Achievement Unlocked

Red Faction

Red Faction: Guerilla is basically Grand Theft Auto on Mars, but with quite a few more reasons to play. I have admittedly never owned a GTA game of my own, although I have had a lot of experience with them. I think the last good one was GTA 3 on the PS1. Back to the matter at hand, the reason Red Faction is so much fun lies in the game’s engine, specifically the fact that it allows just about ANYthing to be destroyed completely, and in an almost brick-by-brick manner (as the back of the game box will attest to). With most sandbox games I have always become quickly bored of doing the same silly missions over and over again, and every street corner and building quickly blends together with the next. The thing about Red Faction is that whenever this starts to happen, just put a remote mine (or 10) on a nearby building, detonate it, and watch the mayhem that ensues. Blowing things up is so damn satisfying that you can become engrossed in just that for hours. The only problem I have with the game is that you can sometimes get so caught up in making things go boom that you won’t actually get anywhere in the story.

Although I would be perfectly happy to just have the remote mines and a large building to tear apart, Red Faction actually has a pretty decent supply of tools available to tear down the planet. You arsenal includes the standard pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher, all space-esque of course. The remote mines aren’t really any different from any other game that features remotely detonated explosives (think Goldeneye 007, but more futuristic and in HD. Yes, I’m comparing this game’s mines to those of what is arguably the greatest game of all time), but taking the fact that you can set up to 12 at once, plus at least 15ish proximity mines, and also have some vehicles, propane tanks, chemical containers, and a WMD down as part of the bomb chain as well, and you can make some pretty damn impressive explosions. There are a few other weapons that I feel are little more than gimmicky, although it’s possible I haven’t found a specific use for them yet. These would be the Arc Welder (Wielder perhaps? I haven’t used it much) and the Grinder. The former basically outputs a constant stream of lightning, while the latter shoots out saw blades at high speed (you can later upgrade them to explode). The game’s main weapon, a sledgehammer, is one of the most fun to use. It’s great at knocking chunks out of walls, and it’s also horribly entertaining to see an enemy soldier go flying from a good smack to the head. There’s a small storyline spoiler in the last weapon I’m about to name, so skip to the next paragraph if you want to find out for yourself (you have to clear the first two sectors of the game to get access to it though). The Nano Rifle is basically a single-shot carbine that somehow uses nano-machines to rip whatever it hits apart molecule-by-molecule. This is another intensely satisfying tool of destruction to use, especially if you know specifically which support you need to take out to topple a building. It’s also fantastic to dissolve people with.

Red Faction sports a particularly large world, and although the different ‘sectors’ of the game are basically the same landscape with a different color filter applied to it, there’s still a lot to do. There’s a decent amount of variation in the side quests, although they are never required to complete. The missions themselves are fun, slightly varied, but never similar enough to one another to become boring. The final few missions in the game are incredibly entertaining, well beyond the level of the fun of the rest of the game (which I still think is pretty high). Just about all of them involve blowing up a huge structure with the aid of either some megatank or a giant mech. The map itself is quite large, and although there are a few fast vehicles which make traversing it easier, I highly recommend purchasing the upgrade that allows you to warp instantly between safehouses as soon as you can (it’s not available right off the bat, but not too far into the game).

Beyond the single player campaign of Red Faction lies what seems to be a very robust online multiplayer mode. The environment-destroying aspect of the game molds very well to the standard deathmatch / CTF gametypes that you would expect an online shooter to have. All of the weapons from the campaign return, in addition to several backpacks. These are all basically support equipment that do different things. There are jetpacks, cloaking devices, a few building destroying items, etc., all of which really add variety to the game. I didn’t spend a great deal of time online, but this is definitely a game I will come back to when I’m looking for something to do.

Overall, Red Faction is a solid game. I would call it uniquely familiar, something any shooter fan will be able to enjoy. If you get tired of the somewhat repetitive campaign, multiplayer mode is available to freshen things up. Give it a rent or even a long term rent. That’s all for this time, Kaz out.

Gears of War 2

So much for weekly updates huh? Been busy with schoolwork.  Colleges and such. Anyways…

Although I have actually not picked up any new games since RE5 (PGR 4 and Forza 2 have been sitting on my desk for a while, might finally get around to comparing them), I did spend pretty much my entire Spring Break playing Gears 2. Here’s my take on the game.

The first Gears game was fantastic hands down. It was perfect in securing the 360’s spot in the console war early on, given how advanced that game was for the time it came out. Look at most other games on the market today, and regardless of whether or not they use EPIC’s Unreal 3 Engine, they all look like Gears. From the textures to the enemies to the character design, everything has taken after Gears of War. Without a doubt it had one of the most epic storylines to ever grace the 360, and although the multiplayer gametypes weren’t perfect in my opinion, they were still quite fun (the update that added Annex to the list of gametypes helped out a lot, even though that came out a ways beyond the release).

Gears 2 is an improvement on the original in almost every way. The campaign packed in lot more action, and the overall scale of the game was way larger. The few massive battles where it’s you against literally hundreds of enemies will blow you away the first time you come across them. There are very few games that I will buy and completely play through in the same day, and Gears 2 was one of them. I sat down with a great friend played through seven and a half straight hours of the co-op campaign. The only reason we stopped was because it was close to 2:30am and we were worn out. The single player game is simply something that must be experienced.

Gears 2’s online mode is definitely an improvement over Gears 1. With the general addition of 1 extra player per team (5v5 as opposed to Gears 1’s 4v4), games are a lot more intense. Teamwork still plays a pivotal role, and taking a Halo-style approach of charging into the center of the map with guns blazing is not going to work well in most situations (that doesn’t keep me from doing it though). The standard deathmatch games, Warzone and Execution, are just as fun as before. King of the Hill and Annex also benefit greatly from the added game mechanics of the Boom Shield and the ability to take downed enemies hostage as meat-shields. Moveable cover completely changes how effectively a team can hold a Hillzone. Shields obviously help to keep your team alive, but a meat-shield offers you a one-time protection from hill-clearing weapons like frag and smoke grenades, and if you’re lucky, a Boomshot or Torque Bow round as well. Throwing a smoke onto the hill and rushing in right after the explosion is a very effective strategy, but the whole thing can fall apart if your opponents didn’t get knocked down in the initial blast. Guardian is a fun mode, but VIP-type gametypes have existed in shooters for a while. The newest mode, Submission, is an excellently fresh take to traditional CTF. Using a CPU player, who is incredibly effective at fighting back, as the flag itself makes matches much more interesting. Once the meat-flag is taken hostage, the whole flow of the game changes dramatically. Because players move at about half the normal running speed (perhaps a third or even a fourth the roadie-run speed) while a meat-shield is being used, teamwork comes into play way more than under normal gameplay conditions.

Horde mode is a wonderful addition to the game. It is absolutely fantastic for people who do not feel they are able to have fun playing games online, be it because they think their skill level is not up to par, or do not enjoy the encounters with the masses of idiots that are usually roam the tubes. Horde allows friends to enjoy the online shooter experience in a way that can provide a different level of fun and challenge than actual player vs. player combat does. Since this mode is playable on all of the multiplayer maps, this leads to an almost endless supply of successful strategies that can be figured out, from determining the best defense point, or for more experienced Horders, forcing the right enemy spawns, and controlling the more powerful weapons in their off-rounds (rounds they don’t normally spawn in).

There is a great deal of complex Achievements in Gears 2. I say complex because although they are not difficult, they still require a lot of time to get. These are mostly the online Achievements, and they only take time because you can never truly pick your teammates (unless you are lucky enough to know 4 very skilled players), and there is always a chance that you will have no hope of winning against the other team. That being said, if you just try, you will eventually get meatflag captures, Annex wins, etc., so don’t give up hope. A lot of the Achievements can be boosted offline. It’s easy enough to start a You-vs-bot player match on every level and win in the different modes, as well as get 1 kill with every weapon, grenade stick/plant kills, etc. The two most grueling Achievements, Party like it’s 1999 and Seriously 2.0, are time consuming, but can be grinded (ground?) efficiently.

Although you will accumulate a good deal of the 1999 rounds necessary over the course of gaining the various online play Achievements, if not all of them, Horde included (each Wave is 1 round), if you feel like getting this one sooner and you have TV to watch or chores to do, this is the best way to do it. Start a 5v5 Warzone or Elimination game on the map Day One (you and 4 bots against 5 bots, all of the Casual difficulty). Set the round win limit to 5 rounds, set the round timer to 1 minute rounds, bleed-out time to 60 seconds, and make ALL weapons on the map Mulchers (the minigun turret that Grinders carry). What this does is essentially forces a stalemate every time, because there is not enough time for the bots to completely eradicate the other team. The idea behind picking Mulchers as the weapons is that if a bot does choose to pick one up, he will move slower and thus take longer to move around. At this point start the game, change the channel on the TV, and enjoy. Make sure you are using a wired controller, a wireless with a Play ‘n’ Charge kit, or otherwise tape down the right thumbstick so your character always spins in circles (but doesn’t run). With every round being a stalemate, and there being about a 1 minute 10 second difference in rounds, you need to leave the console at this for about 35-40 hours to get the Achievement, but keep in mind it does not need to be all in one setting. The best way to get 100,000 kills for Seriously 2.0 is to play the beginning of the final act / chapter of the game on Casual. There are about 80 guys to kill right at the beginning, and just past the first door you break through there are another 80 or so. Pick one of those checkpoints, kill them all, pause, and replay the checkpoint. This takes 25-30 hours as well, but you have to be playing for it. It’s rough, but doable.

All the other gears Achievements are pretty self explanatory. For campaign, there are many collectible guides all over the internet. I would suggest finding a buddy to play the co-op campaign with, and have one person play on the Casual difficulty while the other plays on Insane, then play through a second time doing the opposite. That’s all I have to say on Gears 2, it’s a fantastic title, go get it. Expect another update shortly, see ya around.

Resident Evil 5

I’m a huge fan of the Resident Evil series, although I haven’t actually played too many of them myself. I’ve seen most of them, usually at a friend’s house playing them. I played through the GameCube remake of the first one meticulously to completion, and I plan to someday pick up the rest. All of the games are fantastic additions to the survival-horror genre, so if you love a good scare with a fantastic B-movie plot then pick up the first one and see how you like it.

Resident Evil 5 plays like Resident Evil 4 (most of you might say “duh” but if you’ve played through the whole series you come to expect nothing when it comes to the control layout), that is, it’s a third-person, tight-over-the-shoulder style camera. All of the levels are very linear, a complete change for me over RE1’s open mansion where you had to piece together the clues to figure out where to go. If you’re a fan of shooters but never played RE4 or any of the earlier games, beware: this is a much more methodical shooter than say Gears, Halo, or Call of Duty. Let me explain my choice of words:

I would not call RE5 a “slow” shooter, although I’m sure many would come to this word first before any other. You can walk or run around as you please, but you cannot shoot whenever you want. You ready your gun with the Left Trigger (similar to other games) but while in this aiming mode you *cannot* move. You are rooted to the ground while you make your shots, you can’t strafe-shoot or run-n-gun like other games. There’s no targeting reticule either, but all weapons (save a bonus longbow unlocked at the end of the game) have laser pointers attached. These aid in your aiming, but the odd 3rd person angle takes some getting use to. My second reason for not calling RE5 a “slow” shooter is because the enemies certainly aren’t slow. Pick your targets carefully and quickly, missed shots cost you valuable time when fighting off a horde of zombies.

The co-op system of gameplay is a neat and fun addition to the series, but I feel it ruins the thrill of being alone against the horde. Your computer-controlled buddy for single player isn’t too helpful. The biggest problems I had were that she wasted healing items when I was suffering from minor injuries, and she went through ammo very quickly. There is nothing more aggravating than spending all of your money between rounds to upgrade your handgun and give the COM an upgraded machine gun with more bullets than enemies in the game, only to have her snatch up and use every single bit of handgun ammo you come across. In single player Sheva (your buddy) is little more than an auto-healing, walking inventory addition, with a little skill on the side of delaying the zombies’ imminent munching on your face at the cost of precious ammunition.

Although I did not play much actual co-op, the game changes significantly when you do. First off, you will most likely have an actually competent partner compared to the COM, so you should be able to have an easier time going through the game. More importantly, for each piece of gold and treasure you find, both players get the benefits of it. Find 100g on the ground? You each get 100g. Find that 10,000g diamond on chapter 5-3? You both get the diamond. With the doubling of money, you can now each afford better weaponry since you no longer have to take care of two characters on one budget. Couple this with the fact that you can probably both make headshots frequently with the pistol (as opposed to COM Sheva taking 20 bodyshots on a normal Majini zombie), and you should have no trouble finding ammo and making it through the game. Again, I feel this takes away from the survival-horror aspect of the game.

I seem to be complaining about ammo a lot huh? Ammo is still scarce, just like any other Resident Evil game, although it’s a different kind of scarce than the others. Finding 200 handgun bullets on a stage may not last you the level. In the first few chapters you might have some extra ammo, but when you start encountering the stronger Majini or mutated enemies like Lickers, be prepared to waste a few clips of ammo on them. I used up 250 MP5 bullets on a chainsaw zombie at the beginning of the game and didn’t even come close to killing it.

Another issue I had with the game is the inventory system itself. You only have room for 9 items each. One “item” includes either a weapon (not including the knife, you always have that), a stack of ammo for a gun (e.g. 50 handgun bullets, 150 machine gun bullets, 5 hand grenades), or a healing item. The fact that each herb takes up a slot is annoying on its own, as healing items are needed so frequently to the average player, so there is almost no room for anything else. The COM Sheva also tends to pick up everything you don’t need, such as ammo for guns you don’t have.

I went through the game on the easiest difficultly first. I recommend keeping your starting handgun and upgrading that as much as you can, it will last you the whole game. You should also get a shotgun in 1-2 and an MP5 in 2-1. Those are both valuable assets in the game, upgrade them as well. I would say upgrade the firepower on your handgun before anything else, and then get the capacity up to at least 25 before you start to worry about the reload time. Same applies for the MP5 and shotgun, except you will want upwards of 100 bullets for the clip of the MP5 and 12-15 shots for the shotgun.

Take the game slowly on your first try, explore every corner for valuable treasures, healing items, and weapons. Be on the lookout for large, flashing, silver suitcases, they each have a new weapon for you inside (the shotgun is on the wall in a decorative frame in 1-2, the only weapon I know of that is not in a metal case, with the exception of the RPG in the final chapter of the game, although that’s obvious and almost required to beat the level). Use your knife or hook/straight/uppercut moves when you can, it saves ammo and deals a lot of damage. I would also set aside 3000g so you can buy the stun baton as soon as you can, even though it takes up a precious inventory slot it is incredibly useful against mobs of zombies.

Achievements are straight forward for this one. The only ones that will take a while are buying and fully upgrading all the guns. About a million gold is needed for all the upgrades alone, not to mention buying all the guns themselves. The easiest way to make money is by way of a glitch in the game, so if you don’t feel like taking advantage of the co-op system you will have to play through the later chapters over and over again.

What you want to do is find at least one “Rotten Egg”, it’s a random drop off any enemy past chapter 4-1. They are worth 2000g to sell. Here’s how it works:

Start a game as Chris on chapter 2-1. As soon as you start the game, grab a second controller and hit start, sign in to a profile and follow all the onscreen prompts to join in. You will be taken back to the menu organization screen. Give Sheva (controller 2) the Rotten Egg(s). Start the game, stay in the beginning area, and have Sheva give the egg to Chris. Pause the game with controller 1 (Chris), select Quit. What happens next is very important. Both players will be asked if they want to save their current equipment status. Choose Yes for Chris and No for Sheva. What this does is essentially duplicates the Egg Sheva gave Chris. You can repeat this process ad nauseum. I did this to the point that the profile I used for the second controller/Sheva had an Inventory full of rotten eggs (45 total), so that every trade over to Chris would net 90,000g. This is the fastest way to gain money that I know of.

All in all, RE5 is a fun game, even more so if you have a friend to run through it with you. There’s no hard twists to it, other than the occasional quick-time event to stay alive, and the story is either laughably unrealistic for people new to the series, or an interesting addition to the plotline of the series for fans. Give it a rent, if you like it keep it. ~Kaz

Halo Wars

Been busy the past week with Halo Wars. I think it’s a wonderfully fun game. As previous posts would indicate, I’ve never really been a fan of the RTS genre, mainly because my mind isn’t that great at multi-tasking or strategizing on-the-fly. I always get bogged down with the building, resource gathering, upgrading, etc., and if I ever get to the point where I have troops to command that just complicates things all the more. I feel Halo Wars simplifies the process greatly, and, at least for me, makes the genre that much more fun. I will admit that the skill needed to be good at Halo Wars is certainly less than that of other RTS games, and I feel this is a good thing. I’m a fan of perfecting one’s playstyle as much as possible, and enjoy games where one can take absolute advantage of every aspect of a system in order to be good (Super Smash Bros. Melee comes to mind), but I think it’s also good to take a break from this every once in a while. Halo Wars brings a sense of epicness to your room when you are playing, and although it might be relatively easy to amass a huge squad of futuristic tanks and VTOLs in Halo Wars, it is still incredibly satisfying. The story is interesting for any fan of the Halo universe, and the cutscenes between missions are fantastic.

Most people could say that in any RTS game, the key component is the units available and what they do. Halo Wars has 3 different unit types: infantry, ground vehicles, and aircraft. The unit system consists of a simple rock-paper-scissors relationship: Infantry beat aircraft, aircraft beat ground vehicles, and ground vehicles beat infantry. All units are used for fighting, with a few having secondary skills such as healing. All units also have a clear sub-advantage within the rock-paper-scissors relationship, such as against all machines or buildings themselves, and these advantages are clearly marked within each unit generating building (barracks, vehicle depot, etc.). What I’m getting at is the simplicity of the system: units are good for killing other units, and what they are good at killing is obvious.

The one challenge in Halo Wars comes when you want to have two separate groups of units doing separate tasks across a map. If you take advantage of the D-pad, which allows for quick selection between separate groups of units and the different bases then you should be able to circumvent my problem, but if you don’t you will most likely find that scrolling across the map takes time.

Overall, Halo Wars’s level fall the same basic structure: build bases, build units, kill everything. Across the 15 campaign missions there is some variation to what you have to kill with, or sometimes specific ways to kill things, but all missions are fun. The last 5 are especially cool.

Halo Wars doesn’t end with the campaign. There is a very robust multiplayer mode, both against the AI and online, with battles that are 1 on 1 all the way up to two teams of 3 people each going at it. There are also 6 different playable Leaders to choose from, each with a certain unique unit and their own super-upgrade to a normal unit. Games usually last long though, if you are use to 10 minute FPS games online this will be different. A 1v1 standard (you must collect your own resources and upgrade your tech level, etc) game usually takes at least 20 minutes, but an hour is not out of the ordinary. Expect either much longer or much shorter for games with more people. The deathmatch game type is quicker, as you start out with everything fully upgraded and a large amount of resources, so you can immediately start churning out powerful units.

Overall, Halo Wars is a fun break from your standard RTS game, and is definitely worth a rent.

Achievement time. Most here are self explanatory. For people having trouble finding skulls in any of the levels (there is one per campaign mission), there is always an optional objective that pops up shortly into each mission that is a “Kill X amount of Unit Y”. Kill 100 Grunts, kill 20 Jackals, kill 45 Hunters are the first 3 missions’ objectives respectively. Watch your minimap in the corner when you kill the last one. As soon as that happens, an “alert” will pop up on the minimap at the location of the skull (it’s a circle with 4 hash-marks at the 90 degree points, very similar to crosshairs on a rifle scope) simply take any unit there and grab the skull. The first mission is the only challenging  one to get, because if any allied soldiers kill them before you save them (they are allied while they are yellow in color: once they turn green and you gain control of them they are part of your company), the game will not count it as a kill. I recommend playing this mission on Normal or even Heroic to ensure the grunts aren’t killed off fast. There is also a skull you can get later to give enemies 50% more health. Keep in mind skulls DO NOT affect Achievements. Use them if you need them.

Another Achievement people have trouble with is Titan , getting 20,000 points in a multiplayer game. There’s an easy strategy for getting this, although it takes 20-40 minutes. Before you start I recommend having collected all the skulls that added bonuses to the enemy (thus increasing your own score). Start a 1v1 Deathmatch game against an Easy difficulty Arbiter in skirmish mode, play as Sgt. Forge, on the map Release. What’s unique about this map is that there are infantry garrisons in the two corners of the map directly across from the corners the two starting bases are in. If you have units garrisoned here, you will periodically have the option to open some gates in the center of the map and “Release” flood from the giant base in the center. This normally would be used to unleash the parasites on your opponents side, thus giving them more than just you to deal with. However, we are going to use them to our advantage in a different way. Start off the game by building 1 vehicle depot, and then proceed to fill our ranks with as many Grizzly Tanks as possible (4 should be the limit for now).

Once two are built, send them and your starting Warthog to the nearest Rebel base, destroy it, take it over, then build as many additional Grizzlies as you can. After the first base is destroyed you should start outfitting each of your bases with 4 turrets and as many Heavy Supply Pads as you can fit. All you need is the one vehicle depot at the starting base. Proceed to the second Rebel base, take it over, but now build a Barracks. Train 3 Spartans, send one to each garrison and leave the 3rd with your main squad of tanks. Feel free to destroy the barracks after and replace it with a supply pad. Take over every base on the map in the same fashion EXCEPT your actual Covenant opponents base, and then place half of your troops at one gate where the flood appear, and the other half at the South (I actually placed more in the North, as it was near the Arbiter’s base, which will periodically send Wraiths or other vehicles your way, so you may want more units). All you do now is release the flood via the two garrison’s menus, and your units should quickly make short work of them. My actual unit layout consisted of mainly Grizzlies, but I also had 1-2 Wolverines and 1 Cyclops with each set of tanks (it makes it easier to destroy the flying Flood, and the Cyclopses heal the tanks).

What happens here is that every time you kill a Flood unit, you will gain about 1 to 5 points (hit the Back button to check your score). What you want to do is wait until your score is somewhere around 6000 (I stopped when mine was at 8000) then turn on ALL of the enemy bonus modifier skulls (the ones that make it HARDER, not the ones making them easier), and then blow up the Arbiter’s base. If you made sure to build as many Heavy Supply Pads as you could, and outfitted turrets on every base, as well as kept healing your units (thus not losing many), the total overall multipliers for the game should boost your score well over 20,000. The skulls alone give you slightly over a 2x multiplier (meaning if you have 8000 points your final score will be at least 16,000), and then the combat, supply gathering, etc multipliers will also kick in and boost your score. I stopped playing after a little over an hour, at about 8000 points, and came out with a little over 40,000 points after multipliers.

Most other Achievements are self explanatory, I’m happy to help anyone get campaign Achievements over co-op on Xbox Live. Send me a message. Peace!

~Kaz

Sonic's UGC 1000/1000, Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad

First off, Sonic UGC is complete! That final Achievement, finishing that ridiculous M.B.M. puzzle game through till the end. Of course I jumped straight to the last level, and it just takes some patience on learning how to cascade tiles together. Tonight I beat the game on my first try.

The next game in my Gamefly queue, Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad, is quite the unique game. I’m not sure if the game is a sequel or the story is just so disjointed and random that I have no clue what is going on from the get-go, but the story is so outrageous anyways you can’t help but to laugh at it. The gameplay itself is quite entertaining for a hack-n-slash game, and coupled with the fact that you are slaying zombies in a bikini, well, you get the idea. Most of the Achievements involve accomplishing ridiculous bonus objectives during the story (I.E. beat all the bosses with 1 hp left, kill so many zombies in under a minute, achieve a certain combo, etc), which should prove a challenge to complete. From the actual game side of things, the gameplay is straight forward, and the fighting system is good. There are several characters to choose from (start with 2, by the end there are a few more), each with different fighting styles. The combo system is great, and based mostly on timing button presses correctly, with the best combos taking pretty much spot-on precision to complete. The fighting system seems similar to Devil May Cry, with the same letter based rating system, but its not based solely on hits. It’s a complex system that will definitely be tough to master.

The little time I spent with this game I really enjoyed. The game achieves a great mix of actually decent gameplay and just the right amount of not taking itself too seriously to be fun. Worth a rental, perhaps even a buy (not for a full $60 though).

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (950/1000 for now)

Game collections are always fantastic. Before I go into this game, I would like to say Sonic Mega Collection for GameCube is one of the greatest games I have ever purchased, and this one follows in its footsteps. I still think many of the oldschool 8-bit and 16-bit games are the best I have ever played (Crono Trigger is my all time favorite if you couldn’t tell from the Gamertag), and bringing a bunch of them together in one place is just fantastic. Another favorite collection game from back in the day was Megaman Anniversary Collection (I got this on GC as well). Megaman 1-8 plus some all together in one game. Brilliant. Anyways, Sonic’s UGC.

The name of this “game” is actually quite deceiving. I was under the impression that it was your basic compilation of Sonic the Hedgehog games, which are so plentiful that it would probably take you multiple DVDs to fill up all of them. While this game does include StH 1-3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic’s 3D Blast, and a few other games involving the loveable Sega mascot (Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine!), this game also has an INCREDIBLE amount of other games that came out for the Sega Genesis. All of the Golden Axe games, Streets of Rage games, Phantasy Star games (that’s right, all FOUR originals), Ristar, and so many more.  Over 30 games to play with a few more unlockable Arcade games and a bunch of developer interviews as well are the core parts to this collection. However, there are a few things about this collection that make it stand out from the others that I have visited.

The biggest feature I can think to name here is the fact that what you get out of this is really more of a fantastic emulator than a bunch of individual games. There is a savestate function built into the collection itself (in addition to a mimicking the battery-backup style saves of certain games): every game allows you 3 separate save states that you can jump to and create anytime you want. Not only is this useful in making some of the older games that do not have there own save functions, or have unwieldy password systems instead, more accessible for jump-in jump-out gameplay, but it helps tremendously with some of the Achievements as well. The controls are also all excellently mapped, and can be changed whenever you want. The whole inter-game menu works great, and makes going from game to game incredibly easy.

I would say every game in this collection is a classic hands down. However, that does not necessarily mean they are fun. I find some of the older sidescrolling brawlers aggravating because they are missing a block/dodge function, which can leave you open to cheap shots (I encountered this a lot in the Goldenaxe games). Most of these games are fun to play, but to me none have any real lasting value other than the Sonic games at the collection’s core, plus a few others (Streets of Rage 3 was great). The whole collection is only 30 bucks MSRP though, and considering you are getting a bunch of classics at about $1 per game, you really are winning here.

Achievement-wise, this game is definitely worth a rent. You can get 950/1000 in an easy, enjoyable 6-8 hour timeblock. The only one that causes any real trouble is the 50GS you get for beating Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, a Puyopop clone that can be very challenging. It’s easy enough to find the password to skip to the last level of easy mode, but actually beating it can be a challenge. Anyone who has played a puzzle game similar to this (Puyopop, Dr. Mario, Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon, or Pokemon Puzzle League) will realize that the trick to winning is in the technique of cascading blocks. Line up a bunch of the blocks (or here, beans) of the same color, but before eliminating them, start building more almost-complete chains on top or nearby the originals. Set it up so that when you finally clear one set of blocks, the resulting chain reaction of falling pieces begins to clear more. This is the only way to win. If done right you can beat the last level in under a minute (something I’m still working on, although I have gotten quite close to winning). It’s also very convenient to take advantage of the savestates here. When you go to the savestate screen, do so by hitting the back button straight from gameplay, do NOT pause in game first. When you select “Save” you will be able to see your entire side of the board. This is incredibly useful in planning you next move. Couple this with actually keeping several states (save often, perhaps even once per block dropped), and you should be able to slowly strategize yourself to a victory. This last Achievement is tough, so good luck.

I will be checking out Onechanbara:Bikini Samurai Squad in a few days. More on that to come. ~Kaz

Assassin's Creed 1000/1000

This game is quite a chore to get 1000/1000, but after playing through it I’m somewhat satisfied. The game lost my interest very quick, most likely a combination of repetitivity and collecting all the flags, but towards the end of the game it really picked up. The depth of the story was astounding, and I think I would have loved this game if the bits of the story came more frequently. The somewhat hidden back/sidestory that is discovered through the several computers that can be accessed is very interesting, especially what is discovered after the credits roll and you are thrown back in. A lot of the coded messages (there are PLENTY, and don’t worry you will not have to search for them they will be obvious by the end) point towards the next game in the series (I’ve read it’s going to be a trilogy?), and I must say despite the lackluster gameplay of the first I’m very excited for sequels.

I would definitely recommend playing this game through ‘til the end, which can be done rather fast if you skip some of the major Achievements, and I think that would definitely make the game much more enjoyable.

I haven’t picked up any new 360 games in a while, although I’m curious about both the Sonic Genesis Collection (the OG Sonic games are hands-down some of the best games I have EVER played, and getting Achievements for those would be awesome), and Onechanbara Zombie Slayer: Bikini Samurai Squad (that’s an approximation of the title, but whatever it is hot chicks cutting zombies sounds entertaining). Right now I’m keeping busy with Flower for the PS3, and excellent must-buy game for anyone. The innovative controls and addictively soothing gameplay is fantastic. I also plan on starting Killzone (the original on PS2) and trying to complete it before Killzone 2 comes out.

Until next game, Kaz.

Mods in the Future Perhaps?

Decided to go out and buy an Xbox 360 Elite today rather than have to pay an outrageous fee for Microsoft to fix my DVD drive in the old console. Looks and works nice, complements the PS3 sitting next to it (yes, house fire waiting to happen I know). However, seeing as I have an essentially good condition 360 (sans drive), and plenty of controllers and cables and a HDD, I may as well put it to good use. Gamestop was only willing to give me 40$ for the console, which would include me having to give up a controller and cables, then an extra 15 for the 20gb HDD itself. Since its about 40$ to buy a new disc drive myself, I think I will go ahead and do that, and then mod the console. I had a modded Xbox a few years back (still do, don’t play it much though), which was great for making some excellent split-screen and system link Halo 2 maps by taking advantage of the fact that game could be hacked. Take note that I never ever took mods online, as I have a sense of honor, and respect both games with random opponents and the opponents as well. If you have ever seen me cheating online (I will admit I use to do the shield glitch in Gears of War 2), it is only in retaliation to other cheaters within the same game (again, GOW2 had rampant cheating, sadly. I hope the most recent update fixed all that). So, if I do decide to go the mod route, I will probably detail it here, and provide some pics of the case mod I will be doing. =D

~Kaz

Halo Wars Demo

Seeing as no new games have come into my possession (and the recent update to the Xbox 360 Dashboard caused my drive to no longer recognize discs), I’d like to briefly touch on a game I have been excited about for a few years that’s finally about to be released: Halo Wars.

I have never really been a fan of Real Time Strategy games. I never had a good mouse for my PC, although I wont use that as an excuse to say I’m horrible at commanding troops in Age of Empires/Starcraft/etc. I enjoy a good AoE game with my brother every now and then, but my patience is short with these games. I hate resource gathering. I understand it is a key component of the game, but I just don’t find it any way enjoyable. I never seem to be able to get the right combination of resources, and it always takes too long to harvest them.

The reason Halo Wars intrigued me so much since it was first announced was because it wasn’t meant to be a traditional RTS game. First off, since it is being developed FOR a console, the whole point and click / mouse interface obviously can’t be used. The great folks over at Ensemble Studios (responsible for AoE) made it clear this was going to be a Halo game at its core. And although it does fall into the RTS genre, the game is most certainly focused on action, on skirmishes. There is a minimal amount of resource gathering to do. In the tutorial for the demo, the first you do is pick up a few resource crates. Of key notice is that they are instantly added to your supply, no trudging things back and forth to a main gathering point. Next, you go to your base and build a factory, which generates its own supplies. Buildings themselves are built off expansion slots on main bases, and only require either supplies alone, or supplies and a certain technology level (you gain 1 level for each reactor you have built). Building structures is pretty quick and does not require soldiers/worker units to actually put up the building.

The few battles I got to play were fun. The demo retained the Halo “feel” very well, and leading my two Warthogs across the snowy terrain felt like I was viewing the single player campaign from the first game from a birds eye view. Ordering attacks is simple, as is moving and selecting units. The button system to select a single unit, group, all on screen units, or all units worked well for what the demo has. Attacking seemed simple enough, with X initiating attacks, and Y activating specials. Running down grunts and using an orbital MAC Cannon to blow up Wraiths were two of the awesome parts of the demo. The second level of the demo was more of a full mission, in that you had to build and commandeer bases, seek out objectives, and destroy them.

I can’t wait for this game to actually come out, the co-operative and multiplayer aspects of it really seem like they will be fun. Co-op seems like it will be very helpful, as you can lose operating time when you are dealing with units separated across the map. Try the demo out, see how you like it. I think that if you enjoyed all the other halo games you will enjoy this too. ~Kaz

Xbox Live Arcade

Time to dominate the dashboard with another beast of a post! Seeing as I have no new games to talk about (waiting on Afro Samurai), here are my thoughts on the Xbox Live Arcade, with a few games that I think were (and still are) key to its development.

The Xbox Live Arcade is hands-down the best console-based network for distributing games. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, given that Xbox Live itself trumps both Playstation Network and Nintendo Wifi Connection, mainly because of the unifying friends list and smooth integration into EVERYthing for the system. The XBLA is one fantastic part of XBL itself, and any 360 owners who have Live but haven’t really given it much attention should definitely check it out. I can understand that most people think these cheaper, smaller-scale games are pieces of crap compared to real ones (I’ll be honest: a few of the card/casino style games and some others are basically expensive, shiny cell phone games, nothing more), but there is really much more available. In the early months of the Xbox 360 this was certainly true: most games released on the XBLA were either simple card/club games (Hold ‘Em, pool, etc) or ports of old games (Gauntlet, etc). There were a few original games, however, that blew the others out of the water.

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved

This game was definitely a key role in popularizing the XBLA. Simple concept, addictive play style, great music, greater visuals. Did I mention visuals? Geometry Wars will give you a seizure. No exceptions. Seriously though, the game is essentially an excellently simple top down shooter that resembles Asteroids, but projectiles and enemies burst into a multitude of neon fireworks that quickly overwhelm everything on the screen, and when played to a peppy, constantly evolving electronic soundtrack, you can completely lose track of time. This was the first game I bought off the XBLA, and is without a doubt what sold me on the Arcade.

Another great thing about the Xbox Live Arcade is that it was not limited to only “arcade” games. When most people here “arcade” in a gaming context, they think of something along the lines of Street Fighter, Galaga, usually pick-up-and-play games that either have little story, or don’t need one at all. While this was the generic style of game in the early days of XBLA, there still were a few games that broke the mold.

Roboblitz

Although I never bought this game, the demo was unique. For 50mb of data (the original limit for XBLA games) that it takes up, this game far and away surpassed everything I’ve seen at the same level. This game is physics-driven puzzle-solving platformer. The player controls a robot who works on a space station, and a dramatic turn of events requires him to get the station fully operational to solve an incoming threat. The game plays much like any other 3D platformer: you run (or wheel, rather) around, going to different areas of the station, and use various weapons, tools, and learned abilities to repair the station. For example, to get a part of the reactor core operational, you have to solve a series of laser/mirror puzzles, which are definitely complex enough to make you stop and think for a bit (I had never before done a puzzle that required reflecting lasers in 3 dimensions, only 2). This game was the first on the Xbox 360 to use the Unreal3 Engine (it was released 1 day before Gears of War), and it did so fantastically. The game was also completely HD capable, and the 3D models were very detailed, with both the characters and environments completing a very cool cyber-punk-esque world. How on earth was this game able to stay under the 50mb cap while still being as deep as it was? I was able to talk with Naked Sky Entertained (the company responsible for Roboblitz), as well as tour their HQ, and learned a lot from them. Procedurally generated content, and highly efficient code led them to be able to produce such stunning graphics, physics, and gameplay. The awesome folks over at Naked Sky paved the way for full-fledged games to appear on the XBLA.

As time passed, more and more games became added to the Arcade lineup, and the system demanded an expansion. The size limit for games was officially upped to around 350mb, although one game (Portal: Still Alive) nearly doubled that. This allowed developers more room to develop their games, allowed them to flesh out necessary parts. I was looking forward to one game in particular that I knew would benefit from this.

Castle Crashers

I had first heard about this game in an article in OXM, about two years before it actually came out, and was eagerly anticipating it ever since. This game took the 4-player side-scrolling beat ‘em up genre to the next level. The art style alone makes the purchase worthwhile, with the hand-drawn and hilarious cartoons fluidly bringing this game to life. The music is also fantastic, and a neat aspect of it is that a good majority of the soundtrack was made not by the team at Behemoth, but by members of the Newgrounds community. The soundtrack is lively at all times, and the user-generated aspect of it ensures that no two soundtracks feel the same. Although the first 6 months of the game were plagued by some bad glitches (I myself lost my gamesave with 3 maxed out characters), a recent title update solved most of them. Even with glitches putting your gamesave at risk this game was worth it, and now that those are solved I highly recommend you check out the game.

The XBLA playlist grew even more once the NXE update for 360s across the globe was released. One day as I was checking out the arcade, I noticed the ‘Community Games” blade nestled among the rest. I remember when the XNA game toolkit came out a few years ago (a devkit for making your own XBLA games, based in C#), which I downloaded and messed around with, but never really got anywhere. These games are (I believe) the product of that, and are much cheaper than the other XBLA games, but just as fun. Sin(surfing), available for only 200 MS points, is perhaps one of the most fun games I have played on the Arcade. It is a simple, simple game, but it’s the simplicity that continually draws me back to it for hours on end (that and the awesome 8-bit soundtrack). Download the demo, it’s completely worth it. The full game doesn’t add much more to the demo (adds a “highest single trick score” mode, and gets rid of the timer), but it’s worth it knowing that developer will see some of the money from it.

The XBLA has grown so much over the past years, and as it becomes a bigger and bigger part of the Xbox experience itself, the fun it brings grows as well. Here are a few other great games I’ve gotten off the arcade, in no particular order.

Portal: Still Alive —- This is a port of The Orange Box’s Portal, with a few additional levels and a new set of Achievements. Enjoyable, but not much is added to the game, and it’s expensive for something you may already have. Definitely get it if you never had/played Portal from the Orange Box, but otherwise think hard on whether or not you want to spend the money.

Banjo Kazooie —- Complete port of the N64 classic. Controls can be wonky at times (you may activate the gold feather invulnerability move while trying to move the camera every now and then), but is just as fun as the original. Also, Stop ‘N Swap has finally been activated, to be used with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (haven’t gotten the chance to check this one out yet), for those who remember the hidden but useless easter eggs from the original game.

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 —- Like the original at the core, but much more once explored. New game modes, up to 4 players, and still great fun. The colors are more intense, and the music is much cooler.

Worms —- Remake of the classic game. Although it’s only 400 MS points, this game probably won’t be of much fun unless you get a bunch of friends to play with you.

Braid —- Excellent game. Unique puzzle platformer. Time manipulation. Deep story. Need I say more? Check this one out for sure.

Alien Hominid HD —- Made by the same team as Castle Crashers, this game is along the same lines of comic-awesomeness. Hilarious animation and theme wrapped up in a fun side-scrolling shooter.

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episodes I & II —- Hilarious. Fans of the comic (Penny-Arcade) will love this. I’ve had the pleasure to experience both, and although I haven’t bought either yet I plan to in the future.

Marble Blast Ultra —- Great addition to the Marble Blast series. This was one of the first games I got off the Arcade, definitely one of the best. 60 great single-player levels and a fun multiplayer mode keep the replay value of this game up. Great visuals and physics as well.

Lumines Live —- If you played the original game on the PSP, then you know exactly what this is. This game is a unique spin on the falling-block puzzle genre. Music is key in this game, as the songs change and evolve with every drop, spin, and moving of a block. Addictive gameplay, but if you have the one on the PSP you aren’t going to be gaining much out of it.

Megaman 9 —- Amazing throwback to the days when video games were young. Retro graphics, sound, and playstyle are all preserved, as is the incredible challenge and amount of fun. This one is tough, watch out for it.

Those are some of my favorite games, although there are many other fantastic ones out there. The XBLA is not something that should be ignored or pushed to the side by any Xbox user, and I highly recommend those who haven’t given it much thought to rethink that decision.

Until next time! ~Kaz