E3: The New Console War Begins!

And almost ends immediately with Microsoft’s rather spectacular misstep into the next console generation. There have been plenty of rumours about Valve making a ‘Steam Box’, but Microsoft have beaten them too it. The new Xbox One is so heavily DRM orientated; it’s practically the physical incarnation of EA and Ubisoft’s dreams.

And E3 was supposed to be their opportunity to gain some good PR for the Xbox One. Instead the details they finally had to release will likely put off even some of their most hard-core fans. The list of ‘features’ is somewhat ridiculous if you intended on lending, trading or buying and selling second hand games. The second hand restrictions have caused the most uproar. Games can now only be bought and sold second hand at selected retailers and require the publisher’s authority for this to happen.

It will be interesting to see how much this restriction is actually used considering that both the Wii U and PS4 have no restrictions atall. It would be odd for any multiplatform title to be locked down on the Xbox One whilst being freely tradable on the competition. Even the simple act of trading a game with a friend has another hurdle to overcome. Now the intended recipient of your used game has to have been on your Xbox friends list for at least 30 days and each game can only be traded once. This will likely be a minor inconvenience when trading games with people you know, but practically cuts off any private second hand buying a selling due to the nuisance of the waiting time.

Lending games might actually be the only feature users get out of the Xbox One. You’re allowed to have a group of ten family and friends that can access your game library via their own Xbox One. Only one person can use the feature at a time, which isn’t really a limitation as you could only lend a physical copy to one person at a time. However their Xbox One will start phoning home at more frequent intervals to make sure everything is ok, because you must be doing something suspicious if you start lending your games. And of course this feature can also be blocked by the publisher, so it’s actually usefulness can only be really gauged in the future.

The biggest worry is that even Microsoft won’t be capable of maintaining a perfect service. Currently your Xbox One will want to connect to Microsoft’s servers once every twenty-four hours. A task that a large cooperation like Microsoft should be able to handle, although their history with Games for Windows Live would suggest otherwise. If they get this wrong, there’ll be a lot of useless boxes that refuse to play any games. And there’s always the possibility of Microsoft’s servers being the target of a DDoS similar to that suffered by the PS3.

Handicapping themselves further, the Xbox One is currently limited to twenty-one countries. Notable omissions from the list include Eastern Europe and Japan. Now Japan has never been a successful market for Microsoft, but ignoring it entirely seems like a bad idea.

To make it a success, they’re going to need a very strong library of exclusives which at the moment appears to more Madden games; not great for the majority. There was also a distinct lack of anyone showing off the potential of the improved Kinect. If the game library barely supports it, a lot of consumers will wonder why it’s bundled in as it could easily be demoted to a glorified voice activated on off switch.

So what did Sony and Nintendo do to attract gamers away from Microsoft? Simply keep it business as usual. Nintendo didn’t even do a press conference this year, instead choosing to focus entirely on game announcements with a new Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country and Super Smash Bros.

Sony’s press conference finally revealed the look of the new PS4 (another funny looking box); and added to Microsoft’s woes by revealing a much more competitive launch price and lack of any used game policies. The only real negative was their move away from the free online multiplayer of the PS3 to a subscription based model using PlayStation Plus.

Both Nintendo and Sony received positive commentary for their inclusion of indie titles on the show floor. How much indie titles manage to really impact this console generation remains to be seen. I highly suspect that it will be a continuation of the last generation where a few select titles get the press coverage needed to get serious sales. It’s also likely that the console manufacturers will run into the same problem that Valve currently have with Steam; how do you effectively content curate to ensure quality?

It appears that Microsoft is going to have a miserable Christmas sales period. They could still surprise the market, but I’d expect that to come from changing a lot of their policies to be more consumer friendly.

*UPDATE

Microsoft have done a serious policy change and have removed the restrictions of the console. The flip side of that is sharing feature has been removed. The press release can be found here.

Game Dev Tycoon: Review

Well here’s something different which could have only come from the indie scene. Game Dev Tycoon transports you back to the early eightes via a Dolorean to just after the gaming crash. Your goal is to create the most successful game development studio the world has ever seen using your knowledge of the future.

And so you jump right in. Once you have your avatar’s snazzy jumper and company name sorted, you’re ready to develop your first game. Unsurprisingly the development process in the core gameplay. You pick from a selection of topics, genres, platforms and game engines and then cross your fingers that your game is going to be great, as for the most part, all the choices you make will be absolute guess work.

Each game you create goes through a three stage development process, where you have to decide how to allocate your time between key game features such as level design and AI. You also have to choose the extra features that are bolted on to your creation, each adding onto the cost of the development. All through the process, your team generates little bubbles of technology and design that give you some feedback on how your title will stack up against your previous releases. They also have the annoying habit of generating bugs that have to be patched out before release, costing you more precious time and funds.

Then you have to brace yourself, your new pride and joy is ready for release. It could make the difference between wild success and bankruptcy for your fledgling studio, and then the review scores come in. It’s a 7! That’ll do, it’ll keep the studion going a few more months. Who knew a Pirate simulation with a focus on dialogue combined with joystick, mouse and steering wheel support for the Gameboy would do so well!

And that is core problem with Game Dev Tycoon, it is part simulation and part rogue-like. All the calculations for review scores are hidden and you’re not given any feedback on what made one game a success and another a giant flop. Obviously, good genre topic combinations always seem to do well such as sci-fi / RPG and racing / simulation. So there is some consistency to the game, but as soon as you go into experimental territory, you can easily create a terrible title that causes you to lose a lot of money and haemorrhage fans. And fans become crucial to your success later in the game. Having a good fan base allows you to self-publish with a great deal of hype behind every release, guaranteeing reasonable sales.

In a way, that just reinforces the simulation side of the game. Taking risks is risky. And the choice is stark; you can live on the edge, trying to survive with a lean team aiming for indie success. Or expand with more staff, developing for large publishing deals to get your name out there. Taking no risks and becoming the mediocre developer that never surprises.

Between developing you have to carefully use your time researching new technology and topics, training staff and sending them on vacation. If you fall behind the curve, your games fall off the cutting edge and garner more average reviews. Sales take a hit and you’re unable to keep up with the increase in your staff salaries.

The ultimate goal is to succeed over thirty years, with the upcoming Xbox and Playstation being the last platform releases. The game gives you a heads up when you’re about to reach the end so you can push out one last title to try and achieve a new high score. It only took me two attempts to reach the end of the game, so the difficulty curve is low as long as you can remember what has and hasn’t worked well. You also have the option to keep playing past the end of the game for fun. In my second play-through I kept going an extra ten years too unlock all the research possibilities such as releasing your own digital distribution platform and console.

There’s a lot of charm in the presentation, however the soundtrack is lacking any variety. There’s one long tune on loop and that’s it. I’d highly recommend that you have a podcast or your own playlist to substitute for the music.

The replay-ability of Game Dev Tycoon is entirely limited by how much you enjoy uncertainty. The review scores are always a tense moment and achieving perfect tens will take a few goes. It entertained me for a few hours and as a small indie title, I wasn’t expecting much more. It would make a perfect portable title and hopefully developer Greenheart Games will be able to transition to those platforms in the future. For now, you can buy it direct from their website for Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s a little on the pricey side, so I’d recommend checking out the demo before buying.

Sanctum 2: Review

Of all the map mods that spawned from Warcraft 3, it’s the Tower Defence game mode that has seen the most variety in the titles that have come from it. I usually prefer those that stick close to the original formula, placing towers to make a gauntlet that waves of enemies have to brave in an attempt to beat you. A perfect formula for arm-chair generals who like to sit back, plan, and watch.

However Sanctum 2 mixes that up immediately. It’s a genre crossbreed of Tower Defence and FPS, so not only are you responsible for the strategic placements of towers, but you’re also relied on to take down the enemies; a hostile and varied alien race known as Lumes . Each genre takes it’s turn in the gameplay, every wave alternates between first placing your towers and then gunning down your foes.

The game is spread across sixteen levels linked via a story campaign. Sanctum 2 is set on a planet that has been colonised by humanity. You play as one of four core guardians tasked with protecting the colonists from the invading hordes of the Lumes. The story is told through a series of comic strips between levels and does a reasonable job of explaining why the characters need to keep moving from one location to another. But there is no link to the first title and no description of the planet you’re on or the history of the world. I had to read the backstory on a wiki; it’s not vital context to the story although it’s a silly omission.

The levels themselves represent a wide variety of Tower Defence game design. Some have plenty of space for construction, allowing you to build brilliant mazes. Others have a clear path for the Lumes to run down that you can’t obstruct in any way. On these maps your towers are very much relegated to a support role, firing from the side lines as you have to run around like a headless chicken trying to stop the Lumes at every turn.

In single player, I felt that the towers really didn’t play a big enough role in the gameplay. Even on maps where I was able to build a complicated maze to maximise their effectiveness, they lacked the hitting power to be really useful in the ten waves or so of enemies. You’re presented with a stats screen at the end of a level and almost every single one showed that I’d personally done around seventy five per cent of the damage and kills. Things improved somewhat when I switched to survival mode. Instead of a set amount of waves, the game keeps ramping up the difficulty until you lose. It was fun to reply my favourite levels to see how long I could last, and that longevity gave me a lot more resources to construct more towers and make them a bigger part of the gameplay.

I found a similar improvement in multiplayer as well. Each player gets their own pool of resources to face much larger waves of Lumes. This meant there was a much greater amount of towers playing their part in the game and with just two players, it reached a nice balance. Although trying to get a random person to agree with my plans for the maze was tricky.

The FPS side of the game is a solid experience in its own right. It clearly takes inspiration from Borderlands with floating low gravity jumps and a collection of crazy weaponry. The Lumes are quite varied enemies, all with a prominent weak-spot that can be hit for extra damage. Each of the four characters has their own signature weapon and a passive bonus such as double jump or extra health. You also get a choice of secondary weapon and there’s enough variety for you to pick something that complements your character’s build and play-style.

The AI of the Lumes is clever and consistent. I only noticed an enemy get stuck once trying to navigate the maze. They’re also capable of making a quick priority decision between either attacking you or going to destroy the core. If a group of them gangs up to hit you; you can very quickly be killed and have to wait an agonising ten seconds to re-spawn. It requires you to be aware of your surroundings so you can jump over your tower wall to safety.

There is one large problem with the enemies that I wish the developer Coffee Stain Studios would change, and that’s the boss enemies are too powerful. They make sense from a game mechanics point of view, there needs to be big threats that you have to deal with. Yet it’s stupid to see a boss enemy that is immune to towers soaking all their damage. Also, there are a couple that can destroy your towers. They are the most frustrating enemies every created. As soon as they put a hole in your maze you end up having to kill everything yourself. Then spend your time repairing everything before the next round. The levels they appear in I’ve only played to advance the story and to never return as they just break the gameplay.

Oddly a progression system has been shoe-horned in. It’s a simple system with level-ups granting access to more towers, secondary weapons and passive skills. It provides a little extra replay-ability and incentivises increasing the difficulty for extra experience. As it’s such a short levelling curve, I feel it would have made more sense to use a more traditional unlock system; linking progression to completing each level or beating specific challenges.

Also worth mentioning is the soundtrack which provides a fun selection of futuristic sounds. The music switches between relaxed, laid back tunes for your strategic planning and up tempo beats for fighting the Lumes.

Sanctum 2 doesn’t take long to complete on normal difficult and there’s an easy option for a more relaxed experience as well. The game really gets it’s playtime from replay-ability, which is unfortunately handicapped by certain levels really minimising the impact of towers or throwing the irritating boss enemies at you. That being said I’ve still enjoyed plenty of hours with Sanctum 2 already and as a budget title, it’s ultimately delivered on value for money.

Path of Exile: Review

Well Torchlight 2 was the spiritual successor to Diablo 2, now Path of Exile is positioning itself as the homage. Currently the game is in open beta and is scheduled for a soft release soon. Normally I wouldn’t review a beta, however the transition from beta to release will little more than a patch and announcement. Also, Path of Exile is a free-to-play title supported by micro-transactions and the store is already active and ready for you to spend your money, so a review seems fair game to me.

So where does Path of Exile’s gameplay sit in the ARPG marketplace?  Well unfortunately it makes only a few changes distinguish itself, choosing to stick to tried and tested ideas. The combat is very clunky due to a lack of feedback and further handicapped by an odd lag spike every now and again. I often had to wonder if I had genuinely missed an enemy with my swing, or if the game was lagging again. Spells are also seriously lacking in impact. When I summoned a hail of meteors, it seemed to barely inconvenience my foes as if it were merely a light rain. There’s a lack of force and reaction to the damage your character deals.  

Another traditional feature is the mana bar. Once again you’re free to cast your equipped spells as frequently as you want, your only limit being your mana pool. So once you’ve found your favourite single target and area of effect skills, you never need to use any other abilities except for a bit of variety. It really detracts from the action when you can use the same solution in every scenario. Even boss battles were lacklustre and required no tactics to beat. It was simply a test of my character’s equipment.

Thankfully mixing things up is a rather interesting change to potions. Usually you would simply carry giant stacks of health and mana potions around with you to avoid running out at a key moment. Here, potions have only five inventory slots and the potions themselves contain a set number of charges to limit how many uses they have. This makes them a lot more precious during a boss fight, adding a little tension as you have a very limited supply. Outside of boss fights, killing enemies restores potion charges, removing the tedious shopping trips of other titles.

Your character customisation comes from two main areas. Firstly, the skills you use come from gems found as drops in the world. These can be put into equipment sockets to activate them on you skill bar. There’s space on the UI for eight active skills, but you can have more than this inserted into your equipment as there’s a selection of support gems that can boost skills they’re attached to.  Your skill gems also have their own independent experience bars, so the skills you keep socketed in your equipment will become stronger over time as long as you have the base stats required for their next level.

Secondly, the colossal passive skill tree has numerous paths to follow. Each path will give a bonus to one of three base three stats and provided branches into nodes for specific bonuses, such as better spell casting or weapon specialisations. It’s clearly based on the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X and the idea is brilliantly implemented into Path of Exile. It suits the gameplay, allowing you to tailor your character to a play-style you prefer.  Each of the six characters you can choose from has a different starting position on the skill tree, but there’s nothing to stop you from expanding into another character’s area.

The developer’s intentions for Path of Exile are quite clear. Grinding Gear Games have created a dark world, very similar to Diablo 2.  The story follows a similar act structure and even mimics an event in the second act that plunges the world into darkness. On their website they state:

“We're sick of the recent trend towards bright, cartoony RPGs. The art style we chose for Path of Exile is dark, gritty and realistic. Wraeclast is terrifying, and we've tried hard to do it justice.”

And the aesthetic they’ve chosen does live up to that statement. In particular the music does an excellent job of setting the tone of the game, providing a mix of desperation, loneliness and exploration. Although it does have to be said that there’s nothing wrong with the artistic choices made by other titles.

Importantly, the micro-transactions have been carefully designed to avoid players buying power as a major part of the end-game is designed around PvP. Currently the shop sells a range visual customisations which don’t impact the on the gameplay. You can also buy some extra inventory space and character slots which will be useful for players who get heavily into the game. I found the default space to be plenty big enough for the two characters I’ve been playing.

Ultimately, any free-to-play game will be judged on whether or not it’s worth your time. Path of Exile would benefit from improvements to the combat and a better overarching story to drive your adventure forwards. Both of these areas are done better by other games, but since you don’t have to pay for Path of Exile, it can be a good single player game to dip in and out of when you have some spare time. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a co-op game, this is worth checking out as playing as group greatly improves the experience.

League of Legends: All Random All Mid

Considering LoL is around three and a half years old, it’s surprising how little they have deviated from the classic Defence of the Ancients gameplay. That being said, LoL now has more variety than most other Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs).

So with the recent Freljord update, Riot formalised an old favourite of the community, All Random All Mid (ARAM). It’s as simple as it sounds. Each player is assigned a random champion and both teams fight for control over a single lane. The straightforward nature of ARAM makes a nice break from the complex tactics and long matches that often happen in the classic game.

Games often end in frantic clumsy team fights, which is great for a less serious game. Matches usually take less than twenty minutes, so playing at your best isn’t absolutely essential. However it doesn’t stop the stereotypical LoL ‘community’ members from appearing in your games. If you play without a full team of friends, you still have to expect a random player taking the game incredibly seriously. On more than one occasion I’ve played in games where another player has left after throwing a tantrum, leading rather one sided fights.

There are a couple of tweaks to the standard gameplay. The home base no longer heals, making teammates with healing skills very valuable. Health pick-ups spawn in a few locations down the lane, often leading to a frantic scrabble between players to steal them from their opponents. A few items that would be too powerful are removed from the shop, although games frequently don’t last long enough for you to complete a full set of items.

The Howling Abyss map is beautifully themed in the frozen aesthetic of the update; which is strikingly similar in theme to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for WoW. There’s some excellent attention to detail, with animations for scenery crumbling around the battle and defensive towers taking damage. The shop keeper is replaced by the ghost of a fallen warrior who has a funny variety of lines to yell as you charge back into battle.

The only problem with the game mode is the random nature. When each team is revealed on the loading screen, you can easily predict the winner as it very easy to be assigned a set of champions that lack any synergy. For example, a team with a couple of good ranged champions will have a large advantage over a team that is all melee. You are given the option to re-roll your champion, but these re-rolls have to be earned at a very slow rate from playing games. Bizarrely you can also be assigned any champion that is on free-to-play for the week. So if you only own a few champions, you’re likely to be assigned a free-to-play champion that you haven’t played before.

Given how slowly the world of MOBAs evolves, it’s a nice change to have another game mode being introduced by Riot. It has given me a reason to play LoL without having to spend a good forty minutes or more on a single round.