Unremarkable spawn of the Unreal Engine 2

Editor’s Note: I recently found my game play notes on this title when I played it nine years ago. In the interests of maintaining my “timely review” record, I’ve posted my observations and opinions below.

During the early years of First Person Shooter (FPS) development, it’s safe to say that storyline was rarely a primary concern for the design team. Players were often presented with a back story that focused on a arsenal wielding individual dedicated to the ultimate overthrow or destruction of an evil, oppressive or alien organization. Check out page 1 of the game manual and you can see that this ubiquitous premise has been utilized once again.

To paraphrase: It’s 2075 A.D and Earth is now a ravaged and devastated planet, it’s a technological Dark Age with hardly anyone knowing how to use basic devices, the surviving Mega-Corporations control most of the remaining technology and there is a resistance movement bubbling and fermenting amongst the downtrodden. Enter Flynn Haskell, leader of the local resistance and your in-game persona as he leverages two paragraphs of back story to justify massacring a small army of Corporation Pacification Squads across the environs of a ruined city.

Devastation‘s grandiose “twist” on the FPS paradigm is the concept of squad control, allowing you to gather additional rebels to your cause and seamlessly issue fire and movement orders to them. Unfortunately, the execution of this game-play feature inevitably results in the “execution” of most of your comrades within the first few minutes. Your compadres routinely disobey orders that you issue and are also highly proficient at throwing their lives away in a variety of amusing ways, ranging from assaulting sentry guns in the open to pirouetting endlessly on a piece of debris that they have become totally fixated upon. Team members routinely block your movements (especially around ladders and choke points) and it’s far too easy to get stuck on the copious rubble that permeates many of the maps. If you’re a die-hard aficionado of “rage-quitting” a game, welcome aboard … you’ll definitely experience ample opportunities to indulge in your hobby.

Graphically, Devastation showcases just how good the Unreal Engine was at the time … at least in the level environments. Textures are detailed and the the level design, although uninspiring by today’s standards, are above par for similar games during this period. The main complaint player’s will note is the incredibly bad lighting in a lot of the missions. While the designers avoided duplication of Unreal‘s original kaleidoscopic coloured illumination, they did opt for what is one of the darkest and drabbest lighting schemes ever seen in a game. Fortunately brightness, contrast and gamma controls are provided to help alleviate this problem. Character models are also rather lacking in detail, however this may have been a necessary sacrifice to allow the extra polygons needed for your “posse” to be rendered.

There is a comprehensive arsenal of weapons available to unleash Devastation on your foes, ranging from pistols and sub-machine guns that can be dual-wielded, to more esoteric weapons like harpoon guns and remotely controlled rat drones. Unfortunately, the corresponding weapon sound effects are muted and insipid; firing a sniper rifle in the open sounds like a damp-squib that’s been detonated under a five-foot pile of mattresses. You also don’t want to reload your shotgun in a potential combat situation as once you start the process, you can’t interrupt it until you’ve reloaded the entire clip.

There are quite a few bugs present in the original game. The Load-out interface never seemed to work correctly requiring repeated attempts to select weapons. There’s also the impressive ammunition bug that gets triggered when you drop a pair of dual-wield weapons. If you immediately pick them back up again, the magazine size for both weapons doubles. You can repeat this several times to enhance your single hand weapons; after all, “you can never have too many bullets.”  Rage quitters will experience additional angst when they encounter one of the regular “crash to desktop” events that plague many of the missions. You can throw around quite a bit of the rubble that’s strewn about the maps, however stopping to pick up a Chesterfield sofa to throw at a goon is probably not the most efficient means of dispatching your foe … especially if he’s porting a spun up mini-gun!  Finally, some of the AI routines near the end of the game seem to be missing; in one of the final missions when you need to defend your base, the opposition will have enough trouble just trying to unlock a gate to reach your fortifications. Digitalo did release a patch (v390) that provided an AI rewrite and some better weapon sound-effects, however many of the game’s original complaints persist to this day.

While creating a squad based FPS was a worthy goal back in 2003, Digitalo’s efforts unfortunately fall flat with an incomplete and forgettable experience. So forgettable in fact that I had to Google the words “rat drone” to find out what my game-play notes were about, as I’d forgotten to write down the game’s title! If you’re insistent on reminiscing about an Unreal Engine 2 game, LucasArt’s Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005) will undoubtedly provide a more polished and enjoyable alternative.

  Basketball in its most vapid form …

If you’re writing an article focusing on why video game developers shouldn’t create arcade or “lite” sports games, NBA Jam should be one of the first games you add to your research list. A rather harsh opening sentence perhaps, but this offering from Electronic Arts deftly demonstrates how minimalist game-play just isn’t worth the price of admission.

I assume the intended market for this game is focused at the wide range of gamers who aren’t interested in dealing with a meaty basketball Sim like NBA 2K12, and just want to get straight into some 2-on-2 court action. In this regard NBA Jam does deliver, with both online and local multi-player (although I’ve yet to find anyone on Xbox Live who wanted to play the game), as well as cooperative game-play and a single player campaign.  Initially this is all highly entertaining as your players perform astonishing aerial athletics, alley-oops and back-board shattering dunks. Unfortunately after a half-dozen games or so, you start to realise just how freaking repetitive the whole game is. Without a full team on court, your basic skills options are limited to: passing to your team-mate, out-maneuvering your direct opponent or taking a shot. There’s no player blocking, very little incentive to run the clock down, and virtually no tactical options available.

The AI is notoriously polarized as well. For example, at the lowest difficulty, you are guaranteed to strip the ball from an opponent on every attempt for most of the first quarter. If you get roughly 15-20 points in front, the opponent AI steps up its skill level markedly. This isn’t dynamic difficulty; it’s just simplistic variable comparison that becomes way too obvious after just a few games. On higher difficulty levels (even playing cooperatively against the AI) the game turns into a one-sided sadistic exercise that rapidly instils ennui in all concerned.

The campaign and various game mode offerings are all pretty much the same game-play experience although with minor tweaks like power-ups and a rather challenging remix mode where you have to complete specific goals in each match. There’s very little incentive to completing any of these offerings, and if you’re an achievement whore, you’ll loathe the fact that you’ll have to play through the turgid single player campaign six (6) times to grab 300 GS. A colleague and I managed to complete a single co-op campaign (all 37 games) over several months, with neither of us keen to play more than  2-3 matches at a single sitting. Playing multi-player against your friends is undoubtedly the best (and probably the intended) way to experience the game, however the ankle-deep shallowness of the gaming experience will have most players rapidly consigning the game disc to a permanent “pile of shame” in the dark confines of their closet.

As a full price game, NBA Jam is definitely worth passing by (and it was a year ago when it was first released). On the plus side, it appears that EA have finally released the game in the form it should have been, on Xbox Live. Billed primarily as an online multi-player game, NBA Jam: On Fire Edition appears to have vastly improved upon this initial release with better AI (if you insist on playing on your own or want some practice sessions), more tactical options and additional game-play modes. It also only costs a third of the price of this game. If you’ve resigned yourself to trying gaming fodder of this type, the Xbox Live demo would undoubtedly be a good starting point.

Let’s hope I complete these games before more successors are published!

Castle Crashers
A button mashing, side-scrolling fantasy beat-em up from the makers of Alien Hominid, Castle Crashers sticks to their standard off-beat cartoon graphics style and features bizarre monsters, challenging boss fights and plenty of maidens to rescue. The final boss fight was particularly impressive; just when you think the game is over, the battle re-commences with even more fury and mayhem! Great co-operative game-play gives players a perfect excuse to play either online or on the same console. I didn’t bother with the multi-player game (dueling a friend repeatedly seemed a rather pointless exercise) and neither of the mini-games generated any interest either. In fact the All You Can Quaff mini-game requires so much button mashing, its addition was obviously requested by Microsoft to allow them to sell off their surplus stock of game controllers. A worthwhile XBLA experience made all the more fun if you have a friend to play it with.

Just Cause
Within the game you take on the role of Rico Rodriguez, a CIA officer tasked with the overthrow of the dictator of San Esperito (a fictional Caribbean nation). Thrown into a massive open world environment, you’ll run, shoot, drive and fly in third person across the various regions of the country, taking on Drug Cartels, liberating villages from the oppressive government forces or invading military bases in search of updated equipment. The showcased feature within the game is the grapnel gun and parachute which allow Rico to skydive, hijack and para-sail from the wide variety of in-game vehicles. Although realism has obviously taken a back-seat to some James Bond style action, it cannot be denied that the game mechanics are a lot of fun. There are some rather irritating issues with the mission implementation however. All of the side-quests are boring/repetitive and most of the vehicle hijack missions are broken (in fact, it got to the stage that I refused to accept any of those missions and would wait for an alternative to be offered instead.) To date, no patch has been implemented to fix this (and the many other bugs within the game); and given that Just Cause 2 is already out, most players would be well advised to head straight to the sequel for any sky diving and para-sailing fixes that they need addressed.

Lost Planet
Another third person action game that has a grapnel, Lost Planet (2006) is another of those Japanese Mecha- inspired games that features a story focusing on environmental change, totally incomprehensible dialogue and child like voice-acting. Set on the icy world of EDN III, you’ll spend your days eternally looking for thermal energy (T-ENG), a vital commodity necessary to ensure that you can survive on this arctic world. Of course, you’re always reminded of the fact that this planet is cold by the consistent rendering of vapour particle effects every time a character talks in a cut-scene. Squatting in your way are the Akrid, an array of insecticidal aliens that quite conveniently contain T-ENG, thus giving you perfect justification for some serious Insect-icide! The grapnel implementation can be a bit touchy at times, with its limited range and the necessity of careful aiming. The mechs (called Vital Suits) have the ability to deploy into high speed vehicular form (a la Transformers) but I don’t believe I ever felt the need to use that mode due to weapon-fire limitations. I also never managed to successfully hijack a Vital Suit despite trying to follow the manual’s instructions to the letter.  The multiplayer mode didn’t get a look in either, mainly because no-one else is playing the game online any more. Four years after it was released, Lost Planet still offers a dozen or so hours of worthwhile gaming that you can now probably pick up for the price of a decent coffee.

Halo 3
Chances are that if you own a Xbox 360, you’ve probably heard of the Halo franchise. Halo 3 is the first game of the series released for the Xbox 360 (the first two were for the original Xbox) and offers a much improved set of visuals and some impressive online multiplayer gaming. The story is playable both as a single player and co-operative experience however it must be said that following the story in-game is particularly difficult given the muted dialogue volume that cannot be adjusted independently of the main volume control. Throw in some heavy action sequences and I rapidly started to lose the plot (both literally and figuratively). It doesn’t look as sexy as Gears of War 2 does (or Gears of War for that matter) but still offers plenty of bang for your gaming buck. If you are into multiplayer online gaming, the game probably rates an extra llama based purely on the PVP game-play I’ve witnessed but not participated in.

Well that’s 2010 wrapped up from an Xbox 360 perspective. Next article will be on the PC games played last year; a considerably longer (and more up-to-date) catalogue of titles.

Alan Wake (and all the DLC)
This third person psychological horror/thriller set in and around the town of Bright Springs, Washington had me utterly absorbed within the first 10 minutes. A fantastic story with remarkably good voice acting and dialogue supplemented with a generous helping of combat sequences. The idea of light being used as an initial weapon to combat the possessed residents of Bright Springs is well conceived, however by my count, Alan Wake managed to destroy more “taken” than could possibly live within Bright Springs, suggesting that the Darkness has a well-developed recruitment and human resources team to assist with his malevolent machinations. As with many story based games, this one is as linear as it gets, the environments can be a bit repetitive (one of the rare instances in the world where de-forestation should be positively considered) and the initial introduction of Alan’s wife, Alice, is almost as scary as the opening gameplay sequence!

Nevertheless, this is a lengthy game with immaculate pacing that generates just enough “suspension of disbelief” to keep you rivetted to your wide-screen monitor. Highly recommended!

Puzzle Quest 2
In yet another unfortunate example of how game sequels can stuff up a perfectly good gaming formula, Puzzle Quest 2 has managed to remove most of the aspects of the original game that made it such a hit. Instead of focusing the game within the vast regions of Etheria, the sequel focuses on events around the small Etherian town of Veloren (indeed, the only reason a player would know that Veloren is in Etheria is the single reference to the continent that I read in one of the monster descriptions!) The more restrictive scope of the game removes the citadel capture and empire building of the original game that I found appealing. The plot is completely disposable; in fact, within the first hour or two I’d completely forgotten what the whole premise behind my presence in Veloren was. The AI is unremarkable at anything other than the highest level and I believe I only lost three battles during the entire game. Each character class has set spell combinations that can make any battle virtually un-losable. For example, equipping Disarm and all 4 strike based spells for an Assassin will result in endless combos that can knock off 50-100 hps off your opponent each turn.  Mix this in with the monotonous and unchallenging mini-games and you’ll rapidly find yourself restricting your gaming sessions to 1/2 an hour or so to prevent boredom. I still like the theory behind an RPG linked to Bejeweled-type gameplay but the formula needs some serious rethinking before the next game in the series is released.

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
Here’s another epsidode in the on-going series of LEGO based games that involve you roleplaying one of the many characters in the Indiana Jones universe as you wantonly destroy LEGO environments rendered from the scenes of all four movies. As with all LEGO games, there are plenty of unlockables and secrets to discover, a reasonable amount of combat and some nifty cranium tapping puzzles to solve. The tounge in cheek cutscenes continue to impress with their off-beat and humourous renditions of various movie clips.  Great co-operative gameplay however you will need to be sitting in front of the same console. I was also the rather unfortunate victim of a bug where an item that I was supposed to interact with was flagged as destructable earlier in the level. Needless to say I swatted it in passing yielding a couple of nice silver studs … but denying me the 140 GS I needed to get the full 1000 points (sigh.) Nevertheless, this is a great way to relax with a friend if you cannot be bothered transporting your console around.

LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy
Focusing on Episodes 4-6 of the Star Wars saga, this title has an incredible amount of combat within it ranging from protracted fire-fights with Imperial Stormtroopers to fast paced dog fights over and within both of the Death Stars. There are a lot less puzzles to contend with and the vehicle levels can be particularly difficult to deal with until you’ve indulged in some extended practice sessions. Probably the biggest issue I had was with your companion characters blocking your jumps or following to closely on your heels and knocking you off precarious ledges. The lack of a split screen camera (first introduced in LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (2009)) does restrict character separation during co-operative play (hot seat only) however it’s still an enjoyable experience. It scores 1/2 a llama less due to the excessive combat sequences and respawning enemies.

LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4
By now you’ve probably got a fair understanding of what gaming features are integral to the creation of any LEGO game. LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 follows the forumla to the letter. Levels feature key events within the first four Harry Potter movies and all the secrets, puzzles and unlockables you’ve come to expect are present. There is markedly less combat within this title (as you would probably expect from the Harry Potter franchise), balanced by a marked increase in the number of puzzles to solve. Puzzles are pretty straight forward in nature, requiring a sequence of standardized tasks to be carried out in order to render a solution. For example, if you see a pixie carrying something you need, hitting it repeatedly with the Immobilus spell will vanquish the critter and cause the item to drop. To open a vault, you’ll need a character that carries a key. Once you’ve figured out the dozen or so different tasks available to you, any conundrum should be easily unravelled. The final boss fights are a mixed bag with the Year 2 experience being markedly less intuitive than the other three encounters. Companion characters can still get in your way on occasion and I’ve witnessed a couple of glitches that caused key objects to be disappear, requiring a level restart.

Hopefully tomorrow, we’ll have the final installment of 2010′s Xbox 360 games of note.

I have admittedly managed to break this regular promise on countless occasions in the past, but this year I feel more confident that I can follow through with my intentions!

Seriously …

No, I mean it! …

(sigh) …

Anyway, let’s start the ball rolling with a quick look at what I played on the Xbox 360 in 2010.

What might interest readers is the large number of older titles that attracted my attention last year. I’ve never found the need to focus exclusively on the latest and greatest blockbuster titles, and given the static nature of hardware for each console generation, many of 2005′s Xbox 360 launch titles still hold their own five years down the track. With each title I’ve included a mini-review of my overall experience; a more comprehensive assessment for many of these releases will (hopefully) be forthcoming as the year progresses.

Mass Effect 2 (and all the DLC)
In an effort to appeal to members of the “I’m not playing it unless it’s a shooter” school of gaming, every accepted facet of computer RPG’s has been ruthlessly simplified or excised. No simple puzzles, guns are unique and can only be purchased at one store in the known galaxy, and levelling your character requires almost no decision making whatsoever … and the less said about the probe shooting and mining mini-game the better (although that was eventually patched). On the plus side, some interesting characters with well fleshed-out backstories (Mordin Solus more than makes up for Miranda’s bland and disinterested attitude), a storyline that maintains the cinematic sweep first showcased in Mass Effect, and (despite my shooter apprehensions in the first sentence) a vastly improved third person combat engine (although as many people have commented in other forums, the presence of chest high crates and paraphenalia tends to highlight an impending firefight.)

My experiences with the DLC was a mixed bag, with only Overlord and the impressive Lair of the Shadow Broker measuring up to the quality of the main game. There is at least one more DLC release planned for Mass Effect 2, although the time-frame is still undetermined.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
A new perspective on Lara Croft that doesn’t accentuate her “assets”, Lara Croft GOL is a 3D isometric action platformer set in the usual haunts that you would expect to find any self-respecting tomb raider. With her erstwhile companion Totec in tow, you’ll witness the pair leaping vast chasms, scaling cliffs, shooting a wide variety of undead and prehistoric beasts and bosses, and solving a myriad of death inducing traps and puzzles. I confess that my experience with this game so far has been purely multiplayer (we’ve nearly finished the game!) and it’s actually a heck of a lot of fun. There’s plenty of insane firefights to get the adrenaline pumping and plenty of follow up traps designed to catch you off guard when you think you have successfully navigated past a puzzle. The biggest issue is trying to keep both protaganists acting in concert as it only takes one individual going off on his own to result in both players meeting a grisly end.

Comic Jumper
Here’s another 2.5D action platformer from Twisted Pixel (the makers of ‘Splosion Man) that narrates the misadventures of a failed comic book hero Captain Smiley and his chest-bound sidekick Star. Relying purely on pointless jokes and toilet humour to give it a unique flavour, Comic Jumper ends up being average “run of the mill” fare. The various comic strip genres get tired very quickly and in a nutshell, all the game offers is repetative platforming and 3rd person rail shooting action with different artwork. The welcome introduction of checkpoints will at least prevent many of the “hurling controller at TV” episodes characterizing ‘Splosion Man‘s gameplay, however you will still die regularly, complete with a pertinent insult from the developer targetting your lack of  gaming skills or friends.

Feeling rather pissed off by these irritating and totally unneccessary remarks, I had a closer look at the licensing agreement for the game and can confirm that: “By purchasing Comic Jumper (the game designed to kill you off multiple times each session), you (the consumer) are granting Twisted Pixel the implicit rights to abuse and insult the player’s parentage, sexual proclivities, lack of hand-eye coordination and religious affiliation.” All I can say is, buried deep within this site is my article authoring licensing agreement that clearly stipulates: “By selling Comic Jumper (the allegedly “intellectual” property of Twisted Pixel), you (the developer) are granting me the right to tell you to be thankful that you got a score of 2 1/2 llamas and collectively go %$#% yourselves.”

A Kingdom for Keflings
I have a sneaking suspicion that I was going through my early 2010 “casual gaming” phase when I picked this game up. At it’s heart, A Kingdom for Keflings is a simple resource gathering and settlement building game which involves your Xbox avatar running around assembling a variety of buildings with the ultimate goal being the successful construction of a castle. Cartoony graphics and a very flat learning curve provide the player with a pleasant diversion from hardcore gaming. No replayability to speak off once you’ve completed the game, but there’s still 6-8 hours of entertainment to be had. In fact it was amusing enough for me to pick up A World of Keflings just before the year closed out, so there will be more Kefling shenanigans forthcoming later in the year.

Gears of War 2
Gears of War 2 continues the adventures of Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago as they take on the relentless Locust Horde for control of the planet Sera. Another example of how Epic Games title development is just as impressive as their licensed 3D game engines. A generous number of diverse levels and an intuitive combat and cover system makes this game more than worth the A$20  plonked down for the co-operative gameplay alone. As with most shooters, the gameplay is linear and the game does suffer from ”omg, there are chest high walls there … it must be time for a firefight” syndrome. In its defence, it should be pointed out that when the game was released in 2008, the plethora of third person shooters sporting similar mechanics that were destined to follow had not yet been conceived. There is PVP online multiplayer provided as well, but I tend to steer clear of most online shooters because age has dulled my reflexes to such an extent that I find it nigh on impossible to click on cards in Spider Solitaire.

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming … well, eventually!

• Most of your team member’s appear to be budding amateur geologists. This secondary career is  showcased by their literal fixation to rocks and other geological features that adorn many of the mission environments. In most cases, the only way to dislodge them is to leave them behind, whereupon they’ll suddenly lose interest with the large feldspar outcrop they’re tinkering with and teleport back to your hero(ine)s location.

• Commander Shepard also possesses an interesting and undocumented biotic skill called Area Levitation. This skill can be occasionally triggered by climbing to the peak of a small hill and changing weapons. The end result is a rather embarrassed player character and team members floating 1/2 a meter above the ground.

• I’m not at all impressed with the Illusive Man’s recruitment policies either. While he’s been generous enough to allocate a personal assistant for our alter-ego, Ensign Kelly routinely announces that there’s new e-mail awaiting my attention, oblivious to the fact that I’d just finished checking my in-box. Perhaps if she spent a bit less time staring at her terminal surfing the extranet and looked up from time to time, she’d function a bit more effectively.

• The design team also forgot to affix an ‘Out of Order’ sign to the bridge door of the SSV Strontium Mule.  Any miscreant keen to gain access to the command deck can do so by simply attempting to bypass the door’s security and then immediately canceling the attempt. The door will then obligingly open.

• There are a number of bugged terminals/computer screens that have incredibly sensitive scroll-bars, making perusing lengthy text a tedious activity. Unfortunately, Windows 2183 doesn’t have a control applet to change this hard-coded setting.

• On occasion, it is possible to see interactive items highlighted through floors or walls. This is especially noticeable in some multi-level environments, giving Shepard advance warning on what s(he) can expect to encounter down the next flight of stairs.

• It is possible to break the Gia Parasini mission on Illium given the right? conditions. Talking to the Asari merchant, Hermia, gives you access to a nice range of technological doodads that no self-respecting hero(ine) should turn down.  Unfortunately, if you then talk to Gia to obtain her investigate Hermia quest, our previously voluble smuggler clams up, preventing access to the dialogue choices necessary to complete the task. The only way to resolve this is to reload the game, and talk to Gia before you place any tactical nuke orders with Hermia.

• Finally, it would appear that the previous history of Samara’s past are being banned under Asari Justicar law until her death. This is evidenced during the culmination of her loyalty quest, when all in-game audio disappears for a minute or two. Fortunately, Samara is rapidly approaching the end of an Asari’s average life-span, meaning that the dialogue exchange with her daughter may be available soon from the relevant Asari government agency. Alternatively, Bioware may see fit to release a patch to resolve this major issue sooner rather than later!

Spare time permitting, you can look forward to a full review of the game later this month.

Put that copy of Mass Effect 2 on hold for 20 hours. You’ll be glad you did.

I have an embarrassing confession to make. Mass Effect, Bioware’s much hyped science fiction RPG, completely slipped under my gaming radar when it was released on the Xbox 360 several years ago. For some inexplicable reason all the hype, glowing reviews and internet kudos this game garnered in 2007 failed to register at any level within my cerebral cortex. This shouldn’t have been such a drama as I didn’t own Microsoft’s recent gaming console at the time. Unfortunately, I also failed to notice the PC version that was published roughly six months later. It was only the recent spate of media releases covering the imminent appearance of Mass Effect 2 (and my impeccable skills in counting that I picked up in Grade school) that made me think “Hang on a minute … when the heck did Mass Effect 1 come out?” As a keen RPG aficionado, and with a few weeks off during Christmas, I decided to embark upon a thorough investigation of Bioware’s original sci-fi intellectual property. After 50+ hours of gaming and three complete play-throughs, I’m about to expound upon the reasons why anyone who hasn’t yet experienced Mass Effect, should strongly consider doing so, and why potential buyers of the just released sequel should fire up its progenitor first.

Mass Effect can best be summarized as a science-fiction role-playing shooter that borrows heavily from many of the mainstream movies and science fiction novels published over the last few decades. As Commander Shepard of the Earth Systems Alliance, you play a pivotal role in the emergence of the human race as it takes its first tentative steps onto the galactic stage. Charged with recovering a valuable artefact from a long dead precursor race of aliens, a chain of events is rapidly set in motion that will eventually culminate in Shepard determining the fate of galactic civilization. Although the above précis is a nebulous (ahem) plot description to say the least, exposing any more detail would seriously tarnish a potential player’s experience with this game. I don’t like spoilers in my reviews, and I’m not about to change this position, even if the reviewed game is two years old.

In order to meld RPG and shooter elements into a game, a radical departure from Bioware’s previous turn based designs was obviously needed. The solution they developed is a third person camera perspective view linked with what is in essence a real-time dialogue engine. Rather than reading and interpreting lengthy sentence structures on screen, the player chooses a desired character mood to progress the conversation. This allows dialogue to flow smoothly as the game transitions between third person exploration/combat and conversational perspectives. There’s also an alignment dichotomy present where the player can choose between paragon (good) and renegade (evil) conversation moods, akin to the moral choices made in their earlier title Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The developers then went one step further by coupling this with dynamic backgrounds, motion captured character movement and facial expression, full voice acting and an impressive orchestral score. The end result is a free-flowing cinematic space opera that wraps the player in a vice-like grip and refuses to let go. The pacing within this composition is nearly impeccable. Transitions between cut scenes and game-play are seamless, and the frenetic fire fights agreeably counterpoint the well scripted dialogue most of the NPCs have to share.

Drawing upon their previous experience in RPG world design, Bioware have created an intricate and believable galaxy within which to set the pivotal events of the game, and the attention to detail they’ve lavished on even the most insignificant aspects is incredible. There are myriad snippets of information to collect as you explore the galaxy, ranging from detailed sociological and theological leanings of the alien races, to the discovery of faster than light travel and weapons technologies. Those of us not interested in reading lengthy text blocks can freely ignore this flavour text, however it’s still an impressive feat how the justification for just about everything within the Milky Way has been considered during the design process. There are also dozens of visual and aural references to many recent sci-fi movies, and if you’ve seen Starship Troopers or any of the Star Trek and Star Wars movies, you can clearly witness their influence on this game. There’s even a level near the end game entitled “Trench Run,” although there’s nary an X-Wing or Tie-Fighter to be seen.

While there are plenty of opportunities for combat scattered across the various planets and space-stations throughout the galaxy, much of the game focuses on your interactions with NPCs and your various team members. The decisions that Shepard will be forced to make can dramatically affect events later in the game. In many of these situations, the consequences can be dire, making the game eminently replayable. Bioware is one of the few developers who consistently create complex and interesting characters in their games, and the team members you’ll encounter in Mass Effect are no exception. Their colourful and often flawed personalities invariably instil a strong emotional attachment to your in-game avatar and it’s almost impossible not to fall in love with them (in some cases literally.) These character interactions also lead directly to the reason why you should play this game before you even consider playing the sequel. Mass Effect 2 allows you to import your character, complete with all the game changing events and interactions he or she made. By doing so, all those moments of joy and pathos you experienced carry on into the next chapter, with possibly more unforeseen consequences to be uncovered.

Number crunchers, fearing a dearth of statistics, can rest easy as Bioware has continued their trend of providing plenty of skills to level up over the course of Shepard’s adventures. There are six character classes to choose from, each focusing on one or two sets of skills. The Soldier class focuses on combat while the Adept and Engineer concentrate on biotics (“Force” like powers) and technical (hacking and reverse engineering) respectively. There are also three multi-classed options where you can choose skills sub-sets from two of the primary classes. While cynics might suspect that George Lucas did a late night edit on the design document when Bioware weren’t looking, the biotic characters are particularly fun to play, giving you the opportunity to throw, lift and pummel your opponents without lifting a finger. While there are plenty of varied weapons, armour and upgrades to be found as the story progresses, it has to be highlighted that having separate inventory and character management screens makes optimizing your team’s load out a tedious affair. The main problem is that most of the information displayed uses too much screen real-estate. This forces the player to execute multiple button presses and stick wiggles to gather all the pertinent information on new equipment. The same problem extends to interacting with shopkeepers. Invariably most players will probably find it easier to just hoard extra weapons and armour until your limited inventory space fills, then quickly optimizing your team and performing an complete inventory fire sale.

The combat system is reasonably forgiving although it’s not as polished as many other dedicated console shooters. While it’s hard to fault their pedigree in role-playing game design over the last decade, the developers are definitely “testing the waters” with this creation and there are a few warts that detract from game play. Entering and leaving cover could definitely benefit from a button press rather than having you head butt a wall to trigger the action. Cover is also incredibly “sticky” requiring tedious side-stepping and camera movement to get your avatar moving again. The combination of NPC artificial intelligence and restrictive maps can also channel your squad mates directly to you, occupying the cover you want to use and generally making a nuisance of themselves. While there are rudimentary squad commands available to send them on their way, you invariably end up starting engagements by moving them out of the way and letting them fend for themselves. On the positive side, increasing the controller sensitivity and turning on combat assistance will make your first few engagements easier. The ability to pause real time combat by pressing the right and left bumpers is also appreciated as this allows you to target and queue up biotic power use and weapon selection for you and your squad, as well as lining up on any fast moving foes that have moved out of your field of view.

Bioware’s exploration into the realm of shooters has also picked up some questionable habits from the 90’s when this genre was all the rage. It would appear that the design team purchased a subscription to “Exploding Barrel Monthly” magazine, because every map seems to have its fair share of volatile canisters, conveniently positioned to inflict maximum damage on your foes. Admittedly, they have been thematically rebadged as plasma/cryo/ion/fusion containment cells but I still question why you’d want to keep quantities of volatile plasma in your sleeping quarters. The excessive clutter that surrounds us in the 21st century also remains an unresolved issue in the distant future. Despite two decades of game development, crates continue to make their ubiquitous presence felt. Mass Effect’s environments are full of crates, some large, and some small. A few of them levitate amusingly when they are hit with your biotic powers. Other’s just squat on the ground, jealous of their airborne brethren and wallowing in self pity at their tedious and monotonous existence. Isn’t it time that we consigned these faceless monoliths to the game design dustbin of history? Let’s face it; if Gary Gygax solved storage problems back in the 70’s with the invention of the Bag of Holding, surely Bioware can invent some means to euthanize these hulking containers and design some more varied and aesthetically pleasing accoutrements for us to throw and/or hide behind? Please, no more crates!

Although Bioware’s previous ventures have often been praised for being open and less restrictive experiences with plenty of variety in how players can approach each game, Mass Effect returns to a more controlled and linear game flow. This is understandable given the exacting overall narrative that has been crafted for this adventure. While each of the major quest hubs can be tackled in any order, they are all self-contained linear experiences with very few opportunities for deviation from the path the writers lay down before you. Side quests are normally provided to give players the occasional lateral distraction away from the main story, but most of these are bland and repetitive excursions across re-textured planetary zones and a half-dozen repetitive star-ship and facility maps. For exploring uncharted worlds, a heavily armed APC called the Mako gives your team the ability to rapidly transit the wide open spaces between points of interest. Although it has enough torque to tackle 70 degree inclines and small jump jets to free you from the unforgiving geometry of most worlds, it handles like a moped with an overly loose steering column. When you accelerate over a cliff and land facing in the opposite direction, you can’t help but wonder if a Mako factory recall notice is sitting forgotten in someone’s in-box.

Technically, Mass Effect is incredibly solid. Although there are a couple of bugs documented in forums, none of these appear to have affected my multiple play-throughs to date. The texture pop-in issue, however, is something that has to be emphasized as this seems to have affected everyone who has played the game. Even installing the game to your hard-drive (a feature that wasn’t available in 2007) doesn’t solve this problem resulting in several seconds of un-textured characters and background after many of the game loading screens you’ll encounter. And speaking of loading, if you ever climb into a lift to transition between levels, feel free to go and make a snack, because they all appear to be powered by asthmatic gerbils on treadmills. Although these extended segues have been spiced up with some elevator music or audio newsflashes, grabbing a carbonated beverage and sugar-laced snack from the kitchen is still the lesser of two evils.

To start wrapping things up, I guess one question we should consider is, did Bioware want to create a hybrid title that appeals to both RPG and shooter devotee’s? I suspect the answer is in the negative. Given Bioware’s pedigree, their creations have always favoured role-playing story and character development over the visceral combat savoured by shooter fanatics, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. After all that’s what they’ve effectively mastered over the last 15 years with their D&D and Star Wars franchised titles. What the passage from turn based to real-time combat/conversation has done is create a continual stream of game play that keeps the player focused entirely on her avatar’s progress throughout the story. There are no jumps to CGI rendered cut-scenes, no extensive combat rounds to organize and no conversational trees that take minutes to navigate. Every effort has been made to keep the player centred on the here and now, where every decision is made on the spur of the moment, and where the consequences of those actions might not be apparent until many hours have elapsed. Although “suspension of disbelief” is still required to appreciate video games in their current form, Mass Effect offers a step towards a future where such a prerequisite may not be necessary in order to savour this form of digital entertainment.

All blemishes aside, Mass Effect is still one of Bioware’s best sci-fi RPGs created to date. An epic storyline, memorable characters with stellar voice acting and a near perfect blend of cinematography and pacing, make the game almost impossible to put down. When you sense that the culmination of all Shepard’s endeavours are nearing fruition, make sure you set aside a couple of hours to fully appreciate the experience. The conclusion is assuredly best appreciated in one sitting and unlike those single cut scene endings you used to find in old-school RPGs, the game still has much to offer before the end credits roll.

No, this isn’t Niko Bellic’s definitive guide to dating.

One of the rewarding benefits of writing articles for your own web-site is the increased latitude and scope available to you when choosing a topic for your penmanship. You can cover any subject you wish, you aren’t restricted to following editor-enforced formulaic review templates, and you can vent your spleen about any game you wish without the threat of losing your highly fancied freelance writing position. As it has been quite a few months since my last foray into “spleen venting”, I’ve decided to write today’s article on my love-hate relationship with Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) for the Xbox 360 … with emphasis on the “hate”.

If you’ve taken the time to scan metacritic.com, you’ll notice that GTA IV is ranked as the number one high-scoring game of all time (and has been since its release in April last year.) Perusing the critical analyses listed shows a chronology of 100% review scores as long as my arm touting the virtues, game-play and longevity of Rockstar’s latest crime/vehicular mayhem/anti-social behaviour simulation. What is noticeably absent from these in-depth critiques is the just as lengthy list of technical issues and questionable game-play design choices made by the developers during their 3+ year creative process. In many cases, the pressure of being the “first review on the block” has perhaps resulted in sub-standard assessments that haven’t covered enough of the game to reveal these inconsistencies. While that may help out the publisher who is trying to push product out the door, it’s definitely doing the purchasing public a huge disservice. Gamers are now faced with the interesting question: “Are all those ‘perfect’ scores a true and accurate reflection of the game experience?” My answer, as expounded upon later in this article, is an emphatic “no”.

Before I get to the bile and vitriol I am about to heap upon this opus, I should clearly state that I have finished the game (which took roughly 50 hours to complete) and have even indulged in a bit of achievement whoring just to pad my rather pathetic Gamerscore. The score of 3½ llamas is based on my assessment and impressions of the game, balancing the good, the bad and the ugly aspects that I have observed. I’m just not going to bother discussing any of the good bits because it’s already been done to death in a multitude of GTA IV reviews scattered across the web. If you really want to flip through a lengthy rehash of the massive open world environment, creative mission design, memorable characters, well written dialogue, extensive soundtrack, and all the other positive features that have been gushed over by the majority of online media, check out any mainstream game review sites and admire their remarkably similar and uniform points of view. Let’s start the critique rolling with a list of game play issues.

First cab off the rank is GTA IV’s missions. Now, I’m one of the first to admit that each of these forays throughout the environs of Liberty City is a unique experience in terms of dialogue, mission objective and location. Some of them are actually darn right funny like the hi-speed scooter chase later in the game. However, each and every GTA IV sojourn ends up following this simple formula to the letter. The prologue to your mission is invariably a lengthy drive through the city from point A to point B, a process that usually takes a good 5 minutes or so depending on how insane a driver you normally are. Upon reaching point B you will be treated to either: a high-speed vehicular chase to point C, or a protracted gunfight between you and a variety of sociopathic gang members, drug addicts and/or police. The above formula pretty much covers all the side-missions and other events that occur within the game as well, resulting in missions that are only differentiated by the vehicle you’re chasing or the miscreants you’re shooting at. Unfortunately, some of the game-play elements tossed in by the designers can make both of these scenarios tedious exercises in frustration that practically force you to replay each mission several times.

With GTA IV’s intuitive combat system, you’d think that the regular gun battles being fought out in the streets shouldn’t be such a big issue, right? Just run to the nearest cover, and then take out your opponents one by one with the incredibly useful auto-targeting system. Alas, random police response isn’t disabled when you are undertaking missions. Accordingly, the local constabulary have a remarkably annoying habit of being in the neighbourhood, just as you arrive to unleash 9mm justice upon your foes. With the local underworld notorieties safely hidden behind walls or inside vehicles, and you standing in the open having just disembarked from your 4WD Patriot, it’s no surprise that the cops start shooting at you first! Returning fire just makes the situation worse, causing your wanted level to rise rapidly as police casualties mount. The invariable end result is a quick trip to the local hospital.

During high speed vehicle chases you’re occasionally asked to kill the driver you’re hunting. The trouble is that there is no automatic target locking, which makes hitting the pursued vehicle, while travelling at 80+ mph nigh on impossible. Any Liberty City citizens unlucky enough to witness one of these occurrences would be well advised to promptly take cover as they are just as likely to be taken out as you careen wildly through the suburbs, guns blazing. Unsurprisingly, the LCPD is usually quick to react to any “shots fired” reports, rapidly resulting in a three way pursuit with you in the middle. To top it off, the designers also tossed in some scripted events designed to prematurely end your pursuit. Here’s a hypothetical example. You’re driving through Chinatown when all of a sudden a group of Orientals in a dragon costume waltz across the road in front of you as part of the local Chinese New Year celebrations. These events are incredibly cheap tricks that are purely designed to force you to crash and prevent you from successfully completing your mission. They are also almost impossible to recover from unless you have advance warning from a previous attempt.
To add insult to injury, when you are offered the chance to repeat a failed mission, you are subjected to that same mind numbingly mundane 5+ minute journey to the mission site each and every time. Note to the development team: This is really irritating, and is something that could have been solved with a simple checkpoint system that restarts the mission with you about 30 seconds away from the true mission objective.

GTA IV’s main claim to fame is it’s over the top parodying of the American Dream, with the main character’s aspirations of fame and fortune being rudely cast aside in favour of a much darker and seedier reality. It’s also quite possibly the most realistic babysitting simulation currently available on current generation consoles. As Niko explores Liberty City’s environs, he encounters and befriends what have to be some of the most self-absorbed ne’er-do-well’s Liberty City has seen since the game franchise went 3D in 2001. Assuming our hero is a typically gullible Eastern European migrant, they happily phone him up at all hours of the day or night requesting anything from a game of darts to demanding sexual favours because they’re frisky after a long shift at the hospital. While this might be reality as the developers see it, this kind of mundane existence really has no place in a video game. The fact that everyone I know of who has played the game wants to mute their mobile after the main storyline is complete, kind of confirms this observation. Frankly, I think they’d rather shoot the callers instead.

The game artificial intelligence routines also seem simplistic in a variety of situations. For example, it’s impossible to toss a grenade from a rooftop at a locked target below him, without Niko under arming it straight into the roof at his feet! The GPS system used to generate optimal travel paths can make some highly convoluted routes. This was especially noticeable when travelling from Alderney to any of the other islands. Liberty City’s driving populace also appears to be lacking in the “smart’s” department if my encounters on the surrounding freeways is anything to go by. Here’s my guesstimate of how Driver A.I. routines have been implemented. Every time you approach a vehicle from behind whilst travelling at speed, a random number between ‘1’ and ‘4’ is generated. If a ‘1’ is rolled, the aforementioned vehicle is automatically instructed to cut across in front of you at the precise moment in time necessary to cause a collision! This is obviously Rockstar’s method of simulating vehicle manufacturers removing all rear-view mirrors as a cost-cutting exercise due to the current global financial crisis.

Race A.I. isn’t anything to write home about either. Upon starting any event, floor your accelerator and head off towards the first turn; I can guarantee that all five of your opponents will do the same in a mad attempt to beat you to the first corner. When you approach the first turn, slam on your brakes, sit back and watch the opposition slam into each other or the surrounding buildings as they fail to make the turn at the same impossible speed! Casually pass your opponents, honking your horn if you feel suitably smug. Provided you don’t do anything ridiculously stupid, it’s unlikely you’ll either see or hear your opponents again for the rest of the race. Oddly enough, police reaction to collisions also seems to involve the aforementioned random number generator. Sometimes you can smack into a police cruiser head-on, and the officer will barely blink, passing you by without a care in the world. On other occasions a slight tap on the rear bumper will have Officer Barbrady putting out an APB for you across the entire county. I can only assume in these instances the collision jostled him, causing a major spillage of coffee and doughnuts.

The local population don’t appear to cope well with terrorist threats either. Having just acquired the ability to use car bombs, I decided to detonate one at a crowded intersection in Broker to observe the results. As expected, I was treated to a big explosion, lots of screaming citizens and a few exploding and burning vehicles. As I watched, I noticed a couple of impatient drivers trying to pass through the intersection, callously oblivious to the death and destruction I had caused. As they bumped into the burning vehicles, they too caught fire, eventually exploding 20-30 seconds later. Having learnt nothing from the additional carnage caused, another driver attempted to make a passage through the burning debris. For roughly 5 minutes I sat and watched as representatives from the shallow end of Liberty City’s gene pool expired in a protracted pyrotechnic display.

The game is also graced with a few bugs and some occasional in-game oddities. I’ve had the game completely freeze up on me on over a dozen occasions, requiring a restart and loss of my current mission progress; a state of affairs exacerbated in some instances because I’d just spent an hour or so trying to complete that particular scenario. If you were also unlucky enough to be completing an achievement like performing all of the stunt jumps, and you didn’t take the time to drive to a safe house to save your game, you can similarly kiss your progress good bye. During high speed driving, the game sometimes struggles to render scenery in a timely fashion, resulting in distance related pop-in. When driving, it’s impossible to lock the camera view in anything over than the chase position without repeatedly jiggling the right thumb stick to maintain position. There’s also an issue with building lighting that takes an extra second or so to illuminate giving the impression of thousands of bored residents simultaneously trying to cause a blackout in their borough as you drive by. Some people have suggested that this is supposed to be your eyes adjusting to the sunlight, similar to when you leave your safe house, but the behaviour I’ve described occurs outdoors and at night. I’ve managed to fall through the world on a couple of occasions, the more memorable one being when I walked into the Alderney tw@t Internet cafe when the door was already open, re-appearing 5 seconds later roughly a block away and promptly freezing the game. I also managed to trigger a mission bug during one of the assassination tasks I was assigned. In this particular instance, a target limousine managed to get temporarily separated from two escorting SUVs. I managed to destroy the limo with a RPG, and heard the musical riff suggesting I had successfully completed the mission. Unfortunately no-one bothered to tell the less than diligent bodyguards that they were now out of a job. For the next ten minutes they persistently stalked me across the city, attempting to run me down every time I left my vehicle. After their less than salutary “hit and run” offence involving a hot-dog vendor, I decided discretion was the better part of valour and promptly rebooted the game. Sure enough, I had to repeat that same assassination mission once more.

From my perspective the game is nothing like the near perfect sandbox simulation that the majority of mainstream media have insisted upon. It can best be described as a collection of one hour gaming sessions that ended in a great deal of frustration and angst, followed up by several days of bitching and whining until enough courage was plucked up to repeat the process. Whilst the remainder of the reviewing community managed to accurately report on all the positive aspects of the game, it’s equally important to note that the warts and blemishes adorning its guise prevent GTA IV from being the near-perfect game that these same individuals would have us believe.

If the Caribbean had decent wi-fi coverage, this is the game Blackbeard would have played.

Since the advent of ancient sea-faring nations, pirates have existed as an ever-present threat to maritime trade routes around the world. Although contemporary piracy is almost universally condemned by today’s governments, recent popular culture has managed to give historical piracy a much rosier and more appealing aspect. Games and movies, such as the “Pirates of the Caribbean” saga, have managed to portray pirates from the late 17th – early 18th centuries as swashbuckling romantics rather than the more unflattering imagery that we tend to associate with their contemporary brethren. Over the years we have seen a variety of pirate themed PC games ranging from LucasArt’s humorous Monkey Island adventures to complex strategy games such as Port Royale and Tortuga. Industry luminary Sid Meier even managed to blend strategy, action and adventure into his acclaimed Pirates remake that attempted to blend all the colour of piracy into a highly accessible simulation. The latest contribution to this freebooting genre is Buccaneer: The Pursuit of Infamy, the debut release from independent developer Stickman Studios. Comprising nothing more than a pair of artists with a coffee machine and no coding experience, this creative pair of miscreants has managed to concoct an arcade/action game focusing purely on piratical naval combat.

The single player game commences with your in-game personae signing up with the Golden Buccaneers, a previously notorious pirate cartel that has unfortunately experienced the 18th Century equivalent of our current economic recession. With few remaining ships and minimal assets, the High Lord grants you title to the “Grey Goose”, a worm-ridden garbage-scow complete with a scurvy-infested crew possessing more questionable fashion accessories than they do teeth. With these meagre resources at hand, you’ve been ordered to rape, pillage and swashbuckle your way across a number of fictitious island archipelagos within the Caribbean, thus restoring your brotherhoods standing within the pirating fraternity.

Your home port of Cutlass Bay is equipped with a number of facilities that you’ll regularly visit during your nautical adventures. The Chart room gives you access to each of the 56 missions scattered across the island chains, whilst the Dockyard and Shipwright provide you with ship repair facilities and new vessels respectively. As you’d expect, all the really powerful frigates and upgrades are either locked or require copious amounts of gold to purchase. As you successfully complete missions you’ll be able to access these benefits by looting merchant vessels, capturing ports and discovering new regions to explore.

Each mission is a scripted affair that will pit you against other renegade pirates or the local constabulary known as “The Crown.” Even though a range of different objectives is stated within most scenarios, there are only two actions you will ever need to discharge:

1. Interact with a dockyard, enemy vessel, bird colony or shady used boat salesman by floating next to it for a number of seconds while the action is undertaken.
2. Blow up ships, shore batteries and buildings with reckless abandon.

Make no mistake; Buccaneer is pure arcade naval combat. There is no wind to take into consideration when you manoeuvre around the mission zone, no different ammunition types to choose from and no boarding actions, pistol duelling, ballroom dancing or grog drinking mini-games to distract you from discharging 24 pounder broadsides into your adversaries.

Ship navigation is accomplished by using the WASD keys to direct your vessel, while the mouse handles camera rotation and firing broadsides to port and starboard. There is also a fixed telescope view that allows you to spy distant objects directly across your bow, a rather useless feature that you’ll use only once to show your friends what effect tunnel vision had on pirate captains of yore. Telescope aside, the controls are highly intuitive and it shouldn’t take your average swabbie more than a minute or two to figure out how to engage enemy vessels. Shooting accurately however, is an art that will be mastered only through practice. Broadsides have a slightly variable firing arc and accuracy is further compounded by your vessel’s speed and turning. There is also considerable damage degradation over extended ranges which can reduce the effective firepower of even the largest ships. The most frustrating aspect of gunnery is shore bombardment, which appears to have an overreliance on the fickle finger of fate. On occasion, your first salvo will destroy an enemy shore battery; in other instances it can take half a dozen broadsides to achieve the same effect. Fortunately, camera control is as smooth as Keira Knightley’s silky … er, scarf, giving you every opportunity to line up a potentially perfect shot.

The artificial intelligence (A.I.) routines are more than adequate at keeping enemy vessels from running aground, however if you manage to cross an opponent’s T (position yourself perpendicular to your opponent’s bow,) the enemy ship will keep coming straight for you, heedless of any punishing cannon fire. Fishtailing also reveals the various thresholds that trigger a course change for your opponent. There’s also the case in one of the escort scenarios where I got separated from a diplomat’s vessel that I was supposed to be defending. Two A.I controlled attackers managed to pummel the ambassador’s ship for 30 seconds without even managing to scuff up its paintwork. Despite these minor shortcomings, the single player game provides a competent opponent in most engagements and there is a good dozen or so hours of game-play embedded within the single player campaign.

There are a few game mechanics within the single player game that could benefit from some additional polish, much like most of the brass fittings you’d normally find onboard your man o’ war. A vessel’s gunnery, speed and armour can be enhanced by purchasing three upgrade levels; however the cost for each improvement is independent of any previous purchase. This guarantees that astute pirates will put off upgrading until they have enough gold for the most expensive purchase, resigning the intermediate levels to questionable investments. Dockyard facilities also provide options for incremental repair/replenishment of your ship or a larger “one off” payment that will completely reconstitute your vessel with a single mouse click. Unfortunately, there is no easy way (short of measuring your health/ammo bars with a ruler) to determine whether multiple smaller repairs are more cost-effective than the complete overhaul. Ultimately, it’s rather a moot point as there is plenty of gold to be found as you progress through the game. In fact, after the first dozen missions, you’ll be rolling in enough gold to completely rearm and repair your vessel after every sortie and still have enough to rent as many slovenly tavern wenches as your libido desires. There’s also a distinct lack of end-game goodies to purchase with the thousands of doubloons you’ll acquire. Once your preferred ultimate pirate vessel is purchased, there’s nothing else to spend your gold on, resulting in an end-game nest egg that could have been more wisely invested in grog futures or designer eye-patches.

The other two forms of currency (infamy and morale) are also values that serve little purpose within the game. Infamy is an intangible quality that represents your shameful, criminal and/or nefarious activities during the game. It also serves as a score that is automatically posted on-line to showcase just how dastardly a felon you are. During missions your infamy value slowly ticks down; thus, the quicker you complete missions, the higher your final score will be. Unfortunately, as all the scripted missions are only playable once, the only way to boost your final score above the 40,000 or so point level is to replay the rather dull merchant raiding missions several hundred times. As the current top high score is well over 100,000 points, there’s really no point in worrying about infamy unless you’re a Pirates of the Burning Sea refugee who can’t resist a good grind. Crew morale is also linked directly to infamy with low morale levels increasing your infamy drain rate during a mission. Alas, the only way to lose morale (short of a couple of random events) is to fail to accomplish a mission objective, an occurrence that is rare in the extreme and easily circumvented by allowing your vessel to be sunk and then reloading your save-game. If you dislike save game cheating, you can always spend some of your ill-gotten gains on rum and freely purchase morale upgrades as required.

Graphically, Buccaneer is a stunning example of what can be accomplished by talented artists using Garage Games Torque 3D engine. The waters of the Caribbean are beautifully portrayed on-screen as your vessel of ill-repute ploughs through the shallows, pursued by gulls and the occasional hammerhead shark. The dozen or so different vessels are also rendered in detail, with the various opposing craft easily distinguishable at long range. Throw some gratuitous weather effects including storms and fog banks into the mix and the end result is an impressive visual showcase that definitely sets the benchmark for all of the developer’s future projects. Sound effects aren’t too shabby either ranging from thundering broadsides to an unfortunate crew’s cries of distress as their vessel sinks beneath the waves. There are plenty of environmental audio queues as well giving the game a suitable nautical air, even when there isn’t chain shot hurtling through your rigging. While the soundtrack is rather limited in scope it can always be muted if it becomes repetitive. You can even replace the appropriate .OGG files with fodder from your media player if you feel the need for some Johnny Depp garage rock to put you in a suitably nihilistic mood.

Buccaneer also presents online battles for those gamers who want to indulge in some pirate themed multiplayer action. Internet games provide up to eight Buccaneer and Crown players the opportunity to shoot it out across a variety of coastal battlegrounds. Games follow the usual score based game-play found in many other multiplayer games, where your starting score (termed Infamy or Renown depending on your faction) diminishes as your ships and coastal facilities are destroyed. There are also neutral vessels that either raise or lower your score depending on which side currently controls them. The first faction to reach a score of zero loses. There are a dozen different vessels to choose from ranging from small, yet sprightly cutters to large ships of the line that can devastate an opponent with a single broadside. While you might think that purchasing a 100+ gun battleship is a no-brainer, losing larger vessels will cost your faction 3-5 times more infamy or renown points than a lesser armed frigate. Making a mistake while piloting one of these behemoths can cost your team dearly! The differences in speed and firepower between ship classes give Buccaneer multiplayer games much of their flavour. Lightly armed cutters will nip in close to engage their foes before darting away before their slower opponents can bring guns to bear. Medium sized frigates can often be found at longer ranges substituting aimed fire for the sluggish battleships more destructive close range gunplay. With islands to block enemy fire and shore based batteries to defend your port, games often turn into slow moving games of chicken, where opponents manoeuvre and jockey into a position from whence they can deliver a lethal blow. It’s safe to say that multiplayer Buccaneer is a pleasant change from the endless and repetitive FPS online action that we’re constantly exposed to, and we definitely need more multiplayer gaming that doesn’t include head shots!

The only downside to multiplayer games at the moment is the lack of multiplayer games being hosted. This is partly attributable to a number of connectivity issues within the game experienced by some players that appeared shortly after the game was released in December 2008. The original demo also lacked multiplayer support, instead focusing on the single player game. Both of these issues have now been addressed, with the network backend being powered by the ubiquitous GameSpy network (which has removed most connectivity problems) as well as the welcome release of a new demo with limited multiplayer gaming functionality. With this latest build, we’ve managed to participate in dozens of multiplayer skirmishes across three continents with incredibly low latency and nary an irritating disconnect to date.

After 18 months of full time development on Buccaneer, Harvey Greensall and Simon Nevill have successfully created a remarkable entry into the genre of arcade video games. Minor glitches aside, this is a highly polished and accessible release that will have players immersed in a pirate-riddled 18th Century Caribbean within minutes of installing the game. If your reflexes aren’t as swift as they used to be, or you’re tired of featuring in FPS kill-streak videos on YouTube, you owe it to yourself to fire up a copy of Buccaneer. Just be thankful that it’s nigh on impossible for your adversary to reload his cannon whilst bunny hopping.