Halo Wars Review

Yay! Finally, as I promised, the Halo Wars review.

The first thing that people might think when heard the word Halo (other than it being a extremely drawn out franchise) is the story, hence, the thing I'll start with. The story is amazing, you would never think that this story would be for an RTS, because usually with an RTS, the story is the last thing that the developers worry about, but nope not Ensemble.The thing is, there really isn't a twist that you won't expect other than (spoiler maybe?) the contact with the flood, because the first contact with flood was supposed to take place in Halo: CE. This game takes place before Halo: CE, I don't know the exact date, but you get the general time. Next is the Game play ie: controls, feel. The controls are extremely simple, as a hardcore RTS fan going into this game, it was a little bit tough and maybe a little bit too simple. There isn't an extremely strategic element to it, such as in Command an Conquer Red Alert 3, there were tactical things that you can do like move you troops to a spot while they face the enemy so they are going backwards and they have more defense and blah blah blah. No, none of that here. Just get a krapload of money, pump out as many troops as you can, and "Zerg Rush". You can be tactical, such as flanking enemies on each side, and pairing you aircraft with anti-aircraft, anti-vehicle, and anti-troop units to make an unstoppable force, but who does that. This game is all about who can rush who. The controls are, once again, simple (for the layout just look at the Halo Wars demo impressions). It is definitely the console RTS that Ensemble claimed it to be, and probably the best console RTS out there, as of right now. Now the Graphics in-game are not really that impressive, Command an Conquer 3 has better quality in-game graphics than Halo Wars. But, the thing that is un-matched by any game out on the market, in my opinion, is the cut-scene graphics. If you can make a movie jsut with cut scenes from Halo Wars, you just made the best CG Sci-Fi movie in the world. The cut scenes are very deep and detailed. Alot of the story depends on the cut scene quality, because if the cut scenes were just tacked on, the story would seem boring an incomprehesive (I admit I have no idea what that word means, but it sounds smart). The lighting is also something the developer did very well. If you would look closely the lighting effects are very detailed, even down to the shiny hood of a Warthog. One map (I'm not going to attempt to put a name on it) has, not exactly real time, but it does have a day and night cycle. The mutiplayer is also superb for an RTS game on the console. The Co-op campaign is where its at. They do alot of really cool stuff in the campaign for co-op and single player. In co-op you can give your buddy your troops, but you can't in single player. You can also collect skulls, which you can use in campaign and private multiplayer and single player matches. The mutiplayer is very fun. There is 1v1 2v2 3v3 and ditto with deatmatch game type (in which you already have a whole bunch of supplies and a limited amount of unit space, but as you build more bases, your unit limit expands). The objective for multiplayer is; coordinate with you team to , once again, rush you opponent before they rush you. In 1v1 your alone and, you guessed it, rush your enemy before he/she rushes you (remember; a good defense is a good offense (turrets ar'nt good defense though)). Overall this is a high quality game with alot to stand up for, which it has as a good console RTS. The good things are the controls, multi player, and cut scenes. The let downs is the somewhat confusing story, the in-game visuals, camera, and if you are a hardcore RTS player, don't expect to be very good at this game on you first try, it'll take a while. So Halo Wars for the Xbox 360 gets a 8.5 out of 10.

Patapon 2 Awsome Videos!

With the probably only new good PSP game that is coming out (other than Resistance) called Patapon 2 I'd like to put up a little something that I find to be very funny. Also, Patapon 2 will be a day 1 purchase for me, so I'll have a write up on that when it comes out(for sure this time).


EDIT: There may be an error message, if so please enjoy the other Patapon 2 related videos that show up.

OnLive! The Next Generation of Gaming!

We as avid gamers expect all the usual things from GDC such as tech demos and the new adjustments to the Unreal Engine 3. But one thing that came out of this years' GDC was definitely not what some of us expected, at least not for a couple of more years! OnLive, the new revolutionary game streaming service, has been announced at this years' GDC, and it looks amazing. OnLive streams games through your broadband connection to your PC, Mac, or TV with a little box the size of your cell phone. Valve has been trying to do the same sort of thing with information on "The Cloud", but this is gaming on "The Cloud". OnLive works with supposedly any PC game and requires at least a 5megabit down broadband connection (which is a bummer for me because the highest I can get out here is .3megabit down and .5 up, as well as many other people living in small towns). OnLive is also going to require a "low" monthly subscription fee. Once subscribed, users will be able to run any of the service's games, regardless of system requirements -- Gamasutra (Thank you Gamasutra for testing that out) was able to try the system out with graphical powerhouses like Crytek's Crysis and Codemasters' GRID. One of the main concerns is multiplayer games, because streaming a 6GB game is one thing, but connecting with at least 15 other people without Internet and streaming latency will be tough. OnLive will have a closed beta set up hopefully by summer (they better not pull off a Sony and have this like Home) so G.I.N will try to get in that. I really do hope OnLive works, because this will be the future of PC gaming, at the very least.

Happy Easter Everyone

Resident Evil 5 and Muppets?

Well, I saw this on joystiq and just had to post it. It a parody made by Black 20. Its just a hilarious cross between Re5 and Muppets

Click on the headline to view.

The New Nintendo DSI!!!!!(Sarcasm)

Nintendo has just released a new DS called the DSI(Note: The DSI is made by Nintendo, not Apple). The new additions for the "DSI" are few and worthless.

#1: Slimmer and wider

#2: Internet browser

#3: Two VGA .3 mega pixel cameras, one on the outside(to take a picture of your grandma), and one on the inside(to take a picture of yourself, then add it to the picture of your grandma and make it look like you both are connecting.). I mean really your phone has a better camera than that.

#4: 256 MB of internal Flash memory, and removable SD card slot.

#5: DSI ware store, where you can buy even crappier games and store them on an extremely fragile SD card.

#6: No more GBA slot, if you still like to play Guitar Hero for DS(If you just responded to that, shame on you) than just keep your old DS.

#7: Supports WEA,WPA and WPA2, too bad this support is not available with original DS games.

#8:Last but not least, a new type of game media is being made for the DSI, so now you will probably have to buy a more expensive type of SD card.

So the new DSI isn't what real gamers expected, and yet the casual gamers eat right out of nintendo's hand. 2.02 million units have been sold since the DSi has been shipped, which is crazy. Now everyone has 3 skews of the DS, The Original, The DS Lite, and now the DSI. I would not recommend this to anyone due to no GBA slot, because there are so many good GBA games that you have not played. The only good new additions is that it's wider and it does not only support WEP. Final Verdict: If you don't have a DS and you absolutely hate GBA games get it, if you like GBA games and you don't like rip-offs, don't get it.

This week in XBLA:The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai

This week The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is slashing it way onto XBLA for 800 Points. I have donloaded and play the full version and have to say its a blast. The game is basically is side scrolling hack and slash that if very combo heavy and bloody. It basically Nnja Gaiden or God of War in 2d, which is a great thing. There are many branching paths as well as upgrades for your swords. The graphics are very styleized as well. It has online and offline co-op, multiple modes, and a really neat guitar mingame. Id give it a 8 combo chains out of 10. Check out the free trial below:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/d/dishwasherdsxboxlivearcade/