Vivek’s Blog

So, let’s talk about Gears of War, shall we?

If I had to describe the game in one word, I would say that it was brilliant. Not a very good adjective but then again, one word is not enough for a game this good. Truly next-gen graphics coupled with exciting and engaging gameplay make this game one of the best out there, period. It’s as if Epic took the best elements of shooters over the years and put them in a blender with terrific graphics and unique gameplay mechanics. The result was a delicious serving of Gears.

The single-player campaign is fairly short - 7-10 hours on the easiest difficulty. You could probably cut that time further if you played co-op with a friend over Xbox Live, via System Link, or splitscreen on the same system. But whichever you play it, it’s short-lived. That’s one of two complaints I had the game. The other has to do with the A button. More on that later. The setup for the game is simplistic - humans have inhabited a planet known as Sera and things are all hunky-dory until Emergence Day. You see, an alien race known as the Locust has been digging under human settlements for years and finally, one bright Sunday afternoon, they decide to emerge. The emergence wrecks the planet and brings humanity to the brink of extinction on Sera. But valiant soldiers, known as Gears, continue a long, bloody battle with the Locust in an attempt to save humanity. You play Marcus Fenix, a Gear who was thrown into prison 14 years ago for disobeying orders. But now, as Coalition forces face a tough battle, you are freed by old friend Dominic Santiago and you rejoin the forces against the Locust. Your job is to basically destroy the Locust along with Dom, and other AI soldiers.

The game is played from a third-person perspective but the controls feel just like they would in an FPS. This is NOT a run-and-gun shooter - you need to fight intelligently by taking cover, choosing the right weapons, and paying attention to visual clues. Taking cover is definitely the best part about this game. If you see any barrier, get close to it and press A to take cover. You can pop out of cover to shoot and throw grenades. All weapons have a little zoom where you hold the gun close to aim better. You can roll around free areas by hitting A. If you are behind cover that’s not very tall, you can hit A to jump over it. You can also do a “roadie run” where you duck and run. You cannot use your weapons and lose a bit of control while doing this. Of course, this is also controlled by the A button. You see where the problem is? A controls too many things and although it simplifies the control scheme, it can make life hard at times. For example, if you doing a roadie run by holding down A and you run into a barricade, Marcus will take cover automatically. Same with rolling. It’s not a major annoyance, but it’s difficult in the final boss battle and in a few areas in the game.

But it’s a minor flaw. It doesn’t take away from the game too much. The weapons system is very rigid. You can carry four weapons: one pistol, 4 frag grenades, and any two other guns such as the Lancer (with a chainsaw to boot!), Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Torque Bow, etc. You cannot throw away the pistol and grenades for other weapons, unfortunately. But it’s fine. You can actually see where the two larger guns sit on the back of the soldiers and you don’t have to wonder how they manage to carry a dozen weapons without even a backpack!

There are some really cool things you can do in this game. For example, the chainsaw on the Lancer is an awesome melee weapon. You can also melee with a frag grenade: stick it into a Locust and run! Then watch him explode to bits. All the other weapons can be swung to smack people in the face for melee attacks. The Torque Bow is a great charge-up kind of weapon. You point it at a target and let it charge up and then let go of the trigger. It will shoot a charge that will stick to the target and then blow up. And before I forget, allow me to talk about the Hammer of Dawn.

If you’ve played UT2004, you are probably familiar with the Ion/Target Painter. The Hammer works in a similar fashion. When the Hammer is online, point the gun at a target and keep the trigger pressed. In a short while, a satellite hovering above will fire down a powerful laser beam. This weapon is intended for larger enemies like the Beserkers and Seeders. You need open space and the satellite to be online for this. The last Act of the game is on a moving train. TimeSplitters 3 did that and I believe GoldenEye was the game to have a train level. Act 5 is a great way to wrap things up. The climax however, drops more than a hint about a sequel. There rumors of Gears becoming a trilogy, a la Halo. I think it will help Microsoft once Halo 3 is done. Then, Gears will be the new game to watch out for. I guess Gears of War 3 will come out for the Xbox 720.

Multiplayer is a little underwhelming but engrossing. You can go up against a friend via system link or splitscreen or hop on to Xbox Live to join the insanity. Epic says there is downloadable content coming our way soon and I hope it’s good! Heck, I’m eagerly waiting for UT2007. It uses the same Unreal 3 engine and if Gears and UT2004 are any indication, it will be another mind blowing game.

So, in conclusion, GoW is a great game. Even if the single-player is short, the experience is exciting and definitely worth the time and money. Xbox Live expands the experience and will leave you clamoring for more Locust to kill. If you have a 360 and don’t have GoW, then well, you might as well return that 360 or donate it to a kid who will actually play Gears. It’s a crime not to.

PS: Finals start on Monday and I’ll be on my way back to India Thursday night. Most probably no more updates until I get home which will the 23rd provided everything goes as planned. Man, I couldn’t be more happier that the semester’s coming to a close. It’s been the most difficult one so far and probably a fair indication of what’s to come at Columbia next fall. Hopefully next semester won’t be as bad.

There, now the title makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it?

So, after months of waiting, the Wii finally arrived last Sunday. Wii’ve had it for a wiik and wii are addicted to it. Wii Sports is an amazing game - provides workouts and gets everyone to get up from their chair and do some physical work. Zelda looks great and expansive. My limbs are tired from Wii Sports. And although I would rather go play some Wii Baseball, I must write this entry.
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I’ve had my DS for almost two weeks now so I thought it was appropriate to pen my thoughts on this console. I waited twice to buy it. Once, for a redesign that would take care of some minor issues with the original DS and then again for a color other than white. White’s good and all but honestly, with everyone including Apple slapping that shiny white on iPods and iMacs it has become sort of annoying. And then those iPod accessories, again designed to fit the looks of the player are also usually white. So, I wanted something different. I saw Japan had a Black and Navy Blue DS to go with the White so I waited.

Finally, Nintendo decided to release Black and Pink on September 12. I rushed (well, all right, I ambled) to the EB store in the mall here to place a pre-order for the black DS. Then, I spent a week deciding what games I wanted to get with my DS. I knew I wanted to get Mario Kart for sure but couldn’t settle on a second one. Finally, I decided to get Mario Hoops 3-on-3 which came out a day earlier. So off we went to the mall on the day and picked up my DS with the games. Also got a year-long replacement guarantee from EB - just in case.

Got back to the room and quickly unpacked the DS and fired it up. The black, sleek, DS Lite is sexy. The bright screens stand out against the black background. The button setup is simple. You get four keys on the right (A, B, X, Y) and an 8-way D-Pad on the left. There are shoulder buttons, on on either side plus a Start button and a Select button. These two have been moved over to the bottom right and are fairly tiny. Can be hard to press at times but you rarely need them anyway. The power button is along the right side while the volume slider is on the front side. The microphone is located between the two screens while the stylus sits nicely on the right underside. The package also includes an extra stylus plus the charger. You can actually get yourself a miniUSB-to-USB cable to charge it from a USB port. It takes about 4 hours for a full charge but you can play games while you charge it.

After initial setup, you need to turn off the DS and then you restart it with a game inside to start playing. The basic menu lets you choose between the game in the DS slot, GBA slot, PictoChat, or Download Play. Pictochat lets you use the wireless to chat with images you can draw with people around you. You can also play certain games multiplayer without actually owning a cartridge for you system by using “Download Play.” At certain retailers, you can download content for your games. I popped in Mario Kart DS and it looked SO MUCH better on the Lite than it did on the original DS. The buttons feel a little loose but you get used to them real quick. The stylus feels good in the hand and works flawlessly. The tiny speakers fake surround sound pretty well. The GBA slot has a cover when you are not playing any GBA games. The battery lasts for 5-8 hours depending on what you run on it. For graphically-intensive games such as Mario Hoops, it will top out around 6 hours. WiFi use cuts the life short but not drastically. With regular games like Mario Kart, you can easily get 8-9 hours out of it. Wonder what method CNET used whn they declared the PSP as having greater battery life than the DS.

The system has two processors, either of which can power either screen. Each screen displays 262k colors and as it well-known, the bottom one is a touchscreen. While a lot of games use the touchscreen to show useful maps, more and more games are actively using it. For example, games like Starfox and Mario Hoops make extensive use of the touchscreen and demand a certain amount of dexterity with it.

Short Game Reviews:

1. Mario Kart: This is a really fun racing title. For those who have played Mario Kart on the N64/GCN/GBA will take an instant liking to this new avatar. It even includes tracks from previous titles if you want to relive those good times. There are a number of game modes that promise endless fun. Under Single-Player, you have Grand Prix, Time Trials, Vs., Battle, and Missions. All are well-done and the unlockables will keep you going for hours and hours. Certainly one of the best games for the DS and a must-buy even though it came out a year ago!

2. Mario Hoops 3-on-3: Mario has been in a number of sports titles like Soccer, Tennis, and Baseball. With Hoops, he invades the world of basketball with his pals. The game looks absolutely gorgeous and is another fun game to play. The game uses the touchscreen for an innovative control scheme. Other than moving your player on court or switching players, everything is controlled by the stylus. Gameply mechanics are good except for the clumsy switching system. It’s ok when you switch to the wrong player on the easy mode but when it happens in hard, the game punishes you with a high-scoring basket. That is pretty much my only gripe about the game. If you want to see what the DS can do, then this is the game you need to get.

Both games support wireless multiplayer and two DSes connect seamlessly with each other. There is no lag and you can’t tell you are playing wirelessly. It’s great if you can get 4 players together for a game of Mario Kart!

I knew the DS had great potential when they first announced it but I had my doubts due to the bulk and two-screens. However, the DS has come out with flying colors and the DS Lite has pushed the envelope further by offering a sleeker package. The selection of games is way better than the PSP and as an added bonus, you can play old GBA games. At an affordable $130, this system is a great buy and games are cheaper than other consoles. The DS is great for a quick game in between classes or if you are bored. With the CF/SD media player attachments on their way, the DS gets expanded functionality. If my DS were a lady, I’d make love to her. Wouldn’t you?

I’m back to doing what I do best - playing FPSes. OK, so I was exaggerating. But rest assured, what you are about to read is no exaggeration and every word of it indeed true. Go on, try it. I ain’t lying.

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The Need For Speed series has, over the years, given games such as Hot Pursuit (NFS 3) and NFS Underground (NFS 7). EA’s Canada division churns out a new game every year. While each game gets graphical updates that make it look better, gameplay is constantly modified to try and provide different gaming experiences. So how does EA’s latest effort rank? Do the modifications make this a good game?
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