I recently read a very interesting article by Mitch Dyer on IGN.com entitled "12 Innovations We Want fromPS4 and XBox 720" and while I agree with a majority of what the author had to say, including a unified Video service, complete online retail and automatic updates, there was one particular point he made that made me extremely worried.
"We don't need a hard drive. Let's enter a future where all our games and all our saves live somewhere else, instantly accessible on our next-gen console as well as on associated mobile devices.
In an ideal world this would be a fantastic idea. Every console owner on the planet could access their saves wherever they were, whosoever's console they were using. Unfortunately though, we don't live in a utopian world where everyone has reliable access to the one thing that makes this all possible.
The Internet.
A friend of mine recently went two weeks without even basic access to the Web, and while this is in no way the end of the world (although you'd be pressed to find a 13 year old who would agree) he got by. The reason for that was simple, he had his game saves on his hard drive and could access them whenever he needed to.
I'm no enemy of "the cloud" in fact it's a brilliant idea so long as it's coupled with local data storage, like we currently have with this generations pre-installed hard drives. Sony have already taken the first steps toward cloud storage, any Playstation Plus member can store their game saves in the cloud, but they can also keep those save files on their hard drive. Essentially the Cloud is a back up plan in case the hard drive fails, and the reverse is also true. Extending the application of Cloud storage further is certainly where the future of gaming lies, it would be of great use to be able to back up your DLC and other purchases on the cloud, but limiting consoles entirely to using online saves is short sighted and cuts out a great many people who don't have access to the internet.
The Last of Us has taken most people by complete surprise, I count myself as one of them. I honestly wasn't expecting to be so enthused about a "zombie" style game, especially at a time when most commentators seem to be suggesting that the craze for the brain eating monsters seemed to be all but exhausted. Maybe it's the fact that this isn't truly a Zombie game, but more akin to an open world survival experience where some of your foe's happen to be extremely aggressive and have really bad acne, but whatever the reason, Naughty Dog deserve credit for managing to put together an extremely smooth début video that told us everything we needed to know in a short amount of time.
According to the Twitter account of Naughty Dog's creative director Neil Druckmann, the game has already been in development for two years! This makes the fact that they could keep it almost completely under wraps until now even more impressive. Well played Naughty Dog.
During the latest Killer Keyboard podcast we mused over whether this games impressive début trailer could cause it similar problems to those suffered by Dead Island after its début with the reverse time trailer. I can understand the worry, but in all honesty I don't see an issue. Naughty Dog are Sony's premier development studio, they have enough manpower and development experience to ensure that, even with their second team being the primary development team behind the project, whatever they show us now will be a fair example of how the game will work.
With the game reportedly due out next year we don't have much longer to wait until we can play it for ourselves. Probably more than I can say for "I Am Alive"
This seemed to be the week for shock admissions and announcements. First, we had the aforementioned news that Naughty Dog had a second team who had been secretly working on The Last of Us for the past 2 years, and then the admission by Hideo Kojima, that Metal Gear Rising had quietly been dropped from development until Platinum Games showed interest in finishing the project.
Said Kojima: "In the summer of 2010, the team made a presentation for me...I realized the game design still wasn't there yet." He continued "As the young staff said to me, they wanted a good game that just felt good moving around, and we would never get that, so I decided to cancel the project."
"But still, we had a lot of things" [already developed] "Motion capture, a lot of good story, the view of the world inside the game, and I wanted to use that somehow. I wanted Rising to be born again, so that's when I decided to contact Platinum Games."
This is the first Metal Gear game to be developed outside of Kojima's own studio but so far on the evidence of the VGA trailer it looks like Raiden should have a decent game behind him when he next draws his sword in anger.
If you were thinking of using more than one account on your PSP Vita you'd better have more than one of their ridiculously overpriced memory cards to hand. SCEA's associate brand marketing manager Crystal Mackenzie has told Wired.com that "If you wanted to change different PSN users but use the same memory card, you would need to go factory reset," effectively wiping the card of all it's save data. Good news however, you can apparently spread your saves over multiple cards all tied to the same account. Although, why you would want to, and how you could afford such a thing is, frankly, beyond me...
Plenty of 3DS news this week, starting with the announcement that sales of Nintendo's handheld console had their best ever week in Japan with just over 378,000 sold. This was no doubt aided by the release of the fantastic looking Monster Hunter Tri-G branded bundle. It includes the rather snazzy looking Monster Hunter branded 3DS and a copy of the game. Fear not though because it's headed state side soon.
Kid Icarus: Uprising, a game that i had a hands on with earlier in the year, and which caused meto get a nasty cramp in my left hand, will be released on March 23rd. Mario Party 9 goes on sale a little earlier in the month, releasing as it does on March 11th. I have absolutely no idea if either of these games works with the circle pad, you know, the thing that gives you a second control stick that should have been part of the console as standard...
That little niggle not withstanding it turns out that when the circle pad is released in the States (February 7th in case you wondered) it will be a GameStop exclusive. You stupid company Nintendo, why make it an exclusive? Oh, and you'll have to pay an extra $20 for that second stick that should have been included anyway.
I bought Skyrim recently, well it would be silly not to since it was only £22.49 at Game and GameStation. One of the things i like about these games is the amount of stuff you can do which has absolutely no point, like, for example, putting buckets over NPC's heads.
Todd Howard mentioned this little peculiarity when, during an interview with Joystiq, the subject turned to bugs: "I think our favourite really is putting the buckets on the heads," he laughed. "It was like day two, and we went, what? Do we fix that? Our lead programmer is pissed and wants to fix it, and I said I'm not sure we should. That's one of those where maybe we leave it in."
Games developers have a sense of humour too!
Probably helps when you've made the most played game of 2011, that was the news that came out of game tracking service Raptr this week. Not surprisingly Modern Warfare 3 was the most played Shooter, FIFA 12 took the Sports prize while Skyrim was the most popular RPG, but the shock comes in the overall category. Despite being released 3 days after the Activision juggernaut, Skyrim still managed to squeeze more play hours out of it's fans.
That's what infinite Dragons and un-ending quest systems can do for you i guess. Congratulations Bethesda.
Remember that Sorcery game that got shown off at E3 2010? It made fantastic use of the Playstation Move controller and actually looked like it was a lot of fun. Well it's been a little quiet since then, and silence from a developer is never a good sign, but the good news is that development of the game is going as expected and the final product will be due for release in Spring 2012. I doubt i'll be buying a move controller to play it, but if you have the tech already it's well worth your checking it out.
Continuing on the Playstation theme, the next piece of news will shock none of you. Except maybe for Tarquin Jones from Northampton. SURPRISE TARQUIN! #clearlymadeupname
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 will let players use their Vita as a PS3 control pad. To be honest this was something i expected from the PSP so it's nice to see, but unless it improves the gaming experience somehow this is surely just a waste of your handheld's battery life isn't it?
Time for some nostalgia now. Hands up who remembers playing the original Tony Hawks Pro Skater on their PSOne, N64 or Dreamcast? Well as you may have heard on the Killer Keyboard Podcast there's an HD re-make on the way, and it uses all the original skate parks. No news as to the track listing yet but fingers crossed for the original line up of Goldfinger, Primus and the Dead Kennedys.
Here's your UK Top Ten for the week ending December 10th 2011
1- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 2- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 3- Just Dance 3 4- FIFA 12 5- Assassins Creed: Revelations 6- Battlefield 3 7- Professor Layton and The Spectre's Call 8- Saints Row: The Third 9- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception 10-Mario Kart 7
Not too surprising that the best played game of 2011 is also at number one in the UK. I fully expect to see Skyrim at number one next week too, thanks to the half price Skyrim offer at Game and GameStation. CoD MW3 is at number two thanks to Skyrim's rise from mid-table while Just Dance 3 gets a surprise podium finish ahead of FIFA 12. Another week with no Zumba fitness in the top ten, I must be in Heaven!
Well, thanks for checking in once again, remember to check out the latest episode of the Killer Keyboard Podcast and feel free to contact us either by E-Mail, leaving comments in our stories, or tweeting us your views.
Despite the fact that Spike TV couldn't seemingly be bothered to screen all the award winners at this years Video Game Awards, and while acknowledging my own personal abhorrence for their treatment of living legends such as Mark Hamill, it wouldn't be right to completely ignore an awards ceremony that had as many trailers for new upcoming games as E3.
On a side note, It's worrying that Kojima tweeted yesterday that perhaps he would abandon E3 and make all subsequent announcements at the VGA ceremony from now on, although i think perhaps his tongue was placed firmly in his cheek.
So here's a quick list of the categories and victors at this years Spike TV VGA's
Game of the Year - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Studio of the Year - Bethesda Game Studios
Character of the year - The Joker – Batman: Arkham City
Video Game Hall of Fame Award - The Legend of Zelda
Gamer God Award - Blizzard Entertainment
Best XBox 360 Game - Batman: Arkham City
Best PS3 Game - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Best Wii Game - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Best PC Game - Portal 2
Best Handheld or Mobile Game - Super Mario 3D Land
Best Shooter - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Best Action Adventure Game - Batman: Arkham City
Best RPG - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Best Multiplayer - Portal 2
Best Individual Sports Game - Fight Night Champion
Best Team Sports Game - NBA 2K12
Best Driving Game - Forza Motorsport 4
Best Fighting Game - Mortal Kombat
Best Motion Game - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Best Indy Game - Minecraft
Best Adapted Video Game - Batman: Arkham City
Best Song in a Game - "Build that Wall (Zia's Theme)" by Darren Korb – Bastion
Best Original Score - Bastion
Best Graphics - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Best Performance by a Human Male - Stephen Merchant as Wheatley – Portal 2
Best Performance by a Human Female - Ellen McLain as GLaDOS – Portal 2
Best Downloadable Game - Bastion
Best DLC - Portal 2
Most Anticipated Game - Mass Effect 3
Gametrailers.Com Trailer of the Year - Assassin's Creed: Revelations – E3 2011 Trailer
EA Sports NFL Blitz Digital Cover Athlete - Ray Rice
We gave a quick breakdown on our thoughts on the winners in episode 17 of the Killer Keyboard podcast if you haven't already, have a listen for our discussion on topics such as, who really should have won the best Human Male award, and why i was disappointed that Fight Night got a gong.
Also, of equal interest to many watching the VGA's were the many trailers that were interspersed throughout the evening. Games such as Metal Gear Rising were re-packaged and duly put back on our radars, while newer titles such as "The Last of Us" and the somewhat controversial Rainbow Six: Patriots were given their débuts.
For the benefit of those of you who didn't or couldn't watch the awards on TV, here's a few of the trailers that ran that night.
Hitman: Absolution
The Last of Us
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD
Command & Conquer: Generals 2
Mass Effect 3
Rainbow 6: Patriots
The Amazing Spider-Man
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Fortnite
BioShock Infinite
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
Darksiders 2
Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance
That'll do for the VGA Round-up, the regular round-up will return soon to cover the rest of what's happened in the last seven days, along with further details on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Last of Us and news on the most played game of 2011
Guten Tag, Konichiwa, Bienvenue, welcome and come on in. It's time once again for your semi-regular gaming round-up of the week brought to you by the Game For A Laugh Blog and KillerKeyboard.com.
It's been a strange week all told. England beat Spain 1-0 at Wembley, marking the first time that the Three Lions have beaten the number one team in the world since rankings were publicly printed, Italy has finally seen the back of the Bunga-bunga obsessed playboy prime minister Silvio "shuddupayaface" Berlusconi, and in news closer to this sites roots, MINECRAFT HAS GONE GOLD!!!
"So, yes, Minecraft has gone gold. :D" - @notch
I know, i was shocked too. I guess two years was enough time to work out all the bugs, and it's nice to see that the game is to all intents and purposes "finished", but can a game like Minecraft ever truly be finished? I foresee a long lifespan for the game punctuated by many, many updates (some big, some small) but I don't think that this Gold version of the game will represent the bulk of the finished article. Either way, it'll be fun to play.
In news that will worry no-one, it was revealed today that the Unity game engine will not support Windows 7 phones due to it being a "relatively closed system". According to David Helgason, the CEO of Unity Technologies, the company might be looking at supporting Windows 8 instead.
Not a big loss in the world of mobile gaming, especially in a world where iOS and Android dominate the smart phone market by such a great margin.
There are an awful lot of unhappy Batman fans out there right now, and almost all of them appear to be Xbox owners.
Since the launch of Batman: Arkham City players of the 360 version have complained that they are losing game saves. While some suspect it's to do with the Catwoman DLC, nothing has as of yet been confirmed. Warner Brothers, who published the sequel to Rocksteady's critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum, have acknowledged the glitch and are asking users for information regarding the circumstances under which the data loss occurred. If you've suffered the loss of Save data in your game you can visit the official forum and fill in the survey to help get to the bottom of all of this.
Talking of DLC, do you remember when games developers used to wait a couple of weeks before announcing any forthcoming DLC? I do, with great fondness. Unfortunately it's not a practice that Ubisoft agree with, since they just announced their first DLC pack for AC: Revelations entitled "Ancestors". The DLC itself is a multiplayer character pack containing 4 unique skins including the Gladiator and The Privateer, each character has their own unique skill set and animations to give more variety to your online play and doesn't go live until December 12th, so at least there's a decent gap from the games release date, but if they knew about it already why not put it in the game to start with?
Oh wait, money. Doh!
In slightly better news for Xbox 360 fans it turns out that a free avatar item is available for a short time to celebrate Microsoft's 10th anniversary in the console business. The Xbox anniversary prop fires streamers and glitter into the air and does nothing else of real worth, but since it's free you can't really complain now, can you?
It's on the avatar marketplace until Saturday, so grab it while it's free and prepare to be underwhelmed...
Staying with the Xbox theme, some news that came out of GDC China this past week after Microsoft's Brian Prince spoke about the role of Cloud gaming in video games today. He stated his belief that OnLive style systems represented the "distant future of gaming in the cloud," mainly due to the high bandwidth required to stream high quality game feeds in real time with minimal slow down. On the subject of Cloud related features coming to the "Xbox platform" Prince remained tight lipped, He did go as far as to promise cloud specific features but wouldn't be drawn further on the subject.
Is it possible that the next Xbox might have some form of OnLive style streaming component? or maybe Microsoft want to emulate Sony's move towards Cloud based game saves? Either way, only time will tell on this one (okay, maybe insider sources as well).
I downloaded the free version of DCUO recently after reporting a 1000% increase in the population in the last round-up, and while it took damn near 8 hours to fully download and install I'm happy to report that the game itself runs smoothly and is easy as pie to pick up.
Apparently I'm not the only one who downloaded the MMO recently, as it was reported at the weekend that DCUO has now attracted 1 million new players since it went F2P. Maybe this was the move they needed to make all along? Now they just need to keep hold of those players...
NINTENDO NEWS!!!
To paraphrase the great Mark Twain, the reports of the 3DS' demise may have been greatly exaggerated.
That's according to a statement from Nintendo that claims the 3DS is well on track to sell more units this year than the original DS did in its first 12 months. That isn't necessarily all good news though, as it was only when the DS Lite was released that DS sales really picked up to a respectable level and then sky rocketed into the "ridiculous-phere". The 3DS might very well sell more units than the DS did in year one, but until they re-jig the console to include a second stick as standard they're doomed to sell a disappointing number year on year.
Moving over to Nintendo's other underwhelming console, Tecmo financial results have revealed that Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge will be released as a launch title for the Wii-U when the system débuts around April 2012. The game on which Razors Edge is based was launched on Xbox 360 and PS3 some time ago...
Finishing up the Nintendo news on a high note, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has revealed to GamesRadar that Shigeru Miyamoto has talked about the possibility of bringing old school 2D Zelda games up to date, by giving them the 3D treatment. Assuming the idea is to give them a 3DS or stereoscopic 3D update It's an interesting concept, and is certainly something that would work well for a top down perspective Zelda game such as my favourite, A Link to the Past.
Ban Hammers at the ready, Lock and Load!
It appears that Dice have been busy bees since they got the Battlefield servers working, identifying anyone taking advantage of cheap exploits in the BF3 multiplayer. Wielders of the sacred Hammer of Banning have taken a "zero tolerance policy for cheating," that they find on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and so far hundreds of accounts have been deleted. A patch is in the works to remedy the more common exploits as well as common complaints such as flash-lights that are hotter and brighter than the sun itself.
You have been warned.
Would it be a round-up without the weekly look at the top ten best selling games on all platforms? No, probably not, so here it is.
WARNING: This top ten is unsuitable for Gamers with a sensitivity to Zumba Fitness being popular.
1.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 2.The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim 3.Battlefield 3 4.FIFA 12 5.Just Dance 3 6.Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception 7.Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo 8.Batman: Arkham City 9.Zumba Fitness 10.Wii Party
I have no earthly idea what a Moshi monster is, but the fact it sold more than Zumba means it's okay by me. CoD:MW3 is, unsurprisingly at the top of the mountain this week after setting an all time Video Games sales record that surpassed that of 2010's MW2. Skyrim bats clean up while BF3 manages a creditable 3rd place this week.
FIFA is an unstoppable juggernaut and somehow manages to hang around in the 4th champions league qualifying spot and Batman come up a little short at number 8 on the list, just below the aforementioned Moshi Monsters.
Anyone reading this who has bought a copy of Zumba fitness should hang their heads in shame, Bad consumer, naughty consumer, did you do this?!
Right then, I'm off before I lose all hope for humanity. Maybe the Mayans were right, and it's Zumba that will end civilisation as we know it...
It's been a while chums, my apologies for not putting up a news article in a while. I'm sure you'll agree though, there's been quite a number of AAA titles launched in the past month and they all needed to be played. So, on with the show.
Best Buy Europe, a venture which is part owned by both Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse, has announced the closure of all 11 of its UK megastores with approximately 1100 jobs being affected. Most of the affected workers will be redeployed to Carphone Warehouse stores, with some of these retail outlets being re-branded as "Wireless World". The Best Buy UK experiment lasted just over 18 months but was brought to a close due to disappointing sales figures, most likely a result of the economic downturn. Plans to open Megastores across Europe as well as China have also been shelved. It's a real shame that so many people will be affected by this withdrawal from the UK but it's encouraging to see that they will be re-deployed where possible. On a positive note it would be safe to assume that when the 11 stores close at the end of the year there will be plenty of bargains to be had...
It's over a week since DC Universe Online went free-to-play but there's been some encouraging news for Sony Online Entertainment. SOE president John Smedley tweeted recently that the in game population numbers for the game have risen by 1000% compared to pre free-to-play figures. Gamers are always fond of a bargain, and free is as good a deal as you can get for a game that originally cost £40 plus a yearly subscription to play. Friend of the show Darragh O'Connor downloaded the PS3 version last night while I myself will be shortly. I'll be giving my thoughts on the F2P version of the game during episode 14 of the Killer Keyboard podcast next week.
Rockstar's Dan Houser certainly isn't backwards in coming forwards with his thoughts on the 3D revolution that's sweeping the Movie and Video games scene. In an interview with Variety magazine he said -
"I don't think anyone has solved the riddle of how you make 3D an integral part of the gaming experience,"
While this certainly doesn't mean he's not a fan of 3D, it does indicate that perhaps Max Payne 3 and GTA V might not be too heavily dedicated to the pursuit of 3D gaming perfection. In my mind that's not a bad thing either. I've yet to see a game use 3D in a way that adds to the gaming experience in a way that couldn't be achieved using a two dimensional display. Sure, Super Mario 3D comes close with it's "giant coin" puzzles, but echochrome proved that perspective bending puzzles are just as easy to achieve without the use of a 3D display.
There's something gloriously original about Takashi Miike's films. Ichi the Killer and 13 Assassins are two of my favourite films, each is very different from the other but the direction and camera work in each is spot on. This being the case, when i heard that he was behind the movie adaptation of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney i was interested to see what he'd do with it. The trailer hit Youtube recently, and even though my Japanese is just south of atrocious I could still see that it's going to be a well made movie that is extremely faithful to the source material. If you don't believe me just check out the hair and wardrobe in the trailer below..
By now you've probably heard about a promising little game that's due out soon, it's got Dragons and swords and lots of fighting in it and is apparently part of something called the Elder Scrolls series. No, it's not ringing many bells with me either...
Well if there's anyone reading this that knows what the hell this game is about, this news is for you. First up, Skyrim will receive a patch on day one that "fixes some minor stability and quest progression issues," this patch will be downloaded automatically the first time you play the game and should make the experience that little bit smoother.
Also in the news this week, Skyrim Director Todd Howard has told Wired that the game will have an unending list of quests to take part in. The "Radiant quest system" allows for random generation of quests in-game for each of the guilds, while also generating random NPC quests for you as well. So that's great news for anyone that gets through the main storyline in this years game, although you do wonder how long it will be before you get bored of "take this bag of herbs to my brother on the other side of the bandit infested woodland" or "my cart is broken, could you fetch me a fixing pin from the blacksmith?". Oh and while we're talking about Todd Howard, here's something that he told Norwegian publication Gamer.no.
"There is an unlimited number of dragons"
Is that enough to get those juices flowing a little more freely? Killing one Dragon is great and all, but killing a dozen more is better don't you think? Well done Bethesda.
An inductee to my personal gaming hall of fame is up for sale on GOG.com right now for only $6 (£4 approx.) Quantic Dream's classic title "Fahrenheit", or "Indigo Prophecy" as it is better known in the US, is one of my favourite PS2 titles of all time and served as a proving ground for many of the control and story telling techniques eventually used in Heavy Rain on PS3. The game currently on sale at GOG.com is the uncut European version, meaning that, for the first time, our American cousins can have simulated sex with a polygonal woman while Theory of a Deadman plays softly in the background. It doesn't get any better than this.
Time for my free download of the week, which this time is actually a full blown game. I haven't played this game yet, but it's getting my recommendation purely because it has, quite possibly, the greatest name in Video Games history. Ladies and Gentlemen, this weeks Free download of the week is Stealth Bastard: Tactical Espionage Arsehole. It's completely free to download and includes a level editor to boot. You can thank me later...
There's been more rumours this week regarding the next XBox console. For ease of reference i'll list them by source.
MS Nerd blog
-Console is codenamed XBox Loop -XBox Loop will run on a modified version of Windows 9 and use ARM architecture -Hardware will include a "main processor" which is supported by dedicated cores for graphics, audio, AI, physics etc -New console will be Cheaper and Smaller than 360
Paul Thurott - TWiT
-Holiday 2012 release -Microsoft will "would almost have to announce this [the new console] at CES" -Console will use the same Metro UI design as Windows Phone 7 -Next XBox will feature Embedded Silverlight -Expect integration with Windows Phone and Windows 8
The code name certainly makes a lot of sense, Loop fits with the whole 360 degree philosophy and brings to mind the idea of coming full circle. Of course that's reportedly only a code name, the same as Natal was for Kinect, so the real name is probably some horrible title with a K or a Z in place of the C's and S's. There have been multiple predictions of release dates, safe to say it will be sometime during 2012-2014. Integration with Windows is a must, especially with Windows phone being on the market from the beginning of the console life cycle. If the Console is to be more powerful than the last then it makes sense to have dedicated cores for each function, but chip technology moves so quickly that it's hard to get a real feel for what direction they'll take.
Ah, hell. Let's just wait for CES in January and see if they announce something...
Finally, it's time for the UK top ten games on all platforms for the week ending November 5th
Battlefield and FIFA 12 are non movers at numbers 1 and 3 respectively while Uncharted 3 makes it's chart début at number 2. It's a solid showing from the latest Nathan Drake game although Naughty Dog must be disappointed not to have claimed top spot for themselves, but with sales that are over 1/3 better than Uncharted 2 at the same point there's no shame in being second. Batman loses 2 places as does Football manager, and then there's Zumba Fitness. Again...
I had hoped that in a month with so many great games on sale, that Zumba might just have slipped outside of the top ten, but that dream has yet to become a reality.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, available on both PS3 and XBox 360, marks something of a departure for Namco.
Ace Combat is a franchise that has spanned three generations of consoles over sixteen years, not to mention the several iterations of the game on mobile devices including the iPhone, PSP and GBA. In all that time the console franchise has always been set in a fictional world that, although mirroring real world politics, remained somehow alien to us. The new game, however, attempts to please it's devotees while attracting a new generation of Ace's from the Modern Warfare/Battlefield market, with diversified gameplay and a real world setting.
Unlike the Belkan War, or the territorial disputes of the Usean continent, this instalment of the franchise is initially set in Africa and later visits locations such as Washington DC, Miami, Dubai and Moscow. Each location is rendered in the highest detail of any Ace Combat game, including a great number of three dimensional buildings in city settings, something that has until now been a weakness of the series.
Dubai is represented in brilliant detail
The renditions of Moscow and Dubai in particular are stunning, you instantly recognise where you are, and when looking at the ground below you really feel like you're above a real city, not just a glorified high quality Google map. The music also helps to set the mood, each location accompanied by music that really manages to bring it to life. Anyone who buys the special edition will get a copy of the soundtrack on CD, it's an excellent selection of tunes and well worth hunting down the special edition for. Less worthwhile however is the note book that accompanies the special edition. The box claims that it's a signed notebook, but quickly it becomes apparent that the "signatures" have been printed on. I am disappoint Namco!
Gameplay when flying a jet is largely unchanged from previous Ace Combat games, with the exception of the new DFM (Dog Fight Mode) system. DFM makes taking down your enemy a much more visceral experience than previous games have managed, in essence it puts the plane in auto pilot mode, allowing you to focus on shooting down your rival Ace at close quarters.
When you close in on an enemy fighter to a range of approximately 700 feet, a green ring surrounds your opposite number, indicating that you can engage DFM with just a click of your L1 (LB) and R1 (RB) buttons. After that he'll try to shake you off while you train your reticule on him in an attempt to deliver a well placed homing missile or volley of bullets.
Gameplay now includes Helicopter missions, among others
In a further attempt to diversify the game and attract new gamers, Namco have added several new types of gameplay to what was once an exclusively jet based experience. You'll take the part of a door gunner on an American Helicopter, defending your whirlybird from roof based rocket launcher attacks, You can man the weapons on a gunship, protecting and supporting a group of soldiers as they infiltrate an enemy stronghold in the mountains. You'll fly an Apache through the streets of Moscow and you'll even take charge of the Bomb bay doors on a vital bombing run in enemy territory.
These missions add a lot of diversity to the game and make a nice change of pace from the usual deluge of dogfights and bombing runs, but fail to hide the faults that plague the game.
The game feels very short. Two days playing the campaign was enough to complete it from beginning to end, and with the game woefully short of replay value there's very little left to keep you interested or playing. In fact unless you want to see your plane in a different colour there's no reason to replay the campaign. The online is solid enough but once everyone has moved onto MW3 or Battlefield 3 it will most likely be a graveyard.
Gameplay feels confused when moving from Gunship to door gunner, since the control stick inversion settings are shared between the two. I personally preferred to have inversion on when using the helicopter Gatling gun, while it felt more natural to have it off when I was operating the gunship. Admittedly these are personal preference issues and they were quickly sorted by entering the pause menu, but it would have been nice to have seperate settings for two very different areas of gameplay.
Namco have made a big thing about the fact that New York Times best selling author Jim DeFelice wrote the screenplay for Assault Horizon, and while his attention to detail shines through when dealing with the nuts and bolts of Military life, the Plot is unimaginative, stale and transparent at best. Plot twists are given as much gravitas as the opening of an envelope, while the fact that it's yet another Military Coup at the heart of everything makes me wonder if they should have just written the plot themselves and saved some money.
It very much feels like the length of the game hurt the story development, almost as soon as it got going it was all over again. The main Antagonist of the game, Colonel Markov, could have been a much more complex and sympathetic character if his motivation was explored properly. Instead we got one cut scene that not only served to show us his motivation but also made a big reveal about another character. It completely took away any emotional response that the viewer could have had by making us choose between two different emotional responses at the same time. One thing at a time Namco, please.
Affirmative action in the military, a must for any NYT best selling author...
I found it difficult to care about characters who had little to no back story and who were at best stereotypical Top Gun style Jocks. It feels like DeFelice was under orders to represent every group in his treatment, we have Hispanic, Female and African American Characters while The cover star, Lt. Colonel Bishop, is once again a White Male. We play as all of these characters throughout the game, but it only ever feels like we get Bishops story. There is zero development of any characters outside of the Lt. Colonel, and from a series that made me care as much as i did about the death of Chopper in Ace Combat 5, that's a sad thing indeed...
Conclusion
While the story is not the most original and the characters are less than two dimensional, Assault Horizon is at heart an excellent Fighter Pilot game. Graphically the Ace Combat series has never looked better, while the shift to a real world setting might tempt some of the Modern Warfare crowd to at least give it a go. Dog Fight Mode has made the game much more action orientated without taking away from it's roots. The addition of Helicopters, Gunships and Bombers has given the game more diversity but the length of the game is a real problem. This is a great game to rent, but with little more than a couple of days worth of gameplay and no replay value of note it's not really the sort of game that you'd purchase for the long term.
Rockstar confirmed what many of us had suspected from the off today, as the first trailer for GTA V was released on the official Rockstar games website. You can watch the video by clicking on the link below.
Early indications are that you might possibly play as an older and wiser Tommy Vercetti, last seen in GTA:Vice City. It would certainly be nice to re-visit the character but it would mark the first time that Rockstar reused a playable main character, and this little fact leaves me wondering if he'll be the main playable character, or even if he'll be playable at all. The voice over mentions children so that might be a possible avenue for the game to explore.
Be sure to check out the next edition of the Killer Keyboard Podcast when we'll discuss the trailer in more detail and at least one of us will come up with a ridiculous theory...
A friend of mine recently went two weeks without even basic access to the Web, and while this is in no way the end of the world (although you'd be pressed to find a 13 year old who would agree) he got by. The reason for that was simple, he had his game saves on his hard drive and could access them whenever he needed to.
