Hello loyal readers. Boy, have we got a treat for you today. For the first time, both critics are combining forces to bring you both a Review and a Preview in one blog! The sheer awesomeness can hardly be contained in one post. But without any further delay, let’s get on with it. I present before you, a review of Halo 3: ODST, and a preview of Modern Warfare 2. Enjoy!

Halo 3 ODST is a newly released expansion to the Halo series. ODST differs from its predecessors in the sense that players no longer control the Master Chief, but instead takes on the role of an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper). The game itself, although primarily featured for its single player campaign, also contains an additional multiplayer mode entitled Firefight. And lastly, every copy of ODST comes with an additional disk which includes every Halo 3 multiplayer map ever created. So let’s dig a bit deeper and see how ODST stacks up against its older and bigger brothers.

ODST’s single player campaign is for the most part, a nice gaming experience. The cinematic cut scenes are well thought out, and really aid in stressing the game’s main theme of humanity. The cut scenes themselves are very noir like, and are reminiscent of old detective style movies. In campaign mode players switch between the game’s main protagonist (aptly name The Rookie), and that of The Rookie’s other ODST team members. The game unfolds in a Tarantino like fashion, and uses flashbacks to tell the game’s story. As The Rookie, players will scour the city of New Mombasa in search of your lost squad members. As The Rookie, players are primarily outnumbered, and because of this, the game tries to encourage players to use stealth tactics as opposed to going Rambo. I use the word try very loosely here… but more on that later when I get to gameplay.

Once a player reaches a certain area, the game switches to that of one of the other ODST members, giving valuable back story on that specific character’s events following his or her’s drop. The gameplay generally takes a switch here from stealthy, tactful gameplay, to a more run and gun style of play. Most of the combat takes place with other AI controlled teammates, and the levels for the most part (especially later on in the game), are quite enjoyable. Actually, I think it’s safe to say that the levels when you aren’t playing as The Rookie are some of the best in the game. With that being said, the game does a very nice job switching between the more emotional charged scenes as The Rookie, to more tense and action packed scenes as the other ODST members. As mentioned earlier, the cut scenes really seem to fuel the emotion felt when controlling The Rookie. Although The Rookie never actually speaks, players can still see and experience the despair and hopelessness that the character feels. But he isn’t the only character here worth caring about, the rest of the ODST team are all fairly lively and interesting themselves.

Quite possibly one of the other things that makes ODST’s campaign mode successful is the music score. The Halo series has always been known for its music, but ODST quite possibly takes the cake. The music has been perfectly balanced, thus allowing for a slow boil during tense action scenes, to jazzy interludes that reinforce the noir feeling. The music is without a doubt one of the strongest points of ODST, and without it, I don’t think the campaign would be as strong as it is.

Moving on, I’d like to discuss the gameplay of campaign mode for a bit. In ODST, to reinforce the fact that humans aren’t “immortal” creatures like Master Chief, Bungie has brought back health packs. ODSTs do have a small shield, but once their shield is depleted, they become hurt and players must then find a health pack or face being killed. As far as I am concerned, I am quite pleased that Bungie brought back health packs. It really seems to fit when playing as an ODST. Another addition to gameplay is the inclusion of two new weapons, a silenced SMG, as well as a silenced pistol. Both of these weapons have scopes on them, and both are quite powerful. However, to balance these guns out, Bungie put slight kick back on both guns when you zoom in, which makes them even in terms of usage. I’d love to see these weapons incorporated into Halo 3’s multiplayer, but I doubt that will ever happen.

One serious gripe I had about ODST’s gameplay was the supposed “stealth” element that was put into the game. Honestly, the stealth element is weak at best. Most enemies can still spot you when you are crouched in the dark, and even while hiding behind something. And as far as players supposedly not being able to go Rambo through the game, the truth is quite the opposite. Playing on Heroic mode, I had little trouble in dealing with enemies in the game. Rushing them almost always ended up in me walking away from the fight. That reminds me, another problem I had with ODST’s campaign is the enemies. The Halo universe doesn’t exactly have a wide cast of enemies, and ODST is even worse than previous games. If my memory serves me right, there are really only a total of about 4 or 5 different enemies that get quite boring to fight after about an hour in. Pathetic.

As far as campaign length is concerned, I personally got about 5 ½ – 6 hours of game time playing through on Heroic. Now to some people maybe that’s enough, but to me personally, another hour or two would have been a lot better.

Next I will briefly examine the multiplayer modes. First let me just say that co-op in this game sucks for the most part. It destroys whatever tension or emotion that’s built up by playing through the campaign alone, and on top of that, it really just feels tagged on. Firefight on the other hand, is much more enjoyable. I won’t discuss the mechanics of how Firefight works, but overall the mode has a nice feel to it, and seems to fit fairly well in the Halo universe. I did have some gripes with it however. The first of those gripes being the difficulty curve. The first level is almost absurdly easy, but by time you get to second level (not the second wave mind you) or so, it seems you are fighting with everything you have just to stay alive. I understand that the game has a varying difficulty, and that it can be changed manually, but I just happened to like the way Gears of War 2’s Hoarde mode is set up. Firefight seems almost impossible without a full party, even on normal mode. And the fact that Bungie disabled match making for Firefight may make it very difficult for some to constantly have a full party. On top of that, they also failed to include four player split screen. All in all, Firefight is a cool new addition, I just personally feel it needs some work.

In closing, Halo 3 ODST has a very well done campaign mode that makes for one heck of a gaming experience that almost all gamers should try to not miss out on. However, the short length of the single player campaign, repetitive enemies, the terrible co-op mode, and impaired (albeit decent) Firefight mode make for a game that may not justify the 60 dollar price tag. My suggestion is to wait until it gets a price drop. ‘Till then, ODST is at least worth a rental so one can experience the single player campaign.

7/10

———————————————————————————————————————————————————– 11.10.09, this is the date when the most anticipated game of the year will be released, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Not only is this game going to be huge, it IS going to break records in terms of overall entertainment sales. GameStop has already speculated that based on the amount of preorders for the game, it “has a chance to be the largest title of all time”. Ok enough of the build up as this is just a preview anyhow, we want to know what’s going to be the difference between Infinity Wards Modern Warfare 2 from its predecessor Modern Warfare. From what has been seen so far the answer seems to be that much hasn’t been changed. The controls and gameplay remain technically the same, and while nothing has been completely overhauled there are still some new aspects that will make the game a little different. Many of the old perks remain but there are new ones, for instance the painkiller perk gives extra health (think super juggernaut) immediately after they respawn from being killed that lasts for 10 seconds. If someone kills you four times in a row, the copycat perk allows you to steal their class, yes steal it. The commando perk allows you to melee further, while the scavenger perk allows you to refill ammo and pick up grenades when crossing over dead bodies. Of course there are more new perks than this but an interesting perk idea is that one can attain pro-perks, which are basically perks with more power (not all perks have this, thankfully). The weapons remain nearly the same with a few new ones but the big difference to be seen is there is now sticky grenades, throwing knives, and homing red shells…ok, I made that one up. Another interesting tidbit which I thought was weird is that one can now apply silencers on their shotguns, just seems a bit odd, kind of like real war eh? Now onto the kill streak system which has been revamped as you now can choose for the most part which kill streaks you want to use, before actual gameplay (barracks) of course. Also, there is a bevy of new kill streaks including the predator missile where you open up a laptop in the game and basically guide a missile onto your target. Another is the AC-130 where you are basically tearing down havoc, machine gun style while looking down on the entire level, if anyone has this on the other team, hide. The campaign looks ridiculous so far (watch the trailer), and the game looks slightly graphically enhanced and if what I’ve seen is right, there is a video displaying the White House, which is being attacked and it looks like it is definitely a playable level…awesome. Another good thing is that co-op campaign exists, unlike its predecessor. There still is not a ton of information on the campaign mode but Call of Duty 4’s single player had some really special moments and expect this to be the same case here. Wrapping things up, Infinity Wards decision to not drastically change the gameplay, insert minor new ideas, guns, and perks with a brand new campaign and multiplayer levels could give them the edge on the shooter generation not just in 2009 but for years to come.

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Well, I guess I finally got around to reviewing something, and what better thing to review than Gears of War 2. For starters I would just like to say that Gears 2 is a solid game, and builds upon everything that Gears of War 1 started. Of course Gears 2 is still not without it’s flaws. Anyway, let’s get into the game some, and I’ll show you my take on it.

First off, like any good game review, the single player mode of the game should be talked about first. Gears 2 follows up the story set by the original Gears pretty nicely. It expands on a lot of things that were simply left to be pondered in GoW 1, adds some new characters, as well as answer some questions that really should have been answered in GoW 1. Overall, the story (as far as shooter games go) is much better than the first Gears, and is surprisingly good for a game of its type. The voice acting is pretty good to boot. The single player campaign mode is of decent length, and seems a bit longer than Gears 1. Overall it should take most players around 8-10 hours to complete on the “hard” difficulty setting.

One thing that really seems to be improved from the first game, is the way the campaign mode is laid out. Instead of just taking each level as if it’s just another mission, the game’s chapter objectives seem to happen almost in real time, as if you were really in that situation. A small gripe I had about the single player that I feel I have to mention is the controls for the vehicle levels. They’re are terrible. Just simply trying to make a basic turn becomes excessively hard. I know it’s not a big thing, but it seems like it’s something that should have been made better. Overall, it gives the game a more real experience, and makes it seem less linear than it really is.

The boss fights in the campaign mode are rather less than stellar, although the sheer amount of new enemies, as well as the size of most new baddies definitely makes up for this. Many new and dangerous opponents await you in Gears 2, which is certainly a step up from the first Gears. Single player campaign overall is a rewarding experience, and should be more than enough to pry a player away from the multiplayer game of Gears 2 (which is a reason why some people may purchase Gears 2 to begin with).

Let’s move onto the multiplayer aspect of the game. As far as the core gameplay goes, not much has been changed from Gears 1. However, EPIC has made enough minor tweaks so as to make the game feel much more like a team based shooter, as opposed to the “run n gun, shot gun fest” that was Gears 1.

Gone is the over powered shot gun, as well as the ridiculous host advantage some players had on live matches. Gears 2 feels much more balanced, and with the addition of a few new weapons, new executions, a lot of new but also good maps (along with the addition of some old favorites), and a few new gametypes, Gears 2 multiplayer is much better than its predessecor, barr a few drawbacks.

Of course those drawbacks do happen to dampen the experience to the degree, most notably the time it takes to find a match in matchmaking. To wait more than 5 minutes to find a match is just ridiculous, and for such an action there really is no excuse. My only hopes that Epic either fixes this very soon, or releases a patch ASAP. Other gripes have to be the extremely noob friendly chainsaw. It seems at times that the weapon caters heavily to new players, and as a result some matches will become nothing but players holding the “B” button. Also, the ability to stick grenades to any surface is certainly a cool feature, but in multiplayer it gets a bit absurd. When you have less than half a second to react to a stickied grenade, it gets a bit frustrating. Assuming at the very least that EPIC will release a patch to fix match making, I will happily live with the rest of these gripes and simply overlook them.

Finally, entirely new to Gears of War is the addition of the Horde mode. In Horde mode, up to five players fight in an onslaught of wave after wave of non stop computer controlled enemies. Truth be told, I have probably had more fun with this game mode than any other in Gears 2. The sheer craziness and excitement of Horde is awesome when your playing with four of your friends. And on tougher levels, the game goes from being hard to ridiculous, and forces you to work as a team, or die alone. This is definitely a nice addition to the game, and will certainly appeal to those who aren’t a big fan of the online versus mode, and more favor the single player or campagin modes.

In conclusion Gears of War 2 is a pretty good game, and except for some minor glitching here and there, awkward vehicle controls, and stupid match making, the game would be close to flawless. But even with those problems aside, Gears 2 is still a must own game for the Xbox 360. If you have any friends on live, or in person that even remotely enjoy a shooter, pick up Gears 2. It’s worth it alone for the Horde mode.

9/ 10

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Now that E3 is over, we have finally been presented some answers to a number of questions that most of us have been pondering for awhile. One of those questions happen to be: “In the new Mortal Kombat game, are their going to be fatalities?” And my answer is this: Yes. There will be.

In case you haven’t heard, the newest Mortal Kombat game (which is to be released for the Xbox 360 and the PS3), is to feature not only a number of Mortal Kombat characters, but also a handful of characters from the DC comics realm. Now as weird as this seems, let’s not forget that Capcom did the very same thing with Streetfighter vs. Marvel, and we all know how well that turned out.

However, along with the addition of DC also came the mandatory “T” ESRB rating for the game as well. Initially, most fans assumed that without the “M” rating, there would certainly be no fatalities in game, but I am here to tell you that simply is just not the case. Fatalities have been confirmed, however they have also been indefinitely toned down.

Along with this a few new additions to the gameplay have been added, one of those which includes something entitled “Free Fall Kombat”. Free Fall Kombat is a sequence that is initiated during a battle when one character throws or knocks another player off a level, thus resulting in both characters starting a free fall. During the fall, bother characters can still fight, and as they land consecutive blows, it charges a “super meter”, which when fully charged allows each character to do a unique, special move. Another addition to gameplay is the “Klose Kombat” system which is a mode you can enter during a fight, causing the characters to lock with each other and the perspective to change to a close-up of the two, to make for an interval of close-quarters fighting (much like in boxing games).

Finally, at least two new mini games have also been confirmed for the new Mortal Kombat, and online play has also been confirmed for both systems.

As of now, the full character roster is still a mystery, but a number of characters have been shown. Those characters include: Scorpion, Sub Zero, Shang Tsung, Sonya Blade, Liu Kang, Superman, Batman, Catwoman, The Flash, and Captain Marvel. All I can say is that having a battle between Scorpion and Batman is sure to prove entertaining at the very least.

Here’s a trailer for those of you that are interested.

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lol. Well, I just got finished watching both Nintendo and Sony’s briefing conference, and all I can really say is “Meh.” Nintendo literally had one of the absolute worst, if not THE worst showings I have ever seen at E3. The only game of remote interest that they unveiled was a new (but rehashed), Animal Crossings for the Wii. Talk about a disappointment, especially for a guy that was expecting to see a new Zelda game, and possibly a new Nintendo handheld. What a bunch of crap.

On a side note however, Nintendo has said that they would for sure be showing a new Kirby, and a new Wario game some time during E3, so I will be sure to preview that when I hear about it.

Sony had a better time with their showcase, although for the most part it sucked too. Basically, the only real games worth mentioning are a new 256 online shooter entitled MAG (Massive Action Game), an interesting third person, post apocalyptic game called Infamous, and a 20 second teaser trailer for God of War 2. The rest of the show talked about features the Xbox 360 already has, as well as taking time out to talk about the “old gray haired”, PS2. I crap you not. Sony literally took time out to talk about games for the PS2.

More or less, those are the updates at this time. Overall, it’s been a pretty pathetic E3. What at one time use to be the ultimate showcases in things to come, has relegated to a two hour long commercial about how great so and so’s company is. It’s inexcusable in my opinion.

Oh well. I’ll update again if I find out any more information. Until then, I will have to find something to keep myself occupied until the 18th, aka official release for The Dark Knight (woot).

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Well it’s that time of year again. The time where all of the major companies in console and PC gaming get together and unveil their newest creations. So, for those of you that are too busy, or too lazy to actually look around and see all the new stuff that is happening, I figured I would make a quick update for you.

Yesterday marked the first day for E3, and more specifically it was Microsoft’s press conference as well as unveiling. Overall, they had a decent show, which included a lot of great info about Gears 2, including a new multiplayer mode called Horde, that enables a group of four players to team up against an onslaught of opposing enemies. Unfortunately, 4 player co-op has been left out of the game once again.

Other important game news included Fallout 3, with actual hands on demonstrations which can be viewed here: http://www.g4tv.com/e32008/videos/26939/Hands_On_Fallout_3.html
Needless to say, the game looks awesome. I’m really glad to see a console port of this game, so more people will be able to enjoy the greatness that is Fallout.

A nice long trailer of Resident Evil 5 was released, and all I can say is that it looks stunning. Capcom seems to be doing a nice job keeping all the things that made RE4 so great, and building upon it for an even better game. Also, (I just literally read this) but the newest Resident Evil will finally for the first time ever, have cooperative play. Eff yeah.

Microsoft unveiled a completely new dashboard and system layout that will be out some time this fall, along with revealing a new “Avatar” system, much like that of the Wii’s “Mii’s”. Personally, I think this is kind of a lame attempt at trying to appeal to a more casual audience (especially when 360 is pretty casual as it is), and on top of that the new dashboard just looks play awful. Here’s a quick picture of what the avatars and dashboard are probably going to look like.

And lastly (but certainly not least), Microsoft revealed, to the horror of Sony fanboys everywhere, that Final Fantasy XII would in fact be available on the 360 as well as the PS3. Sony fanboys have literally been raging all day as a result of this. Honestly, I am still really shocked about this. A lot of people are saying this is the final nail to be hammered into Sony’s coffin. Myself, I am not willing to go as far as to say that, however I will say it definitely will hurt the already bad sales of the PS3. Oh well. At least I will now have a chance to play the new Final Fantasy without spending an extra 500 plus dollars.

Thats all the news I have for now. The Nintendo conference will be starting very shortly, so expect another update from me soon.

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For the past week and a half or so my entire life has been consumed by a single force. I have been staying up late, and getting up early (ok, not really) all for the sake of this thing. Even when I’m not playing it, I am at least thinking about it, or playing it in my head. In case you don’t know what I am meaning, I am talking about the highly controversial game that just came out, Grand Theft Auto IV. GTA IV is a landmark in video gaming. It is a game that truly feels more like a cinematic experience at times. With a plot that rivals a big budget film, an environment that resembles an actual city, and controls that would make a Mario game jealous, GTA IV really delivers. But let’s take a more in-depth look on what this game has to offer, and see if it’s really worth the sixty bucks you’ll have to thrown down in order to enjoy it.

As you can see, graphically the game is a monster. I am still really amazed as to the incredible detail that is put into literally every inch of this game. I find myself occasionally zooming in on a car, or building in the middle of being chased by the police just to admire the particulars of everything around me. Things like dents in car bumpers, to cracks in the sidewalk, to numerous billboards stretched across Liberty City, everything really does look gorgeous. And it’s not even until you get to the game’s own version of New York City’s Time Square, does the game truly begin to overwhelm you with it’s graphical power.

Graphics aside, GTA IV is much more than just a pretty picture to look at it. Like all great art, GTA IV has depth (and boy, what an understatement that is). As far as the actual story mode goes, it is seriously huge. With over 90 playable missions, a cast of over a dozen voice acted (and let me say, very well acted) characters, more than a good hour of cinematics, the bare bones story mode will take players at the absolute least 30 hours to complete. Now throw in the countless side missions, openess and overall size of the city, and you have a game that will easily keep you occupied for many months to come. In GTA IV, Liberty City is absolutely huge. It spans three different islands, that are not only exceptionally large, but they are seriously crammed full with different buildings, sites and sceneries. I think it’s safe to say that Liberty City in GTA IV is easily the largest city in the GTA series.

As I mentioned early, the story in this game is top notch, Hollywood quality. Unlike a lot of the GTA games in the past where the stories were pretty simple (I.E. character gets out of jail, character gets betrayed, character goes after person that betrayed him), GTA IV offers a very compelling story, and some of the most interesting and in-depth characters I have ever seen before in a video game. The game tells the tale of Niko Bellic, a Middle European fresh off the boat, lured over to America by his cousin, Roman. Roman promises Niko wealth, fame, and pleasure, but when he arrives, he finds out that just the opposite is true. The game then focuses on Niko’s endeavors, along with his successes and failures. Never before have I really seen a character with such flaws fleshed out in a video game, such as GTA IV does. Along with this, GTA IV has a number of great supporting actors that are all superbly voice acted. Altogether it makes an awesome cinematic experience, that really draws the player in.

Aside from the single player experience, for the first time ever in a GTA game, IV offers full online multiplayer support for up to 16 people. The game types included range from simple “Deathmatch”
game types, to games where it’s cops against criminals, to “Free Mode”, a game mode that simply allows you and up to 15 of your friends to navigate the city freely. Multiplayer itself is truly a lot of fun. Just getting a bunch of friends over to terrorize Liberty City is a blast, but along with that it also makes a huge game even bigger.

The controls in GTA IV have been improved. One of the most noticeable things in IV is the driving. All of the cars in GTA IV handle a lot more realistically, which can be seen as a bad thing at first, but after awhile players will easily adjust to it. Probably the best improvement is the new aiming and cover system. The aiming system has been completely redone, and finally gives players a targeting system that is comparable to actual First and Third Person shooters. The cover system works much like Gears of War, in the respect that players can get behind pretty much every object in game to provide a wall between them and enemy fire. Both these aspects really add to the gameplay in GTA IV, and they are a much needed addition to the GTA franchise.

Needless to say however, I do have a few problems with GTA IV. One of them being the exclusion of the weapons that has made the series so popular. It seems in order to make the game more realistic, Rockstar decided to throw out some of the more “fun” weapons. Gone is the flamethrower, chainsaw, katana, and many others. Also, the military, as well as tanks have also been done away with.

Of course these are things that I can live without, and happily give up for an excellent game in return. Overally, GTA IV is a game that is seriously worth the sixty dollars I spent on it. I have put easily fifteen hours into the game, and I am not even close to being half way done with it. On top of that, multiplayer is an awesome addition, and will keep me distracted for months to come. It’s quite simple really. If you have played any of the past GTA games and even sort of liked them, buy GTA IV right now. If you haven’t played any of the past GTAs and you are looking for an all around great game, go ahead and get GTA IV. Seriously. It’s that good.

9.5/ 10

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In case you aren’t aware, a new Street Fighter has been in development for quite some time now. Just recently some new information has been released, along with a short gameplay video as well. Anyway, I decided to just post a quick preview of some of the stuff I have found out. First things first, an actual in game shot showing the new “2.5D” look.

As you can probably tell, the game itself looks to be in full 3D. However, the actual gameplay is still 2D, exactly like how the old Street Fighter played. The camera switches to a more dynamic, or full 3D view whenever characters use there super or ultra special moves. The character models are also insanely more detailed this time around, and actually show varying levels of reaction facially when they get hit. Thus, the game has become dubbed “2.5D”.

The majority of the gameplay has been changed around since Street Fighter 3rd Strike in order to give the game a more “realistic” feel. A lot of the gameplay has also been changed, or reverted rather to give it more of a feel like the original Street Fighter. A new fighting system currently being called the “Saving” system enables players to charge up a gauge whenever they are damaged. This gauge, known as the revenge gauge, lets players use unblockable attacks, or add extra damage to EX and Ultra specials (both brought back from past Street Fighter games). Finally, the development team has scrapped the four button gameplay (I.e. just weak and strong attacks), for the oldschool six button play (weak, medium, strong).

Online play has been confirmed for Street Fighter IV, and it can be assumed that the game will be released for 360 and PS3 indefinitely. Of course, it will most likely come out to the arcade first. Along with this, the addition of at least three new characters has also been confirmed. Those three include, Abel, a French Martial Artist with “no past”, Crimson Viper, an American female fighter, and finally El Fuerte, a Mexican luchador.

I have read a number of hands on reviews and for the most part, most everyone is saying that SF IV plays a lot like the old Street Fighters, which is definitely a good thing. More importantly however, is that SF IV has been said to make a return to the original Street Fighter, something that should prove to make this game quite awesome if all continues to go to plan.

Here’s the gameplay trailer I promised…

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