Dec/090
Jason Bittner Drum Solo
Fantastic drum solo from Jason Bittner of Shadows Fall. One of my favorites in terms of drumming inspiration.
Dec/090
Unskippable…
This may be old, but just stumbled upon it while watching Yahtzee tear MW 2 a new one. Pretty much like rifftrax for game intros..
Nov/090
Assassin’s Creed 2 Impressions
I just beat Assassin’s Creed (AC2), I pretty much having nothing else to do with my spare time so I just play video games and beat them. Mind you, AC2 is not a short game by any means, unlike another game *cough…MW2*, I just have not slept that much the last few days as I was totally immersed into the world of Ezio Auditore, the main protagonist and assassin in this game. Feel free to keep reading as there are no plot spoilers ahead.
The dev team at Ubisoft did a great job of removing content from the first game that was not that much fun. For the record I really enjoyed the first game but I agree with most of the comments that it gets repetitive. The first game had a formula, get a target, investigate the target, and kill the target. Rinse and repeat that nine times. Aside from that the fun part of the first game was the aspect of free running across the roof tops of ancient cities.
Unlike the first game, AC 2 follows a more linear path, putting the players into the shoes of an assassin, rather than (for a lack of a better term) errand boy as was experienced in the first game. There are plenty of side quests to do but none of them directly affect the core path of the game. No need to investigate targets, or find view points to access sidequets. All of that is gone; AC 2 is just a straight up linear, and excellent single player game.
The best part of AC 2 is swimming. Seriously, it’s annoying has hell in any video game where water equals instant death, really? Swimming just adds new means of traversal to the game; no longer do you die instantly when you fall into a small lake or large body of water. Plus swimming is an excellent way to evade multiple enemies when you are on the run.
AC 2 also has a bit of a Vice City gameplay mechanic, where you get to own your own town. This town provides the player with income to spend on various things such as buying armor, weapons, or paying the doc to get healed (mental note need say something about the healing mechanics in a bit). At times if player has enough money they can re-invest back into their town to make it better and get more money in return. As the saying goes to make money you got to spend it right. Well by the end of the game or nearly halfway you’ll probably end up with more money than can possibly spend. Basically you can become the wealthiest assassin ever. Once you have too much money there are two very easy achievements to get by wasting it. Though now that I think about those means of wasting money are actually quite helpful.
Money can buy you allies such as thieves, soldiers, and prostitutes. Yes, you read that correctly prostitutes. However, unlike our favorite game GTA, you can’t beat these prostitutes with a bat to get your money back. Anyways, these allies come in handy to distract guards or provide you with cover on your escape. To get them on your side simply find any of the aforementioned groups, and press a button to hire them. Money can also be used to distract large crowds and annoying street performers. The street performers are the equivalent of the crazy bums and begging women of the first game. However, this time around you get rid of them without killing them. At anytime during the game you just toss money freely out on to the streets, doing so gets rid of the annoying street performers and provides another option to escape past some guards.
Another great mechanic improved from the first game is blending. In the first game the only ways to blend in with a crowd included following the monks, sitting on a bench, or walking very slowly. In AC 2 the bench sitting mechanic is still there but blending overall has greatly been improved. Now at anytime during the game you can simply walk up to a crowd of people standing or walking and immediately become blended and invisible to the guards. No more do you have to find the monks or bench to hide! Also your allies provide another means for blending. Simply hire them and stand next to them for a bit and you blend in as the guards run right past you.
However, there are times when the guards may spot you in a crowd, and not that it is a bad thing, in fact seems more realistic. In the first game you could have a high threat level (or whatever it was called) run and hide on a bench. The AI would be confused, saying things like “where is man responsible for this”, totally ignoring and not thinking the one dude in the white robe armed to teeth could not have done a heinous act. This time if your threat level (also known as notoriety) is high the guards will find you, unless you hide really well. But once you come out of hiding chances of them finding you again are high. To avoid be found again, there are three ways the player can lower their notoriety. Either they can kill a corrupt official who according the game has put money in front of honor, tear down wanted posters, or bribe town heralds to stop their slander against you. Once your notoriety is low you can explore the cities without being hassled by any of the guards. The only guards that will hassle you, regardless of your notoriety, are rooftop guards. These guys have nothing better to do than hassle you for running on the rooftops. Either you can easily kill these dudes (which increase your notoriety) or just run away as they rarely ever catch up to you. Basically in a nutshell if none of that made sense think of it as GTA cop stars, the more you have the harder shit gets. The less you have, do whatever you feel like doing, but doing more stupid shit will bring back the cops, or in this case the city guards.
So yeah about healing, in the last game it was automatically regenerated once you went into hiding or had a low threat level. This time around it kind of regenerates if an entire health block is not lost. If a health block or multiple health blocks are lost the only way to get them back is either by taking meds or getting healed by a doctor (which there are plenty of). Either way both cost money, but as I mentioned earlier if you play the game you’ll end up with too much money, thus the charge for healing is nominal. But still I kind of miss the auto regeneration system from the first game.
Overall I’ll give this game 8.5 out 10. I would have ranked it higher but the three crash bugs causing me to restart my xbox brought the score down. No game is perfect, but considering how much fun I had in this game, I can forgive Ubisoft QA for not finding those bugs.
Now the important question of all, “should I play AC 2”? If you were a fan of the first one you are doing yourself a serious disservice by not playing the sequel. If you did not like the first one due to the repetitive gameplay or other reasons, I highly recommend trying out AC 2, due the fact that “crappy” parts of the first game are gone. However, the core essence of the game remains the same, you will have targets to kill, and getting to those targets requires a little work, but nothing as repetitive as the first game. Every target was a unique experience to tackle and hopefully once you try the game you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Nov/090
Step Aside MW2…
Left 4 Dead 2 is fucking awesome! The game was unlocked about an hour later than scheduled but damn it was worth the wait! Played quite a few VS. games with my co-workers and some random people. So much fun! The new infected are really evil if you can plan some good attacks with your teammates!
By far my favorite infected is the Jockey, nasty little bugger. Get the jump on some poor survivor and misguide them into danger such as spitter goo, fire, or the best so far, off ledges from the hotel mission. Absolutely hysterical to see survivors run off the edge of a building with a Jockey on their back!
A quick note about the level design. It’s just brilliant! The start of Dark Carnival is just an invitation for the survivors to get owned as they weave through quite a few abandoned cars on the freeway. A standing ovation to you Valve! You guys are pretty much the last beacon of hope for PC gaming and you guys do it right! Bravo!
I have now forgotten about all of my frustrations with MW 2, thank you Valve.
Nov/090
Modern Warfare 2: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.
Word of warning spoilers ahead if you have not beaten the game stop reading now!
This review is focused on the single player accept of the game. No offense, but if you are waving the flag stating “multiplayer is what MW 2 all about” put it down now.
I believe that games which feature both single and multiplayer gameplay should strike an equal balance of polish across both modes. Favoring one over the other just leads to one of those modes sucking and if by chance you played the mode that got the least attention, as gamer your reaction to the product may differ from those that played the good part of it.
This leads me to my review focused on the single player elements of Modern Warfare 2.
——————————————————————————————————————————————–
First off I was not too happy with the decisions made on PC version of the game as some folks already know so I won’t beat that dead horse anymore. Gist of it is MW 2: PC is pretty much boned when it comes to online play.
Nonetheless as a designer it seemed compulsory to play one of the biggest game releases for this year. Thus I borrowed a copy for the 360 and played through the single player campaign. Below are my thoughts about the good, bad, and ugly elements of Modern Warfare 2. I’ll keep this short as I fear that I may over rant about this game.
The Good:
- For some of the short comings which I will talk about later the game did have some interesting sequences. Such as the many chase sequences like the snowmobile, jeep, and raft chases.
- Level design was really cool. My favorite level in terms of visuals and presentation was the Gulag. The geometry, textures, lighting and effects really sold the idea of prison built within an old castle in middle of nowhere.
- Attention to detail was great. In many of the levels I noticed many small elements that belonged in the world. For example in the Rio slums I noticed some crushed soda cans littered in the alleys. Another good example was in the airbase, where in the interior sections there were heaters which had neat “heat wave” effect. It almost felt warm due to that effect.
- I’ll give props to Infinity Ward for making the “controversial” airport level, where you step into the shoes of a terrorist and mow down every unarmed civilian in sight. Was it disturbing? It was, but as I have told people I have done far worse things in GTA or Saints Row, and someone mentioned that the Postal franchise had some sick shit too. Why I give props, is that Infinity Ward could have cut that mission for fear of public backlash, but it seems they had the balls to just do it and push the limits of what can be shown and done in mature video games.
- The UAV missile launcher of doom was awesome. I had a big smile as I fired a missile at a single enemy AI hiding behind a crate, who happened to be grenade spamming me (more on that in a bit) Basically it was the I win button, just say fuck you AI I am so going to kick your ass right now, how do you like them apples!
The Bad:
- The story was pretty weak; honestly Modern Warfare 1 was more cohesive start to finish. Plus the ending of the game just felt bad ass. MW 2 ending really just made me curse out loud and I’ll explain why in a bit.
- From what I understand the story is basically some old fart wants to be a war hero so he starts a war between Russia and US. Shit goes down, old characters of MW 1 come out of the woodwork, and the truth comes out that the old fart was behind it all along an needs to die. Sounds like a bad season of 24 ( actually someone else mentioned that it was like 24, but I tend to agree)
- There was absolutely no pacing in this game. You start in the training camp and shit hits the fan till near the end of the game. At one point you get breather for a short sniper mission near the end of the game, but that too was short lived as it turned into super high action packed sequence.
- Seriously, anytime there was a cool vista or location, you got slapped on the wrists not to enjoy it and to focus purely on keeping your ass alive.
- Was it to hard to have some pacing to allow players to enjoy the pretty levels, or get a breather from the 20-30 minute long fire fights?
- Perhaps too much dialog? There were times in a few missions where people would not shut the fuck up. Okay radio chatter is cool and all but seriously some missions had nothing but constant radio chatter. Give it a break and let me focus on the mission at hand. Perhaps in real war there may be a lot of radio chatter, but this is a game, and realism should stay far away from it.
- So the ending of the game was pretty lame, why? Fucking button masher sequence. I hate button mashing sequences. I have to spam the X button really fast to dislodge a knife stuck in my gut. Okay God of War did it, and it works for that game but every fucking game does not need that mechanic from God of War!
- Once it is out a cut scene shows me throwing the knife right into face of the old fart (the one that started the war). Sure it was kind of bad ass but the button mashing sequence really killed it.
- Modern Warfare 1 was better, with the whole gun tossing and shot to face to kill the bad guy no button mashing required, just pull the damn trigger.
- Shit, now that I think about it I guess Infinity Ward enjoys killing of the bad guy by some attack to the face.
The Ugly:
- The combat sucked. I hate to say this but the game should have been called Modern Grenade Spamming Warfare.
- If you guys recall the frustration of the silo mission in Modern Warfare 1, that level of frustration and poor combat design was littered through out the entire game of Modern Warfare 2. I find that mission was warranted for the first game as it was the last mission but that kind of difficulty for the second mission and rest of the game of MW 2 was uncalled for.
- Seriously the amount of grenades you need to throw and the amount thrown at you is ridiculous, practically a game of hot potato.
- I played the game on normal and the AI were just brutal. I like to call them AimBots, as they could pick you off with a clean head shot from miles away.
- Technically all FPS AI are AimBots but these things were assholes, like the ones you would find trolling a Counter-Strike server.
- Other times the AI would “magically” be closer to you and fucking melee your ass to the ground before you can find the melee button first.
- Some checkpoints were poorly placed. I have only been doing professional game/level design for about four years now and I know well enough not to put the save point in the middle of fucking fire fight.
- Countless times I would die in a fire fight, reload the level to find myself in the exact same spot I was in before and die within seconds of reloading.
- Spawn and die, is not a mechanic or a feature, it’s just frustration for the player and I am surprised some of the designers at Infinity Ward, which I assume have more experience than I do in the biz deemed it fitting to have poorly placed save points throughout the game.
- Having a save point not to far form a fire fight is okay, allowing the player a little time to ramp up and try different tactics, but loading right in the middle of it all gives the player no time to react or plan different attacks to get to the next save point.
- Oh the quotes, I don’t want to read some philosophical bullshit when I die. How about some tips on how not to die!
That’s about it in terms of what I have to say about Modern Warfare 2. Was it the greatest game of 2009, for me it was not. I was excited for it before but seeing the mistakes they made on cutting features for PC multilayer and overall presentation of the game along with piss poor combat I really did not enjoy this game. I have no desire to replay it as I do with many of the games in my collection. I am sure my reactions may fall on deaf ears as this game is being hailed as the second coming of Jesus or something getting 100’s and high 90’s across the board. Hopefully people will soon see through the hype machine and see the flaws which inherently exist in this game.
When I saw my co-workers play this game and curse at the screen and having desires to toss the keyboard or controller down the hall, I can agree with them. This game was truly frustrating, a nice middle finger to player. Challenge is one thing in game design, fucking with player is just simply fucking with the player. Brutal game play is not fun, neither is die and try, especially for normal difficulty. Shit like that should be reserved for hardcore levels. I am not going to bother with it but I am sure Veteran mode for MW 2 is just a fancy word for saying we hate the player so let’s kill them when they spawn.
To conclude, I’ll say this. I consider myself to be a hardcore gamer. I enjoy games; I’ll replay games that were fun and bump of the difficulty for the challenge. Most games that I have played have a decent difficulty curve and pacing to give the player a sense of empowerment and joy when they reach the end. For example, Gears of War 1 I beat that on insane, on my own ( I had some help in co-op for the final boss but everything else I did myself). Even though it was hard I had fun, the game was well balanced for insane mode and overall the pacing provided highs and lows to keep me playing. Similarly the Half-Life series, has excellent pacing, even on harder difficulties, it gives you the player a sense of accomplishment at the end. But with all the skill I presume to have as a hardcore gamer Modern Warfare 2 on normal mode was by far the most frustrating game I have ever played.
Will I play Modern Warfare 3 ? (The way part 2 ended and the amount of cash it raked in, it would be stupid of IW not to do it) of course I will. But hopefully the third part will have a better single player game featuring better pacing and improved combat other than just using iron sights and grenades for five hours straight. Or perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part and MW 3 will be again the “definitive online multiplayer shooter for the 360″ 
Nov/090
Throwing Knifes…
Epic knife throw win in Modern Warfare 2!
I am sure this has made its rounds around the net but still, that’s awesome.
Nov/090
Guitar Hero- Left 4 Dead 2 Style!
Here is a little video I made. Nothing fancy, just a ton of zombies, a bloody guitar, and a head banging tune.
Enjoy!
Nov/090
Brutal Legend Impressions
Today I beat Brutal Legend. Was it Brutal? For the most part yes but only at the start (which is featured in the demo) and the end of the game (which I won’t spoil). Everything else in the middle is good, but not ‘brutal’ by any means. Now what I mean by ‘brutal’ (I’ll stop saying that) is that from the E3 and xbox live demo I got the impression that the game was a comical hack and slash with a heavy metal theme. Well as I am sure most gamers know by now, the game has hidden RTS elements.
I enjoy RTS games (Starcraft 2 where are you!), however it’s not hardcore RTS as in build a base, expand the base etc. It’s more like Overlord, as long as you have enough resources (in the case of the game ‘fans’) you can build units. This concept is expanded into something known as “Stage Battles” your crew vs. one of the other factions. The end goal, destroy the other stage! I have to say, stage battles were a lot of fun, even though I was hoping that the game would offer up more hack and slash sections. I could write a lot more about stage battles but watch this clip. Hopefully it will make more sense.
Oh yeah and you can fly (slight spoiler…my fault)
On to visuals, basically they were pretty solid. As Tim Schafer said in some interview, the world resembles and is inspired by the art work of metal albums. Nothing says, “METAL” like a pile of skulls!
Finally the music. I have to say hands down this game has the best soundtrack ever. And yes I am being totally biased as I am a metal head! There were times where I did nothing in the game except sit back and listen to the sound track on my speaker system. Full soundtrack list here.
Now for what I did not like. The game is lacking some serious player communication elements. For one, a mini map would have been nice, half the time I could not find my quests. The only way to figure out where to go in the world was to look up in the sky and find the big ass beam of light. Or open up the map screen. Both felt very disconnected and unhelpful when I needed to get from A to B.
Now this next point is sort of a 50/50 split. I am all for HUDless gameplay. Less bars and meters showing me everything on screen the better. However, in Brutal Legend one thing that is hard to tell is your health. You can take a serious ass kicking before the feedback kicks in. The feedback given to the player is that screen turns red and you hear a loud heart beat. That means your boned. Does it work, yes. But a little more could have been done. Gears of War has the same thing no health bar, however the skull icon at least shows you how much more you can push your limits before you die. Brutal Legend lacks that one missing piece of feedback. But like Gears of War as long as you run and hide from the danger your health comes back. So not totally frustrating but hard to gauge. So I can’t say it’s bad but the health mechanics could have been better.
Overall, I’d recommend trying out Brutal Legend beyond the demo, it’s a good game. If you don’t want to buy it, rent it or borrow it from someone that has it. In the end I am sure like me you’ll have a good time with the game.
Oct/090
In Texas Now.
Well I just moved to Texas and tomorrow is my first day of work at Gearbox Software! Yeah, the same company that just released Borderlands, which I can’t fucking wait to play tomorrow night! It’s out on consoles but waiting for the PC copy to be unlocked on Steam.
Anyways I am going to be doing some level design work, for what project I have no idea and even if did know I can’t share it (yet), the power of NDA’s is to be feared and respected.
Only thing I am bummed about is tonight in Albany is the most brutal concert and I am not there. I had to sell my ticket for the Mastodon show featuring Dethklok, High on Fire and Converge. I am fan of Mastodon but was really looking forward to see Dethklok live. Oh well, I guess I’ll see them whenever the tour for the third album is on.
Oct/090
Borderlands…
Do I need to say anything else? I’ll give it the award for best game ever! Will it dethrone my long time admiration for Deus Ex as the best game ever? In two weeks I’ll find out…plus check back later in two weeks, I’ll have some big news.
Currently Playing
