Can Alien: Isolation redeem 2014?

Due for release on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PC in late 2014 Alien: Isolation puts players into the shoes of Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda, searching the Nostromo 15 years after the event of the first Alien movie.

According to the small amounts of information that have been given in the press releases, Isolation will be a more survival-horror based game, set around one Xenomorph stalking the player, rather than the FPS that Colonial Marines was.

Now while this may have people desperate to give their money over to Sega, we’ve got to keep in the backs of our minds the cesspit that Colonial Marines created when it was released – using video footage rather than in-game footage, the terrible AI of the Xenomorphs that makes them look more like can-can dancers than anything that could be at all threating to someone holding the barrel of a gun to their double-mouths, and the concept of a demo being better than the full game in order to get player’s money before any content is released.

The two lines of text before the trailer fill me with dread as a prospective buyer. While survival horror is the new golden boy in the video game world, with Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs and Outlast being contenders for various “Game Of The Year” awards, there are too many times when that gets pushed to one side in favour of making money. See Dead Space 3.

“The trailer footage shown uses the in-game engine, and represents a work in progress”, says the trailer. Well, that’s a nice get-out clause, says I. Does that mean that the trailer footage is someone demonstrating the engine, or making a film using the engine? And what do you mean by a work in progress? Is this some sort of loophole you can point at in case it all goes wrong and say “We told you so?”

Hopefully, my fears will go unrewarded. The change from Gearbox to Creative Assembly making the game might herald a change in tone (and from the PR responses to other interviews given, they are being incredibly conscious of that fact, and definitely trying to publicise it). Isolation has been under development for three years, so we will all wait with baited breath to see if it turns out to be a world apart – preferably a planet apart – from the reanimated corpse that was Colonial Marines. 

 

Adam Smith (@webnym)

The three most interesting games of 2014

Transistor

What’s it about? A woman known only as Red who finds an intelligent sword called the Transistor, which looks like part of a motherboard. A malevolent organisation called ‘The Program’ are looking for her; Red must fight, action-RPG style, to save herself

Why should I care? Five words: “From the creators of Bastion”. Supergiant Games created one of the most interesting action-RPGs of 2011 from an independent background.

The aesthetic design is brilliant, Darren Korb’s soundtrack is breathtaking and the plot had Braid-level substance with a kickass left turn at the end.

As Bastion was on all platforms, Transistor will hopefully bring some needed style directly to iDevice/Android gaming, something unfortunately rare in the kingdom of Freemium games and carbon copy RPGs aimed at only aged 7 and under.

 

Thief 

What’s it about? Thief is set in a dark fantasy world inspired by Victorian and steampunk aesthetics. Garrett, a master thief who has been away from his hometown for a long time, returns to ‘The City’, and finds it ruled over by a tyrant called ‘The Baron’. While The City is infested by a plague, the rich continue to live in good fortune, and Garrett intends to exploit the situation to his favour.

Why should I care? Stealth. If Dishonoured is, right now, the king of the stealth genre, then Thief is the Arthurian legend that inspired it to seek the throne. The original game, Thief: The Dark Project was met with critical praise for breaking free from all the games about guns.

With Dead Space 3 and the disappointing continuation of the Resident Evil franchise sapping quite a lot of the stealth out of the survival-horror genre, leaving the player with the boring task of just shooting anything that isn’t human-shaped, Thief will definitely set a change of pace – unless they give him a gun. In which case I’ll need to find a hat to eat.

 

South Park: The Stick of Truth

What’s it about? We have absolutely no idea. The Stick of Truth’s release date has been pushed further back than a Back to the Future/Doctor Who crossover special featuring Futurama. From the box art, the game seems to be an RPG based on the South Park episode “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers”.

The costumes and class names also appear in the three-episode story arc formed by “Black Friday”, “A Song of Ass and Fire”, and “Titties and Dragons”, a trilogy based on parodying the Console Wars between PlayStation and Xbox and George R.R. Martin’s book series Game of Thrones.

Why should I care? Because it could set a trend. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have the sense of humour that could make this sort of crude satire work in a way that the recent Deadpool game tried really hard to, but just missed the mark. Funny games are few and far between, but if Stick of Truth makes money (and it will) we may see more of them.

Secondly, it’ll mean that good games can be made from television/film spinoffs to a generation that never played Goldeneye, setting a standard that might – if you’re a bright-eyed idealist like me – stop the slurry of mediocre video game tie-ins to every children’s film since 1994. And if not, at least it will be kewl.

 

Adam Smith (@webnym)

What's next for next-gen?

The Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are here to stay, software and hardware warts and all. Everyone can now take joy in not needing to say ‘next-gen’ and start saying ‘current-gen’ (and yes, I get the irony of the headline). But even now, we’ve got to look to the future, because this may be the last generation of the console.

On the quantity-of-games front, PC gaming is resolute, with more indie titles filling it than references to deceitful cake on a Portal forum. The term “PC Gaming Master Race” is being flung around the Internet to describe those with the disposable income to build their own top of the range ‘rig’ and keep it that way, with the Steam Machines being released to increase the portability of the PC gamer.

A Steam Machine.

On the other end of the spectrum, casual gaming on smartphones and tablets is on the rise, with AAA companies releasing tie-in games to link the casual gamer to the console like Fifa 14 by EA Sports and Batman: Arkham Origins. The Ouya is offering Android gaming on a movable, high-definition screen.

So with the high price bracket aiming for PCs, and the low going for the handheld, where does that leave the console?

In the past, this was simple: it was a middle ground. While handheld gaming in the times of the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox was limited, this was still clear to see.

The PC required some knowledge to set up the games, and was more for those that were interested in its mechanics. This was perfectly balanced by the console, which boasted speed and simplicity – disk in, game out. But now the install times of the XStation One match the PC, but unlike a PC, can’t be ‘Alt+Tabbed’ out of to go on the Internet or work.

With Assassin’s Creed 4 and The Wolf Among Us pushing for episodic gaming (and Half Life 3, in theory –all those prayers of gamers have to go somewhere) the priority for quick loading speeds and more compact games becomes paramount. This is especially true in light of 320GB-gate, the discovery that the Xbox One can’t hold the 500GB that it promised.

Could Mario make it to iOS devices?

The solution to this problem would be to focus on Cloud storage, but with the vulnerability of online gaming, as seen by the PlayStation Network being hacked, this seems unlikely.

My prediction? Despite the recent bad news about its poor sales, Nintendo will make more money than the GDP of Bulgaria releasing iMario, iPokémon and iZelda for everyone’s iDevices, as their focus isn’t on being the best, but on the reliability of being the ‘family console’.

Microsoft will make a console with the capabilities of a PC – one that allows the installation of Microsoft Office and access to games while others are installing. A console that you can work on.

Sony, on the other hand, will fuse with its other hardware and release PlayStation Television (PSTV has a nice ring to it), to rival the home-media omniscience the Xbox One is currently pushing for. Within ten, fifteen years, we may see the end of the Console Wars.

The next-gen is dead.

Long live next-gen.

 

Adam Smith (@webnym)

A Comparison in Self-Aggrandisement: Pretentious Game vs. Angry Birds Go!

Narrative

Pretentious Game tells the story of a little blue square that falls in love, and his quest to prove himself. I can’t tell you more than that without a large spoiler warning, which you wouldn’t want, but if there’s a prize for becoming emotionally attached to a square…well, actually, Thomas Was Alone would probably win. But Pretentious would be in the audience. ABG, on the other hand, feels the need to stitch a narrative to each race for no reason. Mario Kart didn’t need a story to explain why beating Bowser and Wario on Rainbow Road would save the Mushroom Kingdom – ABG should take note.

Pretentious: 1

Angry Birds Go!: 0

 

Gameplay

Pretentious Game’s jump from Flash games to portable gaming really makes use of the touch-screen hardware combined with ironic and punny instructions. While you’re still a lab rat, pushing the right buttons at the right time, it makes you feel more like Brain than Pinky. However, there is one level where the implied instructions have absolutely no bearing on how you beat the level, and being pulled out of the game to look at a walkthrough is never good. ABG wins because the intuitive tilt controls and ease between tilting and drifting make it a really smooth switch for players from handheld racing games, especially in such a gorgeously designed environment (which I suppose is easier to pull off when Rovio is spending more money on looking good than most students pay in University fees.)

Pretentious: 1

Angry Birds Go!: 1

 

In-App Purchases

For 69p you can buy chapters two and three of Pretentious Game, which actually provides variation of the story rather than just more of the same. The end of Chapter Three is a great example of using the mechanics of the game as a metaphor for character development. For £34.99 in ABG, you can buy a kart. One kart. And it doesn’t tell you the cost of the kart until you’ve put in your account information, so I’m expecting stories of children wiping out their parents’ credit cards on coins and gems (why do birds need gems to build cars?) within the week.

Pretentious: 2

Angry Birds Go!: 1

 

Can I actually play the game?

Pretentious Game loaded up on my iPhone 4S immediately. Angry Birds Go! crashed five times and wouldn’t let me play until I closed all other apps, turned it off, and turned it back on again.

Pretentious: 3

Angry Birds Go!: 1

 

Final Result:

Pretentious Game:  ★★★☆☆

Angry Birds Go!: ★★☆☆☆ (Just to be kind)

 

 

Adam Smith (@webnym)

Games You May Never Have Heard of: The Wolf Among Us

Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Telltale Games, developers of the popular The Walking Dead title, have released their new graphic adventure game. The Wolf Among Us is released episodically in 5 parts, engrossing you in the vibrant yet seedy and shadowy comic-art-style city of Fabletown, a fictional enclave of Manhattan. This game is a unique and wonderful adaptation of Bill Willingham’s comic series Fables where fairy tales and folklore are twisted into a gruesome and violent tale of crime and murder. From Snow White to the Three Little Pigs this story encompasses an array of recognisable characters from popular myths and legends.

After being exiled from ‘the homeland’ by a dark and mysterious presence known only as the Adversary, the Fables are given a choice; blend in with the Mundies (humans) by acquiring Glamour, a spell that allows Fables to conceal their true identity and appear human, or go to the Farm. Fables unable to blend with the mundane world are automatically sent to the Farm until such time that they can afford Glamour.

Toad and a member of the Three Little Pigs, Colin (who you still owe a house), are some of the characters you meet in the human world who do not own Glamour. Colin frequently escapes from the farm to visit Bigby and, for the moment at least, only serves as a kind of squatter taking your only chair and smoking your cigarettes.

Toad plays a vital role in the initial progression of the storyline, owning a run-down hotel in an attempt to afford Glamour, wherein all the important events seem to transpire. The story begins in this hotel and progresses from there, often circling back to the very place you first started.

You take on the role of the Big Bad Wolf (Bigby), the Sherriff of Fabletown who is responsible for protecting all Fables. Despite Biby’s edgy behaviour, he does show an almost kind and tolerant attitude toward certain characters. This seems almost inappropriate for the violent attitude of the Big Bad Wolf we all know so well who tried to eat a child by dressing up as her grandmother.

After a while though, the gruff voice and dishevelled exterior begins to fit this newly reformed wolf’s personality. Of course, it’s hard to change your stripes and despite his best efforts, people aren’t so quick to forgive and forget. They are not always wrong, however, as no matter how you play the game there are always outburst of his bad side, which is only natural considering Bigby’s past.

The rich artistic setting of Fabletown seems almost fitting for this dark and dangerous graphic adventure. After the brutal murder of a Fable, it is your duty as the sheriff to protect the Fables and investigate a string of suspicious murders. Even the way the Fable is killed is mysterious since ‘Fables are hard to kill’.

You progress through the game to uncover the truth behind this murder using point-and-click controls and quick time event sequences to play. The game forces you to make decisions quickly.

Your path is shaped by the decisions you make and the interactions you have, affecting the story as a whole. How much or how little your actions affect the storyline are yet to be seen. There are two main ways you can play Bigby; the kind, reformed child-eater and house-blower or the unchanged violent wolf of folklore.

This game provides a range of different playable options to choose from and has been a pleasure to delve into the first chapter and experience both the vicious and remorseful side of the Big Bad Wolf.

So far so good. It’s only been one episode but already I’m looking forward to playing part two. The choices you are given allow for a range of exploration opportunities, both with Bigby’s character and the storyline. In the end it’s up to you whether to be feared as the Big Bad Wolf of old, or be loved as the newly reformed hero of Fabletown. You are, after all, the one who will face the consequences of the decisions you make.

Although the gameplay style might not be to everyone’s taste it is, all in all, a game worth playing and judging by this episode I can only assume the rest of the parts will be worth the wait.

 

 

Rebecca Jones, Games Columnist

Review: The Binding of Isaac

😥

With 2014 fast approaching, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is in production. And in order to be ready for that, let’s look at its predecessor: The Binding of Isaac. No one can say we’re not ahead of the game (sorry, couldn’t resist).

When I was a child, various adults in my life would expound on me that old saying: “Crying never solved anything”. Those people, I’ve now found, were wrong.

In The Binding of Isaac, you dive into a basement filled with monsters all based on more abortion imagery than a scaremongering pro-life campaign, to escape your über-Christian mother bent on killing you in the name of God. And your only weapon to fight your way through these monsters and eventually face ‘Mom’ are your projectile tears.

In the words of Calvin Candie, “Gentlemen, you had my curiosity… but now you have my attention.”

The game is a dungeon crawler of the best kind: random generated levels that get more expansive as the game goes on, and in order to complete the game you must traverse eight of them without dying, else you get back to the start. Of the game. The entire game. Did someone say “difficulty curve”? For the first few playthroughs it’s akin to trying to ride a bike through quicksand and then hitting a brick wall.

Obviously, that makes you want to keep going.

Seems fair.

And to help with this descent into your own personal hell you do have various Power-Ups: Bombs to explode the baby-faced spiders (I don’t mean ‘look innocent’, I mean ‘have the heads of children…upside down’), Pills you find on the floor that can either help or hinder you (or send your three year old body forcibly through puberty) and Tarot Cards that vary from teleporting you into hidden rooms for bonus power ups to summoning the spirit of Death to vanquish your enemies.

Once you’ve amassed enough of these items (or rushed past them because you’re impatient and can’t stand any more baby-headed monsters) the boss fights are made…well, actually, they’re not made easier at all. Each boss is also randomly generated, except for Mom, and can vary from a giant blob monster, aptly named Monstro, to versions of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, if both the horseman and the horse were small children that had been dead for a few weeks.

Happily, all of these terribly graphic images are juxtaposed by a cartoony aesthetic. Binding of Isaac comes straight from the developers of Super Meat Boy, which means that even though you’re going through Isaac’s personal psychological hell, you can still smile as he cries his way through.

I particularly recommend this game to anyone with a PC capable of running games but neglected to bring a mouse to University, or anyone with Mac who didn’t want to spend £60 on a mouse for their gaming, because The Binding of Isaac needs only the WASD keys to move and the arrow keys to shoot, making it feel almost like a nostalgic offspring to arcade gaming, and a damn fun way to kill an hour or so with little space for mice and power supplies.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth will be available on PC, Mac, Playstation 4 and the PS Vita in 2014, but not on the Xbox One because if you’re gaming on an Xbox One then you really don’t know enough about games, or gaming, or have the sufficient brainpower to make reasonable purchases. Frankly, I’m surprised you made it this far in the article. And no, I’m not just saying that to get a console war going and push my views up…

 

 

Adam Smith

Follow Adam Smith (@webnym) on Twitter to win some delicious cake.

Nostalgia Hit: Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Pretty much Riddick.

I have often been of the opinion that the current games industry needs to be introduced to the term ‘the sky’s the limit’. No, let me put that more bluntly…

I think that the current games industry needs to be brought out to a baseball pitch, bent over by burly college students, and paddled with a particularly solid looking bat to the tune of ‘no more mister nice guy’ by Alice Cooper à la Dazed and Confused. On that bat would be the words ‘the sky’s the limit’, and, after a due amount of paddling, those exact words should also be imprinted onto the games industry’s buttocks, so that sitting down would be considerably painful for the next month.And, above all, the wielder of that bat should be none other than Timesplitters: Future Perfect.

In comparison to the modern gaming landscape, filled as it is with generic military shooters, remakes of generic military shooters, and (God help us) sports games, the land of Timesplitters was a world were next to anything could happen.

The game itself dealt with the titular timesplitters, an evil race of mutant creatures whose bulging biceps and menacing grimaces could put even Marcus Fenix to shame. Okay, sounds generic enough. But wait, here’s the catch. Said ‘splitters could also jump through time, and in doing so attempted to wipe out human race during various time periods in a bid for world domination.

You, the bald space marine Sergeant Cortez (the gaming precursor of Riddick; seriously, they’re both bald, ripped, and have weird goggle things) had travel back in time to destroy these creatures before their creation and save the world. What this meant in terms of the game itself is that its setting had nearly limitless potential, something it made good on with flying colours. In one section of the game, you’d be charging through a castle in the ‘20s with a steampunk machine-gun in hand and a pipe-smoking Colonel Blimp by your side, and in the next you’d be sleuthing through an evil genius’s layer with a 60’s swinger in a tight-fitting dress (seriously, don’t ask).

The gameplay itself was largely of the run-and-gun vibe, though in the story mode things got varied up from time to time; at one point you’d make your way through a haunted, zombie infested mansion (a level, that, back in the day, managed to work faster than a vindaloo-flavoured laxative in soiling my kegs) armed with a good ol’ double barrel, whilst a few chapters latter you’d be piloting a six-story robot blasting everything around you to ash.

Throughout the entire game (which included an arcade mode, a challenge mode, and a map maker mode), however, was an overarching sense of tongue-in-cheek humour that many a CoD or Battlefield game should take note of, so that you could be in the ridiculous situation of shooting cyborg monkeys with a harpoon gun, something that I personally hold as the absolute benchmark of any game, period.

All in all, if you own a PS2 and fancy an anarchic, humorous and above all fun game to kill some time, then Timesplitters is definitely for you.

 

 

James Dyson 

Best Games I Never Finished: Prince of Persia (2008)

Since beginning this column, I have been anxious to review the Prince of Persia games, of which there have been many. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is one of my favourite games of all time, and as much as I would love to dedicate a column to reviewing it, rather unfortunately I have actually finished the game, meaning due to the prescriptions of this column I can only mention it briefly.

Rather more fortunately, I am less successful at finishing the sequels. While it may make more sense to deal with them in chronological order, I am instead going to start by exploring a game that I see as being an anomaly within the series.

For those who are unfamiliar with the franchise, Prince of Persia is a series of games that originated as a 2D platform game back in 1989. After a further two games, the rights to the franchise were sold to Ubisoft, who many will be familiar with as the developers of games such as the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series. Ubisoft then released a series of Prince of Persia games, known as the Sands of Time trilogy, between 2003 and 2005. These followed the story of a young prince, dealing with the consequences of releasing the fabled sands of time. They were exciting, well conceived and really good fun to play. But I will come to those games in the coming weeks.

The Prince and Elika

‘Prince of Persia’ was released in 2008, and seemed to signify a reboot within the franchise. The protagonist was different, the plot was different, the gameplay was different, and the aesthetics and design of the game were of a different genre altogether. What is strange is that, after this, the next multi-platform game in the series to be released was ‘Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands’, which continued with the story line introduced in the Sands of Time trilogy, and was released to tie in with the 2010 Disney film ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’.

While I won’t discuss the film in too much detail, I would say the games are definitely better. As a fan of the games, I have to admit I was disappointed with the film. For one thing they gave the Prince a name, Dastan, and while I appreciate the protagonist of a film is in need of a name in order for the story to make sense, it did somewhat spoil the original charm of the character.

Prince of Persia (2008) is therefore a stand-alone game in the series, and while I appreciate the game developers would be keen to jump on the bandwagon of the film, I do feel they could have worked in a few sequels before returning to the Sands of Time story arc. And, because this game doesn’t fit in with the rest of the series, I often feel that it may end up getting overlooked. It received good reviews, and seemed to be a turning point in the series development.

The game follows a different Prince, who, unlike the prince in the first games, is not from royalty. A fortune hunter, the Prince runs into a princess named Elika, who has recently acquired magical powers, and he is tasked with helping her use her powers to heal all the fertile grounds surrounding the Tree of Life, and therefore rid the land of corruption.

Through the game you play as the Prince, and Elika helps you to explore the environment by aiding you in performing jumps and acrobatics that you would be unable to do yourself, and also helping in fights. She therefore proves to be a very helpful companion, with the cooperative element actually adding to the overall gameplay, which is more than can be said of many other games!

If I were to criticise this game, my one point would be that it can get repetitive. The developers choose to focus on introducing more one-to-one combat in this game, meaning the fighting can begin to get monotonous after a while, especially if you are fighting the same boss who keeps regenerating. Healing the fertile grounds also does begin to become repetitive. However, this game is really good fun, and is beautifully conceived.

If you are a fan of the series, then this game may be either a refreshing change, or a move in the wrong direction. Personally, I find it hard to compare it to the other games in the series, and so would see it as a stand-alone game, meaning it is worth a play on its merits alone.

 

 

Rosanna Howard, Games Columnist

Games You May Never Have Heard of: The Original Deus Ex

You may have heard of the franchise with the release Deus Ex: Human Revolution in 2011 but have you ever given thought to its origin?

Many hardcore gamers hail the original Deus Ex, developed by Ion Storm (not Eidos Montreal) and released in 2000, as the benchmark on which many games should be measured. Disappointingly, the father of the franchise gave rise to the disappointing sequel Deus Ex 2: Invisible War and despite Eidos Montreal’s attempts to emulate the original brilliance of the series, Deus Ex: Human Revolution falls short in comparison despite its success and style. Despite this, it’s the more recently released title that turns people’s heads while the game from which it originates fades slowly from modern gamer’s consciousness.

This first-person action role-playing is set in a dystopian future, heavily reliant on technology for survival and influenced by popular real world conspiracy theories. The entire game itself takes place solely at night: a dark atmosphere for a collapsing society on the brink of chaos.

While the setting itself may seem bleak the world is anything but. You will be immersed in this vibrant, complex, seedy and mysterious game that defined the cyber-punk style which has been emulated ever since.

The year is 2052 and travelling across fictionalised versions of New York, Hong Kong and Paris you encounter areas rife with terrorism and plague within this world full of rioting and poverty. You take the part of JC Denton, a nanotechnologically-enhanced super-agent of UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition) tasked with retrieving shipments of the Ambrosia Vaccine stolen by terrorists. As much mystery surrounds the main characters as the games events. Nothing is what it seems or appears to be and it’s uncovering all the truths that spur you on throughout the game.

The plot is mostly linear but provides you with a range of choices and a number of different endings, offering huge possibilities for the player.

The levels are extensive and fully explorable with many side-quests to uncover, allowing you to be in full control of the gaming experience as you decide how you approach the mission; full-frontal assault, stealth or varying degrees of both. There is no one way into buildings either. Ventilation systems, rooftops, sewers or even just the front door give you with masses of possibilities and a range of new gaming experiences every time.

The game is incredibly detailed, fleshing out the backstory with a host of computer emails, newspaper articles, digital logs (all there for you to read) and conversations with various characters, all of which provide insights into the world’s characters and events, providing you with important information to help you make your way through the levels. Each choice affects the game in different ways that may either help or hinder you so chose carefully!

It’s not just the story though; it’s also the gameplay that stands the test of time.

In Deus Ex you have the ability to set up your character in the way that you want using the skill-tree. There are a variety of unique skills to choose from which can be improved multiple times using XP earned from completing missions. The amount of the XP you receive varies depending on how you completed each mission.

Weapons can also be improved by finding weapon mods but these are rare in the world so they need to be assigned wisely. There’s only so much equipment you can carry, only so much ammo you can hold for each weapon so you sometimes have to make tough decisions on what not to take.

A big part of the game is JC Denton’s ability to install and upgrade augmentations. The choices you make at this point determine how the game progresses as each augmentation slot forces you to choose between stealth and assault. All these choices create a personalised character, unique to your preferences and decisions.

This game forces you to make choices, choices that will mould the shape of the game but give you hours of possibilities and a unique play-through style. By the end, each of you will have chosen differently on what storyline decisions you have made, what items you are carrying in their limited inventory, what guns you have modified to improve, what skills you have assigned and what augmentations you have chosen.

A multi-layered conspiracy filled with side-plots, twists and branching side-character storylines, Deus Ex is a tour-de-force even today. While graphically time may have not been quite so kind, there is no replacement for sheer quality and Deus Ex has that in spades. A must have for anyone that loves gaming. Graphics won’t matter when you’re fully immersed in the Deus Ex world.
In the end, the choice is yours. How will you play?

 

 

Rebecca Jones, Games Columnist

Nostalgia Hit: Battle for Middle-Earth

Picture the scene – it’s 2004, Lord of the Rings has reached the peak of its popularity, and I was getting to the stage where gaming was becoming a key part of down-time. With all of my games really being on PlayStation 2 it never occurred to me to consider anything outside of that platform. Then Battle For Middle Earth came out and everything changed.

I love Lord of the Rings.  I love the films, I loved the games, and I love the bits of the books that I’ve actually read, but BFME was something different. It took the awesome feeling of killing orcs and goblins and put you not as a warrior, like say in The Two Towers, but as the general, in charge of armies of men and elves. It was awesome.

The whole concept of real-time strategy was a new one to me and I was hooked. The strategy involved in choosing what buildings to build, claiming and protecting your outlying farms and training up an army to throw at your foes. For me, at my young age, it was a gaming revolution.

It felt as if you were there, as the game did a brilliant job of replicating the feel of the franchise. The score was from the actual films, the cut-scenes were also bits from the films, and the shouts of ‘Rohirrim!’ and ‘Warg Riders!’ made you believe that this could be a part of the story. Watching Gondor knights charge into Uruk-hai battle lines and seeing Mordor catapults burn down Rohan’s villages invoked every exciting moment from Helms Deep and Pelennor Fields. And if you wanted to be there yourself, the campaign took you through all three books/films, allowing you to re-live sieges and battles and feel like you decide the fate of Middle Earth.

Another great aspect of the game was being able to play as the forces of evil. Now, I like Gandalf as much as the next guy, but compared to the Nazgul and their dragon-like fell beasts, there’s no contest who I’d back.

Whilst BFME had some flaws, like not being as good as its sequel, it’s a game I regret getting rid of. For me it’s a true classic, not just because of its personal importance to me, but also because at the end of the day, seeing orcs and men duke it out for control of Middle Earth is one of the coolest things of all time.

 

 

Thomas Davies