61 Frames Per Second : rockstar

Watcha Listening To: Rebel FM's Bully Game Club

Bob Mackey — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT

One of the best parts of the short-lived 1UPFM was the Backlog segment, where the crew played through and talked about games from the not-too-distant past over multiple episodes. For a press that normally centers so much on the here-and-now, it was refreshing to hear discussions of fantastic games that were only a few years old, like Shadow of the Colossus and Psychonauts--titles like these may have dropped off of our gaming radars, but that doesn't mean they still weren't worth talking about. Thankfully, this favorite segment of mine has been reborn with RebelFM's (essentially, the non-1UP affiliated sequel to 1UPFM) Game Club; and while the last featured game, the 2005 Xbox Call of Cthulhu, wasn't really up my alley, their current Game Club game certainly is.

Rockstar's Bully met with some moderate success and saw life on three different consoles, but it never really seemed to get the credit it deserved as being more than just a GTA clone. I picked it up a few months after its original PS2 release not expecting much, and was completely blown away--so much so that I bought Bully: Scholarship Edition (which really should have been a better port) for the 360 a year later. This latter playthrough of Bully was in preparation for the then-unreleased GTA4, but in retrospect, I ended up liking Bully a helluva lot more than Rockstar's supposedly world-changing sequel. Bully took the GTA forumla, pared it down to a smaller location, gave it a completely unique setting, and the end result was a 20-25 hour game that was much more managable and fun than your standard Grand Theft Auto.

But you don't have to take my word for it; check out the Bully episode of Rebel FM's Game Club. Even if you haven't played the game, you may feel the overwhelming urge to go out and pick up a copy.

Related Links:

Watcha Listening to? A Life Well Wasted
Watcha Listening To: Rebel FM
Watcha Listening To: The Final 1UP Yours

The Lost and the Damned Bares All

Bob Mackey — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:00:00 GMT

To the consumer of mainstream, American media, there's nothing more abominable or disgusting than the human wang--just think about all of those modern gross-out movies where the depiction of a penis is a joke in and of itself. But before you start wondering how heterosexual women operate knowing that the male sex organ is a source of both disgust and hilarity, you'd best fire up the morality sirens because there's about to be a penis in a video game. Thanks to a tip (no pun intended) from 1UP's Kat Bailey, who probably would not like to be given credit for this, the world is now aware that Rockstar is the first developer brave enough to show its audience an entire penis with the new GTAIV DLC, The Lost and the Damned--even after going so overboard on the strippers' pasties. Before I get too wound up about this clear double-standard, we should probably just get to the clip--which I have hidden behind a cut. Why? Because I care about your job.

Grand Theft Auto 4: The Lost and Damned 'Full Frontal' clip

So what do we think about this: cheap publicity stunt by Rockstar, or is the plucky developer once again trying to break new ground for what's acceptable in a video game? It can also be a third thing. But that's more your job than mine.

Related Links:

New GTA Game gets England's first 18 on the DS
The 61FPS Review: Grand Theft Auto IV, Part 1
John’s Games of 2008: Year of the Open World

Go West! Red Dead Redemption and How to Get Cowboys and Indians Right

John Constantine — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

By the time videogames had evolved beyond batting a ball back and forth across a digital net, the Western had already lost much of its cultural currency. The Lone Ranger’s audience had ridden off into the sunset, replaced by minds and eyes hungry for space instead of the frontier. That’s why we have Spacewar! in 1961 and not Stagecoach!. The last quarter of the 20th century’s appetite for science fiction is most certainly why Bald Space Marine is the icon he is in 2009’s gaming landscape, but I don’t think it fully explains why games have yet to produce a spectacular Western. Why is it that after decades of creation, there isn’t a game about cowboys sitting on Top One Hundred Games of All Time lists? Why is Oregon Trail the entire canon of frontier gaming?

Rockstar’s Red Dead Revolver seemed like a contender before it released in 2004. The game certainly sold well, one and a half million copies according to publisher Take-Two, but its critical reception was lukewarm. Despite Red Dead’s grand narrative ambitions — bounty hunting protagonist Red Harlow and his quest for revenge are Louis L’Amour vintage — and seemingly fitting open world play, it wasn’t the defining videogame Western it could have been. Now, it could have been the game’s troubled development that kept it from greatness. It started as a Capcom game in 2000, stalled out, and was sold to Rockstar, where it apparently became a Frankenstein’s monster of legacy code and newer features. I think the real problem is that the Grand Theft Auto-styled open world is not the foundation for a great Western.

On the surface it seems perfect; what better way to represent life on the range than a game world you’re free to wander, taking missions as a hired gun of dubious morality where and when you find them? I’m sure that was Neversoft’s thinking when they developed Gun, which released just one year after Red Dead Revolver and was almost identical play-wise. A great Western, though, requires incredibly tight, driven narrative focus. We’re not talking about a simulation of the Old West, after all. We’re talking about a pulp genre with recognizable tropes and a specific recipe for success. A great Western game doesn’t need a huge amount of freedom in its environment and it needs very little freedom in character. What it needs to have is the illusion of freedom and space.

Team Ico’s Shadow of the Colossus has an excellent play foundation for a videogame Western. (Even beyond the kick-ass horse riding.) The world is vast and seamless, much like the plains of western America, but the game is very linear, keeping the player focused on a single path towards the next challenge while enhancing the story. Picture a Western with a central frontier town with each of the game’s levels/goals structured to have you ride out into classic Canyon, desert, or even forest settings. This would lend the game a feeling of freedom without sacrificing the necessary reins on story direction, keeping the game from the classic GTA failing of having the story and play feel disconnected.

I sincerely hope that Rockstar San Diego’s Red Dead Redemption learns from its predecessors failings. From the screens released today, the game certainly has the look down pat. But the game will live or die by how well it tells a story. Remember, Rockstar San Diego: rein it in. Then maybe videogames will finally have its great Western.

Related links:

Grand Theft Auto IV's Post-Game Purgatory
The GTAIV DLC: Does Anyone Still Care?
The 61FPS Review: Grand Theft Auto 4

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Grand Theft Auto IV

Bob Mackey — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:30:00 GMT

It's the end of another year, and that can only mean one thing: it's list season. Inevitably, you're going to see top ten lists by the thousands; and, as an official member of the enthusiast press, I'm afraid I can't violate my directive. But, to make things a little more interesting, I've decided to assemble my 10 favorite games of this year in non-hierarchical form because--let's face facts--it's hard to pick a favorite. And unlike other top 10 lists, this one will be doled out to you in piecemeal over the next several excruciating days! Please enjoy.

While reading the latest GameSpite update, I couldn't help but nod my head in agreement at Spite King Jeremy Parish's trenchant comments on the modern gaming blockbuster. Especially this:

It makes me angry that reviewers actually called GTAIV's narrative "Oscar worthy," because (1) no, it really wasn't and you guys seriously need to go and watch a good movie, OK?; and (2) that kind of empty praise is just going to encourage Rockstar to keep focusing on the sloppy, poorly-written pulp noir aspects of their creations to the detriment of the part that actually makes GTA unique and fun: the gameplay.

And yet, GTAIV still made it onto my favorite games of 2008 list. Have I lost all credibility? Did I ever have any? Don't fret, dear reader; GTAIV is one of my favorite games of the year by virtue of that fact that it occupied so much of my carefree summer (god how I miss it). When you make twenty attempts to beat a game's final mission, there's gotta be some love there, right?

Alright, maybe it was an abusive relationship. Certain things about GTAIV rubbed me the wrong way to the point of rugburn: the drastic dropoff in things to do from San Andreas, babysitting Nico's needy social circle, and the way the story--and Nico Bellic's motivation--sorta petered out as the game went on--with my cash flow well into the hundreds of thousands late in the game, it was never clear to me why Nico still needed "mahney." But despite all of these flaws, exploring Liberty City was downright addictive, and the bump to a new generation of hardware made GTA's typically renowned sense of scale all the more impressive. Most of the fun I had with GTAIV was out of the pure novelty value the game offered me with its new features; and even though the novelty value wore thin by about the 20th hour, I can't claim it was never there. To be honest, I was kind of conflicted about including GTAIV on this list in the first place, mostly due to all of the backlash it's received--even from me. But, long before the game started to wear on me, and long before that final mission made me want to murder the world, GTAIV was a legitimate hoot.

There, now the industry has a box quote for the inevitable Greatest Hits release.

Related Links:

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Audiosurf
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Braid
Joe’s Top Ten Games of 2008 – Special Jury Prizes

Grand Theft Auto IV's Post-Game Purgatory

Bob Mackey — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Grand Theft Auto IV is a game completely dependent on--and some would say subservient to--its story and characters. Sure, other games in the series have their share of colorful cast members and interesting twists, but IV decided to scale back on the gameplay a bit in exchange for hours upon hours of babysitting Niko Bellic's friends. It was novel at first, but soon became disappointing after the realization that the limited content of these artificial social interactions replaced the endless playground fun of GTAs past.

So what happens when the oh-so important characters of GTAIV run out of recorded lines of dialogue? The answer is about as unsettling as anything else in the bleak life of Nico Bellic.

Jumping back into the game after its finale results in a few perfunctory calls from Nico's friends about the tragic events of either ending; but after that, nothing. There are no new people to meet, or anything for Nico to do besides live a completely aimless life in Liberty City. I really didn't expect Rockstar to throw in a lot of post-game content--after all, I'm surprised I even finished the damn game--but trying to play GTAIV after the final mission just feels wrong and empty. Maybe this is a testment to how important Nico's social network is to the game--or maybe the removal of said social network reveals the game for what it really is.

It could also be that, in some stroke of genius, Rockstar was somehow able to convey how unsatisfying revenge actually is, but I think that's giving them too much credit.

So is anyone else out there having similar problems getting back into GTAIV after finishing the game? I still have a few (non-story) things left to do, but I really don't want to make Nico find pigeons for me after being sentenced to such an empty existence. Yeah, he's a sociopathic mass murdered--but he's got heart.

Related Links:

The 61FPS Review: Grand Theft Auto IV, Part 1
Yahtzee Rolls With the Big Dogs, Takes the Piss Out of GTA4
61FPS EXCLUSIVE: Peaceoholics Protest Rockstar Games and Grand Theft Auto 4

Alternate Soundtrack: Uniracers vs. Think About Life

John Constantine — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Video and words by Derrick Sanskrit

My fellow 61FPSers know that I'm a big fan of the quirky 1994 SNES racer, Uniracers. Aside from starring self-aware, unmanned unicycles and having appropriately psycho-geometric backgrounds, the game ran at Sonic the Hedgehog speeds. It pioneered the whole doing-tricks-earns-points-and-makes-you-go-faster mechanic later popularized by the Tony Hawk: Pro Skater series and borrowed by every racing game from SSX to Mario Kart Wii.

A lot of Uniracers' charm is explained by looking at the other work by its developer, DMA Design Limited. They broke onto the scene with the wildly popular Lemmings in 1990. That, along with Uniracers, won them some favor with Nintendo, who helped DMA with Body Harvest, a 3D vehicular action game for the Nintendo 64. DMA took everything they'd learned from Body Harvest to build the extremely controversial, unexpected hit Grand Theft Auto. Soon enough, DMA was bought out and renamed Rockstar North, where they continue to make Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt games to this day.

So yeah, Uniracers is the senseless SNES racer by the people who made Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto 4. Interested yet?

Similarly, Think About Life is a very odd band. Members of the Alien8 family of Canadian experimental pop musicians, Graham Van Pelt and Matt Shane produce tunes that sound like a Casio keyboard exploded under the weight of one-thousand anthropomorphic Jolly Rancher candies, some of whom were having a party and some of whom were very sad to realize they were made of such sweet delicious fruit flavored candy. While Van Pelt has had more success recently with his Miracle Fortress side project, Think About Life developed a solid fan base by opening for indie-rock powerhouses Wolf Parade and Art Brut. The steady rhythms, flanged triangle waves, and sheer eccentric wackiness of their music makes it a perfect soundtrack for the nonsensical racer from the EXTREME era of the mid-1990s. Please enjoy:

Previous Alternate Soundtracks:

Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Ratatat
Donkey Kong '94 vs. Les Savy Fav
Need for Speed: Underground vs. Justice
Super Street Fighter II vs. The Go! Team

The 61FPS Review: Grand Theft Auto 4 Part 3

John Constantine — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

I was hoping to open the final entry in my review of Grand Theft Auto with a definitive statement about its story, to find the game’s essence in the conclusion of its through-the-looking-glass tale of crime, brutality, and the American experience. I can’t. After one month, some thirty-five hours total, of playing Grand Theft Auto 4, I’ve quit. I’m not positive how close I even am to finishing the narrative portion of the game at this point because, not unlike the gameplay itself, there is no arc. After a certain point, the story merely plateaus with no discernible rise and fall. It ceases to be a compelling enough reward to keep playing the game.

Grand Theft Auto 4 is a work at odds with itself. It places you in a gigantic world and allows you to do what you will, but you cannot change it. It allows you to build friendships with the characters surrounding you but keeps you always at their mercy, penalizing you if you can’t answer your phone in the middle of a firefight. The cars control with severe realism but the game demands you drive like Sandra Bullock in Speed. Even the slightest police provocation is an arrest-able offense but you can escape them by turning a corner. But most problematic is protagonist Niko Bellic. In cutscenes and in conversation, Niko is a vicious but principled figure on an alluded to quest for revenge. He takes no relish in murder and cruelty which keeps him cursorily sympathetic, if not empathetic. But like so much of the game itself, his motives are equally confused. One moment, Niko is concerned with nothing besides honor, avenging fallen comrades and protecting his family, and the next he’ll kill his own mother if the price is right.

For all of its artfulness, its carefully constructed and elegant other-New York, its pitch perfect scripting and voice acting, the pitch-perfect satire of its radio and television, Grand Theft Auto 4 is still just Grand Theft Auto: an incredible playground but a broken game. One day, Sam Houser and Rockstar Games will craft their masterpiece - they’ve come awfully close here – but Grand Theft Auto 4 is not it.

GTA4 Review Part 1
GTA4 Review Part 2

Yahtzee Rolls With the Big Dogs, Takes the Piss Out of GTA4

John Constantine — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:06:00 GMT

It’s Wednesday and that can only mean one thing: Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw is going to talk very fast and be very funny while doing it. The latest Zero Punctuation up over at The Escapist tackles the hottest gaming subject around this fine spring, Grand Theft Auto 4. Yahtzee does indeed enjoy the game quite a bit but takes issue with the one aspect of the game that I’ve taken the most joy out of so far. He calls the friendship/dating sim mechanics in the game “an irritating, mindless chore” but, as I’ve said a number of times, I’ve found it to be the most immersive and engaging aspect of Rockstar’s magnum opus. Than again, I’M VERY LONELY! Nah, not really. He also finds the game’s realistic presentation irksome, an issue I’ll be tackling in the upcoming second part of my review. Regardless, the man’s criticisms are well-thought out and entertaining as hell so hit the jump for the goods and then head on over to the Escapist to indulge in the ever expanding Zero Punctuation archive as well as that pub’s other great content.

The 61FPS Review: Grand Theft Auto IV, Part 1

John Constantine — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:00:00 GMT

We’re going to do things a little differently here at 61FPS when it comes to reviewing games. For starters, all reviews are going to be brought to you in three digestible installments. Games are simply too long – not to mention that many can’t be completed at all – to offer you the most thorough critical examination we can offer in a single helping. The just released Grand Theft Auto IV is the perfect candidate for this formula because while there are a set number of tasks to perform in its world that will allow a player to see its narrative through to a traditional conclusion (in addition to a number of tracked statistics that will result in a 100% marker,) the game’s non-linear nature means that it can go on forever. Want to turn on the game and see just how many Hummers you can pile onto a Coney Island pier? Have at it.

I’ve spent approximately fourteen hours in Liberty City at this point and while that’s no small amount of time, it’s clear that Rockstar’s world still has plenty to offer. I still haven’t made it as far west as Alderney, the game’s fictional proxy for New Jersey. That said though, I have been starting to wonder if I’ve already managed to press up against the boundaries of how play can actually effect the world of GTA IV. As Chris Baker so deftly pointed out in his piece about the game over at Slate, this game marks the first time the series has built a narrative and characters as absorbing as its setting. Those artistic achievements are reinforced by the game’s jump from a cartoon-caricature world to one that gives the undeniable impression of realism and gravity. While the ability to forge relationships with the characters that surround you is the game’s greatest achievement, imbuing your interactions with them with tangible consequences, Liberty City itself remains strangely unaffected. Irish mobster Packie may call to tell you how he saw a news report about a heist you pulled off together and you may hear that same report on the radio as you cruise about town. But you won’t see an increased police presence in midtown where you pulled off the job or any physical evidence of an investigation. Random toughs on the street won’t recognize you as you pass by and you can still wander unchecked down the highway with a machine gun drawn and motorists won’t bat an eye. It might seem unfair to fault GTA for not being a different sort of game but the rules of its world occasionally seem at odds with one another. My time with it is just beginning so here’s hoping that I find that my relationship with the city turns out to be as deep as the one with its citizens.