Pro Evolution Soccer 2011

The Pro Evolution Soccer series has been stuck in a rut for the past few years, with gameplay that has stagnated and a feature set that has failed to keep up with rival FIFA. Thankfully, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 addresses these criticisms, with improved gameplay, new features such as the Online Master League, and a higher visual standard than ever before. It's certainly slower and more difficult than last year's game, and therefore takes longer to learn, but as it retains the same fluid gameplay, fans of the series should embrace the changes. It's not in the same league as FIFA when it comes to online integration and presentation, but it's a welcome return to form for a series that has spent the last few years in relegation territory.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 Video Review

Fans of the series should appreciate how different the gameplay is within seconds of picking up a controller. The control system has been tweaked so that you now have to guide the ball much more precisely using the new power bar that appears above players' heads. Whereas passes previously found their way to the recipients' feet automatically, you now have to combine power and direction to place the ball exactly where you want it to go. This can result in a frustrating number of misguided passes at first, but as you get used to the system, you can mix up passing styles and really control the movement of the ball, rather than being dependent on where the AI player happens to be. The game is slower and more considered as a result, and it rewards players who master these techniques by allowing them to dictate the flow of the game.

The improved control system complements the new player animations, which are more graceful and realistic than before. There's a much better feeling of physicality between players as they jostle for the ball; if it's in the air, for example, players will compete for the header in a convincing manner. The downside to this physicality is that the game is now too strict on fouls; if you attempt to put pressure on an attacker, you can expect him to fall over and earn himself a free kick as a result. However, the impact of the changes is mostly positive--players no longer perform the same animations en masse (such as before kickoff), and you can even see their eyes following the ball during replays, which adds to the realism.

Last year's Pro Evo boasted accurate player likenesses, but thanks to an overall graphical improvement this year, the game is finally looking like a true current-generation title. Aside from better-looking players, the onscreen information is presented more efficiently, with power bars above players' heads, rather than at the bottom of the screen. The default camera position has changed to a lower TV-style wide angle, performing more dynamic movements as it's tracking the action, even if it is occasionally slow to keep up. There has also been a change to the commentary team; while Jon Champion remains, Jim Beglin replaces Mark Lawrenson as the analyst. He adds a little more insight and enthusiasm to the discussion, but overall the commentary is still one of Pro Evo's weak points.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 offers all of the same major game modes as last year but expands on them in minor ways. The UEFA Champions League mode makes a return this year and is joined by the South American Copa Libertadores tournament as well. The televisual presentation of both events is replicated with aplomb, including official memorabilia in the menus and Beethoven's Ode to Joy before each game. Both Become a Legend, where you create a player and take him through a career, and Master League, where you perform managerial duties, make a return, and you can now compete in the UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Europa Leagues in these modes, if your team is eligible to enter them. Otherwise, these modes are very similar to those in last year's game--the Master League offers a tremendous amount of depth through its player transfer, training and tactical options, but it's essentially the same as it was last year.

Fortunately, this year's game packs in more online elements than ever before. Once you've created a profile, there are a variety of standard unranked and ranked match options (with up to eight players in unranked friendlies and up to four players in ranked). The biggest addition, though, is the Online Master League. This mode allows you to compete online with other people, and use prize money to bring more talent into your squad. Once you've chosen your team, you're given an allowance of currency (euros, dollars, pounds or yen) with which you can enter matches and buy players. If you win or draw matches, you earn more money, with quick matches resulting in a cut of the tickets, while multi-match competitions offer a share of tickets as well as prize money. The player market is well implemented, as player values change constantly depending on demand. A ticker tape at the top of the menu alerts you to players who are a good deal, or perhaps overvalued. These mechanics and the risk/reward dynamic prove to be particularly addictive, meaning you'll have a hard time putting down the Online Master League once you get going.

The series has long offered a host of customisable options for those who have braved the previous menu systems, and thankfully the improved presentation this year makes it less daunting to do so. Thanks to a revised pitch display, it's easy to make substitutions simply by grabbing the player off the pitch in the menu. The big new feature is customisable feints, which can be mapped to the right analogue stick, allowing you to flick four different directions to link special moves together on the pitch. You can choose from a long list of different flicks and shimmies and then save multiple sets of your customised feints to switch between midmatch. Sadly, you can't share your customisation setups online, but the system adds a welcome level of personalisation to the skills options.

One of the most welcome changes is that this year's game doesn't take itself too seriously, which is ably demonstrated by the slew of unlockable content. As you play through the game and earn credits, you can spend them unlocking items such as pillows and giant sweets for balls, pumpkin heads for your players, retro sounds from Konami games such as Frogger and Contra, and stadium fencing themed on other Konami games such as Gradius and Castlevania. The game also has a comprehensive editor that lets you tweak all aspects of your stadium, from the grass patterns and lighting, to the stands and seating, but it's disappointing that you can't then upload and share your creations online; you can only save them as a data file to share with friends. You can also edit team emblems this year, either by importing an image, by taking a photo using a camera attached to the system, or by using a rudimentary drawing system similar to a desktop paint program. You can also import your own audio for crowd chants and assign them to your favourite teams, although you have to produce the audio file on a computer or other recording device, rather than in the game.

One of Pro Evo's longest-running niggles has been the lack of officially licensed teams and players, and while there are more official teams in the game than ever before, this issue hasn't been completely resolved in Pro Evo 2011. If you're online, you can download fan-made update data to remedy this issue, and the inclusion of the Copa Libertadores expands the number of officially licensed club teams from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Mexico. Alas, only two English premiership teams have the official kits including sponsors--this time it's Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur--but the French and Dutch premier leagues are there in full. Overall, the presentation is much better, but there are still a lot of menus to click through even when you're trying to do things as simple as play online.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 represents an impressive upswing for the series--it finally fixes some long-term issues, includes welcome new features, and boasts much stronger visuals. But the biggest news is that this game is a genuine upgrade in terms of playability, with much deeper gameplay thanks to its new passing and animation systems. As the start of what will hopefully be a new era for the franchise, this a comeback that newcomers and Pro Evo veterans shouldn't miss out on.

Source: GameSpot

Sid Meier's Civilization V

Civilization V Review:

My Iroquois nation spreads across the world quickly, being likened to plague by my enemies. In real life this relatively small group of people was all but wiped out by the end of the 20th century, but in my game they are a force to be reckoned with -- a nation wresting control of the seas with modern navies, and taking cities by force with infantry and tanks. Manifest Destiny takes on a whole new meaning as by 2010 I've slowly but surely conquered the Americans and other European nations, subduing them to my rule or simply burning their once haughty nations to ashes.

It's a turn-based strategy game based around building up a selected society into a world power. And, yes, Civilization V can look seriously boring to the casual bystander, but for the person at the helm of the game each turn can lead to a weighty decision, giving the player a certain feeling of power that few, if any, games match.

Civilization has no campaign, instead it simply allows the players to create a world of their devising and jump right into it either by themselves or with others in multiplayer. The biggest choice a player will make is what civilization they're going to play. Each civilization is led by a great leader from history, and gets a few special benefits and units, so its' important to consider what type of victory you're out to achieve before setting your nationality. For instance the French get cultural bonuses that give them a huge bonus towards a cultural victory, while playing Germany will give players access to powerful military units like the Panzer tank that can aid in taking over the world by force. Of course you can always pick a military-focused leader and take them on a route towards a cultural victory, but this will also present a greater challenge.

Besides picking a nation, players can further customize their scenario by switching between options such as whether the world will be made of several continents or not, what era they start in (Civ moves in eras, such as Medieval, Renaissance, etc., which also influences the level of technology you have access to), and how many other civilizations they wish to compete with. It essentially makes for infinite replayability, giving players a simple tool set to craft the challenge they want in of the world over and over again.

And hell yes, this is the type of game that you want to just play over and over. Like its predecessors, Civilization V is amazingly addictive, with games commonly drawing more than five or six hours out of me in a single sitting. The reason? Because win or lose, Civilization V allows players to guide an entire society and craft their own story, taking them from the dawn of history and far into the future. I love taking the Japanese and making them into a peaceful country who wants nothing more than to make Opera houses and win over their neighbors via their culture, or take the Aztecs and fashion them into a powerful imperialistic nation that is completely fascist and obsessed with world domination. Civilization V really is what you make of it, and for me it's a good way to tell alternate stories about some of history's most interesting nations.

I say Civilization V is only "good" -- and not "great," as I would have said about Civilization IV -- at crafting stories because I feel like the game's taken away some pretty important tools for customizing your society. In Civilization IV players could force things on their country and opposing nations in the form of religions and government. In Civilization V, though, players gather up "culture" as a resource, spending it every so many turns on "policies" that give their civilization bonuses. For instance a player might choose to put policy points into the "Piety" tree, giving their nation a boost to happiness and forcing them to accept an unnamed religion. I really appreciate the way the various policy trees give players a wide array of customization options for their nation, but I miss the power and ridiculous glee I got out doing things like forcing Judaism down the throats of my enemies because my Jewish Japanese empire was out to win owning the hearts and minds of my neighbors.

I could try to argue that the new city-state feature in Civilization V  makes up for the lack of clearly defined religious and governmental institutions, but sadly I'd be lying. City-states are single city nations that players can either make allies of, ignore, or attack and take over. Gaining their favor grants your society access to their goods and gives you another loyal sword should your nation go to war, but ultimately I found the limited interaction I had with them pretty boring. Sure, it's fun to make a city-state that borders the opposite side of my enemy's nation an ally, watching as they attack them on their flank, but you can't do much else with them. Still, I guess I do kind of get a sick bit of pleasure of even mildly manipulating lesser powers to achieve victory…

Winning, actually, is where one of Civilization V's weaknesses come to light. While players can win through either diplomacy (via building the United Nations and being elected the leader), conquest (by taking out all other nations), science (by building a space ship and launching it), culture (by completing five of the policy tree branches), or by having the biggest score in the year 2050, in all the games I played it seemed it was overly difficult to get anything but a timed or military victory against the AI when starting from the earliest period. The AI is simply far too aggressive once they're on your borders, and no amount of gifts or other concessions would keep them from deciding to attack me. Attacking would then force me to focus on my military, taking my cities' production away from building the other scientific or cultural items I needed to win. It's more than a little annoying to play for ten or more hours only to realize that the victory you've been working towards is going to be thwarted by a belligerent computer player. I mean, look, I'm all for the blood of nations on my hands, but sometimes I like to be peaceful too, you know?

Still, if combat is what you're looking for, Civilization V has it in spades, and it's better than ever. In past Civilization games you could "stack" enemies on a space on the board, allowing you to make gigantic armies that players had to smash against one another turn after turn -- with results only really savvy strategy players seemed to fully comprehend. Civ V, on the other hand, doesn't allow stacking at all, forcing players to use more strategy than ever. With hexagon-shaped tiles making up the board, players now maneuver fewer units so that they can surround enemy forces, or use powerful units to choke off key points like mountain passes. Ranged units can also now fire over other units, making players carefully consider every army formation. As a result, combat is vastly more satisfying than it has ever been, feeling much more like a game of chess than a simple game of my-numbers-bigger-than-yours.

Combat is just one example of how Civilization V improves the franchise, with a host of other significant changes making this the most approachable the series has ever been. For instance take the advisor system. Like the console title Civilization Revolution (and other past Civilization games for PC), players have access to a set of advisors. These advisors specialize in various branches of nation building such as military and economics, and are available at any time for players confused about how to proceed. Moreover, each time a player chooses a new construction for their city, they can easily identify which building or unit their advisors think is pertinent thanks to symbols sitting next to the options. Every place the player looks in Civ V there's helpful tips on how to proceed, as well as in depth in-game "civlopedia" that easily allows players to find most any detail they could need in a given moment. Every menu or interaction in Civ V is more intuitive and helpful -- a testament to the lessons learned by a developer that's been making these games for almost two decades.

Years of experience has helped developer Firaxis understand their audience more than ever, and they've included tools in Civilization V that are going to make the community aspect of it accessible to casual players. Civilization has always had an active modding community, but unless you were knowledgeable enough about where to look and how to make them function, you probably never played any of them. In Civilization V the mods are in the main menu of the game, with players empowered with the ability to create, share, download and install mods with just a few clicks of a button. Creating and playing out your own stories is fun, but I for one think that it'll be a blast getting to enjoy unique scenarios crafted by other players. 

L.A. Noire delayed again - Analyst

In June, Take-Two Interactive said L.A. Noire would launch in the quarter ending October 31. Since that time, the publisher has barely mentioned the Rockstar-published, Team Bondi-developed game, much less ramped up a pre-launch advertising blitz. In a note to investors this morning, Pacific Crest Securites' Evan Wilson gave a possible reason for that, saying retail sources have told him the game is being delayed into next year.


"We have confirmed the delay of L.A. Noire from fiscal Q4 (Oct.) well into [fiscal] 2011 [November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2011]," Wilson wrote. "As far as we can tell, Take-Two has not shown the game to retailers."

Representatives with Take-Two and Rockstar had not returned GameSpot's requests for comment as of press time.

By Wilson's count, L.A. Noire would be the 20th major delay for the publisher since its current management team took over in 2007. L.A. Noire would have accounted for three of those delays.

Wilson doesn't believe the delay will prevent the publisher from missing its full-year financial guidance. He said the company set the bar conservatively low with its numbers, and whatever negative impact it might have on the company's fourth quarter results could be made up for by continued strength of Rockstar's last title, Red Dead Redemption.

"Clearly, management either has no control over the release of its games, cannot accurately predict the timing of their completion or is not concerned with the forecasts it issues to investors," Wilson wrote. "In any case, the delays have reinforced the low confidence we have in current management. We continue to have low confidence that management has any idea about when its games will actually be released and believe the confidence that it displays to investors is misplaced."

The debut effort from Australia-based Team Bondi, L.A. Noire takes place in 1940s Los Angeles, a popular setting for detective films and novels. The game will have players entangled in a violent web of vice, corruption, and crime in the titular metropolis's underworld, tasked with solving a series of murders in what Rockstar describes as an "open-ended challenge."

L.A. Noire was originally announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive in 2005, with Rockstar picking up the publishing rights to the title the following year. Rockstar cofounder and creative director Sam Houser is executive-producing L.A. Noire, with Team Bondi founder Brendan McNamara (writer and director of The Getaway) serving as director of development.