Gaming's favourite platters get another stir of the pot
BioShock Infinite, Gears of War: Judgement, SimCity, Luigi’s Mansion 2 and more...
Game Theory Another month goes by and, as ever, gaming isn’t short of its share of news and controversies. While recent reveals of Battlefield 4, Metal Gear Solid V, The Witcher 3 and Thief: Out of the Shadows show us what the future holds, there's no getting around the fact that we're currently entrenched in a present in which regurgitations of old recipes is standard. If you need evidence of that, look no further than Gears of War: Judgement and God of War Ascension.
Thankfully, you can still trust Nintendo to bring its best to the fray, with Luigi's Mansion 2 stuffed full of with imaginative moments. More's the pity then that sales of the formerly mentioned Judgement and Ascension will no doubt dwarf it, but such is life. Then there was SimCity which displayed similar notes of finery in the gameplay stakes, but that was only half of the story...
SimCity: build it and they will come?
When a technical issue dwarfs the release of one of gaming’s better known franchises you can be sure that it’s going to cause a bit of controversy. So it proves with SimCity, a title that has come under intense scrutiny for forcing users to be perennially online, and logged into EA’s Steam-a-like Origin to boot, in order to get the game to work. No playing SimCity in plane, train or automobile, or even (in my case, at least) in the office over flakey wi-fi.
A barbed pill made all the more painful to swallow by EA’s unpreparedness for SimCity’s day one sales, which promptly led to the falling over of the game’s servers. Cue the mass grinding of molars as exasperated gamers realised that in going out and grabbing a boxed copy of the game they’d bought what amounted to a coaster.
Hot topic: server troubles in SimCity?
Two weeks later and with the server issues largely behind it (but the DRM issues still spewing up a black cloud darker than the pollution pumped out by my city’s industrial zone), it’s now possible to log on and start building. Even if the game does still insist on forcing me to wait 10 minutes until it has finished updating – have you never heard of a background update, EA?
As regular readers will know I’ve been on something of a SimCity marathon for The Register, having gone back to cast an eye over the four main entries into the series: 'Classic', 2000, 3000 and SimCity 4. This new iteration takes them all on, what with its swanky ‘Glassbox’ engine that lets you view the action closer than ever; allowing for such wonders as curvy roads and city specialisation in the process.
The resulting effect is the bolstering of the usual addictive SimCity gameplay with a heightened ability to mesmerise. The toing and froing of your citizens has your real world hours passing by at llama speed as you build up connected cities, or else trust online partners to do so on your behalf.
Progress is progress
The building expansion tools work well as a means to upgrade important buildings, so increasing their effectiveness (an extra classroom expanding your school’s pupil capacity say). While a more streamlined approach to utility laying, road building and zonation than ever will have new comers quickly making viable towns of their own, not that there’s insufficient depth for veterans to get lost in.
The aforementioned technical issues make scoring SimCity tough however. They have to be included in the final reckoning, but I’ve had such a good time with the game that scoring the game really low because of crazy decisions made outside of the development team seems trite. Still, the word is out on those issues, so ultimately the decision on whether to jump in or not is yours. If you do, then assuming your internet connection is stable, you won’t be disappointed.
COMMENTS
...the year’s best game so far. BioShock Infinite...
I kind'a like it, story is superlative, and the girl is kooky fun - but corridor shooter, in the 21st century? come on, I wanted to go off and explore, ala Skyrim... and as for EA's Simcity - well, I guess I have them to thank for letting me discover Tropico 4, a place where sims return to the same home, have relations and go to the same job every day - plus, you get to be a dictator with secret services who'll take out libertarians if they're pissing you off with strikes or 'peacefull demonstrations. Much fun.
But, IMHO, everyone who paid EA for Simcity put a another nail in the coffin of gaming consumer rights worldwide I'm afraid.
Cake and pineapples
If I ever have to go to war there bloody well better had be cake.
Re: Bioshock Infinite & Steam!
I bought Bioshock Infinite via Steam and have had absolutely no problems.
On my first playthrough (two sessions of about 10 hours each - hard setting - if you are used to fps then hard for the first run is the way to go) I was absolutely blown away. In terms of storytelling and look, it surpasses everything before it and sets the benchmark for gaming for years to come. It reminded me of the feeling I got when I first played Half-Life. I believe Bioshock Infinite will be looked back on in a similar way in years to come.
All that said, its niggles do become apparent on a second playthrough. Ultimately it's very much an interactive movie, since there's little you can do different any run. Also that you still need to search everywhere in order to collect together the silver dollars needed to buy the various combat perks (without some of which you'll be stuck on the final fights) loses much of its fun factor after the first run.
Still that first screening was worth the price of admission as far as I'm concerned, so anything else is a bonus. For instance, the anachronistic (but cleverly worked into the plot) use of more modern music in 1912-era Columbia. The barbershop quartet (the gayest in Columbia!) rendering of The Beach Boys, 'God Only Knows' is both funny and musically quite brilliant. Also worthy of a mention the spiritual 'May the Circle be unbroken' sung by the two voice leads Courtnee Draper (Elizabeth) and Troy Baker (DeWitt), who also plays guitar on it. There's a bonus video of them rehearsing at the end of the credits.
you including the Blizzard side, of Activision?
I'm getting on a bit these days and can't quite muster up the old youthful vitriol, but I still feel a sense of disappointment with Blizzard. Enormously long development cycles yielding fairly conservative games? That's a bit sad. All that power and money didn't free them up to make new and interesting things as I'd naively hoped. See also: Valve. My pocketmoney is going to kickstarter game projects these days... Big Gaming hasn't done it for me for some years.
EA though, ooh, they still get me riled. They're not quite the Giant Vampire Squid of the entertainment industry, but they certainly aspire to be.
