Max payne, Sof2.
Sorry kids Im afraid were going to have to do a test today. Dont worry if you fail. All that will happen is that youll be a total failure and end up being a janitor at a local sleazy sex club. (Respect to all those janitors out there). Right all you have to do is put your hand up if youve got the answer to these two questions. Okay, Everyone here who has seen a john woo film put your hand up now. I cant see you but Im sure about three seconds ago you thrust your limb into the air. Right now who has seen the matrix. Im sure your limbs have gone flailing up in the air again. Right. If you put your hand up twice then you are the key demographic that the developers of Max Payne (remedy) are aiming for. If you put your hand up once… You liked one of the films fool go see the other one. Or if you didnt put your hand up once then youve obviously been living under a rock for the last 20 years.
So everyone knows that john woo films are great and that the matrix was spectacular but why? Well John Woo introduced stylish gunplay. Hell, if you want to make an action film any more you cant just have someone standing and firing at some stupidly big bad guy. Heck no, theyve got to be bouncing off walls or diving through the air whilst firing a gun. But, this is a good thing because as we all know diving through the air whilst shooting at multiple enemies is extremely and undeniably cool. What about the matrix? The matrix introduced bullet-time tm (Dont want to get sued now do I). Bullet-time is of course, Extremely cool as well. Who could ever forget when Neo did the backward bullet dodge on the roof of a building. He fell backwards in slow mo whilst dodging bullets, which you could actually see. Not only that but the camera span round him at the same time. Very, very cool. Now, what do you get if you throw these two elements into an oven and bake it for three hours (at 120 degrees max.). Ill tell you. You get a game that will be remembered for years.
Firstly you have to understand. When you play this game youll never be able to play a third person action game in the same way again. Ill start with the story. Max Payne is a cop with nothing to loose. Three years ago his family (Wife Michelle and baby daughter) were killed mercilessly by junkies wasted on a new designer drug that goes by the name Valkyr or V. Soon after Max joins the D.E.A and goes undercover with the mafia to try and track down the source of the drug. After an anonymous call Max finally gets a break in the case and he believes that the main man trafficking the drug is a mob boss that goes by the name of Jack Lupino. On your first mission you meet up with one of the only friends you have who knows that you are undercover. Well, Max isnt a lucky chap and when he meets up with his friend (Alex) he gets shot. So now hes been framed for Alexs murder so the cops are after him, but now the mafia also know that hes really a cop so theyre after him as well. Nice little hole hes dug for himself isnt it.
Right whats next? Ah, graphics. In a word, spectacular. But I cant sum the graphics up in a word, No way. They are breathtaking. Everything from Maxs constipated grimace to the handle of his trusty side arm (A berretta coincidentally) is accurately detailed to the tiniest polygon. The remedy team have used a new photo realistic texture capture technique, which has managed to produce some stunning visual effects. The first time you start the game you WILL say woah, or Cool Dude did you see that. Man this game kicks ass etc etc.
Sound I hear you cry. What about the sound? Well Ill tell you. The sound is great. I mean its not the best in the world but its still very good. When you fire a berretta normally you will hear a high-pitched squeal as the bullet leaves the gun barrel. But when you go into slow-mo its a whole different story. In fact its not a story but you know what I mean. When you go into slow-mo the same gun you fired a second ago will suddenly let out a low-pitched explosion every time you fire. Its a class effect thats been pulled off extremely well. Now, The voice acting. Ahhhh every developers nightmare. Now I might be on my own here but I think that the voice acting in the game is quite admirable. Max sounds just as I thought he would with a gravely Im really pissed off so dont mess with me voice. The mobsters sound like something of a 1980 Al Pachino film and during the comic book style cut scenes they work very well. All in all the sound does well. An 8 out of 10 at least.
Whats bad about the bloody game then? Every game has its downfall no matter how great and Max Payne indeed does. WELL WHAT IS IT? To be honest its the length of the game. Its so great and almost as soon as youve started its over again. Which is a great shame because the time you do spend playing it will not be wasted. Although saying its shot, I guarantee that you will go back to Maxs story to play through again at least once. There are also a number of mods and Tc in the works at the moment. With Tcs such as Dodge this (The matrix mod. Like we didnt see that coming J) and discworld just to mention a few it looks like max Payne will be around for a long time. There are also just mods. The best of which so far is the kungfu mod created by Ken yeung. Full respect.
Now my conclusion. Max Payne is a great game and you should go and buy it. It will be one of the greatest experiences in game playing you will ever have. And if you do miss out on it then I guarantee that you will be missing out on a piece of gaming history. Max Payne. 92%
Sof2
There is a simple rule I like to stick to in this gaming world of mine. Never judge a book by its cover. Having previously owned the first sof I was pretty sure of what I was going to get in the second one, blood, dismemberments and decapitation. And on the most part I did. But under that bloody, cold exterior beats the heart of a game with much more depth than the previous outing.
When you first load this game up and watch the first cut scene your mind immediately enters “same old shit, different day.” Mode as you watch the poorly animated cars slide along roads. The quake 3 engine has been tweaked like hell for this but its not really anything we have seen before. After the first few minutes you really start to get bored and just want to get into the damn game. As you watch you see the main character, John Mullins (who is a real life veteran) meet a “drunk” in the park. Then, after a quick trip to the local restaurant you pick up your trusty pig sticker (the standard melee weapon) and your colt 1911. Leaving through the back exit, the camera zooms in and you begin play. Finally.
The first thing you’ll notice when playing is the remarkable weapon detail on your pistol. The second thing you will notice is the guard who’s walking directly in front of you. You aim right at the side of his head and push the mouse button down. Bang. The muzzle flashes and a sonic boom sounds from the end of your gun barrel. The bullet has lodged it self in the side of your threats head and a bullet hole has appeared exactly where the entry point was. Blood splatters on to the ground and your enemy does a theatrical (But well animated) dive on to the ground. As you walk up to the body7 a small pool of blood starts to seep out. Cool.
I don’t think anyone can really explain why we find gore fun. After all the only reason you played the first one is so you could blow your victims head off. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. Whatever it is that makes it so satisfying doesn’t matter though. It just is so we’ll leave it at that. And now in this, the second sof 2 game, it is more satisfying and realistic than ever with bullets entry and exit wounds being accurately mapped and 36 different parts of the body to be blown away. In short, this isn’t a game for the light hearted. If you are planning to blow some limbs off in this game you are of course going to need some lovely weapons with which to do so. And they are lovely indeed. All beautifully textured and modelled.
All in all. Good but very average. 76%
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GTA 3, MOHAA inspired piece.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…
A MURDEROUS GANGSTER. Anyone under the age of six, look away now. Anyone who’s between 7 and 17 you’re going to play this game anyway. Just don’t come crying to me when you get a good beating. (In which case I have the number of a good lawyer so you can sue your parents…)
Day 1.
Having just had the police van I was being stowed away in high jacked myself, and my fellow criminal 8-ball Managed to break away in the confusion. I nicked the nearest car I could find and took myself, and 8-ball back to his hideout. After a quick change of clothes, so as not to be noticed by the cops, we nicked another car and 8-ball introduces me to an old friend of his by the name of Luigi. He says he has a job for me but today I think I’ll just be driving round town. Equipped with the all weapons cheat I head out to cause some carnage. And so the fun begins….
Day 1 8:00
Right First things first. I gotta get myself some wheels. Being in the industrial section fast cars are few and far between. So for the moment I make do with a stallion. Driving around at a not very fast speeding, mowing down the occasional stupid pedestrian who dares to get in my way, I come across something. No it can’t be. Yup, it’s a banshee, one of the fastest cars in the game just sitting in a showroom. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Smashing the glass which hides the Beauty I quickly climb out of the crappy stallion and hop into a real mans car. Foot on the accelerator and VRROOOOOMMM. Whoa shit. In my excitement I manage to accidentally run over a cop. Oops. Speeding away from the single cop car I don’t notice the pedestrians I’m squashing onto the road as I go flying along the pavement. Oops. My wanted level goes up, damn, I go faster and faster when suddenly I come to a corner. I do a hand brake in my car and slide up onto an almost vertical grass verge. My car flips over landing on its top. Oops, The cop cars that were zooming after me smash into the side of me. My car goes spinning into the distance on its roof. Uh-oh the engines caught fire. With a quick tap of the triangle button I watch my character crawl out of the broken window. RUN DAMNIT, FASTER. Running as quick as possible I just get out of the explosion radius as I watch my wonderful cars tyres go flying into the distance…damn.
Day 1 14:00
Ah well. Easy come easy go right. I suddenly remember that I have all weapons. My heart gives a jolt. Ak-47 time me thinks. I again steal a car. This time it’s a kuruma. I cruise down the long straight near the hospital and train track. To the rockstar studios building. I go round to an ally at the back and go up some stairs. From up here I can see right into the distance. I can even see the second islands (Staunton island) skyscrapers and bridges over the sea. So I get out my sniper rifle to try and err…stunt the population. I see a cop strolling along the pavement about 30 odd meters away. Zoom in, and I slowly follow him as he mindlessly walks along. I aim at his arm and shoot. His arm goes flying onto the road and he turns to the side and sees his stump spurting with blood. He looks surprised. He then holds on to it and stumbles backwards before falling over and bleeding to death. Result. Hmmm. Now I seem to have two wanted stars. Ah well, oh there’s an old granny. Since the first time I played gta I’ve had a grudge against all the old grannies due to the fact they always crash into me. Time to pay granny. I get out my baseball bat and run back down to the ground floor. Once I get there I run round the corner and twat her over the head. Ha. She won’t try and crash into me again. Oh crap a cop saw me do it. 3 stars. I quickly nick a car. A stallion at the moment. And drive off into the distance. They’ve sent a police helicopter after me and they sound pissed off. Two cop cars are also on my tail. I do a handbrake turn and get out of my car. Quickly grab the rocket launcher. Take aim at the ‘copter. Bang. In a huge explosion I see the ‘copter go flying backwards into a building. Boom. The charred remains drop to the floor but now I’ve got 4 stars. Giving up I grab the nearest car, a taxi, and drive off into the water. It lands roof up in the water and I watch my health drain. Damn. I wake up again and I’ outside the hospital. I look at the time and its 12:35 A: M. End of day one.
Day2 12:36 A:M
That was damn unlucky. A little cheat to help me regain some of my weapons won’t hurt, right? There we go. Lets see. M16. Oh yeah. “When you absolutely, positively have to take out every mutha in the room, except no substitutes.” Ok so Sammy said that about the AK but still. I run out on to the road. I wait for a car to appear. A van drives into view. I quickly press r1 and go into first person mode. “Smile you son of a *****”, Ok that’s enough of the film quotes but I’m sure you get the idea. I fire repeatedly at the bonnet of the car. The driver inside goes crazy and steps on the pedal smacking right into me. Bastard. Didn’t see that one coming. Ah well he only took off… Bugger. I needed that health. Ah well. I think its easier to carjack some one without a gun. Another car rolls up. I yank the driver out and drive off. I go over a small bridge and round a corner so that I’m facing a radio station building. I stare blankly at the building, not looking at the road. I’m unaware of the speed that I’m going and crash right into a bright blue stallion. The stallion does a flip and lands on its roof. Because of the speed I was going it is actually skidding around on its roof and plummeting into oncoming traffic. It slowly sets on fire. I think I’ll help it along. I get out of my car and pull out the giant rocket launcher. I fire and the rocket flies right into the upside car which has now positioned itself up against two other cars. There is a bright orange glistening and a huge explosion sounds. The upside down cars tires go flying into the air and its doorframe lands right next to me, still smoking. This explosion has set the other two cars bonnets on fire as well and a few seconds later they implode in unison. I laugh quietly to myself and look smug. Suddenly I hear the feint sound of sirens in the distance. My laughter slowly comes to a halt as the sound gets louder and louder. I turn around and see a police car plummeting towards me. Whack.
Day 2 2:59 P:M
After my little escapade earlier I decide to try and keep low for a while. After sneakily stealing a car I drive around the city a bit. Dum de dum dum. Hmmm. Ah hah! There’s an old man at about 50 feet give or take. You’re going down mate. Put the pedal to the metal. And we’re away. A few passers by dive out of the way; a few get dragged under my wheels. There fault. Nearly there and…you bugger. Dived out of the way. Well he’s not gonna get away that easily. I climb out of my car and walk up to him. “Say hello to my little friend!” I say as I flick through my weapons...remembering I have no weapons, I remain glad that this is just a game and he couldn’t hear my stupid quip. Looks like its just gonna have to be the good old fists. Right hook. SMACK. Left upper cut. Whack!. Ha. Take that old…Smack. Ow. How the hell do you know kung fu old ma…Whack! Argh. That hurt you… Bang! Ahhhhhh. Crazy old man. I make a vein attempt to escape but as I turn the old man kicks me in the back. I fall down and drown in a pool of my own blood. My hatred for all the old men in the game gets another log thrown on its fire. Bally idiots.
Omaha beach landing.
“The American 1st Division at Omaha Beach, however, confronted the best of the German coast divisions, the 352nd, and was roughly handled. During the morning, it’s landing threatened to fail. Only dedicated local leadership eventually got the troops inland.”
So it begins. You slowly move towards your goal. Dog green sector, Omaha beach. You are a single soldier, part of the 116th regiment. The small waves clash against the front of you're boat as it speeds towards you're destination. You look to your left and right and all you can see is an endless stream of Higgins boats. The other 20 men sharing your boat stand still, silent, waiting. A few men start to lose their balance, and a few of them start to bring up the contents of their last meal. You hear a sudden wail of whistles coming from other boats and behind you.
"Okay guys thirty seconds, may God be with you." You feel your whole body start to shake. You look to your right for one last time, staring at the long stream of boats. The calm before the storm. Suddenly a shell the size of your own head hits a craft, only two away from you. Bodies fly through the air as the craft gets engulfed in flames. Hundreds of Bullets hail down like rain. You hear the screams of your friends. Shells start exploding all around you. A few men on you're boat break down. Screaming and shouting. You look forward with water distorting your view. Staring ahead a massive wave fly’s skywards. The offspring of a shell. The wave smothers your boat. A man behind you slips and falls face down on the hard floor. You can just make out a small cracking sound. The sound of his nose bone shattering after making contact with the wet, concrete like floor. You hold on to the edge of the boat as it just skims some machine gun fire. The boat slows down abruptly and a man at the front of the craft, wrong foots him self and nearly breaks his leg falling. Suddenly the handle on the door at the front of the boat starts spinning. Ten, more bullets fly past your head. 9, 8, 7, men already on the beach are falling rapidly. 6,5, you hear the whispers of a man praying. 4,3,2,1. The door slams down into the water. That’s when it suddenly hits you. You realise that you have around a 79% chance of getting through this alive rather than becoming another statistic like the men that had already lost their lives. Gunfire mows down the guys in front of you instantly. The screams get louder. "GO, GO, GO" the captain shouts behind you.
You fumble forward, trying not to trip on the body parts of you’re fellow friends. Clutching for your gun, you pull it off your back and drag your way through the waist high water. Using a close tank trap to hide behind temporarily. You gaze around, watching the atrocities that are happening around you. A man only 10 feet away from you gets blown skywards by a shell landing under his feet. You see grown men screaming like they were children again as they try to rid their scolding skin of the fire that engulfs them. The water that is now only up to your shins has turned a dark shade of red. You, again look forward. Trying to compose yourself and concentrate on the task at hand. You lean round the corner and move as quickly as you can forward. Running, Your friends running with you are being taken down by stray bullets flying from the murder holes embedded into the cliff side. You stop again behind another tank trap. Silence is now replaced with constant screams and explosions. Forwards again. Run.
Out of the water and onto the beach. Forwards. You trip over the body of a mechanic, who was trying to call the base, as he lies next to another tank trap. The tank trap, surrounded by bodies has only one other living person behind it. He sits there shaking backwards and forwards crying. You look upwards and see a mortar shell soaring down to earth. You move backwards as quickly as you can. You want to say something to him but the adrenalin grabs your throat and stops you, like a rabbit staring into the headlights of a car. Too late. His remains now ly somewhere in the smoke laden crater. With the blood of you’re friends remains, dripping down your face you still run forward. Up the beach. There is a bump in the beach giving you a place to lay low. Over it there is a massive line of barbed wire. Men who have no cover run forward and try to scramble over the wire with their bare hands. Impaling them selves because they had no choice. Constant streams of people are now diving down beside you. Behind the same cover as you. There is confusion. No one knows what they’re supposed to be doing. Your main mission objectives now seem impossible. There is no possible way that you can take out those bunkers. No way. You feel a sharp slap on the top of your helmet. Your captain speaks to you yet no words seem to come out of his mouth. He flails his arms about trying to explain what he needs you to do as the noise blocks out any possible sound coming from him. Suddenly a loud explosion near by causes you to fall backwards. You can hear every sound of every bullet piercing through the air once again.
“We need to concentrate on the task at hand. If we’re gonna get anywhere, we’re gonna have to get past this damned wire.”
“How the Hell are we gonna do that, Sir!” you reply. Still being obedient.
“The bangalore team from A company should be getting here soon. They’re the only team that managed to land at their designated site which means they should be right on target for there objectives.”
You roll onto your back, leaning up against the sand mound in front of you looking down the beach. Far out to sea there are navy destroyers sitting there idly. Not close enough to get an accurate target of the bunkers. You realise that you are left on your own. The only person that can help you now is yourself or someone else who is stuck in the same predicament. Through the hundreds of soldiers you see four men running at full speed down the beach. Weaving in and out of the tank traps and Czech hedgehog beach obstacles. Three of them are carrying a part of a long pole. The other man seems to be carrying an overly large backpack. One by one they jump down beside you.
“Boy are we glad to see you guys. Thought you’d never arrive.” The captain shouted over the noise. The four men scrambled the parts together and assembled them in seconds. The result was a long pole like tube with some sorts of explosives attached at the back.
“Things went wrong from the very beginning of the Omaha landing. None of the companies in the 116th regiment successfully landed at their planned positions with the exception of A company. There were Sherman tanks that were supposed to support the 116th on the beach. Out of the twenty-nine tanks, only two made it to the shore.
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