Summer Catchup: I can be the source you crave, I can spell what you can't say

To go along with the first "scheduled" summer vacation for me in over six years, I felt the need to catch up on reviews on things I've put off.  So here are some quick reviews of games and technology that are overdue.  

PogoPlug - No it's not a recharging station for your gyroscopically enhanced pogo-segway.  This small 

little piece of electronic plastic goodness is essentially remote desktop-ing made easy. Made by a company called Cloudengines, this device bridges the gap between your external hard drive and your router.  It then allows you to stream your hard drive onto whatever lovely computerish device, aka iPhoneS(nob), you happen to be using to annoy the hell out people eating their dinner at that fancy restaurant Olive Garden.  What used to be a limitation on OS matching between a computer and remote device has now been removed and replaced with a large 

backorder and a price tag of $99.  

Nokia E71x Smartphone -  And speaking of the vile world of confusing popularity contests 

with annoyances in public, one of the newest AT&T installment standards is the Nokia E71x Smartphone. Nokia really does know how to make quality phones and AT&T knows how to take them a step back.  

The design is slick, battery long lived, camera is so-so, standard software artful in its self destruction, but web browsing, WLAN, and GPS portions are above the rest as long as you stay under the 3G umbrella during reception rain.  Navigation of menus and number typing is a bit on the "special side" but once understood the phone does shine for those using it in the business sense.  As long as that business isn't human trafficking then you'll be happy if an E71x comes your way.

Tiger Woods 10 (Wii, EA) - It's in the game alright.  No, not shoving Tileset golf balls into any opening you can find around your TV.  The Wii Motion Plus will take care of that sort of thing for you if you haven't done it already.  

TW10 is a large showoff of what sports games should feel like when you are handed 

a controller.  Even if you aren't a fan of rolling out of bed onto your couch Sunday mornings for day long sessions to watch golf, playing this game will help you begin to enjoy the difficulty of getting a small white ball into a barely big enough hole about 300 yards away.  And then it will help you begin to whip Wii controllers into fragile objects around your room.  And then help you turn into a similar demonic hellion known as Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore.  

The game (with Wii Motion Plus) is so sensitive to very slight motions as you swing your controller that it will bring you to the point of wanting to keep your wrist in a splint to avoid draw shots.  The added features from previous years are a big bonus such as disc golf, real time weather, and precision putting.  And yes you can still deck yourself out in actual Caddyshack fashions as you progress through the Masters Tournament.  

Rating:  6.5 {on a scale of -10 to 10}

X3: Terran Conflict (PC, Egosoft) - X3: TC is the latest in the series.  It was released in September of 2008 and done so with barely a glimmer of advertising along side of it.  

Some games take their genre so far above and beyond, that expectations of what the game actually is or could be vanish, and you are left with something a bit odd and hard to describe.  It is much like comparing Microsoft's Flight Simulator versus Ace Combat.  They both have planes and they both involve flying but crashing and burning in one takes a little more work than the other.

X3: TC is a simulation game in the biggest sense of simulation.  Combat is there but is not a large highlight unlike Wing Commander, Descent: Freespace, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, Freelancer, etc.  The storyline is there but is overshadowed by the rest of the game.  

So what exactly are you left with?  A gigantic universe to explore and trade within.  A place to commandeer for your galactic space stations and armada of ships.  It's much like Pogs or Magic: The Gathering.  At first it's really interesting to look at and play but after a short time passes only a select few people of the world will still be able to find enjoyment out of it.

Extremely high learning curve, not so easy controls, and a hard difficulty make X3: TC an even harder selection to pick.  Open source coding for modification, beautiful graphics, and a reason to dust off the old joystick make X3: TC a good alternative for those looking to branch way way off.

Rating:  2 {on a scale of -10 to 10}

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (360, Ubisoft)-  A sequel to the 2006 release, this first person shooter is one of the very few western FPS games available.  A run of the mill FPS with a very different setting for those that are used to killing Nazis or Aliens, CoJ: BiB will probably only appeal to those that really enjoy the setting the western setting. 

The game and it's appeal can be compared to something similar to the movie Jacques Cousteau and Life Aquatic.  Unless you were a large fan to the original works, the semi-recent film will seem more like an awkward broadway play that stays a mystery. 

So unless your parents made you sit and watch every Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and Henry Fonda western of the 60s and 70s, you probably won't even have the slightest bit of interest in CoJ: BiB since most gamers are too young to know where the term spaghetti western even came from in the first place.  And if you did happen to watch them, there's still a decent chance you'll probably just bide your time and skip over this game waiting for HALO: ODST.  

CoJ: BiB is a pretty average FPS and doesn't have enough meat behind it to make a good meal.  Boss fights are done in the old western showdown at noon style, the action is fast paced, multiplayer competitive but not as good as CoD4, and the storyline and voiceovers are great but short overall.  The gameplay is a copycat to the Call of Duty series with waypoints, respawning, and storyline progression.

But again, the fast paced action and multiplayer are the only things linking FPS gamers of today to the western setting of yesterday.  If you're into a good appetizer and salad while you wait for dinner this fall, CoJ: BiB could be for you otherwise just order a bigger meal later.  

Rating:  3.5 {on a scale of -10 to 10}

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360, Infinity Ward/Activision) - 

One game that I had initially put off buying was CoD4. The Call of Duty predecessors were always very short with the single player game and could typically be completed in 15 hours or less.  The single player was always extremely fun to play but brought no multiplayer strength with it limiting reasons to pay $50+.  

Another annoyance was the other CoD games were all set in the WWII realm and after playing so many WWII games now, I can almost rattle off every gun and caliber of bullet used during that era without ever actually firing any of them.  An overdone period of time in the history of the world when it comes to FPS and strategy games, I set aside the CoD series altogether until very recently.  

Modern Warfare was well worth the revisit to the CoD series.  Reviews of the game all over the internet have told the story many times over and all say the same thing.  The game is great from start to finish in all aspects that make up an FPS game.  Graphics, sound, storyline, gameplay including both single and multiplay, etc, are all top notch.  

One part that really sets this game apart is the way the character modeling design is done along with the background and camera.  The model design from what I've read is separate from the way previous CoD games did them.  In modeling speak they have faked certain aspects to give it a three dimensional look and at the same time gives a ton of extra detail while keeping the game running at 60 frames per second.  

The look of the characters and background is amazing and is shown off even more when a gun is pulled up to the shoulder and the camera puts only what's directly down the sights into focus fuzzing out the surrounding area.  It's an exaggeration of what the eye really does but it's the good kind like the size of Babe the Blue Ox or the hope you feel for the Cubs to make the playoffs.  

The best part about the game is how the multiplayer is done.  The multiplay is on the same level that Halo 1 was when it was first released with different play modes and maps.  As you play you begin to work your way through levels of experience gaining the use of new weapons and abilities.  Unlocking new items becomes as addicting as playing the slots after a few too many mojitos.  This idea has now become a standard for multiplayer games and will be copied for years to come.  

Overall the game is well worth the small price that comes with a game of the year release so be sure to pick it up and grab an xboxlive gold package too.  Just be sure to get ready to mute those arrogant mic users again.

Rating:  9 {on a scale of -10 to 10}

New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream

Rupture: Do you miss me, Miss Misery like you say you do?

A long time ago I played various MMOs such as Ultima Online, Everquest, FFXI, etc.  With hours upon hours of time spent interacting with people and building odd gaming relationships, some of which were people that were not only good at the game we were playing but also very nice and fun people to play with, I had a very hard time moving from one MMO to another.  

On one hand you spend a boatload of time investing in levels, equipment, etc.  You also spend a lot of time with building and keeping relationships.  To up and leave a game completely means you not only loose all the digital stuff you've acquired, you also loose those digitally made friendships.

Rupture is a new great way to keep and search for those relationships you might of once had.  Rupture is in all essence a social networking site much like myspace, facebook.  What is nice and different about it is the fact that it interlaces many different online gaming communities such as Xbox-live, WoW, EA online, etc spanning different exclusive companies that wanted to do the same thing but were limited by only reaching within their own grasps.  

Rupture pulls achievements and constantly tracks progression of your MMO characters, new achievements and the ability to challenge people to new created achievements open to everyone or closed between friends.  What's nice is the associated and usually very different gamertag/character names all get pooled into your one Rupture name.  All of your old gamertag/character names can be searched for and sorted depending on the game as long as you input them.  Only know a guy by a single character in WoW?  Search for that name and as long as he's put it up, it will be found and you can see that he also plays HALO 3 a ton under the xbox-live gamertag Killerorkilla.  

The best part is, it's all free.  Eventually I believe that Rupture will try to pull cash from advertisements but for now it's completely clear of the clicking garbage and already set for use in its beta phase.  

I'm not sure what new annoyances will come out of this new site except for being a larger target across multiple games but hopefully the annoyances are all minimized and kept from spawning new scams.

So if you're out there and you want to track down your old pals, sign up on Rupture today.      

Elliott Smith - Miss Misery

E3:09 Highlights

Here are some of the not so French tickles that I caught while spending a little too much time staring at Olivia Munn and the rest of the G4 gang.  

EA - Besides the typical sports games of yore here's a look at what I hope is not just Star Wars Galaxies 2.  Yes, a new MMO set in the Scifi universe that all Scifi fans know:  Star Wars the Old Republic.  Since it is made by the creators of KOTOR, the big push for this game is the storyline and questlines touting consequences for every choice made.  Also a reminder that Mass Effect 2 is on the way and what looks like all the unenjoyable portions have been removed.

Ubisoft - By first starting off on the right foot having Joel McHale initially introduce the Ubi conference, CEO Yves Guillemot spent just a handful of time on information for all of the Tom Clancy hits, Assassin's Creed 2, Red Steel 2, etc.  Instead almost all of the talk was over their new direction which is taking a vested interest in all aspects of entertainment beyond gaming.  Their first large branch-off is a 3-D game/movie combo called Avatar.  The 4 year running production is directed by James Cameron and was a project he originally had created over a decade ago but the technology was not up to his vision. Thankfully this was not a forced project made during the Deep Blue Sea era of CGI.  And for the first time in a while I will probably buy another Splinter Cell game.

Sony - Big PSP push for them with all sorts of ports and similar versions of big hits.  New Metal Gear Solid game for PS3 (exclusive one for Xbox360 too), some more Final Fantasy videos but overall the only half thrill I got was watching some God of War 3 gameplay.  It looked smooth, brutal, and visually amazing.  

Nintendo - One big surprise was a new 4 person co-op 2D Mario Bros. game for the Wii.  It plays out much like the gamecube/DS game Zelda 4 Swords.   Interesting but this again is another example of a Wii game needing more than just yourself to please you and others.  The one surprise was a short video of the next upcoming Metroid game due out in 2010.  This shows a bit more of the old 3rd person viewpoint that fans enjoy.

Microsoft - Modern Warfare 2 as well as Mass Effect 2 were a few of the 360 delights.  Both were large improvements over their originals and hopefully will both be released before I make out a Christmas wish list.  The one big showoff Microsoft accomplished which was above and beyond any other of the console press conferences was Project Natal.  Natal is an additional little device that resembles a web cam and microphone combined.  It doesn't seem like it would be that interesting until it is understood that it is a gaming device requiring no controller but your body.  Some amazing features of Natal are voice AND facial recognition, video conferencing, dashboard browsing controlled by your body motions, etc.  Here is an example of what looks like a game of sorts called Milo which is a little interactive AI program.  

Halo Wars Demo: It was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor and I thought of more and I wanted to get back there

Due out Feb. 20th by Ensemble Studios, aka Microsoft, Halo Wars is another RTS, this time only out for the 360 console (and no they refuse for some reason to release it to the PC for now at least). After sitting down to test out what a few others have been looking forward to playing, this demo helped me back to the path of another memory that I had stored by means of the dewey decimal system when I should of had it on speed dial. That time-tested and true memory is the problem with listening to people that are in love with a franchise. Those star crossed lovers tend to magnetize themselves into hearting things and hopefully an ice pack slaps them in the face to show them what their attraction will bring, good or bad, before it's too late. Works for sex appeal, that new car smell in a pontiac aztek, and in this case a video game.

So it's a little harsh to say those things first, but everyone needs a good old fashioned open palm thwack to get their head aligned before jumping around for joy with that newly purchased bag of magic beans. Halo Wars does some stuff well considering that Ensemble has fallen into the same old "console RTS" bear trap. To beat the old drum of RTS knowledge, the best RTS games require close to, if not an entire keyboard for all the quick functions needed to play well. Tom Clancy's Endwar bypassed this idea by adding in voice commands but Halo Wars is all done entirely with the controller. This causes a removal of the nice complexities that an RTS can carry and you are left with a simplified version of what could of been something challenging.

On the flip side the game is very easy to figure out and play. Almost any fan of the HALO games can pick this up and learn it in under 30 minutes. That also includes the stereotype that most HALO fans barely know what the restrictions on their learners permit are. Graphically it is a quality game especially for an RTS on a console. The graphics match the other HALO games as does the music and sound effects. Units are very similar to their predecessor games with new units necessary for the balance found in RTSs. All of these things will make any HALO fan giggle with glee. Gameplay and strategies are easily figured out as units have a basic strong vs/weak vs setup along with the ability to upgrade units. One main difference from most other RTS games is no resource gathering is required and instead a building at your bases can be created that houses a constant stream of incoming supplies at a given rate. Pushing the limits of a console on the graphical limitations, I found that having a large army of units all involved in battle at the same time did not show the typical graphical lag PC RTS games sometimes suffer from.

The biggest thing that one will notice after starting to play this game is hopefully a glimmer of a reminder stored in the long term attic of the brain. Admittedly if you live in Korea, this might actually be a short term memory, but for most of the world it now lands in the dusty old cardboard box sections. To truly understand you also have to look a bit into the future as well and connect the old with the new. There has been an empty space created with the distance between the release of Starcraft 1 and the eventual release of its sequel. This has made most RTS fans turn to other choices such as Total War, the AOE series, Warhammer 40k, Company of Heroes, etc. These other games are all agruably great if not better RTSers with their similarities and differences to the beast of a benchmark called Starcraft.

And herein, after about five minutes of playtime, is where a couple solid flashbacks should and will take place. Halo Wars is, well, pretty direct in its choices for game style. You have the 'humans' (terrans) vs 'covenant' (protoss) and are missing the 'vs the flood' (zerg) as far as anyone knows for now (unless in the single player campaign you band together to take down the flood and I think I've heard that storyline a couple times before). Ideally, if you worked for a game company, you would want to make an attempt at separating yourself from Starcraft even though it is a highly sought after franchise and small aspects and similarities will naturally be stolen. This game, on the other hand, did not feel like any many attempts were made at separation besides utilizing the HALO universe. It almost seems that those over at Emsemble loved playing Starcraft so much they decided to fill this soul searching time without Starcraft 2 by deploying their "HALO modded edition of Starcraft ".

The looks of some of the units and their abilities were too similar for me to think of anything other than the Starcraft series. Flamethrower marines, now where have I seen that before especially considering I don't remember that at all in HALO? Some of the upgrades for the units even seemed a little too similar for my tastes. Granted both games are supposed to be set in a distant future sci-fi universe, but Warhammer 40k didn't remind me of Starcraft as much as this game does. Maybe it's just me and my wild urge for Starcraft 2. I guess the strong comparison to the Blizzard game is because I did not see anything within the demo that seemed like a new idea or creative piece of gameplay or anything else to really set this game apart. I honestly feel that this game will not even stand the test of time and will be forgotten about after about a year of its release unless the need for another reference presents itself.

Regardless, a line in the sand will have to be drawn whether you can pick up this game and ignore similarities to Starcraft. This could be done for those who are big into FPSers and want to branch off into a known game universe. Maybe someone who does not want a game to be so complex that you are bogged down with a ton of commands and options? Or maybe if you are too young to have ever picked up Starcraft? Maybe being a big fan of the HALO universe would help block out the scars of an old bad Battlenet rank?

The next line in the sand would have to be whether you can actually stand, like most other failures before it, playing a RTS on a console. I found it very annoying trying to do unit selections since most of the success of minor and major battles is based on micromanagement of units playing off their strengths. I also found that due to the difficulties of managing specific units, and the limitations of what you can actually do with just a controller in your hands, this game becomes a game of choosing what units to create and upgrade more than how to use the units that you have created.

As you can see, Halo Wars may teach you that what you may be strongly attracted to at first, may eventually lead you into an internal struggle to torment yourself by attempting to look like you are not tormented.

One other thing to note is that the release of Warhammer 40k Dawn of War II is due out on 2/19 for the PC only and Halo Wars is due out 3/3 for the console only. If I was really itching for a RTS right this minute I would probably go with the former since both will be the same price. If I was looking to try out RTS games for the first time I would go with the latter. And if I was really wanting to not get my panties in a bunch for needing a RTS so quickly, I would probably hold off for the release of Starcraft 2 sometime this year, probably near the November time frame. By then it will be like Blizzard saying revenge is a dish best served with laughter and giggles. Or if you want another RTS that's not a sci-fi oriented one, Empire Total War is due out on 3/3.

Five Years - David Bowie

F.E.A.R. 2 and Ace Combat 6 demos: and outside you see the waves in her eyes and I won't blind what you decide to swear by

It's been a long time since there was a battle of the Midway. About 66 years now, but the concept has always been about good old dog fights and not the illegal kind with pitbulls or rottweilers that you used to referee for to get you through a bad economic time. I'm talking about the kind that today is fought with volleyball, hot perspiration, and steamy showers. And without a multi-million or billion dollar piece of equipment to pull it off with in the back yard, you'll need to probably find a supplementing game. How about Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation from Bandai: Namco?

If you are looking for an American-esque flight sim/dogfight game this game will probably give you a few confused looks on your face when you play it. The storyline is Japanese in its writing, translating, and action cinematics which can put some people off. Looking past that you'll find a very fun 3d "vertical scrolling" shooter, you know, the kind that you used to spend all the quarters in your piggy bank after school just to play.

Simple controls to pick up and lots of air combat, Ace Combat 6 is a good console game to try out if you have a yearning for a Tie Fighter replacement.

Separately, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin by Monolith Productions and published by WBIE is another game that will keep you popping truckers caffeine pills as you fend off visions of Ringu to not succumb to sleep.

The first installment was a decent game in what it was trying to do for the FPS genre. It had it's scary moments for sure, but overall it felt like more of a Half-life mod that didn't mesh its horror moments and seemed to ostracize any quality FPSing. The FPS wasn't anything spectacular as it pushed the primary focus to the horror portion.

F.E.A.R. 2, however, has a different look, feel, and amazing presentation to it. The available demo off xboxlive is worth a try and just reading a review can not prepare you for how well this game has improved over its predecessor. I can't figure out if it's due to Vivendi letting its little brother WB Interactive Entertainment take a little more control or if its just all the money made from the success of the first, but either way you should treat this as a whole new game.

The demo starts you off after a helicopter crash as you try to regroup with your fellow squad members. You find yourself very close to a school and soon you begin to see how well the horror portion has really become seemless with FPS portions of the game as you start to fill up your nightmare fuel tank. Objects like desks and lockers are randomly pulled in various directions by a strong force, a little girl crying can be heard as all other sound is silenced suddenly, and bodies are found dismembered and mutilated in what looks to be pretty horrific ways all while the old flashing light, dark, and shadow routine is used.

The FPS area is much better as a typical copycatted aiming system and HUD are used and aiming is very tight for a console FPS. The storyline is delivered within the HUD's radio/camera and by reaching key points along your travels. The first person perspective is a bit bouncy at times and can probably leave people nauseated just by running around. Graphically F.E.A.R. 2 has reached the level of this generation of games and leaves only the amount of content as the last burning issue when it is released in February. Remember though, like most other stylistic story heavy FPSers, you'll probably only want to play this through once so a rental may be the best course to take and not a full blown purchase. Save your cash for RE5...

Resident Evil 5 Demo: you should follow me down. there's no color and no sound in a black and white town

Capcom has come a long way from their original survival horror zombie thriller Resident Evil. Taking place in a fictional midwestern place called Raccoon City, members of STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) were sent in to investigate murders involving cannibalism that had occurred there. After searching for lost Bravo team members shortly after the investigation started, Alpha team finds themselves surviving for their lives within what was first thought to be an abandoned mansion. From there Capcom had a franchise on their hands stemming sequels, movies, books, other types of games such as Umbrella Chronicles (played much like the House of the Dead style light-gun shooters) and also inspiring many other similar series such as Silent Hill. To truly pay tribute to all these zombie games, a proper ten second silence must be given to the NES great Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

In 2005 the last major release in the series, RE4, was by far one of the best games available for the gamecube console. RE4 had one of the best control styles fully utilizing the fisher price controller with a now copycatted 3rd person, over the shoulder, laser-sighted aiming system. The game also brought back the black cat crossing your path paranoia and piddle in your pants fear that made the original a classic. The storyline flowed very well with actual gameplay and had additional challenges after the game was completed. To this day I still reflect on the many days spent playing RE4 after a few too many cold ones at 3am while listening to Brian Eno records and wondering how I wasn't placed in a mental institution for how scared I was of Las Plagas and moving silhouettes. Thankfully things like the Wiggles can help save anyone's sanity.

Capcom's next installment, Resident Evil 5, is due out early in March 2009. A demo of this game is available on Xboxlive (Gold members initially) after some many impressive trailers tickled our fancies for the last few months.

The first thing that this demo shows off, besides RE4 flashbacks of zombies dying face down in the muck, is that they have not steered away from what works.  Great controls, beautiful graphics, and lots and lots of zombie head popping action.  2 levels are included (1 more than the previous japanese demo) both of which allow for the opportunity to try out the newest addition to the game: a 2nd player.  Even if you don't have a friend to play with in co-op mode(over xboxlive if not split screen), the game controls an additional player that you have to share guns, ammo, and herbs to survive together.  You both look out for one another and like all other great male/female duos of all time such as lucy and ricky, fred and ginger, sonny and cher, ace and gary, etc, you have to lean on one another to be successful.  

After playing through the 2 levels many times, I realized, after the emptiness of finishing Fallout 3, I had something to look forward to once again.  Hopefully you will say the same thing and maybe even want to fight along side of me as a scantily clad chesty female.  Kind of like the tactical support of Fiona from my new favorite show with the voice of Sam?