Jarvis has a new podcast up that I guested on.
So... check it out.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
April Fool's Game Diary (Call of Duty 4 Game Diary/Review)
So by the time that you read this April Fools day will have came and went without any interesting jokes coming to pass. What is funny is that this entry was really meant to be posted yesterday but I fell asleep with only the rough draft in hand.
I am disaapointed because this industry usually comes up with the best ones (this year Google came up with CADIE). Googles last year was much better. For Gmail they gave you the ability to send email dated for the past (funny because at first I thought that it was true) so your paper, proposal, PowerPoint, etc would always be in on time. Think of the possibilities, one could never be late.
Anyway that's not what we are here to talk about. Or was it. If you had any good ones from this year, drop it in the comments. Okay bye.
Still here? Anyway, I have been playing and completing Call Of Duty 4 for the first time [I played pieces of the single player campaign long ago but I was mainly centered on playing the multiplayer aspect]. I know I know, hang me; Sacriledge or heresy, if you will. If you saw my last post you have an idea of what I am going to say regarding this game though. It gets a ten for the single player experience alone.
I have not felt as involved as I felt in a single player, first person shooter experience, since Halo: Combat Evolved. All I can ask for in the sequel has even better visuals and brings as much innovation to the level design as they did in this one.
Let's have a little makeshift review party right here:
Let us begin with the stunning visuals. The game was just that, stunning, though I do remember it looking even better (even a short time has it's toll).
The immersion I felt was so great because of the excellent sound and gameplay design. The gameplay felt so solid I really felt like I was in it. Which brings me to the sound which was so perfect. The combination of the perfect clicks of the guns and the helis overhead were great; firefights, when you are in the middle of them, it truly feels as though bullets, grenades, whathaveyou, is coming from all directions. In less words, the sound design was perfect.
As far as replayability goes I know I am going to give it a shot on Veteran (it has scared me since COD2) tomorrow and I look forward to getting involved with the multiplayer again and giving the arcade mode a run through.
I remember what originally left a bad taste in my mouth or why I think that I stopped playing the game. I had purchased the GOTY edition which was supposed to come with the Variety Map Pack. Instead my card that was supposed to have a code on it was blank. I went through a whole hub-bub-a-loo which involved contacting both GameStop and Activision several times to no avail. I was pissed at the time - you should have really seen those emails to Activision - but what can one do? I ended up finishing the game and loving it.
Has a game every put a bad taste in your mouth, so to speak, and left you not playing it, despite it being a good game? Leave those thoughts in the comments.
I am disaapointed because this industry usually comes up with the best ones (this year Google came up with CADIE). Googles last year was much better. For Gmail they gave you the ability to send email dated for the past (funny because at first I thought that it was true) so your paper, proposal, PowerPoint, etc would always be in on time. Think of the possibilities, one could never be late.
Anyway that's not what we are here to talk about. Or was it. If you had any good ones from this year, drop it in the comments. Okay bye.
Still here? Anyway, I have been playing and completing Call Of Duty 4 for the first time [I played pieces of the single player campaign long ago but I was mainly centered on playing the multiplayer aspect]. I know I know, hang me; Sacriledge or heresy, if you will. If you saw my last post you have an idea of what I am going to say regarding this game though. It gets a ten for the single player experience alone.
I have not felt as involved as I felt in a single player, first person shooter experience, since Halo: Combat Evolved. All I can ask for in the sequel has even better visuals and brings as much innovation to the level design as they did in this one.
Let's have a little makeshift review party right here:
Let us begin with the stunning visuals. The game was just that, stunning, though I do remember it looking even better (even a short time has it's toll).
The immersion I felt was so great because of the excellent sound and gameplay design. The gameplay felt so solid I really felt like I was in it. Which brings me to the sound which was so perfect. The combination of the perfect clicks of the guns and the helis overhead were great; firefights, when you are in the middle of them, it truly feels as though bullets, grenades, whathaveyou, is coming from all directions. In less words, the sound design was perfect.
As far as replayability goes I know I am going to give it a shot on Veteran (it has scared me since COD2) tomorrow and I look forward to getting involved with the multiplayer again and giving the arcade mode a run through.
I remember what originally left a bad taste in my mouth or why I think that I stopped playing the game. I had purchased the GOTY edition which was supposed to come with the Variety Map Pack. Instead my card that was supposed to have a code on it was blank. I went through a whole hub-bub-a-loo which involved contacting both GameStop and Activision several times to no avail. I was pissed at the time - you should have really seen those emails to Activision - but what can one do? I ended up finishing the game and loving it.
Has a game every put a bad taste in your mouth, so to speak, and left you not playing it, despite it being a good game? Leave those thoughts in the comments.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
All Ghillied Up (Holy F' Wow)
The fact that you just read the title of this post and are reading this now will either have you interested or knowing exactly what I am about to say...
THIS IS THE GREATEST LEVEL OF ANY GAME THAT I HAVE EVER PLAYED!!!
Okay. Now that I have that out of my system I just needed to tell you why. I was so incredibly immersed and I could feel my heart beating in my ears. The part where you were under the Jeeps... when the army is walking through the field and you have to maneuver... O.M.F.G...
Okay. I think I am better again. No wonder folks were talking about this level when the game came out. The whole time I am thinking, "This is so cool... okay move this way to avoid this guy... do I really want to shoot this one... be patient Nate... this is sooo cool." After my thoughts sounded something like, "I think I'm ready to be done now, I want that achievement," and then after I got the achievement (Ghillies in the Mist) I was thinking, "that one should have been longer."
If this does not give you a good idea of this level and you have not already played it yourself I honestly cannot figure out what you are waiting for (what was I waiting for?!).
And the level after 'All Ghilled Up', well great level also, but I wanted to murder that level.
THIS IS THE GREATEST LEVEL OF ANY GAME THAT I HAVE EVER PLAYED!!!
Okay. Now that I have that out of my system I just needed to tell you why. I was so incredibly immersed and I could feel my heart beating in my ears. The part where you were under the Jeeps... when the army is walking through the field and you have to maneuver... O.M.F.G...
Okay. I think I am better again. No wonder folks were talking about this level when the game came out. The whole time I am thinking, "This is so cool... okay move this way to avoid this guy... do I really want to shoot this one... be patient Nate... this is sooo cool." After my thoughts sounded something like, "I think I'm ready to be done now, I want that achievement," and then after I got the achievement (Ghillies in the Mist) I was thinking, "that one should have been longer."
If this does not give you a good idea of this level and you have not already played it yourself I honestly cannot figure out what you are waiting for (what was I waiting for?!).
And the level after 'All Ghilled Up', well great level also, but I wanted to murder that level.
OnLive
I just got finished reading this article about all of the details that are being shared about the OnLive service. I really want this to work and if it does it will become my second choice for gaming entertainment. I say second because there is no way that I want to give up the community and achievements that I have accumulated through the Xbox platform. Xbox is my mistress and she always treats me right.
This, however, is my biggest interest, besides the obvious lack of hardware limitations, of the OnLive platform:
If the price is right and I can play a few games here and there that I cannot play on my Xbox I will give it a shot. I will still remain skeptical until it is in my hands, amazing me. There are not of original ideas going around as far as gaming hardware goes these days and I think that everyone is quick to rain on this parade, myself included, but I am sure we can all remember a time when publishers were skeptical when Xbox LIVE was shopping their ideas around. Let us just keep an open mind for now and then if it does not work out as planned we can all chuckle to ourselves and say, "I told you so."
Something that I forgot to mention in my previous post is that if you like reading what I have to say then check out this podcast that I guested on. Pardon the fact that a mongoose salivated all over my microphone just five minutes proir to recording (there is a lot of static coming from my end that I cannot explain).
This, however, is my biggest interest, besides the obvious lack of hardware limitations, of the OnLive platform:
Sure, there is no question that the OnLive platform will have the lowest cost of entry for a new user. But, to be clear, OnLive also will certainly be catering to gamers who are less price sensitive, and are seeking the highest performance games, and also it will be opening up a universe of games to Mac users who, before OnLive, have had a very limited selection (MTV Multiplayer Blog).
If the price is right and I can play a few games here and there that I cannot play on my Xbox I will give it a shot. I will still remain skeptical until it is in my hands, amazing me. There are not of original ideas going around as far as gaming hardware goes these days and I think that everyone is quick to rain on this parade, myself included, but I am sure we can all remember a time when publishers were skeptical when Xbox LIVE was shopping their ideas around. Let us just keep an open mind for now and then if it does not work out as planned we can all chuckle to ourselves and say, "I told you so."
Something that I forgot to mention in my previous post is that if you like reading what I have to say then check out this podcast that I guested on. Pardon the fact that a mongoose salivated all over my microphone just five minutes proir to recording (there is a lot of static coming from my end that I cannot explain).
Monday, March 30, 2009
A Cavalcade of Updates (Mass Effect, Bad Company 2)
When I sat down to write this post I only had an inkling of an idea on what I wanted to write about but, now that I have crawled through a minimal amount of my feeds, I have a few things that I would like to cram into this post.
First off, we will go with the most interesting part of the past few days of mine. I decided to pick up and play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare after my last post. I am at least halfway through according to the Mission Select screen and the game is more awesome than I remember. Every little thing is so detailed and I feel like I am in the thick of it at all times. An interesting thing to note is that the headphones are a big help for finding helicopters that are circling around the building that you are in. The game is so obviously well-done and it really has me wondering what they are going to improve for the next one. You can officially count me excited.
Speaking on the subject of warfare the teaser trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has made its way onto the internets via a GameTrailers WORLD EXCLUSIVE (exciting, no?). It really is quite the boring trailer but I am still excited for the game because the first one was a riot and the multiplayer was something different than I am used to. I had never really found interest in a Battlefield game before this one (Bad Company 1) and I feel than many people who primarily game on consoles felt the same way that I did (first Battlefield game exclusive on consoles = fun). The funniest, most interesting part of the trailer was a joke that I understood despite not actually playing the game that it referenced; "Specializing in warfare since 1942," was what the tag line at the end of the trailer read.
In terms of other news, Bioware did unveil thier level design videos for Mass Effect 2, but as you can see I am not giddy in excitement because they did not really show much of anything. Do not believe me? See for yourself.
The only other thing that I have to report is that I may be moving this blog over to WordPress soon because I feel that it is a site that offers more to an up and coming blog such as my own.
First off, we will go with the most interesting part of the past few days of mine. I decided to pick up and play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare after my last post. I am at least halfway through according to the Mission Select screen and the game is more awesome than I remember. Every little thing is so detailed and I feel like I am in the thick of it at all times. An interesting thing to note is that the headphones are a big help for finding helicopters that are circling around the building that you are in. The game is so obviously well-done and it really has me wondering what they are going to improve for the next one. You can officially count me excited.
Speaking on the subject of warfare the teaser trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has made its way onto the internets via a GameTrailers WORLD EXCLUSIVE (exciting, no?). It really is quite the boring trailer but I am still excited for the game because the first one was a riot and the multiplayer was something different than I am used to. I had never really found interest in a Battlefield game before this one (Bad Company 1) and I feel than many people who primarily game on consoles felt the same way that I did (first Battlefield game exclusive on consoles = fun). The funniest, most interesting part of the trailer was a joke that I understood despite not actually playing the game that it referenced; "Specializing in warfare since 1942," was what the tag line at the end of the trailer read.
In terms of other news, Bioware did unveil thier level design videos for Mass Effect 2, but as you can see I am not giddy in excitement because they did not really show much of anything. Do not believe me? See for yourself.
The only other thing that I have to report is that I may be moving this blog over to WordPress soon because I feel that it is a site that offers more to an up and coming blog such as my own.
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