Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Metal Gear Online: MEME EXPANSION

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Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that the latest downloadable content for its Metal Gear Online title for PLAYSTATION3 will be released on November 25th. Entitled MEME EXPANSION, the download adds new characters and gameplay elements to Hideo Kojima's hugely popular online epic.

The MEME EXPANSION unveils two new special characters, which are playable for the first time. Liquid Ocelot enters the fray with the ability to manipulate the Sons of the Patriots' lock system using his Guns of the Patriots skills, and can also deactivate the weaponry of a targeted for within Metal Gear Online's Multi-Player modes. Similarly, Mei Ling comes into play with three unique attributes, including the Trench Mortar weapon, Soliton Sonar capabilities, and the means to transfix enemies.

Three new Maps have also been created, with the rough, uneven industrial elements of Silo Sunset, the dense foliage of Forest Firefight and a snow-blown deserted factory called Winter Warehouse available for the first
time. The download also implements a number of new rules, which are also now available without the MEME EXPANSION update. A new 'No Headshot' setting allows players to attribute the same level of damage when shot in the head to that of a regular body shot. 'Stealth Death Match' allows users to compete with the stealth elements switched on automatically; while the 'Interval' setting allows used to practice and chat with each other within
the battlefield, without their ranking or records being adversely affected.

An official Tournament Lobby has also been created to pit players in battle situations where points are up for grabs and can be spent on the customisation of a character or on new gear. Likewise, a series of familiar
humorous elements can also be used within the customise field, including the Crocodile Cap made famous in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the Ghillie Suite camo from the same game, and an afro hair style.

Metal Gear Online fans will be able to pre-purchase the MEME EXPANSION elements for 7,99 Euro from November 18th, with a bundle containing both the new elements and the previous GENE EXPANSION update also available at the same date for 12,99 Euro. Users can access the new additions of the MEME EXPANSION after the official start on November 25th.


source : http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk

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The Sims 3 Q&A

Electronic Arts have today released a Question and Answer session discussing the PC exclusive release of The Sims 3. It’s not stated exactly who was asking or answering the questions, but as a piece of PR bumf it’s fairly revealing. The entire Question & Answer session follows below, ad-verbatim.

1. After all these years of creative thinking, Sims Fans have made many interesting Sims, houses and other objects. Will it be possible to transfer Sims from Electronic Theatre Imageprevious version to The Sims 3? And what about other objects like house and furniture designs?

There are so many innovations in The Sims 3 so it’s really not possible to transfer items or Sims from previous games. The level of detail in The Sims 3 is so high that any conversion from older games would not be satisfying for players.

2. Also many Sims fans have gathered a huge pile of CD’s with add ons for 2nd version of the game, which will turn into junk once 3rd version comes out. And what add ons will be included in The Sims 3? Can we expect pets, seasons and magic in the initial release? And what of additional extras for previous version we will have to re-purchase for new one?

At the moment, we’re only thinking about The Sims 3. We have a huge team devoted to making the best possible game and we’re not going to think about anything else until it’s perfect.

3. Also there are many questions about ‘living neighborhood’. Before Sims 3, player-made families just waited patiently until someone plays them, now it appears to be that they will live on their own. Let’s assume that player created two families: “Mary and Bob” and “John Smith”. Then he played with “Mary and Bob” for long time, almost forgetting about that other family. It’s quite possible that when the player returns to John Smith, he’ll find no one there, since he could live his entire life, get old and die, so there will be no opportunity to play with him. Is there any solution already?

There are lots of options in The Sims 3. In the example that you just presented, the families that you don’t control will develop along with the household that you are controlling. However, you can switch between families at any time. You can also move families between save files, so you can develop one family to a specific point and then merge them with another save file. Story tellers will do that a lot.

4. We’ve already heard that there will be ‘Hand of the God” in the game, that allows to pick up and move Sims and other objects. Also it will be possible to feed and clean Sims with one click of the mouse. Which other simplifications should we expect?

There isn’t a feature that works exactly like you describe. However, players can do something that we call “live dragging”. In simple terms, you can manipulate some objects directly with your mouse. In the past, The Sims had to clean up everything for themselves. Now you can grab trash and throw it away, or grab an item from the floor and put it in your Sim’s inventory.

5. And what about robots, Aliens, Vampires and others? Will be they available in the initial release or we will have to wait for them to appear in outgoing expansions?

We have some tricks up our sleeve…

6. Since there will be quite big virtual universe on player’s disposal, are there any plans for minigames like car driving? And what about dance simulators, which are so popular on consoles?

There are some really interesting collection games and skills have a lot of rich detail.

7. Are there any plans of extending Sims’ vocabulary, e.g. will their words really mean something? Or they will keep mumbling some meaningless Simmish like before Sims 3?

The Sims always speak simlish. We’ve tried to teach them the languages of the world but they don’t want to listen.

8. Some years ago The Sims Online was started. But we didn’t heard about this project for a while. Are there any plans to include some online components in Sims 3, like chats or minigames where players can use their Sims as avatars?

The Sims 3 players will have unprecedented freedom to customize the look of their game. A player with creative aspirations and no technical training or knowledge can make changes to the look of just about everything in their Sims life, right in the game. We call the technology Create-a-Style. In the past, fans made their creations outside of the game and then shared them on the exchange. We wanted to give the power that our artists have to the players.

The process of getting creations online is easier than ever. The Sims 3 launcher helps you install and manage custom content so that you don’t have to hunt around for directories or anything like that.

Finally, The Sims 3 community is completely new and there are some incredible tools, including a web-based video editing tool so that players can make movies from the videos they capture in the game.

9. What kind of player activity have you planned for The Sims 3?

Sims can do things that they couldn’t do before, like ride bikes, work out at the gym, go to the beach, grab a snack at the bistro and more!

10. What about the game has been upgraded and what is completely new? Also, can you explain a bit about how the new 'boundaries' work? What kind of activity will be opened up for the Sims?

The first thing that people will notice about The Sims 3 is the world around them. If you see it, you can go there. In the past, The Sims players were confined to playing on little levels that we called lots. Now there are now boundaries. The technology is incredible because we can show you the tiniest detail of your home, like the petals on a flower. A few seconds later you can look at the tiniest freckle on a Sim on the other side of town. This all happens in real time. We're in a great place as developers these days: Realism has been achieved...check. We can just focus on style and delivering seamless experiences so that the player can be completely immersed in their story.

11. How, if at all, has the customisability of The Sims evolved for The Sims 3? How will players be able to integrate this into their Sims experience?

We're going to give the player unprecedented control over the visuals in the game so that they have the same control that our artists have, right in the game. The new Create - A - Sim allows players to make just about any person they can imagine, and there are tools in the game that let you change the look of almost any surface on your Sim or in their home.

12. Can we expect to see our favourite Sims families return, having grown, as they did between The Sims and The Sims 2?

Yes! You will see many of your favourite things from past games in The Sims 3.

13. How has player feedback impacted changes you have implemented for The Sims 3?

We're all fans of The Sims, and a lot of our team worked on The Sims and The Sims 2, so player feedback is built into our team. We also spend a lot of time interacting with members of The Sims community around the world. I don't think the game would be what it is without The Sims community. Fans have always wanted more interaction with a community of Sims. If you think about it, The Sims is the most detailed depiction of contemporary life to be presented in a work of fiction, but half of life was missing. In The Sims 3, we’ll let you explore the other half of life that happens when you are not at home.

14. How do the 'new personalities' work?

There are over 70 personality traits that players can choose from. When you choose traits they are represented as a simple word that you might use to describe someone you know so it’s easy to understand what they will do in the game. What makes traits so powerful is that they can change the game in profound ways. You’ll see different behaviors, interactions, advantages and goals depending on the traits that your Sims display. Just to name a few examples of more extreme traits, you can let your Sims be Insane, Evil, Kleptomaniac, Paranoid, Brave, Hates Kids, Genius and more.

15. What challenges did you face in the creation of The Sims 3?

Working to tune the AI so that the people who live in your town have lifelike behavior. Over time, all of The Sims in the town grow and develop, and it takes an Electronic Theatre Imageimpressive amount of tuning to make this work just right. I think that people are used to seeing lots of other characters in a game world, but they’ve never seen a game world where every character is being motivated by unique personality traits and motives like The Sims 3. Another thing we’re working on is a feature called Create A Style which allows players to customize just about everything, from clothing to furniture to cars. We want players to be able to change the game like our artists can. The interface is really powerful and we want to make it perfect.

16. We understand that the game features a continuous neighborhood and no loading times, but there won't be multiple neighborhoods as in The Sims 2. Tell us a bit about this decision. How will it change what different players do with the game once they get it in their hands?

There is one neighborhood, and it is pretty amazing. We’ve been working exclusively on this one neighborhood, Sunset Valley for the last few years. It’s bigger and richer than anything we’ve made before. We really just wanted to make something that would blow people away, and we wanted to do more with the town than we have in the past.

No two towns will ever be the same after one generation in The Sims 3. As I mentioned, every Sim has complete AI throughout their life, so you’ll see people grow up, go to school, fall in love, get married, get jobs, move out, have families, grow old and pass away. It’s also possible to change all of the Sims in your town, so you can fill the town with whoever you like…yourself, your friends, characters from your favorite show, favorite band or sports team, anyone you can imagine…you get the point.

17. We understand that every Sim has a dream that can be fulfilled as part of a lifetime achievement goal. What are some examples of lifetime achievements, and what happens when you reach it? What if you fail?

Just like people, The Sims have wishes. Some of their wishes are really big and we call those Lifetime Wishes. A Lifetime Wish is a really big achievement like becoming a rock star, raising a huge family, getting rich or becoming an astronaut. Along the way to achieving your lifetime wish, you’ll fulfill smaller wishes. As you fulfill a Sim’s wishes, you earn points that can be used to purchase special Traits and reward objects that are generally hilarious and awesome. There really is no way to fail in the game, but you can make some really funny things happen if you want to cause trouble for your Sims.

18. How much dedication does it take to reach the pinnacle of your respective career ladder? Are there any shortcuts to the top?

If you play your cards right, you might be able to get to the top of more than one career in a lifetime, but it would take a lot of hard work and your Sim would need the right traits. Workaholic Sims will be happy if they live at the office, so that might be a good way to go. There are definitely some shortcuts, and your Sims will get Opportunities from time to time that give them a boost.

19. Plenty of open-ended moral choices will pop up in The Sims 3, like giving you the choice to skim off the top of campaign contributions in the political career. Give us some more examples of these moral choices depending on your career. What are the consequences of such decisions?

The game is full of moral choices. Some of them are presented to the player as career Opportunities. I don’t want to give too much away on this subject. A lot of the moral choices in the game come from the social simulator, and this is where the game becomes so compelling. A lot of players use the game to explore moral questions in their own lives. It’s sort of a “what if” simulator. For example, your Sim can choose to Whoohoo at work, but if they get caught then both Sims run out of the office naked. Now, that could be a lesson you don’t want to learn in the real world!

20. What can you tell us about the community features and sharing options players can use to build and share with their friends and with the larger Sims fanbase?

The Sims 3 players will have unprecedented freedom to customize the look of their game. A player with creative aspirations and no technical training or knowledge can make changes to the look of just about everything in their Sims life, right in the game. We call the technology Create A Style. In the past, fans made their creations outside of the game and then shared them on the exchange. We wanted to give the power that our artists have to the players.

The process of getting creations online is easier than ever. The Sims 3 launcher helps you install and manage custom content so that you don’t have to hunt around for directories or anything like that.

Finally, The Sims 3 community is completely new and there are some incredible tools, including a web-based video editing tool so that players can make movies from the videos they capture in the game.

21. As in The Sims 2, throwing parties is all the rage in The Sims 3. What are the different party types available depending on your career?

There are new party types in The Sims 3, but there are also some pretty cool locations to party with your friends. If you want to call your friends down to the beach and set up an afternoon BBQ, you can do that. Break out your guitar, turn on the radio, call up some friends and chill out. If you’re a rising politician, you can throw campaign fundraisers to build up your campaign fund as well.

22. Please give us an update on the game. What aspects is the team working on at the moment?

A lot of our time is spent playing and perfecting the open, living neighborhood and all of the gameplay that takes place there. In The Sims 3, we’re opening up the other half of life that players have always wanted to explore. What happens when you’re not stuck at home? It’s been a huge undertaking for us, but we’re very happy with the way it’s working out.

One example of the work we’re doing is the AI behind the people who live in your town. You control a household of Sims, but all of the other Sims in your town live and develop as you play. It takes an impressive amount of tuning to make this work just right. I think that people are used to seeing lots of other characters in a game world, but they’ve never seen a game world where every character is being motivated by unique personality traits and motives like The Sims 3. Another thing we’re working on is a feature called Create A Style which allows players to customize just about everything, from clothing to furniture to cars. We want players to be able to change the game like our artists can. The interface is really powerful and we want to make it perfect.

23. We're sure The Sims 2 community was very vocal about what it wanted from a sequel. What were the most popular requests that fans made for The Sims 3?

We're all fans of The Sims, and a lot of our team worked on The Sims and The Sims 2, so player feedback is built into our team. We also spend a lot of time interacting with members of The Sims community around the world. I don't think the game would be what it is without The Sims community. Fans have always wanted more interaction with a community of Sims. If you think about it, The Sims is the most detailed depiction of contemporary life to be presented in a work of fiction, but half of life was missing. In The Sims 3, we’ll let you explore the other half of life that happens when you are not at home.

24. We understand that the game features a continuous neighborhood and no loading times, but there won't be multiple neighborhoods as in The Sims 2. Tell us a bit about this decision. How will it change what different players do with the game once they get it in their hands?

There is one neighborhood, and it is pretty amazing. We’ve been working exclusively on this one neighborhood, Sunset Valley for the last few years. There have been many versions of it. Some ideas were scrapped, while others survived for a while until we had a better idea. This town is bigger and richer than anything we’ve made before. We really wanted to make something that would blow people away, and we wanted to do more with the town than we have in the past.

No two towns will ever be the same after one generation in The Sims 3. As I mentioned, every Sim has complete AI throughout their life. You’ll see people grow up, go to school, fall in love, get married, get jobs, move out, have families, grow old and pass away. It’s also possible to change all of the Sims in your town, so you can fill the town with whoever you like…celebrities, yourself, your friends, characters from your favorite show, favorite band or sports team, or anyone you can imagine!

25. As players create their Sims, they will now be able to select five personality traits that will help define their dispositions. How will this new system let players create characters with more-defined personalities...and more importantly, how will it do a better job of letting players re-create the personalities of themselves, their friends, or their favorite celebrities? What are some extreme personalities we'll see in The Sims 3?

There are over 70 personality traits that players can choose from. When you choose traits they are represented as a simple word that you might use to describe someone you know, so it’s easy to understand what they will do in the game. What makes traits so powerful is that they can change the game in profound ways. You’ll see different behaviors, interactions, advantages and goals depending on the traits that your Sims have. Just to name a few examples of more extreme traits, you can let your Sims be Insane, Evil, Kleptomaniac, Paranoid, Brave, Hates Kids, Genius and more...

26. We understand that every Sim has a dream that can be fulfilled as part of a lifetime achievement goal. What are some examples of lifetime achievements, and what happens when you reach it? What if you fail?

Just like people, The Sims have wishes. Some of their wishes are really big and we call those Lifetime Wishes. A Lifetime Wish is a really big achievement like becoming a rock star, raising a huge family, getting rich or becoming an astronaut. Along the way to achieving your lifetime wish, you’ll fulfill smaller wishes. As you fulfill a Sim’s wishes, you earn points that can be used to purchase special Traits and reward objects that are generally hilarious and awesome. There really is no way to fail in the game, but you can make some really funny things happen if you want to cause trouble for your Sims.

27. How much dedication does it take to reach the pinnacle of your respective career ladder? Are there any shortcuts to the top?

If you play your cards right, you might be able to get to the top of more than one career in a lifetime, but it would take a lot of hard work and your Sim would need the right traits. Workaholic Sims will be happy if they live at the office, so that might be a good way to go. There are definitely some shortcuts, and your Sims will get Opportunities from time to time that give them a boost.

28. Plenty of open-ended moral choices will pop up in The Sims 3, like giving you the choice to skim off the top of campaign contributions in the political career. Give us some more examples of these moral choices depending on your career. What are the consequences of such decisions?

The game is full of moral choices. Some of them are presented to the player as career Opportunities. I don’t want to give too much away on this subject. A lot of the moral choices in the game come from the social simulator, and this is where the game becomes so compelling. A lot of players use the game to explore moral questions in their own lives. It’s sort of a “what if” simulator…

29. What can you tell us about the community features and sharing options players can use to build and share with their friends and with the larger Sims fanbase?

The Sims 3 players will have unprecedented freedom to customize the look of their game. A player with creative aspirations and no technical training or knowledge can make changes to the look of just about everything in their Sims life, right in the game. We call the technology Create A -a-Style. In the past, fans made their creations outside of the game and then shared them on the exchange. We wanted to give the power that our artists have to the players.

The process of getting creations online is easier than ever. The Sims 3 launcher helps you install and manage custom content so that you don’t have to hunt around for directories or anything like that.

Finally, The Sims 3 community is completely new and there are some incredible tools, including a web-based video editing tool so that players can make movies from the videos they capture in the game.

30. As in The Sims 2, throwing parties is all the rage in The Sims 3. What are the different party types available depending on your career?

There are new party types in The Sims 3, but there are also some pretty cool locations to party with your friends. If you want to call your friends down to the beach and set up an afternoon BBQ, you can do that. Break out your guitar, turn on the radio, call up some friends and chill out. If you’re a rising politician, you can throw campaign fundraisers to build up your campaign fund as well.


source :http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk

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PLAYSTATION3 Blu-ray Bundles Ship to Stores

Electronic Theatre has today received Electronic Theatre Imageconfirmation that the new PLAYSTATION3 Blu-ray Console Bundles are available to ship to retail stores nationwide.

Although a few stores had offered the units previously, it is today that SONY have made stocks generally available for stores in the UK wishing to stock the new bundles. Alongside the recent LittleBigPlanet and stand-alone 80GB model bundles, the new packs contain an 80GB PLAYSTATION3 Console (including one DUALSHOCK3 Controller), a Blu-ray Remote and either I Am Legend or 300 on Blu-ray Disc, with a Recommended Retail Price of £299.

The new packages are comparable in value to the aforementioned LittleBigPlanet console bundle, however many UK stockists are offering their own added-value bundles in anticipation of the busy retail season, often offering an extra game – notably either MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 or FallOut 3 - within the package for the same price.


source :http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk

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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Flower, Sun and Rain

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Flower, Sun and Rain

Grasshopper Manufacture and CEO Suda51 have established quite a reputation over the past few years, and notably so in Europe. With only a handful of titles released being Electronic Theatre Imagerecognisably a work of the designer’s self-indulgent eccentricity, most notably Killer7 and No More Heroes, it’s undoubted that the company’s UK connections have done a good job of raising awareness amongst the general public. Capcom can take the congratulations deserved for creating a coffee table name in videogaming, but it’s a publisher that’s relatively ignored by gamers amongst the hustle-and-bustle of the constant stream of AAA productions from large publishers that have managed to permanently suture Suda51 to the back of gamers’ minds.

Rising Star Games have a level of credibility here at Electronic Theatre. Though, as with every publisher, we’ve had a fair share of low-lights, the company, through it’s parent companies Marvelous Interactive and Bergsala AB, seem to have knack for bringing titles to Europe – and in particular, the UK - which would most likely be overlooked otherwise. Flower, Sun and Rain is a culmination of these two industry billboards. The title is a NintendoDS remake of a PlayStation2 Suda51 production released back in 2001, which surely would not have got-off-the-ground had the designer not reached the level of credibility he know has, and has arrived in the UK courtesy of Rising Star Games, which undoubtedly was the game’s only avenue for a release in these parts, and had Rising Star Games not been around to push the game, it’s unlikely UK gamers would ever have had the opportunity to ever play it, bar importing.

repeatedly draw attention to. Casting the player in a perspective not normally associated with videogames, working alongside the protagonist – who often directly addresses the player with a post-modern series of insults and negative commentary on the game’s own recognisable flaws – during problem solving activities, and assuming control of the Character Model during third-person exploration sequences, the player find themselves alongside our hapless hero, Sumio Mondo as he tackles the threat of a bomb planted on a plane by terrorists, and attempts to find the secrets hidden within Hotel Flower, Sun and Rain. The

However, through all of this deserved recognition, for hard work and creativity above all, there’s still nothing to guarantee that Flower, Sun and Rain has been worth all the effort. As stated in Electronic Theatre’s previous In-depth Review of a Rising Star Games release, Dungeon Maker, the publisher have such a packed line-up for the fourth quarter of 2008, there’s bound to be at least one disappointment, surely?

The world of Flower, Sun and Rain is a very surreal one, as should be expected from productions with Suda51 at the helm. The title’s tropical envisioning of humanity lays somewhere between Twin Peaks and Brass Eye - effortlessly witty and incalculably mad – and liberally borrows fromElectronic Theatre Image Groundhog Dog, a fact to which the game isn’t ashamed to

third-person movement is controlled in similar fashion to that of Super Mario64 DS, with a dial demonstrating movement speed and direction on the Touch Screen, and the player’s on-screen avatar moving in conjunction with the Stylus movements across the dial. More traditional D-Pad based controls are also available, and generally easier to use.

The bulk of the game is a series of clues and answers. More than just the right-key-for-the-right-lock puzzles made famous by the Resident Evil series, Flower, Sun and Rain’s puzzles are clues to solve a riddle; setting a scene of realistic detective work as opposed to simply working through the conundrums the designer has created for you. The abstract nature of the puzzles will annoy many – each answer is limited to a resolution of a series of numbers – and often their lack of cerebral challenge is noted by the game itself. Occasional puzzles, however, are far to abstract for any realistically enjoyable challenge. The puzzles and their arrangement may not be as well balanced and presented as the likes of Professor Layton and the Curios Village, but it certainly could be noted as an inspiration for such titles. A series of waves with crashing highs and tedious lows; with an exception to the brain training software wave, never have a player’s power of examination, deduction, and algebra been under such stringent observation. Thankfully, then, the game incorporates its own notepad. Utilising the Touch Screen players may make their own notes, and recall them later when required.

The game develops some genuinely interesting characters that are easily on a par with any of Suda51’s later work, and even rivals some of the industries’ finest. Havens for uniquely insightful characterisation such as BioShock, FallOut 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV are often cited as utilising the power of the Current-Generation to delve deeper into believable characterisation than was ever possible before, and yet here, a seven year old PlayStation2 game remade for an even less technicallyElectronic Theatre Image capable machine has been able to draw figures just as respectable. Perhaps it’s at this point that the discussion of the distance between imagination and processing power be raised – and you could bet this time, Nintendo would be even more vocal.

Flower, Sun and Rain includes many small touches – both in design and presentation – that will familiar to fans of Suda51’s more recent works. The self-referential humour and eccentric characters have already been noted, yet even the continuation arrows during text sections are exactly the same as the command arrows seen in No More Heroes. Subtly divided into chapters – of which, upon completion the charismatic hotel owner, Edo Macalister, brings you up-to-speed in preparation for the next – the title is well catered to a handheld console.

Flower, Sun and Rain features a combination of live footage, pre-rendered Cut-Scenes and an almost Cel-Shaded quality with its basic polygon models, and, for the most part, is of surprisingly good quality for the NintendoDS. The occasional model lacks the required amount of detail to simply be believable within the world that has been established, which is confusing when the game features a distance of detail in it’s environments previously unheard of on the system. The game features some varied soundscapes, mostly of a very good quality, along with an Animal Crossing­-esque Babelesque speech.

Flower, Sun and Rain may be a slight disappointment given the highly respectable nature of Grasshopper Studio’s output in recent years; however, if this is that weak link in Rising Star Games’ fourth quarter line-up that Electronic Theatre has been expecting, things certainly could have been a lot worse. Along with the likes of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Growlanser: Heritage of War and Rumble Roses XX, Flower, Sun and Rain is the type of Japanese curiosity that the UK audience is rarely treated to, and so will establish it’s place in the videogame market very quickly, but is unlikely to attract any new fans for Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda51.


source : http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk

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Friday, November 14, 2008

Valkyria Chronicles


Regulars here at Electronic Theatre may well have recognised our strong belief in SEGA’s credentials throughout 2008. Branded as a publisher on the way up, the Electronic Theatre Imagequality of SEGA’s title’s may have varied wildly – with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk: The Official Videogame being particular lowlights, and Viking: Battle For Asgard and SEGA Superstar Tennis raising the bar in their respective fields – but the fact that they have devised a strong portfolio of titles across a multitude of formats could not be argued. And that line-up can now be seen to continue into 2009, with MADWORLD, Aliens: Colonial Marines, The Conduit, SEGA Mega-Drive Ultimate Collection and Phantasy Star Portable all arriving in Europe within the first few months.

Before SEGA’s 2009 train starts running, however, we have two remaining big-budget SEGA titles to run-out 2008; Valkyria Chronicles and Sonic Unleashed. Sonic Unleashed, as has now become the nature of SEGA’s mascot, is a multi-format title, whereas Valkyria Chronicles is that most elusive of beasts: a third-party PLAYSTATION3 exclusive.

The game depicts a fantasy continent, known as Europa, with two warring factions – The Empire and The Federation - and your nation of Gallia stuck in the middle. However, conversely to recent game tradition with titles such as FallOut 3, Fracture and Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty, this vision is more comparable to Europe than the US. A breath of fresh air, to say the least.

The title is set in the 1930’s, and casts the player as the day-dreaming hero to be, Welkin. With the most direct comparisons being drawn to the likes Electronic Theatre Imageof the Advance Wars and Fire Emblem series’ and Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command, Valkyria Chronicles is a Tactical Strategy Game, but one that focuses it’s attention directly on breaking the mould.

The title is divided into Episodes, each filling a space in the player’s History Book. Episodes may just be that – a Cut-Scene for the player to view – but also contain Operations when required by the storyline. An inventive means of unfolding the complex plot at a leisurely rate, although considerably unintuitive for those not affluent with videogame conventions, the History Book also allow you to flip back through the pages and replay previous events. The combat is a juxtaposition of turn-based strategy and real-time action, known as Operations. Choosing your units individually while in Command Mode – on a top-down field map slightly resembling that featured in of Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, with each unit using an allocated amount of Command Points – the player then enters a third-person Action Mode in which the battle takes place. Once the player’s Action Point Meter for the unit is depleted – having been utilised for movement – the player can attack by pressing the R1 Button and selecting their target. Each unit may only attack once (unless under special rules), and the unit’s Action Mode then ends. However, each unit may be used more than once in Action Mode, requiring further expenditure of a player’s Command Points. The player returns to Command Mode, and once all the Command Points are used, the phase ends and the opponent begins. Once both player and opponent’s phases have ended, the Turn is over, and fewer Turns in a victorious battle will provide the player with more Experience and items.

The game presents a detailed battlefield in Action Mode, with representations of line-of-sight, hidden units, target arcs and reload delays all adopting their own conventions that heighten the atmosphere more than any fog-of-war system before it. The game demands Electronic Theatre Imagelayer-upon-layer of tactical manoeuvring from the player, and are vastly more congruent with the punishing nature of war than the unkempt hair and boyish looks of its protagonist may suggest. Occasional difficulty spikes are disappointing at first, but inevitably only add to the reward upon successfully completing an Operation.

The game’s rich anime styling has a buoyancy similar to Dungeon Maker, although, with the power of the PLAYSTATION3, is effortlessly more attractive. A pencil sketching effect is a simple but effective addition giving the game the feel of a living sketch book. Despite some large issues with the localisation for lip-synching, the animation is almost flawless. The booming triumphant orchestral score is similar to many games of Valkyria Chronicles’ ilk and in-particular brings to mind KOEI’s criminally underrated BladeStorm: The Hundred Year’s War.

SEGA’s plate is certainly full right now, but clearly that doesn’t mean that don’t have the time to lead by example. Valkyria Chronicles manages to adapt a template almost perfected on handheld for the home console, in a more successful first strike than those struggling with the transition from home console to handheld. Valkyria Chronicles is one of the most unique and interesting releases currently available on the PLAYSTATION3 and, while it certainly won’t appeal to a large percentage of the system’s current installed userbase, those in need of some tactically demanding gameplay have a new champion.

powered : www.electronictheatre.co.uk
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