The Pixel Diaries - Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Edition

I’ve already stated my thoughts on the issues surrounding the direction of the Gran Turismo series in a previous post, so I’ll focus mainly on my actual play experience here. I’m not quite finished with it yet, but have a good 80% of the races complete. I’ve found my hours with the game enjoyable, if a little lacking in something.

For my first hour of playtime it was pretty easy to figure out what wasn’t there. Any form of actual gameplay. I had to work through a twenty odd minute install, followed by an equally lengthy system update which was required to access any of the online modes. Even then I had to download an update in-game to get everything working, which failed on the first three attempts but eventually followed through to completion. I miss the old days where I could just insert a disk and play. It’s this kind of thing that puts me of PC gaming.

Anyway, the graphics, perhaps the biggest advancement in this franchise update, are of course pretty damn impressive. The in-car view is essential for a truly immersive experience, and I’m going to struggle without the option in other racing games. There are plenty of jaggies mind, much more than any screenshots would have you believe, but they’re widely ignorable, especially if viewing in higher resolutions (I’m personally playing in 1080i).

The racing is very smooth, and even with full simulation settings it’s easily controllable and accessible (I told you it wasn’t a simulator…) However, I felt things get a little dull after a while, which is strange when it’s frankly very addictive. I can’t put my finger on why I feel this way. Maybe things are a little slow. Maybe the presentation is just too clinical after playing something like Burnout Paradise. Perhaps it ties in with my previous statement of it not being arcade enough to be as fun as PGR, or realistic enough to trump Forza. Or maybe it’s just down to the fact that it’s a teaser, and simply lacks the options I’m used to.

Other things to note are the great car selection, with all the latest wave of Japanese imports available, from the award winning Nissan GTR to the refined Mitsubishi Evo X, and of course the series first ever Ferraris. I also have to mention how useless the AI is at times. There’s typically a few cars at the front of the 16 strong pack that pose a serious challenge, but I’ve encountered situations where at least half a dozen opponents have misjudged the same corner and resulted in dust flying in so many directions it feels like a sandstorm. It’s like playing online.

Despite the craziness, I’m glad I purchased it and it’s nice to see what modern technology can do with a classic franchise. I’ve yet to take it online proper, so expect a final update to appear below this text soonish.

The Pixel Diaries - Resistance: Fall of Man Edition

Another PlayStation 3 game finished; another unspectacular 12 hour campaign to be forgotten about. I’m seriously a little tired of putting in so much time for so little reward in the long term. Well, what can I say? ‘Resistance’ is a good game. It doesn’t crash, it doesn’t play badly, it looks quite impressive in places, it mixes things up with vehicle sections and has a fair good amount of enemy types to keep you on your toes. Would I recommend fighting through it to experience all of these features? Not really. It’s just another passable shooter, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but if the aftershocks of any of last years FPS titans are still buzzing round in you’re head you’re only going to notice what isn’t there.

I felt no atmosphere. This could be blamed on the repetitive environments, or maybe the generic appearance of the aliens, or the terribly dull soundtrack, or the dry story, or the lack of any particular stand out missions. It lacks the humour, the spine chilling score and the random moments of hilarious havoc of 'Halo'. It lacks the creativity, suspense, mood and exceptional level design of 'BioShock'. It shows no signs of the vastness, believability and sheer immersion of 'Half-Life 2'. It’s a shooter as generic as they come. Is there any reason to play it at all? I guess some of the weapons are interesting, like a rifle that shoots through walls forcing you to constantly dodge bullets, even when in another room from the action. There’s also a moment when a giant mechanical mole machine blasts through one wall and into the next right in front of your nose. That was pretty cool I guess, but it’s almost halfway through the game and proberbly isn't worth the effort.

So a generally disappointing title, but my lack of enjoyment stems from interesting reasons. I think I may replay all of those mentioned modern-classic shooters, pick a particular ten minute highlight from each, and map out why they work so well. It would be interesting to see if there are any reoccurring factors that provide a key to shooter success. In the meantime 'GTA IV' is going to supply a much needed booster injection to my gamer veins and hopefully get me all happy and excited about picking up the controller again.

The Pixel Diaries - Ratchet & Clank Future Edition

This one took a little while longer that I would have liked, seeing as I got caught up with work for most of last week, but alas, the game is now done. My impressions of this are very similar to my previous impressions of Uncharted (is that really the last game I played before this? Oh my), which can generally be summed up as a great looking and perfectly constructed game, but lacking in anything new or special that makes it at all a memorable experience. Each planet, which there are 20 of, are unique in their design and take around 30 well paced minutes to work through, but none really stand out as particularly wowing or spectacular, nor did any provide a real challenge, though I can’t be bothered with getting stuck when I’m trying to play PS3 catch up here.

But, as I said of Uncharted, ‘Ratchet Future’ provides a great introduction to ‘the power of PS3’. In fact I even went as far as to load up the original ‘Ratchet & Clank’ on the PS2 and switch between the two games with my remote, and let me tell you, it crushes any debate over whether this generation has really advanced in visual terms. They’re a world apart, to the point where it becomes almost unimaginable as to how you could ever stand to play a PS2 ‘Ratchet’ game at all. On the other hand, they control exactly the same. I gave the first level of ‘Ratchet & Clank’ a quick blast through right after completing ‘Tools of Destruction’, and the most noticeable difference in gameplay is a lack of a strafe button. Everything else plays and stays exactly the same, which isn’t particularly reassuring when you consider that this is the fifth game in the series. Then again, Insomniac pretty much mastered platform gaming back in the ‘Spyro’ days.

I generally did enjoy playing through it, even though it provided nothing new, and I certainly don’t count it as a waste of time. But as with Naughty Dog, I just hope they do something more special in the future. Personally I think it’s time for a new direction. ‘Spyro’ ruled the PlayStation era, ‘Ratchet’ only got better through the next, but now is time for new characters and a new world to explore. In the meantime, the next on my list is Insomniac’s other game, ‘Resistance: Fall of Man’, which I’ll hopefully have rounded off within a week from now.

The Pixel Diaries - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Edition

I don’t want to go into the same amount of detail with this one as I usually do, seeing as it’s not particularly new or old enough to be considered a classic. I’m just a little late to the PS3 party. Nonetheless I’ll share a few quick opinions, seeing as this is a play ‘diary’ after all. Rather than doing the usual staggered posts as I progress, I decided to just finish the game and do an overall conclusion of the entire experience.

I enjoyed the game on the whole, mostly down to its lush tropical visuals and generally sturdy gameplay. It had some memorable moments, particularly scaling a giant concrete wall hundreds of feat above the ocean and some fun vehicle levels. But what stops it from being special is just how generic everything is. Its puzzles and environments are fine, but lack the beauty and attention to detail found in Ico. Its gunplay and hand to hand combat is in working order, but without the satisfaction and intensity of Gears of War. That doesn’t make it a bad or boring game, but I certainly didn’t feel like I got anything out of it by the end.

I think it needed a better art direction to set it apart. Looking at the early concept art found in the ‘Bonus’ section of the game, early character models of Nathan Drake and his enemies are cartoony, with exaggerated features more in kin with Naughty Dog’s previous outings in the Jak and Daxter series. I think this visual approach would have given it some much needed character, rather than the bland ‘uncanny valley’ it sits in now, though I guess Sony was in need of a showcase for their console’s graphical potential. I also would have liked more emphasis on exploration rather than combat, and perhaps some more creative uses of the environment other than simply climbing, leaping and swinging. Maybe some water rapids and even bungee jumping and hang gliding sections to add variety.

A solid game and a great introduction to the PlayStation 3’s capabilities, but an essentially familiar and forgettable experience in the long term. This is Naughty Dog’s franchise for this console generation, the same as Jak and Crash were to previous generations of the PlayStation, and they’re no strangers to change. Just look at the difference between Jak and Daxter and Jak II: Revenge. This gives me hope that they’ll achieve something new in the sequel. They’re certainly a very talented and creative team of people, so I have every confidence they won’t disappoint.

Expect a few more of last years PS3 titles to get a brief word in the coming weeks.

The Pixel Diaries - Silent Hill 2 Edition

I’ve always tried to make room for old releases in my tight gaming schedule, a rule I often ignore. I’ve never known why it always was the way that the new always seemed far more worth my time than the old, and why it only seemed to apply to videogames. The thing is, when I sit down to play a game, I want it to be a good game that provides me with a memorable and satisfying experience, so why is it that I struggle so hard to shun ‘latest generic space-marine FPS ‘ to the side and pick up a classic that I missed first time round? Well, I want that to change, and Silent Hill 2 has always been a game I’ve read enough about to write a book on it, but never actually experienced it first hand. I picked up the limited edition (unfortunately not the ‘director’s cut’) for peanuts last weekend in the second hand section of the local game store, so now it’s time to start a trend of catching up with what I’ve missed. It’s also worth saying that this is my first Silent Hill, and one of my first survival horror experiences outside of Condemned and various demos.

Currently I’m only about two hours in, having just left the apartment block to enter…an apartment block. What’s grabbed me so far? The sound, both diegetic and non, is fantastic. BioShock may have somewhat surpassed it, but it’s still the main source of scaring me so far. That may be saying more if the enemies I’ve encountered as of present weren’t so…lazy. The mannequins are disturbing when they turn up through the darkness at the end of a corridor, but they hardly pose a threat. As for the gargling corpses that stagger towards you so hopelessly before diving to the floor and crawling away, well I just kinda feel sorry for them. But don’t get me wrong, I’m expecting this game to terrify the crap out of me before its closure, and whole point of these ‘diaries’ is to document by feelings at different stages of completion to see how my views evolve throughout the hours of play.

Other noticeable things include my first encounter with Pyramid Head. From what I understand, he’s apparently a very interesting character, and judging by how many party costumes I’ve seen based on him I can only assume I won’t forget him in a hurry. I’ve also grown fond of the strange static effect that is forever smothering the screen. It makes things just that little bit creepier, and also somewhat covers up the fact that it’s an old PS2 game and hence isn’t much of a looker compared to what I’m used to. Nonetheless I’m on the verge of becoming hooked. I’ve also grown fond of the idea of playing through a stack of classic horror games and comparing the lot for chills, but it’s a busy year already so I’ll have to see. More impressions in the coming days.

The Pixel Diaries - Devil May Cry 4 Edition

The Devil May Cry series is generally alien to me. I picked up the first game for a fiver second hand a couple of years ago, and had proceeded no more than around two hours into it before I hit a brick wall and had to bail out. I just don’t do hard games, and Capcom make a lot of them (I never finished Dead Rising or Lost Planet either – guess why?) But for some strange reason I bought a copy of this, partly because I heard they brought down the difficulty for newcomers like myself, and partly because I always felt like I was missing out on something really great.

I’ve only played for around an hour or two, with three missions under my belt. So far it’s been very straight forwards and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen. I’m waiting for the time when I can really start upgrading my abilities and weapons, the key that unlocks the fighting system that really makes the series what it is. The visuals have so far been very stunning. I’ve always appreciated its gothic art style, and it looks better here than ever before. The music isn’t all that bad either, with some thoughtfully placed and quite beautiful classical vocal pieces creating a nice juxtaposition against the action.

The only bad things so far are the occasionally flawed camera placements and those damn cutscenes. There’s an awful lot of them, and don’t get me wrong, they’re amongst the most ‘film-like’ cutscenes I’ve ever seen, but I often feel that they’re playing out sections which could (and should) be under player control. Watching Nero throw around scarecrows a dozen a time is quite a thrill to watch, but I’m often left thinking if the game will save some for me.

Nonetheless, this is the best I’ve felt playing a Devil May Cry before, and I’m actually quite interested in where the story will go (though I heard the final hours are a let down). I’ll come back to this when around half way through the game, or when I get dead stuck, to post some more detailed impressions on the deepening combat system. I’m getting a clear feeling that this is sure to be the game of the month already. Oh and one final thing, whether the game proves to be great or not, one thing for sure is that the limited edition version wins the award for best box art and packaging. It deserves to be framed.

Update, 14th February 2008

I've been chipping away at this quite slowly over the last few days, to the disappointment of a gamer friend who is nearing his third play through, but it's not to do with me disliking the game, or even the game being much of a challenge (on Human difficulty at least). I just tend to fill satisfied after completing a single level, which tends to take half an hour, and following it up with another level just seems exhausting. Nonetheless I'm on the final stretch, playing as Dante, around level thirteen of twenty.

As a newcomer, I've gradually pieced each element of the fighting system together bit by bit, taking time out in a quiet and spacious corner of a forest to run through the combos till I'm comfortable with pulling each one of with ease. I'm not raking in any spectacular combos, typically finishing each level with a B-grade, but I've only died once, and that was during a secret mission. Progress has been swift and I've really caught onto the gameplay a lot more than I ever thought I would have. For every new upgrade or ability learnt, combat just gets a little bit more exciting, until eventually you're longing for the bigger enemies just to let the sparks and bullets fly.

The forest sections are spectacularly beautiful, and the interiors rival Gears of War for gothic detail. Oh, and I no longer have complaints about the cutscenes. I now look forwards to seeing them because they're so well put together, and the voice acting (particularly with Nero) is really as good as it comes. Nero's screams and whimpers for his beloved Kyrie remind me of DiCaprio's performance in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (speaking of which, doesn't Kyrie look just like Claire Danes? Sorry.)

Most importantly I'm getting a feeling. A feeling I don't often get in videogames, and one I often ignore when it does come about. I'm forever getting an urge to really master this game, to replay it and replay it till I'm the best a player can ever be, till I can take it on the hardest setting and slash through it with a triple-S ranking at the end, and do so with ease. I just feel like I'm not getting the full experience playing it at a low setting, as essential as it is to get me comfortable with the game. I don't know, maybe I'll finish it and move on to whatever's next, but I must admit a part of me really does want to become a pro with this game, just so I can prove to myself I can be if I put the hours in. We'll see.

I'll try to post my final impressions after I've finished my first play through within the next few days. But I'll say it now, whether you've enjoyed DMC in the past or just found it too damn inaccessible like myself, this is really worth looking at. It's forgiving on lower settings, and has some real memorable moments and superb performances that all game fans should witness. Buy it, rent it, borrow it, just make sure you play it in some way or another.

Final Update, 15th February 2008

Phew, I went from a level a day to charging through the second half of the game in about three sessions. Well, that concludes my first play through, and I’m left feeling very satisfied by its conclusion. It’s nice when some effort is put into the final moments, not just in terms of gameplay but also in the cutscenes and humour. I’m left wanting to do nothing more than restart on the next difficulty setting and go through it all over again, which I guess is the major point to these games.

Another thing that stood out was the relationship between Nero and Kyrie. I’ve already mentioned the Romeo and Juliet similarities, but seriously, it’s often quite touching, and you can really feel Nero’s desperation and determination to keep her safe. Something I never expected from a game that features a woman who refuses to wear underwear and better breast physics than Dead or Alive Xtreme. Jesus… But really, I’ve grown attached to Kyrie almost as much as I grew attached to The Boss in MGS3, and that’s saying something. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, whatever your history with the series is, give this one a play. If it can hook me it can hook anyone. It’s a remarkably solid, beautiful game, and shouldn’t just be experienced by series veterans.

The Pixel Diaries - Rez HD Edition

When this game was originally released on Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, to be honest I proberbly never gave it a second look. My taste in videogames was just too traditionally mainstream to see the appeal of it. In recent years it’s become almost a holy grail, fetching inflated prices on ebay and never turning up in the used section of game stores. Its rebirth on Live Arcade is one of the greatest things I could have asked for, a second chance for gamers to get hold of it, and a second chance for the developers (see Digital Auteurs below) to build it how it was always intended to be. High definition, 5.1 surround sound and online scoreboards.

I finished the game yesterday, or at least stages 1-5, and it left me pretty speechless. When you complete a first-person shooter you have similar games to compare your experience to, so it’s easy to recognise when something is special. But with Rez there are practically no comparisons to make. You know it was fantastic, but you’ve no idea what it was that made it so fantastic. It’s just an enthralling and beautifully made visual and audio experience. It’s short, it’s simple, and it’s generally very easy to complete, but while those would seem to be complaints when dealing with other games, here that’s just missing the point. Rez HD constantly shifts you from the deepest and most relaxed depths of your seat, to the very frantic edge in a shift of environment and rhythm.

It’s first 4 stages essentially act as a fast moving tutorial, or perhaps a taster, easing you into its unique design philosophies. Achieve 100% analyzation on each of these levels (generally achievable first time without problems) and you’ll unlock stage 5, by far the main event, and the thing fans come back to every time to re-experience. Suddenly the black and neon lined tunnels and valleys disappear and give way to an expansive digital vector-world of trees, landscapes and mountains. The pace is slower, yet the action is far more erratic. The multiple levels per stage concept vanishes and is replaced instead with a sequence of short narrative bursts, describing the birth, evolution and death of new life, and the future of our existence. The half hour level lays a knockout blow to any ‘games as art’ debate, and provides the audience with a window looking into what our medium could really provide if we weren’t so often bogged down with sticking to proven genres and play styles, constantly thieving techniques from films that barely hold together when put under the strain of interactivity.

I’m not finished with the game yet. I’ve got ‘lost’ levels and other various unlockables to play through, and the second half of the achievement points to work for, both of which I’m looking forwards to. To be honest I never thought I’d like this game. Appreciate its originality, yes, and its visual design, of course, but I never gave much hope to becoming a true believer, grasping Mizuguchi’s intentions and hailing Rez as a landmark achievement. But Rez HD has shattered by expectations. When the credits began to roll, the only memory of having a similar feeling within me was when finishing Portal, that knowing of having played something truly new and unexpected. It took Rez seven years to find its way to me, but it was worth the wait. I beg you to try it if you haven’t already, and not give up with it until you’ve experienced its final stage. If it’s not your thing, fair enough, I proberbly would have felt the same several years ago, but when priced at only 800 points it’s worth that risk. This has provided me with the first great gaming moment of 2008. Please don’t let this pass you by again.

The Pixel Diaries - Burnout Paradise Edition

This’ll be a new mini-feature for the blog. I’ve already mentioned why I’ll avoid normal reviews, mainly down to how I myself have only a few select sources which I trust when deciding whether to make a purchase. Instead, I’ll post simple impressions of the game as I work my way through it, stating the things I’ve come across, good and bad, and basically giving a small narration of my experiences. In a perfect world the readers would comment and a discussion would be born, but I won’t expect anything like that to happen so soon in this blogs development.

So I’ll start with something that a lot of people will be playing around the time of writing, the newly released (and rebirth) of the great Burnout franchise.

Some history: I’ve bought or rented every Burnout console instalment since Point of Impact, and often have felt the same mix of excitement and frustration. It’s definitely been a love/hate relationship. The Burnout 2 theme song filled me with nostalgia when I heard it pop up on the Paradise soundtrack, reminding me of the sunsets, the brightly coloured Japanese tuner cars, the Hot Pursuit mode and multiplayer Crash sessions. Burnout 3 reminds me, of course, of the takedowns, of squeezing in a ten minute Road Rage event before breaking away for school. For Revenge, I’m unfortunately left with only the frustration that met me in aiming for Gold medals in every event, and the easiness of blasting through traffic. Paradise is bravely different this time around, and after a few hours of play (around the 20% mark) I’m still deciding whether it’s for better or for worse.

The free roaming world, the biggest change, has met me with a divide. On one hand, I love being able to mess around with Burnouts perfected driving mechanics to my hearts content in an open playground. I love the absence of menus, the sense of scale, and it looks fantastic. My problems? Burnout is a fast game, and trying to navigate at speed has come to be an issue. I’m in a race; I’m at the head of the pack, ahead of me the road splits out to multiple routs. I’m in mid-boost and my eyes flicker to the mini map for a split second so I can prepare myself for the sharp left I need to take. But by the time my eyes are back on the road I’m already their. I powerslide to the left, but I miss it completely. At best I crash into the divide barrier. At worst I head down the wrong rout. Driving too fast to pull a u-turn now I can only hope I can find my way to the finish. This has happened many times for me, quite often by naively taking a short-cut which consequentially throws me onto a highway or rail track I have no chance of escaping from in a hurry. Multiple routs to the finish sounds great on paper, but not when only one will get you there quickly, the others extending your drive distance by miles. If u-turns weren’t so hard to do in a hurry it may not be all bad, but I find myself often pulling 3-point turns instead. In the meantime I bring up the city map every minute to plan ahead. It works, but it kills the pace and urgency of a street race.

The rest of my time has been pretty great. Once learning the city centre I can tend to avoid hitting into barriers and buildings which were originally too hard to figure out on the horizon at speed. I felt a little cheated (read, psychologically tortured) when after a particularly hard, frantic, near ever-lasting Marked Man event I spun out, one life remaining, meters from the finish line. No problem, I’ll just shift this beast into reverse and skid along the line backwards before the bad guys catch up with me, I though. Instead reversing apparently cancels the event you’re in. Why? No idea, but it pissed me off having to go through it again. Whatever, this is just nit picking, but it’s what stands out. I typically play the game for a very enjoyable and progressive hour, before turning it off in rage after something annoying happens, usually not my personal fault, but it’ll pass I’m sure.

Overall, so far so frantic, but not so perfect. Expect an update with my first online experiences (at least since the demo) and thoughts on Showtime’s replacement of the beloved Crash mode.

Update, 31st January 2008

Last time I was pretty much complaining about the frustration the game brought me, and although that hasn't completely disappeared in recent sessions, it's certainly not as predominant as it first was. I believe this is mostly down to me learning the map, laying off of the boost more often, and driving different, more controllable cars (with more spare crash lives).

The things that stand out this time are the little things that only an open world game can achieve. Two given examples of this are when I stumbled upon an abandoned stock car racing track, complete with banked corners, completely cut off from the streets and buildings. I imagine that when online (still haven't pressed that D-pad button yet...) I'll be able to create races around it. The second thing I stumbled upon was what appeared to be small airplane runway filled with ramps. What was cool was the giant concrete tubes hanging from cranes 50ft high in the air for corkscrewing through after boosting off a superjump ramp. It reminds me of similar things in GTA and (gulp) Driv3r, where the world can seem like a playground of car flying destruction. Other than that, I've taken to streaming off an all-star grunge soundtrack from the iPod after Alice in Chains sounded so great on the game's original soundtrack.

What I think the game needs to do is push more in the 'playground feel', and give the overall world of Paradise a bit more beauty and character. A day-night cycle would be out of the question for disk space (at least on 360 - as was the case with PGR4), but sometimes I long to cruse over a hill to be met with a warm orange glowing sunset. It's those moments where you just lay back and smile about how great the game is making you feel. Drifting down GTA: Vice City's neon strip at night while listening to Jan Hammer on EmotionFM gave the world a real sense of being and beauty, the kind of thing that gamers look back on with nostalgia. I know Burnout Paradise could have so easily achieved this, but I think it's a missed chance.

Nonetheless, the game has really picked up for me. I'll proberbly post once more in the coming days about my online experiences and Showtime playthrough, two things I just haven't got round to exploring yet.