Which is the Best Mass Effect Game?

Which is the Best Mass Effect Game?

The Mass Effect trilogy is one of the most well know, well-loved and arguably best trilogy’s in gaming. There are many high points throughout all three games but I’m asking the question which is best? I’ll put it down to categories to find the best Mass Effect game in my own humble opinion.

 

Plot.

It’s important to understand what plot actually is as it is pretty confusing. The plot is the events that make up the story and these events will relate in a sequence to create the story. This isn’t the same as premise which is the idea of what is going to happen. So with that in mind we can quickly eliminate ME2 from this category as thinking about it, it barely even has a plot.  The premise is to stop the Collectors but the events don’t really lead up to this ultimate goal. The side stories with the characters and loyalty missions are interesting but don’t build up to the Collector threat in any way.

 

So we have ME1 and ME3 and personally I think ME1 has a better plot. ME1 certainly has the most coherent narrative of the trilogy and while ME3 has the more epic and emotional moments ME1 has the events build on top of each other to build the plot and impact the characters. I also think the twists work better in ME1 and I’d be remised to not mention that infamous ME3 ending. So the winner here is ME1.

 

Protagonist.

Which game did Shepard the best? I understand he/she is a blank slate to project ourselves onto but I’d argue the character still needs to grow as a result of the experiences throughout the trilogy. ME2 Shepard doesn’t really grow at all and as I said earlier is not really relevant to the plot. So once again I’m left with ME1 and ME3.

 

ME3 is interesting as we do get to experience Shepard’s loss of sanity at parts of the games through his stresses and pressures of what he’s doing. The dream sequences in particular appear to focus on this but the interactions with characters on the Normandy (the one where Shepard snaps at Joker stands out to me) show how he’s being affected by what’s going on. ME1 also does well with Shepard as this game really makes us feel the progression of the character from soldier to Spectre and then throughout the plot. This was a tougher one to call but again I think I’ll need to go with ME1 as I think Shepard has more relevance on the Plot in ME1 than in ME3.

 

Side Characters.

It probably sounds like I’m just going to say ME1 is better in every way, maybe say that the second 2 games are just pandering to the filthy casuals who have the nerve to play the games the hard-core and far superior gamers like. Yes that was a joke and ME2 wins this category without question. All three games are excellent in this category but I feel that ME2 was the one where they got the most focus and development, especially through loyalty missions for the squad mates.

 

I liked the characters in ME1 but I didn’t find myself getting really attached until ME2. You deal with things that are far more personal in ME 2 and as a result these characters begin to feel far more real. ME3 meanwhile has those characters return but you were already so invested because of ME2.

 

There are anomalies of course, a lot of these characters weren’t even in ME1 and the first game had squad mates that weren’t accessible in ME2. The difference is I found the plot more interesting than side characters in ME1 while in ME2 the side characters and their stories could easily make their own game.

 

Visuals.

I don’t mean graphics when I say visuals, I mean which game had the most interesting environments and style. ME1 had an interesting style with its grainy look to make it look like an old Sci-Fi television show. ME 2 and 3 meanwhile discarded the grainy look and overall went for brighter colours.

 

ME1 has the advantage of having all those worlds to explore in the Mako, the issue however is they pretty much all looked the same. ME2 had the most interesting locations to explore with the Citadel, Omega and Illium. ME3 only had the Citadel while ME1 meanwhile also had multiple explore able worlds with the likes of Noveria. For the places you visit and the ones I remember most I’m giving this one to ME2 for having the most interesting visual locations.

 

Emotional Impact.

Which game got those feels going? Well in all three games characters can die and they all have monumental choices to make. All three have emotional impact but really ME3 cannot be matched in this regard. This game had some of the saddest deaths I can think of in my time gaming, Not just individual deaths impact you either, everything is on such an enormous scale and worlds being destroyed and possible extinction is something that really has Shepard on edge.

 

The sad moments are big but the lighter moments can but just as emotional. Chances are if you’re playing ME3 you enjoy the camaraderie and friendship between characters and moments like shooting bottles with Garrus can be just impactful as any other. These games make you feel like you’re really attached to these characters and moments like this really highlight that so without doubt ME3 wins this one.

 

Gameplay.

These are games so gameplay is important. The shooting element is obviously important in a game where you shoot bad guys and ME3 naturally has the best shooting mechanics. They refined the shooting in ME2 which has already refined the shooting in ME1 and added some good new features such as the ability to roll and the improvement to the melee system. I also thought ME3 had the best level design in terms of what you had to do as you played through. The focus on verticality was nice as it made the levels feel less like walking from shooting gallery to shooting gallery and put greater emphasis on a tactical approach. Despite the occasional turret section ME3 combat was best without doubt.

 

ME3’s gameplay falls down with the more auto dialogue included in the game however. ME2 was better in this regard I felt as was ME1 however the interrupt system makes me prefer ME2 as you can impact conversations in more proactive ways. Overall though ME3 didn’t have so much auto dialogue that it made the game feel like I wasn’t contributing and having less focus on the paragon/renegade system was a positive so this category is ME3’s.

 

Verdict.

This blog post hasn’t been very conclusive has it? Each game has won 2 categories and I genuinely didn’t plan it like that. Maybe I could do more categories but I think what it shows is it depends on what matters most to you in a game. My personal favourite is ME3 but a strong argument could be made for any game in the series. I guess that makes sense really, it’d explain why the series is so popular with such a large range of gamers and why people cared so much about controversies such as the ending. If nothing else it proves gaming can tell epics as well as anything else if you’re dumb and still won’ believe it so that’s something.

 

 

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Batman Arkham Knight Review

Batman Arkham Knight Review

I’ll be reviewing the PS4 version I’ll say now, I realise the state of the PC version was disgraceful when released but I personally played the PS4 version so that’s what I can talk about.

 

So Batman Arkham Knight is the final Batman Arkham game by developer Rocksteady and overall it was a really good way to finish what has been a really good series, PC notwithstanding. I’ll start by talking about it in terms of gameplay and the gameplay is really rather excellent. It expands on the brawling and stealth elements of Arkham City making it easy to pick up again but provides enough new moves and enemy types to prevent it from feeling stale.

 

The melee combat is as satisfying as ever using the same system as previous games. You have your basic attack button, a stun button and the counter button. You are provided with gadgets that can be mixed in and are sometime required to take down enemies in combat. It feels as slick as ever and provides some incredibly satisfying brawls throughout the game. Another cool feature is fighting alongside and ally, which while not adding a whole lot to the mechanics does feel like a very Batman thing to do and let’s face it, we do play these games to feel like Batman.

 

The predator elements are also pretty similar to before. The new moves and gadgets you get feel extremely powerful at first but then once new enemies are introduced (My favourite being the ones that do not show up in detective vision) as well as greater numbers of enemies who work together makes the predator situations still feel challenging and satisfying.

 

The big new feature is the Batmobile. Diving the Batmobile through the streets where everything is annihilated as you smash through it is very satisfying and it controls well without handling too sharply to make it feel silly. I particularly enjoyed the side missions where you had to chase down enemy cars and try to smash them off the road. The big issue with the Batmobile were the tanks battles. Not only did they take up pretty much every boss battle but `they felt forced and got kind of tedious. You avoid the red lines that show where missiles are going, shoot a drone and repeat. They became very frustrating when you had no way of avoiding getting shot and had to start all over again. The Batmobile felt like a good addition while using its winch to solve puzzles and using it when you wanted to propel yourself out of it or drive around quickly, basically when it wasn’t forced on you, however when you were required to use it for missions it quickly became frustrating.

 

I’m hardly someone who is overly interested in graphics but for what it’s worth the game looks very nice. Everything from the detail to the rain effects and the characters models look very nice. More importantly you get a large map of Gotham to explore full of stuff to do whether it be Riddler trophies, side quests or just goons who needed a good punch to the head. It’s a big game that will keep you occupied for a long time.

 

I’ve heard mixed responses to the plot of this game. Personally I’d call it sort of up and down. After the brilliant scarecrow sections in Arkham Asylum I expected big things from him having his own game but he wasn’t really particularly interesting. They didn’t really use the psychological elements that Scarecrow lends himself too and used him as kind of a standard villain. The Arkham Knight was similar, he didn’t have much interesting personality and the mystery behind who he is doesn’t keep your interest very well and it’s pretty obvious who he is anyway. That’s not to say it’s a terrible plot, there are some really well done dramatic moments and twists and while the main two villains are kind of bland the way Joker is integrated into the game is very well done and a fantastic use of the character (And don’t worry they don’t bring him back to life or anything stupid like that).

 

You could very easily argue that this is the best game in the Arkham franchise and that is high praise. While personally Arkham Asylum was the most enjoyable game for me personally when I first played it through due to the deep atmosphere from the more closed off environment I do think Arkham Knight is better than Arkham City and would highly recommend the console version to anyone with a next gen console.

 

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Can Video Games be Art?

Can Video Games be Art?

This is a question asked by gamers everywhere. It is a question answered by none gamers as no way now go back to the basement. Let’s face it however, these people are pretty ignorant so let’s take a look into the argument with intelligence and logic.

 

I’ll start with that all so common argument, video games cannot be art because art has no purpose. A painting is simply there to be looked at while a video game is there to be played. True, however this definition of art seems rather restrictive and surely the purpose of art is to have no restrictions and to allow an artist to create their own vision without shackles. The definition of art in fact is as follows: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

 

The first part talks of an application of human creative skill and imagination. I’ve never created a video game but it’s obvious that it takes skill and imagination to create. Video games are often compared the films, however I find this comparison to be unfair. I’m not going to try to argue one is harder to create than another, that’s not fair but both have unique challenges to overcome. A video game can look great, sound great and have an enthralling story but if the gameplay is poor then it isn’t a good video game. The interactive element is the key element in a video game and if a game plays badly then its good story and visuals are wasted and may as well have been a film. The opposite side to this argument is a film has to keep your attention without any interactivity, games can fall back on good gameplay to keep you interested. Name the most well-known video game franchise. I’d say Mario which has little to no story for the most part, it’s about the gameplay. A movie meanwhile has to be interesting on its own without player interaction.

 

Producing works for Beauty or emotional power. If you play games then it seems highly likely a game has impacted you emotionally at some point. When people mention art and games the one that springs to my mind is Shadow of the Colossus. That game made me think, it was artistic to me and it was an emotional experience. It made you question yourself every time you killed a Colossus and yet when you fight them you’re taken over by a wash of determination as the music builds up and you begin that feeling of an epic struggle. Seems pretty artistic to me.

 

I could keep mentioning the definition but earlier I mentioned art being un-restricted. What is artistic varies from person to person. Personally I found Shadow of the Colossus an emotional and impactful experience and many other games delivered on a similar scale. My favorite game ever made, Professor Layton and the Lost future not only had a beautiful visual style, it had extremely likeable and relatable characters with interesting arcs, it had a gameplay style of puzzles that challenged you on an intellectual level and a story that kept me hooked from beginning to end and almost bought a tear to my eye at the end. That to me cannot be described as anything other than art.

 

Art is in the eye in the eye of the beholder, if someone tried to convince me that Professor Layton and the Lost Future isn’t art by some dumb technicality I’d tell them they’re pretentious and idiotic. I went to a modern art gallery in London a couple of years ago, I nearly gnawed my arms off out of sheer boredom. At one point there was a grey canvas. A GREY CANVAS, and if I’d talked to a lot of the people in that place they’d say my video game isn’t art at all. Art is a different thing to each person so to answer the question that started all this, can video games be art? Yes they can, to claim they’re not is to claim you’re idea of art is the only one that is correct.

 

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Why Cooking Mama is the most Perfectly Designed game in Gaming Histoy

Why Cooking Mama is the most Perfectly Designed game in Gaming History

This is not in any way a joke. When people talk about gaming’s greatest accomplishments they talk of the liked of Half Life and Ocarina of Time. Gaming’s most recognisable characters to most are the like of Mario and Sonic. Read on and you’ll be convinced you’ve been wrong all along.

 

What makes a good game? This is a pretty fundamental question to anyone who plays games and we all differ slightly in our answer. We’re all very aware that too many publishers these day try to appeal to everyone and completely fall flat, making something bland and mediocre. Cooking Mama does not attempt to appeal to everyone, I’m sure it would have been very easy to add in FPS, driving or zombie elements into the game but Cooking Mama chose to not to try to broaden its audience to every living thing on the earth.

 

Gameplay is quite naturally important in games and cooking Mama took its mechanics, refined them and made them work. Innovation is a hot topic when it comes to video game discussions and games often try to innovate for innovations sake. Take the WII U as a well-known example. Does Cooking Mama innovate a whole lot?  Honestly no, it takes its collection of mini games and executes each one extremely well.

 

Graphics is a big thing with video games too. The fact of the matter is realistic graphics tend not to age well. Think of old games that still look good today, they tend to be cartoon like graphics that instead of intending to look realistic look good, colourful and fun. A game that springs to mind for me in Donkey Kong country. It still looks good with its bright array of colours. My favourite games for artistic style are the Professor Layton games. The hand drawn style to me look superb, it’s artistic and looks great and never attempts to look realistic. Cooking Mama uses bright colours and a cheerful look. You can easily tell what each thing is supposed to be but it doesn’t feel the need to look like a real kitchen, the bright colours make the game look pleasant and fun.

 

How important is story in games. Some games make it THE priority. However let’s face it, many games do not do story well at all. A lot of game stories are there to fill space between gameplay and while some games do story excellently well many are pretty bad by the standards of other forms of media such as films and novels. These are things with story as the priority however and sometimes games just ignore complex story in favour of fun and light hearted gaming. Cooking Mama does this perfectly. A plot with many twists, conspiracies and complex characters could have been shoehorned in but it would likely have been annoying and under whelming. Cooking Mama knows what it is and sticks to it.

 

I have one final point. Cooking Mama is if nothing else, fun. Even the most jaded and overly masculine of guys who spend their free time drinking beer and fighting bears could sit down and enjoy a light session of cooking Mama. I’ve never met a single person who does not enjoy Cooking Mama and for good reason, no one can resist the enjoyment of being greatly overly praised by a warm motherly voice for completing simple tasks. If you’re reading EA, this is the game that appeals to everyone and will make all the money in the world you want to make. Now I’m going to stop typing, I want to go and play some more Mass Effect.

Endless Legend - Game Review

Endless Legend – Game Review

So recently I was trying to complete the four 20 mode on Five Nights at Freddy’s. However partly because it’s stupid and partly because I suck I couldn’t do it so a friend recommended I give a game on steam a go. It was called Endless Legend and there was a free trial for it on Steam at the time so while I don’t often play strategy games I thought it was worth trying out. A few weeks later here I am having clocked in far too many hours into it and recommending it to anyone I can find.

 

Endless legend is a 4X strategy game based in the fantasy lands of Auriga. The first thing that struck me when opening the game was its beautiful art style. To be blunt the game looks great, the varying climates of Auriga all look superb and each individual unit and city style to each faction has a unique and interesting look to them. The fantasy setting gives the game a unique feel and it was a joy to explore the map of Auriga.

 

Looking nice is great but the real important thing in a game is gameplay so what’s that like? On the surface it is similar to any other 4X strategy game. You found city’s you create military units to battle against other players as well as the minor factions scattered across the land, the games currency dust is used to upkeep your city, units and accelerate your production of buildings and units. Depending on where your city is built different stats, are increased, you research new technologies and you can win by eliminating everyone else, reaching a certain amount of wealth or by being diplomatic, the usual. However Endless Legend has some very unique and innovative features. Each faction has a unique quest line to complete and completing all your quests first grants you a victory. This was interesting as each faction had a different quest line with a cool story attached. The aforementioned minor factions can be pacified through bribery, destroying and rebuilding or completing a quest for them. Then you can assimilate them into your empire which not only gives you a bonus depending on the minor faction but also gives you access to a new type of unique unit. Maybe your faction you are using doesn’t have access to archers then assimilate the Jotus, a two headed wolf type people, and you’ll be able to use their archer units.

 

Another great feature is the battling system. You can automate battles but you can also move your units manually for a tactical fight. Each unit has different speeds and attacking power and defence and sometimes using terrain to your advantage can be key. Once I had a huge army, vastly outnumbering a friends but he had some extremely powerful archers on top of a cliff. My units had to go the long way round to reach his archers and thus they were picked off before they could reach him. Tactics like this mean the battles require thought and are not just reliant on numbers and having the most powerful units. This is further epitomized by the heroes in the game. They have built in RPG elements, they level up and you can place new skills into three separate skill trees. Depending on your empire and situation you may find it better to assign a hero to an army for that extra edge in battle or it may be beneficial to assign them to a city to boost your income and science. Even when assigned to a city they can still defend it if it is attacked and they can be reassigned as many times as you please so picking the appropriate skill points is vital.

 

Heroes along with normal units can also be upgraded with stronger equipment as you find and start mining better strategic resources. You start with basic level 1 iron equipment but as you progress through the research eras you gain access to stronger iron equipment. You can also mine strategic resources that can be used to create even more powerful weapons and armour. The catch is you have to wait until you can mine them so while you would like to give all your troops Hyperium weaponry, if you’re at war and need units quickly this may not be possible. You can however upgrade your earlier units that start with iron and give them stronger weapons once you have acquired the materials meaning your earlier troops do not become useless during the late game. What the game calls luxury resources are also available. Using these gives your empire a boost in a certain way, wine for example makes all your cities a lot happier, I guess they’re all too drunk to notice what’s actually going on.

 

What usually puts me off strategy games is after a couple games it feels like I’m just repeating the same things over and over. So far with Endless Legend I haven’t experienced this at all, each game feels fresh and new. This in part is due to the 8 different factions. Unlike other strategy games each faction plays differently, whether it’s never being at peace with the Necrophages or only being able to found one city with the Cultists or my personal favourites, the Broken Lords not having access to food but instead using the games currency dust to grow population and heal units. Each faction not only looks completely different they all have unique traits and abilities making them more suited to certain playstyles and situations. This gives a different experience every time you pick a new faction to play as. All this means you are never having the same play through twice as you never know where you’ll find certain recourses or what you’ll have access too.

 

I found a lot of enjoyment through the Diplomacy screen. You can trade with other empires, form alliances, ask them to attack other empires and generally feel like you are interacting with the other players in Auriga. The research system is also enjoyable, instead of research trees like other games you can research any technology from your current era. This allows you to not limit yourself to one playstyle as you play through the game.

 

There is one noticeable problem I found however that is worth mentioning and that is that the game isn’t quite as polished as other games available. Both my friend and I have experienced a few crashes and the game can be a little buggy at times. Sometimes I would click on something and it wouldn’t register and once I had a hero randomly disappear. The AI at times also isn’t great, units can go completely the wrong way in battles, costing you their lives and sometimes the enemy AI is not very responsive when they’re supposed to be at war.

 

What Endless Legend does have however is personality. The visual style as well as ambient sound track provides a superb setting for a game you will invest a lot of time into. This game gives a unique and innovative take on the 4X strategy game genre and I found its occasional lack of polish to be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. With some great gameplay, interesting lore and backstory and superb ambience to boot, Endless Legend is a game I can definitely recommend.

Top 5 Games that should be made

Top 5 Games that should be made

Every year many new games are released for the public to buy. Unfortunately the market becomes saturated with the same games. Gamers often speak of innovation and these are the games that I think would be great to see.

 

5. A Pokémon game with every region

Pokémon games come out every year and they’re always great. Every game feels like a grand adventure and what better way than to improve on a grand adventure than to have the player explore every region. People loved HeartGold and Soulsilver and one of the reasons was because you were able to explore multiple regions.

 

The biggest issue many have with Pokémon is how easy it is. With six different regions by the time you were at the sixth region you could be fighting incredibly high level opponents. We’d no longer have a relatively easy stroll across the land before waltzing through the elite four. The opponents could be strong and powerful.

 

Another issue people have is ‘catching them all’. The only way to get certain Pokémon is through special events. No one wants to have to go to a nearby game store just for one legendary Pokémon. Making every Pokémon available in game would make completing the Pokédex an actual realistic possibility for the average player.

 

What else would I like to see? Personally I’d like to see the feature from HeartGold and SoulSilver when you can see your Pokémon following you around. It’s not a crucial feature that has a huge effect on gameplay but it was an enjoyable feature. Another thing I’d like to see is a more mature pot. I get that Pokémon is aimed at kids but it’d be great for a Pokémon game to have a plot that people of all ages can enjoy. Also I’d like to customizable trainers return. This was a good feature in X and Y as it made your character feel more personal.

 

While slightly personal something I’d like to see is some more insight into the backstory of the Pokémon world. A lot of people, myself included have theorised about this world and it would be great to see some actual insight into the backstory. There are so many hints and secrets scattered around the world and it would be amazing to understand what some of these things mean.

 

Perhaps not the most creative thing I’ve come up with but still something I’d love to see. It’s not likely we’ll see this game admittedly but if it was ever announced I would definitely buy it.

 

4. Growing up animal

When I was younger a friend and I discovered a game on the internet where you played as a growing up Allosaurus called Al. It was similar to a board game, you moved across different squares of the map and hunting and fighting was based off numbers. This was a great idea, you could really feel your progression as you could hunt different animal as you got bigger and travel to new places.

 

I always imagined how much fun this would be if the game wasn’t stupidly hard and if instead of a turn based style gameplay, you actually played as the Allosaurus. It wouldn’t just be a typical open world game where the open world has no real purpose since you just have missions to complete. Here we could have a game with a completely unscripted experience, where everyone would have a different story to tell after playing.

 

The game would be unpredictable since life is unpredictable. I think it would be better to avoid missions completely and the aim of the game should be survival. One big survival mode would make the game extremely tense, especially when your creature is young and weak but especially rewarding when becoming the top creature in the surrounding territory.

 

Earlier I mentioned the dinosaur Allosaurus. This game would be perfect for a dinosaur and on top of this there are a very small number of games involving dinosaurs. It would be exciting to explore a prehistoric world through the eyes of a dinosaur. However the game could work in the modern day too. There are many wondrous settings and creatures in the modern day and including Human Beings in the over world would be an interesting dynamic.

 

This is a very unlikely game to be created but to me it sounds great. Who wouldn’t want to feel the experience of controlling a fantastic creature through its epic struggle being its own life? We all like adventure and this sounds like a great adventure to me.

 

3. The Police Officer Game

There are so many games where we play as criminals. While games like Grand Theft Auto are incredibly popular something recently occurred to me. I don’t like crime. Sure it’s fun to play but we don’t get many opportunities to take down these criminals, especially from inside the law.

 

There are such a small number of games to play as the Police. I’ve always been someone who enjoyed being the Hero in games. I will often take the good choice in moral choices for the personal gratification as oppose to mindless villainy.

 

This I imagine would not be difficult to make. Side missions could be stopping random crimes. You could be arresting criminals and see the impact on the city as crime decreased. That’s an issue with many sandbox games, there is very little impact on the surrounding world from your actions.

 

For a setting I’d like something a little different. A large world with both city and more rural environment would be good as staying in a city can get zany. It would also give you the chance to take car journeys to quickly arrive to a crime scene. I’m English so I’d like to see an English city. Somewhere such as London would be an interesting change.

 

A good thing about playing as a police officer could be that you would need to solve crimes rather than just fight villains. It would add a puzzle aspect to the game as well requiring you to use your brain. On top of this putting a criminal away would be far more satisfying if you had to discover their whereabouts first.

 

In video games the Police are often seen as uncool compared to those badass criminals. This would be a great way to change that as well as producing a super fun game.

 

2. The Super - Villain Game

Okay so discount everything I just said. Screw the law, let’s play as a comic book style villain. I would really like a game where you play as a villain. However it wouldn’t just be like a GTA. This would be like a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon.

 

This game could have something very few games do. Comedy. Playing as a cartoon villain could lead to hilarious consequences. For a main storyline you could do something ridiculous like create a doomsday device, perhaps a giant laser from space to hold a city to ransom where you could use weapons to make it that you could use far easily to achieve your plan. The game would be over the top and if nothing else fun.

 

We get a lot of gritty story arcs, this would be a good change of pace. The game could be a satire of the super hero genre, you could take on a super hero trying to foil your evil plan. I think a cartoony art style would be the best visual style for a game like this. The idea is to not take it too seriously, a realistic graphics engine would not fit the style at all.

 

The gameplay could use an array of crazy gadgets to use in combat. Normal guns are boring when compared to lasers and shrink. I’d also like to be able to release hounds to attack the enemies. While this would not be the most complex gameplay it would certainly be enjoyable. Even better would be to be able to create your own gadgets for battle. You could find parts scattered across the world and upgrade them as you level up. This would make levelling up rewarding as it would have in game bonuses.

 

This game would simply be fun. If someone could write some funny lines this could be a light-hearted romp through a colourful world full of ridiculous characters.

 

1. Robot Wars

There are console Robot Wars games. Unfortunately they’re not particularly good. They’re okay and they have their merits they never feel like you’re actually fighting a Robot Wars battle. These game decided that the laws of physics weren’t particularly important. Robots fly all over the place and weapons will just bounce off the Robots. Worst is seeing powerful Robots such as Hypno Disc and seeing its savage fly wheel weapon cause no physical damage ridiculous.

 

The problem with these games honestly is that they were simple cash grabs. With a bit of care and effort I think this could be a sensational game. Building your own robots was not good. The designs in the show were creative and fun and in the games you had block with axes sticking out of them. It would be amazing to be able to construct creative designs, not just set shapes. Creating Robots to battle is probably the biggest draw to playing a Robot Wars game and being free to customize as you please would be a huge improvement.

 

As I stated earlier, an improvement to the physics engine is a must. In the Old games he Robots did not play like heavy machines at all. It was like they were made of cardboard as they appeared to have no weight at all. It was a similar story with weapons. Powerful weapons would hit the opponent but it never felt like they were connecting. Crushing weapons should actually crush things, discs should either cuts or spin off the Robots armour. Armour shouldn’t randomly fall off, it should be damaged accordingly to what was attacking it.

 

While an issue in many games, the commentating was awful. Obviously the lines will be repeated but Johnathan Pearce’s commentary was simply annoying. His commentary on the show was great, so it was very disappointing to hear about five uninspired lines repeated over and over again. Sports games have improved commentaries and I see no reason why a Robot wars game couldn’t too.

 

Another improvement could be time in the pits. Rather than just automatically repairing your Robot there could be different mini games, perhaps using the damage cam from the show. This would add another layer of authenticity to the game. To add to this authenticity, the Robot wars arena needs to be the same as it was in the show. However it would also be good to have a wide variety of arenas with different challenge and obstacles to overcome.

 

Let’s face it, the people who would buy this game would be fans of the television show. It is unlikely we will ever see a good Robot Wars game but if we don it needs to be made for than fans, not a general audience. Perhaps then everyone can experience the thrill and excitement of battling in Robot Wars.