Wednesday, September 22

You Were Always On My Mind

Still buzzing after the announcement that Street Fighter and Tekken would merge to form two new games, this past weekend brought the announcement of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 at the Tokyo Game Show. One of my favourite games on the Playstation 2, and in my opinion, easily the best instalment in the series; Tekken Tag Tournament was the perfect combination of quasi 3D fighting games and tag team wrestling action. The home console version also featured the best ten pin bowling game I have ever played, Tekken Bowl. When TTT2 makes its way inevitably to current generation consoles, it damn well better include an interpretation of another niche sport with it. Like badminton. Tekken Badminton would be awesome.



I finally received my copy of Halo:Reach in the mail. Much to my distress it was the NTSC-J version, and I thought I would have another week (at least) to wait before I could tell what any other gaming press outlet has been telling you for weeks (in some cases, months and years) before now. Luckily enough, the label appears to have been all for show, and the game has played on my console for hours without incident. From the menu, Reach impresses. With the touch of a few buttons I had jumped into a Firefight match with my brother, and we were Killionaires in the making.

Rather than harp on about the visuals, and the score, or how it's still a Halo game; I thought I would share some of the more interesting experiences I've had with Bungie's blockbuster. There seems to be a medal for just about anything you do in matchmaking. There's a medal for not dying after nearly dying, there's a medal for killing the person who killed you last, or whoever killed your friend. There are also medals awarded for the skilled use of, and abuse of those who are using a jetpack. Not since my time with Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight have I had such fun with a jetpack. JK had a pretty industrious mod community, and some of the better products were the afforementioned jetpack, a grappling hook and a World Championship Wrestling skin pack. Back on point, flying around is fun, however swatting Halo's version of a fly feels like much more of an accomplishment.

New to the Rumble Pit playlist is the Race match type. My first attempt appeared to have bugged out. None of the promised checkpoints appeared on screen, and rather than being penalised for rage-quitting, I played through ten pointless minutes on a Mongoose. The second match played as intended, and it was funny to see me and 2 other players legitimately compete while the others set traps along the path. Why did they abandon the pursuit of victory so soon? How come 5 players resigned to defeat so quickly? It was fun, but it was also quite puzzling.



Just as I'm getting my claws into Reach, Dead Rising 2 appears on the horizon. It's a great time to be a gamer. What are you playing at the moment?

10 comments:

  1. I had a look at BlameTruth's track. honestly, the racing looks kinda boring, and the camera seems to be out of whack, where at points you can see nothing. Not sure if that is how it plays, or if he was swinging the camera round in a replay to show off his track.

    TTT2 is going to be awesome!!! So many hours spent playing the first one at Matt's place, pawning on Tim and his noob friends with my ultimate combo of Law and Jun. I loved Jun, she was so awesome.

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  2. Armour King ftw!

    Playing CODMW2 at the moment, my friends and I just got new pc's.

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  3. Dude, it is a terrible game, yet I am addicted (nearly 30 days online). mind you, I tried playing again last night and nearly broke my controller on the first game I played.

    I have high hopes for Black Ops, and really want it to not be a pandering to the douche bags of the world.

    And King was always better than Armour King dude! Ask Matt for the TRUTH!

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  4. Hahahaha Sam giveth, and then he taketh away.

    BlameTruth appears to be showing off the track, and just FYI Halo's small vehicle controls are airtight. The actual developer mad maps are small, but there is plenty of room for error. Surprisingly, the Race match type is really popular. The three times it came up in voting, undisputed winner!

    Will - I'm with Sambo. King > Armour King. Also, I'm jealous. I want a new PC.

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  5. I thought that may have been the case. And I am highly surprised that it is that popular, especailly with the homophobe 12 year olds who seem to inhabit every Halo and COD game.

    Dude, when you up next?

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  6. Not until Halloween my friend.

    Picked up Dead Rising 2 today. Too stingy to splash out on a special edition.

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  7. LOL that's my boy! And man that is a long way away. You and Carls should swing through when you are up here. I will (probably) have MoH by then, will definetely have FIFA 11.

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  8. I will definitely have MoH. So many good games coming out in October. It is not even funny.

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  9. And yes, we will have to invade your's and Lisa's privaceez

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  10. I know man, it is insane. I am due to be so poor after the first week of November. Also, I can't wait to trade in MW2. It is going to be a satisfying moment.

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