An Entree to Half-life Discussion
June 17th, 2009
I’ve recently been intensively playing a number of games which I’m yet to have discussed yet, two of those include Half-life and Half-life 2. I’ve got a bundle of opinions on the series which I’ll get to later. For now though I just thought that I’d text dump this short story from Wikipedia that I found when doing some recent research on the series. I’m sure you’ll find this drama rather interesting if you hadn’t heard of it already.
“Half-Life 2 was merely a rumor until a strong impression at E3 in May 2003 launched it into high levels of hype, where it won several awards for best in show. It had a release date of September 2003, but was delayed. This pushing back of HL2’s release date came in the wake of the cracking of Valve’s internal network,[51] through a null session connection to Tangis which was hosted in Valve’s network and a subsequent upload of an ASP shell, resulting in the leak of the game’s source code and many other files including maps, models and a playable early version of Half-Life Source and Counter-Strike Source in early September 2003.[52] On October 2, 2003, Valve CEO Gabe Newell publicly explained in the HalfLife2.net forums the events that Valve experienced around the time of the leak, and requested users to track down the perpetrators if possible.
In June 2004, Valve Software announced in a press release that the FBI had arrested several people suspected of involvement in the source code leak.[53] Valve claimed the game had been leaked by a German black-hat hacker named Axel Gembe. Gembe later contacted Newell through e-mail (also providing an unreleased document planning the E3 events). Gembe was led into believing that Valve wanted to employ him as an in-house security auditor. He was to be offered a flight to the USA and was to be arrested on arrival by the FBI. When the German government became aware of the plan, Gembe was arrested in Germany instead, and put on trial for the leak as well as other computer crimes in November 2006, such as the creation of Agobot, a highly successful trojan which harvested users’ data.[54][55][56]
At the trial in November 2006 in Germany, Gembe was sentenced to two years’ probation. In imposing the sentence, the judge took into account such factors as Gembe’s difficult childhood and the fact that he was taking steps to improve his situation.[57]”
Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #4 (Conclusion)
June 15th, 2009
Close to 8000 words later, Steve and I are finally wrapping up are group discussion on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. This final installment has been slow off the blocks since I accidentally wiped my save file when switching off the game while saving. It was a foolish move, I admit. If you take anything away today, besides are concluding thoughts, be sure to remember to follow those warnings about turning the power off while saving.
It’s been a good run and I’d like to thank Steve for participating with my on this little experiment. Be sure to take a squiz at his blog Raptured Reality. Hopefully we can do this again sometime.
Need a refresher?
Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #3
Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #2
Cross Blog Dialogue: GTA: Chinatown Wars #1
—
Daniel: That’s a great summary of Chinatown Wars, very fitting. It is this stop gap in the franchise that sucks everything together and spits it out in a new and interesting way. Chinatown Wars also seems like the ideal title in the series for any newbie looking to become acquainted with the franchise as a whole. The gun club is just opposite the airport (far right hand side of the map) by the main road.
The end game is actually quite good, there’s a series of missions that build up to an exciting conclusion and the story actually ends on a positive note; the bastards get what’s coming to them – all of them. Huang gets a lead and proceeds to chase down the suspects, once he narrows it down, the game features a series of set pieces that act as boss battles. Kicks the game off on a high note. So I was rather impressed with how the game concluded.
GTA: Chinatown Wars is a contemporary incarnation of previous games and plays accordingly. It’d be fair to speculate that the framework for the original titles was built to avoid rendering the large city in 3D, if that’s the case, Chinatown Wars realizes this design and retools it. Having the city rendered in 3D makes the game feel relateable to GTAIII onwards, yet since the camera remains overhead, the feel of the original games is also present. It’s an game that balances the feel of both varieties in limbo, metaphorically represented by the camera both is halfway between overhead and low. The latter allowing the 3D models to stand out, the former to give a pseudo 2D appearance. As we’ve discussed, it’s likewise for the mechanics; a mix and match of previous titles.
What the game does differently or completely new from the previous games is what gives the title a unique identity and strengthens it as a whole. The flashy graphical style is the epitome of all this. It’s a style of it’s own that is unique to this installment. The driving mechanics are tweaked and feel inspired by other games but unique in it’s own right due to the slight assistance it provides. The narrative too, it’s lite and full of jokes yet presented in a series of transitioning renders with text. Finally, the DS interface is what marries it all together and individualizes the title more than anything else.
The feeling is therefore a combination of those from the prior games. The game feels like a huge world of mayhem contained within such a concentrated space. The new graphical flair makes the on-screen drama visually stunning, it’s a greater feast to the eyes giving the intensity of chase sequences a unique exuberance. The camera allows you to witness everything in close proximity, emphasizing the contained feel of the game. The camera locks the player away from the action. This feels a little constricting but serves to remind the player that this is indeed a portable title and there are restraints imposed. It’s not a bad thing, but it comes with the property and instills any feelings attributed to the hardware. Overall, GTA:Chinatown Wars feels like a culmination of clever concepts wrapped in a visually attractive package uniquely geared for portable play. What’s your final take?
—
Steven: My final take is a fairly obvious one given the things I have said in our previous exchanges; GTA: Chinatown Wars is an impressive game both in the technical achievements Rockstar Leeds managed, as well as how fun and exciting it can be given the completely different platform it is on. Before playing it, I did not think a Grand Theft Auto title could work on the DS and it was nice to be proven wrong. Before playing it, I didn’t know what to expect and as a result, I had no expectations going into the title. I came out of it surprised, impressed and with an even deeper level of respect for Rockstar as a whole for doing what they did with the game.
Chinatown Wars is to me, as I’ve mentioned before, a summary of the entire franchise, with Rockstar using it to make a clear and concise example of what they believe GTA is about. They mixed and matched various elements of the series to demonstrate the core of the franchise whilst also proving that it had legs, that it was open to experimentation. You could almost call it Grand Theft Auto: Greatest Hits.
Sure, not everything was as enjoyable as it could have been, with my main gripe being the story and how irrelevant it was. Characters were boring, their dialogue more so and all they were useful for was providing my next mission. Even the end of the game, while fun to play, wasn’t all that compelling (I guess we disagree there). The ending was predictable and I totally saw it coming. The story just didn’t seem to be a priority this time around, which is disappointing for me after seeing what they attempted with GTA IV. That said, it does not detract from the experience at all. Sure, it may be disappointing, but you soon forget about it once the actual missions start thanks to the unique and varied objectives we’ve already alluded to. Taking full advantage of the DS’s features proved to be beneficial to the game overall and I sincerely hope that from now on, all GTA games contain the same level of variety that Chinatown Wars does.
Overall, I am happy to have played this game and I’m eager to see where Rockstar take the franchise next. It begins with the second downloadable episode for GTA IV, The Ballad of Gay Tony, and no doubt I will have some opinions on it once I’ve played it. Beyond that, I’m keen to know if they keep offering different perspectives within Liberty City, or whether they choose to go in another direction again. I’d also like to see another DS game in the future, though after the lack of buzz surrounding the title and the lackluster sales, I’d understand if that wish doesn’t come true. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for participating in this exchange as well as sharing the experience with me. It was fun and I hope you enjoyed it too. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.
The Torturous Taste of a Magnificent Neo-Retro Light Show (Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved)
June 12th, 2009
Making the Selling Point
Bizarre Creations sparked it’s own mini-renaissance of the arena shooter a few years back with their Xbox Live Arcade and PC hit Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. I played the Steam version on PC recently with an Xbox 360 pad hooked up and it’s clear to see why this game caused such a phenomena among the enthusiast community at the time. Geometry Wars was one of the first ground-breaking “neo-retro” games and its influence over this old-meets-new convergence can’t be understated. Even on Xbox Live Arcade alone, it’d be fair to say that Geometry Wars set the precedence for Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions and Space Invaders Extreme, among a wide range of similar revivals.
Geometry Wars was such an prominent flag bearer for neo-retro-themed games for two key reasons. The first is for visual appeal which is full of bright, fluorescent colours ripped straight from the 80s; the rise of arcade culture. This colour palette mixed with the gaudy likeness to fluorescent lighting is visually indicative of the era, and therefore resonates. The visuals provide the initial grab for attention, it’s the surface level of success which is only exacerbated by the way the lights explode on screen with magnificent finesse.
The second element is the feel. So once a player is drawn into the bright lights, the gameplay reels them in for the catch. This is achieved by balancing the familiar elements (retro) with the fluidity of modern design and technology (neo).
The premise itself is directly ripped from the arcades – you’re locked in a contained field and need to thwart off an increasingly intense amount of beasties to increase your score. Consistentcy is rewarded with multipliers, and you are provided with a handful of lives and bombs, the latter of which acts as the panic button, clearing all geometric drones on screen. The simplicity of design and emphasis on high score tallies harken back to arcade-style play.
The technology adds a twist by allowing the game to render massive swarms of enemies on screen at any given time, all dancing to their own attack patterns. The more shapes on screen, the greater intensity of the game. Geometry Wars constantly dips in and out of scripted moments of intensity where armies of ships will suddenly spawn and rapidly enclose on your position. This design (death by massive spawns) concentrates the intensity of the game into controlled instances and delivers these moments of overdose in a way that effectively triggers euphoria in the player’s consciousness.
The combination of a uniquely apt aesthetic mixed with gameplay that constantly provides huge hits of flavour, forms Geometry Wars‘ provocative selling point.
Breaking the Skill Tester
My main gripe with the game is that it all essentially amounts to an endurance test of who can withstand the painful flashes of coloured lights for the longest possible time. As you play Geometry Wars, the player’s field of concentration continually shrinks as the more objects on screen, the less mentally able the player is to track each individual unit. Therefore the player has no choice but to concentrate on their immediate surroundings, since the closest units obviously pose the greatest threats. The problem with Geometry Wars is that it becomes difficult to concentrate on the limited amount of space surrounding your ship as the extravagant explosions from neighbouring ships act to hinder and distract the player’s vision.
While I admire Geometry Wars for the reasons listed above, the jarring intensity of on-screen action lessens Geometry Wars credibility as an arcade skill tester and I feel betrayed because of it.
This mark of betrayal forces me to take the side that Geometry Wars is nothing but a lustrous gimmick, which is usually the opposing argument for neo-retro games of this vein. The real test of Geometry Wars is who wins out in this game of visual torture, so I’d like to end on this sour note by referencing a video that summarises the Geometry Wars experience.
(NB: This footage may be shocking to some viewers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZtGneMdVIQWelcome to Daniel Primed, my self-titled games analysis blog and the online supplement to Adventures in Games Analysis.
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