Mythril Ore Tv

Top 5 Most Frustrating NES Moments. #4- Castlevania Medusa Heads

2012-10-25T23:14:00.000-05:00

#4- Castlevania Medusa Heads

If there was any game in the late 80's that took no mercy, it was the original Castlevania. Considered to be one of the best platformers of all time, Castlevania took the players on a journey through the depths of Dracula's castle and pitted you against some of the hardest foes in gaming history. And, if you were tough enough to make it to the end, you faced Dracula himself...possibly one of the hardest bosses in gaming history. It's no doubt that Castlevania was a masterpiece of its time, however, it did have some serious drawbacks. For one, everytime you got hit, you jump backwards, normally into a pit or water. This makes navigating incredibly frustrating since one mess up can send you flying off a ledge to your death. There are also the enemies that you encounter. Most are write offs that'll take about two hits with your whip to kill them. However, there are some that were programmed to piss you off, most notably, the Medusa heads.

I remember when I first saw these monstrosities. They come flying at you, zig-zagging across the screen, and give you little to no time to react. Worst of all, the moment you think you've figured out how to deal with them, the game throws Medusa heads in with other hard enemies, like the knights. So now you're whipping a knight while ducking and jumping over Medusa heads. You think that's enough?

It's not that the Medusa heads are difficult, because like I said, once you figure out their pattern, they're pretty easy. It's just the fact that they fly in the most awkward way, and make it impossible to focus on anything else on the screen. You could be doing just fine in a level, and a group of Medusa heads pop up, and suddenly you're screwed. I can't tell you how many times I've been sent to beginning of the game just because I was knocked off the edge by one of these things. It's left a permanent scar in the back of my mind, and so many others'. Konami, you're a sick bastard.

Thanks for reading, and remember to check back for the last 3...because things are about to get totally radical man. gnarly....whatever. -____-

Top 5 most frustrating NES moments. #5- The Yellow Devil

2012-10-25T16:14:00.000-05:00

Back in the late 80's early 90's gaming wasn't as forgiving as it is now. When you messed up, the game simply laughed at you as your sprite turned into 8-bit dust. However, now with the new console generation, people taking saving for granted. Think of Skyrim for a moment. Sure it's amazing game, but there's no limit to how many times you can save a game. If you mess up, you can just go back to where you saved at the beginning of the dungeon. I'm not saying thats a bad thing, I just think gamers have forgotten just how frustrating it was to get to a certain point in a game, die, and have the glorious game over screen pop up. Game over meant you go ALL the way back to the beginning.

With that being said, I'm going to count down my top 5 most frustrating moments in NES gaming.

#5 The Yellow Devil from Megaman

If you remember fighting this annoying piece of crap, then you probably remember throwing plenty of controllers in frustration. After you beat all of the robot masters in the first Megaman, something magical happens, Dr. Wiley appears and you then get transported to his fortress. When I first saw that, I was so excited. Hours and hours of stress inducing gameplay, all leading up to this moment. It was time to kick Wiley's ass. After battling through the first couple parts of his castle, you enter a room kind of like when you fought the robot masters. Yellow chunks of 8 bit garbage come flying at you and what happens next is about to scarred onto your 6 year old retinas for the rest of your life. The Yellow Devil appears and just immediately starts wrecking you. And then you die.

I dont know what it was that frustrated me so much about this boss? Maybe it was the fact that his pattern was so hard to learn, maybe it was because I always ran out of the Thunder Beam attack, or maybe it's just because this guy is a cheating piece of CRAP. Since the only spot you can hit him is his eye, and you only have one shot before he starts attacking you, you better be able to hit him every time. You really only get one or two mess ups and then its over.

It took me years to beat this guy, but once I did, oh man, it was great. So thank you Capcom, for creating one of the most annoying bosses in all of history.

O_____O

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review

2012-10-24T15:04:00.000-05:00

Alright, if I'm going to review the new XCOM game, let's get some things out of the way first. I am by no means a pc gaming elitist. I love pc gaming, I love strategy games, and I can't stand World of Warcraft. I also never played the original XCOM game. To be honest, I'm not sure a lot of people did, when it first came out at least. Luckily, we live in a day and age where these things are possible. However, it's not 1994 anymore, and this game certainly isn't the first XCOM.

If you did play the original XCOM, you probably remember playing one of the most innovative games of all time. It had a style of gameplay that had yet to be seen, from the spot on battle system, to the excellent story; the first game had it all. Sure it was 2D, isometric graphics, and the sound wasn't all that great, but trying to think of a game that pitted you against almost impossible odds, and made you feel completely helpless like XCOM did....well, there just wasn't one.

It's fair to say that without the original XCOM, there wouldn't be Age of Empires, Warcraft, or any other popular strategy, or RTS game. I realize thats a huge statement to make, but there are certainly some people who argue that. Either way, the original game is amazing.

With that being said, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is one heck of a successor. From start to finish, this game tries its hardest to be like its predecessor, and its does just that. The element of fear and absolute helplessness is there from the very beginning, and as you upgrade your army, that feeling slowly goes away as you are able to face each challenge thrown at you. The game gives you a feeling of accomplishment that not many games have. If you complete a mission, it feels like you did what no one else could have. The idea that you're pitted against impossible odds, just makes victory all the more satisfying.

The gameplay is phenomenal. For a turn based strategy game to come out that is not Civilization, and be commercially successful is amazing. The game allows for four difficuly settings ranging from easy, to impossible. Then there's iron man mode. This setting doesn't allow for voluntary saves, instead using automatic saves and only allowing the player to access the most recent save point, making your decisions in game all the more important. I've learned that ironman mode is the way to play if you want to fully experience all that XCOM has to offer, however, the games "normal" difficulty has a pretty easy learning curve if you're new to this type of gameplay.

The game has basically two parts to it; missions, and headquarters. While you're at HQ you manage the finances, and over-all strategy of the entire XCOM project. The "ant farm" camera view gives you a look into all of the different departments in your headquarters; from barracks, to different science labs, and even the main hall where you meet with the head council. In this part of the game you're able to customize your army, upgrade your base, sell items you find on the battlefield, research new items, and so much more. It literally feels like you're micromanaging an army....which, I guess is good, since that's the goal of this part of the game.

The other part of the game is the what I suppose you could say XCOM really is, and that is the turn based combat. Each mission you go on feels like a love letter to the old XCOM games. There's still the isometric camera angle, it still requires you to know exactly what you're doing, and I think most of all, it requires you understand the game. There are some distinct changes to how battles go, which in no way negatively affect the overall experience. I think the biggest one is that there are no more time units, instead, the player is limited to two moves per person. Normally resulting in a moving phase, and a shooting phase. The "fog of war" element has been limited not only to buildings and around corners, but also to your line of sight, which forces the player to move conservatively around the map, since you'll never know exactly where the aliens are at all times. These, and the other changes they made, in my opinion, only enhance the gameplay. It makes for more intense moments, and again, when you overcome the odds, you feel incredibly accomplished.

Overall, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is really good. The visuals are top notch, the gameplay is addicting, and like I said before, it's basically a love letter to the older games. The Iron man mode seriously amps up the game, and if you're looking for a real challenge, then you need to play this mode. It makes you feel so attached to your army, and when one of them dies, its seriously tragic, because you know there's no way you can get them back. That's a good theme to tie to this game: attachment. Whether you're in HQ, or on the battlefield, everything you succeed at and fail it is because of your choices and actions. So when a mission goes horribly awry, the only thing you can blame it on, is your choices.

9.5/10

Retro City Rampage review

2012-10-20T01:06:00.000-05:00

If you know me at all, you know that my love for the NES and all things 80's and 90's will never die. I have nostalgia running through my veins. With that being said, once I heard about a little indie developer from Canada called VBLANK, and their game Retro City Rampage, I was immediately on board. The gameplay, the music, the whole concept of a top down shooter GTA style sounded amazing. Retro City Rampage was in development for what seemed like a lifetime and was hyped as much as possible. Let's get straight to it though, Retro City Rampage is amazing. The 8-bit visuals are instantly satisfying, and trying to count all of the references throughout the game is a ton of fun. With that being said, does it live up to all of the hype? Honestly, I don't think it does. If that's the case, then why is it so good?

This game, as I stated before, is just absolute nostalgic satisfaction. It has a certain appeal to it that old school gamers will immediately fall in love with. You assume the role of the ambiguously named character, "Player", who is trying to make a name for himself in the crime business when he accidentally stumbles upon a time machine that takes him back to the 80's. The point of the game is navigate Player through different missions that will eventually help him repair the time machine, and bring him back to the future (pun intended). That's just how this game is. There is so many puns, and references to new and old movies that it will seriously take multiple playthroughs just to catch them all. So yeah, that's the basic outline of the game. You can select between two types of missions at any point in the game; one's that will advance the storyline, or side missions that will gain you access to new types of weapons and stores. If you're like me however, you can find enough pleasure just running around the city, shooting civilians, hijacking the turtle van (oh yeah, TMNT references are all over this game), or just chilling in the in game arcade, where they have multiple other games to choose from, straight 80's style. Either way you play it, if you want to access new content, you're going to have to complete missions. Everything you unlock in the main storyline carries over to the free-roam gameplay and the challenge missions.

The game controls next to perfect. There is a cover system in the game, that, at first seems out of place, but soon after becomes almost second nature in high tense battles. Shooting feels precise, and easy to aim. This is done by the auto-lock mechanism, which is welcome feature of the game since there are so many times you will be horribly outnumbered. Hijacking cars, stealing weapons, robbing stores, and everything in between is absolute bliss.

Now that I've praised the crap out this game, you might be asking then, why doesn't it live up to it's hype? Let me answer that question with a question. "How long can you play a game before it becomes monotonous?" In Retro City Rampage's case, not very long. The game was hyped up to be this incredible open world shooter, which, it mostly is. However, it fails to keep the player entertained. Each mission will feel just about the same, and take little to no time to complete. Not every mission succumbs to this problem, but enough do to lose the player's interest gradually over time. The weapons are also kind of a letdown. Sure, you can use the NES light gun, Link's boomerang, and the proton pack from Ghost Busters, but other than that, a lot of the weapons are just generic. Most of the game is played using a pistol, machine gun, or rocket launcher. For a game that claims to be a parody of basically everything, I was expecting a lot more options. There are so many memorable weapons from the NES era, but I guess a basic pistol works too.

None of the flaws that I mentioned make this a bad game however, it simply means that I don't think it truly lived up to its potential, and with games like Abobo's Big Adventure, which a free flash game that attempts the same thing Retro City Rampage did, I'd say its a little lacking for the price point. I was more than happy to pay $15 for this, but I can understand why people might be a little upset that the game isn't necessarily all it lived up to be. If you're looking for a really good GTA throwback game, that parodies everything in existence, and of course, don't mind paying the $15, I'd say this game is for you. However, if you're looking for some hardcore gameplay, and extensive missions, you might want to avoid it. Then again, why would you be downloading this game in the first place then?

In conclusion, Retro City Rampage is a great game, great concept, and awesome execution. It lacks in depth, and extensive gameplay, but makes up for all of that with its wonderful nostalgic charm. For that, I'm giving Retro City Rampage an
8/10

groovy.

Assassin's Creed 3: thoughts, anticipations, and over-all hypy crap.

2012-10-18T02:55:00.000-05:00

I'm a reasonable man. I try to eat a healthy diet. I pay my bills. I bathe. All of that however has little to no merit when it comes to the excitement I have for this game. Assassin's Creed 3 is honestly the game I've been looking forward to the most this year. Just the idea of a game the likes of Assassin's Creed taking place in Colonial America during the revolutionary war has me salivating at the mere mention of it, and then add on the announcement of the "Let's kill George Washington" DLC. BOOM.

It's weird though, because I was never really into any of the other games. The first Assassin's Creed was pretty big for it's time, but got old really quick. The gameplay was a little choppy, and I've always thought that it was just a little ahead of its time. Assassin's Creed 2 was a lot better, added a ton of story, but still, it was pretty bland to me. Honestly, the Brotherhood and Revelations games were what got me into the lore of this game. It made me care who the heck Ezio and Altair were, why they were so important, what the Assassin's-Templar war was all about, and just what the hell was actually going on.

So what exactly am I so excited about in the newest game, other than the storyline?

Think of it this way. Assassin's Creed 3, to me, is the apex of the series, thus far. It's taken everything from the first two games, gave a nice sanding, a little polish, throws some spinners on the wheels, and pimped the heck out of that ride. (Yeah, I went there.)

The gameplay doesn't look like a mess. Instead, it looks fluid, like the main character (Connor) is floating around the environment, getting rid of the slow, dull moments from the first two installments. The open environment can be interacted with, stealth actually looks stealthy, and the overall experience looks amped up.

This of course doesn't mean that I think the other games are complete garbage, because, they are in their own rights, revolutionary games. I just feel that Assassin's Creed 3 is everything that the older games wanted to be. As I mentioned before, Assassin's Creed was way ahead of its time when it first came out in 2007.

Basically, this game looks amazing and I'll be buying it when it comes out at the end of this month, and so should you.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I'm back....for good.

2012-10-18T01:48:00.001-05:00

Hey there folks, or those of you choose to read this. Well, I'm back, for real this time. Its been a long time running with figuring out exactly what I want this whole journalism aspect of my life to be, and exactly what I want it to look like; but I think I'm at a good point now. Let me elaborate.

I love video games, if you couldn't tell hence why all the videos on this blog are of video games. I also really enjoy food. I'm currently going to school for culinary management, so yeah, I know a thing or two about the restaurant business. This was the format I was planning on following about a year ago. I would release a video game reviews and food reviews, and write articles about news and recent happenings in the worlds of each. However, my computer broke. All of the writers at heart know, that once your ability to type goes away, things kind of cease to exist. Along with my computer breaking, I lost all of my footage. We're talking well over 100 gigs of just video footage. Gone. You can understand why I might be a little devastated. By no coincidence however, I met my now good friend, Jamie Burd. Who just happens to be a video reviewer himself. Well, we got to talking, and he told me his plans for his website, Team Media Whore, that is about to drop next month (hopefully). Basically, we talked about our goals, and found out that we pretty much want the same thing. A hub for nerds of all types to be able to congregate, talk, post on forums, be a part of the content, and even post their own content. It was all I ever wanted Mythril Ore TV to be. So, I got to writing. A lot.

This is where we are now. Me posting, once again, on my scatter-brained blog about non-sense. For those of you who are stumbling upon this and find yourselves reading, I urge you, subscribe to the youtube channel, follow this page, because things are about to start, and Jamie and I want everyone to be excited for it!

So, here's what next month is looking like, as far as content goes. For anyone who is interested.

November Schedule:
All Games Are Go #5
The UP-dater: Wii U, Pokemon Black & White 2
Orecast #1

Thank you so much for those of you who watched my videos and have stuck with all of this nonsense.
Love,

Corey.

Mythril Ore TV videos http://www.youtube.com/user/ohhaiCorey
Team Media Whore videos http://www.youtube.com/user/poop24

2012-10-18T01:22:00.003-05:00

This game...whoa man was it bad. But just how bad was it? Watch, as we take a step into my childhood and relive some of the worst basketball related video games ever.

All Games Are Go V-Cast: pilot episode!

2011-10-10T06:02:00.000-05:00

This is the pilot episode to our podcast series. We just basically did this to work out all the kinks in series that is going to be called The Ore Cast.

RPG Theater Presents: Final Fantasy X

2011-05-27T18:23:00.000-05:00

This is my review of the ending to Final Fantasy X. Enjoy :)
...and yes, I know this is not the full ending lol. Thats because its a review. haha

2:19 am.

2011-05-27T02:26:00.001-05:00

I dont think I have fallen asleep before 3 am at all this week? sigh.
I've had some pretty weird stuff happen to me, but I suppose I'll just get over it? I've just kinda learned that relationships are kinda pointless....oh well?

The whole point of this is post is to announce a new series I'm doing called RPG Theater. I've just always been interested in the ending videos and cutscenes that most rpg's have...and thought I would take a comedic approach to some the more well known ones. Because, lets face it, they do tend to get a little ridiculous.

So yeah, just finished the first script tonight. :)

All Games Are Go #3: Dot Hack Infection

2011-05-19T03:23:00.001-05:00

Well, finals are finally over, so I can finally get a chance to finalize my latest video....finally. Check it out and see if Dot Hack Infection for the Playstation 2 is worth picking up or not? :)

How many times do I have to re-render this friggan video?!

2011-05-19T01:01:00.000-05:00

So it's 1 am, I'm drinking Sunny D, and I finally finished my 3rd video review. It seems like its been such a long time since I started doing this. (It's only been a month)....but yeah. I just finished finals and thank God I passed all of my classes. Though, I've realized somethings over this semester.

1) People aren't who they think they are

2) I'm not who I think I am

3) no matter what you do, you cannot make peas taste good (Culinary School joke)

4) I have gall bladder problems apparently?

5) Facebook is annoying.

But out of all those things, and all the stupid drama that has gone on in the past months, I've found peace in so many things. God, music, family, and etc. So yeah, these videos are just a way of me being chill...in a rather stressful life. They're not perfect, by any means, but they're something I started, and finished. And to me, that's pretty baller. :)

But yeah...sometimes I ramble? I'm going to try and start doing podcasts and some movie reviews. We'll see?

All Games Are Go #2: Pokemon Black and White

2011-04-17T15:52:00.002-05:00

All Games Are Go episode 2. With destructive battles, international crime factions, and heart wrenching drama...this Pokemon game is sure to be a classic!

VLog: Monday Night Raw Review

2011-04-17T15:48:00.000-05:00

My very first wrestling review. :p

All Games Are Go #1: Dyansty Warriors

2011-04-17T15:46:00.000-05:00

Super! Meat! BOOOYYYYY!!!!!

2010-12-12T14:44:00.000-06:00

Super Meat Boy is the one of the best platformers of all time. There, I said it. It competes with some of the top names, such as: Megaman, Super Mario Bros., Sonic The Hedgehog, and so many more. Originally developed for a website called, Newgrounds.com, Meat Boy became an instant internet classic. It was widely received as a flash game, and is one of the top downloads for the Xbox Live Arcade. I mean, what’s there not to like about a little square piece of meat that jumps around to different platforms? Super Meat Boy focuses on the protagonist, Meat Boy, and his endless quest to save Bandage Girl (Who is essentially just a pink square with a ribbon on her head). Every time Meat Boy reaches Bandage Girl, she is taken away by Dr. Fetus, the villain. And well, nobody likes Dr. Fetus, which is why Dr. Fetus HATES YOU!

So there you go, a simple plot, for a not so simple game. Super Meat Boy, while it looks fun, is really, really, REALLY hard. This game takes some seriously patience, precision jumps, and near perfect timing to beat. But each time you clear a level, after hours of trying to beat it, you feel just enough satisfaction to pull you into the next level. One of the main parts of Super Meat Boy is mastering the wall jump. If you’ve ever played any old school platformers, you know what I’m talking about. At first it seems pretty difficult to get the hang of, but soon you’ll be bouncing off walls and all over the stage. Although this concept can take some getting used to, especially if you’re new to platform games, it get’s addicting really fast.

I would seriously recommend this game to anyone who wants a challenge. Like I said, it’s hard, but rewarding at the same time. Nothing feels better than beating a stage you’ve worked so hard on. Not to mention, the game is just down right hilarious. Meat Boy is awesome, the cut scenes are funny and well worth the wait, and seeing the little trail of blood Meat Boy leaves behind him when he runs, is surprisingly cute. If you’ve got some extra money, and some time to kill, you should definitely pick up this little treasure of a game.

And no….I haven’t beaten it yet…..sigh.

Final Fantasy X...X=10...wait, what?

2010-12-06T03:13:00.000-06:00

I’ve talked about this game, and my disgust for it, with plenty of people; so I feel its only necessary to review this disaster of a game so I can finally say, “it’s done”. The game I’m speaking of is none other than, Final Fantasy X. In my humble opinion, this is one of the worst games in the series. And you would think, well maybe its so bad its funny? No…it’s so bad, its pathetic. This would be the very first of the series to incorporate voice actors, and believe me, it sure sounds like it’s the first time. The voice acting is horrendous. I mean, not as bas as some games, but it’s still up there. The storyline is predictable, the characters are transparent, and the all around feel to the game is pretty boring.
The story of Final Fantasy X focuses on a boy named Titus, and a girl named Yuna. Titus, the main character, was taken from his home in Zanarkand when Sin attacks and throws Titus forward in time. Why you ask? Well, just to screw with him of course. The story then takes off as Titus meets different people on his journey back home. Such as: Yuna, a summoner and white mage, Lulu the black mage, Waka, the most annoying character of them all, Kimari, a useless Chewbacca look-a-like, and Auron, the old guy. As the story progresses, you learn that Yuna has to visit all of the temples across the land, and perform certain tasks in them in order to become a summoner. Of course, shenanigans ensue, and villains arise, but the plot remains the same- Escort Yuna all over the world, to each temple, and then end up at Zanarkand, which is Titus’ home. How predictable! And to think, I just saved you hours of your life that might have been wasted if you played this game. You see why the storyline is boring? I found that the game follows a simple formula: cutscene, Sin attacks, cutscene, go to temple. And believe it or not, but the game mostly sticks to that formula. Amazing isn’t it?
Now, when we talk about Final Fantasy games, it’s expected for one to suspend their disbelief. As in, to except something for what it is, rather than what it should be, mainly things out of this world. This is the case for most fantasy and sci-fi pieces of media. Which, I’m fine with that. I understand why we do it, and suspending one’s disbelief makes the story all the more exciting. Until I played this game. Final Fantasy X’s storyline wants you to take all knowledge of physics, natural behaviors, and biology of the human body, and throw it out the window. But for what reason? Well, the answer is simple my friend….Blitzball. That’s right, because when I think of Final Fantasy, I think of sports. But yes, this is it. This is one of the prime reasons for the downfall of this game. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about. Blitzball is a game within the Final Fantasy X story, in which players dive into a giant sphere of water that materializes out of nowhere (I‘m serious), and then they proceed to play a variation of water polo underwater. That’s right…they throw a ball…underwater. I don’t care how strong you are, you cannot throw anything, let alone a ball, underwater. It doesn’t stop there. The players then proceed to hold they’re breath for the ENTIRE game! ‘Nuff said. I mean, this thing is a mess. And I know you’re thinking, “Well, it’s just a small part of the game.” but no…Blitzball is like, the main part of the first half of the game’s storyline. So yeah, I hope you’re ready to play Final Fantasy X, where you have hours of action packed conflicts of made up sports. Wooooo! And as if watching the stupid cut scenes to this crap wasn’t enough; later in the game, you actually have to play a game of Blitzball. Like…it’s mandatory. Why waste our time?! Wouldn’t you rather be out killing monsters? Or collecting items? Or listening to terrible voice overs? Anything but this! But no, the game makes you play Blitzball, because some game developer at Square Enix thought it would be funny to piss everyone off.
If the Blitzball chaos wasn’t enough for you, the game then sprinkles on the horrible puzzles that are in each temple Yuna visits. This is where the game really starts to fail. Hard. Each temple is made up of different pathways you have to take in order to get to the main room where Yuna is at. In order to get there, you have to find different orbs, and put them in holes in the walls, and connect the energy they produce to create different reactions to help you through the puzzle. Sometimes the orbs blow huge holes in the walls, sometimes they’ll open doors, and other times they move things out of your way. These temple puzzles have to be the worst part of the game, hands down. They are so monotonous and un-imaginative, that it’ll have you praying for more Blitzball insanity. And sometimes these things can take up to an hour to figure out! That means an hour of finding orbs, putting them in holes, taking them out of holes…and so on, and so forth. And may God have mercy upon your soul once you make it to the Bevelle Temple. It’s the most sadistic, twisted, disgusting puzzle in all of RPG history. All I can say, is good luck. The Temple process, as a whole, takes up about half of the game. Which is sad. Puzzles should never take up that much of a game’s storyline. I mean, there’s so much else that Square Enix could’ve used that space for.
All in all, Final Fantasy X was widely received, and even spawned a sequel. A sequel that has become known as an unholy abomination across the gaming community, and must never be spoke of….ever. This game, like I said, is boring. It’s slow paced, hard to figure out, and is very unrewarding. However, this game does have quite a following, with hundreds of fan boys and fan girls all over the world, writing fan fictions, cosplaying, and dreaming about Titus and Yuna’s relationship in the game. So….yeah. If one thing can be taken from this game, it’s that it made innocent pre-teens into crazy, internet stalkers. Good job Square Enix! (siiiggghhhhh)

Call of Duty FTW!

2010-11-19T00:15:00.001-06:00

Well, I finally did it, I played Call of Duty: The Black Ops. And once again, Activision has made me eat my words. Whenever there is a new Medal of Honor game, or Call of Duty game released, I always think to myself, “It’s just going to be the same as last time.” Which, in most cases for Medal of Honor, it is (or was). This time however, I was completely wrong. This game, simply put, is incredible. From the storyline, to the massive multiplayer experience, its all there.

The campaign mode, to be honest, was what caught me. It’s a really solid storyline that really captures of being part of the Black Ops, and the toll it takes on a humans mental and physical state. Given, I’ve never been in any of those situations, but coming from the audiences point of view, this game does an incredible job! You play as the character Mason (I don’t remember his last name, or if they tell you it?) and the game starts out in some sort of holding cell, where Mason is being questioned about his different missions. You play through each one of his flashbacks and bit by bit Mason’s story comes to life. There is never a dull moment, and the cut scenes are among the best I’ve seen in recent video games. For me, the campaign mode is what sells the game. I know I know, there’s the commercial with Kobe Bryant and other celebrities playing the game online, but the base of the game and its credibility lies within its story, in my opinion.

Now, I’ve never been a FPS (first person shooter) kind of guy, just cause it gets boring really fast for me. Especially nowadays when all multiplayer is online. Whatever happened to the good ol’ days of getting your friends together and playing video games together. Call me old, but I miss the 007 Golden Eye era of games. Call of Duty is no exception to this. It suffers from a really thinned out online multiplayer experience. Not unless you’re an intense FPS gamer with 400 followers on your Twitter that all play Call of Duty, and a have a headset glued to your face….it can be hard to actually get into it. However, it is really organized, so that’s a plus. You can customize your weapons, armor, and abilities to a pretty good detail, and the levels are well designed. I’m not saying that the multiplayer is bad, I’m just saying that its lacking in excitement. But, if you’re an FPS type of gamer, then I’m sure you’ll love it. But for me and all of the other people who enjoy adventure and platformer games, I wouldn’t recommend it.

That’s all I have to say about Call of Duty: Black Ops. It’s a good game with a really solid storyline and an online multiplayer set up that will make any FPS gamer salivate with excitement. Now, I know I left one part of the game out, and no…I didn’t play a lot of the Zombie mode. Only because I didn’t really feel like there was a whole lot to it. All you do is kill Nazi Zombies, right there your brain should automatically say “YES!”. So yeah, Call of Duty once again amazes me. Good show Activision…good show.

~The Last Star Left

Avatar....uhhhh, what?

2010-11-18T18:39:00.001-06:00

The movie Avatar, while being a cool concept and all, just rubs me the wrong way. I mean, the movie is almost completely made with CG effects....to a laughable degree. It straight up looks like a cartoon. If it weren't for the live actors, I would consider this to be an animated movie. I can't just put the blame on this movie though. It seems like all movies nowadays use CG to create backgrounds and scenery. Not like the old days where they had to literally build everything they wanted to use in the movie. That's why I praised the original Star Wars Trilogy so much. Everything you saw in that movie (except for the space battles) was either live or built for the movie. That's really impressive! To think that someone had to build a life size model of the X-Wing is incredible. So yeah, when I saw Avatar, I was completely thrown off/ put off by the over-bearing amount of CG effects. It was terrible!

It wasn't just the effects that bothered me. The whole idea and landscape of Pandora is just confusing. Someone please explain to me why there are floating mountains?! What is the point of that? You know? It's like James Cameron decided that since this was an alien planet, that it had to look as bizarre and out of the ordinary as possible. Except, when you do that, you find yourself in a rut of creating a pointless landscape that makes no geographical sense. I don't care if its an alien planet or not, you can't have floating mountains with waterfalls and large amounts of foliage. It just doesn't happen. And what was with the six legged horse things? Why were those necessary? Again, it defaults to the "everything has to be strange" concept that happens in most Sci-Fi movies. Again Star Wars is a perfect example. George Lucas and Jim Henson created species that were different, but had meaningful characteristics to them. The Calamari, or fish people, looked like fish because their planet is completely covered by water. But a six legged horse? What is the point of the extra two legs? I mean, really now.

The storyline was bland and predictable, the characters were lifeless, except for the main Navi girl....whom I can't remember her name, and everything seemed like it was trying too hard. When in reality, you don't need to try hard with the Sci-Fi genre. As long as you have compelling characters and reasonable amount of strangeness to it, everything works out. But, to me, Avatar was the exact opposite. The characters weren't compelling, because they gave me no reason to care about them. And the whole "fantastical" scenery just reminded me of a video game....and that's not a good thing. When your movie resembles a PC game, you might want to rethink your approach.

Well those were my thoughts on Avatar. Thanks again for your support. :)

Starcraft 2

2010-11-18T18:37:00.000-06:00

Blizzard entertainment has created and produced some of the best pc games of all time. The Warcraft series, Diablo, WoW, and of course, who could forget, the Starcraft universe. Starcraft was at one time, a basic RTS (real time strategy) that resembled any other in that genre of games. You collect materials, raise an army, and expand your territory. Pretty simple. The game wasn't too far from the Age of Empires series, in gameplay, and is often compared to it as the Sci-Fi alternative. Then, Blizzard released Starcraft: Brood War, the expansion of the original, which gave the player more maps to choose from, and a bunch of other new material. However, the game still had the choppy, Age of Empires feel to it. There was announced that there was going to be a next installment, Starcraft 2, and when we heard about, we FREAKED out! I remember constantly checking the internet and Blizzards website to see when it was coming out....but it never happened. Not until ten years later would we hear about a possible release date. Really? You thank that's enough?!? Finally 2009's E3 rolled around and we saw what was possibly the greatest video of our lives, the Starcraft 2 trailer. Better than that, they finally gave us a release date. Just one more year, just one more year....just one more year.

Well summer 2010 came and so did Starcraft 2. After waiting eleven horrible years, it finally came....and it was worth the wait. I mean, wow...if there was ever a game that completely did a 180 in the right direction, it was this game. They changed everything that sucked about the last one and made Starcraft 2, possibly the PC game to date. The graphics were drastically upgraded, the battles actually looked epic, and the story....oh my goodness, it's so much better. Not to mention the controls and all around development of the second installment just makes this game truly astounding to witness. The best way to describe it is, "Starcraft 2.0" because it literally took the series, and made it epic. Maybe the best part though, or at least my favorite part, is that the whole game is based around an online community of players. So, this enables Blizzard to upgrade the game at any given time, giving the player endless possibilities. But enough about that, let's actually talk about the game itself.

Starcraft 2's gameplay is unlike any other RTS game at this time. The game allows you to choose from single player campaign mode, single player or co-op battle mode, or the famous PVP modes. In a sense, you get to experience the game in so many different ways, that its hard to bored of it. The campaign mode is so intense, that it'll literally keep you occupied for hours at the time. You play as the Terran (human) army, and as Jim Raynor, a character that was previously introduced in the first game. You play through his experiences battling the Protoss and Zerg armies, and it also teaches you some vital tactics that you'll need to know in order to become a Starcraft Legend. Maybe this game is such a shocker to me because I haven't played a new RTS game in a while. I've always just stuck to old school Age of Empires and Command and Conquer. But it's like this game is on a whole other level. Like, I don't think that if they made a new Age of Empires of Command and Conquer game, that it would come anywhere close to the level Starcraft 2 is at. It's amazing. I know I'm talking this game up a lot, but that's only because it's incredible in all aspects. You really have to play the game to realize the true amazingness of epic proportions this game has. That's really all I can say about how the game plays. It's controls are really easy to get a hang of, it has that extra lean that players like to have when playing an RTS, and you always feel in control of your army. Never once did I feel like the game was cheating me out of a victory due to poor game design. It's just you and your army....and that's how it should be.

While there are an over-whelming amount of positive things about this game, there are some negatives (but just barely). As in...why is it necessary to put the use of achievements in this game? I understand that they're there for unlocking other material, but I'm just not really sure if there are any other uses for them?...and if that's true, that's really sad. If anyone who's reading this knows the answer to that question, please let me know! But, I think the downfall that all of us (who have played the game) have experienced is, the system requirements. Something has to be said about this. I realize that it's a true testament to a developer's abilities to create a game so technologically advanced as this game is, but it's a real pain sometimes. First off, if you're running PC, the friggan MINIMUM required amount of GHz (processor speed) is 2.4. That is ridiculous for game standards. And the recommended is 2.6. There's creating a good, graphically sound game, and then there's creating a system monster...Starcraft 2 is the monster. I can't even imagine the amount of trouble someone has to go through if you're sporting a MAC. Sheesh. I think we get the point Blizzard....don't buy your games unless you REALLY REALLY want to play them. I know it seems like a small issue to be discussing, but it really becomes a problem. When you're in the middle of a game and your computer decides to take a breather for a second and the game crashes....it can be really frustrating. My computer has all of the system requirements, everything is up to par to Blizzards insane demands to play their game.....but it still runs on just medium. Maybe its because I'm using a laptop? Maybe my internet isn't good enough? I dont know? What do you want Blizzard?!?! I mean, I'm not going to make a ceremonial sacrifice if that's what you're asking for....it's just not going to happen. I'm not that kind of guy.

All in all, Starcraft 2 is an amazing game. It's something that no fan of the series should miss. I'm not really sure how to explain the in-game experience other than it's awe inspiring....to say the least. Even though I mentioned the insane requirements as a flaw, it barely comes into play...unless you have a horribly out of date computer. Running the game on low is just as satisfying as running it on high settings, and that tells you something about a game. I highly recommend this game to anyone, whether you're new to RTS games, or you're a tactical mastermind behind the keyboard, this game is for everyone. Thanks for reading and for the support....have a great night!

~ The LastStarLeft