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Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

Grand Theft Auto IV: Ballard of Gay Tony

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Grand Theft Auto IV was criticised in some circles for being too serious, losing its sense of fun and humour to opt for a darker, grittier tale. Whilst I can see where this criticism came from, I for one liked the new tone as it turned the game from a farcical look at modern Western life found in San Andres and Vice City, to a more satirical look at the condition of modern man. GTA IV’s Ballad of Gay Tony attempts to address this by adding more farce into the tale, but still manages to keep its satirical side.

The Ballad of Gay Tony sees you step into the shoes of Luis Lopez, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Luis is part owner of a couple of clubs with his friend and mentor “Gay Tony” Prince. The recession has hit the clubs hard, and Luis and Tony are in a little bit of bother with money, and get into some bad deals with some bad Mafioso types, setting the scene for the entire game.

Luis is a really likable character. He’s much more likable than Johnny Klebitz of The Lost and the Damned, more relaxed than Niko. Like Niko, he’s a product of his upbringing. He makes mention of the fact he’s a contract killer, but doesn’t seem to have as many issues with it as Niko did. He admires and respects Gay Tony, and as Tony succumbs to drug addiction it is hard not to side with Luis, even though you soon realise he’s making as big a mess as Tony.

The game itself plays like GTA IV, obviously. The mission structure is the same – generally drive somewhere and then blow everything up. The game also takes you to many of the set piece locations of the original title. You’ll find yourself in the middle of a bank heist, deep in the diamond heist, searching for a kidnapped Gracie, and having a shootout in the Museum. However, these are often presented in a different way to previously seen. Instead of running through the museum, you see a cinematic, and then are placed into a helicopter and have to escape.

Many characters seen in the first game and first DLC crop up here and there. You’ll see Roman try and get into the club a few times. Gracie, the loud mouth hostage, is Tony’s best friend. The Irish mobsters Gerry and Packie will feature in more than a few scenes. Brucie Kubbutz returns, but is a side kick to his even more annoying older brother Mori, who suffers Brucie’s insecurities but magnified ten times because of his short man syndrome. And of course Niko and Johnny appear frequently.

The effect of these two things on the player is to make the world seem more coherent and whole. The stories are weaved brilliantly together, reconnecting GTA IV and making the conspiratorial nature of the game seem much deeper and more intense. You’ll never know who your real allies are, and moreover, you’ll begin to rethink the outcomes which occurred in the other two games.

To spice things up a little, Rockstar have introduced more outrageous weapons and vehicles to the game. My favourite is the explosive shell shotgun, although sticky bombs are rather fun as well. Yusif, the ridiculously rich Arab will have you flying in a gold coloured attack helicopter. They’ve also brought back the parachute. This brings a verticality to the city that was previously absent. No longer are helicopter rides just about getting somewhere specific – you can jump out and parachute to the top of a building or the ground safely. I’ve gone to the tallest building just to jump off. The parachuting base jump minigames are even more fun, testing you skill as you fly through hoops or ride a bike off a building and then try to land on a moving flatbed.

Another fun new introduction to TBOGT is night club management. You go from point to point in the club, watching people dance looking for trouble. Trouble comes in the form of drunks, who you throw out. You’ll often get a call from the other club where you’ve got to go help out a hapless star who is caught with their pants down, or drive an English prince to find some hookers. When you’re not working you can play some drinking minigames and even participate in a dance off, which sees the whole floor doing a bus stop routine and sounds lame on paper, but is a lot of fun to pull off.

The new music is gregarious disco and dance, and whilst it’s a little clichéd to have “Shake Your Groove Thing” by Peaches and Herb and the like associated with the Gay scene, it’s also just fun music in general which adds to the overall lighter tone of the game. Not much is made of Gay Tony’s gayness, either. When people do start throwing around the homophobic slurs, it’s often directed at Luis too despite his repeated protestations of the contrary, and you’ll find yourself wanting to hurt those guys just for being dicks. And in most cases, you get to.

Conclusion:
In TBOGT you’re still as ruthless a killer as Niko and Johnny, but there’s a larger sense of fun and play here. Whilst never as ridiculous as Vice City or Saint’s Row, it has a very similar feel. Whereas GTA IV was almost like a moral play, TBOGT plays much more like a comedic tragedy. It takes itself seriously, but presents a much more laid back sensibility to the player, giving them a chance to have a bit of fun in between the gritty reality of gangsters and money.

Pros:
Great story line
Great reuse of characters
The parachute opens up the vertical city
Fun new minigames

Cons:
Helicopters don’t have missile locks
No changes to the core game

85/100

Review, Video Games, Writing, XboxWorld

Midnight Club Los Angeles

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Midnight Club 3 Dub edition was one of my favourite driving games. It was just so much fun racing around the city in blinged out cars, bikes and suvs. It wasn’t too easy, but it had just the right amount of difficulty to keep you interested. Although Midnight Club Los Angeles differs from Dub in that it is bigger, better looking, better sounding, and the online functions are smoother, the extreme difficulty of the game puts you off that “just one more race” feeling of its predecessor.

The story set up is you’re a hotshot from the east coast come to LA to participate in races and score lots of loot. As you race, you gain reputation which will unlock more races, unlock parts for you cars, unlock new cars and bikes, and reward you money so you can afford to upgrade your vehicle. Pretty standard fare really.

There are different colours of races – Green, Yellow, Orange and Red, meant to indicate the toughness of the race. I say “meant to”, because there doesn’t seem a whole lot of difference between green and red in reality. The difficulty of this game isn’t hard, it’s brutal, so be prepared to lose. Often. Be prepared to be leading a race from start to finish, and losing at the last second because you slightly swipe a car in traffic and go careening off the road. Often it’s better to just let go of all the buttons and come to a stop. Or select Start > Restart Race.

I found the physics to be really detrimental to my efforts at driving. When you drive really fast the camera blurs and the cars get speed wobbles, making it really hard to drive at speed, especially down curvy streets with parked cars on the side. If you so much as skim another vehicle you will lose control and start to spin. Of course once this happens, the natural instinct is to compensate, which makes everything much worse.

Moreover, even when you’re in the clear in a race, out in front by a number of street blocks, the ridiculously tight rubberbanding – the AI code used to make the other cars catch up to you – kicks you in the pants and will overtake you, even though mere seconds ago the car wasn’t even on your radar. Although I didn’t find myself ahead often, I was beaten enough times after leading the entire race that I’m positive the cars teleport metres behind you when you get too far ahead. AI Controlled cars seem to never hit parked cars or on-coming traffic as often as you do, either, but instead take perfect lines through traffic and obstacles. Even if you try and follow them, you’ll find often they make gaps that a normal driver could simply not make.

What makes this the more frustrating is you’ll get to a point where you simply have no option but to race the same race again and again and again. Yes, you’ll learn the race and the lay out and the shortcuts (the AI cars take these too, however) but it seems that no matter what you do, how well you drive, that it is simply luck that sees you win or lose, and not your skill, patience or knowledge of the tracks.

Another problem with the game is the map. The overhead “google maps” type navigation system looks quite slick, but it’s wearisome to use. You can’t get GPS style readouts at all, and often it’s not entirely clear where to go, especially in some of the “open” races or delivery missions. And the game has the problem of having some obstacles looking like you can drive through, and others which will bring you to a dead stop.

The annoying thing is not all the races are as bad as each other. Time Trials are ridiculously harsh, and races with more than 2 cars are controller throwing maddening, but it is the Delivery missions take the cake of everything that is wrong with the game. You’re just racing the clock; you are given a marker on the map, and told not to damage the car – what could be simpler? Yet the slightest bump will knock a huge slab of the damage meter, the time is preposterously short, and all the while you’re constantly pulling up the map to see if you’ve taken the right road to get to the location.

However Freeway races are really quite fun, as there’s only one other racer and up to 8 lanes of freedom to weave between traffic. It’s also easy to know where to go – simply stay on the freeway. And simply cruising around looking for the hidden packages to unlock the cheats is awesome fun! Cop chases are a thrill – they’re supposed to be right behind you! And swiping a car, spinning around, and zooming off in the opposite direction is often a godsend compared to the rest of the game.

Online racing is fun as well. Of course, being human opponents, you know the races are much farer, and lag never seems an issue. You can opt to simply cruise around Los Angeles, chatting with people and then propose a challenge which gets you into the races. You can also jump straight into a race from the menu. Races take the forms found in the offline game, but you’ve got the option of turning traffic off, as well as making your own races. There’s also capture the flag races, when you race to capture a flag and then race to another point to win. These can take the form of team games, and is comparable to my favourite xbox game – Midtown Madness 3.

No doubt about it, MCLA looks sweet. The city feels realistic, even if the driving doesn’t. There’s enough variety in the city to make you want to explore, from long highway straights to windy hilly roads. As you cruise around, you’ll notice advertising, but it’s subtle, like 7-11 branded service stations and the occasional Pizza Hut. No idea if these are in the same place in the real city of Los Angeles, but it does aid a little in navigation.

The cars all look great, but there are only 44 cars and bikes to choose from, which feels quite limited compared to other games. The customisation of vehicles is pretty deep though, allowing you to change the hoods, sides, wings, doors and so on, as well as use real world branded parts. Although not as deep as Forza, for example, you can even share and rank other people’s cars online.

Sound wise the game is also respectable. The cars sound grunty enough, and the screams of the people on the sidewalks as you cut corners are hilarious. However, the AI will taunt you during all races, and as you often race the same people and same races, it gets tired real quick. Also being based on the west coast, everyone sounds like a stereotypical gangster. I was really impressed with the music – lots of bass type music like hiphop, breakbeat, and techno, with a bit of heavy rock thrown in as well, but it will tend to repeat itself more frequently than in other games.

Conclusion:
Midnight Club Los Angeles is a decent game in all respects apart from the insane difficulty. The good races are great, and online modes are lots of fun. I realise some people like high difficultly in games, and get a great feeling of achievement when they beat the AI. However, in MCLA the difficulty borders on masochistic, and to me it isn’t very fun when you’re improving your driving, improving you car, to be beaten time and again at the last minute, and playing the same race over and over again.

Pros:
Great looking racing game
Deep customisation of cars
Realistic feeling city of LA

Cons:
Insanely difficult.
Physics and camera effects when racing fast hinder play
Map, whilst clever in design, doesn’t really do a good job
Repetitive and annoying AI taunts during races

75/100

inthemix.com.au, Review, Video Games, Writing

Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition

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Midnight Club 3: DUB edition (called simply MC3 from here on in) is Rockstar’s answer to Syndicate Street Racing and Need for Speed Underground, and personally I think it’s the best street racing game available for Xbox. It’s full of action, variety and most of all fun! From screaming around city streets in SUVs trying to become the winner of the Big Boys club, to hooning around on a Chopper looking for Rockstar Logos, the game will provide hours of enjoyment for all but the hardcore serious racing fans out there.

For those who don’t know, DUB is a car magazine dedicated to premium automotive-customisation and urban celebrity cars. The cars in it’s pages are hotted up and blinged out to the max. We’re talking 24 inch rims, gold plated girls, spinners, spoilers, neon and nitrous. In MC 3, those of us too poor to even look at these types of cars not only get to customise our own cars, we get to race them too!

Staring out with a few measly 20K, you get to choose from a number of cars, add parts such as turbo ,breaks, engine, nitrous and so on, and race around San Diego for fame and money. The more you race, the more money you’ll get, plus more notoriety. Certain racers will let you know they’re available, and you can seek them out using the handy city map, and then as your fame grows, you’ll be invited to race in certain club events and tournaments. To race in the club events, you’ll need certain types of car – for example Tuners, Choppers or Sports Bikes, American Muscle or SUVs. As you win races, parts, vehicles, accessories and the other two cities become unlocked.

Whilst upgrading your vehicle is fairly limited compared to a game such as Forza, the real fun here is to be had pimping your ride. With real world parts and sponsors, and with everything under the sun customisable, you can have the most unique and expensive looking car imaginable. I made my cars look absolutely ridiculously pimped out, and yet somehow they all still looked cool when racing.

And the racing is fast and furious, quite possibly the most intense of any arcade racer since Burnout. Opponents bash you, cops chase you, and other traffic gets smashed out of the way as you race down wide highways or through garbage-strewn alleyways. You’re also awarded an extra edge for driving well. Depending on the class of car, you can gain either “Agro”, “Roar” or “Touch”. Agro makes you indestructible, allowing you to plough through traffic and props. Roar sends a massive grunt of power out from you, pushing opponents and bystanders out of the way. Touch gives you bullet-time and precise control, allowing you to take impossible corners and squeeze into improbable gaps.

The driving AI of the other racers is pretty good, as they don’t follow the same path as each other time and time again, appearing to be much more organic in nature than other racing games, making for some intense competition. The previous version of Midnight Club was criticised for being too tough, but MC3 learns how you are playing, and adjusts accordingly. You’ll notice the game will get steadily harder, but the difficulty will plateau or even drop a little if you’re not doing so well, so the impossible does seem more possible.

MC3 looks and sounds the part too. Reflection is in everything – from the sheen on the road to the glint of the setting sun off the high rises to the beautifully detailed cars themselves, everything is shiny and sleek. I think it looks even better than Burnout3, although the game does take a framerate hit when there’s rain and a lot of effects going on. The sound is fantastic, from the grunty sound of the American Muscle and Choppers, to the swoosh of the turbo on the Imports. Even the music is good – ok, so the hiphop is a little over the top, but the inclusion Dance Hall, Rock with groups such as NIN and Queens of the Stone Age, Drum and Bass with legends like Omni Trio and Calyx, and even classic techno tracks like “Nights of the Jaguar” and “Flash” by Fix really surprised me. Of course, if this isn’t your style, you can customise your playlists according to what’s on your xbox’s harddrive.

Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition is an unabashed arcade racer that captures the glitz and glamour of street racing and will provide hours of fun upgrading and racing your car through 3 of America’s greatest cities. Although upgrading your vehicles is very basic compared to simulation games like Grand Turismo and Forza, the real world car component companies give the game legitimacy over its other arcade competition such as Syndicate Street Racing and Need for Speed Underground. The races themselves are challenging but not impossible, and the added bonuses you get for driving well give you more edge over your competition, allowing for some very close adrenalin pumped racing.