A couple of game reviews

Here are reviews of three computer games that I've played or am in the middle of playing.

Call of Duty

This is the latest WWII first-person shooter action game, from many of the same people who created the excellent Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The similarities are obvious. I wouldn't say this game is revolutionary, but it is evolutionary. The game's tagline says "In the war that changed the world, no one fought alone." Almost all of the missions in this game involve you working with other, computer-controlled characters to achieve your objectives. The computer won't complete your mission for you, there are things you must do or else they won't get done, but your computer teammates do help you out quite a bit. Also, you play as three different characters, one American, one British, and one Russian.

The game was actually shorter than I thought it would be. I completed it in a week. As I usually did, I played it on the easiest difficulty level and didn't have any problem getting through it without resorting to cheat codes or walkthroughs. I would say the centerpiece of the game was the Battle of Stalingrad. It was this game's equivalent of the assault on Omaha Beach that was in Medal of Honor. If you've seen the movie Enemy at the Gates, about the duel between snipers in Stalingrad, this mission will be very familiar. It starts out with you on a boat crossing the Volga River into Stalingrad, being strafed by German fighter planes and shelled by German artillery.

I haven't played much of the multiplayer game yet, I'll probably do so soon. What I did play seemed comparable to Medal of Honor.

The levels are very well done and highly detailed, and the teamwork component is a nice change from the one man mowing down his enemies style of play you usually find. The game engine is pretty state of the art so you'll need a reasonably beefy machine to run it. My box is pretty hot so I can run it at high resolution with all the goodies turned on. The sounds are very well done, the guns are properly loud. There's also a neat effect that happens if an explosion goes off near you, such as from a tank shell. The game slows down, sounds get very muffled, and the visual display gets blurry and sorta psychedelic. You also get knocked off your feet and have to stand back up. This lasts about 5 or 6 seconds and then everything returns to normal.

I recommend this game, although with the brevity of the single-person campaign, I'd wait until the price comes down some or it's on sale.

Aliens vs. Predator 2

I haven't gotten very far in this one yet. I have a hard time playing it. Not because the game isn't good, but because it's nerve wracking. They have done an excellent job of recreating the suspenseful atmosphere of the movies, especially the second one. You never know when an alien is going to jump you and try to tear you a new one.

The game is actually three games. I think the events intertwine but I haven't gotten far enough to know for sure yet. There are three campaigns, you play as a Colonial Marine, an Alien, and as a Predator. I've played partway through the Marines campaign and have briefly tried the Alien and Predator campaigns. When playing as the Alien, you start as a facehugger and try to find someone to implant. You then follow the lifecycle of the Alien. As the Predator, you can cloak, and can use enhanced vision modes. I'm told you can also rip the spines out of your victims (yeah!). And, as the Marine, it's much like the second movie, with the weapons lovingly recreated including the pulse rifle and the smart gun.

As with most games, most of the gameplay is pretty much solo action, though there have been a couple missions for the Marine where you have some fire support from an APC. The levels are well done and detailed. It's pretty eerie to come across a couple of skinned corpses hanging upside down. Of course, you as the player know this is the work of a Predator (though at the point I've reached so far I've yet to see one directly, just Aliens).

The engine is the latest incarnation of the Lithtech engine from Monolith, the same engine used on No One Lives Forever 2. The Lithtech engine started out several years ago as a project called DirectEngine, which Monolith was doing for Microsoft. As I understand it, the idea was to make a general-purpose 3-D game engine that companies could use to make games. Microsoft decided not to continue with the project so Monolith continued on their own. The engine is pretty good, supporting many of the latest Direct3D features. One of the places it really shines is in the detail quality of the textures.

I do intend to complete the game, but I can only take so much before I just get exhausted from the suspense. That's the mark of a well-done game, though, and I highly recommend it.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

One of the most highly anticipated games of the year, this game takes up after the first game ended. Max thought it was over, but it wasn't. I'm part way through the game and I'm loving every minute of it. The bullet-time physics have been modified somewhat and it makes it more useful and fun. The story is engaging, if somewhat overly melodramatic. But that's the point, it is noir after all.

This sequel continues the use of the "graphic novel" cutscenes, although some of the non-interactive action is rendered by the engine. The voice acting is pretty good, especially that for Max, who is voiced by the same actor as in the first game. I'm not sure but I think at least some of the other characters are played by the same voice actors as before as well.

Max Payne 2 uses the new, state of the art, ragdoll physics which basically means that bad guys, when they die, flop around realistically based on a model of how it would work in real life, as opposed to a set death animation. Also, many of the objects that exist in Max's world react realistically to being kicked or shot. For example, you can have a metal shelf with boxes and other stuff stacked on it. If you blow a bad buy back into it, it tips over and all the stuff falls off.

The levels have been lovingly crafted, which probably explains why the game, as some have commented, is somewhat short. The game is simply beautiful to look at. The characters move more realistically than I've ever seen and the facial expressions and movements are pretty good. The previews I've seen of Half Life 2 indicate that it will be even better but, for now, Max Payne 2 is probably the best looking game out there.

I definitely recommend this game although, again given the reported brevity, wait until it's on sale or the price comes down.