Some Changes In My Life

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've published a blog post, but I'm trying to get back into making them. I have had some changes in my life that have caused me to be busier than I was when I was making them. I have been putting some work into our gaming/entertainment company's website and now I want to get back into my own blogging to share my views and opinions on various points in the gaming industry.

In August I started a new job and now work about 5 days a week and close to 40 hours every week doing a job with physical labor so if I'm not busy away from home I am more tired than usual causing me to put off doing these things. I will try to change that, but I can't make any promises. My schedule isn't a set one so it differs almost every week. It sucks, but I have to do what I have to do right now.

If you don't know already, the gaming/entertainment company that I am proud to be a part of is called The World's Empire and I help run it alongside two of my friends, J Skill and Jonlaw. J Skill was the creator of TWE in the beginning and then I joined when he told me about it and I offered to help with a website and whatnot. Jonlaw is a YouTube commentator/gamer that has helped promote TWE tremendously and does a lot of good work himself that, in turn, helps us all. All of us pitch in ideas although not all of them are used. We are a "community" first and foremost so we encourage others to act as one, too, and to join us if they'd want to be a part of TWE's.

If this is something you are at the least bit interested in, feel free to check out our website: http://www.theworldsempire.com

Keep in mind we are still working on it so it's not completely finished yet. We have an online bulletin board/forums for people to register and join in on the conversations whenever they want.

I was thinking if I should get back into recording gameplay/commentary and posting it on YouTube again and I think I will get back into that as well. I still have my El Gato HD Capture Card and the new Xbox One is coming out tomorrow, Friday 11/22, and I already have it pre-ordered so I'll try to do some videos with that. I don't even know what games I'm getting just yet, but there are a bunch I have on my mind. I have to spread them out so I can afford them all.

With the launch of so many games and the next generation of consoles I'll have a lot to talk about so hopefully I can find the time to blog and commentate on a lot of it. I'll try to get a launch day video/commentary posted when I get my Xbox One. Since it'll be completely paid off I should be able to get it at 12:01 AM on Friday so I'm going to store to grab it around that time. I might just record from the very beginning to capture my reactions and initial thoughts on everything, but we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, that's the update for now. To all of those who bought and have the PlayStation 4, I hope you're all enjoying everything it has to offer as well as the games so far. If you're getting an Xbox One, I hope you do the same when it launches. To everyone playing new games on current or next-gen consoles, you guessed it, enjoy the same.

I'll get some more stuff out soon. I'm going to try hard to do so.

Until then,

HAPPY GAMING!

-GeNiO

BF4 Beta

I mentioned I played a few matches of the Battlefield 4 beta so I wanted to give some thoughts on it so far. First off, the gameplay was fine for a beta. The graphics and sound were mostly fine as well. I was pretty impressed with how the game flowed for the most part. That map is a decent one and you're able to move around pretty quickly and freely. Sometimes I would spawn in a helicopter and then parachute out onto a target. Others I would spawn on squad mates, sometimes when they're on top of buildings and I can parachute off of there, too.

The map is called Siege of Shanghai and it's an area surrounding I believe 2 skyscrapers that you can utilize and a great feature of those skyscrapers is having multiple elevators available to go up and down. They had 2 game modes available: Conquest and Domination, both core. Conquest, if you don't know, is most comparable to CoD's "Domination." You need to acquire and hold multiple flags for the most time and kills to win. Vehicles are available in Conquest on this map and it gets pretty crazy and that's not even the craziest part. The other mode is "Domination," which is a fast-paced, infantry only mode that allows you to acquire and hold flags quicker and there are less "tickets," or lives, for each team. There were tanks, helicopters, and LAV's with 3 flags in Conquest. I didn't get to play Domination yet.

Parts of the map were sometimes "floating," but I didn't really see any other visual bugs. The sound was good, too, and I didn't have any issues hearing everything I expected to hear. If I remember correctly, BF4 changed the controls to have the melee by pressing the right analog stick as it is in CoD. RB on Xbox 360 and R1 on PS3 will now "spot" enemies instead of the Select button. I kept bringing up the Battlelog screen in the middle of the match before figuring it out. Everything else is pretty familiar, though.

Overall, I enjoyed the few matches that I played and will play some more tonight. It seems like it's going to be a really good multiplayer experience and that is why I pre-ordered a copy myself. I will probably do the upgrade and trade in my Xbox 360 version for the Xbox One version when it comes out. I'm not really sure what the single player is all about as the multiplayer is what's been keeping me interested. I remember seeing the trailer, but I don't recall much about the story, characters, and such. I'd like to know as I enjoy playing the single player parts of many games and play them usually before the multiplayer.

So before I end this, I want to give my "BF4 Beta Experience" like the videos the official Battlefield YouTube has about real player stories. My very first match for BF4 had an epic experience that I just had to look at. I was on the roof of a building looking one way not at the skyscraper when I heard and felt a loud rumbling sound so I turned to look. What I saw was pretty awesome. One of the skyscrapers was collapsing to the side right in front of me and I just sat and watched. This is something you see/hear in a movie or something or maybe in a really good single player part of a game. That was my first time seeing that and I was awestruck and impressed when I experienced it. I'd suggest playing the beta and experiencing that at least once.

In my second match I had something pretty epic happen to me and I wasn't even mad at it. It was insane and I loved it. There is a channel/river with water and on both sides are each teams base. There are a few bridges allowing entry to the other side, but you can also go the water route, which can sometimes be a lot safer/smarter. I happened to have jumped in the water and was swimming to an area I could climb up and start an attack. As I was a few feet away from steps out of the water I felt and heard that rumble again. Not sure where I was or where the skyscrapers were I just looked back and forth and then I looked forward and up. There it was, the skyscraper was beginning its descent right onto me. I wasn't even mad that I died; it was just a really crazy and awesome experience. I don't want it to happen too much, but it was cool to go through.

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts on the Battlefield 4 multiplayer beta. Remember to check out the open beta on October 4th. I look forward to this game so hopefully many of you do, too.

Until next time,

HAPPY GAMING!

GeNiO

It's Been A While...

Well, my last post was over a year ago as I pretty much put this on hold when I was working on other things. The World's Empire is still around, but the site has been put on hold for now as we figure out what we want to do with it. We wanted to add a front page that has a complete summary of everything we want TWE to include (the forums were a part of that plan), but we haven't worked much on it so it's still a template. It's unclear if we're going to do anything with it soon, though.

Anyway, this is kind of an update post. I know I've said I was going to review a few games that I played in my last post and since I never got around to doing that I think I'm just going to review the ones that I enjoyed instead of all of them. I might just skip those reviews altogether and move forward with previews or something. I haven't decided yet.

Right now, GTA V and FIFA 14 just came out within the past month and those are basically the only 2 games that I've been playing steadily. I've never really been into GTA's online so I'm not sure if I'm ever going to play it, but I love soccer and FIFA is a great game although it does have its cons like any game and there are a few things that weren't fixed from FIFA 13 that remained so maybe I'll go over those 2 games as well as some previews.

For this year, above all others, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is my most anticipated game so far. And, yes, I was more anticipating AC4 over GTA V or any other game this year. I'm really looking forward to the naval warfare as now we'll be able to just sail around whenever we want and do a bunch of stuff that looks awesome. I've been paying attention to any new information/content Ubisoft releases on the game it looks that good. I'll talk more in-depth about it in another post, though.

The exclusive multiplayer beta for Battlefield 4 was released yesterday to anyone who was a Premium member, pre-ordered BF4, and/or bought Medal of Honor: Warfighter. All three of those happen to apply to me. I downloaded and played a few matches last night of the beta and my initial thoughts were fairly positive for a beta. I discussed BF3's beta when it launched so I'll do another one for BF4, too.

I was pretty impressed by the improvements made in NHL 14 for this year's demo so I might go buy the game sometime soon. I'm not certain yet, though. Last year's game felt like a step backward to me so I'm on the fence with this year's.

Oh, I can't forget the next-gen consoles coming out soon. I've owned every PS to date, but I'm not getting the PS4 right away at least. I'm sticking with the Xbox 360 and I recently just pre-ordered the Xbox One. Most of my friends will be staying with XBL so I decided to stay, too. I may get the PS4 somewhere down the line, but I don't see myself doing so anytime soon. I also sold my PS3 a few months ago as I rarely even used it and it was collecting dust. I pre-ordered AC4 for the Xbox 360 for its release on 10/29, but I'm also going to be getting the Xbox One version when the console/game both come out. I pre-ordered it at GameStop so I'll be able to trade in the 360 version and buy the Xbox One version for $9.99, which is a pretty cool deal. I'll probably make another post about the next-gen consoles as well as I have a few things to say about all of that.

Most already know that Call of Duty: Ghosts will be released in November, but I'm really not interested in anymore CoD's at this point. I'll probably wind up buying it since most of my friends will have it and will continuously bother me to play. I usually enjoy running with friends online or co-op so I'll have to see what I think of Ghosts when it comes out. I doubt I'll pre-order it; I'll just buy it when it comes out.

The only other things I can think of to touch on now and maybe later are Watch Dogs, Ryse: Son of Rome, Destiny, Titanfall, Forza 5, and Dead Rising 3. Some of them are Xbox One releases and the rest are coming out after the Xbox one launches, I believe. Watch Dogs looks awesome, definitely. Ryse looks interesting, although I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy all of the button actions or whatever they're called (I forget the name). We'll see how that plays out. Destiny looks pretty dope, but it's made by Bungie and I've never been a huge fan of Halo's gameplay. Titanfall is interesting, but I don't know how I'll like a multiplayer only game. Forza is always good, except I wasn't that big of a fan of the last installment. Finally, Dead Rising 3 looks pretty badass as well. I want to see how that game turns out.

OK, well, that's about all I can think of right now, but I'm going to post at least one more post today about something, I just don't know about what yet.

HAPPY GAMING!

GeNiO

Prototype 2 (Blackwatch Collector's Edition) [XBOX 360]

First off, I wanted to start off with an easier review so I'm going with Prototype 2. Also, I bought the Blackwatch Collector's Edition, which came with a bunch of fairly nice goodies so I'll review those, too. Mass Effect 3's review is probably going to take me quite a long time to write, maybe the longest review I've ever done and might ever do, so that will be written when I have more patience to do so. Anyway, let's start this review.

Why buy the Blackwatch Collector's Edition? What's in it? Well, like any LE game, it comes with bonus DLC and whatnot. It came in this nice hard case that was easy to open and easy to access everything, unlike ME3's Collector's Edition, which made it hard to get the bottom disc to the point it felt like I was going to snap the disc. Anyway, the CE came with: Radnet Edition Content (Includes access code to unlock a massive in-game content package of over fifty-five events, challenges, and exclusive rewards), Exclusive Prototype 2 Hardbound Art Book (which was pretty cool to see the concept art and whatnot), Dark Horse Digital Comic "Prototype 2: The Labyrinth (I have yet to read this yet), Official Prototype 2 Soundtrack CD (I've also yet to listen to this), Downloadable Content Pack "Colossal mayhem" Coucher Code (Includes Thermobaric Boomstick Super weapon, Force Multiplier powers and more), and Prototype 2 Merchandise Store Voucher (20% discount on merchandise including hoodies, t-shirts, lithographs and more). Just so you know, I listed all of this as it is written on the back of the CE case.

OK, now let's get to the game. Right off the bat, this game threw me off because I thought we were going to continue as Alex Mercer, the main character from the first game, but, no, we start off as Sergeant James Heller. When you return from war, you find out your wife and daughter have been killed by Alex Mercer and request to be re-enlisted to the "Red Zone" where the infection is the worst to find and kill Mercer. At first you are denied this request because of your mental state, but then are granted the request as you are now needed to help restore order. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler, but if it is, skip to the next paragraph and don't read the next statement. After you arrive, you actually run into Mercer and he gives you the infection and you become the same as he is, which gives you god-like powers as you level them up over the course of the game.

One of the first things I noticed was the amount of destruction you can create, which is A LOT and I LOVED it. You're also able to gain new powers/mutations which allow you to create huge amounts of destruction in various different ways. Being able to hijack, destroy, or rip the rocket launcher off of a tank is just amazing. You can also do so with helicopters as well, which adds a whole new element of surprise and destruction to the game.

Secondly, Blackwatch is hugely more involved in this game than the last, which I can't really remember how much they were involved in the first game, but that doesn't matter. Almost everywhere you see the normal military soldiers as well as special Blackwatch soldiers. "Consuming" any person, whether they are just a citizen, infected, military, or Blackwatch allows you to use their appearance to gain access to restricted areas as well as "hide" from those same soldiers and Blackwatch troops if you want to avoid a confrontation, although it becomes unnecessary at a certain point into the game where no one can defeat you if you know what you're doing. In this game, there are different infected. Most of them are just infected people, but there are also creature-like abominations that you can fight and destroy either as Heller or disguised as a soldier/Blackwatch troop on the ground, in a tank, or in a helicopter, which adds a new element of fun for a while if you want a break from the story. Be advised, though, if you hurt, injure, kill, or consume anyone in front of those soldiers/Blackwatch troops, they'll know it's you and start fighting you even if they're in the middle of a million infected. It doesn't make sense to me to go after one person if he's helping you when these infected could kill you, but that's the game.

There are quite a few side missions that come with the Radnet Edition that get unlocked at intervals over a few month period to add replay value to the game and also where you can rank yourself against friends and the world. Some are about destruction and killer, others are timed missions. I enjoyed the ones I tried and was able to get 1st amongst my friends on a few of them. There's also this new thing which tallies up your "total destruction cost," which is just the total amount in dollars of the destruction you've cost the government. I think my total is in the tens of millions or billions, I don't really remember, but it's another thing to compare with your friends.

As you progress and rank up, you're able to add abilities to your mutations so that adds a level of customization that's pretty cool to utilize. The plot is pretty good as you try to figure out what happened to your wife and daughter as well as try to find and kill Mercer. You will kill, consume, infiltrate, and destroy a lot in your adventures to finding out the facts. Here's a definite spoiler so skip it if you haven't played yet and go to the next paragraph. Soon enough, you find out that your daughter is actually alive and is being held by someone, which becomes your main mission. Along the way, you get help from an old friend, a pastor that gives you intel and whatnot as well as an unlikely source, Alex Mercer's sister. There is another woman that helps you in a way, but there's a major twist to that "help" that would be a huge spoiler so I'll leave it out.

Before you can get your daughter back, the ultimate fight happens, Heller VS Mercer. A quick tip, you have to use all of your mutations to beat him, but don't use the same one he's using at the time. You'll find out why if you haven't played it yet. Skip to the next paragraph, too, as it's a spoiler. Once you defeat and consume Mercer, you become the most powerful being alive as Mercer's sister brings your daughter to meet you where she sees you for what you really are. At first she's scared of you, but moving along she goes to you and you're finally reunited with your only living family member. A happy ending to a game with so much destruction and despair.

Overall, I loved this game. Almost everything was on point and enjoyable. During the beginning, it was somewhat hard to win battles so I found myself running away more times than I wanted to, but, like I said, once you level up, you become unstoppable. I once just went on like a 2-hour destruction spree because it was fun. Some of the achievements/trophies in this game are pretty sweet, too, so try to get as many as you can. Some are easier than others as long as you look for them. The replay value is moderate as they are releasing side missions over a few month period, but, besides those, there's not much else to do except just go destroy everything and everyone in sight. It can be fun for a while, but it will get boring after a while. Because of all of this, I'd definitely recommend this game to just about anyone.

GameSpot Score: 7.5 (Good)
Metacritic Score: 75 (67 Reviews)
User Score: 8.2 (316 Votes)
My Score: 8.5

HAPPY GAMING!

GeNiO

My Absence & Upcoming Reviews/Previews

First off, I'd like to apologize for my absence. I don't really have a reason other than I really didn't feel like writing any reviews or previews for a long while, but I'm going to be posting a few reviews of some of the games I've played as well as some reviews of games I'm looking forward to. I think I'm also going to cover some of the gaming industry's news and such that have happened over the past month or two that I never wrote about yet.

Here is a list of what I'm going to try to write reviews on:

- Mass Effect 3 (This was my most anticipated game of 2012 and it really did NOT disappoint, except for the ending, which I'll touch on in the review, but I'm sure most people have already heard about the ending and heard a lot of different opinions on it so I'll give mine, too.)

- Prototype 2 (I really enjoyed the first game and sequels are usually better than their predecessors so I'll give you all my own opinions on the game for that review.) DONE.

- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (After seeing a bunch of awesome videos on the campaign, co-op, and online multiplayer, I was pretty excited for this game and it met most of my expectations with a few hiccups that I've found along the way so stay tuned for that review.)

 - L.A. Noire (Rockstar normally does a great job with their games and this was no exception.)

- Just Cause 2 & Crysis 2 (I'm putting these together for a couple of reasons; Just Cause 2 I just wasn't into. It looked like a good game, but when I started playing it, it was just not my type of game and I returned it to GameFly within a day or two. For Crysis 2, it was a good game up until the game kept freezing on me and I couldn't get past one spot. I even tried my brother's new bought copy of the game and it was getting stuck at the same point so, after a while of trying to get past that point, I just gave up and sent it back. I will, however, review what I played, though.)

- Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation & Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (This series, in my opinion, is the best flight simulator/fighting series out there and, yes, better than the H.A.W.X. series. I've played both and the Ace Combat series is better to me. I'll review both of these games as they're the same series.)

 - H.A.W.X. & H.A.W.X. 2 (The videos of these games did more for me than the actual games, which isn't a good sign. After seeing the videos I was really looking forward to playing both, but they kind of let me down quite a bit.)

That's about it for the reviews for now. Some of those games are a little old so I'll try to keep it to newer games that I've played. Now, onto the previews...

- Assassin's Creed III (This just might be tied for Mass Effect 3 for my most anticipated game of 2012. After all, almost everything about this game will be brand new from the main character to the new engine to the new setting and so forth. I can't wait to see what Ubisoft has in store with their new engine and what they've been working on for the past 2 years or so. I'm a very big fan of the Assassin's Creed franchise and I've loved every single game, even though there were a few things I hated (most notably the "tower defense" in AC: Revelations.)

 - Halo 4 (Well, what can I say about Halo? I've always enjoyed the majority of each game's campaign, although the multiplayer really has done much for me up to this point. I'm just going to get the standard version as the Limited Edition mostly has MP content that I won't ever use.) I wound up not getting this for now.

 - Medal of Honor: Warfighter (I loved Medal of Honor 2010 and this looks very promising. By love, I'm referring to the campaign, not the multiplayer as I only played that for a few hours and then stopped. Everything I've read and seen so far has been great and looks exciting so I definitely can't wait to see what they do with this game.)

- NHL '13 (I'm a huge hockey fan so this is a must for me. Each game seems to improve on the previous title so hopefully they continue that trend and move forward with this one. There were a few things I didn't like in '12 and '11 so I hope they try to fix some of those things and whatnot.)

- FIFA Soccer '13 (Another sport I'm a huge fan of, football/soccer, FIFA '13 should be another amazing game in the franchise as FIFA is usually the best EA Sports game. I'm definitely looking forward to what more they can do in the upcoming game.)

- Rainbow Six: Patriots (This game looks intense. It hits close to home as I was born and raised in the United States and have felt some of the repercussions of our terrible government's decisions. Hopefully they move this in the right direction and make a quality game.)

- Spec Ops: The Line (As you might tell, I love war games. I'm very big of these types of games and I don't hold back when criticizing the quality of them. From what I've seen with this game, it looks pretty solid, but, then again, so did a few others. Hopefully this one doesn't disappoint.)

And, last, but not least...

- Call of Duty: Black Ops II (OK, so how many people ARE NOT looking forward to this game? I guarantee it will break even more records as every title has done so since Modern Warfare. At first, I hated Black Ops, but then it grew on me the more I played it with friends and completed the campaign and tried the Combat Training for fun. There were a few things I thought ruined parts of the game (the SR-71 Blackbird not having a counter, how weird the characters looked when running, walking, moving, etc., the hit detection), but the majority of the game was tolerable and pretty fun. I hope they don't add dumb things such as "lag compensation" like in MW3. That was the worst idea to add that. Also, they need to NOT reward bad players who don't do well in the game. Sure, don't make it impossible to level up and whatnot, but don't add last/final stand to players who die too much or dead man's hand or any of that other garbage. That ruins the game more than the developers care to know. Anyway, I'll save my thoughts and opinions for the preview.)

There is one thing I'll be touching on that happened in the gaming community regarding ME3, the ending. I'll talk about what happened and what MY OWN thoughts/opinions are on the ending and the backlash that has happened so look forward to that in ME3's review. OK, well, I can't really think of much else on the schedule so I'll get started on some of those soon enough.

HAPPY GAMING!

GeNiO

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 [XBOX 360]

Another month gone by, another major release, MW3. I wasn't expecting much more than MW2.5 from this release and that's pretty much what it has been. Everything leading up to its release date looked almost exactly like MW2 with some changes to maps, weapons, perks, and kill streaks, which I'll discuss in more detail later on. Overall, I've been enjoying this game fairly well. The MP could use a lot of work, but the campaign and newly added Survival Mode are both great; I think they're better than BF3's campaign and co-op combination and I'm more partial to the BF series than to CoD's.

As always, let's start off with the negatives as I have quite a few of them. As mentioned above, this game feels like a DLC to MW2, not a good start so far. The MP maps, weapons, perks, and kill streaks all look very similar to the ones from MW2.

The perks and kill streaks are probably the biggest downfall of this franchise to me. Hear me out before all of you CoD fanboys get your panties in a bunch. Most, if not all, of all of the perks AND kill streaks could have been left out of the game all together. For technical purposes, I'm going to list all of the perks and kill streaks I feel should have been left out and my reasoning why. Let's start off with the various perks.

Sleight of Hand: I think this is one of my more complex perks that I felt could have been eliminated. One of my suggestions would have been to implement a simple reloading mechanism using your controller's/keyboard's buttons/keys. For example, on consoles, simply pressing the reload button once would perform a normal, slower reload while maybe pressing the reload button twice would perform a 'quick reload,' meaning your weapon currently equipped would reload just as fast as if you had the Sleight of Hand/Pro perk enabled for your class. For the 'Pro' portion of this perk, though, maybe implementing a double tap of the switch weapon button would reload quicker than pressing it once for a normal reload. It's just an idea, but I feel like it could have been easily added to the game and would be beneficial and create a more balanced game.

Recon: Explosive and bullet damage are shown on the mini-map? Why not just do this without a perk? I mean, you have sounds automatically trigger when you reload or something. Why can't you just implement a feature that would trigger this location automatically on the mini-map without a perk? Better yet, why even have this at all? If someone trips a claymore or a bouncing betty and dies they're not going to be able to call its location out to their teammates. If they just get injured from explosive or bullet damage, that's a different story. They could just add the 'call out' feature to let their teammates know the location(s).

Blind Eye: I understand the need to add some sort of 'counter' to air support and whatnot, but how can this even be done in real life without hiding in some sort of cover or adding some sort of jamming equipment if the air support is too high to see any people? Since MW2 started this trend, I never understood it. As far as I know, there isn't any magical invisibility cloaks that can hide you from enemy air support. As for the Pro, fast lock-on for rockets and increased bullet damage to vehicles? Really? The lock-on speed should be as fast as their real counter parts can accommodate. As for the increased bullet damage to vehicles, what are they using, some sort of armor-piercing rounds or something? I understand that, but not every gun can use those.

Extreme Conditioning: This is an easy one. Do what BF did, allow the player to run for as long as they want because, in battle, I'm pretty sure you're not going to stop in the middle of a gun fight to catch your breath; you're going to do all you can to get out of harms way and save your life. The Pro allows you to climb faster. Just allow players to press the sprint button to climb faster. Perk removed, problem solved.

Scavenger: I thought about this for a few minutes and came up with a pretty decent idea. Why not just allow players to pick up ammo from dead soldiers who carry the same weapons? It doesn't matter if they currently had the weapon(s) equipped when they died as long as you carry the same one(s). Also, it would allow you to pick up their unused equipment if you have them equipped. The Pro can be removed all together.

Quickdraw: I think this could be removed all together. To balance the game, all players should have the same aiming and equipment recovery times.

Blast Shield: This one's a tough one. I couldn't really think of anything for this except to take out the Pro part all together. It allows players to resist flashbangs and stuns. Unless you're in some sort of protected room, there's really no way to resist from these, which pretty much is what happens if you're not in the same room as the flashbang or stun. The regular portion of this perk is easy: just like in Black Ops, you would be using the 'flak jacket.' This enables you to take a greater amount of explosive damage, which is fine because I'm sure these are actual 'jackets' in real life. Don't quote me on that as I'm not 100% on it, but it seems like something practical.

Hardline: Make it easier for players to get kill streaks? No, this should not even be in the game. End of story.

Assassin: Same as for the Blind Eye perk, unless you're in some sort of cover, have some sort of jamming equipment up, or are using something that's masks your thermal heat signature this is unrealistic and unnecessary.

Overkill: You should have the option to carry 2 primary weapons or have 2 attachments at any time no matter if you choose a perk or not. Totally useless.

Marksman: Dumb. This should pertain to what kind of gun/scope you have to identify targets at longer distances. You should be able to hold your breath for only a certain amount of time regardless of a perk for all players to balance the game out more.

Stalker: Your movement while aiming down the sights should be the same for all players, again, for better balance and how can someone 'delay' when claymores and bouncing betties explode? That really doesn't make much sense to me.

SitRep: Another dumb one; should be removed all together.

Steady Aim: Again, remove to balance game better.

Dead Silence: Another dumb one. Your noise level should be dependent on how you are moving. If you are walking slowly, you should make less noise than when you're running. How can you NOT take fall damage? If you're falling from any height that would hurt any person, you're going to take some kind of damage. End of story.

Those are all of the perks. I think there are only 2, maybe 3 left with them all not having any 'Pro' parts to them. This would most definitely balance the game out a whole lot more and make players rely more on skill than a perk. Now, on to the kill streaks, something else I think should be decreased.

I've been saying this since MW2 came out. They should have stuck with the winning kill streak formula that was the original MW: 3 kills = UAV, 5 kills = air strike, and 7 kills = helicopter. All of these other kill streaks make players focus on getting them to get their kills instead of using skill to get gun on gun kills. It also actually encourages and increases camping, which is one of the biggest problems and a staple of the CoD franchise. OK, with new MW games I think you could add maybe a Counter-UAV and maybe a care package that has one of those kill streaks or ammo, but maybe make it that it refills ammo for your entire team. All air suport should be able to be shot down, too. Having a counter for everything is a MUST for any FPS MP game like CoD. This leads me into the weapons.

First off as I was talking about air support should be able to be shot down, you should have 2, MAYBE 3 options for rocket launchers: a free-fire launcher (RPG/SMAW), a lock-on launcher (NO, I REPEAT, NO JAVELIN!), and MAYBE a dual launcher that can do either free-fire or lock-on.

Handguns and machine pistols can pretty much stay the same. The majority of them are fine and actually require some skill to use well.

SMG's are pretty decent so the majority of them can stay, but we NEED THE MP5 BACK!

LMG's are fine, too, so they can stay.

Assault rifles are also pretty good so they can stay as well.

Sniper rifles are fine, but any type of 'auto aim' needs to be taken out and it should be a lot harder to snipe so it discourages 'quick/no scoping' in CoD as this DOES NOT happen in real life. Sure, snipers can fire shots quickly, but you will not see one doing 360 no scopes across the map.

With any weapons, variety is key. A good mix of weapons should be available and they need to have a good mix of attributes for each weapon. DO NOT OVER OR UNDER POWER WEAPONS! In Black Ops, the Famas was overpowered and it took away from the game. Even in BF3 the UMP45 was too powerful in the Beta, too weak in the retail release, but it was patched and now it's somewhere in the middle.

That leads me to the next topic: developer support. This is key to any MP game's success. You need to continually make the game better. Patching glitches and making sure weapons, any available perks and kill streaks are all legitimate and realistic are all essential keys to success. Don't allow hackers and modders to ruin the game by exploiting these things early on. Also, discourage camping in any way possible. I'm not sure how this could be done, but something needs to be done about this. It is getting WAY OUT OF HAND. Encourage slightly more movement and team work, but don't make it so that you always have to be moving. Sometimes you need to slow down and take a break to reload, get a better understanding of your surroundings and situation, and/or get your health back up. That last thing may need to change, though, as you don't regain health in real life in you get shot or an explosion is nearby. I understand why it's there, though, so no big deal.

I think my last gripe would be the lag in all CoD games. This is getting RIDICULOUS. This ties into the hit detection as well. If you don't have a full four bar connection, you're at a disadvantage to anyone who does. It will throw your connection off by just enough to let players with a full connection to shoot you faster. And what's up with bullets/launchers disappearing when you're shooting and someone kills you? They wouldn't disappear in real life so why in the game? Oh yeah, the lag. When you watch the kill cam it doesn't even show you shooting, but in the actual gameplay you are. This needs to be addressed ASAP!

OK, I think that's all of my gripes about the game so far. Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent there talking about how to get the game better, but now onto the things I enjoyed.

The campaign, I felt, was better than BF3's as it was longer and I've enjoyed all of the MW campaigns. The story was pretty awesome, I must say so myself, and the ending was a perfect ending to what has been a wild ride in the 3 games so far. I won't reveal any details to anyone who hasn't played it yet, but I definitely recommend playing through it.

The Spec Ops/Survival Mode is awesome as well. I haven't really played the Spec Ops, but we all know what that's like from MW2 and that was cool there so I don't expect much less in MW3. The Survival Mode is real cool, though. I've been playing that off and on with a buddy and it's real fun. It kind of sucks that you can only play with 2 players, but I think it would be a lot more fun with up to 4 players. Not a great big deal, though. It definitely adds a whole new level to the game and allows for a break from the MP and Spec Ops as well as the campaign. The co-op in MW3 is definitely a better co-op mode then in BF3. I tried that with a friend and it wasn't as I expected or that great. I'll save a BF3 VS MW3 thoughts post for another time, though.

Now onto the MP. With all CoD's, it's going to be a fast-paced game on smaller maps so it's usually fun. I say usually because sometimes it can be really irritating if the lag starts getting bad or if there's a lot of campers and/or noob tubers. I despise both of them so it does annoy me sometimes. Not that often, though. I do pretty well more than I do pretty bad. I care more about my W/L over my K/D so that's what I care about in the end, the win. I'm a very team-oriented player (which is why I prefer BF) so I'm looking to win over get more kills than deaths, but that usually happens anyway so I don't worry about it too much.

I usually play Hardcore Kill Confirmed in MW3, which was an awesome game mode addition on IW's/Sledgehammer's part. Although people are starting to camp more in it, it's still a fun game mode to play for me and my friends. We have a blast and we don't lose too often so it makes the game that much more enjoyable. I like how people have to go get the tags to either confirm or deny kills. This game mode is all about team points. The more you have, the quicker you will win.

I think that's about it. Overall, I thought it was a good, solid game.

GameSpot Score: 8.5 (Great)
Metacritic Score: 88 (79 reviews)
User Score: (6.7) [Damn, I don't think it's that low, but wow.]
My Score: 8

HAPPY GAMING!

GeNiO

Battlefield 3 [XBOX 360]

I realize it's been over a month since my last post and I apologize for that, but just know I've been playing a lot of games and checking as much out as I could. Now that BF3 is officially released and I've gotten a lot of gameplay on it now I can write up my first review of the game.

Let's start off with my initial thoughts about the game as a whole and overall. Am I alone to think that EA/DICE seemed to have rushed this game? Maybe because MW3 was releasing 2 weeks afterwards? But, anyway, it seems as if a lot of the stuff in this game were rushed to get it released. The campaign was way too short and not that impressive, the co-op wasn't impressive either, and the multiplayer started off pretty good, but still had its flaws. Overall, BF3 fell short of my expectations from release, but at least the MP has been getting steady attention/support and, in turn, has been growing on me.

Like I mentioned, the campaign was incredibly short and wasn't all that impressive. I felt that EA/DICE could have done a hell of a lot better job on it than it was, but there's nothing anyone can do now that it's out. The actual gameplay wasn't too bad because you got to play around with the new Frostbite 2.0 engine, which was pretty sweet, as well as the Destruction 2.0 engine, which was also sweet. The new engine definitely shines throughout all of the game modes so that was a step up, but the actual gameplay fell short of my expectations. I beat the campaign on Normal (I play on Normal for almost every campaign I play just to get use to the controls, weapons, vehicles, and anything else new or if I just want to get reacquainted with everything) in one night in less than one sitting. It took maybe 5 hours to complete. I'm not exactly sure of the exact time it took, but it was a lot shorter than any other campaign I've played to date. As for the story, it wasn't bad, but it felt like all of these FPS war games have the same story line: Rogue bad guy/organization gets a hold of some nuclear weapon(s), some sort of special forces is sent in to locate them and remove any threats, a few twists and turns along the way, your team loses a few people, you locate everything/everyone towards the end of the game, then in some sort of epic showdown you kill the bad guy(s) and find the missing weapons and total annihilation is avoided (although sometimes some of the bombs do go off, but nothing that wipes out the entire civilization). And then the end credits roll and the game is over.

Sound familiar? Well, it should as the last few CoD's and BF's I've played have had this exact story line with a few variations. These scenarios are all well and good, but making the campaign that short doesn't really help the game as a whole. I enjoyed the campaign for the most part, but it could have been a lot longer. I was disappointed about that.

Now, onto the co-op. I only ran the co-op for a short time with a friend, but this also fell short of my expectations. In these missions, there is almost no direction on where to go or what to do. You pretty much have to figure it out on your own, which is fine to a point, but it gets ridiculous when you're supposed to go somewhere, but are sitting in the same spot because you had no clue you were supposed to. We only got to the second or third mission, which was the one where you flew the helicopter. Let me tell you this, flying in this game is almost impossible for players who aren't hardcore gamers that already know the controls and how to fly. Both my friend and I could not figure out how to keep the chopper level long enough to do anything in the mission and finally we just gave up. That's just a disappointment in itself because it looked like a fun mission, but we couldn't take trying to figure out how to fly any longer. Also, the AI in the co-op is terrible. In the first mission you have fellow soldiers that are in humvees with .50 cal turrets on top of them, but they don't do a damn thing. In my opinion, they shouldn't even be there if they're not going to shoot/kill anyone. Then again, no game to date has been able to master AI well enough to even feel somewhat close to real life so you can't fault EA/DICE that much on this front.

Well, enough with the negatives, on to the pinnacle of the BF series, the multiplayer. Although I use a console (XBOX 360 mostly) I was still pretty impressed with the MP gameplay. DICE already released BF3's first patch for a few things, which I'll address a little later, so a few of the initial things were changed so just bear with me. As a whole, I love the BF3 MP. It's great, realistic, and the visuals/sounds are absolutely stunning.

Let's just start the MP review with the things I didn't like. First, the tactical light (this issue was addressed in the patch so it's not as relevant now, but still good to know) was like having a permanent flash bang in your face when someone shined the light at you, whether it be friend or foe. Sometimes I'd shoot at teammates because I'm blind from their dumb tactical light. Common sense says to point and shoot at the middle of the light, right? Wrong. Not all the time did you even get hit markers on enemies that were flashing you with their tactical light. Luckily, DICE addressed this and nerfed the light a good amount so that you could at least see the outline of the enemy. On the light note, the laser was also kind of annoying at times, but I understand why it was used. It's good for hip firing because you can just line the laser up with your target and not have to aim down the sights. Now, on the negative side, if someone shined the laser at you you would be blind as well no matter if the laser was shined at your legs or something not by your eyes. I didn't like that, but I'm not sure what DICE can do about that to help.

Another thing I didn't enjoy was sometimes you'd be shooting someone even before they were looking at you and they'd turn and 1-3 bullets would kill you. I don't understand how that could even be possible, but I sure hope DICE addresses that and tries to sort it out. It can get really annoying when you're doing well and really trying to enjoy the game.

This is just a general dislike I've always had for the BF series, but a lot of players don't seem to know how to play or want to play like CoD, but the problem is this isn't CoD and you need to learn and understand how to play so your team can be successful. BF is a team game, CoD is not. BF requires more skill and team work to win, while CoD you can just run around like an idiot and be good. BF relies more on the Win/Loss ratio than the Kill/Death ratio, whereas CoD is the opposite. If you're more worried about your K/D, BF is NOT your game or you should just stick to the Team DeathMatch modes.

Okay, enough negatives, let's get into the positives. As mentioned up top, the visuals and sounds are all terrific. BF has always been one of the best when it comes to those and BF3 does not disappoint in those areas. Being able to destroy just about anything and everything is such a huge advantage over most FPS. It allows you to destroy cover if players start camping too much. If you need a new line of sight, create one. If you don't have an entrance/exit to a building, you can also make those, too. Throw C4 on a wall just in case you need a quick exit if things get too hairy. Carry an RPG or other kind of rocket launcher to take out enemy vehicles or blow holes in walls. Going through a building can sometimes be easier and quicker than going around, it could also be safer, too. The Frostbite 2.0 and Destruction 2.0 engines are amazing so there's really not much else to say about them.

Most of the maps are medium-extra large maps so there's going to be a lot of room to move around. A lot of people complain that it takes too long to get into any action, but those people are just noobs and need to learn how to use vehicles as transport. Even if you're not driving, hop in a jeep, tank, or helicopter and go for a ride where ever you'd like. Also remember that you can jump out of a chopper at any altitude and open up your chute to land safely behind enemy lines or by an objective (On XBOX 360, I think you just hit A to open your parachute after jumping out of a chopper or even from a tall area. I'm not 100% on this as I don't do it often so don't take my word for it, try it out.). I'm still getting use to the maps, but I have an idea of most where everything is on most of them so that's a huge thing to know and get familiar with.

As for the weapons, they're mostly great and have a good variety to choose from as you level up. The UMP-45 was too powerful in the Beta, then it was nerfed too much in the Retail release, and now DICE released that patch that increased the power a little bit, but was still less powerful than it was in the Beta. As for the other weapons, you really need to try them all out for yourself and see which one fits you best. If you like being right in the middle of all of the action, the Recon kit is not for you. Pick the kit that's right for your playing style. Also make sure you use your kit's full capabilities so if someone needs ammo and you're the Support kit, throw down some ammo. If someone's hurt and you're the Assault kit, throw down a med kit. If someone just died by you and you have the defibrillators revive them. And ALWAYS SPOT! This will help you and your team a great deal. If you're the Engineer kit, blow up enemy vehicle and repair your own. Play to your kit's strengths, but don't do go over your kit's capabilities.

I love the vehicles in BF so it's only natural to have them as a positive here. I'm a huge fan of the tank, although you really need a good driver/gunner combo team in order to be successful. A quick tip if you and a friend are in a tank, both of you should be the Engineer kit so either one of you can easily hop out and start fixing the tank if it gets damaged while the other lays down covering fire and spots enemies troops/vehicles for your team. The gunner should focus on taking out jets and choppers in the air as well as enemy troops whereas the driver should focus on taking out enemy tanks, enemy troops, and taking out buildings/walls/cover/etc. This will maximize your effectiveness in the game. Another reason to have the Engineer kit is that you can have rockets if things are getting too hairy even in the tank. You can hop out and start firing those rockets where ever they are needed.

I have yet to get enough skill in the choppers/jets, but they need to be slightly easier to play with than they are now. It takes a lot of practice to get even average skill with these and it turns me away from even considering using them. I would love to be able to fly and do some damage with them, but it's just too hard to do and takes too much time at this point. If you know someone that's good at flying, that's a huge bonus to your team. Get in the chopper with them and go mess some shit up. It's always fun doing that.

I was going to discuss the spawns earlier, but I think of them as both a positive and a negative so I'll just discuss it here. BF's spawns are more "revenge spawns" than anything else. They are designed to spawn you near an enemy so that you can maybe get a revenge kill on them, but this doesn't always work out that well. It's a 50/50 love/hate relationship with the spawns in this game so you just have to pick your spawns carefully. Take an extra minute or two to see if a squad mate is getting shot at before spawning on them. If you have to, spawn in your Deployment and go from there.



I know this isn't part of the review, but for anyone who bought the Limited Edition of BF3, we will be getting the Bark to Karkand DLC free when it's released sometime in December. Also a head's up, since Activision has a deal with Microsoft to get DLC's one week earlier than anyone else for CoD, EA has a deal with Sony to get the BF3 DLC's one week earlier than anyone else so PS3 users will be getting the Back to Karkand DLC one week earlier than those of us on XBOX 360. I'm not sure of the exact release date yet, but I'll update this when I find out. I'm looking forward to this DLC and taking it back on the old BF2 maps and having them redesigned with the Frostbite 2.0 engine and the Destruction 2.0 engine. It should be very fun and enjoyable.

GameSpot Score: 8.5 (Great)
Metacritic Score: 84 (49 Reviews)
User Score: -- (141 Reviews - There is no average score yet)
My Score: 8.5

As Always,

HAPPY GAMING!

GeNiO

NHL 12 - Be A Pro (2011) [XBOX 360]

Since this month has been pretty hectic so far with the releases of NHL 12, FIFA 12, and the BF3 Open beta, it's been hard to write previews/reviews, but I'm getting around to the Be A Pro mode in NHL 12. Hockey's always been one of my favorite team sports and, over the last several years, has become my all-time favorite sport all together. When NHL 12 received its release date I was excited. I already knew they were going to come out with another game this year, just wasn't sure when. So, when more and more details started coming out I was way more excited to see what they did. NHL 11 was a great game, BUT it lacked in several areas, which 12 seemed to have listened to its fans and corrected a lot of them. There are some areas in which I'd still say need improvement, but, overall, 12 is definitely the best hockey game I've ever played and definitely one of the better sports games I've ever played.

I don't know what it is, but it seems to me that every EA Sports game I play has below average passing, whether it be NHL or FIFA, both games have reflected this to me. I understand not every pass is going to be perfect, but how many passes that aren't even close to their target in these games is just astounding. Seemingly "easy" passes turn into a counterattack by the other team. It does get annoying and frustrating after a while of experiencing this. Fortunately, though, these passes don't happen as often as they did in NHL 11.

Another thing I think EA Sports games lack is commentating. Both in FIFA and NHL they're good, but I think they could be a lot better if they worked on them more. It seems EAS just reuses last year's commentating and only add a few lines to the new year's release. I don't know about everyone else, but I enjoy listening to the commentators and what they have to say and how they react to different plays. It adds one more piece of realism to the game and provides for a little more excitement.

The all new mechanics to the game are great, but they lack in precision. What I mean is that the accomplish the overall goal of what real hockey players do, but it's not anywhere near how precise they are done in real hockey. For instance, when checking an opponent along the boards, sometimes you'll be in the middle of actually flicking the hit stick when they all of a sudden turn their bodies and there's absolutely nothing you can do to avoid checking them from behind and subsequently getting a penalty, whether it be a minor, double, minor, or major/game misconduct penalty. This gets frustrating as I don't mean to play as a dirty player. I like performing clean checks and only fighting if I think it's necessary to help my team win. Checking isn't the only are the precision lacks. Besides passing, when interacting with other players (teammates or opponents) it doesn't always feel "fluid" or "real." I love the direction they're going with the interactions, but it definitely could use some tweaking.

There are a few other things I felt could be worked on so I'll just throw them all together as I don't have much to say on each one. They definitely improved the players' AI, but they lack a huge amount to even be considered competent. When bringing the puck down one of the wings, one of your own teammates will bring it upon themselves to block your path even though there's no one in your path and you're at about the same spot as your teammate. It makes no sense to skate in front of you, which causes you to get checked or to lose the puck and the coaches say it's your fault. Another "AI" issue I saw is the way your teammates DON'T move when on the forecheck (offense). Normally, players would move around to try to get position on their opponents, but in this game, they barely move at all. Sure, they might battle for position in front of the net a lot more now, but they don't do much else. I found that this constant "battling" in front of the net leads to too many of your teammates blocking your shots and that's frustrating as well. They should have the ability to know when you're in front of them and the net to move enough so you have a clear enough shot to get it on net or at least to hit the goaltender. The last issue I can think of is when after the play stops and the referee blows the whistle, one of your teammates can very easily just bump into the goaltender and he goes flying, causing your team to get a penalty almost every time. I love the new goalie interactions, but this is just too ridiculous. This does not happen very often in real hockey so it shouldn't be happening anywhere near as much as it does in NHL 12.

I know it seems as if I'm bashing NHL 12, but I'm really not. They are some flaws in the game, but those aren't the only parts of the game so there are a lot of positive features as well. A good majority of the game remained the same so there really isn't much need to learn the controls if you played 11. With all the tweaks they did implement, there have been some pleasant ones as well. The new shooting mechanics are a nice, realistic addition as now you can actually score in a more realistic way such as balancing on one skate and wrapping a shot around a player/goalie to score. On breakaways, or if you're a player who can deke well, you'll notice the ability to be able to move the puck in ways you've never seen before, but they actually do it in real life hockey so it's awesome to see some of these things come into play with NHL 12. I had a goal where I was impressed by how it actually played out like a real play rather than something set in stone in a video game. I came from the side of the goalie, had an opening, started to deke around the one defenseman that was in my way and my player actually wrapped his stick around the goalie to get the goal. It was beautiful to see, actually. The checking mechanics are, for the most part, a lot better this year as well. Although some checks don't play out as "real" the majority of them do. I love how they made your own player interact with the check as well as the player you are checking. If you're a smaller player and, no matter how hard or big of a check you dish out, your player reacts in a realistic manner, such as if you try to check Chara with a smaller player, you're not likely to check him off of his skates, but you're more likely to fall down as a result. Even on huge hits where you do lay someone out, you can fall down, too, and I think that that makes for a challenge in itself as you can take yourself completely out of a play if that happens. Sometimes I think your own player takes a little long to get up and back skating, but the checking mechanics more than make up for that. I didn't really notice any difference in how the puck reacts, but I also didn't really think it needed much tweaking as the puck mechanics were pretty decent last year. Deflections aren't always 100% accurate so it's exciting to see some narrowly miss or deflect way off target. Some go in and you have no idea how, but that's just hockey, unpredictable.

Even though I just started my own Be A Pro, I just go out of the Juniors and made it into the NHL drafted by the Colorado Avalanche starting the 3rd line. Not too shabby for myself, I must say. Playing in the Juniors was another cool addition they added. it was a good way to practice and get ready for the NHL. If you're ready, you'll play on a NHL team. If not, you'll be sent back down to the AHL to get ready. I like the new game & shift goals they set for you. It's something to play for throughout the game and the time period they give you. It does need to be tweaked in a few areas, but nothing major that makes it a disappointment or just in the way.

Although there are more flaws and good things about this game, they are way outside the scope of this blog post. As I experience more and more, I will post updates as I can. Definitely check out this game; it's worth getting and playing.

As always,

Happy Gaming!

GeNiO

FIFA 12 - Career Mode (2011) [XBOX 360]

So, I bought FIFA 12 and it arrived on the same day it was released. I didn't expect that nor plan for it as it was the same day I received my early access to the BF3 Open Beta. Nevertheless, I went with the BF3 beta and left FIFA 12 for the next day. I like playing as one player, preferably a created player reflecting me, so I immediately jumped into the Career Mode to test things out. I've heard many people mention this, but the conclusion seems to be the same with the majority: the new tactical defense makes things difficult in the beginning, but as soon as you learn to use it it becomes a lot better. I've somewhat experienced this as I play as a Centre in Career Mode. I usually don't get too close to our own goal under normal circumstances. I really don't have anything negative about the game except for that, like all EA Sports games I've played, the passing could be a little better.

I like the new player interactions and movements. It adds a lot more realism to the game than FIFA 11 had. The commentary could be improved a great deal, I think, but it's players preference. Personally, I enjoy hearing what the commentators have to say throughout the match. Not a big deal as I could always just put on some music and play that way. The dribbling tricks remained pretty much the same so there wasn't much new learning to do in terms of how to do it on your controller. I've always liked the small amount of time you get to practice before a match. I use that to practice those dribbling moves just in case I get into that kind of situation. I have yet to master all of the celebrations, but those are also cool to play around with. The way the ball interacts with the environment and players seems to also be much more realistic. It bounces slightly more to reflect its real life counterpart. Scoring is always fun so definitely try out all of the ways to do so as well. I've had some exciting goals where you actually feel like you worked for the goal.

Well, I'm not too far into my Career yet, but I will update more as I go further. Oh, before I forget. FIFA 12 also has this feature that connects all FIFA 12 players for each of their favorite teams and every week a new winner is announced. I'm not sure if they reward that team/those players, but that would be pretty cool in the future. If you like soccer, football, futbol, or whatever you call it, definitely check this game out.

Happy Gaming!

GeNiO

BF3 Open Beta [XBOX 360]

After several days of on and off playing of the BF3 Open Beta, I feel there is some more I can write about to update my previous preview/review post on the BF3 Beta. Again, I absolutely need to remind everyone that this is still a BETA! There still is going to be flaws, bugs, etc. so please be patient and let EA/DICE work out the kinks. The retail date isn't for another 3 weeks so they still have time to fix the major problems as well as address as many of the smaller ones as possible before the release date. Even after then, they can still release patches and updates for the game so that any bugs or glitches can be sorted out in a timely manner. Personally, I can't play any beta games everyday. It's just too difficult to do for me. I understand it's a beta so I don't go overboard with the criticism, but there is only a certain amount of annoyances one person can take in a day so I usually alternate between the BF3 Open Beta and one of the many other games I play on a daily basis.

Now that I've ranked up some more and unlocked a few more guns, customizations, and equipment I'm starting to like the game more and more. Don't get me wrong, I was already stoked for BF3 when I first heard about it who knows how long ago, but being able to try it out early (even just the little bit that the beta is) has added so much more to that excitement. For those who didn't hear yet, a few days ago I heard that DICE wasn't exactly ready yet or something (not exactly sure on the full details), but they had to release something so they released an older build to the game so it's speculated that they're far ahead in terms of development and smoothing out the issues. Again, I'm not certain on all of this, but it's just what I heard. I was also able to run some games with friends the past couple of days so that added to the fun of the game.

A couple of days ago I was able to unlock the SCAR and the UMP and I feel they make the game a lot of fun, too. I can't wait to get to use all of the weapons, vehicles, and equipment. I love how the DICE team setup the loadout customizations. I've always been partial to the "level-up" system that most FPS utilize because having a high rank doesn't always mean that you are one of the best; it could just mean that you've played the game a lot, too. Either way, I feel DICE did the best they could do and it works for BF3, fortunately. I would rather more and more people become BF players. You can almost get exactly what you are most comfortable with and excel most with because, well, isn't winning the name of the game? You just have to be patient and play the game until you can try everything and find your niche. I feel parts of my niche are already formed, but I haven't found all of the pieces yet; it's a creative way of giving the players what they want as long as they play for it.

With the same map and game mode over and over you really start to get a feel for everything after a few days of gameplay. More and more players play more confidently now than when I first started playing the game. It definitely adds to the difficulty, but that's where the "competition" comes into play. Some people wouldn't think it, but you can actually make some money playing video games. Look up "video games" or "gaming" or any other gaming-related term in the news and I'll bet you can find something. Anyway, I've ran into at least 2 separate map glitches outside for the first set of M-COM Stations. One is over by A and the other was somewhere along a walkway in the middle. The glitch was just that I went under the map and couldn't get back up. It's funny, though, I was actually able to kill enemies just hanging out under the map. It was kind of funny, but annoying at the same time, I wanted to play the game. One other thing I think they could fix is how some surfaces that should be easily ran over become a problem and even the jump-over action sometimes doesn't work even though it said to press the button to do so. Besides those, I don't recall any other map problems. Maybe some small fixes for the terrain and all the stuff in the subway would be good, too. Oh, the actual player doesn't move fluidly. He's more choppy than smooth, I would say. Sometimes it doesn't look like what they're actually doing or something along those lines.

I know those last 2 paragraphs were kind of backwards, but I will end on a good note. With playing more, I'm even more excited for this game, as most of you should be, too. I wasn't able to play the PC version of the Beta, but I am really looking forward to using some of the vehicles, especially the new ones. As for the weapons, I think some of the beta versions should be tweaked if not done so already. I'm also looking forward to the other maps. With everything EA and DICE have done, I'm excited to play all of the maps, not just one. The player movement is pretty nice as well. I think they're going in the right direction on that front. The beta player movements are pretty intense when they work so I can only imagine what the final product is going to be like along with all of the wonderful Battlefield music and sounds. With everything that's been going on and being talked about with the multiplayer, it's understandable to push the campaign to the side. I usually run through the entire campaign before jumping into any multiplayer, but that's just me. That's something to look forward to, though. I think that's about it for now.

Important Dates:

October 10, 2011 - Open Beta ends
October 25, 2011 Battlefield 3 Retail Release

If you're even remotely interested in this game, go buy it and try it out for yourself. BF deserves to be a top contender, but people just need to play it.

As always,

HAPPY GAMING!

GeNiO