Front Lines: Fuel of War wastes no time dropping you into the middle of the action.  Firefights are intense and enemies are brutal.  Much like the multiplayer game, you need to progress through the maps capturing crucial choke points or destroying enemy objectives.  In certain missions this offers something rarely seen in a story based game, the enemy can actually recapture an area you already captured.  This creates a back and forth battle, or the shifting of the front lines. (see what I did there?)  On top of the standard weapons that you can pick up, you’ll also find yourself getting gadgets and vehicles.  How about a drone that you can steer into battle guns blazing?  Perhaps a remote controlled helicopter that can even fire missiles?  Or my personal favorite, a little RC car that you drive underneath a tank to self destruct…taking the tank with it.  Of course controlling these little drones has its disadvantage…namely your player sits exposed while controlling it.  There’s a handful of vehicles available to drive, anything from tanks to jeeps and helicopters.

From a presentation perspective the game’s story is moved along by a reporter that is tagging along to cover the war.  It’s worth commending the developers for really trying to put a decent story with emotion behind the game.  Every mission is broken up into sub sections, and at times key events are played out in some pretty intense cut scenes.   The game looks decent enough, being built on the Unreal Engine 3, but there are times when certain textures look low resolution.  The frame rate is solid though, so I guess that makes up for it.  Front Lines makes excellent use of positional audio, which really helps create the sense of being on the battle field.

Some people might find the controls a little floaty, and there is a lack of in depth customization options, but overall I never felt like I was fighting the controller. If there’s a downside to the single player, its that the game is incredibly short, taking between 5 and 6 hours to complete.

Front Lines multiplayer on the Xbox 360 allows up to 32 players to play on dedicated servers.  Yes…the game has dedicated servers.  The main game mode is called Front lines, and it plays out like a Battlefield match in which players must capture strategy points to help move and hold the front line.  Your character is divided up into a class and subclass.  The main class defines your weapons while the subclass defines your tools and gadgets.  As you complete objectives and kill the enemy you’ll level up your subclass, unlocking more items to use in battle.  After you die you can redeploy with the same load out, or choose a new one.  Your upgraded subclass is available for you through the entire match, but resets from game to game.  This helps keep the playing field level, while still encouraging good play.    Front Lines strongly encourages team play, in fact, you can’t even chat with anyone unless you join a squad.

Of course an online game is only as good as its community, and unfortunately right now things are a mixed bag.  At times matches can be great, with players working together and a pretty even battle.  At other times it’s a disjointed mess with spawn campers ahoy.   The other problem is reliability, I had random disconnection problems and some lag issues in matches – even on the dedicated servers.

All in all I really enjoyed the single player of Front Lines.  I dare say it rivaled Call of Duty 4 in terms of intensity.   With a solid but short single player campaign and a multiplayer mode that has a lot of potential this game is on the cusp of being great.

Score: 3.5 out of 5

Like I said before, there are several scenes and moments in the game that will simply put a smile on your face. Sneaking up behind enemy soldiers and knifing them in the back is one. Launching explosive arrows into groups of unsuspecting enemies is another. But there are times in the game where things are simply so unbalanced that it’s just downright frustrating. Part of the problem is the screen shake in the game. When you take hits from gunfire your viewport is skewed a bit. The bigger problem is when an explosion goes off near you and knocks you off your feet. You become disoriented, and can’t shoot or move for a few seconds. The even bigger problem here is most times an enemy will be able to get off another rocket or grenade before you even get back to your feet, thereby knocking you back down before you really get back up. Before you know it your screen is a blurry red mess and suddenly you are dead.
The single player campaign was mildly entertaining, as was the story. There’s a solid voice acting cast with the likes of Ron Perlman as the cynical sidekick Slade. The game features a pretty indepth multiplayer mode complete with dinosaurs that roam the playing field. There’s also a small co-op campaign online which consists of 3 short missions. It would have been nice if the actual campaign was co-op, but what we get is pretty solid.

Turok is a game that many people will overlook, and while it’s not something everyone should play, fans of shooters or the previous titles will enjoy what the game has to offer.

Score: 3 out of 5

4. Halo 3 (360)

The game with the biggest hype of 2007 didn’t disappoint…most. The trilogy came to a solid conclusion, and it took you on some interesting twists and turns along the way. The beauty of Halo though can only be experienced by exploring the lore that surrounds it, which is masterfully expanded in books, comics and other literature. It’s especially well noted in the excellent advertising campaign for Halo 3 in which they depicted real life actors as veterans of the war in which the Master Chief fought in. The multiplayer modes are the richest and deepest we’ve ever seen on a console, and tools like Forge and the Replay Viewer are going to be new staples in console gaming. Did the game live up to the hype? No, of course not. No game could ever do that. But god damn was it a fun as hell ride.

3. Bioshock (360/PC)

As the “spiritual successor” to the System Shock series, Bioshock hit the PC and Console world by storm this year. The Action RPG became mainstream in this beautifully decorated underwater art-deco style world. The game was a beautiful blend of puzzles, action, rpg customizations all intertwined with a unique and twisting story which had one hell of a plot twister in it. Everyone will remember their first encounter with a big daddy, or the first time they saved a little sister. Now would you kindly continue reading my list.

2. Call of Duty 4 (PC/360/PS3)

Infinity Ward hasn’t missed a beat with Call of Duty 4. The game is actually their 3rd iteration of the franchise (3 was made by Teryarch), and everyone of the games has a unique flavor about it. Call of Duty 4 is all about cool weapons, insane firefights, and impossible situations. The veteran difficulty of the game will test your patience, but is still one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming to date. The graphics are superb, and at times look downright realistic. The story is an intertwining twist of characters from different backgrounds, and provides more than enough twists and turns to keep you interested. But the best part of Call of Duty 4 isn’t just the single player, it’s perhaps one of the deepest and most unique multiplayer experiences yet for a first person shooter. In a mix between an MMORPG and a shooter you level up your character by using killing enemies, completing objectives, and accomplishing tasks. Leveling up unlocks perks to customize your character, as well as unlocks the ability to use new weapons. It was a god damn genius move and it created some of the most addicting online play we’ve seen this year.

1. Mass Effect (360)

Every year there seems to be a game that just instantly grips me and I can’t stop playing it.  This year, that game was Mass Effect.  After the the mediocre experience I had with Jade Empire, Bioware came back big time with Mass Effect.  Like Bioshock, Mass Effect took the RPG experience mainstream, and it did it without making any sacrifices.   The game sported incredible visuals and a conversation system that flowed back and forth dynamically like watching a movie.  The story was unique and interesting, and literally spanned across a galaxy in which you could freely explore and do side quests on.  The core gameplay was based around a 3rd person shooter mechanic, but was well grounded in the rules of an RPG.  Weapon upgrades, character specialties, and tons and tons of areas to explore all made this a truly amazing experience.  I’m incredibly happy this game is part of a trilogy and can’t wait to see what the second one brings.

Mass Effect truly is the game of the year.

Note:   It should be noted that because of the insane holiday season of all the good games, certain titles didn’t even get to be considered.  Crysis, Assassin’s Creed, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune among them.

10. Rockband (PS3/360)

Rock Band is a recent release of the year, but it’s one that should be on everyone’s list. Rock Band is the ultimate party game. Combine Karoke Revolution, Guitar Hero and drums and you’ve got something for everyone to play. The music selection is varied, and the presentation is absolutely top notch. I expect this game to have a lot of legs well into next year, especially with the weekly support of downloadable content.

9. Company of Heroes (PC)

The first time you fire up Company of Heroes you’ll marvel at the detail and animation of the game’s characters an environment. Then you’ll realize you can use your little mouse wheel and zoom all the way down to street level and see even MORE detail. The best thing about this RTS is it’s focus on action and the units. There’s no resource gathering here, it’s all about building up your army and conquering the enemy.

8. Heavenly Sword (PS3)

From a purely game play standpoint Heavenly Sword doesn’t bring much new to the table. But what is there is very solid. What the game really excels at though is story telling and character detail. You will be hard pressed to find a more detailed facial expression system than the one found in Heavenly Sword. Even Mass Effect which looks gorgeous in it’s own right can’t hold a candle to the emotion that was conveyed by the characters facial expressions in Heavenly Sword.

7. Crackdown (360)

Crackdown is one of those games that if it was released later in the year it would be on a lot of people’s GOTY lists. But having been released in February it’s going to get glossed over quite a bit. Crackdown redefined what it means to be a sandbox game by setting players in a futuristic city in control of a character with super powers. Anyone who played the game remembers that first giant leap from building to building, or climbing the Agency Tower and looking out over the entire city. The game was an amazing technical marvel. Not only that but it provided some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a game via online Co-Op play. Many people picked this one up for the Halo 3 Beta, and after playing it many people spent more time on Crackdown than they did in the H3 Beta.

6. Portal (PC/360/PS3)

Portal was packaged in with the Half-Life: Orange Box set, which was probably the best value in gaming. Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Half-Life 2 Epside 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal all for under $60! The funny thing about it is, Portal was the game everyone thought was a tack-on, and it turns out Portal was by far the best game of the bunch. The game is a 3-D puzzler of sorts where you need to get form point A to point B by placing two inter connecting Portals. It forces you to think outside the realm of normalcy to solve the puzzles presented. What makes Portal so enticing is the atmosphere and character. Set in a Test-Lab you are guided by GlaDOS to your goal of testing out the Portal gun for Aperature Science. Everything here is top notch, and if there’s one downside to Portal it’s the fact the game only lasts under 2 hours. The game spawned an internet catch phrase (the Cake is a lie), the companion cube craze, and a song so catchy everyone wanted to sing it.

5. Mario Galaxy (Wii)

From the moment you turn Mario Galaxy on you know the game is going to win the hearts over of many gamers. The game features Mario on the path to rescue Princess Peach who was captured by Bowser and wisked away across the galaxy. It’s your job to go from galaxy to galaxy and then jump from little planet to little planet to gather up lost stars. The design, the colors, the controls are all top notch. This is one game every Wii owner shouldn’t be without.

Be on the lookout for the top 4 games of the year later this week.

Also, if you want to read a great article about the 5 year experience, check out Ozymandias’s blog.

After the first round, incorrect answers will cost you a penalty in points. What’s interesting here is there’s a constant strategy going on. There’s a risk/reward scenario with answering fast. If you are 100% confident in an answer, and answer quickly you’ll get max points, of course if you are wrong you’ll lose max points. On the other hand perhaps you are on the fence between two answers, just let the timer ride out a bit and answer. Sure you won’t gain as many points if you are right, but if you are wrong you won’t lose as many either.

As for the games themselves there seems to be a decent variety. In the screening mini game you’ll watch a 2 or 3 minute clip of a famous movie and then are asked a series of questions regarding the movie and the clip specifically. Other mini games have you unscrambling words to make movie titles or filling in the blanks to finish off famous quotes. Some of my favorite games start with a blank sheet and then being to fill in details that describe some movie. There’s a few different varieties here. In one game it starts with a blank sheet and begins to draw a cartoon sketch that somehow represents a movie. In another, it starts with the base of a movie poster and begins to fill in objects to create the official one. There are numerous other games as well with everything from naming an actor/actress from their high school picture to games that give you word clues about a movie.

Scene It utilizes a save system so that it will limit the same questions/clips that come up in play sessions which should help the longevity of the title. The game itself is a great party game and can easily be enjoyed by anyone, in fact, my non-gamer wife handily beat me in the few matches we played together. The game has an MSRP of $60 which is about $20 more than the retail version of the board game. While it might seem high, the fact that it comes with 4 controllers and contains hi-def material makes it an overall pretty good deal. There’s no word on whether there will be download packs to expand the game, but with the popularity of Marketplace, and the video marketplace it seems like a no brainer. For those of you looking for the next great party game, look no further than Scene It.

Score: 4 out of 5

Xboxic » Halo 3 campaign video presentation; game already Gold?

]]> http://www.baproductions.biz/2007/08/31/halo-3-17-minute-campaign-vid/feed/ 0 http://www.baproductions.biz/2007/08/29/mountain-dew-halo-3-gamefuel-ad/ http://www.baproductions.biz/2007/08/29/mountain-dew-halo-3-gamefuel-ad/#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:59:20 +0000 npuleo http://www.bapenguin.com/?p=286 I posted the results of my “taste test” a month ago here. Now you can check out the pretty sweet ad regarding the product I’d recommend not consuming through your mouth.