Dementium II

Alan Wake

• One of the most exceptionally crafted suspense narratives in gaming
• Solid combat and mechanics are more a subtle vehicle than a distracting focus
• Episodic format is perfectly used for the genre

• Occasionally cliché or expected
• Tedious, but rarely

Making History II

Splinter Cell: Conviction

It’s been four years since our last excursion with Mr. Fisher, and Ubisoft has certainly been spending their time wisely. The sixth installment in the series takes some great steps forward in stealth gameplay and narrative presentation, while keeping the core elements of the series intact.

Part of being a super stealthy spy is having the superior training that lets you act quickly and with deadly efficiency. Too many espionage games fail at providing this because of troublesome cameras, unpredictable AI, poorly built aiming mechanisms, etc. Luckily, Conviction avoids most of these issues with ease. “Mark and  Execute” technique allows you to pick a number of targets (based on your currently equipped firearm) within line of sight and swiftly and silently pwn them with the push of a button. Earn this ability by performing a hand-to-hand takedown, and use it as you see fit. The other big mechanic is “Last Known Position”, a basic marker for the player showing where the enemies assume you are, allowing for you to flank with ease. These two additions plus the otherwise solid mechanics make for some brilliant espionage executions. Despite Sam’s occasional inability to jump onto a ledge or hide behind the proper cover, the controls are quite fluid. Also, the “interactive” interrogation scenes are handsome enough, but are a step down from the likes of 2005′s The Punisher.

Although the combat techniques at your disposal have deepened considerably, your arsenal isn’t quite what it was. You’re given a wide array of pistols, assault rifles, shotguns and equipment (EMPs, flash bangs, cameras, etc), but as you spend most of your time creeping through the shadows trying to be quiet, you tend to avoid any non-silenced weapons (75% of your weapons). Additionally, your various kinds of vision and ammo have been removed. This seems more like a decision to concentrate on the narrative and combat, instead of hinder the player’s capacity, and it works well.

The story unfolds like the best of classic espionage fiction. Anyone with a knowledge of the Splinter Cell saga will be instantly rapt, while a newcomer will find simply another great spy experience. However, the experience is not a long one, clocking in at just over six hours, but that’s okay. It’s quite rare to be able to sit down with a game and a high quality narrative and finish it in a sitting or two. Sure, it may leave you wanting more after a few hours, but that’s what the multiplayer is for. The multiplayer Co-op modes are quite excellent, but make sure you’re playing with a friend. A fairly high level of coordination is required to get into the latter difficulties, and trying to pull it off by yourself or with someone you just met can be spotty at best. Co-op doesn’t feature the leveling systems we’re now used to in our multiplayer, but that doesn’t keep it from being seriously addictive.

Splinter Cell has progressed by leaps and bounds. Like past games in the series, each encounter is something like a puzzle. Read the situation, detect the patterns, account for unforeseen liabilities, and execute with ease. What has changed is how much more fast paced and fluid the combat is. Expect the best Jack Bauer James Bond Sam Fisher game so far, and plenty of quality multiplayer to keep you playing.

Likes:

• Top tier espionage gaming.
• Well paced, not overdrawn and engrossing (enough) narrative.
• Fluid controls and combat.

Dislikes:

• No versus mode
• Occasional inability to perform a simple physical task can be frustrating

Review Score

Questions on the Ethics of Internet Piracy

As long as something has existed, so have a group of people existed eager to plunder the goods. Given a basic knowledge of proper tactics, locations and means, any internet user can easily steal (or save, depending on your views) millions of dollars worth of software and media over night. The increasing availability of free yet illegal media means that the new *insert artist here* album could very well garner millions of listeners and not make a cent. However, this incorrectly assumes that all concerned humans entirely lack a basic grasp of economics and business ethics. As the media conglomerates feared, the day of the web pirate has come. Now, we must come to terms with the moral and economic implications of… INTERNET PIRACY! (dum dum dummm)

In the last two months of 2009, over 5 million copies of Modern Warfare 2 were pirated for the PC and 360. At $60 a copy, that’s 300 million smackeroos. That said, the game sold 4.7 million copies (for $282 million) in 24 hours upon release and has since earned over a billion dollars (for reference, MW2 cost just under $50 million to make). Assuming all 5 million pirates would have purchased a copy instead, how big of a deal is that loss? Well, when many of those copies are ripped from physically stolen copies, these numbers are quite quantifiable, as well as the capital lost by the publisher and retailer in producing and distributing those products.

 

While who loses when games are stolen (physically or digitally) is usually the aspect most highlighted by the media, who benefits is the just as important. It’s easy for a kid making $6/hour to justify downloading a new game from a multi-million dollar company. Those selling the game don’t lose any physical product, and maybe when he gets a raise he’ll buy the sequel. How “free” digital commodities are and whether they constitute a physical product is an entirely subjective and personal standpoint that will certainly not be settled any time soon (much less in the resulting comment threads, but feel free to try). However, when pirated games are then sold before the release date or at half price, here is where a very factual form of criminality begins. Whether digital or physical, this kind of profiting from the work of others is very tempting, very easy, very profitable, but very unethical. But, does this become okay when the seller of pirated goods does not seek monetary reimbursement for his efforts or product?

 

The RIAA would have us believe that pirates are no better than carjackers or shoplifters. Though pirating is by definition theft, the gap in their logic here is the lack of physical product involved for the majority of pirating consumers. When a game is stolen from a retailer, there is a clear and easily defined loss. When a digital copy is stolen, it is a product that can be reproduced and redistributed infinitely at no cost. Thus, the loss is only theoretical; profit that could have been made. Of the 5 million copies of MW2 pirated, how many of those consumers would have purchased the game at full price had the pirated copies not been available? Perhaps all? Perhaps none.

 

It’s obvious that a large amount of revenue is lost through the practices of millions of international pirates. If something exists, people will steal it. Yet musicians, game developers and filmmakers aren’t out of business quite yet. In fact, it’s been suggested that spreading media through P2P networks and torrent sites spreads interest and name recognition in consumers who will in turn provide revenue that never would have existed before. Will this new frontier of digital distribution kill profit in media? I quote Radiohead’s fan base in saying, “hell no!” The band met the inevitable event of their 2007 album In Rainbows leaking and being pirated worldwide by simply leaking it themselves. A physical album (DRM-free) was available for purchase through their website at a standard price point, but it was also put up on their website for download. Fans were allowed to download it for whatever price they desired. Despite many purchasers opting to pay the minimum fee of 45 pence, the album would up earning more than their previous record Hail to the Thief. It also must be considered that releasing an album in this manner (directing all revenue to the band, not to any label or publisher) is a serious threat to the music industry that relies entirely on consumers buying the albums of the musicians the labels sign and own the rights to.

 

 

Business ethics and economics aside, the argument boils down to the detrimental effects piracy has on the quality and availability of the product. Your favorite band can’t keep making all that great music if they have to take day jobs in order to support themselves. It’s clear in the mind of the majority of responsible consumers that not paying for a product will cause it to go away or greatly diminish. This guy I know has a friend who knows a girl who has pirated copies of the excellent new animated show on FX, Archer. She downloads these because he can’t afford cable, but laughed at the commercial she saw online and wants to watch more, as the DVDs are not yet available. She knows full well that should the DVDs not sell upon release, that could mean the show gets cancelled because it doesn’t make enough money to keep a roof over the head of those involved. Thus, she has the opportunity to be an intelligent consumer and to go buy the DVDs as soon as she can in order to vote with her wallet. She gives the show her support, and if enough people do the same, another season may get made based solely on the sales figures. Had this girl never pirated the show in the first place, her support (and the support of millions of others who watched, legally or otherwise) could have evaporated along with the show.

 

 or 

 

When a tailor makes a dress, it belongs to him (or his employer, etc). When an artist makes a song, is that also his property? Stealing someone’s property is wrong. But to what extent is art property? Stealing a painting is wrong, but is downloading a picture of that painting wrong? Stealing a person or company’s property is wrong, but unlike a dress, I can copy a song, movie or game with a few keystrokes. Does that ease of reproduction make giving it to someone who didn’t pay for it okay? What if he only keeps it for personal use and not for profit? Like marijuana in many American cities, should it be okay to possess pirated music, but not to sell it? These are just a few of the questions in the minds of media conglomerates and digital consumers the world over. Now, who would care to answer them?

Monday Night Combat

Uh-oh. It seems like developers have really begun to exploit the secret to addictive gaming: a cool aesthetic, customizable classes and a deep leveling system all built on solid multiplayer gameplay. This time around, expect your life and soul to be eaten not by the next $60 AAA-budget title, but by Monday Night Combat, courtesy of Uber Entertainment, coming this year to XBLA (with an XBLA price tag to boot, around $15-$20).

Smash TV, Baseketball and Idiocracy all come to mind as some artistic inspiration here. MNC’s dystopian future has one purpose: to watch you shoot people and robots in sport for money. In the vein of Defense of the Ancients or League of Legends, two teams of 5, both accompanied by AI-controlled robot minions, start on opposite sides on a circular map (more map variants rumored to be included in the final release). Make your way around (or through or under or over) the circle, complete with hackable turrets and healing stations, to lead your robots to the enemy base, all while killing the enemy as hard as possible. Successfully defend your base’s shields and get your robots to take down their shields, then just rape, pillage, loot, repeat.

As the battle progresses, kill enemies and minions to earn money, which you can then spend to upgrade your character over the course of the game. Although those upgrades dissolve once the game ends, your account will level perpetually, giving you an increasing edge the more you play. All upgrades apply to one of six classes: Assault, sports an assault rifle and grenade launcher; Tank, the “meat shield” equipped with a Jet Engine (aka chain) gun and laser rail gun; Sniper uses the assumed and an SMG; Support, complete with Healgun and shotty; Gunner has a minigun and mortars; and Assassin backstabs with a dagger and shurikens. Additionally, each class has three unique (also upgradeable) abilities that deepen the combat and strategy considerably.

Included along with the core multiplayer are single-player and co-op modes, both pitting you against AI rather than humans. This doesn’t seem to really be the focus o f the game, but can provide tons of fun for fans of Firefight modes, those just not into competition or noobs looking to sharpen their skills. Though there’s no real plot to speak of, Uber Entertainment has done a great job of fleshing out the finer points of their world and their characters. Check out their site for more details and future updates on a release date and price tag. PC and PS3 versions are in the works, but nothing solid on that just yet.

Two Worlds II

Too many times we’ve seen greatness go sour in a sequel. Sometimes, the growing pains of the original can instead teach some important lessons for the sequel. In the case of South Peak Games’ Two World II, we’re fortunate it’s the latter. The open world, high fantasy RPG is new and improved, perfectly suited for those who find a thirty hour game, “a brief aside”.

God of War III

I think it’s safe to say that most gamers have already made up their minds about God of War III. Either they’ve already spent their money wisely, or they’ve resigned themselves to missing out on one of the year’s best action games. While the game doesn’t present anything new to attract those who weren’t reeled in by previous installments in the series, the fluid narrative, intense gameplay and epic boss fights reaffirm God of War as the current standard in action gaming.

Final Fantasy XIII

The Final Fantasy series has always benefited from extreme consumer confidence. The franchise rarely fails or disappoints, and I don’t need to tell you what you already know: Final Fantasy 13 is no exception in its excellence. However, it does begin to reveal the dilemma of not fixing what isn’t broken versus innovating or reinvigorating the 23 year old series. While series veterans won’t find much if anything in terms of originality, the quality of FF13 is as high as always.

The biggest components of the game that haven’t seen much change (well, the names are different) are the characters and the plot. Square-Enix offers up the usual cast of stock characters: you’ve got your mysterious, former-military-gone-rogue guardian type; there’s the peppy, young mini-skirt; the black dude as comic relief; the bad-ass lover boy, complete with optimistically doomed love interest; the tortured youngster out to prove himself; and finally the dark, sultry bad girl with a forgotten soft spot of humanity. The characters do have some degree of depth, even pulling on the ol’ heart strings here and there as the story progresses, but the lack of originality on the part of the characters isn’t helped at all by the staleness of the plot.

Once again, our heroes are tired of the Orwellian theocracy, and are captured/exiled by the Byronic supremacist villain who believes he is just in his *insert crime against humanity here*. Facing impossible odds, they bop around the world until they discover a pure source of power our villain could not, and win the day to the tune of a bittersweet pop song and a plethora of cringe-worthy dialogue. Although the voice acting is just good enough to be believable, not much ofFF13’s story is new. What is new is that the minor background characters have much more depth, granting a great amount of realism to the worlds of Cocoon and Pulse. Nonetheless, the fact that we’ve seen all this before doesn’t keep the from being just as high in quality as any other FF.

The Active Time Battle (ATB) system has always been about sacrificing strategy for dynamic gameplay. This edition of the system, however, provides a surprising amount of strategy in light of how fast paced the battles are. The action hits hard and quick, and the way the combatants move about the battlefield arbitrarily staves off the stale presentation that most RPGs suffer from. Each character is able to fulfill six different roles within the party, and Paradigm Shift system gives you the ability to switch their roles via pre-planned sets in the heat of battle without sacrificing momentum. You can only control the party leader, but the AI that manages the other 2 party members is quite trustworthy. The end result is one of the best ATB systems to date.

This being the first numbered FF not scored by Nobuo Uematsu, the score composed by Masashi Hamauzu is just as good, if not more varied. Several jazz and blues pieces mix up the traditional orchestral/rock soundtrack, lending some much needed originality to the world. As should be assumed, this is certainly the most gorgeous world in an FF, despite still being more of the same aesthetic we’ve seen in past FF games.

Unfortunately, the environments aren’t any more lively or fleshed out than in previous titles. The abilities and items in the game will be familiar to any FF veteran, employing Phoenix Downs, Firagas and Eidolons (summons) as usual, with some new abilities (Ruinaga) and the revelation that Eidolons are apparently Transformers (you can now ride Shiva like a motorcycle). The leveling system is straight out of FFX, leaving you the choice on which role each character should develop via a grid of new abilities and stat improvements you can purchase using Crystal Points you earn in battle.

On each gamer’s Top 10 list, you’ll find a Final Fantasy game somewhere in there. Their formula has consistently exemplified the pinnacle of RPGs, and it still is. The fact that it’s still the same formula year after year is a bit disconcerting, but when that formula never fails to captivate the player for hundreds of hours on end (not to mention selling millions of copies), it’s hard to disagree.

Likes

• The same Final Fantasy characters, world and style as usual.
• Best. ATB system. Ever.
• A massive, wildly vivid and incredibly enjoyable time sink.

Dislikes

• The same Final Fantasy characters, world and style as usual.
• Less linear gameplay would have been nice.
• Not enough moogles!

Review Score

/

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The review scale at LevelFortyT is between 1 and 5. A score of 5 is considered an amazing game, 4 is a well-done game with only minor issues, 3 is in the middle; not great, but not bad, 2 is a very problematic game, and 1 is absolutely terrible.

A Monitorside Chat With Scott Johnson

Recently, I had a chance to sit down (Internet-style) with award-winning artist and podcaster extraordinaire Scott Johnson.   Having been a web comic artist since before the industry took off in 2001, Scott’s built a colossal following and community around his comics and podcasts, culminating in the annual Utah-based Nerdtacular event. More of a party than a convention, geeks from around the world gather to revel in good company, good food and good times all based around watching the geekiest summer blockbuster in a massive rented-out theatre (this year’s film will be Iron Man 2).

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