Portal 2 - A Shooter Like No Other

Well I may as well say it: I love Valve. And so should you, particularly if your a PC gamer like me. The infamous Devil-CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, has stirred up yet another hornet's nest by dismissing every independent developer except Bungie as lacking in quality. This is most probably just a publicity stunt; after all, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Regardless, it made me sad, and in response to this I have decided to bring you a sneak peek at one of Valve's latest projects: Portal 2.

Portal 2 (Valve Software)
Release: February 9th 2011

Unsurprisingly, Portal 2 is a sequel and a sequel to one of my favourite games of this decade. The original Portal was released on the Orange Box, and I remember checking it out, expecting a decent puzzle game to keep me occupied when I took a break from Team Fortress 2 or Half Life 2: Episode 3. What I found was a stunning masterpiece in gaming design, a truly heroic effort from the folks at Valve. If you haven't played it, I suggest you look into it; if you're never going to play it, at least check out this song...

A quick rundown: The Portal series gives you control of a gun that fires... Portals! As in the first game, you control the silent protagonist Chell, who is once again tormented by the *SPOILERS* robotic A.I., GLaDOS, who it seems was not destroyed in the first game. *END SPOILERS* This may be attributed to the game's setting. Portal 2 takes place hundreds of years after the original, where Chell was placed in stasis. She finds a 'personality core' named Wheatley, who acts as an initial guide. I'll stop there to avoid revealing anymore of the plot; the story was surprisingly excellent in the first game, and I myself am intrigued as to how this game will play out.

You play as Chell from a first person perspective, with a portal gun capable of firing two portals to assist in completion of test chambers, which make a return. *SPOILERS* The test chambers are somewhat overgrown with flora however, as the facility damage in the original is still being attended to. *END SPOILERS* The portal gun is quite simply awesome, if not disorienting at times. Firing a blue portal at the ceiling, then an orange one underfoot, means you fall continuously, generating momentum and possibilities for extreme jumps, which are a lot of fun to play around with.

Portal 2 has a co-operative mode, something that did not feature in the original. It should be mentioned here that a lot of features in Portal 2 will not have appeared in the original; Valve has responded to the success of the first game by adding more features. The co-operative mode is separate to the singleplayer mode, with a unique setting and plot. The two portalists (probably not an official term, but hey) are a modified personality core and a modified gun turret, and each gun has two portals to fire, totalling four portals at any one time (light blue/blue, orange/red). See the above link in this paragraph for a demonstration.

The physics have been improved; portals can now manipulate air flow for example, and Chell can use reflective companion cubes on lasers, a special gel that increases speed or allows jumping off of surfaces. In fact, the list of changes is rather large, and it could prove to be too much. The magic of the original Portal lied in the apparent simplicity of the tools available, before a test chamber forced you to think about how to apply the portals to complete it. I can't help but see some heavy handed features being added, and while I have boundless faith in Valve, it could be a case of too much, too fast. What do you think?

Portal 2 is being released on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 alongside the PC and MAC as well. Great news for you console gamers, but the PC side of me feels slighted somewhat. I always think of Valve as a PC company, and it stung to see this awesome series get developed on console. Whatever you do Valve; do NOT follow in the footsteps of Call of Duty. Please. Anyway, that's all for Portal 2. Keep February 9 open!

Clip O' The Day: #2

For today's CotD, I've chosen a trailer for co-operative mode in Portal 2, that has been adapted by Machinima. I can't wait for this game, and this did nothing to calm my excitement. Check it out, and keep an eye out for an update on Portal 2 itself soon!

Civilisation V - Ultimate Strategy Gaming

Sid Meier is a name synonymous with quality; If you're not thinking of the previous games in the Civilisation series, then you'll no doubt be thinking of Sid Meier's Pirates! or Sid Meier's Gettysburg! You may have noticed by now that I spell words such as 'civilisation' with an 's' rather than a 'z'; this is how I was taught in England, and seeing as the language is English I will stick to the English spelling. Plus the 'z' implies a harsher sound, and I'm not a fan of that. No offence to any Americans out there, I love you guys (no sarcasm implied). Anyway, so the next Civilisation is coming, and it's shaping up to deliver more of the deep, steady paced gameplay so many fans have come to know and love over the years. Let's break it down and take a look, before it's release tomorrow!

Civilisation V (Firaxis Games)
Release: 21st September 2010 (US), 24th September (Australia)

The game play itself has been modified to some extent, in many small ways. As with all Civilisation games, you take control of a national culture, and help them develop through the ages. The time scale for Civilisation V is not that different; it goes from 4000BC through to 2050AD, which is a sizeable amount of time for human standards. As the national leader, you spend your years conquering the land, through diplomacy or warfare, depending on your military and cultural strengths and weaknesses. The winner is the nation that either eliminates everyone else, wins on points at the end of 2050AD or wins a cultural victory through building a Utopia Project, which I'll cover briefly soon.

The old square grid that presided over your world map in the previous games has been replaced with a hexagonal grid, like in a lot of board strategy games, and a fog of war covers the surrounding unexplored land. On that note, the environment changes depending on the location, which looks particularly flash with the new graphics. Your nation is allocated land at the beginning of the game, and the rest is either uninhabited territory or the territory of other nations. Each nation has a fully animated leader who speaks in the national language (subtitles included of course), and who you can negotiate with or damn to hell before steamrolling them with a powerful military. Unlike in previous games, Civilisation V introduces a 'social policy' system, where you can research certain trees under headings such as 'tradtion', 'liberty', 'commerce', 'autocracy' and so on. Completion of 5 of these trees out of 10 means you have the option of constructing a Utopia Project. Should you be the first to build one, you win the game with a cultural victory.

The combat system has been changed so only one unit is allowed per hexagon, which apparently encourages more strategic play, although I honestly think it redirects the game to a more balanced style of strategy, with a reduced emphasis on the military. All well and good for pacifist gamers out there I suppose. There are terrain bonuses - units on a hill are given defensive stat boosts - and bonuses if your military unit is next to the hexagon of an allied military unit. A combat advisor is available also to tell you that throwing your last remaining spearmen against the enemy M1 Abrams is not the brightest idea.

Oh, and there are Giant Death Robots. Need I say more?

Multiplayer is apparently an "intense" experience, although that does come from the official site of Civilisation V. There is simultaneous turn multiplayer available, and other modes, though they have not yet been announced. Settings are important; if they are left unattended to before a match, you could find that if you have no moveable units left the turns end automatically, which could ruin an epic game. Still, as skeptical as I am, watch this space.

Overall, Civilisation V is shaping up to be a great game, and I don't doubt that Mr. Meier will deliver on quality in a fun packed strategy package. However, it looks... Like it's lacking in something. Scale perhaps, but I watched the combat and it looked fairly uninvolved. That may not be a bad thing, particularly as the game seems to shy away from focusing on combat. Hopefully the thrill of managing an empire will wash away any shortcomings this game may present. I've obviously omitted much of the content, and deliberately, so I leave at least something as a surprise.

That's all for now, thanks for reading! Here's to a smooth release tomorrow, and please follow if you enjoyed this article, or contact me for suggestions.

Clip o' the day

Hi folks,
This page will be dedicated to 'Clip O' The Day', where I'll put my favourite clips from youtube to help motivate myself and to amuse you along the way.For the first clip, I post 'Rocket Jump', a cleverly constructed real life demonstration of what can be done through great editing skills. Props to kotaku and enjoy :) Also, keep a look out for gaming discount updates to come...

Starcraft II patch 1.1 leaked notes?

STATUS: Rumor
In a follow up to my 'Top Five Strategy Games', in which Starcraft II was the victor, I've been notified of a possible leaked set of notes outlining the new 1.1 patch for Starcraft II. It can be found here on teamliquid.net (note: they state their source as goodgame.ru), and it was apparently leaked on US forums until it was promptly closed down by Blizzard. Have a gander at the changes, and witness the unconfirmed nerfs for Terran and Protoss, alongside minor nerfs for Zerg.

Good news: Providing this is legitimate, it's great news for the game itself and unless you're a Terran player or a Protoss rusher, great news for you too. Some of the changes I'll highlight here.

    - Zealot build time increased from 33 to 38 seconds.
    - Zealot warp-in cooldown increased from 23 to 28 seconds.
    - Reaper build time increased from 40 to 45 seconds.
    - Bunker build time increased from 30 to 35 seconds.
    - Siege Mode damage decreased from 50 to 35, +15 armored.
    - Calldown MULE cooldown increased from 0 to 40 seconds.
    - Nydus Worms can now be cancelled and refunded while building.
    - Overlord base speed increased to from 0.469 to 0.938.
There is obviously more, so check out the link to get the full details.

Bad news: It could mean a lot of your strategies now require revising to counter the changes. Early game Terran and Protoss are nerfed, and the prospect of more 6pools (sigh) could increase. The only Zerg unit besides the overlord that is nerfed is the Ultralisk; and who uses them anyway?

Thoughts: I think with all the recent controversy over Terran dominance it's a welcome patch for Protoss and especially Zerg. It may encourage more thoughtful gameplay, and we should watch this space to see if there is any truth to these claims. With any luck, Blizzard will reveal all soon...

Your Base is Under Attack: The Top 5 RTS games part 5/5

Well it's been a long few days of blogging, but it's finally arrived: the number one RTS game of all time. To cut to the chase, it was always going to be one of two games, and they are both very, very similar. And with good reason, as they were both made by the same company. These games command authority when it comes to any game, not just strategy games, despite being released a decade apart. You may have guessed it: StarCraft and Starcraft II by Blizzard Entertainment are the games in question. The dilemma is: which one is the best? One released in 2000, the other in 2010...Well, regardless of the potential flak I'll receive for this, I'm going to go with...

1) Starcraft II (Blizzard, 2010)
I know, I know. 'But this game hasn't stood the test of time! It removed the LAN capability that Starcraft had!' I'm sure you could go on with a whole list of reasons why Starcraft should be here instead of it's younger upstart brother. But you know what? I simply don't care. Why? Because I love this game. Every time I play it I find something else to love about it, and the best thing is it reminds me of how much of an idiot Bobby Kotick is - he had the opportunity to buy Blizzard while it was still a small(ish) company for $6 million, but he turned it down. Anyway, a friend of mine described this game as being "like chess, but with better graphics". Perhaps a little dramatic, but if any game deserves that description it's this one.

The game picks up where Starcraft left off, with an action-packed 29 mission campaign to sink your teeth into, and an intriguing story to go with it. The campaign introduces role playing elements as you buy upgrades for your army, but I won't reveal much more on this front. Know only it's a fresh approach to the Starcraft universe, and it works. Well.

The gameplay is similar to that of the previous game on my list, Red Alert 2, in that two factions square off in head to head combat, fighting with constructed units built from a constructed base on different parts of the map. It leaves room for a lot of creativity in how you defeat your opponent, and also for amusement in strange situations. There are three rather unique races to choose from: Terran, Protoss and Zerg. The Terran are the human race in the game, featuring tanks and marines; the Protoss are the mysterious race leagues ahead in technology and wisdom; and the Zerg are the savage alien horde, overwhelming with numbers and ferocity. Each race gathers minerals and vespene gas from around the map via worker units, but the similarities end there. The Terran have a majority of buildings with the ability to 'lift up'; no this isn't jargon, they literally can lift up and fly (albeit slowly) to anywhere on the map. The Protoss warp in buildings and infantry from the world of Shakuras, and they can be placed wherever there is power from a pylon or warp prism. The Zerg sacrifice a worker to morph into a building, and units evolve from larvae.

In typical Blizzard fashion, the combat system is well constructed to say the least. Each unit is assigned a damage value and type (concussive, normal and explosive), an armor value and a unit type (biological, armored, light and massive). These damage types then deal more or less damage depending on the armor type of the enemy, and the armor value (some units receive bonus damage against an armor type). The Protoss are the only race with shields which regenerate over time, whereas Terran and Zerg units have only health values. This makes for deeper tactical considerations, and is one of the main reasons Starcraft II is such a blast to play. With this knowledge and much, much more in mind, cry havoc and let slip the dog of war.

There's not a lot more that I can say here; to say anymore would be to not do this game justice. And it would mean you would have to wade through a thick swamp of rhetoric, which while fun for me may not be as fun for you. But allow me to say this. To beat 'Z' in gameplay is an achievement. To potentially beat the sheer wealth of custom content in 'Warcraft III' is an achievement. To match the tactical experience of 'World in Conflict' is an achievement. To defeat the supreme all round package of 'Red Alert 2' is an achievement. And to subsequently be named as the greatest RTS of all time is what should inevitably result after these achievements are ticked off by just one game.

So there you have it: the greatest RTS of all time, the king of strategy games! I hope you enjoyed this series; please leave comments and follow this blog if you did!

Script Break - Red Alert 2 Gaming Soundboard

Folks, I came across this unbelievable link, and I just had to create a whole new post to share it! I used it in my previous post, and it's basically a soundboard by Newgrounds for the strategy game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2. It contains all the original soundbytes from the units in the game, and it caused a jolt of old memories to delightfully surge through me; hearing those awesome catchphrases again was music to my ears. I hope you enjoy and even remember some of these soundbytes from the good old days of Westwood.

For auditory delirium, go here and press play. You won't regret getting your "tour under way"!

Your Base is Under Attack: The top 5 RTS games part 4/5

It's interesting: the last RTS in my top five list was based on an epic global conflict featuring the United States and Soviet Russia. And once again, as I arrive at the second greatest RTS of all time (in my humble and honest opinion I might add), we find a similar game in that respect. And, well, the similarities end there. Sure, World in Conflict had tanks; this game also has tanks. World in Conflict had infantry; same again. However, aside from a few similar unit titles, and I suppose rough plot, the games are nothing alike. Intrigued? I hope so. Here it is...

2) Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 (Westwood, 2000)

I'll be honest; If there is one RTS series that deserves a place in everybody's list, it is this one. Hell, you might not even enjoy the games, but you have to at least acknowledge it's authority. The question for me was not "should I put a command and conquer game in my list?" but rather "far out, which one do I pick?". The answer to that question? In my opinion it boils down to two: Tiberian Sun or Red Alert 2. I thought long and hard about this; calling to mind those powerful Nod Cyborgs of Tiberian Sun, and hurling them against the mighty double-barrel Apocalypse tanks of the Soviet military in Red Alert 2. Both games were made by Westwood, but in the end, Red Alert 2 muscled its way to the list ahead of the GDI/Nod epic.

Red Alert 2 is a stunning game because it balances on a tightrope very nicely. By this I mean it strikes up a balance between absurdity and realism, and the result is breathtakingly good. Lean over to realism in this instance and you take much of the fun out of the game, and lean too far over to absurdity and you end up with EA's attempt at Red Alert... I don't know, apparently some people liked that game, but me? I'd rather jump into a pool of caustic soda. But regardless, Red Alert 2 really nailed everything, from cut-scenes to catchphrases to combat to characters to... The list goes on.

The game features two discs, with an Allied campaign on one and a Soviet campaign on the other. This did make things annoying for me as I lost the Soviet disc after a while and was thus restricted to the Allies, but that's hardly the fault of Westwood. The cut-scenes advance the story with real life actors, on their eccentrically designed sets. I won't reveal the plot, but there are some great levels to play; one of my favourite is a spirited defense of the Pentagon using these 'Prism Towers', shown in game to be designed by Albert Einstein (not in real life of course, unfortunately). They shoot powerful beams of light from rotating tops, and can cause heightened damage through placing several close together and having them chain light beams. This made for some amusing moments as Soviet conscripts were violently electrocuted by this artificial lightning in comical skeletal detail.

The units are what makes Red Alert 2 so brilliant; where else could you employ giant squids to attack naval vessels and then be countered by enemy dolphins? Units like the simple G.I. were employed by the allies, right up to the legendary 'Chrono Commando', a unit which could be obtained in skirmishes by infiltrating an enemy base with a 'Spy'. These lethal soldiers teleport with the click of a mouse, kill soldiers effortlessly and destroy buildings instantaneously. Obtain one of these, and enjoy the fireworks!

Red Alert 2 is a game that had me saying "safety first, sir!" and "I can go anywhere" for a long time after I was finished with the game itself, and indeed I still quote those timeless catchphrases today. I love this game! I... I can't find anything else to express how much this game defined my gaming tastes. I'll let the second spot of the greatest RTS' of all time hopefully satisfy my futile search to do this game justice.

Script Break - Video Game Blog of Note

Hi all, I'd like to briefly interrupt my top five with another script break, this time to draw attention to a blog by an 18 year old like me, on video games. He started at roughly the same time, and he blogs about his experiences playing old school games that the community chooses for him. The blog can be found here and it's called 'Playing games older than me'. It's a very interesting initiative, and for reminiscing about the good ol' days of Contra and such, look no further. Enjoy!

Your Base is Under Attack: Top Five RTS Games Part 3/5

I'm sure that most of you out there have heard the old adage, 'bigger is better'. Well, as I sit here now I also think of the saying 'quality over quantity', which is generally something I try to follow as closely as possible. This poses an interesting question; is there a certain point where sheer size and scale defeats quality? I'd be to inclined to say yes; funnily enough, when I thought of this the first example that came to my mind was the Battle of Stalingrad during the Second World War. The German forces were better equipped and better trained than the Russian troops, but the endless wave of bodies crashing against them prevailed, and the Germans were pushed back. Anyway, scale and quality are not always mutually exclusive, and speaking of military conflicts this brings me in a somewhat roundabout fashion to the number three RTS of all time for this list.

3) World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment, 2007)
For me, it is a sad affair to speak of this strategy game today. I suppose it's a story of a lonely giant, with so much to give to the world, but regardless it's largely forgotten by all but a few. Melodramatic perhaps, but this game is one of the few games where the campaign did not grind me down in my attempts to complete it. It was a genuine joy to lose myself in the story, and feel as though I really was that faceless commander, so quiet under such chest pounding pressure. And yet, I never managed to play this game online. It was not for lack of trying; I sat for quite some time on Massgate, feeling my frustration build over a lack of populated games. Maybe it was just a bad week, but nevertheless this game deserves more in my opinion.

World in Conflict places you as Lieutenant Parker, a cool, calm and collected officer ready to rip into the invading Russians with all the U.S. forces at his command. The cut-scenes are cleverly shot so you never actually see his face; a nice touch to help you imagine yourself as Parker, and it reminded me a bit I suppose of the immersion in the Half Life series (never a bad connection). The story plays out similarly to Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising (fantastic book by the way!), as the Russians essentially decide to take on the west in all out warfare. The cut-scenes, interspersed with artistic screens with dialogue, develop the characters to a fairly large extent, and you start to find yourself really fighting for freedom and the infantry under your command. This superb story is absolutely dazzling; perhaps not unique in design, but flawless in execution.

In terms of actual gameplay, World in Conflict focuses strongly on the combat aspect of strategy, and largely dismisses the economy and base management. This may be to some player's distaste, but personally I find the approach refreshing and bags of fun. Units and support powers are handled through 'reinforcement points': these points are set to a maximum number, and then deplete and replenish accordingly as you spend points on units and artillery.

Oh the artillery! I suppose each game has a certain spark that makes it stand above other games in different areas, and for World in Conflict it's the support powers available to the commander. With visual settings set to a decent level, try calling down artillery of varying sizes on the map, and watch in fascination as an awesome display of fireworks tears the ground (and enemy units) to shreds with unsettling elegance. It truly is an unparalleled feeling of power. Combine that with command of tanks, armored vehicles and infantry on a massive scale, and you have World in Conflict at its finest. In multiplayer, you are given a specific role (air, support, armor or infantry) and you help your team destroy the enemy or capture territory to win the game. Sadly, I was denied the opportunity to fully test this; but from what I've seen it's excellent as well.

To the spoils go the victor, and World in Conflict can feel satisfied with the bronze today as it claims the third place prize in this battle for the greatest RTS of all time. That's all from me for now, but don't go too far; the silver is up for grabs tomorrow as the second place is revealed...

Your Base is Under Attack: The RTS Part 2/5

Some may ask what on earth 'Z' is; for my generation, it largely slipped under the radar, swallowed up by the wake of RTS titans like Command and Conquer. So allow me to surface, if you will, and present a strategy that helped to quite literally change the face of the gaming industry as we know it. I give you number four for the top five RTS games of all time...

4) Warcraft III (Blizzard, 2002)
Before I begin, I should let you know I have not played a lot of Warcraft III, nor have I even played the previous two. I have spent a lot of time on some of the custom maps such as Element TD (Tower Defense), Burbenog TD and of course DotA (Defense of the Ancients), but I have never completed the campaign for either the first game Reign of Chaos or the second The Frozen Throne. However, I believe for the purposes of this list this is largely irrelevant; I've played enough to recognise that this game is a very significant strategy game released by the quality team at Blizzard.

 Picture: Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne covers, left and right respectively.

The original release is titled 'Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos', and in its fantasy setting it features four playable races: Humans, Orcs, Night Elves and the Undead, with each race having a unique single player campaign, tech tree and set of units. The story is one of the key factors in the success of Warcraft III; it laid the foundation for the phenomenally renowned Blizzard MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game 'World of Warcraft'. I won't go into any details, but the game is set after the events of the first two Warcraft games, where a great threat looms to the 'Alliance', principally of humans, elves and dwarves. An epic tale of heroism, treachery and unrivalled strength ensues as the races battle for domination and survival in the world of Azeroth.

Unlike Z, the gameplay mechanic essentials are fairly standard, with base building, resource gathering and technology research alongside unit production. So what is it that sets this game apart then? Well I believe aside from the polished feel, unique races, online fighting through battle.net and ultimate Blizzard style, it is the hero system that truly makes this game so extraordinary. In both single player and multiplayer, there are up to three heroes that can be built and subsequently leveled up to a maximum of 10 through accumulated experience points. It was introduced in this game, and it gives combat an extra spark that many other games do not possess. Warcraft III also introduces 'creeps' as NPC's (Non-Playable Characters), which the player can kill for gold and experience; and a day/night cycle, which serves story advancement purposes as well as many others.

It comes as little surprise, then, to hear this game had over one MILLION sales within a month. The user created content thrived, and now a mind boggling number of custom maps are available on the net (more on this later). A truly stunning game, and thus ends the post with Warcraft III deservedly at number 4. Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for the number three RTS of all time, coming soon!

Your Base is Under Attack: The RTS Part 1/5

One of my favourite gaming genres is strategy. An abrupt statement perhaps, but it is as simple as that; Empire was the first game I ever played in my life, and I've played dozens more strategies since then. I've always been fascinated by the potential for a sense of overwhelming power when you have people under your command, and being the sole leader of devastating military units, capable of ravaging and vanquishing all traces of life. It sounds somewhat horrific, and well, it is, but it's also a thrill unmatched by any other type of game. Going head to head with someone else you've never met, frantically countering and pushing in a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand... It honestly works me up until I start shaking with anxiety and adrenaline, stimulating the senses and sending the mind into overdrive. To those games I present this tribute; my top five RTS games of all time, in five parts. Note the RTS; for the purposes of this I won't be mentioning any turn based strategies at this time.

PART ONE

5) Z (Bitmap Brothers, 2006)
No there isn't any missing text in this game title; it is simply known as 'Z'. It was released way back in 1996, for the good ol' DOS, and I picked up my copy from PC world in South London. It came in an A4 sized white box, with minimal cover art and slogans, just a small picture of the frankly kick ass General Zod (reminds me immensely of Lt. Colonel Kilgore from Apocalypse Now, which I believe is intentional), the commander of the good guys in Z. I read once something like "Z is the grungy, laid back, ice cool cousin of command and conquer"; of course it was different to some degree, but you get the idea. Z was exactly that; humorous and relaxed, and great fun to play at the same time.

Pictures: Kilgore (Apocalypse Now), above and General Zod, right.

Z is played from a top down view, with a stylish cartoon feel to it, and it incorporates a battlefield flag control mechanic with a strategy twist. Two teams of super terminator soldiers struggle for control of territory around the map, which yield their own unit producing structures. Before you ask, there is no building construction in Z; just a battle for control of the various pre existing ones around the battlefield. However, you are given a fortress each, to defend religiously; should this stronghold fall, defeat awaits. On top of this innovative and amazingly unexplored style of gameplay, the Bitmap Brothers brought units like the 'Toughs', 'Lasers' and 'Psychos' to life with unrivalled hilarity (considering their situation and all). Combined, Z becomes a package so neat it sits here, at number 5.

Z; I sincerely regret the fact you no longer work on my PC. Although if you're curious, apparently this gem of a strategy is available for download here, at 10.1MB(!). By the way, I apologise for the positioning of the pictures, it just wouldn't work out quite right. Still, at least you can now see that confidence exuded by Zod.

Keep an eye out for number 4, coming soon!

Top Five - Seek and Destroy: The FPS

My next series of blog posts will be dedicated to 'top five' lists; a fairly easy way of ranking items and making your views about something known. So without further ado, I'll begin with First Person Shooters, because they have had arguably the biggest impact on my gaming horizons. (Descending order).

5) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC)
To start off, and capably bringing up the rear for this list, is a game that could quite frankly go anywhere on it; however Modern Warfare comes in at number 5 because of what it started... And because of what it started. Confused? Allow me to explain. Modern Warfare was and is a superb online shooter period. It's perk system and persistent ranking and unlocks, combined with great visuals and design made it an instant hit around the world. It essentially raised the bar for similar games to come, and I have spent many hours blasting away with a scoped M14 with red tiger camouflage.

 However, at the same time Call of Duty 4 began something else, something decidedly more sinister. In the Activision headquarters, which was buzzing with success, a new game was being planned. This was Modern Warfare 2, which spelt the beginning of the end for the Call of Duty honeymoon. More on that later, but for now rest assured this game deserves its number 5 spot with all its glory. Despite its often criticised plot holes, and the lack of realism, the pros far outweigh the cons, and to all who desire the thrill of the hunt, look no further. All that remains is the titanic test of time for this potential legend.


4) Star Wars: Dark Forces (PC)
Speaking of time, let us go back from 2007 to 1995, and pick up a copy of what I believe is the 4th best first person shooter of all time: Star Wars: Dark Forces. Of course, today, this game is somewhat primitive compared to the new releases, but at the time this game raised the worryingly pixelated bar for the fledgling FPS genre.

This game features the now famous Kyle Katarn, an ex imperial officer turned rebel, who battles his way through the hordes of stormtroopers and shrugs off the cries of "Rebel scum!". It was difficult; I was only young, and the game's puzzles proved a formidable challenge for me. However, the game captured my imagination, and I remember having dreams where I would step into the shoes of Kyle and face off against Vader himself in fiery laser torn combat. Dated then? yes. Brilliant? Absolutely. And thus, backed up by other titles like Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Dark Forces was never to be lost in the void of history.

3) 007 Goldeneye (N64)
"The name's Bond. James Bond" is a phrase that I can safely say the vast majority of people have heard before. Indeed, James Bond is a character that most people are at least somewhat familiar with; most likely through the movies, but the secret agent has made his name in more than a few gaming titles as well. 007 Goldeneye deserves a special mention here; it is one of the few first person shooters I enjoyed on a console other than the PC.

Goldeneye, like Dark Forces, did not have Call of Duty 4 graphics. But like Dark Forces it did not need them; the game itself was brilliant for what it was, and that was nothing short of sensational. Few games of the era took the player through so many different environments, battling so many different enemies with so many different guns. I remember the flower like muzzle flash of the assault rifle, and the canoe paddle appearance of the sniper rifle melee mode; some aspects of the game were rather comical in retrospect. Yet it delivers on everything; I sit here now trying to think of a flaw, and I come up short in every area. Except maybe for the cheesy death animations... But where would Bond be without those cheesy moments?

2) Half Life
I will actually later on write more on this series, but it deserves a mention here regardless. One day in England, when I was about 8 years old, I went to the library to rent a video game. I picked up this small case with the words "Half Life" and a strange looking symbol on the front. Undeterred, and completely unaware of what I was about to do, I rented it and took it home.

What I was about to do was discover arguably the greatest single player FPS of all time. This game did not need a disc to play; I returned the game soon after, but discovered it still worked on my computer. And I never looked back. Gordon Freeman, the silent scientist with extraordinary combat skills, grabbed me and refused to let go until I swore by the Half Life symbol. I won't say much more; not only is the power of language incapable of describing this game, but I would hope you have stopped reading and are buying your copy right now. If you're still here, know only that this game will force you to play Half Life 2, and then HL2: Episode One, and then Episode Two, and finally you will scour Valve news for any sign of the next installment...

1) Battlefield 2
If you have read my earlier posts, it will come as no surprise to see this game at the number one spot. If not, then allow me to introduce you to the greatest online FPS ever: Dice's masterful Battlefield 2. In short, this game has it all; explosive action, a high skill ceiling, phenomenal teamwork, high quality graphics, awesome vehicles, JETS, class based kit load outs, stacks of statistics for your pedantic pleasure... The list goes on; I could go on! Never have I had as much fun online as I had with this game. In fact, I reinstalled the game not long ago and played it again, and had the same thrill as I did back when it came out. It left me in no doubt about this game's excellence. Seeing as this is the number one game, allow me to elaborate...

  BF2 is an ongoing conflict between three factions; USA, China and the MEC (Middle Eastern Coalition). You play as either spec ops, assault, engineer, medic, support, anti tank or sniper, each with unique and further unlockable weapons. The aim is to capture various flag points around the map using whatever means at your disposal. You have the option of going alone or fighting in a 6 man squad in up to enormous 64 player maps. The result is INSANE (caps intended). It is the closest to experiencing warfare that you'll ever want to get. Whether you're sniping from a distant hilltop, providing support in your gunship, dog fighting in a jet, reviving nearby unconcious teammates, or just blowing the hell out of the enemy, you are guaranteed to have a ball no matter what.


That concludes my post on the top 5 games. I hope you enjoy it, and please follow if you do!
 

15 years of Playstation Legend

Just a quick post to kick start this beautiful winter/spring day here in Western Australia. It turns out that yesterday Sony celebrated its 15th anniversary of the PlayStation console! It makes me feel old, despite barely scraping the door to the 20 somethings. It has been one hell of a 15 years, and one that I'm proud to have been part of. To celebrate, allow me to link you to a video commemorating  this historic milestone, found here. I haven't watched it all, but I did see a picture of PaRappa the Rapper, a famous PlayStation game that caused me many headaches as a child. I also found the design a bit creepy...

... Possibly because of that strange rhythm teacher on the left, with a head like an expired onion. Anyway, congratulations to Sony, and like I've mentioned in previous posts, they really deserve to celebrate in style. To Sony, and here's to many more years of history in the making!

Script Break - Musings of the third kind

The second script break in a row - for those of you unsure as to what this means, its just the tag I give to a blog entry that isn't about games. They're supposed to be (and will be) rare occurrences, but this one is dedicated to another blog somewhat entirely unrelated to this one. My friends blog, found here, is essentially a blog devoted to whatever he feels like blogging about. It sounds rather underwhelming, but allow me to oppose this view; it's entertaining and light hearted, with an informal style of writing different to my own. In essence, if this blog does not interest you, chances are his will, and even if this one does it's worth the look. From music to dreams to Youtube, you name it; he covers it. Enjoy.

While I'm here, I suppose I could mention Gamespot's 'All Time Greatest Game Villain' competition, found here. You may have heard of their old competition in search of the greatest hero, which was won (to my boundless pleasure) by Gordon Freeman, the hero of Valve's Half Life series. You may also remember Masterchief's embarrassing dismissal to Bub and Bob (a lot of links there!), but anyway... This time, it's shaping up to be another close one, and at the moment it's anybody's guess who will prevail as master of evil. Personally I'm pinning my hopes on Dr. Breen; a Half Life one two would be a glorious triumph for PC gamers. However, only time will tell...

Script Break - About me

It's been a few days since my last blog, as I've been busy with University work, and then loyally gaming in my spare time. On that note, I've actually been playing a lot of Oblivion lately; Bethesda really ought to create a new Elder Scrolls, as I didn't enjoy Fallout 3 nearly as much as Oblivion, however I'll go back to that at a later date.

Today I'd like to divulge if I may on myself. A friend of mine said recently that I shouldn't give away too much in order to add to the persona of this mysterious blogging vigilante. So I'll keep this brief, or at least shallow in detail. As my blog page says, I am from England, and now live in Perth, WA, having moved in 2003. It was a move that made many people ask me the same question: Why? Why move to Perth? Why move from one of the most known cities on Earth (from New York, to Rio, and old London town...) to a place in the middle of nowhere that nobody has ever heard of, and is covered in snakes and spiders? Well... I suppose the official story, the story I gave to everybody, was that England was going to the dogs, and Perth was a beautiful city in a rising nation. Perhaps there were many reasons; I don't know. All I know is that I'm here now, although I do miss England sometimes.

What is there to miss? Frankly, not much, besides my friends and family. But there is this part of me, a small, rather insignificant part, that yearns to know what could have been. What if I hadn't moved? Would I be like who I am now? Would I recognise my Australian alternative self? Would I relate to him? The questions multiply towards infinity, but I must leave them unanswered. There is a void there... And there it must remain, for the rest of time.

I've taken a lot of heat since my emigration; Australians struggling to learn who I am, and Englishmen struggling to remember who I was. And of course, should you ask if it was worth it, who can say? I simply do not and will never know.

So there you have it; shallow depth. My life is a life of questions as I have shown, and strangely enough this is the first place I have ever managed to put this on paper. I set out to tell you about me, and I end up telling myself too. Oh and by the way; Perth actually is a beautiful city...

Newsflash - Duke Nukem

13 years. Not a figure you see associated with any single game under any circumstances, and certainly not when talking about production time. Yet this is the total number of years in production so far for the game Duke Nukem Forever, an addition to one of the biggest cult classics of video game history, the Duke Nukem series. The developer 3D Realms was developing (I use developing lightly - in this case it could mean purely owning the rights to) this latest installment, until they collapsed last year. As many forums have exhaustingly stated, it was taking 'forver' to come out.

However, in Seattle, Washington at the PAXcon 2010, it has been revealed that there is a demo of the game available for playing on the floor. Get more details here: http://pax.gamespot.com/story/6275192/duke-nukem-forever-hands-on-impressions?tag=topslot;thumb;2.

Nostalgia - The Final Word

At this point in my life I am no stranger to gaming; I hope I have shown the part it has played in my life so far, as of mid 2010. However, despite the goliath titles I've played recently, despite the goliath titles that have gone before, and quite possibly despite the goliath titles yet to come, there is one game that stands above the rest. If I look back now, I was a console gamer first and a PC gamer second; I believed in the dedicated platform and controller as the final say in modern gaming. Yet this game changed all that. This game changed my mental criteria of what a great game has to have, and in some aspects removed the criteria completely. This game is Dice's masterful Battlefield 2.

In case you're unfamiliar with BF2, it is essentially another online shooter similar I suppose to the Call of Duty series. It has seven classes to choose from, a few weapons to unlock, stats tracking, badges and ribbons to obtain, a few maps to choose from, and a virtually non-existent single player campaign, with just a multiplayer situation with bots. It all sounds fairly generic at this point, but that ends now. BF2 is played on either 16, 32 or the enormous 64 player maps. It has a tonne of vehicles for three factions, ranging from a small jeep to a fully fledged fighter bomber; all playable with online. It has a brilliant squad based team system for better co-operation with other people, and each side has an elected commander to control the situation. I could go on, but what this did was create a window of opportunity for the greatest online experience of your life.

And what an experience it was. I remember playing one match while in a 6 man squad, and I was a medic with his hands full keeping his squad from disintegrating around him. On voice chat, and with the squad leader giving orders, we worked as a single entity, racking up points while wiping out the opposition and having an absolute blast. Games as good as that were rare; but the average game was still highly entertaining.

So there it is; my conversion to the PC as a gaming console, the final word in quality gaming. Consoles are more suited to casual gamers, providing the opportunity for comfort and social gaming with friends, but to truly experience the thrilling hunt in an FPS or to rapidly deploy units in an RTS, the PC has the final word, and BF2 has the final word on the PC itself.

Rise of the Sony Machine

Sequels. A temperamental concept at best; sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I could provide many examples of great and appalling sequels (take the Godfather trilogy if you will) but there is one that for me, stands out above the rest: The Playstation 2, Sony's sequel to the wildly successful Playstation console.

The Playstation 2, or PS2, is most definitely the console that shook the world, and I don't care about the overused metaphor because nothing else describes the sheer respect it commands. One can laugh at the memory card size of 8MB - a far cry from the beastly terrabyte hard drives found in computers today - but I don't. Sure, the capacity is something akin to pathetic, but it also gives the card a degree of personality, like you genuinely know each and every byte inside the card by name. A 1TB HDD is loaded with mountains of information, which is systematically stored, reviewed and discarded with little concern at all. However, with a PS2 memory card, you often have to spend a bit of time every so often to carefully select and delete saved games to make room for more. Over the top? Perhaps, but it highlights the simplicity of the console which kept on going, spinning up discs over and over for our entertainment, while reluctantly demonstrating its mortality through limited data storage.

And entertainment was never in short supply, for the games of the PS2 were plentiful and sometimes of exceptional quality. And here I should mention my favourite game on the PS2: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In honesty, I never played the original Metal Gear Solid, but never have I cared so little either. This game stands by itself as an artwork; a genuine triumph in visual storytelling and gameplay. In short, if any game deserves a perfect 10/10, this game stands as a serious contender. Armored Core 3 and Final Fantasy X are two other games that deserve a mention; AC3 because of the thrill of building a combat-ready robot, and FFX because the characters and the story more than made up for the frustrating random enemy encounters... 

The PS2 has since been surpassed by its younger, stronger and sleeker son, the Playstation 3. The PS3 packs a lot of processing punch, with up to 320GB of HD space as well, and yet... I suppose the nostalgia gives the PS2 something that for me at least, the PS3 never can; memories of youth, memories of simple, untainted and pure gaming thrills. Great memories then; and the promise of even greater potential...