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Completed Transformers: WFC late Saturday night.

Given that it only came out on the Friday, you could be forgiven for thinking perhaps the game is not that long. Well, much as I’d have loved it to be longer, the truth is, I hammered the single player a LOT on Friday night and Saturday day/night. Once I got started, it was very hard to stop to be honest. The full game weighs in at around 10+ hours depending how you get on with the bigger battles.

As I mentioned in my last TF post, the gameplay is solid doing everything you would expect from a third person controlled shooter. The transformations  add something a little new to the genre however with vehicle forms being just as useful in most situations as robot forms (In some cases vehicle forms are actually essential to avoid high levels of damage during some of the bigger fights). The system feels very balanced and I found myself constantly shifting in and out of vehicle forms enough that it felt like second nature… as it should in a Transformers game. Flip to jet mode, turbo across the room to grab some health, quickly fire a few missiles, flip back to robot form – use special abilities/gun, back to jet form for evasive actions. The system feels.. well, it just feels right.

The story was particularly interesting to me as a Transformers fan, and Hasbro obviously agrees as TF:WFC’s take on a prequel to the events of the original animated series (and the 1984 movie) is now officially declared cannon in the Transformers Universe. For good reason too.

SPOILER ALERT

The game takes place in the middle of a civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Featuring two campaigns, played chronologically, the first features Megatron and his quest to obtain Dark Energon which he intends to use to control Cybertron. The second campaign deals with Optimus becoming ‘The Last Prime’ and his attempt to cleanse Cybertron of the corruption Megatron has unleashed.

It’s a basic plot, but along the way fans will find much to enjoy here. Omega Supreme’s involvement is nothing short of epic in my opinion. The fight goes on for a long time, and while not always in direct confrontation with Supreme, he affects every step of your journey through that level. Starscream’s defection to the Decepticons was of particular interest for me. I’ve long been a fan of Starscream and his treacherous ways so to finally see something of his origins was really great, plus all his trademark attempts to overthrow Megatron and assume control are all present and accounted for.

High Moon have really done a great job at accurately portraying the characters largely as you remember them from the 80′s. The opening Decepticon cutscene shows Megatron annihilating one of his own underlings after being questioned on the logic of crashing his spaceship directly into Starscreams orbital station. If that doesn’t say ‘Megatron’ then I don’t know what does.

Having not played the Multiplayer much I can’t comment more than I did on the demo just yet, but the single player experience is everything and more any Transformers fan could ask for. I was happier with WFC than I was with the recent perversions to the franchise made by Michael Bay, as was a fellow Transformers fan who played the last 3 Decepticon levels with me. 3 Levels out of 10 convinced him it was better than Bay’s Transformers. Not only in terms of story, but also visually.

5/5 – I’d highly recommend this to any TF fan. Up there with Batman Arkham Asylum in terms of setting the bar for quality in licensed games.

Transformers: War for Cybertron (Xbox 360)
Price: —

9 used & new available from GBP 34.00

The universal greeting works every time!

I’ve been playing the multiplayer Transformers demo a little over the last few days and I have to say, I’m surprised at how good it is.

Don’t get me wrong, it wont bring anything new to the table that other 3rd person shooters already haven’t, but at it’s core the combat and controls feel very solid. Based on that fact, plus developer interviews regarding the story, the art direction (G1 FTW!), and the trailers showing snippets of the Omega Supreme/Trypticon fights.. I’m very optimistic for this title to say the least!

More updates after I pick it up tomorrow. Feel free to add me for some co-op action…

No thanks.

Each year control schemes on games get more complicated, and more and more combinations of buttons are being used simply because we are running out of space on the controllers as it is.

The Wii works (well, I use that term loosely) as a result of a few factors.

1. The controller still has buttons and an analogue nub
2. It has rumble
3. Nintendo has been aiming at casual motion games specifically

The inclusion of an analogue nub, and buttons help with the games not entirely suited to motion control, and add to the ones that are. The force feedback, although weak, is at least there. Fall a large distance on Monster Hunter.. Wiimote shakes. Slam a hammer into an Urugaan’s chin and you feel it.

Sony Move seems to have at least grasped the concept and adapted it to suit them. Their controller still has buttons and can attach to a nunchuck type device with… an analogue nub! I’m not sure on the details but I’d bet it has rumble too.

Then we have Natal, sorry, Kinnect (urgh! Bad name, bad name!).

Great piece of tech on paper. No buttons, no vibration, no analogue nub, not even a physical thing to hold… I see a problem here.

Firstly, at this point, anyone who actually wanted motion controls has probably gone out and bought a Wii by now. Secondly, if Natal, sorry, Kinnect (urgh! Bad name, bad name!) is going to cost the rumoured $150 as everyone suspects, you can get a Wii for that price! Just those two factors alone are a big enough problem without considering that this thing wont even apply to 90% of the games I play! How exactly will FPS games work under this? Well I’ll tell you how, on rails. Which is bullshit. How will platformers work with this? How will anything other than a clusterfuck of a party game that already exists on the Wii work with this thing?

So far, Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Wii Dance, Mario Kart Nintendogs have been shown… oh wait, sorry.. Kinnect Fit, Kinnect Sports, Just Dance, Joy Ride, and Kinnectimals. Looks/Sounds familiar right? Yeah…

When I get home from a long day at work, I like to relax on my couch with a game. I sometimes play for extended periods of time. The last thing I want is a bullshit control scheme that forces me to either be standing, or moving around to control something.

After holding Farm on the Laguna Alta map for the majority of a conquest round, the opposition sent 6 players and 1 tank and captured the base. Thanks to a lucky respawn on a still standing squad member, I managed to get two RPG shots off on the tank…

…both missed by a mile, BUT, managed to take out the remaining two walls of the farm building causing it to collapse, killing the 6 opposition players in one glorious demolition kill!

Incredible game. More to follow soon.

Cant wait to get hold of this tomorrow…

Managed to stick to my guns and didn’t buy MW2. Judging by all the accounts of glitching, modding, and cheating I’ve read about lately I did the right thing.

In preparation for BC2 I started playing the first Bad Company game and was reminded just how great the Battlefield series has been. I bought it about a year ago preowned and only did the first couple of levels for some reason that I cant remember now.

Clocked the Alien missions last night.

Turns out I was almost at the end when I last saved it. All I had to do was weaken the Elite Predator and harvest him to create a new species. The last cutscene for the Aliens shows the Queen dying (Part of the Marine campaign), then Number Six is captured and taken offworld. I wont spoil the full ending, but I enjoyed it and it set the game up for a sequel (please let there be a sequel!). Just the Marine campaign to finish off now.

Although the individual campaigns feel a little short, together they make up a lengthy story told from various different viewpoints. Each species has different goals and visits different areas, with the occasional crossover “Heey, I was just there as the Marine!” moments. The game is getting a lot of flak for its length but I think it works very well in this case. I can run through Portal in no time at all but it’s still one of the best games of the last decade. Likewise, Team Fortress 2 does not even have a single player mode and still has a large following.

The three AvP campaigns added up, clock in at more time than Dante’s Inferno does. People need to really think about what they say in reviews imo. Metacritic shows some low scores for the game and has reviewers claiming all sorts of guff, ranging from bad graphics (lol), to short singleplayer (see above). How 1UP can give it a D (D=Bad / F= Don’t play) I’ll never know.. They rated Dante’s Inferno higher which is 100% a God of War clone and has a shorter campaign than AvP. Go figure. Anyway, I’ll store up my bile towards “professional reviewers” for another post as I have a lot to say on this matter.

I also spent some time on the multiplayer last night. After playing the Alien campaign I had learnt a few tricks I was confident in using during the match. When I first played the demo I kept to the floor and only used right trigger to transition to walls. The way to do it is to hold left trigger, point at the surface you want to be on and hit jump. The Aliens maneuverability is unmatched by the other two species and should be taken advantage of when possible. Keeping to the ceiling gives you an edge on other aliens who will have to transition surfaces to get in range of you, whereas you can hold left trigger and range attack them from above, plus, you can catch out a lot of players who have not adjusted to checking above them yet. Ranged attacks work well to close the distance on your prey but make sure you follow with a few weak attacks. I tried ranging from roof to target and following with a heavy attack but it’s too slow to wind up and leaves you open, following with a weak attack keeps them staggered to a degree.

Still a lot to learn and get used to, but really enjoying the game so far. More to follow after I complete the Marine campaign.

Back to regular gaming this week thanks to the new Xbox.

I’ll mainly be playing the following…

• Aliens Vs Predator (Xbox 360)
• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC)

I still have a few missions to mop up on AvP but will be playing multiplayer to death this week. Rebellion really nailed this one in my opinion. With three different species providing three different play styles there is something for everyone here. The game is loaded with tension and atmosphere, and graphically the game is superb.

Jedi Academy is one of those games I’m kicking myself for not having played when it first came out and there were more people online. The single player, while good fun, pales in comparison to the online mode. A third person Jedi game that actually does lightsaber combat well, built on the Quake 3 engine? How can you go wrong?

Will post some more on these two games later this week after I get a good run at them.

MS wanted £81 to repair the faulty DVD drive in my Xbox. Argos were charging £99 for a brand new one + 1 years warranty.

Needless to say, I went with the Argos deal. Screw paying £81 for a refurb when I can get a brand new one + warranty for an extra £18.

Wow!

Kinda blown away by this! I had already come to terms with the fact the series was moving to the Wii, and after playing the Wii version I have been suitably impressed enough to not worry too much about it and just appreciate that we are getting the third game over here after all.

For years though, Monster Hunter Frontier has been a thorn in my side. Due to lack of access I largely put up with other subscription titles, all the while commenting how great this or that MMO would be with Rath’s flying around, how amazing MH would be in an MMO setting… all the while watching enviously as new monster after new monster was added to MH: Frontier, the Monster Hunter MMO of choice if you live in Japan or Korea.

Finally, FINALLY I can let go of the jealousy (that’s assuming this thing gets a western release – PLEEEASE let this get a western release!) and look forward to hunting Rathalos online over Xbox live!

According to the article the subscription fee for playing will be around $15 for 30 days access… and that includes the Gold Live subscription! Not a bad deal really and should help bring in gamers that would normally stay away from subscription games.

Expect to hear a lot about this as I do… either here or over at our Monster Hunter fan site www.wyvernhunt.info

Playing through the third campaign (Swamp Fever) on L4D2 last night with two other friends on Normal difficulty and all is going well… till the plantation house finale.

Starts off well. Ends with two tanks, at the same time, in the same crowded corridor, delivering swift merciless death to our team.

Next attempt. Get to the house OK again. Prime the area with gas cans this time and stock up on Boomer Bile to slow the inevitable Tank down. Tank comes and we down him. Before his pink behind can even hit the floor, yet another Tank spawns and this time a Jockey helps him ruin our attempt.

Third attempt. Much smoother. We actually hold out till the rescue arrives. Suddenly two Tanks show up again and proceed to do a tap number on our spines.

One party member leaves due to time issues and we slog on. Next attempt, we last till rescue then a really badly timed Tank/Special Infected spawn combo makes short work of us thanks partially to shit AI controlling the remaining two team mates. Next attempt we swallow our pride and take a vote to drop to Easy and complete it first try. This sticks in my throat like un-buttered crackers.

It’s ironic really. I had a post almost ready to publish about gaming losing some of the challenge  simply to attract a wider audience. How difficulty levels have been toned down and games for children now hold your hand a lot more than games in the 80′s when as a result of game design we had no saves, no continues, and in some cases only one life. When almost everything on the map could and would kill you (see Dizzy franchise). Based on last nights experience I’m not sure I can publish it now without some editing!

L4D2 (to paraphrase a favourite movie of mine) will “cook up a story and drop the four of you in a meatgrinder!”

How you get out is based on teamwork, luck, and largely how sadistic the AI Director is feeling at that point. Its a challenge that has been sorely missing from most modern games. I don’t see CoD’s endless spawn mechanic the same way. I can beat that mechanic simply by pushing forward past the spawn point cutting the event short. It might be hard to make it past that point, but once past it, the game will not decide to hammer you flat for doing so.

L4D2 will punish you. And the better you get, the more the AI Director will punish you. That is its raison d’être. Its single purpose is to destroy groups, and it does so with exceeding efficiency.

..and I love it!