July 30, 2006

This is BIG!

I know I don't post news as much as I ought to, but when a story this BIG, BREAKING, SHOCKING, and IMPORTANT comes along I just have to post it. Brace yourselves, grab on to something, and don't bother to sit down because you're just going to stand up. It's that HUGE! Oh, and did I mention it's not good news?

You may recall a little event called E3. Well, actually it's not little. It's the biggest entertainment expo in the world. This year's was also the best in recent memory... and also the last. That's right, E3 IS NO MORE!!! An official press release is expected tomorrow. Rumor has it it might be replaced by a much smaller event, but it's just not the same.

July 21, 2006

After Analysis: Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, and City of villains

For the past few months I have switching between Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, and City of villains. I got Guild Wars and World of Warcaft around the same time, and later City of villains when I took a break from WOW. After playing all three of these games I have come with new scores, and reviews on them.



Guild Wars

The revolutionary idea of an MMORPG with no monthly fee gave birth to the game Guild Wars. This MMORPG was thought to be the death of all other MMORPG. Many people where excited after trying the beta demo (I was one of them). So why is it that Guild Wars is now one of the least populated, most unsuccessful games of it's time?




- Repetiveness ( same weapon's, quests, ect)

- Lack of PvP: is game is supposed to be centered around PvP, but even games that are less "PvP oriented such as WOW and COV made Guild Wars PvP look like a joke

- No class balance: The idea of mixing classes together is a great idea, except when u have horribly overpowered combination (Monk/Warrior anyone?)

- Community: with no monthly fee, the main audience of the game where 7-11 year olds who are often immature brats who have no idea of how to play.

-PvE: This is the joke of the game, there are no specific areas you can go to for your level, no players are with you when you enter the PvE zone unless you invite them yourself to your group. It gives the impression of a normal RPG, not a MMORPG where u see people questing with you and interacting with them. I rather fight a player over a certain item/kill/drop for a quest than be alone in the barren waste land with nothing more than a couple of bots helping me quest.

I originally gave this game a score of 8.5 now I give it a 3.0 the only thing positive I can say about this game is that it is still free, andhat maybe the expansion will improve it

-Original Score: 8.5

-New Score: 3.0


City of villains



COV was an amazing game, it broke the generic repetiveness of "Lord of the Rings" type races, ideas, of the more common day MMORPGS. I played the game for a month, and it blew me away. The first thing i noticed was the customization, which was the most detailed I have seen in any MMORPG. The game itself is a great game, the powers especially are amazing. Also in COV they have a very unique modes of transportation using powers such super speed and flight to get you across the world. This game was great but unfortunately not as detailed and deep as WOW, so I abandoned it. Still for those who don't find WOW that great, should try City of villains or City of hero's

Score: 9.0


World of Warcraft




With 7 million subscribers and rising, World of Warcraft is the most successful game of its time. This game was the underdog when fighting the biggest MMORPG at the time of its release( EQII) in a battle of gaining subscribers. World of Warcraft came out on top in the end and the rest is history. The game already had a large fan-pool to draw subscribers from. But the reason the game was s successful was because anyone could pick it up and enjoy it. The game was suited towards everyone, casual and hardcore players, Roleplayers and PvPers, young and old, inexperienced and veteran. Now its a game that is likely to not die out for many years to come. With the expansion coming, the game promises to to expand and add content, drawing in more players and bringing in more loyal fans.

Score: 9.8

(http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart7.html for MMORPG charts)

July 20, 2006

Dark Sector... It's not dead!

I recently visited the Dark Sector website to see what was up, and was surprised to find it had totally changed. Though the site is only a teaser, I was greeted with this awesome picture that revealed two things: the game comes out fall '07 and "Everything you know about Dark Sector is probably wrong."

For those of you who don't know, Dark Sector is (or at least was) a third person sci-fi shooter. It was one of the earliest next-gen games I'd seen and still one of my most anticipated. I thought the project might have been canceled until now. It looks better than ever! The E3 '05 trailer also remains one of my favorite game trailers ever. You can check it out on gametrailers.com.


E3 in a nutshell

Since I got so lazy and didn't post much on E3, I've found this cartoon that pretty much sums it up for everyone. Enjoy!

July 18, 2006

Oh, I reviewed it all right!

The Chromehounds review is up! I think I went a little insane, though. Go check it out for yourself. Oh, and if you already have the game, there will be some downloadable content tomorrow.

In other news... this is Gameweb's 150th post!!! WOOT! Here's to 150 more!

Chromehounds Review


Finally, the Xbox 360 gets a giant destructive mech game! Be warned, however, this is no Mech Assault. What you get here is a very different game. The basic story has something to do which three warring nations, though I don't pay much attention because it's presented in such a dull way. I've read, however, that the story is very good. Guess you'll have to see for yourself.

There really isn't much to be had in the single player mode. You'll find yourself playing it to unlock precious HOUND parts (more on that later) or to get accustomed to the six different role types. Speaking of which, you probably want to know what they are. The RTs (role types) are one of the things that truly makes this game unique. There is the soldier, designed for front line battling, the sniper (self explanatory), the defender, designed to defend your base, the heavy gunner, packed with huge long range missiles to take out the enemy's HQ, the scout, quick and able to zip through battles and asses the situation, and tactics commander, who analyzes the map and strategies with the team.

In company mode, you'll find yourself piloting "borrowed" HOUNDS specifically suited to the role type in which you are playing (you choose an RT to play as and each RT has seven missions- 42 single player missions all together). Once you collect parts, however, you can freely combine parts to combine RTs.

The impressive part of this game is the online mode. Unless you have Xbox Live, you won't find much in this game- it has no multiplayer. If you do, then you're in for a treat. Chromehounds has an incredibly deep online mode. When you first start, the game will ask you to join one of three nations. You'll then battle against players on other nations for dominance of the land mass the three countries reside on. As you battle, your mech will take damage. You'll have to spend money earned from victories to pay for repairs, extra ammo, and parts. That's right- there's an online store. You'll be able to buy a variety of parts made by your nation, but there's nothing stopping you from changing your alliance to another nation and buying their parts. You can also import parts and HOUNDS from the offline mode. There's some online single player missions too to earn some extra cash. Nothing special, just destroy as many enemies as you can in the time limit. Also, based on your skill in the campaign mode, the game will give you a level for each RT which carries over into the online mode and is used to pit you against players of similar skill.

The game's three nations are all very unique and different. Each has its own culture, income, ruler, etc. If any one nation were to control 100% of the territory the servers reset and another war starts. The game also lets you start your own squad of up to twenty people, though only six are able to fight at once- that's a total of eighteen players per mach. The game also lets you choose from a variety of unranked matches just for fun. These do not reflect the outcome of the war like the raked matches.

Finally, the best part of the game... HOUND customization! You can literally customize every aspect of your HOUND from weapons (a total of sixteen per HOUND!), to color, to number, and its all incredibly easy! There are several different types of parts that make up your hound: light arms, heavy arms, cockpits, engines, bases, assist parts, and computer chips. To make the game more realistic, it includes a system in which you must balance your HOUND for maximum performance. For example, would you made a huge, heavy, gas guzzling hound with a small fuel tank and no radiator? No, of course not. It won't last long in battle. It a long, but fun, process to get the right balance of parts. You can even test your HOUND on a practice course, then go back and make changes. This mode became what I wanted and more. No two HOUNDs will ever be the same. You can literally customize everything, right down to color and custom emblem.

Now, on to the gameplay. Chromehounds has incredibly simple pick-up-and-play controls. Move with left stick, look with right stick, shoot with right trigger, switch weapons with right bumper. You can only have four weapons to switch between, but can customize it so you can fire up to four weapons at once. By clicking on the right thumbstick you can switch to first person view. This will become a necessity in battle. A small screen in the upper right corner shows the third person view or a first person view when zoomed out. My only problem with the gameplay is that most of the mechs were really slow. I've learned to deal with it, however. You can always make a fast scout if it bothers you.

Graphically, Chromehounds is beautiful. The one problem is that enemies disappear completely in a puff of smoke when destroyed. Levels are huge, but barren and buildings crumble unrealistically. Other than that the game looks fantastic. Sound wise, the game is good. Sound affects are great and music is cool and eerie, yet repetitive.

The Breakdown
+ Great customization
+ Awesome online mode
+ Simple controls
- Lacking campaign mode
- No offline multiplayer
- Where the hell do the enemies go when you blow them up!?

Overall, Chromehounds is a great game and a fun experience. If you don't have Xbox Live, don't bother. If you do, definitely pick this one up! 8/10

It's been a looooooooooooooong time

Out of nowhere, back from the dead is... Gameweb! Surprise! I, and everyone else was caught by an extreme case of The Laziness. This is a very dangerous disease as it prevents any productivity of anything. Nothing gets done. You just sit and watch reruns on TV or play video games... or sleep. In any case, don't let the laziness get you! This is the first post in a long time (save for one or two on Viewpoint, which, by the way, weren't mine), and I hope the start of many more. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll write a review of Chromehounds... or maybe I'll just play it some more.