As far as impressions go, there is something very apparent about World at War if you've played the previous Modern Warfare.  Infinity Ward has spoiled us so much, that it's hard to fully appreciate World at War in it's entirety.  It's a hard pill to swallow when it's got the same engine and the majority of the strengths of the immersive single player campaign and multiplayer because general aspects of the game were scaled back because of the time frame.  in other words, it's hard to go back.  For the most part, World at War is presented miles ahead of any World War II shooter while showcasing some of the best perspectives from the way the specialized enemy sides of the Japanese and Germans are used.   The action is tense and gameplay feels like it should.  But you can't go further than that if you've played through CoD4.  Sometimes you just can't help but figure that the effort could've be put into making another Modern Warfare game which is a shame because it just makes you want the next one that much more. 

I've held off from playing Far Cry 2 for quite a while so instead of a full review, here are my impressions so far. 

Far Cry 2 is not a complete game in terms of it being either really good or really bad.  I would go as far as saying that it's great because it does many things that are unique as far as shooters go and even brings in RPG elements that make it an immersive experience.  However, some of these key unique aspects to the game can be quite annoying for those who view this as a 100% shooter because the action is broken up in many parts of the game which detract from it's overall appeal. 

As far as graphics go, as you would expect from a top tier game, they're amazing.  The developers created this amazing environment that is filled to the brim with detail which is part of an engine that does lighting great.  The cycling of day to night works two-fold by being both functional to the gameplay overall as well as adding to the overall graphics.  The graphics does lend itself to the gamplay gracefully and I would assume that there isn't anyone out there who could argue the overall design for the game both techincally and artistically. 

The gameplay itself will most definitely divide many players whereby the mechanics can put you in a tough spot of either loving the game or just bearing with it because the content's richness lends itself towards an experience that would be a shame to miss otherwise.  The presentation gives the player a lot to look forward to however, there are specific things that took so much work to incorporate into the game in general that I can't help but feel wouldn't be missed if they were left out.  Between weapon degredation, the overall absence of dying, the main role of vehicles, and the rather noticeable visceral aspect of the presentation will make or break whether some will just experience as much as they can handle, to those who would try and finish the game. 

While I'm almost at the point where I'm ready to put the game down and save it until I've played through all of the games that I actually want to finish first, it shouldn't detract those who are divided.  Primarily, for those who love shooters, you must play this game for as long as you could handle.  If you feel that some of the game's mechanics are too much for you to bear, then you shouldn't feel guilty about putting this down and at least trying it again at another time when you feel you'll be able to handle it. Otherwise, it's a great game with a unique take on shooters like no other game before it. 

I just wanted to put up a short impressions report on Crysis Warhead, the quasi-expansion-pack-esque follow-up to last year's Game of the Year winner of Crysis.  While I love the original Crysis, or at least the first half of the game, unfortunately I can't say the same about Crysis Warhead.  There is something that seems very off with the game and I decided to set it aside until I have the patience to go through the game.  I understand that it is supposeedly really short but there were many things about the game that really turned me off, one big factor being the performance.  Here is my overall take on the performance:

For the original Crysis, it took two patches to get the game to run smoothly with all of the appropriate drivers, overclocking and the like.  Having the settings even enough to experience smooth gameplay while retaining a decent level of detail required quite a bit of work, not to mention a beefy laptop - which I just happened to have purchased before the game came out.  I worked as hard as I could to get that game running and looking great by paying special attention to Shader and Shadow settings.  I was able to crank the Motion Blur, Post-processing and Game Effects details to the max and everything seemed to even out.  With Warhead, Crytek and EA have touted that the game runs better and everything which wasn't what happened when I purchased the game.  I installed everything without a hitch and even did a bit of searching for video drivers to help me getting Warhead to look as good as possible.  This wasn't the case as the same logic that I applied to Crysis' video settings was not working with Warhead.  You could tell that the optimizations that were made to the system were only to make things look better and to have a bit of an increase in speed in movement regardless of framerate.  It is sort of unforunate because the smoothness is what retains the unique gameplay of Crysis and with Warhead it has been tweaked in theory but plays worse that the orignal Cyrsis which by comparison runs a great deal smoother, giving you an imersive experience.    This isn't the case with Warhead as even running in DirectX 9 mode worse than in 10.

Another thing that bothered me about Warhead was the controls.  I tried reading up as much as i could about the controls after learning the Warhead's controls for Single Player have been switched around.  For the most part, it's ridiculous, especially since you can't change them.  Oddly enough, the multiplayer portion of the game had the original controls for the joypad.  I don't know how much of a change it has to be just to get the controller to handle dual-weilding weapons by allowing for the second trigger but the changes made playing Warhead on the Xbox360 controller of all things ot be worse.

As for the good points?  The multiplayer definitely makes the package worth the money which was cheap enough to warrant ownership after playing through the first one.  At this point, the Warhead servers are in full-swing and lots of people are playing.  I like most of the maps except for Battleground which could get really boring because vehicles are not so much of an enhancement to the gameplay.  The meat of the gameplay is utilizing all of your nano-suit's powers to kill foes online.  It's a great experience and should be the only thing you play on this expansion unless they resolve their performance issues. 

So even though the game already came out and there have been good reviews, I'm glad that there is still an optimism about the franchise but I still highly recommend playing the original Crysis before playing Warhead because you won't understand what the whole fuss about the originla is all about.  I will eventually review it but it won't bring much fan-fare - at least that's my two cents about it. 

Hey everyone, I just posted a review of Crysis which I hope everyone likes.  I know it's crazy long but it should give some good pointers for those who have not played the game yet.  Here are some additional writing to supplement the article as the review itself is an edited version of my two part series on my blog.  When I figure out the video portions of this site, I'll even post some of the videos that I made of the gameplay.  Here's part two, enjoy!

Original Link:  http://lithiumonline.blogspot.com/2008/03/crysis-great-part-2-advanced-tactics.html

Welcome to Part 2 of Crysis the Great where I’m going to get into the expert zone of Crytek’s masterpiece, Crysis. There is going to be lots of in-depth information about the shooting aspect including many tactics you could use in the first half of the game. Also, there will be a couple of videos to showcase the style that I use when playing Crysis. It can be of great help if you want another take on tactics and possibly how it can improve your game. It is important to note that Crytek released a video of what they called ‘Advanced Tactics’ and that is now related to this nor is it endorsed by Crysis. Simply put, this would be content generated by a user. This correlates directly to the Single Player Campaign towards tactics you could use during gameplay. I’m going to be covering many aspects including some of the limits of the suit’s functions with how they could be used in the battlefield, the effectiveness of weapons and of course, ways to stay alive when being swarmed by lots of enemies.

Difficulty Level

In this feature, the difficulty levels that I’m going to be focusing on mainly are HARD and DELTA. The differences between these two are just a matter of limitations being added to the DELTA setting in terms of less HUD indicators for thrown grenades and shorter Nanosuit energy, to name a couple. What’s essential in this feature is how to approach situations in such a way so that you’re able to use cover and ammo conservatively. I’ve found that once you get used to the DELTA setting, advance tactics can still apply as you would use the rest of the difficulty levels despite the handicaps.

Advanced Tactics

One of the things that makes Crysis a great game is that the first half is mainly about assault. You could use vehicles and large weapons like Rocket Launchers to plow through enemy encampments but the use of Advanced Tactics helps you gain more control of many of the situations that can go bad at a moment’s notice. The environments are great for using cover but given their open nature, you have to use the cover very carefully. Enemies won’t generally notice you while you’re slipping through places cloaked but they can become perceptive to it when they’re on alert. A good place to start is with controlled environments such as bases and checkpoints. Crytek specifically designed some of the larger levels so that enemies are strategically placed at various entry points. Some are heavily guarded with soldiers on turrets; others are patrolled nearby entrances and sometimes there is a combination of both. Therefore, the best way to infiltrate heavily guarded areas is to understand how the enemies work and carefully plan your attack.

First and foremost, the enemies are able to communicate with each other. When something happens, they scream for help, call for back-up and spawn more guys around your location. How you alert the enemies determines what level of action they’re going to take. Fortunately for us we have our trusty Alert Meter which allows us to be able to determine how aggressively the enemy is towards the threats they perceive. It would be good practice to stay out of sight as enemy are able to see you a lot easier than they are able to hear you. If you’re running in the distance, you will notice that the alert meter will go up slightly even if it might seem like there aren’t any enemies around. Running in the brush will not attract as much attention as rifling through bushes, cloaked or not. With the larger environments it’s hard to determine the exact point at which you can be detected whether visibly or by sound so be mindful how aggressively you’re approaching enemy territories. Secondly, the Exclamation Mark should be a point where you can measure the severity of alertness with enemies however; it is possible that a full alert bar without the Exclamation Mark, enemies would only try to look for you without backup especially if they just see you for just a moment. Thirdly, as you get better with using cover, you will notice that certain obstacles were put in place to help you sneak around or give you better leverage for manoeuvring places stealthily. With some practice, you will notice that the placement of these random objects will feel very natural the more you use them.

Quiet and Efficient VS Loud and Clumsy

In Crysis there are many aspects of gameplay that compliment stealthy movement, efficient gunplay and executing precision assaults. It is possible to get through many of the levels on very little ammo, as well. With your weapons, the best attachment to use is the Silencer, for obvious reasons. The Silencer helps you take out guys from a relatively close distance without alerting the whole base. However, be aware that when a guy drops dead in front of everyone, enemies will be alerted and they will surround you or wherever any missed bullets hit. To reduce this, try to become accustomed to doing head-shots as they are one-shot kills. In the event that you miss a single shot, it’s less bullets for the enemy to react to. You could take off the silencer and attempt to gun everyone down but it’ll make for an unpredictable situation. Because enemies in Crysis often times spawn dynamically therefore, how many guys you initially see before engaging them isn’t always the same amount of guys that are there when everyone is on full alert. If you do decide to play without a Silencer, the gameplay can quite often be challenging if you haven’t yet mastered the use of cover or, more so, if you haven’t mastered the weapons. The best way to be quiet and efficient while engaging the enemy is to use a silencer with the gun set to single shots. Single shots are only effective if you’re able to shoot enemies in the head, otherwise it might take several shots to bring normal enemies down because they well protected. For enemies that are wearing helmets, sometimes it will take two shots as most bullets inevitably will remove their head-gear however; if you’re good enough to get a shot on their neck (between helmet and vest) or directly in the face, one shot almost always works.

Exploiting Gameplay Elements

Without delving into the wide-world of game cheats, there are aspects of the gameplay that can be exploited in order to overcome some of the general mechanics of the game. For example, Cloak might help you navigate around the environment easily without being detected but it can be limited. Often times you might find yourself thinking twice about where and how you’re going to shoot an enemy when it could leave you out in the open for others to see. Crysis’ level design is intricate enough to utilize all the cover that is available with minimal detection and maximum manoeuvrability. From there, you could prioritize which enemies you want to kill so that taking out others won’t be as difficult. The more you practice this, the easier it is for you to handle cover when enemies are on alert. When enemies are on alert, it is possible to take your time and focus on taking one enemy out at a time before it becomes unbearable. Enemies could run towards your location but they also attempt to flank you as well. Remember, as in many games the AI isn’t perfect and there are ways to exploit some of the nuances in order to diffuse a tense situation.

9-Ball Tactics

One of the best ways to work with Crysis is to think of 9-Ball. Good players have two goals before taking a shot; first is to sink the ball their aiming for, then determine where the Cue Ball is going to end up on the table after the shot which would preferably be in a comfortable enough position to sink the next ball. The same could work for Crysis when approaching multiple enemies at the same time. Positioning yourself in a way that will help you eliminate enemies easier one at a time could reduce the chances of enemies overpowering you. After you are aware of where your enemies are (tagging always helps), you could use your cover and take each one out one at a time by positioning yourself strategically using cover. It becomes more efficient if you practice patience and one-shot kills.

Hey fellow gamers, thanks for checking out my little space here at Giant Bomb.  I'm proud to become one of the early members and I'm excited to actually put some work into content here.  From what I'm seeing of the site, there appears to be quite an extensive set of features that utilize some of the best site-features I've seen anywhere, let alone a gaming site.  The sheer potential of all the elements combined as the site becomes populous in the coming months gives you the much needed excitement which, quite frankly, I personally feel is quite lacking these days. 

I wholeheartedly believe in this huge effort that is going on with the site and I will attempt to populate my blog here as well as participate in the forums as much as possible.  I think that while the past few years have been a little odd for the old  school hardcore gamers, the industry as whole seemed to have taken the business into a new level, heavily inducing the old-school hardcore gamers out of hiding and to start putting some experience towards the new crop of gamers who need to understand the old games to know why gaming has grown to epic proportions today. 

I will start by taking some articles from my gaming blog, lithiumonline.blogspot.com, and posting them up here or inserting my reviews in the next while while trying to add some interesting new content with the site's robust features.  Hats off to the Giant Bomb team for a fantastic site and I hope to see what's to come for the future.