Student Life: Top Five Games

If cats were University students...

Being in my third and final year of University, means that in just a few weeks I’ll be thrown out into the terrifying real world. Consequently, I’ve decided to look back over my time as a student, and consider which games, released during my University career, have accompanied me through the last three years here. I’ve managed to boil what started as a rather long list of games, down to just five.

5. Gears of War 2 (Nov 08. Xbox 360) - Gears of War 2 has become widely regarded as one of the best games currently available on the Xbox 360, and with good reason. Featuring an intuitive cover system and addictive combat, I consider it easily one of my most enjoyed games of my time as a University student. With the additional ‘Horde’ mode and the ability to play through the entire campaign cooperatively with a friend, Gears of War 2 provides players with hours of bloody entertainment.

4. Left 4 Dead 2 (Nov 09. PC/Mac OS X/Xbox 360) - Having thoroughly enjoyed the original Left 4 Dead, when its sequel was announced at E3 in America last year, November couldn’t come soon enough. With more special infected, mêlée weapons and a whole new cast of survivors, the zombie apocalypse was made all the more fun. The way that the maps themselves adapt to suit the way that you are playing means that every match you play is a fresh experience.

3. Fallout 3 (Oct 08. PC/Playstation 3/Xbox 360) - Bethesda’s third instalment in their dystopian wasteland series, provided me with a worryingly engaging game. Emerging from Vault 101 two hundred years after a global nuclear war, the player sets out to find his father who inexplicably fled the safety of the vault. The open ended nature of Fallout 3 meant that decisions you make within the game have visible ramifications; within the first hour of the game, you’re given the opportunity to either defuse or activate a nuclear warhead in the middle of a town.

2. Grand Theft Auto IV (Apr 08. PC/Playstation 3/Xbox 360) - When Niko Bellic stepped off the boat as her arrived in Liberty City, I knew I’d be with him for a long, long time. GTA IV is undoubtedly one of the most engrossing video games I’ve ever played. Players take control of Niko Bellic, a likeable, if slightly shallow character, who has come to America to distance himself further from an ambiguous past in Eastern Europe. GTA IV offers an enormous and interesting storyline, and gives players fantastic multiplayer options ensuring hours of fun. The game is highly enjoyable and a must-have in any gamer’s collection.

1. The Orange Box (Oct 07. PC/Playstation 3/Xbox 360) - Containing five fantastic games in one bundle, Valve’s Orange Box is without a doubt the one gaming purchase that will always be affiliated with my time at University. I remember playing Half Life 2 for the first time whilst I was still living at Hardwick halls, and how Gordon Freeman’s muted journey comfortably distracted me away from pending assignments. Similarly, running through the Aperture science labs in Portal for the first time was an unparalleled experience, and playing Team Fortress 2 online has rewarded me with hours of enjoyment.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Demo Impressions

Drifting slowly toward the snowy ground on my first play of Dice’s newly released Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo on the Xbox 360, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. ‘Just another modern war game,’ I thought. How wrong I was!





The demo throws players into a skirmish between Russian and American soldiers at Port Voldez in Alaska. Once in, you will be assigned either to the attacking or defending team, and it becomes your objective either to destroy or defend various M-Com stations.

Much like previous Battlefield games, there are several classes to play as, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. I was put onto the attacking team, and for my first few lives, I stuck with the sniper, scanning the map from a convenient hilltop. I was quickly spotted and killed, and decided it was time to change tactics and went right into the action as a medic, following my team mates down the hill toward the fray. The first thing I noticed was the sheer scale of the map. It accommodates for vehicles and infantry alike and doesn’t make a chore out of travelling toward the objectives.

The fully destructible environments create a very genuine feel to the game. I’ve been hiding away in a building only to have my position exposed after a tank shell annihilates one of the walls. This forces players to always check their surroundings and heightens tension within the game.

Once the first objectives are successfully destroyed by the attacking team, the map will then shift, forcing the defending team to fall back to another set of M-Com stations. This happens a further two times, meaning that players will have to consistently adapt to new surroundings every game.

One problem I have discovered is that synchronised deaths are all too frequent. On several occasions I have gotten into a dogfight with an enemy, and we‘ll both kill one another. I’m not sure whether this will be left in or not, but it can make for very frustrating gameplay if you are particularly close to your objective.

Similarly to its predecessor, BFBC2 rewards players with points for kills and teamwork, and these points go towards unlocking new weapons and equipment. Only a few of these items are available to unlock in the demo, but even getting these was great fun.

BFBC2 looks set to be a great release for 2010 and certainly a contender for one of the best multiplayer games of the year.

Procrastination ftw

I sit here nursing a pretty severe hangover, shying away from the ever-increasing pile of work that I should really be getting on with. Yesterday our lovely bosses took all of the staff out for a meal and drinks. It was a really great night out, although Jen is still stuck in bed, occasionally yelling 'I want to die!' which says a lot for how she's coping.

I've been utilising various forms of procrastination over the last week. I've felt sick, had to work at the nightclub, written a few articles for the student paper, and of course, played the Battlefield BC2 demo on XBL.

The first time I played the demo, I was completely unsure as to what my objectives were, and I drifted to the ground, found my feet, figured out a few of the controls, and set off down the snowy slopes of Alaska. However, my brain-matter was the only thing that made it to the bottom. Quickly changing tactics after a respawn, I suited up as a sniper and hid behind a couple of rocks, peeking out every now and again to get a few kills. And the rest, they say, is history. Every time I turn on my console, I just have to play a half hour of that demo. The map is jaw-dropping. The sheer scale of it is perfect. Not too big for 20 or so players, but not too small either, and I love the way that you're rewarded with more of the map when the objectives are completed.

It's the only recent warfare game that has a feeling of 'war' to it. My limited experience with games like MW2 is that there will always be tactically driven gamers, who will capitalise on the game's flaws. So far, I've not seen one person acting like this, although I expect that it will just be a matter of time!

I also played a bit of AC2 yesterday. Although many may think otherwise, I feel that there is still too much of a focus on collection missions. Being a bit of an impatient gamer, I flew threw the game doing the odd side mission here and there, but concentrating mainly on pushing the storyline along. Playing the game yesterday made me realise just how much stuff I've missed out on. I have got something like 15 feathers, and I only had 1 of Subject 16's memory-things. I hadn't really made much use of the weapon upgrades or anything either. So, yesterday I found another 6 memories and a few more feathers, but had to stop before I began thinking I was playing the original.

The new paper comes out on Friday. I've submitted a motion-controller-rant, a Mass Effect history and a summary of things to come in 2010. My motion-controller-rant did turn into a bit of a Wii bashing, purely because I want to instigate some sort of feedback, I don't care if it's bad! Having written for the paper for the last five months, I have only receieved one email which said: "I like you're article."

Anyhow, we have possible future tenants looking around our flat today, so I better get on with tidying up...and possibly some Uni work later.

Oh, and Forza 3 is on it's way after finding a delicious £20 note on the floor on the street 2 nights ago!

"Get the Trauma Kit!" "TRAUMA KIT!"

I went and finally saw Avatar in 3D yesterday! It was pretty good! I enjoyed the night-time forest scenes especially, and after the film had a worrying urge to crack open a bunch of glowsticks, pour them on myself and run through some nearby woods. It started snowing yesterday too, and being English, our country freaks out when it snows and just doesn't know how to cope, so no one dared drive into town to watch the movie, which meant a nice empty screen with about twenty people in it!

However, some kid DID throw up half way through. I'm not entirely sure why, but I'd guess it was something to do with wearing the 3D glasses. I have heard that a 'friend of a friend' feels ill when she watches movies through 3D glasses. Doesn't affect me, guess I'm lucky!

On a slightly different note, I can't stop buying games. My family realise that I'm a big ol' nerd, and as such, decide that the only presents that I can get for Christmas are games vouchers or actual Games themselves. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE getting these things. But, being in my 3rd and final year of University, with a dissertation to worry about, having a stack of games that I am dying to wade through is probably the last thing I want to do. However, I recently realised that I haven't even completed Bioshock yet. I borrowed that off a friend about 4/5 months ago, and got really into it, until I got Left 4 Dead 2.

So, I am making a deal with...anyone that reads this, that I will not buy any more games until I have completed the following games:

Bioshock
Mass Effect
Brutal Legend
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Saint's Row 2
Dead Space
Assassin's Creed 2
Viking: Battle for Asgard
Castle Crashers

Hopefully, it shouldn't take too long as most of these are about 3/4 finished! Plus, doing this, will mean that by the time I do get my grubby paws on Mass Effect 2, it won't be quite as expensive!

Anyhow, I best start mashing my way through various books in preparation for next semester on Monday!

Downloadable Content: Is it justified?

Hola!

Just a short little post today! This was another article that I wrote for the student paper that I had hoped to recieve some feed back from, but obviously the students were all far too busy with all that work that they do!

I still belileve that DLC is a questionable format for games delivery. To me, it feels like the Games Developer is just going "Hey! We released an unfinished product, this is what we WOULD have released, buy it and see what it would've been like!"

Downloadable Content: Is it justified?

Downloadable content (DLC) is a medium through which game developers can fix or upgrade games that you have already bought. It has become a common tool for all platforms of gaming. The Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 all have online stores through which you can purchase and download games and game add-ons. However, I put forward the notion that the standard of modern gaming is worse off as a result of DLC.

Presently, DLC has become a largely accepted phenomenon. Should this be the case? With the hike in game prices, surely we should expect, if anything, for games to be more polished than ever. Instead, we are often given software that is riddled with minor glitches and technical issues.

In the case of paying for additional content for games, should we really have to pay extra for a game that we’ve already shelled out £30 for? In the case of the Xbox 360 , all transactions for DLC are made with Microsoft Points where 100 points is roughly equal to 85p. This system means that often the gamer is unaware of just how much they’re spending on extra content. I find it questionable that some games are shipped with extra data already on the disc, but in order to utilise this, players are required to pay to unlock it, as was the case with Resident Evil 5.

What are your feelings on Downloadable Content? Do you think it is a justified means of unlocking additional content, or do you believe that the content should already be available from the purchase of a game?

Students Vs Video Games

Sup!!

This was my first article for the student newspaper I write for. I'm the Games Editor don't you know! It's all about what students can do in order to combat the rising costs of video games. Let me know what you think!

Students Vs Video Games

It is no secret that Students aren’t typically made of money. Unfortunately, I expect the freshers among us will be soon finding this out. With this in mind, I put forward the question; Are video games becoming too expensive? New games for the present-generation consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii) have typically found price tags ranging from £40 to £50 depending on the retailer, platform and game itself. I remember in the heyday of the Playstation One where new games entered the market at a RRP of about £30, and even then, I would rarely ever spend that much on a game. However, this Summer I have been keeping an eye on high profile Autumn releases and their prices

Activision have made a bold move with their release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in November this year, by placing their RRP at £55. This is the highest RRP for a non-peripheral video game in the history of the sector. It would be worth noting that there is also a special edition of the game including, among other things, a pair of night vision goggles, retailing for around £115. Also coming in the final quarter of this year are a bunch of peripheral-based games: Rock Band: The Beatles, Band Hero, DJ Hero and Tony Hawk:Ride will all be sold with various plastic instruments used as controllers for their respective games, (except of course for Tony Hawk:Ride which will require a plastic Skateboard for play). Most of these games will have a triple digit price tag.

So, is there anything that you can do to avoid paying such astronomical prices for these games? Surely you can’t be expected to pay half a months rent just so you can bash a few plastic drums? Thankfully, there are a few handy tips I can share. Firstly, use the fact that you are a student to your advantage. Everywhere you go, always be sure to ask if there are any student discounts available. One shop that I am aware of that do give a 10% student discount is HMV. Unfortunately though, in the past they have only been able to hand out Student discount cards in certain outlets throughout the country. This meant that I had to make a special trip and a day out in Bath to pick one up. The savings you can get though are fantastic, so if you can, it would be worth getting hold of one of these.

Just as there are price comparison sites for insurance that I’m sure you’re all aware of, there are also a select few websites that allow users to post any games deals that they may come across while shopping on the internet or in towns and publish these in a nifty feed (no meerkats to be found here though). The most helpful I’ve found is www.cheaparsegamer.com Thanks to this site I have managed to find several high profile games going for less than half price!

Another useful tip is to subscribe to mailing lists. www.zavvi.co.uk provide a ‘Monday Madness’ deal to all members of their mailing list database (which is completely free). This deal involves certain items being slashed in price for 24 hours, but make sure to act quickly if there’s something you like. Often if there is a popular item, it will sell out in next to no time!

Finally, be patient. Give a game a few months to fall in price if you can resist the urge to buy it straight away. I have seen the Band Bundle for Guitar Hero: World Tour going for £89.99 which is a fantastic price considering that its original release price was £150.

I hope that this manages to help at least a few people! Happy gaming.

Eugene