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Even though I've been reviewing games for fun for the better part of 6 years now there are few series that I've been able to catalogue my experiences of completely. Many of the big AAA games have been going on since long before I started blogging and there are many new IPs since then that have failed to see further instalments. However one of the stand out series I've had the pleasure of reviewing has been the Batman: Arkham games which have set the standard to which many others are compared. The last title in this series, Arkham Knight, sees a return of Rocksteady Studios as the developer and with them the hopes that this game will bring a return to form for the IP. Indeed, at least for this review, that's very much the case however you'd have to be living under a rock to not know about the turmoil that this title endure during its first weeks on the shelves.
Although his nemesis might be gone Batman has continued his work in Gotham City, becoming an ally of the GCPD rather than its adversary. In the year since the events of Arkham City Gotham has become a place of peace with crime rates tumbling and the populace feeling safe in their home town. However Batman's continued spoiling of everyone's nefarious plans has not gone unnoticed and they have all banded together with the one singular goal: to kill the batman. At the helm is Scarecrow who threatens the entire city and causes a mass evacuation, leaving the streets to be filled with criminals, looters and a sense of fear. It is up to you now, dear Batman, to rid Gotham of this disease once again but the journey may leave you losing much more than you'd ever had hoped to.
Arkham Knight is an absolutely stunning game with the graphics easily surpassing any of the previous titles in the series. This is made all the more impressive by the fact that it's running on the Unreal 3 engine which, as of writing, was released almost 11 years ago. The trademark Gothic style is back once again with everything in Gotham having this certain retro-futuristic chic about it. Climbing to the top of any building is rewarded with a gorgeous landscape that's just brimming with detail which only gets better upon closer inspection. There are some pretty great innovations in here too, like how rain falls on surfaces and slicks down or how the turbulent waters of Gotham's harbours churn and crash against the walls. Going back and looking at my previous screenshots from other Batman titles Arkham Knight really is a generation ahead of its predecessors, an incredible feat considering the last title was released less than 2 years ago.
For those who've played any of the previous Arkham titles the core game play will be familiar, taking much the same approach as Arkham City did. You're plopped down into a vast open world with numerous objectives, all of which are centred on one of the characters from the Batman franchise. You're free to pick and choose from any of the objectives all of which will grant you upgrade points which you can spend to upgrade Batman's skills, gadgets and combat moves. You will also be treated to the wonder that is the Batmobile, a nimble tank that's got a staggering array of weaponry at its disposal, which you'll need to make good use of if you're to get anywhere in this game. The traditional beat 'em up combat remains intact with only a few new options added into the mix to differentiate it from its predecessors. In terms of scale it's the biggest Batman game ever released, one that will keep even the most dedicated achievement hunter busy for a very long time.
The melee combat remains largely the same as it did in previous Arkham games with the addition of a few new gadgets and enemy types. If I'm honest it actually feels slightly weaker than previous titles as the new gadgets fail to make up for the lack of new combos or takedowns. Pulling off massive combos doesn't seem to have the same spectacular pay off that it used which was a big driver, at least for me, to get better at landing them. There's the inclusion of the fear takedown, which basically works as an opener to take out the most dangerous enemies first, which is cool but does take away a fair chunk of the skill required to take down massive groups of varied enemies. This, coupled with the lack of any big melee boss fights, means that whilst the essence of the combat is still there it just doesn't have the same attraction it once did.
This is made up for entirely by the inclusion of the Batmobile, the single most fun thing that Rocksteady included in Arkham Knight. From the second you first get your hands on it the Batmobile is a cacophony of destruction, metallic car noises and oodles of weaponry that border on being ludicrously excessive. Driving around Gotham is just plain fun as you smash and crash your way through pretty much everything that gets in your way. The vehicle combat makes up for the less than stellar melee combat although after the 30th drone battle over a mine it does start to lose its lustre somewhat. However the integration of the Batmobile into almost every aspect of the game is done so well you start to wonder how they managed to build a Batman game without it. I'm not sure how canon this form of the Batmobile is however as it's pretty much a killing machine on wheels, something which isn't strictly in alignment with the Batman ethos. Not that that really matters, though.
The stealth sections are back again this time with even more ways for the enemies to locate you and ruin your Not Seen and Not Shot bonuses. The mechanics will be instantly familiar, finding vantage points and sneaking through grates, however for each new hazard you're given a new way to deal with it. Much like the melee combat though it feels a little weaker than previous games, possibly because it is so similar or maybe because other elements (like the Batmobile) are just that much better. Suffice to say most of my stealth sections usually ended in me unceremoniously taking out everyone after they spotted me once and more than a few angered restarts because of that.
Due to the outrage over how unplayable Arkham Knight was I decided to hold off until the first patch was released and I'm glad I did. I experienced no performance issues at all with Arkham Knight being buttery smooth the entire time. It was not, however, a completely glitch free experience as there were numerous times where things didn't work as expected. Chasing Firefly in the Batmobile would often result in it not being able to drive forward for some reason, requiring me to jump out and back in again (sometimes allowing him to escape). On more than one occasion the indicators that I should counter something during a cutscene simply didn't pop up, leading to a few frustrating moments where I simply could not figure out how to get to the next section. However none of these issues are what I'd consider game breaking as I would not have invested so much time into Arkham Knight if it was as broken as everyone was making it out to be. As of writing Arkham Knight is still not for sale on Steam, something which I honestly don't agree with after playing through it this past week.
The story serves as the conclusion to the Arkham series and, I'm glad to say, rounds out the various stories of all the main characters quite well. For those of us who've stuck with the Arkham series since Asylum it's been quite a ride and to have it end so well, when so many games have done endings like this poorly, is a most welcome change. This does not mean that the Batman IP has run its course yet, indeed the upcoming Batgirl DLC is a testament to this, however the story ark of Batman and Joker is done and dusted. I'll be interested to see if Rocksteady or another development studio will look to replicate the success of this series with other characters within the same franchise as, whilst I'm glad this chapter has come to a close, I'd very much like to explore more of this world from a different perspective.
Batman: Arkham Knight is a fitting finale to this venerable series, capturing everything that made the series great whilst amping it up to the next level with a solid story and, of course, the Batmobile. The combat and stealth retain the essence of what made the previous games great although fail to innovate much beyond that. The Batmobile makes up for this in spades, delivering gloriously dumb action as you tear through the streets of Gotham. The story finishes the major Batman and Joker arc beautifully, leaving you with a sense of closure whilst also wanting to see more of this world that Rocksteady has built up over the past 5 years. Even if you haven't been following the series since day dot you won't be disappointed in the experience that Batman: Arkham Knight brings as it is truly a stellar game, even in its own right.
Rating: 9.25/10
Batman: Arkham Knight is available on PC, XboxOne and PlayStation4 right now for $59.99, $99.95 and $99.95 respectively. Game was played on the PC with a total of 16 hours playtime and 42% of the achievements unlocked.
The number of games that were mobile exclusives that make the transition to another platform, whether that's PC or consoles, is vanishingly small. It's obvious to see why this is as many of the concepts used in mobile gaming like, touch input and interface design, simply don't translate readily between those platforms. Platform transition issues have always been a problem for developers, as was shown with the consolization of PC games, but the problem space has been well mapped out over the course of the past decade. Mobile games still struggle with this unfortunately and whilst I really wanted to like Deus Ex: The Fall it was a glaring example of the struggles that developers face when doing mobile to PC transitions.,
You are Ben Saxon, an ex-military agent who served with the Belltower corporation during the Australian civil war. Your career with them was ultimately cut short when bad intel sent you straight into the middle of war zone, your entire team lost when your transport was shot down. However in the midst of all the chaos you managed to meet with someone, Jarron Namir, who recruits you into his special operations team called The Tyrants. With your new augs and all the resources you could ever want at your disposal the future looks good, that is until you uncover the truth about why you were sent into Australia.
Deus Ex: The Fall is a game based on the Unity engine and in that regard it's actually quite impressive. The graphics are comparable to Deus Ex: Invisible War with a few lighting and rendering tricks helping it to feel a little more modern. Compared to Human Revolution though, a game that was released 3 years ago, it looks like a bad rip off. On a smaller screen, say a tablet or your phone, they'd look a little bit more impressive but on a PC it just feels streets behind everything else. This would mean that if you were craving a taste of the new Deus Ex universe and couldn't run Human Revolution, for some reason, then it'd be a good place to start.
The Fall essentially a cut down version of Human Revolution in almost every sense, from the skill trees to the weapons to the environments that you'll be playing in. It's very clear that everything about The Fall was designed with the mobile market in mind with most of the levels and missions broken down into chunks that can be completed in 5 to 15 minutes. The core game mechanics are still there with the stealth functioning largely the same and the gun combat comparable but, again, modified for the mobile interface. Whilst there's definitely been a non-zero amount of work done on the transition from mobile to PC the unfortunate reality is that The Fall still contains numerous glitches, bugs and weird quirks on game play mechanics that heavily mar the overall experience.
Human Revolution really got the stealth mechanic nailed down tight and it was nice to see that the majority of mechanics had made their way into The Fall. Most of the levels have numerous different pathways snaking through them allowing you to sneak up on nearly every enemy and take them out silently. However there's a discrepancy between what you can see in first person mode and what the NPCs can "see", allowing them to sometimes detect you through walls when, from your point of view, there's nothing that can be seen. Once you're aware of this it's not too hard to work around however it's a glaring reminder of the limitations of mobile as a gaming platform as I've never had this kind of issue with other stealth games on PC.
Combat is extremely clunky which, when coupled with the extremely rudimentary AI, makes it unchallenging and ultimately not satisfying. The recoil mechanic functions by zooming your view in and moving it up slightly, something which is horrifically jarring and doesn't really add any challenge. Now I played Human Revolution as a primary stealth character and I played The Fall in much the same way however the times when I felt like it'd be fun to run and gun instead were stopped dead in the tracks because of how bad the mechanics are. It's for that reason that I never really ventured into the buy screen as I could get past every section without using a single weapon.
The talent trees contain familiar upgrades including all the hacking and stealth upgrades from Human Revolution. They pretty much all function pretty much the same as they did previously with the main difference being just how quickly you'll be able to unlock most of them. Much Human Revolution The Fall seems to be optimized for hacker/stealth players as the majority of things are hidden behind hackable panels and in long air ducts.I have no doubt that if you took the time to thoroughly investigate all of the levels you'd be able to unlock every ability without too much trouble as I managed to get ~60% of them before I got bored and just bypassed everything.
As I alluded to earlier The Fall suffers from many issues due to its transition from the mobile version of Unity to the PC. The first issue I noticed was that sounds just refused to play which also meant the subtitles didn't stay up either. I traced this back to my headphones (a pair of Logitech G35s) as once I unplugged them everything seemed to work fine. It wasn't limited to that either as the hacking screen would simply refuse to be moved around which was something of a necessity considering how limited the zoom was. I'm pretty sure this is due to the way you'd handle input on mobile (with DragStart and DragEnd events) which doesn't directly translate to how PCs with mice work (MouseClick even and then track pointer movement). There were also some rendering issues apparent in a couple levels which wasn't game breaking but was rather annoying.
The story was semi-interesting although it was so simplistic that it was hard to get into it. There are some familiar faces that appear in the previous games which I thought would be a cool way to give some more backstory on them. However they're really only there to show their faces before the real meat of the game continues so it just feels like a tease to those who enjoyed the story of Human Revolution. Probably the worst part about it is the huge, glaring TO BE CONTINUED at the end which means seems to indicate that this is going to be an episodic adventure although we're fast approaching a year since its initial release with no more content in sight.
Deus Ex: The Fall is yet another unfortunate example of how mobile-first games simply don't translate well into the PC world. It feels like the same amount of time and effort could have been dedicated to implement this as a DLC for Human Revolution, something which I think would've seen this story done a lot more justice than what it was on the mobile platform. I may be singing a different tune if I had played this through on my phone but the fact is this was made available through Steam as a game for the PC. In that regard it's hard to not call it as it is, a bad port that needed a lot more work to even be mediocre.
Rating: 4/10
Deus Ex: The Fall is available on Android, iOS and PC right now for $10.49, $7.49 and $9.99 respectively. Game was played on the PC with 4 hours of total play time with 57% of the achievements unlocked including the pacifist one even though I killed multiple people.
The gold standard for stealth game play has, and probably always will be, the original Thief series. It wasn't that it was one of the first games to get stealth mechanics right, I believe that title belongs to the Metal Gear series (even though I've never played any of them), more that the blend of mechanics, cues and emphasis on finesse rather than force made the series stand out amongst its peers. It's been a very long time between drinks for the series though with the last title, Thief: Deadly Shadows, being released almost a decade ago. The latest instalment, Thief, is an attempt to reboot the series for a modern audience something which may be at odds at the long time fans of the master thief Garret
After taking a job from Basso, Garrett's only friend and contact for all this nefarious and underworldly, you find yourself atop a glorious manor accompanied by your former apprentice Erin. However something doesn't feel right about this particular job as you witness something strange, an otherworldly ritual that shakes the very world. You're just about to pull out when Erin, who was watching the ritual from on top of a glass dome, falls. You try to save her but it's too late and she falls down right into the middle of the ritual, disappearing from sight. Suddenly it's a year later and you have no recollection of what has happened.
Thief certainly impresses graphically as all the environments pack in an incredible amount of detail, something which is key to the core game play mechanics. There's atmospheric and lighting effects everywhere which can turn some of the most dull environments into wonderful screenshot bait. Having said all that I feel like it could've been better as whilst they're definitely on the upper end of the scale there are some sections where it's obvious that sacrifices had to be made for the large number of platforms that were targeted. This did mean that I rarely had any performance issues but I'm usually happy to sacrifice that for a little more eye candy.
Unsurprisingly Thief is a stealth game, one where the objective of your current quest can be completed in a variety of different ways. The tools you have at your disposal are wide and varied, ranging from tools that will help keep you concealed to weapons of massive destruction. There's also two different upgrade systems that allow you to tailor Garrett's abilities to your play style of choice allowing you to become the master of the shadows or a brutal predator that lurks around every corner. Indeed whilst Thief's pedigree is in stealthy game play either play style seems viable, even a mix of both if either one of them starts to wear on you.
In terms of retaining the trademark feel that all Thief games have this latest instalment does it quite well. Whilst the environments aren't exactly massive open world sandboxes like Assassin's Creed there's enough back alleys, secret pathways and rooms with tantalizingly locked doors to make the maps feel a lot bigger than they actually are. Thief certainly rewards players who take the time to go over everything with a fine tooth comb which I'm sure a lot of players will find rewarding. On the flip side it never feels like this is a necessary part of the game as you'll find more than enough resources to keep you going if you just meander off the beaten trail once in a while. Whilst this might annoy the purists the inclusion of a custom difficulty mode turns this optional but rewarding task into a necessity, something which should keep them at bay.
The combat in Thief is understandably lacklustre, mostly because it's obvious that out and out fighting isn't the game's preferred way of completing objectives. This is in stark contrast to other similar stealth games of recent memory (most notably Dishonored) where both paths were somewhat viable. You've still got the choice of killing or knocking people out to achieve your objective but should you find yourself discovered there's really no way to get yourself out of that situation without finding a nearby hidey hole. I don't necessarily count this against Thief as out and out combat is not what the series, nor the genre itself, is usually about. The option is there but its a blunt instrument in comparison to all the other tools you have at your disposal.
The stealth, on the other hand, is quite marvelous. With the highly detailed maps peppered with vents, corridors and passageways it's guaranteed that every obstacle you encounter has multiple ways to bypass it. Indeed every time I found myself struggling with a particular section it was always because I wasn't noticing the alternate path that was right before me, opening up options I didn't know I had previously. There are some situations where trade offs have to be made though which can lead to some frustration but realistically it's just about making the choice that's right for your particular playstyle.
The game is well executed for the most part with no major bugs or glitches to report however the control scheme does feel a little bit awkward. Using the lean out ability can be a real exercise in frustration, especially if you wanted to pick something up from a chest or box instead of peeking around it. The same can be said for cancelling things, which can be right click or another key, leading to some heat of the moment confusion. Additionally dropping off a rope can't be done with space if there's no nearby ledge and instead must be done with X. It just feels like the interface lacks consistency and makes the more routine parts of the game harder than they need to be. This is somewhat excusable in survival horror games but it's also one of the reasons that I have a tendency to dislike that genre.
Thief's story is decidedly middle of the road sharing some similar threads to those of previous instalments in the series (secret society conspiracies laced with bits of magic) but there's nothing particularly memorable about it. The initial build up in the opening scenes is far too short for us to have any emotional investment in the main characters and seems to rely on our previous experiences with the series to derive most of its impact. It simply doesn't work as the vast majority of people playing this game haven't been involved with the Thief series for the better part of a decade and much of the detail is lost to the ages. I'm a firm believer that a good story can make up for nearly any shortcomings that a game might have but unfortunately for Thief that isn't the case and it's lucky that it's so strong mechanically.
F or a series that hasn't seen a release in 10 years Thief delivers a solid game play experience, modernizing many mechanics without incurring the usual penalty of simplifying them too greatly for mass adoption. Thief doesn't rely heavily on its pedigree in order to deliver a good experience, being able to create its own distinct identity through it's well executed game mechanics. Unfortunately the story is the giant black mark on an otherwise highly polished experience, leaving this and many other reviewers wanting. Still it's hard for me to recommend against playing Thief as it really is a solid game, just don't play it for the story.
Rating: 7.8/10
Thief is available right now on PC, Xbox360, XboxOne, PlayStation3 and PlayStation4 right now for $49.99, $79.95, $99.995, $79.95 and $99.95 respectively. Game was played on the PC on the Thief difficulty with 11 hours of total play time and 35% of the achievements unlocked.
It's been a while since a good stealth game has crossed my path with many of the games that I've played recently including stealth as a tacked on aspect that doesn't add much to the game play at all. Indeed stealth mechanics are notoriously difficult to get just right as it's quite easy to make it completely ineffective or, by virtue of making the stealth so powerful, nullify other aspects of the game. The Splinter Cell series of games might never have been considered the pinnacle of stealth game play (I think Deus Ex and Thief take the cake there) but they were most assuredly one of the few games that got stealth mechanics right and Blacklist is no exception.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist puts you back in the shoes of Sam Fischer, long time black ops agent who's regularly tasked with missions that require the utmost discretion. On what seems to be a routine trip out of Andersen Air Base quickly turns south as an unknown assailant lays siege to the entire base, taking down the chopper that Sam and his old friend, Victor Coste, were in. It's soon revealed that the people behind the attack are calling themselves The Engineers and their goal is nothing short of the USA pulling all their troops out of every foreign country. Should the USA not comply they'll have 7 days before the next attack will occur, that is unless Fischer can stop them.
Right off the bat Blacklist impresses with its top class visuals, easily surpassing many titles of the same generation. Whilst you'll be predominately spending most of your time in the dark (should you choose to play that way) there are numerous times when you'll find yourself gawking at the lush scenery or the incredible amounts of detail in the environments. This plays heavily into the fact that the environment is as much of a weapon against your enemies as your large arsenal is as these detail environments will provide you with dozens of paths and opportunities to complete sections as you see fit. This is only made better by the solid voice acting by all of the characters, adding another level of depth that I honestly wasn't expecting from Blacklist.
Whilst Blacklist is primarily designed as a stealth action game its essentially 3 different games in one, all of which are available depending on how you want to play it out. Blacklist does encourage you to take the hardest road (fully stealth, don't kill anyone) by making that the most rewarding path however if you'd prefer to play it a bit quicker by switching to lethal take downs that path is also quite viable. Then, should your inner Call of Duty fan be rattling his cage, you can then switch to full out run and gun mode leaving a trail of destruction in your wake. This path comes with the least rewards however but you'd rarely find yourself wanting should you decide to play it this way.
As a fan of the stealth genre I tried my best to stick to the fully undetected, non-lethal take down approach which is by far the most challenging way to play the game. It takes a little while to get used to the way enemies react to you, figuring out how long you can stay in their line of sight before you'll be detected, but once you've got a feel for it the system provides enough challenge without making it feel like you're against a race of super soldiers with heightened senses.However you're more likely to make the game far more challenging if you're trying to stick to a couple goals (no kill, completely undetected) as one mistake can lead to you needing to use tactics that will go counter to your plan.
Although your job does become a lot easier as you start to unlock better gear, especially when it comes to the tactical goggles on your head. They start off just being your run of the mill night vision goggles but after a couple upgrades they give you see-through-the-wall capability which turns you into a super hero like agent. It's balanced by the fact that they don't ping out when you're moving, so you can get yourself into tight situations if you don't take the time to stop and look around, but if your aim is to go full stealth then you're best bet is to drop as much cash as you can into the goggles early and look to upgrading other things later.
If you're going to take the Panther approach (stealth killing rather than stealth knock outs) then you're probably better off investing in some of the more powerful weapons so that you can take out enemies more efficiently. It's in this aspect that you're somewhat spoiled for choice as there are literally dozens of alternatives for the 2 primary slots which will be candy to those achievement hunters who love to unlock everything. Personally since I was going for the min-max approach there was really only a couple weapons that would suit me and by far the best ones are the prototype weapons that are unlocked by upgrading the weapons lab. Some of the others might be better for other situations but considering how powerful the prototype assault rifle was you'd be hard pressed to find anything better, honestly.
I'll admit that I skipped all but the story missions as they seemed to be the most interesting out of the lot. There's a bunch of co-op and multiplayer missions that you can do for extra cash and gear unlocks however the gear I had as part of the game bundle I bought meant I didn't find myself wanting for a lot of it. This is probably my main criticism I'll level at Blacklist as the fact that I spent a couple extra bucks on the game meant I was able to skip a lot of content because I didn't feel compelled to pursue any of the additional unlocks. I understand this won't be the case for everyone however it does bring into the question of single player balance and the use of potentially game breaking rewards for those who elect to pay a company a few dollars extra.
The story of Blacklist isn't going to win any awards but I did feel that it had a depth to it that many comparable FPS or stealth games lacked. Instead of simply being sent on a mission to take out person X or stop terrorist attack Y from happening all the missions have a wealth of background behind them, with many of the characters being acutely aware of the impact their actions could have on the wider geopolitical landscape. It's probably even better for those who've played the previous Splinter Cell titles (I can only vaguely remember playing one, Pandora Tomorrow I think) as many of the characters were featured previously.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is an excellent example of a modern day stealth title, giving the player a great degree of freedom in playing the game out how they see fit. The stealth is done exceptionally well with every level having dozens of alternative paths so that you can craft your own way through. Even the sections where you're forced into run and gun combat feel great which leads me to believe that even if you played Blacklist as a traditional FPS it'd still rate up there as a great game. Blacklist then is a title I can help but recommend especially if you're a fan of the stealth genre.
Rating: 9.25/10
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist is available on PC, Xbox360, PlayStation3 and WiiU right now for $59.99, $78, $78 and $78 respectively. Game was played on the PC on Normal difficulty with 10.7 hours of total play time.
Working from an established, non-game IP is usually a risky move for a game developer. If you're working on a game that's based directly off a movie chances are that you'll barely get a look in with most gamers and your development time will be constrained by the movie's release date which usually ends up with a lackluster product. Things like comics and novels are a little safer (and have produced far more hits than movie tie ins) however you still run the risk of alienating fans of the original material. Metro: Last Light is the sequel to Metro 2033 which was based on a novel of the same name. However this title apparently bears little resemblance to the story of Metro 2034 and instead continues the story of Artyom, the main character from the previous game.
Metro: Last Light is set 20 years into the future after Moscow had been turned into a radioactive wasteland by an undisclosed enemy. Those who survived were driven underground by the radiation, finding shelter in the city's vast metro system and, over time, making it their new home. Several factions have arisen to claim parts of the Metro for their own purposes and have been locked in conflict ever since. You play as Artyom, one of the Rangers who have sworn to protect all life in the Metro and the one who was responsible for destroying the Dark Ones, a strange humanoid race that appeared not long after the bombings ended. However one of them still remains and you've been sent to reclaim him by any means possible.
Visually Metro: Last Light can be quite impressive when it wants to be (as the below screenshot will attest) but unfortunately you'll spend the majority of your time in the many assorted tunnels of the metro. I can't fault the game for this, since that's what it's all about, but it does mean that much of the visual aspect of the game is lost to the small environments. Cranking everything up to max brought my PC to its knees but it was extremely playable after minor tweaks to a few settings as the auto-detection system seems to get most things bang on.
The game play of Metro: Last Light is a curious blend of stealth and first person shooter with both options being equally viable. The stealth parts are quite Thief like in nature with a visibility indicator that let's you know when enemies can see you which is based primarily on how illuminated you are. From a first person shooter perspective it's pretty run of the mill, with all the weapons functioning pretty much as you'd expect them to, but there's a few variations which can be quite helpful in certain situations, especially if you're preferring stealth over out and out combat.
Indeed after the spectacular fail that was Mars: War Logs' stealth system it was refreshing to play one that, whilst not having the depth of other stealth first games like Dishonored, added some additional depth to your typical run and gun FPS. The mechanics of it are fairly rudimentary, if you're standing in direct light enemies can see you and if not you're essentially invisible, but there's a definite amount of strategy involved if you're trying to avoid combat. This usually involves taking out strategic lights so you can maneuver around guards to take them out or, as I accidentally found out, causing a ruckus in one area then slinking off into the shadows. You're also given the choice between knocking out or killing people when they're unaware of you but as far as I could tell this choice has 0 effect on anything.
Whilst the stealth is good the regular shooting combat is a little lackluster, owing mostly to the encounter design. You see there are many sections where you simply can't stealth, usually when you're facing mutants rather than other humans, and in order for them to provide some challenge they usually just throw wave after wave of them at you. This is the same problem that Dragon Age 2 suffered from as you can't really formulate a strategy before you start the encounter. This usually leads to you running around in circles whilst reloading, hoping that another enemy doesn't spawn which will usually lead to your untimely death.
The upgrade/currency system is also somewhat moot as whilst it does give you some sense of progression you're much better off not spending any of your money on new weapons or upgrades as you'll find guns with them scattered everywhere. I remember picking up the air rifle early on and found it was great for shooting out lights at a distance and so I spent quite a lot of rounds on upgrading it for just that purpose. However not an hour later did I find another one with all the upgrades on it and from then on I simply didn't bother buying the upgrades, I just waited until I found a weapon with them on it. It's probably better to do it this way since you're limited to 3 guns and sometimes you'll be out of ammo for your weapon of choice, so you're better off ditching one in favour of another which you have a full pack of ammo for.
The level of polish in Metro: Last Light is commendable with the only bug I encountered during my playthrough being some texture/terrain glitches that did little more than to distract me for a couple seconds. I will gripe about the interface though as whilst I can appreciate the "realism" of some parts of it having to press and hold M to bring up your objective pad which then can't be put back down by hitting M again feels a little cumbersome. Also, whilst I lamented to the use of C for crouch initially, most FPS games now use this as default whilst Metro: Last Light uses it for throwing your secondary weapon (CTRL is crouch, like in the old days). These are minor gripes, things that you overcome after a couple hours of game play, but it certainly didn't endear Metro: Last Light to me early on.
The story of Metro: Last Light has been a major selling point for it with it being touted as a "story first FPS". This is quite true, almost to the point of frustration, as there can be very long sequences where Artyom and his comrades talk endlessly about plot points which you can't skip past (I'm sure I'm not alone in being able to read the subtitles faster than people can talk). It does help to give you an insight into the character's motivations, something which sequels like this usually miss out on due to their reliance on the previous title. Metro: Last Light does a fantastic job for people like me who haven't played the original and whilst the story can drag at times when you're just chomping at the bit to get into the action it's well above par for what I've come to expect from a modern day FPS.
Whilst Metro: Last Light has been billed as a story first game I feel that it's more of a balanced experience with the gameplay and story complementing each other quite well. There's no one particular feature of Metro: Last Light that makes it worth playing, no it's more the combination of several, above average elements that meld together well to produce an experience that very much greater than the sum of its parts. It might not be game of the year material but that doesn't mean it isn't a great game experience by itself, something which sequels usually struggle to accomplish without relying heavily on their predecessors.
Rating: 8.0/10
Metro: Last Light is available on Xbox360, PlayStation 3 (and apparently the PS4 when it comes out) and PC right now for $88, $88 and $69.99 respectively. Game was played on the PC on normal mode, hard difficulty with 8 hours total play time and 31% of the achievements unlocked.
I've had a few people ask me how I come across some of the games that I review here and the answer is pretty simple. If I haven't seen something that's been on a lot of review sites (I don't read the reviews, but if a game keeps popping up that's a sign it might be worth a look in) then they usually come from me trawling through the new releases section on Steam. From there I work my way through the titles, looking for something that can capture my attention with just a few screenshots and possibly a short video. Mars: War Logs was one of these although it was more for the dev story behind it as Spiders isn't a particularly large studio but they seemed really dedicated to creating a good game.
Mars: War Logs takes place in the distant future where humans have successfully colonized Mars. A hundred years ago however there was a great upheaval which devastated the colonies and lead to the rise of two opposing factions: Aurora and Abundance. Ever since then they've been locked in an ongoing battle for control of the world's water supply, by far the most valuable resource. You play as Roy Temperance, a prisoner of war who's caught between the two factions, trying to hide from his past that continues to haunt him.
The aesthetic of Mars: War Logs is reminiscent of many current gen third person titles with infinite shades of brown and grey colouring the world. Although this time around it kind of fits thanks to the world that it's built in even though it has the unfortunate effect of making every place you go feel a little samey. The graphics are good but not great, which becomes quite noticeable when they're combined with the rudimentary lip synching and low resolution motion capture. Honestly I've seen worse from other recently released titles so I won't be too harsh on it for that but it's hard not to draw comparisons to the many other, astoundingly better looking games.
Surprisingly though there's quite a lot under the hood of Mars: War Logs in terms of gameplay, something you don't usually expect from smaller RPG titles. The combat is mostly whacking other people with metal poles until they fall down with the added strategy element of blocking/dodging incoming attacks. There's also a stealth system which allows you to sneak up on unsuspecting enemies, although how crouching down counts as stealth is beyond me. They've even incorporated a talent tree, crafting system and character perks allowing you a pretty decent amount of customization to how you play Mars: War Logs. This is a lot for a small dev studio to cram into a game and that unfortunately means that there's a lot of depth lacking from many of these mechanics and some of them are still plagued by bugs that should have been picked up in QA.
For starters the combat, whilst somewhat engaging and enjoyable at certain points, varies wildly between being so easy that its almost pointless to being so hard that you'll spend the majority of your time rolling around just so can whittle enemies down a couple hits at a time. This is because there's no dynamic scaling of enemy difficulty and it only increases at certain points, usually at the start of a new section. The pacing of the game then becomes highly disjointed as you can be breezing through the last half of a particular section only to hit a brick wall at the beginning of the next, rather than having a gradual ramp up in the challenge. Some would argue that this is part of the strategy but in all honesty it's just sloppy design, especially when "challenging" means that you lose the majority of your health in a couple hits.
The stealth system is a complete joke as whilst you can sneak around the benefits of doing so are minimal at best. When you're first introduced to it stealthing up to an enemy and hitting them doesn't take them out, it just takes away a good portion of their health. Of course that means that after doing that all the enemies close by will aggro forcing you to go toe to toe with them anyway. Now I didn't invest any points in the stealth abilities so this could be somewhat improved by that but that tree is also the weakest out of the 3 when you consider that, no matter how well you stealth, you will eventually have to fight everything. I think Spiders would've been much better off skipping this feature altogether to focus more on the core of the game as it really adds nothing in its current form.
Although there's a talent tree with 3 different styles to choose from only 2 of them are available to you from the start, with one of them being the aforementioned weakest of them all stealth one. This means that you're kind of shoe horned into spending points into one specific tree (melee combat) and thus can't take full advantage of the third tree (technomancy) until much later in the game. However even if you wanted to I don't think it'd be very viable as the amount of damage output you need later in the game can really only come from charged melee weapons, unless you want to spend 20 minutes running around waiting for your fluid (mana) levels to regen.
The crafting system is equal parts good and complete crap thanks to the massive overabundance of materials that you'll find in every area. Essentially you can craft a couple things like health packs and ammunition but the real power of the crafting system comes from upgrading your armor and weapons. Now not all weapons and armor can be upgraded so that really expensive top tier armor might look great but it's in fact completely inferior to anything that comes with upgrade slots. This has the unfortunate consequence of making the vast majority of items irrelevant as anything that lacks upgrades is most certainly not worth it.
After the first section you'll almost never be out of materials for crafting things you need, especially if you're a veteran RPGer and seek out all the free stuff like I did. What this meant was that whenever upgrades became available (usually after having to run the gauntlet at the start where everything is stupid hard again) I was able to purchase them and then instantly upgrade them to their maximum. There are no rare items to be found or obtained from quests so literally the highest damage/armor item you can buy from the vendor is the best item you will ever see. If you're low on serum there's a good chance you have a ton of materials that you can pilfer for serum in order to get the upgrade and in fact you're probably better off doing that then trying to convert resources as typically you'll get more if you sell said items to the vendor then buy back the ones you need.
Most of this would be forgivable however these are just some of the more obvious structural flaws that Mars: War Logs has. The interface is confused and doesn't operate as you'd expect with fun quirks like: doors mostly requiring left click but sometimes pressing R, the attack button (left click, again) is also the loot button, pressing quick buttons for things like menus twice doesn't minimize them and whilst you can assign 0~9 for powers you can only ever see the first 4 unless you go into the power wheel again. This is not to mention the issues with the incredibly stupid AI, both for your companion and the enemy, which routinely gets stuck on all sorts of terrain. Not only that many of their abilities are capable of friendly fire, leading to some incredibly frustrating moments where they inadvertently kill you. I'm hoping that it was intentional otherwise it's yet another point where Mars: War Logs differs from the norm and not in a good way.
As always I could forgive nearly all of this if the story was worth anything but sadly, it's not. Most of the lines are delivered completely flat in rapid fire fashion which, combined with the poor lip synching, makes for a jarring experience. It also doesn't help that the characters have as much depth as a children's pool with many of them changing their motivations on a whim. My particular love interest, Mary, went from murderous rage to sympathetic follower in less than 4 sentences and the resulting relationship could not have been anymore shallow. Indeed the game's one attempt at invoking emotion feels incredibly cheap and only serves to anger the player.
Objectively Mars: War Logs is a decidedly B grade game with fundamental flaws riddling the core mechanics which, combined with the many other problems can make for a frustrating experience. There were times I had fun with it, especially when I got my build up to the seriously broken level, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to make up for the numerous flaws. I commend Spiders for trying, I really do, but it just goes to show that sometimes you need to cut back on your ambitions a bit in order to solidify the core aspects of the game. I totally understand where they wanted to go with this but unfortunately it falls short of that goal, leaving us with a game that feels like it was halfway towards something great.
Rating: 5.0/10
Mars: War Logs is available on PC, Xbox360 and PlayStation3 right now for $19.99. Game was played on the Hard difficulty setting with 9 hours total play time and 71% of the achievements unlocked.
Long time readers will know that I'm not much of a fan of DLC as those little extra tid bits of gameplay are rarely worth the price of admission, usually only adding small amount of extra game time and little more to the overall story. Still there are some that capture my attention like the Missing Link DLC for Deus Ex and the Knife of Dunwall DLC for Dishonored is another. This can wholly be attributed to the single image they used to market it, showing a view from a rooftop showing the main character of Dishonored in the pivotal opening scene. Since that whole side of the plot remains something of a mystery to you during the main game the possibility of playing the other side was just too good to resist and I snapped it up on release.
But there's a reason why I'm only getting around to reviewing it today.
The events of Knife of Dunwall take place alongside those of Dishonored, telling the story of Daud the master assassin who is responsible for killing the Queen and stealing her daughter away. The DLC starts just after that pivotal scene where it's revealed that Daud is one of the Outsider's chosen, just like Corvo, except that his powers differ slightly from that of protagonist from the main game. The Outsider also reveals that Daud's life will soon come to a close but before that will happen he is given a clue, a single word "Delilah".
Now I'll be completely honest here, when I first saw the screenshot that announced the Knife of Dunwall DLC I figured that it would centre around the events that lead up to the Queen's death, letting you plan out your route and ultimately deal the final deadly blow. Instead you're dumped in right after those events, with the introduction being one of a myriad of comic book panel styled cut scenes that depicts your role in Dishonored's key moment. I will admit that this disappointed me greatly as whilst it's cool to see part of the story that you didn't really have an insight into I really wanted to play that particular scene from the other side, as I'm sure anyone who played Dishonored would.
Like most DLCs Knife of Dunwall doesn't deviate too much from its parent game, keeping the vast majority of key mechanics whilst introducing some new powers and reworking other elements to fit Daud's story. All of the core abilities are still there, like blink and most of the mechanical arsenal you had, but there's also the addition of new skills and weapons that can change the gameplay significantly. Again you can make the choice of playing it as a guns blazing ruthless killer or a hide in the shadows humanist who doesn't kill anyone. If I'm honest Knife of Dunwall seemed to urge you to be more of a killer than anything else, but that could just be due to my frustration with some of the other elements.
Since there's no hometown for Daud like there is for Corvo in Dishonored you're instead presented with an upgrades screen before every mission. This means you're essentially picking your play style before you start which is probably a good thing considering how short the DLC is and forcing you to do the same level of work in order to get the same upgrades as you had in Dishonored would just be tedious. You also have the option of purchasing favours which will make certain sections of the missions easier or provide you with upgrades. They're usually worth it too, save for one in the last mission that didn't seem to help at all.
Knife of Dunwall plays somewhat similarly to Dishonored with the core mission structure and numerous possible paths to get to it being par for the course. As I mentioned before, and somewhat similarly to Dishonored itself, whilst you can do the entire thing without killing anyone (apart from a few at key points) Knife of Dunwall seems to try its darndest to get you to use lethal force most of the time. There are many sections where you'll be confronted with a couple enemies that don't move and you'll be forced to either sleep dart both of them (something which you can only do a limited number of times) or go rambo and just mow them all down. Whilst I tried my best to be sneaky I got fed up with it after a while and just started going to town on everyone and I have to admit it was pretty fun.
The additional insight you gain into Daud's motives and origins is nice however the plot is a little lackluster, possibly due to the heavy amount of foreshadowing that the Outsider gives you. It's certainly not terrible and the voice acting is above games of similar calibre which helps it tremendously as even the best plot can be ruined by flat delivery. It's quite possible that my impression is heavily tainted by my expectations of what the Knife of Dunwall would and wouldn't include however.
For a DLC Knife of Dunwall provides a decent extension to Dishonored, providing multiple hours of gameplay that's different enough from the core game so that you don't feel like you're retreading the same ground again. Whilst I may have fallen prey to the hype machine of my own head I still can't refute that it's a solid addition to Dishonored, expanding on the idea and giving some insight into the main plot. It probably wasn't worth the price I paid for it and whilst $10 is semi reasonable I'd probably recommend holding off until its on sale unless you're desperate for more Dishonored action.
Rating: 7.0/10
Dishonored: Knife of Dunwall is available on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox360 right now for $9.99 or an equivalent amount of points. Total game time was approximately 3 hours.
As long time readers will know I'm a big fan of Crytek's flagship series Crysis as it's one of the few no-holds-barred PC games when it comes to ratcheting up the graphics to insane levels. It harks back to the golden era of PC gaming where every new title attempted to do exactly that, pushing the boundaries of the hardware so hard that yearly upgrade cycles were not only desirable, they were almost required. The consolization of PC games took a heavy bat to this idea and strangely enough even Crysis 2 fell prey to it somewhat with my rather mediocre PC at the time being able to run it perfectly (and admittedly it was still quite good for its time). When Crytek announced that Crysis 3 would be a returning to its roots with insane levels of graphics I was incredibly excited and I'm glad to say that they didn't disappoint.
Crysis 3 takes place 24 years after the incidents in Crysis 2. Prophet, in reality the amalgam of Alcatraz and the remaining memories of the original Prophet that the NanoSuit stored, has been in stasis for the past 2 decades since CELL captured captured him. You're broken out of your prison by Psycho, one of your former suit buddies who's been stripped of his NanoSuit. You find out that CELL has been using some Ceph technology to generate unlimited amounts of energy and has used that to enslave most of the world in crippling amounts of debt. Psycho, saved by people in the resistance, needs your help in order to take them down. As you start to dig into CELL's activities however the real plan becomes apparent and it becomes clear that only you are able to stop them.
The technology under the hood of Crysis 3 is the same as Crysis 2 so you can imagine I was a little sceptical as to how much of an improvement they could make in the 2 years since their last release. Figuring that my still semi-new upgrade would be up to the task I cranked everything up to its highest, leaving only the anti-aliasing at a tame 2x. What resulted afterwards can only be described as slide show, a very pretty one but it ran so slow that many of the models glitched out and it was essentially unplayable. Dialling back the settings to their recommended levels turned that slideshow into a much more playable game and what a game it is.
Every screenshot you'll see in this review was taken in game with most of the settings at 1~2 notches below the maximum possible. The level of detail is simply amazing with all models being of the level I've come to expect from most game's cutscenes rather than their in game representations. Crysis 3 makes use of the entire DirectX 11 feature set and does regular things like motion blur, specular highlights and bump mapping better than any other game I've played recently. Whilst the framerate wasn't the greatest in large outdoor areas it was absolutely butter in small to medium sized zones and it was so good that I almost feel like upgrading my PC again just to how Crysis 3 would fair if had room to stretch its legs.
Suffice to say that Crytek has really returned to form with Crysis 3's graphics.
For those who've played Crysis 2 the game play will be very familiar to you with the NanoSuit design staying basically the same as it did in the previous game. You have 3 modes available to you: regular, armoured and cloaked which you can switch between at will. Armoured mode drains energy when you get hit by various things and cloaked mode slowly drains away energy whilst your standing still and even more when you move around. These two active modes are essentially the two ways of completing any obstacle that you might face in Crysis 3: either by stealth or by raw fire power.
Whilst there might be a choice available to you it does seem like Crysis 3 would prefer you to go with one over the other. Right at the beginning you're given what amounts to the biggest change between Crysis 2 and 3's combat: the compound bow. Essentially it functions like a backup weapon as it doesn't count towards one of your 2 regular weapons but like them its customizable with different ammo types and scopes. The key difference between the bow and other weapons however is the fact that upon using it you will still stay cloaked, allowing you to take out enemies with ease and drastically increasing the amount of time you can remained cloaked. Couple this with the fact that the primary type of arrows you can use (impact) can be picked up after you use them you essentially a weapon that's got unlimited ammunition, kills in one hit and allows you to stealth around everywhere without getting caught. Running and gunning seems rather moronic by comparison.
This is only amplified by the upgrade system which allows you to beef up aspects of the NanoSuit to fit your play style. Whilst its entirely possible to make yourself nigh on indestructible the upgrades for stealth users simply magnifying the already over powered combo of cloak plus bow. Indeed for quite a while I was running around with just the stealth upgrades and multitudes of points available to me. I ended up spending them just before a particular boss fight that required me to go toe to toe with it but I actually found that using stealth was a viable option once I had worked out the fight a little more. This may be due to the difficulty level I was playing on however and I'm sure at easier levels run and gunning would be more viable.
Crysis 3, whilst still technically being an on-rails shooter, does retain the non-linear variations for each section that help to keep it from being yet another corridor shooter. When you're moving between sections there's definitely only one path that you can progress through however in those sections there's usually additional objectives that you can go for which will assist you in getting to the primary objective. For instance there's one section where two giant walkers are blocking your path. Now on the ground nearby there's a ton of RPGs scattered about so with a little bit of legwork you could probably take them down. However there's also a nearby mortar team that's in need of assistance and should you help them out they'll let you tag targets which they can then take out for you.
The vehicle sections feel tacked on, almost as if they're only there to serve as an introduction into what will be available in multi-player. Whilst I applaud their use of larger-than-life maps they only seem to be there to facilitate the inclusion of the speedy Half Life 2-esque dune buggy. I will admit that the optional tank section was pretty fun but it was cut brutally short, right before a time where it would have been a hell of a lot of fun to blast a whole bunch of Ceph out of the skies. This was followed shortly after by an on-rails vehicle section putting you as the gunner which was frankly suicidal as all the Ceph aircraft targeted you instantly and your mounted gun was highly ineffective against them. I'd prefer that these sections stayed in and were revamped rather than them being removed however but they really do feel out of place with the rest of Crysis 3.
There's also few bugs and glitches to speak of although it pains me to say that at least one of the issues that plagued Crysis 2 are still present in 3. Some guns, for example, will simply not be able to be picked up which can be pretty devastating should you not be able to swap a weapon out for a particular section. The graphics glitches appear to only happen if you're stressing your hardware too much and disappear the second you revert them to more sane settings. The vehicles are mostly fine except for one part when my tank slowly started turning itself over and then eventually capsized for no apparent reason. Getting out of the vehicle seemed to let it right itself however but the behaviour was still very odd.
I was all ready to pan the story as for the first couple hours there's really no tension, character development or anything that made me feel for the characters. This all changes later on as the voice acting seems to improve a lot, especially towards the end when certain reveals ramp up the tension between the characters. It's not an emotional roller coaster like other, more story focused games but it was unexpectedly good for an on rails shooter. They also thankfully avoided the extremely obvious "INCOMING SEQUEL" stuff which plagued Crysis 2, but the current story wraps up well with enough leeway that a sequel is possible without it being obnoxious.
Crysis 3 is simply stunning; a visual masterpiece coupled with highly refined game play that we've come to expect from the people at Crytek. There's no doubt that the graphics are what makes this game so impressive as Crysis 3 is probably the only game that demonstrates the full capability of DirectX 11 on the PC platform today. It'd all be for naught however if the rest of the game didn't stand on its own however and I'm glad that it does otherwise it'd just be another tech demo ala ID's Rage. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Crysis 3 and I'd encourage anyone who's still a dedicated PC gamer to spend some time with it, if only to see how capable your rig really is.
Rating: 9.5/10
Crysis 3 is available on PC, Xbox360 and PlayStation 3 right now for $69.99, $98 and $98 respectively. Game was played entirely on the PC on the second hardest difficultly with a total of 7 hours played.
The simplicity of 2D platformer games must be really liberating for developers, especially small time independent ones. I say this because it seems that I've played a lot of games this year that fit into that genre and the amount of innovative game ideas that I've seen has really surprised me. These were the titles I grew up on and they were, for the most part, usually a small variation on the original Duke Nukem idea. One thing I didn't expect was the introduction of stealth based game play something which has traditionally been contained to 3D games. Mark of the Ninja blends stealth along with puzzle solving and platforming to form a pretty unique game experience, one that doesn't really have anything that I can directly compare it to.
Unlike most ninja games which take place in feudal Japan Mark of the Ninja is set during present day. You, an unnamed ninja, were receiving your first tattoo which would grant you special powers when you passed out. A short while later a fellow ninja, named Ora, wakes you up as the ninja stronghold is under attack by a security agency headed by a man named Karajan. After rescuing your fellow ninjas as well as your master, Azai, you're then sent on a mission of vengeance against Karajan for the atrocities that he committed against your clan.
Mark of the Ninja has a style to it that's reminiscent of all those flash animations of yesteryear but there's a level of refinement about it that many of those lacked. The cut scenes for example feel like they came straight out of a professional animation house and wouldn't be out of place in any cartoon you'd see on a Saturday morning. There's also incredible amounts of detail everywhere from the interactive area which is littered with all sorts of things to the backgrounds which are done exceptionally well. This blends exceptionally well with the music and foley which provides a very detailed soundscape to compliment the impressive art work.
Mark of the Ninja is primarily a stealth game and its implementation in the 2D, platformer world is quite an interesting one. For starters unlike most 2D games Mark of the Ninja includes a line of sight mechanic which forms a big part of any stealth game. This means that you'll spend the vast majority of your time walking between shadows, dodging guards where you can, so you can either sneak up behind guards and dispatch them quickly or just move on leaving them none-the-wiser. If it so pleases you though you can go toe to toe with every guard you meet however and there are some sections which will be far easier (and quicker) should you choose to do that.
Initially you start off with only a few tools at your disposal, namely your sword and bamboo darts that can be used to take out lights and other fixtures. As the game progresses you unlock additional abilities and equipment that allow for a much wider range of actions, enabling you do things like terrify your enemies by laying spike traps or dangling corpses from the room for all to see. All these options will mean that your play through is almost guaranteed to not be the same as anyone else's as there just so many ways to go about doing the same thing.
Indeed that seems to be the whole point of Mark of the Ninja. Whilst it is primarily a 2D stealth platformer it also has many elements of a puzzler/exploration game as there are many rewards to be found by simply taking the least obvious path. I can't tell you how many times I found artefacts/scrolls by going in the wrong direction or moving blocks in random ways. If you're persistent enough too the most laborious of challenges can usually be circumvented by finding a path that leads around it or simply puts you behind the guards that were blocking your path. Mark of the Ninja then is a game that rewards the player for being curious but thankfully forgoes punishing you severely if you don't.
The upgrade system bears mentioning as how many upgrades you can afford depends directly on: how many challenges you complete, your overall score and how many of the hidden scrolls you uncover. For each of these there are a potential 3 tokens up for grabs giving you a total of nine for each level. These can then be spent on various upgrades that either give you new abilities/equipment or upgrades to the ones you currently have. Depending on what you get this can completely change the way you play the game, especially if you combine these upgrades with one of the costumes which will grant you several benefits (usually at the cost of one particular trait).
This is usually the point where I mention any bugs or glitches that detracted from my game play experience but I'm pleased to report that there doesn't seem to be any. Sure there were times when my character acted in a way I didn't expect but its hard for me to blame the game for that as I get the feeling it was more me fat fingering the keys rather than the game engine wigging out on me. I did have some rather awkward checkpoint moments where it'd place me into locations that I hadn't yet explored when reloading (which was actually great sometimes) putting me in rather precarious situations but it was nothing I couldn't handle.
The story of Mark of the Ninja is also quite well done, especially considering it forgoes the usual ninja setting and instead brings the whole ninja idea into modern day. Whilst I didn't really feel the levels of emotions like I did for things like To The Moon it certainly didn't suffer from issues like poor voice acting, irrational characters or glaring plot holes like plagued other titles I've played recently. I will admit that I'm yet to finish it (I believe I'm on the second last mission) so I'm not sure about the ultimate conclusion but from what I've heard from my other friends they weren't disappointed with it, so it has that going for it at least.
Mark of the Ninja effortlessly combines all the best aspects of 2D platformers with stealth game play to form a game that makes you feel like the ultimate ninja whilst still providing an incredibly satisfying challenge. The graphics are superbly done, the sound track excellent and above all the core game play is immensely satisfying. I could go on but really for a game that's asking price is so low compared to its quality I'd rather just recommend you go out and play it since it's really worth a play through.
Rating: 9.0/10
Mark of the Ninja is available on PC and Xbox360 right now for $14.99 and an equivalent amount of Xbox points. Game was played on the PC with around 6 hours of total game time and 43% of the achievements unlocked.
There are few games where I feel confident in saying that the stealth aspect was done well. For recent titles it has often felt like something tacked on at the end after everything else had been done; a mini-game that serves to break up the monotony. It's a real shame as many of the games that I played during my formative gaming years like Deus Ex, Thief and the like, had stealth sections that were superbly done. It seemed as if the game developers who were behind those titles just simply up and vanished, leaving behind those with only a modicum of understand of how to make stealth games enjoyable. Dishonored isn't one of these titles and it makes me incredibly happy to put it in the same category as those seminal stealth titles.
Dishonored takes place in the Neo-Victorian steampunk world of Dunwall, a city that's been ravaged by a plague of unknown origins turning many of the city's districts into wastelands infest with rats and those on the brink of a gruesome death. You, as Korvo Attano, serve as the high empress' body guard who was sent on a mission to get aid for the suffering town. However upon return the empress is murdered in front of you and her daughter taken away, leaving just you to take the fall for that horrendous deed. Dishonored then follows your story after your fall from grace as you fight to recover the empress' daughter and clear your name.
To be completely honest I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with the graphics of Dishonored. Whilst I had abstained from watching any gameplay videos so as to not taint my first impressions of it from the announcement videos I remember watching my expectations were built up around the idea that it would be a pretty modern looking title. This is not to say that they're terrible graphics, far from it as you'll see in many of the screenshots that follows, there were a few things that were so jarring that my immersion was broken completely. Talking to the NPCs comes to mind, although that could be from the camera locking to their face Oblivion style and having them death stare you down whilst you talk to them.
As I alluded to in the opening paragraph Dishonored is one of the games that does stealth right. Realistically there's actually 2 completely different games to be played here (maybe 3, even): the first is your typical hide in the shadows and make your way to the objective and the second is a RPG/FPS hybrid where you can run and gun your way through it (the third type would be a varying mix between the two). Both of these play styles are completely viable too and in fact it would seem that you'd actually have a much easier time playing as the run and gun style rather than taking the stealthier route. That being said I found the stealth to be far more rewarding than hacking my way through everyone, but at no time did I feel forced into taking one option over the other.
Stealthing around is quite fun as whilst you're not given a completely open world to explore like in Thief the sections you're let loose in are quite detailed with multiple pathways to goals and endless places to explore for additional treasure. The magical abilities you can unlock as well (by searching out runes scattered across the levels) can enable you to do some really amazing things like taking possession of rats and then using them to get into places that would be otherwise inaccessible. It's also quite thrilling to be hiding just inches away from enemies, watching their movements, moving in to strike and then later hear their allies remarking about where they might have gone.
Going toe-to-toe with every enemy you meet is surprisingly viable, something I didn't really expect from a game that marketed itself primarily as a stealth based action game. The primary means of dealing out damage is a good old fashioned sword that comes hand in hand with the awkwardness that always plagues FPS games that try to include them. However you're also given a great selection of other weapons to use such as a gun, crossbow, grenades and things that are essentially proximity mines that fling shrapnel everywhere. Considering the ridiculously plentiful ammunition that's available everywhere you could very well play this entire game without having to bother with stealth at all and one of the achievements, Mostly Flesh and Steel (complete the game without any additional supernatural powers), seems to encourage this. There is the fact though that the more people you kill the more devastated the city becomes (and the darker the ending will be) so playing run and gun will have some consequences, but it does give Dishonored a decent amount of replayability.
There's a 2 sided upgrade system that functions as Dishonored's levelling system and up until a point it works quite well. The primarily upgrade system are runes which allow you to unlock and upgrade supernatural powers. Most of them are incredibly useful and primarily geared towards the players who prefer stealth over brawn. The second upgrade system is the mechanical one enabling you to improve all your non-magical powers as well as doing things like reducing the amount of noise your steps make. In the early game these upgrades can be the difference between finishing a mission and struggling with it endlessly but past a point there's not much return on investment in tracking more runes or gold down.
For instance since I was playing as a stealth character nearly all the mechanical upgrades were pointless to me and since they use gold instead of runes I ended up having a pretty big surplus for most of the game. This is not because I tracked down all the gold I could find, far from it, its just that once you know what play style you're going you can min/max your upgrades to make you perfectly fit for such objectives. For me this happened about half way through but a determined player could craft the ideal character after the first 3 missions or so. Sure I still invested in upgrades after that but they didn't make a huge difference in how the game played for me and I could have just as easily left the runes and gold unspent.
Which brings me to another point. When I was first doing research on Dishonored (mostly looking for average play times) I found an article that said a direct run through would clock in at about 12~14 hours but also that players looking to explore would probably double that as there'd be a lot to find. Whilst the play time is incredibly inaccurate there is some truth to the exploration aspect as you can find many unique encounters if you're willing to run, blink and jump all over the place. However most of the time the reward isn't particularly worth it, usually being potions or ammo, and after a while I just stopped seeking them out as I was always maxed out on nearly everything and the only thing I couldn't find I could buy in unlimited supply anyway. I'm sure there are many people who will get heaps of enjoyment out of seeking all these things out but for me it just didn't feel worth it after about halfway through Dishonored.
The story of Dishonored is better than most games of similar calibre even if it's something of a rehash of the typical falsely accused man who's out to clear his name and make everything right. You at least have some form of agency in that your choice of actions influences both the world around you and how certain characters react to you which is what puts it above other games in the same genre. That being said I didn't really feel anything for the characters or have a deep emotional involvement in the plot and I think that's because of one simple thing: the terrible voice acting.
Nearly all of the lines delivered are flat, read in an almost emotionless monotone. It's rather confusing as the written passages and notes scattered everywhere are quite good, so the writing itself isn't bad, just the delivery. This is made worse by the canned questions and responses that are obviously heuristically lined up ("Shall we meet for whiskey and cigars tonight?" "Indeed, I believe it is so.") but never seem to work quite right. There are some stand outs like Lady Boyle's playful banter and the final soliloquy by the captain but apart from that everyone else could just as easily be a text to speech generator given their delivery. I'm not asking for L.A. Noire levels of emotional craziness but a little more emotion in the lines might've made me a bit more involved in the story than I was.
I was asked my opinion of the game several times over the course of playing it and it was interesting to see how it changed over the course of my play through. Initially I was disappointed, I had gotten swept up in the hype again and the initial impressions didn't match up to my expectations. However as the game went on I found myself enjoying it more and really got into the stealth aspect of Dishonored. It's probably not game of the year material as many of the major review sites would have you believe but it is an incredibly strong title and in a world where new IP is the hardest thing to market it's really refreshing to see something like this come to market. For those of us who yearned for the return of the Thief era stealth games Dishonored pays excellent homage to them and is well worth the price of admission.
Rating: 8.75/10
Dishonored is available on PC, Xbox360 and PS3 right now for $79.99, $78 and $78 respectively. Game was played entirely on the PC on the second hardest difficulty with around 8 hours played and 40% of the achievements unlocked giving the Low Chaos ending.


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Z's beat Omaha, 5-1
Published: Monday, May 27, 2013 at 9:26 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, May 27, 2013 at 9:26 a.m.
METAIRIE — Doug Mathis allowed two hits in seven shutout innings and the New Orleans Zephyrs remained hot, beating the Omaha Storm Chasers for the fourth time this weekend with a 5-1 win on Sunday afternoon.
The Z's have taken seven of the last eight meetings with Omaha at Zephyr Field over the last two seasons, and have won all four matchups this weekend.
Mathis (2-4) held the Storm Chasers without a hit until the fifth inning, and finished with seven scoreless frames to win for the first time in eight starts this season. Mathis struck out five and walked four in his first outing since returning from the birth of his son last week.
Jake Smolinski had two hits and drove in three runs to lead the Zephyrs' nine-hit attack. His sacrifice fly capped a three-run third inning that began with Paul Gran's double into the alley in right-center field off Omaha starter Justin Marks.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.

subset: commoncrawl


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Do Visitors Find It Easy to Share Your Blog?
[This post is a part of the Feedback Fridays series]
The social web is powered by content. It's what we search for with Google. It's what we produce every time we update our status. And it's why we share with each other online.
There are a ton of social sharing tools available out there, and while I'm sure we'll talk about a lot of them, the focus of this post is to explore whether or not your visitors find it easy to share your blog with their network of friends, connections, or associates across the various social networks.
A lot of blogs could improve here.
Post a link to your blog in the comments section below and I'll take a look at your blog — I'll follow up with a reply to your comment with any number of the following things in mind:
- Are you sharing buttons prominently positioned?
- Do you offer sharing buttons for your front page?
- How about each post?
- Are your buttons positioned at the header, the footer, or both header and footer of each post?
- Do your buttons take a while to load?
- Is the design of your buttons simple or distracting?
[Join the ongoing conversation about this on Twitter by including #FuelFeedback somewhere in your tweet]
Chris Rice is an SEO with Sachs Marketing Group. He writes about WordPress themes, plugins, and services for entrepreneurial bloggers at CreativeBlogger. Get more from him on Twitter and LinkedIn.


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2-Day Kakadu National Park Yellow Waters Cruise, Aboriginal Art Sites and Arnhem Land Tour from Darwin
2-Day Kakadu National Park Yellow Waters Cruise, Aboriginal Art Sites and Arnhem Land Tour from Darwin information and booking
Tour description provided by Viator
Experience Kakadu National Park, an area of great natural beauty and sweeping landscapes on this 2-day trip from Darwin. Cruise the Yellow Waters, where crocodiles, birds and occasionally wild horses are seen amongst paperbark forests and freshwater mangroves. Visit Arnhem Land by 4WD, home to many different Aboriginal clan groups for thousands of years and reflect on the intimate relationship the traditional owners have with this sacred land. Choose from different levels of accommodation to suit all budgets.
What's included
- 2-day touring by luxury, airconditioned coach
- 1-night accommodation (select room category at time of booking)
- Meals as per itinerary (b=breakfast, l=lunch, d=dinner)
- Yellow waters cruise
- Entry to kakadu national park
- Visit the nourlangie rock art site
- Arnhem land 4wd adventure
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
What isn't included
- Gratuities (optional)
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Day 1: Darwin - Nourlangie Rock Art - Warradjan Cultural Center - Yellow Water Cruise - Kakadu National Park (L)
- Day 2: Kakadu National Park - Arnhem Land Adventure - Mikinj Valley - Oenpelli Aboriginal Settlement - Darwin (B,L)


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Hey guys, I don't know if you may remember from last year or not when we ran the Interactive Mock Draft where the team forums of each team got to vote on which player their team should take.
Well we are doing it again this year, and the 49ers are on the clock. For most of these votes, it's been pretty cut and dry but this pick is going to be interesting. Lots of potential options here, I'm curious to see how you guys vote.
You can cast your vote for who you want your team to pick here:
And if you explain why with a brief short description, I will pick the best one and publish it along with the pick in the results section!
[ Edited by DFlo on Apr 22, 2012 at 8:13 AM ]


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NYS Crappie Derby Looking Good for Saturday Morning
With frigid temperatures expected beginning Friday, struggling to see double digits, the New York State Crappie Derby is almost a sure thing for this Valentine's Day in Whitney Point. The current ice thickness is about 12 inches. The Crappie Derby is always the perfect cure for cabin fever in the middle of a Southern Tier winter.


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- Report: #701786
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: ashworth college
ashworth college6625 The Corners Parkway, Suite 500 norcross, Georgia United States of America
ashworth college proffesional career development institute (P.C.D.I) ashworth college told me they were an actuall high school and my recruiter will not accept that diploma now! i think i was scamed!!! norcross, Georgia
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my late grandfather paid close to $3,000 dollars for the courses. i recently was searching for colleges online so that i can get 15 credit hours so that i can join the army. the first thing that came up was that ashworth college was a rip off.
i want to know what can be done to actually find out why i was told i would obtain an actual high school diploma when in fact it is not?!!?
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/02/2011 01:38 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/ashworth-college/norcross-Georgia-30092/ashworth-college-proffesional-career-development-institute-PCDI-ashworth-college-told-701786. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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The Great Singapore Sale 2016
It's back. There's no better time to shop in Singapore - from 3rd June to 14th August. During this period, practically every shopping mall, store or push cart in Singapore is On Sale. You can expect discounts of up to 70% on just about anything. Get ready to grab big bargains. Expect also to enjoy great deals at dining outlets, eateries and entertainment places.
Great Singapore Sale 2016
Dates: 3rd June to 14th August
Place: All major malls & stores throughout Singapore.
If you are into sewing your own dresses and garments, you can find all you require in Singapore. Be it for your family or even stocking up a tailor shop.
The Textile Centre at Jalan Sultan, off Beach Road should be your first place to visit. There are 10 floors of shops, all engaged in the textile trade. Almost all are in the export/import business. Having their showrooms here, walk in customers are also welcomed.
The other area with a concentration of textile shops is at Arab Street. If you are looking for Indian saris, then Little India at Serangoon Road will definitely satisfy you search.
The Kampong Glam and Arab Street area in Singapore is renowned for their wide range of wicker baskets, cane and straw works, rattan and other handicrafts. From serving trays, table or floor mats, side cabinets to baby cradles. These items offer utility as well as for decorative purposes. If you are into such au natural items for your home, you will definitely be spoilt for choice. These items are mainly sourced from the neighbouring S E Asian countries - Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. However, knick knacks from as far as the Middle East and Africa can also be found.
Kampong Glam was once the seat of the Malay ruling family in Singapore. Together with the early settlers, the enclave grew to be a trading hub, with traders coming from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East. Malay Muslim heritage pervades this historic district. Culture is still alive, with the many shops, eateries and a major mosque reflecting the rich Muslim heritage.
Little India - is a thriving hub which grew from the early Indian community which settled here. Now, it's a mixture of old and new, sacred and secular, multi-cultural though predominantly Indian. You'll be fascinated by the riot of colors and the many shops selling jewelry, textile, flower garlands and freshly ground spices. Plus bars, barbers, fortune tellers, temple, mosques and churches.


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Book your room at Hotel Los Robles
Get an overview of this hotel3-star hotel with restaurant and bar/lounge
Collect 200 points
Simply enter your Nectar card number when prompted. Your points will be credited 30 days after you return from your trip.*Offers may apply
Situated in Gandia, this hotel is 1.2 mi (1.9 km) from Gandia Beach and within 3 mi (5 km) of Gandia Marina and Gandia Golf Club. Archaeological Museum of Gandia and Gandia International University are also within 6 mi (10 km).
Hotel Features
A restaurant, a bar/lounge, and a seasonal outdoor pool are available at this smoke-free hotel. WiFi in public areas is free. Other amenities include a meeting room.
Room Amenities
All 240 rooms offer free WiFi, TVs with digital channels, and safes.Would you like to give us feedback? Share it! Opens in a new window
Hotel Los Roblesc/ Formentera 33 Gandia Valencia 46730
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
The hotel offers a restaurant. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. Public areas are equipped with complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access. This Gandia hotel also offers a seasonal outdoor pool and an elevator (lift).
Hotel Los Robles is a smoke-free property.
- Total number of rooms - 240
- Bar/lounge
- Elevator/lift
- Free WiFi
- One meeting room
- Restaurant
- Smoke-free property
- Outdoor seasonal pool
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Room Amenities
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Private bathroom
- Hair dryer (on request)
- In-room safe
- Television
- Digital TV service
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
Onsite venue - Overlooking the pool, this restaurant specializes in Mediterranean cuisine.
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible bathroom
- In-room accessibility
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 2 PM
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- No onsite parking is available.
Hotel Name
- Hotel Los Robles Gandia
- Los Robles Gandia
- Hotel Los Robles Gandia, Spain - Valencia Province
We should mention
Cash transactions at this property cannot exceed EUR 2500, due to national regulations. For further details, please contact the property using information in the booking confirmation.


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Todd Schmitz, head coach of the Colorado Stars, is only 33 years old and the guide to, perhaps, swimming's greatest female of all-time, Missy Franklin. Franklin has qualified to swim 7 races at the London Olympics. Coach Schmitz has maintained a keep-it-fun attitude on the run-up to the biggest competitive stage on earth, but it has been his multi-year, multi-phase plan that has helped Franklin gain superstar success in the pool.
In This Story
Leave a Reply
15 Comments on "Franklin's Leader in London, Coach Schmitz"
I'm sorry but you don't go to the Olympics to 'learn'
You go to every other meet to 'learn'
I hate it when athletes at the olympics say that they're there to 'learn' and gain experience for the next meet
Those athletes always fail
The winners go the Olympics with the mind set of just crushing their opposition, nothing more, nothing less
That is actually a good way to deflect pressure.
This guy is owesome and lucky ! may his special training programms with Missy gets all the fruits he deserves . Go Missy , we love u !
DRDOV , u are missing one point ! winning is not all in life but learning ! except if u have learned at all allready which i honestly truly doubt ! Maybe your mindset was fashioned in a different way ! What i see is a owesome coach , young and ready to go further .
Well said Jean Michel!
Best of luck to Missy & Todd in London. Hope she's holding up OK in the aftermath of the Aurora tragedy, as there seems to be some concern expressed towards the end of the following article on Belinda Hocking
Sorry for all the multiple posts! For some reason they weren't showing up at all, so I tried reposting a couple of times… OOPS!!
According to Charlie Sheen winning is everything
I don't care one second about Charlie Sheen ….who is he ??? an actor ? or a Master of life ? i truly don't know . I only know this : U pick somoene else's beleif to yourself while u can't even look into your own life experience . I see failure as learning to be better . Also what's winning and what's loosing ? U ask on the deck to the swimmers …….and u tell me later .
Unlike everyone else Missy has not shown all her cards yet. You will all be in for a big surprise next week. She is getting the gold in the 100/200 back, 200 Free and a Silver in the 100Free when u factor in the relays she will end up with 5 golds and 2 Silvers.
How could you possibly know who has and has not shown their cards?
Good bet on the backstrokes but I highly doubt she's a sure win for the 2free. It's going to be a very tough race what with Muffat/Schmitt already destroying Missy's time from last year
Sure Missy will show what she is capable of and she will have fun ! She is probably one of the only swimmers out there to have full fun all the time . That's a great example of how to live one's life and focus . She is just a lovely soul bringing something new and fresh . The world will see that ……and Todd is allready happy for that .
Her times did not drop from last year because she was very likely not fully tapered. She was the best in the backstrokes and 200 free in 2011. In London she is gonna show them she is still the boss in the backstrokes and 200 Free. Brace yourselves folks, the real missile is about to launch!
I don't think I like him. Always seemed to me that he just kinda lucked out with landing Missy.
Colorado will be rooting for Franklin at the Olympics! Her accomplishments will bolster the spirits of the community and remind them that there is good in the world! Go Missy! Make Colorado proud!


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FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 29, 1997 file photo, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, center left, and his wife Hak Ja Han Moon officiate a mass wedding ceremony during at RFK Stadium in Washington. Moon, self-proclaimed messiah who founded the Unification Church, has died at age 92 church officials said Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)


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UPDATE: "The Flash" Hasn't Cast Savitar, Says Berlanti
TV, Comic Books
Showing results 1-5 of 5
The first trailer has arrived for the fifth installment of the hit franchise starring Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo and Queen Latifah.
The saber-toothed squirrel Scrat rockets into outer space in this new "Ice Age" animated short showing in theaters with "The Peanuts Movie."
The trouble-causing saber-toothed squirrel sets out to rearrange the solar system in the new short accompanying "The Peanuts Movie."
BOOM! Studios has provided CBR with advance looks at new titles on sale February 1, including "Irredeemable" #34, "Hellraiser" #10, "Valen the Outcast" #3, "Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes" #4, and a brand-new "Ice Age" comic!
Archives: All | Comic Books | TV/Film | Video Games | Web Comics


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English español
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
|Compost as media constituents for vegetable crop transplant production
|Sánchez-Monedero, Miguel Ángel; Roig, Asunción; Cegarra Rosique, Juan; Bernal Calderón, M. Pilar; Abad, Manuel
|High salt concentration
Vegetable Transplant Production
|Issue Date:
|JG Press Inc
|Compost Science and Utilization 12(2): 161-168 (2004)
|The use of compost with high salt concentration was evaluated, under commercial conditions, as a potential growing media constituent for vegetable transplant production. Two composts were prepared from sweet sorghum bagasse, pine bark, and either urea (compost A) or brewery sludge (compost B) as N source. Three vegetable species - broccoli (Brassica oleracea), tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum), and onion (Allium cepa) with different tolerance to salinity were used. Eleven substrates were formulated and tested: a control consisting of a moss peat-based commercial substrate; compost A; compost B; and, eight mixtures containing 33 or 67% by volume of each compost with either raw peat moss or commercial substrate as diluent. All the substrates prepared had suitable physical, physicochemical and chemical properties for use as growing media, except for the electrical conductivity (ranging from 3.20 to 13.21 dS m-1) which was above the reference levels for soilless cultivation. Broccoli was the least affected by substrate salinity whilst tomato was the most. Onion transplants had an intermediate response to saline conditions. Tomato seed germination was markedly reduced when compost A, with a higher salt concentration, was used at a rate higher than 67%. Media prepared with either of the composts, and mixed with either a commercial substrate or peat in a rate up to 67%, did not cause any detrimental effect on the growth and nutritional status of broccoli, tomato and onion transplants, despite the high initial salinity of the substrates. These composts appear to be acceptable substitutes for Sphagnum peat in seed sowing mixtures.
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