A Post about Cuphead

Cuphead came out on Xbox One and PC a couple weeks back, and given that very, very little was heard or shown for nearly five years as it was being put together, I imagine that lost some people some bets. For my part, I didn’t know shit about it until it came out and everyone lost their minds. Never one to miss out on a cup of koolaid, I decided to head to the Steam store to see what all the fuss was about.

What we’re fussing about is a 2d shoot-em-up from indie studio MDHR, reminiscent of Contra or Mega Man, with focus on elaborate, multi-phase and bloody difficult boss battles. You assume the role of Cuphead (and optionally his brother Mugman for co-op), a cheerful boy with a cup for a head whose penchant for gambling with the actual Devil has got him into quite a bit of trouble, the little scamp. Satan, ever magnanimous, offers to waive the soul debt if Cuphead retrieves the debts of the other inhabitants of Inkwell Isle (the bosses), which he does by shooting them up (the battles).

These fundamentals are solid, but not particularly special. The specialness is the style. Cuphead channels the vibrantly hand-drawn cartoons of the ‘30s and ‘40s, trying its hardest to look and feel like it came straight out of the golden age of animation. Believe it or not from my world weary outlook and, tired, soulful eyes, I’m about 70 years too young to have been fully immersed in the cartoons Cuphead homages, but I’m familiar with the type- Tex Avery and all that.

aye awrite Billy Bitcoin calm down

And here’s the thing – the look, the sound, the style of this game is perhaps better than the real thing ever was- an idealised, rose tinted hindsight on what was pretty good to begin with. I can’t exaggerate how much I love it. Also, unlike real old-timey cartoons, it’s not, you know, racist. It’s a big statement, but I got a big mouth- Cuphead’s visuals are basically perfect. That is to say it succeeds completely in the style it sets out for, the ‘30s animation thing. Everyone should know by now that art direction beats the piss out of technical finesse every time when it comes to great graphics, and Cuphead proves it.

But it goes further than looks, a lot further. Every detail, from sound effects and music to the layout of menus and title screens, is excellent and feels so right. Let me tell you how a level starts in Cuphead- c’mon, it’ll only take a paragraph. You first traverse the prettily handdrawn overworld to a start point. There’s an amusing title card, like it’s an episode of a show, says something like “Hilda Berg in Threatenin’ Zeppelin”; you select difficulty and it loads up- well drawn Cuphead at one side, a beautifully drawn villain at the other, and an exquisitely drawn background behind. There’s an announcer who has only a handful of voice clips, but all of which just fit with the experience, in the words and speech- “A great slam and then some, and begin!” The word ‘WALLOP!’ flashes across the screen, a wonderful and period correct jazz tune swells in accompaniment, and only now does battle begin- you haven’t even played Cuphead yet, but you’re having a wonderful time just looking at it.

But when you do play, the next thing you’ll notice, the other thing about the game, is the difficulty- there’s quite a lot of it. You normally have three hit points, and while these can be expanded with equipment it comes at the cost of damage output and precludes you from using other items. Three hits until death is a fairly tall order with these bosses shooting, punching and leaping at you in pattern memorisation bullet hell fashion- die, and you have to start the fight from the beginning, no checkpoints.  Bosses, by contrast, have huge, unseen health pools that you have to chip away at while evading, and will switch to a (usually far nastier) new form two or more times upon taking enough of a beating.

it was hard to get screenshots and also fight this rat guy sorry 

Fights are demanding and unforgiving in a very old school kind of way- I told you, Contra and Mega Man. Honestly, I’m not even that good- it took me 14 hours or so to get through, and that length is almost all beating my head off of tough bosses. But for me at least, it was the good kind of difficulty, that makes you reflect on how to improve and which you feel so so good at conquering- I never got apoplectic about my many deaths in Cuphead, but your mileage may vary. While your Dark Souls and such has made difficulty trendy, some folks that were maybe art fans more than game fans were drawn to the game by the look, and found it not their cup of tea. They might have a point when they ask if Cuphead, a game where the main appeal is the looks, need to be so punishingly exclusive about the skill levels of those who get to look at it?

My answer is yes, but only because the talented creators at MDHR wanted it that way. I understand these madmen remortgaged homes and such in their commitment to the project, and it has paid off and then some. Cuphead is a solid set of mechanics with a distinctive level of challenge and greatly elevated as a package by the quality of its presentation- a creative work only gets to be that way because it was made with a huge amount of love and attention. Independent production by a small team allows vision and personality to be deeply ingrained in the product rather than stamped on as an afterthought- the style and challenge of Cuphead makes it one of the most charming and personality-filled games I’ve played in a long, long time. 

Game Review: DOOM (2016)

I wasn’t sure about the new Doom for a while. Why would I be? Doom 3 was lacklustre, and Doom 2 was twenty years ago. There was no reason to think the thrash metal glory days of the game about beating up literal demons in literal Hell, the game that made first person shooters what they became, could be reclaimed in this wretched age of metrosexual pop and games with no challenge about people’s feelings.   

My skepticism was compounded by having sampled the multiplayer beta before release, to find it deeply uninspired. I was reassured to learn that this component was developed separately from the main campaign, which was to be the focus. £40 for a game where I know going in I’m not interested in a big part, though? It felt steep enough for me to hold off until I saw some reviews and got bored enough to want something new. Doubt lingered, however; with the legendary id software founders behind the originals long since departed from the studio, could a new Doom game be a good Doom game? Could it even be a good game at all?

Well, shit yes, it turns out. Doom of 2016 has against the odds pulled it off, creating an impressive and surprisingly modern re-imagining of the legendary series. It’s not like classic Doom, not really- that’s a very old game, where everything took place on a single plane, there was no free look, and technical limitations restricted enemy behaviours and player abilities. That heritage is respected here, but the trap of embarrassing faux-retro pandering is avoided, with the game very much offering a fresh take on the old principles of thrilling, high-speed combat, intelligent level design and also dizzying ultra-violence.

Breakneck action makes non-blurry screenshots impossible.

For the uninitiated, the premise is this simple. You are a nameless warrior only referred to as the Doom Marine. You have awoken on Mars in the far future, because the research colony there has got itself overrun by an army of horrifying murderous demons. You’re going to fight every Goddamn one of them.

And fight you will- I can’t possibly rave about the combat enough. Modern shooter staples like health regen, aiming down sights and even reloading are thrown out the airlock. A loading screen advises you that to stop moving is to die- the natural inversion is that to move is to live, and the incredible vibrancy of Doom’s battles supports this. You jump and you strafe and you run, constantly dodging into whatever gap you can find between flying claws and fireballs, blasting away all the while at the diverse cast of otherworldly abominations. Most combat encounters have a vertical element (something I really like in shooters), from raised areas or platforms and also from flying baddies like the Revenant, a gigantic screaming skeleton with rocket launchers that returns from the old games with the truly horrifying addition of a fucking jetpack. Classic Doom does not have this kind of mobility, but it is a perfect evolution of that game’s run ’n’ gun spirit.

Speaking of guns- this game has some. Mostly fresh takes on the original’s arsenal, all look and feel superbly meaty and satisfying. Though many of the game’s enemies are so large and nasty as to require lots of shooting, it does not feel that your weapons are weak, but rather that your foes are mighty. This is an area where some modern game design has been effectively included, as weapons have attachments and upgrades earned through play and exploration. These upgrades are instrumental in turning the tide, but don't feel out of place in the new formula. The chainsaw is of course back, and is here made an occasional use instant kill that produces a piñata of gore and more usefully ammunition- a welcome spin that fits this game well.

You like Terminator 2? We all do.

Essential to the new gameplay is the “glory kill”, where wounded enemies are opened up for an especially gory hand-to-hand finishing move, causing them to drop health items. There’s a little bit of variety in these, with different animations (with the same gruesome results) playing out depending on your aim and angle on the unfortunate beastie. It works well as a replacement for the now-ubiquitous health regeneration in shooters because it forces the player to be proactive- when in a tight spot, you must not retreat but attack, contributing to the freneticism of every fight. I didn’t get fed up with these as I feared I might, and they are snapped off so quickly that they don’t bog the game down. They’re pretty damn satisfying for the most part, enhancing the player’s feeling of badassedness that is core to this game’s appeal.

In keeping with the respect for the classics, the difficulty settings have the same names they always did, and there seems to be a good step in between them. I played on Ultra-Violence, which amounts to hard mode, and was challenging, but at times I found myself considering bumping it up to Nightmare, partly because high-speed extreme-violence demon murder seems to be something I have a prodigious natural talent for, but mainly because I wanted more fighting. The combat is so good, so thrilling and so satisfying that finally clearing a room of its swarm of monsters leaves one minorly disappointed that there is nothing left to kill.

REVENANTS MAN

Having, ahem, sorted out the demon problem, you might have time to notice that there’s a lot right with the level design, too. The game’s stages feel particularly old-school, with maze-like elements driving the player to seek out keys (which are sometimes cards, sometimes coloured skulls and at least once a severed arm) and backtrack to the corresponding doors- very old-Doom, very Quake 1. And like those games, there are secrets! Remember those? Every level has several hidden areas containing useful upgrades, weapons that would otherwise be obtained later or delightful collectible Doomguy bobbleheads. Exploration and close attention to the automap are thus rewarded greatly, with diligent players gaining a significant advantage from the extra gear available to them.

On my extremely sick gaming PC, that I recently built myself from raw components like Tony fucking Stark, the game runs on Ultra graphics at 60ish frames per second, and looks pretty nice. Interiors hark back to Doom 3’s gritty industrial setting, exteriors at times offer striking Martian landscapes, and the Hell levels are suitably nightmarish. Most demons are familiar, and their new designs are largely good, if mostly on a brownish palette- my favourite is the frightful Revenant, which I might remind you has a bastarding jetpack now, with the Imps taking second place thanks to their impressive animations. The textures are crisp and the models well drawn, but I would say the art direction generally failed to blow me away. Mad props must go to Mick Gordon’s excellent techno-metal soundtrack which perfectly complements the dark aesthetic and pumps up the intense action.

One small criticism I have is for the game's storytelling. Purists may regard this as superfluous, and it is, but they did a little of it and I think more could have been done. There is a plot, told through cutscenes and radio messages, that is at least a little interesting, if only because the mute protagonist is clearly paying as much attention to it as your average shooter fan might. The writing's hammy in a way that works, but the only additional flavour available comes from collectible datalogs scattered around. These paint a picture of the events that led to the cataclysm, but I found myself missing some Half-life style environmental storytelling. I'd have really liked, for example, to encounter one or two survivors hiding out and holding snippets of information. Instead, every living thing you meet is a horrible monster. It's nice for the conscience to know that there's zero risk of civilian casualties because literally everyone has already been killed by demons, but it does leave the whole place feeling a little, well, lifeless. I suppose it does work to keep the game moving, and is a minor objection in any case.

I still haven’t touched the multiplayer, nor the significantly more promising "Snapmap" custom level features, but Doom of 2016 is one of my favourite games of this year. Not only does it stand well on its own thanks to the incredible combat, it's a delightful surprise and a loving homage to a legendary piece of gaming history. I love it, and I'm so pleased that the franchise is in safe hands and relevant once again. 

Tanks, World of

Do you have any idea, any idea, just how interesting the history of tank combat is? I'll tell you; shit is incredibly interesting. Did you know, for instance, that the differences in Soviet and NATO tank tactics can actually be observed in the design of the tanks themselves? The ruskies favoured aggressive, advancing-under-fire doctrine, and consequently, the tanks are low-profile and manoeuvrable. NATO didn't play that way, oh no. NATO doctrine dictates that you roll up on the crest of a hill, exposing just your turret, depressing the gun and blasting on fools from behind the protection of geography. The extra gun mobility needed by this approach requires a taller turret, giving the vehicle an increased target profile, though one that is ideally hidden in a hull-down position of cover. Ain't that interesting? No? Well, shit. Guess I'll skip the ten thousand word essay on armoured warfare. Fortunately, the knowledge isn't required to enjoy World of Tanks, an interesting free-to-play game from wargaming.net.

It's not easily genre-able, this one. It's probably an action game, firstly- standard battles pitch teams of 15 tanks up against one another on a variety of maps. To succeed in battle, you need to employ some degree of strategy, since it's just a little more complex than your average Black Ops match, though the same could maybe be said of . In addition to the rootin' tootin' shootin' side of things, we have some RPG-style progression out of battle- you buy tanks and upgrades for them with credits earned in battle, and watch your crewmen increase in skill like some kind of militarised Pokémon. An unusual game, then, but a good one? Maybe.

A garage brimming with my totally sweet vehicle selection.

You start off with three frankly heinous little wagons in your garage, one from each of the Russian, American and German lines. After a few battles in these poorly armed, slow, paper-armoured deathboxes, you might have scraped up enough funds and experience to upgrade. In terms of vehicles offered, World of Tanks is certainly impressive- there are five classes of vehicle- agile Light Tanks, versatile Mediums, powerful Heavies, long range SPG (self-propelled gun) artillery wagons and ambush-focused Tank Destroyers, with each nation having intersecting lines for each class in ten tiers of increasing potency. There's a whole lot of historical accuracy here, with tanks from the inter-war period through to the early '50s, though dozens of the tanks available seem to have been prototypes that never saw combat. Nonetheless, the attention to detail is commendable, almost alarming- each tank has realistic options for equipment and meticulously detailed models, including the positions of crewmen and essential parts with regards to incoming fire. I saw a thread on the (well-trafficked) official forums where digital tankers were genuinely digging up blueprints and design documents for these sixty or seventy year old machines to find the ideal spots to place that killing shot.

Into the fray! I took a screenshot before the enemy appeared because I did not wish to put virtual lives at risk.

The progression system is solid. Players spend experience to to unlock new parts for their tank, which also unlocks further research- the classic 'tech tree' approach. There's a lot of depth, here; researching appropriate advancements is vital to keep your tank competitive, and there are a hell of a lot to choose from. Engines, turrets, guns, suspensions and radio units can all be swapped out. Most of the parts available are straight upgrades, but each tank generally has a range of guns available with variations in rate of fire, accuracy and firepower. There is an awful lot of fucking grinding, though, which can prove a real pain. I wanted to get into the Russian Medium tank line, which includes the legendary T-34 series and ultimately the venerable T-54, arguably the first true Main Battle Tank; a delicious prospect, as I'm sure you would agree if you knew what that meant. However, to get even as far as the T-34 (a vehicle without which your sorry ass, reader, might well be speaking German), I had to progress all the way through the light tank line. Light tanks suck man balls, though, and grinding through was a real drag. Because there is so much grinding (this is an MMO, after all), I worry that it would be all too easy to stick a whole lot of man-hours getting locked into a line that isn't as much fun as you thought it'd be. This is reduced a little with recent additions to the tree whereby you can move more easily between classes, but it remains a concern.

The pre-round period is filled with tension, motivational speeches and shit-talking.

The actual gameplay is pretty fun. Two teams of fifteen vehicles line up against one another on about a square kilometre of semi-accurate historical battlefield. To win, a team must either destroy all enemy vehicles (there are no respawns) or capture the enemy base. A lot of work has gone into the combat; intricate mechanics are present for spotting enemy vehicles, shell penetration and tank damage. There's a potent one-more-match mindset the game invites you into, probably because of the one-life system, reminiscent of Counter-Strike. To survive in combat, you must be fairly thoughtful- positioning and movement is key. Speeding out into the open battlefield will almost certainly leave you with thirty tonnes of burnt out paperweight in short order. Unfortunately, some of the tactics are nullified by the relatively compact maps. These play too much into the hands of the heavy tanks; their crazy armour and god-like firepower is quite a bit more helpful than the extra mobility of the light and medium vehicles. It’s not that badly balanced, (though the developers are Russian, so the Soviet tanks have characteristics between ‘exaggerated’ and ‘nightmare death chariot’) and they are working on it, but the issue is present. Another balance issue comes from matchmaking. Since the available tanks range from inter-war experiments to two-hundred ton prototype tracked mountains, there’s a tier system, and you theoretically get matchmade with tanks around your own tier. I think you can end up with too many extreme-tiered tanks; it’s not much fun to play in a team with five tier-fives against one with five tier-eights, but this seems to happen all too often. It’s not crippling, and if you find the wrapping paper of your mid-tier tank torn asunder by the berserk child at the controls of some steel monster, you can just leave the battle and start one in a different tank, but too often I see a tier-four light matchmade with some tier-nine heavies, and pity that fool.

This guys about to taste some hurt. Or he would be if i hadn't got a bloody ricochet.

For a free game, the production values are great- tanks are meticulously modelled, and a whole lot of effort has clearly gone into their recreation. In fact, for a free game, what faults it has are pretty minor. That said, for a free game, there are an awful lot of ways to spend money on it. You can buy a premium subscription, increasing your credit and experience income, premium vehicles if your time is too precious to grind through the trees to get tanks the proper way and premium ammunition to penetrate thicker armour. You start with a (fairly healthy) five garage slots, and more can be purchased for real money, stuff like that. The devs have, I think, struck that difficult freemium balance where paying real money is both worthwhile and non-essential; even the extra-penetrative shells don’t give much ingame advantage since they don’t do more damage than the standard ammo- essentially they just mean you are less hosed against tanks tougher than your own. At higher levels, the income bonus from a premium subscription is the surest way to make any kind of progress, yes, but at no point is it essential, which is very agreeable.

So, if you find yourself with a desire for some WW2 armoured action, but no desire to pay for it, I could not, in good conscience, recommend any game over World of Tanks. Since various goverments and school boards have rejected my calls for the art of tank combat to become a mandatory part of primary education, it might be the only way you can learn this vital skill.