Games: March 2008 Archives

The basic premise of World in Conflict is more than enough to make you sit up and take notice.  And, once you start playing, the gameplay and storyline will keep you engaged and interested for the length of the campaign.  The year is 1989, and instead of the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Union decides to make a bold, final move to maintain its status as a superpower.  The attack on the mainland begins in Seattle, and I have to say it was a lot of fun watching the virtual demolition of the Kingdome, as well as seeing how much of a mess the I-90 interchange used to be.  Well, for those of you not living in Seattle, I mean to say that it's very impressive how realistic and detail-oriented the maps are.

Another in the latest move away from true RTS gaming and into RTT (Real-Time Tactics), World in Conflict is quick and easy to learn, but tactically incredibly complex.  Weather, terrain, and types of units all mesh to create a very complex, deep war-gaming experience.  If you've ever wanted to control ground units, Humvees, tanks, artillery, and helicopters all at once, this is the game for you.  Plus, you get to see what is perhaps the best rendering of nuclear weapons yet to be seen in all of gaming.  When you see the flash that takes up your screen, followed by the shockwave rendering outward from the center, you'll know what I'm talking about.  Also, there is a great point in the campaign where you're playing in an irradiated area, and your screen is gray, choppy, and radio communications are spotty at best...the realism factor here is extremely high.

However, this game isn't solely great because of the unit control, or even the units that you control...as you rack up your kills, you score points with which you can "buy" tactical strikes, ranging from napalm to tank busters to the aforementioned nuclear strike.  These tactical options really do make or break you in the middle of a tough battle.  The importance of being able to wipe out a battalion of tanks before they can rain metal death on your infantry can't be understated.

And, of course, there's the story.  For many war games, the story seems really to be tacked together, giving you excuses to start up disconnected skirmish after disconnected skirmish.  The story starts off slow, but as it jumps between "present-day" and the few months leading up to the Soviet invasion, the characters become very, very well-defined.  In fact, there are many "wow" points in the storyline that pull you in deeper and deeper.

In a previous review, I said that Warhammer 40k was my second-favorite RTS game ever - World in Conflict is far and above that, and definitively sits in the #1 spot on my shelf.

I know I'm a bit late on this one, but I've been playing other games, and never quite got around to picking up Warhammer - I never was a fan of the tabletop game, aside from their very, very cool character designs.  So I know just barely enough about the factions to understand the basic setup.  I have to say, from the time I installed this puppy, I've been kicking myself for not getting it sooner.  This is, by far, the best RTS game that I've played in recent years (okay, SECOND best only to World in Conflict).  Relic really knew what they were doing when they put this game together.

The first thing that they did right was to do away with resource gathering...yes, I know, that technically makes this more of a RTT (Real-Time Tactics) than RTS game, but the resulting efficiencies in gameplay are huge.  I've only just started playing, but even early in the campaign, it's by far the second best RTS game I've ever played.  The units are very nicely animated, varied in their capabilities, powers, and effectiveness, and overall creative from the word go.  Use of each unit and their upgradeable abilities is essential to success in each campaign mission.

I will say, however, that this isn't really a "pick it up and play" type of game - in fact, the tutorial alone is a good 20-30 minute run-through, and most of the campaign missions can easily take an hour or more to complete.  But, if you're willing to invest the time to dive into the details of the game, it's definitely worth the effort!

Prior to playing The Witcher, I really knew little to nothing about the source material from which the folks at CD Projekt made this great game from, and now I'm curious enough to track down the English translations of Andrzej Sapkowski's written works.  Combine a great story, great characters, and a beautiful game engine (CD Projekt makes incredible use of the Aurora engine from Bioware), and you have by far one of the best role-playing games released in recent years. 

The basic story is one of self-discovery, as you take on the lead role of Geralt of Rivia, a "Witcher" - hunter of monsters and demons of all shapes, sizes, and races.  You begin the game having somehow returned from being presumed dead, and as you explore the plot, you find old friends who inform you as to who you were, as well as guide you toward who you will be.  There are real choices to be made during the course of the game, and you get to delve into the true definitions of the word "monster" in a world that responds to your moral and ethical choices along the way.  Sides will be chosen, battles will be fought, and in the end you will be a deciding factor in the future of the realm.

The game mechanics take a tad of getting used to, particularly the combat model.  It's somewhere between a "click and hold" and your typical "click until dead" game - you initiate an attack on an opponent by clicking, then you have the ability to perform combo moves as the fight progresses, based on the timing of your clicks in response to changes in the cursor.  The engine is also flexible, allowing you to play from an isometric or 3rd-person view as you wander the countryside and save the world.  There's also a very basic magic system (Geralt has five spells that grow in strength according to your choices as he levels), as well as a very broad "alchemy" system.  In fact, mastering the alchemy system is both fun and necessary, as your stock of potions can often be the deciding factor between success or failure, particularly during the more difficult battles.  And, to make matters slightly more interesting, each potion "poisons" Geralt to some extent, so you can't simply haphazardly down every potion in your sack.

Finally, the game DEFINITELY earns its "M" rating - from the language to the overt sex scenes (both of which can be "enhanced" by patching the censored U.S. version), and of course, the blood.  This is most definitely not a game for kids, but it is quite simply a work of gaming art for adult fans of the role-playing game genre.

I'm sure there aren't any gamers out there who don't know this yet, but E. Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, passed away yesterday at the ripe age of 69.  For millions of gamers, D&D was the first experience any of us had in exploring the depths of our imaginations to create worlds where we could be heroes or villains engaged in acts of derring-do and epic adventures.  And we all have EGG to thank for creating the first true role-playing game.  From everyone who spent hours on end wandering through dungeon after dungeon, or who argued a rule with their DM/GM, or who has played any computer RPG created since the early 80s, you will be missed.

There are many webcomics today that have tributes to EGG's passing.  Here are a few:

• Penny Arcade
• Order of the Stick
• Full Frontal Nerdity

Hellgate: London is somewhat similar in nature to Dungeon Runners, as it's mostly a Diablo-esque adventure game.  However, where Dungeon Runners can only be played online as an MMORPG, Hellgate has both offline single-player and an online multi-player capabilities, with the online system allowing both free and subscription access (which seems to be increasingly the norm in the MMORPG world).  The gist of the storyline is a demonic invasion of London circa 2038.  The entire city is destroyed, ransacked, burning, and covered in hideous demons.  And you, of course, are there to destroy said demons and save the world.

Hellgate has six classes of characters, split evenly among three "factions".  The "Factions" are the Templar, melee warriors who fight with swords and shields (Guardians and Blademasters), the Cabalists who use magic to summon mystical forces against the demons (Summoners and Evokers), and the Hunters who use weapons and technology as their method of purging the demonic hordes (Marksmen and Engineers).  Each faction has a unique play style, and even the specific classes within the factions have somewhat unique characteristics.  Similar to many MMORPGs, you develop your character by selecting from subsets of skills in a tree, and specialize amongst the available options.

Gameplay is straightforward, what you would expect from what is essentially another Diablo clone (albeit, a VERY good one given the company it keeps in that category).  Kill creatures to get equipment, use equipment to kill creatures, and level up your abilities when you've killed enough creatures.  There are a few nifty added tweaks to the classic recipe - you can upgrade your weapons using different types of fuel, ammo, relics, etc.  You also have the ability to "break down" almost anything that you pick up, so that you can use its component parts to build further upgrades or weaponry.  And you can use machines in-game to add rare or unique qualities to your equipment, provided you have the money and components necessary.

Finally, as with seemingly all new games (thanks, no doubt, to Microsoft and XBox Live), there are achievements.  Some fun ones include points awarded for breaking objects, for completing a certain number of quests in a given amount of time, and other similar and interesting things to do in the game.

All in all, it's a very fun game, whether you're a single-player Diablo-lover, or a very basic casual MMORPG player.  Subscribers to the online system ($9.99/month) get additional content and certain perks that non-paying players do not get, but only when they are playing online.