I’m way late to this party but I really want to let you guys know that if you haven’t given Mount&Blade Warband a try then you need to.  It plays like Pirates Vikings and Knights (half life mod) mixed with Darkfall.  There are servers with up to 222 players and various game modes. I haven’t played the same map twice yet and all of them have a different look to them.  There are several factions each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses; Mongolian types get to shoot their bows while mounted or the Nordic types have better axes, etc.

My favorite  gameplay mode so far is Siege where one team defends and the other attacks.  This is where this game really shines.  Depending on the map, the defenders could actually have a castle and the opposing team has to infiltrate it.  It plays out exactly how I wish Darkfall would have with an actual feeling of organized sieging.  It’s like the old Dark Age of Camelot Keep sieges in a way.  The Archers will all be up on the walls shooting out and the guys with shields will be watching the walls to attack those who climb ladders.

Other maps include opportunities for you to form shield walls or mount up with lances and joust.  It’s really a great mix of gameplay in a realistic medieval setting.   In a way, it’s like the Medieval Battlefield game I wish DICE would make.  There are bows/xbows, swords, axes, lances, maces, darts, halberds, javelins, and just about every weapon you would want.  You can block certain directions, counter, swing different directions, and really engage enemies in combat.  There is a slight learning curve though.

I don’t want to always be that guy saying “I wish we had a MMO like this”, but it’s a real shame we don’t.  Regardless, it’s solid on its own merits and definitely worth the $15 on Steam.

Check out the video that my friend made for a solid look at what the game plays like.  It definitely runs smooth and looks good too.  I highly recommend it.

Valve’s free title ‘Alien Swarm’ was released on Stream today.  It’s a third person isometric/semi top-down view shooter sharing many, many elements with L4D and other shooter titles.  Moving is done with WASD and aiming is done by moving your mouse which turns your character to face a direction and clicking.  You have a laser sight to help indicate the general area where you’re shooting and also a range indicator-like crosshair where you can determine how far or exactly what you’re shooting at.

Straight up, the game is quite fantastic.  It ‘feels’ perfect.  There’s a shocking number of guns and gear to unlock and multiple dimensions to how you’ll go about playing the game based upon the gear you choose.  Playing with other people, especially friends, is key and the teamwork opportunities make it all the more fun.  You can choose your class from Officer, Medic, Weapon Specialist, and Tech.  Each brings something unique to the group dynamic.  For example, tech can weld doors shut behind you to keep out baddies or unlock doors by playing a quick mini-game.

Right now there is only one campaign but it’s comprised of several levels.  Once you play through a few times you’ll notice that, unfortunately, it’s not randomly generated.  It suffers from the same problems that I feel L4D did with it feeling too repetitive after you’ve played a few times.   Luckily it has three modes that ramp up big time in difficulty.  We played for several hours today and aside from learning the maps really well I haven’t felt bored or tired of playing.

Like I mentioned, there are many elements from L4D.  The menu system and multiplayer grouping system are all the same.  So far it has been flawless.  In-game you’ll notice elements from Gears of War like the reloading mechanic where you need to time it right or else you’ll jam your weapon or take a while to reload.  The game as a whole feels like Left 4 Dead as you maneuver through the level whilst surviving the onslaught of alien bugs while trying to reach what feel like ‘safe points’.  The story is forgettable, but I haven’t cared.

The guns are excellent and each brings, in addition to the roles filled by the class you choose, an addition role to fill.  The longer range weapons like the machine gun really do fit in with the Tesla cannon and the shotgun.  The secondary items such as the combat flares for added aiming help or the damage increase add to the dynamic feel or how your group adapts to completing the levels.  Wrap it all up with an amazing UI ripe with features like drawing on the mini-map and an extremely functional load out pre-mission screen and the features are top notch.

My only real complaint at this point is that there isn’t more.  I want more campaigns.  I want this to be fleshed out but I fear they’re just releasing it as is without plans to continue.   Well done though, Valve, with this title.  I’d be willing to pay $20 or more for a game like it in the future or perhaps some form of payment for continued development via content updates or something like that.

Having Mod Tools on top of it all?  Mind = blown.

The below video is gameplay footage of my friends and I playing through some levels.

Activision is getting a little fed up with not getting their slice of the microtransaction or “pay to play” market. Apparently this era of gamers getting a free ride has been bad for business or something silly like that. I sentiment is not lost on me, as you know, since I despise the “free to play” (what a scam) market myself. There has been much talk from Activision and Bobby Kotick lately about services like Xbox Live and the idea of using microtransactions or paying for an online service via a subscription.

“I would have Call of Duty be an online subscription service tomorrow.” – Bobby Kotick re: if he had one wish.

Well Bobby, let’s talk about that. I’m not totally against the idea. I pay subscriptions to many things. I can even see your point about Xbox Live monetizing on every game out there instead of the publishers getting the money. That does seem a bit unfair to me that there’s a middleman at work. Let’s talk about this idea of monetizing the multiplayer of the Call of Duty franchise.

I would not pay just to play the game. That’s ridiculous and petty to access the online feature alone. I would pay for their service if there were bonuses included and if the services rendered justified a subscription.

- The subscription should cover ALL of their online shooters and not a subscription to just one title (Black ops, MW2, CoD4, etc all on one subscription)
- Really great platform connecting their games
- Map packs released for FREE and on a regular basis
- Content packs including more guns and attempts at expanding their titles regularly

“I think we could do a lot more to really satisfy the interests of the customers. I think we could create so many things, and make the game even more fun to play. We haven’t really had a chance to do that yet.” [Source]

Go on. You have my attention.

Medal of Honor “2010″ Beta became available for Battlefield Bad Company 2 users today.  You can download the client right from steam under your game library and have a key provided to you right as you log in.  I’ve been in the beta for a few weeks and I’ve tried the maps and different kits enough that I feel like I can talk about the game authoritatively.

Warning: There will be a lot of comparisons drawn between Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2, especially since DICE was behind the latter as well.

MoH’s biggest criticism so far has been that it is a mix between Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2.  Okay… so it’s a mix between two amazing games?  I can’t understand that criticism so much as the second complaint which is that it really isn’t anything new.  Well, that’s true.  MoH has yet to show anything new that isn’t available in other shooting games out there.  It has the ranking up component, the objective based maps, the kits, all the guns, bells and whistles, etc.

Graphically the game looks great.  It doesn’t have the destructibe environments of BFBC2 but to be honest I’ve grown out of those already and it doesn’t make MoH any worse for not having them in my opinion.  There are some movable objectives and semi-destructible objects on the maps though.  The maps are all beautiful and have great atmosphere. There’s attention to detail and some respectable cover designs and places to set up as a sniper or create ambushes.  On the Kabul City map I got a real CoD4 vibe.  Performance is exceptional for what is offered graphically.  It runs much better than BFBC2 and looks better and runs just about the same as MW2 for me with many more graphical options.

It’s clearly a port though.  The prompt to use a killstreak is a D-Pad and the options menu has a setting to adjust your TV.  Even though it’s a port, it has dedicated servers AND matchmaking as well as a functioning friends list.  The server browser worked near perfect for me and I was even able to sort by the region where the server is hosted to find the best pings for me. There are obvious bugs in this version ranging from the “join game” button not always being responsive and some graphical hiccups during gameplay like flickering textures.  I’ve noticed that sometimes servers will seem to disappear from the browser when you scroll down, but scrolling back up makes them appear again.

The actual gameplay itself is definitely a blend between BFBC2 and MW2.  In MW2 it’s more about you as an individual and how you are doing whereas in BFBC2 it’s more of a team game and you could have done terribly where your K/D ratio is concerned yet still have contributed to the team.  There are two game types at least in MoH that offer both of these styles.  The guns feel odd though.  There is very little recoil on some of them which is both a wonderful feeling and a little dumbed down at the same time.  BFBC2 has terrible hit detection in my opinion yet MoH seems to have generous hit box sizes that feel much more like the older Battlefield games.  I like them. Definitely another indication of it being a console port though.

I don’t quite understand the harsh criticism against the game itself.  I think it shows a great deal of promise.  DICE (who does MoH’s multiplayer) makes great games and when this one is polished up over the next few months and we get to see the entire game and not just a tip of the console ported iceberg it could be really an outstanding addition to this year’s shooters.   It may not bring a whole lot, if anything, new but if that was a prerequisite for something to be “good” or worth playing then we wouldn’t have many good games out there at all.  I like it enough to want to play more when there are more maps and polish (to remove console port crap) added.  On the consoles, this is probably going to blow BFBC2 and MW2 away.

Below is a quick video of some gameplay footage that I took.  The settings are nearly maxed (shadows on medium and HBAO lightning is off) and the game runs at a constant 40fps for me.  I have a Nvidia 8800gt 512 and 4gigs of ram on Vista 32bit with a 2.3ghz quad core.

Battlefield Bad Company 2′s VIP Map pack 4 (I didn’t know there was a 2 or a 3…) released a few days ago introducing two new maps.  Well, not new.  They’re new modes on existing maps.  Atacoma Desert Rush Mode and Port Valdez Conquest Mode.  Luckily all PC users are considered VIP’s so we all get the maps.

On one hand I’m thrilled for new maps.  I think it’s definitely BFBC2′s biggest failing; that and the fact that there are no planes.  BFBC2 needs bigger maps and the Battlefield 2 feel.  Heck, even the BFVietnam map feel would do it some good.  This isn’t about the game’s failing though as much as it is the “new” maps.  They’re decent.  Atacoma Desert Rush is actually the closest thing we’ve had to a BF2 map.  It’s a nice big and open map with plenty of vehicles.  Stage 3 of defense is actually the best part of the map since it gives each side several tanks:; it’s the first real vehicle heavy stage we’ve seen in Rush.  It can be a real struggle to get past the ‘no man’s land’ area on the third phase but if you can get tanks into the enemy base and pin them down then you’re set.

Port Valdez on Conquest mode is pretty much the same map but with two great additions: an Attack Helicopter for both sides and new dune buggy jeeps.  The helicopters are countered with the addition of new AA gats at each of the base installments.  The attack helicopters provide enough distraction for players to use the dune buggies and zip around the map.  These new offensive ground vehicles can carry a gunner on the bank and a passenger side gunner.  The passenger gets a mounted heavy mg and the guy sitting on the back (quite exposed) has a grenade launcher.

We had a great time tonight populating our server: |Mushroom Kingdom| – Normal /Mixed No Kill Cam

BFBC2 is definitely proving to be worth the purchase.  I feel like I’m getting more out of it than I did with Modern Warfare 2 for my money, although I maintain the fact that I enjoy both games for different reasons.  Bad Company 2 really does need to provide bigger maps ala BF2 but more importantly I want to see NEW maps and not just new modes on existing maps.  I’ll even settle for BF2 maps like Strike at Karkand.

I realized today that I’ve commented on Global Agenda abandoning the subscription fee on forums and news sites but I haven’t written about it on the blog.  Time to correct this oversight.   I called it back in 2009 and in January of this year when I wrote about Global Agenda.  Having played back in Alpha and during their beta events it was always clear to me that GA’s biggest problem was that it fell in the middle of two identities and was never able to truly establish itself as a MMO or Action shooter.

Global Agenda always felt like it was closer to Team Fortress 2, Diablo, or Modern Warfare than any MMO.  That’s not a bad thing and not something to get defensive over, unless you’re banking on your game being marketed successfully as a MMO to attract the constant subscriber-base that a game like WoW sees.  What I’ve been advocating from the time GA released was for the developers to realize that their game would be far more successful if it were marketed and a few slight design changes were made so that it established a clear identity on the action/shooter side of the line.

Now that there is no more subscription fee or attempt to market the game with benefits for subscribers or any of that silliness I’m hoping that the devs will turn it towards being more of a shooter with progression elements.  I still think the persistent elements like talent trees and upgrades are a good idea.  Just look at the shooter market these days and it’s clear that whether or not they’re good for the game that they’re popular as ever.  It’s been talked about a lot in my gaming circle that GA should be a Tribes meets Planetside meets TF2 style game.  The Planetside angle is probably a lost cause and would require way more changes to the game’s design than possible at this point, but I think accomplishing Tribes with persistent elements is totally an doable.

Good decision to abandon the subscription model.  Now totally disown any attempt at convincing people that this is a MMO, stick with what you’ve clearly done well (shooter elements with some quick battles and team play), take a few more steps towards providing bigger maps and some good vehicles and a Starsiege Tribes feel and even I will buy the game.  It’s definitely not too late to recover and make a game that people will talk about.

You get VOIP ads unless you pay to remove them.

The APB coverage here at Keen and Graev’s has been non-existent.  I got a “Key to the City” but apparently missed the playtime allotted.  Neither of us have been looking forward to the game for various reasons ranging from EA to bad memories of CrimeCraft to the simple design of the game.  There hasn’t even been any interesting news about the game to really comment on and I’m bored to tears of explaining why I think instanced lobbies are not a MMO.  Finally found something to comment on though!

When I was investigating the “My Account” section of APB’s website to learn more about it, it felt to me like the game is meant to be one of those arcade machines you need to keep feeding quarters into.  Even if it ends up costing about the same price to play 365 days a year as a $14.99/m game there’s a not-so-subtle “wanna buy a watch?” look to the whole way they’re getting you to play.  This is all an aside anyway but I wanted to go on the record for saying “meh”.

Seeing the link to the VOIP ads though really hit home how overboard they’re going with their pricing model.

The official details followed what quickly became a storm of horrific speculation about what this could mean for gameplay.

“You will receive a short audio ad once every 3 hours. HOWEVER ads will only be heard when first entering a social district.” Basically, you enter a new district (Lobby) and you get an ad played over your headphones.  When you change districts (apparently social, not combat) after the 3 hour timer has expired you get another ad.  What kind of ad? Don’t know yet.  I think that’s the best part of the whole thing since we don’t know if it will be a commercial for Big Macs and having it your way or how to get relief from that burning itch down there.

The APB Defense Force is going to raid my comments section screaming at me that RTW needs some way to pay for their servers or that you can just turn your volume down if you don’t like it.  That’s all true.  I think this way is really bad marketing though and it highlights my suspicions about this being a fail boat preparing to set sail.  There are better ways to charge a buck than to force people to hear VOIP ads unless they pay a premium.  This just alienates people regardless how minimally invasive these ads are in the game.  APB is being defended as a “pay to play game” and I’ll even give them a nod that their point system and buying days of gametime is indeed pay to play.  If it’s pay to play though, there isn’t a need to jerk people around like this.  If your game can stand on its own then charge people what it is worth and be done with it.

If I can find a way to try the game on a trial account then I’ll let you guys know what I think about the actual gameplay.  I really can’t see myself paying any money though when there are this many red flags before launch.

The writing's on the wall

I picked up Splinter Cell Conviction this past week for the Xbox 360.  I’m a pretty big Splinter Cell fan and have loved all the games except the past one (Double Agent).  It’s been a while since the last Splinter cell.  Years ago at E3 they showed us footage of the next Splinter Cell that featured Sam Fisher with a more rugged and long dark hair look with him throwing chairs and interacting with the environment.  We thought we were getting this Splinter Cell in 2007 but it was canceled and Ubisoft went back to the drawing board and went in this new direction.

I’ve completed the single-player storyline and want to share with you guys my thoughts.

Story: I honestly didn’t find the story in conviction to be that interesting. It does carry on a little bit from past Splinter Cells, but for some reason it was just not interesting.  I didn’t really care about all the conspiracy theories and crap going on behind the scenes.  I really just wanted to sneak around and kill people.  There was nothing about the story that changed that.

Action Feel – Most of the time it isn’t about sneaking around anymore. There are times when you have to just go straight through enemies and that’s not something that has been apart of the series. In past games you have different ways of completing the objectives and ways of taking people out, but in Conviction it’s more of a streamlined action approach with more overt killing.

Cover System – The cover system works well.  However, it changes the way the game plays.  This goes along with the Action Feel where the game is about getting good spots to shoot people instead of hiding.

Mark and Execute System – This is a neat system that gives great moments of killing multiple enemies, but it also puts the game on easy mode.  With the press of one button you can instantly take out up to four enemies at once.  A good way to balance this would be to let you mark and execute a limited number of times per mission.  All you really have to do now is just get a stealth kill and you can remark and execute again.  While it’s useful (really useful), it lends itself to a bit of abuse where the game plays itself.  Mark your targets, press one button, and they all die.

Gadgets – This is one of the parts I was most disappointed.  They’re not cool spylike gadgets.  It’s more like frag grenades, emp grenades, flash bangs, remote mines, and sticky cameras.  While sticky cameras in past games have been really cool and awesome, in this game they blow up instead of releasing gas and knocking a guy out.  They all basically do the same… they all might as well be the same gadget.  It’s about blowing stuff up now.  Most all the gadgets from past games are gone: No more ring air foil rounds, sticky shockers, or good sticky cams.

Wall Hax Sonar Goggles – Gone are the vision modes.  No more night vision, heat vision, and that electronic vision.  You have Sonar vision now which is essentially wall hax.  You can see enemies through walls, mark them through walls, and essentially never be surprised about where an enemy is at.

Black and White Stealth – This is frustrating.  Instead of the stealth meter, whenever you’re in the shadows and hidden the screen turns black and white.  For the majority of the game you’re going to be playing a black and white game.  I don’t want to play a black and white game.  In past Splinter Cell games though it’s not like you had regular vision anyway with all the goggle modes constantly being used.  There are better ways to let you know you’re hidden.

Moves and Abilities – Sam loses the ability to split jump, the ability to do cool stuff like cut through fabric of a tent and sneak in, hanging upside down and snapping necks, no more interrogating random people — just story characters, no more hiding bodies which was important because now when you kill someone and his buddy comes along you’re going to be detected no matter what.

No Spy vs. Mercenary – This breaks my heart.  I think it was implemented in Splinter Cell 2 and did really well and Chaos Theory expanded upon it.  It was different but still enjoyable at least in Double Agent (Xbox 360).   Overall it was a really fun and innovative multiplayer experience.  All I can hope is that they add it later as a game mode.  I’d even pay for it as DLC.

I do like some stuff though!

Writing on the Wall – The objectives and delivery of messages to the player are written on the wall in text and presented as mini flashback movies as though Sam is thinking about them while doing the mission.  This really helps the flow of the game because there isn’t any interruptions to check the menus to know what the objectives are.

Last Known Position – Whenever you become hidden from an enemy who knows your position, you see a ghostlike imprint of yourself where they last saw you.  Enemies go to investiage this last known position and it’s cool because this lets you set up for some good stealth takeouts or opportunities to sneak by people.

Michael Ironside – Who doesn’t like Michael Ironside?!

Co-Op - It’s really nice that they included a Co-op campaign with split screen mode along with several interesting game modes that you can play with another person.  These aren’t like the normal campaign.  Keen and I have started playing together and are having fun.

Overall, it’s a fun game and I did enjoy it.  Because it is Splinter Cell, it’s hard to look at it for what it is and not for what it should have been.  When I really do just take a step back and take it for what it is, I had a good time playing through.  I’m just now going through the co-op campaign which is going to add more fun.   I really do hope in the next Splinter Cell that they return to the original formula.  This is like “New Coke” all over again.