I was psyched for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 by EA Digital Illusions to come out, I can say that much. However, while in the end I liked it and was rewarded in time, it turned out to be for completely different reasons.

The gameplay remains quite similar to the first one, but with some improvements. The ridiculous healing stick that made you almost impossible to kill in the original has been done away with and replaced instead with a more Call of Duty-esque take-cover-and-slowly-regain-health system. Additionally, buildings are now completely destroyable, as opposed to just being able to destroy walls, one of the things that made the first Battlefield: Bad Company feel rather fake. Unfortunately, the most ridiculous thing from the first game in my opinion, the forcing of you to constantly switch weapons in and out to collect all of them, has not been replaced. The game has not even decided to be nice enough to put a name above a gun’s symbol when you are standing over it, instead it has an indecipherable sillouhete of the weapon, which manages to tell you almost nothing. However, the game is certainly playable, and blowing up enemy’s cover is more fun that ever.

The thing that I was looking forward the most to, was, to be honest, the single-player campaign, or to be more accurate, the hilarious back and forth dialogues of the members of B Company. What I got was okay, but nothing near what I was expecting. While the jokes is still there if you look for them, they are far fewer and farther in between than they used to be there. On top of this, the plotline is not the ridiculous adventures that it was in the original Battlefield: Bad Company, but is instead a more serious plotline that also manages to be extremely confusing in the process. As a result, the singleplayer is playable, but not the amazing laugh out loud trip that it was in the original Battlefield: Bad Company.

The graphics are good, though ironically they are more cartoony than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as in all other respects Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is the more realistic of the two, with destroyable terrain and realistic recoil. The voice acting is good for the majority of the game, but the first “flash-back” level that does not feature any of the main characters has rather bad voice acting.

The multiplayer is the real gem of the game. It trumps several different fun game modes, and because of the nature of the destroyable terrain and the necessity of teamwork to win, every round is truly completely different, and it is extremely enjoyable. Additionally, the upgrade system is more balanced than that of its main competitor Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it makes it fun to play even at the lower levels. On top of this is the necessity of different roles in the game; in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, you can truly play the game how you want, whether that be by using vehicles, sniping, playing an assault class, or healing your friends, as opposed to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in which there is really only one way to play the game (or at least a given map).

All in all, the multiplayer alone is worth the price tag, the rest of the game being just window dressing for it.

Overall Score: 9/10 Buy

IGN has the scoop; 6 Days in Fallujah is coming out after all. After being dropped by their would-be publisher, Konami, who was scared of the controversy, and losing most of their staff, Atomic Games looked like it was not going to come through with their Iraq war game, 6 Days in Fallujah. However, almost a year later, a source has said that they have finished the game and are looking for a publisher. Personally, I am excited by this prospect, as it would be the first real game (I’m not counting flash games whipped up on the spot) to take on a controversial topic. I really do not see why people are so typecast against it though: if you can write music or make movies about something, why can’t you make a game? The game does not even necessarily have to be pro-Iraq war, it could instead take a completely different stance (I am not making any personal, and will not do so as this is a video-game blog, not a political one). At this point we cannot know (though we do know that they have used first hand interviews with American military personnel to make the storyline) what stance, if any, it will take, so we can only wait.

Activision has shown us that they are not only completely soulless corporately thanks to their not letting their developers any breathing room, they are also stupid. They fired the two lead designers in Infinity Ward, developer of the good Call of Duty games (who were even great before Infinity Ward, leading development on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault), and now are planning on a non-FPS Call of Duty game. Honestly, their three main franchises, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and World of Warcraft are all past their prime and flagging. Despite Starcraft II coming out this year (which will be a good game most likely), they desperately need a new game. Unless they incorporate a new instrument (I got it! Accordions, lots of them), Guitar Hero VI will flop, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was an embarrassment multiplayer-wise with far too many glitches and balancing issues, and people are beyond jaded with World of Warcraft (Though their new expansion pack idea seems remarkably similar to an idea that I posted on the suggestions forums a while ago, back when I still played). Activision needs to learn how to let their developers come up with original ideas, not pre-processed tripe.

On a lighter note, a Halo: Reach multiplayer video was released

It looks awesome so far, with new weapons, customized loadouts, new game modes, awesome maps, and a sleek game mode. I am definitely interested in this one (I suggest watching the video in HD).

This story has been running around for quite some time. I find it kind of hilarious that it has gained the kind of momentum that it has, as it is a repeat of the age-old tale of someone who clearly was in the wrong proclaiming his innocence and that the second party is the devil. Its where we got the Salem Witch Trials from, at any rate, and this is just the most recent incarnation of the greatest plague towards humanity: idiocy and arrogance (nope, not 13 year-olds, though they come close).I honestly found myself amused at the video on Kotaku’s page (it gets to the good part about 3 minutes in), in the fact that it was obviously edited. You can see iTzLupo V2’s “I am talking” beacon flash on over and over, yet we do not hear anything! It’s called editing my friends, more specificially, the fabrication of fake evidence to support one’s claims. Nothing to see here, moving along.

Breaking News!: The next Call of Duty will take place in Vietnam! In other breaking news, I own a website and like videogames!

Sarcasm aside, this is not a new development. Call of Duty: Vietnam is by no means something new; its been rumored since Call of Duty: World at War came out almost two years ago, and its resurfacing now is likely just a clever ploy by Activision to get people excited and writing about it (Yet, here I am writing about it, well played Activision, well played). However, is this a good thing? And should we care?

As far as the change of scenery, I’m all for it. You can only storm the Reichstag so many times before it gets repetitive, and I have saved France from Germany more times than I have fingers on my hands (though the addition of zombies to Vichy France in COD: WaW helped). However, that does not necessarily mean that moving the series to Vietnam is such a good idea. Vietnam was an extremely controversial war, and I could see people getting upset about this (While there have been Vietnam games before, they were never this high profile).  Still: Only time will tell on that one, and gameplay-wise, Vietnam could be an improvement. The actual war of Vietnam was less about big battles and more about small squad combat, and as a result, could be more suited to first person shooter form.

Still, controversy aside, I cannot say I am quite excited for this game. I was extremely underwhelmed by Modern Warfare 2, and Treyarch, who will be making Call of Duty 7, Vietnam or no, has never made a decent game in their existence. I honestly cannot sum up much excitement for the next Treyarch game, let alone the unholy froth which visited me in anticipation for Call of Duty Modern Warfare: 2.

In short: Vietnam? yup. Excited? Not so much.

Would you kindly read this article? Memes aside, I was extremely excited about playing Bioshock 2 (360, Ps3, and PC) by 2K Marin and Arkane Studios (Published by 2K Games). I deleted all other games out of my Gamefly rental queue in front of it to guarantee that I would be able to play it the day it came out. What I found blew me away, though it was not quite as perfect as I would have liked. I shall begin from the beginning:

The storyline of the game, is, as in the first Bioshock, amazing. While it gets off to a bit of a slow start after the introductory cut scene at the beginning of the game, it eventually picks up the pace, and beginning at about the third level, the game manages to present some truly scary sequences. I must honestly admit: I almost quit the game out of frustration at the beginning as the storyline did not immediately grab me. However, after the first level (disclaimer: levels are long in this game) or so, the plot-line speeds up and I was hooked. Bioshock 2 begins 8 years after the events of the original Bioshock, and has you playing as a Big Daddy (a behemoth in an old fashioned diving suit), named Subject Delta, whose Little Sister (to whom he is bound in a complex process explained in the game) is taken from him by Rapture’s (an underwater city meant to be a utopia where the sciences and arts would not be held down by morality) leader, Sofia Lamb. The game encompasses Subject Delta’s search to find his Little Sister companion, Eleanor, before he dies from being separated from her for too long. Throughout the game there are moral decisions, of depth beyond even that of the original Bioshock. While the original quandary of rescuing Little Sisters or harvesting them (to gain more ADAM, an alternate monetary system) is back, there are additionally important NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that you can choose to either spare or kill (while this seems like a black and white distinction in the abstraction of this review, I assure you the game presents the choice in a form where it is not clear whether the enemy deserves to die or should be spared). Additionally, depending on one’s choices within the game, the ending sequence played at the end of the game will be different, allowing for 6 alternative endings. For those that cannot get enough of Bioshock’s backstory, there are also audio diaries that are scattered throughout the game, allowing the player to gain insights on the history of Rapture.

The gameplay of the game is decent: in addition to having a conventional weapon, you also have the ability to wield plasmids, paranormal biological weapons that can be upgraded via the alternative money source, ADAM (new to this game is the ability to dual wield plasmids and conventional weaponry, as opposed to have to choose one or the other). However, there are some issues with the control scheme (though a bit of the problem may come from my playing this game immediately after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has a completely different control scheme): For example, one cannot use plasmids while scoped in with a weapon, and scoping in and out is a bit of a pain. Bioshock 2 also withholds the cooler weapons, plasmids, and enemies until about halfway through the game. The ability to research enemies to gain upgrades has been improved since the first game; you now use a video camera instead of a still photo camera. There is also a level where the player is able to play as a Little Sister, which is an absolutely chilling experience. However, the game bogs down at parts, as to survive the horrors of Rapture (by both finding health and ammo), the player is forced to search practically every single corner of the map to stand a chance, and the looting process is boring, tiresome, and slows the game. Additionally, at the very least the Xbox 360 version of the game frequently freezes in the last few levels, which was extremely frustrating to me (it even froze right as the game ending sequence was about to begin).

The graphics of the game are absolutely excellent (if a bit too gory), with the game truly shining in the parts where the lights are turned off (ha, irony) and the player is forced to amble through the level with solely the light of a flashlight. The audio is likewise excellent, with great voice-acting and an eerie soundtrack.

Tacked onto the game is a story driven multiplayer mode (developed by an entirely different studio, Digital Extremes, than the rest of the game, which was primarily developed by 2K Marin), which, while fun for a short while, becomes old and boring rapidly, as the combat is unbalanced, and the maps are boring (plasmids simply do not work well in a multiplayer environment). The multiplayer as a whole is simply not up to par with other games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Bioshock 2 nevertheless delivers an engrossing story and a fun single-player that manages to be fresh, with legitimate scares beyond “BOO!”, something far too rare in the horror genre, as well as true roleplaying, which is available in nowhere near enough games, and it manages to deliver despite having some technical issues. It is sure to please fans of the first game, as well as entertaining newcomers (While it is not necessary to play the first game to understand the game, it helps to have read a plot synopsis of the first game and to have an understanding of the different concepts of Rapture before playing Bioshock 2), and despite the lousy multiplayer, the game has plenty of replay value thanks to the alternate ending options.

Overall: Buy (9 out of 10)

I bought and have been playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 of late (I know, hypocrite, right), and I will say that it is a fun game. The single player campaign is great, and I really enjoyed it. However, the online gameplay leaves something to be desired. Its annoying that certain game-modes are limited by level: I understand having Noob rooms and Veteran rooms and so on, but keeping people under level ten from entering Search and Destroy maps is just silly and pointless. Couple that with glitches and bad weapon balancing and I can’t say that I recommend the game. Sure, I’ll play it, but there are other, more worthy, games out there. Therefore, I find the idea of a Call of Duty MMO ridiculous.  The idea of paying monthly for an already sub-par game is a stretch of the imagination at best.

Right now I am working on Bioshock 2, and am literally frothing with impatience until I stop writing this and can play again. More on that next week!

The second market is the portable DVD player. The iPad is possibly the perfect device for plane trips in this context. While technically you can watch movies on an iPod, the screen is far too small to really be able to appreciate a movie, and I personally cannot navigate webpages very easily with the iPod Touch’s controls. But with the iPad’s 9.7 inch screen, those days are gone! Plus, it is lighter, less bulky, and does not require you to carry around DVDs like a DVD player does.
In short, the iPad will probably be a great product, as its shortcomings are only those that it shares with the nevertheless successful iPod Touch. The only thing that truly hangs me up about it is the name. I can seriously come up with five better names off the top of my head, even if I continue to value Steve Jobs’ fetish for the letter “i” (Watch: iSlate, iTablet, iTab, iReader, iScreen. Ha). However, that is a seriously weak reason to not buy a product (at least a product that has no competitors at the moment, despite what Schlitz Brewing Co. will tell you), so I must say that I am rather optimistic about the iPad (cease frothing).

Sorry guys, I have been very busy this weekend, thus there shall be no post this week. Hopefully I will be back on board next week!

Just a heads up, I will post late this weekend due to the fact that I do not have access to my scanner.

Post will be up Saturday.