• 7Apr 09

  Collection Achievement, why must you torment me?

  Normally, I wouldn't give a flying fart in space about collection sidequests, the are dull, repetitive, and usually never serve much of a purpose, other than some nifty perk when you find all 100 whatever-it-is you are looking for. Where's the fun in running around willy-nilly trying to find a bunch of items you can't use? But, I have to hand it to Bethesda, you got me guys. And damn you for it.

  As I happened to be perusing the new achievements for the Fallout 3 DLC, The Pitt, I noticed the new collection achievement for collecting 100 steel ingots (yes, collection quests are always for the mundane, and this is my case in point). Now when it comes to RPGs, I'm an achievement whore. There's nothing more satisfying than hearing that little beep and seeing a little points window open up on my screen, but dammit, at least make it for something useful! This collection gig seemed like an awful lot of filler material to me, and, since it's there, I have to get it.

  Now, as for this collection quest, I was pleasantly suprised. It was quite fun, seeing as how I was not ableto use any of my gear that I'd gathered in the Capital Wasteland, thereby making it somewhat of a challenge. Fallout 3 has never been a difficult game, but it certainly upped the ante with this little task. It was fun enough to change my mind about the whole collection quest thing... for a bit.

  You see, if there's anything I hate more in a game than being forced to do something mundane, it's not being able to finish a quest when I know how to. After about an hour or two of searching, I had found 94, count 'em, 94 of these little bastards, and after snooping around online, discovered that the 6 remaining ingots were in a locked door, you know the kind with no key. Normally, with any other character of mine, it would be a breeze to pick the door right open, since it only required a lockpicking skill of 50. But no, I had to start the DLC with my evil, bruiser guy, the one with a lockpicking skill of 17. I'm not using my other character either, the one that has the lockpicking skill maxed out, since I'm waiting for the next round of DLC to be able to use the experience to jump up to the new level 30 cap rather than cruise through The Pitt and not get the experience points.

  Just when I learned to let go, learned to open my heart to you, Collection Achievement, you tear my heart out. Now I want to bash my head with a steel ingot.

  Tanks fer nuttin.

  • Posted Apr 7, 2009 9:29 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 3Mar 09

  Halo Wars - Forget reviews, play it for the sheer fun

  Like many of you out there, I looked forward to the release of Halo Wars for a looong time, I thoroughly enjoyed the demo, and was very disappointed with the dismal score it received from Gamespot. It's not a dismal score in the numerical sense, but coming from such a lauded franchise, and with an incredibly talented design team behind it, I couldn't believe Gamespot's review. The demo I had played until then was engrossing, and I played through it many times, and couldn't find any major flaws. I think Halo Wars ended up being the victim of too much scrutiny, and RTS purists expected the wrong thing.

  Halo Wars is an RTS in every sense of the genre. You build bases, collect resources, deploy units, research upgrades, and do the paper-rock-scissors battle plan. Functionally, it's exactly what every good RTS has always been, but the simple fact is, some people just get frustrated and can't deal without a mouse and keyboard. These people don't understand the whole premise of a console RTS, and by comparing it to a PC game, they are short selling themselves. It's like comparing riding a motorcycle to driving a car; you use them for the same thing, but the fundamental controls are different. It's impossible to stack them against one another since they are two different methods of control.

  I can honestly say today I had the most fun I've ever had playing on Xbox Live. I only had to pick open two houses today, so I was done with my workday by about 10:30 am (being stopped by Las VegasMetro for a burnt out taillight notwithstanding), and promptly went to pick up my copy of Halo Wars. I goofed around a couple skirmish maps with both playable races, and was amazed at the depth of each tech tree. After reading the Gamespot review, I expected a very stripped and basic experience, but it was neither. Each race has a huge complement of units: lots of ground troops (which thankfully come in groups of 2-5), Scorpions, Warthogs, and a few other new ground units that stack up against vehicles and air units strongly, as well as many different air units, and that's just the humans! I'm leaving out a lot, too. The Covenant have their own answer to each of the human units, and when played correctly, can decimate headstrong human units. Of course, the bases and their operation are fundamentally the same, but their strengths and defenses are very different.

  My friend James and I booted up, and immediately jumped into the co-op campaign. The core of my experience with Halo was co-op, and back in Halo CE, I never had the means to stage huge system link matches, so my friend and I used to play co-op endlessly. The sense of cameraderie was more rewarding than killing each other anyway. I've loved co-op ever since. Anyway, We played through the demo missions, then got into the meat of the game. Sharing resources and units while building a base works much better than having two separate factions playing together, mostly because sharing everything you have as well as a common objective forces you to work together and plan ahead. One person can't just squander all the resources on frivolous units or upgrades, and prioritizing is key to survival. We learned that lesson the hard way on the fourth mission, when faced with an evacuation of a planet under siege. First we had to try to escort as many citizens as we could to the transports, then we were faced with the defense of them. We were given two places where bases could be constructed, and had to focus all our efforts on defending as many civilians as we could, while protecting two different evacuation sites for 20 minutes, and our bases (we quickly figured out we needed to utilize both bases to keep the Covenant from producing more units, and to get more resources). We decided to start the game on heroic, and it provided a stiff challenge; we failed twice, once right away when we failed to protect a transport, and again with one minute to go. Talk about wanting to throw a controller.

  After figuring that one out, we eventually came across another mission that will forever be remembered as the tensest mission of my life. I believe it was mission 7, andit lasted for two hours, we went from powerhouse to pincushion many times throughout the fight. About one and a half hours into the mission, we came so close to the brink of defeat we nearly gave up, but eventually fought back to gain our ground. Never before have I played a game with such drive and motivation, and never have I had to learn so many hard strategic lessons and use them with another person. It forced us to figure out what we could micromanage amongst us, and plan every step of our assaults accordingly. You'll never, ever find that kind of teamwork in a shooter, even Halo Wars' cousin, Halo 3. Most matches in multiplayer games are usually no longer than 10 minutes, and can be considerably shorter. This mission went for two whole hours, and not once did I get bored or feel like I was repeating myself. James and I swapped roles as the battle saw fit, from managing the base, to defending territory, to staging attacks on objectives, to building custom-tailored assault armies. Our eventual victory sealed what has to be the best multiplayer experience I've had in a long time.

  I guess my point, if I had to make one, is that the merits Halo Wars may have been judged on might not be the right ones. When you have so much fun you are almost falling off the couch, and you jump around fist-pumping when you win, you know you aren't playing a game that rates as a 6.5. It recalls a time back when you could play Super Mario Bros. 3 for the sheer pleasure, not because of how it stacks up against its peers. We are forgetting that we need to play for the reason games are games - because they are fun.

  • Posted Mar 3, 2009 10:17 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 24Feb 09

  Snake vs. Octomom?

  Is it just me, or does Nadya Suleman's (mother of the recent set of octuplets) nickname "Octomom" seem like something straight out of Metal Gear?

  I'm picturing her in some cool looking armor, and maybe 8, highly advanced dwarf gekko (the little black ones with hands), ambush you from all over the place, and if you destroy one, she craps out another.

  

  Snake- "Otacon, nothing I do seems to phase her! She just keeps releasing more of them!"

  Otacon- "Snake, you need to load the Mk 22 with birth control rounds and use that! Once you've destroyed her baby-making abilities, you'll need to call Campbell and have him disable her unemployment account! It's the only way!"

  Snake- "...."

  • Posted Feb 24, 2009 9:41 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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