LTTP: My First Two Weeks with the Xbox 360

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Brad Grenz | Permalink 0

My shiny new old Xbox 360

Prologue

In the summer of 2005, I made the fateful decision to go back to school full time in order to receive a bachelor’s degree. That probably isn’t very interesting to you, but the upshot was that being a poor student prevented me from participating in this console generation. Sure, I went to the occasional party where everyone got drunk and tried to play Marble Mania and Excite Truck on the Wii, but for the three years it took to graduate I mostly gamed on my PC and my trusty PS2.

In 2008 I had the good fortune of graduating into the worst economic downturn in generations, with the least marketable major imaginable (Philosophy!), and this financial hardship further prevented me from buying in to a new console until the very end of 2010. On December 28th, over five years after its introduction, I finally acquired an Xbox 360. Read more »

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The 10 Best Games I Happened to Play in 2010!

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Brad Grenz | Permalink 0

2010 and Me: A Personal Journey

Perhaps most surprising is how front-loaded 2010 was with great games. I was mostly disappointed by the big holiday releases, and if you weren’t predisposed to geek out over Kinect it was hard to find a lot to hang your hat on through November and January. The biggest change this year in my own gaming habits was the acquisition of a PSP, opening up a whole new library of really interesting software. We’ve seen the big Japanese publishers struggle to find a way to succeed on the HD consoles, but they’re doing some very creative and inventive things on the PSP.

Without further ado, here are the games I had the most fun with in 2010.

Commander Shep, killing bitch-ass aliens.

Mass Effect 2 (PC/360) – Although I was disappointed by the brevity of the “Suicide Mission” the entire game was building towards, I still felt ME2 provided one of my most enjoyable gaming experience this year. Bioware did the smart thing cutting out all the RPG cruft they had tried to wedge into the first game’s combat to deliver what Mass Effect should have been all along, a clean shooter experience linked together in a sprawling, nonlinear RPG structure. The writing for the individual recruiting and loyalty missions was almost uniformly excellent, and this would be my, hands down, favorite game of the year if it had delivered an entire third act once you journey through that last relay, and not a single combat encounter. Despite that missed opportunity, still one of the best games I’ve played all year.

Alpha Protocol (PC/360/PS3) – Sadly savaged by much of the press, AP delivered an admittedly janky experience in places, but it also delivered some of the best writing and the most dynamic and reactive narrative of any RPG this generations. Lots of RPGs these days let you tackle quests in any order you like, in Alpha Protocol that order could change the experience dramatically, opening and closing doors, altering relationships and shifting the plot seamlessly.

Half-Minute Hero (PSP) – Anyone who says there’s nothing worth owning a PSP for reveals nothing but their own ignorance. Half-Minute Hero is an example of the kind of amazing, lo-fi RPG charmers that have been coming out of Japan for the last couple years. Adopting a retro, pixel-art style and playing on JRPG cliches to great effect, HMH is both a love letter to 8 and 16 bit Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles, and a brilliant deconstruction of those series’ conventions. The time limit, auto-combat and scenario designs turn each round into a puzzle unto itself. You are also given multiple modes of play, including an RTS and Shooter. I’ve dropped a dozen hours into the game and still only scratched the surface.

Gotta get paid, gotta get paid.

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale (PC) – In another great twist on the traditional JRPG genre, Recettear puts the player in charge of a stereotypical item shop you might find in one of those games. Required to make increasingly large payments against your missing father’s enormous dept, you have to buy low, sell high and hire adventurers to plumb the depths of nearby dungeons for valuable relics. Just the zen of haggling with townspeople and arranging your inventory is pleasurable, but the addition of optional action-RPG dungeon crawls and a funny and charming localization elevate this indie game from Japan.

Assassin’s Creed II (PC/360/PS3) – I’d apologize for being late to the party on this one, but the PC version didn’t come out until early this year. But, man, what a fantastic game. Truly gorgeous, incredibly satisfying mechanics and the best sense of vertigo I’ve ever experienced in a game. I’m really not good with heights and some of those climbs were simple terrifying. I’m extremely excited to play Brotherhood as soon as it gets a PC release next year.

Final Fantasy V (SNES/PSX/GBA) – Despite having bought this game multiple times for multiple platforms, I’m shamed to say it was not until this year I actually beat the game. The cast isn’t as big as the other 16 bit Final Fantasy titles, nor is the plot as complex, but the job system makes character development more interesting and it has a wonderful score. One of the shorter FF games, but that’s not a bad thing when you’re just trying to get through your backlog of shame.

Portal (PC/Mac/360/PS3) – I know what you’re thinking, but no, I did not wait until Portal was free to play it. Admittedly, I missed it on the first go around since I already had Half-Life 2 and didn’t want to buy the Orange Box, so I waited a long time for the stars to align on the right Steam sale for Portal ala carte. As you’ve no doubt heard many times before, Portal is brilliant and hilarious.

Battlefield: Bad Company II (PC/360/PS3) – Looking back at the year in military shooters, I have to admit Bad Company II actually delivered my favorite experience. Medal of Honor had moments, but in the end came across as half-baked. Black Ops was so preoccupied with delivering a thrill a minute experience that you never got a chance to breath. Bad Company II has great mechanics, cool destructibility, a genuine sense of humor and gravitas. Best of all it’s paced such that the quieter moments actually help you appreciate the crazy shit.

Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP) – Not having a PS3, I missed the first Valkyria Chronicles, but the sequel was kind enough to skip its way over to the PSP. I can’t evaluate exactly how well the mechanics of II compare to the first title, but I’ve been quite satisfied with the tactical combat and squad management it presents. The visual novel storytelling may be excessively verbose, and no doubt offputting to some, but there’s no arguing with the actual battle mechanics.

Actually, Super Baby can really handle her shit.

Z.H.P.: Unlosing Ranger Vs. Darkdeath Evilman (PSP) – What do we have here? Another charming PSP strategy/RPG title out of Japan! ZHP is from Nippon Ichi, makers of the Disgaea games, and represents that grindy style of gameplay taken to extremes. I’ve only just dipped my toes in to this game, but you have to love a title that apologises for only containing a single battle before the game starts. Twice. Most of the game you will spend leveling up your character through a series of training dungeons, reincarnating every time you die, but retaining some of your built-up stats. Also: you are married to a penguin who brings you lunch mid-dungeon, should you ask.

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Exclusive Blind Review! Call of Duty: Black Ops

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Brad Grenz | Permalink 0

Another fall, another Call of Duty from Activision. With the massive shakeup at Infinity Ward earlier this year, Treyarch is finally poised to take the reigns of the franchise as the “A” team. To that end, they have put forth their latest effort, Black Ops. It’s an ambitious title from a huge team and a reportedly enormous budget, but the question remains: how will the millions of Modern Warfare fans react to the series’ new direction?

As the game’s full title suggests, Tyler Perry Presents: Call of Duty: Black Ops was designed in full cooperation with the famed filmmaker, Tyler Perry. Although it may seem strange to involve a filmmaker in the creation of a Call of Duty game, it follows directly in Activision’s recent strategy to reach out to a broader, more diverse audience, something that began last year with DJ Hero.

Where that game sought to appeal to an under-served segment of Hip-Hop fans, Black Ops comes across as a less cynical and more earnest attempt to chronicle the many contributions and sacrifices made by African Americans serving in the US military.

The opening stage clearly takes its inspiration from the film Glory, casting you as a member of an all black regiment in the Union Army during a battle in the Civil War. The basic controls and mechanics are explained as you participate in rifle volleys, navigate trenches, join a bayonet charge and finish Confederate soldiers at close range with a Colt revolver.

No CCR in this game.

There is no main character or overarching narrative, exactly. The game jumps from time period to time period as you take on the role of a different character in each era. This will include fighting in the Argonne forest attached to the French Army during WWI, aerial sequences as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, time in the jungles of Vietnam, and you even get to play Keith David’s character from Modern Warfare 2, Sgt. Foley, back when he was a green soldier during the first Gulf War.

What this means is you will be treated to a wide variety of lovingly recreated locales, rich with fine detail. You will also be exposed to a huge variety of weapons and vehicles as you progress through the levels. With the exception of the seemingly timeless Model 1911 Colt .45, you almost never have access to the same weapons from one level to the next.

The gameplay proceeds in the familiar Call of Duty style, emphasising incredible set-piece battles and the need to advance aggressively. The controls feel as sharp as ever and the weapons still sound and feel fantastic.

It’s perhaps the best looking Call of Duty game to date. The levels are more open than in the past, with a long draw distance removing that claustrophobic corridor feeling common to the series. The levels are also more dynamic than before with destructable elements, though it still does not match the Battlefield series in that area.

Sean Murray’s score is impressive, drawing inspiration from contemporary musical movements for levels in each different era. A number of licensed tracks also make an appearance to date the beginning of each level not unlike an episode of Cold Case.

As expected, Black Ops features fantastic online multiplayer. The modes included are generally slight refinements on those included in the Modern Warfare games and World at War. The biggest change is the mishmash of uniforms and armament available from the game’s extensive singleplayer campaign. The RPG-like character progression returns, along with a full suite of new kill-streaks and perks. Based on each players personal preferences, this generally results in wildly anachronistic matches online.

In fact, customization is the single organizing principle of Black Ops multiplayer. In addition to choosing your weapons and uniform, you can actually completely change your base appearance. You are given options for racial make up, gender, hair style, etc, taking the RPG character paradigm that much further. Neatly avoiding any Medal of Honor-style Taliban controversy, there is no “Opposing Force”, named or otherwise. Everyone creates their character and is assigned to either the blue or orange team when they join a match online.

Locked and Loaded.

Taken as a whole, Call of Duty: Black Ops acquittes itself well among the pantheon of great CoD titles. Eschewing a traditional narrative, in nonetheless delivers an extremely compelling single player experience with a kind of gravity rarely delivered in this young medium. Meanwhile, the multiplayer component takes the series in a pretty different direction, but it’s a fruitful one that still delivers many of the same thrills, even if it has lost that sheen of “realism”. The only thing I would change is the frequent, immersion breaking Medea cameos that happen again and again.

Our Score: Dogwood Tree

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Exclusive Blind Review – Fable III

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Brad Grenz | Permalink 0

The Frog Knight

As you may have guessed, Fable III is a videogame retelling of the third great fable in human history. The first, of course, being the one about it being turtles all the way down. The second great fable is the one about losing socks in the drier. Lionhead Studios, headed by Peter Molyneux, has already released two very successful games in the series telling those stories. This fall they have moved on to the one about the frog and the scorpion.

We all know the fable about a scorpion who asks a frog for a ride across the stream. Fable III begins with you controlling that frog in a lushly recreated estuary. The original fable plays out in the form of a tutorial level. You learn how to move and swim and hop and aim your tongue at flies to catch them. There’s even a mini-boss battle against a water snake.

At the end of the level you meet a silver-tongued scorpion who complements you on your courage and suggests you journey together. In a sequence clearly intended to evoke the old school arcade game Frogger, the scorpion climbs on your back and you attempt to cross the water avoiding various dangers and obstacles. But just as you are about to reach the bank, you are betrayed. The scorpion plunges his stinger into your head and you both sink.

At that moment the camera sweeps over to the reeds on the opposite shore where a tadpole is watching his father die.

After that the game jumps forward. You play the bulk of the game as that tadpole, come to full frog-hood, whose mind has been forever warped by the trauma of seeing his father murdered. Like Batman, the frog reacts by going on a crusade to restore order to the land.

You grow more powerful as the game progresses.

Cue the familiar Fable action-RPG gameplay. You will explore the estuary, meet locals, fight stoats and cranes and fish. Combat is handled through a similar melee/ranged combo system with additional offensive and defensive Amphotics (the game’s magic system).

The game also continues the Fable tradition of highly involved morality and reputation systems. Your appearance changes based on how good or evil you act. You have multiple ways of overcoming obstacles, some more scrupulous than others. The local population will also react to you reputation, your appearance and your demeanor.

The world is expansive. There are a number of huge regions, including the coastal estuary, a bog, woodlands and a mountainous area. You are given the freedom to tackle each in any order that you like, but as was the case in this year’s Alpha Protocol, the order you choose and the choices you make can vastly change what transpires. Unlike Alpha Protocol, this all happens in an open world, free roaming structure.

The whole game builds to a confrontation with an invasive species of scorpion, your most hated foe. It’s an epic experience with sweeping visuals, a haunting score and a surprisingly moving story. I cannot recommend this game enough.

Our Score: Enkidu

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Blind Review – Medal of Honor (2010)

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Brad Grenz | Permalink 4

A Terrorist’s Tale

Electronic Arts’ reboot of their classic WWII shooter series is finally upon us. Where the previous games endeavored to recreate famous battles between the Allied forces and Nazi Germany, developer Danger Close has taken a more controversial path, creating what is, essentially, a Taliban simulator.

Players take the role of a nameless member of the Taliban in a rural part of Afghanistan. The early levels teach you the controls and basics of combat as you and a cadre of Taliban enforcers visit a nearby village to root out Coalition collaborators and punish women bold enough to go outside without wearing a burqa.

Fouad is your immediate superior.

The story kicks in to high gear when a unit of Army Rangers are air-lifted to the region and begin operations to establish a base and launch an offensive on the Taliban stronghold. What follows is a mix of stealth, sabotage and defensive missions. All this builds to a fever pitch in the climax as the Taliban’s mountain bunker is being rushed by wave after wave of US infantry, their bodies piling up at the cave entrances, while B-52 bombers pound the mountain from above.

Setting aside the fact that the game’s content is morally repugnant, the shooting mechanics are actually very good. The weapons feel appropriately weighty and destructive, with well justified variations in accuracy. The Unreal Engine 3 looks great recreating the bombed out, monochromatic wastes of the Afghan mountains.

A mission where you place a roadside IED and try to lure an Army convoy into the trap is especially good, and there is little so satisfying as knocking a Blackhawk helicopter out of the sky with your piece of shit RPG while avoiding fire from its Apache escort.

This is what success looks like.

The game, naturally, includes a number of competitive multiplayer modes. In a perversion of the system employed in America’s Army, players online always appear  to be playing as the Taliban. Both sides will see the opposing team as American soldiers. Modes include variations on team death match, domination and more detailed rolling objective matches. Much like the recent Call of Duty games you accrue experience as you play allowing you to upgrade your weapon load out and modified the appearance of your character.

It’s a supremely polished experience with a scathing narrative and a chip on its shoulder. It’s difficult not to recommend a game this well made, but it more difficult to ignore this particular game’s incredibly offensive premise. It is a title made by people who hate America for people who hate America. I have no choice but to fulfill my patriotic duty in urging gamers not to support such a transparent act of hatred. I suggest you all contact your local congressional representative, demanding they take action against transgressive games like Medal of Honor.

I pledge allegiance to that beautiful flag!

Our Score: Bottle Cap

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