A Gutsy Story Changes Your Perspective of Killzone: Shadow Fall

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15.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies Review

In the dark age of the law, truth has no place within the confines of a courtroom. Reality is nothing more than an unreliable recollection of events by a flawed person. How can we trust memories that are tempered by emotions, undermined by biases, and torn apart by baseless assumptions? Truth and lies are much closer than people would want to believe, and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies explores the twisted path of the judicial system. When the end is the only thing that matters, the means you use to arrive at that point isn't important. Or is it? The moral quagmire of the law is a difficult road to navigate and Dual Destinies weaves a clever analysis of this fascinating process.

Apollo Justice has sworn to protect those wrongly accused of heinous crimes, but an attorney has only so much power to right injustices. When one of his friends is accused of murdering another, his duty to seek justice goes much further than a mere courtroom could allow. Such dramatic events are interspersed with comedic jabs so you're never burdened by these lofty themes. Cutting insults hurled at the buffoonish judge by prisoner-turned-lawyer Simon Blackquill inject levity within the heated debates, and spirited newcomer Athena Cykes displays an energetic naivete while she deconstructs the emotions of those who take the stand. Dual Destinies expertly balances two narrative extremes, using off-the-wall dialogue at key moments to keep the mood light even when the characters are grappling with their own limitations.

Meet Athena Cykes, a woman who turns her back on floating spaghetti.

Practicing law within the Phoenix Wright universe requires a cleverness better suited to authors of courtroom drama than to actual barristers. While scouring a crime scene, you may find a trinket seemingly unrelated to the facts of a murder, but you tuck it in your inventory without question, in case its importance becomes known during the court proceedings. Pretrial investigations push you from one disorderly scene to another, and you interview potential witnesses to slowly piece together what actually happened. Such activities are performed by rote because there's little variance in what's expected of you. A checklist chronicles exactly what you must accomplish before the next event is triggered, so although the occasional eureka moments stamp exclamation points onto your actions, you're so rarely asked to think beyond the basics that you're left going through the motions until court is in session.

Off-the-wall dialogue at key moments keeps the mood light even when the characters are grappling with their own limitations.

Apollo seeks justice no matter what the cost.

Verbal sparring within the courtroom rises above the pleasant predictability of the investigative process. Witnesses provide testimony tinged with contradictions, so you must scour your evidence to find the piece that proves they're lying. Following the breadcrumb trails of lies to an ultimate truth gives weight to every objection you utter. Although the committed crimes are incredibly complex in how they were performed, there's an underlying plausibility that makes it easy to accept the outcomes. From motivations to opportunities to the method for covering up his or her actions, the perpetrator's thought process is eventually unraveled and displayed in detail. To succeed within the stressful back-and-forth swings is to discover the very essence of truth, and the game masterfully urges you onward to unearth the secrets that lie hidden deep below the surface.

Trust is often the only thing that keeps Phoenix Wright and his colleagues afloat when odds seem stacked against them. The bonds of friendship run so deep that even when every piece of evidence is screaming that the defendant's hands are covered in red, the unwavering belief in his or her innocence keeps the attorneys pushing to explain how the crime actually transpired. And though such loyalty is admirable, it creates situations that border closely on the dangerous adage "the end justifies the means." This phrase is uttered by those who have ushered in the dark age of the law, ignoring truth for the greater good, and though Phoenix strongly disagrees with that theory, he is forced to use creative means to avoid guilty verdicts. Concocting questionable alternate theories eventually brings Phoenix to the truth, but he tears down the wall separating fact from fiction to come to those conclusions.

The game masterfully urges you onward to unearth the secrets that lie hidden deep below the surface.

Because of the dance both the defense and prosecution must perform, Dual Destinies presents both sides of the coin in the the ongoing discussion about achieving justice while working within a flawed judicial system. As much as Phoenix's team members deny the benefits of lying to further their goals, they are guilty of the same actions, so you understand why someone would twist facts for their own purpose. It's fascinating to see these scenes play out. A witness may lie because he's covering up his own despicable actions, trying to hide that he is really guilty of a murder most foul. But other times, lies surface only to protect a loved one. Would you testify if you knew your words could send your friend to prison? Dual Destinies shows just how scary the truth can be, so you sympathize with those who turn their backs on it.

Phoenix Wright is never wrong! Well, never is a strong word. Rarely?

There are times when someone changes reality to fit their own needs, but those aren't the only lies that exist in Dual Destinies. Words are empty to Athena Cykes. As a trained psychoanalyst, she knows that people can say whatever rushes into their heads, but their emotions are unfiltered. When Athena discovers discord, she analyzes the emotions of whoever is on the witness stand to figure out what he or she refuses to say out loud. Why would someone be happy when a ceiling crumbles upon them? Or sad when they don a cloak adorned with shining constellations? This simple mechanic reverberates beyond the courtroom proceeding. I started to think about my own emotions that surface when I wish they would stay hidden. Even when lying would make my life so much easier, the truth still finds a way out, and I realized while calling out witnesses on their contradictory feelings just how pointless it is to hide from who you are.

Dual Destinies dives deep within the psyches of those involved in crimes--from the attorneys to the perpetrators and everyone else associated with the events--and such ruminations give you a better understanding of human motivations. The manner in which you investigate and argue is unchanged from previous iterations, and the exaggerated personalities of the characters hit the same notes as before, which does lessen the mysterious appeal of a courtroom drama. However, Dual Destines is more than just another retread. Themes of friendship and trust make you appreciate the depth of relationships, and the omnipresent question of the necessity of truth provides a compelling backdrop. Phoenix Wright's return to the courtroom brings with it an impressive blend of comedic sensibilities and philosophical examinations that make you question how any judicial system can determine guilt when the relationships people have with the truth are so complicated.

15.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Cold War Endures in Killzone: Shadow Fall

Picture a Killzone that almost entirely breaks from the earlier entries in the series in its storytelling. Shadow Fall, which is set 30 years after the events of Killzone 3, adopts a Cold War tone. The Intergalactic Strategic Alliance has allowed Helghast refugees to resettle, and the Vektan and Helghast factions live on opposite sides of an enormous security wall with tensions running high between the two sides. In one cutscene, refugees are slowly walked through a security line; those who fail security screenings are pulled aside by armed guards and detained while their friends and spouses scream that a mistake has been made. The scene carries an emotional tension similar to the "fugee-culling" scene from Children of Men as well as the opening City 17 scenes from Half-Life 2. There's an idea of a threat of terrorism as opposed to the ongoing "hot" war of the previous Killzone games that adds something new, and Guerrilla Games has strongly hinted that you will be able to directly play a Helghan storyline (as opposed to disguising yourself as a Helghan soldier for purposes of infiltration in one specific level Killzone 3), allowing you to see the ongoing conflict between the ISA and the Helghans from a different perspective.

This type of storytelling is rare in a video game, but masterful if pulled off correctly. The prisoner line scene works on nothing less than a gut, instinctive level, the members of the line muttering their distrust of the security forces in barely audible tones, a sense of fear marking the scene. These are the moments, as conveyed perfectly here as well as in Half-Life 2 and Spec Ops: The Line where the presence of a police state has gone too far, you can sympathize with anyone living under these conditions, especially in the face of seeing family members segregated and pulled away at the militarized checkpoint you might have to pass through on a daily bais. This is where you'd be willing to fight for the side that's long been considered the bad guys, even if only to reach a stalemate, a sense of equality and a home to call your own.

It's this variation in perspective that could make for the most interesting storytelling of the game. After several entries, continuous conflict between the ISA and the Helghans, invasion, and nuclear fallout, the war between the two sides has dragged on for too long; the two cultures have pounded on each other for years and now share two sides of the same city, albeit in a state of inequality, the security wall marking a clear distinction between what seems to be a Vektan paradise and a Helghast slum. Now, in the midst of resettlement, there come the same questions that come with any long term occupation--a la the 70's/80's Belfast or Israel/Palestine scenario--and the actions both sides might take given these circumstances.

The new PlayStation 4 hardware is also in place to deliver an incredible new story both in terms of appearance and performance. After 90 minutes of gameplay, I was impressed by how the new game flexes its muscles with the PlayStation 4's powerful hardware. The textures, lighting, and shadows were far more impressive than anything current consoles are capable of, new portions of the level loaded without delay and in a sequence where my character was walking through a prisoner line, I could count the threads of the jacket worn by the character in front of me. Impressive, too, was how well the game uses the new PlayStation 4 controller, which feels a little lighter in your hand than the current PlayStation 3 DualShock controller while still feeling solid. The PlayStation 4 controller's built in touch screen allows you to quickly assign offensive, defensive or hacking-oriented tasks to your OWL.

Guerrilla Games has strongly hinted that you will be able to play missions as the Helghans.

What Guerrilla Games is doing with Killzone: Shadow Fall is adding both variety and a larger scale. The game, which the developers claim features 1,500 in-game challenges as well as unlockable weapons and items, will also offer new roles and classes to vary the gameplay: a support class for medic-types, a scout class for those that prefer to snipe from a distance, and an assault class for when you wish to wade into the fray. In addition to new central characters and a new shadow marshal role (essentially a black-ops assassin), a deployable flying OWL drone also helps differentiate Shadow Fall from the franchise's previous entries. The OWL creates shields, brings your character back to life provided an adrenaline injection is available to it, acts as a decoy, creates zip lines for travel, and hacks consoles found throughout the game.

Killzone has always prided itself on its weapons, and with 22 weapons available to play with at launch, there's generally something for everyone to play with. The M82 assault rifle, stA-52 assault rifle, and stA-18 pistol return from the previous games, and Shadow Fall's standard rifle can switch between a conventional machine gun and what feels like a hybrid of a sniper rifle and a rail gun.

Guerrilla Games has an arresting new approach to missions in Shadow Fall. Where the previous games had you implanted in the middle of a "hot war," going in loud and with little focus on stealth or subtlety, Shadow Fall lets you choose your approach before initiating a mission; the game suggests routes to enter silently or routes to go loud and charge in with guns blazing. For those wishing to keep a low profile, an in-game ventilation system gives you the opportunity to easily get behind opponents without...drawing attention. Finally, a Tactical Echo mode will allow you to partially see infrared signatures through walls and inform you as to what's around the next corner before you charge in. It's been done before, but it could add a new element to the franchise.

hadow Fall's multiplayer game mode isn't the most original, but there's room for it to grow. The game will ship with 10 multiplayer maps and will offer additional free content over the coming months. Multiplayer is centered around the creation of warzones, which allow you to choose the game's rules, equipment and objectives, customizing the match as you see fit. Beyond the standard team deathmatch style demoed on-site, the series' signature Warzone game type returns, in which objectives change every few minutes, keeping you on your toes. Shadow Fall's multiplayer mode throws in the assorted unlockable weapons, challenges, and goodies, but also strips down your character before beginning the round. Remember the exoskeleton and jetpacks you loved to use in the previous games, and the single player mode's OWL? They're gone in this mode, leaving you to fight with fewer gadgets and more gut, relying on your skill for survival. In addition to rewarding players for long kill streaks and impressive kill methods, Shadow Fall's 1,500 challenges also reward cooperative multiplayer gameplay, so there's an incentive to use your character's abilities to heal a wounded teammate or attempt a stealthier set of kills.

There were still a few bugs left to iron out. The artificial intelligence on the NPCs in single player mode was about where it needed to be, but there were still occasions when characters would run into each other or get in the way of the player's movement. This was accompanied by a multiplayer bug in which your character would die, then respawn between two of your opponents who are more than happy to shoot you. Finally, the OWL, while a great tool for the single player campaign, seems to be limited in its offensive capacity. It's empowering to deploy the OWL to help attack your enemies, there's the feeling that not that many of its rounds are hitting or doing that much damage.

Killzone: Shadow Fall looks ready to offer interesting new elements to the Killzone franchise if executed well. Strong voice acting, incredibly detailed graphics, and a larger map to explore help create a great new world, the OWL drone could make single player gameplay that much more fun, and the chance to play as the Helghans could add an entirely new perspective to the game. This won't be an entirely radical change to the franchise, but it could be what's needed to convey a new kind of story and relaunch the Killzone franchise.

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Killzone: Shadow Fall

15.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gamespot's Site Mashup

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Wed, 23 Oct 2013 00:17:04 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/game-industry-adds-ca-2-3b-to-canada-s-gdp/1100-6415723/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2352102-canada+kickstarter_96654_screen.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2352102" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2352102-canada+kickstarter_96654_screen.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2352102"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/280/2802776/2352102-canada+kickstarter_96654_screen.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">A report released by the <a href="http://theesa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ESAC-Video-Games-Profile-2013-FINAL-2013-10-21-CIRC.pdf" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Entertainment Software Association of Canada (PDF)</a> has revealed that Canada's video game industry generated over CA$2.3 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) for the country's economy in 2012.</p><p style="">Gross domestic product is a figure that represents the market value of all officially recognised final goods and services produced in a country within a certain time period. According to the report, the video game industry also generated a total of CA$1.7 billion in labour income for Canadian residents.</p><p style="">Prepared by Nordicity, the report outlines the size of Canada's video game industry, and states that developers made up 97.4 percent of the revenue made by game firms. Approximately 2.5 percent was credited to game publishers, and 0.5 percent was attributed to "middleware development".</p><p style="">The report indicates that "expenditures on video game development, which occur today, not only generate wages and GDP in the economy today, but also provide the foundation for higher economic growth in the future".</p><p style="">Several game developers currently have studios in Canada, including BioWare, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and the newly formed <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-bioware-and-riot-games-developers-form-new-studio/1100-6414241/" data-ref-id="1100-6414241">Hinterland</a>. Earlier this year, crowdfunding website <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/kickstarter-goes-live-in-canada/1100-6412536/" data-ref-id="1100-6412536">Kickstarter </a>begun accepting project submissions based in Canada.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6412072" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6412072/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:36:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/game-industry-adds-ca-2-3b-to-canada-s-gdp/1100-6415723/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/glare-review/1900-6415494/ <p style="">You are the Shiner.</p><p style="">The Shiner is a powerful guardian with a single objective: to obliterate the darkness that has recently begun encroaching upon the galaxy. Armed with magical light that allows you to push away foul mist and nasty creatures, you advance through a series of treacherous environments set on mostly barren planets, banishing all that is murky.</p><p style="">Glare is in many respects a conventional 2D platformer, meaning that you're called upon to perform many precise jumps. The unique hook in this case is your ability to cast a bright beam on enemies and the world around them, often while airborne. You must master that skill to thrive. At first, you use the dazzling beam to repel projectiles and push away the floating purple aliens and skittering nasties that crowd your space, but the beam's use soon grows beyond such basic utility. Shadowy plant life in the background is brought to the foreground when you shine light in the right spot, allowing the vegetation to propel you toward higher ground. Switches can also be activated, producing zip lines and other helpful means of navigation. Early on, you gain the ability to fire bullets, but you must often choose between illumination and firepower. In tough spots, controlling crowds of strange beasts means alternating. If you are being swarmed by gliding enemies that suddenly emerge from a portal, it's easy to become overwhelmed until you clear out a safe path.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349114-0005.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349114" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349114-0005.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349114"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2349114-0005.png"></a><figcaption>Sure, aim for the sky! It's not like you have to worry about running out of batteries or anything.</figcaption></figure><p style="">You start your tour of the galaxy by exploring a verdant forest environment known as Tree World. From there, you go on a voyage through the expected environmental tropes, traversing desert, rock, ice, and lava. The locations feature detailed foliage, intricate rock formations, and sparkling ravines covered in ice and snow--familiar but attractive locations in which background beauty and foreground dangers are easily distinguished. Each new environment introduces a couple of new monsters, but you generally deal with the same four or five critters.</p><blockquote data-align="center" data-size="large"><p style="">Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise.</p></blockquote><p style="">Monsters roam in the alien environs, but fights against these beasts are just an afterthought. Your most fearsome opponent is the generous supply of spiked vines that flourish on each planet. Brushing against the razor-sharp barbs spells instant death, even if you have taken no prior damage. Sometimes, those vines seem cheap in areas you're forced to hurry through, with you running or falling into a pit of spikes you couldn't have seen coming, but for the most part, stages are designed in a manner that avoids producing such frustrating circumstances. Even when you stumble across an exception to that rule, the levels benefit from a generous checkpoint system. There are a few cases where checkpoints are more frugal than normal, but you rarely lose much ground when monsters or spikes produce an unpleasant death.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349946-glare.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349946" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349946-glare.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349946"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/416/4161502/2349946-glare.png"></a><figcaption>Hanging around spikes all the time can be bad for your health. Didn't Buffy teach you that much?</figcaption></figure><p style="">Glare's controls are every bit as responsive as they should be in a game of this sort. You begin with the ability to jump long distances, bound up walls in narrow vertical shafts, and rush down slopes. Special pedestals you come across in each level grant access to additional moves, but a lot of those enhancements don't require direct player input. For instance, you gain the ability to dash along certain slopes to build speed that allows you to clear wider gaps, but you don't have to do anything more than run along the appropriate path to enjoy the benefits.</p><p style="">Mild puzzle elements provide occasional interludes, but such moments are too traditional to be interesting. They typically require you to find a missing piece to a machine that allows you to open a locked door. In this case, you press a switch to make the piece appear and rush forward so that you can nab it in time. Once you grab it, you easily place it where it needs to go, and the door opens. A more successful attempt to vary the tempo comes elsewhere, when you ride winged creatures across fields of spikes while blasting enemies out of the air. In another case, you ascend a wide vertical shaft by fashioning makeshift ledges out of fragile bubbles. The game could have used more inventive moments like these.</p><figure data-align="left" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349116-0007.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349116" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349116-0007.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349116"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/416/4161502/2349116-0007.png"></a><figcaption> It's always better to jump over this fellow than to face his charge.</figcaption></figure><p style="">At least the bosses keep things fresh. Most of them briefly turn the game into a twin-stick shooter along the lines of Geometry Wars. You float around an enclosed chamber, chipping away at the boss's armor so that its weak point appears and you can blast it. The foe at the end of each successive stage becomes more difficult than the previous one, but the process is never overly frustrating, and those encounters are a nice change of pace from the standard platforming segments that lead up to them.</p><p style="">Glare is satisfying as it goes--it just doesn't go far enough. There are only six stages in all, and the first and last ones can be cleared quickly, especially once you are familiar with them. The first five areas each contain hidden artifacts that lie well off the beaten path, but there's no obvious benefit to finding them, and you don't get to use abilities gained in later stages when you head back to early ones. Securing a better time isn't really motivation to return, unless you're the sort who particularly enjoys speed runs: there's no way to easily share your triumphs with friends or rivals.</p><p style="">Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise. This is an entertaining pit stop that can tide you over on your journey to a bigger, brighter galaxy.</p> Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:16:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/glare-review/1900-6415494/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/glare-video-review/2300-6415705/ Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise. This is an entertaining pit stop that can tide you over on your journey to a bigger, brighter galaxy. Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:05:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/glare-video-review/2300-6415705/

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Wed, 23 Oct 2013 00:17:04 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/game-industry-adds-ca-2-3b-to-canada-s-gdp/1100-6415723/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2352102-canada+kickstarter_96654_screen.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2352102" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2352102-canada+kickstarter_96654_screen.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2352102"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/280/2802776/2352102-canada+kickstarter_96654_screen.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">A report released by the <a href="http://theesa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ESAC-Video-Games-Profile-2013-FINAL-2013-10-21-CIRC.pdf" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Entertainment Software Association of Canada (PDF)</a> has revealed that Canada's video game industry generated over CA$2.3 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) for the country's economy in 2012.</p><p style="">Gross domestic product is a figure that represents the market value of all officially recognised final goods and services produced in a country within a certain time period. According to the report, the video game industry also generated a total of CA$1.7 billion in labour income for Canadian residents.</p><p style="">Prepared by Nordicity, the report outlines the size of Canada's video game industry, and states that developers made up 97.4 percent of the revenue made by game firms. Approximately 2.5 percent was credited to game publishers, and 0.5 percent was attributed to "middleware development".</p><p style="">The report indicates that "expenditures on video game development, which occur today, not only generate wages and GDP in the economy today, but also provide the foundation for higher economic growth in the future".</p><p style="">Several game developers currently have studios in Canada, including BioWare, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and the newly formed <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-bioware-and-riot-games-developers-form-new-studio/1100-6414241/" data-ref-id="1100-6414241">Hinterland</a>. Earlier this year, crowdfunding website <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/kickstarter-goes-live-in-canada/1100-6412536/" data-ref-id="1100-6412536">Kickstarter </a>begun accepting project submissions based in Canada.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6412072" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6412072/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:36:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/game-industry-adds-ca-2-3b-to-canada-s-gdp/1100-6415723/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/glare-review/1900-6415494/ <p style="">You are the Shiner.</p><p style="">The Shiner is a powerful guardian with a single objective: to obliterate the darkness that has recently begun encroaching upon the galaxy. Armed with magical light that allows you to push away foul mist and nasty creatures, you advance through a series of treacherous environments set on mostly barren planets, banishing all that is murky.</p><p style="">Glare is in many respects a conventional 2D platformer, meaning that you're called upon to perform many precise jumps. The unique hook in this case is your ability to cast a bright beam on enemies and the world around them, often while airborne. You must master that skill to thrive. At first, you use the dazzling beam to repel projectiles and push away the floating purple aliens and skittering nasties that crowd your space, but the beam's use soon grows beyond such basic utility. Shadowy plant life in the background is brought to the foreground when you shine light in the right spot, allowing the vegetation to propel you toward higher ground. Switches can also be activated, producing zip lines and other helpful means of navigation. Early on, you gain the ability to fire bullets, but you must often choose between illumination and firepower. In tough spots, controlling crowds of strange beasts means alternating. If you are being swarmed by gliding enemies that suddenly emerge from a portal, it's easy to become overwhelmed until you clear out a safe path.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349114-0005.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349114" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349114-0005.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349114"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2349114-0005.png"></a><figcaption>Sure, aim for the sky! It's not like you have to worry about running out of batteries or anything.</figcaption></figure><p style="">You start your tour of the galaxy by exploring a verdant forest environment known as Tree World. From there, you go on a voyage through the expected environmental tropes, traversing desert, rock, ice, and lava. The locations feature detailed foliage, intricate rock formations, and sparkling ravines covered in ice and snow--familiar but attractive locations in which background beauty and foreground dangers are easily distinguished. Each new environment introduces a couple of new monsters, but you generally deal with the same four or five critters.</p><blockquote data-align="center" data-size="large"><p style="">Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise.</p></blockquote><p style="">Monsters roam in the alien environs, but fights against these beasts are just an afterthought. Your most fearsome opponent is the generous supply of spiked vines that flourish on each planet. Brushing against the razor-sharp barbs spells instant death, even if you have taken no prior damage. Sometimes, those vines seem cheap in areas you're forced to hurry through, with you running or falling into a pit of spikes you couldn't have seen coming, but for the most part, stages are designed in a manner that avoids producing such frustrating circumstances. Even when you stumble across an exception to that rule, the levels benefit from a generous checkpoint system. There are a few cases where checkpoints are more frugal than normal, but you rarely lose much ground when monsters or spikes produce an unpleasant death.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349946-glare.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349946" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349946-glare.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349946"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/416/4161502/2349946-glare.png"></a><figcaption>Hanging around spikes all the time can be bad for your health. Didn't Buffy teach you that much?</figcaption></figure><p style="">Glare's controls are every bit as responsive as they should be in a game of this sort. You begin with the ability to jump long distances, bound up walls in narrow vertical shafts, and rush down slopes. Special pedestals you come across in each level grant access to additional moves, but a lot of those enhancements don't require direct player input. For instance, you gain the ability to dash along certain slopes to build speed that allows you to clear wider gaps, but you don't have to do anything more than run along the appropriate path to enjoy the benefits.</p><p style="">Mild puzzle elements provide occasional interludes, but such moments are too traditional to be interesting. They typically require you to find a missing piece to a machine that allows you to open a locked door. In this case, you press a switch to make the piece appear and rush forward so that you can nab it in time. Once you grab it, you easily place it where it needs to go, and the door opens. A more successful attempt to vary the tempo comes elsewhere, when you ride winged creatures across fields of spikes while blasting enemies out of the air. In another case, you ascend a wide vertical shaft by fashioning makeshift ledges out of fragile bubbles. The game could have used more inventive moments like these.</p><figure data-align="left" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349116-0007.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349116" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2349116-0007.png" data-ref-id="1300-2349116"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/416/4161502/2349116-0007.png"></a><figcaption> It's always better to jump over this fellow than to face his charge.</figcaption></figure><p style="">At least the bosses keep things fresh. Most of them briefly turn the game into a twin-stick shooter along the lines of Geometry Wars. You float around an enclosed chamber, chipping away at the boss's armor so that its weak point appears and you can blast it. The foe at the end of each successive stage becomes more difficult than the previous one, but the process is never overly frustrating, and those encounters are a nice change of pace from the standard platforming segments that lead up to them.</p><p style="">Glare is satisfying as it goes--it just doesn't go far enough. There are only six stages in all, and the first and last ones can be cleared quickly, especially once you are familiar with them. The first five areas each contain hidden artifacts that lie well off the beaten path, but there's no obvious benefit to finding them, and you don't get to use abilities gained in later stages when you head back to early ones. Securing a better time isn't really motivation to return, unless you're the sort who particularly enjoys speed runs: there's no way to easily share your triumphs with friends or rivals.</p><p style="">Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise. This is an entertaining pit stop that can tide you over on your journey to a bigger, brighter galaxy.</p> Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:16:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/glare-review/1900-6415494/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/glare-video-review/2300-6415705/ Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise. This is an entertaining pit stop that can tide you over on your journey to a bigger, brighter galaxy. Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:05:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/glare-video-review/2300-6415705/

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http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Tue, 22 Oct 2013 00:16:40 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-wins-7-million-in-bot-company-lawsuit/1100-6415695/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2350418-2398146270-75859.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2350418" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2350418-2398146270-75859.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2350418"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/280/2802776/2350418-2398146270-75859.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">Blizzard Entertainment has won a lawsuit against a <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft/">World of Warcraft</a> bot company for $7 million.</p><p style="">According to a report on <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-10-21-blizzard-wins-USD7m-in-bot-suit" rel="nofollow">GamesIndustry</a>, the suit was originally filed by Blizzard Entertainment against Ceiling Fan Software in December 2011. Ceiling Fan Software was allegedly behind a number of World of Warcraft bots, including Shadow Bot and Pocket Gnome.</p><p style="">A <a href="http://legal.ceilingfansoftware.com/docs/147%20Order%20Granting%20Blizzard%27s%20Motion%20for%20Summary%20judgment%20and%20Denying%20Defendants%27%20Motion%20for%20Summary%20Judgment%20%282013-09-24%29.pdf" rel="nofollow">California Court has ordered Ceiling Fan Software</a> to cease operations and pay Blizzard Entertainment $7 million in damages. A statement posted on the <a href="http://legal.ceilingfansoftware.com/" rel="nofollow">Ceiling Fan Software website</a> cites "two years of legal battles" by the organisation to "both pursue our right to operate and our customer's right to play WoW as they choose".</p><p style="">Ceiling Fan Software is accepting donations to assist with "outstanding legal fees".</p><p style="">Parent company Activision Blizzard revealed a drop in World of Warcraft subscribers earlier this year. Despite <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/world-of-warcraft-subscribers-drop-to-77-million/1100-6412086/">dipping to 7.7 million active players</a>, the publisher revealed that the game remains the most popular subscription-based MMO in the world.</p><p style="">Subscribers for World of Warcraft peaked at over 12 million in October 2010. The original World of Warcraft game was released in 2004, and was followed by four expansion packs: <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-battle-chest/">Burning Crusade</a>, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-wrath-of-the-lich-king/">Wrath of the Lich King</a>, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm/">Cataclysm</a>, and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria/">Mists of Pandaria</a>.</p><p style="">A film adaptation of the Warcraft universe <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/world-of-warcraft-film-begins-shooting-in-2014/1100-6409174/">is scheduled to begin filming in 2014</a>.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6398951" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6398951/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Mon, 21 Oct 2013 18:06:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-wins-7-million-in-bot-company-lawsuit/1100-6415695/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-wolf-among-us-episode-1-review-testing-my-fait/1900-6415497/ <p style="">Over many years and many intellectual properties, developer Telltale Games has honed its aptitude for creating player-guided, story-driven games, culminating with last year's critically acclaimed series, <a href="/the-walking-dead-a-telltale-games-series/" data-ref-id="false">The Walking Dead</a>. Now it has introduced player agency to another comic series, Fables, which proves to be an uneasier fit. The bold artistic style and lively characters bring creator Bill Willingham's world to life vividly, but giving you control over a strong personality in this rich universe has a diminishing effect on both.</p><p style="">I own the first trade paperback in the comic series, titled <i>Fables: Legends in Exile</i>. It had been a few years since I'd read it, but when I started playing The Wolf Among Us, it all came flooding back to me. The premise: colorful characters out of fables and fairy tales have been forced out of their magical homelands and now live in modern society. Bound together in a secret community, they must face the troubles of mundane life as well as a few challenges unique to them; nonhuman folks must constantly maintain a costly glamour spell in order to appear human, lest they be sent upstate to the farm where conditions are less than desirable.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2309293-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1626.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2309293" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2309293-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1626.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2309293"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2309293-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1626.jpg"></a><figcaption>There are centuries of viciousness behind that snarl.</figcaption></figure><p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><p style="">It's an immediately intriguing setting, one that drew me in as effectively in the comic as it does in the game. Affinity for beloved characters from my childhood mixed with empathy for their unhappy exile and made me yearn to learn all I could about their plight. The Wolf Among Us is quick to introduce a great example: Mr. Toad. Once the quirky, wealthy owner of the stately Toad Hall, Mr. Toad is now the landlord of a run-down tenement house that is currently playing host to a violent domestic dispute. His brusque cynicism speaks volumes about his change of fortune, and there's an undeniable charm in having an adversarial conversation with a cranky, bipedal toad.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">As the Big Bad Wolf (call him "Bigby"), you have a part to play in this dialogue. You're the Fabletown sheriff, and you have to respond to the ruckus in Toad's building, but not before confronting him about his conspicuous nonhuman appearance. Whether you give him a hard time or let it slide this time is up to you, and you can choose your dialogue responses from among four choices (one of which is usually to remain silent). To keep things moving, you have a limited amount of time to choose your response before the scene moves on, and this can urge you to be a bit more instinctual with your choices, as opposed to letting you carefully deliberate as long as you like.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Dialogue choices are the beating heart of the gameplay experience in The Wolf Among Us. By taking a substantial degree of control over Bigby's lines, you take on an active role in shaping his character and, by extension, the story. Having a part to play in the story makes you an active participant and is meant to make you more invested in the characters, events, and world of the game. Many narrative-heavy games have been immensely enriched by this kind of investment, including <a href="/beyond-two-souls/" data-ref-id="false">Beyond: Two Souls</a>, which I had finished a few days earlier and found utterly engrossing. Telltale's previous tales have benefitted greatly from giving the player control through choice, but The Wolf Among Us is poorer for it.</p><blockquote data-align="center" data-size="large"><p style="">Instead of feeling like I was molding my own character in the game, I felt like I was diminishing a character from the comic book.</p></blockquote><p style="">So why did this technique work so wonderfully with The Walking Dead yet falter here? The difference and the disconnect lie in the nature of the protagonists. In The Walking Dead, you played as Lee Everett, a character created specifically for the video game adaptation of the comic series. Though his past is eventually fleshed out, he begins the episodic series as a largely blank slate. This leaves a lot of room for his character to develop and, more importantly, a lot of room for you to create his identity. With each choice you make, you are claiming parts of Lee's personality for yourself and becoming more invested in his struggles.</p><p style="">The same is true for Bigby Wolf; with each choice you make, you are claiming parts of his personality for yourself. However, while playing as Lee is like filling a role, playing as Bigby is like taking one over. With every dialogue choice, you are imposing your personality on a strong character; Bigby has a dark past that he has tried to escape in his new life, and the struggle between his reformed attitude and his true nature is a gripping one. It's not that any of the dialogue options feel wildly out of character, because they don't, and the sharp writing throughout strikes a great grim tone with a few welcome beats of levity.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311569-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+08-32-1308.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311569" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311569-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+08-32-1308.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311569"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/416/4161502/2311569-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+08-32-1308.jpg"></a></figure><p style=""> </p><p style="">Rather, the issue is that in shaping Bigby's responses, I really just wanted to know what Bigby would do rather than choosing myself. By choosing sympathetic, indifferent, or harsh options, I felt like I was shutting off other parts of his personality that might be truer or more interesting than the ones I was choosing. Bigby's strong persona was already well established in this world, and I felt like an interloper. Instead of feeling like I was molding my own character in the game, I felt like I was diminishing a character from the comic book.</p><p style=""><span>This feeling nagged me throughout the game, but I was still eager to see this first of five planned chapters through to its conclusion. Encountering other characters, like the boozy flying monkey or one of the three not-so-little pigs, was a regular treat, and interacting with the hard-working Snow White and the hard-drinking Woodsman left me even more sympathetic than I'd been to begin with. Bigby's investigations lead to some startling discoveries and hint nicely at the conflicts to come (though how much those conflicts diverge from arcs in the comic series, I couldn't say). With strong dialogue and interesting characters, The Wolf Among Us tells a stimulating tale.</span></p><p style=""> </p><p style="">There are spikes of action as well that lend some extra drama to the proceedings and offer provocative peeks at what happens when Bigby lets his claws come out. These scenes rely entirely on those double-edged swords: quick-time events. While these scripted skirmishes are exciting and nicely choreographed, the large button prompts tend to draw your attention away from the action, though one type of prompt does counteract this by making you look at environmental elements. Beyond: Two Souls had similar fight scenes, but instead of looking for a prompt, you had to take your directional cue from the protagonist's body language by paying close attention to the dramatic action taking place. I felt invigorated as I closely watched my character's movements, while in The Wolf Among Us, I felt enervated as I waited for the on-screen prompts.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311564-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1661.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311564" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311564-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1661.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311564"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2311564-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1661.jpg"></a><figcaption>It's hard out there for a pig.</figcaption></figure><p style=""> </p><p style="">Certain conversations were also plagued with a similarly draining mechanic. Intermittently, the game displays a message in the corner of the screen informing you how a character reacted to something you said or did. Lines like "Snow White is still skeptical of you" or "Toad will remember that" are meant to be teasers of consequences to come, but they feel like placeholder captions for sentiments that should be expressed through animation or dialogue. The Wolf Among Us conveys a range of emotion through the natural flow of the game, making these messages stand out like so many sore thumbs.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">After the few hours it took to complete this chapter, I wasn't certain I how I felt about playing the next chapter. The characters and the world of The Wolf Among Us create a strong draw, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was somewhere I didn't belong. The world of Fables is so rich and so intriguing, is there really room for player agency? In The Walking Dead, zombies are a variable that allow for flexible dramatic staging. In Fables, the fairy tale characters are constants on a dramatic stage that is already set. Without an inherent narrative flexibility, The Wolf Among Us makes an awkward fit for the winning Telltale formula.</p> Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:01:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-wolf-among-us-episode-1-review-testing-my-fait/1900-6415497/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/house-of-horrors-scp-containment-breach/2300-6415681/ Zorine and Jess have trouble with the phrase "cervical fracture" and walk backwards for a very long time while trying to outsmart creepy SCP monsters. They also die a lot. Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/house-of-horrors-scp-containment-breach/2300-6415681/

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Tue, 22 Oct 2013 00:16:40 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-wins-7-million-in-bot-company-lawsuit/1100-6415695/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2350418-2398146270-75859.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2350418" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/280/2802776/2350418-2398146270-75859.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2350418"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/280/2802776/2350418-2398146270-75859.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">Blizzard Entertainment has won a lawsuit against a <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft/">World of Warcraft</a> bot company for $7 million.</p><p style="">According to a report on <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-10-21-blizzard-wins-USD7m-in-bot-suit" rel="nofollow">GamesIndustry</a>, the suit was originally filed by Blizzard Entertainment against Ceiling Fan Software in December 2011. Ceiling Fan Software was allegedly behind a number of World of Warcraft bots, including Shadow Bot and Pocket Gnome.</p><p style="">A <a href="http://legal.ceilingfansoftware.com/docs/147%20Order%20Granting%20Blizzard%27s%20Motion%20for%20Summary%20judgment%20and%20Denying%20Defendants%27%20Motion%20for%20Summary%20Judgment%20%282013-09-24%29.pdf" rel="nofollow">California Court has ordered Ceiling Fan Software</a> to cease operations and pay Blizzard Entertainment $7 million in damages. A statement posted on the <a href="http://legal.ceilingfansoftware.com/" rel="nofollow">Ceiling Fan Software website</a> cites "two years of legal battles" by the organisation to "both pursue our right to operate and our customer's right to play WoW as they choose".</p><p style="">Ceiling Fan Software is accepting donations to assist with "outstanding legal fees".</p><p style="">Parent company Activision Blizzard revealed a drop in World of Warcraft subscribers earlier this year. Despite <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/world-of-warcraft-subscribers-drop-to-77-million/1100-6412086/">dipping to 7.7 million active players</a>, the publisher revealed that the game remains the most popular subscription-based MMO in the world.</p><p style="">Subscribers for World of Warcraft peaked at over 12 million in October 2010. The original World of Warcraft game was released in 2004, and was followed by four expansion packs: <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-battle-chest/">Burning Crusade</a>, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-wrath-of-the-lich-king/">Wrath of the Lich King</a>, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm/">Cataclysm</a>, and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria/">Mists of Pandaria</a>.</p><p style="">A film adaptation of the Warcraft universe <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/world-of-warcraft-film-begins-shooting-in-2014/1100-6409174/">is scheduled to begin filming in 2014</a>.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6398951" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6398951/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p> Mon, 21 Oct 2013 18:06:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-wins-7-million-in-bot-company-lawsuit/1100-6415695/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-wolf-among-us-episode-1-review-testing-my-fait/1900-6415497/ <p style="">Over many years and many intellectual properties, developer Telltale Games has honed its aptitude for creating player-guided, story-driven games, culminating with last year's critically acclaimed series, <a href="/the-walking-dead-a-telltale-games-series/" data-ref-id="false">The Walking Dead</a>. Now it has introduced player agency to another comic series, Fables, which proves to be an uneasier fit. The bold artistic style and lively characters bring creator Bill Willingham's world to life vividly, but giving you control over a strong personality in this rich universe has a diminishing effect on both.</p><p style="">I own the first trade paperback in the comic series, titled <i>Fables: Legends in Exile</i>. It had been a few years since I'd read it, but when I started playing The Wolf Among Us, it all came flooding back to me. The premise: colorful characters out of fables and fairy tales have been forced out of their magical homelands and now live in modern society. Bound together in a secret community, they must face the troubles of mundane life as well as a few challenges unique to them; nonhuman folks must constantly maintain a costly glamour spell in order to appear human, lest they be sent upstate to the farm where conditions are less than desirable.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2309293-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1626.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2309293" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2309293-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1626.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2309293"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2309293-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1626.jpg"></a><figcaption>There are centuries of viciousness behind that snarl.</figcaption></figure><p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><p style="">It's an immediately intriguing setting, one that drew me in as effectively in the comic as it does in the game. Affinity for beloved characters from my childhood mixed with empathy for their unhappy exile and made me yearn to learn all I could about their plight. The Wolf Among Us is quick to introduce a great example: Mr. Toad. Once the quirky, wealthy owner of the stately Toad Hall, Mr. Toad is now the landlord of a run-down tenement house that is currently playing host to a violent domestic dispute. His brusque cynicism speaks volumes about his change of fortune, and there's an undeniable charm in having an adversarial conversation with a cranky, bipedal toad.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">As the Big Bad Wolf (call him "Bigby"), you have a part to play in this dialogue. You're the Fabletown sheriff, and you have to respond to the ruckus in Toad's building, but not before confronting him about his conspicuous nonhuman appearance. Whether you give him a hard time or let it slide this time is up to you, and you can choose your dialogue responses from among four choices (one of which is usually to remain silent). To keep things moving, you have a limited amount of time to choose your response before the scene moves on, and this can urge you to be a bit more instinctual with your choices, as opposed to letting you carefully deliberate as long as you like.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Dialogue choices are the beating heart of the gameplay experience in The Wolf Among Us. By taking a substantial degree of control over Bigby's lines, you take on an active role in shaping his character and, by extension, the story. Having a part to play in the story makes you an active participant and is meant to make you more invested in the characters, events, and world of the game. Many narrative-heavy games have been immensely enriched by this kind of investment, including <a href="/beyond-two-souls/" data-ref-id="false">Beyond: Two Souls</a>, which I had finished a few days earlier and found utterly engrossing. Telltale's previous tales have benefitted greatly from giving the player control through choice, but The Wolf Among Us is poorer for it.</p><blockquote data-align="center" data-size="large"><p style="">Instead of feeling like I was molding my own character in the game, I felt like I was diminishing a character from the comic book.</p></blockquote><p style="">So why did this technique work so wonderfully with The Walking Dead yet falter here? The difference and the disconnect lie in the nature of the protagonists. In The Walking Dead, you played as Lee Everett, a character created specifically for the video game adaptation of the comic series. Though his past is eventually fleshed out, he begins the episodic series as a largely blank slate. This leaves a lot of room for his character to develop and, more importantly, a lot of room for you to create his identity. With each choice you make, you are claiming parts of Lee's personality for yourself and becoming more invested in his struggles.</p><p style="">The same is true for Bigby Wolf; with each choice you make, you are claiming parts of his personality for yourself. However, while playing as Lee is like filling a role, playing as Bigby is like taking one over. With every dialogue choice, you are imposing your personality on a strong character; Bigby has a dark past that he has tried to escape in his new life, and the struggle between his reformed attitude and his true nature is a gripping one. It's not that any of the dialogue options feel wildly out of character, because they don't, and the sharp writing throughout strikes a great grim tone with a few welcome beats of levity.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="small" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311569-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+08-32-1308.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311569" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311569-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+08-32-1308.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311569"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_small/416/4161502/2311569-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+08-32-1308.jpg"></a></figure><p style=""> </p><p style="">Rather, the issue is that in shaping Bigby's responses, I really just wanted to know what Bigby would do rather than choosing myself. By choosing sympathetic, indifferent, or harsh options, I felt like I was shutting off other parts of his personality that might be truer or more interesting than the ones I was choosing. Bigby's strong persona was already well established in this world, and I felt like an interloper. Instead of feeling like I was molding my own character in the game, I felt like I was diminishing a character from the comic book.</p><p style=""><span>This feeling nagged me throughout the game, but I was still eager to see this first of five planned chapters through to its conclusion. Encountering other characters, like the boozy flying monkey or one of the three not-so-little pigs, was a regular treat, and interacting with the hard-working Snow White and the hard-drinking Woodsman left me even more sympathetic than I'd been to begin with. Bigby's investigations lead to some startling discoveries and hint nicely at the conflicts to come (though how much those conflicts diverge from arcs in the comic series, I couldn't say). With strong dialogue and interesting characters, The Wolf Among Us tells a stimulating tale.</span></p><p style=""> </p><p style="">There are spikes of action as well that lend some extra drama to the proceedings and offer provocative peeks at what happens when Bigby lets his claws come out. These scenes rely entirely on those double-edged swords: quick-time events. While these scripted skirmishes are exciting and nicely choreographed, the large button prompts tend to draw your attention away from the action, though one type of prompt does counteract this by making you look at environmental elements. Beyond: Two Souls had similar fight scenes, but instead of looking for a prompt, you had to take your directional cue from the protagonist's body language by paying close attention to the dramatic action taking place. I felt invigorated as I closely watched my character's movements, while in The Wolf Among Us, I felt enervated as I waited for the on-screen prompts.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311564-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1661.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311564" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2311564-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1661.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2311564"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2311564-wolf+among+us+360+-+wolf+among+us+-+2013-10-07+07-44-1661.jpg"></a><figcaption>It's hard out there for a pig.</figcaption></figure><p style=""> </p><p style="">Certain conversations were also plagued with a similarly draining mechanic. Intermittently, the game displays a message in the corner of the screen informing you how a character reacted to something you said or did. Lines like "Snow White is still skeptical of you" or "Toad will remember that" are meant to be teasers of consequences to come, but they feel like placeholder captions for sentiments that should be expressed through animation or dialogue. The Wolf Among Us conveys a range of emotion through the natural flow of the game, making these messages stand out like so many sore thumbs.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">After the few hours it took to complete this chapter, I wasn't certain I how I felt about playing the next chapter. The characters and the world of The Wolf Among Us create a strong draw, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was somewhere I didn't belong. The world of Fables is so rich and so intriguing, is there really room for player agency? In The Walking Dead, zombies are a variable that allow for flexible dramatic staging. In Fables, the fairy tale characters are constants on a dramatic stage that is already set. Without an inherent narrative flexibility, The Wolf Among Us makes an awkward fit for the winning Telltale formula.</p> Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:01:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-wolf-among-us-episode-1-review-testing-my-fait/1900-6415497/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/house-of-horrors-scp-containment-breach/2300-6415681/ Zorine and Jess have trouble with the phrase "cervical fracture" and walk backwards for a very long time while trying to outsmart creepy SCP monsters. They also die a lot. Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/house-of-horrors-scp-containment-breach/2300-6415681/

15.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

Grand Theft Auto V Review - Southland Sprawl

Grand Theft Auto V deserves accolades for its innovative triumvirate of antiheroes, its many and varied missions, and the sprawling depiction of Los Santos and the hillbilly outbacks. But to rip off what an erudite author once said about Oakland, there is no "there" there. I can't imagine any scenario in which a literary icon like Gertrude Stein would be critiquing a video game, but that legendary putdown can also apply to the Greater Los Santos Area. There is something missing in GTAV that makes the game less engaging than the sociopathic sandboxes of GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas, the two GTA games that will perpetually be my measuring sticks for the franchise.

What is missing most of all is a solid sense of place. Both Vice City and San Andreas reveled in nostalgia. Vice City reeked of the '80s, from the pitch-perfect radio stations to the Crockett and Tubbs lookalikes that showed up in their Testarossas--er, Cheetahs--when you cranked your wanted level to three stars. San Andreas evoked the early 1990s in a similar way. San Andreas' theme was not as developed as Vice City's, but the game still depicted a recognizable time and place in its grim cartoon look at Los Angeles--with sidelong glances at LA County, San Francisco, and Las Vegas--during the explosion of rap and the racial tension that saw a good chunk of SoCal go up in flames after the Rodney King verdict.

Both San Andreas and Vice City seemed like real places. Rockstar's biggest achievement in these games was in creating places that you wanted to visit. Vice City was most successful at this. I practically moved to Vice City; I knew the streets by name and could find my way around there better than in the real world. This devotion speaks to Vice City's power to invade my waking thoughts. Long after the game's release, I would go for long drives around town, listening to the radio and indulging my inner hooligan in a rampage or three. The same is true of San Andreas, although the allure of the '80s theme usually won out before I got the San Andreas disc into the system. Rockstar hasn't forgotten how to do this sort of thing. I liked visiting the faux West of Red Dead Redemption just as much as I did Vice City, and still load up the game to ride around the lonely prairie.

GTAV, much like its immediate predecessor, GTAIV, is too almost-modern for its own good. While the setting is ostensibly today, the plot goes back to the 2008-2009 depths of the Great Recession. The story feels dated, and not in the good way of Vice City and San Andreas, which were intentionally retro. Instead of thinking, "Cool! That Exploder: Evacuator Part II movie commercial perfectly sums up how dumb action movies really were in 1986!" you're thinking, "Man, the developers started writing this stuff a long time ago."

Look beyond the jokey stuff, and you discover an unrelentingly bleak, black-hearted look at humanity.

Not that the economy is really a whole lot better today, of course. But worries about the housing crisis, the implosion of Lehman Brothers, and the bursting of the housing bubble in the US--all things that clearly motivated a lot of the storyline in GTAV--are not exactly current. We've moved on to new economic meltdowns, like the stateside debt ceiling crisis. It's critique of mainstream media is equally archaic; taking shots at reality television for being crass also isn't cutting-edge comedy. Grand Theft Auto V was a clearly expensive game to make and obviously took a long time to develop, but a story that is only contemporary when work begins in earnest on a project of this magnitude ultimately looks dated. It suffers from the curse of trying to be too current.

The triumvirate of protagonists represents the before, after, and way after of humanity.

Los Santos, at least, is brilliantly realized, particularly as a technical achievement. The city and the surrounding meth-producing rural environs form the most realistic depiction of a metropolitan area to ever grace a game. The whole burg lives and breathes, offering colorful slices of life whether you're creeping through backyards in the dead of night or just wandering down the sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon. I don't think I ever encountered any window dressing; all of the people seemed to be present in their own moments, not just there to serve as my personal backdrop. But it's so damn big. I long for the simpler layouts of Vice City and even the more sprawling San Andreas. You could get to know them in a reasonable amount of time, which added to that easy sense of familiarity that turned them into real places in short order.

This is the most personable GTA game, with a strong emphasis on the three lead characters that delves into their psyches (and even into your own psyche by the end of the storyline). That isn't always a good thing, especially when it comes to Trevor, who's probably the most reprehensible dirtbag protagonist in the history of gaming, if not everything. Still, I couldn't look away. Trevor's most malevolent lines were also some of the most hilarious in the game. He forms a vital part of the triumvirate of playable characters, which are a commentary on life in 2008-era America. Trevor represents bottoming out, while burned-out Michael is the guy who's got it all and is still up to his neck in ennui (he's sort of Tommy Vercetti, 25 years later), and up-and-coming Franklin is the man on the rise who's eager to do anything to make the money needed to be regarded as a success in Los Santos. The three are a before, after, and way after.

Scripted missions are the best part of GTAV, especially the multipart heists.

The script is brilliant, from the start with Franklin and his idiotic buddy Lamar, through Michael's spoiled-brat family life, through Trevor's meth-lab murders, through the multiple-choice endings. GTAV gets back to the psychopathic comic strip best represented in the craziness of Tommy Vercetti in Vice City, but with more plot points and tighter characterizations to hold the story together. This game hates everyone and everything, expressing an unrelentingly bleak, black-hearted look at humanity, with even the few rays of sunlight bookended by atrocity. Trevor shows mercy on occasion, though the biggest act of charity he offers in the entire game comes right after introducing a guy to creative uses for a car battery and a monkey wrench.

The appeal of exploring the map on your own has been diminished.

If you have a dark sense of humor, there are more laugh-out-loud moments here than in all of the previous GTA games combined. Being able to switch between the members of this trio at will is a great mechanic that accentuates the humor. Flipping over to see what Trevor is doing almost always results in tuning in to pure insanity. My favorite such event was dropping in on him just as he was looming over a bikini-clad girl on Vespucci Beach, while wearing nothing but a filthy muscle shirt and tighty whities, saying something about her licking his white bits. Such moments are likely scripted, given how this Walter White moment led directly into a mission opening where Trevor dropped his undies in front of hapless Floyd, but it all seems organic when you're playing.

Missions have also been laid out almost perfectly, with loads of options as to how you play them, especially when it comes to the big multipart heists that see you planning and executing jobs with the help of hired operatives. Events get overly surreal at times, with the trio working together to form something of a James Bond team adept at everything from flying planes to scuba diving. Still, it's all incredibly captivating, and the game does everything at least reasonably well. Flying and landing planes, for instance, still aren't fully enjoyable tasks, but they've come a long way since San Andreas.

Women have few roles to play in GTA V. Here's the most common.

Unfortunately, the appeal of exploring the map on your own has been diminished. Attempts at free-form chaos inevitably had me switching back to the scripted stories and missions, which yielded far more entertainment. The only thing I enjoyed about exploring was stumbling upon random occurrences, such as robberies, an apparent bus hijacking, and police shootouts with other criminals. Yet even these great little touches paled in comparison with the scripted missions, and core components of the game design have been tweaked to raise the profile of scripted story at the cost of the open-world concept that has powered previous GTAs. You can still go gonzo in style, but it's not nearly as easy to explode in a random manner when the mood strikes you.

One reason the zaniness feels so limited is that the police are extraordinarily good at what they do and extremely aggressive. They arrive on the scene of even one- and two-star wanted level incidents almost immediately, and a police chopper is quick to show up the moment you hit three stars. Police boats roar up quickly if you try to take to the waves, and cops shoot extremely well, to the point where they can tag you with bullets from a good block away. Basic patrol cars accelerate almost as well as the average Pegassi Infernus, and their drivers are expert at cutting you off and blocking you in. If you want to go on a satisfying tear, you need to armor up, make sure you have loads of the best hardware that Ammu-Nation carries, and have a zippy car nearby. Walking out of a hospital in a bad mood and going berserk with cathartic anger generally gets you wasted again in very short order.

It's a lot more fun to escape the cops by slamming a car into a Pay 'n' Spray booth at a hundred miles an hour than it is to cower in an alley for five minutes while the police gradually give up their pursuit.

You can still go on rampages and evade the police, of course, but you have to do it more realistically by switching cars, hiding in bushes, ducking into somebody's backyard, hanging out in a parking garage, and so forth. This is a more lifelike way of ditching the boys in blue, but it's not very entertaining, especially if you like the intensity of one-man-stand firefights. The best way to eliminate a wanted level now is to hide. I had the most success by driving off-road where the cops couldn't follow me very well. Then I just stuck the car in a gully and sat back until my wanted level vanished completely.

Long gone are the days when you could clock six stars (the game now tops out at five stars), get the army after you, and still escape justice simply by scraping into a Pay 'n' Spray a second ahead of the long arm of the law. Pay 'n' Spray shops have actually been pulled out of GTAV entirely in favor of Los Santos Customs, which is more of a car modification garage than a ready way to escape the cops, since it's useless unless you've already lost your pursuers. Magic car paint in Vice City and San Andreas may have been pretty ridiculous, but it was also a great game mechanism that emphasized the catch-me-if-you-can excitement that made sandbox rampages so integral a part of the GTA experience. It's a lot more fun to escape the cops by slamming a car into a Pay 'n' Spray booth at a hundred miles an hour than it is to cower in an alley for five minutes while the police gradually give up their pursuit.

World-weary Michael is a memorable character who seems like a Behind the Music look at Tommy Vercetti, 25 years later.

This is a considerably different style of game than either San Andreas or Vice City, with more structure and less of that eyes-wide-open world where the most fun was surveying the landscape and seeing what kind of trouble you could get into. This is a new GTA, one that is a great game on its own terms, but also one that fails to capture the magic of the freestyle adventures that set the tone for the series. I can't see myself coming back to GTAV very often now that I've wrapped the main storyline, save to check out the expansions that Rockstar is undoubtedly prepping for 2014, or to get into the multiplayer, if and when it lives up to its potential. Here, because the game's structure is so tight, done is done. That's typical of how I play games. But it isn't typical of how I play GTA games.

15.06 | 0 komentar | Read More

New Releases: Batman Arkham Origins, Deus Ex Directors Cut and Path of Exile!

Isn't Arkham to be released the 25th instead of 22nd? Even its own facebook page posted a '5 Days!' message today.

And if I understand correctly, Deus Ex is only 10 bucks if I already have it on Steam (through a wicked summer deal; only 2.50 euros!)?

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AU Shippin' Out October 21-27: Batman: Arkham Origins

Batman: Arkham Origins is a prequel to the storyline established in Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game hits Aussie retail on October 25 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii U. At present, there are no plans for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions.

In Batman: Arkham Origins, fans will play as a younger Batman as he faces pivotal moments in his early career. Players will meet many important figures in the Batman universe for the first time in Arkham Origins.

Batman is voiced in Arkham Origins by Roger Craig Smith, who played Ezio in Assassin's Creed II and Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 6. The Joker will be played by Troy Baker, who voiced Joel from The Last of Us and Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced a Batman: Arkham Origins season pass for downloadable content. Players who purchase the $20 pass on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, or PC will receive access to five upcoming downloadable content packs.

The game will also introduce a multiplayer mode for the first time in the series. The multiplayer component was developed by Brink studio Splash Damage and will not be available on the Wii U version of the game.

For more details on other games coming out in Australia this week, check out the full list below.

October 24, 2013

Raven's Cry (360, PS3, PC)

October 25, 2013

Batman: Arkham Origins (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (3DS, Vita)

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Gamespot's Site Mashup

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Sun, 20 Oct 2013 01:01:38 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/top-5-skyrim-mods-of-the-week-avengers-of-skyrim/2300-6415655/ Join Cam and Seb as they team up with The Avengers to find the mighty Staff of Chickenball, do battle with Loki, and travel along the Moonpath to Elsweyr. Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/top-5-skyrim-mods-of-the-week-avengers-of-skyrim/2300-6415655/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/community-news-update-friday-10-18/1100-6415670/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2343641-communitynewslogo.png" data-ref-id="1300-2343641" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2343641-communitynewslogo.png" data-ref-id="1300-2343641"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1522/15229312/2343641-communitynewslogo.png"></a></figure><p style="">The new site has been on its legs for a little over a week and so far things have been fairly smooth sailing. Of course, there have been a few hiccups along the way but for the most part everything seems to be getting back to normal. Remember, if you find yourself experiencing any technical difficulties, bugs, or just a feature that you miss having around; be sure to share on our <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/forums/bug-reporting-feedback-1000006/" data-ref-id="false">Bug Report and Feedback forum</a>.</p><h2><b>GameSpot Popular Pick</b></h2><p style="">This week, Sony detailed the cost of the PS4 in Brazil, shockingly enough the next-gen console will be going for $3,999 Brazilian Real due to import fees and taxes. Additionally, games will cost around $179 Brazilian Real. <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-costs-1-850-in-brazil/1100-6415637/" data-ref-id="1100-6415637">Full Story</a>.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Skylanders: Swap Force is a solid action adventure game complete with a wide variety of lush, colorful environments, an extensive array of enemies to slay, and fun characters to interact with. This is a ridiculous, Saturday-morning-cartoon world, with goblins, trolls, frost giants, mechanical golems, bats, goo-based monsters, and startled sheep being hurled at you as you fight through the single-player campaign. <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/skylanders-swap-force-review/1900-6415480/" data-ref-id="1900-6415480">Full Review</a>.</p><p style=""> </p><h2><b>Community Feature: Facebook Fan Sahara</b></h2><p style="">This week's community spotlight shines on our Facebook fan Sahara A. from Brooklyn, NY. She was one of our winners from the Injustice: Gods Among Us contest that we ran. She took the time to share with us this nifty little video of her unboxing her giant box of goodies that we sent (we gave her some extra perks for it being her birthday).</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6xcyoJY-vM" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U6xcyoJY-vM?wmode=opaque&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;feature=oembed" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p><h2> </h2><h2><b>World of WarCraft Trivial Pursuit Winners</b></h2><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2347099-2323377-photo.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2347099" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2347099-2323377-photo.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2347099"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1522/15229312/2347099-2323377-photo.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">On Monday, we posted a giveaway of World of Warcraft Trivial Pursuit Editions on our Facebook page. Here are the winners:</p><p style="">Atish C., Bryan S., Carolina D, and. Teh C.</p><p style=""> </p><h2><b>A Wild Contest Appears!</b></h2><p style="">We are having another <a href="http://groupees.com/doujin2" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Groupees</a> giveaway! Keep an eye on our twitter feed this weekend for a chance to win of 20 codes. <a href="http://groupees.com/doujin2" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">More info about Groupees</a>.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bm1pZxwX5U" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3bm1pZxwX5U?wmode=opaque&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;feature=oembed" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p><p style="">Also, we posted a random giveaway today on Twitter. These will be happening at different times, so keep an lookout. Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/gamespot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter</a> to make sure you don't miss our awesome random giveaways!</p><div data-embed-type="tweet" data-src="https://twitter.com/gamespot/status/391336642994532352"><blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-cards="hidden" data-mce-disable-toolbar="true"><p>How many shirts does Francy have on? First one to correctly guess wins a download code for Witcher 1 and 2. <a href="https://t.co/WjCk7qhWRd" rel="nofollow">https://t.co/WjCk7qhWRd</a></p> — GameSpot (@gamespot) <a href="https://twitter.com/gamespot/statuses/391336642994532352" rel="nofollow">October 18, 2013</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p style=""> </p><h2><b>Community Final Thought</b></h2><p style="">This week, <a href="https://twitter.com/ohaifrancy" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Ohaifrancy</a> will be taking it easy for the most part but rumor has it that she's busten' out her dancing shoes to give a second look at Just Dance 2014. While <a href="https://twitter.com/LaDigitalDame" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">DigitalDame</a> is back to her spell slinging and will likely be taking part in yet another Pro-Tour Qualifier. And as always; make sure that you're following us on <a href="https://twitter.com/gamespot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter</a>, that you <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GameSpot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Like us on Facebook</a>, and that you've subscribed to us on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/gamespot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Youtube</a>.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Have a good weekend, Community OUT!</p> Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:25:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/community-news-update-friday-10-18/1100-6415670/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/grand-theft-auto-v-review-southland-sprawl/1900-6415483/ <p style="">Grand Theft Auto V deserves accolades for its innovative triumvirate of antiheroes, its many and varied missions, and the sprawling depiction of Los Santos and the hillbilly outbacks. But to rip off what an erudite author once said about Oakland, there is no "there" there. I can't imagine any scenario in which a literary icon like Gertrude Stein would be critiquing a video game, but that legendary putdown can also apply to the Greater Los Santos Area. There is something missing in GTAV that makes the game less engaging than the sociopathic sandboxes of GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas, the two GTA games that will perpetually be my measuring sticks for the franchise.</p><p style="">What is missing most of all is a solid sense of place. Both Vice City and San Andreas reveled in nostalgia. Vice City reeked of the '80s, from the pitch-perfect radio stations to the Crockett and Tubbs lookalikes that showed up in their Testarossas--er, Cheetahs--when you cranked your wanted level to three stars. San Andreas evoked the early 1990s in a similar way. San Andreas' theme was not as developed as Vice City's, but the game still depicted a recognizable time and place in its grim cartoon look at Los Angeles--with sidelong glances at LA County, San Francisco, and Las Vegas--during the explosion of rap and the racial tension that saw a good chunk of SoCal go up in flames after the Rodney King verdict.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6414795" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6414795/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style="">Both San Andreas and Vice City seemed like real places. Rockstar's biggest achievement in these games was in creating places that you wanted to visit. Vice City was most successful at this. I practically moved to Vice City; I knew the streets by name and could find my way around there better than in the real world. This devotion speaks to Vice City's power to invade my waking thoughts. Long after the game's release, I would go for long drives around town, listening to the radio and indulging my inner hooligan in a rampage or three. The same is true of San Andreas, although the allure of the '80s theme usually won out before I got the San Andreas disc into the system. Rockstar hasn't forgotten how to do this sort of thing. I liked visiting the faux West of Red Dead Redemption just as much as I did Vice City, and still load up the game to ride around the lonely prairie.</p><p style="">GTAV, much like its immediate predecessor, GTAIV, is too almost-modern for its own good. While the setting is ostensibly today, the plot goes back to the 2008-2009 depths of the Great Recession. The story feels dated, and not in the good way of Vice City and San Andreas, which were intentionally retro. Instead of thinking, "Cool! That Exploder: Evacuator Part II movie commercial perfectly sums up how dumb action movies really were in 1986!" you're thinking, "Man, the developers started writing this stuff a long time ago."</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">Look beyond the jokey stuff, and you discover an unrelentingly bleak, black-hearted look at humanity.</p></blockquote><p style="">Not that the economy is really a whole lot better today, of course. But worries about the housing crisis, the implosion of Lehman Brothers, and the bursting of the housing bubble in the US--all things that clearly motivated a lot of the storyline in GTAV--are not exactly current. We've moved on to new economic meltdowns, like the stateside debt ceiling crisis. It's critique of mainstream media is equally archaic; taking shots at reality television for being crass also isn't cutting-edge comedy. Grand Theft Auto V was a clearly expensive game to make and obviously took a long time to develop, but a story that is only contemporary when work begins in earnest on a project of this magnitude ultimately looks dated. It suffers from the curse of trying to be too current.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346987-8904847019-2052375-634490_20130826_003.jpg+" data-ref-id="1300-2346987" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346987-8904847019-2052375-634490_20130826_003.jpg+" data-ref-id="1300-2346987"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2346987-8904847019-2052375-634490_20130826_003.jpg+"></a><figcaption>The triumvirate of protagonists represents the before, after, and way after of humanity.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Los Santos, at least, is brilliantly realized, particularly as a technical achievement. The city and the surrounding meth-producing rural environs form the most realistic depiction of a metropolitan area to ever grace a game. The whole burg lives and breathes, offering colorful slices of life whether you're creeping through backyards in the dead of night or just wandering down the sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon. I don't think I ever encountered any window dressing; all of the people seemed to be present in their own moments, not just there to serve as my personal backdrop. But it's so damn big. I long for the simpler layouts of Vice City and even the more sprawling San Andreas. You could get to know them in a reasonable amount of time, which added to that easy sense of familiarity that turned them into real places in short order.</p><p style="">This is the most personable GTA game, with a strong emphasis on the three lead characters that delves into their psyches (and even into your own psyche by the end of the storyline). That isn't always a good thing, especially when it comes to Trevor, who's probably the most reprehensible dirtbag protagonist in the history of gaming, if not everything. Still, I couldn't look away. Trevor's most malevolent lines were also some of the most hilarious in the game. He forms a vital part of the triumvirate of playable characters, which are a commentary on life in 2008-era America. Trevor represents bottoming out, while burned-out Michael is the guy who's got it all and is still up to his neck in ennui (he's sort of Tommy Vercetti, 25 years later), and up-and-coming Franklin is the man on the rise who's eager to do anything to make the money needed to be regarded as a success in Los Santos. The three are a before, after, and way after.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346990-6795455625-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346990" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346990-6795455625-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346990"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2346990-6795455625-22383.jpg"></a><figcaption>Scripted missions are the best part of GTAV, especially the multipart heists.</figcaption></figure><p style="">The script is brilliant, from the start with Franklin and his idiotic buddy Lamar, through Michael's spoiled-brat family life, through Trevor's meth-lab murders, through the multiple-choice endings. GTAV gets back to the psychopathic comic strip best represented in the craziness of Tommy Vercetti in Vice City, but with more plot points and tighter characterizations to hold the story together. This game hates everyone and everything, expressing an unrelentingly bleak, black-hearted look at humanity, with even the few rays of sunlight bookended by atrocity. Trevor shows mercy on occasion, though the biggest act of charity he offers in the entire game comes right after introducing a guy to creative uses for a car battery and a monkey wrench.</p><blockquote data-align="left"><p style="">The appeal of exploring the map on your own has been diminished.</p></blockquote><p style="">If you have a dark sense of humor, there are more laugh-out-loud moments here than in all of the previous GTA games combined. Being able to switch between the members of this trio at will is a great mechanic that accentuates the humor. Flipping over to see what Trevor is doing almost always results in tuning in to pure insanity. My favorite such event was dropping in on him just as he was looming over a bikini-clad girl on Vespucci Beach, while wearing nothing but a filthy muscle shirt and tighty whities, saying something about her licking his white bits. Such moments are likely scripted, given how this Walter White moment led directly into a mission opening where Trevor dropped his undies in front of hapless Floyd, but it all seems organic when you're playing.</p><p style="">Missions have also been laid out almost perfectly, with loads of options as to how you play them, especially when it comes to the big multipart heists that see you planning and executing jobs with the help of hired operatives. Events get overly surreal at times, with the trio working together to form something of a James Bond team adept at everything from flying planes to scuba diving. Still, it's all incredibly captivating, and the game does everything at least reasonably well. Flying and landing planes, for instance, still aren't fully enjoyable tasks, but they've come a long way since San Andreas.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346995-9641516373-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346995" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346995-9641516373-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346995"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2346995-9641516373-22383.jpg"></a><figcaption>Women have few roles to play in GTA V. Here's the most common.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Unfortunately, the appeal of exploring the map on your own has been diminished. Attempts at free-form chaos inevitably had me switching back to the scripted stories and missions, which yielded far more entertainment. The only thing I enjoyed about exploring was stumbling upon random occurrences, such as robberies, an apparent bus hijacking, and police shootouts with other criminals. Yet even these great little touches paled in comparison with the scripted missions, and core components of the game design have been tweaked to raise the profile of scripted story at the cost of the open-world concept that has powered previous GTAs. You can still go gonzo in style, but it's not nearly as easy to explode in a random manner when the mood strikes you.</p><p style="">One reason the zaniness feels so limited is that the police are extraordinarily good at what they do and extremely aggressive. They arrive on the scene of even one- and two-star wanted level incidents almost immediately, and a police chopper is quick to show up the moment you hit three stars. Police boats roar up quickly if you try to take to the waves, and cops shoot extremely well, to the point where they can tag you with bullets from a good block away. Basic patrol cars accelerate almost as well as the average Pegassi Infernus, and their drivers are expert at cutting you off and blocking you in. If you want to go on a satisfying tear, you need to armor up, make sure you have loads of the best hardware that Ammu-Nation carries, and have a zippy car nearby. Walking out of a hospital in a bad mood and going berserk with cathartic anger generally gets you wasted again in very short order.</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">It's a lot more fun to escape the cops by slamming a car into a Pay 'n' Spray booth at a hundred miles an hour than it is to cower in an alley for five minutes while the police gradually give up their pursuit.</p></blockquote><p style="">You can still go on rampages and evade the police, of course, but you have to do it more realistically by switching cars, hiding in bushes, ducking into somebody's backyard, hanging out in a parking garage, and so forth. This is a more lifelike way of ditching the boys in blue, but it's not very entertaining, especially if you like the intensity of one-man-stand firefights. The best way to eliminate a wanted level now is to hide. I had the most success by driving off-road where the cops couldn't follow me very well. Then I just stuck the car in a gully and sat back until my wanted level vanished completely.</p><p style="">Long gone are the days when you could clock six stars (the game now tops out at five stars), get the army after you, and still escape justice simply by scraping into a Pay 'n' Spray a second ahead of the long arm of the law. Pay 'n' Spray shops have actually been pulled out of GTAV entirely in favor of Los Santos Customs, which is more of a car modification garage than a ready way to escape the cops, since it's useless unless you've already lost your pursuers. Magic car paint in Vice City and San Andreas may have been pretty ridiculous, but it was also a great game mechanism that emphasized the catch-me-if-you-can excitement that made sandbox rampages so integral a part of the GTA experience. It's a lot more fun to escape the cops by slamming a car into a Pay 'n' Spray booth at a hundred miles an hour than it is to cower in an alley for five minutes while the police gradually give up their pursuit.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/6/5/8/2/2236582-gsm_169_gta_v_vr_ps3_091513_m1_320.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2236582" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/6/5/8/2/2236582-gsm_169_gta_v_vr_ps3_091513_m1_320.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2236582"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/mig/6/5/8/2/2236582-gsm_169_gta_v_vr_ps3_091513_m1_320.jpg"></a><figcaption>World-weary Michael is a memorable character who seems like a Behind the Music look at Tommy Vercetti, 25 years later.</figcaption></figure><p style="">This is a considerably different style of game than either San Andreas or Vice City, with more structure and less of that eyes-wide-open world where the most fun was surveying the landscape and seeing what kind of trouble you could get into. This is a new GTA, one that is a great game on its own terms, but also one that fails to capture the magic of the freestyle adventures that set the tone for the series. I can't see myself coming back to GTAV very often now that I've wrapped the main storyline, save to check out the expansions that Rockstar is undoubtedly prepping for 2014, or to get into the multiplayer, if and when it lives up to its potential. Here, because the game's structure is so tight, done is done. That's typical of how I play games. But it isn't typical of how I play GTA games.</p> Fri, 18 Oct 2013 15:29:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/grand-theft-auto-v-review-southland-sprawl/1900-6415483/

http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Sun, 20 Oct 2013 01:01:38 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/top-5-skyrim-mods-of-the-week-avengers-of-skyrim/2300-6415655/ Join Cam and Seb as they team up with The Avengers to find the mighty Staff of Chickenball, do battle with Loki, and travel along the Moonpath to Elsweyr. Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/top-5-skyrim-mods-of-the-week-avengers-of-skyrim/2300-6415655/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/community-news-update-friday-10-18/1100-6415670/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2343641-communitynewslogo.png" data-ref-id="1300-2343641" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2343641-communitynewslogo.png" data-ref-id="1300-2343641"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1522/15229312/2343641-communitynewslogo.png"></a></figure><p style="">The new site has been on its legs for a little over a week and so far things have been fairly smooth sailing. Of course, there have been a few hiccups along the way but for the most part everything seems to be getting back to normal. Remember, if you find yourself experiencing any technical difficulties, bugs, or just a feature that you miss having around; be sure to share on our <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/forums/bug-reporting-feedback-1000006/" data-ref-id="false">Bug Report and Feedback forum</a>.</p><h2><b>GameSpot Popular Pick</b></h2><p style="">This week, Sony detailed the cost of the PS4 in Brazil, shockingly enough the next-gen console will be going for $3,999 Brazilian Real due to import fees and taxes. Additionally, games will cost around $179 Brazilian Real. <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-costs-1-850-in-brazil/1100-6415637/" data-ref-id="1100-6415637">Full Story</a>.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Skylanders: Swap Force is a solid action adventure game complete with a wide variety of lush, colorful environments, an extensive array of enemies to slay, and fun characters to interact with. This is a ridiculous, Saturday-morning-cartoon world, with goblins, trolls, frost giants, mechanical golems, bats, goo-based monsters, and startled sheep being hurled at you as you fight through the single-player campaign. <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/skylanders-swap-force-review/1900-6415480/" data-ref-id="1900-6415480">Full Review</a>.</p><p style=""> </p><h2><b>Community Feature: Facebook Fan Sahara</b></h2><p style="">This week's community spotlight shines on our Facebook fan Sahara A. from Brooklyn, NY. She was one of our winners from the Injustice: Gods Among Us contest that we ran. She took the time to share with us this nifty little video of her unboxing her giant box of goodies that we sent (we gave her some extra perks for it being her birthday).</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6xcyoJY-vM" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U6xcyoJY-vM?wmode=opaque&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;feature=oembed" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p><h2> </h2><h2><b>World of WarCraft Trivial Pursuit Winners</b></h2><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2347099-2323377-photo.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2347099" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1522/15229312/2347099-2323377-photo.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2347099"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1522/15229312/2347099-2323377-photo.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">On Monday, we posted a giveaway of World of Warcraft Trivial Pursuit Editions on our Facebook page. Here are the winners:</p><p style="">Atish C., Bryan S., Carolina D, and. Teh C.</p><p style=""> </p><h2><b>A Wild Contest Appears!</b></h2><p style="">We are having another <a href="http://groupees.com/doujin2" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Groupees</a> giveaway! Keep an eye on our twitter feed this weekend for a chance to win of 20 codes. <a href="http://groupees.com/doujin2" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">More info about Groupees</a>.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bm1pZxwX5U" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3bm1pZxwX5U?wmode=opaque&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;feature=oembed" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""> </p><p style="">Also, we posted a random giveaway today on Twitter. These will be happening at different times, so keep an lookout. Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/gamespot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter</a> to make sure you don't miss our awesome random giveaways!</p><div data-embed-type="tweet" data-src="https://twitter.com/gamespot/status/391336642994532352"><blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-cards="hidden" data-mce-disable-toolbar="true"><p>How many shirts does Francy have on? First one to correctly guess wins a download code for Witcher 1 and 2. <a href="https://t.co/WjCk7qhWRd" rel="nofollow">https://t.co/WjCk7qhWRd</a></p> — GameSpot (@gamespot) <a href="https://twitter.com/gamespot/statuses/391336642994532352" rel="nofollow">October 18, 2013</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p style=""> </p><h2><b>Community Final Thought</b></h2><p style="">This week, <a href="https://twitter.com/ohaifrancy" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Ohaifrancy</a> will be taking it easy for the most part but rumor has it that she's busten' out her dancing shoes to give a second look at Just Dance 2014. While <a href="https://twitter.com/LaDigitalDame" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">DigitalDame</a> is back to her spell slinging and will likely be taking part in yet another Pro-Tour Qualifier. And as always; make sure that you're following us on <a href="https://twitter.com/gamespot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter</a>, that you <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GameSpot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Like us on Facebook</a>, and that you've subscribed to us on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/gamespot" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Youtube</a>.</p><p style=""> </p><p style="">Have a good weekend, Community OUT!</p> Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:25:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/community-news-update-friday-10-18/1100-6415670/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/grand-theft-auto-v-review-southland-sprawl/1900-6415483/ <p style="">Grand Theft Auto V deserves accolades for its innovative triumvirate of antiheroes, its many and varied missions, and the sprawling depiction of Los Santos and the hillbilly outbacks. But to rip off what an erudite author once said about Oakland, there is no "there" there. I can't imagine any scenario in which a literary icon like Gertrude Stein would be critiquing a video game, but that legendary putdown can also apply to the Greater Los Santos Area. There is something missing in GTAV that makes the game less engaging than the sociopathic sandboxes of GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas, the two GTA games that will perpetually be my measuring sticks for the franchise.</p><p style="">What is missing most of all is a solid sense of place. Both Vice City and San Andreas reveled in nostalgia. Vice City reeked of the '80s, from the pitch-perfect radio stations to the Crockett and Tubbs lookalikes that showed up in their Testarossas--er, Cheetahs--when you cranked your wanted level to three stars. San Andreas evoked the early 1990s in a similar way. San Andreas' theme was not as developed as Vice City's, but the game still depicted a recognizable time and place in its grim cartoon look at Los Angeles--with sidelong glances at LA County, San Francisco, and Las Vegas--during the explosion of rap and the racial tension that saw a good chunk of SoCal go up in flames after the Rodney King verdict.</p><div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6414795" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6414795/" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style="">Both San Andreas and Vice City seemed like real places. Rockstar's biggest achievement in these games was in creating places that you wanted to visit. Vice City was most successful at this. I practically moved to Vice City; I knew the streets by name and could find my way around there better than in the real world. This devotion speaks to Vice City's power to invade my waking thoughts. Long after the game's release, I would go for long drives around town, listening to the radio and indulging my inner hooligan in a rampage or three. The same is true of San Andreas, although the allure of the '80s theme usually won out before I got the San Andreas disc into the system. Rockstar hasn't forgotten how to do this sort of thing. I liked visiting the faux West of Red Dead Redemption just as much as I did Vice City, and still load up the game to ride around the lonely prairie.</p><p style="">GTAV, much like its immediate predecessor, GTAIV, is too almost-modern for its own good. While the setting is ostensibly today, the plot goes back to the 2008-2009 depths of the Great Recession. The story feels dated, and not in the good way of Vice City and San Andreas, which were intentionally retro. Instead of thinking, "Cool! That Exploder: Evacuator Part II movie commercial perfectly sums up how dumb action movies really were in 1986!" you're thinking, "Man, the developers started writing this stuff a long time ago."</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">Look beyond the jokey stuff, and you discover an unrelentingly bleak, black-hearted look at humanity.</p></blockquote><p style="">Not that the economy is really a whole lot better today, of course. But worries about the housing crisis, the implosion of Lehman Brothers, and the bursting of the housing bubble in the US--all things that clearly motivated a lot of the storyline in GTAV--are not exactly current. We've moved on to new economic meltdowns, like the stateside debt ceiling crisis. It's critique of mainstream media is equally archaic; taking shots at reality television for being crass also isn't cutting-edge comedy. Grand Theft Auto V was a clearly expensive game to make and obviously took a long time to develop, but a story that is only contemporary when work begins in earnest on a project of this magnitude ultimately looks dated. It suffers from the curse of trying to be too current.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346987-8904847019-2052375-634490_20130826_003.jpg+" data-ref-id="1300-2346987" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346987-8904847019-2052375-634490_20130826_003.jpg+" data-ref-id="1300-2346987"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2346987-8904847019-2052375-634490_20130826_003.jpg+"></a><figcaption>The triumvirate of protagonists represents the before, after, and way after of humanity.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Los Santos, at least, is brilliantly realized, particularly as a technical achievement. The city and the surrounding meth-producing rural environs form the most realistic depiction of a metropolitan area to ever grace a game. The whole burg lives and breathes, offering colorful slices of life whether you're creeping through backyards in the dead of night or just wandering down the sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon. I don't think I ever encountered any window dressing; all of the people seemed to be present in their own moments, not just there to serve as my personal backdrop. But it's so damn big. I long for the simpler layouts of Vice City and even the more sprawling San Andreas. You could get to know them in a reasonable amount of time, which added to that easy sense of familiarity that turned them into real places in short order.</p><p style="">This is the most personable GTA game, with a strong emphasis on the three lead characters that delves into their psyches (and even into your own psyche by the end of the storyline). That isn't always a good thing, especially when it comes to Trevor, who's probably the most reprehensible dirtbag protagonist in the history of gaming, if not everything. Still, I couldn't look away. Trevor's most malevolent lines were also some of the most hilarious in the game. He forms a vital part of the triumvirate of playable characters, which are a commentary on life in 2008-era America. Trevor represents bottoming out, while burned-out Michael is the guy who's got it all and is still up to his neck in ennui (he's sort of Tommy Vercetti, 25 years later), and up-and-coming Franklin is the man on the rise who's eager to do anything to make the money needed to be regarded as a success in Los Santos. The three are a before, after, and way after.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346990-6795455625-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346990" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346990-6795455625-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346990"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/416/4161502/2346990-6795455625-22383.jpg"></a><figcaption>Scripted missions are the best part of GTAV, especially the multipart heists.</figcaption></figure><p style="">The script is brilliant, from the start with Franklin and his idiotic buddy Lamar, through Michael's spoiled-brat family life, through Trevor's meth-lab murders, through the multiple-choice endings. GTAV gets back to the psychopathic comic strip best represented in the craziness of Tommy Vercetti in Vice City, but with more plot points and tighter characterizations to hold the story together. This game hates everyone and everything, expressing an unrelentingly bleak, black-hearted look at humanity, with even the few rays of sunlight bookended by atrocity. Trevor shows mercy on occasion, though the biggest act of charity he offers in the entire game comes right after introducing a guy to creative uses for a car battery and a monkey wrench.</p><blockquote data-align="left"><p style="">The appeal of exploring the map on your own has been diminished.</p></blockquote><p style="">If you have a dark sense of humor, there are more laugh-out-loud moments here than in all of the previous GTA games combined. Being able to switch between the members of this trio at will is a great mechanic that accentuates the humor. Flipping over to see what Trevor is doing almost always results in tuning in to pure insanity. My favorite such event was dropping in on him just as he was looming over a bikini-clad girl on Vespucci Beach, while wearing nothing but a filthy muscle shirt and tighty whities, saying something about her licking his white bits. Such moments are likely scripted, given how this Walter White moment led directly into a mission opening where Trevor dropped his undies in front of hapless Floyd, but it all seems organic when you're playing.</p><p style="">Missions have also been laid out almost perfectly, with loads of options as to how you play them, especially when it comes to the big multipart heists that see you planning and executing jobs with the help of hired operatives. Events get overly surreal at times, with the trio working together to form something of a James Bond team adept at everything from flying planes to scuba diving. Still, it's all incredibly captivating, and the game does everything at least reasonably well. Flying and landing planes, for instance, still aren't fully enjoyable tasks, but they've come a long way since San Andreas.</p><figure data-align="right" data-size="medium" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346995-9641516373-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346995" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2346995-9641516373-22383.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2346995"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_medium/416/4161502/2346995-9641516373-22383.jpg"></a><figcaption>Women have few roles to play in GTA V. Here's the most common.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Unfortunately, the appeal of exploring the map on your own has been diminished. Attempts at free-form chaos inevitably had me switching back to the scripted stories and missions, which yielded far more entertainment. The only thing I enjoyed about exploring was stumbling upon random occurrences, such as robberies, an apparent bus hijacking, and police shootouts with other criminals. Yet even these great little touches paled in comparison with the scripted missions, and core components of the game design have been tweaked to raise the profile of scripted story at the cost of the open-world concept that has powered previous GTAs. You can still go gonzo in style, but it's not nearly as easy to explode in a random manner when the mood strikes you.</p><p style="">One reason the zaniness feels so limited is that the police are extraordinarily good at what they do and extremely aggressive. They arrive on the scene of even one- and two-star wanted level incidents almost immediately, and a police chopper is quick to show up the moment you hit three stars. Police boats roar up quickly if you try to take to the waves, and cops shoot extremely well, to the point where they can tag you with bullets from a good block away. Basic patrol cars accelerate almost as well as the average Pegassi Infernus, and their drivers are expert at cutting you off and blocking you in. If you want to go on a satisfying tear, you need to armor up, make sure you have loads of the best hardware that Ammu-Nation carries, and have a zippy car nearby. Walking out of a hospital in a bad mood and going berserk with cathartic anger generally gets you wasted again in very short order.</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">It's a lot more fun to escape the cops by slamming a car into a Pay 'n' Spray booth at a hundred miles an hour than it is to cower in an alley for five minutes while the police gradually give up their pursuit.</p></blockquote><p style="">You can still go on rampages and evade the police, of course, but you have to do it more realistically by switching cars, hiding in bushes, ducking into somebody's backyard, hanging out in a parking garage, and so forth. This is a more lifelike way of ditching the boys in blue, but it's not very entertaining, especially if you like the intensity of one-man-stand firefights. The best way to eliminate a wanted level now is to hide. I had the most success by driving off-road where the cops couldn't follow me very well. Then I just stuck the car in a gully and sat back until my wanted level vanished completely.</p><p style="">Long gone are the days when you could clock six stars (the game now tops out at five stars), get the army after you, and still escape justice simply by scraping into a Pay 'n' Spray a second ahead of the long arm of the law. Pay 'n' Spray shops have actually been pulled out of GTAV entirely in favor of Los Santos Customs, which is more of a car modification garage than a ready way to escape the cops, since it's useless unless you've already lost your pursuers. Magic car paint in Vice City and San Andreas may have been pretty ridiculous, but it was also a great game mechanism that emphasized the catch-me-if-you-can excitement that made sandbox rampages so integral a part of the GTA experience. It's a lot more fun to escape the cops by slamming a car into a Pay 'n' Spray booth at a hundred miles an hour than it is to cower in an alley for five minutes while the police gradually give up their pursuit.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/6/5/8/2/2236582-gsm_169_gta_v_vr_ps3_091513_m1_320.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2236582" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/mig/6/5/8/2/2236582-gsm_169_gta_v_vr_ps3_091513_m1_320.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2236582"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/mig/6/5/8/2/2236582-gsm_169_gta_v_vr_ps3_091513_m1_320.jpg"></a><figcaption>World-weary Michael is a memorable character who seems like a Behind the Music look at Tommy Vercetti, 25 years later.</figcaption></figure><p style="">This is a considerably different style of game than either San Andreas or Vice City, with more structure and less of that eyes-wide-open world where the most fun was surveying the landscape and seeing what kind of trouble you could get into. This is a new GTA, one that is a great game on its own terms, but also one that fails to capture the magic of the freestyle adventures that set the tone for the series. I can't see myself coming back to GTAV very often now that I've wrapped the main storyline, save to check out the expansions that Rockstar is undoubtedly prepping for 2014, or to get into the multiplayer, if and when it lives up to its potential. Here, because the game's structure is so tight, done is done. That's typical of how I play games. But it isn't typical of how I play GTA games.</p> Fri, 18 Oct 2013 15:29:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/grand-theft-auto-v-review-southland-sprawl/1900-6415483/

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