Rebellion’s latest offering, Rogue Warrior, features Navy SEAL Richard “Demo Dick” Marcinko as he singlehandedly attempts to prevent the USSR from gaining the upper hand over the United States in the Cold War. While this tactical FPS doesn’t bring anything new to the table and could have used a bit more polish, it still offers some tense, engrossing scenarios.
Things kick off in North Korea, where Marcinko (marvelously brought to life by the voice talents of actor Mickey Rourke) and his team have been deployed to do some digging on ballistic missile launchers. This simple “snoop and poop,” as Marcinko describes it, quickly goes south when his comrades are killed in action immediately after landing. He’s ordered to abort, but his anger fuels him to continue the mission alone. It is discovered that the Russians are in fact behind this program and Marcinko treks to the USSR to destroy the missiles at all costs.
The story is inelegantly told via voiceovers and text that accompany the loading screens before each of the game’s eight levels. Players who have little interest in elaborate narratives shouldn’t have any issues with this; however those who were hoping for involved storytelling won’t find any here.
As Rogue Warrior centers on a Cold War theme, you’ll frequent many areas that you’d expect to see in a James Bond movie or videogame, including bunkers, dams, hedge mazes, launch facilities and the like. While the locales are interesting, originality is lacking and the game falters slightly in level construction. Each linear mission presents the same core objectives of finding something, blowing it up, and “getting the hell outta dodge.” Luckily, the combat is satisfying enough to keep your interest; though don’t expect to experience massive firefights and adrenaline pumping set-pieces. Rogue Warrior is about using a calculated, methodical, and often stealthy approach. Health is limited, though the well-integrated third person sticky cover system and useful blind firing tactic assist in this regard. (more…)
So it looks like the Wii wanted to get in on the Modern Warfare action and here we have a port of CoD4 in Reflex Edition. The Call of Duty series has been very popular on other platforms so it makes sense to bring Modern Warfare to the Wii. For the most part, this is just a replica of the Xbox 360 and PS3 edition, except for a few twists.
There is multiplayer in this version, and it plays the same as the other editions. If you’ve played MP on the 360 or PS3 then you’ll know the layouts of the maps from the beginning.
I played Modern Warfare on the 360 and enjoyed the MP. The only problem I have with the Wii MP is the fact that you can’t talk to your teammates. So as I stated before, if you’ve played MP on one of the other systems then there’s not much to report for the Wii.
Moving on to the controls, you use the Nunchuk for basic movements (forward, back, left, and right) and the Wii Remote to look in various directions. I did not like this aspect of the game. In the heat of battle this could be somewhat crippling. If you tilt the Wii remote in the wrong direction, even in the slightest motion, you could be staring at the sky or ground while someone pumps you full of bullets. I tried using the Perfect Shot because I heard it was easier, but it’s not. The main reason it’s more difficult to use a gun accessory is because when you want to knife someone, you have to push the gun forward. Doing so may cause your aim to be off and make you miss your target. (more…)
Saber Interactive appears to have an affinity for creating science fiction videogames. Their 2007 FPS, TimeShift, allowed players to control time while immersing them in an alternate universe where society has been ravaged due to a rebellious uprising against a despotic regime.
Although the meticulously crafted digital world of Inversion moderately resembles what was seen in Saber’s previous title, the premise is not at all similar. You will assume the role of Davis Russell from a third person perspective as he combats invaders known as the Lutadores. With some help from his ally, Leo Delgado (whom another player will be able to control in the co-op mode), Davis has recently escaped from a Lutadore prison encampment to search for his missing daughter. The Lutadores were also responsible for the death of his wife and Davis is understandably seeking vengeance. (more…)
Left 4 Dead 2 was released last Tuesday (11/17), a mere one year after the first one, and the level of improvement that Valve has added is pretty impressive. Everything that has been added to the game has been done so to increase the mayhem that your team has to go through. I’ve always been of the opinion that the best times in L4D1 were, ironically, when you were getting beaten to a pulp. You needed to REALLY work together as a team when your team was getting pounced by a hunter, pulled by a smoker, fighting a horde off while trying to stay away from a tank… ALL AT THE SAME TIME!
The feeling of never being completely safe made each experience a nail biter, a feat few games can match. However, the more you would play L4D1, the more you would get its tricks. When a horde came, everyone ran to a corner and spammed the melee trigger, a tank brought out the molotov cocktails everyone had, followed by a mad dash backwards to get out of his monkey arm-range. Boomers? Please, throw a pipe-bomb. It grew into a game that you almost HAD to play on Expert difficulty or Versus to get the charm out of it. L4D2 has fixed this and then some. Simply put, there are no tricks. This game is hard, and it constantly puts your teamwork skills to a test, and we’re not talking 1st grade spelling test here, this is more like senior year of college, theoretical physics final exam. Even if you’ve been through each campaign the amount each single one deserves, the next time you play you’ll have to adapt to the changing environments, the different weapon choices you’ll have, and, most importantly, the very versatile special infected. (more…)
It is finally here. Infinity Ward’s follow up to one of the most highly regarded shooters of the current gaming generation, Modern Warfare 2, is now loaded cozily in millions of consoles around the world. As of this writing many news sources are reporting that this title has broken release day sales records, selling an estimated 4.7 million copies. With all of the hype and controversy one question remains: Is MW2 worthy of the attention it has received? As a courtesy to others, this review is spoiler free. (more…)
Let’s take a look at this launch trailer to commemorate the occasion, which has been referred to as one of the most significant videogame releases of the decade.
While I could have done without the rap music, this clip shows off a variety of stirring moments that will have you on the edge of your seat and even more anxious to finally dive into this title (if you haven’t already).
Although the game has just been officially released today (some folks were able to snag their copies early), one can’t help being curious about what can be expected from successive CoD titles and if the level of attention that MW2 has deservedly garnered may represent the peak of the franchise. (more…)
DICE recently announced that a PS3 multiplayer beta for their upcoming destructive FPS, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will commence on November 19.
“This is an outstanding opportunity for PlayStation gamers to get early access to one of the most action-packed and polished shooters in the marketplace with Battlefield: Bad Company 2,” says Rob Dyer, SVP, Publisher Relations, SCEA.
If you can manage to pry yourself away from MW2 to give this beta a go, you’ll be able to sample Rush Mode on the Arica Harbor map. Details on key distribution are available via the official Battlefield website.
Don’t have a PS3? (more…)
Borderlands is the recently released “Role Playing Shooter” from Gearbox Studios, creators of the Brothers in Arms series. They’ve set out to produce a game similar to the PC classic Diablo II, but with guns, guns, and more guns. The result, however, is a game that does not live up to its much touted genre as Gearbox would like you to believe. This game is largely just your basic RPG that happens to be in the first person perspective and puts an emphasis on the guns. Unfortunately, even with the guns in the equation, the most novice player of first person shooters will be able to shoot the brain-dead AI present in the enemies, which makes it feel more like a point-and-click mechanic than even a tactical-lite shooter. Combine that with the fact that not even the most devoted first person shooter junkie will have much luck against an enemy just a couple levels higher than he and it becomes clear that this game is MUCH more RPG than Shooter. (more…)
The 27th Annual Golden Joystick Awards were held recently and the Call of Duty series managed to walk away with another handful of honors.
Call of Duty: World at War was hailed as “Multiplayer Game of the Year” and “Nintendo Game of the Year.”
In what seems like stating the obvious, (more…)
Halo 3: ODST is an expansion to the Halo 3 storyline that doesn’t star the well known Master Chief – instead, you’re an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Some die-hard fans may not be too happy with the fact that they don’t get to play as Master Chief, but this game is just as fun nonetheless. (more…)
