Black Ops; My take

First of all that annoying RC racer bomb needs a nerf.

Now, the real review.

I have never played the single player for Modern Warfare 2 and probably will never get around playing it for Black Ops either. So, I can’t really comment on how great the Single-player is compared to the first one. I am though frustrated with these arguments that it was some of the shocking aspects of Modern Warfare 2 that made it so popular. What little of the single-player I have seen, did not impress me much. The AI is plain moronic and compared to online play, shooting enemies feels like shooting fish in a barrel with a Predator Missile.

The smooth access, fast paced, under 20 minute multiplayer game play is what created the large following of die-hard fans. Modern Warfare 2 popularity was spread through personal recommendations of the multiplayer mode. People wanted to play the game with more of their friends and so recommended the game to newbies with the intent of pwning and laughing at them for a week straight (I speak from personal experience). I had not even heard of the single-player event where you nuke Washington until a week ago.

Therefore, to draw comparison between MW2 and Blacks Ops Single-player is to an extent a brash attempt at nitpicking an otherwise thoroughly entertaining series. Yes, the multiplayer mode is thoroughly entertaining and I love the idea that they took out experience requirement for weapons and upgrades. If you have the money (Or CoD points in this case) you can get whatever you want. In MW2 I hated, after every Prestige, having to wait till level 62 to get my favorite secondary, Desert Eagle and then waiting till level 65 to unlock Akimbo, so I could go all Boondock Saints 2 on everyone ass online (I love yelling their prayer while in the match-making room) . Now you can directly purchase these weapons as soon as you can make the money. This CoD point system is pretty similar to the recent MAG update and if I am to find a flaw with the series it would be the same as MAG, why the hell did they not think about this in the first place?

The online play itself is pretty much the same, although I think they messed a little bit with the auto-aim feature because I’ve been missing dead on shots with my sniper quite a bit. That is not to say the online play is bad, other than the annoying runners who go around stabbing people, the new plethora of weapons, kill-streak awards and perks provide an excellent mix of ‘WTF, What killed me!!!?’ and ‘Ohhhh Snapz!!! Did I just do that!!!’ Although, I think the Killstreaks in this one are little too dangerous. The top tier Killstreaks are deadly but what Black Ops has done is made the lower level Killstreaks rewards much stronger, so it is much easier to reach the higher level ones. I don’t know what to say about that; it does improve my kill to death ratio, but it also allows a lot of rookies to get some quick and easy kills.

Anyway I wrote the script for Black Ops release story at Newsy.com. So far it’s the best script I have written, check it out and tell me what you think.

http://www.newsy.com/videos/black-ops-sells-7-million-copies-in-first-day/

SSFIV; Upgrading to a fightstick after a year and a half on the pad

It sucks!!!

I am too used to the PS3 controller to do this. First of all on the PS3 controller you do not have to hit every single direction accurately to execute a move. Because a persons thumb already cover half the pad chances are when you press back on the pad you are going to be pressing back, down back and down on it. It allows for consistent execution of moves, but has potential for throwing in random surprises. I have on many occasions thrown out accident double quarter-circle-forward (qcf) supers or ended up with shoryukens instead of fireballs. In high end combat such accidents can be fatal.

The other problem is that I have synchronized my thumb to the timing for those annoying 1-frame combos, e.g. Guiles lp into mp. Now I have to get the timing right all over again with my fingers.

On the other hand doing long chains and some of the harder combos in street fighter are much easier. Especially combos that rely on focus-cancel such as Akuma’s Shoryuken cancel into 3-hit fireball.

In the end you will find all your fancy moves and tricks that you have learned on the pad failing miserably online. Only your deep understanding on zoning the opponent and controlling distant will be keeping you alive.

If you don’t want to spend the same amount of time training on the pad as on the stick, then I suggest staying away. However, because the stick does make it easier to pull of focus-cancels in the end it will improve your game considerably.

Street Fighter vs Tekken: Bad Idea or what!!

My initial thoughts when I heard the announcement. Brilliant lets do this. And so i pulled out my dust covered copy of Tekken 6 and my street fighter arcade stick and started practicing with characters from both game.

As i played both games side-by-side, I had an epiphany. This will not work and not just because one game has 3D movement and the other still is a 2D fighter. But because none of the characters designed in Tekken have moves to counter the most common tactic in Street Fighter, using fireballs for controlling distance and applying pressure. In street Fighter, characters that don’t have fireballs, have some sort of move that allows them to close the distance on fireball spammers, Zangief spin, Guy’s Hozanto etc.

None of the characters in Tekken are designed to pass through fireballs; they are designed for real close quarter combat where controling distant is determined by the reach of a characters limbs. Also, Street Fighter is a much faster paced game where pulling of combos is an art-form. Tekken, any button mashing moron can pull off at least a 5 hit combo something that is a challenge in street fighter, especially when you are using characters like Guile and Akuma.

Also, Street Fighter is designed for brutal speed, where players have damaged at least a controller or two in attempt to key up with the pace of combat. Tekken is based on careful, well-placed counter-strikes against your opponent and then being able to juggle them for as long as possible. The tactics that work in street fighter cannot work in Tekken and vice versa.

Not to mention the fact that Eddy from Tekken alone, has more moves than all the street fighter characters put together.

It would be interesting to see how they pull this off. But I would prefer if the two genre stay apart and Capcom keep the cross-character versus games to Marvel and possibly SNK. (Come on Samurai Showdown. Ultimate Finger-Crossed Technique! GO!!)

MAG 2.0 Update: Pros and Cons

MAG released a massive update Thursday. They claimed it would provided the greatest level spec-customization in a First Person shooter to date and other significant changes. The claim stands true to a certain extent.

First of, the other significant changes; some of the things that MAG did in the recent update made me think, why were these options not available in the first place? Pulling the weapons unlock out the skill tree was something they should’ve have thoughts about from the beginning of the game. Because weapons were constricted within bounds of a skill tree it led to a lack in a variety of load-outs (one of the reasons I gave up being a sniper). There are times when you just have to pull out that shotgun and get close and personal.

Also, I love the fact they put a level requirement on weapons because it keeps all these low-level wanna-be snipers from killing me with a lucky shot (When you can shoot at a 128 targets, you are bound to hit someone standing still somewhere).

Now the skill tree. When you look at it first time, the skill tree looks massive and intimidating. You feel like they went balls-to-wall crazy with this thing. But once you take a step back and take time to examine it you realize that all the skills in it are the same skill we had before except each skill has been broken up in three level and a handful of new skills. I would still say that borderlands has much higher and unique variety of skill tree customization than MAG.

The problem I have with this new skill tree is I was expecting whole new level of customization with tons of new skills that would give unique playability to my character. Instead I am stuck with the same options I had before. My character is the exact same character as he was before, but with more guns. Also, I cant tell the difference between a skill that is level 2 or the same skill being level 3.

Although this update has allowed me to have a larger variety of load-outs, overall I was passively impressed with the update and I think this has been the most thorough and useful update of all online games I have played before. Looking forward to 9 news weapons and stuff in the upcoming DLC.

Top officials try to ban Medal of Honor

This is a story I wrote for Newsy.com and have gotten kind of attached to. The reason being the story required me to put quite a bit of attention to control my personal bias. Being a gamer myself, I believe that the whole thing is a pile of bull crap rotting in a land fill in the middle of Kansas. There have been movies that have depicted far worse and not word of criticism was raised against them.
With such passion for video games, you can tell it was hard for me to keep my script as neutral as possible. I was constantly talking to editors and fellow writers, none of whom are gamers, about what they thought of my script.
The other reason for me to be particularly attached to the story is that I didn’t want to do the story because of the simple fact that I am Muslim. In light of the recent Islamaphobia, I have been shying away from such sensitive topics, something that I said I would never do when I came to this country. It is the same reason why I don’t have many Muslim friends, because I have noticed ever since 9/11 the Muslim community in America has felt isolated and as a resulted has been indulging in a process to further isolating themselves.
If we are to remove this image of all be Muslims being psychotic-bomb-strapped American-hating maniacs, isolating ourselves is the worst way of doing it. I have actively avoided pitching story ideas about sensitive topics dealing with Muslims, such as the mosque in New York. By avoiding these topics I have avoided the possibility of injecting new and unique viewpoints into the media discussion of Muslim situation. Since at Newsy.com we are analyzing viewpoints of other media organizations, instead having one of our own, I could’ve found viewpoints that other people might have overlooked.
If you watch the story though, you will realize I have no such angle from say a Muslim stand point. That is because the story worked much better without one so I scrapped it and pulled out a pretty decent story.
The reason I like this story is not because I was able to “defend the reputation of Muslims everywhere!!!” but because it was the first step I took in finding the courage to challenge all this negative imagery of Muslims in the media. I hope, I have made the right decision by doing so.

http://wp.me/pkzYW-51

PS3 hack ban upheld by court as free version released

As you all have heard finally a PS3 has been discovered, all the way in the Down-Under. However Australian courts tried to move to ban and now BBC reports that they accomplished there goals. Unfortunately trying to control this kind of ordeal is next to impossible; BBC reports follows up with a news that someone has put up a free version online. Sony is trying to sue the parent company on which the site belongs however the damage has been down. Enough people have already downloaded this software and soon multiple sites will follow up with a downloadable version of their own and this thing will be out of control.

I don’t have anything against hacking console so you can play pirated games for free, but I prefer if people do not indulge in these activities. The reason being is the people who invest money into these products (like myself who adores PS3 system and would like to support the company to keep coming up with innovative ways to entertain us) tend to suffer from the actions of others. I will not play a hacked version on matter of principle, however if this causes enough of a dent in Sony’s profits (knowing corporation this amount could be insignificant) it would try balance out it’s budget by other means, like an online subscription fees. A bullet that us PS3 users, very narrowly dodged.

For the full story go to BBC.co.uk

Why the new Transformer Game Won’t Suck

1) It is not based of a movie and therefore the creativity is not restricted by a two hour story line or or a total of 35 minutes of action.

2) Customization; which is a first for any transformer game and is an awesome idea for transformers. OHHHHH!!!! How long have I yearned to create my own unique Autobot. I used try gluing together my broken Transformer action figures into a one big Megabot when I was a kid. It would always not come as I planned, but now I can create the Autobot of my dreams and it will be the greatest Awesomebot of all time.

3) Optimus is carrying a Freakin Battle AXE!!! How many games have you seen where the main character, the protagonist is carrying an axe. There are less then Five in the last decade.

4) It is about a time that was never talked about in the actual cartoon. Only bits and pieces of this era exist, and so it will be a completely new experience for both old school transformer fans and new youngins alike.

5) And finally, it is not based off a freaking movie. The movie was good, but creating a game based off the narrative limitations of a movie, coupled with total lack of a design to support an interactive experience within movie, simply creates an unstable platform for a proper video game where the minimal amount of time expended to create an interactive and entertaining experience is eight hours.

and oh! Did i mention that Optimus has a battle axe!

Playstation 3 Move; to buy or not to buy?

The Playstation Move is probably going to be the most accurate and smooth motion detection system out there, once it is released this November. The question is whether a such technologically advance motion detection is going to be worth the time and money to invest in?

If you look at pure schematics and numbers, the move is an excellent purchase. Close to .01 mm motion detection, the Move is far more accurate than the Wii’s controller even with the new upgrade Wii MotionPlus. Also you do not have to worry about every opening and closing door or your roommate walking in front of you, to cause your character to do a back flip off a safe ledge into the pit of death (i’m talk about you Natal and your creepy Milo computer boy).

However, Sony’s and Microsoft’s efforts to emulate Wii by introducing their own motion control system, are deeply flawed.

1) Wii’s motion has been and still is pretty simplistic and to an extent pathetic, yet the Wii is popularity refuses to yield in front of the High tech and High Definition games of the PS3 and Xbox 360. The reason is not that Wii has motion control, but that more than half of all Wii games are multiplayer games. Both, the PS3 and Xbox have a handful of games that no more than two people can enjoy at a time. Wii has games where you can throw a party and have every single individual entertained.

2) People who are willing to pay the high price of 360 or the PS3, majority of them are a step above the average casual gamer. These individuals, after they are done with work/classes/napping will come home and spend a few hours on their couch, sipping Mountain Dew while popping heads of other players with a sniper rifle, at the flick of a joystick and a press of a trigger button. Does Sony really expect us to be jumping around in our living room, swinging the wands like mad berserkers after an entire days of classes/work/napping?

Knowing myself, if I purchased this PS3 Move, I will only use it on the weekends when I have no work or classes to worry about. Other days I would be too tired to act like a gladiator in the middle of my living room. As cool as being a gladiator in the middle of your living room sounds, it is simply not that practical. I would have to say, unless you are a really active individual and don’t mind sweating for another two hours a day, this is not the best thing you can spend your money on.