The problem came when I tried to join a game server. None could be found. I managed to join one but lost connection after 5 minutes and couldn’t join another all day. I don’t understand how on launches of fairly major free (albeit, in this case, a free trial) games like 1943 and America’s Army 3 can go so badly. Did they not expect so many people to want to play it? That’s not very ambitious is it.

Once I finally got into a game I had a ton of fun. It takes what was great about 1942 – Islands, Boats, Planes, Guns, Explosions, and so on, and distills it down into a simple, easy to use gameplay. You have unlimited magazines for all your weapons and equipment. There are 3 classes. As a 1942 player, like myself, it’s easy to think “Wow, what did they do?”. The multiple classes of old BF games are gone. Long live the three class system.

The Rifleman is my favourite. Armed with an 8-round semi-auto rifle (The Garand… or it’s Japanese equivalent, the reskinned Garand) the Rifleman is really good against infantry at almost any range. Coupled with the rifle grenades and normal grenades he becomes a great class to use. His bayonet makes a quick mess of anyone up close.

The Soldier is the class to use when dealing with vehicles, either driving them or killing them. The magic Battlefield wrench returns, and the soldier can use it to fix vehicles or as a melee weapon to batter someone to death. He also has a rocket launcher to blow the stuffing out of any tank. or wall. More on that in a bit. He’s also armed with an SMG for those tight moments when you bail out of a tank and are up close with an angry enemy. He’s the best at CQB because of this, but I find the rifleman is better overall.

The Sniper is the specops character. Armed with his bolt action and pistol, he’s a standard sniper, and his bayonet (wielded in the hands) is lethal enough. He also is equipped with explosives – think BF2’s specops C4 – which is effective. I find the class to not be to my liking – the Rifleman is accurate enough as it is.

So, overall, the game is pretty damn fun. The classic BF1942 Pacific maps are there – Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima, with Coral Sea to be unlocked once 43 Million community kills are made (shouldn’t take too long!). Each map has each side starting on a carrier before making their aerial and sea based assault upon the land and fighting over it, which is a change from the usual attack-defend maps in 1942.

So, all the ingredients are there, and the cake is certainly well cooked. It’s a damn fun game. Frantic, explosive, and fast paced, it keeps you on your toes. The scale feels just right too, with tanks rolling and planes zipping overhead and bombers (the replacement for the Commander Artillery from BF2/2142) exploding everything.

The Frostbite engine is used to full effect. Anyone who’s played Bad Company will know what to expect. A house is no match in Frostbite, as a tank can smash through walls, rockets can blow holes in almost everything, and entire bases can be levelled. It just works. And before I knew it, my 30 minutes of alloted trial time was over.

As it stands, the game should perform as an excellent middle ground between the arcadey, cartoon shenanigans of Battlefield Heroes (3 class system!) and the upcoming Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3.

It’s arcadey, it’s fun, it’s packed with explosions, death, and vehicles. So yeah, check it out. It’s on PS3 as well from today. For 1200MSP on 360 and $15/£9.99 on PS3, it’s certainly a good, fun-filled deal. It should be coming to PC in September time – Frostbite hasn’t been used in a game on PC before, so it should require some optimisation. Maybe the player count will be increased, but as it is 12v12 is crazy enough.

Ever since the first footage of the game was shown, I was in awe. What a beautiful, amazing game. From the stunning visuals to the unique gameplay, to the lovely soundtrack… it looks stunning. And I’m sure you’ll agree. And nothing has changed drastically in either the gameplay or the visuals department. So what went wrong?

The pitfalls of Mirror’s Edge have been talked about by pretty much everyone. Having played it myself, I can agree wholeheartedly – the combat, and level design. Oh, and the story. After the first mission, you’re forced into this story you don’t really care for. You’re confined into a building almost immediately after having only a taste of the freedom of the outside. Sure, you get some of that later, but it’s all underground tunnels and sewers elsewhere.

The game sometimes knows it’s good. Sometimes, you catch moments of brilliance and a truly classic game inside. But somewhere, somehow, someone thought that saying you should “always avoid enemies” and then forcing you to fight your way through groups of them was a good idea. And the first time it did this, it didn’t even make it clear – I was sprinting around in this small area trying to run my way out while being shot to bits. It was disastrous.

I could go on for a bit longer about this. I can only hope that Mirror’s Edge 2 (Subtitle: At the Edge Again) will be greatly improved. DICE, I know you can make a good game. The battlefield series are good. (I can forget about 2142, it’s ok.) So please, make Mirror’s Edge 2, if there is one, better. You have the vision to do so.

And now, I point you towards what other people have written about the game. Tom Francis (Of PCG) has written loads about it. From the police, to the combat, to art and motion, to simply taking in how stunning the game looks. And RockPaperShotgun’s take on the game is a good read too.

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

GTAIV was groundbreaking, in my eyes. Not just in it’s technology or gameplay, but in it’s storyline. It was unpredictable at times. Many times during the storyline you’re given choices between life or death, or between two people. Sometimes the choice is clear – Person X deserves to die, or deserves to live. But at other points the choice is not so clear, even in very obvious circumstances. The choice to kill Darko or not had me deliberating for too long.

It throws these unexpected choices at you, and once choices are made the game throws unexpected consequences. This is a vital part to it’s feel of realism – in the real world, we can’t predict the result of our actions, and this is one of the first few games not in the RPG genre that throws unexpected results at the player.

The ending is one of those most unexpected things. No matter what your choice (Revenge or Money), the death of an important and deep character comes as a shock to the player. It’s either Kate or Roman, and the death(s) are not expected by the player at all.

And is this why people don’t like it? Because the game takes the power away from the player? Perhaps this is something a game shouldn’t do, the player should be in control of the world. But it’s something different, and something that should be congratulated. Although the ending felt flat or anti-climactic towards the final chase, the actual consequences of your actions are not. It’s a risky move, and although it didn’t quite pay off with the end game, it certainly was groundbreaking in it’s risk-taking.

I can’t wait for the next GTA. Or the DLC.

I’ve played my fair share of Eastern-European games, and some of the games coming from that area are both refreshing experiences, damn good, and excellently made. But damn, are they harsh.

Probably the best example of this is Operation Flashpoint or Armed Assault. From Bohemia Interactive Studios, based in the Czech Republic, both of these games are probably the most harsh representation of war you could ever play. Death is a bullet away. And it is so harsh.

Original War was one of my favourite RTSes when I was younger, and I’ve started playing it again. It was by Altar Games, also from the Czech Republic. But it’s harsh. So, so harsh. With so few people (who die easily, and who can’t be replaced) the loss of one means your mission will be much, much harder to complete. Even with a full crew, missions are rock hard. OW is $6 on gog.com now, and I strongly suggest you play it, as long as you’re prepared to put up with a tough time. But aside from that, it’s a truly amazing game – the storyline is brilliant, and the intros to both campaigns (USSR one in particular) are absolutely genius. But it’s a tough game.

Soldiers: Heroes of WW2 is a game from Best Way (who are from Russia, I believe), is also rock hard. But it’s also a fresh take on the WW2 RTS and is also well worth a look. Faces of War, the sequel, is much easier, but still has harder difficulties. (it’s also on GOG, as is Operation Flashpoint). I can’t wait for the 3rd game in the series.

Mafia is one of the greatest games ever made. But it too is from a Czech developer. And guess what? It’s hard as nails. So, so hard. But it’s still an absolute classic.

I’ve been playing Stalker: Clear Sky and that too is really harsh. I didn’t enjoy the first Stalker but I decided I’d give this a shot and it’s pretty good once you get used to it. But it’s hard, even on the lowest difficulty setting. It’s harsh – there are lots, and lots of things out there to kill you, and the busy HUD and lack of notifications means you’ll be running around draining health without noticing, and before you know it, you’re dead. It demands a lot of attention from the player at all times, and there’s a lot to manage.

IL-2 Sturmovik and Lock On: Modern Air Combat are flight sims from Russia. And guess what? They’re hard too. But then again, they’re sims.

I definately don’t meant to say I hate any of the games here – OFP/ArmA are probably some of my favouritest games ever, and Original War is an absolute classic. I’m enjoying Stalker: Clear Sky as well, as much as it is possible to do so.

But maybe all of the games here are ’simulations of real life’? Maybe it’s not that they’re harsh, but what if they’re realistic? I certainly wouldn’t disagree that any of the games here are unrealistic, while I would say a game like CoD4 is unrealistic. Maybe all of these games stem from their drive to make gritty, realistic games, even if it means the player has a hard time? I like that outlook.

But is having a hard, harsh game a bad thing? I mean, a game like CoD4 is a blast, but unless you play it on Veteran it’s not exactly the most hardest game around. It’s almost as if western devs are scared of making games hard in the fear it’ll drive players away. And it does, in many cases. But it’s nice to have some refreshing ideas from eastern europe, even in such a way as to make a game hard.  All of the stuff coming out of Russia and Eastern Europe is both excellent, imaginative, fresh, and a new take on many of the things Western Devs take for granted, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with in 2009.

Also: Yay! Pyro unlocks. Finally some awesome stuff for my favourite class. Although Pyro isn’t my most played class (Blame the Engineer for that one) it’s definately my favourite. I love the Pyro. Although, the only real thing I want is the Axtinguisher. I love my shotgun too much to part ways with it. Although using the Backburner with the Axtinguisher might be a good choice, especially with the health boost, or I could always double team with another pyro. That’d be fun.

And the new achievements actually seem… achievable. But still a challenge, and instead of being random instances, most of them seem to be ones you build on over time.

And the new air blast function for the pyro should finally make it have some long range defences. Random rockets, be gone!

So here’s to the Pyro! And to the awesome new Sniper video.

This looks fucking awesome. It’s going to push the Wii to the limit. Set in Washington DC at the height of an alien invasion, you play Mr. Ford, an agent working for the Secret Service. It looks to have overtones and hints of conspiracy, as well as puzzle elements within the game. But the shooting! It looks phenomenal.

From the MP5K to the Kriss Super V (first appearance in a video game, too, even if it is a bit strange in this), to the SCAR, the guns in this game look and sound bloody amazing. The alien weapons seem strange, but look damn interesting and imaginative too. The music in the trailer sounds bloody awesome too.

This is the first game I’m genuinely interested in, and supportive of. While games like GTAIV are amazing and I am interested in, they’ll sell no matter what, but games like this are unique and rare. Although High Voltage seem to have a bumpy track record, this game genuinely seems like it’s going to be great. And it’ll be the reason I start playing my Wii again.

TRAILER HERE

Demo of the technology engine, Quantum3, used in The Conduit

Warning: Awesome Screenshots Ahead!

The Conduit Official Site
High Voltage Software

“…About Damn Time.”

Words can’t actually describe how awesome it is.

There are plenty of decisions in GTAIV you have to make. Choices between two people, choices whether or not to kill someone – and they’re hard. It’s a hard choice to make. These characters are so well fleshed out, so intricate, so alive, that killing them is an impossible choice. Some deserve to die, while others do not.

One of the most vital life or death decisions comes towards the end of the game. I’ll try out my new spoiler plugin here. It contains spoilers about the end of the game.

show

It’s absolutely phenomenal – I’ve never felt so much for fictional characters, and never considered whether people should live or die.

Mass Effect did it too, but only once, perhaps twice. It didn’t have half the impact that GTAIV had on me. Random characters that you’re sent to kill become agonising decisions, and to feel guilty was common. But when given no choice over the death of someone, it doesn’t feel like a bad thing at all. Those people deserve to die. And I kill them without remorse. But when given the choice – it’s a tough one. Some people I killed, some people I left alive.

I could go on for hours. About how absolutely brilliant the storyline is, about how utterly compelling and believable the characters are, about how utterly hilarious Euphoria never ceases to be, and how much fun multiplayer really is. (Hint: Lots)

This is without doubt one of the most important games of the year. Perhaps for the past 10 years. Even through it’s controversy, it is a huge step forward for true, mature, compelling gaming. Like Portal, it is truly a landmark in gaming. If you haven’t played it, go do so. There’s no news about a PC version yet, but who knows. If it does come out on PC, you’re only ruining your own gaming experience if you don’t play it all the way through.

And it’s Rocket Race that makes me come back to Halo 3 every now and then. I don’t enjoy playing Team Slayer, and I don’t enjoy Grifball. I don’t enjoy Slayer, and I don’t enjoy Forge much either. Rocket Race is where it’s at.

If by now you’re scratching your head and wondering what the hell Rocket Race is – here’s the brief. Up to 4 teams of 2 people each compete to race around a map, getting checkpoints. Both team members sit on a Mongoose, with the VIP forced to sit on the back (he can’t drive) while the other teammate drives. No one can die (unless you’re lucky enough to smack someone over the back of the head) and your Mongooses can’t explode. And everyone has rocket launchers.

Carnage ensues. And if Rocket Race is the one thing that typifies Halo 3, it’s fun. From the most amazing down-to-the-wire moments, to the feeling of dread you feel as a rocket streaks through the air towards you, and to the euphoria of victory – all are moments of hilarity. This is fun.

Whether with a buddy over Xbox Live or with one sitting right next to you as a guest on XBL, Rocket Race is fun. Shouty, screamy, hair-pulling, hilarious fun.

If you’ve long since given up on Halo 3 and moved onto pastures new, go check out the Rocket Race playlist under Social Games in Matchmaking. Just one warning – don’t go it alone. Paired up with a stranger who might be uncommunicative or downright uncooperative can mean the guaranteed loss of a game.

And if you do fancy a bit of Rocket Race, give me a message on Xbox Live. Although don’t expect much out of me from next Tuesday onwards. I’ll be in Liberty City.

I’ll leave you with an awesome screenshot I took using the ever-useful Theatre mode on Halo 3, from a game myself and a friend played. The theatre mode comes into it’s own when combined with Rocket Race. Now you can go back and see every moment from every angle, see where you went wrong, see where that rocket came from and see how you made that awesome jump over a impossible gap with rockets flying all around.