My most enjoyed and anticipated games of 2011...

Let's face it: there are a lot of good games coming out this year. Skyrim, Battlefield, Uncharted, and Modern Warfare 3 to name a few. In fact, there has probably never been another year since the late 90's where so many AAA titles were coming out so close together. However, there are undoubtedly some which are just better than others. For this reason, I've decided to create a list of my top 5 most anticipated games of the year, and provide a little commentary on each. While I'm sure the order and selection of my picks will be different from most, do remember that this is just my personal opinion.

So, without further adieu, my top 5 most anticipated games of 2011...

#5:  Battlefield 3

I was never really an early entrant into the Battlefield franchise, but that changed with the 2010 release of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Bad Company 2 looked extremely good and played very well. It was a nice, more strategy-oriented compliment to the more quickly paced Call of Duty. However, while it was good, it had its flaws, namely in the area of content. Thankfully, Battlefield 3 looks to take everything that was good about Bad Company 2 and then expand and improve it. While military shooters aren't my favorite thing in the world, Battlefield 3 is going to be a very solid experience, and I'm definitely going to be picking it up.

#4: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I really liked Oblivion. It was an interesting concept for a game. However, it had some problems, mostly in the graphical department. It was slow, it had a ton of glitches, and it suffered a lot for it. Normally, a little slow down or some graphical bugs don't hurt the gameplay too much, but in Oblivion, they were actually prevalent enough to seriously mare the experience. With Skyrim, however, Bethesda is throwing all of these problems aside and making a much more solid game. If they are able to pull it off, and the can combine the classic Oblivion gameplay with a steadier and more fluid graphical engine, they'll have a winner on their hands, and I'll be sure to prove it by purchasing a copy for myself.

#3: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

I have been an Uncharted fan since the original game. In fact, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was the first game I ever played on the Playstation 3. I have fond memories of buying the Uncharted-bundled PS3 back in 2008, and bringing it home for the first time. When I popped in the disc and started playing, I was instantly entered into a world of treasure, villains, and adventure. When Uncharted 2 came out, I was equally pleased due to its amazing graphics, story, and multiplayer component. The point being, I'm a hardcore Nathan Drake fan, and nothing would prevent me from purchasing his latest adventure. Uncharted 3 is set to be one of the best looking, best playing PS3 titles to date, and if the previous iterations of the franchise are anything to judge by, then I'll take it at face value.

#2: Resistance 3

Frankly, I never really liked the Resistance franchise. Resistance 2 had some good ideas, but a lot of awkward design decisions held it back, and the same thing goes for Resistance: Fall of Man. However, after spending a lot of time with the recently-released Resistance 3 beta, and watching many, many different previews, I can honestly say that Resistance 3 is shaping up to be not only the best game in the series, but also, quite frankly, one of the best games this year. Its beautiful, has incredibly addictive gameplay, tons of content, and smooth matchmaking services. If the real deal can come even close to what has been delivered through the beta, I'll definitely be happy to snag myself a copy when it hits shelves this coming Tuesday.

#1: Goldeneye 007 Reloaded

I know what you're thinking: "Really? Goldeneye, above Skyrim? Above Battlefield 3?". I know, it must seem crazy, but to be honest, I'm just about the biggest Bond fan out there, and my love of the franchise extends far into the gaming realm. Growing up, I played tons of Goldeneye on the N64, and as I grew older, I even enjoyed gamesl ike Quantum of Solace, Nightfire, and more. I find that Bond games are good at combining fast, responsive gunplay with stealth elements, and thats something that I really enjoy. While other games will undoubtedly be fancier and will probably receieve a lot more press attention, Goldeneye 007 Reloaded could actually become the best Bond game ever made, as it sports some very good graphics, tight controls, lots of content, and a fantastic multiplayer component- in short, everything that makes a good Bond game, well, good. There was never a doubt in my mind from the moment that I saw it on Joystiq.com that I would be picking it up, and I can say with absolute certainty that Goldeneye 007 Reloaded is my number 1 most anticipated game of the year for that reason. If you enjoy Bond, or just good shooting games in general, then be sure to check this one out.

Who is Battlefield 3 going to save?

Now don't get me wrong- I love me some Battlefield, and I also love me some Call of Duty. I think they're both great series with (generally) good gameplay. However, here's something I just don't understand: why do people seem to think that Battlefield 3 is going to "Save" them from Call of Duty?

I'm not saying Battlefield 3 is going to be worse than Modern Warfare 3 or anything like that, but I mean, do people really think that the experience of Battlefield 3 is going to be wildly different from Modern Warfare 3? They're both military shooters, they both have fancy graphical engines, they both have gameplay mechanics like sprinting, ironsights, knives, etc, and if Bad Company 2 is anything to judge by, they're both going to have perks, attachments and possibly even killstreaks. So tell me, what exactly is Battlefield 3 going to save everyone from?

I know its easy to get locked up into the hype train, and DICE has done a great job creating it. They give Battlefield 3 this image of being the "advanced" game, the "cool" game, the game thats "innovational". But really, come on, its not going to be that much different from Modern Warfare 3. Yes, it'll probably have bigger environments, vehicles, and superior graphics, but the basis of both games is essentially based in running around a map killing people with weapons and "ranking up" to unlock new items. Minor differences aside, these are some pretty similar concepts.

Now some people might say something along the lines of, "But all shooters are the same! All shooters are just guys running around killing each other! You can't make that argument!". Yes, to a certain extent, that is true. However, compare, say, Call of Duty 4 to Serious Sam. One game is a shooter where you and your fellow squad mates try to take down an opposing force in a, small, condensed, urban environment with modern weaponry and the assistance of perks and killstreak rewards. Another one is a game based around blowing aliens into pieces in a gigantic, cover-less environment with over-the-top, unrealistic weaponry. Do these really sound similar to you?


I'm not trying to demean Battlefield 3 here. I am a huge fan of Bad Company 2, and I am eagerly anticipating the launch of both BF3 and MW3. However, I wish that people would stop touting Battlefield 3 as the next coming of Christ. While it may have very good graphics, and a slightly more open-ended style of play than Modern Warfare 3, the games are really going to end up delivering an extremely similar experience that isn't different or innovational enough to warrant this much praise. They'll be in the same setting, with the same objectives, with the same concepts and probably a lot of the same guns, attachments and perks too. So please, give credit where credit is due- if you want to compliment the game on its great graphics or tight gameplay, do so, but don't act as if its something we've never seen before.

Timesplitters 4 Possible?

 

According to a recent discovery in Official Playstation Magazine, the long-awaited Timesplitters 4 is soon to be announced. This was discerned from a small snippet of the October issue was found beforehand. Take a look for yourself:

Now if you ask me, this looks pretty legit. Not only does the photo look like it was taken from a physical copy of the magazine, but it doesn't appear to be a fake as it features both a screenshot from the last game in the series, Timesplitters: Future Perfect, as well as little snippets of surrounding stories, such as where it says "seeing a Rage 2" above. If this is simply a forging or photoshop, the person who's done so has some major skills. 

To further compound on this recent finding, I'll add in a little something I managed to sniff up recently as well...

This is a picture of Graeme Norgate, a famous (and extremely good) composer/sound designer for the Timesplitters series who use to work at Free Radical Design before its closure, and now works at Crytek UK, the studio which now owns the Timesplitters name. This picture, taken from his Facebook page, was uploaded in January of this year. Timesplitters 4 was announced in 2007, and FRD closed in 2008. This leads me to believe that this is either a very, very old photo, or shirts are being produced in anticipation of the release of a new entry in the series. Its also possible that this is just a shirt he had from when the game was in production, but 4 years is a long time to keep a shirt like that in such good condition, and if this was an old picture, why wait 4 years to upload it?

Either way, I can honestly say that I am eagerly anticipating the (possible) release of Timesplitters 4. As someone who puts Timesplitters: Future Perfect in his top 5 games of all time, the possibly of this game's existence brings me nothing but joy. Only time will tell if it will actually happen, but here's to hoping.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Review

 

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, available only on the Xbox 360.

If you grew up in the late 90's and you liked video games, chances are you had an N64. The Playstation definitely ruled the 5th generation in terms of overall sales; but to the adolescent American boy, the N64 was king. You played platformers, shooters, fighters and puzzle games, and you had a blast. However, out of all the games there were to play other than Goldeneye 007, there was one which probably left the biggest mark on you, and that game was Banjo-Kazooie.

Banjo-Kazooie was like Super Mario 64 on crack. It was fun, filled with with humor, had great graphics, tight controls, and was absoutely brimming with things to do and places to explore. It really was the greatest platformer ever made at the time. In fact, it was so great, and so successful, that it sold over 3 million units and even spawned a sequel, Banjo-Tooie (released in 2000), which sold very well in its own right.

Fast forward now to the year 2008. Banjo and Kazooie, the two titular characters from the wildly popular series, had not seen a true entrance to the gaming world for over 8 years. Rare, the company that developed the series, decided to bring them back on the Xbox 360 with a new game known as Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

Now, the thing that makes this particular game noteworthy is that it defied everyone's expectations. While the original two titles were straight-up platformers that focused on fighting and exploration, Nuts & Bolts completely overhauled that design and became a vehicle-centric creation game based around the concept of designing and manipulating machines of your own design.

Needless to say, when the game was released, reception was quite divided. Banjo-Kazooie purists were upset by the drastic changes that had taken place. Gone were the days of flying around Treasure Cove or stomping ants at Mumbo's Mountain: this was a new type of Banjo game, and it was not welcomed by most of the gaming community.

As a result of all this brouhaha, the game was not rated particularly well by most publications, and the game failed to meet the sales expectations set by its predecessors. It sold little more than a half of a million units, and garnered a 79% Metacritic rating. Times were not looking good for Banjo & Kazooie.

However, despite all of this relatively negative reception, I find myself open to the changes made in the series. While it is true that Nuts & Bolts does not really play like one of the Banjo-Kazooie games that I enjoyed so highly in my youth, it is nevertheless a fun romp through an absolutely beautiful game world filled with funny characters and situations. Though it may not possess similar gameplay to the games that came before it, it has every bit as much soul, and even though I know its easy to dismiss a game for taking such radical chances, I can honestly say that in this case it works, and if you give Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts a try, you might find that you really enjoy it.

Gameplay

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts isn't very much like its predecessors, as it features vehicle-based combat and exploration over traditional platforming. To complete tasks, you will no longer rely on Banjo and Kazooie's physical abilities but rather vehicles which possess similar skills.

The lack of any special powers is not the only thing that is missing from Nuts & Bolts. Perhaps the greatest shift in gameplay comes from the new focus on "challenges". Challenges are essentially timed events that are initiated by speaking with characters in the world. These tasks will usually revolve around racing, collecting items, shooting down enemies, or any number of different things. By completing these challenges, you will receive golden jigsaw pieces known as "Jiggies", which are used in opening up new worlds for you to explore. Unfortunately, the whole process just isn't all that fun. After competing in a race for the 10th time, the novelty of it will wear off, and you'll quickly find yourself wishing you could collect Jiggies in the ways that you use to.

Luckily, the challenges are not the reason you're going to want to play Nuts & Bolts. Instead, you're going to be spending most of your time with the game's brilliant vehicle creation system. Using this robust tool, you can create almost any vehicle you could possibly imagine with the use of over 100 unique parts, ranging from jet engines to flotation devices. The sheer number of things you can build is just incredible, and you'll derive a lot of enjoyment out of thinking up new machines to create.

Even though the game is heavily focused on the use of vehicles, don't think that you won't see any of the old gameplay. When you're not exploring various game worlds and completing the challenges hidden within them, you'll be spending most of your time in a hub area known as "Showdown Town". Showdown Town is a large, sprawling city which you can traverse either on-foot or with the assistance of a small buggy. The town acts as not only a way to access new levels, but also as an environment which you can explore in search of items known as "Mumbo Crates". These crates are valuable in that they house new vehicle parts for you to use, and by bringing them back to a shop in town known as "Mumbo's Motors", you'll be granted access to what they hold. While its definitely very addicting and fun to search the town for these crates, especially since most are only accessible by foot, it would have been nice if some crates were also hidden within the game worlds themselves, as it would have provided more incentive for players to revisit levels.

Speaking of levels, Nuts & Bolts features 6 massive worlds. Many of these worlds, such as "Nutty Acres" and "Logbox 720", are entirely new to the franchise. However, some like "Banjoland" are obvious homages to levels from the older games- but this is in no way a bad thing. You'll be visiting a lot of exotic locales, and they are generally very fun to explore because they have multiple sections. In the case of Nutty Acres for example, the environment is home to grassy fields, a volcano, a farm, multiple mountains and cliffs, a gigantic rock pool, an entire ocean, and multiple islands to compliment it. It's unfortunate that all of this ornate beauty and mastery of design goes to waste simple because there aren't enough challenges or secrets in each world to make the level worth exploring. As previously mentioned, the inclusion of world-based Mumbo Crates would make individual areas a lot more fun to revisit, but outside of the semi-secret "Jinjo" challenges, which are really just rehashes of regular challenges, there isn't much reason to come back once you've cleared a world of the tasks it offers.

Now although the vehicles in Nuts & Bolts generally work very well and the game controls excellently, there are definitely some issues when it comes to driving land-based machines. Unlike boats, planes or anything that floats on air or water, ground vehicles can be very annoying to drive simply because the ground is often too bumpy and there are far too many objects in the environment. If you wanted to make a sports car for example, one that moved in a fast, silky way- you can probably forget about it. The land is literred with trees, boxes, and a whole other series of different objects which seem to have no purpose other than to annoy you. They will get in your way, cause you to crash, prevent you from turning correctly, and basically just make the entire experience a chore. This problem would have been very easy to fix by simply giving the vehicles more grip and making the environments flatter.

Despite its new focus on vehicles and time-based challenges, Banjo-Kazooie retains all of the humor and lore of its previous installments. If you grew up playing the N64 games and are fond to once again revisit such characters as Bottles the Mole or Mr. Fit, you'll be pleasantly surprised, as almost all of these characters reprise their roles and are filled to the brim with funny anecdotes and stories- many of which feature references to the older games, or to other Rare-made games entirely. There are definitely a lot of laughs to be had, and some of the situations the characters find themselves in are hilarious. However, one thing I very much disliked about the whole experience of interacting with the game's characters was that everyone seemed washed up and uncaring. Throughout the majority of the adventure, and particularly at the end, the characters constantly break the fourth wall and talk about how this might be their last game. They are also typically cast in an unfavorable light that makes them seem like archaic, has-been video game characters that no one could possibly love- when in reality, they are some of the most beloved of all time. All of this contributes to a somewhat depressing mood which gives off an "end of an era" vibe that I just don't like.

All in all, Nuts & Bolts features some great gameplay. The worlds you can visit are gigantic and filled with imagination, Showdown Town is just begging to be explored, there are plenty of funny characters to talk to, and the vehicle creation tool is perhaps one of the greatest custom content systems ever made. It's just unfortunate that a series of repetative challenges, poor-vehicle controls and an overall depressing end-game mood are what holds Nuts & Bolts back from true greatness. Regardless, the game is still fun, and if you're someone who enjoys creating things, this is about as good as you can get on the Xbox 360.


Presentation

Unlike its gameplay which is a balance of extremely fun and sometimes frustrating, the visuals and audio of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is neigh-on perfect in almost every way. It looks great, it sounds great, and the art design is fantastic.

The most noticable thing about Nuts & Bolt's presentation is how amazing everything looks, particularly the environments. The worlds you explore are so gigantic that some seem to stretch for miles. Every little nook and cranny is filled with detail and is complimented by lighting and texturing that looks like it shouldn't even be possible on a console this old. Nothing looks washed out or seems subject to a designer's laziness- these graphics were truly a labor of love.

More impressive than the technical quality of the graphics though is the game's art style. In keeping with the "creation" motif that the game supports, many of the areas in the game are inspired by industrial designs. Trees will be made out of planks and big, green, metal balls, the sky will be filled with big cast-iron clouds that are rotated by a giant set of gears, and the ground looks like patchwork. While this is not always true, as different levels will feature different themes, this same level of imagination is prevelant throughout. One area that is particularly impressive would be Banjoland, which is an amalgamation of different levels from the original Banjo-Kazooie. It has a desert, a dock, a gigantic snowman, a little soccer stadium- even its own lake. It is just incredible, and fans of the series will no doubt experience heavy nostalgia at the sight of it. The only thing that mars the whole presentation of this particular level and ones of similar scope is the frame rate. You'll often find that when in a very large area populated with lots of moving parts or enemies, the game will start to chug, and you'll begin to understand its limits. Regardless though, this doesn't happen enough to make any serious impact on your experience, so its nothing to worry about.

In addition to the amazingly beautiful landscapes that you will explore, all of the game's characters look fantastic- particularly the ones that you've come to know and love. While the randomly generated, non-descript NPC's that wander about Showdown Town aren't nearly as impressive as the others, there is no doubt in my mind when I say that every character really does look good. They have lovely texturing, great animation, and look very unique and interesting.

Of course, none of the game's beauty would be relevant if it weren't complimented by equally amazing sound design. Thankfully, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts features some of the best in the business. In a word, the soundtrack is infectious. While it mostly recycles older songs from the original two games, they have been updated and given orchestral treatment. They are memorable, catchy, and a joy to listen to. If you aren't impressed by the diversity and soul of the songs, you probably just don't like music in general.

The sound effects are no slump either. When cars crash, they make a realistic sound, or when something explodes, it really booms and shakes. Everything sounds as you would expect it to sound, particularly the characters. If you are a fan of the original games, you'll definitely remember how the characters spoke in gibberish as opposed to actual language. While this was cool for awhile, it got very annoying because you'd hear the gibberish throughout the whole conversation. Seeing that as relatively annoying, Rare has fixed this problem in Nuts & Bolts by giving each of the characters a relatively brief sound before their respective dialogue in a similar way to the Ocarina of Time.

When it comes to comes to presentation, Rare has always been the king. Throughout the N64 years their games were known for sporting incredible sound tracks and having graphics that defied the expectations of what was expected. Thankfully, Rare hasn't lost a single bit of talent in this department, and they are better than ever. Aside from the occasional frame rate stutter when exploring large areas, there is really no way in which Nuts & Bolts needs technical improvement.

Value


Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts packs a lot of content- some of which you might enjoy, some of which you might not. Unfortunately, because the challenges are generally very boring, collecting all 131 Jiggies is probably not something you're willing to shoot for. If you're a completionist, or if you actually enjoy all of the races and events you'll have to go through to get collect everything, then you'll have a lot of replay value here.

However, if you're like me and you don't enjoy the repetitive challenges, you'll have the most fun by creating your own vehicles. Thankfully, due to all of the parts you have at your disposal, creating almost anything you want isn't impossible, and for this reason, the tool is essentially limitless. You can make cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, hovercrafts, bouncing vehicles, or even a combination of everything. You're even able to color each and every part of the vehicle in the way that you want, so you can make something very unique.

Creating these vehicles would be basically pointless if you had no reason to use them though, but luckily they are useful for completing any challenges you might wish (specifically ones you actually enjoyed) and trying to get a better score for a better reward, or you can bring them into the test-o-track and try them out on a nice, flat surface with plenty of ways to perform tricks and measure the abilities of your machine.

Of course, if all of this still doesn't appeal to you, you have about 60 different Mumbo Crates to search for in Showdown Town, as well as secrets, Notes (which are used to purchase new vehicle parts at a special shop), and there are various sidequests to do.

Though a relatively minor aspect of the game, there is a multiplayer mode in Nuts & Bolts. It features typical matchmaking and some interesting game modes, but nothing revolutionary. The only real reason to play it is for the opportunity to use your created vehicles against your enemies- which really is fun. Unfortunately, there aren't many people on the game these days, and finding a match can be hard. Still, it's nice to have the option.

Without the inclusion of the vehicle builder, there really wouldn't be any reason to come back to Nuts & Bolts once the game was finished, seeing as every aspect of the replay value is based around the idea that you can collect new parts and create new machines out of them. Thankfully though, you can create your own vehicles, and this is where you'll find the most fun. However, as mentioned, there are other options, specifically searching for secrets, crates, and quests, so it's not like the game is totally one-dimensional. All of this is assuming you'll even want to continue playing however, as the main game will take you between 20 and 30 hours to complete, mostly due to the fact that you'll spend a large amount of time in the shop tweaking your creations.

When you think about everything you get with Nuts & Bolts, there's definitely no reason to cry foul. You get an extremely long single-player mode with lots of extra items to collect after its done, a robust vehicle builder, somewhat fun multiplayer, and lots of interesting secrets to uncover. While some of this content will no doubt appeal more to some than to others, you can't complain, as there really is something for everyone.

Conclusion

In its day, Nuts & Bolts never really got the critical or commerical acclaim that it deserved. However, despite a few problems, namely with its character's social atmosphere and its land-vehicle controls, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is, in my mind, one of the best games available on the Xbox 360. It is absolutely beautiful, it has an amazing sound track, there are many funny and wonderful characters to ineract with, a ton of things to collect, and best of all, a creation tool which is unmatched across the platform. If you are a fan of Banjo-Kazooie, creation games, or platforming games in general, you'd definitely be doing yourself a favor by picking up Nuts & Bolts. It's definitely worth it.


Final Score: 8.5/10

Brink Review

 

Brink, available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. 

Sometimes we are attached to things despite their flaws. Sometimes we see the good in something, even if there is a veneer of bad on the outside. It could be falling in love with someone who has a bad temper, or it could be holding on to your first car even when you know its old and rusty. Indeed, there are many times that we will find ourselves in situations like these, and in fact, I am in such a situation right now with a game called Brink.

Now let me clear things up for you a little. Brink is a first person shooter video game available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Early on in its development, it was hyped as being the end-all-be-all of class-based shooters. Brink was going to take the core, fundamental values of  PC class-shooters like Team Fortess or Enemy Territory and smooth them out with pretty graphics, slick interfaces, and streamlining all around. Brink was going to be the best of its kind.

Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned. Upon its release about two months ago, Brink was almost universally panned by critics. The reasons behind this sudden surge of unpleasant reviews were many, but among them, the idea that Brink delivered a very mediocre package was chief. Everyone started talking about how laggy the game was, how the textures took forever to load, how the objectives weren't dynamic, and how there weren't enough maps. People made it seem like the game was some kind of rush-job that had absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and to be frank, this is just not true.

I will admit, that in some areas, Brink does lack. However, these faults are almost entirely contained within the visual aspects of the game, and in truth, they do not hinder the experience all that much. While there are areas in which Brink needs improvement, the truth of the matter is that Brink is the class-based shooter you have been waiting for, and if you can just look past a few problems in its execution and design, you're also going to find one of the most rewarding gaming experiences of the year.

Gameplay

Brink is a multiplayer, class-based shooter in the vein of Team Fortress 2. Your sole purpose in the game is to secure a series of ever-expanding objectives that have some relevance to the overall story. To complete these objectives, you'll utilize one of the 4 distinct character classes, those being "Soldier", "Engineer", "Operative", and "Medic". Each of these classes has their own distinct set of abilities which you can use depending on the situation you're presented with.

In theory, this set up is extremely similar to many other games of this type. The idea of picking a specific class with unique traits and using that class to complete objectives along with your team mates is almost as old as online gaming itself. However, where Brink finds it niche is in its execution of these concepts. As mentioned earlier, Brink seeks to make this entire process feel smoother and more intuitive, and it does this by not only providing a very sleek and easy-to-read interface for you to interact with, but also by giving you unlimited options for how you want to customize your gaming experience.

You see, the classes in Brink are more than just pre-made characters with certain abilities, they are templates which you can use to expand your play style in the way that you want. If you want to be stealthy, you'll be an Operative, or if you want to assist players you might be a Medic. So on and so on. However, by choosing a class and sticking with it, you open yourself up to a tree of skills for that individual class which can be further honed and refined. If, for example, you play as an Operative, you aren't stuck using a bunch of silenced pistols and some C4. If you please, you can do away with everything and just focus on hacking and spying abilities to get the job done. Or, you could specialize your skills so that you are more adept at close-quarters combat rather than hacking, explosives, weapons, or anything else. You really do have unprecedented control over your character's uses and the number of options and sub-classes you can forge are simply astounding.

The customization aspect of Brink doesn't end there, however. To further compound on the class and skills you've chosen in shaping your character, you can even modify your character's looks, body style. First and foremost, you can edit your character with a vast number of different clothing options which serve as both an anchor for your unique identity in the game's world, and also a strategic option. You might choose to outfit your character with dark brown clothing rather than bright green so as to blend in more with a particular map. Or, perhaps, you'll choose light clothing over large, hulking armor as to decrease your chances of being hit. Better still is the fact that you can choose between having a light, medium, and large body style, each with their own benefits. The light body style will provide you with near unlimited movement options at the cost of health, whereas the large body style will strip away all of your athletic ability in favor of a massive health increase and the ability to wield larger weapons, and the medium body style provides some of the advantages of both without being too intensive in any one area.

Better than all of this, though, is the fact that you can customize your weapons, and this feature will most likely end up being your most valuable asset. To begin with, you'll have access to dozens of different weapons, ranging from SMG's and assault rifle's to shotguns and pistols. Once you pick your two default weapons, you can customize them with even more attachments like the Reflex Scope or Drum Magazine. What's interesting about this creative process is that you'll never gain a complete benefit from modifying your weapon- there are always upsides and downsides to what you attach. While a totally blank weapon may not have any fancy gadgets, putting lots of scopes or gadgets on it could make it harder to aim or reduce its damage. It's all part of a trade-off, and all part of Brink's focus on choice and strategy.

Once you have your character outfitted with everything you desire, its time to hit the battlefield. Now once you actually get playing, things start to seem a little more familiar, as you'll be spending most of your time capturing or defending objectives, assisting allies, and mowing down baddies- just like any other class-based shooter of this kind. However, yet again, Brink differentiates itself from the competition by offering two significant innovations: the command wheel, and the "S.M.A.R.T" system.

First let's talk about the command wheel. In many games, you'll find a system where you can push a button and it'll bring up all of the commands or abilities that are accessible. This is particularly common in console games where fewer buttons dictate the need of an easy way to access many different options on the fly. Brink too has this same system, but the way it handles it is makes the process feel natural and fluid. Some of the skills you outfit your character with are active skills, such as ones that allow you to throw a Molotov cocktail or lay down a proximity mine. You can only map three of these skills to your command wheel at any time, but seeing as there aren't all that many usable skills to begin with, you shouldn't have a hard time picking the ones you want to use often.

The most unique thing about the command wheel does not lie in its easy-to-use design though, but rather its function for accessing objectives. Unlike most games of this type which only have a single objective to work on at any given time, Brink presents the player with a whole range of different goals to complete, which not only adds to the replay value, but also allows players to participate in a way that they feel comfortable with. The process is very simple: you simply press and hold the up button on your d-pad (or whatever key is designed for that purpose on a PC), and a large blue and yellow wheel will pop on to your screen. From here, you can just rotate through the objectives that the wheel presents, and pick the one you want. By doing so, the area that the objective lies in will be outlined in yellow on your screen, and a small marker will indicate how many meters away from it you are, so you can quickly and easily approach.

Now, once you actually happen upon these objectives, things start to get a little less intuitive. While the basic concept of completing these goals is perfectly fine, the problem lies in the reward the game gives you for doing so. To unlock new weapons, outfits, etc, you must earn credits in the game by performing tasks. Credits will be given to you for almost everything you do, whether its protecting an objective, shooting an enemy, or what have you. Normally, you would think that protecting the objective would yield the most points- but this is not always so, as it depends on the activity surrounding it. If you are swamped by enemies who are trying to penatrate the goal, you'll start receiving little credit bonuses of, say, 75 every few seconds. This is a very large and generous number of credits to receive, and if you're able to stay alive long enough, this can yield very serious rewards. However, if there is no direct threat, you could actually receive as little as 7 points every few seconds for just standing in place and doing nothing. Conversely, you can easily receive upwards of 30 points by killing a single enemy, or even around 200 by engaging in a full-on firefight. While I understand that its all relative, and that you shouldn't need to defend the objective if its not under attack, it still would have been nice to receive a more balanced set of credit rewards. After all, if you're only getting 7 credits for doing nothing, you might end up trekking half way across the map to someplace else, only to find that all of the enemies suddenly have run to the now-empty objective, captured it, and caused your team to lose. It's just not a proper design.

Now, the command wheel is really only one part of the whole experience. As I mentioned before, another defining feature of the game is the "S.M.A.R.T" system, which stands for "smooth movement across random terrain". While its actually just a fancy way of describing parkour-like movement, it works incredibly well, and there's really nothing else like it in video games. The system essentially allows you to move quickly and easily over a diverse series of obstacles without having to perform any complex button combinations. You could, for example, run through a hallway, run on a wall at the end, jump across a few boxes, and then pull yourself up on to a ledge, and do it all by just holding down the sprint/S.M.A.R.T and pointing yourself in the direction necessary. While there are times that the system does not work, and can be somewhat aggrevating if you're in a hurry, I'd say that around 90% of the time it will do exactly what you want, and will really make traveling easier.

Outside of its many customization options, objective system, and use of S.M.A.R.T movement, there really isn't much more to Brink. However, this is not a bad thing, because in reality- how much more could you really ask for? You have an advanced character creation system, a weapon modification system, an enourmous amount of classes and skills to choose from, and all of it is wrapped together in fun gameplay. In truth, there really isn't anything all that bad in Brink's gameplay. Outside of the sometimes annoying parkour moves and the unbalanced credit rewards, Brink is a game filled with fun, class-based action. It's got a little bit of Team Fortress, a little bit of Call of Duty, and a whole lots of its own unique flavor;  and for that, I commend it. While you shouldn't go in expecting some kind of popcorn shooter that you can pick up and play after 3 minutes, you'll find that if you put in the requisite time and learn all of the game's many complexities, you're going to love playing it. Brink is one of those games that will always put out what you put in, and I happen to think it plays great for it.


Presentation

While most aspects of Brink's game play are good, the presentation is not for many reasons. However, let me just get something out of the way first: were it not for its annoying graphical bugs, Brink would be a great looking game, and luckily, the art style is truly just awe-inspiring. However, I'll save more praise on that end for later, because right now, we need to delve into the many problems Brink has.

First and foremost is the blurriness of the game. Whether this was intentional or just a fault of the design I do not know. What I do know though is that it is (at first) very, very annoying. While everything close to you will seem perfectly clear, as you look into the distance, characters will seem blurry, pixelated, and distorted. This can be helped by disabling the "Camera Bob" option available in the setup menu, and in truth, you'll grow to care less and less about it. But, the problem is still there. No matter what way you slice it, it was just a bad idea to let such a visual flaw ship with the game. I'm not a programmer, but you don't see many games with such aliasing problems these days, so it can't be that hard to change.

Next comes the lag. Now don't get me wrong, changes have been made by the developers to improve the stability of the online play, but further measures need to be taken. There are times when the lag is almost entirely absent, but then there are other times when it will seriously screw your game up. You'll be running along when all of a sudden, your screen will seem jerky and contorted, characters will fly by, and you'll just instantly fall down dead. The connectivity issues of a 2001 PC game shouldn't be present in a 2011 shooter, especially one on an advanced network like Xbox Live.

Last but not least, there's the texture loading. Of all the problems in Brink, this is the most significant. Not because it seriously impacts the gameplay, but because it strips away the visual fidelity of what would be an otherwise good looking title. Instead of walking through a corridor and looking at all its shiny splendor like any other modern game, in Brink you'll be wading your way through areas with constantly-loading textures. Walls will gradually look smoother, the trash-littered ground will appear in pieces, and objects will start out very low-res and eventually fade in to clarity. Frankly, it just looks bad. I kid you not when I say that there are times when Halo 2's textures outclass Brink- it can get that bad. The good news is, because the game is generally fast and you'll be moving through the environment quickly, you won't really have time to stand around and notice this happening, and it only happens frequently in cetain areas. However, this is really just my petting of a serious problem in the game, because even though it is tolerable, it only serves to ruin the experience by stripping away the unique art style that is so prevalent throughout the game.

While all this bad news regarding the graphics can seem a little depressing, at least there's a bright side: Brink's art style is just incredible. If you can imagine a dystopian, hyper-realistic environment bathed in clean, metro-inspired designs and contemporary attributes, you'll have a good idea of what the game looks like. Everything is smooth and rounded and looks like it was ripped straight out of a European airport. Everything tends to be very bright and white with certain areas contrasted by rich shades of blue, green and red. To say that the visual style is unique would be an understatement, as its definitely one of the coolest looking games out there.

Not only are the environments styled though, but the characters and menus. All of the inhabitants of the game have been given a somewhat exaggerated look, almost like Team Fortress 2. You'll see a lot of tall, long, lanky builds on the battle field, as well as lot of unnaturally big, stocky ones as well. These are also complimented by a vast array of interesting outfits. Better yet, the menus in the game are pretty cool as well. Everything has a very "polished" look to it, with nothing seeming jagged or unnatural. It's very pleasing to the eye, and navigating everything is a cinch.

Thankfully, unlike Brink's visuals, the audio doesn't leave much to be desired. While there isn't much actual music in the game, what's there is good. It fits the futuristic theme very well, and while none of the tunes are of the kind you might find yourself humming, there's no doubt that they sound good.

Another impressive feat in the audio department would be in regard to the sound of the firearms. According to developer diaries, all of the guns in the game are supplied with sounds from real-world weapons, and it definitely shows. Careful attention was paid to the sound of each individual gun, and even small things like the falling of shells upon the floor have an eerie realness to them.

The only flaw I can find in Brink's audio is with its voices. Every time any significant event takes place during a match, such as the procurement of  an objective or the loss of a command post, an ally will comment on it. While this battle-chatter is definitely cool to begin with, it starts to get very, very old after you listen to it for a few hours. This feature can be disabled fortunately, but I would have enjoyed being able to keep the feature on- I just wish they could have found a way to make it less annoying.

All in all, Brink's audio-visual display is relatively poor. The game has great art design and sound, but when it comes to everything else, it falls drastically short of its mark thanks to lag, distance blurriness, and texture pop-in. This is not one you'll be playing for its good looks.

Value

Overall, Brink offers a pretty nice set of features. You've got 8 maps that can be played through two different modes, and will probably take you around 20 minutes to conquer each time. Furthermore, you can experience these maps through a structured campaign, a "FreePlay" mode that lets you tailor the game to your liking, or you can take the fight online and battle against people all around the world. Unfortunately, due to the fact that objective locations never change, you might find the gameplay to get a bit repetitive if you end up playing the same maps a lot. It's best to play something different every time, and try to mix up your play style a little bit to keep things from getting stale.

The majority of the game's content however are actually in its unlockables. In Brink, you have thousands of different outfits to think up, dozens of different weapons (all of which have attachments for every part of the gun you could want), multiple body styles to choose from, and different ways to truly customize your character through skills and classes.

While it's not going to take you more than a few hours to see all the maps and play through the campaign, the fun of Brink lies in both its customization options and very fun multiplayer. Even though you may have played a certain map a million and one times, if you're playing with friends and competing against a good team, the combat will seem visceral and entertaining regardless.

Conclusion

Even though Brink does so many things right, it is, unfortunately, still bogged down by tech that can't realize its potential. Were it based on a steadier engine, and were the online play a little more stable itself, Brink could be one of the better shooters on the market. But, the problems are here, and they aren't leaving any time soon.

The good news is, despite a few odd design choices in the gameplay department and the obvious graphical flaws, Brink is still very much a good game. Its intuitive, its aesthetically impressive, and best of all: its just fun. So, don't let the bad reviews or mucky graphics turn you off- if you can get past the flaws that Brink has, you'll see that it really is a fantastic game worthy of both your time and money.


Final Score: 8/10

Goldeneye 007: Reloaded is going to rock.

 

While I love the likes of Halo and Call of Duty, there has always been a special place in my heart for games in the Goldeneye lineage. Whether it was Perfect Dark, Nightfire, Timesplitters or even Quantum of Solace, games that seek to build upon the framework of the original through sequels, spiritual or otherwise, just seem to speak to me. Perhaps its the smart combination of stealth and in-your-face combat, maybe its the (generally) slick graphics and interesting, European environments. Who knows. All I can really say is: I love a good Bond game.

When I owned a Wii, the thought of eventually have the original Goldeneye 007 remake in my hands was one of the only things holding me back from selling it. While I did eventually sell the console, and never got a chance to play that game, you can imagine my extreme joy when news of a remastered version was announced.

This is not just reason for me to be excited though- everyone should be excited. For those who aren't in the know, last year's Wii title was hailed by many as not only the best shooter available for the system, but one of the best shooters of the year across any platform. It stands to reason then, that if this new "Reloaded" version is simply the same game but with better graphics, better controls, new game modes, and more overall features, then its set to be as good if not better than the original. I don't think its going to disappoint.

While there is no concrete release date yet, and information on the game is currently scarce, there's no doubt that we'll learn more as time goes on, and if current knowledge is anything to go by, Goldeneye fans have a lot to be excited about.

Nintendo 3DS gets a price drop, but is it worth buying yet?

After being on the market for 5 months and seeing only lackluster sales, Nintendo recently announced that their less-than-popular 3DS handheld gaming device would be marked down from the dubious price of $249.99 to a gentler and more approachable $169.99.

Now, while I definitely think this is a step in the right direction for Nintendo, I can't help but feel as though  there's still not enough incentive to purchase one yet. To be frank, I see the 3D aspect of the device as a complete, worthless gimmick that adds nothing to the overall experience and only serves to stress your eyes. Additionally, the lack of truly quality titles on the system is something of a downside, but hopefully this will be remedied in the near future.

The good news is that all DS titles are backwards compatible on the system, so it's not like there's nothing to play at all. Regardless though, there are some definitely some areas of the 3DS that need to be improved before it can go toe-to-toe with the likes of the iPhone, PSVita, and even its older brother the DS. If Nintendo can just iron out the kinks and fill the platform with some truly awesome games, they have a winner on their hands, and at that point, I may even consider buying one.

All of this aside, no matter what your opinion of the 3DS is, if you ever intend to buy one, this price drop can only signal good news, and with time, the device may prove itself worthy of purchase.