The Charge:
Defining Online Warfare!

Opening Statement:
The world of Military shooters has always been a tumultuous one. Excursions into World War II have always butted heads with the latest and greatest techno shooters and Tom Clancy terror thrillers. Somewhere along the timeline, the mainstream WWII shooter converged with the modern man of action, and one franchise rose above the ranks to seize the crown. Hardly content to take their ‘distant second’ ribbon and wallow in complacency, EA and Dice have fired the opening salvo in the quickly building war against Modern Warfare 2.

"Are we shootin people today?"

Facts of the Case:
‘B’ Company has had a reversal of fortune as it were. After the events of the original Battlefield: Bad Company, the group of throwaway misfits has earned themselves a rep as a squad that can get things done. When a rogue Russian general with some past history with the company gets his hands on a powerful weapon left over from World War II, it’s up to ‘Bad’ Company to defuse the situation before the Russkies kick off World War III.

That’s only a part of the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 package. Take the game online and prepare yourself for an intense 24 player experience that pits East against West in intense firefights all over the globe. Squad based combat allows for an unparalleled level of teamwork in several different game modes, complete with Battlefield’s signature air and land based vehicles and intense back and forth infantry fighting.

"Activision Executives flee as disgruntled developers blow the crap out of Infinity Ward HQ"

The Evidence:
The main draw for many will probably be Bad Company 2’s extensive multiplayer mode, and draw you in it most certainly will. Maps are determined by gametype, and consist of everything from tightly packed areas, perfect for some team and squad deathmatch to the sprawling landscapes that lend themselves to awesomely paced Rush and Conquest modes. Conquest is the good ole fashioned point control stalwart that has entertained Battlefield players since 1942 (not literally!) and rush mode splits players into attackers and defenders, where attackers attempt to destroy frontline bases by blowing up two of the defenders N-COM stations, while defenders kill the hell out of the attackers until their reinforcement pool drops to zero.

"We cool.. We Bad-asses. Blah blah blah blah blah..."

DICE’s frostbite engine has proven to have the horsepower to push some high quality visuals on games like Mirror’s Edge, the original Battlefield: Bad Company and the download-only Battlefield 1943, and Bad Company 2 follows suit with visual panache and rock solid framerate. Whether looking at stunning vistas in the single player or watching buildings crumble while dust particles swirl and tanks shudder realistically in multiplayer, the game remains a visual standout. Explosions look fantastic, buildings collapse in convincing fashion, lighting is great, and character animation is tight all around. The multiplayer holds up its end as well, and never falters. There is a bit of weirdness going on with the shadows, but it doesn’t detract from the overall experience. This is a great looking shooter.

As good as the visuals are; it’s the sound that really shines. This game features the best sound design I’ve ever heard in a shooter, hands down. Gunfire booms across the soundstage with gusto, and echoes in the rear soundfield realistically. These echoes and reverbs change based on your environment, whether you happen to be indoors or out, and explosions are deafening. If you have a home theatre, play this sucker loud! The music is of the generic “military-thriller” variety, but it does the job well enough, and the voice acting is as good as it gets without throwing random Hollywood talent into the mix.

I guess the real question is; Can Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2 peacefully coexist in someone’s video game collection? Sure, I guess they could, but where’s the fun in that?

Rebuttal Witness:
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, much like Modern Warfare 2, is a brief single player game. The campaign lasts slightly longer, clocking in at an average 6 hours or so. While there is definitely variety, and more than a few awesome scenarios, malaise does occasionally rear its head. There’s not really anything new here, but what’s here is presented well and feels great, even if the level of chaos and anarchy never quite reaches the heights established by the last few Call of Duty titles. Nothing in the single player campaign approaches the very best moments of its Infinity Ward and Treyarch developed competitors, but taken as a whole, the experience tends to be more entertaining, and suffers less from the lows. While there’s nothing as awesome as ‘Snowblind’ in here, there’s nothing as lame as defending a Burger Town from the entire Russian Army either. Graphically there are moments of sheer beauty that rival the very best that military shooters have to offer, including the awesome intro stage set during the Pacific campaign of World War II, or the downriver trek in the jungles of Central America, and a stunner of a final level that I won’t spoil here.

It’s really a more uniform experience, and while many may miss the sheer spectacle of Modern Warfare or Modern Warfare 2, the more controlled chaos and level headed approach definitely makes for a more enjoyable experience, if not a more memorable one.

"Take from them nothing... give to them... wait... that ain't right... let me start over."

Closing Comments:
It’s hard to talk about Battlefield: Bad Company 2 without comparing it to Modern Warfare 2, it’s fiercest competitor, and I don’t think the guys at DICE and EA would have it any other way. The end result really depends on how you like to play, and in truth, there is no clean cut victor in this modern combat deathmatch. That said, my own tastes give Bad Company 2 the edge, be it ever so slight.

The Verdict:

Platform: Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox360/Windows PC
Developer: DICE
Publisher: EA Games
Release Date: March 2nd, 2010
Rated: M (17+) for Mature

Nowadays, “shooter” typically refers to the third or first-person genre, you running around with a gun blasting away at aliens and explosive red barrels.

But listen up kids–back in the day, a “shooter” was a game where you directed a tiny spacecraft around a  horizontally or vertically scrolling screen and shot glowy balls and weirdo aliens.

Journey back in time with us now–what are some of your favorites?

Dave: Thunderforce III is, in my mind, the greatest side-scrolling, 2D shooter ever made.  This bad boy game out for the Genesis early on in the console’s life cycle and featured lots of colorful, dynamic sprites, a genuinely memorable score and fantastic power-ups.

Favorite stage: the trippy lava level (surprise!  A lava level!)  Favorite weapon: the heat-seeking “hunter.”

Close second, by the way, is MUSHA, which I retro-reviewed here.

Is it hot in here or is it just me?

Steve: I was into the shoot-em-ups like everyone else, but my real love lay in the space simulation genre. The first one that hooked me body and soul was Wing Commander on the SNES. There were about 8 dozen sleepless nights spent trying to take the top spot on that damn killboard in the pilot’s lounge. Damn Kilrathi!

Why do i keep humming the classic Battlestar Galactica theme?

Then there was Colony Wars on the original Playstation, a game i bought solely because it was one of only two “perfect 10′s” on PSXpower.com (which would become the Playstation section of IGN in the following years). Was it awesome? Hell yes it was. A branching plot that changed up based on how well you performed in your missions, and some intense line readings from a cool as hell James Earl Jones sound alike.

And later came Starlancer for the Sega Dreamcast. Hot war in space? US vs. RUSSKIES!? Hell yes! Sure it was a bit of a beast to control with that DC control pad, but it still holds up graphically today, and the gameplay was pretty awesome.

This is going to hurt come morning.

The Charge
One war, two epic sagas.

Opening Statement
A History Chanel fan’s electronic wet dream, Eidos Interactive’s Battlestations: Pacific, the sequel to Battlestations: Midway continues the tradition laid out by the previous installment of offering a unique twist on WWII-themed shooters, downplaying the “action” segments of WWII games and emphasizing the “strategic” and “simulation” aspects. Fancy yourself a general of the five-star variety? Think you can command a fleet of planes, boats and submarines to victory n the South Pacific?

Facts of the Case:
Pearl Harbor, 1941. The Japanese have attacked American soil, and the US now finds itself embattled into a conflict spanning the entire Pacific against a feisty and daring foe. Battlestations: Pacific puts you in command of entire fleets of naval vessels and airplanes as you march (uh, swim and fly) your way to victory. Experience one war from two perspectives—the American and the Japanese—and possibly even change the outcome of history. Well, for the Japanese at least.

The Evidence:
WWII games are a dime a dozen, literally. Go into any used game store, and with the exception of last year’s sports games, no other title will pocket the walls in such large quantities. Battlestations: Pacific, following the tradition of Battlestations: Midway chooses to rise from the pack by offering a more strategic and real-time-strategy twist on the franchise. There’s still plenty of action to be had, but now you have to micromanage! Hooray! The individual game elements struggle to assert themselves, but when taken all as a whole, Battlestations: Pacific is a unique and challenging game experience, rewarding those with patience and devilish ability to plot strategy.

Two campaign modes are immediately accessible, allowing gamers to take command of either the American or the Japanese fleet. The Japanese campaign is first up from a menu selection point of view, starting with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and here is where things get a bit funny. Historical accuracy, having had a few too many, goes to lay down for a few, and the campaign quickly diverts from the actual historical course of events in short order, no doubt to balance the amount of missions the Japanese have compared to the Americans. Purists may sneer, but hey, it’s a video game. What good WWII game doesn’t re-write history these days?

Um... did you feel something?

The game comes at you immediate with what appears to be an insurmountable learning curve of control schemes, unit management and placement of over 100 unique craft, strategic commands and various strategic mumbo-jumbo, when all you want to do is get in a plane and bomb Pearl Harbor. Early campaigns are simple “find the flashing object on your radar and blow ‘er up”, letting users get comfortable with the mechanics and controls of planes, boats and submarines before combining all three into a gigantic tour-de-force of military confusion and disorientation. It gets easier the more you play it, but the free-wheeling and all-encompassing style of Battlestations: Pacific can be disorientating to those not quite used this level of oversight.

Depending on your style, “micromanagement” might get you excited, but it also might be a word that gives you hives. Battlestations: Pacific splits the difference, allowing players to spend as little or as much time as they’d like supervising their charges, switching between units in the battle. It certainly leads to more successful campaigns, jumping into the cockpit of a strategically-placed fighter, as the computer AI is just good enough not to hurl itself upside-down into the ocean, but not quite skilled enough to actually sink an enemy ship for you. The downside of the system is that for optimal success and mission perfection, a lot of babysitting is required. How fun you find this kind of supervision is entirely personal.

At its most thrilling and frenetic, gamers control rounds of Battlestations: Pacific like an orchestral conductor—a swish of the hand here to dispatch a few more fighter planes, a press of the finger there to launch some torpedoes, a quick refuel and re-supply . It can be quite entertaining and open-ended, giving you the freedom to develop your own strategies of success and failure—for me, usually failure. I admit here that this kind of military strategy simulation is not my gaming bailiwick, but there are some truly epic moments of combat where you feel quite pleased with yourself at sending so many virtual men to their watery graves.

Improvements over the previous title in the series include a noticeable graphics upgrade, larger maps and environments, much more empasis on land-based objectives—capturing islands and re-purposing their resources for your own war efforts, etc. The addition of a cockpit-view adds an addition touch of realism (though no particular gaming advantage) to the flight segments, allowing you a first-eye perspective of that freighter you are about to kamikaze pilot right into. Oh yes, there are kamikaze units—actual units, not just lousy flying your plane into an enemy base—but only on the Japanese side of course.

Speaking of multiplayer, this area is well-realized and fun, if you can find somebody to play against that won’t embarrass and demoralize your invasion efforts. Five game modes are included: island capture, a points-based spending system where gamers purchase resource and send them into battle to capture control of an island. Duel is essentially a free-for-all mode, last one standing wins. Siege is a defense-based mode where one team holds and defends an island against invasion from the other team, who must capture it within a time limit to win. Escort is the same idea, but the key unit to protect is on the move. Finally, good old Competitive mode, which places all human players on the same time and battle to out-score each other with enemy kills. The few battles we participated in were gigantic debacles worthy of the history books in how quickly we got our @#$ handed to us—fun, but distressingly brief.

OH CRAP IS THAT A SMOKE MONSTER

Between the two campaigns and the multiplayer modes, there’s a reasonable amount of variety and replay value here, especially as the DLC packs continue to roll in, but even after a few harrowing and exciting rounds of Battlestations: Pacific, the innate repetitive nature of the format may turn off some people. The campaign missions really just recycle the same three game modes in different combinations, and unless you’re riveted by the historical placements of the troop movements across the Pacific, one round is often indistinguishable from the next. Multiplayer maps are often just wide tracks of endless ocean with a few islands tucked here and there—historically accurate no doubt, but not exactly awe-inspiring in its variety.

Graphically, the game hits the mark. Aerial sequences over endless stretches of shining, undulating sea, sunlight glistening are handsome, while pillars of smoke fly off your nautical vessels as you get pummeled by enemy artillery. Colors are vibrant and lush, and I do quite enjoy the little touches of chronological simulated authenticity, like aging film reel effects applied to news clip-style cut sequences, to really bring audiences into the historical action. Model designs are reasonably detailed and well-represented, but I noticed some screen tearing during some, uh, deliberate crazy flying when I lost control of my plane and drove it into the ocean. Yeah, deliberate!

Audio fares well with the constant cacophonic barrage of gunfire, explosions and radio chatter filling your environmental space. It gets challenging to decipher the constant dialogue sputtering from your radio, as some information is genuinely useful, but that’s part of the fun. An orchestral score brings gravitas and drama to an already packed presentation. Unfortunately, the dialogue is particularly tongue-gnashing; the Japanese voice actors sound straight out of a bad drive-in ninja movie, while the American actors sound even cornier. Bass response is satisfying—when you drop that torpedo into the water and hear it tear into an enemy submarine, your subwoofer will roar with approval.

How Battlestations: Pacific stacks up in your eyes will depend entirely on your level of appreciation for the genre and its numerous elements. You can almost break the simulatior into its “mini-game” elements, and when examined solely on their own merits, they all feel unimpressive. The flight potion is average at best; the control scheme is atypical and the physics feel sticky and sluggish. I’m sure someone will argue the “realism” of flying 1940s-era aircraft designs, but if you ask me, this argument is moot when you control a plane with dual analog sticks on a 360 controller. There is nothing realistic about that, full stop. Naval segments are slower-paced and often frustrating; maneuvering gigantic vessels that turn like cows to haplessly hurl artillery shots at distant specs in the horizon, which seem to be guided on a system of random chance. As for submarines? Forget about it. I’ve never been more bored in a video game in all my life. For people looking for a quick burst of action, this might not be the game for them.

Where Battlestations: Pacific succeeds is incorporating all of these lone, limited elements together, assembling them into a gigantic, living, breathing battle of Herculean proportion. On their own, the game elements are questionable and frustrating, but when you look at how all the elements incorporate into a fluid package, of players switching between them as the situation develops moving ships and planes and resources into key strategic positions? This is where Battlestations: Pacific earns its stripes. Think of the individual game modes like chess pieces; they are of little value in of themselves, but critical in the grand scheme of the battle.

Closing Comments:
If you can immerse yourself into the game and truly embrace all the nuances and high-level elements of controlling your armada, Battlestations: Pacific is a rewarding experience.

The Verdict:

Platform: Microsoft Xbox360 / Windows PC (Xbox360 version reviewed)
Developer: Eidos
Publisher: Eidos
Release Date: May 12, 2009
Rated: T for Teen

Much of my formative video game years were spent playing two genres: the side-scrolling beat’em up and the shooter. Both were popular in the 16-bit days, but have since largely vanished from the gaming consciousness, save for cameo appearances on PSN or XBLA or the DS.

I played many shooters on my Genesis, and forged my love through repeated run-throughs of the magnificent Thunder Force III. But my addiction took root with M.U.S.H.A., a quirky vertical-scrolling effort that featured all the characteristics of the genre: huge enemies, upgradeable weapons, and thousands of glowy balls of death on the screen. It was formula, but it was formula perfected.

M.U.S.H.A. stands for Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor and you play a girl who’s draped herself in the mechsuit and taken it upon herself to wage war against an unstoppable onslaught of foes. Granted, it’s not the most Shakespearean of narratives, but it gets the job done.

To aid you in your sprite-nuking holocaust are a series of weapons upgrades that cater to different player styles: go big and deadly with the fat green lasers, opt for defense with the circling blue bubble or toss out a crapload of tiny bombs with the red upgrade. In addition, you have two little sidekick lasers that you can program to shoot backwards, forwards, sideways, in an orbital pattern or you can free them up to fly out and attack anyone they wants (which, unfortuantely, leads to their prompt disintegration fairly quickly).

Where M.U.S.H.A. excels is in its hyper-fast, twitch gameplay. There are a lot of things going on at once and as is the case with the shooter genre, your reflexes and tiny yellow energy ball dodging skills will be critical to success. Stages are varied, ranging from volcanoes to plains to caves to a dope fight across a lightning-streaked sky to a bad-ass battle on the enemy’s base ship to the final smackdown in the guts of a space station.

Thankfully, the game isn’t soul-crushingly impossible. When you’re fully-powered you’re a force and can dismantle most foes with ease. The head boss is a pain, though. You’re trapped in a tiny compartment with a huge green ball bouncing around, where one collision equals an apologetic letter from the M.U.S.H.A. bureau to your parents.

The graphics are bright and colorful and vary greatly from stage to stage and the bosses are huge and interesting-looking. The music stands out as well. And apparently this is a rare, highly sought-after game that goes for like $60 on eBay. I think I got it for a buck or something at a yard sale.

Vintage Verdict: Not Guilty.  Mech yeah!

The Charge:
War Perfected.

Opening Statement:
The original Killzone arrived on Sony’s Playstation 2 console in late-2004, a mere week before Microsoft’s 800-pound gorilla, Halo 2, made its record-setting presence felt. Pre-release cries of “Halo-Killer” vanished amidst middling reviews and Halo 2 fever. Killzone was a solid, though perhaps a tad overzealous effort, but when people expect a revolution, solid just isn’t good enough. After close on five years of waiting, controversy over pre-rendered trailers, intense scrutiny from the community, and ridicule from both the press and the players, Sony, via their first party studio, Guerilla, has finally delivered Killzone 2, but does it in turn deliver the goods?

Facts of the Case:
Killzone 2’s setup is simple enough. After chucking the Fascist Helghast forces off of their home world of Vekta, the ISA, which stands for something, I’m sure, go on the offensive and launch a full scale invasion of the harsh wasteland that is Helghan. You take the role of Sev, hardened soldier, one of the ISA’s go to guys, a member of the elite Alpha Squad. Your mission is to work your way into the heart of the Helghast regime and kidnap their ruler, the fiery Hitler-like despot, Scolar Visari. However, to get to Visari, you have to get past his top General, Mael Radec. There’s also some stuff in there about a highly unstable mineral that turns the planet itself into a weapon, and stolen nukes. I’m sure you can see where that’s going. The plot, in typical blockbuster fashion, is basically an excuse to plow through wave after wave of Helghast soldiers, decked out like Nazi Death-Engines with glowing red eyes and gas-masks, and blow up a lot of stuff. In that respect, it succeeds in propelling you forward while remaining semi-engaging as the stakes get considerably higher and the plot hits bends in the road as you progress.

The Evidence:
Killzone 2 is straight up first person shooter fare: You work your way through 10 pretty lengthy levels hitting checkpoints along the way, then move on to your next objective. In that regard, Killzone 2 really isn’t anything too special, and the first hour or two of the seven to ten hours of total time feels downright pedestrian. Somewhere around hour number two, the game really starts to come together, the campaign becomes downright hectic, and you find yourself suddenly fighting a battle more intense and involving than pretty much any other game in the genre. A battle loaded with gob smacking moments of violent bliss.

The designers have also seen fit to include a cover system similar to what’s been popping up in recent shooters like Rainbow Six: Vegas or Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, or even Gears of War. You’ll need it; the Helghast enemy is relentless, brutal, and downright intimidating. While the AI isn’t perfection, it’s certainly some of the best to ever grace this sort of game, playing on Medium or Veteran difficulty, this game will challenge you. On top of that you get a few boss-style fights in the game that feel excellent, are challenging as all get out, and are a true rarity in this sort of title. You’re almost always fighting with a partner or a group of soldiers, and they handle themselves pretty well, and while they don’t often show the level of aptitude that the bad guys do, they are more than just window dressing.

As excellent as the single player campaign is, and it is excellent, the multi-player component is no afterthought either. The cover system from the single player game is gone, and I definitely miss it, but we get a very robust experience-based class system whereby you unlock new character abilities (snipers, engineers, medics, etc) by earning XP throughout your multi-player career. The system is deep, and not something you’ll blow wide open in a few days. We’re almost one week in and the number of top tier players in the game is still extremely low. There’s no shortage of takers at the moment, and games can go as high as 32 players. There’s a solid selection of levels, that all share the stunning look of the single player game, and game modes are diverse enough, with your typical capture, defend, destroy, and shoot everything that moves options. There’s also the option to throw computer controlled bots into any of the multiplayer modes to brush up on your skills (though you won’t earn XP). It’s every bit as good as any other multi-player offering out there, though the lack of co-operative play in the campaign is definitely worth noting, and the menus and interface could be a little more user friendly.

When Sony’s first trailer for the game hit, it raised a lot of pulses, but the pre-rendered nature of the video also stirred up a lot of controversy within the gaming media. Now, some 3 years and change on, the game has certainly lived up. While you may come across the occasional muddy texture, and the flame thrower effects could have been a little stronger, the combination of absolutely brilliant art design that surpasses most feature film work, top drawer lighting and particle effects, excellent interactivity with destructible backgrounds, and some of the best animation work I have ever seen, including amazing death animation on the bad guys, makes Killzone 2 the finest looking shooter to grace the Playstation 3 or any other console. Killzone 2’s graphical engine and rock solid framerate raises the bar so high that you may need a space shuttle to surpass it. The fact that you see so much on screen, at once, with AI and physics running at full steam, is a testament to the power under the hood of the PS3. The sound design is every bit it’s equal, powered by DTS, it fills the room. Machine guns rattle with impunity, explosions thunder, lightning crashes, and the surround effects land you smack in the middle of the warzone. The score is also top drawer, and complements the action on screen in suitably epic fashion. The voice acting is a little more of a mixed bag; your foul-mouthed squad of hard asses are stock and forgettable for the most part, but the Helghast troops are suitably vicious, and of particular note are the principal villains, Scolar Visari, who’s impassioned and patriotic speeches are voiced spectacularly by British veteran Brian Cox (X-Men, The Bourne Identity), and General Radec, a truly chilling bastard voiced by Sean Pertwee (Doomsday, Equilibrium).

Rebuttal Witness:
The one chink in Killzone 2’s armor is probably the control, as it definitely takes some adjusting. There’s a feeling of weight to your movements, like you really are a 220 pound man with 100 pounds of gear swinging around a 20 pound assault rifle. It can make the controls feel sluggish at times, but it feels more “real” than the floating gun barrel feeling of most FPS games. I for one welcomed the added immersion. At any rate it’s definitely a design choice, and it goes a long way towards separating the game from its Call of Duty and Halo brethren, Killzone 2 never really feels like anything but Killzone 2, and never really plays exactly like anything else either. It’s difficult to cite this as a flaw, but veterans of other long running series’ may well be turned off.

Closing Statement:
Killzone 2 is indeed the real deal. The jaw dropping visuals, the stunning sound, and the rock-solid gameplay all gel in one of the finest first person shooters ever packaged for the console market. The less than stellar narrative could use a little more meat, and the good guys suffer from a distinct lack of personality, amplified all that much more by the utter awesomeness of the Helghast, but the sheer degree of spectacle on display is unrivaled. This is action writ large, and a must-play for any fan of first-person shooters.

The Verdict:

 

Platform: Sony Playstation 3 
Developer: Guerilla Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Release Date: February 27, 2009
Rated: M(17+) for Mature.