E3 2011: Bioshock Infinite (Part 2)

As promised - the full closed-doors demo for Bioshock Infinite from E3 2011. This demo, released to the public last night via a 30-minute Gametrailers TV special on Spike, is really something to behold. Whether it be Elizabeth tearing holes in space/time (pay attention for a clever Star Wars reference!), riding around rails in the sky like the world's biggest and most suicidal rollercoaster, or taking down a Zeppelin with a shotgun (and my description doesn't even do its coolness justice), Bioshock Infinite is really something to behold. I am going to have to watch this video several more times just to soak up all the little tidbits of information to be found!

For those looking to see Ken Levine's interview before the demo, head on over to Gametrailers.com to check out the full special.

E3 2011: Mass Effect 3

Shown at E3 2011, Mass Effect 3 is the final title in the trilogy starring Commander Shepard. In this video, we see that the Reapers have finally arrived in our galaxy and are in the process of conquering Earth. The game promises to be a finale that lives up to the expectations all the fans have for it, with every decision you made in the past two games coming to bear in this one, drastically altering your circumstances and who your squadmates are. According to Casey Hudson of Bioware Studios, you will encounter either Kaiden or Ashley during your time on Earth, depending on who you chose to save in the first game - pretty crazy, huh? If the second game was any indication, where almost every major decision you made (and even some that were fairly minor) comes back around in a positive or negative way, the "butterfly effect" of your decisions is going to be quite impressive - I'm interested to see how the Rachni situation plays out!

In this trailer, we see that a lot of changes and tweaks have been made to the gameplay, with more dynamic animations and cover systems, as well as a melee weapon called the Omniblade and grenades. While this description makes it sound like Mass Effect 3 is abandoning its RPG roots and is instead embracing the third person shooter side of its personality, that is not the case. Rather, this is the natural evolution of the combat we have seen over the course of the series. I will say, I was slightly disappointed with the demo for two reasons, the first being I find the animations to be somewhat stiff, but it is a problem that has plagued the series since its beginning (and I admit - I have been spoiled by Uncharted 2). My second disappointment comes from the color scheme - it could just be the environment that the demo takes place in, but all the colors just look a little washed out. However, these are just nitpicking issues, ones that ultimately do not affect the game, or my excitement for it, much.

To be fair, I am also a very big Mass Effect fan - this could very likely be my favorite science fiction universe outside of that of Star Wars, and there are enough similarities between the two to keep a self-professed nerd like myself quite happy. Just like I geeked out for months on every crumb of information on the second game before it came out, so I will do with this game. It's not healthy, but I'm okay with it! Included below is another part of the E3 demo, as well as a trailer for the game shown at E3. Enjoy the videos!

Reaper Base E3 Demo


Fall of Earth Trailer

E3 2011: Bioshock Infinite (Part 1)

Dear readers, I title this post Part 1 as the video shown above is only the first two minutes of the fifteen minute behind-closed-doors demonstration of Bioshock Infinite given to the press at this year's E3. Next week, on July 7th, Gametrailers and Spike TV will be debuting the demo in its entirety, a demo that, to date, has received Game of the Show from over 30 different publications (so, naturally, I have been very excited to get a look at it).

I am a huge self-admitting Bioshock fan - despite paying little attention to the first game until a playable demo was put on Xbox Live back in summer 2007, I was hooked from the first time I played it. To date, I have played the first game several times, as well as having played its sequel, despite its paint-by-numbers nature. Everything about Rapture and its universe was utterly captivating and compelling, and changed the way I look at games. Whether it be Bioshock introducing the concept of an unreliable narrator in a video game, to the moral choice of saving or draining a child for your own personal gain, everything about the 1960's underwater dystopia reaffirmed in me every reason I love being a gamer.

When Bioshock Infinite was first announced, I was over-the-moon excited that Ken Levine and his studio were back behind the reins on the series, after 2K Marin (and various other 2k studios) developed Bioshock 2. Instead of playing it safe, Irrational Games has brought the series into the skies above the United States, with the game taking place in Columbia, a city held aloft by a fleet of hot-air balloons and existing as, essentially, a floating World's Fair to demonstrate the might and ingenuity of America. While there is a whole lot I could tell you about the warring factions in the game, the captor holding the "damsel in distress" your character, Booker Dewitt, is tasked with saving, or even the methods of travel you will use in the game, I will instead leave you with the above video from this year's E3, as well as last year's demo in its entirety. Enjoy!

E3 2011: Journey

Shown at E3 2011, Journey is the third outing from the Thatgamecompany studio, whose previous works present some of the best examples of the "video games as art" argument being made by gamers and industry members alike today: flOw and Flower were games that were more appropriately designed and labeled as "relaxation exercises", getting rid of menus and even buttons in lieu of Sixaxis control. This year's showing was the first public demo this Playstation Network-exclusive title has received, and it didn't disappoint. The animation and attention to detail being given to this game is astounding; if you do not believe me, just look at the sand and the character model!

At its heart, Journey is a very simple game with a simple goal: you are a wanderer, making your way towards the mountain in the distance (the pillar of light shown in both of the videos I am posting). While there is co-operative play in this game, there are no user names or voice chat of any kind, simply a basic "shout" you can issue to other players, and they can only respond with their own shout. This lack of interaction is meant to connect you to others through your mutual exploration of the desert, without ruining the experience by having an obnoxious thirteen year-old listening to loud rap music on the other end of the voice chat - somehow, voice cracks and epic quests just do not quite go together.

For you readers, I have included the Gamespot E3 demo (posted above) and the IGN demo, which I will post below. With an expected release date of late 2011, after its closed beta finishes this summer, we still have a few months until this game comes out, and what a long few months they will be: I've been excited about this game since they first announced it over a year ago. Now if I could only just get into the beta... Guess I'm going to have to wait to play it!

Review: Brink

Brink is the first in-house outing for the Splash Damage studio, known previously for contributory work on the Quake Wars and Wolfenstein brands. A title based solely in online play (the single-player campaign is merely the multiplayer offering, with AI teammates instead of human players), Brink is a class-based shooter based in a dystopian future in which two factions, Security and Resistance, battle for control of the Ark, a floating, nigh utopian city originally developed as a self-sustaining and environmentally conscious living space that becomes the home of its creators and thousands of people displaced from their homes due to globally rising oceans. With a class system reminiscent of the Team Fortress titles, a parkour-inspired movement system for players, and a unique art style, does Brink stand above its competition, or does it buckle under the weight of its promises?

The Good:
The Art Style - The very definition of a "risk", the characters have a very cool, semi-animated look to their appearances, with elongated faces and very muscular bodies; however, due to the slender character models, this seemingly "human" conflict that is the central focus of the game is lost on the player, as the whole thing just ends up looking like a war of the Gumbys (click here if you don't know who Gumby is).

The Class System - A common affliction of first-person shooters is everyone acting in a self-centered manner; everyone is working to get the most kills, often to the detriment of their teammates. This game approaches this differently, by having objectives throughout multiplayer that only specific classes can complete (for example, an operative hacks a database or an engineer fixes a crane) and by having each class perform specific functions during battle: you can have an engineer setting up a turret while a medic improves his health and a soldier provides him with extra ammunition. Team Fortress and the Battlefield games approach this similarly (if only in class function), and it adds a much needed change of pace and depth to the experience.

The Conflict - While the story is not the best ever seen in a game (by a long shot), I very much enjoyed being given the opportunity to play as either side in a conflict; for a missions where I was trying to bomb a wall as Resistance, I would be tasked with holding down that area as a Security member.

The Bad:
Glitches - The first day I got this game, it was nearly unplayable online; massively slowed-down servers brought gameplay to a standstill and every game ended with my quitting back to the main menu leading eventually to just playing with bots for the first few days. This experience is fairly indicative of the final product, which just feels entirely rushed. Texture pop-in is to be expected in the majority of the matches you will play and the parkour-inspired movement system is a glitchy mess the majority of the time. To be frank, unless you are playing on a very stable internet connection, expect frustration, and lots of it.

Storyline - With one-dimensional characters and conflicts that are fairly self-explanatory, this is a very paint-by-numbers game when it comes to the story. Each side fights for control of an island - that's all you really need to know. Everything else is just gravy, most of which goes mostly unexplained.

Security/Resistance Campaigns - When this game was in development, Splash Damage would often talk about how there would be two campaigns: that of Security, and that of Resistance. What they neglected to mention was that they are exactly the same thing. For each mission where you play offense as one side, the other side's mission will be defense, and vice versa. While it makes sense and is fun to play as both sides in a conflict, us gamers as consumers are essentially given fifty percent of the product that we expected to receive; it would have made more sense to have each faction with its own storyline, and players have the option to either play as the opposition to one faction or to play their own storyline.

The "Why?"
Multiplayer Lobbies - This is what I still do not understand: there are games out there that, despite the success and ease of the multiplayer lobbies found in titles such as Call of Duty or Halo, still release their products with a lobby that is either convoluted or simply counter-intuitive to the point of making any multiplayer match a chore (if you can even get into a game). Brink is one of those such games, with several different menus for each mission you can embark on, requiring the player to back out of a menu and find another mission just to go through the menu system all over again. It gets the job done, I suppose, but there were much more elegant and simple solutions to the problem that Splash Damage either chose to ignore or simply was incapable of executing.

My Score: 5.0/10
Once one of my most anticipated titles of 2011, Brink was a huge disappointment. From a multiplayer system crippled by glitches to mission structures that were flat-out unenjoyable, this is a game that completely squandered its potential. The SMART system (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, or parkour) is the most enjoyable aspect to the game, and even it is functional only about 75% of the time. While this game borrowed heavily from the big names in the first-person shooter industry, namely the Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Team Fortress franchises, it relies mostly on its gimmicks to get by, not learning the lessons that its predecessors have to teach when it comes to crafting an enjoyable online experience. If you want parkour, check out Mirror's Edge. If you want class-based combat, your best bet is Team Fortress 2 or Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It is not a horrible game; it just falls short.

My recommendation: Avoid it.

E3 2011: Overstrike

Announced at E3 2011, Overstrike is the first cross-platform (read: not a PS3 exclusive) game to be developed by Insomniac Games, who you may know as the developers of the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance series. While not a lot about this game is known, short of the small blurb featured on Kotaku, this game seems to be focusing as much on humor as it does on action (or at least the trailer is), something that really has not been a major player in a video game since the Timesplitters series.

And did anyone else love the response to the "collateral damage" line as much as I did?

 The four team members: Naya Deveraux (Interpol's most-wanted thief), Dalton Brooks (the ex-mercenary), Isabelle Sinclair (the scientist), and Jacob Kimble (the detective).

Again, I know nothing about this game short of what is seen in the trailer, but I can imagine, based on past Insomniac games, that this will feature co-operative play (likely four people, given that there are four squadmates) and will be an absolute blast to play; really, Insomniac's credentials speaks for themselves.

With a likely release date somewhere in the late 2012 months, it will be quite some time before us gamers get our hands on this title, but if the trailer is any indication of what we have to expect from the final product, color me excited!

E3 2011: Halo 4

In a surprise move by Microsoft this year on the 10th anniversary of Halo: Combat Evolved's release, a teaser trailer was shown at the end of their press conference at E3 2011 officially announcing Halo 4, a game often asked for by gamers but expected by very few. Although details were sparse at the event, and very, very little is revealed in the teaser trailer for this new game, we do know that this is the first game of another planned trilogy for the franchise, and it will be released around the 2012 holidays. While this is not much to go on, it is good to know that we will be learning more of Master Chief's story for many years to come!