Clowning Around

Since I’ve been ragging on Fallout 3 lately, I thought I’d take a break and post something fun.

Trine Hitting PSN This Thursday

2.5D Puzzle/Platformer game Trine will be releasing on the Playstation Network this Thursday, October 22nd.  The game will retail for $19.99, and looks mighty impressive. Check out the link below for the trailer if you want a better look at the game in action.

Source – Playstation Blog

Bethesda Falls Short Again

The long awaited Mothership Zeta pack is out to complete the Fallout 3 downloadable content. With it, I would like to nominate Bethesda for the Buggiest Game Released on an Unsuspecting Public Award.

Game Design Analysis: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – An Analysis of Game Design

This week sees the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on the Playstation 3, and I’ve had the pleasure of spending last weekend with the title’s single player and multi-player offerings, and have come away so amazed by not only the game, but the capabilities of the Playstation 3 system.

While completing my second playthrough, I was really able to take my time with the game and let what developer Naughty Dog had done sink in. Uncharted 2 is unlike any action/adventure game I’ve ever played, and it does a lot of subtle gameplay things that we don’t really notice or we simply take for granted. Below, is an analysis on what Naughty Dog has accomplished with the Playstation 3, and as game designers. Before I begin, I must warn you that I go into detail about the game, it’s mechanics, and even some story points, so be aware of spoilers. I highly recommend you play through the game before continuing reading.

Naturally, the first thing that captivates you upon beginning a game of Uncharted 2 are the graphics. The game is stunning. The best looking console game on store shelves at the moment. The visuals, however, are more than just for show. Throughout the entire experience of Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog employs it’s excellent graphics engine (and Havok physics middleware engine), to guide the player along the journey of Nathan Drake, and they do so without blatantly holding the gamers hand, and yet they still manage to show you everything they want you to see.

Take for example the opening moments of the game. Nathan Drake awakens to find himself sitting in the seat of a train, covered in his own blood. Perplexed, he soon realizes that the train is hanging precariously from a cliff, and is starting to slide over it’s edge. Gravely wounded, Nathan must escape the train and climb to safety while avoiding the hazards of the snow and debris that are falling down upon him. This would have been a cutscene in many a game, but in Uncharted 2, it is completely controlled by the character, and yet maintains it’s cinematic flair.

The player gains control of Nathan after he slips to the bottom of the train and slams into a guard rail. From there, it may be easy to not realize that you are now in control, because the cutscene segues seamlessly into gameplay (all the cutscenes are being rendered real time by the Playstation 3 using the games graphics engine). As the player climbs up the undersides of the train, in an attempt to reach safety, the camera is constantly positioned in a cinematic angle, and yet the flow of gameplay is not broken. This is beyond what games like the original Resident Evil did, with static backgrounds standing in for cinematic camera angles. The camera freely moves and pans around Nathan, while choosing the perfect position to highlight how precarious his situation really is. By the time the player reaches the top of the train and makes a leap of faith to hard earth, they feel like they have conquered the obstacle along with Nathan. With this one sequence, Naughty Dog has endeared the character of Nathan Drake to the player, even if they had never played the first game.

Continuing along this path, the game employs many subtle tweaks in camera positioning as you play, and they are never jarring or distracting. In the jungles of Borneo, for example, the camera is placed closer to Nathan’s body (even when not aiming with the L1 Button), and slightly closer to the ground, which serves to highlight how dense the jungle’s canopy of trees are, and the spectacular light filtering through to the jungle floor. Naughty Dog utilizes the camera in creative and clever ways throughout the entire single player campaign, even employing clever use of depth of field, where the camera will guide the player’s eye by blurring unimportant elements and sharpening the important ones. Players can even do this when aiming a weapon, as whatever is in the targeting reticle will be sharp and crisp, and everything outside of the reticle, or nearer or farther from the highlighted object, will be blurred. Again, the use of these camera tricks are so subtle that many a gamer won’t even notice them. It’s part of their beauty and why they are such an effective part of the whole gameplay experience. I have to say that I think the camera system used in Uncharted 2 is possibly the best in the industry, or at least one of the best.

It should also be noted that the game does not feature load times at any point in the game. Everything is a seamless transition, with cutscenes masking what loading there is in the game. The only time you see a load screen is when you first boot up the game, or when you are loading a saved game. Once the game begins proper, it is a seamless experience from beginning to end.

Beyond the camera tricks, Naughty Dog has spent a lot of time and effort to ground Nathan Drake into his world by employing an extensive set of animations, while also maintaining an incredible level of smooth, responsive controls. Nathan seamlessly transitions between running, jumping, rolling, climbing, taking cover, and reloading, often able to pull off many of them at the same time. Never once does it feel like you are not in precise control over everything he does. A mixture of motion capture and keyframe animation helps to add to the believability of Nathan Drake, even when he does rather unbelievable things (like leaping across chasms and pulling another character to safety with his bare hands). The subtle additions to his animation set like tripping, stumbling, and awkwardly grabbing a ledge or taking cover add not only to his believability as a real character, but in selling his environment as a real place. Nathan doesn’t look or feel like he is gliding across the environment like in many other games, but like he is actually placing a foot down on solid earth, or leaping across air that is offering him no shortage of wind resistance, thus making his death-defying leaps that much more spectacular.

A prime example of this technique are a scene where Nathan must leap across moving train cars to reach the front and snag a mystical dagger that was taken from him. The way his body moves and shifts with each turn on the tracks the train takes is simply astounding. He has a slight forward angle to his movement, expressing the effort it’s taking him to press forward on the train, and his shots must be carefully taken, because the enemies on the train are affected by the same physics and weight shifting.

Another excellent example is in Nepal, where Nathan and partner Chloe are fleeing from an attack helicopter inside of an apartment complex. The helicopter grows weary of the chase, and launches a barrage of missles into the base of the building, causing it to begin to collapse. As more enemies file into the room Nathan and Chloe are in, the building is collapsing all around them. The player must run along this collapsing floor, shooting enemies and avoiding furniture that is being affected by the gravity of the falling building. It is truly a sight to behold, and Naughty Dog employs this technique in a few smaller areas of the game, where the player must react to an environment that is out of their control. So many video games are, for lack of a better term, static. They take place on generally one plane, and the environment is just a backdrop for the action, and not an entity that needs to be considered while playing the game. Not so in Uncharted 2. Just as much care was placed in level design and environmental design in regards to gameplay as was placed in making the cast of characters as endearing as they are.

As equally important to the visuals, cameras, and controls, is the overall pacing of the game and level design. After Nathan leaps from the plummeting train car, he is left to fend off the chill of the icy tundra, while fighting to avoid the shock of the bullet hole in his stomach. He collapses numerous times during this player controlled trek through the train wreckage, and we are treated to a series of flashbacks that set the stage for his current predicament. From a museum heist that goes arry, to following the war criminal Lazarevic through the jungles of Borneo, to fleeing an attack helicopter across the roofs of Nepal, Uncharted 2 has no shortage of exotic, fantastical locations and a large variety of heart-thumping setpieces.

Unlike the first game, the combat is not limited to just Nathan being on foot. He is free to fire his weapons and shoot grenades while hanging from a building or streetlamp, or ledge. Combat scenarios are also set up beyond just the “ambush here,” “shootout in this room there.” Each of these scenarios are generally capped by a “boss battle” of sorts, or a complicated puzzle that needs to be figured out. The “boss battles” aren’t quite laid out as such, but it is clear that you are fighting an above average enemy with power and health to spare. The “levels” are laid out so well that you will barely begin to tire of any one element due to overuse. Even the standard shooting mechanic is mixed up more than in the first game, because of the sheer number of locations and setpieces you find yourself shooting in.

Take for example a chapter in Tibet. Nathan and company are fleeing a village that has been attacked by Lazarevic’s men. The chapter begins with Nathan and companion Tenzin fighting through hordes of enemies with the help of the villagers in an attempt to help a captured ally. Just when you tire of battling the enemies, a tank appears, blowing away walls and sending debris flying, while taking aim at Nathan and Tenzin. Now players are forced to contend with the tank, and the waves of soldiers, while still trying to escape the ruined town.

After racing through destroyed buildings and across rooftops, Nathan and Tenzin take out the tank with the help of an RPG, but not before Elena Fischer, Nathan’s on again, off again love interest, appears in a truck and Nathan hops on board, in pursuit of Lazarevic. Of course, they soon find themselves surrounded by enemy trucks and jeeps, and now Nathan must leap from moving truck to moving truck, disposing the enemies with his fists and guns. Eventually, this leads to him manning a turret and protecting Elena in the truck from other enemies. It shouldn’t have to be said, but the entire sequence from start to finish was fully controlled by the player. Outside of a cutscene or two setting up the action, all of it was done in gameplay. The game is filled with this level of gameplay variety from start to finish. Thanks to the clever implementation of the camera system, all of these encounters feel fresh and are all exciting.

I must also mention the narrative of Uncharted 2, which is, I believe, taken for granted by a generation of gamers that most likely are used to games pretending to be movies. Naughty Dog has gone above and beyond the call of duty to produce a character driven video game experience. Even if it wasn’t wrapped in the pulp adventure genre, I believe the characters are so well realized and fully developed that they could stand in any genre: survival horror, noir, comedy, romance. The performances by Nolan North, Emily Rose, Claudia Black and every one else are so spot on that you forget that you are playing a video game, and that the characters on screen aren’t real people (the gorgeous visuals certainly don’t make this any easier). Many games attempt to be a movie, but not many have actually bothered to develop characters that would actually work in a movie. They are either too shallow, and 1 dimensional, or they are wreaking of the cliches of the genre. Just because a game features cutscenes, doesn’t mean a genuinely gripping narrative is being told or that it has mastered some of the subtle arts of performance that movies employ. That is where Uncharted 2 sets itself apart from the rest of the games out there. The character performances are beyond strong; you can 100% believe that these people exist.

The story in Uncharted 2, if you were to really analyze it, is standard stuff for the pulp adventure genre: Idealistic adventurer on the search of a mystic relic that can grant unimaginable power. Unfortunately, crazed bad guy is after the same thing, and idealistic adventurer must stop him. What makes this story stand out among the others in the genre is the attention to character development and detail. Moreso than the first Uncharted, Naughty Dog and the scriptwriters have added so much ancillary dialogue to the game while the player is just running around, getting from point A to point B, that further fleshes out their personalities and endears them to the gamer. Uncharted 2, like it’s predecessor, is a character driven story, that just so happens to be in the video game medium.

Very few games really take the time to flesh out their protagonist, let alone their supporting cast, but such is not the case here. There are 93 minutes worth of cutscenes in the game, about the length of a feature film, but there is just as much, if not more, dialogue and banter between characters during gameplay. It is mostly humorous quips and adlibs from the cast, but it’s nonetheless effective. Although the genre dictates a level of black and white in terms of character morality, there’s a bit more shades of grey in Uncharted 2, and character motivations are solid and reasonable enough for the genre.

Naughty Dog has truly put in a superlative effort in the creation of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and the game will, more than likely, be taken for granted by most gamers who don’t realize the amount of thought and care that went into crafting every element of the game, from the visuals, to the camera tricks, to the character development and level design. I know many a long day and night was spent crafting this $60 piece of entertainment, and I appreciate every bit of blood, sweat, tears, and strained marriages that went into the making of this game. It deserves all the praise and success it gets, and then some. Very few game developers are out there creating games that they truly love and want to create, and we are fortunate that Naughty Dog has not given in to the quest for more money, and simply rested on the successes of the first game, and expounded upon it in every way. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a masterpiece, and a testament to what the video game genre can accomplish when a talented developer like Naughty Dog is given the opportunity to really push their creative boundaries and the hardware at their disposal.

This week sees the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on the Playstation 3, and I’ve had the pleasure of spending last weekend with the title’s single player and multi-player offerings, and have come away so amazed by not only the game, but the capabilities of the Playstation 3 system.

While completing my second playthrough, I was really able to take my time with the game and let what developer Naughty Dog had done sink in. Uncharted 2 is unlike any action/adventure game I’ve ever played, and it does a lot of subtle gameplay things that we don’t really notice or we simply take for granted. Below, is an analysis on what Naughty Dog has accomplished with the Playstation 3, and as game designers. Before I begin, I must warn you that I go into detail about the game, it’s mechanics, and even some story points, so be aware of spoilers. I highly recommend you play through the game before continuing reading.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

By Figboy

I’ll make this really, really simple: If you own a Playstation 3, go out and buy this game. All done here.

Alright, I guess that won’t exactly do for a review, so here we go. Uncharted 2 is one of those rare games that fully encapsulates what it is that makes the video game medium so damn special. If you’ll permit the hyperbole, there are very few games that come around a generation that truly define it, and expresses why the current generation is markedly better than the previous generation. Uncharted 2 is one of those games. It manages to define it’s genre, the Playstation 3, and even game design.

For the uninitiated, Uncharted 2 follows the continuing journey’s of one Nathan Drake, some time after his first adventure. He is lured into a pact with two rather shady people, Chloe and Flynn, who are working for a man eager to find out what happened to Marco Polo’s lost fleet. Naturally, they are not the only parties interested, and a crazed war criminal named Lazarevic is racing to find the fleet before Nathan and company do. What happens next is a globetrotting adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones filled with action, romance, betrayal, and all the juicy stuff that makes a story worth telling. I won’t go into any more details, because honestly, the story is one of the best parts of the game, filled with fun, 3 dimensional characters and truly the best voice acting in the industry. Each character lives, breathes, and manages to bond with you in some way, for good or ill.

It’s hard to talk about Uncharted 2 without mentioning it’s breathtaking visuals. The first game in the series boasted visuals better than any game out at the time, and the sequel sets a bar so high that it may be a while until it is surpassed, if ever. The character models immediately stand out, with faces that scream character, with lines and creases detailing faces, stubble, hair that flutters in the wind, and clothing that actually looks like cloth, and not molded plastic. The environments are the next thing that drops your jaw, with amazing texture work, lighting, and don’t even get me started on the snow, which cakes onto Nathan’s clothing and hair(and even ices his pants when walking into a frozen puddle) and leaves tracks and footprints in his wake. I was ready to put on a snow coat while wandering the icy tundras. Immersive is a word that I don’t even think does the game justice. The character animations are the best in the industry, and it really feels like Nathan and company are a part of their environment, moving, stumbling, and climbing across the world. It doesn’t feel like just a backdrop, but an actual place.

If you own an HDTV, that is the only way to play this game and truly appreciate what it’s doing graphically. Depth of field, motion blur, and all of the other technical buzzwords are in full play here, and I don’t deny it when Naughty Dog says they have pushed the PS3 hard. All cutscenes are done real time, using the same graphics engine as the gameplay, so the result ends up being very seamless, and helps to sell the “movie” presentation. Graphics Whores will absolutely delight in Uncharted 2’s presentation.

Of course, what’s a pretty game without pretty gameplay to go along with it? Fortunately, Uncharted 2 packs in some amazing gameplay in it’s rather lengthy single player story. The game’s a third person shooter, with platforming and puzzle elements, and I have to say that, compared to the first game in the series, there’s a wider balance between platforming, puzzle solving, and shooting. Just when you think you have done too much of one thing, they throw in something new, from jumping across train cars in pursuit of a mystical dagger, to pulling off a museum heist, to sprinting across rooftops in an attempt to avoid a pursuing helicopter, the game is constantly switching up it’s objectives and presentation to keep things fresh.

The controls are tighter and more responsive than in the first game, which is saying something, since the original had superb controls, but the feel of moving around the environment and aiming and shooting are much smoother, with better transition animations between actions like leaping, taking cover, and melee combat. Speaking of melee, the system has been tweaked a bit, and is a bit more button mashy, but fisticuffs were never really the draw of Uncharted. By pressing the Square button, players can throw punches (or, if behind an enemy, deliver a stealth attack), but enemies can counter, forcing players to quickly press the Triangle button to avoid a blow and get a chance to counterattack. It’s very simple and straightforward. It’s probably the only real negative aspect of the game, and it’s barely a negative. While you can certainly get into fisticuffs in the game, it’s designed for the shooting aspect and that part is glorious.

Nathan’s arsenal is pretty standard stuff; pistols, sniper rifles, automatic machine guns, rpgs, etc, so no prizes for originality there, but they get the job done. As stated before, the game is rather well paced, both in storytelling, and in the level design. There’s a healthy mix of platforming, shooting, and puzzle solving, with the puzzles being a bit more involved than the first game, but not brainteasers like in other games in the genre (ie, Tomb Raider). This mix works great, and keeps the game from getting monotonous. Of course, the rather epic setpieces and constantly changing locations helps as well. They also do a great job of blending elements like platforming and combat, as Nathan can fire his pistol while hanging from a ledge or street pole. This opens up game design, as enemies are no longer confined to just attacking you while you are on the ground, but while you’re also trying to climb to a destination. There is a feeling of tension as you never know when you will be attacked.

Uncharted 2’s awesomeness is hard to boil down to just it’s individual parts. It’s the whole stew that goes down so well. The superb visuals that are a testament to the PS3’s capabilities as a gaming platform, the tight controls, excellent level design, and great story all gel to form an amazing gaming experience that no PS3 gamer should be without.

But Uncharted 2’s offerings don’t end there. Responding to criticisms from the first game, Naughty Dog have implemented a robust multi-player offering that takes some of the maps from the single player game, and tweaks them to multi-player play. There are lots of game modes: Deathmatch, Elimination, Plunder, Turf War, King of the Hill, Chain Reaction, Survival, and Gold Rush. These modes support up to 10 players, and feature all of the gameplay mechanics from the single player (minus puzzle solving, of course). To add to the MP, Naughty Dog have implemented a Perks system, a la Call of Duty 4, which allows players to add modifiers to their character. The Perks can do many things, like adding extra ammo to your clip, or granting you faster reload speeds to name only 2.

Players purchase these Perks by spending money they earn in MP matches. Performance in a match also adds to your player’s level, where leveling up will grant you access to more and better Perks.

Despite the multi-player being filled with the standard modes, the “Uncharted twist” to it that keeps things fresh and exciting are tied to the traversal mechanics. Being able to climb up surfaces, hang off of walls, and shoot at enemies adds a nice layer to what would be “ordinary” MP. The smooth animations and fantastic visuals are icing on an already sweet cake.

Naughty Dog also added a “Cinema” or “Machinima” Mode, where MP matches are automatically recorded, and players can rewatch the match, tweak features like lighting, depth of field, fog, color, etc, take screenshots, and output it to video format or upload it directly to Youtube. Players can also enable Twitter support, which allows them to update their Twitter profiles with their latest exploits. The Machinima mode is a little more complex, and allows the player to, basically, craft their own movies starring the Uncharted cast. There is a vast array of tools at the users disposal, from green screens to animation sets and voice support (you can talk into your headset to record dialogue, and character’s mouths move accordingly). I’m eager to see what the Machinima community comes up with, and may play around with it myself.

The competitive MP would have been a great compliment to the single player experience, but ND didn’t stop there. They also added a 3 player co-op mode, where, naturally, 3 friends can join up online and tackle two modes: Co-op Objectives, and Co-op Arena. I’ve never been much of a competitive MP player, so Co-op mode has always been a favorite of mine in any game. In Objectives, players are tasked with going from point A to point B, helping each other across obstacles and defeating enemies and bosses. Players also earn money and level up in this mode, which they can use to buy better upgrades for their characters (no Perks, but new weapons, etc). Co-op Arena is more like a Capture the Flag (Plunder in Uncharted 2), where players must work together to capture a gold idol, while battling enemies in waves. The twist is that the waves get increasingly more difficult. It’s like a survival mode, but with an added objective.

Needless to say, Co-op is my favorite MP mode, although the competitive MP is certainly enjoyable.

VERDICT: BUY – I can’t stress it enough how excellent of a game Uncharted 2. Naughty Dog has packed so much gameplay, detail, and unlockables into this game that it quite literally could not have been done on another console. What would be DLC on any other system is included on the disc in Uncharted 2. The single player campaign is lengthy, engrossing, and ultimately satisfying without being a plug for part 3, and the MP and Co-op offerings are genuinely enjoyable, rewarding experiences. Value for dollar is rather important these days, and I can’t think of another game this year that matches Uncharted 2 in that regard. Now go out and buy it.

Genre: Action/Adventure

Platforms: Playstation 3

Developer: Naughty Dog

Price: $59.99 (USD)

I’ll make this really, really simple: If you own a Playstation 3, go out and buy this game. All done here.

Alright, I guess that won’t exactly do for a review, so here we go. Uncharted 2 is one of those rare games that fully encapsulates what it is that makes the video game medium so damn special. If you’ll permit the hyperbole, there are very few games that come around a generation that truly define it, and expresses why the current generation is markedly better than the previous generation. Uncharted 2 is one of those games. It manages to define it’s genre, the Playstation 3, and even game design.

Graphics Vs Gameplay

An Editorial by Figboy

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Playstation 3

It’s kind of funny to me these days when I hear people touting the amazing graphical prowess of a game like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on the PS3, because, just a few short years ago, the banner being waved about by gamers and gaming media everywhere was “Gameplay over Graphics.”

Nathan Drake & Video Game Character Morality

Nathan Drake and Video Game Character Morality

An Editorial by Figboy

I came across a rather interesting thread on elitist forum Neogaf where the original poster posited the nature of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’s protagonist, Nathan Drake, and how a seemingly “everyman” guy could proceed to literally mow down hundreds of enemies during his 9 hour gaming adventure, with nary a second thought. The easy answer is, “well, it’s a video game, stupid!” But there are bigger and more important issues that can be addressed. Morality and character development in video games is more conflicting in this medium than in any other because of it’s interactive nature. This conflict is not easily resolved. Below, are my thoughts on where this medium is at in it’s growth, and the quandary game developers must consider when designing their games.

First of all, no, Nathan Drake is not a sociopath. He is still an “everyman” (a very athletic everyman, but an everyman nonetheless). However, he has found himself in a rather extraordinary situation: he is in hostile territory, filled with people that are trying to kill him. A life or death situation such as this would drive even the most stalwart person of incredible moral fiber to defend themself. Nathan Drake is far from a character with incredible moral fiber, but even so, he would be a fool to let the pirates inhabiting the island in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune to kill him, and I’m 100% certain that every single one of you (myself included) would do what it took in the name of self preservation.

So lets tackle that character morality more. Just the fact that some gamers find themselves troubled by Nathan’s gameplay actions in Uncharted is a testament to how well crafted a character he is. Naughty Dog should be commended for creating a character that is likable, 3-Dimensional, and complex enough to generate such an emotional connection with the player that they are jarred by the game aspects of the, um, game.

Nathan Drake, to these gamers, and many that are troubled by his acts of violence, is a human being. He has convinced the gamer that he is a good person, a likable guy with a quick wit and sly sense of humor, and a highly adventurous spirit. The thought that such a seemingly upstanding individual would kill hundreds is startling. As video games get more and more complex, and when developers do what Naughty Dog has done and craft genuine characters, not just templates and cliches of the genre, some of us will probably have this reaction more often.

My question is this, however: why is it ok for, say, Marcus Fenix and company to mow down hundreds, even thousands of Locust in Gears of War, and Sev and company get to slaughter hundreds of Helghast in Killzone 2, and yet no one raises as much as an eyebrow? “Well, it’s war,” you say. “It’s a matter of life and death. It’s different.” No. It’s not. Nathan’s situation is a matter of life and death, just because he is fighting other human beings, and not Locust, or genetically altered humans like Helghast, doesn’t change that fact. I assume it’s ok for a trained soldier to kill to save his life, but the everyman is somehow forbidden to do the same? I don’t think that’s fair or logical.

Nathan Drake, on a morality level, is defending himself. He never actively goes out looking to kill, like in a Grand Theft Auto game, where a lot of the characters display sociopathic tendencies in the game’s story itself, let alone it’s gameplay. Nathan is, I believe, morally “clean.” He fights because he has to. He kills his enemies because to leave them alive would mean death for him. Considering how horribly outnumbered he and his two companions are throughout the game, I have to side with him.

This issue of morality does not have a clear cut solution because of another issue: Game Design. No matter how you try and cut it, a game is designed to be entertaining. There are different types of entertainment, even within the same medium (ie, genres of movies, music, games, art, etc). However, there are certain genres of games that simply must adhere to the standards of the genre. Naughty Dog set out to make a third person shooter in the pulp adventure genre with the production values of some of the best blockbusters of said genre. Outside of creating a compelling character (which they’ve clearly managed to do), they studied the genre and culled the best elements of that genre and applied them to that third person shooter mold.

No, the game isn’t trying to be Gears of War, although it has been stated that it was inspired by some of the things that Gears did right (ie, intense gunfights and action). Even the best pulp adventure flicks (ie, Raiders of the Lost Ark), have gunplay, fisticuffs, and, yes, enemy deaths. The 2 hour run time of the film naturally dictates that there won’t be as much enemy slaughter as it will in a 9 hour video game where the core game design revolves around third person shooting.

In short, you kill people in Uncharted because the game was designed to shoot enemies, and it’s a fun gameplay mechanic. Nobody complained that you could shoot endless enemies in Gears of War, so I don’t see how it would suddenly cease to be an enjoyable mechanic in Uncharted’s case. Naughty Dog had to make a decision when it came to how much gunplay they put in Uncharted, relative to what they wanted to accomplish with the story, and even game length. I’m sure Naughty Dog could have crafted a damn enjoyable game in Uncharted if it just revolved Nathan running around, solving puzzles, and fighting a small, managed number of enemies, but the nature of the genre of story, and game genre, would have resulted in, to be honest, Tomb Raider. Despite genre similarities, Naughty Dog expressly stated that they wanted to craft something unique with Uncharted in comparison to other franchises in the genre like Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones. Nathan Drake is not Lara Croft or Indiana Jones. He’s not an archealogical professor or a rich aristocrat with a penchant for raiding tombs. He’s an intelligent man, sure, but he’s no, well, Indiana Jones. If it wasn’t for Francis Drake’s diary in Uncharted, he probably wouldn’t have been able to solve a single puzzle during his quest.

If you want Tomb Raider, we already have one. Uncharted doesn’t need to be Tomb Raider. What needs to be considered even more is that the Uncharted franchise is known for it’s spectacular production values. It looks and feels like a big budget blockbuster, and it should. It was produced with a big budget. That fact alone affects game design. If Naughty Dog skimped on production values, the character of Nathan Drake wouldn’t affect gamers like they do, because they’d be able to put up that wall they do with other game characters, and lock Nathan away in the role of video game character. Because he looks, feels, and moves like such a real person, we don’t have that detachment.

Because of the production values, Naughty Dog has to factor in return on investment. If they somehow managed to strip Uncharted of the over the top (and frankly cartoony in nature violence; there is very minimal blood when enemies are shot) gunplay and stuffed it full of puzzles, platforming, and exploring, it just wouldn’t go over that well in today’s market. It’s an incontrovertible truth, and just because it’s a crummy truth doesn’t make it any less true. The reality of the world needs to be considered when designing a video game.

Just look at the commercial success of games that have taken a non-conventional, no shooting everything in sight design ethic. They certainly don’t do as good as Call of Duty and Halo. They do well enough because they don’t have $30 million design budgets, and therefore the return on investment isn’t nearly as risky. I’m not saying Uncharted has a $30 million budget, but it certainly cost a pretty penny to create, and if it didn’t appeal to a broader demographic, Naughty Dog would, frankly, be in the shit. Why should they skimp on making Uncharted look and play as good as it does just to alter a gameplay mechanic that is, honestly, very fun?

It’s simply fun to shoot stuff. It’s not required in every game, nor does it need to be there to make a game good, but Uncharted is designed as a third person shooter, not a third person, puzzle solving/exploring/platforming game. Those elements are there, but not the core elements.

The modern gaming market does not foster a taste for the unique. We see this with every release of a sequel to longrunning series that manages to sell in the millions while often better games doing something different get pushed by the wayside.

In my previous editorial, I discussed that gamers need to broaden their horizons and be more open to new things, and I stand 100% by that. But I also think that there is still a place for more conventional game design when it’s produced at such a level as we’re seeing with the Uncharted franchise. I mean, why nitpick the best of the genre when it’s the best of the genre? Complain to the offenders. The ones that are milking a genre/franchise for all it’s worth, and putting out low quality entertainment, but don’t chide the big dogs, or in this case, the Naughty Dogs, for providing a gaming experience of such quality that the only thing you can knock it for is having too much gameplay when many, many games of similar gameplay but less thought to quality and have been given a pass. The film, book, and music industry foster a very large variety of genre types, so why can’t gaming? Not every “Indiana Jones” inspired game needs to adhere 100% to that mold. If Nathan’s game has him popping caps in an inordinately large amount of enemies in the sake of fun, tense gameplay, so be it.

I get it, Nathan Drake is a cool dude. Nobody wants to think of him as a deranged killer. Thankfully, he’s not. And besides, “It’s just a game.”

An Editorial by Figboy

I came across a rather interesting thread on elitist forum Neogaf where the original poster posited the nature of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’s protagonist, Nathan Drake, and how a seemingly “everyman” guy could proceed to literally mow down hundreds of enemies during his 9 hour gaming adventure, with nary a second thought. The easy answer is, “well, it’s a video game, stupid!” But there are bigger and more important issues that can be addressed. Morality and character development in video games is more conflicting in this medium than in any other because of it’s interactive nature. This conflict is not easily resolved. Below, are my thoughts on where this medium is at in it’s growth, and the quandary game developers must consider when designing their games.

Non-Gaming: Pandorum Film Review

Non-Gaming: Movie Review: Pandorum

I had a chance to take the missus to a movie last week along with a friend, and we checked out the Sci Fi/Horror flick, Pandorum, starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid. I went into the flick with medium to low expectations, afterall, the last really intriguing Sci Fi/Horror movie I saw was Event Horizon years ago. Thankfully, Pandorum isn’t nearly as abstract, and in the end, manages to deliver an entertaining and even scary movie.

In brief, the story revolves around a technical engineer named  Bower (Ben Foster), who awakens from suspended animation on the starship Elysium with lost memories of who he is, and why he’s on the ship. As his memory slowly returns, he wakes up his superior officer Payton (Dennish Quaid), and the two try to discover why they have awoken ahead of schedule, and why the previous team tasked with running the ship has vanished. Over the course of this mystery, they discover that they are not alone, and humanoid creatures with incredible strength and ferocity are roaming the ship, feasting on the large number of passengers that are in suspended animation when they awaken. Added to the complexity is the fact that the ship’s reactor is dying, and if Ben and a motley crew of survivors don’t traverse the dangers of the ship and restore the reactor to power, they will die along with it. All the while there is the looming threat of succumbing to “Pandorum,” a sort of “Cabin Fever in Space,” for lack of a better term.

I won’t divulge any more concerning the plot, because it’s genuinely intriguing, and the opening half of the film is well paced and presented, with both Bower and the audience completely at a loss as to this new world they’ve been dropped into. The entire time I was watching the film, however, I couldn’t help but think of the video game Dead Space. As in, if you are a fan of Dead Space, and survival horror games, you will more than likely get some enjoyment from Pandorum.

The cast does a great job of presenting well-rounded characters given their minimal amount of significant dialogue and character development, but it’s just enough for you to form some type of attachment to them to the point where you don’t want to see them eaten by the creatures. Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid get the bulk of the responsibility of having to carry the movie, and they do their jobs extremely well. The creatures of the film are truly frightening, with excellent design, and a scene where you get to see the “heroes” try and take on just one creature and get their butts handed to them helped to sell how truly dangerous just one is, let alone a whole colony (which have made the ship their home). The overall visual tone of the film is excellently rendered, and there is no indulgence in visual effects just for the sake of visual effects. I don’t think the movie is nail-bitingly scary, but there are some great tense and claustrophobic moments where you have no idea what’s going to happen next, or where the scare is coming from, and that in itself is almost scarier than the “punchline.”

VERDICT: WATCH – Not much else can be said about this game. It’s like a good survival horror game without the wandering around aimlessly trying to find the square shaped octagon that will open the door to the hidden chamber. It takes the most effective elements of previous films in the genre and applies them to a rather unique story, with intriguing and well thought out characters, and wraps it up in a polished, often scary package. I had my doubts going in, and both me, my wife and our friend came away entertained. Movies that put story first are a rarity, in any genre, let alone the Sci Fi/Horror genre. The film is definitely worth a watch.

I had a chance to take the missus to a movie last week along with a friend, and we checked out the Sci Fi/Horror flick, Pandorum, starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid. I went into the flick with medium to low expectations, afterall, the last really intriguing Sci Fi/Horror movie I saw was Event Horizon years ago. Thankfully, Pandorum isn’t nearly as abstract, and in the end, manages to deliver an entertaining and even scary movie.

Crasheriffic Content for Fallout 3

Like many Fallout 3 fans who bought the PS3 version of the game, I have waited none too patiently for the downloadable content. Now that it’s here, I almost wish I hadn’t bothered.

Gamers: Expand Your Horizons

Gamers: Expand Your Horizons

An Editorial by Figboy

A thought occured to me while I was reading an article about Heavy Rain on fanboy central website N4G.com. A lot of fuss is raised over a percieved lack of innovation in todays gaming, but in my mind, I don’t think the majority of the gaming populace are ready for innovation, when they can’t even break out of their small, rigid thinking about what a game is.

It’s a generalization, but no less true: the shooter genre is the top dog in the industry at the moment. It’s kind of funny to me, having been gaming for nearly 30 years now, but I remember when the FPS, just like the RPG, were small, niche genres that a very, very small minority of gamers indulged. Not any longer. Both genres are quite large now, but the FPS genre is bordering on colossal.

Gamers eat it up. Single player, mostly multi-player, deathmatch, team deathmatch, they can’t get enough. And yet, like a contradiction, they spout off about the lack of originality and innovation in games while trying to frag their way to the next unlockable Achievement and Trophy in nearly every FPS that comes their way.

When a game like Heavy Rain comes along, it is met with crickets and tumbleweeds from the audience. Before I continue, I’ll briefly address what Heavy Rain is to those that are unaware. Heavy Rain is a single player “crime drama/thriller” video game that revolves around four playable characters and their connection to a mysterious serial killer dubbed “The Origami Killer,” because he leaves an ornate origami at the crime scene. Outside of this, not much is known about the story, because the developer, Quantic Dream, would like to keep it under wraps. The plot, however, sounds like it’s a perfect fit for the latest episode of CSI or Law and Order. And that’s precisely the point.

Gameplay wise, the game is a third person “adventure” game, where players control the character and investigate areas, talk to witnesses, and gather clues. If anyone has played Quantic Dream’s last title, Indigo Prophecy, they’d have a great idea of what to expect from Heavy Rain, although it is more grounded in reality, and features stunning visuals that help establish the characters and setting as something that should be taken seriously by the mature gamer.

Like a movie or TV show, there are action set pieces (like a crime investigator attempting to escape the clutches of a mechanic trying to kill him), tension filled moments (like the player trying to talk down a man robbing a store at gunpoint), and even some sexuality (like an undercover reporter forced to strip for the sleezeball she is trying to investigate). These scenes are played out in a unique way, using a combination of player controls and context sensitive button presses that affect the way the scene plays out. Depending on the choices the player makes, not all four of the playable characters may see the ending of the game, and each scenario has multiple branching paths that organically spawn from those choices. I saw the store robbery scene play out at least 3 different times, sometimes with the robber giving up, sometimes with the robber shooting your character, and so on. This level of gameplay complexity has very rarely, if ever been seen in gaming before, and when it is, it is largely shunned by the community at large.

As a culture, gaming has barely been around for 30 years. It’s still young when compared to even the film industry, let alone ancient forms of media like literature, music, and even art. Being the young culture we are, we cling to what we know, what is familiar to us, and we are afraid to move onto the next stage of our growth. This isn’t just the gamers fault, though we are a part of it, but the developers themselves.

Developers are afraid to take chances on risky gameplay like Heavy Rain, because they know that their target audience will not be very receptive enough to it, and the group that will be receptive, are too small to make a dent in the costs it took to produce the game.

Gamers can be very closeminded when it comes to new gameplay elements. Gamers are also very presumptous. They see a two minute trailer of a game, and they think they’ve figured out exactly how the game will play and feel. They see the button prompts fly up on screen during the first trailer of Heavy Rain, and they immediately think it’s nothing different from God of War, or Resident Evil 4, or any other game that has used buttons to help convey a sense of epic scope in the game that the game’s natural gameplay mechanics wouldn’t be able to do (for example, Kratos from God of War battling the gigantic Colossus of Rhodes).

Even more troubling than a gamer’s presumptous attitude is their indifferent attitude to anything that is not the status quo. They see a trailer for Heavy Rain, or Flower, or The Last Guardian, and they shrug dismissively and ask “What’s the big deal? It’s just some lame people talking about love, or a bunch of flower petals flying across the landscape, or a stupid little kid and his weird giant bird/cat/dog creature running around. Why should I care? It looks boring.”

That’s the attitude that is the most damaging to the gaming industry’s growth as a creative medium. If the first look at a game isn’t pulse-poundingly catchy, filled with explosions, tits, and ass, they dismiss it as “boring,” “lame,” or “I don’t get what’s so special about that,” or “that game has button prompts, so it’s not a game.” This attitude needs to change, or we will be swimming in the muck of uninspired, heartless video games and never be able to grow beyond our teenage years, so to speak. Considering how long mediums like film, theatre, art, and music have been around, the gaming industry still has acne and cracking vocal chords. And each time the gamers at large dismiss a game like Heavy Rain, or The Last Guardian, the more and more game developers will shy away from creating such creative works of art, and the more the masses at large will dismiss the gaming media as anything more than mindless fodder for kids and teenagers, despite the average age of gamers these days being 25-30.

Yet all the while, gamers get up on their soapboxes (yours truly included), and complain about a lack of fresh ideas and innovation in the industry. We won’t see any innovation if we can’t even accept varying interpretations of our medium. Games like The Path, Lucidity, Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy, etc, are few and far between, and they don’t need to be if we, as a culture, grew up and expanded our view on what a “game” is. A video game is not just pointing a gun at an enemy and pulling the trigger, or using a sword to disembowel a ninja, or shaking your controller vigorously to get a female characters tits to bounce. Those are certainly aspects to gaming, but they are not the only aspects to gaming. Like the various entertainment mediums that have come before gaming, it, and it’s fanbase have grown to accept a broad spectrum of content and interpretations of what the medium is.

We need to do the same to gaming, or it will never grow. I embrace games like Heavy Rain, The Path, Lucidity, etc, in the same way I embrace a game like Mass Effect, Uncharted 2, and Metal Gear Solid. We need to be more open to game ideas and concepts that may be foreign to us, and stop being so jaded, cynical, and presumptous when that new idea shows it’s face.

Once we can accept that gaming is not just one thing, we will begin to see more innovation and creativity, because we will have shown the powers that be that we are mature and able enough to handle different interpretations of our medium, and respect them for what they are, and they will strive to produce more. Not everybody has to like the same things, of course, but we certainly need to open up and at least consider that there are more ways to enjoy a video game than what we have been used to for 30+ years.

An Editorial by Figboy

A thought occured to me while I was reading an article about Heavy Rain on fanboy central website N4G.com. A lot of fuss is raised over a percieved lack of innovation in todays gaming, but in my mind, I don’t think the majority of the gaming populace are ready for innovation, when they can’t even break out of their small, rigid thinking about what a game is.