24th Entry - Halo 3: ODST

Well well well. The much anticipated ODST has arrived. Read on my friends, about one of this fall's most definitive releases.



Does Bungie's newest masterpiece really need an introduction? You play a rookie ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, for those of you living under rocks) and aside from Spartan 117 himself, these guys are the biggest bad-asses this side of the galaxy.

Naturally however, due to the fact that you are no longer a walking, you know, TANK, there are a few changes. The ODSTs do not have a Spartan's speed or jumping ability, nor their super-strength. Your melee attack power is greatly decreased, and is far less useful than when playing as a Spartan. ODSTs also obviously do not have the energy shield of a Spartan. Instead, when you get shot, your screen will gradually grow more red as your character's breathing becomes more labored, and eventually if you keep taking fire your health bar will begin to deplete. This resulted in the return of health packs in ODST, however they are seamlessly integrated and rarely force you to wander searching for a health station.

Additionally, the ODST lacks a radar system, having instead a virtual map of the city of New Mombasa, in addition to the VISR system, which identifies enemies, friendlies, weapons and static objects in different colors. In some ways this is far better than being a Spartan, although the tradeoffs are noticeable.

ODSTs also have some trooper-only weapons at their disposal, like the silenced Automag and the silenced SMG. The Automag is amazing for taking down unshielded targets in rapid succession, but is utterly useless against Brutes and to a lesser extent, Hunters. Despite this, the Automag is an extremely utilitarian weapon and will be a staple. The silenced SMG is reasonably good, better than the Halo 3 SMG only in that it has a scope and can be used at greater range. However, with the absence of the battle rifle entirely, it is a shitty fill-in, as it too is rather useless against shielded targets.

I know it may seem as though the game's best features have been removed (No shield? No super-beatdowns? NO BR?!) but give ODST the chance it deserves. It is an excellent game through and through, no ifs, ands, or buts.



The campaign is short. Very freakin' short. Poke and I played it through on Heroic first time through and beat the game in one night. However, our intense compulsion to beat every Halo game on Legendary will no doubt extend the gameplay. Despite being short, the campaign is extremely fun, with an great combination of stealth, vehicle rape, and general bad-assery to satisfy every Halo fan, myself among them. (Quick example: If you ever play Halo 3's multiplayer, you may have noticed that attached to the C.Q.B. armor's chestpiece is a combat knife. Right, well the ODSTs have a combat knife as well, however unused it may be. In a certain cutscene, we see an ODST stab a Brute Chieftain IN THE NECK with his combat knife. Awesome.)

Without giving too much of the story away, the main campaign consists of you (the rookie) searching for your squadmates who got separated from you during your drop into New Mombasa. As you wander the dark, Brute-infested streets, aided by the city's AI "The Superintendent", you will discover clues that will help you understand what became of your ODST squad.

The graphics are somehow improved from Halo 3, especially on the 2nd campaign level, where I simply had to sit back and say, "That's real purdy." The cinematic sequences, in traditional Bungie style, are near-perfect. The music, as well, is excellent, featuring just the right mix of moody overtones with heart-thumping battle anthems.

Not much else to say about campaign, so moving on to the new mode of Firefight. Firefight lets you and up to 3 friends throw yourselves against insurmountable odds. The mode starts you in a defensible position with a few weapons and some ammo, and 6 lives to share among your squad. The game is played in sets, with 3 rounds per set, and 5 waves per round. The mode starts off simple but rapidly becomes difficult as more and more skulls (which create new rules that increase game difficulty, i.e. the Catch skull, which makes enemies chuck a ridiculous amount of grenades) are added. The sheer number of levels not to mention the random enemy spawns make for a interesting alternative to co-op, ahem, single player.

Despite ODST's undeniable awesomeness, there are several things that bother me about the game. For one, when using the shotgun or the sniper rifle, significantly less damage is done than when Master Chief wields the same weapon. A headshot with the sniper rifle on Easy in ODST does not even break a Brute's shield, whereas on Heroic in Halo 3 it will kill him. Same goes for the shotgun. Often in ODST it will not break a Brute's shield, where, again, in Halo 3 it would kill the Brute, or at least break his shield. I understand that ODSTs are no Spartans, but come on. Why do they do less weapon damage? That doesn't even make sense.

The following paragraph is mainly my personal bitching about the game, though none of it truly negatively affects gameplay. For hardcore Halo 3 players, the arc in which the ODSTs throw a grenade is much different than in Halo 3, and may bother you for quite a while, especially if you switch between games frequently. And may I add, shielded drones? Really? Really Bungie? I mean it's bad enough drones were in the game at all, I was like FFFFUUUUUU but then I saw shielded ones and i was yet again like FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU- And even worse, beat a level on Legendary with no grenades or weapons used!? AAAAARGH

It has been said that ODST is a "expansion pack" not worthy of its $60 price tag. These peopel have clearly not played the game yet. ODST is a refreshing and fun Halo experience, and may interest those of you addicted to Call of Duty, refusing to play Halo based on principle. At any rate, I highly recommend ODST. 9/10

23rd Entry - WET

Gamers have quite the month or so ahead of them, with Need for Speed Shift, Halo ODST, Forza 3, and COD Modern Warfare 2 all on the way, but perhaps you've found time to notice something like WET. Thought little more than a blip on most people's radar, WET is worth a look into.




WET is a over-the-top 3rd person shooter in the vein of Kill Bill. You play Rubi, a hired assassin out for revenge after being framed.

Being a fan of Tarantino movies like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction ("SAY WHAT AGAIN"), WET instantly caught my eye because it had a similar look and feel. Another thing that brought WET to my attention was that it was published by Bethesda, the makers of Oblivion and Fallout 3. Instantly I wanted this game since Bethesda has so far only cranked out awesome games. Despite WET being a fun game, it is my final evaluation that Bethesda should stick to RPGs.

Anyway, right from the outset WET is in your face with wall-running, dual targeting, backflipping action. In the beginning, Rubi only has her dual pistols and her sword to fight off the bad guys, but soon you get the dual shotguns, which are excellent for taking down bosses or groups of weaker enemies. Then you will get the dual SMGs, which are perfect for annihilating pretty much anything, although they blow through ammunition like no other. Finally near the end of the game you'll receive the dual dart crossbows, which fire explosive tipped darts, perfect for blowing anything and everything away quickly and efficiently. While this may seem like not much variety, it will be more than enough to keep you entertained.

The gameplay for the most part is fun and addictive; despite seeming repetitive, jumping around like a crazy person and going into slow-mo 90% of the time just never got old. Just as I got annoyed with any part of the game, I would jump from a story up, go into slow-mo, and drop 3 guys before I even hit the floor, or something equally ridiculous.

On each level however, there are sometime jumping puzzles a la Tomb Raider. While WET excels at its over the top shooter aspect, the jumping puzzles are just horrific. Crappy camera angles, goofy and awkward controls....ARGH. Just BLARGH. Be prepared, and just be patient. You will mis-jump. You will die. Often. And you will become frustrated. However, just remain focused on the wall-running goodness that awaits you in the next room, and no controllers need be chucked at windows or roommates.

To mix it up, there are several car chase scenes, which consist of Rubi "car surfing" while blasting enemies and jumping from car to car and pursuing her opponents.

Every once in a while, there will be a "rage mode" level, where Rubi goes into a psychotic fury, changing the graphics to a bright noir red, black, and white. Not only is Rubi faster during these sequences, but she hits harder too. The rage mode levels provide for the most memorable and crazy parts of the game, and are always a blast.

This all aside, there is one level which can only be described as complete dick. The level in which you are free falling from a destroying airplane and attempting to avoid the falling debris is by far one of the most annoying and frustrating game sequences since the dump truck scene in Kane + Lynch (trust me, it was beyond awful). It took me several tries to get this scene right, so just be wary. I wish i could offer some tips for it but i can't even really; just try to memorize the pattern of the debris.

The game itself is fun but short, and not especially bad, but it's certainly not outstanding. However, even after you finish the game, what will stick with you is the game's soundtrack. The music is AWESOME. The timing, selection, and style of music is flawless, and is to be commended. If only all games took their music as seriously as WET did. Seriously, if anyone knows where to get the soundtrack of this game, let me know, because I'd really like to get my hands on it.

There we go. That's about all there is to say about WET. Rent it, or wait for the price to go down and buy it, but it's a fun game, and anyone who likes a good ol' over-the-top shooter will have fun with WET. Hell, if you're looking for a fun casual game to beat, this could be it. At any rate, while it's fun, it's not exceptional, and WET earns a 7/10.

HALO FANBOYS UNITE, ODST IN 2 DAYS!

4th Mini Entry - FEAR 2: Reborn Campaign

FEAR 2 was, despite what people may have said, a highly enjoyable game that I recommend. Therefore when I heard about FEAR 2 Reborn, a new 4-level campaign for FEAR 2, I got super excited.



Reborn is an excellent DLC for the most part, the first few levels being an action packed set of battles with the Replica and ATC forces. Aside from the end where the DLC's quality and ability to make sense begins to end, it's a excellent purchase.

In Reborn, you play as a Replica soldier Foxtrot 813. The beginning of the DLC is action packed, as you hot-drop from orbit in an armored walker directly into tons of ATC forces. As you tear them to shreds, you descend closer to the center of the Armacham explosion, and Alma appears more frequently as her powers increase. Essentially, Reborn has the same feel as the original campaign but with more of an emphasis on kicking ass.

Reborn isn't perfect, but if you liked FEAR 2 you'll love Reborn.

7/10

22nd Entry - Prototype

Yeah, yeah. I know this is kinda old. But honestly, nothing new has come out recently that I have wanted to play. Fortunately, ODST on the 22nd will fix that.

Anyway, Prototype.


Prototype - Xbox 360

You're Alex Mercer, an amnesia-struck shapeshifter out for vengeance. Awesome. When i saw the trailer for the first time i could scarcely contain myself. Unfortunately, the one thing Prototype has taught is to never get too excited for sandbox games. Despite the multiple attemts to change up gameplay, it always ends up repetitive. Don't get me wrong, Prototype is very very good, it's just that what should be a refreshing and neat concept wears itself out rapidly.

Anyway, the story missions themselves are generally entertaining, aside from the one or two that are crappy escort missions. As much as I though I'd hate the brooding character of Alex Mercer, I actually was suprised to find i didn't. Quite the contrary, I found his attitude fit the game perfectly.

The controls themselves are simple enough, although in the midst of having tank rounds fired at you, the button mashing can be annoying. There are several powers you can shift between, from Whipfist, Blade, Musclemass, Claws, and Hammerfist, to the defensive Armor and Shield powers, to the useless Thermal Vision and Infected Vision powers.

Whipfist is the most useful by far, allowing you to annihilate groups of weak enemies in one or two button presses. It also lets you grapple onto helicopters from range, putting it in the #1 most awesome power spot.

Blade is what it sounds like, a giant blade erupting from Alex's arm. It kills everything dead. Including tanks. Pretty much all there is to it.

Musclemass is, as far as I can tell, useless, because why chuck cars ridiculous distances to kill helicopters when you can just steal them instead? A dumb power.

Claws are your first power, and slice through enemies quickly, but won't kill armored targets. Useful until Blade and Whipfist. Afterwards, totally useless.

Hammerfist is hilarious to use but in the end kind of just goofy and awkward. The only time I ever used it was to kill tanks by doing a people's elbow from 30 stories up onto them. Like I said, goofy.

Armor is awesome, it makes you near indestructible and extremely heavy, limiting your mobility. But when everything around you is crying from the death and destruction you bring, that doesn't matter one bit.

Shield is ok, Armor is better. Simple.

Both Vision powers are just a waste of upgrade points.

Now, I'm sure as you work your way through the game, you'll develop your own favorite powers too, but rest assured, some powers are simply bad.

After beating the main story (which actually has a well thought out and intriguing storyline) you'll do some of the events around the city. Eventually you will do the Consume events, which are fun. The Virus events are hilariously easy, and the Military consumer events are as well, until you hit the set of 7 "hard difficulty" ones. These are frustrating, unfun, and very unrewarding. Approach with caution. As for the rest of the events, War events are generally pretty fun, Kill events are easy save for a few, Glide events are stupendously simple and even kind of fun, and the foot race events made me want to burn my copy of Prototype slowly over coals.

Sandbox games aren't really my thing, but if you're looking for something to do for a few days, Prototype will happily fill the spot. Being a solid game, Prototype earns a 7.5/10.

Next entry will likely be a review of FEAR 2's new FEAR Reborn DLC, Fable II's DLC packs, or perhaps of the new XBL Arcade game Defense Grid. Maybe all of the above. Depends on the homework situation this week.

Until next time everyone.