Sunday, October 29, 2006

Been playing BF2142 like mad in the past few days. Great game. The Gamespot review was positive (score of 8.2), but it didn't really mention what's been improved and fine tuned since BF2.

2142 comes with tweaks such as:
In BF2, dropping anti-vehicle mines on the ground often resulted in Teamkills. This is no longer the case in 2142, as mines have been replaced with EMP and Motion Mines, and both of them only trigger when a hostile target is near. The same applies with the Claymore. In 2142, the Claymore only detonates against hostiles.

Commander artillery has been replaced with "orbital strike" ability. Orbital strike damages a wider area, however it is much weaker than BF2's artillery. It rarely kills anyone instantly, instead dishing out damage over repeated strikes. In most cases it's best for seriously injuring enemy groups, or finishing off wounded. At first I thought this change was for the worse, but it's much more enjoyable NOT being killed instantly by these strikes. Feels less cheap.

Medics are no longer the uber class, as their medkits now heal people gradually, instead of instantly. Their defibrillator's still revive people back to 100% health though.

2142's a great game, but at the same time, it verifies the accusation that EA/DICE ignored many of BF2's problems in order to make another game. Is there no more money to be made anymore from a further patched BF2?

Tuesday, October 24, 2006










http://www.ultimategamechair.com/

o_O Raptor chair. I want it. I think? For $300, it's pretty pricey. But the idea of rumbling along 2142's mech footstep sounds is pretty cool, and the press impressions are very positive so far.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Went to the Gamespot After Hours event last night. My first impression of the PS3 was incredible dissapointment. They only had two games on display... a racing combat game and a Gundam game. The racing game was OK, and it definitely felt 'next-gen'. But the Gundam game was terrible. The graphics were poor, the frame rate was abysmal. Ugh. I've got Gundam games for my PS2 far better than that. Really bad first impression of the PS3.

I went to the event thinking I would be blown away by the greatness of console gaming, but ironically returned wanting to upgrade my PC. After seeing Battlefield 2 and 2142 being played on top-of-the-line Dell PCs and widescreen LCDs, this computer of mine is looking a little long in the tooth. I plan on buying this 22" widescreen HD LCD monitor now (I need it's HD for PS3/X360 play anyway), but do I really want to upgrade my computer just for Battlefield? And maybe Neverwinter Nights 2? Hmm.

Got to play Call of Duty 3, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, and Lost Planet for the X360. COD3 was fun, as COD always is, although the new rag doll death effects need some work. Splinter Cell was incredible, and playing that alone makes me want to buy a 360 within the week, as Splinter Cell releases on Tuesday. The graphics were great, and the multiplayer versus gameplay was pretty fun. Lost Planet was only setup in multiplayer mode, and it seemed OK. Graphically great, the gameplay seemed a bit too shallow and sluggish, but it was a free-for-all deathmatch mode after all. Also saw a demonstration of BioShock.. which was... "O_O" cool. Eye-poppin'.

Still, I dunno if I want a 360. The biggest problem to me is that many of the games I want for the 360 are shooter games (Gears of War, COD3). And playing a shooter on a console controller is blasphemy, IMO. (Where's my mouse and keyboard support?!) Even if these games are lovely to look at, playing a shooter without a mouse just ain't right.