Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, DS - £9.43 delivered
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Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, DS - £9.43
Gears of War 2, Xbox 360 - £28.43
Gears of War 2, Xbox 360 - £28.43 delivered
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Thanks to John for the tip.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, PC - Review
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, PC - £15.89 delivered
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Review by Rook
Making your way through the driving rain, the remnants of the abandoned town of Limansk stretches out ahead. Somewhere over the other side is the reactor core, the heart of the zone. Shuttered windows, and nailed up doors leave only the streets which look oh so very open. With the warning of an ambush ahead fresh in mind I find myself pressing up against the few ruined cars that have long since been abandoned. A cursory sweep with binoculars doesn't give anything away, but a moment later lightning baths the fronts of the buildings and in a window, for a brief second, a black silhouette is outlined in cold white light. Raising the scope of the silenced rifle, the figure remains a shadow in a patch of gloom, but it's enough. Raising the sights just a little to factor in the bullet drop, the trigger is pulled and the inevitable happens: "This is XRay Engine crash reporting client. To help the development process, please Submit Bug or save report and email it manually".
And it's gone. All the atmosphere, all the tension is converted into petty annoyance. I should be enjoying this game, but it feels as though someone is having fun with a bizarre metagame. Instead of probing for anomalies, your hunting for crash bugs. Which scripted event will trigger it next? The game's story (very much a rehash of the first game) is quickly replaced by trips to the forums, the discovery of an [Unofficial Fix] thread a greater prize than any artefact. Minor bugs abound, the Directx10 graphics corrupt in the rain, the AI occasionally decides not to initialise on loading, the quick save feature doesn't work etc. But these are simply part and parcel of a game, the slight quirks are almost more annoying. It's not that the AI can throw grenades further than Olympians could dream, it's not that they do this with pinpoint accuracy, without being able to see . It's that they do all this without any possible knowledge of where you are.
Getting away from all that, Clear Sky manages to deliver on so much of what was promised with the original Stalker, it's a living breathing world. The fire fights remain amongst the best that any game offers, brutal and unrelenting. Standing out in the open is a sure fire way of needing to hit the reload key, but hunker down in cover and soon you'll be pinned down and surrounded. The faction wars add in friendly squads, and the storyline is often best left forgotten as you join in their patrols. Small skirmishes soon give way to fully fledged battles for territory. Grenades, tracers and screams fill the air, and then as quickly as it starts it dies out again, and the scavenging can begin. The scripted events can be more hit and miss, having played through 8/10ths of the game without limits, it feels odd to be pinned down by a single sniper that can't be killed despite repeated headshots. At other times it's pitch perfect. Making your way through the distorted swirls of radiation pockets and gravity anomalies you swear you can almost see something move ahead. It's not long before the nervous friendly AI notice the same thing and then open fire predator style. By the time you make it to your destination, the rest of the squad lie torn apart, dotted along the route.
As a game it manages to be both beautiful and ugly at the same time. Much like the real 'zone', it's a world you'd hate to visit, but could stare endlessly at pictures of long since forgotten play parks, the abandoned flats and houses slowly being reclaimed by nature, or just the ever changing (and rarely clear) sky. Catch a zone at the wrong time of day then a simple zombie duck hunt turns into another gaming session abandoned until daylight returns both in the real world and in the game world. The voice acting, whilst not brilliant is amiable enough, the minimalist sound track adding just enough to keep things going with the real stars being the guttural sounds, the footsteps, the creaking, or the moans that leave you feeling not quite as alone as you'd like to be.
In the end, I have the feeling that Clear Sky will depend more on the player than anything else. It's a game that won't tell you when you've made a mistake, but just leave you with that sinking feeling halfway through a zone when you realise you really should have bought the more expensive suit of armour, or that might be another, less dangerous way around. It often offers just enough of a hint of what you should be doing, but similarly leaves enough doubt that the less intrepid might miss the cues. Yes, artefacts are hard and dangerous to find, but you're a stalker, it's worth the risk. Yes, bad things happen in the zone, but you're a stalker, you're prepared for them. Yes, scraping together a living in the zone is tough, but you're a stalker, it's what you do.
In the end saying that Stalker epitomises everything in PC gaming is as much of a low blow as it is a compliment. As a game though, it very much takes the highs with the lows. On the one hand it offers something so unique and so hardcore that it'll never appear in this form on a console. On the other, you are paying to beta test a game that may never be finished. GSC Game World could have won a lot of praise by following the path of CD-Project and re-releasing the original game patched up to how they intended. In the end they cashed out with another unfinished product.
Rating – Pineapple (http://xkcd.com/388/)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, PC - £15.89 delivered
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PES 2009, PS3 - £28.43
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, PS3 - £28.43 delivered
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Sonic Chronicles - The Dark Brotherhood, DS - £17.03
Sonic Chronicles - The Dark Brotherhood, DS - £17.03 delivered
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Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Xbox 360 - £16.99
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Xbox 360 - £16.99 delivered
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, Xbox 360 - £23.99
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, Xbox 360 - £23.99 delivered
Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros' Treasure, Wii - £16.99
Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros' Treasure, Wii - £16.99 delivered
Yakuza, PS2 - £5
Yakuza, PS2 - £5 delivered
Perfect timing for anyone interested in the sequel, that's on the way.
SavyGamer Contests!
These were originally announced in the podcast for last week, but as it snarled itself up and I can't get it together in a timely fashion I'm going to post these here instead.
We have two competitions going this week. One of them is to win a bunch of stuff from Lewie's PAX swag bag! To win, simply fire off an email to him (lewiep -at- savygamer -dot- co -dot- uk) with the subject SWAG CONTEST justifying why you deserve it. Be creative and make us laugh! We'll judge these over the next week or so and announce the winner on Episode 5 of the podcast, available a week on Friday.
The second is for a SOCOM: Confrontation Beta code. The beta lasts until the 5th of October and if you haven't got in on it yet then this could be a rare chance for you. This one also requires a little bit of effort - SOCOM is being bundled with the official PS3 Bluetooth headset. I want you to describe something that happened to you in an online game, either positive or negative, revolving around the use of (or lack of) a headset. Bonus points are given for creativity. Send your entry to my email address (willeth -at- gmail -dot- com) with the subject SOCOM BETA CONTEST. As the beta only lasts until the 5th, I'll decide this one very soon, so get your entries in before Sunday at noon GMT. I'll email the winner their code by Sunday evening and they'll also get a shout-out on the show.
On Friday's episode of the podcast, Episode 4, we'll be giving away a Collector's Edition of the Penny Arcade game - On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 1. As well as the game (which runs on PC, Mac, and Linux) and a printed manual with the prequel comic within, it contains a keyring, a custom Startling Developments D20, and a Precipice T-shirt. Make sure you listen to Episode 4 on Friday to find out how to enter.
Sorry to anyone who was looking forward to our PAX impressions, but hopefully this week's show will make up for it. See you on Friday!
Halo 3 - Collector's Edition, Xbox 360 - £19.99
Halo 3 - Collector's Edition, Xbox 360 - £19.99 delivered
Sorry about the podcast....
I didn't intentionally mislead you guys. We did record a podcast this week...
..Except technical issues made it completely unlistenable, basically the two sides of the conversation don't match up at all.
So we aren't going to put it up, but we'll record a new one this Friday.
In the meantime, you can listen to the new series of One Life Left, which has just gone live.
If you've not listened to it before, it's really great. The OLL crew definitely don't take themselves to seriously, and it is a lot of fun to listen to. Highly recomended.
If you are a long time fan, or like what you hear just based on episode one of this series, I suggest you vote for them in the GMAs, the game media awards. Just send an email to gma@intentmedia.co.uk explaining that you wish to vote for One Life left in the category of “best broadcast”.
It's technically an industry insider only award, so if you can blag that you are somehow involved in the games industry/media that would help (just say your from a blog if you have one.)
So yeah, thanks for your patience, next 'cast will be up on Friday, technology willing.
Ensemble Studios closing...
I've been a big fan of their games over the years, so it cuts me deep to see Microsoft close Ensemble Studios. They were behind the fantastic Age of Empires and Age of Mythology games, and are currently working on the Xbox 360 exclusive Halo RTS "Halo Wars".
Shacknews reports:
Confirming a story broken by Shacknews, Microsoft now says that it will shut down Halo Wars developer Ensemble Studios following the end of work on the company's upcoming RTS.
Microsoft issued a full statement on the news, which follows:
"Microsoft has decided to close Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars. After the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new studio and has agreed to provide ongoing support for Halo Wars as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios.
The team at Ensemble has made invaluable contributions to the games industry with their Age of Empires and Age of Mythology games and with the highly anticipated release of Halo Wars. This decision does not reflect at all on Ensembles talent or the quality of Halo Wars. in fact, many people who have had a chance to test drive Halo Wars agree that it is on track to being a fantastic game.
This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible.
As to our overall strategy at MGS, it remains the same. We are committed to growing MGS with world-class talent both internally and with our external partners around the globe. We have recently added some well-known developers to our team and will continue growing the team. Were particularly excited about the titles we have in the pipeline and continue to evaluate additional opportunities to bring incredible games to life with the industries best. Our investment in games has never been greater than it is today."
RIP Ensemble, and good luck to everyone who is going to be loosing their jobs in finding new, and enriching jobs elsewhere.
Triggers, PS3 - £1.99
Triggers, PS3 - £1.99 delivered
Apply code "E10155087156447930" for £2 off.
You stick these onto the L and R 2 buttons, and they make them into triggers, like the box 360 pad.
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