Master Chief Meets the Network

Master Chief Sucks at Voting and Absolute Watchmen

Master Chief sucks at voting is up.



Also, I got Absolute Watchmen today, bow down to me.

Upcoming Games of Interest, volume 3 (November 2008)

The following is a list of games I have some interest in that are being released in 2008 or 2009. Games marked in bold are definite buys, while games not marked in bold require waiting to see if they will be good or not.

Call of Duty: World at War (11/11/08) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii
Sonic Unleashed (11/18/08) Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, Playstation 2

Watchmen: The End is Nigh (Q1 2009) PC, Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Store
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (1/13/09) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Star Wars: Battlefront III (Rumored 3/15/09) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii
Pokemon Platinum (Rumored 4/09) DS
Nintendo DSi (Rumored Q2 2009) DS
Call of Duty 6 (Rumored 11/09) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Metroid Prime (2009) Wii
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2009) Wii
LostMagic Wii (2009) Wii
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2009) PC
APB (2009) PC
Timesplitters 4 (2009) Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii
MAG: Massive Action Game (2009) Playstation 3
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (TBA) PC
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (TBA) PC

Watching the second Watchmen trailer

I made all the screencaps two large images (one consisting of scenes before the instrumental and one afterwords) so I didn't have to save 20+ pictures. I apologize for the low quality of the pictures; no high quality version of the trailer existed at the time. Click each image to make it larger (and readable). Enjoy.

Watchmen's ending changes

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS HUGE SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE GRAPHIC NOVEL AND MOVIE WATCHMEN! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE THOROUGHLY SPOILED!



So, as you may have heard, Watchmen, my most anticipated movie of next year (and possibly of all time) was pre-screened last night at a theater in Portland, Oregon. Passes to the screening were handed out discreetly a week ago to people unfamiliar with the book. Two days ago, a website leaked information about the screening and hordes of fans rushed to the theater, only to find, as Adrian Veidt would say, "passes were handed out thirty-five minutes ago"...or, more correctly, a week ago. I can only imagine the fans are rushing the site owner's house right now, and his fate may be less than pleasant...



Last night, people returned from the screening with nondisclosure agreements. Nonetheless, two stalwart viewers raced to IMDb and posted about the experience. One had never read the book, the other was a fan. Both greatly enjoyed the movie, with the non-book reader declaring it his favorite superhero movie. However, fans were less interested in the quality of the movie and more interested in the climax. In the book, Adrian Veidt (aka Ozymandias) teleports a giant, manmade alien into New York City, creating an explosion that kills a million people. The warmongering United States and Soviet Union ally against the nonexistent alien threat. Adrian exclaims "I did it!" and is left alive by Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, and Silk Spectre because otherwise, the world will fall back into chaos. Only Rorschach disagrees, and forces Dr. Manhattan to kill him.



In the movie, according to these two posters, things occur a little differently. Throughout the movie, Adrian and Dr. Manhattan are allegedly working on an alternative energy source project. Adrian secretly uses this technology to create powerful bombs which he proceeds to drop on major population centers. Dr. Manhattan is held responsible, but he goes along with the plan for the same reasons as the book. Rorschach is still stubborn, and gets disintegrated. Adrian is still left alive, a pivotal detail altered in David Hayter's 2003 draft, which featured a Hollywood-style showdown between Adrian and Nite Owl. Fans have suspected a collusion between Adrian and Dr. Manhattan ever since an eagle eyed fan noticed something amiss in this scene:



The terminal behind Dr. Manhattan (and his clones) shows a person that fans claimed was Adrian. Well, it looks like those "conspiracy theorists" might have been right. Now, I'm not sure how I like this new ending. On the one hand, what I want is an enjoyable movie, even if the ending is not perfect. On the other hand, if the ending leaves out pivotal details, then it becomes too naggingly "wrong" for me to enjoy. Right now, we don't have enough details about the context of the ending for me to make an accurate judgment. For now, I leave you with this random shot of Dr. Manhattan's crystal palace:

Upcoming Games of Interest, volume 2 (October 2008)

The following is a list of games I have some interest in that are being released in 2008 or 2009. Games marked in bold are definite buys, while games not marked in bold require waiting to see if they will be good or not.

Call of Duty: World at War (11/11/08) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii
Sonic Unleashed (11/18/08) Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, Playstation 2

Watchmen (Q1 2009) PC, Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Store
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (1/13/09) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Star Wars: Battlefront III (Rumored 3/15/09) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii
Pokemon Platinum (Rumored 4/09) DS
Nintendo DSi (Rumored Q2 2009) DS
Call of Duty 6 (Rumored 11/09) PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Metroid Prime (2009) Wii
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2009) Wii
LostMagic Wii (2009) Wii
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2009) PC
APB (2009) PC
Timesplitters 4 (2009) Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii
MAG: Massive Action Game (2009) Playstation 3
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (TBA) PC
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (TBA) PC

Crysis Warhead--Review

"An excellent expansion that improves on the original in every way"

Crysis Warhead is a standalone expansion for last year’s revolutionary first person shooter Crysis, but it’s more like a pseudosequel-and I mean that in a good way. The game improves upon every aspect of the original to leave a much more polished experience.

Gameplay: Multiplayer: Crysis Warhead’s multiplayer mode, now called Crysis Wars, brings back two multiplayer modes from the original game as well as a much-needed new mode. The first mode is Power Struggle. Power Struggle involves players being divided into teams and dropped into an enormous map filled with buildings and vehicles. Players must then capture buildings while earning “prestige,” currency you can use to buy new weapons, attachments, ammo, and vehicles. Prestige is earned by capturing buildings and killing enemies. Certain buildings produce vehicles, of which there is a huge selection of land, sea, and air vehicles; others produce weapons and allow you to use them as spawn points.

The main building is the Prototype Factory, which produces ice-based alien weapons and nuclear devices. The Prototype Factory slowly charges when it is captured, with a separate charge for each team. The process of charging can be sped up by capturing alien crash sites. At 50% the team who owns it can produce alien weapons. At 100%, however, nuclear tanks and weapons become available. Nuclear weapons are required to destroy your enemy’s otherwise impenetrable base.

Power Struggle hasn’t seen many changes since the original game. The most inherent flaw-some weapons and vehicles are too expensive for ordinary players to buy, causing better players to dominate an entire team-remains unchanged, though admittedly this is something that can’t really be changed without altering the entire game mode. However, one overall better feature in the online modes is the elimination of lag. While lag is obviously still a factor, its been trimmed down to a reasonable level by fixing the server system.

While the standard deathmatch mode remains, one huge difference is the addition of team deathmatch, an almost standard online shooter feature missing from the original game. Unfortunately, the team deathmatch brings to light an irritating weapon balance problem that isn’t as apparent in Power Struggle. Essentially, some weapons are so weak that they take an entire clip to kill an enemy, meaning if you stumble across a foe with a better weapon, you’re done for, no matter how early you caught them off guard. Suit functions remain virtually useless in the deathmatch modes, a disappointing factor.

Gameplay: Singleplayer: On a happier note, Warhead’s singleplayer is leaps and bounds beyond the original’s. You play as Psycho, one of the player’s allies from the first game, in a parallel story that takes place during the events of the first game on the other side of the island. The large island is much more sandbox oriented than before, letting you choose how you approach enemies and bases. All of the suit functions return: there’s Maximum Strength, which grants you superhuman physical abilities; Maximum Speed, which lets you run faster; and Cloaking, which turns you invisible. Maximum Armor is the default mode, and it restores suit energy, the essence that dictates how long you can use the other suit modes.

Warhead’s singleplayer pacing is much better. While the original game had long stretches of time where no action was occurring, Psycho’s mission takes the player into the heart of the North Korean-infested jungle island, and action is occurring almost constantly, making for a much more exciting and intense experience. The story is also much more interesting: it is told through third person cutscenes, rather than first person like the original, letting you get to know Psycho better than the first game’s protagonist Nomad. Other characters are Psycho’s old friend O’Neill, female commander Emerson, and the villainous North Korean colonel Lee. There are some emotional scenes in the story that make you care much more about Warhead’s plot than the original’s one-sided characters. The singleplayer itself isn’t very long-only 3-7 hours-but this is reasonable when you remember that despite its improvements, Warhead is still just an expansion and not a full game.

Graphics: There’s not much to say here. Warhead’s graphics do not disappoint, and the Crysis series continues to stand on top as the best looking games ever made. The graphics themselves have been slightly improved in some areas, and the game is better optimized to run on weaker computers in an attempt to shatter the graphical powerhouse stigma associated with Crysis. The physics are incredible as always-it’s quite satisfying to pick up an enemy soldier and hurl him through a wall, causing the entire structure to collapse on a nearby group of foes. One sequence in particular, which involves a hovercraft chase over a frozen ocean with waves frozen in place as natural halfpipes, is one of the most beautiful action sequences in a video game.

Music: Warhead’s music is somewhat different than the original’s, and in a good way. Guitar riffs accompany the more action-oriented soundtrack, making it much more appropriate than the original game’s more quiet and oriental pieces. The amazing score that plays during the abovementioned hovercraft chase only enhances the awe of that scene.

Replayability: Warhead’s singleplayer is very replayable, due to the open-ended gameplay that allows for a different approach each time. One time you may wish to sneak around a base, silencing enemies while invisible, Predator-style. Another time you might want to charge in with a vehicle and a machine gun like Rambo. It’s all up to you, and leaves different results each time.

TOTAL: Crysis Warhead improves on the original Crysis in so many ways that it seems like an understatement to simply call it an expansion. The singleplayer, graphics, and music are so much better that it could be considered a pseudosequel. The multiplayer, while still enjoyable, continues to be a load of missed potential.

Score: 9/10
Release date: September 18, 2008
Platform: PC
Originally written for GameFAQs