F.E.A.R. 3 Review

The shooter market is definitely a saturated one, rife with derivative titles that rarely buck any trends. But every so often, a title comes along that does things a little bit differently. F.E.A.R. 3 is one such game. A horror and gore-inspired romp, F.E.A.R. 3 approaches the conventions of first-person shooters from a different perspective and successfully mixes together familiar gameplay elements with a unique and authentically chilling setting. F.E.A.R. 3 isn't without its problems, and these problems stop it from being a top echelon shooter. Still, its tendency to go off the beaten path is largely successful and will appeal to shooter fans and horror aficionados alike.

In F.E.A.R. 3, gamers are placed in the role of the genetically-enhanced Point Man, the protagonist from the original F.E.A.R. As you may remember from the end of F.E.A.R. 2, the mysterious female foil Alma forces herself upon that game's playable character -- Becket -- and becomes pregnant with his child. Alma is an evil psychic dynamo manipulated by Armacham, the same company responsible for Point Man's genetic enhancement, but her powers far outweigh his own. Thus, stopping Alma from having this kid is the name of the game in F.E.A.R. 3. Because after all, if Alma is so powerful, who knows what that kid is capable of?

Stopping Alma's pregnancy will be no easy task for Point Man, especially because he's accompanied continuously by the apparition of fellow Project Origin prototype Paxton Fettel, another character fans of the series will be familiar with. One of F.E.A.R. 3's great strengths is that you can actually play as Fettel through any level that Point Man already beaten, which gives a completely different feel for getting through the main campaign.

While Point Man is your typical gun-toting badass, Fettel is able to possess enemy soldiers and generally cause an insane amount of havoc. Better yet, you can play the campaign together with a friend locally or online, utilizing both characters' strengths simultaneously.

In terms of aesthetics, F.E.A.R. 3 provides passable graphics that look slightly dated but still get the job done. And the game runs smoothly, lacking the mid-play loading and saving stuttering of its console counterparts. Regardless, you won't mistake F.E.A.R. 3 for a top tier shooter in terms of its looks. On the other hand, F.E.A.R. 3 is a sonically appealing game. The voice-acting is at times over the top, but the sound effects and music add greatly to the scary feel of the game. There's audio nuance everywhere.

Both single player and co-op will require you to work your way through the same eight stages (known as Intervals). Playing through on co-op will allow you to blaze through the game significantly faster than playing on your own, but F.E.A.R. 3's campaign is best enjoyed as a solo affair. Though the game is much more difficult this way, playing on your own maximizes the frights and scares. Co-op is a fun experience in its own right, but should definitely be left for those who have already played through the campaign once before.

Mechanically, F.E.A.R. 3 will feel familiar to fans of the FPS genre. Your characters will have access to a number of firearms, explosives and more. Point Man and Fettel can also use their own psychic powers, primarily in the form of time slow-down and enemy possession respectively. The combination of the conventional and the supernatural isn't revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, but it works well in F.E.A.R. 3. And though the stages are generally linear, there's reason for ancillary exploration, mostly to take in the sheer amount of ambiance present on most levels (not to mention to find collectibles).

If I have one major complaint about F.E.A.R. 3's core gameplay, it's in terms of grenade throwing. It's hard to use grenades in the game with any modicum of accuracy. Chucking grenades way over the intended target is more likely to happen than the perfect toss. Additionally, the AI glitched out on me once in a while, not reacting to my presence when I was clearly in view. None of this breaks the experience, but it certainly hampers it unnecessarily.

Colin Moriarty

Dead Island - vacation preview

Saying the recent Dead Island trailer took the internet by storm would be an understatement. Buzz for the game began almost immediately after the trailer hit. From fan-made remixes to re-edits of the trailer, it was clear gamers definitely took note. The game’s trailer alone seemed to practically breath new life into the zombie-genre game.

It was not just the trailer that got people excited, either. While details on the game are still a little sparse, what has been announced seems to push all the right buttons. If this self-described “first-person zombie-slasher/action-RPG” can manage to capture the tone and feeling of the trailer while delivering tight, engaging gameplay, Dead Island could easily become a runaway hit.

Building on the trailer’s buzz, seven new screens were released showcasing more of the game’s environments, weapons, zombie types, and survivors. There is something to be said about a zombie infested tropical vacation island that manages to add a whole new level of creepy to a game. Who said sunny beaches and luxury hotel pools could not still be horrifying?

Like the trailer before it, these screens seem to hit a lot of the right notes. From the single zombie shambling around in an abandoned room, to hoards of zombies rushing towards a survivor, to simply showcasing how large the game world might be, Dead Island looks to know what makes zombie games so much fun. Sure, the game might have been in development for a long time, but maybe, just maybe, it will be worth the wait. Fingers crossed.

What is your take on these new Dead Island screens? Do you think the game will deliver the way the trailer did? Do these screens get you more or less excited about the game? What would you like to see in Dead Island? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Christian Spicer

Max Payne 3 Preview

Let's all give it up to Rockstar and Max Payne, because the truth is, there is not one game that is more responsible for the massive change of direction that action genre has received than Max Payne. Essentially pioneering the art of gun-fu in modern day shooters, Max Payne created numerous gameplay techniques that have become staples of nearly every action shooter, bullet-time being one of them. After a six year absence, Rockstar finally revealed the third game in the series back in June 2009. And much to the surprise of many, Max Payne 3 looked almost nothing like a Max Payne game... Gone are the dim and drab settings of New York City, replaced with the lush and beautiful setup of Brazil's Sao Paulo. Gone is a leather jacket wearing mad man on the hunt for vengeance for his wife's murder; replaced by a madder man who's now sporting a beard, a bald head, considerable weight gain, and an all new job in the private sector for a wealthy family he is hired to protect. Max Payne 3's story takes place 12 years following the events of the last game, and will center around a double-crossed Max, triggering the mad man inside to burst.

Rockstar's Sam Houser has stated that for the third game, Max's personality has "drifted from bad to worse." Yikes. With that in mind, we can expect to see Max's painkiller addiction to carry over to the third title, as they will continue to act as his healing system within the gameplay. Much like other action games these, such as Uncharted, Rockstar will be implementing a bit more realism to the mechanics of Max Payne 3. One such implementation is a balance of weaponry, allowing Max to carry only two weapons at once: a handgun and a larger rifle or automatic of some sort (including shotguns, and such). But never fear, if you drop a larger weapon, that enables you to simultaneously dual-wield two handguns in a blazing glory.

When not using weapons, Max can take cover in a variety of ways, one of which of using a human body as a shield. Furthermore, Rockstar has stated that there will be an all new cover system in the game, but that it won't be an integral aspect, unlike many other action shooters out there. To us, that means Max Payne 3 is going to be so full of non-stop action that you'd rather storm through your enemies, as opposed to stalling and playing it safe. Furthermore, because things like crates and other objects will be destructible, you can only use cover for so long. Lastly, if Max is at the end of his life bar, he can gain a shot of adrenaline and immediate rejuvenation if he manages to kill the opponent who's depleted his life before the opponent can kill Max.

A visual style similar to the graphic novel approach of the first two games will be used in order to link the story together from act to act. But aside from that one similarity, Max Payne 3 looks entirely different from the franchise, and in this day and age where moody and drab settings are all too common, it's a nice change of pace to see Max end up in locale with lush qualities to it. Rockstar has said that Max Payne 3 will arrive anywhere between March-June 2010, and most certainly no later than July 2010. So it isn't that far off.

Arnold Katayev

Serious Sam 3: BFE preview

Sam isn't a man of change. You won't find him giving Yoga a whirl and you probably won't find him taking a leap on a VitaBoost passion-mango smoothie or whatever. And it shows in Serious Sam 3: BFE -- a case where minimal change actually ends up being a good thing.

I was able to check out two different levels here at E3: the first level, a tutorial stage set in the streets of Cairo that eases you into the action, and a later, more traditional Serious Sam stage set amongst some ruins in a desert.

When the game starts off, Mental's forces have pretty much decimated the Earth. Sam, in a desperate race to get to the Time Lock so he can go back in time and prevent Mental from ever invading, is in the streets of Cairo. No weapons, no help and, as far as appearances go, no hope. Mental's forces are looking for Sam and it isn't long before they find him.

Even without his traditional weaponry, Sam isn't without defense. As a Gnaar emerges and rushes Sam, he simply thrusts his fist into its eye socket and rips the pupil right out. Instantly, I'm filled with joy. Soon after, Sam finds a sledgehammer and I get my first sample of the destructible environments: Sam knocks down a brick wall to advance down an alley and out into the streets.

Yes, gone are the days when you could trick enemies into corners and lay into them, or simply take cover behind a wall to catch your breath. Enemies barrel through stone, topple trees and generally come at you with the enthusiasm they've had in the past, only now you can't game the AI to get yourself out of danger.

The sledgehammer has two different attacks: an overhead smash, ideal for hitting one enemy at a time, and a spin maneuver that clears Sam's immediate vicinity of all threats. Considering a core component of the Serious Sam experience is being overwhelmed to all hell, the latter is a pretty useful move.

It doesn't take long until a pistol is acquired and I'm given a sample of something new to the series: aiming down the iron sights. A few rocket-wielding Kamikazes are cleared out and it's time to jump forward in the game to the next level, where Sam is armed with considerably more firepower.

Sam's sporting an assault rifle, a shotgun, a minigun and a double-barreled shotgun in this later level -- the latter the perfect weapon for taking out Werebulls, which spawn en masse as soon as Sam makes his way to a small body of water amidst some dilapidated buildings. At this point, I'm still sticking to my past knowledge of the series: I hug walls and try to cling for my dear life, thinking I'll be safe from any Werebulls on my six.

It's a strategy that is quickly dashed, however, as Werebulls come crashing toward me from all sides and start bouncing me around like I was nothing. Thankfully my instincts kick in again and I start playing matador with those Werebulls, blasting them in the hind quarters with the double-barreled shotgun as they dash past me. Dead.

And in typical Serious Sam fashion, that wasn't the end of it. Off in the distance I hear the screams and know what's coming: Beheaded Kamikazes. As I start backing up and taking them off from a distance with the assault rifle, I start to realize it's not enough. There are too many of them and I begin backing up as quickly as I can, mouthing "move, move!" to myself. At this point, I'm entirely into it -- and then the rep says something odd.

"You can hit the Shift key to sprint," he says. "Wait, what?" I ask like some kind of crazy person. But he was right: There's a sprint now and it's immensely helpful against the droves of Beheaded Kamikaze charging toward me.

The final new addition I was able to experience was the Scrapjack, a giant lumbering enemy with rocket launchers for hands. But instead of being eased me into this new encounter, I'm tasked with facing two at once. It's then that the rep suggests using them against each other. While directly engaging one, I maneuver him into the firing path of the one off in the distance. Soon after, the faraway Scrapjack is laying out the one in front of me. A useful tactic, although just shooting them both in the face would've been a much quicker way to dispatch them.

My small taste of Serious Sam 3: BFE proved one thing to me: the Serious Sam formula has aged well, but has been made that much better through a few careful tweaks. Sprinting could be considered a minor thing, but when Sam is constantly bombarded by enemies the added mobility really comes in handy. Aiming down the sights is yet another standard part of shooters today, yet new to Serious Sam -- here it aids in the strategy of threat management in new ways. The only issue I have is with the melee and its value later in the game, where I'm pretty sure the absence of firearms will guarantee death.

Serious Sam 3: BFE, in this Alpha state, showed a cautious update to the original formula. It doesn't stray from its intense, arcadey roots, and that's something fans of the first two games are sure to appreciate. With its few careful additions to the formula, it's an experience enriched by a marriage between the old and new.

David Hinkle

PointBlank online : review

Point Blank Philippines is the newest online FPS offers exciting game modes, gameplay, avatars with unique level progression system. It is the top online game in Indonesia and Thailand and the no. 1 FPS game in Russia.

Point Blank, the latest massively multiplayer online first-person shooting ( MMOFPS) game of IP e-Game Ventures Inc. ( IP e-Games; PSE: EG) in the Philippines. It is similar in terms of gameplay of Crossfire and Counter Strike

Developed by Zepetto Inc. a game developer based in Korea, Point Blank is being played by millions gamers around the world. It is also has the significant foothold in major gaming markets in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

POINT BLANK features are the following:

• Challenging game modes and maps
• Extensive array range of weapons
• Interactive environments effects ( it will provide gamers ,casual or hardcore, the strategy that they crave from an FPS)
• Male and female Avatars with special stat effects.
• Weapon load-out change during game play
• Class specific card missions
• Clan community page
• Spot Achievement like Defense of the Ancients (DOTA)

The game modes available during the Point Blank CBT phase include:

• Death Match
• Eliminate
• Shotgun
• Al Mode

Point Blank Characters/avatars for CBT period are the following:

• Acid Pool
• Keen Eyes
• Red Bulls
• Tarantula

Marco

New : Battlefield 3 Preview

EA saved the best for last in its E3 2011 press conference, wowing the crowd with an extended demo for Battlefield 3. The general manager of DICE, Karl Magnus Troedsson, took the stage to show off this highly anticipated game, talk about online features, and announce a multiplatform open beta. The presentation actually included a few different segments, the first of which was a teaser that flashed a series of gameplay images, including the tank battle, melee combat, urban firefights in the street and underground, and a thermal vision-assisted vehicular assault. These images evoked gameplay from our previous preview coverage and gave us some new glimpses that foreshadowed what was to come.

The second segment was a trailer for the new Frostbite 2.0 game engine that powers Battlefield 3. It highlighted four key areas (animation, destruction, scale, and audio) that are the focus of the improvements made to the original engine that powered some of the previous games in the series, including Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The tech demo was slick, but seeing how it all comes together on the battlefield makes a much bigger impact.The third segment showed off an "infantry-focused' multiplayer map called Operation Metro, which takes place in the center of Paris. Short glimpses pictured soldiers running through a park, riding in the turret seat of what appeared to be an APC, and driving that same vehicle while manning the main gun. We saw firefights in a city street, in an underground station, and in a subway car. One player died from a brutal stabbing, while another crept along the tracks in prone position. Later, the player mantled over cover and dropped one story to the street, where rockets flew through the air and collided with buildings, scattering large chunks of stone. Troedsson concluded by talking about Battlelog, "a service which adds a hub of powerful social tools, where gamers can connect, communicate, and play with friends." Battlelog lets you form squads and platoons, as well as check out your stats in real time. He then added that the service would be completely free, presumably in reference to Activision's recently announced Call of Duty Elite service.

The presentation concluded with a lengthy live demo of a tank battle against the enemy forces of the PLR that took place in "the Teheran desert" (unclear if he meant a fictional desert or one in the vicinity of Tehran, Iran). The demo began with a dinosaur figurine silhouetted against a clear sky. The wind whipped by and carried the echo of a child's voice, and we noticed the figurine had a label on the bottom, "To Dad." This fatherly moment was interrupted by a command to stop screwing around, and the view leveled off to reveal that the player was in a turret on top of a tank, cruising across a flat desert in a convoy of about a dozen friendly tanks. The audio landscape was rich with the sounds of the wind, the tank treads on the ground, the creaking of the tank chassis, the hum of the engine, the thump of helicopter rotors, radio chatter, and a brooding ambient soundtrack (though this last element faded as the mission progressed, making us wonder if it was inserted for the demo). The visuals were equally robust. The tank rolled over arid ground for a solid minute and a half, showcasing scrub vegetation and looming mountains in the distance. The wind blew dust clouds, and the sun glinted off of specks in the players vision, creating a solid sense of atmosphere.

As the convoy approached a smoking settlement on the horizon, the player climbed down into the tank and took up control of the main gun. A quick prompt indicated the controls for steering, throttle, and reverse, and shortly after, an explosion indicated that enemy tanks had arrived on the scene. Another prompt told the player how to aim and attack, which he began doing with patient accuracy. Each shot kicked up a lot of dust and smoke, making it difficult to visually confirm kills. Fortunately, the radio chatter told the player when he had scored a hit, and the dust eventually cleared to show the flaming husks of enemy tanks. As more enemies approached, the player switched to the thermal camera to get a better bead on them. This fight proved a bit tougher, and a warning tone indicated that the player had taken a bit of damage this time around.

Tanks destroyed, the convoy trucked on until it was brought up short by enemy rocket artillery. The player then switched monitors in the tank, peering into a camera attached to the airplane providing close air support for the assault. In this mostly black-and-white view, we watched a familiar laze-the-target sequence that neutralized many of the enemy vehicles, clearing the way for the tanks to roll on through. The convoy crested a ridge and was greeted with open fires and ruined structures where the airstrike had hit. Enemy soldiers took aim at the tanks with rocket-propelled grenades, and with the closer combat and soft targets (read: human soldiers) came a more zoomed-in view and lower-caliber ammo. The player went into to full assault mode, switching between larger shells to destroy fortified positions and rapid-fire bullets to gun down fleeing enemies. The action came to a fairly decisive end when the player tagged a remaining artillery vehicle that was apparently situated next to an ammo cache. Explosions of all shapes and sizes burst forth, but as the triumphant squad crested another ridge, they saw their fight was far from over.

Then the demo really did come to an end, concluding a lengthy and visually impressive live showing. It left us eager to see more of the campaign, as well as get our hands on the competitive multiplayer. Battlefield 3 launches for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on October 25, 2011, though players will get a shot at it in September, during the multiplatform open beta. We'll have more on that beta and on Battlefield 3 as E3 unfolds.

Chris Watters

Operation Flashpoint: Red river review

The Operation Flashpoint first-person shooters have always appealed to a particular constituency: gamers obsessed with the military (along the lines of Nick Frost's character Mike in Spaced). That's because they are about as hardcore as you can get: unlike more mass-market fps games, if you take a head-shot, you won't be getting back up, and in order to prosper, you will have to adopt tactics that real-life soldiers would employ. While Red River is much more forgiving than its predecessors, it will still test your soldiering skills to the limit, and remains firmly in the hardcore bracket.

You play Kirby, leader of a four-man US Marine Corps fire-team operating in Tajikistan, close to the Afghanistan border, in 2013. At first, you're taking on local insurgents, but things really heat up when the Chinese army gets involved, with its seemingly endless manpower. The missions are very long, multistage affairs which typically involve taking on enemies from a distance (so we'd recommend you choose the Scout class, with its sniper rifle). Involving periods of being driven around in the back of a Hummer, engaging in authentically expletive-studded Marine-banter, they feel stunningly authentic, and become more varied as the game progresses.

It's just as well that you level up during that period, unlocking new weapons, perks and upgrades – one hot tip would to be experiment with different character classes in the early stages, as certain later missions require specialist, rather than all-round skills, and it pays to have levelled up.

Red River's core nuts and bolts are impressive: the graphics and scenery design are superb, the key tactical wheel for issuing orders to your fire-team works beautifully and the weaponry responds as you would expect it to. It's the first Operation Flashpoint game with a credible single-player story (although, in the interests of authenticity, it lacks the Hollywood-style set-pieces of games such as Black Ops). But it really comes into its own online, with some innovative modes, including one in which you defend a convoy beset by insurgents, and another in which you clear villages of insurgents and blow up weaponry stockpiles against the clock.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River is emphatically not for the faint-hearted – if you're anything other than a first-person shooter veteran, you will swiftly become frustrated by constantly being killed by enemies you haven't even seen. But it is impressively executed, infinitely slicker than its predecessors, and reveals the horror interspersed with periods of tedium that characterises modern warfare in a startlingly believable manner. Which will surely earn it cult status in the future.

Steve Boxer

Preview Resident evil: Operation racoon city

To say the Resident Evil series has undergone a few changes over the years is a bit of an understatement.

When it made its debut on the PS One in 1996, Resident Evil was more about "jump scares" and exploration than it was about dropping zombies to their knees with well-placed headshots. Flashforward to Resident Evil 5, and you're looking at a game that -- in the eyes of many fans, at least -- was getting uncomfortably close to a third-person shooter.

So it's a bit ironic that Capcom's recently announced Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City takes players back to the roots of the series while making apologizes for what it is: a third-person action shooter.

The events of Operation Raccoon City take place between that of Resident Evil 1 and Resident Evil 2, taking players back to the fictional mid-West town that started it all. But here's the new angle: you're the bad guys. Up until this point, it's always been a tale of the heroes; in Operation Raccoon City you'll be suiting up as Umbrella Corporation black ops security service.

Capcom first shows us the game's story campaign, which can be played with up to four players or "alone" with AI in tow. It's a campaign based on cooperation and if you're thinking, "Oh, it's Capcom's Left 4 Dead in third person" then you're not that far off. That parallel is easy to draw, and while it's certainly a reasonably conclusion to come to, it's not entirely fair.

Operation Raccoon City introduces us to four mysterious Umbrella operatives, each with his or her own abilities. Vector is the game's stealth-based character; he's the recon class of the team, and can use a "mimicry" ability to assume other human shapes. Bertha is the game's female character, the medic class of the team; like the rest of team, little is known about her, but she carries some pretty sharp tools (is that a bone saw?), if that tells you anything. Beltway appears to be the tank of the group; he enjoys blowing stuff up, so he'll bring frag mines alone for the ride. Finally, Spectre is the team's Sam Fisher, with Splinter Cell-like goggles with different vision modes and access to more detailed map information.

While Capcom didn't have an actual chunk of story to show us, the small demo area gave us a good idea of what to expect. The city streets are littered with zombies, and the game's fast, third-person action encourages aggressively taking them out. Head shots will see undead skulls exploding like melons; there's even a limb-specific damage mode that had arms flopping to the ground.

Melee attacks are also encouraged, and as I found later in the game's multiplayer mode (which I'll get to in a bit), are surprisingly useful. The melee action is all mapped to a single button, but tapping it rhythmically will unleash a string of combos. At certain points, you'll have the opportunity to launch into a finisher maneuver, and will be prompted on screen for a quick button press. If you want to stab a zombie in the neck and then kick them down to the ground with a big boot, or to stomp on a zombies skull, this is the way you'll do it.

The streets of Raccoon City aren't just flooded with zombies, either. At one point, opposing military enter the fray, and the poor zombies are caught in the cross fire. What this means is that you're not only facing undead creatures, but heavily-armed opposition as well. Oh, and don't forget the typical Resident Evil Bio-Organic Weapon creatures that intend to make your life miserable, as well.

While there's a clear emphasis on third-person action, the game's producers claim the scares are still there. It's not full throttle action all of the time; if you pass any windows, brace yourself for dogs to jump through them, I guess.

I wasn't allowed to play the demo campaign level, but Capcom was more than happy to let us get my feet wet in the game's multiplayer mode. I played a mode called "Team Attack," a four on four team-based affair. One teams suits up as the Umbrella special forces (with the same abilities described for single player), with the other on a military team with analogous skills.

Players won't only get points for killing opposing team members in typical deathmatch style, though. Points will also be rewarded for killing zombies, with more points being awarded for headshots, and larger creatures are worth even more. Another twist: when you're "bleeding out" and near death, undead creatures will "smell" it and swarm you because you're an easy target. Shooting opposing team members to the point of bleeding out and then allowing them to get ravaged can also earn you big points, as well.

Out this year, the core of Operation Raccoon City is there, and there's potential for a fun third-person action title based in the Resident Evil universe. It looks great, probably the grittiest game in the series to date. But it also doesn't feel anything like a Resident Evil game you've played before, and while that may upset long-time fans who abhor change, it's not the worst thing in the context of what Capcom's trying to do with Operation Raccoon City.

Control- and feel-wise, it's closer to a third-person shooter like, oh I don't know, let's say Sony's SOCOM series. Not too shocking: Capcom is working hand-in-hand with Slant Six Games, whose previous experience includes working on Sony's popular third-person military shooter.

Oddly, not a single member of Slant Six was on-hand to talk about the game. Instead, the game's Japanese developers presented the title and answered all questions. When asked about Slant Six's input, it was made to sound like Capcom Japan is responsible for the bulk of the creative decisions on the game, making sure it remains true to the Resident Evil vibe. But the fact that the game feels like a Western-shooter seems to indicate Slant Six's involvement is more on the game mechanics side of things.

Bonus: Operation Raccoon City is in the running for "Best Loading Screen in a Game" for 2011. The screen in question featured a close up on a severed zombie arm, lying in a pool of shiny, fresh blood. The fingers on the arm's hand twitched intermittently, and flies could be seen buzzing around a wound on the forearm. Yummy.

Nick Chester

Portal 2 preview

“Remember, you’re looking for a gun that makes holes. Not bullet holes. Don’t worry – you’ll figure it out.” Valve has a knack with pithy lines, but this one really gets to the nub of Portal. It may have come as a shortform component part of The Orange Box, but it left having inspired enduring memes and appearing to have created a whole new subgenre with its deft appropriation of the firstperson shooter as a story-led puzzle game.

It’s a line spoken by Wheatley, a robotic AI consisting of just an eye which rolls along a ceiling-mounted trackway and is voiced by a neurotically stuttering and burbling Stephen Merchant. He’s here at Portal 2’s beginning to save us from imprisonment in, well, what looks like a motel room. The first time we awoke, its brown ’80s décor, complete with yellowed palm-tree mural on one wall, was dingy. A long time has passed until this second waking, though – its now ruinous state only worsening when Wheatley somehow moves the entire space, setting our perspective tumbling before the walls tear apart, revealing that our room is in fact a container among many, many others containing test subjects in a vast, crumbling hangar: 10,000-odd, Wheatley says.

We’ve come to Valve’s new studio in Bellevue, Washington, to play the early sections of both Portal 2’s singleplayer story and cooperative modes. There’s not a lot we can imagine adding to Portal, which by its end had seemed to explore every dimension of its one-trick (but what a trick) gun, but that’s the challenge Valve has set itself for the sequel. And what other way to approach it than with one of the oldest in the book: an apocalypse. A bygone apocalypse, anyway.

Wheatley uses our room to smash through a wall, and we fall through its floor to land in a glass cubicle just like the one in which Portal began. Now, though, Aperture Science lies quiet and broken, destroyed in the aftermath of GLaDOS’ destruction at the end of that first game. A soft, male AI voice calmly intones: “We are currently experiencing technical difficulties due to circumstances of potentially apocalyptic significance beyond our control. However, thanks to emergency testing protocols, testing can continue… so science can still be done, even in the event of environmental, social, economic or structural collapse.”

Edge Staff

Brink preview

Most FPS games rely on players to make multiplayer gaming unique. Some have great environments, others offer interesting selections and placements of weapons, but ultimately each and every one requires action from the players to really take off. That means if players just want to shoot, the game turns into a shooting match. Even objective-based games can turn into non-stop skirmishes with no clear winner in seconds. That’s what Brink hopes to change.

Brink is a task-based cooperative FPS, which requires players to work together at every turn. There are no deathmatch games, no killstreak rewards, no individual awards whatsoever. At the end of the game, the only points totaled are based on what the team scored, not individual kill/death ratios. If you don’t play as a team, you will lose. Single-player is only for when the Internet is down.

This unique style of forced cooperative gameplay is made exciting by two main themes: constant task completion and mass customization. The first I played required delivering a robot from one end of the map to the other, while working through the opposition’s defenses. The second involved breaking a POW out of his cell and escorting him to safety.

Both of these missions are not as straight-forward as they sound. They can be – players can just have a firefight and the better team will win, or more likely it will be a draw at the end – but that’s not the point of Brink. Splash Damage built tools to get away from the constant firefight, giving players the opportunity to take on secondary missions through a simple on-screen terminal with the push of the button. Secondary missions like opening up or closing off sections of the map, unlocking terminals to change classes and add new spawn points, or to speed up the main objective. This task-based gameplay is the reason why kills and deaths aren’t even listed when the game ends. To Splash Damage, it doesn’t matter. Accomplishing the objective is all that counts.

That said, there is still room for lone wolves in Brink. Going around running-and-gunning the enemy has its uses. Stronger players can achieve smaller secondary objectives singlehandedly, and depending on their class – soldier, engineer, medic, or operative – one can even hold key positions singlehandedly, long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Accomplishing an object singlehandedly is possible because if Brink’s open-ended class customization design. Sure, character traits like facial features, tattoos, and gun modifications add a sense of propriety and individuality, but weapons selection helps determine gameplay. Classes aren’t fixed, and computer terminals on each level allow players to switch between classes and change weapons at any time in-game. The weapons you play with will affect the rest of your team, but thankfully those can also be changed at a terminal. Brink is all about achieving objectives, without obstruction.

Customization goes deeper than that, including a large selection of aesthetic-only gun add-ons, but what’s more intriguing is how class selection has to do with task completion. Certain side-missions require a particular class to achieve an objective, for instancerepairing a robot requires an engineer, or rescuing a POW requires a medic to resuscitate him. Communication is paramount. No team will last long if everyone goes their separate way.

Team play, customization, and task completion all feed into each other. Class selection determines what secondary missions are available to complete thus speeding up the primary mission. Weapons selected prior to the game will determine how players will engage in combat and how they will work with teammates. And what classes teammates play as and what weapons they use will influence your decisions too. Great teams will revolve around working together and not being a headshot veteran, much like the real world. Brink is the anti-hero FPS. No man is an island.

This system of play ensures both teams run in waves. At the end of each battle one side is almost always decimated. It’s a constant battle to reorganize, rearm, create new defenses and new perimeters, reengage, stall, flank and outflank, and advance. Games last anywhere from 10-30 minutes, but can presumably last much longer. How structured teams are and how well each is able to complete secondary missions and maintain position will most influence the direction of each match, and ultimately the strength of the teams.

From what I’ve seen thus far, Brink is one of the most demanding games set to release this year. It is so infused with a cooperative play style that nothing gets in the way of team play. Brink is the farthest thing from a dumb shooter I’ve ever seen, requiring the best players to not only play smart, but think tactically in real time, concurrently with up to seven friends. Every game could do it – with the right players – but none require or exploit that sort of think-on-your-feet gameplay Brink promises to provide.

James Pikover

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D - some of your old friends are back.

Arcade-style undead/zombie/parasite-infested slaying is back for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, and the game plays as good as it looks. Nintendo and Capcom had Mercenaries 3D available for hands-on at GDC 2011, and playing it proved that next-gen console action can work on the small screen.

The demo build has Chris, Jill, Jack Krauser and Hunk available to play, and two maps: “Public Assembly” (Resident Evil 5) and “Village” (Resident Evil 4). I chose Hunk (a personal favorite) and tossed him into Public Assembly. Hunk comes equipped with a pistol, AK-47, grenade launcher, Flash Grenade, ammo and First Aid Spray, making him a very formidable target for enemies.

For anybody who played ‘The Mercenaries’ mode in Resident Evil 4 or Resident Evil 5, it remains the same: rack up as high a score as possible within the time limit by killing enemies. A simple premise, but incredibly effective. A trailer and gameplay footage were released before, but actually playing the game here at GDC is a whole other matter.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (in 3D) looks appealing and does not feel gimmicky — Hunk and the enemies have more of a depth to them, and the controls are easy to familiarize yourself with. Holding the Right Trigger brings you into the first person view for targeting, and pressing A shoots your weapon. The inventory is available on the bottom screen, which can be tapped to change weapons quickly. At first, the feature felt a bit awkward, but after a few minutes of playing, I got the hang of it and was able to switch my weapons effectively according to the situation.

For anyone who was worried about whether or not the first person controls for a handheld Resident Evil would work, they do. Aiming with the circle pad isn’t cumbersome in any way at all, even for players who are normally accustomed to moving the reticule with their right thumb. I had no problems shooting enemies in the head and rocking them with Hunk’s punch. If that wasn’t enough, I could run to the downed enemy and shoot them three times for a prone-kill. These actions are performed with the X button, which will be the context sensitive/action button. Reloading is done by holding the Right Trigger and pressing B.

A notable gameplay change from previous versions of The Mercenaries is that when your character is grabbed by an enemy, rather than shake/rotate the circle pad, a Quick Time Event-like prompt appears and you press the corresponding button to escape. It can be imagined that this decision was made to avoid causing a lot of stress to the 3DS’s circle pad. It’s a change that works, and it is just as effective as wiggling the joystick to free yourself.

Graphically, The Mercenaries 3D looks surprisingly good, even better in person than shown in the most recent screens and trailer. There’s very little graphical tear and I saw very few, if any, bugs at all. The gameplay is very suitable for a pick-up-and-play medium, as maps can be played and beaten within minutes, and constantly trying to improve your score or get better at zombie killing is always a good motivator to play the game once more.

With good controls, excellent graphics, and incredibly fun gameplay, The Mercenaries 3D is sure to be one of the games that will spend a lot of time in the 3DS.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS on July 6, 2011.

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