ZombiU review: Survival horror reborn

Ubisoft Montpelier brings survival horror back to the drawing board for the Wii U launch lineup highlight, ZombiU.

Ubisoft Montpelier’s ZombiU might not end up being the top-selling Wii U launch title, but I think it’s easily the strongest original IP in Nintendo’s diverse launch lineup. Looking like an FPS and playing like anything but, this inventive effort delivers survival horror to a post-Dark Souls world. From Software’s critically acclaimed and widely divisive RPG is a clear source of inspiration for many of the best ideas in ZombiU, only the Ubi studio ditched the swords & sorcery fantasy trappings in favor of a zombie apocalypse.

Sure, zombie games today fall into the same category that “World War II FPS” did a few years ago prior to the release Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This one is different though. You’re not mowing down hordes with a military arsenal at your disposal. You’re not a one-person-army charged with saving all of humanity. Instead, you’re simply a desperate survivor trying to eke out an existence in post-zombie London while the hordes press in from all sides. Or, rather, a score of desperate survivors.

I, Zombie

I am convinced that ZombiU‘s tutorial is designed to kill you. It certainly killed me, as well as many of the other pre-release players that I spoke to. You get a breakdown of some basic controls before running into your first horde, which gives chase and ultimately devours you. For me, it happened when I tried to climb a ladder to freedom. As my hand reached out for the top rung, the first-person field of view suddenly swung downward to a zombie that had latched onto my foot. Seconds later, I was worm food.

I’m convinced that bit is part of the tutorial because the next thing that happens in ZombiU is so clever and so unusual that this early section seems like a natural place to introduce it. The camera cuts away to a new location, a secure location, with a young woman curled up on a military-grade cot in the mysterious Prepper’s fortified encampment. Her name and former life’s occupation (long since forgotten amidst the flood of survivors that were to follow)  flashed up on the screen, but she was very much a different person than the first unfortunate survivor’s shoes I had inhabited.

All death in ZombiU is permadeath, at least from a gameplay perspective. If a zombie reduces your health to zero or manages to get a stray bite in — which happens much more often than you might expect — then that character is effectively (un)dead and it’s time to take the reins of a new survivor. Your first task as this fresh identity is always the same: find your former self, dispose of its zombified form, and recover the precious resources that you fought so hard to find before you were unceremoniously eaten by the walking dead. The first time this happens in ZombiU, it’s delightful. If it happens when you’re an hour or more from your last save and deep in zombie territory, it’s an absolute disaster. 

In both cases and all of those in between, it’s refreshingly exciting. A game-changing feature, even. One that you can turn off in the one-life-to-live Survival difficulty, but that mode admittedly feels like it’s missing the point.

At it’s dead, decaying heart, ZombiU is effectively a new twist on survival horror. It’s Resident Evil for a new generation, or Resident Evil for the next-generation, if you prefer. The design is undeniably clunky in a lot of fundamental ways. Maps can be difficult to negotiate when it comes to finding a destination (though the ever-present map and radar feature on your Wii U GamePad is a huge help). Zombies are tough customers even in solo encounters, requiring a good four or five smacks upside the head with your trusty cricket bat before they expire for good. Taking on more than one without a gun is just asking for trouble, and even bringing a firearm along doesn’t guarantee success. All zombies have a grab move that amounts to an insta-kill if you can’t back away in time.

Read that again: all zombies can insta-kill you without warning. There are hundreds that you’ll encounter in ZombiU.

That clunkiness is important though. It’s clearly intentional in a lot of places too. Access your backpack from anywhere and you’ll have to divert your attention to the GamePad screen as your character on the TV kneels — totally defenseless, as you see from a new third-person perspective — in front of the open pack. The same applies whenever you stop to break open a door barricade, pry back a manhole cover, or fiddle with locked doors. You’re looking at your GamePad screen while occasionally glancing upward to see if any of the walking dead are shambling in your character’s direction.

As much as popular fiction has romanticized certain aspects, the zombie apocalypse is terrifying. Ubisoft Montpelier seems to understand the critical importance of delivering an experience capable of conveying that terror. In the same way that the original Resident Evil‘s “tank” controls helped to heighten tension, so too does ZombiU‘s challenging design. You’ll feel real fear whenever you venture into unknown territory for the first time, and it’s absolutely justifiable fear. More than any other game that came before it, ZombiU amounts to a zombie apocalypse survival simulator.

The Horde Cometh

Your walking dead foes in ZombiU are randomly placed and unpredictable. It’s generally a better strategy to run than face them head-on, though combat is an inevitability. Firearm ammo is very scarce in post-apocalyptic London, meaning you’ll generally want to conserve your bullets for bigger encounters and desperate stand-offs. Even in those situations, you’re generally best off if you switch back to your trusty, miraculously unbreakable cricket bat once you’ve whittled a group down to one or two. Anything to keep you from firing one more bullet than you absolutely have to. In a game where healing items and wood plank barricade materials are more common than ammo,  every missed shot burns more painfully than the most humiliating Call of Duty multiplayer loss.

Combat is an unwelcome prospect in general due to the hardiness of your zombie foes. Every new character spawn starts with the same unbreakable cricket bat, which must be readied with the ZL trigger and then swung with the ZR trigger to do any damage. Pressing ZR on its own strikes out with a quick shove, which does no damage but is still plenty helpful when you find yourself overmatched and in need of some breathing space. Unfortunately, the combat never evolves past this point.

There is definitely something to be said for always keeping the player in a weakened position. ZombiU is built to challenge you and to make every encounter a potential last one for any character you happen to be playing as. There’s no denying that this starts to feel like a grind after awhile, however. Melee is your principal form of attack throughout the game, and it’s a shame that it never evolves beyond “swat zombies with cricket bat.” Even adding something as simple as a slightly more powerful bludgeon would have helped diminish the sense of grind, especially once you start encountering slightly more powered up zombies, such as those decked out in riot gear.

Next-gen In The Current-gen

The most negative criticism I have for ZombiU relates to its visual execution. This isn’t a bad-looking game, but it’s also definitely not one that can be held up as an example of why the Wii U is next-gen technology. There are plenty of better-looking games available even now at launch. It’s almost as if Ubisoft Montpelier was working on this as a Wii title and then switched over to develop it for the new Nintendo platform. The world looks fine, if a bit dark, but the zombie hordes are filled out by the same relatively small set of character models, diminishing the immersiveness of what is otherwise a deeply involving game.

The technical execution of the Wii U’s unique properties, at least, is great. There’s always another zombie lurking somewhere in the darkness, and the Wii U GamePad is equipped with some nifty tools for keeping track. A map view of your surrounding area is always visible on the second screen, to the point that you’ll even watch it exclusively to guide your movements through areas you know to be “safe.” There’s also an easy-access button on the screen that you can tap at anytime to send out a radar pulse, highlighting any living creatures in range as red blips. The radar picks up (moving) zombies as well as birds and rodents, and it’s not uncommon to creep slowly toward a group of red blips… only to see a flock of crows gathered around a fresh corpse.

The map also points the way to any shortcuts you’ve discovered, which is very useful for navigating London’s relatively open world. ZombiU follows a fairly linear trajectory, though there’s nothing that requires your sticking to the main path. In fact, exploration is pretty much necessary since it’s the best method for gathering the resources that you’ll need to survive. That said, the 10-or-so-hour story requires a fair bit of backtracking, and finding those shortcuts — manholes — becomes essential for curtailing frustration.

Making the most of the map also requires the use of your scanner, which moves the action down to the GamePad’s second screen as you swing your view around the environment from a first-person perspective. The scanner highlights points of interest — anything from enemies to lootable containers to doors — that you can then mark using a simple touch control. The first-person scanning makes use of the Wii U GamePad’s gyroscope, with tilts adjusting your field of view, though you can thankfully supplement that with the right analog stick.

Zombie World

There are some cool online features as well, including one that nods very specifically in the direction of From Software and Demon’s/Dark Souls. Inside the campaign, players can post notes for all to see. This could be anything from hints to a friendly hello to lies that send you in the direction of something that might devour you. Messages can be rated too, so you might want to ignore that low-rated message telling you that the dark, blood-spattered hallway in front of you that has inhuman moans echoing out from the shadows is, like, totally safe, bro. Note that I wasn’t able to see these messages for myself during my pre-release playthrough, but this is how the in-game messaging works.

There’s also a local-only multiplayer game mode that pits the zombies, controlled by one player, against a survivor.  The survivor player uses the standard combat controls on either a Pro Controller or Wii Remote/Nunchuk (though the former is definitely recommended) to take on foes dispatched by his/her opponent. The zombie player never actually takes direct control of the walking dead. Instead, the second player uses touch controls on the Wii U GamePad to send out zombie forces from a limited supply, sort of like a real-time strategy game. It’s an enjoyable diversion from the main game and it also glimpses into the sort of things that are possible on the Wii U for unconventional multiplayer action.

Conclusion

ZombiU may not be perfect, but that’s also part of its charm. This Wii U launch title isn’t one that everyone will enjoy, but it’s easily the most refreshing take on survival horror to hit consoles in this generation. If you love being punished by From Software’s Souls games and you hold tight your fond memories of struggling to take on those first zombies in Raccoon City, then all you really need to know is that ZombiU was pretty much made for you. It’s an absolute launch highlight for the Wii U and another unconventional success from the industry’s most unconventional publisher.

Score: 8.5 out of 10

(This game was reviewed on the Wii U using a copy provided by the publisher)

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Hands on preview with the Wii U’s great undead hope, ZombiU

One of the most promising Wii U launch titles is without question Ubisoft’s ZombiU. Combining survival horror with gameplay mechanics that can only be found on the Wii U could make for one of the first third-party hits on Nintendo’s system. We had the chance to go hands on with it, and consider us believers.

There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered about the Wii U before we can all drink the Kool-Aid and support Nintendo’s new system unequivocally. The Wii U is a system that cannot sell itself on specs, so it needs to convince fans that it can offer a unique and original experience that its competitors cannot match. Nintendo managed that feat with the Wii, so betting against them for the Wii U may be unwise. Especially when you have games like ZombiU.

ZombiU was built specifically for the Wii U from the ground up, and it shows. It may be possible to adapt it to another system, but it would require a redesign so severe that it might make more sense to simply create a new game with a similar setting and feel. Ubisoft’s zombie offering manages to incorporate the GamePad as well as any game on the launch docket for Nintendo, and it also signifies a trend of more adult-oriented games coming to Nintendo’s new console, something that the Wii was noticeably missing.

And make no mistake, ZombiU is a game for adults. It isn’t that it is an especially gory game, although there are plenty of grotesque images, but the game is exceptionally good at building anxiety through its mechanics.

Using the Wii U GamePad, you control your randomly generated character through a nightmarish reflection of London after a zombie outbreak has brought civilization to a screeching halt. Only a handful of survivors remain, while the angry and spry infected roam the streets. Your goal is simply to survive, but the best way to achieve this is through preparation.

Your best bet is to take risks and complete goals given to you by “The Prepper,” a man that communicates with you through the radio only. His motives are mysterious, but he gradually fills you in on what is happening and explains that this outbreak is the culmination of a Black Prophecy, which was foreseen centuries earlier by John Dee, Queen Elizabeth’s court magician. The Prepper, and others like him, planned for the current zombie apocalypse as best they could which gives you a chance.

While ZombiU is primarily built around the gameplay more than the narrative, the story is surprisingly deep and engaging. Filled with secret societies and occult messages, the goals you complete help to unravel a mystery that is at least four centuries old, and the truth will play out over the 12-15 hour campaign. One thing that is deliberately missing, however, is any backstory on the character you play.

You begin the game in the midst of the zombie outbreak, with no time to think or prepare. It’s through luck that you stumble upon The Prepper, and you begin with no significant skills or abilities. You must complete goals and sub-objectives if you want to level your character up and help him or her to adapt to the environment and grow. Right up until you die.

ZombiU has an interesting take on respawning. Once you die, no matter where you are or what skills you have unlocked, your character will remain dead. You will respawn in the original location the Prepper led you too, and you start as a completely new character back at zero – although your story progress remains. If your previous character was carrying some equipment that you want back, you can go to where you died and find the zombified corpse of your former avatar, which you will need to kill in order to retrieve your belongings. Your levels will be lost forever though.

This presents an interesting twist. To earn levels and improve skills, you will need to invest a fair amount of time in the game with a single character, but it’s best not to get too attached. The longer you survive the more powerful they become, but the game really isn’t a question of if you die, rather when and how. So when that moment inevitably comes, the better you have played, the more your loss will resonate. If by some chance you complete most of the game with a single character, you may actually feel a sense of existential loss for your character as you continue in a much weaker shell. It certainly adds to the sense of dread as you find yourself overwhelmed and needing to run for your life – or in this case, run for your character’s life.

One interesting addition to the game is the online connectivity. While you cannot jump into another person’s campaign, when you die your zombie will occasionally appear in the game of your friend, sporting your gamer tag and loaded with bonus experience and items. If you are not connected online, the game will randomly generate characters like this, but it is far more interesting to suddenly turn a corner and confront your friend’s shambling husk that you then kill for fun and profit from. 

ZombiU requires the GamePad controller in a very fundamental way. Beyond offering a map, the GamePad has a sonar like ability to let you know when enemies are near, and it is required to scan your surroundings and find items, identify threats, and complete certain objectives. You also need to use it to use your backpack, as well as pick up new inventory. That means sooner or later you will be caught looking at it while a zombie sneaks up behind you. It all helps add to the tension, and it makes you question whether or not it is worth exposing yourself to run out for an item in an area with zombies.

As for the rest of the controls, the GamePad moves as well as any controller, and the size and weight are easy to adjust to. While moving around with a weapon, you have two buttons you need to push, one is to prime the weapon, the other is to use it. For example, your first weapon and last resort is a cricket bat. To prime it, you hold the left trigger to cock back the bat, then the right trigger swings. A firearm does roughly the same thing, with the left trigger aiming and the right firing. Pushing the right trigger alone pushes back oncoming zombies, but does not hurt them. This is an extremely useful tool though, as the zombies are fast and aggressive, and it takes a moment to prime your weapon.

Running and escaping are easy, in theory, but the zombies are dogged in the pursuit of your sweet, sweet flesh and if combat is not an option – and often it won’t be – you may need to try to escape to an entirely new section and hope the zombies don’t pursue.

The game is local play only, but there is a multiplayer component as well that pits you against your friend. There are three modes for this, but they all operate under the same principles. The person with the GamePad is shown the map from a top down view, while the other uses a standard controller to play as a traditional FPS player. The GamePad wielding player is then given tokens, which they can then spend on different types of zombies to spawn around the map and attack the other player, or try for an objective. It plays out a bit like a tower defense game.

One of the modes is a territory-based game where the traditional player can quickly capture flags, but is limited by ammo vulnerability to the horde of zombies. The GamePad wielding player then allots their points to spawn a specific type of zombie needed to capture the territory, guards to defend it, and runners to chase the other player. There is a limit to the number of zombies you can have active at once and you quickly earn upgrade points that unlock a choice of more zombie types, but it all comes down the strategy.

Another mode uses the standard controller and has you and your friend take turns fighting off an endless wave of enemies. The players swap the controller between rounds, and whoever has the most kills before they die wins. The local only play makes the multiplayer an interesting side attraction, but the campaign is what will make this game memorable.

And memorable it is. The preview Ubisoft was showing was the first section of the game and included a look at Buckingham Palace, a central location within the game. This also highlighted the power of the Wii U. When you first approach the iconic palace, the weather changes and a storm begins to rage. The effects look smooth and fluid, and the angry faces of rotted zombies look amazing. It isn’t head and shoulders above the Xbox 360 or the PS3, but the graphics are impressive, both in the look of the world and characters and the effects that go along with it. It will take more than a few sections of a single game to get a real sense of the Wii U’s potential, plus launch titles rarely come close to pushing new hardware, but what ZombiU showed was encouraging.

ZombiU impressed me in many ways. My concern for the game was that it was a game based entirely on the mechanics and then a survival horror skin was dropped over it, but I was wrong. ZombiU is a complete package that uses the Wii U’s unique attributes in ways that honestly improve the gaming experience. Without a familiar brand name ZombiU probably won’t come close to matching the sales of other Wii U launch titles like New Super Mario Bros. U or even Ubisoft’s own Just Dance 4, but it may be the best reason to own a Wii U so far.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect Trilogy bundles reflect drastic changes in video game retail

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Ezio Trilogy and EA's Mass Effect Trilogy Edition are the result of a weakening video game retail market.

Video game retail continues to decline as casual and hardcore gamers alike move to digital platforms for their gaming purchases. GameStop is slipping away while Steam, iTunes, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and others continue to deliver content directly to consumers. What’s a major game publisher to do? Start releasing bundles of games with greater frequency. Both Electronic Arts and Ubisoft are releasing budget packages for two of their most successful franchises with the Assassin’s Creed Ezio Trilogy and the Mass Effect Trilogy Edition this November.

The first of these is actually a PlayStation 3 exclusive. On November 13^th, Ubisoft will release a PS3 only package with Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and Assassin’s Creed Revelations included, just in time to capitalize on Assassin’s Creed III’s release. The package is just $40, an impressive figure considering that each of those games is sold individually for $20 or more.

EA’s Mass Effect Trilogy Edition on the other hand is for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Out on November 7^th, this will actually be the first time the original Mass Effect is available on Sony’s system. No word on what DLC for any of the three games in the science fiction series will be included on the disks.

Both of these packages reflect a dramatic shift in how big publishers are approaching the retail video game business. In multi-million selling franchises, anthology collections are typically reserved for years when there’s no new entry in the series, for when enough time has passed that a standalone release has reached maximum saturation, or to promote a major new release. The Metal Gear Solid Collection for PlayStation 2 for example came out four years after Metal Gear Solid 3 and just weeks before the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 in 2008.

While that logic holds for Ubisoft’s Assassin’t Creed Ezio Trilogy—though the turn around for this is unusually fast—Electronic Arts’ release of the Mass Effect Trilogy Edition would never have happened even just four years ago. Mass Effect 3 has only been on shelves for six months, and the company is releasing a brand new standalone version of the game for Wii U at $60 two weeks after the Trilogy Edition. In the past, this would be seen as an insane move, destroying potential sales of the first two games through a renewed push  for the latest sequel through the holiday. Today, though, EA’s release is a reflection of the overwhelming competition in the shrinking retail market.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Nintendo Wii U launch line up includes 23 games on day one

Nintendo finally confirmed the 23 titles in the Wii U launch line up on Wednesday, with impressive support from EA, Ubisoft, and Activision.

There will be plenty to play on November 18^th. Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U launch line up will include 23 games.

The Nintendo Wii U’s coming out party in New York City earlier this month was surprisingly light on details about the console’s release. Nintendo was clear about the price—$300 for the system with 8GB of memory and $350 for the system with 32GB of memory and a copy of NintendoLand—but concrete information on everything else from the Miiverse online network to what games would be available was scarce. Bayonetta 2, The Wonderful 101—These are exciting games but will they be available on the November 18^th launch day? That Nintendo said 51 games were coming in a “launch window” that extends to March 2013 only confused matters.

Now things are clearer. As reported by USA Today on Wednesday, there will be 23 games available alongside the Wii U on the day it is released. Only three of those games will be Nintendo first party titles: New Super Mario Bros. U and NintendoLand will be available on the first day as promised, and they’ll be joined by the Nintendo published karaoke game Sing Party.

Ports of major publishers’ 2012 games, including FIFA 13, Darksiders II, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will also be available. There are even some 2011 stragglers sneaking in like Warrior’s Orochi 3.

Especially impressive is Activision’s roll out. The publisher has been, to date, cagey about Nintendo’s new system, but all four games announced at the New York event will be rolled out on launch day. Skylanders Giants, Wipeout 3, Transformers Prime, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will all be available, and while only two of those are potential million sellers, it’s still a strong commitment to put four boxed products out simultaneously.

Ubisoft is also going big, with Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013, ESPN Sports Connection, Just Dance 4, Rabbids Land, Assassin’s Creed III, and the promising original ZombiU.

Rounding out the list are Scribblenauts Unlimited, Game Party Champions, and Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition from WBIE, and Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2 from Disney.

That’s three more retail games than Nintendo had for the Wii launch in 2006, and while Game Party Champions probably isn’t going to rev many engines, it’s an impressive display of quality. That Nintendo will have November’s biggest releases, Assassin’s Creed III and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 available, right alongside their releases on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 bodes well for the system.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Ubisoft drops always-on Internet connection DRM from Assassin’s Creed, other PS titles

Ubisoft's stringent DRM policies are dead according to the company, at least for single player PC games.

 

Assassin’s Creed 3 director Alex Hutchinson described himself, his team, and his game as dinosaurs in a recent interview with Edge Magazine. “We’re the last of the dinosaurs. We’re still the monster triple-A game with very large teams [and] multiple studios helping out on different bits. There are fewer and fewer of these games being made, especially as the middle has fallen out.”

The disappearance of “the middle,” B-list games like Ubisoft’s own Beyond Good & Evil that could succeed without selling millions of copies at retail, is really only one reason that the triple-A release is an increasingly rare bird in video games. Piracy, at least according to Ubisoft, has crippled its PC gaming business so not only do triple-A releases have to duke it out in the risky, competitive console market, they face impossible odds earning a buck on PC. How bad is PC piracy? Ubisoft claims that 95 percent of its PC players don’t play illegally obtained video games.

For the past few years, Ubisoft has combatted the problem by bolstering its triple-A games with aggressive digital rights management, namely through the Uplay network. Ubi was amongst those publishers that thought the key to protecting its intellectual property on PC was to require players to have a persistent Internet connection while playing. In other words, it tried to protect its dinosaurs with dinosaur anti-piracy measures.

It’s interesting then that, in a week where Ubisoft admits that the era of the blockbuster game is ending, it’s also abandoning its archaic DRM. Speaking with Gamasutra, Ubisoft’s VP of digital publishing Chris Early said that customer outcry has allowed it to change its policies.

“If you look back to early 2011 and before, we did at one point in time go with always-on activation, for any game. We realized that while it was probably one of the strictest forms of DRM, it wasn’t the most convenient for our customers. We listened to the feedback, and have removed that requirement from those games, and stopped doing that going forward.

For some games, but not all. “It depends on the type of game, but in a single player game, we require a one-time authentication, then we allow offline play,” continues Early, “Then for online multiplayer, obviously when you’re playing online, you’re authenticated and then you remain online. It’s basically as simple as that.”

Ubi’s change of heart could be construed as a feint though. Even more endangered than the triple-A game is the single player triple-A game. If all games require some kind of online play in the future, Ubi won’t have to worry about offending players that want to play offline. What will those Ubi games look like? Watch Dogs. That’s precisely what they’ll look like.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Call of the Wild; Hands-on with Far Cry 3

Ubisoft’s upcoming Far Cry 3 creates a thriving, massive world, then lets you go forth and kill.

The Far Cry series was created around the idea that while you had a mission to complete, how you complete that mission was entirely up to you. The game, originally developed by Crytek, gave you a big area to roam but ultimately you were still being pushed in a specific direction. When Ubisoft took over the series and released Far Cry 2, that mentality continued and the areas became bigger, but the narrative kept you moving in one direction even though you could choose to go on the occasional walkabout. Far Cry 3 has taken that idea and evolved it.

Far Cry 3 is massive. It features two major islands, as well as several smaller ones that you can also explore. The plot is less structured than in previous games, and it actually resembles Assassin’s Creed in a few ways — at least in the demo that Ubisoft is currently showing off.

Areas will be teeming with enemies, but there are two things you should do before really exploring that area. The first is that you activate a radio tower by climbing to the top, similar to the viewpoints in the AC games. There are several towers throughout the islands, and once you have activated it, the previously grayed out section of the map surrounding the tower reveals what options you now have in that section of the world. The second thing is to find and eliminate enemy strongholds.

These are highlighted by plumes of smoke, and can also be identified by all the people there that want to kill you. While the enemies control these strongholds the territory surrounding them is hostile to you and will remain so until you take the base. And the enemies can be dogged, relentless, and numerous. This gives you plenty of options to practice your murdering skills using one of the several weapons you have at your disposal, but assuming you are tired of being chased like The Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night, assuming all the girls in the 60s wanted to stab John, Paul, George, and Ringo, you need to control the strongholds to have some peace.

Each stronghold is staffed by a variety of enemies which you can use your camera to identify and mark. There is also an alarm that they can and will make a break for once you make your presence known. This means you have options. If you want to take your chances and go in like the Angel of Death you have that choice, but the game isn’t designed in a way that lets you easily crush the opposition. It is certainly doable, but you can’t just attack without thought or you will die quickly.

The better option is to take your time and plan things out. Using a bow you can silently eliminate enemies that are out of sight of others, which may allow you a clear path to deactivate the alarm. Of course, each stronghold is set up differently, with different topography that allows for a different approach. Each base also has a few unique features, including the occasional explosive elements and the odd caged animal. As any gamer can tell you, if you have the chance to unleash a wild and vicious animal on a group of unsuspecting guards, you take it.

After the guards have been dealt with, you then control the area and your allies will appear. This makes things much easier and safer for you throughout that territory, and it unlocks several quests as well. It also opens the area up to fast travel from one section to another.

These quests may range from collecting certain flowers that you can then use in a crafting mechanic, to more intensive quests against enemies. You can also go off and do some hunting. Once an area has been cleared, the map also shows what animal is dominant in a particular area. Like in Red Dead Redemption, animals can be hunted and skinned to earn you money. The money then can be used to purchase items, weapons, and upgrades for existing weapons.

The gameplay is traditional FPS, and it moves very well. The vehicle options felt smooth in the brief demo, and there are plenty of other control options like hang gliding and jet skis. At a glance it all moves and plays admirably, although the demo was brief. Things are looking good on that end though.

The more that is revealed about Far Cry 3, the better it looks. The tower and the stronghold harkens back to Assassin’s Creed and other territory-based games, and that works for the FPS style Far Cry 3 is created around. The missions are going to be what makes this game or breaks it, but the elements for a great game are there.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Ubisoft takes on Steam, EA Origin with Uplay PC

Ubisoft has opened its Steam competitor Uplay PC.Is there still room in the digital distribution business for another video game retailer?

Uplay is more than Ubisoft’s digital rights management solution. It’s more than a fragile target for hacking exploitation. It’s also Ubisoft’s new digital distribution platform. The Frenchman’s EA Origin or Valve Steam, if you will!

Ubisoft opened Uplay PC for business on Thursday, an application that let’s people buy Ubisoft games like Assassin’s Creed III direct from the company. It also gives players more direct access to the other perks of Uplay like extra content and community features, but that’s a tertiary purpose for the new client. The secondary purpose is to cut out the digital distribution middlemen like GameStop, Steam, and Amazon.com to reach customers directly. It won’t get all 35 million of Ubisoft’s registered Uplay members—many are console players, many will use competing clients—but it will get them some.

The primary purpose though, as always, is to strengthen Ubisoft’s anti-piracy measures. Uplay was conceived as a DRM solution and Uplay PC is just the latest realization of that effort.

Uplay PC could potentially have a grand effect on Ubisoft’s business on PC though. Despite grumbling in the press and in the PC gamer community, Electronic Arts’ digital distribution service Origin has done quite well for itself. In May, claimed that it was now the “number 2 direct to consumer game service” with 11 million registered users. That’s only people who have installed the Origin client. It’s a far cry from Steam’s 35 million registered users, but a hearty population of potential paying customers nonetheless. EA did say at the time that the majority of revenue generated by Origin is from its own games, but it didn’t specify exact sales data.

Digital sales are already growing for Ubisoft. Its online sales grew 110 percent between March 2012 and the previous year, totaling more than $102 million. Those sales only represent a small portion of the overall $1.36 billion in revenue Ubisoft pulled in over the last fiscal year, but with digital sales expected to continue growing throughout this year, expect that number to grow significantly before fiscal 2013 is out.

Steam is growing too though, and consumers like Valve. EA’s proven that big publishers can make money with their own digital distribution clients, but it isn’t clear how many publishers can replicate that success. Ubisoft’s got the intellectual properties and frequency of releases to make it happen, but there aren’t many other companies in the business who can open a similar service and expect to succeed. Uplay PC can be successful but it isn’t part of a trend. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com