So without further ado, my first impressions and basic overview.

The first thing you will notice about Medal of Honor is that it is a beautiful game. There are two maps available in the beta, Helmand Valley, and Kabul City Ruins. Helmand Valley is a sprawling mountainous region in Afghanistan that plays home to the Mission gametype. The Mission gametype is similar to Rush from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the assaulting team is charged with destroying and capturing a series of objectives within the map. Kabul City Ruins is a close quarters urban warzone in which players go head to head in what basically amounts to team deathmatch.

While the game visually striking, the positives really end there for me, I had a friend describe it as being “Beautiful, but basically a cheap Modern Warfare knockoff” while I don’t necessarily agree with the way he put it… he’s basically right.

Before the beta came out for any of the systems, people were describing it as a combination of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2. This description is true for the most part in that the maps are larger and more varied, while the battles still retain the intensity of close to medium range combat that Call of Duty is renowned for.

Unfortunately  Medal of Honor seems to have also acquired the worst parts of both titles. Combat is brutal and unforgiving, and with the state that the beta is in you’ll often find yourself in a state of utter dismay, as the player you just fired half a mag into will simply turn around and put two rounds through your chest… killing you instantly. Most hit detection issues are likely to be gone once the full game comes out, but it makes for a bad first impression.

In typical Battlefield fashion, your character feels sluggish, boxy, and altogether unresponsive. Having a slow character model is something you can get away with in Battlefield, but in an urban environment where a quick dash between buildings means the difference between life and a respawn… it just doesn’t work. And similar to Modern Warfare, you will frequently find your character getting stuck on the tiniest of objects. That brick that you didn’t see in front of your foot? Ya, it just got you sniped.

The weapons and weapon upgrade system are also a source of frustration for me. DICE really has a thing for separate class leveling, just as they did with BF: BC2, you have to level each class individually. With every level you gain in a particular class, you receive upgrades that add and detract stats from the stock weapon.  My biggest issue in regard  to the weapon attachment system? They really don’t add enough of a bonus to affect your weapon in any real way. The M24 (the best sniper rifle available in the beta) doesn’t do enough damage to kill anyone in a single shot (besides a headshot) adding ammo that increases the damage of your weapon still doesn’t give enough power to kill in a single shot.

Killstreaks or Score Chains as they’re known in Medal of Honor are one of the only bright spots in an otherwise unspectacular beta. By getting kills and completing objectives you earn points towards these Score Chains, upon reaching the required amount of points you are provided with a choice between two different actions. At 40 points (the first score chain requirement) you can choose between intel (which basically amounts to a UAV) and a mortar strike.   So the choice is yours, depending on the situation you’re in you might choose to boost your own score, or decide to help the entire team.

Overall the beta is anything but unique. Medal of Honor takes few positives and a great many negatives from the games it emulates. Gameplay mechanics are sketchy at best, poor hit detection and intermittent lag-spikes make a poor impression despite just being a beta. Hopefully most of these issues will be addressed before the full game releases on October 12th.

- Nick Barker

Yesterday Bungie unveiled a batch of avatar awards that will be available to players once they complete certain “actions in Halo: Reach.” Not particularly descriptive, I know. Luckily, we know that Bungie is fairly generous when it comes to avatar awards, so I’m sure everybody will have these at some point. Unfortunately the Noble 6 helmet will only be made available to certain lucky folks who visit Comicon, PAX and GamesCom later this summer.

In their update, Bungie also gave us quite a few more screens and details of their Armory system. Players will have instant access to a number of armor pieces with which to customize their character from day one, but will unlock various other items as they progress through the multiplayer ranks. Unlike Halo 3, Halo: Reach will feature a credit-based progression system that will play a key role in the Armory system and customization process.

On the Achievements front, Bungie has decided to use the power of achievements against the casual gamer. By pursuing and completing achievements, the player will unlock a variety of new gamemodes and features. I’m not kidding here folks, take a look.

“Achievements in Reach were designed with a few principles in mind. We wanted to leverage the power of Achievements – they are something people will chase and pursue – to expose additional features, game modes and systems that players otherwise might miss out on.”

So basically they’re forcing you to go out and complete their achievements in order to have access to features which are already built into the game. Anyone who has ever played a Halo game can testify to the ridiculousness of some of their achievements.

So the casual gamer who just got off work and wants nothing more than to sit down and play Halo for a while is denied the full potential of the game because instead of spending his time chasing achievements he’s at work putting food on the table for his family.

Nice one Bungie.

If the achievements required to unlock these bonuses were just the ones released in their update, I could understand it because they really aren’t that difficult to complete.

Be My Wingman, Anytime – Let a teammate spawn on you 5 times in an Invasion Matchmaking game.
Skunked – Win a game of Invasion in the first phase.
What’s a Killing Spree? – Earn a Killing Spree in multiplayer Matchmaking
I Need a Weapon – Complete the 4th mission on Normal or Harder.
Your Heresy Will Stay Your Feet – Kill the Elite Zealot before he can escape during the 5th mission.

On the other hand, if they’re based on singleplayer and firefight achievements I’m completely opposed to the concept. Some gamers just want to play through the campaign on easy, get the story experience, and move on to multiplayer. Playing through a Halo game on Legendary is no small feat, and getting to 200,000 points in firefight isn’t really a cakewalk for the average gamer.

I guess we’ll just have to see how this all plays out.

For full details check out their blog

- Nick Barker (Dr Strange Lulz)

July 21st -
Limbo: A stylistically innovative black and white platformer that was nominated for awards in both Art and Technical Excellence in the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival.

July 28th -
Hydro Thunder Hurricane: A hidden treasure from Dreamcast’s days of glory, a water based racer guaranteed to remain a fan favorite for years to come.

August 4th -
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair: A brand new Castlevania game? Seriously, do I have to say anything else? A six player co-op based platforming-rpg similar to Symphony of Night in both style and difficulty.

August 11th -
Monday Night Combat: A six-on-six third person shooter set in a horrific future where killing is a sport and athletes go head to head on a nightly basis, similar in style to Team Fortress, this arcade title is designed for pure fun.

August 18th -
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: A co-op adventure which is a far cry from previous Tomb Raider titles, we’ll just have to see how it compares in terms of playability.

All of these titles will run you 1200 Microsoft Points, buying all five will get you a 1200 MS point refund, and buying four will get you 400 MS points.

For $15 each, these games are well priced and designed specifically for Summer gaming.

So go get em.

Due to unknown issues EA and DICE decided to delay the Medal of Honor 360 beta, at first it was assumed that it was the folks over at Microsoft who were to blame, but with the latest delay just announced nobody really has any idea what the cause is.

The developer had this to say on the subject,

“As for the Xbox 360 version of the beta, we are delayed and we apologize. To the Xbox 360 community, we say thank you for your continued patience. We are working to fix the issues that have caused this delay and, like you, we’re eager to get the game up and running at quality.”

Supposedly the beta will be extended for 360 users so that everyone has enough time to play before it officially comes out in October.

Unfortunately since we have no idea what the reason is behind the delay we don’t know how long it’s going to take to fix it, this is the kind of thing the folks over at EA seriously need to tell us.

-Dr Strange Lulz

The first thing you’ll notice about the new Xbox 360 is that it is noticeably  shorter and thinner than its predecessor, so you’ll be able to set it up in slightly smaller areas, and with its shiny new finish you’ll want to show this beast off as often as possible.

The new built in 250 gig hard drive is, funnily enough, located at the bottom of the system. Honestly, the fact that the hard drive is built in really has no effect on the system overall, how often do you take your hard drive off anyway.

The system has a port specifically for Kinect, which I suppose is what Microsoft was referring to when they claimed the system was “Ready for Kinect”. They’ve also done a good job of adding more USB ports, there are now a total of five (Two in the front, and three at the back) and with the new ability to store game saves and profile data on USB drives they are a welcome addition.

Aside from slightly shorter load and startup times, the system’s major improvements lie in cooling, sound and wifi. The system is clearly designed to improve airflow and reduce the need for additional cooling units. As for the sound, the system truly is whisper quiet. I have a particularly loud Elite and upon starting the new 360 up for the first time almost cried tears of joy over how quiet it was.

The new Xbox 360 boasts the fastest Wi-fi available on any system to date, 802.11n. While I don’t use Wi-fi, I’ve heard mixed reports regarding the speed on the new system. A few people claimed that the connection was slower while the vast majority say that it’s a drastic improvement.

All I can say is this, the system is beautiful and performs like a  dream. While the changes are nice, they aren’t strictly necessary… so unless you’re a die-hard 360 fan who needs to have the latest and best, the decision to pick up the new system will really be up to you.

Best RPG: Deus Ex Human RevolutionOn any other day I would give this to Fallout, but the variety of ways you can complete a mission and long term consequences depending on how you do is far more important to me than the name of a developer (The same reason I’m not falling all over myself about RAGE). Fallout: NV looks nice but it’s the exact same engine as Fallout 3, gameplay hasn’t really changed, and to me it just seems that they’re playing this one safe.

Best Sports Game: NBA Jam

Best Racing Game: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Best Shooter: Medal of Honor

Ok Ok, don’t shoot me, let me explain myself. The guys over at Treyarch displayed a decent amount of footage at E3, the problem I found was that none of it actually looked fun… at all. It just seemed like they were trying to one up Infinity Ward and coming up short (“Modern Warfare 2 had a nuke? Ya… well… we nuked the whole planet, this game takes place on a terraformed Mars, booya! Ya we went there!”) So you’ve got a chopper, sweet. But I know from experience with every one of your games that the gameplay footage shown was on the easiest mode possible, and that you almost died… every time you showed it off. Anyone who’s ever played World at War will tell you that Veteran mode is one of the hardest things they’ve ever done.

Medal of Honor footage was entirely multiplayer and frankly, 30 seconds of multiplayer footage looked a hundred times more fun than the idiotic chopper level in Black Ops. Medal of Honor seems like it will be the perfect balance between COD and Battlefield, while maintaining some of the scope of the Battlefield games they’ve also managed to introduce the close quarters intensity of COD. Take a look at the beta on June 21st.

Best Platformer: Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Best Fighting Game: Marvel vs Capcom 3

Best Action Game: Assassins’ Creed: Brotherhood

Take one-part Assassin’s Creed add one-part Multiplayer and you’ve got a winner folks. The multiplayer for AC: Brotherhood remains true to it’s origins, allowing players to do all the things they would normally be able to do in singleplayer and then using those abilities to kill your friends. Scarily awesome.

Unfortunately I actually forgot to get my press registration in on time this year otherwise I would have been there, luckily I’ve learned my lesson and I guarantee I’ll be there next year.

Caddies and Aliens? Yes please. Check out the Trailer.

Now nine years later 2K games, specifically 2K Marin (The developers who brought us Bioshock 2) are making a play to revitalize a PC classic by bringing XCOM to the next-gens.

In 2K Marin’s latest game, you take on the role of FBI Agent William Carter and are charged with studying and defending against the alien threats that have begun to plague the US. In stark contrast to the horror of Rapture, XCOM takes place in picture perfect 1950′s America.

In an attempt to incorporate both of their previous gameplay styles XCOM will be a mix of strategy and combat. The strategic element comes into play in the form of Research. Using a camera and a similar mechanic to Bioshock 2 players will take photographs of the aliens and their technology, this in turn will reward the player with new weapons and information about the alien threat to aid in your investigations.

Take a gander at the XCOM website, it sure is swell.

Investigation plays a large role in XCOM, you’ll track down leads and eventually enter a large area in search of alien phenomena, once in the map players will scour the area for clues that will hopefully lead you to the alien menace.

From what we’ve seen of combat it seams like a HUD is non-existent, but we’ve only seen a single trailer so it’s unclear whether one will be in the final product. In another parallel to Bioshock, it appears that the player will be treated to a variety of weaponry, ranging from a standard pump-action to a grenade in the form of a “Blobatov” which is used to burn the ink-like blob creatures we’ve seen so far.

Hopefully 2Khas what it takes to bring a PC classic into the future… or the past, and judging by their previous games it’s safe to say they have a good chance of pulling it off.

Now to the real news.

Three words that could either make or break my decade…

Mass Effect Movie.

Legendary Pictures has acquired the film rights to the EA-Bioware epic.  While normally I’d be freaking out over the possibility of them ruining my favorite game, there are a few hints that this might just be the one we’ve been waiting for.  Jon Jashni (Ninja Assassin, Where the Wild Things Are, The Hangover) and Thomas Tull (The Dark Knight) have signed on along with Avi Arad (Spiderman, Ironman) and his son Ari to produce the film, while the co-founders of Bioware, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk will be executive producers.

“We are thrilled to be working with Legendary,” said producer Avi Arad. “EA and BioWare are terrific partners who have created a brilliant piece of fiction with a universe filled with amazing aliens and technology. More importantly, though, they created a parable whose conflicts mirror the ones we currently face in our own world. This story emphasizes the need for all cultures to learn to work together. All this magic is presented in a fast paced action-adventure that makes for the best kind of movie experience.”

Who will direct? Your guess is as good as ours.

I’m hoping for J.J. Abrams.

So Red Dead Review on Monday.

- Dr Strange Lulz

I knew the moment I posted the Black Ops Teaser that Treyarch would come out with more information within a couple of weeks and I’d be forced to make another post about it. Luckily they decided to come out with a few things at the same time so  I don’t really feel like this is a wasted post.

New Trailer

Recently the teaser trailer has been playing on TV, so it was only a matter of time before Treyarch released a new trailer. Later today during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN we’ll be treated to the first full trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Gamestop Pre-Order Bonus

Earlier yesterday Gamestop announced that they would be offering a limited bonus for people who pre-ordered Call of Duty: Black Ops. The first 300,000 people who pre-order the latest installment of COD from Gamestop will receive a limited edition two-sided COD: Black Ops poster, which from the pictures on the Gamestop website actually looks really cool. The posters will be available when you go in to pre-order the game, so you wont have to wait until November.

Again, I’d love to give you more information, but there just isn’t any. Make sure to check out the trailer later today, and get your pre-order in while poster supplies last.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be available November 9th.

The first thing you’ll notice about Skate 3 is that it’s control scheme is identical to that of it’s predecessors, which is fantastic, as veterans will already know how to play and newcomers can still enjoy the natural feel of the Flickit controls.

Very frequently (especially when it comes to sequels) developers try ‘something different’ and tweak the gameplay mechanics in some way that they feel will make the game more fun, accessible, challenging, etc. and end up annoying their fan base.  I guess Blackbox subscribes to the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” because it’s plain to see that they didn’t feel like messing with the core mechanics behind the game. Sure there are improvements in almost every field, but the way the game feels as you play it remains for the most part unchanged from Skate’s previous iterations.

There really isn’t much of a storyline behind Skate 3. The game starts and Reda (The narrator from the previous two games) hands you off to Shingo so that he can go and manage your company, from which point you basically just go out and do challenges in any old random order until you sell 1,000,000 boards. The end. But seriously? It’s a skateboarding game, not Heavy Rain.

While there are a great many ways to go about selling boards, doing challenges is by far the quickest and easiest. The challenges for the most part are unique and entertaining, offering up everything from games of 1Up against the Pros to  throwing yourself off of buildings for the Hall of Meat, and Deathraces through the Quarry and downtown Port Carverton. One of the nicest things about the challenges in my opinion is the fact that you don’t need to do ALL of them in order to sell 1,000,000 boards, I’m personally not a fan of Hall of Meat, so not being forced to do them makes me pretty happy.

There are a few new additions to the series, the greatest of which is undoubtedly the Create-A-Park editor. As you progress through the game’s challenges, you are rewarded with various obstacles which you can use in Create-A-Park (CAP),  so complete an Own The Spot challenge involving a weird ledge and you might get that ledge for CAP.  If you can think it up, chances are you can build it using CAP. The Create-A-Park editor has the potential to extend the game’s replay value to the point where you might never stop playing it in the first place.

Overall:

Skate 3 is a fantastic title, easily the best of the series. With a framerate upgrade and tweaks to animations, the visuals are solid. Gameplay is as varied and interesting, with very little repetitiveness. Multiplayer and Create-a-Park just top this game off as an absolute ‘must-buy’ for anyone who even thinks that they might enjoy a skateboarding game.

9/10

Blackbox continues to give us remarkable titles, there have been rumors about Skate 3 being the last in the series, while these aren’t confirmed… do us all a favor and go buy Skate 3 so that they decide to make Skate 4.

-  Dr Strange Lulz