Medal of Honor Review

Medal of Honour (I'm using the Australian spelling variant from now on). We've restarted the entire series, booting out the WW2 part of it, to give out the war times of the modern era, and I'm getting the feeling that this may have already been done before. Call of Duty, perhaps? Wait, no, that can't be right because the CoD series decided to use the Russians as the central scapegoat for their series. This time around, we're headed for Afghanistan, six months after 9/11, with American soldiers trained to kill and pissed off that they experienced a modern-day, eastern seaboard, land based version of Pearl Harbour.

At the start of the game, you play as a specialist soldier that is secretly behind enemy lines, with the objective to save a contact, who gives out very little thanks and tells you to kill all the Taliban. Yeah, considering that I am only just one person, with three other soliders, given the objective to overcome impossible odds while said soldiers as I - the player character - am the one with the big fat bullseye on my chest. Wait a second, this sounds a hell of a lot like Bad Company 2!

So off I go to the vault that is my game collection, and pull out my copy of BC2. Same publisher, two of the same developers out of three. Oh wonderful, good to make that one difference. Look, I tolerated BC2, and even some of my friends thought it was their favourite game for that time of the year (although making it one of the best of 2010 makes me think their brains need scrubbing). What pisses me off even more is that a developer takes a game, releases it, then puts on a new paint job of the same game and releases it in the same year! It's like ordering a meatlovers pizza only to tear the toppings off and replacing it with other meat. Yes, I know there's multiplayer, and you can get most of the experience of weapons on there. This is not good game design, not everyone wants multiplayer. Pack that shit in.

I've entered the fourth paragraph, and I haven't told you the broader aspect of the story.Well, you are basically following the stories of a S.E.A.L., a Tier 1 operator, a Ranger, and a pilot, in order of playtime length. Again, it's 2002, where every American wants to kick the teeth in of everyone who looks Middle Eastern, and who worships Jack Bauer. U.S intelligence is as competent as a naked leper in a HDD repairing room, and there are over 1000 Taliban and AQ that need their live shortened, and it all starts by rescuing an informant and taking over an airfield.

Meanwhile, a Colonel wants to check the area out, while a General wants to go into the turf head first within 24 hours with Rangers, Mountain and Airborne to fuck some shit up. So the area checked out, it's more of a case of Unstoppable Force meets Immovable Object. For the most part, I didn't care, I entered a phase of acting like Team America in Durkadurkastan. Stuff got blown up, enemies died, and there's a moment where you can kiss the ass of your nearest buddy just to get some more ammo and doing it all again. Great I thought, more enemies to kill.

Then again, I didn't enjoy this game, not because I got it on the 360, and I should have chosen the PS3 platform to be rewarded with Medal of Honour: Frontline (a much better game). The game is a safe mix of BC2 and CoD: A squad of four mates able to take on a battalion of insurgents better than what Team Noble could, with only two weapons (like Halo and CoD) with Wolverine-like regeneration. Yes, there was a flight mission, but you never got to control the Apache, this is an FPS after all, flying would make it too much of a clusterfuck for the player. Second worst of all, it was too easy. I played it on hard, and I would have wanted more of a length in the storyline, and battle was like playing Gears of War but the 1st person camera trying to act like the player's eyesight.

My greatest gripe is for the ending. There was not much of a last stand; that was left for halfway in the game for the Rangers, but the end scene was a busy street in an unnamed country with two guys drinking tea. Roll credits from there. Where's the fun in that? Why tell me something that is going on then try to make me an idiot in suspense? Why are you releasing two of the same game in the same year? Has John Riccitiello suffered Alzheimer's?

Having said all of that though, this game is the most I've ever felt disgusted at a game. I'm not even going to bother planting pictures up, because you see a couple of photos used in the promo, you've seen the whole game. Now with single player being done before lunch, I've waited a couple of days to try to find some nice things about the game, now I'm off to take it back to the retailer and pick up Castlevania instead.

Judgement: Save your cash, unless you're a PS3 owner who wants to play a glossy Frontline. Even then, it's disgraceful for FPSes, and should be left as a bitter memory.

So this is what's caught my attention before Christmas.

One should never get too excited about new video games releases. Hype has always been the tool of choice by game developer's marketing departments. It shouldn't be said though that you shouldn't pay too much attention. so without further ado, I type up tonight the list of games that have caught some attention to the blog's writers before the Christmas madness.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

So it's more of the same shoot-em-up action for most of the game, but this time around, we're aiming for some stealth elements where something gets completely screwed, and then run away before somebody notices the fingerprints lodged in the Soviet officer's throat. So from Russia, to Cuba, then finishing off in the Vietnam War, I'm hoping for some quiet time, frightened someone may see me if I move three steps to the left, stealth. Finish that off with a firefight reminiscent of the Punisher's battle of Valley Forge, and I'll be happy for that. Well, that's how my brief concept would be, and I know that your concept is nothing what the finished product will be like, but I'll watch this space to be sure.

Oh yes, they also have crossbows.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Ubisoft have decided to take the expansion pack route in this one, showing very little of Desmond again, but apparently testing leadership skills as he assumes the role of Ezio yet again. This time he has some friends, so they will go on a road trip to Rome, and shorten the lives of more Templars. Oh yes, and you get a chance to be the benevolent rebuilder of Rome, but nothing else there, because the events had already been completed, so there is no alternate scenario in which Ezio becomes an alternative iron fist ruler compared to the Papal Iron Fist that ruled it then. This time, there is a multiplayer concept, so there will be the battle of Assassins, and that's all I want to say about that. All in all, the game seems like it's a story that's only worthy of the handhelds, and a multiplayer concept because idiots cried out for it.

Not that he needs friends for this fight. Kill five guys, and the other 95 will run.

Gran Turismo 5

I have been waiting 5 years for this game to come out, and all I've had for racing game sustenance was Forza 3. I was expecting this game last year after receiving the Xbox counterpart, but it took the path of that one Duke Nukem game that I had dubbed it "Gran Turismo Forever". The game is rumoured to come out on three blu-ray discs, which would be enough to make Hideo Kojima make a new Metal Gear game just out of principle (grab the popcorn there), but there will be a damage system introduced for cars, depending on class, so you will be at fault if you sideswipe a concrete barrier, at the cost of gearbox, rear axle and the missing steering wheel. Licenses for WRC, NASCAR and Super GT will be incorporated for the first time, so there's something there to keep the racing junkie occupied. Please take note though, just because it says "Real Driving Simulator" does not make it so. I suggest checking the Top Gear video in which Jeremy Clarkson attempts to perform the corkscrew turn in Laguna Seca to beat his gaming time.

No wait, that almost looks like my Friday night.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Darth Vader's apprentice has taken the medicine of Sarah Fisher, Batman, Superman, and Jesus that cures that bad case of "DEAD" and takes on the Empire in this round. Oh wait, is he a clone, or isn't he? Being disappointed by the first game, I have no surprise if George Lucas delivers another Punji Stick to the liver, but I have to play it because it involves the use of lightsabers, and leveling an entire city with the Force. With the guest starring of Boba Fett and Yoda, however, it seelms like I have to take the H.A.W.X. 2 train of thought and ignore the storyline completely in order to take some measure of enjoyment.

Now something about Medal of Honor. That's about it. Well, that's only part of my shopping list in games for now, but it'll be the final lineup of games for 2010. With the advent of Duke Nukem Forever making a 14-year-late entrance I will not hold my breath on it being a good game, like the rest of the world is saying. Enough of that, we'll take what's given to us, give our opinions, and wait for the next helping, like we always do.

Overall opinion: None. If special editions of games are the Happy Meal of our time, we are all in it for the special toy right now, whereas the meal is something that is easily dismissed and thrown away after completion. The toys are now the new trophies of what we own.

- Random Cynic

Achievements: a discussion of evolution.

Since the XBox 360 was released, the trend of player achievements became phenomental craze, that became an unwritten law throughout all releases of games. Sony followed soon after with the trophy system. The purpose of these awards is to show off your progress in several games online. It seems like a new competition nowadays to become the Alpha Gamer, where those who delve too much into these things can cause them to be ridiculed as a trophy/achievement whore. The real question is: Have we had this system before, and haven't even known it?

An achievement for every player, no matter how ridiculous.

The origins of an achievement, you might say, started off taking on a human opponent in Pong down in the cornershop. One would take on the rest of the other Pong fanatics from the surrounding area, where there would be the one person you just had to beat. So what would have happened if you couldn't find an appropriate challenger at the time? With no other excuse than because you were antisocial and spent all your 20 cent pieces on the game when everyone else did all those silly things, like going to school.
Pong wasn't going to go around forever, and new games would be released. Therefore, games worked out a system where gamers would score points. There was a new objective now: beat the high score. Personally, I was one to sink numerous dollars of pocket cash just so I can have the advantage of having my initials engraved on at least one place of the coveted top scores of shooters and racing games. Obviously, this feat never worked out as I lived under a parents-know-best household that frowned upon video games, and I had child-like hands that didn't know the basics of accuracy. This, like all aspirations people have, was something I would aim for, knowing full well it would be a lifetime struggle, amongst all other things such as work, school, relationships and family. Everyone else would feel the same way, in a perfect world.

One of the prestigious accolades for any gamer before 2000

Publicity was very limited at the time, and even less so on the consoles before the 5th generation, unless you decided to invite friends over, and even then the only time when anyone gave a toss was when a new game was released for the Sega Saturn, or whichever. However, mention that you never passed the last stage in Alex Kidd in Miracle World and be prepared to be ridiculed. during the Nintendo/Sony wars, the competition was tightened with 4-player action, finding out who could become the supreme player. Single player games could also be determined as well, showing who could have the most complete collection of Materia, and who obtained all 23 cheats on GoldenEye. OK, so we talked about the consoles, but even so, we were being ridiculed by the PC elitists who could take on people either worldwide, or within LAN parties.

Achievements were also symbolised by showing how much a game was completed (via percentage), or receiving a particular reward for passing a game on a certain difficulty, such as stealth camo in the Metal Gear Solid Games. But with even more online interaction of games in the 6th generation of consoles, and the implementation of Xbox Live, you could say that the gamers wanted more than just credibility in the chat rooms. Thus, modern day achievement systems were implemented. Nowadays you could tell what the player has done, such as gaining complete information in a codex, or killing a certain amount of chickens in 10 seconds, and the standard level clear, game and difficulty clear. Xbox Live, followed soon by Playstation Network, have surpassed the PC in gaming popularity, but Xbox Live could also support games that were marked "Games for Windows". It wasn't until Steam was released that PC gamers could be able to diversify their achievement gaining. Now we just have to wait for Nintendo.

So we could safely say there have been an existence of achievements of video games throughout our lives. The trials and tribulations of gamers to achieve a specific goal, be it to finish a game, or to gain the world record score. There have just been many different evolutions of the system. Trust me, they will be here to stay, and there will be an aim. Above all else, there are millions of people to gain the high ground as the ultimate gamer.

 - Random Cynic