The last couple of days have not been good for EA (except for beating down copyright bully Tim Langdell in court), stock prices in the company plummeted after a generally poor critical reception for the latest in the Medal of Honor series. Now an insider purporting to be an employee of EA Mythic has let loose with both barrels a full blown rant on some of the internal issues allegedly plaguing the publishing giant. Whilst most of the bile vented is aimed at the managers at Mythic, EA Louse has some choice words to say about Bioware too and the highly anticipated Star Wars – The Old Republic MMO.

We here at Critical Gamer have no way of telling if claims made within the blog are true especially as it comes from an unverified anonymous source, but industry insiders using the internet to vent their frustration is not a new phenomenon, with EA Spouse and a controversy at Rockstar San Diego earlier this year making headlines. But you’ll have to decide for yourself if you believe what the author is saying.

We’ve highlighted a few choice phrases from the blog below, to read the whole article head here

Warning! Strong Language below:

“So what do they all have in common? All of them failed, badly, in Warhammer, and each of them is in a position of authority in the new company, while the rest of us are facing pink slips. How do they sleep at night? They spin aruond, blame everything on Mark, divide his old salary between them, and never speak about it again. Oh, and they fuck us little guys as well. “

“And Bioware? Don’t make me laugh. They’ve spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. Shit you not. More than $ 300 million! Can you believe that?

And you know what they’re most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound. No seriously. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That’s the best they have. The rest of the game is a joke. EA knows it and so does George Lucas,they’re panicking , and so most of Mythic has already been cannibalized to work in Austin on it because they can’t keep pushing back launch.

Old Republic will be one of the greatest failures in the history of MMOs from EA. Probably at the level of the Sims Online. We all know it too ……”

Strong words indeed, what do you think readers? An anti-EA gamer stirring the brown stuff, or a genuine disgruntled employee? Let us know in the comments below.

• Format: PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Developer: Firaxis Games
• Players: 1-12
• Site: www.civilization5.com

Civilization is one of PC gaming’s longest running series and certainly one of the most beloved. A combination of military strategy, exploration, diplomacy, history and empire building, in many ways it is remarkable how little has changed since the original iteration, released back in 1991. Religion has come and gone, culture has integrated itself into the game’s core mechanics, and each new version of the game has its own quirks and subtleties. But at a basic level Civilization V is still the same game as its predecessors. It is a testament to the game,that despite much remaining the same, each new version brings fevered anticipation amongst its many fans. Civlization V is no different in this respect and the game certainly does not lack for the “just one more turn” appeal that has become synonymous with the series.

The biggest additions to Civilization V are the introduction of hexes and only allowing one military unit per tile. This revolutionizes the combat from a stack of doom unit spam-fest, that relies on your technology and production capabilities rather than any real tactical or strategic play. Instead you have to think carefully about unit placement, making sure to combine arms for the most effective army. Think archers supporting front-line troops, catapults and trebuchets for city assault or for holding choke-points, and rampaging Cavalry watching the flanks. In theory this addition is all that Civilization V needs to transform it from a brilliant strategy game with rubbish combat, into simply a brilliant strategy game. However, there are a few issues that prevent that from being the case. The AI is not especially good at combat in terms of combining troops into effective armies, or defending its cities. All too often you’ll find your armies waltzing through an enemy nation, capturing their cities freely and destroying what few soldiers they have. Even aggressive and military Civilizations will use their units poorly, and on anything below King difficulty you should have very few difficulties in conquering your foes. At this point you may think “Fine, King difficulty it is”, but the problem with difficulty settings is that they don’t refer to the AI, but the penalties or bonuses applied to your Civ, meaning it’s a relatively cheap way of making the game harder. Your opponents are doing the same things they were before, but you have to work harder to be able to keep up with them.

At this point it’s important to have a look at multiplayer. You might think that with human players instead of AI, the game would become more tactical and allow for some military ingenuity. Unfortunately, once more there are several things that hinder this, namely simultaneous turns and lack of unit animations. Simultaneous turns in multiplayer has been present before in the series and in many ways it’s the only way to play a live multiplayer game; it allows all the human players to move and attack at the same time, greatly speeding up the proceedings. But as you might imagine, once two human players come to blows, the combat becomes a case of each player rapidly trying to move their units against each other, or retreat out of harms way before the opposition can attack. This might have been remedied to a degree if each attack had the wonderful animation present in single player, to allow some thinking time. But the unit animations are entirely lacking from the current multiplayer game. Consequently, the combat is frantic, random and based on luck as to whether your units will do what they are supposed to, before the oppositions. A far cry from the thoughtful strategy of the single-player.

If all of the above sounds overly negative, then it’s important to state that Civilization V is still a wonderful game and many of the changes to the game are almost entirely positive. The Social Policy system that is advanced by accruing culture to unlock bonuses neatly combines the politics and religion of Civ V into something easily comprehensible. Perhaps more importantly, it rewards you constantly throughout the game, bestowing bonuses and making your Civilization stronger. At times Civilization 4 could be guilty of overly confusing descriptions of the mechanics behind the Civics, leaving the player unsure as to the benefit. This time around you can experiment with different paths and builds with a free hand, trying to combine the best bonuses in order to elevate your glorious nation above your rivals. Changes to the way research, gold and happiness work are easy to get to grips with, but still require thoughtful consideration regarding what buildings you should be building (or buying) in order to keep your citizens happy and productive. At the same time it eliminates some of the need for heavy micromanagement, making your empire building more fluid. Tailoring your Civilization into a desired and envied utopia has never been easier.

City states are another new feature that really brings the world map to life. City states are single cities, whose desires and thirst for gifts of gold take precedence over ambitions of global domination that occupy the thoughts of the larger Civilzations. The different types of City State can offer the benefit of having allies, whilst providing you with food, culture or military units. They exist to destroy, capture, liberate or be bargained with and can be instrumental in achieving victory.

Civlization V then is unlikely to disappoint anyone. It inspires the same compulsions to continue playing whilst simplifying the interface and mechanics. Opportunity for advanced players to make the most of the game still exist, in Social Policy builds and clever management of your relationships with City States.

Issues with the AI, with multiplayer and perhaps a few other areas cast a small shadow over this behemoth of a game and bring to mind the phrase ‘two steps forward, one step back’. But as Civilization is about 100 steps above and beyond any rival, it is still an essential purchase for any history enthusiast, strategy fan or indeed ‘gamer’.

9/10

Despite our earlier fevered ramblings about how to waste time until Civilization V is available in areas outside of North America, to coincide with the games release there a demo has appeared on Steam. The demo offers you the chance to play as one of three Civs on offer and lets you play through the first 150 turns, which should get you to around the medieval era.

To grab the demo jump to the games store page on the Steam Client and click the shiny little button marked “Download Demo”.

Since last week’s demise of APB I have found myself in the curious position of not really having a game to play, or at least devote a significant portion of my free time to. Sure I could revisit old gems; but when it comes to games that I truly love, I tend to play them to a point of over familiarity, where every line of dialogue is memorised and the outcome of every decision known. In short there are few surprises left and these games lose their lustre, no matter how good they are. As such I recently completed my third full playthrough of Mass Effect 2 and my Nightmare mode playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins. I’m giving Arkham Asylum a well deserved second playthrough, but it’s somehow not enough.

So now I find myself in the uncomfortable position of waiting for the next big game to release and it’s become almost unbearable. That game is Civilization V and every moment I am not playing, it feels rather similar to how I imagine a dagger through the heart might feel (it is entirely possible that I have a defective imagination and/or no real experience of being stabbed). While it seems many other games journalists are dropping reviews that joke about how many hours they will spend playing this sprawling behemoth of a game, I’m left with a timer on Steam that states 3 days and 9 hours. What makes this wait seem infinitely longer is that for many people the game will unlock today, but for us Brits our strange retail habits require that big releases hit the shelves on a Friday. Presumably this is because people are more likely to go out and buy a game at the end of the week, resulting in big lovely day one profits for the money-men. I would like to take this opportunity to say “A thousand curses upon you and your offspring!” to the people responsible for this.

A greedy money person delaying Civilization V

So here is my handy guide to killing the hours until the release of Civ V! Rejoice and please offer your own suggestions in the comments below as to how to lose some time until this year’s grand strategy masterpiece drops.

PS. People who suggest either “Get a life!” or “Halo Reach” can piss off.

1. Sleep. Sleep is a requirement for all of us and naturally in the next couple of days we’ll be spending a decent proportion of non-Civ playing hours catching some Z’s. But sleep is not only a necessity of life – being asleep is like living in fast-forward! Hours spent sleeping are hours not spent thinking, “Man I wish they’d release Civlization V already.” The one perilous pitfall of this activity is that you may have a dream that the game has released, then wake up to find out it was merely a fabrication of your desperate subconscious. The added bonus of sleeping is that whilst playing Civ, sleep patterns are demolished and you’d do well to pre-emptively catch up on the lost hours of sleepy-time required for a healthy Civ-addiction.

2. Check out the recorded live stream of Civilization V embedded below. There’s around 2 hours of footage that will help to fill the endless void in your soul currently pining for some hex-based relief. Watching some dude play Civ is obviously nowhere near as fun as playing it yourself, but you might pick up a few strategic hints and tips as well as learn a little about the combat and other changes to the series.

3. Read the manual! The whole of the manual for the game has been put into a handy PDF file and it’s rather large, there’s definitely a couple of hours to be lost trawling through this glossy creation. For added fun you can copy out the reference table at the back by hand, adding your own amusing illustrations to waste even more time.

4. Trawl through every single review of the game on Metacritic. This is however a risky tactic, because it will only serve to increase your anticipation and the general gist is “It’s great and I get to play it before you tee-hee-hee!” Or at least that was my interpretation.

Gandhi - Easily replicated look.

5. Go through your wardrobe and try to recreate the look and style of your favourite Civ leaders from previous entries in the series. Obviously Gandhi is one of the easier ones, as all you will require is a sheet and some glasses. Zara Yaquob is more of a challenge, seemingly combining the classic robed look with the stylish trappings of an Adidas tracksuit.

6. Go to work. Obviously this is the equivalent of a bottom draw consolation prize, but you can both earn money and begin to feign the signs of whatever pretend illness you’re going to use as an excuse when the game releases.

7. Buy the brand new board-game. Proudly advertised on the back page of the PDF manual is this rather wonderful looking Civilization board-game. Obviously you’re going to need some friends for this one. Can be combined with suggestion number 5 for some kind of weird and wonderful civ-themed evening.

8. Write a Civlization themed poem. Here’s my attempt:

I once was a lonely settler, lost in the ancient era,

but then I made my first scout, and things became a little clearer,

but alas around the time I discovered Mathematics,

my scout stumbled across some barbarian fanatics,

he was butchered in the plains, my citizens gave me the blame!

So I adopted slavery and worked them all to death.

9. Make a vow to never try and write poetry again.

10. Write a silly article about wasting time before Civ V releases, to waste some time before Civ V releases, then publish it on your website without telling your editor!

It’s just been announced that troubled Cops ‘n Crims MMO APB is to close its doors. After a poor critical reception for APB and the later announcement that developer Realtime Worlds had gone into administration, hopes were resting on the game being sold to an outside buyer. It seems that sadly those hopes have been dashed following this announcement over at the official forums:

“APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end. Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone’s best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close. It’s been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome! From all of the Realtime World staff we thank you for your continued support. The servers are still up, so join the party and say goodbye! – Ben ‘APBMonkey’ Bateman (Community Officer)”

Critical Gamer gave APB 8/10 back at release and saw a game with masses of potential, it seems that sad that potential will go unrealised.

We wish all former employees of Realtime Worlds the best of luck finding new employment.

The idea behind this move is on the surface a noble one, by cutting out the anonymity of forum posting, they hope to create a more mature and sociable space for communication amongst their legions of fans. Internet forums can often be harsh and cruel places, with people hiding behind amusing nicknames such as xxDeathSLAYERx and venting bile all over their fellow users. Blizzard obviously hopes that people who are representing themselves in a more personal manner will create a more mature attitude for discussion and debate.

However, while their motives may be noble, the change is already proving to be controversial and seemingly unpopular. One of the celebrated facts of the internet is that it allows you anonymity, it allows people to craft their own identity and represent themselves however they please, much in the same way that a game like WoW offers you the chance to craft an avatar.

Personal security and privacy is also an issue, whilst currently if a few forum trolls start a flame war and threaten to burn down each others houses, no-one will bat an eyelid, with personal information being available for all to see, there are concerns about how easily forum users would be able to track each other down, or E-stalk each other. With perhaps the largest gaming community in the world present on Battle.net, there are bound to be a few weirdos or troublemakers in the mix and this change could provide them with an opportunity for mischief.

The official forum thread detailing the changes currently runs at 1138 pages long and 22740 posts. We pity the person whose job it is to read through all that.

Spotted at gamesindustry.biz

• Format: PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Realtime Worlds
• Developer: Realtime Worlds
• Players: Massively Multiplayer
• Site: www.apb.com/

APB (All Points Bulletin) is the hotly anticipated MMO from Dundee based developers Realtime Worlds – best known for Crackdown on Xbox 360 – and the brainchild of creative director Dave Jones. Jones is known in the industry as one of the founding members of Rockstar North and co-creator of the Grand Theft Auto series. It’s unsurprising perhaps then, that on first viewing people feel a niggling urge to describe APB as ‘GTA Online’. But there are further influences that are evident in the design of APB that may describe better how the game actually plays. Jones himself claims Counter-Strike as a major influence and it’s easy to see where he’s coming from, with small tactical objective based missions forming the core of the experience.

Gathering together these disparate influences into one game and then basing it in an online world, you get a gaming experience that is unlike any other. The basic structure of the game sees you choose between a Criminal and an Enforcer, then facing off against the opposing faction in a wide variety of different mission types, across two districts of the fictional city of San Paro. As well as fighting there are ample opportunities for personal customisation from creating your character, designing tattoos and customising clothing, to pimping out your ride. The customisation in APB (as you may already have seen) is excellent. Simple to use yet very powerful tools for creation and design are on offer, allowing you to create or copy intricate symbols, songs or graffiti sprays, in the process of creating a unique identity for your character. If you lack those skills in design and your symbols look like you’ve shoved a couple of decals together in the vain hope they might look cool (unlike us here at Critical Gamer obviously, we’re all design geniuses *cough*), there are other ways to procure yourself designs from more talented players through the game’s auction system. Despite the game being very young, there is already a wealth of talent on display, with people striving to make a name for themselves through creating their own clothing brands, or churning out ‘death-themes’ -small snippets of music your opponents hear when you’ve killed them.

Exciting design tools and unique player crafted equipment are excellent ideas and well implemented, but they alone make a game not. For APB to succeed, the action and driving parts of the game too need to be satisfying, varied and balanced enough to hold the paying players’ interest in the long term. This is where the game stumbles slightly. Combat to the newcomer can seem clunky and relatively old fashioned. Modern third person action games nearly always employ a cover system; APB forces you to do that part yourself, crouching behind cars or walls and leaning manually. For a game that calls Counter-Strike an influence, it may also seem like an odd decision that head-shots play no part in the game, but in truth they would only serve to make the game frustrating due to the sometimes random nature of the spawn system. Combat then is about situational awareness, weapon selection and tactical play in groups. Make no mistake, APB is not a game for the solo player, soloing is a frustrating and slow paced experience; and while the option is there, you’re better off avoiding it. APB really comes alive when you group up with other players and take advantage of the integrated Vo-ip system to communicate and work together towards your objectives. At this point things become progressively more hectic as the action flits around across a district, with the two opposing teams dashing towards objectives, destroying each other’s vehicles and melting each other’s faces with the varied selection of weaponry.

Differences between the two factions are mostly a matter of taste. Criminals have a more hectic time of it, with bounties being placed on them for Enforcers to try and claim, meaning even between the normal mission based play they’re never truly safe. Enforcers have access to less than lethal weaponry which allows them to subdue then arrest criminals – a risky strategy in team play, but it pays dividends of increased rewards and unlocks some of the better equipment in the game for those with the necessary skills to be successful at it. Both factions have access to different vehicles. The Enforcers get an exclusive Jericho muscle car, while the criminals get the Porsche-esque Bishada. Car handling is initially vexing, especially for GTA veterans, and you may find yourself crashing constantly when you wrest control of one of the faster cars. But persevere and you’ll find it worth your while, pulling off expertly timed handbrake turns during high speed chases to impress your allies as you come to terms with the nuance of control.

APB comes across as a game that is more than the sum of its parts. The combat may be somewhat old fashioned in its execution, but when it’s coupled with the dynamic cities and fast paced team-play, as well as its revelatory customisation, it’s difficult not to like. The game does have a degree of repetition and grinding elements as you work your way up through the ranks of the faction specific organisations. But there is a hell of a lot of potential in the title and even as it plays at the moment, there are few games that can get the adrenaline pumping in the same manner. Speeding across the city, music blasting out your car and swerving into the middle of a pitched fire-fight as your passenger hangs out the window taking pot-shots at your foe is just as good as it sounds. There’s work yet to be done on the title and we hope for a patching system as progressive and ambitious as the rest of the game, rather than just churning out extra content. If Realtime Worlds can do that, APB could develop into a game that surpasses its wildly popular and long-serving influences. For now though, there are criminals doing mean things to puppies and it’s up to us here at Critical Gamer to head forth once more and dish out some 44. calibre justice.

8/10

Most of the big flashy AAA titles put trailers out specially for E3 and chances are, you’ve seen them all by now, been wowed by their exposition and action sequences and are having a little rest from the trailer frenzy.

But here’s one more that deserves your attention, simply because it’s completely insane. We have no idea what’s going on here, but from what we can tell El-Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron puts you in the shoes of the girly-boy warrior Enoch (actually he’s a priest) as he does his ‘Lords’ bidding. El-Shaddai is the Hebrew meaning God and the sharp looking guy in the suit is named Lucifel which is a rather ominous name for anyone with even a passing knowledge of Theology.

Gameplay from the trailer suggests a cross between hack and slash gameplay with side scrolling platformer sections. Enemies (seem to, once again we’re not sure what’s happening) range from warrior blokes wearing giant nuts on their heads to strange wibbly-wobbly creatures via blood dripping armoured pigs.

As far as Theology based hack and slashers go, Bayonetta still holds the title as the most weird and wonderful. But El-Shaddei seems to be gearing up to challenge for that much coveted crown with its exuberant art-style and barmy take on the book of Enoch.

El-Shaddei : Ascension of the Metatron is in development at Ignition Entertainment and will release on Xbox 360 and PS3, release date is TBC.

The first big news from this years E3 is in and most of it is to do with the hardware formerly known as Project Natal. The motion sensing control system for the Xbox 360 has been given the new moniker of Kinect, which seems to be the amalgamation of the words connect and kinetic into a brand new word!

Exciting stuff indeed, along with the re-naming Microsoft have taken the opportunity to announce a number of titles we can expect to be Kinecting with later this year, such as the imaginatively titled Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventure and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. These early announced titles generally seem to be aimed at a casual or family market and may seem a Wii bit familiar to any Nintendo fans out there.

However an as yet untitled Star Wars game too was demoed, the more cynical amongst us might glance hawk-eyed at the above video and suggest that it looks a bit like a bloke miming along to a video of a game.

Transformers traditionally in the world of gaming can be described as little other than disappointing. A series about robots that can turn into cars, tanks and jet fighters on paper sounds like a perfect match for our electronic past-time. But despite a slew of Transformers games over the years, they have been mostly awful, with the 2004 PS2 Transformers game being a rare highpoint.

The recent movie tie-in games have shown some signs of improvement, but were eventually let down by extreme repetition and somewhat shoddy AI (as well as some pretty poor source material to work from). So you’d be forgiven for approaching this latest title with a sense of trepidation. But despite the legitimate concerns we might have as gamers, that didn’t stop floods of people at the MCM Expo heading over to Activision’s booth for an exclusive hands-on with War For Cybertron. Indeed on the first day of the Expo, gamers were limited to about two minutes of the title, such was the demand. Considering the first of those minutes was a cut-scene (of which not a single spoken word could be heard over the general din of hyper-excited cosplayers and anime fans who made up a large proportion of the Expo’s visitors), many walked away from the booth knowing little more about the game than they had before playing it.

Fortunately for you readers, we here at Critical Gamer are a persistent bunch and managed to get an extended session with the game on the following day. War for Cybertron lets you see both sides of the conflict over the Transformers home-world Cybertron. It also serves as a kind of origin story for Optimus Prime, who is cast here as an inexperienced leader, rising to prominence within the Autobots. On the other side, the focus is on Decepticon leader Megatron and it’s into his big metal boots we stepped for our time with the game, accompanied by Barricade and Brawl. I’d love to report more on the story and interaction between the characters, but the aforementioned din and my oversight in neglecting to study Robot Lip Reading at school mean that, alas, I cannot.

What I can report on however is that I was pleasantly surprised by the other important aspect of the game – combat. Transforming is unsurprisingly the big thing Transformers offers over other Giant Robot shooter games, and the ability to switch between ass kicking Megatron (with his giant purple mace and arm mounted fission-cannon) and his powerful hovertank form at the press of a button is both satisfying and tactically useful. You’ll soon find yourself flipping between forms, using the tank to lay down a barrage of fire upon grouped foes, before switching to the more precise fusion cannon to pick off those enemies who have the gall to take cover or evade your initial onslaught. The battles we encountered showed a glimpse of variety from ambushes, to mini boss fights, to areas where you have to time your attacks in tandem with the changing environment. Your arsenal isn’t limited to the starter weapons either, you can chop and change picking up different weapons to be found lying around the level – including a repair beam that you’ll probably find more useful in co-op than I did here. Token platforming sections were liberally sprinkled around to break up the metal on metal carnage, with giant air vent fans to be dodged or blown up and glowing pads of death to be avoided with some simple timing based jumps.

So not all doom and gloom for War For Cybertron and taking the action away from Earth (and those godawful Michael Bay films) could help the series to rediscover its identity. Unfortunately it’s not all sunshine and rainbows and there were a few concerns to be found. The environments I found myself in were not particularly awe inspiring, suffering from both linear corridors and graphical repetition; we can only hope that the game broadens out in terms of the space allowed to manoeuvre and in terms of the colour palette, or the game could suffer the repetition that plagued Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Some of the control mapping frustrated too, with transforming assigned to pressing in the left analogue stick (also used for basic movement), causing accidental transformations in the heat of battle on several occasions. But these are minor quibbles. Transformers games should be about frenetic explosive action and the crunch of metal as giant robots beat the crap out of each other with a variety of different weapons and forms, and that’s exactly what we found here. It probably won’t be a world beater, but fans of the series are due a good title and there are positive signs here that War For Cybertron can deliver that.

War For Cybertron is in development at High Moon Studios and is due to be Published by Activision on June 22nd on PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii.