Review: Audiosurf

Holy macaroni! What if suddenly, your Windows Media Player or iTunes visualizer came to life?!? All those strange spirally lines and colors, strobes, all flashing and inducing epilepsy and pointlessness suddenly became a video game?!?

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Well then, you'd get Audiosurf! It's like WipeOut, without the stressful break-necking speeds, but with all the fancy colors and lights, and most importantly, with your music collection. The game has you racing down a procedurally created track made out of the rhythm and melody of your music tracks. Want to take a smooth, easy drive with John Mayer's No Such Thing? Or want to go crazy and speedy with Dragonforce's Through the Fire and the Flames? Well you can. In fact, the game's hook is that you can play any music track that exists in the entire universe (provided it is DRM-free, of course).

The objective is to score points by hitting blocks as you hurtle/crawl down a race track that swerves, and bumps according to the various high and low points in a song. Avoid the grey blocks, and hit the colored ones. It's as simple as that, and then if you're good enough, you upload it on to a worldwide leader-board, and you can have bragging rights.

The fun comes in playing all your favorite songs, and not being limited by lame tracklists as those put out by Guitar Hero. But unlike the gazillion-dollars generating latter famous music game, Audiosurf doesn't require as much skill in the way of finger dexterity, but more of lightning fast reactions. The fun also comes in the light shows the software puts on uniquely for each individual song you choose. There's a variety of race vehicles to choose from which essentially adds a little variation to the game's fundamentals, like cars that can save blocks to line up for points later, or shooting grey blocks, etc. Yes, you can tell that I'm struggling to make this sound at all exciting.

Which brings me to a strong concern. The game works well when played in short 3-4 minute sessions, on a whim, in between other more important gaming titles, or at break from work. And when you want to LOOK, not just listen to your music. But beyond that, the game has little sustainable value. Sure you can tell your friends that you rode the Dragonforce wave and scored some serious points on Audiosurf, but then some other dude with a console can easily say he did the same on Guitar Hero Expert, and the crowd will go nuts for that. This game's not big enough for people to care about, whether you score highly or not. So what's the game left with, other than you entertaining and playing by your lonesome self.

The graphics are pretty nifty, and flashy. Watching bursts of light and fireworks, or green maelstroms brewing in the pitch black outer-space background as you go over a hill or take a dip is surprisingly most soothing on the eyes. It is also good that the game can run well on any system. In fact, I highly recommend this title even to those who can't tell a difference between a keyboard and a Wii remote. It's a really simple game to pick up, harking back to the ol' days of racing games which were just wire-frame minimalist tracks and a square representing a car.

Also, Audiosurf's got a sweet deal with Valve in that they've got the entire Orange Box soundtrack (i.e. Portal's genius "Still Alive") thrown in, so you can hear GLaDoS go "this is a triumph" whilst you put pedal to metaphorical metal. But only if you are a fan of Valve's games anyway. If not, you can always play Britney Spear's Toxic, and it'd be just as fun... I think - I have not tried with that song personally.

All in all, a smart idea, deft execution, and very attractive package. Great in short bursts. But honestly, how much of this will you play before you'd rather pick up a plastic guitar and pretend you're Joe Satriani? At least that game makes you LOOK like you're doing something productive.

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Thinky stuff: A thinky blog about thinky things in games

Whilst I try to formulate the words to what I think about Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age, and Left 4 Dead 2, here's something for you people to chew on.

Quite an interesting site if you ask me: gausswerks

A game design guy, Jack Monahan, takes games that are either already released or have become vaporware and talks about potential ways he could make them better. And boy, is he making them better. Amidst all the interesting texty text about concepts and visual design, and game-play, etc. he peppers it with concept arts of his own for the games, and he's got some ideas that I think even the game devs should take into consideration.

Particular noteworthy posts includes one where he talks architecture and space in a level, and its implications in Left 4 Dead and the other is a "What If?" post about one of the earliest designs of Half-Life starring Ivan the Biker, and "what if" that got release instead of what we all know today as the greatest game on earth (notice my references to Valve games, that's because I heart Valve like it's the schiz).

Anyhoo, the site can be found upon clickity clack of said link.

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Review: Sacred 2

Whilst we wait with bated breath for the release of Diablo 3 in the "not-so-distance-future", or 2011 at the earliest, says Blizzard, we can fill the void with other RPGs like Sacred 2 or Torchlight. I've played my fair share of RPGs from Neverwinter Night 2 to Titan Quest, and now Sacred 2. I can safely say, Germans are undoubtedly the kings of immersion.

Where to begin with this massive RPG? To introduce Sacred 2; it is the sequel to the highly acclaimed original which promises to build on the first's massive world ripe for exploration, deep action gameplay, and just plain mind-blowing graphics. Take note however that other than dabbling a toe into Sacred 1, I haven't really played it, so this review is entirely based on the game's own merits, rather than a comparison to what's come before.

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As with any action-RPG, all you really want to do is hack and slash your way through places, grab all the loot you can, and have a final showdown with some mega boss. Who cares about a story? Sacred 2 continues that tradition with some flimsy tale of a world powered by a force called T-Energy, and it has come to be in the hands of bad people, who will harness it for their megalomaniac tendencies. You won't even need to worry about all the extra text that comes with the quests you pick up, just read the objective: go here, kill these number of people, pick up your reward. THE END. Rinse, wash, and repeat. But Sacred 2 has to be praised for trying to hide this mindlessness as best as it can with a story at all, because if it really was all about the next level, and the next best weapon, then the game wouldn't be able to sustain people's interests as well as it does. It also does the compulsive thing, with a tonne of quests to get lost in. You'll rack up a list of things to do, and it's just so satisfying to check each one off that you'll soon be afflicted with the "just-one-more" addiction.


And by gosh, the journey! There is an overwhelming awesome high-five sense of adventure, a great feeling of exploring new lands, stocking up in safe and welcoming towns, and then heading out into the wilderness again. There are plenty of distinct environments as is expected of an RPG of this scale, from coastlines to highlands, underground caves, strange other-worlds, and plenty a grassy knoll, raining down hell on monsters like giant scorpions, your standard wolves, orcs, ogres, dragons and even a mega-sized octopus (gross). So what's new you ask? Seeing as this sounds just like any other RPG that's come before.

The hook is in the level of immersion the game brings with its graphics and attention to detail. You'll have visited plenty a town in your lifetime as a role-player, but nothing will prepare you for the scale of the villages and cities in Sacred 2. All of them are positively bristling with life, people ambling about their daily business, kids playing in the streets. There's a day and night cycle too which bring about interesting variations in the enemies that come out to play at different times, as well the fact that all the people in town aren't out at night, which only means you have to barge into their homes for your selfish trading needs. It's just like those other massive dark fantasy games Witcher, or Drakensang, or Risen (is that Russian?); the Germans know how to make you feel like you're truly living in some fantasy world as opposed to visiting "faux towns" with anti-social stationary robot traders passing off for poor excuses of humans (yes, Borderlands, I mean you). There are also books ala Oblivion with much texty to read to get a feel of the world's darkly humorous lore.


The graphics are profoundly exquisite. The stones on the walls are individually textured, steel armor glistens in the sun, and water shimmers. The grass sway in the wind... OK that's enough. In fact, when you zoom down to ground level (as opposed to standard isometric perspective), the game could be played like a third-person RPG with no loss in detail. Everything looks so pretty and shiny, it's like Oblivion all over again. It's such a joy to watch, and all the visceral violence is tasty as the blows connect, blood spurt, spells go pew pew, and bodies flop over in rag-doll fashion. To put the sheer shininess of the graphics into perspective, there's an installation DVD alone for "Epic" graphics setting. Not installing that only gets you up to "High" (lol).

Sacred 2's game-play also stands apart from other RPGs. Whilst many others have to be called Diablo-clones in the way they familiarize the player with "D-styled" inventories/skill-trees/loot/etc. system, Sacred 2 truly goes in a different direction with very unconventional classes and skill-management. Firstly, the classes:

You can play a Seraphim, Shadow Warrior, High Elf, Dryad, Temple Guardian, and Inquisitor. "Whut?" you say. They are the most outlandish bunch of heroes I've ever seen, but nevertheless prove to be more interesting to play than your standard mage/warrior/ranger, and it isn't easy to simplify them into those archetypes either. As for the skills-levelling system, instead of letting you choose which skills to upgrade upon level-up, you have to first FIND each of the skills, from killing stuff and in chests. So that means what skills (or combat arts) you are outfitted with is random, and you hope to the heavens that the next one you pick up is really the one you want.


I generally didn't find it a major problem, a lot of the skills I needed were eventually found, but when playing in a multiplayer game with other party members, it kinda' sucks when some players will be luckier at getting their skills sooner than others. You can always purchase upgrades at some shop, but who the heck wants to do that when you're supposed to be getting them for free?! Odd.

Be warned, even the most experienced of RPG players will have trouble at first with Sacred 2's very different set-up. Even just arming your character with weapons is a different procedure then you're expecting with most RPGs. The map takes some getting used to, the way it marks quests, but once you've picked up everything including the levelling system, the game is smooth sailing all the way. And in fact, makes perfect sense too. Just very unconventionally.

Other than that minor niggle, playing around with the skills is a helluva lot of fun. There are some fancy spells, and as the game progresses, you do have a clear sense that you are becoming more and more powerful. Combat is fun, and never feels like a chore. Of course, the enemies are no walk in the park and they'll take some ingenuity beyond continually bashing your left and right mouse buttons to take down. Death is treated quite simply in this game, you'll return to a respawn checkpoint with nary a loss to your persons save experience. Sometimes I feel that RPGs should do as Diablo 2 did and make you lose some of your cash and loot, that way it's more punishing, and make you think twice about rushing into fights.


Customizations don't end there. Not only do these heroes look cosmetically unique but they each have a special item of their own which can be upgraded. The Seraphim has wings to wear, the Temple Guardian, a robotic Anubis-god lookalike, has to be powered by a battery, amongst other things. You can ride horses, but that's lame when each class can upgrade soon enough to their unique mounts! Treks through expansive lands can be quickened and you look kickass.

And the loot! There's no end to it in this game. There's a lot of shiny-grab stuff for the compulsive plunderer, lots of stats to adorn weapons and armor with. Although, it still can't beat the magnitude and worth as the loot found in Diablo 2; there's no OMG I GOT THIS as the other awesome RPG compels you to scream, but it's still pretty intense. More so than Titan Quest at least, that game was so underwhelming with the treasure.

Whilst the game in its entire design is robust, and have little in the way of flaws that break the game, there are two things that will annoy the hell out of gamers. First, there seems to be a follower-bug, in that when you pick up escort-quests, you'll have at your heels your own dude/duddette who will follow you to the ends of the earth till you get them wherever they need to be. Say however you choose not do to that quest, well then, they'll follow you forever. It's funny too that in the thick of battle, enemies ignore them completely. Little kids you are supposed to reunite with parents unwillingly become useless squires to your hero. The little shits don't even help carry items. Geeze.


Second issue was the voice-acting. Sound was fine when it was environmental or effects, but by gosh were the voice-acting horribly camp. They sounded like Germans trying to sound American. Also, whilst most RPGs see fit to keep your characters silent as they cut up their foes, Sacred 2's heroes seem to have verbal diarrhea. Every other little rat you kill, the Shadow Warrior would go "Thanks for blood!" or "Do you know how to die?!?" And that's just him! But with the tongue-in-cheek humor peppered over everything from grave stones that mark the names of the game's developers, to quests that are just absurdly funny, it all manages to put a smile on your face, and that's a whole more joy than something overly serious, hell-bent on killing you.

So all in all, should you play this game? If you want a time-consuming offline MMO-like experience, with a tonne of things to do and see, then this game is for you. The universe is well written. An other-worldy place, a strange juxtaposition of fantasy with a bit of sci-fi. It is also more Neverwinter Nights with the slower pacing than Diablo or Titan Quest, but still gets the hyper-excessive clicking of action-RPGs just right. If you like the adventure more than the grind, then this is it. The graphics is unlike any RPG before, and Diablo 3 better be a looker otherwise this may well be the best looking of them all.

PS. There is an expansion, "Ice & Blood" just released, which I haven't played yet.

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Thinky stuff: The kill-joy for all video gamers in Australia - The Classification Review Board and a Politician

Below is an opinion piece I wrote for a university assignment, in the vein of something to be published in a newspaper. I decided to post it here because it's games-related and of course, my thoughts on Australia's games classification system - a relevant issue for you guys to understand. It's lengthy, hope you like it.

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Early in October, gamers rejoiced when the ban was lifted on the soon-to-be-released sequel to Australia’s favorite zombie video game, Left 4 Dead 2. Prior to this, Left 4 Dead 2 was refused classification because the three-person outfit running Australia’s entire Review Board were perturbed by all the virtual blood, guts, and gore on display. Valve, the game’s developers resubmitted a version of the game that had all the violence taken out so even 15 year olds could play.

Good for 15 year olds. But what about the 18 year olds? Or 30 year olds? What about the people who are mature and old enough to know that violence in reality is never a good thing, but could be fantasized in the realms of entertainment as a cathartic outlet for our pent-up animalistic rage?

Whilst it is admirable that these three valiant defendants of all that is pure and innocent in the world look out for the little ones who may supposedly turn to guns and drugs because of video games, they are in turn preventing the possibility for games to mature as an expressive artistic medium, and is costing developers and consumers alike. Furthermore, the Review Board appears illogical in the public’s eyes when just a year earlier, they allowed the release of the first Left 4 Dead with little fanfare, and no censorship. That game was far more violent than the censored version of Left 4 Dead 2.

The recommendation this writer suggests, something the public has demanded for so long, is the introduction of an R18+ classification on top of the current MA15+. In doing so, the children can be protected and the adults can have their thought-provoking, uncensored life-in-art video games fun.

But the final boss to be defeated, standing between all Australian video gamers and their ultimate prize of gaming freedom is the South-Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson.

He is the sole obstacle, the last of Australia’s attorneys-general deliberately holding out against a necessary unanimous decision to implement a new classification system that includes the R18+ rating.

His argument for opposing the R18+ rating is one that has been heard before all over the world by paranoids such as the infamous and now-disbarred attorney Jack Thompson. Atkinson argues violent games “increase the risk of children and vulnerable adults being exposed to damaging images and messages” and that as video games are “interactive… they have a much greater influence than viewing a movie does.”

Sounds familiar? That’s because every conservative government/regime/tyrant makes video games scapegoats to the violence in their countries/state/district. The Columbine shooters were avid fans of violent computer games, and just recently, a drunken father in Texas allegedly got into a spat with his son over a missing video game and shot him.

The argument to prove the video game dissenters wrong is that countless scientists, psychologists, and sociologists around the world have worked to prove whether video games provokes violence, and all results conclude that there is no empirical evidence to suggest it does. In fact, evidence has shown that there were deeper issues at stake in each of these horror stories; for instance, lest we forget, the Texan father was drunk at the time he killed his son, had prior criminal history, and has been abusive before. The Columbine shooters were under the influence of drugs that brought about their psychotic tendencies. Also, maybe, just maybe, the availability of guns to anybody in America might have something to do with all this death. To simply say that games are the root problem would be shallow and illogical.

But returning to the main argument, the absence of an R18+ rating would not be desirable, even to Atkinson, because logically, such a classification would indeed shield young minds from all the violent, sex-crazed, drug-fuelled material. In this year alone, those 15 year olds we seek to protect have been playing games which involve shooting innocent civilians in the head or engaging in unsavory activities like drug-running – all quite legally. Because of the current rating system, teenagers could get their hands on mature titles like Grand Theft Auto 4 and Fallout 3, exactly the opposite of what Atkinson wants.

This is what can be predicted to happen by having an R18+ rating: for one, we won’t be the butt of jokes from other countries as to our backwardness; two, people have to show identification to verify age upon purchase of games thereby keeping the kids away from the adult stuff. And if Atkinson worries that in homes the games will end up in the hands of the children of gamers anyway, there is such a thing as a “parental lock” to deny them access. Finally, everyone will be happy to play video games the way they were made to be played.

One thing good has come out of this Left 4 Dead 2 debacle though; people are talking about the classification issue again. And hopefully Atkinson will see that imposing his personal view on an entire country, no matter how noble the intentions, is an abuse of his position. This writer waits with bated breath for the day when positive change comes, until then, there are zombies to kill. All this anger at the Classification Review Board needs to be let out somewhere.

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News: Blog back! Updates!

Yes, apologies for the hiatus folks. The real world with all its responsibilities calls. But things are winding down at university, so I can get back to writing more about the thing I love most - video games!

I've got a lot of reviews of games I've recently played lined up, from The Killing Floor, to Sacred 2, Tales of Monkey Island, Audiosurf, and the two big 'uns, Modern Warfare 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.

Also, I guess this would be the perfect time to mention that Left 4 Dead 2 is being let into Australia, except grossly censored. Bodies disappear and there's no dismemberment - which is as good as not playing at all, if you ask me. I managed to get my hands on an uncensored demo though, and I have to say, this is one title not to be missed if you can get it unadulterated. The larger variety of guns, interesting maps and new characters, and literally overall feel of the game is ten times better than the first one. Valve has really outdone themselves this time.

But it's got heavy competition for shooter of the year from the explosive blockbuster extravaganza Modern Warfare 2. And boy, was that an awesome game. So stay tuned!

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Review: The Killing Floor

The Killing Floor, an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod-turned-retail game by Tripwire Interactive, is a cooperative survival horror shooter, with a definite emphasis on survival horror. Where there's been an onslaught of cooperative shooters in recent years like Left 4 Dead or Borderlands highly polished and with a sense of direction, The Killing Floor harks back to the days of Painkiller and Serious Sam where it's just all about the violent shoot-fest.

You and up to 5 friends are tasked with the clean-up of London after being over-run by horrifying creatures, grotesque, disfigured and with a definite taste for human flesh. There's no need to try and understand the story because there really isn't one. There's no point A to B, all the maps are open spaces with various buildings or rooms dotted about for players to shack up in. Enemies come in waves, each wave bringing a larger number of monsters as well as the monster types getting more outlandish and lethal.

After each wave, there is a limited time for purchase of ammo and new weapons at a strange vendor that magically appears around the map, and conveniently disappears before the start of each new wave. Essentially, the game is centered around surviving each wave to dash to the new shop spot before doing it all over again.


The gameplay is decent enough. Tripwire Interactive, better known for their highly acclaimed WW2-mod Red Orchestra has enough experience to make this shooter pack a punch. All the guns are your military-standard shotguns, rifles, and pistols, as well as the necessary flamethrower and bazooka for surviving a monster apocalypse. All in all, there's enough variety of guns to suit the different styles of shooting gamers have, from up close and personal to the sniper types.

The gore is awesome, head-shots pop monsters like watermelon and guts get everywhere. Though, one feature has players up in arms and crying the removal of: ZEDtime. At random points, the game sees fit to slow everything down to a crawl, ala John Woo's Hard-Boiled so that you can see all the flying bits and pieces, and monsters baring their fangs with all the more clarity. And so that you can precisely line up that next perfect shot. But it's stupid when your friend executes ZEDtime and you have to experience it too. When you're overwhelmed by monsters, and you're in the midst of reloading, why on earth would you need to see that in slow-motion? The game should either take it out completely or have the option to turn it off.


There's some semblance of team-play, but don't expect much; you can heal teammates, and yourself with a self-reloading healing pistol-thing or weld doors. There is also a persistent leveling system that leads to perks in specializations, from sharpshooter, to demo to field medic. Getting these is a simple case of continually using your weapon of choice until you become "proficient" in it. Although, I didn't see much use of specializations beyond ensuring your squad has a balance group of classes to take out enemies effectively.

The fundamental problem with the game comes with the knowledge that all this survival and monster-killing is futile. You know there's a wave after the one you've just barely survived. Eventually you will die. The monsters will get you in the end. And when you know this, it's no fun playing alone. But at least with friends, running from barn to barn in the dead of night, welding doors shut, or huddling in a corner in the church screaming and crying together, the experience is somewhat thrilling. Okay, so there is an end to all the waves, but getting there is no easy feat, and the final "boss" is a guy that shoots rockets out of one hand, and has a chaingun on the other. He can cloak to heal himself, and one shot is all it takes to kill you. Still fun, all the same.

The graphics are hardly 2009 and lacks polish which some people might be turned off by. But with what it has to go on, the visuals positively oozes the perfect pitch of atmosphere and lighting. From the grimy, grim corridors of the underground lab, to the sinister, strange mansion (see what I did there with alliteration), The Killing Floor feels more survival horror than even Resident Evil nowadays. Sound is bog-standard, you can hear the grunts and groans of monsters, and all the guns go bang-bang. There's horribly voice-acted battle chatter from the characters you play but the game is meant to be a little camp anyway.


At game-release, content seems to be on the thin-side, just a few different maps from an underground lab, open fields with farms, a mansion, office, and city space which gamers will no doubt play through all in one sitting. But DLCs have been promised, with one already released that adds new levels, weapons and other cool stuff.

In my honest opinion, that the game is still highly popular to this day surprises. It's a fun alternative to all the serious coop stuff like Left 4 Dead, a game for a good laugh and the occasional edge-of-seat thrill, but when it's highly repetitive with little direction, how long can it sustain gamers' interests? But maybe that's the point. Some shameless, brainless fun in between all the big titles that this year's end has to offer. A definite plus is in that up to 6 people can play together. Though, I still only recommend this if you have friends who will get it too.

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