Category: Game On

I’d been anticipating this game for some time, and although I’d been deterred by playing a very poor early version a few months ago I picked it up last Friday when it was released.

So far I have to say I’m pretty disappointed.

For a start, what can be more demotivating than to play a character who is a total asshole. He doesn’t just “have issues” – the behaviour of the lead character in the cut scenes just makes you want to hit the eject button, not take control of his destiny as a race driver.

Because of this I’ve been ignoring the “story line” pretty much – the characters are so one dimensional that it would be hard to achieve the same effect in a comic book. Add to this some suspect voice acting and it’s just a wonder why they bothered with this instead of concentrating on making a decent racing game.

It’s not as revolutionary as they might think it is and other than the clever front end, the cut scenes are nothing more than a distraction.

I cannot understand how developers fail time and time again to grasp what makes a decent racing game. Lovely graphics in GT3 were all very well, but it had the most awful AI for a full price game. At the other end of the scale there’s Rumble Racing – with AI that will fight you tooth and nail, but graphics that are PS1 and a half graphics rather than next gen, plus it has all the other arcadey pick-ups that aren’t much to do with racing.

Why is it so darn difficult to produce a game with decent graphics, decent AI and none of the trappings of arcade style pick ups and gimicks?

What is wrong with producing a serious race game, with all of the good things and none of the bollocks that seems to get thrown in by misguided designers who seem to think that because the human player is behind on lap one, his car should be able to go ten miles an hour faster down the straight than it would under normal conditions?

If recent video footage of Burnout 2: Point of Impact is any indication of the quality of the product, I might just have to forgive and forget their sins from a few paragraphs below this one.

Not only do the graphics and physics look completely stunning, but the gameplay now looks like it has more depth than the original (i.e. condensation had more depth than the original Burnout).

An interesting point made today by someone in the know is that if Burnout 2 is using the new, refined version of Renderware, then GTA Vice City should look equally as awesome.

I think a whole load of folk are going to be surprized by the caliber of the PS2’s graphics in the coming months. Acclaim pulling the cat out of the bag with Burnout 2 could be just the start of an avalanche of eye candy on the system.

Rarely have I played a game with such a feeling of immersion that each mission leaves me feeling sapped of energy from sheer concentration. Medal of Honour delivers what most other games can only hope to – an almost authentic experience of war and a harsh reminder of your own mortality.

From the opening mission, scurrying around the beach head on D-Day with shells raining from the sky and fallen comrades all around, EA set their stall out for one of the best titles available at the moment for the PS2.

Play this game on a large size tv with surround sound… and you’re no longer playing a game; You’re there, ducking from the rain of bullets, flinching with each shower of shrapnel and fighting for your life with the rest of the poor souls experiencing Hell on Earth.

The only things to really remind you that this is a game are the sometimes unwieldy Dual Shock controls and the occasional frame-out when the action gets hot. Joy pads will never really catch up with mouse and keyboard as the control method of choice for first person shooteres. And although EA have done an admirable job in making the Dual Shock work well, it can sometimes be a little too sensitive when you’re fighting up close.

It is worth persevering with, though – soon you’ll be wandering round Nazi docklands, submarines and war torn city scapes with relative ease – darting from cover to cover, peeking out only to snipe a happless enemy target.

With Medal of Honour and from what I’ve heard and seen of TimeSplitters 2 – first person shooters on consoles may be coming of age.