Leveling Down

Half Life 2’s HUD is pretty simple, but gets the job done

The month of November, 2004 was quite a month if you were a fan of first person shooters. Two highly anticipated sequels, Halo 2 and Half-Life 2, released within a week of one another and gamers rejoiced. Since I wasn’t into PC gaming anymore (I haven’t really played a FPS on PC since Doom II if you can believe it), Halo 2 owned my time back then, and actually warranted me getting my first Xbox. Five years later, I have finally gotten around to playing Half-Life 2. It was highly praised 5 years ago, but does it still hold up now?

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One of the few positives about Conan is its gory combat system

I just beat this game for the first time last night, so I decided to write up a review on the game now. I’m still on the fence if I’m going to try for the full 1000 or not, as it has a lot of annoyances. To a degree, I can see why it’s a budget title but for those curious about whether or not this budget title is worth a shot, check out my review.

Good
- inexpensive
- if you’re a fan of Conan, you get to play him
- gore-filled combat

Bad
- lack of polish
- bland and repetitive
- terribly designed end-game boss

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Dawn of War 2 is a gorgeous looking game that emphasizes tactics over strategy.

50 or so hours later and I can say that I’m done with Dawn of War II. I may go back in and skirmish with the AI from time to time, but for the most part, I’ll say that Dawn of War II was quite a satisfying experience and I recommend it if you are in the market for a PC based RTS/RPG style game. It’s pretty much Company of Heroes inserted into Dawn of War, and for fans of Company of Heroes, that’s great news, but for fans of Dawn of War I, not so much. Read on for my review.

Good
- innovative campaign design
- enjoyable gameplay mechanics
- excellent presentation

Bad
- campaign is only for one of the four playable races
- polarizing multiplayer that isn’t as deep as traditional RTS game
- quite a departure from the previous Dawn of War game

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Grand Theft Auto 4 is the best Grand Theft Auto game yet and is an experience all gamers (who are old enough) should enjoy.

I finally got around to completing Grand Theft Auto IV, a year after it was initially released. As a testament to the game, even reviewing it now I have to say that it still holds up very well. My background on the Grand Theft Auto games is that I started with Grand Theft Auto III on the PS2, enjoyed it a lot, and bought both Vice City and San Andreas but did not enjoy either of those two as much as III. The funny thing is, I never finished any of those three games. While my fondness for the games got lower and lower after each iteration, I have to say that Grand Theft Auto IV won me back as a fan of the series, and I will explain why in my review.

Good
- excellent storyline
- a living, breathing, NYC world
- more conveniences than previous GTA games, like taxis

Bad
- poor competitive multiplayer design
- car handling is a bit too floaty
- lack of certain gameplay features & customization in previous GTA titles

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Ace Combat 6 – perhaps the best air combat game on the 360, but is that saying much?

In my initial impressions for the game, I was complaining about how difficult the game was. Once I discovered that you were able to have your Allied forces assist you in the more troublesome spots in the game, I was able to get through areas that I thought were ridiculously tough. Now I feel the game is not too hard, provided you can handle arcade flight sim games where down is up and up is down. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed my time with this short game as it had a lot of hardcore things for me to do to complete it, but overall, I don’t know if it’s that good of a game. Read on for my review for a game that I bought nearly two years ago but didn’t get to play until now.

Good
- still one of the best arcade flight sims on the 360
- lots of unlockables and challenges for the more hardcore player
- co-op, while very limited, can be pretty enjoyable

Bad
- weak story
- short game
- lack of matchmaking and empty multiplayer

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Should you get this game? “Yeah yeah yeah!”

Seeing as how I’ve spent the last four hours on a plane unlocking (almost) everything in the game, I figure I owe Rhythm Heaven a quick review. As espion4ge said in his impressions, Rhythm Heaven is a rhythm game filled with a bunch of mini-games. It kind of reminds of Warioware, Inc., one of my favorite Game Boy Advance games, not only because it has mini-games but due to the presentation and progression as well. There are a few things I have problems with, but all in all Rhythm Heaven is well worth the price of admission.

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The units look the same, but the control scheme has changed…a good or bad thing?

The day before Halo Wars launched, a friend of mine told me that one of his coworkers was incredibly excited that a new Halo game was coming out. When told that it wasn’t a first person shooter and Master Chief wasn’t involved, the coworker walked away with a sad face. This seems to be a recurring theme around Halo Wars, people are excited for a Halo game but don’t know what to think about it being a real-time strategy game. The fact that RTS games aren’t very popular on consoles and the lack of Master Chief only add to this.

Unlike the general population, I was aware of all these details about Halo Wars and still was really excited about the game. Even though I’m not that good, I’ve always loved RTS games, and I’m a big fan of the Halo universe. Halo Wars was marketed to the gaming press as a RTS game built specifically for consoles, and for the most part it delivers a very fun experience. The campaign is pretty short but like Halo 3 it has been designed to have pretty good replay value. It’s a shame there are so few people playing multiplayer, because the multiplayer matches I’ve played have been very entertaining.

Is Halo Wars worthy of the Halo brand name? I think so. See why after the break. As an added bonus, espion4ge will give his Halo NOT-fan second thoughts as well!

The Good
- control scheme makes game easily accessible to newer players but is sufficient for advanced players
- level designs in campaign provide a variety of interesting mission types
- multiplayer matches are a lot of fun

The Bad
- unit pathing sometimes seems broken
- single player campaign is too short, no Covenant campaign
- the control scheme sometimes feels too oversimplified

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Resident Evil 5 is definitely more action than adventure this time around

Being underwhelmed with the game at first, I’ve finally come around to accept that it’s still a good game. While not as phenomenal as Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5 has enough that it is still worth a look for not only fans of the series, but action/adventure gamers in general. I’ve beaten the game on all difficulties with the AI partner, and have spent some time with The Mercenaries mode. Read on for my thoughts based on that.

Good
- similar gameplay feel to Resident Evil 4
- lots of extras and unlockables that increase replayability
- online & splitscreen co-op

Bad
- less adventure and more action than previous Resident Evil games
- pacing and level design not as strong as Resident Evil 4
- forced to play with an AI partner for co-op

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You only have one mission in Far Cry 2: Eliminate the arms dealer known as The Jackal

As I’ve stated before, Far Cry 2 was a title that not too many people heard about last year. Generally, a title that has sold 1 million copies doesn’t qualify to be under the radar, but I think this is a game that a lot of people skipped in favor of a lot of the other big titles that dropped last fall. The game was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, known for Assassin’s Creed and the Prince of Persia series, and published by Ubisoft. Due to…technical issues…I haven’t finished the game, but I finished Act II and have been playing for over 25 hours. I figured I’d write a review while the game was still fresh in my head, and also since I have a lot more free time on my hands. Some people have heralded Far Cry 2 as the next step in first person shooters, while others have been bored by its repetitive gameplay. For what it’s worth, I think it’s a little of both, and I am actually pretty bummed that I didn’t get to finish the game this week as I had planned to, because the story was getting pretty interesting. The best laid plans of mice and men… Hit the jump for the full review.

The Good
- Open world, sandbox nature of the game lets you choose your own adventure
- Gunplay feels realistic and planning/executing attacks is a lot of fun
- Beautiful graphics make you believe you are in Africa

The Bad
- Gameplay can get repetitive, especially since everyone shoots at you
- AI companions can act incredibly stupidly
- Presence of glitches can detract from the fun and immersion

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While the PC version of Red Alert 3 is superior, it’s still enjoyable on the 360.

cmfl3x and I have been playing this game on and off for the past two months, and it’s only now that I can finally put out a review. Either we’re incredibly slow gamers, or the game is just that lengthy. Well, it’s a little of both, as cmfl3x and I decided to play through all 27 campaign missions on co-op together and were only able to continue in progress when both of us were available and had the time to do so. That, plus 27 campaign missions is a pretty lengthy amount of time for a game, and we definitely got more than enough game length just from the campaign to justify the title’s price. For the most part, the game is enjoyable, but of course that depends on how you feel about a real time strategy game being played with a controller. If you’re open to the idea, or even looking for one with a lengthy campaign after discovering how short the Halo Wars campaign was, you should definitely give Red Alert 3 a shot.

cmfl3x will also contribute his thoughts on the game to the review.

Good
- lengthy and enjoyable campaign with co-op support
- campy/amusing cutscenes, stars, and units
- skirmish mode and multiplayer extend game length even further

Bad
- still cumbersome to play optimally without a keyboard and mouse
- somewhat of a barebones multiplayer with only 4 player support and no team matchmaking
- the shoddy AI partner if you’re playing campaign levels on Hard difficulty

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