Posts Tagged ‘video games’

Modern Warfare

Modern Warfare, while maybe not as modern as it’s more recent sibling, Modern Warfare 2, is still a great game.  The single-player campaign is quite challenging (some say too short, but they’re either really good at it or haven’t played it on Veteren…), and the multiplayer offers players the opportunity to customize their character to their play style and gives you hours days of gameplay (albeit with 12 year olds).

Single Player :

The single player campaign is fun, involving and challenging (at least on Hardened and Veteran.  I have yet to try the easy setting, I wonder if it “plays itself” like Halo 3 does.. they’re almost right!  We got through the first several missions just meleeing guys to death, it’s great!).  Several missions left me uttering streams of obscenities for what seemed like hours (I think it actually WAS hours) at how hard they were (seriously, the dogs are a pain in the ass, trust me.. they’re so tricky you get 20 Acheivement Points if you manage to melee one to death).  Even then I only escaped some by the skin of my teeth.  If you get shot more than once, or sometimes less than once, means instant death.  Crouching and going prone can help… or make you even more of a target.  Jumping behind cover helps unless the bullets go through your cover.  They’re great at going through buses, trees, walls, wooden fences, the guy in front of you, windows, cinder blocks.. basically everything.  This does make for some great kills through walls as you fire randomly while running away crying like a little girl.

The plot follows two characters, “Soap” MacTavish (even your buddies think that nickname is odd) with the British SAS, or Paul Jackson with USMC.  Most of the missions take place in the present, although there are a few flashback missions (including the fun, but hellishly difficult, “Ghillies in the Mist”).  Each mission provides you with several objective that you must complete.  Fortunately the HUD has a compass which points you towards the next objective, and your squad-mates will move towards it with you.  In addition to the main objectives of each mission, you can also find up to 30 pieces of “Enemy Intelligence” or some such scattered throughout the levels.  (They all look like the same laptop, which leaves me wondering how it’s “Intelligence”.)  The only things I find objectionable to the single-player campaign more are the lack of a co-op mode and the fact that your NPC squad-mates cannot die.  You can shoot in them in the face and nothing happens (although repeatedly attacking them will cause you to fail the mission “Friendly Fire is not tolerated”.).

The overall gameplay is good, somewhere between a movie and a videogame.  All of the missions serve to build the plot line, with several cinematic cut scenes to give you more background on the plot.  It is easy to get absorbed in the plot, which, when combined with the gameplay, makes this really hard to put down.

Multiplayer :

The Multiplayer is fun!  It usually doesn’t take more than a bullet or two to kill you (much like the single player).  The most frustrating thing about it is when you think the person you’re shooting at / throwing grenades at / stabbing doesn’t die and then kills you.  Fortunately this works both ways, and sometimes you go all Matrix on someone for no apparent reason.

The Multiplayer maps are very well designed, there are no perfect sniper nests, almost every room has two or more entrances, making them almost impossible to defend by yourself (if you’re a high enough level you can place claymores, but that won’t stop everyone..).  Also, you can get shot through the floor/wall/ceilings, so nowhere is really safe.  That said, snipers can find loads of places to hide out and pick off their hapless victims.

Each class (Assault, Special Ops, Heavy Weapons, Demolition, Sniper) has an array of weapons it can choose from.  They are all variations on a theme, but each one has slightly different attributes.  Some shoot faster, or further, or have more ammo than others.  This gives the player a lot of customization options depending on playing style.  In addition to various weapons players have a selection of “Perks”, that give them additional grenades, make reloading quicker, or increase their accuracy.  The catch here is they are split into three categories and you can only have one of each (you can’t, for instance, sprint super far AND hold your breath longer for some reason..)

Unfortunately you have to unlock all of the above, with the exception of the basic starting weapons.  Players need to level up by completing objectives (get 15 kills which crouching, blow up 10 cars, with 5 matches etc), or get kills.  It does add a nice reward to all of your hard “work”.

Teamwork is pretty much required to be successful in Multiplayer.  Snipers are semi-useless at close range, while special ops (using sub-machine guns) are equally useless at range.  Given the atmosphere on X-Box Live this can make matches very, very frustrating.  (All of your 12 year old teammates get stuck in a “your mamma” loop while you’re vainly trying to do something).  Fortunately the game mixes up the teams every match so you’re in groups with different people each time.

Overall this is a great game.  While maybe not as… modern… as it’s older cousin, Modern Warfare 2, it is still quite entertaining and provides hours, if not days, of distraction.

If you’re looking for more info on Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare, check out :

Wikipedia’s Entry

Infinity Ward, the creators of the Call of Duty games.

Callofduty.com, the home of Call of Duty

Gamespot’s review of Modern Warfare

IGN’s review of Modern Warfare

Heavy Rain

I got to watch Heavy Rain earlier, and it looks like an interesting game.  The name does not allude to nuclear fallout (like heavy water), but rather to the fact that it rains, a LOT in this world.  I got a quick overview of the plot line, then got sucked into the rest of the story.  Basically one of your kids has been killed, and the other has been kidnapped by the Origami Killer, a murderer who leaves pieces of origami after he has killed.  The game is mostly played in third person, you interact with objects and people via action buttons.  Mostly specific tasks only have one option, but for others, such as talking to people, you get several.  Different actions require multiple button presses (opening a heavy door), others just a tap (picking something up), and others require moving the controller (such as cutting off your own finger… yes, it’s rather graphic and bloody).  Unlike many video games your actions have a consequence in the game, main character can die, and the plot line can change.

What surprised me about the game is that it isn’t play so much as a video game, but rather as an interactive movie.  Rather than calling it just a video game the developer, Quantic Dream, bills the game as “an interactive drama video game”.  You only have so long to find your son, as the Origami Killer enjoys drowning his victims by leaving them in a vat and letting it fill with rainwater.  Instead of following one specific character throughout the movie you shift between them, going from the main character, to police officers, to friends, and back.  This gives you a very interesting view of the plot line, in a way similar to the movie Momento, if only because it’s a novel way of telling a story.  The graphics and storytelling also reminded me a lot of Final Fantasy : The Spirits Within.

Overall I’d say check this game out (at least if you own a PS3), it’s a novel way to look at games and the graphics are beautiful.  The plot seems to be in depth and engaging (if not a bit brutal), so sit down, get your gamer snacks, turn off the lights and enjoy the ride!

Game Review : Darksiders

Darksiders is a recent game (January of 2010) for the XBox360, that fills many voids in my current gaming world.  It offers a mix of  several other games that I love and somehow manages to do it all while not sucking. In addition to drawing from other games, Darksiders offers several other great features that make this a game worth playing.

First I’ll share what games I’ve found that make various appearances in Darksiders:

Zelda - The overall gameplay is very similar to Ocarina of Time.  Mainly you run around with a sword killing bad guys, solving puzzles and jumping.  The bosses hide out in different areas (ala Temples.. yes, there is a water temple), which makes for a varied game play experience as no area is the same.  The plot also loosely follows Zelda, first you need to rediscover yourself, then defeat some minor bosses, then beat down some big boss.  There’s also a Navi type character called the Watcher voiced by Luke Skywalker.. erm, Mark Hamill (yes, he’s still around!).  There’s even a horse… thank god you don’t have to race to win it!

The Diablo Series – I wish this had online content like Diablo, but alas, it is not so.  Instead we get inventory from Diablo.  Different weapon power ups that increase the weapon damage, or how fast the weapon gains experience (gems anyone?), potions (although Darksiders calls them something else)  that give you health or Wrath (basically mana for special abilities).  Many, if not all, of the bad guys are of some demonic origin.  Several of them are recognizable as demons or creatures (giant worms?  More like Dune I guess…) and several others are just plain weird (giant fat guy on fire for instance).

The Dynasty Warriors Series – General combat and movement is quite similar, enemies sometimes come charging from way off screen, others just pop into existence next to you.  At times this is quite predictable, other times it leads to some quite surprising encounters as enemies land on top of you and star wailing away.  Giant whirling attacks are also similar, which leads into the next game Darksiders share aspects with.

God of War series – When I first started playing Darksiders it felt like a ripoff of God of War.  First, the main character IS War, literally.  I guess this is a leg up on God of War where you’re not actually War, but some poor bastard who is bent on killing the god of war.  Combat sequences are very similar to GoW, with attacks stringing together in beautiful combination’s.  You can also level up your weapons, but through a different mechanic.

The plot to Darksiders is great.  You are War (as in the Four Horsemen).  The thing that surprised me is that it starts in modern day.  People are milling around Times Square (or some equivalent), and then meteors start crashing down and demons are crawling out.  Ok, not exactly modern times, but pretty close.  By this point you learn that Heaven and Hell were in constant conflict until the Charred Council forces a truce between them.  The first part of the game is basically you running around beating the snot out of demons and angels.  The angels show up to fight the demons, and you too for some reason.  Soon you learn that you were framed for the destruction of Humanity.  The rest of the game is you proving your innocence to the Charred Council.

Overall this is a great game, combining many of the things I enjoy from the above games and adding some of it’s own.  The various attack combination’s are great to watch (and execute), and the variety of weapons make those combination’s different with a simple button push.  Each of the main weapons has it’s own series of moves, which makes it all the more fun.  As the various weapons power up you are able to purchase new moves for them (no money in this world, instead you get souls from enemies you kill and chests you find lying around.  Blue souls are money, yellow are Wrath and green are health.  Different enemies give you different kinds and amounts of souls).  Many of the larger enemies have a special execution move (“b” button) that turns on when they’re close to death.  These are just plain fun (and horrifically bloody!) to watch.  These moves fit into your combination’s flawlessly so your combat isn’t broken up (you do get to watch the execution in bullet time).

There are several weapons that War uses, from his trusty sword, Chaosblade, to the Scythe (Grim Reaper style) to the Power Gauntlet.  Each weapon has it’s own series of attacks it uses when mashing various buttons (X for Chaosblade and Y for the other two).  These attacks get strung together into combo attacks that cut enemies to ribbons.  In addition to these three main weapons, War also finds various other “artifacts” throughout the game, from the Crossblade (aka boomerang) to the pistol (basically a revolver with unlimited ammo).  These weapons add functionality (some puzzles are impossible to solve without them) and fun to the game (running around on horseback shooting demons with a pistol is great).  You can also use what the game calls environmental weapons, which basically translates as anything lying around.  Chairs, cars, tables, rocks, whatever you see can generally be picked up and tossed at enemies.

The only downside I’ve found to this game so far is I get lost every so often.  There is a map function you can access (press select) which shows you the general area (you need to find the map in dungeons to get this), but it’s easy to ge turned around at times.  On the up-side Darksiders encourages exploration, and various power-ups and bonuses are scattered in random corners of the world.  It always pays to explore!

Darksiders is definitely a game you should check out if you enjoy tricky puzzles, engaging plot, challenging enemies, viscious weapons and crazy attack combination’s.  Or, if you just like a good time!

Game Review : Gears of War

Gears of War is two things.  It is one of the best games I have played in the past year, with an involved plot and relatively in depth characters.  And it is also one of the most violent and bloody games I have every played.  It blows Grand Theft Auto waaay outta the water.  While you can run down cops is GTA, you can cut guys in half in Gears of War.  This review covers that, so stop reading if that’s not your thing and check out how we fixed out internet with tin foil (we think). But I’ll get to all that in a bit.

The Badass of Delta Squad: Daimon Baird, Augustus Cole, Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago

Overall this is a great game.  The story within in the game itself is quote good.  You are Marcus Fenix, who, for whatever reason, is stuck in a jail at the start of the game.  Fortunately you are rescued by (your lover?) Dominic Santiago, affectionately known as “Dom” through the rest of the game.  (If you choose to play split screen, player 2 takes the role of Dom.)  From there you fight your way out of the prison against an enemy known as “The Locust”.  The rest of the game is spent trying to kill Locust (which don’t look anything like insects) before they kill you.  This is harder then it sounds, since they’re damn smart little bastards, even on “Casual”.  And of course there are different varities of Locust soldiers, but each one is a pain to make die, even with explosive tipped arrows and chainsaws on your gun.

What is going on here?…

I’ll get my beef with the game out before I keep going.  What the hell is going on?  Who/What are the Locust and why are they trying to kill me?  Where are we?  Where is everyone else (You barely meet a handful of other people throughout the length of this game) in this world?  Basically, why is there virtually NO back story?  If you let the game just sit after you turn it on it will give you a short intro, but it’s still very light on plot.  To be fair there are bits and pieces revealed throughout the game, but there are huge questions left answerless.  The biggest one, asides what is going on, is  why is Marcus Fenix (YOU) in jail at the beginning (something about Aphos Fields I think)?  The fix to this problem is either Wikipedia or the Gears of War Wiki which explains the plot of this game, the books and the sequal game.

Wikipedia FTW

My other problem, not as big as the back story problem, is that is can be hard to find where to go.  The entire distopian future you live in looks dark, and drab and dusty.  This means that everything looks pretty much the same, so if you get lost or lose sight of the NPC’s it takes several minutes of running around checking doors and looking around to find your way forward.  My last complaint, although not exactly a complaint, more of a gripe, is that there’s too much ammo.  I never thought I’d say that.  But there’s stacks of it lying around everywhere.  You never feel the need to conserve (Tomb Raider anyone?).  You can just hold the trigger down and shot things, all the while knowing there’s a box of more around the corner!

Why stop firing?

Onto the good things!

The “Y” button lets you instantly focus on anything interesting, i.e. new enemies, dead ally, special switch etc.  This makes finding things really easy as the game points you right to them.  Like when your teammates die, you can find them very easily and rescue them…. or die horribly because…

Just because I’m a badguy doesn’t mean I’m stupid.

Enemies are smart.  They’re not going to charge in like idiots.  They use cover, throw grenades and try to flank.  This makes even “casual” encounters fun and interesting.  Nothing sucks more than badguys that just charge straight into a hail of lead you’re slinging at them.. and to boot….

Ok, maybe not THIS much fun…

The weapons are fun, as are the different ways to kill enemies. A chainsaw bayonet, sniper rifle, bolo grenade… the list goes on.  While not as novel as Halo (no lasers… or plasma swords…), the weapon options are still fun!  You can literally cut guys in half with your bayonet, curb stomp enemies, stick grenades onto them, blow their head off and more.  It’s horrifically violent and quite stress relieving.  The chainsaw has to be the best stress relief, moving in slow-mo and spraying blood every which way, even onto the camera, which only goes to illustrate….

Nothing takes the edge off the day like cutting someone in half with it…

The graphics are great.  The scenes are very realistic, fire feels real (and burns!), the blood is… bloody, the horrific monsters are believable and the physics are great.  It makes for a wonderful experience late at night with the lights out and the sound jacked way up.  Especially when a Beserker is chasing you and smashing through walls and things to kill you.

Can’t sleep, Locust gonna get me.

Overall this game kicks ass.  We are still working on beating it on “Hardcore” mode, Casual was rather easy, not to say that it wasn’t hard, but on Hardcore the enemies are significantly harder to kill and seem a bit smarter.  After this comes “Insane” which will be, I’m hoping, Insane!  Pick up a copy and play this if you can, it’s well worth it!

Star Wars : Empire at War

Combat is a lot of fun, you get both land and space units. To take a planet first you have to control the space above it. Which is the best part of the game. I had more fun flying my ships around destroying the random space pirates than anything else in the game. Both the land combat and space combat are RTS, but the land based isn’t as much fun for some reason. Maybe it’s because 90% of the units had to be made up for the game (Rebel Plex troops? wtf are those? not to mention all of the rebel vehicles). They do have some of the classics, though, AT-AT’s, AT-ST’s etc.
Rebel fleets tend to be smaller and they have a small selection of capital ships. They rely on smaller, more powerful ships than their Imperial counterparts. X-Wings and Y-Wings are the workhorse, with Nebulon Frigates rounding out the fleets for the early game.
The Empire pretty much only gets capital ships. Acclamator, Victory, Imperial class Star Destroyers are all staples, and each one gets a specific number of TIE fighters to deploy during battle. The nice thing is after each battle all the TIE fighters are rebuilt, so as long as the capital ship survives you get your TIE’s back. That said, as long as one of the ships in a group survives (of smaller ships, i.e. X-Wings) or as long as the capital ship is alive (even at 1% health) it will be completely repaired after battle.
During battle you are only allowed so many units at a time. On land battles you can get more by capturing “reinforcement points” as the invader (the defender gets all their units at once). This makes the land battles more annoying, but luckily the AI is terrible at defending those points. Space battles are limited by a reinforcement #. Each ship has a different value, and you only get so many points to take out the enemy. Luckily, as your ships are destroyed, you get those points back and are able to bring in additional ships.
The single player, on the other hand, sucks monkey balls. The AI does nothing. Literally Nothing. They might send out a tiny probing attack, but you can literally sit back, build up a massive force and take them out in five seconds. Which means zero replayability.
So, the game is worth $10, maybe, if you are bored and plan on selling it to a friend for $5. But, if you like flying space ships around like me, then by all means get this game and fly away.

Addicting Games

Momentum Missile Mayhem – http://armorgames.com/play/4517/momentum-missile-mayhem-4

~Rob