The Last of Us: Hunter or Hunted? Part 1

Freshly fallen snow lines the streets of the deserted Lakeside town, crunching beneath their boots as they move towards the buildings towards the centre of what had once been some sort of resort. The four scavengers move cautiously but quickly, worried that reports of Fireflies encroaching further and further into their territory might mean a hard fight for what would probably turn out be a measly amount of supplies. Wordlessly, the Hunters split up and take up positions that allows them to maximise coverage of the snow-laden resort.

Climbing to the roof of a low-slung cottage, the man with the sniper rifle scans the area thoroughly, looking out for the garish yellow uniforms of the Fireflies. Seeing no signs of life, he signals the others that the town is all-clear. The other three peel from cover and move in a V formation towards their first target, a large lonely cottage separated from the rest of the little lakeside commune. From his perch, the sniper continues to scan the area, determining that the reports must have been wrong or that the Fireflies had given up and gone home. Dropping noiselessly to the snow-covered ground, he makes his way into the house he was previously standing on top off through a conveniently-open window. Once inside, he searches for supplies and after meticulous searching of the small cottage, finds nothing of interest or utility. Worried that he's been away from the others for too long, he makes for the window to catch a glimpse or even establish contact with them.

As he approaches the window, he hears a shot ring out in the distance and all hell breaks loose. He hears the retort of gunfire from the house where he last saw his fellow Hunters. Snatching frantically at his sniper rifle, he dives to cover below the window and prays that nobody has seen him yet. Cautiously, he peeks through the window, scanning the area for targets. On the far side of the town, he sees a glint that can only be from a rifle scope and gingerly, he lifts the rifle to the window and peers through his own scope. From the magnified image of his scope, the Hunter manages sees a Firefly behind the glint with another Firefly probably acting as a spotter next to him. Breathing in, he lines up the shot and gently squeezes the trigger. The rifle adds a loud retort to the symphony of gunfire erupting across the idyllic whitewashed town as the man holding it attempts to bring the weapon back to bear for another short. One eye still glued to the scope, he sees the head of one of the Fireflies releasing a pink mist into the crisp winter air and satisfied with the result of his marksmanship, moves the weapon ever so gently to target the second Firefly.

Cannily, the other Firefly has dropped behind cover and grabbed his fallen compatriot's weapon. Moving frantically towards better cover, he scrambles across the snow with a rifle in one hand and a pistol in another, shooting wildly with the pistol out of sheer panic. The sniper takes a breath and leads the shot, slowly putting pressure on the trigger, waiting for the perfect moment to fire. The Firefly trips and the man with the sniper rifle pulls the trigger. Almost instantaneously, the round enters the Firefly's leg, causing him to shout in pain and fall even deeper into the snow. Cursing, the sniper works the bolt and loads another round into the chamber of his trusty weapon, sending another shot towards the fallen Firefly. Another one down and an unknown number to go. Peeling away from the window, the sniper moves cautiously towards the door, scanning the area ahead of him with his revolver in hand. With the area seemingly clear, he moves quickly towards the house his comrades are holed up, attracting the attention of the other Fireflies in the area. With a fusillade of shots whizzing past him, the Hunter increases his pace and dives through a window to escape the blizzard of lead headed his way. Grunting, the sniper gets back on his feet and moves further into the house, following the sound of gunfire coming from within the house. In the living room, he comes across his allies, two still up and one writhing in pain on the floor. As he approaches his compatriots, a nail bomb sails through one of the windows and detonates, killing his friends and sending various bits of shrapnel into his arms and legs.

to be continued

Medal of Honor: Warfighter - A Retrospective

My, how time has passed. It's almost a year since I started writing on the interwebz and it's been a fairly rough ride. Getting content on isn't easy and getting people to read this stuff wasn't any easier. Hell, I'm still not sure if anyone actually reads this stuff other than the bots and spam-machines that occasionally drop by. As some of you may know, I started this whole project because I was disappointed in the state of video game "journalism", with the impetus being the disastrous reviews of a game I thought received a lot of undeserved criticism, Medal of Honor: Warfighter. As I predicted when the game came out, the negative reviews would lead to some pretty severe consequences. Thanks to the poor reviews the game received, the sales tanked and EA yanked the Medal of Honor series out of rotation for an indefinite period, marking the end of what I felt was the series that really launched a great era of first-person shooters. Furthermore, a majority of the development team was let go following the closure of Danger Close with some lucky enough to be transferred to the newly-created DICE Los Angeles, an off-shoot of the Swedish studio responsible for Battlefield and Mirror's Edge.

This infuriates me to no end because the Danger Close team were not a bad team of developers and they did not put out a shoddy game. They put out a decent game that unfortunately had to take the hit for the modern military shooter subgenre. Sure, the first-person shooter genre is flooded with military shooters but that did not make it fair for Warfighter to take all the criticism that could've rightly gone to Modern Warfare 3, released the year before and was seriously a re-hash of the previous games in the Call of Duty series. At the end of the day, because a few "journalists" decided to trash a game as an example rather than because it was a poor game, a lot of people lost their jobs and a great series has been put on ice, perhaps even killed off. Look, I'm sure there are a lot of detractors out there who would disagree with me, saying that reviewers were right for calling the game a buggy, unfinished piece of trash. To those people, I say they're entitled to their opinion but they should recognise that at the end of the day, it is an opinion. Sure, Warfighter had its fair share of bugs but what game doesn't? In addition to that, I can think of a few examples of games with fairly massive flaws that got ignored because the reviewers like the game so much (e.g. Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops for the first week or so on the PS3 etc.). I don't know about you but that seems like a huge double-standard to me. The point is, all the reviews for Warfighter were just opinions. Understandably, the general consensus that the game was bad would turn any sane person away from purchasing the game but unfortunately, reviewers aren't always right.

I've always recognised that reviews are opinions and they should be taken with a grain of salt, but the problem is, most people don't see it that way. I'm not going to claim that reviewers should receive all the blame for Warfighter's dismal sales but if you read the comments or are even remotely tuned in to the internet at large, many people basically decided not to pick up the game because of the poor reviews it got. Fair enough, people want to spend their money wisely and a poorly-rated game across the board seems like a pretty risky purchase. I get that. The problem is, reviewers are stating opinions as fact and people actually believe that. Not that I blame them. Reviewers or video game "journalists" have been trying to convince people that they are actual journalists for a long time. There are definitely a few actual journalists in the field but unfortunately, their work isn't as popular or widespread as their more populist tabloid-y counterparts who work for the major gaming networks. These people are not journalists just because they are paid to report on gaming news. They are basically glorified bloggers with fancy job titles. Now don't get me wrong, not everyone in the business of reporting gaming-related news is a pretentious or elitist snob. On the contrary, I'm sure a lot of the people in the business are passionate and dedicated writers trying to improve their craft. The problem is, they work in an industry that keeps trying to convince itself that it is a serious business that people should take seriously. This isn't a negative thing. As an Arts student, I completely understand the need to justify your choices and your work because people don't take you seriously. My problem is that these people fail to fulfil the basic requirements needed to be a journalist. Many cannot spell properly and have terrible grammar and even worse prose making it somewhat difficult for me to take them seriously as journalists. Furthermore, there is a disturbing lack of ethics particularly when certain sites advertise the games they are supposed to be impartially reviewing and receive special gifts or trips from companies publishing said games. On the subject of impartiality, there lies the biggest problem I have with video game "journalists". They seem to have none although they try to portray themselves as experts reporting facts to the public. If they really are professionals who are reporting facts then they shouldn't be accepting special press trips or gifts from publishers. Even if they have the utmost integrity, it is completely unacceptable for a journalist to be getting preferential treatment. And on the flipside, journalists should thus not throw a hissy fit because they failed to get a copy of a game early from a publisher especially one that is notorious for not handing out early copies. This was the case with Warfighter when reviewers flat-out accused EA for withholding early copies because it was an unfinished product that they didn't want the public to see. Or perhaps it was because EA is wary of reviewers who give their competitors higher scores because they get showered with special events, previews and gifts way in advance of the game being released.

Back on the subject of Warfighter, the reviewers/"journalists" demonstrated an epic misunderstanding of what their job involves by nitpicking on small things rather than focusing on the whole package. As a fan of the game, I'm more than willing to admit that Warfighter had its shortcomings but it was a genuinely decent game. It had problems and there were some things it got wrong but there were so many things that it did get right that none of the reviewers noticed or bothered to point out. First of all, the graphics were, on the whole, excellent. Sure it's not up to the same level as Battlefield 3 even though both games use the same engine but you have to give Danger Close some props, this was the first time they were working with the Frostbite engine and they managed to get quite a lot out of it with so little experience working with it. Furthermore, the game had a nice degree of realism to it with realistic weapons, gear and equipment and if the advertising is to be believed, even fairly realistic recounting of real-life events. I mean, come on, they even bothered to actually put in and animate the fire-mode selector so that it actually moves to the correct position when selecting various fire modes! I think the problem in this respect was that the realism was in the details rather than the big picture. The way the weapons were handled, the camouflage used, the types of gloves the operators wore, the weapons and equipment they used as well as the realistic dialogue were all things I noticed because I'm an avid military enthusiast. I'm not suggesting that all the reviewers should have known this but with realism being the major marketing point used by EA, it probably would've paid off if they did their research and see if the claims of realism were right. Keeping on the theme of realism and details, the developers definitely put a lot of work into the weapons and attachments, allowing a vast array of customisation that actually affects the performance of the weapon based on whatever accessories were equipped unlike another big-name competitor where the balance is so fine-tuned that attachments barely do anything and occasionally aren't even modelled correctly (Long Barrel, anyone?). Furthermore, the sound design was brilliant with some of the best audio I've heard in a game since Battlefield 3 or ARMA II with the guns actually sounding like guns, the suppressors actually working like suppressors rather than magic silencers and the various sounds made when a bullet hit various surfaces.

I suppose Warfighter's downfall can be partly attributed to their focus on the nitty-gritty and putting the devil in the details while failing to account for how people might perceive the big picture. At the same time, these people reviewing it are supposed to be and often call themselves professionals. If this were the case, they would've done their research and actually tried their best to present an impartial case when reviewing any game. If they keep reviewing games as they do now though, that's perfectly fine but it'd be nice if they acknowledged that their reviews are simply opinion and not fact as they lead people to believe and people do actually sometimes believe, a misunderstanding that I find is still prevalent. On the specific subject of the Warfighter reviews, I was extremely disappointed by most of the reviewers who had a need to trash the game because they didn't get an early copy (only a smattering raised this point) or because they were burned out by the genre (a majority of reviewers). If they wanted to express their disappointment with the military shooter genre, then write a god-damn opinion piece on why the market is saturated with military shooters and how much of a disaster it is, not attack a fairly decent game because you want to make an example. The absolute best part is, when Black Ops II came out, apparently everyone got over their disillusionment with the modern military shooter and praised an old game with a few small tweaks sold as revolutionary and innovative.

In short, I have two main points:

1. Reviewers should try and act with some semblance of impartiality if they want to present themselves as experts in the field that offer recommendations and advice, if not, stop pretending like they are more qualified than anyone else and mention that their reviews are merely opinion, not fact.
2. Cut Warfighter some slack. It got a bad rap because of an unfortunate series of events which led to it taking the fall for the modern military first-person shooter as well as some poor reviewing on the part of a majority of the major sites. Gamespot, in my opinion was the only major site that gave a fair score, the rest sort of gave scores that don't seem to match the descriptions of their scoring system. I mean, a score in the 30s or 40s would mean some pretty serious problems and somehow, Skyrim for PS3 which had A LOT of issues, including freezing and massive lag, but was nonetheless a good game got scores in the 80s and 90s.

Goodbye, Mr. Clancy

If you haven't heard, Mr. Tom Clancy, the best-selling author of classic thrillers like Rainbow Six, Patriot Games, Red Storm Rising and countless other fantastic books as well as the name behind a smorgasbord of successful video game series published by Ubisoft, has passed away. This is not an obituary, for I do not have the words nor the right to speak of the man. Rather, this is an expression of gratitude, one that celebrates his legacy and the effect that this great writer has had on me personally.

In short, I would like to thank Tom Clancy for moulding a large part of my childhood through his seminal works featuring his classic hero, Jack Ryan, as well as numerous other books including but not limited to Red Storm Rising and Rainbow Six. He inspired me to do my own writing, which will never be as good as his and probably never make the light of day (trust me, it's better that way) but nonetheless, his words were an inspiration and his stories a well for a young boy's imagination. Furthermore, his detailed examination into the worlds of espionage and military activity helped to develop my passion for both military history and the colourful world of spies and lies.

No discussion of Tom Clancy would be complete, of course, without mentioning his work in the gaming industry. While the Tom Clancy brand might have little to do with the man in recent years, we can thank Tom Clancy for bringing us the characters and series we've grown to love. His initial contribution was of course through the founding of Red Storm Entertainment, the original creators of Rainbow Six and currently still active as a subsidiary of Ubisoft. Through Red Storm, the Tom Clancy universe in video games was born. Although his contribution to Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, H.A.W.X, EndWar and now The Division is unclear, the fact remains that none of these games would've happened without the man himself and his initial jump through his ownership of Red Storm.

Ultimately, all I have to say to Mr. Clancy is thank you for everything and may you rest in peace.

Battlefield 3 Field Notes: We Must Be Supersoldiers

Hello readers, welcome back to another installment of Field Notes! This time, we're headed back to the bright and ridiculously lens-flare prone Battlefield to examine what the player-character in multiplayer actually is. To help break up the monotony of text, there's a video in the middle somewhere, enjoy!

Have you ever considered that the troops in Battlefield 3, on both the US and Russian sides are basically supersoldiers? Let me give you a run down of why I think this might be the case. First, these guys absorb bullets like the various types of rounds are made out of rubber or some sort of material that hurts you but doesn't kill you. Second, when they do get shot, they have healing factors that can be accelerated by standing around an unopened box of medical supplies. Then there's the issue of explosives apparently doing very little damage to the player other than taking down their health if there's enough distance between the player and the explosion. If I remember correctly, explosions typically involve shrapnel which could hit a major artery and lead to heavy bleeding or at least ruin the use of limbs and a rather powerful shockwave that has the capacity to turn people deaf without proper ear protection (I suppose this is mitigated by the fact that most soldiers wear a form of hearing protection) and occasionally break some bones.


Then, there's the ridiculous weapon proficiency that each soldier seems to have. Arguably, a gun is a gun and there probably won't be too much of a problem wielding various firearms if you're trained in using one already but each gun tends to have different characteristics that would probably take some getting used to. For example, in the Assault class, you can use a conventional assault rifle like the Colt M16A3 or a bullpup like the FN F2000. While most weapons operate on roughly the same principles (i.e. point the gun, pull the trigger, lead spits out the barrel towards where you point), I suspect it would be difficult to operate one weapon from the other especially when you were trained for one design and not the other. Keeping with this example, reloading would be a confusing mess for a pretty long time since your muscle memory from using the M16 would influence you to load the magazine up front when the well is at the back on the F2000. Then, there's the issue of compensating for fire rate and recoil, which isn't too bad in terms of recoil for the M16 and F2000 but the fire rate would be a different story since the F2000 fires significantly faster that M16. Imagine the difference in recoil though between a 5.56x45mm rifle like the M16 and a 7.62x51mm battle rifle like the G3A3, I suspect it'd be a bit harder to handle the 7.62 when firing full-auto even though it has a significantly lower rate of fire.

Alright, maybe that last bit was a little too much of a gripe and realistically, you could use most guns if you know how to use one in general. However, the fact that you are apparently trained in using all sorts of vehicles is definitely ridiculous. Apparently, the player-character has received training in piloting helicopters (transport, attack and scout varieties regardless of the faction), piloting planes (fighters and ground-attack varieties, again regardless of faction), driving and manning the weapons system on tanks, driving and using the weapons systems on IFVs/APCs, driving land transport (fast reconnaissance vehicles and personnel carriers) and driving water transport (boats mostly). Man, the US Marine Corps and Russian Army are made up of some really talented, or ridiculously well-trained people, especially since their troops apparently have the capability to use all sorts of vehicles and weapons systems.

I realise that Battlefield 3 is nowhere near realistic but it's still pretty hilarious if you think about how insane all the mechanics in the game work if you apply some semblance of realism or logic to it.

The Last of Us Field Notes: Swift, Silent, Deadly

This game. This game is really something else. The single player is fantastic and deserves a proper review but I neither have the time nor talent to flesh out how brilliant this game is. Instead, let's have a little skulk around Factions, the rather interesting multiplayer component for The Last of Us. Before we start off, let me just say that there are a lot of issues surrounding Factions, the most annoying of which is the huge connection problem that every Naughty Dog has had since Uncharted 2. Factions is undeniably fun, when you can connect to it. I know not everyone gets the "Error downloading config file" or "Error syncing levels" problem but if you Google it, you'll see it's a fairly big problem and there's been not a peep from SCEA or ND about what's actually going wrong and how to fix it and that irks me to no end because I love Factions and I would play it more but I cannot because of some crappy connection issues that have plagued me since Uncharted 2.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk Factions. This game mode is a fascinating and rather unique blend of stealth-based third person shooter gameplay combined with a challenge-based mission structure that affects off-screen survivors that you have to keep alive for "weeks" which is just through 7 games of Supply Raid or Survivor. The main objective of the game is to keep your little band of rag-tag Fireflies or Hunters alive for 12 weeks and, man oh man, is that a challenge. Keeping them healthy and well-fed isn't too hard. You just have to scavenge a lot during matches to get "supplies" or "parts"(converted into supplies at the end of the match). The supplies ensure that your clan is healthy and continues to grow while parts are used during a match as currency to upgrade your weapons or buy armour. As well as supplies and parts, you can also scavenge for crafting items just like in the single-player portion of the game.

Along the way, you are given "missions" which are basically just a front for getting you to complete certain challenges within 3 matches (or "days" using the game's terminology) with the penalty being losing members of your clan by a certain percentage, usually 60% or 100% and with each level of the challenge you complete, you mitigate the damage done to your clan. Now, I have a serious problem with this mode because there are very few challenges and most of them involve either killing or executing enemies which is damned hard in the first place. But worse, these missions require killing or executing enemies with particular weapons and it's not possible to keep using your same favourite weapon because the challenge criteria goes up with each time you pick it regardless of success or failure. Furthermore, these missions never bring you a positive result, just a mitigation of a negative result. I understand that this is keeping in the survivalist aspect and overall theme of the game but it is utterly ridiculous that 100% of my clan can get wiped out because I fail to complete a challenge considering that the missions usually involve getting attacked or attacking a rival faction. Realistically, not everyone's going to die because if you were really a smart survivor which you would have to be in this post-apocalyptic world, you'd be smart enough to mitigate your losses by bringing only those necessary to complete the job and packing off back-up and less able survivors to a safer location. But, no, even if I'm attacking a Firefly camp, I'm attacking them full-on with all my forces in one mass attack even though they're probably entrenched and have defences at the ready.

Other than the really annoying mission structure that makes no sense whatsoever and basically threatens to kill all my clan and force me to start all over for not completing some silly challenges, this mode is otherwise extremely fun. The two game modes available in Factions are, as previously mentioned, Supply Raid and Survivor. Both are basically team deathmatch with the twist being you only have 4 players on each team and fairly large maps to skulk around to find and eliminate each other. Survivor is exactly the same except you don't respawn during the rounds so if you're killed, bad luck, sit it out until the next round. The objective is the same, eliminate the enemy team and win as many rounds as possible in that way. Both game modes are extremely fun but it is a little disappointing that the multiplayer aspect of the game only offers team deathmatch style modes and no objective based ones like collecting as many parts as possible or some sort of domination style match. Furthermore, it seems a little strange that there are no Infected whatsoever. I think they should have tried including a game mode where one team is survivors and one team is Infected but I'm not a game developer so I don't know if that would be possible or keeping in line with what the development team wanted to do with the game. Maybe add in NPC Infected that hound you as you try eliminating the other team? Adds some challenge to the whole thing and maybe give an opportunity for both teams to cooperate before wiping each other out.

In terms of actual gameplay, this game requires a lot of patience and the ability to stay stealthy for extended periods of time. Like the title suggests, for you to win, you must be swift, silent and deadly all at the same time. If you're too slow, the enemy will be breathing down your neck with armour, upgraded weapons and crafted items like Molotovs (the bane of my existence in this game) or nail bombs. So, you have to move fast enough to gather supplies and crafting items to ensure that the enemy doesn't have a sharp advantage over you. You must be silent because noise reveals your location on the radar and moving too fast will lead you to an inevitable death if the enemy is smart enough to use listen mode to echo-locate your position. Lastly, you must be deadly because there is no time to mince about and take your time stalking your enemy because they are stalking you all the same. Both parties are equally hunter and hunted. Teamwork is another key component of this unique game because you need to work together and stick together if you want to survive. At the same time, you must be ruthless, leaving teammates to die when they are bleeding out because the enemy is probably using them as bait, drawing you in to heal him then popping out and popping you both. Lone wolfing isn't out of the option but being separated and ambushed by an enemy that knows how to work together is the worst possible position you can find yourself in. But sticking too close to each other is a bad idea as well because a well placed Molotov can kill an entire team.

In short, this is one of the best games I've ever played and I recommend you to get it and jump on Factions (if you can).

Dragon Age Once More

I'll be forward. I didn't like Dragon Age II.

While I'm sure there are people out there who thoroughly enjoyed their experience with it, before you raise your pitchforks and torches, let me explain. Dragon Age II isn't a bad game. However, after my infatuation with Dragon Age: Origins -- its predecessor -- jumping into Dragon Age II felt like a letdown.

Dragon Age: Origins on the PC was one of my favorite games of 2009. It was tactical and diverse. It was a love letter to the old-school PC RPGs I grew up on. The continent of Thedas was vast, and while the game was only set in the kingdom of Ferelden, the game let us travel to amazing and varied landscapes. The character and dialogue was written and acted out incredibly well, with companions commenting on relationships, past-quests and current circumstances.

Some changes came with Dragon Age II. Following the development process (albeit from the media) and reading post-development blogs (see Matt Rhodes' great blog post, if you have the time), I understand that all choices were made with genuine passion. While Dragon Age II hoped to show us the evolution of the city of Kirkwall and its surroundings, the environment became repetitive and I thought these spaces were generally bland and flat. I enjoyed the new action-oriented approach, but it became a letdown when its originally more strategic elements were sacrificed because of it. Playing on the PC didn't feel as engaging. I felt disjointed from my companions, having to make less choices in their development as characters. It was a shame too, as I was eagerly anticipating it from the day it was announced on GameInformer.com. Dragon Age II isn't a bad game, I was just slightly letdown.

After Dragon Age II, I waited for a sequel. A sequel that would challenge its flaws and improve upon what made it fun. Jumping back into Thedas would be easy and I'd gladly go back in for another round.

That all changed in E3 2013 when Dragon Age: Inquisition was officially announced.

While the footage was running in-engine without gameplay, it looked amazing. Bioware talked about listening to the community, and the exciting new prospects resulting from it. I became instantly attached. I wanted to know more. I mean did you see that monster of a Qunari? Who the [redacted] is he? Heh, I even bought GameInformer's latest issue on the day they announced they'd be covering Dragon Age: Inquisition.

It was then that I realised: I wanted to get back into Dragon Age. Relearn the lore. Make my mark. Quell the Blight once more. Set the foundation for when I inevitably come back for round 3.

I searched stores for Dragon Age: Origin's Ultimate Edition only to be told that it was no longer being produced. Fortunately EA's Origin service had it ready for me to download.

It's like déjà vu all over again.



Bernard Sam is an author at The Ops Centre. He has finished the first season of Bravest Warriors on YouTube and wants more.

Bioshock Infinite (PS3) Review

"Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt."

Bioshock Infinite (2013) is the third instalment of the critically-acclaimed Bioshock first-person shooter series, developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. While not directly related to Bioshock or Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite does borrow a lot of gameplay and thematic elements from the previous two games. Before I start the review proper, I should point out that the game has been out for a while and as a result, I'm not going to shy away from spoilers, so be warned for those who haven't actually played the game. Realistically, this is less of a review and more of a one-sided discussion on the game since it's been out for a while and has been the topic of some heated discussion, particularly surrounding the plot. Nevertheless, there will be coverage on the major aspects usually covered in reviews albeit with a little more emphasis on plot rather than gameplay or aesthetics.


Breathtaking. In my mind, that is the only word that can properly sum up my first impression of the game as I stepped through the doors into Columbia proper after a bizarre opening sequence involving a rowboat, a lighthouse, a rocket, a near drowning disguised as a baptism and some really quirky (even ironic) worshipping of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Ben Franklin as religious figures by the suspiciously whitewashed and almost overzealous pilgrims. By the time you get to the raffle where everything goes wrong for poor old Booker DeWitt, you realise that there's something not quite right about Columbia, especially if you go around collecting Voxophones and viewing Kinetoscopes (for background knowledge and trophies, of course). Hiding beneath the beautiful visage of a floating paradise is something deeply wrong with the city, a fact confirmed when the prize you get for winning a raffle is to have the first throw of a baseball-stoning (how quintessentially American) of an interracial couple. 
The plot from there expands into a multi-tiered and multi-layered work of art that encompasses a bloody civil war between two equally ruthless belligerents, a simple yet elegant examination of multiple universes and a character-driven experience that follows the growth of both Elizabeth and Booker, all wrapped up in themes of American exceptionalism taken to its most extreme conclusion, racism, religious extremism, blind idealism and a meta-commentary on choice and freedom in video games. This game, I cannot stress enough, is brilliant in its take on storytelling and taking on the most controversial of issues that pervades both modern and past society. What starts off as a seemingly quirky journey to start a long escort mission instead becomes an immersive and entertaining experience that really makes the player think about the issues presented by the game.  At first, on the surface of it, the game revolves around an ex-Pinkerton hired to rescue a mysterious girl trapped in a huge monument to Columbia and to bring her to New York in order to pay his debts accrued by gambling. As the plot progresses though, the plot thickens with the addition of an ongoing and bloody civil war between the Founders (the racist defenders of Columbia's whiteness) and the Vox Populi (a group that has noble values of achieving equality at first but quickly degenerates into anarchism and committing violence for violence's sake). The plot is made more complex by the inclusion of time travel, the manipulation of the space-time continuum and travel between alternate universes. Along the way, we see Elizabeth's rapid growth following her freedom from captivity as she engages with the world around her, moving from a (literally) wide-eyed idealist to a more practical realist that understands the world is not particularly nice or kind, having spent time with Booker but still keeping that sense of innocence and general upbeat attitude that helps to temper Booker's deep cynicism and loathing of the world. 
The storytelling medium used by the game ditches the traditional cutscene expositions but instead uses dialogue and the occasional taking away of the ability to move from Booker to advance the plot (sort of like a cutscene, but you're in character) while voxophones and kinetoscopes provide the bulk of background on Columbia's past and present. This is the kind of storytelling that I think should be in all games. A subtle form of exposition and narrative that allows the player to explore further if they wish to learn more about the game's universe goes a long way in making Infinite one of the best games ever made. The emotional core of the story is also not as heavy-handed as most other story-driven games, with players allowed to develop their own feelings and emotions regarding the whole situation as well as the characters rather than being manipulated from the start to feel a certain way as the developers' dictate it. Emotional manipulation is not necessarily a bad thing but I quite dislike heavy-handed techniques designed to evoke a specific response because I feel it's a little dishonest and quite frankly, I don't like it when people try to pull my strings. Luckily, Bioshock: Infinite isn't too heavy with emotional manipulation except maybe in one or two instances where it's really needed to hammer home a point, such as in the ending where Booker gives little Anna DeWitt away. 
Most of the reality-bending space-time continuum manipulation makes sense, except for one niggling detail that kept bugging me. When travelling through the various tears to get the Vox Populi their weapons, how did Elizabeth and Booker know they were headed into the correct tear? I suppose that could be explained away by trial and error, whereby they just headed into whatever tear was available but if that were the case, it seems awfully convenient for the tears to lead specifically where they wanted it to. Then again, Elizabeth does argue that it is a form of wish fulfillment on her end but like I said earlier, it's a little too deus ex machina for my liking. 
In terms of gameplay, Infinite has its fair share of exciting moments and ridiculously awesome features (like the ability to combine vigors that might possess an enemy then use him as a mobile bomb) but overall, the gameplay does get a little repetitive by the end. Go here, kill a bunch of people, activate a lever or button, kill another bunch of people, explore for weapons, salts and ammo (something I found myself doing quite a lot in 1999 mode) and kill more people! The shooting mechanics are exactly the same as the shooting mechanics in any other first person shooter just punctuated by the addition of vigors which are arguably just a unique take on the secondary weapons/grenades/equipment prevalent in other shooters. While the skylines are a much-touted and extremely fun feature, they don't feature as much as they were advertised and combat on the skylines are much easier than you might think since holding down the aim button has the reticle locking on to the nearest enemy. This is a nifty anti-frustration feature but it feels like a break from immersion especially when you have aim assist off, like I usually do when playing shooters.
Outside of the violence committed by Booker, the game allows you to explore a bit of Columbia as you go along, an especially useful tactic if you're playing the oft-cursed 1999 Mode where every little thing you find goes a long way to helping you survive. As mentioned previously, exploration grants you voxophones and kinetoscopes that help to expand on the story and really fleshes out the universe inhabited by our protagonists. Going back to the topic of 1999 Mode, I'm unsure as to why people have been complaining that it is frustratingly hard. It's a fairly mediocre difficulty and the checkpoints are plentiful, so, any death you suffer or money you lost can be regained by simply using checkpoints rather than letting yourself be "saved". If you explore and pick up every damned thing that shines, then you'll be in good stead. Actually, that's what I love about this game and The Last of Us, my obsession with collecting things and looking everywhere to get them is really rewarded when in other games it just seems like I have a compulsion for hoarding.
Aesthetically speaking, this game is beyond beautiful and the graphics are just superb. However, there are some issues with texture lag whereby the texture takes way too long to load and everything looks really washed out and blurry. I suspect this has to do with a lack of sizeable install which means most of the game is run off the Blu-Ray rather than from an installed file. Other than that though, everything looks fantastic and has this really cool arty yet cartoony yet serious look to it. 
Conclusion: Bioshock Infinite is a rare breed indeed, a game where both style and substance are equally triumphant. Columbia is beautiful to behold even as it descends into darkness and destruction while the plot is as elegantly simple as it is wonderfully complex. Tied to the plot is the wonderful characterisation and character development undergone by the two leads who are by far the two of the most interesting and three-dimensional characters I've ever come across in a video game. The gameplay isn't too much of a deviation from standard shooters but the inclusion of vigors, gear and a selection of interesting enemies makes it one of the more unique shooters in an over-saturated genre. A strong contender for game of the year and definitely one that will go into the history books.

Indie Video Game Highlight: Trash TV

When Mario games first hit the video game market in the last few decades, everyone went batshit crazy about 2D platforming. In hindsight it is not hard to see why, with tight controls, challenging game-play and catchy chiptunes, it makes total sense for the formula to be replicated time and time again. Just look at the plethora of 2D slide-scrolling video games that have impinge our world : Megaman, Contra, Castlevania, and the more recent Super Meat Boy . Right now there is a new kid in town vying for the crown of top dog and its name is Trash TV.

Funnily enough the game started out as a clone of another 2D side-scroller the indie hit Super Crate Box. While it was no the creator's intention to make a exact copy of the game or even release it, the game was conceived when Lawrie was attending university. He tried simply to mess around with the gameplay aspects of Super Crate Box by adding to it and remixing its components to see whether another game emerged that he could call his own creation. What came out of this curious experiment, was a quasi-original game that is somewhat intriguing story-wise and gameplay-wise.

You play as a television set which you view from a 2D perspective. The game seems to mislead the player with the wielding of a gun ( instead of shooting enemies you mainly shoot explosives ) as you soon discover that the game is puzzle game ( kinda like a mix of Portal ad Super Meat Boy ). Don't be fooled though, it isn't a slow game of checkers; it’s a fast paced game as your fingers have to be as rapid as as your reflexes. Admittedly, the game fluctuates its pace with the introduction of some puzzles that require some degree of deep thought. With the combination of speed and wit, expect a whole lot of deaths and rage quitting ( perfect for those rage gamers out there).

The game is also sleek and stylish, with the design and art getting a huge thumbs up from me. The game is dark and moody, just the way I like my games to be ( It seems to have become a recurring thing with me). There is just something about the manic-depressive vibe that just jives with me. The art also serves to enhance the illusion and mystery of the game's narrative. It serves to leave a sense of intrigue and wonder as you question why a lone TV set is venturing through this prosaic world.

So what s the story about? Well, even I am not clear on that front. In fact, lets just get the creator ( Lawrie Russel ) to adumbrate the story details of his brainchild. 

“I want to say it’s top secret, but really I can’t say because I know it’ll change several times over before it’s finished. It’s all based around the mono myth, though. The hero starts an ordinary life, thrown into another world, has a bunch of challenges to over come (all the puzzles), finds an artifact that can be used to save himself/the world, one last big trial and then transcendence back to the start. Most computer games have Act 1 as a skippable cut scene at the beginning of the game. Act 2 comprises all the game bits. Act 3 doesn't really happen because no one can even remember the beginning or it’s left open for a sequel. The real challenge is trying to get Act 1 and 3 to not be a short cut scene.” (via indiestatik)

Gotta love the philosophy that features in games sometimes. It makes you question your existence and then leaves you with that ephemeral warm fuzzy feeling in your chest that you know will be gone by the morning.

Well that has been your latest installment of IGH. Once again, a huge thank you to Mr Jesse Cox (OMFGCata) for allowing us permission to utilize his brilliant video material. Please show him as well as us loads of love. Until then, here's Alex Plum reminding you to have a nice day and to use your P's and Q's. Trust me, it makes the world a merrier place.

Obscure Video Game Highlight: Incredible Crisis

When it comes to crazy games, there would be little doubt that Japan is at the forefront of the said field. With games like I'm Sorry and Seaman, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Japanese have a weird sense of humor or a skewed culture. Love it or hate it, these games have garnered a cult following and makes for a good laugh ( or perhaps invoke thoughts of killing yourself from all of the absurdities ). The following is a game I played with my friends when I was but a wee child, introducing the one and only Incredible Crisis.



 



Exclusively for the Playstation system, you play as Taneo and the various members that make up his family as we uncover what having a really bad day in Japan is all about. Taneo is a salary man working in modern day Japan waiting to get home for his mother's birthday when shit hits the fan. He is chased by boulders, thrown out of vehicles, falls off skyscrapers and has to prevent an army attack on a mothership. His family members aren't spared from the misfortune as in the other half of the story line you get to play as Etsuko (Taneo's wife), Ririka ( Tanoe and Etsuko's daughter) and Tsuyoshi (Taneo and Etsuko's son). Each of their story arc fits in seamlessly in the overall plot as it chronicles each family member's journey to find their way home for Haruko's (the grandmother) birthday.

The game is made up entirely of 24 mini games that function to progress the story ( although it is sad to see that some of them are reused ). Classified under the party genre, it is a great game for entertaining hoards of friends while leaving them crippled with laughter. The gameplay is very simple, comprising of simplistic quick hit mini games and button mashing sections, utilizing the directional pad and action buttons. Some of the mini gams are more puzzle oriented, focussing on completing a task within a certain time limit rather than action oriented gameplay such as  Etsuko's task to replace an item's exact weight with a combination of her own items. A big plus is that all mini games can be selected and played individually after the story mode of the game is completed.

Story wise, it will be crazy and it will be incredible (as the title suggests). I really love how the story features normal characters experiencing an extraordinary twist of fate. I do love it when game developers approach a game with a tongue in cheek manner, letting us gamers have game that is light hearted and humorous, a stark contrast to all the serious games which dominate the mainstream market. Incredible Crisis was remarkably innovative for its time, showing that a fully fledged game can be made comprising of mini games when done right. It is a shame that a sequel wasn't made for the PS2.

Incredible Crisis was developed by Polygon Magic. The design and script was done by Kenichi Nishi and the game's art director was Naozumi Yamaguchi. For more information and spoilers on the game, please click here.

Battlefield 3 Field Notes: Re-Enlisted

Hello readers, if you exist outside my mind, at least, I like to think I actually have readers although that's probably wishful thinking. To celebrate the upcoming release of Battlefield 4 and because I felt like getting back to it, I'm playing Battlefield 3 again after nearly a year away from it and let me tell you, post-patches, Battlefield 3 is a vastly different game. This will be a semi-regular series written in both a meta-universe and in-universe style, varying depending on the content. For example, this introductory post will be about the game while the next one might be about a specific match/battle or vehicles and weapons. It's largely practice for my skills or lack thereof in creative writing.

The first match back and I've realised I've lost all semblance of motor control in a first-person shooter. I'm not the best video gamer, most of my friends will tell you that, but I like to think that I'm skilled enough to move an analog stick around but my reflexes have gone to hell after playing so many third-person shooters and fighting games for the past year. Some things I haven't lost, though, I still spam the select button to spot enemies for my teammates, a force of habit from my Bad Company days. Also, I'm still fairly proficient with vehicles. I can drive a tank and engage enemies with the best of them and I got skills when it comes to helicopter flying. Let's not talk about jet flying though. Before I took a break from the battlefield, I could barely fly a jet let alone dogfight properly. I tried flying one by spawning in a FA/18 Super Hornet and I basically crashed into the aircraft carrier when trying to takeoff.

Still, my performance wasn't too bad for a soldier off the battlefield for a year or so. Managed to get a decent score, fifth overall and third on my team. KDR doesn't mean jack on Battlefield but I managed to get better than 1.00 KDR, which is an achievement for me since I die most of the time trying to arm MCOMS or capping flags. PTFO, right? People are mostly the same though. They run down the middle and are pretty predictable. It was pretty much a massacre for the enemy team because they were headstrong and kept pushing down the middle. I never understood that mindset. As a rather poor combatant, I've always used varying tactics to outwit rather than outfight the enemy. An exposed flank is basically death to half an enemy team or more. I mean, if you slap a suppressor on your weapon and sneak in from their side and get the enemy from behind, they have little time to react and even if they take you down, you would have taken a fair chunk without them noticing or reacting quick enough.

Weapons-wise, I'm sticking to my 5 Service Star quest whereby I try out every weapon until I get 500 kills so as to unlock the dog tags for it. The current weapon I'm working on is the FAMAS and that thing has been nerfed to oblivion. No other way to put it. Usually, DICE does a great job in balancing weapons but man, they really made this thing terrible. When Back to Karkand first came out and the FAMAS got unlocked, it was a pretty popular weapon. A nimble, fast-firing and devastating close-quarters weapon. Now, it's got a ridiculously high rate of fire coupled with a small magazine, a long reload time and ridiculous recoil. The only way to use this thing is to walk right up to an enemy and pull the trigger. No need to aim, the recoil is way too difficult to control. Most guns I can develop an understanding of and a tactic to compensate for its weaknesses but this gun has too many to count. This is going to be a long 5 Service Stars.

I didn't play too many matches but I did have a lot of fun and now I remember why I love the Battlefield series so much. There'll be more Field Notes for Battlefield 3 and other games that fit the theme in the near future and until then, we've got a few awesome articles on the way. This is Renegade Sandwich, signing off.

Indie Video Game Highlight: Neverending Nightmares

                                The most frightening trailer ever 

Matt Gilgenbach might not be a familiar name to most gamers out there, myself included, but when I was browsing through the inter webs I was automatically drawn to this game. The trailer above was the first I had seen of the game and I was automatically left in a catatonic state wondering what the hell I had just witnessed. Everything about this game is morbid, bleak and and numbing; seems fitting seeing as the game was based on Matt's Gilgenbach's own struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.

The game starts as the player awakens from a nightmare, only to discover that he has been transported into another hellish dream. The plot reminds me of Inception but with a lot more horrifying themes and gore. Seeing that the game is set in a dream world, I would like to think that players would be kept on edge as the unexpected could always occur at any given moment. As of yet there are no concrete details about the gameplay but as seen in the trailer the game is played in 2D fashion which we all know and love. Also, the game appears to be an open world style game where exploration will be a key component of the experience (kind of a recurring trend in indie horror games). Allegedly,  the players action during the game will effect the ending of the game thus adding replay ability value.

As you all may know by know, I am a huge proponent of good art in video games. This game has a unique art style which scares the crap out of me. Just images of the game causes me to hear dissonant sounds akin to the cacophony of horror soundtracks. It goes without saying that this game will have mature themes and will not be suitable for the faint hearted. More details should be out soon, as Infinitap Games are really keen on open development (sharing updates with it's fans). Visit the game page here to keep up to date on the progress of the game if you are interested.

This is Alex Plum and this has been your Indie Game Highlight.

Indie Video Game Highlight: Dark Antarctic

Do you like your horror games to be set in the most bleak place on planet Earth? If by bleak you mean the Antarctic then this is a game for you.



                                                         The Launch Trailer


The game starts you off in a place called Leningradskaya station presumably somewhere in the Antarctic. This is where shit get crazy, Nazi werewolves who are also keen occultists (yes, you read correctly) have made a demonic pact with the Devil/Lucifer to resurrect the Third Reich. It is then left up to you (isn't it always) to fight against the threat of these abominations and save the world from the fascist horror. The game is pretty straightforward in terms of combat in  which you'll mainly use your bare hands and then proceed to gruesomely ripping monsters in half. You will be given a knife later in the game to spice things up.

The game is dark, heavy and done in an art style that seems to asphyxiate the player. The game is very reminiscent of the indie hit Lone Survivor in the fact that they both seem to be very 8-bit retro-ish. Dark Antarctic is available right now for Windows through the game's website for $6.66 (US Dollars). The lucky 666th customer to purchase the game will receive the Lucifer Edition of the game, which comes with a special chainsaw animation to take zombies apart with. 

Happy slaying guys. This has been Alex Plum with your Indie Game Highlight.

Sound in Video Games

Before we get started on the piece, I'd like to thank our friends over at GamerDino for featuring this piece as a guest post. They've been very kind to feature us there and we'd appreciate it if you give our friends there a visit.

Introduction
Sound. It's always been a key component in video games. Without the technology we have today to motion-capture performances to deliver facial expressions and body language that convey emotion, the game designers of yesteryear had to utilise sound as a means of tugging at the player's heartstrings. From music to voice acting to ambient sound, this article will attempt to explore what makes sound such an important component of the video game experience.

Music
In the early days of gaming (purely text-based games and games with text rather than cutscenes driving the story), this involved using music in a thematic approach in order to elicit specific emotions from the player. For situations fraught with danger and excitement, the music would be fast-paced and present a sense of immediacy in the situation, making the player tense up and ready themselves for a battle. When the situation mellows and players are free to move uninhibited through the world, then a relaxing yet upbeat tone would play, a theme that would inspire the player to explore and relax now that the battle was over. For some players, the transition between musical themes also served a useful function in that it warned them that the situation was changing and they needed to prepare for what was about to happen. For example, in the Splinter Cell series, there would be a dead silence to indicate that you were being stealthy but once the "suspicion" theme started to play, then you knew that the enemy AI was on to you, allowing you time to react and try to become part of the shadows once again. If the enemy did detect you, then alarms would blare and a loud, raucous musical theme would come on, providing a sense of urgency that causes the player's heart to race as they frantically scramble to the nearest cover of darkness and try to shake enemies off their tail.

Music is still an extremely important part of game design today because the best soundtracks have the ability to elicit a visceral reaction from the gamer. Good music in any form has the ability to make people feel something. Be it making them feel happy because the rhythm is upbeat and the lyrics celebrate the awesomeness of life or making them feel sad because the melodies are depressing and the lyrics even more so, good music has the ability to elicit emotions from a normal human being. When applied within a context, music can be even more powerful. With a good soundtrack, it becomes easier for a player to immerse themselves in the world and develop an emotional connection with the game, replacing pixels on a screen with a whole new virtual world complete with fictional characters you can relate to or bond with. This is of course, before the advent of voice-acting but even today, with voice acting and motion-capture performances, music still plays a pivotal role in bringing the world of the game alive.

Voice-Acting
It's no secret that voice-actors are some of the most underrated performers in the arts, at least, until recently. Before, we couldn't even care who voiced what character but now voice-actors are celebrities in their own right. This recognition of their work is fully deserved and can be seen in the various campaigns to bring back original voices of characters in a franchise such as David Hayter as Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid V or Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

Without the advanced technological advancements that allow us to capture facial expressions and body language, voice-actors had to do all the heavy lifting when it came to creating emotional performances and really lending depth to a character. While visuals tend to impress people more than audio, for a long time, it was the tireless efforts of voice-actors and their directors that brought our favourite characters to life. Until recently, it was possible to hear the same voices over and over again in various video games as the video game voice-acting industry seemed a little small as evidenced by the large body of work of big names like Nolan North, Laura Bailey, Troy Baker and Jennifer Hale, names you would most definitely come across if you play any AAA blockbuster video game. With video games becoming a multi-billion dollar industry, we're starting to see more and more Hollywood actors making the transition to voice-work and mo-cap performances. That is not to say that the thespians of Hollywood are only in it for the money, it just means that game publishers are now able to afford the price-tag of talented Hollywood A-listers, bringing in a whole new dimension of performances in video games.

With the proliferation of motion-capture technology and the ability to bring characters to life through the mapping of actor's faces, voice-acting may well become a doomed profession as time goes on and game-makers turn to mo-cap and advanced facial mapping. Or maybe not. There are a lot of games out there who still animate faces traditionally and still use voice-actors to convey the character's emotions and little foibles. It's difficult to tell how voice-acting will be affected by this new trend of blending the cinema with the controller because the future is unpredictable, but for now, I think voice-actors are finally getting the recognition they deserve and should continue to do so far into the future.

Sound Design
This part of the video game is probably the least acknowledged component as it is often goes unnoticed. The best ambient sound design is subtle, creating an atmosphere of sounds and noises within the environment in order to create a living, breathing virtual world utilising minute details that people don't tend to notice but really will have a big impact if they aren't there or are poorly done. I'm one of those gamers that loves realism, ironic, I know. Someone who plays games tends to do so to get away from the real world, so, wanting a game to be realistic seems a little silly. But realism really adds to the experience for me as it forces you to confront real(-ish) situations and think up real-world solutions to possible real-world problems. It's a form of learning without actually realising it. For a game to be realistic, it of course has to have realistic sound. That means leaves should rustle in the wind, the ground should crunch when you march through the jungle or snow-infested landscapes towards your objective, water should have a lapping sound when you silently approach a dock as you infiltrate an enemy's base etc. etc.

Good sound design can mean a range of things. It might mean creating all-new sounds to match impossible worlds and impossible things like a space-ship or a steampunk robot or it might mean recording real-world items and the sounds they make and replicating it within a game. For example, Bioshock Infinite features a floating world with wondrous flying buildings and monstrous enemies. The sound design is exquisite for this game as you hear the soft, subtle whine of the buildings as they travel through the skies and the loud and brash mechanical gears that operate the half-man half-machine monsters you constantly face in your attempts to rescue Elizabeth. This lends authenticity to the experience, it makes you feel like such a thing could exist and if it did, it would sound exactly like that.

On the other end of the spectrum, Battlefield 3 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter have both taken the sounds that real weapons make and put it into their games to give a sense of character to their weapons and vehicles. The roaring 7.62x51mm NATO round in battle rifles and sniper rifles sound heavier and more distinct from their smaller 5.56x45 mm NATO round cousins in smaller, more compact assault rifles, giving you a sense that these weapons are really different. In both games, the level of detail in sound design is just bonkers as firing in confined spaces, guns sound deafening and really block out other noises while in wide-open spaces, you can happily fire away without feeling your ears might fall off from all the noise. Another good example would be Gran Turismo 5 where all the cars sound fantastic. They really sound like cars and they give off the impression that they have an individual character, letting you hear the difference between a straight-six engine, a V6 or a V8. And the squeal and screech of tortured tyres as you will yourself around a corner too fast, letting your back-end slide as you attempt to push in to first place.

The point is, all these little details that the developers and sound designers focus on tends to go unnoticed but it does play a very important role in making your experience just that much better. If you take a run-of-the-mill average shooter (not naming names), the guns all feel the same and have that same laser-weapon like quality to the sound. It's not something a lot of people care about but for me, it goes to show how much the makers of the game care about the product when they pick up on the really fine details and work on them exquisitely even though most people couldn't care less.

Conclusion
Please remember that I'm no expert in sound design or sound engineering or music or any of the like, I just wrote this piece up as a tribute to one of the cornerstones of a good video game, hoping to raise awareness about how important sound really is and how good it can make a game, and by extension, a gamer, feel when used properly. For those reading through my convoluted mess of nonsense, thanks for tuning in.

Indie Video Game Highlight: A Hat In Time

Do you remember the good old days of video gaming? The time when every boy was inseparable from his Playstation 1 or NES.  Platformers like Crash Bandicoot, Rayman, Pandemonium and Banjo Kazooie reigned supreme in those days. Whether you love the nostalgia factor or the challenging gameplay, these games were massively addictive. If you long for the sweet taste of the golden age of platforming, why not give A Hat In Time a go.

Kickstarter Launch Trailer

A Hat in Time is described as a Nintendo 64-esque platformer. In the game, you play as a petite girl donning a top hat aptly named Hat Girl. Hat Girl has a large array of actions she can perform in addition to the traditional jump and run mechanics, these includes wall jumping, sliding, ground pounding, double jumping and pogo abilities.

The story is divided into 5 story arcs, which is pretty similar to the Mario titles, with the first chapter taking place on an island infested with Mafia of Cooks (crazy story, I know) with following chapter utilizing the gloomy forest setting. The other 3 arcs are not set in stone as of yet, as the backers of the project get to decide what happens next in the aforementioned acts.

                                           

                                                 Gameplay courtesy of Jesse Cox of OMFGcata fame

The best bit of news for me personally, is the multiplayer feature. You get to play the game with a friend, which is freaking sweet. The game will be featured both on PC and Mac. Gears for Breakfast (the developing team of the game) have stated their intent to publish the game on Steam, so if you have a Steam account, feel free to vote for them on Greenlight here.

Alternatively, check out their kickstarter here , where they explain the game in better detail.

Also please check out Jesse Cox for more interesting and wonderful game commentary. He has been very nice to us at The Ops Centre by allowing us permission to use his videos. Please go and show him some love.

Till then, this has been your Indie Video Game Feature.

Watch_Dogs WeareData

Greetings internet, I'm preparing a piece on electronic surveillance and the like and stumbled across this gem of a website recently. If you haven't yet, check it out. Watch_Dogs WeareData.

This piece of marketing, I think, is a stroke of genius on Ubisoft's part. It is equal parts awesome and creepy. The fact that Ubisoft was able to develop such a comprehensive map of public communications data, social media and the public transport systems in London, Berlin and Paris is both extremely cool and extremely terrifying at the same time. The fact that so much information is available to the public is just mind-boggling to say the least.

For more on how they created the website, check this 'The Making Of' video.

Assassin's Creed and Philosophy: Free Will and Determinism

Having taken philosophy for two whole years, I figured that it would be interesting to apply things I barely learned and understood to things that I enjoy talking utter nonsense about. This is the first of many articles to come (hopefully). Basically, I'll talk about philosophical things in relation to anything within the realm of popular culture or I'll talk about things in popular culture that are attempting to express philosophical ideas. As I mentioned earlier, I have only done two years of philosophy, so, don't expect an expert analysis, just some rambling about things I thought were interesting and might not be is definitely not philosophically rigorous.

Basically, Assassin's Creed can be seen as the competing doctrines of free will and determinism with the Assassins representing the extremity of free will while determinism is represented by their rivals, the Templars. In the case of Assassin's Creed, the free will advocated by the Assassins contends that people should be free to make their own choices without being hindered by any form of restrains while the deterministic worldview held by the Templars is that humanity should be guided towards perfection, with the Templars controlling them and determining the course of history towards what they considered a utopia. The main game I will be focussing on in the series is Assassin's Creed III as I believe Connor Kenway and Haytham Kenway are the most representative of their respective doctrines.

Connor tends to the libertarian side of things, believing in free will and denying that determinism is compatible with free will. Taken to the logical extreme, Connor advocates an almost anarchic conception of freedom where people should be free from any form of control and is basically able to do anything they want, perhaps within the boundaries of the social contract (this part is not clear). The allure of this particular conception of free will is that it provides an almost unlimited sense of freedom, maybe even the truest form of freedom. Obviously the problem with this sort of philosophical doctrine is, as previously mentioned, the logical extreme means an anarchic sense of freedom since government can be seen as a constraint on free will, perhaps even going so far as to void the social contract as it prevents people from truly having the ability to make choices without restrictions. Due to his initial youth when inducted into the Assassins, Connor takes a naive conception of freedom and free will, basically believing in freedom without considering the circumstances of the time, such as his discussion of slavery with John Quincy Adams in Boston, where he argues for the freedom of slaves without realising the implications of attempting to end slavery in a slave-driven economy. That is not to say that it is a bad thing, merely a little unwise and very headstrong and idealistic. Of course there is merit in Connor's way of thinking. He merely wishes to help people be free and break down the shackles of tyranny and oppression, a worthy pursuit, one typically associated with the revolutionaries of 1776 and 1789 although the truth (another discussion of historiography entirely) is somewhat less noble than it seems.

His father on the other hand, is more of an authoritative figure who believes that controlling humanity will help them ultimately progress to perfection. Don't confuse determinism with predeterminism though. Predeterminism basically argues that all things have been decided in advance, which means that whatever occurs has been decided in some grand scheme of things that will play out in an exact manner. Determinism argues different, it merely states that choices are influenced by prior events, basically, a cause-and-effect scenario. In this particular scenario, Haytham Kenway and his Templar allies wish to influence the future by manipulating their present, gaining control over humanity in order to drive them towards a better society. On paper, this seems like a noble pursuit, one that seeks to drive humanity to the best and brightest version of itself albeit under the control of a few influential men (not unlike how the world works today). However, if one takes it further and considers the consequences of such a system, we arrive at the conclusion that this is basically a form of absolutism as the Templars are basically demanding the power to run society unbridled, to achieve their conception of a perfect future. If this sounds familiar, then the name Lenin should also ring a bell. His particular form of social change used the term "vanguard of the revolution" to define the cadre that would lead the masses to their utopia. This is of course but one example and a very particular constitution (to go further, a perversion of Marxist principles) of an authoritarian conception of society.

In my experience of the game, I felt that the third entry in the series (not strictly the third, but the third in the numerical title order) had the strongest philosophical underpinnings in its plot and characterisation. Unlike the previous two games, there was a fairly robust and overt discussion of the philosophy of the warring factions (I of course refer to the Assassins and Templars but same can be said of the Americans and British). From my understanding of things, which is of course not always right, the writers seemed to be pushing the game towards a less idealistic conception of the battle between Assassins and Templars in that they stopped painting it as a battle between good and evil but rather taking a more subtle and complex view that contends both sides see themselves as attempting to achieve the greater good and seeing the other as not so much evil but rather misguided in their pursuits.

Back on the philosophical side of things, I'm not going to weigh in on one side or the other even though I was taught that I should have a stance in philosophy because I don't really want to imply that one particular stream of philosophical thought is better than the other. That's up to you to decide. If you have any thoughts, questions or just want to call me an idiot, feel free to do so in the comments. Also, if anyone reads this, would you be kind enough to let me know if you're interested in this sort of thing? I have a few ideas for more philosophical discussions in regards to various forms of popular culture and would like to hear what people think of this becoming a sort of semi-regular series.

Opinion: XBOX 180

Personally, I've never been exposed to Microsoft's Xbox console as much as I would have liked. I think for me the biggest regret of not investing into it was not being able to experience the exclusive Halo franchise. While I haven't had to time to meet the Xbox's incredible online services and interface, it never occurred to me that I was "missing out."

This year introduced the long awaited next generation of consoles and content, and at the beginning I wasn't sure if I'd remain with Sony's PlayStation line of consoles. After watching both companies reveal their respective next-gen consoles, content and Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) conferences, it was absolutely clear I would be staying with Sony.

While the Xbox One was ambitious in its forthcomingness, I believed it was a little ahead of its time. It dreamed of a connected and persistent digital future. Unfortunately, in the present we are surrounded by tons of people without internet connections and while many are connected, these connections aren't full-proof. Asking consumers to connect every 24 hours to be able to access the content they paid for had its benefits, but ultimately denied them access to their money's worth should any interruptions in connectivity occur. Furthermore, the ability to trade-in, lend, resell, gift and rent games are huge part of gaming culture. While they had not outright eliminated this facet, the online and digital system they were going to use would bring many difficulties. Another point I'd like to bring up is that majority of the great features at launch won't be available to me because I don't reside in the United States.

These features only pushed me further away from the Xbox One, and I can only imagine how alienated Xbox fans feel.

A few days ago Microsoft came around and changed its policy on used game restrictions and online check-ins to refresh licenses. No longer will consumers be required to be connected to play offline Xbox One games (excluding a one-time system set-up after console purchase). Microsoft has abolished its 24 hour connection requirements as well. There will also be no limitations to using and sharing games, much like today. Digital games can be played offline without internet connections, and games will have no regional restrictions -- being able to be played on any Xbox One console. However digital titles cannot be shared or resold.

These changes are refreshing and I'm glad that they're listening to their vocal community to produce a top-notch next-gen console. While this also impacts some of the scenarios they've previously announced, I'm certain they'll figure it out before launch.

Will I remain a PlayStation fan boy? Maybe. There's still time before the Xbox One launches in November later this year.

Bernt Toast is a writer at The Ops Centre. He is currently creeping around Infected and hoodlums in The Last of Us.

E3 2013: Destiny

Destiny, a brave new “shared-world shooter” from acclaimed studio Bungie, is easily my most anticipated next-gen title. While not very much has been revealed before the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the idea of a persistent online world where you play a personalised story seamlessly impacted by other players pulls all the right strings. 

I wasn’t at E3 this year, but I’ve been scouring the Internet searching for all things Destiny. What I’m about to describe to you is the gameplay demo that you’ve already seen with all the minute details I managed to scavenge up.

The World of Destiny
The beginning of the demo Bungie brought to E3 illustrates the immense size and scope of the world they hope to create. Destiny is set many years into the future, after a golden age where humanity spread across the stars. A mysterious force decimated the population, with a few being saved by the Traveller, a great sphere that hangs low above the surface of the Earth. Humanity rebuilt a city beneath the Traveller, and in the years that follow they have begun to venture back out into the wild to reclaim what remains of their old civilization.

The demo takes place in Russia, and while the setting is post-apocalyptic it is a sight to behold. Wind blows through the tall grass, the sun draws golden linings around the clouds it hid behind, rivers branch out through the valleys, and tall mountains loom in the distance. “All of this is playable space,” says Lars Bakken, a one of the many developers at Bungie. “This is all real geometry, you could go there.” Bungie is hinting at a huge gameplay space, but what’s staggering is the fact that this only represents a tiny morsel of what you’ll be able to visit.



For this demo, we follow the brief exploit of one of the classes of Guardians in Destiny, the Warlock. Guardians represent a group of specialized soldiers who protect the last safe city, and are able to wield some of the Traveller’s incredible power. He jumps from his personal spaceship in front of the expansive walls of Old Russia. He carries the the Viper P3, a burst-fire pulse rifle, and the Duke MK. 44, a powerful hand cannon revolver. He walks through the wreckage of a few hundred cars, some still carrying the bones of their ancient passengers. Then suddenly, the roar of a spaceship echoes through the space. A Hunter, the second Guardian class, beams closeby. He’s a friend and greets the Warlock with a wave emote; one of many to be in the final game. He seamlessly joins your Fireteam (Destiny lingo for party) and takes point, as they enter one point into the walls of Old Russia.

The Walls of Old Russia
The path ahead is dark, potentially hiding many adversaries. The Warlock pulls out his companion, Ghost. “We always visit such cheerful places.” Instantly, I knew the Ghost was going to be a clever and snarky companion throughout the journey across Destiny. Voiced by Peter Dinklage, of Game of Thrones fame, it’s a perfect match. Beyond company, Ghost is prepared to interact with old technology from the golden age; useful in your quest to reclaim your lost civilisation. Ghost expands its body revealing a bright light source, and leads the way ahead. “Oh, it looks even better up here!” he quips as he enters a large space within the wall. It’s dark, with maybe only 10 meters of visibility. “We need more light to find a way across. Hang tight. I’ll find some sticks to rub together. And by sticks, I mean highly complex circuits of which I am fully equipped...” he says, as he trails off deeper into the wall. Large lights in the ceiling boom on. The wall is even bigger than what I expected to see. “I may have over-done it. We’ve got trouble!”

The Fallen
The sudden brightness instantly attracts an enemy that was teased at the beginning of the demo, the Fallen; from the House of Devils to be exact. One of the three announced distinct enemies (the Vex and Cabal, unfortunately do not appear in this demo) fighting against humanity but not necessarily fighting together, the Fallen are four-eyed, generally four-armed, insect-like humanoids. They release Fallen Shanks to engage the player, these flying drones if you will. 



Here we are introduced to several classes within the Fallen hierarchy, the Dreg (two-armed thieves) and the Vandal (long-range shooters). While not much has been revealed about the Fallen lore, Bungie has teased that their heritage results in one of the most interesting deaths in the game. Whenever a headshot or melee kill has been accomplished, a white soul-like entity erupts from their bodies.

We also see a little of what separates the Hunter and the Warlock as player classes. Each class is seemingly equipped with two sets of abilities, which when used initiates a cooldown. Warlocks have studied the Traveller, mastering some of its arcane energies. Primarily your “magic” class, the Warlock in the demo was able to release Solar Flares -- grenades with the power of the sun -- and launch Nova Bombs, a large area of effect attack. Warlocks can also glide, increasing and sustaining the elevation of their jumps. The Hunter is a combination of speed and strength, comprising of outlaws who once roamed the wilderness combining daring and ingenuity. While their class-based abilities weren’t named, one involved launching several target-seeking missiles and another imbued a gun with the magic of the Traveller, shooting one-hit blasts upon the Fallen.

Shortly after eliminating the Fallen within the wall, in a larger room, Rixis, an Archon Slayer (clearly a Fallen miniboss of sorts) engages our heroes. The Hunter goes down early on, requiring a timely revive from another player. Revives on solo-play are still being worked out at Bungie, but they assure us that any way you play will be fun and accessible. As the Warlock takes out Rixis, he explodes in a shower of blue Glimmer and leaves behind a yellow orb. Reviving the other player first, he then picks up the yellow orb.



Loot
Similar to dungeon crawl video-games, Destiny provides a plethora of ways to customize your character, from skill tress to weapons and gear. Bungie has stated that every loot drop is attached to a private stream, so your drop is yours. This is excellent news as I loved this system in Diablo 3, and hated the “race of clicks” without private streams in Borderlands 2.

This is where we’re introduced to a (probably work-in-progress) inventory screen. Your character stands in the middle, equipped with all the gear you’ve got on him or her. The column to the right of your character represents your gear, with feet, body, arm, head and one more uncertain slots. The left column represents your firearms, and a “pattern” slot (which carries an unknown use for now).

Within that loot drop from Rixis, was a new Exotic Machine Gun called Thunderlord. Expanding the Thunderlord slot reveals a skill tree with impressive upgrades, ending with Rolling Thunder, which causes your rounds to become explosive. Each upgrade seems to be powered by Glimmer, which currently could be the new currency or simply an upgrade currency, Weapon Kits and Talent Points.The Hunter receives a new sniper rilfe, which has carried names like “Shut Up and Get Behind Me” and “Better Than Yours” in multiple playthroughs. Bungie’s definitely had a fun time naming these weapons.

Our heroes press forward and finally reach Old Russia beyond the wall. Ancient colony ships tower and spot the ruined landscape. Here, another spaceship roars and a Titan, the final announced Guardian class, beams down. The Titan executes another emote, before rearing up and smashing the floor beneath him (one of his Traveller abilities). He also takes out an ornate rocket launcher that apparently shoots “wolf missiles.” Show off. 

Suddenly, the sky darkens. Out in the distance, a huge black ship warps into the environment, the resulting shockwave toppling surrounding colony ships and blasting the player; definitely screaming for your attention. A public event, Fallen Assault, begins.



Fallen Assault
Public events in Destiny are incredible, but highly optional. These instances seamlessly bring players together to tackle foes one would normally not be able to overcome. Imagine playing Destiny solo, you’re exploring the environment when suddenly one of the huge ships come in. You travel towards it to investigate and find out other players in area have seen the same thing and are doing as you are. This gives Destiny an staggering scope and scale, that I’ve only seen so far in Guild Wars 2. 

Our current Fireteam witnesses another travelled through on Sparrows, these speeder bike vehicles (which Bungie has stated are personal craft). They team up and tackle a large group of Fallen in a nearby space when suddenly a transport carrier drops a spider tank, called the Fallen Devil Walker. Instantly all players drive their attention towards the tank. The tank is damage soaker and draws in a level 20 Fireteam from the distance. Eventually they take it down with a few well-placed hits and we’re treated with an extended E3 trailer.




The Trailer
We catch a quick glimpse of the Tower, where players will meet up and gear up for their journeys across space. 

A potentially non-playable character is introduced, and while unconfirmed I’m speculating that he’s voiced by Bill Nighy (Total Recall, Love Actually). We also see our Warlock character unmasked and voiced! 

Also seen are brief clips of the other enemy species, the robotic Vex, the space zombie Hive and the large armored Cabal. 

We see another potential non-playable character, an Awoken Hunter, in the wild. The exotic, beautiful, and mysterious Awoken represent one of the three playable character species alongside recognisable Humans and the sinister, powerful, and tireless robotic Exo. Player species will only bring aesthetic changes to the game, as Bungie doesn’t want to force you into your character species and lets you choose your species on a “gut feeling.” 
We get a lot of environmental clips from the number of planets you’ll be able to visit from Destiny, including Venus, Mars, and Saturn. Bungie clearly has put a lot of time and effort into developing these environment spaces.

We get a look at the hanger at the Tower, where you’ll store your personal craft. The personal craft shown seems to be a part of the Dead Orbit faction.



Destiny launches in 2014 for the XBOX One, PS4, XBOX 360, and PS3.