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Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Norman Chan — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:56:59 -0600

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Grin, the developer of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, took this adage to heart after the original GRAW’s abysmally poor squad AI and mediocre missions failed to woo PC gamers. Thankfully, the developer’s efforts are clearly noticeable in the sequel, which impresses with both its improved AI pathfinding and new tactically sound team controls.

You again fill the boots of Scott Mitchell, who has been sent to Mexico to support loyalist troops defending against a violent rebellion. Your tasks of keeping the peace, rescuing captured pilots, and recovering stolen nuclear weapons are eased by the support of your Ghost squad, which exhibits deft tactical skill. The improved team intelligence is a welcome necessity, as we found enemy soldiers to be proficient sharpshooters able to pick us off if we rushed too eagerly into a firefight. GRAW 2 definitely rewards the patient planner over the fighter with an itchy trigger finger.

To prepare for infiltration missions and engagements at haciendas and hydro-electric power plants, we were given fun new toys with which to manage assaults. An overview map let us plot recon paths and cover positions for individual team members in real time, which was very reminiscent of the effective pre-planning feature in the classic Rainbow Six games. After executing carefully designed attack routes, we could also direct the action from cameras mounted on teammates’ shoulders. This Cross-Com system worked wonders for adjusting tactics on the fly, especially when the team was spread across different points on a map.

But as fun as the action gets, it’s all over a bit too soon. The game’s 10 campaign missions don’t add up to more than six hours of gameplay, and we spent most of that time in the three ultra-difficult levels of the last act. Addictive multiplayer modes are a redeeming factor and round out a very satisfying package that’s indubitably worth your time.

Infernal

Norman Chan — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:46:44 -0500

You never want to get on the bad side of God, especially when you’re one of his elite angels. That’s what happened to Ryan Lennox (who bears more than a striking resemblance to Ryan Reynolds), the rugged protagonist of Infernal. You step into his forsaken boots as a fallen angel who is looking for redemption—but still isn’t afraid to kick ass and take names. After signing a contract with the devil, you’ll do dirty work for both good and evil, smiting rogue monks, heretics, and other supernatural menaces in this single-player-only fragfest.

The game takes you through monasteries, ironworks, and even an aircraft carrier—varied locations that ensure you won’t notice the repetitive action. The fast-paced gunfights take a cue from other established third-person shooters: We jumped, dived, and circle-strafed while blasting away at an endless supply of gimpy minions. Infernal even has a unique gameplay gimmick—using built-up mana power, you can unleash a hellfire attack that dramatically augments your current weapon. We also dug the ability to harvest souls, which gives you upgrades and lets you reclaim health.

The game’s pace is hindered only by its mazelike levels. We felt very restricted within the confined space of the maps and got bored with the countless puzzles requiring us to find keys and alternate routes through passageways. Even worse, we found ourselves occasionally stuck between objects while using the game’s cover system. There’s no harsher punishment than being trapped in a dark hallway, stuck to a barrel while goons spew vulgarities at you from afar.

When it comes to shooting and killing, Infernal doesn’t disappoint. Mercenaries and mini-bosses were no pushovers—we needed to score head shots and use cover to avoid losing our own noggin. The game includes plenty of exciting weapons, ranging from RPGs to plasma rifles, and everything gets kicked up a notch when you enable hellfire. Soft bloom and subtle lighting effects had us convinced that the developers went all out with the visuals. Too bad we can’t say the same about the gameplay.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Norman Chan — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:05:09 -0500

No review of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is complete without a mention of the game’s numerous delays and incredibly long development period. Thankfully, after a thorough inspection, we’ve found that it holds its own quite well in the areas that matter—gameplay and content. Numerous bugs and stability issues plague this ambitious shooter, but its thrilling action and deep story are surprisingly fun—it’s enough to win us over.

After Chernobyl suffers a second nuclear meltdown, the government blocks off the surrounding area, which is known as the Zone. Scavengers and bandits search the area for strange artifacts that emerge from spatial anomalies, and bizarre animal and human mutations roam the abandoned landscape. As the Marked One, you (conveniently suffering from amnesia and trying to uncover the mystery of your past) are one of many mercenaries for hire.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. includes a number of role-playing elements that mesh well with its story. While the narrative is propelled by a single string of core missions and assignments, you can complete them at your own pace. The game does an admirable job of feigning open-endedness by offering a ton of side missions. While assassination assignments and retrieval requests made up most of the tasks, many times we had to help encampments defend against waves of assaulting mutants or rescue captured soldiers from fortified housing complexes. The game doesn’t become a full-fledged role-playing experience, but it was definitely meaty enough to leave us satisfied.

It took us almost 15 hours to reach S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s explosive climax. Formidable AI enemies can’t be killed by running and gunning—they constantly search for cover and flank. The shooting mechanics are geared toward realism, so the combination of patience and steady aim is the only way to get really effective head shots. Firefights felt as though they lasted forever, as we had to constantly reposition ourselves to avoid flanks and slowly drain down enemy forces one body at a time—the combat here is easily some of the most intense we’ve ever seen in a shooter.

What immersed us further was the immaculate rendition of the postapocalyptic Zone. Lush foliage swayed convincingly against the backdrop of a purple sky, complete with giant mutant flowers that adorned the edges of polluted swamps.

Dilapidated warehouses and small towns reeked of eerie despair and abandoned hope, while making great locales for spooky encounters with lurching mutants and firefights with rival factions. We were most dazzled by the weather effects—convincing day and night cycles were complemented by ear-splitting lightning storms and bone-chilling rain showers. The environment gave us the creeps, and we’re just talking about the surface levels. When we dove underground into the secret research laboratories and sewers in search of hidden stashes and documents, we entered a whole new world of fright.

Unfortunately, the game isn’t without its faults. Numerous bugs plague the missions, sometimes objectives won’t complete, and often the game will just crash to the desktop. While occasionally annoying in XP, the problems are even more severe in Windows Vista, where the game inevitably shuts down after several minutes of play. A recent patch attempts to fix these problems, but it destroys old save games and doesn’t adequately resolve these issues.

Ultimately, you’re getting a deeply involving single-player experience (the bland multiplayer is a wash) that really separates itself from the shooter pack. We’re thankful that the game finally came out but even more pleased that it exceeded our expectations. If you can bear the bugginess and difficulty, you should definitely try it out.