Grand Theft Auto IV, Retrospective - The ravages of time

Time has not been kind to Grand Theft Auto IV. Revisiting Liberty City draws into stark contrast how far games have come in the last five years. Back in 2008 the game felt like it was probably going to be one of the best titles of its generation. Now it really feels like it is out of synch with today's world and has dated horribly.

In 2008 I would have told you that GTA IV was probably one of the best games ever made. Since then it was a game I always looked back on fondly and was waiting for the right time to revisit it. Unfortunately, I think I left it too long, GTA IV is past its sell by date. Its once heady bouquet has turned to vinegar. Looking back at it five years later with the eyes of a modern gamer the polish has really come off, the cracks are all on show, and what is left doesn't feel at all satisfying.

GTA IV was a monumental achievement when it came out, technically, artistically, and as a vehicle for story telling it was peerless. Back when it came out though it was a different world, where old console hangovers still remained and games were just emerging from their moody teenage dark period. 

The first reason that GTA IV was immune to criticism is that we didn't know any better when it was released. Sure, the game didn't feel as tight or as mechanically competent as Gears of War in terms of third person shooting. Nor did it feel as precise or fun as Burnout Paradise in terms of driving and sense of speed, though, in 2008 it didn't need to. GTA IV had it all and it really did it seem to do it well. In spite of this, the Storytelling was really where the game earned its stripes and still holds up almost as well today as it ever did. Rockstar North dotted all the Is and crossed all the Ts to create a fantastic experience for everyone who played it.

The second reason you couldn't see the cracks in GTA IV was the hype and zeitgeist that surrounded its launch. With all the hyperbole surrounding the game it was difficult to tell if it was merely an over hyped computer game or the second coming of Christ. Back then there was no real mainstream criticism of it or any conversation to its detriment like there is today. This reflects more on how the games industry and criticism has matured since then. Almost all video games media in 2008 really was just trade press, covering the game and saying if it was good or not. By the days standards it was good and worth playing so of course it did well. Nobody would provide people who didn't like GTA IV with enough of a mouthpiece to discuss what they didn't like about it or why.

I don't want to be down on GTA IV, it is still a fine game. If it came out today its story would almost earn it a 4/5 alone, it's just the bits between that that really let it down. Driving feels like you are driving a car on a river of syrup coated ice. Feeling somehow simultaneously sticky and slippery and really, deeply unsatisfying. The shooting is equally wishy washy with the time between pressing the trigger and firing feeling super delayed and any attempt at nuanced gunplay simply a non-starter.

Although woven through Rockstar's story classic structure: naive protagonist, gets betrayed somewhere in the middle before making some new friends makes it to the big time in the end. Nico is a fantastic character and his narrative, as predictable as it may seem, is really well done with some fantastic twists and turns. Nico is a very likeable character, playing the straight guy in a realistic, yet slightly zany, world. This works hugely to Rockstars favour in terms of how enjoyable it is to play as Nico and inhabit his world.

The story isn't infallible, mostly in terms of the missions. In 2013 the missions feel boring, simply padding between the last incredible cutscene and the next incredible cutscene. They are tedious and served up very slowly as well as having some regrettably frustrating and simply awful moments of gameplay. The dialogue is still incredibly funny, it is sharp, tongue in cheek, and witty with lots of genuine laugh out loud moments. Many of the characters somehow transcend being simple caricatures. Although they are all comprised of one of the many stereotypical roles from standard crime drama many of them become realistic characters with depth and a tangible sense of weight. 

GTA IVs world is full of weight which is where the dissonance really creeps in. It was very clearly built on the foundations of a game where one of the main activities people partook in was along the lines of "lets stand at this cross road and blow stuff up till the military send tanks to stop me".The implications of this are felt in every aspect of the games world. This leads to Nico being one person during the story and another person entirely during every other aspect of the game.

All your actions necessary to play the game - from jacking cars to killing innocent civilians isn't what Nico Bellic is about and it feels super jarring to be doing it as him. This has been addressed in later games by Rockstar and both Red Dead and LA Noire had a grounding to their gameplay as well as their narratives. This is unfortunately severely lacking from GTA IV and it makes the game seem much older than it is.

The most blatant thing for me was that pedestrians don't jump out of the way when you come close to them in your car. In previous games you could put that down to scripting and processing power limitations but here it feels like a concious decision. I can imagine a more immature member of the team at Rockstar North sniggering to himself whilst mowing down pedestrians during development and the decision was never questioned. It's little touches like this that really stand out as bad decisions in a game where they are really trying hard to separate themselves from their anarchic roots.

Another issue for me is pacing, the game takes a while to get going and Nico really feels immobile throughout the whole game, especially after playing more modern iterations on the sandbox crime genre. Getting between missions, places, and events is a chore at best and tiring and bothersome and infuriating at worst. The world sometimes feels eerily quiet and sparsely populated, really failing to capture that busy city hustle and bustle in the same way Assassins Creed did.

Adding a sense of realism to the world is all well and good but forcing me to play middling at best mini games and making me hate travelling through the world is really not the way to execute on this premise. To improve this they could either loose the open world nature and tell a linear story, like LA Noire, or make your actions have consequences, like Red Dead, and make it easy for the player to toe the line. I feel that if GTA IV wasn't an open world sandbox game it would have been better.

Now to the biggest issue with GTA IV, Saints Row The Third. Volition literally tore up the rulebook with Saints Row 3, Stripping all of the genre tropes from the game that weren't fun or useful. If can't walk up to a car and dive through the windscreen to jack it in less than two seconds then why am I still doing it. Why do my cars need to be made of paper, blowing up at the slightest breeze, why does Nico move so slowly! Through the lens of a player since that game came out GTA IV is maddening, you simply can't go back.

GTA IV was so special in 2008 because it ticked all the boxes. Today some of those ticks don't still hit and they just drag the game down. GTA IV's ability to be all things to all people in 2008 makes it not enough of anything to anyone today. As a crazy over the top rampage it doesn't have nearly enough but as a grounded worldly story it just doesn't make the mark either.

GTA IV is a game sorely in need of a stronger identity. With more focus, care and clarity of message it would still be one of the best games of the generation, if not all time. Unfortunately for any latecomers it just doesn't hold up and isn't worth playing anymore - other than out of a sense of morbid curiosity.

Nvidia OptiX ray-tracing, the future of graphical fidelity

Today's piece is a bit different to the usual. I have been experimenting with graphical rendering techniques and wanted to share some of my findings with you. Obviously my decision on what to use was aided by the fact that I have an Nvidia GPU!

OptiX by NVidia is an SDK based on the ray tracing algorithm. OptiX is a framework for development of applications utilising ray tracing. Ray tracing is a technique that is an extension of the light rendering procedures used in contemporary animation and video games. Ray tracing sets each individual pixel of a monitor using an algorithmically generated model of light reflections. The path is of the light determined by an interpretation of how real light waves behave. The model is then displayed as if it were a reflection created by light, interpreting it as the human eye would see a real object. The visual effect created on each pixel is as if it had been reflected from an object in the image plane.

Raytracing is the closest rendering technique currently available to modelling actual light and is considered an enormous leap towards photorealism in graphical rendering. This comes at a huge performance cost, no commercially available graphics card for home users can currently preform ray-tracing for complex graphics while maintaining a solid frame-rate. The images produced are far beyond the level of realism that can be achieved by traditional graphical rendering. Ray tracing can be used to create absolute photorealistic shadows, lighting effects, reflection and refraction, scattering, and chromatic aberration.

Snooker Balls created with OptiX, it's difficult to tell
thatthey aren't real!

Ray tracing is becoming an increasingly popular method for graphical rendering. This growth is caused by an increase in graphical rendering power available. OptiX’s ray tracing algorithm’s ability to create a realistic simulation of lighting is the future for all computer generated images. When compared to other rendering methods, such as the more traditional ray casting or scanline rendering, ray tracing is found to be far superior.

When creating complex graphical effects ray tracing has the power to overwhelm its competition. For example, when creating resource-intensive effects like reflections and shadows using traditional methods they need to be programmed separately. The rendering of these also tends to be performed on the CPU, especially in the case of shadows which need to be programmed and rendered individually even when relatively simple. When using ray tracing, reflections and shadowing, including self-shadowing of objects and all conceivable complex graphical effects, that wouldn’t be possible using traditional techniques, are an innate product any graphics created using the ray tracing algorithm.

With a traditional rendering algorithm all lighting effects have to be programmed separately and making them photorealistic is unrealistically resource intensive. Using ray tracing all lighting effects are rendered by the algorithm, this means that the graphical power to render properly ray traced light remains fixed. Because of the static nature of the computational power required, though obviously more complex scenes require more power, ray tracing will eventually completely replace traditional rendering techniques when the power of graphics cards gets over a certain threshold.

A demo of ray tracing showing the effect of light on non-refractive
 surfaces, running on a high-end home computer.

The NVidia OptiX ray tracing engine represents a new benchmark of authentic light effects in computer generated images. The engine increases ray tracing speeds exponentially when rendering 3D models on GPUs using NVidia’s CUDA architecture. The time taken to produce ray traced graphics has been reduced from minutes to milliseconds. This allows professional animators and graphic designers to inspect outcomes in real time, using their own machines. This makes development with ray tracing favourable to traditional development where effects are added one at a time in post-production.

NVidia recommend using products from the Quadro or Tesla lines in the machines that the rendering is being performed though the GeForce cards are technically capable as well. NVidia’s recommended products start at around £6,000 and increase to £10,000 and above at the top end, though these prices are considered industry standard for rendering CGI. The more expensive Qudaro branded collection is considered to currently be unsurpassable by their competition, with NVidia claiming that “Quadro is where professionals turn when combining graphics and ray tracing”.

The Bugatti demo, showing the realistic effects of ray
 traced light and the OptiX engine in use.

The OptiX engine isn’t limited like traditional renderers to only graphical interpretation. The OptiX engine, as a result of the nature of ray tracing, encompasses procedural delineations that guarantees the results are exact, well composed, balanced and produced quickly. Hybrid rendering is also possible due to the nature of the content created.

While graphical rendering is the most obvious use of the OptiX engine, it is also being used by physicists for research into electromagnetic radiation behaviour modelling, particle collision analysis and the propagation of light though and around objects with proportions larger than its wavelength. The engine reaches its limitation for use for physicists at this point though as interference and diffraction are calculated using wave theory and complex computations around the phase of the wave and thus cannot be computed using ray tracing which models waves based on ray theory.

Ray tracing can also be used for calculation of acoustics of rooms with the OptiX engine being one of the most easily available and well supported methods. For an architect or engineer designing any room or building when acoustics are important OptiX is the only engine that can be used for high quality graphical rendering, lighting effects and using ray tracing to model sound. This can speed up development times and increase the quality of the engineers work.

Optix’s application for modelling the behaviour of light means

Raytraced light causing reflections through simulated
 glass, no extra programming required

it is increasingly used in architectural design. A huge advantage of using the OptiX engine from a designer’s point of view is that the 3D model that needs to be created for acoustic testing can also be tested to see how bright the room will be in real time using natural light of varying strengths or electric lights. This is ground-breaking in terms of graphical rendering and the luxury afforded to anyone wanting to be able to use these cutting edge techniques. Increased access to OptiX is likely to allow it to step into the computer aided design market and revolutionise the way blueprints are created. The techniques and deep analysis tools created for complex particle modelling are a significant step towards procedural design of actual buildings and revolutionary power efficiency developments. This is all made possible by the speed of rendering afforded by the OptiX engine.

Interpretation of the ray tracing algorithm is hard coded into all CUDA architecture hardware, meaning that all of NVidia’s products are able to produce it. NVidia announced in 2009 that they predict that affordable processing units that are capable of ray tracing will be available in around 2016. This is also when they announced the release of the OptiX engine and it’s SDK to the world. The work done over the past 3 years as well as the continuing efforts of NVidia alongside their many high profile supporters (including John D. Carmack of id Software and NASA) have left them in a position where there is currently no competition in the market. The speed of their development also means that nobody will be able to catch up with them at any point in the foreseeable future. With main rivals ATI, the loudest detractor of the CUDA architecture, ultimately being forced to design an analogous system for their own graphics cards.

An example of graphically rendered glass and it’s
interaction with light created using NVidia OptiX.

Certain programming techniques that are not designed for graphical acceleration, such as adobe flash, are unable to utilise the power of the OptiX SDK and will suffer from artefacting and video lag when rendering more complex graphical output, leaving any attempt at ray tracing futile. Though this criticism of these languages is traceable back to all graphical rendering, particularly 3D rendering and is not unique.

The OptiX engine is extremely limited in its use cases, however it is extremely good at what it does. For the average user the financial outlay is currently too high to begin work with this technology. Even if NVidia release schedule goes to plan, in 2016 ray tracing will still only be used in a few of the most cutting edge games and will be un-usable for most people. The next major victory for ray tracing will likely be in the early 2020s which is the earliest prediction of a generation of home games consoles that could be released with ray tracing capabilities. Until then the OptiX engine will remain extremely niche, although from NVidia’s point of view the OptiX engine’s success will make their cards preferable for that generation of consoles to use.

A room rendered on a Tesla GPU showing the full potential of
OptiX, and what we can expect out of future games consoles.

The OptiX engine programs the ray tracing itself, completely bypassing the extremely complex computational side of producing ray-traced images. This allows users to focus on the actual design. For someone wanting to utilise design specialists the engine facilitates the practise of focus on what they are best at, i.e. design. This can also be extended to physicists, architects, engineers or any professional whose output is design. Using the OptiX engine you can yield the results you want from ray tracing quickly and without impeding on the design process.

It is very difficult to criticise NVidia over OptiX. It may be possible to criticise OptiX’s failings in relation to its ability to programme some high intensity physics mapping, such as wave theory. This is unavoidable with the stage we are in in graphical processor development. Any complaints about its inaccuracy are negated by how cutting edge it is. With no competition, no other commercial sources of ray-tracing currently available and a demand for the technology, NVidia have made all the right moves with OptiX when trying to out-manoeuvre their competition. With their main rivals in cutting-edge graphical technology conceding that the CUDA architecture was superior. Their moves towards ray tracing for graphical rendition of photorealistic computer generated images is a ground-breaking success, the full scope of which is only just now being discovered. 

Moving on from ray tracing, fully accurate physics models can be created in future versions of OptiX or its successors. This will pave the way for new scientific research as well as photorealistic graphics for video games and movies. The effect of dynamic and realistic lighting moving as if reflected from within the screen removes many of the criticisms of computer generated images. Ray tracing is currently being used in conjunction with techniques such as bump-mapping and Perlin noise to create totally procedurally generated vistas, towns and even continents, all with photorealistic features. The 2009 release of NVidia OptiX represented the most important milestone since the birth of 3D graphical rendering and todays bleeding edge techniques are tomorrow’s reality for all home computer users.

If you have a medium to high end PC at home and you want to check out OptiX for yourself you can download most of the demo's shown here. Prepare to have you mind blown!

References:

Whitted T. (1979) An improved illumination model for shaded display. Proceedings of the 6th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Nikodym, T. (June 2010). Ray Tracing Algorithm For Interactive Applications. Czech Technical University, FEE.

GPU Gems 2, Chapter 38. High-Quality Global Illumination Rendering Using Rasterization, Addison-Wesley

Proceedings of 4th Computer Graphics Workshop, Cambridge, MA, USA, October 1987. Usenix Association, 1987. pp 86–98

Dishonored, what r u doin? Dishonoured, STAHP!

All the hyperbole surrounding the release of Dishonoured make me come to it with high expectations, I really expected to enjoy it. Unfortunately it failed to entertain me in the slightest. A great premise was held back by dated gameplay and a world devoid of, well anything of note.




Dishonoured almost instantly made a great impression on me. The premise was great, the world seemed fully realised and the story compelling. Unfortunately I quickly began to sour on Dishonoured as soon as it began to give me any autonomy. The combat seemed great, the powers were all full of promise, maybe promise that could have been fulfilled if the game didn't seem to hate you for trying to enjoy it.

The game looks fantastic and the storytelling
is spot on 

Design decisions were constantly made to make the game more[...] challenging? grounded? gritty? I'm not sure what the aim was but it lead to me saying "I've had enough of this garbage I will blast through your stupid game on the lowest difficulty to see where the story goes and get the worst possible ending if it means I don't have to endure your tripe".

I suppose they wanted me to care about their world, characters and their pathos by making my actions have an impact on it somehow ground me in their story. To this end, they added a bunch of, frankly stupid, limits to every aspect of the game. Instead of filling the world with compelling content they forced me to explore it to collect runes and charms which are vital to you being able to enjoy the game but are totally arbitrary and dull with no connection to anything in the game. Instead of giving me access to my powers they forced me to go exploring around the world for mana potions constantly. This artificial padding just left me with a sour taste in my mouth and made me tire of playing the game.

The game's world is really well designed,
unfortunately there isn't a good reason to explore it

The design of the game is aimed at making sure that all the fun stuff that you could do has a negative impact on the world. This is not in itself a bad idea, Hideo Kojima has been trying to sell me on it for ten years. It was so shoddily executed, and in combination with barriers that the team at Arkane Studios decide to needlessly throw at the player. I hadn't played a game that felt like this since the PS2 era and I wouldn't go near another game by Arkane Studios again because of it.

Want to get through the game, get all your powers AND get a good ending? Well prepare to subject yourself to a miserable experience of slowly crawling around every level, replaying

The powers are really fun when you get to use them

scenarios over and over and checking every nook and cranny like a crazed crack fiend for more mana potions, runes and other mundane items. I simply don't get the concept of gating your access to powers in such an arbitrary way in a modern game. I don't know if the game eventually provides you with a way around it because after the first four hours of crawling though the game only to be told I had already ruined my chance at the perfect ending I decided enough was enough. From then on my tactic was stab guys until none of them are left and ignore all of the total garbage the game is trying to force me to endure.

The swordplay can be fun and challenging

Dishonoured was a huge disappointment to me because I see so much wasted potential behind these archaic design decisions. Scrap maybe one or two of the old fashioned mechanics and I would have still been able to enjoy my time. Unlimited teleporting and tearing stuff up combined with meaningless and dull reasons to try and make you explore an empty world, I'm sold! A well fleshed out world where you have to be careful while exploring but boy if you do is it worth it, sign me up! A game where you are a total badass but can't kill anyone or the game will whine at you - but at least you have something meaningful to do, I'm right there five stars! Dishonoured was simply a bridge too far for me, combining all of the possible negative aspects they could. I couldn't find a single gem of fun in its anachronistic composition.

The variety of weapons is great, not that you're
 supposed to use them

It pains me to be so negative this because I really really wanted to like Dishonoured. The idea of being an assassin with mystical powers is awesome. The alternate and non-lethal ways to dispose of your enemies were often clever or interesting and one of the few redeeming features of the game. The combat system was also great, the swordplay felt challenging and rewarding and the mix of powers and enemy types would have kept me engaged if I hadn't felt that the game was doing its utmost to stop me liking any other part of it.

The art is great, visuals really pop well

Dishonoured really lays out a template for exactly how not to do it. For the same reason I ignored Bioshock Infinite knowing in advance it was mired with the same, frankly bullshit, mana potion offal that just drags the experience down. If you can't make a world that is worth exploring and you try and force me to because otherwise the combat, or any number of other aspects totally suck then you need a serious rethink about what us driving the game and what players enjoy.

I'm sure that Dishonoured may be entertaining for some people, maybe I'm even in a minority of one here I may admit that I am probably being overly harsh because of how affronted I felt and how high my expectations were. For me though, the way the game is put together just felt outdated and offensive  Replete with filler content around every corner that you have to dredge yourself through to be able to enjoy the rest of the game. Dishonoured really made me hate it in a way that few games manage to. I couldn't have felt less good about my time with Dishonoured and I was totally shocked by that fact. For a game containing all the things I love: magic powers, swords, guns, steampunk-y stuff and a great art style I couldn't believe how awful the sum of its components was.

Rogue Legacy, nepotism will get you everywhere

There is an undeniable charm to Rogue Legacy as well as lasting appeal. Unfortunately a little bit of control wobbliness makes it a less than perfect experience.

Rogue Legacy came along at the right time, for a lot of people. I had just started my first graduate job and needed some light fun to help me take my mind off of the days stresses. Enter a really easy to pick up and play, fun and compelling game called Rogue Legacy. 

It's amazing how an hour or two every night after work
 adds up so quickly!

Rogue Legacy is a really charming game. It doesn't ask much of you other than that you devote a little bit of time to enjoying it and maybe you'll make some progress. It took me a long time to actually be any good at rogue legacy, in traditional roguelike fashion Rogue Legacy is hard. I'm still not sure if I am actually good at it or if I have simply ground my way to victory . That's the USP of Rogue Legacy, the classic roguelike formula with a bit of persistence. When you die your heir can spend all the gold you accrued during your last run on various upgrades to make him or her stronger and better at dungeoning. Your heirs come with a variety of defects from the mundane to the absurd, these are usually pretty funny but one or two were a little distasteful. I won't spoil them by going into too much detail here as they are best discovered by you as you play.

There is a good variety of  traits, usually
good for at least one laugh 

And you absolutely should play Rogue Legacy, it scratches that classic gaming itch in a way that few games do. The total lack of hand-holding and being rewarded for your time and persistence feels great. The metroidvania style and the tough nature of the game makes you feel challenged. This also leads to my criticism of Rogue Legacy, I really felt like I wasn't able to control my character how I wanted to. Everything else in the game felt so tight and polished the controls stood out like a sore thumb.

The combat didn't work for me in the same way it didn't work in the Elder Scrolls games. No matter what you do you simply don't have the manoeuvrability or tightness to avoid those enemy attacks.

The tech tree really enhances the game experience

You are going to have to slug off with almost every enemy. Even once you've learned all their tells they sometimes just move faster than you are able to deal with with your sloth-like character. The game really could use more precise controls that let you feel like the character is an extension of yourself and you simply aren't presented with them. The clumsiness of the character really holds the game back. The imprecise controls are intentional but they detracted from the fun I had with the game. 

Controlling your character often feels like you are piloting a tank while wearing mittens. It is floaty and watery and after a certain amount of time you just accept that the characters are all a bit out of your control. This is a real shame because it makes the high risk/reward classes further marginalised. I loved the idea of the Assassin, Archmage and Litch along with a few other classes but they just weren't the right way to play the game. The low health high damage characters just didn't fit in well as it was impossible to survive most battles without taking damage. It was basically a game of see how long you can go without loosing all your health, more health directly equals more time in the run.

Next up, Lancelot: the near sighted paladin

Despite this I still continued to come back for more and more of Rogue Legacy. It is a great game to wind down with or just play and not really pay too much attention to. The game at its core is a great fun way to spend time. The world is charming and pleasant to be in and the adventure and sense of discovery is great. The game lacks a little bit of depth compared to some of it's peers, but that really isn't what it is about. 

Cellar Door Games describe it as a Rogue-Lite, and that is probably the most accurate description for it anyone could give of it.

Prepare to see this screen a lot

 It isn't too hard, it doesn't have the crazy depth and it doesn't hate you like a normal Roguelike. Yet it somehow still maintains all of the charm, challenge and compelling nature of the genre who's most definitive trope it spurns. Rogue Legacy is a must play for anyone who is a fan of roguelikes or metroidvania games. I'd even go as far as describing it as a must for everyone. Rogue Legacy is a masterclass in game design, from the artwork to the unique hooks, everything about it is polished and proper. I couldn't recommend it more highly to anyone who wants to see how it should be done.

I don't mean to sound down on Rogue Legacy, it really is an amazing experience and certainly one not to be missed. Rogue Legacy isn't quite perfect but it is oozing with charm and nuance. I am really excited to see what comes next from Cellar Door Games, though they have left themselves big shoes to fill. I would also love to see what other lessons developers can learn from it. Building your success on your parents hard work has never been more relaxing or accessible thanks to Rogue Legacy, a not quite masterpiece in its own right but something everyone will enjoy and maybe learn something from.

Tomb Raider, an almost perfect exercise in mediocrity.

I came to Tomb Raider willing it to be good and it is very clear that the developers really tried. Unfortunately, the latest entry in the franchise comes up short in almost every way.






This review is written so much later than the release of the game because when it launched on PC it was rendered unplayable with graphical bugs. With that in mind I almost decided to knock another a star off the rating but I wanted to give Tomb Raider its dues.

In spite of the miasma that occurred before the games launch, I came to Crystal Dynamics latest attempt at making Tomb Raider relevant with high hopes. As a big fan of both Legend and Anniversary and knowing the direction they wanted to take with the reboot I felt like they could be on to something special. I am usually resilient to hyperbole and my inflated expectations of the game speak to just how much I wanted Crystal Dynamics to make good on their promises. 

Lara's latest adventure involves a lot of exploding

I loved the Uncharted series, with Uncharted 2 being one of my favourite games of this generation. The promise of Uncharted style bombast combined with that nostalgia hit from raidin' tombs made me peaked my interest. Unfortunately, I quickly reach the crux of my problem with Tomb Raider - it simply isn't Uncharted. The game itself in a vacuum is fine, maybe even pushing good if the game had come out in 2007. The love and care the team put into trying to make this Uncharted style game really shows. The highs are delivered with fantastic aplomb in some moments almost rival those in the Uncharted series. Almost is the key word in every sentence I would use to describe tomb raider. 

The combat is satisfying, especially with the bow

It also had the misfortune of being released when almost everyone was beginning to sour on this style of gameplay. The words ludonarrative dissonance were thrown around a lot back in 2011 when Uncharted 3 came out. Despite the disconnect between the characters, story and the gameplay mechanics the game tries its bes to toe the line.

While I don't expect every game to be Braid, and I understand that in the pursuit of fun sometimes you have to shoot guys, a lot. Lara's latest adventure promised to address this issue, trying to make you feel a real impact from the story. They made all the right moves and the beginning of the game really almost sells it. The shakiness and the limited time she can hold the bow taught for before loosing an arrow was not only a clever mechanic it also really helped build tension.

 My personal favourite moment in the game was as I tentatively lined up the perfect shot only to loose focus and accidentally sent the arrow flying into a wall, giving away my position. The attempt at creating something different that had more meaning and impact is admirable. Unfortunately, this time, Crystal Dynamics just didn't stick the landing.

Lara goes through an awful lot in a small space of time

The story they tell is paper thin but interesting in places.The notion of trying to weave it in and out with the mechanics is a welcome addition that just manages to fall flat. To try and emphasise just how tough it is for Lara they decided that she has to get beaten up, a lot. This adds a neat dynamic the first time it happens, it seems a bit over the top the second and by the time the game is through it is simply corny. When Lara takes yet another devastating injury to her side towards the end of the game she essentially brushes it off and carries on. It wasn't supposed to play in that manner it was supposed to be dramatic and tense but it just made me cringe.

The game world is very well realised, despite the bugs

The game itself is gorgeous, graphically it was stunning with meticulously drawn environments and a bright colour pallet. The graphics do a great job of drawing you in and helping immerse you in Lara's world. My machine started to really have problems with the tressFX, especially in the more effect heavy scenes so I ended up turning it off to keep the framerate up. I really didn't want to turn it off though, it genuinely added a lot to the look and feel of the game and Lara. 

The world is well realised and the side areas they clumsily try and encourage you to explore are all pretty well done. It was a shame the optional tombs were both optional and so sparse.

Raiding tombs is exactly what I came for to Tomb Raider for and they were some of the best parts of the game.

The light RPG mechanics add some depth but don't quite hit

The light RPG mechanics that go along with the game are clumsily implemented. Hunting for items to make the game easier is boring and a lazy way to try and encourage players to explore. As the game went on I fought off my OCD impulses to find everything in every area and  began to enjoy myself much more for it. It is a shame that content was gated in this way as I have no intention of ever going back to look for it. The multiplayer also feels tacked on and deeply unsatisfying I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who wasn't a complete masochist.

Despite a gossamer story and various developers writing lots of cheques that the game simply wasn't ever going to cash I still can't fault Tomb Raider too much. Plenty of it was done well, it even did some things fantastically but mostly it was simply okay. Lots of things made me want to hate the game as I played it but I simply couldn't. It was a game that was made with at least a modicum of heart by developers who really cared about delivering the fans something they deserved. Did they reach any of their lofty goals? No, not really, but does it really matter in the scheme of things? 

The main thing I took away from Tomb Raider is that it is not bad, it just isn't good. It was the game equivalent of a summer popcorn flick with Will Smith playing Lara Croft.  If it is on sale and you are looking for a mindless way to spend a weekend this could be a safe bet. If you want a bit more substance then maybe give it a miss. Tomb Raider is a labour of love, and while the thing it seems to love most is Uncharted, there are glimpses of promise. Despite my disappointment with the final result I am somehow still excited to see where Crystal Dynamics go next. 

The Binding of Isaac, a journey into the depths of procrastination

The Binding of Isaac's unique blend of understated gameplay and artistic sillyness come together to create a long lasting impression.

I know I'm a little bit late to the party but after investing an awful lot of my time into it I thought I would share my opinion of The Binding of Isaac.

So, I've spent more time than I would care to admit with Isaac and I am still nowhere near done with it. The game stands apart in a huge number of ways, there isn't another game like it.

Yes, that is 90 hours, ninety!

The thing it does best is the most esoteric of attributes, it makes you want more. The first outing since Super Meat Boy from Team Meat designer Edmund McMillen is a slow burn. When you first start out the game is borderline incomprehensible and infuriatingly difficult but it just gives you enough to want pick yourself up, dust yourself off, grit your teeth and try again.

I had so much fun fighting against the game to try and force it to show me its secrets. I don't particularly care for the themes and concepts explored in the game. If anything I found them more of a turn off than turn on, the art style is a little on the nose and if anything detracts from the core of the game by being controversial. The aesthetics are strong despite adding an additional layer to penetrate before you can begin to really enjoy it and although not to my taste, I wouldn't hold a grudge over them. 

Enjoy it you will! Once you get past the barriers to entry, as plentiful as they are, you will find that an extremely strong game lies underneath. Isaac is just ridiculously fun, the same tightness of control, focus of concept and punishing difficulty that made Super Meat Boy so addictive is reborn. 

The different characters add a unexpected
level of nuance to the game.

Isaac is to Zelda what Meat Boy was to Mario. The developers have absolutely understood what made the original Legend of Zelda so good, the ability to explore and discover all sorts of madness and nonsense populates the games world is so compelling you take the pain of the restarting. The horrible roguelike trope of "fuck you and all your progress" punishing your slightest mistake sucks you in further. All the difficulty in the world of course would make no odds without the iv that slowly drips all of the wonders the world is filled with. This is exactly what made the exploration and the adventure we took with Link so compelling. The slow and methodical nature you need to adopt to try and discover what is going on in the game is incredibly rewarding. Why there is a room with spikes in the middle and nothing else, why the doesn't the sword door open every time you pass it and how do I beat that guy who spits flies at you are questions that you will scream at the computer time and time again after dying at the hands of a spider on floor 1.

I really, really hate this guy.

Isaac is a perfect homage to all the games it is influenced by, understanding exactly what made the original experience good and focusing on this purity allows them to create a distilled pure version of what made those games so special. The developers seem to understand what people loved about Nintendo games better than Nintendo do.

The way the game is built lets you continue to explore new deeper levels and fight progressively more difficult final bosses as the player beats the game over and over, with the game simply becoming “harder” once the player has beaten it enough times. The great balance between gameplay and difficulty allows the game to always be balanced as the player improves, increasing its longevity.

The various items really make you feel powerful.

The multitude of pickups in the game make the gameplay really varied keeping it feeling fresh for as long as you want to keep playing. The random nature of drops also adds to that feeling of, "just one more go". The transformation that poor Isaac goes through as he picks up a number of bizarre items throughout the dungeon is not only genuinely funny but also helps you feel really powerful. Some combinations (The Mulligan and Technology 2 being my favourite) are so powerful that you will be able to tear through anything stood in your way. This is super satisfying as you can take revenge on any of the bosses with your own army of flies or with a laser than fills half the screen. This is very cathartic and the promise of the chance of picking up one of those magical combos keeps you coming back for more. 

The Binding of Isaac is a cut above the rest of the competition in terms of focus, clarity of vision and just sheer fun. It's a must play for anyone who likes fun and video games! It's a bargain at ten times the price, I can't name any AAA game in the last 2 years I have spent half the time with that I have with Isaac or one I've had half as much fun with.