Preview: 'Halo Reach'

An early look at what could very well be Bungies’ best work.

With the monstrous hype machine well and truly in motion behind leviathan Halo Reach, you could easily be forgiven for taking all comments and coverage on Bungies' latest venture with a hefty pinch of salt. If this happens to be the case, however, you may want to reconsider your opinion as this last hurrah could well end up being their very best work to date. If you have any experience of the franchise then you’ll know that this is high praise indeed.

But let’s get things in perspective. If the critically acclaimed and obscenely popular Halo 3 was blissful gaming gold then this... well, this would undoubtedly be mouth-watering diamond, bettering it’s predecessor in almost every way imaginable. After a brief but breath-taking showcase of the title today when it arrived in stores, I’d also have very little doubt that it could well end up being the shooter of the year, if not a contender for overall best title atop that, so if you’re not even a little excited yet then you should be. Very, in fact.

Stunning

Playing through the first level of the thus-far stunning campaign, three things became immediately clear: number one? Production values far higher than almost any title you'll have seen before, along with a sheer sense of scale more enthralling and ambitious than anything Bungie have ever attempted before. Forget the blazing, white-knuckle attack on Earth in the Master Chief’s last adventure along with the bloody assault on New Mombassa in ODST; Reach crashes the party in spectacular style with a level of sheen usually reserved for cinema. Right from the off this frequently awe-inspiring title hits you with an absolutely epic, chilling and rousing score more at home on the silver screen (complete with sweeping vistas that are, at times, absolutely breath-taking), incredibly high-quality cinematics that can be utterly gripping and a tone that is far more tense and gritty than we'd be used to, genuinely drawing you closer into the fight both emotionally and visually. Bungie are more than happy to screw with their players expectations this time around, too, and unexpected surprises, subtle but creepy backing tracks and a palpable sense of dread are all on hand to raise that pulse rate up a notch before the bullets finally fly. Which - when they inevitably do - turns out to be even more exciting than usual due to larger, more intricate maps, brand-new vehicles to play with (star-fighters? Are you kidding?), tweaked weapons, new executions and meatier sound effects - along with improved animations - for some of your weapons to make them react like more than brightly coloured Mattel water-pistols, as often occured in the previous instalments. Make no mistake, Reach will truly have you understanding what it means to be the ultimate super soldier (and boy but does it feel good).

Depth

Fortunately, this brings onto my next point; to sweeten the deal and keep its hardcore fans happy, Reach will also support an increasingly character driven story (as one of the Spartans claims, “that lone wolf-stuff? It stays in the past.”) that, so far at least, appears to be a great deal more than the simple fluff you'd largely expect. After all - if you know your Halo, anyway - the planet Reach will fall before the curtains have dropped, and your team aren't likely to make it out before they have.

There’s still a lot of the traditional run-and-gun gameplay to be had here as well, naturally, but this slight change of tact gives the game real heart so often missing from it's older siblings, not to mention sucking the player into the plot completely; early impressions, for example, suggest that your team-mates are far more approachable, likeable and realistic this time around, making it that much harder not to be drawn into their world.

And the third? Well, within no time at all it's very clear this is a title that values it's players and treats them brilliantly, with customisation options thrown up from the off to change and edit how your campaign character looks both in missions and during cutscenes, full, impressive voice-acting and greatly imrpoved visuals over previous titles. The fact that you can also bring mates in for a bit of play co-op means that you'll be experiencing something close to a match made in heaven as far as gaming night ins go the moment you get Halo Reach home.

Although we’ll have to wait for the full release on Tuesday to give a true verdict, the results would appear to be stellar so far and Reach promises to offer one of the most complete and engaging packages of 2010 yet. That Septmeber 14th release date cannot come fast enough.

Review: 'Dead Rising 2: Case Zero'

The REAL zombie survival guide…

Released On: Xbox LIVE Arcade Developer: Capcom/Blue Castle Games

Zombie apocalypses are very much in fashion right now, but few have done it better than the team behind the phenomenal Dead Rising; with quite literally hundreds of those infected clamouring on screen at once, a shopping mall where almost anything could be turned into a weapon and moral quandaries aplenty, this hack n’ adventure was positively bursting at the seams with awesome. Now Capcom seems set to do it again with Dead Rising 2, and - to fill the gap until a certain September 24th release date - the modestly priced Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is here to give us a taste of what’s yet to come.

To cut a long story short, Case Zero essentially boils down to being a massive, hilarious demo for the full game, aptly showcasing all of the best features from the upcoming sequel in bite-size form while leaving you suitably hungry for more. If you’ve played the original then you’ll probably know what’s coming at this stage; hordes of angry shamblers are crawling all over an open-world full of side quests, survivors and items that you’ll need to save or collect if you want to get the hell out of dodge, but you’ll be able to use more or less anything you see as a weapon to tear a path through the horde and get one up on those flesh-eaters. Like the previous instalment you’ll also have to work to a time-limit (twelve hours in fact, which adds up to about two in real-time), leading to some fantastically tense and frantic gameplay later on while you’re desperately racing the proverbial hourglass. Needless to say, one hell of a lot of limbs and body parts will fly before you’re done.

Squeamish

Of course, if you’re of a squeamish disposition then you really should look away now - there’s a lot of killing to be done in any Dead Rising, but Case Zero rises to the occasion magnificently. It’s visceral, it’s satisfying and it’s funny (expect something along the lines of Shaun of the Dead if you’re unfamiliar with the franchise), and as an icing to this cake the experience points - or ‘PP’ - that you earn for every kill or completed objective can be carried over to Dead Rising 2 for a head start on release day, meaning that you’ll have a true incentive to experiment and go crazy with the rotting citizens of this backwater town.

Still, it’d be incredibly difficult not to get distracted regardless; if you give it the chance then this little download will hand you tons of amusement in return with plenty of side missions and the likes of your typical sledgehammers, handguns or 2X4s being balanced by sweeping brushes, bowling balls, dinner plates, throwing darts, electric rakes and more with which to molest the undead, leaving you with some very amusing results. Next, the newly added ability to combine certain items with which to create even more powerful and satisfying hitters allows the imagination to run truly wild. Feeling a bit miffed after work? Throw a pitchfork and shotgun together to create a hugely capable (as well as messy) death machine. Suffering from a bad day at school? Try combining that bucket with a power drill. You won’t regret it.

Nevertheless, don’t expect a cake-walk - with a ludicrous number of foes on screen at once and a viciously powerful foe, it’s all too easy to become surrounded and overwhelmed if you’re not careful. As later missions will cruelly throw you right into the beating heart of these hordes you’ll need quick reactions and a faster trigger finger if you want to have a hope of surviving, and because your weapons only have limited life, you’ll also have to be able to think on your feet if you fancy staying out of a zombies’ stomach (even if this means braving the utter humiliation of having to beat your way out of the throng with nothing but a handbag).

Brains!

Surprisingly enough though, there’s more to Case Zero than simple combat, and Capcom’s newest gem plays host to a great little story and masterful clutch of cutscenes as well. Following the rather touching exploits of likeable motocross star Chuck Greene and his daughter as they try to escape the over-run Still Creek, it’s remarkably well written for a balls-out action game and could, in all honesty, outdo almost any other horror game for skin-crawling atmosphere and fantastic acting right from the off. Even if these cutscenes do appear with a bit too much frequency, the whole affair lends the experience an added, unexpected poignancy that is very distinctly missing from over, similar titles.

The missions that you’ll have to complete follow a similar pattern, as what starts as a simple fetch-quest will eventually transform into desperate escort duties and fraught escapes full of swearing and hair-pulling. It is a shame that there isn’t more variety on hand and there is a disappointing lack of voice acting during the playthrough (replaced by text-boxes during the adventure - lame), true, but for a meagre 400 Microsoft Points this is still a pretty sweet deal. Additionally, the moral dilemmas you’ll have to face during the two or so hour run-time are gorgeously agonising. Do you leave a couple to die or waste even more of your precious twelve hours fighting to save them? Could you abandon a trapped little girl to her fate if it meant putting your own at risk? This can bring up some very memorable moments throughout the game because it’s nigh on impossible to save everyone, and the matter of having to choose your battles wisely leads to a shed-load of replayability.

To be fair, Case Zero is ruined only by a couple of inexplicable - if rare - technical glitches resulting in item drop-in and the odd freeze, brutally unnecessary load-times and a climactic boss-battle that really is far too hard, but the freedom you’ll experience during your time at Still Creek will more or less make up for any of the problems that you’ll come across anywhere else. Indeed, after spending some time smashing heads you’re unlikely to care that the textures are a tad shabby here and there or that the zombies aren’t very varied; you’ll care about being able to do whatever you want whenever you want, trying out each and every weapon, exploring every inch of the small (if packed) map or dressing up in the most ridiculous costume that you can find, be it as a Vegas pimp or Brokeback mountain cowboy. If I had to come up with three words to describe this download then I would almost certainly choose ‘hilarity’, ‘freedom’ and ‘atmosphere’, and if this is what we can expect from the full game then roll on September 24th and Dead Rising 2.
The Bottom Line

If you fancy a title that will tide you over until the holiday deluge begins with Halo Reach and the Playstation Move then you could do a lot worse than Case Zero, despite it’s obvious flaws. In fact, this is actually among the better Xbox LIVE Arcade games to come from the big M in quite some time and the sheer breadth of options available to you (not to mention the amusing results therein) should keep you very, very busy until the real game rolls around at the end of the month.

Rating: 70%
(Good)

Beating the September Blues

If the present’s looking a bit grim, sit back and enjoy the past…

I’ll often find that my mood starts to fail along with the weather during our grim British September time; the days are growing shorter (not to mention wetter), the beautiful summer sun is fading away and the festive season is still so far off, meaning that this ‘back to school’ season is never particularly welcome with me. If you’re also feeling the chill, however, then there’s no better way of dispelling the autumn blues than putting your feet up to the warm fires of nostalgia. Here are a few titles to banish the cold, and a suggestion of what may be to come if you're particularly frosty...

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Released On: Wii

Mario has long since become the arguable face of gaming, but during earlier generations he was even more of a phenomenon. New Super Mario Bros Wii is a throwback to that golden age of side-scrollers and features all of the details that you’ll remember and love from the originals; there are sprawling world-maps topped off by an end-bosses’ castle (not to mention garrisoned by one of Bowser’s many colourful Koopas), an obsessive focus on collecting every item and coin available to you, hidden, secret areas to explore, exhilarating Yoshi rides and varied - if at times fiendishly difficult - environments to jump and leap through, bursting with all manner of traps and platforming goodness (it is, in all honesty, like playing through a slice of the early 90s). What’s more, you can bring up to three friends into the game with you if you wish, allowing you and your mates to have a damn good reminisce as you rush off to save Princess Peach yet again.

Wipeout HD/Fury
Released On: Playstation 3, PSN download

Few racers have managed to endure quite as long as Wipeout, and even less have maintained such a high level of quality throughout; in a series that never fails to deliver, the latest instalment is - suffice to say - pure gold. Bringing all manner of distinct ships to bear (Fiesar, AG Systems… remember them?), gravity-defying and insanely high speed courses to thunder around, pounding electro backing tracks to listen to, great online match-types to attempt and some fantastic race modes to enjoy with a layer of glorious HD graphics coated lovingly on top, this is one of the best titles on the Playstation to date. Not bad for a ‘mere’ downloadable title, huh? It’s long and deep enough to challenge most full retail releases too.

Perfect Dark
Released On: Xbox LIVE Arcade

The glossed up re-release of Rare’s Perfect Dark just goes to show how far we’ve come in the intervening years, and how much we’ve lost since Ms. Dark first zip-lined into our lives and a plot swimming in espionage, betrayal, ludicrous weapons, awesome multiplayer and, naturally, space aliens. Sure, the likes of health bars and dated control schemes can feel awfully clunky these days but the campaign showed you what a real challenge was without having to hold your hand, threw oodles of side quests at you only available to harder difficulties for satisfying replayability and added some brilliant co-op (not to mention counter-operative) to finish up with - all features that you’ll probably struggle to find in a modern FPS. Oh yeah, and it also had some of the best and most accessible customisable multiplayer to boot, beating both Halo and Call of Duty to the punch with shed-loads of engrossing match-types along with expertly crafted maps that would keep you and your friends glued to the screen for hours. Hats off to you, Rare.

Banjo Kazooie
Released On: Xbox LIVE Arcade

Banjos’ first adventure might seem a mite arthritic once you’ve blown off the dust, but this is a gateway to a type of game that you just can’t get anymore - a pathway back to a world where everyone tried to ape Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro with colourful, open worlds, silly challenges and a sense of such utter collectomania that the respective heroes would have to commit themselves for manic OCD before the credits had rolled. Can you bring to mind all of those bright, thematic levels full of countless new challenges and secrets? All of those upgrades lurking around the next corner behind yet another giant monster guardian, or the Jiggys just waiting to be found? For many, the likes of Banjo’s infectious humour and ambitious platform-puzzling defined a vibrant era.

The Simpsons Game
Released On: Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, DS, PS2

I’ll admit that this is the undeniable wild card of my list, but hear me out; with enough parodies both modern and bygone to sink a ship and innumerable entertaining and engaging pastiches of gaming trends long past, the folks in yellow do their very best to emulate all of the hits from those past few decades while stuffing them full of what fast approaches absolutely side-splitting hilarity, superb, specially-made shorts from those behind the show, a fantastic script courtesy of the real writers, cameo upon cameo to enjoy (including Matt Groening himself, along with Futuramas’ Bender) and a stellar turn from the full, original cast. A mere platformer this may at first appear to be, but a real gem lies beneath the surface.

Where to?

It’s been one long road, but we’ve finally made it to a generation where motion control, high definition graphics and 3D capabilities are becoming industry standards. But where are we going to go from here? Well, it’s fairly obvious that the level of visual and processing quality will improve (no doubt putting current gems to shame), but elsewhere things are more uncertain than they have ever been. With the pastime finally puncturing cultural, widespread consciousness and sporting a huge increase in uptake from unexpected, casual markets, the industry would appear to be on the tipping point of a new era where games have hit the big time and the possibilities offered therein positively explode into overdrive.

Immersion

More immersive gaming would seem to be a sure thing, naturally, breaking down the barriers between you and the experience while throwing the player deeper into their title. Motion control and 3D lead the charge, of course, but the likes of Project Milo - where you actively interact with an adaptive, learning system via voice, gesture and movement - would seem to suggest that computer AI is advancing at an amazing, if alarming, rate, promising a wealth of far deeper titles just over the horizon where the worlds you’ll visit will end up being far more alive and plausible than ever before.

Next, it would appear certain - considering the success of the Wii and the hype surrounding Kinect and the Playstation Move systems - that motion control will become absolutely commonplace within no time at all, with a likelihood of their implementation into more hardcore titles (to make the most of both the waggle and handset) seeming rather strong. Then, with top talent such as Patrick Stewart and John Cleese fast becoming fixtures in the biggest titles, games can only become more socially acceptable with increasingly A-list involvement. This would obviously suggest a wider audience on the cards, a broader spectrum of games to feed the crowds and better, more polished projects on the way due to the fact that the industry would then - in all probability - be damn near rolling in it due its new-found popularity.

Imminent Releases

The best part, nevertheless, would be that we don’t look set to wait too long either; a successor to the Wii is apparently well into development and, due to the originals’ fast fading technical prowess (not to mention huge competition from the other, upcoming motion systems), it’s hugely likely that we’ll be seeing it revealed within a mere couple of years, perhaps even during 2011’s E3 event. What’s more, it’s rumoured that - beyond improving graphical capability - they are also adding something entirely new to the mix which will apparently have as much impact upon the industry as the Wii itself, with co-creator of Metroid Yoshio Sakamoto claiming that it would “leave your mouth open.”

Beyond that, the 3DS is nearly upon us; hitting Europe sometime around March next year and boasting full 3D titles without the need for glasses, improved WI-FI, technical capabilities, 3D movies and cameras, an analogue stick for greater control, a huge range of hardcore and casual titles (including Mario Kart, Metal Gear Solid and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time), extra features such as Miis and graphical prowess that can be accurately likened to the Wii, things are looking very promising for Nintendo. Annoyingly, however, the next PSP would appear to be mysteriously absent from proceedings with mere speculation providing the only details upon this illusive, handheld console. It has been suggested that it may include touch-button/screen capabilities and is likely to be heavily supported by Sony to make up for the current models’ lacklustre life cycle, but beside from that there is very little suggestion on when it will rear its head for the first time.

Missing the Mark

Sadly, the Xbox 360’s successor also looks to be a long way off according to Microsoft representatives (the Kinect sensor is intended to extend it’s life by about 4 to 5 years after all, taking us right into 2015), and although it’s probably safe to assume that even more work will be done to vastly improve specifications and to sort out those reliability issues once and for all, there has been no official word on the new Xbox yet.

To make matters worse, the same question mark could - unfortunately - be placed over the Playstation 4, slated for release around the mid decade. Interestingly, the new Playstation could boast an operating system made by and for game developers which would allow them to get the most out of their replacement system, but there’s very little else to be had in the way of news. Whatever we end up with, it’ll certainly be an interesting few years.

Weekly Thought: A Taste of the Old School

Going all misty-eyed…

Due to a distinct lack of ‘proper’ multiplayer features, cutting edge HD graphics or buffed-up processors, most are more than happy to poke fun at Nintendo and their motion-happy Wii for not keeping up with the times. So why do swathes of hardcore gamers still defend it to the hilt, then? I, for instance, believe that the Wii can - at times - offer a lot more than any of the other consoles are capable of. Why? Well, although I enjoy the likes of Wii Sports as much as the next person, there are very few places left in our high-tech gaming world where you can experience such a blast of pure nostalgia.

As a perfect example, Metroid: Other M has recently proven that no-one can reminisce quite as well as Nintendo, and with Donky Kong, Kirby and Goldeneye all making re-appearances later this year, things don’t seem likely to change either. Booting up these titles feels like stepping into a pair of old shoes or looking through a treasured photo album, and there’s something very comforting about playing them even when they aren’t as ‘up to date’ as we’d like. Hell, even though they may not come neatly packaged upon a Blu Ray disc or might not boast a thriving online community, going through titles like New Super Mario Bros. Wii can be like coming home, a feeling that you’ll rarely find anywhere else. Sometimes the past can be a whole lot more interesting, and - unlike a lot of the competition - Nintendo really understands that.