Tag Archive: video games


EGM Developer Chat: Batman: Arkham Origins Senior Producer, Ben Mattes

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September 5, 2013

The DC Comics booth was abuzz as always at this year’s San Diego ComicCon, as demos of Batman: Arkham Origins and other DC-inspired videogames were available for the first time to the public. While everyone else was playing, I had a chance to catch a quick tutorial from Jim Lee on how to draw Aquaman, and found out how much he hates drawing scaled armor. But then I headed back to the movie costume displays and met briefly with Warner Bros. Montreal senior producer Ben Mattes to talk about some of the work going on with Batman: Arkham Origins.

EGM: What made you want to include a small-time villain like Copperhead in Batman: Arkham Origins, and what inspired the character’s drastic redesign?

Ben Mattes: I tell this story differently than Eric [Holmes, Arkham Origins’ Creative Director], but I remember the meeting where we decided to go for it. We had a big bulletin board up with a lot of different assassins on it. First and foremost, we had the assassin angle. So we were looking at KGBeast, we were looking at Firefly, we were looking at Lady Shiva, we were looking at Copperhead. All these different characters. Anyone who might’ve, sort of had the word assassin in their history. And then we were looking for elements that would match different components of gameplay. So we were saying “this one would make a good challenge for freeflow combat” and “this one would be a good option because it could challenge your navigation” or whatever the case may be.

So as we were looking at the board, we realized we didn’t have a ton of women on our roster and that was frustrating and disappointing for a variety of reasons. And Ames Kirshen, who is the vice president of production for all DC properties at Warner Bros. Interactive, kind of likes the idea of the Copperhead character, and likes the idea of this acrobatic, contortionist character. And there was this merging, this alignment of the stars, where we said we have an idea of what the gameplay could be with this character. We’ve got an interesting angle in terms of this being an assassin, but we’re looking for more females, let’s pitch the idea of a refresh, a rebranding, of the Copperhead character and make it a visually appealing female character.

At first Ames and DC were a little hesitant. They weren’t against it, but they needed some convincing. And so working with our character concept team, we put together a few compelling character pieces that showed how visually appealing this character could be with her claws and her tattoos and her costume. And while doing this, we’re describing the image we have of her being a dangerously seductive contortionist, and that was a cool image that everyone could see in their heads. Imagine her wrapping herself around Batman and using her claws to attack and poison him. It was a pleasing image we all thought would be cool.

Once that happened, we got [DC Comics’ chief creative officer] Geoff Johns on board, and then the rest was just implementation. And as we revealed at the San Diego ComicCon panel, the motion capture of her was probably the point where everyone looked back and said, “See, I knew it would work!” We all thought it would be cool, but then we got these three really talented actresses and we hodgepodged together their MoCap, glued it all together to create the Copperhead experience in the cinematics we’ve shown, and that’s really when it clicked.

And then to have Geoff Johns talk about it at the panel and give credibility to the character by saying she’s going to become canon, she’s going to become a character you’re going to see in the New 52, is really validating, and shows the working relationship between us and DC—which has been great—but it also shows the importance of videogames as a medium in the overall DC space. The Arkham games sell. They get millions of eyes on them. And so they’re becoming increasingly powerful and important just as a platform to influence the canon of this character, which is very rewarding and exciting for us.

EGM: You mentioned the New 52 and how the Arkham games are now influencing that. The New 52 is very young, and the Arkhamverse is in its infancy as well. Because of its freshness, are you guys tempted to reach for Batman’s newer history, as it might have a more viable audience, or do you like staying rooted in Batman’s lengthy pre-New 52 history? 

BM: Generally speaking, everything is on the table. We are more influenced by the older comics for sure in regards to references and inspiration and try to steer clear mostly just of the movies, TV Shows, and other media. What’s more important than if our inspiration is from old or new comic material, is if it makes sense to the Arkhamverse, because it is young and it is its own unique branch of the DC timeline.

Hypothetically, let’s stick The Court of Owls into the Arkhamverse. We go back then and ask if that makes sense, especially since Origins is Year Two and very clearly Court of Owls isn’t Year Two, so there are some things where the chronology of our story dictates who we can and can’t have in it. But in regards to what books or authors or anything—it’s all available. We just have to make sure it stays consistent. And that’s not necessarily a DC mandate. I mean, they appreciate that we hold ourselves to that even before we put options in front of them, but we want to make sure that we are building a cohesive, coherent universe first and foremost. Because first of all, we’re huge fans and that’s the world we want to play in, and we don’t want to create an experience where the fourth wall is broken for those extra hardcore fans who find inconsistencies and lose that sense of immersion because there’s something about our narrative that breaks and fractures their sense of understanding in the universe.

EGM: How hard is it to keep that consistency with a prequel, though? You have a lot of new villains and gadgets that weren’t around in the first two games.

BM: You know, it’s really not that hard if you put gameplay first. We’re not ashamed of it. We’re proud of it. We didn’t sit there thinking that we needed to create an awesome gadget, but it needs to be technologically inferior to Arkham Asylum and so we need to limit him. That’s not how you make an exciting game. We wanted to make a game that felt like an upgrade over the previous two games in as far as Batman’s capabilities, even though this is chronologically taking place before Arkham Asylum. As a player, do you accept that the chronology means Batman should miss some punches, the Batclaw cable should snap once in a while, and the Batarangs shouldn’t fly as far? It would be frustrating instead of an empowering experience.

Luckily, though, there is a very well-established component of the canon that makes it all moot. Batman never leaves the Batcave with everything. It’s part of the character. He has different outfits, different gear, different vehicles, different versions of weapons, different versions of gadgets, different suits, and it’s always been accepted that based on the different challenges he may face, Batman will use some subset of his arsenal to use in that encounter, and so we’re just staying consistent, really, with that part of the canon. In Arkham Origins, Batman finds a need for the remote claw, and so narratively we can still be consistent. It’s just part of who he is.

EGM: Well, as long as he never brings out the Bat-Shark Repellant again, I think we’ll all be okay with that. So, you have a new Joker voiced by Troy Baker and a new Batman voiced Roger Craig Smith. Besides the fact these are younger versions of the characters, what made you want to change the actors and what went into choosing the new actors?

BM: Really, younger is it. That was the main reason behind the decision to change voice actors.  It’s not that we don’t love Mark [Hamill]. It was simply the fact that we needed a voice actor who could sound like he was the Joker, but seven years younger from where Mark typically played him.

And everyone acknowledged that need. We are an early career story. We needed our voice actors to be younger men who have younger sounding voices, but who can still very much play the characters the way that Mark and Kevin would’ve played them. We didn’t want Troy to re-invent the wheel and come up with an all-new Joker. We wanted him to the deliver us the Joker who becomes the character played by Mark Hamill in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.

So what went into the casting was listening and auditioning tons and tons of some of the best male voice actors in videogames for that angle. And trying to make sure we found partners who understood and embraced that, and saw that as a huge opportunity rather than a restriction or a confinement or some sort of limiting factor. And both Troy and Roger immediately keyed into that in their auditions. You could actively hear them trying to do their versions of the vocal mannerisms of Mark. And it became quite evident to us early on in the process that these were our actors—not just because they could deliver the voices, but because they embraced the challenge so wholeheartedly and are so respectful of the giants whose shoulders they were asked to stand upon, which is exactly what we were looking for.

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New Pokémon Gameplay Trailer Reveals Several New Species, New Villains

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July 23, 2013

A new trailer for Pokémon X & Y highlights several new species of Pokémon, shows cover Pokémon Xerneas and Yveltal in action, and introduces key characters we’ll meet on our journey through the Kelos region.

Two Pokémon in particular caught my eye: the new Dark- and Fighting-type Pokémon, Pangoro—who looks like an angry panda—and the new Fairy-type Pokémon, Swirlix, which looks like cotton candy. In the trailer (embedded below), Swirlix can be seen using a move called Draining Kiss, a new move that’s basically the Fairy equivalent of Absorb for Grass types.

Meanwhile, Xerneas, officially revealed as a Fairy-type, uses a new move exclusive to its arsenal: Geomancy, which generates rainbow-colored light from the ground to damage enemies.

Not to be outdone, Yveltal uses its own exclusive move, Oblivion Wing, which sees the Dark- and Flying-type Pokémon take to the sky to blast a heat ray at its opponents. Kinda reminds me of Superman.

Some of the key human characters players will meet were also revealed, including Professor Augustine Sycamore—the man who will likely give us our first Pokémon—and Team Flare, the red-obsessed bad guys who surely wish to steal Pokémon for their own nefarious schemes.

Players will have the chance to come face to face with these new characters when Pokémon X & Y becomes available worldwide on October 12, 2013, for the Nintendo 3DS.

Check the full trailer out for yourselves:

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EGM Review: The Walking Dead: 400 Days

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Telltale’s take on 5 Lives

With fans of Telltale’s runaway hit based on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead chomping at the bit to get their hands on the next season like a group of walkers with raw meat, 400 Days comes at just the right time—an appetizer of sorts for what the future may hold for the series. Functionally, 400 Days serves as a bridge between Season One and Two that looks to establish new characters we may meet, as well as a whole new series of choices that will continue to effect us and play out through the next season.

Now, with something so story-driven, I can’t get into many details without spoiling things. What I can tell you is that 400 Days centers around an abandoned pit stop diner/gas station where five different groups of people are put to the test throughout the first year of the outbreak. Some stand alone, while others unknowingly affect each other—and whatever decisions you make will have an effect on Season Two (when we’ll hopefully get to see Clementine again).

Yes, I can tell you that Clementine doesn’t make an appearance in this DLC. This may break a few hearts—we all want to get an inkling into the girl’s fate—but it gives a flurry of new and interesting characters who we might be able to look forward to Clementine meeting. This could give diehards of the series unprecedented insight into the people around them, not just the main character.

400 Days’ main purpose is to act as setup for Season Two more than anything, and may stand relatively far away from the first season. But it also makes plenty of subtle references to Season One that will have gamers who beat Lee and Clementine’s odyssey grinning ear to ear.

If you didn’t beat the first season, well, first: What are you waiting for?! Second, if five 20-30 minute bite-sized adventures are more your speed right now than a 2-3 hours chapter, you can still go ahead with 400 Days and not worry about spoilers. My only complaint with this DLC was that it was DLC and not a standalone episode since it makes for a perfect jumping in point for newcomers to the series. Instead, the game is only available to players who already have a Season One episode on their hard drives. Of course, this could be an ingenious way to try to hook players by making them buy both Season One and 400 Days.

In regards to the gameplay, it’s much of the same. It’s still primarily a point-and-click adventure, with occasional opportunities to walk around and chitchat with characters before making another impossible decision. The animations felt a lot smoother this time around, however, as compared to some of Season One’s episodes.

400 Days puts players in the same kind of gut-wrenching situations we expect from the franchise. I constantly had to deal with life and death choices, but the short nature of the chapters makes the decision feel like a morbid lightning round. This served as an interesting changeup to how the first season went about telling its story, while finding ways for players to invest in a whole new group of characters in a fast and fun way. All in all, this makes 400 Days possibly the most enjoyable chapter in the series yet—and a must play before The Walking Dead: Season Two starts later this year.

Developer: Telltale Games • Publisher: Telltale Games • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 07.02.13
9.5
The perfect bridge between Season One and Two of The Walking Dead, 400 Days expertly sets up new characters in fun, interesting bite-sized chunks that will do nothing but get fans more hyped for Season Two.
The Good Makes some subtle, but enjoyable nods to Season One, while expertly building a narrative bridge to Season Two.
The Bad The stories hold up enough that the DLC could’ve been a standalone release.
The Ugly We still don’t know what happened to Clementine.
The Walking Dead: 400 Days is available on Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, PC, and iOS. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.
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EGM Review: NCAA Football 14

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Keep choppin’

Growing up in New Jersey, collegiate athletics always took a backseat to the professionals. That’s probably because we have a lot more pro teams in the area than legitimate college teams—and because the pros win a lot more championships. So, when it comes to college football, there’s only ever been one choice when it comes to pledging your allegiance: the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

It was an easy choice, then, when it came time for me to decide who’d play the starring role in my NCAA Football 14 Dynasty. I’d continue the work that current Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano started in Piscataway a decade ago, trying to further drag the name of Rutgers athletics out of the Division I muck.

Unfortunately, playing NCAA Football 14 is kind of like rooting for Rutgers: You do it because it’s the only option available. While a few tweaks here and there do add to the experience, most of this release comes across as a sad, mailed-in, final effort on this console generation before we get into the pomp and circumstance of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. And with no one to give them any competition, it’s no surprise that NCAA’s bar continues to fall.

Speaking of low bars, one of the new additions to NCAA is the Nike Skills Trainer mode—a fancy way of saying “tutorial.” If this is your first time playing an NCAA game, the Skills Trainer is a safe way to not embarrass yourself when you actually get out on the gridiron, providing you with the ins and outs on how to run the option and how to put just enough touch on that pass into double coverage. But like with the rest of NCAA, numerous, frustrating logic flaws will probably have you wanting to take your lumps on the field instead.

First off, no tutorial should ever teach a newcomer to football that it’s OK to throw into double coverage. That goes against the most basic rules of the game, and the fact NCAA tries teaching this shows how far the game is up its own jockstrap. Also, the success criteria on several drills seem completely arbitrary. Several times in the option tutorial, I “failed”—and that’s because even though I made the pitch at the proper time, the play still got busted up by the AI. The reverse also happened: I didn’t make the pitch, got a huge gain, but since I was—according to the game’s broken AI—supposed to make the pitch, I failed. Once you’re in a real game, color commentator Kirk Herbstreit will even remark that getting a gain on a misread option—like I did in the drill—is “always a win.” Not according to NCAA Football 14, Kirk.

And this, I found out, would be the first of many logic problems I’d encounter throughout the game. Maybe this stems in part from the fact that college football rankings are a joke, based on an arbitrary voting system to determine the best teams and players in the nation. Maybe EA Tiburon is simply trying to simulate the “human” factor of many sports, but in a videogame, I need a little more AI and a little less “human” than what NCAA 14 provides.

The next failure came at the end of my first Dynasty season, when my Rutgers Scarlet Knights went 10-2 in a schedule that include five Top 25 teams—only losing to eventual (and undefeated) conference winner University of Houston and perpetual powerhouse Notre Dame—and were promptly relegated to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. While fighting world hunger is certainly something to aspire to, that particular bowl game is anything but. To see my team, who finished with a No. 13 ranking and just two losses, get a worse bowl than schools with 8-4 and 9-3 records and lower rankings was infuriating.

But it wasn’t as infuriating as when my star running back, who amassed a stupendous 2,100 rushing yards and 16 TDs over the course of the season, wasn’t even nominated for the Heisman. I’m not saying he had to win it, but when the next-highest rusher was more than 500 yards behind him—and when that back managed to get nominated—the whole situation started to seem a bit ridiculous.

So, like I said, logic problems galore. But EA Tiburon has also made several changes that do improve on the overall experience. The recruiting system has been streamlined, so you now assign a limited number of points toward prospects that you wish to recruit hard, with bonuses given for random factors the particular recruit cares about. How close is your school to home, how much you win, how much playing time you promise, and more play into a recruit’s willingness to sign with you. This streamlined approach lets you get back and play your next game quickly, without spending hours trying to beg the top prospects to come play for you.

Of course, another added feature in Dynasty Mode is the new RPG-like progression system of your coaching staff. While this is finally a way to give more weight to wins and how well your team performs in games—a critical shortcoming of previous NCAA incarnations—this system feels like it throws off the balance of the game. After a while, the upgrades remove much of the challenge. More in-depth scouting, kickers that never freeze, fewer penalties on the field, and boosts to your team during critical game moments are just a few examples of the new “powers” your coach can have. Those are significant buffs, and since the core gameplay doesn’t ramp up to match your newfound abilities, it feels like you’re turning the difficulty down as you get better at the experience. A more effective way of doing this would’ve been giving players a choice of three or so boosts off the list of dozens you can unlock. That way, everyone’s coach would be a little different, but the game balance wouldn’t be upset in the process.

Another addition to NCAA this year? EA Sports’ card-based Ultimate Team. It’s about time this popular mode made it into NCAA, and die-hard players can now pick up Bo Jackson, Peyton Manning, Barry Sanders, Randy Moss, and more to make a superteam.

The core physics engine has also been modified—using an updated version of the same tech that debuted in last year’s Madden—in an attempt to provide a more realistic tackling experience and improve the run game AI, which it does on both accounts. For the most part, this might be the best actual football experience from the NCAA franchise to date, even if it’s at the sacrifice of in-house originality.

It’s just a shame that the engine doesn’t bring along more realistic visuals, too. NCAA 14’s graphics, by and large, still look like they’re from the beginning of this console generation—and the glitches don’t help with the lack of polish, either. Mind you, EA promised that a day-one patch would correct some technical bugs, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that my experience included abysmal load times, a half-dozen crashes, and players who would literally stand still on the field in the middle of plays. With all the bugs I encountered, it had better be a massive patch.

Even still, I had fun with NCAA Football 14. I can’t deny that. It’s still football, and it still feels satisfying when you get a pick or score a late TD to ice a game. Ultimate Team and the streamlined recruitment process were nice touches, too. But when I look at NCAA, I can’t help but think to myself: If I were a true college football fan, why would I want to play a game that’s not bringing its very best to the field? In the end, it’s the same reason I root for Rutgers and not USC or Alabama: because I’m stuck with no other choice.

Developer: EA Tiburon • Publisher: EA Sports • ESRB: E – Everyone • Release Date: 07.09.13
6.5
A few tweaks, a couple of tacked-on modes, and some better mechanics from the borrowed Madden engine can’t overcome the basic logic flaws and imbalances that seem to be annual staples in NCAA.
The Good Ultimate Team debuts in NCAA; streamlined recruitment process.
The Bad Poorly balanced RPG-leveling system for coaches; logic problems galore.
The Ugly A lack of competition continues to result in a lack of ingenuity.
NCAA Football 14 is available on Xbox 360 and PS3. Primary version reviewed was for PS3.
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Assassin’s Creed IV Will Expand Storytelling Techniques, Says Lead Writer

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There are many ways to tell a story through videogames. Something Assassin’s Creed IV lead writer Darby McDevitt wanted this time around, however, was to make sure Black Flag‘s world would help influence and tell the story—beyond expected arcs about buried treasure, damsels in distress, and massive naval battles associated with pirates.

Talking to EGM, McDevitt explained how part of this more subtle form of storytelling through environments starts with the major hub cities.

“You know, our cities are very different. Our city designers have been given a mandate to make sure Kingston has its own flavor. Kingston was a British colony, and the British were probably the worst proponents of slavery at the time, so we’re going to have them come across as the most adamant proponents of slavery,” McDevitt tells EGM. “They were also the worst behaved, so Kingston has to feel more like a town built on slavery and sailors and plantations and things like that.

“Havana was controlled by the Spanish, and they were a lot more—I don’t want to say ‘nice,’ because there’s nothing nice about slavery—but they have a lot more rules in place about buying and selling slaves.  It was much less common, so Havana feels different. It feels more Western European. Even the crowd flow is different, so you can tell stories on that scale.”

The cities in Black Flag only make up a small portion of the world you will explore, though. With some 75 uncharted locations in the game, there’s more than plenty of wilderness to explore and tame as well— within the main story.

“You can be wandering through a jungle and a tree has fallen over and there’s a dead body under it, and then it’s like, ‘Oh, what happened there?’ We’re trying to hit all of those levels, and I’ve found a lot of the little details have surprised me even as the writer,” explains McDevitt. “I think we’re putting a lot more care into that small detail of stripped environmental storytelling, and I hope that comes through to a much greater degree. So yeah, we’re trying to hit a broad sweep of storytelling through the entire world itself.”

Darby’s desire to change how the Assassin’s Creed series tells its stories doesn’t end with adding greater emphasis on environments servicing narrative. The writer also wants to see the ties between the past and the present featured more prominently—something he actively focused on while penning Black Flag.

“We designed the present story to kind of mirror Edward’s place in the story, too. I’ve always felt that the present day stories existed on different planes, you know,” says McDevitt. “Desmond had his thing going on, he was always going back into assassins’ memories to look for stuff, but the themes didn’t always match up. I did like that there was a nice father-son conflict in ACIII in the present and the past, so that was cool.  For ACIV, we wanted keep a little bit of that going. But I can’t say any more than that.”

For more on Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag—launching on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U October 29 with PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions to follow—be sure to check out EGM #260, available on newsstands everywhere now.

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Martin Brodeur Named NHL 14 Cover Athlete

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If you’ve followed hockey over the past 20 years, you know there have been few players as dominant as Martin Brodeur. Many consider him the greatest goaltender of all-time, as he holds or is tied for 25 different NHL records, including most wins and shutouts. He has won four Vezina trophies (best goalie in the league), three Stanley Cups, and even a pair of Olympic gold medals.

Now, he has one more line to add to his prolific list of accomplishments.

With more than 22 million votes cast, Brodeur has beaten out the Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to earn the right to be the cover athlete for EA Sports’ NHL 14.

Some would say that this was more about his career accomplishments—since his numbers have begun to trail off in the twilight of his career—but this was the second year that the public vote for the honor. If anyone nodded their head in Marty’s direction, it was the fans.

“The support I’ve received throughout the cover vote campaign has been incredible,” said Brodeur in a press release. “My kids pushed me to participate in the campaign, and they are really excited to see their dad on the cover of the game they play all the time. I want to thank all the NHL fans who campaigned and voted for me.”

Brodeur is the first goaltender to grace the cover since NHL 97, when John Vanbiesbrouck of the Florida Panthers was given the honor.

Of course, being a New York Rangers fan, this year I may have to print out a picture of Rangers’ captain Ryan Callahan and toss out Brodeur’s cover slip. No offense, Marty, but it wouldn’t feel right having you in my video game library.

NHL 14 skates onto PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 September 10 in North America, September 13 in the rest of the world. 

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Assassin’s Creed IV’s Game Director Talks About the Importance of Crew

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One of the most appealing features of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is being able to captain your own pirate ship and set sail in any direction, with no man as your master. But piloting your own ship around the Caribbean is far from being a one-man task. You need people you can trust to help guide the ship through rough waters or difficult encounters with government ships less than welcoming to someone waving a black flag. You need a crew. In an interview with EGM, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag game director Ashraf Ismail talked at length about this key gameplay detail.

“We have two types of crews, there’s the named crew and then there’s sort of the Red Shirts. A lot of gameplay comes from the named characters, like your first mate. They have some side missions, which are very key to flushing out their story, to give them a bit more meat and purpose in the overall narrative. And they play gameplay roles as well.”

And while describing unnamed crew as “Red Shirts” might suggest they’re expendable, Ashraf says they aren’t just there to be randomly killed off. They still play critical roles in your adventures on the high seas.

“These are the crew that you can gain or lose based on how you play the game. The unnamed crew is really important for boarding.  If you’re taking on a man-of-war, and you go on with only 10 guys, you’re going to have a lot trouble,” explains Ismail.  “So you need to worry about your crew.  If you lose too much crew, you can’t populate your ship.  So you really have to pay attention to them in regards to the number you have on board.”

Should you fail in your duties as captain to protect and take care of your crew, you need not worry too much—it seems there are a boatload (pun intended) of available crewmen in Assassin’s Creed IV who would love to come aboard the Jackdaw.

“There’s a lot of mechanisms for acquiring crew [through] finding systemic events that have happened in the world that you can see,” says Ismail. “You can save crew and pirates from government patrols, you can go to taverns for crews, you can hire and pay for crew, you can save crew during some boarding scenarios based on some actions that you do, and you can also gain crew who mutinies from enemy ships.  So there’s a lot of ways to gain or lose unnamed crew.”

Through our conversation with Ashraf, we also learned that there is a limit to how much crew you can have. So if you are a phenomenal captain and thought you could just hoard potential crewmen, think again. The Jackdaw’s crew quarters are upgradable, though, so you can always bring more crew along over time (up to a point), of course.

For more information on what to expect from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag—launching on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U October 29 with PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions to follow—be sure to check out EGM #260, available on newsstands everywhere now!  

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EGM Review: Deadpool

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Don’t forget your syrup! We’re making pancakes!

It’s never easy turning a licensed product into a videogame, but it can be especially hard when it comes to comic books. Developers typically have a wealth of history from which to draw, but that also leads to fanatical fanbases who love to criticize the slightest bit of “creative interpretation.” Or, on the flipside, you’ll see projects commissioned to be made with half the budget and half the time—and then publishers wonder why we, the game-loving public, trash the end result.

But every now and again, the stars align. With time, money, knowledge, respect for the product, and understanding from the fanbase, you’ll have an experience worth playing. The guys at High Moon Studios are familiar with this; they’ve done it twice now with a pair of original Transformers videogames. But can they possibly handle the biggest challenge they’ve faced so far in the form of Deadpool?

Based on the Marvel character best known for breaking the fourth wall and spoofing a flurry of other comic-book characters, Deadpool is a love letter, plain and simple, to the fans who’ve supported him since the Rob Liefeld/Fabien Nicieza days in the early ’90s. Luckily for us, though (no offense to those guys—well, maybe Liefeld a little), High Moon asked Daniel Way to write the script instead. Fitting, since Way’s run with the character is probably why Deadpool’s now at the height of his popularity.

And the game unfolds exactly how Deadpool fans might expect: Everyone’s favorite Merc with a Mouth decides he wants to be in his own videogame. Yep, fourth wall already smashed to smithereens. So he calls up the guys at High Moon, threatens them (a lot!), and gets the green light. We then begin stage one, where Deadpool must hunt down a big-time executive type in order to rake in a big bounty. Unfortunately for Deadpool, this particular fat cat is doing business with the Marauders and Mister Sinister, and he’s under their protection. Deadpool can’t be having that—no, sir!

Thus begins one of the wildest gaming rides I’ve had in quite some time. Sure, Way’s comics made me laugh for a couple of minutes each month, but this game had me in stitches for almost the entire eight-hour experience (give or take an hour, depending on your difficulty).

Aside from the smartly executed script, the game looks solid; it’s firmly entrenched in Marvel lore, yet it’s also got a splash of Looney Tunes when it comes to animations, character reactions, and general tomfoolery. The excellent voice work certainly adds to the atmosphere, too. Nolan North channels every ounce of Deadpool (and the voices in his head) he can muster through that red-and-black mask and when grouped with other voice veterans like Steve Blum as Wolverine and Fred Tatasciore as Cable, the acting is top notch.

But not everything about Deadpool is a perfect mile-high pile of pancakes. Deadpool loves guns. He also loves swords. In fact, any tool that can deal death is a high priority in his fractured mind. So High Moon faced an understandably difficult undertaking in finding the proper balance between guns and melee weapons. Unfortunately, the Deadpool game doesn’t quite get that balance right as the action ebbs and flows back and forth between having to use guns and then use melee weapons, instead of blending the two together more to craft a smoother combat experience. Also, while the combo system works fine and sees Deadpool transition smoothly from enemy to enemy, the broken camera and floaty platforming sequences serve as unseen foes that ultimately detract from the experience.

Still, Deadpool also features a few combat tweaks that definitely add to the experience, such as a “Momentum Meter” that fills up with continued success. The upgrade system that requires you to cash in “Deadpool Points” earned from massive combos is a decent touch, and being able to wield a variety of handheld, throwable, and projectile weapons helps keep the experience from becoming a complete button-masher. The game also offers eight challenge maps—with four levels of difficulty—that offer some replayability.

Even with a few gameplay issues, Deadpool hit just about every note I wanted. The campaign offers enough hysterical choices that I played through it several times—and I even watched as others in the office experienced it for the first time. Ah, so many fond memories.

If you’re a fan of Deadpool, you’ll certainly appreciate the experience, but if you’re really unfamiliar with the character (even though I don’t know how that’s possible at this point), you might be a bit wary of having this game be your first experience with Wade Wilson (Oh, no! I revealed his secret identity! Spoilers!).

Developer: High Moon Studios • Publisher: Activision • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 06.25.13
8.0

You’ll be fighting the camera sometimes as much as enemies, and the balance between guns and melee needs a bit more work, but most of the time, I was laughing too hard to care. The script is a love letter to Deadpool fans, so if you love the Merc with the Mouth, this game will hit your chimichanga-flavored sweet spot.
The Good Hysterical story that channels the best of Deadpoool.
The Bad Balance between melee and guns needs work; camera can be a hindrance.
The Ugly WHERE’S HYDRA BOB?!
Deadpool is available on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.
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EGM Review: Metro: Last Light

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June 24, 2013

Only McCarthy would disapprove

EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR METRO 2033. IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED METRO 2033, YOU MAY WISH TO TURN BACK. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.

Three years ago, THQ released a first-person shooter called Metro 2033 to little fanfare. Based on a self-published book of the same name, the game found a niche among those looking for more than the standard military-shooter experience. Players embraced a rich, enthralling story—even if the gameplay itself was flawed and ultimately detracted from the experience.

Back in the present day, that cult status has given 2033’s sequel, Metro: Last Light, a groundswell of buzz. Looking to deliver an even more in-depth experience and to fix the technical problems of the past, developer 4A Games has overcome mid-process publisher problems to deliver a game that picks up on Artyom’s story two years after his initial adventure in post-apocalyptic Moscow. Yes, fans of the novels, I said “Artyom.” Instead of following the storyline of the books—which would carry us right into Metro 2034 and follow Artyom’s friend, Hunter, Metro series author Dmitry Glukhovsky penned an entirely original script that continues Artyom’s tale.

Since Metro 2033 featured multiple endings—one where Artyom destroyed the Dark Ones, (humanoid creatures with charcoal skin and telepathic abilities), and one where he spared them—Glukhovsky and 4A Games looked at gamer tendencies to see how they would proceed. An overwhelming majority of gamers chose to destroy the Dark Ones, so Last Light considers that ending the canonical one.

Artyom’s been plagued with nightmares since the end of the first game, even though many laud him as the hero who saved the Moscow Metro from the insidious Dark Ones. But Artyom knows the truth: He made a terrible mistake when he launched those missiles from the local TV tower. Redemption may be near for Artyom, though, as his good friend and adviser, Khan, says he’s spotted a young Dark One that survived the blast near the Botanical Gardens. If Artyom can save this child, he hopes that he can still save what’s left of his scarred soul. Unfortunately for him, the other factions within the Metro have plans for Artyom—and this young Dark One as well.

As one of those fans of the first Metro, I was blown away by how far Last Light has come compared to its predecessor. If you thought the narrative was intriguing before, now it’s downright intoxicating. The game’s pacing and levels are broken up like chapters of a book—a clear indication of Glukhovsky’s involvement—each introduced by Artyom’s narration, which allows for both simple character development as well as a streamlined setup for the action. And if you want more of Artyom’s inner voice brought to the forefront, the game includes 43 collectible journal entries that flesh out the longer sequences and Artyom’s thinking.

The story’s constantly moving forward, which helps the pacing and narrative tremendously. The game offers few optional missions, and the ones that are included are well hidden within the context of the happenings around you; this way, even if you miss them, you probably won’t realize it.

When you combine how the plot unfolds with the brilliantly designed world of the Metro, you have one of the most immersive, atmospheric experiences you’re likely to get on consoles. I wish some survival-horror games would take a page out of Metro: Last Light’s book when it comes to building tension and atmospheric presence; I couldn’t put my controller down, as I got sucked into Artyom’s sad existence. Yet I was still in awe and aware of Artyom’s insignificance compared to the sprawling mass of Metro tunnels or to the ruins of Moscow’s mightiest monuments on those rare sojourns to the surface, which only sucked me further down the rabbit hole.

The improved graphics definitely help here; many of the creatures, people, weapons, and locations have an intense amount of detail, often so minute that you can actually count how many expended shells are in your six-shooter or watch as the flame of a broken lantern slowly engulfs dried-up cardboard boxes or furniture.

Not all of the creatures are as frightening as the developers intended, however. The Demons and Watchmen from the first game look better than ever, but new monsters that lurk in the water—or are sequence-specific—look like they belong more on a Ray Harryhausen stop-motion stage than they do in a modern game.

The biggest improvement between the two Metro games, however, is clearly in the gameplay. Sure, you’ve still got your typical first-person shooter mechanics, but Last Light also sports an interesting weapon-customization feature. If you’d rather save your military-grade shells (returning as the game’s currency), you can actually make it through most of the game with very few weapon upgrades. I personally picked up only a few along the way and was fine throughout, modifying my pistol so it acted more like a sniper rifle, adding night vision to my assault rifle, and picking up a quad-barreled shotgun along the way that put most any monster down very quickly.

The idea of needing to survive is also still prevalent here. Much like in 2033, keeping an eye on your air supply when in toxic areas, charging your headlamp with a portable generator, and making sure the visor on your gasmask doesn’t crack all add extra tension to several scenarios, where facing off against giant spiders or a Communist patrol are unavoidable.

I realize I keep referring to Last Light as a first-person shooter—and although that’s technically true, that description makes the experience sound more action-oriented than it really is. Sure, you can go through the game guns-a-blazin’, but the true sense of playing in Artyom’s shoes comes when you must play stealthily: trying to time patrol patterns, shooting out ceiling lights with silenced weapons, and making sure dead bodies won’t alert guards. And this leads us into the next major improvement: enemy AI.

Foes will now actively search you out if they suspect you’re near, and they’ll go to great lengths to try to flank you or flush you out with grenades and other tactics. At several points, however, I took advantage of standard stealth strategies to fool the AI and easily overcome drastic numbers disadvantages, meaning that the AI has come far—but not far enough to put Last Light on par with more traditional stealth titles.

The game also makes it more difficult to be stealthy, because it lacks one simple mechanic: dragging away dead bodies. Oftentimes, it wasn’t that I made noise or missed an instant-kill headshot—it was the fact that a guard stumbled upon a corpse strewn across the floor. I’m not expecting Artyom to be like Agent 47 in Hitman, hiding bodies in every container known to man, and I get that his character’s a somewhat-naïve twentysomething, but just let me drag the bodies out of sight!

Despite these flaws—along with the occasional ragdoll-physics glitch and a convoluted user interface for selecting secondary weapons and items—I found Metro: Last Light to be one of the most complete experiences I’ve had from a game in quite some time. The story is all-consuming and made me lose sense of the world around me—and myself—as I poured hours into helping Artyom save the Metro.

Developer: 4A Games • Publisher: Deep Silver • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 05.14.13
8.5

If you love a great story and some fun first-person shooter action, Metro: Last Light is sure to please. Only a couple of minor shortcomings hold the experience back, including the much-improved—but still not completely polished—stealth gameplay.
The Good One of the most immersive, atmospheric games you’ll play this year.
The Bad AI and stealth have come a long way—but not far enough. 
The Ugly How much free advertising for Dmitry Glukhovsky’s books you’ll find.
Metro: Last Light is available on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.
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EGM Review: AC3: The Tyranny of King Washington – Ep 3

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May 10, 2013

The bear necessity

When last we left Ratonhnhaké:ton, he’d escaped from Boston after striking down Israel Putnam on his quest to rid the New World of Mad King George. Sailing on a liberated Aquila, Ratonhnhaké:ton heads for George’s headquarters in New York—and is stunned to see a pyramid rising from the heart of this great city. Knowing Washington is past the point of no return, Ratonhnhaké:ton begins forming a plan with Ben Franklin as to how to deal with King George and learns of another ally he’ll need to recruit if he has any hope of succeeding: Thomas Jefferson.

Much like the episodes before it, Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington Episode 3—The Redemption (such a mouthful) follows a clear formula. Ratonhnhaké:ton explores a little bit of the familiar-but-changed world he finds himself in before ingesting the toxic tea that allows him to have a spirit journey. He then gets new powers, represented by an animal. Ratonhnhaké:ton kills someone with these powers, and we move on. And when you finish the final episode of this highly anticipated DLC, that’s all you do: You’ll move on.

That’s not to say this was a waste of time, money, or energy, although I think fans would probably have preferred to get the DLC in one 6-to-8 hour helping instead of having it broken into three 2-hour servings; on that front, this episodic DLC failed. Still, the alternate universe that The Redemption wraps up is an entertaining, well thought-out side story to the main Assassin’s Creed timeline that reaches a satisfying conclusion.

The Redemption starts off with a bang, pulling you in far more quickly than previous King Washington DLC offerings. You see, this is the only episode to feature the beloved naval warfare seen in much of Assassin’s Creed III. It was a rush to get behind the wheel of the Aquila again and take on another small fleet of warships. I even chuckled at the reference Ratonhnhaké:ton makes to his grandfather Edward, who we all now know will be the star of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Unfortunately, this strong start and finish can’t hide the fact that The Redemption features weaker narrative buildup and action sequences compared to the previous two episodes. The quest for Thomas Jefferson feels more like a quick errand than some epic goal to reach before confronting King George for the final time. And while the outside of the pyramid feels appropriately daunting, it’s a letdown once you actually enter the structure. The final confrontation with George at least lives up to the hype, even if it’s a little on the short side.

I also will say that the bear powers that allow you to stomp the ground and send enemies flying everywhere—with those closest to you instantly dying—are much more fun to use than the wolf and eagle powers from previous episodes. But just like those enhancements, the bear powers make many of the missions far too easy and remove any thinking required from reaching the mission objectives.

The Redemption provides a fitting conclusion to this DLC storyline, and if you’ve come this far, you’d be remiss to not finish it off. I think only the most diehard of Assassin’s Creed fans will truly walk away from these three episodes completely satisfied, however.

Developer: Ubisoft Quebec • Publisher: Ubisoft • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 04.23.13
6.5
A strong start and finish to the final King Washington episode help carry what’s probably the weakest action and narrative of the entire DLC miniseries. The new bear powers are also more fun to use than the wolf and eagle powers from previous episodes, though only hardcore Assassin’s Creed fans will be totally satisfied with the experience.
The Good A fitting, satisfying end to this miniseries.
The Bad The weakest narrative—up until that end sequence—of all three episodes. 
The Ugly Ratonhnhaké:ton’s brilliant blue bear eyes.
Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington – Episode 3 – The Redemption is available on Xbox 360 (XBLA), PS3 (PSN), and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360.
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