Brain Hood

Any and every video game news rag worth its salt is awash with speculation as to whether Hitman: Absolution would live up to the sheer euphoria of expectations that the trailers  have aroused. Before we proceed, we do categorically state that we simply loved Hitman: Blood Money, the previous iteration, and the chronological successor to IO’s coming offering.

What We Know So Far of Hitman: Absolution

It seems that Diana Blackwood, 47’s handler in the previous games, went rogue after the events of Blood Money / Contracts, purging all existing data on her from the ICA systems before doing a vanishing act. The sanction on her life was issued to 47 and that seems to be the premise of Hitman: Absolution.

Gameplay in Hitman: Absolution

The details are fuzzy so far as regards what the gameplay enhancements in Hitman: Absolution may be. However, what’s emerging apparently is that while stealth is still a part of the game, all out carnage may have just been made easier than earlier games. More on that later.

What has been clarified so far is that there is greater environmental interaction, with the ability to use various objects as improvised weapons or decoys. This was introduced in Blood Money with the coin feature and Hitman: Absolution looks all set to explore the possibilities further.

The new throttling mechanism takes a page out of Deus Ex, giving you an option to quickly break a victim’s neck as against the slower and more brutal choking. Also information has been revealed that 47 can utilize a given hiding place for both himself and a dead/ unconscious victim at the same time. This should add a whole new level of realism to Hitman: Absolution.

Better situation awareness has also been reportedly introduced in the form of what’s being called the “Super-Assassin-O-Vision”. This takes the form of an ‘instinct’ resource that helps ‘see’ enemies through walls or predict their paths. The ‘instinct’  resource means different things at differnt points; for instance, another use of it is to make disguise more effective. The resource gets used up and has to recharged, kind of like “bullet time” in Max Payne.

Is Hitman: Absolution a Departure from the Silent Assassin Stealth Gameplay Approach?

New gameplay elements such as cover mechanics have reportedly been introduced, making it possible for 47 to dig in for a firefight if required. Consequently, you may just earn that “mass murderer” rating without using a cheat-code if only you use the gameplay elements right. This action-hero style of gameplay could be an interesting variation and would lend the game more replay value (something for which the Hitman series is famous anyway).

Previous games had a problem that breaking the identity cover eventually led to a heavily outnumbered 47 being gunned down no matter how many he killed. The developers say that that is remedied by introducing another manifestation of the ‘instinct’ resource: Point Shooting, sort of like the quick-draw in some western-themed games. This could not only add a more cinematic experience to Hitman: Absolution but also offer a more viable alternative (as against previous games) to the sneaking around of old. Of course, that’s fun in its own way.

The game is due out this year, and this gaming news blog can’t wait for some more semi-sandbox murdery fun that’s coming our way in the shape of Hitman: Absolution. 

As Rockstar Games released the first official game trailer for Max Payne 3, there was a mixed reaction of both hope and cynicism from video game lovers and one can hardly blame them. A look at the various gaming multimedia titles these days would reveal that the electronic entertainment industry is sorely lacking in the ability to surprise. That is especially true with the  video game industry’s carnival events, where established formulae and a tendency to play it safe with series iterations tend to win over any creativity inspired fresh ideas that the developers may have. A general rule of thumb is to stick to what works with minor gameplay modifications, and to leave it to the more enhanced graphic engines to give the feel of freshness. So essentially, fans of popular franchises are playing the same game, iteration-after-iteration, with a new skin.

Rockstar Games is one development house that has, so far, managed to fight this tendency successfully in their games. Rockstar has been known, in the past, to tightly control information flow before a title release and to seldom indulge in pre-release media hype. The philosophy behind that is rooted in Rockstar’s inherent trickster persona, as VP and co-founder Dan House puts it: Letting people peek behind the curtain spoils the fun.

Max Payne 3: A Legacy to Live Up To

Due in March 2012, Max Payne 3 is the sequel to an action series that, in many ways, introduced cinematic aspects to the videogame world and remains one of the more story-driven shooting games to come out. Payne was a fugitive undercover cop: his cover busted, framed for murder of a colleague and hunted by both the NYPD and the mob. The first two games had a noir feel that contributed as much to the fan following as the ground-breaking gameplay. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne came out in 2004; eight years and one sloppy movie adaptation later, fans of the franchise have stuck to their guns.

That puts Rockstar, and Max Payne 3 in a somewhat complicated space: not only would the game have to compete against other titles in its genre, it also has to contend with the nostalgic memories of players who have long since forgotten any of its weaknesses.

Max Payne 3 Official Trailer Unveils Partial Storyline

The new game sees Max working as a private security specialist protecting an industrialist and his family in Sao Paulo. When gangs target the family, Max must battle not only the gangsters, but also the inner demons that have driven him for so long.

It’s a story that, on the surface, sounds formulaic, but both Rockstar and the Max Payne series have always taken pains to weave a complex tale into the games, rather than loosely tying event moments together with a threadbare plot.

Houser, who is also lead writer on Max Payne 3 (as he was on “Grand Theft Auto IV”), says he believes refining writing is essential to the maturation of the industry.

Maintaining control over story — and any cinematic qualities — is especially challenging as the gaming world moves toward a more multiplayer focus. Players still appreciate a good campaign, but if a game doesn’t have a strong online component where they can play with (or, even better, against) others, it hurts the game’s earnings potential.

Is Rockstar Seeking to Break New Ground with Max Payne 3?

Rockstar hasn’t talked much about the multiplayer aspects of Max Payne 3, but Houser hints that just because those elements of the game live outside of the campaign, it doesn’t mean they’re not part of the narrative.

“We wanted to put some elements of single player into the multiplayer so the multiplayer will have a lot more detail and have elements of story in it and have a sort of an immersive quality,” he says.

Max Payne 3 has done its time in development hell. First announced in 2009, with an expected shipping date of the winter of that year, it has been pushed back a couple of times to let the development team polish it and ensure the quality was up to Rockstar’s exacting standards. This includes an excruciating attention to detail, which Houser says is the real key to the company’s success, and would ensure that Max Payne 3 would live up to fan’s expectations and then some more.

While video game news and reviews are pretty commonplace, few pieces of gaming multimedia merchandize have had the kind of sway over us as Alien: Infestation. And why is that, do I hear you ask? Well, let’s just say that apart from being part of an iconic movie franchise that has shaped popular culture, Alien: Infestation just might be the last Nintendo DS game ever. It is also a very good one,with Wayforward Technologies collaborating with Gearbox Software to produce what seems to be a Metroidvani adventure set in the Alien universe.

The Beginning of Alien: Infestation

The Alien: Infestation adventure starts aboard the Sulaco, with a squad of Colonial Marines arriving to investigate what’s going on there in the aftermath of the events seen in James Cameron’s Aliens. It’s not the only environment you’ll see over the course of the game, but it’s definitely where the bulk of the big moments unfold.

In just about any story-driven game you can think of, death is a worry but never an outright fear. More often than not, your character will simply be whisked back to the nearest save or checkpoint. That’s not the case in Aliens: Infestation. Death is very much a permanent thing here.

Alien: Infestation Gameplay

 You start with a squad of four marines, though only one of them is ever under your direct control. The rest pop up and can be switched between whenever you enter one of the game’s save rooms, where you can also resupply and swap weapons. Each marine represents one of your “lives” in the game. If the one you’re controlling bites the dust, you select a new marine to spawn in wherever you died, full up on ammo and fresh for the fight.

The natural response for many gamers will be to simply reload an old save, but it’s better to just roll with it in Alien: Infestation. There are 19 playable marines in Alien: Infestation, which will be more than enough for most to get through the six-or-so-hour adventure. Each one has his or her own dialogue too, so swapping soldiers actually serves to inject freshness.

You can only have a maximum of four marines in your squad. Any stragglers you find while you have a full crew will just stay where they are until you can pick them up. It’s a remarkably clever way of giving you multiple “lives” in the game while imbuing each with its own, unique personality.
The environments are easily recognizable as 16-bit(-ish) reinterpretations of what you’ve seen in the films. Light and dark is used to good effect in Alien: Infestation, and there are some great moments in which you actually feel some tension building, a rare thing for a small-screen game such as this.

Alien: Infestation Controls & Game Atmosphere

True to the Aliens vibe, you never really feel in Alien: Infestation like you’ve got a handle on things. Even as you find upgrades for your weapons — which unfortunately cannot be swapped, so be sure you’ve got the gun you want to boost in your hands before you collect an upgrade — you’ll still frequently find yourself low on health and scuttling back to a save or searching for a pickup.

The controls of Alien: Infestation feel a little clunky, especially if you happen to be playing on a Nintendo 3DS and using its analog nub. The D-pad offers a more precise set of inputs, though you’ll still find cursing as something attacks you that could have been avoided with smoother controls. The touchscreen inputs used for swapping between gear can also be a pain in the heat of a battle, particularly with some of the tougher boss fights.

In the future, there shall be many a game reviewed, and there will be exciting  exciting video game news, so keep reading! Till then, try and get your hands on a copy of Alien: Infestation.

In our previous post on cloud gaming, we introduced you to the concept of cloud gaming and how it has begun to come in its own as a part of the developing cloud computing technologies. We also gave you an idea of just why video game news publications are raving about it. Let us now take a deeper look at cloud gaming, its origins, and what it requires to enjoy cloud gaming.

Origins of Cloud Gaming and Current Operators

The concept of cloud gaming was first introduced by a Finland firm named G-cluster, and touted highly by several video game news publications. Since then, several firms have banked upon this technology and have been working towards it. Some firms like OnLive, Gaikai and PlayCast have been among the few to come out with a working revenue model that they have implemented straightaway and even gone operational. These operators are now working hard to improve their servers and to provide the gamers with the perfect infrastructure to enjoy this technology, at the same time trying to bring down costs in order to make it accessible to more video game lovers.

Games such as Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia are one of the most popular games played on the internet these days. Even the requirements for these aren’t much and you just need a PC, Mac that could access the internet.

With cloud gaming, code processing and video rendering done at the server-side you can play any game on any system including DOS/Apple/Commodore/Atari games, arcade games, console games, Windows games, Apple OS games, and phone app games. Any game can be put on server and it is the capability of the server that allows multi users to enjoy those games at the same time.

Limitations of Cloud Gaming

The main limitation of Cloud gaming is the network quality. Due to the difference in the network quality at the end of different users depending upon their distance to a game server of the cloud users may experience several problems while playing games. Some people might get disconnected while playing games due to these issues. It may irritate a player if he/she gets disconnected every now and then.

Another limiting factor may be ability of local computer or system to properly render a video stream. Video compression codecs and technologies may be used by a gaming cloud to reduce amount of data required to transfer over bandwidth, and it takes sufficient amount of processing power to decompress and/or decode such a video stream.

Cloud gaming is to retro gaming what Email is to Letters. When emails started it was feared that the letters would not exist after some time but they survived in their own category. It may be the future, it may not but one thing is for certain we are not there yet.

It will be exciting to see how the people react when the next generation of consoles using conventional gaming multimedia (DVDs, Blu-Rays, etc.) come against more improved cloud gaming servers.

That’s all we have on cloud computing for now; keep following us for more video game news updates and game reviews.

A glance at the latest video game news would reveal that Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, also known as MMORPG for short, are a relatively recent craze in the world of online multiplayer gaming. Although online multiplayer gaming had already been immensely popular by the time MMORPG titles made an appearance, this relatively newer genre has now outpaced all other online video gaming genres. The sheer scale of these games, and immersive environment and gameplay they offer to the gamers has led to a level of involvement for gamers that has confounded non-MMORPG video game developers and worried behavioral scientists.

Evolution of MMORPG

World of Warcraft : An Immesely Popular MMORPG

Spurred on by the rapid development of the Internet, which has, in general, led to a huge influx in the development of computer gaming.  You can play online games with people from different parts of the world. Over the years, titles such as Counter-Strike and Need for Speed have enjoyed (and continue to do so) dedicated online gaming communities. The MMORPG genre itself has evolved from console and PC based Role Playing Games ( RPGs ) such as the Final Fantasy series, involving extensive character development as you go along playing missions and completing quests. This concept was taken and put online, where every character you encounter in the MMORPG universe is a human gamer on quests of their own. The possibilities, therefore, are very real-world and virtually limitless.

In the MMORPG genre games, players from across the globe connect to a server and play as described above; excellent computer graphics are an added plus point that MMORPG game more exciting to play, but not the main consideration for MMORPG gamers.

We’ll now about two very popular MMORPG titles.

MMORPG: Vindictus

Vindictus is an action oriented MMORPG from Nexon with top notch graphics and fast paced bloody game play. The core structure of Vindictus is simple, with little time needed to introduce you to the basic mechanics, and more time involving you in the real combat.  Colhen is a place from where you can pick up tasks, buy and sell items, learn skills, and socialize with other players. In most of the missions you run through the same environments and areas over and over again, which sometimes might end up with a battle. With your enemies getting in your way every now and then and with traps littered everywhere the game becomes interesting as you try to reach your quest. When you are involved in a boss battle, for instance, your main focus should be on the teamwork to take your enemies out of your way.

MMORPG: World of Warcraft

This is the role-playing game you should play; no matter who you are no matter what you do this is a game that everyone would like. This is because World of Warcraft brings out all the best aspects of this style of gaming. The game is set in Azeroth in a period that something near to Medieval Europe.  World of Warcraft is one of a kind of experience and it’s something that is recommendable to everyone. After playing this game you will feel glad that you are one of those people who play games and will feel sorry for those who don’t. This game is really easy to play. You do not need any tutorial to learn to play this game. Once you start playing you move along with the flow and will feel after sometime that nothing is tough in this game.  The interface is very user friendly and makes it easier for you to enjoy this game. This is an action packed game; you will never feel yourself doing something over and over. Regardless of which character you play you can greatly contribute to player groups or play alone and can even manage the monsters on your own. The variety of the game is one of the best parts. The type of character you play you’ll start out in totally different types of places.  In short if you have still not played World of Warcraft you have missed out on something great.

Hope you enjoyed reading about this latest gaming multimedia trend, and that you get inspired to play a MMORPG yourself.

Cloud gaming is a term fast becoming familiar to those who regularly follow gaming news blog posts.  So what is cloud gaming exactly? Cloud gaming can be loosely defined  as a video game that is played over the web, with no downloads and no specialized hardware or software required except of course for a thin client computer and a nominal web browser. Cloud gaming is also known as gaming on demand and is a new trend in online gaming. It allows you to play streamed games on demand using your computer (device) with the help of a client. The actual game software is stored with the operator or the gaming company’s server which is streamed directly to devices accessing the server (of course with the help of a client).

 This ground breaking development has enormous potential. A system that lets you play all the latest titles from almost any computer could be enticing for many gamers who are reluctant to invest in expensive hardware, and there are also opportunities here for software developers. With no downloads necessary for end users, games can be designed with premium optimization in mind.

Cloud Gaming : Part of a New Movement in Computing

The impact of cloud gaming has to be understood in the larger context the new technology that is changing the way we understand and manage our daily computing: cloud computing.

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, where shared resources, software, and information are provided to other devices over a network. These clouds are already present in most of our daily lives. Whenever we log in to our email accounts via a web browser, all the data is stored in the Clouds. Many of us may have also interacted with such Clouds when using Google Docs in which the docs, spread sheets and presentations are all edited online without ever being saved at our devices. ‘The Cloud’ is the ‘place’ where the files you view and use online are stored it saves your hard disk space and also allows you to access your documents from any place in the world.

How Cloud Gaming Scores over Currently State-of-the-Art Consoles

Since the inception of this technology of cloud computing, the gaming industry has seen several new changes for the benefit of the gamers. The technology of cloud gaming allows the user an access to numerous games without the need of a high end gaming multimedia and hardware like the Xbox360 and the PlayStation gaming consoles. You do not need to have a high end computer as the server runs the processing needs and acts like a system for the game to run upon. Just like any other game played on the computer the keys are assigned for all the moves, every move that can be made by the console is available on the computer. This allows you to enjoy the same game with the same moves without shedding out extra money. The controls and button presses from the user are transmitted directly to the server, where they are recorded, and the server then sends back the game’s response to the input controls.

Further adding to the fun you do not require an internet connection that is very high on speed, you can even enjoy the gaming experience with just another average internet connection needed for a standard definition television i.e. 1.5 mbps.

This was us introducing you to the concept of cloud gaming. We’ll be back soon with more details about cloud gaming, as well as other video game news and gaming multimedia trends.

Gaming Multimedia Wars: Who’s the Best?

Sony’s PlayStation 3 is widely touted as the best gaming machine money can buy, though the small but hardcore group of Xbox 360 loyalists would contest that. They’d do so by citing the ‘superior GPU’, mindboggling hardware related figures or the online gaming portal that doubles as a Facebook of sorts, never mind the fact that these arguments just don’t hold water in the face of the sheer variety of titles that can be enjoyed on the PS3. Then there’s the infinitely better support on offer too. But let’s  not indulge in unnecessary baiting here; we must talk of the PS3.

Gaming Multimedia: What Makes PS3 Rock

• It is always on, so you can access your PlayStation3 from a remote location as long as you have a working internet connection.
• The PS3 CPU is several times faster than Xbox360, its nearest competitor, in terms of GFlops.
• The PS3 has a worthy companion on the PlayStation Portable; we can connect the PSP to our Playstation 3 and transfer media files such as music, videos, gaming multimedia etc.
• The multimedia game portfolio of published titles for PS3 is phenomenal; developers and publishers of over 230 games had already announced titles even before the console came out.
• PS3 has excellent backward compatibility with PlayStation 2 console, games and accessories.

Gaming Multimedia: What Makes PS3 Lag behind the 360

• Comes with only 256 MB video RAM, less than the 512 MB the Xbox 360 comes with. It may, however, be argued that while all of the 360’s RAM is shared from the system, the PS3 GPU’s RAM is onboard. A further 240 MB may be shared from the system, bringing PS3 closer to the Xbox360.
• The PS3 GPU lacks eDRAM, which enables the Xbox360 to edge it out in terms of sheer GPU bandwidth.

Microsoft is closing the gap with Xbox 360 and probably will eventually catch up with Sony in gaming multimedia consoles.  For some gaming multimedia users, it may come down to something as simple as which one is more compatible with the games they already have in their gaming multimedia collection.

Gaming Multimedia Wars

It has long been a bone of contention among gaming multimedia fanatics: whether Xbox 360 is actually  better  and is second in sales compared to PlayStation 3 only because of the latter’s larger propaganda machinery and because PlayStation as a brand has been around longer. As a gaming multimedia platform, Xbox360 is very good indeed, but does Microsoft have what it takes to beat Sony’s PlayStation3? Xbox360 did have a head-start in the gaming multimedia console race when Microsoft released their third-generation gaming multimedia console (and predecessor to PS2’s rival Xbox) before PS3 could get off the blocks. However, since its launch, PS3 hasn’t had all that trouble catching up in terms of sales.

Gaming Multimedia: What Microsoft Brings to the Table

Here’s all that the Three-Sixty offers:

• Free limited period subscription to their online gaming portal – This allows players to try out online gaming through XboxLive at no extra charge.
• Live-aware – Essentially a social networking tool for the Xbox360 players. You can connect to friends, make new ones, see who is online and what they are playing from your console. Essentially, this expands the limits of gaming multimedia into the realms of social networking. Convergence is more than a buzz-word, it would seem.
• It offers great media features including listening to music while you play games, the ability to create custom playlists and your own custom soundtracks, the ability to rip songs from original CDs to your Xbox360 and stream music from your MP3 player to your Xbox360.  You can also create slideshows of photos to share with friends and family.
• The gaming multimedia console has an unprecedented amount of RAM; when it comes to sheer number crunching, Xbox360 rules the roost.

Gaming Multimedia: The Hiccups

But, Xbox 360 ,multimedia gaming console still has some problems that need to be worked out:

• They offer third party support in Japan, which is irksome to say the least. While some Japanese developers offer software for the Xbox, it is small in number when compared to what the same developers offer for Playstation. Considering the large gamer base in that country, and the fact that its home to PlayStation owners Sony Corporation, this could be costly.
• The wireless controller consumes batteries rather rapidly. Standard alkaline cells only give thirty hours of playing time, so you want to spring for rechargeable batteries and a charger if you’re planning to go for the Xbox 360.

These gaming multimedia consoles are also prone to what’s now known as the “360 screen of death,” an error screen.  There have also been reports of overheating from some test users. These reports are largely unsubstantiated, so it was either fixed by Microsoft, or it was a device defect experienced by some users. Some users have reported the Xbox 360 system as being very noisy when playing an Xbox 360 disc. The gaming  console market is unlikely to see a lot of new entrants, but the competition is likely to heat up among these two biggies of gaming multimedia.

Those of you who’ve been following the Counter-Strike tips on this video game blog would be pleased to note that we’ve finally come up with the long-promised advanced tips and tricks for Counter-Strike, a video game that very few people belonging to the post-80s generation can claim to not playing. So now that you have mastered the basics, we bring you the real-deal tips that you expect from any respectable video game blog.

Video Game Blog: Compensate for Recoil

Assault rifles can be deadly accurate or mere spray-and-pray weapons, depending on your trigger discipline

One of the major attractions of Counter-Strike has always been the realism of its weapon physics opposed to a video game such as, say Unreal Tournament. Weapon recoil makes your aiming reticule/weapon sight jumps rather quickly. If you’re not compensating for it, your aim will be badly thrown off. Once again, it’s hard to compensate on full auto, so use this with the burst fire technique already described. Any video game blog will tell you this.

Keep Secondary Weapon Ready

Counter-Strike is one video game that gives you a specific control to switch between any two weapons and that makes it much easier to switch to your pistol when you’re under fire than it is to reload your primary weapon. It might not always be a case of ammo either; a handgun is often more suitable for close-quarters combat if your aim is top-notch.

Video Game Blog: Use the Good Old Tap-Double Tap

For those who like to lean on the left-mouse button and just sweep through enemies ala Serious Sam, however, it also has two unfortunate side-effects: the realistic recoil of the weapons would mean that you end up hitting very little that’s worth hitting and secondly, you run out of ammo very quickly, exposing yourself to certain ‘death’. Unless you’re at point-blank range, in which case you may by all means let loose the full-auto, you must fire in short bursts of three-four rounds; this is particularly effective when using the SMG. With an assault rifle like the M-4, you could also use a technique that real-life military operatives call the tap-double tap. As the name suggests, you tap the trigger once, followed by two quick squeezes. Result: three precisely aimed shots.

Use Grenades to Good Effect

Any video game blog would tell you that grenades, in the right hands, are effective for softening up large groups of enemies. There are three types of grenades: frag grenades can injure or kill a number of enemies, depending on how many are in proximity to the blast (and how close) while a flash grenade temporarily blinds and disorients those caught in the blast radius, rendering them open to attack. Flash grenades have to be used with particular care, as one can end up blinding their own team: this happens even if friendly fire is off. Smoke grenades are used to form a smoke screen; this may come in handy to block the vision of enemy snipers so they have to move in closer, as a cover for retreat or even as a distraction.

Video Game Blog: Try to Work as a Team

Lone action heroes do not last long in CS. If you decide to go Rambo on your teammates and your enemies, you’re likely to run into a hail of gunfire (and snickers) without any backup at all. Also, team members would do well to carry a variety of weapons to give the team evenly balanced firepower. On a personal level, try to master one weapon, but only after you’ve had a go at most of them. The machine-gun, for instance, is heavy but can be used to deadly effect.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice makes perfect. Need we say more?

These are all the individual gameplay tactics that you can use to triumph in CS. Naturally, there are a number of class-specific, weapon-specific and map-specific strategies and tips that are best discussed with somewhat advanced Counter-Strike gamers.

So do you have any gaming tips and tricks to share with the readers of our video game blog?

Video Game Blog: The Rebirth of  Deus Ex

When we decided to review Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the readers of this video game blog, we were admittedly excited (the visuals we’d seen so far looked cool), but also apprehensive due to the once-bitten twice shy mentality that countless high brouhaha series sequels of late that have fallen flat. However, we wanted to be understanding and to look at the game objectively. After all, with so many things having changed in the years gone by, it would perhaps be wise for the denizens of this video game blog0 to get rid of baggage from past Deus Ex games before we judge the latest iteration. Or so we thought.

Video Game Blog: Challenges Galore

Ion Storm, the celebrated game development firm that was the breeding ground for the earlier Deus Ex games among other highly acclaimed games, no longer existed; Warren Spector and Harvey Smith, mainstays of the original team, have long moved on to bigger and better things; after two delectable games in the series, and a long gap since the second, fans have been clamoring for the third iteration and the expectations are high. These and more were the challenges that developer Eidos Montreal faced when they decided to revive one of the most widely loved series in video game history. They met all of them head on, and came out with Human Revolutions.

To begin with, Eidos does well to stick to the age old wisdom that dictates- “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”- and offers a gameplay that tastefully merges the best elements of stealth, combat, exploration, with the overall game progress structure seamlessly merging all the features of a role-playing game such as upgrade and conversation systems. Your tactical approach in a given situation can impact the storyline as well as further gameplay experience on many levels: narrative sequence, goodies you can plunder, shape of the game world can all be varied. Regrettably, though,  it has been observed on many a video game blog  that all game components aren’t equally well-polished; and we have to agree with that assessment.

Video Game Blog: Story & Gameplay

The storyline is a rich, well-written narrative that starts off 25 years prior to the events of the first Deus Ex game, a prequel to the current storyline. Its an era where the society is still coming to grips with the marvels of mechanical augmentation of the human body and the ethical questions it presents. The answers to these questions, however, are unfortunately going to be decided by the corrupt biotechnology firms.  The player takes on the role of ex-SWAT officer Adam Jensen,  who’s now a security consultant with one such firm. An attack by a rival firm leaves our protagonist badly hurt and in the unenviable position of being a guinea pig for the augmentation technology.

There are those among the readership of this video game blog who’re coming from the Metal Gear Solid school of hard knocks for stealth gaming and would appreciate the sneak tactics implemented in the gameplay of Human Revolution. The cover mechanic is well designed, while the AI is unpredictable enough to keep you on your toes. Any video game blog worth their salt would tell you that being a mere shadow among other shadows as you move through enemy strongholds can do your adrenaline levels as much good, if not more, as going in guns blazing.

The conversations system lets you control the tone and the tempo as well as the direction of conversations and negotiations, ala Mass Effect. The conversation can be gradually built up through choices that let you take a given approach. Besides these choices, body language also plays a role.   The conversation system is a product of writing ingenuity, and all of the writing within it is world-class.

Video Game Blog: The Good come with The Bad & The Ugly

There are blotches too, as noted by the resident gaming experts who populate our video game blog. Jensen’s mechanical arms, for instance, run on cheap batteries that drain after every stealth takedown. Since he’s without a spare one for most than half the game, he has to stand by and charge in the eventuality of a stealth takedown. You don’t really need a video game blog to tell you that that sucks. Upgrading these augmentations gives you immense advantages that makes you wonder what the designers were smoking when thinking of weapon balance mechanics.

Speaking of upgrades to the augmentations, this part also influences how you ultimately shape up for the game; how Jensen’s abilities develop by progressive upgrades is also how the narrative shapes itself. The gamers on our video game blog finished every side mission they came across and were not shy about exploring, and still had about 30 upgrades unactivated at the game’s conclusion.

The computer hacking mechanics also suffers from balance issues. It is fairly easy to get to hacking stealth level 3, which dramatically hampers his chances of getting caught (lessens the excitement, duh) the thrill of hacking is gone for good until the fag end of the game when you’re up against level five security rating terminals toward the end of the game. Hacking in this video game is a huge portion of the gameplay rather than just optional side-missions, as it is used to break into systems without proper access. Breaking into security systems can be a lot of fun when it’s balanced just right but the gamers at this video game blog are sad to say that’s not always the case in this video game.

Video Game Blog: Blaze of Glory

There’s a school of thought on many a video game blog (adherents of which would probably send this video game blog “Stealth sucks” messages) who think Rambo was a pussy in the First Blood 2 movie because he used stealth in a couple of places. They need not turn away from Human Revolutions as they can choose to engage in firefights as well; weapon design is cool and gun mechanics are responsive enough. Be warned though that alerted enemies, by some stretch of Murphy-esque logic, seem to lose their intelligence (maybe they just get nervous) and behave in ways that only serve to embarrass the developers. They’d either rush our hero or just get into cover, bobbing up long enough to get picked off one by one. This, however, is balanced by the fact that Jensen cannot take too many bullets before he goes down, as also the fact that ammo is a commodity that’s hard to come by.

Video Game Blog: The Final Analysis

No matter how much we may dwell on the faults of this game, we cannot take away from it the fact that this is a solid offering by Eidos who have managed to take and conquer the challenge of taking another franchise, one as well-loved as Deus Ex, and making it all their own, all the while remaining true to the original. All in all, something to enjoy for the fans as well as those who’ve not played the previous video games.

Goodbye till the next time, then. For more game reviews, keep watching this video game blog space!