Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-17-2010
Posted in Editorials
I’ve been working my way through Splinter Cell: Conviction this week. The first few nights I would play a mission and then move over to some Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Last night, however, I couldn’t put it down. I put in a good 5 hours last night and loved every minute of it.
I had a moment of just “WOW!” during one sequence early on in my session. There’s a scene where you’re infiltrating a building. You come in through the top of the building and I found myself standing at a doorway. I peeked under the door and found a half dozen guards in a well lit environment. With stealth in mind, this is seemingly a tough instance to get through. I looked to my right and noticed a window. So I jumped out the window and strafed across the ledge to the other room. I marked two of the enemies, equipped my remote mines, opened a window towards the back of the room, and prepared to take down the house. I tossed a mine against the wall where I had opened the window and performed an execute on the two marked targets. As soon as that happened, the rest of the guards were alerted to my position. I strafed down the ledge a bit to get out of my known position. Once the guards came to the window, I detonated the mine. As the remaining guards closed in on my position, I performed hand to hand take downs on them, as they fell from the window. With the room clear, I jumped into the room from the window ledge, and moved forward.
Now that was an awesome sequence to the game and one that really got me hooked. Once you learn to think about alternative routes that aren’t glaringly obvious, the game really opens up for you. Since then, I’ve had a number of similar experiences. So many instances of just amazing fun.
Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-16-2010
Posted in Editorials
I played more of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 last night and really enjoyed myself. Let’s face it, Battlefield competes directly with Modern Warfare 2. Modern Warfare 2 is a great game and the single player was amazingly fun. But Battlefield’s multiplayer experience destroys Modern Warfare 2. I’ve always referred to the multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 as perfect for those with ADHD. It’s basically like this: spawn, shoot, die. Rinse and repeat for about 15 minutes and that’s about it. It all happens so fast it just becomes dizzying after awhile.
Battlefield feels far more realistic. Sure, you still die, and as a newbie myself, I’m dying a lot. But what happens between deaths feels so much more involved and important. I sent Kevin, co-founder of Console Racing Review, an email this morning about my experience last night:
I had a pretty awesome match in BF and literally had a “whoa” moment. I was defending a flag position, took out a few foot soldiers, had a dude on an ATV roll up on me and we had a little firefight. Neither of us died and we ended up finding cover. I was in the corner of a building and everything started to shake. I peeked out around the wall, half of which had been blown away in an earlier battle, and saw a tank rolling towards the flag. I quickly strolled backwards into the corner, kind of scared and thinking about my next move. The tank saw me and blasted the building. The building shook, dust was falling all around me, and all of a sudden the wall behind me was gone. My jaw dropped and I busted ass to the next room for cover. Before I could reach the doorway I was killed by the gunner.
That’s what makes Battlefield an experience and not just a run and gun shooter.
Posted by Chris Stewart on 04-14-2010
Posted in Editorials
I’m back to some console games after a 2 month love affair with World of Warcraft. The one big problem with WoW, for me at least, is that it’s an all or nothing thing. When I have my WoW phases I pretty much only have enough gaming time and interest to play it, and nothing more. As it often happens, I get bored or burnt out of it after a few months and go back to console games.
Yesterday I visited my local Gamestop with a bunch of older games I have no interest in playing again. I walked out with Splinter Cell: Conviction, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and a pre-order for Red Dead Redemption. I wasn’t able to spent a lot of time in these just yet, but I’m really digging Splinter Cell so far. There are a bunch of seriously innovative aspects to the game and the stealth mechanic is just awesome. Only 2 missions in, but enjoying it so far. With Battlefield, I had even less time, only a single multiplayer match, but I think I’m going to dig it.
I’m still due for a Mass Effect 2 review and I will get back to finishing that game up. I had put in a good ~27 hours before WoW sucked me back in, and I absolutely plan to finish it. I also picked up Forza 3 the other night for some quick and fun racing action.
Stay tuned, I’ll have reviews coming soon!
