MAX PAYNE 3

A couple of weeks ago I finished Max Payne 3, a game I was eager to play. And frankly, it has been a little of a deception.

I remember playing the original Max Payne years ago. It was unique because of the use of bullet time, the cutscenes narrated as comic strips and the revenge-consumed main character. Updating the graphics and the gameplay sounded like a sweet deal to me.

But the game is disappointing in many aspects. At first the cutscene visual design is interesting, but it becomes repetitive quite fast, not to mention they are loooong as hell. I wouldn´t be surprised if one of the top shots of the studio got too much involved into the story and forced the experience to have so much time out of gameplay.

Next is the bullet time. Yes, it´s still there but the level design punish you for using it most of the time. At the end you´re encouraged to stay in cover all the time and shoot down enemies from there. That´s not Max Payne, dude.

The story itself is not necessarily bad, but I still feel a little disconnected with the new Max. He was consumed by hatred and now his motivations are more on the line of "it´s my duty to keep killing people" since he´s not really emotionally invested into the issues of the family he´s defending.

Several combat encounters are poorly design, without enough cover points, too many enemies and props which makes aiming really difficult. Also Rockstar´s trademark aiming reticule (far too small) makes it even more complicated. Additional game modes are just ok. They re-use the same levels from SP adding new challenges, and I didn´t have the chance to play MP so far.

On the plus side shooting enemies down is most of the time enjoyable, there are some interesting locations to play in and mission-unique gameplay moments which add compelling twists from time to time.

Anyway, unless you´re a hardcore fan of the character or Rockstar I personally don´t recommend the game. It´s right now rated in Metacritics with 86 points and I think it´s 4-5 points over its real value. Your call.

CUT THE ROPE

Last week I completed Cut the Rope on the iPad. Truth is I didn´t feel 100% motivated to finish it, but the playtime sessions are so short you can easily integrate them in most moments of your everyday life. That´s why is good for "momentos tontos" as we say in spanish (waiting times).

The gameplay is extremely well adapted to tactile devices (in most levels you just need to swipe once or twice on the screen) but there is always a mild challenge. It´s accessible for all audience types and the different gameplay iterations are properly introduced and exploited.

On the minus side you may say that the lack of story makes you feel demotivated to prolong playtime, and since it´s essentially a puzzle game if you get stuck on one level you can´t progress in the whole game which is a real problem.

Actually I feel we solve that problem in EcoFish allowing the user to play all levels from a chapter in the order they feel to. Too bad it´s not selling well...

BATMAN ARKHAM CITY LOCKDOWN

Last week I finished another iOS game: Batman Arkham City Lockdown. Loosely based on the characters and style created in Batman Arkham Asylum and Batman Arkham City, it´s essentially a fighting game. In every mission you´re supposed to defeat a number of thugs tapping and swiping on the screen at the appropriate time to counter-effect the enemies´ attacks.

The basic combat works most of the time (some of the tactile inputs are poorly recognized, leading to frustration) and the visuals are very good for the platform. However the game becomes quickly repetitive because of the lack of secondary challenges. No collectible items, no optional features to break the constant flow of brawling. Just fighting all the time. You can buy upgrades with the xp, but that´s all. Bosses include unique additional challenges, like aftertouch or cleaning up the screen, making me think why not using those mechanics in the rest of the game too.

It cost 5 euros, and frankly I expected a little more for that money. Not a bad investment since its gameplay is related to my current project, but still not the best purchase I´ve made in the app store.

DEAD RISING

I have an idiosincrasy about games: Whenever I buy one, I finish it. And now I´m going to break that rule with Dead Rising.

Some friends told me it was really entertaining, and I bought it. I should have had in mind they were truly hardcore gamers. I´ve never been attracted by the zombie theme (the game waited on my shelf for 5 years), but technically it was an interesting twist because of the number of enemies on screen. Why not enjoy it?

My, what a hardcore game. It rarely offers second chances, save points are difficult to find, missions are time based (you need to activate them before the counter reaches zero) but offers little communication about failing conditions. Side quests are poorly balanced and offer more frustration than joy, not to mention their interface is really annoying.

Essentially you´re supposed to fail, restart the game from the beginning, learn from your mistakes and try to avoid them to progress a little more until you have to restart the game again.

In other words, another japanese game that forces you play by its rules, not allowing the user enjoy it in the way he wants. I don´t have time for that, sorry.

PUZZLE QUEST 2

And I finished my second iOS game: PUZZLE QUEST 2. It was recommended to me by Lolo, a friend, and I have mixed feelings about it.

On one hand I appreciate the mix of RPG elements with a basic puzzle system, but on the other the game becomes repetitive really fast. The production values are quite high for a mobile game, there is an interesting number of different enemies, spells and scenarios to visit. But they´re all 2D, and possibly handled by different artists since there are subtle style differences in characters and drawings. Also the game was prone to shut down itself from time to time, but the RPG element keeps you interested in your hero, as well as the story pushing you for finding what´s next.

The thing I liked the most was the fact that you can adapt gameplay to your needs. Each puzzle fight takes 5-10 min to be completed, which is very convenient for some short play sessions I have along the day (i.e. subway trips). That´s the main reason why I kept playing, and why I finished it. But ey, I only recommend it if you´re an RPG fan ;)

BATMAN AKHAM ASYLUM

I played the demo months ago and I found it interesting but since I´m not a great fan of stealth I didn´t buy it. Now, and for working reasons, I´ve played and completed it and I have reasons to think it´s a really unique and remarkable game.

It´s mainly based onto 3 core mechanics: Melee combat, Detective mode and Stealth. However the part I consider more interesting is how they managed to increase the playtime due to replayability. There is a number of collectables, hidden secrets and story elements in the rather small scenarios, and the plot forces you to cross those locations regularly, which re-uses their graphic assets constantly.

Also, I think the difficulty regarding finding hidden items is perfect. Being the Explorer type of gamer (also achiever) I was able to find lots of secrets, but the game offers a map which highlights more or less where every item is. Although it sounds like destroying the fun in finding them, most of those secrets are still difficult to find even with the map. I´m struggling to get 100% of the content without having the need to check the internet not even once, which is strange in most games.

WARHAMMER 40K SPACE MARINE

Right after Uncharted 3 I completed Warhammer Space Marine. It´s not a remarkable game but a solid and professional work. Gameplay favors melee combat over ranged through a non-particularly interesting story which otherwise serves its purpose. Graphically it´s not impressive but I´d say it reflects nicely the Warhammer 40k universe.

I´d have to check other posts but I think I´ve stated before average games (i.e. around 70 in metacritics) deserve more attention than videogame media generally offers. Journalists tend to focus only in the 5-6 big titles of the year while you can have lots of fun with non-so-known games. If prices were not the same in both cases, I´d strongly recommend most of these titles.