A trailer has been released for the upcoming Watchmen game. The game is obviously an attempt to cash in on the film releasing in a few months. When 1Up first revealed the game, it sounded a lot like they were trying to convince fans that the game was going to be true to the graphic novel. Unfortunately, even if the writing and canon is true, that doesn’t mean the style of the film will be. Watchmen isn’t about superheroes fighting criminals, yet the game looks like it is going to be nothing more than your typical brawler. They took two characters from the comic and planted them into a game about beating up thugs on the street.

Of course, when I first watched the trailer, I didn’t realize this was the problem. Visually, it looks to have the style of the comic down pat, but that’s honestly not so hard. Especially since they are simply taking the visual style of the film, which has done a pretty good job of maintaining the proper visuals for the universe. Before the trailer, a few friends and I discussed that the best possible Watchmen game would actually be done in the style of a 2-D brawler, but with a twist. The game would open up saying “Veidt Enterprises”, and you would basically just play the sort of game that Ozymandias would have made in the universe of the Watchmen. This way it didn’t trounce canon at all, but would be more like playing a piece of what would exist in the universe itself.

Now that the trailer has come out, I’ve had the time to think on how one would make a real, serious attempt at a Watchmen game. When I thought back to the trailer, I realized that, even though Rorschach and Nite Owl certainly beat up criminals together as a team, the graphic novel was never at all about crime fighting or action. Granted, part of this is due to the limitations of a comic in conveying action, putting greater emphasis on plot, dialogue and characters. However, just because you change mediums doesn’t mean you need to change emphasis.

To make a proper Watchmen game, you need to look back on what is mostly a forgotten genre: the point-and-click adventure.

While originally it felt to me that the graphic novel was too closed off to allow for a story to be told outside of it, I am no longer sure of such a thing. You will never have a story that encompasses such complexity, mystery or desperation as the comic itself, but you don’t have to stick to the story of the comic. Of course, you don’t need to make a story outside of the graphic novel, either. It can be retold in the game. Either way, there is a character that is perfect for such a game already in the story.

Rorschach is the perfect protagonist for an adventure game based on Watchmen. The character has become such a fan favorite that he is almost as much of an icon as the bloodstained smiley. Fans of the game would certainly prefer to play in his shoes than the shoes of any other character. In addition, Rorschach is also the first character to speak, and continues to narrate a large portion of the comic. He is the only character in major action, and his activities all lend well to an adventure game.

Rorschach is very much a detective. He has a tools set, most notably his grappling hook, is able to improvise when necessary, and specializes in investigation and putting pieces together. His role in the comic easily transfers to a game designed for puzzle solving, thinking and story telling. Using the plot of the graphic novel, you can easily follow Rorschach’s steps throughout the process, with plenty of scenes available to explore, as well as work off camera to do some work unseen in the comic. If you wanted to write a prequel, there are also a couple moments in Rorschach’s background that could be used as build up to his character, seeing the transformation into what he is in Watchmen.

As for the gameplay itself, most people would not be too interested in a point-and-click adventure unless it was on the DS. Even on the Wii would it have a limited market, yet games like Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk have enjoyed moderate to great success on the DS. The genre’s traditional designs met with the unique capabilities of the system could easily open up to a pretty fun game that maintains the necessary atmosphere of the graphic novel.

Of course, if you wanted a game with a bit wider appeal than a point-and-click to play on Xbox 360, PS3 and/or PC, then you could simply remove the point and clicking, but keep a lot of the same ideas. I’ve found plenty of games have carried over elements of the adventure genre over into their own, particularly in horror titles. Resident Evil typically has simple puzzles, but the earlier titles are more about inventory management, key items and puzzle solving. The new Alone in the Dark, despite having plenty of control issues and some clunky design choices, also has plenty of ideas that would work great with a game focused on a character like Rorschach. With a set of good controls and a good designer, a Watchmen game in full 3-D with a quality budget could turn out well, and true to the original graphic novel’s ideas, characters and atmosphere.

But instead we’ll be getting an episodic brawler, focused on delivering action. 1Up has tried to soothe our souls, claiming that Alan Moore’s “teacher” is working on the story and that the editor of their site, a long time fan, has found it to be quite accurate so far.

As it is, I honestly doubt I’ll be giving the game a chance.

There are various arguments on the topic of whether or not video games are art. A friend of mine has recently mused on the matter after reading a discussion on the topic, where one debater proclaimed that one would not claim Tennis or Hopscotch as art, and therefore video games are not either. My friend then began to ponder on how art has embraced sports, and further down that train of thought.

I, on the other hand, fully oppose the concept that sports are not art. Of course, watching people play sports may not be considered art (though I’m sure there are many that would wish to argue that), but then again we aren’t discussing whether watching someone play Gears of War is art. We are arguing whether the game, Gears of War itself, is art. While games have a lot in common with novels and film, simply adding a layer of interactivity, it is not merely a different form of narrative that opens video games into being art. It is the process of design that does as well.

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Dead Space. Amazing game. As a game, it is designed incredibly well. It provides a nearly flawless experience, fun to the point that you don’t pay attention to any of the flaws.

That is, unless you’re looking for an actual survival horror. See, there are plenty of design elements that work well for Dead Space as a shooter, but horrible for it to be the survival horror that EA Redshores Studio labeled it to be. While on harder difficulties these matters are less of an issue, they still interfere with the horror aspect.

Granted, what games like Resident Evil and other survival horror titles had going for them is considered bad game design. Poor controls, no checkpoints, limited saves, incredibly limited inventory, these all contributed to the horror in a different way than just making you jump. You were actually afraid of the next encounter, because you’d have to deal with clumsy controls, and if you died you would have to replay half an hour or more. Not to mention you aren’t sure if you have enough ammo to be prepared, or if you even have the right kind.

Dead Space eliminates all of that. Granted no game would be allowed to get away with horrible controls these days, and there are still great ways to balance that such as A.I., where the enemies come from, how quickly they move, etc. However, just about any other problem, and more, are eliminated from the equation.

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There aren’t many sequels I can think of that feel so similar to their predecessor they may as well be one in the same. Gears of War 2 has the same formula and feel of the first title, so much so that it feels wrong to even call it a sequel. While technically it stands on its own as a game, considering the lack of depth to the franchise’s story and setting, it is better thought of as a continuation of the first game. It isn’t Gears of War 2, it is Gears of War: Part Two.

To give you a better understanding, think of the Alien trilogy compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The three Alien films tell the overall story of Ripley and her battle against the Alien, but each film has its own isolated plot and atmosphere that allows them to each stand on their own. The Lord of the Rings films, on the other hand, are all one larger story. The Two Towers doesn’t stand on its own, but rather it continues the tale started with Fellowship of the Ring. This is how Gears of War 2 feels overall.

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I was all set for this Fall release schedule. I had picked out a handful of titles I was going to purchase on day one, and had put titles I was unsure of aside to wait for a price drop following the holidays. Plenty of excellent games should be down to $40 by February, if not more so. I was going to grab the three or four games I really wanted, put the rest on a Christmas wishlist and grab the rest at a cheaper price in ‘09.

Then I played the demo for Mirror’s Edge.

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Everyone hates the new Facebook layout. At least, I don’t know a single person that enjoys it. Personally, I’m not much a fan either, though I don’t seem to hate it nearly so much as anyone else. Still, my first reaction was “How the Hell did this pass usability testing?”. Trying to find the familiar links was a pain at first, and the very look of it just gave a queasy feeling.

Yet whenever I tried to describe why it was so terrible, I found any truly good reasons to escape me. I couldn’t say “well, this here is a perfect example of bad design”. So exactly what’s wrong with it? Why is it such a terrible new layout? All I’ve really heard from people is “it is/looks horrible” and “I can’t find anything”, for the most part.

So let’s try and figure out what is really going wrong with it.

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It is typically in my nature to write impressions or a review of a game, but Too Human is a bit of a different case. There are plenty of excellent things that the game did, but also there are plenty of areas that could’ve used some improvement, and will hopefully be worked on for the second in the trilogy (assuming the first does well enough for a sequel to come out and not have the Advent Rising thing going on).

Firstly, I’ve completed the entire single player campaign, and it was in fact a very great game. It was fun, and the story was enjoyable. Screw the scores, it delivered a fun experience very successfully. Silicon Knights did a very good job creating a unique control scheme for the title, as well as taking  the monotony of constant mouse-clicking in your typical looting RPG into smooth combat. While there aren’t many particular moves available, they all become pretty necessary for survival, as well as vary the combat up. There is also so much loot in the game that it never gets tiring. It actually provides many rewards when leveling up begins to take longer, allowing your character to constantly become more and more powerful. It’s all a very rewarding experience. (more…)

So by now most everyone has already made up their mind about Too Human. You either hate it, or you figured out how to actually play the game properly and enjoy it (or, potentially, still hate it for whatever baby-kicking reason). The unfortunate truth to the game is that, despite Silicon Knights making it common knowledge that the right thumbstick is used for attacks for over a year, people still went in expecting you to mash buttons. The first instinct from just about everyone, once you discover the thumbstick’s functionality, is to instead mash and click the thumbstick in every which direction as if it were trying to be a Wiimote.

This is, in fact, wrong wrong wrong.

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I think by now it’s safe to assume that I’m a geek. I built my own website for both an online comic and a blog, talk mostly about video games, and have made jokes and references to Dungeons & Dragons and anime. However, there are sometimes where I even surprise myself, as I turn a simple thought that brings a smirk to mind into something completely ridiculous. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that there would be interest in a web application that combines your Gamerscore with D&D statistics.

The idea came about the other day when I was exploring the dashboard to my 360, casually glancing at my gamercard and seeing the 13,600+ score I had grown accustomed to. For some reason I made a small tie to experience points in D&D, and smirked as I calculated that, were gamerscore experience points, I’d be level five. When I was walking home from work another day after, I thought more about it, and down I spiraled into the deep well of insanity and inanity.

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I went to a GameStop with some friends on Sunday where they had broken the street date on Operation Darkness, so I decided to pick it up while I was there and give it a go. Since today is the actual release date for the game, I figured I’d put some impressions up of my first two to three hours with the game. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to get to some of the more meatier gameplay elements, so I’ll be posting another set of impressions at a later date when I can go into further detail.

Story and Graphics

The first thing I’ll be touching on is the story and graphics because, so far, they are the weakest element of the game.

Firstly, for those of you unfamiliar, Operation Darkness takes place during World War II, and follows the mythology that Hitler was up to some paranormal stuff (a la Hellboy).

Now, it’s too early to determine whether the story as a whole is poor, but the delivery certainly is. Everything about the game’s graphics and cut-scenes suggest this should have at least been a budget title, if not released on a lower powered platform such as the Wii or PS2. The graphics are poor, there’s very little to the environments, and the game just looks like a PS2 launch title. On the few occasions that the game actually has 3-D cut scenes, the characters are not in any way animated. They may move a little bit, but there’s no real motion to go with the audio. It feels like I’m playing a game a lot older than Operation Darkness really is.

What truly grates me is most of the story isn’t even delivered in full 3-D. Most of the story is delivered in the same 2-D cut-out style of games like Trauma Center (if you don’t know what I mean, then this video will give you an idea, only fewer animations and the presence of voice acting). If I had paid less than $60 for the game, this wouldn’t bother me. However, the game was sold at full price, and this sort of small-budget presentation just doesn’t cut-it.

Fortunately, not everything about this game is disappointing.

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