Xbox Live Update Arrives Safely

By Systemlink August 11, 2009 1 Comments

 

 
The most recent Xbox Live Update is now available to all of us "non-specials" outside the preview program and Joystiq's Richard Mitchell put together a sweet little walkthrough regarding the changes.

The streamlined friend/achievement lists are looking really nice. All of the unnecessary steps seem to be removed (i.e. party invites, achievements) and richer information is now available. The Avatar Marketplace actually looks kind of cool, if you're into that sort of thing, and I'm very much looking forward to trying out all of the long awaited Netflix Instant-Queue improvements.

If it weren't for my unfortunate "RROD Numero Dos", I too would be enjoying the updates. As for now, I will sit and wonder of a perfect world with a working 360 and freshly patched XBL interface. 
 
By Matt Brooker - Systemlink Blog

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Review: Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

By Systemlink August 11, 2009 1 Comments

It has become apparent over the years that games which follow a particular theme run the risk of being cheesy novelties that aren’t worth your time. But Techland’s Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, the prequel to the western shoot-em-up released two years ago, is anything but cheesy. Stepping into the boots of Ray and Thomas McCall as they maraud through the southwest feels appropriately badass and radiates with attitude. This hard-boiled premise is nicely blended with cinematic gunplay that, albeit plain, makes for some intense moments iconic to the Wild West. So as an adventure into a gritty era mostly unexplored by games, Bound in Blood gets the western theme right, even though the single player campaign passes by quicker than a tumbleweed.

Bound in Blood’s storyline is a path that has been trodden before, being hatched straight from spaghetti westerns. Ray and Thomas McCall are brothers with a staunch familial loyalty who desert the Confederacy after finding their family estate ransacked by the Union. They sweep through various locales leaving a trail of greed, lust and violence behind them, but their goal remains (somewhat) noble: to find a rumoured Aztec treasure so that they can rebuild their home. There’s also a third brother, William, a preacher who tags along with his older brothers and constantly offers nagging input. His role as the brothers’ conscience is more obnoxious than anything, and to put it bluntly, he makes you want to plaster him with bullets. Despite the pesky third brother, the relationship between smarmy, brutal Ray and tempered, yet also violent Thomas is intriguing to witness. Their journey manages to lasso empathy from you in many spots, even if the plot is a tad predictable.

You choose to fight as either Ray or Thomas before each chapter, and both play rather differently. Ray is upfront, wielding dual pistols that can plough through foes with style. He can also chuck dynamite, an effective way to get through obstacles and kill large groups of foes alike. Thomas, on the other hand, has less firepower but can squeeze off lethal shots from a distance with a rifle or bow. The game presents Thomas as the sneaky side of the duo with the addition of knives and a lasso, but there aren’t many opportunities to use them, and when there are, they’re often cumbersome and scripted. For instance, only during one sequence when you’re prowling through a cornfield and whipping knives at unsuspecting soldiers does the game emit a stealthy vibe. While this absence of Thomas’ full potential is unfortunate, it is better than the first Call of Juarez’s attempts at forcing you to play stealthily. And ultimately, both brothers are equally fun to play and control differently enough to warrant intense, guns-blazing action from both perspectives.

Whether you play as Ray or Thomas is also affected by the game’s concentration mode, a slow-mo that’s triggered temporarily and has you dispatching enemies like practice bottles. For Ray, you move the reticule along enemies and fire once the mode ends. Thomas, however, flicks the gun’s hammer and shoots as the reticule automatically shifts from enemy to enemy. Ray’s mode feels kind of sloppy and never fully succeeds, but Thomas’ is tighter and proves particularly useful when it snuffs out hidden enemies.

Bound in Blood follows a linear stream of events for the majority of the single player, but is punctuated by plenty of hallmark moments that’ll surely enthral you. One of these includes duels, which is about what you’d imagine: drawing your gun at the sound of a bell and shooting your opponent before he shoots you. These duels are extremely tense. Your fingers will be just as twitchy on the controller as Ray or Thomas’s readying to draw their pistol. There are cheer-inspiring moments, too, a notable one being the rampage through town on a horse and buggy with no remorse for property damage. Speaking of which, a chunk of the game’s visceral appeal comes from horseback riding. Shooting enemies as your horse kicks up dust is a blast. The addition of these neat situations serves Bound in Blood’s typical gameplay well, injecting flavour into what otherwise could have been stale.

And of course, no game set during the dusty days of the Wild West would be complete without an authentic arsenal. As aforementioned, Ray and Thomas both dabble into various types of ammunition, all of which look, sound and feel real. Initially, your choice of guns appears to be lacking with only a basic six shooter, rifle and the odd shotgun, but seeing as how the weapons are relative to the time period this is easily understandable. The seemingly strict arsenal isn’t a compromise, either. The guns handle tightly and pack a mean shot. This is just as true for the stationary Gatling guns and canons, which are a thrill to use when encountered, and for Thomas’s bow which strikes with swift, concentrated shots. But since it’s the olden days, there are no infinite ammo slots a la Unreal Tournament; with a few exceptions, reloading is a constant and long process. Thankfully, the game’s intuitive cover system lets you catch some relief from the fray to reload, in addition to letting you peek around corners to pick off enemies at relative safety. For a first-person shooter the game’s cover is surprisingly well executed. It’s pretty easy to use, doing what it’s supposed to do without extracting you from the first-person either.

Cover might’ve been more helpful, however, if the enemies weren’t so slow in the head. Quite simply, they never seem to have a strategy. They shuffle around aimlessly and stand deer-in-headlights when you approach them up close. Due to this, most gunfights are cinchy, though there are some sudden spikes in difficulty throughout the game that cause further imbalance. In some landscapes, enemies seem omnipresent because there are so many nooks they could be hiding in. However, you won’t know where they are until you’ve bitten their dust. Fortunately, there are plenty of checkpoints, so the occasional trial and error is excusable but still frustrating.

Clearing out these dense foes would probably be more interesting with a friend, but for some reason Techland omits co-op as a game mode. You’d think a game like Bound in Blood would be perfect to play with two people, but apparently Techland doesn’t think so. Still, there’s a meaty competitive multiplayer that lasts a while after the scrawny six-hour campaign is done. There are a bunch of classes – or more precisely, character models with a small selection of weapons – to be unlocked as you play through the modes, though they don’t really impact the tide of the match. For example, a sniper can be just as effective as a miner (think lots of dynamite) when completing a given task. Modes are plentiful, and distinguished from the typical FPS fare. The best mode is Wild West Legends, a sort of western cops-and-robbers that divides players into outlaws and lawmen as a certain objective, such as the saloon, must be robbed and protected respectively.

Never do the multiplayer modes stray from Bound in Blood’s heavily embedded western roots, which is easy to spot across the board in the game’s remarkable technical feats. The visuals could benefit from a little polish, but they’re so meticulously detailed that you’ll easily get lost in the game’s environments. They’re varied, too; you’ll see more than just the sun-beaten town square that all westerns have. You’ll see fortresses, caves, mansions, and even a ghost town, and all are brimming with beauty yet remain unmistakably western. The voice acting for Ray and Thomas is nothing short of phenomenal, either. Most of the time they sound witty and bashful, but they can also be emotionally charged and human. And the latter is where the top-notch voice work stands out.

Maybe there’s a reason that Bound in Blood is one of the only western games on the market. With outcries for developer innovation, who would want to make a game from the scrapings of a genre that dissipated long ago? Techland took a hefty risk, but they definitely followed through with Bound in Blood. Yes, the single player is tragically short, but it’s a solid experience that should be checked out by anyone craving some good ol’ western fun.
 
By Jacob Forrest - Systemlink Blog

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Dust: An Elysian Tale - Best looking XNA title ever?

By Systemlink August 11, 2009 1 Comments

  Dust: An Elysian Tail, an  entry in Microsoft's XNA "Dream Build Play" competition, could be the prettiest looking downloadable title I've ever seen. Don't let the cuteness fool you. The combat shown in the most recent teaser video looks pretty in-depth for a 2-D sidescroller. The visuals may be easy on the eyes, but this game could shape up to be a pretty challenging experience. Check out the teaser trailer below.
 

 
 By Matt Brooker - Systemlink Blog

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Video Preview: Batman: Arkham Asylum

By Systemlink August 7, 2009 1 Comments

  

 
By Tom Acres - Systemlink Blog

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Preview: Batman: Arkham Asylum

By Systemlink August 7, 2009 1 Comments

Wow. Oh my God. That was cool. Bloody hell. I want this now!

I said all of the above a good few times during my playthrough of the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo that went live on the Playstation Store earlier today. Since then, I've played it a further 5 or 6 times and I can safely say that this is probably the best licensed game I've ever played. In fact, that would be doing it an injustice because this is a fantastic game license or not.

I've been looking forward to Batman: Arkham Asylum for a good while now but have always been slightly skeptical for obvious reasons; it's a Batman game, it's a licensed game and it's made by Rocksteady Studios whose only other work was average 2006 FPS Urban Chaos: Riot Responce for the PS2 and Xbox. Then there was the story about Eidos fixing review scores so that reviews could only be posted early if the game was a cover story and it scored at least 90%. This claim became stronger when UK magazine GamesMaster (a mag of which I am a regular reader) put it on the cover and gave it a whopping 96%, calling it one of the greatest action games ever made.

So, when I started to download the demo I had mixed emotions of excitement whilst also preparing myself to be underwhelmed. Whilst I waited for the hefty 1.5GB demo to download from the painfully slow Playstation Store I went off to give the old Batman Begins game a go on my old PS2 to prepare myself and also so I could put into context how bad Batman games have been in the past. Of course I quickly became bored of that and went off to play Mass Effect but that's another story. The demo downloaded after about an hour and I set off into Arkham to see if the game could live up to the hype.

The demo kicks off at the very beginning of the game with the Joker being taken to Arkham Asylum by Batman in the classic Batmobile. First thing I noticed was the stunning presentation; the graphics are absolutely incredible and the sound is even better. The dark tone was set right from the off and the voice acting from Kevin Conroy as Batman and especially Mark Hamill as the Joker is exceptional.

Of course, the Joker ends up escaping and I was immediately thrust into a bit of combat against a group of inmates. It's simple really, the SQUARE button makes Batman attack and the TRIANGLE button allows you to counter enemy attacks. You can also perform takedowns in stunned enemies but pressing a combination of buttons depending on if the enemy is on the ground or not. It's simple but the depth comes in when you can switch between enemies at any time by pushing the left analogue stick towards an enemy. It's very easy to do incredibly cool combos and the combat reminded me a lot of Fable 2's simple one button combat in that it's very simple for casual gamers who just want their Batman fix and also complex enough for hardcore gamers who want more to their games then just the satisfaction of seeing Batman.

Next up the demo allowed me to try out the detective gameplay. An inmate has a guard hooked up to a torture chair and I have to get to the inmate and take him down without him seeing me. To do this I first had to engage my Batvision by tapping L2 and looking for ways into the room. Then, I used my grapple gun to get up onto the stone gargoyles overlooking the room and swung from one to the other until I was behind the inmate. Finally I could take him down and the game gave me multiple ways of doing so. I could perform a glide kick and knock him down, I could hang upside down in classic Batman fasion and hang him from the gargoyle or I could lower myself down and sneak up on him before smashing him round the face. It looked incredible brutal and satisfying.

Harley Quinn then turned up and locked me in the room which meant some more detective work was in order for Batman. I eventually spotted a vent to climb through and was faced with some armed guards. Again I was forced to go the sneaky route and managed to grapple up to the top of the room and work my way behind them. I decided to jump down and take them down quietly to avoid alerting attention and made my way through to the next room.

Now the Invisible Predator gameplay mechanic really comes in handy as I was faced with a pretty large room being patrolled by 5 armed goons. Flicking on my Batvision gave me an interesting stat as it allowed me to see their mental state. The plan was to get them spooked and I did this in a number of cool ways. I threw a few Batarangs about to turn the lights off before gliding down and smashing some glass windows to create a bit of noise. The goons knew I was about but had no clue where and began shooting their guns at the slightest noise, they were very much pissing themselves at this point. I managed to get above one of the goons, dropped down and hang him by his feet to one of the gargoyles. Eventually he was discovered by his mates and this creeped them out even further. I knocked 2 of them out with a Batarang before glide kicking the other one. The remaining 2 woke up but were dazed and easy fodder for a few quick and nasty takedowns.

Once that was done, I was confronted by the Joker who proceeded to let a very nasty looking Killer Croc out of his cage. It was at this point the demo eneded and I was greeted by a cool looking trailer which only further fuelled my excitement.

The demo gave me a great look at the gameplay mechanics of Arkham Asylum and all of them are fun and satisfying. When used on a larger scale in the full game it can only get better as well which is great. The game also looks incredible as I said. I was planning on getting the game on PS3 for the exclusive Joker challenge rooms but something in the back of my mind kept saying that games powered by Unreal always manage to look and run better on the Xbox 360. Well, if the game looks any better on the 360 then it must look bloody incredible because from what I've seen on the PS3 this is easily one of the best looking games on the market. It's also helped by the incredible attention to detail and chilling atmosphere. It's only rivalled by BioShock's Rapture, that's how bloody good it is.

Bat-fans and gamers in general are going to be incredibly impressed and if anyone was in doubt then you must try the demo for yourself. It's on PS3 right now and hits the PC and the Xbox 360 tomorrow. I for one will be picking the game up on PS3 for the challenge maps but the core game will still be incredible whatever platform you get it for.

Batman: Arkham Asylum hits the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on August 25th with the PC version coming shortly after on September 18th. Check back on Systemlink later this month for the full review.
 
By Tom Acres - Systemlink Blog

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Review: Wii Sports Resort

By Systemlink August 7, 2009 1 Comments

I've made no secret of the fact that I think Nintendo's latest accessory, the Wii Motion Plus, is something that could really improve the Wii. It's really the first time that something has been released that could really substantially improve a platform wiithout the need for a completely new console. The device has already had uses in two games from EA Sports in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and the excellent Grand Slam Tennis. Now it's time for Nintendo to put it's new toy to good use with Wii Sports Resort, the sequel to the best selling video game of all time. No pressure then.

The first Wii Sports did a fantastic job of introducing gamers to what the Wii was all about and it became an instant party favourite. It was probably the sole reason so many families who had never touched a video game before decided to pick up a Wii. That was almost 3 years ago and, unfortunately, all those initial dreams and expectations of the Wii's seemingly brilliant motion controls have kind of fallen flat. The Motion Plus is here to rectify that and we've already seen what it can do on the golf course and tennis courts. Nintendo have obviously had the most time to fiddle about with the new accessory and it really shows in this game because, in all honesty, Wii Sports Resort is great.

The first thing you'll notice is what a substantial improvement in terms of the amount of content Resort is over the original Wii Sports. The new game boasts 12 sports compared to the original's 5, and 10 of them are brand new (the two remaining being bowling and golf). You also get sword fighting, table tennis, wakeboarding, archery, canoeing, frisbee, basketball, jet skis, cycling, sky diving and plane flying. All of the sports have at least 2 variations so there is certainly a lot to do in Resort. Some work a lot better than others though.

Personally I loved the sword fighting and the basketball but the one that works best thanks to the added sensitivity of the Motion Plus is probably the table tennis. You can put tons of spin on the ball by twisting your wrist and it's incredibly realistic. Archery is also pretty fun and is one of only two sports that requires the Nunchuck to be attached as well (the other being jet skis). The air sports like the sky diving and the plane flying are simple fun but not particularly realistic. The bowling is just as fun as it was in the original Wii Sports but with the added precision it's even more realistic and satisfying to knock down pins. Golf and frisbee are fun but were both done better in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, but that's understandable seeing as that they were the main focus of that game. The water sports and the cycling are probably the weakest of them all. Cycling requires you to make pedal motions with your arms which isn't particularly enjoyable and the water sports don't have the depth of the other sports.

Speaking of depth, that's what's really incredible about Wii Sports Resort. The depth available to you thanks to the controls is really astounding but it's still just as fun to pick up and play for all those grandmas and 6 year old kids that just want to get up and have some fun. The sword play had me dreaming (and this time it was genuine) of the next Jedi Knight game but it still allowed my little sister to jump in and wave her arms about and still have fun. In all honesty, some of these sports are so good that Nintendo could easily just stick a decent single player and some online play into one of them and release it on its own as a full priced game and I don't think many would complain. Since that's unlikely, the way these sports have been so well presented in this game makes me hope EA Sports pick up where Nintendo left off and really create a great, full fledged game based around some of the sports in Resort.

It's not just the gameplay that'll keep you coming back though. There are plenty of unlockables in Resort, notably the Xbox 360 style achievements which are known as stamps in Resort. You can also fly around the island collecting information about all the landmarks.

The island itself is called Wuhu Island and this is where Wii Sports Resort is not so impressive, although to be fair I don't think the following criticisms really matter. The game looks no different from the first Wii Sports, meaning that it looks more like an N64 game than anything else. Other than some nice water effects the game looks poor. Sure it's bright and colourful but I think a little more effort could have been put in to making the game look a little bit better technically. Still, at least it gives the Miis an excuse to get out again and there's still something appealing about watching them compete in all the sports. I defy you not to chuckle as your cute little Miis put on their angry faces as they smash their opponents round the faces with swords. In typical Nintendo fashion, the sound sucks and in all honesty my mobile phone ringtone is better audio quality than the seemingly MIDI files in Resort.

So the presentation is lacking and some may find the lack of online disappointing but Nintendo have done what the imitators just seem to struggle with. They've made a mini game collection with enough depth to satisfy the hardcore while still retaining the pick up and play fun for the casual gamer. Even the most bloodthirsty, trash talking 16 year old Gears player will find something to love about Wii Sports Resort and for that reason, anyone with a Wii has to pick it up.
 
By Tom Acres - Systemlink Blog

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The Legend of Zelda: Fairy Tales and the Gameplay Expanse

By Systemlink August 5, 2009 1 Comments

“I've done this all before!”

Have you, really? Do you truly believe that each game in The Legend of Zelda series is virtually identical to the last? Maybe in some ways, to be sure, such as the constant appearances of the Triforce and the inevitable reemergence of Ganondorf, but there is a historical precedent for these similarities.

In many ways, The Legend of Zelda series is very similar to the multitude of revisions that occur in medieval folklore, what we now call “fairy tales.” In such a work as Sleeping Beauty, there is no definitive version – no matter what Disney will feed you. Sleeping Beauty as we know it today is a concoction of many different tellings of the same story, all with a few necessary similarities but each one with its own details, settings and characters. The origins of such stories are always difficult to pin down, but the splits and differences can be explained. As these stories were originally told orally and spread throughout the Old World almost entirely without writing during their earliest tellings and retellings, the folklore spread in divergent paths, sometimes to suit different cultures and sometimes at the whims of the storyteller.

Cinderella is a prime example of a fairy tale that has a myriad of different and divergent storylines. Someone calling any one story the “correct” version is ludicrous. One telling called The Cinder Wench or The Cinder Maid has the heroine finding her ball gown in a magical nut that has fallen from a tree. In another telling, Cinderella murders someone in her family by decapitation. One older version of Little Red Riding Hood I recall reading had the young protagonist defecating in the woods. Such mature themes are rarely seen anymore in children's fairy tales, but adult-oriented versions are occasionally written, such as the late Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber.

The modern, widely accepted versions of popular fairy tales like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty are largely the product of folktale translations by 17th century French author Charles Perrault and by Grimm's Fairy Tales, published in the early 19th century by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. These authors popularized local folklore into fiction that would eventually reach worldwide readers. In doing so and by canonizing their stories as the “real” versions of the aforementioned tales, the previous interpretations and portrayals have gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream, save for college professors, researchers, philologists, and voracious readers such as myself.

Looking at The Legend of Zelda as a fairy tale in the traditional sense, meaning the same roots of the story retold in various ways with some small and some wide differences, the frequent seeming “retelling” of Link's quest to save Zelda, defeat Ganondorf and bring order to Hyrule actually fits neatly within the genre. In fact, the other criteria for fairy tales also works within the world of this video game series. In virtually all fairy tales, folklore scholars agree that there are four necessary characters: the hero, the villain, the princess and the helper or magical agent. Of course, the “princess” need not always be true royalty, but the object of the quest, usually a woman, is critical. Again, this fits The Legend of Zelda. The hero is Link, the princess is Zelda, the villain is Ganondorf and the helper or magical agent is Navi, Midna or whichever character the designers chose to help Link along. It all fits. History itself justifies this manner of Nintendo's storytelling.

In reality, no one game in The Legend of Zelda series is even as similar as one version of Cinderella to the next. This is partly due to a constant reworking of the story to suit a new generation of gamers, but there is one massive difference within the Zelda games that has no counterpoint in fairy tales. By that, of course, I mean gameplay.

Indeed, the cynical among us will note that nearly all Zelda games have Link searching for the Triforce, picking up a familiar collection of items, saving the ever-captured Princess Zelda and saving the world. As I said, these common traits make sense to me, but if that is not enough, each Zelda game holds many differences in gameplay. This is something, perhaps, that those who propagate the “Zeldas are all the same!” myth never bother to tell us. 

We must look deeper into Zelda. For the sake of this article, we will only delve into the console games – no portables – within The Legend of Zelda series else we will get too mired in minutiae. Let's start from the very beginning.

The Legend of Zelda - Released in 1986 in Japan for Nintendo's Famicom Disk System and a year laterin America for the Nintendo Entertainment System, this is the game that started it all. It featured a top down perspective and introduced us to Link, Zelda, Ganon, the Triforce and many of the items that would reappear in future games. As there were no Zelda games preceding this, there was nothing by which it could be compared. So, let's move on.

Zelda II - The Adventure of Link - Released in 1987 in Japan (months before even the original Zelda was in stores in America) and 1988 in North America and Europe, Zelda II changed virtually everything in terms of gameplay. The top down perspective was largely done away with except for the map screen. All the real action, fighting, collecting items and such, took place as a sidescroller. Link was still the hero, but he did not advance merely by gaining new items. He progressed through experience levels. He could visit towns, talk to far more people and make decisions on which of his statistics would increase during level ups. At the time, a radical departure from the original, but even today, the experience points and sidescrolling aspects are wildly different from virtually every other Zelda incarnation. 

The story is noticeably different as Zelda II is one of the few console Zelda games (again, not counting Phantom Hourglass and the upcoming Spirit Tracks) that followed as a direct sequel to a previous game. Zelda II takes place four years after the events of the original game. Zelda is no longer kidnapped. She is asleep, seemingly forever, unless Link can wake her. The recurring plot device of the Triforce is back, but it sits very much in the background and only appears at the end. Comparing The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link, they are almost nothing alike, both in story and in gameplay.

A Link to the Past - Released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was a wildly popular and critically received game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. No longer containing a numerical designation, this Zelda featured an amalgamation of traits from the first two games. It showcased a return to the top down perspective of the original and dropped sidescrolling and level up progression. Although, it did keep the ability visit towns from The Adventure of Link. Of course, in appearance, it is far more Zelda I than Zelda II. In fact, in terms of gameplay, one can definitely understand the idea that Zelda games are similar because A Link to the Past feels like a massively enhanced version of the original, but at its core, it still holds with most of the first game's conventions. 

On the other hand, A Link to the Past introduced so much to the Zelda mythos that it should be noted for its originality. This game gave us our first look at the Master Sword, the weapon that would become part of nearly every future Zelda game. Also, the story is remarkably different and more expansive than the original game or even the more fleshed out Zelda II. 

Ocarina of Time - The Zelda series said goodbye to 2-D in 1998 with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. One need not look too deeply to see the major change here. This game is entirely in 3-D, a first for the series. It featured a gigantic world for Link to explore, one until then never seen in the series. Hyrule started to feel like a real kingdom. The Ocarina itself guides the whole game and changes how everything is achieved in a Zelda game. Obviously, the game looks and feels entirely new, therefore making yet another Zelda game completely reworked from the ground up. Thus far, I simply do not see how this is the same game over and over. Many of the same characters and plot elements? Sure, some. Same gameplay? Not in the least. 

The storyline does introduce new characters, such as Navi and Link's horse, Epona. The story is somewhat different, of course, considering that Ocarina of Time is meant to be a prequel to the first game, according to creator Shigeru Miyamoto, that is to be expected.

Majora's Mask - Released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask appears quite similar to Ocarina of Time, both in graphics and basic control scheme. However, its goals are completely different. The game centers around Link going through a three day cycle to complete a task. If he does not finish the goal, he is sent back in time to try again. Never before had this happened, and never before had fans become so frustrated. In truth, Majora's Mask was such a departure from the norm that it actually angered many fans who did not like this new change in direction, myself included. 

Although, where Majora's Mask failed, it does serve here because it proves how stunningly unique this game was. The story was dark for a Zelda game, the gameplay was wholly different from before, it takes place in Termina and not Hyrule and there is virtually nothing of Zelda or the Triforce. Again, score one for those of us who know the Zelda games go in alternate paths.

The Wind Waker - Released in 2002 in Japan and 2003 in the rest of the world, The Wind Waker changed the look of the Zelda franchise in a big way. Gone was 2-D and the blocky 3-D characters. The Wind Waker gave us beautiful, cel shaded graphics and a style of the Zelda universe we had never seen before. While the wand was used in a similar manner as a ocarina, not much else from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask was retained for this game. Collecting the Triforce piece by piece was reintroduced after a long absence, and the entire world was covered in water. This changed everything from travel to the new task of map making. Everything had been widely redesigned and started from scratch.

The plot was almost nothing like Zelda games prior to this one. Link had a sister, he consorted with pirates and Hyrule Castle had sunk to the bottom of the ocean, giving the game an almost post-apocalyptic feel. It should be noted, however, that The Wind Waker largely kept the control scheme from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but in this regard, I am of the mind that if it is not broken, why fix it?

Four Swords Adventures - If Zelda II was the black sheep of the early games, Four Swords Adventures is that for the modern incarnations. Released worldwide over the course of 2004 and 2005, Four Swords Adventures was the first console Zelda game to feature multiplayer. The game had Link and three dopplegangers on a quest to recover a stolen trident. While the story is not in the forefront, where Four Swords Adventures is original is the gameplay. Beyond the multiplayer capabilities, this game features unique multi-man puzzle solving, switches from sidescrolling to top down perspective and can interact with the Game Boy Advance. This was a new animal completely and did virtually nothing that previous Zelda games tried. 

Twilight Princess - Released in 2006 for both the Wii and the GameCube, Twilight Princess brought a new level of interactivity to the Zelda series...for the Wii version anyway. In the story, Link finds a wall of “twilight” surrounding his home. A monster pulls him through to this other dimension, and he is transformed into a wolf. He is rescued by a floating imp named Midna who guides him in a quest to bring light back to Hyrule. The story is not much like previous Zelda games, although Link must go through a familiar series of temples to receive (again) a familiar series of items like the hookshot and the boomerang. 

Beyond the ability to morph into a wolf, the gameplay is almost exactly the same as Ocarina of Time in the GameCube version. On the Wii, the motion controller allows for Link to aim his bow, fish and swing his sword at the flick of the wrist. As there are two different versions of the game, I am resigned to say that the GameCube Twilight Princess plays a bit too much like Ocarina of Time while the Wii version has enough to make it feel a bit different. Even so, I must confess that Twilight Princess did not go in a bold direction in the same manner as The Wind Waker.

The Future - In 2010, or so we have been told, Nintendo will release the first Wii exclusive Zelda game. Miyamoto has insisted that everything about the series is about to change. There has been some speculation that the next Zelda will be in the first person. Only time will tell, but I do believe that we are about to see the end of Zelda as we know it.
 

Frankly, I find that the Zelda series' gameplay changes significantly more than in modern game franchises such as Gears of War, The Sims, Katamari Damacy and Grand Theft Auto. Those games recycle almost everything from the previous games, making them more like the new model of the same car instead of something brand new. I don't deny that the Zelda reuses some of its trademarks, but the extent to which Nintendo does this is exaggerated by the series' anti-fans. It is easy, perhaps, to mock something that is hugely popular and has been around since video gaming's infancy. Zelda isn't “cool” anymore.

So, what is The Legend of Zelda? A fairy tale that frequently evolves and changes with time, both in story and in function. That is very rare today in video games.
 
By Leon Thomas - Systemlink Blog

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A New Breed of Gamer, A Different Generation of Games

By Systemlink August 5, 2009 1 Comments

We can't escape the media. It's impossible. Even in the gaming industry, especially the gaming industry, we can't escape the media. Every year gamers fall into the hype of a brand new blockbuster must-have for the summer or holiday season. But how many times has that game ended up being a flop? Are those games really all that great? When we compare some of the big hits that have come out in the past couple of years, we start to see a pattern: more and more hype of games. Who is the target of all this hype though? As a 19 year old avid gamer with experience with a variety of games, new and old, I can usually tell what is going to be good and what isn't. Unfortunately, the younger gamers can't. They're destined to play through the next big hype without a second guessing of its "quality".

It's an unfortunate sight, one that I see grow bigger and bigger with each passing year. The new Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty, the monsters of gaming can spew out a new title whenever they want, and the kids will eat it up. There is so much hype for games, yet very few of them actually manage to be an overall success.

The new generation of gamers is a totally different beast. In fact, it's not a beast at all, it's more like a sheep. Gamers aging from 8, up to about 14 are shown nothing but commercials of prerendered trailers for the newest game, while the narrator tells them it's going to offer the best this and that. It may be true, but often times, it's not. Nevertheless, these kids will beg their parents to buy the game, and most of them will get it. And so starts the cycle of shaping the generations.

What are the top online games for PS3 and Xbox 360? I'm 100% sure you can guess what they are. If you guessed Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and World at War, Killzone 2, you're right. What do these have in common? Guess again...Exactly, millions of dollars of hype and advertising, along with names that people recognize. Now, I'm sure you can think of a ton of other games online that you would rather play than these. But, why don't you? For me, it's because I'm the only one I know that owns the game. The online communities are dead, taken over by these giants. Chromehounds is a good example. Though the singleplayer was definitely below average, the multiplayer was an interesting, fresh, and fun aspect of the game. You would take part in a persistent war, choosing a country and building a mech of total epicness. Fighting alongside your friends and destroying the other countries units was awesome. Definitely a unique online experience I'd never had. You can still find some people fighting the good fight too, but definitely not many.

Another one of my favourites was Civilizations Revolutions. A much simpler, less time consuming, but still very satisfying and fun adaptation to the PC version, it definitely proved strategy games could work on a console with a controller. It's quite dead now though, it took me a good few minutes to find a match online.

So why is it, that these games, with all of their uniqueness and qualities, could die so fast and so hard? Why do we keep buying these damned games we know we've played over and over and over again? Why are we so adamant on playing a few quick matches of killing sprees over maybe something different, something new, something more thoughtful, more complex? Is it because we're all actually mindless killing machines who want nothing more than to destroy? No. It's thanks to the media. They've taught us that consoles are no place for the thinking man's game, only violent, simple-minded games where we pick up a gun and go nuts. Granted, these games are a ton of fun and, when played with friends, can make for an amazing night. But we need to start realizing that we are only hurting ourselves. Gaming has taken itself into a new generation, and it's heralds are the thousands of minds of submissive, easily influenced children and preteens that are much more susceptible to seeing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and yelling for joy than to see a remake of the original Shadowrun (done right...).

Ultimately, this affects everyone. And I'm not saying that this is something that will happen with the snap of my fingers. It will be a gradual change to the type of games that become popular. I'm 19 now, I plan to be gaming, and be involved in gaming until I am either physically or mentally unable to play a video game, though gaming could be the reason why I'm not mentally or physically able to play games, so I find it very troubling to see this de-evolution of gaming. Video games are supposed to be, to me at least, the one creative outlet where you are limited to nothing except your imagination. The pinnacle of entertainment, art, socializing, and creativity. It will always retain the entertainment and social aspects, but now I'm not so certain about art and creativity. Too few games are now tantalizing me with art styles, camera styles, or any aspect of art or creativity. I find myself now reveling in the fact that a game now features new guns, characters, and maps! Why am I settling for that to be my next must have game?

We are settling for something that we can change so easily, with the simple action of not buying a game. We can show the huge names in gaming that we want something fresh, something new, something we've never seen before, instead of letting them, year after year, churn out more of the same shooters we see every year. But unfortunately again, that is only what we as mature gamers can do. There is still the other half of the gaming population that will be your biggest challenge in changing the games you play, the younger crowd.

Now, you might disagree with me, and say that there are very unique games that do well, like Fat Princess, Braid, Trine, Scribblenauts, etc. But how long are those games' life spans? I don't see people playing Braid anymore, I'm sure Trine will do well on the PS3, and despite it receiving many awards at E3, I do not see many people playing it on PC, and it's currently out. What are people still playing though? All of the monsters of gaming. There may be a time when the "flavour of the week" is all you see, but guaranteed within a week or so, they'll be back to Halo 3 and CoD.

I do not want to be completely pessimistic though. I do not believe that the unique games will disappear completely. I do believe though that they will go further under the radar as long as the hype machine continues to trample the minds of young gamers.
 
By Tyler Parry - Systemlink Blog

1 Comments

The Witness - A new game from the creator of Braid

By Systemlink August 4, 2009 1 Comments

Braid is a tough game to forget. One of the first things I thought upon completing the game was, "That game was insane. I can't wait to see what this guy comes up with next." We all knew that ' love him or hate him' game creator Jonathan Blow had to be working on something new. Evidence of those assumptions has finally surfaced, brought to us by the man himself.

Blow posted yesterday on the Braid News blog stating, " it seemed like a good idea to let people know a little about the game, even if it’s not much" and mentioned that the game is " very visual, and once we have developed those visuals to the point where they are representative, I’ll start posting them there"
 
The site doesn't give away much, but it looks like we'll be hearing and seeing plenty more from here on out. Tentative release date is Q4 2011.
 
By Matt Brooker - Systemlink Blog

1 Comments

Review: Fat Princess

By Systemlink August 4, 2009 1 Comments

It cheers me up every time I explain this game to anyone. It’s a 32 player, medieval era game of capture the flag, except the flag is a Princess. And to make it extra difficult to get away with her, the other team stuff her with cake making her a Fat Princess meaning it takes much longer to carry her back to your castle. If you don’t laugh every time you hear her scream “CAKE!” you probably never will.

The maps are symmetrically designed so no team has an obvious upper hand. As you can see by the pictures, the game’s gone for a cartoonish, cell-shaded style that belies all the blood and gore plastered all over the battlefield. It’s a treat to look at and is razor sharp on a HD set. The locations include forests, volcanoes, tropical islands and mountains.

The single-player campaign (under the childishly amusingly named ‘Play With Yourself’ option) is merely a training device to show you the game modes. There are capture the flag (Princess) options, varying from do it once and make sure you still have theirs in captivity, the other is to do steal their princess three times. Invasion mode is like conquest mode in the Battlefield games where you capture towers (also used to drop off wood and metal) instead of cake addled rich kids. Team Deathmatch; kill the other team, simple as. All the above are online games too. There is also the Gladiate mode where you pick a class and try and stay alive through twelve waves of enemy soldiers on your own.

There are five classes that have their own unique advantages and they can all be upgraded once for extra weapons and abilities. You choose your class by picking up a hat from a machine at your base, or by picking up a blood soaked one off the battlefield from either team.

The Warrior has the most health and carries a sword with a shield to deflect arrows. His upgraded weapon is a halberd which has a devastating but inaccurate charged attack. The Ranger rapidly fires arrows from a bow and can upgrade to a painfully slow musket-style shotgun. The Mage fires fire balls and can upgrade to ice shots that temporarily freeze opponents, which comes in handy when making an escape with the choddy one, the charged attack produces an area attack of one of these elements. The Priest can heal individual troops or produce an area healing blast, or when he nabs an upgrade he can do the opposite to the enemy as the Dark Priest.

The most important class though is the Worker. This fella is the one that’s the backbone of the team. He collects wood or metal for upgrading the hat machines to level up the classes, or make human catapults to fling yourself deep into enemy territory, sometimes right into their castle. He can also build siege ladders and smash wooden manholes over underwater tunnels or break giant boulders blocking paths, and build bridges. So yeah, he’s the man. And the best thing is that you still rack up the points for all these things, so you can still be top of the table at the end of the match just by helping out. Christ, I almost forgot the little sod can hold his own in a fight too using his axe, or once he’s upgraded, throwing bombs that detonate on impact.

There could have been one extra class though. A physical trainer for when you find the Princess in the enemy castle and they’ve pumped her to the max with cake. Make her do star jumps before you roll her out. Hey, rolling her should have been an option!

To succeed in stealing the Fat Princess you have to learn to work as a team instead of everyone from both sides just meeting in the middle and ripping the shit out of each other for half an hour for a total stalecake, sorry stalemate. Often all it takes is no more than three going in together, usually with a Priest to heal you, to escape with Her Royal Podgness. Just loiter around the catapult until you build up a little squad, or get a headset to shout out a request for some co-ordinated tactics, remember the more of you carrying, the quicker you can move her.

It is possible to escape with her on your own if she’s not been fed, but there’s not much more gutting than finally getting into the castle to see her bulging out of the cage shouting “CAKE!” at you. Actually it’s still funny even then.

There is a lock on feature for targeting enemies but it’s very loose and never wants to target the Ranger shooting you, just the flat-footed Warriors.

But only thing that’s really stopping the game scoring higher is the poor online set-up. Once you’re in a match it’s fine with no lag or anything. It’s just getting there is a nightmare. You don’t pick from a list of open games you can pick a specific map or mode to search but I never got one result. Not one. Instead I’ve had to just go for the ‘Jump In’ option which is just get what you’re given.

Because of this the game only just scrapes a 4 stars, but a few game patches could sort this out. It could just be a case of the game being busier than originally expected and extra servers needing to be added. When it works this is an impressive title with 32 players going at it, even if the matches do drag a bit sometimes when nobody’s working together. Put the effort in though and you’ll love a slice or ten.
 
By Brendan Griffiths - Systemlink Blog

1 Comments

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