In a newsletter sent out by Microsoft late last night/early this morning, the official release date for the Halo Reach Beta was announced. Users who purchased specially marked copies of Halo 3: ODST may participate in the muliplayer beta beginning on May 3, 2010. You will be able to access the beta for a limited time, via a special menu item in your copy of ODST. You will be required to download the beta, through ODST, in order to participate. We estimate the beta will be just over 1 GB on your hard drive.
The released date has changed yet again. This time, it was only a short move, from April 1st, to April 13th, 2010. Also, CodeofConviction.com has finally distributed the exclusive unlock codes for a special skin and/or gun in the game. Not to mention, Conviction will include a beta later this summer for Ghost Recon Future Solder (Fall 2010).
Oh yeah, if there is any game that was able to compete with Mortal Kombat back in the arcade days it was Street Fighter. Now we have Street Fighter IV. It is just like your classic Street Fighter game. It keeps the game play at it’s roots by staying with the classic 2-D feel with the fighters in full 3-D. You still have your classic arcade mode, which is a blast to play. They also introduce a storyline for each character using cut scenes from the old Street Fighter anime series. The only problem I had with the storyline was that every other fighter had their rival as Chun-Li.
They introduced Focus Attacks which are counter-attacks after absorbing you opponents attack. They also introduced “Ultra Combos,” which are long combos that are made into cinematics. There are 8 unlockable characters in this game including Gen, Rose, Dan, and Cammy. The controls are simple to use, and are like most other fighting games. The online play is so much fun. For those who aren’t very good at fighting games be warned, if you play online and don’t know what you are doing, you will be dominated. The only negative I have with this game is the lack of atTournament mode. For those who are fans of Street Fighter, or fighting games in general, this is a most have. By far in my opinion the best fighting game of 2009.
If there is one game series that has ruled the XBox since it’s launch, it’s the Halo series. This time they are back with Halo 3: ODST. The game follows 5 members of the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper unit (ODST). You start off as a Rookie who is deployed into a city that has been abandoned and overrun by covenant forces. You find many different items, and are shown exactly what happened as you play though the missions.
The game is great. The controls are almost exactly the same as Halo 3, with a couple of new features. First, a push of the X button will activate your hud, allowing you to see outlines of anything around you that is moving, and give you better night vision. They also introduced a health bar. This will get annoying when it gets low, as your health doesn’t regenerate when you are out of combat. This game includes the Halo 3 Mythic Disc, which is Halo 3′s multiplayer modes, and every map pack released. This disc is a waste for those who have downloaded all the map packs.
While this game is fun, the storyline is really short. It will take you about 5 hours depending on how good you are. I beat the storyline on normal in around 5 hours. The game is still fun to play, and is worth picking up, but in my own opinion it is a little overrated. Hopefully Halo Reach will live up to all of it’s hype.
It’s official. Effective April 15, 2010, gamers will no longer be able to connect to XBox LIVE using an original XBox console, or when playing a backwards-compatible game via their XBox 360 console. You will still be able to play XBox 360 titles on XBox LIVE. This ONLY shuts down original XBox titles, including Halo 2. We are unsure if this will affect original XBox titles downloaded through Games on Demand (again, 360 titles are unaffected). Hopefully, these games will not be left dead too long, and reincarnated.
Early this week, Ubisoft released a teaser for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the long awaited next installment in the Ghost Recon series. One of the biggest features in this game, is in the last part, where 3 soldiers reveal them selves after using some sort of cloaking device. There are still no details on the single player campaign, or multiplayer. However, there is a message at the end of this video stating that there will be a multiplayer beta this summer, and invitations are included with Splinter Cell: Conviction (releasing April 1).
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Editor’s Note: We are launching a new segment called Classic Rewind, where our staff will review some of the older games from the XBox 360, XBox, and other consoles. This is the first article in this series. We welcome your comments and requests. -AN
Call of Duty 4, or CoD4 for short, is definitely worth picking up. The game is probably one of the best first-person shooters in recent history. You play the game as a member of the British SAS and as a United States Marine. The game alternates between the two soldiers throughout the campaign. In the campaign, you fight a Russian terrorist organization led by Imhran Zakhaev, who wishes to return Russia to the days of the Soviet Union, and the Op-For terrorist group in the Middle East led by Al-Asad. The game is very well put together. The controls are simple to learn, especially if you have played other CoD games, or other first-person shooters. Based on how you do at the very beginning of the game during the training miss, it will recommend what level of difficulty you should play choose for the campaign. For those who like a challenge, try playing the game on Veteran. It is very frustrating (I had to pop my batteries back in the controller several times), but it just makes you strive to beat it even more. If you think the campaign is too short (it will take you about 5 hours, depending on the level of difficulty) try playing the multiplayer on XBL. While you will run into your occasional cheater or child, CoD4 still has one of the best online experiences. Once you reach level 55 on XBox LIVE, you have the option to “prestige,” but you have to start all over again with our weapons, perks, and rewards. Overall the game is a blast to play. It is definitely worth going and paying the $20 bucks. You will have fun playing the game for hours on end.
The guys at Rockstar have finally come out with the last chapter in the GTA4 series. In this chapter you play as Luis, a personal bodyguard for Gay Tony. Tony gets himself in serious debt to members of the mob and has to repay them, but his nightclubs are not making enough money to pay back the debt. While I really don’t want to get into detail about the storyline, I have to tell you some outskirts of the game. During some of the missions, you overlap with Niko and Johnny from the previous two games, which I personally think is amazing since you get to see things from a completely different perspective. They also introduce a character by the name of Yusuf. Yusuf is a Arabian man who comes to Liberty City to expand on his families fortune. They brought back parachutes to TBOGT, which are still fun, and they even introduced an achievement for them as well. They also introduced new things that I now look forward to in future GTA games such as cage fighting, drug wars, golfing, nightclub management, and the ability to repeat missions once you finish the storyline. As far as the actual storyline is concerned, it will take you about 10 hours to finish depending on if you do any of the side missions. There are several times while playing the game that you think that the story is over, but it actually keeps on going, which keeps you at the edge of your chair. Overall the game is amazing, I still go back and play it all the time. This should tide you over until GTA5 comes out.
Ah yes Blood Bowl. I remember going to our local comic book store when I was 10 years old and watching teenagers playing the original Blood Bowl board game. I remember thinking that it sounded awesome and thought those guys who would spend 20 hours painting one character were stupid. I never thought that it would ever be made into a video game. 10 years later Games Workshop made this game and boy does it suck. The controls are very difficul, the real time mode is more chaotic then anything, and the tutorials are not helpful at all (especially if you have never played the game before). Even those who grew up playing the original Blood Bowl scratch their heads at this game. The graphics are not really that impressive by 360 standards. It looks more like something that came out when the original Xbox launched, and even saying that is pushing it. There isn’t really anything about this game that I can say that I like other then maybe a couple of things. First, if you enjoy the Warhammer games, you are definitely going to feel like your in that classic Warhammer environment, and the turn-based mechanics are impressive as well. For those dye hard Blood Bowl fans they give you the option to play the game with the exact same rules as the classic board game. However, those people are the only ones who will end up buying this game. Is it worth the $40 it costs to buy this game? My answer is no, unless again you are a hardcore fan of the board game.
Over the past few days (more like 2 weeks), I’ve been playing the demo for Battlefield Bad Company 2. This is possibly one of the most addicting game demos since the launch of the XBox 360. This demo contains the “Rush” game mode on the map “Port Valdez”. Durring this game, one team defends 1 base at a time, as the attacking team attempts to capture the 4 bases, in sequence, by destroying 2 “m-comm uplinks”. This game mode is typically 12 v. 12, and players may be broken up in to squads of up to 4. The demo is something definately worth downloading.
The last Battlefield game I played was “Modern Combat,” which was frankly a big disappointment. However, “Bad Company 2″ is a HUGE improvement. Several control changes (including more realistic vehicle controls), new weapons, a remote controlled UAV, and more.
From the demo, BC2 has amazing graphics, great audio and sound-effects, and a very nice control scheme. Weapons, vehicles, and scenery all look very realistic. Characters also look great, and move realisticly. There were a few small issues with the demo, that would be expected in a pre-release demo.
Assuming that the finished product is the same as, or better than the demo, then BF:BC2 will easily be one of the most popular games in 2010. Possibly even GC Editor’s Choice, or Game of the Year material. See you on the Battlefield!
