My current mobile phone gaming squeeze is Helsing’s Fire. It’s an interesting and fresh puzzle game with a lot of style.

In it you play as Van Helsing, looking to rid a town of monsters by placing torches so that they are all caught in the light, and blasting them with coloured tonics. Although it times your progress through levels, this seems to just be for bragging rights, and doesn’t affect your progress at all.

Some monsters can attack your torches, causing them to go out, and you have a maximum of three per stage. In theory this makes the game more difficult, but in practise it doesn’t really make any difference, as the attacks are infrequent and easy to avoid.

Every thirty levels you are placed in an encounter against a single boss monster. And at this point the game changes completely. These monsters are more mobile, and fire regular attacks against you. The chance of losing torches increases hugely over the regular stages.

The problem is, the controls aren’t really suited to these faster paced stages, and I find it quite annoying that the game goes from a gentle puzzler to a poor actioner.

This isn’t the only game that does it. I’ve played any number of action adventure games that suddenly “mix it up” during the boss encounters, and throw away the idea of testing the skills the player has been slowly building up in favour of showing off something new. Which is obviously a very bad idea.

(You really should check out Helsing’s Fire though – 29 levels out of every 30 are great puzzling fun.)

Ok, I hope this update doesn’t mark me out as someone who will rag on something just because it’s popular, but I played the demo of Limbo after hearing nothing but good things, and I just don’t get it.

The controls and movement are exactly the same slightly too physics-y, floaty controls that people rightly complained about in Little Big Planet.

The almost invisible, instant death, traps with no warning are exactly the kind of unfair failure killers that the have hated since the days of Rick Dangerous.

I mean, it is very pretty, but I’m not understanding the charm beyond that.

If I was being more cynical I would think that people give pretty looking indie games an easier ride.

With just two weeks to go until I take part in Sick Kids Save Point, I have been doing more planning. And also a few rigorous training sessions (yes, that does just mean playing games. I am exactly like Rocky Balboa. The out of shape version from the most recent movie).

Before I go any further in this update I’ll remind you that Sick Kids Save Point is a charity event to raise money for the Sick Kids Friend Foundation which supports the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. We are doing this by playing videogames for 24 hours solid.

Obviously the most important element to decide is what games to play, and there are a lot of options available to me as my “waiting to be played” list is huge (check back this time next week for more on this).

I am currently thinking that, although I have a few PlayStation 3 games I’d like to get through, I will stick to Xbox games. Firstly because I have a lot more of those, and secondly because anyone can then track my current playing status through my gamercard. People on my friends list will even be able to see if I have become set to “away” – which will mean either having a food break or, much more worryingly, have fallen asleep.

For those who can’t follow me on Live, and I haven’t filled up my friends list yet, so send me a request if you want, I will of course be tweeting a lot during the day. I’ll keep people up to date on what I’m playing, and how I’m doing.

I’ve also been thinking about sustenance on the day. Drinks-wise, obviously alcohol is out of the picture as it’ll just make me drowsy and much more likely to fall sleep. Sugary soft drinks or energy drinks are an option, but my teeth certainly wouldn’t thank me for relying on them (plus most energy drinks are revoltingly sweet).

So I am most likely to end up drinking a lot of cups of tea (very British I know) to get my caffeine fix. I may even keep count, because I suspect it’s going to end up as a fairly record-breaking number.

As far as food goes obviously takeaway would be the stereotypical gamer choice (and I may well go for the pizza option for dinner, just because it will be quick and easy to cook). The problem with takeaway is that it gives a short energy boost that wears off quickly, and leaves you feeling bloated and lethargic – which are obviously not good for avoiding sleep.

I figure I will be able to get plenty of energy from snacking on fruit throughout the day, which will also not do too much damage to my “just managing to hang on to the right side of being a fatty” physique.

If you haven’t sponsored me yet, please go and do it now. As much as playing games for 24 hours seems like a joke, the money it will raise, and the great cause and sick children it will help, are not.

My donations page is here.

The last week has seen the start, and end, of my playthrough of Quantum of Solace.

I’m not sure why I picked it up – at some point a friend must have mentioned that it was passable, even though my own memory had been that it had been reviewed terribly. One quick visit to Metacritic later (this is the real beauty of smartphones, by the way – purchasing descisions made easier in seconds – not telling the world when you’re not at home in that Foursquare malarky), and I’d discovered that the Xbox version scored a “pretty bad by modern scoring standards” 65.

But since the copy I was looking at in the shop was a pretty generous £5 (less than some pints, depending on where you drink), I thought I’d give it a go. I mean, I’m a fan of Bond – how bad could it be?

The answer is “not that bad at all, really”.

I think the game probably got quite unfairly reviewed. Sure, there is a lack of the exciting set-pieces of its Call of Duty engine-mates, but it still pulls out some pretty and inventive locations. A particular highlight was sneaking through the back areas of an opera stage during sound-check, before sniping bad men in an executive box across the way (bad men hate being shot in their executive boxes).

It also adds a very solid cover mechanism to the engine (which works better than the similar takes in a lot of 3rd person shooters that rely more heavily on it), as well as some pretty simple stealthing.

As fits with the modern Daniel Craig take on Bond, there is a minimum of gadgetry and no driving thrills, all replaced with some punching, a bit of jumping, and an awful lot of shooting (I find it particularly funny when levels move from shooting to stealth sections, as if the guards in the next room were being exceptionally inattentive when their colleagues were shouting into their radios about needing reinforcements).

But generally this all works in the game’s favour. As I say, I’m a fan of Bond, so I tend to try most of the Bond games. And all of the ones from the last generation were pretty much dire, due to having to shoehorn in diverse gameplay. Sticking more rigidly to the shooting that the engine and team (as it’s made by CoD’s new daddies Treyarch) do well plays to its strengths.

The main criticism to be levelled at the game is the brevity of the single player campaign. It’s got fourteen very linear levels, and none last too long, so it all flies by. I completed it in about a week of playing an hour an evening.

But, for the bargain basement prices it’s available for now, I would still say it’s a decent choice for the shooter fan. I’ve certainly played much worse.

(And if you’re wondering where the title of this update came from, get some Adam and Joe in your life.)

“A Tragedy in One Act”

INTERIOR: A slightly run-down office. There is a table in the middle. Stuart Black sits on one side. He is trendy and young, and wearing cool trainers. Facing him are three middle-aged men wearing suits from Top Man.

CODEMASTERS MANAGEMENT
All of the E3 press about that new game you’re making was terrible.

STUART BLACK
Well yes – in a rush to ensure we had something at all to show people, you made us release pre-alpha footage that unfortunately looked shit. And these days the baying hordes don’t understand what pre-alpha means, they just write nasty comments about how the game looks like crap and they hate it.

CODIES
Well because of all of those nasty comments we don’t trust you any more, so we want to know exactly what’s going on with development from now on. We will have final say over everything that happens in the project, step by step.

BLACK
But that will just slow down decision making, and ensure the blandest possible result of a strictly by-the-numbers game that will probably just copy whatever Call of Duty is doing that year.

CODIES
Oh yes we like Call of Duty, imagine if we published Call of Duty – we would be kings of the world. It’d be like when we used to publish good games. We just want to publish good games. Please let us publish good games.

BLACK
You will ruin my vision. And I have already spoken to the press at length about how everybody’s elses upcoming shooters are just rubbish clones of Call of Duty. I will look like an idiot.

CODIES
Sorry, we weren’t paying attention. We were still dreaming about what we’d buy with our Call of Duty publishing billions.

BLACK
I cannot work under these conditions. I will leave, and you don’t want that to happen because I am great.

CODIES
o rly?

CUT TO: A gaming webpage spins into view. The headline reads “BREAKING NEWS: Black and Codies part ways”.

fin.

The back story to this obvious work of complete fiction is here. Stuart Black, one of the creators of Criterion’s “Black”, is leaving Codemasters in October months before his much-hyped (by him and them) new game “Bodycount” is completed.

I’m sure it’ll be great, though.

PS: Please remember to sponsor me, if you haven’t already.

Sick Kids Save Point is a fundraising event being held across Scotland on the weekend of the 6th-8th of August. The aim is to raise money for the Sick Kids Friend Foundation (Scottish charity SC020862), which supports the work of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
The event itself is a 24 hour gaming marathon.

Obviously when I found out I could not only have a genuine excuse to play games for literally an entire day, but also raise some money for a good cause at the same time, I signed up immediately.

Here is my sponsorship page – go and donate the monies!

My current plan is to play from 8am on Saturday 7th to 8am on Sunday 8th of August.

Exactly which games I’ll be playing I haven’t worked out yet, and will no doubt change depending on my mood on the day. I have a large “to play” pile of 360 and PS3 games, though I’m not sure if it will be better to play something completely new, or aim to finish off games I have already started. The interest in a new game might help keep me awake and alert, but there’s always the chance it’ll be annoying or frustrating, and put me off.

And of course there’s the comedy “play Wii Fit for 24 hours” option. Which would probably kill me, even if it was just the bit where you have to stand still on the board.

In a later update I’ll list the gaming options available to me, and you can all pipe up with suggestions.

One thing is for sure, the next three weeks will have some rigorous training scheduled to help me achieve this daunting task.

PS: Remember to donate cash money plzkthx

Well, not brilliantly, it must be said. Here are the results. I’ve highlighted the ones I got right.

• Best New IP – Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
• Best New Download IP – Angry Birds (Rovio)
• Best Use of a Licence or IP – Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
• Visual Arts – Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)
• Audio Accomplishment – DJ Hero (FreeStyleGames)
• Publishing Hero – Channel 4
• Technical Innovation – Unity Engine (Unity Technologies)
• Tools Provider – Hansoft
• Engine – Unreal Engine 3
• Services – Testology
• Audio Outsourcer – Side
• Visual Outsourcer – Axis Animation
• Recruitment Company – Amiqus
• Best New Studio – Hello Games
• Micro Studio – Hello Games
• Handheld Studio – SCE Cambridge
• Business Development – Sony XDev
• In-House Studio – Rocksteady Studios
• Independent Studio – Quantic Dream

As you can probably count for yourselves, that’s a whopping nine right, out of nineteen. Or just under half. Maybe I don’t know as much about this crazy old games industry as I like to think.

Tune in again next year, chums!

(Although at least I beat reader James. Ha, he is an idiot who knows nothing.)

I remember when I’d finished playing Crackdown the first, writing about how I loved it, and that I was looking forward to the sequel building some better missions and activities onto the solid foundation, that would give it more substance.

After playing Crackdown 2 for a weekend, I’ve got to say I’m kind of disappointed.

Things have been removed, and other things have been added. And they have ended up with, not a worse game, but not a better one either. Just a different game, and one that I feel doesn’t move forward as it could have.

Now, I know the developers have already been defensive about their tight 18 month development schedule. And it’s true that that isn’t a huge amount of time. The art team have done a great job – although the very core of the city is the same, in that buildings and districts are in the same place, it feels like not a single piece of geometry has been left untouched.

Buildings have great cracks modelled up them, exposing interiors. Some have been flattened, leaving just the lower floors, or torn open. Bridges have collapsed into the sea, and some skyscrapers have even dropped their top halves onto nearby blocks.

There has been growth, too. Weeds have sprouted from cracks, and the peace keepers and Cell enemies have been busy building new defensive structures, with walls and guard posts.

It’s “the same” city in that, as someone who spent far too much time in the first, it is recognisable and navigable by memory. But I am still having fun exploring it for all of the fresh elements it provides.

And on the code front, you can feel progress. The game is now four player co-op, that is drop-in drop-out (not like the first, which forced a restart on the host when a friend wanted to join). The number of enemies that can be on screen is also impressive – when the freaks come out at night you will be swamped.

It’s really from the design side that I think the game doesn’t feel like it’s moved forwards, and just gone sideways. Obviously, I don’t know what tools the guys at Ruffian had at their disposal, but I’m going to guess at some way of easily editing waypoints. And obviously since the city layout hasn’t changed that much, they would have been able to jump right in planning, mocking up, and building – then refinishing positions once artwork had altered a block.

The first mission in the game gives a very good impression and had me excited – although it’s just a training facility / tutorial level, it is scripted in a way nothing in Crackdown was. This is basically what I was hoping for. Unfortunately you don’t see anything like this again until the very end of the game.

There are some nice new additions and tweaks to the formula – you get an orb sonar that lets you “ping” for nearby collectibles, a bigger range of weapons and vehicles, and later on gain the ability to glide.

One thing that really struck me is how much it is obviously balanced for co-op. Though it can be played solo, there are things like enemies with rapid firing rocket launchers (with each rocket knocking you over) who will absolutely screw you if you don’t have a friend to help take the flak. Trying to take over an enemy location filled with these guys can be quite a slog, and tended to result in very un-Crackdown gameplay for me, as I resorted to running away and buggering off to allow my shields to recharge, then popping my head out for a couple of long range kills.

Most of the content can be summarised in pure numbers – 500 new agility orbs, 300 new hidden orbs, 27 absorption units, 9 beacons, 27 tactical locations, 25 breaches, 52 audio pickups, 15 road races, 15 rooftop races, 30 renegade agility orbs, 15 renegade driving orbs, 80 online orbs, 40 stunt rings, and 10 wingsuit rings.

It sounds like a lot, until you realise it all falls into four categories: pickups; “kill all enemies in this area”; “race through these checkpoints”; “go through these couple of rings in sequence”. And writing it out, I was having trouble making the last two different. It all just feels like, with a good coordinate editor, you could hammer it in as filler content in about a month – the ambient world meat that you use to fill out the boney skeleton of a variety of story missions.

And some of the stuff that’s different from Crackdown isn’t even that good in practice. Live orbs, for example, seem a half baked idea – the gameplay they result in is to get two people online stood in the same spot. Plenty of the rest of the design (like the rocket launcher happy enemies mentioned above) promotes multiple players working together, so these just feel forced and can slow the action right down if you’re waiting for a buddy to get to your location.

Likewise the renegade agility orbs – the paths they run off on are too long to memorise (actually I’m not entirely convinced they aren’t randomised), so there ends up being no feeling of “I’m getting closer on this lap; next lap I’ll have you”. Just a feeling that you almost caught it and then you fell, or it zipped away in a direction you weren’t expecting.

This is exacerbated by the camera controls. There are no sensitivity options (unless I’m missing something? Which I kind of think I must be, because I can’t believe a game wouldn’t have them), and the default Y movement is far too slow for my liking, or to allow you to easily track a fleeing orb.

Holding a button to lock the camera focus on to the orb you are chasing would have been good (since they already have that functionality in the game when an agency helicopter helps you out).

I’d have liked a more dynamic camera in general. It does seem to pull out when you’re involved in melee combat with a large group, but does nothing to help you gauge 3d space or find your way around when you’re climbing, which are big bits of the gameplay. It would be lovely if it sat further down and looked up when I am scaling things, and looking down more when I am falling.

The wingsuit you get given is nice – essentially allowing you to glide longer distances when falling – but I think could have really done with more fanfare. If you had the volume turned down when the agency told you about it, you could easily miss it. And I suspect the controls aren’t as straight forward as they first appear either, because I have difficulty getting a good distance from it. Really it would have been nice to have another training area that told you how to use this, and let you achieve some small goals.

I feel really bad for being so critical of Crackdown 2, but I can’t help but feel let down by it.

As I said at the start, I had high hopes, and I do think it’s a great game that is the equal of Crackdown in every way (hey, I stopped put it on halfway through this to grab the numbers for the content bit, and ended up playing for a couple of hours. It just drags me in. 400 agility orbs, bitches). But that’s not really what I want from a sequel.

Still, it appears to be selling well, and the ending sets up an obvious number three, so hopefully Ruffian will have got to grips with their tools and be able to come up with something much more special.

(Oh, that reminds me – I did think it was odd that this clearly mutiplayer focussed game dumps all of the players out of the host’s game when you reach the ending cinematic and credits.)

It’s come to the time of year where Develop magazine (a mainly UK mag for games developers, if you weren’t aware) hosts its annual conference in Brighton. Part of this is always the presentation of the Develop awards, as voted for by industry bigwigs.

I thought I’d have a go at predicting some winners (note: not necessarily who I want to win, or think deserves it most – just who I think will). Get a drink – this is going to be a long one. Why not join in the fun in the comments?

Best New IP
Blur (Bizarre Creations)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Alan Wake (Remedy Entertainment)
EyePet (SCE London Studio)
Backbreaker (NaturalMotion)
APB (Realtime Worlds)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)

I think this will end up going to Heavy Rain, as I’m led to believe it’s been pretty successful both critically and commercially. Must admit to never even having heard of Backbreaker. Apparently it’s an American Football game with nice physics. Must get around to playing Heavy Rain – I have a copy bought and sat on the pile.

Best New Download IP
Angry Birds (Rovio)
VVVVVV (Distractionware)
Chime (Zoe Mode)
Machinariam (Amanita Design)
Orbital (BitForge)
Blue Toad Murder Files (Relentless Software)
Joe Danger (Hello Games)

A toss-up between Angry Birds and Joe Danger, but I will plump for the former. This is mainly because I think the people who vote for these are more likely to have played it. It’ll be a worthy winner – it’s an extremely well polished game with a nice level of complexity behind the apparent simplicity. It also seems to have done a good job of breaking into the iPhone-playing public consciousness as a whole.

Best Use of a Licence or IP
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Games)
Metro 2033 (4A Games)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Climax Games)
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games (Sumo Digital / Revolution)
LittleBigPlanet PSP (SCE Cambridge)
Aliens vs Predator (Rebellion)

As much as I love LBPPSP, I really hope this goes to Batman. A fantastic application of an often mishandled IP, creating a brilliant game. I think Doctor Who is the only other option that could nudge a win, mainly through the awards’ brit-centric nature.

Visual Arts
Machinarium (Amanita Design)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Games)
Alan Wake (Remedy Entertainment)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
EyePet (SCE London Studio)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)

Really tough one to call – they are all solid options (with the possible exception of the Geordie Tamagotchi). I think Machinarium deserves the win for the amazing hand drawn detail, but I have a feeling it will go to Heavy Rain.

Audio Accomplishment
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA DICE)
Blur (Bizarre Creations)
DJ Hero (FreeStyleGames)
Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising (Codemasters)
Split/Second (Black Rock)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Climax)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Games)

Interesting. I can’t really work out Batman’s inclusion on the list? I mean, it had a great voice cast, but that’s because it had the Animated Series’ voice cast. DJ Hero had a solidly created soundtrack, but I’m going to back Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Though someone should be shot for hiding the best gun sounds in an FPS behind a menu option, meaning that most will play it with just “very good” audio.

Publishing Hero
Sega
Sony XDev
Bigpoint
Microsoft
Channel 4
BBC

Sega? For releasing the dreadful Iron Man 2, and the half-baked Alpha Protocol, as well as ripping out chunks of Yakuza 3 before giving it to us? No thanks. I’m going to put my vote with Microsoft, mainly for their continued support of the XBLIG channel. Yes, it’s not perfect, but how many home made games do you see being released on other consoles?

Technical Innovation
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Sony Augmented Reality (EyePet/Invizimals)
Unity Engine (Unity Technologies)
Bigpoint Uniter (Bigpoint)
Split/Second (Black Rock studio)
Hustle Kings (VooFoo)

Hmm, don’t really know much about the various entries in this category. I’m going to plump for the Unity Engine, as I am constantly hearing that it’s a great place to look for indies wanting to make cross platform games easily.

Tools Provider
Autodesk
Scaleform
Havok
Hansoft
SCE (R&D/SN Systems/PlayStation Home)
Audiokinetic
Dolby

Not got a clue. The only ones I’ve actually used have been Hansoft (seemed like perfectly fine project management / scheduling software) and SN Systems. I’ll go for Havok to win, as I think most of the voters probably use it in their products.

Engine
Unity (Unity Technologies)
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games)
Gamebryo Lightspeed (Emergent)
CryEngine (Crytek)
Trinigy Vision Engine (Trinigy)

Again, not used any of them. I would hazard a guess a Unreal, though, for the same reason as above – I think enough people have made (or played) enough games that use it. Is CryEngine used for anything other than Crytek’s own games?

Services
Babel
Audiomotion
Catalyst
Testology
Universally Speaking
Testronic Labs

There is definitely a theme in the “Technology” section, and that theme is “things that FreakyZoid has never used, or really been aware of coming in to contact with”. Will plump for Testology, because it is a nice name, and QA is a good thing.

Audio Outsourcer
Outsource Media UK
SIDE
Richard Jacques Studios
Nimrod
Media Mill
Audio Guys
High Score Productions

It continues. That Richard Jacques is a nice chap isn’t he? I read an interview with him on UK:Resistance once and he came across very well. Let’s give him an award.

Visual Outsourcer
SPOV TV
Axis Animation
Image Metrics
Realtime UK
Imagination Studios

Oh christ, we’re deep into “throw a dart at them” territory now. And I am beginning to think that this update was a bad idea. Image Metrics do some nice facial (tee hee) capturing work. I’ll go for them. But as long as we all understand this isn’t really an informed choice here.

Recruitment Company
SpecialMove
Natural Selection
Amiqus
OPM
Aardvark
Handle
STUDIOS

Thankfully I have had no dealing with UK recruiters in the last year. I’m sure they’re all lovely people now, and they’ve left their wicked and underhanded ways behind them. Amiqus won it last year, so as long as they’ve managed to not piss anyone off too badly by screwing them out of a good candidate, I’ll go for them.

Best New Studio
Lightning Fish
VooFoo
Hello Games
Six to Start
Wonderland
4A Games
NaturalMotion

Breathe easy guys and girls, we’re back into known territory. Since I think Joe Danger will have been robbed of the downloadable IP award, and people will feel bad about that, I’m going to say Hello Games for this one. But that’s not to say I don’t think they deserve it – it’s a brilliant first title, and hopefully they will continue with the same quality.

Micro Studio
Startfruit
Mobigame
Amanita Design
Binary Tweed
Hello Games
Tag Games
Distractionware

I think this is a new category this year. Certainly don’t remember seeing it before. Though all of the studios listed have put out quality titles and deserve a win, Mobigame have the extra publicity from all of those Edge / Tim Langdell lawsuit shenanigans to put them in people’s consciousness. So I’ll go for them.

Handheld Studio
Rovio
Rockstar Leeds
Novaroma
SCE Cambridge
Ideaworks Game Studios
Digital Goldfish

Well obviously I am going to say that the talented folk at Rockstar Leeds should get this. They’ve put out PSP and iPhone versions of Chinatown Wars and Beaterator within the last year, and also had to soldier on despite the loss of undoubtedly their best designer. Even my love of LBPPSP can’t overcome that.

Business Development
Avalanche
Sony XDev
Eutechnyx
Blitz 1UP
X2 Games – Exient
NDreams

I’m going to go for Blitz 1UP here, and I think it’s a deserved win. They are helping indie devs out with publishing, and backing some pretty interesting games.

In-House Studio
Rocksteady Games
Bizarre Creations
Black Rock Studio
SCE London Studio
Sports Interactive
Creative Assembly
Codemasters

Does Rocksteady count, considering that they weren’t in-house at the point that they created their excellent game? Either way, I think I will back them for the win. I think SCE London is possibly also a strong contender, depending on how the voters feel about the Move controllers and system.

Independent Studio
Realtime Worlds
Quantic Dream
Sumo Digital
Remedy Entertainment
Jagex
Red Lynx

Well just a week ago I would have said Realtime Worlds stood a very good chance of walking away with this, but the critical reception to APB has not been what they are sure to have hoped for, and now stories are surfacing of internal reorganisation and even layoffs. Which is a crying shame for a company that can create such great work. I’m going to say Sumo for this one. It’s not very well known, but they have a hand in making a huge number of quality games and ports, and they are sure to have left a great impression on the voters.

Right well, there are my picks, along with all of the nominees for each category. How about you all have a go at predicting? There will be a prize (not actual prize) for the most accurate predictions!

Once again I’ve fallen a bit behind with posting updates. Over the last few months I have managed to work through a number of games off my “to play” pile, even including some that weren’t on the list last time.

I had jotted down quick notes as I did each one, but just haven’t got around to hammering any of them into anything readable. Until now!

Well, now for the Halo Wars one anyway. Maybe I will do some of the others soon.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting (yeah, I could have played the demo again to refresh my memory, but that sure seems like a lot of effort to go to when you can just buy the whole game, doesn’t it? I’m fairly sure I am what is wrong with Western society – like a videogame version of Sex and the City 2). The game is something of a quirk – the RTS spin off of an FPS game series that was originally meant to be an RTS – and obviously has had to be designed around both the IP and the console controls.

But this works pretty much in its favour. Base building is simplified right down, and choice over where you place your structures is pretty much removed. This leaves you with easy placement controls, and just the strategic decision of what building types you want to fill out your limited number of spots.

It’s a far cry from, for example, Red Alert 2, where I would know that I could create as many power stations as I could ever need, as long as I remembered to leave a path through my expanding base for my units to move.

This simplicity also covers the units. It seems that the Halo world doesn’t have that many different types of unit (I certainly don’t remember that many from the games I’ve played), and the ones that do exist have clear and obvious uses that distinguish them. The smaller number of units is made up for by easy to understand upgrades – with a linear path for each unit. Familiarity with Halo games also helps here – as soon as you are given a Spartan unit you already know what abilities set it aside from your rank and file troops, for example.

Generally the controls are well mapped and easy to use, with some streamlining making them easier at the expense of removing some features that even an RTS idiot like me remembers (such as being able to create numbered sets of units for quick selection). I had originally thought you couldn’t select all of a certain unit type, but you can (it’s on right trigger, control fans) it just doesn’t tell you.

The campaign is just from the human side of the conflict and feels short at 15 missions, though at the same time it’s difficult to see what could be done to extend that as some of them already feel like (entertaining) filler. I would have given the multiplayer a shot but honestly I already know how bad I am at RTS games, I don’t need that confirming to me over and over again.

Overall I’d say it’s well worth picking up if you’re a fan of the Halo universe, or even if you just want to see how well crafted a console RTS can be when talented people work at it.

(Also I am proud of myself for avoiding the really obvious “Halo Wars. Huh, what is it good for?” joke. At least until now. But to be honest I doubt anybody reads this far down.)