desert

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Journey

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2012

Posted in: Editor's Choice, iOS, Mobile Reviews, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified. Tagged: adventure, desert, journey, playstation 3, ps3, sand, Sony, thatgamecompany. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: thatgamecompany

Release Date: 3/13/2012

Also Available On

Everyone is so used to games with explosions, gore, death, and spoken dialog that we have lost touch with what games are truly designed for. There have been very few games that tell a story as a book or painting would, with no words, nothing but pictures. The only game that I feel comes close to Journey is Shadow of the Colossus. Games have the advantage of adding music and sound that is missing from books and paintings. Music and sound can trigger emotions in humans that no other type of stimuli can. Journey is one such game that uses only visual cues and sound to deliver a sad tale and magical experience.

This game is like no other, you don’t mess with options, controls settings, or anything like that. You just start the game and bam, your there. You just wonder, there is no compass, no mini-map, no annoying narrator to tell you where to go. Just go and trust your instincts and senses. As you wander around the desert you will naturally go where you see something of interest. This vast desert looks endless like the Sahara and feels that way. You only have one ability and that is to glide, but the length of your scarf determines how long you can jump and glide. This is your only ability. The Wanderer will hop up on small ledges automatically, but during your first level, you will just go. That’s all there is to this game. Just…go. When you do get to the end of the area you are told a sad story using hieroglyphs. Like a book, you figure out what is happening and going on in this story.

Once you get the hang of everything in the first level you just continue…going. The music in Journey helps deliver the emotions and senses that drive the spiritualism of the game. The music is touching and one of the best-orchestrated game soundtracks I have heard since The Elder Scrolls. The music is magical and just hits home and delivers all the emotion of the game. The best parts of the game are when you are sliding down the sand and having the music kick up to a climax and letting the visual experience just soak in. Nothing can express this other than watching a magical world come to life in 1080p. This is really one of the best beautiful games I have ever seen.

There are a few gameplay elements like finding secrets here and there and power-ups, but Journey has been one of the most interesting uses of online play since Demon’s Souls. You will sometimes run into another Wanderer, just like you, but there is no other way to communicate other than the echolocation you use to bring fabric to life in the game. You use this to help each other out, and because of the lack of human interaction, it forces gamers to actually help and experience this touching story with each other. No mics, no text chat, there isn’t even a name above the character, they just appear. If you spot a rare white cloak player they will probably help you find all the secrets in the game. My second favorite moment is when you are running away from the giant monster thing that flies in the air and targets you. The dark atmosphere, foreboding sound effects, and care for The Wanderer just add so much tension. I never felt so scared for a character in a game when running from a boss.

The graphics are also technically impressive pushing the PS3 to its limits. Journey uses a very technically advanced sand displacement technology that no other developer has used. Naughty Dog actually asked thatgamecompany for help on how they did the sand displacement for use in Uncharted 3. Naughty Dog needed to use this technology without degrading graphics quality and using up all CPU resources on just the sand. The lighting effects are also amazing and some of the best I have seen on consoles. This game almost looks like a DirectX 11 game on PC with advanced lighting techniques. The game is just gorgeous and has to be played to be understood.

The only issue with Journey is that you can beat it in less than 2 hours. Sure there is a boss that you run from at the end, and you can die, but the game is just way too short. This, of course, allows you to go back and experience the game again and find the secrets, but I would have loved to see this as a 4+ hour adventure. I have never played a game that drew me into the world as much as Journey, but it wasn’t just the atmosphere. The fact that you are completely disconnected from the world and you have to use your own imagination to help paint the rest of the picture. I hope thatgamecompany has more under its belt for Journey, and if this is it, it will go down in history.

Spec Ops: The Line

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 07/06/2012

Posted in: Linux, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: desert, pc, shooter, spec ops, steam, the line. Leave a comment

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Yager

Release Date: 6/26/2012

Also Available On

I have to admit that I expected this game to be an absolute abomination like most of the past games in the series. I’m surprised that the game looks good, feels good, and has some shocking moments with an actual interesting story. This is something you wouldn’t expect from a military shooter set in Dubai, but it’s here to prove you wrong. The game has you following a team of three through Dubai trying to track down a man named Konrad who has led the 33rd battalion to go rogue. The story doesn’t really ever make a lot of sense, but the shocking moments throughout are entertaining and memorable.

The game has a lot of real-world weapons to shoot and they feel good but not as good as other shooters you have grown to love. Some weapons have some sort of alternate modes like burst fire, laser sight, grenade launcher, or scope, but other than that the weapons are a standard affair. The game tries to use the environment as a weapon but doesn’t really pull through. You can shoot the glass out of glass that has a bunch of trapped sand behind it to bury enemies, but there are only a few spots on the whole to do this. There are some epic set pieces throughout the game like hanging onto a gas truck while firing a grenade launcher, using a mini-gun in a helicopter, and a few moral choice points in the game.

These moral choices are pretty disturbing like seeing two men hanging from a freeway sign. You have to choose one or the other to survive. Another section has you firing white phosphorus down on soldiers, but you end up killing tons of civilians in the process. The cut scenes that lead up to, and after these moments are pretty shocking and gruesome. This is something I would not expect from a military shooter, and I hope others follow suit. In between these moments is just monotonous shooting and boring brown deserts to look at which really bring the great moments down. The characters are at least as interesting as their mental state deteriorates as the game progresses and you start to feel for them which is also rare in military shooters full of cookie-cutter one-man-armies.

I constantly wanted more of those shocking moments, but they were far and few between. It was just bad guy after bad guy and they all look the same after a while. You can wander around and pick up intelligence items, but how many of us are tired of doing this in shooters? The cover system at least works pretty well and is similar to Gears of War, but not as fluid. Then there’s multiplayer which is a standard affair and won’t keep you coming back for very long.

Overall, Spec Ops has some shocking story moments that give you choice and question your moral standards. In between these moments are monotonous shooting segments through boring and brown environments. Even the sand elements are not put to good use and are almost forgotten halfway through the game. This is a fun weekend rental, but don’t expect any miracles.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/07/2009

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles, Xbox 360. Tagged: 50 cent, blood in the sand, curtis jackson, desert, Microsoft, music, rap, rapper, shooter, xbox, Xbox 360. Leave a comment

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Swordfish Studios

Release Date: 2/24/2009

Also Available On

50 Cent is one of those celebrities who thinks he can dominate any market, any industry, especially ones he knows nothing about, just by flexing his abs, flaunting his fake money, cars, and jewelry. That’s all Blood on the Sand in a nutshell, but if you look past ’50s over-the-top thug persona you have a pretty decent weekend rental.

The game’s story is a complete nonsense since 50 and his crew is fighting middle eastern terrorists for a priceless skull. What is 50 doing in the middle east? Probably not singing for charity causes. What makes the story even more ridiculous is that it’s just lame. You never know WHY this (insert unpronounceable middle eastern name here) owes him this money, and the game just has a lot of loopholes story-wise. Thankfully it’s easily forgettable and you really just concentrate on the action.

Blood on the Sand has a lot of action and it’s not too bad really. You run around in a third-person POV ducking behind cover and shooting to your heart’s content. Unfortunately, the game has a slightly broken cover mechanic since it’s too sticky. When you pull away from the cover sometimes 50 won’t move away and you usually have to use the roll button to get off. This makes it hard if someone is running up to you and you need to get away quickly.

There are a plethora of weapons in the game and they can be bought via placed phone booths, or picked up off downed enemies. The downside to this is that better weapons can’t be bought until the last level of the game because you can never earn enough money to buy them. Money is earned by killing enemies or smashing crates. Not only can you buy weapons, but you can buy taunts, and takedowns as well.

Takedowns are timed melee attacks that show 50 using martial arts he really doesn’t know in real life (everything in the game he can’t do in real life yet raps that he can). The problem with buying more takedowns is you never see the animations. The same takedown is repeated over and over again until the engine decides to let you see one that you spent 50K on. The taunt thing is just ridiculous and really earns the game’s M rating. The M rating is mainly for all the swearing which is in every other word. While this is fine I just think it’s ridiculous and unnecessary and doesn’t make the game any better. Besides taunting does nothing for gameplay and just seemed like something that was thrown in there so 50 can curse more.

My favorite parts of the game are the vehicle sections which vary from turrets on helicopters to driving jeeps. These parts tend to be pretty easy, but I have to admit the game is unnecessarily hard. The game throws too many enemies at you at times and it is completely retarded. I’ve never played a shooter with so many enemies in my life. It’s hard to really strategize what you’re going to do when there’s an enemy around every corner and they can even hit you through your cover sometimes.

-Sigh- if you really love 50 you can find posters and targets around the game that let you unlock all of his music videos. I am also disappointed by Eminem and the other Shady crew doesn’t make an appearance in this game. Hell, even his G-Unit buddies take a back seat as poorly controlled AI opponents, but that’s what co-op is for.

The game has pretty decent graphics since it uses Unreal Engine 3, but it doesn’t use the engine like we’ve seen it before. The game is very brown since the whole thing takes place in a desert which leaves little for an artistic art style. The audio is pretty good with a voice-over from 50 Cent, but they tend to be overdone sometimes or spotty. If you really love 50 Cent you must own this game, but if you just like your shooters then give this a spin.