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Why Was Grand Theft Auto III's Star Silent?

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:36:18 +0000

After celebrating Grand Theft Auto III's 10-year anniversary with the release of an iOS and Android port,

and the Grand Theft Auto IV has gone out,

Rockstar is now answering a variety of questions fans have about the game. Among those are the obligatory questions about its protagonist, Claude, and the rationale behind him never uttering a word.

Every Grand Theft Auto game since III -- the first to bring the series into 3D -- has featured a star who could speak. Why was Claude made to do a crowbar-free Gordon Freeman impression?

"It may now seem obvious that people should all talk in games, but this was not necessarily the case in 2001, certainly not in an open world game," reads an answer on Rockstar's website. "We were making up a lot of procedures as we went along, and we decided that the NPCs (Non Playable Characters) should talk and we would have to figure out how to make them talk (using motion captured cutscenes, something that had never really been done before, at least not on the scale we were doing it).

"So we decided that the game's protagonist would not talk, partly to aid people identifying with him, but mostly because we had so many other problems to solve and this did not seem like a major issue. We started to discuss introducing a talking lead character when working on Vice City, but it was a lot of work. While the structure of GTA3 may seem obvious or natural now, and the use of cutscenes made in the game's engine that look and feel like the game may seem simple and easy, it really was not the case back in 2001 when we had to figure out all of these things for the first time. Oh and in San Andreas, CJ calls Claude a mute because he does not talk and CJ finds this unnerving."

Devil May Cry 4 Review

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:46:08 +0000

Devil May Cry fans know what they expect from the action series: they look for fast paced action sequences that require solid timing instead of button mashing. They expect large scale battles with insane bosses and hordes of monsters that barely give the player a second to breath. They also expect characters to take the dangerous settings lightly, with a large dose of sarcasm and a snarky outlook towards the supernatural surroundings they find themselves in. Well, DMC fans, take heart: Devil May Cry 4, the latest chapter in the series and the first true sequel in the Devil May Cry chronology maintains all of these trademarks while showcasing the power of the PS3 fairly well.

That is, for the most part.

See, Dante fans may find themselves a bit disappointed in their favorite character's new role within the series: instead of taking over the spotlight as he has in the previous three games, the anti-hero takes on a secondary position to franchise newcomer Nero. DMC4 is really more of his story and his coming of age within the Sparda-influenced universe than a tale that picks up after the events of DMC1. Is this a bad turn of events? No, not really, although some of the hardcore might wonder if the game could've had a different title with a Dante cameo instead of a Devil May Cry chapter.

The story of Devil May Cry 4 is set in and around the coastal town of Fortuna, which has an interesting tale by itself: it's governed by a militant theocracy known as The Order of the Sword, and protected by a group of Holy Knights. The people of the town worship the demon knight Sparda as a god and savior. During a ceremony in honor of their deity, Nero, a young knight, sees Dante crash through a window and slaughter the leader of the Order, as well as many of his friends. While he doesn't know who Dante is or why he's attacking them, Nero wants revenge for Dante's actions. What follows over the course of 20 missions is a quest of revenge and betrayal, as well as salvation and sacrifice, as Nero hunts Dante down across the land.

Apathetic and dismissive of authority, Nero is a younger, more angst-filled character than Dante's older, wiser and more sarcastic outlook on the world. However, he's just as skilled as the Son of Sparda, with a wide range of abilities to support him in combat. The first, and perhaps most obvious element, is the Devil Bringer, his demonically-enhanced right arm that allows him to project an energy arm ahead of him. This allows Nero to grasp distant objects, which he'll use to reach new areas or scale heights, as well as grab, throw and punch opponents. While this can be used to start or extend obvious combos, perhaps one of the most intriguing elements is that the arm responds differently when used against each opponent in the game. For example, players will grip and throw some creatures by their tails, while others may be pulled apart or even used as weapons against their allies. This can be factored into players' plans when using Nero's primary attacks in battle.

Showdown at the Fortuna Corral.

Nero has access to both projectile and melee strikes thanks to his unique weaponry, the Blue Rose and the Red Queen. The Blue Rose is a double-barreled pistol that allows Nero to fire powerful blasts at distant opponents. While slow to fire, the power of these blasts is quite strong, and can eventually be charged-up to provide even more punch. His more devastating attacks come in the form of the Red Queen, a motorcycle throttled, gas-infused sword that can be revved-up to add additional strength behind each combo or blow inflicted on an enemy. This boosting of the sword is known as the Exceed system, and allows Nero to charge the sword up three times, turning the blade red hot with energy and lashing out with fiery blows.

The Exceed system is one that can take a little getting used to. Continually pulling the trigger to rev the sword doesn't work nearly as well as slow, consistent pulls, which boosts the gears of the blade more. It also drops Nero to a slow walk as he reaches behind him and revs the motor of the Red Queen, which can be tricky to pull off consistently in the midst of battle, particularly because it leaves you open to attacks. While you can work on your timing after an attack to instantly charge up the blade, you won't always nail it, so the difficulty of this move is rather high. However, there's another, more pressing issue with the Exceed system, which is that you don't need to use it at all to quickly and efficiently eliminate the monsters within the game. Thanks to the strength and power of Nero's various combat skills and combos, you're better off eliminating your opponents with standard attacks than spending the time to charge up your blade.

Hands On: Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge Scrummy.

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:47:51 +0000

Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge (or All Blacks Rugby Challenge in New Zealand and Wallabies Rugby Challenge in Australia) features 1,500 players, 93 teams and 31 stadiums. Some of these are licensed, including all 14 stadiums that will host the forthcoming Rugby World Cup; others are close approximations such as the ‘South West London’ stadium rather than Twickenham.

Everything can be customised, from renaming stadiums to creating an entire team of custom players. If you play rugby in a local team you can recreate yourself and your entire team to play in the game. Each team member’s attributes can be altered. So, if you have a mate who can run like the wind but fumbles every other pass, he can be recreated perfectly.

Before delving into the game, it’s best to check out the tutorial section. A two minute training video covers everything from the number of players in the team to the rules and four levels of hands-on training are available.

The basic level does what it says on the tin – how to move and pass – and the intermediate training will teach you how to pull off various types of kicks. The advanced level brings in scrums and rucks with the final professional level teaching you tips and tricks such as dummy passes and sidestepping.

The main menu gives you a choice of Quick Match, Online and Career. A nice touch is that when the game is loading, rather than a static loading screen, you and up to 3 other AI players are displayed on screen and you can practise your moves before the main match.

To say the Career mode is long would be an understatement; you can play for thirteen seasons taking in all the various tournaments and three world cups. Even with the individual game time set to five minutes it will take a good while to play through.

During the career, your players will age and you will have to manage your team effectively, bringing in substitutes for injured players or those sent off. How the team play can be affected by their morale, if you are doing well in a tournament they will play better – get too many red cards and morale will drop.

The usual options are available for online gaming, including private matches, invites, quick matches and leaderboards. Another nice touch is that everyone who plays online will have a reliability rating. This means ‘rage quitters’ will be flagged, so before you start the match you can check your opponent’s rating and if they have a a low score, cancel the game rather than waste your time.

One aspect I found particularly clever are the rucks. When one occurs, a large circle appears around the two players starting the ruck. The circle is divided in two, each half representing a player. To successfully win the event you have hammer X to bring your other players into the pile up. As your teammates join in, the circle gradually fills in with the colour of your team and when it’s fully filled, you win the ruck. It’s rather like a mini quick time event and line outs also have a similar feel as timed button presses are required.

Sidhe have created five rugby games before Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge and it certainly shows, I picked up the basics of the game within moments and my brief hands-on was very enjoyable, so much so that the PR people had to ask three times before we stopped playing.

Rugby Challenge faces some stiff competition from the official 505 Games Rugby World Cup game but when you look at the figures, Rugby Challenge wins hands down. It supports up to four players per console allowing 4 vs 4 online (505 only has 1 vs 1), it has more teams, more competitions and better customisation.

The title is scheduled for Q3 this year on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC and the team hope to have it out before the start of the Rugby World Cup. A PS Vita version of the game is also in development.

Airline Tycoon

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:38:43 +0000

Airline Tycoon is a business simulation game by Thomas Holz and Robert Kleinert, in which the player must successfully manage an airline. The original was developed by Spellbound, and published by Infogrames, however, the succeeding versions were published by a variety of publishers. The original Airline Tycoon was created for Windows, however, the later Deluxe version was also ported to Linux,Mac OS X and ZETA. In this game, like all Tycoon computer games, the objective is to become a tycoon, and in this case, an “Airline Tycoon.” This is achieved through the balance of income and expenditures.

A simulation computer game where the player acts as manager of an airline, competing against three other tycoons. The names of the four tycoons are: Tina Cortez (Sunshine Airways), Siggi Sorglos (Falcon Lines), Igor Tuppolevsky (Phoenix Travel) and Mario Zucchero (Honey Airlines). The player must keep their aircraft in good shape and equip them at such a level as to keep the customers satisfied, buy new planes (from the expensive Airplane Agency or from Mr Schlauberger at the museum who sells old planes at a much lower cost) and take out bank loans if required. The player must also manage their personnel, plan flights, form relationships with the air hostess, buy fuel, attend meetings in the airport manager's office and, if there is the time, slip into Rick's café for a quick cup of coffee. The player can also perform sabotages on the other players. The graphics are bright and decidedly tongue in cheek: the tycoon Igor Tuppolevsky has a set of Russian dolls on his desk—and an open tin of caviar, while Tina Cortez has a picture of a matador and a bull's head.

With a network, up to four people can play at once and the game status can be saved (as it can in single-player mode) for longer games.

Batman: Arkham City Sells 2 Million Units in One Week

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:15:55 +0000

It may not be as impressive as Gears of War 3 selling three million units in its first week, but Batman: Arkham City didn't disappoint in its first week of availability. Since launching on October 18, Rocksteady's follow-up to Arkham Asylum has shipped 4.6 million units and topped the 2-million-units sold mark, according to the L.A. Times.

Arkham City was released to critical acclaim last week -- we gave it an A in our review and it certainly seems to be among the year's best games. A strong sales performance is well-deserved in light of that; sales would have been even better if the PC version hadn't been delayed until November 15.

While the game's quality hasn't been called into question often, its launch wasn't without its hiccups. To play as Catwoman, who can be an intricate part of the game and is quite a bit of fun, players need to redeem an included online pass-style code that came with new copies (or purchase one separately). There were numerous reports of issues with these codes -- some people didn't receive a voucher at all, others had the voucher it should have been on but the code itself was never printed onto it, and so on. Driver: San Francisco faced a similar issue recently so Ubisoft dealt with it in the fairest, most hassle-free way possible: it allowed everyone to download the online pass for free. Warner Bros. went in a more complicated direction, requesting that users get in touch with its support team so they can prove they purchased a new copy and are owed a code for the Catwoman DLC.

That unpleasant hiccup aside, things are looking good for Rocksteady and the Batman franchise.