Just Cause 2 Demo: It was a holy shaking earthquake and you were stuck up the tree

Never getting to play the first and somewhat intrigued at screenshots for the second, Just Cause 2 from Eidos and published by, of all companies, Square-Enix is due out March 23rd.  Not as disappointing or typical as most other demos tend to be, JC2 is a 3rd person delight at times, and at others a frustration and copycat of another famous series. 

The first installment was released late 2006, a year after it’s direct predecessor, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction where the gameplay is sandbox style.  And ok, Mercs was just a mimic of GTA but the changes made it worthy to separate the two games.  Where GTA focused on driving and the city, Mercs focused on destruction and the country.  JC is very similar to Mercs.  Very.  And with this game the differences between Mercs and JC aren’t enough to separate the two.  Lots of explosions, vehicular manslaughter, and equipment air drops, not to be confused with log drops, are all quite fun the first, second or third time through or get old just as fast. 

If you’ve never played GTA, Mercs, or JC1, the concept is quite simple.  Take on some missions while the rest of the world is open to destroy or just breeze around in lusciously stolen vehicles and take in some various scenery.  In JC2, you are a black market merc aiding in an overthrown of an evil dictator on an island in Southeast Asia.  And the way in which any evil dictator is overthrown in the modern world is to create random chaos.  And why?  Just Cause.  Yep.  Tagline. 

What JC does really well, better than Mercs or GTA, is entrancing the player with beautiful graphics in the world you explore.  Where the console versions may be stuck at a set resolution, the PC version can be forced to FarCry or Crysis levels of beauty.  Exploring the world can be done at quick rates without vehicles with the addition of a grappling hook in JC2.  This allows you to grab trees, buildings, vehicles or even the ground and zoom quite quickly from here to there like Curious George on speed.  Base jumping is made easy with an unlimited amount of parachutes making falling out helicopters and Boeing 737s a breeze.  So the exploration and transportation is done well. 

What isn’t done as well is the aiming system.  Precision aiming can be a bit of a pain on the fly as well as the AI aiming that gets increasingly accurate as time progresses after initiating a battle.  When things are pulled off to your liking they do look amazing as the destruction system is somewhat a step up from most action games.  Vehicles lose parts and pieces, buildings crumble, and Bob working the fruit stand seems to not mind you running over his business time and time again.  Quest progression does seem a bit random and listless but might be overshadowed by the open world environment.  Control of some of the vehicles is sometimes difficult to grasp, ie the piper cub planes, but what is interesting is the responsiveness of the vehicle chosen and where you are using that vehicle does yield a nice change.  For example, riding on a sport bike on the streets is pretty easy to accomplish but once you take it offroad, the bike realistically feels sloppy and almost uncontrollable. 

Just Cause 2 was a very fun game to try, the demo allowing for anything available in the full game being at your fingertips within a 30 minute time period.  If you enjoyed GTA, Mercs, or JC1, Just Cause 2 deserves you to try at least the demo.  As for forking over the cash for the full game, you would have to really love the sandbox environment genre or not have spent money on any of the others before it as you can attain the joy of open world mercenary work by playing some of the older games for a cheaper price or waiting for one of those special Steam clearance weekends.  Sorry Rico.

 

 

The Middle East – The Darkest Side

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 + Alien vs. Predator Multiplayer Demos: Opinions were like kittens; I was giving them away.

After a quick couple of downloads and plenty of the internets to research the pieces, Alien versus Predator and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are just on the horizon for upcoming possible purchases.  So without further delay here’s a quick review of the multiplay demos for AvP and BBC2 (not to be confused with your friends over the pond).

There’s some expectations when making a sequel and BBC2 took time to listen to fans of the first making changes while including more of what worked in the first.  Comparisons to MW2 make for easier understanding so brace yourself.  From EA and DICE, BBC2 isn’t a carbon copy of FPSers.  There are some things that set it apart and each aspect holds some weight much like Michael Moore. 

Past Battlefield games were known for their multiplayer experience and I can easily see how this release will be another.  First, the map sizes are exceptionally big and designed a little bit differently than most other FPSers.  The graphics don’t skimp but are not the best out there.  They do however work well with the map sizes and large player caps even if it’s no where near MAG’s 256 number.  The designs are meant for the game types they are played on, namely conquer the territories.  Since the battles are aimed to be progressive, the maps therefore feel like a battlefield and not a random scattering of people running across the same ground in all directions. 

Vehicles are abound and a vital portion to what works well with the Battlefield series.  Controlling them is also easier than BC1 and makes for less issues of poor drivers or bugginess unlike Orkin commercials.  A copycat MW system for self progression is used allowing you to choose from 4 main classes and customizing each as experience points are gained.  I guess this is the new standard for all FPS multiplayer games now to keep people coming back for more; just be sure that if you are coming back for more you put in some more time on that treadmill too. 

The biggest piece of this digital pie is the destruction system used.  What that means is buildings, the environment, vehicles, and just about everything else are destructible by the side effects of warfare.  It is beautifully done and makes for an enjoyable ride while romping through the countrysides.  It is unlike any other FPSer around so take soak it in while it’s around.  The destruction system and vehicles separate BC2 from MW2 because the pacing and feel of each appeal to different playstyles which can exist simultaneously in a person but it may take that special kind of person to find a big place in that person’s heart for both MW2 and BC2.  That special someone with a big wallet. 

I am going to guess that the single player is quite similar to the first installment which was pretty much the Blue Collar Comedy tour meets Ernest joins the military: fart jokes galore.  This leads to a story that a bit difficult to stomach more than once and is probably completed quite quickly, but these are just guesses using past experiences with EA.  Does it all add up to a game worth purchasing now?  If you are very into multiplay, then I could imagine an easy purchase.  If you are going to bank on a worthy single player game too I’d save my cash for something a little darker?…

   

Working the opposite darker corner of the street of BBC is the retro release with an updated look: Aliens vs Predator.  Straight back an entire decade since AvP first knocked on your door, wet from the rain in 1999, you had an opportunity to accept AvP into your house to warm itself by the fire.   Requiring a PC at the time and two decades after the release of its original movie, AvP was quite unique in its single player game allowing you to choose a marine, alien or our blessed roommate predator.  Besides a minor flaw of a missing save feature in the single player game, AvP was a great release putting you in the shoes of a scared marine with the one and only motion sensor noise noise that can still stir up a nightmare or two when you hear it.     

Even after a decade has passed, I can still remember the original AvP and how difficult it was to transition easily between the 3 characters and their controls.  And this is the first difficulty in the latest release of AvP.  Porting to consoles as well as PC, jamming all the possible controls onto a controller is a bit difficult as well as being the person trying to remember them all.  More importantly is that the multiplayer portion has no pizzaz or more specifically any reason at all to want to play the multiplayer portion.  After sitting through a difficult system of joining a multiplayer game, most of the action requires a person to run around madly until an opposing player is found in which you attempt to close the distance or increase it depending on what character you have chosen.  The running gives the feel of the ice skating smoothness instead of actual running, but this is a difficulty with many multiplayer games.  Beyond that attacking seems a bit awkward and team play is just a random consequence of choosing the same race as others. 

What is hopeful is that the single player, updated and revamped, should still make for an enjoyable game.  The concept is pretty simple, emulate the movies as much as possible and let the fear ensue.  Where previous fear based games such as Doom, Resident Evil, or F.E.A.R. need you to get entranced with the game itself before the fear can result, AvP only requires you to have watched the movies alone at 3 am with the spooky sounds of a furnace to watch them with you.  The fear then comes naturally rushing back and welcomes you with bead projects, puppy dog eyes, and internet sites devoted to itself.  I can not reason with a full price tag to go along with a re-release game as well as a lacking multiplayer portion so bide some time and wait for Steam to chop the $$$$$$’s down but keep this release in your back pocket for a rainy day later this year.

 

Modest Mouse – Out of Gas

Mass Effect 2: But as she shook your hand, she stole your man, it was done so swift it had to be a plan

Getting a present a couple months after the holiday season, especially when your birthday is in the later half of the year makes a person feel real special.  Mass Effect 2 from Bioware delivers that oh so sweet feeling that doesn’t come around too often with the additional surprise being it’s so early in the year. The size of the joy ME2 can bring is dependant on something that few sequels care to worry about, but in the case of ME2 creates a stepping stone for any wannabe series to come.  But before all of that, lets get deep into the vastness that is Mass Effect 2.

It has been three years since the first release so comparisons are necessary in nature but overall, ME2 is a large improvement over the first.  The final product is more slick and polished much like Sean Connery has become with time and an equal happy memory to dwell on for years to come.  And what makes all of this possible?  Nothing as large as some controversial issues or groundbreaking ideas even though there are a couple of each.  They are not the focus.  And no, not the large thrills you get while watching the World Series of Poker repeats on ESPN Classics or the highlight reels from Millionaire Matchmaker and the Bad Girls Club on REALtv.  Those are close but with ME2 it’s truly just a beautiful mixture of roleplaying, story, characters, graphics, music, and gameplay or as the lapers say, everything you want out of a game.

Mass Effect 2 takes place in 2183 out among the depths of space.  The story is a direct continuation of the first game transitioning with little questions other than those intentionally put there.  You are put in charge of a crew and a ship and are asked to put together an elite squad who are scattered throughout the universe each with unique abilities to solve a threat to all of humanity.  If you happened to have played through the entire first Mass Effect, you can import your character with all your previous choices made which in turn affects the 2nd’s plot and characters.  Bioware’s trademark dialogue choices are abound as you interact with those old and new giving you the chance to be a true renegade or a goody two shoes.  Added to this version are opportunities to enforce extreme instances of painful force or saving grace simply by hitting the appropriate button during dialogue cutscenes.   

With all the dialogue choices it is apparent that Mass Effect 2 is a roleplaying game which gives some a bad feeling to start but the flip side is the over the shoulder 3rd person combat.  The combat improvements over the first installment are all shining examples of a company listening to their fanbase.  The controls are easier to handle with squadmate commands and abilities and layouts of environments make more sense tactically even though they are obvious indicators of incoming fights on occasion.  The fighting itself is tougher than ME1 requiring you to stay as low as much as possible, timing and taking good shots, and playing the angles with your group.  A new addition is the attribute of abilities to specific classes such as special ammunition, biotic and tech abilities, and military type abilities such as increased shields or a cloaking device.  Each additional character is assigned a character class that is unique in weaponry and abilities and is larger in number than ME1.  There is some building on technical attributes such as specific ammo working well on robotic enemies and also working well on shields, but the combinations and best use matches are at times tough to predict with regards to group makeup or even on the fly with changing combat conditions.  All of this makes you forget about your missing pet Wookie.     

Equipment, armor, and upgrades are under a completely revised system making full use of resources and credits.  The idea of credits in the first was a complete waste if you scoured the universe for upgrades in turn not needing to spend a single one, but in this version credits become essential for needed equipment upgrades, ship fuel, and probes used to gain resources necessary to create upgrades.  The searching of planets with probes is the only real downfall of the game as the pace and repetitiveness is aggravating if not downright headshakingly mind numbing.  But even this is a step up from the driving of the survey vehicle over gigantic terrain in the first. 

The characters in ME2 are quite diverse and with much more personality than those Hadouken guys of Street Fighter. Each are vital help in your endgame mission to save humanity as well as possible choices for an out of this world love interest.  Where the first installment would allow you to completely ignore some characters the entire game, ME2 has specific missions for each character to gain their loyalty and unlock additional abilities.  This is important as the final outcome is judged on the loyalty gained before undertaking the endgame missions.  And with all of the different missions it becomes apparent quickly that no 2 missions in ME2 feel repetitious in design unlike most of the additional side quests of ME1.  Many of the locations throughout the universe are quite stunning visually with music to match inside and outside of combat.  Specific city locations are much more simple in layout and require a lot less travel time and loading screens to get to where you need to go.  

Most importantly, the story with the character development, new and old included, is by far the biggest highlight for the game.  This aspect is where this series makes others shameful to consider sequels and will make a few companies stare longingly into Bioware’s eyes wondering how they got so cute.  As a standalone game for someone that did not play the first my enthusiasm may be hard to comprehend even if most of the previous highlights are explained in this game.  But the intertwining of both games and their storyline with its character presentation and evolution in the second is done even better than most movie sequels have ever been able to accomplish save for maybe Rambo or Land Before Time.  A nice bonus is the new plot character who rivals the cigarette smoking man from X-Files.  He is played by actor Martin Sheen doing one of the best voice acting jobs since the narrator of the Fallout series or any character in Resident Evil 1.  And not to be overshadowed by Martin’s spectacular job, the rest of the voice acting is top notch even if some of the facial expressions during dialogue scenes don’t do the best job conveying emotions.

In theory, RPG fans will automatically pick this title up without batting an eye while others may be slightly apprehensive.  But after playing through this and the first game, it is easy to see that fans of action movies or games or sci-fi in general will find a place on the dusty trophy shelf for Mass Effect 2.  Without playing the first there is still enough meaty goodness within this game for anyone as long as you are a bit on the mature side with the snap violence that even the dialogue can bring.  With the amazing storyline, gameplay, characters, etc, Mass Effect 2 is a game you’ll not regret later in life.  So with the dry year of 2009, start off 2010 right with all your extra saved cash on Mass Effect 2.

Rating: {9.5}

Whodini – Friends