Premise of the game is that you have to win a race, from the West Coast of the US to the East (San Francisco to New York). The game feels epic. Traditionally you would race a few laps in some circuit, until the next one, but now there is a sense of progression – a different one that the usual working your way up with crappy cars to get ones you want to drive. Instead you are thrown some awesome cars and get cracking on the action straight away, and the progression comes from beating opponents from your starting rank of 150th to be the 1st over the line in New York.

There is still the traditional “meat” of racing, you have to race some opponents to be first, or time trials, eliminations. All of these are cleverly disguised into the narrative of the story. I will use some terminology to better define what I’m trying to get at here. You have the RACE from SF to NY. You have sections of the RACE, each of which are beautifully designed to fit that area of the US using the Frostbyte2 engine (the same that powers Battlefield 3). These sections are what traditional racing games have, except it’s not a circuit, just a really long stretch of road which is great because it doesn’t feel like a chore doing the same track over and over. In typical sections, you need to win to keep in the race. Then to mix it up, you get a time-trial-esque section, called “making up time”, where you need to make up time in the race. All these adds to the atmosphere of progression, that you are aways against the clock. As you keep playing, you see the stats of your total time – one that is shared to your friends on Autolog so aren’t just playing single player, but also on a leaderboard against your friends.

Additionally to the narrative, you have QTE (quick timed events) sequences which add the story and give a nice breakup to the racing. In a way, NFS: TR is more of a racing story game than a pure racing game, and it’s something I enjoy a lot more than the traditional circuit racing games. The last NFS I really got into was the newer Hot Pursuit, the game had some nice progression and intense car chases, and TR brings this back in. It takes the best out of the older franchises and bundles it into a new package with a stronger narrative. Re-newable nitro and drift/slingshot are some powerups you can unlock as you progress. You don’t start each section choosing a car, you continue with whatever car you had. To change cars you need to find a gas station on the way – once again, adding to the atmosphere.

If you are fan of Arcade racers, check out NFS: The Run | metacritic

Having read (without spoilers) on how the ending was a big disappointment, it did not deter me from playing the game. I wanted to find out what all the noise was about, and I also was very curious on getting closure to the series. ME3 is a damn fine game, a bit more action orientated than the second in the series but definitely fun and well worth playing if you have played the previous games. If you haven’t, it’s best to read up on ME1 and get started on ME2 (personally I find ME1 too much of a RPG chore to play after starting ME2).

So like every fan out there, the ending was sort of abrupt and massive what the fuck just happened moment. It’s like being on a bullet train at 300 km/h and then stopping within a split second. It’s one of those endings that I really didn’t ‘get’ and within minutes of finishing, jumped onto the internet to check out what everyone was talking about. I don’t even know how my previous decisions actually change the ending (they don’t), and more-so I didn’t even understand what choices there were and the cutscene was really confusing. It feels like the ending was put together by a different team that was running out of team. It wasn’t the ending that fans were looking for because it seemed to contradict the whole “make decisions that matter” that ME had going for it.

This is pretty much how it ends

I came across an avid fan video from the awesome ME community, which explained why fans HATED the ending – which is pretty long at 20 minutes but totally covers everything (and more). It’s well worth having a look if you haven’t seen it here. To explain briefly – it was promised that were would be a definite end – where our decisions affected the ending and that everything we did in the past 3 games mattered. This would be the ultimate finale but what we were given were preset cutscenes, some of which contradicted the lore.

Then one of the related videos was the “Indoctrinated Theory”. It’s another 20 minutes, but a must watch if you are angry about the ending. You can see it here.

If “IT” Theory is true – I think it’s probably the best ending ever. It is such a clever twist built up during the game and an ending that went pretty much over everyone’s head – an ending so beautiful in it’s execution and complexity – of which was designed from the start. However it does seem like that this is just some fans scratching at something like a believer in a religious text. If the IT Theory is the intention of the Bioware writers, then they deserve all the apologies of every ME3 player who complained. I’m not holding my breath though,  they have announced some extended DLC in the future to rectify some of the outrage from players – so I hope it’s related to this theory.

I’m actually considering this to be the official ending to my journey and ignoring the DLC. I’m hoping that other developers do not follow in Bioware’s steps and create ending DLC – it would ruin the whole experience of having closure in game storytelling, which is the reason why gamers find games addictive and engaging. We want to be told a story, beginning, middle and end.

In short: Watch the Indoctrinated Theory video if you are angry at the ending.

For me, games that matter are Video Games. I don’t remember watching my football team play. I don’t remember drama in my friend’s relationships. They have no meaning to me. What matters to me are Video Games. These are games that have meaning to me (and to you). You create an emotional tie to the characters. You defend the game on blogs or with your friends. You might even replay it a couple of times because it was just that damn good. Years on, you look back and remember all the little things. These are games that matter.

When the gaming industry was in it’s infancy, the newness and innovation was game changing and this is what made games matter. Simple games like pong, pac-man, mario – in essence they are very simple game loops – but what they offered you was a whole new experience. I remember back, playing Mario World 3 – one of the great platformers of all time. But why did it matter?  Do games matter now?

To address why it mattered – Mario World 3 was just pure fun. It wasn’t new, but it was. It was vibrant, colourful, has some interesting features like yoshi and flying, minigames – it was a culmination of what Nintendo had learnt in the past. This was an era where storytelling wasn’t so important (save the princess, kill the bad guy), but gameplay was. Like all entertainment mediums, the gloss and the newness wears off and people start wanting content, they want to be told a story, and they want to feel emotions.

Do games matter now? That’s a great question, and something you should think about. Games are very much mainstream form of entertainment from casual mobile devices, to traditional hardcore consoles. We are in a time where there’s games being created all the time, and there’s a lot of noise. Before, in a simpler time, to find the diamond in the rough was easier – now we live in a time where we need to wade through kneedeep of rough to find that diamond – the game that matters. How memorable are the games you are playing now?

Are you attached to the characters?

Are you being told a story?

Are you making decisions that matter?

Games are making money and it seems like the gaming industry have shifted once again to find what monetises well. With my previous thought about Crytek, they can see that there is money to be made in mobile/casual gaming areas. Their game – I’ve even forgotten the name now. It’s not memorable. It’s a flick and roll game – nothing innovative or original. It’s just another game, in the sea of noise. Crysis 2 though, is something I remember. It might have not been the best shooter of the year, but there was memorable moments. The graphics was amazing, and some of the shooting sequences were epic. Storyline wasn’t a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and I vaguely remember it, but I do remember some of the boss fights, and cool things I discovered in Crysis. Is the game memorable? Somewhat.

I play a lot of Facebook games and always trying new ones out. Yet none of these have been memorable to me. These are games that do not matter. Do I care that I have turns to play? No. Do I care that my corps will wither in a few hours if I don’t log in? Not really. Do I have any attachment to the character I play? Nope. Why don’t I care about these games? Is it the platform? Is it the gameplay? Am I too hardcore? It’s something that the facebook gamespace needs to address – many games have a target audience, some of whom are not hardcore and monetise well – but are they making games for the right reason? Are they making games that matter, or games that are addictive?

I really believe in Games that matter. I’m not quite there yet in making these games, but that is something I’m working towards. Games like Diablo, Starcraft, Mass Effect, Deus Ex, Gears of War, Limbo, Bastion, Mario, System Shock 2, Doom, Quake, Planescape Torment, Skyrim, Monkey Islands, Little Big Planet, Shadowrun(07 – yes, great multiplayer)…. the list goes on.

And as the new facebook platform matures, I think we will see games that matter.

You are a boy trapped somewhere, and must escape. Escaping is not easy, there are things that want to stop you. All the puzzles are beautifully crafted and varied, some of which will involve timing and trial and error. After some of the more difficult puzzles, there’s a sense of achievement.

Taking control of the boy is easy, there is no complexity involved, you move, you jump, you action. In a way, I feel like it’s a darker version of sack boy.

The Mac version is coming soon – but can be emulated with the right know how. It is available on steam, and there is a demo. Well worth a play through. Gameplay video below.

Metacritic | Steam
 

The narrative seems dynamic and great device for storytelling. Every action is told in story form, and it compels you to play on. It merges the lines between online entertainment and storytelling further, if only there was a PDF at the end of the game. The level seems to be dynamically created to, as the level builds around you as you walk around (they’re not), but it adds to the story telling. It would be great if the levels are generated through random seeds, a different game each time you play. Whilst the narrative is a strong point, the storyline is not, but that’s okay, it’s only a sub-20 dollar indie game and it was a lot of fun.

Worth checking out.

I’ve got a lot of feelings invested in this game, mainly because during highschool, I would run back home from school, switch on my father’s computer and play a good session of the original title. It blew my mind. The first game didn’t have the greatest graphics, or UI, and the voice acting wasn’t great (from what I remember), but what stood out were the choices you could make, how the game progression forked at different points to the choices, how the knowledge you gain in-game really affected how you made the decisions in the first place: not only in dialogue choices in the game, but outside the game you thought about who your real friends were, and whom to trust. I think maybe nostalgia got the better of me, but nothing of the predecessor feels the same in the prequel.

Choices you make in DXHR doesn’t really matter. There’s only 2 memorable choices in this game, the first is when you pilot gets shot down; you have a choice to save her or to use the crash a decoy to sneak into the warehouse. The outcome of saving her is that later on when she comes to pick up the hostages, she shoots down the guys. If she dies, the ‘new’ pilot (who has no face or name) comes in, picks up the hostages, but leaves you to kill the guys. That’s it. For that emotional investment, it should come down to more than that. I personally felt bad the first time not saving her, so I reloaded it to save her, because I formed an emotional connection to the character. The other situation is where you have the option to install a new chip, which affects your augmentations later on in a boss battle. Without your superhuman strength, the fights quiet hard, I had to do the boss fight in an ingenius way (which is also why I love the game) by carrying a hacked turret through the elevator and place it before the fight, then quickly run and hide behind it while it decimates the boss.

Boss fights felt really out of place. You had no option but to fight one on one – no kill switches like in the first DX, and if you built your character for stealth or hacking, combat one to one isn’t going to be that fun. Luckily the game ships with an overpowered ability (Typhoon weapon system) which does massive AOE damage, just spam it and get some easy kills. The second boss fight was about 5 seconds long. I think this really breaks the game from being that 10/10 to at 8/10, boss fights seems like an afterthought and out of place. The third fight was incredibly difficult had it not been for that deliciously placed turret just before the fight, I would have no chance taking him one on one without augmentations (by that I mean typhoon).

Combat is standard, nothing shines here. I started playing as a non-lethal stealthy style – but you soon learn that there’s was never enough traq darts made and everyone carries rifles, so you are in abundance in rifle ammo. It’s a good design decision in a sense because you have to shoot who you want to take down non-lethally at range, keep in mind you pretty much have unlimited stunning power through one of your close combat moves. Towards the end of the game you get so many weapon choices which is never a bad thing, but carrying the weapon and ammo takes too much room, and you tend to favour guns you’ve had from the start and invested in upgrade with laser sights and what not. Unlike the first DX, the opportunities for sniping isn’t that great due to fact that I could never one shot one kill through the head on people with helmets (even though one traq dart to the head would take them out). The combat rifle upgrade with the homing bullets was pretty fun, and the laser rifle too as you can shoot it through grass and hit people as light goes through glass with full power. This is one of the ways you can kill the final boss, instead of trying to unlock her glass fortress you can just shoot through it (I found that out much later so I never got to try).

Some of the level designs were great, especially for those like me who like to explore everything. Finding a vent behind the crate was always rewarding, they really had the idea of having many options – shoot from the front, or sneak from the back, or hack turrets/robots to clear a path. There’s also some hidden parts that you can discover through dialogue and PDA’s that lead you to some nice items, eg. at the start you can talk to an old police informer talking about a sniper on the roof when the riots happened, and if you find a way up there, you can find his stuff.

Besides some of the flaws, it’s a very solid game. The world is engaging, and each city has got it’s charm and character about it, especially China. It’s worth picking up and having a go if you like shooters, but it’s a lengthy investment of time. There’s also a lot of management of items and levelling so if you’re a bit trigger happy, it’s maybe not for you. I throughly enjoyed the game, lived up to expectations, and it’s a darn fine prequel. Trailer below.