You're Doing It Wrong - Need For Speed: Most Wanted

I'm back and full of opinions. Kyle's officially handed this column off to me and I'm very excited to be contributing to this blog, blah blah, whatever, let's get on with the lynching.

To be honest, this one is kind of different. I don't hate Most Wanted, I actually quite enjoy it. However, that doesn't mean it's without its strange design choices. This is also different because Most Wanted isn't a sequel, it's a reboot. Most Wanted is also made by an entirely different studio than the original. So lets talk about how Criterion fucked up.

First, the basics. Most Wanted is an open world racing game where you compete in a variety of different race types to gain points so you can take on the Most Wanted, the Best of the Best, and claim the title of best racer. Pretty simple stuff, right? In the original, you played a nameless driver from a distant city, who has his car sabotaged and taken from him but some upstart and ends up locked in jail. After your release, you have to start from scratch and you are gunning to bring down this bastard. The story is told in these real coll Full Motion Videos that blend live actors in with in-game graphics and CG. It's wonderfully over the top and gives each driver just enough character that you really want to ruin these guys days. There's some intrigue to your character as well, but that's better not spoiled. In the remake/reboot, you play as...someone, who's come from...somewhere, and you race against...cars. Honestly, there's no story at all. You're just dumped into the world and told to collect cars. You race against the Most Wanted to claim their cars, but they are just cars, you're not racing against actual racers. You can also find cars out in the world to claim. There are no cutscenes, no characters and no story. Just gameplay. Which is fine, I guess, I mean, it's a video game, right? But without at least some hint of story, you have no driving motivation. What is my motivation for wanting these cars? Sure, some of them look nice and drive nice, but when you have Ashton Martin Vanquish's or Bugatti Veyron's just out in the world for your taking, it becomes lacklustre and you lose motivation fast.

So let's talk gameplay, then, seeing as there is little else to talk about. Both games play very much the same. You race in a variety of events to unlock the ability to race the Most Wanted, rinse and repeat. Where things vary is in how you unlock the Most Wanted. In the original, you had a set amount of races and goals to complete, as well as "heat" (which consists of smashing cop cars and leading them on merry pursuits) to gain, and then the race unlocked. This is where the reboot shines. Everything you do nets you "Race Points". Racing, driving on the wrong side of the road, crashing, getting busted, getting in chases, upgrading your gear, just playing the game nets you RP. Get enough RP, and you can challenge a Most Wanted car. Big plus. The reboot also does away with the economy. In the original, you had to make money. You then used that money to buy cars, parts and visual mods. In the reboot, you unlock upgrades by racing, and the only customisation is a random colour swap every time you drive through the Body Shops scattered around the world. This doesn't really work. Firstly, it's really strange that there is no extensive customisation. In the first you could do elaborate paint jobs, right down to your rims and window tint. You could make the craziest looking, original cars that you wanted. In this one, what you see is what you get, basically. This is especially disappointing with the game's greater focus on Multiplayer, robbing you of the opportunity to show off your crazy designs to all your friends. Secondly, upgrading your car becomes a grind. You just compete in the same races over and over to unlock the good stuff. And you can't get the stuff you want until you unlock the bare basics that you need, like nitrous. However, the biggest crime on the upgrade front is that the Most Wanted cars don't come with any pre-installed or special upgrades. In the original, if you won the Most Wanted car, you wont hat exact car. They often came tricked out with special upgrades, or at least the best of the basics. It gave you a reason to gun for them. In the reboot, you basically just unlock that model and have to upgrade it yourself. I have three other complaints. First, the game is really difficult right from the get go. The original suffered the opposite problem of being way to easy at the start, then randomly spiking about a third of the way through. I'm not hugely bothered by the difficulty, but because there's no real sense of progression you never really feel you're getting better. Also a lot of the races seem really scripted. There were a lot of times I was way in front, and then suddenly almost get pipped right before the line. It takes away a lot of race satisfaction when it constantly feels like you are only winning by chance. Secondly, the crash cams are really annoying. You crash a lot in this game, and every time control is ripped away from you and you have to watch a sometimes 30 second long cutscene of you wiping out. This not only kills the pacing in the races, but takes away one of the best parts of the original - smashing the crap out of your opponents, bouncing around corners off their sides, plowing into cops and generally causing wanton destruction, etc etc. Also, the checkpoints it drops you back at are random and arbitrary. its as liable to drop you ten seconds back as it is exactly where you wiped out. It's amusing sometimes to seeing yourself go spinning off cliffs, but almost always it's just annoying. Finally, the cop chases are a lot harder and long winded than they need to be. In the original, the cops were very fun to get into chases with, and ferocious, but you also had a lot of tools at your disposal to lose them. You could crash into the environment to drop things on their heads, hide in buildings or just straight up smash them up. In the reboot, you just have to outrun them. That's it. On the low levels, this is pretty easy, but once you're past about level 3, it's basically impossible. Not only are the cops literally everywhere, but if you somehow manage to lose them, you still have to wait for the levels to slowly tick down  it take about 20-30 seconds per level, and the cops are still hunting you the whole time. if you're lucky, you'll lose them near a Body Shop and use it to quickly wipe off a level, but that very rarely happens. It's a real shame that they didn't take advantage of the Frostbite 2 engines destruction capabilities for some cool environmental take-downs.

So that's gameplay, what about visuals? Well, the original still looks real good, and runs great, but the reboot definitely outshines it. Environments look great, the models are fantastic and the lighting is brilliant. However, the city is a lot smaller and it suffers the usual Frostbite problems of constant lensflare, dirt and other shit in your face all the time, which can really fuck you up in races where the blinding speed makes it hard enough to see the track. Which reminds me, the track designs are a lot more unpredictable this time around. I'd say they are better and a lot more interesting visual, but its rare you'll get all the way around your first time. Later tracks drop severe turns on you completely unpredictably, or send you over blind hills or jumps. The interface is worse this time. In the first, you could access a few things quickly out in the field, but it was usually easier just to jump straight to the menu and do it from there. In the reboot, everything is done through the ironically named "EasyDrive". This menu does not pause the game, which means you basically have to be at a full stop to use it. Seriously, just try using it at speed and see how that gets you. There's also basically no quick travel. In the original, you could jump straight to the race event and start it if you wanted, or drive to it. In the reboot, you just gotta drive to it. And some of them can be up to 12kms away. You can sort of jump around by using different car spawn points and hoping they are close, but its often quicker and easier just to drive straight to it. A small inconvenience, maybe, but in a game where you're driving all the time, it just feels like padding.

And that's about all I got to say. These really aren't review articles. I'm only really interested in the changes from the original that the sequels fuck up. It's 'You're Doing It Wrong', not 'You're Doing It Right'. I'm sure Kyle will do a full review at some stage, maybe crack out his Angry Nerd style videos he's been saving for Hitman: Absolution. Yeah, I'm not even going touch that one, that's all his. Anyway, like I said, I enjoy Most Wanted, but definitely prefer the original. As a racing game, the reboot is a lot better than a lot of the competition, but placed against the original it falls short in a lot of baffling ways whilst improving very little. You may be Doing It wrong, Criterion, but at least you're not Squeenix. Shudder.

The Women of Heavenly Sword

Heavenly Sword is one of the most tragically underrated games on the PS3. It received a lot of acclaim from the critics, but was often accused of spectacle over substance, and came out in the early days of the system where everyone was still knocking around the gimmicks of the PS3 Sixaxis controls. It is not a perfect game, it suffers from uninteresting boss fights, tacked on motion controls (which are mostly redeemed by the fact that you can turn them off) and frustrating QTEs and puzzle sections. Still, it offers a deep and challenging combat system, tight responsive controls and stunning visuals, rivalling most games being released 5 years later. On top of all that, you have an amazing story, directed by Gollum himself, Andy Serkis. Serkis also provides the mocap and voice performance for the lead villain, Bohan, stealing every single scene he is in. However, I'm not here to talk about the game. It's great, underrated and one of the better action games on the system. I'm not here to talk about Serkis' amazing performance/direction either. I'm here to talk about the three women of Heavenly Sword.

(Spoilers to follow, read at your own risk)

I'm going to start with the villain, Whiptail. Whiptail was a woman once, but has somehow ended up a part eel/part snake/whip-wielding...thing. She is devoted to her master, King Bohan and it is insinuated that he somehow turned her into what she is now. Whiptail is fuelled by sex and anger and views our heroine as a potential ally. Throughout her battle, she attempts to lure Nariko in with promises of a life of luxury in servitude. Ultimately, Nariko weakens her by praying on her relationship with Bohan. While she is hardly the greatest written character, she provides a surprisingly deep and haunting villain.She has become a victim of her love, truly becoming a worthless monster in his eyes. Had she not fallen so hard, perhaps she would have been on the side of good. But the heart is blinding and love ultimately is the downfall of Whiptail, as she dies at the hands of her love. True tragedy.

The second playable character is a young girl called Kai. Little is known of Kai at the start of the game, we are introduced to her as a strange, vague child, with a morbid fascination in playing "twing, twang" (read: shooting bad guys with her high powered crossbow). It is later revealed her whole clan was slaughtered in front of her by the psychopathic General Fox, and she herself may have been tortured, or worse. Nariko finds her some time later and the two bond as the only women in an all my clan. They bond over their grief and loneliness, Nariko at the loss of her mother and alienation by the clan, and Kai over the loss of her whole clan. Kai desperately clings to her childish innocence, playing war as a simple game, but beneath that shell hides a raging inner turmoil. She is fully capable of defending herself, often showing ingenuity and prowess in battle. She even manages to assist Nariko even while being tormented by the man who murdered her family. Kai provides a truly tragic heroine, one who overcomes an overwhelming hardship and ultimately rises to save the day, many times. She's like Batman and R2-D2, haunted by a tragic past, forever hiding in the shadows and saving the day, often as an unsung hero.

And then we have Nariko herself, who is, in my own opinion, one of the greatest female characters. Now, let's just get this out of the way. Yes, her outfit is revealing. You can see half her butt, and she wears little more than some strips of fabric. However, she is not wearing any more or less than any other character in the game. In fact, she is probably wearing more than most of the male characters. Justification, perhaps, but there is very little titillation involved with the way she looks. In herself alone, Nariko represents a lot of the games major themes. Born during a time of prophecy, Nariko is seen as a portent of doom. A male was meant to be born to lead them to glory, instead a daughter is born. Nariko's birth kills her mother, and her father nearly murders her before she can draw her first breath. She is alienated, feared and even hated by her clan, and her father treats her as a pupil first, and daughter second. Still, he clearly loves her and trusts her enough to gift her their most sacred possession, the Heavenly Sword. Driven to rescue her father and save her friends form Bohan's army, she takes the sword in hand and forfeits her life. Those who wield the sword are cursed to die, but Nariko does it without hesitation. And eventually, through sheer willpower, she bends the weapon to her own will, bringing herself back to life long enough to slay the King and bring piece to the land. She dies a hero, worshipped by the clan. Kai sums up: "Some worshipped the sword, others killed for it, but only you saw the truth." Nariko's character just simply wouldn't have worked as a male. Ninja Theory used the power of gender roles to reinforce Nariko's character arc. Her whole story could be seen as a metaphor for a woman's struggle to exist in a male dominated world. There are no females in positions of power in this game, and those with power are hated and feared.The game explores a lot of strong themes: religious persecution, misogyny, genocide, sexual tension, ignorance and many more, and Nariko herself personifies nearly all of them. Her story arc ties the world together and she is it's beating heart. That is why I truly believe that Nariko is one of the best written (and marvellously acted by Anna Torv) female characters in gaming. Now, go buy the game. It's less than 20 bucks in any gaming store.