I've been a fan of The Call of duty series ever since the first game didn't start with a Normandy landing. Yes it was an epic event. yes its an important part of history but no it doesn't have to be the opening level of every WW2 game. And CoD repeatedly proved this point. with each incarnation of the game giving you a heart stopping ride. None more so then in the 4th rendition.
One of the things that raises this game above the rest, is that you are not a super soldier and most of the fighting can be done by the rest of the team. There are the few sections where you are needed to plant a device use a specific weapon or interact with the environment some how to advance the mission. But other then these sections its perfectly possible to just hide in a corner till all the fighting stops. And that's a real shame when you realize you are apparently the only person with the expertise to press a button or use a sniper rifle. Though I guess its made up by the fact you don't seem to be a high enough rank to open doors yourself
“What the hell kinda name is Soap eh?”
Its your name that's what! You play as one 'Soap' McTavish a new recruit into the British SAS about to go threw his first mission. With you are are Captain Price And Private Gaz, and an assortment of faceless soldiers with random names. I only mention them because of the impact they give to each mission, each being there own character and in the end you start caring for these characters. Especially Captain Price who Saves you more then a few times in the game, even pulling your hanging ass into a flying helicopter when you fail to jump into it. And when something happens to them you'll find yourself actually giving a damn.
This also leads to you actually caring for your own character, feeling a little more connected to him. Which is something FPS's have always had a problem with. Seeing the hull of a ship your in blow open or the cat walk your walking on collapse actually make you worry for your own safety and in latter missions your at risk of getting run over by a tank but have to stay unseen. Your left not just annoyed that you'll have to restart at an earlier point but more worried about being spotted in the first place.
Enough of this tree hugging hippie C!!P
OK OK enough about feelings and the psychology of gaming lets talk violence. You are one man with two guns a knife two different types of grenade and up to four context sensitive pieces of equipment. Sounds good huh? Yes well it does on paper. Well it is...kinda...well. There is a great veriety of guns and they do all act and feel different to use but the fact there is such verity sometimes seems pointless. The gun you get given at the start is fine for most of the mission, though more often then not I dropped the secondary weapon in exchange for a shotgun(I don't care if its quicker to draw my pistol a shotgun works better). The grenades are more often then not appropriate and fun to use with the equipment options adding some real tactics to your actions.
Surely It cant all big good?
It isn't. And don't call me Sheerly (sorry). The knife has been used to replace the bog standard melee attack with a sadisticly satisfy stabbing attack. But it feels over powered, I charged into the room and dispatched five guys with the knife quicker then I could have with a gun and with only taking minimal damage. The problem is its just to fast if your going to have an attack that kills in one more it should not be faster the the pistol you carry as well.
Secondly the addition of exploding vehicles has made finding safe cover more challenging. Fine I'm OK with that. But when I'm killed for the fifth time by a suddenly exploding vehicle and then told “move away from burning vehicles when you see this symbol.” I cant help but shout Back “Then show me that Frog King symbol!” The same occasionally applies to grenades but for some reason the game finds it easier to tell you theres a fist sized explosive near you, then it does for a car. And the fact I can try and return grenades smoother and with a lot more satisfaction then the previous games makes up for said grenade blowing up in my hand every so often.
To round off This game is flawed in many places but its so minimal and made up for by some fantastic sections that you hardly notice them. There are some balance but the action, graphics and general charm of the whole thing is to die for. So my first 5/5 goes to Call of duty. And if I get killed by another bloody dog I swear I'm going postal on all K9's.
P.S.: I have only mention a small fraction of some of the features and events in the game and even then most of them are the small early ones. This is because these sections are more of a joy to experience without prior knowledge of them.
Haraphen Signing out.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Halo 3: Finish the fight.
When Halo 3 was announce i like everyone else pictured a cross breed between the Rambo fest of Halo 1 and the women's shoe's weapon collection of Halo 2, with its overly sized levels ad complicated story. The best case scenario i could imagine was a child with two arms, two legs, an assault rifle in hand and A.D.D. What i got was finally a well balanced weapon selection, a compelling story and 343 Guilty spark (well it couldn't all be perfect).
Take the fight home for a little longer this time
I was a fan of this concept when it was announced for the second game but i was also disappointing when they didn't really deliver it. Halo 2 left you with one level of earth of which was an enclosed city that gave you no real idea of what earth was like, which is truly a disappointment when you've been looking for to it since the end of the first game. So when in this installment it was made clear id be leaving earth again i moaned and complained. but then it dawned on how good those bits on earth were. the expansive, wide, cavernous levels and the small, tight, jungle levels all gave the sense of earth not only being big but alive, and that made the fighting more worth while.
Combat evolved-weapons Devolved
Speaking of fighting. The weapons are worse. But this is a good thing, where in the last game a couple of needlers and a rocket launcher could solve any problem thrown at you this game has put some serious limitations on the weapons. The rocket launcher cant lock on and the needler can no longer be duel wielded to name but a few. I got a larger sense of challenge knowing that some of the weapons i had would be useless in a situation and it makes you feel like the super soldier you are when you run into a situation and fluently pick up, discard and use weapons on the fly. And that is what this game does well, it plays on the go. The sections where your stuck pressing buttons to form bridges and yadda yadda yadda are few and far between. But when they do happen your usually compensated with the Joy of taking down a scarab from the feet up. Which anyone who played the second game will know was tedious and hard to do from the top down.
Get by with a little help from my friends
Now onto one of the most anticipated parts of Halo 3 the multi player. Which surpasses it meager lowly older brothers. With the introduction of the map editing game Forge and the ability to play 4 player cooperative online. Which is a god send to anyone planning on playing above the normal difficulty level, who isn't directly plugged into the game ala matrix, or Chuck Norris. The whole cooperative experience does flow fantastically. Pairing up the right power ups and weapons to be more effective is a fun bit of trial and error and can end in some great technical uses of grav-lifts and grenades.
To sum up. this is a good game, a game any self respecting first person shooter fan will buy. But its nothing truly new. it is the logical step from Halo 1 & 2 but that doesn't make it a bad game it makes it a good solid game but with very few surprises or new features. That wont stop me playing it for months in the future with the live multi player extending it another half a year. Its a 4/5 from me. and without trying to give too much away, here's some advice to new Halo 3 owners. Watch the dead they don't like staying down.
Haraphen signing off
MasterChippy signing on
Take the fight home for a little longer this time
I was a fan of this concept when it was announced for the second game but i was also disappointing when they didn't really deliver it. Halo 2 left you with one level of earth of which was an enclosed city that gave you no real idea of what earth was like, which is truly a disappointment when you've been looking for to it since the end of the first game. So when in this installment it was made clear id be leaving earth again i moaned and complained. but then it dawned on how good those bits on earth were. the expansive, wide, cavernous levels and the small, tight, jungle levels all gave the sense of earth not only being big but alive, and that made the fighting more worth while.
Combat evolved-weapons Devolved
Speaking of fighting. The weapons are worse. But this is a good thing, where in the last game a couple of needlers and a rocket launcher could solve any problem thrown at you this game has put some serious limitations on the weapons. The rocket launcher cant lock on and the needler can no longer be duel wielded to name but a few. I got a larger sense of challenge knowing that some of the weapons i had would be useless in a situation and it makes you feel like the super soldier you are when you run into a situation and fluently pick up, discard and use weapons on the fly. And that is what this game does well, it plays on the go. The sections where your stuck pressing buttons to form bridges and yadda yadda yadda are few and far between. But when they do happen your usually compensated with the Joy of taking down a scarab from the feet up. Which anyone who played the second game will know was tedious and hard to do from the top down.
Get by with a little help from my friends
Now onto one of the most anticipated parts of Halo 3 the multi player. Which surpasses it meager lowly older brothers. With the introduction of the map editing game Forge and the ability to play 4 player cooperative online. Which is a god send to anyone planning on playing above the normal difficulty level, who isn't directly plugged into the game ala matrix, or Chuck Norris. The whole cooperative experience does flow fantastically. Pairing up the right power ups and weapons to be more effective is a fun bit of trial and error and can end in some great technical uses of grav-lifts and grenades.
To sum up. this is a good game, a game any self respecting first person shooter fan will buy. But its nothing truly new. it is the logical step from Halo 1 & 2 but that doesn't make it a bad game it makes it a good solid game but with very few surprises or new features. That wont stop me playing it for months in the future with the live multi player extending it another half a year. Its a 4/5 from me. and without trying to give too much away, here's some advice to new Halo 3 owners. Watch the dead they don't like staying down.
Haraphen signing off
MasterChippy signing on
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