Daimon's Lair

Well, I'm almost there. One more mission to go in COD4. I have a few more thoughts so far. First off, I think Cpt. Price is one badass dude! Though I'm a huge fan of the Halo universe, Price may be winning over my heart as one of the coolest action heroes on the 360. I don't know whether it's the accent, the lamb-chops, or just his matter of factness, but he's cool. Granted, John-117 has a lot of these qualities, but maybe its the fact that Price isn't your character that makes him cool. Plus, I've found it interesting that while later on in the game you're Price's go-to guy, you're not the one in command.

I continue to enjoy the campaign much more than multiplayer. Multiplayer is enjoyable, but it's also continually frustrating because of the weapons disparity. I'm matched up against players way beyond my rank, usually, which means I've got squat for good weapons. Which, paired with the fact I'm mediocre at best when it comes to multiplayer shooters, makes me really suck it up. Like I said in my last post, I wish you had the option as in Halo 3 of being matched by rank (related to experience) so at least weapons were on similar levels or at least being matched by a trueskill type system.

Once I finish the campaign, I'll be curious to try the 'arcade' mode. Sounds fun. Plus, since it's such a short game I'm going to give veteran a try. There are parts I'm not looking forward to on a higher difficulty level by depending on how much it ramps up I might be able to finish.

Hardest parts so far:
1. Getting back down the hill to the new LZ in Azerbaijan with the 3-minute clock. For those who haven't played, you have to make your way across a large field and down a hill to be picked up by a helicopter. Oh yeah, and there's probably about 50 'tangos' (maybe more) trying to kill you and your squad. The only way to get through this is to call in the ten airstrikes you're allowed. Even then, I ran out with 30 secs on the clock and just had to sprint past about seven guys to the helo.

2. The TV station early on where bad guys swarm you like crazy for easily 5-10 minutes.

3. The flashback mission with then Lt. Price, first the field where you have to hide in the grass just inches away from a patrol. Later on, while you're waiting for extraction, there's another great swarm mission. Luckily Cpt. MacDonald (Price's CO) can take care of himself even with a bum leg. It took some experimentation to find a sniper position far enough away from him that was still defensible if someone got close, which they did with me. There were too many guys to kill from a distance. Oh yeah, and while they're still swarming you have to run back and carry MacDonald to the helo because it's got zero fuel left when it picks you up.

So if I get that far, I'll have to comment on the next difficulty level. But I'm the type of player that stops playing as soon as a game becomes work. Like the part in Crow's Nest on Legendary in Halo 3 that took me 2.5 hours! to complete. But, then again, maybe I just suck.

Holy Crap!

My wife plays video games a fair amount too, but she's not as much of an A/V freak as I am, but even she (watching while on her laptop) commented how good the graphics are. I've only played a handful of 360 games so far, but I can easily say this is the best looking one I've played.

And the way it starts. . . . It's like playing a movie. It's incredibly cinematic and yet tutorial at the same time. My judgment on the friendly AI is still out. In IGN's review of it they said something like: 'you can't control your allies, but the AI is so good you won't want to.'

Pros:
1. I like the fact that, unlike GRAW I don't have to do practically everything.

2. I appreciate you can control the AI implicitly. Once an area is cleared (generally) they don't move forward until you do, and even if they do, they certainly don't rush in like the idiots
most NPCs are in the average shooter.

3. The fact that, at least so far, you're just 'one of the guys' heightens the realism. I'm not the Master Chief, even if my health regenerates to some degree (thank you Infinity Ward!) Aside: even if it's not realistic, I LOVE the health system. It's so much better than GRAW, where you basically get 2-3 mistakes on normal each level, and that's it. I just think it's a better gameplay mechanic because you can still quite easily die, but if you survive a given part you can keep going with no added penalty. In GRAW, you might survive a part with your stamina already in the red. Thus, you have only two options: 1. play the rest of the level absolutely mistake free 2. reset the ENTIRE LEVEL and hope you can get back to where you were still in the green.

4. I've only played about 2 hours of multiplayer so far, so I've only just started creating a custom profile, but the perks and weapons system looks interesting. I just need the patience to unlock what I really want :P

Cons:
1. Said AI--sometimes I just want to tell them 'stay here for a sec' while I go ahead and scout. Yeah, I know, despite appearances of multiple paths, the levels are (so far) pretty linear. But I would like to have the ability to give commands (but at the same time I want to have the great AI that is perfectly capable of doing it all by itslef (practically)).

2. I'm not sure what I think of multiplayer, where it seems anyone regardless of skill gets matched in the lobby. I like it in Halo 3 where you have the social (no skill rating) and skill level based matchmaking. Last night I was matched up against numerous officers and got pwned. Though I did make a couple 3rd place finishes, something I never did in Halo 3 so early on. So maybe because the balancing is quite different it'll be fine.

A lot of these thoughts will undoubtedly change once I keep playing.

Halo 3 is an awesome game, but there are things that could be added/changed that would improve the experience.

1. Difficulty Level: at least for me, a somewhat more than casual gamer, Normal is way too easy except during large vehicle battles (especially those involving a Scarab). On the other hand, Heroic--while easier than in previous games--has moments that are absolutely frustrating. Maybe I just suck, but while most Brutes by themselves are quite easy (pop off a few rounds then melee), the Brute chieftains are way to f'ing hard.

2. Multiplayer lobby: can we veto either map or game, not just both. If, for example, Swords on the Pit comes up, a lot of times I want to play swords, just not on the pit. I wish I could veto the map only and keep the game. Vice versa, I might want to play on Epitaph, just not f-ing ninjaball or crazy king. This seems like it would be a simply software patch fix and not a really complex programming issue, but wtf do I know?

3. A related issue which would be cool but would be more complicated is allowing players to select preferred games/maps for each playlist. When I'm in the rumblepit playlist, I like swords, hammerzeit, and mosh pit the best. Why should I have to be beholden to Bungie's default game percentages if there are other gamers out there who share my preferences? If this is done, it should be done by playlist (obviously), since I doubt when I'm on Lone Wolves, I'd have the same preference (where I like straight up slayer). Alternately, on Team Slayer, I really enjoy Team Duals (an option I didn't know existed until it came up on probably my 20th match on that list.
This is a way for players to play more games they like (me: swords, hammers especially) than they don't like (juggernaut, crazy king [even though I'm good at it]) without getting into the really complex options of a custom game.

4. A random gripe: Why put Cold Storage, a free map, only on playlists which include Legendary Map pack (still paid content)? I really enjoyed playing it the first day or so it came out and Bungie had the separate list, but now--because I'm cheap--I won't play it until if and when the Legendary pack becomes free.