Modern Warfare 2 Crybaby

First the Angry German Kid and now this. I'm 98% certain this is pure acting, but why someone would actually destroy their own hand is beyond me. Course.. I did have a rather sophisticated latex makeup kit for Halloween when I was younger that would allow me to create some realistic looking wounds, perhaps he's using the same thing.

Modern Warfare 2 First Impression

After a year+ of hype, Modern Warfare 2 has been released. Is it worth 60 bucks? Yes, yes it is. In the spirit of the game, this review will come in the form of bullet points ;-)

Bullets that hit the target:

* The single player campaign is fast, furious, well scripted, and contains great voice acting.

* The mutiplayer maps were well thought out: most maps are multi-tiered, allow players to choose more than just 2 ways to flank their opponents, feature destructible environments, even if only from a cosmetic standpoint, and are generally quite fun.

* The new perks for multiplayer have been slotted well, and the pro upgrade is a nice change from COD4. Each perk has a standard and pro form; pro form increases the functionality of the perk and is unlocked after the player completes the challenge -usually by killing things- associated with said perk.


*Two words: Tactical Insertion. This piece of equipment gives the player full control over where they will respawn after dying. Just drop the flare, die, and respawn where the flare is hidden. Awesome idea, but beware the enemy who finds your flare and camps patiently next to it.

* Riot shields are a blast! I can't stress enough, just how much fun it is to shield bash another player to death.

* Special Ops breathes new life into an otherwise played out multiplayer frag fest by offering players the chance to team up, tackle smaller skirmish style scenarios, compete individually, and still work together.

Bullets that missed their mark:

* There are too many kill streaks in my opinion; seriously, how many different precision air strikes, helicopters, and UAV versions do players need? And a 25 kill tactical nuke that sounded absolutely amazing, but turned out to be nothing more than a blast wave coming toward my player, followed by game over!? Where's the mushroom cloud!? Lame.

* The graphics have been downgraded and are beginning to look cartoony. Not a big deal, but if realistic looking smoke grenades are something you enjoy, don't expect the level of polish previously used.

* Still no hardcore domination or free for all. This is a personal gripe, but deathmatch and headquarters are still the only way to play the game realistically.


* The majority of play options don't offer the ability to talk to your friends via party chat. In the old days I was able to talk exclusively to my friends, ignoring all squeakers, loud mouths, jock "your gay" fanbois, suburban white kids who use Ni*#a every other word, and other online undesirables, via party chat. Now I have to mute every douche, or play a mode that offers party chat support, like ground war.


Bullets that missed their mark and killed the small child crossing the road with their grandma:


* Player rewards for.... wait for it.... sucking! Yup, you will now be rewarded via deathstreaks when you suck ass and get shot over and over. I'm glad Infinity Ward decided to basically remove the martyrdom perk from the game, but I am 100% against rewarding players for getting owned. It goes against the entire principle of competitive multiplayer. For shaaaaaame!


* MW2 now has a welfare system, and it comes in the form of a "care package" killstreak. This killstreak reward drops a crate from the sky containing a random killstreak reward. The crate could contain something simple like ammo, or it could give the player a C130 gunship. With the Hardline perk, a player can now obtain a 12 kill reward after only 3, making this the worst design decision I have ever seen implemented into a competitive first person shooter.


While I haven't finished MW2, I am enjoying the game. I had to look hard to find issues with the spec ops and campaign modes, and even under my cynical microscope, cartoony graphics is the only flaw I can come up with-massive props on these two modes. Multiplayer is another story.. In some ways, I love multiplayer, but I find death rewards despicable, worthy of nothing more than a non-competitive, offline game. Random killstreak rewards are just as deplorable, and I can't stress enough, just how much these can change the outcome of a match. For these 2 reasons, I have stopped playing MW2 the way I played COD4, competitively, and now just run around shield-bashing people in the face, because if Infinity Ward is going to remove skill from the game, and reward losers, I will continue to view MW2 online the only way it deserves: as a game that coddles the weak, and punishes the strong.

On a side note, I am now taking bets on how long it will take Blizzard to begin handing out epics for wiping 5 times in a row ;-)

On Release Dates.

Warning, rant post.

Is anyone else sick of damn near every new game being released in October or November? The list of games I am looking forward to is long, and frankly, I don't have the time to play them all at release because there are so many!

When did this trend begin? Has it always been this way? Is a game doomed to fail unless it is launched just before Christmas? Is a game doomed to fail BECAUSE it is released at Christmas, and it isn't finished? What about this game?- you know, the one that set all kinds of records and was released at the end of April! Now I must admit, that particular game WAS scheduled to release on Oct 30th, not April 30th, so I'm sure there were many execs who were saying "ZOMG, we're going to miss mad sales due to releasing post Christmas!!", but guess what, it never happened. The game kicked ass because it was a great game, not because it was rushed out the door at the behest of marketing gurus who still think Christmas is the secret weapon.

I can't wait until another major company catches on to the absurdity that is Christmas and instead decides to launch during mid summer. I hope the title beats all previous records and forever smashes the pathetic maxim that says "launch before christmas or die". Oh wait, that already happened and the company learned jack shit. /end rant.

The Wolfgang Review System

Is typically a 3-step process, or will be going forward.

Step 1: A shallow review based on approximately 3-10 hours of gameplay, filed under "First Impression". While I would like to do a full review as my first review, unlike other gamers, I don't receive games 2 weeks before the general public.

Step 2: A more comprehensive review, filed under "Second Thoughts", based on my opinion of the game after it has lost that magical "new" feeling.

Step 3: A brief summary of the points listed in steps 1 and 2, with some revisions if necessary. Filed under "Final Verdict", or "MMMM That's Good Crow", the latter of which will be used when I rip the game to shreds in step 1, and possibly 2, only to be caught off guard by how much fun I eventually had. I will try my best not to eat too much crow.

I currently own a PC, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. Multi-platform games will be reviewed based on the platform I try, the platform will be named in the title, and I will not be trying multiple copies of each game on all the platforms available.

Dragon Age Playstation 3 first impression.

Yesterday I picked up the new Bioware title Dragon Age:Origins, for Playstation 3. After playing the game for two hours, there are so many blatantly obvious flaws, I am actually amazed Bioware chose to ship this title out. The gameplay is choppy, the sound is terrible, and the collision detection blows so many chunks even this dinosaur does it better. Bioware may have an excellent reputation for story telling-so far that is the only decent part about this game- but if the game is next to unplayable, I don't give a damn about the lineage of my character or anything else about the lore.

I am truly debating on making a Youtube video, just so I can accurately showcase the gameplay in Dragon Age, because I am not sure how to best put into words just how bad it really is. The best way to describe it would be to say that when there are more than half a dozen mobs onscreen, and any type of fire, the frame rate begins to remind me of a scratched DVD. Characters skip from location to location instead of running fluidly, shield bashes become instant with little to no arm movement, and the only way to slightly control the madness is to stop the combat after every single command and micromanage the hell out of your party. I attempted to take advantage of the "tactics" system, to tell AI party members what to do, and found that the AI is so poor that ranged party members stood there getting destroyed by melee unless I took control myself.

Next up: sound. If the gameplay resembles that of a scratched DVD, the sound IS is a scratched CD. I couldn't understand half of the plot during the first 45 minutes of play because the voices skipped so bad. Again, Bioware may be known for the depth of their story lines, but if I can't understand a damn thing being said, I'm not exactly feeling immersed by the RPG experience am I? The sound effects for fire and footsteps are no better in many parts of the game so far, which leads me to believe that things will only get worse as time goes on, and more enemies pop on screen.

Perhaps I am spoiled by the extremely polished combat offered in Demon's Souls, but the collision detection DA brings to the table is downright comical. My warriors shield bash must be infused with the force left over from Knights of the Old republic, because according to my limited vision, he should have whiffed on every single one. Sword play also looks very much like the flashlight war between the two cops in the movie Superbad; you hears sounds, but metal on metal is nowhere to be found. I haven't witnessed any spells yet, but I can't wait to see them in action because I'm almost certain they will make me laugh out loud. Seriously though, the collision detection in Dragon Age is no better than World of Warcraft; in fact, WOW probably does it better.

While I would love to love Dragon Age because of the absolutely amazing story that I witnessed within the first 2 hours of play, I admit I breathed a sigh of relief after turning off the game and popping DS back into my PS3. Bioware may have some great story writers, but the game play on this title thus far is painful and not fun, the sound is so good I actually want to play the game on mute, and the collision detection leads me to believe that DA was at one time slated to be an MMO, not a single player RPG. While the PC version is getting top notch reviews , and EA, the marketing windbag that they are, are certainly tooting their own horn, the PS3 version may be one of those titles that should never have been ported over to console. I will continue to play this game for as long as I can take, but my crystal ball tells me that this one will most likely be traded into Game Stop very soon.

Demon's Souls Halloween Event Part 2

The Demon's Souls Halloween event was an interesting 2 days for my new Thief: instead of fighting new bosses and exploring new stages, I spent hours fighting incredibly difficult black phantoms- some of which took me almost an hour apiece- searching for gear upgrades. The event wasn't what I expected and experienced with other online RPGS, but it taught me a great deal about how the world tendency system works in DS, which will serve my character well going forward.

World tendency is the DS equivalent of a sliding difficulty scale. Depending on how well you play, the world will begin to shift toward black or white. Play in body form, run through the stage killing bosses and player controlled black phantoms, and world tendency will begin to turn white. Die multiple times in body form, kill innocent NPC's, or invade/kill other players online-more on that later-and the world will start turning black. White tendency makes the game easier: enemies have fewer hit points, do less damage, drop crappier loot, and less souls; the opposite occurs during black world tendency. But world tendency affects more than just the skill required and the drop rate: it will also physically change certain parts of the level, opening up new areas that were previously blocked.



There are a number of rare weapons in DS that are only be available to players inside levels of pure white or pure black world tendency. After destroying the Dragon god at the end of Level 2, I noticed a gigantic sword stuck in a stone that was blocked on both sides by debris. I spent about 20 minutes trying to find a way to acquire the sword, but ended up saying screw it, and looked up the information online. As it turns out, the sword is only available to players who defeat the Dragon god when the world tendency is pure white. So my character is officially screwed until I defeat the game on "regular mode", fight the Dragon god again on the harder "new game +1" difficulty, when the world tendency is pure white, or I start another character and play better. Turns out there are a number of items scattered throughout the game that can only be attained by having a pure white world tendency. It's a nice system if you are uber leet.





Pure black world tendency is a bit different: new weapons and armor become available, but you will have to fight your ass off to acquire them. Even the regular enemies during pure black hit like a ton of bricks, but the real fight comes from the unique NPC black phantoms that spawn when the world fades to black. I encountered two of the signature phantoms, and it took me the better part of an hour apiece to grind them down. They have what seems like 5 times the amount of hit points compared to a standard black phantom, armor that makes even the best of weapons hit like a rubber mallet, and enough attack power to one-shot a knight in full plate. However, the rewards for defeating the signature phantoms is top knotch, and well worth the fight. Instead of dropping something crappy like a Slaves Shield, the 2 rewards I acquired could only have been obtained by trading a boss soul, along with an upgraded standard weapon, to Blacksmith Ed-the NPC who upgrades weapons for souls- which can take hours. Despite the fact that neither one of the two weapons will be used by my character, it is nice to see there's a way around the endless grind that is upgrading weapons the old-fashioned way.

I'm digging the world tendency system and not just for the loot, because it encourages players to participate in online play. While there is no traditional form of grouping in DS via a town or chat channel, players in soul-form can use blue stones from their inventory to offer assistance to other players who are in body-form, or red stones to invade others. Offering successful assistance will make the world tenedency swing white for completing the stage, while successful invasions are considered "evil" and will swing the WT toward black. The system is a bit primitive by todays standards-there is no chat or voice communication, and the only way to communicate is by using emotes-but it is easy to use, and offers an alternative to soloing the entire game expecting to attain, and keep, pure white tendency.

Using a blue stone will add a blue signature to the ground that other players can click on to view player statistics and summon up to two additional players to their realm. Stats include the amount of multiplayer sessions the character has participated in, a silhouette of the player to determine what class he or she may be, and the average grade given by other players for previous sessions. Grades can be S,A,B,C, and D, with S being the best and are determined by the ratings given by other players after the conclusion of their multiplayer sessions. Players are encouraged to help each other while in soul form because it is one of the only ways to regain their lost body; the other three ways being to either defeat a boss-which can be extremely difficult solo, and or in soul-form- use a stone of ephemeral eyes-which are rare-or kill another player by invading their realm. Using a blue stone to assist is also nice for helper souls since they gain the same amount of souls the host does, but don't have to worry about losing them should they die from enemy fire; this creates a very lucrative soul farming option.

The world tendency can also be shifted toward black by intentionally dying while in body form, resurrecting using a stone of ephemeral eyes, then dying again-rinse/repeat 7 times- or by invading another players realm while in soul form by using a red stone and transforming into a black phantom. Player controlled black phantoms are unable to group with other black phantoms, but can fight along side mobs to destroy other players. While I only invaded the realm of other players a couple of times and found myself underequipped for PVP, I did help my fellow players fight off quite a few would-be invaders, many of whom were decked out in PVP gear-spears that destory the victims armor immediately come to mind- and specced for maximum health. I have to admit that being close to finishing a level and seeing "YOU HAVE BEEN INVADED!" is quite a rush; it makes finishing the level quickly a top priority. The game only allows players to invade others who are close to their soul level, so fighting a player with 1k+ health when you only have 200 isn't going to happen, but woe to the player who is a tank and faces a powerful mage.

The Demon's Souls Halloween event really didn't change things much: there weren't any Headless Horsemen running around, no special maces with pumpkins placed on top, and no scary masks to be found, but it did turn out to be one hell of a good time IMO. It taught me the value of having others to quest with, a great deal about how world tendency can change the levels, and allowed me to acquire a few cool weapons that I wouldn't have wasted valuable demon souls on otherwise. I'm looking forward to the future since I believe this was nothing more than a test run for Altus. If I were a betting man, I would place 50 bucks on Altus creating more content to keep the online player base slaying demons for some time to come.

Nade Spam.

Grenade Spam- also known as nade spam- is a term most FPS players are familiar with. Used to describe the behavior of players who compensate for their lack of skill by mindlessly lobbing any and all grenades in their arsenal seconds after respawning, nade spam can ruin an otherwise fun round of team deathmatch. Below is a video that accurately describes the feeling of most players on the topic.