Friday, November 27, 2009

Better Late Than Never

After an another hiatus (these things happen too much with me), I've got some new info on some games that I've been playing (and a beta website for MAG).




Battlefield : Bad Company 2 Beta

My PSN friend FizZ1 gave me the keys to the beta of Bad Company 2 and I'll go on record as saying this game is better than Modern Warfare 2, but graphically and gameplay wise. The Battlefield franchise has be a mainstay on the PC front, and it came to consoles with the release of Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. I played the demo of the original BC (on PS3) and felt a bit underwhelmed. One thing BC1 had over MW1 was destructible environments.

BC2 Beta is MW1 but with strategy, medics, and no kill streaks. My stats got reset ( I made it to lv 14), but I plan on working to get my stuff back, if the stats aren't normal. Most of the games that I've played on BC2 have been pretty fun, a couple were not so fun, but overall I would recommend anyone who didn't buy MW2 (like myself), to buy this game (which I will since BC2 doesn't come out until March).


MAG BETA INFO
I went to Playstation Lifestyle (dot) com and saw that they were giving out a website to give keys to MAG Beta. Since I'm a relatively nice guy here's the link. The file itself is 300+ MB and the update is 1.8 GB (I waited for 4 hours to finish the download and played a game the next afternoon). MAG is a decent game, if you don't have an internet connection or hate playing squad based games (i.e. every SOCOM game), then you should pass. I'll give MAG another chance tonight and then probably play some BC2 for the weekend.


COMPARISON OF ROCK BAND AND GUITAR HERO


I've been playing Guitar Hero since the original (when my boy Rambeaux FORCED me to play), but I never bought it until GH3 (technically traded back some of my PS3 games, mostly sports games so I wasn't missing much). Rock Band was released shortly after and folks have been comparing the two. I'm playing GH:Metallica and RB2 right now, so I guess I can fairly compare the franchises. I wish I would have bought RB on PS2 last Christmas, but blame Gamestop and myself for trying to buy it the day before Christmas.

To truly enjoy Rock Band, you've got to have a broadband connection. If you don't, you're missing out on the appeal of Rock Band, downloadable content. Every week since RB1 was released Harmonix (the original creators of GH) gives gamers the opportunity to add songs to their collection. If you like the artist download the entire album, track pack, or individual songs. GH3 (and Neversoft, the current developers of GH and former creators of the Tony Hawk Franchise) however only released a handful of content and the Death Magnetic Album Pack a few weeks before GH: World Tour. Then Neversoft (and the greedy higher ups at Activision) decided to make GH similar to RB.

RB and GH share a few songs in common, but both execute them in different ways. For instance, GH has a mechanic called Slider Gems, clear gems descend the fretboard, and tap the corresponding fret(s) or use the slider bar (which acts as another strum bar). RB's Stratocaster controller has buttons that you tap in the middle of the guitar neck. You use those buttons for solos (this is optional, but they're there should you wish to use them).

The presentation and User Interface are two things that impact one's enjoyment. RB has a star system that you can see how close to 5 starring (or gold starring) you are. GH3 and World Tour didn't have it, however starting with GH:Metallica they have something similar, a meter with the number of stars on the side. In terms of presentation, GH's animations were decent, GH:M is a different story because Metallica, Lemmy of Motorhead, and King Diamond came in a motion captured most of the stuff. RB's animations are decent too, though some of the motion do get redundant (i.e. the bassist smashing the guitar into the camera).

GH has gotten stale (i.e. Smash Hits and Van Halen should have been DLC), whereas RB is still fresh, to me anyway. The best combination of instruments to get is all Guitar Hero stuff. If not get the RB bundle for $99 and buy a GH controller and GH:M if you like Metallica, if not, RB2 (and RB1 with DLC and Lego Rock Band) should be enough content to keep you busy until RB3's release.

That's it for me, now I'm gonna watch the rest of Alabama v. Auburn. Later.

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