I'll try to keep this brief since no one I know reads these posts...
First off two games I've played recently for Xbox 360 Gears of War and Command n Conquer 3.
Gears of war (GOW) was pretty cool and I can see why it won game of the year. Great graphics, different take on the shooter (third person done very well), and lots of violence. But my big thing with games is story. I think if a game especially a shooter doesn't have a great story then its just more of the same. Halo was cool because it brought so much to the console in terms of a great fluid shooter that worked well with a controller. But also the story has been well developed and somewhat interesting.
GOW had so many plot holes, and on top of that its like they forgot to film a few cut scenes. Unless you read the manual you really have no back story. The game starts off with you in prison for breaking rank but you don't know in what regard... unless you read the manual... no flash backs or anything. And then you're thrust into a battle with no clear idea of what you are doing, what the significance of it is, all you know is there are bad guys and they have guns. And its on another planet so its not like you can go, "Oh I'm fighting in Trafalgar square or Times square... etc."
The game also is very short which was kind of disappointing I expected a lot more gameplay. Also the game is completely linear with a few forks in the road, so in essence theres little reason to play it through twice. It ends with a bit of a 'to be continued' so hopefully the second one will have some more plot and cut scenes and what not.
Command and Conquer however is pretty much the same as it always is. Kane is back and up to his old tiberium tricks again. And for some reason we went from having mechs, walkers, space ships, and mutants, to going back to tanks. I loved the second one the walkers were awesome, and the story went in a cool sci fi direction... so this game in essence fails to deliever the continuity I expect from a sequal.
One thing I hate is when game series don't connect. I can't stand how the zeldas are basically just rehashments of the same old story, same with mario. The stories in no way connect or build off each other. One of the few that does and does it very well, is metroid. Every metroid game ties into each other with a few gaping holes but never the less they connect in one way or another.
The thing CC3 does have... Billy D Williams as the president... now theres a candidate I can support. If he can take down the second deathstar then solving the Iraq quagmire would be a piece of cake. It also has Grace Park (Boomer) from Battlestar Galatica, and Sawyer from lost, and the teacher from Starship Troopers.
But after playing this game for a bit I am realize why these games have run there course with me. They just get repetitve and old. Plus they get freaking annoying, I'm playing and yelling at the bad guys, "Look can you stop attacking me for 2 seconds and let me get my base set up... geez!"
All this to say, these games make me wish I had Halo 3.
Posted by holtonian at September 3, 2007 03:02 PM | TrackBack