Leveling Down

How come I still don’t “get” Halo?

I’ve played a few hours of the Halo 3 Beta this past weekend and this week, and for those of you that are interested, here are my impressions. Keep in mind that I’ve never really been a fan of Halo; the campaign for the first game put me to sleep several times with its repetitive textures and corridors, and I was never really interested in multiplayer. However, the 360 is my only console of choice this time, unlike last generation, so I will be studying Halo 3 closely.

I beat the first Halo’s campaign, bought the second one, but never got too far in the campaign nor did I play much multiplayer. Halo 2 didn’t get much playing time at all for me since it seemed too similar to the first. I never understood the popularity of Halo, but over time I’ve begun to learn – it seems like the reason why it’s so popular is the LAN play. Most people that speak highly of Halo seem to have the experience of participating in a 3-4 TV/Xbox setup with 12-16 players. Coupled with the inherent jokes that Halo is quite popular with the typical frat boy, and I can see its broad mainstream appeal. Maybe that’s why it’s so successful – everyone likes it because they can play it (and play it with their friends).

More »

The combination of slow motion and the amount of destruction you cause is very difficult to not enjoy.

I’m in the middle of playing Burnout Revenge, but I think I’ve put in enough hours to write up a review for it. I think it’s going to take several more hours to get all the Achievements I’m after, but unlike other games, this one doesn’t have a strong storyline or plot that requires me to get through the game to write up my thoughts.

This is one of those rare games that I had never planned to give the light of day, but through circumstances, I played it and realized, “Wow this game is great! I’m quite happy that I got a chance to play this.” (The only other game I can think of that was a pleasant surprise for me was Dark Cloud 2 on the PS2.) My brother had given me this game along with some other stuff for Christmas last year, and I never got around to it until recently when I was considering trading it in during the Gamestop trade-in promotions.

More »

There are various enemies in the world of Tamriel, including ice elementals

Ah, Oblivion – the game that I bought originally when it came out for PC, played about 10 hours into it, got overwhelmed, and quit. Since borrowing it from my brother last Christmas, I’ve tried again and again to get into it, only to stop before I really even left the first zone because I just didn’t feel like tackling this monster of a game. It was good that there were Achievements this time to guide me, since without them I felt like I could be lost in the game forever. After finding some guidance in a noob Oblivion thread on a forum, I decided to force myself to start the game.

This was maybe two weeks ago. Now I can say I’ve finished the game, but I don’t think I can ever say I’ll have completed it since it is so massive in scope. 50 hours and 1000 Achievement points is good enough for me. I understand now why the game was so well received, and I can only agree.
More »