24/7 Player

First off this review will be very short, shorter than my normal reviews. Why? Well, frankly because this game doesn’t deserve any more “press.”

Haze is one of those shooters that had a lot of potential, but never was really able to capitalize on it. This “gem” is brought to you by Free Radical Design, a company that was formed from a splinter group of the Goldeneye/Perfect Dark team. Also, this team designed the Time Splitters game. The bulk of the aforementioned games were great. Knowing that, you would think that a something they created on a current gen system would be just as outstanding. Unfortunately, that is far from the case.

Haze follows Sgt. Shane Carpenter, a soldier in “Mantle”, a sort of PMC of the future. You are sent into South America to help stop the rebels known as the “The Promise Hand”, led by a man calling himself Gabriel “Skin Coat” Merino… seriously. Over the course of the game you are able to dose yourself with Mantel’s super elixir called “Nectar.” Basically it is just a drug that heightens your awareness, skill level, and generally makes you a giant douche bag (but more on that later).

Over time, Shane’s Nectar administration system starts to fail. Only then does he begin to see Mantel for what it really is, a giant smash and grab corporation. He’s shown the true repercussions of prolonged exposure to Nectar, that being death. Naturally, Shane then joins forces with the rebels to try and put a stop to Mantel. Free Radical tries hard to put a big morale lesson in Haze, but honestly, by the end of the game I didn’t care enough anymore to bother paying attention.

Getting down to the game itself, visually, Haze looks atrocious. Seriously… The textures, are just flat out ugly. It’s chock full of glitches and bugs, not to mention that at points I would get stuck in different parts of the map, because the collision detection was so spotty. Controls were run of the mill shooter and let’s be honest, kinda hard to screw up. The weapons of Haze brought nothing new really to the table, and sitting here thinking about the game I couldn’t list a single one to you.

I guess it doesn’t sound all that bad. There is a lot of spoken audio, seeing as how most of the game is told through verbal exposition. Which brings me to my biggest gripe with this game. I will start by saying that I understand what and why they were trying to do with the soldiers of Mantel. When you first meet the other guys in your squad, I was seriously surprised they weren’t wearing pink polo’s with the collar popped. There was more high-fiving and “dude bro” moments in the first section of the game than in the entirety of the beer-pong world championships. It was annoying to the point of being painful. Again, I understand why they did this though. They were making the point that the Nectar alters your sense of right and wrong, as well as making you a team player in your squad. I just don’t think they had to do it to such a nauseating degree. I was so happy later on in the game that I was given the chance to shoot the Mantel guys. I found myself unloading clip-after-clip into them, just to release stress.

Given the pedigree of it’s creators, and the potential graphical upgrade offered by the PlayStation 3’s cell processor, I was hopeful that this game was going to be something I would initially like and continue to enjoy over time. Much to my disappointment, Haze didn’t deliver on any of it’s promises. I have played much worse games in my life, however this one ranks high on the list because of the sheer disappointment it brought with it.

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Posted on May 19th, 2010 at 5:30pm by feedback@gamesareevil.com (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: News, Playing Through The Pain, Playstation 3, Rant, Review, Reviews, featured, opinion

A treehouse with no ladder? Apparently that is now the case. I’ve consistently recommended the Gamerchix treehouse to women that are Xbox LIVE newcomers as it’s a safe and secure space to meet and talk about games with other women while still encased within the Xbox forums. As of last week, I was still finding women in the general forums and referring them to the Chix, only to find out that they are not accepting new members.

There has been struggle and turmoil along the way since the Gamerchix founders opened the Treehouse. Men hated that women had a segregated space, lesbians could speak freely in our forums while homosexual men had no outlet to call their own, and general drama that just happens when you put that many women together in one spot, all put storm clouds over what should have been a bright sunny space. It still had its rays of sunshine though, particularly for the newcomers where they could say “Hey, I need some friends on my list” and not be bombarded with ten million comments about A/S/L and a couple of penis shots.

I know the men reading this are wondering if it’s really that bad. I guarantee you, it is.

When your first experiences on LIVE are like that, it’s easy to want to never come back. I’m positive the Gamerchix kept women coming back to Xbox and money flowing from people that might have otherwise turned their backs on the company.

The founders recently opened a site called Popchix which is similar to the Gamerchix Treehouse but allows for more expression from the group as they weren’t allowed to expand the treehouse beyond what it is now. It’s a great site and I’ll be recommending women to go there but it’s really sad that something all the women worked so hard to build is stunted in it’s growth as the community was well established and thriving.

So, if you see a woman in the forums looking for a place to call her own – Gamerchix is no longer an option. Instead of sending her a shot of your Junk, be nice and send her to one of the female gaming sites. Although there are plenty to choose from I’d recommend Popchix and also GamingAngels. I talk to women from both of the sites regularly and they are friendly, honest, and have years of knowledge behind them. All of them are ready to help as you navigate your journey through the gaming world.

It’s a scary place sometimes but you’ll have thousands of women that will have your back. You just might have to dig a little harder to find them now.

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Posted on May 7th, 2010 at 10:12pm by feedback@gamesareevil.com (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: Games, Girls Are Evil, Xbox 360, featured, features, gaming, girls, live, opinion

It’s not an argument for or against the “Games as Art” thing. Think of it more like how after you watched Super Mario Brothers: The Movie, you never looked at those plumbers quite the same way.

Ever since people started to imagine pretty much anything, those that read or heard stories of amazing or fantastical tales have thought about what it would be like to accomplish them. I mean that’s what having an imagination is all about, right? Kids and adults alike have thought about what it would be like to soar through the air like Superman. Who hasn’t at some point in their life thought about how much fun (innocent or not) you could have if you could be invisible.

This article was started a long time ago oddly enough by the Tony Hawk series. Back when this series first started, I used to play the HELL out of those games. I only started to realize my addiction when I would go out into the “real world” and see things differently. I would walk down the stairs and think, “wonder what it would take for me to grind that” or “I wonder how many points I would get for doing a kick flip across that gap.” I still find myself thinking that way at times.

However it’s not just Tony Hawk that did it. Probably the biggest reason that myself or anyone might see the world this way is Crackdown. If you have played that game for longer than a couple hours, tell me that when you went outside you didn’t think “If this were the game, there would be an agility orb right there” while staring at a really tall building.

Most recently the trigger for this imaginative look at life has come from Just Cause 2. Think about it. If you had the ability to jump out of a plane (that you were flying without any prior knowledge) sky dive for several minuets, grappling hook a building, and the open one of your infinite parachutes and float down to earth… wouldn’t you do it? Sure it’s a childish way of thinking, but that’s part of the fun. If we didn’t have a little imagination, we would all go mad from boredom.

I guess my point is this; For all the people that say playing violent games makes you a violent person, that’s a crock. I have been playing violent games since before there was ANY kind of rating system, and it has never made me think about killing anyone or hurting myself. If anything, games have made me see more of the fun side of life, and the more they have stimulated my imagination. Games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto aren’t games that are meant to teach anyone anything; they are simply an outlet. Most kids and adults know how to separate reality from fiction. If you think that games will make your kids evil or mean, you probably think that “Reality Television” is “REAL.” Well, it isn’t. Sorry.

As for your kids? Simply talk to them. Make sure they know that none of the things they see in games are real. Unlike games, real life has consequences, sometimes VERY harsh ones. That’s what being a parent is all about, parenting your kids and being their mentor. They aren’t just a tax write off, they are globs of clay that you need to mold into a (somewhat) productive member of society. My kid is going to have a hard time growing up with out video games in his life, in some way shape or form. As soon as he is old enough to understand we’ll have that talk.

Life has no reset button, sure we all know that. However it is only as fun as you make it.

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

Posted on May 6th, 2010 at 6:00pm by feedback@gamesareevil.com (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: Editor's Choice, featured, opinion

Occasionally, we like to get some original content up here that isn’t about the latest screenshot fest or killer game. This is one of those times. Here’s a new Evil Feature, published Monthly, about our failure to demand better gaming experiences from the folks who make them.

There is a spectre that is haunting the gaming world – the spectre of complacency. All of the powers have bought into it – the developers, the media, and the gamers themselves. That is not to say that every individual belonging to these groups has fallen prey to this spirit; those who have not are our brothers. Nevertheless, far too many have fallen victim and now spout the rhetoric of complacency, and to them we say enough. Today we take our stand.

For far too long we have been sitting on the sidelines as developers have repackaged the same tired gameplay and the same tired concepts. Rather than innovate, they stagnate, and we have let it happen. Machines of destruction have rolled through, and these machines have names: marketing, profit, deadline. Once used for good, they have been captured by the enemy and used for nefarious purposes.

We accept a world where a motion controller is innovation. Not I. I say, it is what a developer does with that motion controller that makes it innovative. We accept a world where high-definition graphics are innovation. Not I. I say, a good looking pile of manure is still a pile of manure.

"If you fall in this battle, there are no continues."

The time has come, my dear gamers, to take back that which is ours. We do not have to accept the hand-me-down games that we are getting, no matter how beautiful the wrapping paper. We shall no longer be haunted by a developer’s blocked creativity; we shall not stand for it.

To the media – gaming is no longer a children’s hobby reserved for Saturday mornings. If you consider your calendar, you will notice that the children who had that hobby throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s are now grown adults, and gaming has become a big part of our lives. As such, please realize we are adults. We do support your wish to keep mature content out of the hands of children, so please respect our wish to keep you out of our content. It only embarrasses you. We can handle both sex and violence in one game. Furthermore, please respect your own journalistic integrity enough to fully research your stories before lambasting us. Do you really want a repeat of the Mass Effect drama? Additionally, in respecting said journalistic integrity, please keep in mind that the same brain scanning studies done to note increased aggression caused by playing violent video games have also been done with violent movies; the results were the same. As Bandura, Ross and Ross noted in 1961, witnessing aggressive behavior increases aggression. We, as gamers, accept this. We do not dispute this. What we dispute is the invisible link continually made between video games and horrific violent behavior.

To the developers – Your machines of war shall be your own deaths. Let loose the reigns and watch what happens. Pull some money from marketing and put it into development, push the deadlines back a bit, and your profit will come. Your experts know that marketing over-saturation ultimately leads to a fall, but they will be long gone with their pockets full before that happens. Trust your development teams – they are the creative blood of this industry – and trust your audience. If you give us a worthy game, we will shout it from the mountain tops.

"We do not care about your profit margin."

We do not care about your profit margin. We do not buy your games to increase your revenue. We buy for us. If you go away, someone else shall take your place, so lift your heads and deflate your egos. Gaming is about the gamers, not the developers.

And to the gamers – do not allow yourselves to be led by the nose any longer. As has been mentioned, gaming is about us. We do not have to accept garbage just because we are told it is treasure. Ask for more. Nay! Demand more. Do not sit idly by as you are fed information from an advertisement. A beautiful pre-rendered cutscene does not a great game make. Previews, gameplay footage, early-access reviews. These are your weapons, and they all reside within your reach.

It is time to move forward. Do you realize the power that we gamers hold? No developer can tell us what to play, but we can tell them what we will not play. We can force their hand. They will give in long before we do. They have their eyes on a temporal, tangible prize; that being the lure of the coin. If we promise to cut the bottom of their coin purses, they will give us what we want. But, if we continue to feed them coins and quietly mutter our complaints, they will smile as they count their money.

The banner has been raised and the proclamation made to the leaders of the industry – we want you to survive, but we will game in your rubble if we must. If you fall in this battle, there are no continues.

(for more on this topic, visit our portable site, The Portable Gamer)

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Posted on January 15th, 2010 at 4:44pm by feedback@gamesareevil.com (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: Demand, Gamer's Manifesto, Rant, better games, featured, features, manifesto, opinion, variety

The Australian Classification Review Board has had a long running feud with the gaming industry as a whole.  There is a long running history of games being released abroad with the global equivalent of a “Mature” rating, while getting rejected down under.  Some of these banned titles include the likes of every installment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the original Manhunt (Rockstar never even bothered attempting to release Manhunt 2), Fallout 3, Blitz: The League, and most recently Left 4 Dead 2.  Many of these games were later censored by developers so that they could see release, much to the dismay of the Aussie gaming population.

For this reason, many were alarmed earlier this month, when the console release of Sega’s upcoming Alien vs. Predator game was dealt a similar fate. Refusing to approve the game for an 15+ rating, ultimately killed all chances of the game seeing the light of day, at least in its current state.

Things then went from bad to worse when Jason Kingsley, the CEO of Rebellion (AvP’s developer) went on the record saying the following about the banning:

“The content of AvP is based on some of the most innovative and iconic horror movies, and as such we wanted to create a title that was true to the source material. It is for adults, and it is bloody and frightening, that was our intent.

We will not be releasing a sanitised or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.” — Jason Kingsley via GamesIndustry.biz

So if the game is deemed inappropriate by a country’s government and the developer is refusing to budge on the removal or censoring of objectionable content, that would render hopes of Aliens vs. Predator ever seeing the release moot, right? Well lets just say that the fat lady hadn’t quite sung yet…

In what seemed like a futile attempt to maintain the integrity of the product, Sega filed an appeal with the Australian Classification Review Board, citing that the context of the violence in the game was not being considered.  Though this sounds like a flimsy argument at best, it is actually very similar to one used by Warner Bros. Interactive in defense of F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin, when it was banned back in November of 2008. To this date, F.E.A.R 2 was the only title to ever to have its banning overturned in Australia, without having to censor or remove content.

Well it looks as if Sega’s gamble may have payed off. Yesterday news was handed down that on appeal, they too have been granted the coveted 15+ rating, without the need to edit any material.  When excitedly addressing the Review Board’s sudden shift in stance, Darren Macbeth, Sega of Australia’s General Manager was quoted as saying:

“It is with great pleasure that we announce the success of our appeal. We are particularly proud that the game will be released in its original entirety, with no content altered or removed whatsoever. This is a big win for Australian gamers. We applaud the Classification Review Board on making a decision that clearly considers the context of the game, and is in line with the modern expectations of reasonable Australians”. — Darren Macbeth via Kotaku.com

To put things very bluntly, this is a dramatically unexpected result, especially given how poorly Left 4 Dead 2’s appeal went earlier this year.  Might we finally be seeing a shift in perspective from the previously stingy stances of the Australian Classification Review Board?  As a red-blooded American that is a strong support of our First Amendment Right to Free Speech, I hope that this is a sign of a things to come in regards to game ratings in Australia.  With two overturned bans in the last 12 months, this might very well be the case.

Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 5:07pm by feedback@gamesareevil.com (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: Alien vs. Predator, News, PC Gaming, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, australia, avp, featured, opinion, rebellion, sega