Need for Speed: Indifference

I'm not a newcomer to the Need for Speed series. My first introduction to this game series was Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. It was great. Well done physics engine, an impressive damage modeling system, great graphics (for the time). I missed the Hot Pursuit iterations, but I heard really good things about them. I loved NFS: Underground and Underground 2. Skip forward a few years and one of the launch titles for the Xbox360 was Need for Speed: Most Wanted. I bought it based on the past few games in the series and the glory of an open-ended racing world.

Suffice it to say, Most Wanted kicked all kinds of ass.

This was, however, to be the peak of the series. After that, it all starts to go downhill.

NFS: Carbon had some redeeming qualities, namely a car lineup that was rather impressive, and it introduced the autosculpt feature (not cool enough to carry the game however).

NFS: Pro Street removed the free-roaming city and the "realistic physics" were a joke.

Now, we have the promised return of the open city with more miles of road than any previous installment. We are also told about the improved damage modeling and physics from Pro Street will be included. What we got wasn't nearly as fun or fulfilling as Most Wanted, and only slightly better than Carbon.

I'm not even going to start with the pile of lag-laden bullshit that is EA's online multiplayer system.

Where to start?

I know; the physics and damage. This was one of the most hyped parts of this game. The folks over at EA were nearly clawing themselves to death trying to tell us that they updated the physics engine (and car handling) as well as having a more realistic damage modeling. Ok, so I was thinking that it would be, not quite on par with the physics and damage of, say, Forza Motorsport 2, but maybe, hopefully, a step in that direction... Fail. The "improved" physics engine merely means that the cars now nose-dive when you catapult your car off of a 45-degree incline. I swear, you can now tell that the vast majority of a car's weight is located round-about where the engine is placed.

And the damage modeling appears just a superficial aesthetic added to make the cars look more smashed up. Any actual damage to the functioning of the car is still limited to running over spike strips at higher-than-possible speeds (I highly doubt that a stock Nissan GT-R body and frame can really be tuned enough to go 240+ without shredding the car to pieces. However, I'm willing to overlook that part because, well, it's just so damn fun).

Nuts and Bolts

Now, I don't want to just bad mouth the game. It does have some redeeming qualities; enough to make it a game worthy of renting and giving it a play through.

Granted that this is an arcade racer, so some liberties with physics and damage are allowable. And, truth be told, that isn't my main gripe with this game. I just felt the need to smack down the hype surrounding those aspects of the game.

For the most part, the game plays well. The controls are easy to learn and I've long been a fan of using the right thumbstick to shift gears (anyone who uses automatic mode should at least give it a try. It's really easy). I do have a few issues with the amount of analog input that exists, but I suspect that would be solved if I actually bought a racing wheel.

The graphics are another high point. The cars are well animated and the scenery (both urban and countryside) is very well detailed. Shading and lighting are handled very well and the shader effects are some of the best I've seen in the series. There are some graphical glitches and the texture loading times are a bit on the slow side. All in all though, not enough to really detract from it.

The Good

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the retarded civilian AI is the police AI (although they have their moronic moments too). I like how they've added the PIT maneuvers to their arsenal and they are much more aggressive at the higher wanted levels. That being said, their roadblock placement seems to be decided at random and with no real effective pattern. The only thing that makes them dangerous is the cop cars that are now more than willing to sacrifice themselves to push you into one.

Other than that, there's nothing really new here.

The Bad

Ok, time for another story. NFS: Underground 2, NFS: Most Wanted, NFS: Carbon all had these, but they are completely lacking for no good reason in NFS: Undercover. The answer: Garages. The place where you can tinker with your cars, get away from the cops, and take stock of your stats and all that good stuff. Now, I kind of understand doing away with them for the sake of expedience (which seems to be one of the watchwords around the Black Box offices when making this game, apparently). You just press the start button and choose "Cars" from the menu. They probably thought that this would be easier than having to drive all over the map to arrive at a safe house.

Which goes hand in hand with never having to drive anywhere to participate in races either. So, they pulled out what little strategy may have been involved with police chases, and the need to explore an incredibly big map, in order to "get into the action faster." Horseshit. Most people I've talked to miss the garage and the fact that in order to race the boss, you have to get the the race's starting point. Good Lord, how did we ever manage to get to those places in previous games? Oh, right, we're in Cars. No shit, you press on the accelerator and it gets you to those places faster than walking. Holy shit, it must be magic...

I liked the fact that I ran the risk of a police chase or two trying to make it to a safe house. It made the game fun and worth replaying. I had this one car in Most Wanted I called my "police buster." It was a Mustang GT that was maxed out on parts and looked aggressive as hell. There was satisfaction in ramming that sonofabitch through roadblocks. But, I digress.

The biggest, most irritating, and shitty thing they did; they removed the ability to have multiple careers on one account. You can't even name your character. you spend the entire game known as the "Player." And this is coming from EA! Makers of games like Def Jam: Fight for New York, Fight Night Round 3, and Rock Band 1/2 (for God's sake) where character creation is one of the joys of the game.

The Indifferent

Trying to find a good storyline in a Need for Speed game is like looking for excellent acting in The Fast and the Furious. It ain't gonna happen. However, the storylines in both Most Wanted and Carbon were, at least a little bit, engrossing enough to keep you playing. The reason (and here's a hint EA) they had plot; however shallow. Undercover seems to have random cut scenes thrown in that seem to be adding a hint of a plot, but are too disjointed and don't impart enough information to really do anything. Hell, Undercover 2 had more of a storyline.

But, the storyline that does exist offers enough incentive to continue playing since, really, that's all the game has to keep you playing. If not for my need to finish every story I start, I would have returned this game long ago. But, I'm a trooper, so I'll finish the story and then send it back and pick up a game that offers more than just a hyped-up feature piece; like Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

Overall

If you are a fan of the Need for Speed series, I would definitely recommend picking this game up as a rental. It deserves at least one play through. I would also highly recommend driving around the world a little instead of sitting in one place hitting down on the d-pad to get to the next race. Because, honestly, the world is very well designed.

Fear the Unknown

In this installment, I would like to talk about one of my favorite genres with regards to single-player gaming; Survival Horror. The good ones make you cringe when you hear things, and frighten you when zombies burst through a door. The truly great ones make you fear turning the game on for the fear of learning more about the game world.

"Why start with survival horror?" I can hear you asking. Simply put, survival horror games show that while a story may have some plot holes (or outright chasms- Extermination, I'm looking at You!), the telling of the story can be the thing.

Take, for example, what I call the original Resident Evil games (1, 2, and 3). You have, typically, a group of police officers thrown into a situation where zombies have begun to run amok and it is up to them to find out why and, at the same time, keep from becoming some brain-muncher's next meal. All the while played with pre-rendered 2D backgrounds and fixed camera angles. The others in the series (Code Veronica, RE4, the upcoming RE5, the Gun Survivor series, etc) may have the same thematic elements, but they have all changed the original formula; such as dynamic camera angles, real-time 3D backgrounds, completely revamped control schemes, etc. But that is besides the point. What I'm getting at is that RE 1-3 all seemed to have the same basic escape plan ("Of course the sewers make the best getaway system... Ever!"). However, in the telling of the story, the presentation, and the execution, the games are great. After the third run through any one of them they stop being frightening, but that's ok, they are still fun (pointing a shotgun up and shooting when a zombie gets close enough is always cool).

On the other side of things, where a survival horror game combines both an amazing story and top-notch storytelling, you get games like the first and second Silent Hill games. I swear, the first one still scares the shit out of me. It has one of those stories that becomes more frightening the more you uncover. The deeper into it you get, the more that icy grip of fear latches around your heart and your stomach. With a unskilled protagonist, a creepy enemy detection system, and a very low-powered flashlight, the game only cranks up the fear once you start reading into the backstory.

There are so many good examples of this genre out there. Some skirting under the radar, particularly in the US. Games like the Fatal Frame series, the first four Alone in the Dark games, The Thing, System Shock 1 & 2. And there are going to be even more coming out- Dead Space, RE5, Left 4 Dead (Granted, this will be multiplayer, but it looks cool nonetheless).

And, as sort of a final note. Survival Horror games seem to have defied the idea that a game requires a multiplayer mode to make it big. On that note; the games of the Resident Evil series that seemed to do the worst were the online ones. I guess we'll have to see how well Left 4 Dead holds up.

P.S. I haven't included Dead Rising because, technically, it isn't survival horror... It's zombie massacre fun time.

First Ever Post

So, who am I and what the hell is this all about.  Well, let me start with a little story.

Back in August of 1999, a game was released that had a near-perfect combination of features.  Graphics (for the time), storyline, gameplay, and out-and-out cool factor (in this case, scaring the shit out of people).  The game was System Shock 2.  All of the reviews stated that the game was one of the best of the year, and that it was a great purchase.  However, it failed to catch on in the mainstream.  It survives now because of a rather small group of die-hard fans that loved it to death.  The reason it died: it lacked an online multiplayer mode.  So, at a time when Counter Strike and Team Fortress were dominating, a game that should have been much more visible on the radar, passed by relatively unnoticed.  

There will be people out there who disagree, and say that it is rather visible.  Well, now it is, looking back.  People have been searching for jewels from the past and it is now recognized by a much larger audience.  At the time, however, it was a relative unknown.

I've long held the belief that any single-player storyline in gaming takes precedence over even the greatest of online multiplayer gaming.  And this has served me well for a long time.  So, I've decided to dedicate a blog to examining just that.  I am more than willing to indulge in online play (it is an impressive and incredibly fun experience).  But I take issue with games that let the single player and a coherent story line fall by the wayside purely for the sake of online.

So, this blog will celebrate those games that manage to restore my faith that people will play games for story line: Games like Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, System Shock, and The Elder Scrolls.  As well as those that combine online play and story line: Games like Halo 2 and 3, Half Life, the Call of Duty series, and Gears of War.

That is its primary purpose.  But, if websites of the past have taught me anything, it's that doing such a narrowly focused concept doesn't last long.  So, I will also share my particular views (reviews, previews) of games of all stripes.  This may be limited at first, but I will endeavor to expand constantly and play many different games and let you all here how someone from the front lines views games.

I will catch you all on the flipside.