Toomanywires

The announcement earlier this year that Mass Effect 3 would feature multiplayer caused a riot. The more vocal elements of the ME fan-base lambasted Bioware for sullying their headliner with bollocking multiplayer and opening the floodgates for an army of mic’d up imbeciles that would ruin everything with their teenage swagger. They wrote to their local Member of Parliament, burnt effigies of the Bioware doctors and cried themselves to sleep for a solid week. Panic stricken, they convinced themselves that the evil empire, EA, had finally consumed Bioware and that we were only months away from the series being re-located to current day Afghanistan and re-branded as a modern warfare shooter. I have played a dozen or so rounds of ME3's co-op over the last fortnight and am happy to say that all the fretting was for naught. I found it to be simple yet well designed, a worthwhile addition to Mass Effect 3 that can add umpteen hours to its shelf life. Combat is fast paced, challen...

The last three Assassin’s Creeds have seen Ezio Auditore da Firenze mature from a cocksure ladies’ man into the Mentor and elder statesman of the Assassin family. The series has grown alongside him, developing from an entertaining but seriously flawed debut into a highly polished romp through Renaissance era Europe, garnering a large enough following and critical clout to justify annual releases. Last week, I completed the latest in the franchise: Assassin's Creed Revelations. I enjoyed yet another stunning recreation of a city and period of great historical importance and, unlike in previous entries, I came away satisfied by a finale that offered closure for the assassins of antiquity. The decision to bring Altair back into the fold was well implemented and never overdone, casting him, convincingly, as a man of huge significance and not just the blank canvas from the first AC. Constantinople is vast and detailed, and there’s plenty on offer for even the most adventurous of ga...

If I were to appear on TV’s Mastermind, and I couldn’t select video games or the NBA since 1996 as my specialist subject, I’d probably end up opting for something historical. I have been fascinated with history since I was a child, an interest that was nurtured throughout my school years and culminated in my studying modern history at university. These days I'm a little rusty with my dates and monarchs, but I still get a kick from reading a good history book, usually of the ancient variety, and greatly enjoy seeing historical periods adapted into works of fiction, particularly in video games. My main attraction to the Assassin’s Creed series, and perhaps the reason why it has retained my interest despite slightly diminished returns, is its varied and beautifully realised historical settings . Across four entries we have been treated to the Holy land of the Crusades, Renaissance Venice, Florence and Rome, and most recently Constantinople. As far I am concerned, the cities have al...

These last six weeks, I have been enthralled by HBO's Game of Thrones. A TV adaptation of the first book in George R. R. Martin's Fire & Ice fantasy series, it is essential viewing for anyone who likes their drama bleak, bloody and full of compelling characters. I have been watching weekly repeats of the first series and seem to be nearing the end of what has quickly become my favourite show on TV. The production values are extremely high, and in its scope and ambition it reminds me of the short-lived, but equally brilliant Rome. Sean Bean is perfectly cast as the unwilling protagonist Lord Stark, and there are some great turns in the supporting roles. The visceral nature of the show - you rarely go more than ten minutes without spying guts or muff - is never to the detriment of the layered narrative that succeeds in being in three, or sometimes more, places at once. I can't wait for the second series in 2012, and yesterday I took advantage of Amazon's Black Frid...

My parents always tried to enforce the "no dessert until you've finished your dinner" rule, though it was often in vain. A staple of parenting, it is an internationally recognised form of bribery that coerces children into eating their greens before stuffing their faces with cakes, ice cream and other tasty rubbish. Although my days of bowing to the wishes of the brussel sprout police have long since passed, I've retained this childhood lesson of finishing what I start and have since applied it to gaming. Although I sometimes play multiple games side by side, I rarely start a first playthrough of a narrative driven game before finishing the last. There can be no Crysis 2 until I've cleaned my plate of InFAMOUS 2 and no Portal 2 until I grimace through the far less palatable LA Noire. I do make exceptions with trophying, second playthroughs and smaller downloadable games, but I almost always finish one game before starting the next. I like to get the most out ...

I have tried to avoid spoilers but this post does contain some story details regarding the end of Killzone 3, which are highlighted well in advance. Time and time again I have been left disappointed by games that fall short of a good ending. Underwhelming, premature, sudden, nonsensical, lazy, drawn-out, flawed; bad endings come in all shapes and sizes and hamper games across the full spectrum of genres. This malady rears its ugly head not just in bad games, but also middling, good and even great ones. Much like Lebron James, video games have trouble closing. They may look beautiful, play the part and tell a great story for the first 95% of the way, but I have lost count of the number of otherwise well-crafted games that have disappeared in the clutch, almost as if the developer ran out of ideas and time. Killzone 3 , a game which I otherwise thoroughly enjoyed, is a perfect example of this. A far more coherent experience than its predecessors, Killzone 3 offer...

Empire Bay is a detailed and vast recreation of an East coast, 1940-50s US city. A fictional metropolis which resembles parts of a number of iconic American cities, it is the most impressive and memorable part of last year’s Mafia II. Despite being set in an urban sandbox, it is a linear game devoid of side-missions and optional narrative paths. You awake at the beginning of each chapter, receive a phone call from a friend, undertake a straight-forward mission which is guaranteed to go tits-up, then spend the rest of the day trying to pick up the pieces before heading back home and hitting the hay. With the exception of the 159 collectable wanted posters plastered across the city, Mafia II offers no impetus to give-in to your wanderlust. Finishing the campaign and deciding to mop up some of the remaining trophies (my twelfth platinum, but the first in some time), I began to explore fully a city which had only been teased during the course of the game. In doing so I was tr...

Take a glance at any video game message board and you will see a plethora of topics along the lines of “xxx is too difficult” or “Why is xxx so easy?”. Video games walk a fine line when it comes to difficulty levels, something which I touched upon in a recent set of Weekly Recommendations  . Make a game too easy and gamers may shun it, yet make it too challenging and you risk alienating the casual gamers, who make up a large portion of the market. One argument that has been flogged to death is that older games are much more challenging than those of today. Of course, this is a massively sweeping statement, but one that many gamers hold true. I have no intention of discussing the validity of that argument here, but I think the most interesting aspect of such a discussion is the implicit suggestion that more difficult equals better. To consider this argument, one must look at the different types of difficulty. For example, some games are difficult in a way th...

  I’m in the mood for a bit of a moan and in the process I am likely to make a number of sweeping statements about games, gamers, the mainstream media, and the public in general and do not intend on offering any solutions. This is merely an act of catharsis. Already slightly annoyed? I know I certainly am. I consider myself tolerant and patient, relatively anyway. I have come to accept that common sense is not as prevalent as the phrase would suggest, and have learnt to ignore people and situations accordingly. However, when it comes to the portrayal of video games in the media, be it print, radio, TV, news or advertising, I do tend to get a little wound-up. I can be merrily hurling insults at X Factor contestants on a Saturday evening (I enjoyed that show far more than I’m comfortable with), only to have my viewing displeasure ruined by a Nintendo advert showing three people playing the same DS, or four idiots playing with PS Move, having the kind ...

Final Fantasy VII was the defining moment in an important time for gaming. The PlayStation was breaking down barriers and appealing to a far wider audience than previous home consoles, and FF7 was the high profile, AAA title that the platform needed. It's been credited as the game that sold the PlayStation brand and is widely regarded as one of the most influential titles of all time. Thirteen years later, and it has never really left us. From its release in 1997, we have seen a movie (Advent Children), tie-ins (Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus and Before Crisis), tech demos, cameo appearances (Ehrgeiz, Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts), a PSN re-release and countless toys, merchandise and soundtracks. Square-Enix have repeatedly tapped into the legacy and success of FF7, and understandably so. Furthermore, in the face of apparently overwhelming popular demand, they have continued to tease the prospect of a remake, be it a HD polish-up or even a current generation re-imagining. The ...

Whether it’s World War 2, the American Wild West or ancient Greece, history has long been a rich source for video game narrative. Historical fact has been painstakingly preserved in some games, yet distorted beyond all recognition in others. Whereas one game may be praised for its depiction of history, others have been lambasted for opening fresh wounds or glorifying tragic events of our near past. Games have utilized historical narrative extensively, but to what extent does the platform take liberties with, and perhaps misuse it? The game that originally got me thinking about the role of history in video games was Metal Gear Solid 3 . Set against the backdrop of the most turbulent years of the Cold War, it features some of the real life characters who helped to shape those times, namely U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev . It references numerous real life events, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and then fictionalizes aspects ...