Saving Up

So it's been a while since I posted consistently, and some may be wondering why. Frankly, I haven't been playing a lot of video games lately. I don't have the new systems, so my exposure to all of the great next-gen games is still limited (I read extensively but play only occasionaly, when I'm lucky).

What I've really been up to lately is trying to save up so that I can correct this problem.

I was recently hired as a tutor at my college, so I've been earning cash while helping young minds to expand (not really so young, they're often in my grade). It requires a lot of thinking and caring, so it definitely isn't an easy job, but its fun in its own way. And each paycheck is going into the cookie jar to save up for a glorious XBox 360.

I've been eyeing the XBox 360 ever since I started playing Halo 3 last fall. Since then I've watched closely, and I'm still convinced its the best of the three for me. While I hope the Wii succeeds, I just wouldn't be as satisfied with it. I've played Smash and Mario Kart and Zelda all before, and while the new games are undoubtedly fun, its still more of the same. There is a reason I watch movies instead of TV shows, I want fresh experiences. The Wii offers fresh control setups, and some fresh game-play, but the characters, stories and genres all feel the same.

I've already decided on which 360 I want, I'm definitely going with the Pro. It costs $350, but comes with the 20g hard drive, the headset, all the cables and the starter subscription to Live. The Arcade just isn't worth it without the hard drive, and the Elite is far more than I need.

The real question isn't what system I am going to get, it's when I will get it and what games I will be able to afford. With $350 for the system, another $50 for a second controller, and $50 for the year's worth of Live, I'm already up to $450. And every game after that is another $60. My birthday is in a week, so I'm hoping that with some cash presents I'll have enough to finally leave the gaming stone-age.

When it comes to games though, I don't know where to best put my bills. Halo 3 I think is a must, but there are so many other best-buy games out there as well. I can't stand not knowing what all of the twists are in BioShock and Assassin's Creed, everyone keeps hinting at them and I need to play to find out what happened. As soon as I solve those mysteries, I'll have to start playing Mass Effect. I came up with a complex game proposal/design a few years back that was almost exactly like Mass Effect, and I want to see if my dreams made reality are as cool as I had imagined them.

If I could afford them, I would also buy Call of Duty 4, Gears of War, Devil May Cry 4, Lost Odyssey, Rock Band and Condemned. But who has $600 to spend on games? Not I, sadly.

So until I write a best-selling novel, I'll have to content myself with one or two games at a time. And until I do a lot more tutoring, I won't even have that. Hopefully in a week or two I'll be rolling high with a brand-new 360.

- Scott

Too Little, Too Late

So I just beat P.N. 03 (Product Number 03) and I have to say, I'm disappointed.

I bought the game because it was part of the Capcom 5, and I didn't think a highly-respected publisher like Capcom would let me down. But they did.

I won't get into all of the depressing details, if you want those you can check out P.N. 03 in the Reviews section (that's right, I inaugurated the section with this awful title). But I will give you a quick breakdown.

The audio in the game is awful. There are only 2 scenes with voice acting, and I wish there weren't. The game is supposed to be a dance/dodging based 3rd-person shooter, but the dance music also sucks.

There is no story or plot.

All of the levels are terrible. I have designed better levels in Game Design class using Source. Those were classroom levels. Classroom levels beat this shooter.

The combat is boring, the gameplay is repetetive, and most of the dodging techniques are not needed. The more powerful special attacks are fun for a few levels, but don't last long. Charging forward wildly and launching the Griffin attack kept me happy for about 20 minutes.

The bosses were lame, the regular enemies were lame, the AI was shoddy. You're supposed to rack up points to buy better suits and upgrade them. Usually I'm a sucker for RPG elements like this, but I bought as few upgrades as I could to beat the game. I never do that. This game turned me off that much.

The main character didn't turn me off. She's pretty hot actually, possibly the hottest video game character I've seen. They try to use that to your advantage, by making the final suit you unlock by beating the game on hardmode a highly-revealing outfit. I didn't fall for it, you shouldn't either.

There were a few more engaging levels and a few more difficult bosses near the end. There was also an interesting room or two. But these were the types of things you'd expect as the first level of a normal game, not as the final and best a game had to offer.

Supposedly the final boss is really hard, and takes lots of practise, patience, and timing. I just tapped A faster than usual and killed it in about a minute. Here's its sorry mug.

Next time Capcom, play the game before you publish it.

- Scott

Brawl Released At Last!

The delays have driven us mad, but at long last Super Smash Bros. Brawl is out. I had hoped to play it over spring break and even earlier, but with the delays I was not able to play it until this week.

I was fortunate enough to not only get to play it, but also to review it for my college's weekly newspaper. Since I don't own a Wii of my own, I had to set up a deal with a friend to borrow his Wii for a few days. After a couple of days playing through every mode of Brawl, I have to say, it was time well spent. This blockbuster does not dissapoint.

If you want the full run-down on the game, I've posted the comprehensive review in the Reviews section, or you can check out the published version in Articles.

But as an overview, this game is unbelievably packed with great content.

It has all of the old modes that the previous entry, Melee, had plus a lot of new ones. And all of the old ones have been improved. New modes like Rotation and the revamped Tourney mode make setting up matches easier. The brand-new solo campaign, Subpsace Emissary, is a god-send. Previous installments had nothing to offer for a campaign, but this retro-style 2d platforming adventure is awesome and enjoyable. The Event mode has been expanded, Classic mode has been updated, and the Stadium challenges retain their replay value.

The visuals and sounds have been vastly improved as well. I actually used certain moves just because they sounded so cool, rather than because they were effective. And though the character models all look the same as Melee, the special effects are far more impressive.

Of course, all of these modes, graphics and audio are all just extras: what gamers really care about are the characters and stages. These essentials do not dissapoint.

I played with most of the new characters, all of which were surprisingly-well balanced. I loved getting to play as Charizard instead of lame Pokemon like Pichu. I also enjoyed playing MetaKnight, who was much faster than his size leads you to believe. Solid Snake's ranged weapons were a lot of fun, although I didn't like getting beaten up while trying to guide my rockets.

Stages were pretty sweet too. I loved playing on Castle Siege with its multiple parts, my favorite was the underground hall. I also liked the innovative levels like Pictochat and WarioWare. But again, you can see more info on the stages in the full review.

So my advice to everyone out there, be you casual or hardcore gamers, play Brawl! If you've missed out on the smash bros phenomenon for the 5-10 years, this is the time to finally get to know one of the best series ever madel.

As I said in the review, this is one hell of a game.

- Scott

Video Game Soundtracks

When most people think of quality music, they probably think of the recording industry. Maybe there is a minority of people out there who think of their favorite Broadway shows or movie soundtracks. But how many people think of video games?

We all have been playing them for years, but how often do we take the time to appreciate a game's music for what it is. For most games, not often. When you're in the middle of being shot, trying to level a character, or pushing your car for those few extra seconds you really aren't worried what the stereo is playing.

But increasingly developers are putting more time and effort into games' audio. Next-gen sound has a lot to offer, and developers are utilizing their new tools. I just started playing Smash Brawl yesterday, for example, and the audio quality, even on the Wii, is outstanding. There were certain moves that I used repeatedly, even though they weren't very effective for combat, simply because the sound effects were so good.

But this focus on audio isn't brand new. One of my favorite developers, Free Radical (formed by the designers of the original GoldenEye) had some amazing soundtracks in their TimeSplitters series. And, even better, they provide full soundtracks from their games for free on their website.

The soundtrack for TimeSplitters 2 is just amazing. With great ambient tracks, like those for the wild west level, the notre dame level, or the chicago level, the music compares favorably with the best soundtracks out there. I've got the full soundtrack on my iPod, and listen to it just like I would any other music.

So it was natural for me to go to Free Radical's tracks when I was assigned to work on an audio project for one of my classes. We were assigned to create an audio composition that was exactly one minute long that conveyed the theme of "the evil inherent in mankind." I played through the soundtracks for some of TS2's darker levels, and decided on the Notre Dame level. This was only one element in a composition of a lot of pieces, but the Notre Dame piece was crucial to the final effect. (I've included a link to my audio project below)

While video games might not stick out as the best place to go for music, they often are. Nothing else I listened to had better quality or mood than the Free Radical stuff. So keep up the good work developers, and if you get discouraged, or if you decide to skimp on the audio on your new game, remember: We're listening.

- Scott

Low-Res Demo & Campus Cops

Today was our second milestone for the Game Design course, and believe it or not, we were way ahead of schedule.

We were supposed to have a low-res version of our demo done, but we actually got further than we had hoped. We had planned to have two playable levels, the dorm room and the campus overworld. But I went in the night before and put together, in a couple of hours, a third level (a classroom).

What was in these levels was better than we'd hoped as well. The dorm room had lighting effects, triggers and actions, and scripted NPC behavior with dialogue. These were all things we had been experimenting with for the last couple of weeks, but we hadn't been able to figure out or perfect. But thanks to some help from some senior members of the team, we got some of that done. Outside of the game, we have some of the Spanish dialogue (since it is a Spanish learning game) recorded, and we have a lot of design documents that detail what else we would do with the game. And of course, the Wii-mote can be used to play the game.

I was very proud to have done the classroom level on my own, especially in such a short amount of time. It shows that I've been picking up Hammer (the level editor) and Source (our game engine) quite well.

We almost had a problem though.

When we were working in the lab at about 2 in the morning, some of the campus police came in and almost kicked us out. They asked us what time the lab was supposed to close, as if we were breaking the rules and they wanted us to admit it. But after we said it closes at 3, they did a Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde switch and were super-friendly. They actually ending up staying for a while to watch us work and talk to us about the game.

So once again, I found gamers in the most unlikely of places. One of the cops was likening our project to the old Quake mods he used to build, since we are technically creating a mod of Half-Life 2. The other cop talked about his first-person shooter as well. It was cool to find gamers in places of authority, maybe as this trend continues the gaming industry will cease to be looked at as the evil media.

Although, if we want to avoid that stigma, we'll need to make a slight change to our demo. We found out that, currently, you can enter a code to get guns. Which means you could run around our campus shooting the student NPC's. Talk about a public-relations nightmare...

- Scott

Level Design & Minimaps

There's always something new going on with the Game Design crew.

Lately we've been discussing level design and the use of minimaps. More specifically, we've been debating whether or not our game should be open-world or if it should be more linear. And how we design our levles will play into how we implement the minimap.

We know that, since the game takes place at our college, TCNJ, the actual campus will serve as the overworld. From here the players will go into the various buildings, where they will find the missions, objectives, etc. But what we need to decide on is whether or not players will move from building to building as the game tells them to, or if they will have the freedom to visit whatever building they want. The central storyline will move in specific directions, of course, but we are debating whether or not the game should include side quests and stories.

One of the guys in the group is really pushing for a Grand Theft Auto style game. I think we've settled now on a compromise, whereby the initial stages of the game will be linear and the later stages will be a sandbox setup. Once the player starts to learn some Spanish they should be able to handle more unique scenarios that side quests can provide. This will also allow them to get more reinforcement of the material.

To handle our sandboxing, we are enlisting the help of an Interactive Storytelling class to come up with sidestories and quests.

To help us in analyzing the issues of map and level design, we used the traditional Game Design method of bringing in sample games. I brought in some GameCube games like Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime and P.N. 03 to look at some of the best (and worst) of the industry.

Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4 are both somewhat linear games, in terms of level design. Prime allows for a lot of exploration in gameplay, but the actual rooms are quite small and restricted. But the player never realizes how small these rooms are because of the brilliantly done graphics and level design. You really feel like you are in part of a massive canyon, you don't realize it's actually just a hallway with a cleverly designed skybox and such.

Resident Evil does the same thing, by turning a simple hallway into what looks like part of a huge forest area. The developers didn't have to actually make massive areas, but they still gave the impression of large explorable areas. Part of the success here was in the limited use of the minimaps. If players could see blatantly that they were in a hallway, they would not get the impression that they were exploring a large, vibrant world. They would know they were boxed in.

In this case, ignorance is bliss. If a developer doesn't have the time or resources to make a massive open world like in an MMO, I want to at least feel like I am in one of these. In these instances, heavy use of a minimap would be detrimental.

P.N.o3 was an example of a badly done game. The levels are all tightly made corridors that suffocate the player. And the setup of these different hallways and rooms is completely confusing and disorienting, creating the feeling that you are lost in a massive maze. In this instance, a minimap would have been very welcome.

We will probably end up using some kind of minimap in our game, but we will try to avoid ruining the open world feeling. Time will only tell if we suceed.

- Scott

Fable & Choice

So we had another awesome day of Game Design II today. It was a day in which we were encouraged to bring in games that would demonstrate points we were trying to achieve.

One of the cooler of the games we looked at was Fable, from the original XBox. We looked at it for its usage of dialogue and choice. In Fable, almost every decision you make affects the game somehow. Whether it is choosing whether or not to keep an affair a secret, or whether or not to burn a village, you get a lot of freedom to do what you want.

And more importantly, the game is set up to reflect the consequences of your actions. If you tell the wife that her husband is having an affair, the husband will get angry at you. If you commit evil actions like burning villages and killing citizens, you will gradually become a darker-looking more evil character. And the ending of the game also depends on choices you make.

For the purposes of our class, we just looked at the opening level of the game, in which the young boy is running around trying to do good deeds to collect money. But man, there is a lot of opportunities to do mean stuff as well in that town. I couldn't count how many times the player got yelled at my the town guard for being a bad kid. It was pretty cool to see a system set up that could deal with consequences though, it really helped to make the town and game come alive.

We also looked at some other games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) for their use of dialogue as well. KotOR was shown as a good example of dialogue usage, but I feel like the multiple choice menu system breaks up the action a lot. It'd be nice to see a game that could make a more fluid system for choice and dialogue.

Mass Effect, the newest game out from BioWare (who made KotOR), is supposed to have a very good choice and dialogue mechanic. When I get my X-Box 360 in about a month Mass Effect will be at the top of my list of games to get, so I'll be able to see for myself.

- Scott

RTS/RPG Fusion

Whew!

I just beat the Battle for Middle-earth good campaign, talk about an awesome game. The campaign started out like the other RTS games I've played, where it alternated between some small levels where you control a few characters and some bigger levels where you built up armies.

But unlike most RTS games, BFME is like an RPG as well: All of your units can rank up and be re-used in the next missions! Certain key units, aka the Fellowship, got a ridiculous amount of experience by the end of the campaign. For the final level I had Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, etc. all up to lvl. 10, the maximum. Not only does their attack and defense go up, they learn some sweet new abilities too (sounds just like an RPG doesn't it?). Gandalf's powers are displayed in some of the screens here, as is Aragorn's ability to summon a small group of ghost warriors.

While this RPG style application was really sweet, I was even more excited to see that my general units could level up, get upgrades and be re-used as well. Towards the beginning of the campaign I built up a shock-force of well-armored, well-armed Rohirrim Cavalry, which could pretty much roll over anything in its past. Later in the game I formed my massive Gondor army, to which the Fellowship members would later be ended. Units could be upgraded with things such as Heavy Armor, Forged Blades, Fire Arrows, etc. (see this screen for some decked-out cavalry).

I was worried for a while though, because the game would only let me play so many missions of my choosing (like pick which part of Rohan to defend with Eromer) before it made me do required missions (like defending Helm's Deep or the path of Cirith Ungol). But after I had defended Minas Tirith (which was an insanely awesome mission btw) it let me play as many battles as I wanted before I moved on to the final mission. The more missions I played, the more I could level up my units, so I conquered the entire world before finally moving against Mordor itself (I had even come up into southern Mordor, to the Lake of Nurn). By the time I went up against the Black Gates of Mordor (the final mission) I had crafted quite an imposing army.

To take on all the hosts of Mordor, I moved to the Black Gates with my Gondor army and the Fellowship. I had about 50 veteran cavalry, fully equipped with Heavy Armor & Forged Blades. I also had 2 divisions of archers, which were also maxed out. Add the members of the Fellowship and all of my ally summons, and Mordor didn't stand a chance.

This was a fantastic campaign for a fantastic game. I really think that this is the evolution of strategy games, to let you build up & train your forces throughout the game. Now I get to go and play the dark-side campaign :)

- Scott

ROCK BAND!

WOA!

So I just played this game today for the first time (yeah I know I'm behind the times) and it rocks!

I had been skeptical about all of these music games, but Rock Band is remarkably well-designed. We played it during our Game Design II class today, and I have to say it was addicing. We were politely fighting over the guitars and the microphone all morning (people were afraid of how difficult the drums were). This is an awesome party game, unless you have more than 4 people, then it becomes a war over the spotlight :P

I hadn't played the guitar before, and I sucked. I had to play bass on easy on a couple of songs to get the hang of the keys, but even after that I couldn't do to well. And I didn't get a chance yet to play the drums. But on the mic, I shone.

I only knew the lyrics to a handful of songs, but the ones I knew, I knew. I've sung along to Dani California so many times that I could have sang for that song without the words scrolling across the top. It really felt like being the signer in a band, it was quite a rush. Plus, most of the instrument players were sitting down always, so I felt like I was at the center of attention in the room too.

Letting loose during the Star Power sequences was a bit embarassing at first, but I started to get into it at the end. I decided that, hey, this was an awesome game, and I shouldn't be afraid to get into it and start really rocking out. The last couple of songs I did I really kicked ass on, and I can't wait for the chance to play this again.

Until then... I'll have to stick to the shower for my rock-star-wannabe moments.

- Scott

MMO Opinion Feedback

So I just published my opinion piece about MMORPG's last week, and the feedback has been great.

I had argued that Guild Wars was a better game and a better deal than WoW, and that WoW has a reputation that is bigger than it deserves. I am arguing against the grain, that's for sure. See the Articles section for the full story, it's a pretty quick read (the screens in this post accompanied my article, to show the difference in the 2 games' graphics).

But I couldn't believe how many people I heard from about the article. There was the usual comments, friends of mine that said they saw it and liked it. But there were a lot more meaningful responses as well. I got text messages from a couple of friends I hadn't talked to in a while, saying that they liked the article and were playing Guild Wars again. When someone takes a slug at WoW, all the closet-Guild Wars players come out of hiding and show themselves. I also got a couple of new Facebook friend requests from other Guild Wars players.

But of course, not everything was rainbows and sunshine. I had a lot of WoW fans coming up to me to argue the merits of their game, and many of them made good points. I had lunch today with an aquaintence while we discussed MMO's. He has played quite a few, including WoW, Everquest and Guild Wars, so his insight was welcome. He brought up some good points against Guild Wars, but also just as many against WoW.

Whether the responses were positive or negative, I was happy to get the topics out in public. I don't think we've ever had gaming related opinion pieces in the paper before, and I've never had so many conversations about online gaming in such a short amount of time. I'm just trying to do my part to bring this little hobby of ours to mainstream :)

Check out the article, and let me know what you think!

- Scott

P.N.03 - Fighting with Flair

So I just started playing PN o3, the unique third-person shooter from Capcom that came out exclusively on GameCube a few years back.

The game was part of the Campcom Five, a group of five high-profile Capcom games that were to come out exclusively on GameCube. Viewtiful Joe, Killer 7 and Resident Evil 4 were also part of this group, but those 3 all came out on PS2 later, making PN 03 the ONLY game from the Campcom Five to stay exclusive. The fifth game (dubbed Red Pheonix or something like that) was never completed.

The game is pretty crazy compared to most shooters. It does not focus much on your accuracy, as the auto-targetting is so strong there really is no skill involved there. It also doesn't allow for many changes in attack weaponry, so the skill doesn't lie there either. The tricky part is in learning how to dodge.

The girl in the game, Vanessa, moves around as if she is in the middle of some kind of techno-dance competition, but in a good way. Her jumps are exagerated and acrobatic, and make platform jumping actually kind of fun to watch. You will rely heavily on the L and R buttons, which dodge in the respective directions. These dodges go from shrugging to the side, to spinning out of the way, to doing sideways cartwheels. It can be fun for a while to dance back and forth, watching as your robotic enemies fire shot after shot without touching you. Capcom obviously put a lot of time into perfecting this dodging/acrobatic effect, and it turned out great.

Unfortunately, it seems from what time I've spent so far that this is the only mechanic that they delved into deeply. The level designs are repetitive squeaky-clean labs, the enemies are all some variety of security robot (they are cool robots, but still get boring after a while), which as a creative choice isn't bad, but as an AI choice is awful. The enemy AI is something you would have expected from an old computer game like Duke Nukem or something, its not even as engaging as shooters on the 64. The music is a bass-heavy techno mix, which pumps you up for about the first half hour of playing, but takes you no where after that.

Fortunately, the RPG elements and scoring system add a bit of challenge and reward to the mix. While the bots are sometimes painfully simplistic, this makes racing through a level for a time bonus more feasible. And building up points to buy new suits and power-ups adds a bit of excitement to keep you interested.

This game does some interesting things with the concept and the dodging mechanics. But at the end of the day, it is a slightly-below average game with only a few novel ideas to save it. This game is best in small doses, and at a cheap price.

- Scott

Game Design II

Wow! So I just had my first session with this class today, and I have to say it was awesome.

The course is run as if the class were a developing team, and the two instructors are the publishers. We are going to be graded at four milestones on how we have performed and whether we have reached our deadlines. This parodies how real development teams work; their publisher sets a milestone, at which time the developer shows what work they have accomplished, and if the publisher is satisfied they will continue to pay the developer for the next step of the process.

There are about 10-11 of us right now in the class, all of us with varying degress of skill and different areas of expertise. I've been pulled in for my writing/storytelling skills, my basic knowledge of the spanish language (much of the game is in spanish), and for general design and creativity.

The class is four hours long, but it went by so fast I wished it was longer. I repeat: I had a four hour course, no break, and I wanted it to be LONGER. For the vast majority of the class we just sat around in a computer lab giving progress reports, throwing ideas around and developing what we had started with. I caught on to what the project was pretty quickly, so it wasn't a problem that I joined late. I actually started to give my input and some new ideas within the first hour. I proposed a relationship meter for in the game, similar to what to the relationships with the gods in the upcoming title Rise of the Argonauts. I also helped out a bit with the story and believability of the game.

The idea of the game is pretty cool. On the most basic level, its an educational game designed to teach spanish. But that makes it sound lame, which it is not. It is a new type of educational game, called an immersive learning game. This means that gameplay and entertainment value are still high priorities, so it doesn't become a text-based or multiple-choice "game." The game will run on Source, Half-Life's engine, it will be played with Wii-motes and involve the appropriately silly Wii actions, and will utilize a brand-new virtual reality style mechanic.

This is going to be one kick-ass spanish learning game.

- Scott

Grocery Gamers

So I've been traveling back to college over the last few days, and yesterday I went to ShopRite to get food for the semester. I was paying for everything up front when I overheard a conversation about video games from the line next to me. I looked over to see the employee discussing his views on the new systems, but I couldn't figure out who he was talking to.

Then the women he is helping, who looked to be in her late 50's, starts bragging about how high her scores are in Wii Bowling. I was surprised at first to see who was discussing gaming, but I have been hearing more and more that the Wii is reaching new demographics.

The cashier went on to talk about his XBox 360, saying that it was mostly a system for FPS's. Perhaps he was just trying to validate the woman's choice in a system by saying she wouldn't have liked the 360. Maybe she wouldn't.

But I wouldn't say its just a system of shooters, it has a lot of other great offerings. But anyway, she went on to talk about different games on the Wii for a few minutes, swapping stories of tennis matches and other games with the cashier. She also asked the cashier about the PS3, and why she hadn't heard much about it since the launch. He told her that it was over-priced and a bad system, and that he was vehemently boycotting it.

This was a pretty interesting experience for me, especially after my conversation with my dentist. Gamers are everywhere and they are everyone. Even the guy cleaning your teeth or the old lady getting canned soup. Wii and other games are helping to break down barriers to make gaming really take over our country, even our world, as the dominant form of entertainment.

And I have to agree with the cashier: the PS3 isn't helping.

- Scott

Endless Battles in Middle-Earth

So I've been playing Battle for Middle-earth lately, still doing a lot of skirmishes as I try and hone my skills. In my first impressions of the game, I said I thought it would be hard: I was right.

My experience with Red Alert 2 did not prepare me for these drawn-out, viscious fights, nor the resourceful and strategic computer players featured in the skirmish mode. I realize now that BFME sets the stage for much longer, more epic, and more strategically difficult matches. When playing a large map with only 2 players, all of the other starting points or camps/castles are still in the game, only they are neutral. Added to these start points are expansion points, places where new 'Citadels' and structures can be built. In order to defeat the enemy, you must destroy all of their Citadels (so that they cannot repair/rebuild structures) and then all of their other buildings.

The easy computer players in BFME are like most of the comps in RA2, they don't know how to expand well, they don't know how to create back-up bases or safeguards for survival, and they don't know how to wage a prolonged, dirty fight. The medium computer players in BFME are not this simple.

The matches against the meds started out almost the same as the other matches, and I thought that a few slightly larger attacks, with new Trolls added, were all that I would see. So I organized a quick attack force, summoned some Ally armies, and moved in to wipe out the enemy. My attacking forces ran right into a pair of Oliphaunts coming my way, which effectively ruined my cavalry. Then I met with some of the new weather and special effects of the enemy, along with renewed assaults by Catapaults, Trolls & Oliphaunts. I still was faring fairly well, but then the level started shaking violenetly, and to my utter dismay, a massive Balrog erupted from the earth right next to my base. I lost that match, and badly.

But I like to think that I learn from my mistakes, and that I am a fast learner. So I did a few easy matches the following day to boost my confidence, then went after the medium again. This time would be different.

I expanded as fast as possible at the beginning, quickly covering the majority of the match. I tried to use these vast resources to churn out defenses, but the enemy managed to repeatedly destroy my forward outposts. I finally got my array of heroes and special skills/summoned armies ready, and moved in for the kill. But the enemy didn't die there.

I realized that while I had been finishing off his base, he had moved in force against my main base. When the Balrog joined in, my Gondor home-base was wiped out. I set up camp in what had been the enemy's base, and round 2 began. The battle raged on for almost three hours, during which the enemy completely wiped one of my bases at least five times. But I was using my Gandalf and summoned armies skillfully, to always stay a step ahead of the enemy. Every time they destroyed a base, I set up 2 new ones. I soon ran out of conventional forces and structures, and was using ONLY my heroes and summoned allies. In my bases I merely built defenses to slow down the enemy's progresss. I moved quickly, running Gandalf around, trying to conquer all of the expansion points so the enemy could have none.

Finally, after about 3 hours and a few thousand lost troops, I managed to destroy the enemy's last base. He was working on building another, for he had been copying my build and move on technique, but I was faster and had been gaining on him. I hadn't known this was his last base, I knew though that he was running low on potential hiding places.

I have to say, that victory was one of my proudest achievements in a video game in recent months. I earned that win, through quick-clicking, fast-thinking, adaptable reactions and a constantly evolving strategic plan. I think this game will keep me going for quite a while :)

- Scott

My Dentist on Gaming Coverage

So I just got back from a visit to the dentist, which was far more interesting than I would have expected.

My dentist, it turns out, plays World of Warcraft.

After asking me what my major was, we had launched into a conversation about American media. He thought that major newspapers and magazines were tending to be too one-sided or cliched, one example being their treatment of video games. He said that ever article about gaming in mainstream media is either about gaming causing violence or about Second Life. I agree.

I told him then what my ambition is: to write about gaming, from the perspective of a real gamer, for the masses. My dentist summed up my view exactly when he said that mainstream media does not offer anything of interest to gamers. All of their stories are either about anti-gaming crusades, or are some weak heartless stories about Halo 3 or Second Life, written by a reporter who obviously knows nothing about games.

I want to change that. I want to be a reporter who knows games, who plays them and loves them and reads about them, but can write about them for the general public. Imagine how many younger poeple the NYT could reach if it had a few gaming articles every week? And not just fluff articles or sales reports, but real articles that really examine the games and the industry. Getting just a couple gaming reporters to bolster the entertainment section could add considerably to papers' lagging sales. This is a demographic that journalists around the country are trying to reach.

It was really nice to hear an average, hardworking gamer like my dentist voice the same concerns and hopes that I feel. He also agrees with me that the biggest problem with gaming is not video game violence, but gaming addiction, especially with MMO's. My dentist played both Everquest and WoW, and has a friend who has succumbed to a life of fast-food and fatness because of his addiction to Second Life.

Everyone in America is playing games now, even dentists. So its time to acknowledge this evolution by really covering the gaming industry in mainstream media.

- Scott

Worst Shooter Ever?

I am sure that everyone out there has played some bad games in their lives - I have too - but I think this one took the cake.

It was an FPS, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. For those who don’t know the premise of the game, it is supposed to be a sequel/remake of sorts of Goldeneye (the old N64 favorite) except this time the player plays through the game as a bad guy. I haven’t played the missions, but the multi-player matches were enough to tell me that I never want to play this game again (unless I am delirious or drinking, in which case it might be funny). Where do I start…

The graphics on the game were so shoddy that I often couldn’t tell if I was shooting at a column or at an opponent. The level designs and lighting effects did not help. The first level we played was so dark that I often couldn’t see where I was going, what I was doing or who was shooting at me. The levels were often designed symmetrically, like one level we played in a basement with steam pipes. This meant that you could never tell which part of the level you were in, because they all looked the same. I was playing a team match, but I couldn’t even find my teammate, much less my enemies, in the confusing similar rooms.

With skilled use of radar, we could have still managed to find each other and fight, even though the levels, lighting and graphics were horrible. But to my utter dismay, the game didn’t have radar at all! I can’t think of ever playing a multi-player shooter that didn’t have radar. Even the original Goldeneye probably had radar, to navigate larger levels like the Bunker. I would often run right by enemies and not even know it, or mistake the enemy for my teammate, since the character models all looked so similar.

Again, this problem could have been negated somewhat with a decent targeting and crosshairs system. If my crosshairs had turned red when I aimed at my enemy, I wouldn’t have thought he was my teammate. But did it turn red? No, of course not. The crosshairs didn’t change at all between looking at different people and objects. The player’s name did show up, but I usually couldn’t remember which players were on my team at the time, what game names my cousins had used, or even read the small, cramped letters with the (again) bad lighting and graphics.

The crosshairs were also way too big and inaccurate (with a shotgun, they was as big as a person). While I understand that a gun might not be very accurate, and would thus have a large range of where it might hit, I should at least have the OPTION to have good aim. The crosshairs were so big that my entire enemy was within it, so I would try and guess whether or not the middle of the crosshairs was near his head or chest. It usually wasn’t. I had a lower hit percentage in this game than in any other game I have played in the last few years. Many of the the levels we played were small and had many cramped corridors and corners, meaning that our gunfights were usually at point-blank range. Point-blank gunfights where I still couldn’t hit the enemy, even with shotguns and machine guns.

The few times I DID manage to hit my enemy, I noticed that the damage/hit sensors were awful. I would shoot my enemy repeatedly in the face or back of the head, and the hits would do almost nothing. He would turn around and shoot me once or twice in the body, with the same exact gun, and I would die. The game seemed to have a reverse hit sensor; the better our aim, the more shots it took to kill the enemy.

When I was getting shot at, I often did not even realize it. It took me until the third match to realize that the strange dots I was seeing flashing on my screen were supposed to signify blood or sweat because I was under attack.

Then there were the guns themselves. The game tried to copy Halo’s formula, by only allowing 2 guns at a time, and allowing players to dual wield. The result is that when you run over a gun, two buttons show up, one to switch weapons, one to dual wield. But you wouldn’t know that was what they did unless someone told you. Dual wielding was possibly worse though, as the targeting system got even more difficult to hit with. The guns themselves were awful, simple designs and were nowhere near as effective as they should have been. I usually lost when I shot my enemies with shotguns at close range while they used pistols. The game also had 2 grenades for each player when they spawned, used similarly to in Halo. But the grenades bounced madly away in most cases, unless you managed to throw one directly at an opponent, in which case they exploded on impact. But it was almost impossible to get a direct hit, as the crappy crosshairs abandons you completely when trying to aim your grenades.

Then finally, there were the flukes. Those times when I would be running down an empty corridor and randomly explode. I would ask my cousins who had killed me, only to find out that none of them had even been shooting. Or the times that I shot someone with a pistol, and the first hit to their arm made THEM explode, causing them to fly across the level as if they’d been hit with a bazooka. There were the times where my character would randomly start crouching and un-crouching without my hitting any buttons. There were the times when I suddenly could shoot my teammate and kill him, but a minute later, in the same match, team attack would be off again.

I was hopelessly lost and frustrated throughout this entire game; I don’t even know if I won the matches or not. I recommend this game to absolutely no one. If you already purchased the game, try and get your money back, and may God have mercy on your souls.

- Scott

Online Gaming can Help

So Online Gaming gets a lot of crap from people. Whether its fellow gamers, parents or the media, it seems like everyone has an opinion on how evil MMO's can be. While I admit the games are addicting, and can become a problem (I had an addiction problem with Guild Wars) I also would like to speak out in defense of Online Gaming.

Last night I was in a very bad funk. For winter break I am home in Minnesota, about 1200 miles away from my girlfriend and all of my friends. And besides the loneliness of being out here, there were a lot of other problems going down last night. So my girlfriend suggests I go on Guild Wars and just kill some stuff, since she knows that I like to play the game. I hadn't really played in over a month, not since I "kicked the habit," but I decided to try it. So I went on and started talking to some people in one of the big towns. Two and a half hours later, I was still talking to people, hadn't killed a single thing, and was feeling better than I had in days.

I found what I needed in the game, both in terms of social interaction and feeling better about myself, to turn around one of my most serious bad moods in months. I talked to fellow gamers about Guild Wars, about other games that they liked to play, about friends and family, about job applications, game & business ethics, even my website. A few of the gamers added me to their friends list, a few said they'd check out my site to see my RA2 walkthrough (a lot of RA2 fans were on last night) and many wished me luck with my applications. It was nice to have good conversations with so many poeple.

Critics would say that I don't know any of these people in real life, and that this is false social interaction or an illusion of having friends. What is the difference really? I met new people, got to know them through talking to them about their ideas, their preferences and their hopes. I had good, serious conversations about life and about a passion we all share, gaming. While I may not have been able to see their faces, those are real people, and where ever they are in the world they were feeling the same way I was, happy to find a friend to talk to online, when they probably were missing their friends as much as I was. True, I don't know their real age or gender, they could have lied, but many of the gamers I talked to admitted to being in their 30's, their 40's, even one guy who was 59. People were honest, they were friendly, and we all benefited from the interaction. We took breaks from our conversations to give advice to some newer players who were confused, and to report some scammers and cheaters who tried to swindle poeple in our midst. So not only did we ourselves enjoy the night, we made the game a little more honest and a little more fun to play.

I may talk to some of those poeple again, I may not. But it makes no difference in proving the point. My "one night stand" conversations gave me new insight into a lot of aspects of my personal life and gaming life, and that is a real thing.

To add to the "feel good" feeling, I was giving away a lot of free items to newer players last night. I've achieved all of my goals of the items and levels I'd like to beat, so anything extra I get I really don't need. So I felt the satisfaction of being so content in the game that I could give away really good free items, and not feel the selfish need to keep them or sell them. I could be charitable to noobs. One newer player came up to me and admired my minipet, and said he wished he could get one but he'd never be able to afford one. I opened a trade with him, and to his surprise gave him a free pet. That really made his night, and made me feel good too.

So to all those who slam online gaming, for the amount of time players put in or for the "false" social interactions, back off. My time input pays off every time I can be charitable to people. It pays off every time I have a good conversation with people online. It paid off big time last night. Like with most things, a feel bad examples have tarnished the whole, and like most things, the whole really isn't bad. So if you're lonely and far from your friends, try some online gaming, it really can help.

- Scott

Battle for Middle-Earth: 1st Impressions

Wow, I just loaded this game last night, and I'm already a fan.

This definitely feels harder than the RTS games that I am used to, which are mainly in the Command & Conquer series. The lack of a Spy Sattelite or similar structure (which allowed a player to view the whole map in Red Alert 2) makes heading off different enemy units much more difficult. Even if you played the Soviets in RA2, you could still see any land you had uncovered. The less-revealing fog of war in this game adds significantly to the difficulty.

That said, I am quickly over-coming my lazy RA2 habits and getting used to the new combat. I've been exploring different types of units and attacks. Been doing mostly skirmishes so far (that's what these screenshots are from) until I get the hang of the controls and play style. Plus... the game keeps track of which maps you've "vanquished" and keeps stats and ranking on your skirmish profile. I have to say, I really wanted to hit rank 2 already today, so I cleared 5 maps of their Mordor armies.

I've included some screenshots of some of my favorite moves and tactics from my skirmishes. The cavalry charges are a lot of fun, it's amazing to see whole squads of enemy infantry go down under the hooves of your horsemen. Massive arrow storms were also pretty effective, especially if combined between archers, heroes and defensive towers (called Keeps). Summoned allies were pretty sweet as well, I beat one skirmish using almost solely my summoned armies. While the Rohan cavalry was strong, I favored the summoned Elven archers, they could mow down enemies at an alarming rate. And finally there were the heroes, with the godfather of them all, Gandalf. He cost 6000 resources to make, more than anything else in game, but starts out at Rank 5 and is already worth a small army by himself. His array of magical attacks were devastating, I had him take point when wiping out one of my enemy's bases.

I have yet to explore the missions in this game, and we'll see if I can find good competition online, but my first impression with BFME was good. It's tough, it's fast-moving and action-packed, it follows the franchise well, and best of all, it uses Howard Shore's amazing LotR soundtrack. I used to play Shore on my iTunes while I played Guild Wars; this game plays it for me!

- Scott

Halo 3: First Impressions

When it comes to Halo, it seems like people either love it or hate it.
I think I can officially say now: I am with the 'love its.'

But I understand where all of the controversy comes from. The game has gotten more attention, more hype, and more die-hard fans than any modern series I can think of. The reviews for the first installment were stellar, and I don't think the sequels have been much worse. So with so many people loving it, naturally the question everyone wants to answer is: why?

So you get the legions of skeptics, critics, competing developers, and that last group that I used to be in, those who don't own an X-Box and therefore hate to admit X-Box has good games.

After a lot of hands-on time with Halo 3, I have to say my views have changed. First of all, to all those afore-mentioned critics and skeptics, yes, it is over-rated. It is a great game, one of the best multiplayer shooters I have ever played, but it IS NOT THE ONLY GOOD GAME. The problem comes from gamers who buy or play nothing BUT Halo, who act like it is the ONLY game worth playing. It isn't.

That said, I'd like to fondly reminisce about the many hours I've recently spent with this game, and in the process help answer that nagging question the skeptics pose. Note that I do not own Halo 3, or an X-Box 360, so my experience is from playing on my cousin's system at family get-togethers. So if there are things I've missed, forgive me. But I 've played enough to see that Halo has managed to get almost everything right.

I love the fact that they incorporate the 'nades and the beat-downs so that they are a part of every fight. I don't think I played a single boring shoot-out, because there was always a lot of movement, 'nade throwing and dodging, and the possibility that if one of us got close enough we could beat the other guy down. It kept things VERY interesting. I recognized during the first block of time I had with the game (Thanksgiving break) how important nades were to each and every fight, so I worked a lot lately on this. I can say now that my nade placement is very good, it allowed me to beat my cousins in a lot of fire-fights where I had less health or inferior guns.

The beat-downs I haven't really gotten the hang of yet, the button placement to do them just doesn't work well for me. I used my brother this morning though as a test-dummy, he's too slow and inexperienced with shooters to be serious competition. So after practicing my beat-downs on him, I was able to use the technique more frequently during actual matches, and I think with more practice I'll get more used to it.

While I still haven't gotten good enough to beat my cousin who owns the game, I have improved drastically in the 4 or 5 days I got to play. I consistently get around 2/3 as many kills as he does, and I think I've passed up all my other cousins who don't own the game. I had a few close matches last night where I almost beat my cousin's team. I hope I can find more people at college to play with, until I can save up enough money to get a new system of my own.

But anyways, it's been an enjoyable couple of days that I've spent with the world's best-known shooter series.

- Scott

Red Alert 2 Replay

I just finished re-playing the Allied mission campaign on this game, it never gets old. It's like a fine wine that only gets better as the years pass.

What is it about this game that makes it so fun, so addicting, so good to replay again and again? Let's think...

• Well it has an awesome soundtrack for one, a great combination of machine sounds and rock music to get you pumped up no matter what the level.
  
• The satisfaction of building a massive strike force (shock and awe baby!) never gets old. Who can get bored while watching their 50 3-star veteran soldiers unload with their heavy machine guns, or while sending in four squadrons of planes to wipe out all of the enemy's production power in one fell swoop?
  
• The strategy, of course, is a big part of it. Position your Mirage Tanks to take out incoming infantry waves, Chronosphere a couple of veteran Prism Tanks behind enemy lines to wreak havoc, or fly some engineers in a Blackhack Chopper to take control of the enemies Nuclear Reactor on the hill.

• Finally, it has very different levels with different types of units and strategies needed to beat each level. And most importantly the levels are HARD!

The SEALs level really tests your finger-speed, reactions and strategy. The two island and water levels require a deep understanding of the units and their strengths and weaknesses. And don't even get me started on the final mission, where you must take out the Kremlin and the black Soviet forces. They took out my construction yard and all of my power plants, but I STILL managed to take them down. And with a dramatic flair, I might add.

Truly a satisfying game, again and again.

- Scott