That’s right folks, our recent lull in posts was actually the result of us preparing a BRAND NEW experience which we’d like to debut today. From now on, we’ll be posting at our new-car-smelling site, theeasymode.com. We’re going to keep threevue.com as it is, and it’ll be a nice place to revisit for some future chuckles.
Thank you, and good night!
Tyler:
Have you guys seen that funny little clip of the Dark Void “prototype” ? The 8-bit game that the upcoming game was supposedly based on? It’s all a marketing ploy to amp up the release of the DS version of the series. At any rate, the reason I bring this up is because I feel like DV is a game that would have been a lot better if that was an actual game that came out in my youth. If I did play something like the DS version when I was younger than maybe I could summon some sort of anticipation for the 360/PS3 one coming out this month. I might have some nostalgic importance to me. As it is, I just can’t see what it is about this game that has people thinking it would be anything other than a perfectly par shooter. Everything, except the near-flawless flight controls, seems borrowed from other games. While playing the demo I had significant flashbacks to Halo and Mass Effect. And just like in GTA4, when transitioning from the flight combat (driving segments) to over the shoulder combat with robots (police/gangsters) something is definitely lost in the translation– the controls seem off a bit.
I like the goal here — air combat mixed with a Gears-like shooter. I’m all for blending genres, but I can’t say that I think Dark Void hits the nail on the head… more like it hit the nail almost in, but on the last stroke it bent it down so that the nail head left a little mark on the wood. Then they pulled the nail out with the reverse side of the hammer and tried to straighten it out and nail it in again, but it’s not really flush now and there’s that little ding from earlier.
What I’m saying is that Dark Void is not Bob Villa.
Steve:
When I first tried the Dark Void demo, my first thought was “why the hell is there a fat dude with his shirt off, and what does this have to do with the story?!?” It’s a feeling that never really leaves you throughout the course of the demo either; the question changes but the general feeling of bewilderment doesn’t.
It seems the further you progress through the demo, the more you feel that it’s a poor demo of what appears to be a decidedly average game.
The demo is bad because it’s just not cohesive in any way at all; the story jumps and skips all over the place in order to let you sample the different types of gameplay on offer, all the while, random characters come and go unannounced, and unrelated events pass by without any explanation. This can be excused somewhat by the fact that it’s just a demo, and its main purpose is you let you sample what the game has to offer. However, it still leaves you with the impression that the story in the full game will still be forgettable gibberish.
Another impression that the demo leaves you with is that almost every element of this game seems to be generally unremarkable, and that every component is somehow lacking in one way or another; the graphics are standard fare (with the possible exception of the environments), the action feels unspectacular, the cover mechanics seem recycled, and both, along with the controls in general, feel just a little too loose to be entirely satisfactory.
As a side note, why didn’t devs Airtight Games include any sections featuring the much vaunted “vertical cover” mechanics they’ve been crowing about for so long? It seems like, if this feature was really as good, or as game changing, as they would have us believe, then this would be the perfect way to let people experience it.
It’s fair to say then, that you probably shouldn’t rush out to buy Dark Void. However, whereas this would probably be a good game to rent or pick up (really) cheap when there’s a lull in the release schedule, this years schedule seems to be far too unrelenting to even bother thinking about Dark Void any time soon. Save your money and play some of the games that demand your attention instead.
“…we won’t have another podcast for you until next week. But look at it this way – next week’s podcast will be the best podcast you’ve heard from us all year.”
And as if by magic, those words come back to bite us in the ass. That’s right folks, due to some minor technical problems and some travel-based scheduling conflicts, this week’s cast has been delayed.
We do plan on recording one soon, though we’re making no promises. However, if you’re desperately looking for a constructive way to fill your time, then why not do think of the most knee-jerk, derivative, poorly thought-out comment you can, then add it to our Modern Warfare 2 sucks post. *wink*
And there you have it folks, the recipient of our 2009 game of the year award. The process used to determine which game would reign supreme was a fairly straightforward one:
Here’s the top 6:
Uncharted 2: Among Theives
Assassin’s Creed 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Beatles: Rock Band
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Battlefield: 1943
Individual lists and point totals after the break!
Continue reading ‘The Official 2009 Game Of The Year: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’
Shhhh….hear that? Those sleigh bells jingling, that hot chocolate percolating, and candy canes becoming the objects of devouring? It’s Christmas soon, and we thought we’d get you readers something special this year.
It may sound horribly selfish of us, but we got you the gift of NO PODCAST THIS WEEK, to give your ears a break from the trifle triflings that erupt from our mouths each week.
Enjoy!
Is Dante’s Inferno good as hell, or hella shitty? Read on to find out.
Russ:
Man, I had heard that this game was going to be similar to God of War, but I didn’t think it’d be this close. Everything little thing seems the same, like the quick-time events, button mashing to do actions (like breaking fountains for health, etc), a combo-counter, an upgrade system, lots of boobayes, and pressing a shoulder button to activate other actions like climbing ladders (who thought this was ever a good idea?). I was expecting some influence from Kratos and Co, but this makes Dante’s Inferno feel like a royal ripoff.
An issue I have with the game is its intense need to seriously alter history and reality. These crusaders are some real bastards. And your main character sews a cloth cross to his chest. No explanation or anything, he was just apparently bored. Death shows up to take your main character’s life, and he doesn’t even think “Holy shit!”, he just immediately decides to fight Death…to the death. There’s this level of unbelievability that really takes away from the experience. It’s like the developers knew that only gamers were going to play the game, so they catered directly to them. I feel like I should be drinking WoW-flavored Mountain Dew or something.
The game itself is pretty solid, and it feels fun to fuck up some hellions. The level layout feels very predictable, and in turn, very boring. And seriously, this game is so God of War that I feel like it is a total cliche, and it’s not even out yet. Probably looking to be a solid rental, if anything.
Mark:
I can’t…quite…put my finger on it, but I swear I’ve played this game before. I don’t remember the name, but I do remember that it had something to do with God, and War, and a guy on a bloody rampage in search of redemption from his sins of the past, and medieval boobs. Well, wither way, the church isn’t going to like this one.
Ok, enough hoo-ha. God of War is one of my fave game series of all time, and I will be god-damned (pun intended) if this isn’t the same game. You know what, though? I love it. It’s brutal, violent, beautiful, and bloodier than Kate Gosselin’s tampon (I’m just as ashamed of that joke as you are). Here’s the thing, though: knowing what this game is, and ultimately what it will be, I don’t feel the need to drop $60 on it, especially since GOW3 is right around the corner. I am looking forward to this Dante’s Inferno, though, and you should all give the demo a try; it will take you to some awesome places.
Steve:
I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with action games which stems back to playing Devil May Cry on the PS2. At that time, it was my first real experience with the genre, and initially I was very impressed; until I got horribly stuck on one of the games later bosses, and decided to give up. As time went on, subsequent iterations of the Devil May Cry series became even less forgiving, and even more pre-occupied with embarrassing and juvenile depictions of its female characters and their sexuality. Likewise, the other games in the genre always seemed to offend me in some way; whilst the Ninja Gaiden games have an excellent combat system, they’re just too cheap, and my experience with God Of War 2 left me feeling underwhelmed. As a result of this, I went into Bayonetta with extremely low expectations.
However, after playing through the demo I was really pleasantly surprised, as Bayonetta manages to avoid most of the pit-falls I usually associate with games of this type. It’s good to see that the games difficulty seems to be manageable, and not just ridiculously hard, as is often the case. The combat mechanics are deep whilst still being extremely simple at their core – I often feel that action games (especially the Devil May Cry franchise) make the combat mechanics too involved, whilst not giving you enough indication as to how best to use the skills available to you, leaving you feeling slightly bewildered. The game also rewards you quite heavily for evading attacks, as a last-minute dodge puts all enemies into slow-motion, and really lets you capitalise on the counter-attack. The game doesn’t make this too difficult to pull off, and as a result, makes you feel powerful and also helps keeps the game moving at a brisk pace.
However, I do have a few gripes with the game, and though the graphics are generally very good, (there are a number of really neat visual touches – like the butterfly wings that appear when you perform a double-jump), in trying to accomodate numerous enemies on-screen at the same time, the camera sometimes feels a little too zoomed-out, which can make the characters look a little small. By far my biggest gripe with this game though, is its infantile and un-necessarily sexual treatment of the lead character; for those who are unaware, the lead characters clothes are made out of her own hair, which also transforms into weapons during combat. The caveat to this is that when the hair transforms into a weapon, the lead character is essentially left naked. This just comes across as being gratuitous and naive, and that the only reason it has been included is for the developers’ amusement. In saying that, though, it doesn’t seem to be handled quite as badly as in the Devil May Cry series (as far as I can tell from the demo, anyway) as there are no extended slow-motion crotch shots, or breast-jiggle physics on display.
Despite this though, my time with this demo was a lot of fun, and if the whole game turns out to be this good, I might even be tempted to buy this when it releases. Given my chequered past with games of this ilk, that’s probably the biggest compliment I could give Bayonetta.
Russ:
As video game blogger, I thought there was an unspoken rule that we’re supposed to make fun of Bayonetta. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that the main character looks alarmingly like Sarah Palin. Either way, I wasn’t planning on enjoying this demo at all, but I ended up really liking it.
To be fair, I had no idea that it was made by the guy who made the first Devil May Cry (but I figured that out in about two minutes), especially being that it’s a SEGA game. Honestly, this is my most enjoyable SEGA-produced gaming experience since some random House of the Dead game many years ago. Bayonetta looks really good, even down to the super-cool menus, although the Sarah Palin character sprite could be bigger. The easiest difficulty is dumbed down to automatic/single-button combat moves, so I actually opted for a more difficult setting; truth be told, I enjoyed the challenge and rhythm of this bloody button masher. The game feels distinctly Japanese, especially considering the cheesy techno background music, surreal/confusing story, and grading system after every major battle.
There are still some issues that I need to have cleared up before thinking about buying this game. First, the game must have a decent length to separate it from rental status. If it proves to have 10+ hours of gameplay, it might warrant purchase. Secondly, I didn’t see anything about an upgrade system, but I hope there is, because that would be a big selling point. Games like this need an incentive to keep playing, and I’m not too sure if the story will be enough to keep us going. Being that this game has already been released in Japan, I could probably find these two things out with a little research, but I’m lazy. Final verdict: I’m pretty sure that anyone that likes action-arcade games should try out this demo.
Mark:
I never understood all the hype behind this game. To me it just seemed like another forgettable Devil May Cry-ish beat-em-up, and even after a few minutes of gameplay, I was still ready to dismiss it as such. As the demo went on and I became more familiar with the controls and the pace of the game, it really started to grow on me. The action was smooth, it looked good, and was just campy enough to not take itself too seriously. I like that.
Of course it is still injected with that unique form of Japanese sexuality. You know the kind where they try to design the girls to look like westerners, but they still have those unmistakable Asian faces and ridiculously huge boobs (I’m not complaining). I feel a little gypped, though, because I heard about this epic scene that the 360 demo has with falling clocktowers, dragons, and statues, but all the PS3 demo had was this very nice looking garden. I guess they’re pretty much the same thing.
From the outside, this may seem like just an innocent list of our top 25 Xbox 360 and PS3 games so far, but behind the scenes at the Threevue HQ, putting this list together almost tore our family apart. Screaming and yelling, alliances bound and broken, dozens of passive-aggressive emails, and more hair pulling than a Ricky Martin concert. But, after all that, we present you with this: the final, definitive, last stop, nothing else matters, get-on-your-bikes-and-ride list of our top games of this console generation (what’s a Wii?).
Here’s how we got here. Each of us submitted our individual top 25′s, added them up according the reverse numerical order in which we ranked them (#1 = 25 points, #2 = 24 points, and so on), and crowned the highest scorer as champion. So here you are. Read them. Digest them. Enjoy them. But above all, agree with them.
25. Assassin’s Creed 2 (Xbox 360/PS3, 2009)
Assassin’s Creed 2 proves what the original promised, as well as fixes its shortcomings. Actually, I would say it is the biggest improver of this generation. Every facet of gameplay has been retooled to make it easier for you to become that deadly assassin, serving dish after dish of cold revenge. (Giang)
24. Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360, 2008)
4 survivors – thousands of zombies. With the Left 4 Dead series Valve has made the best zombie games to date. The common misconception about L4D is that you can just blast your way through the game without regard for ammo or allies, but on the harder difficulties players see that it takes just as much strategy as any military FPS to successfully make it to the safe-houses. All of this along with the revolutionary A.I. Director make for a game that will no doubt be emulated far into the future. (Tyler)
23. Call of Duty 3 (Xbox 360/PS3, 2006)
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Call of Duty 3 got an undeserved bad rap. This came out when people were starting to figure out the differences between Treyarch and Infinity Ward, and because it came from the former, it didn’t get its full respects. I loved it simply for the fact that it had split-screen online multiplayer, which is something we haven’t seen in a COD since. (Mark)
22. Mirror’s Edge (Xbox 360/PS3, 2008)
Coming in on the heels of a game like Portal, Mirror’s Edge was the right game at the right time for all of us out there who knew there could be more to the FPS genre than headshots and sticky grenades. Not that there is anything wrong with those games, Mirror’s Edge just broke out of the rut by being a game where you needed to outrun instead of outgun. The gorgeous visual style and the fresh, addictive, time-sensitive puzzler nature of the title earn it a place on our list. (Tyler)
21. LittleBigPlanet (PS3, 2008)
This is most probably the cutest game ever made. You play as this adorable Sackboy in these beautifully and meticulously created levels. You can also create your own beautiful and meticulous levels with the fully-abled level editor. You then have the ability to share those beautiful levels and play with your adorable Sackboy friends. It’s a small, small patchwork world, where everything is miraculously held together by string and glue and Stephen Fry is the voice of God. (Giang)
20. Halo 3 (Xbox 360, 2007)
Rounding out our top 20 is Halo 3, the game that fans love to love and everyone else loves to hate the fans. All bickering aside, this is a polished FPS with a butt-ton of features, even if we couldn’t figure out the storyline. To this day, it’s one of the most fully featured games available and easily worth its admission price. (Russ)
19. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3, 2008)
Metal Gear Solid 4 closes out the story of Solid Snake in true this-gen fashion: more graphics, more gadgets, and more awkward localization. This is a game only fans of the previous games can truly appreciate, and being that we’re all fans of the previous games, it worked out just fine for us. In the end, it never addressed some of the fundamental issues with the series, which we both respected and were annoyed by, and we can’t wait to see what Hideo Kojima works on next. (Russ)
18. Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360/PS3, 2008)
Another modern-day war FPS which provides an alternative to Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Whilst this game has a solid – and humorous – solo campaign, the real draw is the multiplayer, which despite only having two different game modes, is deceptively deep and extremely replayable. (Steve)
17. Battlefield 1943 (XBLA/PSN, 2009)
The arrival of BF:1943 was like someone had gone into my brain, learned exactly what kind of game I wanted, took out a few features I was hoping for, and sold it to me at a reasonable price: a download-only, multiplayer FPS for only $15. I feel a few more maps, weapons, and features would have put it a little higher on our list, but I still love it for what it is. (Mark)
16. Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360, 2005)
Call of Duty 2 was that first “wow, so THIS is next-gen” moment for a lot of us here at Threevue, and it still holds up well as a solid WWII FPS four years after its release. I think we all most fondly remember the blistering difficulty of playing through the campaign on Veteran and the sweltering sense of satisfaction with every reached checkpoint. Hell, I’ve still got half the game to finish on Veteran, and I’m looking forward to the pain/elation it’ll bring. (Russ)
15. Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360/PS3, 2008)
A racing game for people who hate racing games. Burnout Paradise is a robust, well-featured, open-world arcade racer with tight, responsive controls that make it as appealing to newcomers as it is to veterans. This game combines a beefy single-player component, a ridiculous (both in terms of scope and imagination) online experience, a (mostly) friendly, teamwork orientated community, and a ton of DLC - a significant amount of which is free! (Steve)
14. Peggle (XBLA/PSN, 2009)
Peggle was #3 on my personal list, a frankly, I’m disappointed to see it drop all the way down to #14 on this one. Everything about this game was just pure fun, it made me feel good when I played it, and the addition of online multiplayer made it infinitely replayable. I love you, Peggle! (Mark)
13. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3, 2007)
This is a game that has a spirit and exuberance that you don’t find in many games these days. You just can’t help but fall for the dreamy Nathan Drake and get caught up in his escapade for his ancestor’s treasure. Along the way you encounter the roller coaster of any classic adventure movie, but the game escapes any clichés. There may be a thousand pirates standing in your way but that’s not going to stop you from playing this through and through. (Giang)
12. Dead Space (Xbox 360/PS3, 2008)
Personally, I had Dead Space a few spots lower on my list, but that’s not to say it doesn’t deserve to be much higher. This game looked beautiful, was terrifying, and gave us all we ever wanted out of a good third-person survival horror game: the ability to move and shoot. I think if we all went back and played this now, it would be higher on the list. (Mark)
11. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360/PS3, 2008)
GTA IV came out in the middle of a crazy year of crazy-good games, and was subsequently buried on most GOTY lists. I think there was a lot of backlash after this game came out for being “just another GTA” when we were expecting so much more from all the hype (it got more perfect 10′s than Larry Flynt). When I really think back to playing, though, I remember that it was a huge, very well made game, and probably better than it gets credit for. (Mark)
10. Mass Effect (Xbox 360, 2007)
Whilst Mass Effect may not have been the first FPS/RPG hybrid in existence, it certainly strove to revolutionise the genre when it released. It may not have been perfect, but Mass Effect‘s real strengths lay in its compelling story, its in-depth dialogue system, haunting moral quandries, and its convincing, well-realised universe. (Steve)
9. Rock Band 1&2 (Xbox 360/PS3, 2007/2008)
The Rock Band series is less a video game and more a music experience – its balanced implementation of four different instruments offer everything from a DIY drum training module to the perfect excuse to party with music-minded friends and a little sauce. And with its constant stream of DLC (1,000 songs and counting), it’s the gift that keeps on giving. (Russ)
8. Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360/PS3, 2007)
When I hear someone say that there is no more originality in today’s games, I point them directly to Assassin’s Creed. This game was so unique on so many levels that most people were able to overlook the negative components, like the flags, repetition of missions, and the goddamned horse riding. (Mark)
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360/PS3, 2009)
COD:MW2 took everything that we love about the first Modern Warfare and cranked it up to 11. The multiplayer specifically was beefed up, and even the single player was taken to a higher level of radness that I didn’t know existed. I gave general preference to the first games of a series in my personal list, though, and part one came out a few spots above. (Mark)
6. Braid (XBLA/PSN, 2008/2009)
Just when the deluge of games that were “gritty”,”real” and “X-treme” was reaching the tipping point, gamers everywhere were treated to one of the sweetest, most compound and refreshing games to come along in years. Without much heralding, Braid made its way on to the 360 and instantly earned its place in the hearts of every gamer. From the first tutorial level to the twist ending, Braid provided a perfectly paced, thoroughly enjoyable game vignette about a boy, a girl and temporal manipulation. (Tyler)
5. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360/PS3, 2007)
Like I said, generally I gave preference to part 1′s instead of part 2′s in my list, because I believe that even though later games may be technically advanced, they wouldn’t be where they are without their father games. Saying that, COD4:MW changed the way we look at military FPS’s. After this game, there was no excuse for any more crap on store shelves. Single and mulitplayer, this was revolution in game design. (Mark)
4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3, 2009)
Uncharted 2 is just as good, if not better, than most Hollywood action movies. It has the good-looking leading man; the chase sequences that will leave you exhausted in your couch; the unfolding history/anthropological/archaeological mystery and even the femme fatale. A great deal of it lends to the superb voice-acting and motion capture, injecting so much chemistry with every line (and in-between) and its graphical accomplishments. There are so many nuances about this game, but they all culminate into an engaging, polished and very fun adventure. (Giang)
3. BioShock (Xbox 360/PS3, 2007/2008)
This is a game where everything in the world works in such unison and grace (the Art Deco architecture, the radio sound bites, the demented populace) that it becomes so credible and convincing. At the time of its release, Bioshock was one of the best looking games around, and will continue to be due to its unique style and gusto. Of course there are the solid gameplay mechanics at its core, but it’s everything else that has been perfectly curated and designed (by a mastermind/madman) that will engage you from start to finish. Its story told will be one for the ages. (Giang)
2. The Orange Box (Xbox 360/PS3, 2007)
I am still, to this day, amazed by the amount of A+ content in the Orange Box. Half-Life 2 alone has a metacritic score of 96, yet coupled with it you get the mind-bending Portal (90), Team Fortress 2 (92) and both the Episodes for Half-Life 2. (E1-87, E2- 90). For only $60 you can get your hands on arguably one of the best FPS experiences in history, a deep puzzler that breaks all convention and one of the premier team-based, multiplayer shooters anywhere. I’ve said before, there are few companies out there that I implicitly trust, but Valve is definitely one of them. (Tyler)
1. Fallout 3 (Xbox 360/PS3, 2008)
Fallout 3 is compelling; so much so, that it should come with a health warning. In much the same way that World of Warcraft and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion have virtually destroyed peoples’ social lives, Fallout 3 will draw you in with its vast, open world, charm you with its deeply black humour and memorable characters, and snare you with its promises of XP and loot. And the worst part? You’ll be too busy exploring, finishing quests, and exploding heads to notice or even care. (Steve)
—
Honorable Mentions: (most-voted to least-voted)
BATTLEFIELD 2: MODERN COMBAT, BEATLES ROCK BAND, PORTAL: STILL ALIVE, WIPEOUT HD, PIXELJUNK EDEN, GEARS OF WAR, GEARS OF WAR 2, GUITAR HERO 2, STREET FIGHTER 4, RATCHET AND CLANK FUTURE: TOOLS OF DESTRUCTION, SHADOW COMPLEX, ‘SPLOSION MAN, ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION, BRUTAL LEGEND, CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR, FLOWER, BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM, FAR CRY 2, INFAMOUS, PUZZLE QUEST: CHALLENGE OF THE WARLORDS, DEAD RISING, TALES OF VESPERIA, GEOMETRY WARS 2, VALKYRA CHRONICLES, BORDERLANDS, CRACKDOWN, FAT PRINCESS, PRINCE OF PERSIA, RED FACTION: GUERILLA, RESIDENT EVIL 5, PACMAN CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION, THE SIMPSONS, HEAVENLY SWORD, MONKEY ISLAND SPECIAL EDITION, STAR WARS: FORCE UNLEASHED, GHOSTBUSTERS, KING KONG,
PIXELJUNK MONSTERS, TRIALS HD
Continue reading ‘Threevue.com’s Top 25 Xbox 360/PS3 Games List’
Giang:
The original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare quickly became the pinnacle of the FPS genre. Its inevitable sequel, while arriving in a midst of anticipation, expectation and a little controversy, delivers a package that packs a punch and is a blast to play. The campaign may tangle itself under its own narrative but improvements to multiplayer and the addition of Spec-Ops should resonate to the masses.
Going through single-player is an engrossing experience for many reasons. Gunplay is as smooth and rewarding as ever, allowing enemies to be dealt with utmost efficiency. The game looks beautiful at being horrific and the persistent sound of war coupled with a sweeping soundtrack underscores the authentic blockbuster experience. Modern Warfare 2 constantly emphasizes spectacle rather than emergent gameplay, which is probably my biggest gripe with the game. Mission briefing screens are convoluted and an inelegant narrative device. When their purpose is to string missions together into a single narrative thread, they fall flat and conversations go over your head. You’re quickly dropped into the field ready for your mission at hand. A little story telling could have gone a long way here, but the game seems intent on delivering you nonstop conflicts.
The finesse and subtlety of the original Modern Warfare is gone and is replaced by a constant bombardment of frenetic action. While that’s great for your eyeballs, the game doesn’t quite reach the emotional zenith that the first game had. You can throw out the idea of plausibility because you’re constantly making these leaps of logic around the plot holes. A lot of it has to do with the pacing – it’s intense and turbulent, oftentimes on the brink of manic. It’s unfortunate that the game happily puts you in the backseat as the constant observer. There’s a distinct disconnect between your avatar and your surroundings and it’s a rare occurrence that you feel that you’re interacting with the environment – unless you count shooting at it. Case in point – the “No Russian” level. They build up the idea that you’re sacrificing a part of yourself to do this horrible deed, when in reality you have no idea who this character is and never will. The scene hits at a gut instinct level but will always feel incongruous to the main story and shallow in execution.
Multiplayer hasn’t been revamped by any means, but refined to make it more accessible, more strategic and essentially more satisfying. If you have a strong partner who is willing to communicate and work as a team, Spec-Ops is a uniquely fun experience. I’m glad Infinity Ward didn’t opt for another take on Hoard mode as the variety of gameplay and level of tactical engagement is a fine example of Infinity Ward’s skill as a level creator. Classic multiplayer has been restructured to give you plenty of load-outs – in terms of weapons and perks. All these changes lead to a very customisable experience and a more varied battlefield.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a force to be reckoned with. Its aggressive single player campaign may leave you dazed and confused, but where it deserves most praise lies in its unrivaled multiplayer. This game will have you playing for a very long time – at least until the next Modern Warfare hits.
91/100
Mark:
At their very core, game reviews should answer the following question: “Should I buy this game?” For COD:MW2, the answer yes, you should…and no, you shouldn’t.
There is no doubt that this is an amazing game. It looks great, it plays great, it feels great, and there is very little that is actually wrong with it. The single player is an intense campaign that sheds the fat of all the military FPS’s before it, and inserts you directly into the heart of the beast. However, a single playthrough yields only about 6-8 hours of game time with little replay value. The multiplayer is almost RPG-ish in its depth and customizeability (new word, just go with it), and offers a vast array of intense battles, and for who is into that sort of thing (me), has endless replayability (two new words invented in one sentence. I feel ol’ Bill Shakespeare).
So, the only way to get a full $60 worth out of this game is to be able to dedicate at a minimum 20 hours to the multiplayer, and even then you are barely scratching the surface of what’s available. If you’re not prepared to do that, save yourself fifty bucks and rent it, because it is definitely worth experiencing at least once. Whichever you decide to do, just make sure you play that damned thing. It’s great.
97/100
Russ:
Two weeks into this game, and the only thing I can think of is the fact that I hope they don’t come out with another Call of Duty game for three years. There is a two-year gap between Modern Warfares, and in that time Infinity Ward was able to make a too-short, too-shallow, epic singleplayer game, an excellent new co-op feature (Special Ops) and the best FPS multiplayer game I’ve experienced.
There are a lot of issues with the single player, but it boils down to just one false idea: that a great story comes secondary to great gaming moments. The singleplayer element of this game feels like it was pieced together after they had decided on all its climatic scenes, leaving the player shouting, “That was awesome! What’s happening!?!” more often than not. More development time and some help with the writing could go a long way, and I think that enough of the fans’ cries about the shallow storytelling will go a long way over at Infinity Ward’s offices.
When it comes down to it, few games can receive the praise of being a solid experience without any “buts”. BioShock was incredible but it was too short. Halo 3 was fun and had a lot of content but it also suffered from a loosely concocted (and confusing) storyline. Braid lacked multiplayer (just kidding, that game was nearly perfect). When it comes down to it, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 falls into that same trap, but its highs seem so much higher than its lows that I’m willing to forgive it, just like many games before. I was hesitant to give this game the same chance I’d given Call of Duty 4 (what can I say, I’ve disliked every Treyarch-produced Call of Duty and the whole thing has left me a little bitter), but I’m glad it turned out so freaking fun.
95/100
Steve:
If you read our impressions piece, you already know that our initial thoughts on Modern Warfare 2 were really quite positive. Have my thoughts changed after finishing the solo campaign and spending more time with the multiplayer? The answer to that question, is yes. And no.
This contradiction indicates the kind of confusion I felt after playing Modern Warfare 2. On one hand, the games set-pieces are stunning, leaving you with that ”oh my god I can’t believe I just did that!” feeling of exhilaration, yet the story itself is confusing, muddled, and a little bit silly. Some sections of the game pair you up with an NPC partner to covertly take down entire groups of enemies, which makes you feel both tactical and powerful. However, other sections leave you on your own with little indication as to how to reach your next objective, which forces you to resort to trial and error. This usually results in multiple unfair deaths; dying repeatedly because you don’t know what you’re supposed to do makes you feel less like special-ops, and more like special-ed.
This confusion even extends to the multiplayer, which, whilst still addictive, and definitely the games biggest selling point, is still as unbalanced towards novices as Call Of Duty 4 was, and doesn’t bring a whole lot of new features to the table; whilst the new maps help to keep things feeling fresh, there are a couple of which are flat, empty, and devoid of any real distinguishable features, which makes them almost no fun to play.
However, these are all relatively minor gripes, and whilst I have a few small problems with the game, I certainly have no major objections with it. Whilst I think it’s possibly fair to say that Modern Warfare 2 isn’t quite as good as it could have been, it’s also fair to say that it’s still a great game, it’s still far better than most of its competition, and the multiplayer is definitely going to keep me coming back for a long time to come.
91/100
Tyler:
Can you imagine what an amazing place Infinity Ward was in just before launching CODMW2? The last COD4: MW was a run-away success and that momentum (read: money) could do nothing but make their next game better– so long as they follow along the same lines as the last title. But what it seems like IW did was follow a little too close to the beaten path this time around, inevitably reaching the end of the road and stepping in the same pile of “slow motion,not-really-a-quick-time-event-but-kinda-sorta-is, only time for one more last-ditch effort to kill the bad guy”. There were too many times (twice) in this game where I actually had to ask myself, “Wait, am I playing a level from COD4?”. This is mainly the fault of the guns-before-narrative nature of the COD game-line, illustrated perfectly by the lazy use of loading screen voice overs for plot progression.
But what do we really care about? Where will you be spending the vast majority of your time with this game? That’s right– online. The complaints I had about the multiplayer side of Modern Warfare have all been addressed in one way or another with MW2. Split-screen co-op has been givin in a round-about way with Spec-Ops splitscreen. The general clutter of the HUD has been clean up considerably for the online matches giving a very clear frame in which to display the ‘splosions. Extreme Rapings happen far less with the implementation of death perks and the rebalanced array of regular perks. More levels, guns, teams, equipment… the hit it out of the park in respect to multiplayer. That’s it… man, I hate going last, all the good talking points are taken.
92/100
Enjoy your Turkey!
Believe it or not, quite a few things happen behind the scenes here at Threevue HQ. For instance, did you know that we spend lots of time procrastinating, napping, and dry-heaving from worry worting? Bet you didn’t. And because we’re so busy, sometimes we let reviews of games slide right through the cracks. Cleaning House is a feature in which we attempt to right the wrongs of our past, and provide you with some quality, half-assed product. Enjoy!
Russ:
Although I don’t want to admit it, I was slightly drawn towards Oblivion. But its mixed reviews and fantasy-world setting were enough to keep me away, anxiously waiting for my swan song (at least initially): Fallout 3 was developed by the same company, and there wasn’t an elf to be found anywhere. I haven’t played a solid RPG in a while – I feel that games like Mass Effect and Fable II were more like “adventure” games than a bonafide grinding/leveling role-playing experience – and I was ready to jump in whole-heartedly.
I’m glad I did. Fallout 3‘s FPS viewpoint brings an intimacy I’ve never experienced in an RPG, and I loved it. Most of my RPG experiences don’t expand beyond the Final Fantasy games, and I’ve never felt any connection with the main characters; but in Fallout 3, I was immersed. If you look beyond the critics’ gripes (mostly just pop-up and somewhat glitchy gameplay) you’ll find yourself dropped into a world that is both parts old and new, ugly and beautiful, frustrating and exhilarating. I completed all 30 missions and discovered 100 locations in less than 40 hours of gameplay, and I was disappointed that my adventure ended so quickly. Thankfully, the DLC extended the experience significantly, although in hindsight I partially wish I had waited for the Game of the Year edition and spent $60 instead of the $110 I paid altogether. Then again, experiencing each new chapter of the game as it was released was a lot of fun, too. At the end of the day, Fallout 3 is one of the best games of 2008 that bled well into 2009, and a truly must-have experience for any Xbox 360 owner.
93/100
Tyler:
Russ said it; Fallout 3 is an experience. And in that experience is a gigantic whirlwind of people, locations, items, enemies and a storyline that sometimes collide into each other in less than favorable ways. In this game’s case, it’s unforeseen glitches. Dead NPCs, prematurely-ended quests and accidental thievery can put a damper on any adventurer’s journey through the wastes. Thankfully these instances in Fallout 3 are hardly game-enders; in fact, they serve to reinforce the notion that this game is massive. So massive that it’s hard to feel satisfied even when completing side-quests. As a player you feel that there has to be more out there, another quest in the next town. That’s what Fallout 3 gives you. Now that’s pretty immersive if you ask me.
While those collisions don’t ruin the game, they do tend to break the illusion and the flow of the play. Added to this are the rickety animations and robotic models of the characters, the repetitive dungeons subways segments and fact that sometimes the game just doesn’t give you clear information and you kill the wrong people or make the wrong deal. I can deal with those things, the only real wish I have for Fallout is the tightening of the shooting. Think of how you firefights in COD4 play out… skillfully, accurately and with a certain finesse, right? Now how about Fallout 3… stiff, analog and not the most fun, am I right? If you don’t agree then just imagine playing the whole game without VATS. Good luck sniping!
I hope it’s clear that I frontloaded this review with all the worst things I have to say. In the end, after playing the game for so many hours, helping the tykes in Little Lamplight, fending off the Garys, leaving Vault 101 for the last time and fighting along with Liberty Prime, I came to really love this game. Like, “one of my favorite games of all time” love it. All of the misgivings I listed above are still there, but like Dennis Quaid in Enemy Mine, I’ve now spent years with something that I originally had trouble dealing with, but after so much time I now I know and love it (and it’s having my baby). I’m still not done with the game, but Ive played it for over 80 hours. With two more DLC packs to go, I’m very hesitant to complete what has been one of the best video game experiences of my life.
95/100
Giang:
Somehow The Wasteland may be described as a barren landscape. At the same time the world feels so full of life. You quickly learn that this infertile land is one of opportunity – quests, loot, a variety of towns and recognisable landmarks that echo a once standing D.C.. And how you approach it is entirely up to you (it is interesting to note that ironically, the Vaults are a place where life is a fruitless existence).
Most of the missions you encounter can offer reward or ramifications. This all ties in the with the game’s Karma system, dictating whether you’re good, evil or neutral. Progression through the main story line will also present you with these choices, even though they are few and far between. And it all climaxes at a rather dissatisfying ending. All NPCs look like wax mannequins and their animations are startlingly underwhelming. Everyone seems to be ice skating and moon jumping across the world, including yourself when you’re in third person view.
Real-time combat can be a frustrating experience if you opt for the FPS controls. The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) rather offers players an opportunity to assess and think about how they might approach the situation – something is near impossible with regular shooting controls. You pause time, target a creature (human, dog, mutant, weird lobster thing) and a specific body part (limb, head, tentacles), each one having a percentage of chance to hit. Once that’s done you press play and watch the decapitation unfold in vivid, blood-spraying slow-mo. It’s an incredibly satisfying and fun to watch system, especially if you have the gratuitous ‘Bloody Mess’ perk turned on.
Gaining a level offers players to cash in skill points and a perk, allowing players to customise their game style. You could go all Rambo, with focus of melee attacks, or be the silent killer, picking off enemies with stealth and precision. What you end up with is a character that should be deeply fine tuned to your playing system.
This game is filled with choices. Where to go, what you do and say, who you kill and how you do it. It can get clumsy at some spots, but otherwise it’s a well imagined world that will keep you continually seeking out for more.
93/100
Steve
Gargantuan: (adjective)
enormous; colossal
Epic: (noun)
A literary or dramatic composition that resembles an extended narrative poem celebrating heroic feats
There are a great number of terms that can be used to describe Fallout 3 when trying to give people a better sense of what the game is all about; action-adventure, RPG/FPS hybrid, and post-apocalyptic science fiction to name just a few of them. However, the two definitions listed above are probably the two most apt terms I can think of to describe the experience I had playing this game.
To say that Fallout 3 is huge really does do it a disservice; I put in the region of 130 hours of play time into it (including all of the DLC). This is due in large part to the fact that playing it is like having the videogame equivalent of ADD – it’s far too easy to start what is essentially a simple 30 minute fetch quest, only to find you’ve spent ten hours wandering around, meeting people, finding new quests, getting into random fights, pillaging loot, and becoming genuinely absorbed into the rich world that Bethesda have created. In my opinion, this quality is Fallout 3′s single greatest strength, and one which had me captivated by the time I left Vault 101.
It’s because the game is so absorbing that it’s easy to forgive much of the games faults: it’s filled with minor glitches, the FPS elements are a little clunky, sometimes choosing the wrong option in a dialogue tree will result in quests being denied to you; couple this with the game’s too-frequent autosave feature, and you can find yourself having to revert to an older save and replaying sections of the game again just to correct a mistake made in the blink of an eye. It’s also worth noting that using the VATS system slows the combat down to a crawl – whilst I actually quite liked this (though the combat isn’t exactly frenetic, the slower pace does make it feel more methodical – even tactical) it does make the game quite slow in places. Those who suffer from a lack of patience may not be so ready to forgive this.
However, as previously mentioned, all of these faults are relatively minor when weighed against just how utterly compelling this game is. Whilst Fallout 3 may be a little technically deficient in places, it has a vast amount of charm. For example, a side-quest in one of the DLC packs sees you clear an area of enemies; the game then rewards you, not just with XP for completing the quest, but in a strange juxtaposition to all of the violence that’s just occurred, lets you play tag with a child that lives in the area you’ve just cleared out. After moments like that, I find it hard to say anything bad about this game at all.
94/100
Believe it or not, quite a few things happen behind the scenes here at Threevue HQ. For instance, did you know that we spend lots of time procrastinating, napping, and dry-heaving from worry worting? Bet you didn’t. And because we’re so busy, sometimes we let reviews of games slide right through the cracks. Cleaning House is a feature in which we attempt to right the wrongs of our past, and provide you with some quality, half-assed product. Enjoy!
Russ:
I was ready to wait until Rock Band 2 hit the bargain bins before picking it up. Really, the first Rock Band was enough to wet my whistle – the weekly downloadable content didn’t blow me away every week, but what came available was good stuff. In its first year, I was treated to full albums by The Pixies, Foo Fighters and The Cars, while getting some pretty solid packs from the likes of The Police and Oasis, too. My drums worked fine, and I had two fine plastic guitars to tide me over. I knew that there were some slight tweaks but overall it was the same game with a bit of a makeover. But yeah, then I had it in my hands one day while shopping and I said, “ah, what the hell”, and went for it.
What I didn’t realize was how significant all the slight tweaks were. The single-player world tour is much like the multiplayer one found in Rock Band, which brings awesomeness to your TV without having to rely on other people. In other words, you can rock when you want to rock. Being able to create setlists and change instruments on the fly are also welcome additions. There are several new features that I haven’t even tried out yet, like the drum tutorial or the ability to play drums along with songs on your iPod. Ultimately, this means that I still have more adventures to uncover in the weeks, months and years to come. Couple this with the fact that you can play your RB1 songs and DLC means that this game has moved beyond a “game” status and into a “music experience”. Man, just writing about it makes me want to plug it in right now; and that’s saying something.
96/100
Tyler:
Rock Band 2 has gone and accomplished the goal that Rock Band tried to achieve, which was to make a more contemporary and widely appreciated group music game. Guitar Hero has its perks, but all in all it just seems like it’s the first generation of an iterative game. I mean, you could even call the games themselves platforms. I speak best in analogies:
Guitar Hero is to Rock Band as Myspace is to Facebook.
Myspace isn’t really a bad site, it’s just that Facebook came along and did the whole social networking thing better. If Facebook never existed we’d be very happy with our Myspace.
What I’m trying to say here is that Rock Band 2 is my favorite game to play with a room full of friends. The song selection is the best out of any game out there and the constant stream of DLC is giving this game legs longer than Dikembe Mutombo. The main problem I have with the game are the less-than-extraordinary chord progressions of many songs (being that the guitar is the main instrument in the ensemble), and I don’t feel that I “solo like a bastard” as much in RB as GH.
88/100
We thought that instead of talking about a major release this week like Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, we’d talk about a game that was recently released under the radar. Our take on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 begins now:
Russ:
I’m about halfway through the single player campaign and I’ve played two deathmatch levels. That may not seem like a lot, but it has given me a fair grasp on the game itself. I always tout Halo 3 as being a game that’s seriously worth your money just for its sheer amount of content; but what hinders that game is that it basically features a bunch of great (but not incredible) features. On the other hand, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2‘s multiplayer is so incredible that it alone pays for itself. And those are bold words coming from someone who spends most of his time in the single-player world.
Somehow the graphics were improved, which goes a long way in a game like this. Some of the graphics are so good that it tricks my mind into thinking that the environment is real, and it creates a level of immersion that I’ve yet to experience in a multiplayer FPS. The single player campaign seems to have cropped out all non-110% moments, leaving the whole experience feeling like more of a “best of” compilation than a full-fleshed out game. But really, the multiplayer is good enough that I can almost forgive it, and to simply consider it practice for playing online.
Oh, and I figured out what the Russians are saying at the beginning of the airport level (seen in the first trailer): “S nami Bog” = “God is with us”.
Steve:
One of the elements that made the COD4: Modern Warfare single player campaign so memorable was its jaw-dropping set-pieces, which were used to great effect in delivering the game’s narrative in an explosive, cinematic style. Without a doubt, the same can be said for Modern Warfare 2, and thankfully most of the set-pieces hit their mark: I say most of the set-pieces, as I couldn’t help but feel that the infamous airport scene seemed really tacked on; it’s only real purpose to inject some shock value into the game. However, I defy anyone to finish this game without at least cracking a huge grin or a small chuckle over some of the game’s scripted events – Infinity Ward have definitely succeeded in crafting a game which is as tight, polished, and expertly crafted as COD4.
You really don’t have to put in much playing time to realise just how similar Modern Warfare 2 is to COD4; though I would say this is to the game’s detriment at times. As the two games look and play very similarly, it doesn’t seem like there is enough variation in the story to set the two apart. There also seems to be a section in the middle of the solo campaign which feels strangely flat.
Solo campaign aside, the multiplayer seems as solid as you would expect it to be, though I haven’t been able to put in as much time with this as I would have liked as I’ve been having real problems finding matches online. However, I don’t know if this is due to problems with the UK servers, my router, or because my Xbox is on the verge of going supernova, so it seems unfair to criticise the game for this.
Giang:
It’s plainly obvious to see how this will be the best selling game ever. Its myriad of bombastic explosions and set pieces rival any blockbuster action movie. And its multiplayer segment is best in its class. They seemed to have ticked all the right boxes in creating a game that is both gorgeous and fun to play. So why am I coming out feeling a little muddled about it?
I always thought if a developer was going to bring the FPS genre forward in the narrative sense, it would be Infinity Ward. I slightly disappointed to see that they’re focused on upping the visual fidelity and not so much the emotional experience. They trot you around the globe, from crazy ass mission to crazy ass mission and not letting the narrative have any space to develop. What they do give you are those mission briefing screens filled with futuristic vector graphics that feel very removed from the war and terror of the battlefield.
Multiplayer is what we all know and love. A few tweaks including kill streaks and death perks will go a long way into making it even more addictive than the original. The new game mode Spec Ops lays somewhere between single player and multiplayer, where you’re playing side missions with a co-op partner. It definitely feels like the levels have been built with co-op in mind, and I imagine Spec Ops will become a new hook for players wanting something more compact than single player but with that team experience.
As a quick note, you’re going to start seeing some new people write some posts here in the future. It shouldn’t really affect your day-to-day reading, it just means you’re going to be getting more quality content. Pay no mind to the fact that the site’s called THREEvue; that’s something we’re going to address soon, too.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that we’ve met our quota for new writers, so keep the submissions coming!
We here at Threevue are planning something. Something big. And at the very least, we’re going to need some help. This is where you come in.
If you’re interested in writing for/with/against us, send us an email with the following deets:
Name
Location
Favorite Food
Along with the gory details above, please send us two examples of your writing, one of which should be a review. Keep in mind that our site is dedicated to video games, music, movies, and the like. If we like what you have to say, you’ll hear back from us. Oh, and we can’t pay you until this site starts making money, which will hopefully happen someday. Good luck!
Russ Crandall:
Tyler Miller:
Steve McKay:
Giang Cao:
Recent Comments