Gaming Signal: July 2007 Archives

Tuesday July 31, 2007

REVIEW: Overlord (PC)

MY RATING:

Scott gave us a preview recently, and since then I have managed to finish the game. While the plot is somewhat cliche, it is really a fantastic take on the strategy game genre. Many players compare this game to Pikman but with a much more adult theme. There is some questionable language and some innuendo which is not appropriate for the younger set. It has an ESRB rating of T and I really suggest parents follow those guidelines.

With the introductions out of the way, the premise is pretty simple. You are an Overlord and your wonderful tower of evil has been mangled by some goody-goody heroes. Worse yet - they have made off with some of your stuff. This is something that any evil overlord will not stand for. Therefore, you grab your axe and menacing armor and head off to take care of these heroes but you do not go into battle alone. Nope, you have your hordes of faithful minions to assist you. These loveable little creatures will fight for you, sacrifice themselves to heal and refill your mana stores, and can be used to imbue your weapons and armor. It is so hard to not become attached to the little buggers as they grab weapons (which include severed zombie arms) and armor (which start out as pumpkins and dead rats). These goblins and their personality is such a big part of this title. As the game progresses, they collect much more capable weapons and armor and their power is communicated back to you as the controller as a percentage and in their appearance. Unarmored and weaponless minions look small and naked but do okay in groups. Fully loaded minions look menacing as they stand there bristling with weapons and armor and really make short work of just about any normal opponent. As their power increases, the percentage number on the user interface will grow. There is something to be said about having a horde of 40 minions with an effective damage power of 300% - especially when you descend upon a group of drunken dwarves!!!

This interactivity with the world is fantastic and I know I spent a fair amount of time sending my goblins of doom off to crush crates (a staple of every game) and jugs to obtain both gear and money and potions. The fact that these items would repopulate the world when you change levels is somewhat strange, but even the game explains that the people and creatures are quite prolific and will multiply again quickly. This fact becomes very important as your minions get crushed, clubbed, eaten, and maimed during your endeavors to reclaim your throne of evil.

In the world of Overlord, minions are only available with two factors in place: the availability of the hives (which are collected through the game) and collection of life essence. This second component is why having areas that repopulate becomes so important. There is some amount of time that must be spent replenishing your minion resources since there are puzzles that require certain minion types. This may at first be seen as a negative, but it is also during this replenishment that the minions will re-equip and perform some of their fantastic little activities.

The puzzles in the game are not overly complex, but at times demonstrate one of the difficulties in the title. Basically the control scheme is designed for the Xbox360, and is somewhat sub-par when converted to the mouse and keyboard of the PC. The problem is basically the sweep move requires the clicking of both the right and left mouse buttons and that is not something many gamers are used to doing. This task combined with some confusion regarding the command point feature which is intended to lock your minions in a single location and you get some strange control behaviors. I still could not get some of the behaviors I wanted to work (blues resurrecting while the browns and greens engage in melee), but it was a minor gripe for me.

Another downside is that the game is relatively short. I know that I got about 20 hours of play out of the title, but when I look at the world I realize that it is pretty small in reality. I guess I was just enjoying watching my minions go forth and crush things that I wanted it to be a larger world. This is not to say that there is not a lot to see and experience. The positive news is that the game ends as many do - with the possibility of a sequel.

The final gripe (which has been stated elsewhere) is that evil in Overlord is not all that evil. Furthermore, it could almost be said that you are more good than the heroes you are off crushing. Don't get me wrong, you can go off and kill towns folk and perform evil deeds, but there seems to be somewhat of an undercurrent that not doing this would be better for you as an overlord. This complaint much like the game duration one above is minor. I appreciate the fact that plot required this type of activity, and it really does not detract from the implementation of the game. The hope is that a sequel (if it does happen) will really give some opportunities to be more evil, but time will tell.

In the final analysis, these few downsides can do little to detract from what is a fantastic gaming experience. There is something to be said about having a horde of little goblins working at your beck and call, and I sometimes wish I had that level of control in the real world. Those PC gamers who wish to see a unique take on the strategy theme should go out and try this game, and if you have an Xbox360 - then this game should pretty much an auto-buy once it drops in price (sorry I just cannot condone a $60 price tag for a game that is much less expensive on the PC). I do suggest investing in a different controller though since some of the control elements can get frustrating, but it is not something that prevents gamers from completing the experience.

Thursday July 19, 2007

The Fifth Element and Gaming

So over at SFSignal, we have a link to a great read from Double Viking entitled "Real Men Love The Fifth Element", and for me that is a true statement. One of the things brought up in the in the article was a discussion about the ZF-1. In case you have forgotten, I have a image of the gun linked (from the lovely folks over at Studio Creations) and snagged the quote from Double Viking who pulled the lines from the movie:

It's light. Handle's adjustable for easy carrying, good for righties and lefties. Breaks down into four parts, undetectable by x-ray, ideal for quick, discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger, three thousand round clip with bursts of three to three hundred, and with the Replay button - another Zorg invention - it's even easier. One shot, and Replay sends every following shot to the same location. And to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies-but-goldies: rocket launcher, arrow launcher with explosive or poisonous gas heads (very practical), Zorg's famous net launcher, the always efficient flamethrower (Zorg's favorite), and for the grand finale, the all-new ice cube system.

Boy, that description alone just screams out for a similar gun in a first person shooter. In most games, the player must either carry an arsenal around with them or choose between one or two main weapons and a pistol for a sidearm. Pariah claimed to have upgradeable weapons, but something like this would be different. I guess I envisioned a gun that started out with a single function (like the ice cube maker!!!) Then as the player migrates through the worlds/encounters, they are able to find additional modifications that bring the ZF-1 one step closer to perfection. Designers could get really creative regarding the outfitting the weapon in having it be another character for the player to be involved in. Also, they could work in elements where the gun would need to be broken down and reassembled - think mini-games. So for all you game developers out there building the next generation of FPS games, how about some creativity regarding the weapons. I love the experience of chewing up bad guys with a chainsaw, but these "future weapons" seem like minor modifications to existing arms...

Tuesday July 17, 2007

PS3, Wii and Xbox 360's - Oh my!!!

So we have had a fair number of comments on our little console price drop post (thanks guys and remember we do enjoy comments from our readers), and with E3 ending we have seen the truth behind that lovely press release. To summarize, basically Sony will sell the 60GB model at $499 until they run out, but it will also be introducing an 80GB model that includes MotorStorm at the price of 600 bucks. When the supply runs out, the 80GB model will be the only PS3 console available for consumers - gee thanks, and I am sure that will generate additional sales in the short term. But longer term it will do very little for them and generate very little good will with the gaming community. There is some speculation that the price point will stick but that is probably just wishful thinking on behalf of one analyst. Combine all this with the fact that newer PS3s will be even less backward compatible than the ones shipping today. What?? Sony's strength has always been its depth of its library and the fact that upgrading consoles was pretty much done without fear of losing access to my current game investment. Now they have followed the Microsoft path through the use of emulation software and lists of supported titles. Sorry but that is just bad form and a big black mark in my opinion.

Now to our friends over at Microsoft who had a good showing at E3. Yet things are a little dark with the hardware woes they are still somewhat suffering from (although that maybe alleviated with the new processes and hardware components they are working to put in place later this year), and now the loss of Peter Moore. They are seeing somewhat flat sales numbers in the console market when compared to the sales of this time last year. Now this is partially due to the fact they were first out of the gate and the fact that Halo 3 has not shipped yet. And while these can be seen as somewhat negative points, they really have shined with the XBox Live Marketplace and the offerings that are out there. I don't just mean the arcade titles and the demos, but also the fact they are now offering users the ability to rent Disney movies in HD - something that Apple does not currently offer. This combined with a pretty strong lineup of titles where multi-player matchmaking and gaming just works (for most of us - sorry Kev), and for me the fact that patches are automatic and near seamless reinforces why the 360 really a pretty good gamers platform. The control schemes for FPS (first person shooters) and RTS (real time strategy) games leave something to be desired, but the hope is that Microsoft will eventually enable keyboard and mouse options - well that is my hope. Microsoft also continues to prove that while they have stopped making the original XBOX - it has not been forgotten. They just recently updated the backward compatibility list for the summer and added a lot of titles. Overall, this console really is really making the move to be the media extender and entertainment powerhouse that Microsoft originally envisioned. Time will tell if this is true, but for now things look pretty good for them.

Finally that brings us to the Wii, or what shall be known as the "darling console" of the year. It has probably exceeded all sales numbers and has been embraced by almost every class of gamer in one way or another. Mind you there are some folks (Dean) who will not be happy until EA brings out a NCAA football game and some company comes out with a decent war game/shooter. Mind you that the Wii will be receiving a new RPG from Square Enix in the form of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers or perhaps a new Metroid game. Now I honestly think that the Wii is currently suffering from a lack of really top notch titles, but others may disagree (and probably will). They are in the position Microsoft was last year after the release of the 360 and before the influx of titles like Gears of War and Crackdown. Given that these bad boys will be in high demand through Christmas though, and the fact that they are not losing money on each sale bodes well longer term for Nintendo. I hope they can take the number one console position and get the likes of Sony and Microsoft to realize that the charm of the system is not only in the new features, but also in supporting all that came before it. Nintendo learned the hard way that backwards compatibility is something they cannot forget...

So what was the point here? I am not completely sure beyond babbling about the state of things from my perspective. For me, I have pretty much entrenched myself in the Nintendo/Microsoft arena with my choices of the Wii and the 360 for my gaming needs. The PC still gets work for MMOs and general websurfing, but I find myself play other games on those consoles and my aging PS2 - which has the largest library of any system out there. And as a last jab before I end this diatribe, I wanted to say that while I appreciate advances in technology - I am not so happy when said advances render some or all of my current software useless.

Preview: Overlord

I've been playing the PC version of Overlord and thought I'd share my impressions. The game sets you up as an evil overlord who can summon a set of minions to do your bidding. You use them to do most of the dirty work - ransacking things, killing do-gooders like halflings and elves, and carrying heavy items for you. You can wade in and help out in the battles if you want - but most of the action is designed to be done by them. The premise is that you were killed by seven heroes and now your back and have to extract vengeance upon them. You also have to rebuild your dark tower by acquiring things like a forge, power sources, etc. You also have to regain control of the different types of minions and the lost artifacts. If it sounds like Dungeon Keeper then think again - it's nothing like that.

It's a great premise, and you can choose to be Lawful Evil (for example, helping the humans because they will end up helping you later) or Chaotic Evil (killing everything in site.) It's also a fun game, with the different minion types (there are 4 - a heavy combat minion, a fire minion, poison minion, and a water minion) and limited overall number at any one time giving you some rock-paper-scissors puzzles. The minion graphics are fantastic - they pickup random objects while fighting and use them instead of the default club. It's so cool to see a minion kill an undead rat and take the head for a helm, or another kill a skeleton and pickup it's severed arm and use that. After a boss fight, my minion took the boss' gold crown and wore that for a while (until the minion was killed, sadly.) And the textures are nothing short of spectacular - easily some of the best dungeon settings I've ever seen even. The audio is good too with the minions whooping and yelling during combat and when looting. It's cool.

The game is not quite like anything I've seen. It has elements of an RTS (no doubt many people think it is one) but it isn't really, because you can have a maximum of only 50 minions out at once (and that only at the end of the game if you do every side quest and grind out some forged items) so it plays a lot smaller and more personal than most RTS (like C&C3). It has platformer style puzzles - a major surprise because I didn't expect it. It also has boss fights which so far have been interesting if not super.

One of the oddest parts is the control scheme on the PC. It wasn't until I saw it was available for the 360 that I realized why the system was so unique. You have to hold down the left and right mouse buttons and move the mouse to 'sweep' your minions around the battlefield. It's a concession I bet comes from using the triggers or something on the 360 controllers while using a joystick to move them. It works, but it's very unique - and frankly not necessary with a PC mouse. I could easily just click on the ground and control a minion that way - but that would make the game way too easy because the control system is built into the game difficulty for some of the puzzles - sad really, but not necessarily less fun.

If you are interested in a game that isn't a cookie-cutter sequel of everything you've seen before, Overlord is a good choice. And if you have a 360, I think you'd find it a very experience that's tailored to that platform.

Tuesday July 10, 2007

Tabula Rasa Video

NCSoft released a new trailer for its sci-fi oriented MMORPG Tabula Rasa today as part of E3. All I can say is I think it looks very cool. I like the Stargate-like art style and what seems to be a little bit more FPS-oriented approach. I'm not sure I want an entirely twitch-based MMORPG, but adding a little more looks good. There seems to be a character that is kind of casting spells though - might that be a commander-type class calling things down via a tactical map?

Nice News Stealing G-News

Monkey Shoot You!
(Image courtesy of MadMonkeyShop)

It seems that the 'fine' people over at G-News have nothing better to do than to repost the news we post here at Gaming Signal. Seriously. Look at the posts there, then look here.

Obviously, they have an a widget that scrapes our RSS feed then posts it to their 'blog'. I wouldn't be too upset about it, but they don't tell anyone this is what they are doing, and they have a copyright notice at the bottom of the page implying they are the ones posting the articles.

Not so! If you're reading this from G-News, they just scraped it from our RSS feed. I'd have a nice pic for you all to look at, but I'm at work right now and can't get to the good stuff.

So, if you want to steal our stuff, fine, but give us the attribution. Otherwise, write your own articles.

Monday July 09, 2007

Gaming News Tidbits for July 9, 2007

With E3 starting this week, the blogosphere will be alive with all sorts of news. My personal choice for E3 coverage is over at Shacknews or Gamasutra, but there are plenty of other blogs out there (including us, GamingSignal since we are your favorite). Also I just received an email from my Gamespot email list indicating that they will be covering the news conferences from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo live this week.

Sierra Online will be announcing several new XBox Live Arcade titles this coming week and Team Xbox has extended details on each of the titles. The first title is called Switchball and involves the control of a ball that can change its capabilities in order to solve the obstacles presented on each of the tracks. Commanders: Attack! is a tactical game with Battlion Wars sort of visuals. The final title truly demonstrates the strength of XBLA in that it is a flight combat game inspired by Battlestar Galactica.

Over at Game Informer, they are doing a series of articles leading up to the big E3 event. The one that caught my eye last week was an interview with Day 1 Studios who had produced the MechAssault titles for Microsoft Game Studios and F.E.A.R for Sierra Online. The interview was a discussion of their upcoming first person shooter title called Fracture. They are partnering up with LucasArts for this title and it is a great discussion about Day 1's previous work and the upcoming title.

I love buying used titles since they not only save me some cash, but they also help drive a whole secondary market for video games. Well with that in mind, the Used Video Game Pricing Blog (talk about appropriate naming) has an article that traces the decline in game prices over its first eight months. The number they quote is 60% but go read about their research for yourself. I found this from our friends over at Joystiq.

In what can only be described as a complete shock, Wizards of the Coast has patented the constructable strategy game. Now many folks who are familiar with these types of titles know that Wizkids has been making this type of game for years, and therefore it should come as no surprise that WOTC has filed a suit against Wizkids regarding this patent. Stay tuned over at Gaming Report as they track this news item...

Continuing our collectable game news, Sabertooth Games have announced the next pack in their Universal Fighting System. The Street Fighter Battle Pack will hit the streets on July 27 and joins the other game properties already available from Sabertooth. These include classic arcade based fighting games like The King of the Fighters, Soul Calibur 3, Samurai Showdown and Darkstalkers. This news is courtesy of the folks over at Gaming Report.

Is The 360 About To Take Off?

The Motley Fool has an interesting article covering the 360 and Microsoft's Live service. In it, they argue that Live is a cash cow in the making, and that Microsoft's decision to write-off $1 billion for extended warranties is a good thing. And all because the Live service allows MS to sell high margin software, also known as TV shows and movies.

Indeed, if you look at Live Marketplace now, as opposed to a year ago, it's amazing at how many new media related items there are. Now, that website really sucks as far as information goes. Going into LM via the 360 shows you the wide array of TV shows and Films for rent. Many of them have both standard def and high def versions available.

Which brings me to Tim's favorite whipping boy, the 100 MB upgrade drive for the 360. If you want to download the HD features, especially if you want to have a couple of them available, you simply must have a larger drive. So not only will MS charge you the rental fee, you also have to bend over for a new drive, which equals more money for MS.

I haven't personally rented any movies from XLM yet, mostly because I don't have the drive space. But if this service, which appears to be doing well, means MS is making money so they can continue to offer a wide array of programming, I'm all for it. I even think this version of VOD compares favorably to cable offerings, but I'd have to actually try one out to see how you control it. There will definitely be more on this later.

Has anyone rented a movie from the Marketplace? What was your experience? (Looks mostly at Trent)

Saturday July 07, 2007

Console Price Drops?

In the off chance you have been hiding under a rock or perhaps in a location without internet access, the Playstation 3 is going to recieve its first price drop sometime in the middle of July (Circuit City has an ad showing the price at $499 scheduled for July 15.) The rumor is that the details of this price drop will be revealed during E3 this coming week, and the folks over at GameDailyBiz have spoken to several retailers and it is looking like this will be a permanent sort of pricing change. Sony is still stating that currently there are no plans to cut the console's price. I think most gamers out there believe that this is the right move and while there are some who think that the PS3 is still overpriced and if they would just drop Blu-Ray then things would improve. My personal feeling is that Sony has to do something to increase the market penetration on this console and a price drop is a fine thing to start that ball rolling. Ideally this combined with a must have game, and you will see sales numbers increasing. Now the big question is "Will Microsoft adjust the Xbox 360 price as well?" Keep in mind that Microsoft is about to take it in the shorts for the quality issues that continue to plague them and while the extended warranties are nice for the consumers who own consoles - they do make it hard to drop the price on the ones in the channel.

Update: The cat is out of the bag and Sony has a press release that documents the new pricing on the PS3 and the addition of an 80gig PS3 priced at $500. Now I will save my whole discussion about crappy pricing policies by the console vendors when it comes to mass storage since I know anybody can go out and find a quality drive of much higher capacity for the money these vendors are asking. - Well I guess I won't save it after all..

Back in black?

Well after 10 years, the folks over at Wizards of the Coast will be printing the next edition of Magic the Gathering using black bordered cards versus the white border that was implemented after the Beta release of the game. This release occurs on July 14 with events galore scheduled throughout the world. I know that many of us at GamingSignal were long time MTG players from the beginnings and while many of us have stopped playing (yet still have a large number of cards), I think it is still something to celebrate considering how successful this game has really been. I think I might go with my son to the event just for grins and to possibly pick up some cards (must show resistance)..

Tidbits for 07/07/07

It's your luck day! Free gaming stuff for you.

Free digital comics for your PSP, as detailed by Pocket Gamer.
What Makes You Tick is a free adventure short story, molded after the classic adventure games like Monkey Island.
You like mechs, I like mechs, we all like mechs, especially when they are fighting each other. War World is a mech fighting game, currently on the PC and destined for the Xbox Live Arcade. Enjoy the PC demo.
Perhaps mechs are too fast paced for you. Not to worry, the Koreans have a golf game for you, conveniently localized in English. Its called Albatross 18. Yeah, definitely looks Korean. Did I mention its free to play? Cause it is. Although, you can spend money to customize your character.

Dungeon Siege, In Spaaaace!

Sega of America announced yesterday that they are working on a science fiction action RPG, to be called Space Siege. As the hero, you will be tasked with saving humanity as the last few remnants of Earth's population take to the stars in a colonization ship. As you progress through the story, you'll have the chance to augment yourself with a variety of cybernetic devices. Sool.

It's unclear if the whole game takes place on board the ship, becoming a Space Hulk type slog, or if you will be able to visit other worlds and have your adventures dirt-side. The official site isn't live yet and the only info is what's in the press release.

The original Dungeon Siege is known more for it's hack-and-slash gameplay than for any deep, invlovling story or role-playing characteristics. I wouldn't imagine Space Siege being much different. I'll still keep an eye out for it (Q1 2008), because it's always fun to blast things as a cyborg with laser cannon in your arms.

Wednesday July 04, 2007

Sony's Spy Game Gamble

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is currently developing a new MMORPG based not on a story with elves, or in space, or in a traditional fantasy world of any kind. Instead, they are shooting for a game based on the world of espionage with The Agency. Finally - something new!

There aren't a lot of details out yet, but what I have heard so far has me excited that we might be seeing something different and yet appealing to a wide array of gamers. At the end of the day, the game Auto Assault was different but failed because it didn't end up attracting enough players. I keep hoping some non-fantasy-based MMO will give us an option.

Sony indicated they were looking to build on the FPS combat abilities in Planetside but without the huge battlefields. The focus will be on small, Counter-Strike style engagements instead. In an interview with Gamasutra, SOE president John Smedley said it was "24 meets Counter-Strike meets Alias meets James Bond". While I'm sure there will be traditional rewards in terms of weapons and other gear, there will be some new types as well. One type discussed was a minion (called an operative)! Think of completing a quest and getting your very own Q to hang back in your base and build cool things for you (the blueprints you also get as loot). Then he will craft for you while you aren't online - and even send you a real-life email or text messages to let you know when they are done. Another operative might be an assistant to help during missions or do research and reconnaissance for you between missions.

Another innovation - the game will employ a 'you are what you wear' class system. You can put on gear that tilts you toward being stealthy, or a heavy combat unit, or a support class, or a sniper. As long as you have an outfit, you'll be able to wear it and be that class. I'm not sure how the traditional tank/healer/dmg dealer roles will play out, but I love the idea of being able to adapt your roll easily to the makeup of your team and the roll you want to play. Another unique aspect is an idea for setting up and participating in cinematic sequences - if you do it right, you'll not only be rewarded with an in-game special sequence but also garner some benefit such as taking out a lot of bad guys or acquiring a special item.

Sony will also be experimenting with alternative business models. It may be free to play with a charge for extra features (like VOIP or clan web sites) or it might have a traditional subscription model. It will be playable on both the PC and the PS3, but probably won't allow both platforms in the same world. We'll have to see how it works out, but for now it looks highly interesting to me.

Monday July 02, 2007

Auto Assault Discontinued?

According to Shacknews, Auto Assault will no longer be supported by NetDevil and NCSoft after August 31, 2007. Very little other news is available at this point and according to Shacknews, they were able to download and sign up a 14 day demo account. This all comes on the heel of the announcement that NetDevil was resurrecting their science fiction based MMO, Jumpgate. While this is somewhat sad news for those subscribers to the game, it is not a surprising move considering that Auto Assault was not that popular for many my friends and our experience in the beta was not the most positive thing. I feel for those players who did enjoy the game since it will be going the way that Asheron's Call 2 did, and that is never a good thing...

As a final note here, Auto Assault's tag line states: "The end of the road as you know it." Hmmm prophetic?

Review: Sam & Max

Rating:
I recently sat down and played through the first episode of the newly revitalized Sam & Max series. I wanted to try it out for several reasons. First, I haven't played an adventure game that was worth my time since the Monkey Island series and have been interested in trying that type of game out again. Second, the series has gotten a lot of positive press, largely because of its episodic nature but also because of the quality of the work. And finally, I wanted to see what you got for your money.

I purchased my copy of the game from Vavle's Steam system largely because I already had Steam installed. You can also play the game off of the Gametap service if you are a subscriber. After agreeing to pay $8.95, you get the game downloaded to you - it took about 2 minutes to get it delivered and installed silently. I know people have complained about Steam, but so far I've had nothing but good experiences with it and this was no exception. I can't find any fault with the ease of deployment Steam provides.

The game has cartoon-like graphics that looked pretty good in 1600x1200, the maximum resolution the game supports. The background music was decent, and the supporting effects audio was spot-on. I think the team did a good job mimicking the Looney Tunes-style and the audio helps out with that.

The voice acting and dialog is what sets this game apart. Sure, there is the adventure game mechanic of clicking on items and figuring out the puzzles, but it is the dialog that goes along with all of that which makes the game. In this case the game is outstanding. The sarcastic and witty banter between Sam, Max and the rest of the characters is fantastic. For example:

Sam: "Take that, you lawbreaking dairy products!"
Max: "Sam, no! The cheese was innocent!"
Sam: "Innocent? I think not."

The deadpan film-noir style detective Sam goes great with the crazy 'over the top' comebacks from Max.

All told, I finished the game in about 4 hours. The puzzles aren't hard and don't take much to solve except the willingness to try some crazy things with the various inventory items you have. Nothing is as bizarre as the combinations found in LeChuck's Revenge luckily. But frankly being challenged is not why you play this game - you play it to enjoy the crazy story and funny dialog. And on that score Sam & Max: Culture Shock is a 4 out of 5. The only negative is that it is a bit short even for the low cost.