This is by no means a new phenomenon, additional content has been available for to those willing to pay for it for as long as I can remember. Back in the days of the old home computer systems and early PC gaming, this came in the form of expansion packs purchased at shops on tape or disk, which always seemed to cost as much as the game itself (probably due to all that packaging). Now with the current generation of PC’s and consoles being so easily connected to the internet, they take the form of DLC.

The argument regarding the value of this content is for another article on another day, personally I am all for it, (if done correctly) the question I want to ask is not if, but when should it come?

There aren’t too many games released these days that don’t have some form of DLC announced prior to or very shortly after release. It begs the question: Should it have been in the original game?

The most recent of these (and one of the biggest) is the upcoming Game of the Year contender, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Despite the game not being released until November, we were told that there would be DLC way back in June, with the news that this would be a timed exclusive for Xbox 360 owners coming to light last month.

As yet we don’t know the full details as to what this will include, but is it fair to those planning to buy the game on release to know they are getting what some might argue is an incomplete package? On the flip side, does the knowledge that completing the game will not automatically mean the end of the experience actually encourage you to purchase?

Can you complete Skyrim without the DLC?

In such situations, this timed exclusive DLC is clearly being used as a marketing tool to sell the game on a particular system (Xbox 360 in this case) or even encourage people to buy a particular console over its competitor. That gives you a big clue as to the fact that it’s as much (if not more) about the money than the players. It is also something that can seriously back fire on you if you game across multiple platforms and make your choice with DLC in mind.

One of Skyrim’s main obstacles for GOTY could be the brilliant L.A. Noire, for which a “Complete Edition” has recently been announced for PC. This will “include all of the DLC content as a part of the package for free”.

Now, I haven’t yet purchased the game myself, and talk of this version hitting consoles, is at this stage nothing more than internet gossip. However you want to read that statement, it is something of a two-fingered salute to those that not only bought the game early, but also paid for all the DLC released for it on any system.

Map Packs are my biggest personal criticism; these are not new game modes or an additional branch to the story, but simply an extra arena to play the same game in, and I will always argue that this does not warrant DLC at additional cost. Clearly I am in a minority as the success of the map packs is a large part of the reasoning behind Activision’s Elite subscription service for Call of Duty. This is not a swipe at Activision either, as I thoroughly enjoy a bit of CoD, but it does annoy me that I know before I even get the game that a few months later I will be left out of a lot of online matches unless I buy more content.

Finally we can now buy the complete game...

Still, generally I like how DLC can extend the life of our favourite games, albeit at a cost. Personally, I have no issue when it is announced early, either. At least the developers are being honest and open from the start. What I don’t like is when the DLC announced pre-release is something small that could, or maybe should, have been in from the start, or is integral to the story, meaning that you need to purchase it for the full experience.

Fortunately, and maybe somewhat naively, I am of the belief that good DLC far outweighs the bad. Even the ones that are announced early are designed to provide something extra for those who really want to immerse themselves in a title, rather than gain extra money from those of us that just want to play the game.

Are you planning to get Skyrim and does the DLC effect what system you want it for? Maybe you bought LA Noire on console to get it early and have some of the DLC, are you upset by the recent PC release details?

However you view the early DLC subject, we’d be interested to know what you think.

Naturally, the concept of rest and relaxation varies from person to person. Some choose to go to remote, countryside landscapes, others choose to go to theme parks and ride turbulent rollercoasters. Then there are those who love the all-inclusive beach resorts that offer free food, drink and sun. For the cast of Dead Island, this final option certainly seems to be the most enticing.

That is until their blissful nirvana is marred by cannibalised corpses and swimming pools discoloured with blood. Suddenly, they wish they were back home, stuffing envelopes and making daisy chains out of paperclips.

Dead Island is one of most talked about games of the year, and one that certainly seems to have people on the fence. Now that the wait is finally over, I tell you, once and for all, whether the whole experience is worth taking a vacation for…

Who do your voodoo, bitch?
Dead Island is impatient, and doesn’t even wait for you to get to the Title Screen before plunging you into another of its cut-scenes. The opening scene is viewed from a First Person Perspective, and puts you in the shoes of a very drunk, abusive individual who is heading toward the resort’s nightclub. There’s live music tonight, and people have come out in droves to dance the night away. However, this drunken douche seems content in spoiling the fun and starts attracting a lot of attention, (the wrong kind) from others in attendance. Their suspicions seem warranted, as the drunkard shoves past anyone who brushes past them, starting fights and even groping a woman’s breasts. This one is a real charmer.

However, when the lush sees another member of the crowd gnaw at the neck of the security guard attempting to eject them, blood splattering all over, the drunkard gets spooked and stumbles into the women’s bathroom to clean up. Inside is a worse sight. Lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood is a woman who appears to be dead. Thinking it’s just hallucinations, the drunkard storms back to their room, takes a few pills, downs them with more alcohol and enters an unconscious sleep.

Now, something struck me as very odd about that cut-scene before I even pressed the start button, something that instantly hinders Dead Island’s continuity. The character (who appears to be male, also not taking gender into account) you follow in this cut-scene is supposed to be the person you end up playing in the game, as during the Prologue, you wake up from the night after.

What’s odd about this, is that during the cut-scene you interact with each one of the playable characters in the game, making the person whose perspective you’re viewing the cut-scene from someone completely different. Even when people interact with you during the game, they draw attention to ‘that night’ and the condition you were in. It’s a baffling continuity oversight and doesn’t really set a great trend from the offset.

Dead Exciting!

Anyway, as you walk around the hotel, you start to realise the Island of Banoi has been overrun by a Zombie outbreak. Dead bodies and deserted luggage hamper your steps, as you realise all too soon that you may just have rented a room in Hotel California. Then, suddenly, just when you think you’re all alone, you find yourself ambushed by Zombies who clearly haven’t had their nutritious brain-filled breakfast, yet. Quickly, a voice calls out to you to run to a nearby safe-house. As you’re unarmed, that sounds like a tempting proposition, and without question, you slam the door shut behind you.

Inside are a group of survivors, led by the head Life Guard, Sinamoi. At first, they had intended to kill you, thinking you’d been infected, until they realised that your character is, somehow, immune. Thus, your presence ignites some hope in the survivors, and so, due to your unique position, Sinamoi asks you to undertake some tasks in order to help the Survivors take control of the island. From this point on, it’s fair to say the holiday is over and hell has truly begun!

Surfin’ Banoi
You have a choice of four different characters to play in Dead Island, two men and two women; each with their own unique speciality and each with their own talent tree. You have Logan, who is a throwing expert. Purna who’s pretty nifty with a firearm, Xian whose proficiency is Sharp Weapons and Sam B who is the fiercest when clubbing you upside the head with a blunt weapon. While I played the game with Logan, you’re probably better starting off with either Xian or Sam B. Melee weapons are the prime method of combat in Dead Island, and when levelled up, both Xian and Sam B will cut through Zombies like a hot knife through butter.

Each character has a different talent tree, clearly defined by three separate headings. You can either invest points in Fury, Combat or Survival. These work in very much the same way as you’ve seen them in World of Warcraft or Too Human. You level up, earn a skill point and can spend that skill point in any of the three aforementioned trees. Fury focuses on boosting the ferocity of your character’s attack. Combat improves your ability with weapons, increasing critical damage or power, and obviously Survival improves your durability and stamina. You will need to carefully consider how you want to spend your points (If you’re anything like me, you will spend a lot of time with this!) as the points cannot be reclaimed. This also greatly determines how you will fare against the onslaught of the undead. You can already see that strategy is key to your success in Dead Island, which does represent a relatively unique approach for a game in this genre.

Something else very different about Dead Island is how much the game humanizes the enemy. Normally, in games like Left 4 Dead you face special infected like Tanks, Boomers and Jockeys, or other types of souped up Zombies in other games, but Dead Island puts you up against pure, honest to goodness tourists. These are just normal people that have been turned, men in swim shorts, women in bikinis, grannies with large pearl necklaces; they’re all just people who came for a holiday, and acquired a taste for human flesh.

When there is no more room in Hell...

It’s not just the enemy, though. The survivors, and people you endeavour to help show how much the events have affected them in different ways. Some just want to get pissed, drink champagne and forget the world. Others use it as an opportunity to have sex with half-naked women, cheating on their wives. Some just ball up in a corner and cry, asking you to search a resort for a teddy bear they can snuggle up with. The Island of Banoi has become a fractured place, a luxury resort reduced to a minefield of corpses. Yet, despite the connotations, the game never seems to reach the emotional depths that initial trailer reached earlier this year.

While that went some way to showing us how this game doesn’t take prisoners, and that anyone can be a victim as much as an enemy, I never felt as much of an emotional attachment to any of these characters over a thirty hour playthrough, compared to those two minutes I felt for that family and their small girl. However, as long as you’re not thinking in terms of the same dramatic impact that trailer delivered, this game still provides its own forms of drama and suspense.

In order to survive, your character is forced to reach the decrepit depths that surround them, and in this World, as I said before, melee weapons are your primary form of attack. They range everywhere from a wooden paddle, to a nailbat and a wrench. Once the weapon is hand, at the top right of the screen, you can see its condition. As you continue to use the weapon, so its condition deteriorates. In the beginning, you’ll find you go through weapons quite quickly, however later in the game, you can increase the player’s effectiveness with melee weapons through the talent tree. You’ll also need to be mindful of your stamina bar which deteriorates every time you swing your weapon. Once it is completely drained, you’ll have to wait a few moments before you can fight again. Again, this can be reconfigured via the talent tree.

You can carry several weapons at any time, or you can swap the one in your hand with something on the floor. Like Borderlands, the stats of the weapon you’re currently holding are compared to those of the one you’re considering picking up, showing you whether it’s stronger or weaker in various areas. Fighting Zombies usually turns out into a slugfest, and you’ll find yourself wailing around with your weapon, preferably aiming for the head, which produces the most damage. You’ll also want to look to cripple the body parts of the enemy, which not only give you additional experience points, but also makes the task of bringing them to the ground a lot easier.

When you start getting through the enemies with ease however, the game has a difficulty alteration system that adapts to your level and play style. The zombies will always be a bit stronger than you, that’s something you’ll just have to accept, and when they come at you en masse, unless you have backup, you’re liable to be crushed. There is an option for your character to kick zombies away which helps create some crowd control, however, like games such as Left 4 Dead, you will often find yourself getting overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, that does present a big frustration with the combat system. Even though it seemingly draws inspiration from Left 4 Dead’s horde-en-masse style of combat, I didn’t feel the same anxiousness and panic, but more of a tedium and frustration. The combat does become a bit of a slog, with the same attack formula making up the bare bones of the game. Fight one zombie, suddenly some just seem to appear from the sides, then, out of nowhere, one attacks from behind. You manage to get one down, turn around, there are more pouncing on you and you have to bat them away. Use a few kicks, hit them with your weapon, then keep kicking them while they’re down. Rinse and repeat.

What’s also quite surprising is that there’s no ability to block even though you’re using melee weapons. I feel this could have been an interesting dynamic that has been seen to work in other games (like Condemned) where you block a blow from the enemy, which is then deflected temporarily stunning them, then the player can move in for the kill. As I said before, the kick does serve as a kind of defensive mechanism enabling you to push some zombies away from you, but if you come up against the likes of a Thug, they’ll just brush it off and beat you into the ground. As a result, you’re kind of beholden to a ‘strike-move back-strike’ approach. Your character is also able to dodge, but the game doesn’t bother to tell you about it until the third chapter!

One great feature about Dead Island is the ability to craft weapons. There are benches in the world (which also enable you to repair and upgrade your existing weapons) and when you receive schematics (whether it is as a quest reward, or from just picking them up around the island) you will need to find the ingredients necessary to create them, storing them in your inventory as you go. These weapons can range from bombs, to guns, to random combinations of melee awesome. Naturally, there’s some weird and wonderful combinations, but there’s also a lot of them, so be prepared to keep on the look out.

The weaponry is varied, although they do break very quickly...

Banoi is a large, open world, which never feels constrictive. You always feel as if you can do whatever you please, and while some open world games teach you your boundaries early on, Dead Island never seems to be forthcoming with them. Sometimes though, the depths of the World can be overwhelming. Certainly, there’s a main story to follow in Dead Island, but the sheer number of side-quests are a story all on their own. Believe me, you won’t run out of them.

When interacting with an NPC and receiving a quest, your character receives a bloodied sheet of paper with a set of bulletpoints on it, the amount of XP you’ll earn and any rewards. Once accepted, the quest goes into the quest-log screen, which may be the most unorganised mess I’ve ever seen. Essentially, the quests are added in an order the computer feels comfortable with; not the player. There’s no way to categorise these according to Region or to difficulty, they’re just scattered in your quest log, and it’s up to you to either remember where you got them from, or just pick and choose, which is likely to send you all across the map like a headless chicken.

When you select a quest, a waypoint appears on your mini-map and you’re instantly told where you need to go. Well, that’s on some quests. On others, there is no guide, there isn’t even any hints in the quest book, you’re essentially left on your own trying to figure out where you need to go. Unfortunately, this lack of organisation does eventually become frustrating, especially when the quests just keep coming, and it makes you cry out for something more sophisticated that other games have been touting for years.

Fortunately, there are cars you can drive which get you around the map quicker. Unfortunately, the driving doesn’t handle particularly well. Steering with the left stick always seems to be a chore, and it takes forever for the car to react to your responses. Also not helped by the fact that the roads are littered with burned out cars and other debris which you’ll need to manoeuvre around. However, when the driving does work in your favour, it can be a real pleasure, and zooming over zombies while earning XP is actually quite satisfying. Sadly, getting to that point seem takes a lot longer than it should.

No tan, all pain!
Most horror games depict cloudy skies and darkened environments, but Dead Island is all set underneath the basking heat of the sun. Instead of bats flying in the night, or creaky old wooden shacks, you’ll see beautiful, moving waters and mountainsides in the distance. Palm trees waving in the wind. For horror enthusiasts, this will feel quite alien and unique, and that’s what makes Dead Island creepy. It doesn’t feel like any conventional horror, and that’s what carves Dead Island out from the other Zombiefests out there. The look of the game doesn’t feel stagnant, or regurgitated. It feels fresh, and, if anything, breathes life into a graveyard of lifeless releases that have stocked our shelves for the last few years.

Generally, the game does look very good, and while it dishes out the beautiful, it just as quickly produces the ugly, with ripped open carcasses and blood streams. Dead Island is a gory, violent game that really manages to blur the line between pleasure and punishment.

It’s not all art, however. Dead Island definitely suffers from many graphical glitches, the most obvious of which sees your character’s hand regularly go through the floor when trying to pick themselves up. It happens during most animations, and it becomes more than a little distracting. You’ll also notice that textures and landscapes only start to appear when you’re really close to them. It’s like you’re continuously catching the game by surprise by just walking forward, and suddenly it realises that it needs to put a series of trees in front of you. The engine always seems to be a bit behind the vast detail the game itself is trying to conceptualise. 

"Oooooh fu..."

Braaaiiiiinnnnssss
The score has been composed by Pawel Blaszczak, who has also worked on The Witcher and Call of Juarez series. Generally, the tracks are quite dark, moody and murky, setting the tone nicely. There’s the harsh opening number ‘Who Do Your Voodoo, bitch’, performed by in-game character, Sam B. Then there’s the orchestral tracks, which gave me a bit of a ‘Lost’ vibe.

The game also handles the calming sounds of the sea and the swaying palm trees effortlessly. In-between the screams and shouts of zombies, it’s nice to have that moment of tranquillity, reminding you of where you actually are, even if it doesn’t feel like it.

Also, further to the humanizing point I made earlier and how you’re fighting zombies that are just normal people, the game has this undeniable way of producing pangs of guilt in the pit of your stomach. When you’re wailing away at a half-naked, half-dead woman with a shovel, listening to her wails and pleas as her blood splatters all over the side of the Jacuzzi, you realise the implications of your actions, and what it is you’re being forced to do. Oddly, it almost makes you want to stop, even though you know you’re making yourself vulnerable the moment you do. When developers say that games make you question your actions, I feel Dead Island proves that point very well, crafting an especially unsettling tone for itself. 

I won’t leave you behind!
Dead Island offers a unique online, multi-player experience that probably has more similarities to Borderlands than anything else out there at the moment. Dead Island remains connected to the internet at all times, and, as you play through the story and reach certain locations, the game pops up to tell you that another player is in the area, and is at the same part of the story as you. Once that pop up appears, all you need to do is press left on the D-Pad and you will attempt to connect to their game. Once joined together, you can go through the quests together with up to two other people. You can also set up a private party and have only your friends join in. Unfortunately, there is no split-screen co-op in Dead Island, and even if there was, the first player would be the only one to receive rewards and experience, making the whole idea a bit pointless anyway.

Lacks the fun comedy of a Dead Rising, but the combat is fun!

Just like Borderlands, sticking together is key. It is strongly advised that you team up with someone if you’re looking to tackle the ‘Hard’ and ‘Very Hard’ missions. This will make your progress much smoother and a lot easier. You should always work through objectives together, fight side-by-side and always be mindful of each other’s abilities. You can also trade with your partner at anytime, trading ammo and giving them inventory items.  

Generally, the online seems stable with only a few connection issues here and there (which, I feel were mostly dependent on the individual’s connection). It’s a lot of fun to work with someone else while playing the game; so much so, I would say Dead Island is at its best when it is being played with other people.

They don’t need no stinking Walmart, right?
Dead Island is a convincing, yet flawed experience. There’s a lot to love about this game, as it has a forward-thinking quality which allows it to sidle up alongside the likes of Borderlands for online RPG/Action co-op. Yet, there are some ridiculous design faults that should not have been ignored, such as regular graphical hiccups, continuity errors, a better layout for the quest system, and perhaps going a bit easier on the seemingly endless supply of side-quests.

The biggest surprise of all is that Dead Island mostly lives up to the hype, and while it doesn’t resonate with the emotional impact that trailer power-punched us with back in January, Dead Island does give you cause to think, feel, panic and survive. This is a solid, well-rounded package that doesn’t quite live up to the sum of its parts, but does set us on a thrilling freight train ride headed toward an inspired future.

That being said, I’ve spent many hours of my life in the Mojave Wasteland, exploring every nook and cranny, promoting myself from a mere courier, to the very element that will shape the future of New Vegas forever. By no means is New Vegas a small game, but it seems Obsidian aren’t taking any time off from the vast desert wasteland, producing even more content for their open World epic.

The question is, should you go back? Well, This Is My Joystick will throw themselves back unto the blazing heat of the sun, suffering the landscape with parched throats, scorched feet and submitting themselves to radiation poisoning and sleep deprivation to tell you whether you should invest any further into Obsidian’s version of the Fallout series. So sit back, strap your Pip-boy on and let us indulge you with our findings.

Please note: Dead Money is currently only available on Xbox 360, however, on February 21st, will be made available for Playstation 3 and PC. From then on, all future New Vegas DLC will release simultaneously on all three formats.

Dead Money is the first of several scheduled add-ons for Fallout: New Vegas and is recommended for characters of a level 20 standard. Personally, I’m inclined to agree, as even at level 20, this DLC can be fiendishly difficult and so it’s probably not a good idea to attempt traipsing the Sierra Madre Casino if you’re less prepared than that. Dead Money also raises the level cap to 35 and adds new perks and weapons to the game.

The story starts with the courier exploring an underground chamber found in a hidden bunker, hoping to find supplies, food and weaponry. Then suddenly, the courier is attacked from behind, knocked out and left in a crumpled heap on the floor. When the courier awakes, a holographic projection of Father Elijah, a former member of the Brotherhood of Steel, appears to the courier inside an unopened Casino resort known as the Sierra Madre. The projection of Elijah says he has strapped an exploding collar around the Courier’s neck and the only way it can be removed it is to do a job for him. Reluctantly, the Courier obliges and Elijah explains that he wants the wealth found in a vault deep in the heart of Sierra Madre, rumoured to be filled with all the Worlds riches. To further complicate matters, Father Elijah has kidnapped three other individuals, Dean Domino, Dog and Christine and also attached exploding collars to them. Elijah tells the Courier that co-operation will be required by all four parties and all will have to work together to find the vault. The courier, used to facing adversity, agrees to undertake the challenge and confidently assures Elijah he’ll get the job done, however, Elijah is convinced that once the courier finds the vault, the zest for treasure will be unbearable and the relationships he or she has developed with his three ‘associates’  will be consumed by overwhelming greed, prompted by the contents within the vault.

So, the premise makes this sound entertaining, right? Dead Money makes use of the companion system introduced, with great effect, in New Vegas and is all focused on you staging one awesome bank heist for the greatest treasure known in all of the Mojave. It’s not short (the mission will take at least five hours), it raises the level cap, adds new perks and weapons and even offers new conversation with Veronica once you’ve completed Dead Money. There’s so much on offer here, this totally seems worth the 800 points asking price, right? So why does it feel like playing Dead Money was the worst thing I ever did with my life?

Sierra Madre. So bad, you'll be begging to leave!

Apart from the collar which beeps every time you move away from the path the game wants you to go down, Ghosts and holograms are your only enemies here, birth children of the high-tech security system that protects the Sierra Madre. Problem is, while you can gun down the ghosts, you will then need to strike them with a melee weapon to actually kill them, otherwise they’ll just get back up and continue attacking you. The holograms, however, are completely immune to any weapon you’re carrying and cannot be killed. In other words, you’ll need to sneak past them in order to survive, because if they catch you, your health bar is going to take an ass kicking! While you can see Obsidian have tried to be creative with the enemies in Dead Money, all they’ve managed to do is create something only a lifelong lover of animal roadkill could find affinity with.

In addition to collars, ghosts and holograms, scattered throughout Sierra Madre are clouds of poisonous gas that will drain your health quickly. Unfortunately for you, you will need to fly through those clouds to make any sort of progress in Dead Money. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, eh? The good news is, when teaming up with companions throughout the DLC, each of them has a perk that can be used to help counter some of the effects, for example Dean Domino’s perk enables you to walk through the poisonous cloud temporarily without taking damage. This, alongside the level cap and the Holorifle, are the best things Dead Money have introduced to New Vegas. Unfortunately, that’s about all the good it does.

All of the aforementioned dangers, the ghost ninja, warrior, things, invincible holograms, beeping collars and noxious gases don’t even begin to describe the ugly of Dead Money. You’ll find all of these hazards and enemies roaming around in an area set against an empty, dark midnight sky background, and repetitive looking backdrops and corridors, only partially illuminated by dull light. Can you picture all of this? Well, you’re already getting a feel for how this game looks, feels and plays. It’s certainly a far cry from vast desert wastelands, you have to give Obsidian credit for that much, but frankly, it feels as if they have done everything possible to create the most repugnant, vile, gaming experience possible and luckily (more likely unfortunately) for them, they have succeeded.

The face of hell!

I’m not going to waste my breath here, this is probably the worst downloadable content for any game I’ve ever played. Dead Money is a convoluted mess of ambition and execution. You can almost understand the driving force behind this DLC, wearing the collar throughout the game certainly does add a dramatic flair to the Fallout experience, not knowing from one corner to the next if you’re going to stray too far off the path and have your head explode on your shoulders, yet its managed to convert one of the most open World gaming experiences of all time, turn it into a confined, constricted, linear hell-hole and introduced the most nauseating, rancid beeping noise into the Fallout World that will give you waking nightmares for weeks after!

To top it off, I didn’t even mention that it’s glitched worse than the main game! The amount of times Dead Money locked up my Xbox during play, or had my character frozen solid to the ground unable to fire his weapon or corrupted my autosave file and thus all of my other New Vegas saves? It’s so bad that I couldn’t even leave Sierra Madre once I was done with the DLC! I had to reload a previous save game from before I started the expansion and basically had to continue playing New Vegas as if I hadn’t played Dead Money at all. Never, in all my time playing Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or Wii games have I come across something so bug filled and careless. This is coming from a company that are supposedly considered to be a AAA developing house and they’ve released an end product like this? Absolutely appalling..

This isn’t Fallout, I don’t even know what this is, but it’s not fun and it’s not entertainment. It’s about as fun as being sat next to a ringing phone all day and not being able to answer it because you’re gagged and tied to your chair. Dead Money is horrendous and makes me physically sick to the stomach to even think about it. Hell, it’s so bad, I think I would rather play Barbie: Groom and Glam Pups instead and I never thought I’d say that about any game!

Playing Dead Money was the most depressing, demoralising thing I’ve done gaming wise in a long, long time and I implore you to keep your distance for the sake of your soul and your sanity. No amount of selective press will stop the fact that Dead Money utterly sucks and is an absolute disgrace to the Fallout universe. Supporting this sort of ‘entertainment’ by buying it is like giving your money to a neighbour who, you’re well aware, is going to head down to a local store, buy a knife and stab you repeatedly with it. If this is the trend of New Vegas DLC we can come to expect, then really, you might as well put your anticipation hat on for Fallout 5 and wait for that. This will make you regurgitate what you’ve already eaten, not make you hungry for more…

]]> http://thisismyjoystick.com/review/review-fallout-new-vegas-dlc/feed/ 0 http://thisismyjoystick.com/feature/golden-joystick-awards-2010-live-feed/ http://thisismyjoystick.com/feature/golden-joystick-awards-2010-live-feed/#comments Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:12:50 +0000 Ray Willmott http://thisismyjoystick.com/?p=9934 Continue reading →]]> This Is My Joystick is at the Golden Joystick Awards for the second year in a row and we’re once again doing a live text feed of the event right here and on our tweet stream over on @MyJoystick. So, sit back and stay tuned for all the updates from the show right here!

7:00AM - Up early to catch an 8.30 Coach to London, Victoria from Cardiff Central. Long day ahead, expect my text to get weary and blurry as we reach the later hours

8:30Am - We’re on the way!! Wave if you see us!

8:31AM - So what game do you think will win the ultimate honour tonight? The popular consensus seems to favour Unchartered 2 but I think it will be Red Dead Redemption! What do you think?

9.20AM – Please be advised that we are unfortunately missing the opening portion of the show and will be getting into London around 12. Expect full coverage to start appearing from then.

13.03PM - Deus Ex Human Revolution is being presented to us right now! Been waiting to see some footage on this. Excited!

13.07 PM - Voice over talking us through how the game will play and telling us a bit about the storyline.

13.10 PM - We’re about to see some footage of the game which is based in Shanghai. Adam is going to a bar known as ‘The Hive’ where he will speak to Tong about his mission. This part of the demonstration is about interaction with other characters and how the conversation system will work.

13.13PM – Gameplay footage of a futuristic marketplace being shown. The concept of a living breathing World is being detailed and every NPC in the game has something to say. These NPC’s can also give you side missions and background info.

13.15PM – Adam sounds like Christian Bale’s Batman!

13.17PM – Adam can use psychological manipulation to get into an NPC’s head in order to obtain information with his conversation choices. He can also eavesdrop on conversations with NPC’s in order to obtain further information to complete his quest.

13.23PM - Moving on from the interactive aspect, it’s time to see some action! Adam just impaled an unsuspecting guard sat in front of him with a set of Wolverine style claws; just one of many takedowns that will be in the final game.

13.29PM – You can opt not to kill anyone in the game and apply a purely stealthy approach (much like Splinter Cell). Then again, you can use some of Adam’s cool upgrades such as explosives and claws, each accompanied by a slow motion animation.

13.30PM - Human Revolution looks good and a definite step in the right direction for the series after Invisible War. Can’t wait to see more!

13.35PM – Leaving for the awards in about 10 minutes, it’s time to find out who gets the glory of a Golden Joystick!

14.19PM - We’re here and Rich Hall is on stage!

14.40PM – Action/Adventure Game of the Year about to be announced.  Top 3 Action Games are -

3rd Place: Red Dead Redemption

2nd Place: Batman Arkham Asylum

1st Place: Assassin’s Creed 2

14:42PM - Fighting Game of the Year next. Top 3 are -

3rd Place: Soul Caliber Broken Destiny

2nd Place: Tekken 6

1st Place: Super Street Fighter IV

14:46PM - Download Game of the Year. Top 3 -

3rd Place: Call of Duty World at War Zombies

2nd Place: Battlefield 1943

1st Place: Plants vs Zombies

14:48PM - Music Game of the Year.

3rd Place: The Beatles Rock Band

2nd Place: DJ Hero

1st Place: Guitar Hero 5

14:49PM - Portable Game of the Year (This’ll be interesting!)

3rd Place: Plants vs Zombies

2nd Place: Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines

1st Place: Pokemon HeartGold/Soulsilver

14:50PM - Racing Game of the Year

3rd Place – Colin McRae Dirt

2nd Place – Need for Speed Shift

1st Place – Forza  Motorsport 3

14:52PM - Soundtrack of the Year (Can’t believe Guitar Hero is in this!)

3rd Place – Assassin’s Creed 2

2nd Place – Brutal Legend (YUS!)

1st Place – Final Fantasy XIII

14:54PM – (Battery is flagging folks, if I suddenly stop coverage, I’m sorry. No plugs here – grrr!)

14:55PM - RPG Of the Year (this one is for you Si!)

3rd Place – Final Fantasy XIII

2nd Place – Fallout 3 GOTY (Bit dated considering the sequel is out already?!)

1st Place – Mass Effect 2 (Well deserved!)

14:57PM - (We have battery!! False alarm!) Puzzle Game of the Year

3rd Place – Scribblenauts

2nd Place – Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box

1st Place – World of Goo (Quite surprising winner considering the competition? No love for Ace Attorney.  )

14:58PM – Sports Game of the Year

3rd Place – Skate 3

2nd Place – Wii Sports Resorts

1st Place – Fifa 10 (Did anyone not guess this?)

15:00PM – Online Game of the Year in association with Game Gears. Great to see these guys doing so well!

3rd Place – Farmville (This online sensation didn’t set the fans alight then?)

2nd Place – Aion

1st Place – League of Legends (A surprise winner? Congratulations guys!)

15:02PM – Strategy Game of the Year (These awards move fast!!)

3rd Place – Age of Empires III: Complete Collection

2nd Place – The Sims 3

1st Place – Plants vs Zombies (BIG Night for Popcap!! Well done guys!)

15:05PM - Shooter of the Year with ITN and Game On sponsoring. Here’s one of the biggees!

3rd Place – Left 4 Dead 2

2nd Place – Battlefield: Bad Company 2

1st Place – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Wow – I’m … shocked … NOT!)

15:07PM - UK Developer of the Year

3rd Place – Codemasters

2nd Place – Rockstar North

1st Place – Jagex (2nd year in a row! No love for Rocksteady or Rare. Wow!)

15:09PM - One to Watch (Some really stupid editions in this one)

3rd Place – Star Wars: The Old Republic

2nd Place – Fallout: New Vegas

1st Place  - Call of Duty: Black Ops (Really? No Brink? No Gears 3?? Kind of surprised by this, but also not…)

15:12PM – And Finally … The Ultimate Game of the Year. I’ve a feeling I’m not going to like the result of this …

3rd Place – Assassin’s Creed 2

2nd Place – Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (It’s not first and everyone is stunned…)

And Number 1 is ….

1st Place – Mass Effect 2 (I lied. I LOVE this result! Congratulations to Bioware and EA, well deserved!)

15:14Pm - It’s all over. Some surprises and some not so surprising. Fun show. Great to see Mass Effect 2 gets the glory as it is fantastic!

Monolith
There will be two schools of thought with the influence of a new developer; they could either keep in line with Starbreeze’s take on The Darkness, or take the game in a new direction entirely, maybe one closer with the comics. If you are looking at the former, Monolith is probably the obvious shout. I mean seriously, who else has the heritage of making dark first-person games that these guys have? The thing that could make this pairing more interesting is that The Darkness wasn’t a game where you nervously worked your way around an environment waiting for the next big scare, it flipped the scenario on its head; you were the horror waiting in the shadows, and it would be interesting to see just how well Monolith could take to that. Unfortunately, with Monolith being a subsidiary of Warner Bros, it’s a move that we’re unlikely to see.

2K Games
The development of The Darkness sequel is shrouded in a mix of ambiguity and contradicting whispers, however one common theme is that 2K Games are reportedly at the forefront of whatever happens, having made the apparent mistake of being the first to accidentally announce its existence. With that in mind it’s not unreasonable to consider that they might handle the development in-house, and why not? They clearly have the teams capable, and what with 2K Boston/2K Austrailia’s excellent work on Bioshock, they already have a game that some might say shares similarities on some level.

Obsidian Entertainment
I was always going to pick the perennial sequel developers wasn’t I? With Neverwinter Nights 2 and KOTOR 2 prime examples of successful stabs at taking on someone else’s tools to continue a franchise, and with a Fallout spin-off already in the works in the same vein, why couldn’t Obsidian do the same for The Darkness? Some might argue that their pedigree comes in the form of RPG’s, but if Top Cow are looking for continuity despite relying on a new developer, then surely Obsidian are easily the best in the business at that.

Rocksteady
The independent London-based studio have been raking in the plaudits recently, thanks to their admirable work on the excellent Batman: Arkham Asylum. I’d love to see what they are really capable of in other areas, say with a different license, and see if they’d show other source material the same level of respect which they showed to the world’s greatest detective. Rocksteady would be a good choice no matter what direction the franchise should take.

So what about you? The cases above are part of my whimsical thinking of who would be a good fit to The Darkness format. The game is already in production, and whoever it might be is already working on it as we speak, so only time will tell if I’m close to the mark or not. Who would you like to see take a stab at it? Who do you think is best placed to take this franchise on? Would you like to see it take a similar direction to that of the original game, or a new direction entirely? Let us know in the comments below!

With the announcement that Bethesda Softworks (scribes of the Elder Scrolls) had acquired the Fallout IP and were developing a third title, messages of excitement and indignation poured onto forums across the globe. Being a fan of the series myself, and also of Morrowind and Oblivion, I found myself being pretty excited about the latest instalment. So is it worthy of the glorious Fallout name, or should it be locked up in a Vault and never spoken of again?

War… war never changes
For those of you haven’t heard of the Fallout series (slap yourself in the face until you look like a roast ham…*ahem*), here’s a quick history lesson. Fallout 1 and 2 are turn-based RPGs that were developed in the late 90s by Black Isle Studios. Set in a bleak future where most of the planet has been annihilated by nuclear war, you took on the role of someone who had to explore the desolate wasteland of the U.S.A, despite being completely oblivious to what a dangerous place it had become.

Fallout 3 puts you in the Vault suit of The Lone Wanderer; a resident of Vault 101, who wakes up one morning to discover his father has escaped from the seemingly inescapable bunker. What starts as a quest to find your father turns into something much more serious, as you get involved with The Brotherhood of Steel, the grotesque Super Mutants and the shadowy bastards of The Enclave, who are essentially the remnants of the U.S. government.

The plotline of Fallout 3 is pretty impressive. Since the character you play has never experienced the world outside Vault 101, you have to base your knowledge pretty much solely on what other people tell you. The populace of the Capital Wasteland aren’t exactly the most trustworthy chaps around though, so you’ll often find yourself having to make decisions on the word of someone who is more than likely lying to you. It makes for some pretty intriguing plot developments, and I certainly was always motivated to press on and find the next piece of the puzzle.

Welcome to America!

The only real problem with the story is that the factions you find yourself aligning with or fighting against aren’t particularly well developed. While you’ll often be subjected to every individual characters life story, newcomers to the Fallout series will be left in the dark about where the Super Mutants came from, or what The Enclave’s true motivations are. Bethesda also made the decision to turn the Brotherhood of Steel into a basic group of good guys/protectors of the people, which I didn’t really appreciate. Overall though Fallout 3’s plotline is a major plus point in the game, and although it’s a drastic departure from the tone of the first two games, I think it enhances the Fallout universe rather than detracting from it.

Things to do in D.C. after it’s been blown up
One of the biggest successes of Fallout 3 is the world itself. While Oblivion’s game world was generated through a formulaic piece of software, every tree, house, town and cave in the Capital Wasteland has been placed there specifically by a dedicated team of designers. As a result, you’ll find that you won’t have to walk far to find something to do, and every time you do come across a point of interest, it will keep you busy for a long time. On the other hand though, I think the world has been made a little bit too “busy” as a result. It’s supposed to be the end of the world, and coming across a new small pocket a population every five minutes takes away the feeling that you’re one of the last people left alive on the planet.

Despite the population of post-apocalyptic America being pretty dramatically lowered, you’ll find that the bulk of its population haven’t banded together in a bid for survival. In fact most of them are hostile, violent psychopaths, which is where Fallout 3’s combat system comes in. You can play it as a straight real time FPS, but to be honest playing Fallout 3 this way is too quick, unsatisfying and will result in you wasting heaps of ammo.

To get the most out of combat, you will have you to use the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S, which stops time and allows you to pick a body part to shoot at, giving you probabilities of making the shot before you pull the trigger. It’s a welcome nod to the turn-based combat of the earlier games, and a successful shot will often result in a slow motion playthrough of your target being blown to bits. These action replays are a bone of contention for me, since it gets old pretty quickly watching limbs pop like water balloons, and even the simplest of shot with the worst weapons in the game will result in your enemy’s head evaporating into thin air. While it undoubtedly is funny to watch, I preferred the grittier, more serious gore of the earlier Fallout games to the slapstick bloodiness of Fallout 3.

There are around 15 main quests in Fallout 3. It might not seem like a lot but it will take a couple of hours to work through each one, and the chances are you’ll find yourself being distracted by the many interesting locations dotted around the map. On my first playthrough I notched up just shy of 100 hours of gameplay, which is quite an unbelievable statistic considering I’m sure I missed plenty of content. You’re usually given a degree of choice regarding the way you go about completing each quest, i.e. stealth, hacking or all out combat. However, most of these decisions are pretty insignificant and you’ll often find yourself having to go in all guns blazing more than once in most quests, which is pretty disappointing.

You can almost see the radiation!
Bethesda have done a pretty impressive job with making Fallout 3 as visually appealing as possible, especially considering they are restricted to using nothing but brown, grey and greyish brown throughout the entire world. Fallout boasts some very impressive draw distances, and it really takes your breath away at times reaching some high ground only to look out and see… absolutely nothing. To put it simply, the Capital Wasteland really does look like a land that’s been ravaged by nuclear war, and it looks absolutely stunning as a result.

Hey what does this button... do? Oops

Of course the Lone Wanderer has other areas to explore outside of the desolation of the Wasteland. As nice as it looks, you have to break up looking at nothing every now and then with a cave, dilapidated building or sewer, which are served in droves here. The lighting effects in these sections take me back to the generic dungeons of Oblivion, but the “dungeons” of Fallout 3 are pretty varied and interesting to look at. Again, it all looks very bleak, but anyone who expects to come across a bouncy castle in the Wasteland should play a different game or brush up on their modding skills.

My main complaint regarding the graphics is with the characters themselves, who really could have benefited with a bit more polish applied to their stiff animations. It’s really only a problem with the humanoid characters, and the models themselves are fantastic. Unfortunately, it’s whenever they’re forced to make any kind of motion that they start to look a bit, well… crap. Most movements are jerky and robotic meaning that there’s no real fluidity, while the running motion is particularly reminiscent of Peter Crouch celebrating a goal (he did The Robot for all you non-football fans).

Overall though, manikin-like, soulless NPCs don’t detract too much from the fact that Fallout 3 is a technically stunning game, with some fantastic special effects to boot. It’s a great game to look at most of the time, and I can’t think of anything else that Bethesda could have done to get the most out of a barren desert.

“Didn’t I talk to you five minutes ago?”
As soon as I fired up Fallout 3 for the first time and heard the familiar phrase “War, war never changes” in Ron Perlman’s husky growl of a voice, I had a good feeling about the quality of the voice acting. The big names are a joy to listen to, I particularly loved Malcolm McDowell’s almost embarrassingly patriotic and hopeful President Eden, while Liam Neeson delivers every line with a kind of silky tone that made me go weak at the knees more than once (which I’m in no way ashamed of).

In contrast, the stock NPC’s are very hit and miss, and can really take you out of the moment a lot of the time. There aren’t a great deal of voice actors for the non essential NPC’s in the game, and it kills the immersion a bit when there’s no discernible difference between the megalomaniacal Mr Burke, and the Protectron that roams the Super-Duper Mart. As an aside, whoever did voice Mr Burke needs to buy into the “less is more” school of thought. Imagine Dr Evil from Austin Powers, now multiply the hammy acting by five, add some eeeevil breathy contemplative silences, and then multiply the hammy acting by another five. I was genuinely surprised that he didn’t yell “Soon, all of this be mine, fly my pretties, FLY! MWAHAHA!” after accepting a quest from him.

The backing soundtrack is vintage Fallout. Listening to Billie Holiday or The Ink Spots while traversing the Capital Wasteland just seems right. It fits in perfectly with the retro theme of the Fallout series and also acts as a pretty enjoyable distraction when you’re walking through a particularly empty section of D.C. If the music isn’t your thing, you can just switch it off via your Pip-Boy and have the eerie silence of nuclear winter as your backing track, which to be honest works just as well some 1940’s jazz classics.

Buy it, try it or avoid it?
While most Fallout fans will find that this doesn’t really feel like the earlier games in terms of humour and tone, as a standalone game it’s really pretty breathtaking. The level of content in the game is astounding, but to be honest you can have just as much fun exploring the Wasteland as you can following a specific quest. The fact that I’ve played it for over 100 hours and am still pining for more is testament to just how much has been crammed into this game, and I’m looking forward to a marathon session through Fallout 3’s numerous downloadable content packs (stay tuned for my Fallout 3 DLC review special!)