Action, racing, fighting, shooting, role playing best games for those who looking to find something, not just to waste a time playing tiny flash games.
Devil May Cry fans know what they expect from the action series: they
look for fast paced action sequences that require solid timing instead
of button mashing. They expect large scale battles with insane bosses
and hordes of monsters that barely give the player a second to breath.
They also expect characters to take the dangerous settings lightly, with
a large dose of sarcasm and a snarky outlook towards the supernatural
surroundings they find themselves in. Well, DMC fans, take heart: Devil May Cry 4,
the latest chapter in the series and the first true sequel in the Devil
May Cry chronology maintains all of these trademarks while showcasing
the power of the PS3 fairly well.
That is, for the most part.
See, Dante fans may find themselves a bit disappointed in their
favorite character's new role within the series: instead of taking over
the spotlight as he has in the previous three games, the anti-hero takes
on a secondary position to franchise newcomer Nero. DMC4 is really more
of his story and his coming of age within the Sparda-influenced
universe than a tale that picks up after the events of DMC1. Is this a
bad turn of events? No, not really, although some of the hardcore might
wonder if the game could've had a different title with a Dante cameo
instead of a Devil May Cry chapter.
The story of Devil May Cry 4
is set in and around the coastal town of Fortuna, which has an
interesting tale by itself: it's governed by a militant theocracy known
as The Order of the Sword, and protected by a group of Holy Knights. The
people of the town worship the demon knight Sparda as a god and savior.
During a ceremony in honor of their deity, Nero, a young knight, sees
Dante crash through a window and slaughter the leader of the Order, as
well as many of his friends. While he doesn't know who Dante is or why
he's attacking them, Nero wants revenge for Dante's actions. What
follows over the course of 20 missions is a quest of revenge and
betrayal, as well as salvation and sacrifice, as Nero hunts Dante down
across the land.
Apathetic and dismissive of authority, Nero is a younger, more
angst-filled character than Dante's older, wiser and more sarcastic
outlook on the world. However, he's just as skilled as the Son of
Sparda, with a wide range of abilities to support him in combat. The
first, and perhaps most obvious element, is the Devil Bringer, his
demonically-enhanced right arm that allows him to project an energy arm
ahead of him. This allows Nero to grasp distant objects, which he'll use
to reach new areas or scale heights, as well as grab, throw and punch
opponents. While this can be used to start or extend obvious combos,
perhaps one of the most intriguing elements is that the arm responds
differently when used against each opponent in the game. For example,
players will grip and throw some creatures by their tails, while others
may be pulled apart or even used as weapons against their allies. This
can be factored into players' plans when using Nero's primary attacks in
battle.
Nero has access to both projectile and melee strikes thanks to his
unique weaponry, the Blue Rose and the Red Queen. The Blue Rose is a
double-barreled pistol that allows Nero to fire powerful blasts at
distant opponents. While slow to fire, the power of these blasts is
quite strong, and can eventually be charged-up to provide even more
punch. His more devastating attacks come in the form of the Red Queen, a
motorcycle throttled, gas-infused sword that can be revved-up to add
additional strength behind each combo or blow inflicted on an enemy.
This boosting of the sword is known as the Exceed system, and allows
Nero to charge the sword up three times, turning the blade red hot with
energy and lashing out with fiery blows.
The Exceed system is one that can take a little getting used to.
Continually pulling the trigger to rev the sword doesn't work nearly as
well as slow, consistent pulls, which boosts the gears of the blade
more. It also drops Nero to a slow walk as he reaches behind him and
revs the motor of the Red Queen, which can be tricky to pull off
consistently in the midst of battle, particularly because it leaves you
open to attacks. While you can work on your timing after an attack to
instantly charge up the blade, you won't always nail it, so the
difficulty of this move is rather high. However, there's another, more
pressing issue with the Exceed system, which is that you don't need to
use it at all to quickly and efficiently eliminate the monsters within
the game. Thanks to the strength and power of Nero's various combat
skills and combos, you're better off eliminating your opponents with
standard attacks than spending the time to charge up your blade.
Every game has a single over-riding requirement for its players. Some
demand lightning-fast reflexes and the commitment it takes to master the
depth of their controls. Others ask for a willingness to think outside
the box or some degree of intelligence for puzzle solving.
These are all attributes players will need if they hope to succeed in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. But the one asset players will need above all else is time.
The
reason for this is that Skyrim is one of the most gargantuan
undertakings gamers will experience all year. The sheer size of the
adventure, both in terms of its environment and in the amount of
activities available to the player, is mind-blowing.
This
shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The game's developer,
Bethesda, has banked a rather lucrative existence on creating open-world
RPGs that are filled to bursting with content. As with Elder Scrolls
IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 before it, Skyrim is a game that's easy to
completely lose yourself in.
The reason for this is two-fold.
First, the game's production values work hard to immerse the player in
Bethesda's sword and sorcery world. For a game of this size the quality
of the graphics and the attention to detail is awe-inspiring.
As
the player travels through Skyrim, they'll encounter dense woodlands,
snow-capped mountains, majestic cities and crystal clear rivers that run
throughout the map. They'll run into an assortment of interesting
characters and battle myriad monsters.
They'll have to plough through blizzards, find shelter from
thunderstorms and, on a clear night, they can gaze up at the sky and see
auroras bleeding through the darkened heavens above them. The visual
and sonic features of the game completely obliterate any traces of the
outside world.
The second part of this enchantment is wrapped up
in the number of ways Bethesda allows the players to interact with the
world it has created.
Players can while away hours upon hours
creating weapons at a forge, mixing potions at an alchemy table,
enchanting weapons, chopping wood, practicing archery, investigating
subterranean caverns or simply pointing their character at the horizon
and heading over the nearest hill.
They can buy a house, join a
guild, marry an NPC or read every book contained in the library at a
college for mages. Around every corner and at every new town they wander
into, there's a monster to fight, a character to talk to and some new
discovery to be made.
The amount of things to do in Skyrim makes
the player feel like they're a living, breathing part of its world. In
short, you need time by the bucketload to get to grips with Skyrim,
because once you enter its world, it becomes your world.
There's a story, which guides the player's progress to an extent. It
begins with an escape from the headsman's chopping block and then the
player is cut loose in the massive world of Skyrim with the barest
essentials in information about themselves and the land they now
inhabit.
Skyrim is plagued on two fronts – by a bloody civil war
and by the return of a race of dragons that, until recently, were
extinct. The player is also aware that they are the last of a race
called the Dragonborn, and they are also all that stands between Skyrim
and its ultimate destruction.
Still, that's enough to be getting
on with, eh? The plot then proceeds to reveal its pleasures by inches,
one mission and side-quest at a time.
As the player completes one
heroic (and not so heroic) deed after another, they get to grips with
the game's deep and intuitive control system. The right and left
triggers wield whatever weapon, shield or magic spell the player assigns
to them. The inventory soon starts filling up with useful items that
the player can assign to the D-pad for a quick weapon change act in the
middle of combat.
Every time the player uses a weapon or a spell
or skill in Skyrim, their profiency with that item or in that talent
goes up. Once their overall XP hits the next level, they're able to
assign a talent point to the skill of their choosing.
In this way, the game rewards the participant for playing in exactly
the way they want to. If you want cut your way through the land using
just a sword and shield, the game will ensure you become more proficient
in doing so. If magic or sneaking about in the dark are more your
things, you'll get better at both the more you do them.
On top of
weapons and spells, the player has an edge over most opponents in the
form of their Dragonborn "shouts". These are magical powers that are
acquired by reading runes carved into the walls of dungeons and caves
the player will encounter, and which are unlocked with the souls of the
dragons they've killed.
Shouts vary in power and recharge rate;
one enables the player to breathe fire on opponents, another provides
them with a quick-sprint, and yet another allows them to bring a dragon
crashing down from the sky.
There's a price for all this power. Players will have to look past occasional bugs in the gameplay, for one.
These
range from characters attaching themselves to pieces of the
environment, the odd animation glitch and the rare instance where a
previous save needs to be loaded after the game crashes completely.
There
are also a couple of niggles that were present in Fallout 3, too, such
as the unnerving stare plastered over the faces of NPCs or the way in
which accidentally picking up an item that doesn't belong to you can
cause a friendly character to turn hostile.
But the largest cost
that Skyrim wishes to exact from players is that which is measured in
human hours: time. And given the volume of content Bethesda's game
holds, preparations ahead of playing may be necessary.
So, with
that in mind, may your boss believe you when you phone in claiming you
have the plague, may your significant other be tolerant and
understanding, and may your friends know you well enough not to make
enquiries with the police if they don't hear from you in over a month.
Skyrim awaits, adventurers. All it asks in return is your life …
Assassin's Creed 3 is a funny beast. It's not the revolution some might have
been hoping for, but there's no denying it could have been. Despite
the new engine, and new setting of 18th century America, there's not enough
here to win over those who haven't enjoyed the series in the past. Then
again, it's seemingly the final part of the current plot arc of
techno-memory traveller Desmond, so at least part of the game would leave
you a little lost if you haven't been following. Not that it matters too
much, to be honest, Desmond is the least interesting aspect of Assassin's
Creed III, even if you have enjoyed the modern day framing up until this
game.
New assassin Connor Kenway (or Ratonhnhaké:ton for short) is theoretically the
real star then, but he's too bland as a character and certain aspects of the
plot (namely the American pillaging of Native American lands) fall flat
because of this. Not that the game really spends much time on this; it's
about the Revolution, after all, dealing with the likes of General Charles
Lee and George Washington. It's this aspect of the game that disappoints.
The main missions range from the usual 'go and kill someone', to some fairly
poor stealth sections, to some abysmal chase sequences. At times, the plot
missions feel like things you're forced to endure to get to the fun stuff,
and that's a shame.
The promised grand battles can see a bit underwhelming too, with Connor
usually at a safe distance, either manning a cannon or dodging fire as he
scoots around the outside of a battle. It's rare you get to be in the thick
of things, at least on land. Boston and New York are relatively weak
locations also, made up of identikit buildings and featuring a frustratingly
obtuse fast travel system. The cityscapes of Italy are sorely missed. It's
lucky, then, that the majority of the game takes place in the Frontier, with
Connor leaping through trees, clambering up cliffs and trekking through the
snow. There's a complex hunting and baiting mechanic, although it's
criminally underused (often it's easier and more productive to simply sprint
up to animals and stab them), but it still makes for an interesting, fresh
location for the series.
However, there are two locations in Assassin's Creed 3 that really stood out,
and in fact made the game for me. First up is the Homestead, an enclosed
area which Connor calls home. Here, you can deal with the daily trials and
tribulations of its new inhabitants, engaging in smaller, more intimate
quests in order to build both a small village, and a successful trading post
over which you have control. While the main plot speeds along at quite a
pace, the Homestead bits really let you get a feel for the characters who've
moved in, and also shed a fair bit more (needed) insight on Connor as a
person.
The other location is simply 'the sea'. The naval battles. The pirate
treasure. The fantastic, explosive, death-defying escapes from burning forts
or collapsing glaciers. The scream and whistle of cannon fire flying
overhead as you and your crew brace yourself on board your ship. The ship
controls themselves are fantastic; the camera's still fixed behind Connor,
at the wheel, so there's a sense of being in the thick of the action while
Men O' War come hurtling down on you as you unleash fire on these leviathans
of the sea. Cinematically they're excellent, the control you have over your
ship is fantastic, and they're far and away the most exciting part of the
game. It's unusual to find something entirely optional to be the must-have
draw of a game, but both the naval battles and the sidequests relating to
Captain Kidd's treasure are definitely a strong contender for 'best reason
to play Assassin's Creed 3'.
On land, the combat and free running have had a bit of an overhaul, although
it's not immediately notable. The free running now only requires you to hold
one button to sprint and climb but it doesn't really eradicate the problems
with leaping off handholds when you don't want to, or occasionally flailing
clumsily. It's not a big deal, it's never been a consistent problem, but
there were still times where I found Connor flinging himself face-first into
the ground when I simply wanted to leap to the next branch. Combat's been
simplified too, although largely functions in the same way. Now it's a bit
too easy to take down swathes of guards, although it's still satisfying to
pull off a string of blocks, counters and executions.
Elsewhere, the multiplayer mode is as fantastic as ever. The new Wolfpack mode
is somewhat reminiscent of Sega's The Club or Resi's Mercenaries mode,
tasking a team of players with killing a bunch of targets and performing
bonus objectives in order to extend a timer, allowing the match to continue.
The Assassin's Creed versus multiplayer is a tense, subtle affair, tasking you
with sneakily killing your opponents in a crowded area. As always, if you go
tearing around levels, leaping off rooftops, you're going to get spotted
pretty quickly. There are a bunch of modes here, with some that are
pleasingly minimalist in terms of HUD and guidance towards your targets.
This makes matches into exciting, slow-paced struggles for survival, made
all the more ominous by the frenzied whispering you hear as soon as a
pursuer is close. On the downside, some of the maps aren't quite as
interesting as in previous games, and a few of the multiplayer characters
look too similar to one another, which is a bit of a pain when it comes to
identifying targets. They're minor gripes though, and with plenty of
customisation and loadout options gradually unlocking the higher you level,
there's a lot of scope for the competitive assassin.
In an ongoing series of articles, Digital Foundry takes an in-depth
look at the most high-profile PlayStation Vita releases, talking with
the developers and gaining new perspective on what it's like creating
games for Sony's brilliant - but underperforming - handheld. In this
second instalment, our focus is Need for Speed: Most Wanted, one of the
most fascinating games available for the platform. Criterion Games'
objective here was ambitious: to incorporate PlayStation Vita into the
cross-platform development workflow of what turned out to be one of the
most technologically advanced current-gen games on the market. As you
might expect from the Guildford studio, the result isn't just a great
game but a remarkable technological achievement.
"For the first
time in the handheld's history, we can happily transpose all of our
praise and criticism of a home console game to the PlayStation Vita
version - which is something of an occasion in itself," wrote Martin
Robinson in the Eurogamer review.
"Much of the credit must go to Criterion, which handled the Vita
version of Most Wanted itself. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the
studio's pedigree, it's done an impeccable job... Understandably, it's
taken something of a visual hit, but it's never enough to undermine the
incredible achievement or the immense novelty of having a faithful
handheld port day and date with its bigger cousin."
A lot of this
article is going to discuss that "visual hit", so it's important to put
Vita Most Wanted into context. Your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 - assuming
they are the latest models - draw something like 70 to 80 watts of
juice from the mains. In contrast, PlayStation Vita uses just five per
cent of that total, burning up around 3.5 to 4W during gameplay. Even up
against the highly efficient Wii U at 33W, we're talking about a tiny
amount of physical power available to power a triple-A game designed for
much more capable systems. While efficiency in rendering has come on by
leaps and bounds over the years, that's still a huge gap to close. To
tell the truth, it can't be closed, and compromises need to be
made. Most Wanted is one of five renditions of the same game produced by
Criterion, and the team simply didn't have the luxuries open to
developers of first-party Vita titles like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and
WipEout 2048, where the game design and core rendering technology could
be shaped around the strengths and weaknesses of the mobile hardware.
"The
Vita version is the same game," confirms Idries Hamadi, technical
director at Criterion Games. "There's a machine in the depths of our
basement somewhere that's syncing our Perforce and building all five
versions of the game every three minutes. It is not a bespoke version,
it's a first-class platform for all of them."
The comparison video spells that out. The exact same methodology we
use for all of our head-to-head videos - frame-accurate excerpts running
side by side - works here because the game logic is effectively
identical, the visuals drawn from the same core asset base, the handling
model built around the same physics.
Game content is also a match
between the handheld and console versions - the open world map's the
same, the collectables (or rather, the "smashables") are the same, the
car roster is identical. However, the visual compromises are apparent in
the comparison. In terms of processing power, Vita occupies an
undefined space somewhere between PS2 and PS3 - while less ambitious
current-gen games can be replicated very closely on PS Vita, a
top-of-the-line experience like Need for Speed: Most Wanted needs a
different kind of approach.
So what was Criterion's methodology in
getting to grips with the Vita hardware? What was the process in
discerning whether Sony's handheld could deal with a game designed
primarily with current-generation console hardware in mind?
"There's
a few different aspects to that kind of operation," Hamadi reveals.
"One is an on-paper analysis - but we didn't put much stock in that
because we understood that once we peeled back the first layer of 'let's
just look at numbers' you're talking about very different beasts and
the numbers you've got only go so far. It's like we said with Wii U - we got some running software, we pulled out everything we possibly could to get a real stripped-down version of the game."
After
that, it becomes an exercise in putting back in as much as possible,
optimising and adding more. Where some systems are simply not a good fit
for the handheld, alternatives are produced. Resolution aside, lighting
is the biggest difference between the mobile version and the full-fat
console edition.
The Vita release drops the deferred shading techniques of the other
versions which allow for the use of massive amounts of light sources,
resulting in a more stark, less subtle rendition of Fairview, also shorn
of some of the advanced shader work - wet roads, for instance. While
the deferred approach is utilised on some key Vita titles (Uncharted:
Golden Abyss and Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation to name a couple of
noteworthy examples), Criterion opted for a more traditional forward
renderer, allowing the studio to use hardware anti-aliasing - 4x MSAA -
to offset the impact of a drop from native 960x544 resolution down to
something close to 640x368.
"You've got some choices to make,
basically," says Hamadi. "The hardware... obviously for some titles it
does go native resolution but for the feature-set we wanted to put in
that just wasn't feasible. There's only so much you can get out of it."
Other
compromises are self-evident: environmental detail is high for a mobile
title but clearly pared down from the other versions, while texture
assets are also of a much lower resolution. While PlayStation Vita
actually has more RAM overall than PS3, it only has half the video
memory while the OS footprint on the handheld is also much, much higher
(hence the ability to run 'small apps' with the game state frozen). It's
clear that getting a game designed for more powerful, resource-rich
platforms to run on the handheld was a considerable challenge for the
Criterion team.
"There were a lot of times when we were saying 'this is the budget
for this, we need to cut that in half' and then we go and look at the
actual assets and they were 30 per cent over budget on the other
platforms already. How are we going to cut even further?" shares Hamadi.
The
established methodology used by some developers in allocating set
amounts of processing budget for each particular sub-system wasn't a
good fit for developing the Vita version either.
"A lot of people
try to approach ports that way, it's not the right way to go about
things. The compromises you have to make don't always fall in line with
the way you budget for a higher-end platform. Certain aspects need to be
cut more than other aspects but when it came to beta. For example, the
physics was way more over budget than effects."
The fact that Most
Wanted is running on a mobile platform helped define some of the
compromises. For example, processing resources weren't there to maintain
native res, but the combination of the Vita's rich OLED screen and the
4x MSAA make for a clean presentation overall. Criterion quickly
realised that certain systems should take priority over others which
weren't so important factoring in how the game is actually played on
handheld hardware.
"When you look at the game there's only so much physics you can cut
before you don't have a game anymore, so you cut more into the effects -
especially when you have a much smaller screen. People don't really see
the effects anyway. You don't want to give so much run-time resources,"
Hamadi says.
"We don't sit down and say, 'right you're going to
get this much of this and this much of this'. It's much more holistic.
We get it to the point where it's running, we strip down the things you
can strip down without actually ruining the game - you want to have a
playable game - then you bring things up. You add a bit more here, then
you see that you have a bit more CPU to spend - where are you going to
put that?"
Response to Need for Speed: Most Wanted has been almost
uniformly positive from the core Vita fanbase - a fair reflection on a
game that is undoubtedly one of the most fun, playable racing games
available on any mobile platform. Criterion's choices in how to
re-factor a cutting-edge current-gen title for the handheld have, by and
large, paid off. Our analysis assets put into perspective the gulf
between the power of Vita and PS3 - at times, there's a sense that the
handheld hardware is kicking and screaming at the stress being exerted
on it - but overall it seems clear that the trades made were the right
ones and Most Wanted enjoys a well-earned reputation as one of the most
impressive, ambitious cross-platform games available for Sony's mobile
platform.
Devil May Cry was one of the first hack and slash-style action games
for the previous generation of console hardware when it launched on the
PS2, all the way back in 2001. It was a revelation, combining the
ridiculous lengthy combos and flashy special moves of Capcom's fighting
games with a gothic storyline, puzzles and exploration elements borrowed
from the Resident Evil series. Already four games in, this fifth title
reboots the series, completely redesigning main character Dante and
rewriting much of the storyline canon.
As the offspring of an unholy union between an angel and a demon,
Dante is a Nephilim that can travel between our world and Limbo – a
twisted version of our world from which demons secretly control us with
subliminal messaging and mood suppressive drugs hidden in the most
popular fizzy drinks. Tasked with taking down the demon leader, there's a
near-limitless horde of hellspawn standing between you and your final
goal. Thankfully you're well equipped for the task, with both melee and
ranged weapons that can give you the edge in any battle.
The arsenal is split into angelic and demonic types; angelic weapons
include a scythe and a pair of shuriken that deal damage to multiple
enemies, while demonic weapons – an axe and a pair of gauntlets – deal
massive damage one blow at a time. There's also a pair of trusty pistols
to keep your combos going when enemies fly out of reach, and a pair of
chains that can propel you towards a demon, or pull it towards you from
afar.
Although it’s been simplified from previous games in the series, the
style combo system combines each of these weapons into a single flow of
combat, letting you plough your way through increasingly tough waves of
enemies with the maximum amount of flair. At the outset, you're limited
to a few select combos, but as you progress, unlocking new weapons and
abilities, you'll soon have a lethal arsenal of moves to choose from –
although it will take a second play through to unlock everything.
All of Dante's moves are animated beautifully, and the game in
general has the unique appearance of an MC Escher drawing brought to
life. As you move between the real world and Limbo, the levels warp
around you, twisting into fractured alternate realities that move and
react to your presence. Although much of the game is spent in enclosed
spaces, the developers have given the larger platform-oriented sections
fantastic vistas to keep you gawping at the view – this is handy, as
these sections are slower paced and nowhere near as exciting as the
action sequences.
Accompanying the gothic visual style is an incredibly atmospheric
soundtrack, co-produced by dubstep DJs Noisia and death metal band
CombiChrist – the ominous basslines and melancholic tones that play
during exploration give way to thundering guitars and screaming vocals
when the action kicks off. It’s a combination that works incredibly well
given the source material, and the developers should be given praise
for letting two well respected musicians do what they do best.
Designed primarily for consoles, DMC has been ported to the PC with
higher resolution graphics and support for multi-monitor setups, but
there's little doubt that you'll have more fun playing on a joypad than
with a mouse and keyboard. Extended combos rely on precise button
presses and the action sequences rarely let up, meaning we felt more in
control with two analogue sticks in our hands.
It’s commonly said that in any form
of media, you’ve got to make the audience care. A bad reaction can be as
important as a good one, and only ambivalence is death. If that’s the
case, WRC 3 is bordering on having the plug pulled. Neither staggeringly
brilliant nor gut-wrenchingly terrible, development studio Milestone’s
third outing with the World Rally Championship license merely... is.
To WRC 3’s credit, it captures the spirit and technicalities of the
sport well. The emphasis is ostensibly on control and adaptability,
underlining real-world rally drivers’ improvisational driving skills.
The selection of locations reflects the full calendar for this year’s
events, and the heroes of the sport, including reigning champions
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, lend their names to the proceedings.
All the teams competing and the cars they’re using are included, plus a
wealth of other vehicles available in special modes. It feels involved
and accurate, and that alone can be applauded. But last year’s entry did
this too, so there’s little sense of improvement.
Unfortunately WRC 3 also makes the near-fatal mistake of presuming
that everyone playing the game will be well-versed in the rules and
culture of the World Rally Championship. There’s no real tutorial, nor
any explanation of what’s going on. This isn’t too much of a problem if
you want to jump into a quick race via the WRC Experience mode, where
you just hold down the accelerator and make the best of it, but in the
‘Road to Glory’ career challenge the lack of preparation is damning.
Something akin to WRC 2’s Rally Academy, which trained players how to
get the best out of the cars, would improve things no end. As it stands,
if you’re coming to the game entirely raw, you’ll wonder why your car
isn’t quite doing what you want it to and why a disembodied voice is
yelling out “right 5”, “left 3,” throughout your races.
The career mode itself is a bit of a conundrum. It’s more streamlined
than its predecessor, entirely focussed on placing you behind the wheel
of the world’s top rally cars and letting you prove yourself the best driver ever. It’s faster and a
touch more adrenaline-fuelled, or at least it’s least trying to be. Yet
unlike last year’s ‘Road to the WRC’ career, the absence of background
minutiae – hiring team staff and negotiations for sponsorship deals, for
example – makes it feel bare and stripped down.
Prior to each race, you’ll have the option to tweak cars in four
areas – front and rear suspension, gear, and body. Each section has
enough customisations to give seasoned fans a feeling of precision, but
aren’t too complex as to overwhelm novice players. For what it’s worth,
those changes can have a discernible effect on performance, most notably
the bounce on suspension. For the most part though, the handling of the
vehicles is poor. It’s all too easy to turn a drift into a spin, or
throw the back of the car out when attempting a corner, or any number of
other driving sins that would lose you your license. It ruins any hope
of living up to that goal of control and adaptability when any time you
need to adapt, you lack the necessary control to do so.
As a result, trying to win races with the lower tier vehicles is
always a chore, never a pleasure. You’re likely to have to make numerous
passes at any track before you conquer it, swearing ever more profane
obscenities at the screen as you do so. It doesn’t get much better when
you progress to the meatier, full-power WRC class cars, which feel too
light around the tracks for their power class. Track conditions don’t
seem to impact handling in any way – you’re as likely to lose control on
dry gravel as you are in slippery mud.
Also, and perhaps this will only bother more pedantic players,
there’s a general lack of organisation within the menus. It might seem
logical to have the freely selectable tracks sorted by ascending
difficulty or any other recognisable categorisation but they’re not.
They’re just there, waiting to be muddled through – a surprisingly apt
analogy for the game as a whole, actually.
One particularly nice touch is the inclusion of retro-styled races,
with classic cars from the 70s, 80s and other eras. It definitely adds a
nice vintage feel, a celebration of the sport as it approaches its 40th
anniversary, and automotive aficionados will get a kick from seeing the
beauties of yesteryear in their digital prime. Pure nostalgia is where
the enjoyment ends though, as handling is no better with the classic
motors than the contemporary ones. It’s no worse, either, but that’s not
saying much.
Visually, it’s all pleasant enough – PS3 marginally outperforms 360
in the looks department, and PC trumps both if you’ve a decent set-up –
but, as with the rest of the package, there’s nothing that astounds.
Mountain vistas and forest tracks are pretty but blur into one after a
while, and track-side spectators seem lifeless.
At times WRC 3’s sheer averageness almost feels deliberate. For every
good point it has, there’s a frustrating or bewildering counterpoint
eerily positioned to rob it of any potential greatness. Ultimately, it
simply doesn’t offer enough of an improvement on its forebears to
warrant much attention.
The Verdict
Handling aside, the biggest problem WRC 3
presents is that it doesn’t feel like it has any new ideas. From the
rewind feature made famous by Codemasters’ racing efforts to the general
lack of evolution for the series, it feels like a game made to satisfy
licensor demands. It’s a bland and perfunctory experience, one that
won’t offend anyone but is incapable of delighting anyone either.
"I can't believe this is happening again. It's just like Raccoon."
Leon S. Kennedy's reference to the first town overrun by zombies in
Capcom's long-running survival horror series is pregnant with meaning.
At face value, it's the eye-rolling incredulity of a zombie-thwacking
protagonist thrown into the familiar peril of a sequel: 'This again?
Really?' But as Kennedy and his new partner-in-uniform Helena Harper
creep their way through an abandoned American university, its creaking
halls resounding with the thunderclaps and rude flashes of a nighttime
electrical storm, at times it does feel just like Raccoon.
Rabid dogs smash through glass panes while bug-eyed cadavers turn
their heads to glare back at you over rotten shoulders, just as if
you've wandered back into Spencer Mansion's woodworm-infested corridors.
The fixed camera angles and boat-like character steering of the series'
formative days have been consigned to history. Nevertheless, the
scenery in these early stages of Resident Evil 6 - from the set dressing
to the instant deaths to the quicktime events - is pure Shinji Mikami -
even if the gifted designer is long gone.
So, in this moment, Kennedy is also acting as Capcom's mouthpiece,
whispering reassurances in our ears. For all its respectable sales,
Resident Evil 5 found few lovers. And with the series lacking a
visionary to replace Mikami, the comment is part statement of intent,
part hopeful reassurance from the Japanese developer: We've still got
it. It's just like Raccoon.
And God, the effort they've gone to. Four expansive, intertwining
campaigns, each divided into five 60-odd minute-long chapters. A return
of the series' best-known protagonists, paired off into
co-op-facilitating duos. Scores of different zombie types to stomp and
dismember; hundreds of collectibles to gather; thousands of skill points
to harvest and funnel into an array of performance-enhancing upgrades -
the game's generous stuffing is packed tight.
There's even a seasoning of fashionable multiplayer invention layered
on top, the game momentarily pairing players of different campaigns at
key points where their stories cross paths. Then, complete a campaign
and you unlock a Left 4 Dead-style Agent Hunt mode, in which you can
dive into another player's game and hunt them as a zombie.
The storyline, in bulk at least, feels like four triple-A games
tacked together, each with its own distinct interface, each with its own
flavour, each riffing on a different aspect of Resident Evil's past.
Over its course you fly planes, dodge trains and drive automobiles. This
is Resident Evil on a seemingly infinite budget, no idea too expensive,
no whim beyond scope. The swollen statistics even spill out of the game
and into its creation, which called upon over 600 internal and external
staff to deliver it ahead of schedule.
It's a giant, cumbersome beast - possibly the largest and longest
action game in history - and its heft dares you to talk about anything
other than the sheer effort that went into its construction. It's an
Egyptian pyramid of a game (no doubt with the tired spirits of its
builders buried inside).
And yet when you get down to it, Resident Evil 6 is not much like Raccoon at all.
Leon's campaign is the closest we get to the series' survival
horror roots - albeit funnelled through Uncharted's linear corridor
structure and set-piecing du jour. His story sees you
bludgeoning your way through subways, scrambling over wire fences and
limping through burning streets. The game is still about the horror of
managing a scarcity of resources - never use a bullet when a sharp elbow
will do - but gone is the suitcase-rearranging item management (even if
the staccato rhythms of diving in and out of menus to prepare each shot
remain, thanks to the fiddly gun selection). Now you can carry as much
as you like and with a breakable crate every ten steps - not to mention
item drops from decapitated zombies - you're rarely at a loss for
ammunition.
The camera hovers over your shoulder and shooting demands precision.
Aim down the sights and the tight zoom affords accuracy at the cost of
peripheral vision: a delicate trade-off. Capcom generously includes a
variety of options for customising the feel of the game; for those who
find the camera twitchy and the objective point markers invasive, the
pace can be slowed, laser targeting introduced and the extraneous
head-up display switched off to create a more orthodox experience.
Away from tradition, your health bar is divided into notches and
you're knocked to the ground each time a section is emptied, where you
can slide around on your back shooting upwards at your attacker. Find
your health bar emptied completely and you must either wait for your
teammate to revive you, or blearily retire beneath a nearby desk or into
a cranny and pray no monster notices as you wait 30 seconds for your
health bar to repair.
Resident Evil's herb system, in which pot plants can be scavenged
and combined to create restorative pills, has been overhauled and
streamlined; you can gulp down pills with taps of a button during play.
At the close of each chapter you're awarded an array of medals for your
various in-game accomplishments, while any skill points you've accrued
can be spent on unlocking and equipping up to three abilities, improving
your melee strength, for example, or reducing the time it takes to
reload a weapon.
While the controls are consistent across all four of the campaigns,
it's during Leon's story that the game comes closest to the series'
zenith, Resident Evil 4, requiring the odd moment of crowd control as a
herd of zombies rounds on you. But when you peel back the exquisite
detail and set dressing, the level design offers little more than a long
winding ghost train of a corridor, robbing these flashes of their
potency: you can always just sprint to the next checkpoint. There's
rarely the space to become truly overwhelmed and the game lacks the
width for exploration off the beaten track.
This problem is compounded by the zombies themselves - known here as
the J'avo. Where the fourth game induces panic through a mob of
unpredictability - all sporadic bursts of speed and lunging sidestep
dodges - the J'avo do little to distinguish themselves from the cultural
throng of undead, while their AI behaviour demands little in the way of
strategy. There may be the occasional sprouting - a tentacle through
the neck here, a maggot-like arm protrusion there - but the horror is
over-familiar. There's none of the hick fear engendered by the red-eye
glare and pitchforks of Los Ganados. Even Resident Evil 5's African
monsters carried an edge of accidental racism. The J'avo are merely
offensively bland.
Leon's story is the strongest of the initial set. Chris Redfield's
campaign is categorically the worst, all sense of horror and pacing
removed (a violin glissando cannot accentuate terror if there's no
terror there in the first place) to leave a second-rate, third-person
sprint interrupted by endless shootouts with gun-toting grunts and
idiotic cut-scene dialogue. It's here that you find most of the game's
set-piece boss fights - both with hulking mutated beings and attack
choppers - but despite Redfield's newfound ability to duck and strafe,
this quarter of the game is a slog.
Jake Muller's campaign is a little improved, choosing Resident Evil
3 for its inspiration as you flee an Ustanak that bears more than a
passing resemblance to Nemesis, your pursuer in that game. But it rarely
delights, with awkward boss encounters that outstay their welcome and
tedious short-hop journeys to link those dramas. At least Sherry
Birkin's character is a welcome addition here, her vulnerability in
co-op adding a much-needed change in tone to a wider story that's as
dull as it is one-note.
But it's Ada Wong's campaign - unlocked only when you have completed
the first three - that brings the most diverse flavour. Hookshot in
hand, antagonist Wong's stealth creep through her chapters is punctuated
by a series of ingenious puzzles that offer reminders of just how much
the series has moved away from its roots in recent years. Her dry quips
are a welcome change after Kennedy's sulky observations, Redfield's
meathead tantrums and Muller's swagger and petulance, while it's
refreshing to play without an accomplice in tow to open each door or
hoist you onto every ledge. That Wong's campaign is tucked away at the
tail end of the game is a shame, as it counterbalances the
sub-mediocrity of Redfield's missions and the arch-blandness of Jake's.
Just like Raccoon, then? A tribute act to Resident Evil, this
generous homage nevertheless lacks authenticity, warmth and bite. It's inspired by rather than inspired - the damning truth that haunts every impersonator.
The game represents a tremendous amount of effort and investment
and, for those impressed by such things, Resident Evil 6 may delight.
But all the effort in the world won't make up for a lack of vision. This
game is blind to imagination and focus. Capcom's uncertainty about the
series' identity post-Mikami (and post-Uncharted) is hardcoded into its
structure: four campaigns offering different, flawed expressions of that
potential. And the inevitable price for this wavering is a lack of
coherence. Resident Evil 6 is an unwieldy tribute to the series' past,
an uneven expression of its present and an unwelcome indication of its
future.
