World of Warcraft first impressions

WoW. Not only is this an abbreviation for this game, it also describes it's size. The title is quite literal, this game is actually a world, at least landmass wise. It's probably larger then the states.

So Wow is an mmorpg ( massively multiplayer online role playing game) and the best one out there. I can't really sum up the experience vey well, so here's an overview of the game. You head out as your chosen race and class to complete quests. Most of them involve killing a few specific enemies or a boss level character, and the rest tell you to talk to someone or deliver something. The game is so huge you would feel completely lost if you were did not have some sort of objective, and the huge amount of quest fulfill that.

Another large part of the game is gear. While finding some cloth armor or an average battleaxe will occur every few enemies, a real nice piece of gear is a real rarity. I just found my first green (uncommon) item at level 10! Most itmes you find some useless crud like a dry scorpion eye worth a few copper.

The next part of this addicting formula is the combat. It feels really hectic at the higher levels, and this is great. While most monsters you have to kill rarely pose a threat, if you get careless you can easily be swarmed and taken down in a matter of seconds. This creates an environment of tension and excitement, and carefully creeping around to avoid being attacked by too many creatures feels like a minefield! Sometimes you have to assault a dungeon and this changes the rules. Rather then picking your fights in a huge canyon, you are up close and personal with a range of beasties in a claustrophobic environment.

WoW is an experience that cannot be described with words. Well, maybe one: Wow.

I just realized that you can click on the images to get larger versions for the comic.

comic, part 2

Ghost Squad

Ghost Squad started off as an arcade game, probably in Japan. The basics of the gameplay is that you shoot terrorists, and then move around then shoot some more. The game supports the Wii Zapper, and that works quite well with this game. In true light gun fashion, you move the cursor to the edge of the screen to reload.

Now the game forces you to shoot quickly, but there's little payoff for accuracy. Simply spraying a hail of bullets orks better then a precise head shot. And since you have unlimited ammo, the game becomes more about how quick you can reload rather than how your gun skills are. Another fault is the terrorists logic. In one restaurant scene, you go prone under some tables to shoot people in the legs. Rather then run behind you and shoot you, they prefer to hurl themselves directly into you line of fire. Then they get their buddies to the same thing. The way the terrorists move and shoot could have been handled better, but it does not hurt the game too much.

Over all, Ghost squad is a decent rail shooter, but it only last about an hour and a half. 7/10

Below is a comic I made with Halo 3 and My Comic Life on a Mac Osx 10. I will try to include a page or two whenever I update this blog.
Oh, I couldn't write this on the same post due to formatting glitch.

Comic

Wii Zapper

The Wii Zapper is one of those things you think you might need, but then realize you don't. While it's not critical to nay of the games that use it, it greatly enhances them anyway, even if it makes it a bit harder.

It's priced right at 20 dollars, and at that comes with Link's Crossbow training. While this is definitely not a full fledged game, in short bursts (30 minutes or so) its great. It's basically a shooting gallery, with some movement thrown in. Each level is a mix between a few different game modes, the most prevalent one being target practice which lets you shoot targets. This works well, emphasizing accuracy over blind firing, which makes the game very precise. Firing quickly but inaccurately will get you nowhere. For each successive hit, your multiplier go's up by 1.

There a few more game types, but the standout is ranger. Here you walk around the map firing at enemies. While the controls are a bit unwieldy it's quite imersive. It's also a bit too hard too find all the enemies so that holds down this one. The is overall a cut above average, and it's worth your time to play it if you pick up the Zapper.

The Zapper is compatible with most recent Wii Fps's, notably Ghost Squad and Medal of Honor Heroes 2. With a little bit of mucking around in menu's you can get it to work older game's too, like Metroid Prime 3. This is a bit harder to control then normal, but it works overall.

I give the Wii Zapper an 8 out of 10. This is the rating for the casing itself, not the compatible software. Links Crossbow Training is a 7 out of 10, and perfect for half an hour or so bursts.

Metroid Prime 3 first impressions

So I just rented Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It's not really what I was expecting. In the past, Metroid was a side scroller with allot of shooting. So then the Gamecube comes out the game not only makes the switch to 3d, but to a fps. Most fps's control by moving the left stick and looking with the right stick. Not Metroid! Our off all the first person shooter's I have played, that game was the hardest to control. You to hold a button just to look around! Everything else was fine, but the controls were just so bad.

Well, now the inevitable Wii version is out. I was fairly impressed with the basics of the game, with the player sort of manipulating objects with realistic motions. You would twist things with a twist motion, pull them out by actually pulling out... The problem being that this only works one some objects, like controls panels where it only manages to be annoying and imprecise. But rather then move your hand around pick up objects, which would be quite amazing and immersive, but no. Quite like the speech craft mini game in Oblivion, it just feels tacked on.


Besides that minor flaw, everything else holds up fairly well. Combat is well handled and fun, and an intuitive control scheme for your grapple beam feels nice when fighting shielded enemies.

Metroid Prime is set to be the game that Wii owners have been waiting for since that rather bland Red Steel came out. I will try to review it soon.

Schedule

Ok, I'm trying to get this blog up and running again. I will try to start posting three times a week. Just a few things before I make the next post. First: Forums! Please post in them or register if your here. It doesn't take long!
2: Guest posting! I have set up a guest account, so leave a comment on this post if you are interested in posting on this blog, as I could use the help.

Mass Effect

I finally got it! I got their lost copy, and it was the collectors edition. Its sort of hard to describe the game, and none of the revewiers really got the feel of the game. Have you played KoToR? Its exactly like that, but not. The basic gameplay sends you across multiple planets to do quests. You earn xp (it is an rpg) by doing various things, like killing enemies and reading books, plus hacking terminals. Its a nice split between tactical third person shooting (think r6v mp) and abilities.

Its not quite clear about anything in the beginning. I was actually a level 4 before I figured out how to do anything to do with abilities and stat progression. The combat is quite weird, with you micromanaging every aspect of your squad, or leaving it up to the AI. The best example being when you order one member to physically lift up an opponent while you snipe him and the next shoves him off a ledge. It switches from fluid and smooth to clunky and hard to use, then back the next second. Besides this, the combat is fun and overly challenging.

The game feels alot like GoW for its cover. Its cover system works okay, but you just move into cover rather then press a button which works better.

The next big thing is the speech. This is,simply put, unbelievably-mindblowingly-awsome!
You pick a response from a wheel, and your character gets the gist of that off. Example: You pick the response "the council should back off" and your character says this:" Tell the council to send off their men". It works much better then the stuff in KOTOR. They did a great job on making the aliens feel real, between the cold and calculating Turians to the ruthless Geth robot race.

The plot has a similar awesomeness. Bioware has created another masterpeice. I will review it soon.

And remember, if you wanna post something, leave a comment and I will get back to you.