Critical Acclaim +: Open Mic

[Hendo]

Citizen Kane has aged extremely poorly though, that's more reserved for something like Goldeneye.

Anyway, Super Mario Bros. 3 is a pinnacle of game design and controls and I come to that with no nostalgia as I first played it on the Game Boy Advance and thought it more than lived up to the hype. Or maybe it was All-Stars? But either way, I didn't play it as a small child when it came out. For ignoring Nintendo, Nag, you're missing out on some of the very best designed games ever made.

Half-Life 2 is too long and drawn out - the episodes are much better paced. That's all I can say about them, they are otherwise as ace as their reputation suggests.

However one thing that always bugs me about the series is that Freeman is a mute. It's barely ever acknowledged by any of the other characters and that bugs me. I don't know why, it just does.

[Bob]

Another game(s) I am going to gush over. I absolutely love Half Life 2. It is my favourite FPS and one of my top five, pretty much perfect as far as I am concerned. I love the way it tells the story, the way you can walk around as it all unfolds around you. It gives this sense that I am just a tourist in this world that would exist with or without me. Obviously if it did exist without me everyone would be fucked but that is neither here nor there. What Hendo said about Gordon being mute and no one referencing it, I love that as well. Sometimes there is a pause in the conversation, like Gordon has said something but you don't get to hear it, or it is giving the player a chance to respond to events before it moves on. Then every now and then there is this look from Alyx, like she knows something is weird about Gordon never talking but she isn't quite sure what it is. It is surreal and I think completely different to a silent protagonist like DOOMguy. To me he feels a lot more like Link, where the player is left to put themselves in his place.

As for gameplay, one of the core criticisms is that you can't avoid taking damage a lot of the time, regardless of how good you are at it and you need to spend a lot of your time hunting for health and shield packs. Well, this is true I suppose. I have never really had much of a problem with it, if Gordon had regenerating health no one would notice that you can't avoid getting hit and I have always found health and shield pack placement to feel very natural. Meaning I have never spent ages looking really far out of the way to top up my health. I just think, it looks like there would be health there and there nearly always is.

I was looking through some of my old diaries recently and found the three days of entries while I was playing Half Life 2 for the first time on the Xbox and it is pretty much empty. Except for HOLY SHIT GRAVITY GUN. Or, HOLY SHIT BUZZSAW BLADES! And so on and so forth until I finished it. It has so many memorable moments and even though the frame rate stuttered and jumped all over the shop on the Xbox version, I still loved it. It was definitely a better experience on the 360 though.

I think the episodes sum up everything about Valve. Every moment of those two games feels like it has been designed and redesigned until it is was as perfect as possible. There is no fat on either of those games. They also perfectly represent how fucking slow and unreliable they are. Fucking trolls I would sell my left nut for Half Life 3 as they say in the ghetto. But if they would rather have the right one they could. Just give it to me already you shits.

Maybe that is what I should do today....

[Bob]

It is the Citizen Kane of games.

[Craymen Edge]

Half-Life 2 is too long and drawn out - the episodes are much better paced. That's all I can say about them, they are otherwise as ace as their reputation suggests.

However one thing that always bugs me about the series is that Freeman is a mute. It's barely ever acknowledged by any of the other characters and that bugs me. I don't know why, it just does.

Yeah I agree about the pacing in HL2. I played it again not that long ago and the things that were awesome are still awesome, but they're sandwiched between stretches that are much longer than they ought to be. There are so many memorable moments in the game but I forgot that they were sometimes quite far apart. I still love it, but in future if I need another HL2 fix I might just play the episodes.

I loved the episodes, apart from the final set-piece in ep. 2, where you drive around picking up bombs you must use to kill the walker things, despite already having a weapon that did the job just fine up to that point.

The silent protagonist thing is ok in many games, but weird in Half Life because of the way the other characters carry on having normal (but one sided) conversations with Gordon, even though he never acknowledges them and you're often running around the room jumping on furniture and breaking things.

[Sly Reflex]

Half Life 2 is a weird one for me. I like it, it's a great game, but it's nowhere near close to the accolade players put upon it.

Particularly the main game. There were times when I played that that I thought "I could be playing something that's actually fun here". The combats not particularly strong and the way you can get fucked up no matter how well you do is a bit bullshit. It's a game that's out of it's time concerning that mechanic. I really dislike point style health systems for this type of game. I don't think it suits it at all. I'm sort of hoping that whatever they do next with Half Life they look to Bioshock Infinite and have that overshield idea, I think that will make the game flow a bit better in the combat parts. The difficulty could do with being skimmed across to stop peaks too. I actually never finished Episode 2 because of how stupidly high the set the difficulty on my 360 version of TOB. I only just managed it on my mates copy because he couldn't do it either.

There were points in the game where I'd be looking for a valve or a crank or whatever and just thinking this is the laziest game design ever. If that was in any other game it'd be rightfully called out as bullshit. Those downtimes really suck. The closest I can get to explaining it is it feels more like work and less like play. I'm not saying I'm adversed to these parts but they need to be done better. I'm all for exploring and looting cubbyholes that are hidden around the map for goodies, but they shouldn't be such a bloody trudge.

That's my main criticisms with the game. Everything else I really like.The enemy designs are really good. The sound is top notch and even iconic in some areas. The thing that Half Life 2 did really well was characterisation. Alyx is truly an amazing character. She has strengths and weaknesses. She's not useless. I found that the parts where I was alone in the game I wanted her there. She was good company to have and when she was there you were glad she was there. It's was like playing with a friend. In general Valve do a good job creating ladies in their games. There's a vein of normalcy that most other devs manage to fuck up by making the women in their games hyper sexualised.

As for Gordon being mute. I reckon G-Man has stolen his voice like in that story The Little Mermaid. If he doesn't get married to Alyx before the time limit is up he'll be stuck voiceless for the rest of his life. Poor guy.

[radiofloyd]

Half-Life 2 is weird. My main memory is the hyper-realistic graphical style, especially outside (like in the speedboat section). The game is a bit of a rollercoaster - not that it relies on explosive set pieces but just that it moves between periods of downtime and then a lot of action like people have said. There's a fair amount of variety when you consider the long vehicle-based sections. I suppose the moments that stick out for me are the Ravenholm level and then the huge war going on at the end with the giant creatures in the city.

I suppose the problem is that there's not much character to it (and when you think about it you could level the same complaint at GTA IV). I'm not going to argue whether the mechanics of one shooter are better than the other (I probably wouldn't even know) but when you take something like Bioshock which clearly has a personality and a strong artistic leaning, that type of game just makes so much more of an impression on me.

[spatular]

The pc gaming thread reminded me of first playing hl2, I had the 5x cd Asian version because it was cheaper, and the very last part of the game would crash my pc every time, till I lowered the already extremely low graphics settings. It looked pretty crap. Looks great still on a more modern pc mind. About the game, I loved it but agree with the complaints too, it is too long, and the controls aren't the best on a joypad.

[DANGERMAN]

same as everyone else really, I love Half-Life 2 and the episodes, but HL2 itself is a bit drawn out. In my head Ravenholm is near the start of the game, but it's actually hours and hours before you get there. That said I played it a little for cards and I think it's still a good game, it's really striking how slow it is compared to a 'modern' fps, you have so much down time

[HandsomeDead]

I really like Half-Life 2 and deserves all the accolades. It has some rubbish-y downtime bits but it's full of so much variety. Ravanholme, the bit one the beach, the bit in the buggy, the bit in the prison, the bit with the escape from the big walkers. It's just full of great moments that would be enough to make half a dozen games out of. It has the variety that is missing in so many games like this.

I don't feel like it does go on too long as it mixes it up so well.

The episodes are paced a little better and I liked the kinda open world bit of Episode 2. I hope the next one is like that.

Anything else I have to say will just be repeating Bob.

[Sly Reflex]

Hotline Miami.

[spatular]

bolocks crashing bolocks.

no but really it's really good. but it crashes all the time on my pc

[retroed]

Brilliant game, and plays absolutely superb on the Vita. Dat soundtrack.

[Sly Reflex]

We should have a counter for every time Ed mentions the Vita.

I've got a bit of a problem with Hotline Miami. One of them is how random it is. If I look in a room and figure out I have to knock a guy over with a door, throw my weapon at the guy holding a gun and then punch the final guy down before executing everyone that didn't die, then that configuration should remain like that. If suddenly more than the thrown weapon guy has a gun I'm basically fucked, because if I survive then I'm going to have to deal with everyone that piles in. Maybe sometimes I can do that, fire 3 shotgun blasts and the person in the next room doesn't move an inch. Then you can go again and people run from rooms off the screen to kill you.

The whole randomness thing bugs me a lot. There's times where you'll be given a weapon and it'll rotate between maybe 2 or 3 options between deaths. Like it'll give you a double barrelled shotgun when even the room with the least enemies in it is 4. Seriously, what the fuck am I meant to do there, the games literally making me sacrifice myself to rotate the weapon spawn. That's not particularly good game design from my perspective.

The other thing that really bugs me is enemy behaviour. I mentioned that guys run from the other side of the map if they hear a gunshot while others won't even get out their chair if they hear pellets hit the other side of the wall they are sitting on, but there's another quirk that fucks me off beyond what hasn't been acceptable in games for years. These'll be off screen deaths. The most bullshit deaths. The ones where you see pellets emerge from one of the sides of the screens and they are so wide you cannot do anything to avoid them. There's some levels I've had to complete just by throwing random weapons in the hope I knock these fucking cheap bastards down so I can run up and execute them. That's not really fair game design.

Overall I really like Hotline Miami, but it has too many nonsense design issues in there to really give it the praise everyone seemingly heaps. Hopefully the sequel sorts all the bullshit points out out.

[Sly Reflex]

Todays game is the game that's currently sat on top of metacritics best game of all time. Grand Theft Auto IV. Is it really the best game of all time or are people being idiots?

[RoboticMonk3y]

GTA 4

it's good.

I could write a long ranty review about why it's good and not excellent, instead I'll write a short one.

Great game, let down by some janky gameplay mechanics.

Multiplayer is silly fun.

open worldy goodness.

[Craymen Edge]

GTA IV is a great game, but I don't think it's the 10/10 masterpiece the frothing launch day reviews would have you believe. That's partly down to most games press being terribly unprofessional, and part down to the way review sessions were hosted by the publisher over a couple of days. I understand they didn't want any copies or details getting out early, but you can't get a perspective on a game like that in such a short time.

The city is an amazing achievement, the main character and story were really interesting in the beginning and drew me in. After that, as the game starts to drag on, the story unravels to yet another criminal scumbag doing terrible things for other criminal scumbags i.e. A regular GTA game.

I've never been the biggest fan of the GTA games, but I've played IV more than any other. It's mechanically better than any GTA game so far (in that it's playable), and for a while the story was interesting, so I played it longer than any other game in the series.

I still mean to play the DLC episodes, as being shorter more focused stories may negate a lot the problems with the main game.

[Bob]

I agree with Craymen that it is an amazing achievement. The world and most of the characters are very believable. Even Brucey who is a massive, over the top nob seems very real. However the game goes on an on, again like Craymen said. They keep on introducing new characters and about 70% of the game is just busy work. By the end I had all this money and Niko is still doing all this small time scumbag nonsense to get ahead, this time without any of the irony of the previous games.

There is a line in Family Guy where Peter reveals he doesn't care for the Godfather because it insists upon itself. It is one of the most ridiculous criticisms I have ever heard but it applies to a lot and I think it definitely applies to GTAIV. The constant bro dates and regular dates. The long winded cutscenes that don't really mean anything by the end of the game. The incredibly long drives from A to B at the start of almost every mission. The last one especially is absurd. None of it really means anything to the player. Rockstar put all these amazing things in the game and they were going to make sure you saw them, over and over again until you got bored and then completed it a year later... or something.

The actual gameplay was okay. I preferred San Andreas. The enemies never move in GTAIV, every fire fight was a case of hiding behind a box and slowly but surely shooting every mother in the face. Reminded me of the first army men game on the PS1. Not really obviously, but you get the idea. I loved the MP as well, the cops and robbers mode especially was a lot of fun. Although I generally would end up driving and I have no fucking idea how that happened because to turn corners I just try to hit the wall at the right angle.

Something I do have a very fond memory of was the morning the game came out. I think it was the last time I have ever seen so many people all playing the same game. I think it was about 9am and 30 people were online. 29 playing it, poor Somerset Bumpkin was playing Battle for Middle Earth because his copy didn't arrive. It was great jumping into random MP games throughout the day and discussing this and that. Then by the second day the attitude on forums had changed and everyone was asking where the fun had gone.

The DLC episodes are a very different story. Checkpoints make the experience much more enjoyable, especially on longer missions and the stories are much more focussed and personal. Especially the biker one which I would have been more than happy to play as a stand alone release. They are on sale at the moment on the Xbox, I would highly recommend them to anyone who hasn't tried them yet.

Overall I think a very important game but it was a bit too serious for me. Especially since the game was asking you to be such a miserable bastard about everything.

[Sly Reflex]

I was really expecting this game to be absolutely slaughtered.

I pretty much agree with everything Bob said. The main bugbear for me was having to cultivate relationships to get bonuses that should have just been mission unlocks. I think the game went on a bit long as well, it's not focussed well. TLAD was really good for that though, it was all contained and felt a lot better for it. Plus playing Road Rash was great, I used to do the races just because they were fun, not just because they were there.

[radiofloyd]

I don't want to be too harsh on GTA IV because I only played it once, in 2008, when San Andreas was relatively fresh in the memory and not the ancient relic it is now. And it does have a sunshine period, for the first 15 hours or so I wouldn't have had any reason to argue with the critics, I thought it was brilliant. Those early moments with Roman are a great opening to the game.

But then it unravels, or I suppose, to put it better, the magic wears off. Most of the complaints have already been mentioned - the switch to a more realistic style which was a really a giant step backwards for the series (although laughably hailed as some kind of maturation by the press), the repetitive missions, the irritation of being harassed by peripheral characters in the game, the ridiculousness of Kate's death being supposed to mean anything to the player. I suppose what sunk the game really was Niko's lack of any kind of development ("I need the money") and the fact that the story was really forgettable from the second island on.

My memory of it: 8/10.

[Sly Reflex]

Today it's Mario Kart's turn under the spotlight. Specifically the SNES one, but I don't mind if you spill over into the series in general as they've nearly always had players and reviewers frothing up.