Lets Play: Halo Anniversary Edition

Posted by Ryan Mori on February 22, 2012

Following my new post framework, Wednesdays will be lets play days. Where I will play a certain game and talk about my experience.

Just look at that title screen. Doesn’t it make you want to play a Halo game? Well it should, because Halo is simply amazing.

For those of you that don’t know, Halo Anniversary Edition is a polished and modernized version of the original Halo: Combat Evolved. This is the first Halo game released by the franchises new permanent designer 343 industries. Even though 343 Industries is a branch of Microsoft as Bungie is, I am a little worried of where they may take the Halo universe. But I digress, Halo Anniversary Edition is essentially all the same programming from the original game, just with improved graphics. Some might say this was lazy on their part, but I believe it is much better that they kept it the same rather than trying to changing it.

Since I was short on time I started on the second level, one of my favorites. One thing that caught my attention is that even in the first halo they really had the driving down.

The driving is extremely smooth and the cpu gunner works very well. In this play through I got through three levels, and one thing that kept sticking out to me was how funny the primitive animations looked with good graphics. Because when 343 Industries redid the graphics they didn’t redo the way things moved. So character movements are very un-detailed and it just seems so out of place with these graphics. One thing that really brought back many memories of the original Halo was the death animation. Anyone who has played Halo: CE remembers how no matter what angle your body hit the ground it always ended up doing the same spin and landing in the exact same position every time. I laughed each time I saw this animation during my playthrough.

Elites are by far my favorite alien in the Halo universe. One thing I’ve always missed in the later Halo games is hearing the aliens talk in their native tongue. While playing through, I was very pleased to hear “Wort Wort Wort!” (my favorite elite phrase of all time). The typical weapons I used throughout my play through was the magnum pistol, and either the plasma rifle or plasma pistol. You always hear people talk about how good the Halo 1 pistol was, and yes it is a very good weapon. But I do believe the hype created about it is mostly from comparison, because I dont even think Halo 2 had a pistol and Halo 3’s pistol was garbage.

Hunters are my second favorite aliens in the Halo universe, they are simply badass. So I was very disappointed while playing through because they were extremely easy to kill. Hunter fights in other Halo games were the perfect combination of difficulty and fun; it took strategy, planning, badass maneuvers, and pure luck to defeat hunters even on the normal difficulty. But in the original Halo you could take both hunters down with a single plasma pistol. So in original games, you win some you lose some.

Now, I’d say about half the reason I love Halo games, is because of the story behind it all. 343 Industries won major points with me by adding terminals (like in Halo 3), but unlike Halo 3 these terminals didn’t include text that pertained to Halo’s backstory, they contained cinematics that pertained to Halos backstory. I simply love them, here are a few screen shots of them.

As you can see all the ones I saw on my play-through had to do with 343 guilty sparks. As I typed that I realized the significance of 343 Industries name, very clever.

If you have any thoughts of Halo or games in general, leave a comment!

Thats all for the first installment of Lets Play, next wednesday I will be playing Call of Duty Black Ops: Nazi Zombies.

How All Video Games Should Be More Like Dead Space 2

Posted by Ryan Mori on February 21, 2012

From now on, I will be following a loose framework for my posts, days that start with “T” are free post days were I can post whatever I like.

This post will have nothing to do with the game-play, story, or general awesomeness of Dead Space 2, instead it will be entirely about it’s achievements.

I for one enjoy the achievement system on the Xbox 360, and as you can see I have a pretty respectable amount of gamer-score. But as you can also see in “completed” game section, Dead Space 2 is very lonely… It is a good thing I finally got that last achievement I needed for Dead Space 2, because prior to this weekend I didn’t have every achievement unlocked for any game. Now when I say more games should be like Dead Space 2, I’m referring to the kinds of achievements in that game. All of them were fairly doable, no achievements were impossible to obtain and on the flip side, you didn’t get achievements for turning the game on, and yes I have played games were you got an achievement for exactly that.

Most of the achievements pertained to gameplay aspects, which you could easily get just by reading what the achievement was, and then altering your playing strategies to get said achievement. There were achievements in which you had to find secret items, normally I would have to look up how to do all of these achievements online, but the maps on Dead Space 2 are not too intricate and I found almost all the secret items I needed after a couple run-throughs. Another thing I appreciate about Dead Space 2 is that they didn’t have any achievements that you got from the multiplayer. When games make achievements that you must unlock in multiplayer matches, they just become chores that dampen your multiplayer experience, this would have been especially true in Dead Space 2’s case because I didn’t care for the multiplayer very much. Now, all games have that one achievement “Beat the game on the hardest difficulty” and Dead Space 2 is no exception.

Dead Space 2 has one of the hardest campaign of any game I have ever played, the only games that come to mind as being harder are the Halo games on legendary, and Twisted Metal (2012). But one thing that is different, is that Dead Space 2 doesn’t make you want to throw your controller across the room and rage like legendary Halo games do. The main thing that make Dead Space 2 hard is that on the hardest difficulty there are no checkpoints and you can only save three times. This seems like a daunting task, but once you get your strategies down it is very doable. Anyway, the main point I’m trying to make is games need to lighten up a bit with the difficulty of their achievements, and become a bit more like Dead Space 2. Achievements should be challenging, but not impossible, and easily obtained with some time and effort put towards it.

Now, what do you think of achievements and their difficulty?

Twisted Metal 2: The Bossiest Bosses

Posted by Ryan Mori on February 17, 2012

One thing I say about older games is that they knew how to make bosses. The first boss is the devil himself, he drives a tank named minion. His special weapon is a tri-force of missiles accompanied by a freeze blast, this does quite a bit of damage and he uses it frequently. If he doesn’t feel like shooting you, he can simply ram into you at fast speeds dealing more than enough damage.

Despite all these things if your decent at playing the game he is a pretty manageable boss, mostly because he is essentially only a little more than a single typical foe. He handles just like any other car and is even a secret unlock-able character.

Minion is mere child’s play compared to the games final boss, Dark Tooth. Dark Tooth is sweet tooth’s father, and is arguably the best boss in twisted metal history.

As a young child I could not even comprehend fighting this behemoth of a boss. So I would just drive around the streets of Hong Kong hoping not to run into this mad man, while my dad dealt with him. I even had nightmares of Dark Tooth. As you can see in the picture, Dark Tooth is a giant ice cream truck with a flaming clown head to top it all off. At a distance he will shoot spinning, flaming, ice cream cones at you, freeze you, and throw his flaming clown head at you. His attacks are even more brutal as you get close, because he will do all of the above, and also proceed to jump on top of you. Only the fastest of Twisted Metal’s characters can escape Dark Tooth, for he has amazing speed. Defeating this monster is no easy feat even for the most hardened of twisted metal players. But if you manage to do so you win right? Wrong. After this beast there is one final challenge there is one final challenge.

You manage to destroy the truck, but not the flaming clown head. To destroy Dark tooth once and for all you must kill his head.

This final form has no where near the god like amounts of health his previous form had, but if you take this form of Dark Tooth lightly you’ll pay with your life. He still has all the weapons in in his arsenal, and he can dish the damage out. With a powerful special you can take him out fast enough. So those are the bosses of Twisted Metal 2, some of the craziest bosses ever made.

Twisted Metal 2 Character Review: il Portatore di Morte

Posted by Ryan Mori on February 16, 2012

This is a review on a specific character from the first game I’ve ever played, Twisted Metal 2. To read my review of this game in general go here, https://potassiumpizzaparty.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/twisted-metal-the-only-good-car-destruction-games/.

also, check out my other character reviews here, https://potassiumpizzaparty.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/twisted-metal-2-character-review-my-old-favorite/ and here, https://potassiumpizzaparty.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/twisted-metal-2-character-review-thumper/

So unless you speak italian you’re probably wondering what il portatore di morte means, it means the bringer of death. I wrote it in italian for a few reasons, 1. I’m mostly italian, 2. I’m learning how to speak italian, and 3. I wanted an excuse to mention that my last name (Mori) is a form of the word death in italian.

The person behind the wheel: Mr. grimm is the grim reaper, he enters twisted metal because he is addicted to souls, he can never get enough of them. If he wins he will wish for the worlds population to plumet so that he can have a sufficient feast. Now if you look at the character picture above, he looks like a badass, and he should! He’s the god damn grim reaper! But in the video sequence after his victory he appears like this:

And he talks in this whiny voice, “Calypso…. I can’t take the pain…. ughhh…. I need more souls….” This disappointed me, I would expect more from the angle of death. The way Mr Grimm gets screwed is that he gets his wish, and the whole world is turned into a battle ground where death rates skyrocket.

But obviously the human race eventually becomes extinct and he has no more souls to eat ever again, so he comes back whining to Calypso.

The Car: Mr grim has been in every twisted metal game ever released, and he always has driven a motorcycle. Except of course in my least favorite twisted metal game of all time, twisted metal 4. In that game he appears as “Captain Grimm” and drives a crazy boat with wheels, just plain stupid. Throughout all of the twisted metal games Mr grimm has always been one of my favorite characters game play wise. I tend to like characters with extreme strengths and weaknesses as apposed to more well rounded characters. Mr Grimm excels in speed and special weapon power. In Twisted Metal 2 he has my favorite handling by far, his max speed is 131, and has powerful special weapon that can be used at any range. For his special Mr Grimm summons a soul in the form of a bloody skull that races across the screen, doing major damage to whomever it may hit.

The freeze attack definitely helps, but given the attack’s sheer speed you dont always need it.

As I said in my last post I would love to hear from you if you’ve ever played any of the twisted metal games, or if you want to talk classic games in general.

Twisted Metal 2 Character Review: Thumper

Posted by Ryan Mori on February 15, 2012

also, check out my other character review here, https://potassiumpizzaparty.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/twisted-metal-2-character-review-my-old-favorite/

The person behind the wheel: When me and my dad picked twisted metal up again I ventured out from my normal mister slam and started trying to play as other characters, Thumper quickly became one of my favorites. The driver of thumper is named bruce, he lives in LA and is part of dangerous gangs. He enters the contest because he’s tired of fighting for his life everyday and wants to be somebody. If he wins he will wish to be the ruler of the world.

Like almost everyone else he too gets screwed by his wish, He becomes the ruler of the world, but the world has been reduced to ruble due to the twisted metal contest. So he hardly has anything to rule over.

The Car: Bruce drives a pink low rider. The car has average handling, decent armor, and the most powerful special weapon in the game. Like I said the car has average handling, but average in this game is pretty spectacular. Thumper does not handle like a low rider at all, it can reach 105 mph and fly across the map if you hit a jump right.For Thumper’s special weapon a flamethrower shoots a flame out the front of the car dealing massive amounts of damage. This weapon can be a little tricky to get a hit with, but combined with a freeze shot, Thumpers decent handling, and the weapons range it isn’t too hard.

Like I said in my last post I would love to hear from you if you’ve ever played any of the twisted metal games, or if you want to talk classic games in general.

Twisted Metal 2 Character Review: My Old Favorite

Posted by Ryan Mori on February 14, 2012

The person behind the wheel: The only character I used to play as on twisted metal when I was young was Mr. Slam. The driver of Mr. Slam is named Simon Whittlebone, he is a nerdy ginger who’s profession is that of an architect. He enters the contest because his dream of building the tallest building in the world was taken from him. If he wins he will wish to have his chance to finish his masterpiece, but like just about everybody else in the contest he gets screwed over by his wish. Before he is able to finish his building he falls from the very top of his building all the way to the ground.

Needless to say, he kicks the bucket. Just a random side note, I’ve always found that term strange… it refers to when somebody ties a noose around their neck and kicks a (in this case) bucket out from under their feet. But who stands on a bucket while trying to kill themselves? Come on go all out! Kick a stool, or if your really adventurous, a chair.

The Car: He drives a tractor who’s handling is (as the game states) sluggish.

His max speed without turbo is 91 miles per hour, which sounds fast, but I don’t think the programmers realized how fast 91 miles per hour is, so it’s agonizingly slow in-game. The car also turns slow, overall it is difficult at best to handle Mr. Slam, but what else would you expect from a tractor? Each car comes equipped with a special weapon that only that vehicle may use. For his special Mr. Slam makes use of his claws, he picks other vehicles up and slams them about three times, hence the name Mr. Slam. This special weapon does a more than decent amount of damage and it’s recharge rate is fair, but for the attack to connect, your target must be directly in front of you, and can’t move for about 2 seconds. When you Combine this with Mr. Slam’s unresponsive handling, you get a special that takes the accuracy of a surgeon to hit.

The freeze attack aids Mr. Slam’s special greatly, but when I used to play as him all those years ago I could never remember how to use the freeze attack. Nevertheless I still managed to get enemies in the grip of my tractor, I have no idea how. Mr. Slam’s shining feature is his ability to take damage like a boss. He is one of the two most armored characters that do not require a code to play as.

If you have ever played any of the twisted metal games I would love to hear from you, but otherwise I do believe that old games have a certain charm to them that newer games simply don’t have, wether its the old Spyro games, super smash brothers, or old pokemon games. I’ve never really been able to put my finger on it, so I’d also love to hear from you regarding such.

Nintendo’s Wii Review

Posted by Sam Steady on February 11, 2012

Although the Nintendo Game Boy was my first real gaming device, I have never been overly attracted to Nintendo products. Despite this, I still convinced myself I needed a Wii and I made the purchase two Christmases ago. Overall, the Wii does a good job of doing exactly what it was made to do. It is a very active and kinesthetic gaming console that revolves around direct body control through the motion sensor and Wii Motion Plus. It has revolutionary technology that has changed the face of the gaming industry and has brought games such as Super Smash Bros. to life in a whole new way.

The motion detection and accuracy of the Wii was astounding from the beginning and this has only been improved with the installment of Wii Motion Plus. The Wii also opens the doors to new types of lifestyle games such as exercise/workout games that walk you through workout routines and provide immediate feedback on how to improve your workout methods. Adventure games such as The Legend of Zelda have also been added to the Wii along with the Call of Duty series and many others. These were both major steps for Nintendo because they showed the wide range of games that the console could support and it also aloud diehard fans of such games to experience them in a whole new way. The Wii is also capable of internet browsing and supports applications such as Netflix for instant movie streaming.

Despite these positive features, there are still many major drawbacks to the Wii. I am not a gamer that focuses solely on graphics, but when it comes to the Wii it was an undeniable disappointment. The graphics that the Wii supports is comparable to the original PlayStation Portable. This has made many fans upset and has limited the Wii’s marketability as a mature gaming console. Other major drawbacks include things such as the controller’s short battery life and the lack of a CD/DVD player.

In conclusion, the Wii is a descent console to be used in a relaxed gaming environment such as a family or party setting. It is easy to use and has such a broad range gaming styles that cannot be found on any other console.

P.S. The main reason for this review was a lead up to one of my major game reviews, which I will be posting in the near future. This will be on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which is only available on the Wii. This is the latest major installment in The Legend of Zelda series and is the first to utilize the Wii Motion Plus feature.

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