Going Downhill

Yesterday I picked up some Halo 3 by Bungie again. I hadn’t played any Halo 3 for quite some time, so I thought I would give it a try, and see if they had added anything new, like new playlists, tweaked gameplay, and so on. They made some changes, but many players won’t like what they see.

Upon entering matchmaking, I found the choices of playlists significantly reduced from when I last played. The vast majority of selections are not available to me because I do not own all the DLC map packs; I have Cold Storage and Heroic map pack. Out of 4 ranked playlists, only 2 were available to me, and Team Slayer, probably the most popular one, was not one of them. Social playlists were even worse: I can only play 2 out of 7, and that means no Rumble Pit, Multi-Team, or Social Big Team. The Hardcore lists aren’t as big of a deal, but it’s worth mentioning that only 1 of  3 of them is available. That’s only 5/14 altogether. On the upside, once I got into a game, the gameplay was still alright, when it wasn’t laggy.

I don’t see anything wrong with having just a few exclusive playlists, to sweeten the deal for DLC owners, but this is way too much. Basically, Bungie just went ahead and crippled online multiplayer for people who don’t want to buy a bunch of extra DLC. There’s a very simple solution to this: make them optional. People should be able to play just about whatever they want, and if they have extra maps, great, use those too. Players shouldn’t have to pay extra just to play the game modes online that they expect to play anyway.

As always, feel free to comment.

Some Indie Game Re-Releases

Woah, I just found out! Not one, but two games by Ludum Dare people have been re-released on new platforms:

• Mind Wall for iPhone – Remember that really creative game that one the last full Ludum Dare competition with the theme “Advancing Wall of Doom?” It’s now on iPhone, with new features like a shape editor. Awesome, I really hoped that we would see more of this one.
• Galcon Flash – Galcon is a simple but incredibly cool strategy game for iPhone and computer (in PC, Mac and Linux flavors), but it’s now available online in a flash version. Lots of fun.

Mini-LD #10

Over the last weekend, Mini-LD #10 was on over at the Ludum Dare website, this time with the theme of Domestic Violence. Mini-LD is like a regular Ludum Dare event, but without rating and voting and all that jazz – the creations are just made and shown. I didn’t participate in this one, but that certainly didn’t stop anyone from making some games over the weekend. It looks like there are some RPG’s, some zombie survival games, et cetera (and by that I mean there’s a lot more too). Have fun!

E3 2009 Thoughts

Here are some quick thoughts from me as I browse through the recent news from E3.

• Starcraft II! This year! The original Starcraft was a great game that I have played a lot of in days past, so I can’t wait for the sequel. I’m a little apprehensive about their plan to split it into three separate games though.
• I’m a big fan of Metal Gear Solid games, so it’s no surprise that I’m interested in the announcement of Metal Gear Solid Rising for the XBox 360. I’m also disappointed that Solid Snake will not be appearing in the game, but Raiden will be. Solid Snake is probably my favorite video game character ever, and Raiden… isn’t.  The creators have done such a good job with the others that I’ve played, though, so I won’t pass judgment quite yet.
• I have mixed feelings about Halo Reach, if only because I have mixed feelings about previous Halo games. Halo was great, Halo 2 had some unfortunate problems, and Halo 3 was pretty good, with some problems. It has the potential to be a great game though. Same thoughts with Halo: ODST.
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is one of the best games I’ve played in quite some time, so Modern Warfare 2 is definitely something to look forward to. I mean, the trailer alone should get you interested, even if you haven’t played the original. 
• Alan Wake looks awesome… ’nuff said.
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 looks like it has some promise. They continue to produce really fun environments and unique gameplay.
• Supreme Commander 2…

Feel free to comment with some of your own impressions about E3.

Mirror’s Edge Review

Let me paint a picture for you. You have immense speed and skill, and you enjoy spending your days dashing across rooftops and stringing together jumps, rolls, wall-runs and other various maneuvers of parkour to your heart’s content, all while dodging trigger-happy enemies on your way to complete your decided mission. Suddenly, your thrill ride is interrupted because you just can’t reach that darn ledge, even though it’s right there above you, or because you’ve hit a dead end, and you have no time to find your way out, on account of the security force right behind you.

Mirror’s Edge by EA puts players in a city of tall buildings, working against conspiracies by powerful men, and constantly finding ways to duck the police force (or “blues”) on your tail. The player takes control of Faith, one of a group of runners who illegally work against the men in power, hence the police. Usually, this involves transporting information or packages. It makes a pretty decent premise, but… I have good news and I have bad news.