Game Review: Bloody Good Time

  Bloody Good Time released on October 26 is a multiplayer focused first person shooter for the Xbox Live Arcade and PC (although I will only talk about the XBLA version). The game costs 400 Microsoft Points ($5) and is under 300 MBs in size, playable for up to 8 players.

 The basic premise of the game is that a mysterious Hollywood director with a dark past wants to shoot his next movie and you (the players) are the actors or actresses who will participate in his bloody show. You must follow his command in order to rise in fame.

 The cast consists of 8 stereotypical teens and a sarcastic director.

 How does it play? 

The game at first glance plays like your typical first person shooter, but you quickly realize there are some things that change the whole thing a bit. To begin, each player has 3 main stats, speed, armor and strength these slowly deplete over time and your character will under perform if you don't keep a close look on them. In order to raise them, you need to sleep, go to the bathroom and eat this doesn't take long and adds an element of balance though Id recommend recovering these stats only after a round is complete.

 Each match consists of a different number of rounds or scenes where the director tells you what to do. Players are tasked to complete each objective by any means possible as long as they do not deviate from the rules which could actually harm their score. Around each map there are Security Guards and cameras which constantly patrol the area in an effort to stop any player carrying a weapon or killing another player if their in close proximity. If they catch them, the guards will taze you and remove your currently selected weapon so watch out.

Refill your speed, armor and strength stats before a new scene starts, don't let the enemy catch you by surprise!

 Weapons are set up in 2 types, there are damage weapons and then there are support, non-combat items. For damage weapons you have some classic ones like an assault rifle, shotgun, revolver, flame thrower and some other ones like a frying pan, a baseball bat and a remote controlled robo rat that explodes among others.

 Support items consist of things like a dart gun, a glue gun, a holo gram decoy, pills for increased stats or invisibility among others. They help you gain an advantage on your enemies and they can be used even if security guards or cameras have you on their sights.

 Matches are not scored by just kills, but rather how many stars you are able to acquire. Stars are awarded when you perform kills, steal them from opponents or complete objectives and there is one support item that lets you steal them easily, so remember this.

 

Weapons are not only deadly but they are also fun to use.

How does it look?

As you can see from the pictures, the game uses a very stylized, cartoon look which can be easily compared to Team Fortress 2. It does however has its own sense of sarcastic humor and dark comedy.

In terms of music there isn't much to talk about, besides the main theme song and a couple of audio cues on the different maps, but, the characters are a bit more vocal when jumping, attacking or performing other actions.

Perhaps the sound you will hear the most (and very often) is that of the director who tells you what to do in each round, it can get a bit annoying.

Besides standard weapons, you can perform assassinations and activate traps on each map.

Final verdict?

 The game might feel like its short and could use a few extra modes or maps which I agree, however, you do get a very competent, fun and complete multiplayer experience for the small sum of $5. The price did impress me since these days a good number of XBLA titles are released at $10 or $15.

 Please remember this is a multiplayer focused game, while it is really good don't look into it if your expecting any sort of single player story mode (although there is a practice match against bots).

 To summarize I recommend the game for 2 reasons: its fun and its cheap.

Score: 4/5

My Favorite Xbox 360 Multiplayer Games Part 1

 Like I mentioned previously, multiplayer has become something I enjoy quite a lot despite that I still look for solid single player games which as of this year seem to be on the rise.

Since I shut down my World of WarCraft account in 2008, I started to pay more attention to my Xbox 360 and it took me a couple of years to find games I really liked.
  In 2008 I got Unreal Tournament 3, having played the previous games in the series and a fan of the fast, bloody action I put a lot of time into the third game. Unlike many shooters these days, UT3 stayed true to its arena style roots, taking the series a bit further with some interesting uses of the Unreal Engine.

 UT3: A great old school shooter.

 Sadly, the game did not live long enough as most non popular, mass marketed titles do nowadays, even though it kept a loyal fanbase of players for months and even years. People moved on to other newer titles and so did I, since Midway (the publisher of the game) closed down its dedicated servers and Epic didn't bother to do anything about it either.

 Last year the multiplayer title to take the crown for me was Red Faction Guerrilla or RFG, while it has an ok single player campaign the multiplayer mode is truly the highlight of the game. The game has classic modes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and so on, but throws 2 modes unique to the game with their own flavor.
 RFG uses a physics engine that works great making for some truly fun and awesome destructible environments. These 2 modes use that as their main objective, in one of them two teams attempt to cause the most destruction around the map possible on the other mode called Stronghold a team defends key structures from the enemy, while they attempt to destroy these structures to advance further.

 Yes, you can gain the ostrich of doom in RFG.

 Throw all of this with equipped backpacks that give the user unique abilities whether defensive, offensive or support and it makes the multiplayer experience very rewarding, challenging and varied. Weapons are mostly the usual, assault, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, mines and so on, the only unique weapon is the Rail Gun, which fires across structures, so if the enemy is hiding inside a structure you can snipe them out with it.

 The game also rewards you with EXP which helps unlock new badges, characters and challenges, everything you do in a match rewards you with EXP so the game is fair for everyone.

 Jetpacks are one of the many backpacks in the multiplayer mode of RFG.

As the year was coming to an end, I too was getting a bit burned out of RFG and when 2010 came out I tried to look for a new game to satisfy my gaming needs, I thought that game would be Aliens vs Predators but I was wrong.

 After playing AvP for a few months I eagerly awaited Lost Planet 2, which had me very interested. Upon its release I played the game a lot for 2 months, it was a very fun experience and having both 4 player coop and competitive multiplayer it kept me entertained. One of the biggest things I enjoyed about it was the ability to customize your character, something shooters rarely do, specially including female characters.

 Players fight both human and aliens in the fight to conquer EDNIII in LP2.

 I still have to finish some things from LP2 and while the game was not received very well by most people, it is one of my favorite games in 2010.

 Moving from LP2 I went to Transformers War for Cybertron and without a doubt, it is the best multiplayer game I have played this year and up until now the best in the console as well. Burrowing elements from other shooters, the game pits Autobots and Decepticons in the civil war for their home planet Cybertron.

 Yes, the game is this epic!

 The game is not based on the Michael Bay movies and instead its a re-imagining of the original 80s Generation 1 cartoon and toy line. The redesigns of the characters is amazing, the Autobots have a more sturdier, boxier look while the Decepticons have a more edgy, dark look.

Transformers WFC also includes a horde mode (Escalation) similar to Gears of War 2.

 Although a third person shooter, the game allows you to jump, transform from robot to vehicle quickly and with ease, including a variety of popular characters, weapons and abilities. While the game has limited customization in terms of visual look for your robot, you can customize their abilities and perks to make unique class builds for each character.
 There are 4 classes, the Scout, the Scientist, the Soldier and the Leader, each is unique and some perform specific roles while others can fill more. Simple explanation of each class: Scouts are fast and stealthy, Scientists can fly and repair allies, Soldiers are machines of destruction and Leaders boost their allies with increase in damage and armor.

 As RFG, the game rewards you EXP which helps you level up and unlock new abilities, perks and challenges, the EXP is also gained by performing different tasks and not just killing opponents.
Overall, the game is very unique and its a big treat to Transformers fans as I mentioned previously however, the game is not mass marketed or a big franchise and therefore since its release in June till now it has lost a share of its players, but, the few of us who remain try to have fun and keep it alive as much as we can (you are welcomed to join us!).

 The war for Cybertron continues!

A game worth checking out if your a TF fan or just a shooter fan, I highly recommend it.

Story or Gameplay?

What is more important to gamers? what the game is about or how its played?

Some players express that stories in games have a higher value than gameplay while others the opposite. Which is understandable, when we buy games we look for different things that attract us to it, just like any other product.
The game might have a multiplayer component or perhaps allow you to import saved data from previous games, whatever the feature is, some people will be interested others will not.

Super Mario Brothers: Something so simple and yet so fun, with no real story to drive its gameplay.

The difference however, is that games are not about story or graphics like many believe (and which do count) it is about gameplay, it is the foundation of any game if it doesn't work, no pretty graphics or gripping story is going to save it even if you put yourself through it.
Sometimes both story and gameplay meld together perfectly and make for a truly unique game that offers something for everyone, but for the most part you either have a solid story or gameplay.

BioShock: A good example of gameplay and story mixing together well.

The reason why gameplay is more important than any other feature in a game is that no matter how it looks or sounds, the gameplay will keep you focused in what you need to do and what buttons to press. If Im going to be playing a game where 75% of it is about cut scenes where the only button I press is the one to the next scene or dialogue, Im not interested at all even if people rate the story highly.

In the 80s and early 90s, story was for the most part abscent from games, very few games had a deep or complex story and most of it was exposed to the player in the game's manual, the introduction to the game or its ending. At that time, people just wanted to play the game, beat a certain boss or pop in more coins to continue playing. With the growth of the video game industry there came new changes and new demands from players, one of which was better stories. Most people just couldn't get into games anymore without a driving force to make them, for some that drive is a story.

Final Fight: Where is my story? here is your story, beat the crap out of everyone!

I guess in our quest for more, we expect video games to do "the next thing" and perhaps in many gamer's opinion that thing is story. While I think there is nothing wrong with that I still think their looking in the wrong place. Like I mentioned previously you can have solid gameplay with an intriguing story, but games are about play, this is why Chess has remained a popular activity for hundreds of years, the only thing that matters its how its played, the strategies and the rules.

Chess: The epic story of the black and white empires at war, without the use of narrative.

Perhaps at the end of the day, why so many people say story is so important is because they enjoy playing games and want to have a solid story to keep them interested while doing so.
Can games tell compelling stories like books? yes they can, Mass Effect as an example was a fully realized world with interesting characters with their own motives and backgrounds which made the player feel part of that world, sharing the journey with them. But often, these games fall into very cliché plots.

Mass Effect: Immersible game, boring plot.

Which is why if your going to be playing a game, don't expect a great story, expect a great gameplay experience.

The Multiplayer Experience

Although many deny it, games have always been a social experience, even if the game lacks a multiplayer component. Why?

Because people like to discuss their games with others, trade secrets or strategies and even think of the possibilities of their beloved hero or heroine dying. So while you may play a single player game, in the grand scheme of things you join a community of other players who also enjoy that experience.

Not too long ago (2004-2008) I played World of WarCraft, my first and (probably) only MMORPG. I remember the first time I set foot in Azeroth a world I was very familiar with from the previous WarCraft games unlike many newcomers, it was a thrilling and nostalgic experience. Although it took me around a year to grasp the idea behind the game (as well as reach the max level; 60) I remember fondly how entertaining the adventure was, whether it was doing a quest or fighting enemy players in Tarren Mill.

As the years passed by the magic behind the experience began to disappear, the game began to change and many of the familiar things and places I used to do or go were quickly replaced by a ever changing virtual world, much like our own real one. Although I still had fun and continued to play the game, it became less frequently, as I began to understand that the game was coming to an end for me.

MMOs are known for being time consuming games, in order to reach a certain level, acquire this piece of armor or complete that series of quests you must invest a high number of hours, days and weeks in order to achieve them. While the novelty of the experience was very entertaining for me at around late 2008 I canceled my subscription with no plans to return (even if sometimes I wish to). The game world, evil threats and constant war between Horde and Alliance might have to continue without me for my heroes needed retirement, you can only go so far doing the same things over and over before its over.

Out of my experience with WoW, I took many things with me, whether it was the people I met in my virtual travels, the enjoyment of doing difficult dungeons or the multiplayer experience as a whole. Since then, Ive been wanting to relieve that experience in other games, which is why multiplayer games are the ones that keep me the most entertained. It doesn't matter if its a shooter or an RPG, but multiplayer has become a very important feature when I buy games.

Of course I enjoy playing single player games like anyone else (Im currently playing Castlevania Lords of Shadows) but once the game is over you may have limited options (or none) to continue playing that game. The reward in multiplayer is that the experience is never the same, the strategies change, the players you face might be more experienced or even grouping up with friends to battle against others.

Red Dead Redemption: Something very close to what an MMO is.

With online gaming being so popular today, you'd figure developers would take advantage of this and attempt to realize different ways we could play and engage with others. But most multiplayer games fall into either competitive or cooperative gameplay, which very often are experiences that don't differ much from other games.

I believe that multiplayer can do more than what is being offered in the market today, it isn't a question of how to do it, but rather, when? We've been playing Deathmatch for decades now, I think its time to take it to the next level.

Character Creation

Video Games allow us to take on the persona of a hero, a villain or perhaps a normal day character whose life becomes an interesting adventure.

Character creation in games is something relatively new, as very few games in the past let you build your own character with different attributes and looks. I remember the first game I played that had this feature, it was a WWF game for the Nintendo 64 back in the late 90s, since then, character creation has become one of my favorite features in games.

I can dip myself into this for hours, building different characters that may hint at my real life persona or to other fictional characters I love. Perhaps I feel powerful as the master of my virtual body when I do this, being able to manipulate my body attributes, hairstyle, gender, clothing and even voice and movement something we obviously can't do in real life, to some extent...

Of course, character creation isn't possible in every game, since some require a pre-defined character or cast that will lead the story, but that doesn't mean we can't shape how this character might look.

Take Mass Effect for example. You take the role of a human commander known as Shephard, who has an already established set of options with which players can mold his or her personality, but on top of that you can also shape his or her facial structure, and yes, Shephard can even be male or female.

Commander Shephard from Mass Effect

Although character creation appeared in games in the past, you had a very limited role into their customization, you could give them names or edit their stats to accommodate the character more to a certain role or job like in RPGs. In the Diablo series for example, you could choose a gender specific class and give them a name, edit their stats and choose how they would look by the armor and weapons they would carry. While limited, it let you customize your hero to a certain extent.

Diablo 2: Playfield (left) and Character Inventory (right)

In the upcoming Diablo 3, Blizzard Entertainment has taken note of a growing market and audience and given their classes the ability to be played as either male or female, thus, taking away the gender specific classes of the past.

It wasn't until the introduction of 3D graphics to games, that we began to see the potential in character and world building. Now, we can basically sculpt our avatars from top to bottom, this has progressively gotten better and much more complex as technology and graphics continue to improve and reach higher levels of reality.

Although it met a quick demise, All Points Bulletin or APB had one of the best and most impressive character creation tools on the market, letting you control much more than just body features but also clothing, vehicles and body tattoos. Many other MMOs allow the player to customize their own avatar, some with more variety others with less, but the important thing is that its there.

APB's Character Customization

I wish more games allowed players to customize their in-game characters, particularly (military) shooters as well as a better implementation of your custom avatar in story driven games. Saints Row 2 is perhaps one of the best in doing so even if the story is a bit over the top, it still lets your custom gang boss to talk in cut scenes with their own voice most games do not follow this and have mute heroes. Interesting to note, BioWare's other RPG Dragon Age: Origins also includes a character customization feature but unlike Mass Effect, your character is mute and thus the voice you choose for him or her is only used for combat sequences, not story dialogue.

Saints Row 2: Not your usual video game heroine, but hey, thats the beauty of customization.

Will we one day be able to customize our real life body to how we want like in video games? perhaps not as much and without a high price, until then, we can continue to enjoy building our little puppets how we see fit.

Video Game Art: Why they should be and Why they aren't.

Art has been a relevant subject in human history since the dawn of time, its been used in a variety of ways to express human emotions, ideas, dreams and stories. Its purpose is different for each individual as is its meaning.

Video games are relatively new to human culture, but have quickly gained ground as a form of entertainment that surpasses that of movies and other media. Its a powerful medium to tell stories, meet colorful characters and journey to the most sophisticated and imaginative worlds of the human mind. But this isn't about the achievements of video games and what they mean to its followers (gamers) its more about the overall conscious of society on what they represent and what they are.

Only a few decades ago, comic books were considered nothing more than cheap child entertainment, in an era where there wasn't a TV in every home (like today) and personal computers were something from the future. Children quickly became attached to the characters and stories these books would contain and as the years passed it rose as a very profitable industry that impacted popular culture in many ways and still does today. How far have we've gone from thinking such books were cheap child entertainment when we have million dollar movies being made with those characters and whom many, young and old, flow to see.

Certainly to most people, these movies and books still are nothing more than entertainment but they have entered our culture and have become normal and something that has profound literary value. Why am I mentioning comic books when this is about video games? simple, video games have reached the current status as that of comic books and at a much faster pace (although they still have more ways to go), it is now normal to say you play games because they have entered everyday culture unlike 10 or 20 years ago.

I remember once watching a documentary about comic books and how they were targeted by society as a large contributor to many problems in youth, which led to the censoring of many comics and the downfall of the industry. It took a couple of years and a few comics to get back where they had left off.

Seduction of the Innocent: The book that blamed youth violence on comic books.

Even if video games have been around now for some time, they still suffer a certain backlash from mainstream society like comic books did and they still are not taken very seriously either as some people dismiss them as nothing more than child's play.

Why should video games be considered art? I think this question has been asked many times before and many different answers come out for it, but my question is, why they shouldn't?
Video games have profound ways of telling stories, present very sophisticated and complex graphics and sounds, rivaling and in some cases surpassing those of movies. Most but not all (just like movies) contain a lot of history and research done, to produce believable characters, settings and worlds, from the architecture of a destroyed city to the ancient inspired tribes of some fantasy land.

Fallout 3: A post apocalyptic world with the forgotten achievements of human architecture.

Aren't movies considered art as well? yes they are, and today anyone has the ability to produce movies and tell stories unlike decades before. They take many different areas of the arts and put them together, to produce a final product. This is pretty much the same process involved in game making, the only difference however, is that movies already have a story set to its audience, some games do not, and they let the player engage the story in different ways so it becomes relevant to their experience and something personal, asking more of the player than a movie through choices and decisions that affect the story or its characters.

Batman Begins: One of the few comic book based movies considered to be artistic

So why aren't video games art? they are, the thing is they haven't reached that status yet. Compared to other forms of art, video games can't be produced at the individual level, due to their complexity. There have been many self produced games in the past, made by self taught programmers and artists which have made some impressive results, but this is rare and not the norm.

Shadow of the Colossus: A powerful visual epic journey that mirrors that of ancient Greek poems.

I can easily picture a few years ahead where video games are studied for their value in different terms of what they are and tell. The question is, what will change about them for mainstream society to accept them and actually make this happen?

Lost Planet 2 Invading May 11, 2010

Lost Planet 2 (LP2) is the sequel to Capcom's third person shooter from 2007. E.D.N, a snow planet is now covered in lush jungles, windy deserts and industrialized cities 10 years after the arrival of humans, seeking T(thermal)-Energy from the indigenous life forms from the planet called Akrid. LP2 is Capcom's next big action hit this year, with an impressive list of modes and extras that is sure to please fans and action gamers alike. Including a complete 4 player coop mode for the main campaign and a 2 player local splitscreen mode. Not only that, but the game will also feature 16 player online matches.

Customization plays a big role in LP2. Unlike many other shooters players are given freedom of choice, by letting them pick how their characters will look in 4 parts of the body (head, torso, legs, backpack) as well as their load outs for weapons, grenades and support abilities. There will also be a variety taunts available to either praise your allies or piss off your enemies. Interestingly enough, LP2 is one of the few shooters out there that includes a variety of female characters to choose from, developers, take notice!


I'm particularly interested in everything the game has to offer and looking forward to play some good old fashion shooting action against humans and giant Akrid alike. LP2 is scheduled for release this May 11 for XBOX 360 and PLAYSTATION 3.