Deux Ex. HR new gameplay trailer

[brisk]

Deffo agreed with Jap developers, Mat. In fact, every single Atlus developed/published game i've played has been against the grain. The Persona RPGs are the one saving grace for traditional Jap RPGs for me. They're both brilliant fun to play and challenging. Final Fantasy is now pretty much catered for western audiences and it is a complete shell of its former greatness. It's embaressing to even compare the latest one to FF7/8. It's both hilarious and incredibly sad to think Jap developers believe they're falling behind.

I do have one question though: can anyone name a single game (besides Demons Souls) that went against the grain and delivered a console game that didn't comprimise on difficulty and actually added more innovative features than things it took away? I don't think I can. How can publishers assume that all game players are retards, when they never offered the option of smart games in the first place?

It's annoying because DX:HR has the potential to be a truly brilliant game. Instead, with the inclusion of TPP, health regen and object highlighting, it looks to be a good game, with constant annoyances to stop you being truly immersed in it.

As I say, DX got it right 10 years ago. Why didn't we get more games like it? Oh and if someone mentions Bioshock, i'm going to kick them in their shins. That is about as close to SS/DX as Gwamps is to being understated.

[Mat Linnett]

Try Vanquish brisk.
It's one of my games of the year, and it takes the Western 3rd person shooter (think Gears), and adds a bucket-full of Japanese flair.

But what else do you expect from a studio made up of ex-Clover employees?

It's not so much about finishing levels, but finishing them in style, and the controls give you the tools to be able to achieve that.

[brisk]

Yeah, clover man! Okami was such an amazing game. I bought a DS for the sequel actually and can't wait for it to be translated. Did you ever play God Hand? It didn't get the best reviews, but it was one of the surprise hits of the PS2 for me... and again, was actually a challenge!

I tried the Vanquish demo, but it didn't do much for me actually. Mainly cos i'm not so much into that whole robot/sci-fi thing too much. Bayonetta was fun though

[brisk]

Also, I should add that I have nothing against good games that aren't very taxing. I mean, Uncharted, Assassins Creed 2, Batman: AA and the likes were very easy, but I still had a lot of fun playing them. They were decent. I just hate the fact that a game like DX (which is one of my all time favs) is getting its soul ripped out of it in many ways, just to appeal to a presumably wider audience. The original story was complex and the immersion was (and still is) unparalled... why dumb it down to appeal to a market that probably never cared for it much in the first place? I just wish they developed it as a new IP, rather than gutting the legacy of the original.

Of course, my argument would hold more weight if DX:IW was never released too! But again, why make the same mistakes twice? Ah well, I still hope it can be decent... I just hope the "deus ex" difficulty mode addresses these issues. If it does, then it could be truly brilliant.

[Mat Linnett]

Yeah, clover man! Okami was such an amazing game. I bought a DS for the sequel actually and can't wait for it to be translated. Did you ever play God Hand? It didn't get the best reviews, but it was one of the surprise hits of the PS2 for me... and again, was actually a challenge!

I tried the Vanquish demo, but it didn't do much for me actually. Mainly cos i'm not so much into that whole robot/sci-fi thing too much. Bayonetta was fun though

Heh, other way around for me; I much preferred the bombastic overload of Vanquish, and ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING EXPLODES.
While I can appreciate the skill needed for a decent Bayonetta play-through, the graphics have a certain last-gen look to me (I can't place my finger on why, but it's there), and the story and characters were just bizarre.

Never did play God Hand (what with never having owned a PS2), but I heard good things about it.

But that's what I've taken away from this year; the excitement about games is still out there, and indeed, appears never to have left some Japanese developers, but it's just harder to find now; particularly in Western studios.

Additionally, try Dead Rising 2. It's unique in that it takes a very Japanese game, with obsessive levels of detail, gives it to a Western developer, and yet it retains that Japanese feel. My only criticism is that maybe escorting survivors is a little too easy now.

[brisk]

Oh, Bayonetta was actually a very pretty game. Some of the environments were quite stunning actually, as was the animation/set pieces. It was completely linear, but good fun.

I've got Dead Rising 2 on my "to play list". Along with a mountain of others games too...

I'm with ya re: excitement. Believe it or not, i'm really pumped about DX:HR. I just want it to be as good as it can be and it doesn't help when the original is your favourite ever game... fanboyism goes into overdrive.

Mass Effect 2 was as dumbed down as an RPG can get, but I loved the story, characters and the settings. The pros outweigh the cons, but if theres anything i've learned from this generation of games, it is that 99% of them had the potential to be better than they were. I just think the games industry is dominated by huge studios who lack invention and unlike the movie industry, its a lot more difficult to find truly great independent titles that don't just compete, but also take risks and improve upon existing formulas. Braid and Limbo were great though. I figure if we can even get 1 or 2 truly great games a year, then we're lucky.

[Mat Linnett]

If you want games with a Deus Ex vibe, try Vampire Bloodlines and Alpha Protocol. Initially I hated Alpha Protocol, but once I got past a few bad opening stumbling blocks, it turned into a genuinely engaging narrative with plenty of alternate options.
Vampire, once patched, is, as with all Troika games, a work of flawed genius. It's utterly spectacular up until the last third. Then it devolves into a poor man's shooter, definitely not the game's strength. But up until that part, you'll have experienced one of the very best hybrid RPGs out there.
But again, where are Troika now?
These guys were the collective geniuses behind the original Fallout; now they're scattered to the wind, one of whom is even working for Blizzard now.
It seems that innovation is actively punished in the Western gaming industry, once more re-iterating the need for developers to maintain ownership of any IPs they create.

And speaking of Blizzard, there's a company where the writing's on the wall. Getting in to bed with Activision is about the worst thing they could have done. I've read some depressing reports recently where it has been rumoured that Activision are doing an Infinity Ward on them, and that they no longer have creative freedom; hence the monetisation of every last element of every recent game of theirs. Sad when you think what they used to be.
It won't last, and I can see Blizzard going the way of Guitar Hero et al if they continue to have Activision at the reins.

[Don Carlos]

http://www.sarifindustries.com/

[o'dium]

The music on the site alone, never mind the amazing theme and design, is enough to put my mind at ease that this will be GOTY material.

[brisk]

Yeah, it's super.

BTW, UK'ers can get the augmented edition on the PC for £29.99 from here

That includes all the extra weps, the bonus mission, the artbook etc... all for the standard price you were gonna pay just for the regular version.

[o'dium]

Wait, PC users getting a Collectors Edition of a game...?

What the hell is going on?

[brisk]

Nah, consoles get it too. Same deal as Bioshock 2 I guess (without the vinyl)

Unless you meant you're surprised PC users actually get a collectors edition? For the bigger games, it's becoming much more regular, thankfully.

[o'dium]

Yeah, quite shocked to see a PC release at ALL really, seeing as we get the shaft so very often... But certainly a day one for me, just likely on Steam. The art books nice but I have to say the rest of the content in this CE isn't really that great. I don't like making ofs and soundtracks because lets face it, you get them online anyway. Would have been nicer with a cool item, like a pair of his shades or something, anything like that.

[brisk]

I just wanted the extra mission really, though I hate exclusive retailer content with a passsion. As it happens, this is a decent deal and you get everything in for the same price I was gonna pay anyway... so it all works out well in the end.

The USA people are getting screwed though. But thats OK too.

[o'dium]

Makes a change from us Brits... Fed up of waiting longer AND paying more AND getting less content...

[brisk]

Price has now raised to £44.99. Glad I bought it cheap while it lasted!

[o'dium]

I haven't seen this before but just found it...

25 minutes of DE:HR gameplay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTwqe07VBoo

[Don Carlos]

heh...first thing I thought when I saw past about 30 seconds was "Oh, Midgar"

[Tsakali]

looks great!

[feedback]

This takes place before Deus Ex, yet all the technology is more advanced? The airplanes and cities look much higher tech, doesn't seem like a real world place at all. Idiots.

[seremtan]

cut scenes ftl

[brisk]

This takes place before Deus Ex, yet all the technology is more advanced? The airplanes and cities look much higher tech, doesn't seem like a real world place at all. Idiots.

Apparently, the world before DX1 was very technologically advanced and the events in this game cause some kind of crash, setting the world back technologically, etc.. Or so I hear.

Think of it more as a "reboot" (I hate that term btw) of the DX universe and it's a little easier to stomach.

Saying that, I love the art direction in this game.

[Tsakali]

Absolutely agree on the art direction bit... kinda looks like a futuristic Tokyo...never been to Tokyo mind you, it's just the vibe I'm getting....or maybe because it reminds me of a gost in a shell setting.

[brisk]

Yeah, its like the dream hybrid of Blade Runner, GITS and Metal Gear Solid, wrapped in some fucked up neo-renaissance dressing. I think it has the potential to be one of the best looking games ever, purely from an artistic/aesthetic standpoint rather than a technical one. If they can nail the things that made DX1 great for me (the social interaction, multi-path solutions, superb story/music) then I can't see it being anything other than GOTY.

March can't come soon enough.

[feedback]

Like the original DX, I'll probably only play it 5 years later once my computer is able to.