looking at: Ridge Racer: Unbounded

Unsullied

cars only seem to ever come in one paint colour.

The nice thing about racing games is that you really only have to play them for about an hour or so to figure out what's going on with them. At least, that's the justification I'm going to use to write this review because honestly, after an hour I just don't want to play Ridge Racer: Unbounded anymore. This is easily one of the worst racing games I've ever played.

This is the first racing game I've reviewed here at LAATIAB, so I want to set a precedent here: I like racing games and racing simulation games. I love Mario Kart, Burnout: Paradise, and I really enjoyed GRID 2. I've played more Need for Speed games than I can remember, and I've likely logged over a 100 hours in Burnout 3 for the Xbox as a kid. I like racing games, I get racing games, and playing racing games is usually a good time for me.

Unless it's Ridge Racer: Unbounded.

Which is a stupid fucking name.

Off the Ridge

smashing through obstacles will give you shortcuts, often in the form of ramps.

The Ridge Racer series is huge, and stretches back to the early 90's as Japanese arcade and console games. Some of the old games are extremely well liked, and many of the PS2 entries in the series top out that console's best racing games list, no easy task considering some of the other games on that list. I can't say I've played any previous RR games, so it's perhaps unfortunate that Unbounded is my first experience.

This is the thirteenth console entry into the series, and by it's own description it breaks away from some of the conventions of it's predecessors. Judging by my experience with it, that number is rather unlucky, despite the pedigree going into it. Not even Bugbear, the company behind Flatout 2 or the upcoming Wreckfest could save this wreck.

Let's start off with what works. Graphically, RR:U is pretty good looking. There's an odd orange filter on everything, but reflections look good and the cars all look great, even at high speed. Even at high speeds my framerate was really good, and it's an overall decently optimized game. There's almost no graphics options whatsoever, so you better hope your system can run it.

The other thing I liked about RR:U was the idea of destructible terrain. This is something Bugbear seems to have taken from their Flatout games, and here they've gone above and beyond. Tracks will have destruction points that you can boost into, provided you have some boost saved, to create shortcuts or destroy several opponents at once. These are hugely satisfying to activate and I went out of my way to try and activate them if I could.

Cliff Diver

The game looks great, to bad it's all for naught.

Ok, that's the good, here comes the bad. That is, pretty much everything else.

First, and probably most importantly, are my issues with the controls. The actual layout was ok, but controlling the cars themselves was a chore. I wasn't stupid enough to try to play the game on my mouse and keyboard, but on a controller cars felt sluggish, and unwieldy. Trying to drift was a death sentence, and more often then not resulted in my completely spinning out, unable to recover easily and moving me way down the rankings.

I really want to make sure you understand how bad this drifting is. It's hard to explain accurately in words, or even video, and the only thing I can suggest is playing a really good racer, like Burnout: Paradise, then playing RR:U and you should instantly understand. Trying to use the handbrake as suggested by the game was a no-go, as it would send my spinning like a top. Trying to use the brake peddle wasn't much better because it didn't do anything to slow me down. Trying to take a turn well in RR:U was nearly impossible, and I'd either end up sliding into a wall or spinning out.

This all brings me to my second issue, the game is fucking hard. Coming from Namco Bandai, I was actually surprised not to see From Software's name on it, since it feels like it would fit in perfectly with their Dark Souls series. The AI kicked my ass, no matter what car I used or how I changed my tactics. It took me four tries to beat the first race, and subsequent races took even longer, to the point where I gave up completely to write this. I don't know if it's weird rubber-banding, or the bad controls, or both, but I was just never able to create a solid lead, the few times I did manage to get ahead.

Cars feel sluggish and unresponsive.

Maybe it's because all of the cars are just awful. It's usual for the starting cars in a racer to be junkers, everyone expects that. You have to earn the better cars, either by earning money and buying them or unlocking them through challenge. But it seemed like non of the AI had any problem, and they all started with top of the line racing machines while I was stuck with 1995 Oldsmobile Royal 88. Loosing a race still gives you XP that's used to unlock new cars, so maybe if I had farmed the same failure over and over eventually I could have placed, but that's a bad way to structure a racer.

Sound effects weren't bad, you could hear the rumble of the engines and the sound of squealing tires, but the music was just annoying. As far as I could tell there wasn't any licensed music anywhere in the game, likely because between EA and anyone else competent a lot of music was taken. Instead there's just endless techno music that made me feel like I was in a shitty nightclub with people I didn't like being around. There's no option to supplement your own soundtrack either, so if club music isn't your scene you'll need to alt-tab out to not want to kill yourself.

The map making feature is powerful and simple to use.

Mechanical Failure

This happened every login attempt.

Maybe one day I'll review a good racer here on this blog. I hope so, because there are a lot of racing games I really like, just this one wasn't one of them. It's worth noting that there are. or rather were, multiplayer features. I say "were" because every attempt to log into the RR:U servers failed instantly. The game is on sale right now, so it's possible the servers are overloaded, and you could still play single-player just fine, but I think the servers are probably just offline and no one is playing this game.

There's also a track creation tool that's actually pretty cool. It reminded me a lot of the create-a-park modes from old Tony Hawk games, only for race tracks. There's a lot of room to play around with it, and you can create some cool tracks, but it's nothing we haven't seen from Ubisoft's superior TrackMania series, and doesn't have nearly the visual charm.

Ridge Racer: Unbounded has the distinct honour of being one of the worst racers I've ever played. At least Diddy Kong Racing on N64 had a charm factor, but RR:U is just a bad, poorly made, and un-fun racer that pales in comparison to better racers. When it comes to fun racing games, this one doesn't even cross the start.

Looking at: Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zero

Tech Demo

Skull Face, the mysterious villain haunting Snake

It's somewhat unfair to call MGS:GZ a full game, since it really isn't. No, I'm not saying it's along the line of Gone Home or Dear Esther, where it's not a game. It's full of gameplay, which is a little strange considering the MGS series is famous for having way to many cutscenes. No, MGS:GZ isn't a full game because it's clearly just a tech demo for the upcoming MGS:V, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Despite this, MGS:GZ does still offer a lot to do for what it is. In fairness, I only paid $13 for it, whereas it launched on consoles at a full $60. I can't say I'd pay that much for this product, but one of the advantages of doing so much of my gaming on PC is that I rarely have to.

Speaking of PC, this is actually a return to the platform for MGS, since the last several entries have been console releases only. How does it hold as a port, and more importantly, is it worth even playing?

Peaceful Walker

Side missions take place during the day, allowing you to see the camp a little better.

Being a short game, GZ has a shockingly normal story for the series. The setup takes place directly after Peace Walker and you once again play as Naked Snake, AKA Big Boss. Boss also showed up in my favorite MGS game (and the only one I've beaten so far) MGS 3: Snake Eater.

Being a sequel to these two games, GZ once again takes place in the past, specifically 1975. It's not quite as low-fi as Peace Walker or Snake Eater, but there's still no radar system and most of the technology you use is somewhat antiquted, from the older weapons to first gen night vision.

The whole game takes place in a secret US black-site operation on the tip of Cuba. Two characters from Peace Walker have been kidnapped and are being held for interrogation and Boss has decided to rescue them himself. All of this is happening during a UN inspection of Mother Base's recently acquired nuclear stockpile, lending an urgency to the mission.

Despite it's length, GZ does still allow for plenty of exposition, tying some loose ends from Peace Walker and setting up perfectly for MGS:V. It's not a big game, but it is important, and the story it tells has the telltale cinematic flair we've come to love and appreciate from Hideo Kojima.

Kept You Waiting

The entire camp is open for exploration, and offers plenty of places to hide.

Gameplay is the standard stealth action affair, emphasizing avoidance over direct confrontation. Your opponents this time are all US soldiers, and while Boss doesn't technically have a home, it does offer a grounded reason to resort to non-lethal combat.

I haven't played MGS:4, so I don't know how similar the gameplay is, but I have played Peace Walker and Snake Eater, and I can say that the controls and stealth in GZ is a step up from both. You can once again crouch and move, and even move slower to reduce noise completely. Camera control is once again completely free, with fixed cameras no where in sight, allowing you to look around as you move forward.

Stealth in particular is much easier to execute, and I found it very simple, at least on the easier difficulty, to avoid detection as I used a combination of distractions and well timed ducking to stay out of sight. If you do get spotted there's a new reaction feature, giving you a few seconds of slowed down time to decide what to do, either shoot your detector, or deal with them another way. This can make the game feel to easy, and it's a dangerous crutch, but turning it off felt equally masochistic, and considering the otherwise difficulty of sneaking around, I found it to be a great addition.

Overall, the game just plays great. There's still the psychotic level of detail and re-activity, allowing you to start toying with the game as you discover new ways to break it. Most importantly, it plays like a modern stealth game should, and it makes it easy to jump into.

Rain Slicked Eve

Despite his age, Snake proves more then capable.

Graphically GZ continues the MGS standard of pushing graphical boundaries, and it's a great looking game. It's likely in direct competition with GTA V for the best looking PS3/360 game, and even on next gen consoles or a decent PC it looks amazing. The lighting is top notch, and the water effects on everything give the game a great slick look. Even in the day the Prison yard looks great, with small trees and bushes blowing in the wind, and insane amounts of details put into every texture.

Similarly, the character models of everyone look awesome. I can't confirm it, but it really felt like there were individual character textures for each enemy in the game, almost like I really was dealing with individuals. Snake, despite his age, looks great too, with loads of gear and a slew of animations that make him feel alive. I was disappointed that character mouths don't always move when talking, but it's a minor issue.

There's only a little bit of music in the game, but it sounds great, be it classic 70's music piping from a cassette, or the in-game music that plays during heightened moments. It all fits great and sounds even better, setting a mood perfectly.

Similarly voice acting is amazing, once again in line with the series as a whole. There's only a few characters, but their voice work is decent across the board. It's worth noting that Snake himself is no longer voiced by series veteran David Hayter, rather 24 star Keifer Sutherland fills the iconic role. I don't know if Hayer would have been better, but for making Snake sound older and gruffer, Sutherland does a great job. Snake doesn't speak all that much in GZ, so we'll need to wait until MGS:V proper to see if Sutherland is up to the gig.

The Boss

moving between cover can occasional expose you, and you'll need patience to move forward.

Overall, despite it's position as an extended tech demo, GZ is a pretty great game. The main mission won't take long to complete, but, at least on PC, there's four side missions that all rival it in length. There's collectibles to find, and each mission has an easy and a hard mode, as well as a grading system for real completionists. If you're a fan of the series, there's plenty to do and see in GZ.

As an hors d'oeuvre for this September's MGS:V, GZ does an excellent job, since when I finished it I was legitimately excited for that release. It shows off that the MGS games can work in an open-world environment, and that everything great about the series has been preserved perfectly. The PC version looks and runs great, and I have high hopes for the full game later this year. If it's just an extended commercial, then it's a damn fine one.

Looking at: Shadow Warrior 2013

Hard Reset

The legendary Nobitsura Kage, highlighting SW13's melee focus

What happened to the FPS genre? It used to just be about gunning down waves of hellspawn mutant freaks while listening to metal music. Now it's all about saving America from villain X while pushing buttons and occasionally looking down iron sights for a split second. There aren't that many modern FPS games I actually enjoyed, so playing the 2013 re-boot of Shadow Warrior was definitely a pleasant surprise.

SW13 comes to us from developer Flying Wild Hog, the same people that brought us 2011's Hard Reset. FWG is clearly a company that has a reverence for shooters of yore, as both Hard Reset and SW13 are lovingly crafted homages to old school shooters like Quake, or Serious Sam. But do the old conventions still hold up in the age of the modern shooter?

Penis Joke

One of the few minutes of peace between the waves of foes.

The story of SW13 sees you as Lo Wang, a mercenary in the employ of the crime lord Zilla. Zilla has sent you to retrieve an ancient katana sword said to contain immense power. You get the sword and almost immediately everything goes wrong, with hordes of demons pouring out of portals and invading Japan. Thankfully one of the demons, Hoji, figures that Wang, along with the ancient sword Nobitsura Kage, should be enough to slay the demons, reforge the ancient blade, and free Hoji from his imprisonment.

While the story regularly takes a back seat to the action throughout the game, there actually is just enough of it to keep everything interesting and, more importantly, give context to your actions. You'll know exactly why you're going to a location and what the end goal of it is, and that's a step above other games of this type like Serious Sam or Duke Nukem (the good ones). The plot actually does evolve, introducing and explaining new characters, and while it's not exactly the highest caliber of writing it's far better then a game like SW13 usually gets.

A bit more divisive is the dialogue. SW13 is an incredibly juvenile game, never mind the fact that the main character's name is Lo Wang. There are jokes peppered throughout, ranging from simple turns of phrase and slapstick, to just south of racist pokes at Asian and American culture. It's a funny game, provided you can get on the same wave-length, and it's nice to see a game in this day and age willing to tell a joke without being afraid of some backlash.

Swords, Shotguns, and Sorcery 

Thanks to you, the world is in chaos.

Gameplay in SW13 hearkens back to the wave-based FPS shoot-em-ups of the mid-90's and early 2000's. You advance from arena to arena, taking on hordes of enemies at your own leisure, and when everything but you is dead you move on. Occasionally there's a mid-level boss or a simple puzzle to work out, but 90% of the time it's slashing or shooting hundreds of demons till the only thing that remains is hunks of gore everywhere. It's simple, easy to figure out, and a hell of a lot of fun when it all works.

Despite it's simplicity however, there is some welcome diversity to the mix. Lo Wang has access to a number of magical powers, both defensive and offensive through the use of his sword. Activating these powers is as easy as tapping a directional button twice then one of the mouse buttons. After doing it a few times you'll be able to activate it like a pro in the middle of battle, which is good because you'll need to more often then not. I have the healing and shield spells committed to muscle memory thanks to how often I used them.

My favorite weapon, the venerable crossbow.

SW13 is a brutal game, both in the amount of gore spilt everywhere and the actual difficulty of the game. Enemies can be absolutely tiring to take down, and some of the tougher fights feel like you're shooting at an actual sponge. This is my biggest issue with the game, is that to many of the demons you fight seem built to annoy rather then challenge. There's the shaman demon that constantly spawns in cannon fodder and creates a bullet proof shield. There's a charging bull enemy that can only be hit on the back, but turns around in the blink of an eye. Most annoyingly are the exploding suicide enemies, which remind me of the screaming headless bombers from Serious Sam in the worst way. Fighting some enemy types just becomes a chore, and you're only happy when it's over because it's finally over and you can move on. There are enjoyable fights, battles that make you use your head and out manned, but some of the fights, especially end of level fights, just feel like impossible slogs.

SW13's biggest saving grace is it's actual gameplay however. As I mentioned, there's a slew of spells to learn, but there's more the that. There's a full RPG upgrade system, with three paths for guns, spells, and passive upgrades, each with their own branching paths. Each upgrade tree has it's own unique currency too, allowing you to level at your leisure without worrying where to assign points. You'll constantly be upgrading, and that lends a welcome feel of advancement as you grow stronger.

The shadowy Hoji, your only friend throughout the game.

As for killing things, you'll utilize your collection of powers, along with your collection of weapons. There's nothing super standout, and all of the weapons are instantly recognizable. There's the classic revolver, SMGs, shotgun, crossbow, and rocket launcher to name a few. They handle well and there's a noticeable punch to the heavier weapons. There's a host of unlockable upgrades for each gun, including a secondary fire mode, provided you can find enough cash to pay.

The only really interesting weapon is the legendary katana Lo Wang wields. Melee combat is fast and furious as you swing with wild abandon, and whenever possible I'd ditch my guns to rip and tear the enemies apart the old fashioned way. Even better are the sword arts you can unlock, allowing for area of effect attacks, shield breakers, and other combos to make you feel awesome. The best moments in the game are when you cut your way through a horde of demons, coming out completely unscathed.

Old Style

Jokes are woven in, the most obvious being the collectible fortune cookies.

Graphically SW13 looks pretty good. There's a lot of work put into the style of the game, and it comes off pretty well. Locations are distinct enough that the levels don't all feel the same, and the texture work is decent enough. My biggest issue with how SW13 looks is it's lighting, which is problematically dark at the suggested gamma settings. It was never bad enough to ruin the game, but the flashlight was woefully underpowered and it made the darker levels harder to move around.

After the enemy balance, my biggest issue with SW13 is it's level design. It's abysmal at times. When it's just a series of corridors a la Doom everything works, but when you enter into a large, open area and are tasked with pixel hunting the one thing to let you move forward it gets tiring. Most annoying was one level near the end of the game partly shrouded in a poisonous cloud. I spent twenty minutes running around looking for the key to move forward while my vision was completely obscured. It's not that every game should have a compass permanently attached to the top of the screen, but some way to indicate where to go would've helped a lot considering the labyrinthine layout of some of the levels.

Levels range from Japanese castles, to downtown, and even demonic worlds.

Where the level design does redeem itself somewhat is the style of the levels. Each level is filled with things, making them feel alive and lived in, or as the case may be, demonic and long forgotten. Even better is that a large portion of these objects explode, and parts of levels seem designed to allow for massive chain explosions. Everything from cars to AC units, to random unattended fireworks stands are just waiting for you to shoot them. You'll need to be careful, however, as I've lost count of how many times I exploded myself in the heat of combat.

Overall sound design is perfectly fine. Lo Wang's voice actor seems to be doing a piss-poor impersonation of an Asian, somewhat fitting for a guy from Texas. None of the voice actors are bad, but none of them are particularly standout either. As for sound effects? The guns mostly sound punchy and weighty, save for the SMGs which sound appropriately yappy. Explosions are bombastic and heavy enough, especially when chained together. Enemies sound menacing and evil and there's a particularly satisfying amount of swishes, squishes and crunches as you reduce them to piles of goo. Music is a mix of techno, generic metal, and pan-Asian classical, all remixed appropriately.

Good Fortune

Almost every situation ends poorly for you.

Overall, Shadow Warrior is somewhat hard to actually recommend. On the one hand, it's a rare breed of game, a classic no-holds-barred shooter that puts action front and center. These types of games only come once in a blue moon, and even more rarely are they actually worth playing. Serious Sam 3 was two years before this, and even since SW13 there hasn't been any other shooter like it.

On the other hand, it's a deeply problematic game. It's RPG system is deep, but flawed, especially trying to save money for weapon upgrades. It's shooting is fun, but enemies are annoying and tiring to fight. Graphically it looks great, but the levels are maze-like and hard to progress through. It all averages out to be pretty good, but only if you can put up with the bullshit.

Shadow Warrior 2013 is a game for an audience that doesn't really exist. It's an old school shooter that's to new-school, and a new-age shooter trying to be old. It's the successor to a game no one really knows about, and the spiritual successor to games that don't exist anymore. It is a fun game, especially if you want a little more action and a little less dialogue in your shooter, but it comes with a hefty word of warning. Once you dig into this game, you might just be hungry again in an hour.

Looking at: Square Enix E3 2015

Oh man. Sometimes it's difficult to tell, but there's no doubt that Square Enix was the worst show at E3 this year. Between the long, LONG sections of people talking and the complete lack of gameplay they absolutely dropped every ball.

Let's go through and see the reasons Square doesn't and shouldn't host their own show:

Just Cause 3

I think JC3 was the only game Square announced or talked about that I'm actually looking forward to from their show. After making us wait through, like 10 minutes of people talking about Square Enix as a company, then talking about Just Cause 3 we finally got some gameplay.

Sort of. What we really got felt like a long form of a TV trailer. It's not bad, per say as it did highlight new features like the upgraded grappling hook, refined parachute, and new wingsuit, but it just felt like actual marketing material rather then just a normal gameplay reveal, like they had this reel created THEN decided to do an E3 show.

other new features highlighted were the overhauled vehicle destruction animations, physics based destruction allowing you to chain explosions together, and new side quests. I'm pretty excited for sure, since JC2 is just plain stupid fun.

Nier?

There was a brief announcement for another Nier game, then a whole lot of talking about it. This, sadly, set the pace for the entire show, announcing something then just talking about it a bunch. People apparently liked the original Nier, and Platinum games are usually pretty good, so here's hoping.

Tomb Raider

My stream shit itself during this segement, and when it came back it was just the trailer we had already seen before. This was another trend through the Square show.

Rather then talk about the game they instead spoke about how they made the game. No one's denying the technical prowess behind it, and next-gen Lara looks great, but some more gameplay, perhaps less quick-timey would've been nice.

They also announced a brand new Tomb Raider game... for mobile. Taking a cue from Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go is a turnbased board game style of Tomb Raider, you know, because that's what I want in a Tomb Raider game.

Square games they didn't even show

There was a quick montage of games Square is currently working on, including FF15, Dragon Quest Heroes, Life is Strange, and FF Heaven Sword.

Then they spoke for a minute about the FF7 remake and showed the trailer we saw yesterday.

Kingdom Hearts

The strange crossover of Disney and Final Fantasy has a huge cult following, although I've never played any of the games. Square announced two new games, following a presentation from Disney saying that they really think the games are cool.

First was a Kingdom Hearts game for mobile. It might already be out in Japan, I don't know, but it didn't really look that great.

The big announcement was gameplay footage of Kingdom Hearts 3 for the PS4. It looks good if you're a fan of the series, I guess.

There was a lot I didn't understand, but there's no denying the surreal charm of watching Goofy and Donald Duck fight monsters.

Still no word on a release date. All Square would offer is that it's "in development"

Final Fantasy World

There was no new information about this game, it was literally just the trailer from yesterday.

Hitman

I still hate the name, but at least they sort of justified it. The new Hitman game will involve the classic stealth gameplay of the series, but the new focus is also being a content delivery system. Square is promising to push out new contracts and content for players for years, although we'll see if that holds up.

Also returning is Contracts mode from the last game. People seemed to like Contracts mode, so that's nice.

Star Ocean

Star Ocean is... a game. It's a JRPG and there's things to do and people to interact with. Yes.

Sure is. It's replete with wars and Lasagna!

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

MD was actually announced a few months back, but it was nice to see some more info about it. It takes place two years after the events of Human Revolution and stars Adam Jensen and his growly voice as a private detective hunting down a terrorist.

In the meantime the attitude concerning augmented humans has turned hostile, creating a mechanical apartheid. The people you'd expect to over-react to this are already over-reacting and I can't wait.

Regardless, it looks to feature new abilites, more weapon customization, and if that really was gameplay footage they showed then I'm rather excited for this cyberpunk romp.

Some other things

The end of Square's show was so boring I stopped taking notes. They announced a Final Fantasy news app, which is great if you don't have access to the internet, except that it needs internet access to use.

Then they announced a new studio called Tokyo RPG Factory. Interesting name considering one of the common complaints is that all JRPG games look the same. They're working on something, but could only offer concept art at this time.

That was painful to watch, so here's hoping the PC Gaming show tonight at 8 is a little better. Join me then, won't you?