Tag Archives: PS4

Battlefield: Hardline Game Review

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q0r5sr3kccqdbasd5lyrIt’s easy to see why games producer Visceral made a decision to change up the pace with Battlefield: Hardline. After the much criticised (but nonetheless well acclaimed) Battlefield 4, most players would agree that the typical war format of First Person Shooters (FPS) has been done to extinction. As such Battlefield: Hardline represents a refreshing take in the genre; the Lethal weapon, the Michael Bay, the Die Hard or Bad Boys film. The presentation visuals being instantly recognisable to a weekend cop show and, it has to be said, for each and every moment of distinction it actually feels better for it.

Hardline follows a hard-working, honest young cop as he helps tackle a drug ring, falls afoul of police corruption then tries to set the world to rights. It’s a plot that seems determined to pack in every imaginable cop movie cliché, but wins you over thanks to entertaining dialogue, a little personality and a desire to put you in the thick of some amazing action scenes.

Some of the pillars of previous Battlefield games return: this is still primarily a first-person shooter where you’re propelled along from one objective to the next. Much too is made of the series’ signature destructible scenery, which sees solid-looking stud walls torn apart by shotgun explosions, and a rusty trailer offer little protection when you’re under assault from buggies with mounted heavy machine guns. Yet Hardline does bring something new to the table, by emphasising stealth and infiltration over all-out warfare and by focusing on non-lethal takedowns as well as headshots.

Playing this online game you learn different techniques of getting through each scenario, sometimes you need to sneak up on enemies and take them down one by one, sometimes you need to arrest them with badge and gun. using this method means you rank up faster and unlocking new weapons, customisations and gadgets you can use within the campaign, while the same goes for using your handy scanner to find crucial bits of evidence. You’ll still find sequences where you’ll be forced to fight your way through waves of attackers in a more standard Battlefield style, but these tend to be lobbed in as climactic set-pieces – and even here there are rewards for playing smart. In short, Hardline actually makes something of its whole cops and robbers premise, whether or not it can’t resist the occasional shoot-out, or blow up the entire set with spectacular set pieces.

And what set pieces await you aren’t restricted to the cops and robbers premise, crazy tank vs helicopter scenes out in the desert, car chases through industrial zones or a frantic escape through a ramshackle town and down a mountain, hiding from searchlights and patrols. A great deal of action games boast of being thrillers, but Hardline can be thrilling and quite suspenseful owing to the episodic nature of the campaigns meaning the characters actually have an story arc through the game and as a result you actually start to care about them, compare that to Battlefield or Call of Duty where you could play literally anyone from a multitude of characters who may actually die at the end of the stage.

Yes there is still the occasional classic ‘follow this person and do what they say’ kind of stuff, whilst some episodes are happy to give you an objective in addition to a wide area full of possible routes and bad guys, and leave you to make your own way through. New gadgets, together with a grappling gun and a mobile zip line, play their part, giving you ways to find a way in from the rooftops or over the wall. It doesn’t always work, with suspiciously brilliant sharpshooters, alarms and minimal checkpointing spoiling the fun, but by and large it’s a minor distraction.gYph9WmIK8l6.878x0.Z-Z96KYq

I played the game on a PS4 and I was a fan of the quality of the visuals and the trademark Battlefield destructible scenery. Character models, skin and shiny surfaces look wonderful, so does the voice overs although I did spot some lip sync problems a few times. My other problem with the game was the length of time it took to download, my gosh it was hefty. The full download of all the episodes taking a good few hours to complete, this was even when it bought was on a physical disc. I felt annoyed that I actually couldn’t play the game straight out of the box.

So how does battlefield measure up on-line? Well, the cops and robbers modes play out a bit like ‘Heist’ ‘Payday’ and ‘GTAV’ rolled into one. Having said that I am going to go on record and say that they are not all as brilliant as you might expect, variants of the genres we’ve seen and played before ‘capture the flag’ is heist under another guise, where one team has to grab a bag from a vault and take it to the extraction point while the other team try to stop them.

Hardline affords four separate classes – Operator, Engineers, Enforce and Specialist – with loads of unlocks and weapon upgrades available, there’s no shortage of scope for detailed customisation. Similarly, the maps won’t yield up all their secrets overnight, with vantage points to discover, interactive elements to mess around with and some great rooftops and towers where you can put the grapple gun and zipwire to good use.

Verdict:

I really like Battlefield: Hardline; the single-player campaign just works brilliantly and it has a fantastic set up as a big, dumbass cop action thriller. As a game it easily fits into the class of ‘next gen’ in terms of the quality of graphics and sound. Multiplayer too is enjoyable and competitive. Yes hard Hardline does have faults but in my opinion they are minor faults in what otherwise is one heck of an enjoyable romp.

8.5 / 10

Battlefield: Hardline is out now

 

Infamous: First Light Review

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Here’s a mind meld question for you. How can you give people the taste of a game without them paying the full price or giving them a game so small it’s a demo. By making it a DLC which is also a standalone game of course. That’s the case for First Light, in which you play as Abigail “Fetch” Walker, a character you met in ‘inFamous: Second Son’ on the PS4. Being an extension of a standalone title means that you don’t have to own the full game to enjoy this and what’s more, Sony Computer Entertainment have priced this right (around a tenner on PSN and soon to be £15 on physical retail mid-September) and packed in just enough of a game to prolong the interest of players of ‘Second Son’ as well as draw in new attention from those who perhaps weren’t too impressed by inFamous’ and were holding out for other titles that would really push their consoles.To be honest it’s a win-win for players. The PS4 lacks original titles and the summer break is traditionally a hiatus for games releases, therefore, games players are under-nourished right now and can expect to be until the likes of Destiny, Alien and other big titles hit the shelves towards the Christmas holiday season. Equally, Sony owes it to the players who forked out on their console and are also gambling that this will draw players to back to their title inFamous: Second Son. It’s a gamble that pays off.

Set two years prior to the events of Second Son, First Light follows Abigail “Fetch” Walker a homeless, ex-heroin addict and her brother Brent through a story of deceit, revenge and all out destruction. When we first meet them Brent wants to do one last robbery so they can afford a better new life. The pair has been sleeping rough; Fetch keeping her powers hidden so as not to attract attention from the authorities. From there it doesn’t take long for things to go pear-shaped in a big way and it takes no time at all before you are unleashing your neon abilities all over the shop, running at super speed, collecting power-ups and taking down enemies with bolts of electricity.

First Light may seem limiting to some because Fetch only has a single power, whereas in infamous: Second Son Delsin ended up with a handful. However, where using Delsin you didn’t always get a chance to appreciate and embrace his powers because the game forced you to switch between them, Fetch identifies by her neon abilities, so you have to learn the different skills and learn them well. This plays into both the story and the combat.

As is accustomed to ‘sandbox’ games there are a small handful of optional activities. Fetch can blast graffiti onto marked walls, though she does so in glowing neon lines. There are races against glowing balls of light called Lumens. There are also drive-by shootings and civilian hostage situations to manage. All which help you to earn Skill Points, which are then traded to evolve Fetch’s neon powers further.

The writing and voice acting are, for the most part well executed. Abigail is a highly likable heroine so whilst you don’t have those critical moral choices as in Infamous: Second Son and there are no light and dark abilities to gain you still want to gain more powers and see her story through. There are also some harrowing elements of the storyline such as monitoring CCTV in order to take down a sex trafficking ring (you see the women followed and then kidnapped) and moments where Abigail talks about her addiction (Abigail is at best in her teens).

It’s hard to make any real criticisms of this game because this is, after all, just DLC presented as a standalone game. In comparison to Second Son it’s inherited all of its strengths for example the beautiful city, the amazing lighting, the fun combat, the feeling of being a superhero. However these are contrasted against it weaknesses, the fact that it is never really populated and you never feel a part of this world.

That said, the price tag and the content make this a worthy purchase; it easily ranks above most other standalone games on PSN within its price range and there is enough there in terms of online leader-boards and side missions to keep coming back if even for a short while.

8 / 10

Infamous: First Light is out now on PSN and available on Retail Edition from mid-september

Computer Game Experiment – Sound without Sound

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Make no bones about it computer companies of today invest serious amounts of money on ensuring the sound quality is as fantastic as it possibly can be. It may seem hard to imagine now but back in 1990 when the Sega Megadrive was released it had just 6 channels of stereo sound. imagine that by comparison the Dolby 5.1 surround sound of today has almost ten times as much.

I was invited to take part in an ‘experiment’ by Amplifon which involved me playing a game that I had never played before to see what kind of difference it would make to the gaming experience if there was no sound. Before I begin it is worth pointing out that although this was a fun experiment to be part of, there are some very real issues underlying this; I don’t think many people stop to consider just how many young people are hard of hearing of which National Statistics suggest stands at around 25,000 for children aged 0-15 years. I feel fewer of us stop to appreciate just what an impact this can have on just day to day living let alone playing computer games and what a different experience that must be.

tombraiderThe game I chose was Tomb Raider Definitive Edition for the Playstation 4. Why? Well for a number of reasons. Firstly to be honest I haven’t played that game since the age of the PS1 days and I haven’t reviewed it previously so it means there is no comparison to base it against, so that is reasonably fair. Secondly I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the next generation hardware before Christmas and like many gamers I have been frustrated by the lack of games for the machine thus far, so this way I get to experience new hardware and a new game from a fresh perspective.

Tools of the Trade and Rules of the Game

The game Tomb Raider Definitive Edition on the PS4 obviously – the conditions were set that it must be played ‘as is’ that is, no setting adjustments could be made other than difficulty level and brightness. I had to play this game ‘raw’. For a full comparison I made the decision to play the game for a full 4 hours without sound and then again with sound and document my experience and progress.

The other tool was a pair of JVC Noise Cancelling Headphones – these babies are stated to have up to 75% noise cancellation and no, they were not plugged into the controller – that would be cheating.

So with the tools and the rules set in motion I put the headphones on and fired up the console.

Experiences

The first thing that stood out for me, even just upon firing up the console is that of awareness.  Even on the basic screen for the PS4 it dawned on me just how dependent we are on sound for even basic things such as cursor movement and game selection. It occurred to me very quickly that I had to be very alert and could not take my eyes of the screen even for a few moments; as the game proceeded to do its update and then restart I had become distracted and when I turned my eyes to the screen and it was blank and I could honestly not say what was going on.

Ease of Gameplay

3.-Tomb-Raider-2013In the game this was even more so. It is perhaps a tragedy that Tomb Raider does not have the subtitles set to ‘on’ as default. Watching the intro I could see the young Lara Croft on a boat, about to drown and then running to what seemed to be her father and falling from his grasp. But I could hear absolutely nothing, without subtitles you can be at a loss. Praise has to be given to the developers I was surprised at the level of detail put into the game; Lara looks better than she ever has, but despite this when the characters are speaking I doubt that the mouth movements are lip-synced. Now I am no lip reader but I certainly could not tell one word from another. I could tell expressions – sadness, anger, fear but little else. By hour two of gameplay I realised just how dependent on all my other senses I had to be and whilst this was great as an experience I felt a great empathy for those that have to deal with far more complex tasks than finding arrows, shooting wolves and solving puzzles.

O.k so without speech and without language can there be a plot? Well yes and no, thankfully a few things show up on the screen as you are playing explaining what you should do and what you can look for. Another great thing of the modern day console is the use of vibration, although similarly to speech it is far from accurate you at least can tell and have some immersion with what is taking place on the screen. Firing weapons, turning cogs all would have had far more dissidence had there not been vibration as some kind of feedback on the senses. However it was really hard to tell what was happening and this was especially true when Lara looks back on her video camera, I could get a gist but certainly couldn’t work out who was who. I ended up bumbling through, trial and error becoming my best friend and I realised by hour three that I had missed a couple of caves because it flashed up on screen: ‘When you hear this sound a cave of treasure is nearby’ I was thinking all good and well you telling me but if I can’t hear it what difference does it make.

Unconsidered factors

There are parts of the game too where it takes voice recognition and I am sure whilst this is a novel idea, I had no idea how loud or quiet my voice was, the first few times this didn’t work so in the end I had to shout everything. I am sure my next door neighbours thought I was losing my mind shouting out words like “Map” “Gun” “Stealth” at opportune moments like I had Tourettes. I am just glad they didn’t call the police because with the headphones on I wouldn’t have heard the door.

Comparison with sound

Playing the game a second time with sound was a different experience altogether. The first thing that surprised me was just how much voiceover there is; Lara reflects on practically everything and every situation she finds herself in and there is a great deal of interaction between her on screen and you as the player trying to figure out the puzzles. Obviously the graphics are just as good but you can tell what is going on because you can hear what people are saying and the style of mood in the soundtrack changes to reflect whether it is a stealth situation or if you have been spotted.

Also worthy of note is the sound immersion. The PS4 has a speaker on the controller and this game fully utilises it. This ps4 speakermeans gun shots ring out from the controller, audio diaries are read to you and you can hear those jungle drums when you are near a hidden cave. The experience is completely different and this means the engagement is different. By the end of hour four I was much further ahead than in my previous attempts without sound.

In conclusion computer companies spend serious amounts of money on ensuring the sound quality is as fantastic as it possibly can be, they do this for good reason, the engagement from the player is tantamount to the game’s success. Do they consider those with less ability in areas such as hearing? I doubt it; the numbers just wouldn’t tally up in terms of investment, but what I think can and should be done is greater player options, it really would not hurt in making gaming more inclusive than exclusive. Lets be honest this experiment is far from scientific but one thing it certainly achieved is in raising my awareness of those less fortunate. It also made me realise just how many things we take for granted.

Testing the Playstation 4

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Recently Frost was lucky enough to attend an event held by Argos showing off some of the top gifts for this Christmas. Among them was the much anticipated Playstation 4 which we were lucky enough to try. Unfortunately there were no games available but there was a demo showing off some of the potential of the machine.

In the demo I’m shown I sit down to see myself on the screen in front of me! The playstation camera which also acts as a motion sensing device beams me onto the screen but there’s also a floating robot head sitting next to me. What’s really clever is how the motion sensing device picks up your depth of field. I can interact with my robot friend my tickling him for example.

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The demo also shows off the new controller’s capacitiative pad. By flicking the pad i can bring out more interactive robot heads and do a whole load of different things. I can even hoover them up and make them laugh.
Games are getting more real as the capabilities of the hardware grows. I was also lucky enough to try Oculus Rift recently which really blew my mind but that’s another story. It’s undoubtedly an exciting time ahead. It was very absorbing and a little overwhelming at first. I totally lost myself in it and in my excitement I smashed the glass of orange juice sitting next to me! My bubble was broken and I returned to the real world. It was clear to see this is a very powerful piece of hardware and I can’t wait to see what software designers are going to do with it but there is definitely tremendous potential.

Look out for the PS4 at Christmas from £349 $399

ps4

 

Playstation 4 – Finally Announced

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So it’s finally going to be here – On Wednesday night at 23.15 GMT Sony officially announced the Playstation 4 which will be available “holiday season 2013”.

In a live online broadcast viewed by over 16 million Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Andrew House took to the stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios in New York to reveal the name of Sony’s next-generation console.

The exec said Sony’s “most powerful platform ever” will allow “worlds to come alive with greater fidelity and intensity than ever before”.

House also noted that “ease of access regardless of location or device has been a priority” in the system’s development”.

“Our vision for the future is consumer centric and developer inspired,” he added, stressing that Sony is keen to enable developers to utilise “new business models that enable more flexibility including episodic and free-to-play”.

Lead PS4 system architect Mark Cerny was up on stage next. “We wanted to make sure nothing would come between the player, the platform and play,” he said. “Our main goal was to architect the system so as to support a breadth of experiences.”

Boasting 8GB of unified system memory, PS4 houses a “highly enhanced” PC GPU “containing a unified array of 18 compute units, which collectively generate 1.84 Teraflops of processing power that can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two”.

It is also “centred around a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor”.

Cerny then showed off the new Dual Shock 4 which will include many new features such as enhanced rumble, a touchpad, a headphone jack and a new Share button, which will allow players to record gameplay or screenshots and share them instantly. “Our goal is to make the sharing of video on PS4 as popular as the sharing of screenshots is today,” he said. PS4 will also support cross-game chat.

Then came the games. Games of note included Killzone: Shadow Fall was first; a First Person shooter which showed the main character in an epic shoot out in what seemed to be a shopping mall only to leap on to a wire being dragged along by a helicopter matrix style shooting out both adversaries on the ground and in the copter only to land on a building where the action cut and the share button was used.

This was followed Sucker Punch’s Infamous: Second Son. The demo showed a heavily-militarised city where citizens are closely monitored. However, people have started developing superpowers and revolting against big brother. There was no sign of series protagonist Cole.

Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono appeared on stage to demo Capcom’s new engine, Panta Rhei, which is being used to develop a new IP for the PS4 called Deep Down. There was raw response though when he said he was not there to talk about the next Street-Fighter game or the eagerly awaited Tekken vs Streetfigher – Missed opportunity I thought!

Unfortunately in the whole event the actual machine was not shown which lead to speculation that there would not be a physical machine at all as the majority of the software would be accessible via cloud gaming platform Gaikai. However since the launch this has been dismissed as the console’s actual specs have been announced.

This is really exciting news I think, if games players are truly honest games have been getting stale – although there have been original ideas and the PS3 has had a terrific run, it simply needs more power open to developers. You can always tell after a while because games tend to look the same across the genre.

Every life cycle of the Playstation has brought something new – for the PS1 it was games on CDs – its amazing to think now that a measly 700mb could power a game but it was the case back then and Ridge Racer was one such favourite. With PS2 it was games on DVDs. It is arguable now that the PS2 brought DVD media into the family home. Then we had the PS3 and with it not only did Blue Ray Dual layer Discs enter the home but HD TVs and gaming. They didn’t just arrive but was there to stay because now with the right TV you could watch HD Films and play the games without forking out on the expensive players. It doing so it beat the Microsoft brand in establishing itself as the High Definition disc brand of choice. Lets not also forget about 3D gaming that really the PS3 became a reason to don the specs outside of the frankly rubbish channels and over-expensive Blue-Ray players and 3D movies available.

I for one am really excited about what is yet to come. The price of the new console has been placed £400 (cheaper than the PS3 at launch but more expensive than the PS2 was). Even without a physical machine to view, it is already on pre-order from most stockists. Have a look at the trailers and view for yourself. I think the leap in technology is not as shocking as the transition from PS1 to PS2 but if you look closely the devil is in the detail. Not only that but as every gamer knows, it takes time for the best games to surface and it is still very early days yet.

Enjoy!

 

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