Funtown Mahjong

Tis a proper game of Mah Jong and not just a solataire tile matching game. Its quite well done, its worth a look if you want to play the real game (a bit like gin rummy really). They've missed out a bit, in that it uses its own AI players and their cutesy anime faces, but didnt incorporate NXE avatars into the play. Which would have helped it out a lot - in terms of more mass appeal.

If you haven't played Mah Jong before, I've tried to summarise the rules here, the game itself has a tutorial, but it is a bit wordy... it does however go through all the possible sets you can get in your first game.

Mah Jong for Dummies..
Essentially its quite a simple "collect the sets" game.

The "suits" being, bamboo, coins (they call them dots), characters (numerical kanji) - with a few honour tiles thrown in (dragons, winds and flowers). Each suit has 1 to 9 and each game has 4 of every suit tile in it.

To win, each player picks a tile off the "wall" (a deck) and tries to make

• a set of three of the same tile in the same suit (eg, three tiles of 4 bamboo) - which is known as a Pung


• a set of four of the same tile in the same suit (eg. four tiles of 5 coins) - which is known as a Kong or


• a set of three of ascending tiles in the same suit (eg, 4,5 and 6 of bamboo) - which is known as a Chow (or a straight)

Each player plays anti-clockwise, and instead of drawing off the wall, you have the option of picking up the tile the last player laid and using that (if you can make a set out of it). However if you can make a Kong then you can take the last laid tile in any order, and you reset the order of play (so people can miss a turn etc). Once you pick up a tile from the wall or last played, you have to discard one from your hand.

The winning hand has to consist of a combination of these sets (can also be called melds) and an "eye" which is basically just two of the same tile in the same suit. Thats about it really. The honour tiles are a little different (as theres only four of them), and flowers are just points multiplyers that get instantly replaced when they hit your hand.

Once a player declares Mah jong, his hand is scored and the others receive a negative score, and then play is resumed in another round, and another wall.

It does come across as complex, because of all the weird naming jargon, and the odd looking tile images, but essentially its very similar to the Gin Rummy card game.

Once you get used to it a bit more, its quite a groovey game that should see more people play it on live, and its infinitely more entertaining that the Mah Jong tile matching games..

Lots of info here, if anyone is interested in it..
http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html

Plus Wiki has a decent enough explanation of the game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong

Call of Duty: World at War

I finished it (the single player game) this weekend, and it was the usual Call of Duty experience, lots of chaos being channelled through picturesque and cinematic areas. Obviously the graphics have been touched up, and there are some truly stunning locations, where you just want to sit back and watch rather than actually take part and miss the beauty of it all. The final push to the Reichstag building in Berlin and then the conflict inside it was very atmospheric. The usual gun and drop mechanism was mixed up slightly by the inclusion of Banzai charging japanese troops, who would usually come at you from an unsuspecting angle, or they would climb over obstacles to get that bayonet into you. Countering this required quite precise timing with the right click stick, to perform a knife in the neck saving blow. It did seem a bit hit and miss, to hang your ultimate safety on a very visually discrete command and a very twitchy mechanic. However, in the heat of the battle, when the japanese where thick, you actually found yourself gunning some, turning and stabbing and slashing others with the right click stick, and if you initiate the blade based combat the kill window seemed a lot less picky, than if the bayonet was to come poking at you. So ultimately, if they were getting near, I'd be slashing away frantically anyway. And if any bayonet managed to get through, my stick clicking was already happening so I usually made the tight window and was rewarded with the neck stab. The complement the banzai chargers, and there was an awful lot of them, in most arenas you found yourself in the pacific - the Germans had alsations, snapping speedy hounds of death - luckily they were few and far between in the campaign, but they can be dispatched with a few hurried shots, or again another right clicking life saving throat grab when they open their jaws to bite. The same tactic I used on the banzai chargers worked for the dogs, slash and stab them before we get to the throat bit. Camo decked Japanese soldiers jumping out of ground traps like funnel web spiders were indeed a nice touch to the action, and certainly made you more apprehensive about moving forward in the undergrowth. I think at the end of it all, the extra level of intimacy in combat worked, adding more panic to the gun blazing, when you have to break of your aim, and start slashing, to shrug the blood off your face and resume your salvo.

There were gunnery positions in the usual windows, AA gunning on a flying boat, with swappable positions which made it all the more exciting to have to physically move around inside the aircraft and switch to other positions. There was a tank section or two to add to the mix, although the Russian tanks seemed very stubby and a bit flighty and didn't really feel like the huling tank beasts they should, but then perhaps we've been spoilt a bit with tanks in games recently. The weapons were the usual stuff, with the addition of a flame thrower that actually did feel like a flame thrower with range, rather than just a vestigil torch. Filling bunkers and tunnels with flame was very satisfying indeed. As was sniping German flamer's gastanks and watching the ensuing carnage burst all around. I was a bit saddened that they deemed to drop the british side of things, but I guess they just wanted to juxtapose the closing war in the pacific with the closing war in europe and to add another army might dilute the symmetry. The stylised story animations were well done - imagine an MTV styled quick blow by blow account with silhouetted iconic images, Dad's Army Arrows and actual footage of people being shot dead - the voice talents of Keifer Sutherland and Gary Oldman were excellent. Molotov cocktails were also included and implemented with satisfying flame spread, commplete with zippo lighter and burning rag.

Overall the thrill of the ride was as good as Call of Duty gets, nothing that special in terms of ingenuity, but what was present was a rollercoaster of WWII combat with interesting situations and locations. With the multiplayer game providing longevity - seemingly faster paced than CoD4 - but with the same sort of perks progression - perhaps CoD5 will provide a stop gap for WWII enjoyment until CoD6 comes a knocking? So, enjoyable, but only if you like a) Call of Duty franchise, b) WWII and c) Shooting/Stabbing Japanese and Dogs.

Fable II

Some observations after a couple of days play..

I've had it just freeze on me twice, usually in a tomb or cave of some sort, one being on round 6 of the Crucible which was very annoying - since although it says its saving content, it doesn't seem to save in bewteen rounds of the Crucible. Its odd, the game freezes, no response, but the console itself is still working, back to dashboard was ok. So its not a total hang as such.

I was very upset to see the strapping young lass I'd chosen as my avatar to start to become very scarred and very obese, and with any sort of clothing on, ridiculously rotund. Simply because I'd been adding HP via Physique to her so she could withstand battles, and pumping the Toughness for the same reason. She became grotesque and I couldn't love her anymore. I had to throw a shedload of XP spent away, to make her pleasing to the eye again (although the Scars and "Too Human-like" Will lines are still there) - but just as I've made her as I want her again, she's got the HP of a small garden snail.

I also, want to make my character specialise in one thing or another, not have to dabble in many to make her viable. I was forced to take a Will based skill to open a gate to the world.. I didn't like that.

The crafting mini games are slightly amusing for the first few runs through, but attaining the 5th level on any profession seems to be a feat of endurance in terms of physical and mental torture. These press a button at the right time "games" aren't THAT exciting to play. It is true grinding. And yet, one of the easiest ways to make a lot of money. The gambling games all stink if you ask me. Theres just no skill to hardly any of them. The card one has a modecum of tactics, the rest are just tedious luck based money sinks.

The world itself is more linear than say something like Two Worlds, and the equipment, even with augments is dumbed down from your traditional RPG's. Plus theres no Bows that I can find *stomps feet in anger* and they promote the use of crossbows *shudder*.

The world is charmingly realised though, and the combat with the inclusion of cinematic slow-mo strikes can be very satisfying. Performing the 'coup de grace' killing blow on prone enemies can be a bit hit and miss, but overall I like the combat system. The expression system is a breath of fresh air, if a little confusing to begin with. The dog is a good idea, for promoting exploration and treasure finding. He even lends a small hand in combat if he can, by nibbling the throat of prone enemies. Some of the quest stories are intriguing and have a quirky british take on them, with some trying a little too hard to be "funny". The co-op system has yet to be tested out properly, since it seems to be more a help your mates when they need it, rather than a true multi-character co-operative run through the game. However, seeing your friends orbs in game is a unique concept and probably one of the more impressive unique features.

It has a lot going for it. But, it does sort of smooth down the character class system, and I guess thats the price you pay for trying to appeal to the mass market - and some would say its opening up RPG's to the gaming public. The idea of avatar appearance changing through experiences is excellent, but having a pie for health reasons making you fat, or trying to boost your HP a little to endure battles better starts to distort your characters physique, really gets on my wick. I need to be able to shape my character in beneficial and pleasing to the eye ways - like unqiue costumes and weapons, hair colour, hats etc, I don't need my combat tweakings to turn her into a 50 stone WWE wrestling man!!

A letter to Drew

(Drew is the writer on Mass Effect, he can be found here http://www.drewkarpyshyn.com/)

Drew,

I realise you're a busy man, and I won't keep you long. Just wanted to express my appreciation for your storytelling work on Mass Effect: Revelation, Mass Effect the Game, and Mass Effect: Ascension. Your latest work, isn't quite as informative nor as fast paced as the first installment, but what it does do, it cement even more culture and credibility into the Mass Effect Universe, and for that I am very grateful. I believe, you have a very mature and unique environment in which to explore all sorts of Sci Fi related issues, and I can only praise your writing and your imagination for bringing such a believable and interactive place to life for me to play inside. I'm a mature gamer, and I appreciate works of compelling fiction, but never have I had such a story that hits a chord with my core as Mass Effect. As a child the Star Wars Universe titilated my senses, and I've grown up with an appreciate of fantasy and science fiction, gaming becoming one of my life long loves. Never before has a game, consolidated so much I love and offer me so much reward for investigating the meta-game information available. I soak it all up, and enjoy the bigger experience overall.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, as a writer, for fleshing out the world around the game, for giving me characters I enjoy, and believe in, and then you set me down in a adult playground to enjoy an epic cinematic experience, flexing my will, and my whims until I emerge satiated and craving more. Then you fill in the gaps whilst I wait for more. Personally I would like to think Mass Effect could become its own franchise in terms of fiction, regardless of tie-ins with the game. I'm applaud all avenues of this Lore support, whether it be more books, graphic novels, TV series etc, but most of all I'd like to pledge my support in terms of a wage earning discerning adult, who would jump at the chance to enrich his pastime by purchasing more insights into the Mass Effect Universe you have created.

Lastly, I'd like to reassure you that although many are willing to criticise your current novel (Mass Effect: Ascension) for not tying into the game, its because they are not willing to let the storyteller join the dots as and when the next part of the Mass Effect tale is told. They want all the answers up front. And for me, part of the beauty of the Mass Effect Universe is the fact that you know theres more to it up ahead, and my faith in your skill to weave a credible and enjoyable yarn placates that yearning, almost teases it until the next game hits the shelves.

Keep writing, keep creating, I do hope more Mass Effect novels become very popular alongside the gaming franchise because ultimately Mass Effect is a tale about humanity in the future, and it is a modern day myth on an equal setting to those myths of Legends from the past.

Kudos to you, Sir.

Geon: Emotions

Its a weird one, it combines a few elements of other games into the gameplay, all played out on a reversable map area made of squares sometimes twisted into loops and ramps etc..

.. essentially you have to ..

collect pills to fill a meter
collect "emotion" power ups (you can only have one at any time)
when your meter is full you have to get to the edge of a map and flip over, making a run towards the goal area (usually in the center of the maps) to score.
All the while keeping an eye on your opponent who is doing the same, to try and score in your goal, except he's on the reverse side of the map, and you should be able to peek him and his whereabouts through the semi-transparent tiles.

I think the key to it is, using a logical path through the pills to make sure you've easy and quick access to the goal and also to keep your eye on the opponent, if he's filling up his pill meter faster than you, its key you hit him with something that will suck it back down again. Even on the smaller areas it is tricky to collect and watch your opponent at the same time. I'm sure after a good few plays I'll get the hang of it.

The Emotion power ups, have different functions, like the blast through one that allows you to stomp the pills out of your opponent if he's in your vicinity on the opposite side of the map/track. There are ones that obscure the tiles, ones that allow you to speed ahead, and some powerslide into your opponent. Basically most of them are spoilers to make your opponent lose pills, or slow them down, like traps, or boosters to make you go faster, or shield you from your opponents spoilers. Getting to grips with these and their combinations is where the strategy comes into play.

Worth a look-see though, just for the oddness of the gameplay mechanics.. not a puzzler though, as such, think pacman/kulaworld but in a head to head to spoil or score goals against your opponent.

Two Worlds

Mayhap I verily like Two Worlds, Forsooth.

I was looking forward to this game, heralded as the next Oblivion.. not that I hold Oblivion up as the definitive console RPG game that everyone else seems to do. Anyway, I grabbed a copy of Two Worlds and hurdled into it with both feet fervently jabbing my medieval stirrups into my horses sides. I was bitterly disappointed to see such a awkward and ugly game crumble in my hands. The graphics just jarred with me from the off, nothing was crisp, nothing was easily read or sometimes even identified in the user interface. The single player character customisation was singularly under whelming, I couldn't change gender, the hairstyles available were all very similar and limited to about 5 in total - and the colours supported seemed even less. You could mess with the characters stature - chest size, arm length, eye shape, nose width and length but nothing seemed to define your character as anything but this bland hero. So onwards, into the tutorial, some combat, some magic thrown about, haphazardly as the targeting mechanism shifts according to distance away from you, rather than have any focus on one enemy. Some chatting with blurred and shaky NPC's, the chatting itself being laden thick with Ye Olde English, almost too thick for any credibility. Sort of the way people who don't play RPG's think all RPG's are voiced. The stuttering and frame rate issues didn't help, the blatant halts for environment loads had me wondering if my 360 had crashed at times. I did begin to enjoy the freedom and the combat, particularly once I'd secured a mount to ride. There is a decent game behind this cranky port, its not so much Oblivion as Diablo, which is a plus point in my opinion.

I decided I'd try out the PC demo, I wanted to see what this game looked like with graphics I could be comfortable with. Needless to say, the PC version of the game is crisp and looks the part. At last. The scenery looks good, the Armour and your character crisp and defined, and the interface isn't garbled and just plain works as you'd expect. I went out and bought the PC version. Very pleased with it. In terms of features it has a large continent that can be explored at your leisure, or in a focussed manner as you progress through the main quest line or side quests. It has a very pleasing combat mechanism, in that its easy to use and looks good in third person. The console ranged combat (archery and magics) targeting mechanism leaves a lot to be desired, but in the PC version is well suited. The archery in particular requires you to draw the bowstring and control the power of the shot, with many enemies attacking you from all sides this becomes key when you're timing your shot in between taking melee damage and the shot being interrupted. It has a readily accessible alchemical process for manufacturing your own custom potions. Harvest crystals/gems and plants from the world, and combine them freely. It also allows you to take multiples of existing equipment and combine them to boost the stats, so if you find another sword similar to the one you're wielding, pick it up and combine it, to gain an increase, this also applies to Armour, shields, quivers and jewellery. The magic system allows for a five school spell card collecting game, with each spell card also having booster cards that can be combined with them to tweak your spells. You find spell cards as loot, or you can buy them from vendors. One of the nicest features is the horse travel and combat. They have really taken horse travel to another level with this game, in that your horse feels and moves as a horse would. With it shying away from steep drops, and only following land it can feasibly travel. This can lead to some interesting refusal issues with such a undulating landscape, but it makes you truly appreciate the road system when you want your steed to get up to a proper gallop. Press forward to make the beast trot at a gentle pace, or hold forward to make it increase speed from a trot to cantor to gallop. You can also take swings at enemy from your horse if you are wielding a single handed weapon. Something which can be boosted with extra damage using the riding skill. I can imagine it being quite tricky to become proficient in mounted combat, mainly because of the larger turning arcs your horse has to take compared to most enemies. Imagine the jousting style PvP combat of the online game though. Which leads me on to ..

The 360's online mode allows you to create an RPG or PVP character (and this time you can select gender). There seemed to be "arenas" created where you could adventure or battle with your online friends. These arenas seemed to be various portions of the main map, but with invisible walls marking them off. The enemies present in these online worlds seemed to be much more difficult than the standard single play, presumably for team combat to play a part. I only tried one arena, as an RPG character and was promptly hacked to pieces for the next 10 minutes by another player, which didn't do a great deal to endear me to the experience. The PC's online mode seems to be more modelled on Diablo's Battle.net, and it is indeed called Warnet. You log in to the warnet servers and you enter into a multiplayer zone (usually a city) where you can assemble and buy/sell/tweak, then you take yourself off into an instance pretty much like the 360's arenas. With its own quests and harder enemies to battle. Returning to the city hub, you bring back your experience and equipment. I can see this aspect of the game, giving it some life in the online community, much like Diablo II did. And I'm itching to try it out to see if there are party mechanics at work here.

Overall I'd say Two Worlds is a great game, if you're looking for something approximating to a free-roam, story filled Diablo style game. It doesn't take itself too seriously as the dialogue can be very "hey nonny nonny", I believe intentionally so. If you like good visual combat, looting and tweaking a lot, and riding around a vast lush landscape on a horse ready for battle at any moment, then Two Worlds is worth a look. If you want to see it in its full glory I'd say buy the PC version. The 360 version will suffice if its all you've got. Is it the next Oblivion, probably not. But for me, its better than Oblivion. I'm likely to see this game through to the end, and the ride feels far more enjoyable.

Puzzle Quest

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=75377


I must say I've been playing this for a while now, and it just gets etterer and betterer. Wrapping an RPG around a sophisticated "bejewelled puzzler" has really got me hooked. Its got all the things ou want in an RPG, levelling, items, quests, taverns and crafting(!), lus its got an RTS-lite style city building aspect. Its quick enough to play on short journeys and involved enough over time to still be of interest, and not just a novelty. I suppose your mileage will depend if you like the "bejewelled match 3 or more style play". The cunning thing is, the four coloured orbs are mana, and you have certain skills/spells you can cast only if you have collected the correct mana to fuel it. Also you only do damage to the enemy you're fighting against, if you match up the skulls, and do your best to prevent setting up your enemy for skull matches. Each opponent seems to have specials of their own, which adds a lot to the change in strategy you have to adopt, making each matching session slightly different. Along with bonus quests where its more like a traditional puzzle, and you have to find the correct solution to clear the map, there are also crafting puzzles where the objective is to take out hammers and anvils, to boost your chances to create a special item. For a surprisingly simple match 3 formula, they've managed to weave a lot of
variations into the mix, and theme it with a good dose of fantasy RPG.

Settlers of Catan

Catan is great! Played the 'Learn as you play' game this morning. Actually played it twice, because you got to 7 victory points and it wouldn't let you continue unless you unlocked it, and the unlocking mechanism wasn't in place! So I waited half an hour, and then played again, and could finally unlock the thing to finish the game. I was so pleased I won. Even though they're all set to easy AI. I managed to haggle another player into throwing a lot of grain cards at me, and then I used the Port Trading to swap them out for the rock card I needed to bag the city and 2 victory points to 10 to win! I'd read the rules a while back from the board game I have, but never actually played them. However, the Learn as you play option is excellent and gives you the gist of the game in a few minutes really, although getting a handle on the strategy needed is going to take a while I think. Primarily a capture and trading game, it seems ideal for XBLA. Its going to have the snug play that Uno has but with a bit more strategy meat on the bones.

The screen fonts are a bit small, they are readable if you are close-ish to the TV. This is common, because nearly all the card/board games etc have really small fonts.. (hearts, spades, outpost kazloki, Wik?) not to mention that zombie game. Having said that the game is all about icons and the main body of play doesn't require much in the way of text. So once you're through the tutorial game, you're about done with the squinting.

Looking forward to taking part in some Catanning..

Gears of War

Well I completed GoW co-op with my brother, on Hardcore. And blow me, I loved every single minute of it. After laying down the main man at the end, I wanted more. I've heard people saying its nothing special, but playing it through even on the single player campaign (which I did initially on Casual mode) I thought it was exciting stuff. Well put together. The action is sweet. Heightened on co-op mode. And the multiplayer mode takes frantic close combat to another level. One which promotes active teamplay, covering each others back, helping downed team players back up again. Games like Battlefield 2 and COD2/3 to some extent allow players to glory in the solo play, medics get little time to perform support duties. Your team mates are usually respawned and off to get a bigger gun(tm) before any of the subtleties of team play can kick in. GoW is down to wire and dirty. But with the help of another you can make it work. The cover mechanism can be a bit fiddly at first, but after a few levels, you get confident with it, and it does become second nature. The concept of the perfect reload, adds to the game immensley. Now even emptying a few rounds to reload and hit the sweet spot in the heat of a firefight becomes all the more important. The finishing moves, whether chainblade or kerb kick are well executed and crucial in some of the multiplayer modes. Put em down and keep em down. The Kryll light and dark concept is fantastic, fancy that, an insta-death mechanic that works to enhance the game and tension and doesn't really soak it in frustration! The beserkers, oh the beserkers...

I have to say I bought into the Halo franchise big style, and it was what tipped me over the edge into the Xbox world. I can safely say, GoW is my next Halo, and I've already bought into their world now. Bring on GoW2 and 3! This game makes you bat shit crazy! Onto Insane co-op now.

Call of Duty 3

I finished COD3 single player campaign last night. And I must say I've thoroughly enjoyed it. There have been one or two bugs that give me a dry slap (sticking in scenery mainly), not to mention its hung the 360 about 5 times in the whole run through. So I was very careful to save the last checkpoint. Overall though, I'd rate it better than COD2 in terms of throwing you into a combat situation. The set pieces were sometimes a little cheesey - the unarmed combat didn't really play heavy in the game at all, apart from the scripted encounters. I liked the mortar, artillery and flak cannon stuff. The tank pieces were well done, not as exhiliarating as the COD2 desert romp, but taking a Sherman through normandy town streets and having to battle in close quarters was groovey. The guns seemed much better overall, more realistic, better feel to their handling. The rifles especially had me excited, accurate, but slow bolt loading. Smoke was essential in this campaign, or at least I thought it was. My brother claims he never uses it. But its saved my bacon a few times, whiting out MG's and tanks line of sight. The characters were much more believable than before- still a little stereotyped - but you found yourself getting quite attached to some of them. Looks great. I'd love to see it play on a HD setup. Multiplayer does the Battlefield style thing really well, although I'm not totally familiar with all the modes yet. Thumbs up from Bowesy. Now we can look forward to MOH:Airborne and Brothers in Arms 3.

Chromehounds Online

The online game is pressing a lot of the right buttons for me. Its a deliberately measured team battle that requires good team communication above all else. Admittedly if your team members have a flair for building decent mechs then that helps, but even your average Joe who throws together something reasonable can shine in battle, if the Commander plays the strategy right, and the team forsake personal glory for the win. I'm fond of mechs, especially big stomping ones. Ones that just exude a massive heavy presence. You can really feel the weight of them. The slow pace of their movement only adds to the charm of the game, plus it gives you a strategic breathing space in the online game. You can think about how to react. You have that time. That's not to say the action isn't intense, it certainly is, once you're in the thick of battle, but theres the build up, the pursuit, the capturing of the vital COMBAS towers (COMmunication BASes - I think) that allow you to communicate with your teammates and your commander to spot enemy movement on the map.

I like being part of a team. I like supporting play. I like sacrifice for others or a higher goal. I like stomping mechs with big fuck off guns. All of these are catered for in Chromehounds online. There are several 'classes' that you can play, but the mech engineering system allows for you to build hybrids, in fact it positively encourages it. So you can play as a Soldier with frontline guns such as machine guns and short to medium range cannons, you're the main combatants up close and personal, or you can play a Heavy Gunner, a slow moving set of long range artillery on legs. It's all about trajectory fire and bombardment with a Heavy Gunner. You can play a Scout, a speedy tracked, wheeled or hover car style vehicle, ideal for capturing COMBAS towers, or sneaking to the enemy base, outside the radar range and attacking it. You can play a Defender, a heavily armoured and much slower version of the Soldier, taking the hits and holding out, rather than damage dealing. Defending the base top priority. You can also play as a Commander, a vehicle that is usually fast, and that can survey the whole of the map using the radar system from its spinning satellite dish to the other captured COMBAS towers. Out of all the classes you can play, the Commander is probably one of the most important ones. A Squad battling without a Commander, has lost its long range senses. You are then reliant on the visual range of your team, and any AI controlled support such as gun turrets and arms bearing walkers that come as part of the bonus of capturing an associated COMBAS tower. Commander-less squads are at the mercy of fast paced scouts and their ability to weave undetected through the terrain to land devastating blows on your Base. A Commander orchestrates the battle. The team are his tools, so having a good mix of long and short range hitters is vital. Capturing COMBAS's gives the Commander much wider vision, the ability to detect enemy well before they're in visual range, allows him to command his Heavy Gunners to bombard specific sectors on the map, to try and soften them up as they converge for the main battle. The Commander can also spot the "run and gun" scouts making a beeline for his base. With a squad full of mech tweaking players, and the ability to create hybrid mechs, you can see there is much room for improvement to cover your squads needs.

Chromehounds online isn't a game you can really solo well in. You can form a clan of one mech. And you can arrange battles between other stubbornly minded folks. But mech on mech death matches on maps that were designed around a squad of 5 or 6 with a much wider cover of abilities, is just missing the point. You need to join a clan, that will organise into squads signing up to the battles available. The persistent War involves squad vs squad battles in key areas of the map, securing these areas and opening other areas in the web of connections to the enemies cities and captured areas. It is quite like Planetsides global map depicting the war, however Chromehounds battles are not massive zones, they're map based instances where squads will clatter it out and shift the momentum of power. Each of the three superpowers, Tarakia (story wise funded by the Americans, and subsequently adopted by American players), Morskoj (similar to the Russians, and unofficially adopted by European players), and Sal Kar (story wise funded by the Chinese, and unofficially adopted by Asian players) will promote certain key offensive or defensive battles with more merit so that players who take part in these skirmishes will see better returns on their wins and subsequently they will level up in rank, allowing them to take on more hardened players from the enemy states. The higher the rank of the skirmish, the higher the rewards for the victor. High ranking players cannot take part in low rank skirmishes, to prevent 'ganking' as such. The War is quite fluid, and it ultimately results in a win for a single nation who eliminates the other two. So far, since the servers have been online, Morskoj has won a single round. I'm not certain what advantages that gives the Morskoj on a global level, perhaps more special equipment is available via the lottery, I don't know, but once the war is won, the map resets and it begins again. Taking last night for example, Morskoj were down to about 22% occupation of the map early evening, and there were worries about being wiped, but this morning after lots of key battles, they had turned the tide and secured about 70% occupation once again. So there are dramatic swings in power to follow. If a superpower is eradicated altogether I believe they can still take part in skirmishes in the hope of liberating their capital city once again. Since I've not been on the receiving end of an eradication, I'm not entirely sure whats open to you.

The battles themselves are quite involved. You assemble your squad in your clan lobby, a place where you can watch the war progress and chat with teammates, or do some shopping and then tinker with your mech, and your Commander will either join or host a skirmish and the squad mates will then select a squad rendezvous in the Neroimus War, and everyone will join the mission lobby, where you can look over the map, put the final touches to your mech, chat about tactics and select a base (you normally have 2 or 3 locations where you can set up your headquarters, so the enemy never quite know where your base is, even on these maps with known terrain). Once your squad is ready for battle, everyone flags themselves up as 'ready' and then the enemy squad is notified of this. There is a 15 minute time limit on mission lobby duties, which allows for enough time to assemble and brief your squad, but if both squads are ready, the battle begins immediately. If one of the squads pulls out, you then have the option of playing the mission against AI opponents, but the rewards for victory are considerably less. Once in the battle, you're free to roam, capture towers, defend bases, snipe from hillsides, whatever your Commander wants. Certain tactics seem to have become popular for quick wins. One of which is annoying as hell, if you are not prepared for it. It involves fast scouts mounted with only melee weapons. Big pneumatic spikes that can do considerable damage to a mech, or more importantly a base. So you've got your well balanced squad, you're all capturing towers and providing cover, whilst keeping your eyes peeled for the enemy. Four fast enemy scouts zip round the periphery of the map, land at your base, and before your Heavy Gunner can turn his turret, they've all stuck their arrays of six pneumatic spikes into your base and 'bingo', its Game Over. The number of battles where this has happened is on the increase. It seems players will always gravitate towards cheap wins like this. Still, after a couple of spike beastings you start to evolve your defensive line, with mines, and defenders. Last night I was on as my Heavy Gunner with a pair of kick arse Morskoj Howitzers mounted for bombardment, and my double front loaded Cannon, and we had a team playing 'spikers', Commander shouts out fast moving enemy inbound, luckily across my path, so I turn and ready my cannon, in he comes, fast as you like, so fast have trouble keeping my turret turn on him, he was speeding to the base... however, he clocked me, a slow Heavy Gunner, usually easy meat for speedy spikers, they outspin you and stab you hard in the back. So, he altered course, thought he could rack up a kill on the way. What he didn't anticipate was my turret turning system board installed in my cockpit, nor did he suspect that I'd get my howizters pointed low at him as he made a close charge. Boom! Spiker covered in flames, I'd also taken some splash damage from all the incendiary flying about, he was stunned, he attempted another run, keeping close in on my very slow frame, I was back peddling, and laying down Howitzer damage like it was going out of fashion. He was surprisingly well armoured for a scout. Still, time to jam my twin cannons up his arse and Wallop! As I backed away I noticed my Cannon cam was out, in fact my Cannons were but a twisted wreck, but the spiker had stalled, and his cockpit was flaming, and it was only a matter of time before 'bingo!' he went up in a cloud of satisfyingly black smoke and flames. My legs were damaged quite badly so speed was even more hindered, my main twin cannons were out, but I was still around, and he wasn't taking the base anytime soon. After that glowing incident, I managed to struggle my way up to the top of a snow capped mountain, following my Commander very carefully through a bed of mines. He was chain gunning the floor to try and clear the majority of them. To support him in a full frontal attack on a very heavily armoured defender. Broken but not down yet, I unloaded the remaining Howitzer rounds into this defender at point blank range almost, 6 or 7 blasts later and he was almost down. Unfortunately he'd peppered me with rockets too many times and I was down and out. Kicked out of your mech and doomed to run around the map as a very small, very slow, very fragile infantryman. Still, you can keep an eye out for the action and even still participate in some recon as such, its just you're very vulnerable to being stomped on, or taking splash damage. It's good stuff though. We won that battle, and I'd manage to quash a scout spiker. A proud moment for me.

There are a lot of bits and bobs you can put on your mech to enhance it, but its always a balancing act with power, load (weight), and physical mounting slots. There are night vision for night missions, although take part in one without night vision and you see some spectacular lighting shows when the combat starts. There are heat sensors, mine detectors, mine layers, bomb scatterers, more Armour plating, cooling radiators, even fan based propulsion systems to allow your mech to 'jump' slightly. Plenty of variety, plenty of scope for tweaking. Most players in my squad have several mech designs set up for the different classes. I'm still at the early stages of perfecting my Soldier and my Heavy Gunner. But you can tweak and then take it out on a trial sortie, and just see how it performs in basic combat. Inside a squad, you have the support of the other mechs, so you can afford to fiddle a bit and try stuff out, as long as you perform reasonably well.

Overall I am in love with the game. The single player game gives you enough to get a grip on the basics. Its often gritty and too dependant on scripted AI allies, but it does give you a place to train your mech piloting skills. The Scout and Commander missions are particularly stand out for me, I enjoyed them immensely. They reveal how different the classes play. Especially the Commander, you spend most of your time on the map screen, ordering other units about the map to capture COMBAS's and attack or defend areas. The Commanders role in this game reminds me very much of the Commander role in the online game Savage: Battle for Newerth, big responsibility, but ultimately satisfying if you can gel with your team and evolve to combat situations that arise. The Online game is where its at, and while the interface can be very quirky in places, sometimes downright not nice, you struggle with it to open the door into these tough fought war zones, where true teamplay has an area to shine through. As I said in the starting paragraph, it presses all the right buttons, most team based games just don't cut it, people don't gel into a team well, they run off and solo the tank or the helicopter, theres no overall Commander holding the thing together. In Chromehounds, to win, there usually has to be a Commander, and because its squad based, it almost requires you to join up with people and work together. Not really for soloists.

A stand out moment, that will typify my love for the game, is when we marched our mechs up to the river separating the two warring forces, the enemy trying to lower the bridges and make a crossing. We shot out the bridges. We piled our mechs into the water. And we water walked them across the river bed to the other side, emerging like an army of mechanised sea devils, no sooner had the water dripped off chrome pistons, than we rained hellfire onto the enemy. It was a night mission. We all had our cockpit lights on to ensure we wouldn't commit friendly fire. Amazing sight. Not bad for an online game.

Chromehounds

Chromehounds, a game I've had my beady eye on for a while. A game that seemed to get a large amount of stick at least around the gaming websites, before I'd managed to secure a copy. So the vibe was negative, Mech fans were slating it, review websites we're marking it low, everyone who was anyone had an opinion on the game, and I'd only secured a copy on the morning of its release 7th July 2006. I booted it up with some trepidation. And played through the first few missions. Perhaps I'm not critical enough, but with a bucketload of prepping to be totally disappointed with the game, I wasn't. It looked good. The Mech style was gritty, realistic, the way I like it, remiscient of Mech's in Ring of Red on the PS2. Only more real. Shiny chrome pistons. No glam and glitz of the MechAssault series. I should stop calling these things Mech's, in this game they are Hounds. These hounds had weight behind them. Slow, measured weight. Deliberately lumbering and large. A big criticism of the game from the early previews/demo play, was that they moved too slow. And that the slow pace was rampant amongst the whole spectrum of Hounds available. Even the scouts with their unusual inclusion of tracked and wheeled mobility were considered morbidly slow. There is some degree of truth to this. But, I feel the game is being judged harshly if its not looked at as a whole. The single player missions are well crafted, enough to give you a taste of what it is like to employ tactics and strategy as part of a scripted team. You follow scenarios and play your part, almost being tutored in what will work and what won't. But its in the online game, where a slow determined pace is valuable for a squad of players to inform and control each other. To win battles in Chromehounds online, theres no room for lone MechWolves. Your hound is part of a pack. And the pack requires time to direct. The slowing down of the hounds gives a sense of weightiness. A sense of scale. You will brush large trees aside. And stomp upon soldiers tickling you with their gunfire. Tanks are mere toys to be crushed. A lot of the combat and searching for the enemy online is fairly slow paced. But it can be riddled with tension. Blind other than the voiced commands from your leader, you endlessly search the horizon for an intruder. If you work as a team, with supporting abilities, you can devastate an un-coordinated opposition. Parts funded from combat, or captured and won in a lottery can be much more effective than the initial parts you gain via the single player missions. And to see scouts out in the field, you'll swear they're fast, and you try and land rocket, shell and grenade on them.

Ultimately, its a game for people who enjoy large Mech combat. The extra cohesion necessary to capture the appropriate communication towers so that you can freely talk with your commander, and spot enemy and give tactical directions, only enhances the large scale explosive combat. The single player campaign, gives you the basics. And contrary to what the majority of reviewers on the web say, I thought it was an enjoyable lead in to the online game. Somewhere you can hone your Hound and try out some things you wouldn't want to take online. Once you've found yourself a decent squad and you've started taking part in the persistant world war, making a difference, capturing enemy parts and capital cities, it all becomes very addictive. Tweaking hounds with different combinations to fit in with your squad members. Then testing your mettle in the heat of the piston pumped battle. Not everyone will take to it. Especially if they only scratch the surface that is the single player campaign. This is War! It's begun!

Prey DEMO

Tried the Prey Demo at the weekend, and I thought it was sufficiently interesting enough to complete the demo and toy with the idea of buying it.

I don't like the hackneyed plot, and the Tommy Hawk thing, just too cheesey. But, I think the whole "alien abduction" sequence was done with a lot of credibility. Theres enough confusion once let loose to impart a sense of danger and panic, and once you start to experience to portals and the gravity stuff it does get very interesting, although if you suffer from motion sickness this one will have you reeling. There is a lot of disorientation towards the end of the demo. I was starting to feel a bit spewy, and normally I'm quite immune to motion sickness.

I love the idea of Cherokee spirit powers, but not necessarily in an alien spaceship. They're mixing two unknowns. You're exploring what stuff the alien race dishes out, and then suddenly, you're having to meld this with new spiritual based powers that just don't sit right. They're clever an all. And I did appreciate the spirit bow. But you're having to think now can this weird new spirit power I've just been bestowed with, take me through an alien forcefield, or not? Can it? Try it. Yes it can. But theres no logic to the two things, the alien technology is alien. The spirit powers are also alien to you. Obviously after a few hours playing you'll logically match the mechanisms to navigate around and use the two, but on first hit, it was very confusing. Like two unknowns clashing severely and as much as I wanted to be cool with my spirit powers, I also liked the alien gun technology.

Still, with enough good looking alien stuff, and some crazy indian spirit stuff I can imagine delving into my pockets for this one. It's got a whole lot more novelty and mechanism to play with than say Far Cry has. Haven't tried the multiplayer out yet. Although I suspect you'll get something approaching Quake4-ish.

Lost Planet DEMO

A bunch of E3 trailers and a couple of demos turned up on Xbox Live Marketplace last night, including the Lost Planet demo. So I grabbed it as quick as I could... fell asleep on the couch.. finished the download in the morning.



Based on the 4 minutes play I managed to eek out this morning, I must say I like it. Its a 3rd person shooter, with some really nice graphics, crumbling snow underfoot as you yomp across a frozen wasteland, ectoplasmic slosh spilling out of bug hatching pods as you pump shotgun shells into them, big leggy bugs flailing their spiny legs at you as you weave around them and spray their bellies with bullets. Just looks brilliant.

I wandered into an underground car park swarming with bugs and hatching pods everywhere. Lots of explosive barrels and abandoned vehicles to use as splash damage shrapnel, lots of beautiful looking explosions to trigger, punctuated with bug offal flying and spurting around. This is a lone starship trooper out to slay the alien bug horde with a decent arsenal of killing tools. Machine guns, shotguns, grenades and even some Mechs.

In the car park, there was some turret shaped device that had to be activated, by pumping the B button, and I was in the middle of cutting down swathes of crawlers whilst pumping this device, when I had to power down this other world and and shoot off to work.

I'd say its a great action bug splatterer, with graphics to die for. Looking forward to getting home this evening and nailing me some more insectoid menace.