Game Reviews: ACTIVATE!

Internet's back, moved into new house; BLOG POST TIME.

Okay, yes, I said I would review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. And maybe I will, yes, maybe I will. But I honestly can't be assed doing a whole damn review... it... it takes too long... and it's not worth it... so instead I'll just wrap up my opinions of a few games in quick sentences. Let's say... all the games that I have icons to on my desktop.

Modern Warfare 2
It's like Call of Duty 4, only, shorter, and more... crazier. It's fun, sure, but the campaign is too short and the online PC Matchmaking is kind of dire. Luckily it has a freakin' sweet co-op missions mode called Special Ops that is pure fun. Oh, and funny achievement names, like "Soap on a Rope". Worth the AUS$99 RRP value-wise, but I'd also try and go cheaper. Like, $20 cheaper.
7.8 out of 10

Left 4 Dead 2 Versus/Scavenge/Survival
I haven't played Survival yet. I'm assuming it's the same as in Left 4 Dead 1. Versus is hell-as cool. The new Special Infected are a joy to play as, especially the Jockey - a good Jockey, combined with an awful survivor team, can separate and kill a survivor from the flock, recharge its leap, then go back for the rest. And the new Infected teamwork tactics - combining, say, a Spitter's goo with a Smoker, dragging a survivor through a patch of acid, or pinning a survivor as a Charger then covering them with Boomer bile - is both grin-inducing, and keyboard-smashingly annoying (if you're with the survivors).

9 out of 10

Halo 2 for Windows Vista

It's Halo 2. Only, y'know... for Windows Vista. It's exactly the same as it was on Xbox, only... lags more thanks to Games for Windows Live's awful matchmaking system that seems to only pair you with the American server with the highest latency. Luckily however, and unlike Modern Warfare 2, there is dedicated server and server browser support. The game itself is classic Halo 2, so no real complaints can be made. It's a worthy port I suppose, but why Windows Vista? Surely this could run on XP? It's not like it's DirectX 10-only or whatever... but y'know, fine, whatever you say Microsoft. If you think it'll ship more Vista units (which it won't) do whatever you want, I say. It's your money. It's your marketing department. Have fun with that.

7 out of 10

Team Fortress 2

The perfect online multiplayer shooter ever, and featuring some of the most inventive and iconic imagery and mechanics in PC gaming of all time. Play it immediatly. (Note: the contents of this semi-review may be biased towards TF2.)

10 out of 10

There's A Last Time for Everything

There is, of course, a last time for everything. The last time living life as a 16-year-old. The last time using such cheesy blog posts titles as "There's a Last Time for Everything" (incidentally, right about now.) And a last time sleeping under the roof you've slept under for well over 6 years. That's right - tomorrow, me and my family are moving house!



That's what it looks like. Like a house. The best thing about this house, is that me and my bro will get a frankly massive upstairs living area, all to ourselves. We get 2 large rooms each, and an awesome loungeroom-type living space - to top it all off, we get to keep our dad's 42'' inch plasma and Nintendo Wii console in that loungeroom. Yes, once we have our new areas fully functional it will be epic.

This is also my last blog post for... well, a time I'm not entirely sure of. I may not have Internet access for a few weeks. Or, I may have Internet tomorrow evening. Regardless, I guess it's polite for me to fill you in on what else I did today. I spent $139 on this keyboard, this mouse, and this mousepad, and considering at the moment I'm using cash-register grade IBM keyboard and mouse, swapping them in for gaming grade peripherals is one of the smartest choices in computer upgrades I've ever made. Couple this with a new case, and a new cooler I plan on buying, by Christmas my computer will be a force to be reckoned with - overclocked like a pro's, and with super-shiny peripherals to boot. Ah yes... I'm one cool nerd.

Hat Unlock!

Guess who unlocked the tophat and monocle?



That's right, Andy did.

Left 4 Dead 2, Singleplayer/Campaign/Realism Review

Andy reviews the Singleplayer, Campaign, and Realism modes of his most awaited media piece of the year, Valve's outstanding co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2.



It's crazy, isn't it? This blog is not a videogame review blog, not by any stretch of the imagination. Yet myself being a game-playing, well, maniac, there's the one time of the year the lackluster mid-year releases die down and all the pre-Christmas titles start flooding website ad spaces and gaming magazine covers: November. Yes, it's this merry month when all the games we heard about six months ago, are being released to the world to enjoy, and the semi-casual, semi-serious PC gamers like me go absolutely nuts.

So, to begin the gestalt of seemingly endless game reviews, is that game I won't shut up about - Left 4 Dead 2. Basically you already know what it is if you've read my review of the demo and whatnot - it's a game where you shoot zombies, shoot zombies a bit more, then shoot different kind of zombies - while all the while, zombies are, well, trying to kill the fuck out of you. You play as one of 4 survivors, each of whom has wonderful character (even Rochelle... occasionally). From the fat, ever-hungry, ever-awesome Coach, to Nick, a gambler and conman who hates everybody and seems to hate his new "friends" even more, below his grim panic-stricken façade. However, the surprising favourite is Ellis; a Southern mechanic with a (to non-US residents) hilarious accent and the best stories. "The name's Ellis, though some people call me Ell. I don't like Ell, though, it sounds like a girl's name, but you can call me Ell if you like." Fantastic.



Singleplayer
I've decided to review only the game modes I've play extensively enough so far. A Versus/Survival/Scavenge review will come later, probably after I've played through Modern Warfare 2. To start, singleplayer - the shite, "look at me I have no friends" alternative to the Campaign. Though this is probably subjective - after all, some people have lots of friends, they just don't have an Internet connection. Well, really. If you don't have an Internet connection you can't play the game on PC, anyway, so you must be playing it on Xbox 360. And if you're playing it on Xbox 360 offline, at the least you can play local or splitscreen. So don't dare tell me you're playing singleplayer for any reason other than you just can't find friends to play with. You friendless loser. Long story short: avoid singleplayer unless you really must. The teammate AI can aim well but besides that, they're honestly the dumbest shits ever. Really.

Campaign/Realism (4-player Co-op)
Here we have the meat of the game, the fantastic 4-player co-op campaign mode. Now I can actually review the game instead of telling you don't play the singleplayer whatever you do. It goes like this: you, and 3 other players (those you know or otherwise) start off at the start of the level with no weapons but pistols. Available to you immediately, healthkits (which you use to revive health), pain pills (which is like healing but wears slowly off over time), and either more pistols (which you can duel-wield) or a carnage-creating melee weapon, depending on your preference. Melee weapons take up your pistol slot, so you have to pick and choose whether you'd rather fall back on a pistol with infinite ammo, or an axe or baseball bat that chops zombies to little tiny bloody squares.

In the original Left 4 Dead, in all campaigns you had access to a primary weapon, either a shotgun or an automatic Uzi, at the commencement of the campaign. This is not so in all levels of Left 4 Dead 2 - in two of the five campaigns, at start the crew only has access to pistols and melee weapons. Which creates some frankly dynamic pacing exercises. Since weapon placements throughout the map are only doled out by the ever-changing AI Director, it's the realisation at the start of a level that you'll either be using pistols or melees for a time unknown to you that gets the heart pumping, and the adrenaline building. You get halfway the level, you're bogged down by zombies and the team only has short-range weapons, a Smoker or a Boomer from a distance is nigh-on impossible to hit flawlessly (Boomers especially.) It's intense, more intense than the original ever was, and that's a complement to the work Valve has put in to making sure this game succeeds where the other, not failed... just didn't show up at all.

Apart from the changes to level design and pacing, new toys to play with and new Special Infected to kill (or be killed by) aplenty. As well as pain pills, you can pick up handy Adrenaline Shots which boost your speed and health for a short time. They're hell-as fun to use - the sound gets muffled slightly and Infected brush off you as you run around like a Scout on Bonk! shooting your auto-shotgun twice as fast as usual in the faces of all those around you. This, as well as throwable Boomer Bile jars (CEDA approved! :D) and life-saving Defibrillator units are welcome and game-changing additions that don't say much on paper, but in practise really add to the depth of managing items and weighing up the pros and cons of your current loadout.

The new Special Infected are crazy as ever also change the tactics of the game radically. The Charger, the Spitter, and the Jockey are the new undead kids on the block and they're all insane - especially the Charger, who, on the higher difficulties, can very often wipe you out as easily as a Tank can, if your team is unaware enough. Jockeys too have proven to be team-separating bastards, and cohesive teamwork becomes a life-or-death decision when you hear a Jockey's mocking laughter from somewhere behind the bushes. The game's locales are all utterly gripping to look at - even the murky Swamp campaign, which looks kind of boring (until the very very VERY cool finale), has a nice flair to it - be that a change in the time of day, a change in map disposition, or just a nice scripted Ellis line to accompany the madness. Ah yes, Left 4 Dead 2's campaign mode is a beast of a game and a damn fine journey. It even has a slight plot. Not meaty, not narrative-driven, but a plot nonetheless. You'll come to hate CEDA by the end of it, let me assure you.



One last thing. If I had to choose my favourite element of the game, it would be the set-pieces. From wading through a sea of alarmed cars to dashing through a firey building with smoke obstructing your vision, to climbing around a wooden roller-coaster (urge to say "wee!"... rising...), they define this game. But if I had to pick my favourite set-piece in the entire game, it's the entire Hard Rain campaign. Yeah, I'd call it a set-piece.

You start off in a small town. You fight your way through crops, as the weather above starts to swirl and worsen, and a sugar mill, until you get the fuel you need, and start to head back. It's late by then, and the weather is... well... hellish. This is where the game shines - the weather effects. The goddamn son of a bitch weather effects. With the sound of the lightning and wind literally BOOMING through the speakers, visibility low-to-none, and rain lashing down on the Infected and uninfected alike, it's a massive storm. A massive, massive, kickass storm, rendered unbelievably well and... I won't ruin it. It's my favourite part of the game, the Hard Rain campaign, and in my opinion worth the price of admission alone (US$50 is you're wondering). And that's Left 4 Dead 2 so far... see you in the Versus/Survival/Scavenge review.

ANDY SCORE
8.7/10

Nearly the perfect apocalypse, but let down by some annoying level design and a singelplayer mode that must be avoided at all costs unless necessary.

Kevin Rudd CAN CHANGE

Kevin Rudd CAN CHANGE from Andy Deavin on Vimeo.

I'm really quite sad that I had to use Vimeo to upload this video. I mean, no offence to Vimeo. It's quite a good site. But YouTube's community aspect is what makes me upload videos to "the Tube", and Vimeo's is kind of limited to making comments. But the song "I Can Change" was claimed by Warner Music Publishing on YouTube, so I had to find a site that didn't have such strict copyright terms.

Regardless, enjoy! :D

"And Now we Play the Waiting Game..."

With only nine days left until the release of my most anticipated 2009... well, anything, Left 4 Dead 2, and the game being readily pre-loaded onto my PC for the release date 18th of November, it's that time of year where I have to somehow quell my nerdy urges and bide my time. And since everyone loves a man who can keep himself busy without resorting to masturbation, here's a list of the projects and things that are taking up my time.

Project: Kevin Rudd Can Change!



An animation I only just started this afternoon, Kevin Rudd sings "I Can Change" from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. It's oh so silly, and also quite funny, especially when hearing Kevin Rudd sing "I will learn to keep my promises, I swear it" while sitting on top of a crate marked "HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND - COMING SOON". *giggles at own work*

The ground is made of lava!! - no wait, the blocks are just falling out from under me.

Icy fucking Tower. An addictive online Flash game on Facebook where you compete against your friends to get the most points by climbing up a tower of rapidly collapsing platforms. Gameplay consists of, depending on your preference, either holding down the spacebar and moving with the arrow keys, or holding down the up arrow and moving with the arrow keys. Shit game. It's hell as addictive though. The rate at which I play this so very sad. Ross Blackwood covered this over at his blog, showing you how to play this game well.

Comix, Inc.: The Graphic Novel

Yes, that's right! The Comix, Inc.: Graphic Novel is still officially in production! However, "officially," as a descriptor, means bullocks. Technically it's at a complete standstill. I haven't touched this for a couple of months now.

EXAMS EXAMS EXAMS MOTHERFUCKING EXAMS!! D:



Oh how I hate you, exams. Taking up all my time. Studying is a load of completely bull crap. "Read this text then answer some questions." *sigh* How is this going to help me become a famous pianist and cartoonist?? ...well, it'll give me a good Tertiary Entrance score which will let me enter a good University which will help me get good qualifications which will make sure potential hirers and benefactors will take me more seriously as a fresh "new to the industry" ex-student, come 2014. Well that's the dream anyway. So even though it kills me inside, this little bit of study for exams is the cornerstone to my success as a musician and creative genius. That said, the creators of South Park Trey Parker and Matt Stone were elementary school dropouts and now they own a comedy franchise worth millions of dollars and own the rights to one of the most well-known and iconic franchises in TV history... damn them.

The Year in Film

This year, more than any, I've been watching films. In the cinema. Almost once a week, too. I've also been watching DVDs of films. So, here's this fleeting year, in no particular order, as I saw it in cinema. TRAP CARD, ACTIVATE!!

Monsters vs. Aliens 3D

Monsters vs. Aliens tells of the delightful antics of some monsters and some aliens, who inadvertently start fighting each other - IN THREE DIMENSIONS!! providing you're wearing the correct eyewear. A funderful technicolour dream from the imagination of a no doubt reclusive 50s film fanatic, this is a pretty bash-fest of explosions, semi-creative cartoon characters, and typically endearing Dreamworks animation, that, as usual, is no-where near as good as Pixar (who's fantastic Up one-ups this *heh* in almost every department). The story is kind of crap, but it's got jokes to spare and it's nice to look at. Plus the 50 foot giant chick is kind of cute.
ANDY SCORE: 7/10

Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen

Transformers 2's first five minutes is stunningly good. It's so brilliantly done. The perfect mix of action, humour, giant robots beating the shit out of each other and "look at us, we're a sequel" special effects and set pieces. Unfortunately the rest of the film sinks to new lows. Like fart jokes, countless non-human sex innuendos, and the oh-so-embarrassing "old" Transformer. What the fuck? If I was born in the 1970s, I'd demand my childhood back. Luckily, I was born in the 1990s, so I'm going to demand the first Transformers film back. With the exception of this film's first five minutes, that film was superior.
ANDY SCORE: 4/10

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

Another film based on iconic 1980s cartoons, and also being a "Rise of [insert evil badass here]" film, G.I. Joe is actually fairly well-made, given the subject matter. It has some nice set-pieces and car chases, and cool scene where some ninjas fight each other. Unfortunately it also rips off almost every single Star Wars film ever made - that's including the godawful prequels. Not as bad as Transformers 2, but again; I'd be demanding a refund, and my childhood back. It also loses a point for setting up for a sequel at the end. THE BAD GUY IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?? WHAT THE FUCK!?
ANDY SCORE: 6/10

Inglourious Basterds

Wow, wow, wow. This movie was actually awesome. As opposed to the insanely average fare of the films above. Quentin Tarrentino stretches his legs and heads into World War II to splatter some Nazi faces all over the freshly-cleaned carpet. Well, kind of. It's not so much a World War II flick as it is a World War II-era flick. It's historically inaccurate at almost every turn, but the main story focuses, not on the Basterds (a group of American anti-Nazis who kill Nazis and scalp them like hunters) themselves, but on a small French cinema where the movie inadvertently wraps everything up. Refreshingly violent and sickeningly detailed, almost every part of this film is good except for some of the scene's running lengths. Yeah, some of the conversations, realistic and interesting as they may be, drag on all over the joint. That said, I'd rate this film pretty damn high on my "Best Films of 2009" list.
ANDY SCORE: 9/10

Watchmen

Ah yes, Watchmen. Zack Snyder's posterboy of digital sets, superheroes, and blood. From a filmmaking perspective, the film is perfect. It looks fantastic, the set-pieces are outstanding, the animation and CGI-generated characters and objects are incredible. This is a behemoth of a film indeed, jumping from Dr Manhattan killing dudes in 'Nam to the Comedian's funeral to a rape scene to some fat guy getting his arms sawed off with a buzzsaw to Rorschach interrogating an (unbeknownst to him) dead guy. It's probably my favourite film of this year, and I'd give it a 10 out of 10 for sure. However. From a strictly non-opinionated standpoint, I will say - dear God, it wanks over the Graphic Novel. It is the Graphic Novel! It's like, the film wants to be the Graphic Novel, yet at the same time, has a sexual attraction to the Graphic Novel. So it's basically wanking over itself dressed as the Graphic Novel. I'm going to cut this analogy short now.
ANDY SCORE: 8/10

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

A thriller about a train guy having to become a hostage negotiator and subsequently losing some respect from his wife and boss. Denzel Washington does a fantastic job at keeping us, the audience, grounded to reality, while John Travolta (playing a motherfucking terrorist, motherfucker!) keeps us grounded to gritty-eality. It's a pretty damn solid film, nothing all that spectacular, but it keeps the audience interested and for a film that uses the same basic sets and premise for the first 65 or so minutes, that's incredibly well done. The dramatic score by Harry Gregson-Williams also helps build the atmosphere that the film may have lacked otherwise. Not perfect, but there's very little to fault here, despite maybe some of the acting being less-than-tight, and some of the plot twists... not all that twisty.
ANDY SCORE: 7/10

District 9

Not the last film I've seen, but probably last I'll review (today, at least), District 9 is a massive achievement. The first fifteen minutes sets up the film like a documentary, and is incredibly intuitive and inventive. We don't see it as an audience, but we're introduced to our strangely lovable hero, our unique setting (for a science fiction film at least), and to all the major plot points through the eyes of a camera crew. Then, about 25 minutes or so in... BLAM. The film begins. Still a mix of cinema and news footage and fake CCTV footage, it's a massive alien thrill-ride, with our unpredictable yet endearing hero thrown into an unfortunate struggle for his life. It's surprising, it has a funnily warm message to share about humanity, and it's exciting as hell. For me, Watchmen trumps this, but I would like to think that this could very well be the (action) film of the year. Plus, Peter Jackson! Aliens! It's like the Halo film he never finished!
ANDY SCORE: 10/10

Aside from these films, I also saw the fantastic Up, the lacking Ice Age 3D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and probably the only adult-oriented 3D film that was actually not insanely average, Final Destination 3D, which is awesome (if you're a closet sadist like me).