For those who can’t let go, I have some advice- Let go. Where I work, people regularly use their PC’s to play multiplayer games at lunch and after work at the end of the week. Because the place is so big and stuffed with geeks there are several different games going on around the building. There’s the WoW fraternity, TF2 players (whose ranks have been thinned recently), Left 4 Dead and CoD4 Modern Warfare. Yesterday we had some interesting conversations on our private CoD4 mailing list and it highlights a problem when you play a good multiplayer game for a long time and tire of, but have no immediate successor lined up.
So these guys have basically played Call of Duty modern Warfare at lunchtimes for over a year. They don’t like CS or TF2 or LEft 4 Dead, they love CoD4. They are very good at it and most are ranked level 55. They also play a mod, so they’ve levelled up using this bot mod only with the bots turned off so they’re basically playing standard CoD4 but one where they can only play against each other if they want to preserve their rankings). This is why its hard to tear away the TF2 guys from their game or WoW players to a new MMO. They’ve invested so much time in the game but are so sick of it but they’ve invested so much time in it but they are so sick of it but, well, you can guess the rest.
So back to this group of CoD lovers. One guy, who’s one of the better players, and the one who wrote the bot mod we played, has basically had enough. I know because I’ve played him on the 360 version as well as the PC- He’s spent more time on that one game than I have on sleeping in the past year by the looks of things. you know the type, complaining about others using the grenade launcher (the n00b tube) So he’s trying to rally the troops into playing something else. So what about Call of Duty World at War? Nope- WWII, buggy, yada yada. Which is funny because he hasn’t played it. Ok, then what?
Operation flashpoint was suggested. The group was all excited but apparently was a colossal let down. I could have told them that. Then Codename:Eagle, apparently a pre EA DICE made this before BF1942. Apparently buggy too so that went down in flames. Its funny, but I’m sure many games have this same dilemma. What do you play when you’re sick of something. I recall years ago, when we played Medal of Honor Allied Assault multiplayer, we moved straight onto Call of Duty (the original). When that grew stale, there was no immediate successor until the UT2004 demo came out. Battlefield Vietnam came out and filled the void for a while but that didn’t last. Eventually someone suggested the original Counterstrike and they went back to that (without me for the most part since CS has never gelled for me). WoW kind of killed the LAN gaming network for a few years (that and some other loopholes being closed by the IT department). Counterstrike source came and went a few times, lots of RTSes and MMo’s and then new FPSes becoming fashionable again amongst theses fairly PC-centric types with CoD4 and TF2 (and then Left 4 Dead).
But the habits are hard to kick. Left 4 Dead took away some of the TF2 players (not all), but CoD WaW has not pulled the CoD4 guys away. I’m guessing that either these dudes will be bringing in CoD2 next week or Battlefield 1942 or BF2. And it won’t last. I reckon give it a month before thy come back to Modern Warfare.
I myself played Left 4 Dead but i found the online wasn’t more fun than SP for me and I kind of lost interest after writing the review. Then I saw on steam my Day of Defeat Source needed an update so I patched it and tried it having not played it since CoD2 came out in late 2005. Well, you can see the TF2/influence now. Film grain effect and killcams straight out of TF2 (same sound effects) but that aside, this is still one of the better fast paced shooters. It has changed so little that I can’t help wondering if these guyus will ever get bored with playing these same maps over and over.
What makes guys play this sort of game over and over so much, even years later? CoD WaW has come out and sold very well, but I find the PC community to be quite small. My ISP is one of the larger server providers and there are only two normal TDM servers for CoD WaW compared to about six to eight for Modern Warfare. Hey, people are still playing Quake III somewhere.
Its hard to let go.
I’ve been away for a few days hence the pre-recorded podcasts and tiny updates from my iPhone. Now that I’m back home, there’s more game time. This morning I decided to give Left 4 Dead (PC) another go. I’m just bumming through single player at this stage since my early attempts to play online failed to elicit much fun. I surprised myself by playing through several levels in one sitting, so I think I’ve probably committed myself to playing for a little longer at least. When I go back to work I’ll try playing with real people again but single player will do for now.
Since finally being able to sample World at War online on PC, I’ve decided that although its fun, I’ll probably stick to 360 for multiplayer. There are just no servers running Team Deathmatch for this game unless you want Friendly Fire and Hardcore rules- which I don’t. I never get why PC gamers hate fun so much. It’s like “Hey let me buy you a ticket to Disneyland,” and they’re all “Only if we go when its really busy and really hot and make sure we go on only the rides with the longest queues.”
Fallout 3 has been started. Yes I envisage myself getting about 25% of the way through this game before I give up but since this game is so huge, I don’t think that will be a huge problem. It’s already more fun than Oblivion but that’s possibly down to the more SF backdrop. Cyrodil was a nice place to visit but I woouldn’t want to live there. Washington DC doesn’t look that much better but at least there’s no ‘Wayne’s World’ style zoom-ins everytime I talk to an NPC.
Games on the current playlist:
Multiplayer: Call of Duty WaW (PC and 360)
Singleplayer: Left 4 Dead (PC), Mirror’s Edge (PS3), Fallout 3 (360)
Still to play: Boom Blox (Wii), Prince of Persia (360), Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts (360)
Recently finished (or finished with): Little Big Planet (PS3), CoD WaW Single Player (PC)
So, normally I wait until I’m done with a game before I right a review for the site. This means once the review goes up, I’m generally onto the next game. According a FAQ for Litle Big Planet, I’m about 3/4 of the way through the single player and I’ve been frustrated as hell by a specific level.
Frustrated is kind of being nice about it. It’s pissing me off. I reached a similar point in Super Mario Galaxy when I hit the mechano toy robot levels of that otherwise enjoyable game. Some people call this the shelf moment which is “the moment when you take the game out and put it back on the shelf, never to be touched again.” I felt that I had done all i was ever going to do in LBP, but something in me is saying, give it another go. I will probably do that sometime this week since I’d like to finish the game.
Next on the list is Left 4 Dead, which I’ve gotten on PC. I’m glad it cost me a whole lot less than the retail price since it’s pretty clear that it really isn’t my sort of game. I don’t know what it is about Valve multiplayer games that they never gel with me. I love the single player games like HL, HL2 and Portal, but Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2 and now this just don’t seem to be my game. I will play it for a few more sessions though since some games don’t always click with me the very first time I play.
Guitar Hero World Tour has been getting a bit of a play recently (It is the subject of our next and probably most awkward Focus Test). I’ve been mostly playing with others this last week. Yesterday, I played with some colleagues who’d never played the game before and they had a blast. We also went through some songs in the Rock Band AC DC play list. This was the only Rock Band title I was able to procure, alas too late for the Focus Test. It is very interesting to compare the two games sinc ethey basically do the exact same thing, but in a slightly different way.
And of course Call of Duty World at War has been getting a going over. I’ve been playing the Night of the Undead mode a few times this week and loving it to bits (Which is why Left 4 Dead leaving me a bit cold is surprising me). But I still can’t get online on the PC version so I’ve been playing some more CoD4 Team Deathmatch on PC. You know something? I so rarely did well on the PC servers before CoD WaW came out but In the few games I played since I came back, I’ve generally been in the top 3 of most games. Is it because the good players have migrated to WaW? We’ll see.
I’m starting to develop a pile of shame. I have more GHWT to master, and now the ACDC Rock Band (Which I assume allows me to sample the DLC for this game), Mirror’s Edge (PS3), Get some fun out of L4D, play more CoD WaW (360 and PC) and then find time for Prince of Persia, Fallout 3 and Banjo Kazooie.
Well our look back on the big hitters continues (part one can be found here)
THE BIG
SOUL CALIBUR IV (360, PS3)
This game hit in July at a time when there weren’t that many big games coming out. SCIV proved to be a decent hit despite having Star Wars characters muddying the waters for the hardcore.
SPORE (PC, MAC, DS)
Will Wright’s latest formed the basis of who-knows how many GDC keynotes over the last few years. It came and made a huge splash, and then the complaining began. Spore promised something unconventional, but delivered a compilation of other games.
LEGO BATMAN (everything. Colecovision coming 2009)
Lego Conquest of gaming continues. Its not linked to the Dark Knight, more based on the comics (but with some cues from the 80s/90′s Batman films. And its more or less identical on every platform. You liked Lego Indy, right? You liked Lego Star Wars, right? You like Lego, right? You like Batman, right? Then here’s a game you will like.
SAINT’S ROW 2
Despite smelling of xerox toner, this series has managed to carve a small niche of its own. It fixes some GTA flaws, adds its own and has its own slightly off tone to the proceedings that 13 year old boys love. They wanna play at gangstas, not soldiers.
FAR CRY 2
Another sandbox shooter. This time, its set in Africa and not as much fun as the original console Far Cry. We will focus test this title over Christmas so subscribe to the Focus Test through the links at the right of the page
DEAD SPACE (PS3, PC, 360)
EA’s new survival horror greatest hits game impressed those that played it. A sequel, while not ruled out might have to wait for these guys to finish the Dante’s Inferno game just announced.
FABLE II
Wow, they managed to outdo the original and also managed to deliver on a fair amount of the hype. The amount of complaining that usually arises after a hyped game hasn’t been as bad as say, Spore, but then maybe Molyneux’s learned his lesson. “My next game will be bigger than Jesus’ balls”
Oops, spoke too soon. REVIEW
ROCK BAND 2 and GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR
I’m lumping these together for a simple reason. There are only really superficial differences between these games. RB is more fun off the bat if you just wanna play every song where GHWT makes you work for the cooler songs. GHWT has some extra pads on the drum kit and the song creator. The song creator is an absolute abomination to use with the controllers.
MIRROR’S EDGE (PS3, PS3)
Wow, this was meant to be the second coming before it came out to mixed reviews and stagnant sales. Clint loved this in the podcast and we will be posting a written review in the new year. The way EA talks about this game now in business circles does not bode well for the future of the series.
LITTLE BIG PLANET (PS3)
Remember when I said GTA IV was the most overrated game of the year? Well, meet number 2.
Little big planet is a fun platformer with a ton of replayability (if you want everything) and those
tools for making your own levels. However, to call it Game of the year is misleading as the make your own level is a toy. I played a few levels that had been posted online and was amused more than impressed. Is it youtube for gaming? Yes, in the same way You Tube is filled with Videoblogs from people whose emo angst you don’t give a fuck about. Is it worth buying a PS3 for? No. Is it worth getting if you already have a PS3? Hell yes. Its a cool platformer with some infuriating difficulty in later levels. REVIEW
GEARS OF WAR 2 (360)
Why lie? I loved this game. So do the guys who play this on Live. That is when the matchmaker service actually works. Horde mode is fantastic and a lot of fun and the single player managed to do enough new and different than the original (which I liked but not loved) REVIEW
RESISTANCE 2 (PS3)
Another on on my list to play when time is available. R2 features, by some accounts, excellent multiplayer, great coop and so-so single player. Its been outsold by our next contender, but if you only buy one alternative universe WWII shooter, don’t buy a used copy of Resistance: Fall of Man cos that’s shit, get Resistance 2.
CALL OF DUTY WORLD AT WAR (PC, PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP)
The haters expected to hate it. Most of those who’ve migrated from CoD4 are finding it like minded but different enough for it to be a draw. Back to WWII with M1 Garands, KAR98′s and Thommy guns. BLISS! Its a pity Activision couldn’t have actually supported CoD4 properly a bit longer with map packs and the like. I mean, it’s not like they don’t like money. REVIEW
WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WRATH OF THE LICH KING (PC)
Well, it makes money hand over fist. The WoW fans love it and are lapping it up. They’ve even made it easy for people who’ve never played WoW to step in (you know the type, gank fodder and people with jobs/ sex lives)
LEFT 4 DEAD (PC, 360)
Left for Dead is the Horde Mode in Gears 2 and the Nazi Zombie mode from CoD WaW and is a whole game based around it. The thing is, its full price and compared to orange box, which offered so much more, it hard to say this is a good value proposition. OB was great on console apart from TF2 which sucked ass since Valve don’t seem capable of coding an XBL game.
De Blob (Wii)
Hey I was writing this and thinking to myself “were there any decent Wii games from the second half of 2008?” Well, there’s De Blob. Paint the town red. Or green. Or Blue.
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
This game seems to be going down very will south of the Mason Dixon line. Who knew?
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (360)
Well, I was a HUGE fan of the originals back in the N64 days but yet I still haven’t picked this one up despite its cheapness. Why? I will, I promise. Building things- not my forte (see LBP) but the Banjo universe has always held a special charm.
Prince of Persia (PC, PS3, 360)
Well, there I was all set to ignore this title. I was fooled by PoP Warrior Within and Two Thrones. I even lowered my guard and bought Assassin’s creed (eventually). I was done with Ubisoft games for a bit. Then its come out and wowed everyone. So now I will play it. You should probably take a look as well. If this comes close to replicating the bliss I found in POP: Sands of Time, I will be happy.
Fallout 3. (360, PC, PS3)
I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. I ‘d have played it by now if time had been available and Fable II hadn’t turned up first. Its a huge city full of choices and spoilers. Play this when you can.
AND THEN THERE’S…
Dazed and Confused:
Guitar Hero Aerosmith (everything bar the 3DO)
Yes I bought this and it was fun enough for what it was. Its the last guitar only Guitar Hero game to be released and I don’t mind this band’s catalogue but there’s not enough material to fill a full priced game with no DLC and no compatibility with the new GHWT games.
BROTHERS IN ARMS (360, PC, PS3)
Too late, Too dated and Too Meh. Its not because its a WWII game, its because its just not as much fun as the other WWII games.
FACEBREAKERS
EA’s Boxing game took a dive in the third quarter.
MERCENARIES 2
It has its it champions. A month or two earlier and it could have gained some traction
FRACTURE
Oh dear. A case where the central tenet of the game is destroyed by a Penny Arcade Comic
PS- some games not mentioned for ethical reasons. We don’t write about projects we’re involved with.
Jesus, it seemed like a good idea at the start.
oh wait, you think I forgot Too Human?
TOO HUMAN (360). Oh dear. What’s to be said that hasn’t already been said.
Reviewed on PC (Single Player), Xbox 360 (multiplayer). Also on PS3, PS2, Wii, DS, PSP. Developed by Treyarch. Published by Activision.
So, despite the dire predictions of Call of Duty World at War being a total disappointment compared to Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat, Treyarch have surprised us all and delivered a worthy successor to the most popular CoD game of all time.
CoD WaW follows a US soldier in the Pacific being led by the hand by 24’s Keifer Sutherland interspersed with playing a Russian soldier in the final assault on Berlin. It doesn’t try to out do CoD4’s sniper mission or the Gunship level. It has its own slants to those CoD4 signatures and adds a tank level and flying boat level. The shooting is EXACTLY the same as that in CoD4, which is what everyone who loved CoD4 but wanted more asked for.
Keifer’s gravelly tones tell you to shoot that. You shoot it. He tells you to shoot that, you shoot. “Those Jap bastards,” he says and you aim and open fire. Flames are a big part of this game. You wield a deadly flame thrower in some levels, including one level where it subs for the machine gun on a Russian tank. The flame thrower is a really nice weapon- much more usable than the one in Gears 2. The weapons are typical WWII fare with KAR98, M1 Garand, Thompson SMG, etc but they handle very nicely. There are a few large battles where progress is a little more difficult since Treyarch love their “infinitely re-spawning enemies until you cross a threshold” trick but overall the level designs are solid and fun to play. You may not have been to these locales, but if you’ve played previous CoD4 games, you have played them.
You can play the campaign either by yourself or in coop mode and once you’ve beaten it you get the Zombie mode “Nacht der Untoten,” which is basically a short version of Left 4 Dead. It is awesomely fun and highly recommended to give it a go. Pity there aren’t more levels but I guarantee this will be expanded upon at some stage. I’ve found that I’m unable to get online in the PC version so I’ve been playing a few rounds of this before I boot up CoD4 every night. I love it.
Multiplayer offers the usual modes, Search and Destroy (CS), Capture the Flag and Deathmatch modes. I mainly play Team Deathmatch but it compares quite favorably with CoD 4 and CoD3 multiplayer (CoD3, also by Treyarch did feature excellent Multiplayer modes). If you’ve played CoD4 MP, then you know what to expect. Just substitute Recon plane for UAV, Artillery for Airstrike and Dogs for choppers. That’s right, get to 7 kills without dieing and you can unleash the dogs. So long as you have no problems shooting digital dogs in the head, you’ll have a blast. Think of it as retribution for all the times in Nintendogs when your Alsatian took a crap when you were walking it. One thing that makes me think of CoD3 is the fact you can drive tanks in multiplayer. Overall, highly enjoyable. They even used Keifer to announce “Team Deathmatch” when you play as an American.
Graphics are excellent. I mean, they are jaw droppingly gorgeous on PC and console versions. Even in multiplayer, the 360 version ran at a smooth as butter 60 frames per second. Sound is also excellent though the weapon are a bit weedier sounding than CoD4 (but at least the sounds are different). The Flash cutscenes opening each level are also interesting and different from what you’d expect in a WWII-set game.
Since FPS WWII games set in the Pacific are pretty thin on the ground, the only competition is really the two rather poor EA Medal of Honor games (Pacific Assault and Rising Sun) and this game just wipes away all memories of those travesties. So, no it isn’t better than CoD4. It is close in many respects and doesn’t fail in any one particular area. That said, its an entertaining game in its own right
controller1.com rating 2/3 (or 3/3 if you love Call of Duty games and can’t face any more CoD4 MW) As Keifer says when the Marines win a multiplayer game “Out-fucking-standing!”
Well, I would be telling you how awesome this game is (PC version tested). But I can only tell you how awesome the Single Player is. It is an excellent single player campaign so banish thoughts that Treyarch couldn’t deliver in the wake of the juggernaught that is Inifnity Ward’s CoD4.
Except the multiplayer (which is by all accounts, awesome for those who can play it) is busted. I cannot get as far as making an online profile so I can play. Instead the game continuously cycles between trying to connect and make an online profile and error messages. I patched the game but it made no difference. Googling found it was a common issue in the Beta and others have had problems with retail. I then stopped worrying and tried to continue the SP, but the patching meant I had to restart the level rather than continue where I had gotten up to (This should never happen in a retail release BTW). I even had my machine just shut down twice whilst playing.
So my first PC game that I’ve bought on ages that I wasn’t also planning on buying again for console or play on my iMac (Spore) is likely to be the last. I want to play the Multi so much and this is highly frustrating.
Treyarch. You nearly pulled it off. You almost laid to rest the spectre of Call of Duty 3 (which at least had great MP). Instead I will make a pinata in the shape of your logo. I will dip it in petrol and set it alight before I start beating it with a flaming baseball bat. I will then douse the flames of the Treyarch Logo Pinata by pouring a bucket of Horse Urine on it and then offering the smoking remains to some very large and cynical hogs.
So last night I installed Call of Duty World at War on my new u-beaut epic mofo PC I recently got at work. I played the first couple of single player levels (up to the first Russian section). Jesus it is pretty and well made and well put together. I never hated Treyarch’s Call of Duty 3 like so many others (I thought the SP was OK but the multi was excellent) but I had my doubts about the most recent entry to the franchise being as good as CoD4.
My doubts (in the Single Player) so far have been assuaged. However I cannot give any impressions of the online Multiplayer since a charming bug means I can’t make an online profile. Even the Day 1 patch hasn’t helped. I was hoping I wouldn’t need to get this game twice (on PC and 360, as I had with CoD2 and CoD4) but I want to play the multiplayer sooooo badly. I could go and get the 360 or PS3 version for Multi, but I only want to level up once, not 5 times, like I did with CoD4 (I only got as high as level 50 on 360 and 35 ish on PC).
I am one of the few people on the planet who still loves WWII as a setting for games though only CoD and MoH (with RtCW and BF1942 in the past) being the games I ever played much of. I did however despise EA’s two Pacific Theatre set episodes (Pacific Assault and Rising Sun). They were the epitomy of crap games. So when Treyarch, so characterised as being hacks, pulled this one out of the hat, I can’t help but be impressed. A pity the Quantum of Solace game isn’t getting as good review scores as this one.
The other game I started just as I wrote this were the first few levels of Little Big Planet. So far its a complicated version of Braid but I had a hard time putting it down. I can’t see myself making all that much in the way of levels myself but the child-like joy it evokes is great. Game of the Year? no. But a welcome change of pace in a year of shooters and music games.
Expect us to focus test LBP and CoD WaW in the next few weeks. Hell, you can expect us to Focus Test anything you see with Now Playing a tag on the right side of the screen.
As I write this, I am close to the end of Gears so I won’t speak about it too much other than to say this is really a much better game (for me) than the first. The first wasn’t bad but it felt like a slog to get through the game (even on casual). Gears 2 has none of the crappy bits from the first game that I hated- Krillitane and those blind Brutes who charged you.
There are other diversions such as driving a tank, manning turrets and a reaver chase as well as boss battles that aren’t just shoot 50 mags into a big sonovabitch. But basically this is a third person shooter at its finest. The next Max Payne (and Uncharted 2, while I think of it) have some catching up to do.
Controller1.com contributor Cameron held a little soiree last weekend and we cracked open the plastic toys and rocked out to Guitar Hero World Tour. We loved it and although we plan to focus test it soon enough, we all want to play it a bit more before we do so. As you see from this next podcast, we aren’t the most tuneful trio (well, better than The Police at least) so the eventual World Tour show will be epic in its disaster like qualities.
I’ve been attempting to play drums. I’m a sound guy in real life but drums have always been something that’s alluded me. I was hoping the drums with GHWT would help my rhythm a bit but the drums aren’t sensitive enough to make a decent MIDI controller.
The make your own song thing is rather crappy to use compared to Garage Band or Logic or Cubase, but then I find simplistic sequencers a pain to use. For many people, its great and I applaud this feature. But imagine a PC based program where you could import your own tracks if you have access to them (like you own indidual mulitrack ecordings with separate Bass, Guitar, Vocals and drums.
But then Activision would be out of business.
So I hope to play more GHWT before we focus test it and finish Gears 2 this weekend. Two more games have turned up- Little Big Planet for PS3 and Call of Duty World at War for PC.
I’m primarily a console gamer these days as I don’t have a gaming PC at home anymore but I now have a beast of a work machine that can run PC games at a decent clip so CoD WaW is getting a run on PC. If I end up wanting to play more multi at home, I will pick up a 360/PS3 version as well but for now I think the PC will soothe me. I have the Cod1 and its expansion, CoD2 (my all time favourite multiplayer game) and CoD4 on PC. I also have CoD 2, 3 and 4 on 360 and have also played some of the last-gen only cod titles on Xbox1.
So, yeah. I’m a CoD whore. Whether I become a CoD WaWhore, is another thing entirely.
November is more than pale guys trying to grow handlebar moustaches, its also the month in which publishers decide to release their big games. This November is a corker. Let’s go through the biggies.
Gears of War 2
Gears of War is Xbox 360′s trump card this year. Fable II was great and Banjo looks to be of similar quality, but neither has that holy-fucking-shitness that Gears 2 has. I liked Gears 1 but wasn’t in-love with it the same way I loved Halo 3 and CoD games, but I’m still highly hyped to be playing Gears 2.
Will multi be better than the first game? maybe. Will the single player be better? Looks to be the case. Can we get more hyperbolic? 1000 times yes!
Resistance 2
You can tell who was an early adopter of PS3. They have two easy to spot traits. They are still eating noodles after they knock off from their second job and they say Resistance was the best game ever. I played it as a long as I could. While it was decent enough, it felt like a PS2 game. It played like one.
Resistance 2 is supposed to be the second coming. I will play it, but I’m not going to rush in to play it.
Quantum of Solace
Decent reviews. But not great reviews. This means this game goes in the post Christmas cheapie pile. I would like to play it at some stage, but not today.
Banjo Kazooie
I am a bit of fan of the original game and its sequel so I’m hanging out for this. I don’t really car about the building aspect, I just want a Rare game I can recognise as a game.
Little Big Planet
No next gen platformers for ages and t hen two come along at once. Will be picking this one apart when I get a chance. It was an October game until it good pushed back to November.
Mirror’s Edge
The demo is downloading as I type. Its such a busy season I don’t really know how I’m possibly going to play this before Christmas
Left For Dead
More cool games? Jesus.
Guitar Hero World Tour
Oh for fucks sake, I just got married and you’re trying to get me to leave my wife for
more games so cool my ass has gotten frostbite
Call of Duty World at War
YOU BASTARDS!!!! DAMN YOU, YOU BASTARDS!!!!!!
As you can see, I have some work ahead of me. I suggest you do what I do. Buy them all straight away at full price and watch half of them hit the bargain bins before you get a chance to unwrap them.
Oh, the pain. The pain, the pain.
I still haven’t finished Fable II let alone started on Fallout 3 or Rock Band.
Its probably for the best that December is actually quite bare and there’s really not much scheduled for January worth bothering about at this stage…
Reviewed on Xbox 360. Also on: PS3, PC. Developed by EA. Published by EA
It’s a recent oldie if there’s such a thing. One thing’s for sure, no one does Call of Duty Medal of Honor better than Infinity Ward EA.
So EA’s most recent MoH game is not a bad game for MoH fans. What’s new? You start every level by jumping out of a plane, and indeed every time you die, you jump out of a plane again, though any objective’s you’ve successfully completed are still intact. Of course, most enemies also respawn after you die, but you can land almost anywhere on the map. Indeed, this is encouraged because although there are safe landing zones (green smoke) there are also 5 skill drops in each level (these are more difficult landing points you can aim for as a collectible for those of you who look for such things in this type of game). But really, think of it as a game with branching paths rather than the scripted events of yore because you still have to complete all of the objectives in a level before the more linear ending area is unlocked.
Many people forget MOH started off as a successful PSOne series before 2001′s PC hit Medal of Honor Allied Assault, which was of course excellent and 2002′s PS2 (and later Xbox and GC) MoH Frontline, which was also pretty good. Of course, despite two decent expansions on the PC, Call of Duty hit PC in 2003 and changed everything for Medal of Honor (Most of Infinity Ward’s leads came from 2015, makers of MoH: AA).
Suddenly MoH looked tired (DESPITE CoD BEING THE SAME GAME) by comparison and the two MoH games set in the pacific were universally loathed (Rising Sun was particularly awful). There was one last hurrah on PS2/Xbox called European Assault which tried to get away from scripted, linear levels and make scripted open levels. It was okay, but didn’t feel like MoH (as well as being cuntingly hard) while even the two PS2 / Xbox CoD games (Finest Hour and Big Red One) were quite enjoyable. Now MoH Airborne (which came out in late 2007 for PC and 360 and later on PS3) is trying to recapture the magic.
It does and it doesn’t. It plays like a fine antique since once you get past some of the innovations – it plays like the older games, particularly when it puts you on rails (funnily enough, the more linear areas feel like very good classic MoH). The game is not easy and you will be jumping out of the plane a lot. And in an effort to make the game feel less scripted, the AI is waaaay too good. You often will be surrounded. In one particularly obnoxious example is in the penultimate level when you have to destroy a pimped out battle train and a new Elite group of Nazi troops attacks you and you are swarmed from all sides and FUCK YOU EA!
Graphics are decent if nothing special. It does at least look better than Too Human or Resistance Fall of Man. Sound is pretty good but then MoH games were one of the first games to treat sound as a feature rather than an afterthought. I can’t tell you about MP because it seems more or less dead but considering I basically swapped this for Assassin’s Creed (which i found initially fun but eventually boring), I think I’ve gotten a hefty amount of fun out of this title. If you like FPS games, particularly MoH or older CoD games, give this one a spin. If those games aren’t your bag, baby, then you might want to try something else.
It’s definitely a product of ‘old’ EA, but since the single player of Battlefield Bad Company is very similar, it remains to be seen whether ‘new’ EA can make this series sing again.
C1 rating: 2/3 (if you ever liked MoH or older CoD games)
