Fiery Reviews...

Grand Theft Auto IV

2008-05-26T00:10:00.010+08:00

Title: Grand Theft Auto IV
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3
Dev: Rockstar North

It's GTAIV! Finally arriving to our consoles this month of may is Rockstar's highly anticipated next entry into the GTA realm with Grand Theft Auto IV.

Players assume the role of Niko Bellic, an immigrant who has just flown in to New York and is now falling in with the local criminal establishments. Between the 20 plus hour or so story line, you'll get to engage in GTA's most familiar activities, like carjacking, fights and of course, murder. The whole of Liberty City is one giant sandbox, and Rockstar has really gone a long way to ensure detail. People around you react as you go about your business, the radio and TV shows feel very very real and the whole of the city just feels very alive and not like some scripted area where you are dumped into to carry out task after task until the credits roll. Interacting with the people of Liberty City is extremely engaging.

Missions given to you on the superb storyline carry some form of choice: for example, if you're asked to take out a target, you can either commit the act of murder or make the person promise to disappear. Each path carries its own implications, such as your boss finding out the person whom you are supposed to have eliminated is still around, but this makes the game proceed in many different directions that would make you want to play it over again after you're done. Furthermore, this variety is seen in small activities like carjacking. If the car is parked, Niko will walk up to it, look around for any passers-bys, then smash the window in and hotwire the car to get away. Sometimes car alarms sound, which leaves the headlamps flashing and is a sure fire way to get cops after you. Even more of note is carjacking when the vehicle is in motion. One instance saw the driver whom previously occupied the car i stole being dragged along the road as i tried to make my getaway.

You can't get very far in the city without noticing Rockstar's attention to the graphical presentation of the city. Be it day or night, the overall look of the city feels just right. The soundscape is not too bad as well, it compliments the scale of the city and sets the mood for game events.

Multiplayer is awesome by the way. There isn't any waiting in lobby rooms for the game to begin. You're actually put inside an online version of Liberty City with up to 15 others and you're free to do anything. With the weapons scattered around it isn't hard to just pick one up and start shooting.

When the game does begin, it offers up some of the classic GTA modes like deathmatch and Race, which pretty much do what it says on the tin. Co-op missions, like the carjacking mission adds plenty of new content to the GTA multiplayer arena and judging by the amount of online response, it seems to be taking its place very well in Xbox Live.

Some final closing comments. I highly advise not purchasing the PS3 version due to the fact that it has a 10 minute installation time, but now i'm just nitpicking. Both versions share most of the same gameplay (and bugs), so there isn't much difference to set them apart, other than the fact more players would be on Xbox Live then PSN.

All in all, GTAIV is a solid new title in Rockstar's arsenal of games, and i'm highly looking forward to its release on PC (if any. Pleeeease Rockstar?)

You'll like:
True blue GTA gameplay
"Real"-feeling city
Immense attention to detail
New multiplayer gamemodes

You'll hate:
Exploring the nooks and crannies of Liberty City again and again just to find every juicy detail Rockstar has included.
Getting caught by cops.

Score: 98%

Echochrome

2008-04-25T23:07:00.011+08:00

Title: Echochrome
Platforms: PS3, PSP
Dev: SCE Japan Studio

Echochrome is an intuitive puzzle game that introduces many new things in the genre. Players control a puzzle world where they have to guide a mannequin to accomplish certain objectives to solve the puzzles.

The world is presented in a minimalist black and white, crisp, graphical style, which helps to better contrast the "laws of perspective". The audio is one continuously looping violin piece, which can get irritating after a long playtime, especially if the player is getting slightly frustrated over the puzzles. I found myself muting my console after a few hours' play.

This game's mechanics are unique in the sense that the gameplay involves a series of puzzles set in a rotating world of "impossible puzzles", whereby the player has to utilise 5 rules or "laws" of perspective that govern how the puzzle proceeds. The law of perspective travelling for example, lets the player connect two paths, one high and one low, by rotating the game area. Once the paths are connected, the mannequin may advance from one path to the other as it is viewed correctly in the current perspective.

The game can get very mind bending at first, but I soon managed to adapt to the mechanics of play and began to be able to solve puzzles quicker. The game includes an excellent tutorial about the laws and gameplay styles which is automatically run the first time you play, and can be re-accessed through the menu. It allows interactivity and teaches the player how the five unqiue laws apply to the world.

Gameplay has three different modes. "Solo" is a mode where players are challenged to collect "images" of black mannequins. "Pair" is a mode that challenges players to cause both sets of black and white mannequins to meet and finally to merge into a single mannequin. Finally, "Others", the final game mode, is arguably the hardest. You have to deal with black mannequins on the map which are "enemies" of sort, and one you bump into them, you will be killed and respawned on the last ledge you touched.

The variety of challenges offered are numerous, and the game's 56 levels are more than enough to keep one going for a long time, as each puzzle has many solutions.

Finally, there is an inbuilt level editor. This "Canvas" lets you build your own puzzles via simple controls. Pressing Triangle brings up a menu which allows the user to select the tile they want to place, and by using the directional pad, placing them in the world. The editor also features a play-test function which lets designers try out the map before saving it.

Once the map is saved, it can be viewed from the menu. From here, it can be sent to other players and re-opened for further editing. Players can also open other maps made by friends and This makes for a very high replayability value.

All in all, this makes for one of Sony's better puzzle releases from Japan Studio. I've been very impressed so far by their previous releases, and this is a game that certainly does not disappoint.
Echochrome is available for the PS3 via the Playstation Store and by UMD for the PSP.

You'll like:
Mind bending puzzles
Unique gameplay
Minimalist art style
Included level editor

You'll hate:
Overly mind bending puzzles.
Not being able to put it down.

Score: 9.2/10

Assassin's Creed

2008-04-18T17:14:00.006+08:00

Title: Assassin's Creed
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, DS, Mobile

Assassin's Creed released on the Xbox 360 last November to generally good reception. However, this review will deal with the PC port, which admittedly isn't the better game.

First of all, Assassin's Creed for the PC has very steep requirements. A minimum 2.6 Ghz processor, a 256 mb GFX card and at least 2 gb of RAM for Vista. My review machine was sweating to keep up, so i had to turn the graphics down quite a bit where other games would run fine on high settings.

You play as Altair, the ancestor of modern day bartender Desmond Miles. The latter has been invited to Abstergo, a Templar-run lab to provide them with details of his ancestor. Apparently, our DNA is able to store not only our memories, but those of our ancestors as well.

These two conflicting timelines do not help the story along much. Most of the time the game left me feeling slightly confused as the two alternating timelines do not show much similarity, so it seems like the game can't make up its mind on what era it wants to be set in.

Past that however, the gameplay itself isn't that bad, the variety of investigation minigames you can play are well designed and are actually quite entertaining...for the first few chapters. After that, the exact games get rehashed and repeated so many times that it feels almost like a chore to do the tasks just to unlock the assassination.

Even these assassinations comprise of very little action; you simply walk up to the target and deal him a death blow. You're forced to sit through some very long cutscenes after each hit, and they are the only place where the story is told. Assassinations in general make up very little of the actual game.

The game is based on the concept of free-running exploration, and that's a really good concept. I found myself climbing up all sorts of buildings and running on rooftops to get to my objective. This excellent sandbox gameplay, however, is thrown right out the window during the final two hours or so of the game, where you're forced into fights that really go against the sandbox style of the game.

Combat is smooth, realistic and pretty fluid. You're given an assortment of tools to carry out your task: a sword, throwing knives, and a hidden blade wich is used to stab random persons on the street. However, i feel that the combat is more suited for the Xbox 360's controller as the face buttons provide easier access to all of Altair's skills.

Horse riding makes up a small portion of the game, as you travel between the cities of Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem. The only complaint i have for this particular section is that the kingdom seems to have an unspoken speed limit on horses that everyone but me seems to know about. If i trot past a guard at the normal speed, it somehow sets off warning lights in their heads and they come running after me. but if i hold a key down to make my horse walk a little bit slower, suddenly no one seems to care.

Graphically wise, the visuals are amazing when turned up fully. The buildings exhibit very detailed architecture and none of those "architectural bits" feel like they were put there for you to climb about; they just look so natural. These building climbs are usually accompanied by lush musical overtures, and chases have heart thumping musical scores to accompany it.

Another thing that stands out is the NPC crowd. They behave rather realistically; i found myself being stared at by some passers-by when i was climbing around the building, and they exhibit notions of surprise at every unusual move i make. However, the guards aren't as smart. The game lets you escape from pursuers by hiding in certain special "hide zones", and this is where the stupidity comes in. You can actually sit down on a bench right in front of them and they will simply scratch their heads and walk away.

The PC version isn't exactly superior to its older brother in the 360, it's marred by clunky controls and very high system requirements. Its porting to the PC isn't exactly perfect either; it feels very rushed and slipshod. Pick it up if you have never got a chance to play it on the Xbox 360, but you're not missing anything out from the 360 version.

FINAL VERDICT:
You'll like:
Free-climbing
Assassinations
Swordfights

You'll hate:
Repetitive minigames
Steep system requirements
Poor port

Score: 7.5/10