August 2006 Edition

[rsstites]

The writers of the Gaming Chronicle will add their video game impressions, reviews, previews, and general opinion columns below this post.

(If you are interested in writing for the Chronicle, then click on the groups link in the header. Then chose the Chronicle usergroup, and then click join.)

[danny12]

Here's the Metal Gear Special i promised

Three many new Metal Gear titles are on the way and with all the major consoles being targeted let's start with the latest in the "Solid" series Metal Gear Solid 4. (I will only be previewing two games)

PS3 Preview - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots

With the new PS3 console on the way it's only fair that Hideo Kojima (The Metal Gear producer) would want to end his series on a high. So he is going to pull out all the stops in this game with the game motto being "No Place To Hide". So far the confirmed charecters for the game are,

Solid Snake
Meryl Silverburgh
Naomi Hunter
Otacon
Colonel Campbell
Liquid Ocelot (Revolver Ocelot, rumored to be completely possesed by Liquid Snake's arm)
Raiden
Mei Ling
Vamp
Johnny Sasaki

Also the E3 poster from 2005 shows us a picture of the body of Big Boss, Snake's, Liquid's and Solidus's genetic father but the purpose of this is still unknown.

Kojima has promised us a new gaming experience as with the PS3 the power has being increased allowing for new experiments. For example, if a building is severely damaged, the resulting sound from a nearby explosion could cause the building to crumble and fall. This is similar to Kojima's attempts to let players "feel the air" in MGS2, using the PS2's power to add airborne dust, density of atmosphere and humidity to the game world. Kojima plans to consult psychiatrists on how to emphasize a "mental battle" between Snake and his enemies, so that "who controls the fear can decide the outcome". The game's trailer hints that the tactical Metal Gears featured in the game are designed to play with Snake's emotions: one unit paws the ground and growls like a bull while hunting for Snake, while another makes cicada noises to create a false sense of security. Continuing with this theme, the soldiers Snake will encounter are not specifically friends or enemies at first - rather, the player's actions towards them will influence how they respond to Snake. In an interview in Edge, Kojima stated that he plans to allow players to have a greater effect on the enemy than just fighting them, allowing alliances and agressions to form and change between Snake and the other parties on the battlefield. Snake will also be partnered with a robotic navigator, remotely by Otacon. Snake will use the Mk. II to communicate with him, serving as a substitute to the CODEC radio system from previous games. Kojima has also commented that the development team will experiment with the idea of controlling the Mk. II via remote control for reconnaissance using the Playstation Portable, although the feature might not be in the final game if it is not considered practical. The game is planned to utilize a new 360-degree third-person camera system in addition to the top-down camera used in the previous three Metal Gear Solid games. An experimental version of this camera system is included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Another feature that debuted in Subsistence, an online battle mode, will also be featured in MGS4.

Continuing but simplifying the camouflage system seen in MGS3, Snake will wear "Octocamo" (named after octopuses' camouflage ability), which will be mimetic and will imitate the appearance of the environment it's in.

In a first for the series, the graphics will emphasize natural movement in actions such as an enemy's discovery of Snake, thus eliminating the need of exclamation marks or question marks as indicators. However, recent interviews suggest that they may be reinstated for nostalgic reasons.


PSP Preview - MGS Portable Ops


Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (officially abbreviated MPO) is an upcoming stealth-based game being published by Konami and developed through Kojima Productions for the PlayStation Portable. During an interview with Famitsu magazine, Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima confirmed that this project was "a completely new Metal Gear Solid" for the PSP and will be part of the series' canon. It will not be a side-story like the previous portable Metal Gear titles (Ghost Babel and the two Metal Gear Ac!d games), nor a remake (like the Mobile Phone versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake). It will be an interquel set between the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and the original Metal Gear, starring Naked Snake (aka Big Boss, who at this point still refuses to accept his new title and admit that he is better than The Boss) during the early days of FOXHOUND. Gameplay will consist of squad-based action, in which the player takes control of several soldiers at once. The game will feature full cinemas and voice acting. The game's graphics will be on par with those of the series' PlayStation 2 installments, but with a lower polygon count. Interestingly enough, not only do Naked Snake, Para-Medic and Major Zero appear as playable characters central to the plot, but in the teaser, Ocelot, EVA and Raikov appear as recruitable characters that will lend him a hand as well. Sigint also appears in the game, supporting Snake via the wireless radio.

The game will also contain a Wi-Fi-enabled multiplayer mode similar to the one in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Like in the main game, the player and his soldiers do not respawn when they get killed. Instead, the player has the choice of becoming a ghost or surrendering to the opposing team, becoming a member of their team. The player's performance in the Online Mode will affect their gameplay in the single player campaign.

The player can recruit the members by using the ad-hoc features of the PSP. Once a member of Snake's squad is killed, he or she cannot be revived and must be recruited once again from the same wi-fi hotspot.

[danny12]

NEWS UPDATE

GTA 4 RUMOR

Grand Theft Auto 4 has now been rumored to use the same graphics engine (RAGE) that Rockstars other game Table Tennis has been using. However Rockstar are yet to confirm that this piece of info is true. Facts about GTA include a release date of October 17, 2007.

Need For Speed Revs its way onto PS3

Need For Speed: Carbon is revving up and this time the series demands you hurtle around canyon tracks with one error of judgement destorying your car into scarp metal and hurtling down the mountainside. The new cars look superb with distant skyscapers glimmering with neon and the moon strokes every curve of your ride. All rides take place at night. There are chances to recuit a racing crew who will block or ram enemy drivers for you with simple commands available from the D-Pad. And you can still blow up gas stations to hinder the cops.


GTA: Vice City Stories

Loads of new rumors about this game have emerged recently. The game could possibly be set straight after the end of Vice City showing Tommy Vercettis rule over the city. The lead character could be Lance Vance however this would mean that the game would be set before Vice City as well all know SPOILERS


Lance is killed in the last mission.

There may also be new multiplayer modes included. Helicopters are rumored to be making an appearance however it may be hard as the PSP may not be able to handle loading so many buildings during flight at once. Some features from San Andreas like Swimming, Eating and Customisastion may be carried over. So basically we are looking at a revved up Vice City just like Liberty City and we all know how popular that was.

[rickjames]

Confirmed Guitar Hero II Songs!
(From Guitar Hero Forums)

1. You Really Got Me - Van Halen
2. Strutter - KISS
3. Who was in my room last night - Butthole Surfers
4. Warpigs - Black Sabbath
5. Arterial Black - Drist
6. Psychobilly Freakout - Reverand Horton Heat
7. YYZ - Rush
8. John the Fisherman - Primus
9. Shout At The Devil - Motley Crue
10. Madhouse - Anthrax
11. Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots

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Emergence Day Revealed--- The long-awaited Gears of War will be released in North America on November 12, 2006. Can't wait!

[rickjames]

Call of Duty 2 --Xbox 360

I know it's kind of late, but since it hasn't been done on this site before, might as well.
Story
If you already know what this game is about, you may be thinking “Wow, just another World War II game”, but Call of Duty 2 is one of the best you will find. Picture arriving on a boat to the shore of Normandy while beautiful rich sound of fire is all around you as you see your comrades dying. When you reach the shore you fall unconscious but quickly regain consciousness and continue up the mountain. The story takes you from the cold Stalin Grad defending the Motherland to crossing the Rhine and covers three campaigns that incorporate the Russians, Brits, and Americans. You play as different people spanning from Sergeants to Tank commanders and the diaries in between loading times fill you in on the status of the character you are playing. Before every mission there is also a real video of the war that is surprisingly interesting. Naturally, the game covers the classic battles such as D-day. Even though you play as many different characters during the game, the videos link the stories and explain the campaigns.

Gameplay

Call of Duty 2, as you may have already guessed, is a first person shooter that concentrates on cover and fire tactics. You are given different objectives which are marked on your radar that you must complete in any way you want in order to continue. The objectives are all unique and you never feel that it is getting repetitive It’s this non-linear gameplay that makes it fun. You can go in blazing through the front door, or you can throw some grenades through the window and sneak in past the back door, it’s your choice. Each nation has their own guns, ranging from the pistol to the rocket launcher. Although they are only slightly different from each other, they do add to the realism of the game. The crosshairs disappear when you run and appear when you stop. You can also put the gun up to your shoulder for a slightly zoomed view, which sometimes pays off. Your teammates aren’t exactly the smartest but they do come in handy sometimes even though most of the time you have to go and do all the work before they come. They do throw back grenades and warn you of grenades as well as instruct you when to throw smoke grenades. To add to variety there are missions in which you drive tanks, although they aren’t the most fun. Occasionally you are set in the back of a truck defending it from attack.

The best part about this game is that it feels like you are actually in the war, one soldier in thousands. As you run, defended by a tank, fellow soldiers are also running and getting shot, shooting, and dying.

Call of Duty 2 offers different difficulties from Easy to Veteran, although the only challenging difficulties are hardened and Veteran.


Graphics

The Call of Duty graphics are amazing especially on HDTV. The faces of enemies and allies are surprisingly detailed. Even when played on a regular tv, the graphics are above average. When you hit someone with a bullet from far away, you know you hit them from the blood that spurts from their body. The environments are also detailed. When driving in the desert, you can see how humid it is in the air.

Controls

The controls are responsive and similar to all first person shooters.

Sound

The sound in Call of Duty 2 makes you feel as though you are actually at war with guns blazing all around you. You can hear when everyone is shooting and where they are shooting from.

Online

Online includes classic modes such as Team deathmatch, deathmatch, and capture the flag. It also has a headquarters mode in which you play in a offence, defense based match in which if you take control of a randomly placed headquarters, you have to defend it, and if the other team does, you have to take it from them by either killing all the enemies or by standing in a specific spot for a certain period of time. There are ranked matches but they only increase your Tru-skill ranking which means that most people just play player matches. Unlike the first Call of Duty, you can actually survive without using a sniper online because there are maps in which certain weapons are best. The only bad part is that many annoying kids play, but nothing can be done about that. There’s always the mute button.

Replay-Value

The only replay value is if you beat the game on something other than Veteran the first time and you want to get the achievements as most of the achievements involve beating the levels on Veteran difficulty.

Final Word

If you are looking to pick up a great 360 shooter and possibly the best World War II game, this is the one to get.

Score
8.8/10

Reviewed by Rickjames
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Achievements

1. Complete basic training.
2. Complete Winter Of The War on Veteran.
3. Complete Not One Step Backwards on Veteran.
4. Complete Fortress Stalingrad on Veteran.
5. Complete El Alamein on Veteran.
6. Complete Rommel's Last Stand on Veteran.
7. Complete The Tank Squadrons on Veteran.
8. Complete D-Day on Veteran.
9. Complete Battle of Caen on Veteran.
10. Complete Hill 400 on Veteran.
11. Complete Crossing The Rhine on Veteran.
12. Complete Single Player Campaign.
13. Complete Single Player Campaign on Veteran or Hardened.

[rickjames]

Saints Row Preview

I got my hands on the Saints Row demo for the 360 and I must say that this looks like it's going to be one of the best rip offs of GTA yet. The game lets you personalize your whole character almost as much as Oblivion from the width of your chin to the tattoos on your body. If you've never played GTA (shame on you) Saints Row is an open ended game that lets you start missions whenever you want and roam around the big city doing whatever you want. You get stars for doing bad things and respect for helping your gang.

You start the game by trying to proove yourself to the Saints, a local gang, by fighting the other gang members in hand to hand combat and getting your ass beat. Once you get into the gang you can recruit people to help you and follow you around and as the game progresses you can recruit more and more. Saints Row has similar buildings as GTA offering a "conffesional" where you pay to lose the stars you gain by doing bad things as well as food places to restore your health.

There will also be online play where you fight other gangs and the best part is that everyone will look unique.

The controls are similar to GTA but there is no lock on system you control your aim with the right analog stick which works well; kind of like Mercenaries. There is a specific button for kick and one for punches. The controls are smooth.

The grahics are amazing. When a car explodes anyone near it wil catch on fire, although they do have their semi-cartoony look.

If you can't wait for the next GTA you should pick this one up as it looks to be one of the best games for the 360 this year.

[Hockeydude121]

Rockstar’s Table Tennis

Background:
When I first saw the title of this game, I first thought of ping pong, probably by far one of my favorite table-style games such as pool, darts, etc. The next thing I noticed right away was that the game was produced by Rockstar. After noticing this, I was worried and glad at the same time. As everyone in the video game industry knows, Rockstar has produced such violent and “controversial” games such as the Grand Theft Auto series, the Midnight Club series, and The Bully, where you play as a bully(which has yet to be released). On the positive side, I know that all of those games(besides The bully) are really solid games, and give a relaxing and fun experience. On the negative side, they are also games that aren’t represented to be the most positive games, and since San Andreas’ “hot coffee” mod, have been getting a lot of negative media feedback.

Gameplay:

This game has probably the best gameplay imagine-able for the 360. If I were to make a table tennis game for the 360, I couldn’t have thought of better controls. It was simple, to curve the ball right, you hold B. To go right, simply hold X, to hit the ball up, press Y, and finally, to hit the ball softly, press the A button. To direct the ball, all you simply had to do was point in which direction with the left analog stick where you wanted the ball to go. The only downside to all of this, was that sometimes if I over-anticipated the ball coming to me, I tended to move the character, more than I should have, but it didn’t happen enough to be a problem.
I also thought Rockstar did a really good job with how the ball didn’t non-realistically move across the table. The ball had rarely ever bugged on me, except for a couple times because of server lag online(which is another topic). This made me, personally really fall in love with the game. And, the story mode was pretty cool, although there weren’t any in-game trailers, videos, etc, which wasn’t good, but I still thought the tournament idea was pretty cool. I did feel, however, that the tournaments were quite repetitive, but again, that’s why there are cheat codes.
Overall, I have to give the gameplay of this game a MAJOR plus, in my opinion, they could not have produced a better game, for how the actual game of table tennis is played. If they had made it unrealistic, it would have been boring, and not as much fun to play.

Graphics:

I thought the graphics to this game, were very solid. I did think there might have been a little bit of improvement, but I think for generation 1 of the Xbox 360, it was solid, and almost graphically flawless. I actually found this game easier to play, on a smaller television. They had different arenas, and it was kinda boring unlocking all of them, because it required winning a game a certain way, but all in all, I really liked them.


Online:
If I had to pick the worst part about this game, online would definitely be it, and the ironic part to this, is that the online was so much fun. You join a lobby, making your own gameplay rules(such as points, games, etc), then after you play someone you get to choose your own character and arena. HERES THE CATCH, you could only play online with characters you had unlocked in the game. For me, this was a very good idea made by rockstar, because if I ever played against noobs who just bought the game, I could play on Mark(the last unlockable character) and own them.
One major flaw I found in this game’s online play, was the fact that you couldn’t challenge people to play against you, I.e. your friends. That, and you couldn’t really tell what you were up against. If they had made a system close to that of Halo 2, a sort of level/ranking system, where you can only play against people in your “ranking”, I think it would have made for a better online experience.

Final Word:
Definitely a rent, the game rocks, but its kinda short. You can unlock all the characters by beating the computer to 7, 50 times. Then you go online and own all the little noobies(hehe).

I give this game a rating of

8.5/10

[Hockeydude121]

MMORPGs (The in-depth analysis)

With every MMO(Massively Multiplayer(Role-Playing Game)), there is a definite sense of addiction. In the following report, you will read hardcore facts on what MMOs can do to a person, and why they are and aren’t good for the every day person. In this report, I am going to be mostly talking about World of Warcraft, the reason being, is I am an experienced WoW player, and have been around the block in the game, and then some.
Some of the positive things from these games are it’s a nice social interaction with players all over the country, and in some cases, all over the world. You can tell people in game, what you couldn’t tell that same person in real life. The reason for this is, because 99.9999% of the time, you will never meet this person. Although in some instances, you will, the only way this could ever occur, is if you already knew them, or you had scheduled a meeting with the other person(which I can gladly say, I have never done).
Most guilds will have a website, with a forum, where all of the players can talk about raid strategies, talk about their real life(of course, if they’re hardcore players, they probably don’t have one). I found this to be a little bit of fun, and I found it kind of interesting that the game can stretch outside of just being a game. Which, is what I would like to discuss next, the negativity, social depression, and time consumption of the game.
Some of the more negative things are of course the addiction. What most people don’t know, is that once you would have normally in another game, beaten it(gotten to the level capacity), the game is over. This however, is not true of WoW, or any of the other major MMOs. For Example, and I’m going to reference everything off of WoW, when you get to level 60(the level cap. In WoW), there are raid instances such as Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Onyxia, and Naxxarammas.
All of the “end-game content” is almost necessary to really enjoy the game, and it’s the only way to get the best gear in the game, unless you PvP(Player Versus Player, where you try to gain honor by doing various battles against factions, such as the Horde and Alliance, as there is in WoW). Even if you choose to go the PvP route, it takes literally 24/7 of playing PvP to get to the best, and get the best PvP gear in the game. In a “hardcore raiding guild” people spend 6+ hours a night(usually 6-12 p.m. server time), doing instances and getting gear.
A MAJOR example of a guild that would be hardcore is Disposable Heroes of Aggrammar, my home server. If you read their “guild charter”(http://www.disposableheroes.net/charter.php) you will find out how obsessive some of these people get. I always found hardcore raiding really hard for me. I tried a summer of it, and it really made my summer suck. When I think of how this previous summer went, I can’t really think of anything, the reason being, is because I was on the game every single night. For some people, its relaxation, they play with their wives/husbands, but for a teenager, spending 1/4th of your life playing a video game, is just too much.
Sure, it was nice for a while, getting some really nice gear, and having the little noobs looking up to me, but in the long run, it hurt my social life, and most of all, it made me depressed for no real reason. As shown, in the previously mentioned guild website, they mention that they raid 6 out of 7 nights, from 6-11:30. At that point, to me, it becomes a chore, something you HAVE to do, not something you want to do.
If you really want my opinion, just don’t start playing. Its not worth the time or energy to reach the level capacity. I hear of stories, from people I know in-game, that commit suicide, divorce cause they’re spouse was cheating with someone they met in-game, its just not worth it. Unless you really have the dedication, and have no life, in my opinion, this game is not for you. Unless you can really be sure you will be a casual player, like I thought I could be, you need to stay away from it. Its like cocaine, once you start, its hard to stop, and once you stop, you feel really out of it for a couple of weeks. I stopped..trust me, just don’t start.

[rickjames]

Just Cause Preview- Xbox 360

I got my hands on the Just Cause Demo, downloadable over the marketplace for free, and I must say that this game looks impressive.

The game starts off with a cutscene in which you, playing as Rico, are on a beautiful island with bright sand and exotic plants. Right off the bat, you start off freefalling onto an enemy's car. You can press A to open your parachute or you can just freefall and land on the car. Your objective is the kill four crooks, each of them defended by the island's police.

Just Cause is a third person shooter. They added an auto-aim feature in which you can press the right bumper to switch targets, but the game automatically auto-aims on your closest target. The environment is open. You can steal anything including cars, motorcycles, boats, and helecopters. Your character has the ability to land on top of cars and go in them, and even jump from car to car. When on top of the car, in stunt mode, you are able to jump and open up your parachute. Also, while on top, you can still control the vehicle, which seems unrealistic.

From the looks of the demo, Just Cause is similar to GTA in the sense that you can roam around when you want and do the mission when you decide to, although the demo didn't provide lots of things to do while roaming around.

One of the coolest features in Just Cause is that you shoot enemies' gernades in mid air and even shoot your own while it is in the air.

The main falt with the gameplay was that it is almost impossible for the AI to kill you by shooting at you, and this is probably due to the fact that this is a demo.

The graphics in Just Cause are vibrant and bright. The best visuals are seen in the beach and water, especially when under the water. The buildings and such look bland, but that could be fixed by the time the game comes out.

The controls take some getting used to as they are not similar to many games and most people arn't used to them, but they arn't too difficult.

Overall, Just Cause looks like it's going to be one of the suprises this year next to Hyped Games like Gears of War.