Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PC, PS2, Gamecube & Xbox – 2002)

Hitman 2 is by definition a puzzler disguised as a stealth action game. Sounds odd but not when you think about it for a moment. Each mission is practically a brainteaser as to how you complete a mission without raising suspicion. It’s like a really brutal rubik’s cube puzzle. There’s normally three or four ways to compete the mission, the proper stealthy way by not being noticed by anyone (solving it by yourself) picking off the numerous guards that get in your way one by one without anyone noticing (solving just one side and neglecting the rest) or resorting to pure wanton violence (slamming the rubik’s cube to the ground and telling it to go to hell).

All good stealth games require planning of some sort. Before each mission, you’re briefed as to what you need to do, being supplied with the appropriate documents and images needed to carry out the kill as well as a satellite map to work out guard routines and civilian placements as most missions take place in public areas.

In theory you could just get a machine gun and wade in taking out all who oppose you yet chances are you’ll be overwhelmed by guards in a few seconds. You could get a sniper rifle, climb to the top of a really high building and pick off your target from afar. But chances are the building will be surrounded and swarming with guards (getting the picture yet?) within moments making escape almost impossible. In these instances, a different approach comes into play, mainly concealment and disguise.

Sneaking up behind someone with the fiber wire is one way of silencing guards or potential witnesses

People will be suspicious of the shady bald man in a black suit if they were standing 20 feet away from them but won’t if he’s dressed up in guards or civilian clothing. Therefore when killing or knocking out a guard or civilian, taking their clothes is sometimes the only way to get into areas you couldn’t access by yourself.

The first level is a perfect example of this: there’s a mansion that you need to enter to kill a mafia leader and free a hostage. The main gates are being patrolled by guards, the first side entrance has a guard normally coming through to ‘relieve’ himself every now and again, there’s a postman nearby having a cigarette and there’s a courier delivering food to the kitchen.  One of the possibilities is hiding your weapons in the food and stealing either the postman or courier’s uniform and walk straight into the premises after being searched, collecting your weapons in the kitchen and wrecking havoc from the inside. There are many others options and methods but it all depends on how you approach the situation and what happens when you do.

Common sense comes into play as well when you obtain these disguises, you can’t be close to certain personnel otherwise they’ll discover you and wearing guard uniform is a no no if your face is visible. If you’re out of place, they’ll suspect you but only if you stay within their field of range. Pressing forward normally allows you to bypass  this unless you go into an area that’s out of bounds in which case you’ll be greeted with machine gun fire.

Obtaining disguises are normally a good way of getting through security. Just be sure to actually hide the bodies.

Also guards don’t suffer from Solid Snake syndrome (everyone suffering from collective amnesia when you’re out of sight for ten seconds), when you’re spotted, you’ll need some powerful weapons and a good vantage point to get out alive. They won’t forget you or your disguise and will search every nook and cranny until they find you which normally leads to some of Hitman 2 most thrilling moments.

But the greatest thrill is simply going in unnoticed disguised or otherwise, getting past security, performing your kill and getting out unnoticed. Trying to achieve the perfect kill is a mixture of tension and exhilaration as you carefully make your way through each situation without blowing your cover.

But the real joy is approaching each mission the way you want to, the game doesn’t penalize you so long as you complete each task, directly or indirectly . To be honest, there’s something liberating about breaking the rules and massacring an entire army because you didn’t want to hide in the shadows for half an hour but that’s missing the point. For those who want to break away from the norm and the Metal Gear solid definition of stealth, they’ll find themselves playing a thoughtful and clever action puzzler.

Virtual Insanity!

Ghosts & Goblins was perhaps as unforgiving and cruel as games could get yet we kept playing them over and over again...

There’s something wrong when you’ve written up seven posts and this is the only one that wasn’t scrapped since it was the least frustrating to write. To anyone who checks this site for any other reason outside of typing “kelloggs” into an image search engine, you’ll have to wait a little longer for a proper blog update as I currently don’t have the will or mentality to write a competent piece. To cut a incredibly long story blissfully short, the week gone by has been one I’d like to forget as anything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.

My attempts to clear my mind and reorganize my thoughts has also been another source of frustration for me. Everything I’ve done for enjoyment has become laborious, so much so that even my beloved games aren’t having the impact they once had, enjoyable challenges instead becoming a catalyst for discovering how many swears I can fit into a five second gap between dying and restarting. The kind of frustration that actually makes you want to fling your controller into the wall because you feel it didn’t recognize that I wanted to move my character .01cm further to the right to avoid the enemy like I wanted him to. Instead, he was killed/captured/decapitated/beaten by the evil monster/zombie/dragon/shadow creature/gingerbread man who’s sole reason of existence is to stop me from completing the bloody game and heap further misery upon me.

...whereas on the other hand, games like Twilight Princess shouldn't be frustrating due to their forgiving game mechanics.

Under no circumstances should I find this in any way frustrating! I mean I’ve played games since the days of Rick Dangerous, Bionic Commando and Ghosts & Goblins on the Atari ST which were all massively unforgiving and punished you if you so much as thought about putting a foot wrong. This was also a time where saving games was a rarity and you had only three easily lost lives to complete the game which made it more a test of skill and patience rather than something fun. Yet I enjoyed those games no matter how frustrating it got so the fact that I’m getting so easily annoyed with something that only takes ten seconds to reload and reach the point I died bothers me greatly.

Clearly not an exciting image of Eon but it's a game definitely worth spending your time playing just for its mellow tone.

At the moment, the only game that I’m able to play and not completely burst a vein is the flash game, Eon, with its pixelated graphics and easygoing style and tone, it’s a puzzler that has the unique combination of being both challenging and relaxing. However, I’m still finding myself getting frustrated when I can’t complete any of the puzzles, a feat I once thought impossible when I played it two weeks ago but perhaps there’s some things that require more than just simple escapism to solve or forget about.

SEGAAAAAA!!!!

So SEGA have recently announced that a new Sonic game is currently in development and is due for release during the summer. Nothing new there as Sonic has been hoarded out to all kinds of tat over the last number of years and seems to mess up any triumphant return with badly created games and poorly thought gimmicks (featuring in racing games was the oddest choice since why would Sonic need either a go-kart, hoverboard or any other kind of transport when he can easily run faster then any of them is beyond me!)

But anyway, what makes this announcement unique is that the game in development is a direct sequel to the Mega Drive/Genesis games Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. The development team promise to bring the series back to its roots by making it a 2D game and featuring the blue hedgehog and ONLY the blue hedgehog that will both please and delight fans.

This announcement is mostly a good thing, Sonic hasn’t been in a good game in years and is really a 2D character desperately trying to keep up with those who successfully adapted to 3D. Running around freely in a 2D plain is his natural habitat and the games are at their best when there’s a perfect fusion of speed and control as well as good level design, which has been sadly missed by his more recent games which tend jacked up the speed through springs and accelerators which meant you spend the rest of the level holding down the right D-pad and feeling like you were just playing a slightly interactive cut scene. Also, by making the game about Sonic and him alone means that the quality has no reason to become diluted thanks to his woodland chums who really do nothing but add pointless gimmick after pointless gimmick (although I’ll make an exception for Tails and if I’m in a good mood, Knuckles since they were around while the series was, ya know, good).

With that said, there are parts that strike me as odd. Firstly considering that it’s a 2D game, where exactly is the need for a homing attack. It made sense to put them into the 3D games as it’s harder to successfully jump on top of something when it can move in more directions than forward or back. New players will probably Secondly, the game aims to bring back the Mega Drive/Genesis era with levels inspired by those games which sounds more like they’re just going to rerelease Sonic 1 again but this time with updated graphics, especially since they’re reintroducing the exact same robots found in Sonic 1. Speaking of graphics, this is a petty gripe but looking at the second of gameplay footage, sonic runs and looks odd, like he’s a claymation doll in an episode of Robot Chicken. They could have easily made the game with the same graphics as Sonic 3 and gave the game a more retro feel like what Mega Man 9 has done

However, the parts that worries me the most is what’s underneath the Sonic 4 logo if you go to the website, the part that says Episode I. To be honest I’m not really sure what the game can gain by breaking it up into smaller segments but I’m hoping that they’ll not just an attempt to boost profits and that they’re priced reasonably so that you can actually afford the cost of completing the game. My other major concern is that the game is being created for the fans which has very rarely been a good idea. Hankering back to a nostalgic era is all well and good but if you just throw in features and qualities solely to appease some people on a internet forum, you’ll only appeal to those people and even then they’ll probably complain that the game isn’t different enough and doesn’t do anything to update the series.

Since the game is still in development, it’s too early to make any major assumptions about its quality but apparently Dimps and not Sonic Team are developing the game. Dimps created Sonic Rush on the DS which was actually good and looking at Sonic Team’s recent track record suggests that this could be a good so the game could be a return to form but we’ll only know for certain when summer arrives.

And as an award for reading through this post and actually getting to the end, a video of an incredibly laid back Sonic 1 playthrough. Enjoy!

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is expected to be released for Summer 2010 and will be available for Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (GB – 1993, GBC – 1998)

(The version that will be covered is the DX version which was rereleased with the Game Boy Color. Both versions are effectively the same core experience with the DX version having some minor additions)

Nintendo has come a long way in the portable console market since the humble beginnings of the Game Boy back in 1989. Technically inferior when compared to it’s immediate rivals, its monochrome screen meant that it had a long battery life which favored consideribly to the SEGA Game Gear and Atari Lynx which boasted color screens but sapped the life out its battery quickly which was a crippling blow for these devices and ultimately lead to Nintendo’s dominance of the market.

Over its lifespan, it has played host to some truly impressive games, Pokemon, Super Mario Land, Wario Land, Tetris, Metroid II, Metal Gear Solid (which impressively rivals its PSX in playability and execution despite the obvious technical limitations), Donkey Kong Land, But probably its most impressive game and one that’s regarded as the high point of the series is the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX.

The plot is quite simple, after defeating Ganon in the SNES Link to the Past, the hero travels to broaden his skills, gets shipwrecked and finds himself washed ashore on a mysterious island. The only way off is to awaken the Wind Fish by collecting eight magical instruments and it is from there your adventure starts. It’s no Ulysses but the story chugs along quite nicely and is quite involving, thanks to the clear signposting and various tasks you undergo during your quest where you’ll meet a colorful and varied cast. A special mention must also go to the inspired writing. If opening a treasure chest and getting the message “You found 50 rupees! JOY!” doesn’t crack a smile, you should probably put the Game Boy down and perhaps reflect on the reasons why you feel emotionally dead.

The secret color dungeon which was one of the additions to the DX version

One of the main staples of the series are the items that you acquire throughout your quest. Because of the limitations of the handheld, you can only assign two items to either the A or B buttons which on paper sounds limiting and perhaps annoying when you think about the number of times you’ll have to switch between items but it actually works quite well and doesn’t take you away from the action long enough to disrupt the experience. On top of that, combat is also quite satisfying with fighting that is simple and uncomplicated. Depending on what items you assign to each button, you can have a number of different fighting combinations where a sword and shield won’t do. Every item has numerous uses and functions and you’ll find yourself using each one for different reasons as you fight enemies or solve puzzles.

The music tends to fit the mood of a particular area perfectly and is just as varied and unique as its graphics. Even in monochrome format, the sprites are perfectly visible and well defined and you’re never going to have any difficulty telling what is going on. Even with this advantage, the addition of color might seem like a minor cosmetic change but it’s amazing how much it adds to the overall presentation. Beaches are warm and yellow, graveyards are dark and spooky and dungeons have their own unique style and feel that makes trekking them a joy.

The platform elements work incredibly well plus you can go all Mario and flatten those Gooma's by jumping on them. What more can a game need!

And it is the dungeons that is the meat of the game and true to the Zelda format, traversing them requires all your abilities and skills to see them through. They follow the same format, enter dungeon, explore, find keys, solve puzzles find unique dungeon equipment, use to find boss, defeat boss and get prize. Actually simplifying this does an injustice to the game as each dungeon is a joy to explore, possessing its own unique qualities and puzzles that makes each one a memorable experience. Puzzles aren’t difficult but possess a fiendish simplicity that makes it a pleasure to solve, the sort of pleasure that finally working out the solution or figuring out the weakpoint of a boss will cause you to blurt out “ahhhh.” The puzzles finely balance both simplicity and difficulty and you’ll never find yourself stuck in a dungeon for at a difficult section for too long.

And after all of that, I’ve yet to mention the trading side quest, seashell collecting, the secret color dungeon (if you have a GBC, you can explore, complete and get the red power mail since there’s no sane reason to choose the blue defense mail), a mouse that takes comical photos of your quest which you can print off with your game boy printer (remember those?), did I mention there are platforming bits in it too? It’s amazing how much Nintendo had squeezed into its tiny cartridges and is testament to the talent and creativity of its development team.

The story is well told and cutscenes tend to be brief, rarely taking you away from the action.

Link’s Awakening is perhaps one of the most complete experiences you’ll ever have the opportunity to play and considering that this game squeezes out so much on what can be regarded as a technically inferior product, it’s perhaps the greatest complement of all.

I’m really excited about this…

To be honest, I can’t wait for March so I can get my hands on No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. The first was perhaps one of the most original games to come out on any system and provided the Wii with amazing art direction  and a brilliant if a overly surreal experience. Judging by the demo alone, there doesn’t seem to be any massive changes made, apart from the cosmetic but I am curious as to what differences between the original beam katana and duel beam katanas featured in the demo. At the moment the answer seems to be ‘not much’ but I’m guessing it’ll be made much clearer when the game finally comes out.

Apart from that, expect a bonkers storyline and dialogue, free flowing and surreal gameplay, numerous sexual innuendos, 8-bit mini games (which are essentially part-time jobs for Travis, the protagonist, to earn money) and colorful bosses to fight against as you aim to become the number one assassin…again!

Also the original No More Heroes will be released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in the future so let’s hope that that people will give it a chance and it gets the recognition it deserves.

Flash before your eyes

Tetris D - one of the many creative and original examples of Flash Games

Procrastination is a tough job! With the impending doom that is looming assignments,l I find myself looking for new ways to delay the inevitable. Thankfully, there’s a realm of flash games that are just begging for you to dedicate your (supposedly) free time. While these games tend to be free, the production values, dedication and love that goes into each of them takes them far beyond the abundance of identikit games that are produced to make a quick profit. The kind of games that pollute a specific genre, early 90s it was platformers, early 2000s it was kart racers before morphing into party games and now games with novelty values (Nintendo Wii I’m looking directly at you although that doesn’t excuse the Playstation 3’s sixaxis or Mircosoft’s Project Natal).

But rambling aside, there are some truly magnificent and fun games to play and they’re free too. Here’s a couple of examples that spring to mind:

Achievement unlocked: Try to discover 100 different achievements which range from changing the color of your elephant, moving, pausing the game, killing yourself and, you know, actually playing the game. Also worth a mention is it’s sequel, This is the only level. Both are incredibly fun and silly in their own right.

Portal: the Flash Version: Based on Valve’s classic game, it incorporates the game’s mechanics perfectly and shows it could easily work on a handheld if Valve ever get round to the bloody idea!

Demolition City 2: Because everyone enjoys destroying buildings! Try to demolish buildings below a certain height by placing charges, simple as…or is it?

Toss the Turtle: Try firing your turtle as far as possible by cannon, jet pack, guns as well as avoiding the many obstacles that litter your path. Seeing your turtle become bloodied and beaten is fun in a masochistic kind of way! Also the turtle does remind me of squirtle from the Pokemon series (if you hate them, it’s perhaps an added bonus you can brutally maim him by landing him in spikes)

Time Fcuk: Clever puzzle game where you manipulate time and your environment to progress through each level. Becomes tricky very quickly and will require a lot of thought to make it through the final stages.

Canabalt: Possibly inspired by freerunning and quite retro in its appearance, run along the roofs of buildings and try to cover as far a distance as you can by avoiding as many obstacles as you can. Randomly generated levels mean you never play the same game twice.

Miami Shark: With the viciousness of Jaws and the gracefulness of Flipper, eat and destroy everything in the water by gulping swimmers, destroying yachts and banana boats and dragging down jumbo jets.

Tetris 4’D: One can only imagine the kind of nightmares Alexey Pajitnov must have had for the past 25 years. Avoid being crushed by the falling tetris blocks by your dexterous stick man character and try and survive for as long as you can.

Forever Samurai: Seems like yet another action platformer but its use of the mouse to attack by tapping the button or drawing lines gives the game one of the most fluid attack systems for any games and makes a somewhat cliched game feels completely fresh and original. Frame rate can become jittery at times but the game itself more than makes up for it.

———Update: 29th December———-

There were a couple of games that I forgot when compiling this list so why not  just throw them into this list and hope for the best, eh?

Rick Dangerous: Flash version of the classic Amiga and Atari ST game where you play an Indiana Jones style character. This is a completely old school game meaning you will die three screens into the game. One for either the nostalgic, truly patient or masochistic gamers.

You Have To Burn The Rope: The postmodernist game. To talk about it would spoil the genius of this game but all I’d recommend is that you play through the entire game with sound on. You’ll either get it or you won’t, it’s that simple.

Perfect Balance 2: Physics based puzzler where you balance shapes on tiny platforms without letting them fall. Sounds simple but can get quite tricky in later levels.

Blosics: Simple! Knock blocks off platforms! Short and sweet! Doesn’t really need a greater description then those three lines (or any more exclamation marks!).

Little Wheels: Beautiful point and click adventure game following a robot’s quest to turn on his city’s generator. Not very challenging but a game that’s more about the journey and experience rather than testing oneself.

Obey! The game: Spiritual sequel of ‘Achievements Unlocked’ and ‘This is the only level’ (both links are at the top of this post) where you play the oddest game of Simon Says…with techno music. Just as silly and as fun as it’s predecessors.

No More Heroes (Wii – 2008)

Few games will begin the same way as No more Heroes. No cut-scenes, no main menu, no tutorials, just three options, Sweet, Mild or Bitter, before it gives you control of the game’s protagonist, Travis Touchdown. Immediately you know you’re playing something that isn’t afraid to stray from the conventional and do something different. Such thoughts evaporate after five seconds of play when the game pulls the rug under your feet and bombards you with cut-scenes and a lengthy tutorial.

If No More Heroes sounds like it’s as unconventional a game you can get, that’s because it is. The game takes every traditional gaming mechanic and either turns it on its head or satirises it. Travis is aware that he’s a character in a videogame and therefore acts as one (Such a mechanic normally involves him being beaten to a pulp in spectacular fashion in cutscenes yet being at full health when you regain control, an aspect that features in every videogame to date).

First things first, the presentation is sublime. Combining cel-shaded graphics with 8-bit retro stylings may seem like an odd combination in theory but in practise, it actually works quite well.  Both are quite distinct in comparison and gives the game a not so subtle nod to its retro heritage (in more ways than one as you play through it). The game experiences little to no slowdown and the game never suffers no matter how much activity is happening ingame. Such an achievement is all the more impressive when you take into consideration the raw graphical power the Wii possesses compared to its console rivals.

The audio is worthy of mention with the soundtrack, consisting of a mixture of techno and rock, fitting their purpose nicely, especially during boss fights while the sound effects, which comes in a mixture both 8-bit sounds and modern sound effects, do their job. The nicest audio touch, however, comes courtesy of the Wiimote which acts as an in-game mobile phone via the remote’s speaker. It’s a clever touch and is representative of the developers approach to think outside the box and realise the proper potential of Nintendo’s machine.

Taking part in a batting mini game is one of many ways you can kill your victims.

In a nutshell, the plot concerns Travis’, a beam katana wielding otaku who resides in the fictional town of Santa Destroy, California, quest to become the number one ranked assassin. Therefore, be prepared to face off with some of the varied and bizarre assassins ever to feature in any medium. Gun slinging detectives with a taste for karaoke, manic superheroes and sword wielding magicians are just some of the characters you’ll face off in Travis’ quest to become number one. Before you can face off against any of the assassins, however, you must earn enough money to pay your entry fee. Cue earning money through part time jobs which ranges from mowing lawns, picking up trash and rescuing lost cats. These mini games tend to range from fun to tedious but thankfully only tend to last for three minutes. They are the key to unlocking the real meat of the game, the assassination missions and No More Heroes’ greatest strength, the combat system.

Essentially, the controls can be simplified down to two buttons, A to swing your beam katana and B to punch or kick. It was a wise move not to make the controls similar to Twilight Princess where you simply swing the Wiimote to attack. Instead the Wiimote is used to determine whether Travis’ attack stance is high or low depending on what direction the Wiimote is tilted. Swinging the Wiimote only comes into play when either executing death blows or wrestling moves (which is also done with the Nunchuck). It’s a system that ultimately works better far better than you can imagine.

Completing a death blow with a flick of the Wiimote normally results in a graphically spectacular kill such as this

While on the subject of the Wiimote, all motion controls are simplified and never feels like it’s tacked on for the sake of it, a sin unashamedly committed by many Wii games. A special mention has to go to the “gesture” needed to charge your beam katana (since it runs on battery power) as it, alongside with Travis’ charging animation, is bound to induce a snigger solely for its juvenile nature.

Despite these positives, the game isn’t without its flaws. Santa Destroy, while not overly large, can still feel barren in most places, the collision detections for your vehicle is quite poor and having to always backtrack to Travis’ motel room to save the game (which is done by going to the toilet) tends to be inconvenient at the best of times but since the meat of the game is on the assassinations themselves, they very rarely detract from the overall experience.

Saving the game comes in the format of going to the bathroom although it is annoying that you have to constantly backtrack to Travis' place just to save.

Also, the game’s pacing begins to tire near the halfway point due to the game entering a routine of upgrade status or equipment, earn money, assassinate, ranked match. Once you reach the halfway point however, the game catches its second wind and all of a sudden the slow pace previously experienced suddenly manifests itself into a sprint towards the finishing line.  The plot undergoes the same treatment where a barrage of movie and gaming clichés, red herrings and numerous plot twists being introduced simply because, let’s face it, with the standard it sets itself at the start, you’d be disappointed if it didn’t. By then you’d be enjoying yourself too much to care as you zoom through the game just to discover the next surprise the game throws at you.

Simply put, No More Heroes is definitely up there as one of the best Wii games on the market and with it currently in the shops for a pittance, there’s no excuse for not owning it.