Something I’ve been watching with some interest across the course of the last year or so has been the developments of SWTOR, or Star Wars: The Old Republic. Which is the upcoming MMORPG from Bioware, set several thousand years before the events of the original Star Wars films, and several hundred years after the Knights of the Old Republic game – one of the finest Star Wars games.

All eight classes have now been announced for the game, take a peek.

Trooper
The Trooper, an elite soldier of the Republic. Big guns, advanced guns, heavy armour, no fancy schmancy Force to help them out.

Smuggler
The Smuggler, think Han Solo blatantly. No reliance on the force, lots of sneaking, surprise, hiding behind cover. Possibly one liners, I’d hope so.

Jedi Knight
The Jedi Knight, hard to really make a comparison – as these Jedi are big on heavy armour and waging head first into heavy combat. Reliant on their lightsaber and a range of Force abilities to aid them in the thick of combat.

Jedi Consular
The Jedi Consular, these are to my mind, traditional Jedi, all flowing robes, wisdom and cryptic commentary. These Jedi whilst using lightsabers are more reliant on ranged Force abilities, and being mindful of their approach, not charging head-first into combat.

Bounty Hunter
The Bounty Hunter, take your pick from comparisons, again slotted into an evil Sith hugging role rather than a more mercenary one. Again heavy armour, big guns, also less traditional and more bespoke weaponry and defences.

Imperial Agent
Sneaky, deceptive, reliant on range and high tech gadgetry. No real comparison springs to my mind, but makes a good offset for the lack of a real comparable Trooper option whilst filling a very different role.

Sith Warrior
The Sith, seeing legions of these warriors will seem unusual to anyone unfamiliar with the Knights of the Old Republic games, but the red lightsaber will be all too familiar. A mix of frontline savagery and dark side Force abilities, these are the opposites of the Jedi Knight class.

Sith Inquisitor
The counterpart perhaps to the Jedi Consular, but given the opposite nature, these ranged Sith focus more on destruction and torture.

It’s still unclear when The Old Republic will be released, but the game does keep looking better and with Bioware insistent on their devotion to strong personal story elements, it does sound terribly tempting even for someone who generally find the grind and repetition of MMOs fairly tiresome.

Take a peek at the official site below for more information and videos.

Info & Links
Star Wars: The Old Republic – Official Site

Zombies appear to be a staple in gaming. From way back in the days of DOOM; the zombie has plagued first person shooters as rampantly as the disease/demonic infestation that creates them. A year ago, Valve released Left 4 Dead, their survival horror game which pitted a group of four survivors against hordes of ‘infected’. A year later, and to much criticism from the normally loyal Valve fanbase, they released Left 4 Dead 2.

The uproar from the normally loyal fan-base when Left 4 Dead 2 was announced was enormous. The fear of Valve becoming an EA ‘knock a game out a year’ styled franchise was unthinkable. There were also the cries from the L4D hardcore who demanded that Left 4 Dead 2 could and should be made into a DLC pack for Left 4 Dead. Threats of boycotting the game appeared on Steam via Steam Groups – still Valve soldiered on and delivered Left 4 Dead 2 one week after the mass hysteria of Modern Warfare 2 hitting the shelves.

With this little prelude into the surrounding history of this game concluded, grab a shotgun, pack some ammo and lets get into the details of the game itself.

Story
Whilst the original Left 4 Dead (L4D) originally had a very open narrative, the four campaigns that comprised the first very loosely tied together – Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) has a clear cut narrative; the ending of one campaign leading directly into another.

The story begins with four survivors, Coach – a former American Football player, Ellis – a country hick mechanic, Rochelle – a TV reporter and Nick – a distrustful gambler and conman. These survivors, at the beginning of the ‘Dead Center’ campaign, arrive at the top of a hotel – a designated evacuation point – only to see the last evac-chopper flying away.

Left for dead, the survivors have only one choice. Travel South, to New Orleans – the final safe haven in America. Grabbing some weapons and some med-packs; the survivors set off. Their journey takes them to the local shopping centre, before heading through what comprises the other four campaigns. ‘Dark Carnival’ sees the survivors through, as you may expect, a carnival full of infected. ‘Swamp Fever’ takes the survivors into the Louisianna swamps – leading on to ‘Hard Rain’; a town with more than a few surprises. The final campaign, ‘The Parish’ sees the survivors reach their destination and have to travel through the city to make their final escape. Each campaign has it’s own little nuances and quirks, making each a different experience.

The addition of the more solid narrative gives the game a more film-like feel; the first seeming to be patched together – especially when the downloadable content was added tying in the first and second campaigns. The characters each have their own little quirks and banter between each other, much like the first game and are all as well rounded as their predecessors were.

Gameplay
Left 4 Dead 2 is a co-operative play game. There are no two ways about it, if you fail to work with your team mates, you quite simply won’t survive. The increased difficulty over the first game means that it is a challenge to players of the previous game, but newer players may find the curve a bit much – for a while. The improvements to the AI ‘Director’ allow it to change the difficulty on the fly, making it easier or harder depending on your progress. Not only can it dictate the placing of weapons, health gear and ammo, the Director has been given control path-finding for the survivors – changing them each time the game is played. In the ‘Hard Rain’ campaign, the Director can control the weather. As with the previous game, the director can still control ‘horde’ spawns, a rush of numerous Infected that come from literally everywhere and the spawn of the ‘Special’ infected. The old favourites are there, the Hunter, Boomer, Smoker, Tank and Witch. All have had very little changed from the tweaks of the previous game, apart from the Witch who will now walk about during daylight hours – making her a bit more of a danger than she already is. The new specials however, offer a lot to fill out the Infected side.

The Charger is the ‘group-breaker’ – with a massively mutated arm, it can rush into the survivors before grabbing one and pounding it into the floor. Unlike other infected, such as the Hunter or Smoker, this brute won’t let go if hit with a melee attack; it’s got to be killed before it will stop causing damage.

The Spitter is the path blocker. Mutated in a similar way to the Boomer, the Spitter can vomit forth a ball of ‘Spitter-goo’, a highly acidic substance that causes damage over time to survivors that stray into it’s area of effect. The longer the survivors stay in the goo, the more damage is done to them. Whilst a dangerous ranged enemy, the Spitter isn’t too hard to take down – with reasonably low health, a couple well placed shots normally does the trick.

The Jockey is by far the most interesting of the new specials. A small, hunched mutant with a hunter-style leap attack, the Jockey latches onto a survivor’s back before moving them in the direction it wants and causing damage as it goes. A Jockey can be beaten off a survivor, which is advisable before one of the survivors gets lead away into oblivion.

As with the first game, there are numerous standard infected to go along with the specials. Along with these, however, come the ‘uncommon common’ – infected that will only appear during that campaign and have some unique ability to set them out from the crowd. Two such examples are the ‘Riot Cop Infected’ found in The Parish campaign – which is impervious to damage when attacked from the front. The other is the Clown Infected – moving with squeaky shoes which, apparently, drives infected a tad mad and causes them to rush towards the survivors with the Clown. Overall, these small but well designed additions keep the campaigns fresh, as your never quite sure when the Director will spawn an uncommon common or one of the newer Specials.

As with any first person, taking down the infected relies on a good gun, more of which have been added over Left 4 Dead’s original six weapons and two grenades. The addition of melee weapons is a most welcome and most important game mechanic – as with the difficulty increase, there are often times when your main weapon runs out of ammo, forcing players to switch to side arms or melee weapons. Side arms, such as the pistol and the Magnum still have distance, but need reloading. Melee weapons, such as the frying pan and the staple of zombie slaying – the chainsaw – have limited range, but don’t require a reload and can take out numerous infected in a single swing, whilst also pushing others not caught in the deadly arc back. To coincide with the increased difficulty further; there are two more options for survivors to heal with – the Adrenalin Shot and the Defib. Unit. The Adrenalin Shot, whilst not as good as the pills has the bonus of giving the player a boost in speed and strength, allowing them to run through hordes easier. The Defib unit allows dead survivors to be revived, but takes up your med-pack slot. Choosing carefully re-enforces that necessary team-play feel.

Multiplayer still retains the co-op mode, survival mode and versus mode, with two more additions. Realism Mode pits the survivors in an increased damage environment – as close to the real thing as it gets, where players really have to work hard to get through the campaigns. Scavenger pits two teams in a versus style match, the survivors having to find gas canisters to power a generator, the Infected having to stop them. Whoever has the most gas canisters in the generator at the end, wins. These new modes and the constant replayability of the campaigns with other players means the game has a very high replay value.

Graphics
Graphically, the game has recieved an impressive overhaul from the previous game. The infected all look much more horrific, the Smoker and Hunter specifically and the addition of the ‘gib’ system is a gore-enthusiasts delight. Limbs fly off and holes are blown through body parts in welters of blood and bone – all controlable by an adult content filter.

Bad points
As with any game, there are the bad points. Whilst Left 4 Dead 2 isn’t rife with them, there are two major ones that spring to mind.

First, AI. Whilst alot of careful attention went into the Director and the Special Infected’s ambush strategies, the survivor AI if your left to play on your own is at best hilarious and at worst awful. In one game, a pair of AI compatriots staring down a Witch who was getting increasingly more annoyed whilst I willed them to leave her be. In another, the AI ran between two downed survivors, trying to decide who to pick up first. These should hopefully be addressed with time, but in a first release should really have been ironed out. Realistically, the game needs to be played with friends rather than the AI which can get a bit silly.

The second is the lack of any major progression over the first. Whilst the additions described above all warrant a new game – I can’t help but think it all could have been taken that little bit further. Entitling the Director to control the weather over all campaigns and to change the path-finding of more sections of map would have made the replay value massive.

Conclusions
Left 4 Dead 2 is a survival-horror fans dream. As a first person shooter, as with any other Valve game, it is well rounded and incredibly well balanced – enough variation and set pieces to keep the action interesting. The additions make this worth the price of a full game and should be bought by anyone with a love of co-operative games.

9/10

Info & Links
Reviewed by Martox PC using mouse and keyboard
L4D2 Official Site

As an avid gamer, I try to pace games out so they last me a while. It’s a rare occassion for me to sit down on a game’s release day and hammer through it in the space of the day. The last time I did this was Halo 3. Arkham Asylum is another.

So, lets start from the top!

Story
You play Batman – Gotham City’s caped and cowled Dark Knight. The game begins with an exquisite little cutscene showing the Batmobile tearing through the streets of Gotham – towards Arkham Asylum, the mental rehabilitation facility built on Arkham Island. Home to the most insane and twisted individuals Gotham City has to offer, this is the setting for the entirety of the game.

Batman arrives at the facility – sensing something isn’t right when The Joker gives up without too much of a fight, he escorts him to the patient transfer area. Along the way, you meet some of the faces you’ll be helping and defeating along the course of the story – the most frightening being the moment you meet Killer Croc and get a good idea of how massive the monster truly is compared to Batman.

With The Joker handed over to patient transfer; he escapes – entering the facility with the aid of Harley Quinn, his ex-doctor turned psycho girlfriend. Batman breaks in through a viewing port – from there, it all escalates in an excellently planned and put together story.

If you’ve seen the cartoon versions of Batman – you should be very pleased with the line up of voice actors. Kevin Conroy takes on his role as Batman once more, Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn – but the real kicker is Mark Hamill voicing The Joker once more. Everyone loves Heath Ledger for what he did as The Joker in The Dark Knight; but to a generation (mine specifically) Mark Hamill will always be the one I think of when I hear the name.

Gameplay
Lets get into the meat of the gameplay topic right off the start – combat, one of the greatest focuses of the game. Combat is kept basic to begin with; two buttons and the directional stick all that is needed for basic combat. One for offensive moves such as punches and kicks, one for counter. The two have been so well thought out, that they link together seamlessly and smoothly – from a single punch right until the last second, just when you think the enemy is about to land a blow against the caped crusader, and the counter button kicks in and turns the enemy into a punch bag.

As the game progresses – more elements are introduced into combat – these being batarangs, dodging and stunning. For example, certain enemies will have weapons that stop attacks hitting home. For these, you can either dodge over them and attack from behind, or stun them with a flash of Batman’s cape. During combinations, after an upgrade has been purchased (more on that later), Batman can smoothly launch batarangs at opponent, stunning them or knocking weapons from their grip. This all links in with the offensive and counter buttons seamlessly too – meaning that attacking multiple opponents (and it does happen; at least 7-8 opponents with a variety of weaponry at some points) is simple and awesome to watch, as Batman flips, kicks and punches the scum of Gotham into the floor. However – before you start to think ‘button mash’ – timing is very important to combat. If you press attack instead of counter, sure, you may hit the enemy, but there’s also a chance they could beat you to the punch. Pardon the pun. When multiple enemies are attacking you, timing is very important, as it can turn quite easily into Batman getting a beating.

Of course, a game would get boring if it was nothing more than mashing buttons in freeform combat. The second portion to the game ties in with the platforming abilities that Batman possesses. With his ever useful Batclaw – Batman can reach heights that the goons of The Joker can not – meaning he can hide up in the rafters. This forms a key part to Arkham Asylum’s second idea. During certain rooms, there will be numerous armed henchmen walking about. Armed with various projectile weapons, they intend to kill you. Batman isn’t invincible, so you have to be clever and sneaky about it. This means gliding from high places, bataranging, silent take-downs, traps. It’s all very variable. There are times where walls can be taken down by Batman’s explosive gel. Time this with a guard going by and that’s one taken down. Throw a batarang at one guard, before swooping in to kick his mate in the face before knocking him out and escaping to the rafters again is another.

This may all sound easy, but it does pose a challenge. Henchmen will run to fallen comrades, drawn by your noise if you take them down noisily. The more panicked they get, the more likley they are to start sticking together, forcing you to change tactics. Changing tactics and indeed forming tactics is aided by Batman’s cowl vision, Detective Mode – allowing Batman to see through walls with X-Ray vision, marking armed henchmen in red. This allows you to track their movements and plan out precisely how you want to take them down.

All of this gives you experience points, which go towards an EXP meter. When this is filled, you are allowed to access upgrades from Waynetech – improving Batman’s gadgets and batsuit. It’s a simple setup, upgrades are purchased based on what you want them to do, such as multiple batarang throwing or a tougher batsuit.

Getting around in Arkham is easy. You’re equipped with an all purpose grappling hook that lets you get to the rafters, from where you can leap and glide all over the facility and the grounds. Vents can be prised off allowing access to ventilation ducts when doors are locked and places sealed off. Of course, the other gadgets help with this too. Allow me to list all of the gadgets for you.

First – the ever ubiquitous batarang. A projectile weapon, a method of cutting ropes and for smashing stuff in general. The most used tool in the game, by far, except for Batman’s fists.
Second – the batclaw. Areas this thing can latch onto are highlighted. Push a button, and off you go. Later on, it allows you to pull enemies.
Third and the last one I’m going to mention, so as not to spoil the surprises, is the explosive gel. Put it on a wall, step back and make it explode with the push of a button. Excellent trap material too, stunning enemies who are too near.

Of course, not everything in the game is gadgetry and fighting. Edward Nigma, The Riddler, has left you some fiendishly difficult riddles to solve. They’re everywhere, a massive 240 of them – ranging from riddles that need to be solved by taking a scan of an object using the cowl, finding the right spot to align a question mark which can only be seen in Detective Mode, to the mundane tasks of finding little statues that he’s left, finding items such as patient interviews and maps and shattering some chattering teeth that appear everywhere you go. In my run through, I found 60% of these, and they were the obvious ones.

Bonuses
Solving riddles opens up extra options in the menu – such as extra challenges for Challenge mode, character statues and character biographies. The challenge mode focuses on scoring points in the combat situations to get various ranks, which are tied to online leaderboards. The character statues are essentially the in game character models being shown off – allowing the player to see them in all their glory. The character biographies contain everything a Batman fanatic could want. An image of the character, their history, personal details and in some cases – when found – patient interview tapes that are enlightening and disturbing at the same time.

Graphics
The Unreal engine makes this game look beautiful. All the little details are included everywhere you look, from the crumbling stone of the facility, to Batman’s suit getting nicks and tears as the game progresses. I must also point out, that the batsuit does not suffer from the disturbing bat-nipples seen in Batman and Robin. The facial features on inmates have been crafted excellently, making each inmate look like a deranged psycho. The character designs are in keeping with the originals, but have some excellent twists. There will no doubt be some complaints from parents about Harley Quinn’s outfit, or the fact that Poison Ivy is wearing nothing but a thong made of leaves and an Arkham Asylum inmates shirt.

Faults and Nitpicks
Let’s start with the big one, shall we? Boss fights. Without naming names, a few of them felt very samey. Punch the enemy about, maybe throw a batarang or two. Of course, there are other ones that were different – these being most welcomed and greatly enjoyed. Some were not too great a challenge either. One springs to mind directly, but I’m not naming names so as to not spoil it.

Quick time events. Used to open vents and do other things later on; there’s very little point. Not on vents at least. The final time you use them, sure, I see why. Not on vents though. For shame.

Detective Mode. It’s so useful, there’s little reason to leave it – thought it does spoil the beautiful game by making it blue and all the enemies skeletons.

Combat. It can get samey; if your not doing it correctly. It’s lost inside the wonderful dynamic combat system, but you get the feeling it’s there, right at the back of your skull.

Conclusions
This game is excellent. It’s everything a Batman fan could want, and it’s everything a gamer could want in a beat-em-up platformer. It’s smooth, it’s sleek, it’s intuitive, damn good fun to play and most importantly, the storyline works and keeps you in stuck in there. There’s even moments you will feel rather tense and nervous.

I’ll be playing this again. I recommend you play it.

9/10

Info & Links
Reviewed by Martox on 360.
Batman: Arkham Asylum Official Site

‘Up’ there with the best!

Pixar’s latest project is the spectacular story, Up. This film opens with a beautiful montage of a relationship building from childhood to old age.

Such issues as miscarriage are even brought into this section in such a way that allows the older members of the audience to fully appreciate what’s gone on; and even feel a pang of ache that the characters feel, while also not being too in your face for children. And that they could understand that they wanted a child but couldn’t. Such a touching opening that shows the journey of two peoples lives until one of those people sadly passes.

This is where another journey begins; old age alone and all that is ensues when you are a stubborn individual who sees things around you change but won’t allow that change to happen to you; believing that staying as you are will make everything feel like it used to, but we know it never does.

As I stated earlier we get introduced to the two characters Ellie and Carl whose love for a specific adventurer brings them together from childhood. This relationship blossoms into a marriage with its complications but mostly admiration and love for each other. Carl is unfortunately left on his own after the death of his wife at what must have been a decent age for anybody. Carl however has lost his very soul mate and is left an empty husk strolling around his beautiful home full of memories but still strolling alone; but there is one more journey Carl has to make before he leaves this world, a journey he promised his late wife they would both make one day.

It is after a certain event that gets Carl arrested and sentenced as a nuisance that he is enlisted to join an old persons home, something he laughed at prior. However, when the gentleman whom came to pick him up arrive he surprises them both by lifting the house from the ground with thousands and thousands of bright balloons and floats away sticking his tongue out and sticking it to the man in turn. Here the real adventure begins as Carl will finally attempt to fulfil that promise he made Ellie.

Along the way Carl befriends several adorable characters, Russell a “Wilderness Scout” who was only trying to get his “Helping the Elderly” badge before getting stuck into the action and going above and beyond his duties, quite literally! There’s also the colourful, in many ways, exotic bird called Kevin; named by Russell even after finding out the bird was a female. And then there’s the talking dog Doug, yes you read that right talking dog but it is through the power of technology that this dog talks and I’ll let that pass as at least they try to give reason to this unimaginable situation and character.

Carl also meets his long time hero Charles Muntz, however this long awaited meeting doesn’t go as Carl had ever imagined and we are introduced to a man obsessed who would go to any limits to accomplish his dream much like Carl but he has his moral compass turned on unlike that of the oddball Muntz.

Without giving away too much of this journey I would like to stop here and just state that the film is a joy from beginning to end. Pixar very rarely disappoint me (In fact I’ve only ever hated the lack lustre Cars film made specifically as a franchise for ten year old boys it seems) and this is by far a perfect example of why they are considered one of the best companies for family entertainment. This is indeed one of the finest pictures, if not their best. I adored the endearing beauty, the heart wrenching sadness and most of all the finely tuned and perfectly timed humour throughout. A real gem! Go watch!

5/5 Stars

Up is released in the UK on the 9th of October, and released on DVD & Bluray in the US in November.

Info & Links
Reviewed by Rhys Bap Williams.
Up Official Site
Pixar

You may recall I had a rather extensive rant when I first learned of the SCI FI Channel’s plans to become Syfy (I may start pronouncing this Siffy, though I am assured this nonsense word is phonetically the same as sci-fi).

Well It would be remiss of me not to take another look closer to the launch date, they’ve unveiled the House of Imagination, a promo to demonstrate the new look and feel of the new and better Syfy. Overall impressions? Exactly as feared so far I’m afraid.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually think it’s a lovely ad, I love Goldfrapp, and think it’s well put together, and well crafted. Though something rather obvious bothers me about it. Erm where’s the science fiction? From what I could see I noticed Amanda Tapping, something of a science fiction institution herself, and a rather cartoonish looking CGI dinosaur.

Unfortunately it’s still everything I was worried they were trying to do, it’d be a great advert for a generic channel that doesn’t specialise in science fiction, but merely fiction in general which a lot of other channels do. It actually reminds me very much of some of Dave’s adverts, the music, the surreal wonderment of young trendy 20 somethings drifting around a house. The comparison to Dave I touched on briefly in the comments on my last article about this – as they satisfactorily completely rebranded their channel and became a much bigger success. Something the SCI FI Channel never actually needed to do, they were a well established successful channel already, Dave was (and is to a degree) a repeats channel for British comedy of various manners, but wanted to give itself it’s own personality as it was just another slice of the UKTV pie originally.

But moving back to the Syfy Imagine Greater promo – there are strong doses of of the surreal and fantastical, and some soft hints of ghosts… Nothing of science fiction, would it have pained themselves to have a little nod to their roots in there? To alleviate us disgruntled silly people, prove us wrong a little bit with a tiny hint that imagining greater didn’t just mean imagining a channel with something for everyone but the science fiction fans? Apparently not.

Imagine Greater itself as a tag-line seems less and less appropriate the more they seem to be shunning science fiction in their approach. The renaming I could learn to tolerate, and the loss of the Saturn-esque identity as long as they didn’t quite so completely re-target themselves at people who have next to no interest in science fiction.

The promo stings showing the old logo being torn/blasted/blown away and replaced with the new Siffy identity are available on YouTube, and again they’re really quite nice and play heavily on the idea of broadening your expectations from Siffy. Though as I said last time, having to tell a science fiction fan to broaden your imagination is rather pointless.

Anyway I hope they do at some point prove my worrying wrong, it wouldn’t take much, just a jokey cheeky flying saucer at some point to nod that all of that heritage isn’t completely out the window. It would have reassured me if they had something a bit more science fiction than a horse with rockets on it in the promo stings.

The rest of the change to Syfy rolls out across July, the launch is on the 7th of July I believe, so I’m sure this won’t be my last ramble on the matter, who knows, maybe they’ll surprise me. I hope they will.

Links
Sci Fi
Syfy
Syfy – House of Imagination Promo

I looked forward to Prototype the moment I first saw the preview trailers for it, whenever that was. A mutant with the ability to shift his body into all sorts of weaponry whilst leaping over tall buildings and running up walls appealed to me. Prototype did not fail to deliver.

Story
You play the character of Alex Mercer, a man infected with a virus that has increased his strength, speed, endurance and most useful of all, given him the ability to morph his body into various forms. The virus has also allowed him to ‘consume’ any living tissue into himself, gaining health and as a key point to the game – their memories. Mercer wakes up on a morgue table, two scientists about to slice him open for study when he wakes up, not remembering anything about himself. Not too long after, he discovers his strange abilities and sets out to find out who did this to him; and to remember his past.

Gameplay
The only way to describe this game, is to take Spiderman, Grand Theft Auto, add a dash of Crackdown and mix in a hint of Doom. Blend it all together and you get Prototype.

The game is set in the city of New York; the entrances and exits to the city sealed by the military – the cruel and heartless Blackwatch; the military group here to stop the virus spreading; who are one of your main enemies throughout the game. The game free roaming, so the city is your playground, allowing you to take advantage of Alex Mercer’s unique mode of transportation, the super-parkour that allows him to run up the side of buildings, leap massive heights – and later on – glide like a squirrel and gain momentum through the air via short air-bursts. There’s no need for a car, not when your able to move faster than one and climb/leap over obstacles with the greatest of ease.

The second enemies you’ll be facing in the game are the Infected. These are the ones that the virus has taken hold of and started to have it’s merry way with. You’ll face a multitude of them, much like the Blackwatch members, ranging from newly infected to the much stronger and much more mutated Hunters, able to match Mercer for speed, agility and strength.

On the flip side of things, Blackwatch are much more technologically superior. While the infected will beat you to death with fists, the Blackwatch will blow you away. Machine-guns, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, tanks, aircraft – the hardware is there. The Blackwatch are here to stop the virus, specifically out on the hunt for Alex – so if your seen, they’ll call in a Strike Team. Two fast moving helicopter gunships, armed to the teeth and not afraid to fire on civilians. They’re ruthless.

So, you need to escape from one of these strike teams. Here’s where one of the games key parts comes into play – the ability to consume. Any person that is uninfected in the game cane be consumed and their likeness used as a disguise. Find a target – anyone will do – pluck the hapless victim from their feet and get out of sight. Consuming a victim is a gory process, before Mercer’s morphed biology kicks in and adds their mass to his own. As long as your out of sight, you can switch into this disguise and walk amongst the populous freely. If your still in sight however, you’ll not fool the Blackwatch, who’ll still give chase.

There is the other option of dealing with pursuers, mutated or otherwise – fighting.

The virus allows Mercers to morph his body into various weapon forms, be it claw hands, hands that are essentially massive pieces of rock, or spikes that propel themselves through the ground to impale foes. The number of different abilities is quite bewildering, each with a charge up attack that does a bit more damage and a multitude of combos that do chain damage. The unmorphed hands for example, come with charge attacks and combinations, one being a quick two punch combo, followed by an upper-cut, before swiftly landing three more punches into the airborne target of the vicious assault. Attacks can be chained together to create devastating combinations that can leave an area swept clean of enemies. The same basis applies to the morphed attacks. These attacks and abilities are all chosen on a dial based system for ease of use, making it easy to choose a suitable weapon for the situation at hand. Mercer also has the ability, when unlocked, to use a devastator technique. These require a portion of Mercer’s ‘critical mass’ (another unlocked technique); but do catastrophic amounts of damage. The one everyone has seen will be the tendril devastator, where tendrils of black matter erupt from Mercer’s body and destroy everything. Handy in a pinch.

At the true start of the game (not the tutorial section of the game), you start with only your hands – and have to work your way up through the upgrade system to gain more attack functions. The upgrade system works on Evolution Points – gained by defeating enemies, completing missions and completing side challenges. I’ll get onto those in a moment.

The system is broken down into various sections, each new skill or upgrade to an existing skill costing a certain amount of evolution points. Some skills, however, such as vehicle and gunnery skills, can only be upgraded by consuming certain military members within Blackwatch bases.

Bases and Infected Hives (buildings consumed by the virus) are a part of the side quests in the game – they’ll pop up in fixed locations all around the city. You have the option of going and destroying them. Blackwatch bases will provide you with vehicles and weaponry to get the job done, whilst they will also provide when outside an infected Hive – the area a war zone between both sides. There’s little variation here, more often than not you’ll find yourself hopping into a tank to get the job done as simply as possible.

The other side quests are much more like races against the clock. There’s the Crackdown style rooftop races, running through the points as quickly as possible. The ‘consume’ events, which unlock more of Mercer’s memories by getting to targets and consuming them within the time limit. Finally, there’s the glide challenges, where you try to get as close to a target as possible by using Mercer’s glide technique. The other side quests, however, cater to those with a need for violence. There are the ‘Kill’ side-quests, that set you with a power and tell you to kill as many enemies as possible within the time limit. The ‘War’ missions set you on one of the sides, Infected or Blackwatch, and have you kill the opposing side as quickly as possible. In reality, I found myself getting a bit bored of the side-quests, as they are very similar to one another.

Graphics
Graphically, it’s a wonderful game. Don’t expect GTA4 here, it’s a whole different ball game. There’s masses more people walking the streets, so cuts had to be made. The detail is all there on the character models, whilst it suffers from GTA-style character clones, where there will often be numerous incarnations of the same person wandering the streets at any given time. The infected look like something straight out of Doom; Hunters especially.

Problems
I found a few problems, nit-picks that got to me whilst I was playing the game. Firstly, the AI. The Blackwatch are supposed to be here to stop the virus, yet if they see a man scaling the side of a building at a brisk run – or leap off one, hitting the floor with spectacular force, they’ll not bat an eye lid. If you attack, however, or pick someone up in sight of them, they’ll go ballistic.Possibly an aide to gameplay due to the nature of the parkour travel, but it would have been nice to have them raise more interest than a ‘Go check that out!’

As stated earlier, the second problem that got to me was the repetitive nature to the side missions. They’re all the same, in essence, and have been seen before in other games. The War and Kill missions are a violent break from the norm, but it would have been nice to have some more variation to them all.

The third and final problem, is the bland character acting. Mercer is very dry, in my opinion, his sister and a few of the other characters bland. The only ones I actually enjoyed watching during cut scenes were the military characters. This could all be notched up to, however, the nature of the game. Somehow, it doesn’t feel right.

Conclusions
Problems aside, the game has me hooked. The storyline is gripping, if hard to follow due to the nature of how it’s told and had me wanting to find out more and more of how it was all going to end.

Prototype is one of those games you’ll leave and come back to when the mood takes you. Much like Grand Theft Auto. Only with claws.

8/10

Info & Links
Reviewed by Martox on PC using 360 pad.
Prototype Official Site
Radical

In keeping with one of our earlier post, we like it when current concepts meet what would once look like concept art within science fiction. I think it’s incredible things like this are being designed, although these yachts probably cost more money than I’ll ever see in my lifetime, but I love the sweeping organic design of these two yachts by Schöpfer Yachts. Jump ahead to see more renders of these beauties.

The above is the aptly named Oculus with an eye towards the stern. Further down the shots show the Infinitas the bigger badder mother to the Oculus, suitable as the yacht for any Bond villain (prior to the reimagining anyway, unless you slapped a Sony logo on the side). The internal shots which you can find on either links at the bottom are luxurious and flowing, very 60s or 70s space age, but really suit the organic shapes in the two designs.

Discovered on the ever wonderful NOTCOT.org

Links
NOTCOT.org
Schöpfer Yachts
Tangram 3DS visualised the designs

Not just SGN, (though we will be returning to slightly more frequent posting) but Futurama will finally be returning to the small screen following the success of DVD sales for the show and it’s four recent movies.

26 new episodes will air next year on Comedy Central in the US, 7 years after it was cancelled by asinine morons at Box Fox. Now I wonder if we can get anyone ground into a fine pink powder…

Links
BBC News on Futurama’s return
Futurama on Comedy Central

Bioshock. One of the massive hit games of recent years, following in the footsteps of it’s predecessors, System Shock 1 & 2. And now, the good folks at 2K games are giving us another run through the once underwater paradise now underwater death trap that is Rapture.

What’s been disclosed about this release? Well. Lets take a look.

Firstly, lets get the story straight. It’s 10 years after the first Bioshock. Fontaine and Ryan are long dead. Dr Tenenbaum however, is still inside the nightmare. 10 years older and bitter for the troubles of being a Doctor in a mutagenic nightmare. The Little Sisters were set free and the world went about it’s business. Until sightings of something in the water, mysterious footprints next to children’s footprints in the sand, drawings of a strange humanoid creature in a diving suit and, most unnerving, the disappearance of many little girls.

Kick forward to underwater hell hole Rapture – which has continued to flood. This is where the story for Bioshock 2 begins – back in the dark, leaking and all too grand corridors and rooms of Ryan’s failed utopia. You’re playing something we all know and have had great fun in killing in the first Bioshock game.

You’re a Big Daddy. Not just any Big Daddy though, you’re the Big Daddy.

The first of the protective monsters. Cast off as a failed experiment, you’re left there for who knows how long? However, you’re different to your brethren. You’re faster, you’ve got free will and most importantly – you can Splice. That’s right, this big lug is now able to shoot fire, electricity, ice and bees from his hands. But more on that later.

You’re able to perform similar roles as a Big Daddy in Bioshock 2 as the stomping giants could in the first game. You can charge – just like in the first game, but with the added benefit that you can charge through wooden doors. No clue if the others can do this yet. You have the weaponry of your brethren too. The rivet gun and the lovely gore fest – the drill, both upgradable in a similar style to the first game. As a step away from the way combat worked in the first game, Bioshock 2 lets you use both weapon systems at the same time. You’re a Big Daddy. Holding a rivet gun in one hand is no problem. This also means you can nail someone with some rivets whilst they’re spasming from an electrical blast.

Speaking of electricity – Plasmids, Adam and Eve are all still here. Though Eve is much rarer (see below), thanks to the release of the previous Little Sisters. The plasmids have changed however, no longer being the same visually but a bit more damage-heavy attacks on each upgrade. There are now ‘charge up’ traps for all the powers, including the elemental bees. More appropriately, weapons change as you upgrade them – fire starting as a ‘click fingers and watch it burn’ power, to a ‘I’m a walking flame-thrower’ power at level 3 – a constant stream of fire emanating from the palm of your hand. Aiding you in deciding what powers you actually want – all level 1 powers are free to splice. However, from then on, it’ll cost you.

Now, due to Eve being in short supply, the Splicers have got a little bit crazier – and as such, have spliced themselves harder to get the edge on the competition. They’ve mutated dramatically as a result, the human look still there, but mutation is much more pronounced. Concept images flitting about show a woman who has mutated swelling growths on her body, much like sub-dermal cancers. And her nose looks like a ballsack. I kid you not. At any rate, they’re that much more crazy and that much more in need of a fix of Eve. Which is where a key point to the game comes in. Let me explain.

Little sisters still roam Rapture – not as great in number, but they’re still there. The design of the Little Sister has changed, going for a more ‘break your heart’ feel and a cuter look – attempting to draw you in to feel the Big Daddy part. As usual, they’re there to stab some corpses with a needle, feed on the blood and produce Eve. And they’re still protected by the golem-esque Big Daddies. When you eventually waste one of these Big Daddies, you’ll get an option. Harvest her for Eve, much like in the first game, and kill her or – adopt her. Yes. Adopt her.

The Little Sister, pre-programmed to like you as a Big Daddy, will hop on your back and join you as you romp about the dystopia. When you’re near some corpses, you can tell her to hop off your back and harvest. When this is going on, however, you’ll be assailed by Splicers, after your adopted child. If you defend her and she manages to finish harvesting, you can harvest the Eve she’s collected, or, harvest the Eve and kill her for a little bit more. Decisions decisions. At any rate, you can also save her by getting her to one of the Little Sister chutes, leading back to the Doctors Sanctuary.

Here’s the next twist to the plot though. If you cast your mind back to the announcement trailer for Bioshock 2, you’ll remember a girl on the beach holding what appeared to be a Big Daddy toy. She’s still around, all grown up. And ready to kick some ass.

After being released from Rapture, one of the then Little Sisters didn’t break her programming. She wanted to go ‘home’. So, when she was able to, she did. And now she’s trying to rebuild Rapture – kidnapping children and creating more Little Sisters. Who is this mad-woman? Clad in a Big Daddy style, though much more sleek and defined diving suit is your nemesis for this nightmare. The Big Sister. And she’s going to be hunting you down for what your doing in her home.

The developers have said that the Big Sister will find you, wherever you are in the level.

Not only that, it seems as if she has Plasmid abilities, judging by the concept designs I’ve seen – displaying Eve filled needles in some sort of injection array on her forearm. Fast and lethal, she’s the main fight in this game.

As a break from the fighting, as a Big Daddy in a diving suit, you get to roam the sea floor around Rapture too, and take a peak at how the fallen utopia is doing whilst your out there marvelling at the sights. Whilst this is going on though, expect to be talked at by people via the radio system. Can’t people just let you marvel at the shiny stuff in peace?

All in all? Sounds like fun. Roll on more information.

Info & Links
Information gathered from Playstation magazine UK article.
Write up by Martox
Bioshock 2 Teaser Site
Bioshock Official Site
2kgames

“I believe in our darkest hour the very qualities
which made us great will make us strong.”

Lovely looking independent CGI movie, in which humanity are the aggressors due to losing Earth and having no choices left, and sweet fluffy alien pacifists are about to get stomped by us. Apparently sharing the planet never occurred to us. Not sure whether it’ll be as dark as it potentially could be but the trailer looks stunning.

Can’t argue with a sky whale really.

Links
Battle for Terra Official Site
Battle for Terra HD trailers on Apple.com