State of the Industry: Expectations and Bioshock 2

Expectations. Expectations define many things in how gamers approach games. Sometimes it is the hype built by publishers which can set gamers expectations awry. Other times it is the way a demo plays or how previews leave journalists after the first impression, but lately there is another way expectations can setup games for failure; their predecessors. The most recent example of this is Bioshock 2, which by all normal standards would be considered a great game, if not for expectations. When the sequel was first announced and it became apparent Irrational Games was not developing it (creators of Bioshock), the fans heaved a sigh of disappointment. Bioshock, which will forever be known as one of the most immersive single player experiences of this generation had created an expectation that no sequel could live up to. Maybe it was the idea of returning to Rapture, the setting from the original. Or it may have been the almost novel idea of returning as a Big Daddy, protectors of the Little Sisters and a most deadly enemy from the first one.

Personally, I played the original and harbored some of the very same feelings that many others did. I doubted my desire to return to Rapture and felt unsure about the whole concept. When 2k announced the games delay to develop a separate multiplayer component, the fans were up in arms. They wanted 2k's head. I personally did not care, because the number of games which have terrible & awesome multiplayer components has no effect on me either way. I rarely have time to play competitive multiplayer when I game. I am a more varied gamer and prefer to change up my experiences, rather than become exceptional at any one game. Plus I play a lot of RPGs which eat up 40+ hours of my life typically. So, when the reviews came in, I was excited to here many of the journalists I followed said it was great! I began talking about it around the house and for Valentine’s Day, Lauren bought me it as a gift (yeah, she is that cool). I put that in almost immediately, despite still being addicted to Mass Effect 2 and trying to finish up Bayonetta. Within the first hour or so, I was back in Rapture and loving every minute of it. So, why all the hate? How come almost every little comment I read about the game starts with "let me just say, this game is not nearly as good as the first one"?

Sure, there are things that still suck; like the Vita-Chambers are weird if you respawn in a place you don't remember or the shooting may still feel a little stiff, but look at all the new things they tried. Most obvious is the dual-wielding of plasmids and weapons. Second, the introduction of charged plasmids and the traps. Third, the mini-games involving little sisters, where now you have to protect them as they harvest corpses. Fourth, all new weapon types and so on and so forth. My point is that despite any shortcomings you could find, there are just as many new innovations. I don't think that we should fault 2k and the various studios who worked on this game, for not being able to provide you the same experience Bioshock did. You have to understand that the first time to experience anything is going to be much different than each additional visit. For me Bioshock 2 was a fantastic return to Rapture, which answered some additional questions and helps shed light on the splicers civil war. If you are at all interested in an atmospheric shooter, go give it a play through. You will be happy you did.

So, will we learn to be more open to sequels in the future? Hopefully, but it is going to be up to how we setup our expectations and what we define as acceptable. It is all about perception.

*Note: images are courtesy of a Google Image Search

Play it NOW!: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect was Bioware's second attempt at a riveting space opera RPG, KOTOR being the first. It was a fantastic adventure, though not without it's own growing pains. On the second try, Bioware has outdone themselves by taking what the community said into consideration when refining the sequel. In doing so, Bioware has created in my opinion, the most accessible RPG of our generation. I say this with confidence, having played a large collection of both western and eastern RPGs.

The most immediate thing many veteran RPG players will notice is the lack of any formal inventory or loot mechanic. Instead, your characters inventory is managed in 3 ways: weapons - in which gaining a single weapon type makes that available to all characters who have the option of using the specified weapon type, armor - which only applies to your Avatar and is limited to only a few variations, piece mealed out to you, and upgrades - which increase all the different weapons, armor, and ship components using minerals. Everything else found in game when picked up is instantly converted into money. Some resource cashes can be found in various missions, but for the majority of upgrades, the user must engage in planet mining. This process can be very time consuming, but if it wasn't, I feel in many ways, that could break the economies of scale. Back to my previous reference to missions, which are another big change from conventional RPGs. Where XP and resources would normally be gained in any capacity in the open world, now they're found in "instance like" missions. So when you are not chatting up your crew or the citizens of various colonies, you may instead be completing a quest and must do so start to finish, before returning to the open world.

This lends itself very well to the combat element, because the missions are much more linear and less plagued with long walks to various destinations and mid mission diversions.

Combat has been much more streamlined, cover is much easier to use, powers are more accessible since they can be mapped to various buttons and where you shoot your opponent will affect the level of damage they receive. That's right, no more dice rolls, instead, heads and limbs will explode if shot correctly. Also, enemies seem much more differentiated from each other, so a vanguard is clearly different from an engineer and so on. When you get to the end of a mission, all your accomplishments are listed and all XP is tabulated based on the decisions you made. Like the previous installments, role playing conversations and making decisions is the central component, where the combat mechanic (though much improved) is secondary. There are numerous instances in conversation where some characters are down right hilarious and others where the cinematography of a conversation is borderline "movie quality". Your crew comprises the majority of these events, either during recruitment or loyalty missions, but some side conversations will also intrigue the user. Again, each character in your party has a recruitment & loyalty mission, combined with a couple story driven missions, this puts the main story component at about 20 - 30 missions, each of varying length. Other cities, anomaly's and e-mails will provide the rest of the secondary assignments, probably equal to another 100 side missions or so. Anomaly's in particular are a cool feature, relating to the mining resources mini game we discussed earlier. When mining, occasionally a probe will find more than resources and allow you to land on a planet. These missions are typically 10 minutes blurbs that daisy-chain into 3 or 4 more side missions and are a welcome departure from the monotony of mining. On to your alignment, where the choice of good or evil is not a black and white affair as it is in some games. Though, through your various missions and conversations, not only are you able to provide good/evil responses, but you can now interrupt with a good/evil action. I chose evil for my character and one of my favorite interruptions involved a Blue Suns Mercenary, a plate glass window and the top floor of an Asari skyscraper. You get the idea. Now the new side of this is how the choices effect appearance, in the spoilers section below, you will see what my character looked like as a level 3 renegade. Not the handsome Shepard we all remember. Now I have not imported my character from Mass Effect, so I cannot speak to that experience. But I will be doing so shortly and will play the game from the opposite alignment as before. Since every one's endings are so unique, click for the jump below, to see how my story ended and let me know how yours did in the comments.

*note: completed game as a level 22, Infiltrator, Full Renegade, 800/1015 achievement score

**note: all pictures are the result of google image searches

Play it Now!: Plants vs Zombies

by Lauren Doster

I would probably rate PopCap’s “Plants vs Zombies” as the cutest, most creative, and addictive tower defense game to date. The gameplay is built on a simple grid format, where Zombies move horizontally across the screen towards your rows of defense. If your lines of defense are not sufficient, the zombies will enter your house and the dreaded “ZOMBIES ATE YOUR BRAINS” flashes on the screen.

The key to long-term success in this game is twofold: your ability to collect sunlight quickly, and your ability to assess which plants to add to your arsenal at which time. Sunlight is key for financing more plants. I would highly suggest you purchase the double sunflowers as soon as Crazy Dave offers them up for sale in his shop. When selecting your arsenal, I always try to incorporate a walnut (this slows a zombies approach to your home, while you continue to attack him) and an “oh shit” plant for those zombies that do sneak by (Squash, Red Pepper will do just fine). Couple these with your traditional Pea Shooter, Sunflower, etc. As you progress, more seed packets will become available to spruce up your zombie-killing arsenal. I would highly suggest buying more seed slots as soon as you can raise the cash. This will come in especially handy as you take on nighttime games, where you receive no free sunlight.

Nighttime Survival Mode

That being said, the biggest hook of this game goes beyond the normal adventure mode. Puzzle mode, survival mode, and various mini-games including maintaining your own “Zen Garden”. I was trying to explain to Sean the importance of saving up capital to purchase Stinky the Snail to continue to collect gold coins in my Zen Garden while I was away. He’ll understand, someday. Another great mini-game consists of playing as the zombies, attacking plants and trying to eat brains. It’s a great way to learn how to resist zombies in the normal adventure mode.

Stinky the Snail – kickin’ ass and taking names.

Overall, I give this game a 9/10! I have completed the adventure mode and most of the puzzle/mini-games. I think PopCap balanced the “cute” aspect perfectly with genuine strategy required to be successful. This will appeal to both light gamers and their hardcore counterparts. Just be prepared for your girlfriend to utter “the zombies….are coming” for a few weeks!

*Note: Photos are a result of Steam and Google image search

Hitting it off: Left for Dead 2

Hey readers we have a guest blogger joining 8-Bit, her name is Lauren Doster and she will be part of a new line-up of posts called "Hitting it off". They are going to be a back and forth dialogue between her and I, on a co-op experience we had in a game. Also, she may be coming to you with some "PlayitNOW!" recommendations in the future. And she is my Girlfriend, so everyone play nice! Here is a short bio and our perspective on Left for Dead 2.

L: I grew up playing video games religiously, most of my experience lies within the Genesis, N64, and PS1&2. Favorite games of all time: Super Mario Bros 3, all of the Legend of Zelda series, Starfox, Unreal Tournament, Golden Eye 007, FFVII, FFIX, FFX. Lost some touch in college, mostly due to the indie music scene & awesome keggers. Met Sean in 2008, know I won over his heart talking FFXII over margaritas @ Gloria's. Since then, he has reintroduced me to the video game scene. Previous to meeting him, I stayed within my comfort zone of action adventure, platform, or role playing games. Now I'm branching off into the realm of FPS, Puzzle Games and beyond. We'll see if he ever gets me into sports games.

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Left for Dead 2

S: To me, Left for Dead 2 was a return to the same frantic survival experience as it predecessor. Four humans pitted against a limitless horde of zombies, all directed by Valve's artificial intelligence. It has all the elements for an engaging and visceral experience, which the sequel seems to have expanded upon ten fold. Lauren, since you're relatively new to first person shooters on consoles, what were your expectations going into this game? Did anything surprise you after your first play through of a level?

L: While I have enjoyed certain aspects of FPS in the past, oftentimes my favorite video game elements such as strategy and cooperation are lost in the fray of an arsenal of weapons, transport vehicles, and a subpar plot line. Left 4 Dead 2 seems to be much different. Don't get me wrong - I love having bad ass weapons. In this game; however, the weapon offering takes place at the outset of the level, with sporadic weapon/ammo drops throughout the level. Instead of managing a complicated inventory system, I simply choose between a shotgun or a sniper rifle. I'm more of a shotgun type of girl. :) I think the element that surprised me the most was the level of cooperation and intelligence of the AI on your team. Instead of just being dead weight and running in front of you while you're trying to mow down some zombies, these characters are quick to heal or provide you with covering fire. Perhaps I'm out of touch with modern FPS, but it seems like this game got it just right.

S: Good point on the AI direction of the team. We have been playing on easy mode, so some of the complaints online about Team AI tend to be related to the harder difficulties, but in my experience I whole heartily agree. The two AI companions have been more then capable; reviving downed teammates, healing you or I when are health is below the 25% mark and being a crack shot when one of us gets pinned by a special infected. The same cannot be said often times when playing with other people online, as there can be an enormous amount of griefers out there looking to ruin our evening. Now if we only had another couple to hunt zombies with....

In response to the combat system, I definitely see you as more of a shotgun girl, but I myself am more of a rifle guy. The M16 is great, as is the AK-47, but the SCAR is my new favorite gun. Throw a laser sight on there with some incendiary rounds and I am ready to take on the Horde. The addition of melee combat is also very indicative of zombie culture. Many times in film a protagonist will be put in a situation where all they have is a random household appliance or piece of sports equipment in which to bash in the skulls of a few zombies. Valve took note of this and now has a plethora of melee weapons to use against the zombies. My personal favorite is the Samurai Sword, but I cannot deny the joy of running through a crowd of zombies with the chainsaw running hot. Too bad it runs out of gas... What about you? Any new melee weapons strike your fancy or did you prefer the pistols?

L: I think the melee weapons were a great enhancement to the game. My previous mantra was, "why would I use a melee when I have a gun?!". It's a valid question, especially when taking on hoards of zombies. The difference with this game is that the melee weapons are actually decent, and cause more damage to the infected when struck , over a shot from the pistols . It's a great crowd control method, melee weapons allow you to hit multiple zombies with a single attack. I would say this was a great addition to L4D2. You mentioned the incendiary rounds earlier, which I think is great way to mimic the effects of a flamethrower without forcing the player to choose between their M16 and a flamethrower. Each team member can access the rounds when dropped, which allows for additional carnage. I also think the Boomer bile was a great addition. You throw this vile at a zombie and it attracts the hoard to them much like the pipe bomb. I haven't quite grasped how to use this the most effectively. Often times I miss the Tank and end up wasting it on a normal zombie.

S: Hey, you still got the "Septic Tank" achievement, so I know you can hit the tank with a grenade. But, I am a little miffed by the fact that there isn't a flamethrower. The different ammo types are excellent place holders for the fact that the game does not contain many heavy weapons, besides turrets. Although, that new grenade launcher is pretty damn sweet. Every time I lob one into a crowd, I get a warm fuzzy hearing the "Thunk!" as the grenade soars out of the barrel. I guess it sort of fits the atmosphere of being stranded with no military assistance, but I would love to breakout something more "high tech" on the zombies. 

Speaking of effectiveness against the Tank, I am really into the cool factor behind all the new special infected. The Charger with his oversized arm, Spitter with her charming smile and of course the Jockey who looks like Mickey Rooney after a 2 week bender. But I really dig the special infected "light" that are unique to each map. Most especially the clown zombie, whose squeaky shoes attract other zombies in the area. It preys on my childhood fear of clowns and is instantly satisfying to pop one's head of from across the carnival lot. The levels also reflect a unique atmosphere, where Heavy Rain has some interesting weather effects and the Dark Carnival has all the little games you can play as you run through the lot. Do you think there is any infected that stands out as being more dangerous than another? And if so, does the design of a level affect that?

L: You've seen me cringe and geek out whenever I hear the witch crying. I've heard they've been toned down from L4D1, but I'm still scared to death. She also seems to wander in this game, and sometimes seems to follow you. Of course, the areas where witches are located are always dark with several sub-rooms around for her to hide in. I think the most dangerous part of the witch relates to your AI - while I gave them kudos earlier they were responsible for almost every single witch attack while we were playing.

S: Yeah, the witch can be a real pain, especially if our AI controlled buddies want to run up and poke in her the eye. All in all, this is a great game for couples wanting to bond over some co-op. It makes you depend on each other for survival and stick together throughout the short campaigns. Keep it on easy mode to start and the better you get at working together, the more you can ramp up the difficulty. See you readers next time and look for more posts from Lauren in the future.

Note: Played through 3 of 5 campaigns together, on easy, offline, before this post.

Note: All images are the result of a Google image search

State of the Industry: The Landscape of 2010 part 2

And the beat goes on as we look at the second half of 2010 and what the future holds. I would of course take any release dates you may have heard with a grain of salt. Many of these triple-A titles will hit a snag before going gold, so these are the top ten titles I would like to tentatively see drop in the later half of the year. 

1. The Last Gaurdian - Fumito Ueda and Team Ico make art as games and their narrative is prolific. Should be a must own PS3 title.

2. Dead Rising 2 - Capcom is bringing back the horde and the ability to create weapons, means all new ways to kill zombies.
3. Fable 3 - Peter Monyluex and Lionhead have a vision for the Fable universe that involves a level of immersion unseen in most games. I felt the last one fell short, but was getting very close.

4. Brink - Interesting theories on traversing the enviroment and combat, with a fresh art style. All good things.

5. Metal Gear Solid Rising - Just watch Raiden fight the Geckos in MGS4 and tell me you don't want to play that scene.

6. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Kojima does Castlevania???!!!

7. Halo Reach - Bungie's swan song?

8. Final Fantasy Versus 13 - I have no idea what to expect...please don't be Dirge of Cerberus, please don't be Dirge of Cerberus...

9. Deadspace 2 - Isaac is back and he has a zero gravity suit that doesn't suck

10. Crackdown 2 - Blow shit up with me!

Check back in for the final post on how "motion control" may try to become a standard of practice in 2010 and on.

*Note: all images are the result of a google image search and amazon.com

Play it NOW!: Borderlands

The wasteland of Pandora is plagued with adversity, but luckily, I have the cure; a bazillion guns! Borderlands, is not your typical FPS. It is one of many games entering what I refer to as a “hybrid-genre” and as Gearbox would describe it, Borderlands is what you would get if an FPS and RPG had a baby; more specifically, if Halo and Diablo had a baby. This should lead you to a couple conclusions, first you will be shooting aliens in the face, second, you will be collecting a ton of loot and last, you will be grinding until that level 50 level cap kicks in. As many of you know that read this blog regularly, I had been going to Gearbox every couple of months for focus testing sessions, and now that the game is out, I can tell you it was to play Borderlands. Since I had spent a lot of single player time (around 15 + hours) playing this game at Gearbox, I wanted to experience the actual game, co-op ONLY. Working out the schedule with my brother, we ended up finishing this game in a little less than 12 hours, and I am still left with some side quests to go back to.

I really have to hand it to Gearbox, if there is one thing Borderlands has going for it, it is style. The graphics alone are a blend of realism and cel-shading to create something wholly unique, visually referred to as “concept art” style. A thick black outline permeates the objects in the landscape and clearly defines the character models, buildings and weapons throughout Pandora. These are coupled with a sense of personality allocated to many of the NPCs you encounter; from the mischievous, sometimes hilarious Claptraps, to many of your quest dispensers like Scooter or Crazy Earl. Even your tougher enemies are differentiated by simply throwing the word “Badass” in front of their name. If I had to point to one thing lacking, it is any sort of narrative. The story is really irrelevant, starting with you choosing a class-based silent protagonist (despite the occasional taunt over your enemy’s corpse) and following the orders from a mysterious woman, to find a vault thought to contain a wealth of treasure. When you get to the vault, it will surprise you for about 3 seconds and then you realize the last battle kind of fizzles out. Let us take time to recognize though, that this is not why you play Borderlands! You play Borderlands, because of the loot and does Borderlands sure have some of the coolest weapons I have ever seen. Take for example “The Boiler”, a drum loaded cluster rocket launcher, which not only fires 5 rockets spread across the terrain, but 5 rockets which explode with “nalpamy” goodness, causing massive fire damage on all my enemies. Or my favorite close quarters gun, “The Judicator”, a shotgun of the highest grade (orange class) which will basically turn any opponent to kibble in two pops. Complete this little arsenal off with some Bouncing Bettie Electrical grenades (electric elements drop enemy shields quick) and you can pretty much handle anything the game can throw at you.

To come back the classes mentioned earlier, there are four choices; Soldier, Sniper, Siren and Brick (yeah, his name is the class). Soldiers are more tactical classes who can drop a turret which will buff you and your teammates, master shotties and assault rifles, and has an entire medic skill tree. Snipers try to control the battlefield from a distance, utilizing a pet bird to stun opponents, cause elemental damage and master the headshot. These are the two classes I experienced the most of (me being the soldier, my brother the sniper). The siren is a stealthy magic class, who can “phase walk” through enemies and explode behind them for massive area damage. She is also proficient with small arms. Then there is Brick, a human wrecking ball, whose special ability is to drop his gun and just start pummeling his opponents until they are a smear on the desert landscape. Oh and Brick also is proficient in heavy weapons, which he shoots from the hip! Each class also has a modifier, which will allocate bonus skill points to specific abilities making you more effective or balanced. I spent the majority of the game as either a Support Gunner or Shock Trooper. Lastly, there are the shields, and while most of them are cool and do various counter attacks or have immunities to specific elements, I found that the regenerative health shield was the only way to go. Myself being a medic sub-class, I could heal anyone by shooting them, except myself…which proved to be a problem from time to time, if I did not use the correct shield. The vehicle combat was passable, but did not resonate the Mad Max feeling I was going for, mostly because the vehicles lacked variety and the guns tended to be weaker than my own sidearm.

I think this game will be the Franchise that finally takes Gearbox to new heights. The Brothers in Arms series was always successful but suffered from the industries saturation of World War II shooters. FPS/RPG Hybrids on the other hand are few and far between, generally suffering from issues of being two much of one or the other. Borderlands on the other hand, seems to have found the balance here and with 2 million units sold in the first 45 days, I can hardly wait for the sequel. Luckily, there seems to be a slew of DLC keeping me busy until then. So if you like guns, guns, guns; Play it now!

* Played through the main story and probably 70% of side missions, reached lvl 38 Soldier before credits rolled.

**All images are a result of a Google image search and www.nerfnow.com