MW3 - last batch of maps

The last maps have been released for MW3.  Gulch, Parish and Boardwalk.

For those who did not subscribe to Elite, then you also get to play on Decommission and Offshore.

Parish, is a really small and tight map.  Very basic, and only handful of small paths that basically cut through a large ring.  There is no elevation change, no second story building or hallway to get a higher vantage point.  It is a fairly hectic map given its size and you can really catch the other team just off their spawn if you time your run through properly.  Its very easy to get over run in a position because of how fast it is to get from one side to another.

Borderlands - A look back

It was fall of 2009, and at that time, I wasn’t actively keeping up with gaming news outside of the few games that I was still playing.  Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was about a month away, and I had heard from some friends that Borderlands has lots potential.  With some time left till MW2 released, I got the game and started playing.  The controls were nice and familiar for people who’ve played first person shooter games, and the button layout was pretty much the same as Call of Duty.  So it was very easy to adjust to.  

I played solo for maybe the first few missions and things were ok to me.  I later then get an invite to join a couple friends in their game, and the nice thing about Borderlands is, as long as the quest is available to you, completing it in co-op would complete it for the single player side of your game.  Great! Now I can get help with the missions, and have someone to talk to so I’m not bored.   

Black Ops 2 - Multiplayer Details - My thoughts

A lot of information has been released now for Black Ops 2 Multiplayer, and there's a lot of changes made this time around.  I'm going to try to condense it all down here for you since I felt that there's a few things that each individual source has missed or did not go into detail as much on what I wanted to know.

The Sources:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/gamescom-2012-hands-on-with-call-of-duty-black-ops-2/

This is the main article I will refer to in this blog, as well as the TmarTn and Woody's Gamertag youtube channels.  Those two guys are pretty much the top two youtube sources for anything Call of Duty (in my opinion).  So with this in mind.. here goes.

Create a Class 2.0 - Black Ops 2 Multiplayer Rumour

Source:  http://www.charlieintel.com/2012/06/10/black-ops-2-create-a-class-2-0-completely-changed-now-uses-10-point-allocation-system/
 
 -------------------- START QUOTE --------------------
DEVELOPING STORY..
On June 6th, several members of the media were granted access to Black Ops 2′s brand new multiplayer are were kept under a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and were not allowed to discuss anything they saw. Appearently 2 people didn’t get the memo.. You remember a couple days ago when a member of IGN posted 2 photos (new MP H.U.D. and player list) over Instagram which were removed a few minutes later..
Now according to MP1st, a member from Shacknews, Garnet Lee (who was invited to the MP play session), uploaded a podcast which REVEALED massive changes made to Black Op 2 multiplayer. The podcast has now been edited and re-uploaded and all the details have been removed.
Create-A-Class 3.0:
-10 point allocation system replaces primary/secondary/grenades slot system Guns, attachments, equipment, perks take up allocation points.
*ex.) you could have 2 primary weapons which would use most of your points and only have 1 perk.
-Taken out “slot system”.
-Option to start with no weapons, load up on perks and equipment.
-You start out with 10 choices/options per class.
-New wager match variations.
-New “Friend/Foe identifier” attachment.
David Vonderhaar once said in a behind the scenes video, “create a class is sweet.. choose what’s the most important things to you, and forget about the things that are not important…This will open up doors for playstyles you have not seen. It’s going to be fantastic.”
-------------------- END QUOTE -------------------- 

Well, this is quite an interesting concept, It would definitely change things up completely, while still allowing for the "classic" setups, and open up the possibilities for lots of new combinations.  I can see myself picking only a primary weapon, and loading up on equipment, or perks.  Can't wait to hear more in August.

Black Ops II - release trailer

Now set in the near future, based on the trailer and only watching it once as of right now, the single player story seems to be about some enemy taking control over the unmanned drones of the US military, and I would assume that you're fighting to take back control.

Its an interesting choice, and I know it leaves a few people hesitant on the actual game.  But here's the way I look at it.  The Call of Duty series has always been about hyper reality.  The tech they portray in the game is realistic, and its just the characters and events that are the fiction, so will we see really futuristic weapons like lasers and such?  No.  We'll see a lot more drones, since that is something the US military is actually expanding to now, but at the same time, you'll still be shooting bullets and rockets in the game (with the exception of zombies).

Also, given that this is just the single player preview, and I don't spend more than six to eight hours in the single player versus the hundreds/thousands of hours in multiplayer and zombie modes, this trailer doesn't change my mind about buying the game.  I'm just hoping Treyarch learns from what was wrong with MW3, and moves things forward.

New Maps for Call of Duty MW3: Foundation & Sanctuary

So far they are pretty good.  Foundation has is a decent size map with some good vantage points that so far seem to be well balanced.  Sanctuary has a decent flow to it, but just wished there were some more elevation around the map but there is some variety and some long sniper lines.  There are a lot of paths to get to the objectives on Sanctuary.

Foundation reminds me a bit of the COD4 map Pipeline, gound level is relatively open, but there are lots of places for snipers to get onto higher ground and pick people off.  Lots of things to climb up on which is kind of like Quarry from MW2.

Can't wait to see what's coming out in May with 4 maps scheduled for release.

Call of Duty Elite - ways to improve it.

Other than the obvious speed and performance issues of the elite website, here are a few things I feel that should be considered for future updates.

Stat Tracking:

As someone who really likes to look at numbers and analyze things, it would be nice to be able to export the recent match data in some text of excel format.  So I can have some e-bragging rights, or at least look at how I've improved month to month, week to week, etc etc.  The data is there, but I just can't easily get it out of the site and into a format that I can work with.  It would be nice to be able to see how well I perform on a map level.  So I can see which maps I do better on versus others, and determine if I need to change my gameplan around for those maps.

Competitions;

A few things can be improved here which in my opinion will make it appeal to more people and make it a bit easier to police.

MW3 DLC - Liberation & Piazza

I've only played 6v6 domination on these maps so far, and Piazza is a really good map.  Liberation, not so much. 

Liberation is way too big for 6v6, and the spawns are messed up.  There were times where my teammates and I would respawn direcly under an enemy who was sniping on a bridge.  How does that make sense?  For a map of this size, you would figure the spawn points would be varied a lot more, instead, a few of us would spawn at the exact same point one after another.  There is so much wasted space on this map as well, lots of sections on the map that would probably be used in modes like Headquarters or Drop Zone, but thats about it.

Piazza is an interesting map, lots of paths that cross over and under each other, and lots of corners and short walls to hide bouncing betties and the IMS.  Although I wish there were some roof tops to get ontop of as well, or some buildings to cross through, although that may mess with some of the map flow.  Unlike Liberation, a lot of the map is used during gameplay, very little is not traversed when trying to get from one point to another.  I hope more maps are like this in future releases.

A calendar has just been released on the call of duty site, and it looks interesting.  Although, it does kind of suck to only get 1 or 2 maps each month, it will keep things fresh, but at the same time, for someone who plays a lot, they will get a bit bored quicker since there is less "new" material to rotate through on each release.  At the same time I understand why they had to spread things out, as the developers have to ensure that they do not dilute their product by flooding it with extra game modes that are not played as often.  But I do hope there is room to add more DLC/modes beyond what is on the calendar.

Demos - Asura's Wrath, FF13-2, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning...

Taking some time off from MW3, I decided to download some of the latest demos to try out.  Final Fantasy 13-2 being the only one of the three I've actually pre-ordered.  The other two titles are kind of on my radar, but I will wait for some reviews to be out before deciding to buy at launch date or not.

Call of Duty MW3 - 70 days later....

So after 70 days, I'm 7th prestige, level 58, with 1385 wins, and 88 losses.  Kill death ratio of 1.54, 26794 kills and 17454 deaths.

I've put in quite a bit of time into the game, maybe more than I should.  But I've 'powered' through some levels.  Not as quick as some kids who don't have 9-5 jobs.  But its a decent enough pace.  As things settle down, there are quick a few things that need to be fixed and/or added into this game.  Most things were already in the previous title, Black Ops.

A look back at 2011...

Looking back at the past 12 months of gaming, I actually have to wiki the release dates just to remember what came out when, and what I actually played versus what I kept on my radar, but never pulled the trigger on.

January,
While still owning noobs on Black Ops, I was waiting eagerly for the release of Dead Space 2, having played through the first game a few times, and it being one of my favourite games of all times, I pre-ordered like most fans.  I played through it, beat the game, but had no desire to go back and playthrough at higher difficulties, or to complete other challenges.  It felt like more of the same, but also less on some fronts.  There were less boss battles, and because I've already gotten used to the usual scare tactics of the game, it definitely did not live up to expectations.  It eventually felt more like a chore to play just to finish up the storyline.  Perhaps I was hoping for too much, but its still a decent game, and expands on the dead space world even more.

Assassin's Creed Revalations - *spoiler alert*

Initial Impressions:

The story picks up right after the previous game, Brotherhood.  Some new gameplay elements have been added, such as bomb crafting, and a mini tower defense game.  But the basic gameplay is pretty much more of the same, which is quite alright given how good the story is in this series.  You pick up Ezio's story as he ends up in Constantinople, tracking down a bunch of keys that unlock a secret assassin library.  This is supposed to be the end of Ezio's story, which spanned three titles now.  This time around, we have a much older character, and you can see some details in the character animations and sound that show the wear and tear of being an assassin.  You also get a glimpse into the story of the other two characters, which have yet to be expanded on in previous titles. 

Saints Row The Third - complete review

So I just finished the game on Xmas day, and spent time to actually do all the activities to get 100% control of the city.  At first, the game feels just like the previous games, but a nice and relatively big new setting.  But I also got the sense that the game is definitely taking itself even less serious this time around, at least from what I remember from the previous two games in the series.  The first Saints Row was one of the first games I got for my Xbox360.  Having been a huge fan of the GTA series, it was my only next gen option for a sandbox game.  The graphics were ok for the time, but there was a lot more focus on the 'fun' factor of sandbox games.  Controls were not as tight as GTA, but the fun factor really made you forget about it, and once again, it does the job here in Saints Row the Third.

MW3 Multiplayer Review - the day has come

So its been almost 3 weeks since I've been playing MW3.  So here's my take on the game so far.  I've only been able to play multiplayer as I have a good group of friends to play with (Elite Clan Clubsi).   In the single player campaign I have only made it to the submarine, which is the second mission in the game.  Anyways, I'll review that part seperately one day when I actually play it.

Having pushed through the levels fairly quickly with double XP time and remembering the old challenge system of MW2, I have devised a system that cycles through as many assault rifles I can to maximize time/XP.  So I'd use a gun to about 500 ish kills, which usually by then I would have reached level 30 on the gun, then move on to the next.  So far the grind hasn't felt that bad, but I suspect it will be harder as I go further up in prestiges.  So even though there are 80 levels to go through, with all the various ways to get XP, its hasn't felt that much of a grind. 

MW3 progress update

So I've used up all my dew/doritos double XP time, and I'm at first prestige, lvl 60.  Hope to reach second prestige by this weekend. 

Finally recieved my free copy from XP2011.  Entered my code for the 1-year of premium subscription and magically, the elite website started to work more reliably.  Although some of it is still in german for some odd reason.

Anyways, been playing a lot of Kill Confirm and Domination.  Tried Team defender the other day, DO NOT WANT.. LOL.  Maybe later when I know the maps a bit better.  I used prestige four tokens (three from previous COD games, and 1 from first prestige - guess I never prestiged in W@W)  for two extra custom class slots, and made the ACR and Assassin Perk unlocked all the time now. 

Ground War is still somewhat broken in terms of lag and the long wait times for a lobby to fill up.  Hopefully that will improve when there are less people on.  Full review will hopefully be done soon.. When I find time to play the campaign.

The Last Two Games I'm Buying This Year...

The "golden quarter" of gaming is about to end, and I'm fully entrenched within Call of Duty MW3.  But there's two other titles I've pre-ordered which are out today.  Assassin's Creed Revelations, and Saints Row 3.  Both of which I  would not have pre-ordered if it wasn't for the gamestop promotion (as well as me getting a free copy of MW3, which I finally recieved - more on that in another blog).

Dark Souls - 10 hours, and lost count of the number of deaths

So 10 hours in, I pretty much own the Undead Burg and Undead Parish areas.  Feeling pretty good, I figure its time to move onto the next area.  As most guides suggest, I head to the darkroot garden area, and right on cue, the game kicks me in the nuts with enemies that I can't beat as easily with my winged spear anymore.  I did however make it to the soul farming area within the garden.  This area is far more efficient than me running through and killing everything in the Undead Burg and Parish to collect souls.  I really lucked out back at the Parish by having the dragon glitch off the map and thus commit suicide, rewarding me with 10k in souls.  Given that I had 6k already banked, it was the perfect time to save up 20k and purchase the seal to open up a door within the darkroot garden.  Within 90 minutes of baiting ghosts and humans, as well as falling off the map several times myself, I went from level 22 to level 32. 

Feeling good about my stats, I proceed revert myself back to human, and make a break for the boss in the area.  I read about summoning an NPC would make the boss fight a lot easier.  So I quickly try to make it to the summon spot, running past the stone giants, and as I summon the NPC in, I get hit from behind by the stone giant, and it casts the binding spell on me, making my character move significantly slower.. and thus vulnerable to the lastest death I experienced.  The game was turned off immediately and I needed to take a deep breathe.... *slight rage moment*.

Now I must go back, and get 5k in souls to buy humanity, so I can try again...

Visiting Arkham City

After I finished Arkham Asylum two years ago, I was left wanting more.  I went in and played all the various stealth missions, I couldn't really string together a huge combo while fighting, so those challenges didn't appeal to me.  Even after all that, the overall experience felt a bit short, but in a good way, not the 6 hour campaign sort of way.  It really was like everyone said though, it is the best comic book game ever made.

COD: Black Ops - 10 months, 3000 wins later....