Age rating: 15+ (PEGI)

What is it?

The final part of the Bungie’s kill-em-all FPS.

Is it fun?

In parts.

Is it worth the money? £34.99

No, it’s one to rent.

Why?

Over-hyped and underwhelming were the two defining features of Halo 3 for me. The amount of hype layered (lathered and maybe a bit of smearing too) on Halo 3, by Microsoft, was pretty impressive. The problem is that when you separate the hype from Halo 3, you’re not left with a terribly impressive game (contrary to almost every other Halo 3 review available).

I really enjoyed Halo (apart from the idiotic last level). I wished Halo 2 was a lot longer, as I felt it was not only rushed but also a game too far for the struggling Xbox. So I approached Halo 3 with lots of optimism, as the Xbox 360 seemed to be the perfect vehicle for Bungie’s imagination. This optimism was all but obliterated after playing the first few levels. Boring and quite frankly lazy level design was the order of the day. Going back and forth over the same bit of a level is not a way to make it seem bigger. Heck, did Bungie forget they designed huge, and enjoyable, levels like the “The Silent Cartographer” in Halo? Sure there are glimpses of this kind of level design throughout the game. But all this good work is quickly undone with dull, pedestrian and repetitive levels.

The fight is finished in about 6 hours (for single/co-op mode), which is disappointingly short. You will clock up a lot more game time if you try to play it on legendary difficulty which Penny Arcade summed up perfectly with this comic. The graphics vary between pretty good to frequently poor (oooh, some of the cut scenes make your eyes bleed with all the jaggies). Sorry, but Gears of War has raised the bar in terms of FPS graphics, and sadly Halo 3 hasn’t quite caught up yet.

And finally the whole Halo 3 multiplayer experience. Well, I found it a bit sterile and boring to be honest, but it’s all very well done even so. Bungie brings you up to speed nicely with a newbie map at the start, so you’re not flapping around getting blasted by those Halo 3 veterans (that happens later). But I really wanted more variety in the game play, and not just from from playing different maps. When it came down to it I wanted Team Fortress 2 and its class based killing (and healing if you’re an overworked, and underused medic). I really tried to like Halo 3’s multiplayer game, but it just left me cold.

In summary:

A disappointing end to the hype fight (didn’t stop 8.1 million copies of Halo 3 being sold).

Screenshots:

Update 21st Jan 2008: Here’s another Halo 3 review that doesn’t get caught up in the hype.

Age rating: 15+ (PEGI)

What is it?

First person shooter set in the Half-Life universe.

Is it fun?

Yes.

Is it worth the money?

PC - £26.28 via steam, Xbox 360 £26.99 (inc. p+p)
Not on its own, but as part of the Orange Box. Yes, yes, hell yes.

Why?

I absolutely love the Half-Life games. I’ve completed everyone so far (including Blue Shift) and enjoyed every minute. So it’s hardly surprising that I also love this latest episode of Half-Life fun from Valve. It’s liner. It only has a couple of new enemies to blat. There’s the same puzzles to solve with the gravity gun but on a much grander scale. Gordon’s mate Barney Calhoun is notable by his absence and finally you’ll complete the whole shabang in about 6 hours. But what a great way to spend 6 hours.

You can actually feel the love and attention that Valve has (typically) lavished on this game. It has pacing, intelligent, properly scripted dialogue and believable characters. Take for example Alyx. Ever since she appeared in Half-Life 2 you actually care about her survival. I wonder if anything “romantic” will happen before the end of Episode 3, as she seems to have a soft spot for old Mr Freeman. The fact that I’m wondering this speaks volumes for Valve’s realisation of Alyx.

As far as the different versions are concerned, they are the same. I’ve completed Episode 2 on both the PC and the Xbox 360 and I haven’t noticed any differences at all. Apart from Alyx refusing to get out of the car on the 360, even though she was crucial for the next cut scene. The result, cut scene didn’t finish, so I couldn’t progress. Reload. Bah. Also I did play though the game on the Xbox 360 with a garden gnome in tow. I’m not mental honest! It’s so I could get the little rocket man achievement. Yes, you have to play though 85% of the game escorting a gnome. And yes, this made the driving sections even more of a git trying to keep the damn thing in the car. But isn’t this the kind of thing that achievements were invented for, and not awarded just for completing the game and such like? It certainly made me want to play the 360 version after finishing it on the PC.

In Summary

It’s another 6 hours incredibly polished, well scripted Half-Life 2 action. Lovely.

Screenshots

What is it?
First-person shooter with a humongous-boobed supervillain. The first in a planned series of episodes, so it’s quite short.

Is it fun?
Yep. Most definitely.

Is it worth the money? US$14.95 via Steam or £14.99
Via Steam, yes. I was charged £9.54 by Barclays. You could do worse with a tenner.
There’s not really enough game for £15 if you’re an experienced FPS player. Maybe if you dial the difficulty up to the maximum.

Why?
‘Tis fun! The AI is nowhere near as pedestrian as some reviews would have you believe. It’s better than the AI in Black and I love the way you can throw a grenade into the middle of a group, watch them scatter and hear the screams of “Incendiary! Aaaaaah, aaah, it burns!” Shooting down people using jet packs has much the same effect as well. Love it! Pity that the agonised screams are better voice-acted than the main characters.

It’s a bit less fun when you’re standing on a very small balcony and they throw grenades at you.

Gameplay-wise it’s a fairly generic FPS with a rather uninspired premise, though the level designers have done a pretty good job of making a corridor look like a fully-fledged dockyard environment. Even so, I still enjoyed the later levels even though I was never quite sure what the heck I was meant to be doing or why. The repetitive battling of the same enemy units was saved by a ready availability of grenades and environmental objects that blow up with a satisfying whoosh.

The writing ain’t great and they seem to have missed the point that there should be some kind of internal resolution within an episode. I didn’t feel like I’d achieved much at all by the end. Shot a bunch of stuff yes, but as far as plotline goes it was unsatisfying. I really hope they’re not going for some kind of Lost reveal-many-questions-but-few-answers style of writing. It’s immensely frustrating and at least with Lost you get character development and back-story every week. Since Ritual Entertainment are going for episodic releases, the plotline really needs to be properly developed to give players a reason to buy another episode of this instead of just downloading one of a million FPS maps available free on the Interweb.

Keep an eye open for the details on posters and container labels. They’re…. *a-hem* interesting, to say the least.

The Arena mode is worth a look if you’re into personal challenges. It’s a set of single-player maps where the difficulty adjusts depending on how well or how badly you’re doing. I like the one where you’re 6-inches high in a science lab, but not for the gameplay. I just enjoy laughing at really tiny grenades. :)

Links:
Some advice for John Blade
Sin Episodes Official Site
Ritual Entertainment
The Music

Screenshots:

What is it?
First person shooter in a space ship (and a bar, well for a little bit anyway).

Is it fun?
Yes, unless you suffer from motion sickness then you might feel a little sick!

Is it worth the money? Xbox 360 - £39.99 and PC - £24.99
Yes.

Why?
I think it is best to summarise Prey’s good and bad points as it’s a fairly generic first person shooter. However, it does boast portals (aka doors) and other clever graphical effects to distract you from the task at hand which is shooting God damn evil aliens.

Good points:

• It’s easy - You can complete all 22 levels in a few days so you can go play something else.
• I’m invincible - You never really die. Instead you just take part in a sub-game in the spirit world to gain your health and spirit energy back and then you’re transported back to the game at the point you “died”.
• Achievements ahoy - You get achievements after completing every level, even for the short, plot heavy levels where there’s no shooting! Easy money gamerpoints.
• Spirit mode and spirit bow - For those hard to reach places.
• Organic environment - Uses an enhanced Doom 3 engine apparently.
• Kick-ass weapons - I love the leech weapon when it’s full of hot plasma. Melty, melty.
• The “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to game play.
• Clever level design - For the first 19 or so levels incorporating several nice and slightly challenging puzzles.
• Portals - Madness. Sometimes you walk through doors, sometimes you use portals (and so do the bad guys, bugger).
• Gravity switches and walkways - Upside, downside, on-your-side action anyone?
• Your own spaceship - Fly me to the moon, or just to the end of the level. Ta.
• Arcade games - Rune Master, Blackjack and Draw Poker.

Bad Points:

• Really, really lazy level design for the last 3 levels - It looks like they ran out of ideas and wanted the game out the door.
• Too easy.
• Multiplayer via Xbox Live sucks donkey balls - Don’t mention the lag. I said DON’T mention it! Aggghhhh, the lag….
• The Black Jack machine cheats - There seems to be a huge number of 10 cards in the pack Mr Xbox!
• Tommy’s sidekick, the spiritual hawk - Annoying, just really annoying. Look this game is not that complicated so just bugger off and let me shoot stuff!!! Grrr, feckin bird.

Screenshots:

Links:
Official Prey website
Prey’s protracted (11 year) incubation period

1st person shooter - everything explodes!

Is it fun?

Yep

Is it worth the money?

No - too short, combined with no multiplayer, naff story and weak replay incentives.

Tell me more!

I`ll keep this brief. First up, the good stuff:

• Explodeable scenery and destructable cover, great stuff.
• Mostly superb level design.
• It’s a pretty-looking game, lots of blur and bloom effects.
• Lots to shoot (always a good thing in a shoot-em-up).
• Enemies that pretend to act smarter than in most games (circling around you, etc) - and I don’t remember any instances of the enemy doing any really dumb stuff, like ignoring you when only feet away (which they sometimes do in Killzone).
• Good variety of distinct weapons to muck about with.
• Controls are good! You don’t feel like they hinder you like in some console shooters.

Now for the bad:

• Secondary objectives are rubbish - find red documents on the walls, or briefcases, etc. Seems thrown in at the last minute to ‘add value for money’.
• The game is too damn short, and most levels seem a bit samey with just a few that stand out.
• The pre-mission FMV looks and sounds cheap and nasty, cliched story and lots of wizzy video effects to hide the naffness of the video production. It doesn’t really sit well with the exciting madness of the game and doesn’t work as a calm contrast either.
• The game is not realistic in the way you (the player) can survive shooting your way through an entire army, so why make the FMV a poor ‘24′ rip-off?

Roll on the sequel I say, more locations around the world would be cool, as would a less contrived FMV style (hopefully more like Metal Gear Solid cheesyness). This is a well-made product, but too darn short for the cash they are asking for :(

Played it this afternoon with TheFluffyFist in an arcade coz it looked really great. It’s your standard wander-through-the-building-shooting-zombies arcade shooter. This time around you get uzi-style machine guns with grenade launchers and you get attacked by absolutely fricking LOADS of zombies at once! Fantastic stuff! And then during every other intense battle a zombie clings to the screen (apparently it’s supposed to be clinging to your gun) and you have to spend the next 5 seconds shaking it off by literally shaking your machine gun to fill a progress bar while other zombies attack you.

WTF??

This makes no sense. Why can’t I just shoot it? Or at least have some buttons or a pedal to kick it in the crotch or headbutt it or something that makes sense. Extreme Zombie Wobbling? Lame.

Full review may be coming but the only place I’ve seen it was £2 per credit and I am not spending that much money to shake a plastic machine gun in public. Have you guys played it? What did you think?

Yes it looks great, the HDR effect is pretty cool and the level starts off feeling quite fresh as you start on a beach and go on to scale a cliff face (which is vaguely reminiscent of the HL1 cliff level). But it’s so darn short, and boring. You shoot a few Combine and then shoot some more, take out that helicopter yet again and then yawn, it’s all over.

“But this is just a tech demo!” you cry. “Don’t be so critical.” Well ok, if it’s meant to show off the lovely new HDR, how come there aren’t any gameplay related examples of its use? I want to rush out from dark tunnels to the open and be blinded by the daylight whilst the Combine start strafing me with bullets. Bit of a missed opportunity I think, to have not used the technology more effectively.

There were only a couple of bugs which is pretty good going. Turn 180 degrees at the start and walk out to sea whilst crouched; the water doesn’t fog properly and you can see some bright sky under the water. The other bug lets you walk around to the far side of the bay. To do this talk to the old man, then head up the stairs and kill the Combine you encounter. Now keep facing up those same steps until you reach the top, and run and jump off into the water below whilst still facing the town ahead. The water doesn’t have a damage hit zone there so you can continue around to the other side of the bay.

Finally, to end on a positive note, I did like the rusted boat hull you can walk through (just to the left of the start point, over some rocks); it’s like some huge animal’s rib cage. Very nice.

[Original review from TheFluffyFist here]

What is it?

A first person shooter with spooky bits (sorry, paranormal events) and a plot!

Is it fun?

Oh yes, but it will scare the pants off you.

Is it worth the money? (£26.99 from play.com)

Yes, yes, yes!

Why?

The underlying creepy ambience to the whole game which makes even walking down an innocent looking corridor a most unnerving experience as frequent “paranormal events” mess with the lights and manipulate doors at will.
Also the use of flashbacks, showing some very gory cut scenes, further heightens the general sense of unease you experience whilst playing. Let’s also not forget the ghosts who wander about the levels, behaving in some quite disturbing ways and disintegrating before your very eyes.

The game looks spectacular as well, after you’ve done a bit of tweaking at the start to get the best out of your setup as F.E.A.R is a bit of PC killer. This takes about 15-20 mins and then you’re away.

You get to cause mayhem with a whole host of guns, grenades and remote timed mines. This is an 18-rated game so it contains a lot of gore. For example, you are treated to a fountain of blood when you blow someone’s head clean off or get to watch as soldiers turn into a fine blood red mist when blown up by a well placed mine. There is also a lot of graphic swearing, especially when people get shot and wounded.

Also the enemy AI is at least vaguely intelligent, with units communicating with each other and using boxes, furniture and anything else around to give them some cover during the fantastic firefights which occur throughout the game.

You also have your “bullet time” ability at your disposal to slow everything down, making firefights even more spectacular and very Matrix-like!

Tense, violent, beautiful, disturbing, gory and damn enjoyable.

Screenshots:

15+

What is it?

It’s a tech demo with bad guys from Half Life 2 (HL2) to keep you entertained whilst you’re gawping around the latest instalment in the line of free content from Valve.

Is it fun?

Err, yes, briefly.

[Or see a second opinion from Tikipod here]

Is it worth the money?

(Free! With pre-requisites)

Yes.
But you have to buy HL2 first (US$39.95 and requires a credit card), install Steam, play HL2, then download The Lost Coast and then you can start dribbling my friends, start dribbling indeed!

Why?

It’s very, very, very pretty (HL2 was no munter in the first place!), short (15 minutes game time without the Valve commentary) and it will melt your PC.

Now unless you have won the lottery or spend thousands of pounds on your PC every year (i.e. have an ATI X800/850 or NVidia 6600GT gfx card), Steam will inform you that your system isn’t up to it. Ignore this warning (if you can - it’s a bit in-your-face), as it will run surprisingly well with all the eye candy turned on as the Valve 3D engine (aka Source) is pretty cool on all types of PC.

Gone are the days when it was the latest FPS from ID software running John Carmack’s PC-melting 3D engine that would make you look at your PC and think “Damn I wish I had lots more money to upgrade this thing”. Now Valve have stuck their collective hands up and said, “Look what we have written to destroy your PC!” Suppose we’ll just have to wait for them to make a game using HDR (High Dynamic Range). Oh wait, it’s called HL2: Aftermath (coming soon)

Nearly forgot. You can also turn on commentary “bubbles” from Valve employees and listen to them talk about HDR and creating The Lost Coast level. Nice, if you like that kind of thing. Listen once, turn off, go back to shooting the bad guys.

Oh, and don’t bother trying to cross the water to get to the pretty bridge as you get eaten by piranhas the moment you set foot in the lovely, shiny water. However, if you’re cunning enough, like me, and you do get to the other side you find out that actually they didn’t get round to finishing it! (see the last screenshot) Naughty Valve…

Links:

Steam Homepage

Screenshots: