Gears of War: Review'd

So Gears of War was a pretty sweet game, still is in infact, but now its younger, less fucked up, brother has come of age and been released into the wild. At first glance, you'd swear that the two are one and the same, that Gears of War 2 is, as many people call underwhelming sequels these days, Gears of War 1.5, but if you adhere to this theory then I'd probably have to tell you you're wrong. No, Gears of War 2 isn't exactly the 'bigger, better, and more badass' game that we were promised, but thats not to say its bad. Simply put, its different, and I'd probably say I like it, but there are issues. Hundreds of critics have talked about the campaign and said its wonderful etc.etc.etc., but when you buy Gears of War you're not thinking about the next eight hours you're spending with delta squad, you're thinking of the next seven hundred hours you're spending with the xbox live community. That said, I'm primarily going to address the multiplayer game.

Its funny how after playing a game for so long, the slightest tweaks to a minor detail in gameplay and visuals can feel like night and day. If you take that, and multiply it by about seven thousand, you get the difference in feel between Gears of War 1 and 2. Obviously they're built on the same engine, obviously they share gameplay mechanics. Then what am I talking about?

Color and Lighting: It has become a trend in the world of game criticism to rail games because of their color pallet. This wouldn't be such a big deal if game designers didn't listen to what critics have to say. In the case of Gears of War II, it seems that somebody got upset that people didn't like their color scheme and decided that things needed to change. Now there are all kinds of brilliant colors filling the screen that dramatically alter the mood that was established by its predecessor. For a game that seeks to up the ante, to present deeper, darker themes that pinpoint our fragile human emotions it looks to me like there may or may not be a magical unicorn shitting some rainbows included for all of those with widescreen televisions. In some games, being thematically and visually contradictory can work, but Gears of War doesn't have the necessary leeway created by its shallow story.

Weapon Tweaks: I've been playing the game for quite some time now, but initially I was pretty upset about the way some of the weapons have changed. The Hammer-burst is fine, and it feels like there may even be some good reasons to use it every once in a while, but some major work has been done on the lancer and shotgun. First of all, the chainsaw, ohhhh dear lord the chainsaw. In the original Gears of War, I considered using the chainsaw to be an art. To be quite honest, I was never very good with anything but sawing and some may think that thats really a weapon reserved for kids and noobs, but that really depends on how you use it, and how often. See, typically I would go into a match and rack up two to three kills per round without firing a bullet. Try that and see how easy that is. Its a psychological game with your opponent. There is much hiding, feigning and acrobatics involved. Typically, succeeding will get you kicked from the match, but isn't that really the ultimate compliment?

Anyway, the chainsaw has been bastardized in the second iteration. I will regularly walk straight through shotgun blasts, boomshots, etc. and chainsaw people in the face completely unharmed. I suppose there is added risk to using the chainsaw altogether now that you can be blown away/sawed while mid-saw, but once you've become discerning enough about when to use it, it becomes a weapon of tremendous power that completely turns the game upside down. In the original gears, getting shot while having the chainsaw raised will stagger you, but this mechanic no-longer exists, and it shows. Now, all the skill is in avoiding the chainsaw. Finding the perfect moment to melee a prospective chainsawer or being able to roll out of the way just before you get sucked into the weapons abnormally massive attach radius. One other gripe i have about the chainsaw is the inability to saw people while they've been knocked to the ground by a stun grenade. More than once I've been standing, revving over a fallen opponent to have them stand and challenge me to a chainsaw duel when in any realistic situation I would have torn them in half nearly five seconds previous.

The shotgun has been pretty considerably altered as well, but I've actually grown fond of its changes over time.

The map designs and their lighting mixed with the increased number of players has completely altered the online experience. Matches are quicker and more action packed, but require alot less tactical prowess. Over all it has lost a lot of its intimacy, something that made it stand out greatly from other games. I has a feeling, now, more akin to Unreal or Halo, particularly with its increased number of respawnable game modes.

Ultimately I do not hate this game, but it isn't the same gears that I grew so fond of two years ago. In some ways this is good, and in some ways this is bad, but overall its still an incredibly enjoyable experience that I'll probably be still playing when Gears 3 comes two years from now.

(I will not be assigning number or letter values to my reviews as I think they trivialize the personal tastes of the individual and draw attention away from the specifics of what is actually said in the review itself.)

Retroactive Review: The Dark Knight

I'm going to try and make this a regular segment and I want to say at the outset of this little endeavor that I do plan to review current things too, but the general idea of this will be that I will be reviewing something anything as some would say a day late and a dollar short. Short list of things to review: movies just out of the box office, old video games, newer video games once I can afford them, old pieces of technology, really this could devolve into me picking up some random piece of crap off the street and giving it a full rundown. Why the hell not?

Dark Knight: Alright now to get into the meat of the pudding. The Dark Knight was the "Blockbuster" hit of the summer that everyone and their mother went to go see(except my mother). Staring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, Heath Ledger as The Joker, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes.

I will come out and say that I really enjoyed the Dark Knight, and I don't think it is too far of a stretch to say that it was all the movie that Batman Begins wanted to be. The action was better, there was no "shaky cam" effect to make everyone want to vomit, there was actual on screen chemistry between Bruce and Rachel (bye bye Katie Holmes), and lets face it if you were not weirded out Heath Ledger's Joker well then I don't think he should have been the only one popping sleeping pills.

I want to make a point of this because I am kind of a gore make-up fan for lack of any better words. The Joker make-up was so fantastically stupendous made and I can give you at least 3 good reasons why: 1. If you had not been told you would have had no idea that was Heath Ledger under there 2. While looking completely different he didn't look "covered" and I mean it did not look like a mound of latex on his face it looked like a face that was disfigured. 3. And Even with out the "You wanna know how I got these scar's monologue his face was still creepy as can be.

The problems I had with The Dark Knight are still few and far between. Biggest issue for me was that Christian Bale continues to do his "Batman voice" like he is whispering sweet nothings in my ear in the most angry way possible. If a masked crusader were wandering the streets and came up to me talking like that I would probably laugh in his face and then he would beat me up. The second and much smaller issue is that I feel the character of Harvey Dent was rushed I don't mean rushed in an underdeveloped kind of way, but more in he went from charismatic prosecutor to gun slinging maniac in one day. :::SPOILER ALERT::: Now I have never had half my face burnt off or had my girlfriend explode in a building, but if those two things happened one day something tells me that the last thing on my mind would be to go out and flip a coin and decide who lives and who dies.:::END SPOILER ALERT:::

And the wrap-up part. THE GOOD! The Dark Knight was great they made a mess then cleaned it up, this movie looked a whole lot more like Chicago than Batman Begins did and The Joker made me nearly crap my pants. THE BAD! Christan Bale whispering angry sweet nothings in my ear.

THE SCORE::::: 4/5
Not bad at all. Wall-e was better but that's because Wall-e is the greatest movie of all time.




Interesting afterthought: They should continue with the Christian Bale Batman movies and at the same time continue to release garbage ones from someone like Uwe Boll. First it would make us enjoy the Christian Bale movies more and second well...It cant really be nearly as bad as Batman and Robin was...seriously

It gone...

Despite Matt R.'s desperate and shameless begging, I have decided to sell my Wii. Alright thats a lie, I've already sold it. I had actually been contemplating it for months, but had no reason to get rid of it until now. The holiday season is hitting its peak and with a massive imbalance of quality ps3/xb360 vs wii titles hitting shelves, I've found myself disenchanted with Nintendo's flagship console. I did what I had to do, and now the little white box is gone. Its a shame really, because there were still a few good titles I was looking forward to. Other-Matt still has his, so I'm assuming he'll still be rambling about it.

What did I do with the money? Gears of War 2 of course, which I'm thinking about writing a review for. Its a great game, but there are a few things that bug me about the multiplayer tweaks. I'm going to dwell on it for a day or two and perhaps one will pop up.
I also picked up Sega's Valkyria Chronicles which has some interesting art style and is full of innovative TRPG goodness. Also, the music is composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto (FF Tactics, FFXII, Ogre Battle, Odin Sphere, Grim Grimoire, I could go on forever) which these days is pretty much an immediate sell for me.

The rest of the goods I'm saving for the time being. I'm considering a few titles, namely Little Big Planet, Far Cry 2, and CoD: World at War.

Those games will have to wait a few weeks as between school, work, and trying to find time to play the games I'm working through currently I've barely got time to eat much less add to my collection.

Look for a GeoW II review sometime later this week after I get some more time with the multiplayer modes.

Third Parties learning to kick ass on the Wii.

Big deal you say right? Well the big deal is 1. Its Nintendo and all you hear from PS3/360 fanboys is the lack of 3rd party games. 2. These are some of the bloodiest games to come out on any console, not just for the Wii.(please show me bloodier I am interested) 3. One of those Third parties happens to be an old friend trying to dig out from a world of awful arcade style games that never happened to live up to expectations.

MadWorld


The only thing that could bring this all home for me is more zombie killing.
Goodmorning Capcom.

Dead Rising Chop Till you Drop


I am going to have absolutely no money this year.


Oh yeah! I said i wasn't going to focus on video games didn't I.

Holiday 08 What will I be getting?

The gaming season is pretty much in full swing by now with heavy hitting titles dropping just about every tuesday. What am I looking forward to playing?

Dead Space
Truth is, I've already played it and finished it, but that was mostly while passing it back and forth with a couple of friends. I'm looking forward to privately re-crapping my pants in the comfort of my very dark, very cold room, that is after I plow through a couple of other big titles

Fallout 3
Over the summer I finally hit 1250 gamer points for Oblivion on xbox live and with that I banished the game from my presence forever. It seems that Bethesda took note and decided they'd start ruining my life again, starting this upcoming tuesday.

Far Cry 2
Seriously huge game world and an incredible map editor.

Gears of War 2
Chainsaws

Little Big Planet
I've always not so secretly wanted to be a game designer, but I don't have the programming know-how to make it happen. This game gives a little taste, plus its adorable. C'mon, just look at it.

Animal Crossing: City Folk
I'm not so sure I'm going to be getting this one, as I'm not exactly in love with my Nintendo products anymore, but Animal Crossing is addictive as hell and I'm excited to see how this one turns out.

Valkyria Chronicles
Looks like a pretty solid tactical RPG with some slick visual design. Not a buy-on-sight, but definitely something to watch

Fable II
Another game that I've already played a decent amount, but not in the comfort of my own home. From what I can tell its pretty solid, but not sure I'm going to lay down the goods to purchase it for a while.

TGS: I didn't talk about it?

So TGS this year was not very impressive. No heart-attack moments or really anything beyond the expected. Most of what was shown was basically new trailers and gameplay for old games. Some of which had already been released. Yeap. Anyway, some other cool stuff happened like Bioshock PS3 was released and included this:



BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN???! Thus starts at least another year of wild speculations as to the plot of this game.

TGS---I'll probably talk about it.

Matt R. down there busted in my house the other day with a baseball bat and threatened to take out one of my kneecaps if I didn't start writing on here more often. I lied to him and said I would, and then we played some cricket.

Anyway, despite almost all of that being a total embellishment I'll be considerably more active later this week when TGS starts (Thursday)

I won't be there, seeing as its happening on the other side of the planet, but I'll be ravenously pouring though the web for any good info and let all zero of you know what I think.

Dear Science

The new TV on the Radio album listens like how I imagine diamond plated underpants feel. Go buy it. GO!

The fun car is dieing. (And the Pony car is beating a dead horse)

Alright, I'm the first to admit that I enjoy the automobile oddity. Really the cars I prefer are the random blips on the radar that come and go too quickly for most to notice. Not to say there that there are no interesting new cars, but it seems now a days that all the interesting cars are the super cars that nearly no one can afford(either the sticker price or the pump price). What I want to see more of is the sort of mid eighties to mid nineties randomness that brought about the Fiero, SHO, Super Coupe, Turbo Gran Prix, Grand National, Omni GLH, Spirit RT so on and so forth with any other cars I cant remember. Around this time America was just coming back from fuel crunches and the big three were realizing that fun cars could make a come back, and come back they did.

Fast forward to today and look at the line up of domestics. Few of my criteria are good engine (does not have to be original but it helps), original look or at least differentiation from the lower model, and finally let me really emphasize this so that my criteria are clear MANUAL TRANSMISSION!!exclamation point! Really what is it about the American Motorists that makes the manual transmission the black sheep. As it stands right now there are two types of American cars that have real mens transmissions eco-box 4 cylinders, and RWD v-8's. There might be an American car in the middle of this catagory but I sure cant think of it.

Massive tangent: Alright technology is all well and good and I enjoy the new toy as much as the next guy, but car reviewers really need to get their old bald heads out their tail pipes (see what I did there). Not every car today needs bluetooth, a Nav system , 800 redundant stereo and A/C controls, and soft rubber and leather everywhere. Seriously where did this idea come from, I am completely content with my radio being my radio my A/C being my A/C and my phone making my phone calls. In actuality the Navigation System is a terrible idea as we are creating a generation of idiots who cant follow a map let alone know how to use a compass (easiest thing ever), and before I get a bunch of comments about how not every car has those features I know(but then again we don't have any readers(prove me wrong) so its not a worry), but the auto industry is moving in a direction that I believe is only going to end in useless used cars full of broken electronic gizmos in the next decade.

SO back to the main point, there are not enough cars that offer performance on a price point, the only useful car (meaning not a roadster) I can think of that is reasonably within the bounds of my meter is the Cobalt SS. Thats it. The SRT4 is dead (don't even mention the Caliber) SVT might as well be dead(or is), and all of the interesting pet projects that made the 80's and 90's great have gone the way of the dodo. I mean really look at the cars from the 80's and 90's and look at what is coming out today, and I'm sure there are other sport's cars that i am not remembering too, then look at what is out now. As far as I'm concerned there is only one American car that could fit into fun cheap performance (congratulations Chevy you've done something right).

Alright, this will be an amazing feat if i can close this all up tangibly into one tidy package. Do I really think the "Fun Car" is dead. No. Do I think the fun car will make a come back. Yes. Is that come back going to happen in the next decade. Maybe. The problem being that "The Big Three" are trying REALLLY hard (extra L is free folks) to shift public perception that the build quality is up to that of your Toyota's and Honda's. Truth is its been there for a couple of years now but no one is buying it (literally and figuratively). The proof is in the pudding and when it comes down to it Ford and Chevy have ramped up their game and are offering the big warranty's and the production value is right there if not better on some cars than the comparable overseas production. So the one thing that American auto makers need is the one thing they could be seriously lacking soon: Time.

Just to prove this blag is not dead.

http://www.wikihow.com/Dissuade-Yourself-from-Becoming-a-Blogger


Its all true and everything involved is complete degradation of anything and everything you once knew and loved.

Spring brings Social Revolution

(Before the reading of this becomes confusing, this is something I wrote from the end of winter beginning of spring so it references the cold. Odd I know, but I had no place to put this before now so this is the article for today.)

I am all for people showing their beliefs (I mean I probably won't listen to you but go ahead and keep talking). Spew your ideals all you want get yourself out in the open try and get all the time you can for 15 minutes. The thing that bothers me is the part timers, the people that only half ass it.

I'm going to lunch in my little dorm cafeteria (enjoying my food while I incur HUGE debt) I go and sit down and what do i see out the window today (just outside an army recruitment office) but a bunch of kids standing around waving signs impeach Bush/Cheney, get out of Iraq, No blood for Oil (more on this later), you know so on and so forth all that garbage that has been bantered in all the wrong situations so many times that it has completely and totally lost meaning(seems everyone at Columbia College thinks alike, so much for individuality, but that’s for a different article). What makes this one worthless in my eyes is the weather today(yes the weather), its damn nice day out out and everyone is in light jackets and/or windbreakers (is there anyone who still owns a windbreaker).

Onto the end to this seemingly non-sequitur. I did not see any one of those assholes standing outside when the temperature dropped below freezing. Not a single one of them thought that "social revolution" was important when the temperature was below about 35 degrees. Again, I want to point out I am all for people spewing their ideals out on the street. So I guess this could be seen as a public message to any who stands outside holding signs, chanting impeach Bush(or anything for that matter), and wearing funny costumes (you can have revolution without a few wardrobe changes, right?). To the people protesting (if you want to call it that): Ya know what? Grow some balls, because your caring about the world should have nothing to do with the the weather. IF you really cared you would have been standing there day in and day out holding those same signs, chanting the same gibberish no matter if it was -40 or 140 degrees out. So if you "protesters" are not brave enough to weather the elements why should you expect anyone to care what you have to say.

On to point number two. You just happen to be wrong and stupid. Yeah we were at war(apparently we are back down to a conflict or something) and as heartless as it seems there are casualties as a result of war. So we have one half of your equation not lets look at the other half...Oil.

Take a gander at this Handy Dandy Chart

HEY! Look at that there is no Blood for Oil there we are spending nearly 4 times what we spent 8 years ago after a relative long period of time with no large gas price increase. So where is my oil for all this bloodshed(and don't think the relative low price in the US makes me think this is alright, the US worked really hard for those business relationships back in the day and now they are biting us in our collective asses). As it turns out you can't just imprison and kill a genocidal nation leader and have gas prices go down (which no one mentions the whole genocidal thing). Who'da thunk it. Now don't get me wrong I am not a Republican but at the same time I am no more Democrat either. I'm just a guy with a soap box who hates out and out Lemmingism (my first made up word here!) and people who think all the worlds problems could be solved by getting one man out of the White House. The solution is never simple and the effect is never quick, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Oh yeah! And give up on protesting (no one cares anyways) so write a letter to your Senator instead.

Out of control: Heavy Rain Trailer breaks boundaries by showing us a game...that literally is a movie, but not a very good one.

So way back in the day when I was innocent and video games were made of magic instead of subliminal soft-drink ads, I played a game called Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit for all you Europeans out there). At the time, many critics hailed it for its cinematic approach to game presentation. It seemingly married film and game with little falter bringing the best of both worlds: a stunning aesthetic and engaging action.

Fast forward to ten minutes after you, the consumers, open the box and you realize that all of those critics must have been on drugs or playing a totally different game, because it ended up being a horrible mess of bad controls with a a quarry truck full of quick time events and a story worthy of M. Night Shyamalan (thats an insult) . To top that off it was pretentious enough to make you sit through a monologue by the games director David Cage who makes sure that you are aware that this game is special.


I've now gone off track, but this game is worthy of rant. In an industry starved for something unique, Indigo Prophecy promises a breath of fresh air, but then deliberately passes gas in your face. Crude, I know, but this is going somewhere, trust me. So when I say I want something thats different, something that has a unique flavor, I don't mean that I'm willing accept the sacrifice of everything that makes a game good in the favor of "immersion." What the hell is immersion when you die seventy times in the first twenty minutes of the game because you failed to cover up all of the blood left over in your apartment. That doesn't remind me of the fact that this is a game at all. No I'm still totally engrossed. Now, I suppose all of those hard-core I.P. fans out there would respond with something along the lines of "well you're just bad at the game" which sadly is true, but its not easy to care when there is nothing making me want to grind through to the next scene. Ultimately what I'm trying to say here is that when its dinner time and I'm bored of eating rodeo burgers every day, I don't join my dog in rummaging through garbage for some moldy barf... crap..., I don't know.. whatever dogs eat when they get into the garbage.. fill in the blank. you get the point.


OK so now that thats over with, the newest trailer for quantum dream's Heavy Rain has arrived and, from what I can tell, they've broken the mold again...in the same exact way...but this time EVEN MORE. So the trailer promises game-play footage, but that assertion is more than a little bit disturbing as you'll see that all that gets shown is a massive quick time event. Here it is:



(For all of you that aren't up on the lingo a quick time event is essentially a cut scene who's progress depends on your ability to tap particular buttons in succession when commanded. Its the absolute bane of my existance.)

So the question I would like to pose to quantum dream is this: You consider this to be gameplay? If so then I think we have a problem. Sure...you're occasionally tapping buttons...I suppose that means something, but I can also save myself fifty dollars and go buy an electric simon-says and have virtually the same experience, only this time with the events playing out in my own home and success and failure both concluding with me eating something delicious. Now THAT is what I call immersion. In conclusion I think that this game needs to exist if only to show people that there absolutely has to be a dividing line between games and movies. Blurring the line doesn't make for an engrossing experience. It makes for an essential sacrifice of what makes both media good and unique.

Narrative-focused first person shooters like Half-Life or Bioshock provide a brilliant example of how different movies and games are and always should be. These, being two of the most immersive games, no, experiences in the past decade, take place fully from a single, player controlled, perspective. Meanwhile the 1947 film Lady in the Lake, based on the Ramond Chandler novel of the same name, is widely considered to be a cinematic failure though its story unfolds from the same exact perspective. The observers actual inclusion in the action is a huge component in marking that difference.

So I've been mulling over this post for a few days hoping that some new information would come along dispelling the cold dark facts about this highly anticipated game. Sadly my fears of this game's ultimate failure are continuously affirmed. From what I've heard, the moments where you ACTUALLY control your character are played out in a cinematic style with different angles. What used to be a crutch of primitive game design has now become an aesthetic choice. To the credit of Heavy Rain, there have been some great titles in the past that have been created in a similar manner: Parasite Eve, Resident Evil 1-3, and a whole slew of other ps1 titles. However, these games typically have major faults(directly as a result of this type of camera system) that can only be overlooked due to other outstanding aspects be they bowel failure inducing zombie dogs, zombie horses, zombie polar bears, or truck sized, yet questionably zombified, spiders.

Furthermore, I've always had issues with Quantum Dream's brand of story-telling. They hit hard about the fact that they're delivering a mature game meant for adults yet, contrary to their allegedly grown-up approach, the game plays out in the manner of a children's choose your own adventure book. While on paper that may sound interesting, the branching of events based on the players decisions and actions, it makes me feel like less love went into the core story as a result.

So thats what I've got. As with any game it would be great if this succeeds and is actually good, but I don't quite feel that. Then again, pretty much any game that looks this good graphically is going to sell even if it really is complete rubbish. Just look at Crysis. (Sorry Crytek, but its true. Hey, I'm really looking forward to Far Cry 2 though so wash away those tears...oh yeah...about that...)

Little introduction.

So I was in New York City when Matt proposed to me that he and I should write a blog (note: I will never refer to this as a blog ever again as I am not going to be writing about how much the boys at school are mean to me or how my hair never turns out as hot as I want it to). Point is I was out of town and did not bring a computer so that I could sit down for a set amount of time to write an article about nothing. So Matt has already said that he is going to probably end up mostly covering video games, and I'll probably hit on the random video game story from time to time as well but I want to cover a wider topic range (as will he I'm guessing). Things to look forward to are: cars, electronics, why what you support is a huge waste of time, gaming, building things for no real reason, incredible time wasters (online and off), general ranting about something or another, and the radio industry.

I have been wanting to do this for a long time now and when Matt did all the leg work for me of setting up the blAg and all I had to do was post to it I couldn't really pass up not doing work...

note: I am just going to refer to Matt as Matt. If it is confusing to you the fact that my name is Matt, and his name is Matt just remember that I will not be referring to myself in the third person.

Seriously this time?

So I've tried blogging (jesus that word is heinous) several times in the past and every single time, without failure, I post once promising a shock and awe flash bang sprinkles and fireworks hell of a presentation and then abandon it with not so much of a simple explanation to my many (lie) adoring fans as to why. Even as I write this, the decaying husks of innumerable failed websites and journals lay dormant amongst the vast wasteland of the internet never to be updated again yet forever denied the honor and the privilege of deletion.

Having overcome the delusion of a social life I now stand...er...sit...am binarilly represented before you making a promise that this time will most definitely be different. Or maybe it won't. Either way I'm having a go at it and this time around I'm planning on dragging a friend or two down with me so here it goes.

First of all, mind the title and the layout. I'm just getting this thing going and I'm not exactly an HTML genious (no I don't need help). As for the title...well, in the five minutes I've been dedicated to this idea I've yet to think of anything better. If i do? I'll change it, but for now I've got other things that need work, specifically this box of cheese crackers.

Second of all: Content. What is this garbage going to be all about? Well, I can't say for sure. When I wrote the title description I said it'd be about arts and entertainment, but will it really? Probably, but maybe not. Maybe I'll tell my genetic life story minute for minute starting with my eldest Proterozoic ancestor. Do you care? Maybe, but probably not.