As a rabidly hardcore fan of the original game, I feel almost duty bound to dislike BioShock 2. In about as much need of a sequel as the Mona Lisa, Ken Levine’s original creative work was a stunningly complete vision, telling a perfectly orchestrated tale of the rise and fall of one of gaming’s most memorable locations. The prospect of a purely commercially-driven sequel drew understandably hushed accusations of cashing in and selling out. Yet as hard as I’ve tried, BioShock 2 is simply too good a game to dislike. 

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Posted by Rupert Higham on 12/02/10 in Best FPS Games, Reviews, Role-Playing FPS, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, and tagged with 2K Marin, fps, PlayStation 3, PS3, Xbox 360.
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The future's bright?

After teasing the internet rotten last week, Ubisoft’s whisked the dustsheets off a new Ghost Recon game. Specifics on Future Soldier are in short supply right now, with naught but a press release to chew on, but the mere thought of a third tour of duty for Scott Mitchell (assuming he hasn’t fielded a desk job) and co is enough to make us wet the bed.

So what do we know about the title, right now? Well, we know it’ll offer “cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes” – standard issue features for the battleworn tactical shooter series. But we’re also told that it’ll “go beyond the core Ghost Recon franchise and deliver a fresh gameplay experience, with an unparalleled level of quality that will excite long-time fans and newcomers alike”.

Good news? Sure. The last Ghost Recon was more of a refinement than a reinvention of its predecessor, and it’s high time Ubisoft started pushing some boundaries. But here’s a speculative caveat: the mention of “going beyond the core” and “newcomers” makes it sound a little like the publisher is courting the mainstream market.

We’re pretty down with the mainstream – hey, we review Wii games – but we’re fond of Ghost Recon’s more authentic, less accessible approach to urban warfare, and we wouldn’t want it to go soft. Financial realities presumably dictate that the Future Soldier team branch out from the franchise’s tightly wound fanbase; we just hope they’re able to create a truly scalable product, one which won’t skimp on intricacy and challenge for the layman’s sake.

This is the game soldiers relax with between trips to the Middle East, Ubi. Don’t turn it into Ravin Rabbids.

Press release over the leaf. UPDATE: You can find the announcement trailer on VGTV.

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Posted by Edwin on 09/02/10 in Multiplayer, News, Spotlight, Tactical FPS, and tagged with 2010, announcement, Ghost Recon, News, Ubisoft.
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Halo: Reach factoids have been popping up all over the place like decloaking Elites, thanks chiefly to the chaps at Edge and Game Informer but also, somewhat less officially, to EB Games, who let slip a few gameplay screenshots on Wednesday morning. You know what this means, readers? It means Whining Season has officially commenced.

We’ve had a good old gander at the material, and we’re ready to throw down a gauntlet or two. Brace yourselves for some serious subheadings.

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Posted by Edwin on 22/01/10 in Best FPS Games, Features, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Spotlight, and tagged with Bungie, Microsoft, PC, preview, sci-fi, Xbox 360.
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Battlefield Bad Company 2 saw a burst of somewhat unexpected sunny publicity last year thanks to Infinity Ward’s decision to scrap dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2 on PC. DICE’s Gordon Van Dyke was quick to reassure official forum posters that his game would tick all the boxes on server support, to considerable applause.

Bad Company 2 online has more going for it than a sound network backbone, of course. According to producer Karl-Magnus Troedsson (whom we accosted at a recent preview shindig), the franchise’s approach to team play “has always been deeper” than that of most rivals – and remains deeper today.

Asked if there was anything he felt other multiplayer shooters were doing wrong, Troedsson replied: “Well I wouldn’t say ‘wrong’ – I don’t want to judge people, other games like that. But for us – multiplayer, online play, we’ve been doing that since Battlefield 1942, and to us it’s open environments, it’s sandbox, it’s team play.

“Because team play – what we’ve done in Battlefield for a long time is team play,” he went on. “You play as squads, you play teams, it’s very important. A lot of the other shooters are still actually in team deathmatch mode – they have tons of different game modes, but they all one way or another are just people playing to get the maximum score.

“This game is deeper, and Battlefield has always been deeper, and that’s due a lot to the gameplay. Like for instance you can heal each other, you can give each other ammo, you can revive each other – we’ve got the shock paddles in now.”

We find this claim a little dubious, to be honest. Among other current generation highlights, Killzone 2, Left 4 Dead and Gears of War have all done compelling things with player revival, healing and ammo sharing. 1942 may have been a trend-setter, but Battlefield faces stiffer competition nowadays. What do you think?

The game’s out on 2nd March in North America and 5th March in Europe.

Posted by FPS Gamer Staff on 05/01/10 in Multiplayer, News, Realistic & Historical, Spotlight, Tactical FPS, and tagged with Battlefield Bad Company 2, DICE, EA, fps, interview, PS3, Xbox 360.
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