repeatedly killed myself at high speed in that jungle level over and over again.
Sonic 4 has been delayed again as the team add “extra polish” to what seems to be an already gleaming edition to the true, non-3d Sonic series. Still scheduled for late 2010, You’ll be able to pick Sonic 4, Episode 1 up on XBLA & PSN in multicoloured HD goodness, also available on WiiWare and the App store. For more info, check out the Sonic 4 microsite or see our Sonic 4 preview article, right here.
(screenshots taken from the XBLA\PSN version of Sonic 4)
