Los Havros

I’m always on the lookout for another FPS to play (and that’s not including all I’ve got left to complete in Modern Warfare 2).  And so I’m getting pretty excited about the new Medal of Honor video game.  Details are currently scarce, and there’s just that one image of a bearded badass dude, released a couple of months ago.  I’m intrigued.  I just hope it can live up to the expectations people are going to have for it.  There’ll also be the Modern Warfare comparison.  Explosive stuff.

Going a bit further, I’m interested about the mention of these mysterious so-called ‘Tier One Operators’.  Using these personnel, the new Medal of Honor has the potential to weave a powerful, multi-layered story alongside the mandatory solid gameplay.  Modern Warfare 2 provided this calibre of gameplay in spades, but the main story campaign was somewhat lacking.  Just some thoughts I wanted to jot down.  Share yours!

Tags: 2010, Medal of Honor, Modern Warfare 2

In contrast to a previous post on this subject, ‘Measuring Difficulty in Games‘ I’ve come up with an interesting slant on this topic.  I was having a chat with Rockers Delight and it sparked the ol’ grey matter into action.  I ask: Do you actually challenge yourself enough when it comes to gaming?

If you were to go to the gym and hit the treadmill, you’d set it at a level you’re comfortable with, then every now and then you might kick it up a gear and see how you cope with it.  Same with the weights room when you’re polishing those guns.  Ahem.  The point it, when trying to attain peak physical fitness, you don’t stay within your comfort zone, you try and raise the bar, up your game, and other clichés.

On a game like Modern Warfare 2 for example, I take the standard approach of having a play-through on regular difficulty before trying again on a harder difficulty level.  Rockers Delight prefers heading straight in on veteran or else she wouldn’t enjoy it.  When you’re at the top of your game, why not?  I’ve never started a game right from the beginning and put it straight onto hard, yet there’s always one exception to the rule…

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Tags: difficulty, difficulty setting, inFamous, Modern Warfare 2

I’m finding that 2010 is whizzing along at a brisk pace and for the most part, I’ve just been left in its wake with my mouth wide open.  Not anymore.  I’m currently working my way through finishing off the achievements for existing games such as inFamous, Burnout Paradise and Assassin’s Creed II.  But there’s something missing.  What’s next?

And so, I turned my mind to the upcoming games that are due to hit us this year.  I’ve not picked any favourites, but rather games that are all unique and special in some way.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

My pick

1) MAG (Massive Action Game) [PS3 Only]

To kick off this list, you can’t get more unique than a game that can support up to 256 players at once in online multiplayer.  MAG is available now, but time will tell if this innovative genre has legs.  Warhawk blazed the trail and SOCOM: Confrontation took the combat to the ground, but Zipper Interactive might have truly combined the best of both worlds to create a slice of gaming heaven.  The question on my lips is whether people are going to be bothered enough to ditch the sublime Modern Warfare 2?  I suspect not.

2) Halo: Reach [Xbox 360 Only]

After the damp squib that was Halo 3: ODST, Halo fans are hoping that the swan song for the franchise will go out with a bang.  The Halo series pretty much defined online multiplayer gaming for Xbox Live and has been one of the most successful online franchise of this generation.  Whatever your thoughts are on FPS games or online multiplayer, Halo is, and will remain a big deal for this year.

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Tags: 2010, Alan Wake, DC Universe Online, Halo: Reach, Heavy Rain, MAG, Massive Action Game, top games

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing through inFamous and being the hero.  But all those pleas for help… so many civilian casualties… all crying out for a hero.  To be perfectly honest it got a bit too much at times and I had to get away from it all.  Yet to get maximum-strength superpowers, the game forces you to either be worthy of a halo, or otherwise be downright evil.  There are no shades of grey.

So as I’d already played through the game once as a hero, it didn’t really sit well with me playing through again being evil just for the sake of it, it seemed.  I’d like a sequel for this franchise to be a bit more morally ambiguous.  Give me shades of grey.  Something substantial that I can really sink my teeth into.  Though I won’t deny, the dynamite combination of great controls and gameplay, and the immersive comic book storytelling has probably affected me more than I’ve realised.  Fantastic game.

Tags: exclusive, inFamous, PS3

I have to admit that I’ve had a fairly intense love/hate relationship with the whole Burnout franchise.  When times were good, Burnout was a sumptuous slice of gaming heaven.  When times were bad, Burnout was just another game I couldn’t be bothered playing.  It all started with the original Burnout on the PS2.  If I recall, I thought at the time that it was a steaming pile of… well, rubbish.  Burnout 2: Point of Impact though, changed everything.  In my mind it was perfect: the graphics were the best I’d seen in a racing game since Gran Turismo and the gameplay was spot-on.

I dabbled with Burnout 3: Takedown on the original Xbox and found it to be great fun, but the gaming experience didn’t feel as pure as its predecessor.  After that, I totally skipped the next instalments in the series, Burnout: Revenge and Burnout: Dominator (which was not even developed by Criterion).  You see, Burnout had got rid of the gameplay feature that gave its name; the burnout.  In Burnout 2: Point of impact, you could drain your boost meter without stopping which would cause the meter to refill, meaning that as long as you didn’t crash, you could chain as many boosts together as you wanted.  It melted your eyes.

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Tags: Burnout, Burnout Paradise, Criterion

As 2009 draws to a close, I’m not going to bore you with any retrospectives but what I do want to share with you are a few of my favourite posts from this past year.  It’s been two years since I started this blog as one of my projects, and you know what?  I wouldn’t change a bit of it!

• A rant about the popularity of social networks and new technology (March)
• PlayStation Home: A Series of Articles for April (April!) [series]
• For All New PS3 Owners (June)
• Committing Grand Theft Auto (June)
• Talking heads: Social Gaming- Is the PS3 Disconnected? (August)
• Is 2009 a Vintage Year For Games? (November)

Have a great New Year and a fantastic 2010!

Tags: 2009, choice, pick, posts, selection

How do you measure difficulty levels in games? Can you measure them?  I suppose what I’m really asking is who says what games are classified as being: difficult, tricky, mildly taxing, relatively easy or a cake walk?  I hope by now you’ve figured out that it’s really each and every single one of us.  It’s totally subjective.

Some will have you believe that game difficulty is measured solely on consensus of opinion by the hardcore gamers.  A good example is Modern Warfare 2.  Consensus of opinion says that it is easier than it’s predecessor.  I’ve found it quite challenging on normal settings thank you very much!  I’ve often found myself holed down in a relatively safe spot before hearing a loud THWACK and either seeing another inspiring quote or reading the sage words of advice such as ‘vehicles on fire may explode’ and  ’it might be an idea to stay way from grenades going off’ from what I call the game’s hindsight detector.

Ok, so I ad-libbed those pieces of advice.  But what I’m trying to get at is that sometimes before I knew it, I had died more times than Bill Murray in the space of a minute!  The Gulag level springs to mind, for instance.  This may sound like I’m complaining, but I’m not.  In this case, the controls are spot-on, gameplay is realistic, and the challenge is set at such a level that the appetite to try just one more time never diminishes.  I’m looking forward to another run through of the game on hardened and veteran.

I can say that Modern Warfare 2 has been the most challenging game I’ve come across for quite some time.  Looking at other games I can say that yes, Uncharted 2 is easier than the first game, Burnout Paradise really is easy, Arkham Asylum’s main story is easy enough but the challenge rooms are tough and Assassin’s Creed II is easy.  But those are just my words which may seem empty if your experiences have differed.  I’m only speaking for myself here.  The bit I love about this topic though, is that everyone’s opinion is valid.

Does anyone want to share some of their experiences with different games?  The only people I don’t want to hear from are unemployed teenagers who do a 9 till 6 shift gaming.  I just can’t compete with that.  ;)

Tags: difficulty, difficulty setting, Modern Warfare 2, subjective