Halo 2

Well, after an initial binge, and then a bit of a gameplaying famine, I finally found a bit of time to finish off Halo 2. It's hard to think of what to say about it, since so much has been said elsewhere. Let me run through a couple of points quickly, however:

1. Some people thought the plot was shit. These people were not paying attention.

2. Some people didn't like the ending. It's clearly the end of a second act of three act narrative, and as such, it's hardly conclusive. It's not meant to be. I assume the people that object to Halo's ending didn't like the ending of The Empire Strikes Back, either.

3. Some people thought the game was repetitive. Balls. The only repetitive thing about it was the little sections you have to walk through in each level, between the various battles. I'll take these over a loading screen any day. If these little bottlenecks weren't there, the levels couldn't be as large and sprawling or as well paced as they are. The game's settings, its pacing, the enemies you face, and the resources available to you are enormously varied as you progress. I don't understand what the people making this complaint are comparing the game to.

4. Some people thought the game wasn't innovative. Bollocks. They've taken just the right amount of risk with this game, and every design choice was the correct one. Getting rid of "health" is genius. One simple decision really helps the game's pacing and tension, and completely eliminated the need for backtracking. The weapon management in the game (which was completely revolutionary in the first Halo, and a masterstroke) has been refined to perfection here. You've got accessible (and what's more, useful) melee attacks that you can use in a pinch, without having to scroll through a menu to select them. You've got the most intuitive use of grenades ever in a game, which really do affect the dynamic of most battles you find yourself in. You've got the best use of vehicles in a game ever, made even better by the ability to "board" them. And then you've got the addition of dual wielding. Not only does this allow for some cool weapon pairings, but it evens out an already very balanced selection of weapons. There really isn't a bad choice. Sure, the pistol's been nerfed, but you can pair one up with an SMG, a needler or a plasma weapon to make it into a genuinely useful tool. For each weapon in the game, there's a situation in which it's the best choice. You'll want and need to use them all, depending on your read of the battle you're going into, and who you think you'll be going up against, at what range, what equipment they've got, and what the terrain's like. I can't think of a single other FPS that's achieved that sort of balance.

5. Some people think they've seen it all before. I'd like to ask, where? You might have seen a plot this good, AI this good, vehicles this good, and so on, but I don't know of a game that blends them all into such a well rounded package. If there is one, please let me know - I'd love to play it.

6. Some people thought the texture mapping and LODs popping in during the cut scenes looked crappy. Well, okay. These people kind of have a point. But to fix that, you'd need loading screens between gameplay and cutscenes, which would interrupt the game's pacing. This was a tradeoff on Bungie's part, but I think they made the right decision here.

Here are the things I liked best about the game:

1. The AI. Honestly, I've never seen better. If you don't like it - try a harder difficulty setting. Honestly, it makes the game come alive.

2. The weapons. Not a bad one in the bunch. And there's not a single "uberweapon" that you always want to use, either. Every situation demands that you look at it strategically, and make the correct choice on the fly, from what you can pick up on the battlefield. This is also unprecedented.

3. The vehicles. You can get in and out of them fluidly and seamlessly, even when someone else is already driving them. The controls mesh well with the FPS controls used elsewhere in the game. They offer a genuine sense of power without ever unbalancing the game. Also, they're just a world of fun - again, there isn't a dud.

4. The soundtrack. Even though there was a bit of wailing metal guitar on this, it still really hit home with me. It's not necessarily what I'd listen to outside of playing the game, but at all times it seemed entirely appropriate, and helped the atmosphere of the game.

5. The pacing. This game knows just when to throw you into the thick of it, and when to let you relax and cruise. It also knows when to pat you on the back. The amount of playtesting they'd need to achieve this sort of experience boggles the mind.

6. The regenerating shield. I said it above, but the effect this has on the pacing of the game cannot be overstated. It's a stroke of genius, and even Half-Life 2's system of health packs and armour shards seems decidedly quaint and old-fashioned by comparison.

Here are the things I liked least about the game:

1. The graphics. Okay, so I've been playing Half-Life 2. So Halo 2 looks a bit crap by comparison. I mean, the game looks good for an Xbox game, but I'm not sure it's even as pretty as the Riddick game, for example. The aliens and alien architecture look great, partly because it's more stylised, I suppose, but the human faces and environments look a bit wonky somehow, because you know what they're *really* supposed to look like.

2. The physics. They've used the Havok physics engine in this game, but not very much. Again, the comparison with Half-Life 2 is probably what's making this seem like a problem. It's not much of a one - I just wouldn't have minded seeing some more dynamic use of physics as a part of the gameplay. Not puzzles, necessarily, but moving things around for cover, or throwing something to distract an enemy. That sort of thing.

3. I wish the Arbiter had a flashlight.

4. The B button should have been used for boost on the Banshee, and the L trigger for the bomb. You've gotta aim the bomb, but you can't steer when you're boosting, so you need your right thumb on the analog stick for one but not the other. That seems like a simple, obvious blunder to me. But a tiny one.

To sum up: 10/10. If there's any part of you that likes action games of any description, you'd be mad to pass it up. Also, I've only talked about the single player game here: the multiplayer is absolutely groundbreaking, polished and utterly without equal. If it's multiplayer you're looking for, then I recommend it in even stronger terms.

Great game. Possibly the best of the year. Depending on how much I enjoy the rest of Half-Life 2.

Aww.

A baby tapir. Just because.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Now, I've had this game pre-ordered for a while. I've been looking forward to it ever since it was announced, having thoroughly enjoyed the prequel. It was one of the best games of last year.

But now IGN's review has me a bit worried.

1. Why is it that when you make a sequel to a good game, it always has to be "darker" and more "moody" than the original? Nintendo figured out that it didn't have to be this way ages ago, so why hasn't everyone else cottoned on?

2. How come for something to be more "mature" and reach a wider audience, the character has to have the personality of a grouchy teen, and swear and cut the heads off things to a heavy metal soundtrack? Films and literature that are more "mature" tend towards subtlety, rather than this misguided "extreme" sort of attitude.

Actually, I'm not going to continue this. It's stilly, since I haven't actually got my copy of the game yet (I think it comes in next week). But I've been a little worried about this game since some of the recent trailers were released, and this review disheartens me a bit. Why try to make it more like everything else? Those of us who liked the game liked it for what it was, so why not play up the things that made it different, rather than trying to bend it back into a more familiar mould?

Having said all that, I'm still getting the game, and I'm looking forward to the gameplay. I just hope the weird teen-angst vibe isn't pervasive enough to take the shine off it too much for me.

Comments

Go on, post a comment. It'll make my day. Seriously.

Too. Too. Too Much Coffee.

Have you seen that episode of Black Books where Manny stays up all night drinking espresso and watching The Sweeney? That's kind of what I've been like the last couple of weeks.

I've fallen into the habit of drinking three cups of coffee from our new coffee machine each day at work, which has become something of a problem. Now, I'm not some sort of coffee lightweight - the trick is that I'm drinking a mug of coffee from this thing each time, and what it dispenses is unadulterated espresso. I didn't realise this, at first, thinking it was just good, strong coffee. What I've recently been informed, however, is that I was, in fact, drinking the equivalent of 24 cups of coffee a day, since each press of the "large" button that fills my mug dispenses eight shots of coffee.

Suffice it to say, this has been hurting me.

I've had trouble sleeping, I've been getting even more tetchy than usual, and my poo has been horrible. Plus, I was fading away into tiredness by about 5pm. Not at all good.

So, I'm easing back. I don't want to give it up entirely, but I've so far managed to cut back to only one mug per day. This seems like I'm only having one coffee per day, but it's still the equivalent of 8, and a considerable crutch. Having said that, I'm suffering a blinding headache at the moment, which I assume is my brain screaming out for caffeine. Who can blame it?

I've been filling in the now gaping holes in my day with cups of tea. I also just ate a choc-chip cookie that's 10 days past its expiry date. I hope that's not problematic in some way.

I'm getting a haircut tonight, for my sister's wedding, but I couldn't get an appointment with my usual hairdresser. This is a concern, but I'm trying not to worry too much. Fingers crossed, eh? Hopefully I'll come out of it with the correct number of ears.

Back in Black

It's been a while. I actually got really disheartened with this whole blogging thing when I installed a hit counter on this site that actually tells me if people are looking at it.

Big mistake.

Nobody was, at all, so I kind of gave up on it. But I happened to check back again today, and I see that a few people have looked, and it seems that they've looked because of two lovely lasses who've deemed fit to include this babble on their list of links. Thanks, m'dears! If you're reading this, you should probably read what they have to say when you're finished here.

The last couple of weeks have been absolute bedlam. That's my other excuse for having been quiet lately. Aside from being just about buried at work (on a wide range of projects, actually, none of which I'm currently at liberty to discuss here), I've also been organising the first meeting of the Melbourne chapter of the IGDA.

The first meeting went well, I think, and about 80 people showed up. I'd have been quite happy with 30, so I was absolutely overwhelmed with the result. As, I suspect, was the poor barman. You can read about it here or here.

I caught up with my second best mate Nick (who's visiting from Adelaide) last night, for a parmy and a pint. Good times. My folks are in town this week also, for my sister's wedding, which is this Saturday. Boy, do I feel old. It should be good fun, though, so long as there are no dramas like we had at my wedding, with family infighting and so on. I'm actually very fond of all my immediate family - but I still get a little nervous on the rare occasions when they all have to be in the same room as one another.

I should probably ramble on about videogames a bit, but I might save that for later. I've got quite a bit to get done today. My current playlist still includes Outrun2 and Beyond Good and Evil, with the additions of Halo 2 and Half-Life 2. I also started a new game of A Link to the Past the other day, for no apparent reason. Other than the fact that it's a really good game, I suppose. Oh, and I played straight through Sonic the Hedgehog last night, for the first time in about a decade. It's still a hoot. Oh, and our copy of Eye Toy: Play 2 arrived on my desk this morning. I'll let you know how we get on with that also. What was that I was saying? Oh yes. Back to work!

Passing Breeze

Mmm. Suggestive song titles. Gotta love 'em.

Sorry for the interruption to what had become a good little run of regular posts. There was a 4-day weekend, and then our Internet connection was down for a couple of days. I doubt anyone missed me.

I lost money on the Melbourne Cup, sadly. I put $20 on Mamool, who came dead motherless last in 2003, believing that the horse had something to prove. I was also following the advice of Sir Mix-a-Lot, who "got his money on the two hoss". I hope it worked out better for him than it did for me - the two horse didn't place, in this instance. Dammit.

Those of you with Playstation 2s should really be playing Sly 2, rather than reading this drivel. There's a lot right about it, but what strikes you the most is just the charm and detail of the characterisation and the setting. It's like one of those Saturday morning cartoon shows that you thought were really 'yours', somehow - a lovingly crafted world into which you can escape. Wonderful stuff. It's also challenging, varied, humorous, and good clean fun.

Still on games for a minute - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sucks arse. I realise that's controversial, but there it is. I simply don't understand the appeal of this game. I must be immune to it or something. It's big, sure. There's a lot to do, sure. But is any of it any good? The graphics are shocking, the draw distance is a disgrace, the water is poor by even Tomb Raider 1 standards, the vehicle handling is incredibly wonky, and the controls for shooting are even worse. Plus, you can't talk to people. What about this game, other than its scope and its premise, even interests people? I'd much rather play a smaller game, personally, that does what it sets out to well, and with style. If the various bits of the game played like Burnout 3, Jet Set Radio Future and Halo, respectively, then it'd be worthy of the praise its receiving. But shit is shit - adding more of it, and different kinds of it, doesn't miraculously make it into something else. It just makes for an enormous, steaming heap of shit.

Being able to play for 100 hours doesn't interest me, if those 100 hours are clunky, ugly and tedious. Being able to "do whatever I want" isn't much use, if nothing on offer is that much fun. Gimme Ico's tight and limited but stunning, evocative and focussed 8 hours, any day.

Plus, there's the fact that you have to be a jerk. Seriously, even putting ethics and morals completely to one side, I'm not of a mindset that constantly gets amused by the fact that you're allowed to be 'naughty' in a game. Because that's where much of the game's appeal seems to lie. Interestingly, people refer to these as 'mature' games. Many of them (and I'm lumping Manhunt and its ilk in here as well) seem to be tailor-made to appeal specifically to the immature. I don't think this game caters well to a balanced, mature mindset, or even a mature gaming taste in the slightest. To put it another way - it's not for us, it's for them. And I never liked them anyway.

Even something like Morrowind, in which you can be a jerk if you like, let you go the other way. You were offered genuine choices, and genuine consequences. In GTA:SA, though, you really do just have to play it like a dickhead simulator. There's no actual choice or 'role-playing' involved at all.

And, let's face it, the missions are shit. You walk, drive or ride from one glowing splodge to another. At least in Shenmue, you could talk to people and ask for directions, and have to find your way around, looking for signs and locations - as if you really were in a city. This is just join-the-dots. I call bullshit.

Admittedly, I've not played much of the game. I'm not planning to. My admittedly biased and largely uninformed review is 2/10. All of that's for the audio, incidentally - the radio stations and the voice acting are both great, so the game gets a full point each for those. Zero for graphics and zero for gameplay, though, I'm afraid. It's a stinker. Don't believe the hype.