Blacklight: Retribution

Blacklight: Retribution is an interesting free-to-play (F2P) FPS that has recently made its way to Steam. Developed by Zombie Studios and released in April this year; it adds to the growing library of excellent F2P games available on PC.

As an entirely multiplayer game, there is no story. Set in the near future, two teams of up to eight players fight over various locations in different game modes. Currently the game includes a standard set of objectives such as Team Deathmatch and King of the Hill. But also has other modes such as Netwar, which requires players to hold set locations whilst capturing a randomly spawning flag. The server filters in the lobby are extensive, allowing you to quickly find a server running your preferred map or game mode.

When you log in for the first time, the game prompts you run through the tutorial. It covers the basic controls as well as being a handy point to fine tune various control settings. At the end it introduces the equipment you will be able to use in battle.

As you kill your opponents and take objectives you earn Combat Points which you can spend on the equipment. Using the Hard Suit mini-mech is a lot of fun. It’s armed with both a minigun and a rail gun making it extremely powerful. But with its poor manoeuvrability, the pilot is vulnerable to enemies using hit and run attacks. The flamethrower is an excellent counter-weapon; able to cook the pilot inside without causing too much damage, leaving behind the Hard Suit for you to steal.

The Hyper Reality Visor (HRV) is a key feature of the game, which combined with the equipment, makes the game stand out in the crowded FPS market. It allows a quick glimpse of the battlefield, highlighting all players and objectives. After each use there’s a long recharge, but it really alters the dynamic of the genre.

I often find myself using it to flank opponents, calculating a safe route to my target. It also highlights players using stealth, allowing you a chance to counter before their surprise assault. It’s easy to become dependent on HRV, using it to check every corner before sticking your head out. But it does lead to some awkward situations, as it takes a frantic second to swap back to normal vision. On many occasions I used HRV only to discover someone just round the corner, leaving me hopping around like a madman trying to dodge incoming fire whilst fumbling for a gun.

The overall balance of the game is excellent. There are various viable builds such as fast melee, close range SMG, through to that sniper who always manages to headshot you from the other side of the map. I find close range fire-fights to be especially satisfying. The fast move speed of characters leads to wild sprays of bullets, often ending in close knife fights with the victor scrambling to reload before their next encounter.

This is down to the well designed in-game economy. At the end of each match you earn GP based on your performance. This can be spent on weapon parts, body armour and gear; either to rent for a few days at a cheap price, or to unlock permanently. There are a lot of options. Each weapon is broken down into individual parts such as barrel, stock, sights and receiver. The receiver defines the weapon type: assault rifle, revolver, light machinegun which you then tailor to your preference. Detailed stats are provided allowing you to tweak everything ‘till you get a weapon Goldilocks would be proud of.

Unfortunately you don’t get access to all the options when you start. Some of the more exotic equipment is locked until you reach a high enough level. I’m not against including levelling systems, but they are over used in FPS games. Zombie Studios has used it as opportunity to give free rental equipment as you level; which is nice reward and sensible promotion tool.

All the aesthetic customisation except the emblem is bought with real money. Your emblem is used to distinguish yourself on the scoreboard as well as appearing as a snazzy badge on your character. You can purchase camouflage for both your character and weapons. Also there is a large range of taunt animations and voice packs.

The art direction is superb. Although the setting is the standard grey-brown future we have come to expect from this generation. It’s brought alive by the striking orange and teal colour scheme of the HRV view. There’s only one problem, headshots are ridiculously gratuitous. Despite the helmets appearing to be very sturdy pieces of armour, they are in fact balloons protecting your water melon of a head. A single shot can leave a bloody stump of neck with a nice bit of spine showing. Zombie Studious did develop the Saw games; but they didn’t need to bring the gore here.

The inclusion of female character models sees Blacklight taking a big stride ahead of the rest of the genre. A reflection of changing attitudes within the industry to the growth in the female gaming demographic.

Blacklight: Retribution is definitely a stand-out F2P title, worthy of downloading by anyone looking for an FPS. The real question is if Zombie Studios can keep adding content, and grow the player base as Planetside 2 moves closer to release.

Diddy Kong Racing: the Kart Racer with a Difference

Diddy Kong Racing was released in Christmas 1997 during Rare’s golden era of game development on the SNES and N64. It went head to head with Mario Kart 64 in the EU, and brought a lot of new ideas to the kart racing sub-genre. Its main selling point was the ability to race in karts, planes and hovercrafts.

Surprisingly it has a story! Timber the Tiger’s parents have gone on holiday, leaving the island to be raced on with his friends. All is well until the evil Wizpig invades, turning the island’s guardians into his minions. So begins Diddy Kong and his racing friend’s adventure to defeat Wizpig by completing a series of races.

The island acts as an over world for all the tracks in the game. Which are split into four themed zones, with four tracks each. Also there are several secrets to discover by exploring, and it’s used for three bonus races against Taj the genie. Taj can be summoned at any time to change you vehicle, this usually means asking for a plane as it’s the best vehicle to navigate the island.

The over-world improved the game. You weren’t just selecting some random track from a list. And they all thematically make sense in the context provided by the over-world. The tracks are locked behind numbered doors, until you collect enough balloons to enter.

To earn balloons, you have to win the available races. Once you beat all four tracks in a zone, you get to race against the boss! Each boss is a special track that provides a difficult challenge. Navigating past dangerous obstacles and squeezing through tight gaps, whilst trying to avoid being squashed.

For winning, you get to replay all the tracks to earn more balloons. But this time with the added task of collecting eight silver coins on your way to victory. This unlocks a rematch with the boss, with the difficulty significantly increased. Completing everything for a second time unlocks the race against Wizpig to save the island.

Most tracks are designed to be used by multiple vehicles. This gives you a lot of options in multiplayer. Each player can individually choose whether they want to race in a kart, plane or hovercraft. The same choice is available in time trial, but the adventure mode is limited to a specific vehicle for each track.

The only problems with the game were the tricky controls and a lacking character line-up. My friends always preferred Mario Kart 64 because it was easier to pick up and play. I was the only person that could handle the heavy characters in Diddy Kong Racing. This left my friends fighting over the two light characters that were the easiest to play. The hovercrafts were particularly difficult to control. They handle like ocean liners. You have to plan your turn several seconds in advance and sacrifice all your momentum.

Diddy Kong was the only character in the game that anyone had heard of. The rest of the line-up included Timber, a stoned Tiger whose eyes will stare into the depths of your soul. Drumstick, a giant chicken who looked like a rejected KFC mascot. Krunch, an enemy form Donkey Kong Country 2. Plus the first appearances of Banjo and Conker, who would go on to get their own very successful games. Conker was such an innocent squirrel in this game.

It surprises me that over worlds and bosses haven’t been used in kart racers since. They provide a lot of extra fun content; offering the player more than just Grand Prix’s and time trials. The choice of vehicles also added a lot of replay-ability. I personally hope these ideas will make a comeback in the future, maybe in the next Mario Kart?

Diablo 3: Six Years in Development For...

Diablo 3 wasn't quite the game I was expecting. I found my opinion shifting wildly from thrilled too frustrated. I discussed other APRGs in an earlier entry. Having played biggest release in the genre this year, it deserves a review.


The biggest problem by far is the online requirement. Lag in a single-player game is just ridiculous. Every time I enter the game or alt tab back from the desktop, I'm greeted with a slideshow of my character being mobbed. I quickly learned to park myself in a safe spot, cowering from basic enemies. Of course in multiplayer it's acceptable, that's just the way things are, and you'll have friends to watch your back – hopefully.

But when you get going, the core gameplay is spot on. The controls are near perfect. Aiming abilities, drinking potions, navigating and grabbing loot is satisfyingly easy. You encounter the occasional mis-click where the hit box of the enemy in front is too big, or you collect useless grey items. But these occasions only stand out because they are few and far between.

The skill system is the highlight of the game. It actually innovates within the genre, rather than following the standard skill-tree template. Each class has a set of active and passive skills that are unlocked as you level. At any time, you can have 6 active and 3 passive skills selected. The combinations you pick define your play style. Do you go for a frenzied Barbarian, focusing on high DPS, or equip a shield and hunker down, beating opponents in a war of attrition?

Active skills can be further customised by applying runes. Each rune provides an additional bonus that can simply add extra damage, or change the mechanics entirely. The freedom to change your skills is fantastic. When an ability isn't on cool-down, you can freely swap it, even mid-combat if you're a skilled clicker. This can help overcome the random difficulty spikes.

And the difficulty is really random. To begin with you have to play through on normal, which barely offers a challenge. But in nightmare and beyond, rare and elite enemies become a real problem. This is because they are assigned random bonus abilities, leading to difficult scenarios with my Barbarian. I had to resort to extreme tactics, unable to fight my opponents properly. As an example, a set of enemies that spawn because of the story were given the jailer ability. Faced with three enemies that could root me to the spot and kill me in two mighty swings, I had to change my entire skill set. Equipping ranged abilities and using hit and run tactics until I was victorious 5 minutes later. These groups of enemies are often harder than most boss battles.

Surprisingly Blizzard announced that they were unhappy with the current endgame. The genre hasn't had an endgame with depth so far. The standard formula is to let players explore different class builds and find great loot, pretty simple. But even with the plans to add PvP, Blizzard feels that something is lacking. I think the reason for this is the story combined with too many linear zones.

The story is just ridiculous, it had to be really considering the title and previous games. The voice actors for the main characters do their best to make it credible, but the dialogue is terrible. It's like a West End theatre company putting on a school production. This is compounded by the fact that the secondary characters are the most interesting. Ignore the main characters that contradict themselves and don't recognise obviously evil characters. Instead have a chat with the Blacksmith, your companions or the Jeweller. I found myself actually caring about what they had to say and looking forward to the next chapter in their tale.

Unlike previous games, the over-world design is static. Only the dungeons have randomised layouts. This only highlights to the player the repetitiveness of the game, removing any point in exploring. Why bother when you know what direction the boss is in?

I'm not going to discuss the craziness of the real money auction house in detail; that could have an entry all to itself. It only serves one purpose; making money for Blizzard. That may be a cynical view, but there were simpler options to block illegal item-selling. Just have the gold-based auction house, with very restricted trading between friends. When I last checked the real money auction house, it was plagued with inflation being driven by speculation.

At its heart there's a great game. But it's hampered by unnecessary online systems, and poor design choices that took away replayability. I would recommend it, but only if you find it discounted or have friends for multiplayer. Don't play with random people. It's as bad as you'd expect). Guild Wars 2 is not far from release. Although it's not exactly the same genre, the amount of content and price eclipses Diablo 3.

Games Britannia Replayed

As Brits, we might not be able to win at national football, break the Wimbledon singles tennis curse, or reach the top step of the podium at Silverstone this year. But we do make some cracking computer games; something that is definitely worth celebrating. This weekend saw the last days of the Games Britannia show, at the Magna science museum in Rotherham.

The hall was packed with every computer, young and old, running games with a predominately British flavour. The best bit; it was all playable, just pull up a seat! The vast selection of gaming history on offer was impressive. It was tough deciding where to start.

It was a great opportunity to play many games made by British developers. This included games from Rare's classic library. Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, an arcade cabinet running Killer Instinct, and of course; a Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye. Local developers Sumo Digital were also attending, displaying Outrun, Doctor Who, and Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing.

The event provided a great contrast between early and modern gaming. Many exhibits were set up displaying the progression of various genres. One of the best games I played on the day was Sensible Soccer. It might have very simple graphics and gameplay by today's standards. But a friend and I had a fantastic match. We were hooked for 10 minutes of frantic football, ending in a 1 all tie. Both goals somewhat embarrassingly scored by myself. And just to our right, the evolution of Fifa through various generations; displaying the gameplay and graphical improvements that have come from new hardware.

Big names like Nintendo were also in attendance, bringing demos for the Wii and the 3DS. This included Kid Icarus: Uprising, New Super Mario Bros 2 and Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise. They had plenty of consoles with them, so no queues to get hands on. Beat the Beat's wacky, rapid fire gameplay was definitely a highlight. A mid-afternoon championship had it displayed on the hall's main screen. The reaction from the crowd was part laughter, part bemusement as players went head-to-head, catching supersonic peas on the end of a fork. This was followed up with a posing contest between 2 Mexican wrestlers.

Other modern games in attendance were the Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition on the XBox 360. A game that really uses the entire graphical grunt the console can muster. Great too look at in motion, but really a game you want to sink hours into, not just a few minutes with the tutorial. Street Fighter 4 and Dirt Showdown both had competitions as well; a few pros in attendance demonstrated their skills in both. And unsurprisingly, Minecraft was set up on a table of laptops. Presumably just in case someone had missed the indie hit, or desperately needed to build another Cobblestone castle.

A big part of the week's events was to inspire the next generation of British games creators. Various workshops were open to school trips throughout the week, allowing kids to get hands on with making computer games. This is something I would have loved when I was in school. Hopefully there might be a bit of renaissance for games development in the country. Recent years have seen a lot of talent being lured to the US and Canada, leaving behind a handful of independent studios, and almost no publishers. Which is a shame considering the rich history on display. So fingers crossed for a brighter future, and hopefully the start of a great yearly event.

Re-mass-tered: ME 3's Extended Cut Endings

Warning: there are ending spoilers below...


Mass Effect 3 has finally been updated with the Extended Cut DLC; designed to add clarity to the end of the series. Bioware received a lot of criticism for the original ending lacking explanation, which relied heavily on fan interpretations to fill in the blanks. On announcing the Extended Cut, they faced accusations of compromising their artistic vision for revisiting the ending. It seemed that Bioware couldn't put a foot right, but thankfully the Extended Cut kills two birds with one stone.

The majority of the additions are in the form of narrated segments, voiced by Admiral Hackett, EDI or Shepard depending on your choice. Although the endings still share a lot of CGI cut scenes and artwork, the narration makes them distinct choices. In the original version, I was left wondering if the choice I made impacted the galaxy in a distinctive way. The DLC solves this problem by serving as an epilogue, showing what happens next to the characters and civilisations of the galaxy we have come to love through the story.

Whilst working on the new endings, Bioware claimed that there would be no narrative changes. However, they did make a u-turn on the fate of the Mass Relays. Now they are simply damaged and shown to be under repair. Some may cry foul, but it was a necessary change. The destruction of the entire Mass Relay network didn't work with the story's established canon.

There were also changes to the Catalyst's explanation of the Reapers. Its argument remains unchanged, still believing that synthetic life will always destroy the creators. Therefore, the Reapers are a necessary solution to maintain balance in the galaxy. A point that many questioned, after brokering peace between the Geth and the Quarians. But now it's clear that the species that created the Catalyst were forced into becoming the first Reaper. This can be interpreted in different ways. Possibly the Catalyst is a flawed creation, incapable of assessing the balance between organics and synthetics.

Interestingly a fourth option for the ending can now be opened through dialogue choices. Players can now refuse the other options, leaving the allied forces of the galaxy to be crushed. The cycle continues, with a sequence that shows a data cache left by Liara for future species. It’s an interesting ending with a dual purpose. Firstly it removes the indoctrination theory as a possibility, which is a shame, as it was one of the best interpretations of the original ending. Secondly, it just makes sense to have it as an option. Why should Shepard accept the solutions that the Catalyst offers?

A couple of other plot holes are also filled in. In the final run to reach the Citadel, your squad mates are injured and taken out of action. Shepard briefly brakes off from the surge to call in the Normandy, to evacuate the team and say goodbye. Thankfully Harbinger waits patiently, rather than obliterating you there and then.


As the Crucible is activated, the fleet is ordered out of the area by Admiral Hackett. Joker refuses to leave without Shepard, until he is brought to his. This clears up why the Normandy is then shown trying to escape the ensuing explosion. And why your squad who were by your side in London, step out onto the Jungle planet after the crash landing.


The ending could still be improved on. Decisions you have made as Shepard up to that point, still have no effect on the choice of ending. It does have the benefit of not punishing the player for poor decisions. But it would be interesting to see options been opened or closed, based on your play through. For example, on a very successful run. Being able to beat the Reapers in conventional warfare, using the knowledge, warnings and preparations you have been able to make.


It's likely that people will still be annoyed by the Catalyst appearing to Shepard as a child. And that war assets are still tied to multiplayer, given that the update would have been the perfect time remove that link. But it’s impossible to please everyone. Last, but not least, the ridiculous DLC advertisement that followed the credits has been replaced by a thank you message from Bioware.  


Taken as a whole, the Extended Cut DLC is big improvement. There will still be debates around it. But importantly it completes the series, making it the best story driven intellectual property of this generation.