Cha Ching!

Game: Modern Warfare 3 (MW3)

System: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii

Release: November 2011

Here we go again. Another installment of the popular Call of Duty franchise. The last game made by the original creators of Modern Warfare; due to legal disputes with Activision. The tittle forge by three studios--Treyarch (Wii), Infinity Ward, and Sledge Hammer--with support of the new Call of Duty Elite by Beachhead Studios. Can the latest tittle keep the money train running?

Of course it can. This isn't their first rodeo. MW3 offers the tired and true formula with a few minor tweaks to multiplayer and the long drawn out conclusion to the adventures of Captain Price and pals. Spec Ops also makes a triumph return with new missions and a survivor mode. The gameplay is still smooth. The action just as intense and exciting. The story just as ridiculous as ever. It's everything I could have hoped for.

Multiplayer is given the largest overhaul. Players can now create classes with customized kill streaks. There are three categories Assault, Support, and Specialization. Assault is a heavily offensive strike package that is very similar to previous CoD titles. Support keeps your kill streak going after death, and offers more defensive options like SAM turrets and ballistic vests. Finally Specialist classes can unlock additional perks in lieu of strike packages, and after a certain amount of kills, all perks are granted. This can really tare through enemies, and all three categories are a great addition to the multiplayer formula.

Maps and weapons are your standard lot for any Call of Duty. Each map has three major paths. Some favor close range fighting others are more open for snipers. The same old weapon categories exist with a few pristine selections in each. My particular favorites are the PP90M1, Type 95, Striker, and FMG-9 akimbo. This time around weapons have a separate experience bar. Each new level opens additional attachments, color schemes, and weapon perks. The perks offer a variety of new bonuses to the gun that range from increased bullet damage to reduced recoil. Nothing new to the franchise, but presented in a different fashion.


The same could be said about the single player. The campaign is intense, and the conclusion is satisfying.  Visiting major cities like New York, Paris, and London is awesome. MW3 doesn't shy away from destroying national landmarks either. There are more AC-130, sniper, and rail gun segments. The Americas are still fighting the large battles while the British find the evil ring leaders. Russia continues to supply a seemingly endless supply of soldiers to shoot. (Seriously who has the man power to invade the United States and all of Europe.) The developers also do a decent job connecting the events of the first two games to the third.

Finally there is Spec Ops. Players can team up to take on a series of missions like MW2, or they can try their luck at the Survival mode. The missions loosely tie into the main plot which is a nice touch. The survival maps offer a good variety of difficulty, and can be quite enjoyable in both split and full screen versions. Overall a nice update to a previously successful game type.

Odds are you have made up your mind to purchase or avoid the latest Modern Warfare 3. Die hard fans have made this franchise the most successful FPS in console history. The multiplayer formula sees minor adjustments that have big results in game. The story comes to an end--for now--and the Spec Ops mode keeps on truck'n. Add to this CoD: Elite, a separate paid subscription service that offers a variety of downloadable content, and you have a game beaming with replay value. Snerts Snazzy Score is Full Price!

Potty-mouth

Game: Bulletstrom

System: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Release: February 2011

Warning: The following contains an obscene amount of curse words. Previously, I've typed the occasional fuck, but for fucks sake this is a lot of fucking curse words. I apologize to any of my loyal readers who may be offended--fucking wankers.

Dick, shit, cock, fuck, ass, balls pretty much sums up Bulletstorm. It's an homage to my childhood days of immature jokes and hours of first-peni...errr...person shooters. 

Epic roles out a game reaming with ridiculous kills and Big Fucking Gun's. Every gun has an alt fire overkill mode which adds some flair to your standard arsenal. My favorite toy was the Flail Gun. Take two grenades and connect them with a chain. Load into the launcher, aim, and fire. Before you know bad guys are hopping mad before they go boom. Another weapon is a drill-spear gun that impales foes with ease and twirls them round and round like a fucking ferris wheel. 

If guns don't do it for ya, then try kicking grunts into cacti, or using the whip mechanic to throw them off a ledge. All the death variety serves a purpose. You score points for doing unique kills that unlock additional upgrades. The list was pretty long, and the gaming lords know I won't finish it. Still, I'm sure some completionist out there has. So kudos to that prick.

Driving the carnage is your stereotypical revenge/bromance. Mike...er..Gray Hunt and Ishi Sato are the last of their crew after a suicide attack by the former. He gave the orders to attack a really big ship because he was pissed drunk and pissed off. Apparently General Sarrano is a big asshole, and Gray is just the dick to fuck him for good. Ishi gets to become a border line psychotic cyborg, and the female role played by Trishka cements the fact that no one is gay--despite the copious use of the word "dick." Things go wrong, then right, then back to wrong, and before you know it everything is dead. Throw on a teaser for the next game and call it a day. 

Multiplayer sucks ass because EA hates renters. Those who want to experience Buletstorms MP must buy the game new to obtain a code. If you don't have this code, then you must pay to play. Honestly with so many quality FPS games out there--Halo Reach, Black Ops, MW2, L4D2, Battlefield--I hardly see the need to fork over more money. 

All things considered Bulletstorm is a fun game. I enjoyed the guns and the killing reward system. The plot wasn't the worse thing I've ever witnessed, nor was it amazing. The environments were dam gorgeous, but the enemies were boring bitches. The immature characters and dialog doesn't help the game either (nor does it help this review). It's just another additional to the FPS genre that few will probably care to play. Snerts Snazzy Score is Gamefly--especially for shooter fans. Rent, play, and get all those penis puns out of your system. 

A Decade of Bungie

Game: Halo: Reach

System: Xbox 360

Release: September 2009

EPIC!

Halo: Reach is the last game in the franchise developed by Bungie. In 2001, one of the best independent studios released Halo: Combat Evolved. Since then there has been Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo: ODST. Each successor added new features and a new story, but they all felt very similar. Halo Reach, however, is an entirely new experience unlike any FPS on the market. Bungie utilized the best from games like Unreal Tournament, Tribes, Call of Duty, and of course older Halo's. The end product is a well polished game with hours upon hours of fun content.

Halo Reach is divided up into three game modes: Campaign, Firefight, and Multiplayer. All three can be played on or off line. They also come with a ton of options to customize your experience as you see fit.

Snerts in action!

The Campaign tells the story of Noble Team a group of Spartans on Reach. Any fan of the Halo universe knows Reach is a doomed planet. The Covenant destroys Reach and leaves few survivors as they make their way towards Earth. Knowing that the ending wouldn't be happy gave the game an Empire's Strikes Back feeling. The colors are more subtle with less bloom effects. The characters display a sense of desperation as the invading aliens decimate their planet. By the end just about everyone you have met dies. Bungie also does a great job of tying Noble's story to the events in Halo 1-3. Finally they break up the FPS action with a few turret rail gun segments, and a outer space dog fight mission that is reminiscent of the N64 game Rogue Squadron.


Like previous Campaigns, there are dozens of options to keep things fresh. Skulls from Halo 3 make a return, and so does Scoring Mode. These features, however, are nothing compared to what Firefight has to offer. (Firefight is a cooperative game mode where a team fights wave after wave of enemy AI.) You can customize just about everything for this cooperative game type. You can tweak: damage output, shields, health, weapons, infinite ammo, what enemies appear each wave, how the enemies appear, AI damage and shields, etc. etc. etc. I literally spent an hour just thumbing through all the options. I also enjoyed the different Firefight modes like Gruntpocalypse--all Grunts all the time. Firefight as sure come a long way since ODST.

Multiplayer is also full of new features. Most notably Invasion. This game mode pits Elites vs. Spartans. The objective is defense for the later, and offense for the former. There are three sections per round, and completing a section unlocks more load outs, weapons, and vehicles. The game ends when time runs out, or the Elites have completed all three objectives. This game mode is unlike anything I've seen before. It has all the chaos of a Big Team Battle with a hint of Assault and King of the Hill.

As I mentioned in my review of Halo Reach Beta, there are other new game modes like Headhunter and Stockpile. So far the additions have been very enjoyable, and supplement the traditional game modes nicely. The armor abilities, however, are what really distinguish Reach from other Halo's. Being able to sprint, use a jet back, become invisible or invincible, etc. adds a new layer to the tasty gameplay cake. Check out my Beta review for more details about armor abilities.

Rocket Hog FTW!

Do you think I'm done writing about new features? Well guess again buddy. Reach also has a leveling system that unlocks new armor for your Spartan. The system is cumulative, and is very similar to the recent Call of Duty tittles. The unlockables are for functionality and aesthetics. Some pieces will allow you to carry more ammo, health, or grenades.  In addition to armor you can unlock character voices for Firefight, and other surprises that I won't ruin in this review.

Halo: Reach is what fans of Halo: Combat Evolved have been waiting for. A truly new experience that feels more complete then the rehashes of Halo 2, 3, and ODST. Bungie has stepped their game up, and illustrated why they are one of the best FPS developers in the business. Reach has more game modes, features, and options then any other title on the market. Snerts Snazzy Score is a 6 out of 5---yes it's that good! So go ahead and buy yourself a copy. Then say goodbye to all non-gamer friends and family.

Call of Battlefield: Bad Duty 2

Game: Battlefield Bad Company 2

System: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

Release: March 2010



The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! Hide for the hills because the Russians are coming!

Here we go again. A rag tag team of misfits take on a special ops mission that can turn the tide of the Russian Invasion. Along the way they are double crossed (bum bum baaaaa), and some friends are lost (nooooooo not the hippie). In the end, however, they save the day by watching each others back and making the player do all the work. The U.S. General comes out of left field (literally), and tells you "The Russians are coming. Through Alaska." Looks like we'll get another Bad Company game (shockingly disappointed).

The single player experience is pretty much the same as the first game. The characters fulfill their stereotypes. Some cool action occurs. A few areas will kill you over and over again. Nothing too exciting here, but a decent FPS experience.

Multiplayer is the bread and butter for the Battlefield series. There is everything you would expect. A limited number of maps, but each one is gigantic. Vehicles with horrible handling. Sniping and explosions. Oh and a melee systems that is unresponsive. Add to this mix destructible environments and you have a very unique package. There is also a leveling system that is used to unlock new weapons and equipment. Halo and CoD do not have destructible environments, and I believe that is one of the reasons this game has an on-line following.

The Battlefield series has been around for along time. It is known for large maps, vehicles, and sniping. The Bad Company series added destructible environments to the mix. There is a decent on-line following, but don't expect to be in full games on the five maps. The single player is action packed, and contains some humor. It is also boring, filled with cheap deaths, and the plot just keeps getting stupider. I'm not thrilled with the gameplay either. Everything feels clunky. This is yet another game I enjoyed only because I rented it from Gamefly. Snerts Snazzy Score grants Bad Company 2 a 4 out of 5.

Reaching for a New Halo

Game: Halo Reach (MP Beta)

System: Xbox 360

Release: Finished Game is due Nov. 2010.


Halo has stuck to the same formula over four games. Minor adjustments and additions have occurred with each release, but the thirty seconds of fun remains the same. All Halo games consist of the following.

Grenades and melee supplement standard gunfire.
Shields regenerate.
Vehicles a plenty.
Aliens aka Covenant.
Space zombies aka Flood.
Space marines.
Campaign supports co-op, but story is meh.
Multiplayer is fun with a variety of game types.

Recently Bungie and Microsoft launched a beta multiplayer test for Halo: Reach. I have never experienced a Halo like Reach. The controls have been changed for the better. No longer will you have to remove your thumb from the right analog stick to melee. Right bumper is melee. “X” is finally reload/use. Left bumper activates armor abilities—more on that later. “B” changes grenade type, and everything else is unchanged. This minor tweak does wonders for the gameplay, and is a welcomed change to the traditional, and outdated, control scheme. Armor abilities are the most exciting addition to gameplay. Players can select between various load outs before spawning in. This dictates your weapon selection and armor ability. Four different armor abilities exist for Spartans, and two options are given to Elites. The later can utilize invisibility and a handy dodge move. The former is given sprint, armor lock, jet pack, and invisibility. Armor lock temporary makes the Spartan invincible and releases a EMP shock wave. The others are self explanatory. These new moves really spice up the battlefield, and create an extra layer of strategy to an already fantastic franchise. New moves are not the only add on for Halo Reach. Players will get to experience a variety of fresh game modes. Headhunter, for example, puts a new spin on King of the Hill and Deathmatch. Kill an opponent so they drop a skull. Turn the collected skull(s) into the nearest objective point before someone kills you. Stockpile is a capture the flag (CTF) game. Three or more flags spawn across the map. Gather up the flags and return them to your base. Keep the flags in your base until the count down is over. Rinse and repeat.

The most original Halo game type is Invasion. Spartans defend key objectives as Elites attempt to capture said objectives. Three separate zones provides different armor abilities and weapon load outs. Vehicles come into play, and up to twelve players can participate. Fans of Big Team Battles will love this new mode. ODST had me worried that Bungie's day in the sun were over. The Reach Beta has decimated those concerns. New game modes. New abilities. New maps. New weapons and more that I didn't even mention in this post. I am officially excited about Halo Reach, and if your a fan of MP FPS action so should you.