Hands on - Games out this week

Video games are increasingly taking a more central role in our lives and in the ever broadening scope of popular culture. With that in mind I wanted to keep you all abreast of the current situation in gaming. This week sees the release of one of the biggest games of the year, along with a new karaoke title for PlayStation, a cross-platform fantasy role-playing game and the third iteration of a platforming favourite.

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So let’s take a look at what’s on offer…

Infinity Ward and Activision’s latest first-person shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the year is due for worldwide release on November 10th, 2009. The game marks the sixth installment of the Call of Duty series,and is a direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. To gauge the level of interest in the game think about the release of Transformers 2 in cinemas or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in bookstores, where whether or not the movie/book was any good took second place to wanting to see/get it first. Game stores around the world, including XtraVision in Ireland, are having special midnight events to mark the launch and allow gamers to get their hands on the new game.

The single-player campaign sees the player take on the role of Sergeant Gary “Roach” Sanderson, a member of an elite, multinational commando unit known as Task Force 141. Task Force 141′s role is to counter the threat posed by Russian Ultranationalists, who formed the backbone of the plot in CoD4:MW and are back with a vengeance. The game runs on the new Infinity Ward 4.0 game engine, which is claimed to be a generation beyond the capabilities of the engine used in CoD4:MW. That engine was no slouch offering gamers incredible graphics and cleverly adaptive enemy AI. The single player game is expected to be no more than 6-10 hours long, but it is in multi-player that CoD really excels. Modern Warfare 2 will feature a cooperative mode entitled Special Ops, which features missions separate from the main story, and can be played split-screen multiplayer or online. The direct on-line game, which can pair off up to 9 players on either side has new weapons and equipment, as well as 15 different kill streak rewards that can be unlocked and selected by the player. Among these is the ability to receive a supply drop after four kills, a predator missile strike after five kills, and to call in a strike by an AC-130 gunship after achieving 11 enemy kills in a row. Changes to the manner in which on-line games are hosted has met with angry cries from PC gamers, who are not happy with the withdrawal of player controlled hosting, game modifications and user-created maps. So far a petition on Facebook has 180,000 names of disgruntled gamers.

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The game is being released cross-platform on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and in four different retail versions: Standard, Hardened, Veteran, and Prestige. The standard version consists of the game and manual, and will be the only version available for PC. The Hardened Edition consists of the game and manual packaged in a steel case, an art book, and a token to download the original Call of Duty from Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation Store. The Veteran version, which is an exclusive to Game in the UK and probably Ireland, is identical to the Hardened but includes a 12″ tall statue of character “Soap” MacTavish with interchangeable arms and weapons. The Prestige Edition is identical to the Hardened also, but includes fully-functioning night vision goggles, imprinted with the Modern Warfare 2 logo and a stand modelled after the head of “Soap” MacTavish.

Also released this week, but potentially lost in the hype surrounding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, is Dragon Age: Origins the latest role-plying game from masters of the genre Bioware. The game sees players choose one of the six origin stories which will determine how the game plays out. The origin story chosen (Human Noble, Human/Elf Mage, Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf Commoner or Dwarf Noble) determines who the character is and how non-playable characters react to the player. The moral choices of the player will also affect the story throughout the game. The end of the game will be the same regardless of choosing to be good or evil, but the decisions that the player makes in the process will change the game world accordingly – deciding who will become King, for example, and affecting nations and races and their places in the world. Bioware have a great track record in the genre having previously made Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. Mass Effect itself is set for a sequel which is due to be released early next year. Dragon Age: Origins is out now on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 has received “RPG of the decade” from PC Gamer in the UK. My copy is currently in the mail and I hope to start playing soon.

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time is a platformer action/adventure exclusive to PS3 and is the conclusion of the Future trilogy which included Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty. As with the other games the story follows Ratchet (a bobcat-like creature known as a lombax, that is very handy with tools) and Clank (a diminutive sentient robot that befriends Ratchet) as they save the galaxy from several evil forces. Some new elements have been added to the game including a staff that Clank carries, which can slow time in the area when it is used. It can also utilise special “time pods”, allowing Clank to record up to a minute of his actions and produce holographic Clanks to help to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. The game is getting great reviews and stands at 86% on Metacritic.

Singstar: Take That is the third band-specific karaoke video-game in the Singstar catalogue, after Abba and Queen. As with all previous versions players must sing along with music in order to score points. The game then analyses a player’s pitch and compares it to the original track, with players scoring points based on how accurate their singing is. The game feature 25 of Take That’s greatest hits and is available on PS2 and PS3.

P.s. If you don’t already have one and are in the market, Nintendo has released a new black “stealth” version of their best-selling console, the Wii, complete with Wii Sports Resort and a Motion Plus Controller. It looks pretty cool. Kinda wish I could replace my white one…

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About Niall

The proverbial man lost in La Mancha. Sports aficionado and all-round scoundrel. Über-geek to boot. I run the movie website Scannain.com and can usually be found twittering away as @niallxmurphy.

One Response to Hands on - Games out this week

  1. Always loved Ratchet and Clank so looking forward to the new game! Also MW2 obviously!
    :-D