DogFighter: Childhood hobbies return

A close friend and distant cousin shared my obsession with World War II airplanes growing up, but he took it  a step further. He bought a joystick and a book on dog fighting moves. I just spent my time reading about the majestic P-38 and the deadly Stuka while he actually flew the things in online combat. He eventually progressed to Ace Combat but for a while he played a game that featured vehicles of World War II in addition to planes. The name escapes me but it was sort of a plane and automobile-centric Battlefield 1942. The vehicles weren’t particularly useful though because they were too far from the rival bases.

PGR2: Backwards compatability should come standard people

I think the time is about right for me to tell you a little story. This is the story of why Enosh bought an Xbox 360. You see, as a kid I was never allowed to own a console. After all, videogames rot your brain and make you afraid of sunshine. I had of course played a good number of videogames, my best friend own a series of consoles beginning with the NES and progressing in a careening line up through the SNES, Playstation, and PS2.

By the time I got to college I was a Playstation fan and the thought of software giant Microsoft trying to wheedle its way into the market offended me. Then my sophomore roommate introduced me to the Halo and more importantly a little racing game called Project Gotham Racing 2.

Red Dead Redemption: City slickers need not apply

Actually, this game is great for city slickers and range riders alike. But still! The co-op missions come out tomorrow, so I thought it high time I weigh in on the game that made rdr cougar an internet meme.

I feel that I am more qualified than my counterparts Elrood and Tophat to discuss this game because I actually played Gun three years ago. Nobody else knows what that game was, but believe me when I say it shared a lot of similarities with RDR. I’m a big fan of sandbox games and running around on a horse brandishing a six-shooter is ridiculously appealing to me. That being said, buying RDR had not occurred to me until the Monday before launch. Elrood, Tophat and I were playing a little MW2 or Borderlands that night, I forget which, when a mutual friend joined our party exploding with excitement about the midnight release of RDR. The buzzword for the evening quickly became posse and in no time I was making plans to drive to Best Buy the next day. As I went to bed with thoughts of train robberies duels with my friends galloping through my head, the planets were aligning to ensure my disappointment.

MadWorld is a dud world

If you’re looking for a bit of the ultraviolence you could do worse than MadWorld. You could also do much, much better.

In a society that has seen it all when it comes to violence, MadWorld is rather boring spectacle. Had this been released on the Playstation (numero uno I mean) and been made to compete for your hard-earned duckets against the likes of Mortal Kombat and Twisted Metal it could be considered horrifyingly brutal and therefore socially relevant. It’s unfortunate that it wasn’t because those two titles could be considered graphical peers, or very nearly. It would have lost to those two anyway because its single player only. But, this being 2010 and not 1995 the game is competing with such horrifyingly brutal titles as Manhunt and that came out seven years ago. Come to think of it the plot lines are similar, but that’s neither here nor there.

Bioshock 2: You’re not my real dad!

I heard the announcement that there was going to be a Bioshock 2 with a wince and a fair amount of anxiety, dreading the return to Rapture just as much as I would dread seeing one of those awful Disney made-for-DVD sequels of their classic movies.  Uh, not that I have a soft spot for Disney movies or anything, shut up.  You don’t know me.

It really didn’t add up.  Bioshock ended tied up in a nice little ribbon on top of it, and I don’t know about you, but I got the feeling Rapture wouldn’t last much longer regardless of which ending you saw.  The dream was dead, all that was left was for the rest of the underwater city to realize it.  Plus, Bioshock was the first FPS game I played that really went above and beyond its genre, story wise, gameplay wise, and philosophically.

Godfather II: Just another sandbox game

For anyone who has read the book or seen Godfather II, and let’s be honest, if you haven’t you’re not playing this game, you may be in a for a few surprises. Whatever you do, don’t read the book or watch the movie within six months before playing this game. Don’t do it. As a matter of fact, don’t play any game based on a movie shortly before or after seeing said movie. Consuming the same storyline across mediums without providing ample time for digestion between will always lead to despair and indigestion.

First and foremost is the complete and utter lack of trips to Las Vegas. I say trips because there is a lot of flying between cities as you struggle to maintain a grip on your fledgling empire. It is casually mentioned that Don Corleone does live and work in Vegas but he spends most of his time in New York at the Federal Building in the court hearing. Also, I should mention the good Don is neither voiced by Al Pacinio or Michael Imperioli and while Carlso Ferro does a convincing job of playing an Italian American with enough power to know he doesn’t have to flash it, he by no means brings the character to the forefront. In Assassin’s Creed II on the other hand he is fantastic. Speaking of fantastic, John Mariano was spot on as Fredo. RIP John Cazale.

General Mish-Mash: Podcasting with poorly drawn Potatoes

General Mishmash is a REAL man's potato.

Stuff. You talk about it. Sometimes you wish other people talked about it too. Well, we are other people. Presenting the first Faceplant podcast, General Mish-Mash episode 1! We hit some of the hottest topics in the universe today, such as why hammocks are awesome. Seriously. But we also talk about how 3d games will be invading our lives and making them more….expensive? Speaking of expensive, Tophat freaks out and explains why Modern Warfare 2′s DLC is the devil and we’re all idiots. We also hit on some other big games such as Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2, but really sink our teeth into what makes Mass Effect 2 great. And terrible. And also, kinda ehhh. With quick hits on game remakes, developers mailing it in, and many reasons why Enosh sucks, you can’t afford not to listen. Enjoy!  (The voice we referred to as “Peck” is actually “Tophat”.  Don’t ask.)

Heavy Rain (Fighting Crime with Jerky Controller Motions)

The problem is choice. Remember when The Matrix movies said that and it felt pretty deep in the theater, but then later you realized it mostly pretentious mumbo jumbo and you wished there was less talking and more upside down Kung Fu? It turns out that the mumbo jumbo part was mostly spot on, but choice is the core concept of Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain calls itself an “interactive drama”. The game involves controlling one of four characters at a time using contextual controls, which is the first departure from tradition. There is no control scheme that you can memorize. The X button might be making you drink orange juice, put a car in gear, throw a punch, pull a trigger, or shoot a basketball. Heavy Rain also makes what is probably the most intuitive use of the PS3′s six-axis motion controls in the consoles lifespan thus far. Pushing open a window? Shove the controller forward. Swinging a two by four at somebody’s head? Quick left! While initially the entire control system can be confusing, by the time the action really starts rolling your comfortable enough to be able to handle it. The situation onscreen dictates how the controller will be used (or not used, in some cases) and changes in practically every scene of the game.