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

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

Best Games I Never Finished: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Though I would like to say the reason I am focusing on Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception in this article is because I have successfully completed the first two games in the series, unfortunately if I did I would be lying. I regrettably entered into the Uncharted franchise just after the third game was released, and instead of obeying the principles I usually uphold of playing games in the order of release, I instead dove straight into the newest game in the series.

I have already been told by fans of the series that I have missed out by not playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’ and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, but I have assured them that after playing the third game it is something I definitely plan on doing. However, as I haven’t played these two games, I cannot comment on Uncharted 3 in relation to the other titles, or say that Uncharted 3 is any better or worse. What I can do is comment on Uncharted 3 as a stand alone game, and I can start by saying that this game is fantastic.

‘Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception’ is, obviously, the third title in the very popular and critically acclaimed Uncharted series on PlayStation, developed by Naughty Dog and released in 2011. According to developers, it is an action-adventure third-person shooter platform game, which translates as it being similar to games such as the Lara Croft series. You play as the protagonist Nathan Drake, a wise cracking, your-every-day-kind-of-guy fortune hunter who travels the world in search of treasure and artefacts.

What makes Nate so unusual as a computer game protagonist is how relatable he is. The developers wanted him to be a believable character, and he really is, more so than any other game character I have encountered. He stumbles when he runs, he narrowly clears obstacles, and he freaks out when he finds himself in absurd and dangerous situations, rather than assuming an unnaturally tough façade in the face of danger. This makes him much more likeable, and realistic.

Much of the character’s movements were created through performance capture technology, where real actor’s body movements are tracked using cameras in order to be digitally reproduced in game. Nate is also played by video game royalty Nolan North, who many keen eyed gamers would recognise as being the actor behind Desmond Miles in the Assassin’s Creed series, as well as hundreds of others.

Because of Nate’s likability, you become heavily invested in the narrative of the game, to the same extent as if it were a film or book. The rough plot follows Nate, a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, and his quest to find the lost city, the Iram of the Pillars, before more sinister forces do. The game sees you explore desert cities, French chateaux and even a sinking ship, each location being a platform style level, in which a varied number of gameplay styles are utilised in order to progress. This is balanced really well, with no one element, for example the acrobatics, gun battles or puzzle solving, gaining the upper hand. As a huge fan of third-person gameplay, this is one of the best examples, and the varied gameplay means you don’t get frustrated or bored if you tire easily of one particular style of play.

I mentioned earlier of Uncharted 3’s similarities to Lara Croft, as it is the one game I would find it easiest to compare Uncharted 3 to. However, while the Lara Croft games are good (focusing mainly on the games prior to the series most recent reboot) I would say that Uncharted 3 seems to have more scope. Though both follow the same linear structure, with less opportunity for exploration as seen in other third-person adventure games, Uncharted 3 is created on a much grander scale, if only it being much longer, and harder, that many of the Lara Croft games.

Though I am a fan of the Lara Croft games, if given a choice I would probably choose Uncharted to be my favourite. I am one level away from finishing this game, and so hopefully I will do so before too long – and I would highly recommend you do the same if you haven’t already.

 

 

Rosanna Howard, Games Columnist

Nostalgia Hit: Star Wars: Battlefront

With a reboot of the series apparently in the works (sometime in 2015 according to EA) it is worth looking back to what can be put up there with the best of the movie-game genre. Easy to pick up, fantastic to play multiplayer, Star Wars: Battlefront.

This movie adaptation is a simulation of the major battles of the saga, requiring the player to shoot at stormtroopers and droids, capture tactical posts and man a diverse array of vehicles to claim victory. Empire, Rebel, Federation and Republic armies are all playable, as are a variety of soldiers with different capabilities, many which are shooter game stock but some are colourful, like the jetpack classes or shielded ‘droideka’.

The game looks smooth for a 2004 title, and maps are detailed and loyal to the fiction. Fans of the films (and I can’t profess to be the biggest) can also get a rush from watching Mace Windu go to work on the enemy ranks, or feel powerless to stop Vader lay waste to their tactical plans, all accompanied by the iconic score you hear in the films.

For its time, SW:B boasts of AI that aren’t rage-quit-inducingly stupid, you even see the same bot names cropping up – I grew to despise Unit 513 – when you regard your enemy as a rival, a respectable adversary rather than an annoyance something is working.

The game is far better when you play splitscreen with a pal/rival than on your 1’s. Many of the maps are laid out in such a way that one general can be spread too thin but two enforcers can dominate. For example, remember that scene in the film where Luke ties rope around the robot camel from his fighter? You can do that (and it is satisfying), but it requires teamwork. Incidentally, vehicles and spaceships are great fun to zoom around in on some maps (but they are a little overpowered). Near enough every one you see in the movies is involved or driveable somehow, and generally are most efficiently driven by two players.

By today’s standards, SWB does not bring anything revolutionary to the scene, but it’s a solid, satisfying title, definitely one to dig out of the box over the winter holiday, and load up with a few players.

I recommend watching a few of the battle scenes beforehand – the movies are usually on TV sometime over Christmas, and it makes the game really pop.

 

 

Jack McNougher

Catch up on Cornwall Campus: A Christmas Trip to Truro City of Lights

In Annabel Soper’s latest column from Exeter’s Cornwall Campus, she explains how they do Christmas in the Cornish capital, Truro…

One thing that we students love to do is both not work and spend our time worrying aloud about how much work we have to do, or complain that the term lengths are too short and that we don’t have enough time off at Christmas. The latter is particularly amusing as at Exeter we seem to break up relatively early, and return a few days into January. This seems fair enough, and gives us the great excuse of having two Christmas celebrations – one at university and then one with the family.

Image Credit: BBC

The start of the student Christmas season in Falmouth is marked every year by the turning on of Truro’s Christmas lights – Truro being Cornwall’s capital city. This night is one of the highlights of the year down here. It comprises of a parade that marches through town made up of brass bands, samba groups, pagan dances and many lanterns covered in different sculptures made of tissue paper and willow.

Second year Students at Falmouth University take part in this, and wow the crowd with dinosaur lanterns and other such arty creations. The theme of this year’s parade was expect the unexpected, which certainly suited the night I experienced when I went with my housemates.

We took the opportunity to have a half day as we had to catch the train to Truro at 6.30 and there was no way we could get any work done between then and lunch…right? So off we trotted into town, and returned half an hour later with fairy lights, ribbons and enough shatterproof baubles to make our own Santa’s grotto.

The time passed quickly threading the baubles onto string, holding them up across the room and dropping one end; it made great games of round up the dropped baubles and all too soon we were marching out into the rain to see the parade – though as the lanterns were made of tissue paper and it was positively hailing, we were not quite sure how much there would be to see, but that is all part of the fun.

Once we arrived, the parade had already started its route through the city, and we were well placed to watch it go through our patch; that is, we would have been if there were not countless teenagers walking to and fro in front of us, determined to find the best spot and consequently stepping on our feet. This would have been annoying, though I felt they made up for it as one apologised for tripping up on my outstretched leg on his fourth time passing. Being English is always amusing.

So the parade happened, kids walked passed looking like mini sumo wrestlers in high-vis jackets, the samba band woke everyone up half way through and the rain stopped just in time for the lanterns to pass, wowing everyone and a couple of lanterns caught fire – no big deal, leave it and walk on – it’s Cornwall.

Image Credit: Sharon (via Flickr)

Once the excitement passed, and the stalls selling amazing Cornish art and Christmassy presents packed up, it was time to hop back on the train. One of the great parts about living in Cornwall is that everything is relaxed, so relaxed in fact that people don’t tend to plan very far in advance. This is great most of the time, though not when the only way home is to take the single train running to Falmouth, made up of two carriages and running just once an hour.

It was great, we could see the look of the men working at the station as all the students walked up the hill towards the train. Something between blind horror and slight amusement. Sure enough the train came and went taking less than a quarter of the crowd with it, and coaches were called in to pick up the rest. Once they arrived half an hour later, in good English form people with young children were called to board first, prompting a few witty men in the crowd to shout helpful comments like “I am with child!”

It all ended well with us arriving back home happy and tired; two hours later than expected though, with some new friends made at the platform. It just goes to show one shouldn’t really ever plan activities in Cornwall because they never go how you expect!

Truro City of Lights is a great event. If you are in Cornwall at the end of November I definitely recommend you go see it! Though wrap up warm – and take a book to read at the platform!

Annabel Soper

You can read Annabel’s previous columns about life on Cornwall Campus here and here.  

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The Tribulations of Gaza

Image credits: gnuckx

In her latest column for Exeposé Features, Thea Osborne investigates the situation betweeen Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

There has been much coverage of the confusion and chaos in Egypt since the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi in July and the ongoing brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its members within Egypt. It is unquestionable that the recent changes in Egypt have reverberated around the region and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. A further issue that has not been so widely noticed, however, is the impact of this regime change on the people living inside Hamas-controlled Gaza. Despite strong claims by the Gaza Strip’s Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, that the only focus for Hamas is the Palestinian territories and ‘the Zionist enemy’, the new military regime within Egypt seems determined to punish the population of the Gaza Strip for their previous links with the Muslim Brotherhood. This is causing the destruction of vital lifelines between Gaza and Egypt which provide fuel, food and hope; the blocking or destruction of some 800 tunnels linking Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Understandably the new Egyptian regime is trying to assert itself and gain control of the anarchic Sinai Peninsula and limit the power of potential Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers in neighbouring Gaza. In many ways it has been impressively successful. On the ground this means that, six years after Israel imposed a strategic blockade on Gaza as a result of Hamas’ success in elections, the people of Gaza are now being choked from all sides. The effect the new regime has had on tunnel activity has been huge; it is thought that activity may be down somewhere between 80 to 90 per cent and that over 2000 people previously involved in working in the tunnels have lost jobs. Yet, this is only a small indication of the impact of the tunnel closures on the larger economy of Gaza.

The entirety of the Gazan economy and infrastructure has been impacted. Without the supply of cheap Egyptian fuel, power cuts in Gaza are now averaging eight hours a day. The only fuel now available is from Israel, which is not only scarce but double the price. Basic food stuffs have increased in cost and even with the recent Eid celebrations many markets and traders have been struggling. Despite a relative boom in the construction industry of Gaza in previous years, building projects have now ground to a standstill because of the tunnel closures and the resulting lack of concrete, gravel and iron. Israel slightly eased its restrictions in light of the crisis but, at the discovery of a new tunnel between Israel and Gaza on Sunday, they had suspended all construction supplies. At least a quarter of a million jobs have been lost across all sectors: construction, services, transport and storage, manufacturing and agriculture taking the biggest hits.

Image credits: Physicians for Human Rights

Gaza is considered by many as the largest open air prison in the world; 1.7 million people contained within an area approximately six by twenty-five miles big. With a 3.2 per cent birth rate, the sixth highest in the world, the problem of overcrowding and lack of resources is only getting worse. Every level of daily life is controlled and limited; freedom of trade and movement is almost non-existent. The recent closures of the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt will only exacerbate an already truly desperate situation and provide an extreme challenge to Hamas to continue to govern under such circumstances.

Thea Osborne, Features Columnist

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Oliver Cary: Has the coalition achieved its aims for education?

In the first of his column posts, Oliver Cary reviews the coalition’s progress on its aims of 2010.

The recent Mid-term review represents a chance to evaluate how far the coalition government has come to achieving its aims of 2010, and Michael Gove’s significant changes in Education have been hounded by criticism. Although much of this has centred on his proposed ideas to improve our system, there is understandable criticism of his policy that had already seen tangible changes.

Attempts to make more university places available may be possible, but raising fees to £9,000 has caused public protest and there are still vacancies at a quarter of Russell Group universities this academic year. The government’s aim for prospective students to have access to data of student satisfaction, costs and graduate salaries appears promising, but success for the institutions is measured by league tables.

Increasing university contact time, a common occurrence for students this academic year, is supposed to justify the increasing fees. How useful is this extra contact time? Many university standings come from postgraduate research results, as each institution has to meet its quota of outputs. David Priestland suggests that universities attempt in ‘gaming’ the system gain better standing in league tables, rather than giving more constructive contact time.

Photo credits to Babro Uppsala

Various changes to schools have also taken place, and the introduction of free schools and academies since September 2011 has also been criticised. Taxpayers have been sceptical of funding new Maharishi schools that teach transcendental meditation as part of their curriculum. New academy parents appear to appreciate their 5 year old children learning basic Mandarin, but there are still places not being filled at these schools.

Although many would argue that Mandarin in primary schools, and meditation that keeps students balanced through secondary education are unnecessary, Gove, however, seems to be too radical in his efforts to maintained a tight curriculum. His proposed Ebacc, an English Baccalaureate to start in 2015, has already been petitioned against. Those from the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers petitioned against marginalising subjects which do not form part of the Ebacc, and the petition gained 20,000 signatures in its first two weeks. Stephen Fry, who gave his support to the petition, stated via Twitter that the Ebacc would ‘pose a real threat to the status of creative subjects and vocational education.’

Michael Gove’s policy may cause our next generation to become more disenfranchised from education than our own, and his policy has extended to teachers as well. Plans to introduce ‘performance-related pay’ schemes are intended to raise the quality of teaching, and whilst this is hugely desired, it puts further pressure on teachers. Additionally George Osborne’s plans to give head teachers full responsibility for distributing pay amongst staff have created controversy. Head teachers, with this increased responsibility, and little experience with finance, could lead to chaotic administration in schools.

The intentions of educational policy are always to raise standards of education, enthuse and re-engage society’s youth and justify government spending. Gove’s intentions are no different, but he has undoubtedly made himself unpopular. In recent polls by YouGov for the National Union of teachers, only 13% thought the Government were taking education in the right direction. Teacher morale has decreased over the last year and Christine Blower, chair of the NUT, believes this is the result of ‘continual criticisms and undermining of pay and conditions’.

Michael Gove’s plans and policy for changes in education are perhaps too radical, and attempting to achieve quick changes without proper consideration and review of results. In attempting make improvements at university, school and teaching levels he has created three separate avenues of criticism, and has lost considerable support for his policies in the process.