61 Frames Per Second : call of duty

The 61FPS Review: Killzone 2

John Constantine — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:00:00 GMT

NOTE: The following review and the grade attached to it are based entirely on Killzone 2’s single player campaign. Stay tuned to 61FPS for a follow-up, post-release examination of the game’s considerable multiplayer component.

Guest contributor Adam Rosenberg covers games from his secret lair in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, typing, reading and playing the days away as his dog Loki looks on in bewilderment. In addition to the noble pursuit of video games, Adam enjoys spending time with fine film, finer food and his fine fiancée Bekah.

There may be hundreds of them, but first-person shooters can really be broken down into two categories. The first type of FPS is marked by a strong balance between play, narrative, difficulty and pacing. If that balance is good enough, the game warrants a full playthrough. The other type is competent and even entertaining, but it’s just one more game with a gun. For one reason or another, maybe the challenge isn’t engaging enough to keep me going, maybe it’s the story, this type loses my interest long before the credits roll. Guerilla Games’ Killzone 2 almost falls into the latter camp for me. Had it not been for the demands of this review, I never would have finished the game.

I’m glad I stuck it out though. Killzone 2 stumbles in its first half. Unwieldy controls, awkward combat dynamics and an unfocused, impersonal narrative are a lethal combination. But during the game’s back half, everything gels. It just takes some time to get there.

While most of it falls under the generic, game-with-a-gun banner, the aforementioned unwieldy controls set Killzone 2 apart from its peers. Like its predecessor, Killzone 2 is a cover-based FPS. Unlike every other post-Gears of War, cover-heavy shooter (first- or third-person), a single button press does not lock you in to a “safe” location. In Killzone 2, you have to hold down the Dualshock’s L2 trigger to take and remain under cover. This is piled on top of button presses for iron sights aiming and firing, leaning with the left analog stick and the occasional D-pad press for sniper scope zooms. I know that’s a lot of busy language, but it’s even harder on your hands. You’re left with a lot of busy fingers stretched into uncomfortable positions. I’ll admit, a big part of why the game’s first half felt so uneven to me had to do with my own failings. I had to spend time unlearning modern FPS controls to adapt to Killzone 2. The game’s unorthodox combat scenarios and aggressive AI only steepen the learning curve.

Consider Call of Duty or even Gears of War. In those, players find cover, fire across a “No Man’s Land” at the enemy and push ever-forward in the process. This is traditional war simulation, fighting for inches. The emphasis in Killzone 2 is instead placed on surviving within a dynamic battlefield. Your Helghast enemies are smart, always on the move, and terribly efficient even in the game’s default, “Normal” difficulty setting. They’ll chuck grenades, fire blind to keep your squad suppressed, support one another with intersecting arcs of fire; they move and act like trained soldiers. Fortunately, Killzone 2’s battlefields are massive. There are typically multiple routes to any destination, including one or two which lead to prime flanking opportunities and tackling these opportunities forces acclimating to the controls. If you’ve got an uncomfortable grip on the controller, then you’ve probably been hunkered down in one place for too long. Some fudging of the rules under Killzone 2’s hood unbalances what would be an otherwise absorbing challenge. Helghast soldiers tend to blind fire with pinpoint accuracy from behind cover. They also seem to have a sixth sense for knowing when a sniper rifle’s crosshairs have drawn a bead. Their ammo supplies are apparently limitless as well; there are no wars of attrition in this game. You simply choose a tactic, push forward and hope like hell that things work out. Even the weapon selection feels unbalanced in the early going. Killzone 2’s assault rifles are inaccurate and underpowered. Short bursts are the order of the day, but for medium- and long-range engagements, players will find that their pistol — with its unlimited ammo — is the best bet. Like everything else in the game, variety comes later on. Sniper rifles pop up along with shotguns, two variations of LMG, flamethrowers, grenade launchers and the boltgun, a shottie/’nade launcher crossbreed. Good times, for those who stick it out.

The incentives to stick it out beyond play, namely story and visual thrills, are mixed but rewarding. Narrative is often an afterthought in militaristic shooters, and Killzone impersonal tale certainly doesn’t do it any favors. Too much time is spent on the big picture of the ongoing conflict between the ISA (Space America) and the Helghast (Space Nazis), with little time spent on developing character beyond archetype. Dramatic incident can’t inject personality into a story when the incidents are so predictable. For half the game, players will be running through the standard battery of military missions: take out this turret or armor, capture this point, blow up this structure, etc. Graphically, Killzone 2 is stunning. Many of the indoor environments feel same-y and bland, but every outdoor battlefield in the game is a powerful spectacle. From the epic-scale backgrounds to the hordes of soldiers fighting the war around you, Killzone 2 lives up to its burden of proving the Playstation 3’s technical heft. Once again, the late game is considerably tighter in this regard, particularly a pitched battle on a moving train and a desperate last stand aboard a friendly cruiser stationed above Helghan.

It’s Killzone 2’s decidedly against-the-grain FPS experience that elevates it above the game-with-a-gun hordes. Considering the gobs of hype preceding it, I’m impressed by Guerilla’s willingness to separate itself from the pack with such demanding play. It’s rare to see game that favors repetition and constant spatial awareness over the measured, strategic play of its most popular competitors. But this is both the game’s most valuable asset and its greatest failing. In focusing so intently on making only certain aspects of Killzone unique — its strange control, its war play, its AI — Guerilla failed to make something solid throughout. Does it live up to the hype? How could it? Is it good? Absolutely.

Rating: B

Past Reviews:

Noby Noby Boy - part 1 & part 2
Big Bang Mini
Retro Game Challenge
Edge
Game & Watch Collection
Valkyria Chronicles part 1 & part 2
Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore 2
Prince of Persia
LittleBigPlanet part 1, part 2
Dead Space
LOL
Dragon Quest IV
Ninja Gaidan 2 part 1 & part 2
Metal Gear Solid 4 part 1 & part 2
Wii Fit
Grand Theft Auto IV part 1, part 2 & part 3

Two Stupid Viral Videos for Your Friday

Cole Stryker — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:00:00 GMT

It's friday, everybody. Time for some brain-draining viral videos. First, a mildly funny and super overwrought Street Fighter parody made by a bunch of random azn's that will make you alternately groan and guffaw. It's saved in the end by the endlessly entertaining phrase, "Sonic Bloomberg":

Then, a pretty good Call of Duty gag, courtesy of The Whitest Kids U'Know, wherein a guy ruins his pals' game by talking with his mom while wearing a headset. I assume it's a takeoff on this epic video from a few years ago:

Have a great weekend, everybody. I'm gonna go drink some chocolate milk.

Bleep Bloop: Actually Funny Gamer Comedy

Where, Specifically, Did The Street Fighter Movie Go Wrong?

Wii MotionPlus - Say what, Nintendo?

Derrick Sanskrit — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Nintendo's E3 conference is still a day away, but it looks like they wanted to make a preemptive strike against the rumored motion control announcements from their console competitors. Today, Nintendo announced Wii MotionPlus, an add-on for the "revolutionary" Wii remote that promises more accurate motion controls. How accurate? "Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play."

Well, that's nice, but isn't that what we were all expecting from the original Wii remote two years ago?

Since this was only just announced, there isn't much info available on the Wii MotionPlus just yet (I expect we'll hear all about it at Nintendo's press conference tomorrow), but already the reactions are strong from gamers. While the Wii is still the least expensive console of the current generation, its accessories can put a real strain on your wallet, and nobody wants to buy another one that they don't really need. How will this new add-on be made available? Will Nintendo send it out for free to registered Wii owners just like they did for the replacement remote wrist straps and the condom-like remote jackets? Will there be new jackets to fit around the remote AND the MotionPlus, as there appears to be in the above image? Will other add-on controllers still fit into it? It looks like the MotionPlus still has an accessory port for the Nunchuck and Classic Controller (only this time it seems to have a door over the socket, a wise decision), but will this fit into the Wii Zapper, Wii Wheel or Guitar Hero guitar? It doesn't look like it will, so let's hope none of the games that use those need "an unmatched level of precision and immersion."

Also, I'm going to speak for all the Nintendo fanboys and say that the MotionPlus should not come packaged seperately or even with new Wii Remotes, but rather should be built-in to all Wii Remotes sold from this point on. Come to think of it, it sure would be nice if, rather than release yet another accessory that will disrupt the form function of the remote, Nintendo would offer some sort of exchange policy so that we could return our old and obsolete Wii Remotes for ones with the newer, better motion control and the same size and shape without throwing away our old tech. I know this would be difficult for them, and probably most consumers, but I, at least, frequent the Nintendo World Store in New York City, and they should be able to do this.

Finally, this all comes down to whether or not the accessory is even worthwhile. Sure, there are lots of games on the Wii where the motion control isn't as precise as you'd like. Will this accessory fix those old games, or will we have to wait months and see if Call of Duty 5 or The Conduit make the MotionPlus truly worthwhile? The whole gaming world will be watching you tomorrow, Nintendo. Go up on stage and show Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Cooking Mama: Cook Off or even Red Steel with noticably improved motion controls thanks to this little dongle. Prove to us that this is a good idea.

Related articles:
Ain't No Party Like A Motion Control Party

The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial, Part 3

John Constantine — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:13:00 GMT

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

We cite Punch-Out!! here not for starring Mike Tyson (a controversial figure, even before his rape conviction), but for the degree to which it epitomizes a trend that would dominate gaming in the late-'80s and early-'90s: the "beat up stereotypes from around the world" gameplay model. Granted, most of Punch-Out!!'s characters are too ludicrous to really offend; it's hard to imagine Pacific Islanders getting all up in arms about King Hippo being kind of a jackass. That said, the sight of cross-eyed Piston Honda babbling "Sushi, Kamikaze, Fujiyama, Nipponichi!" as a mid-match battle cry is a little unsettling. — PS

Persona 3

I’ve written about Persona 3’s disturbing imagery before: “It’s always strange when games filled with truly troubling imagery go unnoticed by the most vocal anti-game pundits. Persona 3, Atlus’ exceptional RPG in the long running Shin Megami Tensei series, has been released not once but twice in the past twelve months without eliciting even a peep out of Joe Lieberman or Focus on the Family. For those unfamiliar with the game, the reason Persona 3 might ruffle some feathers is its protagonists, a team of troubled high school students who control guardian spirits to battle demons. And oh yeah, they release these spirits by shooting themselves in the head.” Seriously! Teens! Shooting themselves repeatedly in the FACE! No one even said anything about all the teens shooting themselves in the face. — JC

Metroid II: Return of Samus

Metroid II is about xenocide; your goal is to slaughter an entire alien species. Yes, there are many games about destroying evil alien species. Usually, though, said species are attacking the Earth or something. Or they're at least competent to make moral decisions. Metroids are space jellyfish. They're not evil, they're just hungry. And the series storyline establishes pretty clearly that the Space Pirates are breeding the things for their own evil ends. Exterminating the Space Pirates would be one thing, but the Metroids are mere low-functioning animals. As you proceed through the game, you watch a steadily declining count of how many of the poor little bastards you have left to vaporize. Imagine if this thing was set in a nature preserve. — PS

Fable

Peter Molyneux may not have delivered on his promise of creating the greatest role-playing game of all time with Fable but it was still a remarkably forward thinking game. Consider this: Fable was released in the United States on September 14th, 2004, a mere four months after Massachusetts started issuing same-sex marriage licenses and two months before senatorial, congressional, and presidential elections where constitutionally banning same-sex marriage was a tent pole issue. I applaud Molyneux for creating a game where a man can fall in love and marry another man. But I am shocked that Fable didn’t cause videogame content to be another talking point that election season. — JC

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2

Previous Top Tens:
The Ten Greatest Opening Levels in Gaming History
The Ten Most Adventurous Sequels
The Ten Greatest Fire Levels

The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial, Part 2

John Constantine — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:12:00 GMT

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4 is a game obsessed with realism, its depiction of combat situations and the tools of war meticulous to an almost terrifying degree. Early in the game, you are placed in the gunner’s seat of an AC-130 Spectre over a Ukrainian field, the night vision view of an aerial assault looking no different than an Iraq war newscast, the radio confirmation of kills unsettlingly casual; a game so realistic that it mimics a soldier’s detachment from killing. It’s strange then that the game, for all its incessant specificity, sends the player to kill Arab soldiers in “the Middle East”, and not an actual nation. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has sold over seven million copies in a war-weary United States in under a year. Am I the only one who finds this sort of depersonalization unsettling? — JC

Mick and Mack: Global Gladiators

Fast-food promotional games are pretty fucked up, as a whole. Selling this nasty grub to kids via smiling cartoon characters and hop-and-bop platforming — well, it may not cross over into "immoral", but it's certainly sleazy. The 1992 McDonald's promo-piece Mick and Mack: Global Gladiators, however, crosses that line by hopping onto the kid-friendly environmentalism in vogue at the time. (See also Captain Planet, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc.) The problem here is that McDonald's' own environmental record was far from clean; as a massive distributor of factory-farmed beef, the company was (and is) directly responsible for a huge amount of pollution, deforestation and energy wastage. Bastards were cutting down the same sparkling-green rainforests through which their grinning shills were merrily traipsing. — PS

Heavenly Sword

It might seem strange that we’ve chosen to single-out Heavenly Sword as our example of an absurdly over-sexualized female protagonist. Dead or Alive, a series that’s persisted for just over a decade now without causing a kerfuffle despite its bizarre, hyper sexuality, might seem like a more logical target. You might even say that Heavenly Sword’s a poor example considering its emphasis on Nariko’s empowerment in a male dominated fantasy world. But let me ask you, if Nariko is such a great warrior, savior of her people even though they hate her for being a woman, why does she go to war in her underpants? She is fighting people with swords in her underpants. No one thought mention to developer Ninja Theory that underpants are not effective armor? Nariko stands in for the legions of silly, objectified, hyper-sexualized female game protagonists. We’re giving Lara the day off on this one. — JC

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 3

The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial, Part 1

John Constantine — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:11:00 GMT

Games have been raising hackles since their inception. Howell Ivy kick-started gaming and controversy’s relationship when he designed Death Race in 1976, a simple black and white game that was, well, about running people over for points. That was enough to get America riled up, prompting 60 Minutes to run the first of many, many televised news stories about the psychological effects of gaming. But public outrage is unpredictable. Politicians and parent groups have been shocked by d-list titles like Manhunt and Night Trap while more popular, widely played games with far more inflammatory content have passed by unnoted. Today, 61 Frames Per Second presents The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial. A number of these are games that we are surprised did not cause uproar in a number of communities. The rest are games that we ourselves find seriously questionable in content. How do you feel about these videogames? Indifferent? Appalled? Leave a comment and let us know. — John Constantine

NARC

I don't know about you, but I have at least a couple of friends who have occasionally sold drugs. They're pretty lucky they grew up in the relatively permissive '90s, and not in the merciless, Reaganite '80s presented in NARC. Sure, NARC gives you bonus points for arresting dealers instead of killing them, but that's because it's almost impossible to do. Far easier is just perforating them on the spot. As my fellow blogger Cole notes, "I guess dismembering hundreds is okay if they're pushin'." In fact, there was some parental outrage over NARC's unprecedented level of gore, but its moral assumptions went pretty much unchallenged. — Peter Smith

Pokémon

Have you ever noticed that there are no regular, powerless domesticated animals in any of the Pokémon games, cartoons, comics et cetera? Let's say your pre-teen brother/sister/cousin goes out for a walk one day and comes across a pigeon in the street. They then capture this pigeon in a small cage and train it to fight the dogs, lizards and ponies that the other neighborhood kids have captured and trained to fight, as well as stray cats and sewer rats that can then be captured and trained for similar purposes. Yeah, that scenario is a little awesome, but it's also pretty horrifying, right? When Michael Vick is involved in a dogfighting circuit, the media explodes with rage, but when your kids do it in a Nintendo game it gets rated E for Everyone by the ESRB. — Derrick Sanskrit

Final Fantasy Tactics

As much as Final Fantasy Tactics’ tale of political intrigue in the feudal fantasy-scape of Ivalice is concerned with a power struggle between church and state, it’s hard to get past the game’s barely veiled indictment of Christian lore. Tactics' villains are essentially the Catholic Church. Their central figure is Saint Ajora, a 'child of God' with twelve disciples, one of whom betrayed him and sent him to his death. 'Cept it turns out Ajora wasn't really the son of God, but a power-hungry war-mongering mortal who was sneakily made divine through church skulduggery and historical revisionism. Good thing RPGs require so much reading, otherwise there might have been some good ol’ fashioned game burnings back in 1998. — JC

Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3

Guns and Football: The Ten Best Selling Games in America

John Constantine — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:00:00 GMT

It’s one thing to hear people in the international community exclaim that Americans are loud slobs who don’t care about anything except violence and football. It’s another to see it spelled out in raw numbers. Brian Caulfield of Forbes, using data provided by the NPD Group, wrote an article early last week looking at the ten best selling videogames in the US as of April 2008. Here are the results:

1) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 9.4 Million Units Sold
2) Guitar Hero 3 8.2M
3) Madden NFL 2007 7.7M
4) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 7.3M
5) Madden NFL 2006 7.7M
6) Halo 2 6.61M
7) Madden NFL 2008 6.6M
8) Call of Duty 4 6.25M
9) Grand Theft Auto 3 6.2M
10) Madden NFL 2005 6.1M

Yep. Guns and football from here until Sunday. What’s most shocking about this list is the complete absence of even the most recent Pokemon titles, a series that continues to sell millions of copies within weeks of a new edition’s release.

Depressing as this list is, Caulfield makes one excellent point.

So are there any exceptions to the pattern of gore and gridiron? Yes. Guitar Hero III, the second-best-selling game on the list, breaks the pattern. The game pairs players with an enormous, guitar-shaped controller and has them try to keep up with onscreen cues in an effort to recreate monstrously complex guitar riffs. In fact, if you factor in the high price of the game--$99 for the Sony PlayStation 3 edition, largely because you're also buying a big fake guitar controller--the game generated more sales than any others.

That's right, sweet rock 'n' roll is the only thing in America that can outsell football and violence. Maybe there's still hope for us yet.

Man, I hope he’s right.

Thanks to NeoGAF user sonycowboy for the link.

Captivating Discontent: Where's the Nintendo Love, Capcom?

John Constantine — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Written by Derrick Sanskrit

Like a lot of other gamers, I was rather perplexed by the announcements at the Capcom’s recent Captivate ‘08 event. Sure, Street Fighter IV is starting to look like a worthwhile return to the franchise and Bionic Commando just looks awesome - both got me wanting to pick up that Xbox gamepad again - but what the hell happened on the Nintendo side of things? Neopets Puzzle Adventure and Spyborgs?

Capcom doesn't really believe that ALL Nintendo gamers are eight years old, do they?

But as the media rolled in, I started to warm up to these new IPs. Despite whatever unpleasantness lies in my history with Neopets — a story for another day — the characters are still adorable, and Neopets Puzzle Adventure is being handled by the team responsible for the addictive Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. As a character-driven puzzle RPG, it shows a good deal of potential, and with Capcom and Neopets attached to the project, you know its going to have much more retailer support than Puzzle Quest ever did.

As for Spyborgs, well, the trailer didn’t instill much hope. Tacky voiceover, characters that could have been lifted from the very worst saturday morning cartoons, and potty humor... in a minigame?! You guys let go of Clover, the studio responsible for Viewtiful Joe and Okami, for this? "FUCK YOU, CAPCOM!" was my first thought.

There's one true bright spot: Spyborgs is the first project by Bionic Games, a new studio whose members have worked on Ratchet and Clank, World of Warcraft, Resistance: Fall of Man, Tony Hawk: Pro Skater, The Sims, and Call of Duty. With a resume like that, you know these kids know how to make games that are well-designed and actually fun. Also, Capcom's Christian Svensson stated on the company's official message board:

Have faith. This is a game that is incredibly thoughtful in its design, incredibly varied in its mechanics and will be incredibly fun to play (both alone or with a buddy/son or daugther/father or mother) when it’s done. The initial reaction here I swear is the EXACT reaction so many of you posters had when we first revealed Zach & Wiki. Somehow, Z&W is now a poster child title for the Wii in your eyes. Mark my words: you will feel exactly the same way about the level of quality in Spyborgs when it is done. Again, this is a big, epic game. A far cry from typical Wii shovelware. You’ve heard my rants on that before, I won’t go through it again.

I know that at least two of us FPSers love Zack & Wiki (probably more of us, I haven't asked around), and it's excellent to see them acknowledge that most Wii games are crap. For now, I'm going to accept that Spyborgs is still extremely early in development and is a labor of love for designers with great track records.

I am skeptically looking forward to both Spyborgs and Neopets Puzzle Adventure. Wish we'd learned a bit more about Resident Evil 5, though.

NPD Wrap: The Times Are a Changin’

John Constantine — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:00:00 GMT

April’s come to a close and now, under the cold, hard light of math, three things are becoming clear. First, people freaking love Nintendo games. Sure, we already knew that, but over a million people bought Mario Kart for Wii in less than a week. Second, people freaking love Grand Theft Auto. Nearly two million people bought that in even less time. Third, our access to new videogames is going to change dramatically in the very near future. While these numbers may just look like numbers to us, to the people who publish videogames, the people who control when we get to engage these creations, the math is saying that 2008 is different. Tradition dictates that high profile, big hype games are held in reserve for the holiday push from late September through December and the rest of the year is just a slow trickle of quality goods. The math of March and April 2008 says that people will buy many, many games throughout the year, not just around Christmas. What happens now? Going forward, we’re going to see more games, more often. At least, until digital distribution destroys physical media and the whole issue becomes moot.

While the gigantic March sales numbers didn’t keep their drive through April, even with five days of juggernaut sales from Grand Theft Auto 4, all the players put in impressive showings. Wii sales kept pace, down to just 714K units from 721K, but Nintendo DS sales saw a more precipitous decline, down to 414K units from a powerful 698K despite the healthy software debut for both Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon SKUs. GTA4 moved the huge numbers expected, selling 1.85 million units with only days left in the reporting period but it failed to make an impact on HD console sales. Microsoft and Sony saw sales of their home consoles drop below the 200K mark but both companies can expect bigger sales through May thanks to GTA4 momentum and anticipation of marquee June titles Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2. Software sales were cool on the whole. GTA4 and Mario Kart Wii dominated, but no third party was able to replicate the success Ubisoft and EA had in March with the debuts of Rainbox Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two.

Hardware Sales

Wii - 714,200

Nintendo DS - 414,800

PSP - 192,000

Xbox 360 - 188,000

PlayStation 3 - 187,100

PlayStation 2 - 124,400

Software Sales

GTA IV (360) – 1,850,000

Mario Kart Wii -1,120,000

GTA IV (PS3) – 1,000,000

Wii Play – 360,000

Super Smash Bros. Brawl – 326,000

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – 224,000

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness – 202,000

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time – 202,000

Guitar Hero III – 152,000

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) -141,000

Out thanks to both Next-Gen and Kotaku for their coverage.