The other day I thought to myself, I fancy a game of Homefront online.
Having
put the disc in and fired it up, I found to my dismay that the servers
for Homefront were no more. Following the demise of THQ, Crytek (who
were developing Homefront 2 anyway), bought the rights to the whole
franchise, but they haven’t as yet turned the servers back on following
the transition. That was a couple of months ago now, so a return to the
battlegrounds of Homefront is looking increasingly unlikely.
Chances
are you are shrugging a “so what?” right now. This probably means
you’re one of the many who either didn’t bother with the game at all or
were put off by one or all of the following things:
A
very short campaign, questionable AI, an online component with little
in the way of game modes or customisation, problems connecting with
parties and friends.
But
there were those of us who saw past these issues. We looked beyond the
problems and the lacklustre first impressions. We cracked the surface
and found diamonds beneath.
The
campaign may have been four hours’ worth at best, but they were filled
with explosive action. The story may have been preposterous, but it was
believably told with emotional impact. And the multiplayer? Oh man, the
multiplayer. Before Battlefield 3 arrived to steal our hearts and our
time, Homefront gave us a brilliant multiplayer experience that – for
those who really embraced it – surpassed anything Call of Duty was
bringing to the table.
On
large, well-designed maps, Homefront used a simple, but perfect
mechanic to shape its online struggles. With every kill, assist or
captured objective, you accumulated XP that you could spend right there
and then in the heat of battle on war gear or other perks. Or, once
you’d been killed, you could spend XP to respawn in a teammate’s vehicle
or in one of your own. And the more XP you saved up, the greater the
vehicles – from armoured trucks to tanks and gunships.
This
resulted in games of Homefront starting out relatively subdued, but
they would grow into chaotic confrontations as players called in
armoured support, choppers and airstrikes.
Homefront
multiplayer may not have had the technical brilliance or scope of the
Battlefield series, or the tight, smooth gameplay of Call of Duty. But
damn it was fun. And there is a bunch of us out there who mourn its
loss.
Homefront is dead. Long live Homefront 2. Come on Crytek – make it happen.
The first time I saw you was just a video of
your first mission, a simple playthrough. Lots of action and nice atmosphere,
but still simple and straight forward. But God, you were beautiful. The
lighting, the animations. And the sound! My word, what a voice you had.
And then we met. So often a meeting in the
flesh can be a disappointment - the reality struggling to live up to the ideal.
But not you. You were everything I'd seen in that first glimpse and so much
more. Some spoke ill of your campaign, saying it was trying to imitate the
success of others, but I saw a thrilling effort, emotional and varied. Whatever
the case, none could argue what you were really bringing to the table.
Frostbite 2 - a next-gen engine working on current consoles, pushing them to
their limits and giving us visuals and sound quality the likes of which we'd
never seen before. What a show you put on.
And that's before I got to the multiplayer -
the meat and potatoes of the Battlefield 3 experience. So ambitious, with
innovative modes and sprawling warzones. Others who had come before you had
taught me little else but selfishness. They were all about my kills and my
achievements. You taught me teamwork. You were all about our kills and our
achievements. They were I and you were we.
Whether it be reviving squad mates,
resupplying their ammo, spotting enemies for others to take down, offering a
ride in your many vehicles - your gameplay was so well designed, so brilliantly
tuned towards teamwork that it encouraged us all to work as a team even in
situations where there were no points to be gained for ourselves. Sights like
this amongst the chaos are not uncommon:
Forgive me, I'm rambling and I don't want to
keep you. I know you're getting ready for curtain call. As I
write this, your Premium members are experiencing your final piece of content
and in two weeks, all will be able to access it and witness your last waltz.
The End Game.
It is an exciting time, but also a sad
one.I know we have a lot more time to
spend together, more memories to create, more Battlefield Moments to
experience. But I can't help but think of when we eventually separate, when
our time together comes to an end, as all things must. It is on the horizon
like a distant silhouette.
I dread the day when I have to say,
"I've met someone else." But I know we'll be ok because we both know
who that someone will be. It is you - only bigger, better and fill of all the
sights, sounds and moments that can only be found in Battlefield 4.
But let's not think about that now. Let us
seize the day and hit the ground running or strap in and take to the skies.
Before we draw that line in the sand, before we close the book - let us write that
final chapter.
Aliens: Colonial Marines. Right, where do we start? 1979?
You
know about the films and you know there have been a handful of decent
games made off the back of them, but none of these games have fully
lived up to our expectations. We had no reason to believe any of them
ever would, until this glimmer of hope shone through the darkness in
2006………
Oh
my. This is it, we thought. Finally. All we’ve ever wanted was to be a
Colonial Marine playing out James Cameron’s Aliens. It doesn’t matter
which previous game you can think of in the Aliens franchise, they all
aspired to be just that. Whether it was Aliens vs Predator on the PC,
Alien 3 for the Megadrive or Alien: Resurrection on the PS1, all of them
tried to replicate the second film in some way and all of them fell
short. But this, this had promise.
After
all, with the technology we now have, how hard could it be to make an
Aliens game? All you need is right there on the screen.
With
the possible exception of Death Race, I can’t think of a film more
suited to a videogame adaptation than Aliens. You have a cast of
characters, a squad mechanic, great locations, atmosphere, the monsters
and an almighty boss battle.
So what the hell happened?
After
that initial reveal, it all went quiet on Colonial Marines. It would be
six long years before it emerged again, but it arrived on a wave of big
words from developer Gearbox. It was their baby, their labour of love
and this game was so true to the franchise that it was proclaimed as
official canon by Fox and the true sequel to Aliens. Despite shitting
out the worst game ever made in Duke Nukem Forever, Gearbox had our
attention and our trust and what they were showing us pointed to a
brilliant game ahead.
We
approached the release. Where were the reviews? It became evident that a
review embargo was in place.With publishers trying to maximise week one sales by getting the games magazines to sign non-disclosure agreements, embargoes are rarely good news and show a lack of confidence in their own product.
Sure enough, when the release day came, the reviews landed and they were hard to read:
Edge called it "a familiar mismanagement of a rich and potent set of ideas and images," while OXM described it as a "superficially faithful clone with little of the films' spirit inside."
And of course, Hitler had something to say about it too.
Despite the Fuhrer, I decided to make up my own mind and handed over my money with trembling hands.
The
game starts well enough with all the right sounds and titles and these
sound effects continue throughout the game – the horrifying blip of the
motion tracker, the hiss of the aliens and of course the deep, raw sound
of the pulse rifle – all are present and correct. Even Lance Henrickson
has lent his voice.
Other
highlights are the first few sections as you are still expecting a true
Aliens experience. You are creeping through the darkness, the tension
mounting. Finding locations and little nods from the first two films
will also cause a few stirs of emotion from you.
However......
Voice
synching with the marines’ lips is terrible, the AI is seriously flawed
and full of bugs – marines suddenly spawn in front of you when you run
ahead and you can shoot and walk right through each other.
The textures are awful and the whole game, while not quite last gen graphics, is pretty damn close to it.
I
know the game is supposed to be action packed, but there are just far
too many aliens and facing them quickly loses its impact.
And
the story, while adequate, ends with the hope of a sequel that we’ll
never see and also (and I won’t give away how), it gives an almighty
"fuck you" to Alien 3’s opening.
Having
said all that, I did find myself reasonably entertained. I think I had
more fun than I did with Black Ops II’s campaign, I was never as
frustrated as when playing Kane and Lynch and it isn’t as bad as Duke
Nukem Forever. Nevertheless, even if you’re the kind of person who can
justify the price for 6 – 8 hours of reasonable entertainment, there are
still a lot more games you’d be better off with. The multiplayer is
awful and you’d never choose it over Halo or Battlefield and even though
there is fun to be had in split screen or 4 player co-op, this will be
more down to your friends than the game.
But the main reason I can’t in good conscience recommend this game has a lot to do with this:
We
were lied to. Gearbox rolled us one up. They had us believe the game
was better than it was and if Sega have anything about them, they will
do something to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
But I haven’t told you the worst part.
The worst part of Aliens: Colonial Marines - and this is the game’s greatest crime of all……..The Xenomorph are not scary.
Sure
there are a few bits in this game that will make you jump and there’s
the blind-firing panic you get into when you’re caught in the open or
one has worked its way behind you in a corridor, but ultimately this
game becomes a firing range. You step boldly into rooms where you should
be edging your way in, checking those corners. You run, gung-ho through
levels when you should be hunkered down, preying your motion sensor
doesn’t beep.
These
are not H.R. Geiger’s ferocious creatures that have haunted our dreams
since 1979. They are far from the perfect organism with a structural
perfection matched only by their hostility. They are dumb, limp AI with
no direction or grace, flailing headlong at your gun barrel. They are
mere cardboard cutouts of cinema’s most beautifully terrible creation.
I remember it like it was yesterday. The hedgerows were high on all sides, the paths dimly lit by the moonlight. A Nazi sentry patrolled the area, his boots barely making a sound in the eery silence. Silence I abruptly broke with the pull of a trigger. His head snapped back, his body arched over and crumpled to the floor, his helmet falling beside him.
Medal of Honor for the Sony PlayStation was released in 1999, from Dreamworks – Steven Spielberg’s production company. It was atmospheric and it played well, with great missions and graphics. It’s sequel, Medal of Honor: Underground was a worthy successor, bringing the clandestine work of the Resistance to life.
From here on in, however, things started to unravel. Medal of Honor: Frontline on the PS2 was a decent game – it’s opening doing well to replicate the chaos of Saving Private Ryan’s D-Day landings. The next game - Rising Sun - tried a similar thing with the Pearl Harbour mission, but beyond this, it was a bit of a let down.
And there was a new kid in town. A new pretender to the throne. Its name was Call of Duty and we all know what happened next. EA, seeking to emulate the gazillion selling franchise, rebooted Medal of Honor in 2010 and while it didn’t achieve the success EA had hoped, the new offering was a good game with a strong multiplayer and it deserved a sequel.
Things were looking promising in the build up to Medal of Honor Warfighter – some decent videos showcasing exciting multiplayer gameplay and campaign footage looking superb thanks to the mighty Frostbite 2 engine. Then the game was released and the reviews started to roll in. They were not good. Edge magazine for instance, gave the game 3 / 10, calling it "rushed, uninspired and cynical."
Perhaps Edge isn’t the best example - the weight of the world having clearly crushed the spirit out of all the writers there - but wherever you looked (with the exception of their own Twitter feed), the new MoH was getting a hammering.
I’ll be honest – it put me off a day one purchase. I didn’t pick up the game until January thanks to a price drop and a love of the Frostbite 2 engine. I had to see it for myself. This franchise deserved that much from me at least.
While Medal of Honor Warfighter is often a linear shooting gallery - much like many FPS games of late - there is still enjoyment to be had here. The graphics, while not being quite of the same standard as Battlefield 3, are still amongst the best we've seen on consoles and the sound proving once again to be a real asset of the Frostbite 2 engine.
The gameplay for the most part is your basic shooter fare, but the weapons pack a decent punch and the action, while not very varied, is still fun.
There are two sections which break up the shooting and they prove to be real standouts. Both are driving sequences - one a chaotic chase through a market in Pakistan as shown in the gameplay trailer below; and the other a game of cat and mouse in the backstreets of Dubai. While these sections are by no means perfect, they are well executed and once you've finished the game, will stand out for you as the moments where the adrenaline was at its highest.
Medal of Honor as a franchise has always paid respect to the real world men and women on whom the games are based, but this has created a confusing style of late as they have tried to combine this gritty realism with the bombastic action movie traits of Call of Duty's last few efforts. It doesn't sit comfortably and you'll wish the developers had chosen a side and stuck to it.
They have bullet-drop in the game during the sniping sequences and you get the impression there were at least some of the developers who wanted to take the game down the uber-realistic route used to great affect in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. But ultimately, Medal of Honor Warfighter falls back on the formula making money over at Activision - balls out, gun-toting action, with little substance.
The less said about the multiplayer the better, and besides, Battlefield 3 and Halo 4 have that wrapped up, for this generation at least, but I think the single player campaign is still worth a visit. I thought it was better than Black Ops II, which Edge gave 8 / 10. to. Which proves the words of games journalists should be used only for guidance if you're still on the fence. If not and you can afford it, Medal of Honor Warfighter is worth a go. Expect to be entertained. Just don't expect the same feeling you had back in 1999.
So I think we're well overdue an update on my hobby activities. Let's start with Dreadfleet.
For Christmas, my fiancee bought me the Dreadfleet foam trays from Battlefoam and they are brilliant. Safely housing all the ships, cards and extra pieces, all inside the game box, these trays are perfect for Dreadfleet players.
There are two versions on the Battlefoam site. This is the one I have - comprising of two trays that fit inside the box. Be aware, due to the size of the trays, the box will not fully close, but that's to be expected. Here's what it looks like.
The second version is made up of three trays and you'll need to buy a Battlefoam bag to carry them in.
I recently finished the Flaming Scimitar and I'm happy with how it's turned out.
This leaves me with two ships left to paint and then the auxiliaries, navigation rod etc. I think I'll then be turning back to my Eldar army. I still have five units still to paint and once those are done, here's a list of other stuff I have waiting in the wings:
Black Templars:
1 tactical squad
1 Company Champion
Dark Eldar:
Lelith Hesperax
Grey Knights:
Karamazov on the Throne of Judgment
Space Wolves:
1 Venerable Dreadnought
Scenery:
2 bastions
The Black Templar marines were an idea I'd had to build a Witch Hunters/Black Templars army. This never really came to fruition, but maybe it's something I'll go back to at some point.
The Karamazov model I bought initially to go with my Sisters of Battle because he was originalky in the Witch Hunters codex. Now he's moved to the Grey Knights, I may end up starting an army based around him in the future, but for now, he's just a painting project.
As is Lelith Hesperax. It's pretty much a perfect model that I'd love to paint. It will also give me an opportunity to see if I can paint the super straight highlights on Dark Eldar models.
My aim is to get all the models I own painted and finished, before I buy anything else or start any new projects. If you're a fellow hobbyest, I'm sure you're rolling with laughter at that statement. But that's the plan anyway. We'll see how I go with it.
In other news, the shutter on Games Workshop's Meadowhall store has closed for the last time. You can read my thoughts on its impending demise here.
I was present on the penultimate day when all the farewell activities were taking place and entered the painting competition with the model below.......and won the Warhammer 40,000 category! To see the model in the store cabinet was a great feeling and to win as well - it made my day.
In the coming weeks I'll be posting up a review of a Living Card Game I bought recently called Android: Infiltration from Fantasy Flight Games, but for now, I think that brings us up to speed on my hobby activities.
"She
was an angel, pure as righteous destruction. She laid low the twisted
and lifted the hearts of the righteous. At her passing, a million voices
cried out her name. Shall we ever again see her like? No, not now, nor
ever again..."
- Sister Patricia of the Orders Famulous, on the disappearance of Saint Celestine.
Finally, here are my Film Awards of 2012. Chosen from the movies I've seen of course.
It's taken a while because I was waiting on seeing The Hobbit, but I didn't get round to it. So without further ado.......
So the 2013 gaming calendar was kicked off last week with the release of DMC, the Devil May Cry reboot, and it has received some very good reviews.
But what else do we have to look forward to this year? Here are just a few of the titles heading our way:
Tomb Raider - also receiving the reboot treatment and this is looking really good. Square Enix, who seem to get into hot water on a weekly basis over ill-advised advertising or comments, have just about gotten over the whole rapeyness debacle of this new Lara Croft story and are now busy confusing the Internet with their multiplayer reveal. Nevertheless, this game is looking ace.
Gears of War: Judgment goes the prequel root and gives Baird his ti me Iin the spotlight. More Gears is never a bad thing.
Watch Dogs is supposedly releasing on current-gen consoles, but the graphics and ambition of this suggest it could be a game that straddles the old and new consoles. This is looking very impressive. Check out the video below:
Bioshock Infinite has been the subject of a few delays, but each trailer continues to excite. The world created here looks set to match Rapture and more besides.
Star Wars 1313 is surely a next-generation title. For those wanting a more adult game set in the Star Wars universe, this looks like the one you've been waiting for.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is looking to combine the new of Conviction with the old school moves snd gameplay of the older titles in the series. This is at the very top of my list of most anticipated, but the latest news is we're going to have to wait until August. Here's the latest trailer:
Crysis 3 is on the way, ready to razzle and dazzle us with the Cry Engine 3 graphics. Personally, I thought the second game fell a little flat, but we'll see how this turns out.
GRID 2 is finally coming, allegedly some time in the summer. The first game brilliantly combined a realistic driving mechanic with fun racing that had a real meaty impact. This should be great.
What? They're still making Army of Two games? They shouldn't have made the first one for crying out loud! Nevertheless, if rubbish games is your thing, watch out for Army Of Two: The Devil's Cartel.
Speaking of still making games - Call of Juarez is due its 4th game in 2013, believe it or not. I quite liked the first game, but never thought it would grow into a full blown franchise. Choosing to go back to the Old West after the ill-received The Cartel, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is due in Spring.
Aliens Colonial Marines seems like it has been in devlopment longer than Alan Wake, but it is almost upon us and if it captures the feel of Aliens as the trailers seem to suggest, this should be a brilliantly terrifying experience.
Also possibly/maybe coming in 2013/in our lifetimes:
Dark Souls 2
Dead Island: Riptide
Remember Me
Dragon Age 3: Inquisition
Dead Space 3 Metro: Last Light
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Lost Planet 3 The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
Rainbow Six: Patriots
Thief 4
With the exception of Splinter Cell, there are no games with a confirmed release date later than April, which suggests the new Xbox and PlayStation are on the verge of announcements with possible releases at the end of the year. Watch this space.
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