Cynical Gamer Reviews Prey

To be consistant with my review process I thought it would be worthwhile reviewing Prey as a Prayer (I understand that Prey is the target of a predator, but the English language being the way it is Prey and Pray sound very much the same). I think more than any other game released this year Prey needs some form of divine intervention from the great game creator in the sky in order to give it any long term success.

To the great game creator in the sky,

Please let Prey have a quick death, as I don't believe it is worthwhile dragging out the long, protracted boredom which the game has inflicted on me onto other gamers. I hope that 3DRealms learns from their mistakes (and they seem to make so many) and that you can forgive them for these inadequacies and show them some form of direction which will take them back to the days when Duke Nukem was a good (not great) game as they seem to have lost their way.

I would hope that people don't take the stereotypes of native Americans to heart and understand that 3DRealms were not culturally insensitive but just plain stupid in their interpretation of the plight of American Indians. Their use of the spirit realm was unguided and superfluous to the innocuous and boring nature of the puzzles in the game. It is used as a novelty and does not do anything to advance the story or create a better understanding of Indian mythology. I believe it is better if you guide them by their mistakes and make them learn so that they do not make the same mistakes again.

In the future I hope that you can better guide 3DRealms to understand the genre of the shooter. There should be shooting in a shooter and not so much walking. The object of a shooter is to shoot stuff and it just seems that combat in Prey is few and far between. And what is a game (especially a shooter) where you cannot die? For isn't death the reason why we want to live? If you cannot die then what is life but a meaningless romp? I would hope that you can show 3DRealms from the error of their ways so that they can better develop games in the future.

The graphics in Prey are excellent, but how could they possibly fluff the Doom 3 engine. The only problem is that this game seems to be no different graphically from Doom 3 or Quake 4. It makes the player feel as they are going over the same turf again and again. At least the source engine has been utilized to create different environments. Areas that at least feel different from the last. Half Life 2, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic feel like three fully developed and different games using the same engine. Whereas the Doom 3 engine feels like regurgitated games coming from the same place with little differentiating features which would identify them as individual works.

I would hope that if 3DRealms were going to take another ten or so years to develop a game that you could show them the error of their ways. If any game was to take this long to create then I would expect it to be revolutionary and not just another churned out piece of software from a machine.

More than anything else I hope that we can forgive 3DRealms because it appears that they know not what they do. We cannot begrudge the stupid people as they know no better, but we must be wary of the smart people who make no real effort.

I hope that you find a good final resting place for Prey as it will not be reinstalled on my PC.

Cynical Gamer Score:
Prey as a shooter trying to break the mold but not succeeding: 100
As a Game which will receive immortality in the gaming after life: 5
Worthy of the Doom 3 Engine: 0
Total Score: 35/100

Far Cry 2

The rumour mill on the internet for games is excellent isn't it? It is the place where dreams are made and then quickly snuffed out with a press release. The kind of stuff I like is the leaked information (much like the news for System Shock 3). Another instance of spilled info comes in the form of Far Cry 2. Ubisoft accidently had some information about upcoming game releases leaked when a file was misplaced on the internet (how that happens is beyond me). Apparently the file contained a list of games plus artwork, tech demos and promotional materials for the games. Other games listed include: Assassins Creed, Far Cry 2, Far Cry PSP, Far Cry Wii, Lost, Naruto 360, Open Season, Prince of Persia 4, Rainbow 6: Vegas, Rocky PSP, Splinter Cell Conviction, Surf's Up, Star Wars PSP, Shaun White Snowboarding, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles GBA. Of interest is a game based on the LOST TV Series and Prince of Persia 4.

Another item of interest related to Far Cry is that a movie is in preproduction. The movie is apparently in the hands of German director Ewe Boll (sounds like a pseudonym to me). He is repsonsible for Blood Rayne, Alone In The Dark, A dungeon seige movie (yet to be released) and another game tie in which is in preproduction based on Postal. Who said that specialisation was dead? The good thing is that the Far Cry story line should fit in nicely to the cliched notion of the action hero. Although a Far Cry movie does sound like an opportunity for a film crew to have a nice holiday on an island of paradise for eight weeks or so.

System Shock 3

In news (and rumours) it appears that System Shock 3 is in development, however, it is not being created by it's original developer (Irrational Games). Unfortunately, Electronic Arts owns the System Shock franchise which is bad news for gamers all around. The worlds largest software company is also renowned for creating poor quality games (or games aimed at the lowest common denominator as far as I am concerned).

Hopefully Irrational Games will create an absolute masterpiece with Bioshock and show EA how games should be made. Apparently the developer behind The Godfather game will be behind System Shock 3.

While, at the moment, the news of System Shock 3 are still rumours we will know the truth behind it as soon as EA makes an official announcement on the game's development.

Bioshock

I just watched the 15 min Bioshock demo and I am extremely impressed although I am not surprised. System Shock is one of my favourite games. It was three dimensional at a time when shooters were relatively two dimensional. See baddie will shoot was the predominant motive behind shooters, and in a way this has not changed a whole lot. However, System Shock added a deep story line to their gameplay. It was a game which changed the first person shooter for me and was indicative of the potential which developers could get out of a gaming experience. It looks like Bioshock will attempt to create a similar gameplay experience.

One thing which I love about some of the games which have been released is their attempt to create a niche environment based on a design aspect of the story. Bioshock creates the kitsch (i think that's how you spell it) retro look to the game which is indicative of the time inwhich the game is set and the place. It looks like they have gone to great lengths to create a consistant flair in the level design. Along with this is a relatively interactive environment which will create an open based game play element.

The footage from the 15min demo is from the Xbox 360 version of the game and the use of lighting and shadow looks fantastic. The water effects are extremely well implemented, considering the game is set under the ocean you would hope they could pull this off. If this game is an indication of what the Xbox 360 can do then the future looks bright for this console.

I highly recommend downloading the Hi Res demo movie of the game. Here is a link to the Ausgamers download. Check it out. Just when I was getting a bit down about the games coming out finally something (besides Crysis) which is worth waiting for.

When A Video Game Becomes A Movie

Why is it that video games haven't made decent movies? Considering the formula for both is relatively similar. I think that, generally, the reasons why the games are being turned in to movies are for the wrong reasons. They are being created to capitalize on a fan base which will see the movie no matter what the quality is like, rather than create and independant piece of work which stands alone as another aspect of the game. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. I have seen movies based on games which I will see again (the first Resident Evil movie was one of these). This seems to be the reasons behind cartoon/comic movie adaptations as well. These movies have been very hit and miss with the quality of the story and film adaptation. Once again there are exceptions to the rule and it appears that those comic adaptations which have been created by fans of the comic have broken the norm and created a higher quality movie. One of these has been the Xmen franchise and also Batman. Brian Singer (who directed the first two Xmen movies) was a childhood fan of the comics and he wanted to create a movie which would bring something to the Xmen franchise as opposed to bleed it dry. I believe the same happened with the original Resident Evil movie. A fan of the games made the film.

Otherwise there are a score of releases which are not really worth seeing. Doom was a terrible adaptation of the game (and something which could have offered a whole more). America's confusion over religion and portraying religion (especially Christianity) in any form of popular medium meant that the whole subplot to Doom (inwhich people opened a portal to hell) was scrapped. The Doom movie was recommended to me by some gamer friends who said, "If you loved the game you will love the film." And I watched it thinking well, I loved the game this film will be good. Only to be completely disappointed by what Hollywood had done to the game. First of all they killed of Sarge. This was in complete contradiction to the game. Sarge was and is the hero of the game. As for Mario Brothers movie, Mortal Kombat, Dead or Alive, and others I will probably never waste my money to go and see. They are nothing but money earning devices created to milk hard earned dollars from die hard fans rather than provide something unique and interesting which adds something to the franchise.

A game (which was created from a film) which breaks the mold was Chronicles of Riddick. Riddick is an interesting beast and I believe that the success of this franchise is driven by Vin Diesels fascination with the character. Vin Diesel (apparently a hard core gamer) has taken specific interest in making sure that Riddick is a successful franchise. Where the game picks up with a different part of the Riddick mythology and successfully blends beat em up, stealth, and first person shooter with an excellent gaming engine. I am a fan of the movie and the games in the Riddick franchise.

It is in these instances when you are left asking, "What will they do next with this?" You are left wanting more rather than thinking about the empty space in your wallet. Until actual fans of the games are behind the creation of the hollywood tie ins then we are probably going to be left with a lot more superficial offerings on celuloid of our favourite video games. Unfortunately, the success of a film is not judge on how good it is but how much money it makes. With a ready fan based prepared to pay money to see second rate movie tie ins of games then I don't think the trend of quality over quantity will change very quickly.

Upside Ictus

Just thought I would pop a link in to my brother's myspace website for his band Upside Ictus. They have just posted three demo tracks for your musical interest. A bit of shameless promotion on my blog anyway for the Littleman.

The band is made up of Matt (my little brother, otherwise known to me and the Basha (my other brother) as "Thelittleman" seated on the left of the photo), his wife Tash (obviously seated on the right), and their mate (and drummer) Lorne (if you hadn't worked out by a process of deduction he is seated in the centre).

Matt and Tash only just got married this year and have had the band Upside Ictus for the last couple of years. Anyway, enough of my blatant promotion of his myspace site. Check it out and I hope you enjoy it.

The Fight For Melbourne House Is ON

Melbourne House software has been one of the longest standing software developers. Located in my home city it was always worthwhile looking for their name at the start of a game purely for sentimental reasons. Unfortunately, one of the oldest game developers is under threat of going under. Melbourne House has been bought out many times during its long history and has developed dozens of games across nearly all platforms. Their game list includes: Exploding Fist +, KKND, Mechwarrior, NBA Jam, Smash TV, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Xenon. While some of these games are ports from their original versions, they have also been responsible for creating many original titles. I can remember seeing their logo on games from the Commodore 64 days.

Melbourne House have been working on the latest title in the Test Drive franchise, Unlimited. If this game does not have any commerical success then it looks like Melbourne House might be closing its doors. Melbourne House has been responsible for fostering some excellent creative talent in Australia. Unfortunately, there is a growing trend in the gaming industry as developers are unable to cope with the financial burden imposed by the many years of development time required to produce any first class games release. Without ongoing cashflow many developers struggle.

While I am not a fan of episodic games maybe this is the way the industry has to go in order to provide developers the opportunity to create regular income. Businesses require regular income (bread and butter money) to survive. Without this they cannot pay their day-to-day expenses.

It would be a great disappointment to see Melbourne House software go under. I hope they have great success with Test Drive Unlimited and can continue to be one of the oldest software developers in the world.

Prey Review Disparity

Raymond Carver, a famous American short story writer (and arguably one of the best) used a short phrase in which to guide writers on how they go about developing their craft, and it was the term, "No tricks". What this essentially means is that if you need to use fancy tricks in order to capture the readers attention then the craft of your writing wasn't up to standard. Tricks are used as a means to distract the reader from sloppy writing. In this way Carver writes in a very sparse prose which is gritty and his characters through their actions and dialogue tell the story. Video Game developers could learn a lot about telling stories through their games if they actually paid some attention to those people who have made their lives and their livelihoods from telling stories. The video game industry is the poor distant cousin of any type of narrative, whether it be television, film, music or writing. However, the industry wants to ignore the lessons learnt from those other fields and forge ahead making all of the same mistakes over again. All of the other mediums have been established for many years whereas the video game industry is still in relative infancy. Until the gaming industry recognises that it delivers a legitimate means to convey narrative then gamers are going to have to continue to put up with the second rate crap that is being published at the moment. Of which, Prey is a prime example.

Not only is Prey's narrative extremely poor and hardly compelling. This is not to say that it didn't have potential being set within the realm of American Indian mythology and making use of the spirit world. Yet, these narrative ploys were only used for shits and giggles and not explored at all. The use of the spirit realm could have been an extremely effective device within the game but was only utitilized primarily as a gimmick.

To get to the point of the blog (that being review disparity) I want to highlight two completely different reviews of this game and how they scored. Firstly we have PC Powerplay which gave Prey the lofty score of 9 out of 10. Hardly a relevant score for a game which was supposedly in development for 10 years and completely missed the mark. The other score was by Atomic magazine (which I would not classify as a games review magazine, more a specialized hardware review mag) which gave Prey 5 out of 10. I understand that different people bring different perspectives to their game reviews, however, once again, these are two completely different scores for one of the major game releases of this year. How is it they can differ so much?

The Atomic review is straight to the point and really doesn't try to turn Prey in to a game that it is not (ie Game of the Year material). The PC Powerplay review mentions some of the short comings of the game but apparently overlooks them when it comes to actually giving the game a score. PC Powerplay even makes the mistake of saying that the combat is more intense with more enemies on screen than Doom 3. Did the reviewer actually play Doom 3? The combat in Prey was sparse and hardly atmospheric. They state that Prey is, "nothing less than a perfect example of a straight-up shooter". How can they justify this comment? It is nothing more than dribble. The combat in Prey is not even half as good as the combat in FEAR. Even though I don't like Half Life 2 the combat in Half Life 2 was better than Prey. PC Powerplay even lists one of the pros of the game as the "Decent characters and story". Did they actually play Prey? The story was one of the most cliched stories ever released in a video game. It was hardly compelling and no different than a dozen other shooters that are in the market place. The reviewer even writes in the review, "but something about the way the story is told makes it seem like it drags on and on". If the story was well told it would match and also carry the pace of the game rather than make the game seem longer and make it drag on.

The last paragraph of the Atomic review summarizes the game, "Some people may praise Prey's innovation and its 'outside the box' thinking, but I found it tiresome, devoid of action or excitement and just plain not fun."

With such conflicting reviews it makes me wonder who the magazines are serving? Their advertisers? However, this need to satisfy advertising demand is not limited to Gaming magazines and has been a trend in the media in general for a long time. As a consumer, I would not want to waste my money on the game Prey, and unfortunately did. After reading the PC Powerplay review (and playing the demo) I was expecting a game of high quality and instead received nothing more than a colourful coaster. This game is just a number of disappointing software releases which are overhyped and overrated prior to release. The video game money machine rumbles on and, unfortunately, there is no recourse for those people who have spent their well earned money on a game which is complete trash.

The gaming industry needs to grow up and treat gamers with some respect. I haven't been playing games for twenty odd years to be treated like an idiot when I play a game. I expect there to be some maturity. I would have hoped that as I had grown up so had the industry which I have supported. However, they keep releasing titles like Prey which treat me like an idiot and provide no real entertainment value at all. The sooner the gaming industry wakes up to its greatest dillema and grows out of the space invaders mentality and realises that games are more than just pixels on a screen but a form of narrative expression will we start to see games which treat our intelligence with some respect and satisfies our need for complicated and rewarding story telling. Hopefully then we will move from the one man (or woman) saves the world type plot.

As for PC Powerplay what more can I say?

Busy Busy Busy

I have been extremely busy with work over the last month (I should say work and playing Texas Holdem - love that poker game). There hasn't been a lot of games released this year that I would actually play. So far this year has been all about Oblivion. Besides this we have had a handful of other game releases which were worth having a look at, but probably not worth spending your money on.

As for the most over-hyped game release of the year it would have to be Prey. This is one of the most disappointing games I have played. The demo promised so much and the game itself delivered so little. The puzzles were mundane. The implementation of the anti-gravity walking was under utilized and there was hardly any worthwhile combat in the game. In fact, the combat is so sparse and spread out between walking through areas I would hardly call this game a shooter. The story in this game is so cliched that I cannot believe that 10 years of game development supposedly went in to the games creation. The fact that you really can't die in the game makes the whole notion of playing it a relative farce. If this game is the best shooter that we have on offer at the moment then I would say that the gaming industry is really not delivering very much. This game should never have been released as a primary title.

One game that I have bought recently and I thoroughly enjoy playing is Flat Out 2. I loved the first Flat Out and I bought the sequel with no hesitation and I have not been disappointed. While I do like racing sims in general I will play the occasional arcade type racing game. The destructible environments, cars and demolition derby style of racing is something which appeals to the infant in me. Being able to smash cars as you go is excellent and the environments in this game are top notch. The racing itself is well implemented and the tracks are always interesting. Combined with three different levels of racing series and a number of mini games. Being able to throw the driver of your vehicle through a number of burning hoops or into a dart board always appeals to the masochist in me. Needless to say the rag doll physics is very well implemented and worth a look.

Hopefully, I'll be able to add some more to Cynical Gamer in the coming weeks. It's not that work has slowed down (it hasn't), but I am trying to allocate more time to this site (and maybe less time to Poker. lol. maybe not).