‘Up’ video game producer talks about look, spoilers
How do you bring a hit movie to video-game screens? Brian Wiklem, senior producer of the “Up” video game for THQ, said it’s about telling the story in between the moments of the film.
Brian Wiklem
“You try not to replicate everything you see on film, otherwise you’re playing something that you just watched, and we want to offer an expanded experience,” Wiklem said.
In “Up,” retired balloon salesman Carl Fredericksen is joined by a stowaway in his house, which is held aloft by balloons and en route to South America. Carl discovers young Wilderness Explorer Russell is along for the ride.
“In the film, there’s a big bonding and relationship aspect between Carl and Russell that gets evolved over the film, so we try to play up on that,” Wiklem said. “When you play the game, there’s constant bantering back and forth. And it’s not just gameplay-related; we’re also trying to develop the story a little bit further.”
Wiklem said the development team is concerned about movie spoilers but also figures 90 percent of the game’s audience will have seen the film.
“That’s always a concern, especially with how we opened the ‘Up’ video game by starting off with a major event that actually happens at the end of the film,” Wiklem said. “We were a little bit concerned about that, but we wanted to open the game with a very big moment to get the player sucked in.”
Wiklem said while it might seem easier to develop a video game based on animated visuals, he thinks expectations add another level of difficulty.
“People expect the games to look almost identical to a Pixar film or a DreamWorks film or any other film, 
for that matter,” he said. “It’s really hard to do that. I think it’s probably a little bit easier to do photo-realistic textures than it is trying to match how Disney-Pixar does their graphics and the details.”
The way they worked around that for the Nintendo Wii version of “Up” was to create an art design based on the style guide for the film, which was a stylized representation.
“It was a different way of dealing with the tremendous graphic differences between not just the consoles but also the film,” Wiklem said.
By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Video game review: Dead Space
It’s space-based survivalist horror in EA’s “Dead Space.”
The gamer takes on the role of engineer Isaac Clarke. He’s en route to the USG Ishimura, a “planet cracker” ship that harvests energy. He’s been dispatched with his team to repair their communications array; he’s also received an unclear message from a friend, Nicole Brennan, a medical officer on the Ishimura.
Once the team arrives, they find the ship has been overrun by Necromorphs (more or less zombies), and Isaac is separated from his team. He has to use the tools on-hand (like saws and welding guns) to take out the zombies. “Dead Space” is somewhat different from many zombie-type games in its “strategic dismemberment” theory – the only way to take out a Necromorph is to remove its limbs.
“Dead Space” will inspire some comparisons to “Resident Evil.” Of course, calling a game “Resident Evil” in space is more of a selling point than a detriment.
“Dead Space” has also worked much of the information you need to play the game into the experience. Rather than calling up a heads-up display, health, ammunition, and even objectives are displayed as part of the in-game experience. This means, of course, that while you’re checking on your ammo, you can be ambushed from behind by a Necromorph.
Overall, “Dead Space” is an atmospheric thriller that’s among the best the genre has to offer, with great visuals and sound joined to a gripping story.
The game is rated M for mature and is available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and personal computer.
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
THE NEXT LEVEL
By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor
Video game review – Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
By Matthew Price
THE NEXT LEVEL
Pick up an assault rifle and pad out your bank account as a dangerous individual working for the highest bidder in “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.”
In “Mercenaries 2,” the gamer takes his choice from a group of shifty-looking mercenaries, and takes on assignments based not on altruism, patriotism or political beliefs, but cold, hard cash. The gamer can choose from Mattias Nilsson, Jennifer Mui, or Chris Jacobs; which mercenary the gamer chooses has a slight affect on the game, but it isn’t a huge difference either in gameplay or storyline.
After completing a mission for Ramon Solano, he turns on the mercenary; thus, the mercenary is out for revenge, playing various factions in Venezuela against one another in an attempt to take Solano down. There are lots of items to blow up in “Mercenaries 2” and a lot of weapons to do the damage. In addition to rifles, grenade launchers and other handheld weapons, the mercenary can also call in air strikes from above to take out large targets.
There are some bugs and gameplay quirks, involving horrible AI. Additionally, the dialogue is pretty ham-fisted and repetitive.
But overall the fun of the game and the visual look overcomes these problems. There’s also online two-player co-op to blow stuff up with a friend. If you’re looking for a relatively quick shoot-’em-up, “Mercenaries 2” should fit the bill.
Electronic Arts created the sequel to “Mercenaries” for the PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This review was written based on the Xbox 360 version.
“Mercenaries 2: World in Flames” is rated T for teens and older, and has a suggested retail price of $59.99.
“Space Chimps” fun for younger gamers
From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
By Matthew Price
THE NEXT LEVEL
Rocket to other worlds with the primates of “Space Chimps.”
Ham III, grandson to the famous spacefaring Ham, is a circus chimp with great bloodlines. He’s recruited onto a team of highly trained space chimps by a senator eyeing re-election. Ham, however, isn’t sure he’s cut out to be an astro-chimp.
But Ham and his shipmates, Titan and Luna, are nonetheless sent on the spaceship Horizon to another world.
Once there, not only is their mission at stake, but also the freedom of the inhabitants of the planet.
The game doesn’t lay out all this backstory initially — you’ll have to see the movie. But it’s pretty easy to figure out your objectives once you get started.
“Space Chimps” features 11 levels, with puzzles, platforming and co-op play.
The graphics are adequate, and some of the level design is visually interesting.
The gameplay isn’t bad, as the wall-climbing, swinging from rope to rope, and swinging from pole to pole are all fun to execute.
The sound is pretty good, with Patrick Warburton and Cheryl Hines reprising their roles from the film.
“Space Chimps” for the Xbox 360, based on the recent film, ends up being more fun than it has to be, as a game based on a kids’ movie.
It’s still not breaking a lot of new ground, but it’s an acceptable platformer for the younger set.
The game, developed by Brash Entertainment, is rated E10 for players over 10 years old.
Video game review: NCAA Football 09
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
THE NEXT LEVEL
Get back on the college football gridiron with “NCAA Football 09,” from EA Sports.
Always one of the year’s best-selling games, “NCAA Football 09” for the Xbox 360 nonetheless hasn’t rested on its laurels.
The major improvement is the addition of an online Dynasty mode. This allows gamers playing through multiple years on the game to face off against friends playing as other teams. Recruiting, coaching and more now comes into play as gamers face others online. Changes have been made to the offline dynasty mode, as well. Additionally, gamers can convert their online dynasties to offline, and vice versa.
Improvements have been made to the way players juke and spin, allowing for the gamer to attempt more cutbacks and evasive maneuvers. These aren’t without fault — sometimes, the player will spin out of bounds, or backwards. But when executed correctly, these combinations of moves can be very fun, and impressive to watch.
The right analog stick now allows the quarterback to pump fake, buying himself more time in the pocket. Another new feature for quarterbacks is a mini-game played after interceptions. If the gamer can correctly identify the defense that caused an interception, the quarterback’s composure and ratings won’t go down. Choose the wrong defense, and your quarterback remains rattled from his INT.
Just like the real coaches do, gamers can now call time outs to “ice the kicker” in tight situations. Calling a time out before a game-changing kick will cause the kicking meter to show an “iced over” look. Additionally, the controller will rumble, and the camera angle will change. This can make burning a time out to freeze the kicker worth considering.
There are also visual improvements throughout the game, making “NCAA 09” for the Xbox 360 a great-looking affair.
Overall, the upgrades to the game keep “NCAA Football 09” ranked among the top contenders in sports games.
Review: LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
THE NEXT LEVEL
Relive the first three “Indiana Jones” films in LEGO format with “LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures” from Lucas Arts.
After the success of the “LEGO Star Wars” games, it seemed a good idea to bring Indiana Jones to life in the same format, and it works again.
The yellow LEGO figures stand in for Harrison Ford and crew in a LEGO reimaging of the three films. While some story bits have been changed for gameplay purposes, it’s close to the plotlines of the original films. Recasting the stars with LEGO figures makes for some additional tongue-in-cheek humor, and the cut scenes range from snicker-inducing to laugh out loud funny.
The game features more than 60 playable characters, including villains and supporting characters in different costumes, many of which must be unlocked. As a bonus, the LEGO body parts of playable characters can be rearranged, to make a character who’s a mix of Rene Belloq and Marcus Brody, for example.
The sound features the score from the films, and no voice acting per se.
While Indy has the use of his trademark whip, “LEGO Indiana” features much more hand-to-hand combat than the lightsaber-fueled “LEGO Star Wars” games.
“Indiana” also appropriately features more puzzles and problem-solving than the “LEGO Star Wars” games, fitting with the archaeological theme. The game is relatively short but has plenty of treasure to go back and unlock in the “Free Play” mode.
The game has improved the use of vehicles, as they’re more easily controlled than in the “Star Wars” games, but the camera issues that plague the “Star Wars” episodes, particularly in multiplayer, still exist here.
Still, it’s a minor annoyance and doesn’t stand in the way of “LEGO Indiana Jones” being a whip-cracking good time.
The game is rated E10+, for everyone 10 and up. “LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures” is available for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and in portable form on Nintendo DS.
Arcade talks “GTA IV”
In the “War Room” segment, the gamers of Arcade (and a puppet) discuss “Grand Theft Auto IV.”
“Grand Theft Auto IV” — the “Halo”-killer?
From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
By Matthew Price
THE NEXT LEVEL
It’s spurred record sales and congressional inquiries. The bad boy of video games is back on Tuesday, as “Grand Theft Auto IV” is released. It may “launch a million PTA meetings,” says Game Daily editor in chief Libe Goad. But “Grand Theft Auto IV” brings more realistic physics and mature storytelling to next-generation consoles, she said.
This time around, the mature-rated game allows gamers to take the role of Niko Bellic, an eastern European lured to Liberty City by the promises of his cousin.
“He’s coming over to America to live the American dream,” said Goad, whose Web site is found at www.gamedaily.com.
“(Bellic’s) cousin moved over and was apparently having a very Scarface lifestyle — yachts, hot ladies etc.,” Goad said. “(Bellic) came over and discovered that’s not the case — his cousin was actually in trouble and needed some help.”
Goad, who played the game prior to release, said it will be recognizable to fans who have played previous games, but with improvements.
“There’s a lot that’s new in the game,” she said. “When you play the game it’ll be very familiar … but in a lot of ways it’ll be very advanced. There’s amazing graphics; there’s more realistic physics with driving the car. There’s a totally new main character and a new storyline. There’s a new environment.”
That new environment has a familiar name — Liberty City — but it’s been redesigned for “Grand Theft Auto IV.”
“Basically you’re going back to Liberty City again, but it looks a lot more like the real-life Liberty City aka New York City,” she said. The game offers multiplayer for the first time. And, while it still keeps the “sandbox” style of gameplay, “IV” looks to be even more action-packed than the earlier installments.
“If you look at all the series together, it probably won’t be as open-ended as say, ‘San Andreas,’” Goad said. “That had some parts where you could go roam in the desert and things like that. Those kind of elements where you’re just roaming around in areas where there’s not much to do, that’s kind of been taken out of the game. You can definitely roam, but it will be action-packed wherever you go.”
The game has its mature-rated moments, and Goad urges parents not to buy the game for their younger teens.
“(Something) important for all parents is to definitely be aware of the ratings on the boxes of the video games,” Goad said. “The mature rating is for age 17 and older. Familiarize yourself with these ratings, which you can find at ESRB.org.”
Even limiting sales to gamers 17 and over, “Grand Theft Auto IV” is expected to be a financial home run.
“I think people are expecting the ‘Halo’-killer,” Goad said.
Some analysts attributed a decline at the box office to the release of “Halo 3” in September. Is a similar box office slump likely to result from “Grand Theft Auto IV?”
“I did hear some stories where analysts predicting that it will affect (the movie) ‘Iron Man,’” Goad said. “The funny thing about ‘Iron Man’ is, ‘Grand Theft Auto’ and ‘Iron Man’ appeal to very similar audiences, so maybe they’ll buy ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ play that, take a break to go see ‘Iron Man,’ then go back and play ‘Grand Theft Auto.’”
Fox asked to correct misleading ‘Mass Effect’ report
GameDaily has a report in which EA asks Fox News to correct its recent misleading story about the game “Mass Effect.”
The vastly misinformed FOX report claimed that “Mass Effect” contains full digital nudity (it doesn’t) and graphic sex (it doesn’t) and that it’s for the Xbox (it’s the Xbox 360). On top of all this, the game is rated M for mature… can you imagine anyone complaining about an R-rated movie containing about 30 seconds of the side of a breast out of a 30-plus hour game?
– Matt Price
Roller-coaster game goes ‘Off the Rails’
Create an all-new theme park empire with “Thrillville: Off the Rails.”
The LucasArts video game sequel is similar to the original “Thrillville,” in which the gamer reinvigorates Uncle Mortimer’s amusement parks by training staff, adding attractions, setting prices, schmoozing guests and building roller coasters.
“Off the Rails” stands strong on its own, offering all new parks with fresh, entertaining themes. Old rides are back, along with some new ones.
As always, gamers can indulge in the arcade. Ride a stunt bike without tipping over, fight as a chinchilla, operate a tank or try to knock out a giant robot in a variety of minigames. The minigames can be difficult but are not complex.
Also new to “Off the Rails” is a vendor puzzle game that helps you increase sales. The sideshow features “Alley Ball” and “Test Your Strength” awards stuffed animals as prizes that can be later passed on to impress park guests.
The biggest addition to “Off the Rails” is the “Whoa” options in the Coaster Builder menu. The “Whoa” features are wild additions to custom coasters, many of which literally take the cars off the rails. “Big Guns” allows the car to shoot off the track like a cannonball, and land on another portion of the track. “Candy Drop” catapults the car across segments of track. “Nosedive” uses a lever to tilt the track while cars are in motion. “Pendulizer” catches the car in a pendulum swing. Other options place cars on an elevator to reach extreme heights in limited space, or place exhilarating hazards on the track, such as a ring of fire or a breakaway wall.
“Off the Rails” is mostly more of the same for fans of “Thrillville,” but it does have enough interesting twists and turns and loops and spirals to lure gamers back for another visit. “Off the Rails” is available for personal computer, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS.
– Matt Price
