My Boredom Jotter

I jot stuff in it when I'm bored. *nods frantically*

• 30Sep 07

  The Finished Fight (Spoiler Free)

  If you read my last blog (at least two of you did ), then you'll know that I caved into the Halo 3 hype, the fake documentaries of soldiers reminiscing about the Master Chief being there inspiration, and the war memorial video. I admit, I wasn't going to get the game, but the hype got to me.

  I'm very glad I did. I completed the solocampaign on Heroic (although for some reason I didn't get the acheivments for2 chapters for some reason ), and I must say that, I thought, it equalled, or maybe even superceeded the quality of the first Halo. The campaign is absolutely divine.

  The story and the cinematics are its strongest point by far; whilst relatively simple, it will really pull on the heart strings of any self respecting Halo:CE lover at several moments.
  
  The cut-scenes are magnificently "shot",some fantastic images, genuinely epic images could be snap-shotted out of the several cut scenes throughout the plot. The voice acting and script is also fantastic, there are some really heart wrenching scenes. The dialogue really strings together well, and there are plenty of quote-worthy lines coming from it.

  Aside from the actual story aspect, the gameplay in the campaign is just as brilliant as the story. There are certainly more than a handful of brilliant set pieces in the 12 hour (played on Heroic), 9 chapter campaign, and it genuinely exceeded my expectations in every possible way.

  I said it above, I'll say it again: This game decimates the disappointment of Halo 2,and truly does live up to the timeless legacy that is the Halo series.

  Thank you, Bungie, for not letting me down!

  • Posted Sep 30, 2007 5:23 am GMT
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• 22Sep 07

  Believe (the hype)?

  Halo 3. It will probably become the biggest selling game on the 360. Halo: CE, was one of the main reasons for the original Xbox's success, the series has spawned spin offs, all the usual, and soon, a new (probably series) of games: Halo Wars. It's everywhere, even if you're not interested in games, you'll almost definitely know there's something coming out to do with a man in a green armoured costume with an orange visor...Because the Master Chief is everywhere.

  Where I stand (or rather, stood), was here:

  Halo: CE, is still my favourite FPS ever. I don't know if it will ever be surpassed, but even if it's not, it will always have a special place in my heart. It was a fantastic game, with a brilliant story and campaign, and the coop and multiplayer elements were undeniably good. The storyline finished, and there was undoubtably going to be a second.

  The hype started for Halo 2. Bungie and Microsoft brought it on hard and fast. FLashy trailers, the MC jumping off spaceships...the Covenant have found earth we learn, the big defensive is on, time to defend the human race...Flashy graphics, bring the family, the whole kids, yipee.
  Alas, there was no big defence. The campaign mode that I had been so frivilously anticipating fell drastically short of my expectations. The storyline and missions revolved not around defending Earth, but unearthing some (albeit interesting) Covenant political upheaval, going to another ring world (it did send a bit of a shiver when the Gregorian monk chant came on at the site of the new ring world) and doing all sorts of stuff...Furthermore...You didn't even fill MC's boots for the whole game, but were dragged out of them to play as some Elite that you didn't relate to or care about, all you really wanted to be doing was killing the big bad covenant and stopping them from destroying precious Earth.

  So Halo 2 ends, Cortana's eloping with some Flood intelligence, the Elites are seperated from the rest of the Covenant, and the Brutes are now the baddies.

  "Spartan 117 reporting for duty...[I'm here] to finish the fight."

  Alas, we didn't get the chance to finish the fight. I felt cheated, dismayed, and irritated by the poor, unproductive and quite plain plot of Halo 2; many people were...Then came the first trailer for Halo 3, sub-titled:

  FINISH THE FIGHT

  Naturally. I was done with Halo though. I might pick up Halo 3 eventually, I'd just read about what happened. The Halo 3 beta which I got with Crackdown was also extremely uncompelling, felt like Halo 2 with some extra icing.
  Then the hype. The genius, genius hype.

  "Believe" would seem to be the main word they're using. I was walking around Edinburgh and saw a double-decker bus park right beside me on my way to the station with a massive poster of the MC, looking epic, and the almost cheesy, but for some reason desperately passable "A Hero Never Dies" tagline beside him. "Believe".

  From the station I came home. Came on the internet, and watched the John 117 monument video, then the war veteran one. Both of them cheesy, but both of them, for the sole reason that the MC is at the core of them, pulled on my heart strings. I now started thinking "How can I just let the MC pass me by and read about what happens? I have to see the MC to victory..." and so it began.

  Here I am now, planning on going into town to see if any shops here have broken the embargo, and if not, I'll click the "Checkout" button on Play.com, be £40 poorer, and for what? A game that I don't actually expect to fully satisfy me? Yes.

  This is, without doubt, the epitome of how powerful the Microsoft-Bungie hype machine is. I was consciously opposed to the hype of Halo 3, knowing what the same hype had done for Halo 2...But I can't leave the MC out to dry, I have to play Halo 3, complete the campaign, because the MC that "gave the soldiers hope", the MC that is the "Hero that never dies", is just too much of a cheesy, but compelling history not to be a part of.

  It's actually quite depressing that I can't resist the temptation...but maybe I wont regret it...Although I probably will.

  I don't believe your hype Microsoft...I don't believe your hype Bungie...But I believe that the MC is a legend as far as computer game characters go, and if only for him, the MC that I took through Assault on the Control Room so many times, that I dragged through the Library on Legendary, that I drove to safety through the crumbling Pillar of Autumn...With that same MC, I just have to finish the fight.

  Looks like I've been fooled by hype I don't "believe". Dammit.

  • Posted Sep 22, 2007 1:09 pm GMT
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• 28Mar 07

  Outrageous

  A lot of you might have seen now, through Gamespot news, the new Xbox 360 Elite that has been released. I'd like to take up just a small amount of this blog to describe why, in my eyes, this is out of line, and totally outrageous.

   1. I payed £270 for the Premium Xbox 360 pack the day it came out. That's loyalty and trust in a company who hadn't let me down before. I thought I'd be getting the best from the 360 with the money I spent, and when I spent it. Apparently not. Not that it bothers me, but no HDMI port, and (this does bother me) my console is cream white, not an awesome jet black.

  2. With my Premium 360 pack came a 20Gb Hard Drive. I got it for a reduced price bundled, rather than bying it seperately (since I shelled out more for the premium pack). This memory has rapidly been wiped by music and demos and themes and trailers etc. and a 120Gb hard drive is perfect...Only now to get one, I have to spend more than people who have backed off buying the 360 for ages, and are now going to buy the "Elite".

  Basically, I have to spend way more money to get my 120Gb HD, and WAY more money overall to get a black 360...Microsoft, you've really stabbed us all in the back. In some petty attempt to out-muscle the PS3, you've double-crossed loyal customers. Shame on you.

  • Posted Mar 28, 2007 11:17 am GMT
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