Fallout 3 Review (360, PS3, PC)

Fallout 3 is a game that's been a long time in the making. The original designers of the series have since bowed out of license, with the task falling to Bethesda Studios, best known for their work on the Elder Scrolls series of RPGs, and this is apparent at the very beginning of the game. The world of Fallout is a post-apocalyptic future where mankind has fled to the safety of a series of underground vaults throughout the United States to protect themselves from nuclear war and the harsh and radiated life thereafter. The player begins the game as a denizen of one of these vaults, and makes the usual RPGish selections of facial geometry, statistics, et al. through a short sequence depicting the protagonist's development from birth to adulthood. Eventually the player is released from the confines of the vault and left to explore the wasteland of Washington D.C. on a quest to find his father. On a presentation level, the game soars. It's absolutely beautiful, but this is somewhat blunted by the fact that you'll be spending 95% of your time either in a brown, flat, deserted wasteland, or in a grungy subway tunnel. This is an inherent limitation of the genre, and not necessarily a total fault of the developer. After all, a wasteland is a wasteland, and the developers only had so much to work with. It isn't bad, per se, but expect to see a lot of muted grays and browns.

A comparison with Bethesda's last RPG, Oblivion, is inevitable, so let's get that out of the way right now. Fallout 3 is very, very Oblivion-like, with some of the same issues such as NPC pathing, but it's improved in several areas. The visuals are more detailed than Oblivion which is saying a lot as Oblivion was one of the most gorgeous games to ever grace a console or PC back in 2006, but the most dramatic improvement is in the voice acting. Oblivion was lacking in that respect, and it always sounded like Bethesda grabbed three random people, tossed them in a sound studio, and forced them to recite endless lines of dialogue in an attempt to populate an entire world with a variety of voices. In other words, it fell flat. Fallout 3, however, is populated with a rich cast of characters with voices that seldom sound similar and this goes a long way toward extending the credibility of the world.

Fallout 3 is a game with guns. Lots of guns. What it's not is a first person shooter. Though you can aim and fire a gun as if you were playing Call of Duty 4, the results are all tied to statistics and skills, which only create the illusion of active participation in combat. This isn't a bad thing, as long as you know what to expect. A more popular way of playing through combat is by using Fallout 3's VATS system. VATS allows you to pause the game and use "action points" to target specific parts of an enemy's body with varying chances of success depending on factors such as distance and appropriate skills. As you progress throughout the wasteland, complete quests, and fell mutants and raiders, you'll gain experience which allows you to level up. With each level comes a number of benefits: You can increase your skills, and select a perk which grants you various effects such as bonuses to damage, more dialogue options in specific contexts, and increases to primary attributes. It's a simple system that works very well in contrast to Oblivion's arcane leveling scheme that requires a lot of forethought if you want to min-max your character.

Is the game fun, though? In many ways, yes. But the fun tends to come from random side-quests and odds and ends that you stumble across through exploration rather than by following the main story arc. For example, during one of my wanderings I came across a small settlement with the unlikely name of "The Republic of Dave." This guy Dave has declared this tiny town (population 5, plus children) its own sovereign nation. Apparently it used to be the Kingdom of Tom, who was Dave's father, but Dave decided to change the system of government to be more progressive once he inherited the kingdom. In this settlement, the dialogue options are hilarious, and you can attempt to rig an upcoming election and toss Dave out on his ear. Or you can walk through the Republic with an automatic shotgun cutting down its inhabitants like wheat (on a side note, if you make your intentions to take over the Republic clear, the person you're talking to will run away screaming "Communist! Help! He's a communist!!" Classic).

This is but one example of the quality of writing and black humor that's sprinkled throughout this massive world, and this makes the design decisions regarding the main quest even more perplexing. After a few side-quests I decided to follow the main story arc for awhile, and before I knew it I'd come to the end, and the kicker is that once you finish the game and the credits roll, regardless of what final decision you make at the end of the game, you can't keep playing. This is an incredibly poor design decision given that over 90% of the areas and quests in the game have absolutely nothing to do with the main story arc and can be completely missed unless actively sought out. This means that if you want the complete experience you have to force yourself to ignore the main story until the very end. It would have made much more sense to simply allow you to continue playing after you complete the main story arc like in Oblivion.

Morality plays a role in Fallout 3, and you're usually able to choose a "good" or "evil" solution to most of the challenges you face. While in most cases this doesn't have a significant impact on the world, in others it can change the world dramatically, and sometimes even the landscape itself. There's definitely a joy in being able to gun down virtually anyone you come across, and admittedly I spent a good hour reloading the Republic of Dave and murdering its population in hilarious ways just for my own amusement. This brings me to the combat: It's pleasantly gory. Limbs rip off from their sockets and fly across the room from the impact of bullets and explosions, and bits of bone protrude from muscle tissue. While it's a very satisfying experience, it's certainly not for children.

In summary, Fallout 3 is an exceptional game with a variety of flaws that detract from but don't ruin the experience as a whole. There are a lot of things I'd have done differently, but it's a solid game that should be experienced regardless of what system you play it on. Party faithfuls of the original Fallout games will no doubt complain that Fallout 3 is more like "Oblivion with Guns" than a true successor, but Bethesda treats the series with respect, and does a good job overall of blending the atmosphere and systems of the original games with its own RPG engine. I played both the 360 and PC versions, and if you have a rig that can run the game, I highly recommend the PC version for its faster loading times and potential modding possibilities if Bethesda ever releases an editor, but failing that the game is nearly identical on consoles and still provides a fun experience.

Mercenaries 2 Review (360, PS3, PC, PS2)

Mercenaries 2 is a somewhat-anticipated sequel to the original game that appeared on last-gen consoles four years ago. Like its predecessor it bills itself as an "open world" game, and obviously it'll be compared against the mother of all open world series, Grand Theft Auto. While that's definitely a burden it must shoulder, Mercenaries 2 is different enough so one can justifiably cry "apples and oranges," to an extent. The plot revolves around a mercenary (you) who's been contracted by a Venezuelan oil baron to kick ass and take names, paving the way for his ascendancy to becoming the President of said country. This baron double-crosses you, fails to pay you, and shoots you in the ass to boot, and of course you can't take that lying down (or sitting). Apparently the developers flipped through the New York Times and discovered that the U.S. really doesn't like this "Hugo" character, whoever he is, and thought they'd make a game out of it.

I'm being harsh, though. The game is beautiful with its stunning vistas, wide range of sight, and gorgeously rendered jungle environments that contrast well with large urban cities. The highlight of the game is that you can play co-op online with a buddy, and honestly, this is the way the game was meant to be played. That, combined with the game's other back-of-the-box feature, the fact that every single building in the game is destructible, makes for hours of mindless fun. As you play through the game on your road to revenge you'll encounter various factions, from Jamaican pirates to soulless Texas-based oil conglomerates and beyond. All of these factions have contracts for you to do, and unique equipment you can purchase from them. Of course, when you do a job for one faction it usually involves pissing off another faction, so you have to balance your relationships and decide who you want your friends to be and who can go pound sand.

The game is incredibly buggy, though. Sometimes contracts wouldn't pay the amount advertised, sometimes missions would glitch, and there's lots and lots of pop-in. The experience can feel a little disjointed at times too, as it's easy to get lost and not know what to do next. When I was playing it, I couldn't help but draw comparisons to Just Cause (or as I prefer to call it "Just 'Cause"), but in fairness, even though Mercenaries 2 can be a bumpy ride from time to time, the sheer amount of pure, mindless fun it provides makes the myriad of bugs and glitches forgivable. It's a game that's certainly lacking in the polish factor, but somehow that seems to be less of an issue when you can order a Mi-21 Hind delivered to your location, jump in it with a friend, and proceed to level every building in a three block radius. You can also order in air strikes and artillery bombardments on positions that lay waste to the landscape and are almost erotic to watch.

The game is filled with several "Oh Snap!" multiplayer moments. Like the time I fired a grappling gun onto an enemy helicopter and was reeling myself in 300 feet above the ground when my buddy thought it'd be a good idea to fire a stinger missile at the chopper, blowing it up, and sending me hurtling ass over teakettle to the jungle floor below. And then there was the time a routine foray into a city to complete a simple mission turned into an epic half-hour firefight with Universal Petrolium's mercenary crew that leveled half the city before we finally escaped to safety. Mark my words, you can do some crazy, crazy things in Mercenaries 2. It's also a very forgiving game, in that you can take an absurd amount of damage before you finally buy the farm, and if you're playing co-op all your buddy has to do is swing by and give you the standard tap on the shoulder to bring you back to the land of the living again. It's very over the top, but in the context of the game it works.

If you're an anti-social type, or prefer playing games alone, Mercenaries 2 is a forgettable experience - but if you strap in with a friend, it's worth every penny of gorgeous, technicolor, bunker-buster destruction.

Fable 2 Pub Games Review (360)

For years now fans of Peter Molyneux's original Fable have been anxiously awaiting the release of his next gen sequel to the 2004 sword-and-sorcery RPG. It's fair to say that Molyneux has been known in some circles for his exaggerated claims and broad visions more than for his games themselves, some of which have been lackluster (a popular example being 2001's Black and White, which I actually enjoyed, but nevermind). Molyneux seems to have an obsession with giving gamers choice between playing a noble, upright citizen or a foul, Machiavellian tyrant, and Fable 2 appears to be no exception. While previews have been limited to showing combat, the AI companion dog you get, and basic NPC interaction, Molyneux recently released Fable 2 Pub Games which allows players to dive into the gambling mini-games that will be featured in the full version, and wrack up bonus items, wealth, or massive debt before Fable 2 is released in October. The concept is simple: Players participate in three different gambling games and various tournaments to build their stake in the world of Fable 2. Upon release, players will be able to transfer their wealth, or lack thereof, to their character in the game world.

The first game, Fortune's Tower, is a card game where the player antes an initial bid, and one card is dealt face down, and two face up. The player can either take the value of the face cards in gold, or opt to see the next row of cards. In that case, three cards are dealt below the two face cards, and it continues on like this, with the tower of cards expanding in a pyramid shape. The rub is that if a face card on a new row touches a card above it with the same value, the tower collapses and the player loses his ante. There are a few outs, though. When two cards of the same value come in contact, the face-down tower card is revealed and replaces the threatening face card that was just revealed. There are also four "hero" cards in each deck, and each hero card will protect the row it's on from any offending cards that may jeopardize the tower's integrity. It's the most fun game of the three, requiring strategic thought, card counting, and risk mitigation.

The second game, Keystone, is a combination of craps and roulette. The board is a semi-circle shape, with four "keystones" - two at the top of the arch, and two at the base. Bets are placed along the arches, inner arches, and on specific bets, such as rolling doubles, triples, black, red, an oval or diamond, etc. There are a lot of different options at play when it comes to risking your hard earned gold, and to someone who's never played roulette before it can be a little overwhelming. Thankfully the process is streamlined with the ability to check the odds of any given bet with a pull of the left trigger, and for those that like to place a lot of bets on each roll, you can bet on the exact same sections of the board as your last roll with a click of the right button, which mercifully speeds the pre-rolling process up. Once the bets are placed, the dice are thrown, and gradually the pieces of the arch fall away, one piece per number rolled. If the top two keystones are removed, or one of the bottom keystones, the arch collapses and the board is set up again. This is a more passive game, which requires a knowledge of odds, and a hefty bank account to do well at. I've found myself mostly just betting on longshots and triples, and hoping I get lucky.

The third game, Spinner Box, is essentially Fable 2's version of a slot machine. There are different kinds of boxes, some with three slots, some with more, and the game becomes an exercise in spamming the A button and hoping you get lucky. Some boxes have different tricks to them, though. On some, you have a chance of getting free spins, while on others you can build a multiplier to your next spin. While pretty to look at, it's by far the most passive game of the three. As you gamble, you'll begin to raise in rank as a gambler, up to a five star rating. With each rank you unlock new game variants, and also gain access to tournaments where you can win prizes, ranging from a rather "blah" haircut on the one hand, to a magical sword on the other. The trick is to try and increase your rank without going too deep into debt. It's quite possible to rack up a seemingly insurmountable amount of debt in Pub Games, which will transfer over to your main character if you choose to, bringing with it repercussions in the game world.

But is it fun? Aesthetically, Pub Games is beautiful to look at, with fantastic presentation values and a whimsical soundtrack that will be instantly familiar to anyone who's played the original Fable. As to the games themselves, Fortunes Tower is by far the most addictive, requiring the most strategy. It has the capacity to keep you up into the wee hours playing "just one more hand," and is a pretty fast, and more importantly fun, way of leveling up your gambler, especially at higher stakes tables. Keystone is pleasant on the eyes, and hitting it big on triples always provides you with a big endorphin rush, but it requires less strategy than Fortune's Tower, and you can burn through a lot of your gold quickly if you hit a bad streak. Spinner Box is, well, boring. You still get that one-arm bandit rush on a high payout, but you also might get carpel tunnel syndrome by the sheer speed that you spam the A button with. If you're just looking to level your gambler rating up quickly, regardless of debt, it's the best way, though.

Overall Pub Games is a fun, addictive package, with some parts shining more than others, but if you have no interest in Fable 2 it's probably not worth your time. It can be purchased on XBLA for 800 Microsoft Points, but if you're planning on playing Fable 2 anyway there are a lot of retailers that are doing pre-order promotions that include a free copy of Pub Games, and I'd recommend going that route. Pub Games is fun, but probably not $10 fun.

Bionic Commando Rearmed Review (360, PS3, PC)

Remakes are all the rage these days, and while on the one hand they can be shrugged off as a cheap way for lazy developers to cash in, occasionally they not only reinvigorate a franchise that's been dead for two decades, but also create a game that's a sheer joy to play. Such is the case with Bionic Commando Rearmed. The original BC was released in the late 80s on the NES and was a unique game for its time in that it was a side-scrolling shooter where the protagonist couldn't jump. Instead, the player navigated the game's levels via a bionic arm that could grapple onto various objects, allowing the player to swing from ledge to ledge horizontally and scale structures vertically in a Spider-Man-esque fashion. This allowed for a different kind of gameplay and level design than was normally found on the NES. A few sequels were made for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, but largely the series was thrown to the wayside.

The plot was a hilarious fusion of futuristic Nazis and 80s style. The colors were bright and full of contrast, the settings were absurd, and through a few twists and turns the game culminated with the player shooting a resurrected Adolf Hitler in the face with a bazooka. It just doesn't get any better than that. Of course, with Nintendo of America's censorship policies at the time the game was cleaned up when it hit the States. All references to Nazis were removed, and the persona of Hitler was changed to just some mousy guy with a receding hairline, glasses, and a mustache. The graphics were great for its day, and the soundtrack was filled with catchy tunes in typical Capcom fashion. So how does the remake stand up?

If you're a fan of the original NES game, you won't be disappointed. Every level and enemy is recreated in gorgeous 3d, fixed to a 2d camera angle. The animations are smooth and silky, the levels are almost exact replicas of the originals, and controlling the bionic arm is a snap after an embarrassing five minute adjustment period. The music is all remixed, with the original melodies intact but glossed up and modernized resulting in a beautiful sound that you'll probably find yourself humming in the shower for a few days after you play. What really makes the game stand out though is the style. GRIN, the developers of BCR, completely embraced the shlocky 80s stylization of the original in an over the top way that both pokes fun at the decade and yet revels in the spectacle of it all. The two-dimensional natures of the characters are celebrated, from the Ray-Ban wearing "Duke Nukem" protagonist named "Rad Spencer" (I'm serious), to the spunky female helicopter pilot that shouts "Hey!" in a confident, commanding tone every time she's got something new to tell you, to the ridiculous dialog that precedes every boss fight. The game is also littered with self-referential humor that pokes fun at little silly parts of the original and NOA's censorship policies. There are also secret rooms and items sprinkled throughout the levels for treasure hunters, and bonus challenge rooms that let you try and get the best time through various VR-style challenge mazes as an aside.

The boss fights have been reworked, which isn't a bad thing as they were a bit lacking in the original. Now instead of simply running behind a boss and shooting them in the back, there's a little trick to each boss fight which must be learned, usually involving the bionic arm. While the fights aren't overly challenging, they're more colorful and fun than in the original. The developers also took license in a few other small areas, and while the game isn't a 100% replica of the original, it's damn close. Notable changes include: You have access to every item and weapon all the time, unlike the original. You can actually save your game this time around, which I'm really thankful for. There's a co-op and verses mode, but sadly it's not online. The arm itself also has a few new abilities; it can grab objects like barrels and toss them, and later you can even grab enemies with it and use them as human shields. And finally, the neutral zones are still there, but they're allied zones instead which is a minor script change, but functionally everything is essentially intact. The developers are fully aware that Bionic Commando is born from an era in entertainment that was all about big guns, big explosions, and the one lone hero that could slaughter legions of enemy soldiers singlehandedly, and was the last hope to save the world.

If you're a fan of the original Bionic Commando, or are just looking for an inexpensive, gorgeous 2d shooter, you need to grab BCR now. This isn't a cheap knock-off remake intended to make a quick return on investment. This is a lovingly sculpted and crafted remake by a team that respected and enjoyed the original. For 800 Microsoft Points, or $10 USD for PS3 and $15 on PC, it's a steal.

This Week

I've been kind of quiet over the past few days so I wanted to give a little update. The next review will be of Bionic Commando Rearmed which is due to be released this Wednesday on Xbox Live, PSN, and Steam. This is a game I've been looking forward to for awhile, and I should be able to post a review pretty quickly assuming it's a reasonably faithful remake; I'm sure I still have muscle memory from when I used to play the original over and over again as a kid. Stay tuned for a review at the end of the week.

Grand Theft Auto IV Review (360, PS3)

There are games that I become remotely interested in as they're in development, forget about, and am pleasantly reminded of a month after their release, causing me to casually wander down to my closest retailer and grab a copy for a late night coffee and vodka fueled marathon of gaming bliss. Then there are games that capture my attention two years before they're released and cause me to lose sleep in continual quests for new screenshots, trailers, or interviews. Grand Theft Auto IV is of the latter category. But does it stand up to scrutiny? Largely, yes.

The Grand Theft Auto series has followed a relatively predictable formula since its original inception on the PC and PlayStation, with that formula only becoming more refined with the release of GTA III and its following sequels. We all know what to expect: A corrupt anti-hero blazing his way through large open cities, climbing to the top through violent and sometimes psychotic means, and blowing away anyone and everyone who stands in his way. Driving is a major aspect of the series, hence the title, and relatively shallow characters and clunky gunplay are all accepted parts of the package. Grand Theft Auto IV completely reinvigorates and rebuilds the series from the ground up, and nails it. Mostly.

The protagonist is a former Eastern European mercenary by the name of Niko Bellic, who has arrived in Liberty City (GTA's version of New York City) at the behest of his cousin Roman, who's tempted him to America with wild stories of wealth, success, and a bounty of large American breasts. As soon as Niko arrives, it becomes clear that all is not as it appears. Far from promises of mansions, Ferraris and women, Niko discovers Roman to be living in a tiny, roach-infested apartment, struggling to hold onto a failing cab company, and seriously in debt to the mob. Niko, being the honorable man he is, steps in to try and clean up his cousin's mess.

This brings me to my first point: GTA IV has depth to it. The characters, and more importantly the script as a whole, are as well written and powerful as a feature film, and are the best use of exposition and storytelling I've ever seen in a video game. GTA IV is Hollywood summer blockbuster material. Niko is a breakthrough for the series because he's a genuinely sympathetic character. He can be cold, he can be ruthless, and he can be a murderer, but he has an undercurrent of humanity that belies his toughened exterior. Niko is world-weary, and his vulnerability comes through in both the script and the masterful voice acting of Michael Hollick. Other characters, while being ancillary in contrast to Niko, are far from two-dimensional as well. The script is also rich with social commentary which feels spot on, and never comes across as tired or pretentious.

The game is absolutely gorgeous, especially considering its size and scope. Doom 3 was a pretty game, but it's easy to crank up all the effects when designing what amounts to a simple corridor crawl. The amount of graphical beauty that comes to life in GTA's Liberty City is stunning, as are the reactions to the environment by NPCs. People run to clear the streets when it rains, traffic follows a logical flow with rush hours and clam periods, and you can play for long stretches of time without stumbling across the same NPC twice. Pedestrians will answer their cell phones, get into arguments with each other, and occasionally an accident will occur between two motorists, resulting in a frank exchange of words and the occasional arrival of a police cruiser or ambulance. You get the distinct impression that the game world isn't just a show put on for your amusement when you're walking by, and then packed up and put away as soon as you leave. It feels like a living, breathing city, and it does all this while maintaining a steady frame rate.

As the story unfolds there are plenty of twists and turns, some obvious, some not, but there's never a point where you are unable to suspend disbelief. Some of the missions are crazy, some wild, but all enjoyable, even though there are a few controller-hurling moments of frustration. While there are some incredibly tough missions, it makes eventual perseverance all the more rewarding. The gunplay is radically improved over its predecessors, sporting a Gears of War style cover system that makes jumping into cover, snapping off a few shots, and ducking back to safety effortless, and it's a much needed improvement for the series. The music is also fantastic, with several stations that hit every musical genre known to man, including a few talk radio stations that add to the game's notorious black humor. The jewel of the radio stations is Vladivostok FM, which carries several catchy Eastern European tunes, none of which I can understand, but damn are they good.

Though I'm ready to nominate GTA IV as a candidate for Game of the Year, there are a few nits to pick. As for the driving, you'll either love it or hate it. The physics seem a little floatier than in previous games, and an attempt to pull a perfect 180 degree turn will usually result in a spectacular impact with a storefront at mach 10. I wasn't a fan of the driving at first, which was an issue for me considering how damn much of the driving you have to do in the game, but after a few hours I got the hang of it and it became second nature. You're also saddled with a list of friends who call you incessantly on your cell phone wanting to do things with you like go to a strip club, a comedy show, etc. While this is a fun mechanic at first, it can wear on you after awhile because you're constantly trying to keep everyone happy because when you get on a friend's good side it usually unlocks a tangible benefit, such as free cab rides or access to a helicopter. This means that between each mission you usually feel compelled to spend fifteen minutes going on a mindless chore jaunt with one of these pricks just to stay in their good graces. I know it's something that I could just ignore, but I somehow feel the need to at least keep them from becoming mad at me.

This brings me to the multiplayer. Grand Theft Auto has never had a multiplayer component before, apart from a few PSP games that I never played and can't be bothered with, but in GTA IV they did multiplayer right. There's over a dozen different game modes representing old favorites like deathmatch, territory control, etc., plus some new ones like Cops and Crooks, where one team is made up of criminals that have to reach a designated escape route before the other team, comprised of cops, either destroys their escape vehicle or kills the leader of the crooks. It's an ingenious design as the criminals have the location of the escape vehicle displayed on their minimap, but not the location of the cops, and the cops know where the criminals are, but not their escape route. This leads to brilliant cat and mouse gameplay that will leave you screaming commands at your friends via your headset and looking over each corner for your rivals. Not only that, but there are a few co-op modes and though they mostly feel tacked on, they're worth playing with your friends at least once. Not only are there plenty of different modes, but each mode is very customizable, resulting in near limitless game types. The only lamentation I have for the multiplayer is there isn't an easy way to mute everyone like in Halo 3, and given the Xbox Live community, this is noticeably lacking feature. By the way, I only played the 360 version, but from all accounts the PS3 version is essentially identical, so go with what system you have and don't fret about it.

What more can I say? If you've ever had any interest in the Grand Theft Auto series, you owe it to yourself to buy this game. And if you've never expressed interest, you owe it to yourself to at least give it a rental. Who knows, it may be the game that changes your mind about the series.