[Note: I wrote this a few days ago but have been too ridiculously busy to post....lazy, I know]
I find it interesting how the pricing scheme for Apps/Games on the iTunes store has totally changed my perception of value. Now a $2.99 iPhone game better be damn good because I can get a dozen fantastic games for just $0.99! So, at $9.99 Football Manger Handheld better be phenomenal. Fortunately, despite a few niggles and missing features, it pretty much is!
I have an interesting relationship with the Football (previously Championship) Manager series. I love it to death but I am also terrified of the game. Why terrified? Because I’m weak willed and have a very addictive personality. Back in the late 90s I almost failed out of undergrad because I was so utterly addicted to Championship Manager 3. I played that game to death, bleary eyed until 4am, sometimes until, very literally, the sun came up. In fact, I’ve stayed away from the most recent versions of the game because I know I don’t have the time to dedicate to them.
You’re probably wondering why, with such a weakness for all things Champ/Football Manager I bothered to get the iPhone version of the game. The answer – I’m an idiot and I just couldn’t resist the appeal/novelty of being able to carry around a version of Football Manager on my phone! It’s something I couldn’t have fathomed 10 years ago, it’s like carrying crack in your pocket....wait, that’s a bad analogy, but you know what I mean.
Football Manager Handheld is definitely a stripped down version of the PC/Mac title with only one active nation at any one time and no 3D game engine (though the 2D engines of the previous games is available). There are also numerous features/options missing. Just off the top of my head I can recall that you can’t make custom formations, you can’t assign player specific roles/tactics, you can’t assign team captains, you can’t fine players, assistant managers/coaches/scouts don’t have stats and so on. However, while I could sit here and perhaps come up with a dozen features that aren’t present, there are hundreds of things that are and most importantly, the fundamental gameplay and sense of immersion is definitely there.
I’m finding myself just as addicted to this game as I was to previous games in the series. Managing your squad, wheeling and dealing in the transfer market, the thrill of promotion, the agony of relegation, it’s all here. Sure there’s only one active nation but there are 11 different nations available, 34 different leagues and tens of thousands of players. Players have a full compliment of stats and different personalities. The financial and transfer model is sound with lots of depth. While the tactics don`t have the same depth of the PC title you still feel like your tactical changes make a difference. The biggest compliment I can give the game is that it’s the first iPhone game that I’ve played when I haven’t been commuting, sitting in a waiting room or sat on the toilet! I’ve actually sat down on the couch next to my wife and played the game while she’s watched TV and I’ve already played 5 seasons in just a few weeks! It’s important to note that I can’t say that would still be the case if I had Football Manager on the PC installed as well but it does give an indication of the quality of the game.
The game does have a few bugs, notable of which is the fact that the game doesn’t resume after you take a phone call! There’s an auto-save after each match but if you get a call in the middle of a cup final you’re screwed (unless you ignore your wife’s call....but you wouldn’t do that....would you.....ahem). Since there`s only one active league you can`t be a Mourinho and jump from league to league. Also, several years into the game I`m finding that far too many young players turn out to be absolute studs – it seems even mediocre teams have three or four world class players.
There are a few other minor bugs but one look at the official SIGames forum reveals that Sports Interactive are paying attention to the complaints and unlike the FIFA series I fully expect these problems to be fixed in a future patch. One aspect of the game that won`t/can’t be fixed is the somewhat clumsy nature of the controls – the small size of the iPhone screen makes shifting and switching around players using your finger a bit fiddly and slow but I don’t think it’s a game breaker.
If you`re someone who plays a lot of iPhone games and is into soccer I`d wholeheartedly recommend Football Manager Handheld. Sure it`s $9.99 but in this case I think it`s worth it.
Lavan
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
EA Sports’ FIFA World Cup game (I’m too lazy to write out the bloated full name again) came out a few weeks ago and I’ve been having fun with the game despite some problems. Prior to playing World Cup 2010 I played through another league season in FIFA 10 to get reacquainted with the game engine and to also see if the newest FIFA 10 patch fixed the myriad of bugs in the manager mode (shockingly, it didn’t). After getting used to FIFA 10 again I switched to the new game and it’s definitely apparent that World Cup 2010, while not a major leap in gameplay, is a lot tighter and more refined game engine.
The biggest changes for me are the control responsiveness, particularly with one touch control and taking the ball down off the chest – it’s a lot swifter and less floaty than the previous game. Also less floaty are the crosses though they still seem to hang up in the air a bit too long and I would love to be able to drill in a high cross and thump in a header with the same aplomb as I would in Pro Evo.
Penalties have been revamped and I have to give credit to EA Canada for trying something different. The new system combines a side-to-side power/accuracy bar along with last year’s simple point and shoot method. I’m still getting the hang of it but thus far I do like the fact that nailing the corners seems a lot more difficult.
Graphics as expected are excellent with player faces pretty much on par with those in Pro Evo. The TV style presentation has been improved slightly with a few new substitution animations (though these are still pretty poor) but the game still has that odd disconnect when it comes to celebrations where your player does one thing in the game engine but in ensuing cut-scene they’re doing something completely different.
Feature-wise, I really enjoy the World Cup qualification modes but much like the Manager Mode in FIFA 10 there are numerous bugs (many of which you don’t hear a mention about in the mainstream gaming press) and simulation oddities. Stats tracking is absolutely bunk. I won the World Cup with Canada and though Rob Friend scored in every game in the finals at the end of the tournament the stats page stated that he had only played 2 games and scored only one goal. In fact, apart from Tomas Radzinski no one else on the team had played more than three matches – this despite the fact that I’d clearly played 7 games. Yes, somehow I won the World Cup with a 0-0-1 formation in the last 4 games!
Simulation results between computer controlled teams are bizarre and my Canadian team played in a World Cup that included Fiji, Andorra and Somalia (all three of which got to the knockout rounds).
Likewise, stats and achievement tracking in the Captain Your Country (Be A Pro/Legend) is screwy. I managed to make the first team squad and become Captain of Argentina with Martin Palmermo but didn’t receive the Xbox 360 Achievements for either. Even when I imported by Be A Pro character from FIFA 10 (a nice option....but it resets your bloody player attributes so what’s the point?) I didn’t get the achievements. Checking out the forums at 360Achievements.com it’s not a problem that’s isolated to my game and seems random – some get the achievements, some don’t.
The player ratings system in Captain Your Country, much like that in Be A Pro in FIFA 10, is fundamentally flawed as I’ve had numerous games where I’ve had boatloads of goals and assists only for a central defender to win man of the match. My favourite was getting 3 goals and 2 assists in single game with Martin Palermo in a 5-2 win against Peru only to have Gago win man of the match because he completed 3 out of 3 passes. Brilliant.
The Online World Cup mode is a neat idea – you play through the group and (if you qualify) the knockout stages – but be prepared to play the same five teams over, and over again – Spain, Brazil, England, Argentina and France. I really wish EA Sports would have a separate matchmaking service for those who don’t want to play with the 4 and 5 star behemoths. While it is a thrill to eke out a 1-0 win over England with Vietnam, its equally frustrating to be Vietnam and lose 6-0 to Brazil against a 12 year old shithead who makes you watch every replay and celebrates each goal like it’s a world cup winner.
I realize I’ve listed a lot of negatives about the game but when an incremental update comes out at full price I think it’s reasonable to expect things like stats tracking and simulation results to be working properly. Since FIFA 10’s Manager Mode shipped with numerous bugs that have yet to be patched (and I doubt they ever will) I’m not confident EA Canada will bother to fix the problems in World Cup 2010. I’m still enjoying the game and I guess when push comes to shove I still paid full price for it but that’s also because I’m a football gaming freak. If you’re not, you may want to hold on to get this used for a bit cheaper.
Lavan
The biggest changes for me are the control responsiveness, particularly with one touch control and taking the ball down off the chest – it’s a lot swifter and less floaty than the previous game. Also less floaty are the crosses though they still seem to hang up in the air a bit too long and I would love to be able to drill in a high cross and thump in a header with the same aplomb as I would in Pro Evo.
Penalties have been revamped and I have to give credit to EA Canada for trying something different. The new system combines a side-to-side power/accuracy bar along with last year’s simple point and shoot method. I’m still getting the hang of it but thus far I do like the fact that nailing the corners seems a lot more difficult.
Graphics as expected are excellent with player faces pretty much on par with those in Pro Evo. The TV style presentation has been improved slightly with a few new substitution animations (though these are still pretty poor) but the game still has that odd disconnect when it comes to celebrations where your player does one thing in the game engine but in ensuing cut-scene they’re doing something completely different.
Feature-wise, I really enjoy the World Cup qualification modes but much like the Manager Mode in FIFA 10 there are numerous bugs (many of which you don’t hear a mention about in the mainstream gaming press) and simulation oddities. Stats tracking is absolutely bunk. I won the World Cup with Canada and though Rob Friend scored in every game in the finals at the end of the tournament the stats page stated that he had only played 2 games and scored only one goal. In fact, apart from Tomas Radzinski no one else on the team had played more than three matches – this despite the fact that I’d clearly played 7 games. Yes, somehow I won the World Cup with a 0-0-1 formation in the last 4 games!
Simulation results between computer controlled teams are bizarre and my Canadian team played in a World Cup that included Fiji, Andorra and Somalia (all three of which got to the knockout rounds).
Likewise, stats and achievement tracking in the Captain Your Country (Be A Pro/Legend) is screwy. I managed to make the first team squad and become Captain of Argentina with Martin Palmermo but didn’t receive the Xbox 360 Achievements for either. Even when I imported by Be A Pro character from FIFA 10 (a nice option....but it resets your bloody player attributes so what’s the point?) I didn’t get the achievements. Checking out the forums at 360Achievements.com it’s not a problem that’s isolated to my game and seems random – some get the achievements, some don’t.
The player ratings system in Captain Your Country, much like that in Be A Pro in FIFA 10, is fundamentally flawed as I’ve had numerous games where I’ve had boatloads of goals and assists only for a central defender to win man of the match. My favourite was getting 3 goals and 2 assists in single game with Martin Palermo in a 5-2 win against Peru only to have Gago win man of the match because he completed 3 out of 3 passes. Brilliant.
The Online World Cup mode is a neat idea – you play through the group and (if you qualify) the knockout stages – but be prepared to play the same five teams over, and over again – Spain, Brazil, England, Argentina and France. I really wish EA Sports would have a separate matchmaking service for those who don’t want to play with the 4 and 5 star behemoths. While it is a thrill to eke out a 1-0 win over England with Vietnam, its equally frustrating to be Vietnam and lose 6-0 to Brazil against a 12 year old shithead who makes you watch every replay and celebrates each goal like it’s a world cup winner.
I realize I’ve listed a lot of negatives about the game but when an incremental update comes out at full price I think it’s reasonable to expect things like stats tracking and simulation results to be working properly. Since FIFA 10’s Manager Mode shipped with numerous bugs that have yet to be patched (and I doubt they ever will) I’m not confident EA Canada will bother to fix the problems in World Cup 2010. I’m still enjoying the game and I guess when push comes to shove I still paid full price for it but that’s also because I’m a football gaming freak. If you’re not, you may want to hold on to get this used for a bit cheaper.
Lavan
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Blur? More like Bleurgh!
Project Gotham 2 and 4 are two of my favourite racing games ever and even though it’s difficult to argue against Forza 3 being the best console racing game money can buy, I still love going back to PGR 4 for the odd race. I love the driving model (straddling the line perfectly between Arcade Racer and Simulation) and I think the Kudos system is fucking genius.
So when I heard that the creators of PGR Bizarre Creations wouldn’t be doing another PGR game I was a bit sad. When I heard they were doing an arcade-style ‘combat’ racing game I was a bit worried. And after playing the closed Beta a month ago I wanted to vomit.
Okay, maybe vomit is perhaps a bit too strong so let`s just say I was really, really, really disappointed. It`s basically a more combat-intensive version of Mario Kart mixed with Modern Warfare and disguised under the semblance of the genuine racing game. Now if you’re a hardcore fan of Mario Kart then this game is definitely worth checking out. I don’t dislike Mario Kart but one of the things that always pissed me off was that you could have raced your ass off, be meters away from the finishing line and then “BOOM!” someone nails you with a (insert color) shell, you lose the race, and are suddenly reminded that you’re not actually playing a racing game. Regrettably for Blur (at least for me), is that this seems to happen ALL THE FUCKING TIME!!!
When I first started the Multiplayer Beta I was frequently racing against players who were at a higher experience level and had unlocked better cars (again, think Call of Duty’s unlock system) and yet I would race the pants off their faster cars only to be shot, shocked and rammed at the finish line. This literally happened my first three races and by the third time I was ready to throw the controller out the window. It`s not like I don`t like Arcade racers – I adore Burnout Paradise but even with the aggressive nature of the shunting it`s the actual driving that matters. Sure you can wreck my car, but you have to use your skill to actually catch up to me – not get me in your crosshairs from 400 meters away.
I then decided to change my focus, think of Blur not as a racing game but as a shooting game – it’s not about finishing on the race podium but about shooting people. That’s all fine and dandy but the problem is that if I wanted to shoot people I would just play Bad Company 2 or a whole host of other legitimate shooters.
Clearly, I’m not the target audience for Blur but what upsets me is that there is one thing that Blur does better than any racing game I’ve played – 20 car fields with little to no lag! Yes, twenty car fields. In those rare quiet moments of actual racing Blur is fantastic when you’re racing against 19 other players and my biggest disappointment is that Bizarre Creations couldn`t make a PGR game using this tech.
Again, if your idea of a racing game is Mario Kart and if you don’t understand the big deal about vehicle damage in simulation racing games then Blur is probably right up your alley. For me, I`ll be staying far, far away in Forza 3-land. And hey, you never know, maybe Blur will be the racing game equivalent of an electric fly zapper – drawing cornhole-happy, no skill douche bags away from legitimate racing games and keeping them there. Yeah, I`m not a fan.
The Blur multiplayer beta is now open to everyone on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Lavan
PS In case you were wondering.
So when I heard that the creators of PGR Bizarre Creations wouldn’t be doing another PGR game I was a bit sad. When I heard they were doing an arcade-style ‘combat’ racing game I was a bit worried. And after playing the closed Beta a month ago I wanted to vomit.
Okay, maybe vomit is perhaps a bit too strong so let`s just say I was really, really, really disappointed. It`s basically a more combat-intensive version of Mario Kart mixed with Modern Warfare and disguised under the semblance of the genuine racing game. Now if you’re a hardcore fan of Mario Kart then this game is definitely worth checking out. I don’t dislike Mario Kart but one of the things that always pissed me off was that you could have raced your ass off, be meters away from the finishing line and then “BOOM!” someone nails you with a (insert color) shell, you lose the race, and are suddenly reminded that you’re not actually playing a racing game. Regrettably for Blur (at least for me), is that this seems to happen ALL THE FUCKING TIME!!!
When I first started the Multiplayer Beta I was frequently racing against players who were at a higher experience level and had unlocked better cars (again, think Call of Duty’s unlock system) and yet I would race the pants off their faster cars only to be shot, shocked and rammed at the finish line. This literally happened my first three races and by the third time I was ready to throw the controller out the window. It`s not like I don`t like Arcade racers – I adore Burnout Paradise but even with the aggressive nature of the shunting it`s the actual driving that matters. Sure you can wreck my car, but you have to use your skill to actually catch up to me – not get me in your crosshairs from 400 meters away.
I then decided to change my focus, think of Blur not as a racing game but as a shooting game – it’s not about finishing on the race podium but about shooting people. That’s all fine and dandy but the problem is that if I wanted to shoot people I would just play Bad Company 2 or a whole host of other legitimate shooters.
Clearly, I’m not the target audience for Blur but what upsets me is that there is one thing that Blur does better than any racing game I’ve played – 20 car fields with little to no lag! Yes, twenty car fields. In those rare quiet moments of actual racing Blur is fantastic when you’re racing against 19 other players and my biggest disappointment is that Bizarre Creations couldn`t make a PGR game using this tech.
Again, if your idea of a racing game is Mario Kart and if you don’t understand the big deal about vehicle damage in simulation racing games then Blur is probably right up your alley. For me, I`ll be staying far, far away in Forza 3-land. And hey, you never know, maybe Blur will be the racing game equivalent of an electric fly zapper – drawing cornhole-happy, no skill douche bags away from legitimate racing games and keeping them there. Yeah, I`m not a fan.
The Blur multiplayer beta is now open to everyone on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Lavan
PS In case you were wondering.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Map Pack Costs How Much?
[Don’t forget that you can check out my (deep breath) “2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa” demo impressions in my previous post.]
I mentioned in my 2010 FIFA World Cup demo impressions that I could understand if gamers were a bit peeved at the fact that World Cup is a full price game. This reminded me of the recent sales figures for the Modern Warfare 2 ‘Stimulus’ Map Pack. With only 3 new maps and 2 old maps the pack sold for a ridiculous $15 and the announcement of that price prompted the expected internet uproar. However, Activision recently announced that the pack sold a whopping 2.5 Million ‘copies’ (or downloads/or whatever)!
My initial thought upon hearing that news was “Great, every one of you fuckers who paid $15 has just screwed the rest of us because you’ve basically told the game industry that $5 per new multiplayer map is the going price.” However, when I think about how I didn’t really have a problem with spending $60 on a World Cup ‘update’ for FIFA 10, I guess it comes down to how individuals perceive value for money. For me, and the amount of play time I’ll spend with it I’m prepared to pay full price for a World Cup licensed FIFA game. Likewise, for the 12 year old snot nosed racist, homophobic shitheads who play Modern Warefare 2 $15 of daddy’s money is fine because they can get hours upon hours of enjoyment glitching the game, cheating and generally pwning noobs in the new maps.
I guess the bottom line is that if you feel strongly that a product/game is too pricey than instead of whining about it, just don’t buy it.......
Lavan
PS I was kidding about my generalization of Modern Warefare 2 players. Not really.
I mentioned in my 2010 FIFA World Cup demo impressions that I could understand if gamers were a bit peeved at the fact that World Cup is a full price game. This reminded me of the recent sales figures for the Modern Warfare 2 ‘Stimulus’ Map Pack. With only 3 new maps and 2 old maps the pack sold for a ridiculous $15 and the announcement of that price prompted the expected internet uproar. However, Activision recently announced that the pack sold a whopping 2.5 Million ‘copies’ (or downloads/or whatever)!
My initial thought upon hearing that news was “Great, every one of you fuckers who paid $15 has just screwed the rest of us because you’ve basically told the game industry that $5 per new multiplayer map is the going price.” However, when I think about how I didn’t really have a problem with spending $60 on a World Cup ‘update’ for FIFA 10, I guess it comes down to how individuals perceive value for money. For me, and the amount of play time I’ll spend with it I’m prepared to pay full price for a World Cup licensed FIFA game. Likewise, for the 12 year old snot nosed racist, homophobic shitheads who play Modern Warefare 2 $15 of daddy’s money is fine because they can get hours upon hours of enjoyment glitching the game, cheating and generally pwning noobs in the new maps.
I guess the bottom line is that if you feel strongly that a product/game is too pricey than instead of whining about it, just don’t buy it.......
Lavan
PS I was kidding about my generalization of Modern Warefare 2 players. Not really.
Monday, April 12, 2010
2010 FIFA World Cup Demo Impressions
As I mentioned in my last post, the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (yes, that’s the full title) demo came out last week on Xbox Live and PSN. After a solid few matches I have to say I’m impressed but not quite as impressed as I’d have hoped to have been – even if this is an incremental upgrade and not FIFA 11.
The demo lets you play a 4 minute `Group Stage’ match between Italy and Spain in Durban. Right off the bat the expected EA Sports flash and fanfare is present but again it’s the little details (or lack thereof) that make the difference. The stadium looks fantastic, the confetti looks great, but why would the World Cup trophy itself be pitch-side before a group match? Likewise, even though they’ve been slightly modified, the substitution animations/sequences are still utter crap. The goal celebration sequences are also still completely inconsistent with what happened just before the ball went in – if you score, run to the touchline and skip the user-controlled celebration; the cut-scene may show you standing still in the 18 yard box celebrating.
The better the graphics become, the more jarring the lack of consistency and little details and becomes. Fortunately/Unfortunately, those graphics are very good. It may be my imagination but the faces in World Cup appear improved from FIFA 10 and very close to the awesome faces in PES 2010. There also appear to be a few new animations – I saw a Torres scuffed shot that looked great.
On the pitch the game definitely seems a tad faster – not something I’m a big fan of but definitely not a game breaker. Control and responsiveness are both tightened up and players bring the ball down a lot quicker. Shooting also seems a bit improved and you can fire low and hard shots more frequently. Crosses are still a bit ‘floaty’ like in FIFA 10 but obviously not as bad as those in FIFA 09 and 08. The game still allows you to bypass midfield a bit too easy and it can often become end to end unless you make a conscious effort to hold on to the ball.
Overall, I enjoyed the demo and looking forward to some of the other features they’ve listed for the final game. According to the demo the final build will have 199 National Teams and full Qualifying. One of my favourite modes from the last World Cup game – the Scenario Mode is back with real-life scenarios from qualifying for South Africa 2010 and also scenarios from the 2006 Finals. EA Sports also state that the game will have a ‘free live service [that] will deliver new scenarios during the 2010 FIFA World Cup’. The Captain Your Country mode (Be A Pro/Be A Legend) present in Euro 2008 is also back and there will be an online World Cup.
It’s a lot of features and some minor gameplay tweaks – is it worth $60 ($70 in Canada....even though the dollar is on par......)? Well, that’s a good question. Since 2010 World Cup provides many teams, game modes, stadiums and some (minor) gameplay tweaks I’m not too fussed to pay full price for it but I can definitely see why some would be upset at the pricing.
The game comes out April 27th and I’ll be posting day one impressions.....or at least trying to! ;)
Lavan
The demo lets you play a 4 minute `Group Stage’ match between Italy and Spain in Durban. Right off the bat the expected EA Sports flash and fanfare is present but again it’s the little details (or lack thereof) that make the difference. The stadium looks fantastic, the confetti looks great, but why would the World Cup trophy itself be pitch-side before a group match? Likewise, even though they’ve been slightly modified, the substitution animations/sequences are still utter crap. The goal celebration sequences are also still completely inconsistent with what happened just before the ball went in – if you score, run to the touchline and skip the user-controlled celebration; the cut-scene may show you standing still in the 18 yard box celebrating.
The better the graphics become, the more jarring the lack of consistency and little details and becomes. Fortunately/Unfortunately, those graphics are very good. It may be my imagination but the faces in World Cup appear improved from FIFA 10 and very close to the awesome faces in PES 2010. There also appear to be a few new animations – I saw a Torres scuffed shot that looked great.
On the pitch the game definitely seems a tad faster – not something I’m a big fan of but definitely not a game breaker. Control and responsiveness are both tightened up and players bring the ball down a lot quicker. Shooting also seems a bit improved and you can fire low and hard shots more frequently. Crosses are still a bit ‘floaty’ like in FIFA 10 but obviously not as bad as those in FIFA 09 and 08. The game still allows you to bypass midfield a bit too easy and it can often become end to end unless you make a conscious effort to hold on to the ball.
Overall, I enjoyed the demo and looking forward to some of the other features they’ve listed for the final game. According to the demo the final build will have 199 National Teams and full Qualifying. One of my favourite modes from the last World Cup game – the Scenario Mode is back with real-life scenarios from qualifying for South Africa 2010 and also scenarios from the 2006 Finals. EA Sports also state that the game will have a ‘free live service [that] will deliver new scenarios during the 2010 FIFA World Cup’. The Captain Your Country mode (Be A Pro/Be A Legend) present in Euro 2008 is also back and there will be an online World Cup.
It’s a lot of features and some minor gameplay tweaks – is it worth $60 ($70 in Canada....even though the dollar is on par......)? Well, that’s a good question. Since 2010 World Cup provides many teams, game modes, stadiums and some (minor) gameplay tweaks I’m not too fussed to pay full price for it but I can definitely see why some would be upset at the pricing.
The game comes out April 27th and I’ll be posting day one impressions.....or at least trying to! ;)
Lavan
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
2010 FIFA World Cup Demo - out tomorrow!
According to Eurogamer the 2010 FIFA World Cup Demo will be out tomorrow on both Xbox Live and PSN. The demo will feature Spain vs. Italy. Apart from the odd game here and there I haven't been playing much FIFA 2010 recently so it'll be good to get back into some console football.
Impressions tomorrow.
Lavan
Impressions tomorrow.
Lavan
Sunday, April 4, 2010
FIFA Online and Heavy Rain
It seems that starting off with an apology is the standard greeting for all of my blog/website entries and I won’t break the trend here so; sorry for not updating for an absolute age. There are a variety of excuses I purport that include; work, wife being pregnant, work, my computer carrying the new website design dying (hard drive fried), family stuff, alien abduction, and so on and so forth.
Fortunately/Unfortunately, not a great deal has been going on in the soccer-gaming world except for the FIFA Online Beta and the Ultimate Team add-on for FIFA 10. I managed to score a spot in the beta for the former and found myself quite impressed. Unfortunately, I haven’t been playing the PC iterations of the last few FIFA games so I can’t compare the gameplay but I still found it surprisingly deep and a lot of fun. The stats laden manager-mode at the heart of the online game is right up my alley and I’m looking forward to the third phase of the beta.
I haven’t yet downloaded the Ultimate Team add-on for FIFA 10 yet because much of my recent console gaming time has been with non-sports games.
Speaking of non-sports games, when I haven’t been playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 on the360, I’ve been blown away by Heavy Rain on the PS3. I know it’s only April but both Heavy Rain and Mass Effect 2 are easily contenders for my game of the year already. You’ve probably read reviews galore about Heavy Rain and while I readily acknowledge it’s not a game that’s going to grab everyone I found myself utterly enthralled by its grim, gritty, dark world. Developers Quantic Dream did a masterful job of characterization and I loved the way the game manipulates the player both emotionally. It’s in the realm of emotion that the game really sets itself apart from the pack for me. Other games have made me feel emotion like the thrill of scoring a last minute winner in a football game or the connection to your crew that you feel in Mass Effect 2. However, Heavy Rain was the first game to instil a sense of dread and fear in me. In fact, at times the game generated such a genuine sense of unease that I had to stop playing – and it didn’t do it with Gieger-esque monsters, cheap scares, or gore either.
What also helps the game is that the multitude of various branches in the story lends a real sense of permanence to your actions; if you screw up and let a character die then that’s it – they’re done. This also means that a lot of gamers will have had very different story experiences through finishing the game.
Heavy Rain isn’t perfect – I really wish Quantic Dream had hired an all American/Anglophone cast and there’s a twist at the end that seems a bit outlandish (though not as bad as the batshit crazy supernatural twists at the end of Quantic Dream’s previous game – Farenheit). However, for what it does well and does uniquely, Heavy Rain deserves special recognition.
Lavan Chandran
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