Metal Drift

Metal Drift is a hovertank based, kindof-but-not-really capture the flag style game developed by Black Jacket Studios. And you've never heard of them before because, like most game developers on Steam these days, they're an "Indie" group. And by group i think there's about 3 of them. But it's a really fun game, so i'm going to shamelessly "review" it. I'm not being paid nor am i friends with them. I just like the game.



The long and short of it, is you have teams of up to 6 players/bots on a reasonable sized field floating around in hovertanks trying to capture a ball by racing to the location of said ball (generally in the exact middle of the map) and taking it to the oppositions goal point, usually but not limited to a "base" of sorts. Often with a forcefield wall that only that team can pass through - often meaning that getting around the last corner before the goal does not mean you're safe from a rapid interception. If you can get around the corner properly - learning to control the tanks without bumping into a wall takes a bit of practice as they tend to slide, or... "drift" as it were, but once you adjust to it, the maneuvers you can perform are quite varied.

To assist you in your goal of ball capture domination, you have a variety of weapons and abilities that are unlocked as you play through a level up system. The only problem with this is that you do not choose what is unlocked - and while the weapons are fairly balanced insofar as the "basic" weapon can be just as deadly as the "last" weapon unlocked, the abilties are a completely different story. You can compare a slow firing powerful weapon to a fast firing weak weapon, but you can't compare the ability to self repair with the ability to teleport near the ball from anywhere on the map.

The 5 game maps themselves are all fairly samey looking. Being an indie title and having a fairly set scenario it doesn't really detract from the experience unless you're obsessed with the environment you are playing in. Some variety would of course be excellent, but not necessarily a requirement. The graphics in general are quite nice for an indie game, though there's no way to easily tell anyone apart on either team - one tank is red the other is blue. Though from the front and rear it can be hard to tell.



But the important factors are all there - it's cheap, it's fairly well balanced and it's fun.

Pardon me while i kill your family.

I play videogames. A lot of them violent in some way. Some of them involve "high" amounts of violence.

So if the media is to be beleived, this means i am going to kill you and your family at some point.

Check any website or "family" oriented page about videogames. You'll see something like "playing violent videogames increases the likelihood the gamer will commit a violent crime"

No. It doesn't. Not directly, at least. I've racked up "kills" in videogames that probably total higher than some cities. I've shot people in the face, sliced them in half, kicked them in the shins, slammed them into walls, kicked them off ledges. In some particularly hilarious ones, slammed them against walls with explosive weapons.

But the key difference between myself and say, the kids involved in school shootings that apparently "practice" on games beforehand is that i can, hold onto your pants here because i'm about to explode them (cookie for getting the reference), CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE between FANTASY and REALITY.

The fact it's interactive means nothing. You can watch action movies and think being a gun toting action hero would be awesome. Or play a videogame like Aliens VS Predator and think stalking people only to rip thier spine out with the head still attached is great. This does not make you a danger to society. What makes you a danger is if you think any of these things are actually viable in the real world.

I've never fired a real weapon at a person. I've fired plenty of foam darts (Nerf guns are awesome, lets be honest) at people. I've fired a real weapon a few times at a target. I don't dream of re-enacting the highway sniper mission from GTA. I have several training swords and other hand-to-hand combat items around the house/yard. We do occasionally have a swordfight or something break out. But i'd never handle a real sword in a manner intended to harm another person.

The problem is not with the gamers, regardless of age, the gamer is not the person at fault - the fault lies with the parent. Either for not engaging the child and teach them the difference between the real world and a game, or for not teaching them the magical thing we call consequence while they were growing up.

You could go outside right now and punch the next person you see in the face, like i'm sure many gamers do in things like GTA. You do that in the real life and you may or may not get away with it. But if you don't, you're in serious trouble. You can't just carjack the next car to go past and drive away for a while. Actions in the real world have a consequence that makes the videogame equivalent look small. As i got older my parents told me i could do whatever i wanted if i was prepared to deal with the consequences. Oddly enough, i've learnt to keep out of trouble.

Now if you'll excuse me i'm going to go find a chainsaw, hessian bag and some overalls so i can go all Dr. Salvadore on your family.

Challenge.

So this will sound a bit like i've got my head firmly planted up my ass, but a lot of games these days don't present a lot of challenges to someone who has spent a lot of time playing videogames. By that, i mean anyone who grew up with them and/or always picks the hardest difficulty as a reflex. I fall into both of those categories i suppose. (Rest assured, i get sunlight exposure on a daily basis and shower regularly).

I remember the days of Contra. Where almost nobody finished the game without the lives cheat. Because it was so damn hard. Games being hard by default with no difficulty setting was commonplace for some time. Many of the old 2D side scrollers were nearly impossible to beat. Those days are long over.

You've got three categories of videogame these days.

1: The regenerative health game. Cower like a chicken for 10 seconds and you are magically healed. These games have become extremely common, almost nauseatingly so. They make games easier to design. Doesn't matter if the enemies hit hard - if they don't move or don't rush your position you can just chip them down. Especially if they don't have a regenerative ability (and most don't). Most FPS/TPS games fall into this category nowadays. You have Halo 1 to thank for making it popular. These games are easy to beat. Making a mistake can be rectified by a large, solid object and a sip of coffee.

2: The standard health bar/system style games. Generally things like Dragon Age or just about any RPG, Batman Arkham Asylum, Killing Floor, Deus Ex, left 4 Dead, etc. These games can kick your ass if you're not careful, but generally offer a pretty good challenge overall. You learn not to just run out in the open, but at the same time you're not forced to spend your entire time hiding in a corner.

3: Nightmare mode. Also known as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mode. Also applies to games like Operation Flashpoint and ARMA. If you are getting shot at, you better cross your fingers and keep your head down. Oftentimes, one bullet in the wrong place and you drop like a sack of bricks. A lot of people don't like these games. I vary with them. STALKER was a nice game, and certainly kept me on my toes. ARMA annoyed me with the clunky controls.

This all comes into my mind as i play through Dark Void, a game i have been eyeing for some time, and got fairly average reviews across the board from many places. It was on sale for less than half the price of a newer game, so i picked it up. A quick recap of what the game does, and what annoys me about games these days.

1: regenerative health - check.
2: instant kill melee attacks - (mostly) check.
3: shitty arbitrary upgrade system - check.
4: escort missions - check.
5: "hardcore" difficulty is a cakewalk - double check.

One of the fun features of the game (besides the jetpack) is the abilit to fight through cover based combat vertically. Either using your jetpack to keep you on the underside of a platform, or standing on top of a platform, leaning over to shoot down at the ones below, who are gripping the underside of the platforms below you.

It adds a nice touch, but sadly there's a critical flaw. Melee attacks in vertical combat are instant kills. Always. Also, when moving from cover to cover (up or down, not sideways) the enemies basically never hit you. Meaning, you can simply bum-rush them and instant kill them with melee attacks. Most of the time, i don't fire a shot during these sequences.

The upgrade system is unneccesary and a total joke. There's 6 guns and your jetpack. fuly upgrading the basic assault rifle makes it completely annihilate basic enemies. Half the time i'm not even using the cover based mechanic. It's much easier to kick in the jetpack, hover across to them while shooting, land and punch them in the face. It's fun, but not challenging at all. But that's the problem with the entire game - it's just not challenging. And sadly there's no epic storyline to carry the game. It's not a -bad- storyline, it's just nothing new.

That's the problem with games today. Most of them follow the same formula, with little variance or deviation. You do get some excellent games out of it, and they often have a distinct feature. (The terraforming gun in Fracture, the cutting weapons in Dead Space, Jetpack in Dark Void, Prettymuch the entirety of Mass Effect 1. The combat systems in just about every JRPG released recently).. But at the end of the day, game developers fall into the same routine. Regenerative health, a simplified arbitrary upgrade system. Some kind of collectible journal or documents, dog tags, whatever. Space marines, or aliens that enslave or enslaved humanity. A mythical creature being brought back by an evil person/king/space pony.

But not everyone sees it the way i do. I know plenty of people that pick easy when they play a game. That play it to unwind, or blow shit up. They don't play it for a challenge. That's fine. I'm not saying i'm a better person than these people. We just have different ideas of how a game is best played. And that's fine.

Now if you'll excuse me while i nerd out, i'm going to go play Pokemon Soul Silver.

Soundtracks

So i find myself sitting here listening to the Mass Effect 2 OST. And it reminds me of something - the game, despite all the other good features about it, has an EXCELLENT musical score. It's surprising just how much a soundtrack can add or take away from a game. For those of you who haven't played it, the atmosphere generated by the music alone makes up for half the gameplay experience. It's all beautifully composed and most of the time fits the general situation. Also, shame on you for not playing an excellent game. Go play the first one, then the second.

For anyone who -has- played it... specifically, finished it - i need only remind you of the music from the final mission(s). It makes me happy in the pants. And it really suits the overal mood.

We need more games with music like this, and a lot less like say... the "soundtrack" from Madworld. Which was a horrible mashup of "underground" style music, mostly with some idiot singing about how the main character is a "psycho maniac" or some other. On a 2-3 minute loop. When most missions take 10+. You get sick of it after a while.

And don't get me started on the commentators.

The Saboteur & "good games"

So, i've been playing The Saboteur in the last few days. And overall, it's a good game. But there's a LOT of games i would give the "overall, it's a good game" response to. There aren't a lot of games i would say "woah, this is horrible and i wish i'd never played it/seen it" for. Except something like Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing. Go to Metacritic and look for the lowest ranked PC game. I bet it's still there. Most games have some kind of redeeming factor.

The Saboteur points something out that should be obvious - if something in a game makes it good, then that something is worth taking to another game. As an example, ever since Assassin's Creed made parkour based gameplay popular, just about every large sandbox-y game since then has had it as a primary feature. Infamous, Prototype and The Saboteur itself to name a couple.

GTA4's game style is quite clearly mirrored in the general play of The Saboteur. The game plays very much like a GTA in the middle of France, with less angry gangsters and more foreigners. It's also a "sandbox" like said game. You can "go almost anywhere and do almost anything". And most of the time that sees me hooning around in a race car, stopping almost every single time i find a freeplay target just to go blow it up (and there are a LOT of them). But i enjoy doing so, when i'm not sneaking around trying to shank people to steal thier uniform.

Yes, the game has stealth as a primary feature. Yes it is a bit wonky at times, and yes the occasional clipping issues while wandering around do detract from the gameplay and irritate you. But they don't make the game unbearable. They just frustrate you on occasion.

Despite the flaws (not the least of which is the voice acting), it it still a good game. I enjoy playing it. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with that statement. There are a lot of game critics these days - some of them highly paid - that spend a lot of time dissecting games like this and marking them as a writeoff. An increasing problem that has spread to a lot of gamers too.

Protip: Play the game for fun, not to nitpick it to death and spoil the entertainment.

Cliché

Lets face it, by now just about every videogame "cliché" has been done to death.

The young, brash hero in an RPG whose family/friends/hometown get smashed like 10 minutes in. You can practically grab a stopwatch when you start the game.

The grizzled space marine. Of any kind. With just about any background. Usually involves aliens.

The supersoldier project that backfired.

The previously friendly associate who turns out to be pure evil and has a problem with laughing too much (even when they have just been stabbed and are dying).

The servant of the antagonist who has been so heavily mistreated they then have a change of heart and help you, usually being the key to thier defeat in the first place.

And who can forget the Nazi angle...


So why do people keep doing it? Is it because they don't have a better idea? Is it because it's easy to write? It's like going back and watching Looney Tunes - after a while, you know what's going to happen long before it happens, more often than not. At that point the story loses a lot of punch. Even something as epic as Mass Effect has several of them. But the key with those games is they often branch out. The cliché sections aren't a main plot point, most of the time. There's one section in ME2 where one of your squad members asks for help moving her sister to a secure location while a bunch of mercenaries are hunting her.

And when you start, you hear about her most trusted friend. She's relying on him to help keep her sister safe from the mercenaries while you fight your way through to them. She's adamant that he's trustworthy. She grew up with him. If you've already worked out that he's betrayed her, you'd be right. So when you meet up with him and he's sitting pretty with the mercenary leaders, you're not the least bit surprised.

Things like that make the whole thing pointless. There's no huge surprise when you get to the end. But that's not a massive plot point that hinges on a basic cliche. The rest of the game is written well enough to outweigh these moments.

But i suppose the real problem is, how would you go about that scenario without making the ending obvious?... You can't really. And that's why we always run into these clichés. It's a pity that you simply need to hope the unpredictable sections outweigh the obvious ones enough to make a story really speak to you, more often than not. But i'm no story writer. I just like to shoot things.

First post, much?

This is my first post. And as it happens i'm not playing a game, but am about to be. Expect random updates as i play more games. They may not be recent games, either. I don't have the money, time or desire to purchase and play a game that i don't want to. Games are meant to entertain, and if i am not going to be, i won't be playing it. :)