“Iron Man / Iron Man / Does whatever an iron can.” (more…)

Thematically, it seems all first person shooters of recent can easily be placed in one of two categories: those based on historical wars, and everything else. History is quite literally running rampant through the genre, and with critically acclaimed series’ like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, it’s doubtful that developers will tire of such concepts anytime soon.

Taking this into consideration, I found the idea behind Turning Point: Fall of Liberty pretty interesting on a surface level (taking historical events and rewriting them in a “What If” fashion). It’s unfortunate that a clever premise is among the only attributes of note that Turning Point has to offer… and that’s when one compares it to FPS games dating back a decade or more.

Story:

Though there is little detailed or embellished beyond Turning Point’s base concept, the concept in question is definitely a unique and interesting one. Especially considering the wealth of historically based FPS’s that do little more than quote passages from an 8th grade social studies book as means of plot and premise.

Imagine if you will that the great Winston Churchill didn’t survive that fateful day in December, 1931, when a taxi stuck him. Turning Point depicts a believable alternate history brought about by the demise of the British diplomat. Hitler’s army mobilizes to conquer the majority of the globe, including England. It’s through this historical rewrite that America finds itself on the receiving end of World War II. The writers certainly did their research in regards to developing the concept, as the “What If” idea is further strengthened by the inclusion of advanced Nazi war machines and weapons, which are allegedly based on actual blueprints recovered from the Axis.

One could easily imagine the developers writing in some stereotypical soldier type as the main protagonist, but fortunately such is not the case. The events that unfurl during Turning Point revolve around a construction worker named Dan Carson. Carson adapts quite quickly to the situation, and before you know it, he’s tossing Nazi soldiers off of hi-rises and shooting them with their own guns. Under normal circumstances I can imagine how many a player might find the role of the main character cheesy, but I actually thought Carson both simultaneously fortified the concept by personifying the idea of every American being a victim in such an attack, as well as giving the game this obscurely amusing “B-action movie” vibe. Though it’s a tad difficult to put full belief into Carson instantly becoming a war hero that would rival the exploits of William Wallace, I found the everyday Joe (or in this case, Dan) role to not only add to the story’s framework, but give it a little something extra as well.

As mentioned earlier though, very little is done as far as story is concerned beyond the concept. We unfortunately don’t learn much about Mr. Carson, and the damn guy never speaks. What follows is merely surface level plot progression that deals more with the idea of depicting situations that would occur amidst such a sudden war from a foot soldier’s perspective. A political “What If” is incorporated towards the middle of the game for good measure, as are the expected overtones of hardcore patriotism, which is somehow easier to swallow given the dystopian history the game is working with. This bare bones, “you are the story” approach is used in pretty much every historical FPS on the market, but taking into consideration Turning Point’s clever concept, I was somehow hoping they’d run with the concept a little more than they did. All in all though, the story isn’t bad, it’s just a bit disappointing considering the book has such an interesting and thought provoking cover.

Story: Good

Graphics:

While aesthetically fitting for most parts, the visual presentation in Turning Point does seem a bit dated, especially when compared to most other current-gen FPS games. The environments are acceptable in most cases with the exception of some blurry and overly washed out textures. There are a few epic setups you’ll encounter, at least, such as a heavy artillery fight amidst the collapsed Sears Tower, and the initial Nazi attack while Dan is several stories above ground on steel girders, but these are few and far between.

The frame rate suffers when the surroundings are exploding, and when there are more than a few enemy soldiers on the screen at once; for the former, these spurts only tend to last for a few seconds, but the latter can result in some less than acceptable slowdown over longer periods. The character animations leave a bit to be desired as well. The enemy models in particular come off as being a bit silly when one sees them in action. Their bodies often spring towards you when they’re shot, and it’s not unusual to see a Nazi’s helmet quite literally pop off their head and fly straight up into the air, sometimes a whole second after they’ve been eliminated and gone limp. Things like this can be amusing, but for obviously the entirely wrong reasons.

Graphics: Poor

Sound:

Turning Point is scored by the very accomplished Michael Giacchino, who is known for his music work in the show Lost and the film Mission Impossible 3. Next to the clever concept, this is easily one of the best elements Turning Point has to offer the player. The soundtrack resounds with a classic early era feel, reminiscent of Ennio Morricone’s score for the film The Untouchables. This is truly high quality stuff, that at a good many points throughout the game, soars higher and hits its mark more frequently than what we are actually seeing on the screen.

Sound effects are of standard fair; gunshots, fighter planes overhead, explosions. The usual. Nothing struck me as anything better than the sounds heard in the competition, but the FX all certainly work within their contexts. The voice acting is acceptable as well; though not superb, it does its job without ever being cheesy or awkward.

Sound: Great

Gameplay:

The actual gameplay in Turning Point is, without a doubt, the area of the game that really lacks the polish an FPS would need to survive nowadays in this overcrowded genre. The only exception to the norm in Turning Point, and your mileage may vary, is that of a decently intuitive “grapple” system, which allows you in combination to relieve a Nazi soldier of his firearm or utilize him as a human shield before dispatching him altogether. The only real time you’re ever going to take advantage of this mechanic, however, is when you get the drop on an enemy, which isn’t too often, as the Nazi’s usually pinpoint you before you do them. The results of these situations are always worth it though, as grappling an oblivious enemy will have you sending them over the edge of a building or drowning them in a toilet, which is generally amusing.

The other gameplay elements are nothing more than your standard bare-bones fare that has been the framework for just about every FPS released in the past decade. In a lot of respects these base elements come off as even more archaic when coupled with the usually straightforward level design, and the average-to-downright stupid enemy A.I. (enemies will at times blow themselves up with their own grenades, for instance). The player movement often feels flighty, as if you are ice skating across the stages, and the only option of cover one has besides standing behind obstructions, is to duck behind obstructions. You would have to be either new to the FPS genre or a gamer who is very easily satisfied to not quickly realize that there is just something missing in regards to Turning Point’s FPS action.

Another major complaint with Turning Point pertains to the heart and soul of any game in this genre: shooting bullets at enemies. To be frank, the hit detection is quite ludicrous. It’s possible to kill an enemy by shooting him in any combination of his torso, head, and your choice of appendages. In other words, you cannot take a Nazi soldier down with a single well placed shot to the cranium, which makes Turning Point the first FPS in quite a long time that does not favor the abilities of a sharp shooting player. It’s also important to mention that the hit boxes on the enemies tend to be pretty small, and require you to hit just the right place to be effective. This can definitely be annoying whilst engaged in a long or even semi-long distance firefight. Since there’s no depiction of blood and gore in Turning Point, it’s difficult to see if you’re even hitting the enemy you’re shooting at in said firefights. Your only option, really, is to keep firing until you see his helmet pop off his head (about five seconds after he dies).

These things, believe it or not, aren’t enough to render Turning Point unplayable. You can still have an acceptable FPS experience with the game all in all. It’s just unforgivable to see a full priced entry in this genre play so primitively, and the whole problem with the hit detection begs two questions: first, “How did someone think this was acceptable?”, and second, “Why was it not fixed for the retail release?”

I would have liked to comment on Turning Point’s multi-player mode, but every time I attempted to log in, the game informed me that the servers were down. After investigating various forums, including Codemasters’ own, for the console versions of Turning Point, I found that this has been a problem for almost everyone. I’m not certain if Codemasters have already closed downed the servers for Turning Point due to lack of interest, or if other technical issues are afoot, but the point stands: there is no multi-player to report because there is no multi-player to play. I can report that if one was to ever get Turning Point online, Death Match and Team Death Match are the only available modes of play, with players assuming the roles of either the Americans or the Nazis. I’m taking a shot in the dark and guessing the two basic multi-player modes wouldn’t have blown the socks off my feet upon playing them, but still, it would have been nice to have the option to at least find that out.

Gameplay: Bad

Replayability

When compared to most other FPS games, Turning Point’s eight missions seem lengthy enough. There are 3 difficulty levels to play through the game with, and beating the game on the normal or hard difficulty will grant you access to play through the game with unlimited ammo and grenades (or, alternatively, you can spend about $6 online through Codemasters website, and have the access codes for the cheats e-mailed to you). Playing through once, I believe, would be more than enough time than anyone to want to devote to Turning Point, as the desire to play again rests solely on the gameplay, which as mentioned, can be questionable. There are no secrets or items to collect, and nothing new to experience through additional play-throughs. Even with its limited formula, it’s possible the multi player modes might have increased the replay value of Turning Point to some extent. But alas, I cannot comment on that.

Replayability: Poor

Balance:

Turning Point is generally consistently balanced, (though a tad too easy)- pretty much through-out. Every few missions or so, a new kind of Nazi soldier will appear to quench your patriotism and desire for more of a challenge, but even against the likes of tanks and zeppelins, nothing tips the scales of balance drastically in either direction. The only element that seems to be implemented to increase the difficulty of later missions is the amount of enemies one will encounter at once. But given the at times moronic AI, the real challenge in these situations usually comes from dodging bullets as you dash around for ammo, rather than planning strategy and aiming shots.

Balance: Decent

Originality:

A very creative and clever premise is about the only really original element in Turning Point. The derivative gameplay, even if it were executed better than it is, has been the bare bones formula for just every FPS in the past decade. The fish out of water archetype for the main character is neat, but has been done with greater effect in many other FPS’ as well. This is kind of sad, since nothing truly interesting or unique is done outside of the premise. The result is that one can simply read about the idea of Turning Point, which most have probably done prior to reading this review, and take away all one needs to; by doing as such one has literally experienced the most creative element Turning Point has to offer.

Originality: Poor

Addictivness:

I didn’t have to force myself through Turning Point, which is to its credit to some extent, as the strong premise actually did make it easier for me to deal with the game’s many shortcomings. Even though I could tell the narrative wasn’t living up to the concept a few missions in, I was still interested in seeing how the story would conclude itself. Unfortunately, after completing the single player game, I didn’t have much of a desire to see it through again, for the reasons detailed in the Replayabilty section of this review. The gameplay is simply too derivative and/or flawed to make the actual act of playing Turning Point for the hell of it an option when there are far better FPS games to be had. Once again, the multi player, though I imagine not by much given only two game modes, might make some spend more time with Turning Point. But alas… I digress.

Addictivness: Poor

Appeal Factor:

Out of the gate, I can imagine a good number of people actually getting excited about Turning Point. The FPS genre is as big as it ever was, and the history theme is a very popular premise nowadays. Given this game is current-gen FPS, available on both PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as PC, I’m sure enough word of mouth is going to go around about it to begin with, and the “what if” concept, again out of the gate, certainly got my attention when I first read about the product some time ago. Codemasters has a nice website dedicated to the game, and I’ve seen ads in many gaming magazines and game related websites for the product. The game is pretty much available to anyone who would want to check it out, which is good.

Appeal Factor: Good

Miscellaneous:

Even with its caveman, bare bones gameplay that’s marred with a handful of technical issues, Turning Point is a reasonably amusing FPS, with an interesting concept and one heck of a soundtrack. I’m not sorry for playing through the game, and I could certainly guarantee you could “rent” worse products at your local video store. I put rent in quotes because I really can’t recommend that anyone, even FPS fans, even gamers who only play historically-based FPS games, actually spend sixty dollars for Turning Point.

First off, there simply is not enough game to warrant full retail for this product, and second, what is there is so dated and questionable in certain respects that the actual game associated with Turning Point almost seems like it was developed to be a budget title.
That being said, if Turning Point debuted at thirty or maybe even forty dollars, I believe I could swallow most of the game’s shortcomings and recommend it as a flawed but tolerable look back to a simpler time in the genre, with a great premise, and a terrific soundtrack. Such is not the case, and as such Turning Point collectively comes off as a shallow game in the wake of its dystopian concept. A giant what if that could have been something a whole lot better than it is.

Miscellaneous Rating: Poor

The Scores
Story: Good
Graphics: Poor
Sound: Great
Gameplay: Bad
Replayability: Poor
Balance: Mediocre
Originality: Poor
Addictiveness: Poor
Appeal Factor: Good
Miscellaneous: Poor
FINAL SCORE: MEDIOCRE

Short Attention Span Summary:

Turning Point is a mediocre game wrapped in a strong premise. The orchestrated tracks are fitting and the idea behind the game is fantastic, but the gameplay is archaic, the actual plot is mediocre, and there’s nothing special about the game BUT the concept. There’s little reason to play the game once and no reason at all to play it again, and with the multiplayer not accessible it’s even harder to find anything to do once the single player is complete. Diehard FPS fans might find this worth a rental but that’s all it’s worth.

I am a LOST junkie. I watch the show, play the online extra, watch the “Missing Pieces” and take part in discussions with friends about theories and characters. This is a pretty unusual occurrence for me, as I have not watched TV since 2001. LOST returned me to the world of network TV and it still one of only three shows that I watch (along with Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and How I Met Your Mother).

So of course when the LOST game was announced, we all knew I’d be reviewing the game. Hell, I won’t lie. I bought my 60 gig PS3 to play LOST. I am that much of a junkie. As one of our two resident adventure game afficionados here at DHGF, the pairing of my favorite show with one of my favorite genre seemed like a match made in Heaven for yours truly.

Then the bad news started trickling in. Only half the cast from the show would be providing the voices for their digital counterparts. The game was supposedly very short for a $60 game. You would be playing as a new character, effectively placing you into the Nikki and Paulo camp. Worst of all Carlton Cuse and Damion Lindroff came out and said the game would not be considered canon making a lot of Lost fans upset. Of course, as gamers we all know that video games made from licensed properties are never canon, so this last one didn’t phase me as much as the first two.

So what is the final result. Has LOST brought back the adventure genre back to prominence on US shores, or has the little things that Ubisoft has done wrong added up enough to alienate the largest TV audience in the world enough to keep from buying their game?

(more…)

Ah Turok, what a strange and wonderful legacy you lead. Originally a character from my youth and those awesome Gold Key comics along with Solar: man of the Atom, and Magnus: Robot Hunter (although he belong to another publisher before then called Dell Comics), he came into prominence with the Valiant Age of comics. Man I loved Valiant. Turok went from being a Native American trapped in a valley of dinosaurs into a Native American stuck in a strange time loop where his arch-enemy created cyborg dinosaurs to help her with her wacky plans.

Then of course Acclaim purchased Valiant and screwed everything up with their typical style. (more…)

Unreal Tournament 3, which is in reality the fourth Unreal Tournament game and either the seventh or eighth Unreal game in general (depending on whether you consider Unreal Championship a standalone Unreal title or a console port of Unreal Tournament 2K3) marks the return of the Unreal Tournament franchise after a three year hiatus following Unreal Tournament 2K4. Not that the Unreal franchise hasn’t been kicking around in the meantime, mind you, but with a three year absence, the overwhelming desire to cram a Flak Cannon into someone’s grill is substantial and cannot be denied. Epic has realized this thing, and with the creation of a brand new game engine (dubbed the Unreal 3 engine, natch) they’ve opted to release a new Unreal Tournament to go along with it, hence the 3 on the end of the title.

For some odd reason, there’s an actual story associated with UT3, though it’s generally not a terribly important one. You take on the role of Marcus Phoenix Reaper, who died protecting innocent people on some backwater hellhole from the Necris, the resident creepy goth race in the Unreal universe (insert Alex Lucard joke here). He ends up alive again for inadequately explained reasons, and decides that he’s all about seeking revenge upon them by way of jumping into various Unreal Tournament battles so as to get close to those responsible for his untimely demise. Really, the story is really only meant to serve as a backdrop for a bunch of single player missions so as to allow you, the player, to acclimate yourself to the game itself, and in that respect, it succeeds well enough; just don’t expect anything grand and you’ll be fine. This sort of game is really meant to be about the action anyway, and there are more than a few ways to get your frag on sufficiently, and in that respect, UT3 is a fine gaming experience, with multiple different gameplay modes available for online play as well as a solid standalone single player experience.

Visually, UT3 is quite impressive, thanks in large part to its wonderful graphics engine. But the visual designs of the characters and stages are also aesthetically pleasing, and are often either purely beautiful or beautiful by way of their hideousness (ruined husks of cities, for example, are quite pleasing in their own way). Granted, the game bears more than a passing resemblance to Gears of War (as both are running on the same engine), and ultimately feels less visually impressive in comparison, UT3 does certain things better than its predecessor (blood, for instance, no longer looks like Smuckers Jelly, so kudos for that). Aurally UT3 is mostly very impressive; the voice acting is all very much top notch thanks to some top-shelf talents, including MJ from Ultimate Spider-Man, Kratos from God of War, Wolverine, Luke Cage and Sliver Surfer from Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and Nathan Drake from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. (I’d name their actual ACTING roles, but how many people are going to see “Sales Girl in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and go “Oh yeah, I remember her! She was awesome!”?) And if anyone knows how to make gunfire sound appropriately powerful, it’s Epic, and with UT3, they’re once again made a game where firing off a heavy piece of imaginary weaponry is a viscerally pleasing experience to both the eyes and ears. On the downside, the music isn’t anything special, but it’s not like you’re playing UT3 for the haunting orchestral score; the music is some generic rockish music that works perfectly fine for blowing things up, and it does what it needs to do.

Anyway, you can have all the pretty explosions and wonderful effects in the world and if your gameplay isn’t up to par it doesn’t mean a damn thing, so it’s good to note that UT3 plays very well overall. The simplest way the gameplay can be described is by saying “it plays like Unreal Tournament”, and if that’s enough for you, skip down to the next paragraph. For the rest of you, this effectively means that it works like your standard “pre-Halo” FPS with a few of its own neat tricks. You move and look around with the two analog sticks, and the triggers control your firing, with each weapon having its own primary and secondary firing operations (for instance, the Flak Cannon fires a shotgun burst as its primary attack, while the secondary fire is a lob grenade of sorts). Instead of the Halo-esque regenerating health meter, you’re given a normal health and armor meter to monitor, and when they hit zero, buh-bye. There are multiple different weapons to choose from in each battlefield and each weapon is added to your arsenal, thus allowing for whatever weapons you can locate to be right at your fingertips whenever you feel you need them. It’s decidedly old-school, but that’s hardly a bad thing.

Which isn’t to say that UT3 doesn’t do a few new things, though how new they are depends on how many of the preceding titles you’ve played. Aside from running about trying to smite your foes on foot, UT3 also offers you a selection of vehicles you can ride around in, both in normal and Necris designs, from smaller jeep-like cars to hovercrafts to huge tanks, each of which does significant damage in its own right. For those who either aren’t playing in vehicle-based maps or don’t want to strap in, a hoverboard has been added that allows you to travel to locations at a much quicker pace, at the cost of your dignity. The various guns in UT3 are culled from multiple games in the franchise, so fans of the Impact Hammer and Tarydium Stinger should be pleased that they’re back, while fans of the Lightning Gun… well, sorry, you’re beat. The variety of weapons is actually pretty good, with each of the guns largely feeling different from one another to enough of an extent that you won’t feel like two or three of the guns are carbon copies of each other. The firepower also feels pretty well-balanced, and you’ll find yourself having your own personal favorites depending on your play style; none of the guns feel outright worthless and most have a sufficient amount of usefulness that makes any gun you get your hands on worth using in combat.

The various matchup types work very well as well, as they provide a decent amount of variety to the game experience and end up being pretty damn fun. Your standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are here, as well as your Capture the FLaG (don’t ask me, they’re the ones spelling it like that) and Vehicle CTF (I bet you can figure out how that works well enough). In addition, UT3 also offers a Duel option, which is essentially one on one warfare, more or less the FPS equivalent of PVP duels I’d suppose, where two of you go into an arena and smack the crap out of each other until someone dies. And finally, there’s Warfare, which is a very odd gameplay mode that involved linking nodes to opposing cores so you can blow up the enemy’s core; think of it as a combination of defending your base while playing King of the Hill and you have a good idea what to expect. Needless to say, the various modes and core gameplay combine into really solid online multiplayer FPS that’s a hell of a lot of fun to jump into at any point, and if you’re a fan of the ol’ online fragfest you’ll love the hell out of this.

Unfortunately… that’s about the extent of the game’s appeal. Now, with a game like this it’s really rather unfair to rag on the single player component when the multiplayer aspects are what’s bring all of the metaphorical boys to the yard, but it must be said: single player is quite uninteresting. Deathmatch and CTF game modes are generally fine, but your allies are… not very good at staying alive in these game modes, which more or less leaves you to pick up the slack more often than not, and if one of your bot teammates is going to grab the flag, you’re not really advised of this until they GRAB it, so by the time you’re in position to provide cover fire, they’re often dead. And Warfare can become an all-out nightmare if you’re not on the ball with squad commands and personal ass-kicking, as your allies are generally bad at keeping their own nodes as well as destroying the opposing core. So, no, you won’t really be playing single player very much. And while the online multiplayer is fun, five gameplay modes is kind of minimal, even with the various modification options to have bots running about and such; Resistance, for example, offers more gameplay modes in its online component (and more players online, to boot; UT3 can handle 32 players online, Resistance handles 40). The game modes are a lot of fun, absolutely, but a lack of variety hurts the overall replay value a bit. Also, the PS3 version will EVENTUALLY be able to accept mods much like the PC version can do now, but it’s unable to do so as of yet; when this is implemented, this will certainly bring you back over and over, but as of now, not so much.

Balance isn’t really an issue in UT3, either; your own personal skill will pretty much determine how well you’ll end up faring in combat, but the guns and vehicles all have their own personal uses and once you find your own style of play you’ll be able to hang well enough to have fun. If you’re a fan of online FPS titles in general, you’ll want to get your hands on this, and the fact that it’s one of a handful of good (temporarily) exclusive PS3 titles makes it that much more worth investing your cash in. Sadly, if you’ve been playing the various Unreal games for any significant period of time, you’re not going to be surprised in any way with what’s been done with UT3; it’s less about introducing new and different weaponry and match types and more about fine-tuning the working pieces into something really great. It DOES manage to do this, but if you’re looking for something new, y’aint gonna find it here, dude.

All told, UT3 is still a great time for FPS fans, if a somewhat limited one. The single player isn’t the best, and the online play can be limited, but to be completely fair, that’s not really a big deal. The multiplayer is fast and frantic and loads of fun, and the game has been tuned and tweaked so much that it ends up being one of the most balanced multiplayer-based FPS titles on the market. And hey, once the mods are available in full force, you won’t be able to find an FPS with more long-term replay value than what UT3 is bringing to your PS3… so long as you have a flash drive or something, anyway.

The Scores:
Story/Gameplay Modes: 6/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Control/Gameplay: 8/10
Replayability: 6/10
Balance: 8/10
Originality: 2/10
Addictiveness: 7/10
Appeal: 8/10
Miscellaneous: 7/10

Overall Score: 6.8/10
Final Score: 7.0 (GOOD).

Short Attention Span Summary
Epic scores big time on the PS3 with Unreal Tournament 3. Fast-paced online gameplay that’s addictive and massively fun makes this one a worthwhile addition to your library. The single player isn’t great, and it doesn’t do anything to reinvent the wheel, but it’s not like that’s a big deal; the gameplay is good times and if you’re at all an FPS fan, this is one game you don’t want to pass up.

I’m not sure what the appeal of the Area 51 franchise is. I mean, I get the appeal of Area 51 in media on a general level, as that’s where the aliens are (supposedly) and all, don’t get me wrong. Rather, I’m failing to understand the appeal of the Midway franchise of the same name. Originally created in the 1996, the first game in the franchise was another one of those “photo-realistic” on-rails shooters that were big at the time, a subgenre which also includes games like Lethal Protectors and Revolution X, which should tell you, I hope, why I am so confused; the games were, in the end, your typical on-rails shooters, only with real motion-captured people running about instead of sprites. I suppose that, at the time, they looked mighty swell and all, but in this day and age they look horrendous and haven’t held up very well at all. Regardless, Midway resurrected the Area 51 franchise in 2005, presumably to capitalize on the nostalgia inspired by the original, by creating a first person shooter under this franchise name. Starring the voice talents of David Duchovny and Marilyn Manson and featuring gameplay that involved shooting the hell out of aliens, Area 51 was sadly nowhere near as cool as the first part of this sentence might have implied. So BlackSite: Area 51 can be considered a combination of a sequel to the “rebooted” Area 51 franchise as well as another kick at the can. The upshot of this is that BlackSite ends up being a totally new game experience from the ground up, but the downshot is that, well… it still isn’t a really good one.

The basic storyline of Blacksite can be summed up in four words: stereotyped, underdeveloped, and confusing. You take on the role of one Aeran Pierce (contrary to my personal belief, Aeran is apparently a real first name, though not a common one), leader of a special forces team for the US Army. In the beginning of the game your squad is in Iraq, because topical commentary is SO awesome, investigating WMD’s (chlorine bombs, which don’t exactly cause mass destruction as much as bad breathing problems) when they encounter abnormal resistance that ultimately results in the loss and unconfirmed demise of another squad member. A few years later, you and your team are called in to investigate a militia uprising in Rachel, Nevada, only to discover that you already know where the rest of this plot is going without me having to say anything else. Seriously. The story is exceptionally cliché, and is more or less played straight (the developers claim it’s supposed to be satirical, but the satire is more than a little subtle), thus rendering the story both cliché and boring. BlackSite also never really bothers to explain where all of these aliens come from, assuming the player will either assume that they came from the Area 51 complex (or that they played the original game), and several of the plot points (a dramatic confrontation at the military staging camp between you and the boss of the game, for example) seem to only exist for the purposes of dramatic exposition, and not for any reason that makes sense. And frankly, the whole storyline is based around kind-of sort-of slagging scientific progress at any cost and the US government for torturing prisoners of war, and satire or no, it’s really just not all that well written or implemented, leaving the game feeling like a political statement instead of an actual story.

(Aside: There’s also this whole dialog exchange between field doctor Noa and one of your teammates where the question comes up as to what happened to the people you’re fighting, and she describes the condition as “severe encephalitis”, AKA brain inflammation. Brain inflammation does not cause human beings to look like Sloth from the Goonies, nor does it give them damaging projectile attacks, and the entire exchange just sums up the problem with the story perfectly: if that’s a joke, it’s not funny, and if that was serious, it’s insane.)

Visually, BlackSite is above average; character models look clean and animate well, but except for a few of the giant monstrosities, none of the models are terribly exciting, and game environments vary in look, with more populated areas looking nice while hills and roads look clean but not great. Technically, the visuals are fine, but there are times where the game will significantly slow down for no adequately explained reason. Draw-in is noticeable at times as well, though it’s not terrible. Aurally, BlackSite has decent, if not terribly memorable music; the score is exactly the sort of score you’d expect from, say, Halo, only not as powerful or memorable. The music does do the job required of it, but if it were absent you wouldn’t notice very much. The voice acting is back and forth; most of your squadmates are acted very, very well (Somers in particular) but some of the voice actors and actresses deliver performances that sound straight out of B-movie hell. The effects are all fairly spot on, though; gunfire sounds powerful and penetrating, explosions have the right kick and sound to them, and the alien monsters sound very… um, monstrous.

But most good games are good games because of their gameplay, and unfortunately, BlackSite fails in this respect. The standard gameplay elements one would expect from an FPS are here; movement on the left stick, looking on the right, right trigger fires and left trigger toggles aiming/zooming, and the usual compliment of melee striking, grenade tossing, jumping and reloading populate the remaining buttons. There are a couple of driving segments in the game as well, and the controls work well in these sections as well. These parts of the gameplay all work fundamentally well enough, and were BlackSite composed of little more than these mechanics, it would simply be wholly unremarkable.

Sadly, this is not the case.

BlackSite offers a squad mechanic of sorts, where you are provided with multiple allies (in most cases, two at one time) and can direct them in various fashions, both for battle purposes (go here, attack this) and non-combat reasons (go here, open this). In theory, this is a solid addition to any game, but in practice, not so much for BlackSite. The entire system more or less comes down to pushing a button to direct your squad to attack/move to/interact with whatever you’re pointing at. This seems like a cute concept, except that it’s not useful except in cases where the game makes it so. Combat against weaker enemies can be resolved without telling the squad to attack specific targets, your teammates tend to eat it in combat against stronger foes (thus reducing the need to target specific enemies since your squadmates are DEAD and all), and directing your squad isn’t terribly necessary as, in most cases, they’ll follow you around (unless you want to make them the meat shields, and even then it’s not terribly worthwhile). There’s also this whole Morale system in the game where, in theory, your allies will react well when morale is high, and poorly when morale is low. The trouble is that first, since your allies are often useless, this isn’t a very big deal, and second, The Thing did a similar thing years ago with the Trust/Fear system, which worked a lot better than the Morale System in BlackSite. Thus, the only time the squad mechanics become useful is for hacking terminals and opening doors, because apparently YOUR CHARACTER CANNOT OPEN DOORS BY HIMSELF. In other words, the squad mechanic is superfluous and serves little purpose aside from the few instances where the developers made using it a necessity.

To further compound matters, there are elements of the gameplay that are, simply put, wrong in new and exciting ways. The game only supplies you, IN TOTAL, six guns to choose from, which is one less than the original Doom and the same amount as Bioshock. That said, the original Doom came out over a decade ago and is thus excused from having tons of weapons, and Bioshock gave you all sorts of Plasmids to goof around with; BlackSite does nothing beyond this. Of the six guns, you’ll spend almost all of your time playing around with the assault rifle, as most of the rest of the weapons are uninteresting or, in the odd case of what passes for a shotgun here, don’t seem very effective (in the single player mode, anyway; in multiplayer games the shotgun is absolutely devastating). Level designs are basic and uninteresting, and are about as linear as they could be without converting the game into an on-rails shooter. Combat itself is generally very by-the-numbers except in two or three instances (specifically when fighting giant monsters), and in those instances it’s vaguely interesting for maybe five to ten minutes at a clip. BlackSite also works off of the Halo gameplay mechanic (you can only carry two weapons plus grenades, health regenerates when you’re not taking damage, etc) thus making an otherwise uninspired game feel exceptionally derivative on top of it all. BlackSite is also very short, clocking in at less than five hours, yet somehow manages to feel incredibly long towards the end sections of the game. And to top it all off, the last boss battle is rather anti-climactic and uninteresting; from a storyline perspective it’s supposed to be the climax of the plot, but from a gameplay perspective it’s woefully uninteresting and feels like a huge letdown.

One could, of course, jump into the multiplayer mode to draw the financial value out of BlackSite, but there too they would be disappointed. The actual gameplay modes are limited to Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, CTF, and a mode called “Abduction”, which essentially works as “Humans, when killed, become Aliens; mode ends when only one Human is left, repeat”. The dearth of modes is further compounded by the dearth of weapons and the relatively uninteresting layouts of the multiplayer maps, ultimately turning online multiplayer games from a saving grace into yet another chore. The worst part of BlackSite’s online play, unsurprisingly, is that even if you DO want to play it, chances are good that you WON’T be able to; of ten attempts to play the game online, I was only able to play it twice because no one else was online, and the two times I did play online, the games weren’t full. Honestly, this speaks for itself.

The end result of all of this, between uninteresting single player missions, a lack of things to do, and unexciting (and unoccupied) multiplayer, is that there’s really not much reason to go back to the game once you complete it. There are additional difficulty levels to poke around with if one is so inclined, and they’re sufficiently balanced out well enough for those looking for a challenge, but honestly, once you’ve played through the game there’s no reason to go through it a second time on any difficulty, as there are no surprises awaiting you for doing so, save for collectible dossiers… and I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m making an unfair assumption in saying that no one buys FPS titles because they want to spend hours READING. The overall game experience feels very also-ran and derivative of other, better games, from the story to the weapons to the combat mechanics and beyond, and while the game does entertain to a certain degree, it won’t keep your interest long unless you’re a serious FPS junkie, and even then the only reason one would come back to it is because of the dearth of gaming on the PS3 at this point (sorry).

And it really doesn’t help that the game is buggy on top of it all; console games really, REALLY should not be shipping with bugs, I don’t CARE if they can be updated via downloadable patches at this point. BlackSite has several minor bugs smattered around the game, most of which are visual in nature (floating enemies, for instance) though some are more annoying than others (at several points weapons will be stuck in the air where the enemies drop them; when fighting enemies in a helicopter, their guns were left in the sky, leaving a rather… abnormal visual) and one, where the final boss became stuck and could not be killed by any means, crippled the game outright. It’s bad enough when a game isn’t terribly exciting in its own right, but when the game is broken to boot, that’s inexcusable.

The Scores:
Story: 2/10
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
Control/Gameplay: 3/10
Replayability: 2/10
Balance: 7/10
Originality: 1/10
Addictiveness: 4/10
Appeal: 6/10
Miscellaneous: 1/10

Overall Score: 3.8/10
Final Score: 4.0 (POOR).

Short Attention Span Summary
All of the flowery words and adjectives one could possibly use to describe BlackSite: Area 51 are mostly unnecessary, and in the end, the game can be summed up in five words: BlackSite is not very good. Rote and repetitive gameplay yanked from other games, a dearth of options, a mediocre story and notable technical issues make this one to avoid at any price.

Ridge Racer was one of the killer aps that shipped with the original Playstation and helped put Sony on the map in 1995. Namco also shipped a Ridge Racer with the PSP launch, PS2 launch and recently the Xbox 360 launch. They are back with an all new game for the PS3 launch, the 7th official game in the series (not counting portables, N64 or the cross platform Gran Tursimo attempt).

Like its predecessors, Ridge Racer 7 looks beautiful and stands as a launch day showcase for PS3 owners. However, does the gameplay hold up? Let’s get to it.

1. Game Modes
There are a bunch of play modes in Ridge Racer 7 that are fairly typical for racing games on last and current generation.

The main single player mode is the Ridge State Grand Prix, which takes the player acround various racing circuits, upgrading cars and earning new cars and tracks. The Arcade mode is a straight ahead race for players looking for a quick race. The online Battle is a cool addition to the series, allowing online racing for up to 16 players.

The multiplayer on the console itself splits the screen and allows offline madness, although the graphic quality slips in the split screen quite a bit.

Ridge Racer 7 also has another beautiful Namco spokeswoman, and she appears in the game as the host and announcer.

Story Rating: 5/10

Graphics
I took the plunge and got an HDMI wire to hook up the Playstation 3 to the TV, and Ridge Racer 7 is one of the reasons its all worth it. The game looks magnificent, with detailed tracks, fantastic looking cars and beautiful backgrounds. The game moves swiftly and gives a great sense of speed, both in the first person mode and the third person viewpoint. The speeds get even swifter with the use of nitro and slipstreams, and the increased speed is well represented and quite exhilarating.

The tracks have varied environments and times of day, and some have beautiful sunsets or nighttime settings. Each of the trackside elements looks realistic and detailed as well, including the buildings, trees and shrubbery and bridges.

If any one game was the showcase of what the Playstation 3 could do graphically, it’s probably Ridge Racer 7.

Note that I played the game with an HDMI input and compared the game to the 360 game on a composite connection, but the difference in resolution was notable and made the PS3 stand out.

Graphics Rating: 8/10

3. Sound
Like all other Ridge Racer games, Ridge Racer 7 has a techno-inspired soundtrack, with pounding beats adding a sense of excitement and adrenaline to the racing. There isn’t much notable about the music, but it does sound good coming out of the PS3.

The announcer is a boisterous woman, presumably the same woman who models the cars and presents the game modes. The effects in the game are fairly straight forward, with engine roars, tire squeaks and all the requisite noises associated with racing.

There is nothing much about the sound in Ridge Racer 7 that screams next generation, but it does the job nicely.

Sound Rating: 5/10

4. Control and Gameplay
Ridge Racer 7 is an arcade racing game that relies on speed and drifting rather than realism or physics. The series is firmly planted in the “arcade” side of the racing genre, and Ridge Racer 7 does nothing to change that classification. If anything, the gameplay in RR7 is nearly identical to the other games in the series, with high speed races laced with powerslide turns. The powerslides impact the nitro meter, which fills up with longer and better executed powerslides. There are three stages to nitros, and while they can be used one at a time, saving them all up for extra nitro can sometimes be the difference between a win and a loss.

The game controls with the Sixaxis controller nicely, although it uses the X button for acceleration rather than the triggers. Sliding can be initiated in a number of ways, including the standard break and the hand break, although sliding is possible just by removing the accelerator and taking a turn. The key to the game is controlling the slides so that the car drifts easily around the corner and right back into accelerating. This tends to be fairly easy with subtle curves, but can take some finesse for sharper turns.

There are two main new gameplay techniques in Ridge Racer 7 as compared with earlier games in the series. The first is the ability to drift behind other cars and get caught in their slipstream. This causes wind effects to go to the sides of your car and acts as a temporary turbo. These can be strung together with slipstreams of other nearby cars as well. This allows a string of slipsteams and nitros to be combined for a long stretch of extra speed.

The other major new innovation is the ability to race alongside other cars in a team. Other racers on your team will set you up for a slipstream and allow you to catapult past competing team cars. This adds some strategy to the races in the career mode, and gives the game some extra legs online as well.

Fans of realistic racing physics need not apply for Ridge Racer 7 as the brake barely needs to be used in the game except for extremely tight turns. Otherwise it’s pedal to the medal, using speed bursts and drifts throughout.

Control and Gameplay Rating: 6/10

5. Replayability
With over 20 tracks, all available in reverse as well, there are seemingly a ton of tracks. However, many of them are repeats from Ridge Racer 6, with a few new ones exclusive to the PS3 version.

The game extends its life through the online options, which allow up to 16 players online in the same race. There is team based play online as well, although there is not a way to communicate with other players so teamwork is more based on reaction to things on the track.

Replayability rating: 6.5/10

6. Balance
The beginning races in Ridge Racer 7 are remarkably easy to win, especially for seasoned Ridge Racer players, but the game progresses in difficulty nicely. The tracks have some great hairpin turns and alternate paths, and the more powerful cars really speed around them.

For new players, the style of racing in Ridge Racer is a bit unique, so there is somewhat of a learning curve to figure out how to smooth slide around corners. Longtime Ridge Racer fans will likely enjoy the ability to slipstream and add even more speed to the nitros already present in the series.

Balance Rating: 7.5/10

7. Originality.
It’s tough to expect a highly original experience for a game in its 7th official iteration, and Ridge Racer 7 doesn’t do much to mix up the formula. The biggest change is the slipstream feature, which allows speed bursts for following in the path behind another racer. This adds another layer of depth to the somewhat shallow Ridge Racer formula of drifts and nitro, and is actually useful in getting ahead in races.

There is also a new feature to race in teams, where some of the cars on the track will be helping you win.

But for the most part, it’s a tried and true Ridge Racer gameplay experience – not that that’s a bad thing

Originality Rating: 3/10

8. Addictiveness
With a ton of cars and upgrades to unlock, the fast paced and beautiful races are addictive and fun to play over and over. The online mode is well done if unspectacular, and if you find the right game, can be fun and challenging. There aren’t a ton of people online in the game yet, like say on Xbox Live, so there are times where there aren’t a lot of races to choose from.

At the end of the day, if I want a quick jolt of spectacular graphics and a short adrenaline filled race, I pop in Ridge Racer 7, play one race in arcade, and feel satisfied.

Addictiveness Rating: 8/10

9. Appeal Factor
A series with the quality pedigree of Ridge Racer ascends to the top of the launch PS3 lineup and likely will not disappoint many who pick it up. While the tracks have a great deal of overlap from Ridge Racer 6, the game still looks better enough over that title to warrant a pickup.

Appeal Factor: 7/10

10. Miscellaneous
There’s something warm and fuzzy about a Ridge Racer game at a Playstation launch, as the series has become as much of a launch icon for Sony as anything. Especially amongst the overall weak PS3 launch lineup, Ridge Racer 7 is beautiful, accessible and fun to play.

The new box size for Playstation 3 somehow makes the games seem more futuristic and next generation next to typical DVD cases. I know that seems crazy, but there is something about a slightly different sized box that makes the older box seem more passé. In typical Namco fashion, Ridge Racer 7 has a full color, long and detailed manual, which is a nice touch.

Miscellaneous Rating: 8/10

The Scores
Story: 5/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 5/10
Control & Gameplay: 6/10
Replayability: 6.5/10
Balance: 7.5/10
Originality: 3/10
Addictiveness: 8/10
Appeal Factor: 7/10
Miscellaneous: 8/10
Total Score 64/100
Final Score: 6.5

Short Attention Span Summary
Summary Launch titles are always tough to rate, because generally reviews compare games with those of the same generation and these have no peers. Unlike the racing games that are a part of the Wii launch, Ridge Racer 7 plays and feels a whole lot like the racing games of the last generation. However, and dispute it if you want, the main selling point of the PS3, especially at launch, is high resolution looks and graphical wow factor. More than the cross-platform games and most other PS3 launch games, Ridge Racer 7 has the graphical wow that is needed for launch and delivers the goods. Take it for what it is – a prettier version of a classic series – and you’ll have a great time with it.