Shooters

The Rating System:

Filet Mignon=Excellent, fresh, and a memorable piece of art.

T Bone= Good helping, but not worth trading for a Filet.

Pork chop= In the middle, barely recommended.

Hotdog= Nearly complete garbage.

Cat Food= The slums of the food/videogame franchises

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Let’s face it. Black Ops was a disappointment. Finally, MW3 is here. Does it kick Black Ops in the face or does it join it? Modern Warfare 3′s campaign leaves off where MW2 ended. Makarov is loose and has become the terrorist of his time. You take on a role of many different soldiers, seeing some familiar faces as you play as new characters. There is a lot of explosive action and cinematic moments. You hop around the world in different environments, so things stay fresh. There are some great parts in levels that spice up the story, such as Inception-like sequences and handicam footage. It is short, clocking in at 3 hours and 45 minutes on recruit without collecting intel or fooling around, but it’s fun and entertaining all the way through. Some parts of the campaign are extremely unrealistic, but hey: It’s COD and it’s a video-game. If you want realism join the army. My only complaint about the campaign is that the stealth missions fell flat. I never felt a sense of danger, and I never felt like I had any control. I knew that if I followed my fellow soldiers, I’d survive. I should be feeling like I could endanger my group, but I didn’t. Stealth in this game was weak, sadly.

 

Now onto Spec Ops. This time around, Spec Ops isn’t very short and sweet. In fact, they feel like mini-campaign missions. Is this good? Is this bad? It depends. I didn’t mind, because the missions had a variety of tasks, but some may not like how broad the missions are. Nonetheless, Spec Ops will be easily forgotten once Survival Mode is played. In this mode, you survive either solo or with a friend against enemy forces, varying from suicide bombers to Juggernauts. You can purchase weapons, delta squad teams, and sentries, as well as a variety of other things, in order to help you survive longer. People have been asking me if this mode is better than zombies. After long thinking and consideration, I think: yes. Not only do things happen quicker, but there are many ways to play, and a constant sense of danger and teamwork. In zombies, there’s one effective strategy, and lone wolves can exclude the team entirely. Infinity Ward has truly forced Mr. Noob and Mr. Quad-kill to work together in unison. Lastly, the moment everybody has been waiting for…multiplayer. I’m going to leave you all hanging for a moment. I want to talk about Private Matches for a second. Private Matches can now be customized to your liking. You could restrict guns, perks, etc, as well as create your own modes. Gun Game, One in the Chamber, and Juggernaut are but a few modes you could choose from and customize. I never had much fun playing in private matches, but now, I’m in lobbies with my friends, constantly showing off my Gun Game matches. Playing with friends has never been better. Theater, however, is a disappointment. You cannot view other players besides yourself in a 1st person point of view. It bothers me for obvious reasons. The Theater itself isn’t as smooth as Black Ops, so much so, that I refrain from using it unless I absolutely have to. I personally didn’t like it. Finally, we come to multiplayer. It has never been more in depth. You can customize weapons, choose from three strike packages, and complete a wide range of challenges. There is a constant sense of reward, a fast “check your corners, front, and sides every second” kind of pace, and there are no perks that will tick you off. It feels fair, balanced, and fun. You aren’t getting Commando knifed or noobtubed across the map anymore. Explosives have weakened, as well as bullets themselves. There is a wide variety of point streaks, as they are now called. With great maps with many hotspots and a constant sense of reward and unity with other players, the multiplayer delivers. You always feel like you’re helping out and earning XP, thanks to the strike packages, and new modes sugar-coat a game that’s already a candy bar. Over all, Call of Duty MW3 is a Filet. This is the best one yet, and it’s what COD should always be.

Tips and Tricks:

• Don’t lone wolf it when you’re a Juggernaut. Rally with your teammates or else you’ll go down in a heartbeat.
• In Survival, always have a Riot Shield Squad on hand. Also, equip yourself with an LMG. They can take down aircraft, Juggernauts, and any other type of enemy. It’s cheaper than constantly buying Preds.
• Explode all cars in Survival early in the game, because if you have to run…well, cars aren’t always friendly when they’re lit on fire.
• Do weapon challenges to get XP for it quickly. Use Specialist to get XP fast.
• In Kill Confirmed, don’t run blindly to retrieve tags. Use them as bait occasionally, but never run past them.
• The Recon Drone isn’t indestructible. SAMS can obliterate it easily

Glitch on Outpost

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Call of Duty: Black Ops

This game is overloaded with content and hours of fun. I’ll review the game by going through its modes. The campaign is the most explosive of the series. There are explosions and gunfire and shouting in every level, which is crazy and hectic, but by the end of the campaign, you’re winded by all the explosions and chaos. Need I say it was a bit TOO MUCH action. You play as Mason, a captured soldier who is being interrogated, and as he answers questions, you play through his flashbacks, bringing you to Cuba, Vietnam, Russia, and other places. It takes place in the Cold War, and gives a different feel from other Call of Duty games. Your character actually talks, and you could use gattling guns, pilot a plane, and rappel down mountain sides. The campaign is worth a play. The concept is cliched, but it has some substance. No matter how the campaign fares, fans will complain at how short it is. You have to keep in mind that Treyarch must be focusing more on LIVE gameplay. Think about it. Which would you rather play? LIVE or Campaign. And even if you do like campaign, the game makers are simply trying to keep the story short and sweet instead of long and boring. A problem I had with the campaign is that there was so much action and explosions and gunfire that it is annoying and repetitive. I believe that Treyarch misinterpreted MW2′s campaign to be explosions and gunfire instead of what it was: cinematic and fast-paced. They tried to replicate it, but they didn’t achieve the same amount of thrill as other campaigns. Sure, a slow-mo scene here and there is cool, but it doesn’t make you say wow. (except for the part with Castro.) Campaign wasn’t as good as I anticipated. Anyways, guess what? Zombies is back! Yes, zombies is back. Returning from World at War are Nazi Zombies, who invade the area round by round. They break through walls and windows, and they get harder every round, but there is a weapon box, a teleporter, nukes, power-ups, extras, and more. It’s very fun with friends, and there are 3 levels: One is called Kino Der Toten, one is “Five”, and the other is an arcade style zombie mode. The are more DLC maps being released with exceptional zombies maps. There is also, of course, split-screen, which is fun if you don’t have LIVE…but if you DO have LIVE, there’s a lot in store for you. The new way of earning weapons is by buying them through COD points, the currency earned by playing matches and getting kills and contracts completed. You still prestige with XP, but if you want a weapon or attachment, a camo or a face paint, you have to have enough money. I have issues with this. Big ones. There is a huge limit to experimentation, there is a problem with the award system, and there is a sense that Treyarch wants to clear you out of money. In previous Call of Duty games, you would unlock a weapon and then be entitled to equip it onto a class and try it out. In this game, when you unlock a gun, you buy it to try it out, and then you find out within your first match with it if it’s a piece of junk or something you’ll use. Then, it’s 2000 dollars down the drain. At first, it seems OK, but then it gets annoying. The other COD games just let you try the guns out, but this one restricts you. It makes a lot of people not want to prestige. The problem with the award system is the fact that I go 20 and 2 in a match (not bad for me) and I get 370 points. Like…how annoying! I don’t feel rewarded when I play. Lastly, the fact that there are reticles and camos and facepaints and wager matches there to clear you out of your money is frustrating. It slows down the game and makes you play more than you want to. One pointless feature is contracts, which are challenges which award you COD points. The easy contracts award you almost no money, and the hard ones a ton, which draws back average players. Another new feature is customization. You could add your Clan Tag, your Emblem, your camo, and face-paint to your character…cool right? It sounds cool until you see the steep prices. It’s a waste of money. Next is Combat Training. You pick a map and a mode, and practice your skills against computer controlled enemies, which trains you. It is very fun with friends for fun. Now, there is also something called Wager Matches. You gamble COD points in various game modes, like Gun Game, Sticks and Stones, One in the Chamber, and Sharpshooter. If you get in the top 3, you get COD points, and if you lose, you lose your money.

 

There is now Theater mode, too. You can make little movies out of your matches, and take screenshots too. This game is jam-packed with content and game-play, but the problem is, it differed too much from other COD games. It didn’t feel as fresh as bright and user-friendly as Modern Warfare 2. Here are some more issues I had with the game. First, as hEaDsHoTz970 pointed out, the ending of the campaign was horrible. I know that half the people reading this either don’t play campaign or don’t care about spoilers, so here it is: You punch a guy in a puddle and escape a ship. There are lots of planes, and then someone says, “It’s over.” You say, “It’s never over.” That’s it. What a disappointing ending. After all you’ve been through! Still, the way Reznov appears as a memory over and over in random places was clever. Another problem was the spawning. I didn’t design the game, so I can’t say HOW it’s screwed up…I just know it is. It’s out of whack somehow. Plus, the maps are dark, straight-forward, and frankly boring. Another problem were the weapons. I feel as if some were put it just to be marks to differ the suckish guns to the great ones. Like, what the #$!! is the ASP doing? Nothing! It sucks! The guns weren’t very great, and Treyarch took away a very valuable piece of content…sniper power. All of the sniping fans are going to toss away this game and go back to MW2 where they could do it with pride. Why would Treyarch take out quickscoping? They got rid of a huge fan-base with that mistake. It’s like taking out Patrick from Spongebob. It’s like taking away Robin from Batman. It’s like taking away auto-tune from Miley Cyrus. And I was personally upset about stacking killstreaks getting taken away. This game didn’t feel like it did justice to the COD franchise. I differed to much to the other ones for some reason, when the other ones were doing just fine. Don’t get me wrong. There are a ton of good times with Black-Ops. Search and Destroy clutches, intense Deathmatch games, and fast-paced Zombie rounds will have you satisfied, but it doesn’t have the fresh, clean, user-friendly feel like the game before it. This game was a Porkchop, thrown into a heap of big Filets and T-Bones for no reason.

Tips and Tricks:

One in the Chamber:

• Stay in a small area with only one entrance, and stay within that area.
• Don’t waste your bullets on kills you won’t be able to make.
• Listen. Turtle-beaches will help you hear enemy footsteps.

Gun Game:

• Don’t rush around the map. Go to a heavily crowded area and watch your sides.

Sticks and Stones:

• During the last minute, use your tomahawk as much as you can.
• If you’re in first during the last 10 seconds, HIDE and have your tomahawk ready for whoever comes your way.
• Move left and right as you move, and jump too. People from behind may get a simple Tomahawk or Crossbow kill if you are moving in a straight line.

Multiplayer:

• Stick with an area you know and use an appropriate weapon for the map. For example, don’t use a sniper on Nuketown.
• Pick contracts that won’t overwhelm you. Don’t pick: GET 20 KILLS IN CTF if you don’t play Capture the Flag. Also, don’t pick contracts that involve weapons you don’t have. Buying the weapon costs more than you will win back.
• Play smart! Use crouch and prone to your advantage.
• DON’T RUSH KILLSTREAKS! If you have a spy plane, for example, and there’s already one scanning the map, wait! If your team has Domination, don’t use your Cobra just yet. Wait until one is repossessed. Use your Sentry Gun when you find a hotspot.
• Learn the maps by playing in a Private match by yourself or on Splitscreen.
• If you want to check if there’s anyone in a room before entering, use your TACTICAL grenade before your LETHAL grenade.
• Use smoke as a distraction, and watch the enemies walk through it as you pick them off from a distance.
• Plant claymores behind ladders behind boxes, and behind walls.
• In Domination, use RC cars to attack your enemies flags.
• Place Motion Censors, Claymores, Jammers, or Camera Spikes next to Domination flags.
• If you are getting whooped, and you have a gun you want to use, but you stink with it, DON’T USE IT! Help your team get back in the lead, then try out your new gun.
• Use Ghost.
• Some must have guns are the AUG, the AK74u, and the Galil.
• If you’re using an RC Car and you find someone, don’t get overexcited and blow it up. Check to see if the enemy is wearing a Flak Jacket.
• When you prestige, you’re stuck with guns that you could barely get kills with…solution? Pick up an enemy’s weapon. I found myself on level 3 with a Galil, simply by picking it up.
• If your Care Package is something you don’t care for, like maybe a Spy Plane, Ammo, or RCXD, leave it. Watch the enemies swarm to it, and get ready to kill them.
• If you like shooting down Aircraft, use the Strela.
• If you get Ammo and you don’t want it, take it! I see a ton of people leave it. Why shouldn’t you? If someone on either team has Hardline Pro, they could change it to something useful.

Zombies:

• Be a team player. Make sure everybody on your team is safe and has good guns.
• Save some crawlers
• Teleport if you get overwhelmed, but make sure everybody is in the teleporter BEFORE you teleport, or else the people left out will not be happy.
• Buy Juggarnaut.
• Make sure everyone knows where the box is.
• During sales, watch your sides while you wait for a gun to pop out. Zombies could overwhelm you as soon as you go to pick up the gun.
• Buy the Olympia when you start, for the dog rounds.
• For further dog rounds, use your best gun. There is max ammo at the end of every dog round.
• Don’t run into the green gas that the crawling zombies give off. You’ll get downed.
• KNOW WHERE TO GO BEFORE YOU PLAY!
• Aim for the head:)
• During dog rounds, create a circle and stay close.
• STICK TOGETHER IN “Five”
• Have at least one player with Quick Revive.
• Upgrade weapons frequently.

Sticks And Stones

Take a look at the weapons, perks, maps, and camos

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Halo Reach

I was requested to review this game by CAMPI 12, so here it is: Halo: Reach is a prequel to the Halo trilogy, and Bungie’s last game. For most people, it is like this: You either like Halo or COD. I personally like both, but COD wins my vote for sure. Halo: Reach, however, has impressed me on many levels. The three key points are the Campaign, Matchmaking, and Customization. The Campaign succeeds and doesn’t succeed at the same time. The music, sound effects, and introduction to new experiences are great. The first time you put on a Jet Pack, it feels like no other Halo game. Also, you can finally sprint! Simple mechanics like armor abilities and new weapons make this campaign great, but what makes it really polished are the characters. The cutscenes tell the story perfectly, and you are actually part of the Noble Team, complete with the tough guy, big guy with a big heart, Mr. Protocol, the talkative foreign sniper, and the tough chick. Oh, and you. The story features each of these characters, and they actually help you in battle, and make you feel part of the team. The story is told in such a way that you believe it, and you don’t want to skip cutscenes. It is hard, however. Even on Normal you cannot charge into enemies and melee them down. It takes time, repetition, and skill. Thankfully, co-op is offered to lighten the load. The only issue I had were the boring space missions and non-engaging “stealth” parts. Stealth in Halo doesn’t feel tense at all. Nonetheless, the campaign was impressive. Over all, I enjoyed the story, and it will last you quite some time.

The matchmaking, however, is so much easier than the campaign. I was never great at Halo, but my first match ended in 23 and 2, I don’t know how. It seems like the campaign got harder and online play is easier. Reach offers a variety of fresh and intense game-modes on its many maps, and the concepts are easier to grasp. Teamwork is essential, and 5 armor abilities are offered every standard Slayer game. It adds variety and fun to the multiplayer. Firefight is a great way to pass time with your friends, giving that you can customize your settings to your liking. Bottomless clip and unlimited life are only a fraction of the things you can do. Forge is much bigger and better. You can customize in “Forge World,” a huge place that Bungie designed. You can handle objects with more control, color them, and customize if objects defy gravity or not. I have played on some amazing custom maps, and though I don’t have hours to create maps, I have toyed with the system and find it very fun, but spawn-point systems are tedious. Still, I have seen what my friends and random players have accomplished, and it looks amazing. Customization lets you pick armor pieces and other armor features, like visor color and wrist-pads, but it isn’t just obtained by spending credits. For some pieces, you have to be a certain rank to buy it. Theater was great and always handy, because it records all of your gameplay, from campaign to matchmaking to firefight. Still, I found the lack of control why recording a bit frustrating. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. If I’m screwing up or if you think that I’m missing an element, let me know in the comments. The visuals were also glorified. Some weapons looked better, some weapons were added, and the vehicles were powerful. Assassinations are a cherry on top, making the presentation all the more slick. Over all, Halo Reach is a Filet. The campaign is worthy of praise, the matchmaking and custom matches are limitless, and the customization puts your stamp on Halo. I recommend this game for anybody who is still trying to find a game after being disappointed by Black Ops.

Tips and Tricks:

• Don’t go into a battle you can’t win. If your shield health is blinking red, wait until you recover, even if you DO miss a kill.
• In Halo, they don’t display your death amount, so get into those crowds and rack up kills.
• Use the proper armor ability in the proper place. In a place with many floors and open spaces, use jetpack. In large maps, use sprint. With explosive game modes, use Armor lock. In big games use hologram.
• Don’t camp. In Halo, the radar can track you easily, and camping makes you visible. Getting in the action will get you the most points.
• Use Active Camo while using a sniper. Stay on high ground and cloak yourself, then if you find the perfect headshot opportunity, fire and go back to being invisible. It works every time.
• Use a variety of gun-power and melees for the best kills.
• In Infection, as a human (I can’t believe I’m saying this) camp in groups.
• Drop Shield is a nono during Campaign. Elites simply run into your shield.
• To kill Hunters, aim for the back.
• Play online with friends. Teammates constantly leave the match.
• Use the Assault Rifle buy spraying in short bursts when you are far away.
• Don’t stick to two weapons during campaign. Pick up enemy weapons and use them to your disposal.

Gameplay

Best Kills

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Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 2 has been all the Xbox has needed for publicity in 2009. It carries on the great and award winning gameplay of COD 4. There were tons of great points of the game, but the 3 most important were the graphics, the campaign, and the multi-player. To start, the graphics of the game were amazing and sharp. The water of the game has realistic waves and reflection proportions. Also, the little detail on Favela is simply amazing. The buildings were composed perfectly and trees so rich with reality and texture. Plus, the Russian snow almost feels soft as you snipe through it. The setting graphics aren’t the only great graphics. Whether you are using a pistol, shotgun, or sniper, the details on every weapon make you you choose from great, greater, and greatest. Plus, Arctic, Desert, Red , and Blue Tiger designs can coat your weapon. A game can look great but be horrible, but with COD, that’s never the case. Next, the Campaign is astonishing. Whether you’re a terrorist, a freedom fighter, or a US Soldier, you feel freedom while with a General or Seargant. It is full of variety and twists. You can can send air-strikes, use a turrent on the back of a car, save hostages, press through smoke, snipe, kill dogs, and simply enjoy the graphics. Certain levels can get a little irritating,but the campaign is certainly an amazing feature. People, of course, are going to complain about the Campaign length. The levels aren’t short spanned…the campaign as a whole is. It takes a dedicated day to beat it, maybe two if you are on the hardest difficulty. COD 4 had this problem, and frustrated many fans, but like I explained during my Black Ops reviews, Infinity Ward probably wants to keep it short and sweet instead of long and boring. Some people skip campaign and go right to Live. Live with Modern Warfare 2 is quick, convenient, and enjoyable. There are many modes and matches, and if you are equipped well, you could get some XP quickly. The guns are easy to access, the game-modes are for every type of player, and perks are interesting. Deathstreaks help inexperienced players get some kills, and many attachments determine you to play. Call of Duty is a competitive game, and it is a hit-wonder for many. Spec Ops is a good mode too. You can do missions that include stealth, Rambo style, and going against impossible Juggernauts. Anyways, EVERYONE can play the game.

My younger sister can, and that proves that Modern Warfare 2 is great all-around.  You try so hard to prestige and get highest ranks and achievements, and it feels great when you’re rewarded. You get rewarded constantly when you play, and it feels well earned. People will hate on this game because of quickscoping, One Man Army, Martyrdom, hitmarkers, Danger Close, Cold-Blooded, Hardline, The Intervention, Last Stand, Heartbeat Sensors, Noob-Toobs, the ACR, the UMP45….frankly, some people dislike everything about the game, but if you’re fed up, here’s my advice: Fight fire with fire. Regardless, my opinion is that the game is amazing. Good luck Treyarch You’ll need it. Modern Warfare 2 is a Filet.

Tips and Tricks:

• People use Under-barrel Grenade Launchers. SO……USE THEM BACK!
• Take advantage of the quickscoping and use your sniper class!
• Get onto high ground and use a Silencer.
• Have a class for taking down aircraft.
• Have a cheap class.
• Have a sniping class.
• Have a rushing class.
• Don’t use Scrambler. You might as well say to the enemy, HEY! I’m right next to you. Look around!
• Use Commando before you could create a class for easy kills.

Amazing Kills

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The Conduit

The Conduit, a new shooter for Wii, is a hot game. I got it for my  birthday, and since then, I’ve been hooked to it. The Conduit features a man named Mr. Ford, who is trying to stop a dictator named Mr. Adams from taking over the USA. With an alien drone named Prometheus at your side, your suit acquires special functions. This shooter had a feature that all shooters have to have…Unique weapons. Some cool guns are guns that shoot ammo, laser beams, rocket launchers, a bug hive, a heat-seeking ball launcher, a SPAS-12, and much more. The extensive weapons always keep you entertained while in campaign. That’s why you never have dull moments while playing the Conduit. While addictively trying to get your rank up on Wi-Fi Connection, signal strength glitches a lot. Even if your Wii is a room away from a router, the online game play tends to lag. The Wi-Fi connection is nothing special, very boring, and hard to connect with your friends. With cheap opponents in every match and HACKERS it is frustrating.

With an alien friend, similar maps, and a Scar almost replicated like a battle rifle, I’m not sure that the Conduit is all that creative.  I enjoyed this shooter, but say that the controls can get aggravating and the motion control is way too sensitive. The campaign is quite creative with situations, but with predictable outcomes. This would make a cool movie. The story mode was why I bothered to play it as much as I did. Shootouts in the White House, sniping, and using rocket launchers on aliens was fun, but online play gave this game a bad reputation. The graphics are horrible, because there wasn’t much grassy and environmental aspects, but more of indoor and dark areas. The guns were cool, but, again, too similar to Halo. If you want a Wii shooter, buy this, but don’t if you like online play. There wasn’t a big flaw in gameplay if you are a Wii fan, but if not, you’ll cry over the controls. It takes practice, Trust me. Because this game is only good for campaign, it’s a Hotdog. A week of gameplay and you finish the story. That’s fifty bucks blown.

Tips and Tricks:

• Find the rocket launcher and use the heck out of it.
• Race for the weapon in the center of the stage.
• Bounce around and move back and forth if you get overwhelmed by gunfire.
• Use grenades to see if enemies are in a corner

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MONTAGE!

ANOTHER MONTAGE!

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Peter Jackson’s King Kong

This game, like every other movie game, is VERY unpopular. I’ll bet none of you know what this is. Still, if you are a Playstation 2 owner who wants to get a new game just cause, this is one you should try. This game featured 2 playable characters: Jack and King Kong. You are on Skull Island, like in the movie, and must escape predators and King Kong. The 3 key points on this game is the mood, controls, and re-playability. The mood of this game is extremely shady. there isn’t one part that is truly happy, and its dark throughout. the weather is usually stormy and every creature and bug wants to kill you.  And you use bones as weapons to kill crabs, millipedes, bats things, raptors, and other predators. you are allowed to light grass on fire too. Plus, you are almost sacrificed to king Kong by crazy tribe people……………….everything sounds demonic and desperate……….it is. But that’s what makes this game unique.

The controls for this game are different from other shooters. That’s all i can say. Let’s just leave it at this: it’ll take you a while to get used to the swivel. And the replayablility: the game is LONG, so if you have the will, it is fun to go back to some levels,but don’t replay the ones that frustrated you. The weapons in this game include spears, bones, spears wt fire, pistols, your hands, shotguns, really strong snipers, machine guns, etc. And as King Kong, you can rip jaws, throw rocks, eat locals, chuck people, and swing on vines. Very fun. Buy it, and ask friends for help. Porkchop, but worth a rent.

Tips and Tricks:

• If you get stuck, look for fire or bugs.

The weapons of the game.

Kong kicking butt

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