The official blog of the Gaming Anarchist Collective, a group dedicated to representing the interests of gamers as a fun hobby and to protect the gaming community against defamation and exploitation both from inside and outside the industry.
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In line with the Gaming Anarchist Collective's mission statement we are introducing out new MAC (Make A Change) and GAA (Gaming Anarchist Approved) status for new release games and publishers. In response to our general infuriation we want to maintain a list of games that are on top of our list of annoyance and praise.
In the case of the MAC games don't have to be a huge step forward in poor practices but they will reflect a warning from the Gaming Anarchist Collective that these need to change, this may be for any infringements of Our Ten Commandments for the gaming industry. The specific reasons will be stated.
For the GAA games there are strict criteria, they must have not broken the ten commandments and must also be a decent game, this isn't a reflection of true gaming greatness but it will say that in the opinion of the Collective that if this game interests in you that you won't be getting shafted for it.
Some of these choices may feel unreasonable to gamers so feel free to comment, all thoughts are considered. We want to have something that draws a line in the sand and the contributors of this project will use their own personal power to not support a product with this status and we would encourage you to do the same.
This does not reflect on the quality of the product, some of these games may be incredible but ultimately they are just games, we will not spend money on even a ground breaking product if they come with poor business practices.
We would be willing to consider any nominations for these lists
After committing some serious time to Dishonored over the last few days I have noticed an interesting trend from the critics and supporters of the game alike that shows something of the true nature of gamers. Much like Deus Ex, which it is hard not to see the parallels to (being as it is at it's more basic level a very similar game with a theme swap from cyberpunk to steampunk and swapping sci-fi tech for mystical powers) most of the talk seems to be about the option to not kill.
This is something contrary to the media and the non-gaming public's views on gamers, they always go back to talking to the infamous COD: Modern Warfare 2's "No Russian" mission (where you are undercover in a terrorist group as they, and you if you choose, slaughter hundreds of screaming and fleeing civilians who committed the simple crime of catching a flight at the wrong time) or false representations of Grand Theft Auto (taking examples in the game to extremes and claiming it's a rape simulator etc). The public face of the news and moral values depict gamers as misanthropic sociopaths being brainwashed into murdering innocent civilians which we all know is not true, some gamers take their games too seriously, spend too much time playing or choose to bully other players online and this needs to end but making people evil? No, I don't accept it.
To give some perspective here are a few home truths about myself, I am a pretty dark individual, I have what some would be consider a sick sense of humour, when the mood takes me I play the most brutal and sadistic games I can get my hands on, I did grow up watching inappropriate films, I love the music of Marilyn Manson, Slipknot & Hatebreed, I am a very angry, adrenaline fuelled person and I have read books that half the Christian Right would burn every copy of, I am very loud, I talk too much and I have daddy issues. I will let you form your own image of me in your head. I'm an asshole huh? To contrast that I am fairly intelligent, well educated and work in a highly exclusive industry, my pay is good, I am a very sweet guy, highly moral, I respond deeply to emotional storylines in tv and film, hell, I cry at the film Where the Wild Things Are (and I mean cry, like my tshirt is soaked and I am wailing like a baby) when not involved in conversation I tend to sit quietly and keep myself to myself, my life is full of laughter, the friends I do have I love dearly, I don't wish or cause harm to anyone.
Like most people I am a walking contradiction, I love to switch off from reality and relish some brutal media, be that a film or video game, book or music but at the same time I love humour and emotional compelling storylines that engage my sense of morals and emotions.
People are complicated, the media always seeks to turn a complicated issue into black or white when it is never that simple. When it comes to the gaming industry there are many different kinds of games and there is no specific person who fits into one category.
Dishonored and the like highlight this conflict that most of us feel, you can play the game as a brutal killing machine, utilising, crossbows, guns, explosives, swords or more creative mystical powers, launch your victim off a cliff, summon flesh eating rats to devour them and that is just a few. This method is fun, satisfying but it comes at a cost, the more you kill the more dark and violent your world becomes. You can also go for a more pacifist approach, killing where only absolutely necessary or not at all, this is a true challenge of your skill in the game and much like life living according to a moral code that you set yourself is a hard one. Nobody is telling you to kill, you don't fail your mission, let's face it your character is an assassin after all. The game does something quite exceptional for the player, if they are absorbed in the story, your deeds are gauged by the reactions of a small child, a little girl who your character saved, protected her whole life, hell you even play hide and seek with her during the tutorial stage. If you act heroically knocking out guards and stashing their sleeping bodies and dishonoring your targets instead of murdering them she sees you as a handsome hero, even drawing a picture of your smiling face with sun shining and the word daddy written on it. Let me tell you that the deeply sentimental side of me genuinely had an emotional reaction to this, I felt proud that this sweet child could look up to me, seeing me as a heroic protector and even father figure. Contrast that to the reaction you get when you return blood soaked and vengeful, she is scared of you, her picture shows you exactly as you are, a monster, perhaps a necessary evil but still an evil. Except it isn't necessary is it? If only you behaved differently this girl wouldn't wake up in the night screaming, it makes you want to be a better person.
Now, it's fair to say this won't be the reaction of everyone, you might be the kind of player who doesn't engage with the storyline and in that case this emotional response doesn't apply, does that necessarily make you a bad person? Of course not, we are all different. Did you play it, engage emotionally in the game, refuse to switch off and gleefully haunt this child who trusts you? Maybe you need therapy.
The question is what does this tell us about gamers in general? We need to find a simple generalisation, because let's face it, responding to defamation from people and the media with a thesis won't help. Gamers play violent and brutal games when they want mindless entertainment, when engaged emotionally they will show their true human nature and most will take the high moral path, no matter how hard that is.
Nobody considers the avatar of others in an FPS deathmatch as a life they are taking, nobody worries in Dead Space or Resident Evil if the infected human you brutally murdered has kids at home, nobody thinks the driver you just jacked in Grand Theft Auto will need counselling from their experience. This is because they aren't treating these games as an alternate reality but a mindless escape from it and the reaction of games that promote engagement and real in game moral consequences to your actions is that those who play mindlessly will often go the more immoral route and those who seek emotional investment will behave more morally. This is simply down to the fact that this isn't reality, it is fiction, just like a book, music of films. Of course you can spot a potential psychopath if they replay "No Russian" over and over, relishing the screams of the dying but these people already exist, it is a mixture of their upbringing and their nature and of course some gamers go on to do terrible things "inspired" by a game. The simple fact is that the game didn't "make" them do it, they were already like it, it's just that their chosen method happened to have a muse that in everybody else's hands is fine.
As a final word this argument has nothing to do with the exposure to children of violent games, this isn't anything to do with the gaming industry, this is down to the parents, games have ratings, if you buy them for your children either out of their sense of peer pressure or your ignorance you are to blame, not the developers, not society, you. You failed your child, now take steps before they potentially harm someone.
With the news of Obsidian Entertainment's huge Kickstarter success this week, setting new records with $4,000,000 invested in their concept Project Eternity, inspired by the hugely successful Dungeons and Dragons RPGs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Neverwinter Nights 2 developers who are mostly noted recently for creating the South Park RPG The Stick of Truth that looks truly promising and comprise of some of the key member of the Black Isle development team. Who created and or published some the most definitive RPGs of all time, Fallout 2, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale 1 & 2 and last, my favourite the Baldur's gate series.
To this day Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is a game that I have put more time into and played through more times than any other game so in tribute to this return to the old school and to celebrate a remastered re-release of this title next year I present to you, the AnarchistReview of the Bioware classic Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and it's expansion Throne of Bhaal.
Based on the hugely popular role playing Wizards of the Coast brand of fantasy Baldur's Gate 2 follows on directly from it's predecessor. Your player created character is a child of the Dark God Bhaal, the Lord of Murder and has recently finished his previous adventure where you learn of your heritage and defeat your half-brother Sarverok, another of Bhaal's children, an all round vicious bastard in every sense of the word. Following character creation (for those of you who dread this there is a choice of 4 pre-generated characters) introduction cut scene (which for me was my first exposure to the story, having not played the original at this point) your protagonist awakes in a cell in a murky dungeon with no idea how you go there being tortured and experimented on by the villain of Tron and Time Bandits David Warner who as power hungry mage Jon Irenicus provides some of the most iconic lines from any game I have ever played, here he is breaking out of a prison designed specifically to hold powerful rogue mages in bad ass fashion.
In essence the story begins with you escaping from your prison discovering some of your old companions on the way, some of them ready to join up with you and seek revenge for their abduction, others due to a bad case of death just generally lying about waiting to be revenged. You manage to escape into the city of Athkatla where your childhood friend, budding mage and generally sweet person Imoen is captured, alongside your captor by an order of wizards for using magic inside the city without permission. From this point, like many of the open world RPGs you are now dumped in the centre of a huge world with a specific ultimate task to perform, no idea where or how to do it and nothing but the few bits of crap you managed to scavenge on your way.
Jon Irenicus might look like a drag queen gimp but he's all business and is out to literally tear you apart for his own ends
A lesser game might boast that as the totality of the plot but not this game, freeing your friend is just the first in the series of steps that places the whole of the Forgotten Realms in peril as you struggle against a sociopathic mage with an all consuming lust for power. The story is immense, spanning 4 CDROMs which if that doesn't make you think wow you don't remember that this is the time of the floppy disc being the most common source of document transfer.
The main campaign is truly epic in it's own right but isn't something to be rushed as it has wide reaching effects on your party. You hunt down Irenicus via earning passage to the isolated island prison Spellhold, fight your way through the underdark to a Machiavellian city of the matriarchal dark elves (drow) and onto an elven city to save the Tree of Life from being destroyed and with it the city then into hell to finally face your tormentor for the last time. The expansion pack Throne of Bhaal sees you on a Highlander style mission to defeat all your fellow Bhaalspawn who are fighting for their fathers throne as the lord of murder, the question is what do you do when the throne stands empty and nobody stands between you and ultimate power as the new Lord of Murder?
Aside from these main quests which are fairly weighty on their own as with all RPGs most of the fun, adventure, humour and dark storyline take place in the sidequests where you face truly powerful mages, both living and as undead liches (in various states of insanity) as well as most races and groups made famous in the fiction, no two missions are the same. One will have you playing detective to find a deranged serial killer with clues and NPC dialog leading you to the culprit, playing the UN in a race war alongside the usual dungeon crawling fun. One of the most memorable moments for me is where you discover a quest giver has manipulated you and not only that is an enormous red dragon (I won't tell you which and spoil the fun), the most powerful breed of the standard "chromatic" (evil) dragons, considering their different colour kin so beneath their power level they aren't worth killing (I know, racist bastards). Bored with his fun and having achieved what he wanted he gives you an opportunity to realised you are outmatched, take your reward and skulk off, deciding that you won't let some uppity wyrm tell you what to do leads to one of the most protracted and challenging battles of my gaming life. I learned that their legendary arrogance against their kin is warranted taking out a black dragon three levels earlier was a walk in park next to this beast. The game is full of gems like this and is what sets this game as the red dragon of RPGs.
Most of the quests give you an opportunity to change your reputation and alignment with your chosen actions, effecting the game world as you go. As with most games this gives you the scale of good to evil but unlike games such as Mass Effect where they are polar concepts you are following a general philosophy or behaviour, you can be; lawful good (Captain America), neutral good (Spider-man), chaotic good (Robin Hood), lawful neutral (James Bond), true neutral (Han Solo in episode 4 of Star Wars, before he got all loved up), chaotic neutral (Captain Jack Sparrow), lawful evil (Boba Fett or most classic Bond villans), neutral evil (Mystique or any femme fatale), chaotic evil (Riddick or a serial killer of your choice)
You develop the protagonist from a fairly powerful baseline in the scale of Dungeons and Dragons into, thanks to the expansion pack a being of literally god-like power at level 40 (fit to slap the generally ultimate mortal magical power in this universe Elminster in the face with his puny level 29) with your own home in hell.
Created using the infinity engine this world is realised in incredible detail for it's time, with rendered effects that at the time may seem run of the mill and less detailed than your average mobile phone game but in it's time it was groundbreaking, I can only hope that the high definition remastering in the re-release next year gives it half the wow factor it had then. The game also boasts a first class voice cast, practically a who's who of yesterday and today David Warner, Jim Cummings (who steals the show as Minsc, more on that later), Michael Gough (forget Michael Caine, the real Alfred is in the house), Jennifer Hale and Michael Bell to name but a few.
You won't be hunting alone however, you have a large roster of potential allies on your quests, up to five in your party at the same time, these are, in order of going from babysitter to Charles Manson
Aerie: A lawful good cleric/mage, deeply damaged by her past, sweet, vulnerable, child-like but deeply intelligent. Can be deeply annoying and romancing her is like trying to seduce a girl who was abused by her dad who blames herself and didn't turn into a crack head and/or prostitute
Keldorn: Lawful good inquisitor, a wise hugely powerful paladin who is really useful in a scrap against the forces of evil
Mazzy: Lawful good fighter, a halfling who if it was allowed would be a paladin, instead committed to generally heroic good deeds
Imoen: A Neutral good thief/mage who your initial quest is to rescue, her initial exuberance wanes due to her experiences in the game, unless you are intending to turn your character into a full on psychopath her rare mix of classes comes in really handy
Minsc: Chaotic good ranger, if you have only one play through of this game and you don't include Minsc the berserker in your party you are missing out big time. A bat shit crazy force for righteousness who's witch he was serving as bodyguard to, Dynaheir, killed by Irenicus for the bad luck of travelling with you. With his miniature giant space hampster Boo (hell yes you read that right) he is truly mighty in combat and leads to some of the best NPC dialog and interactions with other party members and world NPCs.
Nalia: Neutral good thief/mage, haughty noble with a compassionate soul to the poor as long as they remember their place and her's.
Valygar: Neutral good stalker, wanted criminal with a real prejudice towards magic and mages
Anomen: Lawful Neutral fighter/cleric, acolyte on his path to knighthood which as the player have a vital hand in his passing of failure of his trials (changing his alignment accordingly), a spectacular bullshitter and a romance option to a female character
Cernd: True neutral shapeshifter, a calm natured werewolf who as a former city guy turned lover of the great outdoors (for obvious reasons) has the verbal quirk of loving any metaphor to do with nature
Haer'Dalis: Chaotic neutral bard, part demon, sporting blue hair and an aura that makes otherworldly creatures uncomfortable, charming and witty so you best have your best comebacks to hand
Jaheria: True neutral fighter/druid, hard willed widow who will take control if you won't and patronising to anyone who she considers less worldly wise, a romance option if you fancy trying to seduce the recently bereived, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Jan: Chaotic neutral thief/illusionist, eccentric gnome who is a master craftsman of unique weapons and tools only he can understand enough to use, a big fan of telling stories that seem to go absolutely nowhere
Yoshimo: True Neutral bounty hunter, calm, cunning and evasive who you encounter early on and his lock picking skills come in very handy
Viconia: Neutral evil cleric, sharp tongued drow with some powerful stats, a nasty habit of picking on those weaker but beyond this hard hide is a decent person and a potential love interest
Edwin: Lawful evil conjurer, a haughty and powerful mage with a pretty damn funny party quest and some serious animosity and history with Minsc.
Korgan: Chaotic evil berserker, a truly psychotic killing machine of a dwarf who can generally clear an entire room using his duel wielding axes
Sarevok: Chaotic evil fighter, you can choose to bring your evil half-brother back from the dead, with no supernatural powers, do you want to show him a path to salvation or leave him the hateful violent mess you know and love to hate
With this long list of possible mixtures you will witness friendships, banter, bullying, animosity, theft, storming off in a huff or even violence, I have never such a complex, well written interplay or npcs been created in a game, unlike so many games where you end up with genuine feelings for your party, something that I have yet to see replicated in anything in modern RPGs. Often you will find that certain companions lead to specific ways to complete a quest, my favourite being allowing Minsc to keep talking to get you committed to an asylum rather than break your way in. Pawns in Dragon's Dogma, the set party and script of the final Final Fantasy series and the bland companions in Skyrim don't even come near, the closest equivalent being Dragons Age Origins which in many ways is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate but it just fell short of the levels of greatness of it's muse. Choosing your party does more than pick the powers you want to concentrate on, it makes a statement to the world and the rest of your companions, you are who you associate with and if your actions displease your team members expect to hear about it and potentially to never see them again.
Leaving the best to last it's time to cover the gameplay, the interface is a point and click one, allowing you to select any number, or all of your party to position themselves on the map with a couple of clicks. Combat is initiated with a simple click on your enemy, this initiates the complicated process of turn based attacks following the Dungeons and Dragons rules, taking into account the chosen attack, effect spells, armour, status effects and plays this out. This can be a frantic affair so in order to allow for more considered strategic battles you can pause the battle with a quick hit of the spacebar which allows you unlimited time to change weapons, line up your next spell to case, assign movement or heal, once you unpause the battle continues and the actions you have selected will be undertaken. The Forgotten Realms are a dangerous place and is certainly not a game to treat as a hack and slash like Diablo, protective spells and healing whilst taking down any magical defences your target has is essential in large monster or boss battles. Unlike the more forgiving games your companions can die very easily and in some circumstances be entirely vaporised with all your lovely loot they were storing gone forever so go into battle unprepared at your own risk.
As a person who has never played Dungeons and Dragons myself I found this game extremely accessible once you understand the basic concepts, it has lead me into enjoying dozens of the works of fiction like the R. A. A. Salvatore Drizzt books (who makes a cameo appearance in this game, if you are a fan of his and take his name he will be pissed, especially if you are making him look bad) although I have yet to put a cape on an sit round a table to play the real thing. This game is full of nods, jokes and cameos that the die hard Dungeons and Dragons fans will love, not to mention a fair few pop culture references. If there was only one RPG to be saved in the world I would step over Skyrim, kick FFVII into the ditch and grip this game to my chest with out a doubt. Go for the eyes Boo!
And lo did the Gaming Anarchist revolution come to power and there much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the industry as their profiteering ways are forced to seek the moral ideals of creativity, value and worth, and ultimately they saw that it was good:
Thou shalt have no lord but thy customers
Your product is produced for your customers and your pride in your work, profit is an ultimate pay off for any game worth it's salt but putting profit before the product is a cardinal sin and leads to fear of taking chances with creativity and turning a potential great game into a standard one
Thou shalt not worship thine IP above the artistic integrity of thy product
Beware the cash in game, this includes 0.5 games (faux squeals creating an improved version of the previous installment, with the notable exception of a few, e.g. GTA: San Andreas, these aren't full retail price games but overpriced add-ons, a particularly good example of these are Assassins Creed: Brotherhood & Revelations or Halo: ODST & Reach) and using your popular characters/personalities in cheap microwave games (games like the terrible Sonic Freeriders spring to mind or the "Clive Barker's...." formula where successful creative people from other industries front a weak game, stop this, Tony Hawk started off with some great games, American McGees Alice was brilliant but in general knock this off). This goes double for film/tv/comicbook game tie ins, with the notable exceptions of the Batman Arkham series, Telltale's The Walking Dead & Back to the future most are just terrible half-assed cash cows.
Thou shalt not release incomplete games
Your game on release should be a complete product, if you have ideas for additional content within 6 months of release of a game it should be part of the initial release. Particularly nasty examples is the From Ashes dlc for Mass Effect 3 and the "true ending" for Asura's Wrath. Dlc has it's place but it should not be a bribe to make people pre-order before they have a chance to know the quality of your product. A special mention to Capcom should be noted as they manage to comit both 2 and 3 at the same time, releasing complete retail games in order to add a couple of dlc characters and repair broken functions in the previous installments (in the case of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom within 6 months). Also see yesterday's blog regarding Activision.
Thy customer is thy friend and is to be trusted
Piracy is of course the enemy of developers profit from a game but treating your customers with nothing but suspicion damages the relationship, practices like limiting the number of times a game can installed on a computer, forcing a computer or console to be permanently online in order to play offline content do nothing but damage the enjoyment of the player. I for one will never forget the time I installed Dead Space on my PC, then for a reason of OS issue I needed to reformat so I installed again, when I bought a new machine that officially locked my disk and the brand new product became officially unusable
Thou shalt not utilise false pretences of security to profiteer
Online passes, digital games, terms of service have all been promoted of sensible and appropriate ways to protect the security and ease of access of gamers but ultimately they all come down the the same thing, profit. Online passes, instead of preventing illegal pirating of games are in effect a tax of second hand games, digital games at release cost up to 25% more than games sold on disk, terms of service seem to become more and more about preventing litigation against the developer or making obscene abuses of power (such as Diablo III, where you agree that you do not own your game, you are simply allowed to hold a licence for as long as Blizzard want to keep you connecting to your server which is required to play even offline).
Honour thy customer
Some game developers are increasingly acting like rockstars, treating their customers like the worms they are, well let me just make this clear, you aren't the Ramones, you are game coding geeks, your veneration comes from your customers and every time you denegrate your customer base you lose respect and you risk being taken at face value, as an asshole who doesn't deserve attention or our money. Your product isn't perfect and not everybody will like it, this can come in the form of mild criticism to genuine feelings of being cheated either through a game bring fundamentally broken, falsely advertised or being gouged for too much profit. These people aren't "crying" they aren't "radical gamers" or "haters" or "babies" they don't deserve banning from your forums, or even from the games they paid for. They are your customers, you listen to their comments, no matter how unfair you think they are, consider them, maybe act on them or maybe tell them why you won't but in a buyers market they are to be listened to
Thou shalt not steal
This one is pretty much exclusively aimed at EA, be it the dlc that was charged and not delivered, with no refunds offered or using Origin software as spyware to check third party software and even personal documents. Stop it, just stop it, that is all
Thou shalt not plagiarise your peers
When a new game comes along that truly breaks boundaries, either in style, gameplay or setting and it does well you can set your watch for a huge number of games to pop up that clearly cashes in on this. I am not talking about being influenced buy your peers or developers evolving their own formula, these are perfectly natural and lead to evolution of the industry. I am talking about every second third person action game since God of War containing huge QTE sequences, the huge number of shooters that took the formula of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare that practically every FPS is a tedious propaganda video directed by a second rate Micheal Bay, or even, God help us all, beat games with peripheries Even if some of these games are decent in their own right for the God of War formula notable games like X-men Origins: Wolverine and Dante's Inferno but these are few and far between in a sea of "me too" trash.
Thou shalt not seek to bribe reviewers to sell your product
Reviewers traditionally serve a vital role for the consumer, filtering out the dross and offering heart felt recommendations that can be trusted by gamers and non-gamers alike in order to make informed purchases. It is hard not to spot the way that clear bias is being demonstrated and in situations where some reviewers have refused to give up their integrity being forced to give up their jobs (just look up Jeff Gerstmann if you don't believe me).
Thou shalt not fall back to annual instalments
There is a particular kind of game on the market that lends itself to annual updates, sporting games, online shooters etc but with games like the WWE franchise, licenced EA game sport sims and COD, where in general the upgrade to the game is somewhere between negligible to nothing. All that is needed is a series of updates to amend rosters/maps perhaps patches for improved textures, fell free to charge an annual subscription but a full retail price for essentially the same shit every year plus huge amounts of dlc that is version specific so becomes obsolete every 12 months. If you have a massive game changing engine/physics upgrade by all means release a new product but this method of cashing in on the christmas present market is a terrible practice.
Supprised to see the excitement surrounding the anouncement from Activision that Call of Duty Elite will now be free, previously in the UK this was £34.99 or $49.99. In the couple of hours after the anouncement was made a quick google search showed almost 3 million hits, every one I have seen is praising their brave model of giving such a premium service away to their customers for nothing.
As a footnote to this wonderful giveaway there were a further 2 anouncements with regards to their new release Black Ops 2. Aparently having an Elite account no longer gives you access to the multiplayer maps in monthly installments, these are however available by purchasing a season pass! Yes you read that right, they took away what was worth paying for Elite, offered the remains for you for free and instead charge you a season pass for the previously included DLC map packs for £34.99 or $50. Unless you are a goldfish you would recognise those numbers as familiar because they are the same as the Elite subscription charge!
What this means is that in essence you are paying twice for your game, once for the game and again for anything beyond the bare bones maps. Each year Activision have increased the amount and the cost of the DLC for this anual game, meaning you are paying through the nose for a few more maps that in essence become obsolete when the new installement and then you pay for a new game and new maps. I say new maps, more often than not a fair number of these "new" maps are old maps that you got for free in earlier games.
Frankly Black Ops 2 is the first one in the series since World at War I won't be picking up on day one (or possibly ever) due to the compounded factors of paying Oliver North (if that doesn't make you spit teeth look him up) to promote the product and as I don't play multiplayer much (mostly prefering a game's narative to social online play) so the increasingly obsessive online community (split, as it is, mostly between children and people in their 30s/40s) that make any online play after week one pointless because the people who play it 24/7 gank your ass three seconds after spawning (don't even talk to me about the MW3 spawn camping!), one of my little brothers managed to clock up 38 days in online play in one year of MW2.
I might have still invested my money in the latest installment, play the single player campaign then spend 20 hours or so over the next year in online play but this is really more than I can stomach, I am not sure what pisses me off more, the fact that Activision thought they could con everyone with such an obvious scam or that it actually seems to be working.
About
Name: Dishonored
Developer(s): Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda
Genre: First person stealth action/adventure
Players: 1
Online?: No
Platforms: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Platform used: Playstation 3
Review
I will be honest I have been cautiously optimistic about Dishonored, the lack of hype until fairly close to release which is more than I can say for some games that get presented as the second coming months if not years before it hits the shelves.
With a playing style style that puts me in mind of the Thief and Hitman series (it is hard to see the parallels throughout the game but that is no shame) you control a mystically powered bodyguard turned assassin bent on revenge against his murdered empress and to rescue her adorable daughter and to bring her to power. At the beginning of each level you are presented with a target, often some sub missions and multiple paths to achieve your aims. Do you run in all swords and guns slaughtering anyone who gets in your way? Summon swarms of flesh eating rats to devour your enemies as you stride through like a dark vengeful God? Use your powers to hijack body after body as you possess yourself to your goal? Simply sneak from cover to cover or any combination of the above. All the permutations are pointless to go into but I'm sure you get the idea.
Don't be fooled by this into thinking this is a Bethesda free roaming open world do what you like affair, that really isn't the aim with this game, you aren't getting a sandbox game. You are placed into fixed levels with a clear "kill your target or do something to remove them non-fatally from the political game." This does give some nice variation but ultimately you are restricted to one of two options, killing is bad, stealth and dishonouring of your targets is good. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, you are presented with multiple paths through the levels and ways of dispatching your targets depending on your preferred style of gameplay. However there is a certain pull towards the "right way" or doing this. As with most games with a moral component going by the more fun dark path is ultimately less rewarding than the painstaking light one, much like life. There are plenty of books, audio logs and upgrades peppered around the level to keep you interested too.
The design of the game feels unique yet strangely familiar, this might be due to my years of playing Thief (for those who don't know a first person steam punk series where you could approach your target openly except your protagonist Garret couldn't defend himself if a haemophiliac toddler tried to take him down) my recent play through of The Darkness 2 (where the character and art design feels very similar) and the fact that steam punk is so ubiquitous as the clever and unique setting it's long past being old hat.
The controls are mostly very responsive, the lack of zoom aim is refreshing as is the bobbing crosshair that doesn't make you feel queasy. My only gripe with those is the holding down the peek from cover button feels too much like left is separate from right, the transition between the two being slightly awkward. The menus respond nice and quickly as does the quick select wheel, even if a few times I found the wrong item selected and instead of possessing I fired a sleeping dart. The AI is pretty good, the NPCs interact well, often sharing a handy tip or complaining about their day, however I couldn't quite understand how they don't spot half your torso poking out being a pillar, especially given the terrifying skull mask you have on.
The autosave feature kicks in at the completion of quest markers or passing into a new area so if you are anal about achieving a high score it may be worth saving and reloading often.
Ultimately this game grabbed me and I loved it, accepting it's minor faults I got fully lost in the experience. This is a truly last gen game in the best possible term, what you buy is what there is, a complete game, it relies on a strong single player experience of compelling story and solid mechanics. As much as I enjoyed it and will play it through again I hope there is no sequel, or if there is one it follow in the footsteps of Fable and makes a sequel which takes the key mechanics and world but creates a new story. Hopefully unlike Fable, if it does go this route, it won't ruin the entire premise of the game in the process. Summary
Engaging storyline
Solid single player experience
Creative and distinct universe (hardly unique but enough varied sources for inspiration create a unique amalgam)
Lots of gameplay choice to match your style even if it is largely tailored to a binary ending
Distinctly not an FPS (if you want a steam punk COD the shooting mechanics will leave you cold)
A must for any fans of Hitman, Thief, Deus Ex et al
No multiplayer (if you need deathmatches, co-op or leader boards for your experience look elsewhere)
Solid comic style graphics (really brings shades of The Darkness 2 to mind)
Any AI flaws or minor control clunkiness is easily forgiven
Good enough not to drive me mad at the non-British spelling of dishonoured
Things keep getting crazier and crazier in the world of video games so it's time for a change. Between developers taking advantage of their loyal fan base, mob mentality within the gaming community, bullying, whoring game journalists and everyone outside looking to tarnish gamers and games for being harmful and dangerous.
It seems that some aims needs to be stated here to know what are purposes are:
Defend video gaming as an entertainment medium
Cut through media spin
Identify and explain profiteering examples and methods
Offer genuine reviews with a clear system that goes beyond a simple numerical scale to help informed consumer choice
Running in the background of these aims are a number of key principles that this project holds to, aims to explore and will explain any observed bias:
Consumer capitalism is a free market and should remain so with no government intervention aside from the classification of games
Although individual games may be considered art the video game industry is a commercial enterprise and should be accountable for it's business practices
Paying customers should get value for money
Video games do not create or cause violence
Every game/developer/producer/platform should thrive or fall purely on it's merits
Skeptism should be applied to everything
This project will never be for financial gain in any form, this includes freebies
Discussion is encouraged, disagreement doesn't equate to a personal dislike
I'm going to put it out there right ahead of time, yes this is a first world problem, yes there are many other things to fight for. That doesn't mean that consumers can be taken advantage of and it doesn't mean that good people need to hide a harmless pastime, suffer needless censorship or face prejudice. My personal politics and views/causes will not come into play in this project with the exception of the aims above, it's a broad enough subject.
"We have the power to stop and reverse the tides of time by making our awareness of abuse known to the powers of industry and their uncouth political arms. Only by raising the awareness and promoting personal peace within today’s self-defeatist society, can we allow the planet a chance to avoid self-destruction!
