Call of Duty: World at War

Though Call of Duty: World at War has been out for a while; I felt the need to blog about it. Or more specifically about it's expansions. As of right now 3 map sets have been released.

The first (technically a bonus map set) is the Makin Day map. It's like the original makin map; though its day time, the tide is out and there are a few areas that you can walk now that the 'village' is awake and active. Though there isn't much new here; its free, so whats not to like?

The second Map pack (labeled Map Pack 1 on XBL selling at 800 microsoft points) contains the maps Nightfire; Station and Knee Deep, as well as the new zombie Expansion 'Verrückt'. The online live versus maps are nice; though when you first play them they are hard to learn; the maps are not symmetrical, but its a good set of areas to use different weapon types. Verrückt is what originally brought me to this map pack; and it does not dissapoint, though much harder then the original zombies (starting split up if your group size is large then 2, and the moving weapons box) there are several nice new additions to the game. First off would be the perk cola. The perk cola allows you to get one of four different perks to use. Speed reloading(and rebuilding and running), Juggernaut, Quick Revive, and double tap. Another nice new addition is the barriers; that can grant you a temporary reprieve from the hordes of the undead.

The second Map pack (labeled Map Pack 2 on XBL also at 800 microsoft points) contains Sub Pens, Corrosion, and Banzai. The maps add a new set of territory to play in and they certainly are different from the originals by adding a new depth of realism to playing; mainly background noises like waterfalls. Other then that its more of the same.

What really brought me to the '2nd' Map pack was yet another new Zombie map. Shi no Numa. Shi no Numa is different then all the other maps because you can go outside. Yes. Out of your fortified building. It may sound crazy; but the temptation of the 4 perks(the same as the last set) that are each randomly assigned a building is strong; Mainly because you can have all of them at once; and let me tell you; when you've got that you are a super man slaughtering zombies. Though the spitefully evil teddy bear remains in the box lurking; now when it moves it glows so its easier to find out where it is. There is also a new weapon; the Wunderwaffle. This rifle, a cousin or the ray gun, is some non standard gear aimed at taking down large numbers of zombies very very fast. Though it only has 18 shots one properly aimed shot will kill 10 zombies.

Oh and there are achievements for the zombie map pack. So you can brag about how awesome you really are at killing them.

Shi no Numa was so popular over 1,000,000 purchases occurred in the first 4 days of its release.

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Call of Duty: World at War is a very good game; its expansions make it even better if you can afford the DLC. If you don't have it; get it.

Combat Arms

Combat arms, by Nexon found at http://combatarms.nexon.net/Intro.aspx , is a free FPS shooter; that has both a competitive mode (a la modes like elimination, capture the flag, Search and destroy and one-man army) and cooperative modes (Fireteam/Scenario mode). Its not the best graphics, and the music is a bit loud; but its free. FREE.

It can take a while to download, but the game mechanics are pretty good, there are standard guns everyone has access to, and guns you 'buy' using in game earned points for a time period. The more kills you get in a round the more points you get to buy guns. The better you are, the better your weapons, the better your kills.

Its a great way to waste time with friends, its free, and will run on almost any recent PC (and some macs running PC windows.).

Then again I've only wasted 5 hours in the last 2 days after full days at work.... So its fairly good.

Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3: ODST (previously Halo 3 : Recon), is slated for release this fall, as an FPS gamer; and as a huge Halo fan (if you haven't yet, and you have time take a look at the book series) I'm really excited to play ODST.

Orbital Drop Shock Troopers is different from the other games in the Halo sandbox that is their universe, as your not playing as the famous 117, Master Chief. The main playable character, 'The Rookie', is human; pure, un-genetically modified, 100% pure human. This means No super speed and strength, no Spartan armor, and a biggie, no dual wielding.

But that does not make the ODST members weak by any means; They get the best and the brightest shiney new gear to kick butt with. Stealth and finesse take the place of the cavalry charge style of Spartan combat. With the new and returned weaponry (the suppressed SMG, and the M6D (a vairant of the original Halo:Combat Evolved pistol)) its still an open game.

The controls of the released footage and demo's look insane. The Open world segments of New Mombosa, offer a lot of game play options, and I am pleased to say it will look great in 1080p Hi Def.

As usual Bungie will be bringing back their Cooperative play for campaign (still 1-4 players) and there will be maps that have content for the original HALO 3 game.

All in all, this fall looks to be another very good Halo year.