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Nov 18th, 2012 at 19:41:40 - Halo 4 (360) |
This week I purchased Halo 4. I was very excited to get this game, as I was looking forward to a new shooter on the market that wasn’t Call of Duty. As a franchise, Halo really paved the way for the modern console shooter, and I was really excited to go back to the shooter roots and be able to play that classic style of shooting. However, upon playing it, I was surprised to see that Halo 4 shares many similar qualities with Call of Duty than I had originally thought.
The biggest difference from past Halo games is that Halo 4 is a lot faster. This really threw me off at first, as the slower pace of the Spartan soldier was kind of a series staple and one that I was anticipating. However, I was surprised to see that sprint is an automatic feature in the game, which further states the fact that Halo 4 is starting to get very similar to Call of Duty. It isn’t a bad thing that the developers made the game faster paced, but it does make the game lose a little bit of it’s identity.
Other aspects that are similar to Call of Duty are some elements taken from the multiplayer side of things. Halo 4 now implements class loadouts, where players decide what kind of guns and abilities they’re able to take into battle. There is also a kind of killstreak system, where players are rewarded for the amount of kills they get. They do have a Halo like quality to them, which certainly makes it seem that the developers are trying to make it their own, but at some points this strategy doesn’t work. Some things feel distinctly Halo, while others veer into that Call of Duty category. Nevertheless, it is still Halo, and although some parts seem unoriginal and unlike previous iterations, the core aspect of being a Spartan and making things go boom is still really satisfying.
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Nov 3rd, 2012 at 00:26:46 - The Walking Dead Episode 4 (360) |
Today, I finished playing the fourth and penultimate episode in the Walking Dead episodic game by Telltale. I was really excited to play this, as this game is really something great. The characters are very well defined and the story is very well told, as the past three episodes have been a fun experience. The choices through the game are great and effect things way down the line, which is something that most games don’t do. However, with this latest episode, I felt a bit disappointed, as much of the things that made the previous episodes great felt a little blurred in this episode.
While I still liked the episode overall, it was lacking considerably to what came before. Most of this episode is dedicated to the zombies. The episode opens with an action packed scene where the group has to survive a zombie onslaught in the open streets. But the thing is, the game shouldn’t be about the zombies. It has been so good because of the fact that the main focus is suppose to be on the characters and how they survive through this awful condition. While there are some cool character moments, the episode mostly just felt like an action set piece. This would have been fine if the gameplay mechanics worked well, but the action parts are actually the worst part of the game, with the best parts being about dialogue and choice.
The story isn’t really that compelling in this episode either. As mentioned before, the bulk of it is action. While there are some quiet moments that focus on the characters, some of these moments felt forced and sometimes cheesy. Even with one of the major decisions in the game, it really feels one-sided and forced that I could see it coming from the beginning of the episode. The cliffhanger ending, however, is the saving grace, as it is shocking and sets up the scene for the last episode in the season. The ending totally saves the rest of the episode as it made me want to play the next one right away. Hopefully, the last episode in the series will retain the higher level of quality that I have expected from these episodes. But for now, the fourth episode in the Walking Dead is just an average adventure, just paving the way for what is to come in the finale.
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Nov 3rd, 2012 at 00:25:15 - Assassins Creed III (360) |
Today, I picked up Assassin’s Creed III. I had tried out all of the previous games before, but none of them really appealed to me all that much. The first Assassin’s Creed was a little disjointed, still trying to figure out what kind of game it wanted to be. The second game was a lot better, with a cooler story and better game mechanics. After that, the franchise sort of petered out. No real innovation with these semi-sequels meant that the series started to get stagnant and boring. However with this new game, something was different. It had just enough new ideas to spark my interest in the series again.
The first big difference between Assassin’s Creed III and the other games before it is the narrative. The last few games have centered on an Italian guy who, at first was interesting, but eventually became dull with multiple games. This new game starts off with new characters and a different setting all together, The American Revolution. While this game has always been centered on historical time periods and figures, this game seems to be more interesting, probably because of its “close to home” setting. With this new setting and new character, it really stands out among past games in the franchise.
While Assassins Creed III has a new setting and character, most of the general gameplay still remains intact. The player is still using parkour to get through the map. The objectives are still basically the same, with the main goal to assassinate key members in the Templar faction. However, everything feels a little bit faster. The main character Connor handles himself a lot better than the previous protagonists, and in this case, makes combat feel faster. This is mostly due to the fact that kills are easily streamlined, with the addition of a dual weapon fighting style. In all though, the game remains relatively the same, which can be a detriment to the game, as it often gets repetitive. However, this game is way better than it’s predecessors, mostly due to its new narrative setting.
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Oct 21st, 2012 at 22:49:16 - Marvel vs Capcom 3 (360) |
Recently I have been revisiting a game that I haven’t been playing in a while, Marvel vs Capcom 3. I remember when I first played it when it came out, there were problems with some of the characters and balancing issues that really irritated me. Now, after giving it some time, I have decided to come back and found that it has improved, but there are still some major issues in the game, which hamper enjoyment.
The biggest gripe that I have with this game is the balancing issues. I understand that this happens in most fighting games, and it is a genre that sees the most problems with balancing. However, there are still a few things off with it. Because there are 3 characters in a team, it is often difficult to have characters balance off well with each other. Games like Street fighter and Mortal Kombat might not have to deal with this as much, as those games implement the 1 vs 1 concept, but this game has some problems. Players can combine certain powerhouse characters into the ultimate team, which gets really annoying.
The big thing in Marvel vs Capcom 2 was the team of Sentinel, Magneto, and Storm. Those characters were the cheapest team out there. Whoever used those characters, more often then not, won. That has translated into MvC3 with characters like those in certain teams being unstoppable. Cheap moves coupled with annoying tactics and button mashing made these certain teams really annoying, almost to the point that you didn’t even want to play an online match with a person.
Other than that however, it is still a very good fighting game. The amount of characters is staggering compared to most fighting games, with nearly close to 40 playable characters. However, with some severe balancing issues, this game is just another fighting game in need of some fixing.
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dmullig2 has been with GameLog for 12 years, 2 months, and 25 days |
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