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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Weekly Gaming News 26/03/2012

  Welcome to the weekly gaming news. Another week has passed and Confab have everything you need to know from the week, gaming wise. Disney Epic Mickey 2 has been officially announced, brand new trailer for Littlebigplanet Karting and the release of the iPad 3. The most anticipated 3ds game Kid Icarus: Uprising released yesterday in Europe and Australians will be able to get their hands on Kid Icarus next Thursday.


Well I hope you enjoy reading the rest of this weeks news. Also if you have any ideas on things you'd like to see added to the weekly gaming news please feel free to leave a comment or : Email me

MultiPlatform
Bastion sheet music now available for $0.00 through Supergiant
Notorious hacker Geohot arrested for marijuana possession 
GAME store closure letters go out to customers 
R18+ computer game category one step closer
Online Pass game included in latest EA server shutdowns
One BioShock Infinite level contains three times more dialogue than all of BioShock 1
Capcom on the hunt for Street Fighter X Tekken hackers 
Pre-order to get Far Cry 3: The Lost Expeditions Edition 
'Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two' coming to Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360
Politicians propose cigarette warning labels for games
Assassin's Creed 3 multiplayer comes from old studio, new lead designer
Assassins Creed 4 May Take Place Before Assassins Creed 3
Max Payne 3 'crews' carry over into Grand Theft Auto V multiplayer 
Epic Mickey 2 announcement trailer
Prey 2 cancelled
New Battlefield 3 Patch to Hit PS3 on March 27, PC & 360 TBA


Sony
I Am Alive PSN release date announced
Escape Plan is the most downloaded Vita game in the US
The Simpsons, Escape Plan top February PSN downloads


 Microsoft
Dragons Lair on XBLA to have Kinect support


Nintendo
Nintendo Failed To Win Any Awards At Tonight’s British Academy Video Games Awards
Metal Gear Solid Creator Talks About Making A Wii U Game
World Of Warcraft And Counter Strike Plus Others Coming To Wii U eShop?
Epic Mickey sequel for 3ds to be revealed next week 
Kid Icarus: Uprising - first 15 minutes 
Darksiders 2 Reconfirmed As A Wii U Launch Game
Disney Reveals The Cute Epic Mickey 2 Box-Art
Nintendo showoff new Padora's Tower trailer
GameStop No Longer Accepting GameCube Trade-ins From April 2nd 
Adventure Time Confirmed for DS
Assassin’s Creed 3 Wii U Details From Nintendo Power
The Wii Is The Lead Platform For Epic Mickey 2
Next Nintendo 3DS Firmware Update Detailed?


PC/MOBILE
Borderlands 2 PC-Exclusive Features Revealed
Skyrim Patch 1.5 beta available on steam
Hard Reset expansion will be free for pre-release Steam owners 

Baldur's Gate 3 is "our long-term goal", says Beamdog
Overhaul Games Considering Kickstarter Project to Fund Baldur's Gate 3 
Zynga buys Draw Something dev OMGPOP
Humble Bundle for Android #2 brings Canabalt to Android - (Direct Link)
Curiouser and Curiouser: EA-Published Game Appears on Steam
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition confirmed for iPad

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LittleBigPlanet Karting set for release this year

Sony have released a trailer and some new details about their upcoming arcade racer LittleBigPlanet Karting.


United Front Games are developers behind this project, which seems logical as they developed the Modnation Racers series which was already seen as the LittleBigPlanet of racers. UFG have said they will be putting as much time and effort into this as they did with Modnation Racers.

See More.


- Michael Johnson

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Assassin's Creed III screenshots surface

1 2 3 4 5 6

Once again a bunch of Assassin's Creed screenshots have been leaked. This time on NeoGaf. Six beautiful screenshots showing off some of the great features in the upcoming Assassin's game were posted.


Check out the original post here.


- Michael Johnson


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New iPad sells 3 million units

Earlier this week Apple released their weekend launch sales figures for the "New iPad". The New iPad moved 3 million units over in the first 3 days, The strongest iPad launch to date.

See More.

- Michael Johnson

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Super Pokemon Rumble Review

 In Super Pokemon Rumble the player controls clockwork Pokémon toys (brought to life by a magical key), battling through various different levels in a top down dungeon crawler-esque fashion. The game adopts a simplistic approach with each of the players Pokémon exploiting one or two attacks against waves of opposing Pokémon. Every toy in the game has a power level which relates the their strength in combat as well as having up to two moves they can use. The opposing Pokemon have a chance of remaining on the battlefield after being defeated for the player to collect. Doing so will grant the player use of that particular Pokémon complete with a randomly assigned move set which more often than not renders them useless.

See More.

- Tom Seed

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Date:	Game Title:	Platforms:
20th March 2012	Ys: The Oath in Felghana	Steam
21st March 2012	Rayman 3 HD	PSN/XBLA
21st March 2012	Sine Mora	XBLA
22nd March 2012	Warp	Steam
23rd March 2012	Armored Core V	PS3/360
23rd March 2012	Kid Icarus: Uprising	3DS
23rd March 2012	Ninja Gaiden 3	PS3/360
23rd March 2012	PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond	Wii
23rd March 2012	Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City	PS3/360/PC
23rd March 2012	Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall Of The Samurai [Stand Alone Expansion]	Steam
23rd March 2012	Tropico 4: Modern Times	PC
23rd March 2012	Yesterday	Steam

Date:	Game Title:	Platforms:
20th March 2012	Ys: The Oath in Felghana	Steam
21st March 2012	Rayman 3 HD	PSN/XBLA
21st March 2012	Sine Mora	XBLA
22nd March 2012	Armored Core V	PS3/360
22nd March 2012	BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II	3DS
22nd March 2012	Ninja Gaiden 3	PS3/360
22nd March 2012	Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City	PS3/360/PC
22nd March 2012	Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall Of The Samurai [Stand Alone Expansion]	Steam
22nd March 2012	Warp	Steam
23rd March 2012	Yesterday	Steam

Sources: My Nintendo News - Games On Net - Joystiq - Inside Gaming - Eurogamer -


Image Source: Saiyajin Mui - Beesafree - KingAciD


- Michael Johnson

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Game Review: The Binding of Isaac

The Binding of Isaac Review

Distributor: Valve 

Developer: Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl

Platforms: Steam

Genres: Action-Adventure, Roguelike 

Release Date: September 28th 2011

Price: £3.99

It may look quite disturbing but the gameplay is fantastic...

It is very rare that a game initially intended as a week-long project will gain so much interest that it becomes a hit. However that is exactly what happened when Edmund McMillen, of Super Meat Boy fame, and Florian Himsl teamed up for a game jamming session in place of the former going on vacation. The result became what is now "The Binding of Isaac", a unique roguelike dungeon shooter with a premise of the game based on a story from the Hebrew bible.

The opening cut-scene to the game follows this eerie tale with Isaac's mother being told to sacrifice Isaac to prove her love to God. After watching his mother accept this command, Isaac finds a previously hidden trap door leading to the basement where many monstrosities await.

This is where the game begins and the player is able to experience the game in all its glory. Using W, S, A, D to move and the arrow keys to shoot tears (your starting weapon) the player must navigate Isaac, a crying, naked boy, through multiple rooms in a style very similar to the original "Legend of Zelda" dungeons. However as well as having multiple rooms, there are multiple floors. The player may progress down to the next floor after defeating a boss on the floor they are currently on.

The game can seem very difficult at first however once a player gets used to how the game works in terms of items it becomes much more manageable. On most floors there is an item room, a shop room and on every floor the is a secret room which may contain items which aid the player.
Passive items will permanently increase a stat such as hearts or improving speed while activated items give the player the ability to use a special attack in accordance to the item picked up. This attack can be used whenever the player wants and will recharge over time. Other items which can be picked up are pills and tarot cards. Their features vary and can sometimes be harmful to the played meaning they are not as useful as the other items mentioned. They are also one time use items and cannot be recharged.

Gaining access into rooms containing these items does come at a price. The core collectables on each floor consists of keys which grant access through locked doors, bombs which can destroy the environment and coins which can be used to purchase items from the shop rooms.These three collectables are vital as they are needed to gain entry in to the previously mentioned rooms by either unlocking doors or blowing up walls.

The game boasts 132 different items some of which have different effects not only in terms of attacks or stats but also in terms of appearance, for example picking up the "PHD" item will result in Isaac wearing a doctors mask or picking up a coat hanger will result in a coat hanger through the head. Though is not an essential part of the game, it creates a desire to see what every item does to the appearance of Isaac.

Another great feature is the vast number of enemies and bosses with unique attacking styles. There are easily enough enemies to keep the game interesting, even after multiple play-throughs and boss fights are always interesting as there is no way of knowing which boss you will face until you gain access to the boss room.

The game is pleasing on both the eyes and the ears with the visual style being very cartoony and containing dark humour. The music score is composed by Danny Baranowsky (Super Meat Boy) and is superbly done capturing the right mood with every track.

The element of surprise is a key feature in the game as everything is randomly generated for each play through meaning that no run will be the same.

With the range of items to collect and enemies and bosses to witness the game will keep a dedicated player busy for a surprising number of hours. On top of the collectables there are also unlockables, in the form of extra characters and bosses, and achievements (through steam).
I myself have managed to log over 35 hours playing and although I have completed the game, I still haven't found every item. It was one of the few games I have became truly addicted to when I first played it and not many games have that effect on me.

Spending 35 hours of time playing a flash game is something I never thought I would do so it's a credit to the creators for making a game which has never felt boring to me. The game can be very difficult when first playing; I guarantee you will die in it. Although this can be frustrating it as the game uses a perma-death system, it's simply a case of the more you play the better you'll get.

I could say much more about the game however I feel experiencing the game would be more beneficial. For those interested in buying the game it is currently avalible on Mac and PC for £3.99 through steam and I believe it is worth every penny.

I personally rate it as one of my top games of 2011 so if anyone is on the fence about purchasing the game I recommend it without a second thought.

- Tom Seed

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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: Super Pokemon Rumble

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Ambrella

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Genre: Action RPG

Players: 1

Release Date- October 2011 (USA), December 2011 (Europe)

Price- £19.99+/$29.99+

As a fan of the "main series" of Pokemon games, I tend to stay away from spin-offs. This is not because I believe they will be terrible games however I know they wont follow the same structure as the series that I know and love. Despite this thought process, I decided to delve into Super Pokemon Rumble, a sequel to the Wii ware title released in 2009.

In Super Pokemon Rumble the player controls clockwork Pokémon toys (brought to life by a magical key), battling through various different levels in a top down dungeon crawler-esque fashion. The game adopts a simplistic approach with each of the players Pokémon exploiting one or two attacks against waves of opposing Pokémon. Every toy in the game has a power level which relates the their strength in combat as well as having up to two moves they can use. The opposing Pokemon have a chance of remaining on the battlefield after being defeated for the player to collect. Doing so will grant the player use of that particular Pokémon complete with a randomly assigned move set which more often than not renders them useless.

Unlike the "main series", the Pokémon collected cannot be levelled up or evolved meaning that the player must continuously obtain new, more powerful toys. Players will find themselves constantly switching Pokémon due to the power level of the toys increasing at a fairly steady pace. This sadly renders the less powerful, previously collected Pokémon fairly useless.

This feels like a broken mechanic. If I grew an attachment to a specific Pokémon whilst playing there would be no point using them after a couple of levels as they wouldn't be able to compete with the more powerful toys.

There is also an option to purchase moves for your Pokémon using in-game currency however doing so feels pointless as the player will find a stronger Pokémon on the very next level and will have practically wasted the coins.


On the contrary when you pick up a new Pokémon there is no guarantee that they will be of any use due to the large pool of useless moves. It feels like a kick in the teeth when you finally obtain a high power toy only to find that the moves the game has randomly assigned happen to be terrible.

The main issue that I had with this game, so much so that I almost didn't finish it, is the mind-numbing repetitiveness of the gameplay.

Each level consists of around 4-6 dungeons where the player battles through around 5 stages before entering a boss battle where you battle a big version of a Pokémon.

After these dungeons are complete the player must play a "Battle Royale" where they come up against an arena of Pokémon in a brawl like scenario.
Upon completion the player will start a new level where they must do the same thing with a slight variation on the Pokémon you battle.

This is the structure for every level in the game and it wears thin very quickly.

The only variation in terms of battles are two other game modes.
The first is "Team Battle" where the player selects two CPU-controlled Pokémon (from their own collection) to battle alongside them. It's the same formula as before however you now have two CPUs doing most of the work for you. In the later stages of the game you will gain the ability to combine 3 Pokémon together for a brief period of time to make them very slightly more powerful as a whole.

The second and in my eyes most pointless variation is a "Charge Battle". In this type of battle the player must mash a single button and rotate the nub stick to make their collection of Pokémon charge towards a group of onrushing enemy Pokémon. How well you are doing is indicated my an arrow at the top of the screen which gets longer depending on how hard you try to destroy your console. If the bar reaches over half way then your team will knock the opposing squad out of the way. This process is repeated three (or more) times before the player is faced with the boss of the "charge battle" but instead of having a more difficult task, the player is swiftly prompted to press a single button to win. It is literally a "Press A to win" scenario.

The story of the game revolves around life replenishing "glowdrops" which are being stolen from the fountains of various towns across this toy world however it is about as deep and predictable as you'd expect from a game as simplistic as this. Having said that Pokémon isn't know for it's story telling approach (not up until Black and White at least) so this isn't a huge issue in the game.

The game utilises the streetpass functionality by obtaining a trainer card and that specific players collection allowing you to battle them whenever you desire. There are also unlocks attached to the number of people who you have passed on the street, for example acquiring ten street passes unlocks a legendary on a particular stage.

A niggling issue I have with the street-pass interface is that the options/buttons appear on the touch screen. They're nice and big and look like they can be pressed but the developers seem to have forgotten to add touch screen functionality. It's a small thing but it's very annoying considering it feels like they've simply forgotten to put it in.

As far as I'm aware, after the game is completed the player can up the difficulty level for all the previous stages already played and a new part of the game with a much greater difficulty margin opens up. This does give the game a form of replay value after the game is complete however I found after the first two chapters of the game everything felt like a replay anyway.


Having played a demo of the Wii ware prequel (and enjoying it thoroughly ) I knew exactly the type of gameplay to expect on the 3DS version, however I hoped there would be a bit more to the game overall.

To me the main flaw with Super Pokemon Rumble is the repetitiveness. It goes for a very simplistic approach but ends up being too simple with not enough variety to keep the player engaged given the length of the game.

By no means would I say this is a terrible game, I'm happy that they've included all 5 generations of Pokémon but it leaves a lot to be desired. Though hardcore fans may find a soft spot for the game, personally I would advise people to play the Wii demo on repeat. It practically offers the same experience.


- Tom Seed

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Game Feature: Student Experiences - Video Games Design

Many of us love playing games so why not make them?

Ever sat their playing a classic video game, and had the desire to make your own game? The follow article is a in-depth look into the starter year for studying a Games Design course in Scotland.

University: Abertay University, Dundee, Scotland, UK
Course: Games Design and Production Management

Abertay University is one of Scotland's leading universities for computer game related courses. It offers a wide-range of degrees including: Computer Arts; Computer Game Technology (CGT); and Games Design and Production Management (GDPM).

Dare to be Digital 2011-Created by Abertay University

I am currently in my second year at Abertay studying GDPM.
The course is designed to turn young talented students into a Designer or a Producer by the end of the 4 (or possibly 5) years that the course runs.

This article is an explanation of what the first year GDPM course entails along with my personal views and how I found it.

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