The Problem with Steam, or, Why the Steam Box won't Kill the Console.

There seems to be a huge amount of love for Valve and Steam. Although the Steam sales are quite nice, a lot of this love seems unwarranted. Steam is a bug riddled, archaic and bandwidth hogging piece of software, that hasn't had a true overhaul in its lifetime. Steam may be the best at what it does but it wouldn't take much to topple it from its position, especially if they don't have something planned for it soon. Some people have claimed that the Steam Box will destroy videogame consoles as we know them but of this I am sceptical too.

Firstly Steam crashes more than any other program I own. It doesn't matter whether I'm in Mac OS or Windows and I imagine Linux is much the same, Steam will find a way to stop working. It doesn't crash everyday but I can't think of a program that is less reliable than it. Next the fix for every Steam issue according to the forums seems to be uninstall and reinstall it. This is one of the reasons the Steam Box will never kill consoles. A console needs to be a much more reliable experience (no Xboxes don't count), a console never expects you to fiddle about with a .ini file just to get a game to work, nor reinstall its key piece of software.

Steam loves to update, it will update your games but more than that it loves to update itself constantly. You can't stop it from updating itself and if it doesn't want to let you in because it is updating there is nothing you can do about it. Steam doesn't even officially support background updating. When you are playing a game you have to get out of the game, right click on the game you want updated tell it to pause, then tell it to resume updating. The Wii U got a firmware update allowing for background updating where is the patch for Steam?

Steam lacks options. You have the choice between auto-playing videos or having auto-play turned off. I prefer auto-play turned off, so when I click on a video I expect it to play with sound. Why is the sound muted every time when auto-play is off? It makes no sense and why is there no option to stop this? Also it is basically just a glorified browser so why can't I have multiple tabs open? I want to be looking at a couple of games at a time instead of clicking on one, going back, clicking on the next etc. Steam is dated in this regard and it makes it very slow.

I hope the Steam Box brings with it a large update to Steam, as it is in dire need of a refresh. It was once cutting edge but now even Nintendo seem more up to date. The new card system is stupid and if they thought that was going to help them, I think they are in for a big shock. It's time to fix the boring stuff, make it a solid, reliable platform and most importantly give the gamers what they want.

Company of Heroes 2

Company of Heroes 2 was a tough game for me to review. Its intense, complex action is a load of fun, especially with friends but things like the AI bugs and the relentless march of DLC, take away some of it's lovable-ness.

The campaign's story and cutscenes are terrible but I had a lot of fun playing the missions. It starts you out fairly basically and gets you up to speed if you haven't played the previous game. I found the middle of the campaign was a little boring, due to the game throwing similar missions at you in quick succession but then the final few missions mix it up and got me interested again. Things like racing against the clock, or commanding a team of snipers sent to assassinate officers, help make the campaign interesting. The theatre of war mode expands on the campaign with a lot more single player scenarios and even a couple of co-op missions. These are great fun and well worth playing through as they teach you a lot of skills for playing online.

There are a bunch of things that let the game down and keep it from feeling like the true sequel it should be. The game was released a little too soon and there are a bunch of sloppy bugs that really show this. There are odd graphical issues with objects disappearing and things like the repair icon missing at times. There are also a bunch of AI issues that are just straight up disappointing. Just after an update to AI I played a 2v2 game with an AI partner. I watched as the AI forgot to build the Infanterie Kompanie that is so crucial to the Germans and then it sent out it's squad to capture a sector only to retreat it back before it finished capturing. I can't believe how dumb it can be. Path finding features a lot of the old problems you would be used to from the original. Retreating units seem to take odd paths at time, especially when they have added the jump the fence ability to squads, why not implement this to retreating? Make it new interesting and work well. None of this is game shattering but a lot of it is problems from the old game. These should not be a sequel, not one that wants to score highly anyway.

Floating binoculars?

Multiplayer is the best part of this game. Some people love the intensity and focus of a 1v1 match but I prefer the chaos of the 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 matches. It's hard to explain the pure joy I have experience in this game but perhaps it is best exemplified by a 4v4 match I played online with a friend. So much happened in that match that it's hard to remember but there are a few key moments that stand out. Telling my friend not to send in his scout car to a heavily defended point on the map and watching it explode and everyone inside in one second. Ramming the massive German Elefant tank with my T34 and watching as my team picked it apart afterwards was the most exciting moment in the match for me. But the greatest part was that we had not taken a single victory point from the enemy until we were down to 70 points. We managed to fight back and take all 500 points with out losing another. It's the stories you get and the fact that you can fight back that makes this game so good.

There is a lot of value in this game, it gives you a campaign, the theatre of war mode and multiplayer modes but it has taken some odd turns. They have spent a lot of time on making DLC for the game a lot of which was available as part of pre-ordering the game but if you missed, out or didn't buy the collectors edition, there is plenty that Relic and Sega want to charge you for. I think instead of selling you paint jobs for your vehicles at outrageous prices they, could have focused on the included content a lot more. The game could have launched with another nationality or two to play as, it seems a little undercooked in this day and age. They haven't even explored any of the other Axis powers such as the Italians of the Finns. They will probably make a series of expansions for the game that include all of this but it almost makes it worth waiting for the complete boxed set to come out. By then you will own a PC that can handle this power hungry beast of a game.

All around it is a solid title but there are a bunch of disappointments. I know Relic went through a lot with the collapse of THQ and subsequently being bought up by Sega but I think they could have chosen to release this a few months later, to fix a bunch of these issues. If you liked the originals or like any form of tabletop warfare set from the invention of tanks, to say about 40,000 AD, you will like this game, it just doesn't have the widespread appeal they could have achieved with a more concerted effort 8/10.

Infinity Blade II for a dollar

Infinity Blade II is a dollar until the end of this month. If you liked the first one, you are bound to like this one. It looks even more detailed than the first one and it's prettier to boot. Parrying is a lot easier this time and the fights are more varied and interesting. It is definitely a worthy sequel.

If you didn't enjoy the first one though you are probably going to hate this. Although it is a better experience the same things are here to annoy. Sometimes it misreads your actions, although usually when this happens to me, it actually does something better than I it meant to. This time 'round they mixed up the fights a bit more, with extra sequences to get a sneaky stab in and so on but you are still basically having the same battles over and over again. If you found this too grindy in the first one it's gonna more or less be the same here despite some slight improvements.

The story has really been fleshed out in this one and it really sucked me in with the little prologue. The whole experience is a much more solid one, it just run so smoothly on my iPhone 5, whereas the original had a lot of bugs and clunkiness. If you can get it at a dollar I say 9/10.

For more info on both games you can see my original review here. It is amazing to see just how much the graphics have improved on a damn phone.

Retro Gaming with the KiGB: Link's Awakening DX Review

You've probably heard about KiGB, it's been around for quite sometime and it is a Game Boy emulator. You can get it for windows and linux here and Mac OS here. I used the Mac OS version with the shareware enhancer which allows me to use my Logitech controller with no troubles. There seems to be no limitation on using it for free which is great as the creator wants a whopping $30 for it. I was thinking more like $5.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, has just been rereleased on the 3DS so seeing as I can't afford one I decided to fire it up on the emulator.

 

I really loved this game when I played it many years ago but I never had the chance to finish it, or even play it very much. There is something nice about it's simplicity and it is definitely the Zelda title to go for if you are sick of having your hand held by the modern ones. On that note I must admit I did at times use a walkthrough as a guide, because I would often find myself unsure of where to go. This is one annoyance about the game, it can at times be a bit vague. You can telephone Ulrira to get tips but he often tells you what you already know. This isn't such a big deal, as like I said you can just look it up onlin,e or spend a bit of extra time wandering looking where to go.

 

Obviously the gameboy wasn't a graphics or music powerhouse, but in this time of retro gaming it still manages to fair quite well. It only has a simple tone generator but the music is still quite enjoyable. There are some classic tunes and sounds that you will recognise, plus plenty you probably haven't heard. Graphically, it isn't so great but it has this chunky style that makes everything clear and obvious.

The thing that makes this Zelda title stand out is that it's a lot funnier, even a bit more risqué, then any other title in the series. It has silly little things like someone pretending they look like Princess Peach in their letters and all of the bizarre Mario references. Plus it even makes fun of itself. The cute girl in town Marin, decides to adventure along with Link, so what does he do? In typical Link style he picks her up and holds her above his head! I found it hilarious at the time *ahem*. The point is, it is still worth a play and why not emulate it? 8/10.

What We Want From Apple

Apple announced a lot at WWDC and I think most of it is good news. However there is still a lot left unsaid and there is plenty more they could do. 

Like a lot of people, my first reaction to iOS 7 is that it looks ugly and a lot like Windows Phone but after watching some hands on videos, I'm going to have to wait until I see it in the flesh to really make that call. The thing that really struck me were the bright colours and the adage, "cheap and cheerful" immediately popped into my head. They way the background moves in relation to the icons, as you move the device around, is super pretty but this is going to be using extra clock cycles on your cpu and gpu. So is all that translucency. What we really want here is the battery saving performance from Mavericks. In theory all of that stuff sounded great but there was no mention of such things for iOS.

Sticking with iOS 7, I would agree that most of these new features are just catching up to their competitors but I think they are going just a tiny bit further in most regards. New ways to search the app store is something that is very much needed right now and I can't think of any app store at the moment, that I would say has great app finding functionality. Most of the other functions they have taken the best of both Android and Windows and cobbled them together, which is a good thing, well until they get sued. I sincerely hope that they have thought out the automatic update feature and stolen the "only on wifi" setting from android, whilst ensuring we get unobtrusive notes on what was changed.

The final point about iOS that I want to make is, nobody wants Apple Maps in their car. If Apple wants people to be interested in Apple Maps, they have to cram it full of data like Google Maps. You can type almost utter nonsense into Google Maps and it will find the damn thing you are looking for. Apple Maps doesn't even know half of the abbreviations for street types like Pde, typing in such a thing will blow it's mind! If they want people to take it seriously they need to work away in the background, doing the boring data collection and minor tweaks that Apple infamously hate to do. Connecting your device to your car was probably Apple's biggest new feature this launch and it is kind of disappointing, that said, I am sure they are holding something back for the 5S due out later this year.

Now onto the Mac stuff. Let's get the most important thing out of the way, Mavericks is a crap name. I think Apple should move onto small cats and call it Ocelot. There is plenty of room for them to move with these names and they could even finish on Sea Cat.

Okay so now that is out of the way, onto the serious stuff. I actually really like Mavericks and I think it will be the one to update to from Lion. So this is my first issue, can we go straight from Lion to Mavericks? Mountain Lion didn't interest me at all and I think a lot of people felt the same, so I hope this is an easy process. One that doesn't involve purchasing Mountain Lion or doing a clean install. The changes to power and RAM usage sound great, though we'll have to wait to see independent tests. Better integration with iOS devices sounds good to me too but I am more excited about finally getting iBooks. There is a lot of exclusive content such as Games Workshops rulebooks available for iBooks that otherwise required an iPad. Hopefully you'll be able to get them on the Mac too.

This just leaves the MacPro. It's an interesting design and if it works as they say it does and it is priced decently, I think it will sell well but there is one problem. It isn't really expandable. You've got six whole Thunderbolt 2 plugs out the back but what are you going to plug into them? A hard drive? Fine, whatever, what we really want is a new GPU. Apple or a third party need to get GPU's that run through Thunderbolt (preferably Thunderbolt 1 so I can upgrade mine). Yes, you can do that right now but it isn't guaranteed to work. Add to this that everything is so expensive for Thunderbolt, even simple hubs, and you make this option even less desirable. But what's even worse is that Apple themselves don't really support Thunderbolt either. The latest Time Capsule as no Thunderbolt port and this is a device that is supposed to be about quick backups. 

As usual Apple try to get you with the reality distortion field and for the most part it has worked but with just a few simple improvements, they could make the whole experience enjoyable, even for cynics like me.

Get back into Company of Heroes 2 now!

The open beta is back up and there are a lot of new features. The menu UI has been greatly improved and now there are new modes available for play, including playing online with friends versus AI. You can even set the AI to easy if you are too scared.

I guess I'm going to have to pre-order this game, you can get it from ozgameshop for pretty cheap but I already know what is going to bug me about it. Pathing was better this time but I still feel it's going to be an issue, it just doesn't seem like a whole step ahead like it should be. The other thing is the general slowness of the multiplayer engine. At first the servers are probably going to be flooded and that will be a nightmare and I understand that this is a beta stress test with probably out-dated code but the original CoH also developed this problem. I sometimes find myself clicking multiple times on a unit just to select it and even when I think I have, I still move the previous unit somehow. That and the relay points you lay down from buildings are way too slow. Still, it's gonna be a great game and it has been a joy to play other than those minor niggles. With single player, online battles, skirmishes against the AI and a full 18 mission co-op mode, I think it's going to be well worth  the 42 dollars.

Games for iOS, Android and PC

Run That Town [iOS] The Australian Bureau of Statistics finally has a game! I know we've all been waiting and it's even got Shaun Micallef. You can run any town you like from Kambah right through to Thornbury and just like everything the ABS has ever done, it's as boring as hell 1/10.

Iron Man 3[iOS, Android] This one is an endless flyer and like a lot of it's endless runner counterparts it uses the ever terrible tilt controls. This game wouldn't actually be too bad if it weren't for the timers put on everything to make you pay. It does however have quite pretty visuals and interesting missions to complete but at the end of the day it's for fans only 6/10.

Reus [PC] An indie title where you play as a planet, well sorta. You control the deities that are spawned by the planet. These gods represent the ocean, forest life, mountains and swamps and these gods bring life to the planet. The highest level of life is of course humans and you will need to make them happy to succeed in this game. To level up you need to complete achievements, things like get a town to x prosperity level, or have a town with so much greed. It sounds like a cool idea and was great fun at first but the gameplay really drags on as you repeat the same steps over and over again 6/10.

Review of Sid Meier's Ace Patrol [iOS]

Turn based strategy games are perfect for phones and tablets. You can put them down at any moment and come back to them whenever you want but good quality ones seem to be sorely lacking. Can Sid Meir himself finally create something decent for the portable device?

Ace Patrol is set in World War I and puts you in command of a squadron of fighter planes. As your pilots achieve victories they level up and you are able to choose which new manoeuvres they will learn. As the war progresses you gain access to new planes and you are also given random upgrades to stick onto planes. The random upgrades seem a little forced and I think it could have been a lot more fun if you had earned some kind of in-game currency that let you choose what you upgraded.

The game is set out in a series of campaigns that make up the greater war effort, much like a tabletop wargame. Failing a mission does not mean you have lost the war and this adds a level of realism. For each battle, you get to choose between three missions to play and each campaign ends with a special mission that you must play. Missions include things like shooting down bombers, fighting an enemy ace one on one, escorting recon planes, plus many others. At first this seems like a lot of choice but as the war is divided into four campaigns and for each different nation you basically play the same thing, there isn't that much to do.

As one would expect in dogfighting, combat is all about manoeuvring. Your choices are represented by arrows laid out on the hexagonal grid, the more moves your pilot knows, the more choices you have. This can become a bit problematic on the iPhone, as with the smaller screen, pressing the correct button can be difficult. It is a lot of fun though as you try to outwit your opponent and trick them into a bad position. Other factors play into this as well such as anti-aircraft guns and cloud cover.

It's available for free though it's gonna cost you at least a dollar to get a full campaign. You also get the choice of two player via hotseat, or network, which is a pretty good inclusion. The problem with the game is that it still feels like a phone game. It lacks the depth of a PC strategy game, it's graphics are a bit hit and miss and the pictures of your characters are kind of creepy (why do they smile like that?). Yet if you were to buy everything it had to offer it would cost you around $15. This once would have seemed cheap but you can pick plenty of indie strategy titles for less; Reus for example is $10 for the PC. Other little things let it down too, such as bugs that display the wrong information and the confusing layout of in app-purchases. Perhaps most confusing is the receipt I received from iTunes that says I bought the All Nations pack, which does not include one of the nations. Although I'm sure some of these things will be ironed out, it is always best to make a good first impression.

The dogfighting, levelling up and the fact that you can get most of the game for only a dollar, make this a pretty solid title, it is just not the dream strategy game I have been waiting for, for my phone 8/10.

Three Free Games for Your iOS Device

Minigore 2 [iOS] IGN are offering this game for free until the end of the month here. You just run around in a little arena and blast and chop your usually undead foes till you die or get bored. Then you go and buy some stuff in the store. It's a lot of fun but it doesn't hold my attention for a very long time 7.5/10.

Bread Kittens [iOS] I love this game because it is so stupid. It's a Pokemon ripoff that only features cats and in order to capture cats you need to throw a piece of bread around their heads. Then when you have captured a cat, you can bake it a hat that makes it more powerful. The game is generally kinda grindy and doesn't give you a huge amount of rewards as it wants you to spend money on it but due to its stupidity I love it 7.2/10.

Injustice Gods Among Us [iOS] Injustice is great if you want some simple arcade action featuring superheroes kicking the crap out of each other. It lacks any real depth though, as unlike a true arcade fighter you are unable to move around. You just tap out combos then maybe do a swipe to finish the chain, some super moves want swipes or for you to tap really fast and occasionally you put two fingers to the screen to block. Whilst really more of an ad for the console games it can get quite dear if you want to start buying all the packs of cards. It does feature great graphics but only has a niche appeal 6.9/10.

3 Short Reviews

BioShock Infinite [PC, PS3, Xbox 360] A solid game game but no-where near as amazing as the press had made it out to be. The powers aren't as exciting to use as those in Dishonored and the story takes a lull right at the time you are hit with a chunk of repetitive gameplay. Still well worth a play even if it's just to see how pretty it looks 8/10.

Running Unicorn Attack 2 [iOS (coming to Android)] The 80's have made quite a resurgence in videogames this year with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon launching only a week ago and Running Unicorn Attack 2 (RUA 2) only a few days before that. Although they are probably both more early 90's than you might care to believe, RUA 2 embodies the spirit of what we have come to believe the 80's were. It combines cheesy music and memories of over the top children's T.V., with the ubiquitous endless runner. You play as a unicorn jumping, dashing and flying about the world, collecting tears and fairies, smashing stars and giants, all set against beautiful backgrounds that feature flying whales, dolphins and seahorses. So yes it makes no sense. It has some let downs like the occasional bit of slow-down and it does get a little repetitive but it's free and well worth the experience of cheesiness and rainbow-pooping unicorns 7/10.

Haunted Hollow [iOS] Is a turn based game from Firaxis who can't stop mentioning that they made the latest XCOM. What Haunted Hollow lacks that XCOM had in spades is depth. There are some really cool ideas here but little to keep you playing after your first few run throughs. You can play versus the computer or versus a friend in a hot swap arrangement or even online but there is only one map to play on. It's free to play but you will need to purchase extra monsters and items to get the full experience, oddly though, there is no option to buy a new map. The monsters are fun and the levelling up your house to get new, tougher ones is a nice feature but due to your movement points also being your cash for new monsters, you rarely have very many out. It's an interesting idea that could have been better executed 7/10.