Weekly overview of the gaming industry and everything related. #20


Once again, after a short break, the weekly column returns. I hope it won't disappear again, and we can attribute its absence to the various New Year, exam sessions, vacations, and other things of that sort.

Well, last week wasn’t particularly rich in news, not very productive in games. Overall, it was quite dull. But we will still try to find something interesting. Let’s begin.

Releases

Dark Void — unfortunately, this is the best game of the past week. Yes, this isn’t September-October, when one could close their eyes to such projects and lump them together with something like “The New Adventures of Evlampia Romanova.”


Well, I'm exaggerating, of course, but not too much. The game really turned out poorly. The amusing flying mode is the only thing that’s nice about Dark Void. You can perform aerial maneuvers with the gamepad and beautifully destroy enemies. But everything else is boring and monotonous. Battles with the same enemies, in a similar setting, without any flair.

You quickly get tired of the game. Even flying gets boring after a while. You can learn more about the game in the video review.

Or right here

And that’s it, really. There are no more games. Unless you count Mass Effect 2, which somehow got pirated a week before its official release. But we will discuss it next week, especially since I will be getting a license, and I’m not in a hurry to hunt down a pirate version.

Tiny Joys

Let’s start with add-ons, expansions, DLCs, and other small delights for big games.

The gentlemen from Valve reported that we shouldn’t wait for new Freeman adventures in 2010. They definitely won’t be coming. Therefore, most likely, we will see the third episode of Half-Life in 2011. It’s unlikely to be later than that.

After this announcement, rumors started circulating online that maybe there won’t be a third episode at all? After all, how many years have passed since the game was released? You can’t maintain interest like that with 4-5 hour expansions for so long. Maybe the third part will come out immediately?

Sounds reasonable. Especially since the second episode was released back in 2007, and such a gap between the two expansions looks terrible. And while the Half-Life 2 engine is still cute, it is already heavily breathing and needs a rest after a long walk — it's old.

But I don’t believe that Valve will just throw away everything it has already done for the third episode. After all, we watched the videos from the expansion, saw the pictures, and already know so much. It’s unlikely that the developers will suddenly decide that it’s not worth releasing. After all, one way or another, fans will buy the third episode. That’s good profit.

There’s also another option that all of the work on the third episode will transition into the third part, but then it will be a very sad game. A complete continuation of the predecessor’s plot, the same main line — it would be Half-Life 2.5, not a full third part. After all, you remember the difference between the second and the first “Half-Life”?


Therefore, I believe that we should expect the third episode first, and then the third part. And they might come out practically one after the other. But the announcement will probably only come after players have bought up all the boxes of the latest expansion.

The release of another expansion is expected on Pandora. It has become known that the third DLC for Borderlands is in development. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything like images or videos, not even the title and small details have been announced yet.

However, there is still some information. Firstly, this expansion will be the largest of the two previous ones. Secondly, it will finally raise the maximum level cap to 60.

That’s not bad. The volume is encouraging because if it's bigger than “Doctor Ned,” we will need to spend at least 7-8 hours on quest completion. And gaining 10 additional levels will take around 10-12 hours. So this DLC is indeed shaping up to be epic.

But what could be included? More desert areas (not in the sense of empty, but like the Sahara — sand, heat...) again? After “Doctor Ned,” they won’t look interesting anymore. Players are eager for something unusual, unexplored. In other words — a different style. Will there be new enemies? Practically guaranteed, but how many will there be? And will we have to kill the same opponents at level 51 and level 60?

And equally important — will the developers introduce anything fundamentally new? Essentially, the two previous expansions didn’t really offer anything fresh. Unless you count the random effects modifier in the arena... But that's a small detail. What we want is something truly unusual and cool.

There is also news about the expansion for Majesty 2 titled “Throne of Ardan.” One new campaign with eight missions and a bunch of bug fixes, AI tweaks, and more. There’s not much to say here. Those interested in the original will buy it and play. Those who aren’t will ignore it. Still, “Throne of Ardan” won’t offer anything groundbreaking for the game, it’s just a classic expansion in the Ino-Co style. They’ve done something similar for “Codex of War.”

And since we are on the topic of strategies, let’s remember Napoleon: Total War. First, I will brag a bit and say that I already have the game. Then I’ll add that the game has multiplayer. But this was not my decision, it’s the developers who have told us so.

The first multiplayer mode is something like co-op. Two players go through the campaign together, they choose two powers and manage them. They can fight or cooperate — it’s up to them. This has been long awaited, but players want more scale. For 3-4 users.

The second mode is more unusual. You play alone, fight, win regularly, and suddenly decide that the computer is stupid and constantly loses due to its mistakes. What to do? When entering another battle, you turn on the search for human opponents who will take control of the enemy army. It will be much more interesting to play this way. What’s more, you will never know how the enemy will act. After all, all users are different, with their own tactics.

It’s really amusing. There will be a sense of real battles with different commanders. So everyone should try this mode. And the game itself seems more interesting than Empire: Total War. But a detailed review will come later.

And let’s switch from expansions to sequels. We’re talking about Crysis 2.

The internet is now filled with messages that the game is leaving the tropics and making its way to New York. No more palm trees and sea; let’s have concrete jungles! However, the screenshots still show something green. Probably, the developers couldn’t resist and included a level or two on some island. But it’s still exciting that the battles will now take place in a city.

What does that mean for gameplay? Basically, nothing. There are thousands of games where we fight in a city. What’s interesting is that if the developers decide to revolutionize graphics and physics again, it will look damn amazing. Exploding cars, falling concrete blocks, crumbling plaster. Even in Modern Warfare 2, the physics were sometimes very conditional, so all hopes are on Crysis 2. Even if the system requirements turn out to be extremely high.

Now for more abstract news.

Last week, Bobby Kotick (the head of Activision) mentioned that his company is making terrible games about “Spider-Man.” He claimed that developers are constantly focusing on the wrong things, and everything is bad.

Why is the head of the company saying this? Because Activision plans to release yet another adventure of Peter Parker, and Bobby Kotick wants to persuade us to splurge on it.

Now the developers will really have to produce something top-notch. But there’s a problem. If they focus on the plot and an interesting story with expensive cutscenes, the project will immediately start being compared to the new “Batman,” and it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to surpass it any time soon. If Activision simply makes even more fights and city travels, then the quality of the project should be much higher than in the last Web of Shadows, which wasn’t all that bad in principle.

It seems to me that the idea might flop. We will get something ordinary, scoring around 7 points, and Bobby will forget that he once promised a “Spider-Man” of a totally different level...

The abundance of games at the last “gathering” promised to us by the company Paradox... Paradox. One could insert another ironic “Paradox” here, but I’ll refrain.

Several new strategies were announced, but unfortunately, none of them are particularly intriguing.

First — Commander: Conquest of the Americas, from the creators of East India Company. As the developers say, the game remains true to the spirit of the previous project, which I, by the way, didn’t like at all. So there will be a lot of trade and war at sea. However, both of these aspects are quite inferior to competitors. Although maybe I shouldn’t be so critical right away, but so far, nothing good is predicted for the game.

The second — Magna Mundi. Development of ideas from “Europa” by Paradox. The game could even be much better than its predecessor, but there isn’t much information on the new project yet, nor are they promising anything revolutionary. It will be, at best, just a very good grand strategy. For genre lovers. Like me.

There are also strategies in development regarding World War I and several others. It’s still too early to talk about them, as there is too little information.

In general, there isn’t much more to say. Some developers are creating a successor to Titan Quest, while others are remaking Hellgate: London — nothing special. We better move on to gaming-related news.

Haha

Where to start — that’s a silly question. Of course, from the loudest and most absurd affair of the week. The “Open Letter from State Duma Deputy Valery Seleznev regarding the ban on the computer game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” Unfortunately, the letter is very sad because it clearly shows who in our country deals with politics and who are the people defining the world we will live in.

In short — the letter states that the game MW2 promotes violence and terrorism, and is also directed against Russians, potentially leading to new terrorist acts and all that. As usual, I will provide some quotes and then give a link to the original.

“Worldwide, the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has grossed over $3 billion in less than six months since its release.”

To start with — that’s a lie. It’s just over a billion, and we know this. Secondly, what conclusion does the deputy make:

“Such profits can only be compared with the sale of drugs, firearms, human trafficking, and the spread of pornography.”

Ah yes... No logic, but interesting parallels. But let’s count differently. The movie “Avatar” made its creators more money than Modern Warfare 2, so it’s also about drugs, weapons, and human trafficking. Well, what else could it be? There are blue people in it; my God, what a distorted view of the world! Creatures of another color, almost blue (my Word even underscores the word “blue,” and here all aliens are painted in this color!) Propaganda of, you know, the global scale!

“The Russian distributor of the game, the company ‘1C-SoftClub’, is eager to ‘make a quick buck’ off sales, thereby becoming part of a criminal operation of global scale. Is it possible to call the enormous money earned ‘honestly earned’, when it comes from a product containing scenes of murder, terrorist acts, violence, actions against one’s own state and its citizens?”

And again. No arguments, but such pretty parallels. And even arguing won’t work, as the deputy doesn’t provide facts that could be challenged, and it won’t be possible to say accurately that he’s wrong because it’s merely his imagination.

Also, the letter contains such words:

“Has Boris Nuraliyev — the director of the ‘1C-SoftClub’ — seen the ‘Alley of Angels’ in Beslan? Has he thought about the possibility of similar events repeating?”

“I address the chief editor of the GamesLife.ru site, Mr. Samoylenko! Please try, Maxim, to explain to the people who have become disabled or orphans as a result of terrorist attacks that I am not engaging in what I ought to be doing!”

What kind of beast must you be to use the disabled and dead as trump cards in your game? He exploits their loss to make himself look good. How can we trust politicians after this? And we understand the issue well and know exactly what’s what. But how many such decisions are made in other areas, and how many condemnations are shown in the news that have to be accepted at face value? That’s why I don’t have a television.

I won’t quote more. Just a funny note that the deputy’s son had a pirated version of the game with the uncut scene in the airport. And he declared this to everyone. He practically said: ‘I stole wine