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Thursday, 5 June 2008
Sunday, 1 June 2008
The Latest Playstation 3 Games
Grand Theft Auto IV
It’s rare for a game to live up to the enormous pre-release hype and Grand Theft Auto IV is that rare game. With a huge Liberty City to explore, impressive detail, sharp writing, compelling characters, and a ton of side missions and activities to complete, Grand Theft Auto IV is not only the best GTA game ever, it’s one of the best games ever period.
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to get you through every facet of Grand Theft Auto IV and every corner of Liberty City. You’ll find a complete walk-through of the story mode, details on all friends, girlfriends, and random characters, solutions to side missions, multiplayer tips, and cheat codes.
This Gamespot game guide to Grand Theft Auto IV features:
Story Walk-through: A complete walk-through of the single-player game with tips on completing all mission objectives.
Friends, Girlfriends, and Random Characters: Make friends, date girlfriends, and meet random characters. This section covers them all, including how to show your friends a good time, impress dates, and how to unlock special benefits.
Side Missions: Need cash or just want to take on some additional work? Check here for tips on completing the available side missions, such as Brucie’s export business, Little Jacob’s package runs, Stevie’s vehicles, or the assassin tasks.
Multiplayer Tips: This section compiles tips on competing in Grand Theft Auto IV’s multiplayer modes.
Cheat Codes and Extras: Check here for Grand Theft Auto IV cheat codes and other extras.
Xbox 360 Achievements: This section lists achievements to unlock in the Xbox 360 version.
Haze
In the world of UK game development, Free Radical is probably one of the more closely scrutinised studios around. Both with and after Rare, the team has created a string of first-person shooters such as GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and TimeSplitters. With Haze, the studio hopes to take this experience and marry it with a brand-new politically charged storyline. I recently had the chance to play a number of stages from the upcoming PS3-exclusive shooter in both single-player and four-player cooperative modes. From what I experienced, Haze blends a pretty unique storyline with some solid, enjoyable gameplay in the campaign. A highlight of Free Radical's works to date has always been engaging and compelling multiplayer, and Haze will support up to 24-player online play--the only problem is that the multiplayer content is still under embargo. Until then, let us present to you the campaign side of the game.
For those who are a bit sketchy on the game's premise, here's a quick recap. Haze is set in the near future, where nations have been outsourcing their military forces to corporations such as Mantel Industries (think RoboCop). Mantel, engaged in a war with rebels in an unnamed South American country, has its own private army of troopers that rely on a drug called Nectar to offer heightened senses, reflexes, and strength.
Jump on your trusty quad bike to traverse some of the rugged South American terrain.
In addition to its benefits, Nectar also has a downside. The drug is highly addictive and, playing as a Mantel soldier, you'll experience some of the nasty side effects when you're not dosed up on the juice. You can also easily overdose if you're not careful. If this happens, your vision will blur and you'll become a gun-wielding maniac shooting at anything that moves, whether it's friend or foe. Rebels can also trigger an overdose with a well-placed melee attack to your back, where the Nectar regulator sits. For more information on the abilities of both troopers and rebels.I played through a number of stages, including the jungle of the Selva region, where you start your journey as a Mantel trooper. Throughout the game, you'll play the game's protagonist, Shane Carpenter, who undergoes a crisis of conscience as he suffers through the nasty effects of Nectar withdrawal symptoms and detox to see what the world looks like without the drug's feel-good effects. After this plot twist, which occurs halfway through the game, you'll switch sides from Mantel trooper to Promised Hand rebel.
In the first rebel level I saw, I answered a distress signal from a container ship not far from the Promised Hand's hideout. While fighting your way through the rusty tub you eventually stumble upon the transmitter of the signal, who provides some clues on the purpose of Mantel's presence in the region. The next stage, Dientes de Vaca, involves a mountain ascent using a rebel pickup truck. Running the gauntlet up the mountain, you encounter a number of trooper barricades, and if your vehicle takes too much damage you need to jump ship and steal a Mantel vehicle. The rebel truck is pretty easy to handle and not overly sensitive, but like other vehicles that we've tried in the game, it can flip if you hit an unstable patch. Bailing out under heavy fire is never a wise plan of action, because there are plenty of intense firefights to keep you occupied on your way to the summit.
Throughout the game you play as a four-man squad, and Haze supports four-player co-op and two-player split-screen. Joining as an additional player is easy, either from the same console or a local network (and should be just as easy via PlayStation Network). Extra players will take the place of a computer-controlled team member and if they drop out, the system will resume control. If you die you'll get back in the game at the next checkpoint, so even if your aim is lousy, you won't be condemned to the sidelines.
Play as a juiced-up trooper or a Promised Hand rebel using Nectar against Mantel's forces.
The final rebel level we saw, Mirador del Aguila, involves infiltrating an observatory that sits atop the mountain. Throughout the rebel missions you'll be given directions from the rebels' leader, "Skin Coat" Merino, and interact with your teammates, so even if you're playing by yourself, it's not a totally solo affair. While some of the dialogue comes across a bit strained and hammy, the general storyline is pretty intriguing, and getting to the bottom of Mantel's end plan seems compelling enough to keep you going to the end.
Haze's graphics still look a bit rough, especially the particle effects spraying out under vehicles. The game's environments appear detailed, although some of the indoor environments are a bit on the bland side. Haze's artificial intelligence was generally pretty good and enemies didn't waste time firing lead at you, although teammates occasionally did weird things and didn't always follow our lead. On occasion the physics were also a problem, and caused vehicles to become stuck in precarious situations which were hard to get out of. We also found that the game's collision detection didn't always work, with AI-controlled soldiers standing inside solid objects at times.
For more information on Haze, check out our previous coverage and stay tuned for more details on the much-anticipated multiplayer mode in the coming weeks.
Haze Multiplayer
Free Radical Design has always been known for creating games with well-balanced and ultimately addictive multiplayer modes, whether that's due to the founding staff's history at Rare, coding the likes of GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64, or as its own entity, creating the popular TimeSplitters series. The first map that we saw was called Swamp, which, as the name implies, is a dark, waterlogged marshland complete with a thick, low-lying fog, which makes visibility a challenge. You'll have to wade through the thick marshes (which could easily pass for Dagobah from The Empire Strikes Back), through reeds, and under fallen trees, all offering varying degrees of cover. If you're playing as a Mantel trooper, a quick dose of Nectar--thereby increasing the visibility of enemies--will make it easy to spot any would-be-camping rebel scum. Troopers are also reasonably visible due to the fluorescent yellow patches on their uniforms, which makes things slightly easier for the Promised Hand rebels.
The Swamp is the perfect map for rebels looking to ambush Mantel troopers.
I played a number of team deathmatch games in the dark and moody depths of the swamp. Each game had two teams: troopers and rebels. One such army is run by Mantel Global Industries, which is fighting a war in South America while running a pharmaceutical operation. To keep its troopers fighting in prime condition, it regularly doses them up with a drug known as Nectar. In addition to giving troops enhanced field-combat skills, the drug censors their perception of battle, resulting in a seemingly blood- and casualty-free war zone.
In the single-player campaign, you'll play firstly as a Mantel trooper and then as a Promised Hand rebel--experiencing the gruesome reality of war without a constant Nectar high. At first glance it seems as if the troopers have the upper hand in multiplayer, but the rebels aren't without their tricks. For one, they aren't weighed down with armour, which means that when playing as the rebel, you're able to pull off a quick sprint move. You'll also be able to make troopers overdose with a melee attack to their Nectar regulator, located between their shoulder blades. Overdosed troopers will go into a frenzy, firing at anything in sight--including their allies.
Given that troopers can't see dead bodies, rebels can also "play dead" via a quick button tap, although you can perform this move only when close to dying. It's not a foolproof tactic, either, given that you'll still be vulnerable to explosions whilst on the ground. You'll also be exposed when reviving yourself from your fake death; if you time it right, then you'll leap up in the nick of time, but if you get it wrong, then it will take you longer than normal to revive, rendering you exposed and vulnerable for a critical few seconds.
Rebels can also modify trooper weapons using Nectar: a knife can be laced with the drug, as can standard grenades, with overdose-inducing effects.
During our time with the game, it seemed that troopers were the flavour of the day, given the immediate benefits that Nectar held (including increased health, standard speed, aim, stronger melee attacks, and clearer vision). Despite this, Haze's creative director, Derek Littlewood, assured us that both sides are equally balanced in the game. From what he has observed, new players are keen to try out the troopers' immediate advantages from the start, but after playing the game for a while, they come to see the strengths of the rebels' unorthodox and improvised battlefield tricks. Despite our short time with the game, we could see the benefits of both sides.
The second scenario we played was a team assault on the Land Carrier map, which took place on the deck of an airborne aircraft carrier that was floating over dense jungle. This scenario can be won by either wiping out the opposing team if respawns are limited, or by achieving an objective. In this case, the rebel team was attempting to deactivate the base's defences by way of accessing a control panel high above the carrier's deck, whereas the troopers were tasked with holding them off until the timer ran out.
Aircraft, debris, and gaping holes in the deck, all need to be manoeuvred around, and there are also buggies that can be used, whether you prefer to mow down a few enemy troops or just get from one end of the long, narrow, map, to the other at speed. We didn't get to experience a full 24-player match, which is what the game should support at launch, but during our local network matches, the game held up nicely with no connection issues or lag.
Land Carrier offers some frantic, tightly packed mayhem for up to 24 players.
Each map is prefaced by a short video briefing, which serves to give an overview of the objectives and layout. We didn't get to see any evidence of it, but Free Radical has said that the single-player story will continue in the multiplayer mode (what they dubbed "episodic multiplayer"), and compared it to watching the deleted scenes from a DVD--adding extra information to the core story seen in the campaign. Although it remains to be seen how they'll include this in the final game, it sounds as if it could be a welcome addition.
Haze is looking to be a much-needed shot in the arm to the PlayStation's first-person shooter lineup, and one of the few exclusive third-party ones to date. From what we've seen in our previous coverage of the single-player and co-op mode, Haze aims to offer a unique storyline, plenty of white-knuckle action, and a variety of abilities when playing--first as a Mantel trooper, and then as a Promised Hand rebel.
It’s rare for a game to live up to the enormous pre-release hype and Grand Theft Auto IV is that rare game. With a huge Liberty City to explore, impressive detail, sharp writing, compelling characters, and a ton of side missions and activities to complete, Grand Theft Auto IV is not only the best GTA game ever, it’s one of the best games ever period.
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to get you through every facet of Grand Theft Auto IV and every corner of Liberty City. You’ll find a complete walk-through of the story mode, details on all friends, girlfriends, and random characters, solutions to side missions, multiplayer tips, and cheat codes.
This Gamespot game guide to Grand Theft Auto IV features:
Story Walk-through: A complete walk-through of the single-player game with tips on completing all mission objectives.
Friends, Girlfriends, and Random Characters: Make friends, date girlfriends, and meet random characters. This section covers them all, including how to show your friends a good time, impress dates, and how to unlock special benefits.
Side Missions: Need cash or just want to take on some additional work? Check here for tips on completing the available side missions, such as Brucie’s export business, Little Jacob’s package runs, Stevie’s vehicles, or the assassin tasks.
Multiplayer Tips: This section compiles tips on competing in Grand Theft Auto IV’s multiplayer modes.
Cheat Codes and Extras: Check here for Grand Theft Auto IV cheat codes and other extras.
Xbox 360 Achievements: This section lists achievements to unlock in the Xbox 360 version.
Haze
In the world of UK game development, Free Radical is probably one of the more closely scrutinised studios around. Both with and after Rare, the team has created a string of first-person shooters such as GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and TimeSplitters. With Haze, the studio hopes to take this experience and marry it with a brand-new politically charged storyline. I recently had the chance to play a number of stages from the upcoming PS3-exclusive shooter in both single-player and four-player cooperative modes. From what I experienced, Haze blends a pretty unique storyline with some solid, enjoyable gameplay in the campaign. A highlight of Free Radical's works to date has always been engaging and compelling multiplayer, and Haze will support up to 24-player online play--the only problem is that the multiplayer content is still under embargo. Until then, let us present to you the campaign side of the game.
For those who are a bit sketchy on the game's premise, here's a quick recap. Haze is set in the near future, where nations have been outsourcing their military forces to corporations such as Mantel Industries (think RoboCop). Mantel, engaged in a war with rebels in an unnamed South American country, has its own private army of troopers that rely on a drug called Nectar to offer heightened senses, reflexes, and strength.
Jump on your trusty quad bike to traverse some of the rugged South American terrain.
In addition to its benefits, Nectar also has a downside. The drug is highly addictive and, playing as a Mantel soldier, you'll experience some of the nasty side effects when you're not dosed up on the juice. You can also easily overdose if you're not careful. If this happens, your vision will blur and you'll become a gun-wielding maniac shooting at anything that moves, whether it's friend or foe. Rebels can also trigger an overdose with a well-placed melee attack to your back, where the Nectar regulator sits. For more information on the abilities of both troopers and rebels.I played through a number of stages, including the jungle of the Selva region, where you start your journey as a Mantel trooper. Throughout the game, you'll play the game's protagonist, Shane Carpenter, who undergoes a crisis of conscience as he suffers through the nasty effects of Nectar withdrawal symptoms and detox to see what the world looks like without the drug's feel-good effects. After this plot twist, which occurs halfway through the game, you'll switch sides from Mantel trooper to Promised Hand rebel.
In the first rebel level I saw, I answered a distress signal from a container ship not far from the Promised Hand's hideout. While fighting your way through the rusty tub you eventually stumble upon the transmitter of the signal, who provides some clues on the purpose of Mantel's presence in the region. The next stage, Dientes de Vaca, involves a mountain ascent using a rebel pickup truck. Running the gauntlet up the mountain, you encounter a number of trooper barricades, and if your vehicle takes too much damage you need to jump ship and steal a Mantel vehicle. The rebel truck is pretty easy to handle and not overly sensitive, but like other vehicles that we've tried in the game, it can flip if you hit an unstable patch. Bailing out under heavy fire is never a wise plan of action, because there are plenty of intense firefights to keep you occupied on your way to the summit.
Throughout the game you play as a four-man squad, and Haze supports four-player co-op and two-player split-screen. Joining as an additional player is easy, either from the same console or a local network (and should be just as easy via PlayStation Network). Extra players will take the place of a computer-controlled team member and if they drop out, the system will resume control. If you die you'll get back in the game at the next checkpoint, so even if your aim is lousy, you won't be condemned to the sidelines.
Play as a juiced-up trooper or a Promised Hand rebel using Nectar against Mantel's forces.
The final rebel level we saw, Mirador del Aguila, involves infiltrating an observatory that sits atop the mountain. Throughout the rebel missions you'll be given directions from the rebels' leader, "Skin Coat" Merino, and interact with your teammates, so even if you're playing by yourself, it's not a totally solo affair. While some of the dialogue comes across a bit strained and hammy, the general storyline is pretty intriguing, and getting to the bottom of Mantel's end plan seems compelling enough to keep you going to the end.
Haze's graphics still look a bit rough, especially the particle effects spraying out under vehicles. The game's environments appear detailed, although some of the indoor environments are a bit on the bland side. Haze's artificial intelligence was generally pretty good and enemies didn't waste time firing lead at you, although teammates occasionally did weird things and didn't always follow our lead. On occasion the physics were also a problem, and caused vehicles to become stuck in precarious situations which were hard to get out of. We also found that the game's collision detection didn't always work, with AI-controlled soldiers standing inside solid objects at times.
For more information on Haze, check out our previous coverage and stay tuned for more details on the much-anticipated multiplayer mode in the coming weeks.
Haze Multiplayer
Free Radical Design has always been known for creating games with well-balanced and ultimately addictive multiplayer modes, whether that's due to the founding staff's history at Rare, coding the likes of GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64, or as its own entity, creating the popular TimeSplitters series. The first map that we saw was called Swamp, which, as the name implies, is a dark, waterlogged marshland complete with a thick, low-lying fog, which makes visibility a challenge. You'll have to wade through the thick marshes (which could easily pass for Dagobah from The Empire Strikes Back), through reeds, and under fallen trees, all offering varying degrees of cover. If you're playing as a Mantel trooper, a quick dose of Nectar--thereby increasing the visibility of enemies--will make it easy to spot any would-be-camping rebel scum. Troopers are also reasonably visible due to the fluorescent yellow patches on their uniforms, which makes things slightly easier for the Promised Hand rebels.
The Swamp is the perfect map for rebels looking to ambush Mantel troopers.
I played a number of team deathmatch games in the dark and moody depths of the swamp. Each game had two teams: troopers and rebels. One such army is run by Mantel Global Industries, which is fighting a war in South America while running a pharmaceutical operation. To keep its troopers fighting in prime condition, it regularly doses them up with a drug known as Nectar. In addition to giving troops enhanced field-combat skills, the drug censors their perception of battle, resulting in a seemingly blood- and casualty-free war zone.
In the single-player campaign, you'll play firstly as a Mantel trooper and then as a Promised Hand rebel--experiencing the gruesome reality of war without a constant Nectar high. At first glance it seems as if the troopers have the upper hand in multiplayer, but the rebels aren't without their tricks. For one, they aren't weighed down with armour, which means that when playing as the rebel, you're able to pull off a quick sprint move. You'll also be able to make troopers overdose with a melee attack to their Nectar regulator, located between their shoulder blades. Overdosed troopers will go into a frenzy, firing at anything in sight--including their allies.
Given that troopers can't see dead bodies, rebels can also "play dead" via a quick button tap, although you can perform this move only when close to dying. It's not a foolproof tactic, either, given that you'll still be vulnerable to explosions whilst on the ground. You'll also be exposed when reviving yourself from your fake death; if you time it right, then you'll leap up in the nick of time, but if you get it wrong, then it will take you longer than normal to revive, rendering you exposed and vulnerable for a critical few seconds.
Rebels can also modify trooper weapons using Nectar: a knife can be laced with the drug, as can standard grenades, with overdose-inducing effects.
During our time with the game, it seemed that troopers were the flavour of the day, given the immediate benefits that Nectar held (including increased health, standard speed, aim, stronger melee attacks, and clearer vision). Despite this, Haze's creative director, Derek Littlewood, assured us that both sides are equally balanced in the game. From what he has observed, new players are keen to try out the troopers' immediate advantages from the start, but after playing the game for a while, they come to see the strengths of the rebels' unorthodox and improvised battlefield tricks. Despite our short time with the game, we could see the benefits of both sides.
The second scenario we played was a team assault on the Land Carrier map, which took place on the deck of an airborne aircraft carrier that was floating over dense jungle. This scenario can be won by either wiping out the opposing team if respawns are limited, or by achieving an objective. In this case, the rebel team was attempting to deactivate the base's defences by way of accessing a control panel high above the carrier's deck, whereas the troopers were tasked with holding them off until the timer ran out.
Aircraft, debris, and gaping holes in the deck, all need to be manoeuvred around, and there are also buggies that can be used, whether you prefer to mow down a few enemy troops or just get from one end of the long, narrow, map, to the other at speed. We didn't get to experience a full 24-player match, which is what the game should support at launch, but during our local network matches, the game held up nicely with no connection issues or lag.
Land Carrier offers some frantic, tightly packed mayhem for up to 24 players.
Each map is prefaced by a short video briefing, which serves to give an overview of the objectives and layout. We didn't get to see any evidence of it, but Free Radical has said that the single-player story will continue in the multiplayer mode (what they dubbed "episodic multiplayer"), and compared it to watching the deleted scenes from a DVD--adding extra information to the core story seen in the campaign. Although it remains to be seen how they'll include this in the final game, it sounds as if it could be a welcome addition.
Haze is looking to be a much-needed shot in the arm to the PlayStation's first-person shooter lineup, and one of the few exclusive third-party ones to date. From what we've seen in our previous coverage of the single-player and co-op mode, Haze aims to offer a unique storyline, plenty of white-knuckle action, and a variety of abilities when playing--first as a Mantel trooper, and then as a Promised Hand rebel.
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