Related to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 posted 1 week ago

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review!

Last time I thought of an FPS this highly was just a little over a year ago, with the release of the PS3-exclusive ‘Killzone 2’.

Presentation - 9.0/10

Its straightforward and cinematic approach is something that I can appreciate.

Graphics - 9.0/10

DICE stated that Bad Company 2 would meet the same graphical quality of  the PS3-exclusive ‘Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ and to be honest the game falls short of that feat, but there’s nothing wrong with that considering that Uncharted 2 is the hailed as the best looking console game of this generation by many. That is also not to say that Bad Company 2 isn’t a great looking game…because it is.

The visuals showcased in this game are great, the environmental sceneries and backdrops are photorealistic, the addition of detailed character models, stunning lighting and environmental effects makes this game a true graphical beast. Seeing these beautiful environments blown to bits is also a real treat. I would go as far as to say that this is the best looking multiplatform game of this generation so far, not many games across all platforms look this good.

Sound - 9.5/10

The voice acting isn’t great, but its decent enough and the sound design makes up for any real issue I can think of.

Gameplay - 9.0/10

Generic?! You’re not going to find that here in Bad Company, yes, this amazing looking game has the gameplay to match. The shooting mechanics are top-notch and with the combination of tight controls and realism is a blast to play. What makes this game even more special is its variety, whatever you’re looking for…this game has it.

Lasting Appeal - 9.0/10

The single player campaign is pretty short, offering about 6 - 8hrs of play.

Good News - It’s at least longer and better than its direct competitor, bunch of special ops douchebags.

Bad News - Once you’re done with the campaign there really isn’t a good enough reason to repeat the process.

The multiplayer is the real treat, the kind that’ll keep you coming back for more simply because it is “THAT” awesome.

Overall - 9.0/10

This is a must have for any fan of the FPS genre, and even for those who aren’t as hardcore.

Single Player Campaign - Fun to play and puts the player in a whole lot of diverse situations that call for different approaches. On foot action, riding vehicles  such as tanks, riding buggies, boats, helicopters, etc.…its all done in a very fast pace but it never gets tiring. Overall the story for the campaign is decent but at its core the same generic story told in MW2 and probably lots of other shooters in the market. Besides what I’ve stated before, the character personalities and humor makes it all worthwhile. Although a linear, the game provides a sense of scale that are only typically seen in FPS’ such as Crysis and Far Cry through the HUGE and dynamic environments they possess. I found myself loving the single player, which was unexpected, to be honest I brought the game for its multiplayer offerings.

Multiplayer - Fun , addicting, tactical and realistic gameplay, deep and rewarding experiencing system, a sweet weapon customization system, a class system, which are all very well balanced.

This is where the game truly shines and it’s quite possibly the most diverse online multiplayer game there is on consoles. It offers everything you could possibly want to wage war against you friends and strangers  online, everything that was done in the campaign CAN be done online, including the scale of the environments, the maps are HUGE.

¼ of a Bad Company map would be the same as a regular Modern Warfare map.

- Just had to make another MW2 remark, lol. But seriously, the maps featured in the multiplayer are bigger than any other game I've ever played and i doubt that there are any other games that can match the scale.

It also does help that the game is fun to play and has a level of realism that other games lack and/or ignore.

One complaint is the lack of game modes, the game only consists of 4 game modes:

Rush (ATTACK & DEFEND) - Players must defend or destroy pairs of M-COM stations for as long as the attacking teams respawn tickets hold out. An M-COM station can be destroyed by planting a charge, using conventional weapons or when a building is collapsed down on it.

Conquest (CAPTURE THE FLAG) - Players must capture and hold flags for as long as the enemy respawn tickets hold out. Every kill makes the enemy lose one ticket, and enemy tickets constantly decrease when a team controls more than half of the flags on the map. Vehicles unlock as control points are held.

Squad Deathmatch (DEATHMATCH) - Four squads and one Infantry Fighting Vehicle roam the map. First squad to fifty kills wins.

Squad Rush - Rush mode played with only two opposing squads and one M-COM station.

Another complaint is the seemingly lack of maps. There are 8 maps, but some can only be played on certain game modes. Example, as of right now the Isla Inocentes map is only availble for RUSH...the same applies to others and vice-versa.

These might be a major cons for most, and while other game modes w/ maps variety would have been nice, the quality and experience these game modes offer makes it all irrelevant.

The addition of co-op would have also been nice, considering that in the campaign you have three unique squad mates, but apparently “Special Ops just isn’t for Bad Company”.

*For those who are curious, most of the images posted above are from the multiplayer portion of the game.

*Will ADD/EDIT information if i feel i should.

Related to Heavy Rain posted 2 weeks ago

Heavy Rain Review

(NO SPOILERS HERE)

One of my most anticipated games of the year, Heavy Rain, a game like no other, a game that  I applaud for taking a different direction in the gaming industry. But now that it has finally been released after years of anticipatation, does it succeed or does it fail?

The first point that I would like to stress is that this game definitely isn't for everyone.  Heavy Rain is Rated M for Mature for a reason, it contains graphic scenes, nudity and explores a lot more mature subjects that I do not plan on listing.

I’d also like to point out that you shouldn’t walk into Heavy Rain expecting to have ‘fun”, Heavy Rain director David Cage doesn't want you to have fun with Heavy Rain instead he wants to turn you into an emotional wreck.

I’ll be breaking this review down into 6 parts to cover the presentation,  graphics, sound, gameplay, lasting appeal and my overall opinion of the game.

PRESENTATION - 9.0/10

The game is presented  very well, it consists of:

- Well organized menus.

- Decent loads times which features the playable characters, so the wait won't be lonely.

- Realistic art design.

- Delivers Hollywood production level quality in style, dialogue and character interactions.

Heavy Rain does many things well but nothing it does can be considered perfect or truly the best of the best. The intense and well told story plays out like a Hollywood film, which is something we’ve begun to see more and more lately in the gaming industry but Heavy Rain does it unlike any other. There should be a point where you will literally ask yourself why isn’t David Cage directing a movie instead of making this so called “interactive drama”?.

The game is broken into chapters and in each chapter the game limits you to a specific location, so the game is sort of on the linear side but covers it up with the vast dialogue and scenarios that ultimately leads to different paths.

GRAPHICS - 9.0/10

The character models look great and realistic (mainly applies for the main characters), on top of the list with some of the best in gaming. The environments are also pretty good allowing the highly detailed characters to blend in very but the low-res items and various objects in the environment detract from the overall quality of the stunning visuals. Animations are also pretty good overall but the weird expressions on the faces of the characters, usually while speaking look off. The game is no doubt one of the best looking games on the PS3, but it doesn't quite match up with some of what we've already seen on the console.

SOUND - 8.5/10

The music in Heavy Rain suits the game very well (depressing, thrilling and dark). The voice acting overall  is great but every here and there it will begin to sound a little gawky, due to the accents of the voice  actors that tend to slip out during what seems to be the weirdest moments, there are also examples of when the voice work seems dull, unrealistic or have a lack of emotion.

GAMEPLAY - 7.5/10

Heavy Rain is essentially a huge Quick-Time Event (QTE) fest, as all of your actions (besides controlling your character's movements and looking through their thoughts) will require you match the on-screen prompts by either pressing or holding the buttons, using the analog and/or making use of the SIXAXIS motion control the PS3 offers.

Now, Quick-Time Events aren't anything new to gaming, it has been done before many times but what differentiates Heavy Rain's use of QTE’s  from the God of  War's and other games that have used this method before is not only the fact that Heavy Rain's core gameplay heavily relies on QTE’s  while in God of War QTE’s are short in-game cinematic sequences used to initiate certain attacks, finishing moves and other segments of gameplay. In Heavy Rain, like I stated before every action that is made is done by a button  prompts or QTE...sounds pretty unique, huh?

Well, the game adds its own twist to QTE‘s...in other games if a button prompt isn't met the player will either have to try again or can even die...in Heavy Rain if you're in an action sequence, missing one prompt might not mean much other than that the fight or chase would play out a little differently or have a huge impact on the entire story as well since missing too many or certain prompts can lead to death. Remember that if a character dies, the game does not end, the player switches to another character, with the events of the previous character's death affecting the story.

Everything comes together nicely with what the developers wanted to do with the game and the gameplay mechanics are very interesting but i personally didn't find it all to be so fun. I very much prefer the way the God of War series handles their Quick-Time Event sequences.

Outside of QTE’s, the game makes use of an in-game dialogue tree system which allows you to select character responses from a list a choices. This is another example of something that is done well but it is short of being perfect. The choices listed aren’t always exactly clear of what you character will say or do, which in turn makes you feel powerless.

Character movements and dialogue are basically all you are freely able to control in Heavy Rain, and with the dialogue responses and actions being unclear at times, the gameplay just isn’t as satisfying as it could have been something that is a major disappointment for me.

The dialogue tree mechanics is accompanied by the ‘thought mechanic' where by pressing L2 at any time, a 'dialogue tree' will show what thoughts are going through that characters mind. In my opinion this is a clever and helpful way the game guides you to your objective.

LASTING APPEAL - 8.0/10

The game has an average length of 8-10hrs depending on how each individual plays and the choices they make. With its multiple endings (for both each chapter and the overall story), huge array of dialogue that opens of up new patch and trophies that will require multiple playthroughs there is reason to go back and explore the world of Heavy Rain.

OVERALL - 8.4/10

Heavy Rain is a very good game or interactive drama/ movie/game (w.e you want to call it) but I couldn't help but feel disappointed with it. I'm going to be brutally honest here...gameplay wise, the game literally plays itself while you watch and follow the on-screen prompts. QTE’s are defined as in-game animations that require little user interaction and that honestly is almost a perfect definition for this game.

The storyline of Heavy Rain is pretty good, it doesn’t turn out to be anything amazing but its interesting. It starts of slow, having to spend time with your family and things of that manner. It begins to pick up mid game (about 2hrs in), which is really the most interesting section of the game and towards the end Heavy Rain becomes a predictable anticlimatic cliché. Not to say its terrible, its good but I personally am not happy with the ending I received (which seems to be the main ending) and the certain steps the developers decided to take with the storyline.

For a game that puts its story first in hopes to create realistic settings, characters and movie-like cinematics. Heavy Rain has also disappointed me in these areas, some of the games scenes were intense at the end of the day I  didn’t feel as emotionally attached to the characters as I hoped.

- I felt for Ethan and his struggles and that was pretty much it.

I also didn’t feel much satisfaction once I completed the game, the ending scenarios for each character were alright I guess but still nothing special.

Heavy Rain deserves its praise for the risks it took, innovation and all the other things it did well but the game obviously has its flaws. Flaws, boundaries and limitations that helped it fail from being the  revolutionary and immerse game that it was hyped up to be. It does succeed in being an exciting, interesting, enjoyable game that unfortunately falls short of meeting the expectations held by many.

This probably won’t be a big complaint for a lot of people but it bothered me and it probably bothers few others as well. My complaint is the fact that a game like Heavy Rain, which puts its story first before all else that has a big cast of characters really doesn’t explore the life of the supporting characters. Some of these characters may have entire chapters focused on them but after that one chapter their fates are never discussed.

I’d really like to know if this bothered anyone else who has completed the game.

Hopefully, this review can help those who have yet to purchase the game make their decision.