Digging in pt. 2

Part II: Playing with friends

So my brother-in-law finds out I have an XBox360 and generously decides to send me one of two games so that we can play online. My choices were Gears of War 2, or Left 4 Dead. I chose Left 4 Dead because the concept appealed to me more than Gears and because my friend (who I will call "William") had it and had been badgering me to buy it as well. So I had gotten together online with William and another friend with the game (who I will call "Jeff") thinking that we would play some L4D but the game had not yet arrived.

I initially convinced them to play some co-op Aegis Wing which is a delightful and might I add free little XBLA game. Bored with that Jeff convinced us to pick up Castle Crashers. I had not anticipated buying anything that night but he promised that if it sucked I could kick him in the nuts the next time I saw him. So we both downloaded the game ans spent the next 4 hours or so with it. Fortunately for Jeff's nuts the game doesn't suck.



If you are unaware Castle Crashers is an old school hack and slash (button mash) side scroller where you play as a knight or any of 20-odd unlockable characters. The fun comes from the frantic action and some small RPG elements. As you grind through the enemies you also grind levels which gives you points to put into speed, strength, defense, and magic. If you play through the story your character will end up around level 30 with probably one of your stats maxed out. You can then continue with that character up to level 99 or play through with someone else. This lends a high replayability to the game because you can choose to specialize in something different each time. There is also an "insane" mode that you can access with any character that's gone though the main game. The part of the game that really sets it apart are the comedic elements. The tone is akin to something you might see on Adult Swim (is that even still on?) with lost of mad-cap poop jokes and references to pop culture. The scene that sticks out in my mind is one in which you ride a deer through a saw mill trying to escape a monster. The deer (apparently due to fear) is propelling itself solely by explosive diarrhea.



So the next day my copy of Left 4 Dead did arrive. I'm not sure I have a lot to say about it. You play a "survivor" making their way through one of four levels going from safe house to safe house (the save points) on your way to some destination that ostensibly will help you escape danger on a more permanent basis. By danger I mean endless swarms of zombies or "infected". The game is fun but you really need 3 friends to get the most out of it. It's designed to be a co-op game and it does a wonderful job of it. Once you've played multiplayer though you really can't enjoy the single player game. At least I couldn't, it just feels... lonely.

I will also point out that the competitive multiplayer mode is the most enjoyable of all. The game has special types of infected that have deadly abilities aside from the normal run-screaming-towards-you-and-eat-your-face attack. In the VS mode four players play special infected and four play as survivors. The survivors play the level as normal but the infected try to stop them. What's great about it that there is a high level of teamwork needed on both sides in order to succeed. Coordinating your abilities into an organized attack with devastating results is a real thrill.

More RSV2 online

Getting a little tired of the bull that goes on in Rainbow Six muliplayer. Mostly I hate that selecting a match based on game mode doesn't always mean you'll be playing that game mode. I find that most of the "attack/defend" or "team leader" games that I join have been convened in disguise and are really team death match games. By this I mean that if you actually try to achieve the objective (such as reaching the extraction point in team leader) it pisses off everybody and gets you yelled at. They don't want to play that way they just want to play deathmatch with the respawn twist that team leader provides. That's fine I guess but it's not an excuse to cop an attitude when someone who just came in thinks you are playing an actual team leader match. Speaking of which, that leads me to my biggest issue. Certain people will host a match and simply have everyone in the room agree not to use a certain weapon. That too is fine, but if you have "allow join in progress" turned on newcomers don't know about the rule and again end up getting whined at. The thing is, you can exclude weapons from use in the game rules and then no one can use them, but no one takes the time to do this, they would rather whine after the fact. The thing that really makes me mad is how common this is. I bought a game with 40-some weapons in it and I'd like to play that game please. One time I got so fed up with finding nothing but pistol-only matches I decided to rebel and just use a sniper rifle... in close quarters. Hey, when you're not scoped in it’s like a pistol! Eventually the whiner booted me. But then I joined another match not realizing that it was the same game only on a different map! After walking up behind the host and executing him with a shotgun I was booted again but the parting shot (pun intended) was well worth it. OH! and speaking of getting weird about weapons, what the hell is wrong with using grenades!!! "Oh wow, you killed me with a grenade, how do you feel?" I feel freaking great knowing that you get pissed when I own your camping ass by being smarter than you. Thanks for asking. Then my absolute favorite is people who talk shit... to their teammates. I had one guy who had died and was spectating me telling me how much I suck. The guy who was DEAD telling me how much I suck. Let that sink in for a while. Oh well, he got to watch me make the winning kill... on a camper... with a grenade.

Ranbow Six Vegas 2 - Reviewed

So I think I mentioned before how Rainbow Six Vegas 2 was a surprisingly good game. Or maybe not surprisingly good but surprisingly enjoyable for me as it is not the type of game I'm usually into (tactical shooters). Though, the elements that I enjoy are the ones that are less tactical shooter and more regular old run around blasting things shooter.

The game has several modes, a story mode, a terrorist hunt mode and several versus modes. The story mode is great, really top notch. There is just enough actual story in it to be worth having one, though you may have to play through a couple times to really get whats going on. Basically you and your team mates are pursuing these mercenaries through Las Vegas trying to stop them from blowing up buildings. The line between terrorist and mercenary is pretty thin here. I suppose the main bad guys are terrorists who have hired an army (and I mean a friggin ARMY) of mercs to basically hang around and shoot at you. There is no shortage of generic tangos to mow down. Where did they get all these guys? Who cares. One thing I will note is that certain points in the game allow you to overhear the enemies as they stand around talking. These conversation are hilarious and well written. I recomend waiting to hear the whole thing before you rush in and take them out.

The campaign will take you through a variety of buildings and streets. It's all urban but there is enough change to keep things interesting. The graphics are great, details are sharp and lighting effects um... light stuff... well. They did a good job delivering the flavor of Las Vegas. The game is an appropriate length, and it's paced well. There are opportunities for sneaking around and sniping, and there are 4 or 5 big set-piece battles. One part of the game has you trying to reach the top balcony of a tall square room full of climbing walls, while the enemy shoots at you from all sides. The final battle is just crazy. Crazy.

The story mode can be played solo or co-op. Co-op is a blast. I had the opportunity to play through the whole thing with a friend (in the same room) when he was visiting. We played for a day and a half strait. We couldn't put it down. Co-op online is pretty fun too. I've played both with people who are willing to talk and coordinate and jerks who don't understand the "cooperative" in co-op. It's a grab bag. Fortunately if you are hosting other people can join you or leave (or get kicked) on the fly, without interrupting the game.

Terrorist hunt, fills one of the many multiplayer maps full of bots and makes you go kill them all. This mode is also a lot of fun despite being quite hard. I found myself trying to figure out the zones that the AI was programmed to. Meaning, the bots will spawn and attack based on where you go with your team, so it becomes a game of fishing. You try to lure them out so you can drop them as they charge out into the open. Trying to through the halls Doom style will result in a quick and brutal end. Hunt can also be played in co-op, which is how I beat some of the levels. Let me tell you. there are some people out there who are VERY good at the fishing method.

Ah, mutiplayer. The adversarial modes are attack/defend, control point, team leader, team deathmatch, and deathmatch. I'm just going to come out and say that I don't like the team modes. As I stated in the first paragraph I'm not a big fan of tactical shooters. This is largely because it's team based and I'm never on the good team. Here is what happens:

"OK match started, now what I am I supposed to do? I guess I'll follow that guy I bet he knows where to go BANG! What?! who the hell shot me? Oh well, respawning. OK I'll go this way this time. Hey there's an enemy BANG! Damn that guy's good. OK, respawning. Maybe this time I'll BANG!!! WTF!!!! I didn't even last 5 seconds!!! Well I'll keep trying, oh wait, I'm out of spawns. Now I get to sit here for 5 min while the big kids play. Screw this."

For the most part I'm exaggerating, but that exact scenario happens more than I'd like. I understand that having limited spawns makes it more challenging and makes for interesting game play, but that's only true if you last long enough to enjoy it. I don't really hate team gameplay either, but it's ment to be a co-op versus co-op kind of experience and when no one works together it tends to suck.

Now deathmatch is more my style. The shift from one game type to the other is for me the shift from newbie to motherfucking specter of doom. I've played me some deathmatch. I understand the universal laws that govern it. One such law is, never stand still. Knowing this law has served me well in RSV2, particularly because most people are used to playing the other modes where hiding behind cover and camping is advantageous. Another thing that I love about DM is that you don't have to know where you are going. While it always helps to know the level, all you really have to do is run around and kill anything that moves. Beauty in simplicity. Of course the best part is that it can be set to unlimited respawns so I spend the maximum amount of time actually playing the game.

Team deathmatch can be cool, I'm not actually against team games (I may have given that impression). However, the host has the capability to put whoever he wants on his team. And they always stack their teams. This wouldn't be too bad (after all I like a challenge) if the spawn points weren't static. Instead of randomly placing you around the map, everyone spawns at their team's spawnppoint. In some levels this is OK but most of them are tucked away in a dead end with one, maybe two exits. So the game goes like this:

The match begins and both teams rush out into the map. Eventually the stronger team makes its way to the other team's spawn point. They wait outside and shoot people as they come out. If they game persisted the dead bodies the weak team would eventually be walled in by their own corpses.

So there are some things I like about this game and some things that really frustrate me but overall it's a great game. I have about 12 games for the system so far and I would place it in the top three. I've even considered buying RSV1 just to give it a try.