“Time for another drop”

Taking over publisher duties this time around, TimeGate Studios are deadly serious about their successor to Section 8. Prejudice includes all of the revolutionary features from the original, including the super-power-enthusing armor, Dynamic Combat Missions and the ability to spawn wherever gamers wish, but our impressions gleamed from a recent session with the sequel was how everything is improved and much larger in scope.

Take the campaign for instance. The original was little more than a glorified tutorial which made little to no effort to explore the universe, but now gamers can expect a five-hour campaign chronicling the war between the USIF and renegade Orion faction. Alex Corde again stars, as the plot kicks off with the Orion faction trying to save a captured general from an enemy stronghold. The opening hour is all about chasing the fleeing prisoner while ensuring you eat as little enemy fire as possible. The campaign still feels like a bot skirmish retooled, with scripted events and higher enemy counts, a la Frontlines: Fuel of War, with cut-scenes to add color.

The developers recognize that the original let down a lot of people in the fiction department, and they’re looking to redeem themselves. That said, the campaign is still just one part of the equation, as players will get to experience new weapons, an enhanced loadout system with new skills which unlock per progression and new DCMs to add more flavor to the typical capture point style game mode. Best described as side missions to the main action, teams will have to complete objectives such as escorting a VIP or achieve a designated kill tally in a certain timeframe. On completion, these extra missions add further tickets to the match counter and grant each player more cash to spend on deployable turrets, tanks, mechs and an all-new anti-gravity speeder.

Section 8 was a shooter about choice and that hasn’t changed, with players still able to enter overdrive (sprint x10), use the jetpack and auto lock-on that allows gamers to track on their target automatically for a short time, charge permitting. Anti-air fire is still a massive headache, restricting your drops to neutral or friendly territory, but the effect of applying the air brakes too late during drops has been nullified. You can still glide to your location, rather than smashing metal-first into the rock, and carry out pitch perfect landings on high ground. Choosing where to spawn still feels as refreshingly different as it did in 2009.

40-player skirmishes will be supported on PC, with all-new maps set on more than just baron rockland and there’s also an expanded in-game stats portal catering for clans and fans alike. Apparently they want to over deliver on fans expectations and it seems Section 8 2 will do that in spades.

“Turning to the Dark side”

If there’s one universal principle, it really isn’t easy trying to describe what Darkspore ‘is’ to other people, at least, not without drawing comparisons. It was once described to us by a friend as a kind of ‘Diablo meets Spore’ setup, but it’s not until you finally get to grips with the game that you realise how apt that comparison really is. Throw some Halo and generic Sci-fi elements into the gaming mix, and you then have an experience that’s both oddly unique and riddled with déjà vu.

The official Action/RPG label works, although it’s definitely more action than RPG. The way the UI is set up, the way you leisurely plod from A to B, exploring every nook and cranny to make sure you haven’t missed anything, while making sure to blast any fools that get in your way is pure dungeon crawler – even if it is on a scientific platform orbiting a black hole.

The Darkspore themselves are very reminiscent of Halo’s Flood, although they lack that kind of nightmarish quality. And then of course you use the Creature Editor from Spore to upgrade, design and manipulate your genetic heroes.

There is a story to follow, but it’s more of a sideshow than anything else, as the experience is geared more towards loot and evolution. The player represents one of the last of a race of beings who were masters of genetics, however in experimenting with a special type of DNA called E-DNA, they inadvertently gave rise to the Darkspore. These inherently evil mutated beings wiped out most of the Crogenitors and ravaged the Galaxy, and it’s up to you and your squad to stop them.

You start off with a handful of ‘genetic heroes’, and venture from world to world wiping out Darkspore, as well as collecting parts to upgrade your squad. Those creatures have levels associated with them, just like your Crogenitor self, and you level up by collecting ‘DNA’ dropped by the enemies that you defeat. The higher your Crogenitor level, the more genetic heroes you can activate, but also certain unlocks in the Darkspore’s in-game store become available for you to purchase as well. For instance, players aren’t granted access to PvP until you get to level 10 and can purchase the unlock. We can see hero management getting tiresome over time, though.

There are several other elements to the game as well, including easy-to-use co-op facilitation. You can team up with buddies for the harder levels and special challenges dubbed Chaining, where you play several levels in succession – without being allowed to re-equip or re-arm – as a bit of a gamble to get rarer rewards.

Darkspore boasts a refreshingly unique approach, and a good evolution of the Spore engine. It’ll be misunderstood, and will probably only appeal to a niche audience at first, but we suspect there’s a good and solid game here that promises hours of fun in both single-player and online. With the added community support features, as well as a focus on collectables, this will be a neat little title for gamers to sink their teeth into, especially if they want something different.

“A welcome twist on the usual MMO”

Mythos is the latest MMO to come out of Asia, specifically from South Korean developers HanbitSoft. The origins of the game is obvious, just by looking at the four playable races and the almost manga-fied look to the Gremlins and the Satyrs. They scream cute and not in a deadly, might kill you kind of way. And, after its success in Asia, the game was acquired by Redbana in the US and Frogster here in Europe, where it is now undergoing a closed Beta before an official release.

Set on a planet named Uld, Mythos (which is Greek for ‘a mythology’) introduces a world torn by the races’ enmity. Unlike other MMOs, there is a small selection of races but they are not exactly standard – you won’t find any high Elves or Orcs here, nor are the races divided into black and white factions, rather shades of grey.

You get a choice of Humans, Gremlins, Satyrs and Cyclops. Each race is familiar but refreshingly different, a twist on much-used stereotypes. Humans are the same as they are in any MMO, the stock race whose resilience astounds, but those of Mythos are diplomats even the greed of some led to the remains of the Cyclops race claiming vengeance. Race-wise Cyclopes are hardy creatures but not as brutish as one might expect, given their appearance.

Satyrs, on the other hand, might be named after the part-goat demigods of Ancient Greece but here they a race tied to nature’s mysticism. They might not be Elves but physically and archetypically, they fill that role. The Satyrs are a magical race whose culture is carefree, poetic and sensual, and whose pasttimes involve both meditation and drinking. How’s that for extremes?

The fourth race are the Gremlins, again while the race does not exist in Mythos, they are reminiscent more of World of Warcraft’s tinkering Gnomes, and certainly fit the archetype of small, rather cute creatures who are great with technology in a world predominately skewed towards magic and myth.

Similarly, players might be put off by the class limitations. There are only three classes: Bloodletters, Pyromancers and Gadgeteers. At first glance none seem to tick the boxes associated with such staples as the Warrior or the Mage. However, on closer inspection each class is a mix of the more traditional. Bloodletters, for example, are a mix of Warriors, Necromancers and Warlocks. They use blood magic to summon minions but are adept fighters with a brain full of strategy and a sharp sword to boot.

Pyromancers are the class closest to the traditional Mage, the squishy caster able to cause enormous long-range damage. They also summon minions and create fire from nothing, using it to create devastating attacks which can fell a foe before they even get close enough to strike with a sword.

The final class is the most unique to Mythos Online. The Gadgeteer seems more suited as a profession for Gremlins but is actually a rather unique class, able to fashion traps and bombs for their own kind of devastating attacks, more akin to those used by sneaky Rogues, a staple of most other MMOs.

While seemingly constructive, each class offers more choice via the use of talent trees, which are only now being revealed. These allow for more variety in both play-style and the characters created but not every tree for each of the three classes has been revealed. So far we know that Bloodletters will be able to choose to specialise as Crimsonates, Redhands and Martialists, and that Gadgeteers will be able to train as Marksman.

Uld is a vibrant world with its own beauties and dangers. The lands are both hostile and inviting but are not for the faint-hearted to wander unawares. The mythology, as its been revealed, might not be as strong as those in Aion or Rift or even WoW, but there’s promise there. It’s this promise which is the key to Mythos’ future.

Yes, MMOs are ten-a-penny but this congestion is forcing developers to think out of the box, to put a new spin on old archetypes, to create new races and worlds which are familiar but also have something new and notable which force them to stand a head taller than the rest of the crowd, fighting for a place in an already crowded market. Mythos is one of the first MMOs to actively realise this and try to create something a little different. Even the smallest twist can mean success or failure when birthing a new MMO, especially one hailing from Korea as the acceptance of Eastern MMOs here in the West is even more trickier. That said, Mythos is a shining light; a beacon among MMOs and well worth keeping an eye on.

Back to the Future: Two Generations of Film and Video Game Composers takes place at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, on Friday, April 1, at 8:30 p.m. Ticket are $15.50 – $49.50 and can be purchased at the Symphony Hall box office, or by calling 888-266-1200, or at www.bso.org.

Video Game Orchestra (VGO) is a professional group that performs contemporary arrangements of video game music with an orchestra, choir, and rock band. The group was formed in 2008 by Berklee alumnus Shota Nakama. Since then, VGO has had major success breaking into the music scene with its rockestral video game music. Recently, VGO, along with Nobuo Uematsu, was featured as the main musical act at PAX East & Anime Boston, where they drew a fire-code breaking audience of over 7,000 at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center.

Also appearing will be Alan Silvestri, a Berklee alumnus who has received two Academy Award nominations, one for Best Original Music Score for Forrest Gump and one for Best Original Song for “Believe,” on The Polar Express soundtrack. He won a Grammy with “Believe” for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Silvestri, with other guest conductors Emmy winner Daniel Carlin, chair of Berklee’s Film Scoring Department; and Golden Knight winner and Berklee alumnus Lucas Vidal, will take the stage for performances of music from Forrest Gump, Lord of the Rings, The Simpsons, and Back to the Future.

The Rhythm of the Universe (ROTU), founded in 2010 by Emir Cerman at Berklee, will open the show. The group of Berklee musicians from 90 countries promotes collaboration between people of many cultures who might otherwise be separated by political, religious, or geographical barriers. Berklee alumnus Simone Scazzocchio is the group’s conductor.

“Destination salvation!”

The first project from Polish start-up 11Bit takes the concept of Tower Defence and flips it on its head, with players in charge of a rolling motorcade where the aim is to get from A to B without succumbing to alien attacks along the way. The plot involves alien invaders and precious elements which, as an experienced commander, it’s your job to ferry weaponised convoys to sites on the other side of the map. Handily, your battlefield persona can collect power-ups such as repair modifiers, shields and artillery strikes to safeguard your convoy’s passage.

Each level offers plenty of combative options, with players needing to devise a route, choose from six different vehicles, their optimum order and upgrades. Like all great downloadable games, Warzone Earth has a deceptively simple concept which gets progressively more complicated with leaderboards and a detailed score mechanic to offer a competitive angle to the chaotic action!

Gameplay is fast-paced, and destroying massive enemies by deploying a support power at the right time is very satisfying. The campaign lasts around six hours, and each of the 14 missions takes place in different locales such as Baghdad and Tokyo, with plenty of pick-ups along the way. Expect minimal plot and maximum destruction.

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“Silence is Golden”

Konami’s Silent Hill franchise has enjoyed just a handful of victories over the immensely popular Resident Evil series – constantly overshadowing its quirkiness in favor of more mainstream thrills. However, both juggernauts of the survival horror genre have suffered some growing pains as of late. The Resident Evil series has evolved into an entirely different action/adventure beast, whereas gaming’s spookiest fictional town has gone under some serious renovations of its own – some for good and some for worse. Konami is ready to throw the gauntlet down though, and reclaim survival horror for its own once more with the eighth installment of Silent Hill: ‘Downpour’.

They say when it rains, it pours. When a prison transport vehicle crashes in the middle of nowhere, surviving inmate Murphy Pendleton escapes the scene, evades the law and is soon left to wander aimlessly around a desolate Silent Hill.

It’s not long before Murphy finds himself in the heart of America’s most-haunted location, solving mind-boggling riddles the series has become notorious for. Murphy will also have to fend off the advances of terrifying creatures that appear as the world shifts between suspenseful town to the sick and twisted crimson red nightmare. But Murphy is no BSAA agent thrown into the deep end with a stockpile of bullets at hand. Unskilled as he may be, Murphy can pick up many unconventional items to use as weapons, such as bottles and fire extinguishers to swing unwieldy at his foes.

In fact fire arms will make few appearances in Silent Hill: Downpour, suggesting that it may take a leaf out of Shattered Memories run-first-ask-questions-later approach. But where to run? Down endless corridors? Taking shelter in a supposedly abandoned hospital or school? Downpour plans to do away with these familiar haunts in favor of something a little more on the ‘open world’ style of exploration. But how big can Silent Hill be? Apparently big enough to employ its own subway system for Murphy to get around quickly.

Silent Hill: Downpour is forecasting to bring heavy rain to our screens just in time for Halloween, and with no sign of Resident Evil stepping in to steal its thunder, Silent Hill is in a prime position to scare the pants off the competition.

With series’ veteran Akira Yamaoka currently lending his hand to Goichi Suda and Shinji Mikami’s Shadows of the Damned, the skilled ears of Daniel Licht have been employed to score Silent Hill: Downpour’s soundtrack. Capturing the horror of the Silent Hill series is no easy task but its hard to argue with those credentials. Prepare to be terrified.

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