As the secretive ‘Project Needlemouse’ becomes Sonic 4, the question is: should we care?

Sonic the Hedgehog was the first game I ever owned. I didn’t even know what a Mega Drive was when I returned home from school one day to find that my dad had brought one. As a result I view the announcement of a new Sonic game with a degree of (usually tragically misplaced) hope and optimism. So when today SEGA confirmed the name, the release date and the platform for the new Sonic game, previously known as ‘Project Needlemouse’, I was very excited. Sonic 4: Episode 1 is set to be released this summer on all three consoles as a downloadable title and has been touted (by its developer) as a return to the characters gaming roots. Certainly early concept art has been encouraging (the ‘badnik’ pictured is an original Sonic 1 enemy) and the title is another sign from SEGA that the game is intended as a true successor to the series as seen in its Mega Drive heyday – reverting to much-loved 2D side-scrolling gameplay (comparison pictured below).

However, after years spent playing games of crushing mediocrity, Sonic the Hedgehog fans could be forgiven for having given up on SEGA’s spiney blue mascot. After all, a slurry of recent 3D outings have failed to re-ignite passions for the franchise. And with the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog and 2008’s Sonic Unleashed having both been billed as a return to form in early previews, it isn’t hard to understand why some fans may still feel pessimistic about this new game. I understand it... but I am not one of them. Despite my better judgement I am quite excited by the prospect of this game.

The problem with Sonic of late has been a fundamental lack of understanding, on SEGA’s part, of what the charm and strength of the original title was. Read any press release about a Sonic game made in the last ten years and the same comments come up every time. “Sonic is all about speed” they say. And so the more recent titles have increasingly based themselves around hitting boost pads and running along at high speed. When done well, as with a few of the levels in Sonic Unleashed, it has been fun, but the original Sonic was a different prospect entirely. Back then you had to earn the speed, without much in the way of boosts to help you. For example, a run round a loop-de-loop would need a build up of momentum with failure to achieve the required speed resulting in an unceremonious fall right back down to the bottom. It was also the case that the speed of Sonic was something which needed to be controlled in those early years, as much as embraced. Running from one end to the other without pause could be dangerous: you could easily fall into a pit; you could over-jump a gap resulting in landing on some devilishly placed spikes; or you could simply fail to gather enough rings to reach the zone’s special stage (and completion without the Chaos Emeralds isn’t really completion, is it?). When Sonic did attain speed shoes, the games one speed boost power-up, you tended to feel more vulnerable than not. With this in mind, it was comforting to read a recent press release for Sonic 4 where it seemed SEGA and Sonic Team had come to the same realisation. Apparently Sonic 4 will be less reliant on boosts and more traditional in terms of the build up of momentum.



It has also been noted, with some relief, that this game waves goodbye to the many terrible supporting characters Sonic Team has been introducing over the years. SEGA have been at pains to point out that Sonic is the only playable character in Sonic 4, and has confirmed that the likes of Big the Cat and Chip the whatever-he-was won’t be appearing this time. Hopefully the game will do away with “story” altogether, sticking with a “Press Start” “Zone One” immediacy missing from modern games in general. It would also be nice if the game had traditional electronic-toy sounding video game music and not the sort of J-Pop and soft rock that has plagued the series for the last fifteen years. I, for one, want to hear the old tunes.

There is caused for one note of caution however, as it has also been revealed that Sonic will still possess the “Homing Attack” as seen in every game since Sonic Adventure in 1998, an attack that always seemed to remove any need to time or judge jumps. It made sense in 3D, where the depth might have caused an added level of confusion (although Mario 64 never had a problem), but in 2D it seems redundant. Hopefully this minor concern will be put to rest when more videos and previews of the game are released. I am certainly watching this one with interest and will be reviewing it (for better or worse) when it is finally available later this year.

Enjoy the first gameplay footage of the new game below, in this nostalgic trailer:


For a less optimistic view on the new Sonic, head over to IQ Gamer.

In game job par excellance: The life of a space miner

I wanted to be able to bring you my review of Mass Effect 2 this morning, but a funny thing happened: I haven't finished it yet due to the boring, yet completely addictive mining mini-game. For those of you who don’t know, Mass Effect 2 is a Sci-fi RPG developed by BioWare for Xbox 360 and PC and a sequel the 2007 original. I am supposed to be firing laser guns and talking to blue-skinned Aliens (no, not those ones), but instead I’ve been flying around looking for minerals in my starship, evidently a glorified space-digger. Yes, I’ve used these raw materials to upgrade the hull, shields and weapons, but so far they have been redundant... I just can’t stop mining for mining's sake. We have seen things like this before: Ryo had to get in his fork lift truck every week day morning in Shenmue and Fable 2 had you chopping wood, but this is the most addictive time-sink in game job yet.

It goes like this: I travel to a new system, under the pretence of recruiting some exotic space marine into my band of plucky space crusaders (of course I never tell them about all the mining we’re going to be doing) and instead spend three to four hours visiting unexplored worlds and mining the shit out of them. This is made even more tedious by the fact that you run out of fuel and mining probes (apparently capable of locating, digging up and recovering raw minerals from the rock... what do the space unions make of this?) quite regularly and are forced to fly your ship to the nearest fuel depot, where you stock up again, before flying back for more Platinum mining of the fourth moon of Epsilon VI, or whatever.

What I find amusing about this planetary plundering is that the worlds have a status regarding their abundance or scarcity of minerals, ranging from Rich to Depleted. Now, I usually find a world Rich in minerals and mine it until it’s Depleted... but how and why is this possible? Why is my military ship making off with whole solar systems worth of raw materials? Why are the governments of these planets allowing me to do this to their economies and their landscapes? The mind boggles. Although you could be forgiven for thinking I’m getting too worked up over the technicalities here, it is precisely this level of absurdity that has kept me so entertained.

Now, I understand this ISN’T the game. If I wanted to, I could be blowing things up and trying to consort with beautiful alien females, but there is just something about this mining mini-game that both infuriates and compels with equal force. Once I even used my minerals to research improved mining.

For a look at mining in Mass Effect 2, the video below really captures the essence (though don't watch it all!), as does the comment posted on YouTube by one fan: "Where is the best place to find element zero?"
Mass Effect 2 is really very good and when I'm done mining you'll able to read my full review on this blog! In the mean time, for some propper games journalism (including an in-depth technical analysis of Halo: Reach), head over to IQ Gamer.

Interview with Fable 3 FX Artist Robert Tatnell

Lionhead FX Artist Robert Tatnell has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about his work for the Beames On Games blog. Despite being relatively new to the industry, Robert has already got quite an impressive c.v including work on such PS3 exclusive titles as Heavenly Sword (pictured) and Killzone 2 and currently working on Fable 3, which is of course being developed by the world renowned Lionhead Studios for the XBox 360. It was on the subject of Fable 3 that my questions began:


Is Fable 3 shaping up like Fable 2 (a more polished and refined version of the first game) or is it going to be much, much bigger?
Feature wise that’s something I can’t really talk about. Being able to rule over Albion in Fable 3 definitely adds to the experience and there are plenty of exciting features in the works. Fable 3 is making big strides in terms of the quality of everything in the game too and it’s undoubtedly going to be the best game of the series. Just seeing the quality of work coming from the team is staggering. I’ve been an admirer of Lionhead’s work for some time and being in amongst everyone I can say I’m in awe on a daily basis!

It must be hard working for Peter Molyneux, seeing as how he really cranks up anticipation for the press sometimes setting up unrealistic expectations ("you can chop every tree" etc). I have always wondered if sometimes the developers are going "what is he saying the game will do now?". What has your experience been from the inside?
Although I have only been with the studio for a short period I’ve found that as such a large group of people have influence over the Fable experience, big sweeping changes don’t really tend to happen in the way that a lot of people would expect under Molyneux. Certainly the development of every idea is tackled properly and with care by everyone involved. I know Peter has gotten a lot better at how he handles himself with the press, but I’ve always been an admirer of his passion for what he's creating. I always think it's a little cruel to pull apart what he's said in the past and criticize him for what appears to be missing. I see him more as a child getting really excited about a new toy and wanting to share that excitement with his friends.

More specifically, what work are you doing on Fable 3?
I obviously can’t go into the nitty-gritty with my answer to that but given the type of game Fable is, and it’s various fantasy elements, working as an FX Artist certainly brings a varied set of challenges. Having a large amount of creative control over the FX we produce means we can really get creative when approached with an FX request and I’m thoroughly enjoying it!

You have worked with some really exciting developers (Ninja Theory, Guerilla, Lionhead) what has been your career highlight so far?
I think achieving the childhood dream of working in video games has to be the biggest highlight for me! Every game I’ve worked on, and the companies I’ve worked with have all provided challenges as well as highlights. I’ve enjoyed the learning process over the short amount of time I’ve been in the industry, there’s always something new to get your head around, or sink your teeth into. I’ve also come to realize just how talented the industry tends to be, it really is a shame it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves at present because everyone I’ve worked with have been just amazing.

How did you get into the games industry?
I knew what I wanted to do from quite an early age. I always enjoyed painting and drawing; and was drawn to programming too. When Toy Story came along I knew I wanted to get into computer graphics so I aimed my education in that direction, studying maths, computing and art through school and sixth form. It was during sixth form that ironically I got a chance to visit Lionhead, and it was then that I decided exactly where I wanted to head. I managed to get into the National Centre for Computer Animation at Bournemouth University and after studying I was offered a temporary designer’s position at SCE Cambridge. I was then able to move into the art team and it went from there.

What are your hopes for the future? So far you've done a lot of work on effects. Are there other roles in game development you are interested in filling on future projects?
I absolutely love working in FX, it’s something I got the chance to get into on Heavenly Sword and I’ve not really looked back since. I worked with the lighting team on Killzone 2 and that saw me getting my head around the lighting and rendering systems within games. Both departments add such a depth to what you see and have a very direct influence on the player’s experience that they’re areas I want to keep within. My ultimate aim is to eventually own and run my own games company but that’s a long way off yet! Thankfully though it seems like it’s becoming a lot easier to get picked up and to get your games out there, especially with things like Indie games on Xbox Live. For now though, I’m loving where I am!

Do you have any gaming heroes? Is there anyone whose work you admire (or try to emulate) in video games who does the same job as you?
The Final Fantasy games have been a massive inspiration through the years; the quality of their effects team’s work is always staggering. The FX sector doesn’t really have any “heroes” within video games I’d say. I try to keep my eyes open to what’s going on around me. The quality is always moving forward with video game graphics and FX are no exception, I just try to keep a look out for those games that really move things forward. Film FX are consistently raising the bar and they’re an area that provides much inspiration as well as many ideas that can certainly be brought across to video games.

What are your opinions on video games as art?
Now there’s a deep question and one I could spend hours answering! For me art can be several things. It can act as a method of awakening you to something you may not have considered before. It can affect you physically with abstract installations. It can be something of immense beauty. Video games can be all of these things and it’s how the technology is applied that will allow for new experiences within art. I do see games as a creative industry. Much as film straddles the border between art and entertainment so too do games in my opinion. I think games have so much potential as entertainment as well as art, and I applaud studios that push the preconceptions of what games typically are. As an interactive media, games can embrace the consumer with far more intensity than other forms of entertainment; and I believe at times can move someone with more strength than art. The whole issue whether games are art is down to the developers and how they choose to use the medium. I’m really very excited to see what the future holds.

You've worked on AAA titles for PS3 and 360: how have you found these two consoles in terms of ease of development and in terms of the results you have been able to achieve?
From an artist's perspective the two differ very little in terms of day-to-day work and the results you get from them. It really boils down to how good your tools programmers are when it comes to how easy it is to work on a platform. Having said that most of the coders I've spoken to tend to prefer the 360 to work on as a lot of what they need is easier to find and implement on the xbox. Personally I prefer the 360 simply due to the fact the devkits are far easier to use.

Finally, this is a Brighton-based blog: Creative Assembly; Relentless Software and Black Rock Studio are among the games development companies down here. Does Brighton enjoy a reputation as a good place for people interested in video game development to live or are there other cities with an even greater wealth of job opportunities (if so which)? Do you need to be flexible in your line of work (able to travel to a new city) or can you work from home?
I love Brighton, and it’s blessed with a good games industry presence too. The city is lucky in that it benefits from being seaside as well; which is something you don’t tend to find with cities harboring games studios. Companies seem to “clump” together in places around the country, obviously there’s a large concentration in and around London, and then there’s a good selection in the midlands too. Because of this sort of grouping of companies you can be lucky in that moving from one studio to another doesn’t necessarily mean you need to move home. Depending on your department you can have the opportunity to work from home, however this would only be in extreme cases, and generally is only used when there’s adverse weather or good reason for the individual not being able to make it in to the office. Games studios benefit from being a close group of passionate individuals; everyone needs to be together in one place to really get the best out of what they’re creating. You lose the commitment and connection to what you’re working on if you’re disconnected in any way.

Fable 3 is set to be released on the 1st of November 2010. For more information on Robert Tatnell please visit his lovely personal website.