You, Me, and Guitar Hero III

I'm a pretty hardcore gamer, I'll admit. I like to put my hands on every sort of game, and I find that very few can hold my interest for longer than say, an hour. Call of Duty 4 still has a hold of me like crack has a hold of a homeless man, but it looks like there is a new game that is tickling my fancy.

Guitar Hero III. I know I'm jumping on the bandwagon about three years too late, but I finally am beginning to realize what the (hot) fuss is all about. In essence, it's a rhythm game (like one of my faves, the Dance Dance Revolution series), with a rockin' soundtrack. With these games, the key is to make it easily accessible, yet have extreme depth. This is where this game and the GH series, prevails. Everybody and anybody can pick this up (the appeal of the best selling Wii), and play. It was a star during our Christmas party that's for sure.

One caveat: after experiencing what Rock Band could do, I still felt there could be more. There were many moments where I was thinking, "Man, if this song was on Rock Band, it would be f'ing amazing."

Still, GHIII is a great option for those who don't want to shell out 170 of those Xmas dollars on peripherals, and want to see what the kids of America are up to.

Call of Duty 4 (And Why it is the Game of the Year)

I know Call of Duty of 4: Modern Warfare, the newest game in the best selling shooter series, is short. Maddeningly short to some.

Thing is, I'm glad it was short. There was never a moment during the COD4 experience where I was bored. Like a well-edited film, it's sharp, interesting, and gripping from beginning to end. It has moments, which I won't spoil here, that are awe-inspiring.

It's not realistic enough. A shooter on rails. These are a couple of common "problems" that people have with the game.

The whole "not realistic enough" complaint comes from the fact that the enemies spawn from different points on the map and don't live in a "persistent" world that a set amount of baddies. Why is this a problem? This a game people. The reason why I play games is not to make sure it simulates the exact experience of modern warfare. For that, I would go to Iraq. Throw some suspension of disbelief in the mix, and it's fine.

The shooter on rails idea is a sort of a preference thing, but fits this game well. A game like Crysis, for example, gives you a sandbox environment where you can tackle a problem a myriad of different ways. For a game like this though, where the focus is tight and the action is unrelenting, a little linearity is ok.

The game is just so satisfyingly fun. The single player game takes the player to different locales, puts you into different vehicles, and has an interesting story to boot. The key thing is that is doesn't drag. Even the load screens give the player information about each mission, ensuring there is no time sitting around watching a bar reach 100%.

Then there's the multiplayer. It is just so damn fun. I didn't think anything could take me away from my Team Fortress 2 addiction, but one game of COD4 multiplayer did it. The gameplay is frenetic, the weapons and balance are pitch perfect, and the game has a great feel to it. TF2 has those same attributes, though. There are a couple of things that set it apart from other multiplayer offerings.

The addition of rewards at 3, 5, and 7 consecutive kills adds a greater tactical dimension to the game. Sure there are no vehicles, but the airstrikes and helicopters are new gameplay challenges that no other game has offered. It is fun, rewarding, yet still keeps the game balanced.

What really shines is the perks and achievement system that Infinity Ward added to their game. For every kill, and various other objectives, you get experience points that level a player up. As a player grows in stature, new weapons, items, perks and other elements are unlocked that keeps the experience fresh and interesting. Still, balance is good, as a new player doesn't feel crippled against the veterans, but rather has less options.

I could go on and on about this game, but I would much rather go play it. I gotta unlock that P90 I've been pining to get my hands on.

World of Borecraft

My brother recently cast a "scroll of resurrection" upon my soul. Of course, in nerd lingo, this means he sent me a 10-day trial to come back to World of Warcraft.

I'm a couple days in now, and I gotta say, it just isn't for me any longer.

Not much has changed in the game, really. You have a killing machine (your character) that you kill things with, which in turn makes you kill more effectively. Throw in a chat box and various other time sinks and you're set. Sure, it is much more complicated than that, but at the core of every massively multiplayer online game, that's what it is. World of Warcraft does it the best right now. And it's not enough.

For me at least. In what I consider the best year of gaming ever, WoW just doesn't have enough to keep up. The graphics are outdated--but that was never the strong suit of a Blizzard game. It's the gameplay that is lacking.

My experience was like this thus far:

I had to download the entire client for both World of Warcraft and its expansion Burning Crusade because I left my original copy of WoW at my parents' place in southern california (boy do I wish it was on Steam). Over 5GB of downloads, it took me about 2 days to get everything patched up and ready to go.

As soon as I signed on with my level 60 druid, I was confused. Quite a daunting world to leave for 2 years and jump back into. Of course, after finding some friends online, I was able to get oriented. I was immediately ordered to jump on a bird to go to the new lands. This is where my first real complaint arises. Flying on the bird and seeing the scenery was fun for about the first two times it happened. After that though, it becomes just another time sink. Am I really paying 15 dollars a month to sit on my ass while watching my virtual self sit on my ass? Apparently, I, along with millions of others, are. During the time is where I commented to my friend, "Man, these graphics are really outdated." I mean, it was already outdated when it was released, but now it is just ugly. In what amounted to maybe about 5 torturous minutes later, I arrived in some barren town with some epic problem with some ugly textures. Time to fight.

Grabbed a couple quests. Here is what they were: Kill 20 Orc dudes. Grab 8 wood, grab 8 metal. Sound familiar?

Anyway, after fumbling around and getting killed by some Horde I realize I need to use my talent points. Apparently the skills trees have been revamped and I have all my points to allocate. Here is my second beef with this. It looks like you have many choices, but soon you realize that there are only a few viable choices when it comes to picking your skills. Otherwise, you are called a newb and not invited to groups any more.

The combat, which gives you many spell variations, just becomes the same after a while. And I still don't know why enemies need to be aggroed. THEY CAN SEE THAT YOU AND A GANG OF YOUR HAMMER-WEILDING FRIENDS ARE ABOUT TO HIT THEM. Where is the AI? My friend, maybe 10 feet away just turned into a sheep, yet only his group of friends within 3 feet do something about it. Why does nobody care about this? I believe in suspension of disbelief as much as the next guy. But c'mon? Why are MMORPGs exempt from making believable AI? I guess because they are exempt from being fun.


The best part for me, and probably for many others, is just chatting it up with your buddies online. The camraderie is great and the taunting is fun, but I'd rather do that without all the borecraft.

Either way, I'll see what the rest of the 10-days has to offer. Admittedly, I played 1 hour longer than I should have last night, it sort of does that to you. Looking at my account, it's been over 2 years since I lasted roamed the vast land of Azeroth; 10 days from now I'll likely be gone forever.

Unfortunately, a "scroll of resurrection" just isn't a strong enough spell to fix this World of Borecraft.

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Welcome to my gaming blog, Ray the Gamer.

This a place to find reviews, opinions, and my general thoughts on video games and the video game industry.

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