In Part 2 of our special Modern Warfare 2 edition of Three Green Lights, mortifiedpenguin discusses why multiplayer is the way to go.

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

Previously I talked about how the single-player campaign was a disappointment.

But that doesn’t mean you should not buy Modern Warfare 2, because you would be missing out on a hell lot of fun. That is, if you play with human players and not just AI-controlled team-mates.

MW2 is actually 3 games packaged into one – the typical single-player and multiplayer modes, plus a new Special Ops mode which essentially is a 2-player co-op mode.

Normally co-op modes in other games feature the standard ‘kill all enemies and survive’ gameplay or allow you to replay the missions in the story mode but with a friend. These include Halo 3: ODST ( Firefight mode ), Gears of War 2 and the old ‘Terrorist Hunt’ mode from Rainbow Six. Infinity Ward redefines the co-op experience by adding more variety in the types of missions you play with your friend. Categorised into five tiers Alpha to Echo, each with an increasing level of difficulty, Spec Ops puts players into situations where team-work and precise coordination are necessary in order to survive. In one mission, you would be navigating through a snowy forest and taking down enemies stealthily with your silenced sniper rifle. You and your partner would need to observe enemy patrols and watch out for one another in order not to alert the guards and give away your position. In another mission, you would be on the ground attempting to reach the extraction point while your friend is in the air raining hell from the AC-130 gunship.

Unlike the single-player campaign, Spec Ops is something which you will keep playing because you will feel obliged to. Maybe it’s the stars you need to earn to unlock the next tier. Maybe you just want to have fun with your buddy again. No matter what the reason is, you would always enjoy the co-op experience that Spec Ops offers. And with promise of DLC coming next year, you’ll be sure that more Spec Ops missions are coming.

There are quite a number of changes to multiplayer, and mostly these tweaks have improved the game. Remember the helicopters and air strikes you used to call when you achieved five and seven kill-streaks in the first game? Now you’re able to customise your own kill-streaks with a wide range of options available like the Predator missile, AC-130 gunship and even a tactical nuke which will instantly end the game with a victory for your team. These kill-streak options add more depth to the gameplay as everytime they are introduced into the game, tactics will change on the fly. An Apache gunship in the air will ensure that any enemy snipers on the rooftops will be taken out, while a sentry gun forces teams to attack using a different route. If you’re afraid of imbalance, fret not. Everything can be countered, even down to the basic UAV surveillance. If your team is being watched by the enemy, deploy a counter-UAV to disable theirs. Being shelled by a helicopter? Use your Stinger missile to take it down.

A new feature of multiplayer is the ‘Emblems’, ‘Titles’ and ‘Accolades’ section, where how you play determines what nicknames and pictures you can unlock, which you can then parade in the next game. You could even display your country’s flag as a sign of patriotism – I’m surprised Singapore is included! How does the show-off work? Basically when you accomplish a feat like taking out a helicopter or performing a double kill, your IGN will be displayed at the top corner of the screen to everyone in the game. It’s a small gimmick which could instill a lot of pride in players aspiring to be top shooters. “Yep, it’s me who took down your Harrier. Suck that!”

A screenshot which displays most of the features mentioned - Killstreaks above, Emblems and Titles below.

Yet the multiplayer experience is marred by one big problem – the lack of dedicated server functionality for PC gamers. Multiplayer games are now played on Infinity Ward’s on IW.net servers which are run by Steam. The good thing about this is that it keeps hackers on a low ( they still exist unfortunately ) and it’s easy to form parties with friends where you can play together on the same team. But IW.net has proven to be quite inefficient in match-making as well as host selection – a host with a poor ping would completely ruin the game due to lag. Also, gone are the days of 32-player Team Deathmatches as the limit is now 6 v 6, with a 9 v 9 option available in Ground War, which is a random mix of TDM and Domination matches. Perhaps reducing the number of players allows for more tactical gameplay and the freedom to move about instead of getting killed by a grenade around every corner, but still we would like to have the option to choose to play a firefight frenzy once in a while.

Is it just me or does nobody play anything else other than TDM? Everytime I click on another game mode like Sabotage or Search and Destroy I cannot find enough players to start the game. Because of that, it’s starting to become quite boring and predictable when I play multiplayer.

However, I’m still playing it, which pretty sums up how fun MW2’s multiplayer is. The hefty price may be a turn-off – $79.90 is the standard retail price – but take my advice and get the original copy instead of downloading a torrent. You will definitely get your money’s worth when you play online. Whether you get owned by seasoned players is another thing though.

*mortifiedpenguin’s Steam IGN is mortpenguin.

In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin isn’t very impressed with the single-player campaign of Modern Warfare 2.

BE WARNED: SPOILERS AHEAD!

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

Have you ever left a cinema wondering what actually happened during that 2 hours in a dark hall?

One very good example is ‘Push‘. Literally, I felt pushed when the movie ended.

Now after playing through the single-player campaign of Modern Warfare 2, my head was spinning.

Not just from all that running and explosions, but more importantly the incoherent storyline.

The combination of fast-paced, mind-blowing action and a bad script makes Modern Warfare 2 more than just your ordinary shooter – it’s a poorly-written Jerry Bruckheimer film. I’m sure you’ve seen this comparison in many other reviews online, and it’s true.

Infinity Ward hit the target with the first game. You had a campaign with a strong narrative which allows you to comprehend the plot. While the game continuously switched between the roles of a SAS trooper and a US Marine, the transition was seamless and you eventually understood that the two enemies you were fighting on both fronts were actually colluding together. Furthermore throughout the campaign there were several key moments that would make you go ‘Wow, that is awesome’ ala the AC-130 mission, and make you want to replay these missions again. ( Read the previous entry on COD4’s best 5 moments. )

With expectations so high and trailers so cinematic, one would count on Infinity Ward to continue that magical formula. Unfortunately it did not crystalise.

Modern Warfare 2 takes place 5 years after the events in the first game where the character you played previously, Sergeant Soap MacTavish, is now Captain of the newly-formed multi-national counter-terrorist unit Task Force 141, based on the real-life task force groups operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. Similar to COD4, you will play a number of roles but for the most part of the game as Sergeant Gary ‘Roach’ Sanderson of TF141 and Private James Ramirez, a US Ranger. Now here comes one of the main problems with MW2 – Infinity Ward had to kill off most of the characters you played as and together with, it makes it hard to develop a sense of following and attachment. I mean, after playing as Roach for so long, I don’t even get to see how I look like. And those wondering whether ‘Ghost’ is ‘Gaz’ from the first game since they are voiced by the same actor would never know the answer, until they read the comic.

One of the more cinematic sequences in the game, following in the footsteps of 'All Ghillied Up', but not as jaw-dropping.

It’s okay to eliminate a few characters, but given the Call of Duty tradition of showing cut-scenes through a first-person perspective, killing off the main character is not useful towards developing the storyline. If Infinity Ward had planned it all along, shouldn’t we just play as Soap again instead of Roach? It doesn’t really change the experience too much, and we will finish the game knowing there is still some continuity.

Oh yes there’s definitely going to be a third game released but how the storyline develops is a mystery, given how the plot in MW2 wasn’t straightforwardly told to us. Here’s my take on the story.

5 years after events in MW1, Ultranationalists seize control of Russia and Zakhaev is branded a martyr ( Confirmed ). Captain Price, who was responsible for leading the defence of democratic Russia, is captured by Ultranationalists ( probably while under medical care as he was severely injured in the first game ) and locked up in the gulag on the Kamchutka Peninsula. How the SAS failed to learn of this is a mystery – perhaps they had been told that Price had died. In the US, General Shepherd is distraught by the lack of support of the military shown by the dwindling numbers of enlistees ( Confirmed ). He blames it on the deadly nuclear attack which wiped out the entire US Marine force in the Middle Eastern country where they tried to capture Al-Asad, which has frightened the population ( Interpretation ). In order to boost enlistment, he needs to prove that the US is still facing a big threat, and thus decides to conjure a war with Russia.

Shepherd recruits a Ranger private into TF141 and sends him on an undercover mission in Russia to track down notorious terrorist leader Makarov. After a brutal massacre of unarmed civilians at an airport, Makarov kills off the American before escaping. The discovery of the body by Russian authorities would lead them to believe that the US was behind the attack, and thus they initiate their invasion. The US was not warned of the assault due to the fact that their ACS module from a crashed satellite had already been cracked by the Russians before TF141 could recover it, allowing the Russians to penetrate American defenses. During the battle, the Russians managed to seize control of Washington D.C, including key government installations like Capitol Hill and the White House. However after an EMP blast set off by Capt. Price who had since been rescued by Tf141 during the chaotic chain of events, the Army Rangers are able to take back the capital.

TF141 breaks up into 2 groups in order to capture Makarov but after the team comprising Roach and Ghost find evidence implicating Makarov as the true mastermind behind the airport terrorist attack, General Shepherd arrives and betrays them by killing them both. Learning that Shepherd is not on their side, Price and MacTavish go to Afghanistan and take out the General. Nikolai rescues them at the end of the game and flies them off in a helicopter, telling them that ‘he knows of a safe place they can go’.

As you can see, not the most impressive storyline for a potential game of the year, and it certainly was not delivered in the best way. Throughout the game, I found myself constantly on the run from checkpoint to checkpoint while having to comprehend instructions on the fly. That’s okay since it brings the tension but when I thought I could take a breather and watch the cut-scenes to actually learn what the heck is going on, instead I was shown cryptic dialogue. You are never shown the political tension that brought about the war between the US and Russia and that is a critical element which was missing from what was supposed to be a massive war story. Captain Price appears out of nowhere and thereafter Task Force 141 is down to two suicidal men. There are too many plotholes which should have been filled, given Infinity Ward’s excellent storytelling ability in previous games.

Perhaps Infinity Ward had been too bent on repeating its success that it forgot how MW1 actually became a hit. If they had changed their direction a bit and allowed for a few cut-scenes from a third-person perspective, the story could have been much more coherent. Since the game is always played from your perspective, there was no way you would know what was happening outside the battlefield. The missions by themselves were all impressive but there was no jaw-dropping surprise from the first game, which was a waste. However you would understand why Infinity Ward was keeping their aces in my next entry on the Special Ops mode.  Putting aside the storyline gripes, there certainly have been improvements to graphic detail as well as the much-complained problem of the first game which was the countless spawning of waves of enemies.

Soap leads the charge into what would be famouly known as "The Rock's shower room".

There was definitely much potential for MW2 to be a hit and even better than the first game, but the single-player campaign has proven to be a disappointment. If you are new to the Modern Warfare series, you definitely need to start from the first one or you will be more than bewildered by the bullet-ridden plot. That’s not to say that MW2 is not worth a pickup – it most certainly is as you will find out why in the upcoming TGL entries – but if you’re looking to be entertained by single-player only, be advised that the first Modern Warfare game is better.

In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin tells you why you MUST buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ( putting aside gripes about the PC version ).

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

It’s the first of November already!

That means… 9 more days to Modern Warfare 2’s release!

If you’re still clueless as to why most of the gaming community is going crazy over MW2, here are a few reasons which should convince you to make the right decision over the next few days.

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#1 It’s the freaking sequel!

Soon the White House will turn black.

Weren’t you eager for The Dark Knight and Transformers 2 to be released in cinemas? You liked the first movies, didn’t you? Similarly Call of Duty 4 was easily the best shooter game in 2007 and ended on a cliffhanger, so naturally everyone who liked the first game would be looking forward to the sequel. From the latest Infamy trailer we know that war would be taking place on American soil, so it’d be interesting to see how the story develops. More cinematic action, more special forces missions ( SAS and other units ), no more cold turkey treatment for us gamers.

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#2 More guns, and attachments!

Modern Warfare 1 prides itself in offering a range of realistically-designed weapons both visually and aurally. Infinity Ward isn’t going to let us down as the sequel promises to deliver a wider range of weapons this time. New weapons confirmed in the game include the FAMAS and SCAR-H rifles, as well as the ability to throw knives.

If you’ve played multiplayer on COD4, you’d definitely rue the lack of option to fully customise your weapon as there is only one attachment slot. So you had to decide between a pistol foregrip or silencer for your rifle. This time there are multiple attachment slots though the actual number has yet to be confirmed, but the list of equipment available already looks very appealing – scopes, grenade launchers and even a heartbeat sensor! Whether all of these seen in gameplay videos would make it into multiplayer remains to be answered.

—

#3 Special Ops mode

Definitely inspired by 'The Rock" shower room scene.

Take it as a third game mode other than single-player and multiplayer. Though the same levels would be used, Spec Ops is more focused on task-based objectives like getting from point to point or killing a certain number of enemies. The best part of this new mode is that you can play co-op with a friend online or split-screen, and there are actually a couple of levels where you are required to team-up. Sounds like MW2 would be a game hard to put down for a long time until MW3 is out!

—

#4 New Perks, Kill Streaks and Death Streaks

Now you can send death from above in multiplayer with not just a boring air strike.

Infinity Ward has tweaked its multiplayer levelling system. There will be new perks, while some of the old ones would become Death Streak unlocks to aid you in case you’ve been feeding other players, for example Last Stand and Martyrdom. The Kill Streaks feature is now customisable, allowing you to choose from a list of tactical aids at each specific level. This means you won’t be seeing the typical air strikes and attack helicopters all the time – watch out for a guided missile from a Predator UAV or raining hell from an AC-130. You could also order in a supply drop ala BF2!

—

#5 Vehicles!

We’ve already seen from the Snowy Mountain level that you can drive a snowmobile while shooting at enemies at the same time. There’s also a snowmobile race in the same map under the Special Ops mode. The ability to control vehicles is something which has been missing in the CoD series – previously you could only control vehicle-mounted weapons. Would there be other vehicles to drive in the game? Personally I feel this is a feature which should not feature prominently in the game as it puts it in the same genre as Battlefield 2 and Operation Flashpoint. Stick to the gunning on foot!

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#6 Prestige Edition

Night-vision goggles OMGWTF!!!

If you’re a console gamer and have the cash, you’re in for a big treat! Infinity Ward is releasing a Prestige Edition of MW2 which includes the game in a steelbook case, art book, a token to redeem the original Call of Duty online – all these included in the Hardened Edition – plus a pair of working nightvision goggles which fits on a model of Soap McTavish’s head! Now you can stalk your most hated neighbour at night without raising the alarm.

—

Still not convinced? Drop me a reason then.

Oct 2009

—

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

October has been a pretty slow month. Maybe it’s due to the lack of game releases, but hey that keeps the suspense high for what’s to come in November!

Ok that’s not say there weren’t any big titles this month. I’d have bought the Limited Edition of Forza Motorsport 3 off the shelf when it was released last weekend if not for the fact that I’m trying to limit my spending as much as possible until I buy a new gaming PC.

In the meantime I’ve been trying to get started on applications to colleges in the US, but for the most part Need for Speed: Shift has been keeping me occupied. Seeing how the NFS franchise looked to be rolling on a downhill slope with other racing games gaining more attention and favourable reviews in recent years, it’s been a pleasant surprise to see EA back on track with Shift. Check back for a full review on the game when I’m done with the career mode. ( At this point of writing I’m at Level 17 – still a long way to go. )

It’s quite disheartening to see Infinity Ward-Activision screw around with the PC community just as hype for Modern Warfare 2 is reaching its peak prior to its November 10 release. What’s up with the lack of dedicated server support? This is not the first time PC gamers have got to suck their thumbs, and it makes one wonder whether this will be the trend with future games. Many of these franchises started out with a very loyal fanbase comprising PC gamers and without them such titles like Call of Duty would not have come this far. To be fair, the console market is the easiest to earn the profits from now but I see no reason why PC gamers have to be content with a much smaller slice of the pie with lesser toppings as well. Why no Limited Edition for the PC version of MW2? Do you mean only console gamers can afford a more expensive package? If we can already afford to configure our rigs to the best settings with the best gear around, I don’t see why we have to be outcast. Mind you, I’m both a PC and console gamer so think again before you start another stupid flame war. There’s much reason for PC gamers to complain.

In the end I do hope MW2 will deserve the hype it’s received and make my upcoming gaming PC a worthy buy too. After waiting for so long, it would be so disappointing if the PC version isn’t as good as the console’s. Afterall shooters are meant to be played on the PC.

Ah I can already smell the next month coming.

–

Previous Entries:

• Nov 2008
• Dec 2008
• Jan 2009
• Feb 2009
• Mar 2009
• April-May-2009
• Aug 2009
• Sept 2009

In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin heads down to Xbox Gaming Showdown at Vivocity and got pretty disappointed.

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

When Microsoft announces an event like this, it’s hard to give it a miss.

Especially when they were going to showcase Splinter Cell: Conviction for the first time in Singapore.

I’ve already watched online countless gameplay videos from previous gaming conventions, but nothing beats being able to see the game being played first-hand.

As expected, the level shown was EMP Staging Ground, where Sam Fisher has to rescue a scientist who has been kidnapped by the Black Arrow group to make an EMP device as part of their terrorist attack plans.

Now Splinter Cell has traditionally been a very dark game in terms of lighting, so I have no idea why they displayed the game on a large screen under strong light. If you still don’t get it, the problem is you couldn’t see shit on the screen. For me it was still alright since I had pretty much remembered the walkthrough videos, but for many other people in the audience who were probably seeing the game for the first time, they slowly drifted away to the smaller but brighter LG LCD screen where the Xbox 360 was connected to.

This is only the first problem of the Conviction showcase.

The second lies in the narrator of the walkthrough. Firstly it was a girl, and any sane game company would never put a female on stage.

Unless of course it’s Jade Raymond.

I’m not being sexist here, but what we have on stage talking us through the game is a girl who probably has no idea what Splinter Cell is, is showing no effort to try and not read from a script, and does not engage me one bit, both visually and aurally.

She was following the script so tightly that even when the demonstrator was not performing moves as mentioned, she still carried on. She just looked at the screen to make sure it matched the picture on her script and then started her speech.

I’ve heard better political campaigns.

Listening to her speak immediately reminded me of those Powerpoint presentations we had in school.

Gaming presentation 101: Never read from a script, and more importantly do not hold the stapled papers in your hand.

Am I done bitching about the failed presentation? No.

Problem 3: The demo.

How many times has the demonstrator played the demo? It was not fluid at all and he missed out certain important moves which were always performed in the other gameplay videos.

For example in the final part of the demo where you were supposed to rescue the scientist, by default the demoer would throw a flashbang inside the room as part of the presentation’s objective to show you the type of gadgets available to you.

I also don’t remember him using a sticky camera. Even if he did he definitely did not show off the gadget’s capabilities of both surveillance and lethality.

Basically he was just playing the game as though Sam Fisher was Jason Bourne, running around and shooting people with the Mark and Execute.

Now I don’t how Microsoft-Ubisoft managed to screw this one up. If you’re going to showcase an exclusive game then please do it as best as you can. There was nothing positive about the demonstration and that is very embarrassing to both the game and its fans. Does Microsoft think Singapore has no gamers who understand Splinter Cell at all? I take that as an insult.

In the future if Microsoft does intend to showcase Splinter Cell: Conviction again, please contact me. I can present the game so much better I can do it on the fly without even needing a script. Note: I’m a fan of the franchise since the first title and probably knows Splinter Cell better than anyone else in the country. Not even the folks at our local game magazines can pose a challenge.

Oh, and get me someone who actually knows how to play the game too.

And if you’re wondering why there’re no photos in this post, it’s because photo-taking was not allowed during the demonstration. Well not like there was anything worth a shot since you couldn’t see anything on the screen.

On another note I managed to get a hands-on session with Assassin’s Creed 2 and I loved it, though my concern about the A.I from the first game seems to be present again. Oh well, at least it’ll make the game slightly easier.

In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin discusses the future of multiplayer gaming on the PC for Modern Warfare 2.

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

This post was actually supposed to be published by last weekend but an unexpected piece of news took the PC gaming community by storm, making today a more appropriate time to publish this entry. So allow me to tie things together.

Nowadays when I’m feeling bored in front of my monitor and am lazy to hook up my Bose alarm clock to the Xbox, I double-click on the COD4 multiplayer desktop icon and try to play a game or two.

I say try because most of the time I’m faced with a plague of hackers, or the server is running Hardcore mode, or I just can’t join a server reserved for low-ping players.

This is really frustrating since COD4 was an excellent game, but looking forward to MW2’s release always takes away your pain of having to put up with aimbots and super-human soldiers jumping hundreds of feet into the air.

This is the part where I would suggest improvements to the multiplayer aspect of Modern Warfare 2.

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#1: Server name / IP search

This was a startling exclusion from the first game. Having played Battlefield 2 multiplayer since it was released in 2005, I was used to the user-friendliness of the lobby ststem. Searching for servers was as easy as typing the name of the server in the search bar and hitting the ‘Enter’ key. And if you faced a situation where your buddy could find the server but you could not, just get the IP address from him and type it in to connect directly. In Modern Warfare, it was just one long list of servers which needed refreshing a couple of times to find one missing server which your buddy is on. So hopefully MW2 would include this basic feature in its multiplayer mode.

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#2: Friend / Buddy list

Such a feature would make it easy for clan members to find one another online and join the server they’re already on ( World in Conflict had it already and it worked wonders ).

-–

Now, here’s the bad news which would contradict the first point above.

Infinity Ward announced that Modern Warfare 2 would not feature dedicated servers, but instead utilise an in-house system named IW.net which is powered by Steam.

At first I had no idea why there was such a big hoo-hah from the PC gaming community, from boycotts to even a massive online petition.

Until I realised no dedicated-server functionality means you couldn’t choose whichever type of game you wanted to join. Infinity Ward would dictate.

According to Bowling, IW’s Community Manager, IW.net would be a much better service for PC gamers as it makes finding games easier due to its matchmaking, and also eliminates cheaters. ( Link )

It’s good to look after the welfare of the PC community, but is it necessary to take such drastic measures that would actually destroy the very foundations of PC gaming? There’re ways to make finding games easier with the help of filters. Maybe IW thought the filter system in COD4 didn’t work very well but look at BF2! DICE provided so many filters like vehicles, mods, ranked etc that you could easily find a server which you could play on.

PC gaming had always had the upper hand over console gamers due to the amount of freedom we had with the game – mods and custom game rules were privileges which console gamers could not enjoy on their rigid lobby system online.

Now it seems that PC gamers are being integrated into the console family, and that really upset a lot of people.

To be honest, I don’t really play mods but I do want the freedom of being able to choose my own server. Now I wonder how I’m going to play an online game with webmaster03.

>> webmaster03: I clicked on your name but I can’t join the game. The server is full.

>> mortpenguin: What! Why don’t you wait a while and try again?

>> ( After 5 minutes ) webmaster03: I still can’t join! #@$%^%#^!!!

>> mortpenguin: Okay I’ll quit the game. You go join another server first.

>> mortpenguin: What the fuck now I can’t join your game. My level is too high!

Ubisoft did not include dedicated server support when Rainbow Six: Vegas was released and it worked as good as shit. So I have no idea why Infinity Ward would want to repeat history again.

As I recover from this bombshell and think about boycotting the PC version of MW2, give me your thoughts on this ridiculous decision by Infinity Ward. Would IW.net work or would it lead to the end of PC gaming?

Read more opinions about this catastrophe at Kotaku and BashandSlash. And if you don’t get the no-dedicated-server saga, read this excellent forum post.

In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin is confused about his own opinions on Splinter Cell: Conviction.

( Read the rest of the blog entry after the jump! )

We waited for 2 years. 2 agonizing years of total blockout on any information pertaining to the game.

The forums became a place of old debates and rumours with no factual basis. No one knew what was going on other than Community Developer UbiRazz who never failed to promise us that news were forthcoming.

He said that in 2007. And continued to do so throughout the 2 years.

Now it all started when concept art and logo of Splinter Cell: Conviction were leaked in a RAR archive in 2006. These included pictures of possibly game locales which looked to be Washington, D.C. That set the tongues wagging about the possible storyline of Conviction since it was supposed to continue where our Double Agent hero escaped in the previous game.

Then in 2007 screenshots of the game were scanned from a magazine and published on the forums. They showed Sam Fisher like we had never seen before – gruff, bearded and wearing a hoodie. In the game he was throwing tables and chairs at unidentified enemies in an apartment, and blending in with the crowd to avoid detection from police in a park. All this took place in the day, giving rise to speculation that Conviction was throwing away its traditional light-and-shadow ( L/S ) stealth gameplay for social stealth, a feature also featured in Assassin’s Creed which was due to be released that same year.

Following the release of the pre-Alpha trailer, reception was mostly negative. While the idea of using almost any object in the environment as a weapon was innovative, fans felt that the initial impressions strayed too far off from the Splinter Cell roots. On the forums they repeated called for the inclusion of L/S and the iconic tri-focal night-vision goggles. The situation was so bad that Sam earned the nickname of ‘Hobo Sam’ and jokes were repeatedly pointed at blowing up the hotdog stand and throwing a printer at enemies. At that time I was caught in the middle – I thought daytime stealth would add a new dimension to the genre and there was so much potential to expand on the Sam vs law enforcement gameplay. There could be a mission where Sam is racing against a time downloading information from a computer or interrogating a suspect while SWAT officers converge on his position in the building ala The Negotiator, and he has to escape as stealthily as possible to avoid a needless shootout. But of course, L/S had to be there.

While one would expect more information to be released in the coming months, suddenly Ubi stopped talking. Well they didn’t completely shut up about the game – we were informed of the release date, initially planned for Holiday 2008, pushed back not once but three times. People grew tired of the delay nonsense and many stopped posting on the forums, but the remaining faithful stayed on to post their suggestions on how to improve Conviction since it was widely assumed that the game had been re-designed again or as a game magazine reported, ‘taken back to the drawing board’.

Following his crazed behavior, often associated with furniture, Sam was taken back for questioning for an indefinte period of time.

New life was sparked into Conviction in May 2009 when GameTrailers TV released three teaser trailers, each showing different locations – Malta, Washington and Los Angeles, the last confirming that the game will be making its long-awaited appearance at E3. There Ubisoft showed us the new trailer which on first look looked like Ubisoft had used the extra year well to make things right.

Yep, I said ‘on first look’.

L/S was definitely back, as we saw Sam infiltrating a mansion in Malta at night. But this wasn’t the same Sam we had seen in 2007, nor the one we’re familiar with in previous games. Okay, he’s back to his normal appearance ( looking the same as he was in Chaos Theory ) and no longer a hobo, but gone is the wetsuit which would match his military haircut. Also gone are the SC-20K rifle slung on his back, the tri-focal goggles on his head and the silenced SC pistol. Sam now wears a grey woollen shirt/sweater and dark cargo pants, a dress-up highly reminiscent of Jason Bourne’s.

And so are his combat skills. Instead of his usual ‘grab from the shadows’ trick, Sam is now a highly-adrenalised hunter with sharpshooting sense. Utilising a new feature called ‘Mark and Execute’ ( M&E ), the player can mark enemies and then take them down with quick accurate shots from his weapon, the shooting sequence being slowed down to dramatise the action.

It looks cool at first, but then when I think about it again this screams ‘Hollywood’.

Not that Hollywood action is wrong or bad, but this is not something which should be associated with the Splinter Cell franchise. Splinter Cell had always been a patient game which required much thinking, waiting and tactical planning in order to avoid detection. By throwing away the usual run-and-gun gameplay featured in most other titles, Ubisoft had invented an IP so unique no other game could compete with it. Even if you wanted Sam to be an action hero, the camera controls were too slow for accurate shooting and Sam was a sponge for enemy bullets. So the only way to win the game was to stay in the shadows.

Sam is so skilled he doesn't need to aim to get a neck shot. Meh.

The developers of Conviction were right to say that stealth was forced upon the player. But was it necessary to change the formula? Head of the team is Maxime Beland, who was previously in charge of another Ubisoft-Tom Clancy project – Rainbow Six: Vegas and its sequel. It’s weird for Ubisoft to replace the former producer Mathieu Ferland who was responsible for the franchise’s success since its debut in 2002, and one could guess that the company aims to sell the franchise to a larger mainstream audience using the expertise of a designer coming from an action background. ( Ferland was last seen in Toronto promoting the new studio which will be producing movies in the future., the first being the Assassin’s Creed shorts. ) That was what happened to Rainbow Six and it wasn’t very popular with the hardcore fans, and I’m beginning to suspect it will be the same with Splinter Cell.

Conviction begins with Sam’s hunt for the man who killed his daughter ( she was killed in a hit and run accident in the previous game ) and that personal quest for revenge has changed the former Third Echelon operative. Very much. Sam no longer works for the NSA, hence his missing equipment which we’ve grown used to. In place of high-tech gadgetry Sam has to make use of everyday objects to aid him, for example instead of using the optic cable Sam has to break the mirror of his SUV and hold it below a door to see what’s behind. Without his goggles and HUD meter, players will now know if they’re hidden in the dark when the screen turns black and white. Now this is where the dumbing down of a great franchise starts to worry me. You don’t even need a noise meter since you’re absolutely quiet when crouching. Bullshit, I say.

The worst bit is the speed at which Sam scales ledges. He moves so quickly while hanging there’re only two explanations for this: either he weighs like a feather or he has the strength of the Hulk. ( See 1:58 of this video. )

They say he’s driven by his emotions. Right, so emotions are a drug then?

Other unrealistic bits which should be corrected in a AAA-title include how weapons appear magically on Sam’s back when he walks over them – there is no need for an animation depicting picking up a weapon, and how Sam can jump from great heights without hurting himself. But my gripe doesn’t end here. I’m more concerned about the focus of the development team. Their repeated emphasis on Sam’s mission to find his daughter’s killer makes me think that Sam has now become a cold-blooded killer, as seen from his gruesome interrogation techniques and lack of non-lethal combat skills. Until now, we have yet to see Sam knock out an enemy guard; every gameplay video shows Sam killing the enemy either with a weapon or his bare hands. Fans of the series will know that Sam does not like killing and only does so when he needs to. Taking away the simple option of sparing a man’s life takes away the morality of a character which Ubisoft intended to develop in Conviction. Kind of ironic, isn’t it?

So tell me again, do you like the new Conviction?

The latest gameplay video has proven to us that the game is not scripted and the levels can be played through multiple routes. This also means that you don’t have to use M&E throughout the game, but it is still unclear if there are situations where M&E is forced upon you. For example, in the said video, is there any other way you could rescue the scientist without blinding the terrorists with a flashbang and then dropping in to kill them? Ubisoft has repeatedly claimed that the stealth is still there with the action elements as an add-on, but what we fans need as affirmation is a gameplay video showcasing the ability to complete a level without the need to use lethal force at all, that is to say ‘100% stealth rating’ if we talk in Chaos Theory terms.

Conviction has since been pushed back to February 23 2010 from its Holiday 2009 release date, and this gives it ample time to sort out the issues which have been listed out above. My honest opinion is that Conviction looks really better than the previous build, but it needs to get the focus on stealth back, or at least prove to us that it has not forsaken it for Hollywood action. Put back the option of non-lethal attacks, give us the ability to hide bodies and eliminate the ridiculous bugs. When it does, I’m sure many of the hardcore fans who were hoping for a ‘Chaos Theory 2′ would be happier than before.

The best Splinter Cell game to date, Chaos Theory will remain the standard to beat unless Conviction can prove us wrong.

For now, the only thing we fans can do is hope that Ubisoft is willing to listen to the fans who made Splinter Cell the ultimate stealth franchise it is today, and not get caught up in their pride and ego after winning so much praise in various previews. But for a producer who didn’t like the previous Splinter Cell games and even the iconic wetsuit, my hands clasp even harder.

Well, at least they gave us the goggles we wanted. But even then, they aren’t the same pair we grew up with. What’s with legal wall hacking?

I understand some of the philosophy driving Conviction. Looking at how Double Agent ended, change was bound to happen. I do felt frustrated at times when playing Chaos Theory. Why can’t Sam be a bit faster, why can’t he be bit more proactive? But I didn’t expect such revolutionary changes to the new game. Yes the quick hand-to-hand combat and fast shooting makes Sam feel much more lethal and I like the addition, but is it too much of an overkill? If you look at the G4TV video again, the scene where Sam charges into the room with his shotgun is just ridiculous. Even when he takes hits from the automatic weapon, he acts as though there is no effect or pain whatsoever, not even a realistic shout of pain or drop in his combat abilities.  Now that’s an example of the team being blatantly ignorant, and it has got to stop.

What if Conviction fails to address the above problems? I’d force myself to embrace the change and buy the game, like I always do with all SC titles – I know, by doing so I’m falling into Ubisoft’s trap. But hell I had waited so long for this game already. Yet after finishing the game I’ll put it away knowing that the industry has lost yet another unique franchise to the devil known as money.

Hopefully that need not happen.

In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin debates the need to buy a PSP now.

( Read the rest of the blog entry after the jump! )

If anyone were to vehemently oppose the need for National Service, it would be Sony.

The annual enlistment of thousands of boys below the age of 20 means a sustained generaton of good revenue through sales of the PSP. Out of each year’s intake, one-third are PSP-owners, another third will be influenced to purchase one over the course of two years, and the last will remain undecided or leech off their bunk mates.

I belong to the third group of NSFs. But I don’t pester my friends to lend me, mind you. In fact, I’ve only borrowed a PSP around 5 times in 4 months and each time I only play for an average of 15 minutes, which is equivalent to one PES match. This is incredible, considering the fact that I’m a gamer.

I guess it has got something to do with my personal opinions on the Playstation Portable.

Firstly I’m not a fan of Sony’s gaming products to begin with. Never owned a PS1 or 2, never really liked the controller when I played the PS2 at gatherings, and the PS3 failed to impress me on all fronts other than the Blu-Ray drive.

When the PSP was released here and started becoming a familiar sight on public transport and even escalators, I equated the console with an anti-social device, one which the gamer who could not afford a proper console would eagerly buy. It’s okay if you’re deeply engrossed in your game and showing us how fast ur thumbs can move – just don’t pollute our ears with that loud blast of DJ Max.

I never really needed to play a game while on the move – I’d rather have one hand on standby in case I receive an SMS, and the other to grab hold of the nearest pole if I suddenly lose my balance. Plus how do you actually play a game proper when passengers squeeze past you to board and alight?

But after I got posted from BMT to camp, I started to understand the value of gaming away from home. Sometimes there is so much time in bunk yet you have nothing, and I mean nothing, to do. And when I see my bunk mates scoring goals or fighting demons on the small screen, that’s when I miss the computer and the Xbox.

5 days away from gaming is like cold turkey treatment for a smoker.

Yet, as much as I’d want to play a video game, the PSP doesn’t draw me in. I’ll never understand the persistent exclusion of the second analog stick which I’m so used to on a gamepad ( how do you control the camera by pressing the left and right trigger buttons? ), and the line-up of games has always favoured the RPG clique of gamers, which obviously excludes me.

When rumours of a new PSP surfaced last year, I thought it’d be possible to see a proper portable gaming console with a bigger screen and two analog sticks.

But no, once again Sony disappointed me when the opportunity was presented for them to do otherwise. Named the PSP-Go, it featured a slide-out screen with all the controls beneath. You would be forgiven for thinking there was touch-screen capability like the iPod Touch, but no Sony probably lost the instruction manual for installing it.

The biggest bombshell came last week when it was announced that Sony would not support UMD conversion to digital media format for current PSP owners who intend to upgrade to a Go – the new PSP does not have a UMD slot and all games would have to be downloaded from the PSP store online. This means that if you want to replay your Ridge Racer you will have to buy the game twice!

What the hell?

I see some parallels between Sony’s vision and Apple’s App Store. But obviously the Japanese have lost their focus. The iPod Touch and iPhone weren’t meant to be gaming consoles, but marketed so well that they’ve become fierce competitors to Sony’s baby and the Nintendo DS. The PSP, on the other hand, is a console. By removing the UMD slot along with any good intentions of helping your faithful customers, I don’t see how you are able to establish a foothold in the gaming industry.

Not to forget the fact that the PS3 is faring the worst in sales among the big 3.

Would Sony do the same with the PS4? I doubt so.

People who own the PS2 and 3 are what we could consider hardcore, or at least  heavy-casual, gamers. Each time a new console is developed, Sony has to think very carefully how to ensure that the PS-faithful would continue to support them and not cause a backlash. After all, they’re forking out huge sums of money for the console and subsequent game titles and as such deserve preferential treatment. PSP owners, on the other hand, are an easily-subdued bunch as we’ve identified above. Since they can’t afford the bigger brother, they would just have to be content with their 2000 or 3000, or stupidly buy the GO and purchase the exact same titles, hence justifying Sony’s evil strategy.

>> PS2 owners: We want hardcore graphics, better than the Xbox!

>> Sony: Sure! We’ll give you the best processors we have. In fact, we’ll throw in a Blu-Ray player too!

>> PSP owners: We want two analog sticks and touch-screen!

>> Sony: Screw that, you losers! In fact, we’ll take away the UMD! So suck thumb and go buy a PS3! Or at least work harder saving up for it.

I’d be honest with you, I came very close to buying a PSP this year, in preparation for army life. I was walking around the transit area in Narita Airport when I saw the PSP-3000 on offer at a toy shop. At that time all the Carnival colours were available while Singapore only had black and white. But my parents decided that buying locally would make more sense since the Japanese model would not be under warranty. So I came back, but never really found a package as good as the one I saw back in Japan.

A concept which Sony had overlooked; hopefully the next model would rectify previous mistakes.

As a gamer it’s always possible that I will end up falling in Sony’s trap. If the Assassin’s Creed edition of the console comes to our shores I’d seriously consider it but again if I eventually bought a PSP, what games would I actually play? I can only think of 4 at the moment: Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, Little Big Planet, Gran Turismo and PES 2010 / FIFA 10. That doesn’t look to be a worthy investment.

I wonder how long I can survive solely on my iPod in camp though.

Saturday Showdown is a new segment by Three Green Lights where we compare games within the same franchise, be it old, new or upcoming. This is where we bash the bugs, praise the innovations and hope not to be disappointed in the next instalments.

In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin does a quick recap of 2007’s Assassin’s Creed and discusses how AC2 should be done better than the first.

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

I finally finished Assassin’s Creed on early Saturday morning, and I really mean early – around 2 a.m. I only finished the entire story though – there’re still hundreds of flags to be collected but I would rather be playing another game now, Need for Speed: Shift to be precise.

In short, Assassin’s Creed was one of the best games I’ve played both in terms of gameplay and presentation. You could free-run and perform parkour moves almost anywhere in the open-world environments of historic cities like Jerusalem, and everytime you’re perched on a high point the view is breathtaking. The major problem of the game however, which most reviewers would agree, would be the repetitiveness of the missions.

Everytime you embark on a new assassination quest, you first have to complete at least three investigations to gather enough information on your target. These can be broken down to Pickpocket where you attempt to steal a piece of paper containing information, Interrogation where you force a poor man to reveal what he knows through a few hard punches, Eavesdrop where you listen in on a conversation, and Informer where you have to help an informant complete a task before he can give you information. This would have been completed more easily if not the fact that you need to climb view points around the city in order to find these investigation missions.

To put it simply, it’s a very systematic process. Ride – Run – Bureau – Climb view point – Investigate ( x3 ) – Bureau – Assassinate – Bureau. Bureau is the secret headquarters of the Assassins in each major city where you will receive your task and report when you have completed the mission. Now look at the process again. You will do this 9 times, and this is not including the many fights you will engage in with the city guards. I wouldn’t say it’s boring because killing people is always fun, but it’s definitely mentally draining. Another reason why you won’t want to give up on the game so quick is the mysterious storyline which will only be concluded partially at the end of the game, setting the scene for the sequel.

The developers of Assassin’s Creed 2 have agreed that the first game was too repetitive and promised that the next game would be more engaging and diversified. Already it’s shaping up to be better than Altair’s adventures in the Middle Ages as you can see from the various previews and videos, but here’s a good list of pointers which developers should have taken note when making AC2. Fingers crossed they did.

#1 A.I

Hey, you look familiar!

Problem: I’m not sure how a man dressed in a white hood with a sword slung to his side and a bag of knives on his back can still remain discreet in a city, even after you’ve killed like twenty guards. This is the same problem with Hitman where your bald-headed character with a barcode tattoo on the back of his head can still not be recognised by the guards. Hitman: Bloody Money addressed this issue slightly with the tension meter – more kills would raise the alertness of the guards further. While AC1 had a similar system I felt that it was not well-developed. You could assassinate a rooftop guard and another guard on a higher point may not even notice. Either you were invisible or he was blind.

Solution: It has been confirmed that Ac2 will include a notoriety system where you will become more prominent with more kills. This includes wanted posters and witnesses to your assassinations, which you can remove to reduce your heat. You can now hide bodies as well so as not to alert other guards. But whether they have learned from their previous mistake of not being watchful enough remains to be seen. It would make things tricky as well if civilians who had seen you in action previously could report on you to a nearby guard.

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#2 Camera

Here's for blocking the camera!

Problem: AC1 featured a cutscene sequence when you performed an outstanding counter attack, which is very impressive. However there are instances where the camera would be blocked by another guard and you cannot move the camera since it’s a cutscene. On the Xbox there were also times when moving the camera around felt clunky.

Solution: This is a simple bug issue which should be fixed with no problems. Adding the ability to move the camera during the fight cutscene would be appreciated if that bugger happens to block my view again.

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#3 Health and memory synchronisation

Problem: If only falling from great heights didn’t hurt at all. AC1’s health system only featured a memory synchronisation whereby each damage hit would remove one synchronisation bar and when there is none left Altair would die and the player would have to restart from the last saved checkpoint. Even with serious injuries Altair looks perfectly fine – his clothes aren’t torn at all. How come nobody passed down that fabric technology from the Middle Ages?

Solution: AC2 will feature a new health system where the memory will synchronise up to a certain point, after which the player has to find a doctor to be treated. As for the visuals, it’s still unknown if there will be visible injuries to the body and damages to the clothing. It is also not clear if injuries sustained would affect Ezio’s abilities in movement and combat, a feature not included in the first game.

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#4 Dynamic environment

If the guards were to play Spot the Difference, they'd definitely lose.

Problem: The civilians in AC1 posed nothing more than an obstacle to your free-running delights. And they even blame you for breaking their pots. Oh, remember the female beggar who never failed to pester you for a few coins? And for saving a civilian being harrassed by guards, you could only get a bunch of fighting brutes or scholars to blend in with. To sum it up the crowd was too static in what was supposed to be a social stealth game.

Solution: Apparently you now can throw some coins to that irritating beggar, and to everyone else as well to create a distraction. Well you’re a rich man’s son so being charitable isn’t much of a problem at all. Unlike in AC1 where you could only blend in a group of white-clothed scholars, you can now hide among the crowd, though how is that possible I’m not too sure since your white clothing still stands out. And with your money you can hire certain groups of civilians to assist you. Not to forget the huge range of weapons on sale too. Sounds like you’re the boss of the town!

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#5 Swimming

Problem: How many times have you cursed at Altair’s unbelievable inability to swim? For an assassin of his stature, it’s frustrating to see him jump into a canal and drown.

Solution: You most definitely can swim in AC2, which means you can hide in water. Thank god for that, since the game’s set in Venice and there’re more waterways than walkways in that city. It would have been a deathtrap for Altair.

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#6 Desmond and Abstergo

You will find out more if you talk to me.

Problem: Now this is one strange man. A bartender he calls himself, yet he has the memories of his assassin ancestors. Who is he really? Are there any more assassins left? AC1 left a big question mark on Desmond’s story, answered only in bits and pieces through the interactive cutscenes where you can walk around the lab, talk to Lucy and use the computer later on.

Solution: The developers have promised us that there will be more than just ‘walking’ in AC2. But if he’s locked up in the facility what can he do? Perhaps they let him out? Hopefully there will be more cutscenes set in other places than the Animus room.

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#7 Multiplayer

Problem: AC1 was a single-player only game but there was so much potential to include a multiplayer mode. Imagine a group of Templars hunting down one Assassin through the town of Jerusalem or two Assassins racing against each other through the open-world environment to collect flags and reach the finishing line. Or how about a co-op mode?

Solution: It looks like AC2 will continue in its predecessor’s tradition and remain a single-player only title. Ubisoft can be forgiven for that though – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! But many of us would still remain a little disappointed for sure.

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That sums up our debut of Saturday Showdown! If you’ve got your own opinions on Assassin’s Creed or wishes for the sequel, feel free to write them in the Comments section! In the meantime, stay tuned for our next Showdown on  Saturday not too far away.

Sept 2009

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( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

There will come a time when the current computer has to be replaced.

Looking at how Modern Warfare is lagging on 1920 x 1200 resolution and with the release of Windows 7 looming, I guess change is inevitable. Any serious gamer would know that my rig would not last much longer.

So as I embark on my savings scheme for a new gaming rig, I’ve cut down on eating out this month and would continue to do so in the next. As you will find out, this month there’re close to none for entries pertaining to food. Instead I’ll be discussing some game topics as I make use of the time at home to play and reflect. This brings us to a new blog segment called Saturday Showdown where we’ll be comparing games from the same franchises, and as its name suggests will be published on Saturdays.

However I now have my doubts over whether I can save up enough money by the 10th of November, which if you haven’t figured out by now is the release date of Modern Warfare 2. Somehow despite spending much less on food, I find myself having my ATM card swiped more often than before. I’m still attempting to solve this mysterious case, but my initial conclusion so far is that I must impose house arrest on myself or I would definitely have to content myself with playing new games on low frame rates and high latencies. MW players would know that joining the fray too late would result in you getting owned by gamers with higher levels, better weapons and perks. That’s the problem with a levelling system

There could be a change in weekday life in October, though I’m not counting on anything yet. At the moment, things are looking slightly brighter than before, but it could still be better. I might just be greedy though.

Alright it’s back to racing, and oh boy the F1 weekend’s here!

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Previous Entries:

• Nov 2008
• Dec 2008
• Jan 2009
• Feb 2009
• Mar 2009
• April-May-2009
• Aug 2009