Review : Resistance 3

     This one is a little late coming but I’ve been swamped with college, work, blogging, drinking, and obvious new playthroughs. So here it is Resistance 3. 

     So as many of you will know the Resistance series has been around since the beginning of time, well since the PS3 was released at least. From the start we were immersed in the heroic story of a lone American soldier fighting alone against a horde of alien mutants hell bent of terraforming the earth and converting all its populace. I won’t bore you with the details but the first two games were really quite something, Resistance Fall of Man (1) was renowned in my home for being the first choice for split screen play on my new system, in fact I think I racked up enough hours in that game to contest my time on Modern Warfare. The second resistance game took the franchise a little further, bringing back the protagonist Nathan Hale, but this time he is part of an elite team of Chimera virus immunes like Hale, called the Sentinels. Resistance 2 took us across the United States on a crash course for trouble all the while Hale’s condition worsened and the team were slowly killed off, until at the very end of the game (SPOILER ALERT) Hale finally loses his humanity and is put down execution style by his last remaining teammate Joseph Capelli. Now Joe is the last person I thought would end up starring in their own game as he was a complete douche throughout the campaign, but being the only one still alive I guess Insomniac didn’t have that many options.

      Anywho Joe Capelli, having slowed the chimera invasion and killed humanities savior attempts to live a normal live after the events of the second game. He settles down, gets married, has a kid, and lives in a small town called Haven. The game starts up with us in the tunnels under the ruins of Haven, we are called to a makeshift war room were battle plans are being drawn, see a Chimeran patrol has stumbled onto their little home and Joe is sent (after picking up his starter weapons) to check it out and reinforce the garrison. So we sneak through the tunnels and eventually up into the old bowling alley, from there someone’s head gets ripped off and shit gets real, after that things get a little hazy. Something about some new breed of chimera with new and improved weak spots, glowing yellow for your shooting pleasure and a terraforming floating island ship thingy heading towards the town. Anywho dr. Malikov from the first two games shows up and crashes the alien burning party taking Joe away from his family and on a reckless hike across the country to New York city where a large chimeran tower is apparently opening a wormhole to the Chimeran home world…

     That’s more than enough story to keep us going, the plot is a little thicker than I portray it but overall I was pleased with how they bridged the series, although I was kind of depressed after Malikov gets killed in a very brutal fashion. Speaking of brutal this game seems to add a bit more gore to it, attempting to spice things up with a little blood, and a few exploding skulls. Also the character they chose to replace him is a little lack luster and disappears halfway through the game only to be heard from again in hidden journals and audio diaries. Yes like all games the resistance series has always had collectables, being mostly dossiers on weapons and characters, audio diaries kept by survivors living their last moments, and the odd hidden easter egg.  Although if you are the type of person who cares not for exploring the levels for these hidden gems, they really don’t do much for the story and aren’t required for any missions, they just enhance the story and provide you with a little more information in case you are the inquisitive type who can’t take the time to read the wiki or the books.

     So, gameplay, I was happy they brought back the health bar, although there is still a red screen when you get hurt. Like all games there are directional properties to the raspberry jam that spreads across your screen, and most of the time the direction that it displays isn’t where the enemies are and more than once I found myself turning away and exposing myself to a fanged monstrosity sitting just outside my vision laughing at the whimsical control settings. Speaking of settings I was perturbed by the motion blur at high sensitivity levels, and even though I had the X and Y levels set to the highest possible speed I was still turning like an asthmatic green horn. That being said the controls are intuitive, and comfortingly common, mimicking that of most modern shooters. Also making a comeback is the weapon carry system of the first game, where every weapon you pick up stays with you throughout the game so you will always be prepared for any situation. The second game annoyed most old school players by allowing you a certain amount of space in your character’s pack to carry weapons, and the first game although allowing you to carry them all included so many weapons you barely had time to try them out before something new and useless came along. But I digress the weapon system is back and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside and its not just the whiskey.

     Weapons, it’s a good topic for this series, throughout the first two games there were more weapons than I could hope to remember but here there a few classic guns with maybe five or so new ones, that really the franchise could’ve done without. New to the game is the ammo counting system, a series of bars at the bottom of the screen decreasing in size until you can no longer fire your weapon, I was impressed by the addition of ammo counters inside many of the games scopes, being mostly the sniper and auger, but also the addition of a sort of holographic sight with many of the weapons that always had a sort of lack luster iron sight. Also new to single player is the ability to earn XP with weapons and unlock upgrades based on your experience, this adds a whole new level of gameplay, encouraging you to move past your normal weapon set and try the new guns, also if you’re a trophy whore like myself you’ll need to get your entire inventory to level three to see that shiny award.

     So game mechanics and such, overall impressed besides the aforementioned motion blur/sensitivity problem, although in a couple cases the game did glitch up and I’m not entirely sure why. The graphics are as much as I could ask for, nothing new but a little prettier in place. Particle physics don’t really come into play here as the game seems almost devoid of weather or other distractions. Low points I noticed would definitely be the ladder climbing animations, very clunky and often hindered by having to wait for a certain old man to work his way up one level. Also decreasing the reading level of this game is the addition of the over used critical location system that seems so important these days. No longer do we just pour bullets and laser fire into an enemy we can barely see the top of, no now there are armor plates that glow orange and yellow that tell you where to shoot. Chock that up as the dumbing down of mainstream video games.

     The game itself is very linear, but not to the point of being a dungeon crawler, you have no options as to where to go until later in the game when you may have an option of going into a tunnel or being the target of multiple snipers and a dropship armed to the exhaust ports. The objectives are usually very simple but can get frustrating if you don’t pay attention to every vent and power conduit you pass. Other annoyances include the exception of a mini map and objective markers, half the time I played I spent walking around looking for a marker on my screen telling me which giant robot I had to kill to progress the storyline. 

     The multiplayer is a step up from the first’s death match and on par with the campaign style of the second. But its split screen where the game loses some points, the second player is dubbed “John” Joe’s brother that has no dialogue and isn’t mentioned in the story at all. Both players have the same weapons being as how as soon as one picks it up the other magically finds it in his hands, also if you are the lone wolf type good luck finding your own path as you will be teleported to your wandering companions location as soon as the game decides it wants to shit on you.

     Long time followers of the franchise will be happy with the inclusion of classic enemies and guns, but may also feel let down by the dumbing down of the gameplay and exclusion of what seemed like franchise defining weapons, mechanics, and characters. Overall this game was good, with split screen capabilities and a multiplayer to rival that of the second game. Those just picking up a Resistance game for the first time will quickly be brought up to scratch and have no trouble, as the game plays like many other FPS’ of today. That being said the game is nothing special, simply another squeeze on the udders of Insomniac’s cash cow. But damn that milk is tasty.

Film Review #5 : Priest

     In a post-apocalyptic world, a savage war between man and vampire has raged for centuries.  A warrior priest receives word of fresh attacks, but now its personal; his niece has been kidnapped by a new hive of merciless  vampires. To save her, he must break his vow of peace and hunt down the hive before its too late. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel and packed with bloodthirsty action, this full throttle crusade takes you on the hunt for a deadly new breed of killer.

     Priest, like all movies based off of graphic novels, it does so loosely, which may be disappointing to some viewers but it allows for unbiased opinions of both the film and series of novels. Rather than get in depth with the differences between them lets just say you don't have to see one before the other but rather see/read both of them if you have the time.

     Those of you with two brain cells to rub together have figured out that I enjoyed the movie, I didn't see it in theaters and truthfully have only read the first volume of the series, but that doesn't mean it is without flaws...

     So Priest, a movie directed by Scott Stewart, is based (loosely as stated) on a Korean comic series of the same name. The plot is as follows; since the beginning of time, or shortly there after, humanity has waged a war with vampires. Not your run of the mill vampires, I would say somewhat a middle ground between the Underworld vampire and the 30 Days of Night vampire. "The eyes are the window to the soul" as some say and due to the fact that vampires are born without eyes they are said to have no soul, so they are hunted. I guess you could almost say that this is a retelling of our own history when we ran the native Americans to near extinction and put them in reserves, well the same thing has been done to vampires, but only with the help of the priests. The Priests are a sect of chosen warriors trained by the church in the deadly arts and raised with a healthy hatred for all things fangey, the are the sole reason humanity won the war but after the war they were disbanded and sworn to peace. The Priests were ordered to return to human ways and sought employment but had no skills for anything but warfare, thus they got low level jobs and fade into history. Oh yes did I mention that the war between races has destroyed the very earth? Well yeah, the cities of the past stand as grim reminders of humanities folly in a never-ending desert of pain and sacrifice, while the majority of the world has hidden behind the walls surrounding church governed cities.

     So vampires, rise from the reserves and kill (SPOILER ALERT) Paul Bettany's character's brother and his wife, before kidnapping their daughter and galavanting away on a train full of an army of vampires and assorted cutlery. I was actually quite surprised when the movie turned out to have a couple plot twists, I was expecting a straight forward hack and slash adventure that would sit on my DVD shelf and collect dust and hatred. It turns out that before he was inducted into the Priests, the main character actually had time to have a child, whom he had to sacrifice along with his lover to a life of warfare and servitude. It creates a small amount of sympathy towards the protagonist and builds a more complex plot line, and I think Paul Bettany pulled it off rather well. The other characters however were a whole other story, some lines seemed false even forced, I mean it was obvious acting, I wouldn't have been surprising if they had been reading the script off of cue cards.

     Actors aside, lets hit the visuals. I was satisfied with the camera angles and CGI, but there were quite a few slow motion shots that left me wondering why they even bothered wasting the money. Sure slow it down so we can see how he guts the hive guardian, but trying to create emotion with a two second slow motion shot when the daughter and sheriff kiss didn't work. Another criticism, the characters rarely had actual names, the protagonist and antagonist seemed just labels, I mean Priest and Black Hat? Thats not even worth hiring writers for, its like they just used the short forms off the script and ran with it. Also it seemed they stole a little bit of everything with this movie, Black Hat was an exact copy of Jericho cross from Deathwatch, as well as the trains, they even stole the scene when the damsel in distress hides the table knife in her sleeve.

     All in all Priest had an interesting back story, tasty action sequences, a palatable score, and one thing I love, a post apocalyptic earth. Although it was hard not to miss the overused slo-mo, questionable acting, and trademark violations. This is at most a buy at least a download, Cory Goodman next time focus on reading not writing. If you enjoyed this for its post apocalyptic setting and bible toting then check out the Book of Eli, if you loved the vampire action then watch the Underworld Series and if you were left completely disappointing than maybe the comics will redeem the franchise.

Review : Medal Of Honor

     First off, apologies for not having posted the Thor review, the torrent I ran for five days turned out to require a special media player, and seeing as how I already have about four different media playing programs, I'm thinking thats not gonna happen. But I recently purchased Medal Of Honor, the newest one obviously, for PS3 and I picked it up cheap, not that the price means I won't critique the shit out of it.

     I understand that Medal Of Honor is a heavily lauded franchise, I do, but Its a niche game. MoH has always been a historical orientated game, focusing more on past battle than modern combat. With the arrivals of other, possibly better franchises (Battlefield, Call Of Duty, etc) Medal Of Honor was in need of a comeback, a game that would knock the socks off the competition and win back the hearts of their straying fanbase. Well this isn't that game.

     First off this game has the basis of a very good game, its interesting. The whole idea is that off a new type of soldier, Tier 1, these guys are supposed to be living, breathing, precision instruments of war. Thats badass. You get to step into the shoes of... well truthfully its not that interesting, I mean every character you play as, in damn near every game is lauded as the best of the best, but these guys are supposed to be real. These guys are pounding dust over in Afghanistan, blazing the trail for our boys to win the war. Over the course of the game you'll be in control of a member of two four man groups of these Tier 1 operators, Rabbit and Deuce. Not the most awe inspiring names for supersoldiers but I'm sure there has been worse. These groups are chock full of bearded army specialists, and you'll need to be just as good. Supposedly these so called operators actually helped EA design the game, so everything they do, you do, and some of the missions are actually (loosely I'm sure) based on real missions. Thats a one up for me, I love the fact that they had real life experts helping with mission design.

     So gameplay, the graphics are standard, I mean, they aren't going to win any awards but you're not going to find yourself waiting for the textures to load, and you won't be dropping frames everytime you shoot off a particularly large rocket. The weapons are cool but they appear out of perspective, by that I mean when you pick up an AK-47 that should weigh about 9.5lbs with an empty magazine, its seems smaller than real life, the recoil is reduced and you'll never find a weapon dropped by an enemy that has anything more than iron sights. Besides that you have preset weapons for every mission, no customization and if you pick up a weapon off an enemy you cannot ask your teammates for ammo, as they have different guns than you. But with the ability to ask your teammates for ammo you rarely have to resort to picking up the sub standard weapons that you're being shot with.

     The version I picked up comes with a PS3 exclusive port of Medal Of Honor Frontline, which I have never played, so as soon as I clean up some space on my HDD I'm sure it will be a bonus. Speaking of extras the game is extremely limited, offering only credits and cinematics for replay even when you finish the single player campaign. The campaign, being all that I have experienced so far, is short. I wasn't even sure that the game was actually over even when the credits were rolling. Speaking of credits this is one of maybe two times I have not skipped them, seeing as how Linkin Park's "Catalyst" was playing. Overall the campiagn was a nice balance of extremely long range sniping, ambushes, city fights, aerial combat,  and shotgun gallery caves. That being said everytime the mission changed it seemed I was a different character, and I quickly lost track of my progress. Every new mission also seemed to bring about a new frustration, the learning curve for this game was insane, I mean I didn't know I had a pistol until the last mission. In some places there was a weapon required for the situation that the game forgot to mention and after seven tries and a three day hiatus I finally figured out that L2 was hellfire missile. When sniping it reminds you that you have to keep range and wind patterns in mind to hit your target, then only punishes you by making you over compensate for the insane wavering scope and miss half your shots.

     When I first play a game I play on the easiest difficulty, I'm a firm believer of having fun and learning the game before I get to brag that I played it on Chuck Norris mode. Even though I played on easy I found my ass in my hands more often than I would want, all for stupid reasons though. I really wonder what happened to the health bar, this red screen has destroyed the functionality of many recent games, but in this case there is barely even a red screen. Frequently I found myself charging into a cave only to find out that I was in the danger zone and died before taking two steps. In some situations I lost site of the objective and wandered past the operational objective and the game just decided to fuck me for leaving my teammates behind.

     While we're on the topic of optics and the HUD, lets talk about identifiers. Your teammates have a symbol above their heads, based on your current squad and how many times they can resupply you. That would all be peachy if it stayed there, your HUD is a toggle for some reason, and I found myself lost or in horrible friendly fire situations more than I would had my teammates had a sign on their backs saying "shoot me". Once you figure out you can toggle the HUD the games smooths out a bit and becomes more playable but don't expect standard FPS action, this is a combat simulator, which means you're going to get killed, a lot. You can't just run in guns blazing and expect the enemies to bow down to your huge muscles, this game is unforgiving like that. The other half would be forgetting, MoH likes to forget to tell you things, oh like where your spotter wandered off to. Half the game I was walking around with scratchy night vision, having fallen out of a helicopter, searching for my squad. Linear doesn't even describe the missions, if you so much as get too far ahead you'll get shit on, and even if our magical army rangers can regenerate and shrug off 7.62mm rounds you'll have a bitch of a time walking up a three foot incline.

     I haven't had a chance to try the multiplayer yet, and there is still another game mode that I understand is a wave based survival mode. Like all COD wannabes I'm sure the campaign was so damn short to accommodate a giant multiplayer section. I remember the days when multiplayer meant breaking out another controller and having a friend actually in the room with you, if you want us to spend more time on your game make the campaign worth playing.

     In conclusion I expected more from DICE and EA, like really guys why couldn't you put a little of that Battlefield know how into your projects, but hey it came with a shiny plastic case!


Pros

• Real world knowledge
• Linkin Park
• Exclusive content : Frontline
• Ammo sharing
• Some funny lines
• 50 cal bitches!
• Waited long enough for it to be $20

Cons

• Red Screen
• Too many characters
• Linear
• Cripple Marine
• Horrible learning curve
• Extras??
• Ammo Sharing
• No customization
• What an ending...

Review : Battlefield Bad Company Two

 Welcome to an alternate reality, where (no big surprise) the Russians have started a campaign of global domination and the United States is all that stands between being red or dead.

            Enter B-company a four man squad of American soldiers that play under the radar and most rules of engagement, and they like to play hard. You play as Marlow, the softer spoken G.I stuck in this merry band of wise cracking soldiers. Fans of the original game will be happy that much of the original storyline has been bridged into the sequel, although there are a few gaps that will leave some gamers a little confused. Its better in my opinion just to let the little things slide, and concentrate on the bigger and better portions of the game. The snow covered levels of the first game are still a large portion of the games locales, but throw in South American slums, the rain forest and a World War Two submarine pen, and we have the perfect recipe for intense firefights.  The action has been beefed up as well as the number of collectible weapons and the amount of hidden jabs in the dialogue towards its main competitor, Call Of Duty.

            The training level (as it is) is also the introduction to the new storyline, (SPOILER ALERT!!!) the Japanese were designing a super weapon (Scalar tech) of their own during WW2 and a group of American soldiers were sent to a secret Japanese base to pick up a defecting scientist with crucial information. Needless to say this mission goes badly, and we jump ahead to present day.

            Our squad is creeping through a Russian minefield on their way to make sure that a transfer between the Russians and an American agent goes according to plan. You guessed it, the Russians can’t be trusted and the agent is killed. Before they receive a kill order on the main antagonist, he flees in a conveniently placed helicopter and the nearby town full of Russian soldiers is declared enemy territory, this is where the fun starts.

            Although the game is linear in fashion, almost all the building in the levels are easily accessed with a handy military grade knife, allowing you to pick your own path, and depending on the difficulty level, you may not want to just run guns blazing into every ambush point. As always I recommend playing through once on easy then upping the difficulty when you know that there isn’t a tank around the corner. All levels are re-playable on their own and if you are a trophy whore such as myself you’ll need to do so to get all the weapons and collectables, although you can play the whole game with one weapon set, as all the specialized weapons you need will be present in situations where your sniper and submachine gun just can’t hack it.

            The game is almost completely bug free, besides a small graphics problem I encountered once later in the campaign, its perfect. The graphics are much better than the original, and the gameplay isn’t easy enough to just take a pleasant stroll through the jungle with your Scar H and not get tube fed a rocket propelled grenade. Following the trend that seems to be going around, the health system is the standard red screen that makes you need to hide to wipe the jam from your face, always the raspberry.... That being said, it isn't as apparent as you would think, which creates many a "wait I died?" situation. Your teammates are pretty comatose but you can (and at some points have to) fight through missions without your squad. Even though enemies almost always see you as a flashing red skull on the Ruskie threat meter and target you first, but its always nice to have someone manning the mounted machine gun in one of the games many vehicles.

            The game follows an interesting storyline but all the cinematics don't have to be watched (press select), but if you have the time to sit through them know that the dialogue is mostly hilarious, and if you pay attention you’ll catch mentions of other games.

            The games multiplayer is completely online and lauded as a COD killer, the developers were apparently fixing all the problems with Modern Warfare Two’s multiplayer, such as spawn killing, and camping, alas this has not completely happened. The levels tend to be larger and more open with other parts of the map being made available as the match progresses and there are a variety of vehicles that are at some points crucial to the mission. The player chooses from four classes (Essentially- Medic, Assault, Engineer, and Sniper) with upgradable and interchangeable items and weapons, although its probable that you will enter a match where everyone is playing as a sniper, if that is the case promptly leave and play Modern Warfare Two, because you cannot improve upon perfection, the internet doesn’t lie.

            Overall the game is enjoyable, witty, intense, and easy enough to not have to tweek the controls or cause you to dirty that mother kissing mouth of yours. Playing the first game is not important to understanding or enjoying Bad Company Two, but it’s most certainly worth searching your local bargain bins to find.