On the Subject of Far Cry 2

Krista Allen

Yay, it's out. Unfortunately Ubisoft are one of those idiot companies who won't let you preload games on Steam, so it wasn't until I returned from the Front that I was able to even start downloading, let alone playing. Still, it's only 3 gigs, which didn't take too long.

Once downloaded and installed, things didn't get off to a great start, unfortunately. It doesn't seem to be FC2's fault so much as Vista x64's fault for being a fucking pile of shit. I'm not the only one who got the "black window" which requires a seemingly random combination of turning off Aero, fiddling with compatibility mode settings and rolling back to previous nvidia drivers to solve. Fuck's sake, I expect it would have worked fine on XP. Even when I could finally run the game full-screen and see things happening, if I turn on DX10 mode (and restart) even the splash videos play at about 1fps. Well, that's just wonderful. Remind me, what is the point of Vista if you can't use DX10?

So I give up and start playing in DX9 mode and it seems ok. I didn't expect the graphics to be Crysis-quality, and they're not, but they do the job and it looks pretty smart even if everything is a shade of brown. There's a satisfying feeling of scale and space which is refreshing compared with corridor shooters like CoD4.

After the fairly long intro sequence of being driven to a hotel and run through the basics of moving and shooting... I had a CTD. Nice. Which meant I had to sit through the intro again. Second time round I saved, just in case, but in the end it didn't crash. Well, not until later. In the meantime there was more introductory "here's how you fix a car, here's how you use a map and answer your phone" hand-holding. A couple of basic enemy encounters to get you in the mood, before moving on to the more RPG-style elements, mostly to do with buying guns. Reminded me a bit of Strike Commander, that bit. But then it crashed again and I had some more good news to hand out on the front line, so that's where I had to leave it for the day.

So it's been a mixed bag so far. It looks like it has potential, and hopefully Ubisoft/Microsoft/nvidia will knock out some patches in the near future to iron out the various bugs. Frequent crashes tend to put a dampener on the fun-factor, I find.

I'm not even going to comment on the wide screen drama that is beginning to erupt. Other than to say yes, FC2 implements the wide screen mode just like pre-patch Bioshock did, no there isn't a field of view adjustment option and no, there's no such thing as the "wrong" way to do it so shut the fuck up, morons.

On the Subject of Challenge

Monica Bellucci

As I write, it's the eve of the release of Far Cry 2. I can't make any sort of definitive judgement until I've had some serious hands-on time with it, obviously, but like any AAA title, it's generating the usual forum chatter.

I've discussed the apparent rise in senseless criticism of new games previously, but with Far Cry it has struck me that there's another angle to be explored. It's very similar to the "veteran" syndrome in MMOs, whereby players who have spent countless hours playing essentially interchangeable MMOs reach the erroneous conclusion that they have become better than the games they're playing. That any new game that appears isn't a worthy challenge for their god-like skills. With Far Cry, and also Crysis before it, some FPS gamers (and I'm rightly ignoring the worthless multiplayer crowd) revel in the delusion that they're now too good for the games. That every new FPS looks "easy", or they've seen it all before.

It seems to me that they're missing an important aspect of gaming. A game doesn't have to be a "challenge" any more than a book or a film has to. They can be, but they can also provide simple entertainment. There's no law that says a game has to constitute some sort of metric for demonstrating how "good" you are at FPSes. It's like an extension of the PvP pissing contest in the single-player space.

It's slightly tragic in a way, similar to how being a die-hard audiophile is tragic in that they will allow technicalities like speakers and codecs to spoil their appreciation of the artistry of music. It's not something to be applauded, instead they deserve commiseration.

What's more, it's a hopeless stance that ultimately means they will never be satisfied by another FPS, ever. Because developers are in the business of selling games, not providing wank fantasies for the hardcore purist minority. In the same way that MMO developers will always tend towards the proven success of WoW rather than designing games for the elitists.

Anyway, FC2 is looking pretty sweet. It's telling that pretty much a year after the release of Crysis there still isn't another game out there, or even in development, that comes close to it's visual fidelity, and FC2 is no exception. Although given that it's also being shipped on the xbox it's not surprising. Fingers crossed that the compromises made for the xbox don't extend to gameplay design. That's what will make or break the game.

Also nice to see a new Alan Wake trailer out. I was never particularly interested in the game, simply noting it's apparent "vapourware" status. However since I discovered the joys of Max Payne recently I'm suddenly paying more attention as Wake comes from the same developers. It's true that thanks to it's extended development period the once-staggering visuals are now merely impressive, but given how much fun I had in the 7 year old Max Payne 1, not to mention the 5 year old MP2, I suspect it will make up for any graphical shortcomings with top-drawer playability and cinematic immersion. The new trailer is certainly evidence of the latter.

Thought for the Day Anniversary Edition #2: Felicity Fey

Any relation to Katie? Who knows. I can see a couple of similarities. And as you might have noticed, they're even less SFW than the Shay pics. Hurrah!

Thought for the Day Anniversary Edition #1: Shay Laren

It's much more fun sorting through pictures of proper porn models than half-arsed celebrity teases. What better way to celebrate the first anniversary of the Field Marshal's online existence than some slightly-less-SFW-than-usual Shay Laren? There is no better way, that's what.

A Year in Review

Kelly Brook

It seems amazing that the first anniversary of this esteemed publication is approaching with great haste.

It feels like it has been a somewhat muted year as far as game releases are concerned. Late 2007 saw some big-name titles like CoD4, Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War, some of which fell flat and others of which have caused endless, tedious, ill-informed arguments about "optimisation". Of course 2008 still has some way to go, and with likes of Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 still to come there's certainly potential for improvement. Still, this year has passed, or at least is passing with much fewer titles of any real value.

On the MMO front, both AoC and WAR have finally appeared. AoC falling foul of the tiresome, self-righteous, purist, "veteran" community and falling short of content for those of us not interested in mindless grind. WAR will probably become the PvP WoW, for people who are into that sort of thing. There's no evidence that it will have a serious impact on proper WoW, and it's PvE content is decidedly poor, but the fact that it's core mechanic is PvP means it stands a better chance at retaining players than AoC. Because competitive PvP MMO gamers are, of course, idiots.

Meanwhile I've touched upon various issues that have come to my attention over the last year. Wide screen formatting, PvP, beta testing, forums etc. And more importantly I've taken to posting pictures of attractive women in various states of undress, which is after all much more entertaining. At least for me.

Thought for the Day: Katie Fey

On the Subject of Max Payne

Rosie Jones

For some reason Max Payne passed me by when it first appeared. I don't know why, perhaps the slo-mo effects seemed a bit cheesy and Matrix-y back then and it put me off. In any case when both the original game and the sequel were put up together for an eye-opening $7.50 as one of Steam's excellent weekend deals, I didn't really know what to expect. But at that price I was happy to take a chance.

And I'm glad I did. It turned out they're both excellent shooters. Naturally I'm only interested in single-player, but I was very impressed. MP1 is a great example of how a good game can still be absorbing and compelling and fun even with graphics that seem very basic by modern standards. And despite being a few years old, the sequel manages to maintain the playability while offering much more advanced visuals that, in places, rival many recent games.

The story is pretty basic, but in fact it's the simpler first game that I consider the better of the two when it comes to narrative. No real cheap, gimmicky twists, just a simple, "man pushed too far goes on a criminal-slaying spree". The sequel attempted to introduce more political twists and turns, not to mention a love interest, but at least it didn't mess with the killing spree part of the formula.

The sequel does have some nice touches though. The part where you're fighting your way out of your apartment building and encounter a homeless ex-cop and a hooker who both starting fighting along side you, assuming you didn't shoot them on sight, for example. Or the section you play first from Max's point of view, and then again as Mona, before they eventually meet up. And both games feature crazed dream sequences, more so in the sequel where the time line jumps backwards and forwards. Another highlight for me was escorting the bad guy who happened to be wearing a booby-trapped comic character costume.

In terms of sheer game play they're both pretty straightforward. Increasingly powerful guns help dispatch increasingly strong and numerous opponents. There are bosses, which pose more difficulty in the first game than the sequel, especially if you haven't been stocking up on ammo and painkillers. There are frequent (possibly too frequent at times) comic book-styled cut scenes, as well as in-engine 3D cut scenes. It all keeps the story moving forward nicely. None of Half-Life's anonymous everyman crap, this is a proper character-driven story that isn't afraid to show it's face.

The slow motion stuff is pretty solid. After using it at pretty much every encounter, I eventually settled into a routine of not using it all that much. Mainly at doors where you know there's a whole room of bad guys waiting for you on the other side. It's well-implemented, though, and slightly more useful and flexible than it was in FEAR, as you dive through the air and spin around to take out multiple foes in a single leap.

According to Steam, I played through MP1 in just under 9 hours, and MP2 in about 7. That doesn't sound much but in both cases I feel satisfied with the length and not at all short-changed. Not that I could be for what they cost. I wasn't rushing, but I was playing on the default level which is never too painful, even if it turns into a quicksave-fest every so often.