Video Games Archive

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E3 2010 Preview: Goldeneye Wii Remake Multiplayer

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 21, 2010Posted in: Video Games

Let me tell you a shameful secret of mine: I never played Goldeneye 64. Well, substantially anyway. I dabbled in it a couple of times, mainly at large social gatherings and never for an extended period of time. I was too busy being narrow minded with my elitist “mouse and keyboard 4 life” worldview as a teenager. But I did understand that it was (and still is to many people) the most beloved console FPS ever. With this in mind, I had a go with 4-player split screen multiplayer for Eurocom’s (published by Activision) upcoming remake of Goldeneye for the Wii at E3.

Now, I couldn’t tell you if this game fully recaptured the magic of the original N64 Goldeneye, but I can tell you that the game was a fairly fun Wii FPS. Activision smartly had a setup of Wii Classic Controller Pros (depicted above), which are basically Wii Classic Controllers with “love handles.” The handles make a big difference in ergonomics, especially for FPSs. It doesn’t feel quite as natural as an Xbox 360 controller for the genre, but definitely brings the Wii on par with the Playstation Dualshock. Having two analog sticks changes the gameplay experience too, but probably for the better.

Goldeneye Wii did seem rough around the edges though, at least in 4-player split screen. I noticed that there were no on screen notifications. There were no kill announcements nor any on screen score report of any sort so it was hard to know how I was doing at a given time without bringing up the intrusive scoreboard. It also didn’t seem as if there were any items on the level to pick up as well. Whether this was intended or just a function of being a demonstration build was unclear. Unsurprisingly, frame rates also seemed slightly sluggish (yet playable) with a 4-player split screen compared to a 2-player split screen. I’ll chalk this one up to “demo build” and “Wii hardware”

Like the original title, you can select from many different Bond characters to take into deathmatch. I remembered that the infamous Oddjob model had some sort of unfair advantage, which my opponents at the booth confirmed with a question for the Activision rep. Apparently his model is no longer harder to hit, but he does have the ability to throw his hat for an instant kill. To counteract this, he can’t throw grenades, like the other play models can. I found the hat throwing not too big of an advantage as it takes some time to wind up and does leave you vulnerable should you miss. I did manage to get a few kills like this though and it felt mildly satisfying, kind of like a lite-humiliation kill.

Hopefully, Eurocom will polish the game up when the game is finally released. Given past Wii FPS entries, I don’t think I’d expect Goldeneye Wii to compete with the big boys, namely Call of Duty and Halo on the 360/PS3. However, it could be a great source of nostalgia for those who cherished the original. I’d be curious to see how those fans receive this remake when it releases.

Oh, and I finished the 10-kill limit deathmatch in second with 8 kills. I blame trying to go for the hat kill too much.

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Microsoft Confirms Kinect Pricing At $150 – Internet Goes Into Conniptions

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 20, 2010Posted in: Games Industry, Video Games

This morning, we finally got confirmation on pricing for Microsoft’s Kinect peripheral for Xbox 360. Now, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to people who noticed that Gamestop had posted the $149.99 price on their website right around E3 time last month. However, Microsoft had been strangely quiet on confirming this price point until today.

Here are the two ways you can obtain Kinect this fall:

  • For anyone currently owning an Xbox 360: Kinect peripheral w/ Kinect Adventures game, $149.99
  • For anyone without an Xbox 360: New Xbox 360 w/ 4GB memory storage and matte finish + Kinect peripheral w/ Kinect Adventures game, $299.99

Basically, if you are a new Xbox 360 owner, you can grab both for a $50 discount off MSRP. Microsoft also announced that all first-party Kinect launch titles would be retailing for $49.95.

Now, after reading gaming community reactions to this, one would think that Microsoft had done the video game equivalent of leaving Cleveland to join the Miami Heat. The vast majority of commenters and posters on notable video games communities voiced their extreme displeasure at the price point for Kinect. Many labeled Kinect as a “rip-off” and made comparisons to Sega’s ill-fated 32X peripheral addon for the Genesis. One poster on the neoGAF called it “A disaster of Kin proportions.” Even Microsoft’s own community site, Major Nelson, wasn’t immune to the backlash.

What went wrong? Just one year ago, Kinect (then called Project Natal) was the darling of both core gamers and the mainstream media. People were drinking the Kool-Aid of limitless possibilities in hands-free gaming combined with a futuristic “Minority Report’-esque interface for viewing media content.

Two factors led us to this point.

First of all, the launch software simply is not compelling, at least to core game players. The best game Kinect has going for it is a dance game which admittedly is quite good, but may not have quite the same appeal to Johnny McCallofDuty. The other software is widely viewed as non-gamer content (fitness titles and kids software) or glorified Wii mini-game collection knock offs.

Secondly, Microsoft bumbled the pricing information of the product. When first announced, many people were estimating that Kinect would cost at least $199.99. Pricing seemed to be secondary to the wonder and amazement that such a product existed and could be obtainable by the consumer.

In October of 2009, Wedbrush Morgan analyst, Robert Pachter, guessed the price of Kinect (then Project Natal) at $49.99 (!) with a worst cast scenario of $99.99. Gamers were thrilled. Not only was this device imminent, it would be affordable too!

Flash forward to June of 2010 where online retailers such as Gamestop and Amazon put up the Kinect for pre-order at a $149.99 price point. Grumblings were heard throughout the gaming community, but most were holding out for hope that Microsoft would change the pricing back to at least $99.99  when it gave an official announcement. They did not.

Clearly, Microsoft needed to sell the device at the $149.99, but knew that community backlash was already brewing. They tried to compromise by bundling in Kinect Adventures in with the peripheral. (If we assume Kinect Adventures would have cost $49.99 separately, one could derive a $99.99 price for the device and add the $49.99 for the game to get to the $149.99 price point) However, this seems to have gone largely dismissed by the community because it’s a title that no one desired nor was it perceived as being worth the full retail price tag of $49.99.

If it’s one thing people don’t like, it’s the feeling of being bait and switched on pricing, even if said pricing was never confirmed by the manufacturer. Contrast this with the public response to iPad pricing prior to launch.

Popular opinion before Apple launched the iPad was that it would be priced around the $800-$1000 mark. The Wall Street Journal published speculation in early January of 2010 that the device would cost upwards of $1000. When Apple finally announced the product with a starting price point of $499, it was lauded as being “affordable” and public perception was very positive.

Some conspiracy theorists out there feel that Apple “leaked” this misinformation to the WSJ to manufacture this positive perception. Whether or not this was engineered by Apple or predicted organically, the fact remains that it worked. iPad pricing is a virtual non-issue in terms of internet debate fodder. Microsoft would have done well to haved learned from this.

My Take:

Would I have liked the Kinect to be priced at $99.99? Sure, I mean, paying less is always good. Does $149.99 turn me off from purchasing it? At the end of the day, I don’t think it does. I’m still in love with Dance Central and even at the $200 price it’ll take to play it, it’s no worse than shelling out $200 for a plastic instrument Rock Band bundle to me.

The main concern prospective buyers should be having is with the apparent dearth of quality software titles, at least for solo players. If you’re a core gamer who has no interest in dancing, you suddenly have no reason to buy the Kinect at launch, unless you want a slightly clumsy, yet cool feeling way to navigate your media on your Xbox.

If you’re a casual social gamer or want something kid-friendly, then you have a more compelling decision to make this fall. I firmly believe that total hands free gaming is a lot more intuitive and exciting than having to deal with an a peripheral, at least in a social gaming setting. It’s a much more fluid experience to just move people to and from the front of the TV, rather than having to deal with calibrating and passing along multiple controllers. It’s also a better experience for non-gamers to skip having learn how to use any controller in the first place, no matter how simple it is.

Either way, I still believe Microsoft has a promising product here with the Kinect. The idea of hands free interfaces is a mighty compelling one to me and I’ll most likely be in on the ground floor if only to support the initiative. And because I’m a shameless early adopting gadget freak.

Most people, I’d imagine though, would be best served with the “wait and see” approach with Kinect.

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E3 2010 Preview: Donkey Kong Country Returns

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 19, 2010Posted in: Video Games

Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii courtesy of Retro Studios (Metroid Prime).

That’s pretty much all you need to know about the game. If you have fond memories of playing Rare’s beloved Donkey Kong Country on your Super Nintendo, you’ll feel right at home in this 2D sequel on the Wii.

It’s clear that Nintendo didn’t tune the difficulty of this game to be as easy as, say, Super Mario Galaxy. One of the first things I noticed about DKCR was that I couldn’t sleepwalk through the game. Donkey Kong has three hearts and once he loses all three, you have to replay the level. Replenishing these hearts isn’t as easy as picking up the coins being thrown about you in Mario Galaxy as hearts seemed to be few and far between. Perhaps this was compounded by the fact that I felt extra pressure to play perfectly because my demo time was constrained on how many lives I lost. Nevertheless, I consider myself a fairly competent platformer, and was definitely challenged throughout the demo.

The E3 demo consisted of a 3 levels of which I was given the choice of playing 2. I first had a go with a boss stage involving a typical “jump on his head three times” encounter that I thought I would breeze through, but ended up having to concentrate to defeat. The encounter involved platforming boss mechanic standbys such as “run under the boss as he jumps really high” and “avoid the charging boss so he hits the wall and you can jump on his weak point.” I was thrown off, though, by the unpredictability of when the boss would leap high enough for me to run under and how quickly he would recover from the stun of running into the well. The other level was a standard side-scrolling platforming level that reminded me of the first level of the original Donkey Kong Country.

Donkey Kong has three moves he performs in the game: ground pound, big breath blow, and a spin attack. You may be familiar with these moves if you’ve played Super Smash Bros. Each is done by pressing a particular combination of buttons on the nunchuik and Wiimote. It’s not as simple as the sideways wiimote 2-button action, but is almost there. Donkey Kong can use the ground pound to make certain items fall from trees or as an attack against enemies. The  breath maneuver can be used to blow the leaves off plants and flowers, uncovering hidden items. You can guess what the spin attack is used for.

Something new to the series is the utilization of Diddy Kong as a “helper” rather than a tag team partner. Once you break Diddy out of a “DK” labeled barrel, he will ride on top of Donkey Kong with his J=jetpack. Controlling Donkey Kong still, you’ll be able to hover for a short time while also being able to fire peanuts from Diddy’s cannon. More importantly, Diddy will also add two hearts to your life meter, increasing your survivability. Lose those two extra hearts, though, and Diddy will disappear again.

Although it was not playable at the show, I was told there would also be a 2 player co-op mode with the second player controlling Diddy. Not many more details would be given by the Nintendo rep, so we’ll have to see what this will entail exactly. It definitely sounds like something that could be fun, although I hope it’s not as passive as Super Mario Galaxy’s “co-op” play.

Other than that, the game is pretty much what you would expect from another entry in the Donkey Kong Country franchise. Nintendo has even brought back the iconic collectibles from the original franchise as well. You’ll want to replay levels to collect bananas, letters spelling “K” “O” “N” “G”, and also golden puzzle pieces. (My friendly Nintendo rep would not disclose what these are for yet)

Nintendo has had great success reconnecting with it’s 2D platforming roots in New Super Mario Bros Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns looks to continue that streak. If you’re a Wii owner who’s nostalgic for the ol’ DKC or just love 2D platformers, you’ll probably want to give this one a look this fall. Just keep in mind it’ll be a tad more difficult than some of the more recent platform games.

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E3 2010 Preview: Metroid: Other M

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 14, 2010Posted in: Video Games

Ever wish you could hear Samus’s voice in a Metroid game? Metroid: Other M (MoM) makes those wishes come true.

Metroid games have traditionally been about solitary exploration and incidental narrative through found logscanning, but MoM represents a distinctive departure for the longstanding franchise with it’s heavy emphasis on cinematic storytelling. Virtually every character is voice acted as well, which is something Nintendo doesn’t often do for their games.

I almost felt guilty for indulging in MoM’s lengthy cutscenes at Nintendo’s E3 booth. It felt a little unsettling at first, but I quickly became accustomed to this New Metroid Order.

Without giving away story spoilers, MoM sheds a spotlight onto Samus’s origins. Here’s a character we know almost nothing about over the past 25 years other than her gender and profession. It’s kind of weird to all of a sudden learn where she came from and how she’s felt about her adventures so far. I’m not ready to pass judgement on this game design choice yet, but I can say that I’m intrigued enough to see the whole thing through.

From it’s initial announcement at E3 last year, I always envisioned MoM playing like Ninja Gaiden meets Super Metroid. The playable demo at E3 more or less confirmed this assumption. MoM shifts between 2D and 3D planes depending on what part of the map you’re in. If you’ve seen last year’s Shadow Complex, you have a good idea as to what the 2D corridors look like.

In a surprising move, no nunchuk is used while playing this game. The default controls are similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii where you tilt the controller on its side. <insert obligatory snarky comment on the uselessness of motion controls in games>

Gameplay didn’t throw very man curveballs at me. If you’ve played a metroid game before, this game will feel very natural for the most part. I found the way MoM handled “crippling” Samus at the start to be novel. At the start of the game, Samus works with one of her friends from the Federation. They haven’t “authorized” her to use missiles or heavy weaponry yet, so that’s how her starting ordinance loadout is explained.

I do have to draw attention to how annoying the first-person aiming system is, though. At one point in the demo, I had to fight a boss that could only be damaged by missiles. Problem is, you can only fire missiles by switching into first person aiming mode and pointing the Wiimote at the screen. In theory this sounds intuitive, but in practice it’s awful. I felt like an invalid fumbling around with the Wiimote trying to defeat this particular boss.

The problem lies with the fact that you have to completely change the way you hold the controller in a pressure-filled twitch action sequence. It’s just doesn’t feel natural to be flipping around the controller when you have a 2 second window in which to flip, aim, and fire. Novel exploration mechanic, sure. Twitch boss fight mechanic, HELL NO. Sadly, I fear we may be too close to launch for any significant control changes.

Despite this, I’m too much of a Metroid fan to let this completely derail my enthusiasm for MoM. The game does contain Team Ninja’s signature movement fluidity (other than the aforementioned first-person aiming issue) and the cinematic cutscenes and voice acting are a fascinating new wrinkle for the series.

Metroid: Other M releases for the Nintendo Wii this August.

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E3 2010 Preview: Castlevania: Lord of Shadows

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 14, 2010Posted in: Uncategorized, Video Games

The most common question I heard at Konami’s booth while playing Castlevania: Lord of Shadows was “Hey, is that a new Castlevania? I used to love that game back in the day.”

Clearly Konami was prepared for this question because the friendly representative demonstrating the game for me wasted no time in responding to these inquiries with a confirmation and sales pitch that Lord of Shadows is a return to the golden days of Castlevania games. I hope the full game ends up fulfilling those promises, because the demo levels I played barely reminded me of the 2D adventures of Simon Belmont.

Castlevania: LoS looks plays very similarly to God of War. In fact, if it weren’t for the signs above the station, I might have thought Konami scored itself the God of War franchise. Gameplay in the demo was very combat oriented, including the obligatory action combo and grab system. The grab system was actually kind of novel. It plays similarly to a rhythm game (Bemani influence anyone?) where you have to tap the grab button right as 2 concentric circles overlapped each other.

You play as Gabriel Belmont with a weapon called the “Combat Cross” which reminded me of Kratos’ “Blades of Chaos” in that they acted as both short and long range weapons depending on the situation. Gabriel’s Combat Cross will morph between Castlevania’s signature whip and other weapons such as a sword. Other than the aesthetics, the weaponry system works out very similarly to God of War‘s, complete with psuedo-RPG elements such as the ability to upgrade weapons several levels and assorted magic attacks.

Long time series fans will remember the secondary weapons and a couple of these remain unchanged, such as the silver dagger or holy water. Konami wouldn’t disclose the other items Gabriel could pick up though.

The demo ended with a very brief horseback riding combat scene. Again, this played out very similarly to mounted combat in God of War.

Now don’t get me wrong, I loved God of War, but I think I was expecting a little something more distinguishing from a new Castlevania game. The Konami rep assured me that there would be familiar “metroidvania” gameplay elements such as level backtracking in the complete game. With Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid) acting as an advisor for this game, I still hold out hope that the final product could end up being something special.

As it is though, the E3 demo left me with the sense I was playing a well executed God of War clone. This could be a good or bad portent depending on what you were expecting from a new Castlevania game.

Castlevania: Lord of Shadows releases this fall on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

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I Hope To God This Is The Future of Video Gamers

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 14, 2010Posted in: Video Games

Quite a lot of mainstream press has been given to how video games contribute to the downfall of our youth and society. While I won’t argue that there’s a sizable collection of mouth breathers on something like, say, Xbox Live, there’s still hope for upstanding gamer youth yet.

Witness this video featuring Quake Live player, Shane “rapha” Hendrixson:

It’s a long video, but I guarantee you that once you start watching it you’ll be captivated. I had no intention of viewing past a couple minutes to get the gist of it, but found myself sitting through the entire video.

Young Mr. Hendrixson here has the articulation, poise, and humility that rivals even some of our best professional athletes.

I’m not trying to exaggerate here. I’ve seen my share of sports analysts and athletes give interviews and rapha’s performance in the above video leapfrog the vast majority of them. Just listen to him break down the mechanics and strategies of a high level Quake duel. It’s fascinating stuff that really brings to light how much strategy and planning that goes into the game, on top of the pure hand-eye coordination skills needed to execute them.

Compare this with any postgame interview of an NBA or NFL game. When was the last time you actually heard anything insightful from those “interviews?”

The kid even has the humility and maturity to acknowledge his opponent in a non-patronizing way (17:40 in the video) with no prompting from the interviewer. I’d wager that a good number of pro athletes including LeBron James could stand to learn something from rapha here, especially after last week’s debacle with “The Decision.”

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E3 2010 Preview: Epic Mickey

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 7, 2010Posted in: Video Games

If there’s one thing I learned from my extended visit to the Disney Interactive Studios booth at E3 2010, it’s that Warren Spector’s (Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima Underworld) has gotten the people at his new studio, Junction Point, to drink his game design Kool-Aid.

Multiple times throughout my demonstration of Epic Mickey, the point of player choice and consequences was hammered home at almost every section of the game. And why wouldn’t it be? It’s Spector’s signature game design element. Give the player the freedom to choose how to solve in game problems and give these choices weight through tangible consequences in the game world. It was a huge part of what made Deus Ex so beloved and it’s clearly an integral element in his first title for Disney, Epic Mickey.

Epic Mickey is an ambitious action-adventure-platformer title being developed exclusively for the Wii. The gameplay can be broadly described as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time meets Super Mario World with the water spray backpack from Mario Sunshine. Mickey will have access to paint and paint thinner, which allows him to manipulate the game world by erasing or creating objects and environments. None of these mechanics can be trumpeted as truly original, but their blended execution is what makes this game stand out.

Visuals:

I was told that the overarching aesthetic theme of the game is “lost and forgotten” Disney characters and places, including Walt Disney’s first creation, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit. Disney buffs should also be ecstatic to see the attention to historical detail that Junction Point has poured into this game. I’ll admit to being a bit of a “casual” Disney fan, so I could only smile and nod as the Junction Point rep repeatedly pointed out structures (such as the Swiss Family Robinson’s Treehouse) and landmarks in the game that were once actual buildings and rides decommissioned from the real Disneyland itself. “Tickets” are also used as a form of currency in the game as a nod to the days in which you actually needed tickets to go on the rides at Disneyland.

Even the cutscenes are animated like an old Disney cartoon from the 50’s. You definitely get the feeling that you’re playing through a labor of love with this game. The attention to detail and presentation is just jaw dropping. What impressed me even more was the excitement and passion with which the Junction Point rep used to describe the game for me. Out of all the games I played at E3, Epic Mickey was the one I spent the most time on simply because the developer had so much to say and show from it.

Gameplay:

The E3 demo was broken up into three distinct areas: Ventureland, Skull Island, and Steamboat Willy. Each of these “maps” seamlessly transitioned with one another despite having vastly differing gameplay elements.

Ventureland was a lot like visiting a town in Zelda. The focus on this “quest map” was on NPC interaction and problem solving. Here, the choice and consequence mechanic was clearly on display. One of my first tasks was to help Smee the Pirate win over a ladyfriend in exchange for a quest item. He’s unsure as to what kind of gift to get her. By doing a little investigating around town, I figured out that she loves roses, so I told him to get her some roses and boom, Cupid played, quest item received. Had I been lazy and just told him to get something else, she would have been less than impressed and taken it out on poor Smee who in turn would have charged me money for the quest item, rather than handing it over in gratitude.

Another situation involved Tiki Sam, a shop keeper, who tasked me with collecting three masks in exchange for another one of the quest items. Now, here’s where attention to detail can pay off as a player. If you pay attention to the screen as you’re talking to him, you’ll notice that there’s a few masks on the floor behind him in the shop. When you exit the shop, you can actually see a little opening behind some bushes that will lead you to the back door of the shop. Once inside, you can nab a mask without him noticing. If you try to take all the masks, though, he’ll catch you and impose a stiff penalty on obtaining the quest item you need.

I find stuff like this fascinating because they blur the line between “good” and “bad” in a game. Too often, games will purport to offer players a choice, but really only have one style of play be “right.” Epic Mickey looks to add a little grey area in how you approach things. The situation with Tiki Sam is one in which stealing his mask actually ends up saving you time and money compared to the “morally right” choice. The Junction Point rep explained the reasoning for offering an “evil” choice as getting back to Mickey’s roots as a “mischief maker.” Sure, I’ll bite on that. It’s certainly no bigger stretch than games that force a character to act on the straight and narrow all the time.

The Steamboat Willy stages act as a sort of transition in between game maps. These are “Super Mario”-esque platform stages with a very slick black and white “Steamboat Willy” presentation. In the demo, Mickey passes through one of these to get from Ventureland to Skull Island. At first glance they definitely give a *wow* impression, but once you got past the very cool visuals the gameplay is pretty standard 2D platform fare. Mickey can jump on enemies’ heads and even double jump to reach platforms and collect items. The actual level structure itself was fairly pedestrian. It might be interesting to see more inspired “platform map” designed in the full game, but I won’t be heartbroken if there aren’t simply because the visuals are so cool.

Finally, Skull Island showed off the “action map” portion of the game. It plays similarly to the overworld in a 3d Zelda game except Mickey is armed with his paint and thinner rather than a sword and shield. In fact, Mickey’s even followed by a little Navi Faerie-like companion named Gremlin Gus. He offers you little hints and comments as you come across places of note. I found it really interesting that he acts as a sort of conscience too. Use your paint thinner to eliminate a lot of enemies and he’ll say something like “Hmm, you’ve been using your paint thinner a bit liberally, is it really necessary?” I can see it getting annoying for some people, but personally it made me question my actions a little bit. Was there a better way of handling these creatures? Am I really murdering the lifeblood of the game world?

When all is said and done, any game starring Mickey freaking Mouse that gets me to question the morality of my actions is doing something right in my book.

For live gameplay videos with Warren Spector narrating, check out the 2 videos below:


Screenshot Gallery:

[cincopa 10648951]

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E3 2010 Preview: Vanquish

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 6, 2010Posted in: Video Games

Shinji Mikami may not be the household name in video game circles that Hideo Kojima or Shigeru Miyamoto is over here in the States, but he deserves to be. Mikami-san designed a little game called Resident Evil, have you heard of it? (For retro game players out there, he also designed the Aladdin game on the Sega Genesis – remember how awesome that game was?)

His latest game is Vanquish and the best way to describe it is if Gears of War and Virtual On had a love child in a Matrix program set in a futuristic Cold War. It’s a third-person action title using elements of cover with fast moving mech-suits and a little bit of “bullet time” thrown in for good measure.

I was excited about the title before the show and my hands-on time at E3 did not disappoint. Gameplay centers on the ARS (Augmented Reactor Suit) your character wears. Similar to Crysis‘ nanosuit, it bequeaths upon you some extraordinary powers. For example, you can use it perform some very slick sliding manuevers to quickly move from cover to cover. The ARS also allows you to slow down time when you’re sliding around or vaulting over obstacles. As “played out” as time-slow abilities have been in recent games, trust me, you’ll be glad to have them in Vanquish because there will almost always be a crapload of things happening around you. It can get pretty challenging to aim and fire from the hip while zipping around a level willy nilly at 100 mph.

Which brings us to a defining feature of Vanquish – its sense of speed. The game runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second. This game is fast. Within moments of picking up the controller you can easily tell the game is no mere Gears of War clone. Rocket propelled sliding will bring back memories of adrenaline rushing while jetting across a map during a dizzying Virtual On match. It’s almost become a signature feature of Japanese action titles to incorporate 60FPS as we’ve seen with Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. (Interesting note: Mikami has had his hands in both of those titles as well) It makes me wonder how awesome a 60fps Halo title would be, but I digress.

In addition to providing you with fun powers, the ARS also acts as your defacto “life bar.” There’s a shared meter between your time slows, slides, and shields. This introduces an interesting strategic dynamic into the game. Do you slide out, John Woo style, attempting to take out all the enemies at once, but leaving yourself to being killed if you’re less than perfect? Or do you take it more conservatively, but risk getting overwhelmed while under cover? It’s an interesting trade off, allowing the more gung-ho to make gutsy moves while not making strategy trivial.

If all of this sounds like a lot to take in, well, it sorta is. I admit to being a bit overwhelmed once the friendly Sega rep handed the controller over to me. Like Tony Stark taking his Mark-1 Iron Man suit out for the first time, I stumbled my way across the battlefield initially. I slid when I meant to take cover. I jumped when I meant to slide. There’s definitely a learning curve to this game. It’s no Ninja Gaiden, but it’ll definitely take some practice before you’re sliding and shooting with the grace of a gun-toting ballerina. I can’t say i figured it out completely in the fifteen or so minutes I played the game, but I most assuredly envisioned a short-term future in which I was Optimus Prime starring in Hard Boiled.

Vanquish practically begs for a cooperative and/or an adversarial multiplayer component. Unfortunately, the game is single-player only. Still, it won’t prevent me from including the game from my most anticipated list of 2010. I’m all for developers concentrating on making polished games and if that means omitting potentially half-assed components, then more power to them.

Japanese game designers may have been slow over the years in “getting” how a proper first/third person action shooter works, but you’d be hard pressed to remember those days after some time with Mikami’s Vanquish. Definitely look for this original title when it comes out this fall on 360 and PS3.

[cincopa 10659734]

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E3 2010 Preview: Dance Central

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 3, 2010Posted in: Music, Video Games

I’m just gonna go ahead and say it:

Dance Central is the killer app for Microsoft’s Kinect.

Now, I know what you might be thinking.”Dance games are for kids and girls! They’re silly and lame!” Hear me out here. You know those choreographed dances in a Lady GaGa or Justin Timberlake music video? Say what you want about the music itself, but you gotta at least admit that the moves are kinda cool to watch, especially when a bunch of people are doing them in unison. What if I told you that there’s a game that would not only teach you and your friends how to dance like that, but would do so even if you had ZERO dancing ability to begin with. Isn’t that something that at least piques your interest?

Harmonix’s Dance Central is that game.

Think of it kinda like Rock Band, only your body is the instrument. (Well, if you want to get technical, the Kinect is actually the plastic instrument you have to buy.)

Dance games have been attempted before, but they were generally confined to sequences of steps on a mat (Dance Dance Revolution) or waving around an input controller (Just Dance). As many people would attest to, this is “dancing” as much as Guitar Hero is “playing the guitar.” Let’s face it, if you walk in on a room of people are playing DDR, they’re going to look pretty silly. However, if you walked into a room of people playing Dance Central, you might think they’re actually training as a real dance crew.

Using the full body tracking abilities of Microsoft’s Kinect, Dance Central lets you do a full range of motions with your body and hands free while scoring you on how accurately you perform the routine presented to you during each song. Honestly, I couldn’t have cared less about my score. It was just so much fun performing the moves that I found myself ignoring the score tally and just losing myself in the music and figuring out the moves. If the game didn’t even have a scoring system, I doubt a lot of casual players would notice. Nevertheless, I imagine once the novelty wears off, scoring highly will be a strong motivator to perform better as a dancer. As a gaming connoisseur, this excites me because it’s a game genre that has heretofore been impossible to fully replicate in a home environment. As a human being, this will excite you because its so intuitive and easy to get into.

All the songs in the game are original, licensed music. I had a hands on demonstration with Lady GaGa’s “Just Dance“ and Lipps Inc’s “Funkytown.” Other tracks I saw on the menu screen included Beastie Boys’ “Body Movin’,” No Doubt’s “Hella Good” and Bel Biv Devoe’s “Poison.” Harmonix promises a song selection that spans a diverse set of genres from hip-hop, to funk, reggae, pop, and more. The Harmonix producer I spoke with also touted the fact that many of the dance routines include the same moves from songs’ original music videos.

Now, I couldn’t dance my way out of a box, but after my hands on with Dance Central at the Harmonix booth, I felt I had a decent shot within seconds after starting up “Just Dance.” The dance moves are intuitive and generally easy to understand. Granted, I was on “easy” difficulty, but I’ve also never danced a step in my life that didn’t involve the number “two.” Gameplay involves a sequence of dance moves that scroll on the right side, kind of like the wheel on The Price Is Right. Your goal is to duplicate the highlighted move in the center, while preparing for upcoming moves by looking further down the wheel. The game will give you feedback in the form of red highlights on your on screen avatar’s body depending on where you’re messing up. Perform moves accurately and your score will go up along with Harmonix’s standard 5-star rating system. Many songs also incorporate a “freestyle” section as well, where everyone dancing just kinda does their own thing, as a psychedelic background plays on screen. The Kinect camera records all the action and shows you on screen. It felt a little gimmicky, but was still a neat feature.

I ran into a couple of instances where I couldn’t really tell what a particular dance move entailed. While a friendly Harmonix dancer was there at E3 to coach me on what to do, there clearly won’t be a bundled dancer when the game ships this holiday. Fortunately there’s a practice mode called “Break It Down” where you can practice each individual dance move more slowly and in detail. These instances are few and far between, especially in easier difficulty settings, so I wouldn’t worry too much about difficulty putting a crimp in your dance party gatherings. Most of the moves are very intuitive and easy to perform.

My only other concern was with the menu system, namely the fact that it took multiple confirmations and long, methodical hand swipes to pick a song and difficulty. This may be more of an issue with the Kinect in general as I noticed similar issues with other titles as well. It’s not a dealbreaker; it’s just kind of annoying because using a controller to pick options would just be plain faster. Hopefully this is something Microsoft and Harmonix work on before the Kinect launch.

While many people were on stage dancing at the same time, the E3 demo of Dance Central only tracked one player for the game. It was able to track a person behind in silhouette form as well, but only the first player was scored. Harmonix mentioned that there would be “multiplayer dance battles,” but it sounded as if this would be limited to two scored players. It’s kind of a bummer, but not as much of a deal breaker as you would think. You can still have a group of friends do a routine with you in front of the camera, they just won’t be scored. Think of them as your backup dancer crew. It’ll probably be a good thing at parties, too, as it’ll be more welcoming for some of the more shy people to get involved.

Add all of it up and you have a strongly compelling game experience if you have any interest in music or dancing. The only thing that might keep you away is the $150 Kinect device buy-in price or if you really have no desire to move your body under any circumstance. If you’re at all intrigued by Kinect, though, you owe it to yourself to take a good long look at Harmonix’s Dance Central.

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E3 2010 Preview: Rock Band 3

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on July 1, 2010Posted in: Music, Video Games

Oh, another Rock Band game coming out this year? What’s next, are you going to tell me that they’re releasing a new Madden title too? hi2u Captain Obvious!

If I didn’t know any better, those would be my first thoughts about Rock Band 3. While a new entry in the franchise may not be the most surprising piece of news to someone, the number of tangible improvements Harmonix has brought to the series is.

Before E3, it was announced that Rock Band 3 would contain a “Pro” mode where players could essentially play the real notes of a particular song on updated guitar controllers. On top of that, the new plastic “pro” instruments would double as functional MIDI instruments for actual music creation.

Now, Harmonix didn’t have playable pro guitars available at their E3 booth this year, but they did provide a live demonstration of them in action:

What really blew my mind was when the guitarist plugged the guitar controller he was using into an amp and played real musical notes while playing a game. It’s one thing to read that these things function as real instruments and another to actually hear it for yourself. It doesn’t sound fake or bee-boo-bop-beep-y, folks. It’s not quite the same as Jack White on stage, but it’s definitely close. The music/tech geek in me had the same childlike feeling of wonderment as it did when I played the first Guitar Hero game.

(You can definitely tell the difference in the video below, but it’s nowhere near the audio fidelity you get from hearing these things played live.)

Bear in mind though, Harmonix dude is an accomplished guitar player. Unless you’re a plastic instrument playing prodigy, you shouldn’t expect to be shredding right out of the box. Nevertheless, the game does have the makings of being the most fun guitar teacher ever. I’m not sure if I’d actually stick with the game long enough to get good at it, but I’ll be damned if coming out of a video game progression cocoon a real guitarist isn’t downright compelling.

I did have the opportunity to try out the new keyboard instrument, though. Of course I picked “pro” mode because I used to play some piano back when I was a wee lad.

I clearly failed as a kid.

I had a hard time even on medium difficulty in a song with a simple keyboard part, “Power of Love.” When i did hit the right notes, though, it was much more gratifying than if I had just hit some colored buttons on a game controller because in the back of my mind I knew that i was playing the real notes of the song. On a related note, I noticed that the keyboard parts in many rock songs are pretty friggin’ simplistic. Unless we get a song  like U2 – New Years Day, I wouldn’t expect for keyboard virtuosos to be playing long, complicated solos in this game even on pro-mode.

Ironically enough, the five iconic rhythm game colors are how Harmonix organizes keys on the keyboard controller:

The keyboard section on the game screen will shift from left to right depending on where your fingers should be on the keyboard. For example, if you see blue and green bars on your screen, you’ll want to have your fingers on the right side of the keyboard. If the game needs you to be on the left side, the screen will shift to show red and yellow bars. The colors essentially act as octave markers, if you’re musically trained. Notes will still scroll down towards you in the same way, there’ll just be more button possibilities to deal with. It sounds confusing on paper, but it’s easily picked up in seconds once you jump into playing.

I asked Harmonix whether they designed the keyboard to be played flat or if it was to be worn like a keytar. Both methods of play would work just fine, they answered, although I get the feeling playing it like a keytar is more suited for show than for functionality. It’s definitely a lot easier to play the keyboard “normally,” but hey, nothings stopping you from acting out your Nu-Wave keytar fantasies.

Game Improvements

Most of the talk surrounding Rock Band 3 centers on pro mode on the new hardware instruments and deservedly so. There’s also a ton of little things Harmonix is putting in the game as well. Stuff that will make the game easier to enjoy and make you wonder why they weren’t already there.

Here’s some of the things Harmonix highlighted:

  • True drop in/drop out functionality – Anytime. No more quitting out of songs or navigating multiple menus to remove/add someone.
  • Extensive song browsing/filtering capabilities – You can drill down with such detail filters such as song length or family-friendly songs.
  • Song ratings and recommendations – We’re getting into online music store client features here. You can assign 5 star ratings to all the songs in the library and search/filter by your preferences. The Rock Band music store will even use these to serve up recommended songs of what you may like.
  • Playlist building/sharing – There’s enough songs playable on the Rock Band platform now that this makes a lot of sense. I mean, shit, there’s even REAL music streaming services that don’t offer playlist sharing functionality yet.
  • Party Shuffle – Basically a random track shuffler. It’s simple, but makes complete sense for party play when people just want to play with the least amount of menu navigating possible.

Another goal that Harmonix mentioned was to make progress-oriented multiplayer gameplay more self contained. In other words, if you have a regular band that you play with on the campaign mode, you’re probably tired of playing an inordinate amount of sets on a seemingly never-ending world tour. Harmonix’s solution to the problem is to incorporate “tours” that you can reasonably finish in a couple hours of gameplay for the night. In essence, the goal is to make you feel like you’ve “beaten Rock Band for the night.” It’s a legitimate concern that I’ve definitely run into while playing Rock Band with friends. I’m glad to see that attention is being given to making progression oriented players feel like they are completing something significant each session.

The biggest challenge of the music gaming genre is making new products that aren’t just glorified song-packs each year. While I’m definitely for less frequent title releases, it’s hard to argue that Rock Band 3 isn’t shaping up to be worth upgrading to when it ships later this year.

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