In the downtime between GTA V and Pokemon X/Y, which I'm still working my way through, I was able to play a couple smaller games. I knew Zeno Clash was going to be weird, but I didn't expect the weirdness to enchant me as much as it did. While the game isn't perfect by any stretch, it explores some new areas in FPS mechanics that we don't see very often, and blows your mind with one of the strangest stories I've ever experienced in the the medium of video games.
The Overview
Zeno Clash is an FPS brawler where you play as a Ghat, making your way through the world of Zenozoik. The game is designed in a very linear way, but it works for this kind of game, as it is very similar to the campaign of a fighting game.
As you make your way through the Zenozoik, you encounter groups of enemies that you must defeat in order to move the next area. The combat consists of a mixture of fist fighting, ranged weapon, and blunt weapon combat, all from the first person perspective.
As Ghat, you are a child of the great Father-Mother, which is a bizarre, bird-like, hermaphroditic single parent who has raised all of the children of the community and stands as the apex of the group. We learn early on that Ghat has discovered a dark secret of Father-Mother, and decides to leave the village and community as a result.
Father-Mother
The story then unfolds as you play from Ghat's perspective, fighting your way through the villagers, the Corwid of the Free (an especially strange group that live out in the forest), and countless other Zenozoik oddities. With the help of some flashbacks, and the discovery of an ancient character called Golem that helps you in your journey, you unravel the real secret that Father-Mother is hiding.
Golem
The Good
The story and world surrounding the characters is completely bonkers. I can't think of another game that makes me feel like I'm watching a David Lynch film as much as this one. I loved it. The creativity of the designers really shines in this game.
The game looks really good. With great support from the nearly 10 year old Source engine and wonderful creative design by the developers, the game holds up against the test of time on a visual level.
Sure the world is cool, but possibly the most impressive part of this game is the mechanic they put front and center, the fighting! Hands down the best FPS hand-to-hand combat I've encountered in a game. The attacks are weighty, combo-ing feels amazing, and timing is crucial.
The Bad
It's hard to criticize a small budget indie game like this one too much, but if I have to, I will complain about the length. This is short game; I finished it in about 3.5 hours. That being said, there is a sequel out now for those that are hungry for more.
Even though linearity makes sense for a game like this, I think adding some non-linear gameplay for the player would have done nothing but add to the enjoyment to the game.
The Conclusion
Zeno Clash is a creative indie marvel that I think anyone with an appreciation for something staunchly outside of the box will enjoy. It sells for ten bucks on Steam normally, which might be a bit steep for a three hour game, but it goes on sale often, and I would highly encourage people to take a look when it does.
I love westerns. Western movies, western comics, and the few and far between western video games. The Western video game is a rare beast, one that we have seen very few of over the years. Outside of Gun, the Call of Juarez series, and Red Dead Redemption, we've seen virtually no western games this generation.
And then here comes Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, out of nowhere. This seems to be happening more and more frequently: I wake up, open Steam, see a AAA quality game staring me in the face for $14.99. Not only does this game breath some life into a setting that is not seen very often, it presents it to the consumer at a smokin' price!
More than ever before, we seem to be consistently getting these sleeper 15-20 dollar games, and the best thing is, they're damned good! Mars: War Logs, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, Dust: An Elysian Tale; while these games aren't perfect, they are surprisingly up to snuff with the latest AAA titles. It's an interesting trend, and one that I'm particularly fond, especially when it produces games like Call of Juarez: Gunslinger!
The Overview
The narrative of the game is relayed in an interesting manner. As the game starts, you watch a cinematic of an old gunslinger sitting down in a saloon for a drink. Before long, people notice that he is the legendary bounty hunter, Silas Greaves, and ask him to tell some stories about his adventures. You listen to Silas tell the stories to the patrons (and their reactions) as you play through his tale.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is set up more like an arcade game than it's predecessors. It's very linear and the FPS action is all of the shooting gallery sort. This ends up fitting with the style of storytelling very well in that each segment of the story Silas tells is its own chapter of the game. It all ties together very nicely into a snug 5-6 hour game. With the addition of a New Game Plus mode and a $14.99 price point, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a prime example of a Grade A middle tier game.
The Good
Gunslinger isn't the first game to use a flashback-narration storytelling style (Bastion, ahem), but man does it do it well. The way that Silas gets carried away on tangents and misremembers facts throughout his tale makes for cool dynamic level redesigns and wacky happenings throughout the game. This was one of the most refreshing parts of this game.
The guns look and feel amazing. When you're playing a Wesern game you really want to feel the weight of those two revolvers, or that double barrel shotgun. Gunslinger does a great job in bringing you some highly detailed, weighty guns, that feel great while you're shooting them.
Duels are tense and truly test your reflexes. It's tough to make a good dueling mechanic, but Gunslinger has done a fine job. There's tons of tension building up to the draw, and to effectively win, you really have to be on top of your game.
Silas' story is a rip roaring good time for any Western fan. You encounter Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Wyatt Earp, and plenty of others. Silas supposedly knew all these folks, which means you get to play through the story of his adventures with them. Being a huge fan of all the movies involving these guys, it's an absolute blast playing through parts of the game with them by your side.
The Bad
The game is pretty darn short. I can't complain too much about this because of the price, but if I have to gripe about something, I definitely wish there was more.
It's a linear game. Again, for the style of game that this is (shooting gallery FPS) and the price point, I really can't legitimately complain about this. But I have to come up with something,don't I?
The Verdict
I'm sure I've made this clear by now, but this game is a beautiful orgy of Western lore conglomerated into a cohesive, fast-paced, blast of a shooter. If you are a Western fan of any kind, or just in the mood for a quirky, over the top shooter, I'd highly recommend picking this up.
The Extras
Here's a playthrough of the first level. Keep in mind, this is New Game Plus, and also on the hardest difficulty, True West.
I’d never played a Far Cry title before Far Cry 3, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew the gist of it: Open world, tropical island setting, first person shooter. Far Cry 3 is certainly all of these things, but it’s also so much more...
The Overview
You play as Jason Brody, stereotypical rich frat boy who’s out vacationing in Southeast Asia somewhere with a bunch of friends. After taking a skydiving trip and landing on seemingly deserted island, the vacation comes to an end when a band of pirates kidnaps the group and holds them hostage. You manage to escape, but your buddies aren’t as fortunate, some are killed, and some are whisked away to other parts of the island. With the help of the local natives, you unlock your Rakyat powers, which give you the strength to defeat the pirates and rescue your friends.
The Good
The open world aspect of the game is really well done. It achieves the feeling of being able to go anywhere, and supplies you with two giant islands to explore. While I feel like there could have been some improvements in the exploration rewards (see The Bad), the ability to tackle situations in the game from any angle you can imagine is really satisfying and adds a nice diversity to the plethora of enemy outposts that you can take over throughout the game.
I can't even fit everything on the screen!
Hunting! I don’t think I’ve come across a game that makes hunting as amusing as it is in Far Cry 3. Red Dead Redemption makes a pretty good attempt, and the hunting/skinning/crafting system is very similar but far more satisfying in FC3. I think the key here is that you, as the player, not only are hunting animals but you also feel hunted as you venture throughout the jungle. The first time I came across a stream out in the middle of the jungle, I stopped to gawk at the beautiful water and all of a sudden, a massive crocodile jumps out of the water and takes me down to the ground. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The developers do a great job of making you feel genuinely threatened and vulnerable while wandering the jungle; you never know what’s going to jump out at you.
Oftentimes you'll see your enemies get taken down by wildlife as well.
Crafting! What are you going to do with all those animal carcasses and skins? Craft stuff of course! There’s a pretty robust crafting system in the game that requires you to hunt animals and gather herbs in order to make inventory bags, ammo pouches, healing potions, etc. While I hated the interface, the system itself was well designed, and compelled you to go hunt more than you probably would otherwise.
The game is beautiful. Like BioShock Infinite and Skyrim, I was constantly stopping to just enjoy the sights, taking screenshots left and right. The game uses the Dunia 2 Engine, an evolved form of the engine used for Far Cry 2, and it is really, really nice. This is one of those games where if you have a powerful machine, it pays off.
The FPS combat mechanics, while not doing anything especially different, are solid and fun. The wide array of weaponry at your disposal and cool stealth-melee attacks that you can put skill points into are extremely satisfying to utilize.
Yet another FPS that employs some RPG elements that are actually quite good! This makes the game almost feel a little Skyrim-ish. There are 3 skill trees, each having its own theme. It’s not terribly important which one you decide on first as you will get more than enough points to get nearly every skill, especially if you’re going the completionist route. But the choices are nice, and they provide a nice sense of progression as you play through the main story.
Insane antagonist. I could take or leave most of the characters in Far Cry 3, but the antagonist, Vaas, is really well done. He’s got sort of a Tuco vibe, making him extremely unpredictable, and downright frightening to encounter. The times where I was face to face with Vaas are some of the most memorable times in the game.
The story is actually pretty good. It’s not great, I’ll admit, but the voice acting is on point, and while there is a fair amount of supernatural mumbo jumbo involved in Jason’s acquisition of strength, you get a pretty good feel for the character developing and getting used to the situation that he’s been thrust into. It was good enough to keep me compelled until the end, and I think most people would feel the same way.
The Bad
I wish the loot crates that are all over the islands had some useful stuff in them. Instead, you get money and vendor trash to acquire more money. Never any crafting material, weapons, nothing. Hunting for loot is a big draw of exploring for me, so without this, I was less inclined to explore after a while.
The UI is clunky and obnoxious, at least on the PC. It really doesn’t affect the enjoyment of the game too much, but it was a minor annoyance for me.
The Verdict
This is a great game that I would highly recommend to any FPS-RPG fan. Diversified, fun FPS combat, tons of exploration, RPG skill progression, beautiful setting, fairly compelling story; I would go as far as to say that this game comes close to being perfect. I'll be looking forward to seeing the next game in the series!
The Extras
Here are some videos of various gameplay from my playthrough. Mostly just messing around, but it will give you a good idea of what to expect from the game.
We’ve been waiting (not so patiently) for this game since Irrational Games officially announced it back in August 2010. After numerous heartbreaking release day push-backs, the day has finally arrived that we can feast our eyes on the beautiful vision from Ken Levine that is BioShock Infinite.
In the line of System Shock and BioShock games, I’ve only played one, and that is the original BioShock. Ken Levine was involved with the development of the System Shock and the BioShock games are supposedly heavily influenced by these games. BioShock 2 wasn’t developed by Irrational so I was ultimately too skeptical to give it a go.
I absolutely adored BioShock; I would say it’s one of my favorite FPS/RPG games of all time and therefore I've had high hopes for BioShock Infinite since the moment I heard of its development. I'm pleased to announce that it does not dissapoint!
The Overview
BioShock Infinite is the third installment in the BioShock series. You play as Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent who is trying to find a young woman, Elizabeth, in a floating city called Columbia. Similar to Rapture (from BioShock), Columbia is a dystopia, rife with racism, jingoism, and xenophobia. As you make your way through the city to find Elizabeth, you unravel the mystery of how the city came to be, what the ultimate plan of the main antagonist and leader of Columbia, Father Zachary Hale Comstock is up to, and ultimately, how you fit into the puzzle.
Like the original BioShock, BioShock Infinite focuses strongly on story and world building while keeping solid first person shooter based gameplay mechanics with a nice mix of RPG elements.
The Good
The world is incredibly rich, with loads of detail and polish. You can tell that the extra time we waited for this game was put to good use. Massive set pieces, building exteriors, building interiors, skylines, sound, colorpalette; all of these work together perfectly to deliver a living, breathing world to your eyeballs and ear holes.
One of the most creative and original storys I’ve seen in a video game. The original Bioshock stood out for it’s unique, creepy, and immersive story and Infinite does a great job of carrying the torch. There are tons of audio logs to find that illuminate the world and characters beyond the main storyline, in addition to random easter eggs throughout the game that are truly magical to discover.
Characters that you care about. Booker, Elizabeth, Comstock, the Luteces; everyone is wonderfully voiced and written. You start out knowing nothing about Booker and his back-story, and throughout the game grow to really relate to him and understand him. Elizabeth has a great progression throughout the game, and the co-op interaction you have with her is nothing but positive.
Enemies are incredibly creative and badass. This was much the case in BioShock as well, but Infinite is even better. The Handymen and Motorized Patriots, in particular, have great character models and are extremely intense to fight.
It’s rare for games with a strong story to also have great gameplay mechanics, but Infinite pulls it off. With the addition of roller-coaster-like skylines to hop around, and “tears” that can be opened to bring in interactive items via Elizabeth, Infinite is far from being a cookie cutter FPS experience.
Like the first BioShock, Infinite melds a number of RPG elements into it’s shooter mechanics. There are a variety of guns to play with, and if you thoroughly explore each area, there's a ton of gear that you can find to give you perks in various areas of combat and maneuverability. Vigors (the new Plasmids) can also be upgraded to give enhanced effects. These elements give the player a significant choice in how they play the game as well as provide a nice degree of replayability.
While I haven’t tried 1999 mode, Infinite still provides a significant challenge in Hard mode. I’m not a huge fan of the ‘checkpoint’ system (see below), but the no-quicksave makes for a more intense, and ultimately more challenging experience.
The Bad
Checkpoints vs. Save anywhere. It makes sense for some games, and while they made it fit pretty well in BioShock Infinite, I still would have much preferred a ‘save anywhere’ system, like in the original BioShock.
While there is exploration in the game, it still feels sort of linear. This is coming from someone who's been obsessed with open world games lately, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit confined while playing Infinite.
The Verdict
If you enjoy video games as an entertainment medium, and are interested in seeing a divine example of how video games can be art, as well as entertainment, this is maybe the best game you could choose to play. I can’t recommend this enough!
The Extras
This is very early in the game, so don't worry about spoilers. This is just the first 6 minutes of my time in Columbia. You can tell I was in awe when I first started looking around... (sorry for the shabby sound, I'm working on it)
Short description: Open beta, free-to-play, multiplayer mech based FPS set in a dystopian human-colonized world that has been heavily industrialized. Four game types: FFA, Team Deathmatch, Assault, and Siege (beta).
The Good:
Graphics and general aesthetic are a beautiful sight to behold.
No automatic HP regen! You have to strategically use your ‘repair’ ability in order to last more than a fight or two.
As far as micro transaction models go, Hawken’s is pretty good, and while not ideal, it is not a blatant pay to win system.
Dodge mechanic adds a nice change of pace to the cookie cutter FPS format.
The Bad:
Very little customization with the mechs. When you think about mech games, customization is the first thing that comes to mind, and Hawken misses the mark by a sizable margin unfortunately.
Very few maps available. They get old pretty fast.
Seems to have a small player base right now. More often than not the teams are unbalanced or you are alone with one other person in the game.
While the micro transaction system doesn’t use a pay to win model, it could be improved. Everything can be attained without paying, but you will definitely be doing some grinding.
All in all, should you play this?
If you’re a fan of the FPS genre, and you like the idea of a mecha style FPS, there is really no reason not to give this game a go. It’s by no means a bad game, and any fan of the genre will be able to appreciate what it does right. Also, it’s free!
The Long
I think 100% of the reviews I’ve posted so far on this blog have been regarding single player games, which is a bit misleading, because I really do love multiplayer games, both co-op and competitive. With this in mind, I thought it was high time I write about some of the multiplayer games I’ve been playing, whether it be reviews as I’ve done before, or more informal thoughts about the games, which is what this post will consist of.
I’m going to get the ball rolling with Hawken. This is a game I’ve been super excited about since I saw the first gameplay video a number of years ago. At PAX Prime 2012, I was able to get my hands on the game and play around a bit, and it seemed extremely promising. There was a ton of hype about the game at PAX, the excitement was palpable among the attendees.
For this reason, I was expecting this game to make a huge splash in the PC FPS multiplayer space upon release to the public. Strangely, and maybe it’s still too early to say, but it doesn’t seem to be nearly as popular as I had imagined it’d be.
To be fair, the game is still in open beta, but come on, where’s the hype?! I didn’t hear a peep from anyone when Hawken opened up their beta servers to the public on December 12, 2012. Even to this day, I have seen very little press on this game, and I like to think I keep my ear pretty close to the ground in the gaming space.
This, of course, didn’t stop me from downloading the game and giving it a go. Initially, I was more or less doing a test run, as I couldn’t find any friends to really dive into the game with me. After putting a few hours in, I thought the game had some value to it, and after enough badgering, I eventually got some buddies to agree to give it an honest go with me.
Since then, after putting 8 or 10 more hours into the game, I’ve put it to rest, at least for now. So, I will take this opportunity to give some thoughts about what I thought the strengths and weaknesses of the game are, what I think the developers should do by the go live date to bring me back, and other general opinions.
The Model
The developers, early on, made the claim that Hawken would not be a pay to win game. This is something I was fairly skeptical of since I was tricked into thinking the same thing with Tribes: Ascend, and ended up being sorely disappointed with that outcome. Much to my surprise, Adhesive Games has done a pretty good job in straying away from the pay to win model.
Looking through the micro-transaction shop, you’ll find that the model is very similar to that of League of Legends. You have two types of currency, one that is only available by purchase, and the other attained through play. The only enhancements that are exclusively available using real dollars are all cosmetic. You can buy new mechs and some of the equippable items using real money, but these are also available for free, using the currency gained by playing.
If you do plan to go the "pay" route, you'll be pleased to know that it's only $5 to unlock a mech class.
While the game still feels a little grindy due to the fairly steep prices to unlock mechs, it’s not unreasonable. Again, I think it can be best likened to League of Legends free to play model, which in my opinion, isn't too bad.
The Game
Okay, so it’s not pay to win. Good! But how’s the actual game? To generalize, Hawken is mech game that employs the mechanics of an FPS. It takes place in a dystopian human-colonized world that has been heavily industrialized. I will say that the aesthetic of the world, and the mechs, is really beautiful. The graphics are top notch and do a great job of making you feel immersed in a gritty, fix-er-upper, mech inhabited world.
There are 10 different mechs available right now, each of which have their own strengths and weaknesses. The mech classes range from slow and tanky to quick and light, varying with both short range and long range weapons. Each mech has 2 primary weapons unlocks, one of which you get very early on (around level 5), and the other you unlock at max level (currently level 25). You’ll also unlock an Offensive item slot (e.g. turrets, EMP, explosives) and a Support item slot (e.g. shield, repair booster, radar jammer). Some of these slots can be filled by default when you purchase the mech, otherwise you have to either spend real money, or a sizable amount of your in game currency to get the items. One thing that is fairly obnoxious about this is that you can’t share items between your mechs, so if you want a rocket turret for all your mechs, you have to unlock that item for each mech separately, making the cost add up fast.
The prices on equippable items like these are a little steep for my taste.
Running and gunning is quite slow and clunky... probably pretty accurate to what it would feel like in a real battle mech. There is a dodge mechanic to speed things up a bit, which allows you to quickly strafe from side to side, using up some of your booster fuel. This is a really nice addition, making fights far more interesting than they would be without this feature. Timing your dodges correctly will almost always decide whether or not you win a battle. Overall, I thought the combat felt very good, even if a little slow.
Another mechanic that I found to be very worthwhile in Hawken is repairing. It’s become almost commonplace for multiplayer games to enable automatic life regeneration when not in combat. This can be infuriating, as you can get an enemy down to 5% life, and if they can stay away from you for X amount of time, their life will fill back up. Not in Hawken! Each mech has a repair ability that can be used to refill your life points, but this ability will take you out of combat completely, and you’ll be left defenseless while repairing. This adds a nice bit of strategy to deciding when and where to retreat to repair.
By now, you’re probably asking yourself why I stopped playing this game, as almost all of this review has been positive. Well, unfortunately, the fun is... fleeting. One of the big reasons for this is the lack of customization on the mechs. Aside from the few unlocks I mentioned in the first paragraph, there’s really nothing else to play around with. You’re limited to those 3 primary weapons (starting + 2 unlocks), and the fairly general offensive and utility items. So after you get to level 5, you’ve really seen most of what your mech can do, and the way that it will handle (at least until max level). Because of this, and maybe it’s just my short attention span, but it gets boring.
The game does utilize a general tech tree system (basically identical to League of Legends’ Mastery system). This tree is the same for everyone, and offers very basic, exclusively passive benefits. These are divvied up into 3 categories (offense, defense, and movement) and are made up of miniscule attribute perks (e.g. 0.33% movement speed). This element of the game seemed extremely generic and, to me, didn’t feel like it added any depth or sense of progression.
Lastly, the map selection is quite bleak at the moment. There are only 3 or 4 maps spread across the 4 game types, and while they’re fairly large, they get old pretty quickly. I assume that this is an issue distinct to beta, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Overall, Hawken is fun, but lacks depth. The absence of truly worthwhile mech customization is probably my biggest complaint. The customization level tops out way too early to keep me engaged for a long period of time. Couple this with the weak map diversity, and you have a fun core gameplay experience that eventually leaves you feeling sort of bored. These are the core elements that I feel need work before the game is pulled out of beta. I’m optimistic that they will make some changes to remedy this, but alas, only time will tell.
