World of Gaming

Here are some things we learned during our most recent look at Sony's upcoming arcade racer.

Calling it Little Big Kart Racing is a bit unfair to ModNation Racers, which is the upcoming kart racing game from Sony and developer United Front Games. That said, the game shares a great deal with the Create, Play, Share ethos of Media Molecule's Sackboy-starring darling. Nearly everything you can play with in ModNation, you can customize to your heart's content or create from scratch, including your character, your kart, and even the tracks you drift and zip through. Back in December, my fellow editor Shaun McInnis got a hands-on look at the track creator in the game. Today, developers from United Front dropped by GameSpot HQ where we got a chance to check out the game once again. Here are a few things I learned:

CREATION IS COOL
Track creation tools in other games are often powerful, and the end results can be thrilling. Unfortunately, track creation hasn't really been fun until now. ModNation looks to find a happy marriage with easy-to-use tools that are simple in execution but don't sacrifice the depth that the hardcore will appreciate. Even better, the tools are fun to use. For example, instead of linking sections of track together on a piece-by-piece basis, all you need to do to create a track in ModNation is simply drive. By piloting a steamroller around the playable area, you build the track as you go--making turns where you turn and adding elevation at will.

Once you've got your track together, the game will automatically populate it with environmental scenery (such as buildings and trees), as well as on-track necessities like pick-ups, turbo boosts, and illuminated chevrons indicating tight turns, among other things. Naturally every bit on the track can be minutely edited--during my demo, the producers created a sweet banked uphill corner that would become my favorite drift spot in the game. You can also easily and quickly add things like shortcuts and obstacles to the track. Using triggers that are tied to objects on the track, you can create more complex on-track behaviors. For example, producers created a shortcut that was blocked off by movable walls. Then, they connected a trigger to the wall that, when engaged, would lower the wall and allow a brief window of access to the shortcut.

There are plenty of examples of detailed editing for the obsessive track creator but what impressed me nearly as much was the simplicity of everything. You can paint a section of track to automatically add a tunnel or change the texture of the road. You can even press a button to automatically finish a track if you're short on time.

CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT
Beyond the track editor, there's also a ton of content to fool around with when it comes to your kart and driver. And I do mean a ton of content. According to producers, the recently released multiplayer beta of ModNation contained about 15 percent of the total content that will be in the final version of the game.

The rest of that 85 percent will come in the form of a ridiculous number of textures and objects you can use to personalize your kart and character in ways that continue to surprise the United Front developers. For example, beta fans were creating unique hairstyles for their drivers by piling multiple goatees on top of existing hairstyles. Whether you're adding tomatoes to the side of your car, cardboard and duct-tape spoilers to the rear, or recliners as your car seat, you'll have lots of choices. In fact, all of the objects in the game have been designed to work together--for example, you can drive an F1-style car with supersize tires and the parts won't overlap unnaturally.


GET THE DRIFT
When you aren't neck-deep in the creation tools, you'll be driving in the 12-player races that look to be a lot of fun. In fact, one of the biggest surprises for me was how fun it was to drift in the game. You press the X button to drift around corners and easily steer or countersteer in mid-drift with the left stick. The controls are tight and responsive, and when you get a great corner like the one described earlier, you can rack up huge boosts in the process. Let's face it, drifting usually sucks in racing games; so it's nice to see it work to your advantage in ModNation.

SMALL IS BIG
Considering the huge size of some of the tracks in ModNation, you might expect to see huge file sizes. Fortunately, that's not the case; according to producers, a track file size will only run a few hundred kilobytes, thanks to some clever development that has kept those files to a minimum. That means you'll be able to save lots of tracks locally and also download new tracks at will with minimal wait time. After all, even despite all the creation tools, it's all about getting to race and across the start/finish line as quickly as possible.

ModNation Racers is due for release this spring on the PlayStation 3.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 builds on the surprisingly destructible terrain of the first game to deliver a strongly online-driven sequel. The campaign isn't the meatiest, but the strong multiplayer will keep you coming back for more and more.

One thing is clear when you finish Battlefield: Bad Company 2: EA DICE has played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and they learned from it. The sequel to 2008’s irreverent spin on the Battlefield franchise delivers many improvements and takes some cues from Infinity Ward’s juggernaut while simultaneously mocking it. The result is a bit of an odd duck, but an appealing one.


Their Final Mission…Again

The first Bad Company was notable for being the franchise’s first serious attempt at a single player story-driven campaign. B-company members Redford, Sweetwater, Haggard and Marlowe were last seen driving away from their convoy in a truck loaded down with gold bars, but as Bad Company 2 begins, they have evidently lost the gold. What exactly happened between then and now remains a mystery, but the point is that the Bad Company mercenaries have more work to do if they ever intend to become independently wealthy, and if Redford ever intends to finally retire.

The U.S. Army recruits their services to track down a secret weapon from World War II that the Russian Federation is dangerously close to acquiring. In exchange, they’ll be allowed to return home to America, no questions asked or, more importantly, charges pressed. It’s a slightly more serious adventure than the first game, with wacky hijinks kept to a minimum in gameplay. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and the superweapon in question would feel more at home in Star Trek Online than here, but it’s serviceable enough as shooter tales go. The personalities of the characters do come through in dialogue, and once again Haggard provides many of the best moments. Make sure to stop moving every now and then to listen to incidental conversations in quiet sections, when many of the lengthier discussions take place.

The campaign is much more linear and focused than Bad Company, with great care placed upon making each location feel like a real place and not just a big Battlefield map. There are rather few set piece moments and an over-reliance on scripted waves of soldiers swarming in as primary obstacles. However, the new destruction system allows buildings to be completely leveled, and the AI is willing and able to take advantage of it. Cover disappears before your eyes all too often, and combat is a matter of taking down enemies and finding somewhere to hide after the jerk with the RPG-7 blows a hole through the house you’re camping in.

Waiting for Orders

This element would be more meaningful if the AI knew what to do after it deprived you of cover. Enemies are distressingly easy to pick off at your leisure, and the entire campaign feels anemic because of it. You’ll steamroll through campaign quickly, and there’s not a whole lot of incentive to replay it unless you missed some collectible guns or didn’t blow up all the radar units and really want that achievement/trophy. It almost seems like the developers themselves knew people wouldn’t want to replay the campaign, as the achievement for finishing the game on Hard only requires you to play the final level again.

The campaign contains a number of little jabs at the Modern Warfare games, from snowmobile references to a final level on a plane, but they all ring a bit hollow. Nothing in Bad Company 2’s campaign manages to match the set piece events of the Modern Warfare games, so DICE may be better off not tempting comparisons. Bad Company is a strong enough franchise to stand on its own without repeatedly poking the 800-pound shooter gorilla with a stick.


Online Company

Many will come to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for multiplayer rather than campaign, and they will not be disappointed. The experience system has been expanded beyond the standard procedure of leveling up an overall rank and unlocking cross-class weaponry. Each kit type has unique unlocks earned by using said kit successfully, as well as a vehicle XP track that awards bonuses for in-vehicle kills. Strangely, much of what you unlock early on seems to be inferior to much of what you start with. Also odd is the decision to force non-VIP players to actually unlock basic tools of each kit’s function, like the engineer’s repair gun and the medic’s first aid kit.

The maps feel smaller than Bad Company, with less emphasis on long-range tactics and more on close-in fighting. This at least means you won’t have to deal with 12 year-olds lobbing artillery shells all day, but robs the matches of some of the scope they once had. The ability to fully level a building makes Rush games (formerly known as Gold Rush) interesting, as careless (or careful, depending on your strategy) fire can leave objectives totally open on all sides. Brutal fights can break out over unprotected objectives. Bullets finally penetrate walls and other objects, so it’s a lot harder to hole up than before. The new full destruction system adds a lot to the multiplayer overall.


Can You Hear Me Now?

As with the first game, you can group into squads of four and spawn on each other to get directly into the hot spots of the battle. Once again, being in a squad only lets you use voice chat with your squadmates, not your entire team. Bad Company 2 seems to have decided to focus on squad-by-squad tactics more than full team strategy. It feels much less hopeless when your squad is the only one actually doing its job on the field. There are even new single squad modes that take full advantage of the feature, including a Squad Deathmatch that pits a number of four-man crews against one another. There’s also a Squad Rush mode, an 8-player variation of the Rush gametype, but for the first thirty days of the game’s release, it can only be accessed by preorder customers. It’s a good mode, but obviously population will be limited for the first month of availability.

S.O.P.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 doesn’t hold too many surprises. It’s a refinement of what came before, with no truly drastic alterations to the formula. Some fans of the first game may be put off by the influence of Modern Warfare on the sequel, but it never loses the Battlefield feel in multiplayer. Despite the very likeable main characters, the single player experience remains underwhelming, especially in light of its insistence on comparing itself to Modern Warfare. That’s not what Battlefield fans are after for the most part, though. Shooter fans want large scale multiplayer with massive destructive potential, and in that department, Bad Company 2 has very little in the way of competition.

Endless Ocean: Blue World offers an intriguing premise that doesn't live up to its potential. Poor writing, painful music, and several design choices constantly interrupt the core gameplay; however, scavenging for treasure in the deep and observing its sea life remains curiously compelling.

Endless Ocean: Blue World offers an intriguing premise that doesn't live up to its potential. Poor writing, painful music, and several design choices constantly interrupt the core gameplay; however, scavenging for treasure in the deep and observing its sea life remains curiously compelling.


"I'd Like to be Under the Sea"

There's an undesirable phenomenon in scuba diving called "the bends" that occurs when you fail to gradually decompress when surfacing. Nitrogen bubbles form in your body, potentially leading to (at minimum) excruciating pain and at worst, paralysis or death. Arika has delivered Endless Ocean: Blue World, a sequel to 2008’s Endless Ocean. It’s a diving sim with all the exploratory fun and none of the potentially fatal mishaps. It's a unique experience -- and certainly isn’t as painful as the bends -- though shoddy production values, terrible writing, and several poor design choices have robbed this engaging premise of much of its luster.

Endless Ocean: Blue World follows the exploits of a rookie diver as he (or she) helps an old, crusty sea captain and his granddaughter build up their family business, L&L Diving Service. Along the way, they find themselves roped into solving the age-old mystery of the "Song of Dragons.” Laughable dialogue, lackluster plot twists, and preachy messages hobble any potential this may have had as a narrative-driven underwater archaeological adventure. Worse is that the game is unusually talky, detracting from its main appeal which is diving.

"Darling It's Better Down Where It's Wetter."

Thankfully, diving is the star(fish) of the show (get ready for more cheesy puns like that in Blue World) and it fares much better. The core gameplay is comprised of exploring a variety of underwater territories, ranging from expansive oceans, to murky rivers, to deep-sea trenches. Four different times of day are available for each location which affects what you might encounter.

The crux of the experience comes from cataloging marine life, and there's a lot to file away. With over 300 species in total, finding them all makes for a compulsive experience. They're often gorgeous to look at and there's a panel giving info on each creature. At times, it can resemble an interactive nature documentary.

If finding fish doesn't catch your fancy, there's quite a bit else to do. Missions vary from the story-driven main campaign to a host of side-quests: There’s guiding curious tourists to specific creatures, photography assignments where you have to snap pictures of aquatic life in action,and hunting for buried treasure. The latter is accomplished by utilizing a multisensor that uses sonar to detect buried objects. If you're still looking for things to do, there's a "pulsar" which magically heals smaller fish (yet only pacifies larger predators), and a sea whistle for riding dolphins and whales. What makes this oddly compelling is that you're constantly given some kind of reward for your actions. Whether it's a new job title for scavenging or diving, more money to buy better gear, or new quests added to your log, it always feels like you're accomplishing something.


If it gets dull alone, and you have any friends with the game online, you can opt for some co-op diving over Nintendo Wi-Fi. The game utilizes Wii Speak for online chat. Sadly, you can only talk to people, not fish. No Aquaman fantasies here, folks. As for the multiplayer, it’s fairly simplistic fare that pretty much plays as promised: you and a friend diving together online, although the party ends once one of you uses up all of your oxygen.

"Don't Hold Your Breath."

It's a shame then that Blue World is constantly interrupting the flow (no pun intended) with cutscenes, text bubbles, menus, and loading screens. Much of Blue World is needlessly complicated. For example, some side-quests involve salvage missions in which you must scan the seafloor for treasure, which sounds simple enough. But to get your treasure appraised, you have to exit the level, go through yet another loading screen to reach the main hub, use your radio to call your mobile shopkeep, then have her appraise said loot to see if it contains your bounty. If that wasn't roundabout enough, it's a wonder why the designers felt the need to limit the player's time with a depleting air gauge. Striving for realism is one thing, but then how does one magically warp back to their boat and still not get the bends?

While the underwater graphics are quite nice with detailed character models, textures, and animations, the ones above sea level leave something to be desired. Character models have looked better on Dreamcast, and their lip movements resemble automatons on an amusement park ride. There's no voice-acting or mumble-speak, which renders the characters even more robotic. It’s a very archaic approach to presentation.

It bears mention that the soundtrack is terrible. It’s filled with obtrusive hippie chanting splayed over tunes that wouldn't sound out of place in a mediocre PSone-era JRPG. The sound effects when you discover items are irritating as well; they completely ruin the serene mood that the rest of Blue World strives so hard to achieve.


"No God or Kings. Only Fish!"

Ultimately, Endless Ocean: Blue World is a game with great execution that is undermined by a series of poor and uneven design ideas. The tranquil act of exploring life under the sea is inviting, and there's more than enough activity to keep players engaged. But the game flounders (sorry) in its poor presentation. For every moment it allows you to explore at your own pace, there's another when it robs you of control, holds your hand, or makes you jump through hoops. Blue World is like scuba diving on a leash. The sights are pretty, but you're not given enough leeway in exploration, making this supposedly "endless" ocean feel rather restrictive. Though at least you don't have to worry about getting the bends.

Aliens vs Predator returns and, while the game gets some elements right, it's too bogged down in ancient game mechanics to be a winner. With three short, flawed campaigns for single players and a variety of passable multiplayer games, it's a lopsided production that will disappoint even the most ardent fan.

Way back in 1999, developer Rebellion finally made the dreams of sci-fi-loving gamers everywhere come true. They managed to develop a game based on the Alien and Predator film franchises that lived up to expectations. The first-person shooter captured the elements of each race in an exceptional way, and provided PC gamers with a thrilling blend of horror and action. Sadly, what worked over a decade ago doesn’t necessarily work now, and after playing Rebellion’s Aliens vs Predator reboot, it appears that they’re still partying like it’s 1999.


We’re Mincemeat, Man!

That’s not to say Aliens vs. Predator is without merit. It’s still fun to scamper across darkened ceilings as a Xenomorph (the technical name for the Aliens), drop down on unsuspecting, terrified Marines and eat their brains. As a Predator, there’s still a sense of menacing satisfaction when tracking prey through the jungle, then jumping down and ripping their spine and head out. Even the uninspired colonial marine campaign has its moments -- especially near the end when some epic firefights occur.

But all in all, it’s only in fleeting moments where the game really thrives. The story unfurls like a continuation of the god-awful movies, in which Lance Henrikson plays the head of the self-serving and vile Weyland-Yutani corporation. Weyland (now basically cloned over and over) is utterly obsessed with harnessing the Xenomorphs and using them as a bioweapon to make his corporation rich. To that end, he’s using an entire base as his personal science lab.

When Weyland discovers an ancient Predator ruin, a signal is inadvertently sent out to the hunters to come and do what they do best. Aliens escape and chaos ensues; there’s not a shred of originality in the set-up. The game’s dogged use of standards from the movies—right down to all the same sound effects--is partially understandable, yet, ultimately, it feels lazy in presentation.

Three Sides to Every Story

As in previous games, AvP is broken up into three chapters. The human campaign is easily the worst. It has every tired, overused shooter cliché from the late ‘90s. You wake up alone, with only a useless pistol, while some faceless entity keeps barking orders at you. Worse, you don’t even get a name or a voice. Your character is just called “Rookie” and never speaks. He can only carry two other weapons, and his progress is completely linear. Humans always did seem extraneous in a war between the two ultimate sci-fi predators, but the developers seem determined to prove how weak and ineffective humans are here.

The Predator campaign is hardly an improvement in game design, and suffers from the same sort of linear pacing. What’s worse is that Rebellion has actually made the Predator feel wimpy. Although it’s hard to imagine, your Predator is weak, goes on the hunt barely equipped, and only gets new weapons as the story dictates. He also has to find energy sources to suck up to power his gear, which is a suspect game mechanic at best.

The Aliens are the most interesting species to play by far. The sheer joy of blazing across any surface is enough to give the Xenomorph campaign a leg up. Combat is problematic, but once you learn to properly hang to surfaces (hint: hold the button down all the time and you can move from surface to surface without hesitation), they’re just fun bugs to play as. It’s a shame the Alien campaign is the shortest at just about three hours, compared to four or five for the others. All three species go over common ground as well, so expect to the see the same sights a lot.


Kill Your Friends

The controls for both extraterrestrials are the biggest problem. Targeting in the game is simply sloppy. Since you’ll spend a lot of time in melee combat, the game ideally should have a targeting system that makes focusing on prey simple. Instead, you suffer through an impossibly twitchy targeting control that usually leaves you overshooting your enemies with your back exposed and no idea where they are.

Another severe issue is the use of fatalities. Both aliens can perform grisly death moves, but doing so locks you into an uncontrollable canned action for several seconds—more than enough time for any nearby enemies to kill you. While these moves are cool at first, there’s only a few of them and you’ll tire of them quickly.

Thankfully, there is multiplayer, and it’s entertaining in spots, but it won’t force you off any online shooters you might be currently playing. Pitting the three races in a variety of deathmatch and species-based games is generally fun. Each species has their own special game, such as Predator Hunt, a Juggernaut variant in which one player takes the role of a Predator seeking to hunt down opponents. If he gets killed, he’s replaced by his assassin. The Xenomorph version tasks a player with infecting all of the Marines on a map. Most of the multiplayer maps, much like the single player levels, are merely serviceable. There are two excellent co-op survivor maps, in which up to four marines battle endless waves of Xenomorphs, not unlike Horde mode in other shooters. The multiplayer is fun, but not deep enough to draw much lasting power for many players.


In Space, No One Can Hear You Sigh

Aliens vs. Predator isn’t an awful game, but it is incredibly disappointing since Rebellion appears to have done so little with the source material . It’s a hard sell when there are significantly better shooters available, both online and offline. While the game isn’t a total loss, there’s just not enough here to make the game recommendable. As it is now, AvP is mostly a visually updated version of an eleven year-old game, and that’s not what fans of the franchises or first-person shooters deserve.