Top 10 of 2012

Dishonored - Video Review

Dishonored Review - Tread Lightly, and Carry Super Powers

Score : 8.75 / 10
Dishonored

PC - Xbox 360 - PS3
Developer: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: October 9th, 2012



Pros:

• Multitude of approaches for each mission
• Powers and weaponry are diverse and work in conjunction with one another
• Ability combinations open up multiple possibilities to dispatch an enemy
• Lighting and shadows bring a sense of beauty to the dreary world

Cons:

• Rather short campaign
• With hub world and missions - city feels closed off
• Some character models and textures are a bit blurry

Dishonored is the epitome of a water cooler game, where discussing it with other players makes you appreciate it even more. Every choice and path you take can be substantially different than another player and there is no "correct" way to play. Want to be a relentless death machine that sounds alarms and sends troops flying with a wave of the hand? Perhaps you like to take the stealthy path, blinking between points without even so much as a single encounter to your target. Arkane Studios hands players the tools of destruction and leaves it to them on how to proceed, and it soon becomes an experience you will wish to play all over again.

Seriously, don't drink the water

The world itself is a captivating one. A steampunk inspired city of Dunwall is filled with dangerous thugs, a persistent plague, and an over bearing governing body. As you walk through each level you are subjected to loudspeaker announcements of obedience, run-ins with civilians berated by corrupt officers, and horrific crime scenes the plague has left in its wake. There is a sense of beauty within the madness, as lighting and environments bring the city to life, despite a few blurry textures and character models. Complete with a high end voice cast including Susan Sarandon (Granny Rags) and Lena Headey (Calista), Dishonored shapes a world that acts as a dreary reminder of your ultimate goal to restore order through death of those responsible.

You assume the role of Corvo Attano, bodyguard and personal friend of the beloved empress. Returning from seeking aid for the city's plague, you have a short blissful reunion before you are attacked. Framed for the murder of the empress and kidnapping of her daughter, Emily, you are placed under arrest and incarcerated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After gaining help from an unknown source you escape and reunite with an underground resistance, where you act as their right hand - assassinating key targets to expose the true criminal and rescue the queen's daughter so she can rightfully claim the throne. The story became one of the less compelling attributes of the game, and many of the expected twists and turns played out and the targets you are assigned to kill were met so quickly that their importance barely had time to sink in. Still, the immediate bond between yourself and Emily and the instinctive nature to protect her gives a sense of purpose that hangs over your head through the course of the game.

Pistol beats sword! Who knew?

Once at the resistance headquarters, you begin your string of assassinations. A target is specified and you scurry off to an area of the city to gather information and find your method of approach. Optional sidequests or means of entry are discovered by listening in on conversations, stumbling upon characters of interest, or reading specific journal entries. There is never just one path to your target or means of assassination, and instead the game asks you to decide the best course of action. You can go in as loud or quiet as you want, because being caught in this game is not a game over. In one scenario I was required to enter a party at a mansion; in which I could scurry across rooftops to sneak through a window, steal a waiting couple's ticket to gain entry, possess a fish to swim through the sewers, etc. I could not help but compare it to Deus Ex: Human Revolution in its approach at letting the player decide the preferred path to take.

Choice not only affects how things currently play out, but the ripple effect of future missions. A "chaos" system is in place that echo your actions from previous missions. Sneaking in and remaining undetected puts the city at ease, and less guards or hindrances will be in your path. Going in loud, raising alarms, and killing civilians will add to the chaos in which patrols are stepped up and security is tighter. Even the litters of bodies you leave in your wake can attract substantially more rats in the area, adding another problem to overcome. It is an interesting cause and effect but in addition to the ghost bonus for never being seen at the end of the mission recap, the game tends to favor stealth more than brash combat. 

Getting to your target requires an arsenal, and Dishonored gives you a healthy supply of weaponry and abilities. Pistols are at hand for those hairy situations, or crossbows to quietly pick off enemies one by one. Near the beginning of the game Corvo is granted powers by an entity known as "The Outsider". These are tailored to give you the upper hand in any situation, opening multiple possibilities to how an encounter will play out. Coming across a patrol of guards can offer the ability to possess one to jump off of a cliff, summon a deadly swarm of rats to engage them both, Blink across rooftops right over their heads, or my personal favorite of using slow time and possession to have them shoot each other. With so many options, it is easy to see why Dishonored rarely gets stale. Even on the last mission of the campaign, I was still discovering new ways to dispatch enemies.

Wingardium Leviosa!

Upgrading and maintaining these powers requires the use of currency and collectibles. Items recovered in the field are instantly exchanged for a sum of money that can be brought back to the hub world to upgrade and maintain your arsenal; ranging from adding zoom range to your mask to upping the firing rate and effectiveness of your pistol. Your powers can also increase in their effectiveness by discovering runes and bone charms. Using an item in your inventory, you can scope out the position of the upgrade and must simply navigate to collect them. While runes upgrade a power, bone charms add an aspect of customization to your character. They assist specific actions like increased speed while carrying corpses or crossbow bolts that break less often. There is only a set amount you can equip, but it adds a further fine tuning of powers to work with your intended play style. 

Though your time spent is short, Dishonored is a game that begs another replay after the campaign's conclusion. The healthy mixture of powers, weapons, and mayhem opens up a lot of possibility. While I would have really liked open world exploration in comparison to the hub world, the missions are easy to hop into and open enough to beg little complaint. In the end Dunwall is a fantastic setting, and the playground of tools at your disposal keeps you constantly shuffling powers to see their potential. It is a healthy mix of FPS and stealth, and the path of vengeance turns out to be one incredibly fun experience. 

Resident Evil 6 - Video Review

Resident Evil 6 Review - Evil Never Dies

Score: 7.75 / 10
Resident Evil 6
Xbox 360 - PS3 - PC
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: October 2nd, 2012




Pros:

• Separate campaigns and multiple collectibles offer plenty of playtime
• Stellar cast and voicework
• Four player intersections are high points of the campaign...when they happen
• Local split screen co-op

Cons:

• Game is naturally dark, and even with brightness up it's hard to see
• Certain button prompts are too fast to respond in time, and too often
• Weapon upgrade system replaced with lackluster skill loadout
• Cover system is clunky and frustrating

Resident Evil is no longer the survival horror game it used to be...and that is perfectly alright. I have fond memories of the first few games with the hesitation of walking around the corner for fear of the next big scare. Yet, I still have the same excitement in my voice when discussing Resident Evil 4, the game that made the jump from fixed camera horror to over the shoulder shootouts. To put the fans' minds at ease, Capcom has brought in the heavy hitters for the sixth installment to compliment the more action oriented approach. Despite all the changes and implementations, Resident Evil 6 comes out as a decent entry in the franchise...if you let it.

Insult my hair again...I dare you

The plot is interwoven between four different campaigns as Neo Umbrella unleashes attacks all over the world: Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper stave off an infection in another city, Chris Redfield and Pierce work with the BSAA to fight off bio terrorist attacks, Sherry Birkin is tasked with bringing in Jake Muller to develop a cure for the disease using Jake's blood, and Ada Wong sets certain spoiler heavy events in motion. The campaigns intersect with each other on multiple occasions, and you can figure out most of the intended surprises for yourself, though experiencing the same events from multiple perspectives is enjoyable. The plot has tattered over the years since Raccoon City, and the unfortunate pattern of a known enemy turning into a giant bioweapon that you must fight over and over again has not changed. The story would fall flat if it were not for the stellar performances of the voice cast, and the newcomers provide some genuine scenes that bolster an otherwise typical plot. Be it the partner trust issues between the newly acquainted Leon and Helena or the broken mentor/mentee relationship between Chris and Pierce, the exchanges between your companions make up for the cheesy dialogue. 

You open the game as Leon, but soon after will choose from one of three available campaigns, unlocking a fourth upon completing the other three. Though each are similar in gameplay they all have a particular feel to them: Leon's campaign feels reminiscent of Resident Evil 2, reviving a bit of horror and suspense the series was known to bring. Chris's campaign feels like Modern Warfare, populated with squads of AI marines and loads of action. Jake focuses a bit more on stealth and escaping danger, though it always seems to find you. The varying encounters and objectives did their part in distinguishing the campaigns apart from each other, with a few chapters that impress and others that utterly frustrate. The newest feature is the ability to link up with another player's game and encounter a segment where two squads combine. It is unfortunate that it requires someone else to be at the exact same part in their chapter to link up, as it is sure to diminish in likelihood to occur as time goes on. Despite this requirement, is still tended to happen fairly often and became a high point of each chapter.

Three eyes make them thrice as accurate

There are a few slight tweaks to gameplay, but Resident Evil 6 sticks close to what comes natural. You and an AI or human counterpart progress through each campaign shooting your way through hordes of zombies, solving the occasional "puzzle" (term used loosely), and wrapping everything up with a rating of your performance. The shooting works well enough, and the ability to finally move and shoot at the same time or dodge roll out of incoming attacks melds well with the more aggressive enemies. Melee is much more emphasized and now comes with a stamina bar, allowing you to dish out combos at the expense of a few regenerative ticks of stamina. The most useful new feature was the Quick Shot, instantly stunning an enemy for a follow up combo to gain some room to breathe. Enemies fail to react to limb shots as much as they used to, and the failed reaction led me to quick shot combo most large crowds to gain distance. The biggest issue lies in the multitudes of quicktime events that interrupt the flow of the game. Some of these outstay their welcome, some are unclear on what they want you to do, and a vast majority of them pop up so fast that it is impossible to clear them without failing once. Luckily, the AI is not only more helpful in battle (being invincible doesn't hurt), but spot on in never missing a single prompt.

One impressive aspect of the campaign is the enemy variety. From the slow moving zombies of Leon's campaign to the intelligent snipers of Chris's endeavor, there are plenty of baddies to pelt with rounds. Like before, most of these can morph when shot, turning a once harmless peon into a rolling death machine. Enemies gain bullet shielding arms, elongated arms to snatch you from cover, or even morph into a flying torso to turn your attention to the skies. Each campaign has its own group to overcome, which becomes more difficult when the cover system is needed. To battle the gunwielding infected it is a good idea to take cover, but the clunky system often misreads when you intend to take cover, when you want to peek out, and when you simply want to shoot; resulting in skewed aiming and frustration.

I was always a fan of the inventory and weapon upgrade system RE4 and RE5 put in place...which has been dismissed completely. Now in lieu of playing tetris in a cache case, you are given a simple windowed list. I would be more annoyed with the new system but as I played I found it actually works well considering the change in pacing, as you are able to mix herbs and heal on the fly. The only issue is attempting to choose a specific weapon or item, and I often ended up frantically scrolling through the list more as I acquired an arsenal of weapons with each Chapter. Instead of weapon upgrades, the points earned during the campaign are spent on loadout bonuses such as a boost in crit chance or improved melee damage. These can be rather expensive as you go along, and despite equipping them I barely felt their impact.

High Five!

Two additional modes are tucked away in a "bonus content" section of the game. Agent Hunt puts you behind the role of an infected troop in someone else's campaign. You can be practically anything outside of the boss itself, this includes the winged undead and the heavy hitting lizards. It oftentimes felt unfair to the player in the short respawn timer I had, but was an interesting addition that I wished was expanded upon a bit more. Mercenaries faithfully makes its return, both losing and gaining nothing. The two man survival mode acts as a point driven frenzy to rack up kills and combos for a high score, unlocking more characters along the way. It may be as fun as it was before, but the potential for a four person mercenary mode or 2v2 would have captivated me much longer. Sidenote, there are only three maps to play on if you failed to preorder...yeah it gets old fast.

Being a fan of the series from the start, Resident Evil 6 ends up being one of the less enjoyable titles of franchise, but it was not so terrible that I left the game feeling the series was a lost cause. The four player intersects are an interesting idea, and the co-operative action still offers plenty of thrills. The game just felt dragged down by clunky controls, terrible lighting that not even maxed out brightness could fix, and an excessive amount of poorly executed QTEs and vehicle segments. If you can manage to accept what is given expect a decent experience, otherwise the issues of this game will act much like their zombie counterparts...they will only drag on.