I have no idea how many games have been produced for playing on the average home computer and here I mean something with a keyboard and a screen, I am leaving aside games consoles with which I have had only passing contact. I have tens of games, many of which I have never even played as I used to use the purchase of them as a form of 'retail therapy' enjoying the browsing and purchasing and the reading of the little booklet on the train ride home even more than actually uploading the game, especially when I had a computer that only had sufficient memory to hold about ten decent games at a time. Anyway, I have lost track of the number of computer games I have played down the years, but thought it would be worthwhile to share memories of the favourites. Of course, since 1999 a great deal of my game playing (and this is a hobby which has ousted watching television and writing fiction from my most common leisure activities) has been with the 'Total War' series of computer games, but I think they warrant a whole posting of their own. I have realised that aside from that kind of wargame the prime type of game I play is third-person shooting games. I am certainly not a person for racing games or flight simulators, I think in part I like the stories that such third-person games have as background and in contrast to the very involved mental activity and planning in playing a wargame, with a shooting game there is a satisfactory visceral destructiveness which is good for relieving tensions, though, as I have noted in previous postings, feeling I am being treated unfairly by the game certainly raises my tension. Anyway, in no particular order are my favourites of this genre.
I might say some that did not make it into this list. One is 'Gun' (2005). I enjoyed elements of this game. It was controversial because of you having to gun down Apaches at one stage. I made a mistake on sticking with guns rather than bows in the latter phases, making it impossible for me to win, but that reminded me I should check walk-throughs sooner. The settings in Montana, Kansas and New Mexico in 1880 were well rendered and there were interesting side missions as well as the ongoing story about the hero, a former Confederate officer and gold in a reasonably worked out story. I suppose why this has not become one of my favourites is partly the US setting and the bittiness of it. If you are into Westerns then I do recommend it. Just remember to enter the final stage with a bow that can fire dynamite. Another was 'James Bond 007: Nightfire' (2002). Again this has some good elements, I especially like creeping around the traditional Japanese house near the beginning, spotting people with X-ray glasses and shooting them through the paper walls. However, as the game progresses you get ridiculously powerful weapons that take the edge off the fighting. There are some very tedious sections like one where you have to jump up ledge after ledge in a vertical metal tunnel and one slip means you fall all the way back to the beginning, really boring. I have played 'From Russia With Love' (2005) on the Playstation 2. Like 'Nightfire' it raided a number of different Bond movies, but this time very much from the mid-1960s and that era gives a real flavour to the game. The story is excellent in building on things such as Kerim Bey from the movie of 'From Russia With Love' (1963) but gave depth to the settings of the movie and giving tasks that seemed logical though very different from the story in the movie. I would actually like to read a novel based on this game. Sean Connery voicing Bond was an excellent touch. It is a pity this game never made it to the personal computer.
No One Lives Forever (2000) and No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way (2002)
I suppose mentioning spy games is a good lead in to two computer games that owe a lot to the spy craze of the 1960s. The clothing, the rather sexist 1960s attitudes, the music all combine to create a story which is immersive. These two games are first-person shooters featuring Cate Archer, a Scottish cat burglar turned spy who is kitted out very much in the Cathy Gale - Emma Peel - Modesty Blaise style, though the appearance and voicing makes her distinct of all of these. There are disapproving and avuncular bosses too, working for the good guys, U.N.I.T.Y. The stories combine interesting action with tongue-in-cheek action such as a deadly German opera singer, a crotchety Scottish sergeant and in the second game, a series of murderous mimes. You get fascinating and sometimes unreliable equipment such as explosive lipsticks, helpful robot parrots and distracting robot poodles.
You have to explore a range of different environments in order to defeat H.A.R.M. a sinister, though sometimes ineffectual, even comic, organisation. Of course, there is creeping around (and noise attracts opponents in a pretty sophisticated way given the age of these games) and shooting and blowing up things, underground bases and even falling from an aircraft (move as far as you can 'away' from you as gamer, right to the edge of the screen to survive that part). These games were pitched at the right level, a challenge without the feeling that any moment you would be killed arbitrarily and with no chance to avoid your fate. The styling and approach was wonderfully done, the stories interesting and successfully combining humour and drama. A lot of gamers could learn from these two games. It is no surprise that 'No One Lives Forever' was Game of the Year in 2001.
Hidden & Dangerous (1999)
Thinking about immersive games, brings me to an even older one that I played for ages. This was 'Hidden and Dangerous' a game that allowed you to switch between first and third person on each of your characters. This involved you recruiting a team of four specialists in the SAS in the Second World War to carry out various missions in locations across Europe including France, Norway, Hungary and what was at the time the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia. You had to rescue people, recover objects and assassinate people. These days it would seem incredibly unsophisticated and it was riddled with horrible bugs which would leave your characters jammed down dead ends or being killed by the engine of the boat they were supposed to be riding in. However, the tension as you crawled along the ground in pouring rain to line up with your rifle to take out a guard or creeping in disguise through a town or infiltrating a chateau or using the tactical screen co-ordinating the actions of your four men to overpower particular units and then leaping in a car and driving off, was really a thrill. Again, in its favour, it was tough but not impossible, even allowing for the bugs.
I liked the stories behind each mission and also the fact that each of the characters you could build your team from had a back story and expertise as a result. You could have a very multinational team mixing in a Pole, a Czech, a Briton, a New Zealander, a Frenchman even a Spanish Republican. There was an expansion pack 'Hidden & Dangerous: Fight For Freedom' (2001) which interestingly had a mission in which you fought against Communist partisans during the Greek Civil War 1944-8, even though they had been opposing the Germans in Greece. In 2004 'Hidden & Dangerous 2' was released, but by then, the clunky graphics and bugs were unforgivable. The atmosphere and functionality of 'Hidden & Dangerous' were excellent. It is just a pity that more work was not put into ironing out the bugs as this could have been the basis of a very successful franchise. Its legacy is in many squad battle games, but as yet, I do not feel any has matched the engaging portrayal of wartime Europe that this game did.
BloodRayne (2002)
This one inspired two movies and a series of comic books. Again it is based on a strong story, in this case about a half-vampire (termed a Dhampir) working for the mysterious Brimstone Society in the 1930s to prevent a special group of Nazis the Gegen-Geist Gruppe from using elements from a demon to make their forces superhuman. This game is really gory and reminds me of the fear in the 1980s when there was a fear that 'video nasties' would spill over into the gaming world. Back then the graphics were not capable of reproducing anything that looked alarming, these days it is very different. Rayne runs around both feeding on people to sustain her strength and dismembering Nazi forces and various mutants and demons she encounters with long blades fitted to her arms. Her attacks are often balletic and there is a real delight to be had in spinning through the air in slow motion to go on the attack. Whilst as in many shooting (and this case stabbing) games there are numerous nameless opponents, a lot of the GGG personalities are detailed. Some are cyborgs, some priests, some well-armed or psychotic soldiers, but they look and behave differently and there is a large team of them to eliminate in Argentina and Germany. Mad Nazi machinery including two-legged tanks also get a look in. All of this creates a fantastical but engaging atmosphere.
Another interesting aspect is that the GGG often unleashes things it cannot control and you can end up in three-sided battles with the Nazi forces Rayne is targeting fighting off demons and mutants who will also attack Rayne. Though Rayne gains numerous powers, some of her weaknesses, such as water effectively being a strong acid to her. Towards the end when Rayne is battling huge demons who can kill her with a single swipe it becomes far too hard and I could not complete it without using cheats. However, I did want to find out what happened in the end and I think that was a winning element of the game. The fact that it has inspired such a following I think bears witness to this success. The sequel, 'BloodRayne 2' is set in the near future in a world that vampires are trying to alter to be more conducive to them. This is very stylish with Rayne starting in an elegant dress in a German mansion and goes on to street fighting. However, it is far too difficult to be enjoyable. You can be killed with a single blow at any stage and Rayne does not gain much better weaponry (though the blood-powered dragon guns look neat) as she progresses. The fact that there is a facility from the start to enter cheat codes, I believe shows the producers knew it was too touch to survive through normal play. It is a shame as it looks good and has an interesting story.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption (2000)
I have mentioned this game before. It features a 12th century crusader who is turned into a vampire while in Prague and goes on missions in medieval Prague and Vienna and then modern day London and New York. Though there are some anachronisms, the attention to detail of the medieval cities and the equipment and armour you can get, combined with a wide range of skills and spells you can develop, plus the squad approach of operating up to four team members in co-ordination, make this a very engaging game. Again, it is not easy, but there is not that sense of futility that you get with, say, 'BloodRayne 2' that you will never progress beyond a certain stage. That was a problem which I encountered with the sort of sequel, 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines' (2004) which was cursed with scores of bugs and needed stacks of patches to work. One strength of 'Redemption' is that it is based on the paper-based role-playing game, 'Vampire: The Masquerade' which means that it came with a developed world of different warring vampire clans and weapons and spells already worked out. There is a real enjoyment in this game when a co-ordinated plan comes together or you cast a spell to defeat your opponents, I especially like conjuring up a golem to assist me. The story, again though fantastical, has more than two-dimensional characters and a story that you can really enter and to some degree get through differently depending on the specialisations you pick for each character. I just love walking around medieval Prague.
Assassin's Creed (2007)
I have realised that a lot of my favourite games date back to the start of the 2000s. I wonder why this is. Maybe the good ideas have been exhausted and we have ended up with variations on themes rather than innovative approaches. However, one more recent game which certainly allows me to indulge in wandering medieval cities to the full is 'Assassin's Creed'. This is set in Palestine/Lebanon/Syria in July or August 1191 (Jaffa has not yet fallen to the Crusaders which it did on 10th September 1191). Well, your character Desmond Miles, is from 2012 and is sent back into the body of one of his ancestors in the 12th century to find out various secrets connected with the Templars for the benefit of the sinister Abstergo Industries which had kidnapped him. His ancestor known as Altaïr ibn La-Ahad is a member of the Assassins, a genuine body in medieval Lebanon. Their role in this game was to bring about some kind of end to the conflict between the Crusaders and the Saracen forces. This was the time of the Third Crusade, with King Richard I of England battling Salah ad-Din. Altair embarrasses himself at the start of the game and has to restore his standing among the Assassins by carrying out missions in the cities of Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem. What is stunning about this game is how wonderfully rendered the cities are. You can walk among the crowds, and being an assassin, scale the walls of buildings and leap across rooftops. The building details, even the shadows you cast are beautiful to watch. Great attention has been paid to the historical setting. Acre, a Christian city at the time, still shows war damage; Damascus is clearly a Muslim city and Jerusalem (including the Dome of the Rock which rather sacriligeously you can clamber on) is a mixture showing its current Muslim occupation and yet with the legacy of years of Christian control. I have always found the Crusader States fascinating and this game gives you the chance to charge or creep around them.
The one down side is that many of the missions are similar and more variety in what you had to do, would have been of benefit. Of course, you can go about each mission and the side missions in a different way. You can simply, if you like leap from rooftop to rooftop sneaking up on guards and pushing them from the roof. I would like to be able to go into the shops and sit in a cafe, but I suppose exploring the markets and bases of various opponents will suffice. Have I said, it looks stunning. You can stand on a high building and simply look out over the city with smoke and pollen and dust blowing around and gaze up to the surrounding hills. I am so glad that they picked on such a different setting. I am really looking forward to 'Assassin's Creed II' coming to the PC. It allows you to play in 15th century Venice, the screenshots look stunning. There is speculation about the third in the series. Personally I would favour Paris during the French Revolution of the late 18th century as the next setting, though rumours say it may be somewhere in Second World War Europe.
Deus Ex (2000)
This is an incredibly successful game which has won a slew of awards and has sold over 1 million copies. I came across it not in a game review but in an article on the BBC website back in about 2003. This is partly due to the political messages and the chance to have a variety of outcomes to the game depending on the options you take. It is described as a cyberpunk setting, as you play JC Denton, a man with his body augmented by nanotech which, depending on which options you pick give you a range of special abilities. Weaponry can also be augmented so two players can end up pretty quickly with very different JC Dentons in the game with different equipment. The story is set in 2052 and Denton works for the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO) whose base is at the bottom of the beheaded Statue of Liberty in New York (remember this was produced before the terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001) and in seeming to combat terrorism in the USA, Hong Kong and France he uncovers a conspiracy in which a corporation has manufactured a disease called 'Gray Death' so they can get rich selling the vaccine. However, a load of organisations come into the story like Majestic 12, the Illuminati and the Triads and fictional terrorist organisations such as the National Secessionist Force and the wonderfully named Silhouette, a French terrorist group.
Throughout you can choose different actions to take which impacts on how others perceive you and information you receive. My brother played the game very differently to me and in many ways this reflected our different personalities, in the way that games like 'Black and White' (2001) tended to show up your personality traits however you tried to act differently. Ultimately you can pick one of a number of options for governance of the world. Woven through the game are messages about our own world now, for example the steady reduction in the amount of tax large corporations pay. A sequel set 70 years later, 'Deus Ex, Invisible War' was released in 2003 but I never played it, mainly as I did not have a DVD drive, which it required, at the time. The reviews of it have not been as good as for the original, which seems to be still available and I recommend buying.
Dungeon Keeper 2 (1999)
This final game is not a first or third person shooting game, it is a building game. I could have listed 'Caesar III' (1999) or 'Medieval Lords' (2004) or even the 'Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile' (2004) which has great involvement and graphics (why are there never any good Renaissance city building games? Ancient Rome and then Egypt with the odd medieval village seem to dominate), but I have never really engaged with them, 'Dungeon Keeper 2' was different. Looking over these games I think I enjoy being able to play the 'alternative', to some degree break rules that I could not break in real life. This is what attracts me to certain games over others. 'Dungeon Keeper 2' allowed this. You get to play the evil dungeon master and to construct a lair with traps and devices and populate with trolls and others monsters, sorcerors and even sexy dominatrices and then wait for the good knights to charge in and get wiped out. Stage by stage you take over the kingdom by expanding into the good guys' areas and attracting them into yours for elimination. Not only do you get the funding of constructing a dungeon in detail, a part I enjoyed when playing the paper-based 'Dungeons and Dragons' role-playing game in the 1980s, you get to be the bad guy, encouraged along by a sinisterly voiced advisor, excellently performed by actor Richard Ridings (born 1958). One great function is that you can possess any of the monsters or your minions in the dungeon and get to see everything from their perspective which to me seemed wonderful that you can move from working on the 3D overhead view to seeing it on the ground, also useful if you wanted to carry out specific missions using one of your monsters.
Anyway, this is my list of favourite computer games which have not only kept me entertained over the years, but I now realised have in fact provoked thought. I do hope there is room out there for games that are willing to take a risk to be different. Games are now part of our broader culture and if, like too many movies, they simply fall back on the tried and tested and parade things we have seen many times before in front of us, then our broader culture is going to be less rich and for me and, no doubt thousands of others, that little bit less fun.
Showing posts with label 'Vampire: The Masquerade'. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 'Vampire: The Masquerade'. Show all posts
Monday, 5 April 2010
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Dead in Seconds 4: Vampires in Prague
I have commented before how over the years I have often bought games to play on my personal computer as a kind of retail therapy and often ended up not playing them. This was more of an issue in the early 2000s where the memory capacity of computers was less and you could easily fill them installing 8-10 reasonable games. Anyway, now that I have found that my current computer has reached its limit in being able to run the latest games (it can only just get 'Empire Total War' on and then crashes), I have gone back to my stash of old games. Of course, despite all the greater graphics, audio, etc. of newer games, this is not a guarantee of playability and sometimes old games still have certain aspects that still make them enjoyable. I was bemoaning the fact that I can no longer find a computer than runs 'Shogun Total War' (2000). The more recent 'Total War' games may have larger armies, more complex landscapes and so on, but there is still much to enjoy in the first in the series. Aesthetically it is pleasing, especially the music and sound effects and the map on which the action takes place. In addition, compared to 'Rome Total War', 'Medieval Total War', et al, it is more constrained. You are not fighting for centuries across the whole of Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, you have the islands of Japan and clans with different characteristics. The battling may be less sophisticated, but having the genuine troop types of 16th Japan is interesting for a wargamer, and though the Buddhist warrior monks are strong, they are not immensely more powerful than the average soldiers in the way you get distortions in the other Total War games with troops such as the Byzantine Kataphracts and the Mongol warriors.
Another game I dug out recently and am thoroughly enjoying is 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption' (2000). I have mentioned the later game, 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines' (2004) which was one of the most frustrating releases in personal computer gaming. It had an incredibly detailed story background, seven clans you could be a member of with a wide range of abilities, an interesting setting in contemporary Los Angeles and the most scary environments I have ever come across in a computer game, but you had to download 23 patches before it worked and then most players found they had to abandon the game when they came up against particularly strong opponents they could not defeat no matter what skills you had developed or equipment you had.
Apparently 'Redemption' was originally plagued by bugs, but I have a re-release version from Xplosiv, rather than an Activision original, which presumably had all the patches installed. The issue about coming up against near-impossible opponents presumably dented this game's reception as it would later with 'Bloodlines'. Of course finding a computer that runs games from 2000 these days is pretty hard but I am glad I held on to one of my older machines. Of course some of the animation looks rather primitive nine years on, but this is balanced by an interesting setting. In its day, the graphic effects, especially the shadows caused by different light sources, which is quite impressive even now, must have seemed very impressive.
Both the 'Vampire: The Masquerade' computer games are based on the paper-based RPG (role-playing game) of the same name, which was released in 1991. This was a good move because that game's 'World of Darkness' gives a well rounded setting for the computer games, in contrast to the often rather hastily imagined settings that are thought up for some. It is a world like our own but in which there are rival vampire clans, werewolves and vampires. The conflict between different clans gives an interesting basis for stories. However, because the computer games originate in a paper-based game, they are equipped with that machinery rather than, for example, the skills development, the gaining of spells, etc. being set up to work in the computer game's particular context. This means that without a walkthrough you can easily end up developing a character with all the exciting spells and abilities, but who is utterly useless in completing the particular missions you are sent on in the computer game. I ran into this problem and it was only after I read a walkthrough that I realised rather than going for interesting high-level abilities, I should simply stick to developing the vampire characters' ability to 'feed', i.e. drink blood. This makes all the other abilities you can gain seem a waste of time.
I suppose there is always going to be a tension between paper-based RPGs which emphasise players working as a team and each making the most of whatever skills and equipment they have and often using 'work arounds', and computer game versions, which however hard they try, have a difficulty in shaking off a linear path through the game. What I suppose I am asking for is not to have a single solution like one weapon from the whole range you can use, being the only solution. At least give the player a range of alternatives at crucial points. If there is to be one solution, at least give the player the chance to find that out within the game and not having to rely on walkthroughs. Without alternatives or the necessary information, playing the game stops being entertainment and becomes some kind of scientific exercise in trying to work out what the game's creators were thinking. Do not provide a score of potential abilities just for decoration. Either allow them to be able to contribute or leave them out of the game.
One interesting thing is that unlike in some computer role-playing games, in 'Redemption' some of your abilities start off very poor. This is most obvious if Romauld is using a bow and you have not severely raised his Dexterity (which you cannot do as you need to put experience points into his Feed ability). You can be standing firing at short range at an opponent and the arrows keep flying passed, not hitting. Arrows seem incredibly weak and it is best to use them to simply attract the opponent to you to fight. In groups many opponents are unbeatable so constantly in this game, you have to run in then run back out again, getting one opponent to follow. You kill them, then go back and attract another and so on. This strategy dominates much of the game.
The other problem which I have noted before with first/third person fighting games, especially 'Gun', is the 'now you tell me' problem. This not only extends to the kind of skills you need to develop but also the equipment you need to keep or buy. A classic case happens when you are sent to defeat a golem which is rampaging in the Jewish quarter of Prague. The golem has been created by a rabbi to protect the Jewish population of the city, but its control has been subverted by a vampire. To win at least benign neutrality from the Jews, the Brujahs want to stop it. The golem is a very tough opponent and as with many others in this game, can kill you with a single blow. The best thing to use to fight against him is a scroll that summons a rock elemental, a kind of smaller version of the golem. The elemental distracts the golem, fights on almost equal terms with him and allows you to get a decent blow in (running from the cramped area where the golem first appears into a street where both your fighters and your elemental can collaborate also helps). Can you buy the scroll just before you go into battle with the golem? Of course not. You have to have bought it before you embarked on the first mission underneath the monastery, resolving an internal dispute among the Cappodocian vampires, at a time when you had no idea you would be fighting a golem. By the time you come to face the golem, miraculously the shop selling the spell no longer stocks it, though it had it an hour before.
One thing I do like about 'Redemption' is that when on most of the missions, you can break off and head out of the dungeons or caves you are in. This allows you to unload the stuff you have picked up, spend some of the gold and silver you have found on more equipment and even upgrade on the skills you need to complete the mission you are undertaking. This is a fairer approach. Of course, one hazard with this game, is the bulk of the action takes place at night with medieval level lighting, so it can be very difficult to find the particular tunnel you came down to get to where you are. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to get back to the surface and finding yourself literally going in circles. I recommend dropping coins or rags or unidentified objects (which can sometimes be hazardous, especially the bottles of diseased blood) along the way to mark your trail and collecting them when you finally leave. The worst location for this is the Bonn silver mines where you do your first mission, but others can be quite bewildering too.
The options in 'Redemption' are naturally more limited than in 'Bloodlines'. You do not get to design your character, though you do get to develop him. This is Christof Romauld, a French crusader fighting Pagans in eastern Europe in 1141 CE who ends up injured and convalescing in Prague where he is drawn into battles between various vampire clans. Whilst a religious man, he falls victim to affection for the nun who tends him, Anezka. Romauld's defeat of a leading Tzmiscie vampire who has taken over nearby silver mines leads to him being turned into a vampire by the Brujah clan and Aneszka being made into a 'ghoul' a human addicted to vampire blood and empowered with some of their strengths by the Tzmiscie.
In the game as with 'BloodRayne', you have to keep up your blood supply by feeding from people or animals or drinking bottles of blood. You also have to keep your health up and also stop yourself going into frenzy. If your blood level is low or if the opponents use certain spells, your characters frenzy and you lose control and you sit back and watch them get slaughtered or attack other people. The only solution seems to be constant visits to the local monastery where the brothers let you feed on them without attracting the attention of heavily armed soldiers which generally happens if you try feeding from anyone else in the cities. Balancing these elements is fine and interesting but challenging and this is why Feed becomes really the only skill you worry about and you neglect all the other interesting abilities you could develop.
The story had Romauld sent on various missions on behalf of Ecaterina the leading Brujah in Prague and he begins to gather a band of other vampires to help him. This is handled pretty well. As with any adventuring team, they have different abilities. You can jump between the different characters to control them directly and the others follow the one you are controlling, around. I do not know of any other 'squad' game, aside from things like 'Wizardry 8' (2001, but it looks much older; interesting range of races you can play) that are not set in modern warfare from the Second World War onwards. Of course even 'Redemption' ends in modern times. The faces of the squad show how they are feeling and if they are being attacked, which is a nice shot. They reel back from blows in the display at the bottom. You can set your squad to 'defensive', 'neutral' or 'offensive' stance, but as I have noted before in postings, in common with so many characters in first/third person fighting games, they have no sense of self-preservation.
This becomes a very serious problem when you are sent on a daylight mission in St. Stephan's Cathedral in Vienna. You creep through the shadows, but there are certain sections in which you have to go through sunlight which burns up the vampires. Do they run for cover in the shadows? No, they stand in the middle of the sunlight moaning how it is burning them. If you try to ferry them across by controlling them yourself, one at a time, this fails as the others, even those who have reached refuge come back to where you are, back in the sunlight. It is not impossible to do, but it is very difficult. Always dying because of a single blow or because your troops are suicidal undermines the gameplay experience. Dying because you made a mistake is fine, but arbitrary death especially from stupidity among people you cannot control is no fun. The 'hit and run' strategy is difficult when you have four people all trying to get through a doorway together, literally bumping into each other, and then try to get back out of the room quickly before the whole gang of opponents starts stabbing you in the back. It soon leads to disaster and frustration from the game player. I suppose this shows the game's age and the weakness of NPC (non-player character) A.I. (artificial intelligence).
What I like about this game, despite these flaws and knowing that my characters can turn a corner and be dead before I know what is happening, are the settings. The equipment the characters use is generally correct for the period, though the halberds (in peak usage c. 1315-1422 CE), three-head warhammers (particularly popular in the 13th century), the claymore (late 15th to early 17th centuries), poignards (14th-17th centuries) and platemail armour (from 14th century onwards but only in the form seen in the game in the 15th century) are rather before their time in being used in the 12th century. The 'bastion' seems to be the name of a polearm only found in RPGs and the historical equivalent would seem to be the glaive (which is first mentioned in the 16th century), or alternatively a bill (used from the 10th-16th centuries) or hache or a vouge gisarme (from 12th century) but without the spike or hammer on the back. However, the round shields, the kite shields, the leather and the chainmail armour and nose-guard helmets all fit; as does, to my surprise, the Moro dagger, which appeared in Europe from 600 CE onwards.
The adventures in Vienna have more anachronisms than those in Prague, notably the Teutonic Knights in full platemail armour. The Teutonic Order of knights was not formed until 50 years after the game is set, in 1192, though as a purely monastic order it had been developing for a few years by then. Its headquarters did not move to Vienna (where they remain today) until 1809. The Order of St. John (commonly known as the Hospitallers), whose knights appear in the Prague setting, is appropriate as it was established in 1099. The arms and armour these knights are shown wearing seem suited to the mid-12th century period supposedly being portrayed.
The city environments are excellent, obviously compact, but, if like me, you have visited Prague, you will recognise locations such as the castle, Golden Lane and the Jewish sector and they where they are in relation to each other even today, though the 21st century city is far larger than its 12th century antecedent. The same applies to Vienna, though to a far lesser extent as the medieval walls were demolished to allow for the ring of streets. However, St. Stephan's is as you would expect.
It would be nice to see more 'Vampire: The Masquerade' computer games made, because in terms of setting and story, they are excellent. The flaws of 'Bloodlines' in terms of programming are going to make it unlikely. I would beg anyone designing this kind of game or something like 'BloodRayne' who does not want to antagonise potential purchasers by thinking about the dynamics of the game. Okay, there should be tough opponents and challenging puzzles, but no-one enjoys having to start again because they did not know to pick up a particular scroll before the preceeding mission. Also, can we have non-player characters who do not constantly strive to commit suicide. It is frustrating when you set up some complex plan of attack to have your friends run in to firing line with no sense of caution. I recommend 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption' but also suggest that you read a decent walkthrough before playing it, then you at least stand some chance of not ending up repeating the early stages again and again in order to find the right combination of skills and equipment to pass the halfway point of the game.
P.P. 04/05/2009: I doubt there is anyone out there still playing this game, but if there is anyone I can provide a few hints that differ from some of the things you will read in online advice that remains available.
Chests and Barrels: Walkthroughs often say that you will get a particular item if you break open a chest or a barrel in a specific room. However, what you get is very random. If you replay sections you will find you will get a wide assortment of items popping up and different each time. One time you might get rags, the next very valuable chainmail armour coming from the same location. I suggest that you save game after you get a valuable item. If it is bulky then take it somewhere where you can collect it later on. You need as many Bottles of Vitae and Blood Stones as you can lay your hands on for when you do the daylight raid on the St. Stephan's Cathedral in Prague so save them up as much as possible on early missions. Take back any weapons and potions you find even if they are useless for you as you need to build up thousands of gold pieces of savings if you are going to be able to equip your four-person coterie ahead of going to Vienna by which time they all need the best armour, helmet and weapons that you can buy.
Storage: While I advise storing Bottles of Vitae and spells, especially scrolls of Awaken, do not leave things in the Vault at the University Haven as they are likely to disappear from there. I do not know if this is an element of the game or just a bug, but it can be very frustrating when you find your three carefully marshalled Blood Stones have disappeared. Instead I tend to leave them in a corridor in the Petrin Monastery and they seem perfectly safe there. The three monks there are also a useful supply of free blood which does not attract the attention of the Knights of St. John when you drain it, so I make a visit there before I set off on any mission.
Equipping Wilhem: Wilhem is the German vampire (his accent suggests he is from northern Germany, probably northern Saxony) who is the first one to join your coterie. He is a good fighter and comes with a halberd. Now two-handed weapons look good because they inflict so much damage. However, look at the speed of usage. Also bear in mind that most of your missions occur in cramped corridors and rooms with three or four of your characters battling for space. You can hear Wilhem's halberd smashing into the wall as he tries to bring it to bear on your opponents. Without a shield he also takes more damage. Get him equipped with a decent sword and a shield as soon as you can, either found or bought and sell off his halberd. He will then be a much more useful fighter in the kind of places you have to go and will survive longer.
Sharing Out the Magic: The temptation is always to give Romauld the spell books you find, notably the Thaumaturgy one from the Chantry and the Domination one from St. Stephan's. I advise against this, spread them around especially between Wilhem and Serena who both have good intelligence levels. I usually give Thaumaturgy (Blood Magic) to Wilhem as it allows him to attack opponents with blood drain. Romauld has more than enough abilities to work on, getting more does not help and giving them to his support team can be useful in melees later. Even if the A.I. leads them to run into dangerous situations, particularly sunlight, it seems far better at having them use their spell abilities unprompted.
Blood Rage is the Level 1 Blood Magic spell, and may seem quite weak, it makes opponents expend their blood pool. However, being a low level spell you can raise it quickly with the experience you gain. It proves particularly useful when facing a group of enemies, such as the clutches of Tremere in the Haus der Hexe in Vienna. If you hang back and fire it repeatedly at one of the vampires you find he turns on his fellow vampires and starts draining blood from one of them, sometimes to the extend that he kills them. As it is, this ties up two of the vampires in gang who otherwise would be attacking you. You can trigger this off with a couple of pairs of vampires and if you have Theft of Vitae too (though you need it at quite a high level to be effective against many of the Tremere, but once they are weakened by other spells or blows it can work) you can kill a couple of the vampires and having them weaken their comrades without having to strike a blow.
Serena and Fire: In walkthroughs you are advised to wait before spending any experience until Serena can learn Lure of Flames spells and then put her experience into trying to learn Fire Storm, the Level 5 spell. I tried this strategy as advised, but found it far more effective to pour all her experience into the Level 2 Lure of Flames spell, Fireball, raising this up to the 4th or 5th level of ability makes a powerful distance weapon which proves incredibly useful at St. Stephan's especially in taking out Dark Hunters and guards that are the other side of a patch of sunlight.
Ardan's Chantry: This is the mission located at the top of Golden Lane where you fight the Tremere clan. The little patches of flame provide random outcomes and these are more varied than is said in walkthroughs I have seen. Yes you might get the very useful blood stones out of them or you might get the annoying Hopper creatures that always seem to be carrying quite a lot of money. However, and this is the bit that I have not read before, you might get a huge rock elemental that resembles the Golem and is tough to beat. You may also, more rarely, get a Dark Hunter, a tough wraith-like creature. So, be very careful before approaching these little purple flames. Bear in mind when you complete this mission you are teleported back to the University so before you enter Section 4 of the Chantry make sure you have gathered up any items or put them into your store, otherwise you will have to go back through the whole place to retrieve them.
Another game I dug out recently and am thoroughly enjoying is 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption' (2000). I have mentioned the later game, 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines' (2004) which was one of the most frustrating releases in personal computer gaming. It had an incredibly detailed story background, seven clans you could be a member of with a wide range of abilities, an interesting setting in contemporary Los Angeles and the most scary environments I have ever come across in a computer game, but you had to download 23 patches before it worked and then most players found they had to abandon the game when they came up against particularly strong opponents they could not defeat no matter what skills you had developed or equipment you had.
Apparently 'Redemption' was originally plagued by bugs, but I have a re-release version from Xplosiv, rather than an Activision original, which presumably had all the patches installed. The issue about coming up against near-impossible opponents presumably dented this game's reception as it would later with 'Bloodlines'. Of course finding a computer that runs games from 2000 these days is pretty hard but I am glad I held on to one of my older machines. Of course some of the animation looks rather primitive nine years on, but this is balanced by an interesting setting. In its day, the graphic effects, especially the shadows caused by different light sources, which is quite impressive even now, must have seemed very impressive.
Both the 'Vampire: The Masquerade' computer games are based on the paper-based RPG (role-playing game) of the same name, which was released in 1991. This was a good move because that game's 'World of Darkness' gives a well rounded setting for the computer games, in contrast to the often rather hastily imagined settings that are thought up for some. It is a world like our own but in which there are rival vampire clans, werewolves and vampires. The conflict between different clans gives an interesting basis for stories. However, because the computer games originate in a paper-based game, they are equipped with that machinery rather than, for example, the skills development, the gaining of spells, etc. being set up to work in the computer game's particular context. This means that without a walkthrough you can easily end up developing a character with all the exciting spells and abilities, but who is utterly useless in completing the particular missions you are sent on in the computer game. I ran into this problem and it was only after I read a walkthrough that I realised rather than going for interesting high-level abilities, I should simply stick to developing the vampire characters' ability to 'feed', i.e. drink blood. This makes all the other abilities you can gain seem a waste of time.
I suppose there is always going to be a tension between paper-based RPGs which emphasise players working as a team and each making the most of whatever skills and equipment they have and often using 'work arounds', and computer game versions, which however hard they try, have a difficulty in shaking off a linear path through the game. What I suppose I am asking for is not to have a single solution like one weapon from the whole range you can use, being the only solution. At least give the player a range of alternatives at crucial points. If there is to be one solution, at least give the player the chance to find that out within the game and not having to rely on walkthroughs. Without alternatives or the necessary information, playing the game stops being entertainment and becomes some kind of scientific exercise in trying to work out what the game's creators were thinking. Do not provide a score of potential abilities just for decoration. Either allow them to be able to contribute or leave them out of the game.
One interesting thing is that unlike in some computer role-playing games, in 'Redemption' some of your abilities start off very poor. This is most obvious if Romauld is using a bow and you have not severely raised his Dexterity (which you cannot do as you need to put experience points into his Feed ability). You can be standing firing at short range at an opponent and the arrows keep flying passed, not hitting. Arrows seem incredibly weak and it is best to use them to simply attract the opponent to you to fight. In groups many opponents are unbeatable so constantly in this game, you have to run in then run back out again, getting one opponent to follow. You kill them, then go back and attract another and so on. This strategy dominates much of the game.
The other problem which I have noted before with first/third person fighting games, especially 'Gun', is the 'now you tell me' problem. This not only extends to the kind of skills you need to develop but also the equipment you need to keep or buy. A classic case happens when you are sent to defeat a golem which is rampaging in the Jewish quarter of Prague. The golem has been created by a rabbi to protect the Jewish population of the city, but its control has been subverted by a vampire. To win at least benign neutrality from the Jews, the Brujahs want to stop it. The golem is a very tough opponent and as with many others in this game, can kill you with a single blow. The best thing to use to fight against him is a scroll that summons a rock elemental, a kind of smaller version of the golem. The elemental distracts the golem, fights on almost equal terms with him and allows you to get a decent blow in (running from the cramped area where the golem first appears into a street where both your fighters and your elemental can collaborate also helps). Can you buy the scroll just before you go into battle with the golem? Of course not. You have to have bought it before you embarked on the first mission underneath the monastery, resolving an internal dispute among the Cappodocian vampires, at a time when you had no idea you would be fighting a golem. By the time you come to face the golem, miraculously the shop selling the spell no longer stocks it, though it had it an hour before.
One thing I do like about 'Redemption' is that when on most of the missions, you can break off and head out of the dungeons or caves you are in. This allows you to unload the stuff you have picked up, spend some of the gold and silver you have found on more equipment and even upgrade on the skills you need to complete the mission you are undertaking. This is a fairer approach. Of course, one hazard with this game, is the bulk of the action takes place at night with medieval level lighting, so it can be very difficult to find the particular tunnel you came down to get to where you are. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to get back to the surface and finding yourself literally going in circles. I recommend dropping coins or rags or unidentified objects (which can sometimes be hazardous, especially the bottles of diseased blood) along the way to mark your trail and collecting them when you finally leave. The worst location for this is the Bonn silver mines where you do your first mission, but others can be quite bewildering too.
The options in 'Redemption' are naturally more limited than in 'Bloodlines'. You do not get to design your character, though you do get to develop him. This is Christof Romauld, a French crusader fighting Pagans in eastern Europe in 1141 CE who ends up injured and convalescing in Prague where he is drawn into battles between various vampire clans. Whilst a religious man, he falls victim to affection for the nun who tends him, Anezka. Romauld's defeat of a leading Tzmiscie vampire who has taken over nearby silver mines leads to him being turned into a vampire by the Brujah clan and Aneszka being made into a 'ghoul' a human addicted to vampire blood and empowered with some of their strengths by the Tzmiscie.
In the game as with 'BloodRayne', you have to keep up your blood supply by feeding from people or animals or drinking bottles of blood. You also have to keep your health up and also stop yourself going into frenzy. If your blood level is low or if the opponents use certain spells, your characters frenzy and you lose control and you sit back and watch them get slaughtered or attack other people. The only solution seems to be constant visits to the local monastery where the brothers let you feed on them without attracting the attention of heavily armed soldiers which generally happens if you try feeding from anyone else in the cities. Balancing these elements is fine and interesting but challenging and this is why Feed becomes really the only skill you worry about and you neglect all the other interesting abilities you could develop.
The story had Romauld sent on various missions on behalf of Ecaterina the leading Brujah in Prague and he begins to gather a band of other vampires to help him. This is handled pretty well. As with any adventuring team, they have different abilities. You can jump between the different characters to control them directly and the others follow the one you are controlling, around. I do not know of any other 'squad' game, aside from things like 'Wizardry 8' (2001, but it looks much older; interesting range of races you can play) that are not set in modern warfare from the Second World War onwards. Of course even 'Redemption' ends in modern times. The faces of the squad show how they are feeling and if they are being attacked, which is a nice shot. They reel back from blows in the display at the bottom. You can set your squad to 'defensive', 'neutral' or 'offensive' stance, but as I have noted before in postings, in common with so many characters in first/third person fighting games, they have no sense of self-preservation.
This becomes a very serious problem when you are sent on a daylight mission in St. Stephan's Cathedral in Vienna. You creep through the shadows, but there are certain sections in which you have to go through sunlight which burns up the vampires. Do they run for cover in the shadows? No, they stand in the middle of the sunlight moaning how it is burning them. If you try to ferry them across by controlling them yourself, one at a time, this fails as the others, even those who have reached refuge come back to where you are, back in the sunlight. It is not impossible to do, but it is very difficult. Always dying because of a single blow or because your troops are suicidal undermines the gameplay experience. Dying because you made a mistake is fine, but arbitrary death especially from stupidity among people you cannot control is no fun. The 'hit and run' strategy is difficult when you have four people all trying to get through a doorway together, literally bumping into each other, and then try to get back out of the room quickly before the whole gang of opponents starts stabbing you in the back. It soon leads to disaster and frustration from the game player. I suppose this shows the game's age and the weakness of NPC (non-player character) A.I. (artificial intelligence).
What I like about this game, despite these flaws and knowing that my characters can turn a corner and be dead before I know what is happening, are the settings. The equipment the characters use is generally correct for the period, though the halberds (in peak usage c. 1315-1422 CE), three-head warhammers (particularly popular in the 13th century), the claymore (late 15th to early 17th centuries), poignards (14th-17th centuries) and platemail armour (from 14th century onwards but only in the form seen in the game in the 15th century) are rather before their time in being used in the 12th century. The 'bastion' seems to be the name of a polearm only found in RPGs and the historical equivalent would seem to be the glaive (which is first mentioned in the 16th century), or alternatively a bill (used from the 10th-16th centuries) or hache or a vouge gisarme (from 12th century) but without the spike or hammer on the back. However, the round shields, the kite shields, the leather and the chainmail armour and nose-guard helmets all fit; as does, to my surprise, the Moro dagger, which appeared in Europe from 600 CE onwards.
The adventures in Vienna have more anachronisms than those in Prague, notably the Teutonic Knights in full platemail armour. The Teutonic Order of knights was not formed until 50 years after the game is set, in 1192, though as a purely monastic order it had been developing for a few years by then. Its headquarters did not move to Vienna (where they remain today) until 1809. The Order of St. John (commonly known as the Hospitallers), whose knights appear in the Prague setting, is appropriate as it was established in 1099. The arms and armour these knights are shown wearing seem suited to the mid-12th century period supposedly being portrayed.
The city environments are excellent, obviously compact, but, if like me, you have visited Prague, you will recognise locations such as the castle, Golden Lane and the Jewish sector and they where they are in relation to each other even today, though the 21st century city is far larger than its 12th century antecedent. The same applies to Vienna, though to a far lesser extent as the medieval walls were demolished to allow for the ring of streets. However, St. Stephan's is as you would expect.
It would be nice to see more 'Vampire: The Masquerade' computer games made, because in terms of setting and story, they are excellent. The flaws of 'Bloodlines' in terms of programming are going to make it unlikely. I would beg anyone designing this kind of game or something like 'BloodRayne' who does not want to antagonise potential purchasers by thinking about the dynamics of the game. Okay, there should be tough opponents and challenging puzzles, but no-one enjoys having to start again because they did not know to pick up a particular scroll before the preceeding mission. Also, can we have non-player characters who do not constantly strive to commit suicide. It is frustrating when you set up some complex plan of attack to have your friends run in to firing line with no sense of caution. I recommend 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption' but also suggest that you read a decent walkthrough before playing it, then you at least stand some chance of not ending up repeating the early stages again and again in order to find the right combination of skills and equipment to pass the halfway point of the game.
P.P. 04/05/2009: I doubt there is anyone out there still playing this game, but if there is anyone I can provide a few hints that differ from some of the things you will read in online advice that remains available.
Chests and Barrels: Walkthroughs often say that you will get a particular item if you break open a chest or a barrel in a specific room. However, what you get is very random. If you replay sections you will find you will get a wide assortment of items popping up and different each time. One time you might get rags, the next very valuable chainmail armour coming from the same location. I suggest that you save game after you get a valuable item. If it is bulky then take it somewhere where you can collect it later on. You need as many Bottles of Vitae and Blood Stones as you can lay your hands on for when you do the daylight raid on the St. Stephan's Cathedral in Prague so save them up as much as possible on early missions. Take back any weapons and potions you find even if they are useless for you as you need to build up thousands of gold pieces of savings if you are going to be able to equip your four-person coterie ahead of going to Vienna by which time they all need the best armour, helmet and weapons that you can buy.
Storage: While I advise storing Bottles of Vitae and spells, especially scrolls of Awaken, do not leave things in the Vault at the University Haven as they are likely to disappear from there. I do not know if this is an element of the game or just a bug, but it can be very frustrating when you find your three carefully marshalled Blood Stones have disappeared. Instead I tend to leave them in a corridor in the Petrin Monastery and they seem perfectly safe there. The three monks there are also a useful supply of free blood which does not attract the attention of the Knights of St. John when you drain it, so I make a visit there before I set off on any mission.
Equipping Wilhem: Wilhem is the German vampire (his accent suggests he is from northern Germany, probably northern Saxony) who is the first one to join your coterie. He is a good fighter and comes with a halberd. Now two-handed weapons look good because they inflict so much damage. However, look at the speed of usage. Also bear in mind that most of your missions occur in cramped corridors and rooms with three or four of your characters battling for space. You can hear Wilhem's halberd smashing into the wall as he tries to bring it to bear on your opponents. Without a shield he also takes more damage. Get him equipped with a decent sword and a shield as soon as you can, either found or bought and sell off his halberd. He will then be a much more useful fighter in the kind of places you have to go and will survive longer.
Sharing Out the Magic: The temptation is always to give Romauld the spell books you find, notably the Thaumaturgy one from the Chantry and the Domination one from St. Stephan's. I advise against this, spread them around especially between Wilhem and Serena who both have good intelligence levels. I usually give Thaumaturgy (Blood Magic) to Wilhem as it allows him to attack opponents with blood drain. Romauld has more than enough abilities to work on, getting more does not help and giving them to his support team can be useful in melees later. Even if the A.I. leads them to run into dangerous situations, particularly sunlight, it seems far better at having them use their spell abilities unprompted.
Blood Rage is the Level 1 Blood Magic spell, and may seem quite weak, it makes opponents expend their blood pool. However, being a low level spell you can raise it quickly with the experience you gain. It proves particularly useful when facing a group of enemies, such as the clutches of Tremere in the Haus der Hexe in Vienna. If you hang back and fire it repeatedly at one of the vampires you find he turns on his fellow vampires and starts draining blood from one of them, sometimes to the extend that he kills them. As it is, this ties up two of the vampires in gang who otherwise would be attacking you. You can trigger this off with a couple of pairs of vampires and if you have Theft of Vitae too (though you need it at quite a high level to be effective against many of the Tremere, but once they are weakened by other spells or blows it can work) you can kill a couple of the vampires and having them weaken their comrades without having to strike a blow.
Serena and Fire: In walkthroughs you are advised to wait before spending any experience until Serena can learn Lure of Flames spells and then put her experience into trying to learn Fire Storm, the Level 5 spell. I tried this strategy as advised, but found it far more effective to pour all her experience into the Level 2 Lure of Flames spell, Fireball, raising this up to the 4th or 5th level of ability makes a powerful distance weapon which proves incredibly useful at St. Stephan's especially in taking out Dark Hunters and guards that are the other side of a patch of sunlight.
Ardan's Chantry: This is the mission located at the top of Golden Lane where you fight the Tremere clan. The little patches of flame provide random outcomes and these are more varied than is said in walkthroughs I have seen. Yes you might get the very useful blood stones out of them or you might get the annoying Hopper creatures that always seem to be carrying quite a lot of money. However, and this is the bit that I have not read before, you might get a huge rock elemental that resembles the Golem and is tough to beat. You may also, more rarely, get a Dark Hunter, a tough wraith-like creature. So, be very careful before approaching these little purple flames. Bear in mind when you complete this mission you are teleported back to the University so before you enter Section 4 of the Chantry make sure you have gathered up any items or put them into your store, otherwise you will have to go back through the whole place to retrieve them.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Dead In Seconds 3: Second World War Games
This is part of my irregular series of complaints about computer games for PCs. Playing computer games especially historically set ones is a major hobby for me. However, I get frustrated when many of them seem, particularly on the 'Easy' level to be impossible to progress without relying on cheats. Usually this seems to stem from the fact that there has been insufficent play testing so the user is eliminated in an arbitrary way or gets stuck in a situation in which you can only switch off the machine and either abandon the game or start again. Sometimes these flaws come from bugs. I was a big fan of 'Hidden and Dangerous' (1999) a game in which you had a squad of four commandos who had to carry out various missions in the Second World War. The storylines were interesting and the background authentic, but unfortunately filled with bugs so your brave men would die if they got on a boat as they fell into an engine or they got stuck in a look-out tower as there was insufficient room for them to stand up and they were also unable to crouch. I also liked 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines' (2004) which had an excellent back story of vampire clans in California, but needed 23 downloaded patches for it to work and then put you up against so powerful enemies with minimal weaponry and armour that you very quickly became stuck.
Now, as I have noted on this blog, since having my computer rebuilt following that fake anti-virus virus which hit me and presumably thousands of people across the world last month, I have been re-installing different games to what I had before, working my way through the pile of games that I have bought over the years and never played. I found that another couple of games like 'Hidden and Dangerous', 'Commandos 2: Beyond the Call of Duty' (2001) and 'Commandos 3: Destination Berlin' simply would not install on my computer. As noted before I did manage to get 'Faces of War' (2006) and 'Codename Panzers: Phase One' (2004) installed and have been playing them. In both games you control a small unit of soldiers in the Second World War and in both you can plan campaigns as the Germans, the Allies or the Soviets/Russians. It is interesting how these companies separate what were called the Allies into the Americans and British (and sometimes the French Resistance) and the Soviets, though from the moment the Germans invaded the USSR in June 1941, on Churchill's principle that 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' if nothing stronger, they were all in it together. Officially China was also part of the Allies.
Anyway, I outlined how in 'Faces of War' I found it tough as your small unit was generally faced by whole regiments often far more heavily armed, but that as the Germans I completed the first mission to blow the Nijmegen Bridge, so preventing the war ending in January 1945. I then moved on to Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge and found my covert team, especially the snipers, not content to work cautiously, they simply ran up to the American front line and stood there while they were shot even if I kept calling them back. Meanwhile Rambo-like US soldiers in their shirtsleeves (despite the bitter 1944 winter) simply charged up escaping harm. I gave up on this scenarion but had plans to come back, thinking I could restrain my sniper and then if I eliminated the bulk of the troops on the US frontline, might stand a chance. Only, this time after Nijmegen I was sent back for tank training which I had already done. I did it again only to be sent back to Nijmegen, I was stuck in a loop not even with the chance of the suicidal Bastogne mission. I tried playing as the Soviets but had to go through all the basic training once again even though by now I knew all the controls perfectly and the Soviet troops were little different to how the German ones had been except they had worse American accents. This could have been a good game, but macho American stylings, plus flaws in the progression system rendered it pointless.
Now 'Codename Panzers: Phase One', though criticised for looking pretty old fashioned for a game produced in 2004 seemed to play much better. It reminded me of Talonsoft's 'West Front' (1998) with the same bird's eye view, though with greater detail. I quite like being able to role a clutch of tanks down some high street. You follow one character who has wistful diary entries before each scenario. I managed to get through as German Oberleutnant Hans von Groebel up to rank of Oberst and heavily decorated before being invalided out in late 1942 presumably so you did not have be on the defensive for the rest of the game.
I am now playing as Leutenant Aleksander Vladimiriov and got an appendicitis after the Germans were turned back from Kursk in 1943 and then only brought back to service in February 1945 for the assault on Budapest. I suppose this was to reduce the number of maps they need to create, but it seems a shame to have missed out such a chunk. Now, it comes to the problems of the gameplay. In Budapest I keep being blown apart by German forces I cannot see. Even if I run infantry in the building overlooking where the artillery piece or the concealed tank is, it remains invisible and I cannot fire at it. In contrast my soldiers and tanks who may be many streets away are hit precisely on the first shot by artillery, mortar and tank fire eliminating me immediately. You can go round clearing out every soldier from every building and yet you are still precisely targeted. Perhaps that all the staff at Stormregion who developed this are Hungarian and their quality checkers are German we have got this situation you get with US-produced games, in that you cannot really beat the Americans.
Perhaps the Hungarians cannot tolerate seeing Budapest fall to the Soviets (as it did in reality) though it does seem simply some flaw. I can accept 'fog of war' but nothing infuriates me more than people who are invisible to me, but can see right through building after building to hit me dead on. I do not mind games being tough, I just want them to be fair. It seems pointless in having the game with all the wonderfully drawn buildings and well-researched vehicles, if no matter what my skill, my strategy, my tactics, my planning, I am still going to be eliminated. Game makers do not seem to understand how disheartening it is and how unlikely we are to buy anything more from them. Though in this case as I got 'Codename Panzers: Phase Two' (2005) with it (primarily so I could play as a Yugoslav partisan), I cannot hold that particular sanction until I see something else of theirs.
To some degree I am pleased that the release of 'Empires Total War' has been delayed because if it lets them eliminate some of the flaws of earlier games (laser-guided medieval rockets, galleons equipped with radar and bullet-proof Mongol warriors) then I will be far happier especially, as atypically for me, I am going to buy it new.
Now, as I have noted on this blog, since having my computer rebuilt following that fake anti-virus virus which hit me and presumably thousands of people across the world last month, I have been re-installing different games to what I had before, working my way through the pile of games that I have bought over the years and never played. I found that another couple of games like 'Hidden and Dangerous', 'Commandos 2: Beyond the Call of Duty' (2001) and 'Commandos 3: Destination Berlin' simply would not install on my computer. As noted before I did manage to get 'Faces of War' (2006) and 'Codename Panzers: Phase One' (2004) installed and have been playing them. In both games you control a small unit of soldiers in the Second World War and in both you can plan campaigns as the Germans, the Allies or the Soviets/Russians. It is interesting how these companies separate what were called the Allies into the Americans and British (and sometimes the French Resistance) and the Soviets, though from the moment the Germans invaded the USSR in June 1941, on Churchill's principle that 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' if nothing stronger, they were all in it together. Officially China was also part of the Allies.
Anyway, I outlined how in 'Faces of War' I found it tough as your small unit was generally faced by whole regiments often far more heavily armed, but that as the Germans I completed the first mission to blow the Nijmegen Bridge, so preventing the war ending in January 1945. I then moved on to Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge and found my covert team, especially the snipers, not content to work cautiously, they simply ran up to the American front line and stood there while they were shot even if I kept calling them back. Meanwhile Rambo-like US soldiers in their shirtsleeves (despite the bitter 1944 winter) simply charged up escaping harm. I gave up on this scenarion but had plans to come back, thinking I could restrain my sniper and then if I eliminated the bulk of the troops on the US frontline, might stand a chance. Only, this time after Nijmegen I was sent back for tank training which I had already done. I did it again only to be sent back to Nijmegen, I was stuck in a loop not even with the chance of the suicidal Bastogne mission. I tried playing as the Soviets but had to go through all the basic training once again even though by now I knew all the controls perfectly and the Soviet troops were little different to how the German ones had been except they had worse American accents. This could have been a good game, but macho American stylings, plus flaws in the progression system rendered it pointless.
Now 'Codename Panzers: Phase One', though criticised for looking pretty old fashioned for a game produced in 2004 seemed to play much better. It reminded me of Talonsoft's 'West Front' (1998) with the same bird's eye view, though with greater detail. I quite like being able to role a clutch of tanks down some high street. You follow one character who has wistful diary entries before each scenario. I managed to get through as German Oberleutnant Hans von Groebel up to rank of Oberst and heavily decorated before being invalided out in late 1942 presumably so you did not have be on the defensive for the rest of the game.
I am now playing as Leutenant Aleksander Vladimiriov and got an appendicitis after the Germans were turned back from Kursk in 1943 and then only brought back to service in February 1945 for the assault on Budapest. I suppose this was to reduce the number of maps they need to create, but it seems a shame to have missed out such a chunk. Now, it comes to the problems of the gameplay. In Budapest I keep being blown apart by German forces I cannot see. Even if I run infantry in the building overlooking where the artillery piece or the concealed tank is, it remains invisible and I cannot fire at it. In contrast my soldiers and tanks who may be many streets away are hit precisely on the first shot by artillery, mortar and tank fire eliminating me immediately. You can go round clearing out every soldier from every building and yet you are still precisely targeted. Perhaps that all the staff at Stormregion who developed this are Hungarian and their quality checkers are German we have got this situation you get with US-produced games, in that you cannot really beat the Americans.
Perhaps the Hungarians cannot tolerate seeing Budapest fall to the Soviets (as it did in reality) though it does seem simply some flaw. I can accept 'fog of war' but nothing infuriates me more than people who are invisible to me, but can see right through building after building to hit me dead on. I do not mind games being tough, I just want them to be fair. It seems pointless in having the game with all the wonderfully drawn buildings and well-researched vehicles, if no matter what my skill, my strategy, my tactics, my planning, I am still going to be eliminated. Game makers do not seem to understand how disheartening it is and how unlikely we are to buy anything more from them. Though in this case as I got 'Codename Panzers: Phase Two' (2005) with it (primarily so I could play as a Yugoslav partisan), I cannot hold that particular sanction until I see something else of theirs.
To some degree I am pleased that the release of 'Empires Total War' has been delayed because if it lets them eliminate some of the flaws of earlier games (laser-guided medieval rockets, galleons equipped with radar and bullet-proof Mongol warriors) then I will be far happier especially, as atypically for me, I am going to buy it new.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
