REVIEW - inFamous 2

GENRE(S): Action-adventure, Third-person shooter, Open-world
AVAILABLE ON: PlayStation 3
DEVELOPER(S): Sucker Punch Productions
PUBLISHER(S): Sony Computer Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2011

This game is most infamous (no pun intended - or perhaps it was) for the development hell it went through in its very short developmental period. Sucker Punch went to work on the game immediately after the release of the original inFamous, and unveiled the new product in the summer of 2010, only to be mauled by fans by completely changing the character of Cole MacGrath, all the way from the original voice actor to his more "attractive", heroic look. Sucker Punch defended their decision by explaining they needed a new kind of character to tell the story better (I, for one, am all in for that!), but ultimately they had no choice but to mix and match elements, both old and new, to create a satisfactory Cole MacGrath from scratch. Well, the game was done in a year into the first trailer, and the PlayStation community exploded in excitement. After all the setbacks, inFamous 2 got mighty fine reviews from the media, and much acclaim from fans of the original. All of the original's mistakes and black spots were allegedly washed out. Still, after reading a dozen of great reviews, I pushed the game back for all these years. It's just been there, on the shelf, gathering dust. After finishing this game, supposed to be bigger, badder and better than the original inFamous in every single aspect, I'm kinda disappointed. In myself, that is. inFamous was a solid game, inFamous 2 is a near must-have for fans of action-adventure.

Shock and awe

The Electric Man, a.k.a. The Demon of Empire City, a.k.a. Cole MacGrath, still in a very confused mental state over the events that transpired during the Empire City blackout, is contacted by another NSA Agent named Lucy Kuo. Kuo tells Cole that her associate, a brilliant scientist who created the notorious Ray Sphere, has created a new weapon capable of taking down Cole's future nemesis - the enigmatic Beast. Just as Cole, Zeke and Kuo are departing for his lab in the city of New Marais, the aforementioned behemoth shows up and gives Cole a very painful demonstration of his powers, draining most of Cole's, and utterly destroying what's left of Empire City right before his eyes, just as Cole was foretold in the very end of the original inFamous. Cole and Zeke establish a new base of operations in New Marais, to track down the scientist, kill the Beast, and take down a rich, shady bastard who's turned the city into a police state of his own - and apparently has strong connections to many of Cole's sworn enemies including the Beast. It's gonna be a long journey - how it all ends is up to you. Famous or infamous, round two.

Ain't got the number of the Beast.

I never had any special kind of love for inFamous. I finished the game once, and then put it to sleep. I bought inFamous 2 and played it for about two minutes before deciding I wasn't ready for it before I'd finished inFamous for a second time. Fast forward five years, I finally finished inFamous for the second and definitive time, actually thinking it was better than I remembered, but still I wasn't too stoked about inFamous 2 for some reason. Perhaps it was the story that still didn't stick that good, for me to bear through another sandbox-shaped apple from the same tree. Well, about thirty minutes into inFamous 2, I was dead certain I was heading into a very similar and therefore very accessible, but much better game. The voice acting is lightyears ahead of the previous game. The dynamic cutscenes do wonders to the storytelling - there are only a literal few of those comic book cutscenes here, only at a few key points of the game, including the prologue and the two completely different epilogues of the game. The city of New Marais - much inspired by New Orleans - is a much more interesting, diverse and somewhat sexier playground than the flat and repetitive Empire City. There are three completely different areas of the city for you to explore, all with their own types of enemies just like the first game, but also, different environments and conditions for you to try and survive.

I hate hippies.

First consulting my girlfriend, who's also a hardcore gamer, about the differences between whether you're playing it nice or being an asshole, revealed a whole different story behind the supposedly superficial karmic system. Playing the game through as a different character revealed the truth, which was even more awesome than I could've imagined. The game itself is not that different, but the story is full of remarkably different twists depending on which side you're playing. The story is the key to this game - it's absolutely amazing. It picks up from where inFamous left off, but delivers it so much more beautifully, and moreover, naturally. In other words, if you decide to do something evil as a good guy, the transition (or just one single step outside your personal game) is explained so much better, and it feels more natural. The core gameplay hasn't changed all that much - I can think of only a few things that have gone through some changes - but there's a lot of new stuff here, a lot more than you would initially expect from a game that was in development for two years and had to suffer through somewhat of a development hell just because of one design element fans didn't like.

No good deeds go unpunished

The sandbox of inFamous has been littered with all kinds of extras. Side missions are accompanied by karma-based mini-missions; for the good guys out there, there's a bomber running through New Marais who's turned Blast Shards (them good ol' Blast Shards) into bombs for you to locate and defuse, and of course dig up the remains of the bomb to slowly upgrade your juice meter. Civilians in need of pulse healing are now shown on the minimap, as well as civilians getting mugged by the prominent militia troops of the city. Bad guys get street entertainers to kill, and more Blast Shards to pry from the hands of dead civilians. For online enthusiasts, there are user-generated missions - yeah, you can create missions. How cool is that? The actual UGC is stuffed into the pause menu, but as long as you're playing online, Sucker Punch's own examples are scattered all over the map for you to take part in and take notes, if you're interested in such stuff.

Once again, the story is one hell of a key to this game, and I can't possibly emphasize its greatness enough. It starts slow, there's a couple of hot points here and there in the middle, and nearing the end, regardless of your alignment, it just explodes and you'll be remembering it for a long time, especially if you played the original game. The decisions you make during the story are always built up and explained so you wouldn't have the slightest chance of making a mistake against your desired outcome. Most of the time, you even have two characters of opposing alignments by your side, kind of like the angel and the devil on your shoulder, fully explaining their views on the many situations at hand, and their opinions on what you should do. They're brilliant characters too, so the decision-making in this game, as easy as it might sometimes feel like, they both have brilliant arguments that are hard to ignore.

City slicker.

The combat is generally more diverse, as even your basic shock attack uses up juice, which leaves you with the option of stocking up on hard-to-find generators, or taking a risk and getting up, close and personal with the enemies using the newly added melée weapon known as the Amp. It looks rad, and plays out even more rad, especially with upgrades. Speaking of the upgrades, there's no more stunt list for you to complete just for Trophies' sake, but doing enough of these (much easier) stunts garners you the license to buy more upgrades with your hard-earned EXP. The amounts the game forces you to do are very reasonable, and the stunts are just way more fun to try out when there's some actual benefit involved.

So, it's good - the game's very good. ...But. Are the original game's problems completely flushed? All but one - repetition. The further you go, and the closer you get to the end, the story gets better while the gameplay takes a run up the sad mill by ways of repetitive waves of repetitive enemies and repetitive missions even within the confines of the storyline. Once you get to the final fight, though, all of that matters a little less. The "good" ending in itself is one of the best scenes I've seen in any game for a long time, and what makes it feel even better is that the first game wasn't much of a poetic masterpiece. All in all, I can't find very many things besides that to complain about when it comes to inFamous 2. It's one of the true (semi-)hidden gems of the last ten years.

VERDICT

I kind of put it out there already, and there's very little to add. inFamous 2 is a fantastic game that outshines its predecessor by one fantastic mile. The few dips into the sea of repetition, more usual the further the story goes, are not enough to hurt a great story so fantastically told, and a game that generally whips a lot of the supposed sandbox greats off the table right out of its hiding place. Check it out - regardless of where you live, I don't think it'll rattle your finances too much nowadays.

UPS
+ Great story, great voiceovers, better storytelling
+ More dynamic cutscenes, less of those comic book stills
+ The controls are even more fluid than before
+ Player choices are more consequential
+ Great upgrades to grant an even more fluid gameplay experience
+ The sexiness and diversity of New Marais

DOWNS
- Still repetitive, especially towards the otherwise great ending(s)
- Some annoying control-related glitches here and there, though less annoying than having to deal with Sixaxis controls in the slightest

< 8.9 >

REVIEW - inFamous

GENRE(S): Action-adventure, Third-person shooter, Open-world
AVAILABLE ON: PlayStation 3
DEVELOPER(S): Sucker Punch Productions
PUBLISHER(S): Sony Computer Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2009

inFamous is a game I've wanted to do ever since I first started doing this thing. It's easier to go over the reasons why, before going into the couple of why-nots.

1. It's an open-world adventure game currently laid smack in the middle of the history of action games set in an urban, open world. Long after Grand Theft Auto III, right before Assassin's Creed II, and long before Grand Theft Auto V came, saw, conquered, and destroyed all hope for future developments' (such as Watch_Dogs) chances to really succeed in the open-world genre. Plus, unlike Grand Theft Auto or Assassin's Creed, this game was set in a post-apocalyptic world. Post-apocalyptic is kinda like my middle name. I never seem to lose interest in the different possibilities of a post-apocalyptic (open) world.

2. It was the second time a dedicated Sony developer went out to break loose of their family-oriented image. Naughty Dog did it first with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and we all know how that game fared, not to mention what kind of stellar franchise followed that game. Sucker Punch were known for Sly Cooper, and inFamous was their ticket to young adult land; being a PS3 exclusive already meant a lot when inFamous came out, so all in all it was a widely anticipated game.

3. The overpouring similarities between the story of inFamous protagonist Cole MacGrath and the story of Peter Parker - which, no doubt, are intentional, and have even inspired some critics to establish a spiritual connection between this game and the classic sixth-generation Spider-Man titles. "With great power comes great responsibility." Peter Parker has embraced that as a rule. Cole MacGrath, however, is given a conscious choice. Will you choose ultimate power, or will you choose responsibility? Like in any good karma-based game, you won't be able to grasp the underlying greatness of inFamous without trying both sides.

Which brings us to the question: is the game good and interesting enough to endure multiple playthroughs? Back when I got this game as a present having not the balls to risk the invest myself, I thought it was quite good, but I couldn't possibly muster the energy for a second playthrough - which the game needs to unfold, there's no escaping that. Also, inFamous didn't have a franchise backing it up, so I kept pushing it forward 'til it would have at least one sequel to make me want to go for a marathon. I tried, both times that a major sequel broke through, to get motivated for inFamous again, but on both occasions, I found the game heavily outdated by its peers. Even moreso on the second try, of course. Well, now I'm finally on that one final crusade to find out if inFamous truly is as outdated as it seems, and if evil's truly the only way to go if you want to succeed in this game.

Electric Funeral

The sprawling metropolis of Empire City is caught in a massive EMP blast, which results in the deaths of thousands of innocent people, and a total, city-wide power failure. Caught in the center of the blast is deliveryman and urban explorer Cole MacGrath. Instead of succumbing to the blast, Cole becomes a human battery, a walking electrical conduit who is able to take advantage of any trace of electricity in any way he pleases. With these new powers constantly growing stronger, Cole is faced with the ultimate question: will he use these new powers to help Empire City back to its feet, or reduce what's left of it to mere ash?

A superhero with his villainous fits.

inFamous was released at the perfect time for a PlayStation exclusive. At first, no one really knew what kind of a game it was to be, except for the core story element of being able to play the superhero or a supervillain in a superhero game. Stick that in a PlayStation exclusive, one made by such a revered developer, albeit one who had only made games for kids or early teens at that point - remember Naughty Dog - get blessed with a couple of damn fine early reviews, and you've got another PlayStation classic right there. Well, inFamous did never reach the massive popularity of Uncharted; Uncharted 2: Among Thieves came out some time later - hell, they might even have picked up a few climbing points from inFamous - and once it did, people hardly remembered this game anymore. The Uncharted franchise became the new cornerstone of the Sony PlayStation family, something inFamous was always intended to be. Bad advertising, or a good game that just wasn't good enough? I guess there's a bit of truth to both claims. inFamous is a great game that had all the potential to be a great franchise. There are just a few things really off about it - the game, I mean. I'll have to take a rain check with the rest of the series. Let's talk inFamous.

The cutscenes are more than a little detached from the game,
but in themselves they look quite damn good.

inFamous is an open-world action game, a third-person shooter with some RPG elements. Your secondary objectives besides the story are to help out the people of Empire City on either side of the law to gain territory; collect different stuff to either boost your maximum shock energy, find out more about the game's (very nice) backstory beyond what the twists in the main storyline lay out in the open; and finally, no game of inFamous is complete before amping your abilities up to eleven, whether you're the hero or the villain of this story. It's not just about a few key decisions at a few key points of the game how your character develops - everything, and I do mean everything, you do in inFamous is tracked to determine your karma. When you're attacked by a horde of enemies in the middle of the street, when an electrified grenade or a gigantic hammershock to the center of the crowd would prove the most effective option, you should remember that any civilians caught in the blast become food for your karma meter. If you're generally playing it nice, you could try to compensate the situation by going over to and healing any surviving civilians, and capturing surviving enemies for the police to handle. Or, if you're playing rough, just unleash the mayhem. Throw in a few more bombs to make doubly sure they're ALL down.

Of course the storyline missions and the big decisions, which are thankfully thoroughly explained by short cutscenes to avoid making drowsy mistakes with and for your character, have the most impact on how the game plays out for you. The final battle and the ending are both pretty much the same for both karmic outcomes, with some differences in the final monologue of the game, just to ensure us that a sequel was always coming. Which is good, 'cause inFamous can get quite tedious towards the end - here's hoping they fixed the most major mistakes with the sequel.

Running out of juice

First and foremost, inFamous is all-around repetitive. For the first few hours, the side missions have a fine abundance of variety to them. Towards the end, they're starting not only to repeat themselves by a long haul, but they're also repeating elements from storyline missions that weren't that fun to begin with. Collecting stuff, now that's what I'd advise you to do all the time instead of saving it all for later - you have this kinda "Spider-Sense" that shows the collectibles readily available to you on the minimap. There's a whopping total of 350 Blast Shards hidden all over Empire City's three districts, and only 300 of them have any actual use in gameplay - the remaining 50 are a disappointing gift to all Trophy Whores out there. The rest of the collectibles aren't nearly as much of a nuisance in total than going after the 50 Blast Shards that don't have any use, and could be anywhere in this sprawling pile of a city. Empire City ain't exactly the most interesting sandbox there is - it's kind of like a post-apocalyptic HD remaster of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III. Just without the cars. And the distinctive landmarks. And the different layers of terrain. And the hoes. Each district is supposed to be distinctly different from the next in style, but to be honest, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the districts if not for distinctly different enemies occupating each one. Yeah, regular enemies come in three types. There are some variations to each type of enemy, but not enough to carry an open-world game.

His delivery service just got a whole lot faster.

Finally, the story, as unique and exciting it basically is - it's a God damn open-world superhero game of completely original design! - is not told very well. Most of the voiceover work is fair enough, but the dialogue itself is clumsy, and somehow even aggravating, I can't really describe it any better. The cutscenes that are stylized after classic superhero comic books look really nice, but they're detached from the game and occasionally, they even seem to go against the karmic settings of your character, and the rest of the cutscenes are just bad cinematics. The exchanges between Cole and his ex-girlfriend, or his fat, dumb, jealous and arrogant (read: clichéd) best friend are painful to watch and listen to. There's just no emotional charge there of any sort.

My second round through inFamous was certainly a nice one, but that's only 'cause six years had passed. There are two people I know to have played this game through twice in a row to get to the Platinum Trophy, but I simply could never have done that. In all its length and size, not to mention how boring and repetitive a true open-world adventure in this game can get, and the crappy dialogue, in my opinion inFamous is not a game to be thoroughly completed at once. But, back to the original and more important question, is it outdated? No. General gameplay mechanics are actually way better than I remembered, and Cole's climbing ability is superior to any assassin's in the Assassin's Creed series, as far as gamer's comfort is concerned at least. So there, a very essential complimentary point before I wrap this up and delve into the sequel(s) for the first time.

VERDICT

inFamous is full of both superficial pros and superficial cons, a fairly even splice between good and bad karma. But, focusing on what's truly essential about an entertaining action game, inFamous excels in a whole bulk of it. The controls are fluid, the core mechanics of the game work fantastic. The new abilities are easy to grasp, and easy enough to execute with this terrific control scheme - except for the final ability which is another example of how useless the Sixaxis always was. Although it's not always carried that well due to the monotonic and clumsy dialogue, the story is fascinating and unique, and the resolution, regardless of your choices, paves an interesting path to a very interesting sequel. So, if you're on the market for a fairly entertaining open-world action-adventure apart from the more high-profile must-haves of its kind, inFamous is quite a solid choice for you.

UPS
+ Near-perfect controls
+ Fantastically delicate karma system
+ Great story...

DOWNS
- ...Brought down a tick by average voiceover work and frustrating dialogue
- Repetitive side missions
- Monotonic world and enemy design

< 8.1 >

REVIEW - Dishonored

GENRE(S): Action-adventure, Stealth

AVAILABLE ON: PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360

DEVELOPER(S): Arkane Studios

PUBLISHER(S): Bethesda Softworks

RELEASE DATE: October 9, 2012

Arkane Studios' work on their greatest hit – back then, just a handful of hope for the struggling studio – began in 2009, which was to be the year of the assassin adventure; in the end of the year, Ubisoft launched the mother of all sequels in Assassin's Creed II. A niche was getting set up, which might be one of the key reasons to ZeniMax Media reaching towards Arkane Studios and buying it in hopes for a different, yet just as groundbreaking tale of murder and conspiracy to be released under the oh, so fabled Bethesda Softworks banner. By the time Dishonored finally came out in 2012, the niche had gotten much bigger, it was all but perfect for a new stealth action IP. Assassin's Creed was no longer at the top of its popularity, but waned just the right amount for a new game to come collect its remaining harvest. Released almost a year before, Skyrim smothered the Bethesda Softworks logo in molten gold, and still continued to flourish, as fans all around the world were eagerly anticipating the arrival of the third and final add-on, the magnificent Dragonborn. There couldn't have been better circumstances for Dishonored to hit the shelves, and for a completely new game, it sold well. It was loved by critics and gamers alike, and hailed by many as one of the greatest new franchises of the century, the perfect mix of a stealth-based action-adventure and a Bethesda RPG, but never to my account, a real masterpiece. I don't remember anyone ever giving it a straight perfect review. That figures. Dishonored is not a perfect game. What Dishonored is, though, is a good start.

Requiescat in Pace, or don't

We're in 17^th century England, a very industrialized and very fictional one. Empress Kaldwin's personal bodyguard Corvo Attano – a quite intimidating, soft-spoken guy with supernatural talents – returns home from a long journey, only to be brutally framed for his liege's (and lover's) murder, as well as her daughter Emily's abduction, by the Empress' spymaster and his hired help. Six months later, on the eve of his execution, Corvo escapes prison with the help of a group of imperial loyalists operating on the far outskirts of the city of Dunwall. With these loyalists at his back, Corvo starts picking off the spymaster's – now Lord Regent – cohorts one at a time, and aims to rescue Emily from her real captors in the process.

Dear sir, I do believe you're getting fucked.

Dishonored has a very interesting story, that I personally think goes to waste, just a bit, in a comic book environment. Got to keep in mind, though, that this game is really, really violent. It's not all that more or less violent than Assassin's Creed was at this point, but it's a first-person game, so it's a bit different; photorealism might've seriously pissed censors off. The first-person perspective threw me off a little too, at first. It's a challenging perspective for me as it is, but a stealth game? That's serious shit. It's surprisingly adaptable once you get over it. The stereo surround is awesome, it's one of your greatest tactical advantages. Many stealth- or stealth-oriented games tend to have problems with distancing chatter or footsteps properly, Dishonored does it just right. Headphones, or some really juicy home theater set-up are recommended for this one. To further praise the sound department, the music's quite OK, and we have talented voice actors we ALL know placing their bids here – Susan Sarandon, Lena Headey, Michael Madsen, Carrie Fisher, and Brad Dourif, for starters.

Double, double toil and trouble

Dishonored actually has much more in common with Metal Gear Solid than it has with Assassin's Creed, IF it can really be compared to any earlier game in existence; it really is a rare game of its very own kind. So, let's just leave any comparisons to any game that came before out right now, and just concentrate on the distinguishing features of Dishonored.

And down he goes.

Dishonored is cut into 16 distinct chapters, 9 of which are your primary missions and the rest are more or less tutorials or small quests that work towards the story. During these missions, you'll be visiting different parts of Dunwall, very often the same parts, but not without some significant changes, always for the worse – and side missions are always designed to accommodate a specific main mission, so if you're gonna do them, do them right away. As to why Dishonored has more in common with Metal Gear Solid than Assassin's Creed, is that in Assassin's Creed, the only true solution to any situation or major confrontation is a knife to the neck. It's just the approach you can decide for yourself. In Dishonored, you can decide most of everything for yourself. You don't have to kill any of the guys and gals on your list, you can go for an indirect approach to make sure no one hears or sees them again. Such as utterly humiliating them; humiliation has no cure in this fancy-ass town ruled by self-important dicks. Or, if you necessarily want them dead, but are tired or bored of sneaking behind their backs and venting their necks with your blade, very often you can find an alternative, more difficult but rewarding method. The side missions in the game very often give you clues to some really cool assassination plans, and it's really hard to resist trying them out.

To effectively sneak around in this severely plagued police state, Corvo has a wide array of gadgets and supernatural talents granted to him by a spirit of an intentionally vague alignment; he's kinda there to remind you of your own alignment and the ending you're going to receive for your actions. No need to browse through them all, but a few examples would be nice. You can possess rats (which there are plenty of, I can assure you, and all the more if you keep icing folk), bloodhounds and fish (really) to access certain types of path- and entryways. At a more advanced level of this ability, you can also possess regular enemy soldiers. You can't do anything to directly harm anyone – except push them off cliffs by just walking into them, that's fun (not to mention walking off a cliff yourself) – but this is a standout method to get closer to any enemy that's actually your target, including main mission targets. Your basic method of stealth movement is a teleportation ability you'll gain almost immediately after the first mission of the game, it's a real diverse hoot once you learn to use it properly and to great effect. Of course, as in any self-respecting game nowadays, you can hack all sorts of enemy equipment to function for your cause with the Rewire Tool. Finally, I guess I'll mention Thief Vision, which allows you to track enemy movement behind walls. So, it's kind of like Batman's Detective Mode, only you can use this for a very limited period of time and it really isn't quite that useful. Oops, a comparison.

Ouch. That'll leave a mark.

Last, I'll speak of what's left in the levels besides the missions and side missions, what makes them last for hours. Well collectables, of course, and not just any dolls or statues that reward you with a warm soul and a Trophy, but really important stuff; Runes to upgrade your abilities with, and Bone Charms, role-playing accessories which allow you to augment yourself with multiple passive abilities and perks. As the game developers practically encourage you to survive this game without improving on your default abilities too much, the Bone Charms are not all that essential to your success, the augments are not really that awesome, but they can be of surprisingly great help from time to time. To find these collectables in each stage of each level, you have a ”sonar” called Heart... which, actually, is literally a still beating human heart. Nice to have one in your pocket on these long trips, huh.

Dishonored is full of good, innovative ideas, but their execution is very rough-edged, very clanky at times. The gameplay never quite leaps the expected standards of the publisher or the genre. Close combat is somewhat clumsy, ranged combat has somewhat random registration, and the radial menu for the abilities and weapons is a complete fucking nightmare at its worst. Instead of the ability you pick, the game very often picks another one. Let's say you pick Blink to teleport right behind an unsuspecting guard to stab him in the neck, and when you use it, you notice that well, the game didn't like your choice and chose a hand grenade to throw at the guard and perhaps kill him, but also alert every damn guard in the vicinity. Like I said, a fucking nightmare. Always double-check.

VERDICT

Dishonored's flaws might be few, but it's a fairly lengthy game, and these problems, few as they are, follow the trail from the beginning to the very end, only getting worse with time and difficulty. It's not a stellar game as far as gameplay is concerned, but it has so much great ideas, a whole new, such great take on the stealth action genre, and such a good story to it, that it really should not be ignored by anyone. Not with a sequel on the way.

8.4

REVIEW - Darksiders II | PS3 | 2012

GENRE(S): Action / RPG
RELEASED: August 14, 2012
AVAILABLE ON: PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
DEVELOPER(S): Vigil Games
PUBLISHER(S): THQ

A sequel to the moderately successful Darksiders was officially revealed in early 2012. Darksiders II was to star another Horseman of the Apocalypse in a series of events taking place the same time as those of the first game. The game turned out not only a very different game from its predecessor, but a huge step forward by Vigil Games from every aspect; whereas the first game was a standard hack 'n' slash with clever puzzles to make it stand out, Darksiders II was a carefully crafted mixture of a similar puzzle-laden hack 'n' slash and an action-RPG much in the style of the recently released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Cult actor Michael Wincott was brought in to voice the main character. The game laid down great foundations for a third and maybe fourth game... but sales weren't very good, and during discussions for a third Darksiders game, THQ filed for bankruptcy. Well, if Darksiders II turns out the last game in the franchise, at least that which started with a flicking spark goes down with a moderate bang; the game isn't perfect, but damn if it isn't entertaining.

Shadow of Death

STARRING
Michael Wincott : Death
James Cosmo : Maker Elder Eidard / Nephilim Wisper
Keith Szarabajka : The Crowfather / The Scribe / Wicked K / Nephilim Wisper
Andre Sogliuzzo : Karn / The Mad Smith
J.B. Blanc : Thane / Valus / Hellguard / Disembodied Voice / Human Soul
Claudia Christian : Muria
Jessica Straus : Lilith
Vernon Wells : Samael
Simon Templeman : Absalom / Avatar of Chaos
Troy Baker : Draven / The Sleeping Warden / The Phariseer / The Abyssal Forge / The Lost Warden / Legion

Horseman of the day.

While War faces the Charred Council for the destruction of the Kingdom of Man, his brother Death takes fast action and sets out on a journey to the Tree of Life for proof of his brother's innocence and to resurrect humanity.

Even when I was scavenging for a glint of light through the worst slumps of Darksiders, I had high hopes for Darksiders II. I had just read that it's more of an RPG than your everyday hack 'n' slash, it had Michael Wincott voicing the lead character - Top Dollar in The Crow is one of my favourite villains in movie history and this guy has such a distinctive voice these sorts of characters are meant to have! - and finally in that same regard, this game stars none other than DEATH. Death's been a villain or important side character in several games, just starting with the Castlevania series where he's nearly always been the penultimate boss, and of course one can't forget his importance to the classic Discworld series. In this game, we control Death (whoa, that sounded cool) and his name alone immediately gives off a better vibe than playing as something as ambiguous as War. Fury might also make for a good antihero just by his name. Strife... well... Cloud Strife? Nope, I've got nothing. DEATH. I am become DEATH, the destroyer of worlds. Sounds awesome. And plays out great, too. Darksiders II is a giant leap forward from its predecessor. NOT what Assassin's Creed II was to Assassin's Creed, but a very notable leap forward and a highly enjoyable game for hack 'n' slash and RPG fans alike, I think - at the very least just what I expected when I first got familiar with a franchise called Darksiders (cue booming movie trailer voice).

Death's not destroying the world, though - on the utter contrary, he's restoring it. If only it were that simple; beneath the simple and well-acted surface, Darksiders II once again hits us with a highly confusing story that makes us feel like the whole franchise is missing something, like a comic book or novel which would elaborate on these events. The good news is that although War's trial in the first game is the red herring to the beginning of Death's journey, the story of the first game doesn't really matter. You don't practically need to know more what happens in the very beginning of Darksiders, 20 minutes into it, everything else hardly matters. Hell, you could play through the tutorial sequence of Darksiders and then skip straight ahead to Darksiders II, 'cause that's where Darksiders II's story begins as well. War's situation is hardly mentioned once you're halfway through the game, it's all about the restoration and preservation of humanity - I guess? - and Death's journey is across a whole different land than War's, so you don't need to worry about repeated level designs either. This is more medieval-looking, not the post-apocalyptic landscape of the first game. To be frank, it kinda looks like World of Warcraft in the beginning - the comic book characters don't help.

I might not be a fan of the game's style, but
that's one hell of a landscape.

Darksiders II looks technically better and smoother than its predecessor, but the character design is exactly the same and I still don't like it. And, one thing I noticed right off the bat is how much I'm annoyed by the fact that whenever Death's without body armor, with just that cloth covering his criticals - if he has any? - he looks exactly like Kratos from God of War, just with a head full of hair, all the way from his pale skin to his stance, to the way he holds his weapons, to a tattoo on the shoulder, which in this case looks more like a scar though. And when he does have body armor (just another piece of cloth covering his shoulders), he looks like Raziel in Legacy of Kain. Thus I consider Death's look a bit unimaginative. Can't say I would've done him any different, but I didn't, so I'm entitled to judge. The voice acting is top notch, even better than in the first game. Michael Wincott rules, and he brings in that trademark, charming and intelligently sarcastic tone to his performance, which results in a much more intriguing lead character than Death already is. A few actors from the first game - such as Troy Baker, Phil LaMarr and Keith Szarabajka - either reprise their roles or voice completely different characters, and almost all of them lend their voices to several demons as well for cost-efficiency. Simon Templeman turns up as yet another obvious villain, and finally, James Cosmo of Game of Thrones fame replaces Mark Hamill as the mentor character of the game, who's a much nicer guy than Hamill's Watcher, though. The voiceover work is altogether awesome, although one can't help thinking that the voice actors did not have any more of an idea what the hell's going on in the story from time to time than us confused players do. Well, at least the gameplay shines enough for us to not really care what's happening, as long as it keeps doing so.

Darksiders II has plenty in common with its predecessor and is easily recognizable as a sequel, but it's still so different right from the start. The control scheme itself has been tweaked closer to a role-playing interface; there's a radial menu straight out of any BioWare console game, in which you can assign different special attacks and other abilities to a face button "speed dial"; you are also able to converse with several NPC's (some of whom give you "sidequests", although most of the sidequests in this game are best completed just by going along with the storyline), and a version of the dialogue wheel which originated in Mass Effect comes in. The overworld is completely open from the start, besides locations which cannot be unlocked without a special upgrade or conquering a specific plot point. It's Death himself who reminds you that although the game might look the part, Darksiders II is not an RPG. There are no decisions to be made, no customization at all beyond the skill tree which allows you to develop Death into two different directions; Harbinger, who's more into direct offense, and Necromancer, who's more into all things arcane. However, even that tree's designed so that you are pretty much forced to balance him out with skills from both branches. So Darksiders II is still a hack 'n' slash with notable RPG elements, and good the way it is. Much better than the first one, at least.

Death awakens an utterly docile rock giant
just to reduce him to a pile of rubble. Reasonable.

The one problem with Darksiders II is repetition. It's just one problem, that presents itself in several different ways. Exploring the huge overworld - of which there are actually two - is all for nothing. Sure, you'll find collectibles there, but if you're risking life and limb and spending hours on figuring out how to get that one mysterious treasure chest on the map checked off, don't bother. Just go with the game's flow. Talk to people, get those sidequests, and carry on. Again, you're more likely to finish them by making progress than going on a solo expedition. And the way you make progress in the game, well, just drift from dungeon to dungeon. And that's where the repetition hits. Sure, the puzzles in the game are clever, but every time you finally conquer a new type of puzzle, it starts repeating with tiny variations, sometimes even throughout a whole dungeon, until the puzzle becomes routine and a run-of-the-mill scenario for the game - the same problem the first game had, basically. In addition, the mission objectives repeat; kind of like to compensate for the confusing plot, it's laid out perfectly clear that you need to find three *something*, each time. In most dungeons, there are three different puzzle-laden paths, with an important quest item at the end of each. Get that and the next path opens. Why are you doing this, again? No idea, you fell off the wagon hours ago - someone pops up every two hours to mention War by name on the side of something else, so you would still remember how it all began. I guess it's the most important part. The one salvation of Darksiders II is Death. Just one salvation, that presents itself in several different ways.

Though Death's pale complexion, hunched stance and empty eyes make him look like the walking dead, he moves like a cat. Think a very updated Prince from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, or Ryu from Ninja Gaiden. Like the Prince, Death can run along straight horizontal walls, and jump between two close ones like Ryu. He can also climb or run a wall, no matter how tall or wide, if there are these posts stuck along which give him a speed boost. In another "oh, come on" type of turn, he can't grab ledges that are inches above his head if the game says so, he can only grab certain types that are clearly highlighted. In combat, especially with the right equipment, Death is unstoppable against your everyday wave. You can equip Death from head to toe with different equipment and accessories that have a zillion different categories for perks; health regeneration from every successful hit, notably heightened offense and defense, elemental attributes, you name it. The amount of loot in the game is almost on the Fallout level; there's no inventory limit for the equipment, you can either put your excessive loot to good use by upgrading your "Possessed" equipment with spare parts from standard items, or sell it at any merchant. The equipment with the most perks sells for good money, no matter how useless it is to you at that particular point of the game. So, even if you get pennies in the beginning of the game, you'll start making hundreds of thousands of gold in no time, and you'll also max out your abilities in no time.

There's one combo trainer in each of the game's worlds, and these are the guys whose wisdom you should spend your money on first, 'cause you'll get perfectly good equipment from the field, at least stuff you'll manage with until you've upgraded Death's abilities to the max. Then it's the equipment's turn. There are a couple of weapon and armor merchants, one certain NPC who sells the best accessories in the game, and finally Vulgrim, the merchant demon from the first game who sells special items, such as a respecification item that lets you reassign your skill points, and mystery boxes with random elite equipment. A thing that eases the game up a little is the ability to fast travel, from dungeons straight to a merchant and back again, back to the last checkpoint of the dungeon. Basically, if you're heading into a boss fight with your health potions at zero, you can go back to a merchant to fill your stock and then go back in just a small jiffy. Easy, yet comfortable - just take a look at the map and think if you'd had to backtrack all that way.

I've got an open mind when it comes to women,
but I don't necessarily want to know what's
under that skirt.

Wrath abilities, the Chaos mode, and the secondary weapons in this game are far from useless. You'll most definitely need to test out the Wrath abilities and find your favourites quick, 'cause the bedlams get so merciless so quick that just being able to mash the attack and dodge buttons like a pro is not enough. Just one mistake might kill ya. Chaos is kind of like a last resort, since in his Grim Reaper form, Death deals ultimate amounts of damage that'll do you the most good against big enemies - including some bosses - and doesn't take any damage himself. The downside to it is that it's over very quickly, and the Chaos meter replenishes very slowly. Most of the gear - as fun as it is to try it out in combat - is useless for direct, standard offense, but they're invaluable key items for both free exploration and making progress. The secondary weapons, on the other hand, they're the shit. From the beginning, you equip Death with two sets of weapons. His primary weapon, of course, is his trademark scythe, two of them to be exact (which makes him look all the more like Kratos). You use the scythes with the square button, while the triangle button is dedicated to the secondary weapons - gauntlets, maces, axes, hammers etc. - which deal a LOT of damage, especially if used at the correct moment. The higher your combo, the more your momentum grows and the more likely you are to deal critical damage, especially with variation. Combat is perhaps the game's overall top quality - unlike in Darksiders, there's just the right amount of it, at just the right pace, and it's much smoother. Even that initially dumb targeting system is a little easier on the nerves.

The hardest parts of the game are the puzzles, but like I said, once you've solved one, you've solved every puzzle in the game for the next two to three hours, so occasionally you might find bearing the game the toughest challenge of them all. It picks up, though, on an equal amount of occasions, keeping you glued to the seat to the confusing end of the confusing story. It's far from a non-stop thrill ride, but I recommend the game with a much warmer heart than the last one to any hack 'n' slash fanatic. Since it's not a direct sequel to Darksiders and to be honest, it hasn't got much to do with the first game at all - I guess? - casual players can just skip the first game with good conscience and go for the main course. I'm not all that thrilled for the chance for a Darksiders III, and I'm not sure if I'd buy it, but the evolution on show on here is enough to convince me to at least welcome the game to the world.

UPS
+ Death - voiced by Michael Wincott, no less
+ Great voiceover work in general
+ Entertaining combat
+ Fun little RPG elements

DOWNS
- Shallow, confusing story
- Clever, but highly repetitive puzzles...
- ...As are the mission objectives
- Lots of empty space

< 7.9 >

REVIEW - Darksiders | PS3 | 2010

GENRE(S): Action
RELEASED: January 5, 2010
AVAILABLE ON: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
DEVELOPER(S): Vigil Games, Mass Media
PUBLISHER(S): THQ

In the last 15 years, hack 'n' slash action-adventure games have become - largely thanks to the success of the original Devil May Cry and the God of War series - what platformers were in the early 90's thanks to the success of Nintendo's Mario and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. Every publisher needs to have one to their credit - at least nowadays they realize they've got to have a gimmick or two to survive. THQ slapped their paws on a game originally called Darksiders: Wrath of War - the debut of Vigil Games, founded by comic book artist Joe Madureira and game designer David L. Adams. Initially planned as a franchise of at least three games, Darksiders was a fair critical success, praised for its fine mixture of fine elements and an exciting post-apocalyptic setting which placed us in the boots of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And now, four years after its release, the game lies on the operating table of the hack 'n' slash master for a requested review.

Epic of War

STARRING
Liam O'Brien : War
Mark Hamill : The Watcher
Troy Baker : Abaddon / Straga / Tormented Gate
Moon Bloodgood : Uriel
Vernon Wells : Samael
Keith Szarabajka : Azrael
Phil LaMarr : Vulgrim
J.B. Blanc : Ulthane
Fred Tatasciore : The Charred Council
Lani Minella : Tiamat / Silitha

In the dawn of time, the Charred Council was created to preserve law and order between the Kingdoms of Heaven and Hell. They named four enforcers, dubbed the Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Death, Strife and Fury. In time, a third kingdom emerged - the Kingdom of Man. The council decreed that the Endwar for dominance would be settled within the third kingdom, when man was ready for it, and the Four Horsemen would arrive to punish the guilty. When the Seventh Seal is broken, the apocalypse will begin. In the present day, the armies of Heaven and Hell collide. War arrives on Earth believing he was summoned and that the Endwar has begun, but is confused by the absence of his brothers. Just after learning that the Seventh Seal was not broken and that his presence on Earth is forbidden, War is killed by the demon Straga and is taken in by the Charred Council, who accuse him of treachery and interference with the balance, which has now resulted in the utter, premature destruction of the Kingdom of Man. Pleading to the Council for a chance to investigate into the devastating trickery, War sets out to bring the ones responsible for Earth's destruction to justice.

One fine day in the city.

I went by for a fascinatingly long time knowing not one hint of what Darksiders was about. It's funny, 'cause it's got a fantastic title that you cannot say normally - it comes out in a booming movie trailer voice - it's got appealing cover art, not to mention a "10/10" sticker on it courtesy of Play US Magazine. The back cover is a story of its own - "THE HORSEMAN COMETH" - it looks fucking fantastic, seriously. I think I avoided the game on purpose, 'cause me and my friend were in the midst of an argument concerning God of War III and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which one was the better hack 'n' slash game, and we had had the same argument whenever there was a new God of War game out. He hated my favourite hack 'n' slash series in the world, and since back then he couldn't give me a good reason for it, I just automatically "hated" everything he hyped. Even when Darksiders' price tag fell to the midprice category, I avoided it 'cause my friend had recently played the demo of Dante's Inferno and he praised it, while I found the game mediocre despite having such great commercial potential, like Darksiders. He had also praised the Darksiders demo, and just knowing it was a hack 'n' slash game which my friend liked kept me away from it, I guess. But then, the price tag hit the penny category - I was trying to quit smoking at the time, so I re-invested my money for a pack of familiar and safe cigs into this unfamiliar and risky mystery. Darksiders was the first game Vigil Games worked on, and it most definitely shows. It's a very standard genre game with neat yet unremarkable gimmicks and a fistful of annoying bugs, but it's got an interesting (yet occasionally utterly incomprehensible) story and characters, tense boss fights, some really clever puzzles, and finally, all the potential for a good sequel, if Vigil Games are of the listening sort. Not one without the other, so Darksiders II is up next, but let's dissect this one first.

I've been requested a look into the Darksiders franchise for a few months due to my apparent fascination with dark, brutal hack 'n' slash action, and good stories. Sadly none of these elements really stand out when it comes to Darksiders. Before the arrival of God of War, it'd been a whole different story, and God of War is without question the strongest influence here, in terms of gameplay and a bit in terms of storytelling as well, but when it comes to darkness and brutality, and the high impact of the action, God of War swipes the much longer straw. Darksiders is presented in a comic book style, which I thought was where it hit its first snag, although I should've guessed it considering that the creative director drew X-Men for three years (what a way to tie this in to the marathon at hand). I feel somewhat cut off from the tension. The story... well, as fresh and interesting as it is to play as a God damn Horseman of the Apocalypse, some plot twists could use a bit more elaboration, especially when the lengthy dungeons keep you off from the story for hours at a time; at least a recap once in a while would be courteous. I played the game from the beginning to the end in just a couple of days of time and I still found myself to have fallen off the wagon almost completely two hours towards the end credits. It was like, "there's some demon I have to kill". Hooray, it's dead. End credits, preceded by some strange babble about how "they're coming" after my character. OK... straight into Darksiders II and to my perfect relief, it isn't a direct sequel. Maybe they'll handle things a bit differently right off the bat, 'cause this just didn't work right.

The boss fights are some of the best bits.

Darksiders was not one of the prettiest games around even when it came out, and like I already said, I'm not feeling the comic book style. The level design is quite good, the levels are quite vast in theory and practice - although there's a lot of empty space for you to waste your time on when you go on that final hunt for collectibles. The game teases you from the very start with passages that obviously need some upgrades which won't be up for grabs until the few final hours of the game. By that time, you'll already have grown tired of running back and forth, the dumb "fast travel" system, and you'll probably also have realized that every health and special attack upgrade you've automatically gained or found on the side during the story is perfectly enough for you to see Darksiders to the end. I got a bit carried away from the subject there, I guess, but the bottom line when it comes to the visuals is that I've seen prettier games and games that look generally more "interesting" than Darksiders.

It sounds all right, though. Good enough music to meet genre demands, better voice acting; Mark Hamill pulls the Joker gag as the Watcher, who's like War's reverse guardian angel, and provides us with tips throughout the game. Hamill's replacement as the Joker in the Batman series, Troy Baker, also makes a notable appearance as three different characters. The gorgeous Moon Bloodgood who you might remember from Terminator: Salvation or the short-lived sci-fi show Journeyman appears as one angry bitch from Heaven, Vernon Wells of Commando and Mad Max 2 cult fame impresses as the demon Samael, Keith Szarabajka makes a key appearance near the end of the game, Phil LaMarr plays the part of the demon merchant Vulgrim - sounds almost identical to Mark Hamill's performance, though - and Fred Tatasciore once again turns up whenever there's a search for some monstrous, booming, effect-laden voice. The most memorable thing about War himself is that he sounds like an asshole, but I guess that's the thing with Liam O'Brien's characters.

Enough jibjab, Darksiders is a very standard third-person hack 'n' slash game with some very mild Metroidvania element that indeed doesn't really present itself 'til the very end; there's one certain upgrade to War's arsenal that reveals (the paths to) most secrets of the game. But, everyone's got to have a gimmick and I guess that Darksiders' gimmick is the level design which is just as influenced by The Legend of Zelda than it is by any other hack 'n' slash. The dungeons in the game are lengthy puzzle-ridden labyrinths. The puzzles are very good, at that, though occasionally one single puzzle is rubbed in your face a bit too heavily. It's like "ooh, this idea is so fantastic that we need to repeat it a few times". You either need to solve the exact same puzzle from a different entry point several times, or an extremely similar puzzle with some light variable three or four times at ten minute intervals. I guess I'll stick this on the beginner's tab - let's be fair, there have been worse debut offerings than Darksiders. Much worse - if your mind's set on beating Darksiders, and you're not expecting miracles on perfect par with your genre favourites, you will very likely enjoy this game.

Of course there's a godmode, what'd you
expect?

By the end of the game, War has a very big and confusing arsenal of weapons, gadgets and sort of magic attacks. Any control scheme in the world is not enough for all of their management at once, so you can decide on favourites and assign them to hot keys yourself, which is kinda cool. When it comes to regular combat, War's sword "Chaoseater" is the only invaluable item in your inventory; all those secondary weapons are just junk, but in Darksiders' defense for once, so were the secondary weapons in the first two God of War games. Besides, you need projectile weapons for certain semi-regular enemies, and nearly every weapon and gadget in the game to effectively beat down certain bosses. The boss fights are excellent throughout the line, what's funny though is that the first real boss in the story - the first guardian, not the tutorial boss - is actually the hardest boss in the whole game, mostly due to how helpless your character is at that point of the game, lacking most of his core abilities and all.

War's special Wrath attacks are few in numbers, and even fewer in terms of true benefit. I actually used just two out of four during the whole game. The Wrath meter is normally a bitch to replenish, and none of the Wrath abilities are THAT effective, good last resorts though; I saved my ass a couple of times with a well-placed special attack. Once again, all you need to beat this game on normal difficulty is Chaoseater and a series of very basic combos, and your dodge ability. If you're not planning to take this game beyond the normal-level playthrough, my advice is don't even bother with trying to learn the combos on top of the already confusing advanced control scheme. Just to show Vigil knew they were making a simple game - I guess - there are no optional trials or challenges, but a series of challenges within the storyline, that require you to use certain combat tactics and weapons against some waves of random enemies. Of course these challenges are quite damn easy, most of them at least - something along the lines of Challenge of the Gods from God of War would've killed this game instantly, if forced upon the player.

Finally the horseman actually gets a horse.

The lengthy puzzles and the mere size of the map make you feel like the game is incredibly big and lasts forever, but it really doesn't. Many hotspots on the map are actually passages between two levels, with just enough length to be considered levels themselves. It shouldn't take longer than 20 hours to beat Darksiders to the absolute hilt, if you're interested enough to go for the collectibles; there's not too many of them. There are many secret treasure chests hidden in the world (even a recurring secret boss), yes, but a sad lot of them just contains souls to spend at Vulgrim's store, on stuff you don't really need, especially at the end of the game, or worse yet, just standard health or Wrath replenishments. Seriously. It makes you feel like the developers had the idea that people like the chase more than the catch. While that might be true in many cases, in this case it's the total opposite. If you have a chest you've seen clear as day since hour 2 of in-game time and finally get the necessary upgrade to go for it at hour 18, I'll bet you're looking for something a bit more than another bunch of souls you can get from anywhere in the world, even just by breaking background items.

Finally, what's a horseman without a horse? That's a question you might be asking yourself for way beyond the first half of the game's duration. When War's trusty steed finally does turn up, he has true purpose for one single part of one single level. Of course he makes navigation for those useless chests a little easier in other levels as well, if you're still interested in those. With all these little gimmicks and general imbalance in just about everything, I think Vigil weren't quite sure what they wanted to do, except for just another hack 'n' slash game that hits most of the right notes to please genre maniacs.

That's what it is. It's definitely not from the worst end of hack 'n' slash games, it's got a lot of potential laid wide open for the sequel to exploit, in itself it does fail to live up to nearly all of it. The developers had all that feedback to learn from, and I'm hoping that they did. In these senses, I might find myself comparing the game to the first Assassin's Creed game in the future - can't do that yet since I don't rightly know what Darksiders II contains. But I'm hoping for the best. Darksiders is a good game in itself, but somewhat generic and unbalanced, and the story doesn't play out as well as it could.

UPS
+ Terrific voiceover work
+ Good level design
+ Smart, albeit repetitive puzzles
+ Occasionally little glitchy, but generally good controls and combat mechanics
+ Entertaining boss fights

DOWNS
- Generic all the way
- The simplest and most default ways in combat get you a bit too far, not past the bosses though
- The indoor combat/puzzle ratio is perhaps the most standout point when it comes to imbalance
- Dull secrets
- Good characters and voiceover work alone do not make a great, captivating story, it seems
- Personally, I don't dig the bulky comic book style

< 7.3 >

REVIEW - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes | PS3 | 2014

GENRE(S): Action / Stealth
RELEASED: March 18, 2014
AVAILABLE ON: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
DEVELOPER(S): Kojima Productions
PUBLISHER(S): Konami

Six years ago, Solid Snake finally ended the reign of the Patriots and said goodbye to his father and once greatest rival Big Boss, before retiring from his life as a soldier to live out his last days in peace. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was a definite conclusion to Solid Snake's story, but creator Hideo Kojima - who has claimed just about every Metal Gear game to be his last - was far from telling Big Boss' story, and how he became what he was. 2010 saw the release of a critically acclaimed PSP game called Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - another handheld game based on tactical operations and micromanagement; it was most essentially about building your own army. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is to take the Peace Walker formula to the big league, and much further with a whole new game engine and open-world possibilities. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes serves as a prologue to the upcoming The Phantom Pain, and a direct sequel to Peace Walker, a conclusion to that game if you will. Practically, it's a demo of the new FOX engine, and a taste of things to come. That's how it should be treated instead of a game... and so far, it hasn't. I've got to admit, it's hard.

Rush hour

STARRING
Kiefer Sutherland : Big Boss
Robin Atkin Downes : Kazuhira Miller
James Horan : Skull Face
Tara Strong : Paz Ortega Andrade
Antony Del Rio : Chico Libre
Christopher Randolph : Huey Emmerich

Big Boss infiltrates a black site in Cuba to extract his allies, Paz and Chico, who have been imprisoned and violently interrogated by Skull Face, the leader of a mysterious military organization dubbed XOF. Unbeknownst to Boss and his most trusted comrade Kaz, the extremely cruel, intelligent and resourceful Skull Face has prepared for any rescue attempt; mission failure is inevitable.

Kept us waiting, huh?

Metal Gear - so good to have it back after Metal Gear Rising, a game that is still just gathering dust on my shelf, practically still in plastic wrap. I reviewed Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots four years ago, and back then, and lots of times since, I have constantly called it the "end" of Metal Gear. I really thought that it was the end-all game of the series. I thought Kojima would be done with Big Boss, too, but obviously he likes the character so much, even so much more than he ever liked Solid Snake, that I guess he won't be done with him until he's squeezed out absolutely everything out of him. I think Big Boss could be easily called the lead character of the whole series, since once The Phantom Pain comes out, he has appeared at some capacity in a total of nine main series games - whereas his son has only appeared in five, and will probably never return (though in Kojima's surreal universe, everything's possible...) In Ground Zeroes, it's the year 1975. In The Phantom Pain, it will be 1984. That leaves 11 years between the events of The Phantom Pain and the first Metal Gear game, so do I think we'll have a Metal Gear Solid 6? Or 7? I find it very likely, yes. But, we'll have to see what The Phantom Pain is all about, first, before we can be sure.

Ground Zeroes merely scratches the surface - if you're an experienced Metal Gear player, you will most certainly want to beat this mission in various different ways, and you're allowed to do that. A casual player who just zooms through the story and might not be familiar with the series, will probably be left wondering what the hell's so incredible about Metal Gear, and why in the hell did he pay 30 bucks for a demo. You might've heard Ground Zeroes lasts for two hours - nah, more like ONE hour. The series that was once known for very complex, but rewarding stealth gameplay, has now taken a turn to a much simpler action game with much less advanced features. You have no camouflage, and no classically cheap ways to distract enemies, for example - you can't throw stuff around or knock on walls. You can sneak through this mission if you want, by merely staying out of enemy sight the best you can, but you aren't really punished if you decide to take the easy way out and kill everyone. In fact, it's more fun to shoot guys than do this quietly. Fun, and even lucrative if you're going for all collectibles, but considering the brand name, it feels wrong. I'm guessing that The Phantom Pain is going to be chocked with all sorts of advanced features, judging by the gameplay videos, but none of them are really on show here. It feels like a mission in Peace Walker, only with (much) better enemy A.I., and naturally, better controls. The thing I'm most amazed about? It doesn't even look that fancy.

Though I'm kinda thankful for it - or at least my bank account is - I've no idea why they decided to make seventh-generation versions of both parts of the game, 'cause it's obvious they didn't really put their hearts into it. Ground Zeroes looks decent enough on the PS3, but Guns of the Patriots is six years old and it still looks better, in fact it's no less than one of the best-looking games on the PS3! Of course you'd expect the sequel to look better, especially when we're virtually talking about a technical demo that's supposed to stun you in every possible way. It's very dark and rough around the edges, and the background textures blur from time to time. Facial animation is simply superb, though, and this brings me to the incredible characters and voice acting. Every actor from Peace Walker reprises his or her role; not only do they nail 'em perfectly, but their transition from comic book characters to dynamic CGI characters makes them feel so much more alive and interesting.

Tonight's forecast: heavy rain. An assload of
it.

Every actor...? Don't think I've forgotten. In perhaps his most outrageous move ever, but one you'll most definitely see the meaning behind once you play this game, Hideo Kojima replaced David Hayter - who's voiced both Big Boss and Solid Snake since Metal Gear Solid in 1998 - with Kiefer Sutherland. Not only did Hayter's retirement piss off a lot of fans in itself, but it seems they are even more pissed about the fact that he's replaced by Sutherland who will most likely make a Jack Bauer out of their beloved character. Well, in a way that's true, even Bauer's trademark "Damn it!" comes up, but let's face one truth here. The Phantom Pain is probably meant to be a really dramatic, cinematic experience, Ground Zeroes already is one - this series has always been known for its cinematics, and Ground Zeroes takes that side of the franchise to a whole new sphere. It's all way more balanced, though. In earlier games, there was a cutscene or two coming up after each two steps. Here, there's a lengthy cutscene in the beginning and another one at the end; everything in between is clean, uninterrupted gameplay. That's good, really good - I'm guessing anyone will appreciate that, be they long-time fans or people who are not really familiar with the series and have always thought of it as less of a game and more of a movie. Anyway, what I meant to say was, that it's high time Big Boss got a REAL voice actor. Hayter was comfortable and good at what was asked of him, but we're heading to a really dark and dramatic phase in the series timeline where that comfortable and familiar, all-purpose gravelly gargle just ain't enough - it needs more emotion and determination, and if Ground Zeroes is a sign of things to come, I think Kiefer Sutherland will turn out more than a handy substitute for the legendary David Hayter.

So basically, Ground Zeroes is like the intro mission in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, released as a retail game. Even the objective's the same: extracting a P.O.W. from foreign soil. In this case, two of them. If you haven't played Peace Walker yet, I suggest you at least try the game out, 'cause storywise, Ground Zeroes is really hard to follow if you don't, and will most likely feel really detached from the timeline to you, not just by terms of gameplay. Initially, I was kinda sad I never had time to finish Peace Walker, now I'm not so sure if I even want to 'cause I know what happens in it and the characters play out their parts so much better in this CGI environment. To be completely frank, I think now they _matter_. However, beating the intro mission in Snake Eater probably took you much longer than it takes you to beat the whole of Ground Zeroes' main campaign, first and foremost 'cause the FOX engine is so simple. Gone are the classic pause-action item and weapon menus - you simply choose weapons with the digital pad like in so many other modern action games. Two different weapons of the same type (one-handed, two-handed, explosive) can be stocked at the same time, and you can choose between two different weapons by holding down the corresponding button on the digital pad. You can use binoculars at any time by pressing the right trigger button, and by pressing left on the digital pad you can use items; only night vision goggles are available in this part of the game, though. Boss' (or Snake's) health regenerates automatically over time, but if things get really sticky, you need to find a safe place on the field to lay low and apply some of your endless supply of first-aid spray. Doesn't sound too familiar, huh? Well, get ready for an even further sideway stroll. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes isn't quite the Metal Gear you knew.

Before the breakdown, I'll tell you about the iDroid, which is Boss' personal terminal for all sorts of information, including map and mission data - and like you could use the iPod in Guns of the Patriots to listen to music, you can also use the iDroid to play... cassette tapes. Tapes recorded by different characters and tapes which contain musical tracks are found as collectibles, and you can also play up to ten of your own tracks from the hard drive (about as much songs that fit on a 60-minute tape). There's another hitch, right there... for some God damn reason, at least the PS3 version won't let you pick the tracks yourself. I have something like 250 songs on my hard drive, and the game won't give me the option to browse through the list like most games with custom soundtracks do; it just picks them at random. Let's just say that Cannibal Corpse's "Hammer Smashed Face" suddenly blasting through the speakers doesn't really help my concentration. As if the game really requires it that much.

The side ops bring in lots of wanted variety.

Yeah, so at least Ground Zeroes is not really a stealth game. You can tell by the nature of the equipment at your disposal, alone - and despite Boss' general movement being so straightforward and less stealthy, the combat mechanics are definitely buttered up from last time. CQC works much quicker and smoother, and if you're discovered by a single enemy, the screen goes to Reflex Mode - in other words, slow motion - which you can use to your advantage and pull a quick headshot before the guard's able to alert others. Of course they're still attracted by the sound of gunfire, but if you're quick about it, you can pick up the body, and in this dark and rainy environment, you don't need to carry it all that far to make a whole bunch of guys think they're just hearing things. First I used the vintage tactic of just tranquilizing everyone I could from afar, but it turned out a really slow and awkward tactic here, as I simply couldn't avoid some serious fights. I think this game was designed so that you couldn't get through it without killing at least one dude. It's not impossible, but it's really hard to resist the temptation. Especially since there are no essential rewards to be had in the main campaign for being a nice guy, and long-distance sneaking past guards while having someone on your shoulders is really frustrating.

I've got to admit that I played through this game a lot quicker than probably any game I've really looked forward to for a long time. I just felt that maybe I should just check it out and leave the perfect run for whenever The Phantom Pain comes out, 'cause you tend to lose your touch to Metal Gear games if you leave them be for too long. Well, Ground Zeroes ain't like that, it's easy to access, and I'll probably go on a perfectionist's round pretty soon - it won't take long. This round includes finding all collectibles, and a Trophy hunt for the very few Trophies this game has - none of which seem too hard to get, either. I think the most boring task that lies ahead of me is rescuing all the prisoners in the camp; it's something a perfectionist just has to do. I'm guessing rescuing prisoners in The Phantom Pain will help you with the construction and maintenance of the Mother Base like it did in Peace Walker, here there is no Mother Base - therefore, there really ain't nothing to the rescue except a lousy Bronze Trophy for a certain prisoner whose identity I believe to be randomly generated. The whole P.O.W. extraction thing in Ground Zeroes probably has no effect on The Phantom Pain, either - Kojima hasn't really commented on that - I guess they just wanted to show how the system works. Which is ironic, 'cause extracting people is what you're doing in the first place; they didn't need an optional side mission to show it off.

The way this works is that you carry a prisoner down to a landing zone, summon a helicopter with your iDroid, and then... you wait. Sometimes, for really long periods of time, for a chopper to come, and then wait for a little more for it to actually land. The landing zones are marked on your map as red or white circles, depending on their threat level, and there's a total of three in the whole camp, making the last trip to the nearest landing zone a particularly tedious one, as it's the same long distance away from every damn zone. At this point, I had already extracted three optional prisoners, and the first mandatory one, and I was really eager to do something else for a change and see what else this game had to offer. So I simply blasted through everyone I saw, and just ran towards the landing zone with maximum speed with that second and last mandatory P.O.W. on my shoulders. What I got in return was one of the best damn cutscenes I've ever seen... and the credits. WHAT?! It's over?! I knew this game was short, but... damn. Just... damn.

Driving vehicles is not the most fresh new
addition to the Metal Gear experience, but a
neat one, I guess.

Well, now that I've spent tens of minutes just bashing this game, I think it's high time to go to the good parts, and why I'm still shitting my pants out of excitement for The Phantom Pain. Like I said, the ending, I liked it very much - I think people are so critical about the ending 'cause it's so predictable, it doesn't really tell us anything new. After all, we've watched the trailers for The Phantom Pain, we know the basics of what happens in the end of Ground Zeroes. Still, to me, it's a treat to watch how it actually comes together, and the acting's just so spot-on, we might be in for the best cinematics in the already colourful history of Metal Gear, even if this version of a dying generation isn't quite of the "end of an era" type of technical quality we expected. The most important upside to Ground Zeroes is its variety of side ops, the first of which are unlocked after your first playthrough - the others are unlocked when certain criteria is met. These side ops go to show what could potentially make The Phantom Pain a great game; although they all take place in the exact same level as the main mission, they're all completely different from it, and each other. They go to demonstrate the FOX engine's possibilities a little further, by showing off how the day/night cycle affects gameplay, and how important stealth can actually be in the long run, among other things. It's the same level, yes, but it feels like a different one on each mission. Stick around for a side op called "Deja Vu". If you're a long-time fan initially kinda disappointed in Ground Zeroes and really doubtful of The Phantom Pain, there's a good chance your heart will be won by this one.

The bottom line is, you can't really live without this small - not to mention cheap - bundle of joy. It's not really the Metal Gear you grew up with, and it ends long before you get the slightest chance to really get comfortable with it, but don't let the staleness of the main campaign get you down. Go for the collectibles, trials, and the side ops, and I think you'll walk away happy, and in huge excitement to see what's next for Boss. Weighing and comparing Ground Zeroes' notable downs with its just as notable ups leads me to the conclusion that we might be in for a great game in the main course. Whenever that one comes out - hopefully soon.

UPS
+ Great characters who totally dominate their previous incarnations in Peace Walker, and superb voice acting updated to current standards; Kiefer Sutherland's arrival to the scene is a blessing after all (My friend's honest reaction to when he first heard that Boss is now voiced by Sutherland: "Damn it!" :D )
+ Great story with a bone-chilling start, and an explosive ending - literally
+ More weight on gameplay than ever before in the whole Metal Gear Solid series; even the radio conversations take place in real time. Shows great promise, be the main mission as disappointing as it may.
+ Good, diverse side ops, with treats for long-time fans
+ Simplified, and somewhat more responsive combat mechanics...

DOWNS
- ...Too bad the game itself feels too simplified, and much less of a stealth game with the removal of helpful stealth abilities and items, including camouflage; I'm guessing this doesn't quite reflect on the main game though, as we've seen him wearing all sorts of different clothes in gameplay videos for The Phantom Pain
- Disappointing visuals
- Stale (and short) campaign; extraction is boring in itself - most of all waiting for that damn chopper to arrive - and that's what it's all about
- All-around left hand design and programming for this PS3 version

< 7.5 >