After my vacation a few weeks back, came back looking for something new to try. Watched reviews of the newest releases on Steam and had to try Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as soon as I saw it. Thought I’d be interested in the single player campaign and then maybe get into multiplayer once [...]]]>

After my vacation a few weeks back, came back looking for something new to try. Watched reviews of the newest releases on Steam and had to try Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as soon as I saw it. Thought I’d be interested in the single player campaign and then maybe get into multiplayer once I got the rust off (haven’t played a dedicated PC shooter in awhile). However, after playing just one level of the campaign I fired up multiplayer and haven’t looked back. I am only going to talk about the multiplayer as that’s all you really should care about.

Before I get into my overall impression – what I’ve noticed that has defined recent online shooters as big successes are all of the the things heavily borrowed from the MMORPG genre. The classes, the specializations, the unlockables, levels, skills – lets just call them the pellets – the same pellets that keep the average WoW player coming back to the lever waiting for their next fix. This trend has already expanded out to every genre.. RTS, strategy etc (even the sims for god sakes). It’s how you give the illusion of content by making the player drool and grind their way to their next tiny milestone – regardless of whether or not that grind consisted of a linear repetition the entire way – it doesn’t matter! Pellet time!

Attacking the pellet centre of the brain (think gambling addiction) is a for sure way to guarantee a sustainable player base – well at least until the pellets run out (end game??). The art/magic of it is making the pellets arrive at a rate that doesn’t seem too fast and easy but not so hard as to make them only attainable by skilled players and thus unenjoyable to the dumb masses. Also having ‘micro-advances’ (1% to this, 2% to that), leading up to a next-tier advance – pellet on a stick so to speak – works nicely.

BC2 utilizes all of this nicely and combines it with a great sandbox shooter to boot. It is the reason you are seeing the servers so packed and people from so many different genres picking it up.

Overview of the game as I know it: you create a soldier on the EA system, find a game server (quite easily done. For PC they upgraded some of the hardware recently and a lot of the ‘lobby’-type performance issues I saw last week are gone) and join a game. There are a bunch of different modes, but I’ve focused primarily on conquest (capture the flagish) and Rush - which seems to be the most team/squad oriented.  You can be either Russian or American. When you spawn you can select your class (assault, engineer, medic, recon), select if you want to join a squad and then select a spawn point. You can spawn on either your primary fire base, a captured base (secured by capturing the flag) or a squad mate.

The game looks amazing and plays amazing! Nuff said.

Despite the QQ on the forums about balancing issues, I find all of the classes complement each other nicely and have different utility depending on map, situation and squad composition. Before I break them down, let me talk about the pellets. You have many different areas to work on - all driven off a point based system that accumulates depending on your team/squad/personal performance in each map.

You have 2 types of kits – class specific kits and non-class specific kits. You gain points in your class by playing that class. You unlock your class specific gadgets, specializations and weapons through this mechanism. Your class specific score is a subset of your total score.  Non-class specific specs, gadgets, weapons are unlocked by your overall character score. These are more general specializations (ie. being able to run faster) and weapons available regardless of class.

Additionally you have 2 achievement pellets: insignias which are 1 time unlockable achievements gained through play (usually give a very generous amount of points on to your round score when you unlock them) as well as pins which are smaller achievements (small point bonus to your round score). Pins you can not only gain as many times as you want, but also you can achieve them multiple times in a single round (ie. reviving 5 squad members – revive 10 and you get 2 pins and 2 x 200 point bonus to your round score).

Weapons and specs that are used also gain ’stars’. These are related to the pin achievements above. Using your M60 and killing 100 people will gain you a single star next to that weapon in your kit. Killing 200 people will give you another gold star and so on. An aesthetic thing that advertises to your enemy how uber you are with that weapon.

Vehicles are dealt with as their own class, except they gain only specs. You achieve vehicle points by being in a vehicle for the kill (surprise). The achievements are unlocked both by total vehicle score and by your soldier score.

Lastly, your overall point total contributes to your ‘rank’, which gives you your rank level/icon (in addition to the non-specific kit unlocks). This gives opponents and squad mates an idea of how much time you’ve spent playing the game nomnomnomnom.

The 4 classes are fairly standard, though with the specs and weapons allowing for a certain degree of flexibility within. Assault class is your front line soldier. Defined by the use of assault rifles and the attached 40mm grenade launcher (aka the noob tube - point and shoot insta-gibbness), ability to spawn ammunition and the Destruction 2.0 achievement to take out buildings and everything nearby – they are what they are. Engineers use SMGs, have access to RPGs, anti-tank mines and are able to repair vehicles. In the levels where vehicles are a big factor, engineers can be indespensible for quickly eliminating enemy tanks and light armor. Recon troops are your standard sniper unit; camo suit, sniper rifles, motion detector, C4 explosives and the very powerful mortar strike for an area attack strike. Recons are very good at spotting, supporting attacks, flanking (though not as powerful in CC situations) and counter-sniping. The medic - which I’ve spent the most time playing, gets access to the LMG line, defibrilators for reviving freshly killed friendlies and health packs that regen nearby soliders.

Weapons are awesome in their looks, variety as well as the specializations that help to give people something to fit their playstyle. As a medic I use the massively overpowered (? haha), M60 with the red dot sight specialization and the marksman LMG barrel (better accuracy – near the end of the tree, each class gets a marksman spec for their class specific weapon).  I experienced it to give the best combo of damage, accuracy and rate of fire – seems to be THE choice for most medics – probably why it is QQ’d about the most. The standard sight sucks and I like the bolt on red dot for quick aquisition rather than the 4x scope. Looking at the MG3 (last medic unlockable weapon) – it trades damage for insane rate of fire.  However, because LMGs take a brutally long time to reload combined with the ridiculously high rate of fire – I found myself emptying a full mag too quick and having to reload after 1-2 kills. So kept with my M60. These are the types of decisions you will be working with as each class. Taking a spec to carry more ammo – or doing more damage? Rate of fire or accuracy?

As far as the modes I play: Conquest has you starting off in your main fire base with your team with the intention of capturing various points of interest on the map. You capture the objectives by having friendlies near the flag pole; after a period of time you will raise your flag and have it as a spawn point. Each team starts with 100 points and these slowly decrease on a timer for each objective your enemy has until you reach 0 – in which case you lose. The more objectives you have, the quicker you drain your enemies points. Games involve trading the flags back and forth for fairly hectic and continous (but not overly long!) games. Rush mode rotates teams between attacking and defending a series of objectives that need to be destroyed. Rush demands more team/squad coordination in order to make effective/sustainable attacks or proper defense.

The maps are varied and fun. Almost everything can be turned to rubble. Small arms fire ripping through doors, fences, windows and light walls – while rockets, tank rounds and bombs can demolish entire buildings. All maps contain vehicles – these range from an ATV, humvee, armored personal carriers (BMP, bradley), tanks (abrams, T-90) – to attack helicopers, UAVs piloted from various computer terminals and stationary guns and rocket launchers. Great sandbox feeling, though I would tend to say that the maps might be a little small to get the most use out of some vehicles. Most of the vehicles can fit multiple soldiers which is very cool and brings me to my next point.

Where the game really shines is the use of squads for cooperative play. You can join a squad (5 man team) at the start of the match randomly – pick one that has an empty spot – or create one of your own and have an invite only group for your buddies. All actions performed with your squad (reviving a squad mate, assisting with a kill, avenging etc) give you more points than if you were helping out a random teammate – a high incentive for point-whores. However – the most important aspect is you can use your squadmates as mobile spawn points (ie. if your medic is dead, you can hide out and wait for his timer so he can spawn on you and then continue) – this includes spawning into a vehicle a squadmate is driving. In my experience, most BC2 rounds are turned by a single squad pushing together effectively from objective to objective – leaving the random lone rangers, drunks and hero wannabes helping out simply by being distractions for the enemy. I am not part of an organized clan, nor do I have any ambitions to. Being able to quickly get into a small unit of people and start working together right away is just awesome. So much so that once you get that synergy in your group and are kicking butt, it really becomes apparent how valuable to both your team’s success and your fun factor it is that you find some people who are interested in playing the game as a squad. Within a server I will often squad shop (hop around to other squads) until I find people that are on the same page. It equates to a TON of fun and lots and lots of points.

There you have it. I haven’t been into a shooter for a long time (did not even try MW2) and was skeptical about how I would like it – but Bad Company 2 simply rocks. The multiplayer is rewarding in both gameplay, pellet-factor and the ability to achieve an awesome cooperative experience with little effort.

I recommend this game highly!

So far the games I want to check out:

1. Bought a Bride 2. Sowing Season (Yeah) 3. At the Bottom 4. Jesus Christ 5. Bed

Download Here

Score: 9 / 10 (IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ)

So, Brand New’s first new album since 2006 was released today. I’ve been listening to it for a bit but thought I would share my opinion on it now that it is out.

First off, I am not one of the legions of Brand New fanboi [...]]]>

Score: 9 / 10 (IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ)

So, Brand New’s first new album since 2006 was released today. I’ve been listening to it for a bit but thought I would share my opinion on it now that it is out.

First off, I am not one of the legions of Brand New fanboi ’s out there. Stay with me here, gonna do some background…

I started listening to Brand New in 2003ish with the release of Deja Entendu. Stumbled on them by accident while reading a blog (think it was a new york scenester that works for spin). Keep in mind this was after the new Guns ‘N Roses had ‘toured’ (luckily caught them in Toronto/London) so all the Chinese Democracy leaks were still on my playlist. Something about Deja really connected with me and was instantly hooked. Other than some of Taking Back Sundays big hits, hadn’t followed the whole emo scene out of Long Island as it wasn’t really my thing. It did trigger me to go back and get acquainted with Your Favorite Weapon, Tell All Your Friends, Where you Want to Be etc. Essentially backtracked through that entire scene that I had missed and was dead and gone.

When the Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me was out, picked it up immediately. A big evolutionary step from Deja. Nowadays I tend to listen to that more often than not if I have Brand New on.

I think me being a continuing fan has a lot to do with the fact that Jesse and most of the band are around my age. They have grown a lot more than TBS and others that is for sure. People expecting an album like Deja will be even more disappointed as it is as far from Devil and God as that album was from its predecessor.

Review..

You have to spend a little time to immerse yourself in the grittier, more intense and jabby/sporadic lyrics. More overtly dark than anything they’ve done before.

Funny reading other reviews, because everyone seems to say the same thing. The first track called Vices is a shocker – is this Brand New?? Starts off with an old fashioned song that sounds like it is from the 50’s (“on lifes highway god with thee”; no idea who sings it), then you are greeted with a screamo blast with an intensity that puts you back in your seat. No matter if it wasn’t what I was expecting: it is now a definite favourite after a couple listens. Seems to set the stage for most of the album.

Bed is a dark, slower song that carries a sort of depressing almost Nirvana’ish vibe. I haven’t read too much into the lyrics yet but it does characterize a lot of the feeling you get from the rest of the album.

At the Bottom - The first single – which I thought was immediately catchy, is now the song I listen to the least on the album. Maybe I overplayed it, or maybe it’s polished feeling seems slightly out of place given some of the other tunes. Still great.

Gasoline – goes back to a noisier sound like vices. Intense and hard, full of interesting guitar work.

You Stole – A slower sound that begins by meandering it’s way through some very emotional and deep lyrics, builds up like a static charge with some cool guitar and then comes back down to end amongst the sound of rain.

Be Gone – think some people will be really thrown off by this one. It’s 1:31 long. A heavily distorted voice speaks backed by a twanging western movie’ish guitar melody. Interesting and leads into my favourite half of the album..

Sink – Awesome song!! Starts good and doesn’t let up – gets even harder and more intense near the end. Amazing lyrics. Don’t want to spoil it too much, but so cool.

Bought a Bride: This song has been played on tour and on the net for some time. Sounds great on the album when combined with the new sound. Bought a Bride Acoustic: – Here

Daisy – Favourite song on the CD next to Sink.

In a Jar – Lots of obvious religious references in this song. A strong bass line and a twangy rhythm builds up to another intense finish.

Noro – Last song of the CD. Starting off slow and then comes in with some neat bass. Pretty cool. The lyrics “i’m on my way out” have started some rumours about this being the last cd for the band etc. Not sure what sort of credence I pay to those ideas. Ends with the same song that began the album.

Overall – the album is awesome and I’d recommend it. I haven’t considered them emo for a long time, definitely in the alternative rock genre – but this album solidifies just how far the journey from their original work has taken them musically and lyrically.

Going to see them twice in November, so hoping all of this stuff translates well live.

Buy it.. doesn’t disappoint!

Lots of new music out, lots of cool stuff coming.

c

Finally had the opportunity to try out Resident Evil 5 (for PS3) the way it is meant to be played – co-op with someone else who knows what they are doing. Probably cracked through a good portion of the game and have a feel for what it has to offer [...]]]> On the shelf: Resident Evil 5

Finally had the opportunity to try out Resident Evil 5 (for PS3) the way it is meant to be played – co-op with someone else who knows what they are doing. Probably cracked through a good portion of the game and have a feel for what it has to offer in terms of gameplay.

The graphics are stunning and the cut scenes are integrated nicely into the gameplay ala Metal Gear Solid 4. You get a fairly good indication of the plot from the get go (a standard sort of thing that sometimes has you wishing you could skip the cut scenes). You are being sent to Africa to investigate some strange goings on and from the first level it becomes clear where things are headed. Killing zombies and zombie’ish things and chasing the main bad guy from one shit hole in Africa to another. I haven’t played much of the previous Resident Evil games but apparently it has gone from the survival horror type of style to more of a shoot-em up, fps-action feel. As well as having a partner along to help changes the dynamic. Having the partner means the game should be played co-op, which is why I’ve held off on anything like a review until I’ve had some hours logged with someone else playing with me.

To the general gameplay.. I’m not overly impressed. With Resident Evil 5, I personally find the controls to be a bit cumbersome. This is partially because of the over-the-shoulder camera angle – which can make for some frustration. Because of the camera angle, you are forced to use a red laser-sight that extends from the barrel of your weapon. Takes a bit of getting used to as there are times where the lighting or environment makes it difficult to spot the end of the sight so can tend to over shoot. The only real benefit is that you sometimes are able to see a(lotof) zombie(s) over your shoulder and move before (t)he(y) can latch on. I guess this is done purposefully because enemies come from many directions and a strictly first person view might have you constantly spinning around and getting confused within environment. You start with a pistol and a knife. The RE franchise demands that you conserve ammo (not to mention having to be motionless when u are firing so no strafing) – I guess I can understand this. If ammo was too much in supply it would quickly turn into just a zombie slaughter fest and you would not get as many of the close encounters that define the game. Still I don’t think it’s done particularly well. A half naked zombie with a pick axe dropping machine gun ammo?? There definitely is an identity crisis here. Either make it a survival horror game where you have access to more weapons coming directly from the environment and less gun oriented – or just make it a standard zombie shoot-em up where you aren’t worrying about it.

Melee and close quarters combat is where I was really disappointed. To conserve ammo, you usually just throw in a head shot with a gun and hit square to do a standard melee move (or hit square to stomp on the zombie’s head when it is on the ground). There is no variety and no wide selection of moves that can be used in different situations. You basically rely on your arsenal to disable or dismantle and clunkily hack at them with your knife or til you can punch them (melee only comes up if you have them stunned). Until you get more crowd control weapons (read: shotgun), it can be really frustrating / aggravating to try and muscle your way through a crowd of 10 zombies on all sides. The shotgun and other larger weapons make the basic zombies of the first sections seem trivial and you definitely lose a bit of the suspense from being back on your heels. Again – a sorta mixed up game where there is no consistent feeling.

The inventory system is pretty cool – you can only carry 9 items or so including ammo and hot key them to the directional pad. Handy for switching between your goodies and making sure that you are always using the right tool for the trade. Perhaps a bit oversimplified for no particular reason? You can upgrade guns and buy new toys but the difference isn’t incredibly discernible.

As far as co-op goes, it definitely adds a lot to the game. The inventory system explained above and the need to continuously watch each others back makes for a pretty dynamic and challenging effort. You will constantly have to be controlling your inventory (whoops, I picked up your shotgun shells – here you go) and knocking zombies off of your buddy – or bringing them back to life should they get beaten down. The ammo situation and streams of zombies creates somewhat a sense of urgency but not completely immersing the way I would have hoped.

So the scoop:

Without co-op, I don’t think I would have put much time into the game. I’d just assume play Far Cry 2 or Fallout than RE5. Resident Evil 5 is extremely linear amongst the new generation of games where having freedom/choice within a large fluid environment is the standard. Would I recommend buying it? No. Is it worth a rent to play with a buddy while having some beers? Sure! Not worth the cash it’s selling for when there are better games out there.