Originally written for www.7outof10.co.uk

Advancement in technology is a wonderful thing. Just a decade ago I was singing the praises of the Digital Versatile Disc and yet there I was on Saturday night, G&T in hand and jaw on the floor, as Fight Club played out in HD glory on my PS3. It had been several years since I’d previously seen David Fincher’s brutal adaptation of Chuck Palahnuk’s novel, but, as clichéd as some may consider the fantasised Tyler Durden, it’s a wonderful yarn to weave. Full of anti-capitalist tendencies, a brow furrowing plot and the assertion that you and I are certainly not special.

And it got me thinking. How would such a story be played out through the medium of video games? Could such a tale be told without removing what made the original so compelling: the sleight of hand, the duplicity of a single character, the depiction of insomnia, the visceral nature of the violence. Contract the majority of studios to do a game adaptation and the most likely result would be a poor Streets of Rage homage lacking any of the film’s unique qualities. Given the anti-materialist tone of said film, I can’t see Tyler being happy with his story resulting in yet more mass produced crap.

Even away from the notorious domain of movie licenses, story driven games are tricky things. Cast you mind back through recent times and consider whether you have played a game with a storyline that could truly be considered good. Great, even. Great, that is, in the sphere of storytelling and not in just games. Far too many rely on derivative tales of revenge and bloodlust with little or no character progression or even consideration for story arc other than to move the player to the next exotic level. Halo, Modern Warfare, Gears of War; all massive selling franchises but with stories little better than a Michael Bay Victoria Secret’s commercial.

Taking Halo as an example, it may have a great deal of lore defined behind the scenes but this is ultimately just the building blocks from which the game’s universe is formed from. The adventures we actually embark upon with Master Chief are, when stripped down, little different to Mario’s original quest to find his Princess: one man striving to save something of value to him, running through mostly linear levels to be met with more supposition on their completion. For Master Chief this is a well lit cutscene depicting the latest twist in the war against the Covenant, whilst in Mario’s case it comes in the form of a Toad professing that he knows nothing of the princess’ whereabouts and suggests looking in another castle.

Although that may seem unfair to some, the story telling within ODST brings Halo 1-3’s (and most FPSs) into starker relief. There you find the same elements of a mystery, a love story and an adventure, but they are then backed up by a group of soldiers each with their own personalities and traits. Not only do they add more depth but these characters’ story arcs are shown through a series of flashbacks revealing that developers can attempt to express stories in less than conventional ways successfully.

However, the most successful story tellers of this generation to my mind are Bioshock and Portal.

Part of Bioshock’s accomplishment is down to the completeness at which Rapture has been realised, allowing anyone treading its subterranean hallways to be full immersed in its dark atmosphere. From the very beginning you are involved in a plot to bring down certain figureheads through a plot of deceit that has apparently been many, many years in the offing. But it’s not just that makes Bioshock standout as it is the amount of optional story that can be found through audio diaries that really starts building up certain characters.

Speaking at GDC, Bioshock’s Ken Levine detailed how their team build up characters ahead of time to make them feel more imposing, a more integral part of the world. Discussing the importance of using storytelling to make up for the deficiencies of game characters, “When we finally meet [deranged doctor] Steinman, he’s just an A.I. with a machine gun and a medical mask, but players have been set up to invest emotion in the guy. At the end of the day these digital actors are not Brando.”

Portal’s storytelling is also subtle. Although constructed like a common or garden puzzler with stark levels and a seemingly predictable path, it soon breaks off into something very surprising. With a homicidal computer attempting to control proceedings and the story of others played out through graffiti in hidden nooks, it has a tale to tell if people are willing to invest time in to seeking it out but equally does not burden those who just want to play with reams of text or cutscenes. A policy continued with the Left 4 Dead series.

No matter how much subtlety developer’s can include, the medium itself falls shy of the many expectations heaped upon it. Despite the progression in processors and the raw power available in comparison to at the start of the video game revolution, we still cannot hide that video games are not in the whole treading their own unique narrative path. Rather they are following in the footsteps of others, namely Hollywood.

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Yesterday we spoke of the influence Hollywood had on storytelling in videogames. It is an influence that has brought about an abundance of immersion shattering cutscenes and quick time events (QTE). Developers have strived so hard to produce dramatic set pieces aimed at thrilling the player visually, and yet at the same time these scripted dramas can’t help but mock them.

Stood before you is the character you have been guiding for the past dozen hours, dodging falling masonry and firing a rocket launcher into the underbelly of an escaping helicopter, and yet you are no longer in control; the game is playing itself to a conclusion. The culmination of your adventure has been played out without you, or, and possibly even more heinously, has been played out whilst asking you to occasionally press a random button to keep proceedings flowing; the game intimating that you couldn’t have possibly have done that on your own.

For the most part, videogame storytelling has aped film because during videogame’s growth it has been the standard in visual storytelling, but it is now time for videogames to evolve past that and stand on their own. Whereas films themselves are a single interpretation and vision of a storyline, namely that of the director, games must cope with many players all trying to do different things and so must seek their own way of expressing such narratives. Speaking to CVG last March, Square Enix producer Yoshinori Yamagishi commented that “in film, the creator has control over how he gives the story to the viewer - it’s easier to control the emotions and feelings expected from the viewer.” Hence why when something important needs to be said the safe option is to head into a cutscene so that the player does not miss it, misinterpret it, or ruin the atmosphere by standing on a desk and attempting to stab you boss whilst he tells you of your next deeply important mission, ala Assassin’s Creed.

Some developers already understand this as an error. David Cage, creator of Heavy Rain, compared this standard approach to that of adult films. In an interview with Gamasutra he said of Uncharted, “it gives you a bit of story, then action, then a bit of story, then action - like porn movies, when you think about it.” Not one to speak without actions to backup his comments, his work with Fahrenheit and the forthcoming Heavy Rain attempt to challenge preconceptions about stories in games and make it a core focus for a player.

Though well received, Fahrenheit was something of a mixed bag. Its closing chapters left a lot to be desired and could be sadly likened to a poor episode of the X-Files. The opening scenes, however, captured players’ imagination with their ability to shape a sizeable part of the early story. Waking from a trance in a restaurant’s filthy men’s room, you found your hands convered with blood and a stranger lying dead at your feet. How do you respond? Should you run before anyone comes in? Maybe attempt to clean up the crime and pretend nothing happened? Or would you prefer to turn yourself in? Many things are possible and with it the replayability as you sought to experience the consequences of each possible avenue of choice, almost like the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books of the 80s.

With the imminent Heavy Rain marked as Fahrenheit’s spiritual successor, Cage’s work looks set to continue. But is this the future? Whilst the web of storytelling maybe an intriguing prospect, how game-like can it be? Fahrenheit descended into little more than pattern matching and QTEs by its finale; will Heavy Rain be any different? And are any other titles going to follow suit if it does?

In a recent talk at Game City, David Braben compared the current state of the videogame industry to that of 1930s Hollywood. More specifically, declaring that the likes of Activision and EA are the equivalent to the then MGM and Warner Brothers: “production units that ensure consistency of quality and professionalism at the expense of pushing the envelope and exploring the broadest potentials of their medium.” No great examination is required to reveal that the larger publishers play it safe to recoup the most for their investment, and this doesn’t just go for styles or genres but for storytelling too.

So as with many interesting developments, the indie scene can be seen to be thriving when it comes to pushing a whole menagerie of envelopes. With comparatively little risk and many projects born out of sheer passion, many bedroom coders throw their all into their games with the hope that it will get a little love in a world dominated by multinational giants.

Although approaching its fifth anniversary, indie game Facade has always struck me as a very clever game with an interesting narrative. The entire premise is that you, invited over to a friend’s apartment, witness the end of their marriage. At least, that is one possible outcome. Thrust through use of a first-person view directly into the situation you have the power to talk and act in a bid to help salvage your friend’s relationship or, conversely, drive the final wedge between them. Whereas Fahrenheit used actions to branch its tale, Facade uses words. With an impressive comprehension of most things typed you can play through its short runtime attempting a variety of different tacks.

Though technically a polar opposite, Facade also shares something with Modern Warfare 2 and its terrorist scene; both dramas will continue with or without your involvement. Locked into the first-person perspective you are free to walk around, possibly prompting responses from others but never being forced to react yourself. If the general comparison for videogame story telling is cinema, then this approach is more like theatre-in-the-round, where the audience between them can see every angle of the performance before them. With such a production there is no “one perfect angle”, an informality as the actors turn to address each sections of the audience, and almost a sense of the audience itself intruding in what is unfolding.

For the most part, however, the stories that prove most compelling are those that the players make themselves - the metastories. The week after GTA IV was launched, conversations were all too frequently laden with tales of narrow escapes from the police, amazing feats of driving skill, or of how helicopter gunships were flown back from the pub and parked in someone’s front garden. And it doesn’t just have to be sandbox games, anyone can regale you with how they escaped the horde using nothing but a toothpick in Left 4 Dead, manage to do two loop-the-loops in a warthog and land square on an opposing player’s head, or even how they were moments away from death in Tetris before that long thin block appeared and helped them clear the screen. No matter what type of game it is there will a personal tale to tell.

And for now I believe that it is the player’s own experiences that will craft the greatest tales, for I do not believe that gaming has yet had its own Citizen Kane. We do not know what the best way of how to tell a tale because it hasn’t happened. It is an intangible possibility waiting in the wings. Industry names can all talk about why using cinema as a template may not be the best way to present narrative but until we have our own Rosebud moment we will be just like the cinema of the early 1900s: full of gimmicks and novelties to attract the paying public but with very little lasting substance. Back at the turn of the last century they were stunned by images of a moving train, and in a century’s time will Burnout be regarded in much the same way?

In the same talk Braben asked the question of “when did the games industry start?” Was it with Space Wars? With Pong? The NES? The advent of 3D? Whilst there is an industry, I believe the answer is “when we start telling stories in our own unique way”. The answer, is not yet.

During my life I’ve been through several musical phases. In the mid-nineties I enjoyed the guitar-lead refrains of Britpop; at college I strayed into dance, mixing and the superclubs; whilst my uni days brought me swiftly into the domain known as “cheese”; and since drawing a salary, iTunes tells me that “rock” is my most played genre. By a strange quirk of fate, it appears that the Hero brand is also going these exact phases. Except in reverse.

Starting off with the rock of the initial Guitar Hero, it then slipped into the family pleasing pop of Band Hero before rather swiftly morphing into DJ Hero, complete with amply sized peripheral. Does this march through my music tastes mean that my prayers will be answered and an Ocean Colour Scene Hero will soon be brought to market?

Sticking with the now familiar Hero formula, the aim of DJ Hero is to “play” along with the music being piped through your speakers, matching the on screen actions to obtain as high a score as possible. The only difference between this and the original Guitar Hero being that in addition to pressing buttons in time to the beat you must also scratch and fade between tracks at specified points, mixing two tracks together and sending the crowd euphoric in the process.

To achieve such feats, the DJ Hero controller proves a substantial device. To the left side are a series of buttons and knobs corresponding to crossfaders and effects dials, and to the right a movable turntable, slightly smaller than a dinner plate, with a trio of buttons embedded in it. A somewhat large and yet surprisingly lightweight block of plastic, it is just the right size to sit on a person’s lap without impediment.

Whilst feeling your way around this new fangled device, on-screen three glowing lines run towards you, curved slightly as if they were being spun on a giant record and each representing an aspect of the mix you are about to play. Along them stream a series of dots, all corresponding to one of your three buttons on the deck. Tapping them in time to the rhythm will earn you points and the admiration of the gathering turned out to hear you play. Missing them, however, will cause the music to falter and your set to go askew.

This in itself is not a captivating experience. Apart from the red centre track that represents effects, it is hard to say what you are tapping along to. The rhythm may be flowing and you may be matching the beat but I couldn’t comprehend what those actions were comparable to. In Guitar Hero it is plainly obvious that you are strumming out the tune on your virtual guitar but when mashing The Killers in with Rihanna, why am I tapping out the riffs other than to fill the void in gameplay?

However, this is the folly of starting DJ Hero on an easy difficulty setting. Its strongest credentials are held back for those wanting to brave a stiffer challenge and it is here where the wheels of steel are really spun.

Long coloured bars then charge down the glowing tracks at you, representing a scratch, with the tracks themselves then jumping back and forth to indicate the need for a deft touch on the crossfader. The tapping still persists but these two elements begin to raise DJ Hero from being just another rhythm-action cash in. As with the Guitar Hero, I found myself having a much better time when I pushed myself. It is one thing to score an almost perfect percentage on the middling difficulty settings but it wasn’t fulfilling. Until I felt that I was being asked to try and fade or scratch every ounce of the record I never felt truly involved in the experience, swiftly whipping the fader back and forth and furiously scratching in a bid to keep up with the latest mashup.

Though my enjoyment did increase on these more technical sections, my faith in the hardware diminished. True the turntable is smooth and responsive, but the crossfader was too light and inaccurate. There is a notch in the centre to help differentiate its three settings, nevertheless it had a tendency to fly past my intended track and straight onto the one on the opposite side. When staring at the screen and being asked to flick it back and forth at great speed it seems a little disappointing that such a tiny thing that would ultimately have a large impact on the game was overlooked. I have looked up solutions involving sticky tape to limit the amount of travel but the fact that even needs considering is a shame.

As with all other Hero games, your aim in DJ Hero is to march through a career mode, playing gig after gig and unlocking songs as you go. There are multiplayer modes, including hooking up another deck or a guitar to jam along with the mix but both feel a little strange. None of them have the same group togetherness that you find in any of the band games on the market. Whereas grabbing three extra mates and forming an impromptu Foo Fighters tribute act is the basis for a Rock Band party, I can’t see DJ Hero ever evoking the same emotions in me.

DJ Hero is a solid rhythm action game though, and should be given a chance by the naysayers. The wealth of music included (93 songs) is incredible and the execution of the Hero mechanics has evolved just the right amount so that it is both familiar but also unique, set itself aside from its Guitar brethren and playing to strengths of mixing. For me, however, it just lacked the connection that could have made it a great music game; far too often I felt that I had too little involvement with what was going on, standing on the periphery and occasionally poking buttons. Compare this once again to the Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands of the world and with every song you are not only involved from the very first bar until you repeat-til-fade your way to the end, but you are the star and without you none of that would be happening. Those wanting a fresh challenge will find it here but those wanting another music revolution will leave disappointed.

7/10

A few years ago, of all the licenses that could have been signed by a music game, a child’s set of building blocks must have been quite near the bottom of a rather lengthy list. We’ve seen Metallica, The Beatles and even Van Halen all attach their names to the current craze of plastic instruments and yet here we are with the oddity of Lego Rock Band. Cue gags about Bloc Party, Another Brick in the Wall and Block Rockin’ Beats.

A few years ago, however, we didn’t have Lego Star Wars, Batman or Indiana Jones. Each of which has slowly built the Lego brand into more than a Danish ambassador. The Lego world has developed a character all of its own with an unerring knack in distilling film plots into amusing cutscenes. It has taken three franchises and made them into family friendly experiences where prior knowledge is in no way a prerequisite. And it is this identity that EA have coveted in order to take Rock Band to a broader audience.

Traveller’s Tales have done a superb job in taking the traditional Rock Band experience and encasing it in a Lego bricks. Everything from the opening car chase cinematic to the menu’s background has been tweaked to incorporate blocks whilst still keeping the original’s essence. The biggest change, for it is still Rock Band 2 under this veneer, is in the story mode and its outlandish venues. Rather than clubs and stadiums it starts you off busking at the railway station and moves on to zoos, prehistoric caves, pirate ships, haunted mansions and palaces.

The Lego theme isn’t just limited to scenery however, and as you rise to stardom special gigs will become available. Some offer the opportunity to embody the likes of Blur, Queen and Bowie, all perfectly recreated in minifig form. Others will get your band to turn their hand to some rather specialist tasks. Were you aware that the power of rock can be used to banish ghosts, bring down buildings and even defrost explorers who became lost in the Arctic? No?

Although silly, the accompanying videos are packed with all the charm that you expect from the Lego series; the only negative being that you have to watch your stream of notes and not the unfolding shenanigans. Everyone in your band and management team can be seen capering about the stage with each and every one of them customisable. Currently my band has a peg-legged pirate on vocals, a ticket conductor on bass whilst a deep sea diver plays lead guitar on a par with Hendrix himself. As for me, the least said about my giant vegetable drum kit the better.

Despite all that, disappointment creeps in as Lego Rock Band is a twelve-month old product hiding behind a new wardrobe and it shows little sign of progression. Although tuned for accessibility – you can’t fail a song, there’s a super easy move, and drummers can ignore the foot pedal entirely - it still lacks basic features. There’s no option to jump in mid-song, or even mid-tour, and the Thomas brothers will once again have to fight over the drum sticks as the opportunity for two people to play the same instrument remains absent. These omissions are made worse by rival Guitar Hero having addressed them both.

Whether Lego Rock Band is for you will be down to an individual’s position. Those previously put off by the brand’s rocker image should put worries aside and start clearing space for your plastic band now. For Rock Band veterans, it’s a harder sell. Treating it as a bonus song pack will be dictated by personal taste but the clincher should be whether the enticement of having a band made completely out of minifigs can be resisted. Either way, what it does well is add a much needed sense of humour to what is becoming a formulaic experience.

Now do excuse me, I need to go and chase away an octopus from my lead singer’s ship.

8/10

The point-and-click genre is one that I have to limit my exposure to; an overdose can see my mind a little unhinged. It causes me to stare at every day objects wondering how I could combine a roll of sticky tape with my lunchbox and just what the hell I would then use it for.

My last experience was with the Sam & Max and Monkey Island episodes and whilst the humour was as good as it ever has been, I missed the dynamics that came animated sprites in a 2D world. The character that can be encapsulated in a simple animation is far and above that which can be squeezed from Maya. Compare a classic like Discworld to its modern day counterparts and the same level of expression cannot be found - and anyone wishing to differ should try to recreate that dunny scene before disagreeing.

This is one of the many reasons that Machinarium has become an instant favourite. From the very first moment you can see the love that is poured into every inch of its stylised world; against the backdrop of a craterous landscape, tiny robots buzz about whilst in the distance a city looms. The hand-drawn backgrounds that you greet you in each new scene are all exceptional and are packed with subtleties that would no doubt have been lost if a third dimension were added.

The same can be said for the robotic stars themselves. Controlling a small, nameless robot, you send him tottering around in search of his lost robot girlfriend. This story is not conveyed through traditional means, though, rather through thought bubbles playing short cartoon snippets. Considering dialogue is a foundation of similar games, it’s a bold choice but one that fits within the robot world; these metal beings have transcended the need to vocalise thoughts.

However, style alone does not make a game and at its core Machinarium is very traditional where collected items are used and combined to complete puzzles. The path towards your love is continually blocked by locked doors, nefarious characters and the occasional 8ft policeman demanding batteries for their cuddly toy, all of which you have the power to solve given the right mental approach.

The quality bar for these posers is high throughout and most will get your grey matter churning, although none are as obscure as to cause migraines. Cracking one that has been staring you in the face for a period of time is still supremely satisfying but every solution makes sense - you just need to be attentive and thinking in the right plane. Pages are also taken from Professor Layton’s book with a smattering of straight-up logic puzzles offering a break from thinking too abstractly.

Superbly attentive design also keeps frustration to a minimum. This is not to say that brainteasers they set are easy - many will have you scratching your metal head until inspiration dawns - but whether it be limited screen clutter, keeping many puzzles on a single screen or allowing you to stand only in predefined spots, they reduce red herrings to the smallest amount possible. All of which in turn keeps your brain clear to concentrate on the puzzles in hand.

For those who do come a cropper there is always help at hand. Clicking the light bulb permanently ensconced at the top of your screen will, through use of more robot thought bubbles, show you your objective in that particular area. Although not a huge give away it can get you back on track and even prove an utter life saver when staring blankly at a dog trapped on the other side of a canal. A further step-by-step guide is also offered by completing a small Gradius-esque mini-game but both should be used sparingly to gain the most from your adventure.

The trouble with a game like Machinarium is that all of the high points are wrapped up so tightly in brainteasers that if revealed they would ruin it for everyone else. Safe to say, those willing will be met with some of the most cunning and rewarding puzzles to grace the PC in recent times. Much like Portal, it may also not be longest of adventures but any game which leaves you feeling sad when the credits roll is a game worth paying attention to. Pitched just right, it doesn’t pad out the experience for the sake of it and Machinarium leaves you wanting more.

9/10

Given the amount of controversy surrounding that scene in Modern Warfare 2 it is unsurprising that the mainstream media have been debating its merits. On radio, television, and print, even touching the establishment that is Parliament, the suitability of the medium handling topics such as terrorism was discussed. Unsurprisingly the topic of children playing violent games also came to the fore but in all cases I was remarkable pleased with just how these debates were handled.

On previous occasions, with the furore over GTA, Manhunt and associated “games linked with violence”, Ali has had to turn off the radio/TV because of just how wound up I got with the seemingly one-sided barrage the industry received. This time, however, The Byron Report on the digital world seems to have made a real difference and ministers came out defending videogames’ right to express and show adult and possibly controversial issues.

When questioned by the infamous Keith Vaz in Parliament, Tom Watson (former defence minister) stated “I’ve seen the content in this videogame, it is unpleasant, though no worse than in many films and books, it is an 18-plus game and carries the BBFC 18-plus rating as well.” Furthermore, and even more pleasingly, speaking on 5 live Breakfast he went on to say that whilst he did not like or agree with what MW2 depicted he defended it and the industry’s right to release it.

Whilst it may take the controversial events for gaming and its boundaries to be debated in a wider forum I feel that the corner has now been turned. With high profile support from with Westminster there is a legitimacy that I felt was lacking in yesteryear.

With triple-A titles now becoming as abundant as leaves falling from trees, this is not just the time of year when Games of the Year (TM) start making themselves known but Disappointments of the Year (TM), too. There are very few who have not experienced that moment of clarity when the game they have yearned for ever since the appearance of the first press release has proven to be no more than hyperbole and spin. Even with the most awful of games many will plough on regardless, desperate to get value for their money, but how long do you give a game before throwing in the towel?

Whilst every game is different, the one ever present factor is how important the initial experience is. Drawing the player in early and convincing them that what is on offer is worth their time and effort is key to securing their attention for what game developers hope to be many joyful hours. First impressions count for a lot, though, and a stagnant introduction, an overly verbose tutorial or a barrage of cutscenes could make for a very short lived experience.

When it comes to opening acts, the most polarising game of recent times is Fallout 3. The majority of my gaming circle bought into the idea of Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic world but when it came down to actually playing it many failed to even leave the initial vault. Sold on the thought of exploring desolated wastelands and adventuring into the unknown, the time spent confined underground as the story gathered pace was too claustrophobic for some to bear and they walked away disgusted.

To those who revelled in furthering your character’s relationship with the others in the vault this may sound shocking, except we must remember that not everyone is made from the same mould. It is incredibly hard to tailor an experience to suit everyone out there whilst still remaining true to the designer’s vision. Boiling down aspects to the lowest common denominator may well strike a chord with more people but it is also likely that the knock on effect is that there will then be very little substance behind that veneer to keep players interested.

One such example was the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time followup, Warrior Within. Not content with crafting the beautiful and acclaimed return of the Prince, Ubisoft bought onto the Nu Metal band wagon, no doubt this was thanks to a quick check of what was scored highly with the teenage demographic they were see obviously courting. The opening exchanges saw me witness the now emo, heavily fringed Prince swear, move along to a thrashing sound track and battle bikinied, bare-cheeked pirate captains, resulting in me losing any sense of good feeling I had towards him.

It is with new IPs, where there is no brand awareness or expectations, that these first impressions really count. Who could forget the first scenes in Bioshock, first with the plane crash and then your initial discovery of Rapture, or the cinematic introduction to Dead Space. Both brought about a sense of wonder and a desire to discover what disaster had befallen the world you then found yourself in, one that spurred me on to the very end.

By contrast, slow starters, such as Borderlands, or those that decide against introducing themselves with some sort of apocalyptic event, need much more good will to see them through. Shaped so much like an MMO that when the first two quests are “Kill 5 swamp rats” and “Kill 8 raiders” that you have to wonder whether the Borderland designers truly thought about their early stages. Whilst the game opens up to introduce a lot more depth and variety, the first hour of mindless and generic fetch quests does not paint it in a good light.

To get around a similar problem, Id’s Rage is taking a refreshing approach to development. Technical Director John Carmack has gone on record as saying that they are going to build the first level of the game last, taking advantage of everything that they have learnt during development and giving it the best chance possible of a great first impression. The logic seems almost infallible and it is more surprising that this approach is only just being discussed now.

Originally posted on www.7outof10.co.uk

I have been known to board in the past. There was once a time when I skated through the streets of Southampton and glided down the slopes of the Alps. Ranking as a complete amateur in both, I have often attempted to live out my delusions of grandeur through the Tony Hawk’s and Shaun White’s videogames of the world. Both big name riders, but at times their series have had a tendency to play on the reputation of the brand and not always on the quality of the product.

Whilst Stoked’s cover may not be decorated with household names, it attempts a far subtler approach. Initial training is taken by Snowboarder of the Year Wolle Nyvelt and, with the wooden voice acting you’d expect from a professional athlete, he leads introduces you through the fundamentals of Stoked.

The focus on a refined experience allows any reliance on the joypad’s face-buttons to be removed. Body movement and positioning are controlled on the analogue sticks, whilst grabs and prewinds (the act of preparing for a spin) are initiated with the triggers. Movement feels fluid and intuitive; carving through the snow by leaning from side to side with the left stick, with an upwards flick on the right sending your rider into a jump. Once your boarder is in the air, hands need to be contorted with a series of sharp tugs on triggers and jabs at sticks to do grabs, twists, spins and grinds. Simple variants are available but expect several minor layers of complexity - and numerous bone crunching landings - to lie between you and more advanced feats.

Those who button mash will end up face first in the snow as a little consideration needs to be applied before each trick. Transitions between them aren’t quick and the key is making sure you’ve enough time to not only complete but land your trick.

This more grounded experience extends throughout the game. Mountainsides aren’t filled with half-pipes or conveniently placed railings, rather fallen trees and convenient clumps of snow. An initial run may seem quite barren but soon you begin to pick out the understated nature with which the landscape has been assembled. Soon it even takes on a sense of serenity, and cresting a rise to see the sun break over the mountain range and spill into the valleys below can be a striking sight. Visually, as you cut ruts in the snow or snake down the mountain through near blizzard conditions, you have to be impressed at what this small studio has produced.

To occupy your time, challenges litter the slopes. All are quite basic in their focus - beat this score, do these tricks - but each explores a different style of play, acting like a more restrained but prolonged tutorial. Score challenges hinge on stringing together a handful of tricks, whilst the trick specific tests are there to show off your wide array of moves. Known as the Grab Bible, there is a list of tricks available in game to help you but given the sheer quantity of moves it’s guaranteed that when a specific grab is required you’ll head straight to the Bible armed with a piece of paper to note down just what is expected of you.

Each challenge beaten sees your fame grow and before long sponsors and the press are courting you. There is no character progression accompanying this rise in stardom, however. No stats are upgraded or specialist equipment unlocked, instead more and more events open their doors to you as you turn pro.

Up until this point, Stoked was at risk of falling flat. With more than 50 basic events requiring completion before becoming professional, the designers are testing the attention span of many gamers. Once pro forms are signed, the game then gains far more structure: photographers will demand lines of flashy tricks; competitions pit you against other riders; promoters set you timed runs; and in each of them the bar is gradually pushed higher and higher until nothing but the perfect line and quick fingers will see you through. Expect frustration throughout as many challenges, even early ones, will see your rider faceplant countless times before you prove victorious.

No matter how well it is handled, the thought that kept reoccurring was that even very late in the game I was still doing exactly the same things as I did when I started. New mountains are unlocked and you face an ever growing wardrobe of branded items but the base experience does not evolve greatly. There is a definite sense of your skills progressing as challenges push you harder and harder, but it is easy to lose heart and question why you want to attempt the next dozen photo shoots if their goals are in essence the same as the last dozen.

Stoked has an undeniably strong core, with good handling and a very natural style. Its own confident understated approach, however, may be its undoing; limiting the ways it can present events. Furthermore, taking anywhere up to a couple of hours to break the back of Stoked, to feel comfortable with the mechanics and to reach more engaging events, may ask too much of some.

Those willing to experience an incredibly solid and satisfying snowboarding game should stick at it. Trumping the far showier Shaun White, Stoked is a clear, well executed vision but will only be for the dedicated.

7/10

Originally posted on www.7outof10.co.uk

A week or so ago I spoke about how Achievements, when used effectively, can extend the life of a game. They can be used to tempt and tease you into playing in different ways or even just trying to reach for the near impossible. Last night saw another Achievement hunting exercise for a handful of us as we continued down Bungie’s Road to Recon in Halo: ODST. Far from being just an attempt at boosting our gamerscore, it was a bid to unlock hidden titbits but also a fine example of how a developer can reach out to the community and make them feel special.

Ever since the launch of Halo 3 there a special style of armour has only been available to select few. Originally only Bungie employees were granted the ability to wear it but over time players who caught Bungie’s eye were also handed a set. As ever with a rampant community, what you can’t have you want and so began the lust for Recon, as it was known.

Bungie have always been a sterling example of how a developer should interact with the community. From weekly updates that drip feed information and give personalities to those usually anonymous names on the credits, to theming online matches around Halloween, Valentines Day and other major events, they are always reaching out and not only talking to their user base but listening to them, too. Well, at least those that don’t have a tendency to insert numbers where vowels ought to be. Out of this came The Road to Recon, a further meta-game within the Halo products that will unlock Recon for the player should they complete a list of objectives, mainly Achievements. The end goal of an alternate helmet may not seem a big deal for many who read this but to the Halo community it’s now a mark of your dedication to the cause and another well thought out offering to the community from Bungie.

It works on many levels, too. Even though the community is comparatively small, I like to think my involvement Viva Piñata has gone some way in enhancing the game for those I interact with, too. Whether it be talking with a dev frankly about the game, showing that we still care about a product several years after launch or even injecting the odd Easter Egg into proceedings here and there, I am a big advocate of the developer’s equivalent of after sales care.

So many studios, rightly or wrongly, treat the pressing of the final product as the end of the process. Whilst it might be the end for the developers have slaved day and night to get the game to your console, it is only the beginning for you.

This week’s announcement of Lego Rock Band’s track listings and the option of exporting it out into older versions of Rock Band reinforced my faith in human nature; there are publishers developers out there who aren’t just trying to extract every possible penny from your wallet for minimal effort. Compared to Guitar Hero’s dozen or so releases in the last three years, each major Rock Band release has seen Harmonix jump through technical hoops in order to keep their brand as a platform rather than a batch of stand alone releases.

In a world where certain companies are willing to sell you unlock codes for items that used to be available through a simple button combination, or extra money in games you’re too lazy to earn it, it’s a refreshing gesture. Naturally there is a fee involved but considering when exporting Rock Band 1’s tracks to Rock Band 2 it cost less than a fiver for 60 songs it can well be considered one of the best value transactions in this digital age.

I gave up on Guitar Hero after, for the second game in a row, they wouldn’t let me import my old DLC into the newer game. It hardly makes for a fun social event swapping discs after each track, nor does paying for content that becomes defunct so quickly. Guitar Hero do seem to be sensing the error of their ways and are making efforts to amend the lack of song sharing, but it seems quite laboured by comparison.

Rock Band, Sing Star and even Hasbro Game Night are the direction social gaming should be going. Give me lots of releases, keep the content flowing, but also allow me to access it all from a single hub. Games that do so may suffer a hit from not featuring in retailer’s New Release section so frequently but as distribution turns more and more towards digital downloads that should become less of an issue.

Originally posted on www.7outof10.co.uk

Mafia Wars

The game that comes most readily to most people’s lips when Facebook is mentioned is Mafia Wars. This very casual RPG has proved a big hit for developer Zynga, constantly featuring in the social network’s Most Played charts.
Taking on the role of a Don of New York, you carry out jobs for profit, attacks against other Mafioso, and the day to day running of your underground empire. It’s a minimalist interface with all actions handled through a series of lists, each item decorated with thumbnails of the task at hand. All tasks are executed by a quick check against your character’s stats, the most important of which is energy. This allows you to perform a certain amount of activities - the grandeur of which grows as you gain more energy - in return for both XP and a swag bag full of loot, be it cash or miscellaneous knickknacks that can be used to improve your mafia.

XP slowly tots up and pushes you up through the ranks, each promotion granting you more jobs and more opportunities. Money collected from your nefarious activities can be invested in property to bring in a more stable source of income or an arsenal for your followers. All of whom can be equipped with a weapon, a vehicle and a piece of body armour and the better equipped they are then the better protected you are.

Your mafia is made up of those you know and love. Those who you never thought capable of a nasty thought turn out by your side, touting tommy-guns and talking in dubious accents aiding you in attacks against rival mafia. Whilst your single-player adventures fight against nothing more than a timer that slowly refills your energy, multiplayer consists of fighting and robbing other Facebook users. Your mafia are then pitted against your opponent’s with the victor leaving the other battered and a little lighter in the wallet. Those with small friends lists will suffer here as no matter how well pimped your troops are the sheer weight of numbers seen in some mafias will crush all that stand in their way.

It can be deeply addictive, rising through the levels and taking on random strangers. A slowly refilling energy meter rations the amount of time that can be spent playing a criminal mastermind but a few minutes here and there each day can be enough for you to grow an empire extremely quickly. Almost as soon as it begins, however, the shine disappears. The promise of heading to Cuba at level 35 may keep you grinding through the early levels but the realisation that Cuba is basically a reskinned New York breaks any illusion of progression. Once in a foreign land you must start completely from scratch, and the option of travelling to Moscow at level 50 leaves me in no doubt that the same cheap trick of extending the experience will be used again.
Prior to that revelation Mafia Wars had proved a compelling prospect; a web based RPG that appeared to have progression and sense of depth. A mafia full of well known faces is an amusing aside but with nothing more than the expectation of a new looking background at staggered intervals the game lacks any sense of purpose.

5/10

Paradise Paintball 3D

As an example what could be achieved by using Facebook as a platform and not as a confine, then Paradise Paintball should be held aloft. With a plethora of little-and-often, two-dimensional, RPG-lites, Paradise Paintball stands out by being a highly colourful, fully three-dimensional, FPS. Set on a series of tropical islands, your large headed character is dropped in with a hopper of paint pellets and let lose on the unsuspecting public.

Technically, it is very impressive. The game itself is very smooth with barely a hint of lag throughout all the time spent in Paradise and the water effects of the sea lapping the lush beaches could put many more well known titles to shame.

Whilst it may be different, difference is not always enough. The concept may be good enough and the controls solid but individual matches offer very little in the way of order. Often it is hard to tell who is on which team, what the objective is or even if there is an objective at all. To this day I have never finished a game; not because I didn’t want to but because they seemingly never end. All too frequently Paintball Paradise turns into a flashy tech demo which was not followed up on with a fully thought out design.

I do encourage you to visit Paradise, but I’ll be surprised if you stay.

3/10