The ChaosSmurf Opinion

StarLancer

Sometimes the flaws in a game work to its advantage. The particular bugs, oddities of coding or developer mistakes provide a game experience that is more entertaining or enjoyable. StarCraft is one such game, its various multiplayer bugs enhancing the gameplay and allowing it to enjoy a 10 year status as one of the best RTS's available for competitive play. StarLancer is another such game, although in this case it is the outstanding Americanism displayed in the narrative and dialogue of the 2001 spacefighter simulation that enhances the experience; rather than the ever-present random crashes.

In any other game a pilot cheerfully chirping the phrase "Looks like command's finally decided it's time to roll with the Diceman" in a strong accent would result in mocking tones from a reviewer. Instead, it adds charm and humour (intended or otherwise) to what would otherwise be a generic ship-blasting fare. In the same way that Independence Day is so American it's brilliant, StarLancer's portrayal of everyone in the Eastern bloc as a murderous scumbag and its intensification of the characteristics of all nations to the point of caricature just makes it that much better.

The plot is best described as Red Alert in space. The player takes the role of a volunteer pilot for a new squadron after the Alliance (good, western guys) suffers heavy losses to the Coalition (bad, Russian guys) at the start of the war. From initial simple missions to scout out territory around Neptune, objectives and tasks vary constantly between levels as your unit is given more responsibility. While short (no more than 20 minutes for the longer undertakings) each has multiple possible endings depending solely on just how good the player is. A failed mission does not necessarily mean game over (unless you're killed) and the better a player does the quicker he gains access to stronger ships due to a promotion system based on performance. Balance is sometimes a little off, with superiors or co-pilots demanding that the player do things which are entirely luck based, impossible without fore-warning or just plain hard but most instructions are achievable and difficulty levels are varied enough to allow for a challenge.

Multiplayer consists of both competitive and cooperative play. Up to eight people can fly around shooting each other in a variety of situations - including a map featuring a giant death-tower that'll one shot your ship if it locks on - with teamplay as well as free for all. If helping your friends is more your thing than killing them all, coop lets you run through the entirety of the campaign, although maximum capacity is halved to four. Some of the inter-mission storyline is cut, assumedly so the action can proceed without players having to wait for each other. A lack of hardware won't hinder you since, unlike many of its peers, StarLancer is perfectly playable without a joystick. As usual, it makes life easier if one is used but those without won't feel the game is unplayable or fall massively behind their more well endowed friends. There's even a basic auto-aim feature built into certain ships which makes keyboard flying that much simpler. Default controls are well spaced and make sense, but those wishing to change them can do so easily.

Unfortunately, not all of StarLancer's coding screw ups add to its charm. It'll crash. A lot. Just after the player kills an opposing pilot seems to be a favourite, though the timing is completely random. Crashes on alt-tabbing seem to be based on how long it has been since installation. Thankfully, the game as a whole is worth its errors. Auto-saves at the beginning of every level minimise the amount of time which is lost and the game is worth a few playthroughs - requested or not. An underrated classic of a lost genre, if you see a copy hanging around in the bottom of a bargain bin it's definitely worth picking up.

83%

Team Fortress 2

Teamwork is an ancient concept, dating back further than most histories stretch. It predates the human race and most recognisable species - even the earliest animals could hunt in packs. It should therefore be of no surprise that, like all real-life normalities, once the internet is involved teamwork goes out the window. "I can't see his face, why should I help him?" syndrome is rampant among the tube-going masses and has hindered many a game that has gone before (prime examples: the Battlefield games, both major Counter-Strike iterations and any public 2v2 RTS you've ever played). It is therefore a miracle, and a credit to developers Valve, that TF2 manages to convince people to actually help each other. But how has it done so?

Firstly, through basic game mechanics. A team consisting of a balance of classes specifically tailored to work well together with each player knowing his role in the bigger picture will succeed, without fail, over a team without. This is not an original concept - the examples used above also had this feature - but it is perfectly executed here. Every class has hard and soft counters meaning one person cannot completely dominate an opposing team - but two or three working in tandem against uncoordinated opponents can. An example of a base design decision that encourages team work would be turning off friendly fire by default. The inability to hurt or be hurt by a member of your own team engenders you to them and means mistakes (which are easy to make in the hectic environment that is a TF2 battleground) won't result in vindictive or angry compatriots.

Another success is managing to make helping fun and this is primarily shown in the Medic. The concept seems off for a shooter: weak primary weapon with limited range, a small amount of health and a main role which involves holding the fire button until a bar fills up. However, in practice it is highly enjoyable. The Übercharge is just the right mix of anticipation, timing and a "WHO'S AWESOME? I'M AWESOME" feeling when it all goes as planned; point gains have been well balanced so that a good medic can place high on a scoreboard and the addition of achievements has given people a reason to play the class even if they wouldn't normally be interested. In fact, achievements have been a primary way of coaxing teamwork out of players with many of them focusing on this aspect. The unlocked weapons themselves can also be seen to have this focus, the Heavy's Sasha (slows a target that is being fired upon), the Medic's Übersaw (every melee hit gives 25% Übercharge) and the Pyro's Axetinguisher (always crits a target which is on fire) all being very powerful when used in conjunction with an allied player of the same class.

The unique artistic style of the game is also important for allowing teamwork to come to the fore. The over-the-top caricatures give each player a feeling of confidence in their team-mates (who isn't a little happier when they know a guy with a machine gun bigger than most people is covering them?) and allow for certain classes to be picked out easily. This is useful for both identifying targets for focus fire and for finding certain allies to assist or heal. More in general, the art of the game is simply brilliant. Playing on the highest graphical configuration is a beauty to behold and the "cartoony" style so suits the game that it is hard to imagine it in a more realistic setting.

The only flaws which can be found in Team Fortress 2's repertoire are ones of repetition. Essentially, the game is the same thing over and over. Particularly at release, it was possible to become bored with the limited number of maps and situations that a team could find themselves in. A low number of choke points could be found on each map and some of these were unfriendly to certain classes. However, the addition of two new game modes post-release along with several new maps and the weapon unlocks have given it new life. The amount of time between class patches could do with being lowered but this is Valve - the quality is guaranteed so the delay must be weathered. Considering that it can be picked up along with some of the best single player action available on the PC in The Orange Box there is simply no excuse for not sampling Team Fortress 2's brilliance.

92%