Section 8: Early Beta Impressions (oops)

So I got some new betas to test out on my PC (I call him Spike, by the way) and one of those betas happened to be Section 8. Now, I haven't gotten as much time to test this game out as I had hoped, but Spike's been kind of finnicky since I gave him a TV Tuner card. Hey, sometimes when you move across the country in pursuit of a career in the video game industry, you have to make your PC double as your TV/DVR because you can't fit everything in the Uhaul...but I digress.
Anyways, what I had originally thought to be a first-person take on Warhawk's "zone" capture points (capturing an area grants you equipment and defenses such as turrets) is actually quite the intriguing and surprisingly tactical effort. So far.
Like I said, it's still early. Section 8 is certainly no graphical beast, Crysis still sits firmly atop its throne, but it's no slouch either. My PC isn't exactly top of the line, but I do like to tinker and I can get S8 to run at maximum settings, so I've seen the full polish. This is actually a good thing however, as system requirements can be a barrier for the casual/not-absurdly-rich PC gamer
Unfortunately, everything written up until this point was done while the beta was still running...and it ended before I got any more play time in. In fact, the game is on store shelves right now.
But I will tell of what I saw while it lasted.
As i mentioned already, there is a lot more tactical thinking involved in Section 8 than I would have originally thought. That doesn't mean you have to be an RTS or Tactical RPG veteran to do well in S8, your average FPS junkie will do just fine as well. The options that exist seem to be there just for the people interested in that kind of thing, the same kind of people that require stat tracking for their multiplayer modes, the kind of people that actually care about the content written here.
One of these facets that offered more tactical choice than originally thought was the game's big bullet point: "burn in." For those that haven't followed Section 8, "burn in" is the game's version of spawning. When you die in Section 8 you don't just magically reappear on the battlefield, you drop thousands of feet from a drop ship to land on the battlefield, in player-controlled real time. When the match begins (or after you've died) you are presented with a complete map of the current level and are able to pick any area as your drop point. You are then jettisoned from the ship and sent screaming to the ground below, with a HUD and audio warning tell you when to hit the brakes adn avoid going splat.
The average player will probably just look for a good spot with teammates around (all your live teammates positions are shown on the map) or an open space and drop right there. Players takign a more in-depth aproach haev other choices, however, and a lot of that plays into the attributes you give your character. Each player can equip two main weapons and a secondary one (grenades, knife, etc.) with no limitations related to the "class" you choose. There's a reason "class" is in quotes. This game makes classes less of a Team Fortress 2 affair and more of a "Custom Slot #" Modern Warfare setup. Several predefined/named classes are available, but they can all be changed in any way the player sees fit, a decent option when one considers the weapons, and openind to countless options when one brings Section 8's "perks" into play.
Aside from weapon choices, there are several slots for the attribute's of a players armor. These involve things like stealth that hides you from radar and turrets, armor plating that gives you stronger shileds, even boosters that allow you to run faster and longer. With the number of options available, the play can truly create a character to suit their play style, and accomodate several styles depending on what role or goal they are trying to accomplish.
These attributes also affects the burn-ins and is where a large part of the tactical aspect sneaks into the game. All occupied bases are armed with Anti-Air turrets to prevent enemy players from dropping right into the center of said base. So depending on what you're trying to achieve at that particular point in the match you can use a character with high levels of the ANTI-Anti-Air attribute which gives you more time before the turrets stat firing at you and even protection from their rounds. One the map, prior to burn-in, the area in rang of these guns is highlighted in red. You can still drop into these areas but chances are good you'll be destroyed before you land if you're not properly equipped. This can also affect when you decide to hit the brakes during your drop. Once you hit the brakes, you your fall begins to slow and you're given free movement in order to fine tune your landing. If you're in range of AA guns, however, moving slower means getting shot at longer. Throw in the decision of "do i drop in with my teammates engaged in a fight with the other team or do i drop back in enemy territory to distract them and maybe capture a base for my team?" along with all the other things that need to be decided BEFORE YOU EVEN START PLAYING and you've got yourself an FPS with a lot more depth than it initially lets on.
As for how it actually plays when on the battlefield: it's decent. The weapons are all appropriately over-the-top futuristic with the only problem being how similar they all look; am I holding an assault rifle or a shotgun? There's zoom on appropriate weapons and a lock-on whose duration depends on your armor's attributes. If you need to get somewhere fast sprinting for a few seconds opens up some kind of afterburner on your armor and your character starts moving so fast the camera's pushed back to a 3rd person view...ok that was probably just a creative decision. Due to the small amount of time i got with the game, i'm going to keep from presentign too much opinion on the gameplay itself, but there are a few things I will mention:
What's going on? there never seems to be a very clear description of the current objective during a match. Things will pop up occasionally like "The enemy has initiated ____" mission" and you'll ned to kill an enemy general or convoy. How these missions get initiated I have no idea. I also have no idea how turrets are constructed or what capturing an area does, but that's also due to my limited time with the game. Basically my issue is how little the game holds your hand but again I had very little time with the game and this was a beta. By the time the player finishes the single-player campaign they should have an answer to these questions. Except maybe: Why does the shotgun look just like the Assault rifle?

Sex and Playstation; Grow up.

So I'm still sifting through the mass of news that accompanies E3 and finding the stuff worth writing about as well as waiting for confirmation on some of the more shadowy details that came out of this year's expo (Metal Gear Solid: Rising, I'm looking at you.) before I start writing my coverage of the videogame circus that is E3. In the meantime, however, I came across some of the details of BioWare's new IP: Dragon Age: Origins and the mounting controversy that tickled my irritate bone just enough that I had to write something about it. BioWare's including sexual relationships in the game. Gasp!

This isn't a first for a BioWare game, and far from a first for the industry, yet people still can't seem to get past it. Look people, sex happens. It's a regular part of everyday life, it's not something that needs to be hidden behind closed doors and looked down upon as something dirty (despite what the Catholic church tells you) just as it's not something to be held up on a pedestal as the ultimate goal in life (despite what the porn industry tells you) and if you're telling the story of an adult's life, sex is most likely going to be part of it. Yet the general public can't seem to accept this and continue to think of sex in videogames the same way they think of sex in their parents lives: it doesn't happen.
But let's get more into BioWare's take specifically. The first time they got into hot water (or Hot Coffee maybe?) was with the game Mass Effect. At the game's outset you create your own character, male or female, and edit their appearance however you like. Whatever you decide, there are two potential romantic interests. There is a male or female human depending on which sex you chose to play as and there is also an alien that is technically neither male nor female, yet whose appearance suggests the latter. Beyond the finger wagging that including a sexual relationship in their game earned them, BioWare also found controversy for allowing players to engage in an apparent lesbian encounter with said alien. What!? Videogames promoting tolerance!? Blasphemy! Depravity! Pornography!
To some of you that may sound stupid, but I remind those of you that we, as a society, still can't seem to decide if we should let homosexuals marry despite the fact that no one has yet put forth a legitimate reason not to. Videogames already catch flak and endure absurd levels of controversy for depicting things commonplace in other mediums so this really shouldn't have been such a surprise. Yet I remain flabbergasted by this. Yes, my flabber has been thoroughly gasted. There are games that throw in sex gratuitously (see the menage a trois minigames in the God of War series, or any Leisure Suit Larry game in general) but those are done in a very tongue-in-cheek way and never made out to be anything more then they are: indulgent, adolescent fantasy intended purely for entertainment. Speaking of God of War, it amuses/irritates me to no end that a game where you can literally tear a guy's arm off and impale him with it faced the most opposition because of it's depiction of bare breasts (this is Greek mythology we're dealing with) and a threesome minigame, with the actual threesome taking place off-screen no less!
BioWare games take an appropriately mature approach to the subject and make it more about the relationship itself and the consequences of adding sex to it. Choose the alien to foster your adult relationship with and your fiery subordinate is going to get angry and pout. Choose said spitfire and the alien will be hurt but understanding. And since your characters and the choices you've made carry on to the game's sequels (isn't modern technology grand) those consequences are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Dragon Age seems to be taking that idea of consequences even further (it didn't take place until almost the very end in Mass Effect...is that a spoiler? Whatever.) with your choices between romantic partners and how your relationship with one affects your relationship with the other, and possibly even more people than you would have thought. And as is the case with real life, even getting these relationships to the point where sex becomes a possibility takes some real effort. Shacking up with one woman makes the other jealous, and maybe even angry or hostile. If you've been flirting with both up to that point, the consequences are even more tangible than had you simply pursued one and left the other to her own devices.
Now both of these women appear to be more than just eye candy and a chance to get your groove on, they serve gameplay purposes. For example, Morrigan is a sorceress. If you break her heart she's not going to lend her magic to your side in battle...and there's always the chance she'll turn you into a toad. Alright, maybe not the toad part but you get my meaning.
The point is, people get to hung up on the sex. Sex is just sex people, it's an integral part of everyday life; without it we can't survive as a species. What seems to get lost amidst the idiocy, is what taking it to a sexual level means to your romantic relationship as well as how it affects, directly or indirectly, your relationship with others, it's part of the story. If you want to depict an adult that has a fully-realized romantic relationship, sex is going to be a part of that relationship. Pretending sex doesn't happen just because it makes you twitch is simply adding a level of pure fantasy to the story you're attempting to tell. The game isn't forcing you to have sex either, it's simply making the option available. This is a role-playing game, after all, a game in which you play a role, and putting as many options as possible at the player's disposal is what allows the player to play their role however they want. Want to go around banging any chick that bats her eyelashes at you? Go ahead, as long as you're ready to deal with the consequences of such promiscuity (digital STD's? hmmmm...). Want to be celibate and act like you're some kind of priest while simultaneously going around killing things? Hey, it is a fantasy game.
Forgetting the relationship and getting hung up on the sex part -- thinking it should be kept in the dark and out of sight -- is the reaction of a repressed individual and I pity you. Sex is sex, it's normal, it's fun, and most of all it's necessary. If you can't find a way to wrap your mind around that and move on with your life...well, you need to grow up.

Modern Warfare 2 Screenshots.

For those of you interested in seeing how Modern Warfare 2 is shaping up graphically, IGN has got some new screenshots.

Aliens Vs Predator: Like the Movies, Only Good.

For those of you that don't play videogames and have only experienced this wet dream of violence through the movies...sucks to be you. Hopefully there are gamers out there old enough to remember the original Aliens vs. Predator game from a decade ago and won't be turned off by the lame movies, because this one's looking preeetty suh-weet.

Rebellion is back on the job and hopefully the fact that they haven't really made a good game since the original AVP just is a sign that they are only meant to make games in that series, not that they've lost their touch. OK...Rogue Trooper was decent.

Back to the main topic, the new Aliens vs Predator appears to be something of a reboot (man those are popular these days) as it's not a direct sequel. The game will be coming to the PC, PS3 and Xbox360.

Unlike the original which let you choose whether you wanted to play as Human, Alien, or Predator, this one takes a Call of Duty 4 approach and switches you between the 3 for each level. Apparently all that's been shows so far is the Predator side, but according to IGN, it's damn fun. Despite what you may think of the Predator, he's not a tank-like killing machine, he is a very ninja-like hunter whose main objective is to separate individuals from the crowd and take them down one by one. The biggest aid in successfully playing this way is undoubtedly the Predator's signature cloaking device, i.e. you go all shimmery and invisible like in the movies. Honestly, if you just think back to the Predator movies you'll have a pretty good idea of what's at his disposal. The aforementioned cloak, infrared vision, wrist-mounted extendable blades, that triangle laser-sighted gun (plasma caster), there's rumored to be that bladed boomerang from Predator 2, and perhaps coolest of all is the Focus visual mode.

Focus mode displays all kinds of information about your surroundings and enemies. Need to find your objective? Focus mode. Want to know what weapons that marine is carrying? Focus mode. Want to know if jumping to that bit of ground from a tree is going to make enough noise to attract attention? Focus. Mode.

Speaking of attracting attention, you can mimic a human voice in order to lure marines away. Since you can set traps with mines, or just rip his skull and spine out (and keep it as a trophy, literally) with your blades, this can lead to all kinds of sadistic fun. The same goes for aliens (well not the voice part, obviously...they don't' really talk) but killing them is a bit more of a challenge.

Now, if you've got an Alien at a distance, there's not much issue. One shot from your plasma caster and that Alien is a pile of entrails. The problem is that they like to move in packs and are very good at sneaking up on you. Once an alien is in close, you're in trouble. If you remember the movies, Aliens have acid blood. This means that if you're up close when you kill one, especially with your blades, you're in for a world of pain. Getting a corpse-full of acid sprayed on your face hurts...a lot.

But these aren't the only enemies. There's the obligatory Alien queen to take care of and somewhere out there lurks a Predalien, a mix of both Predator and Alien seen in the movie Alien vs Predator: Requiem. So if this game sounds pretty sweet to you, check out some more in-depth coverage over at IGN.

E3: Like Hannukkah for Nerds!

Only shorter. Yes, it's E3 time again. And with the Electronic Entertainment Expo comes a LOT of videogaming news. Every day of the event there are new announcements from every company, whether it's one of the hardware companies (Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony) or software (EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Naughty Dog, etc.) there's plenty to keep a gaming fan busy, which means there's plenty to keep a gaming blogger busy as well.
I'm going to do my best to keep up with all the major announcements and post them along with commentary in keeping with my sense of humor. All in an effort keep my theoretical readers entertained and abreast of what's going on, don't you feel special? If I do miss something, however, well...I don't care. But feel free to wine about it so I have something to ignore.
Happy E3!

Downloadable "Braaaaaiiinnns." Zombie Apocalypse.

Zombie Apocalypse. Just sounds cool doesn't it? Well sometime next month we'll find out if it plays as cool as it sounds when Konami and Nihilistic's game hits the Playstation Store and Xbox Live Arcade.

As you've probably guessed from the title, this game involves killing zombies, lots of them. This is a four-person top-down shooter that probably has more in common with Zombies Ate My Neighbors than Left 4 Dead (with a control setup akin to Geometry Wars or Super Stardust), but should satisfy fans of both.

Basically, you pick one of four characters (very reminiscent of Left 4 Dead) and then use everything from machine guns, flamethrowers and chainsaws to make the undead...re-dead. There are several environmental hazards to use in disposing of the zombies as well. An airport level, for example, has a running jet engine that you can push the zombies into, resulting in a satisfying spray of blood and gore.

Each "day" of this particular apocalypse will act as a level within the game, 55 in total. In typical videogame fashion, each level will get progressively harder with denser waves of zombies and even a few special zombies that are more dangerous. So far the game definitely looks to be as fun as a barrel full of...zombies...that you get to shoot at.

Let's just hope all the zombies are white (Caucasian? do we worry about political correctness here?) so we don't end up with another Resident Evil 5 fiasco. (Really people? They're videogames...about ZOMBIES. Lighten up.)

If you want to check out some more in-depth coverage on the game, head on over to the Playstation Blog.

Team Ico Project #3

So it looks like Team Ico has finally released something more on it's third game than that damn cryptic teaser image.

Or at least that's the word so far. This new video footage is from PlaystationLifeStyle.net, which is a rumor site, and is getting here through a story on joystiq. Rumor, however, does not necessarily mean false, and though the footage hasn't been confirmed, the opening scene does have a shot identical to the official teaser image. This game will be a follow up to the highly respected Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.