That was the question I found myself asking for the past few months ever since I started seeing news about it. Is it a game? Is it a stat tracker? Is it just an easy way for Microsoft to try to sell me crap? And, most importantly, does it deserve to be on my “Nav”? Well, since it was a free download, I put it in my queue and gave it a whirl last week, and this is what I found.
Many of you probably have seen this already, but if not it’s totally worth checking out. Purportedly this is the opening cinematic from Left 4 Dead 2, and it looks amazing. The first game’s cinematic actually told a lot about the gameplay in the game, something we only realized in retrospect. What does this cinematic have for us?
First, I think the setting looks great: the survivors are in the deep south near New Orleans (or in?) which is pretty awesome, and the music in this trailer does a nice job of setting the tone. In general, it seems like there is a chance that Valve might be expanding the storyline a little more - this time you could play Left 4 Dead without even knowing that the campaigns were linked, but the scene on the bridge where the government is bombing the zombies makes me hopeful there will be more of a storyline in this one.
Secondly, you get a look at some of the new special infected, such as the Jockey who can jump on the survivors and steer them around, and some freaky witch-like character. It also seems like there are going to be zombies with hazmat suits on, so I’m going to assume that molotovs aren’t going to work on them. You also get a look at some of the new melee weapons, such as the chainsaw, frying pan, and bat (there’s another video with the GameStop exclusive baseball bat out there as well).
There also seems to be the same campy humor that was present in the first game, and the survivors seem like they’re going to be as fun to play as the original cast. All in all, I’m getting pretty pumped for this game: my gaming time is going to be SERIOUSLY crunched in a few weeks. Looks like I know what I’ll be spending my $40 Amazon credit on!
Maybe somewhat old news for those of you that are fighting game fans, but I think it’s worth mentioning anyway.
Here are notes on it to consider:
- Eight additional characters including T. Hawk, Dee Jay, and a new characted named Juri
- Balance changes for existing characters (most likely Sagat will get nerfed)
- Improved online experience (could that mean quarter matches?)
- Retail release, but not full priced ($39.99 price point?)
- Bonus for those that hold onto original Street Fighter IV disc (alternate costumes is my guess)
- Not being released for arcades
I’m actually somewhat excited about this, since I may get back into Street Fighter with the hope that one of these eight new characters will be up my alley. I am surprised though that this is not coming out for arcades. There were already several console-only characters in the release of the original Street Fighter IV back in February so an arcade release of Super Street Fighter IV would have brought both the console and arcade versions back to parity. Instead, now we have the original Street Fighter IV in the arcades, but a suped up version for consoles with nearly double the characters as the arcade version and balance changes as well. Is Capcom really telling us that we shouldn’t be playing fighting games competitively in arcades anymore, but on consoles?
Barring the somewhat mixed reviews describing the game as being too expensive for what it is for some people ($60 for a 4-5 hour campaign, a Horde mode,and 3 new multiplayer maps), Halo 3 ODST most likely still had phenomenal day 1 sales. How do I know? Just look at my online friend list the night of Halo 3 ODST’s release!
I’ve been slowly making my way through the campaign so far, and I’m actually digging it more than previous Halo campaigns. I’ve yet to figure out why besides its accessibility, but I’m sure after more time with it I’ll know. Still, I admit that I am somewhat shocked to see the “foothold” it has on the 360 community. I’ve yet to play a game where I look on my friends list and everyone online is playing the same game. The only other game that has potential to dominate my friends list on release day like Halo 3 ODST is Modern Warfare 2 - but even then, Halo seems to be a more uniting game for 360 owners than Call of Duty.
A recent poll conducted by OTX indicates that only about half of the Halo 3 ODST purchasers plan on picking up Modern Warfare 2, although I’m surprised that almost half of them are interested in Assassin’s Creed 2, a sequel to a single player game I found a tad repetitive. I guess I’ll just have to see on November 10 what happens to my friends list that night, so don’t let me down Modern Warfare fans!
This friends thing really is some good viral advertising for 360 games as well. I’m glad I’m a part of the club that is playing this game on release day, and if I didn’t have it, I would feel totally left out seeing everyone playing it last night. Here’s to hoping for some good Firefights and online multiplayer in the immediate future…
Oh, and don’t forget to download the free Halo 3 ODST Premium Theme if you haven’t already!
Modern Warfare 2 is still supposed to run at 60 frames per second, which is quite impressive
The bad news first: there isn’t going to be a Modern Warfare 2 Beta. So the game is two months away and there is nothing I can do about it, but it’s close enough that the game is starting to get a lot of buzz.
I recently read Giant Bomb’s hands-on with the multiplayer, and they listed out a bunch of the new features that the game is going to have. I won’t go into them here, but I want to touch on some of the more intriguing ones.
First, for those of you who couldn’t get into Call of Duty multiplayer before because the learning curve seemed too high, Infinity Ward has further balanced out the game by introducing “death streaks”. If you die three times in a row, you can choose a perk that will (hopefully) help you survive longer the fourth time. Infinity Ward has always done an excellent job balancing the game, and I think the death streaks will definitely help out new players. Of course, I guess a skilled player could abuse it (die three times in a row, go on a 20 kill streak), but everything has its pros and cons.
What excites me even more is that you aren’t required to carry a pistol anymore. As you are taught in the game, it’s always faster to switch weapons than to reload, so why switch to a Desert Eagle when you can switch to a M16? That also means you can hold two weapons with different loadouts, like an all out attack gun and a stealthy silenced gun, which I think will really open up gameplay options in any given spawn.
Microsoft is also rolling out the red carpet for Modern Warfare 2, recently announcing a limited edition $400 MW2/360 bundle that includes the game, two wireless controllers, headset, and a whopping 250GB hard drive. It actually sounds like a pretty good deal to try to combat the PS3 price drop. Frankly, I think this is a good way to do it, though smart consumers will realize you can’t even use the second controller in Modern Warfare 2. Regardless, if you still don’t have a 360, this might be a nice way to jump in. In case you still don’t know, 11/10/09 is the date to circle on your calendars!
<insert night vision goggles sound here>
The first trailer for Bioshock 2’s multiplayer was released last week, and “Wha?” was the first thing I could mutter after I saw it. Suffice to say, I’m actually not digging it. While the trailer does seem to highlight that the general gameplay mechanics of the original game are included accurately (photo taking, turrets, plasmids, a Big Daddy), it’s far too frenetic with everyone running all over the place and killing each other.
What makes Bioshock such a great game in the first place is the slow pace you could take to explore the game, and then forced to react when you come upon the crazed splicers. Do I want to actually play as a splicer though? Not in particular. I’m afraid Bioshock 2’s multiplayer is just going to consist of people all running around like crazy and shooting each other with no real gameplay depth. What are we, 12 years old? This was the case with Grand Theft Auto 4’s adversarial multiplayer – an addon that was not only unnecessary, but not well implemented either.
Will Bioshock 2’s multiplayer follow in Grand Theft Auto 4’s footsteps? I hope not, but isn’t a trailer supposed to want to make you want to play the game more and not less? Bioshock’s strengths lie in its storytelling and exploration – not its combat engine. Grand Theft Auto 4’s strengths lies in its open-world quests and characters – again not in its combat engine. Yet for some reason or another, someone thinks that these types of games need adversarial multiplayer. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, and BioShock 2 multiplayer ends up with some innovative adversarial modes or features like in Call of Duty 4 or Shadowrun. I just hope BioShock 2’s single player is still good, as that is all that really matters.
I’ve said it again and again, but I never really enjoyed the Halo campaigns. But after seeing this recently released Halo 3: ODST Live Action trailer, all I could say was “Holy Shnikes!”
Now I’m totally pumped for the game, so all I gotta say is the marketing team that came up with this ad did their job. This trailer has not only made me forgotten that I’m not a Halo fan, but I would now go see this movie in the theatre if it was made into a full-length feature film.
I think the trailer does a great job of humanizing the ODST, and practically turns the disadvantage of not being able to play as the Master Chief into somewhat of an advantage for this game. Something like this couldn’t have really been done with Master Chief since he was basically a super-hero (and maybe that’s why I never liked him too much – he lacked character). If the protagonists of the actual ODST game echo even some of what I’ve witnessed in this trailer, I’ll be more than satisfied. After all, this ODST trailer tugs at my Band of Brothers’ heartstrings. Day 1…<sob> day 1…
Matchmaking has come a pretty long way in the last few years, but it looks like it’s going to be moving forward thanks to Stardock’s Impulse gaming service (Steam’s competitor). A Gamasutra article notes that in the next Impulse update, a new matchmaking feature is going to be introduced that allows for more “refined matchmaking”:
You [rank] a bunch of categories, like how competitive you are,” explained Wardell. “What matters to you in someone you want to play? Are they a similar age to you? Do they have a good PC? How competitive are they? Are they all about winning, or are they about having fun? Do they value their time? You don’t just get to say, ‘Yeah, max them all out.’ You put them in order of importance.”
Those self-identified traits are used to match up gamers. If you aren’t online when a match with your game is found, you’ll see the notification when you log in, and you can send a friend request if you choose.
“I say, ‘Alright, I want to play Sins of a Solar Empire or World of Warcraft or Team Fortress,” Wardell continued. “I can choose either a particular group of buddies I want to play with, or everybody on my friend list, or someone who’s similar to me, even if I don’t know them.
“Then it will tell me, ‘So and so, who is 84 percent compatible with you, is going into Sins of a Solar Empire. Do you want to launch Sins of Solar Empire?’ It launches the game, you find that person, you get together, and play with them.”
Added the CEO, “The idea is that now you can play with people who are similar to you, rather than some 14-year-old griefer who’s shooting you in the back every time because he thinks it’s funny.”
Initial reactions to this seem to be jokes along the lines that the gaming service is now combining with a dating service site to figure out people to “connect with” to play video games. In a sense, that’s very true, but I think it can definitely add value if implemented correctly. Of course, I don’t know if Impulse has any games that are so popular online that it can afford to really nitpick about the matchmaking, but I wouldn’t mind playing with similar minded people as me in Halo 3 or Left 4 Dead. The current rating system is just not working on the 360. What’s the point of picking which group your gamer profile belongs to if it just matches you up with everyone in every group anyway?
Apologies for the short post, but this six and a half minute video should more than make up for it. I don’t think I’m a big enough nerd though, because I couldn’t name all of the songs. Can anyone help me out? Also, they didn’t form a complete Tetris. Come on!
My family is in town so the TV has been relegated to crime drama duty, so it’s been a lot of Dragon Quest V on DS for me. For some reason, in some ways I prefer the Dragon Quest series to Final Fantasy. I think it might be that Dragon Quest is a much simpler game…more on Dragon Quest sometime in the future, I’m 8 hours into it and I don’t even think I’m halfway yet!
In a previous post, I wrote that I was a bit skeptical about how Halo 3: ODST might turn out. But watching this recently released ViDoc Bungie put out has started getting me more excited about the game.
Basically, I am a sucker for a good science fiction story. Despite the fact that they have been sometimes being convoluted and confusing, I have really enjoyed all the Halo stories so far (even Halo Wars). I think the Halo universe is a sci-fi universe that deserves to be fleshed out through other stories like Star Wars, and this video makes it look like Bungie is trying to do just that. I love the idea of an entire squad with unique and memorable members, who you meet briefly in this video. Unfortunately, I think you’ll be split up from them most of the time, but hopefully they will be characterized well.
Anyway, a bunch of things excited me about the video so I’ll just list them out:
1. The squad I mentioned above
2. The suppressed SMG and pistol. If you can take down enemies without alerting their comrades, even better. It’s also great to see the zoom come back on the pistol.
3. The use of the term F.N.G., which I was introduced to in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
4. What seemed to be a firebomb grenade
5. Amazing looking graphics
6. Nathan Fillion. Yes, I am a geek, but Firefly and Dr. Horrible are both awesome so Fillion in a Halo video game = mega-awesome. Also, Tricia Helfer (from Battlestar Galactica) is voicing a character as well.
Anyway, not that it was ever in doubt, but I’ll almost definitely be picking this at or around launch. I hope Bungie delivers, and this ViDoc has definitely whetted my appetite. They are supposed to be releasing more, so hopefully those are just as good. Only 1.5 months to go!
