Gaming
Forza Horizon teaser (vid included)
First screen shots are available of Forza Horizon!
Now before you wet yourself with excitement, this is certainly not going to be the next installment of the awesome Forza franchise, it’s way too early for that and there’s still lots of money to be made off of Forza 4.
But, speculation continues…some saying it’ll be a cross country, Need for Speed Run vibe. Remember, Forza is tied to Top Gear, cough is could meanawesomeness in other ways.
Here’s what we have now:
FIFA Street 2012 REVIEW
(Dammit, did I wait a long time for this game! Well we all did, but it feels like I waited longer and harder than anyone else. Sorry.)
People who find FIFA 11 or 12 too realistic, way too technical and complicated and not close enough to an arcade experience can now stop whining. FIFA Street 2012 is here.
Just some of the features that await in FIFA Street 2012: player setup and management of your own squad, unlocking and ramping up of tricks, skills, athleticism, goalkeeping abilities and a collection of the most impossible and yet strangely real tricks you can imagine.
The Players
The first thing you’re going to notice is that the players in FIFA Street 2012 are much, much more realistic. Gone are the days of the lanky, elongated Ronaldinho’s with awkward gaits and super-human abilities. Everything is in proportion and running according to the laws of gravity.
Drawing on the awesomeness of FIFA 12, EA have brought in similar stylings to FIFA Street 2012 and the game is better for it. This has implications too on the game play where characters, ironically, are a lot more agile and you as a human can be more creative with the plays because you know what is possible in the real world.
In all you feel like your players are a lot less retarded and you have a lot more control over their movements and tricks.
Setting up
I’m ashamed to say that I spent 12 minutes selecting a voice region for my character. Irish, before you ask! I didn’t even spend that much time setting up my entire Fable character! That’s how engaging this game is.
But, I quickly learnt though that a 5’2” Welsh speaking resident of the Bahamas who has
longer than average hands but the sickest white dreadlocks and the most trendy red eyebrows isn’t the best idea in a street soccer world tour that may take you a few hours to finish. Back to the settings then.
Gameplay
The game itself takes some getting used to, especially if you’re familiar with the previous FIFA Street iterations. The controls are more similar to FIFA 11 and 12 than they are to the previous Street games, so get ready.
Also don’t expect to hit the pitch with your arsenal of tricks bursting to be free (the cartoony GameBreaker feature has also been tossed). Everything in this game is unlockable, even your most basic tricks. Don’t make my mistake of entering a Freestyle tournie (where the only thing that counts is how well you can trick) with only a stepover and a flip-flap to your name. 45 bloody minutes later, I tell ya!
In games like this, an all too often obstacle is the AI ability of the computer. So much so that the casual gamer (who is on Medium) will seldom dare flip one more level up to Hard. Not so here. In no time you’ll be finding the Medium level too easy and start taking on teams at a more advanced state. Sure it’ll mean more chance of losing, but why else are you here.
You’ll play on some creative and well designed courts from around the world, take control of some famous players and compete in a variety of street soccer games like Futsal, the most formal of indoor soccers, Fresstyle where you must beat your opponent with tricks and old-school 5-on-5.
Criticisms
There are definitely a few things that I would have done differently if I had the skill to be on the EA development team.
Firstly they could have kept us in the “home games” stages a little longer so that we had more time to hone our skills. I started in the US and while you can stay there as long as you like, as soon as Europe is unlocked, off you go.
While it’s an easy game to learn to play, it’s a tough one to master, and a little more practice at home would have made the rest of the World Tour a lot more fun.
Another irritating, but admittedly small, feature are some of the extras they add in like setting up games on you on-screen cellphone when in the home regions. A bit childish and un-original, and then all of a sudden that sort of thing disappears and you’re straight into simple clicking through to tournies. Either it’s in, or it’s out guys.
Is it all that good?
In an interview with Gamespot, FIFA Street line producer Sid Misra said “what you know of FIFA Street 1, 2 and 3, you can forget about”. A
Job done Sir!
SOME OF THE GAMEPLAY!
Forza 4 REVIEW
Upon first play you’re immediately going to be disappointed by the Forza 4 experience because it’s so similar to the Forza 3 experience. 4 includes only a handful of new tracks and most of the cars that you see in 4 appeared also in 3.
So it sucks then?
God no! It’s bloody brilliant and I still have a session every day after work…every day!
How hard?
One aspect of the new Forza that I like is that it really is accessible to all levels of driver. While it’s no fun racing a noob if you’ve been playing for 6 months, it is immense fun pitting your dad and your girlfriend against each other, or like I did, your sister and your 4-year-old cousin. (my sister lost before you ask).
They’ve gone with quite a creative way to set difficulty with a custom setting. This means that even if you put it on expert, you can still tweak some features like turning your stability control off when you’re driving the VW Fox and it isn’t necessary.
More than that you get nicely rewarded with percentage gains in points for doing so.
What this does (at least it feels like it does) is tones down the importance of the level of AI of the computer. You’re always racing against the same opponents, you are the factor the changes.
New cars?
In Forza 3 the goal was to win races, hoard credits and buy the cars that weren’t given to you by the game. In 4 the game rewards you with a selection of 2-5 cars each time you reach a milestone in the game. Of course you can only have one each time, but this feature means that you’ll very seldom be in the cars virtual showroom shopping for new wheels. When you do visit it’ll most likely be to buy something that you had to turn down in the name of something else.
The options of the cars come thick and fast offering you everything from Zonda R’s to the Veyron beast. The only downsides are having to actually choose one and leave the rest behind.
There’s great news awaiting old school Forza 3 players too. Forza 4 is going to reward you for all the family functions, exams and lectures you’ve missed because you couldn’t get off the couch in time.
Don’t get too excited, they’re not letting you keep ALL your credits, cars and money, but they will award you a good selection of cars and a bit of extra cash based on your Forza 3 driver level, VIP status, and what sort of cars you owned in 3.
This means you get to kick things off for example in a Ferrari 430 instead of a Renault Clio.
Career mode
Obviously career mode is where you’ll kick things off, and before you fall into despair of driving the same car for the next few weeks of play before you can earn something better, Forza 4 almost lets you choose which event you participate in and in which car.
You can’t choose which track, but let’s say you’re nearing the end of career mode and an R2 race comes along. You’re tired of spinning out with torque steer and Ayrton Senna-ring into solid walls so you’d rather drive a VW GTi in this race. Choose your car and a race will come up that fits your car spec. Not always but enough of the time to please.
I haven’t given the game much of a go online yet, but will update the review as soon as I do.
The verdict
Turn 10 have created a winner in Forza 4. What you want out of a racing game is hours and hours of repetitive fun especially after the career mode is conquered, and Forza 4 delivers. Bring it out at your next braai and challenge a mate.
Need for Speed: the Run REVIEW
I was quite disappointed with this game if I’m honest. In a sentence it fails to live up to the arcade madness of its predecessor, Need for Speed Shift. That being said, it’s still a game that will keep you occupied for a couple of weeks while your girlfriend spends your money in a Ballito shopping mall.
The Storyline
The Run refers to the storyline of the game which is about as imaginative as the guy selling Nokia charges at the traffic lights, the same Nokia charges that his best mate is selling at the traffic light 100m away.
You’re in a race from San Francisco to New York, starting in position 200 and reaching predetermined goals on the way to New York where you must finish in 1st place. This storyline with limited cut-scenes and the most stereotypical characters this side of Harry Potter wasn’t enough to hold my attention properly until the end of the race. In fact three quarters of the way in I dropped the difficulty level to “Elderly-female-taxi-driver” just so I could get to the end quicker.
You’re introduced to characters through the briefest of bios, written on the loading screen just before you race against them. Would it have taken up that much space on the disc to churn out one 30 second storyline of an old nemesis or a estranged brother throwing down a gauntlet?
The good news is that you’ll have tons of time to read the 5 line bios while you wait the immensely long time for the stage to load. I shouldn’t gripe because this actually makes you drive better because you’ll be dreading the loading screen so much if you fail a stage that you won’t fail any.
It’s not all negative though. Big shout out to the inclusion and use of the Frostbite 2 engine (seen in Battlefield 3). For a majority of the game it means just enhanced colors and better scenery, but when you hit the sand and snow stages you’ll experience a whole level of game play. And depending on how your b-list celeb knowledge is you may even be able to spot on or two well known voices in the game like Sports Illustrated models Irina Shayk and Christy Teigen.
The cars
There is quite a wide selection of cars and the good news is you don’t have to work your butt off in the beginning to get a great car. Since The Run is all about gaining positions, they make sure that you’re well looked after. But you’re not allowed to select or change a car before a stage starts and this is irritating. Instead you must pull into a garage en route and choose from quite a limited selection.
By the end of it, you’ll probably just drive the car you’re in until the end of the race. When you do get to choose a new car though, it’s like eating sushi in Japan made by a master chef. Pagani Huayra, McLaren MP4-12C, the new Koen. They’re all there, so choose wisely.
Overall
I enjoyed the hell out of Shift because they introduced a new element to serious gaming titles: proper arcade. You didn’t need to get 12 licences before getting on the road, or tweak your car’s suspension each time you took to a different track, you just switched on and drove. The Run is much the same as that except it just seems to lack some of the fresh excitement I got from Shift.
Thankfully there is the online racing feature to look forward to which let’s be honest makes everything all right. When you’re competing against someone 1000kms away, it almost doesn’t matter what game you’re playing.
How much: R500 From where: www.kalahari.com
Battlefield 3 GAME REVIEW
Been a while since I sank my teeth into a good war genre video game, so long in fact that I’m more used to blowing aliens apart than fellow humans, but it’s great to be back. And what a welcome from Battlefield 3, a full six years since number 2 wowed me.
This time around B3 isn’t just doing battle on screen; it’s also fighting hard for your Xmas cash as it’s come into a market almost saturated with First Person Shooters like Gears of War 3 and Call of Duty 3. But it holds its own in my opinion.
The Frostbite 2 game engine is quite something when it comes to the shooting scenes, although I have to admit that things were quite dark on the default setting. The engine pushes the boundaries of animation and lighting and you can see the results best in the cut scenes. And cut scenes there are with a pretty gripping story line that sees you taking on multiple roles, Blackburn your primary but also a jet pilot named Hawkins and later a Spetsnaz agent too.
Take a look:
In the spirit of the times they’ve also found space in the storyline for a natural disaster which makes things even more true to life. Aside from this making us humans feel at home, things like earthquakes also add to the game play and your interaction with the environment and buildings which you can destroy to kill enemies or cleverly manipulate to gain cover and affect the storyline.
As with most FPS war games there are a few gripes like the unnecessary amount of guns at some points, most of which seem to do the same thing as each other or even bothering to include some guns like a shotgun which up until now I’ve yet to get close enough to an enemy to use.
Without a doubt one of the best and most realistic war games I’ve ever played, and that’s not just thanks to the graphics. The action is hot and the missions are tough. Don’t expect a walk through.
Battlefield 3 REVIEW
Been a while since I sank my teeth into a good war genre video game, so long in fact that I’m more used to blowing aliens apart than fellow humans, but it’s great to be back. And what a welcome from Battlefield 3, a full six years since number 2 wowed me.
This time around B3 isn’t just doing battle on screen; it’s also fighting hard for your Xmas cash as it’s come into a market almost saturated with First Person Shooters like Gears of War 3 and Call of Duty 3. But it holds its own in my opinion.
The Frostbite 2 game engine is quite something when it comes to the shooting scenes, although I have to admit that things were quite dark on the default setting. The engine pushes the boundaries of animation and lighting and you can see the results best in the cut scenes. And cut scenes there are with a pretty gripping story line that sees you taking on multiple roles, Blackburn your primary but also a jet pilot named Hawkins and later a Spetsnaz agent too.
In the spirit of the times they’ve also found space in the storyline for a natural disaster which makes things even more true to life. Aside from this making us humans feel at home, things like earthquakes also add to the game play and your interaction with the environment and buildings which you can destroy to kill enemies or cleverly manipulate to gain cover and affect the storyline.
As with most FPS war games there are a few gripes like the unnecessary amount of guns at some points, most of which seem to do the same thing as each other or even bothering to include some guns like a shotgun which up until now I’ve yet to get close enough to an enemy to use.
Without a doubt one of the best and most realistic war games I’ve ever played, and that’s not just thanks to the graphics. The action is hot and the missions are tough. Don’t expect a walk through.
