Well then, I've decided to try a little something new with this one: Ive made a video to go along with it, so you can get a general idea of the post straight by LISTENING. Aren't I nice?
So Castlevania finally returns to something that's not portable. Isn't that great?
Nostalgia aside, the game plays as smooth as one would expect. Classic controls keep things simple, with some slight alterations to modern hardware that allows for a little something extra : By assigning the Right Bumper to a "character move", one can now have one less special combination to worry about (in Alucard's case, you turn to mist for a short span, Jonathon blocks, Shanoa uses her magnetic field to grasp "anchors" in the background).
The stages are limited, and I cant argue with that. At only 6 levels, some people will grow tired of it fast. The fact that each of the 6 characters feel unique does help a lot to keep things interesting on multiple play throughs, and the collection element (leveling up skill moves/spells, getting more armor/weapons/items) will no doubt draw a good deal of people - its what keeps a lot of people coming back to MMO's, after all. That being said, the stages are finely detailed in their immense 2d states. Drawn from 'the source' (the nintendo DS castlevania games), they represent various stages that newer fans (or older ones who have played them) will recognize, and the addition of a seamless multiplayer (as in, it feels the same playing with one or more people) lets you experience it in a new much appreciated light.
The biggest changes, of course, are foregoing the plot for a more multiplayer friendly set-up: Loot the treasure to get stronger, then kill the boss. Some treasure can be gotten only with multiple people playing, or by using specific characters (sometimes even cheating the game to get there when it doesn't think you can). The downside of this, of course, means that you are getting that short 60 minute or less run of the road each time, as opposed to having an elaborate progression of events incorporated in the average yarn of the tale.
Graphics are an eye of the beholder thing really, but the sprites are richly detailed and the entire game has that look of polish. The character models are offered in various colors ( to help alleviate the problem of multiple players choosing the same character), and each weapon looks its own. The backgrounds themselves even have weather animations (such as the lightning flashes in Stage 6), which add to the atmosphere.
The music is awesome, in that heavy castlevania styling that I personally love.
The multiplayer works great, with the exception of setting it up with friends is a chore. In order to all play together, one must set together a "team", which must be done before you get to the character/map selection screen. Of course, if you want to back out of the map/selection screen, then you have to leave the team altogether, which means if your playing with one friend, then another wants to join in, you have to go recreate from step one as opposed to the more streamlined "join session in progress" that xbox normally offers.
All in all, the game is fun, and well worth the 15 dollar price tag, hopefully with some DLC on the way (that wont cost as much as some DLC out there...). I've honestly spent so much time on the thing I'm personally surprised over it, since with only 6 stages and 5 characters, I thought it would grow old fast. What a pleasant surprise.
Oh, nostalgia.
Sep 29, 2010
Sep 26, 2010
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
It's been a long time coming that my opinions on this disasterpeice be known. Some, possibly even most, may consider this game to be the utmost in awesome games. Others, like me, see it for what it is - a decent game with a horrid fanbase.
Let's start it off with the game itself, shall we?
The plot line is good - not as great as the first, but good. Although the first MW used the "your character has died" routine very few times - that one dramatic moment when you think you somehow survived a nuke just to be proven wrong - the second actually over-uses it to the extent of you not really feeling that same "holy cow" feeling you may have gotten from the first. The actual plot itself is nothing spectacular, but good enough to keep driving a person to the next mission - enough intrigue and backstabbing plot twists to make any person happy. Difficulty has been ramped down from the first, mostly in part to the end of endless enemy waves. Vehicle segments exist add to the variety of normal mission batches.
When it comes to "missions", theres always the included of the co-op mode, which chops up parts of the campaign and turns it into a small 2 man mash up of single objectives (ie. Kill 10 juggernauts, disarm the two bombs). It's a nice diversion from the single player, since it lets you bring a friend along for the ride to accomplish some great tactical excursions - something the AI is rarely capable of.
The multiplayer...well, we'll save that for later.
The weapon selection is broad enough, but the largest problem is outside of the rate of fire they all tend to feel very similar. Some do full auto, some only semi, and some burst, but they all take large round counts to kill anyone on the normal match types, and only one or two rounds to kill someone in the 'hardcore' matches. In addition to this, they've added an entire category of explosive weapons - four rocket launcher types and a single crack-tube grenade launcher. It baffles me as to why such weapons would be needed in a game that is totally infantry-based in multiplayer (where such weapons are still pickable).
So the maps are pretty varied, ranging from arctic sub bases, blistering deserts, forested estates, all sorts of stuff - including a very "the rock"-esque stage in a prison. These also go into multiplayer.
So then we get to the biggest problem - the multiplayer. The developers thought hey had a great idea - to force people to chat in-game so that everyone would work as a team for the majoraty of match types - that turned out to be a really, really annoying thing that causes most people to not bother plugging in their mic. To make that matter worse, the game has one of the rudest, most notoriously '12 year old in the parents basement acting like they are big and bad' xbox-live stereotype audiences to exist in any game I have ever played on the xbox, or on the pc. You can't go a match without someone accusing someone of being fat with no friends, not hitting puberty, or spouting the word 'faggot' 10 times in the course of 2 minutes. To make it worse, the few matches that support the Live Party feature have the tendance to seperate your group - sometimes a person just gets dropped from the party, sometimes they get left in a limbo that says they are "waiting for the party leader". The addition of the explosives leads to nothing but grief in multiplayer as well, as people bomb the spawn at the very second of the start of the match from across the stage, wiping out the entire team. The most game-breaking part, however, is the "Tactical Nuke". No game that is multiplayer should have an item, regardless of how hard/easy to get, that instantly ends the match and places the user and his/her team on the top. In a game that supposed to be intense fast paced action, you shouldnt need to worry about a camper winning the game in a ridiculous come from behind instant win victory is needless.
The number of modes is pretty good, being search and destroy (a classic counter strike type 'set the bomb at point X and make sure it blows up), Deathmatch (and team variant), Domination (a king of the hill type hold-the-points longest), Capture the Flag, and some Harcore (no radar, less health) versions of modes.
Now, some would say I got no skillz, that the items I say are horrible is just because im a hater or a noob who cant play. I've single handedly won team matches before - is it a consistant occurance? No. To be honest, the juvenile dimwitted actions of most people that play the game keep me away, and many a friend has had to fight to get me to play it. I love the fast paced action, the ability of bullets to penetrate walls, and the utter absolute carnage that can erupt over a capture point. What I dont like is the overall multiplayer experience. To each their own though, to each their own.
Let's start it off with the game itself, shall we?
The plot line is good - not as great as the first, but good. Although the first MW used the "your character has died" routine very few times - that one dramatic moment when you think you somehow survived a nuke just to be proven wrong - the second actually over-uses it to the extent of you not really feeling that same "holy cow" feeling you may have gotten from the first. The actual plot itself is nothing spectacular, but good enough to keep driving a person to the next mission - enough intrigue and backstabbing plot twists to make any person happy. Difficulty has been ramped down from the first, mostly in part to the end of endless enemy waves. Vehicle segments exist add to the variety of normal mission batches.
When it comes to "missions", theres always the included of the co-op mode, which chops up parts of the campaign and turns it into a small 2 man mash up of single objectives (ie. Kill 10 juggernauts, disarm the two bombs). It's a nice diversion from the single player, since it lets you bring a friend along for the ride to accomplish some great tactical excursions - something the AI is rarely capable of.
The multiplayer...well, we'll save that for later.
The weapon selection is broad enough, but the largest problem is outside of the rate of fire they all tend to feel very similar. Some do full auto, some only semi, and some burst, but they all take large round counts to kill anyone on the normal match types, and only one or two rounds to kill someone in the 'hardcore' matches. In addition to this, they've added an entire category of explosive weapons - four rocket launcher types and a single crack-tube grenade launcher. It baffles me as to why such weapons would be needed in a game that is totally infantry-based in multiplayer (where such weapons are still pickable).
So the maps are pretty varied, ranging from arctic sub bases, blistering deserts, forested estates, all sorts of stuff - including a very "the rock"-esque stage in a prison. These also go into multiplayer.
So then we get to the biggest problem - the multiplayer. The developers thought hey had a great idea - to force people to chat in-game so that everyone would work as a team for the majoraty of match types - that turned out to be a really, really annoying thing that causes most people to not bother plugging in their mic. To make that matter worse, the game has one of the rudest, most notoriously '12 year old in the parents basement acting like they are big and bad' xbox-live stereotype audiences to exist in any game I have ever played on the xbox, or on the pc. You can't go a match without someone accusing someone of being fat with no friends, not hitting puberty, or spouting the word 'faggot' 10 times in the course of 2 minutes. To make it worse, the few matches that support the Live Party feature have the tendance to seperate your group - sometimes a person just gets dropped from the party, sometimes they get left in a limbo that says they are "waiting for the party leader". The addition of the explosives leads to nothing but grief in multiplayer as well, as people bomb the spawn at the very second of the start of the match from across the stage, wiping out the entire team. The most game-breaking part, however, is the "Tactical Nuke". No game that is multiplayer should have an item, regardless of how hard/easy to get, that instantly ends the match and places the user and his/her team on the top. In a game that supposed to be intense fast paced action, you shouldnt need to worry about a camper winning the game in a ridiculous come from behind instant win victory is needless.
The number of modes is pretty good, being search and destroy (a classic counter strike type 'set the bomb at point X and make sure it blows up), Deathmatch (and team variant), Domination (a king of the hill type hold-the-points longest), Capture the Flag, and some Harcore (no radar, less health) versions of modes.
Now, some would say I got no skillz, that the items I say are horrible is just because im a hater or a noob who cant play. I've single handedly won team matches before - is it a consistant occurance? No. To be honest, the juvenile dimwitted actions of most people that play the game keep me away, and many a friend has had to fight to get me to play it. I love the fast paced action, the ability of bullets to penetrate walls, and the utter absolute carnage that can erupt over a capture point. What I dont like is the overall multiplayer experience. To each their own though, to each their own.
Sep 20, 2010
Super Robot Taisen
Little known to anyone outside a fan-following of giant robots called mech (mecha plural, although some still refer to them as mechs) in a often known format known as anime, this game has seen more iterations than even the power rangers have managed at this point in time. Released only a few times here on American soil due to copyright laws on the various shows contained with-in, some folks might recognize the little game boy/ DS cartridges named "Super Robot Wars." Yours truly just so happens to be an enormous fan of giant robots, extending from games on different formats, movies, and shows of many different kinds. Heck, I've even tried a few table-top war games involving them, so in this case you all get to be lucky and learn of a little series that offers a big punch.
The general premise of mostly all SRT games (outside of Original Generations, which featured completely custom-created content, hence allowing it to be released state-side) involves taking the various shows the characters (and mecha) come from, and spinning them all into a over-arching story, which for the most part actually takes you through sections of the shows they come from in honest (for instance, you may experience plot lines and events from the actual Gundam Destiny show, should the game include the characters). This is ideal, since not everyone would necessarily know where the characters are from, and it serves as a manner of introduction and a launch off point for those interested to expand to watching the source material. Unfortunately enough, that's really all I can tell you about the plots, as every copy I have ever played has been in japanese, which to me may as well be moonspeak translated into Italian drawn by a three year old. Thankfully, I've seen most of these shows, so I know whats going on.
The game itself plays out over a series of 'missions', each with a goal - some as simple as defeat all enemies, survive X rounds, get unit Y to point Z, and even the occasional don't let someone get killed - that will normally have something to do with the shows story path the game is currently following, played out in a classic Turn-Based Strategy format. Each unit has a range it can move, and plethora of attacks drawn straight from its source material. Most the games take place in the 2d realm, with sprites on an overland map being nothing more then the head of the bot in question. As the series goes on, more appear also on more modern consoles, with more improved 3d models replacing their 2d counterparts. Consistent in all, however, is absolutely stunning animations - 2d or 3d - of every attack (which can be turned off if you want to skip them, but lets face it, they are beautiful, why would you do that?).
An example of a later game in the series, and a Super Robot type:
The shows contained within are generally numerous and cause the 'bots to be drawn into two categories that effect their rolls game wise: Super and Real type. Super robots are similar to things such as the power ranger's giant robot, where its not really bound in the realm of reality by what it can do. Attacks will often involve such classics as lazer-eyes, rocket punches, swords/axes drawn from null-space, and of course the awe-inspiring super-attacks. These are generally something you put all your points into defense and power with, as they are not the most mobile things, functioning better as tanks that soak damage and deliver one-hit kills to those unfortunate enough to be in the way. Real type robots, on the other hand are more your Gundam show style - quick and fickle. Weapons are more a realistic based thing - lazer guns, machine guns, cannons and missiles, punches and over sized robot swords. Most of these items will have an ammo count associated with it, making you think about your tactics before you send them out to battle. Why would you use a Real type if it potentially dies so fast? After they have been upgraded a bit, they are darn near IMPOSSIBLE to ever hit. Its the classic example of pecking something to death.
Example of a real type - the Hi Nu Gundam:
Mentioned above, there is also in place an "upgrade system", in which the player will take money earned from missions to increase stats on the units available - this normally takes the form of Attack power (self explanatory), defense (explanatory), attack range (duh), evade (really?), HP (numerical life force baby), and Energy (used a real lot by the supers). The dollar amount changes per upgrade and unit, but you really notice the difference in the long run. Of course, with so many units to play with, the player really needs to decide weather to spread out the points, or to focus on their favourite units. Of course, there are also items that can be equipped that do various things - let the unit fly, enhance stats, restore ammo/energy/health, all manner of things - and in the case of reals, there's weapons as well.
Although things do get more and more improved as you go through time, with new features (tag-team attacks, nearby units being allowed to jump in and take the hit for another unit, a "favourites" system that allows higher stat increases), better graphics and sprites, more units, etc - the main menu choices are generally the same, so if you play one SR game, you can at the least control the rest without worry. Control isn't really something that can be commented on itself, because its all menu-based choices.
Now, I've mentioned how it draws heavily from various shows, and hence had issues coming out over here except for a few games that featured original creations. The inspiration to these units can be seen if you know it, but at the same time it also offers up one of the coolest character to be seen in the games, a man who "Shall cleave evil!"
Proof:
So yes, in the end unless you download a Rom or something - not endorsed by the US, btw - most of you will still never get the chance to play these great games. However, having played so many of them, I feel I wouldn't be doing myself justice if I didn't place a word for this little series that holds a place in my heart up here. Although, part of that is rage at an impossible difficulty jump near the end of SRW:OG. Talk about impossible, a boss that self heals every round!
The general premise of mostly all SRT games (outside of Original Generations, which featured completely custom-created content, hence allowing it to be released state-side) involves taking the various shows the characters (and mecha) come from, and spinning them all into a over-arching story, which for the most part actually takes you through sections of the shows they come from in honest (for instance, you may experience plot lines and events from the actual Gundam Destiny show, should the game include the characters). This is ideal, since not everyone would necessarily know where the characters are from, and it serves as a manner of introduction and a launch off point for those interested to expand to watching the source material. Unfortunately enough, that's really all I can tell you about the plots, as every copy I have ever played has been in japanese, which to me may as well be moonspeak translated into Italian drawn by a three year old. Thankfully, I've seen most of these shows, so I know whats going on.
The game itself plays out over a series of 'missions', each with a goal - some as simple as defeat all enemies, survive X rounds, get unit Y to point Z, and even the occasional don't let someone get killed - that will normally have something to do with the shows story path the game is currently following, played out in a classic Turn-Based Strategy format. Each unit has a range it can move, and plethora of attacks drawn straight from its source material. Most the games take place in the 2d realm, with sprites on an overland map being nothing more then the head of the bot in question. As the series goes on, more appear also on more modern consoles, with more improved 3d models replacing their 2d counterparts. Consistent in all, however, is absolutely stunning animations - 2d or 3d - of every attack (which can be turned off if you want to skip them, but lets face it, they are beautiful, why would you do that?).
An example of a later game in the series, and a Super Robot type:
The shows contained within are generally numerous and cause the 'bots to be drawn into two categories that effect their rolls game wise: Super and Real type. Super robots are similar to things such as the power ranger's giant robot, where its not really bound in the realm of reality by what it can do. Attacks will often involve such classics as lazer-eyes, rocket punches, swords/axes drawn from null-space, and of course the awe-inspiring super-attacks. These are generally something you put all your points into defense and power with, as they are not the most mobile things, functioning better as tanks that soak damage and deliver one-hit kills to those unfortunate enough to be in the way. Real type robots, on the other hand are more your Gundam show style - quick and fickle. Weapons are more a realistic based thing - lazer guns, machine guns, cannons and missiles, punches and over sized robot swords. Most of these items will have an ammo count associated with it, making you think about your tactics before you send them out to battle. Why would you use a Real type if it potentially dies so fast? After they have been upgraded a bit, they are darn near IMPOSSIBLE to ever hit. Its the classic example of pecking something to death.
Example of a real type - the Hi Nu Gundam:
Mentioned above, there is also in place an "upgrade system", in which the player will take money earned from missions to increase stats on the units available - this normally takes the form of Attack power (self explanatory), defense (explanatory), attack range (duh), evade (really?), HP (numerical life force baby), and Energy (used a real lot by the supers). The dollar amount changes per upgrade and unit, but you really notice the difference in the long run. Of course, with so many units to play with, the player really needs to decide weather to spread out the points, or to focus on their favourite units. Of course, there are also items that can be equipped that do various things - let the unit fly, enhance stats, restore ammo/energy/health, all manner of things - and in the case of reals, there's weapons as well.
Although things do get more and more improved as you go through time, with new features (tag-team attacks, nearby units being allowed to jump in and take the hit for another unit, a "favourites" system that allows higher stat increases), better graphics and sprites, more units, etc - the main menu choices are generally the same, so if you play one SR game, you can at the least control the rest without worry. Control isn't really something that can be commented on itself, because its all menu-based choices.
Now, I've mentioned how it draws heavily from various shows, and hence had issues coming out over here except for a few games that featured original creations. The inspiration to these units can be seen if you know it, but at the same time it also offers up one of the coolest character to be seen in the games, a man who "Shall cleave evil!"
Proof:
So yes, in the end unless you download a Rom or something - not endorsed by the US, btw - most of you will still never get the chance to play these great games. However, having played so many of them, I feel I wouldn't be doing myself justice if I didn't place a word for this little series that holds a place in my heart up here. Although, part of that is rage at an impossible difficulty jump near the end of SRW:OG. Talk about impossible, a boss that self heals every round!
Sep 19, 2010
Halo: Reach
If you enjoyed Halo (more towards Combat Evolved or even ODST), then you'll enjoy Reach. The graphics engine has been overhauled, and as such graphics are better than the other games (although they weren't bad to begin with). The game likes to boast such things through-out, as it often has moments where you are facing a stunning vista backdrop of the planet, or some large-scale battle happening, and you just let a little "wow" slip out. Details on things like guns and armor are even better, helping to add to the overall cosmetics, although every now and then you'll notice little hiccups (such as Emile's skull helmet paint randomly missing in-game).
The enemies...well, they are essentially the same, with some minor tweakings - Elites (the predator-mouthed aliens that were missing as enemies in the third installment) are ridiculously difficult (at least on Legendary difficulty) thanks to their re-tweaking of Shields and balance of firearm damages. You find yourself actually elated by the appearance of the brutes later on, even with their helmets and heavy hitting, simply because the elites (as designed) have returned to being the scariest opponent in the game. A new form of jackal (skirmishers) make an appearance as well, being toted as the "close range" specialists compared to the jackals, although with their crazy jumping antics, I found myself getting more often sniped-at by these little hairy lizards then punched at. Missing also is the Flood, something that I personally don't complain about although I do hear some murmurs of sorrow from others (psssh). Oh, yes, they also have a pair of big Rancor-beast looking aliens that you run into in one segment, but difficulty wise they may as well be non-existent. Ideally, if you didn't like any of the other Halo's due to lack of enemy variety, then this also probably won't be your cup of tea.
The weapon selection is much of the same, and many will find themselves gravitate towards sniper-esque weapons such as the Designated Marksmen Rifle (DMR), pistol, and alien Needle Rifle, ideally due to it being much easier to kill something with a shot to the head then deal with emptying multiple magazines of the less than ideal Assault Rifle (not as good as it was in the first, but an improvement over some of it's later trilogy sequels). Some of the other new additions are a crack-barrel grenade launcher, a covie "sticky grenade launcher" that mildly tracks targets, and a few variations of the plasma rifle - a more rapid fire version, and a slower one that serves as an inbetween for the stronger explosive weapons and the rifle itself. Assassinations are also new, performed simply by holding down the melee when behind an opponent. Although it's nice to just snap someones neck or bury a knife in them dynamically, you risk getting blown up, shot up, or otherwise killed while doing so - much like in the newer AvP. Missing as well are all grenades except the original sticky and frag grenades.
The campaign spins a fun story, that throws much nostalgia at the user ("This stage feels just like Y stage from Halo X"), but in the end it seems to putter out. I mean, anyone that's up to date with the halo mythos at all knows that "reach falls" (even the commercials tell you that), so you expect the end outcome itself, but just how it's presented leaves you wishing they could have come up with something a bit cooler - and this is coming from a fan of epic last stands. Now, outside of that end point, the story does indeed keep you going, trying to see what they will do next to try and win the fight, and the missions themselves are fun - even the two or three stages that turn into semi-railed vehicle shooters. The only downside to this is that there is no real tutorial to the game's newer features worked in, so anyone who doesn't know whats going on could be left clueless as to what exactly a specific item does - unless that little pop-up happens that tells them to hit the back button to show you what the items you have do.
The new features themselves - the "armor abilities" - are nice, but you don't get as much use of them as you'd like in any of the play modes. The jetpack, although fun to fly around with, most often will get you gunned down as you sail hopelessly through the air at pretty slow speeds. The 'armor lock' that turns you into a little invulnerable ball will save your life a few times ("oh noes, I was stuck!" lock for the save!), but often times if you are in the situation to need it, you will die as soon as it goes off and all the good folks who were patient enough to wait for it to expire kill you. The holographic ability that sends a fake you running to the point you said works a charm on the AI, but isn't always successful against humans that have had it used on them/for them. Active camo got downgraded quite a bit, making it only moderately useful if you do anything beyond crouch-walking (you decloak if you move to fast, shoot, get hit). The drop shield is especially handy in the campaign, as it functions as the bubble shield in Halo 3 (stops rounds and explosives from coming in) but also restores your health bar like a health kit. There's also a default sprint/dive roll. Now, these and weapons are combined into pre-made 'loadouts' that you select (for most game variants) at the start of the match and during respawn.
Multiplayer wise (and somewhat single), the "armory" armor customization is a nice improvement - finally you get to customize your look to more extent then just picking a handful of colors. I've been asking that of FPS games since they did it back in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. Now, although I enjoy and I appreciate it being added in, the actual delivery method is an annoyance. First off, things are locked off in two ways : one- in game credits (earned by playing the game in any form, although to get any significant increase it must be done through online Matchmaking) are spent, and second - you must reach specific requirements (such as Rank - "leveled up" through earning credits, and owning other parts of gear in the chain). Now, this seems silly that we would need both of these, since the largest problem is that the cost in credits of some of the later items is ridiculous (average real good match might net you 2k points, and there is one helmet that costs around 2 or 300 k). To make it a little more frustrating, you will at some 'rank up's earn new gear, which is silly because this gear has pre-reqs of even higher levels that you ha vent obtained yet - why not just unlock it when you could actually use it. There was also some items that are unlocked from preorder/edition of the game you got. This leads to easier killings in multiplayer, when everyone thinks they are cool running around with helmets wreathed in fire, allowing you to see their mugs from across the map with your scoped weapons. Still, strangest yet about this system even though logically it make sense, when online you still see everyone wearing pretty much the same outfits.
The match types are wide and varied - slayers, capture points/flags, races, collect the most of something, "zombie" infection types, and team variants. There is also a mode that is called "Invasion" which comes in slayer and objective formats, which is a multi teared affair, with loadouts and weaponry escalating as events happen/time expires. It's what you'd expect out of something that is the 5th installment of a series of games. From what I can tell matchmaking doesn't offer customizable matches, which is a shame since its the only way to really earn a decent amount of credits.
Reach is also one of the few games that offers gear for your Xbox live avatar through achievements (the 5 members of Noble team you don't play give your little self helmets, if you can achieve the goals). More games should do it, as its a much better alternative that paying for all this stuff for your little bugger. The only downside is that three of the five helmets can be gotten ONLY through multiplayer matchmaking.
Control-wise, as long as your cool with a controller, its responsive and smooth. During a recent LAN party, I did notice a strange mishap where a grenade would be tossed while jetpacking (although the button was not pressed to do so), but this could be a controller issue and not the actual game. It's standard fair shooter controllers for the standard console gamer.
By the way, It would be a shame for me to not mention the 3 tiers the game comes in - default game, game with a super-fancy box that contains bonus in-game DLC and a journal that contains all sorts of thing (patch, 'ID cards', map, etc), and the version that contains all that PLUS a big mcfarlane-style statue of Noble team (minus noble 6 of course). Is that statue worth the extra 50 some-odd dollars? We'll dictate that when someone buys it from ebay for 20 bucks :-P
All in all, Halo is one of the games that helped make the Xbox, so it's only fitting that this game keeps the tradition going. I enjoyed it, the campaign on normal took only about 6-7 hours (legendary took more along the lines of 12-15 hours on co-op, and I expect it to take even more than that when I try to solo it all, albeit the first two stages only took 4 hours - but they are the easy ones).
The enemies...well, they are essentially the same, with some minor tweakings - Elites (the predator-mouthed aliens that were missing as enemies in the third installment) are ridiculously difficult (at least on Legendary difficulty) thanks to their re-tweaking of Shields and balance of firearm damages. You find yourself actually elated by the appearance of the brutes later on, even with their helmets and heavy hitting, simply because the elites (as designed) have returned to being the scariest opponent in the game. A new form of jackal (skirmishers) make an appearance as well, being toted as the "close range" specialists compared to the jackals, although with their crazy jumping antics, I found myself getting more often sniped-at by these little hairy lizards then punched at. Missing also is the Flood, something that I personally don't complain about although I do hear some murmurs of sorrow from others (psssh). Oh, yes, they also have a pair of big Rancor-beast looking aliens that you run into in one segment, but difficulty wise they may as well be non-existent. Ideally, if you didn't like any of the other Halo's due to lack of enemy variety, then this also probably won't be your cup of tea.
The weapon selection is much of the same, and many will find themselves gravitate towards sniper-esque weapons such as the Designated Marksmen Rifle (DMR), pistol, and alien Needle Rifle, ideally due to it being much easier to kill something with a shot to the head then deal with emptying multiple magazines of the less than ideal Assault Rifle (not as good as it was in the first, but an improvement over some of it's later trilogy sequels). Some of the other new additions are a crack-barrel grenade launcher, a covie "sticky grenade launcher" that mildly tracks targets, and a few variations of the plasma rifle - a more rapid fire version, and a slower one that serves as an inbetween for the stronger explosive weapons and the rifle itself. Assassinations are also new, performed simply by holding down the melee when behind an opponent. Although it's nice to just snap someones neck or bury a knife in them dynamically, you risk getting blown up, shot up, or otherwise killed while doing so - much like in the newer AvP. Missing as well are all grenades except the original sticky and frag grenades.
The campaign spins a fun story, that throws much nostalgia at the user ("This stage feels just like Y stage from Halo X"), but in the end it seems to putter out. I mean, anyone that's up to date with the halo mythos at all knows that "reach falls" (even the commercials tell you that), so you expect the end outcome itself, but just how it's presented leaves you wishing they could have come up with something a bit cooler - and this is coming from a fan of epic last stands. Now, outside of that end point, the story does indeed keep you going, trying to see what they will do next to try and win the fight, and the missions themselves are fun - even the two or three stages that turn into semi-railed vehicle shooters. The only downside to this is that there is no real tutorial to the game's newer features worked in, so anyone who doesn't know whats going on could be left clueless as to what exactly a specific item does - unless that little pop-up happens that tells them to hit the back button to show you what the items you have do.
The new features themselves - the "armor abilities" - are nice, but you don't get as much use of them as you'd like in any of the play modes. The jetpack, although fun to fly around with, most often will get you gunned down as you sail hopelessly through the air at pretty slow speeds. The 'armor lock' that turns you into a little invulnerable ball will save your life a few times ("oh noes, I was stuck!" lock for the save!), but often times if you are in the situation to need it, you will die as soon as it goes off and all the good folks who were patient enough to wait for it to expire kill you. The holographic ability that sends a fake you running to the point you said works a charm on the AI, but isn't always successful against humans that have had it used on them/for them. Active camo got downgraded quite a bit, making it only moderately useful if you do anything beyond crouch-walking (you decloak if you move to fast, shoot, get hit). The drop shield is especially handy in the campaign, as it functions as the bubble shield in Halo 3 (stops rounds and explosives from coming in) but also restores your health bar like a health kit. There's also a default sprint/dive roll. Now, these and weapons are combined into pre-made 'loadouts' that you select (for most game variants) at the start of the match and during respawn.
Multiplayer wise (and somewhat single), the "armory" armor customization is a nice improvement - finally you get to customize your look to more extent then just picking a handful of colors. I've been asking that of FPS games since they did it back in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. Now, although I enjoy and I appreciate it being added in, the actual delivery method is an annoyance. First off, things are locked off in two ways : one- in game credits (earned by playing the game in any form, although to get any significant increase it must be done through online Matchmaking) are spent, and second - you must reach specific requirements (such as Rank - "leveled up" through earning credits, and owning other parts of gear in the chain). Now, this seems silly that we would need both of these, since the largest problem is that the cost in credits of some of the later items is ridiculous (average real good match might net you 2k points, and there is one helmet that costs around 2 or 300 k). To make it a little more frustrating, you will at some 'rank up's earn new gear, which is silly because this gear has pre-reqs of even higher levels that you ha vent obtained yet - why not just unlock it when you could actually use it. There was also some items that are unlocked from preorder/edition of the game you got. This leads to easier killings in multiplayer, when everyone thinks they are cool running around with helmets wreathed in fire, allowing you to see their mugs from across the map with your scoped weapons. Still, strangest yet about this system even though logically it make sense, when online you still see everyone wearing pretty much the same outfits.
The match types are wide and varied - slayers, capture points/flags, races, collect the most of something, "zombie" infection types, and team variants. There is also a mode that is called "Invasion" which comes in slayer and objective formats, which is a multi teared affair, with loadouts and weaponry escalating as events happen/time expires. It's what you'd expect out of something that is the 5th installment of a series of games. From what I can tell matchmaking doesn't offer customizable matches, which is a shame since its the only way to really earn a decent amount of credits.
Reach is also one of the few games that offers gear for your Xbox live avatar through achievements (the 5 members of Noble team you don't play give your little self helmets, if you can achieve the goals). More games should do it, as its a much better alternative that paying for all this stuff for your little bugger. The only downside is that three of the five helmets can be gotten ONLY through multiplayer matchmaking.
Control-wise, as long as your cool with a controller, its responsive and smooth. During a recent LAN party, I did notice a strange mishap where a grenade would be tossed while jetpacking (although the button was not pressed to do so), but this could be a controller issue and not the actual game. It's standard fair shooter controllers for the standard console gamer.
By the way, It would be a shame for me to not mention the 3 tiers the game comes in - default game, game with a super-fancy box that contains bonus in-game DLC and a journal that contains all sorts of thing (patch, 'ID cards', map, etc), and the version that contains all that PLUS a big mcfarlane-style statue of Noble team (minus noble 6 of course). Is that statue worth the extra 50 some-odd dollars? We'll dictate that when someone buys it from ebay for 20 bucks :-P
All in all, Halo is one of the games that helped make the Xbox, so it's only fitting that this game keeps the tradition going. I enjoyed it, the campaign on normal took only about 6-7 hours (legendary took more along the lines of 12-15 hours on co-op, and I expect it to take even more than that when I try to solo it all, albeit the first two stages only took 4 hours - but they are the easy ones).
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