Category Archives: Opinions

Initial opinions of games, tech devices, software, and so on

Grand Theft Auto V Preview

Since its first release in 1997, Grand Theft Auto has been a heavyweight hitter in the world of gaming. The series is known for its engaging plot lines, addictive gameplay and, of course, a good dose of graphic violence. The latest version, GTA V, will soon be with us, so before you sell Xbox 360 or your PS3 to make way for the new generation of consoles, get ready for one last criminal heist on your current machine.

Michael is a retired gangster. He currently resides in his plush home in Los Santos, GTA’s lavish portrayal of a grotesque, swollen Los Angeles. The ex-bank robber now lives with his shopaholic wife and two spoilt kids, including heir to the throne, his hapless son, James. However, despite having made it out of the criminal underworld alive, Michael is ready to pack in his quiet life of sipping cocktails by the pool and return to the unforgiving environment that gave him his riches.

This all sounds like a pretty routine GTA premise, and the gameplay in GTA V is pretty much what you might expect from the series too; with dark humour and impressive attention to detail accompanying the set of missions that you have to complete.

However, below the surface of this seemingly straightforward facade, lies a game that brings with it a new set of elements to the GTA series. Whereas before, the player controlled just one character, for instance Niko Bellic in GTA IV and Tommy Vercetti in Vice City, in the latest installment, there are three separate characters (Michael, the main protagonist, Franklin, the son Michael wishes he had, and Trevor, an alcoholic, drug addicted gangster with a unique code of morals and no money) all of which can be controlled individually.

The games allows free interchange of these three characters, both during general play and during missions. The player also has the option to stick with one or the other, allowing the computer’s highly developed AI to direct those not in use.

The game revolves around the relationship between these three characters, and GTA V includes fewer less loose ends and hangers on than in GTA IV.

The game also features a huge number of mini games, which tend to bring the three main protagonists together. If, for instance, you want to play a game of tennis on Michael’s personal court, you pull out your phone and call up Franklin for a quick hit.

As well as plot dynamics, three playable characters also allows full exploration of the massive in-game environment. Created by developers Rockstar North, the current map is the biggest yet to feature in the GTA series, with miles of roads and endless interactive objects that you can pick up and play with, or shoot.

Music has always played second fiddle to the actual gameplay in GTA, however, it remains a huge part of the series and GTA V features an interactive score, as seen on Red Dead Redemption, while also keeping the option to use the radio.

Despite the modern looking metropolis of Los Santos, the actual era in which GTA V is set has yet to be announced, however, what is for certain is that the highly anticipated title will be on the shelves sometime in the second quarter of 2013.

Preview: Hawken – War Is A Machine

Hawken is one of the release titles for the Oculus Rift – but it stands alone as a great game. HAWKEN – War Is A Machine promises to bring the sexy back into mech warfare. Will it manage it? Find out in our preview.

Gameplay

Hawken’s beta preview has only been around for a couple of months, but it’s already racking up kudos in the games preview world. Critics praise its rapid (and borderline overwhelming) approach, its sharp responsiveness, and its expert handling of the nimble mech/unstoppable tank dichotomy.

While many of Hawken’s gameplay elements are yet to come, the preview offers an insight into the kind of game the final product will be. It’s exciting. Hawken is already proving to be delightfully non-linear, with a real sense of autonomy in how you play. There are classes, which allow you to customise your mech with assorted and sundry weaponry, and a leveling system to keep more progression-minded players playing. What’s most rewarding about Hawken, though, is the way it treats progression in the game.

Games like Call of Duty and Battlefield have been criticised for rewarding players who spend countless hours completing challenges, or who splash out real cash on items that give them the edge over other players. Hawken is not like that. Each progression point is earned through grueling hard work, and those hours of rocket-fueled grinding serve to hone your Hawken skills. There are no quick routes to success; the game’s reward mechanism is primed to recognise in-game prowess and not much else.

In-game action is frenetic and exhilarating, although the old ‘fight or flight’ mechanic sometimes stumbles on detritus that inhabits the game’s heavily littered arenas. It’s deeply fun, though – and with Oculus Rift support, it could be the first of a new generation of games.

Graphics

Post-apocalyptic game worlds tend to occupy the ‘neutral’ range of Dulux wall paints, and Hawken is no different. The machine interiors are themselves pinnacles of futuristic complexity, with more knobs and screens than you can shake a virtual reality headset at.

These two aspects work together to make the player feel like they’re cocooned up, foetal-style, in some hideous monstrosity of a robotic mother. And that’s actually really comforting.

Mech games have always been about power, about dominating an environment so hostile that extreme survival tactics are required to even step out the front door. And this is something that Hawken does brilliantly. Inside your mech, you are master. You are in control – that’s what all the knobs are for. But outside your oh-so-thin metal shell, there’s a world of horror waiting to eat your face off or blitz you with rockets. It’s a little bit like going for a drive through Grimsby in a tank, and every bit as edge-of-your-seat thrilling.

System Requirements and Specs

Although there has not been an official declaration on what Hawken’s system requirements will be, figures and comments flying around suggest that they will not be very demanding compared to what is available in the market today. With relatively reasonable specification requirements, the game can run on most new laptops including ultrabooks available today, and that opens it up to a lot of non-Oculus laptop owners, many of whom use their computer for gaming purposes.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of hype for Hawken, and it’s a shame that the most part is a hand-me-down from the Oculus Rift; Hawken is a release title for the über-advanced consumer virtual reality headset, which has received a lot of press attention. There’s a lot to commend Hawken on just as a stand-alone game. Of course, it’s going to be made even more awesome on account of the wicked cool headset – but Hawken can and will break new grounds in its own right.

Some Android Game Highlights

New generations of mobile phones have attracted many people because of their high-tech hardware and portability. In the past few years, the demand for mobile gaming has exploded, with large companies like Gameloft developing games for mobiles. Android is a very popular mobile operating system, and its market share has increased rapidly. Many games have been developed for this OS over the past several months. Here, we take a look at three games that are good  and fun enough to compete with traditional, non-mobile games.

N.O.V.A 3

This game is full of eye candy – spectacular graphics, effects and support for 720p HD display. This first-person shooter game is one of the best shooting games on Android. Set in the distant future, the N.O.V.A 3 allow players to arm with a wide range of wild and fun weapons, including shotguns and bazookas and other explosive! weapons. With the huge machine gun at your back, you don’t have to worry about the ammunition – you can find it literally everywhere (and sometimes you will have to open a crate through a puzzle to obtain more). You can play the game online with twelve players in six different modes and the fun grows as you take down your enemies! Game control system  is comprised of a responsive virtual scroll that allows players to look around by dragging their fingers around the screen, and a single dedicated “fire” button.

Skies of Glory 

Set during World War II,  the Skies of Glory is a first-person flight shooter game with fully-developed missions and state-of-the-art graphics. You are given several objectives like destroying enemy planes, ships, and miscallenous ground targets. The game challenges players with three different attack modes – Kanalkampf (“Channel Battles”), Adlerangriff (“Eagle Attack”) and Blitzkrieg (“Lightning War”). The game uses accelerometer dynamics for the flight controls and has two pedals at either side of the screen to stall the plane left or right. Flying at full-speed is not a good idea since the game pays special attention to the ‘stall phenomenon’. Multiple viewing points are available so users can easily adjust to whichever view is the most comfortable for them. The best part is that the game can be played online with other players both on iPhone and Android.

Asphalt 5 

You will love this game even if you are not fond of racing games. The Asphalt 5 has one of the best graphics on the market – perfectly designed cars with smooth textures. As the graphics here are so good, gamers with colour laser printers could easily take an in-game screenshot and set the picture as their wallpaper on their phone and then print it out and put it up on their bedroom walls! A beautiful decoration for a fan! The Asphalt 5 uses the accelerometer for steering and provides smooth and lag-free controls. Gameloft has included loads of tracks and events for avoiding boring repetitions and ensuring diverse user experience. The Cop Chase mode has returned from the previous version of the game, which is now much more challenging and fun.  SlidetoPlay rated the game at 3.3 out of 4 and declared that “Asphalt 5 is a solid arcade racer with lots of content.”

For all three of these games, the multiplayer feature makes each game that much more interesting. These games are very fun to play when you are travelling or if you’re just bored. All three games are full of action and very fast-paced, which make playing them an exciting experience.

Zynga: The Next Big Social Gaming Network?

Zynga is slowly building a portfolio of interactive games on a wide variety of social networking sites, including Facebook and the Apple iOS. It currently has more than 100 million players across Citiville and Farmville games on Facebook. Today, the company continues to extend its reach by significant acquisitions including Words with Friends and Draw Something. Despite its gaming domination, Zynga CEO and Founder Mark Pincus still has bigger plans for his organization—he wants Zynga to be the next social gaming network.

In a speech he presented at a recent conference in California, Pincus said that the gaming industry needs more aggregated channels and more ways to unveil new apps. “We want to be a social gaming network, more like Xbox Live”, he added. These is indeed a bold statement, but also a good indication that Zynga will not just acquire and build new games, but also work on how people can connect with other individuals in those games. The firm’s goals may hinge on Facebook’s success and its bumpy IPO experience. Zynga considers Facebook as its fastest growing platform.

Zynga’s other method for growth is acquisition. Pincus also revealed the company’s acquisition strategy and how they are looking to add more teams to their DNA. He also added that the company is working on improving user-generated content. Although there had been reports of less activity and interest on Draw Something, Pincus said that the game had more traffic when Zynga started to take over it.

Teaching the World How to Play

Zynga isn’t just focusing on creating games that people play during their down time. The giant gaming firm wants this down time to be front and centre. Pincus said he aims to use Zynga’s influence to improve how society views the gaming industry. He also said that the company aims to see “play” become a mainstream lifestyle for everyone. Zynga wants to see Play become more like “Search, Shop, and Share”. Zynga’s growth will be significantly driven by how consumers are making play as a part of their day, rather than as a monetization strategy.

Nonetheless, the company has a few monetization strategies that are running pretty well, seeing significant growth in its advertising and user payment revenue techniques. Its 4th quarter revenue also revealed a few giant name advertisers, namely McDonalds and Best Buy.

Zynga board members are also looking at purchasing 3D printer apps and equipment as part of their technology expansions. The recent advancements have not only introduced cost efficient colour laser printers to the market, but brought 3D printers as well. But today, the company’s focus is on innovating games for consumers on social networking platforms. Zynga also spends a lot of time on its back-end infrastructure for the past year. Today, the firm hosts around 80 percent of its users on the Z cloud, a cloud service that links game users and holds gaming software.

Next generation of gaming technology

New technologies like voice recognition and motion sensing have steadily been  incorporated into computer hardware products for sometime now. For example, The Atlantic started talking about a promising voice recognition application for printers back in 2000. Similar developments have been implemented in the gaming inductry for some time now. The old remote controllers are slowly diminishing in popularity as newer technologies are taking over. Game developers are pushing their developer teams to provide a better gaming experience by integrating new game control technoogies alongside enhanced graphics and effects. This article takes into account two new technologies that have been incorporated into gaming: motion-sensing and voice recognition.

Motion Sensing

One of the most popular ways to control a game is the motion-sensing device, which requires a special sensor and requires the player to do the action physically to control the virtual character in the game. Microsoft sold almost ten million units of Kinect, a motion-sensing device used with the Xbox 360. With the Kinect, you can play games with multiple players. For example, in sports-related games, players can run a race, throw a javelin, play tennis, and throw a shot-put, among other activities. However, Kinect lacks the support for high-end games that are very popular, which is why Sony released its Move controller with the aim of attracting both hardcore gamers and families. Sony recently upgraded the PlayStation and Move controller to work with 3D televisions. Imagine – being in the middle of a battlefield, with dust from tens of bomb explosions on your screen, and you are shooting at enemies by pointing the controller in the appropriate direction. Sony’s Move lacked the sales to ensure a top position on the charts, but the combo comprising of motion-sensing controller, 3D television and a game with high quality graphics is worth a try for a serious gamer.

Voice Recognition

Voice recognition technology is a risky technology for gaming: it can either be incredibly impressive or a complete failure. This disparity can easily be explained by the type of game in which it is used: in strategy games, players can use voice commands to control the action, but in a first-person shooter game it would be useless. Who would have the time to say, ‘Turn right. Shoot! Now left, left. Shoot!’ in a fast-paced game, especially when the accuracy of your aim would likely suffer?

Recently, Tentonhammer reviewed WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King using a software for voice recognition, namely Say2Play. This software is easy to use and is compatible with many different games. After you have installed the software and have chosen your game, you have to match voice commands with actions available to your character in the game. For example, rather than pushing a button to attack, you would control that action by saying ‘Attack’ or whatever else you decide. It would just be like saying ‘Print’ to your printer and it would actually print a picture or document. Warcraft seemed to work in perfect harmony with the voice recognition software in question.

Is this the future of gaming? Microsoft and Sony have paid little heed to this technology. However, it does seem that voice recognition systems can be a big hit for Real Time Strategy (RTS) games.

This is the future of gaming, which sure looks promising. However, the technologies propelling the gaming industry are slowly diminishing. Sony’s CEO recently said on E3 that the next PlayStation will only be released once there is a significant leap in technology, so whatever comes next is a mystery for now.