The HUD

Finally, we have the zombies map. Even if you are not a fan of...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:36:30 -0500

Finally, we have the zombies map. Even if you are not a fan of the previous zombies this is worth checking out due to it adding so much more to the experience. It adds new “grenades” to the mix along with new perks and enemies. They really over did themselves on this map by completely reworking a lot of the zombie character models to make them look even better and also to give them more actions than just the same old same old. I will try to not give to much away because it is defiantly worth checking out and being surprised with. The game stats you off in black and white at round 1 where the only way to then play in color is to find and turn on the power. Some newer players, or players who don’t have others to play with might find this annoying but when you do get the color it really adds a great flavor to the game. It is a huge map and probably one of, if not the, best zombies map so far. If you havent already you should go check it out right now … thats right, now. GO!

The last multi-player map in the map pack is Stadium. If Kowloon...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:29:12 -0500

The last multi-player map in the map pack is Stadium. If Kowloon is the dark gloomy map this one is the complete opposite. It takes place in a bright and sunny hockey stadium with a few outer buildings that you can use. This map would be considered the “small” map of the pack but it is really a medium sized map. What makes it small is that there are not many long sight lines making most of the combat close to medium range. This works really well because you get all the close quarters combat situations without the problems that inherently come with small maps such as Nuketown. The spawns of this map will not constantly flip so that the other team is suddenly spawning behind you and you wont have to worry about random grenades … as much. It is a very fun map and probably my 2nd favorite map in this pack besides Berlin Wall. From what I’ve played, it plays team death match very well and it can also handle objectives in a way that most other small maps cannot. On the whole it is a very good and balanced map though lacking in the intractable environments that the other maps have though, those additions just feel like gimmicks anyways.

This dark rainy map is the third map in the set named Kowloon....

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:18:43 -0500

This dark rainy map is the third map in the set named Kowloon. It is in a Chinese slum area perched precariously on top of a bunch of buildings, made ever clear by the giant air liner that passes over your head right before the game starts. This is a very confusing map with lots of different buildings and pathways to get places. This makes it very hard to play team death match on because it so hard to control any part of this map while also watching the many paths that come out behind you. The darkness of the map makes visibility at long ranges pretty bad but there is one good high place to snipe from that overlooks the lower half of the map. Which, if you are a good sniper, you could use to control that part of the map, however it leaves you open to grenades and other dangers. This is a confusing map and it will be hard for new players to get used to it, even experienced players will find this map hard for the first 5, 10 or even 15 times they play it. There are zip lines on this map, going with treyarch’s theme of putting intractable environments in the map. However, they are a terrible idea to use because while using one you cannot defend yourself and you only go down about as fast as your character runs so it is very easy for the enemy to pick you off as you are going down one. They might be more useful for objective games but there are still better options than making yourself a sitting duck.

The second map is Discovery, a abandoned Russian research...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:07:52 -0500

The second map is Discovery, a abandoned Russian research facility. This map, though smaller than Berlin Wall, Is also good for sniping, with lots of high positions and places to watch from combined with long lines of sight makes it a very good sniping map. This is very good for this game which is greatly lacking in any type of good sniping maps. It is a very interesting map to play in because it is the first one in Black ops to have destructible environments. In this map you are able to partially destroy the ice bridges that run across both the right and left sides of the map and across the middle. Though this is a neat idea the gaps are easily jumped over and very hard to use strategically because even after they start to crumble it take a long time for them to fall.

Berlin Wall is the first of the maps in the First Strike map...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:00:21 -0500

Berlin Wall is the first of the maps in the First Strike map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops. My first impressions of this map are that it is a great map. There is finally a map that has some decent sniping on it. It reminds me very much of the map Overgrown from CoD4 but with a urban feel that reminds me of the movie enemy at the gates.

It is set in a Cold War ear city divided between Capitalism and Communism which gives you a very interesting perspective. It is good for team death match, yet a little large. Where it shines however is in objectives such as Domination. This map plays domination like I think ever map should play it. Where the act of taking the middle ground isn’t you just throwing yourself at it over and over till you get it. You need teamwork to get and keep ground on this map.

Here is some game-play / review of Crysis 2 that I did. If you...

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:27:00 -0500

Here is some game-play / review of Crysis 2 that I did.

If you like it and want to see more you can check out my YouTube channel here.

This last screen shot does not show much except for the neat...

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:25:41 -0500

This last screen shot does not show much except for the neat bullet time effect that takes place when you watch a head-shot in a killcam but it is a neat concept that added a neat perspective to the final kill in that game.

This third screen shot shows the neat water effect that they...

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:13:00 -0500

This third screen shot shows the neat water effect that they added to the game when you get water on your visor which is very well done because it is not just a distortion of the screen or the same generic one over and over again that most games have. This one seems to either be randomly generated or at least they have a large selection of preset ones. Furthermore, in this picture you can see some of the motion blur that takes place while moving which is minimal and only really noticeable when turning quickly. Also, though you can not see it in the picture the hud will move slightly with you as if it is the helmet attached to your characters head. This is a neat concept but it personally annoyed me but they do provide an option to turn it off.

Second screen shot that shows a lot of the graphics of the game....

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:11:00 -0500

Second screen shot that shows a lot of the graphics of the game. Shows some of the texture plus how nicely rendered the plants look. Also you can see the particle effect of the smoke in the background and how it looks quite good and blends well with the rest of the background. This also gives a good look at the hud and how it is set up. the only problem I have with this is that the map is in the lower left corner which i find annoying to look at because when you look at it your peripheral vision is not as focused on the top part of your screen where most of the actions that you will have to react to will take place. It would be much better in the upper left so when your looking at it you can also focus on the top of the screen much easier.

First Crysis 2 screen shot that shows what a basic gunfight...

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:09:00 -0500

First Crysis 2 screen shot that shows what a basic gunfight looks like.

As many of you know the Crysis 2 MP demo is out and it is rather...

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:18:11 -0500

As many of you know the Crysis 2 MP demo is out and it is rather popular. It features one map and 2 game-types with a limited but reasonable amount of weapon and class customization.

The game itself is beautiful with vivid graphics and beautiful sound as you bound through the level with a parkour flare. You water that will run down your visor when you stand under one of the many jets of water coming from the broken pipes. However, the beauty of this game is marred by a few game-play issues that needs to be worked out.

This game seems like a combo between Battlefield and Halo, so if you like these games it is worth checking out.

This game looked amazing when the trailers first started rolling...

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:04:00 -0500

This game looked amazing when the trailers first started rolling out but now that the demo is out I must say I am disappointed. The game itself is beautiful and it seemed fun for the first run through of the incredibly easy and short demo, and I think there is a very good reason for it being like that. It’s easy because they are trying to show off how many cool things you can do but mostly you end up doing the same thing over and over again without much difference. Which leads into why the game is so short, it is EXTREMELY repetitive and loses its “fun” factor about half-way through the second play-through. For me the demo seemed way to short, repetitive, and terribly easy where you feel as if you have “god mode” on if you are any sort of half way competent gamer. If you feel like playing a game that feels like a flashier Gears of War ,with a lot of characters that feel the same, while you aren’t playing the demo for Gears 3 that comes on the main disk then this is the game for you. If you don’t feel like playing a flashier FPS copy of gears, avoid it and look into getting one of the many other games coming out. Seriously, the main character even has a lot of the same characteristic sayings. When are they gonna come out with more sayings that are not some combination of c**k, t**s, bag, and sack?