G4 Halo 3 Special (terrible)

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis: The epic saga continues with Halo 3, the hugely anticipated third chapter in the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax. Halo 3 represents the third chapter in the Halo trilogy—an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.5 million units worldwide, logging more than 650 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox LIVE, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel, an upcoming film adaptation, and more.


My Take: Ever since I camped out at Best Buy for the Xbox 1 and picked up Halo for no reason other than needing the latest thing (didn't know jack shit about Halo other than it was made by Bungie), I've been a fan of the series. That's really all that needs to be said, everything else can be found on exactly one billion websites. See you on the other side.

Labels: games, xbox 360

Stone Temple Pilots - Plush (Lucy XM54)

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis: From the makers of Far Cry, Crysis offers FPS fans the best-looking, most highly-evolving gameplay, requiring the player to use adaptive tactics and total customization of weapons and armor to survive in dynamic, hostile environments including Zero-G.



My Take: This is the kind of game that you pick up to see what your system can do. It's not like anyone will ever see, but you just want to know how the best looking game ever made works on it. Beyond that, the concept of the game is new and interesting. Your character is wearing a "nano muscle suit" that allows you to switch your style of play on the fly. Someone can be ready to finish you off; have you near death. In any other game, you have a second or two to live. In this game, you can switch to sprint, run off, switch to strength and jump incredibly high, and just after you jump, switch to cloak and disappear.

Unlike Far Cry, Crytek is putting a lot of effort into the multiplayer part of the game. That isn't to say they're neglecting the single player at all. You'll be playing in different environments than just a jungle, including the ice level gameplay that was released on Thursday. The game looks solid at this point, and should give Halo 3 and Half-Life ep 2 a run for their money.

Labels: computers, games

Stone Temple Pilots - Big Bang Baby (Squizz XM48)

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis: A science-fiction action and role-playing game (RPG) created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire" and "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive, story-driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system.


My Take: Having been a huge fan of BioWare games before they started making Xbox games, I'm looking to get back into the fold. Baldur's Gate was one of my favorite computer RPG's, and permanently glued me to the Bioware brand. Now that that Star Wars bullshit is out of the way (sup Guakus), they can finally get back to making good, non-light saber related RPG's.

The main quest in Mass Effect is supposed to take anywhere from 20-30 hours, with an extra 20 hours of additional side quests. On top of all this, Bioware will be releasing downloadable content for the game over Xbox Live. I've said about as much as I can handle about this game until it comes out on the recent #videogames podcasts, so if you want to hear more, head over there. The race for RPG of the year is between this game and The Witcher. It'll be fun playing through two incredibly different styles of games to see which comes out on top.

Labels: games, xbox 360

Trust Company - Stronger (Squizz XM48)

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis: Experience the ultimate team and mission-based online warfare, defined by the acclaimed Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, now set in the legendary QUAKE universe. Choose to play as the human Global Defense Forces or the invading alien menace, the Strogg. Each side has distinct classes, vehicles, and weapons to choose from, giving players countless ways to join the battle.


My Take: Quake Wars is one of those games that completely replaces something you already play. In this case, it's impossible for me to go back to Battlefield 2, because it feels way too slow compared to the complete anarchy of ETQW. The demo was released today and there's a hojillion fools running around getting mowed down by the dumbest shit. Makes me feel like I'm actually good at this game.

If you're wondering about my opinion on this versus Wolfenstein ET, I have no idea; never played it. However, I can say that ETQW is an incredibly well put together team FPS, and looks like it'll only get better by the time retail hits. I say this, because I've put in 25 hours or more on one map. The replay value to the game is just as high as BF2, and the pace of the game makes every game one hell of an experience. strogg...Strogg...STROGG!

Labels: computers, games

New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis: The Orange Box delivers five innovative action games from Valve® - creators of the blockbuster Half Life® franchise, in one box. The Orange Box includes Half Life® 2: Episode Two, Portal™ and Team Fortress® 2 in addition to full versions of award-winning Half Life 2 and Half Life 2: Episode One for an engrossing first-person action experience.


My Take: These are some solid games. While Half-Life 2 isn't my favorite FPS of all time (blasphemy!), it was a fun game to play and I'm anxiously awaiting playing through episodes 1 and 2. Nothing additional is even needed to sell Team Fortress 2. This is a game that people have been waiting on for the better part of a decade now.

Finally there's Portal, which looks like it'll either be a lot of fun, or full of mouse breaking frustration. Of all the new games in the pack, this is the one I'm looking forward to the least. However, even if it's not the best, I have nothing but praise for Valve throwing in another game. The Orange Box, hands down, has the most potential hours of fun of any release this Fall.

Labels: computers, games

Andy Ling - Calling Angels (System XM82)

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis: The Witcher combines spectacular and visually stunning action with deep and intriguing storyline. The game is set in a world created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The world shares many common features with other fantasy lands, but there are also some distinguishing elements setting it apart from others.


My Take: When I first saw this game a couple years ago, I devoured every image and story I could find on it. As time passed, I completely forgot about it and was happy in my state of ignorance. Then one day SoulBlade (from #videogames) brought the game up, and here we are talking about it in the Fall Preview.

The Witcher is an old-school RPG with a few twists. While you can change the controls to support WASD, the preferred method is to move the character through mouse clicks Fallout style. The action, however, is real time, using timed mouse clicking sequences to produce chained combos with your sword(s). The latest gameplay trailer is absolutely amazing, and makes this look like a serious contender for RPG of the year.

The main story in The Witcher unfolds over nearly 30 hours of gameplay. For those who don't want it to end, there's an additional 50 hours worth of side quests, bringing the game up to 80 hours total of Mountain Dew and Taco Bell fueled gaming. Moral decisions abound, but according to CD Projekt (the developer), they will be more vague than the status quo supervillain or angel motif most games use. It's so cliche to end articles like this, but this is one game I really can't wait to play.

Labels: computers, games

1up Yours (8/31/07)

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis: War rages on in the fourth edition of Activision's acclaimed war game. For the first time in the series, Call of Duty moves away from WWII to the modern battlefield.


My Take: I guess when your game is going to sell no matter what, you don't need an interesting synopsis, huh? The beta has been going around for the 360 lately, and I've had a good amount of fun with it. What adds to the experience is that I've been able to play the game with people I know, and it's been a while (Gears) since I've been able to play multi with those people. That is the sole reason why, if I lay down the cash, it would be for the 360 version and not the PC version.

The multiplayer demo is fast paced (read: people spawn behind you and kill you), and the mechanics seem to be on for the most part. There's even a Counter-strike, as imitated by Infinity Ward, mode that's fun to play. This Fall it's going to come down to two multiplayer games on the 360: Halo 3 and CoD4. Fortunately they play nothing like each other, and both should be able to foster some pretty strong communities. Finding a match at 3am on a Monday night in either game should be no problem.

Labels: games, xbox 360

Audioslave - Be Yourself

Fall 2007 Preview

Synopsis:Originally released in 1997, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a portable update on the classic turn-based strategy game that gave birth to the world of Ivalice. New features include all-new CG sequences, all-new jobs, new 16:9 widescreen presentation, new head-to-head multiplayer and new storyline elements that refine the genesis of the Ivalice Alliance.


My Take: I'm not very big on most Japanese games anymore, let alone their rpg's, but strategic rpg's are fun. Not only is this game in a great format, where you can pull it out of your bag for a few quick moves in a battle, but it's a remake of a game I never played years ago. This was during the time where my brother decided to borrow my Playstation for 3 years. John Guakus, a friend of mine, used to play this game religiously and I remember him saying at one point that he had over 200 hours into it. I'm not sure that I'll give it that much time, but after playing some Jeanne D'Arc recently, it occurred to me that I'll need another portable time sink. FFT: The War of the Lions should fit the bill.

Labels: games

Rangers @ Angels

This is the Fall 2007 preview of the top 10 games I may or may not buy. Exciting, huh? I can't contain myself; let's get right to it.

Synopsis: Tabula Rasa™ is a massively multiplayer online action game that takes you into the heat of battle at the frontlines of an epic war between a xenophobic alien race bent on galactic conquest and the coalition of rebel soldiers who've traveled across the galaxy to stop them.


My take: I've never been involved in any kind of MMORPG. I remember back when Subspace was big, there were a lot of players lost to Ultima Online when that came out in 1997. I was incredibly excited by the idea of World of Warcraft, because, for some reason, I thought the game would be more focused on battles where each unit was a piece of a bigger army. Turns out that wasn't the case.

So coming full circle, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa lands somewhere between an RPG and a third person shooter. Each character in the game (even NPC's) play their roles in a large scale war, where territories can be gained and lost in realtime. This is my kind of MMO. You can see several gameplay videos over at gametrailers.com.

I've been in the beta now for several months, and I've enjoyed it enough to where I'm seriously considering buying the game. At least enough to preorder the collector's edition through Amazon.com anyway. There's a little voice in the back of my head that keeps reminding me that this game has a monthly fee. He better get used to it, though, with Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures showing up in the Spring.

Labels: games