The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Rating: 2 out of 3 Stars (why only 3 possible stars?)

Genre: Third Person Cover Shooter; Sub-genre: Squad-based RPG

ESRB: M (profanity and machine gun violence)

Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 18/8

Developer: 2K Marin

Wiki page

This is such an amazing year for games with unusual and unfortunate development cycles. Here we have a game that had a bad premise from the beginning that they tried to change time and time again to get it to work. But the end result is actually surprisingly good, I'd say. In fact, it's only minor grievances that grind in my head and turn into bigger problems that force me to scale back from a three star rating. I say this because before, during, and after my time playing Metro: Last Light I felt like I was burnt out on games and bored. But this one was fun enough that I managed to complete it on the hardest difficulty and enjoyed doing so. I wanted to classify this as one of those games that's "just a fun game," but it fell short of that. Here's why.

In the 60's, men were required to wear suits and hats into combat.

Why does this game take place in 1962? Why does any story take place at any certain time? This represents a deliberate choice on the part of the storyteller. Some fantasy settings like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings muddy up the concept of time and make the universe being shown have no connection with our own. This is done to establish unique rules for that universe and properly prepare the audience so that they can understand the surroundings. A movie like Inglourious Basterds takes place in the 40's because the characters are directly involved in World War II and a plot to assassinate Hitler. So how does the setting serve this game?  As far as I can tell, it's so that the main character (William Carter) can look dapper and wear a hat while he shoots aliens. And he doesn't even wear that hat past the first couple levels.

I want to point this out because this is where the minor problems that become big problems immediately become evident. This game doesn't know what to give the audience; it's just some random ideas flung out there. Does this game feel like an XCOM game? No. Does it emphasize the nostalgia of the 60's or use this time period to influence the path of the story? No. Going further, I argue that it doesn't know many other important elements of its story. Is this game supposed to be serious or silly? I would say serious because everyone's so damn somber and angry the whole time and no one seems to be enjoying a war with "little green men." But then the music teeters on becoming a fun, brassy old timey serial romp as you charge into battle with your Ghostbusters backpack while being dropped off by a black pilot that no one even mentions is black. Yeah. Wouldn't that be kind of a big deal in 1962? Deliberately avoiding this kind of heavy subject seems like something that belongs in a more light-hearted game.

And then there's the ending. I won't give any spoilers, but it goes from being a simple enough story of repelling an alien invasion into a story rife with "video game nonsense." You know what I mean? Needless, silly plot twists that just leave the audience confused. My advice to video game writers is to just make a simple, effective story. If you try too hard to defy our expectations, you end up denying us things we WANT. That's the thing about expectations; sometimes they reflect what we want from a story rather than causing us to groan about you being cliche.

All in all I'd rate this story as "tolerable." But what we all wanted was a light-hearted adventure with nostalgic silliness! Have Carter say things like, "Listen here, toots. Don't you worry your pretty little head about those little green men. I'm gonna go up to their leader and belt him right in the kisser. You'll see." And then he tips his hat as he makes his way to the inter-galactic bar brawl while some fun and memorable music accents the action. I found myself humming things like the theme to The Naked Gun and Cowboy Bebop as I wished the game would just stop having a stick up its rear and be FUN already. I say all these things because I think Carter is pretty cool! The artists managed to capture a face that's reminiscent of actors like Clint Eastwood, Peter Fonda, or maybe even Humphrey Bogart or something... I don't know. And his voice was over-the-top as the "older, grizzled war veteran," but that makes it all the better in a more light-hearted story. He doesn't have to express a full range of emotions, he just needs to be cool.

Men just don't look like this anymore.

Completely ignoring the setting, the gameplay works great. While your teammates are complete idiots (as is unfortunately the case in many squad-based games) you can exercise a decent level of specific control over them. This is amplified by the fact that many of their abilities don't require line of sight. That helped massively while playing on the hardest difficulty as I was able to run clear away from the battlefield and throw abilities from behind an entire mountain so I could safely pick things off one by one. I did this more often than I liked since the game features a dreaded backwards difficulty curve. On lower difficulties, though, that should be lessened. Along with the ability to actually move around from cover to cover more often. Although that is still ill-advised and requires a defensive cooldowns to be blown. Personally I feel that I always find myself locked down in the same spot for too long in these games and The Bureau inflicts that problem big time. But when you get used to strangling the AI and abusing it to get what you want, the end result is often rewardingly tactical.

Despite my enjoyment of the combat, I believe this might be the highest point of warning to consumers. You see, my time with the Mass Effect series has shown me something. And that's that most players are too lazy to use the tactical features. Watch any gameplay video of this game (or Mass Effect or Dragon Age) and you'll see many people avoiding using the ability wheel, usually using it begrudgingly. I'd wager I spend well over 75% of my time issuing orders around. That other 25% is expending only a few rounds. If that sounds unpleasant, then you likely won't play the game as it was meant to be and you won't get the appeal.

Bringing up this wheel gives you so much more!

Conclusion:

Not a game for XCOM fans or people nostalgic for decades past. It's really just a tactical shooter with some RPG elements (especially lots of talking). Even the RPG elements are shallow due to oversimplified classes and conversations with choices that generally don't affect anything. The ending is stupid, too. Maybe this is best suited for achievement hunters since it's not too difficult to get 34/34 awards in a single ~18 hour playthrough. Although I did miss one due to a possible bug ("Spring Cleaning").

Metro: Last Light

Rating: 2 out of 3 Stars (why only 3 possible stars?)

Genre: First Person Shooter; Sub-genre: Stealth

ESRB: M (profanity, machine gun violence and arbitrary female nudity)

Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 24?/??

Developer: 4A Games

Wiki page

I suppose this was bound to happen eventually. For the first time I am attempting to review a game that I played but did not play completely to the end. Looking at a walkthrough on Gamefaqs.com, I've determined that I've gotten about halfway through it. So why am I still reviewing it? Well, it took a significant chunk of my time away from me. So I'm writing a review, dammit. But why did I stop playing it? It's simple: it's booooooooooooring. 

Oh, boy! Nothingness!

I put it on a harder difficulty and that did little to make the game a challenge (there's another difficulty you can add called "Ranger Mode" but that is only available as a pre-order bonus or paid DLC). Perhaps if I played the game as the achievements screen wanted me to by using all stealth and not killing anyone I would have had a challenge. But considering the lack of features in stealth (your best weapons are waiting, melee punching, and blinding night vision) and the fact that that is a boring way to play a game that gives you a whole bunch of guns, consumables, and ways to customize said guns I don't see why I would want to. The problem with both the stealth and the gunplay is that they exist in these limiting levels and they step on each other's toes. The game takes place in an underground subway thing so most of your time is spent in incredibly cramped, dark hallways. The enemies are bored out of their minds staring at the black walls so there's no extra fun things to watch while you wait and survey the land. A game like Hitman: Blood Money makes waiting interesting because the NPC's have THINGS TO DO so it's fun to see what their lives entail. Also, in that game and not this one, the levels are big and open with all kinds of paths to explore. Another stealth-heavy game, The Last of Us, makes stealth interesting through use of tension. Here, it doesn't matter if you fail because you have a selection of awesome guns with unending ammo; at any point you can just blast everyone in sight. And because of all the stealth mechanics in place the enemies are so much easier to defeat using conventional methods.

There are some levels that take place topside, out of the subway, but they are shorter. You have to manage your gas mask filters and can run out of air if you waste too much time. So instead of allowing me to explore this beautifully tragic world I'm forced to hurry along and finish the level. The ONE thing I kept wanting to do in this game was explore. This game does NOT want you to explore. Even if you find an area to be a little more open, it is very minorly so and only rewards you with some gas mask filters to make up for lost time (that's if you are lucky).

Look out, Spiders! Next you might have to fight a Giant Rat!

If this game has a strong point, it is the story. Not that I cared about what was going on for a single second, but this world has been carefully crafted. For some reason the player character doesn't speak. That wouldn't be so strange if not for the fact that he narrates the opening of the game and between each level. Is he just socially awkward or something? Luckily, everyone in the world is rather used to dealing with psychotic mutes and is able to maintain a one-way conversation as though that's a commonplace practice. Putting that aside as best I can, it's hard to connect with this game. I tend to blame myself for this one as this setting is too familiar for me. A setting is generally much more emphasized in a video game than any other media because the player is meant to form his or her own feelings and opinions on it rather than view those things occurring to the characters in the story. I've seen this stuff before, so I just don't care.

So the world was destroyed by nuclear war yet, somehow, Nazi's are back?

Conclusion:

A competently put-together game. It has no flaws other than my expectations for something more. It should probably be given three stars, but because I was so unbelievably bored it became a one star. I compromised and gave it two.

5 Reasons This is a Great Era for Gaming

From time to time I hear people saying how much they used to like games and how things have gotten rotten. I've also heard many people saying that the industry is dying in various ways: PC games are dying, this will be the last generation of consoles, so and so publisher is trying to rob our children, etc. There are a lot of bad things going around, sure. But there's also so much good. People tend to forget how archaic things were in the nostalgic past, hoping things will go back to how they were.

Well, I sure as hell don't want that to happen. And I also don't want certain things to get out of hand. Let's take a moment to reflect on what's going on now before Big Money crashes the whole industry around us.

Here's five things that are pretty awesome about NOW.

5. Little to No Ad's

There are five Coke logos in this shot alone. All facing the camera.

I know there are examples of advertisements in video games- like the Playboy magazine posters everywhere in Deadrising 2- but for the most part they do not happen. Compare games to movies. There are TV commercials that run for 45 minutes before having 20 minutes of movie trailers. Then the movies themselves usually have Coca-Cola cans or other stupid crap facing right at the camera. And how about theme parks that have rides that exit through the damn gift shop?

It's really funny because we've all seen an advertisement in a game at some point. And every time players see one, we IMMEDIATELY get annoyed. Yes, video games are expensive. But so is everything else. It's quite amazing that we're allowed a break from something that fills every second of our lives otherwise.

4. The Majority of Games are Rated "M" 

PG-13 zombies can't act like zombies.

Many people (IE: not gamers) are concerned over this one. But the plain reason this is the case is simply due to marketing: most of the money the gaming industry makes is from people old enough to play M rated games. It has nothing to do with violence. At least, not excessive violence. Take Halo for example. I don't think I've heard a single F-bomb in the entire franchise. The blood is rather minimal, and there's absolutely no gore. It barely counts as M.

So why is this significant? Well, it means games are free to be more adult. Even though many games lack any intellectual depth, the freedom to pack in heavier stuff is great. And think about my example, Halo. It's one of the best-selling games of all time. Yes, it's about shooting a bunch of machine guns at aliens. But it's not anywhere near as obscene as something like God of War.

Why is that freedom important? Look at movies. Most movies are PG-13. The reason being is that EVERYONE goes to see movies. Something that is PG-13 means it's heavy enough to interest adults, but not too heavy for kids. How many kids frequently watch R rated movies? How many adults frequently watch PG or G rated movies? It's marketing! But that kind of middle-of-the-road rating is limiting. Think of a game like The Last of Us as a PG-13 movie. It would have no grit, no teeth, no realism.

Freedom is a good thing. Freedom is American.

3. DLC and "Pay-to-Win" Not as Thieving as Arcades

This is a game where you took damage just by breathing air. Better pump more coins in!

Everyone complains about DLC pricing and free-to-play games that are "play-to-win." I complain about that stuff, too. But do you remember arcades? Yeah, I'm sad they're gone, too. But around 2002-ish they were completely out of control. You could easily spend a whole dollar on a measly 5 minutes of gameplay.

Considering many DLC missions last at least an hour of gameplay and add ons can be used for the whole game while pay-to-win games generally offer endless gameplay hours, it maths out to be way better now, man.

2. The Internet!

You can ask it anything!

Holy crap! When I was a kid, this was not a thing. Want to know if a game is good? Duh, buy it and find out. You can't just go to Metacritic and read what everyone is saying. Want to know where all the secrets are? You can't go to Gamefaqs and read a walkthrough, you need a strategy guide. Want to play some multiplayer? See if your friends can come over. Oh, you're not in school any more? They're probably all busy then.

And then there's digital downloads. So if the game isn't available in your country but you have internet access, then you can still get it. My word, how this one thing alone has made gaming ten times better than it was before!

1. Indie Gaming is Bigger Than Ever

And then there's XBLA, iOS and PSN, too! Indie games everywhere!

While games like Call of Duty soak up all the money so that players are able to buy little else, Indie games still get by. And they do more than get by. Tools like Steam, Unreal Dev Kit, and an internet connection let ANY ONE make a game out of their house and then send it up for the whole world to see on the web. Steam in particular has gone insane with it. Every time I load that thing up they've "Greenlit" another dozen Indie games.

The real problem, though, is the middle tier. Some gaming companies are much too big to be considered an Indie studio. It's just too hard for smaller dev teams to compete with triple A titles, and yet they're too big to made due by squeaking out a little game. And that does make me sad. Games like the Witcher series and XCOM: Enemy Unknown get made by smaller teams still, but they are few and far between.

As time goes on, Indie games will get smaller while triple A games get bigger and in the middle will be a vast nothingness. I don't look forward to any of those things. There's already way too many Indie games out there. I'm not kidding when I say any one can do it. People who have no business making games do it. Ugh.

Deadpool

Rating: 2 out of 3 Stars (why only 3 possible stars?)

Genre: Beat-'em-up; Sub-genre: Third Person Shooter

ESRB: M (excessive uncensored profanity and sexual language, excessive blood)

Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 16/8

Developer: High Moon Studios

Wiki page

Wade breaks the fourth wall by imitating how the player feels playing this game.

For the first time I feel the need to explain my conclusion right at the beginning. I can get into details below, but let's get this straight now: this is a one star game. The second star I had to give because the writing captures so much of what this comic book character is about. Even if you don't give a crap about the Marvel character, this is one of the strangest and most insane games I've played. Not in the sense of acid trip games that try to bend your mind (many Indie and Japanese games try to accomplish this), though. It tries so hard to illustrate how broken and self-absorbed Deadpool's (Wade Wilson) crazy mind sees things that it's never really clear what is going on. Yeah, it's played off as a joke that Deadpool doesn't care about the plot... constantly. But it becomes a curiosity trying to figure out what's on screen versus what is actually supposed to be happening in the world around him. This is particularly noticeable when completely and unnecessarily impossible things happen- like when Deadpool's dog, Shuggems, inexplicably makes his way to Genosha from the other side of the globe- and when other heroes do things out of character. Also, at some point Wade is talking to Death herself and Cable asks him, "Who are you talking to?" There are any number of things to pull the player in, especially with such a good performance on the part of the actor playing the titular character, and many of you who aren't humorless robots like myself will enjoy how funny this game supposedly is (I did still get a couple laughs out of it).

Humor in video games: hit the player in the face with it.

Unfortunately this is a video game. And it's not going for high art like Journey. So that means people gotta enjoy pushing buttons. High Moon went out of their way to throw a lot of STUFF for the player to use in combat. I can see how they wanted Deadpool to fight like Batman (not the character, the game) by putting a lot of focus on gadgets and counters. But it has none of the polish or brilliant decision-making of the Arkham games. Swapping weapons and "throwables" is awkward and not explained through the UI (user interface), often causing me to take a lap around the cycle before finding the thing I want. Then there's the unnecessary combos. Oh, joy. So many combos I'll never use. Always helpful. Good use of your animation department, having them do that instead of focusing on making everything cleanly flow and randomly change. Nevermind the nitty gritty, the counter system falls short in big, obvious ways. Since dodging and countering are the same button, there will be tons of times that Deadpool will stop to counter someone when you are trying to get the hell out of danger. And I can tell they tried to code it so that other enemies will not attack during a successful counter, thus making an attempt at the instantly choreographic feel that the timing of the Arkham games have. But High Moon didn't figure out all the prioritizing and invincibility frames that Rocksteady did. Topping it off are the Momentum bar moves (like "Musou" or super moves). The button combinations to use them are horribly difficult to spit out in a clutch situation (LB+A or LB+B etc.) and the start up and ending frames combined with the lack of directional movement cause endless, frustrating misses. To sum it up, the beat-'em-up portion of the game is nothing special. It tries, but not hard enough.

What really steps on the toes of the combat is the level design. I'm convinced that the levels in this game are somehow stock levels. You know, like stock photos or clip art? I say this because Deadpool stumbles on everything and has no room to breathe! Not only that, but they are all such boring set pieces: a sewer, ruins, an office building, a prison, and floating rocks. That doesn't go hand-in-hand with fantastical powers and insane, reality warping, goofy nonsense.

You know what else mucks up the combat? The third person shooter aspects. The problem with combining these genres is that it means one of two things: guns will be way more useful and the player will strive to use them as much as possible (like Space Marine) or the guns will simply be a means of extending your combo (like Bayonetta). The former turns the beat-'em-up parts into a waste of time, and the latter makes guns into nothing more than a fancy light show. Deadpool... somehow causes both grievances. At least on the harder difficulties, since things have so many more hit points. All guns save for the laser guns are ineffective in one way or more. And only the laser guns can hit things at long range reliably. Keep in mind that there are no consumables or super moves to fight things at these harsh distances either. And for some strange reason Deadpool seems to have a lead allergy. Yeah, a guy who reportedly "can't die" is easily killed by a simple pistol. Moreover, for a guy who actually has a significant level of regenerative healing power, it takes him a hell of a long time to get his health back. Is that supposed to be another joke? That his regeneration is WORSE than every other game that overuses that feature? Topping all this off is the enemy AI. My word they are spazzy! They dart, lunge, spin around, and just do whatever they want all while hipfiring with 100% accuracy. Deadpool has an aim assist feature to deal with this. The best way to describe how that works is to simply say that it doesn't.

Another thing that I feel is some kinda running joke are the checkpoints. They are improperly placed as they force you to rewatch cutscenes because you died on an obviously difficult part of the game. And despite having the ability to put as many checkpoints as they want during a simple section of walking, they never give the player that leniency during a trying section of platforming or an overlong, multi-wave battle with a horde of enemies. Furthermore, items on the ground respawn from previous checkpoints. Yeah! So any time you are able to backtrack to an earlier checkpoint (one level has several checkpoints all within the same little area) you can take a lap around and pick it all up again.

I still remember Deadpool just being a loudmouth. I miss him not being so overplayed.
I don't miss Rob Liefield's artwork, though.

Conclusion:

For what it's worth, it's a game that tries hard to please both comics fans (specifically of Deadpool's comics) and gamers alike. As far as I know, it just got hit with the "licensed game" bug and couldn't fight it all the way. Hell. Deadpool complains about the budget constantly during the game. Probably had budget issues, yo.