Gears of War

I know I'm late with this post. I could give you all of the reasons why (school, friends, copious amounts of drugs, ect.) but anyone who reads this is more than likely one of the people who partook in whatever I was doing so congratulations on gumming up the works guys.

Gears of War is one of the most influential shooters of all time. It was a selling point for the Xbox 360 and introduced gameplay mechanics still very much in-vogue. One need only look at the regenerating health as well as a lack of any health bar in the HUD present in nearly every modern shooter to see its influence. However, the game is not without problems, some of which are glaringly obvious from the get-go. However, the game is also useful in a discussion about how meaning and feeling can be conveyed through gameplay.

The story is unoriginal, to put it bluntly. Its about a bunch of steroid-pumped space marines doing what steroid-pumped space marines do; shoot metaphors for enemies of the US. Yes The Locust, which is what the alien horde calls itself in this game, are obvious stand-ins for terrorists. They pop up wherever they want and the government can't stop them. They're zealots fighting because an authority orders them to. Hell, they even travel through the sand and there's mention of emulsion, which seems to be something like oil. I don't think I have to mention that when the average American thinks of terrorists, they think of the Middle East and two things the Middle East has a lot of is sand and oil. I shouldn't expect subtlety from a developer named Epic and a game called Gears of War, I know (also, the soldiers are called COGs. Get it? They're COGs in the GEARS of WAR!!).Anyway, big Americans shoot brown people facsimiles is the basic plot of the game.

The main characters in this space marine saga are Marcus Fenix (player character), Dom (second-player), Cole and Baird. They don't go very far beyond their roles as tough guys, usually having lines like, "Over there," and "Got him!." Grunts and shouts are the order of the day, but that doesn't mean that there isn't some room for charm. I can't deny that I love Cole Train, the big African-American guy, despite I also recognize that his only character trait is being the big African-American guy. Dom's character gets some development (he's searching for his wife) that works slightly better in the second game than this one, even though its very manipulative. On the other hand, Baird's one character trait is that he's a dick and I'm pretty sure that Marcus Fenix was voiced by the Kool-Aid Man. Actually, it was John DiMaggio, who you may know as Bender from Futurama, doing my least favorite voice in his repertoire. I'm not kidding about the Kool-Aid Man thing, by the way. Fenix even says, "Oh yeah," sometimes. It's extremely distracting.

The story isn't the draw, though, it's the game play. You don't play a game called Gears of War to think. However, game play is, strangely, where Gears of War becomes the most interesting in an academic way. Most shooters, especially before Gears, have a tendency to feature a nearly invincible protagonist mowing down countless, faceless enemies. In a lot of ways, this game keeps that tradition alive in the mowing down countless, faceless enemies sense. However, you don't feel invincible while playing the game. Epic uses a cover system that was revolutionary for its time. Even on the lowest difficulty setting, if you sprint around with Marcus and try to hack up everyone with the chainsaw-bayonet (yes, there's a chainsaw bayonet), you're going to die. Marcus can't take bullets of that magnitude. This cover system fundamentally alters how the gamer experiences the game and what the game is about. Now you aren't firing an endless stream of bullets, but your jockeying for the best cover positions. They also introduced the active reload which makes it so that, if you hit the reload button at the right time, you reload faster or if you're really good a boost to damage. Now reloading becomes a major factor. By placing less emphasis on the shooting and more on movement and reloads, Epic creates a feeling of fear. It can be scary, especially in the later levels when explosive arrows can kill you in one hit if you're too cocky. While the game is still dripping in testosterone, there's actually a hint of melancholy to the proceedings rather than an all-out dick sword fight.

Is Gears of War perfect? No. Not even close. The dialogue is terrible and all of the characters are as flat as cardboard. I also wasn't impressed with the boring brown colors and the equally uninteresting story line. However, what makes this game interesting and important is how it engages game play. It uses the cover system and the active reloads to create a panicky, somewhat depressing atmosphere that the story should have played up more. The ultimate problem with the game is that they couldn't decide if they wanted to make a manly shooter or a slightly more thoughtful game about how scary it must be to be entrenched in a land that is not your own, under fire from a people you don't understand. They tried to make both.

Quickish hit

Some really great music put to 20 minutes of the best cosplay, you'll see this side of the pacific ... if you've got 20 minutes to burn give it a look

_Dom
(J-treat)

Modern Warfare 2

Spoilers, but you've already played this so it doesn't really matter.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was sold with the promise that it was as realistic as you were going to get in a first-person shooter. While this may or may not be true and the story may have revolved around action-movie set-pieces, those set-pieces could be really compelling at times and we became (somewhat) invested in the characters. The Ghillie suit mission was especially a high point for the series. When Modern Warfare 2 came out, it was the highest selling game of all-time. It still may be, I'm not sure. It was a favorite of mine and my friends for a while and I have fond memories of playing it. My recent play-through of the campaign proves that you can't go home again.

The campaign is just so poorly put together. You play five different characters over the course of the single-player campaign and three of those characters die with one being gravely wounded. In the first Modern Warfare game, you played three characters and one of them died. When they died it was shocking and quite effective. When the three characters die in MWF2, it feels forced and really unnecessary. This is especially true of the astronaut portion where you float in space for a second and then get blown up for no real reason. I don't think they even name the poor guy. Even when the game is picking up steam, then completely break the tension when they switch to another character. For instance, there is a scene where you are an American soldier defending Washington DC from the Russians (because we are living in 1984 for some reason.) The helicopter you are in is shot down and you are being surrounded by the enemy. Ammo is running low. It looks like everything is lost and then...it switches to a different character. Granted, it shows how what happens afterwards came to be, but did it really need to be shown. It would have been way more effective if it had happened and then the player found out why. In fact, when the why is shown, it still doesn't make sense. I don't want to give it away despite the spoiler warning, but it all hinges on a character who is always portrayed as good allowing something bad to happen without anyone giving any real reason why. This is another common with the narrative; people do things that make absolutely no sense and then a bunch of people die. It's stupid and frustrating. I expect better from Lance Henrikson, Captain Anderson and the guy who played the sniper in Saving Private Ryan (they all lent their voices and, with the exception of Captain Anderson AKA Keith David I didn't realize it.) 

Strangely enough, the most interesting, fun and well-made part of the game is simultaneously the least realistic the invasion of America. I'm tired of the Russians as bad guys as much as anyone who doesn't masturbate to Red Dawn but the environments are so interesting, the missions are varied and, most importantly, the story is actually cohesive. While America is invaded, you play as one character, in one squad and you stay in an area that is both familiar and varied. It's not realistic, but games don't have to be and, often, shouldn't be. In a space where you can create anything, why would you create something exactly like the world around you?

So the single-player campaign with it's pointless deaths and poorly constructed narrative is fairly stupid. It doesn't matter, though, because people bought this game for its multiplayer. The single-player campaign is little more than a glorified tutorial meant to teach newbs the basic mechanics so as to avoid a Counter Strike-sized learning curve. Multiplayer used to be huge when I was living in a house with five other guys, but playing it again made me realize that it's really nothing special. Maybe its not fair looking back on this game after everyone who owns a game studio decided to steal their format, but especially after Call of Duty:Black Ops introduced wager matches, MWF2's multiplayer is lame. The killstreaks are still kind of cool and all, but at this point the only people left playing are the hardcore douchebags who couldn't move on when the new games came out. Even so, the matches are often glitchy with connection issues often cutting games short. The gameplay itself isn't particularly varied, with the regular deathmatch, capture the flag and territory holding matches that have been around since online games themselves. The guns are fun to shoot and all, but it's nothing special.

I realized that the reason my friends and I enjoyed those matches was because we were out on our own for the first time and could stay up all night with two walls of TV's constantly playing and shouting with each other. In the beginning, because Infinity Ward decided that beta testing was for chumps, the games were so glitchy and easily modded that the matches were all-out insanity matches. Hosts would pile thirty people only the smallest map so that every time the player spawned, eight people were below them. With no kill cap, a player could get sixty kills in a match. It was ridiculous, but it was fun. This is what made the game good and fun to play; friends and insanity. Once they lost those, we were left with uninspired multiplayer with a few bells and whistles attached and a single player campaign with a few good moments that were snuffed out by a stupid narrative structure, ridiculous plot twists and ethical problems. I forgot to mention the implied torture that one of the supposedly good characters engages in that is never mentioned and has no repercussions. So there's that. Overall, it's a really misguided game that made a lot of money because it is easy to play with your friends. I'm sure Modern Warfare 3 will sell plenty of copies, but I'll be too busy playing Skyrim to care. 

Eden of the East

Wow! Just wow. I just got done with Eden of the East an anime I started and finished shortly after my post on Torchwood. It was unbelievable. A definite must see. It's up beat it's dark there are serial killers and corrupt politicians. I have to give a big shout out to my buddy Dom for turning me on to this one its fuckin fantastic.

This anime is narrated by the lead character Saki Morimi a young Japanese girl who is just about to finish college and is taking a trip to America to celebrate. While visiting the White House in DC she meets a naked man running around with a gun and a cell phone named Akira Takizawa. Saki gives Takizawa her coat hat and scarf to cover himself up so he can get home then heads for the airport so she can go back to Japan. Saki however realizes her passport is in her coat pocket and ditches her bag to chase after him. By the time Saki catches Takizawa we've learned that he has no memory of who he is, he's in possession of several passports himself, and he's got a shit ton of guns in his apartment. Takizawa selects a passport at random and heads to the airport with Saki and the two of them head to Japan where Takizawa discovers that his phone can do anything he asks it to. Hijinks then ensue.

This show is exceptionally well done. From episode one you're left with a sense of wonder and mystic. Who is Takizawa? How'd he get this phone? Where can I get one? Surprisingly for an anime of this length you find out almost all of the answers to the questions you ask with few exceptions. Eden of the East is exceptionally well planned out there aren't any notable plot holes and all of the characters are likable or have some sort of redeeming quality. There are two movies as well which may answer the few lingering questions in your mind like who is Mr. Outside and who is the Supporter but I haven't watched them so I couldn't tell you.

Once again I'd definitely say watch Eden of the East its on Hulu. Its got a really interesting story. The animation is quite good. It's short so it isn't much of a time commitment On the whole its got to be one of the better animes I've ever watched. I want to say again mad props to Dom for this one.

Torchwood

Alright for all you Who fans out there this one is pretty enjoyable. While not as light and geared towards all ages as Dr. Who is Torchwood is still a decent show. Its certainly not for everyone not even necessarily Dr. Who fans. Torchwood is considerably darker with much less likable characters and more adult situations.

Torchwood follows the story of Gwen Cooper a police officer who accidentally stumbles upon Torchwood a secret section of the British government charged with fighting aliens and figuring out how their technology works so humanity can defend themselves against alien incursion. The head of this branch of Torchwood die hard Who fans will recognize immediately as Captain Jack Harkness one of the Dr.'s companions from the first season of the 2005 series. That fact is one of the main reasons I would recommend Torchwood to people. It gives you a much more detailed history on one of the Dr.'s more interesting and less well known companions. Along with them they have a cynical douchey medical officer and an odd Japanese computer genius. Although I would have to say that one of my favorite characters on the show would be Ianto Jones who does a little of everything (including Jack) because of his witty one-liners and snappy dressing if nothing else. This is a show that I would suggest you not get too attached to any of the characters except Harkness as he cannot die because this takes place after Rose brought him back to life at the end of Dr. Who 2005 season 1.

All in all I wouldn't necessarily say this is a must see but if you're bored and looking for something to watch give it a shot unless you like Jack on Dr. Who then I'd say go right ahead you get a lot more of his goofy over the top attitude and "futuresque bi-sexuality." If you do like the show or just want to know how it may conclude season 4 of Torchwood starts airing again November 14th 2011 so you've got about a month to catch up.