Mega Multi-platform Gaming Weekend : Fifa 09, Orcs and Elves, One

Whew. Epic weekend.

Many hours of GTA IV and Spore, which is clear to anyone reading these pages.

But quick takes on the other games I played this weekend :

Fifa 09 (PSP) :

I hated Fifa 08 on the PSP. PES 6 remained my footy game of choice on the go. With FIFA 09, that's changed. And any PES loyal knows how hard it is for a PES loyal to say this.

The basic footy gameplay is now really, really solid. It's not quite as frantic and fast paced as PES, but it's a lot more realistic. The gameplay is measured, forcing you to think about the game as you play, instead of depending on mean ball-playing skillz alone. I think this is actually better suited for portable gaming, and once you adjust to the fractionally slower-paced gameplay, FIFA 09 is a lot of fun, and very satisfying to the serious footy fan. And it looks miles better than PES, with the new collision animations so realistic that my Dad thought I was actually watching a game. Nice.

The Be A Pro mode is also brilliant, especially if you want to get the feeling of what it's like to play in an actual football match. I've actually played some footy in school, and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being just one player, as opposed to controlling the entire team. I picked Kaka of AC Milan, and had a blast making off the ball runs, supplying defense-splitting through balls for Sheva and Ronnie, and occasionally running past defenders to score myself. The sense of being part of a team with other great players is amazing, and this is a mode that offers a whole new take on playing videogame football. May not be for everyone, but you owe it to yourself to try.

There are some nice quizzes and a manager mode to round off the most complete football package on a handheld platform. Of course, PES 09 may just change that opinion, but for now, FIFA 09 is the game of choice for PSP Peles everywhere.

Orcs and Elves (Mobile)

When John Carmack makes a game, you fucking pay attention. This is a delightfully charming, deceptively complex and challenging RPG for hardcore fans. It's in the Dungeon Master / Eye of the Beholder school of first person dungeon crawlers from the old skool era. Loads of monsters, puzzles, quests, spells, potions and equipment. Kill monsters, rest, shop, kill more monsters. Perfect. And it's on a mobile phone. Double perfect.

Orcs and Elves is a stellar example of how companies are taking old school gaming ideas and technology and finding that it's just perfect for mobile phones. Which brings me back to that old chestnut - gameplay is everything. Don't miss this if you have a Java enabled handset and are looking for a great RPG on the go.

One (N-Gage)

One is the best looking game on a mobile phone. Period. And it plays great, too. A difficult, skill intensive beat em up. Complete review coming up.

Game Invader : Spore and GTA 4 usher in Next-Gen.

This article first appeared in my Game Invader column for the New Indian Express

Finally, after years of waiting, we have next-gen games.

Sure, we've had a whole bunch of games with Next-Gen production values. Bioshock, Halo 3, MotorStorm, Heavenly Sword and a bunch of others were eye-popping games that were great to play, but didn't really take gameplay forward in any significant way. Nintendo's Wii and DS systems ushered in control schemes that were unique and innovative – but we're still to see games that use these input methods in completely revolutionary ways.

But GTA 4 and Spore do just that. They're next-gen games, pure and simple. Both titles take the gameplay experience forward by leaps and bounds – delivering experiences that are quite unlike anything that has come before, and give us a glimpse of the future of gaming.

GTA 4 lets you chat on the phone with friends, surf the internet, watch TV and play darts. When you're not in car chases or gunfights. It's probably one of the greatest games of all time - and I don't make such pronouncements easily.

Playing GTA 4 is the closest thing you'll ever experience to actually living in an alternate, virtual reality. MMORPGs are either just stunning 3D chatrooms, or merely rat-races for loot and equipment. Adventure games restrict your actions and ultimately, the experience. Only role-playing games, notably Oblivion in the recent past, give you anything close to living out an alternate reality. But even Oblivion, for its massively detailed and intricate world, didn't quite give you a strong emotional connect to the characters you interacted with.

No such limitations for GTA 4's liberty city and its inhabitants. The game effortlessly draws you into the shoes of Niko Bellic, and within minutes,you're not merely controlling him, you become him – empathising with his joy, pain, hopes and ambitions. This is a game that you actually live. Between missions, you'll watch TV, surf the net, go out on dates, hang out with friends, go shopping, and generally cruise around. The sheer quality – graphics, writing, acting – that has gone into making Liberty City such a believable, plausible and immersive gameworld creates a gaming experience like no other. Not since Baldur's Gate 2 have I cared this much about people and places in a game.

Spore, on the other hand, is a genre-blending experiment in game design that could only come from the mind of Will Wright. This is an action-adventure-real-time-turn-based-strategy-space-simulation title that defies simple explanation, yet somehow manages to magically put these diverse elements together to create a charming, enjoyable and revolutionary game.

Seeing your creations evolve from a single cell (top) to a mighty civilization offers an unprecedented sense of scale and ownership. Sorry. Pwnership.

The joy of seeing your creation evolve from a single cell organism with just a mouth and some cilia, swimming around in a pond, into a mighty race of space-faring warriors develops a sense of ownership that I haven't experienced in any title since Wright's previous creation, The Sims. Since you design and guide your species and its tools and technologies with a degree of customisation absent from any other games that fall within any of its sub-genres, this is a game that gives you a better God-complex than Black and White or Populous.

The only criticism that SPore has received is that each stage isn't really very deep (The Tribe stage isn't quite Warcraft and The Civilization stage isn't quite, well, Civilization IV). I find that more than just a bit silly – Spore isn't about depth, it's about scope. And it boldly takes a step in a direction that can quite possibly spawn a whole new bunch of genres altogether.

If you're even remotely interested in the possibilities of videogames as an art and entertainment form, you owe it to yourself to play both these incredible games.

Game Invader : The Third Dimension.

This article first appeared in my weekly 'Game Invader' column for The New Indian Express.

While 3D is the de-facto standard for today's games, it wasn't always the case.

For a long, long time, videogames played out in a flat, 2-D world. You could run sideways, climb up ladders, slide down poles. You could duck under obstacles or jump over them. And everyone was happy.

After that came the Battlezones, the DOOMs and the racing games, and their simulated 3D action. Suddenly, you could go into a screen. Things came flying out of it, and straight at you. It was wonderful. And everyone was happy.

Then, the evil genius John Carmack created Quake. And you didn't have to cheat your way through 3D anymore. The object, and the world, were all true 3D objects, with depth. Gaming was never the same again. 3D meant that suddenly, artists didn't have to draw a creature or an object from every possible angle the gamer would see it from. They just created a model once, and then, with a simple rotation of the camera, could view it from any possible angle. This cut development costs down, and gave developers the power to cretae more believable, immersive environments. Everyone was delirious with joy.

Eventually, 3D became the only way to make games. And, mostly games were the better for it. FPS titles suddenly could create ramps, moving obstacles, enemies that could attack you from above and below. Level design went through a major renaissance, and FPS became the world's most popular type of game. RTS was another genre to benefit greatly – you could suddenly zoom in and out, and rotate the camera to get the best possible view of your raging battles. Role-playing games were better off for the revolution – huge worlds such as those of Morrowind and Oblivion were a delight for role-players to explore every inch of. And everyone knows what happened when GTA went 3D. Even traditional 2D stalwarts such as the Mario and Metroid series were brilliantly reinvented to take advantage of 3D enviroments, eventually resulting in all-time classics such as Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime.

Worms never quite made a successful transition to 3D

But was it all good and happy chocolate cake all around?

Nope.

Worms is my favourite example. Team 17's beloved series never quite made the jump – Worms 3D being a failed attempt at taking the classic Worms gameplay and ruining it by needlessly adapting it to 3D and losing the plot altogether. Thankfully, the series returned to its tested formula for further iterations. Escape from Monkey Island, though a fairly good game taken at its own merits, was a come-down in terms of sheer quality from the impeccable Curse of Monkey Island, that most gorgeous and enjoyable of 2D adventures.

In both cases, the designers compromised several core values that made the originals great, simply to accommodate the third dimension. A case of introducing 3D, just for the sake of 3D. What's the old saying about not fixing things that ain't broke?

Thankfully, games like Braid and Bionic Commando Re-armed are showing us that people will buy and play great games, regardless of whether they're in 2D or 3D. Which just goes to prove that the medium must serve the message, and it's more about gameplay than about technology, whatever developers and publishers may like to believe.

I just hope no-one's working on a 3D remake of Tetris.

Spore : Evolution of the Peeblosaur

Spore is incredible so far. I'm only at the creature stage, but my creature has evolved from a helpless, single-cell organism into a strong predator which hunts its prey by shooting poison at them. From its tits!!

Some pictures, to demonstrate the evolutionary path :


This little guy actually did quite well. He was a better predator than he appears to be.


This iteration started seeing some problems. He was too weak, gawky and slow to be an effective predator.



The current version. A mean combination of three great badasses - The Rhino, Lobo and Madonna!

The brilliant thing is that many of the weaknesses and challenges were more in my head than in the actual creature. I didn't want him to look wimpy and goofy and walk funny, so I bulked him up to appear meaner. And added the Tit-Shooters, horn and shoulder-pad-spiky-mean-looking things. Now I perceive him to be tougher and better equipped to handle the bad world of predator-ing. The personal connect you have with your creation is really strong. As a creator, you feel it's your responsibility to give them the tools and abilities to prevail. And you share in their trials, tribulations and triumphs.

This is fun. Watch for more updates on tribe, civilization and space stages. This is genuinely an important, revolutionary game that takes the art form forward.

N-Gage App : Updated Impressions

Some readers to my previous post on the n-Gage app (in the comments section) with some disagreement - pointing out bugginess of the app.

I've used the app extensively over the past fifteen days or so after that first post, trying out all its features. I'm pleased to report that, apart from a few minor niggles, I stand by my view that the app is fun and easy to use.

In this period, I purchased ONE, Reset Generation and System Rush, using a credit card. Twice, the system reported an error (I suspect that the problem was with the internet connection rather than the app itself) and couldn't activate the game. However, on both occasions, it went through fine on the next attempt.

I've also been adding friends, messaging them and updating my profile online with no problems at all.

The app works better if you're using a Wi-Fi broadband connection, but is actually very serviceable over a normal GPRS (I'm on airtel) connection as well.

So overall, I'm facing no major problems so far. If any of you have different experiences to report, we're listening.

N-Gage Review : Star Wars : The Force Unleashed

by Anand Ramachandran

The Light Side : Cellweaver is oddly addictive. Nice looking backgrounds.

The Dark Side : Completely on rails, no freedom of choice. John Williams' famous score sounds a bit tinny.

First out – this isn't an exercise in comparing the N-Gage version to its console counterparts. This is a wholly different game that shares the same name – so attempting that would be pointless and stupid.

Having got that out of the way, here goes.

Is Star Wars : The Force Unleashed the best mobile game ever made ? No.

Is Star Wars : The Force Unleashed a fun to play game that's worth the price of admission? Hell, yeah.

The basic hook for the N-Gage (and mobile) version of The Force Unleashed is the much touted 'Cellweaver' input system, which is the heart and soul of the game. Essentially, you need to 'weave' patterns using the d-pad, which correspond to actions your character will then perform. Think of it as a hybrid of the 'gesture' based systems used in games like Arx Fatalis and Black & White, combined with the quick button matching sequences from Shenmue and God of War. In fact, it's really just a sequence of button presses, the 'pattern' just serves as an easy visual way to remember and identify the input sequence.

All this sounds a bit complicated and clumsy, but it really isn't. A few minutes into the game, and you'll be using Cellweaver effortlessly to unleash your awesome force powers on hapless foes. The game also does a great job of easing you into the controls – introducing new powers gradually, so you're never overwhelmed. Throughout my playing time, I never found myself forgetting the pattern for even a single force power. Once you get used to it, it's a pretty comfortable and interesting system.

Okay, okay – enough about the input system, what about the game?

The Force Unleashed on the N-Gage is a fun, mildly addictive and wholly enjoyable title that will doubly appeal to Star Wars fans, of whom there is no shortage.

The story is a very abridged version of what happens in the console versions – tracing the journey of Darth Vader's secret apprentice as he helps the Sith Lord hunt down and eliminate the last of the Jedi. I don't want to include spoilers, but rest assured that all is not as it seems. For Star Wars fans, the storyline fills in what happens between 'Revenge of the Sith' and 'A New Hope', so that in itself is a good reason to play through.

The graphics are a mixed bag – the pre-rendered backgrounds look absolutely stunning, and bring to life the Star Wars universe. Locations like the legendary Kashykk and Felucia make for a very pretty gameworld. The 3D character models and animations do look a little jaggy and rough around the edges, but thanks to the surprisingly relentless action, this isn't as big a problem as it seems.

The action itself is completely on rails – you have no choice in moving your character or choosing a path. You'll begin on one screen, dispose off a few enemies using your force powers (no lightsaber action, sadly), then your character will automatically run to the next screen. Wash, rinse, repeat. A lot of critics have panned the gameplay as repetitive – and yes, it is. But it isn't boring by any means. Consider Diablo as an example – gameplay can't get more repetitive than that game's endless 'clicking'. But was it boring? There's your argument.

The Force Unleashed is nowhere as addictive as Diablo, but the combat is surprisingly intense and tactical, especially on a higher difficulty setting. You'll have to quickly decide which enemies to dispatch first, choosing ideal force powers to deal with them. You'll have to use defensive powers such as heal and shield smartly. It's all great fun, if you enjoy this sort of game.The boss battles and certain specific scenes also call for some amount of puzzle solving using a clever combination of your force powers. This adds some welcome variety to the gameplay as well.

Once you're done with the story mode, there are also a bunch of survival challenges to be played, where you'll have to fight off waves of enemies and survive for the longest time. You can also replay any of the specific chapters in any order.

Being a hardcore Star Wars fan, I quite enjoyed my time with The Force Unleashed on N-gage. If you're not into Star Wars, I'm not sure how much the game will appeal, really, but it still holds up pretty decently as a standalone experience.

Final Verdict : Star Wars : The Force Unleashed on the N-Gage is an unusual and enjoyable game in its own right. Those who expect an action game similar to the console version will be disappointed, but if you approach it with an open mind, you'll find many hours of fun.

Magic Square Comics - An experiment in storytelling

Remember magic squares? Those rows and columns of numbers which used to add up to the same total whichever way you counted?

I'm just fooling around trying to do the same thing with comics. Presented below is a comics grid, if you will. Each row and column is intended to work by itself as a narrative, like a mini-story. So each panel actually plays a different role in unrelated storylines.

This is a rough effort at best, but I'm interested in how far this experiment can be taken. I'd love to hear your opinions, and idea submissions.

Click the pic for a larger version.

Komicazee - A suicidal attempt at comics creation by R.S.Prasanna

Here are a couple of experimental comic strips by young filmmaker (and my colleague) R.S.Prasanna. I think it's a very interesting new style - and Prasanna promises much as a comics creator.

[click on the thumbnails for a larger image]

N-gage is back!

by Anand Ramachandran - an old N-gage fan. This is an extended version of the article that appeared in my weekly 'Game Invader' column for the New Indian Express.

And it looks promising this time around.

Many of you may remember N-Gage as Nokia's failed attempt at a handheld gaming device / phone hybrid from a few years ago. A tale of design mistakes, bad marketing, terrible PR and lost potential.

This time around, Nokia has relaunched the N-Gage brand as a service tied to their popular Nseries devices, which looks to be a much better idea overall. I just got myself an N81 to test drive N-Gage, and here are my first impressions.

The N81 is ideally suited for gaming, but N-Gage works on other nSeries phones as well.

N-Gage is now the basic gaming application that runs on your Nseries handset. Using the application, you can download and purchase games, play them by yourself and against others through N-Gage arena, maintain high scores and buddy lists and more. It's like a pocket-sized Xbox Live, and everyone knows how much I love Xbox Live!

The range of games seems fairly exciting even at this stage, and is sure to get better as more developers warm up to the platform. Remember that the original Ngage started off with a rather tepid line-up, but ended up with bona-fide classics such as Pathway to Glory, Rifts : Promise of Power and Colin McRae Rally.

Every game has a free downloadable demo, so it's a great 'Try before you buy' system. And, provided you have a decent internet connection, works very well. I recommend Wi-Fi, but GPRS will do in a pinch.

Downloading and installing the games is a snap. I downloaded the demo of Star Wars : The Force Unleashed, and then purchased and activated the game over the internet using my Wi-Fi connection. It took about five minutes in all. Nice. I could get used to this.

I've so far tried Star Wars : The Force Unleashed, Bounce Boing Voyage, Dirk Digger and System Rush. The games are definitely a step up from the average mobile fare – both in terms of gameplay and production values. Each of the above titles boasts gorgeous graphics, way above what you'll see on the average mobile phone title.

Dirk Dagger and The Fallen Idol brings old skool adventure gaming to the N-Gage, with a delicious twist in the way it uses the camera. I couldn't be happier!

System Rush Evolution is absolutely jaw-dropping. Sometimes I swear it looks as good as a PSP or DS title !

Each of these titles also had some unique feature or hook that makes them worth trying – Force Unleashed features the innovative and engaging Cellweaver combat system, Dirk Dagger has a great art style and uses the phone's camera in a really cool way, and System Rush is simply jaw-dropping for a mobile game, looking as good as some PSP or DS titles. Look out for detailed N-gage gaming reviews in the coming weeks on Bossfight.

N-Gage arena and the community features also hold great promise. The mobile is a perfect platform for connected, multiplayer gaming, and the Ngage application does provide some features such as buddy lists and leaderboards. However, I'm hoping that Nokia beefs up this aspect with more features to spice up the multiplayer experience.

N-gage is a great, user-friendly App that works smoothly and is fun to use. Here's hoping Nokia adds more community oriented features.

But even as it is, the community and multiplayer features are a great reason to game on the N-gage platform. The community rates and reviews games as well – so you can see what fellow gamers thought about a title before you download it. An Xbox Live-like gamerscore system has the potential to make the N-gage experience an addictive and enjoyable metagame of one-upmanship, and we all know how enjoyable that is. However, for this to really work, a critical mass of users is essential, and these are early days yet. Much will depend on how much traction Nokia can generate by means of marketing, pricing and all that jazz.

With the mobile phone well positioned to become the dominant gaming platform in India, and Nokia being one of its pre-eminent drivers, N-Gage is an opportunity to take quality gaming to the mainstream Indian user. It's early days yet, but I for one will be watching this with interest. As one of the few people who had a wholly positive experience with the previous N-gage QD, I truly want the platform to succeed. A viable, multiplayer enabled mobile gaming experience may just be what's needed to make gaming a mainstream hobby in this country.

The previous iteration of the N-Gage was a sad case of a genuinely good gaming platform failing due to some unfortunate marketing and PR. There's good reason to believe that Nokia will give the platform a better chance of success this time. With the right support, smart pricing and well thought out community features, N-Gage could become a serious player in the fight for the Indian gamer's money.

If you have an Nseries handset, there's no excuse for you not to start downloading and playing N-Gage titles. If you're a serious gamer looking for a mobile gaming solution, N-gage just might slake your thirst.

Note : I will be covering N-Gage extensively on this blog in the coming weeks. So stay tuned. And get yourself an NSeries, wontcha? It's going to be fun. My nGage ID is bigfatphoenix - so bring it on!

Stop playing with yourself !

This article first appeared in 'Game Invader', my weekly column for the New Indian Express

It's always been more fun playing videogames with or against human opposition than against computer controlled foes.

In fact, the very first computer and videogames, such as Space- War and Pong were multiplayer only — you needed two people to play the games. It can hence be argued that electronic gaming was born as a social activity.

Who says Quake 3 started the multiplayer-only trend in videogames?

However, as computing power grew cheaper, and more powerful technology was available to run videogames, game developers worked on creating more compelling content, more sophisticated gameplay, and the like. Of course, the adventure genre propelled PC gaming to great heights, and this was a predominantly single-player genre. Hence, the entire industry began focussing on creating great single-player experiences.

However, practically every game on early consoles such as the ATARI 2600 had some multiplayer option. Some featured a tacked on multiplayer aspect, where players would simply take turns to beat each other’s high score (this sounds dull, but entertained hordes of gamers back in the day).

Deathmatch. Waaaaaay before DOOM. 'Outlaw' on the ATARI 2600

However, some games such as Outlaw and Combat were true-blue deathmatch experiences, which you must try even today to see how much fun they were. Of course, sports games were also always better when played against a friend.

Of course, the FPS (Doom) and RTS (C and C, Warcraft) genres then revived multiplayer gaming with such great success that for the hardcore set today, multiplayer is the only thing that matters.

In fact, for several years in the Nineties (in the wake of the amazing success enjoyed by Quake, Unreal Tournament, and Warcraft 3), many companies considered releasing multiplayer only titles, forgoing a single player campaign altogether.

Thankfully this never happened, and the single player experience, helped by stellar titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, and several Role-Playing classics, continues to thrive.

But there is no doubt that multiplayer gaming will eventually be the dominant play mode — across genres and platforms. Just look at the evidence — MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, City of Heroes and Warhammer Online are far more successful (and profitable), than most single-player oriented games.

Even on the console, hitherto a single-player stronghold, online services such as Xbox live and PlayStation Network are drawing more players online. Even when they play single player, people compete against their friends to rack up higher scores and better “Achievements”. It’s simply more fun having other people around.

In fact, some of my best memories of gaming involve a whole bunch of guys hunched around a single computer, cooperatively playing Myst, a purely singleplayer game. By converting it into a social experience, we enjoyed it so much more. This is even truer in the casual space — where games such as Scrabulous got complete strangers playing against each other on Facebook. The number of people playing classics such as Chess, Reversi and Scrabble against human opponents over the Internet is staggering — and these aren’t hardcore gamers. They’re just people who’ve discovered that a human foe is far more satisfying to beat than some artificial intelligence programme.

If you’re one of those single player loyalists (such as one recent convert I know), try some multiplayer gaming for a change.

Whether it’s Halo or Team Fortress online, or just some online Chess or Scrabble, you’ll instantly see what I mean.

Argument Starter: Worms 2 is the best multiplayer game ever.

Now it's your turn.