What I'm Playing 29/04/12

It has been a while since my last update to the plethora of games that lay before me incomplete. So I thought it was about time that I gave a little insight to the laundry list of games I aim to complete relatively soon.

First up is the latest instalment to the Elder Scrolls Franchise, yup Skyrim. Although it has been out for several months I haven't quite mustered up the courage to plunder the depths,dungeons and ditches of Skyrim. It might be a bit too late to capture the inital excitement of setting up my own little trading business in alchemy but hopefully the DLC will bring a breath of fresh air and entice me once more.

Next up is yet another popular RPG. I have recently bought The Witcher 2 and I am totally engrossed in the story. I feel it is definitely one of the few games you can truly believe the hype with. Every choice has its consequences and you are pulled between tough choices along the way. I really look forward to delving right in and see how dark the story can be.

Slowly dragging myself away from RPGs with japanese grindfest may not be the best idea but the allure of another "Warriors" game is just too great. On the plate this time around is the ever so appetising Warriors Orochi 3. I personally feel that these games combine the best from Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors without compromising either playstyle. With a step up in story and a lot more characters I have found myself dedicating far too much time to the slaughtering of thousands of snake like warriors.

I've also got Armored Core on back up in case the countless hordes of warriors doesn't quite satisfy my need to grind. This is where I can indulge in even more grinding and with endless customisation to boot. So far ACV is the best looking in the series and has loads of online possibilities from creating a clan of Mecha-Warriors to help in your missions or fight 5v5 in an all out robo-war.

Next up is Skullgirls, a charming fighter from Reverge Labs. As it is only an arcade title you wouldn't expect the game to have such a massive impact on what I have been playing but it has and in the best of ways at that. I cannot tell you how much fun I have had with the game, it is best played with friends but if you can convince them to buy it is a lot of fun. With slick visuals and a unique cast it has been a delight to lose countless hours in first to 50s and play in to the wee hours of the night. 

And finally the newest edition to the collection is The Walking Dead. The game truly sticks to the feel and art of the comics, with interesting dialogue and truly human decisions it begs for countless play throughs. Although I can't give much insight as of yet I can't wait to fire it back up and start to develop my own zombie survival plan.

So that is the long and short of what I am really playing just now but as with any gamer there is even more anxiously fighting for some screen time in my pile of shame. I guess they might just have to wait a little longer.

Generation Lost

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is the latest in the “Ultimate Ninja” series in the Naruto game franchise. Much like the others the game collects a vast cast from all over the naruto manga and pits them against each other to see who truly is the ultimate ninja and this time it comes with a twist. Generations gathers both the old, the young and even the alternate versions of Naruto’s foes, friends and ancestry all in one large roster.

With a story that spans almost 10 years the game does a great job of summing up the highlights of the Naruto manga in 11 different storylines. This starts with a young, fresh faced Naruto graduating as a ninja and progresses through the story at an alarming pace to the more recent stories such as the Kage Summit. Not only does the game tell the story of Naruto but it also has 8 other campaigns based off other members of the cast including Itachi Uchiha, Zabuza, Kakashi and Killer Bee. With such a large cast and extensive back catalogue of story the developers have been hard pressed to squeeze in such an elaborate story all in one game, which unfortunately leaves the story feeling a bit hollow and rushed at times. That being said other sections of the story have been elaborated on with new anime and different perspectives on the story that have never been seen before.

The game itself struggles to hold down multiple game modes with very little in the way of “extras” beyond different tournaments and a very basic survival mode. While the button system remains largely unchanged the game’s mechanics feel more polished and smoother than its previous iteration. This means that there is still only one dedicated attack button and the others are dedicated to projectiles, charka concentration, assists, items and substitution jutsu.

Although all this polish and shiny new story points have came at a price, there is no longer the RPG like game play between missions nor is there much replay value to the story unlike the previous games in which you had the opportunity to replay missions for extra money and rewards. The online was rather weak too and every player I faced seemed to lag dramatically, which resulted in giving it a miss for the rest of the time I played the game.

As with every Naruto game the extras are all there. They range from the rather insignificant titles you can give yourself, extra images and substitutions that differ from the standard log as well as a customisable item set for battle. In comparison to its predecessors Generations is again lacking.

Although I greatly enjoyed playing Naruto there is little to no replay value to be found. If you are a fan of the series you will love it and there are some quirky sections I won’t spoil but for the majority of those who don’t divulge in weekly readings of the anime and don’t care too much about the battle between Sage Naruto and Rasengan Naruto it might be best to look at the older games and pick up The Broken Bond or Rise of a Ninja.

6 tails out of 10.

Resident Evil: Operation Left for Dead

Operation Raccoon City is the latest instalment in the Resident Evil universe. Many of us have grown up with the original clunky stop and shoot controls of the survival horror genre that Resident Evil built its foundations on. Many players have grown to expect a certain standard from the series, although over the years many people like the core games have strayed from the mainstream into their own territory and this title is no different. Operation Raccoon City is the first and hopefully the last squad based shooter in the franchise.

The game takes place during the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3 with you operating on the other side of the story. The game starts with you being tasked to prevent the spread of the T-Virus and exterminate Dr. Birkin, the majority of Resident Evil enthusiasts know where this leads so I’ll spare you the details. In short, zombie apocalypse once again ensues. As part of the Umbrella Secret Service you need to cover up any involvement of the ludicrously evil organisation and attempt to calm a rogue tyrant. Unfortunately the story is rather short and lacks any real depth or character development but there are some points where you get to see what happened on the other side of things when the outbreak occurred in the old games.

I don’t quite understand how metallic shades of blue can quite constitute an art style but Capcom appear to be really pushing this envelope in ORC. The art is hard to make out amongst the poor lighting and overbearing shades of black, even the whole team are kitted out as some sort of fetish group’s big day out. Every character has their own wonderfully Matrix-esque gas masked ensemble that seems highly inappropriate for a covert mission as amongst a city of survivors and zombies they stick out like gimps in the apocalypse. The series brings very little ingenuity to the already established characters of the Resident Evil series and the extent of the monster design is rather bland.

The gameplay should be where this game flourishes Can you see “should” carefully placed in that sentence? Good. The game itself isn’t particularly bad but feels like a very weak rendition of Left 4 Dead crossed with Clive Barker’s Jericho (there’s another bondage based game we would all rather forget). You play as 1 of four members in a team and fight your way through several levels in an attempt to kill zombies. As for controls the game plays very similar to nearly every other 3rd person shooter with a few twists for each character’s specific power. These powers are special to each class of character and tend to be rather generic with armour, detection and invisibility type traits.

The worst part about the game is the computer AI for your teammates. They bring a new definition to dead weight as on many occasions they joined the ranks of the living dead and proceeded to slabber intently as they lumbered after me and then they got infected. On several occasions they could be found rubbing up and down against door frames or blocking the only exit to the room in an attempt to act as some form of edible zombie blockade. This difficult hurdle can be overcome with the addition of friends online but without a full team of 4 you will have to be accompanied by the wonderfully stupid AI. The best analogy for them I have managed to concoct was that of comparing them to a bunch of children juiced up on red bull and blue smarties, they constantly run around you each individually begging for your attention before they crash in the middle of a rather crowded street and proceed to cry for the next 10 minutes about how they need help.

The online modes are very similar to different deathmatch and capture the virus type scenarios. This tends to be on a 4v4 with one side playing as the USS and the other as Spec Op forces. There is a lot of fun to be had online but it can drag at some point when the lag results in floating guns and what appears to be some odd sort of stasis mode for some players in which although they do not appear active but are actually present somewhere on the map and are continuously on the attack. My personal favourite was the Biohazard mode in which the player had to capture vials in a capture the flag based game mode. On the whole the multiplayer did feel rather bare and lacked that special something that made left you begging for more.

If only the game was this colourful.

Resident Evil:Operation Raccoon City is barely worthy of it’s name. An awfully short campaign and bare bones online leaves you feeling cheated at the end. The game could have been great but with so many issues and lacks of modes coupled with the abysmally short story you will honestly question if you even want to buy RE6 in the future. Long gone are the days when Resident Evil spin-offs had the complexity or the storyline of outbreak or the atmosphere and panic of the survivor series. Instead we are presented with a lackluster attempt to keep up with the times.

3 dribbling AI out of 10 wonderfully similar zombies.