Battlefield 3 Impressions

*Warning: The following contains spoilers for Battlefield 3*

I know DICE is a multiplayer orientated video game developer but I had high hopes for their single player component for Battlefield 3. After playing and enjoying the campaign from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 I expected that they would follow suit with an outing that was equally emotional, with lots of action, good characters and a gripping tail. Granted Bad Company 2 wasn’t the genre defining story and will not win any literary rewards but it made the campaign worth playing through.

Battlefield 3′s single player campaign is nothing more than a glorified tech demo for the Frostbite 2 engine. It is as if EA and DICE created this new technology and instead of asking themselves “What sort of story can we tell with this?” they asked themselves “How can we show this off?”. Like a toddler in the playground with the newest toy, they waved the Frostbite 2 engine around in everyone’s faces but did not really know how to play with it.

Image via Wikipedia

The story itself is typical of modern warfare shooters which really has become none existent or background noise. There is a nuclear weapon, something about middle eastern bad guys, and oh guess what, the Russians are involved! Its too bad the mission design and levels did not reflect this poorly put together story but rather were made to show off. DICE needed to show that there are Tanks in the game, so we get a whole mission about that. Same with Jets, building destruction and one too many close up fist fights.

That is my biggest complaint with the entire single player campaign. What I mean is that you as the player are not really playing but rather watching an interactive cutscene. You’re tasked with killing some bad guys here and there but most of the time you’re following an on screen marker to a destination just 20 feet away, pressing buttons when the game tells you to and watching the explosions and action scenes.

Death to SOPA/PIPA

There has been a lot of talk about SOPA and PIPA lately over the internet, at the school I attend and in public. If anyone does not know what those two things are, a quick google search and you’ll see that they are anti piracy and copyright protection legislature that is being discussed in congress in the U.S.

Originally I wasn’t going to make a post about this. I figured the issue was beat to death and that everyone knew pretty much what was going on and there was no need to be another person added to the list.

I also thought that these two bills would only affect those in the United States.  Obviously I’m wrong on both counts. SOPA and PIPA are important to fight against because they threaten a free internet and our ability to create, share and express ourselves.

Here’s To The Crazy Ones

I recently finished reading the Steve Jobs biography and there is a clear message throughout the book which is summed up as “The journey is the reward”. In other words it is not about the finished final product or if you succeed or fail but rather the reward comes from the journey up until the last point by working with others and seeing what you can accomplish.

Image by The Seg via Flickr

Now applying that motto to the gaming industry and its clear they have it all wrong. Long ago it used to be about the journey but in the last ten years it has been about the end result and money. I can’t blame companies for trying to make money but clearly they are lacking creativity and passion. Games were once crafted with talent, care and over the course of a few years at the very least. The journey was the reward because people came together to make something that truly was extraordinary and fans responded in kind. The end result wasn’t that bad either.

Killing Assassin’s Creed

The Assassin’s Creed series has a good thing going for it. The games can tell a great story with wonderful character development, emotional connections and climaxes, and a dedication to period pieces. The only thing keep it back and hurting the series overall as a whole is the year to year releases. You are probably going to call me crazy I know but good games do not need sequels every single year. This may as well be known as “Call of Duty Syndrome” because it takes what makes a great game worthwhile, runs with it and never changes or lets go.

Image via Wikipedia

Assassin’s Creed is facing the very same health issue. It tells an incredible story over the span of several games which keeps me buying the next sequel but the gameplay mechanics are getting old and worn down.

For those who do not know, Assassin’s Creed is an open world style game in which the player is tasked with a main set of missions, side missions and side “tasks” (no other way to describe them). There are also a string of collectibles to pick up, random world events and a whole lot of Parkour in order to get around quickly.

Shadow of the Colossus Frustration

I’m most likely going to take some flack for this from the more hardcore gamers out there but after playing the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD collection for the PS3 I am really disappointed. For anyone who doesn’t know, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are two games released for the Sony PS2 and are considered classics as well as forms of art. While I whole heartily agree that they are indeed good examples of art forms, they are definitely not fun to play.

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Perhaps both games did not age well when every bit of game play now is handed to the player with navigation arrows, hints, on screen notifications and control schemes that practically play the game itself. I thought I was the only one who considered the controls for Shadow of the Colossus to be clunky and horribly frustrating. A quick google search rectified my fears as I was not the only one not having fun with the classic game.

I’ll give credit that the world is beautifully laid out before the player, the creatures and colossi that inhabit it are majestic as they are dangerous but if it becomes a pain to cross from one end to another because your horse is mentally challenged and runs into cliffs and rock walls, then there is a problem.