Video Games

[Psyren]

Originally Posted by Nananine

Those Steam deals were amazing(ly bad for me) because I habitually buy anything $7.50 or less. Mirror's Edge was totally worth it, as is Tomb Raider: Underground, World of Goo and especially Star Wars: KOTOR.

I was hoping Torchlight would drop in price, but buying that hunk of addiction would be detrimental to my schooling.

Mirror's Edge was an awesome rental for me, I remember playing the demo a bunch of times before the game came out. Too bad it was kinda short though. Hopefully if they make a sequel it will have a longer single player mode, and maybe even multiplayer.

 

[dganderson]

To be honest I really don't play video games much at all. It's probably been 8 or 9 months since I turned on the 360 to play a game. When I do play I prefer sports games. I've got FIFA 09 and NHL 09 and was wondering if the 10 versions were much of an upgrade. I've seen some pretty good deals lately and was considering picking them up but if they're not much better then I could just save the money and play my 09 games when I get the urge. Decisions, decisions....

 

[Alias]

Originally Posted by mickey711

There's nothing particularly complex about the plot. After Zakhaev died, he was cast as a martyr and his right-hand man Vladimir Makarov was made head of the Ultranationalists. MacTavish was promoted to Captain of Task Force 141 in the 5 years after the first game, and he, with the help of Roach, steals back the ACS module from the Russians, which would let them gain access to all of America's computer networks. PFC Allen is sent in an undercover CIA operation to gain Makarov's trust and joins him in a murderous rampage at the Zakhaev International Airport, but it is revealed that Makarov knew that he was a spy all along, and is killed. Because his body was found at the scene, the Russian government thinks that the American government planned the attack and invades America's East Coast, using the information copied from the ACS module to hack into America's satellite networks (Notice how NORAD was the only ones to see the bogeys?). The 141 trace the bullets used in the airport shootings to Rojas, an infamous arms dealer in Brazil. After capturing and interrogating him, they find out that the only person Makarov hates worse than the Americans is Prisoner #627, who is locked up in a gulag in Russia. They then decide to spring him out in order to lure Makarov out. The prisoner is revealed to be Captain Price, who after being released, hijacks a nuclear submarine and launches an ICBM at Washington DC, but detonates it at the upper atmosphere. The resulting EMP knocks out most sources of power in the city, with the exception of the White House. The surviving Rangers then decide to take back control of it, as the Air Force assumes that DC has now fallen to Russian control and is considering Operation Hammer Down.

Right, and then the American general dude turns out to be the surprise bad guy, and kills both the Dude With The Skull Mask and Army Guy, and then you kill his helicopter and then him. Then my brain tried to escape through my nose.

Torchlight was amazingly fun and addicted me like D2 did back in the day.

I'm currently playing Disgaea 3 and FFXII because I haven't beaten either. I told myself I wouldn't buy any new games until I've beaten the ones I already own.

 

[Eason]

Originally Posted by mickey711

There's nothing particularly complex about the plot. After Zakhaev died, he was cast as a martyr and his right-hand man Vladimir Makarov was made head of the Ultranationalists. MacTavish was promoted to Captain of Task Force 141 in the 5 years after the first game, and he, with the help of Roach, steals back the ACS module from the Russians, which would let them gain access to all of America's computer networks. PFC Allen is sent in an undercover CIA operation to gain Makarov's trust and joins him in a murderous rampage at the Zakhaev International Airport, but it is revealed that Makarov knew that he was a spy all along, and is killed. Because his body was found at the scene, the Russian government thinks that the American government planned the attack and invades America's East Coast, using the information copied from the ACS module to hack into America's satellite networks (Notice how NORAD was the only ones to see the bogeys?). The 141 trace the bullets used in the airport shootings to Rojas, an infamous arms dealer in Brazil. After capturing and interrogating him, they find out that the only person Makarov hates worse than the Americans is Prisoner #627, who is locked up in a gulag in Russia. They then decide to spring him out in order to lure Makarov out. The prisoner is revealed to be Captain Price, who after being released, hijacks a nuclear submarine and launches an ICBM at Washington DC, but detonates it at the upper atmosphere. The resulting EMP knocks out most sources of power in the city, with the exception of the White House. The surviving Rangers then decide to take back control of it, as the Air Force assumes that DC has now fallen to Russian control and is considering Operation Hammer Down.
Yeah but what's the point in infiltrating Makarov's team when you could just kill Makarov? Also, there is still no motivation for the general's betrayal.

Originally Posted by Alias

Right, and then the American general dude turns out to be the surprise bad guy, and kills both the Dude With The Skull Mask and Army Guy, and then you kill his helicopter and then him. Then my brain tried to escape through my nose.
Army Guy? He kills Roach and Ghost.

 

[Alias]

Originally Posted by Eason

Army Guy? He kills Roach and Ghost.

Right, sorry. I wasn't able to remember who I was by that point.

 

[mickey711]

Originally Posted by Eason

Yeah but what's the point in infiltrating Makarov's team when you could just kill Makarov? Also, there is still no motivation for the general's betrayal.

I think the initial objective was to gain Makarov's trust and gain more information on the Ultranationalists' motives and operations, like the moles they have in the U.S. Army. If they simply wanted to kill Makarov, it might have been easier for someone to snipe him from afar (remember that Chernobyl mission in COD 4?). In Exodus, you see that Codename "Raptor", the HVI you were assigned to protect in Wolverines! was killed, and the Ranger you find near his dead body has body tattoos like Makarov and his men, making it highly possible that the Ranger was an assassin.

Originally Posted by Alias

Right, and then the American general dude turns out to be the surprise bad guy, and kills both the Dude With The Skull Mask and Army Guy, and then you kill his helicopter and then him. Then my brain tried to escape through my nose.

As for Shepherd, when you're about to get killed by him in the final mission, he talks about seeing 30,000 men under his command die 5 years ago, which was when Al-Asad detonated the nuclear bomb (I think he was the commander of the American forces in the Middle East during Modern Warfare 2) . He then talks about how there will soon be "no shortage of volunteers, no shortage of patriots.". So his motive for killing Roach and Ghost, then framing Price and MacTavish is to probably re-establish the United States' influence and military power.

 

[Alias]

Originally Posted by mickey711

As for Shepherd, when you're about to get killed by him in the final mission, he talks about seeing 30,000 men under his command die 5 years ago, which was when Al-Asad detonated the nuclear bomb (I think he was the commander of the American forces in the Middle East during Modern Warfare 2) . He then talks about how there will soon be "no shortage of volunteers, no shortage of patriots.". So his motive for killing Roach and Ghost, then framing Price and MacTavish is to probably re-establish the United States' influence and military power.

Ah. What a complete psycho. I wouldn't have guessed it from the previous game.

 

[Eason]

Yeah but there's nothing about how killing off the 141 helps US influence and military power.

 

[mickey711]

Originally Posted by Alias

Ah. What a complete psycho. I wouldn't have guessed it from the previous game.

Yeah, it took me a couple of playthroughs to piece the story together. I think he went by the callsign "Overlord" in the first MW.

Originally Posted by Eason

Yeah but there's nothing about how killing off the 141 helps US influence and military power.

In the intro to the final mission, when the NSA (I think) is tracking Captain Price, he is shown to be wanted for "global terror", "violent acts against the government", etc. so Shepherd probably framed him and the rest of the 141.

It's possible that he was working with the Ultranationalists all along, as his motive is to re-establish America's influence and military power, and after the Russian invasion of America, he is given carte blanche to do whatever he wants with the U.S. military, making him a war hero. He then betrays Makarov and the 141, since the former knew what was really going on and he had no use for the 141. I mean, how else would Makarov know where Shepherd was?

 

[Slopho]

Originally Posted by mickey711

Yeah, it took me a couple of playthroughs to piece the story together. I think he went by the callsign "Overlord" in the first MW.



In the intro to the final mission, when the NSA (I think) is tracking Captain Price, he is shown to be wanted for "global terror", "violent acts against the government", etc. so Shepherd probably framed him and the rest of the 141.

It's possible that he was working with the Ultranationalists all along, as his motive is to re-establish America's influence and military power, and after the Russian invasion of America, he is given carte blanche to do whatever he wants with the U.S. military, making him a war hero. He then betrays Makarov and the 141, since the former knew what was really going on and he had no use for the 141. I mean, how else would Makarov know where Shepherd was?

I thought "Overlord" died during the nuke blast in the first one. His radio cuts off right at the explosion.

 

[mickey711]

Originally Posted by Slopho

I thought "Overlord" died during the nuke blast in the first one. His radio cuts off right at the explosion.

I think the commander would've been at a safe distance from the city after they suspected that Al-Asad had nukes. And he warns Jackson and the squad that they won't be at a safe distance if the nukes go off, so if he was in the vicinity, he would've mentioned it.

 

[mickey711]

The House M.D. game is slated to be released next February. I'm hoping it'll have the show's sharp dialogue and riveting drama.

 

[Helix]

Originally Posted by mickey711

The House M.D. game is slated to be released next February. I'm hoping it'll have the show's sharp dialogue and riveting drama.

I'm hoping you can diagnose everyone with lupus.

 

[Alias]

That game needs a collector's edition that comes with a USB cane peripheral and a bottle of "vicodin" sugar pills.

And lots of Olivia Wilde.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Originally Posted by Reggs

-Far Cry 2- I loved the first one and read all the reviews for this one. I will wait to play it once I get a fresh install of Win7. For whatever reason, my computers performance with Crysis has degraded significantly, so I have little hope for Far Cry 2 at this point since they use the same engine.

Let us know what you think of FC2. I personally did not like it as much as the first one. You do a TON of meaningless driving from point to point during the game, and it seems like the game is constantly trying to kill you while you're doing so. I started using the bus system because driving everywhere was so boring.

Far Cry 2 is not easy on the PC (and neither is Crysis). I'm running a Radeon HD5850, which can run both very well -- but my old card (a GeForce 7800GT) was inadequate for either one.