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    17/04/2007

    New Halo 2 Map Impressions

    What? New Halo 2 maps? You can’t be serious; Halo 3 is right around the corner!  

    It’s true, this morning the latest two downloadable Halo 2 maps were released on Xbox Live. Developed by Certain Affinity, the new studio founded by former Bungie employee and Halo 2 multiplayer lead Max Hoberman, the two maps are titled Tombstone and Desolation, and are remakes of the Halo classics Hang ‘em High and Derelict, respectively. I don’t want to dwell on what you already know though, so I’ll jump right into my impressions. 

    Now, at the risk of being ostracized from the community, I will admit that I was never an enormous fan of Hang ‘em High. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun map; I just didn’t think it was the epitome of awesomeness that so many other Halo fans believe it to be. That said, Tombstone is an absolute blast, and I can easily foresee it becoming one of my favorite Halo 2 maps. Visually, it is obviously a huge improvement over its Halo predecessor. The setting of a UNSC munitions complex is a lot more immersive and exciting than the giant steel box that was Hang ‘em High. The complex of hallways and tunnels near red base gets perhaps the best overhaul; the addition of computer terminals and flickering lights really add to the atmosphere, in stark contrast to the barren steel halls seen in the map’s Halo counterpart. The removal of the ‘lip’ around the trench in the center of the map is a very welcomed change, and the giant crane is a nice aesthetic. The tombstones that litter the map continue to play an interesting role in the gameplay, just as they did in Hang ‘em High. At one point I was just about to get killed, but by running and swerving around the tombstones I was able to escape. I was then killed by someone else, but that’s not the point. Overall, the map has nothing but improvements, the only change that I’m a little bummed out about being the replacement of the big ramp by red base with an air lift. The ramp was a focal point of many battles in Hang ‘em High, and putting a lift there seems to have diverted attention away from that area of the map. Still, it’s nothing to cry over.  

    There were complaints and worries that the map would not be fun without fall damage, since falling to one’s death played such a significant role in Hang ‘em High. However, even without the threat of falling to your demise, Tombstone is still a blast to play. The verticality (Ha! That is a word! I told you guys!) of the map plays a significant role in a player’s strategy, and several times I got killed when my friends used the catwalks above to get the jump on me. Death from above!  

    Tombstone, also known as "the remake of that God-like Halo 1 map"

    Desolation, the second map, is a remake of Derelict. Let’s not kid ourselves here: Derelict was never a very popular map, and when it was announced that it was being remade for Halo 2, many fans were left scratching their heads. After all, we already have a Wizard remake, and Wizard and Derelict were practically the same thing, right? Wrong. Desolation is strongly reminiscent of its Halo predecessor, and one can certainly draw comparisons between it and other arena-type maps like Warlock and Foundation, but it still maintains enough uniqueness to make it a worthy addition to Halo 2’s map lineup. The ramps lining the sides of the map will make for some very intense and claustrophobic combat, and the two (yes, two) overshield spawns become a focal point in battle. The replacement of the teleporters with gravity lifts takes a little getting used to if you are used to Derelict’s layout, but overall, I think they are an improvement, as it makes it more difficult to escape from a combat situation. As with Tombstone, there is an element of verticality to the map, and you find yourself constantly looking around to see if that red blurb on your motion tracker is on the first or second floor. Interestingly, the map feels a lot larger than Derelict, so much so that I had to ask if the dimensions were changed (as far as I know, they’re not). Still, the larger feel is a-ok in my book.  

    Desolation. It's like Derelict, only good.

    Despite the maps having a completely overhauled visual design, Tombstone and Desolation feel very similar to their Halo counterparts; much more so than the other Halo remakes in Halo 2. As soon as I started wandering through the narrow hallways underneath red base on Tombstone I was instantly reminded of games that I had played years ago on Hang ‘em High (though for some reason those hallways also now remind me of Marathon). Similarly, the games I played on Desolation felt very reminiscent of Halo 1 multiplayer matches, especially a certain 2v2 game that I may elaborate on in my next Random Gaming Update (whenever that is). Although a number of H2 maps are remakes from Halo, whenever I play on Elongation, Warlock, or any of those other remakes it doesn’t really remind me of Halo 1 at all. For whatever reason, these two latest maps are different. They definitely have the Halo feel, and whether that is good or bad I’ll leave to your discretion.

    Many people have questioned the point in purchasing these maps, citing that the Halo 3 beta will be out in only a month. That may be true, but remember that the beta ends on June 6, and after that you’re back on Halo 2 or whatever other games you play. If you have drifted away from Halo 2 at some point over the last two years (as most of my friends have), then these maps are the perfect reason to get back into the game. In this gamer’s opinion, the content is well worth the four bucks and will give Halo 2 the final endurance it needs to keep us entertained until we finish the fight this Fall.

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    02/04/2007

    Random Gaming Update II

    I should be working on some stuff right now, but being the master procrastinator that I am, I have decided that my time is better spent writing another Random Gaming Update. I know you guys are just so interested in what I’m playing, so please enjoy another ridiculously-long entry on the latest happenings in my own personal video game world: 

       

    • I’ve spent the last week going through the GRAW2 co-op campaign with Greg, Chris, and Gary (though a few other people have popped in along the way). The gameplay is more or less unchanged from the first GRAW, though there are some cool improvements to the cross-com to supplement the upgrades in the single player campaign. As is to be expected in a Ghost Recon game, much of the co-op seems easy enough on the surface, but is actually quite frustrating. I couldn’t tell you the number of times we got stuck on seemingly easy parts. We eventually got through it though, and can now concentrate on going back through it again with other friends that don’t have those achievements. We also plan to attempt to win a 60 minute defend-match to get a nice 40 gamerpoints. When trying it the other night we survived almost 20 minutes before losing, and between the three of us had nearly 500 kills (I think it was 493). It should be interesting to see what our kill count is after an hour.
    • A week or so ago I took part in what I can only describe as one of the most outrageous games of Halo 2 that I have played in recent memory. We were split up, with four of us on one team and three on the other. When we’re split up, we rarely take the game that seriously, but this particular match took the craziness to an entirely new level. The entire match we were all just running around yelling at each other for no apparent reason, and at one point I think we had more conversations going on than there were people in the game. Bob attempted to reproduce (don’t even ask), I made a comment that I will never live down about bad guys being on my head, and Chloe laughed hysterically for about five minutes straight. To top it off, one of the randoms on my team started singing… wait for it… Crazy Frog. I completely lost my mind at that moment. Another random misread my name as ‘Smithsonian.’ Now, people often read my tag as Threesome, but this was a new one. I have no choice but to assume that he was drunk. The entire game was completely absurd but it serves as the perfect example why Halo 2 is an awesome game to play with friends, even more than two years after it came out.
    • Several days after the epic game during which I crashed and destroyed twelve Warthogs Eric and Chloe told me that I’m not allowed to drive the car anymore. They have been saying that for months now, so I didn’t really think much of it, but when they started shooting me whenever I got near the Hog I realized that were serious this time. I kept driving as I normally would for a few games, but eventually they broke my spirit and I promised that I wouldn’t drive anymore. In one final adieu, I made a custom game on Containment, pilled up all of the mines (or exploding testicles, as the cool kids call them), and drove straight into it. The Warthog completely disappeared in a huge fireball the instant that it made contact with the mines and I think it was a hilarious and fitting end to my career as a Warthog driver. I still can’t keep myself away from the car though, so I’ve started using the turrets more, and I’m actually having a lot of fun with them. Max has been driving me around quite a bit, and I have to say, with a little more training he could be the team’s next great Warthog driver (me, of course, being the first great Warthog driver). At one point he splattered Bob in mid-air, which was one of the most awesome things I have seen in Halo 2. It’s now been more than a week since I’ve gotten in the driver’s seat of the Warthog, and I think that is an unbelievable accomplishment.

     

     

     

    • I have yet to touch Crackdown since my last entry, and it’s really starting to get at me. I’m very reluctant to get back into the game, but at the same time I hate being so close to getting all of the orbs and not actually making an attempt to finish it. As I previously mentioned, I’m stuck right now, and don’t know which hidden orbs I actually have and which I have marked off accidentally. Some time in the next few days I think I’m going to make one last massive push to find all of the orbs, searching every place again if necessary. I’m sure it will prove to be extremely irritating, but hopefully I’ll be able to finally put the game to rest (at least, until the DLC comes out). So, check back later for my final Crackdown update. 
    • Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Last week my 360 decided that it was tired of living. On Sunday night I got the dreaded three red lights, and by Monday afternoon the console was completely dead. Strangely, I wasn’t nearly as aggravated as I thought I would be. After only a few brief hours of slewing profanity (I joke, sort of) I had calmed down and accepted the fate of my console. Luckily, I’m not totally without an Xbox. My roommate has a console of his own, and after only a few minor frustrations at getting the thing on the network, I was back on Live. I’ll pick up another box soon, but for the time being I’m mooching off his 360. I always knew having two consoles around would come in handy.  

    Now, I understand that you guys probably aren’t that interested in exactly what I’ve been playing and how my games have been going, but I’ve been having some fun writing these things, so I think I'm going to try and make the Random Gaming Updates a regular thing. It’s not like I have anything else to post on this blog. So check back sometime in the future for another riveting adventure into the world of Thesomeone’s gaming life.

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