Beating a Game

            “I beat the game!” This is an oft heard thing around gamers. “Have you played <insert latest game>?” “Yeah, I beat it three days ago.” Typically, “I beat the game” means “I completed the story.” But, what does it really mean to “beat the game”? Let’s take a look at a few of the meanings of “I beat the game.”

            First, as we said before, many people have come to the conclusion that completing the storyline in a game is beating the game. For these people, it’s more about getting the end rather than the journey itself. But that is how a majority of gamers play. For many, it’s no longer about how amazing the journey is. Rather, it’s how many notches they have on their gamer belt. If this is what you prefer, then by all means play that way. After all, it’s all about doing what you enjoy. However, can one really make the claim that they beat a game if they played it on casual/easy mode? Doesn’t there need to be a certain challenge in order to beat something? If I were to say, “I beat this bottle of water. I drank the whole thing over the course of a day”, people would look at me like I was stupid. If there’s no challenge, then there’s no victory.

            This brings us to another question. What about cheat codes? “I couldn’t beat this part, so I turned on invincibility so I could beat it.” Did you really beat it? In my opinion, using cheat codes is not beating the game. In fact, in my opinion, it is just the opposite; it is admitting defeat to the game. In essence, you are saying, “The game was too hard. I gave up and cheated.” So, if you used cheat codes at any time, you did not beat the game.

            Another meaning of “I beat the game” is “I played through the story on the hardest difficulty setting.” I am almost completely in this camp. For a long time, I was one of those players who played games on the default setting. After all, isn’t that what the game was tuned to? However, just recently, my roommate got me to try any and all games on the hardest difficulty. I am now addicted (I use this term loosely. See the last section) to playing all games on the hardest setting. When I complete a playthrough, I feel a sense of accomplishment again. It’s not just another notch in the gamer belt. It’s a victory. It is a moment to savor. It is a moment when you are standing on the proverbial mountaintop screaming (again, proverbially) “I did it! They threw everything they could at me and yet I accomplished the improbable task against impossible odds in the face of unlikely adversarial conditions!”

            For some, playing on anything harder than the default setting is too much work. Others see it as an addition to playing on the default difficulty to add more replay value. For me, it’s the meat and potatoes of the game. It especially makes me feel great when I beat a game on the hardest whose hardest setting is legen…wait for it…dary!

            Still, for others, “I beat the game” means that they got the highest award in every level. Take my recent post about Twisted Metal, for instance. A friend and I beat it on Hard difficulty. Not good enough for me. I had to beat it on Twisted difficulty. Once we were done with that, we realized that we had gotten Gold in every level except 3. So we felt compelled to get gold in every level. To some, this is beating the game. Achieving the highest standard in each level. Any part of me that is not in the last camp is in this camp. While I don’t feel compelled to beat every level at the highest standard, sometimes I do just for the extra sense of accomplishment.

            Others considered it beating the game if you complete all the achievements. After all, the developer made the game, and decided what achievements to include. So, if you get all the achievements, then you’ve done everything the developers want you to do, right? The neat thing about this thinking is that it includes all of the aforementioned ideas concerning beating the game. About half, if not more, of the achievements in video games are pretty much standard now. Beat a level? Get an achievement. Beat the same level on the hardest difficulty? Get another achievement. Beat the level at the highest standard? Get another achievement.

            Whether you think that getting all the achievements is necessary to truly beat a game or not, no one can argue with the fact that the person with all the achievement did beat the game. He accomplished everything in every camp, plus went back to do little odd jobs to get more. Too much for me, but kudos to the guy who does it.

            Another thing that comes to mind when someone says, “I beat the game” is, “Wow, you beat Triple H?” For those of you who are completely lost right now, that was funny. Triple H is a WWE wrestler, who at one point went by the handle “The Game”. So, when someone says, “I beat the game”…. Ok, hopefully you get it now.

            Lastly, I’ve heard someone say “I beat the game”, and mean that they got over their addiction to video gaming. (World of Warcraft specifically.) Video game addiction isn’t as common as some people would have you believe, but is more common than most people realize. If you are struggling with video game addiction, call somebody. I don’t know who to call, as I don’t think that there is a video game addiction hotline. (I just googled “Video Game Addiction Hotline”. The only things that came up were parodies of addiction hotlines. So, if you’re addicted, you’re out of luck. Cold Turkey, anyone?)

            So, whatever your definition of beating the game is, it really doesn’t matter what others think. As long as you are having fun, that’s what counts. So get out there and play games!

   - Woody

Twisted Metal (PS3) Review

          Back when I was younger, I remember playing Twisted Metal on Sony’s original Playstation. I was enthralled by the death match modes while driving cars. At that time, it was an original concept and not very well emulated by anyone. So, following my current trend of playing remakes and re-releases, I allowed myself to be suckered into playing Twisted Metal as released on the PS3.

          The first thing that needs to be said about this game is that it is not an old release that’s simply been rendered with better graphics. This is a whole new game that pulls from its old roots over ten years ago, and did a complete makeover of the series. If you’ve played the newest Mortal Kombat, you know what I’m talking about. Both games have taken the old story, and updated it, and released a whole new game.

          One of the things that I loved about this game is the offline 2-player co-op gameplay. You can play through the entire campaign by yourself or with a friend. Myself, I come from the school of thought that says that anytime I can play with a friend, it’s preferable to playing by myself. So, me and a buddy grabbed a borrowed PS3 and borrowed the game and started to play.

          My buddy isn’t really a hardcore gamer. But he is your average gamer when it comes to ability. He won’t drag you down in co-op gameplay, but he’s not on the first round of picks for online competitive multiplayer in games. So, we decided to skip the easiest difficulty and play it on the second difficulty, hard. We played for a few hours one night, and then finished it the next morning. Once we had beaten it on hard, we decided to try the “Twisted” difficulty. It took us several hours to beat that difficulty, but when we were done we realized that we had gotten a gold rating on all the maps except three. So we went back and got gold on all maps on the Twisted difficulty.

          The campaign overarching story follows a character named Calypso. Calypso hosts a tournament (again, think Mortal Kombat) where there are different events to play, each one driving a vehicle, and each one ending with you killing off all your opponents. The winner of the tournament gets a single wish granted. Fans of the old series will remember that once the wish is granted, it is in some twisted way that ends up killing the person that made the wish.

          The campaign is split into three sections, each consisting of five events plus a boss event. All three sections happen at the same time chronologically, but you have to complete one person’s story before advancing to the next story. You start off playing as Sweet Tooth, the demonic clown that has become the series’ banner. After completing his story, you become a man with a honorable goal of going back in time to save his father from death. Then, you become a sadistic, insane runway model who has aspirations of being the top model in the world.

          Even though you can not choose your driver in the campaign, you still have the ability to choose the car that you drive. Each car has strengths and weaknesses. Some posses more armor, and are capable of dealing damage by ramming into other cars, but at the expense of speed. Some are quicker, with lighter armor. Others are geared more towards their special weapon’s ability. Probably one of the most unique vehicles to play as is “Talon”, a helicopter who can use a magnet to grab cars, fly high, and then drop them.

          Even though the campaign only consists of 18 matches, don’t expect it to be over quickly. If you actually beat a match, it will take only about 3-5 minutes on average. But don’t expect to beat every match on the first try, especially on the hardest difficulty, and also especially the boss rounds.

          All the rounds in the campaign are not deathmatches either. The deathmatch is a staple of the game, but there are several variations. There is a “cage match” mode in which you must stay in a cage, or lose cumulative time on your grace period. If your grace period runs out, you start taking damage. Your goal is similar to deathmatch; kill your opponents before you die.

          There are a couple races in the game, too. In these levels, every car has a bomb attached to it. Once the first place crosses the finish line, the rest of the cars’ bombs are triggered, killing the other drivers. As you are racing, you may also kill off other drivers with your usual weapons.

          Another mode worthy of noting is the juggernaut modes. There are a few variations, but they basically boil down to one thing. You have a few enemies, and one semi with a trailer called the Juggernaut. The Juggernaut has more health and armor than any other vehicle in the game. Your goal is to kill all the enemies before dying. The unique thing is that every 90 seconds or so, the Juggernaut will spawn another enemy. So, you need to kill the Juggernaut to keep him from spawning more and more enemies.

          After each match, you will be given a ranking based upon the speed in which you beat the match. There are four rankings; gold, silver, bronze, and no award. As an extra challenge there is an achievement for getting all golds, and another for getting all golds on Twisted difficulty.

          The graphics and sound in the game are not breathtaking, but there are more than sufficient. This game isn’t about a beautiful world; it’s about carnage. It’s about killing off other drivers in order to win your place at the top. With that being said, this isn’t a game for kids. There is gore and language throughout the game.

          All in all, it was a fun diversion for a few days. But now that I’ve beaten the hardest difficulty with all gold, there’s not much more to do since I can’t go online out here in Afghanistan.

   - Woody

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review

            Throughout gaming history, there have been several games that have defined the future of gaming. In my opinion, gaming as we know it today started all the way back with Jump Man, who became the character we came to know as Super Mario. Moving forward in time, we come to Zelda, the first game to allow you to save your progress. Games tried to become First Person in the 70s with games like Maze Wars and Spasim. MIDI Maze featured PacMan style gameplay in first person in 1987, and was unique in that it allowed for multiplayer over a MIDI interface. In 1992 Wolfenstein 3D was introduced, and a whole new era of gaming began. Shortly thereafter in 1993, Doom came out, furthering the genre with the ability to play multiplayer. Then, in 1996 Quake hit the market. Finally a game that featured 3D modeling instead of 2D models in a 3D world. That same year, the wildly popular Duke Nukem also came out.

            In 1997, 007: Goldeneye was released for the Nintendo 64. For many people, especially console gamers, this was their first experience with a FPS. The ability to play deathmatches in 4-player split screen was amazing. The next year saw a couple of games released that built upon the FPS idea and took it farther in leaps and bounds. Unreal, whose engine is still used today to design games; and Half-Life, which remained popular well into the next century. In 2000, Perfect Dark was released as the spiritual successor to Goldeneye. I experienced my first co-op campaign in Perfect Dark, and was amazed at the split screen.

            Finally, in 2001, combat evolved. Halo was released for Microsoft’s XBOX, quickly becoming the flagship of the console. Featuring huge levels, an immersive storyline, cut scenes that were unrivaled, and intense gameplay, Halo became a favorite for LAN parties. I remember hooking up several consoles and playing multiplayer deathmatches with friends.

            The Halo universe took off. Originally designed as a RTS, Halo featured a futuristic war in which the covenant (a group of several different types of aliens from different planets brought together by religion) sought to enslave or destroy humanity, who was an affront to their gods. Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo ODST, Halo Reach, and Halo Wars all came about from the original success of Halo: Combat Evolved.

            Move forward in time 10 years, and we have the remastered re-release of Halo: Combat Evolved. Released as Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, this game is everything that I had hoped for when I played the re-release of 007: Goldeneye. The gameplay is amazingly the same as you charge around killing the Covenant (and eventually the Flood) feeling like you could take on the world with your recharging shields.

            This game brought a whole lot more to the table than just updated graphics, however. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary incorporates the bonus skulls which have become popular in the Halo series. It also brought the Firefight mode, in which you fight to survive waves of enemies. It updated its multiplayer experience to be on par with other Halo games, allowing for a lot more customization of your avatar and for unlockables. Forge mode has been included as well.

            The game also features a unique ability. By hitting the “back” button (still called “select” by a LOT of people, even though it’s always been “back” on Microsoft consoles) you can have the graphics revert back to what they were 10 years ago. I played with this feature extensively. It was amazing to see the advances made to the game. Grass where there was just a carpet of green, leaves on trees, high resolution textures where there was just matte finish, and updated character skins are all amazing when seen in contrast.

            A little disappointing to me was the voice synchronization. I understand that they used the same track and just updated the graphics, but the timing was still as bad as the original. 10 years ago it was great, but with the advances made today, you think they would have tweaked that. Or, it’s possible that they left that there as a throwback. It really appears as if they updated the graphics, retexturing everything, and left the game as is. This is amazing yet slightly disappointing at the same time.

            Even though Halo: Combat Evolved was the first Halo game released, it is not the first part of the story. To get the full story chronologically you have to play the RTS Halo Wars, set in 2531, or 21 years prior to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Next you have to play Halo: Reach, which takes place immediately prior to Halo: Combat Evolved and leads directly into the story.

            Then comes Halo 2 and Halo 3. If you want a little side story, you can play Halo: ODST which technically takes place between Halo 2 and Halo 3, but doesn’t deal with the main story. Instead, you become an elite human soldier called an “Orbital Drop Shock Trooper” (hence the letters ODST) as you explore the city of New Mombasa trying to discover what happened to your teammates.

            Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary follows the story of the original. It begins with the ship “The Pillar of Autumn” just having made a jump through space. We find out in future games that they had just jumped from a planet called Reach, a massive naval base, where the covenant had just wiped everyone out. In this jump, the covenant was able to follow them, and end up boarding the ship. With the destruction of Reach, there is only one Spartan left. Enter Master Chief Petty Officer John – 117, known affectionately simply as Master Chief.

            Coming out of the jump, the Pillar of Autumn is close to a massive ring known only as a Halo, where the series gets its title. In the first level, you are tasked with the care of Cortana, an AI that gets implanted into your helmet. You fight your way through the ship to the escape pods, where you escape to the surface of Halo. Once there, you try and find out the secret of this huge ring, and end up discovering that it is a huge weapon of some kind. This starts a race against the covenant. The Covenant inadvertently releases the Flood, aliens who inhabit the bodies of others. You find out that Halo is a weapon designed to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy, and thus stop the spread of the Flood. You end up destroying Halo, and in a memorable last level are outrunning explosions in a Warthog, and amazing dune buggy type vehicle.

            Playing this game was a fun blast back into the past. With the updated graphics, it also allows you to play the games in chronological order without feeling like you are taking a step back in time. Even though I had beaten Halo: Combat Evolved, I had to beat Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary because Bungie included achievements this time around.

            Playing this game made me look forward to the release of Halo 4-6, the “Reclaiming Trilogy” which promises to be even more of the action game that we all love, and finish out the story.

   - Sapper Woody