DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS

By now, unless you’re living under a particularly large rock, you’ve probably heard about Diablo 3. And there’s a good chance that you’ve also heard about its controversial and troubleridden launch. Servers that broke down under the load of millions of players trying to log in. Repeated errors and glitches that needed patching on day one. Gamers, as they tend to do, reacted by trolling review scores on Metacritic and spewing venom at game maker Blizzard on forums all over the Internet.

And, despite all the other troubles, the chief target of their ire was Blizzard’s decision to implement an‘always connected’ DRM (digital rights management) that required players to be connected to the Net to play even the single player campaign.“Why can’t I play a game that I’ve bought when and where I want to?”“What if I want to play on my laptop while on a long plane journey?” “What happens if my Internet connection goes down?” The questions are flying fast and furious, mostly furious. Stories of why the whole thing sucked started crawling out of the woodwork—one player I know was on the verge of beating a particularly difficult boss when he got disconnected from the server—and lost all his progress. Gamers were outraged with the idea that Blizzard was forcing them to stay connected—this was a game that they had waited over a decade for, and felt that Blizzard had let them down. In India, where a large percentage of players (especially in non-metros) still chiefly play single-player games and lack reliable Internet connections, the chief sentiment was palpable disappointment.

This is hardly the first time that a game has required players to be always online to play the single-player campaign. Ubisoft drew huge amounts of gamer rage when it implemented the exact same idea for many of its PC games, including Assassin’s Creed 2, Splinter Cell Conviction andTom Clancy’s HAWX. PC gamers complained that their console counterparts didn’t have to go through this draconian measure. Ubisoft countered with the usual piracy argument. Gamers sneered at this justification, saying that people who played the pirated version could crack and bypass the DRM anyway, and that the only thing Ubisoft succeeded in doing was punishing honest paying customers, and treating them like criminals, while the pirates could enjoy a better game experience. It’s an argument that rages on to this day. Even online services like Steam and Origin have their prob- lems—they both make playing games in their ‘offline’ modes cumbersome and glitchy.

Blizzard, however, has a very different implementation and very different justifications for its always online requirement. When you’re playing Diablo 3, all game calculations are made server-side—which means that with every game action you take, the information is immediately relayed to Blizzard’s servers, which then store, calculate and return information to your PC. This, Blizzard claims, results in a smoother and more seamless experience. Consider the advantages for a moment. There are almost no loading times between levels and stages— if you’ve played Diablo 3, you would have already noticed this. This results in a relatively uninterrupted killing spree experience—which is what the essence of Diablois all about. Also, all your characters, stats and save game information is being written to the server in real time, without any need to ‘sync’ information with the cloud. This means that you can log in to and playDiablo 3on any PC in the world where it’s installed and all your save information will be intact, and instantly available. The connected nature of the game also enables some very cool social multiplayer features—such as the brilliant single-click ‘jump in and play’ coop mode, and real time updates from friends who are playing at the same time. Of course, all this is only possible if you have a reasonably stable and speedy Internet connection.

There are also the questions of reliability and preservation. What happens if and when Blizzard eventually takes down the servers for Diablo 3? The millions of players who have legally purchased the game will no longer be able to play what is sure to become a classic. And the game will be irrevocably lost to future generations of gamers, students and researchers (unless the pirates, bless them, find a way). Of course, Blizzard is known for its commitment to old titles—there are still active servers for Warcraft 3and Starcraft—but what if other studios without the commitment and/or resources of Blizzard decide to take the same route ? Consider the hardly implausible scenario where a studio goes bankrupt after shipping a great game(Remember Team Bondi? 38 Studios ?) and has to shut down its servers. Customers who paid full price for these hypothetical titles would then be unable to play the game. What happens then ?

Sure, with the growth and maturing of browser-based social gaming, the Internet is sure to become a platform for games that is taken for granted, but the questions of reliability and preservation remain relevant. What happens if Zynga decides to shut down Farmville? Will future generations not be able to experience this classic social game and see what it was all about? Game designers and developers all over the world continue to gain considerable knowledge by playing old classic retro games. Students, historians and researchers all delve into classic games to analyse, debate and reinterpret them and generate fascinating new material for anyone interested in games to read. All this is only possible because these old titles have been preserved. It’s a no-brainer really—every art form is immeasurably richer because its classics have been preserved. In this regard, games are no different from music, films, painting or literature.

Blizzard is known for making titles that revolutionise the industry. Its success in doing this across multiple genres (RTS, RPG, MMO) has established it as arguably the greatest PC developer. Diablo 3 is a superb game with outstanding design, addictive gameplay and an undeniable fun factor. It would be a pity if this polished, innovative and addictive game were to be remembered chiefly for the negative impact of its DRM implementation.

NO PAYNE, ALL GAIN

Gun-slinging Max Payne is back after almost a decade and is raring to spill some blood in the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The game looks completely different from the previous installments as the sizzling heat and sleazy bars replace the dark shadowy back alleys of New York. Max now works for a private security firm at “Sampa” and keeps an eye on property magnates and party animals Rodrigo Branco and his brothers. As usual Max gets into the thick of things as a street gang attempts to kidnap Branco’s wife and the rest is a gore fest.

The new gamemaker of the Max Payne franchise, Rockstar, has changed the typical comic-book story telling style to a more in-yourface energised scenes that deliver crisp punch lines.But what can get on your nerves is Max himself. He does not look the brooding grim reaper that we know him as because, with age, he has put on some extra pounds not to forget that he is now bald and wears a tacky Hawaiian shirt. But this game is still one of the most immersive third-person shootout pastimes you can get your hands on.

The gameplay makes things interesting as you are allowed to carry only two side arms and one machine gun from the huge range of fire power available. Our personal favourite is the John Woo-style midair dive with guns blazing—the Shoot Dodge mode. The signature Bullet Time mode too is fabulous as you dive for cover and then pop up and gun down your enemies by letting off one, two, or three headshots, and then scamper back to your cover. You won’t have much to complain about with the intense firefights, but what is a bit disappointing is that our protagonist doesn’t get any new moves. With the gamemaker trying to add more realism to Max Payne with non-regenerating health system, the player is now forced to use strategy rather than hide and wait for your health return. The game thus has become more edgy.

The ace in the pack is the responsive controls. With the option to customise the auto targeting system, the target marker can be kept anywhere between a Hard or Soft Lock style.The latter guides you to line up every shot while the previous one mechanically forces you towards specific enemies. Both helpful and do the required killing and helps you acclimatise to the game’s pace.

We are happy to say that Max Payne 3’s multiplayer mode is as entertaining as the single player game. The multiplayer chooses players based on similar aiming modes so that one player doesn’t have an upper hand over the others.

If shooting games are your forte, then Max Payne 3 is a must. It is a near perfect game with a lot of gunblazing entertainment. The new cut scenes style is engrossing initially but the more you play the game the more you feel these short and long cut scenes become intrusive. Rockstar certainly seems to have retained the strengths of Max Payne game with new, modern touches.

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One of the most engaging FPS games around.

PAMPERS YOU WITH WEAPONS

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier tests the player’s strategy plans. You are part of the Ghost squad, the Hunter Team to be precise. Your aim is to find out who is behind a terror attack on USA which cost your colleagues’ lives after they intercepted the package. No reckless cowboy heroics here. The best plan is to take your target down one at a time, making sure that the patrolling guards don’t come across a dead body and raise the alarm.

This game comes with many new attacking methods like “tag the enemies”. You first synchronise their kill with the help of your other team members. This can be done in single player mode as well as by your controlling four soldiers. This approach works wonders during a firefight. You simply discover the enemy, tag them and then fire. All four soldiers will take down their targets at one go. This fast-paced game pampers you with so many more different weapons that even Inspector Gadget looks like an unarmed gladiator in a Roman circus. There is the Warhound mobile artillery platform that launches missiles by remote commands. The flying drone is a great tactical weapon as it helps you survey the battlefield from the sky. The magnetic view allows you to see through walls and identify enemies carrying weapons and other metal objects such as landmines.

The gameplay is a refreshing change as you don’t need to babysit your squad. Team members have their own mind, thanks to artificial intelligence, and find their own cover when required. But even with AI, your co-fighters are still likely to play follow the leader and no prizes in guessing who the leader is—you, of course.

If one is to do a bit of nitpicking then it has to be the graphics that are just one bar above “bad”. Some cut scenes lack detail and look average at best. But as a third-person shooter game, Ghost Recon is worth buying.

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Average graphics but as a game is worth buying.