Whats the word on the street?!
This Weeks been a long week, but I’ve actually fit quite a lot of different games in.
Between working & finishing off with my unpacking, I sat down more often than I have for a while and got some good hours on a few machines.
This months pay has also been pretty decent allowing for more leeway when it comes to buying things I wouldn’t normally afford with having a house, bills and other necessities getting in the way. Alas! Everything seems to be going much smoother now.
So anyway let’s get to the games.
Splinter Cell: Conviction.
I finally managed to get a copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction and flew through it in a matter of hours. What a roller coaster!
Although a tad short, it was still greatly paced and full of excitement. It just felt like being sat down in the cinema and watching a decent action movie (Ala Bourne Identity).
One of the games most brilliant features is the ‘Interactive Interrogation Animations’ which keeps the action going during the cut-scenes and can have several outcomes.
You can’t get much more satisfaction than slamming a guys head into a urinal.
Some other great & unique features are the ‘Mark & Execute’ which basically sees you aiming at a target and pressing the right bumper to spot the enemies location, which is similar to the feature in Rainbow Six: Vegas. After marking several enemies you can Execute which basically takes all the targets in range one by one in a slow motion effect which looks like something taken straight out of the Jason Bourne films. It gives you a real buzz after you take out an entire room using it.
Another great feature is ‘Last Known Position’ which is when you get spotted and you leg it, you leave a silhouette behind from where the enemies last saw you. Enemies will keep searching that area while you can go round behind and flank them.
This time round some of the other games mechanics have been slightly rewritten too. There are quite a few tricks Sam used to have up his sleeve that are missing, like Split jumping, being able to pick up & drag bodies to hide them from other enemies and he’s forgotten how to whistle. Only slight changes but several times I would have been more stealthy if I could have hidden a few bodies out of sight.
I’ve not really had too much chance playing through co-op, due to not having any friends online that I’d normally play something like that with, or we’ve all been online and played something all together. That’s one draw back with Conviction, the lack of online multiplayer. It’s been part of the franchise in one form or another since Pandora Tomorrow, so I was quite surprised it was cut. Although it became a bit daft in Double Agent where spy’s seemed like superhuman acrobatic ninjas, versus the over techno-enhanced super soldiers.
What I’ve played of the co-op seems fun though and with promised DLC support I can see it lasting a little more than most games do lately.
Micheal Ironside is still Sam Fisher, I don’t think they could ever replace him to be honest. He is the voice of Sam and always should be. Never change him.
Overall the game seems like a typical Ubisoft title where its fantastic, but could have had that little bit longer in development to polish a few things off properly. Mostly the twitchy AI & some character model textures could have done with some touching up.
But it’s still a brilliant game. I like the new direction they’ve taken and has added much-needed fresh take on the stealth/action genre.
I recommended it for fans of the series & action gamers alike.
Wolfenstein 3D.
Die, Allied Schweinhund! Mein leben…!
I’ve been playing this game for a couple of hours here & there this week, I don’t really know what got me started on it. I started playing it just before my magazine of Retro Gamer arrived, which heavily features John Romero and the creation of all things at id Software. It was either in anticipation of that or just a random nostalgic impulse.
This is one of my favorite games of all time. DooM might be better, but there wouldn’t be DooM without this game a year earlier. I can remember the first time I saw it and knew it was something different. While all my friends were busy playing Sonic the Hedgehog, I was busy on my Pc shooting Nazis and wondering who the bloke in pictures on the wall was… (Hey I was only about 7!)
I remember being at a friends sleep over and playing it till around 10pm when the lights were supposed to be turned off to go to sleep, then we stealthily played it till about Midnight. (Again I was about 7 so that was really, really late).
Anyway since then I’ve grown up and understand a lot more about WWII and actually found out more about the game’s story. I can see why there were the Zombies & Nazi experiments in Return to Castle Wolfenstein. In the second chapter of Wolf3D there are Zombies and mentions experiments among other things in the brief story pages at the end of chapters.
I know many people look at Wolfenstein and laugh, but at the time it was so ground breaking in many ways and made way for the juggernaut that is DooM and the wrath of Death-match that is Quake.
Super Street Fighter IV.
I’ve not had too much time to play this yet seen as I’ve more or less just took the cellophane wrapping off, but what I have played is just that awesome street fighter-ness. It’s so great that it still plays & feels like a brand new game.
How can you make something that was perfect, better?! Either way Capcom seemed to have managed it!
It’s just a year after Street Fighter IV took the arcade fighting genre and this is a full super enhanced version. What was already a perfect fighter has been changed in so many minor ways which just makes all the difference. Capcom have taken all the complaints & recommendations from fans to create the ultimate version (until a Championship/Ultra Edition).
The number one complaint that I had with SFIV was the lack of a quarter match mode. It seemed such a simple feature that’s been apart of the franchise for ages. I thought maybe they would patch it in an update but it never materialized until now.
I don’t understand why SSFIV wasn’t in the form of DLC too, but I guess there’s that many changes that it would be madness to release as an update. Burnout had substantial DLC which altered the game in so many ways so it’s not that its impossible. I just think they must have found it easier to release it at retail at a budgeted price and quite frankly £19.71 is a fantastic price.
The only little niggle I’ve found so far is that the game features two ultra combos now, but you can only select to use one in a match. I think I would have preferred to have both at all times and can precisely use the right combo at the right time. It’s not over drastic, but that’s something I’d like to see.
I’ve had a quick play around with the ten new characters and played with the new ultra combos and all seem to be nicely polished and still have some great comedian characters. Especially Hakan, the Turkish wrestler who smothers himself with oil at every chance he can get.
My favorite character to return from a former street fighter is Dudley! Just a great British boxer with a corny accent. Perfect!
So that’s mostly what I’ve been up to this week. Many different games & a nice mix of genres too. I also had a good hour or so on Torchlight via Steam which I might talk about more when I’ve finished it to the end, but it’s defiantly a great Diablo game!
That magazine Retro Gamer that I mentioned about earlier is a great read. It features an interview with John Romero. Going all out on the ins and outs of the creation of id Software. Where DooM came from and how Quake forced John Romero to leave the company he built from the ground up.
Also features The Making of Dizzy!
I’ve also been having a few thoughts onto what I’d like to do on this blog too. I’m defiantly going to start updating and using it more now I’ve got more free time and some extra cash flow. I’ve also got a podcast kit that I’ve hardly used yet, just set it up ready to use.
So watch this space…
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