Call Of Duty4:Modern Warfare

Well, it was somewhat inevitable wasn't it? In a household where COD4 is played online at every hour of the day by gaming ginger-ninja big Mart, I was eventually going to give in and be lured into the world of 'Soap McTavish' and Captain Price...

And after a week of non-gaming in Cyprus, I needed a big dose of videogame fun to satiate my needs... And so it was that Call Of Duty4 was the game I plunged into on my return from the Med's most beautiful of islands.



What can I say? This game is an essential 360 experience! The graphics are stunning, the environments brutally realistic and the gameplay sublime. I've never played a 'war-game' before, but I've loved it!



Of course, there is a certain moral dilemma in deriving pleasure from the horror of war. This is not the same as destroying the Locust Horde in Gears Of War. The game's main antagonists are Eastern Europeans and Arabs. You (of course) represent the 'forces of good' i.e. UK and the US of A. But in real life, their campaigns in the real world, largely impacting on civillians, are less than morally acceptable. Is this Western morality propoganda disguised as gaming?




Still, if you can put your moral high-ground on hold (and I managed to do just that) this game is a great piece of escapism. The ammo and weaponry are abundant and the health gauge forgiving. The auto-save system allows you to progress through the game with ease and I found myself completing all the missions in a few hours. Bonus!!! I love the games I have played on the 360 recently. Bioshock, Gears Of war and COD4:MW are all easily achieveable, not time consuming and represent a realistic proposition in terms of my available gaming window of opportunity. That is, I can play them in the snatches of time avilable to me in the Krishna household.


I've not forgotten the Wii during this time, however. I've been playing Umbrella Chronicles in my down time and I'm in love! I'm stuck on the final boss, but I play it every day in the hopes I can bring the game to it's conclusion! This game is indeed THE best gaming experience I've had since playing Bioshock back in January...



I've also enjoyed a little DS magic by playing Need For Speed Carbon: Own The Streets, Resident Evil DS and my new discovery, Brothers In Arms DS. Handheld gaming never felt so good! Here's some links!


Call Of Duty 4:Modern Warfare
Umbrella Chronicles
Brothers In Arms DS

Me and the Wii are friends again...

Well this is supposed to be the Wii-kly Sermons isn't it? I've shared my thoughts on the 360 (Bioshock and Gears Of War), the PS2 (God Of War) music and films this year, but have I mentioned the Wii? No...

You see me and the Wii fell out, around the time I got the Wii Zapper whilst it was great for playing Link's Crossbow Training (which even got Mrs. K hooked...) it was diabolical for playing Umbrella Chronicles... Using the Zapper made shooting and QTEs very unrewarding, and thus progress was difficult. I stalled on the game, started playing the PS2 and then forgot about the Wii when the 360 entered the house...

Then I got down right cranky about Umbrella Chronicles, gave it a couple of re-tries and then decided I might even trade it in, and I hadn't even finished the second level.

Then I tried it co-op with my best friend, but then made the mistake of BOTH using the Zapper!

it was fun until we had to shake them about for a QTE and then that was it! They didn't respond, I 'spat my dummy' (an old English phrase meaning I spat out my pacifier in a tantrum) and that was it! Both the Wii and Umbrella Chronicles were finished for me! Harumph!

However, flushed with the success of beating Gears, I decided to give UC another try using the Wiimote and Nunchuck. TADA!!!! Revelation!!!! I've completed two levels and two sub-levels in two nights! As well as playing through the original Resident Evil level, I've unlocked two secret wesker levels that I kicked ass on as well.

Those of you who are aware of my gaming tendencies will know a few facts... I love Resident Evil. It makes me cry tears of rage at really difficult points. I'm a fickle bastard.

So now you'll be unsurprised to know I've come full circle and Umbrella Chronicles is now my new favourite game! the controls are just right, the unlockables and cut scenes fill in a lot of the blanks in the Umbrella Chronicles. The graphics are fabulous and one in the eye for anyone who says the Wii's capabilities are sub-par. I see them as good as Gears or Bioshock... (but then again aren't God Of War's???)

I won't offer any proper sort of review... many people have already done a better job (including J's excellent review.)

I'll just offer the usual screenshots and video, plus the following lovely links! I love you Nintendo Wii! I love you Umbrella Chronicles! I love you world!!!

Umbrella Chronicles Official Site

Umbrella Chronicles Wikipedia

Umbrella Chronicles IGN

Here We Go Again...

Bloody machines! No sooner do we get the laptop, than the sodding keyboard on the PC goes on the blink! Bastard! Still, there's always the XBox...

Oh yeah, I forgot! I just got to the bloody boss on the final chapter... Cue crying, gnashing of teeth and many, many swear words. Yep, I've played through the game (on casual I admit) without recoursing to a walkthrough, or getting my middle son, Marty, to play the hard parts for me.

Then all of a sudden I'm fucked! I've tried and tried to beat him, I really have, but he just keeps kicking my sorry ass. Oh Lord! Why God, why???

Now I don't want it to be too easy, like the final boss in Bioshock was, but then again, I'm ready to move on... Games to play, people to see, you know the score... So what do I do then? I either get pecked to death by Kryll or shot to pieces by Mr. Badass. Ho hum... Maybe I'll just leave it and start Call of Duty 4...

Second Gear...

OK I'm completely sucked in by this game it's amazing!!! I'm currently nipping between patches of light to avoid some ravenous crows (or bats or something) on my way to pick up a ride... Those bloody pesky "grubs" keep trying to shoot me and I'm in gaming heaven. I've worked out the weapon system, got the hang of knowing when to take cover and even on how to keep my squad alive and useful!!! SUBLIME!!!

Of course, I haven't got to my usual point of throwing down the controller, crying and proclaiming this the worst game ever, which will inevitably happen when I get stuck, but for now, I'm LOVING IT!!!

God bless you EPIC!!!

First Gear...

Well I'm there, battling my way slowly and somewhat tentatively through the locust horde... I'm still a tad crap at the controls but I seem to be getting to grips with it... I also get very phased by the amount of hostile fire!

Still very early days yet, but I'm loving what I've seen so far. It's clear to see why this game has been treated a the stuff of legend... Reason on it's own to buy a 360 over a PS3 maybe... Now if only I was more of a bad ass, things would be good... LOL! :)

Full Of Eastern Promise... Okami

Having finished the amazing God Of war II, I was left with a gaping whole in my gaming life...


What would fill it? Umbrella Chronicles? Erm... nope! Gears Of War? Well... If I'm honest, I found the tutorial on casual mode a tad overpowering... (*FK blushes at his own gaming ineptitude...*)





Still, I had managed to secure Okami for a mere £10 ($20) the other day, and my good friend Nebacha had assured me of it's merits so I thought "what the heck?" and decided to give it a go...



An epic Japanese tale of a land laid destitute by evil monsters, your mission is to restore ancient Nippon to it's verdant spleandour by heroic and beatific acts, using your ...erm magic paint brush... You play as a mystic white wolf, guided by a little bug type creature... In a land populated by drunken warriors, evil spirits, myopic washer women and stumbling postmen...





Now if all this sounds a litle bizarre, that's because it is... Surreal if you will. What I knew of Okami was that it was a visually stunning game, with cell shaded graphics, drawn in the style of traditional Japanese paintings. Paintings that have come to life...


What I wasn't expecting was the cheesey humour, the cartoon like characters or the Zelda style tasks of treasure hunting, weapon collecting, potion gathering, container breaking or spell casting... And it's none the worse for any of that!

The babbling none-language of the protagonists (sounding like a Japanese "Morph") was a little off putting at first, as was the seemingly never ending opening sequence, but the more I play it, the more charmed I am, and increasingly drawn in to boot!

Now I'll throw in a couple of pics, a handful of links and a bit of video so you can make sense of this rambling nonsense, but it's clear to see why this game has earned a place in the prestigious Games TM magazine's prestigious top ten PS2 games of all time...

Now, like many great games of the past, despite being critically acclaimed, was a commercial failure. Perhaps too off beat and unusual for Western gamers, the franchise is being resurrected for another chance to wow the gaming public, this time on the Wii.



It's clear to see how the Wiimote could make an excellent controller for the magic paint brush and by waving it around, one could either hack and slash enemies or with a majestic sweep of the wrist, bring life back to a scorched an arrid, demonic wasteland...


Who knows? If done well (like RE4 Wii Edition) this could be within the top ten Wii games by next year... I hope so, as the game needs to be shared with a wider audience! Here's the links, check 'em out and enjoy!!



Okami Official Website


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ÅŒkami


Okami IGN