kirklebum

The link is broken, is that Elite being lame or is the clan gone? I see there's a Giantbomb group on there already.

@Pazy said:

@Still_I_Cry said:

@Kirklebum said:

It's actually kind of similar to Starship Troopers, which if you didn't know was originally a story by Heinlein, but if the main character was more like Master Chief.

I actually thought that movie was fun to watch.

The book has nothing to do with the movie but I really like the movie. The action was enjoyable, mostly for how over-the-top it was, and I liked the satirical aspect of it all.

The movie was based on the book but as often happens, Hollywood took the general idea and then completely changed it to fit their needs. In the end there are a few similarities but yes, it is nothing like the book. Kind of like what they did with I, Robot.

My old roommate's brother did some of the CG in one of the straight to video Starship trooper movies. I don't hold that against him.

Two of my personal favorite science fiction books are Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) by Robert A. Heinlein and Armor (1984) by John Steakley.

Stranger isn't about space battles, it's more about a human raised by Martians who returns to Earth and proceeds to fuck with everybody in increasingly awesome ways.

Armor is just a good book about a dude in a awesome suit of armor fighting giant space bugs. It's actually kind of similar to Starship Troopers, which if you didn't know was originally a story by Heinlein, but if the main character was more like Master Chief.

Has anyone been able to get on Elite at all? I've checked probably once a day since the game came out and haven't been able to get in a single time.

@CptBedlam: I think it's because they didn't bother crafting a good story reason to do the missions. "There's an upgrade for your defib unit, go clear out this bandit/mutant base and bring me the part," just isn't good enough. If they wrote something more substantial that provided some insight into the world and then gave you the defib unit upgrade as a reward the missions would be much more compelling.

I beat Rage Monday after plodding through it an hour or two at a time for the past month and Sunday I beat Modern Warfare 3 on Veteran in just two long sittings.

There's much about both these games that I loved and an equal amount that I loathed but the thing that stands out to me the most is that both have terrible bad guys. I'm going to put down some very mild spoilers here so if you actually care about the stories of Rage and MW3 you might want to stop reading. Or don't, there's not much to spoil in either game and I'll avoid any major plot points.

In Rage the primary bad guy is some general dude who you never actually meet, fight or find out what becomes of him. To give you an idea of what I mean, I beat the game 10 minutes ago and I don't even remember his name and that's not some lame exaggeration to prove a point. The number of conversations in which he is mentioned, despite being the mastermind of all that is evil - with the exception of the asteroid of course, is less than the number of fingers on Frodo's right hand.

Instead the enemy you end up fighting is the absentee general's generically-named army, the Authority, which does things you'd expect from a bland sci-fi authoritarian regime. They stand around and look violent while spreading propaganda and growing increasingly paranoid. I think if I was the leader of a super high-tech army I wouldn't call myself a general nor my army the Authority, I'd probably call myself the Ironfist Rage-Knight of the Violently Oppressive Destruction Force. Something with a little more zip to go along with the killer matte-black armor with red highlights and the deadly laser gatling guns.

Similarly, you don't really get to fight MW3's primary bad guy but you do get to do a random game of patty-cake with Makarov at the end of the game. At least with Makarov is more of a character with some back story and he is a known quantity from the previous games. What makes him a crappy bad guy is that he is constantly two steps ahead of you and dupes the world into Armageddon but for some reason can't kill you. He is some kind of crazy evil Russian villain version of the Texas Rangers - or the Buffalo Bills if you want to go old school.

I wish I could sit in on the early creative meetings for both these games because it feels like they sat down and talked about the levels they wanted to create and then went to work. At some point down the road they realized they needed a story to tie everything together so they gave the UPS guy a pad of paper and told him to do it in 2,000 words or less.

MW3's main character is, um...I think Price but it might be that one Russian guy because you play as him a lot and he's kind of the main plot twist. Wait, you do get to play grab-ass with Makarov from Price's perspective at the end but I can't remember if you actually play as him in any other parts. Without one of those cool police detective walls with all those strings connecting polaroid pictures of all the characters or playing all three games again while actually trying to hear the conversations between the variously-accented GI Joes over all the explosions and bang-bang noises I'll probably never know. I'll settle for Price as the main character because he's been in all the games.

I get the feeling the actual story of the Modern Warfare games might actually be good if you read it as a novel but as a plot condensed down into three loud but short games it's hard to process all that information without playing them through on the easiest setting while paying close attention.

The main character in Rage is nothing more than a Golden Retriever constantly fetching something for his master and getting tasty little treats in return. Oh, and he has nanotrites, which I think are like elecrolites because those things are what freezer dudes crave. Also, they have something to do with mind control on mutants but your vault boy is full of them too so my guess is if they make a sequel Mr. Silent Protagonist is going to find out he's been controlled this whole time. That's not a spoiler, that's just me trying to see which plot device id Software will use in the future if they ever decide to make a plot.

Rage is the perfect vessel for a wonderful story, unfortunately id Software has zero writers on staff. I spent 20 hours in the campaign because I enjoyed looking at every little corner of every level. I played through on normal, which was a mistake. I think you must not take damage on the easiest setting because Normal presented very little challenge. It didn't help that I did every side quest and race so my character had too much health, ammo and gadgets. By the time I got to the final mission I was so bored I just tossed down a bunch of sentry bots and watched everything unfold, what little there was to watch. You can only have two sentry bots in play at one time so every time one would die I'd just throw down another.

The weapons system reminded me of Bioshock. Most weapon have four types of ammo, each effective against a certain type of enemy or piece of equipment. I found myself using the Combat Shotgun, Striker Crossbow, Sniper Rifle and Authority Machine Gun the most. In levels where there were waves of enemies I'd usually drop down two sentry bots and use my wingsticks to take out any charging enemies. It's one of those games where you could probably ask five people and they'd each tell you they used a different group of weapons and ammo. There are so many options it was fun to experiment but you haven't lived until you stick a guy with a dynamite bolt from a crossbow.

I didn't restart Rage on a harder difficulty because I'd initially thought I would want to play through the game a second time because the game makes such a great first impression. By the time I realized my mistake I just wanted to get through the game while seeing as much as I could in one sitting. I don't think I want to go back through and fight wave after wave of the three or four identical enemy types for each faction. I hope id Software puts more effort into the story for Rage 2, if they end up making it, because I have a feeling it will be much better. Rage reminds me a lot of the original Assassins Creed game, not in how it plays but because it has so much potential wasted by catastrophic boredom issues yet somehow I subjected myself to way too many semi-enjoyable hours of it. If they turn the story into something worthwhile and get rid of some of the repetition I'd love to jump back into that goddamn gorgeous world.

I decided to play through MW3 on Veteran and I'm glad I did. Several reviews, including the one here on Giantbomb, mentioned the gratuitous vehicle sequences. I didn't feel like half the game was behind a turret or in a some sort of vehicle because most of my time was spent dying in one or two hits from an enemy with an aimbot while running around in some ruins. The vehicle parts felt perfectly spaced on Veteran because by the time I was getting frustrated by the vicious instakills I'd inevitably get to relax and blow dudes up without having to worry about dying. Say what you will about the campaign but after playing it on Veteran I'm convinced that's the way it was designed to be played. It felt good to find the correct series of barriers or cars to duck behind to advance through the level. Each level is like a maze but with dudes you can shoot and after solving each maze it was nice having the reward of a helicopter or AC-130 gunner sequence at the end each time.

In the end, MW3 is still about multiplayer and once I figured out the maps I was having fun running around shooting. The maps are much smaller and sometimes all the shit in the air gets overwhelming but it's still one of the best FPS experiences on a console. I'm still a big fan of having a friend or two over and playing a splitscreen game so Spec Ops is always one of my favorite parts of the Modern Warfare series. This time is no different, I spent a few hours last week getting three stars on the first two groups of operations and reached level 20 on our first try at the Survival mode. We ended up dying when a juggernaut dropped out of a helicopter onto the claymore I just set, killing both of us.

Ultimately, I'm glad I played both games. MW3 is always a guilty pleasure of mine, mostly because I usually play it with a friend over and it's perfect for that sort of thing. I'm glad I played Rage because I hope it turns into one of those series which comes of age in the sequel. If you were thinking about buying one of these games but not both, I'd probably recommend MW3 simply for the re-playability of the online and co-op stuff. Rage is worth checking out but probably as a rental or once it drops to $20.

@Yanngc33 said:

@Kirklebum said:

@Shadow: I played through on Veteran and beat it but it'll take me a while to get the urge to go back through the single player against to collect all the intel that I missed. I don't know that I ever will.

Set the game on recruit, get a video guide and blast some music. You'll be done in 2 hours

Yeah, but that's two hours I'd rather spend in the multiplayer or playing one of the other awesome games that just came out. I liked the campaign just fine even if it was too linear and whatever else but I think I'll still wait a month or two. Also, in the review Jeff says half the game is spent in a vehicle...he must not have been playing on Veteran. Those set pieces were nice short breaks from constantly getting killed by some dude I couldn't see when I was on foot.

@Shadow: I played through on Veteran and beat it but it'll take me a while to get the urge to go back through the single player against to collect all the intel that I missed. I don't know that I ever will.

I didn't think I was going to get MW3 but was talking to a friend and decided to go pick it up. I made my purchase decision because I decided that I'd get $60 worth of enjoyment out of it. I have a few old high school friends who drive an hour or two to my house a couple times a month to get drunk and play video games all evening. We toss in all kinds of games but usually at some point we end up in MW2 for a bit in either Spec Ops or taking turns murdering/getting murdered online.

I'm happy with the purchase but I wouldn't recommend MW3 to anyone who can only afford a few games a year unless they're really, really into Modern Warfare. At this point everyone already knows this game is pretty much exactly the same as its predecessor but with a different paint job. As somebody who enjoys that ride I figure over the next two years I'll play it enough, mostly in 20 minute bursts or with friends, to justify the purchase because I can afford to buy more mentally stimulating games such as Skyrim or, ahem, Saints Row: The Third. For people who can't afford to get several games this month but still want to play Modern Warfare I wouldn't recommend it. MW2 is still going strong and, yeah, it's basically the same game. There are probably better options depending on what style of game you like to play.

I enjoy FPS games but I chose MW3 over BF3 because I ended up playing a lot more MW2 than BF2. Maybe if I had a clan or people on my friends list who played BF3 I probably would have gone that direction because it's more team oriented. For a single player FPS I would recommend Rage but only if you can get it on sale or rent it. The story was too bland to make it worthwhile although it looks awesome and plays well. I'll probably still get the remastered Halo: CE game but that's mostly for nostalgia reasons. I did have a blast playing split-screen online in Halo: Reach with my friends the other night but for whatever reason I haven't been that into the Halo multiplayer since spending countless hours in Halo 2. There are plenty of other options out there even in the console FPS genre but if you want some bite-sized fun it's probably the best option out there.

I'll never be one of those people to play MW3 all day every day but I figure over the couple years I'll play it enough to make it worthwhile, and really, what's wrong with that? Not every game has to be some super unique and thought-provoking experience for me - I've enjoyed the shit out of some sports game. It might piss of that other Giantbomber but I will justify buying this game because I find it fun. I play games because I like to have fun playing games and MW3 is fun to me. It's easy to use the fast food metaphor as an example, so I'll use it. Most of the time I cook for myself, take vitamins and exercise but sometimes I'm just in the mood to swing through McDonalds and get a bag of those goddam dollar double cheese burgers. It's not healthy to subsist solely on that but every so often that's exactly what you need. Sometimes I just want to shoot dudes for a few minutes and the nice thing about buying a Modern Warfare game is you know in two or three years you can go back to it and there will be thousands of people still playing. The same can't be said for a lot of multiplayer games after a year or two.

Another think I noticed and really like is I'm not getting knifed all the time. I'm glad commando is gone but it also feels like the normal knife attack isn't quite as automatic as before.

@thehuntsmen5434: Yeah, the M16 is still a good long range gun but it was pretty damn powerful in MW2 at close range, I'd usually carry a launcher as my secondary in MW2 but it seems like you really need the machine pistol unless you're camping and, like you said, the maps aren't designed to let you stay in once place long. Most of my deaths come from a guy looping around behind me or coming through some side door. I think the aiming thing is the same though, I seem to remember if you move while zoomed in it popped you out but I'm not 100 percent sure.

@Hizang: I think you're right, it seems like I'm dying quicker too but I haven't figured out if it's just that I don't know the maps well yet so people are just getting the drop on me or what.