Why we should stop insisting on Half Life 3

Half-Life 3 has become one of the most anticipated games not announced in years. A series which has managed to surpass it's predecessors each time a new release has emerged, Half-Life was regarded as a stellar game whilst Half-Life 2 managed to blow it out of the water with an enriched story, impressive graphics and fantastic controls. To many fans amazement Valve even managed to produce 2 pieces of added content for the original and 3 for the sequel which still managed to meet everyone's standards. It appeared after the release of Half-Life 2 Episode 2 in 2007, Valve could do no wrong and with the release of Portal two days later which was also met with Critical acclaim, whatever Gabe Newell touched would turn to Gold. 

However after the rise of Steam as the dominant gaming service on the PC, Valve began to devout more and more of their time to improving the platform, and with this, tie in games which would expand on the use of Steam as a service. For instance DOTA 2 has become one of the most played games on the internet and with business being the foremost important thing within a company like Valve, why should they devote less of their time working on this cash cow and instead focus on such a risk?

Now don't get me wrong, I would love to see Valve publish a Half-Life 3 especially using the technology available to them now. How far games have advanced since we last saw Gordon Freeman and his crowbar, but are we maybe blinded by our Nostalgic spectacles to completely deny what has happened in situations like this before? First example, Sonic the Hedgehog. In Hindsight, our favourite Sega mascot has fallen, and fallen hard. Sonic made the transition to 3D on the Dreamcast with Sonic Adventure and then would follow that up with Adventure 2, whilst it is not the Adventure games which make it as my example, it would be the so called reboot of the series on the previous gen consoles, Sonic the Hedgehog or Sonic 06 for short. 06 was perceived as Sonic's answer to Mario's excellent move into the 3-D world. Whilst the adventure games were not awful, they certainly have not aged well with an abundance of Glitches and poor animations, Sonic definitely struggled to convince Gamers that the move to 3-D had been successful. Sonic 06 was going to advance the game engine and once again have Sonic rivalling his Plumber pal at Nintendo. After constant delays to the release date, Sonic 06 was released as a broken unfinished mess. Whilst this was in part due to the corporation being fed up of the constant set backs, which could be down to having to move the game from the sixth Generation of consoles onto the recently released next Gen, Sega gave the Sonic team a deadline of late 2006, mixing this with the change of console and forced change of game engine at such short notice opened a can of worms that not even Yuji Naka could save. The game was a complete mess, the engine was broken upon release in short, the story was broken, oh did I mention it was broken?! Fans were devastated and after the previous mistake of Shadow the Hedgehog, the series carries a tarnished reputation which seems irreversible.

A second example of failure upon a highly anticipated sequel would be the self proclaimed King himself, Duke Nukem. Do I actually need to explain this? In case anyone was luckily under a rock when this complete mess was released I'll give you a quick explanation. Duke was arguably every teenagers favourite game in the 90's alongside titles like Doom and Quake. Everyone wanted to kick ass and chew bubblegum with Duke. Until after 1996 that is, when he disappeared off the face of the planet. Teenage angst probably grew with the vanishing of their favourite Steroid Junky. The latest installment in the series, Duke Nukem Forever, was actually delayed for over a decade, originally planned in 1997 and an announcement of the delay would be released each year until 2008. Finally in 2011 the game was announced after years of teasers for consoles like the Dreamcast, Gamecube and Playstation. A planned release of summer 2011 was set and whilst many believed this to be too soon for the series to release a strong sequel which it deserved, they were reassured they had been working on the game months before they had actually announced it. If Sonic 06 was full of bugs, it was amazing how a game released 5 years later could actually be classed as worse. Whilst we can look passed the dire graphics and dull story, let's be honest, Nukem never really had a great storyline anyway. The game play was pathetic. The game lacked the same punch as it used to carry, the controls were completely ruined in some sections and made the game impossible at others. There was no middle ground, it was either a complete hailstorm of difficulty or a walk in the park. To make it even worse, the Duke just came across as a broken record, there was nothing new, he was boring. As of 2012 Gearbox Software now owns the rights to Duke Nukem and are apparently working on rebooting the franchise.

Any video game fan should know the name John Romero, and even if they don't, they have most likely played a game influenced by his own creations. Romero and John Carmack arguably created the FPS genre in video games. Creating and Designing master pieces like Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein, it seemed like anything these two touched would turn to pure Gold. I played the Quake games quite a lot as a kid, having the game on my old PC, I thought they were incredible. So no doubt when someone let me borrow a copy of Daikatana when I was older, I was excited. I hadn't read anything about it and the game was already quite old, I simply tried it expecting to see another Romero masterpiece. Carmack wisely stayed away from Daikatana and in similar fashion to the previous two installments in this article, a high number of delays stretched out the project, wore the development team down, and unpractical deadlines led to Daikatana being released "Unfinished". Romero stated that content had been left out of the game that would have been revolutionary at the time. The game was ugly, controlled poorly and was full of game breaking glitches. Now honestly, I don't think it deserves the label as the worst game in history, there are moments when you think "Oh wow that was cool" but I should be thinking that after most firefights, I shouldn't be bored when playing a game like that, it left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth especially seeing as an N64 game would cost about £55 new. The hype behind John Romero releasing another game was too much for Daikatana and to some extent Romero has struggled to really get back to the level he was at during his Quake and Doom years.

Honestly, I could go on and on about sequels which flopped. This means in no way I believe that Half Life 3 will be a failure, or would be seeing as it hasn't been announced. Rumours fly around everywhere, this proves that is is confirmed, or did you see this on Steam, it is confirmed. I am with everyone else in hoping to see Gordon Freeman one last time, but the point of this piece is to say "Let's not get too excited, you've seen what has happened before, be careful". This article really means Half Life 3 confirmed.

PlayStation Now

PlayStation Now - Or when you connect

First things first, I am going to freely admit I have always been a PlayStation kid. Since day one I have always had one of their consoles and the only one I have missed out on was the PlayStation Vita, but I have never really been a handheld gamer. I have always worn my nostalgia glasses too. Looking back on some of the amazing games I have experienced in my life always brings back the fondest of memories. The times of smashing out Crash Bandicoot on my PlayStation One, or Metal Gear Solid 3 on my PlayStation 2. I feel any gamer is always appreciating when they know they can use the backwards compatibility on their consoles. Nothing feels better than being able to keep my old PlayStation 2 games and throwing them into my PS3 or maybe I should be saying we used to appreciate it.

After the next gen consoles were announced, I think I speak for any gamer here saying we were all absolutely ecstatic when we saw the possibilities coming from Microsoft (after they got rid of the initial mistakes they made) and Sony with their new consoles. However, once the question was put forward whether these new high tech titans still use backwards compatibility quite a few of our hearts were broken. No, no they could not. What was even worse to take was how many amazing games we had previously had. For me, I was heartbroken to hear I could no longer play Uncharted, Killzone 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. So for me, this actually made me feel a little deterred in selling my PlayStation 3 and upgrading but nevertheless I gave the console a chance and in all honesty don't regret it at all.

I still always had that niggling feeling in my head, always that same notion going through my head "Hey, wouldn't it be great to play some MGS4 right now?" and whilst the new PS4 games were blowing my mind, it was a notion I agreed with. On the 7th of January 2014 I felt all my Christmas' had come at once. At CES the PlayStation Now service was announced. A service where you could either rent games on a per game basis for a select amount of time or pay a £12 pound Monthly subscription. A price I'd happily pay if it meant I could have access to hundreds of PlayStation 3 classics, and potentially PS2 and PSX in the future. I waited a year before the Beta service came out and instantly jumped in. Whilst at first I looked over all the games like a kid in a sweet shop, licking my lips at all the possibilities, once I actually began using the system to its fullest extent, I was sadly awoken from my nostalgic coma and brought into a hellish poorly connecting nightmare.

The PlayStation Now system basically works like a streaming platform. The games aren't fully downloaded onto your system, only the bare necessities. This means that it saves huge amounts of memory on your hard-drive and also in theory means that it gets you gaming quicker. On paper it is an amazing idea, something that actually beats the idea of having simple backwards compatibility. In practice, it simply is too flawed. Out of all the issues with the platform, the poor streaming quality is what really grinds my gears. Unless you have a pristine internet connection whilst playing, you will experience a horrendous amounts of lag and this always seemed to be perfectly timed with when you least want it. My best example was when I was playing Resistance 3, a fantastic first person shooter and the final one in a great PlayStation series, I barely got past the second level mainly due to a the more enemies that would appear on my screen, the more it would strain my connection. It would appear that the more it tried to do, or the more it needed to do caused it to struggle to actually get all the action onto your screen.

Now I can live with lag, this didn't happen all the time of course. However not only does it appear to struggle to keep up with the high octane action of some games, the actual image quality it sends across half of the time is pathetic. I felt like on some games I could barely call it 360p. Unrendered surfaces covered my games, whilst trying to play Infamous, many of the NPC's facial details hadn't been sent across, If I hadn't played the game before, I'd be lucky knowing who I was actually talking too. 

I have never been one of those gamer's who needs high graphics quality, sometimes I feel a great story and decent mechanics can really make me interested in a game and if I felt I could experience that on PS Now, then I'd stick with the service and maybe I could even stick with it now knowing they are still working on improving the system, but what kills me is the fact they haven't even got some of the biggest games of the last gen PlayStation even on there. There is no sign of Metal Gear Solid 4 returning to the console after it was pulled initially from the platform due to "Performance issues". Sounds like if this is the case then so should all of the games I experienced.

It actually pains me to say it but I won't even think about using it again until I know that the game library has not only vastly improved but the quality of the streaming has actually gone up to a standard in which I feel I can play even the simplest of games. With the release of the Uncharted: Nathan Drake collection and the rumour going around that Konami might cash in on making a MGS HD Collection for the PS4, I feel that the PS Now has a long way to go before replacing remakes and the good old way of Backwards compatibility, I would recommend if anyone is still desperate on playing their really old titles from the PSX, go get a PS TV, works along the same lines as a Vita in essence. To really end my little rant, Microsoft have announced they will be releasing a patch update for the Xbox One which will update the software on their systems to allow 360 games to now be used on their next gen console, maybe Sony should give up on this streaming idea and follow suit.

Oh well, at least I can look forward to PlayStation VR right? 

Review - A story about my Uncle

Can narration get any better?

Steam recently had a few games on sale and after a bit of internet research I decided to invest in a copy of A story about my Uncle for about £2.50. I would soon realise how much of a steal this actually was. The plot is based around the Narrator telling a story to his daughter about his Inventor/Explorer Uncle. Whilst we do not know of the Narrators name or of his age during the tale, we find out that the man is very close with his Uncle and has been on many adventures with him before. 

The uncle has been away for many months and as we take control of the character we learn more and more about the adventures he had previously been on all around the world. Whilst wondering around our Uncle's house we find an exploration suit which we precede to don, upon further exploration a mysterious pad sends us to a new world where we believe our Uncle has disappeared to. From this point on we pursue more clues in which we use to locate our Uncle. The key feature of the game focuses around the use of our Exploration suit and it's grappling hook based in the palm of our hand. We use this to traverse the beautiful new world by swinging from floating rocks and trying to find ways of getting to the end of the level. This makes the game intriguing not just because of the way we can move to the finish of the level but also the many different ways we can get there. 

I can't use enough superlatives to explain how fun it is to launch yourself from one floating platform using a sprint jump and then proceeding to fling from a rock onto the next checkpoint. Unlike the previous game I reviewed (Knack the 2013 Beat em up) the checkpoint system in the game understands the challenge the game presents with the movement in the game by giving you a plentiful amount and well placed amount of them around the levels. Which makes the game feel much more enjoyable, nothing feels better than making strong headway in a level and knowing that even if you slip up you won't lose all your momentum by having to start a whole section of the level again. The traversing of the levels, whilst immensely addictive, is definitely challenging. Even though you want to be able to get a fast pace going with the game, in the first few levels it is much more worth your while studying the upcoming obstacles to lay out a sort of plan in how you're going to get from A to B. If that plan is successful, it gives you a huge jolt of satisfaction and even if you mess it up, it isn't frustrating enough to make you rush into it, you simply want to make a new plan. 

Onto the more technical parts of the game now. The graphics are gorgeous, and it does this magical place justice with how enticing they make it look which in turn helps the exploration aspect of the game by making the player want to explore the area. Using the infamous Unreal engine to run the game, it makes the gameplay and slingshotting smooth and fun to control. The idea of the grappling hook could have been easily ruined if the game engine had held it back from being easy to use and fluid too. The Voice acting of some of the main characters is a little bit funny. This is due to the game being developed by Swedish company Gone North, so the majority of the actors are also Swedish, this doesn't deter me at all but it does seem to let the game down slightly with the rigid voice work from one or two of the characters.

The Music is beautiful too, whilst it isn't to loud in the gameplay, at times you will barely realise the calming song playing as you study the world, but that is what is amazing about it. The fact that it doesn't draw your attention away from the area but instead brings you further in. Throughout the game it is the same situation in terms of music, but it also fits the whole game perfectly. For instance when we come across the village of the people of this world, the music makes you feel a sense of intrigue and curiosity at this native species. My serious let down of the game comes in the length of it, I couldn't quite believe I had completed it, but it has a hidden message to the shortness of the game.

Without giving anything away, the ending is based on the young boy having to return home and gave the player a feeling that story and adventure had truly ended before it had begun, but this relates to what you had been told by your Uncle. This isn't your adventure, it is your Uncles, and you must go and find your own, and as our character feels a sense of sorrow and loss that we have to return home, the player feels a similar feeling in that we must now leave this amazing world and return to our own after such a short space of time. Just as we began to believe we were becoming an adventurer like our Uncle and the slinging and flinging around felt like second nature to us, it was all over and this is supposedly what the developer wanted, for us to feel like the Narrator in that we were sent home from this adventure just as he had started to become confident in his abilities. Reverting back to the start of the game, we realise that we did end up on our own adventure, the adventure of being a father. This made me forget the abruptness of the ending and instead replaced that feeling of loss with one of pride and happiness that our character had gone on to become a father.

In conclusion, whilst this game is short, for the price you have to pay usually (£10.00) it is a worthwhile play. The Graphics, Music and Story all work together in unison to give the player an in depth, invigorating and eye opening adventure that ends before it truly begins. If the rumours of a sequel are true, I will be one of the first in line to experience that, and I have no doubts that if you all play it, you will feel the same. I would gladly spend more money on this game.

9/10

Only paused to sleep.

Review: Knack

This game just doesn't get the Knack of things

I recently managed to get hold of a copy of Knack, the 2013 beat 'em up adventure game. Developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, Knack was a launch title for the PS4 and had big potential to really showcase the ability of the Next Gen Sony console, however didn't live up to the hype.

Firstly let's run over the story. Dr. Vargas has been studying ancient relics for most of career and has recently made progress in finding a mysterious power which manages to bring these relics together to make a sentient being resulting in our protagonist, Knack. The Human race is at war with the Goblins led by Gundahar who believe they deserve the land which is inhabited by man. Vargas and his protegé Lucas, who is also apparently Knack's closest friend, believe that Knack can be a much needed weapon in the war with the Goblins and could be more useful than the robots currently being used, supplied by suspicious benefactor Viktor. Soon enough you realise that there is more going on than seems as you traverse Deserts, Jungles and Mountains founding how to defeat the Gundahar and learn more about Knack's abilities.

The Story is really not hard to follow and when it does try to entice you with a few twists and turns it really is nothing you didn't see coming and if you didn't see it coming, you must be lacking in game plot. Usually when I play a game I really feel an interesting plot can keep my fighting through a game but everything in this feels rushed and lacking, as well as this it has many plot holes that could easily be avoided. For instance when you manage to defeat Gundahar, the Goblins simply vanish, no word is brought up about them for the rest of the game, do they simply give up and disappear? because it's not as if they couldn't come up again, you don't exactly go on a mass genocide of the Goblin species. As the game drew on I would often see myself skipping cutscenes and laughing at the terrible attempts to create emotions like sadness or fear.

The Gameplay isn't actually that bad to be honest, I have read up on some other reviews on the gameplay and controls and it is definitely missing out on some of its potential. Knack can vacuum up relics from boxes scattered around the level, when he does add more relics it can either allow Knack to grow in size and increase his health bar or regain health if he has been damaged. When Knack grows bigger it is definitely decided by the area of the level due to strategically placed relics and as he grows he becomes more powerful. This undoubtedly interested me in the first few levels, which were in no way a hint in how unforgiving this game would become, but as I got more opportunities to use this Goliath Knack I realised how clunky and slow he was which became an absolute pain in my back side especially seeing how the enemies of similar stature seemed to move around like a nimble ballerina on speed whilst I would be maneuvering like an 18 wheeler truck. This therefore would make you believe that the speed of Knack's smaller forms would allow your combat to be much more enjoyable... Wrong! Due to the big Knack having more relics, this mean his health bar is more forgiving, normal Knack has barely enough health to take a hit from even the simplest of enemies meaning if you make one simple mistake during an early fight in the stage, you are walking on eggshells to the next checkpoint.

By the time you have reached another checkpoint however you will have been brought to the edge of insanity in the latter stages of the levels and the game as you will no doubt have died a stupid death at least 20 times exactly the same way, and these checkpoints are so sparsely located that even if you do decide to be the bigger man and take a break from the game for a while, you most likely will be reverted back to the start of the level when you do come back to play. Knack can also collect Light shards which allow him to fill up a light meter under his health bar, once full he can use a choice of three attacks, by pressing square he releases a whirlwind of relics releasing damage on nearby opponents, X allows you to place a static bomb and Square gives you a long range triple shot. I only recommend the shot, it will kill whatever is hit instantly. You can fill a potential of 4 light meters but you will most likely resort to using them after a frustrating attempt 10 minute period on one fight against 3 enemies where you think "Oh Screw it, I won't need it anyways" and blow them all away with the triple shot. Then face palm as you come up against a mini boss halfway through the level with no light energy left.

Whilst yes, combat is unforgiving it is also rewarding once you manage to get a combo together and complete a section without a single death... or realistically only 1 or 2. The game does have a nice feel to it though if you look past all the frustrating failures of it. The design of the game, whilst it isn't going to win any awards for best looking game, it definitely pays homage to the style of Megaman's characters especially with Dr. Vargas looking awfully similar to Dr. Light, or thinking about it more now, even Dr. Ochanomizu from Astro Boy (The Show and Manga, not the film, let's forget the film) it definitely has the Japanese cartoon feel to it and it is quite nice to admire.

Finally in terms of Lifespan for the game, it doesn't actually go that far. Whilst the game is fairly (Painstakingly) long with a total of 13 levels and each level having about 5 sub chapters, it does manage to add in the ability to find hidden parts for an item within each sub chapter. Once all the parts are found, you gain a new item which makes the next playthrough much more interesting, supposedly. By the time I had found one of the items by going back into select levels, I honestly felt I had enough of Knack, I managed to locate all the pieces for the secret detector, which then basically ruined the fun of going back to find the pieces I had lost. There was a sister app for the game which was a puzzle game in itself which, if used alongside the main game, would allow Knack to receive items to help him. I didn't bother as it seemed like a waste of time.

So to conclude on my first review for this blog, Knack is a fairly interesting game which had many opportunities to really showcase the new abilities of the PS4 and it's controller but in the end felt like a pretty boring, normal beat 'em up with a side of querky designs and stupid plot twists. I would only recommend if it was on sale or the price had dropped down to £10.00

6/10
Found myself pressing Pause way to often.

What to expect?

You might have read my first blog regarding Sport (http://spindlersdugout.blogspot.co.uk/) and on this one you can expect similar sort of pieces but instead this time I will be reviewing games and consoles I have played, not necessarily new ones, and talking about the possibilities of future games and gadgets.