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30 Jul 04
It's Friday highlights time again where I look at one game and try to pick out its best aspects. The idea not to say how great or awful the game was, but to say to game designers, "hey, here's a good idea. Maybe you can use it in the future." Today, we're looking at a game that caught on a little too late. It's Freedom Force (official site) from Irrational Games.
Freedom Force (FF) is a comic book style tactical roleplaying game. While combat is realtime, it can be paused at any time. This allows you to make full use of the wide array of comic book powers available to your team. It's set in the "silver era" of comics.
The first and greatest strength of FF is that it's actually a good comic book game. Most attempts at translating comic book adventures to the game screen have been miserable failures. FF takes many of the classic elements from comics and brings them to life without any real loss. The story is original with original characters, but many of them feel very similar to classic heroes. This probably turned out to be a great decision since comic fans are fickle about purity and storyline when it comes to their favorite characters. Simply put comic fans waited a long time for a good comic game and FF delivered in spades.
FF builds off that first strength by creating a comic world that any of the silver age heroes would feel at home in. From the dialogue to the battle cries to the sounds of combat, FF feels like a classic comic book. Each of the origin stories fits well into the plot and to the theme. Those stories are told in comic style. The writers at Irrational obviously have deep love and respect for the genre. Even the banter and conflicts within the team reflect the silver age.
Next, FF gives you fun and deep combat without being overwhelming. The ability to pause at any time turns the game from a click fest into a fun tactical game. Heroes have their health and energy reserves they must manage. Attacks can even be overpowered when you need that desperate attack to work. This leads to all kinds of interesting choices. If your character is flying he's harder to hit, but his energy recharge rate is reduced. An area attack might hit more enemies, but could destroy that damaged building and crush those civilians hiding nearby.
Crushing buildings? What? Yes, another strength of FF is the destructible environment. You can rip out light posts and signs to use as weapons. You can pick up cars and throw them at enemies. And you can bring buildings down on top of your adversaries. You can do most of the things you've seen in the comics.
Of course, the final strength of Freedom Force is the ability to create custom heroes. You can make your dream hero. It's not limitless, but with the ability to import skins, you can make all kinds of crazy heroes. Toadman with mad hops? How about acid breath as well? Watch out for the Black Eagle and his talons of doom though.
Jason
Comments?
29 Jul 04
Did you ever think a game was good, but bogged down in a few parts? Did you ever play a mod that was much better than the original game? I'm beginning to think my games/movie analogy needs to be taken one step farther. To wit, games may need editors. I don't mean scenario editors or map editors or character editors, and I certainly don't mean video game editors in the reviewing sense. I mean someone who works on pacing and cuts out bad sections of games.
Obviously, this would only work for story driven games. If you go free form, it's up to the player to skip the bits they find boring. I think a good editor could raise review scores for a game up to a point and a half. That's assuming they don't get to add any new material, just cut the chaff. If they could work with the designer and project lead it could be more.
I think part of it is the side effect of crunch time. As everyone is working franticly to finish the game, it seems that no one has a chance to take a look at the big picture of the game. When you go from stomping one bug to the next, it's easy to lose track of that. If you have someone whose job is just to look at the look and feel of the whole experience, you can craft a more favorable experience.
I'm not saying this would be a magic bullet. For instance, I thought that the section of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time where you lose the dagger was awful and unnecessarily frustrating. I've talked to some people who feel that the best part of the game. They describe it as an ultimate "boss battle" that must be overcome. Still, I hope it could be the end for one of my banes, out of place, instant death jumping puzzles (especially in first person).
Today's game is a German import. It's Arena Wars (official site) from ExDream Entertainment. It's a take on the RTS genre. It's rather like a RTS version of Unreal Tournament where you order around the bots from above. The three game modes are capture the flag, bombing run and double domination. It supports up to eight player in multiplayer mode. Start you war this fall in the US.
Jason
Comments?
28 Jul 04
If you would do me a favor and check out the forum. I'm trying to decide what to do about the ads around here. Any input would be appreciated. In fact, if you have any other suggestions/ideas about the site, don't hesitate to send them my way.
It's one of those interesting paradoxes in life. The more you write about games, the less time you have to actually play them. It only makes sense. I try to make up for this by thinking about obscure aspects of gaming when I'm not doing something else that requires total concentration. I also play my GBA when I'm watching TV.
It's not like I try to hide my geek roots. I mean I was very early into computers. I read the Lord of the Rings in my early teens (long, long ago). I was excited when Star Trek: The Next Generation came on the air. Heck I even enjoyed the short lived TV version of the Flash. I even had a T Shirt. I think my wife uses it as a rag now.
It's interesting to look how the rest of the vanguard is reacting now that gaming is going mainstream. You must remember we argued for this for years. We came up with these grand visions of how interactive entertainment was the next great media frontier. Everyone would want to get in on this. People who looked down on gamers just weren't visionary enough. Soon the world would see the truth. What do you know? For once, we were right.
Of course, once any media becomes mass media it changes to reflect the public's taste. Now you hear many cries about golden ages being gone and the quirky, personal game is a thing of the past. I think I've made clear my personal position on this: the best days are yet to come and just around the corner. Still, there are negative trends in the industry, and it takes an experienced eye to track them.
It just worries me when 'old school' gamers start leaving the hobby. If they're convinced their work is done, more power to them. I don't think that's the reason for too many of them. So maybe the club isn't as exclusive any more. On the other hand, there are more high quality games than practically anyone can play coming out each year. There's also more and better information about games out there and that information is so much faster and more accessible it boggles the mind.
I think the most biting argument that the old timers come up with is that the kids don't respect the hobby. That's true for some of them. For them, it's not a hobby. It's just another expected part of their lives. But others do have that respect. They try to go back and play some of the classic games. Sometimes they're amazed at how hard some of those games were. Some of them do respect the old school. They're amazed at how much we know. Sometimes we just have to remember that just because an activity is mainstream doesn't mean that everyone looks at it the same way.
Today's game is trying a new way to look at the RTS genre. It's Armies of Exigo (official site) from Black Hole Entertainment. Sure it starts out looking like classic medieval fantasy fare, but quickly you'll see what lies beneath. In fact, that's one of its selling points. There is multilevel combat. Of course, Metal Fatigue tried something similar before and Age of Wonders series had the underworld and even the shadow realm. Exigo takes it all into glorious 3D with destructible terrain. Choose your side (human, beast, or the fallen) and lead them to victory at the end of the year.
Jason
Comments?
27 Jul 04
Of course in the name of equal time, today's game is Madden NFL 2005 (official site) from EA Tiburon. So if we look beyond the marketing what separates these two games. Well, these games show the interesting results of feature creep. They need new bullet points each year to make fans buy the game without claiming its a roster update. The problem is that once you add a feature it gets harder and harder to pull out.
This year there seems to be some argument over the franchise modes. Which is better? Well, if we think back, we realize that any sort of franchise mode was never what the fans were demanding. Fans wanted a consistently improving game on the field. They wanted to realistically match what they saw at the stadium or on TV. They wanted to feel in control of the action without having to micromanage everything.
So how did we get to the point where people are debating over how realistic the salary cap management models are? It started simply enough. Most games allowed for a season mode. You'd get a schedule based on the NFL's and you could play through the season. If you did well, you could make the playoffs and then to the Super Bowl. Then people did demand trades. Unfortunately, in the NFL, trades aren't made solely on needs and talent levels. Many other factors come into play.
Then a simple goal like more realistic trades becomes something more. You need a draft if you're going to trade draft picks. You need a salary cap and contract loading if you want to work the numbers realistically. You need franchise tags. Some even argue that you need player personalities and preferences. That's where this slippery slope is taking us. So now games are modeling the three off field forces. Owners provide the money and facilities. Coaches provide the expertise, planning and execution. General Managers (GMs) bridge the gap between the two running the team like a business while managing the personalities of the coaches and players.
Since the games don't offer franchise modes from each of the three perspectives (yet!), you see some differences in the franchises. EA seems to lean a little toward the owner end of the spectrum while Sega is closer to the coaches. So would you rather manage training and practice schedules or tickets and concession prices?
Faced with this bewildering number of choices, I'm learning to appreciate the over the top antics of NFL Street. Sometimes you just want to chuck the ball around like a maniac and run over a few people. Then again when most of the world thinks of football, the think of a round ball played on a pitch aiming for the World Cup.
Jason
Comments?
26 Jul 04
Interest continues on the EA/Sega front. I'm just going to go ahead and make ESPN NFL 2k5 (official site) from Visual Concepts the game of the day. I suppose you could argue that it's not a strategy or tactical game (but you could argue the other way), but there's no real arguing that there's not deep strategies being executed on both sides by companies and fans.
The thing that interests me the most is the 'whisper campaign' going on. A whisper campaign is a group of people anonymously going around and spread bad news, rumors or half-truths to damage a reputation. There are some Madden fans doing exactly this. Their number one talking point is "[pointing to flaw X] and that's why it's a budget game this year." Yes, Madden is a real football game, but ESPN is just a cheap budget title. Of course, the question of why year in and year out that Madden can't put away this budget title must come up.
I've played Madden (previous years) and now ESPN (this year). They are not leagues apart. They are very close competitors. Right now I'd probably give the edge to Madden in my personal preference, but that probably has more to do with familiarity than anything. Even saying that there's no way I could argue that Madden is worth 2.5 times the price of ESPN if you have any budget constraints on your spending. That's only in direct comparison. Madden is still better than most of the $50 games coming out in the next few months.
It does upset me that the Madden fans are behaving this way. If you like your game better, great. Don't disparage the competition. I'd be a little worried if I were Tiburon (Madden's developers). You know with the viciousness that ESPN has been torn into, that their fans will want payback. I hope Madden ships bug free or there will be lots of blood in the water.
I do have to hand it to EA's marketing department. ESPN came out last week (Tuesday shipping). So what dominated the weekend ads? Madden. It's not out until 12 Aug. Somehow the major chains in my Sunday paper aren't listing ESPN as available until Thursday. I went into one this weekend and asked if they had ESPN. They said yes, but they weren't supposed to put it out until Thursday. Why would they do that when their competition is already selling the game? I also noticed that even though they didn't have ESPN up, they had a stack of Madden preorder cards in a prominent space on the shelf. That's just impressive marketing.
Jason
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