Gabe let me borrow Crysis 2, and so I've put in a few hours and wanted to share my initial impressions of the game:
Campaign
The campaign starts off with some dramatic news photo/montage action that ends up making no sense. I'm suddenly in a submarine, and my name is "Alcatraz". I'm sure there's some symbolism, but frankly the plot is so thin; I don't want to spend any time trying to figure it out.
Normally the lack of a decent story would bother me, but the gameplay is so fun, that I don't care all that much. Crysis 2 does a great job of making you feel like a "badass". You can approach situations using shooting/cover, steal, or speed (and it rewards you for using a mixture of all three). The game also has very good level design. Mix those levels the mechanic of using your suit's vision immediately identify different "tactical options" let me just play the game instead being lost wondering what to do. It's brilliant and makes for really fun gameplay.
I'm really impressed with the enemy AI. They will accurately engage you for LONG distances. In most shooters you can engage enemy troops from long distances with near impunity. Not in Crysis 2. The AI will immediately engage you, start to flank, and also quickly kill you if you don't move and take cover. This makes battles very fun and also means that you can't stand out in the open and expect to live long.
Speaking of taking cover: the cover system is the best in a 1st person shooter I've played. I love how you crouch behind cover and then pop-up or lean around. It's very fluid and intuitive (and why is it not included in multiplayer???).
I've only played a few hours, but I'm looking forward to more. It is just too bad there isn't a more coherent story. If there was, this game would probably be one of the best and stand up there with the Halo series.
Multiplayer
I've also jumped into the online multiplayer portion of the game. It feels like the child of Halo mating with Call of Duty...in mostly a good way. The "Halo" half is the fact that everyone has power suits, and thus head shots are must. Meanwhile leveling up unlocks new weapons and "perks". As you complete challenges using those perks, they will be upgraded into better versions...yeah, very Call of Duty.
As with all analogies, the Halo + Call of Duty = Crysis does not completely describe the multiplayer. People tend to use the stealth nanosuit mode ALOT. I was hoping to see some more power slides, and leaping around, but understandably being invisible has major advantages. Maybe once I graduate from the "New Recruit" playlist, more advanced players will utilize all of the different nanosuit powers.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
The emergence of eSports in the U.S.A.???
I have a new favorite hobby, and it's hard for me to admit to or justify. Ok...here goes: I find myself watching professional, live Starcraft 2 matches online. Phew! There, I said it. But guess what? I'm not alone: Over the first weekend of June, Major League Gaming (MLG) hosted an eSports competition in Columbus, OH. The event was well attended, but the major surprise was the amount of online viewers: 22.5 million views! That is ~100% more than 11.4 million online views of the NFL draft (of course, the NFL draft was also televised, but 22.5 million viewers over one weekend is impressive by itself).
The appeal of Starcraft is nothing new to the Koreans. In the land of kimchi, Starcaft tournaments are routinely televised and professionals make a living around playing, coaching and even casting (commentating) the games. It seems this trend is now catching around the world. Just last weekend, another weekend-long tournament, called Dreamhack, was played in Sweden. One look at the crowd for the finals suggests this is more mainstream than one would expect. Other players, such as "Destiny", have been able quit their full-time jobs and are actually making a living by streaming their own live games online.
So, with this article, I would like to explore a little Starcraft 2, and try to figure out why it appeals to me and millions of others.
Intro to Starcraft
I think the best analogy to Starcraft is it's a combination of Chess and Poker. The ultimate goal is to force your opponent to surrender (as in Chess) through the destruction of his army. This is achieved by gathering resources, building an army and attacking the enemy. However, the Poker portion of the game is that you are often working with only limited information. There are certain "tells" an opponent may give to the direction and composition his army, and you need to properly read this information and make informed, intelligent choices in order to win. You often have to strategically sacrifice an inexpensive unit (like a pawn in Chess) in order to gain crucial information.
Doesn't sound that bad, right? Now here's the tricky part: this is all done in "real time" (thus it is called Real Time Strategy). In other words, opponents don't take turns. The faster you can make decisions, move units, multi-task and micro-manage a battle, the more likely you are to win. Just take a quick view a professional Korean player on his computer and you'll consider becoming a keyboard salesman in Korea!
And that's about it...oh, except that there's three races, each with completely unique units, technologies and strategies.
Tournaments to Watch
Currently there are three major USA tournaments to keep your eye on:
North American Star League
The NASL is wrapping up a two-month season with a finals being played in Anaheim
July 8-10. The games will be shown live, on www.nasl.tv, starting at 11AM.
IGN IPL
The very popular gaming news/review website IGN has started up it's second season of Starcarft 2 professional tournaments. Overall the production and video quality of these matches have been really good. However, since the season is just started, some of the games can be a bit one-sided and thus less enjoyable to watch.
MLG
Major league gaming has several more weekend events coming up. The next one will be July 29-31, with three more events after that.
Why I Like To Watch
This is tough for me to wrap my head around...
Perhaps it's because I've gotten to know some of the players and their personalities. For example, there is Greg Fields, also know by his gaming tag of "Idra". The guy actually lived in Korea for years, and is incredibly good at Starcraft. He's also incredibly cocky, and he can go on tilt really bad. He's known for quitting out of games that he's about to win. Just watch this one (VOD is only ~1.5 minutes long), where he's about to win and then quits because he did not realize the other player accidentally killed his own base. The looks on the casters' faces is priceless. I also enjoy watching Geoff Robinson (iNcontrol). The guy lifts weights, used to play football, is really funny, and is also dating Ms. Oregon.
I think another aspect is that I do enjoy playing the game, but it's a game that is really, really hard to be good at. When I watch these guys play, it's amazing to see what they can pull off. I can really appreciate how difficult it is to multi-task as well as to think clearly and most importantly plan ahead.
Finally, the games are really fun to watch. When watching professionally casted games, the camera view is controlled by one of the casters. The view is a top-down perspective, which is so much better than trying to watch a Call of Duty or Halo first-person view (someone get me a barf bag). Also, with this camera view you're always watching the action, and seeing what the caster's are commentating on. Keep in mind that the player's don't see everything that the audience can see, and good caster's will sometimes switch to a certain player's "vision" to check if they have properly scouted a new technology or unit. This provides irony and as well as tense, live drama because you are aware of critical information that the player's do not yet know.
I'm not sure if eSports and Starcraft will ever become "mainstream", but here's a few more stats about opening week sales numbers that make me believe games are here to stay (in summary, games have beat Hollywood every year since 2006).
The appeal of Starcraft is nothing new to the Koreans. In the land of kimchi, Starcaft tournaments are routinely televised and professionals make a living around playing, coaching and even casting (commentating) the games. It seems this trend is now catching around the world. Just last weekend, another weekend-long tournament, called Dreamhack, was played in Sweden. One look at the crowd for the finals suggests this is more mainstream than one would expect. Other players, such as "Destiny", have been able quit their full-time jobs and are actually making a living by streaming their own live games online.
So, with this article, I would like to explore a little Starcraft 2, and try to figure out why it appeals to me and millions of others.
Intro to Starcraft
I think the best analogy to Starcraft is it's a combination of Chess and Poker. The ultimate goal is to force your opponent to surrender (as in Chess) through the destruction of his army. This is achieved by gathering resources, building an army and attacking the enemy. However, the Poker portion of the game is that you are often working with only limited information. There are certain "tells" an opponent may give to the direction and composition his army, and you need to properly read this information and make informed, intelligent choices in order to win. You often have to strategically sacrifice an inexpensive unit (like a pawn in Chess) in order to gain crucial information.
Doesn't sound that bad, right? Now here's the tricky part: this is all done in "real time" (thus it is called Real Time Strategy). In other words, opponents don't take turns. The faster you can make decisions, move units, multi-task and micro-manage a battle, the more likely you are to win. Just take a quick view a professional Korean player on his computer and you'll consider becoming a keyboard salesman in Korea!
And that's about it...oh, except that there's three races, each with completely unique units, technologies and strategies.
Tournaments to Watch
Currently there are three major USA tournaments to keep your eye on:
North American Star League
The NASL is wrapping up a two-month season with a finals being played in Anaheim
July 8-10. The games will be shown live, on www.nasl.tv, starting at 11AM.
IGN IPL
The very popular gaming news/review website IGN has started up it's second season of Starcarft 2 professional tournaments. Overall the production and video quality of these matches have been really good. However, since the season is just started, some of the games can be a bit one-sided and thus less enjoyable to watch.
MLG
Major league gaming has several more weekend events coming up. The next one will be July 29-31, with three more events after that.
Why I Like To Watch
This is tough for me to wrap my head around...
Perhaps it's because I've gotten to know some of the players and their personalities. For example, there is Greg Fields, also know by his gaming tag of "Idra". The guy actually lived in Korea for years, and is incredibly good at Starcraft. He's also incredibly cocky, and he can go on tilt really bad. He's known for quitting out of games that he's about to win. Just watch this one (VOD is only ~1.5 minutes long), where he's about to win and then quits because he did not realize the other player accidentally killed his own base. The looks on the casters' faces is priceless. I also enjoy watching Geoff Robinson (iNcontrol). The guy lifts weights, used to play football, is really funny, and is also dating Ms. Oregon.
I think another aspect is that I do enjoy playing the game, but it's a game that is really, really hard to be good at. When I watch these guys play, it's amazing to see what they can pull off. I can really appreciate how difficult it is to multi-task as well as to think clearly and most importantly plan ahead.
Finally, the games are really fun to watch. When watching professionally casted games, the camera view is controlled by one of the casters. The view is a top-down perspective, which is so much better than trying to watch a Call of Duty or Halo first-person view (someone get me a barf bag). Also, with this camera view you're always watching the action, and seeing what the caster's are commentating on. Keep in mind that the player's don't see everything that the audience can see, and good caster's will sometimes switch to a certain player's "vision" to check if they have properly scouted a new technology or unit. This provides irony and as well as tense, live drama because you are aware of critical information that the player's do not yet know.
I'm not sure if eSports and Starcraft will ever become "mainstream", but here's a few more stats about opening week sales numbers that make me believe games are here to stay (in summary, games have beat Hollywood every year since 2006).
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