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The Jak and Daxter Trilogy (PS3)
by carl_lazarevic
As a consumer I find myself decidedly conflicted with the idea of these high def trilogy releases on Playstation. On the one hand I very cynically believe that they are an easy cash grab on the part of a developer who would rather touch up a few premade games, than put the work into creating something new. On the other hand the retro ... geek inside me loves reliving these often forgotten classics. In this collection you will find Naughty Dog's collection of PS2 classics Jak and Daxter; Jak 2: Renegade, and Jak 3 which are definitely worth playing if you have never experienced them.
The series starts out with Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. It's a simple story that harkens back to a simpler time. Jak is a young elf boy who has been raised by the village sage, but likes to get into trouble with his best pal Daxter. In one such instance Jak and Daxter are trespassing on a forbidden Island when they spy some sinister figures plotting nasty things for their village. Sadly, while trying to spy on these fellows Daxter is knocked into a pool of 'Dark Eco' (think a fantasy version of toxic waste) and mutated into a cute and cuddly meercat type creature. Only by traversing their world and researching the mysteries behind an ancient race called the precursors can they hope to transform Daxter back to his old self and stop the bad guys.
Actually for me this game was the reason to buy this collection. It made for a refreshing change of pace to be playing a Mario style Platformer from the days when Mario, Sonic, and Crash waged their endless war. Jak and Daxter kept things simple, but was actually way ahead of its time. Playing as Jak you had to traverse an open world hunting down precursor artefacts to power up your technology. Each area of the world would be split into the expected sections of Beach, Lava Cave, Icy Mountain, Scary Jungle, and foggy Island. You would run and jump through these areas and spin at; or jump on, the monsters that got in your way. Each level would give you a series of objectives that rewarded you with needed power cells, and each one would be littered with collectable orbs that you could exchange for more power cells. Collecting all 101 power cells was a very rewarding experience.
The thing that made Jak and Daxter stand out from the pack though was the epic way the game was developed. Loading screens were none existent as the entire world was preloaded from the get go. Theoretically you could have jumped into the ocean and swam all the way to the final boss encounter, if not for the fact that a big fish would always swallow you up. However being able to look out across this open world and see everything remains a pretty impressive technical achievement to this day. It's just a shame that the graphics themselves have not aged nearly as well. The draw distance may be phenomenal, but, as a PS2 game you cannot escape the blocky textures that have been used to create this world. Rendering them in high def just stands to make them look even blockier!
Thankfully the other aspects of the first game have held up really well. Control over Jak is very responsive, and makes navigating the world fun during the most frustrating of moments. It is true that Jak and Daxter is a difficult game, but it's never unfairly so thanks to the simple control scheme and well-designed levels.
Sadly things took a turn for the worse with the sequels. Jak and Daxter take a ride through a portal and into a dystopian futuristic city where Jak is captured and experimented on. Daxter does rescue him, but only after the experiments have left Jak hulking out whenever he gets angry. What follows is a darker series of games as Jak rises in the underworld ranks of this city in his quest for revenge.
Jak 2 and 3 change the focus of the game from platforming and collecting, to a GTA inspired mission structure that did not work nearly as well. The central hub of Haven city was infuriating to navigate due to the terrible controls of the vehicles you were stealing. Crashes happened far too frequently, and as a result the game took that step from hard to unfair. It was such a shame too as the game remained fun to play and had definite potential. Controlling Jak was still responsive during the platform sections, but those sections we're spoiled by the introduction of guns and a lack of any real collectables. You could still hunt down precursor orbs, but they were few and far between and no longer had any real relevance to the game itself.
Still the game had some really good ideas for set piece based levels; such as one really cool level where you had to hoverboard through an oil field to dispose of some bombs before they explode, that make up for the fact that both the platform levels and the hub world had become pretty poor.
The Mad Max inspired Jak 3 improved on that game no end, but only because it almost completely scrapped the idea of being a platform game in favour of those setpiece levels. The range of these levels was staggering, and took in everything from monster chases, to missile rides, and even a quick stop for a game of Pac Man. By the final entry the series was never boring; it just bears no similarity to its origins and does not feel as satisfying as the original game.
What the series does have in its favour though is the production values. Throughout all three games you will witness a genuinely funny story full of time travel twists and turns with a variety of endearing characters. The voice acting is absolutely phenomenal throughout, and I challenge anyone to hear any line from Daxter and not laugh. Even Jak; whose voice actor was trying really hard to be gruff and scary, came across as a good performance despite how cute the character model was. The whole series featured the same level of attention to detail and storytelling finesse that Naughty Dog would later bring to the Uncharted series.
However you cannot escape the fact that these games are still very old games. All three have substandard graphics and an awkward camera. More to the point, if you still have a PS2 lying around then you could probably find original copies of the games for a pound or two each, so this collection would be a little redundant. Yet the fact remains that they are still amazing games that are considered classics for a reason. Jak 2 was a little disappointing, but it bridges the incredible storyline nicely and remains a solid experience. The other two games are absolute classics and should be played by everyone for the humour alone. So if you don't have access to a PS2 and can find this collection for under £15 then you should definitely give it a play. Trust me, by the end of the final cut scene you will be glad you did; especially if you enjoy the humour of a well-made Disney film like The Lion King.
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Williams Pinball Classics (PS3)
by SWSt
Gather around children and I shall tell you a tale of the olden days. In that magical far off time, there existed these wonderful, exciting places called "arcades". Here cool looking youths and spotty teens would gather to play the latest video games, placing their little collection of 10ps (and, as inflation bit, 20ps and ... 50ps) on the cabinet tops to reserve their turn. In the B.C. (Before Consoles) era, this was the only way to play the latest games.
A staple of arcades were the pinball machines; odd, mechanical things that, to my young eyes, didn't look anywhere near as exciting as the flashy graphics and loud bangs of "proper" video games. Yet, despite being an analogue machine in an increasingly digital world, the popularity of pinball survives, as evidenced by this title, which brings 13 classic pinball tables from Williams into the comfort of your own home.
One thing is for certain, Williams Pinball Classics is going to be on your play list for a long time. For a start, it's a lot of fun: even playing through the 13 tables once is going to take a while. Once you have tried them all, mastering each will take even longer, but it's a challenge that you won't mind because it's so enjoyable. Of course, you will enjoy some tables more than others, but there are none that are terrible. With several Goals to achieve on each table, trophies to obtain and a number of different game modes (including a multi-player challenge), there is a lot of depth to Pinball Classics. Even when you have mastered the tables and unlocked everything, there is still plenty of playability left. Pinball is an unashamed score attack game, so there's always the challenge of trying to beat your best score on each table. Williams Pinball Classics is a game you will keep returning to.
There's an innovative Credits system too. You start with 10 Credits but can earn more as you get better and better scores on each table. As such, you're unlikely to run out of Credits, but it's a neat little touch which replicates the idea of having to feed money into the machine, without you actually having to do it!
Presentation is good without being over the top or flashy. I am assuming that they are all faithful recreations of the original tables, but since I've never played a game of pinball in my life, can't confirm this although they look pretty realistic. Some nice attract screens help create that "arcade" feel (although it's a shame these are static) and you can even "wander" around to a limited degree, looking left and right to the next machine or go upstairs where more machines are available. This makes selecting a game a bit more interesting (even if you do have to try and remember where in the arcade a particular title is!) There's nothing that comes close to pushing the PS3 to its limits, but it captures some of the feeling of being in an arcade.
Graphics on the tables themselves are also pretty good, although they vary significantly from tablet to table. Some are quite sparse in terms of the numbers of ramps, targets or buffers; others are packed and (initially at least) quite confusing. It also might not be a game for anyone who suffers from mild epilepsy or other visual disorders as many of the tables have lots of flashing. If you're not affected by such things, the flashing lights, moving targets and other aspects of the table are brilliantly implemented and really help to give the look of a "real" pinball game. A nice little touch is that the instruction booklet has a little potted history of each machine, detailing its date of release etc. There's nothing here that's essential to the game itself, but I found this interesting and a nice way of keeping the history and memory of the tables alive.
Where the graphics cause slight issues is with the camera angles. The default view is from above and slightly behind the table, essentially replicating the view you would have playing a physical table. Unfortunately, it's not the most natural angle for a computer game and even though you can select different cameras none of them quite work for. On the whole, I would have preferred the more straight-forward top down view adopted by Amiga classic Pinball Fantasies.
Sound effects are brilliantly observed and really add to the atmosphere. From the bells and fanfares as various targets are hit and trapdoors open to the satisfying sound of the ball as it pings around the table or the clunks from the flippers, everything is sounds authentic. A variety of tunes, speech and soundtracks play in the background or in response to certain targets being hit, further ramping up the atmosphere. This led the gamingly-challenged Mrs SWSt to dismiss it as "a very noisy game". In fairness, she has a point, but then pinball games are noisy. It's a pity there's not a little more ambient sound from the arcade (the chatter of other users, background noise of other machines etc.) but you can't have everything.
Crucially, ball physics are spot on, which makes the difficulty level just right. When they hit an object, they bounce in a predictable way, which gives you the opportunity to plot its trajectory and get ready for your next shot. Even when the ball speeds up, you can still accurately predict where it should go next. Essentially, if you lose a ball, it's because your reflexes are not quick enough, not because the game is unfair.
The PS3 controller proves tailor made for pinball. Controls are simple and the same on each table, so you can pick them up quickly, without having to constantly learn new ones. The L1 and R1 buttons are used to control flippers; the left stick is pulled back to operate the plunger and launch your ball and the right stick activates that classic pinball cheat of nudging the table to alter the line of the ball. These controls feel very natural and your fingers automatically fall onto these buttons.
It's odd, but I've never played a proper game of pinball in my life but I'm a real sucker for computer versions. Slight display issues aside Williams Pinball Classics is an excellent game that offers huge amounts of fun and a lot of long term challenge and playability.
Unfortunately, if I've piqued your interest, you're going to have to pay for the pleasure. Although it's a couple of years old now, the price is still holding up: a new copy will cost you around £25, and second hand copies are not much cheaper. It's worth it, though.
© Copyright SWSt 2012
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Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock (PS3)
by TimStain
The world is crying out for a decent Doctor Who game and it isn't going to get one. Not until the licence is given to a competent game developer. A competent developer would be competent enough to competently realise that no one involved with a TV show should be allowed near the competent development of a competent game*. Great ... television writing doesn't correspond to great videogame writing and great TV writing has absolutely no idea what fun gameplay is. When I think Doctor Who game, I think of adventure, space exploration, maybe even horror. The developers at Supermassive games thought '2D platformer'.
You play as the Doctor and occasionally River Song, jumping through a bunch of boring, uninspired levels set in exciting locations like warehouses and bland ship interiors. The use of bland settings is because Supermassive games were limited in their level design choices to oh I don't know the entire universe and anything your imagination can come up with, so you can see why they just HAD to have a level set in a freaking warehouse.
'Puzzles' never get more inspired than 'push crate to other side of room to reach higher platform', so we finally get a Dr Who game that feels like time travelling, as level design and puzzles like that were last seen as fun somewhere around 1989. Occasionally you'll use the sonic screwdriver to open doors (these parts of the game really capture the intoxicating thrills of opening a door) and River has a rubbish gun which you can use on enemies to completely miss the point of a science fiction franchise about pacifism. A few enemies from the TV show crop up to do nothing interesting, but not as many as you'd expect.
Supermassive games did however make a new crap enemy of their own unique to their crappy game. For some reason they weren't interested in using more of the hundreds of iconic enemies from the series instead, unnecessary further proof that they were a particularly dumb choice for development of a Doctor Who game.
The game looks rubbish, which is at least consistent with the rubbish gameplay, unlike the decent voice acting. Matt Smith and Alex Kingston both reprise their roles and do a decent job but listening to sound bites from two decent actors doesn't make for a good game OMG LIKE NO WAY.
The story is worse than Curse of the Black Spot, so there goes the last possible reason to play this game, Doctor Who fan or not. Oh look, it's the first in a planned trilogy. Watch the TV show and pray Bioware somehow gets its hands on this licence before silence falls on the chances of us ever seeing a game worthy of the brilliant TV show. Ha ha! Did you spot my clever reference to 'silence falling' a recurring arc in the TV series!? I live alone.
*If you think my hilarious repeated use of the word competent isn't a hilarious jape and is in fact a cynical not at all hilarious way of padding out the also not hilarious required dooyoo review word count then you couldn't be more wrong. These sentences however, obviously are. How hilarious!
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