Rewarding the player

I think the problem here lies with rewards and the satisfaction of completing a level. Maybe I’m just a slave to the typical rpg-escue elements of gaining experience points for your efforts. In Super Mario Galaxy the only reward you actually get is the 1x star number to your total stars after you complete a level. That might have been enough for me when I was younger but not anymore. It’s not like the game has a great story to keep you interested, the gameplay is the best you can get from a platformer but I really like platform-games going hand in hand with a great story, why should they not?

A couple of days ago I started playing Batman: Arkham Asylum again and yet again I notice just how high quality that game is: story, narrative, gameplay, graphics, sound, music. They take a core-aspect of fighting and make it fun, rewarding and really satisfactionary. You feel awesome playing as Batman, fighting as Batman and sneaking as Batman.

They created the greatest and most accessible yet complex fighting/hand-to-hand combat mechanic this century on top of that they got a experience points system which multiplies if you can keep the combo up without getting hit or distrupting the flow. It’s genius in every way. This is the standard we’re dealing with today people, satisfactionary and rewarding gameplay. What would happen if Assassins Creed II got experience points? Different bransches? I sure as hell would like it more that’s for sure.

I won’t deny it, I’m a slave to experience points. More often than not they make it so that we try harder, become more competative and the functionality makes every part of gameplay more rewarding BUT it should go hand-in-hand with good gameplay, then it becomes brilliant.

I hope more game developers takes a look at Batman: Arkham Asylum because Rocksteady Ltd knows gamedesign that’s for sure.

Metal Gear Solid Rising

Let’s start with Metal Gear Solid: Rising, as some of you know mgs:r is about Raiden and the game chronicles the events of Raiden’s transformation from Metal Gear Solid 2 to Metal Gear Solid 4. The most obvious awesome thing in this game is the free-slice ability, to be able to cut opponents or objects in half at any angle, as an artist I haven’t seen anything like in my life. Even though an older ps2 game featured kind-off the same thing it’s far from being as brilliant as we saw at the conference.

A key gameplay feature of the game is titled zan-datsu “cut & take” which involves cutting you through enemies and taking parts from their bodies to heal/power up yourself. The game is about showing the speed of Raiden which can be hard in a sense but is solved which some brilliant use of the bullet-time effect, slowing down time for all but Raiden (since he’s so frickin fast).

Zelda Skyward Sword

Well I guess you guys know that I like the Zelda-series and it’s one of two game-series that is actually making me keep my Nintendo Wii. Zelda Skyward Sword is the usual action-adventure from Nintendo and is the sixteenth installment of Legend of Zelda. The game is exclusive for the Wii and uses the Wii MotionPlus functionality. (I have to buy a Wii MotionPlus =/ )

I don’t really have much to say about it, it’s a Zelda game we all know what to expect. 1:1 use of the sword will be a nice change if they can get it to work well.

Rage

Rage is a graphical marvel, I shown the game to you guys before but really it’s just sooo good-looking. Rage is an upcoming first-person shooter/racing game. It’s being developed by id Software using the new id Tech 5 engine. As most games these days it takes place in an post-apocalyptic world where you’re fighting for survival.

The most interesting part for me though isn’t the game-mechanics of this game it’s the graphical processing power of the game, the new engine features something called Virtual Texturing which is a more advanced use of MegaTexture which supports textures with resolutions up to 128000x128000 pixels ( O_o ).
The technique allows the engine to automatically stream textures into memory as needed, meaning that the developer does not need to concern themselves with memory restraints and texture limits. The result is a really beautiful looking game with vast-environments & really cool looking characters.

Dead Space 2

I’m the kind of guy that loves a good scare, both getting a good scare and giving a good scare, however throughout my life I’ve seen countless horror-movies and played just as many horror-games making me immune to the effects of horror in movies. Nowadays only video-games can scare the crap out of me. The first Dead Space game was such a game, horror-games features the most immersive gameplay. Dead Space 2 unlike it’s predecessor is more focused on Action, the horror is still there but it’s evident from the footage we’ve seen that it’s more action-oriented than before.

I really liked the first one (played on PC) and I’m looking forward to playing the second game when it comes out.

Medal of Honor

When I first saw the footage for Medal of Honor I was blown away, I really liked the first Medal of Honor games and I’ve been tired of the WWII-era for a long time and now they bring the best game from the WWII experience into Modern Warfare, and it is goooood.

From the things I’ve seen things are looking very good, the singleplayer experience from the Medal of Honor team in LA and the multiplayerexperience from EA DICE here in Sweden that brought us the gem Battlefield Bad Company 2. When I saw the trailer my jaw dropped and I got really excited, the things I love about Battlefield and Modern Warfare 2 put together into one awesome mix. Compared to Bad Company 2 the gameplay seems faster, more like CoD: MW2 and features modern weaponry which I love.

It will be quite interesting to see how this goes.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed II

Yeah big news I’m a Star Wars fan, can’t really say much about the game , I really liked the first game though I felt that lightsaber-combat should be more rewarding and more like the actual movies the game is still the closest thing you get for that awesome Star Wars-feeling.

I hope the game will feel like an improvement, I never really cared for the reverse lightsaber style the main character is using, it feels silly to me to have your guard down all the time. However I hope to see some new awesome force-powers, better lightsaber-combat even though it’s not probable.

Most interesting new controller method

Let’s talk a bit about the new controller methods, we got Microsoft Kinect and we got Sony Playstation Move. Let’s talk about the names first. I got really surprised when I heard the new name for Natal, Kinect sounds ridiculous in my ears. Where Sony Playstations Move sounds better, especially together with the slogan “Move into the game”, “Move into the action” etc etc.

I’m not that into Kinect, I can’t see how it would appeal to the hardcore gamers out there, it feels too casual. Jumping around in front of your television takes up a lot of space and I’m having trouble to fit my Nintendo Wii into my current apartment, and it seems like you’re stuck on a 2d-plane when using Kinect. You’re stuck in 2d while the game you’re playing features a 3d-world. Standing on a raft jumping over stuff or like they showed with the new kinect “star wars game”.

Yeah it looks ridiculous I know, a controller where you can’t move on the Z-axis, that’s terrible for hardcore gamers. Good luck with that Microsoft.

I’m more into Move, I think Move features the most interesting gameplay when it comes to the different motion controllers. Where you can actually move in the Z-axis while playing featuring the same capabilites as the Nintendo Wii with more powerful hardware. It feels like you get more for your hard-earned money that way. Next-gen graphics and a motion-controller able to compete with the motion-capabilites of the MotionPlus Wiimote.

3D technology

3D is the big new thing and both the Nintendo and Sony comes forward with their 3D capabilites, Nintendo featuring the Nintendo 3DS and Sony with their 3D TVs and Playstation 3 showing off games like Killzone 3 in 3D. I think that 3D is awesome in a way, it’s expensive to put all your money into a Playstation 3, the games and a new 3D-tv just to be able to experience it.

Being a Sony-man now I might get some perks? Who knows, one thing is for sure though I will post my impressions once I get to see it in real life for myself.

Kevin Butler

One last thing, we all know and love Kevin Butler so I though I would show his speech from the Sony Conference here. Gamers unite!

That’s all for today, til next time. Keep gaming.

The last month I’ve been playing a wide variety of games ranging from Sports to Horror , but as the last part I’m going to list and give my impressions of the games that I’ve actually finished or spent enough time with to feel comfortable enough to give a real opinion about them. I guess I’ll start off with the game Red Dead Redemption.

Red Dead Redemption

I was just as hyped about this game as any other gamer out there, I knew from some simple videos what the game would be about and to some extent I knew about the game mechanics and features of the game. I got the game on the release day, I plugged in my headphones into my tv and turned up the volume since I knew I was in for an enjoyable experience.

Red Dead Redemption starts off amazing, you play has John Marston a former western gang member trying to quit his old life and live in peace with his family. Marston then get in trouble with the government, he gets blackmailed and forced to leave his family behind to hunt his old gang members. As you all probably know the game takes place in the Western America and Mexico, so you’ll see your share of cacti. The visuals of the game is amazing simple models allowing for a really nice view-distance and some awesome lighting. The game also uses blending normal maps, for example the horses one normal map to detail the horse in its’ idle state, and another with the muscle flexed when running. Overall the game looks really good and really gives a sense of a real and realistically brutal world.

The thing that impresses me most must be the random and unique events that happens to the player sometime, you can walk outside a saloon and see a drunk guy come-a walking down the street, or see a prostitute get attacked on the street, sometimes you get challenged to a duel. Lots of events keep happening depending on where you are in the game, so far I’ve encountered 30+ unique random events. And there is also plenty to do with regular static events as well. You can play differnent types of betting games, hunt criminals, hunt animals, complete ambient challenges and much more. The game is truly worth it’s money even though it has some glitches.

I’ve also tried the multiplayer mode, the competative mode is all fun and games forcing players to play against each other in team deathmatch, free for all, capture the flag type game modes. There is also a freeroam mode which allows up to 16 players to roam free all over the big map. However me and my 4-5 friends quickly realized that it’s not much to do in the freeroam mode after you’ve completed all the gang hideouts, you could of course try to finish all the challenges but it’s not as motivating. I really feel that Rockstar could’ve done the freeroam mode just as exciting as the singleplayer mode and I hope that in the future, they’ll release more stuff to do. Then we’ll definitely keep playing the game on our LAN-parties.

Alan Wake

We all have been waiting for this game, I remember five years ago (E3 2005) I looked at the first images released on the game. Back then the game was meant to be an open world horror game taking place in Bright Falls, allowing the player to go from place to place and to solve the mystery of the game. Five years later the game came out as a linear experience, with an interesting story and nice gameplay. Alan Wake is about the writer Alan Wake who decided to take a vacation in Bright Falls with his Wife. Wake cursed by the nightmares he’s having is looking to get some time off and relax from the pressure of writing his new book.

Upon arrival in Bright Falls Wake notices that the place almost looks like his dreams, the couple gets to stay at a cabin at the Diver’s Isle on Couldron Lake. The cabin is a cozy cabin on a tiny island on the lake, connected by a less than safe wooden bridge, once situated in the cabin weird juju stuff happens and Wake realizes that his vacation just turned into a nightmare.

Without spoiling to much I’ll move right into game mechanic, Alan Wake is a third-person horror action game, you play as Alan Wake trying to solve the mystery in Bright Falls and battling the forces of darkness. The game follows Alan as he visits different places in Bright Falls searching for clues during the days and fleeing from the darkness at night. Throughout the game Alan will happen upon The Taken, the Taken are the enemies in this game, they are people/creatures/things touched by the Darkness brewing in Bright Falls. To defeat them Alan uses a flashlight and most of the time a revolver. You use the flashlight to blind the enemies and to take away their darkness aura that keeps them protected from the physical damage, after you’ll want to use your revolver to take them out. The developers of the game are also the inventors of the Bullet-time effect seen in the games Max Payne 1 & 2, so of course Alan Wake also has some slow-motion cinematic effect to it as well, the game allows Alan to dodge & evade incoming blows or ranged attack at the touch of a button sometimes invoking a slow-motion effect to see how close you actually were to escape the incoming blow. It’s a nice touch to keep it fresh and it looks really good as well.

Even though you’ll see your share of battle the game is more about exploring and following a relatively linear path to your next goal, however even though it feels stale when I write it like this, Alans choices in the game feels natural and the flow of the game is good so it’ll keep you playing and on your toes while playing. The game is diveded into five or six episodes which is really nice since you can easily take a break from the game at each episode, and when you start a new episode you’ll get a quick recap of what happened in the last episode to keep you up to date. It’s a really nice touch that allows gamers with less-than-1½ hour of game time a day to stop at good checkpoints in the game.

I wouldn’t exactly say that the game is hard on Normal Mode, but for less skilled players or easily scared people it might prove quite a challenge sometimes. In the end I would say that the game looks great, plays great and is overall a great game even though it might get a tad repetitive to fight the enemies however the story keeps you motivated and interested throughout the game.

Alpha Protocol

I was really hyped about this game, however the game got released without much fuzz almost under the radar for some. Alpha Protocol is Obisidan Entertainments latest game, they’re known for Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars Knights of The Old Republic II both great games and they’re currently working with Fallout: New Vegas and an unannounced title using their Onyx Engine. Obsidian are known for their RPG-style games and I’ve really liked all of them so far.

Alpha Protocol is third-person action/RPG hybrid where you take the role as Mike Thorton an Alpha Protocol recruit agent. When I first started playing this game I was pretty satisfied with how it started I though the game looked decent and had good voice-acting however after just a couple of missions my mind had already gotten disappointed with the gameplay. The game isn’t good enough to be a good third-person action game, not with other amazing spy games out there like Splinter Cell, and the game isn’t deep enough in customization to be a complex RPG. HOWEVER I kept playing the game and was able to look past its’ flaws and I realized that the game is actually pretty decent, it’s not the hit of the year but it’s definitely a game you could play on a rainy day from start to finish.

I’m very impressed of the voice-acting and player models in this game, the VA (voice-acting) is very good in my opinion not even once did it feel silly, I believe the acting to be very serious and realistic. Before each mission you get a brief from your handler and sometimes a debrief after missions, they all felt very relevant and interesting. This game is certainly not for everyone, if you are the kind of person that can only see flaws in a decent game then this is not for you, I’m the kind of gamer that gives all games a second chance. You can’t give a real opinion after just playing a few hours, sometimes it’s needed to play form start to finish because this game picks up after the first missions and from the middle to the end it’s an absolute blast if you can look past all the gameplay quirks.

I would definitely recommend it to a friend, especially for a cheap price or if you can borrow it from someone, it’s worth at least a playthrough, and I’m actually on my second playthrough playing through the game as a different personality and it’s a lot of fun.

Skate 3

I started playing Skate 3 when the Demo came out, I really liked the demo even though the changes felt minimal as usual. I played the demo a lot until I decided to get the full game. I’m a bit unsure whether I like the game or not, Skate 3 has a lot of things that I like, more tricks, building your own skate-parks, darkslide (awesome) and a hardcore mode. Though I still miss the fact that money doesn’t matter, your board can’t break and overall the game feels less realistic than its’ predecessors. The hardcore makes up for it, by making ollies more controllable and making grinding the hardest part of the game, landing the grind you want can easily make you want to kill yourself.

I feel like Skate 3 is a good game however I still feel like it’s not really there, I feel like Black Box should have spent some more time on the game before release, right now it almost feels like a yearly release of the game even though I know that it’s not. I was really excited about the fact that the game would feature an entire new world to skate in however, when I skated throughout the world myself I felt like the game got more and more disconnected from reality. At one part you actually skate inside a rusty old ship, I mean really? Really?! The world does not feel realistic at all, sure it might be a skate paradise or whatever but skating inside an old ship makes the game feel like Tony Hawk.

To me Skate 3 still feels like a bad expansion, and since they do not introduce anything new the game gets old fast. I put Skate 3 on the shelf after a couple of days for more interesting games.

Monster Hunter Tri

MH3 has always put me in a dilemma, it’s a great game for us who doesn’t mind hardcore-type gameplay with lots of grinding with only decent graphics. Another thing that makes it hard for me it’s that I’m the kind of gamer that wants to play all the games out there, staying with one game for 100+ hours is hard unless it’s an awesome game like Fallout 3 or TES IV: Oblivion. However Monster Hunter Tri is an awesome game and I feel like it should be said.

Monster Hunter Tri is most enjoyable online I’ve spent quite some time with the offline mode but that game really shines when you play with other people, friends or strangers, it doesn’t matter since the guys online playing Wii are much nicer than the ones on Xbox Live. Oh yeah about the game, the game is an action rpg type game where you hunt Monsters. These monsters are mostly different kinds of dragon wyverns. The game follows a simple formula

Start in town -> Go out into the world -> Gather Resources/Hunt Monsters -> Get back into town -> Create items/Forge Armor/Forge Weapons to grow stronger -> Go hunt bigger Monsters -> And around it goes.

It is very simple but very rewarding, all major monsters got their own attack patterns forcing you to pay attention to survive. After spending 20 minutes hammering strategically on a monster to finally making it fall or to keep it damaged enough to catch it’s pretty darn satisfying and I bet most of the players feel the same. This type of game appeals to those interested in action RPGs but mostly those willing to actually take it slow and plan your next hunt. In the end it’s a great game and I would love to have more time to play it.

Lost Planet 2

I actually got this game for the co-op mode, many gamers out there keep ranting about the game being bad since it forces a co-operative mode just like Left 4 Dead or Army of Two. I say yeah it’s a co-op game and it’s way underrated. I finished this game together with my friend Jacob Rastad and I have to say that it’s a pretty good game. Since the game forces you to play in a squad of four characters AI took over for the two other characters in the squad and they did a decent job. However it probably would have been an even more enjoyable experience if we actually got to play as 4 human player characters. It’s definitely worth buying if you can find it cheap anywhere for the co-op experience.

The game plays just like it’s predecessor, it’s a bit slower than the typical third-person shooters but it has got personality and features some really nice boss battles. The game plays out in 5-6 episodes where you play as different factions against the Akrid, the jumps from different faction to another can be confusing at the start but you start to understand the story after a while. Basically you start off an episode, where you battle through several chapters to meet the episode boss. During the episodes you have something called a Battle Gauge and it’s basically a team spawn gauge, you complete objectives to fill the gauge up however when a player dies, the gauge takes a hit and when it reaches zero you have to start from the beginning of the episode.

Many people has complained about this , however when me and my friend Jacob played it didn’t annoy as much since we kept our cool and didn’t die as much. The battle gauge didn’t drop when the AI-controlled characters of the squad died so it might be harder and it might not be when you play as a complete squad. It all depends on the individual skills of the players.

The game is definitely punishing in that sense, and you certainly need a level of skill to complete the game without trouble. It’s still an enjoyable experience though with some really nice graphics and epic boss battles. The game features a lot of different interesting environments. If you can find the game for a cheaper price you should probably buy it if you have some friends to play with.

Part 2

With part 2 I’ll go through my thoughts of Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake and Alpha Protocol. Until then guys & girls, take it easy and keep up with your gaming.

Playing video-game with IRL friends

Even though I still play a lot of video-games alone, I spend quite some time arranging LAN-parties with my friends where we bring our current gen consoles and pack together in a small room. We are a tight bunch playing video-games together over a few couple of days. However even though playing with friends is fun, it never is the same tranquil experience as when you play alone. Can you be truly immersed when you have friends that might dictate the pace of the game? Maybe your friends are in the room and even that might cause a disturbance to your immersion. I often think about how great Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls : Oblivion would be if there actually existed a co-operative mode, but then again when you have a friend that keeps accidentally sabotaging your soon-to-be stealth kills or keeps rushing the enemy it might not be as fun anymore.

Every gamer plays a game at their own pace, I myself like to take it slow and think things through before rushing into battle others I know like to fight every battle like a brute, taking on loads of enemies with strength alone and without super-clever tactics and preparation.

What is it that makes great single-player games great? and will they really work when a multiplayer/coop-mode is introduced? I have yet to experience a really brilliant co-op experience that excels in every aspect. Most of the time the story ain’t that good, your friend might screw up etc. The most fun I’ve had playing multiplayer and coop games are games with no great super complex story. They are games such as CoD, Earth Defence Force 2017, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Serious Sam, Little Big Planet, Left 4 Dead. All of them lacking in the story-department.

Maybe it’s not a good idea to try to transfer the thing that makes a singleplayer game great, to a multiplayer experience? Maybe we all should accept that multiplayer games will never be as immersive or great as some single-player experiences, and the thing that makes single-player great can’t be transferred into multiplayer. Generally speaking I really like having LAN-parties with my friends, experiencing games together can truly be awesome, but sometimes…the experience of being alone with the big screen in a dark room, a bunch of snacks and a great singleplayer game can be truly blissful.

You can always dream though, about the day you actually get to play a game with a co-operative mode just as dramatic, powerful, immersive and awesome as the best single-player experience you can imagine.

Hi my name is Sam, I’m a bad ass

This game takes place two years after the events of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, where Sam had to play a double agent working for JBA & NSA completing objectives. In this game Sam goes a more self-destructive path with vengeance in mind making the game a lot more action-oriented than its predecessors. Sam is contacted by his former Third Echelon colleague Anna “Grim” Grímsdóttir. Anna leads Sam on a trail to find the murderer of his lost daughter, little did Sam know that the situation was “way bigger than his daughter”.

I got a hold of this game and went to my friend Jacob Rastad to play it overnight, going through the co-operative mode of the game. The co-operative campaign mode is the prologue to the single-player campaign and was overall a pretty sweet experience. I’ve always loved stealth-games and this game is a stealth-game indeed even though the game has more action-elements now the game is still a stealth game at it’s core. I feel like the series are going in the right direction, making control-scheme a lot easier to handle even though some have a dislike for the reload button (placed at R3, click right analogue) I feel like it’s an improvement over the last games which were slower and you didn’t feel quite as agile as you do now.

The game is a third-person stealth action game, so there are the typical stealth-elements in place one of which is pretty interesting and it’s called the “Last known position”, it’s a pretty basic concept, it’s a visual representation of your last known location for the enemies, making them careful approaching that position, they might even fire upon that position. However this creates an opening for you to move around them and take them out. Which leads me to the “Mark & Execute” mechanic. “Mark & Execute” let’s you mark your enemies then when with a simple click of a button take them out with your current equipped weapon, you can only perform this action if you previously had done a melee takedown. At first I thought that the game would be too easy and the game mechanic too cheap to be any fun, but sometimes it proves very necessary to stay stealthy. Even though I wish that the the mechanic would be more complex like having Sam turning to his enemy and then going into slow-motion so that you have to aim to take them out. Right now it feels a bit too much “on rails”.

The mechanic becomes more interesting in the cooperative mode however, letting you and your partner mark and execute several enemies together, if done well you might clear a whole room of enemies at the same time, which is surprisingly satisfying. I remember high-fiving my buddy several times during our playthrough. The game let’s you upgrade and use several different weapons, you can only carry two weapons at once, one being a handgun and the other ranges between sub-machine guns, shotguns or assault rifles. Even though I don’t really know why one would need to carry around a big ass assault rifle on a stealth mission it’s pretty sweet to have the option. Gadgets are also a big part of the game, it wouldn’t be Splinter Cell without your usual gadgets, there are several different gadgets in the game: Flashbangs, frag grenades, remote mines, proxy mines, EMP-grenades, portable-emp and sticky camera. Most of you can guess what they do, emp-grenades and the portable emp knocks out electronical devices such as lights in a scene but they also stun the enemy giving you a window of opportunity to take them out. However the lights will switch on after a while. The sticky camera have the same functionality as in previous games, attach it to a wall, let it play a noise then trigger the explosive placed within the camera. There is certainly no need to use the gadgets as often, I mostly used the portable emp and finished the game on the highest difficulty without bigger problems.

The game also features several multiplayer-modes such as: “Hunter” a game mode where you(solo) or together with a friend try to take out everyone on the map. “Last Stand” is a game mode where you and your friend needs to defend certain objects whilst enemies keep on rushing in too destroy it. “Infiltration” is a hardcore splinter cell type game mode, similar to “Hunter” but if you or your friend gets detected the game is over. “Face off” is a competitive game-mode that pits you and your friend against each other, where you get points for killing each other or taking out enemies.

Conclusion

I had a really good time with Splinter Cell : Conviction and it’s probably one of the most satisfying games I’ve played in a while. The game features a solid single-player experience and a solid multiplayer co-op experience that is challenging and fun. It’s too bad that the game doesn’t have all the stealth-features of the previous game but it still feels like an improvement. The graphics are great, great art-direction, music, sounds are spot on. What I loved most about the game though was how brutal it was, Sam has certainly become more bad-ass than he was before and it shows. I can’t wait until the next game in the series. Ubisoft Montreal has done a great job on this one!

Lately when playing games, I’ve always gone with the hardest difficulty available upon starting a new game. Why? Mostly because I find that the normal difficulty doesn’t present a challenge unless the game is of a series that is known for it’s difficulty such as Ninja Gaiden. This guy “ChessRedEagle” over at gametrailers thinks that games like Demon’s Souls are unnecessarily hard and punishes gamers for the only reason of being hard. I agree that the game is hard but I don’t agree on the aspect of the game punishing only because the developers wanted the game to be hard. It’s clear to anyone playing the game for a lengthier time that the key to the game is timing and knowing the attack patterns of the enemy. Games like Demon’s Souls appeals to a certain kind of gamer, I’m that kind of gamer.

Even though I play a lot of games I really like the ones that are punishing because I find it to be a more rewarding experience when I actually succeed. That’s why I love Skate, it was really hard to learn but really satisfying when pulling of some realistic technical lines, not that the game is hard but to pull something really technical and realistic off that doesn’t look like Tony Hawk Pro Skater is without a doubt hard. Demon’s Souls is all about observing your opponent, being careful and taking it slow, it’s about learning how your enemy moves and its attack patterns. On the surface it might look like the enemies are brutal with no intelligent AI and yeah that might be so, but you still get your ass kicked. However I prefer that over “intelligent” enemies that you can run circles around. These types of enemies will attack you one and one, while the other watch, this won’t happen in Demon’s Souls it might be primitive but it’s effective, their primary objective is to take you out and that’s what they do. Games known for the easy difficulty like Fable have enemies that just stand around waiting for you to attack them or misses 70% of the time. That’s too easy.

If you like games that don’t present a challenge and lets you breeze through the game you might be more of a casual gamer. I like to work hard when playing a game though it depends what type of game it is, if the game is about a superhero I shouldn’t feel like I would have any trouble with the local ruffians but only when I meet my equivalent. However games like Demon’s Souls is meant to make the player feel like they are nothing special at all, and that issue is clearly presented at the beginning of the game. You need to work to get your character more powerful, in the end you need to rely on your wits to finish the game, wits and dedication to the game. However I feel like a game like Demon’s Souls could’ve been more interesting without the Hub-world element to it, making exploring a big factor of the game would be great.

I recently finished Heavy Rain as well, and it’s more of an interactive movie drama, I wouldn’t really call it a game. But it’s definitely a game that doesn’t present much challenge and I enjoyed it so I guess it’s a fine line between a game that is satisfying and ones that aren’t and that line might just be super-awesome storytelling. Whether it’s a game or not is up to you to decide. I myself define a game like this: A game is a problem-solving activity approached with a playful attitude. So the thing that makes Heavy Rain a game is the quick-time events, which barely makes a game.

In the end I like games that makes me feel like a nobody at the start, so that I can prove the game wrong by kicking its’ ass at the highest difficulty. Higher difficulties makes me concentrate more on the game, that concentration and fear of dying leads to a more immersive experience and that’s why I like it. I like to feel immersed the game, be it driving a car on the edge of a cliff whilst getting gunned down by enemies (Bad Company 2) or sneaking past some fearful creature in a fantasy world, the harshness of dying and fear of dying is what makes it interesting. That’s why I scream “Oh shit!!” when bombshells falls next to me or when I get surprised and chased by a minotaur. It’s all in the immersion, however higher difficulties = immersion can only be achieved as long as that sweet balance is in harmony. Too hard without logic/reason and too hard without reward makes every gamer put down the controller. You want to make the player feel like it’s worth it to invest the little time players have these days.

Tom Clancys Splinter Cell 5 -- Conviction

I’ve been waiting for this game for a while, I just tried the demo a couple of days ago and I like it. Though I look forward to the co-op prologue campaign that will be available. Stealth-games are just so much fun, I kind of like the way the series has progressed, though it a lot more action oriented this time around. I bet the gameplay will be amazing once you’ve learned to control the character.

NIER

NIER is a game that has gone under the radar for most gamers, I only saw it recently it’s a game from SquareEnix which are most known for all their JRPGs. The game is being developed by Cavia. The game is about a father (Nier) trying to save his daughter, the game is a third-person action adventure. Nier is being voiced by Jamieson Price in the english version, and if you watch animé it’s a good chance that you’ve heard the voice before. The guy with the big ass sword on his back is getting quite old though.

Skate 3

I’m looking forward to Skate 3, mainly because I loved everything about the first and second game. For you who do not know this game, it’s THE skating series that took down Tony Hawk Pro Skating-series, yeah It’s that good. Though I’m a little disappointed about the progression in Skate 1 through 2. It feels like there has only been small changes to improve the gameplay, though in Skate 3 things really get interesting. I welcome the new and fresh “Hardcore-mode”. It is said that for players used to the skate-series it will be like learning it all over again, and I wish it will be like that as well, the previous games were too easy. You could land an ollie on the side and still stand on the board. The game also takes place in a new city named Port Carverton. Awesome!

3D Dot Game Heroes

3D Dot Game Heroes is an action-adventure game developed by Silicon Studio, the game is pretty much a tribute to the 8-bit era. The game uses a unique style presenting 2d-retro style graphics in a 3d environment. The game strongly resembles the first game of the Zelda-series: The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment system. Players move from screen to screen exploring dungeons, fighting enemies, collecting items and solves puzzles. The game follows the hero on a quest to rid the Dotnia Kingdom of a plague caused by the forces of evil in order to restore peace to the land. The game looks like it does because the King of Dotnia decided to take the 2d pixilated land of Dotnia and make it more modern and turn it into 3d whilst keeping the original style.

This game is certainly one for old nostalgic gamers and also for the newer gamers that never had a chance to experience the goodness of the 8-bit era.

Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2 is the sequel to Lost Planet, the story takes place back on E.D.N III 10 years after the first game. The snow melted to reveal jungle environments and more tropical areas. The game will center around the ongoing war to gain T-ENG (Thermal Energy). Players will assume to control of several different factions to battle the Akrid, the monsters of the game, Large insects native to the planet. Compared to the previous game the game has became a lot bigger letting players play together in a 4 player coop mode as well as singleplayer.

Unlike the first game players will not constantly have their T-ENG drained , this is because the players no longer have the need to stay warm. Instead the energy will be drained while the player pilots a VS (mechas) or uses weapons that uses T-ENG as ammo. The campaign supports singleplayer and split-screen local co-op or online with up to 3 companions and/or AI bots.

Alan Wake

Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller inspired by Twin Peaks, Lost and the works of Stephen King. The game plays out in an episodic format, with a television show-style presentation. The developer Remedy has said that the game is the first of a bigger tale opening the possibility for future sequels. The game circles around Alan Wake, a bestselling writer, who hasn’t managed to write anything in over two years. His wife brings him to the idyllic small town of Bright Falls to recover his creative flow. When she vanishes without a trace, Wake finds himself trapped in a nightmare.

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption is the game I’ve been waiting for a long time, for you guys/girls that didn’t play the first game Red Dead Revolver this is a western action game with a free-roaming aspects by the amazing developers Rockstar San Diego. The game is set in 1911 and it focuses around the former outlaw John Marston and his life. Marston primary objective in this game is to kill or capture his former gang members.

It’s hard to explain just how awesome this game will be you just have to see it with your own eyes. Check out these video-clips:
Life in the western

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC9To8rBCGA)

Free-roam multiplayer

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jgPSYtTFCI)
There you have it, some good-looking games coming.

Experience Metro 2033

Metro 2033 is a first-person action game with elements of survival horror and RPG. The game is actually based on the novel Metro 2033 by the russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. The game is/was being developed by 4A Games in Ukraine and will be released March 19, so it’s soon people. The developers have tried to focus on a strong single-player narrative and therefore the lack of multiplayer-support. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Moscow and most likely in the metro system. However there will be instances where the player needs to go above ground to search for supplies and other valuable artifacts.

The developers wanted the players to feel immersive when playing the game, the players will spend a lot of their time at the metro-stations talking to NPCs and trading for gear. Players will see how NPCs react and live in their current state hidden away from the terrors above and in the depths of the tunnels. NPCs will gather together, they will scold and gamble, all things adding to the atmosphere of the game.

The player will face many different enemies during the game, and will range from humans to giant mutated monsters. Ammo in the game will be scarce and you’ll have to make all your shots count, you do not want your supply of ammo run out when you face the monsters in the dark depths of the metro. The game is essentially HUD-less, relying on blood spatters to show how damaged the player is. A gas-mask must be worn when exploring the surface which will probably add to the immersive experience of the game. Due to the game being HUD-less players must navigate with a handheld map whenever they need to check their heading, leaving you defenseless for a couple of seconds. Underground players will have the typical survival horror experience, and we all know that this narrative is especially powerful when played in first-person. Players will have to navigate the tunnels using a battery-powered flashlight, the thing is that the flashlight battery actually uses a hand-crank so if you run out of energy, you’ll have to find a safe place to sit down and crank away to get the battery-power up again. Oh those moments alone in the dark, listening to your own breath as you desperately try to get your flashlight to work again. It will work wonders as a horror-experience.

PC-gamers will have a more good-looking experience but hell, have you seen the X360-version? It looks awesome! Here is some gameplay from the Xbox 360 version:

Just Cause 2

Ah Just Cause 2, I played the first game on my PC actually, however the difference in graphics was like night and day, where the X360 stood victorious. Just Cause 2 is being developed by the Swedish game developer Avalanche Studios. The Just Cause-series are known for their massive worlds, awesome graphics and fun sandbox-experience.

The gameplay of the game is similar to the first game, in which the player can go wherever he wants whenever he wants. It’s an open-world game where the player chooses if he wants to play around, do sidequests or go for the mainquest missions. There are several new features to the game, some more technical than others. The game uses an upgraded version of the first games engine, it’s called the Avalanche Engine 2.0. This new engine allows for better graphics, more advanced AI and other game-changing mechanics. The AI has been rewritten to use a “planning system” which enables enemies to do all sorts of new things; taking cover behind objects, adapting dynamically to the objects around them and it’s needed since Just Cause 2 is not all horizontal, a lot of the gameplay will take place in the air. The players will also experience the new grappling hooks, yes hooks. For you guys that have not played the demo yet, this time around you get two grappling hooks which makes the horisontal and vertical gameplay experience more interesting.

Having two grappling hooks enables you to tether objects to each other, one example is to tether a fleeing vehicle into a signpost and they’ll be stuck. You can also tether people to objects, solids like walls, moving vehicles and even to other people. The game will let player explore a massive open-world whilst doing missions and do some insane stunts like base-jumping, parachuting, storm an enemy base whilst grapple hooked to a helicopter. This game is the embodiment of “playground”. The game will be out in a couple of weeks, March 25 to be exact, keep an eye on it, it will probably be one of those games that you’ll play when you’re not in the mood for something more serious.

The model itself is pretty low landing on 3350 polys (6592 tris). The guns were made from the toy Nerf Maverick and has a polycount of 2440 polys each (4823 tris). Both guns and main model uses 2048×2048 Diffuse,Normal and Specularmap. The guns could of course be lower but it’s nice for the close-up shots, I also tried object-space normal map for the first-time, noticed that I didn’t go well when mirrored and I learned why, it came out with less baking errors though. It was a great learning experience for the understanding of normal maps.

Bigger pic here

Workflow Pictures