Star Wars: Force Unleashed on iPhone Review

The company I’m currently working for bought a new iPhone 3G a couple of weeks ago. Of course, as expected, we downloaded all the cool stuff we can find from the app store. One of our programmers came across the iPhone version of Star Wars: Force Unleashed and downloaded the game. Being an avid fan of the franchise, I took a break from excreting creative juices and played the game.

Now Force Unleashed for the iPhone has already been in the market for a good 5 months now, but I just can’t help myself but write about it after I’ve played through the thing. There are a lot of reviews already out there and chances are you’ve already read at least one of them (that is if 1: you own an iPhone 2: you’re interested in the game). But I’ll write my own review nonetheless (you may not like what I’m going to say).

To start things off, Star Wars: Force Unleashed for the iPhone can be summed up in one sentence; It’s an interactive movie that makes you focus more on what you’re doing or going to do rather than focusing on the game, oh, and it’s a shame that you control a Sith with a lightsaber because you won’t even realize you’re actually controlling a sith with a lightsaber. I’ll break down my review in a more traditional approach.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed

Graphics:
Being on the iPhone, it’s understandable that the game doesn’t feature top-notch 3D graphics. Still, the developers made great work on the game’s backgrounds; they’re all pre-rendered works of art. The feel of the Star Wars universe was really captured in the 2D backgrounds throughout the whole game. That being said, the game uses scene-by-scene transitions (much like how the first Resident Evil works) to deliver the story and to progress through the game. Now, with the characters, they’re 3D quality is (most of the time) tolerable except for a few notable characters whose heads are a bit larger than usual. Take for example Darth Vader, whose looks as if Krang (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was shoved up into his helmet. His head is just out of proportion. I find this particularly funny, and disturbing (not at the same time).

Sounds:
The sounds in Force Unleashed are unmistakeably Star Wars. You’ll hear blaster fire, lightsaber deflecting blaster fire, familiar force power sounds, licensed Star Wars music as well as music that was made for the game. You’ll realize it’s a Star Wars game even if you close your eyes.

Gameplay:
Here’s the good part. The gameplay in Force Unleashed on the iPhone uses an innovative use of the touch screen controls. You’ll use force grip and throw enemies off the sides of walkways, deflect blaster fire back to the shooter, use force heal on yourself, and the like, all by drawing lines on the touch screen. The bad part, the innovation fades around 10 minutes of playing. Aside from having no direct control over Galen Marek (no directional movement, no forward or backward, no attack this attack that, no lightsaber throw, no lightsaber swing, no control at all), the touch screen mechanics will grow a bit old too fast, it will eventually become repetitive and frustrating. There will be a point where you will encounter a Jedi Master in the person of Master Kota, both of you will end up force throwing crates instead of swinging lightsabers frantically. Imagine facing a Jedi Master and just standing there waiting for him to lift crates so you can throw a crate in his face -> boring. Where are the sparks from two lightsabers clashing? Nowhere..

Fight with Master Kota

Story:
The story of Force Unleashed is short, period. It spans 6 chapters and about 1 hour worth of playtime. The story feels summarized and it’s over sooner than you’d think. It’s even shorter than Yoda’s lightsaber. It’s quite expected considering it’s for a mobile phone.

Overall, Star Wars: Force Unleahsed for the iPhone feels rushed and incomplete. It costs $5.99. Go buy Pacman. It’s the same price but twice more addictive and will last your iPhone’s lifetime.

OnLive: The Future of Gaming

This year’s GDC has just announced, what I believe to be, the biggest news in gaming since, I don’t know, the control pad. It’s a little something called OnLive.

Onlive is essentially going to change gaming the way YouTube changed everybody’s TV viewing habits. With OnLive gamers have entered the world of video game streaming. Potentially, what this means is, gamers can play any game they want on demand, anywhere they are in the world for as long as they have a computer – any computer at that – and an Internet connection to access the OnLive service. Yes, you heard that right, any computer would do. In fact, you don’t even need a computer, per se. You could opt to play games straight through your television set provided it is equipped with the OnLive hub, which essentially feeds your TV video and audio from the Internet.

One of the most exciting things about OnLive is the fact that it virtually makes the need for consoles or high-end PCs obsolete. The game is played in a remote server, and the output – essentially the video and audio of the game – is streamed to you, the end-user. So for good or for bad, if the service truly does take off, then the hardware side of the video game business will disappear in the next decade or so.

OnLive will of course charge gamers a fee to access the service. On top of that, the games will need to be “purchased” in some fashion. Gamers will have a few option when playing games. They could of course play free demos of the game. Alternatively, they can rent the full version of the game and own it for a fixed number of days. Of course they can also buy the game all together, and play it using the OnLive service indefinitely. While I do enjoy the novelty of owning something tactile with my games (ie. the packaging) there is a lot of charm in having all your games accessible right at your finger tips. No more swapping discs, and no more worrying about reaching the right specs.

OnLive

Utilizing this service should really be a no-brainer for publishers. Not only does the service improve distribution of product by making games available on-demand, it also expands the market considerably, making games available to anybody who has an Internet connection. Moreover, since users will need to log into the service, it makes the possibility of piracy almost negligible (provided that OnLive does a good job securing their site).

So that’s OnLive in a nutshell. I didn’t want to get into too much detail about the service as other sites and blogs have already dissected the hell out of it. With OnLive the arena of video games is truly changing and evolving into something more accessible and something more integrated into people’s lives. Long have I hoped for the day that video games would be as accepted as comic books, television shows and movies. I’m sick of games always being ostracized and ridiculed for loving what we love. That day has finally come… Well, actually it’ll come winter of 2009, but I can wait a little longer.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say, provided that OnLive doesn’t screw itself over by providing poor service, this is truly the future of gaming. Only a mass conspiracy amongst hardware developers (and others who would be at a disadvantage if this service does succeed), can stop this juggernaut of an idea. It’s truly an exciting time to be a gamer.

Sometimes I’m Not Happy When I’m Right

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how it is hard to develop games for PS3 and how their CEO claims that this is on purpose.

 Fanboys claimed it was for the prestige, quality over quantity. I say bullsh*t. It’s just arrogance. They want to dictate the playing field. This is Sony’s way of saying “Here is our rule, follow it”.

 Famous words by their CEO:

 ”We don’t provide the ‘easy to program for’ console that (developers) want, because ‘easy to program for’ means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?”

–Kaz Hirai, CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment

 Bullshit right?

 Well, now we have this new announcement:

 http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/sony-announces-lower-cost-ps3-dev-tools.ars

 In an effort to increase development for PlayStation 3, Sony today lowered the cost of its PS3 development kit to $2,000, the second price cut the company has made since demo units began shipping to developers in 2005.

“Having the same form factor as the commercially available PS3, the new Reference Tool models allow advanced game programming and more efficient computer graphics rendering,” the company said via press release. “With its more affordable pricing, this new model will appeal to a broader range of developers and publishers, and will help to provide a more streamlined game development environment, further accelerating game development for PS3.”

What’s more, Sony promised enhanced technical support for developers, an optimized PS3 compiler (SNC PPU) to improve efficiency, and better documentation for PhyreEngine, the company’s free-to-use graphics engine that supports both OpenGL and Direct3D. In general, the announcement featured a lot of verbal commitment from Sony on behalf of developers.

“With more and more new and exciting PS3 titles scheduled for release this year from third party developers and publishers as well as from SCE Worldwide Studios,” the company added, “SCE will deploy various measures to further reinforce game development for PS3 and will continue to expand the platform to offer attractive interactive entertainment experiences only available on PS3.”

The news comes as “Surviving the Recession” and “Stability in the Stormy Weather” are a key themes of this year’s Game Developers Conference. With today’s announcement, it’s an issue Sony is obviously aware of. But it’s ironic to see a “lower-cost” development initiative being promoted for the PlayStation 3—which at $400, remains the most expensive console on the market.

As a result and despite solid games, PS3 sales for four consecutive months now over the same period last year—a sobering trend publishers and developers have surely noticed. Perhaps to lower the console’s price will be the only solution to reverse declining demand.

***** SARCASM STARTS HERE *****

WOW! I guess they no longer care about what they do in the next nine and a half year, huh? Why though? Only reason I can think of is that PS4 is coming earlier than expected. Here’s hoping for a Sega-like demise.

 Ooooohhhhhh! They’re going to give better documentation and enhanced technical support for developers. Wow, they really want everyone to be able to develop. Whatever happened to quality over quantity?

 $2,000 for a PS3 Dev Kit? That’s even cheaper than a DS Dev Kit. Wow, now just about any studio can develop PS3 games.

***** SARCASM ENDS HERE *****

 As I’ve stated before, the reasoning of the CEO is just bull. They’re just too lazy and complacent in their position in the Video Game Industry that they thought they could get away with it. Well now, at the very least, PS3 Fanboys can expect a lot of third party games, though a lot of them might be of low quality (which they claimed is what the CEO was trying to prevent).

 Honestly, I think this is a very wise move by PS3. Really. See, in my opinion, if developing games for PS3 is hard and of course at the same time would have a greater production cost, all game developers would only do tried and tested game types. Only a few would gamble.

 The fanboys just have to hope that it is not yet too late. Oh right, in their eyes, there never was a problem, stupid me.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Comfirmed for Playstation 3

A japanese magazine has confirmed that Ninja Gaiden 2 is coming to Playstation 3 renamed as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. This one’s an upgraded version of the XBOX360 Ninja Gaiden 2 as they claim.

Some infos on features that I got from gaming sites:

- Upgrades, which I guess, will be on the graphics department.
- New weapon, a spiked hammer
- New Bosses, great, more masochism
- And the best part of all, you’ll play another female character. The Dead or Alive ninja chick Ayame just like the first one with Rachel. Well hopefully, this time she’ll have more stuffs to do.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma II

I’m still half decided if I’d buy this game but I liked the first one despite the accidental masochisms that the game presented. Oh well, I hope they don’t disappoint though. I heard Ninja Gaiden 2 pales in comparison to Sigma in terms of difficulty.
P.S. Forgive my shabby Photoshop. Mr. Editor requires us to paste in a picture every article.

Life-size Frostmourne Sword Prize w/ Blizzard’s Creative Writing Contest

Are you a fan of Warcraft III or World of Warcraft? Do you want a life-size replica of the legendary sword Frostmourne? If you are and if you do (respectively), know that Blizzard is giving away this baby as a 1st prize for it’s Creative Writing Contest. All you have to do is write a 3000 to 10000-word story about the lore of Diablo, Starcraft, or Warcraft. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll get a chance to visit the Blizzard Entertainment headquarters in Southern California AND, take note AND a life-size, stainless steel Frostmourne replica! This is the first time Blizzard has opened their doors for such a competition and what a way to welcome the would-be winner. Even if you don’t win the grand daddy, as a runner up you’ll receive signed packages of Diablo Archive, Warcraft Archive, StarCraft Archive, and the Warcraft War of the Ancients Archive. That’s more than enough to get some pencils sharpened. Now go get a pen and paper and start writing!

Frostmourne

Left 4 Dead DLC Content: 1 New Level Before April 21

Left 4 Dead players out there (like me) behold and rejoice, Valve recently announced that they are planning to release the new DLC before April 21. Though some may find it somewhat a little less, because it will only contain 1 new level called “Lighthouse” which is described as a fairly open level with not a lot of places for the players to hide from the zombies. The update also adds the versus mode to both Dead Air and Death Toll campaigns. This will be free for PC owners of the game, which is something good to hear.

Left 4 Dead