Command & Conquer 4 OFFICIAL!

After days of digging into, EA has finally shared their little secret: Command & Conquer 4 is official. How do we know? Well, we looked at the last place we could think of: their website. They also announced a trailer that’s supposed to be out in about 14 days after after the date of this news, so it’s going to be on July 23, 2009.

The website also featured a video of one of the people working on the game and talking about what to expect out of the new game. Plus the release date of 2010 was also announced, so we’re here getting all excited of what happens to the Brotherhood of NOD. Oh yeah, did we mention that this game takes place after C&C (command and conquer) Tiberoum wars?

Review: Infamous vs. Prototype

Versus

Ok, so a lot of you have been Emailing us about a review of both Infamous (image above) and Prototype (image below) and kept on asking which is the better game, so we just did a comparison so we can kill two birds with one stone. Well sorry if it took long, but it’s finally here, an in-depth review of Infamous and Prototype. Remember, both games are reviewed based on our opinion of both games so we are not BIASED and this is NOT a fanboy/fangirl review so we will provide as much concrete details of both games as possible so lets get started.

Story:

Ok so lets start on the story. Both games have very similar stories, but the approach is very different. in Infamous, you play as Cole McGrath, an ordinary delivery boy who’s life was turned upside down when delivering a mysterious package to an unknown person. In the middle of the delivery, the package explodes on your face, turning your beautiful Empire City into a hell-hole. Military quarantine, Gangs controlling the city, and Cole being the terrorist that caused the explosion you as the character must either save the crumbling city or make the whole city become your bitch.

As for prototype, you are Alex Mercer, you don’t know what happened to you aside from waking up at a military research facility and somehow gaining special shape-shifting powers that makes you turn into any person you consume, have a shield for an arm, and have the ability to run on anything or anyone (except water) which is freakin’ badass. Now the military has the whole city under quarantine, an infection is spreading that is turning the whole population into zombies and mutants, and now your a wanted fugitive plus the infection wants you dead. So what’s next? Find the people responsible and rip them apart because you can.

The Verdict:

Even though both stories are similar, they are separated by a simple fact. Both stories has its twist and turns, plus it get you interested in seeing it through but the edge goes to INFAMOUS because the way you play affects the ending of the story. It’s true that it you still have to defeat the same boss or do the same story missions even though your on the good or bad side, but it’s that little detail that affect how the story unfolds and what kind of side missions you get to have, plus the fact your more into the character relationship that Cole has with his friends. Prototype, on the other hand, has a good story, plus the history found in the web of intrigue can be entertaining; but once you’ve seen it and played through it, the story isn’t quite as entertaining.

Infamous: 1   Prototype: 0

Presentation:

Before we start let me just say that both games delivered great visuals and sounds.

The Pros:

Infamous is a PS3 exclusive and it shows. The buildings in the game are just stunning to see, the destruction, the atmosphere, crowd reaction, and specially the lightning and electricity effects are just phenomenal. Little details such as cracks on the wall, smudges and destroyed areas just shows how much destruction the bomb has caused. Cole isn’t an exception, his movements are flawless, his attacks from lightning shot to his shockwaves are outstanding and it sounds devastating when delivered, and no matter how many characters are on screen, the game doesn’t have the problem of slow down. The cutscenes are also a nice eye feed sice it has that movie comic book style thing to it which is very pretty to look at specially when the story is being told.

Prototype is also a visual and audio fest: cars, people, tanks, helicopters, and mutants are very beautiful to look at plus the noise of city like and the music score changes in the heap of battle. The city  looks great, especially when climbing to extraordinary heights and the little God of War style mini games just help the game for being fun. Ofcourse Alex is also the highlight of the game, his transformations and animations are very smoothly blended, ripping a persons head of is very, VERY rewarding when you see it.

The Cons:

Both games basically have the same problems but its very minimal to actually care about them. The both have the occasional pop-in in the horizon and they have the famous “horizon fog” going on but it doesn’t really affect the gameplay on both games.

The Verdict:

After playing the game several times we have to give the edge to INFAMOUS because it just looks that great, what do we mean by this? Well the reason is details. Wires that run through the city, the crowd reacting whether you are good or bad is just pleasurable to see and each of the 3 islands has its own feel and atmosphere when visited. PROTOTYPE had great visuals, but it was missing just a tiny bit. The city is epic, but it looks the same no matter what. Basically the city of Manhattan only comes in 2 colors: Either it’s city gray with yellow taxis and dark brown, blue and gray buildings or infected red to indicate that part of the city is under infection which is shown by  red and orange colors. Well we’re supposed to be forgiving since the game has a lot of content and great gamplay right? Well with games like GTA4 and Assassin’s Creed that play great and look good at the same time, it just really isn’t an excuse to ask for a game to look awesome when it has that potential.

Infamous: 2   Prototype:0

Gameplay:

This is usually the most important part of the game because no matter how a game looks or feels, without gameplay to back it up well, we can’t really play it.

Infamous has its great share of gameplay. Traveling from building to building is just very fun to do thanks to the parkour style gameplay where you can cling and climb anything  you can walk and grab on and grind on wires. The lightning powers are just insane as it can be since each power is really cool to use specially receiving new powers via powering a sub-station, the only down side to the powers you gain is the fact that you can only get the coolest powers when you are extremely evil or heavenly good, there’s no real neutrality for the game, but its just a small thing to complain about, but it would be awesome to have both good and bad powers. The side mission of the game, though it doesn’t affect the story, relates to it. Little things such as rescuing hostages to revenge missions give you the choice to be either to be good or evil, also making you use most of the powers you attained through out to solve some platforming puzzles is quite fun and it is very rewarding so that you can get your powers as soon as possible, plus the fact that enemies don’t return at the place you just liberated or owned adds to the reward.

As for Prototype, well the fun factor revolves in Alex. All his moves from transforming body parts into weapons such as claws or big giant hand clubs to his extreme parkour is very, VERY satisfying to see. Also the ability to combine some shape-shift weapons with other ones is pretty neat. Devastators are THE most rewarding thing to pull off because the name says it all: Tentacle explosion, spikes coming out of the ground and a cool whirlwind Kamehameha wave style attacks are just a few moves Alex can pull of. Speaking of moves Alex has plenty and we mean PLENTY of moves: jumps, new power attributes, more effective ways of using a machine gun is just scratching the surface. There are so many upgrades that it’s just fun to experiment with them. Oh and did we say that Alex has the ability to steal vehicles? That he can do too. Sky Jacking a helicopter is just awesome to see and using tanks against the military is just plain fun. Now for the downside, as much as the gameplay is fun, the game hurts it because that’s all you do in the game. Basically the search for the web of intrigue is fun and infiltrating military bases are cool and all but it’s hard to like a game when that’s all you do for 4 or 5 hours straight but it’s still fun and the side missions are just HORRENDOUS and we MEAN it! Basically we are just asking for real side missions, killing as many infected or military personel isn’t fun in a game nowadays since that’s the job of Achievements and Trophies, Alex is on a path of vengance or revenge  and he doesn’t need to know how fast he can climb up the Empire State Building or how many people he can kill with a CERTAIN power, it’s not needed! But, the two most favorite side mission here at BC (brokencontrollers) is War, where you have to pick a side, either military or infected, and help them defeat the other side before your side loses and Web of intrigue hunting since it helps tell the whole story of the viral outbreak.

The Verdict:

Well it’s really hard to say who won in the gameplay department since both games delivered highly in quality and fun gameplay, even though Prototype had problems with side missions and repetitious gameplay, it is still very fun to play and as for Infamous, there wasn’t any problem with it to begin with aside from the things stated above so obviously we give the point to Infamous

Infamous: 3   Prototype:0

Now before all of you complain, people here at BC aren’t saying that you should favor one game from the other. Both these games are HIGH QUALITY, it’s just that Infamous was a little better, but trust us when we say this, if you have the money and a PS3, BUY BOTH GAMES!!!!!! It IS THAT fun and of course for all Xbox 360 owners try and get Prototype if you can sice both these games are instantly this summer’s biggest games. Oh and before ya’ll start yammerin’ us about the score, here it is:

Infamous: 9.5   Prototype: 9.2

Sony Patent Reveals…PS2 Emulation on the Cell Processor?

Why yes, the title of this article is correct, no, you’re not dreaming, and no, I will not pinch you. That’s right, this patent, filed in December 2008 and discovered by Siliconera, reveals that Sony has, contrary to popular belief, thought about backwards compatibility, and much more than we’ve given them credit for. The patent explains how code written for the Emotion Engine (the PS2’s processor) can be divided into fragments, translated into Cell (the PlayStation 3 processor) code, and then reassembled.

Of course, there aren’t too many reasons why Sony would even bother filing a patent like this, especially with reference to the Emotion Engine. I’m talking about backwards compatibility for the PS3, of course. Considering that recent models cannot play PS2 or even PS1 games, this may very well be the holy grail that many PS3 gamers have been looking for, as I, myself, do not have a PS2-compatible machine. If this patent is any indication, then Sony very well may be listening to gamers’ pleas and restoring backwards-compatibility to the PS3, and if released this year, it couldn’t come at a better time, as the PS3 is still third to the Xbox 360 and the Wii. With backwards compatibility, Sony could easily move more units, and coupled with the release of the long-rumored, practically-confirmed PS3 Slim, they could see a sudden surge in PS3 sales, probably even enough to garner Microsoft’s, and maybe even Nintendo’s attention, and they could also appease current PS3 owners by making their systems compatible through a firmware update or a PlayStation Network download.

Previous attempts at backwards compatibility were generally ill-receieved when the PS3 was first released in 2006, due to two different models that used different methods to achieve PS2 compatibility. The 20GB and 60GB models both contained the Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer chips on the PS3 itself, which had perfect compatibility. Later, Sony released an 80GB Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle, which used software emulation, and as a result, only about 80% of PS2 games were compatible with the system. This method is assumed to be different from the ones used in the 80GB model, which should hopefully yield a near-100% compatibility rate. Eventually, Sony removed all emulation from the PS3, most assume to cut costs, considering that at the time, they were losing money on each system sold.

The tale of the PS3 has definitely been interesting thus far, and if Sony’s wishes for the PS3 hold, then we’ll have it for another six years or so. With the reintroduction of backwards-compatibility, Sony could easily start to level the playing field, but of course, compatibility isn’t everything, although the PS3 is definitely starting to show its muscle in terms of exclusive games for the system. But the icing on the cake, the one thing that would make me dust off the system more often and get more playtime in, is the ability to play inFAMOUS one minute and then switch to Persona 4, all without turning off one system and switching on another.