Tuesday 27 August 2013

Guns....lots of guns

Spec Ops: The Line
Hadn't heard much about this game. It grabbed my attention immediately when the main character had to fight with renegade US soldiers. That isn't too common in games. Most games don't make you think about the consequences about violence. It's a core theme in Spec Ops. As the violence escalates in the game, the characters are drawn more and more into a bloody hell. War crimes are committed and the characters have to face the moral consequences of their actions.

Technically, the game looks great with it's dust storms and semi-destructible environments. However, artistically, it was somewhat bland. All of the action takes place in the desert and the game is mostly shades of brown. The controls were a little awkward for getting into and out of cover, but nothing too bad.

With a title like Spec Ops, I was expecting a shooter. What I got was a shooter with a conscience. It was a very pleasant surprise. 8.5/10


Alpha Protocol
When ever a game advertises itself as an "espionage" game, it means stealth with very little killing. Alpha Protocol gives the option of stealth, but also lots and lots of killing. I'm not a big fan of sneaking around. For me, the action is the juice.

Things the game did well:
 - RPG elements. Lots of choices, lots of consequences.
 - voice acting. Each character sounded authentic.
 - character customization. Tons of gun & armour mods. Could've used a few more character options.
 - map design. even though this wasn't a completely open world game, the maps felt spacious with many options to move around.

Things the game did not do well:
 - camera movement. This PC port seemed like an after thought. The camera controls were clunky and sometimes, there would be long pauses while panning around. It was extremely annoying.
 - pistols are broken. Chain shot is completely OP. Boss fights are trivial with this ability. I ended the Sis fight in 1 second.

Overall, I enjoyed Alpha Protocol. The game ended with the possibility of a sequel. I'm looking forward to it. 8/10




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