Russ: This is my first time playing a Splinter Cell game. In previous years I had been intimidated by the complexity its gameplay. Hell, even in the Metal Gear Solid games I usually just run into a room guns blazing. But now that I write for a big bad gaming website, I decided to slow down a bit and really give this demo the proper treatment. My first impression is that the control scheme has a large learning curve; I don't know if this is how all the games are controlled, but it took me the entire length of this (unfortunately brief) demo until I felt somewhat comfortable with my character. The controls themselves are tight and responsive, but I had trouble using the camera exactly as I'd like to. Luckily, the sonic goggles let me see things that the limited game camera couldn't.
I was initially hesitant about the "execution" gameplay function, but in practice it's a lot of fun. You have to store up the ability to perform an execution by killing someone else with your bare hands. In other words, you can string combos - jump onto a guy and kill him from above and execute his two partners in one fell swoop - and it's very exciting. Hopefully, the retail game will set these encounters up in a unique way every time, because although it was fun to do in the demo, if the execution setups are the same every time I may get bored with it. Overall, this was a great demo and I'm much more excited to play the game than before.
Steve: Much like the survival horror genre, the stealth genre has become extremely crowded in recent years, to the point where it has become difficult to take it seriously in the face of all of the sequels, iterations and copies. It's fair to say then, that a stealth game needs to do something extraordinary to get people to take notice these days. From the outset, it's clear that Splinter Cell Conviction aims to do for the stealth genre what Resident Evil 4 did for the survival horror genre; that is to say, it aims to reinvigorate the genre by stripping out all of the cumbersome elements, and turning the game into a faster, slicker, more action-oriented experience. After playing the demo, it's apparent that Ubisoft have succeeded in doing just that.
From playing the demo, the main new feature seems to be the “mark and execute” system; successfully performing stealthy hand-to-hand takedowns allows you to mark enemies for execution. After enemies have been marked, they can be executed at any time (in an uncontrollable cut-scene) with a simple button press. Whilst this system may seem like it's robbing you of the best moments from the game, it's actually quite empowering, as it allows you to quickly and quietly clear out entire rooms full of enemies in mere seconds.
As rewarding as this new system may seem though, you can't help but wonder if it may be the games biggest flaw; a good stealth game is like a puzzle game – the goal is to solve the problem of how to get from one point to another without being detected, using the environment/gadgets to your advantage. However, with the mark and execute system, it seems like every puzzle in Splinter Cell Conviction will be solved using the same mechanic. Whilst it is definitely a fun mechanic, it remains to be seen as to whether it can sustain an entire game.
This is just a friendly reminder that a demo of Splinter Cell Conviction will be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace on March 18th (that's today!). The demo is said to be taken from the solo campaign, and should give fans a taste of this next, long awaited, instalment in the Splinter Cell series.
The full game is set to hit retail shelves on April 13th in North America, and on April 16th in the UK.
No shit... You need to watch this video if you're going to play BFBC2 with me. I had this huge tutorial almost all the way written up when I found this video from the good people at Pixel Enemy detailing in no uncertain terms the finer points of Battlefield Bad Company 2. For brevity's sake, I'll just reiterate the most important and interesting bullet points.
Highlight Enemies - Directly target the bad guys and press the back or select button. This designates enemies on the map for all of your team to see AND gives you points if they die.
Drop Supplies - If you're a Medic or Assault the first thing you had better do is drop a goddamn crate on the ground when you spawn. It may not be in the best place, but at least it's out there. If you die without supplying/healing your team you suck. You really do.
Repair Vehicle from Inside - Ever take a rocket while you're riding shotgun in a Blackhawk? Were you an Engineer? Did you know you could switch seats mid-flight, get out your repair tool and fix the chopper without landing? You do now.
Don't just sit there when you're planting/disarming a bomb - Just because you're holding down "B" or "circle" doesn't mean you can't reload, swivel, aim down the sights and defend your position from attackers. Waxing that one straggler might buy you the time it takes to make that game winning play.
Always shoot vehicles from behind or the sides - Don't even bother using an RPG head on with on a tank unless you know it only needs one more rocket to die. Popping out to launch a single ineffective attack will only make you priority # 1 for the driver inside. Try sneaking around to put a few rounds on the armor's weak spots.
Help the fuck out of people - The repair tool AND the defibrillator are both capable of killing enemies. If you're in a tight spot and have to draw down without the aid of an actual weapon, you might want to consider electrocuting the enemy with the paddles. Isn't it ironic!
Thanks again to Pixel Enemy for the video. They're truly doing God's work. Oh, and you can snipe helo pilots... if you're me.
Okay, I realize that I just did a writeup about my wife's impressions of BioShock 2 yesterday (which you can read here), but that doesn't make you exempt from hearing what I have to say. I mean it. Don't stop reading this. Ever.
We all read Steve's review of the game, and I had a fair idea of what to expect when I played BioShock 2: more of the same, an uneven story development, and some inarticulate control requirements. I hadn't really watched any gameplay videos, if only because I wanted to have a least some surprise when seeing this new game. Truth be told, I wasn't planning on playing BioShock 2 for a while, but someone lent it to me the other day and I feel obligated to finish it quickly so I can return it.
And this may be stupid, but as I popped in the game disc and started up the first scene, I had an epiphany - I was about to play BioShock again! I was going to go back to Rapture, and shoot some splicers, and listen to some audio diaries, and hack some bots. About 20 minutes into the game, I felt sheepish for ever doubting whether I should be excited about this sequel. The developers may not have been as creative as the people behind the first BioShock, but guess what - they did a great job of re-creating the awesomeness that is the first game. And can you imagine what happened to me the first time I took down a fellow Big Daddy? My heart was racing, just like it did in 2007.
It boils down to this: I don't care if this game is only 80% as good as the first BioShock. It's still 80% as good as one of my favorite games of all time. I'm about two hours in, and I can't wait to keep at it.
I spent my lunch at work today eating a five dollar footlong (Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki FTW!), and watching a very insightful video on GameTrailers.com about the importance of narrative in games. It is hosted by the overlord of games journalism, Jeff Keighley who talks to God of War creator David Jaffe, journo-miniboss N'gai Croal, and BioWare's Greg Zeschuk. Oh, excuse me, DOCTOR Greg Zeschuk.
I watched the first two available parts of the soon-to-be four part series, where the four discuss the importance of story in games in regards to narrative, dialogue, cutscenes, environmental storytelling, and more. A few things stuck to my brain as I was watching it, notably the juxtaposition of David Jaffe, the maker of a highly linear, action-oriented game, and Zeschuk, pioneer of dialogue trees and open-ended gameplay. That gives you a really cool perspective on the different schools of thought. Also, they show footage of Dante's Inferno at one point while Jaffe is talking, which seems a little face-slappy.
Continuing Microsoft's "House Party" promotion -- as well as their reign of terror on your wallet -- this weeks XBLA game is the HD remake of N64 classic, Perfect Dark, which is due to release on Wednesday 17th March.
For those who haven't played it, Perfect Dark was developed by the team at Rare Studios who were responsible for Goldeneye, and was considered to be the spiritual sequel to it. Like its forebear, Perfect Dark had a great local multiplayer mode, and it should be interesting to see how this works over Xbox Live.
Probably the most surprising thing though, is that the retail price is a very reasonable 800MSP. If you've always wanted to check the game out, or if you've been keeping your fingers crossed for Goldeneye to arrive, this is definitely the game for you.
This is still one of my biggest pet-peeves of all time. It seems that with every single new game that comes out, the moment you put it in for the first time, it forces you to update by signing you out of Xbox Live, doing a five second update install, then signing you back in. I know it's not like a have to wait 15 minutes for the game to install (I'm looking at you, Slim), but it's still reeeeeaallllyyyyy annoying.
I can see it being a necessity if you start a game for the first time maybe a couple months after it came out, but this even happens to day one purchases. That makes me angry.
(Sorry about this post, I didn't have lunch and I'm cranky. Never blog on an empty stomach.)
My wife isn't a gamer, but recently I've been asking her to sit down and watch the first few minutes of new games, and to give me her honest opinion and what she made out of it.
BioShock 2 is the next game in our newly-created feature. Unfortunately, my wife feels motion sickness any time she watches a first-person shooter, so our time with the game was brief. Here are her quotes:
Her: "What the hell?" (upon seeing the first scene)
Me: "What the hell, what?"
Her: "Everything!"
"I like the colors"
"It doesn't seem real, but I still like the look of it."
"The little girl's eyes were creepy"
"Everything seemed pretty normal until he shot himself (first plasmid) and there was all of that blue light."
I finished Heavy Rain yesterday, and it was a fine, fine experience. It was a thoroughly rewarding feeling to see all of my characters make it through without a premature death. The story was functional, and a little more conventional than the ridiculous reveal of Indigo Prophecy. I can't wait to play it again and see all the different directions I can go within each scene, and I'll do a proper writeup on it once I've really tested out every nook and cranny of the game.
But what troubles me is just how freaking racist this game is. I chalk it up to the fact that the Frech-based developers Quantic Dream don't quite understand the intricacies of race here in the United States, and some shoddy localization (further demonstrated in voice acting that was all over the place). Two examples:
1. Mad Jack. The moment this guy jumps down from his bulldozer (what a weird mix, chop shop and junkyard - this guy can do it all!), he calls my character a cracker. Being a cracker myself, I've heard that word from time to time, but not with that much pure hate for a perfect stranger. Considering that this game is set a year into the future, maybe reverse-racism will have reared its ugly head by then?
2. Paco Mendez. This fucking guy. I'm okay with him being a pervert (you know, the kind that is okay with achieving sexual fulfillment at gunpoint), but does he have to have such a sleazy, ridiculous hispanic accent? And don't get me started on his outfit. Lemme guess, he climbed the ranks of organized crime to own a nightclub by being the best dressed guy around?
All three beta codes have now been won, and the giveaway is over. The beta codes have now been e-mailed out to Thomas, Marc, and Craig. Congrats guys.
For those who missed out, all I can say is sorry; you snooze, you lose buddy!
As a present for being rad, and decimating all in the Blur beta, the nice people at Activision have given me three extra beta codes to give away. Being the benevolent, friendless person that I am, I figured the best thing to do would be to give them away on the site.
So, if you want a beta code, all I'm going to ask you to do is to leave a comment on this post. The winners will be the first three people to comment, and will be notified shortly after. It's literally as simple as that, so if you want a beta code, start commenting now!
Good luck, and may the people with the fastest typing fingers least apathy win.
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!