Consolation Prize

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has the heavy burden of expectation laying heavily on its shoulders. It has been a few years since the acclaimed Knights of the Old Republic series from Bioware and the franchise demands another success.

In terms of the time-line the game takes place after Episode III: Return of the Sith but before Episode IV: A New Hope as the new Empire is mopping up what’s left of the Jedi order. The game tells the story of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice named Starkiller, the name of whom is in itself a nice homage to the original draft of Star Wars where the character we now know and love as Luke Skywalker was originally going to be called Luke Starkiller.

Starting out with a cut-scene between master and apprentice Starkiller is sent to an Imperial Shipyard which is under attack by the Jedi Master Rahm Kota. You’re mission is simple; destroy the Jedi and return his Lightsaber to Lord Vader.

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Braid is a stunningly beautiful game to behold. A fact evident from the moment it starts when you realise the first screen you see - a gorgeous backdrop with vibrant reds and oranges casting other objects into shadow - is actually not a menu screen at all but part of the game itself.

Best described as a a puzzle-platformer this adventure revolves around a character called Tim. Slowly the story unfolds via little snippets of text displayed as our hero passes past books placed upon pedestals at the beginning of each game world and it gives us the impression he’s looking for redemption. You see our hero is on a quest to make up for past misdemeanors as he tries to locate a princess with whom, as the story alludes to, he once shared a relationship but has now been snatched away by an evil monster.

The game starts out straightforward enough as the main character jumps and wanders around the levels collecting jigsaw pieces in order to complete a picture puzzle depicting an event that occurred at some point during Tim’s life. It soon becomes clear however that some lateral thinking needs to be employed to retrieve some of the missing pieces of the puzzle, which appear just out of reach, and this requires the player to start manipulating the creatures and the environment around them.

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Small alarm bells start ringing in my head when demo’s are released onto Xbox Live Marketplace after a game has already been released. The cynic in me wonders what the publishers are trying to hide and if it’s just an exercise in damage limitation so the game is at least guaranteed some sales before word gets out that it isn’t as good as the developer diaries and the previews showcased. However after playing through the available chapters in the Alone on the Dark demo the game wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

The demo starts off impressively as the player partakes in an interactive cut scene whilst the character of Edward Carnby lies half unconscious on a bed unable to move but able to see and hear, and occasionally having to blink to stop his vision from becoming blurred. Eventually you’re led off to be taken “care of” by one of your unknown captors giving rise to your release from captivity once your escort falls foul of some unseen assailant and leaves you to free explore your surroundings.

Alone in the Dark has some good production values and the cut scenes shown throughout the demo have a very cinematic feel about them. Graphically it looks decent enough, the main character model is fine, if a little woodenly animated, but the environments all look great and the fire effects as the flames flicker and dance across flammable surfaces are excellent. Speaking of which, fire seems to be an integral game mechanic. Used not only as a hazard to impede your progress but it can also be turned to your advantage; Furniture can be used to create torches lighting darkened rooms, locked doors can be burnt down, but most importantly fire is the Achilles heel of the inhuman denizens of the game.

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It’s been a bit quiet on the demo front on Xbox Live Marketplace recently but some playable titles have started to trickle onto the service once more. One which I thought looked quite interesting was Facebreaker, a tongue in cheek fighting game from Fight Night developers EA Canada.

Whereas with most fighting games character move-sets can number into the hundreds, Facebreaker instead employs a more streamlined approach to the art of pugilism ensuring you don’t have to memorise unfeasibly long move combinations. In fact only a few types of attacks are used, low and high punches are mapped to the “A” and “X” buttons respectively which can be strung together with “breakers” (using the “Y” button) to unleash more devastating attacks. In addition the triggers are used to alter your characters stance between blocking and dodging, and when used in combination with the punch buttons, and with the correct timing, allow you to parry and counter punch quite easily before going on the offensive.

As the name of the game suggest the aim is simply to beat your opponent to a pulp. The game promotes an aggressive strategy as each successful hit fills the “breaker” gauge which when full allows the player to perform a, you guessed it, “facebreaker” which enacts a brutal finishing move on the opponent. Thankfully because of the cartoon style of the game this isn’t a gruesome experience, and in actuality is more like the stylised violence you’d expect to see in a “Tom & Jerry” cartoon.

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With the release of firmware v2.0 we can now start using our beloved iPhones (or iTouch) as mobile gaming platforms in addition to our Nintendo DS’s and Sony PSP’s. There is already a decent selection of games available for the device ready to download from the “App Store” and most of them are reasonably priced.

So, in the name of “research” I thought I’d download a couple of games to sample the validity of the iPhone as a long term gaming platform.

ZEN Pinball: Roller Coaster

Shooting out from the development house that brought Pinball FX to Xbox Live Arcade this little Pinball game is the first to appear on the iPhone. The game only features one table, based upon the idea of a theme park and features a good mix of buffers, ramps, targets and challenges to test your skills. The actual table looks okay, it’s bright and colourful, with plenty of flashing lights, and because it’s a 3D model you’re can tilt and rotate the iPhone to change the viewpoint.

As it’s a touch-screen device the controls are simple, just tap on the bottom left or right of the screen for the respective flipper control. In reality this generally means you’re going to hold the iPhone cupped between two hands using your thumbs to activate the flippers.

My main concern with ZEN Pinball: Roller Coaster however is the response speed, or the sometimes apparent delay of the flippers. On numerous occasions I was left with flippers that just didn’t “flip”, resulting in the loss of a ball. In other instances the flippers would “stick”, just as if I had left my thumb pressed down. As pinball is based upon your reactions to have them further compromised by sometimes unresponsive controls is very frustrating.

ZEN Pinball: Roller Coaster is available for 2.99 GBP and I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending it if not for the flipper delay. The problem isn’t bad enough to ruin the game, but it can be detrimental to your enjoyment.

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The development of Too Human from Silicon Knights seems to have been plagued by numerous obstacles along its nine year treacherous path to release. First conceived as a Playstation game (1999), then finding a home on Nintendo’s Gamecube (2000), and finally shifting residence to the Xbox 360 (2005). And then there was that little dispute with Epic Games’ over support of its “Unreal Engine 3”, resulting in Silicon Knights resorting to the development of there own game engine. All-in-all it’s actually a miracle Too Human is finally going to be released and didn’t get stuck in development hell or sent to Silicon Heaven.

Too Human is a third person action-adventure RPG game which takes its inspiration from Norse Mythology and weaves it into a game-world with cybernetically enhanced humans, cyberspace, and machine like foes. The player jumps into the role of Baldur, one of the Aesir, a god to the normal humans, and one of the protectors of mankind.

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I have a dream… One day I’ll be able to complete Guitar Hero III on the “Hard” difficulty setting. Not “Extreme” difficulty mind you, that’s just nuts. I’ll be quite happy reaching the, for me, lofty heights of hard.

Anyway enough of dreams, back to reality. So I’ve been playing both Guitar Hero II & III on and off over the last year or so, always returning to them at sometime or other because they successfully fuse together challenging gameplay with good old fashioned down to earth, bring a huge smile to your face: “Fun”. They’re the perfect choice when you fancy a change of pace from racing or shooting.

Both games offer a fairly decent selection of tracks and even though there are a few tracks I really just can’t stand, those that I like far outnumber those I avoid like the plague. However, even with the best will in the world boredom has eventually set-up home and I desperately needed a new challenge. I could choose to purchase some downloadable content for Guitar Hero III, but to be honest I’m not keen on the current pricing policy which forces me to buy “track packs”. I therefore decided to try my hand at Harmonix’s next project Rock Band.

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It’s that time of week again when new Xbox Live Arcade titles have been released for our perusal and this offering, developed by “Housemarque”, better known in my books for the superlative
Super Stardust HD on the PS3 is a welcome addition to the Arcade roster and firmly plants its putting wedge on the more humorous and casual side of Golf, akin to such games like Hot Shots Golf.

At the start of the game you can customise your golfer; choosing a gender, hairstyle, and can kit them out in a selection of clothing styles. You know that this game isn’t going to take itself too seriously when you find your cartoon-like golfing avatar can be equipped with bunny slippers, karate gloves, and even kitten ears. However, as silly as this may sound it sets the tone of the game well and guarantees that your character stands a good chance of looking at least somewhat different to your opponents.

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