Orange Box Domination
I just recently finished up everything in The Orange Box. First I tackled Portal (one of the best games ever in its own right). Then I played through the original Half-Life 2 again. I had played it once on the PC a while ago, but my PC was so shoddy that it wasn’t very exciting. I then beat Episodes 1 and 2 over the weekend. HL2: Episode One was something of a disappointment. It has some gameplay elements that add to the experience of HL2, but overall, I don’t really enjoy fighting only zombies in the dark. Episode Two was a total delight to play, a tremendous improvement over both previous games, in my opinion. The hunters in Episode Two have the potential to be something more annoying than exciting (a la the Flood in Halo…), but they only show up occasionally and actually provide awesome battles. The AI is pretty incredible, they’ll chase you around and if you hide in a certain room of a building they can’t get to, they’ll go outside and cap you through the window. Valve has also proven to be the master of building gigantic set-pieces and immersing you in the action; sometimes you may have control over the scene, others are interactive “cut-scenes” that you’re watching from the ground. Episode Two’s environments also show off the Source engine in ways the first two games couldn’t. Because the setting is mainly the White Forest between City 17 and the research facility you’re trying to reach, and you cross miles of landscape in a bitchin’ ride, Ep. 2 takes the opportunity to wow you with some sick visuals.
Up next: Call of Duty 4.
The Ultimate Halo Ebay Auction
This eBay auction is insane. Basically everything under the Halo sun, including Bill Gates’ autograph on your 360. His signature looks like a 2nd grader.
A sick noseblunt in skate.
Extreme Close-Ups in Live Maps
Within the last week or so, Microsoft has uploaded about 3.8 terabytes of new hi-res aerial imagery to their Live Maps service. This seems like it’ll really put the screws to Google to get more advanced with their Google Maps service. However, I still believe Google’s got all their competitors beat in terms of the look and feel of their application. It just feels a lot smoother and faster than Live Maps, Mapquest, and Yahoo! Maps. They’re also coming along on their Mobile Maps and direction finding features. This ultrasharp aerial stuff from Microsoft is very impressive, though, and because it’s oblique it’s much easier to pick out landmarks in the cities. Here’s a side-by-side comparison at the closest zoom of the Westin Peachtree in Atlanta:
Google Maps
Microsoft Live Maps
via Download Squad
Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade
So there have been a couple of new releases now on the VC and XBLA… those being Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Alien Hominid HD. Super Mario World is basically a given, one of the most enjoyable platformers ever. Ocarina of Time is awesome, mainly because I never got to finish that game (I never actually owned a Nintendo 64, so it was a pain in the ass to play it).
And Alien Hominid HD is a high-def revision of the popular web flash game developed by The Behemoth, Inc. I’m stoked to get that Alien Hominid download, looks really awesome. But even better is The Behemoth’s next title, Castle Crashers. Looks f’ing sick. Check the sample after the jump.
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Crackdown on Coleman
So I just picked up my preordered copy of Crackdown yesterday, as well as a used copy of Viva Pinata. Crackdown is everything I knew it would be. After playing the demo repeatedly for weeks, I finally get to keep the skills that I’ve earned.
The intro video is the best I’ve seen in a long time. It really gets you hooked right off the bat with the narrator’s first line, “Everything has gone to shit.” It then goes into an explanation of the rampant crime in Pacific City and what The Agency has done to combat it: use dubious methods of human genetic modification (research stolen from one of the Shai-Gen scientists) to create superhuman, practically invincible agents to unleash paths of destruction throughout the city. That’s your only goal. Destroy everyone. You’re then thrown right into the whole of the city without having to unlock ANYTHING, at least directly. I guess some components you sort of have to “unlock” by collecting agility orbs so that you can reach certain heights that are initally unobtainable.
Throw that deuce and a half!
One of the most attractive elements to the game are the achievements. Nearly all the achievements center around the “sandbox” elements of the game. Things like “juggle a body with explosives for 10 seconds”, “do crazy stunts in a car”, “reach the top of the Agency tower”, et cetera. Of course there are some achievements for taking out the kingpins, killing certain numbers of gang members, and upping your skills, but a good majority have nothing to do with your central role in Pacific City: taking out the gangs.
I would give this game an 8/10 for gameplay, plus 1 for being better than GTA, plus 1 more for the size of the explosions. Kick ass. Oh yeah, here’s a gratuitous explosion video:
Time for some Oblivion!
I need to get crackin’ on some Oblivion. Crackdown comes out soon, then Assassin’s Creed, Bioshock, and Mass Effect! What am I gonna do?!
Windows Live Writer
This is my first experimental post with the new Windows Live Writer from Microsoft. Seems like a neat tool, kind of reminds me of the old LiveJournal desktop writer from about 6 years ago. I’ve thought for a while that the Wordpress interface (though very slick) is pretty clunky for adding images and HTML. Though this thing appears to not be able to categorize the posts… guess I’ll have to login to Wordpress for that. I’ll keep messing around and see how I like this guy.