EA and DICE graced us with a wonderful expansion to the Bad Company 2 (BC2) game on December 21st this year. We've been presented with an add on extension to the original game that is a stand alone online only multiplayer shooter based in Vietnam during the 1960s. This expansion pack is an incredible value ($15) for anyone who loves first person shooters (FPS) and already has a copy of BC2.
This expansion offers 5 full new maps that allow all games types to be played, they include Vietnam war era weapons, vehicles, music and characters. Playing the game I have flashbacks to such popular movies such as Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War. Stuff like this adds to the overall experience when playing.
I believe anyone who's tried this expansion has to give credit to the incredible art and design work DICE put into these game maps. They are amazingly detailed with lush jungle foliage, war torn landscapes, bunker and tunnels systems and more. One map in particular, which continues to amaze me is Hill 137. This map is made in memoriam of Hill 937, otherwise known as Hamburger Hill. My first experience w/ this map was playing a game of Rush as an attacker. Rush on this map consists of three checkpoints where the attacking team must destroy pairs of objectives. Our team spawns and has to find a way to trek up a steep jungle incline to the first set of objectives. The enemy is well entrenched w/ bunkers and foxholes to fully cover them as they await our assault. As the team confronts the enemy I notice a distance yet deep guttural bass sound in the background. I really don't know what it's from, but I will soon find out. Our team manages to come together and overtake the objectives, which opens up the map for further play. Now, in my first experience of this map, I was actually a gunner on a patrol boat off in the distance and was not hoofing it by foot around the bases. When the second set of objectives opened up, we took our boat around a bend and turned to look at the most amazing map scenery I've ever experienced in a game like this. The entire view in front of us was completely scorched Earth. The entire hillside is a mess or black charred dirt, sporadic fires are burning where bush, trees, or other objects had once remained along w/ charred embers floating through the air. As I take note of all this I see the jets fly overhead along w/ their screeching engines. From this I realize where that earlier booming bass sound was from. These jets are only ambient background, but they are flying over our heads to the background and dropping napalm bombs. An enormous yellow cloud billows up as the mountains side behind us disappears into a flaming could. It's just awesome. Sadly, I think most of the footsoldiers continuing on the attack would miss most of this since they are traversing a number of trench or tunnel systems to reach the enemy camp and likely are keeping their heads down to avoid fire. It was pretty cool though watching the firefight ensue at a distance from the water, and somewhat safety of a patrol boat, as our team hit the enemy head on. I don't recall if our team actually won on this map in the end, but it is a tough fight.
DICE designed these maps and weapons to formulate close quarters combat and more battle chaos, but its is intensely fun. A number of choke points are created on purpose in maps which can really be frustrating, but when a team comes together it is an exciting feat. The game play definitely took me a while to get used to even with my extensive time in the standard BC2 gaming. I believe a lot of it stems on the fact that you're gunning with basic iron sites on all weapons besides the sniper rifles. The lack of scope and the different jungle environments with choke points can really shake up your game play. After burning through the pain of adapting, I fully enjoy this game and love to play it.
The other maps in this game are incredible in their own ways. Each has varying vehicle options and terrain to master as you cross the map. Its a great experience and one you should definitely share with friends as teammates, or foes if you like.
Again, I have to stress my favor to the battlefield series of games for the incredibly dynamic FPS gameplay. The Call of Duty series has really taken the FPS world by storm. It is simplistic shooter than any player can pick up and run with, but in the end it works as an extremely fast paced run and gun individual focused game. Battlefield can be done the same, but its likely that player won't last long or gain much in terms of team awards or wins. If you have BC2 and enjoyed it in the past, this is a must buy for you.
Battlefield 4 Stats Graphic
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Controller Mods
I was recently introduced to a crazy looking controller mod from a friend. It's called the Avenger Controller and at first glance honestly looks ridiculous. What is this thing and how in the world does it work?
It's a very intriguing design, and I'm sure there is a learning period where you have to retrain your fingers to make new movements, but I bet it makes for incredible reaction time in games once you master it. As I considered if I would really want to buy one of things something pretty big came to mind. Since Bad Company 2 is my preferred shooter and I've spent a good number of hours playing it online, I have noticed that there can be quite a bit of controller lag in game. If there is an intense moment in the action, and I decided to flip among primary, secondary and power weapon, cycling through all the buttons may not actually show the reactions I desire on screen. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Looking it over a for a while just based on the images from the website, I came to figure out that this contraption is modifying both your left and right trigger buttons, but is also adding quick action levers to all your major buttons as well, X, Y, A, & B. If you look up any reference videos from the site or navigate to youtube, you can get a better glance at how it all functions.
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| Avenger Controller |
It's a very intriguing design, and I'm sure there is a learning period where you have to retrain your fingers to make new movements, but I bet it makes for incredible reaction time in games once you master it. As I considered if I would really want to buy one of things something pretty big came to mind. Since Bad Company 2 is my preferred shooter and I've spent a good number of hours playing it online, I have noticed that there can be quite a bit of controller lag in game. If there is an intense moment in the action, and I decided to flip among primary, secondary and power weapon, cycling through all the buttons may not actually show the reactions I desire on screen. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
I am still intrigued by them and would like to consider picking up a set. One thing I noticed though is you can only order through the manufacturers website and it seems like they have 2 month backlog or lead time. That doesn't seem fair as a consumer to have to put up with that.
One controller mod I currently use for all gaming are the Kontrol Freak thumb extensions called "FPS Freak." These little bad boys are a simple pad extender you put on top of your standard controller thumb pads. This essentially helps the player get better leverage and can therefore create finer movements thus improving your accuracy. They are a cheap add on at only $10-13. Kontrol Freak also makes a product called "Speed Freak" which is used racing games. These thumb pads create a cradle like cushion to help the user keep their thumbs contained and controlled.
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| Kontrol Freak - FPS Freak |
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| Kontrol Freak - Speed Freak |
Controller mods like this are pretty cool to me b/c you're just enhancing the controller and players abilities, but it is all manual and at the control of the user. If you go and buy 3rd party controllers w/ modifications built in such as slow motion or rapid fire are pretty cheap and don't work in all games.
Are there any other cool and functional controller mods out there people know of that I can check out? Any leg up on the competition is a good thing right? Keep that K/D going strong.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Xbox Live and PSN Reward Programs
Last week Microsoft released their Xbox Live Rewards program. So far, it just feels like more of a space filler and promotion to keep Xbox and Xbox Live in the headlines for the holidays, but I think this has some serious potential for Microsoft and its loyal gamers.
Not to skip on Sony, as they also have announced a rewards program, but their system is in a beta status currently and the majority of its gamers are still waiting to hear updates on details and a launch date. Their beta actually opened in late October, but it didn't come out guns blazing and has been pretty quiet, even with MS going live with their program.
When you visit the link to http://rewards.xbox.com you can view the different ways you can earn points on your account through specific account level activities. Its a nice set up for the kick off of this program rewarding gamers for doing some simple tasks such as signing up or renewing a gold membership, purchasing an item from the Xbox Marketplace, or even just activating and using Netflix on their Xbox console.
I'm sure many gamers, including myself, had hoped a system would be put in place where we get rewards for not just the list above, but even better things such as just gaming in general. As there is already an established community of gamers chasing achievements and gamerscore, there have been discussions and hopes that gamers would be rewarded for these things as well. Wouldn't it be cool if you were a loyal gamer to a specific publisher and when you amassed 100% completion on 3 games you were awarded 400 MS points? This is just a simple thought, but I'm sure many players have had that thought at some point. It could happen one day with publishers collaborating with Microsoft to work this out. Until then though, we have the U-play reward system from Ubisoft and now the Microsoft Xbox Rewards.
As Sony is 2nd to the table for a rewards program, they can at least see what Microsoft is offering and possibly come up with something new and better to trump Xbox Rewards. Sony is in an interesting position and I would not consider it to be a bad one.
What would readers of this blog and gamers like to see in a rewards program?
Not to skip on Sony, as they also have announced a rewards program, but their system is in a beta status currently and the majority of its gamers are still waiting to hear updates on details and a launch date. Their beta actually opened in late October, but it didn't come out guns blazing and has been pretty quiet, even with MS going live with their program.
When you visit the link to http://rewards.xbox.com you can view the different ways you can earn points on your account through specific account level activities. Its a nice set up for the kick off of this program rewarding gamers for doing some simple tasks such as signing up or renewing a gold membership, purchasing an item from the Xbox Marketplace, or even just activating and using Netflix on their Xbox console.
I'm sure many gamers, including myself, had hoped a system would be put in place where we get rewards for not just the list above, but even better things such as just gaming in general. As there is already an established community of gamers chasing achievements and gamerscore, there have been discussions and hopes that gamers would be rewarded for these things as well. Wouldn't it be cool if you were a loyal gamer to a specific publisher and when you amassed 100% completion on 3 games you were awarded 400 MS points? This is just a simple thought, but I'm sure many players have had that thought at some point. It could happen one day with publishers collaborating with Microsoft to work this out. Until then though, we have the U-play reward system from Ubisoft and now the Microsoft Xbox Rewards.
As Sony is 2nd to the table for a rewards program, they can at least see what Microsoft is offering and possibly come up with something new and better to trump Xbox Rewards. Sony is in an interesting position and I would not consider it to be a bad one.
What would readers of this blog and gamers like to see in a rewards program?
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Ubisoft's View of Ancient Rome
I wanted to put out a quick blog post this holiday weekend about something that came to mind in the many hours I've spent playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (ACB).
This game focuses its story primarily in Rome, Italy in the year 1499. Side note, past Assassin's Creed games have spanned different cities or regions of ancient cultures and countries. What I've noticed, though, through playing ACB is that as I tour the city, I see where the modern buildings for 1499 are built among the ancient ruins. As an example, there are standing Roman columns, or what is left of them, scattered about the city along with the large moments that still stand in the modern city today in 2010. You can travel out of the cluster of homes of the metropolis area and out in the larger ancient structures or tombs. It's quite fun and interesting.
Having visited Rome a few times in my world travels of the past, I recall hitting the major destinations and observing their condition and relation the rest of the city. Having this in mind and then playing the game I just found it intriguing that people of 1499 would have built their homes around the ancient ruins instead of just fixing the old structures or tearing them down completely. Along with this, the game has what looks like small farms and pastures and vineyards all within the city walls. My world history is about as good as our US schools have provided but I don't recall cities building farms within their walls, I thought they were typically outside such things.
In any case, I thought it was very interesting that Ubisoft built Rome to function and look the way it does in game. Did they consult w/ historians, complete historical research, or did they just take a tour of Rome and build an imaginary civilization based on that? Either way, I find it pretty incredible and, if its accurate, I think a game like this is an excellent way to help students understand how ancient cultures lived. Has anyone else played this game or series and have thoughts?
By the way, I'm REALLY enjoying this game. I had mentioned I was on the fence about it, but the single player has me roped in and is worth the cost alone. The multiplayer is very exciting, and I had issues at first, but now that I've got the gameplay down its great. The online feature would definitely be fun to play w/ a group of friends for sure.
This game focuses its story primarily in Rome, Italy in the year 1499. Side note, past Assassin's Creed games have spanned different cities or regions of ancient cultures and countries. What I've noticed, though, through playing ACB is that as I tour the city, I see where the modern buildings for 1499 are built among the ancient ruins. As an example, there are standing Roman columns, or what is left of them, scattered about the city along with the large moments that still stand in the modern city today in 2010. You can travel out of the cluster of homes of the metropolis area and out in the larger ancient structures or tombs. It's quite fun and interesting.
Having visited Rome a few times in my world travels of the past, I recall hitting the major destinations and observing their condition and relation the rest of the city. Having this in mind and then playing the game I just found it intriguing that people of 1499 would have built their homes around the ancient ruins instead of just fixing the old structures or tearing them down completely. Along with this, the game has what looks like small farms and pastures and vineyards all within the city walls. My world history is about as good as our US schools have provided but I don't recall cities building farms within their walls, I thought they were typically outside such things.
In any case, I thought it was very interesting that Ubisoft built Rome to function and look the way it does in game. Did they consult w/ historians, complete historical research, or did they just take a tour of Rome and build an imaginary civilization based on that? Either way, I find it pretty incredible and, if its accurate, I think a game like this is an excellent way to help students understand how ancient cultures lived. Has anyone else played this game or series and have thoughts?
By the way, I'm REALLY enjoying this game. I had mentioned I was on the fence about it, but the single player has me roped in and is worth the cost alone. The multiplayer is very exciting, and I had issues at first, but now that I've got the gameplay down its great. The online feature would definitely be fun to play w/ a group of friends for sure.
Friday, November 19, 2010
U-Play and an Achievement Reward System
For any of you gamers who've played an Ubisoft published game in the past year, I assume you are familiar with the system they've established for their games called U-play. For those of you unfamiliar with U-play, it is essentially a reward system for achieving specific milestones in game.
I first came across U-play when I bought Assassin's Creed 2 (AC2) last year when it launched. I believe all Ubisoft games created since late 2009 will have this system in place. It would be interesting if Ubisoft also released updates to allow older games U-play access.
When a gamer loads up his game, at the main menu, an option will be presented that directs the player to the online U-play servers. From here a new menu is displayed where the user can navigate among challenges, rewards, shopping and profile options. U-play is still in Beta mode, so a number of menu options have place holders but do not seem to be functional currently. In the past year I've played to excellent Ubisoft games: Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction. Both games were supported by U-play and had very good in game rewards. For each of those games, logging into the U-play dashboard I was able to see that each game had at least 4, if not 5 challenges for me to pursue. There is a points value listed next to each challenge, plus your points balance will show any residual points you may have from another game. All games challenges are cumulative, so earning points for AC2, I can still cash in those points for Splinter Cell or any other game U-play supports, so that is a bonus as well.
On the rewards menu, there can be a variety of choices. For AC2, some of these included a new Xbox Dashboard theme, in game attire for Ezio, weapon upgrades and extra playable game content. Similarly for Splinter Cell, weapons and game modes were unlockable. Each game's challenge points will tally the total # of points required to unlock all rewards for that game if you desire. A couple of challenges I completed and didn't cash in left me with 70 points which I just used last night to unlock some attire and weapons for my newly acquired Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. I'm looking forward to diving into that game.
So, it has only been about a year, and honestly, I don't recall much of any media or press around U-play. However, I think it would be an excellent idea for Sony and Microsoft to consider a reward system for its hardcore gamers who dedicate so much time and effort to completing challenges and playing games. Reward suggestions can be avatar unlocks for Xbox or Playstation home, it can be dashboard themes to apply to your console, or it can possibly even accrue enough to unlock entire downloadable games.
Does anyone know of other game reward systems available today? Any thoughts or suggestions to enhance U-play? I think its a great system and a definite model to build on top of.
I first came across U-play when I bought Assassin's Creed 2 (AC2) last year when it launched. I believe all Ubisoft games created since late 2009 will have this system in place. It would be interesting if Ubisoft also released updates to allow older games U-play access.
When a gamer loads up his game, at the main menu, an option will be presented that directs the player to the online U-play servers. From here a new menu is displayed where the user can navigate among challenges, rewards, shopping and profile options. U-play is still in Beta mode, so a number of menu options have place holders but do not seem to be functional currently. In the past year I've played to excellent Ubisoft games: Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction. Both games were supported by U-play and had very good in game rewards. For each of those games, logging into the U-play dashboard I was able to see that each game had at least 4, if not 5 challenges for me to pursue. There is a points value listed next to each challenge, plus your points balance will show any residual points you may have from another game. All games challenges are cumulative, so earning points for AC2, I can still cash in those points for Splinter Cell or any other game U-play supports, so that is a bonus as well.
On the rewards menu, there can be a variety of choices. For AC2, some of these included a new Xbox Dashboard theme, in game attire for Ezio, weapon upgrades and extra playable game content. Similarly for Splinter Cell, weapons and game modes were unlockable. Each game's challenge points will tally the total # of points required to unlock all rewards for that game if you desire. A couple of challenges I completed and didn't cash in left me with 70 points which I just used last night to unlock some attire and weapons for my newly acquired Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. I'm looking forward to diving into that game.
So, it has only been about a year, and honestly, I don't recall much of any media or press around U-play. However, I think it would be an excellent idea for Sony and Microsoft to consider a reward system for its hardcore gamers who dedicate so much time and effort to completing challenges and playing games. Reward suggestions can be avatar unlocks for Xbox or Playstation home, it can be dashboard themes to apply to your console, or it can possibly even accrue enough to unlock entire downloadable games.
Does anyone know of other game reward systems available today? Any thoughts or suggestions to enhance U-play? I think its a great system and a definite model to build on top of.
Friday, November 12, 2010
COD Black Ops and your First Person Shooters
This week the world bowed to the release of Call of Duty Black Ops. The game was released on 11/09/2010 and so far has had an outstanding turnout in sales. Day 1 sales measured 5.6 million copies sold equating to around $310 million dollars. News on top of the sales and marketing figures stated that within the first 24 hours of release over 2.8 million players were playing online across all gaming platforms. Xbox Live did top out the highest number of users around 2.1M users (source: http://tinyurl.com/25yutes).
As I’ve proclaimed before, Bad Company 2 is my choice of shooter. I’ve yet to pick up or play Medal of Honor and I have not yet tried Black Ops. I do plan to try them at some point, but I won’t be spending much time online with them. I may have changed w/ time and age, but I just can’t keep up with more than a handful of shooters at once. The market is flooded with options, and a few stand out, but if you’re a hardcore or dedicated gamer, it is too much work to play all of the games and work your way through the ranks and online in game awards such as new guns, perks, etc.
So Black Ops has been released, has great critic and user reviews and Activision and Treyarch are rolling in more cash than a movie studio. I’ve heard more good things about the campaign for Black Ops than online play. On the surface, the online play seems to be more of the same, just new maps, new perks, and some in game features. For those who loved MW2 I’m sure this is a great refreshing way to get back into the game. However, it’s only been a year since MW2 came out, so there must be a pool of people who weren’t ready and love MW2 for all it is, but the sales definitely don’t reflect that.
I’m not against the COD series, I’ve enjoyed it in the past. I’m personally getting tired of it. The game stories do pull me in, so I will try to find time to borrow or rent both Black ops and MOH, but like I said the online has no appeal to me, for a number of reasons. When I last played MW2, it was quite fun, yet always frustrating. Within the first minute of action someone on the enemy team, or my own, would have attained a kill streak and then came the non stop air attack bombardments. At times you had harriers, C130s, attack choppers, UAV missiles, and maybe a stationary drone gun dropped off. It just seemed like endless chaos. I’m getting old and I guess slow, but I wasn’t adapting well to it. I like more strategy and teamwork, but COD had me feel like run and gun the whole time. It doesn’t help that the maps made be claustrophobic, as the small space for so many players and weapons really cramps you up at times.
Bad Company 2 makes up for all those issues I wasn’t liking in MW2 and what I assume will exist in Black Ops. Bigger maps, a full arsenal of vehicles, and a class system the promotes teamwork and strategy. On top of all that we have some fun game modes such as Rush. I can never seem to get enough of Rush and wish more BC2 maps had that mode available.
As a gamer going into the holiday there are many shooter options. Halo reach, any Call of Duty game, the Battlefield series top the charts along with Medal of Honor, the new comer. What else are people playing for FPS is not any of these top rated games?
Friday, November 5, 2010
Microsoft Kinect, is it for you?
Microsoft released its new product “Kinect” this week and big things are expected for it. Microsoft hopes to sell 5 Million units this year and is banking on its large $200M investment on advertising and promoting it.
I was able to get a hands on demo of the hardware and some of the games that you can buy and play for it today. I can easily say that from the limited experience I had with it, I really enjoyed it. However, I’ve played Wii and usually always enjoyed that as well. Overall, I feel the Kinect is coming into the ‘interactive’ gaming space quite late but Sony just released their product as well. Maybe you can think of these products kind of like how our mobile service providers work. There is a large pool of targeted users you know exist, so you want to claim as many of those users as yours. The race at first was to get your product into everyone’s hands and keep the “new user” adoption rate in your favor. However, once every user finally has a product, you must then shift your focus to snatching users away from competition. For mobile phone companies you can see how users are cannibalized by competitors deals either for pricing or phones. In this analogy w/ Kinect, I think with Nintendo’s domination of the gaming market for the Wii, that market is likely tapped out. Kinect will appeal to Microsoft fans in general, may appeal to those who are completely bored w/ Nintendo’s gaming line up and anyone who is looking to just try something new.
First off, Kinect is fairly priced. It won’t cost you an arm and leg to get the add on camera system and Microsoft plus their retail partners have put together a bundle for the holidays. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see retailers dropping prices and creating their own in store bundles to pull people in on Black Friday or other big shopping days as the year closes out.
I will give my review and some advice on things to think about if you’re looking to pick up Kinect this holiday season. I was able to sample a few bits of each of the games that were released this week w/ the Kinect. To start off I tried Kinect adventures. This game was well made and fun, but overall it is quite childish. Kids will love it since it definitely is a game that fits an energetic and imaginative person. It was fun to play and even compete with friends for the best scores or to work together as your river raft goes down the rapids, but for my style of gaming, this appeal wore off quick. I personally need more depth. This game would be great for when friends come over and you want some entertainment for a bit, it is also something you plop kids down in front of and let them go wild. Another game I sampled was Dance Central. This is just how it looks and honestly it is fun. If you like dancing it is a definite, and if you aspire to dance at all, then this can work for you. However, keep this in mind, there was only one song available on the demo I played so I’m not sure how the overall game soundtrack is or what playing it for hours on end will be like. Its if like rockband, then you can definitely get your money’s worth. Kinect Sports only had volleyball available on the demo and truthfully that was my favorite game we played. I’ve loved Wii sports and all the different game types like it, but there was just something more to Kinect sports. For the volleyball game it was great to NOT have to hold anything in your hand, kinda like how you would play volleyball in real life. It was neat to step up to the net, sort of, then jump and swat at the ball as it came down. The swat and jump motion were both captured by the game, so my character mimic’d my movements. It was awesome. As for the wii, I know it captures your swing, but can it catch you jumping? The final game we played was Kinect Joy Ride. This is a racing type game and was interesting in how you control and play, but worked quite well. I used to be a big fan of racing games, but have since placed my gaming emphasis on shooters and adventures. This game was quite fun, but the demo only had one track and we played this game at the very end of our session so we kinda ran through it quick. It is neat to hold your hands up like they are gripping a steering wheel and then pretending to drive. The game itself was quite simplistic, but had an added battle portion to the racing where you can attack players in front or behind you.
A few things to keep in mind if you’re looking to get Kinect for yourself or as a gift. #1 – Space. This is not the wii, this is full body motion capture. The games are fun and you will get excited and you will be moving around. This is more than a step left or step right. You might go leaping you might…dive? Well, either way, if you’re an apt or condo dweller, space is key and also think of your neighbors. If drumming on Rockband bothered people, then banging on the floor, walls, etc will only infuriate them more. #2 – Camera recognition. The camera system has a key area where it can recognize you. When playing if you move out of this zone it will notify you, which is great. The camera can recognize more than one person and may even have voice recognition (I did not test that feature). However, if you’re gaming and large pet or small child walks nearby, the game may get mixed up. I guess that is not a big deal, but it happens you know. The cameras can detect your large body parts, but it cannot detect your fingers. So finger motions or positions are just one stumpy hand to the game. Maybe in the future they can upgrade the detection tech. #3 - Gamerstyle. I still don't see motion sensing games as being something hardcore gamers will get into. They are a nice break and can involve anyone interested in gaming, but I won't be buying this myself anytime soon. I prefer my hardcore games for all the offer and the depth provided. The motion sensing games appeal to the mass audience so they lack that quality. I am interested in using Kinect primarily as a hands free way to navigate through the Xbox dashboard, but it ends up that sitting on the couch won't fly, unless you happen to have the camera aimed directly at your sitting spot, and even then the navigation can be awkward.
So, overall its a great value and lots of fun and works really well for easy gaming. If anyone you know gets it for Christmas, I highly recommend checking it out. I look forward to seeing new enhancements and game additions to the library.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Gears of War 2, A Serious Time Commitment (or waste)
This past weekend Epic games held an XP event for Gears of War II (GOW II). This game is coming up on its 2 yr anniversary from its release in November 2008. To keep activity going online until GOW 3 is released a year from now, the staff at Epic has been hosting XP events to help players boost their levels up in order to reach the top rank of 100.
I spent probably 12 hours this whole weekend gaming in solely in GOW II. 3 hours Friday, 7 on Saturday and 2 yesterday, at least. You may gawk and wonder why, so do I. To add on to this and make it worse, I’ve been playing this game off and on since it was released. Total, I’m sure I’ve amassed over 500 hours playing this game. As of Sunday night, when I finally shut down the Xbox, I was at rank 96. I still have 4 more ranks to go to the top rank of 100.
My final two missing achievements:
Veteran Gear - 75 G - Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the 4 Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only)
Seriously 2.0 - 50G - Kill 100,000 enemies (in any mode)
A gamer needs a total of 6,825,825 points to reach level 100. The progression scale for this game is not linear its more of an exponential multiplier. My current score is somewhere around 6,186,400. It’s a guess, but I noticed my progression bar was close to ¾ of the way towards level 97 last I played. In any case you can see I still need more than 600K points to reach the top level. A player's efforts benefit from a few things including 1)your game type you’re playing 2)your personal performance and 3)whether your team wins will help decide your final point tally for that game. On average, as a rough guess, a player may earn 1000 points per game. An average game may take 15-20 minutes. With all this in mind, playing the game on its normal XP set up, it would likely take me 200 more hours of game There is an excellent calculator online here: http://www.markwillis.co.uk/gow2exp/. According to this site, if I played a few matches a week and averaged 12,000 points a week even being rank 96, it would take me over a year to complete the rank progression to reach level 100.
Once, if ever I finish the Veteran Gear achievement I still have to tackle Seriously 2.0. For this I have to reach 100,000 kills in any game mode. My current kill count is just around 17550 kills. 2 years of gaming and over 500 hours, and I’m not even ¼ of the way to 100,000. It's probably a pipe dream that I would ever spend the time to complete that one.
This blog post ties to my last blog one, bad game design. Although achievements are afterthoughts in most game designs, these two achievements are RIDICULOUS! With all the options for gaming and things to do in the world, plus the fact that the average gamer is 32 years old, who in their right mind would spend this much time chasing these achievements (sigh). It's been noted that less than 2% of the Gears of War population have achieved either one of the achievements mentioned in this post. It’s a pretty ridiculous ask of a gamer but truly, maybe this was their plan the whole time. Is that even fair?
I hope like hell no other games coming out in the future tax gamers like this. I’ve know other similar achievements exist for a number of other games out there, so good luck to anyone chasing them down as well.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Red Dead Redemption and DLC
Rockstar San Diego released a big chunk of downloadable content (DLC) for their hit game Red Dead Redemption (RDR) this week. The DLC is called the "Undead Nightmare" and is a campaign extension of the original game. Its kinda funny to me that they released this, because who would really think of adding zombies to an old west style game, but I was intrigued about it and I really enjoyed the original game so how odd could it be?
First off, I want to rant on Microsoft for a minute, which will take away from the game discussion. The DLC was released 10/25, and I was eager to check out reviews and grab it because Microsoft is offering an 800 point rebate this month if you spend 2400 points in the month of October. So, once the reviews looked solid I jumped over to the Xbox.com marketplace, looked up the game, and BAM, bought the Undead pack and had it queued up to download to my Xbox. Whoa, wait, what is this? As I feel excited about the purchase I just made, I see there is an item on the webpage that looks just like "Undead Nightmare" but it has the word Bundle next to it. WTH! 1600 points and you can buy this bundle which will give you all the games past DLC. Dammit! So, anyway, yeah I tried every avenue I could think of to reach Microsoft about this bundle and see if I could refund my money so I would then go buy the bundle. Microsoft just pushed their Xbox Live policy on DLC and said "sorry, no way." It is a bit odd and unfortunate to me that no one, Microsoft, Rockstar, nor the media had announced anything about this bundle. In the end, I wanted all that content (to play and for achievements) so I ended up getting the bundle anyway. I now have an extra Undead Nightmare pack I'm not using and haven't downloaded.
That was a bit longer than I expected, so back to the game. I really enjoy RDR for a number of reasons, which I won't really dive into on this blog post. For me though, if you want to game and just kinda waste time but not totally be bored, why not play the free roam? Free roam offers quite a lot, but the real benefit and enjoyment is forming a posse with friend, or randoms in the game, and doing adventures, or going hunting, etc.
A number of my friends who bought this game didn't really even utilize the online free roam. They bought the game for the campaign, finished it and then sold it off. Most of them did this within a month or two after the game was released. I really think they should have held onto it because after trying out all the content in the bundle I think it adds a lot more to the experience, plus my posse of 10 is now, at best, likely to be a posse of 4 if everyone is online together!
I must say though, the DLC that was released for this game is both genius and yet also not cool. For instance, the first DLC released was free for all users and included new coop game modes where up to 4 people could play together. The next pack released was $10 and included a new weapon and just a bunch of character outfits. Why would I pay for that? The 2nd DLC pack that came out added more character outfits but also added new game types and free roam adventures. This is definitely worth $10 to anyone who is a fan of the game and will continue to play it, so I see value there. Finally we have this campaign expansion of the undead. This was also $10 as a standalone pack, and it is well worth the cost for the quantity of gameplay plus a few multiplayer additions. Comparing this expansion add on to the GTA IV series though, this pack comes cheaper and offers just as much content. I guess I'm just confused at how Rockstar figured their DLC pricing vs what the gamers were really getting. The bundle for 1600 and all the DLC is genius and a nice treat, but it had been announced prior to the day of release.
First off, I want to rant on Microsoft for a minute, which will take away from the game discussion. The DLC was released 10/25, and I was eager to check out reviews and grab it because Microsoft is offering an 800 point rebate this month if you spend 2400 points in the month of October. So, once the reviews looked solid I jumped over to the Xbox.com marketplace, looked up the game, and BAM, bought the Undead pack and had it queued up to download to my Xbox. Whoa, wait, what is this? As I feel excited about the purchase I just made, I see there is an item on the webpage that looks just like "Undead Nightmare" but it has the word Bundle next to it. WTH! 1600 points and you can buy this bundle which will give you all the games past DLC. Dammit! So, anyway, yeah I tried every avenue I could think of to reach Microsoft about this bundle and see if I could refund my money so I would then go buy the bundle. Microsoft just pushed their Xbox Live policy on DLC and said "sorry, no way." It is a bit odd and unfortunate to me that no one, Microsoft, Rockstar, nor the media had announced anything about this bundle. In the end, I wanted all that content (to play and for achievements) so I ended up getting the bundle anyway. I now have an extra Undead Nightmare pack I'm not using and haven't downloaded.
That was a bit longer than I expected, so back to the game. I really enjoy RDR for a number of reasons, which I won't really dive into on this blog post. For me though, if you want to game and just kinda waste time but not totally be bored, why not play the free roam? Free roam offers quite a lot, but the real benefit and enjoyment is forming a posse with friend, or randoms in the game, and doing adventures, or going hunting, etc.
A number of my friends who bought this game didn't really even utilize the online free roam. They bought the game for the campaign, finished it and then sold it off. Most of them did this within a month or two after the game was released. I really think they should have held onto it because after trying out all the content in the bundle I think it adds a lot more to the experience, plus my posse of 10 is now, at best, likely to be a posse of 4 if everyone is online together!
I must say though, the DLC that was released for this game is both genius and yet also not cool. For instance, the first DLC released was free for all users and included new coop game modes where up to 4 people could play together. The next pack released was $10 and included a new weapon and just a bunch of character outfits. Why would I pay for that? The 2nd DLC pack that came out added more character outfits but also added new game types and free roam adventures. This is definitely worth $10 to anyone who is a fan of the game and will continue to play it, so I see value there. Finally we have this campaign expansion of the undead. This was also $10 as a standalone pack, and it is well worth the cost for the quantity of gameplay plus a few multiplayer additions. Comparing this expansion add on to the GTA IV series though, this pack comes cheaper and offers just as much content. I guess I'm just confused at how Rockstar figured their DLC pricing vs what the gamers were really getting. The bundle for 1600 and all the DLC is genius and a nice treat, but it had been announced prior to the day of release.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Annoying Game designs
I spent some time going playing an old game last week, Gears of War. I'm playing it because back when I first tried it out a few years ago I didn't really know or care for the achievement system, so I'm making up for it now. I also enjoy the Gears of War story, so this is like a refresher. Going through the campaign story again on insane in coop mode has been fun, but what I've noticed the most in the game are wha seems to be painfully bad design choices made regarding the game.
The stuff I'm going to rant about in this post exists in many games. These issues just happen to really bug me as I worked with a friend to replay the game and chase old achievements. Let's start with one of the most painful and annoying ones, cut scenes. In general I'm a fan of the cut scenes. They add to the game, if you're really interested in the story, and can show some excellent computer generated graphic detail. However, if you're playing a portion of the game and have difficulty with it, such as dying over and over again, a mandatory cut scene that you can't skip, you can only play for so long before you want rip you hair out. Unfortunately, in Gears of War playing through on insane difficulty, we ran into this issue quite a bit. This also leads into a second annoying design, checkpoints.
Checkpoints are supposed to be your saving grace, and help a player through their domination of the game's campaign. However, I'm not sure if game designers built the checkpoints based on normal difficulty in play through because when playing certain sections of the game, on its hardest difficulty, it is amazing what little things can ruin your enthusiasm to continue. Again, playing Gears of War with my friend, it seemed we would run into these long stretches of action in the game that were difficult to cope with, and we would end up restarting at the last checkpoint.. Even as we progressed through that section, one of us would die only to find out we had to completely restart the whole segment. Adding to the pain, imagine a long segment preceded by a cut scene, TORTURE!! Yes, definitely, not fun. So, the checkpoints become an issue if there are not enough, or if they are poorly spaced in the game.
Other thoughts for annoying game design can be music. Some games make AMAZING music, for instance Martin O'Donnell of Bungie. I own every Halo soundtrack he's made and I love them all. In fact, I recently came across a website listing tour dates and locations as a traveling symphony (http://www.videogameslive.com/) visits many worldwide locations specifically playing the music from popular games. However, even with these genius music creations, there's the share of experience in gaming with music that may be close to listening to fingernails running down a chalkboard. Granted, the game music may not start out that way, but tack on those annoying un-skippable cut scenes and lack of checkpoints hitting you in the face over and over, and your tolerance for anything will drop like the price of a poorly marketed or unpopular game (aka: Bayonetta, Kane & Lynch 2).
Typically, I think if you follow a game that is in a series, you will see the game designers build off the community feedback and be cognizant of what gamers want out of the next game. However, it is the year 2010 and gaming has been around for over 30 years. We still find games that have nasty annoyances built into them, and we just end up dealing with it. They have colleges now that help focus on game design, but I think in the end its experience...just catching past mistakes and growing from them.
Keep the good games coming!
The stuff I'm going to rant about in this post exists in many games. These issues just happen to really bug me as I worked with a friend to replay the game and chase old achievements. Let's start with one of the most painful and annoying ones, cut scenes. In general I'm a fan of the cut scenes. They add to the game, if you're really interested in the story, and can show some excellent computer generated graphic detail. However, if you're playing a portion of the game and have difficulty with it, such as dying over and over again, a mandatory cut scene that you can't skip, you can only play for so long before you want rip you hair out. Unfortunately, in Gears of War playing through on insane difficulty, we ran into this issue quite a bit. This also leads into a second annoying design, checkpoints.
Checkpoints are supposed to be your saving grace, and help a player through their domination of the game's campaign. However, I'm not sure if game designers built the checkpoints based on normal difficulty in play through because when playing certain sections of the game, on its hardest difficulty, it is amazing what little things can ruin your enthusiasm to continue. Again, playing Gears of War with my friend, it seemed we would run into these long stretches of action in the game that were difficult to cope with, and we would end up restarting at the last checkpoint.. Even as we progressed through that section, one of us would die only to find out we had to completely restart the whole segment. Adding to the pain, imagine a long segment preceded by a cut scene, TORTURE!! Yes, definitely, not fun. So, the checkpoints become an issue if there are not enough, or if they are poorly spaced in the game.
Other thoughts for annoying game design can be music. Some games make AMAZING music, for instance Martin O'Donnell of Bungie. I own every Halo soundtrack he's made and I love them all. In fact, I recently came across a website listing tour dates and locations as a traveling symphony (http://www.videogameslive.com/) visits many worldwide locations specifically playing the music from popular games. However, even with these genius music creations, there's the share of experience in gaming with music that may be close to listening to fingernails running down a chalkboard. Granted, the game music may not start out that way, but tack on those annoying un-skippable cut scenes and lack of checkpoints hitting you in the face over and over, and your tolerance for anything will drop like the price of a poorly marketed or unpopular game (aka: Bayonetta, Kane & Lynch 2).
Typically, I think if you follow a game that is in a series, you will see the game designers build off the community feedback and be cognizant of what gamers want out of the next game. However, it is the year 2010 and gaming has been around for over 30 years. We still find games that have nasty annoyances built into them, and we just end up dealing with it. They have colleges now that help focus on game design, but I think in the end its experience...just catching past mistakes and growing from them.
Keep the good games coming!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Assassin's Creed - Brotherhood?
I'm looking for some community help or advice in this post. In past blog posts I've discussed games coming out this holiday season, how to choose which games to play, whether to buy new, used, or rent, etc.
Last night I noticed on the Xbox Live Dashboard there was a tab for some videos related to the upcoming game release for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (ACB). The videos for both single and mutliplayer were well made and got me back into the storyline. I've played the first two games and I didn't really expect a third one to come out so soon. I know the game has had multiple announcements and trailers, and I was led to believe this game was like a interstitial add in game that included and focused on multiplayer. It seems though that this is the final game in the Assassin's Creed Trilogy, so in that sense it must have an appealing and hopefully worthwhile campaign to it.
I've got a credit w/ Gamestop that equates to about the price of a new game. I'm looking to make the most of the purchase from Gamestop so I want it to be a solid game on all fronts that I can really get into. Personally, I have a sense that the online play for ACB will get old after a few weeks if not days. Thoughts like that detract me from jumping on this game as a pre-order as well as buying it full price new. Most games I'm not 100% confident in replay value typically fall to my wait and buy used list.
I've not had any hands on experience w/ this game, but there was a ton of hype at all the summer expos and game conferences, and of course if you ask any local gaming store employee they will have rave things to say about it. Is that all I need to help me make a decision or is that people hyped up on their limited playtime and heavy marketing?
I'm really looking to finish out this game trilogy, so the campaign is the most appealing. I am sure I will enjoy chasing and running from other assassin's online, but I don't feel it will continue the thrill like a number of First Person shooter games time after time.
Do any readers have an opinion on this game and the game series in general? I'm looking for advice on whether I should bite on this now and spend my credit or sit and wait? A thought that spurred right now is that I could just wait for the game to be released to see what the reviews are, but in doing that, I will miss out on any pre-order bonuses.
Last night I noticed on the Xbox Live Dashboard there was a tab for some videos related to the upcoming game release for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (ACB). The videos for both single and mutliplayer were well made and got me back into the storyline. I've played the first two games and I didn't really expect a third one to come out so soon. I know the game has had multiple announcements and trailers, and I was led to believe this game was like a interstitial add in game that included and focused on multiplayer. It seems though that this is the final game in the Assassin's Creed Trilogy, so in that sense it must have an appealing and hopefully worthwhile campaign to it.
I've got a credit w/ Gamestop that equates to about the price of a new game. I'm looking to make the most of the purchase from Gamestop so I want it to be a solid game on all fronts that I can really get into. Personally, I have a sense that the online play for ACB will get old after a few weeks if not days. Thoughts like that detract me from jumping on this game as a pre-order as well as buying it full price new. Most games I'm not 100% confident in replay value typically fall to my wait and buy used list.
I've not had any hands on experience w/ this game, but there was a ton of hype at all the summer expos and game conferences, and of course if you ask any local gaming store employee they will have rave things to say about it. Is that all I need to help me make a decision or is that people hyped up on their limited playtime and heavy marketing?
I'm really looking to finish out this game trilogy, so the campaign is the most appealing. I am sure I will enjoy chasing and running from other assassin's online, but I don't feel it will continue the thrill like a number of First Person shooter games time after time.
Do any readers have an opinion on this game and the game series in general? I'm looking for advice on whether I should bite on this now and spend my credit or sit and wait? A thought that spurred right now is that I could just wait for the game to be released to see what the reviews are, but in doing that, I will miss out on any pre-order bonuses.
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