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Music in games.
For a while in my gaming career I never noticed music and it didn’t bother me. But as of late I’ve taken a liking to the music in many games like castle crashers, prototype, and a few other games. Most of the time music in games makes the setting, for instance in Call of Duty the music is mostly shots being fired and noises of warfare. Some games however Castle Crashers being my focus at the moment have excellent music, I’ll find myself at times just stopping to listen to the soundtrack playing at the time. But I also find that music enhances the experience of the game like the music in prototype which enhances the intense feeling of the game.
Whilst relistening to music in many of my games I find that the music really complements the situation at hand, enhancing the feelings associated with whatever is going on. For instance while replaying the darkness I was running from the undead nazis and the music was a spine tingling tune and I was genuinely afraid of them catching up to me. My conclusion is that music in games really helps to make the game either a success or and utter failure and I’m sure everyone can agree with that.
Bioshock 2
- After the conclusion of the first Bioshock, Rapture was left in ruins. The splicers were trapped and forced to fight savagely over the disappearing supply of Adam remaining in the underwater utopia. The Big Daddies wandered through the ruined place fruitlessly searching for the little sisters that had been destroyed or saved from the wretched place (depending on how you played the game and the ending you got). Then everything changed, she made her long awaited return to Rapture; the Big Sister. With her she brought her little ones and Adam is flowing through their veins. Thereâs no need to attack these âinnocentâ little girls anymore; however, because youâre part of the family now; youâre a Big Daddy.
- Ten years have passed since you were last in Rapture and you play the first Big Daddy prototype. Unlike in the first installment where Big Daddies were slavishly ordered around by their little sisters, you have a choice and you can make your own decisions. You might say, well I got to play as a Big Daddy in Bioshock 1 and it wasnât all that, and youâd be right. This time around; however, youâre the real deal, drill, rivot gun, and plasmids all within your control. The drill replaces the wrench from the previous games as you primary tool for melee attacks. This weapon; however, is much more powerful and only has the one setback of the drill overheating after certain amount of continuous use. Plasmids have evolved in the ten years that you were gone. Now, instead of just upgrading the power and range of the plasmids, the plasmid itself is changed. For example, the first stage incinerate plasmid stays the same as before, then the second stage of the sizzling plasmid changes from lighting enemies on fire to shooting fire balls at them, and finally in the third stage, your hand is transformed into a flamethrower to easily scorch all those who oppose you. Plasmids have also evolved in the light of option of plasmid combination. In the original Bioshock the cyclone plasmid was very weak and basically useless for it only threw enemies into the air; but, when the cyclone and incinerate plasmids are combined, it makes for a deadly booby trap, sending enemies flying into the air whilst on fire.
- No matter what weapons you use or how powerful your plasmids are, Big Daddies are nothing without their Little Sister and vise versa. The lacking interaction with little sisters in either rescuing or harvesting them has had a major overhaul. The harvest option still remains as a choice but it wouldnât make sense to harvest a little sister that only has a small amount of Adam and if âyou have a heartâ you know youâll rescue them, or adopt as it is called in Bioshock 2. The adopt option allows you to use the Little Sister to lead you to Adam so she can harvest while you protect her from enemies trying to get the Adam all for themselves. Once she has completed getting all of the Adam from the âangelâ, as the Little Sisters call them, she will give you a portion of it and hop back onto your back.
- You may be thinking that youâre basically an unstoppable force that canât be defeated; thatâs where youâre wrong. There is someone more powerful than you in Rapture, and that is the Big Sister. She is an extremely quick and agile opponent who has metal-plated reinforced suit just as you do. Where did this strange woman come from you say, well The Big Sister was in fact a Little Sister ten years ago and sheâs back to set things straight. She has an Adam needle implanted into her arm that sends the Adam she collects directly into her bloodstream; this creates for more powerful plasmids than ever seen before.
- A huge complaint from Bioshock 1 was the lack of multiplayer integration, but this wonât be the case in the second game. The multiplayer in Bioshock 2 takes place one year before the start of the first Bioshock. The story behind the multiplayer is that the company, Sinclair Solutions, is using ordinary citizens to test their new plasmids and weapons to find the best of the best for use as home security. The civil war that is going on during the time gives the motivation for the citizens to go to war against their fellow residents. The multiplayer would be empty without Big Daddies, so Big Daddy suits can be found in the world and equipped. This makes you a force to be reckoned with, but also a bigger target. Finally, the two modes that have been released are Survival of the Fittest where, every man fends for himself, and Civil War, where two opposing forces go against each other.
- This game is planned to be released on November 3, 2009 and will be available on Xbox 360, PC, and PS3.
G.I.N Official Halo 3 Griffball Tournament!
Many Halo fans out there know what Griffball is, right? Well, whether you know about it (which you should) or you don’t, we are having a tournament. It will be a 4v4, standard map and rules apply. Sign-ups start now through next week Friday (that’s the 26th of June). All you have to do is send an email to gamesinanutshell@gmail.com or post in the comments here the Gamertags of your team. Remember, 4 people in a team, you may also have a runner up if one person can’t make it. There will be no specific time to play your matches, just a time period, and you and you opponent will have to work out the rest. Once I get all the entry’s in, I will put up a post that explains more on the 26th. If you can work your way to the top, you will be challenged against my Griffball team, if you win then you win something cool (we still haven’t figured out what, it’s just going to be cool). If you don’t win, you’ll still get something cool, but you will have the pity of losing to my team. Good Luck.
Assassin’s Creed II
A Change In Setting
The 12th century Holy Lands are now out of the picture in this installment. The games opens in 1476, the setting now being Renaissance Italy. What an odd time period to choose Ubisoft you say, well shut up and Iâll tell you why youâre stupid. First off, the compact nature of the Italian city-states make for an entirely new world to explore. The interconnected system of waterways in Venice make for a stunning backdrop and a great aid in assassination. The architectural marvels of Florence serve as beautiful and useful way to run, leap, and escape from your enemies. Unlike the first game, these city-states are not connected by empty wilderness but they are seamlessly linked together. So there you go, now you look stupid for thinking it was dumb for a game to be set in the Renaissance.
A Change In Character
This time around your old bff Altair is long gone and has been replaced by Ezio Auditore de Firenze (someone went a little bit overboard on the name), a Florence Nobleman. Ezio and Altair are linked in their ancestry, but their lifestyles are worlds apart. Ezio has grown up in life of privilege, educated in swordplay, poetry, art, and even seduction and charm. This provides for a quick and witty character unlike Altair. Ezioâs family is like much of the nobility of the time, with alliances with other houses and endless competition to one-up others. Weâll have to wait until the game comes out; however, to find out how such a distinguished nobleman is transformed into a cold-blooded assassin.
A Change In Gameplay
One of the great things about Ubisoft is that they actually listen to the gamer. There were many complaints after Assassinâs Creed I and they took the criticisms and built off of them. Assassinâs Creed II completely abandons the idea of the very simplistic get mission from the bureau, investigate target, assassinate target, and escape back to bureau game structure. Instead, an expansive network of contacts, that provide hints to Ezio, move him into cites, out into the countryside, and through ever-changing objectives. The more laid-back missions such as eavesdropping and pick-pocketing are now gone and replaced by more active missions like chasing characters through crowded streets which, in many cases, leads to a seamless transition into a race through the countryside. The game is planned to have around two hundred missions total.
Free running paths have been implicated into Assassinâs Creed II and are marked with a white flag to more easily escape from Ezioâs enemies. Another new feature is crowd blending. In the first game, blending was mostly useless because you could only blend with the monks, which you encountered practically never. Now for the second game, Ezio can blend with any crowd, which allows for new tactics of escape. Yet another new implication is notoriety. As Ezio assassinates and causes havoc in the city-states the people and soldiers will respond by becoming more suspicious of him. This will also allow for more missions for Ezio to complete, such as assassinating witnesses of crimes and taking down posters of himself. The biggest innovation would probably be with the combat. A new disarm feature has been added to the game which allows Ezio to use his enemyâs own weapon against him. Furthermore, each of the weapons that can be stolen all have their own unique special move. Finally, one of the most simplistic but most bad ass innovations is the use of two hidden blades. Now two targets can be assassinated at the same time in one go, just as stealthy as before, enough said.
Halo 3: ODST Pre-order Goodie
Listen up all you Halo gamers! If you pre-order Halo 3:ODST right now, you will get an exclusive-to-pre-order playable character, SGT. Johnson. Yes your favorite black sarge from all the Halo games, but, you can only play Johnson in the new game mode, Firefight. Firefight, if you don’t know, is basically Gears’s Horde and Left 4 Dead’s Survival mode put together. Throughout the waves there will be random skulls activated to ramp up the difficulty. And you have an unlimited time to fight off the waves of Covenant. So, you Halo adcicts, go out and pre-order you teh Halos. Source
G.I.N Best of E3
E3 has come and gone, so the G.I.N staff have put together their favorite games and conference for you to see.
First up is me. My favorite game coming out of E3 is Sony’s MAG, or Massive Action Game. The sheer size of this game is enough to get me excited, not to mention no lag, and features such as a communication block that actually makes the opposing team not able to speak to each other for a certain amount of time. 256 players, no lag and, plenty game modes, makes MAG, undoubtedly, my game of the show. I also think that Microsoft’s press conference was the best overall with games, technology, and the best presentation ever out of a company at E3. They showed game after game after game, and revealed, probably the best thing that came out of E3, Project: Natal.
Now, Jordan The Hobo
As someone who watched all of he major press conference and extended coverage on E3 it may become a surprise as to the game I pick. But my favorite game of E3 is . . . .Scribblenauts. What the F you say is that. Well shut up while I tell you. Scribblenauts is a Nintendo DS game coming later this year by the developer 5th cell. The basic concept is that you can type or write just about any noun you can think of to achieve an objective. Whether it be to solve a puzzle or chop down a tree. I know it sounds lame when I say it but don’t take my word for it. Go to youtube and look up some previews from E3. And for all of you that are too lazy I did the work for you. As for the conferences, I have to go with Microsoft just by a hair. With their showing of Metal Gear: Rising as well as project Natal. It shows that is really trying to change the way games are played and not just a gimmick like the Wii.
Next up, Brian.
E3 is a while back but we never covered it so I’m just going to announce my favorite game and favorite conference. Well my favorite game was of course Call of Duty; Modern Warfare 2 because 1. I love Cod 4 2. It looked great, graphics are good and gameplay looked sweet. The Microsoft conference was of course the best with the announcement of project Natal which had my mouth hanging open in anticipation. The complexity of the camera and it’s recognition abilities is amazing. Also a lot of exciting games were announced and I’m quite excited for this years games.
Fallout 3 New DLC; Point Lookout
Well fallout 3 is my favorite game so I’m excited to announce that it’s got new dlc coming out this month on the 23rd. This dlc looks expansive and it’ll probably add a lot to the game. But don’t take my word for it, watch the video. When it comes out, we’ll have a review up the day it comes out or maybe the day after.
New Xbox Console Coming?
1up’s Sam Kennedy’s sources says that Project Natal will be an add-on for the current 360’s AND will be a part of the new Xbox system.
“Microsoft will not only release Natal as an add-on for the Xbox 360, it will come standard with the next Xbox console. Yes, there will be a new Xbox console next fall.
However, the new console won’t just be an Xbox 360 with a camera, though — we’ve heard it will be considered a new platform and carry a new name (Xbox Natal?). It’s not clear what sort of upgrades we might see, but some have suggested it will be an slight upgrade of the current Xbox 360 technology. Current Xbox 360 games would be playable on it, but future games would be able to take advantage of the added muscle.”
Kennedy’s source seems to have a reputation of getting these kind of things right. And it says that the New Xbox system will come out fall 2010. Old 360 games will work with it but new XBox games will get some extra stuff with the extra power.
HELLO INTERNET!
Hey everyone, I’m Patrick (aka Nuclear Ninja) and I’m the newest writer for Games in a Nutshell. Corgon invited me to join (so blame him when you read my crappy writing) and he told me to tell a little about myself.
My Gamertag is:NuclearNinja142. I’m 16, I listen to Slipknot, shooters are my favories type of game, and thats about it. I’m looking forward to writing for this site. So….yeah you can stop reading now.
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