Monitoring Post Week 1

This week the main aim was to complete the schedule. I have met the deadline and completed it in reasonable detail. I aim to edit it in some sections to add more detail to certain tasks explaining them better and fully explaining what the task entails. I have uploaded it to the blog and will edit it from there. I feel it is reasonable and realistic in tasks during lesson and homework. The task took a bit longer than planned as it required more thought than I planned but have still met the deadline.

In terms of the homework set by myself, I have purchased most props with one or two left to collect from friends or buy from stores. I have also organised and booked a date for my studio based photo-shoots for Wednesday 23rd January.  I will be updating some blog documents over the weekend as they lack certain details but overall everything is going to plan.

Risk Assessment Location 2

Risk Assessment Location 1

Article 1- Is War the Answer?

Article 1- Is War the Answer?

I think we have all been in a situation where we look forward to the new Call of Duty game. It happens every year and I myself have been no different. Just last year I was heavily anticipating Call of Duty Ghosts hoping to play something new. With a name like ghosts I was expecting to be a stealthy soldier using silence and tactics to eliminate my foes instead of the traditional hoorah tactics of the previous games. Then I started playing and after a slightly stealthy first level I began to warm to the game and even met the legendary stealth experts the ghosts. Then we crashed a van into a stadium and my dreams died a little. From there stealth was mainly an excuse to start the mission before breaking into all out chaos. It was regular COD all over again and all I could do was shake my head and finish it.

The Genre

Ok story time is over now. So this is an article on the grand topic of war shooters. In first and third person. These are among the most popular of games and mainly took off with the PS2 as the first C.O.D games emerged. This trend developed with the release of the last generation consoles like the 360 and PS3 and has now splashed into the now current gen consoles, the PS4 and Xbox one.  Is this a negative? No. These new consoles allow for newer and better-looking war games that can utilize new mechanics and connectivity to band gamers together. Can we see this happening soon? I hope so.

The basics of this genre are that you will be a soldier in a war. The brand war shooter gives this away. This can be a real war say world war 2 or the Middle Eastern conflicts or a completely made up war that the writers have devised. The latter is much more common now and in some cases works very well, the stories of C.O.D Modern Warfare 1 and 2 but can sometimes fall flat, as in C.O.D Ghosts. It will seem like I will insult this game a lot but this is not the case, I am just conveying what I believe it does wrong. It is not the only offender and by no means will it ever be the last.  The main premise is you will usually be an American marine or in some games a British S.A.S that has to fight a terrorist threat in some far-fetched fashion. The spectacle and cinematic nature can be fun to play but the stories are usually highly unrealistic and the Americans/Brits will always win. This is just how it has always been.

The Problems

So before I mentioned that Ghosts would be an example and now I will showcase my problems with the game. I already mentioned the story is just another gung-ho, explosion filled adrenaline rush with superior Americans this time fighting the whole of South America in what is considered a post-destructive wasteland. Now the wasteland is nicely done, I must admit but the story conveyed a fight against a superior enemy yet they only gain superiority through use of an American super weapon. There also seems to be no struggle to fight back against this force rendering the story pretty useless.  This was also seen in Medal of Honour Warfighter where you are given control of a machine gun mounted robot, pretty cool huh? Well it easily mows down enemies until it is destroyed by a rock. It sort of makes you question your actions. If they use rocks, why do I need a killdroid? It’s not an easy question to answer.

The other key issue in campaigns and this affects a lot of the main war shooters around is the lack of control. The game rarely ever lets you explore or try other tactics; they are just linear shooting galleries with a lot of explosions and not much else. You will occasionally be given cool weapons and gadgets that can only be used at certain times and even then they may just be there for the sake of it. For example in Medal of Honour warfighter you are given laser targets to destroy buildings. This is at a specific point where you are apparently pinned down by snipers. They never damage you even if you stand out in the open. The game refuses to let you progress past this point until you have use a laser target on the building they occupy even if you could shoot them without it, even killing you if you dare try to avoid it. This sense of linearity and handholding can ruin the experience and although creates a cinematic experience limits just what the player can do. Choice is ignored in these games.  Even your teammates can do the work for you. If you play on normal difficulty a lot of the time you will never be incredibly challenged. Your teammates can shoot everyone for you or you can call in vehicles of doom and destruction.

Lastly the genre is usually completely designed for multiplayer, which again is heavily a copy and paste formula. This is the main issue here. Single player modes are usually lacking as the game is designed for multiplayer. This is the problem with franchises like C.O.D and Battlefield. There is never any depth to the story or they’re just disappointingly short. Although these multiplayer modes can be fun it is usually just the same as playing an older game with a few new guns and occasionally a new mode. New maps are fun but soon grind and get repetitive.  A victim of this is an older game that showed promise, Homefront. This game boasted a campaign written by the writer of Red Dawn, an impressive war film and featured Americans fighting for their own turf after the U.S. is invaded by North Korea. Unfortunately the campaign was only 4-6 hours and full of stereotypes and scripted scenes. There was a fully working online mode that was very similar of other current multiplayer models and because of this the game disappointed a lot of gamers.

Is it all Bad?

Short answer, no. I have played good war shooters and bad war shooters and I don’t hate the genre. I enjoy the excitement of some of them and I can get a kick from some of the explosive action of these titles, I just hate the shallow nature and lack of change. I recently played Spec Ops: The Line, an older 3^rd person title that was based on a novel about the darker side of warfare. It pitted me as the commander of a three-man team looking for a lost squad in a sandstorm ruined Dubai, fighting desperate rebels and eventually the battalion we were looking for. It was a dark and quite depressing game, which really questions the nature of warfare and the questionability of just fighting a lesser enemy or those of your own. It is an experience that sticks with you and at time really plays with your mood. As dark as it was I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative and felt satisfied with it. Another was not necessarily a war shooter but had a war-based story and that was Metro Last Light.  A first person survival shooter set in a nuked Moscow in the metro tunnels. There was war among the factions and I actually understood what I was fighting for and what the stakes were. It was again a mix of fluid shooting mechanics, difficulty and narrative that made the experience incredibly enjoyable.

The Improvements

So the last part of this article is the improvements. I enjoy this genre and happily play a lot of the games from it but there needs to be change. EA, Activision this is directed at you mainly. You can’t re-use the same formula without it getting stale. There is a limit on the control the player can have before it feels more like a movie than a game. To improve this it is a simple process, look at the classic first person shooter, there was exploration, secrets and an arsenal of destructive weapons. You could spend hours on a single level. Imagine incorporating this into a fully functional battlefield. It would be awesome. Perhaps even creating whole cities with dynamic warzones that can be randomly generated. There is a long list of possibilities here.

The other problem is that the narratives used have gotten stale. We need to break away from the stereotypical U.S. vs. the world scheme and develop more in-depth and fulfilling stories to satisfy the single player gamers and story fans alike. There was a scene in the first Modern Warfare game that still sticks and that was when we see a soldier in the midst of a nuke explosion and players control him as he tries to crawl away before slowly dying. It was a cryptic scene that really added a darker, realistic side to the story and really it was moments like that that the developers should be trying to create. Memorable sequences that can make the player question their actions and for once lets see the player decide what happens and not have the player lead on a trip through the set pieces. It’s time the player was back in control. Now if you excuse me I’m going to go replay Spec Ops. 

Article 2- Pre-Order Nightmares

Article 2 –Pre-Order Nightmares

 Pre-ordering. The one way to definitely secure a game pre release. The relieving feeling of knowing that come release day you will hold the copy in your hands. Though what if it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. You have spent so much money to get this game and now you hate it. It hurts and it’s awful. So why do we still do it? Hype. The only answer hype and now it’s time to break the hype machine.

So it all starts with an announcement. A short trailer to show you it’s really there. The seed is planted and we wait for it to grow. Soon enough another trailer comes along bolder, better and longer showing more of what we want to see. Then with hope we get genuine gameplay and a chance to see the games mechanics and story put to the test or we get the big press release demos at conventions like E3 or PAX or released to the Internet. But just how true is the “gameplay” we really see? Maybe we are just get messed around by the game company who doesn’t want to see their bad ideas.

Evil Evil Aliens

A perfect example of this bait and switch mechanic is a release earlier in the year that had been hyped to hell before being revealed as a fraud. I am of course talking about Aliens Colonial Marines. After five years in development and so many companies it was finally here. Under an embargo until release day. This meaning that media could not show anything featuring gameplay. However at E3 a gameplay demo was shown. One problem, it was nearly all fake. I have played the game and all the way through and the A.I shown, the events, characters nearly everything was a lie. None of it was in the real game. The gamers who had waited were betrayed by the industry. Just to make it worse it was one of the most popular pre-orders on Steam and other online shopping sites.

The real game featured mindless A.I. that had problems shooting the enemy and had no clue as to what they were doing. The graphics were the lowest quality of 360 graphics and screen tearing was rampant. The aliens themselves were hardly ever present and the whole game just felt rushed despite the 5-year development time.  The levels were boring and repetitive and the iconic “Aliens” weaponry is barely non-existent. Not only that, the game is plagued with game breaking bugs that once had me stuck in a wall. The enemies get stuck to scenery removing any scare factor.  The game was a total fake. This is all from personal experience of playing the game and it disgusts me. Though this is not a review so lets get down to the bare bones of the issue…

Basically, the industry seems to be full of liars and schemers. This may not be true but from modern advertising it seems it. Can we really trust adverts anymore? There is a high chance these days that pre-release material is a forgery or staged. The player will never play or see these bits. It’s a scary thought that the companies will directly lie to you for their gain.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if the game were worth the money. The lies may be lies and the shown screens/missions are scripted but the final product met expectations we as a community could live with the lies. But they’re not. Most games are generic, boring and low quality. There are games that fail. Colonial Marines was only one example. There were also games like Ride to Hell retribution 1%. The prior game being one of the worst examples of horrible game design ever. Though fully functional the rest of the game was poorly designed and just made very little sense. First announced in 2008/9 this game was premiered as a biker gang sandbox set in the 60’s with an array of deep characters. What gamers got was the absolute opposite a linear, shallow, mind-numbingly poor game where everything was broken. Yet it was still pre-ordered. I personally feel sorry for any poor soul who pre-ordered this rubbish.

My final example would have to be The War Z (now Infestation: Survivor Stories). A game released on steam following the success of Arma mod DayZ. It was considered a rip off and it was just generally awful. It had micro transactions and had to be bought initially. But with lies in the steam description and bullying tactics it just failed to make an impact. The game was buggy, textures sickening and overall just a poor quality. Again popular game, false advertising.

Why do we pre-order?

The allure of pre-order comes mainly from the promise of extras. Shiny little in game objects or real life trinkets that we gain for paying a little extra. On steam this can even be a whole game, (Tomb Raider). However half the time these are only skins r guns. A little extra thing you’ll barely use. Though nowadays even whole game modes are being locked off as pre-order bonuses. Which if you don’t pre-order for have to pay extra in DLC.

The problem is that there are so many different bonuses in so many different places that the game is completely fractured. If you want a certain bonus you have to go to a specific store or site and this could cost so much more. The whole exclusive scene is a curse onto gaming and really makes getting a game a decision making struggle.  It all works towards getting money and ignoring the consumers. Fragmenting the experience for a few extra pound coins.

In conclusion…

Pre-ordering isn’t a positive experience anymore. There once was a time where we just saw trailers and waited until release. Now we have lying trailers, forged footage and just pointless rewards to tempt us into buying a game we’d never even consider once we’d seen it’s true colours. I want one thing from consumers and that is to wait. Please. Just wait for the reviews, wait for the footage of the real game. Don’t be another victim to the hype machine.Article 2- Pre-Order Nightmares 

The Low Budget Review: GTA V

Grand Theft Auto 5 Review

Here we go again people. Our lives will be taken over by another Grand Theft Auto game.  Since the release of 2008’s exceptional GTA 4 in the gritty Liberty City gamers now make a happy and much waited and anticipated return to the sun soaked shores of Los Santos. However does this game surpass its predecessor? Read on and find out…

So the first key difference is the fact that there are now three main characters instead of one solitary figure in previous games. There is Franklin, who we are first introduced to, a “gang banger” who makes his living stealing cars for evil businessman and car dealer extraordinaire Simeon but wants to do more with his life and live the high life. Gamers play as him until he attempts to steal a car from the second key character, retired bank robber Michael a cynical family man with an unfaithful wife and two children that drive him mad living under the witness protection programme. This spirals into a friendship between the two and they decide to rob a jewellery store. This then introduces us to our third and final character and probably the most popular, Trevor, a mad yet highly intelligent redneck drug dealer. The key twist here is he is Michael’s former partner in thievery and not too happy to learn his partner is alive. In some games this mix of protagonists it may seem that the experience may be shallow and characters thin and weak but leave it to Rockstar to create three amazing deep characters that each has their own unique ideas and needs. The experience is rich and gamers will have fun investigating the quirks of each character.

Alongside the mixed characters there is a fun and dynamic story with 69 story missions where each feels different and fun. The story introduces numerous side characters some with unique jobs and fun little side activities that will entertain during the main story or after it. The main selling point of the game was the heist missions and they do not disappoint as there are several different heists that occur over the course of the story. These suit different purposes and are buried in context.  There is also multiple options as to how these heists can be carried out, though this mainly differs between loud and sensible, the choice is still appreciated and adds to replay ability. Regardless of which choice you make there is an extensive preparation period managed through your friend Lester who co-ordinates your actions. Overall the story is fun and involves all three characters equally and fairly throughout its course. Starting out in a totally different area in the midst of a heist that spirals out of control and ends up with your crew member shot and Michael supposedly dead. This is where we are teleported into the future with Franklin in the midst of stealing a car. From there events create twists and turns. I’m purposefully avoiding details so the story isn’t spoiled as you MUST play this game.

One of the main selling points of the GTA series has been its massive open worlds and GTA V holds this tradition. The world is the biggest yet holding a city that is roughly the size of Liberty City then miles of desert, forest, mountains and ocean all teeming with life. The world is alive and expansive with miles of land to explore from the city streets to the grand Senora Desert to the peaks of Mount Chilliad. The world provides the player with an expansive sandbox to cause as much chaos as they’d like. It is bright, colourful and a very satirical parody of Los Angeles.

With all the cosmetics and narrative in play, do the game mechanics hold up? Yes, yes they do. The mechanics are improved from simple movement and driving to a less clunky inventory to house your arsenal of destruction. The mechanics feel smooth and just makes the game fun to play. You, the player, can easily drive fast and flashy sports cars, fly stunt planes, airliners and even military grade jets.  There is also a wide selection of helicopters and boats on offer too, all handling well and highly responsive.  The gunplay is also fluid with aim assist present but also the ability to free-aim with ease. The main downside to the games mechanics lies with the still challenging ability to shoot from vehicles making some story missions more challenging than necessary, but this is mainly nit picking.

So just what do you do when the story ends? Well there is an extensive list of side activities from extreme sports to towing vehicles to destroying for sale signs. No I’m not joking it’s a thing. There is also plenty of collectables such as submarine parts that can only be found in the ocean to letter scraps of a murder mystery and flying saucer parts all of which lead to rewards and feelings of personal accomplishment. Just to add extra to the game there are also strangers that will randomly appear needing your help, all with available rewards and personalities. These can be businessmen to drunken teenagers. There are secret cults and weird churches available to meet and help over the course of your journey through Los Santos and the surrounding lands.

Alongside this epic campaign there is also an MMO style online mode that allows you to create your own character and help them progress into high society among fellow friends and other online players. You can work your way to the top levelling up gaining access to new weapons, cars and eventually tanks and attack helicopters. There are plenty of characters providing jobs and even famous faces from the story require your help. There are also plenty of activities such as deathmatches, races survival modes and as of the latest update a capture mode that can be all out chaos. However the online mode is lacking in heist missions and can be a bit of a drag to newer players who can be insta-killed be higher level players with better guns. This can be counter with passive mode but that is just kinda dull. There was also a very broken release for the online mode that took upwards of a week to fix leaving some players unable to start the online mode at all. This has since been fixed and is mainly fine now. There is also the content creator that is currently in beta that allows for your own creativity to shine through.  Overall the online mode is fun and continuously growing with provided support from Rockstar improving it and developing it.

So lastly we look at the gimmicks and extras of the game.  GTA is well known for diverse and well selected radio stations with hilarious and satirical adverts, though some just leave you wondering what the hell you just heard and well created personalities or famous celebrities taking the mix. Once again the radio stations are well done with content ranging from gangsta rap to classic rock to punk to even Mexican rap and fiesta music. These are fun but in some cases can get repetitive if the radio station is kept on too long. This again is relatively nit-picky but there is no real heavy metal station and may be a shame to some metal heads like myself. However there are plenty of hidden Easter eggs from flying saucers and aliens to weird individuals and cults. Once again Rockstar mix satire, crude humour and some realism to create a game that is fun to play and leaves you wanting to explore more. The game will last you anywhere from about 10-20 hours in campaign and many more in the online mode. There is plenty to enjoy as this sandbox world of madness, fun and exploration will eat away hours of your day if you truly get immersed. I have no problem recommending this game to you and hope to run into you online. Though watch out I may just be in a tank.

 Recce- All Articles

Potential Locations - Description	Photograph of where you will shoot.	Is it suitable – how? Why? (Access, Lighting, Sound )	Additional  Comments / Observations
Stanhope Park- Darlington. A small park directly outside of Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form college. It has a wide flat of grassland that should be suitable for staging the war.		There could be some issues with trees but it is mainly a brightly lit area that should be wide enough to accommodate the two teams of combatants. This is a public park though so there may be some disturbance from local people so I may need to pick a quieter time when people are working. I will need to consider pathways and distances as I aim to take a long distance landscape shot that may interrupt commuters.  The scenery is well suited to the photo I wish to take and the ground could get muddy from rain. It is very easy access for models in the college yet could prove challenging if I hire models outside of the college.	Since this location is in the UK it is likely to be victim to excessive rain so the field could become waterlogged and marshy. given recent weather and temperature drops there is a slight possibility of the ground freezing over but this seems highly unlikely.
Photo shoot 2- pre-order The QE studio- This is a small photo studio set up inside of the QE sixth form college in Darlington. It has a selection of backdrops and light boxes as well as cameras and other equipment necessary for the photoshoots I wish to take.		This photo was originally taken in my personal residence during mock up preparations and although the picture met the expressive criteria the quality was lacking so I will re-take it in the QE studio where I will have the chance to control the lighting. The studio is located inside the college meaning it will be easily accessible to models inside the college and those that live in the local area.my model attends the other college in the area but has Wednesdays and Mondays off so it is an easily accessible location for them too. There are plenty of light boxes available to control the lighting in the photo and build the necessary shadows in the background. Since it is a college though it will be busy and therefore time limits will be strict and timing must be efficient.	The studio will be perfect for these two smaller shoots as it is quiet and has all the required equipment for the technical side of the shoot. I will provide the props but that again will not be a problem. There a lot of wires that will need to be managed but again should be easily managed.
Photo shoot 3 – Review The QE studio- The QE studio- This is a small photo studio set up inside of the QE sixth form college in Darlington. It has a selection of backdrops and light boxes as well as cameras and other equipment necessary for the photoshoots I wish to take.		Most will be the same as previous article. This location has all the necessary props and being a college has tables that allow me to set up my make-shift robbery. most props will be set up and brought by me so it will be a good location and perfectly suited for the models as they are students at the college.