I borrowed a friends Xbox 360 for a weekend, because he suggested I play Fable II. Fair enough, it had interested me. But this isn’t a Fable II review. This is what I discovered on my short journey through the world of the Xbox Live community.

All I had attempted to do, was play some Fable II co-op. I just wanted to go and slay some guards with my fellow heroes of Albion, simple I presumed. Not quite the case. Every time I managed to find a slaying partner, all they were concerned about doing was banging out some more achievements, and they come from the most trivial tasks. I wasn’t interested in killing 5 enemies at once with one magic spell, I wasn’t interested at farting at the same time as him, and I definitely wasn’t interested in the 101 meaningless other bollocks tasks he and the next 6 people I played with proposed that we do for that stupid little popup at the bottom of the screen. (continue reading…)

Most people have played a Star Wars game in their gaming career, and most people have been disappointed by one. Some people have been surprised or delighted by a Star wars game. Where does The Force Unleashed fit? Neither, to be honest, it’s far from a total disappointment but it’s also far from being anything better than “good”.

The core gameplay centers around using force powers to great effect, upgrading them and mastering them. While gripping enemies is exciting for the first few levels or so, you feel slashing an enemy gets it over with quicker, which raises the main problem. Force powers are interesting, but not deep enough to evolve into interesting mechanics; which make them feel more like gimmicks than intelligent design.

The presentation is done well overall. Though the visuals aren’t A+ material, they provide some excellent distractions throughout, and with the gameplay never becoming intricate enough to truly grab you, it’s needed. The feel of playing a part in the Star wars universe is captured well and the story is enough to keep you pushing through; though a needless love sub-plot is introduced which made me cringe as it seemed so forced. The music is a boon to the whole experience, being Star Wars, it’s got to be excellent. Mixing old tunes and some new interesting ones strikes a perfect balance between familiarity and excitement.

It’s best played for the spectacle, as it feels like a poor man’s God of War with more (God forbid) quick time events. The feel is captured brilliantly but everything else fails to match the epic scale.

The short length is also a problem, coming in at around 7-8 hours, but any longer would’ve made the game terribly boring.

Overall, I’d say this is a title to rent, experience and then forget. It’s nothing special, by any means, but it’ll provide a burst of entertainment.

6/10

Hardcore and casual games. Hardcore and casual gamers. I’ve spent to much time on the Internet to be surprised when I hear it, but almost once in every argument, it get’s dropped.

“It’s a CASUAL game”

A casual game. A game, that is casual in it’s design? In it’s use? In it’s plot or art? What does that mean? What do you THINK you’re saying?

Video games are NOT casual. Nor are they Hardcore. Video games are video games. There is no such thing as a hardcore game and a casual game. There are obscure games, there are popular games, there are simple games, there are complex games, there are pretty games and there are ugly games. But there is no hardcore game, and not a single casual game. They don’t exist. A game cannot be hardcore or casual. A video game can have a target audience, an art style, a plot, no plot, it can have complex controls, it could use a motion sensor, it might even require you to type words to progress, as opposed to ever controlling anything, but none of these choices will ever make it casual or hardcore.

Katamari Damacy is obscure. It’s also colourful, and it’s simple. It’s kooky and straightforward in design. It’s intention is not to appeal any one demographic. It’s intention is to take a risk in game design. Would Katamari Damacy be a hardcore game or a casual game? Both, and neither. It qualifies for either. So how can we even begin to categorize it with a straight face, knowing full well that it would hypocritical and idiotic to do so?

The same goes for all video games. Another example? Grand Theft Auto. Difficult, traditional, risk taking, and immensely popular. How could this seemingly hardcore game still be hardcore if non-gamers play it casually everyday? GTAIV received endless criticism due to it’s popularity, calling it casual and mainstream when in fact it was ONLY mainstream. I am an avid gamer. I own a slew of consoles, I play them all. I own 2 copies of GTAIV, and will be getting the PC version in December. Now, I do not play it that often. I never play it for more then an hour. I play it, casually, you could say. BUT, it is not a casual game and I am not a casual gamer. It is also not a hardcore game. It is an action adventure open world sandbox game. I am a hardcore gamer, or as I like to say, “gaming enthusiast”. My brother is a casual gamer, he doesn’t spend long on a game, except for GTAIV. He plays the game hardcore, because he payed for it and read into it, and invested himself into it.

Catz and Dogz and Horsez are not casual, they are not hardcore, they are shovelware. Katamari is a puzzle game. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a party game and Halo is a first person shooter. I own and play all these (with the exception of the shovelware). Famously, on the internet at least, Halo is casual, Katamari is hardcore and casual and Smash Bros. is the epitome of casual. But I’ve played SSBB for at least 100 hours now. How could that be casual playing?

It can’t be, and it’s not. I am a hardcore gamer. People who own Wii’s and play for 40 minutes at most in a day are casual gamers. My friend is a casual gamer, he owns an Xbox 360. My other friend is a hardcore gamer, he only owns a Wii. My brother is a casual gamer, he owns a $1200 gaming PC. How a game could be casual boggles me. Games are not designed like that. Games cannot be casual. It is the GAMER that is casual or hardcore. The gamer plays it their way, invests in it their way, spends as much time in it as they like. There has never been a casual or hardcore game. Only a casual and hardcore gamer. It’s really that simple.