Betatastic!

Ok. I am moving today and Time Warner is not going to be able to make it to my new place to set up my precious internet or television till the 3rd. So, in light of the last little bit before I go off into the void of no internet, I give you the first installment of Betatastic! My thoughts and speculation on any betas I may have been in recently, or am currently in.

First, we start of with Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. I have yet to get my review for Company of Heroes up simply due to the severe amount of gaming I've been doing, but the short of it is this. CoH is a great RTS that twists a few of the classic aspects of RTS games and makes it interesting. While it is not as straight forward as WiC, CoH provides an excellent single player game with a solid multi player aspect that I never got a chance to really play thanks to some fucked up thing with Relic Online.

Anyway. CoH:OP takes CoH and expands the game with two new, and very different, armies. You can play as the British 2nd Army or the Panzer Elite. Since this Beta was only for multi player, I didnt get a chance to see how the single player aspect works. Which is sad because the learning curve for the British 2nd and the Panzer Elite is a tough one. Though it was beta, and with it came a host of connection problems, ghost games and the unspeakably annoying "unable to connect all players" problem, the MP aspect of the game is well done. If you have been able to play CoH multi player, then you are going to get a dose of pretty much the same game. Granted, its a well done, interesting and challenging game but its pretty much more of the same with a new twist. I did find, though, that the PE (panzer elite) has the ability to totally spam you quick. If you play as I did, with a defensive mind set, you will be over run quickly. Most PE players quickly learned to spam out as many units as they could and just over run you. Thankfully, there is SOME deterrence to this since your standard infantry is able to deal decent damage to the half-tracks that seem to make up the majority of the PE forces. The Brits, though, seem to take a long time to get running full throttle and are a totally defensive minded army. With the ability to dig in to trenches, set up bunkers for your MGs, mortars, AT and artillery, the Brits can be a tough nut to crack.

I found that the game was slightly off balance, as you could get crushed by either army quickly if you were not careful and the games would drag on for a long time if you matched the unit spamming. I don't know if I will go out and get CoH:OP when it goes gold, which it may already have done, but I did enjoy the single player aspects of CoH, so I may give it a shot.

Next! The Awesomeness that is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the xbox 360.

I have been a fan of the CoD series for awhile, though I have gotten it confused with the Metal of Honor series in the past. I was able to snag a key to get into this beta about a week or so ago and I havent been able to stop playing. CoD is making a real step forward by bringing their series into the modern day. The beta was capped for levels, weapons, perks and equipment for beta but it did give you a real taste of what is to come in the game. Granted, as of this posting, the beta is not over till sunday but I will not be able to play it anymore this weekend, so I think its best to get this done while its fresh. (They also upped the level cap in beta to 25ish or so, giving you a few new guns to play around with for the weekend)

Simply put, this game is the awesomeness. Ya, Halo 3 came out this week and sucked a lot of players away from the beta but there was still a couple thousand playing when I got on earlier. Speaking of Halo 3, I have to slap my review up for that as well. Oh what I will do for 5 day with no internet or tv.

CoD 4 is a really well done FPS for the 360. The MP is smooth, the connection is normally solid and the weapons have a very different feel to them. The additions to each weapon that are earned via challenges in the barracks section really make the guns better. There is a variety of perks to choose from and once you reach level 5 or so, you are able to create your own class with any perks, guns, additions and side arms you want. While these were limited in beta, I am hoping the developers add more attachments as well as giving you the chance to add multiple attachments to various weapons. If I was able, I would have been running around with my M4 carbine with a red dot sight and a silencer. As it stands now, its only one attachment per weapon.

They also made being a sniper a tough job. The maps are a decent enough size to accommodate a sniper, but staying in one place for to long just gets you dead. The shots have to be taken quickly since your ability to steady your shot is only a few seconds long. Hitting a moving target is no simple task either. They also make it so you need 100 kills before being able to upgrade the scope on the sniper rifles. This may all change at gold but I tend to like it. Keeps everyone from playing a sniper and moves the game a long at a quick pace.

I really think CoD 4 will take Rainbow 6:Vegas, Halo 3 and GRAW 2 down for the count on the 360 as far as multi player goes. R6:Vegas is a really well done game, but CoD 4 is just so awesome, its hard not to play it over R6:Vegas. While I didnt play R6:Vegas online much, thanks to my spotty connection to XBL, a lot of the players I spoke with each felt CoD is a better MP game. We will have to wait for gold to see what they do with the SP missions.

All in all, my two recent beta experiences were fun. I enjoyed CoH:OP for a short while before it got old and I was lucky enough to play CoD 4 for only a short while so I did not burn out. As I said, I may pick up CoH:OP but CoD 4 is a must have for me when it goes gold in November.

CoH:OP - 3.5 out of 5
CoD 4: M.W. - 4.5 out of 5

Now I go to move! Yall have a great weekend and enjoy your internets. Ya lucky bastards.

World in Conflict

Remember Command & Conquer? I mean the first one, not the resulting sequels that have come out over the years. I remember the very first mission in C&C for the GDA, or what ever the "good" guys were called. A shit ton of troops storming a beach and jacking up the bad guys. It was AWESOME. I was 15 when that game came out and loved the series ever since.

World in Conflict (here on called WiC) gave me the same kind of feeling as when I played C&C for the first time. WiC is set in a alternative world where the Russians invaded America instead of going broke and falling apart. Russia also invaded Europe a few months before that, which set the stage for the invasion of the US. You play as a promising young officer with the duty of saving America from the big, bad Red Army.

WiC takes a different approach to unit management than the standard RTS. Instead of gathering resources, creating a huge force and then crushing the enemy, WiC gives you a set amount of command points to purchase new units with. By doing various tasks during the missions, you will be given access to better units, more resources and tactical aids. This lends some to the idea that Americas military is mobilized in Europe, leaving only a small force in the U.S. Its inventive, actually adds to the feeling of being short on resources and saves you the trouble of having to build bases. Which you don't really do in the game. Generally, its all about holding strategic points until you have to move on to capture another one. At these points, you can leave units inside the circle and defensive positions will be built. These defensive positions, at a max of three, will slowly build over time and not cost you anything. They are standard on every map and will normally build three kinds of defense. One for soldiers, one for tanks and one for anti-air. More on those later.

The game is really fucking impressive to look at. That, of course, demands some higher end hardware if you want to run the game at peak quality. My rig falls into "medium" status and the game is amazing to look at. All the little details are done well and big battles are really something to behold. The cut-scenes in the game are also well done, with no stone being unturned. The really neat part about WiC is beyond its amazing visuals. The games story is solid, giving you characters that you begin to either really like, or really hate. Its a more personal story than others. You also have Alec Baldwin narrating the story while your missions load. I found that to be a nice touch since he doesn't cheese it up to much and manages to convey the feelings of a solider who did a lot and say a lot in the defense of his country. It's an interesting premise, considering no single country has invaded the United States in the modern era. It really hit home for me, thanks to the short but well done cut scenes with soldier's calling home and the President. You begin to care for the characters in the story, which is more than I can say for the "Best Story Ever - Bioshock".

The game play is fairly easy to learn as it keeps lose to its C&C roots. All point and click, the control over your units is easy to manage. You have the standard mini-map to keep track of any large scale battle you may be fighting, along with the ability to assign unit numbers to groups of units. It does prove useful in keeping tanks, helicopters and ground troops separate and using this ability will help keep accidental slaughter to a minimum. As stated above, you will be given access to a limited amount of command points that you can spend to purchase reinforcements. These units will be air dropped into a specific location that you pick on the map. You will also be given access to tactical points, which you can spend to call in air strikes, tank busters, artillery, airborne troops and other stuff which can save your butt. As I said before, the main idea of the missions is to take and hold various strategic points on the map and hold them for a period of time. There is no base building and the only way you gain access to more powerful units is by completing secondary objectives with in the main mission. This cuts down on the confusion that some times can appear in many RTS games.

The game, on normal mode, was some what challenging. Thanks to the limited amount of command points you have to spend, each unit matters. Losing two or three heavy tanks at the wrong time can be a very bad thing. Getting reinforcements takes about 20 seconds and you have to wait another 20 seconds after that before ordering more, which you normally wouldnt be able to do since command points are earned rather slowly. Again, though, command points are capped for each mission and you will stop earning them once you reach the cap. So keeping your units alive is a priority. I did find, though, that it seemed that the Russians had an unlimited supply of troops to throw at me. An invading army, I would imagine, would have a harder time reinforcing their troops than the defending army, but apparently the Russians built a couple million tanks, helicopters and other stuff and brought it all over to the US.

While the single player mission is able to be completed in around 12 hours, where WiC really shines is in multiplayer. The game types are rather similar , everyone starts with the same amount of command points and its more of an attrition battle while you save up tactical points for a nuke. Tactical points are earned for destroying your enemies units and that can be harder than it sounds. In the games I have played in, a lot of people will take armor, support and air trees at the start and most will ignore ground troops. Which makes sense because ground troops get their asses handed to them by just about everything. Even with a balanced group of soldiers, you will find that ground troops will die from helicopters, tanks and artillery rather quickly. They are needed though, which sucks for anyone who gets stuck playing that role. While the game play tends to be repetitive in both single and multiplayer, its the tactics that make MP so much fun. If you have a group of players that work together, cover each others flanks, provide air support and anti-air support, that group becomes hard to beat. Each player, though, needs to know their role or you will find yourself losing more often than winning. Being the lone wolf type will not fly in MP. You also need a variety of air, ground and support. A group of players with all tanks will get decimated by helicopters. Same goes for helicopters against someone playing support with lots of anti-air. Another part that makes it interesting is that you can not stay put for very long. If you are a type of player who turtles up and believes a strong defense is the best offensive, than a couple of precision artillery strikes will cure you of that mind set real fast.

Over all, WiC is a strong entry into the RTS market. With a good story, amazing visuals and solid game play, I could see it making a run for RTS of the year. If you don't play online or just are an antisocial person who hates multiplayer, the single player mission is almost worth the price tag. While its good, the problem is that its short and I got drawn into the story so I beat the game in one day. I would keep that in mind before picking it up.

Blitz-o-reviews!

Well I have been playing some games since my last review and boy do I have some reviewing to do! I've got World in Conflict, Madden 08 for the 360, Company of Heroes and Betatastic! (which is my word for talking about the betas I am either in or played)

Lets do this!

Bioshock! GREATEST STORY EVAR!!

(First, I gave Bioshock 5/5 because it deserved it. The game is awesome. This is more of a rant about people claiming its the greatest story in the history of video games.)

Everyone needs to remove Bioshock's dick from their mouth. I have been reading a shit ton of web comics and everyone that doesn't have a running premise has a Bioshock comic up. While the game was well done all the way around, most everyone spews how wonderful the story is in the game.

"It's all a matter of perspective: are we judging it against only PS3 games? If so, things are shaping up! If you own more than one console - or a personal computer - your standards for grand storytelling were recently adjusted upward." - Penny Arcade!

That little link at the end of the most recent Penny Arcade stripe takes you to the Bioshock website. Which is saying that your perspective on great story in a video should start with Bioshock, at least for the "next-gen" systems. I mean really. Lets take a look at a classic fantasy story.

1. Random person is going about his/her business with no aspirations at changing anyone else's life but their own.
2. Terrible event occurs and our random person is thrown into an extraordinary situation for which they should no be prepared to handle.
   
3. Random person is then helped by strange figure at the start of their journey and learns the ropes.
4. Random person then goes on long quest against impossible odds to save world/family/love ones.
5. Random person faces various physical and emotional trials on said long quest, showing who they really are. Strange and unforeseen plot twists shock said random person.
   
6. Random person kicks hordes of enemy ass, taking down various sub-bosses before finding real boss and kicking his/her/its ass.

Bamo. There you go. Its standard fare for fantasy stories. So if that is your standard set up for a fantasy game, how can a story be epic if it follows the standard? Well, the telling of the story could be great, with rich characters that you begin to care about and good pacing for the story. Does Bioshock have this? Some of it, yes but not enough to make the story near epic.

The plot in Bioshock requires you to shut off your brain for the next 10-12 hours. Which is great, because as a Sci-Fi fan, its something I do when ever I watch some of my favorite movies. The story its self, though, is trying a bit to hard and they are able to drop various clues a long the way to give you an idea of what is really going on. Not only that, but you have various factions in Bioshock fighting over a substance that is only worth a shit in the city of Rapture. If any one of those crazy mother fuckers came to the surface, they would be thrown into the crazy house and never heard from again. The twist in the story isnt one that surprised me in any way and is a standard sci-fi twist that lacks any real imagination.

So stop. Bioshock was a well done game that deserves all the acclaim its been getting. Comparing other games story lines to Bioshock and saying that we, as a gaming community, need to do the same is fucking stupid. The story was fine, but it was there solely to move you through various stages, show of the kick ass graphics and give you a reason to keep going. It is not a fucking master piece of story telling.

Bioshock: Xbox 360

Bioshock for the Xbox 360.

So I have been reading about Bioshock for the past few months, eagerly awaiting a new title to buy for my under used Xbox 360. Poor thing hasn't gotten much use since I stopped playing Oblivion awhile back and NCAA 08 had to be returned. Bioshock was claimed to be a unique experience for every player, that no two people would play the game the exact same way, thanks to its RPG type elements. Needless to say, a FPS with RPG elements made me excited.

After picking it up last week, I rushed into playing the game with out reading anything else about it. I devoted a few hours every day to playing the game and taking it all in. I was hooked and really enjoyed it. Only problem is, while the claims of being different for every player could be true, the game basically makes you keep a few select powers slotted at all times. While you don't HAVE to have those select powers always at the ready, the game would be vastly tougher if you didn't.

You play as a survivor of a crashed airplane, who manages to make his way down into a underwater city called Rapture. As you arrive from the surface, you are greeted with how unforgiving the city of Rapture is. Through out the game, you will discover what happened to the city, where things went wrong and how power drove the entire city to madness. Genetic alteration is the driving force in Rapture, those who have the Adam will rule the city. You will be tested in various ways during the course of the game, both in puzzles (hacking), combat and morally. Will the good in your prevail over the offer of unlimited power?

Onto the review!

• Graphics & Sound

The graphics are top notch, taking great advantage of the 360's power. The characters are well done, the physics are fantastic, the entire game feels like you are thousands of feet underwater the entire time. 2kgames did an awesome job on the level design, each section of the city feeling different from the last and making you feel like you are back at the end of the 50's. The game is just plain beautiful to look at while you play through.

The sound is also fantastically done. You are able to hear the voices of enemies around the corner, the heavy steps of Big Daddies walking around and the light foot steps of Little Sisters going about their twisted business. Weapons sound spot on and the cries of enemies as you light them on fire are realistic. Granted, I don't know what someone really sounds like when you light them on fire, but my imagination agrees with what 2kgames went with.

There are zero faults with the graphics or sounds. The game plays perfectly, never having a single hiccup while playing through. Even is heavily populated battles, with explosions, gun fire and multiple nasties, the game is smooth as silk.

• Game play

Developer 2kgames stated that no two gamers would play Bioshock the same way. While this is some what true, the game would become very difficult with out a few select powers always in your arsenal. Same can be said with not having enough ammo of certain weapons. Trying to take on a Big Daddy with a pistol is just stupid and trying to not use electroshock, incinerate, telekinesis and frost shock during the entire game also just jacks up the difficulty to stupid proportions. While there are a varied selection of plasmid powers to choose from, you will probably find yourself keep the same ones on hand through out the game.

Besides the failing of 2kgames promise of the game being different for each player, at least making the game easier with said powers, the game is a top notch FPS. You are presented with a variety of powers to pick and choose from, giving you the ability to customize your play. You can carry around powers that turn your enemies against each other,the cities defenses against the enemies, light nasties of fire, freeze them, electrocute them, light oil slicks on fire and turn a group of enemies into bonfires or pick up anything with your mind and turn it into a weapon. There is a plethora of options on how to kill those who come against you.

You will be able to choose a variety of plasmids to use as "magic" attacks, as well as tonics that will aid you in combat, physical and engineering. There are over 70 types of tonics and plasmids in the game, so the number of combinations are huge. Through out the game, you will be able to go to gene-stations and change what tonics and plasmids you are using, giving you the ability to change tactics when ever the mood strikes.

Through out the game, you are able to increase various powers by finding them laying about, researching them through U-invent stations, taking photos of various enemies or buying them at gatherers gardens using Adam taken from Little Sisters. Of course, the Little Sisters are each protected by a Big Daddy, hands down the hardest to kill enemy in the game. Big hulking brutes, the two types of Big Daddys present different strategies to take them down. Until you kill the Big Daddy, that Little Sister can not be gotten to. The story of the game revolves around these Little Sisters and how you deal with them will affect the games story.

As a first person shooter, though, Bioshock is standard fare with out the plasmids. You will find yourself using the same weapons through out and certain weapons only being needed for certain enemies. Your grenade launcher packs the most punch, while the pistol is a last resort fire arm. You are able to upgrade weapons during the game by finding power to the people stations. You will be able to upgrade one weapon for free at each station, though you will be able to upgrade all five upgradeable weapons if you find each station. The combat can get hectic and dangerous if you are not paying attention. Before taking on a Big Daddy, it would be wise to check for turrets, security cameras and slicers in the area. I got into some real nasty fights when I was eager to take out the Big Daddy and not paying attention.

• Story

The story is solid and well written. There are, from my understanding, two different endings to the game, which I won't spoil for you here on how to affect the ending. As stated above, you play as a plane crash survivor who makes his way down to the utopia-gone-wrong under water city of Rapture. As you play through the game, you will be guided by a mystery man named Atlas. He will guide you through out the game, leading you to where you need to go so you can return to the surface. As you move along the story, a few main characters will speak to you over the radio, giving you missions, plot points and also telling you off. The bulk of the story is told by diaries you find scattered through out Rapture. Each diary you find will reveal just a little about what happened to turn the futuristic city into such a nightmare.

I did find a few areas I could not figure out how to get to and missed a few diaries through out my game. These few diaries I missed probably contain important points to the story, so I would suggest taking your time to find a way to get to them. There is no real pressure for you to keep moving forward, and it seems that enemies will re-appear after clearing out an area; so things will not get boring if you try to find a way to get to a few diaries that are tough to reach.

The voice acting is top notch through out the game. From the main characters you encounter over the radio, to the various enemies you fight, the voice acting is spot on and fits in well with the story.

• Problems

Really, there were not any. I did not encounter any crash bugs, game hiccups or other problems. The only real issue I had was finding a way to get to some diaries and the some what obvious need for certain plasmids to be equipped at all times.

• Overall
  

The game is fantastic. Some online play would be awesome, but it does not exist as of yet. The story is well done, the game is beautiful, voice acting is top notch, and the feel of the game is well done to make you feel like you are in an under water city. I have to say that this title is one of the best for the 360 since Oblivion came out. A must buy for anyone, though the length of the game can be done in a long weekend, so renting would be a must if you cant afford the price tag.