GAMING: X BOX 360 KINECT

Duncan Stevens sees if the latest advancement in gaming technology fulfills on its promise to revolutionize gaming as we know it.

You know that person who shows up at parties even though no one really invited them or particularly wants them there? They sit in the corner moaning about how the party has been going up until they got there, and are sure they have the solutions to improve the quality of said party, a party everyone else just so happened to be having a really good time at? Yeah, actually I don’t know anyone like that either, but if I did, I would definitely use that person as an analogy for Microsoft’s latest technological advancement, the Kinect. From the moment the Kinect is turned on the atmosphere in the room takes a chilling turn. A hush descends as the little black box whirrs into life, looking the player up and down appraisingly with its stony black gaze, before declaring that you’re stood too close to the TV. Obediently you step back a couple of paces, and bang into your coffee table. As you rub your now bruised shin the Kinect mockingly commands you to clean up and adjust your Feng Shui to be more Kinetic-centric.

The humiliation doesn’t end there however, the Kinect seems to have been designed by someone who has a deep-seated hatred for the entire human race, who wants to exploit people’s gullibility and readiness to do what they are told by a machine, regardless of how stupid it’s going to make them look. And I’m not just talking about the idiotic shapes you have to bend yourself in, or the fact that the built-in camera snaps you at your most compromising positions, only to later play these back to you, reminding you what an idiot you look playing this game. No, the real humiliation comes from the games themselves. Gaming has come a long way since the dark ages of Pong and Asteroids, recently being likened to an immersive entertainment experience not unlike the narrative storytelling possibilities of films or even books. So when a friend walks in on you stood on one foot, thrusting at a screen, and flailing your arms madly to plug leaks in a glass box being broken by angry sea creatures or traverse a river in a raft whilst picking up blobs, serious debate about the cultural and artistic impact of games begins to lose its credibility.

Well, such is true for Kinect Adventures anyway, the only game I have tested which was created specifically for the Kinect. A mind-numbingly droll set of six different mini-games, packaged in a way that sets itself up as an opportunity for the player to believe that they are questing through an adventure park to gain scout badges to pin on their virtual jumpers. In reality, the player quickly realises that the game is going to keep throwing those six mini-games at you with varying degrees of difficulty until you scream with boredom. Kinect may be an advancement technologically, but as far as the actual gaming goes, it brings us straight back to the start.

Review by Duncan Stevens

GAMING: WWE: SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2011 (X BOX 360)

Elliot Hyams grapples with the latest release in THQ’s Smackdown franchise.

Being a loyal fan of a sports franchise can be a thankless task. Just as you’ve adjusted to the control system of last year’s release, maxed out all your stats, and mastered the art of handing out online beatings to twelve year olds, all your efforts are made completely redundant by the release of this year’s game. This is a familiar scenario for fans of THQ’s WWE: Smackdown vs. Raw franchise, not that they appear to mind, as the wrestling series has proven to be a massive success since the release of the first game in 2000. Back then gamers made do with crudely animated rectangular characters that vaguely resembled their favourite grapplers if you squinted a bit. Ten years later and the characters in Smackdown Vs Raw 2011 are rendered so intricately that THQ even went to the trouble to create an engine to generate photorealistic sweat. Who amongst us can say that they don’t secretly long for photorealistic sweat?

Fans of the WWE will undoubtedly buy the game purely for the opportunity to play as their favourite wrestler, and SVR2011 boasts the most complete roster of any Smackdown game yet, plus the promise of more downloadable content still to come throughout the year. There can be no doubt that the game looks great, as well as being fantastically rendered every move and nuance of each wrestler has been accurately recreated to the point that it almost feels like you are watching an episode of Monday Night Raw. But there is more to a game than simply looking nice, after all last year’s game looked nice as well so who needs an upgrade? Herein lies the problem with the annual release of a franchise game, every year THQ promises a fresh gaming experience like never before and every year it gets harder to say that they have delivered. According to the THQ website this year’s USPs are the improved physics system and the WWE Universe mode.

As a result of the new physics system objects such as tables and ladders now break and fall in a natural way. Whilst this does add a more realistic feel to the game it was never on the list of things that have continually ruined the franchise, such as inaccurate commentary and idiotic A.I which once again rear their ugly heads in SVR2011. Also the inexplicable removal of the ultimate grapple control system, which was one of the best features of SVR2010, has resulted in monotonous and limited game play. But it’s not all bad. The much heralded universe mode allows you to cultivate rivalries and alliances which are based on in game actions creating a massively immersive experience. But the truth is aside from a couple of tweaks there is little difference between SVR2011 and its predecessor, which is a shame because you can’t escape the feeling that if THQ weren’t in such a hurry to release a new game each year they could produce something a lot better than this.

Review by Elliot Hyams

GAMING: FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS (X BOX 360)

Duncan Stevens offers his take on the latest part of the Fallout Saga

I open the curtains for the first time in a week and pause, remembering the feeling when I first left that office in Goodsprings to set out on my epic journey across the wastes. I’ve done so much since then, changed in so many ways. I can now shoot the face off a Deathclaw from a thousand feet away, pick any lock, hack my way into every computer in the Mojave wasteland, and my repair skills are unparalleled by any man, ghoul, or super-mutant. Yet despite the hundreds of miles I have travelled and the countless side quests I have undertaken, I still suck at shooting laser guns. That’s a definite goal for me to complete on my next play-through of this spectacular game, and there will be a second play-through of Fallout: New Vegas, just not yet. First I need to eat, my thumbs are bleeding, and I haven’t checked in a while but I think my girlfriend may have left me.

The scope of the story alone sets the Fallout series apart from most other games on the market. For most people a worldwide nuclear conflict would signify the end of the world and all life. But developers Blizzard have used this seemingly final scenario to create a world where not only have people survived in underground vaults and set up their own societies, but have left those vaults many years later and begun warring with each other. This history has a very physical presence in the game. Often whilst travelling to a specific destination you will come across a building not yet marked on your map, venture inside to see if there is any loot worth scavenging and the story of its previous inhabits unravels itself via ancient computer terminals and forgotten relics.

Graphically, New Vegas is impressive although falls just short of being perfect. The general environment is exquisitely rendered and compared to its bleak predecessor Fallout 3, New Vegas feels much more alive with the occasional tree and cactus planted here and there. On the downside, the music in the game can get irritating fairly quickly, but a simple solution is to not bother with the radio stations. New Vegas has an incredibly deep ambient soundtrack which builds tension whilst you explore disused vaults and robot factories, an effect which isn’t quite emulated when listening to Dean Martin’s Ain’t that a Kick in the Head for the billionth time. Also NPC’s still talk to you with all the enthusiasm and facial movement of William Hague giving a lecture on paint drying, which can be extremely laborious when you’re forced to trudge through pages of dialogue as part of the main quests. But these are just minor gripes, if you’re after a game which will sink its tentacles into you and demand your attention like a spoilt toddler until you have explored every last inch of it, then buy Fallout: New Vegas. If not, well, I hear having a social life has its perks too.

Review by Duncan Stevens