Trailer - Max Payne 3 - 16/03/12 [DAILY DOSE]

FRIDAY 16TH MARCH 2012 - DAILY DOSE

Today's DAILY DOSE is a trailer for a new game which is  out in a few months - MAX PAYNE 3.

The first 2 Max Payne titles were gritty, cinematic action shooters that told the story of Max's downfall - from city cop with a young family, to wanted criminal with no-one left to live for.

Max spent his time searching for the people who killed his family and colleagues, and to uncover the source of the troubles - which seemed to lead back to a new street drug called "Valkyr".

The film noir-style and dark references to Norse mythology put this game a step above other action game narratives.... and then there was the ability to shoot in slo-mo!

I am still really excited about Max Payne 3 - it looks like they're creating a similar style and gameplay as in earlier games and in high-definition it looks awesome!

Max Payne 3 is out on May 15th this year - expect a full review soon afterwards!

Free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!

Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights.
They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/RockstarGames

[PS3] L.A. Noire

Title: L.A. Noire
Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Team Bondi
Score: 81%

Summary
What this game does well, it does superbly. The rest of it seems so limply tacked on that the whole experience is brought down as a result.

Review
This is the new and massively-hyped title from Rockstar Games, the people who brought us the highly popular Grand Theft Auto series and Red Dead Redemption. Once again we are offered an immersive playing environment to get lost in and a huge cast of characters to interact with (then often end up killing or getting arrested). In this case, it is 1947 and you begin as Cole Phelps, LAPD officer who has come back from the Second World War with a badge of honour and a steely determination to uphold the law.


You start off as a patrol officer on the streets of central Los Angeles solving petty crimes such as robbery and shootings. These cases start by introducing the general skills and gameplay mechanics used throughout the game, particularly investigating crime scenes, chasing criminals on foot and in cars and engaging in shootouts to stop the bastards. 


Investigating crime scenes requires you to search around areas such as dark alleyways with flashlights waiting for a slight rumble of the Dual Shock controller or a chime in the soundtrack indicating that a clue is nearby. When you find the suspicious object, you manipulate it to find a point of interest and add your findings to your notebook - your handy log of all relevant people, places and clues which keeps everything in order as you progress through each case.


When you have found all the clues at a crime scene you can question witnesses to gain further clues and relevant information. It is in the face-to-face questioning sections that the new MotionScan technology truly shines. The character models and animations, particularly the subtle facial movements, are absolutely spectacular. Each twitch of the cheek, every slight narrowing of the eyes, the fractional raising of an eyebrow to indicate a smug withholding of information is displayed in beautiful high definition. I really cannot understate how much of a step up in terms of graphical quality this is from anything else around at the moment. These animations are present are not only in conversations and cutscenes but wonderfully also while just out on the street - each passerby makes quips and comments and these are complemented by the appropriate facial movements, which I feel is a very nice touch.


To add to this, the game actually utilises these subtle facial animations a key element of the gameplay. You are given a set list of questions which the interviewee will respond to in one of 3 ways and you must identify which one it is. These options can be a little confusing at first but are as follows:

• Truth - when you feel the character is being totally honest and has nothing further to share with you.
• Doubt - when you feel the character is misleading you or holding something back but you do not have hard evidence to solidly prove this.
• Lie - when you know the character is not being honest with you and you have a clue collected in your notebook which would back this suspicion up.

When I started out I made the wrong selection a few times because the statement made was in the most part truthful and so I selected truth - however I was meant to say "Doubt" as they had more to give up. My advice is - if they look REALLY genuine go for truth and you will get more info. If you aren't 100% sure then "Doubt" them. If the conversation is clearly leading you towards bringing out a piece of evidence then don't hesitate to whip it out on the table and show them what you've got (hmmm.... actually that sounds a bit dodgy).


The start of the game provides a nicely balanced introduction, giving you a good flavour of what is going on while at the same time offering enough challenge and variety to keep you interested. There are also parts of the back story fed in slowly so as not to overwhelm - however the relevance of any of this does not become apparent until much later in the game and so sadly feels quite detached from the action.


The overall arching story is actually very well written and interesting. The huge host of characters each has their own motives and involvement to this sordid affair which is played out bit-by-bit as you progress through the various police departments. I felt that the story was lacking in 2 minor ways though: firstly, any sort of shocking twist, either through a backstabbing character or through an unexpected death. There seemed to be several perfect opportunities for it that just weren't taken up. Secondly was the point where our hero, Cole, cheats on his wife and kids. The wife and kids had barely been mentioned before they kicked Cole out on to the streets and what was clearly meant to be a slightly downbeat and poinant moment was totally lost beacuse it was just baffling. "Who the fuck is this wife you never mention and why the fuck have you thrown it all away for some tart you barely know!?!", I found myself howling at the TV screen. Plot-wise, I found this both very confusing and a little weakly explained.


When you have done your grunt work and proved you can handle a case, you get promoted to the Traffic Squad, where you are required to solve a variety of car-based crimes. At this point, you are also briefed on the general layout of each case: your captain gives the lowdown, you investigate crime scenes and gather clues, question witnesses and then move on to the interrogation of your suspects. This is where you really start to get involved in each case, trawling tirelessly through evidence and asking every possible question to get all the facts together so that when you finally bring the suspects in you are armed with all the clues you need to put the right person behind bars. Don't be fooled into thinking that you will always point the finger at the right person though, it is perfectly possible to charge the wrong suspect and send an innocent to jail. In fact, in one mission I just didn't like one of the witnesses and so went on a personal vendetta against him until he was charge with a murder he didn't commit - tee hee hee. It is for this reason that I have decided for the public's sake that I should never go into law enforcement.


The 2 other parts that make up the missions are chase scenes and gunfights. This is where it is clear that less attention was paid and the game suffers for it. The on foot chase scenes are for the most part set on an invisible track - your character will head straight for the suspect without you having to aim at all. This is obviously to keep the intensity of the action up and these sections could be truly challenging without I am sure, but this is why I have BOUGHT A GAME and not sat down to WATCH A MOVIE. Any satisfaction in pouncing on the baddie is lost because really, I just held down FORWARDS and let the game take over. The gunfights are similarly disappointing: the ridiculously overpowered auto aim means that as soon as you poke your head out of cover, you snap straight to a minuscule target 100 metres away. Again, all satisfaction is taken out of the completion of these sections when 20 bad guys have been brought down in the space of as many seconds simply using the following method - poke out of cover, snap to enemy, shoot, hide, repeat. Bizarrely, there is also an option to skip all these sections as well if you don't succeed in the first few tries!


I feel that this is actually Rockstar overcompensating for their failings on the last few titles. Many gamers criticised the shooting and chase sections in the recent Grand Theft Auto games because they were too difficult. Now they have introduced an auto aim/steer system that compensates just a little bit too much. Hopefully this issue will resolve itself by their next big release and avid gamers can do themselves a favour by going straight to the options menu and turning "Auto Aim and Action Skip" OFF.


The car chases are not too bad, although they do get a little bland. Each generally follows the pattern of: catch up with suspect, hang around near his back tyres, wait for partner to shoot them out, watch as car comes to a crashing halt. They can also be a bit annoying, partly through bad steering control but mainly due to that fatal videogame problem (which I am sure we should have grown out of) INDESTRUCTIBLE TREES. This time it is not just trees that are made of adamantium but wooden fences, post boxes and some kerbs have similar properties, bringing high speed chases to a very abrupt end. The car chases would have been 10 times better if the player were able to smash through peoples back yards without fear of deadly shrubbery.


My final point would be to say that this game was actually quite accessible to my girlfriend, who is not a gamer herself and generally leaves the room while I am playing. Throughout L.A. Noire though, she sat quite happily beside me and really enjoyed trying to unravel the mysteries of each case and identify which of my suspects was the culprit through the fantastic interrogation sections. I can also say that I would have ended the game with a much lower score if she hadn't have picked up on the subtle lies of several key witnesses. Perhaps that is a testament to the game's uniqueness though: gamers blast through the shooting with ease but when it comes to working out realistic people, we're left stumped and it takes hiring in an outsider to get us through it!

Score Breakdown

Category	Score/10	Description
GRAPHICS	10/10	Wow. Wow. Wow. Almost lost a point for AWFUL water graphics in the final mission, but thought I was being a bit mean. Everything else is above and beyond anything else out there. Even you, "Uncharted".
SOUND	9/10	Authentic soundtrack, spot on effects and the little chimes that lead you to clues are all wonderful.
GAMEPLAY	8/10	Although unique and glorious in the talking scenes, the shooting/chasing is below standard for a Rockstar title.
CONTROLS	7/10	Everything works pretty well (except the car steering) but when you aren't given the opportunity to control the character through some scenes, you wonder what the point is.
STORY	10/10	A couple of let-downs but all-in-all this really is a very well-written artistic piece and worthy of credit for this.
LONGEVITY	8/10	Extra downloadable missions on the way (when PS store finally reopens) and the main story actually kept me going for about 25 hours - not bad going.
DIFFICULTY	8/10	Once you take Auto Aim off, it is all quite nicely balanced. Not grindingly hard by any standards but I think hard enough.
PERSONALISATION	6/10	Well, they hardly tried. You can unlock new suits and cars but it's in the solving of cases that you let your personality shine through. A bit.
CONTRIBUTION	10/10	This gets top marks because I really think it is the way of things to come: jaw-droppingly realistic animations and scenarios. Truly a high-definition experience.
MULTIPLAYER	5/10	The only involvement is "Asking the community for hints" - weak. Getting a girlfriend in to help you grill witnesses gives it a bonus point.

Total Score - 81%
Another fabulous Rockstar title that is let down by its ambition. Still a landmark in graphical quality and gaming experience.

Red Dead Redemption [PS3]

A game that deserves merit for its emotional and artistic endeavour, if for nothing else. When the vast array of side missions, exploration and mini-games are added in, this is nothing short of a superb gaming experience.

The game begins with you as John Marston, a man with a troubled past that keeps coming back to haunt him. The government is holding your wife and son hostage until you make amends for your previous criminal behaviour by killing your old gang friends. This is the backdrop for a story about the final days of the “Wild West” and all of the criminal gangs, vigilantes and common people caught in the crossfire. The story will explore the problems in both America and Mexico at the turn of the 20^th century, and issues arising between these civil war torn nations. Don’t expect a piece that can be verified in the history books, just a snapshot of some of the bigger problems facing the citizens of nations undergoing great change and upheaval.

Your role as a player means that you will learn to carry out some of the tasks needed as a cowboy, such as cattle herding, lassoing and breaking wild horses, patrolling the corral at night to ward off rustlers. You will also have to ride and race carriages, hunt and skin all manner of wildlife and enjoy contemporary games such as poker and blackjack. This is the homely and authentic side to the game, which is yours to pick up and put down whenever you see fit. I found myself spending hours hunting for all of the different species in the game, and chuckling to myself as I went and sold off all of their hides for a ridiculous mark-up – go early capitalism!

The other side to the game is as a gunslinger- getting into duels in the main street of prairie towns, acting as a vigilante to return stolen goods to innocent townsfolk and hunting down all of your old accomplices to get your wife and son back. This is where the game becomes a little bit too “Hollywood”, with certain missions where you use a mounted gun to kill half of the Mexican Army and then no-one bats an eyelid when you turn up the next day hoping to get a bit of work form them. Another slight issue is the “Auto-Aim” system, which meant that as soon as you pull out your gun your aim snaps instantaneously to a bird of prey flying 500 metres away, totally ruining any satisfaction you got from killing it. That aside, the shooting sections can be very thrilling and enjoyable, and with the combat never feeling too difficult the story progresses quite a pace which may have been ruined with a more challenging difficulty level.

The graphics are as good as can be expected for a Rockstar sandbox game and although some of the finer details do look a little crappy, the wide landscapes that you ride through on your trusty steed are breathtakingly gorgeous, which totally makes up for it.

The sound is perfectly fitting on the whole, the towns having a hubbub and bustle that makes them feel all the more real. The slight noises of the wildlife out in the deserts are how you track some of the smaller creatures and this is brilliant and adds to the immersion. The only negative point regarding the sound is that the soundtrack can feel a bit out of place, with funky bass parts that may have complemented a spaghetti western but not an immersive gaming experience.

The main reason that the game deserves so much credit is in the last few missions. No spoilers here, but it is in the confusion and calm that follows the hunt for your gang friends that makes the ending so utterly shocking. There is also a bit left up to you as to how the game should finish, should you seek vengeance or seek to let the past die? No other game has made me care about the lead and supporting characters so much that when the game does not offer the standard blockbuster finish, you realise what it has done. It has sacrificed the clichéd finale for an ending that moves the player, and I feel that Rockstar has done this perfectly. Trust me, it nearly brought me to tears.

With the wealth of loose ends to tie up and extra costumes/guns/trophies to acquire, even after the ending I found myself carrying on to work towards 100%. Not many games make me play on after completion but it is a testament to this games appeal that I did.

There is also an online element to consider, but I have not yet had the chance to explore this – damn internet not letting me play my games!

So, overall there is quite a few small gripes about the game but only because they stain what is actually a unique and powerful experience – one that I will remember for a long time to come.

Rating – 91%

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad Of Gay Tony [PS3]

O.K. everyone, first post on this blog; a fresh outlet for my creativity, as well as a way of getting something slightly more tangible out of my incessant consumption of games, films and music! 


This game was a bit of an emotional and journalistic rollercoaster for me, and to  explain that a bit better, I should offer a little background.


 When I first played this title’s predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 4, on the PS3 at someone's house for about five minutes, I was blown away. The beautiful graphics, heavy and realistic physics and almost dirty grittiness made me assume the full experience would be phenomenal. Around 8 months later, when I finally got my hands on a PC copy, I sat down eagerly to play and found myself getting wound up with the piles and piles of piss-poor pedestrianism that you have to put up with. Yes, it is utterly fantastic to truly feel like you are in a living, breathing city, stacked-to-the-rafters with all the side-alleys, hotdog stands and walking targets you could ask for. The lack of any lasting consequences of your actions has always been one of the biggest appeals of the Grand Theft Auto series, and a lot of the rest of gaming also.



Then the developers foolishly added in a feature that dragged you back from joyous, Carmaggedon-style rampages to the boring grind of real life: they added in "friends". While everyone from time to time may feel that their social network can have a negative impact upon their life, this takes the fucking biscuit. Here's how it goes:


 Step One: Enter Annoying Character One (The one that you remember not really liking the look of in that cutscene earlier in the game). 


 Step Two: Cutscene plays of your character freely and happily handing over your personal phone number to this twat with a stupid accent. 


 Step Three: Annoying Character One phones up to ask if you want to "hang out". You, of course, say NO. Annoying Character One goes off in a huff and says they don't like you anymore. Throws toys out of pram.


 Step Three REPEATS FOR ETERNITY.


In some ways, this made me feel a little better about real life. In real life, you would turn the fucking phone off. Then throw it away. 


So, all-in-all, GTA4 had all the fundamentals of a classic with several  features that just got in the way and could not be switched off.


Now to introduce The Ballad Of Gay Tony. 


From the word go you can tell that the developers have gone back to the drawing board for what they want the gamer to experience when they start playing. Rather than being put in as an immigrant starting his life in the US in the slums, you are Luis Lopez, the (ahem) business partner of the owner of two of the biggest nightclubs in the city. Of course "business partner" is simply a euphemism for the series' usual mix of delivery driver/bodyguard/hitman.  


You start off driving around in swanky saloon cars, bumping shoulders with the rich and famous and generally keeping things cool as your boss/partner, Tony Prince, moves between one drug-fuelled bender to the next. You start to make a few connections, some with characters might remember from GTA 4, only this time you're not necessarily going to be their bitch from the word "GO".


New characters to the series include the very marmite-y Yusuf Amir, a larger-than-life and often hilarious property developer from Dubai. When I saw this character I thought, "Oh, it's like that guy Omid Djalili off the telly". And then as I heard some of the character's catchphrases and mannerisms I thought, "Oh, they've copied that Omid Djalili guy off the telly". Later it became very clear that, "Oh, it IS that Omid Djalili guy off the telly, and he's playing himself. How inventive". In spite of this, the game would not have been the same for me without the fantastic, over-the-top voice acting and missions associated with Yusuf, and he will hold a teensy tiny place in my heart.


The missions are just perfect. Back to the old, destructive and extreme type of missions, involving skydiving, tanks, SWAT teams, Russian gangsters, and a subway train hijacking that has to seen to be believed. The balance of missions is fantastic and keeps you hooked-in until the very last. There's also the addition of a "targets" system, where you can replay the missions once the game is completed and try to complete the mission without taking a hit, or blowing up all the police vans, which adds to the replay value. The "quick mission restart" feature is again present, which makes trying that arse-of-a-mission for the fifth time just a little more bearable as it skips the sections of a mission you have completed previously.


Another point to dwell on is the addition of several fantastic new weapons which do truly add a bit extra to the experience. The explosive shotgun makes any rampage fun: watching cars crumple and break away with blissful realism as you hammer five shots into the bonnet will never cease to put a smile on my face. Yes! Finally! Realism and fun combined beautifully! Go Rockstar!


A further feature to bring a smile to my face was the parachuting. Implemented into missions very well, not just varied but exciting also. One mission sees you take a critic of your boss up in a helicopter, only to throw him out and catch him on the way down using your parachute. This is nicely balanced so it’s thrilling but not particularly difficult, adding to the enjoyment. The mission is topped off by watching this critic waddling away with brown stains all down his arse, indicating that he found the trip thrilling as well. Grand Theft Auto was finally coming home.


The final point I’m doing to talk about is the storyline overlap. I mentioned earlier that there are characters from GTA 4 in the game. In actual fact, the trilogy (formed of GTA 4, Gay Tony, and Lost and Damned) has an interweaving story that interacts with events from other games and offers you a different perspective on key scenarios from the saga. Seeing the museum diamond trade off from Luis Lopez’s perspective was a very satisfying experience and as the game went on I started to realise: I was actually finding enjoying elements of the plotline of GTA 4!


Not only had this game regenerated my interest and hopes for the series as a whole, but it was started to heal the wounds formed by Grand Theft Auto 4! Was there nothing this game can’t do!?! Well, just putting a small plaster on one corner of the wound, but that’s a start!


To summarise, the game is an entertaining and comfortingly familiar experience, much more akin to the first few 3D Grand Theft Auto games in its sense of ridiculous fun and destruction. Some annoying elements are still present but I hope that Rockstar will keep that exaggerated entertainment value once we’ve moved away from the depressing and bombastic age of GTA 4. If you happened to enjoy GTA 4 then you’ll enjoy this game; if you didn’t then you’ll actually APPRECIATE this game.


GRAPHICS:    9 / 10 – still one of the best-looking game series in existence.


SOUND:         8 / 10 – OK soundtrack but exceptional effects.


GAMEPLAY:   9 / 10 – well thought out and easy to have fun with.


CONTROLS:   6 / 10 – still not perfect cover system and bikes don’t feel right.


STORY:         8 / 10 – on its own: good. As part of the trilogy: very good.


LONGEIVITY: 8 / 10 – complete in around ten hours. Good mission replay value.


DIFFICULTY:  8 / 10 – felt a little like a walkthrough but much preferable to a slog.


PERSONALISATION: 5 / 10 – needs that San Andreas customisation back, that ruled!


CONTRIBUTION: 8 / 10 – solid PS3 title, but why the year’s wait?


MULTIPLAYER: 7 / 10 – not really what I bought it for, pass-and-play works for me.


TOTAL: 77 %           
An explosive and enjoyable experience that’s infinitely better than GTA 4.