Brain Hood

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!

You may have already deduced this in light of the complete absence of marketing for the game, but CVG report that long-in-development-hell, ex-Midway game This Is Vegas has finally been put out of its misery.

Yes, the open-world game that nobody ever wanted, never looked remotely interesting and never looked like actually coming out may now never actually come out, the report saying that the game had consumed over $50 million between former publishers Midway and current publishers Warner Bros.

$50 million? On This Is Vegas? No wonder Midway went bust.

Shares of GameStop Corp. sank more than 8 percent Thursday after the Grapevine-based video game retailer reported increased second-quarter results that nevertheless missed analysts’ expectations.

The company also slightly lowered its outlook for the third quarter, but it kept its full-year guidance intact.

GameStop said it expects a recent surge in sales of video game consoles and new games to lead to a boost in used game sales, which is the company’s most profitable segment.

The company is also accelerating the rollout of two initiatives: a new customer loyalty program and in-store kiosks that allow customers to purchase downloadable game add-ons.

Those moves are adding costs.

“We kind of surprised people with the aggressiveness of the rollout of our strategic initiatives,” chief executive Paul Raines said.

The retailer reported total sales of $1.8 billion, up from $1.74 billion a year ago, turning a profit of $40.3 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with $38.7 million, or 23 cents a share, last year.

Analysts had been expecting revenue of $1.82 billion and earnings per share of 27 cents.

Shares closed down $1.70, or 8.2 percent, at $19.06 Thursday.

GameStop’s digital strategy is of particular interest to investors and analysts concerned that the disc-based industry will soon migrate online, as the music business already has.

GameStop recently bought online gaming service Kongregate and is building in-store kiosks where gamers can download additional content for their games.

Raines said more than 5 percent of purchases at GameStop include digital add-ons.

Still, many analysts are skeptical that GameStop can manage the transition from packaged-goods retailer to digital distributor.

The company is also developing software for its kiosks that will allow customers to swipe their payment cards and PowerUp Rewards loyalty cards at the kiosks, rather than at the store’s cash register.

That technology could allow GameStop to place stand-alone kiosks in shopping malls, convenience stores and other locations.

GameStop officials said, though, that they have no intention of mimicking Dallas-based Blockbuster Inc.’s plan to rent video games by mail.

“You’ve got a high-cost, short shelf-life item that gets rented and gets held for weeks,” said executive chairman Dan DeMatteo. “So your number of turns on this thing is very, very short. That was a real head-scratcher. At this late stage, getting into that business, I don’t get it.”

Store openings have slowed considerably, with GameStop adding a net of 99 stores worldwide so far this year.

While that rate is about one-third less than it was three years ago, Raines said, there are still about 1,400 locations in the U.S. that could ultimately accommodate a store.

GameStop now has 6,549 stores in 17 countries.

There aren’t many video game franchises that could survive a 12-year gap between releases, only to return to hysteric fanfare.

Few games have had a following like “Starcraft,” which was released in 1998 and is still played online by thousands. And so expectations were set high for the sequel, “Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty,” ever since it was initially announced three years ago.

Luckily for fans of the original, developer Blizzard has met those expectations by changing little of what has worked for so long.

For gamers who missed out on the original, “Starcraft” is a real-time strategy game in which players manage resources to build the sci-fi armies of one of three races: the human Terrans, the Alien-esque Zerg, and the spiritual Protoss.

“Wings of Liberty” changes none of this. Instead, Blizzard wisely avoids trying to outdo itself by expanding on the single-player storyline and refining the multiplayer campaign without stripping away any of the original game’s appeal.

The single-player storyline, set four years after the events of the 1998 expansion pack to “Starcraft,” “Brood War,” will be largely confusing and irrelevant to gamers new to the franchise.

That’s a shame, because the tale of Jim Raynor’s rebellion is engrossing sci-fi. Blizzard includes four pages of backstory in the instruction booklet with “Wings of Liberty,” retelling the events of the original game. But despite smart writing, eye-catching cut scenes and a riveting cliffhanger, the story will be secondary to the gameplay for many players.

The single-player gameplay, which is limited to Terrans (Blizzard plans further expansions focusing on the other races), is varied and ingenious. From hurriedly gathering resources as lava rises and falls around your units, to chasing trains as roaming mercenaries attack your troops, “Wings of Liberty” rarely gets old.

While many of the original units such as Marines, Zerglings and Zealots return, Blizzard has added several clever new ones that dramatically change the strategy of each game. The Zerg’s Roach, for example, can travel while burrowed and pop out to surprise enemy bases. The Protoss’ Colossus, seemingly inspired by the tripod aliens of the classic “The War of the Worlds,” can step across cliffs and different levels of terrain.

It’s the smaller touches, however, that make “Starcraft 2″ great.

Whereas the original game featured a static menu where floating heads talked about mission, players now explore Raynor’s detailed ship to get to know the characters, play old arcade games, and even listen to a jukebox filled with classic and original songs. Blizzard also included achievements as small rewards for players who complete side tasks in both the single and multiplayer modes, giving the game an extra layer of re-playability.

For many, the real draw of “Starcraft 2″ remains the multiplayer aspect. The updated Battle.net, Blizzard’s free online service, is a slick hub that helps users learn the game and find opponents of a similar skill level. While casual gamers will likely need time to get used to the difficulty of multiplayer, which is just as strategic and varied as the original, it only adds to the satisfaction when players win a match.

The bad news is the game does not work well on every PC or Mac. Whereas the original game seemed to run smoothly on any machine, “Starcraft 2″ can be a resource hog. The game looks great even when the graphics are set to the lowest levels, but don’t bother picking it up if you are playing under the minimum recommendations.

For fans of the original, “Starcraft 2″ is worth the wait. Blizzard doesn’t deviate from the proven formula, but instead adds to it to create an updated version of a game that was already flawless. And if you’re new to the franchise, don’t worry — you’ll learn what a Zerg Rush is soon enough.