Old pants can be considered a double entrA
July 2007
Shadowrun has gone through a veritable roller-coaster of opinions and hype since the day it was announced with most of gamers’ issues focused around what the game was not – an RPG. Now that it’s here and getting good playing time from us 360 owners, it’s easier to say what it is – a fun, slightly innovative First-Person Shooter that works better on the console than on the PC. Let’s dive into what this game has to offer the 360’s Halo-worshiping FPS fan-base.
Take a futuristic, urban cyberpunk scene, mix in some mythical races (Elves, Dwarves, and Trolls), and add high-tech weapons, along with the rediscovered power of magic and you’ve defined Shadowrun’s unique setting (borrowed from the tabletop role-playing game of the same name). It’s an intriguing backdrop to pair with a FPS and FASA, the game’s developers, have used the source material wisely and with abandon.
In some ways, the sheer variety of character options has made Shadowrun a bit off-putting for newcomers. You’ll first need to determine your character’s race: Elf, Human, Dwarf, or Troll, each of which brings specific bonuses and penalties, then you’ll be faced with the selection of up to 3 specific technical aides or magical powers to enhance your latent racial characteristics. For example, Elves are quick movers, they can regenerate their ‘essence’ (the energy source for magic or tech), and they heal fairly quickly once they’re out of combat. You have several weapons to choose, from automatic machine-guns to down-n-dirty shotguns form the ballistic line-up and there’s even a katana for those who really like their combat up close and personal.
Once you’ve purchased your weapon (in between match rounds), you’ll decide which high tech gizmo or magical spell should round out your combat package. These arcane abilities or futuristic enhancements are the heart and soul, along with the racial characteristics, of what makes the game so compellingly unique compared to other more mundane shooters. Magically oriented players can choose from an intriguing mix of spells including this partial list: Smoke, which turns you mostly incorporeal for a period of time, Teleport, which works like it sounds, Tree of life, which grows a temporary, health-giving tree wherever you cast it, and Summon, which brings an ethereal baddie to fight for you. Gear-heads will enjoy amping their aiming abilities with the Smartlink cyber connection which tightens your controller’s aim-range, Enhanced Vision, which gifts you with Superman’s X-ray vision to see foes through walls or buildings, a Glider that supplements your jumps with a short-lived but useful flying boost, and the Anti-Magic Generator, which as you guessed, nullifies magical power in a limited range for a short time. I’ll let you discover the others yourself.
Shadowrun was developed for both PC and the 360, though it feels and controls far more smoothly on the console version. Designers have tweaked the Xbox 360’s throw distance and analog-stick detection software as well as providing a better Auto-aim assist to help console gamers better compete against their mouse/keyboarding wielding computer foes in cross-platform play. I was able to hold my own with the 360-controller against the vaunted mouse/keyboard control scheme, so it would appear that they’ve achieved success in supressing the controller’s weaknesses and mitigating its inherent limitations. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the overall experience of cross-platform conflict. Lag seemed to plague most servers where Vista players appeared and the number of PC gamers online in any given server was far less than 360 combatants, though that’s not entirely unexpected due to the Vista-only requirements for PC gamers. The server browser itself wasn’t terribly impressive or remarkably detailed but, for the most part, it worked as expected. FASA has thrown in the ability to maintain a group from server to server but it didn’t appear to work consistently – sometimes our group of fraggin’ partners would end up together, other times, (particularly in smaller servers), we’d be split up. It wasn’t a deal-breaker but it’s disappointing that it was so tricky for gamers to play together on the same team in a server.
One other small gripe about the game is the cost itself at $59.99 for only nine maps and three game modes – two of which are capture the flag style games based around an artifact and the other is basically Team Deathmatch. As if that wasn’t disappointing enough, the game appears slightly unfinished in general, particularly the player animations which have a floaty, sliding feel to them as they move around the game world. I couldn’t help but feel that this was a concession to smooth framerates despite the bland texturing in large portions of the game. One positive in all this are the well-made maps. Though you don’t get many, they’ve been highly tweaked to handle all the bizarre enhancements your character can use during battle and they seem particularly well-balanced in this regard.
It all comes down to the fun factor once you’ve powered off your Xbox 360. Was the experience somewhat enjoyable? In Shadowrun’s case, I’d say ‘yes, I had a good time.’ Was it an ‘extremely polished AAA-title’ fun? No. In light of the current crop of excellent FPS shooters available on the 360, it’s hard to recommend Shadowrun as a top-tier shooter but it’s still a reasonably good time especially if you’re looking for something just a wee bit different.
If there ever was a title that was meant to be ported to the DS, Midway’s TouchMaster is it. The tabletop machine often found in bars is a collection of over 20 simple games, easily controlled by a touchable screen. It would have taken a lot to mess up this port, but even with no crazy special features or enhancements, this title exceeded expectations.
At first glance, TouchMaster could be easily compared to Nintendo’s own Clubhouse Games. TouchMaster doesn’t feature online play, and the slate of games includes more unique creations than traditional pastimes. It does include Solitaire and Checkers, but it’s the ones like A
In the American Old West — or at least in movies set in that time — sheriffs and deputies faced off against ruthless outlaws and renegades in winner-take-all horseback gunfights set against the dusty backdrop of saloons and poker games. Bang! recreates those hallmarks of the so-called “spaghetti westerns” (and their Italian origins) in a fast-paced card game for 4-7 players.
To begin, each player is dealt a character card; these represent parodies of various Western legends, with names such as “Willy the Kid”, “El Gringo”, and “Calamity Janet”. Each character has a special power, as in Cosmic Encounter, and the number of hits the player can take before being eliminated; your current “hit” total is also your maximum hand size. The second cards dealt out are the role cards, most of which are kept hidden from the other players; the sheriff is revealed and gains an extra “hit”. The other characters are mostly outlaws (who win collectively when the sheriff is killed), but at least one of them is the deputy and secretly allied with the sheriff in his quest to rid the town of its unsavory element(s). In larger games there is also a Renegade, whose unenviable goal is to be the last man standing. Finally, everyone is dealt a starting hand of three cards.
Once the set-up is out of the way, play begins with the sheriff. On your turn, you draw two cards from the deck; cards include various pieces of equipment (such as guns and horses), “Bang!” cards, “Missed!” cards, and various special events. You then play as many cards as you wish, with the exception of only being able to play one “Bang!” card under normal circumstances. Certain cards are restricted by range (how many seats away you’re sitting from your intended target), which is usually where most of the equipment comes into play. If someone plays a “Bang!” card on you, you take a hit unless you respond with a “Missed!” card of your own. When you’re done playing cards, you must discard down to your current life total and then play passes to the left.
All of the cards have symbols on them that represent what they do. A few are too complicated and have a symbol referring to the instructions, but these are rare. Certain cards (and certain characters’ abilities) are centered around the “Draw!” mechanic: each card also has a playing-card suit/value in one corner. When a player has to “Draw!” he flips over the top card of the deck and compares its suit/value to the card’s requirements to see what happens.
Obviously, most of the action is centered around the sheriff, as the majority of the other players want him dead. If anyone kills an outlaw — even another outlaw — that person draws a three-card reward. If the sheriff mistakenly kills his deputy (or one of the two deputies in a seven-player game), then he suffers a stiff penalty. The game ends when one of the surviving characters achieves their victory condition.
A large amount of this game’s strategy comes from bluffing your role and trying to figure out where the alliances of the others lie. Deputies rarely fire on the sheriff, but if the outlaws don’t (or can’t, due to range problems) shoot at him, then the sheriff may wind up hurting those who are actually helping him. Further complicating matters is the Renegade, who will usually masquerade as a deputy by helping the sheriff pick off the outlaws (who will win if the sheriff dies before they all do).
Once your family/group gets past the initial hurdle of learning what that the various symbols mean and how the special cards work, Bang! proceeds quickly and smoothly. It’s probably not destined to be a centerpiece of game night, but it can serve as a nice diversion or as a warm-up for the Big Game.
The Colin McRae Rally series has become one of the premier rally racing simulators since 1998. It may not have the Scottish racer’s name on it, but DiRT is the latest entry into the series, and it continues to excel at rally racing. What’s more, DiRT is one of the best looking racers to hit the Xbox 360 and possibly rivals the visuals of flagship title Gears of War. Unfortuantely, some issues keep DiRT from being all that it could have been, including one of the most poorly thought-out multiplayer components on the system. Still, fans of the series, and even newcomers, will find a lot to go wild about.
DiRT offers up a pretty slick overall presentation. Aside from the realistic (or at least, mostly realistic; more on that further down) rally racing that the McRae series has been providing for over five games now, DiRT has some of the most impressive menu interfaces I’ve ever seen. Travis Pastrana makes a voice-appearance and guides you through the game, and other voice-overs help explain track layouts and strategy. A large selection of tracks, realistic engine sounds, and pleasing visuals help make DiRT one of the most polished racers alongside Forza 2 and PGR 3. Clearly one of the factors that pushes DiRT into this category is the amazing visuals.
The biggest achievement that DiRT can hand to itself is its gorgeous graphics. While other racers like Forza and PGR present some impressive looks, DiRT goes above and beyond on the graphical front. Tracks are beautifully rendered with lush trees, great textures, and dirt and grit flying everywhere. Driver seat cameras, especially the interior camera that features the dashboard, help make DiRT look all the better. Probably the most impressive aspect, however, comes from the game’s collision system. Driving into walls, poles, and otherwise dangerous objects to run into can really end up totaling your car in the long run, and the system even detects each separate element of the car, from the wheels to the cooling intake. Slamming into something hard enough can even immobilize your car and put you out of the race for good. Also worth mentioning is that unlike many racers, DiRT has managed to gain permission to have cars rollover and take all kinds of abuse. For that reason, replays can be immensely entertaining.
As for the meat of the game, DiRT offers up a pretty diverse set of racing options. The main attraction here is career mode, which has you progressing through a tiered series of races to reach the top and final race. As you progress, you’ll come across the standard rally race through off road territory, but in addition, there are several other types of races to mix things up. Hillclimbs, rallycrosses, CORR races, crossover events, and more make up the bulk of career mode, with each having detailed explanations given by Pastrana. There are a lot of variations on these racing types, even going so far as to add in semi-truck races, so you’ll find a lot to do in career mode. In addition to career mode, there are also other modes such as championship, but for the money, career mode is where you’ll spend most of your time.
There may be some that find rally racing a tad complicated. This will probably only be bolstered by the psychobabble that your co-driver spews throughout the game. Rest assured that DiRT is accessible to all audiences. It isn’t all that difficult to pick up and play a race, even if you’ve never even seen a rally race on television. While there are discernable differences between the handling of cars, it is simple to adapt and take the wins in stride. That said, with the five difficulty modes offered, rally enthusiasts are in for a challenge on Pro Am and beyond. With DiRT, there’s pretty much something for all skill levels.
With all the praise given to DiRT so far, there are some unfortunate downsides, starting with the game physics. The Colin McRae series has been known for a realistic approach to rally racing, and DiRT doesn’t seem to be an exception. Yet, cars don’t seem to feel as natural as they should and don’t grip the road quite like you would think a rally car would. This doesn’t make for an impossible-to-control game, but taking corners and braking seem much easier than you would think. With this taken into consideration, DiRT almost seems to stray away from realism a bit and shows a little of its arcade side. It has been said that the Xbox 360 Wireless Steering Wheel feels much more in-tune with the cars than the game pad (something I was unfortunately unable to verify), but even with physics issues, DiRT can still be a lot of fun.
Unfortunately, while control issues can be excused in light of DiRT‘s great performance, the online play doesn’t get off so easily. The PGR, Forza, and Need for Speed series’ have been providing ample online support for quite some time now, but DiRT does not. Instead, you can have up to 100 other players join into a lobby and race separately on the same track to try and make the best time. This isn’t a bad idea, but as the sole online option in the game, it makes for a bit of a disappointment. Rally Raids and Corr races are great fun offline, and, though probably ridiculously chaotic, would produce the same results online. It isn’t enough that there is only a single mode to choose from, but also your options between picking tracks are also hindered by a voting system. The single player is good, long fun, but some better multiplayer options would have really put DiRT over-the-top. For now, it seems like the developers just stopped short.
With physics errors and online disappointments aside, DiRT is among some of the best racers on the Xbox 360, and is certainly the premier rally racer on the console. While PGR and Forza offer up slick visuals, DiRT will truly blow you away with its amazing graphics, and the damage modeling is something all racing titles should strive for. With a long and fulfilling career mode, the game also packs a lot into its offline options. It’s just too bad that the developers had to skimp on the online functions. Even so, DiRT is highly recommended and lives up to the standards of the Colin McRae Rally series.
