The Game's The Thing #3 (7th October 2011)

Depending on how you slice it, this weeks TGTT is either early or late, but either way hombre - it's here. Moany RL-commitment-excuses aside, there's definitely been enough going on this week to warrant a quick catch up. I'm Jim Cross, this is video games. Enjoy. A grubby handful of releases big and small out this week, here's a quick glance.

Rage (Xbox 360/PS3/PC/MAC)

So id Software finally releases 'Rage', the highly anticipated shooter that debuts a shiny new 'id Tech 5' engine and is id's first game since the somewhat underwhelming release of 'Doom 3' in 2004. 'Rage' is an FPS with a bit of car combat, set in a post-apocalyptic world. Hmmmm. €œBut pray? What sort of stock, uninspired post-apocalyptic world could they possibly have chosen for this modern opus?€ You cry. 'Well dear reader, only the gut-churningly-obvious favouring of a desolate wasteland, peppered with mutants and cut throat human survivors' I glibly riposte. €œSurely not!€ You splutter. €œWell, what happens in this grim dystopian future old boy? Something unique, sexy and magnificent I'd wager!€ Well you'd be forgiven for assuming as much considering the anticipation and hype surrounding this game, but in fact, the crux is quite simple (and familiar). You, dearest reader/player/survivor/protagonist emerge from stasis, long after the traumatic world ending catastrophe put you there; to a hostile environ of indifference and violence; in order that you may battle for your survival and have a go at getting your ickle head around just what's going on out there. Stop me if you've heard this one before. - How bitchy, how venomous of me! Not that modern game design has become desperately safe and derivative or anything . . . Now scorn aside, 'Rage' plays great. It's eye-poppingly pretty, the gameplay is immersive and the weapons are satisfying enough to warrant a healthy dollop of praise. Just don't come expecting a unique story, engaging characters or the humour of a certain contemporary €œwasteland€ (wink) shooter.

NBA 2K12 (Xbox 360/PS3)

Once again an outing from a yearly sports game franchise arrives in our laps and the prospect of discussing it fills me with mortal dread. What can I say? Well . . . This game has received some good reviews - just like the last outing did a year ago. It's innovative enough over the last iteration to warrant it's recommendation but near enough the same that you'll have no problem re-familiarising yourself with it. I mean that's what you want isn't it? . . . Is it? . . . Really? . . .

PowerUp Heroes (Kinect)

'PowerUp Heroes' is a €œfull body fighting game€ from Ubisoft that uses your XBL Avatar in conjunction with Kinect based arm flailing for brightly coloured funsies. Now it would be easy to dismiss this game as kiddy and dull but then it really isn't aimed at me. If I was 10 or even a dad with young children I think there might be a genuine place in the tray for this family friendly actioner. We must be honest with ourselves here and admit that all too easily we dismiss games that aren't for us as just out and out bad games. Not I! (Well not this time at least). If you're young enough for this to appeal to you . . . and it appeals to you, then I genuinely think you should ignore the internet and go for it! . . . How inspiring . . .

Dark Souls (Xbox 360/PS3)

'Dark Souls', successor to 'Demon Souls' is doubtless an exercise in masochism. In a world were player accessibility and hand holding are the core tenements of contemporary game design it's nice to see a game that doesn't guide the player along with love or even really any help at all. To say that 'Dark Souls' is indifferent to the player (having almost no tool tips or player instruction whatsoever) is missing the point. 'Dark Souls' doesn't dislike you, it just undeniably hates you. Here is a game so difficult, so obtuse, so sweltering with frustration that it may ironically be the most refreshing and rewarding game on the market at present. Too often are we told to arbitrarily trot from point A to B, more often still are we not penalised for death or failure. 'Dark Souls' is an action RPG that bucks convention in favour of a more unforgiving old school style of game design that rewards the patient and persistent. Die once and you loose all your currency (souls), manage to reach your body again and you can regain them, but die again before your return and you kiss it all goodbye. 'Dark Souls' is very hard like it's parent 'Demon Souls' but it's also an exercise in genuine satisfaction. When you beat a boss you know you earned it, the game doesn't tell you where to go or what it's items do €“ you work it out yourself, and as a result, experience genuine discovery. And what a novel concept something like discovery is, in 2011 where the €œFable breadcrumb trail€ typifies modern game design? If you've got the time, the patience or just a love of self disappointment, then this is for you. Crysis (Xbox 360/PS3) So Crysis was released for PC's back in 2007 and immediately became infamous at the time for being almost impossible to run on full spec. It was a the child of 'Far Cry' and boasted a range of super soldier options for the player to tinker with. You invaded a lush tropical Island with the ability to turn invisible with optical camo, run faster than a car, armour up or throw people further than an olympian, all on the fly from one moment to the next. Now four years later we see the game ported to and streamlined for the console and controller market. Now what strikes me most about this release is how odd it is. Who is this game really for? 'Crysis 2' was developed simultaneously for PCs and consoles, suffering graphically as a result. - Not to say that the game looked bad at all (it's pretty), but merely that by no longer being a PC exclusive it's graphics were not as revolutionary as those from the original 'Crysis' were at it's time of release. 'Crysis 2' also had a more of a pop corn action feel to it, imitating games like 'Modern Warfare' in an attempt to shift more units. So what you're left with here is a game that cannot look as good as it does on a PC (simply by default) or really as good as C'rysis 2' on either platform and that is more tactical and clinical than it's console sequel, released earlier this year. If you're a 'Crysis' fan you've probably already played it on PC to far greater graphically effect and if you're a 'Crysis 2' fan you're going to hate the slower pace and more methodical approach to gameplay. This release can't match what was great about 'Crysis' on PC's or what was more accessible about 'Crysis 2'. I dunno man. I loved the original on PC, seeing it run on full spec is still a thing to behold and similarly I churned through 'Crysis 2' in a fairly fun filled afternoon €“ I just don't really see where this release fits truth be told. If you really want to play 'Crysis' then I suggest that you get it, and it's add on 'Warhead', for PC dirt cheap online. That's unless you desperately want the achievements/trophies of course. - Though be warned, the ending is questionable on all platforms.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs dies at 56

The only news story this week is not one directly about games at all, and yet simultaneously, all about them. Whether you play games on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or not, the point remains Steve Jobs and the Apple technology revolution have helped forged the way for consumer technology forever. Technology is, in many ways, power and what Steve Jobs undeniably had a huge hand in is making that power increasingly more sophisticated, versatile and accessible to all. Today we live in a world where hardware is not so important as internet connection speed, were our phones are more powerful than the PC's of ten years ago and where we are all connected, all the time. Regardless of his personal achievements, founding both Apple and Pixar, Jobs was also a wise and gentle man. One whose sagacious words and sentiment may best be summarised in this address to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005. http://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc To write much more seems indelicate, needless to say a wonderful man who will be missed by many and a real heart warming example to geeks world over.

20/20 Look Back - 'ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection HD'

So although I'm casting an eye on the collection this week I'm not really here to sing it's praises. There are a thousand articles, videos etc. on the net that you can visit in order to see fanboys gush mercilessly (see last week's TGTT) and so instead I thought I'd use this opportunity to discuss what modern games, and perhaps even gamers too, can learn from both 'ICO' and 'Shadow of the Colossus'. What is undeniably great about both of these games is that they defy easy classification or description. They're not necessarily about all that much, nor are they FPS', RPGs etc. They're beyond such lazy catch all's. Similarly the cold, stoic and difficult nature of this weeks 'Dark Souls' also hails from a style of game design that is less eager to treat the player like an infant and more like stranger. A stranger who has yet to discover the secrets within. With modern games you turn up at the door and are hastily jostled through the first hallway , bombarded with text boxes and cut scenes shouting the familiar mechanics and scenarios at you. Well not here. What all of these games have in common is a sense of discovery. Even making the shift from 'ICO' to 'Shadow' in the collection you'll notice that the latter takes a little bit of time to give you certain tips on the control scheme (something ICO doesn't do at all). But no tips or hints in any of these games are the be all and end all of functionality. You will have to stumble on things, to experiment, to learn at your own pace. Similarly they're both very minimal on explicit narrative. That's not to say things don't happen in 'ICO' or 'Shadow' of course. There are cut scenes here and 'Shadow' even has narration (albeit very vague). What these games give you is the bare minimum of what you need in order to engage with them, both functionally and narratively, and in lieu of the explicit these games give you possibility. Fumito Ueda, director of both games in the collection, has said on multiple occasions that the mythology in both games is designed purposely to be filled in and padded out by the player's own imagination. Ueda wants you to own the game as much as he does in this respect and find your own meaning within it. Both games have long sequences of otherwise empty travel, designed, as if to allow you to reflect, to think €“ to dare I say it, feel. That's incredible when you consider the time taken in certain games to fill in details that player never even notices. Take 'Gears of War 3' for example, how often did you inspect a vista or notice a battle off in the distance? Well they're there €“ you were just too busy trundling off to the next way point, desperate to kill something else. Now I'm not trying to deify the collection or berate Gears, indeed I love them both. My point is merely that game design is in it's infancy (considering the short history of the industry itself) and that looking to the future, perhaps if more bold steps like Ueda's €œsubtracting design€ were taken, we might learn more about what makes gaming really special. Minimalism in games certainly wouldn't work for every genre, franchise or scenario and I'm certainly not suggesting that all games should have minimal dialogue, a lack of explicit direction or a 'add your own thoughts' narrative. What I am suggesting is that there's so much more we could be doing with games, than just pushing people along corridors to shoot anonymous thugs at regular intervals. Having replayed both games in the collection this week I am struck by how beautiful and playable they both still are. Similarly watching a friend come to these games afresh it was hugely vindicating to know that they are both still as heartbreaking and innovative to a gamer in 2011 than they were when I first played them. Now not wanting to get into the games as art debate (because I'd win) it's just nice to see that interactive experiences can be more than just cycles of player growth and progression. Although yes, by my own admission I am going to stop writing this article soon and play 'Horde', it's hearty to know that the medium has potential to do other things that are just as valid and that there are designers out there hungry to find them. The next game in the series 'The Last Guardian' is due for release next year and will doubtless show us new ways to exploit the video game medium for the good of humanity once more. Until Next Time Well there you have it internet, see you at episode #4 where the characters come into their own and the plot really gets moving.For more serialised lies, deceit and spurious scorn check back in next week for more TGTT.