Re:Plastic Band-A Hands on Review of Rock Band 3

This week Rock Band 3 was released in North America, and I had to pick up a copy. I few weeks ago I previewed RB3 but now I've had the chance to play it. Overall the game provides the same fun music gaming experience and set list of quality songs that the Rock Band franchise is known for but Harmonix has added many new elements that are innovative and make the game fun to play and an improve upon the previous Rock Band titles.


Set List
The set list for Rock Band 3 is in my opinion the best setlist in any Rock Band game in the series including classics as well as new favorites from every genre and songs from the 60's to today. With the addition of keys, songs including excellent piano such as Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and The Doors Break on Through have been included, but RB3 hasn't moved away from the classic guitar hits that made the game famous including songs such as Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne and Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird.

Game Play   
With Rock Band 3 Harmonix has improved the game play in many ways from Rock Band 2. In RB3 players gan jump in or drop out at any time, previous games required backing out of the current game mode to activate another instrument . The single player and band tour modes are less clunky and seem more focused than in Rock Band 2 with a more intuitive ranking system so you can see your progress in the game. Also, the new and improved training modes make it easier for new players to get into the game. The game now supports up to 7 players at once with the addition of keyboard and three part vocal harmonies, a feature debuted in Harmonix Beatles Rock Band title released in 2009.


Pro Mode
Probably the most anticipated feature added to the Rock Band experience is the "Pro" gameplay mode which is intended to create a more realistic experience. The Pro guitar requires a separate controller that has six strings like a real guitar, but I did get a chance to try out the Pro keyboard which uses the same 25 key controller used for the normal mode in Rock Band 3. Pro keyboard requires use of all of the controller's 25 keys and it takes a while to get used to, even with a little piano playing experience Pro easy still seemed a bit difficult at first. I then went into the Pro training mode and after a little while I started to get the hang of it. The Pro trainer which according to Wikipedia, was developed in conjunction with the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Return of the RTS continued - DotA 2!!!

This week I have an update to my last post about the return of the real time strategy game as a popular genre in computer gaming. This week popular video game development company Valve, of Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Portal fame as well as the popular Xbox 360 franchise Left 4 Dead, announced that they have signed on and begun development on
DotA 2, a sequel to the ever popular fan made mod of Blizzard's Warcraft 3, Defense of the Ancients. Valve is working with and has given all creative decisions to the self made game developer IceFrog who as been the designer of DotA for the last few years as well as heading the official DotA website DotaAllstars.com which has since been shut down due to Icefrog's leaving. IceFrog has since made his own DotA headquarters at playDotA.com, which he has just begun to use promote the new game which is set to release in 2011.

DotA Game in Progress

I've mentioned the game League of Legends and DotA in my previous post and for those who don't know what LoL or DotA are, they are team based tower defense games that are based in a real time strategy engine but also incorporate elements of role playing games, such as leveling up and buying/building items and upgrades. They are fast paced and competitive and can be a lot of fun.

I have high hopes for this new version which will be a complete, standalone game. It will be the first time the DotA brand will be freed from the now ancient Warcraft 3 engine which is over 7 years old, but Valve plans to bring more that just graphics to the table. They will be implementing things which would have been impossible in the Warcraft engine, such as an improved AI for computer controlled characters, improved voice acting, integrated Voip (voice over IP), and a more sophisticated and intuitive ranking system to make team battles more fair.

Valve games has had a long history of turning out great games as well as their own fan-made game mod that made it onto store shelves in their popular first person shooter franchise Counter-Strike, which was originally a mod for Valve's Half-Life.

With DotA 2 Valve promises to keep all of the key elements of the game play, as well as DotA's list of over 100 different characters, the same so that it will be instantly recognizable to a veteran player. They are also looking to attract new players by giving more detailed in game guides as well as proposing a coaching system which will pair up veterans with newer players.  As a fan and one time avid player of DotA I will be waiting to see more of this new adaptation of an old favorite.

StarCraft II and the Return of the RTS

Since the late 80's the RTS, or real time strategy, genre has been very popular but in the last ten years these games haven't gotten the recognition of other types of games such as shooters or action games. This may be because RTS games are mainly PC games which have been in a lull since the release of next-gen consoles, but recently new advances in PC video graphics have made PC's competitive on the next-gen level.

The RTS hasn't disappeared, it has been in the background and on back shelves of video game stores over the last ten years but has remained widely popular especially overseas, with Blizzard's StarCraft even becoming a national sport in South Korea, with televised matches and pro tournaments. The genre seems to be making a comeback with League of Legends, a remake of a mod to Blizzard's Warcraft III called DotA or Defense of the Ancients, and StarCraft II the long awaited sequel to the cult classic StarCraft.

StarCraft II

First off, StarCraft 2 is a graphical masterpiece. I played SC2 over the summer but today I opened my new MacBook Pro and I was finally able to witness the game in all its glory. Each unit, and they're are often dozens even hundreds rendered at once, is incredibly detailed. The scenery is also very detailed and realistic. SC2 also has realistic physics and shadows.    

StarCraft 2 is not only graphically light years ahead of its '98 predecessor, it challenges the genre in its story telling ability and creating a captivating game experience. It has an immersive story which builds on the first game and its expansions as well as 12 years of books, lore, and fan speculation. The use of well known characters from the StarCraft universe allow a veteran player to easily connect to the story of StarCraft II's campaign. The campaign also features a non-linear story line which allows the player to chose between several different missions and can complete them in any order. Also during the campaign, the strategy based missions are paralleled by a third person loading area, the battle cruiser Hyperion, which is reminiscent of an old school point-and-click adventure game which serves to drive the story as well as where a player chooses missions. Although released in July, the Wings of Liberty campaign is just one of a three part series that will be released over the next few years.

StarCraft 2 also builds on the competitive nature of the first game with an in depth multiplayer mode and intuitive ranking system which Blizzard hopes will overtake its StarCraft: Brood War as the most played game in the e-Sport circuit.

With any hope, StarCraft 2 and League of Legends are just the beginning of the return of this once great genre.

Enjoy the Little Things - Immersion in Open World Games

Home on the Digital Range

The Uncanny Valley

The concept of the "Uncanny Valley", the human eversion to things that approximate human looks and actions, is a concern of game developers when designing characters in games but there is a similar discrepancy when it comes to designing the environments in which games take place.

In open world games the environment is almost a character itself. It conveys the feeling, the mood and the tone of the game play. Therefore it is important to design worlds that are convincing and immersive to the gamer. 

More Than Just Looks

In the theory of the Uncanny Valley we find that still images of things that are "uncanny" are less repulsive than moving ones. Something that may look convincingly human when still, may be immediately jarring when it begins to move. Looks aren't everything. Similarly an open world may be beautifully rendered but seem distant and unimpressive. It will be an increased attention to the little things that will bring open world games to the next level.  

There are many ways game developers can make a virtual world feel real. Games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Saints Row 2  push the boundaries of what the player can do in the game with everything from flying planes to gambling. This interactivity and non linear gameplay can help to bring a more immersive experience.  

Another important aspect of creating a real feeling world is sound. The sounds and sound effects of the world should create a realistic sense of the environment and of the action. 

Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption is in my opinion a good example, in recent games, of a very immersive open world. Although Rockstar included many gameplay elements that have made their previous titles feel immersive with Redemption they went further. The sound and the lighting give this game a realist feel.

The sounds in Red Dead Redemption's world are very well planned and intuitive, from the weather, to sounds of the wind, to sounds of birds or animals. Since hunting is a major gameplay element, there are dozens of different species of animals that randomly spawn throughout the game. Rockstar took this element a step further. In game anytime you hear a bird fly over or a snake in the brush, you can track the sound and find that animal, but if you hear wolves barking or a cougar Watch Out! This adds a sense of realism to the world, that the ambient sounds are relevant to the gameplay. The sounds of the changing weather in game are also some of the best I've seen to date. The sounds of rain react to objects and surfaces make different sounds when walked over wet or dry. Also the thunder and lightning look and sound realistic. The lighting in the game also enhances the feel of the game and sets the mood. In Redemption the use of shadows and reflections also makes the world seem more realistic. In this game these elements came together to make a world that was nice to look at as well as immersive and fun to play.