Rocksmith Review

Rocking out to Unnatural Selection by Muse for the fifth consecutive time, my fingers were beginning to feel the strain. Perhaps I should take a break and do something else? No, I told myself, I have a big show coming up and I want to play to the best of my ability, to make a name for myself in the musical world, to be the next Angus Young or Jimmy Page.

So, did I find myself in a recording studio, or back stage at some low-level downtown venue? No, I was in my bedroom, stood in front of my TV, PS3 humming quietly in the background. This was Rocksmith, an ingenious new IP in the rhythm/musical game genre created by Ubisoft.

Arguably, Rocksmith could be viewed by some almost more as a learning tool than a video game, but to me it is a healthy mix of both. It pushes away from the likes of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise, in that rather than sitting clicking plastic buttons, it incorporates the use of a real guitar. ANY real guitar, might I add, in that any guitar with a 1/4" jack can be connected to the console using the RealTone cable provided.

The game can be bought by itself, for those like me who already own an electric or electro-acoustic guitar, or in a bundle that comes with an entry level guitar, aimed more towards the gamer who isn't already a guitar player. Aimed at those that have a low-mid level of musical skill, this game crosses a mix of a fun and thoroughly enjoyable gaming experience with a high quality learning tool that endeavors to enhance and progress the abilities of the player.

To start off with, then, is what is called the 'Journey', the core of the game. This mode is the predominant part of Rocksmith, in which the budding Hendrix begins by learning single notes of songs, and eventually progresses to playing them note for note, chord for chord. This is achieved through a dynamic and flexible difficulty curve, but more on that later. Along with reccomending songs for you to rehearse and perform at a venue, the game also offers up suggested techniques lessons or, if you are struggling at a specific point of a song, a rehearsal in slow-time, slowly building up your competence until you can play the given section flawlessly.

This difficulty curve makes each song progressively harder as you improve your mastery of the song, and is an integral part of the Rocksmith experience. Through Journey Mode, the player is given a 'set-list' of songs that should be rehearsed, and can then be played at venues once a certain score is racked up on each song. Sound pretty simple? To begin with, it is, although due to the difficulty autonomously increasing to constantly push you that little bit further, you will find that your favourite (and therefore most played) songs soon become more and more challenging, while songs you have never played before start off pretty lethargic and simple. This means you quite regularly hit barriers on songs that can only be pushed through by practicing certain aspects of it, whether this is learning how to perform bends on notes, or taking out the intro riff and playing that over and over until your muscle memory decides to play ball.

Learning the techniques is handled fantastically well, in that there is a small intro to what the technique entails, followed by a 'watch this, now do this' playthrough of a riff or tune created especially for the lesson.
As with the songs, it starts off pretty simplistically  but soon progresses to harder difficulties, awarding the player with a bronze, silver or gold medal to represent accomplishments.
That is the serious side of learning techniques. There is a fun side, however, with the Guitarcade.

The Guitarcade is a mini-game section of Rocksmith, in which, as you complete techniques tutorials, more mini-games are unlocked, all of which help to subconsciously improve muscle memory and  fretboard prowess. These range from learning the fret positions on Ducks, a game similar in nature to space invaders, where the player must play the right note to shoot the retreating duck before it escapes, to Dawn of the Chordead, where zombie attackers are held at bay by playing the corresponding chord, amongst a range of others. While these mini-games seem like a bit of fun, they are actually invaluable tools in terms of practicing new techniques without the worry of ruining your near perfect run through a song, and have provided me with my fair share of laughs, watching comical looking zombies get destroyed by a pair of miniguns because I played a chord.

All of these aspects are brought together nicely into the Journey Mode, and really do give a terrific sense of achievement as you witness your scores increase as you progress. Set-lists are chosen for you at each event, but these can be tailored to your liking, choosing a combo of songs from the 49 available (in addition to some extra secret unlockable songs), including the likes of The Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz, Blur and a myriad of others. The full song list of the tracks included on the disc can be found on the official Ubisoft Rocksmith site, http://rocksmith.ubi.com/rocksmith/en-gb/tracklist/index.aspx.
This pretty impressive library has a good number of popular songs, such as Blur's Song 2 and The Rolling Stones' Satisfaction, although these are outweighed by less well know songs, much the same as most music games tend to be. However, DLC is available for purchase if you want to bulk out your musical repertoire, with multiple packs released, including band specific Megadeth and Blink-182, as well as mix-mashes, such as the Classic Rock pack. There are 108 downloadable songs at time of writing, although some are region specific, and all are available to purchase as a pack or as individual songs for a decent fee.

Additionally, Rocksmith includes some other features, such as multiplayer, 'Amp Mode' and even a whole second game setting in which you can learn to play Bass guitar (using a Bass or simply a standard electric guitar).

Multiplayer sees a horizontal split screen mode open up, in which to players can jam together using any combination of guitars, bass and even microphones for singing. This is a perfect opportunity to just kick back with a friend of similar taste, have a few drinks and enjoy a bit of competitive fun. Splitscreen is currently the only multiplayer available however, with it seemingly unlikely that an online experience will ever be introduced on this game. Perhaps in a sequel?

Amp Mode is also particularly good, and in fact is used much more extensively than my actual (poor quality) amp, in that as you progress through the game, you unlock 70 effects pedals, 10 amps and 10 cabs. These are usually quite expensive to buy in the real world, so the fact that you can enter Amp Mode and play what you like using these virtual renditions is definitely, in my opinion, a good way to figure out what you like playing with if you are considering getting one to bolster your rig. It also adds a lot more versatility to learning new songs outside of the game, as you are no longer quite as limited by what equipment you have and haven't got.

Lastly, there is the Bass Guitar section of the game. This essentially uses either a bass guitar or your standard electric guitar and converts the songs in the game to a bass format, meaning you can essentially learn to play bass. Now, I have not played this quite as extensively as the guitar section, and so do not want to comment too heavily, but from what I have played through, I would definitely say it seems pretty strong, again with techniques lessons et all.

All in all, I highly enjoyed Rocksmith, and found it a brilliant tool for advancing my guitar playing skills. It was a lot of fun as a game, trying repeatedly to beat high scores with an addictiveness akin to Pacman or The Pit from Modern Warfare 2, urging myself to perform just that little bit better, that little bit more perfect.
I would highly reccomend this for anyone wishing to learn guitar or who is already playing but wants to improve, although for experts this would realistically be a glorified tab. The mood of the game is arcade-y and fun, with emphasis on enjoyability with the passive learning and muscle memory seemingly coming from nowhere. To conclude, then, a very clever and original idea, well worth the money if you still long deep inside to emulate the rock gods of old.

ZombiU Review

Tantalizingly, ZombiU offers up a mix of both astoundingly clever use of new technology brought into play by the WiiU, with some not quite as strong game play aspects.

To begin with a brief introduction to the game, ZombiU is a first-person zombie apocalypse survival based game released as part of the starting lineup on the Wii U. Developed by Ubisoft, this game is set in modern day London, England, and sees the player having to contend with hordes of shuffling undead.

With this premise, the player begins the game as a survivor of a zombie infection pandemic, seemingly scavenging for supplies whilst avoiding the undead. Mysteriously, a voice calls out to the player to run for dear life into a Tube station, the underground rail network of London. Thus, the game starts with you having to sprint away from agitated zombies in order to escape to a safe house established by the owner of the mysterious voice, who then introduces himself as 'The Prepper'.

From this point onwards, the survivor begins completing tasks as instructed by Prepper over the intercom system, in order to aid survival, although the Prepper is nowhere to be seen.

The narrative brought about by this style of story-telling isn't particularly strong, so if a highly engrossing plot is what you desire, then perhaps this is not the game for you. It regularly sees you going to locations to fulfill often seemingly disjointed tasks, and while there is a stream of events that masquerade as a story, this game is essentially for the game play.

Playing through the game, it is obvious on a routinely basis that the development team made full use of the new features brought in by the Wii U GamePad. During the majority of the experience, the GamePad screen is used as a map and quick select inventory for switching between items and weapons. It is, however, cleverly used for a wide range of other tasks.

Looting is the most frequent, with the inventory lists of both the player and the lootable item shown on the small screen, whilst the character hunches over on the big screen, giving a sense of urgency to deciding what items to take with you, knowing that a zombie could mangle you from behind at any moment.

The GamePad screen is also used for barricading doors, scanning items and hacking doors and keypads, again all with the player feeling the same sense of vulnerability to attack as they do with looting. This adds, in my opinion, a very clever and original aspect to the game that just isn't possible on any other current mainstream consoles.

Then comes the combat aspect. Sneaking and distracting the malevolent infected is highly encouraged where possible, as in true survival-horror style, taking on a crowd and trying to 'run and gun' simply will not work.

Inevitably, however, you are going to have to fight, which worked relatively well, but could definitely be improved upon. The stalwart weapon the player has in their arsenal is the cricket bat, three and a half feet of chunky, wooden goodness. Granted, it feels good to maul a few zombies with such an unconventional weapon, but it is flawed against anything but the most basic of enemies, taking up to 10 hits on a single zombie to kill them. Normally, this would result in the player drawing a trusty firearm. While that is certainly an option in ZombiU, it is not that easy, due to the sheer scarceness of ammo, and the fact the noise will attract many more opponents more often than not. This, I feel, was what let the game down perhaps more than anything else. While I am not wishing to see a god-killing weapon of epic proportions, it would be nice to be able to actually achieve something with it, rather than feel compelled to waste all three of the pistol rounds I have left.

This brings us onto the shooting aspect of combat. There are a multitude of different weapons in the game, ranging from trusty little pistols, through shotguns, to assault rifles and crossbows, but the ammo scarcity often renders them dead weight with little use. The aiming mechanic is also, in my opinion, odd. You would think that in a first-person game, the character would look down the sights of the weapon before turning the zombie skull into pink mist. Strangely, however, it is viewed from an angle, almost like in a third-person game, but from a first-person perspective. Perhaps this is to make the shooting feel more futile and incur a sense of further dread in the player as they try in vain to brass a target. But then again perhaps not. 

That is not to say, however, that if you manage to find a stash of ammo, blasting a few zombies with an AK47 isn't fun. It's a blast, in fact, pardon the pun.

In general, then, combat is sometimes a little frustrating, but it is also satisfying, if you have the patience to hit the same enemy ten times before moving onto the rest of the group.

Surviving has certainly been covered. Now for the next part of the genre, horror.

This game is widely referred to as a cross between first-person shooter and survival-horror.

Personally, however, I did not find the game, on the most part, all that scary. Yes, it certainly has it's moments, what with occasional jump scares, and, for anybody who has played the game, the nursery, which is without doubt the most terrifying part of the game, the vast majority is not filled with all that much trepidation. Perhaps this is the fact that much of the game is played out in locations where you can see the zombies before they see you, and can plan your actions, or that you can just run away from the shufflers back the route you just came, and therefore just cleared. That is not to say that the game is completely fear-free, however. Seemingly dead zombies occasionally rise again with brain-envy, whilst things flying at you from dark corners take you by surprise. Even the ambience, when it is there, is against you. The slightest sound would have me stood still, like a rabbit in a car's headlights, trying desperately to figure out if the sound was me walking into something, or some horror lurking out of sight.

Death. As in the real-world, death is a certainty, unless you possess some kind of god-like powers. There will be a point in the game where the odds will be stacked against you, and you just cannot win, whether this is brought about by unwittingly attracting the zombies attention, or just plain bad luck. Now here is where the developers added another nice little twist. Upon death, you do not simply respawn from the last save point. No, instead you respawn at your safe house as a completely new character, with a new name, a new occupation and a new look. This is the first game I have played that has done this to me, and it is definitely intriguing. What is even cooler (dependent on your perspective), is that you start with only a cricket bat and a few pistol rounds. All your hard-earned loot is still with you. The old you, that is, and it is up to you to go and fight your old self to get it back. Nothing gives a greater sense of mortality than staving your own head in with a cricket bat in order to get a shotgun and a can of soda back, before carrying on with the game. This, I feel, adds a unique (as far as I am aware, anyway) twist to the game that just gives it a few more brownie points. This is also taken to the next level on the hardcore difficulty setting, in that you play as one character, with one life, and once you die, the game is over. Needless to say, this is pretty damn hard, and I have yet to survive on this setting for over an hour, so this is obviously a challenge aimed at more experienced gamers or ZombiU lovers who just cant get enough of the game.

Lastly, ZombiU has a multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, however, this feels, as with many games nowadays, almost bolted-on. That is not to say it is not fun. It essentially features one player using the Wii U GamePad to spawn zombies using the touchscreen, and the second player using a Wiimote in an attempt to prolong death as much as possible. However, as much as I enjoyed playing this mode a few times with both the GamePad and the Wiimote, I feel that scope for this is very limited, as it is a small part of the game, and has no online compatibility, so it quickly becomes stale. However, I understand that ZombiU is primarily a single player game, and a launch game at that, and so multiplayer is not the main focus. However, I feel that online modes, especially a co-op story mode, would be fantastic additions and improve re-playability.

To round of my opinions on the game, I had an immense amount of fun playing through it, and feel that it really nicely showcases a lot of what the Wii U has to offer. The story wasn't exactly ground breaking, and the resilience of tougher zombies to the standard weapon, the cricket bat, let it down for me a little, but I still feel that I had a new and exciting experience, and can only hope for more games of this caliber or higher to come to the Wii U, as this game sets a very solid benchmark for those that follow.

Creation of a Project

Creating a blog about video games has for quite some time been a personal ambition of mine.
I am a big fan of video games of all shapes and sizes, as well as the industry as a whole, and have been for
as long as I can remember.

More recently, I have taken my love of the games to a new level, studying the industry and how it works, as well as keeping as up to date as possible on the most recent news and events, and speculation as to what the future may hold.

In this blog, I aim to write small pieces simply for my own enjoyment, but hey, if somebody else finds something on here interesting, then that is fine by me. That said, this blog will primarily be composed of game reviews of the games I am playing, as well as aiming to keep the reader up to date on the most important news.

Hopefully this will allow me to take a more critical approach on the video game medium of entertainment out of my own personal interest, but I feel that perhaps there is more to be got out of this by making an online blog and voicing my opinions rather than sitting and contemplating in front of the TV, so here goes.......