Game Review: Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter

A welcome less-'Serious' & over the top shooter in the age of gritty realism: 

In "The First Encounter" Sam "Serious" Stone had to battle his way through vast hordes of enemies to prevent alien races from taking over the universe. As this is a direct continuation the story follows the same path however so does the gameplay.

Largely "The Second Encounter" is exactly like the first in the series just with a new environment and a couple of extra weapons and enemies so going into the game thinking there will be a whole lot more will leave you disappointed. I however was expecting exactly what I got and it definitely was not a bad thing.

The game starts with Sam crash landing in South America, conveniently close to the object he is now trying to obtain. The player is stripped of all weaponry collected in the first game which makes sense seeing as there will be players who start with this game and it is the beginning of a new part of the story. What didn't make sense to me was how the game reintroduced about half the arsenal within the first couple of stages along with three new weapons. Although the armoury felt more complete with a chainsaw, flame-thrower and sniper rifle to use, the pacing that the game used for their distribution felt rushed.

As ever Serious Sam does not hold back and throws everything it can at you right from the off however within the opening minutes you'll be facing enemies which weren't introduced until much later in the first game. This may be the reasoning behind including so many weapons in the very early stages of the game but it may be a little overwhelming to newcomers. With those two points out the way, alongside the old enemies are an array of new ones including chainsaw pumpkin men, alien soldiers and winged demons. This new cast of cretins adds a small but welcome variety to the enemy ranks waiting to get blown to pieces.

There are three scenarios throughout the game, South America, Persia and Medieval. Each has a unique look and different level layouts which is a lovely contrast to playing through a mostly yellow coloured campaign in the shape of Egypt from the first game.

An annoying feature is that you lose all collected weaponry at the beginning of each scenario, not just the first one. And each time you are quickly re-introduced to the lovely collection you had to leave behind. Again, it makes little sense to me.

In terms of core gameplay, it is largely the same as the first game but with different level structures. Puzzles are still no more complex than "find button, push button, kill an army equivalent to the population of the Earth and continue" but the game uses them well. The boss encounters are a lot more exciting than simply fighting another horde of enemies as this time three main bosses are included, one for the end of each scenario. Although they largely follow the same structure in terms of how to kill them, it felt good to have a finale style battle.

In terms of multiplayer, "The Second Encounter" includes a co-op mode and a death-match mode, which return from the first game, as well as a new survival mode. I managed to play all three this time around, if only for a short while however, I did gain an opinion on all three.

The cooperative model is the one people have hyped up for me. It allows for up to 16 players to battle side by side through the games campaign missions with unlimited re-spawns and what I visualised as full-on carnage. Sadly, I was disappointed. I paired up with around 5 others and played through a level midway through the game however with the firepower of 6 people it was ridiculously easy, let alone 16. I can see how people may find a thrill to having that many people play at one time against a mass onslaught however winning isn't fun if it's too easy and there is practically no way to lose.

There is a version of the co-op campaign which limits the team to three lives per level which means players actually have to be careful. This provides a much more tense and fun experience in my opinion.

The deathmatch mode was fun from what I played however I got booted from every game for playing the game as it's meant to be played; get kills, don't die. That aside, the arenas were nicely designed and the "Quake" style of play worked well.
There are several other game modes however deathmatch was the only one with players.

The last mode, survival, was the most fun I had outside the solo campaign. It is very similar to Horde mode from the Gears series or the Firefight mode from the Halo series however instead of multiple waves there is one never-ending one with timed enemy spawns. It was great fun to play, shooting everything in sight until you simply couldn't hold them back anymore. After you die, your time of death is logged and counts as your score. This provides a contrast to the L4D survival in which team time is awarded.

Overall I enjoyed the multiplayer aspects of the game but I personally feel a greater sense of achievement if I beat something really difficult on my own and when there is a way to lose.

I can imagine playing all of the different modes would be fantastic if playing with people you know as it always adds a greater element of fun than playing with or against random people.

Although it has flaws, "Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter" was ab enjoyable experience. I'd have to recommend it over "The First Encounter" as it's practically the same game with simply more stuff added. The new enemies, weapons, power-ups and some truly wonderful secrets compliment the new campaigns to provide an intense, full-on old school fps.

For those who played the originals, you already know what the games are like, however, if you didn't get a chance to play it back in the day (like myself), give this remake a go. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Developer: Croteam

Publisher: Devolver Digital & CDV Software Entertainment 

Platforms: Steam (reviewed) & Xbox 360 Arcade

Genre: FPS

Release Date: 28 April 2010

Price: £6.99 / 1200 MS Points

-Tom Seed

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Game Review: Serious Sam HD TFE

Serious Sam HD Review

Developer: Croteam

Publisher: Devolver Digital & CDV Software Entertainment 

Platforms: Steam (reviewed) & Xbox 360

Genre: FPS

Release Date: 24 November 2009

Price: £6.99

In today's market it is fairly unusual to find a first person shooter which doesn't try to overload the player with a "meaningful" story line, a more realistic experience or numerous customization options for practically anything the player can think of. "Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter" is an exception which takes the player back to a time where the rule was "shoot everything you see, no exceptions" and although this doesn't take much thought it provides a fun and oddly refreshing experience. "The First Encounter" is set in Egypt with the plot revolving around collecting elements in order to travel back in time, a truly flawless storyline! Though the game may be lacking in the narrative department it makes up for it with the intense, non-stop gameplay which requires the player to stay focused if they want to stay alive.

Staying alive provides a challenge with the game launching wave after wave of enemy forces at every turn. Enemies consist of horse-like skeleton creatures, soldiers with saw blades for heads, giant walking robotic brains with laser cannons, scorpions with machine guns and headless kamikaze soldiers, who comically scream as they charge towards you, and this is only naming a few.

Sam is however well equipped to take on the variety of ludicrous enemies with an equally varied arsenal including shotguns, machine guns, lasers, canons and rocket launchers. Though there is about sixteen weapons in the game I found myself sticking to about four, with the others becoming more and more redundant as the game progressed. A lack of ammunition wasn't a problem for me however I can see it causing issues on the harder difficulties in the game.

The game, however simple it may be, is most definitely not easy. The continuous bombardment from every direction requires quick reflexes so the player doesn't get overloaded by enemies who can deal fairly large chunks of damage at a time. Trying to deal with enemies as soon as they spawn is the best plan of attack however they spawn so frequently that the player can often be overrun. On a couple of occasions I found myself being literally thrown around by countless charging bull type enemies leading to my inevitable death.

"The First Encounter" seems to have a fairly even difficulty curve by which I mean it starts by sending multiple enemies at you and ends by throwing everything including the kitchen sink. However this onslaught or enemies can be tackles in a group of up to 16 players in co-operative play and although I didn't get to try this feature due to no-one being online, I can imagine it being amazingly good fun.

The game takes most elements back to root level with health and armour packs dotted around each level as opposed to health regeneration found in most fps games today. Level layouts are largely liner with any tasks simply requiring the player to push buttons or find a key in order to progress. The fast paced "shoot on sight" gameplay takes centre stage however it does run the risk or feeling largely repetitive. Impatient gamers shouldn't be put of by this though as the game is one that you can simply dive in and out of at will.

By the midway stage in the game the player will have seen practically ever enemy the game has to offer which does get boring, creating the feeling that you're merely fighting clones. Waves of enemies can become tiring when locked in a room or arena to do battle with the same enemy for minutes on end. However this is a HD remake much can be forgiven.

The visuals in the game are impressive, especially when you look back to the original, which has not aged well, it shows what a good job the developers have done. Everything now looks bright, crisp and colourful which is exactly what you want from a HD remake.

 

Serious Sam The First Encounter (2001)

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter (2009)

As with the co-operative play, I was unable to play the deathmatch mode due to lack of online users so I can't really comment on it. I imagine it would be very like unreal tournament or quake online and if the opportunity arises I'll definitely give it a go.

As a newcomer to the series I would recommend "Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter". The old-school gameplay provides a solid adrenaline fuelled experience and though it is very simplistic and short in comparison to modern fps games it definitely holds its own. If you are looking for relentless action or simply just want to shoot things until they explode "Serious Sam" will deliver.

- Tom Seed

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Game Feature: Automatic or Cinematic?

Now showing on a games console near you:

As the technology behind games grows increasingly more powerful, developers have been able to produce increasingly more complex game features. They have been able to reach goals that were unimaginable fifteen, ten and even five years ago. Better technology and sky-rocketing budgets have allowed developers to strive to blur the line between films and games, to create a more cinematic experience for the player. Games like Bethesda’s Skyrim, which allows Dragons to appear in random encounters for the player to fight, CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 2, which contains a multi-layered, mature story with deep political and racial themes, and Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, which features set pieces worthy of a summer blockbuster, have all effectively transcended “games”. They have become experiences that would not feel out of place in your local cinema. But, as successful as these games are in what they aimed to achieve, other developers have taken different routes.

Now this, is cinematic!

    The difference between games and films is clear and well-defined. In a film, you are merely the observer to the story being told on screen. You have no say in what happens, no chance to defend the life of a damsel in distress, and no method of failure. In games, you are a participant. You control the protagonist and, although most games do not feature a branching narrative, you feel like your involvement has an effect on the progression of the story. In essence, the fact that you have control is one of the purest definitions of what is a “game”. But in an effort to become more cinematic, the player’s control is being increasingly removed.

    A perfect example of this would be the single player campaign of DICE’s Battlefield 3. It is a corridor shooter in the truest sense of the term. Players are funnelled down tight paths eliminating targets as they progress to the next quick time event. There is very little control here. The player’s path is surrounded by kill zones, areas where the screen is filled with static and orders to return to the mission are barked through your speakers. You are given ten seconds to return to your pre-determined path, or you face a game over screen. These paths are sometimes so small that even venturing down a small alleyway in search of a collectible is met with your squad threatening to “stick a boot up your ass”. Any meaningful action that happens in the game, happens via a cutscene or a quick time event where the player has no control over their actions. Even more absurdly, destruction is limited to a point where the only real destruction happens in a scripted event. In an engine like Frostbite 2, this is silly. With this engine, we can create our own cinematic moments, we shouldn’t be limited to one specific building that DICE has decided must come down. Some of the funnest moments in the Battlefield series is using the environment’s destructibility to your advantage, and Battlefield 3 limits this almost entirely. I apologise if this has come across as rather ranty, but I found these to be glaring problems with the campaign.

Beautiful? Yes. Are you in control? No.

Developers have to realise that games are not movies. Limiting our control of a situation, taking away that vital connection to what we are playing is not going to make games more enjoyable. We don’t want to watch the action, we want to be in it. Give us back control.


- Paul Brown

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Game Review - Sine Mora: It's About Time (groan)

• Publisher: Microsoft Studios
• Developer: Digital Reality/Grasshopper Manufacture
• Platforms: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
• Genres: Shooter
• Players: 1
• Release Date: March 21, 2012
• Price:  1200 MSP ($15 USD)

The Shoot-em-up (Shmup) is something of a living relic – a little like pinball, it was king of the arcades until more powerful hardware came around, allowing developers to come up with new and exciting ways play. Despite “bigger and better” experiences becoming commonplace, there are a small group of holdouts that covet these games, much like the fighting game and pinball communities. There is a pureness to these games, one that mercilessly punishes anything but practised and skilled play, and providing little more than bragging rights to a high score. The games are absurdly short, brutally unforgiving and generally underwhelming on a technical level when considering the horsepower available on modern hardware. Over the years, traditional shooting games have become a true niche in gaming; while it never truly died, releases have been slow and sporadic – especially where wholly new IPs are concerned. Sine Mora is both wholly new and rigidly true to its genre roots, but the result is something of a mixed bag.

I’ll get something out of the way immediately: If you’ve read any article on any Shmup released in the last 15 years, you will have inevitably seen something to the effect of “this is not the game to attract newcomers to the genre”.  It has proved challenging for developers to keep their core audience satisfied while drawing in new players. This is perhaps Sine Mora’s one great triumph: This IS the game to attract newcomers to the genre. And while this is something to be lauded, I don’t see their minds changing, nor do I see them coming back. Frankly, I think a lot of this has to do with the priorities of the average gamer and conventions in the industry, but this is a Sine Mora review, not an editorial piece, so we’ll stick to the good, the bad and the very, very ugly.

Sine Mora was co-developed by European studio Digital Reality and Japanese outfit Grasshopper Manufacture. While the Japanese have a long and storied pedigree in the genre, European developers haven’t fared so well (as a quick bit of trivia, “Euroshmup” is arguably a sub-genre in and of itself, and not one that carries much favour among shooting game stalwarts). With Grasshopper handling the art direction and sound design, Digital Reality took care of the rest. Yes, that makes Sine Mora a Euroshmup, but a reasonably well-executed Euroshmup and certainly one that manages to be the exception, not the rule. Sine Mora has tight controls, well-paced game play, solid shooting mechanics and some fun game play gimmicks.

One classy gunbird

It’s also a stunner. Grasshopper has outdone itself here, with a fun (if overused) Steampunk aesthetic and consistent art direction that elevates the experience and enhances the remarkable-for-the-genre storytelling (more on that in a bit). This game is flat-out gorgeous, with highly dynamic landscapes, interesting enemy and boss designs and fantastic animations, all running at a perfectly consistent 60FPS.

It sounds great, too. Yes, the gunfire and effects all have the impact one would expect, but the soundtrack (composed by Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame) – like the graphical presentation, lends so much to the game’s atmosphere and dark subject matter that it frankly sets a new standard for immersion in an otherwise flat (pun intended) genre. There is a tragic fragility in the game’s score that mirrors the unfolding tale and provides a stark counterpoint to the mania unfolding on screen.

The audio and visual designs come together brilliantly to underscore the real draw for those unfamiliar with the genre, something that is sure to surprise shooting game veterans: Sine Mora has a remarkable story and universe. Without spoiling anything, Sine Mora spins a yarn of revenge, sacrifice and moral ambiguity. At its heart, it is a tale of revenge, of a father hell bent on avenging his son’s death no matter the cost. Language is heady, a melancholy prose from multiple viewpoints that serves to add method to the onscreen madness. Told in postmodern fashion, the game’s story mode is presented in disparate chunks, fleshing out each pilot’s plight in chronologically shuffled sequences that only start to homogenise as you near the game’s final showdown.

Voiced entirely in Digital Realms’ native Hungarian (another design choice that further immerses you in Sine Mora’s universe), each stage opens with a block of text, translating the passionately acted monologues of our pilot “heroes”. Opting to rest on the strength of the world they created, Sine Mora’s story is never explicitly divulged, opting instead for snippets of personal motivation and hints at the way-of-the-world, as they know it. This lends an air of mystery to the goings on and, while it can admittedly come off as confusing or cryptic, there is a surprising amount of depth presented here, providing just enough information and intricacy to allow our imaginations to fill the gaps. It’s the kind of minimalist writing that fosters debate among fans and, ultimately, the kind that makes you seethe for a sequel. Upon completion of the main campaign, you are treated to extras that help flesh out the canon, including alternative story paths and even a second “true” ending. There is an impressive maturity in the game’s storytelling, sparse though it may be, and is a remarkable achievement for (or in spite of) the genre.

So for newcomers to the genre, in short, this is a game you must try. Unlike most shmups, this is a game you will be able to see to the end without too much trial-and-error. And between the game’s spectacular visual appeal, compelling story and highly polished game play, this should be considered a top class XBLA release alongside platform sweethearts like Shadow Complex, Braid and Super Meat Boy.

One of many boss encounters. The stage bosses are a real highlight.

For shooter veterans, however, the recommendation changes somewhat. Is Sine Mora still worth an investment? Absolutely, yes. But there’s a caveat, and not a small one. For those of us who pride themselves on one-credit master runs, the game disappoints. Upon completion of the game’s story, arcade mode becomes available (and with it, an impressive array of ships, pilots and payloads). While this is a great (if expected) addition to the package, the game falters here due to the steep increase in difficulty. The game level in arcade mode is hard or harder, which is sure to scare off rookies (why normal or easy aren’t available here seems like a complete misstep), and the game’s core gimmick, time, falls victim to another game play mechanic that wasn’t an issue in the campaign: Random powerups.

See, Sine Mora uses a timer – ever counting down to zero (and your death) – in place of extra lives or a health bar. So long as you have time, you can’t be destroyed. Killing enemies and parts of bosses grants you additional time, while taking damage strips you of huge chunks of the game’s precious commodity. In theory, it’s an excellent system with a classic risk vs. reward dynamic. In reality, it’s woefully unbalanced. In Sine Mora’s campaign (incidentally, only playable in easy or normal difficulties), the time mechanic is so lenient, it rarely forces the player to do much more than avoid getting hit too often. In arcade mode however, the timer is significantly reduced, forcing the player to shoot with as much aggression as accuracy and you better hope you don’t take more than a single hit or it’s lights out.

While in theory, this should make for a consistently intense experience – constantly putting yourself in danger to eke out a scant few seconds with every kill sounds like a shooter’s dream, in reality it exposes the game’s powerup system as unbalanced at best, broken at worst. This isn’t generally an issue throughout the stages, as careful shooting and dodging will ensure you make it to the end, but the flaw becomes glaringly apparent the first time you reach a boss. Now, don’t get me wrong: Finding yourself at a boss with under ten seconds to doomsday is clearly a purposeful design choice. All the bosses have several destructible segments (which reward you with time when destroyed), so a lot of the strategy becomes what and when to shoot in order to be successful.

The fault lies in the game’s handling of powerups. While boost items are dropped frequently (every five or so regular enemies killed will drop an item – shields, weapon strength, bombs, slow-mo, etc.), what that item will be is completely random. Your primary weapons fire can be upgraded up to NINE times and there are no guarantees as to where or when you’ll find an upgrade. Now, consider this: You will reach most bosses in arcade mode with about 9-12 seconds left on the counter. At mid-strength and with careful dodging, you’ll be able to deal enough damage in a short enough window to earn extra time and room to breathe. With little to no weapon upgrades, however, you’ll be hard-pressed to take out a part of the boss in time, let alone the whole beast. This wouldn’t be a major issue if getting to the boss underpowered was an infrequent occurrence, but I’ll estimate that around 50% of the time I arrived at a stage boss sufficiently underpowered that the boss fight would be too difficult for my skill level, and about 25% of the time, underpowered enough to make victory impossible. Failing on my own terms is something to expect from the genre; trial and error is a genre staple, after all. But getting to the stage end knowing an attempt is futile is simply bad design.

In the end, it all comes down to value with Sine Mora. On the one hand, the game’s campaign mode is sufficiently compelling to recommend on its own merits. The story and writing are great, the art direction outclasses most AAA retail titles, and the game’s foundation is rock-solid. On the other hand, the game falters in the value department with an arcade mode that will prove far too difficult for most newcomers, and too unbalanced to make repeat practise and mastery a worthwhile endeavour for veterans. Considering a shooter’s main source of longevity comes from high score chasing, it seems tragic that Arcade mode isn’t offered on a lower difficulty, or at least with tweaks to balance out the more stringent time mechanic.

Epileptics beware

At about an hour front-to-back for the campaign, 1200 points will inevitably be too steep a ticket to entry for genre newcomers curious to see what the buzz is about. Conversely, I feel like most shooting veterans (save for the most skilled among us) will lack the patience to invest their time honing skills in the arcade mode – where most of us will spend the bulk of our time - on a mechanic so heavily dependent on luck. It’s a shame, as Sine Mora was a fairly high profile release for a new shooter property, and compelling enough that I think the online leaderboards would have been buzzing for months had there been a little more time spent balancing the powerups and an additional (easier) difficulty mode added for newcomers looking to get a taste of the thrill known as the one-credit-clear.

In the end, Sine Mora should absolutely be commended. It has taken the genre in an exciting new direction for storytelling, sets a high standard with tight controls and game play, impeccable art direction, and provides a wealth of extra modes and ships to toy with when you’re finished the campaign. But while the story mode will entertain newcomers to the genre, the bullish arcade mode will scare them away, and I don’t foresee a lot of shmuppers out there willing to look past the arcade mode’s balance issues to make it worthwhile mastering.

At 1200 points, it’s difficult for me to recommend this game to either camp – the longevity just won’t be there for most of us. If you’re a shooter junkie like me, this was a day-one, sight-unseen no-brainer in any case, but for just about everyone else, wait until it drops to 800 or 600 points and jump on it. It’s a spectacular title to be sure, but flawed enough to make even the most rabid shooter fans balk at the value herein. Sine Mora is a great achievement and should be played, but 800 points seems like the sweet spot for this one.


- Ryan McLaren

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Game Preview: Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer

Game Preview: Mass Effect 3 Demo Hands-On

Saving the Galaxy: Try before you buy!

The highly anticipated Mass Effect 3 demo was released on the 14th of February and included the fantastically fun Multiplayer beta, so let's take a look at it shall we? The Mass Effect series up till now has been entirely a single player experience, for obvious reasons. The game is set in a hugely immersive galaxy teeming with life, and it's really something you can only experience fully on your own rather than dragging teammates around with you. This originally made the idea of multiplayer in ME a rather strange prospect and a little worrying for those who are diligent fans of the series. But now that it's 
been put out for us to see I can wholeheartedly say that it's brilliant.

As I'm not going to touch upon the single player aspect of the demo, I'll just quickly mention some of the newest aspects in Mass Effect 3. The graphics are excellent, and have definitely been polished up since the previous games. The visuals have always looked delicious, but I look at them now and wonder how they could possibly get any better. The controls also feel as though they have been tightened up to compliment the combat and action. I never realised until recently playing back on the first Mass Effect game just what a huge improvement there has been. One thing that was a really pleasant surprise was the hit marker that comes up when you successfully get a shot on someone, like in Call of Duty. The tiny X pops up on your reticule and you get a little vibration in the pad... It might sound a little weird, but if you've played the COD games, you'll probably understand what I mean.

Multiplayer Trailer

The basic premise of the multiplayer is styled around a horde mode, like Gears of War; but in my opinion a more refined and fun experience (not to mention with a lot less drab colours...) You and up to three other players can pick from six uniquely different classes to team up and try to complete the mission. All the classes are in the single player game already, so there's no unfamiliar powers or abilities that you'll have to get used to. Customisation is available as you choose from the different species: Humans, Asaris, Krogans, Turians, all the wonderfully absurd alien types that populate the galaxy. Along with choosing the armour colours and arranging the perfect loadout of powers and weapons for your mission; there's a nice amount of things to get done for your character/s. You'll have individual characters for each class you pick, so you can have two Infiltrators with different abilities, or two soldiers with different weapon kits. Once you get everything organised and start upgrading and levelling up all the different characters; you'll have a small squad of troops ready for almost any situation.

So, now we move onto the actual gameplay: You'll be given the task of defending against ten waves of increasingly difficult enemies, whilst completing small objectives along the way. Objectives such as: hacking a data bank, or taking out specific targets amidst the hordes. It certainly spices up the action and when the objective is thrown at you at the start of a wave, you'll have a specific time limit to get it done, or the mission will be aborted. You'll have to cut a path through the many groups of assault troopers: the powerful rifle wielding Nemesis; the shield-toting Guardians; the agile ninja-like Phantoms; and the huge mechanical Atlas if you want to reach the end of the mission and get all the sweet experience points and credits. There is a nice level of variation between all of the enemies that really do require some strategy in taking them all out efficiently, all depending on how your four man squad is built. To best take out the Phantoms, you'll need a class that can cut through biotic barriers or you'll end up grating away slowly at them with bullets, which I can tell you is no easy task. A sniper rifle would be best suited to the typical Assault troopers for taking them out easily, as well as the Guardians who only offer a small area to breach in their shields. It all requires good teamwork and some variation between each player rather than simply hoping to clean it all up with bullets, which was my original plan of action. Suffice to say, upon chopping and changing, you begin to find some really good tactics that work best in every different situation.

The two levels offered in the beta are a good idea of what's to come: one having tight areas for you to try and not become trapped in and the other with larger gaps to navigate and move around in. There are also three varying levels of difficulty: Bronze, Silver and Gold. If you want to move further up and get a bigger challenge, you'll need to upgrade your characters and unlock better weapons using your earned credits or you won't last two minutes on Silver, let alone Gold. Regarding the actual multiplayer experience overall; it's certainly a lot of fun and the beta hasn't become boring yet, with so many different character abilities and styles to level up and try. With a lot of online games recently, I found my matched partners quiet and longing for a lone wolf gig instead of truly following the idea of the game mode. Playing with friends has been the most enjoyable course of action, but you could say that about most games. A few things need to be fixed of course, but it is only a beta after all. You can't expect perfection from it, but it actually does work very well in most areas. The only major complaint is that in the pre-game menus, everything feels a little clunky. And in regards to matchmaking, there should be some better options for getting you and your friends into a room to make a full game.


I look forward to playing the full Mass Effect 3 multiplayer experience when it comes this March. The multiplayer modes actually help your single player campaign, by helping your 'Galactic Readiness' that will appear as you begin the fight for the galaxy. All the credits you earn in multiplayer supposedly will be sent over to single player too, which is a great bonus. If you haven't played the beta yet, download it and give it a shot. If you haven't played any of the Mass Effect games yet, then go out and buy them too! It's never too late to start the galactic RPG series.


- Andy Robison 

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Game Review: Killing Floor

Killing Floor Review

Publisher: Tripwire Interactive

Developer: Tripwire Interactive

Platform: PC

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Release Date: 14th May 2009

Price: £14.99/$19.99

Killing Floor is a PC game you may or may not have heard of developed by the small developer Tripwire Interactive; winner of the 2004 "Make Something Unreal" competition with "Red Orchestra". Killing Floor, like Red Orchestra, is a total conversion mod using the Unreal Engine 2.5 with a focus on teamwork and cooperation. The game can be purchased on steam for £15 normally but is very often on sale for less than £5. In the 3 years since its release, and even in the 1 year since I bought the game, many updates map/weapon/perk additions have been released completely for free usually around the time of a holiday or celebration such as Christmas or summer very much akin to the frequent Team Fortress 2 updates. 

Gameplay

The game has only one game mode which involves teaming up with up to five other people and shooting, stabbing, and burning various zombie like creatures called "Specimens". These specimens appear in increasingly difficult waves with small and weak specimens like the "Clot" appearing in the first few waves and bigger and nastier specimens like the "Flesh Pound" (shown to the left) appearing in later waves. The final wave of the game involves facing off against a very difficult boss enemy called the "Patriarch"; a monstrous creature with a chain gun, rocket launcher, and claw that bursts out of his chest, not nice. Dying during a wave means you are dead until the end of the wave, you cannot be revived once down. This difficulty curve through the match scales with the improving guns and weapons you are able to buy in between waves from the constantly moving trader. Money can be gained from killing zombies or healing teammates and can also be shared between teammates meaning newer players won't lag behind and people joining the game mid way through won't end up having the worst equipment against tough specimens.

Every player also picks a perk of which there are seven: Support Specialist (effective with shotguns and welding doors), Sharpshooter (does extra head-shot damage and uses long range weaponry), Commando (uses automatic weapons and is useful for killing large swarms of smaller specimens), Berserker (uses melee weapons and has extra speed and damage resistance), Firebug (uses guns that set specimens on fire), Field Medic (gets more effective healing) and Demolition (uses explosives to blow large groups of specimens apart). Each of the seven perks involves quite a different play-style and teams will normally need a good mix of each with people even possibly swapping perks mid game to survive. The perks do not force you to use certain equipment but instead give you bonuses to damage on them and discounts on buying them from the trader. The perks also level up as you play going from 0 to 6 leading to bigger damage bonuses and bigger discounts per level. This means that the higher difficulty settings require you not only to be skillful but also have higher levels in the perks with "Hard" and "Suicidal" difficulties being basically impossible on levels 3 or below (and "Hell on Earth" being just impossible). This means new players need to be careful when searching for severs or playing alone as they may be put off by punishing difficulty. In fact this is one aspect of the game I have an issue with; it is not particularly easy to get into with a pretty steep learning curve that players may not enjoy. For this reason I recommend new players either play on solo for a bit (a perfectly viable option since the number of specimens spawning depends on the number of players in the game) or play the game with some friends to learn with.

Other than the initial difficulty the gameplay is an absolute blast, the various perks are all fun to play as and require a long time to master both in terms of skill and perk level (I have played the game for nearly 100 hours and I still haven't got any perks above level 4) meaning you'll be coming back to play for hours and hours. As I mentioned before they are also very varied so you can have a different experience just by switching perks.  All of the guns and melee weapons feel very satisfying; they have a real weight to them and feel very powerful especially after you level up your perks. Every so often during a wave the "Zed-time" will be activated; a short period of slow motion that everyone in the game receives allowing people to line up a shot or get a good view of the field. Sometimes however this can be annoying if you are reloading or healing so you just watch yourself reload really slowly but mostly it feels cool and is very useful. Killing floor is a very challenging game and requires you to really work as a team to succeed, particularly when facing the patriarch, and the game demands not only your skill at aiming and dodging attacks but also strategy in welding certain doors to funnel the specimens to certain areas, placing pipe bombs in tactical locations to deal severe damage etc. The variety of specimens with their various advantages and disadvantages against the various perks and weapons will mean you are constantly learning more effective ways of killing enemies and avoiding death.

Note: trailer does not incorporate the new updated content.

Presentation, Graphics and Sound

The premise of the game is pretty simple: a biotech cooperation was experimenting on "Specimens" and these specimens have escaped and are running rampant around the streets of London. You and your teammates play as special forces sent to wipe out these specimens.This is really it, there is no real story or campaign in Killing Floor, it's is purely about the gameplay. Visually, the game is hardly a piece of eye candy compared to some of 2009's more visually appealing games such as Assassins' Creed 2 or Uncharted 2 and this can be attributed to its older game engine. The game uses a modified version of the Unreal Engine 2.5, an upgraded version of the engine that Unreal Tournament 2004 uses. This is because it was originally a mod, made in 2005, for Unreal Tournament 2004 and people who have played this game will see this right away with the way the menus and server browser are set out. Back when Killing Floor was a mod I would be fine with the fact it uses the same interface, however, four years after its initial release and now that it's a full game in it's own right I can't say I'm too impressed. The interface was obviously designed with 4:3 and lower resolution screens in mind, meaning the server list is extremely small and so it is difficult to pick a server on the larger, wider screens of today's standard. Even without the resolution trouble the menus still feel a little clunky and outdated. 

Killing Floor may not have the most appealing graphics but they can hardly be called "bad" and many of the newer released maps look more like Unreal Engine 3 than 2. And of course the advantage of using an older engine is that most people won't have to worry about the game running well. Any PC made in the past 3 or 4 years should be fine and to any that are worried the system specifications are shown at the foot of the store page on Steam. 

Animation and physics are overall pretty good, in first person the game feels very immersive with your gun's iron sights moving back and forth while moving and being thrown up from recoil while firing. Bodies of specimens are often eviscerated and will fly realistically backwards when killed, again adding to the feeling of power from your weapons. The third person animations are not quite as impressive with the running animation being a little strange and glitches where your allies aren't holding any weapons in spectator mode can be quite ridiculous. Some of the particle effects such as the fire are a little dodgy with flame trails appearing directly behind creatures on fire instead of around them. However other effects such as the smoky laser rave room in the "Bedlam" map (shown above) are pretty cool and the build up of smoke from explosions can be quite scary if you don't know where the enemies are coming from.

The dark and gritty metal soundtrack fits in well with the graphics and presentation and the sound effects are absolutely excellent especially from firing guns. The specimen sound effects can be pretty terrifying: with the strange hissing noises of the "Crawlers" to the Skrake's menacing chainsaw revving and laughter. The Patriarch himself even speaks to you, with both taunts and insults that will be sure to infuriate you both before and after he inevitably kills you. People often complain about the voice acting in this game but I personally like it a lot. The voice commands and various "reloading" and "medic" shouts are voiced by only two people: the Vice President of Tripwire and a retired British policeman. Both of the voices share the trait of being having a strong London accent and will often quote famous British films and TV shows such as "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" and "loadsamoney!" to much amusement. 

Mods, community and updates

When the game was first released you'd be forgiven for thinking there weren't enough maps because, well, there just weren't. Only five maps came with the original package and at £15 this may seem a little unfair. However since then new maps have been constantly added in updates and events along with new skins for your character that you can buy as cheap downloadable content and some that can be achieved by completing difficult achievements during the various events such as the Santa Clause skin and the chicken suit skin from the Christmas event and Halloween event respectively. As of writing this review there are 21 official maps out all of which are very varied especially the event ones like the Santa Clause lair, the carnival and even an Aperture Science map released during the Potato Sack deal. None of these maps cost even a single penny to acquire (a practice I wish more developers and publishers would use) which means Killing Floor is great bang for your buck especially if you bought when it was on sale (which it frequently is).

A plethora of community-made maps have been created, some being rather excellent (such as the DOOMed map) and many others being pretty abysmal. Many servers often have custom weapons and textures and again these can be pretty hit or miss but it is always nice to get new content for free.

The actual community it self is probably one of my favourite online communities around, almost everyone I have met in games or in Killing Floor Steam groups has been very helpful and considerate and wouldn't call you a "noob" for asking for advice or help. If you are struggling to survive waves instead of players vote-kicking or insulting you they will most likely give you advice on how to improve which is very welcoming for new players especially when the game itself has quite a steep difficulty curve. The brilliant community is probably one of the main reasons I just keep coming back to Killing Floor compared to other online games because I just always have a more enjoyable experience with the other players.

Verdict

I would 100% recommend this game to fans of shooters, horror, and team-based multiplayer, really anyone who plays video games a lot. It is a little difficult to get in to at first and it's a little rough around the edges but once you've sunk around 10-15 hours you'll be hooked. If you're still unsure then wait for a sale or a free weekend and try and play it with some friends. Unlike most smaller/indie projects it's not trying to be overly creative or artsy it's just good at what it wants to be; pure simple fun!

- Connor Roddie

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