Video Games Today

You have no doubt noticed that no posts have been made on VGToday in a long time. This is due to some staff inactivity, staff deciding to leave, my computer breaking, and dealing with my Xbox getting RRoD. We will be starting again tomorrow.

Also, note that the Feedburner stats on the right are inaccurate again, showing a fair amount of subscriptions not there. I will contact Google about this, and get it fixed ASAP.

Thanks for you guys' patience!

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

You have probably noticed our lack of posts lately, but that is all changing soon! We have all been really busy getting into this new year and I have opened up my new website (Click Here), which has kept me busy. We will start back up with the latest news next Monday!

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

Can a single title save Sony's plight and ignite flagging PS3 sales? It's unlikely. Is Guerrilla Games' effort a defining PS3 exclusive blockbuster, which will at least assure long-suffering PS3 owners? Definitely. Is it worth forking out for a PS3? ... Possibly.

Ever since Sony's infamous use of CG sequences to demonstrate the "possibilities" offered by the PS3 back in 2005, Guerrilla Games' flagship title has found itself under a tremendous degree of scrutiny. Could the PS3 actually manage to pull off the visual quality hinted towards, or was it all just smoke and mirrors? Let's admit it; it wouldn't be the first time Sony has resorted to such trickery.

If rumours are led to be believed then a considerable budget and access to Sony's finest tools, technology, and talent have certainly helped to ensure KillZone 2 is worthy of that footage. Purists could argue that such fidelity is restricted to a handful of sections within KillZone 2 and they're largely cut-scenes. But there's little denying that Guerrilla Games' first PS3 title is a visual masterpiece, eclipsing everything we've seen so far on the format and putting the likes of Gears of War into its place.


Picking up the events two years after the original KillZone, Guerrilla Games has deliberately ensured knowledge of the 2004 PS2 title is not a pre-requisite to enjoy the action. An entirely new cast of characters face this struggle between the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) and the Helghan, with the return of Col. Jan Templar providing the only real link to the first game. The ISA's attack on the Helghast planet of Helghan also brings us up to date with the continuing battle between both factions and explores the deeper reasons of why.

So begins eight chapters of pretty intense shooter action. Let's get this out of the way immediately, KillZone 2 isn't the greatest first-person shooter ever created, but then again neither was Halo. Half Life 2 and Modern Warfare still manage to share that honour. But KillZone 2 doesn't need to be. Beyond ensuring a solid shooter experience, the key requisite for KillZone 2 is (rightfully or wrongfully) whether Guerrilla could actually pull it off. And in answer to this, PS3 fans will be happy to know it's a most certain yes. "Hollywood Realism" is the wonderfully opaque term Guerrilla Games has used to describe KillZone 2, something that actually isn't merely the hyperbole that it suggests. There's a constant sense of dynamism to KillZone 2 and the world of Helghan. Wind gushes across the Helghan terrain to create a convincing sense of atmosphere that you can almost feel, while the forceful physics engine creates a gameworld that's utterly believable. Objects fly across the sky when the action heats up, yet there's a sense of solidity to everything unlike the many flimsy, plastic examples we've seen in other shooters.

Unfortunately, although the game captures the visual flair of those trailers, it rarely manages to capture the diversity and concept in terms of the mission challenges and gameplay. All too often the game falls down into familiar territory, with only the occasional section straying beyond the genre's conventions of shooting increasingly tougher opponents. Although KillZone 2 ticks many of the boxes for a solid fps experience, throwing ambushes, squad, and solitary sections into the mix, the game's pacing and occasional bland level designs prevent it from reaching the echelons of the genre's finest. Guerrilla hasn't attempted to throw anything new into the mix, and who can blame them when the pressure was on to deliver the PS3's visual magnum opus? The strict reliance on the check boxes however is a little too stringent for our liking, and whilst sections such as the assault on a speeding train are solid enough, the overwhelming sensation is one of 'seen it all before'!


The assortment of arms is what you'd expect from a shooter with even the more creative Helghast weaponry failing to offer anything that feels particularly new. Equally the handful of sections that require you to jump aboard a tank feel as though they're included just because other shooters have vehicular sections. There are exceptions: jumping onboard the AA guns onboard the ISA Cruiser New Sun feels closer to Star Wars than most other attempts ("great kid, don't get cocky"), while the mech section later in the game is pretty remarkable - all the more surprising considering we're not traditionally fond of mechs in shooters (Quake IV anyone?).

The covering system is the exception. Its implementation can be compared to that of the Rainbow Six Vegas series, just without the gimmicky need to switch the view to a third-person. Tapping a shoulder button attaches you to the nearest wall or object, with the ability to move around it and lean and peek out of cover to shoot. It's not without its problems, but it does provide a more tangible blend of old-school PC style and newer examples without degenerating into the virtual equivalent of whack-a-mole.

Guerrilla certainly deserves credit for its implementation of motion-sensitive controls as well. Wisely opting to restrict its usage to the gimmicky nature that it deserves instead of trying to develop control setups inextricably based around it, KillZone 2 uses the SixAxis/DualShock 3 motion controls for subtle commands such as turning gauges, steadying your aim when sniping, or planting mines - brilliant. Thankfully it's also largely a solid game without the glitches or bugs that thwarted the original. AI is generally very impressive and puts up a good challenge, although the kamikaze technique of certain Helghan troops does provide a weakness that can easily be exploited. As did the availability of the Electricity Gun during a later stage, its imbalance completely removing the sense of challenge from a game that generally steps up in challenge suitably as it progresses.

Of course no shooter is worth its RRP on a single-player campaign alone. It's the online multiplayer that really makes KillZone 2 an essential purchase, and surprisingly where Guerrilla Games has been at their most inventive. Despite the clamour for online play, we've got to applaud Guerrilla Games for including the relatively rare addition of bot support.

With the inclusion of persistent careers linked with the XP system, KillZone 2 may not radically push the boundaries, but the 'Warzone' mode does at least provide something that feels fresh in a fiercely competitive genre. Essentially it's a compendium of tried-and-tested game types into one cohesive game. Such an example begins with the two teams attempting to gain control of command points, the victor winning the round, before the next objective is something like defending or attempting to assassinate a VIP. There's nothing particularly new but the idea to combine each type into one mode is genius, and you're left asking why nobody's really tried this before. The only potential pitfall for KillZone 2 to overcome is whether or not the PlayStation Network can sustain the huge number of hours we expect KillZone 2 to quickly notch up.

Final Rating: 9/10

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

The weight of a new Street Fighter game is not to be taken lightly. After about 10 years of ridiculous turbo hyper super extreme installments which added a new character or a new combo meter in piecemeal, we’ve finally gotten a full-on, true sequel in Street Fighter 4. And as someone who’s not even that big of a Street Fighter fan, it’s easy to see just how good it is. It’s the best 2D fighting game I’ve ever played, the best looking fighting game I’ve ever played and is definitely going to be a standard for a long time to come.

The basics: 25 characters, six of which are brand new playable characters in a Street Fighter game. There’s an arcade mode (a series of AI battles, book ended by story-driven animated sequences), a challenge mode (basically AI Time Trial and Survival challenges for leaderboards and unlockables), a training mode to walk you through each of the characters moves and online play. From a feature-list perspective, it’s pretty basic stuff. There’s no Virtua Fighter-esque quest mode to earn in-game cash or conquer virtual game arcades. There aren’t even minigames to beat up cars! But in place of all that, you have near flawless gameplay.

It’s hard to summarize the depth of Street Fighter, but the comparisons to chess in high speed seem pretty accurate. Everything has a counter, every character can beaten by someone of a higher skill level, and, unlike Soul Calibur, button mashers will be annihilated within seconds of stepping up against another opponent. To a certain extent, this makes it hard for newcomers, as you’re better off playing people around your skill level, but the whopping number of characters means you can always handicap yourself by picking someone you’re not really familiar with.


The biggest new additions to the fighting mechanics are focus attacks. Activated by holding down the Medium Punch and Medium Kick buttons, a focus attack is basically a charged attack that can absorb a single attack from your enemy, allowing you to unleash fury back at them. It’s easy to pull off, requires no complicated button combos, and adds another layer to the combat.

Ultra combos are also new. After taking a certain amount of damage, you’ll be able to unleash an extremely devastating attack back at your enemy. Usually this requires some complex button presses, but if the attack lands you’ll be taking about 1/3rd of your opponents life. It’s hugely telegraphed, but if you’re in mid air or getting up from the ground you may not be able to block it. The idea is to keep everyone in the game. Even if you’re getting crushed, you can still hope to land an Ultra and make a comeback. They also come with super flashy animations and are unique to each character, which makes pulling one off even more satisfying.


The visuals, though, may be the start of the show in Street Fighter 4. The level of detail poured into each and every character and fighting arena borders on OCD. Eyes bulge when hit, barrels knock over when you land an attack near them, monkeys do backflips in the background. Street Fighter 4 is full of life, and looks crisp and bright, a nice change of pace from the browns and dark greens of this generation of games.

There are qualms to note, though. In testing the online play alongside the public, we had major issues when trying to play ranked matches or quick join games. Either it wouldn’t let us connect or we’d be left playing in extreme lag, with a slideshow level of frame rate. Playing against friends in player matches seemed to cure this problem, but the lack of a party lobby system (as seen in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix) means that you can’t have all-night round robin sessions.


The other big issue to consider is that the standard PS3 and 360 controllers are pretty inadequate for playing Street Fighter (or pretty much any other 2D fighting game). You can get by, for sure, but anyone with a joystick or a special gamepad will have a definite edge on you. That’s not really a fault of the game itself, but it’s something to consider if you’re looking to pick it up.

Lastly, we were a bit bummed by the lack of character customization in SF4. The game allows you to unlock 10 alternate colors for your characters, but secondary costumes are relegated to DLC. After seeing incredible character customization in games like Soul Calibur 4 and Virtua Fighter 5, it’s a shame Capcom didn’t go all the way with this one. We would’ve loved to have seen Guile with a big kitty helmet.

With all that said, though, Street Fighter 4 is an immaculate fighting game. The depth of play matched with the incredible visual fidelity makes it a new standard for 2D fighting games and may just revive what has become a niche genre.

Final Rating:8.5/10

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

The Halo Wars demo has hit the XBL Marketplace and we have our demo impressions for you. Halo Wars was developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game is a Xbox 360 exclusive title and releases March 3rd in North America. Hit the jump for my impressions.



The demo gives you the opportunity to play 2 missions in the human campaign, and play unlimited amounts of 1v1 skirmish matches versus the computer. I'll start off with the campaign. Your army is on the UNSC ship the Spirit of Fire orbiting the planet Harvest. Your first mission is a basic tutorial on how to move around and fight. You are then given a hero unit and you set off on the missions. The missions are nothing to scream about, the main part of this demo is the skirmish mode.

Skirmish mode allows you to play as both the covenant and the UNSC, but you must use the preselected leader. For the covenant you can be the Prophet of Regret and for the UNSC you can be the Captain of the Spirit of Fire. Each leader (Six total in retail game; 3 UNSC/ 3 Covenant) has unique units, bonuses, powers, upgrades, perks, etc. to help define their play style. The Captain can use an orbital "sniper bomb" known as the MAC Bomb. With the MAC bomb you pinpoint an area and deal major damage in that small Area of Effect. The Prophet of Regret can use his power to destroy enemies quickly. The prophet, who is a decent fighter/defender early game, can call down a "holy beam" for 10 resources a second to nearly "insta-kill" and units found under it. He also has the unique Honor Elite Guards. These are basically Elites equipped with only energy swords and can cloak to sneak around. From what I tested they are only good to make an early rush with or defend from an early rush. Once the opposing side has middle tier units they are useless, except to be canon fodder.

The demo does not include all units or all of the tech tree so it is hard to estimate how deep this game will be, but from the demo it looks deep enough to keep you interested but will look like a flat experience to hardened PC RTS fans. Another issue is the controls. Many sites have critically acclaimed the controls, but I beg to differ. Sure, the controls work for a console, but there are many useless things maped to buttons that could be used better off. For example, you can use the right trigger to jump between bases and when you pass one and want to go back, you'd click the left trigger...right? Wrong. The left trigger is used to increase scroll speed accross the map. Sure, the increased speed is nice, but could have been implemented much better. They could have just made the scoll speed gradually increase as you scroll, for larger maps.

Overall, Halo Wars looks like a step in the right direction for a console RTS, but it is not the final step. Future console RTS should use Halo Wars as a model, but expand on it. Think of Halo Wars as the skeleton, we just need to add the muscle to it now. Also, after playing EndWar, lack of voice commands seems like a step backwards for a console RTS. I would have really liked to see Ensemble add an option for voice commands for tedious controls, that would free up the controller even more for a deeper experience.

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

You may have noticed our lack of postings recently but we are coming back soon! I have been on vacation without access to the internet and my co-writers have been busy as well. We will be back to bringing you the latest in gaming news, previews, interviews, podcastings, and reviews withing 2-3 days!

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

Our feed count has been deleted agai so I submitted a ticket to feedburner and got this response:

Cool, you recently moved to a Google Account! Your feed stats might be low for a bit; they should return to former levels in about 72 hours.

Hopefully things should return to normal soon.

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

Well our subscription base should be fixed right now. Everyone should be getting the daily subscription emails again. I figured out that Feedburner now requires everyone to migrate their accounts over to their Google accounts for them to function, after I did that the subscribers were restored.

If your are NOT getting your subscription emails, and you were before, them please comment here and explain your problem and we will help you promptly.

Sorry for the Inconvenience,
The VGToday Crew

Update!: The feed count at the right is still not operating correctly, I'll wait 24 hours for it to adjust before questioning it's legitimacy. Remember, those Feedburner subscriber counts are notorious for being incorrect...alot.

Update!: Ok, things should be back at 100% now...thank God.

Read the Rest of This Post...

Feedburner is currently experiencing some issues and our subscriber base has all been deleted. We are currently working to get everything fixed. Sorry for any inconveniences.

The VGToday Crew

Read the Rest of This Post...

The E3 Expo that takes place this June will be open to the public, after a few years of the event being private. Of course, this will come at a price. The price tag for a ticket is currently at 400$ USD and you must be 17 Years or Older with a valid US ID to present. We have applied for a media pass to go to the event, we hope we will get an invite!

Enjoy!
The VGToday Crew

Links:
http://www.e3expo.com/

Read the Rest of This Post...