Max Payne

Woah this is late! Having reviewed Max Payne 2 ages ago I think this deserves one as well.

One of the things that makes Max Payne as brilliant as it is is the time it was made in. The PS2 was barely on the shelves when this was released, and although this explains the poor graphics during gameplay it also makes the actual gameplay more impressive, as I haven't seen many PS2 games this immersive. The storyline is nothing short of outstanding, with similar graphic novels to the second, along with the brilliant voice acting and sound effects. It's dark, bloody, quirky and cuttingly emotional. As this game involves the cold murder of his wife and baby daughter that started his vendetta, the feeling of loss and the never ending striving for revenge is ever-present, and you find yourself violently wishing death upon ever thug you shoot in the face in slow motion, with grace and diligence on every shot.

For fans of realism in games, this one may be preferable, as this uses more weapons actually obtainable to thugs, and you can't do things such as magically throwing a grenade whilst holding a weapon; you have to equip it. There is no ragdoll physics due to the limitations of the time, but it's easily ignorable. It is also a harder game in general, your health is slightly less Incredible Hulk-like, but I didn't find this a letdown, in most cases I found this only added to the immersiveness. I would say that storyline is more of a focus in this game than the sequel, as although they both have great plots, this is far more grim and also goes with the tradition of originals in a series having the best stories. This isn't to say the actual gameplay is worse, just hindered by what was actually possible at the time.

Once again, it's gonna have to have an 11/10. I can hear a groan from people saying I'm a joke of a reviewer. Whatever, to be fair I haven't played better games ever than the Max Payne series. Huge kudos to Remedy and Rockstar. I really don't know how you do it.

Update: ANOTHER Fallout DLC? And other Fallout-related news.

It seems everyone knew about this before me, but there is going to be one and one more only Fallout 3 DLC, stacking up to five whole expansions. That's dedication if nothing else.

It's going to be called Mothership Zeta, and anyone who's really really REALLY into Fallout 3 like I am should be able to guess it's related to the crashed spacecraft near the Minefield. And indeed it is. It's all based on aliens and weird extra terrestrial stuff... and yes I do think it's risky. Fallout is fictional but stays variably within what could happen in the future but this seems to be crossing the line... not sure what specific sites have pictures but if you're interested a quick Google search will do the job, apparently the info's been leaked for quite some time.

NEW FALLOUT GAME

Fallout: New Vegas is the new title in the Fallout series and will not be developed by Bethesda (probably working their arses off for Elder Scrolls V). It will still be published by Bethesda but Obsidian Entertainment, those who made the RPG 'Knights of the Old Republic II', will be developing. The engine will probably be the same, and Bethesda have announced it will be similar to Fallout 3, but it is set in Las Vegas, and apparently will focus on the sleazy, immoral sexual side which the men of Las Vegas are letting loose in their post-apocolyptic freedom. I don't know much more but this article from IGN.com is pretty informative:

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/100/1002811p1.html

That's all for now!

Bioshock

Yes, I finally got round to playing one of the most critically acclaimed games of this generation, said by many to be 'the best single player experience ever'. Well, actually, I played it months ago but I'm getting lazy with my reviews ok?

Well, to start with, it is clear why Bioshock had so much appeal. It's absolutely unique; I have no played nor heard of any game, let alone FPS that is like this. The storyline is winding and still has room for expansion (Bioshock 2...), it being based on a completely unknown-to-the-world underwater dystopia which you find at the brink of its destruction. I won't go further but as you delve further into the supposedly 'free from the chains of society' city of Rapture you experience many shocking twists and unveiling of unexpected truths; in short the storyline is expertly written and brings out just about every emotion possible, and that's saying something for a video game. In terms of gameplay, the game hardly bores as everything is kept new and fresh; with new weapons to be created and upgraded, including yourself with the huge array of new powers to be gained. Through this there's a large amount of different ways the game can be played, and you are free to choose whatever powers suit you best. The game should take you about 6-8 hours and will be a memorable experience, definitely one which suits and sums up this generation's ability to break barriers.

However, this game is not without faults. In general, I think the game is good but overrated, I don't think it deserves the 10/10s it has recieved as it can run a little dry. For example, as well-written as the story is, it's very easy to lose track and you feel you need to listen to ALL the tapes you pick up just to get a hold of what you're meant to know about. It's also bloody hard. I've played plenty of FPS games and I can usually pick them up pretty quickly (before getting hopelessly addicted) but this I found really quite tricky, even on Medium difficulty. The system for dying is so that when you die, the game doesn't restart from a last checkpoint but instead has you respawn nearby, with any enemies you killed still dead and any you weakened still weakened. Though this means its easier to tackle, you feel a bit pathetic as you can use cheap techniques like using a powerful shotgun right up close, getting punched and killed, and repeating the process enough times to eventually bring down your enemy. Some might not feel guilty about this but I think its unrealistic and plain boring how your character is effectively invincible, I think they should have just made it easier. The weapons are varied, and many unique (each with inventible ammo types and seperate upgrades - absolutely fantastic) but ammo is extremely scarce and you have to try to use your weaker weapons as much as possible to save the ammo for your power weapons and this ends up in you dying and slogging on- and before you know it you're out of ammo all together.

So Bioshock is not without its faults, and although it really has branched out the FPS genre, there are improvements to be made, as can only be expected for something which almost creates a new genre. I rate it 8/10, for good arty style, real creativity in development and a lot of variation, but could have done with a little more playtesting and checking all the systems work in harmony.